#alis tan

[tfcrp]

HAPPY HOLIDAYS, RONI!

Thank you for everything you contribute to TFC!

@rivertates. @alvstvn, @noahnakamura

XOXO, Admin X

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THE FOXHOLE COURT: MARCH 18-MARCH 24

ONLINE:

“Both the Palmetto State Foxes and the UCLA Bruins came into the third round with momentum: the Foxes dispatched the surging UNLV Rebels in the death match, while the Bruins eliminated the Penn State Lions in a shocking upset. While the Foxes may have gotten the better of the Bruins when these two teams met in the first round, this time it was the Bruins who came out on top—making the case that, after a disappointing first round performance that saw them just narrowly avoiding elimination, they’re here to be taken seriously.”

“‘’It feels great,’ Bruin Joe Carmichael said. ‘The first round is in the past, and we’re playing like we know we can, now.’ But fans who tuned in hoping for a rematch between Carmichael and Fox Louis Granger, after Granger attacked Carmichael in the handshake line after their last meeting—an infraction for which he was disciplined by the ERC—were left disappointed. For his part, Carmichael seemed to want a rematch: ‘I’m not surprised [that he didn’t fight me]. He probably knew he couldn’t win a fair fight, so that’s why he blindsided me last time. That’s pretty cowardly.’ While Fox Coach David Wymack insinuated that Carmichael may have played a role in provoking that altercation, Carmichael flatly denied it. ‘I don’t know what he’s talking about,’ he said. ‘Everyone can watch the video and see for themselves what happened.’”

“In goal, the Foxes were missing their Captain Grant Rollins, sitting out his first game of the year with an MCL injury. Without Rollins on the court, the Foxes’ remaining goalkeepers—junior Emmett Ashford, junior Alis Tan, sophomore Caleb Fournier, and senior Anderson Ford—let in 6 goals total on the way to the Foxes’ 6-4 loss. Notoriously private, Wymack has been tight-lipped about a timetable for Rollins’ return, but with the third round hanging in the balance, the Foxes can only hope that it’ll be very soon.”

“And now Rollins isn’t the only player the Foxes have lost to injury: dealer Raphael Peruggia left the court with an apparent hand injury, and it’s still unknown how much time he’ll be missing. Unlike Rollins, freshman Peruggia hasn’t been a staple of the Foxes’ roster—with several red cards and an ERC-levied suspension during the regular season, he’s been more of a wildcard on the court than an asset.”

“The Foxes get an off week while the Bruins prepare to host the DePaul Blue Demons on Friday night. And then, next week, it’ll be the Foxes’ turn to face the Blue Demons. Afterwards, one team will be eliminated, while the two remaining teams will face each other in a final death match to determine who moves on to the semifinals. And, in that race, the Bruins are already ahead. The Foxes, on the other hand, have ground to make up.” 

“ELSEWHERE IN CLASS I: In the odds bracket, the Edgar Allan Ravens won a blowout victory against the UT Longhorns, with a score of 7-1. The Belmonte Terrapins and the Ohio State Buckeyes, however, were much more evenly matched: the Buckeyes prevailed in the shootout, with a final score of 5-4. Next, the Terrapins will play the Ravens in Nashville, while the Buckeyes will take on the Longhorns in Columbus.”

- COLLEGE EXY ONLINE, “FOXES’ LUCK TURNS IN REMATCH AGAINST BRUINS.”

ON CAMPUS:

The Foxes suffered their second loss of the Championships, but there’s no time for them to get discouraged: they have four points, and they have to be their best against the Blue Demons in two weeks and build on that total, and so there’s no letting up when it comes to their practices.

There’s no game for the Foxes to play on Friday night, but there are games to watch—one in particular, that will help determine the Foxes’ chances of surviving the third round. Tonight, the odds bracket is just a distraction; tonight, it’s all about the Bruins and the Blue Demons.

With the Bruins and the Blue Demons playing in Los Angeles, first serve isn’t until late. This time, their watch party is in the Vixen Den and, before the game starts, it’s just like an ordinary party—until the TV is turned on and the music is turned off, the Foxes and the Vixens gathering round and keeping careful tally of the points each team scores.

At the end of the night, the Blue Demons have defeated the Bruins 5-3. The Bruins have their final point total for the third round: 9, which will be the number to beat. The Blue Demons, on the other hand, are coming into a make-or-break game against the Foxes with a slight edge, with 5 points to the Foxes’ 4. 

