Soccering.

Elijah
[nightmares?

Dice: 5 d10 TN7 (3, 4, 6, 8, 10) ( success x 2 )

Kalen
[How awake are we?]

Dice: 7 d10 TN7 (2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9) ( success x 3 )

Ian
It was around 1:00 in the afternoon when Grace, Kalen, Lena and Elijah got the text from Ian. And for once, it wasn't anything about some terrible danger or disaster. It was simply this:

Hey, my friend and I are trying to set up an impromptu soccer game at Crestmoor Park. Feel like playing?

He fired that same text off to a handful of other people, at least one of whom (Emma) texted back with a confirmation. Any positive responses would have been given directions and encouraged to 'bring a friend', which was likely how Alex ended up hearing about it. So it was about half an hour later when Ian and Jae-shin arrived at the park, dressed appropriately in soccer gear (Jae-shin had a thin green athletic shirt while Ian went shirtless) and kicking a ball around the field to warm up.

Emma showed up a few minutes later, and she waved at Ian from across the field as she paused to tie her hair up. Ian jogged over at tossed the ball at her chest, smiling when she caught it. "Hey you."

"Who's that?" she asked, nodding towards where Jae-shin stood.

"Just a friend. We train together a lot."

"Ah." There was a little smile at that, which Ian chose to ignore.

The weather was nice. It was sunny. Warm. A perfect day for a game, really.

Lena Reilly
Lena responded back with, I'll be there!  I'm gonna play cheerleader.  The woman isn't one for the kind of physical exertion that can lead to injuries, after all.  She has to be careful about that.  But she welcomes the opportunity to show up and hang out with some friends, especially when she's too damned good at making herself a hermit.  So her green Ninja motors its way to Crestmoor, the woman dressed in the usual green and black jacket that she wears when she goes out and matching helmet.  It may seem strange that a woman who is afraid of a little soccer-induced bruising is willing to zip around on a high-speed death machine, but anyone who knows a Cultist well would know how little their personal boundaries of "acceptably unsafe" vs. "too far" tend to make sense to anyone but themselves.

She steps off the bike and attaches the helmet to the back, unzipping her jacket as she walks over to reveal a T-Shirt that reads "GO TEAM (the one that currently has the ball."  She smiles a little bit, hanging back slightly and taking a lean against a tree as she watches for now.  More people here so far that she doesn't know compared to ones she does, and that means she doesn't impose herself yet...even if her Resonance does.

Elijah
There wasn't much dragging to be had. All Elijah had to do was mention that Ian said something about soccer and Jenn was there, carting her friend along in the civic and dressed ready forwhat was going to prove to be an actually athletic experience.

"I love soccer," Jenn announced.

Elijah, sadly, was not the kind of athlete that Jenn was. he was terrible at sports, he was largely unafraid of the fact that he was terrible at sports but practice made perfect and all that other stuff and it gave him an excuse to look at people while they were shirtless. Both partes were dressed and ready for soccer, and Elijah even bothered to not wear a vest this time. Which meant his pocketwatch was shoved in Jenn's purse along with a couple water bottles and some brownies.

"you've said that, like, four times," Elijah teased.

"Because I really, really, really, really love soccer," she said with a grin.

Grace
Ian's message came at a good time, yeah? It's a day when people desperately need some companionship and togetherness and all that bullshit that makes you feel human again after, say, talking to a Techocrat or dumping a Nephandus into his own Styx.

She responds back with an: okay. I'll try to drag Kalen with. No guarantees.

Because yeah, he needs to get out.

She met him at the office wearing a sky-blue tee that has a guy playing baseball on the front, with 'TOUCH DOWN' as the verbiage. It's the perfect shirt to go play soccer in. Which, let's say, Grace has not done since grade school, and even then she mostly stood staring off into nothing thinking about anything but soccer.

It's not really about the game is it?

Somehow, she managed to convince him that going and playing a sport in the outside would be at least tolerable. Maybe?

So they show up, Grace bright-eyed, if not exactly enthused about the whole sports aspect of the whole thing. At least her normal uniform of jeans and tee shirts is suitable for this.

