It feels good to write again, it really does.

I hope you enjoy this first step into what hopefully will be a wonderful new season in the FBA, and hopefully productivity will be even greater.

I've copy pasted an unformatted version down here for people to read, but if anyone wants to download the formatted version and tell me what they think about it I'd appreciate it!

As always, any comments, thoughts, criticism is GREATLY appreciated. I really want to improve my writing but I can't do it without knowing if I'm doing something wrong! Thank you in advance.

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The court was almost empty now, quiet beyond the sounds of furs sweeping the floor and people stepping along the hard wood. Cliff was finding hard to believe that just a few hours ago it was roaring wildly with excitement. In those few hours, so many hands were shaken; thanks were taken and received, all from people he had only met in the past few months, and in some this morning and a few on this very night. Perhaps he had seen them before at some point in time prior; but there were so many faces and names he barely had the age to recall them all.

His heart swelled with pride, however at the thought. He trembled with fear several times, hidden well as he smiled and remained humble in his achievement; but it didn’t change the fact that at the end of the day – he, no, the people behind him had managed to pull off something on a scale he never would have dreamed off.


“A far cry from high school, eh?” a jovial voice broke the lynx from his stupor from sitting on the wooden stand overlooking the repurposed acrobatics room. He flicked his ears as he recalled the voice in an instant. The familiar scent drifted into his nose, and he leaned back on the chair casually, not averting his eyes from the court.

“That’s an understatement,” Cliff replied. “In every way imaginable.” He shook his head, breaking into a weary, content smile.

“That was a brilliant show, Cliff.” A few wooden steps, and the calico cat sat down next to him.

Cliff flicked his tail, disagreeing. “Nah. Wasn’t me.”

The cat chuckled. “Take a bit of credit, why don’t you.” He leaned a bit closer into Cliff’s view. The relaxed pair of brown eyes took a moment to gaze at the lynx before an eyebrow was raised. “Jeez, how many sleepless nights?”

“None,” Cliff chuckled, finally taking a look at his friend. “I’ve been getting enough sleep Reeve. Well. Few hours less than what I’d have liked, but…days have just been tiring.”

“And it’s done now, aren’t you glad?” Reeve pulled back and placed his forelimbs on the armrest, his tail swishing gently. “You don’t look it.”

A flick from Cliff’s right ear signaled his acknowledgement as he focused his attention back on the court, furs still sweeping and talking to each other.

“You try shaking hands with about five-hundred people on top of serious corporate pressure.” He grinned, weakly.

“Oh, well. Toss some fries with that and I’ll try.”

The two shared a laugh together at the trivial inside joke, bringing a bit of a pang to the lynx’s wistful memory.

“Seriously, though, I’m dead-beat,” Cliff exhaled deeply, stretching. He was still dressed in a shirt and pants, and was aching to just get rid of them for something more casual.

“Better start saving some energy, cat. Alaska wants you back next week, right?”

An earflick followed. “Yeah. I actually accepted the offer just a few days back,” he pursed his lips, recalling the large – by his standards in any case – amount of money offered for a contract to play for Alaska’s basketball team. “Ivan’s gonna murder me when he sees how little I’ve actually exercised.”

Reeve chuckled, and the two watched the court together in silence for a few moments. While the calico did not say it, Cliff easily saw that the smaller feline was tired as well – he possibly was covering the events of the day for some newspaper or magazine article.


“You didn’t play today,” Reeve stated flatly from the silence.

Another earflick. “No,” He answered, disappointment peeking out of his words, followed by a deep breath. “I couldn’t.” Cliff grinned after, which made Reeve stare at him puzzled. “It was the same back in highschool.”

Reeve nodded, turning his eyes back to the court. “Well, there’s the court right now.”

A smile formed on Cliff’s muzzle. He stood from the wooden chair and clawed at the top, tight button as he made hurried steps to the hardwood. Less constrained, he reached down for a basketball that just sat at the corner of the court and walked to one of the sides and dribbled once or twice. He kicked off his leather shoes – polished in the morning, now smudged by this time of day and removed his socks. He planted his feet on the cold wood, feeling warmth flush over him as he dribbled again. He unbuttoned a few more buttons from the top of his shirt. His smile was beaming now, and his breathing was full of excitement. He dribbled, and ran.

The hoop was close now. He jumped and let the ball fly.

Palm trees, the sounds of laughter, and school uniforms just flooded his thoughts, and soon became a roaring cheer amidst a crowd.

Swoosh.

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FBA ©  Buckhopper
Alaska Arctics ©  Jtigerclaw
Cliff Matthiews, Reeve Alonse ©  Rainwhisker