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THE FOXHOLE COURT: NOVEMBER 12-NOVEMBER 18

ONLINE:

“The Palmetto State Foxes put together their most impressive game of the season against the Wilkes-Meyers Hornets, coming back from a two goal deficit to win the game in overtime on the back of strong performances from fifth year striker Carter Maddox, who put up two goals, and senior striker Arlo Booth, who scored the overtime winner.“

“Former Hornet goalkeeper Emmett Ashford let in one goal against his former team, and took a tumble to the court in the ensuing scrum. When asked about the shove that sent Fox freshman Glory Hoskins into their former player, Hornets Vice Captain Oliver Powell said: ‘Coach talks to us a lot about Hornet spirit, and how when someone does something to hurt the team’s reputation, it hurts all of us. So, yeah, we take that stuff seriously. And, you know, in games, when emotions are running high, maybe you want to send a message.’ The price of ‘sending a message’ for Powell? A red card, putting him on the bench as his team falls further and further from Championships contention.”

“While junior Fox Sasha Hart-Ashby may not have been a presence on the court, sitting out due to a red card against the Dolphins, she—like her mother, the well-known tabloid star Irina Hart—was a noted presence in the Foxes’ post-game press conference along with senior Grayson Sharpe, where conversation turned to the ever-complicated Foxes’ plans for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday. Both Hart-Ashby and Sharpe have lost family members under unusual circumstances: Hart-Ashby’s sister, when she was a teenager, in a drunk-driving incident with Hart-Ashby behind the wheel; and Sharpe’s mother, in a mysterious accident when he was young—one that Sharpe played a role in. In his own words, Sharpe said: ‘My dad and I don’t do anything special to honor my mom’s memory around the holidays. I mean, he might, but I don’t get involved. It doesn’t seem right, not when her death was my fault.’”

“It seems like league expansion came a little bit too soon for the Georgia Southern Eagles: in their fist season as a Class I team, they’ve put up a dismal record, and have yet to record a single victory as they head into their game against the Foxes next week. It’s as close to an assured victory as the Foxes will get all season—which is good news for the Foxes who, after a disastrous first half of the season, are improbably among a few teams vying for the two remaining Championships slots.”

- COLLEGE EXY ONLINE, “WITH OVERTIME WIN AGAINST HORNETS, FOXES CONTINUE SOUTHEAST CLIMB.”

“Hey South Carolinians, Foxwatch here. Spotted at Fox Tower, bags in hand: a certain Fox pistol, back in town. Was it only a month ago our Grunge Princess mysteriously disappeared? And just as suddenly, she’s back. On a team this disastrous, it’s unclear what she could have done to earn this forced sabbatical, but we’re taking bets. What’s your money on?”

“We’ve got to give it to the Fox press conference for reminding us all the Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and you know we’re more excited about family drama than about pie. We spotted a Vixen having a very heated phone call. (Choice quote: HOW COULD YOU?) And we’re hoping that’s just the prelude to more.”

“But it isn’t all doom and gloom: by the looks of this little ice cream outing, we’ve got another Fox-Vixen romance on our hands. It’s adorable, we guess, if you like red-headed Vixens and goalkeepers who spend more time on the bench than on the court.”

- FOXWATCH, YOUR SOURCE FOR GOSSIP AT PALMETTO STATE UNIVERSITY

ON CAMPUS:

It’s the second-to-last game of the regular season as the Foxes continue to battle for a spot in the Spring Championships. The Eagles may not be the most fearsome opponent they’ve faced, but that doesn’t mean that the Foxes can relax, a fact that Wymack makes clear in their practices.

This is also the Foxes’ last game before Thanksgiving break. While many of the Foxes and Vixens will be staying on campus, some of them will be going their separate ways after the game for the week-long holiday.

On Friday, November 16, the Foxes and the Vixens gather at the court in the afternoon to load themselves and their gear onto buses for the drive to Statesboro, Georgia, the home of the Georgia Southern Eagles, a three and a half hour drive from Palmetto.

As usual, they arrive at their hotel with enough time to spare to let them settle in and mentally prepare for the game ahead. After some downtime in their rooms, they gather for dinner together at the hotel before it’s time for them to head over to the Eagles’ court.

(OOC information related to the game under the cut)

The results of the game against the Eagles will be posted on Friday night and, in order to put it together, there are a few things I need from you:

Due to the size of the roster, there is a chance that not every player will get to play in every game, so if you want your character not to play in the game (for reasons that could be related to being late to practice, poor performance in practice, mouthing off to Wymack/Grant/Claudia, or any other reason you can think of!) please let me know. While you can still let me know if you want your character to get a red card during the game, no one is required to be benched for this game: with our current roster, I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to play everyone!

If there’s anything exceptional you want to take place during the game (fights, red cards, injuries, exceptionally poor play, etc.) please let me know, and I’ll do my best to work it in. This will work on a first-come-first-serve basis, if the game is getting too packed with details, you might have to wait for the next one;

After each game, two players will be selected to answer questions from the press. If you want to volunteer your character for press duty, please message me! This will also be on a first-come-first-serve basis. And if you volunteer for press duty, please only do so if you expect to be able to play out the thread with your partner in a timely fashion.

Remember, you only have to reach out to me if there’s something very specific you want me to work in!

And, as always, I welcome any feedback!

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THE FOXHOLE COURT: NOVEMBER 19-NOVEMBER 25

ONLINE:

“The Palmetto State Foxes notched another win against the abysmal Georgia Southern Eagles, marking the Foxes’ third win in a row—and the Eagles’ seventh loss. For an expected outcome, it was a dynamic game for the Foxes, with 5 different strikers scoring goals, and senior striker Arlo Booth recording two goals. There were a few surprises, though, most notably the absence of sophomore striker Octavia Dawson. When asked why Dawson was scratched from the game, Fox Coach David Wymack offered no answers: ‘That’s an internal team matter. Dawson knows why she wasn’t on the court.’“

“If you were hoping for more insights into the Foxes’ biggest enigma this season, freshman dealer Raphael Peruggia, you might be disappointed. But, back from an ERC-levied suspension after a disturbing early pattern of deliberate injury on the court, Peruggia finally showed that he’s capable of playing Exy, and not just making predatory hits. For the sake of everyone in the league, we hope this change is here to stay. But, if the anger he showed in response to a post-game journalist question and his inability to get through press without arguing with teammate Emmett Ashford are any indication, it might not be.”

“To Buckeyes fans, it may have been a familiar sight: junior backliner Casey Hendrix down on the court after taking a hit along the wall from Eagles striker Scott Sellers as they grappled for possession. According to Coach Wymack, Hendrix is undergoing concussion protocol. Sellers, who received a red card that seemed to have more to do with the ensuing team-wide brawl than a hit that no one would look twice at if Hendrix hadn’t unfortunately been injured, said: ‘You know, it’s unfortunate. All of it. This isn’t the season we wanted to have. You never want to see another player get seriously hurt. I don’t know—Hendrix’s head was down. It’s a dangerous position to be in. Things like that can happen in the blink of an eye. That’s why you’ve gotta keep your head up.’”

“After a rough start to the season, the Foxes have turned their record around: in seven games, they are now 4-3. As the Exy season takes a pause for Thanksgiving and with one game left for each team, here’s where we are in the district standings: the Edgar Allan Ravens are the undisputed number one with another undefeated season; the Breckenridge Jackals are equally secure in second place, having only dropped one game; the Belmonte Terrapins are sitting in third, having lost only two games, but with the nigh-unbeatable Ravens as their final opponent; and sharing the Foxes’ 4-3 record are the Blackwell Jackrabbits and the USC Gamecocks—who the Foxes will be facing after Thanksgiving.”

- COLLEGE EXY ONLINE, “FOXES: ONE WIN AWAY FROM CHAMPIONSHIPS?”

“Spotted: Tetsuji Moriyama—no wait, we mean Justin Kimura—no wait, we mean—oh, you know who we mean, being dragged out of a bar in Statesboro by none other than the Fox Captain. What’s the matter, had a little bit too much? Or is it something else? The photo’s pretty blurry, but we’re pretty sure it’s not his name on the back of that sweatshirt.”

“Is it a surprise anymore when a Fox loses their temper? Still, we heard two Foxes were having it out outside the court this week—and that the Foxes came this close to losing a goalkeeper to a nasty tumble down some stairs. Somehow, we don’t think this one’s going to make it onto YouTube. Now, we’re not Exy experts or lawyers but we’re pretty sure that while on the court that’d be a red card, off of it, there’s another word for it—and it’s called assault.”

- FOXWATCH, YOUR SOURCE FOR GOSSIP AT PALMETTO STATE UNIVERSITY

ON CAMPUS:

The Foxes that haven’t departed for home from Statesboro return to a significantly emptier campus, with most of the student body leaving Palmetto in droves for a week-long break and the Thanksgiving holiday.

For the Foxes and Vixens with nowhere to go—or nowhere they want to go—there’s a yearly Fox tradition of a large and boisterous Thanksgiving dinner at Team Nurse Abby Winfield’s home on Thursday, November 22. Open to all, and especially open to those that want to help with the cooking, it’s an opportunity to take a break from the stress of school and the season, and to enjoy camaraderie with their teammates and coaches off the court. 

With the Foxes’ last—and potentially most important—game of the regular season coming after the break, Captain Grant Rollins doesn’t want to rest, and doesn’t want the Foxes on campus for break to rest either, scheduling highly-encouraged optional practices for the remaining Foxes during the week.

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TFC HALLOWEEN COSTUME COMPETITION RESULTS!

At the conclusion of the voting at the Vixens’ Halloween party, the following winners are announced and prizes handed out: winners are given gift cards to Sweetie’s in Columbia and a hand-written certificate, while the second-place finishers in every category but the grand prize are only given a certificate.

FUNNIEST COSTUME ($10 GIFT CARD): SYDNEY McCRAY as MOTH WITH LAMP (HONORABLE MENTION: BRAYDEN SYKES as CAT)

SEXIEST COSTUME ($10 GIFT CARD): LEO DUARTE as (SEXY) WINTER SOLDIER (HONORABLE MENTION: CASEY HENDRIX as THE RIDDLER BUT SEXY)

MOST ELABORATE COSTUME ($10 GIFT CARD): SYDNEY McCRAY as MOTH WITH LAMP (HONORABLE MENTION(S): RIPLEY VAN SANT as MALEFICENT, MEREDITH COTES as THE BLACK SWAN, and ARLO BOOTH as THE BLACK DEATH)

BEST CLOSET/LOW BUDGET COSTUME ($10 GIFT CARD): NEEL AVERY as LIT MAJOR (HONORABLE MENTION: GRANT ROLLINS as REFEREE)

BEST THROWBACK COSTUME ($10 GIFT CARD): ALIS TAN as THE AMERICAN DRAGON (JAKE LONG) (HONORABLE MENTION: ROSIE TOMMASI as KIM POSSIBLE)

BEST COUPLES COSTUME ($10 GIFT CARD): BRAYDEN SYKES and STERLING WALSH (HONORABLE MENTION: JEN BROOKHART and CARTER MADDOX)

GRAND PRIZE: BEST COSTUME ($25 GIFT CARD): SYDNEY McCRAY as MOTH WITH LAMP RUNNER-UP: BEST COSTUME ($10 GIFT CARD): GRANT ROLLINS as REFEREE)

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THIS IS YOUR GAME

Name: Alis Tan Age: Twenty Class Year: Junior Position: Goalkeeper, #29 Hometown: Chicago, Illinois

THIS IS YOUR MOMENT

TW: Death, mental illness, drug use, suicide attempt

Death hung over her, walked one step behind her. That was what happened, when the person you were closest to in the entire world was taken from you so suddenly. She’d say that having her twin sister ripped away felt like she’d forever be only half of a whole—but that didn’t seem quite right: Evelyn had taken a piece of Alis with her when she went, and so she would always be even less. But before that it was just Alis and Evie and their mom in a two-bedroom apartment, the three of them scraping out a life for themselves. Alis and Evie were technically identical, but anyone who knew them never seemed to have that much difficulty telling them apart: Evie could always be found on the Exy court, while Alis was always more likely to have her nose in a book; Alis was the brains, and Evie was the brawn—and, sometimes, with how outspoken and brazen she was, she seemed like the heart, too, the glue that held their small family together. 

And when she died—suddenly, unexpectedly, collapsing in their living room after school one day—it was just Alis there. Alis, paralyzed with fear; Alis, calling 911 with shaking hands; Alis, wondering if she’d already waited too long, if it was already too late. And maybe it was, or maybe a little extra time wouldn’t have made a difference—but either way Evie was dead, and at only thirteen years old. They said that the most common cause of sudden death in teenagers was a heart defect, even if it was previously undetected. Afterwards, they tested and tested Alis, but found nothing wrong with her. She thought that she was supposed to be relieved, but mostly just felt like the recipient of some cosmic luck she hadn’t done anything to deserve. 

With Evie gone so young, all of her hopes and dreams—all of the things she would never accomplish, like playing Class I Exy, like being a USC Trojan—seemed so stark. With Evie gone, all that was good about her loomed so large, and made it hard for Alis, left behind, to see what was good about herself. She wanted to be everything, thinking that if she just spread herself thin enough to cover all the cracks her sister left behind, then somehow everything would be okay, would be better. Maybe it would be better for everyone if she were a little bit more like Evie, and a little bit less like herself. And there was an image that played in her head every time she tried to go to sleep, every time she closed her eyes: her sister, falling so suddenly to the ground; her sister, still and lifeless even before the ambulances showed up. She wanted to exorcise it from herself, remember Evie the way she was in life instead of in death, and Evie was at her strongest and her most vibrant on the Exy court, standing fearless and prepared in goal.

The first time she tried out for her school’s Exy team, trying to fill her missing sister’s spot, she couldn’t block a single thing, and they laughed her off the court. But she wasn’t about to let that stop her: she spent hours every day with her sister’s old racquet in her hands, bouncing balls off of brick walls, only stopping when it was too dark for her to see the ball—and sometimes, not even then, going for as long as she could, trying to go by sound. It wasn’t like she was sleeping, anyway. 

She made it to high school, and made it onto the Exy team—and despite the importance she’d placed on it, found that it didn’t change a thing. Her mother liked coming to her games, though, said that she liked to see her so determined, so focused. She had lost so much and worked so hard, and it seemed to bring her so much comfort to think that she had lost one daughter but had the other still intact—Alis didn’t know how to tell her that she was anything but, didn’t know how to tell her that she couldn’t sleep without the pills that she bought off a classmate, that her sister’s death was a nightmare that she lived over and over again. That, when her sister looked just like her, she couldn’t always be sure whose death she was imagining. How that had stopped seeming as scary as it should. 

Everyone had always called her the more timid twin, but when nothing seemed to matter, her apathy and numbness became something more like recklessness: playing Exy like she didn’t fear pain or injury; pounding back shots with her teammates at the parties they weren’t supposed to have; mixing it all with the pills she kept hidden in the back of her dresser drawer when she finally crept home for the night—and, when it came down to it, feeling nothing about any of it. There wasn’t a breaking point, or maybe she’d just kept limping on past it too long for there to seem like there was. When asked about it, she could never say whether or not it was intentional—she didn’t think it was, thought maybe it was just inevitable with the way she was living, how little care she showed for herself. This time it was her mother’s turn to find one of the Tan girls barely breathing—but this time, no one died.  

SEIZE IT WITH EVERYTHING YOU’VE GOT

And when she couldn’t hide it anymore, there was nothing to do but say it all out loud: the insomnia, the nightmares, the numbness, the way that she felt like her mother had always related more to Evie and didn’t know how to talk to Alis with her gone. And at the bottom of that well, she found a name to put that all she’d been trying to conceal—post-traumatic stress—and a better path forward. But she didn’t leave it all behind: she went back to playing Exy. She couldn’t be sure if she was playing for the right reasons, but her skill on the court had been hard-won, and she couldn’t help but want something to come out of all those late nights she spent practicing, when it felt like an Exy racquet was the only thing standing in between her and an even worse form of self-destruction.

Thinking about her future was something that felt new and strange to Alis, and even when she tried, it never seemed to come together. But she knew that she’d never imagined that Exy would be a part of it, that it would lead to something good for her—and so she was just as surprised as anyone else when Coach Wymack recruited her to the Foxes during her senior year of high school. College had seemed too expensive and out of reach for her, and while she felt certain that Exy wouldn’t be a part of her life after she got her degree, she wasn’t going to let that stop her from signing the contract, from using Exy as her step forward into something else—whatever that something else would end up being. And though she’d like to think of herself as too practical for such things, part of her couldn’t help but see it as a sign. It wasn’t the Trojans, and it wasn’t Evelyn, but it was still the Tan name on the back of a Class I jersey, and that had to count for something, had to mean that she’d done something right by her sister’s memory. And that maybe, after doing that, she’ll finally be able to put her sister to rest, and to find some measure of peace. 

ALIS TAN is portrayed by JESSICA HENWICK and is TAKEN