"I think you aren't allowed to use your hands. Except sometimes. Like, the goalie can use their hands. And there are times when you throw the ball, but if you do that at other times you are in so much trouble..." Grace says as they walk.

"I think I'm just going to play it by ear. Not literally. Although maybe..."

Alexander
It’s a couple of days since they returned from… if a Sleeper should ask, somewhere out of town.  After doing a little gardening for a friend, maybe.  Either way, Alexander has been doing reasonably well.  Oh, there have been bad dreams about a certain black river, waking with soaked sheets from cold sweats, but he’s looking reasonably awake and with it.

He’d just been arriving at the warehouse to check on Kalen – he didn’t seem to be doing so well after their… trip.  Alexander had seem Kalen get a little twitchy around water before – he’d been worried that dipping his hand into the waters of the node was going to break it when he caught the reaction – but he didn’t know the reasons.

So here he is, arriving just behind Grace and Kalen.  He’d stopped off at home to change before heading over, and the lack of delay in his arriving probably says something about his driving.

Alexander?  Isn’t wearing anything particularly special once he changes out of his bike gear in the lot.  Blue trainers, black shorts and a red vest top.  There’s a rucksack holding it, slung over one shoulder, and he carries the helmet in the opposite hand.  He takes a couple of moments to look over the Ninja parked in the lot nearby, but follows the others over to the field.  There’s maybe a momentary pause when he sees Ian on the field.  They haven’t so much as spoke to each other since that night by the reservoir.  This could be interesting.

Kalen
Kalen had attempted to spend the day sulking in the library.  He had tried to insist that there were things he had to do.  Put together information on vampires for new Mages.  Research the locations of weapons for hunting the undead.  Research reanimation rituals.  Update their computer model of Denver with current events.  Historical events.

But Grace had started on him and then she'd been joined by Alexander and so Kalen has been dragged away from books into the sunshine.  He has played soccer.  He did attend school until he was fourteen, at least sporadically.  He knows...you kick the ball.  So he is convinced to come voluntarily instead of being dragged, which he wouldn't put entirely past either Grace or Alexander.

So he is there, listening to Grace explain a game he can't really explain any better, in a pair of loose grey pants and a white tee-shirt.  He does grab them bottled water, because of course he has that in abundance.  He lets them talk him out of excursions to buy things like soccer shoes or half of a bakery or coffee (who even brings coffee to a soccer game, Kalen?) or tangerines or whatever else he can think of as a stalling tactic because this game is in like five minutes Kalen just get in the fucking car.

Ian
Ian and Emma looked as though they probably moved in the same social and professional spheres. They were both beautiful. Both graceful and athletic in the way that dancers could be. They both had that same kind of untouchable air to them. Emma was tall and darker skinned, with long brown hair (now fixed in a loose knot atop her head) and large eyes. She had on dark blue athletic shorts and a black sports bra.

Jae-shin wasn't a dancer, but he wasn't exactly in poor shape. On the contrary, he looked as though he worked out on a daily basis. (It had, in fact, been his idea to have the soccer game.) He watched Ian and Emma for a moment before jogging over to join them. When he got there, he introduced himself to Emma in an accent that marked him as Korean, and the two of them held a brief conversation as Ian spotted Lena by the trees. It wasn't long before she was joined by the others, and Ian gestured to Emma and Jae-shin to join him at the side of the field, where everyone seemed to be congregating.

So it was that the group came together: seven mages and two sleepers. Jae-shin stood slightly behind Ian, rolling the ball skillfully between his hands. To those who could feel such things, he resonated like the depths of the ocean: Fluid and Abyssal.

"Hey," Ian greeted. He offered a smile to Lena, sweeping his gaze around to include most of the others present. Even Alex got a nod. "This is Emma," Ian introduced the two people behind him, "and Jae-shin." He didn't offer the latter's Tradition, because there were sleepers present, but Jae-shin nodded to the group in a slow, knowing gesture.

"I suppose we should pick teams," Ian offered, glancing around the group with an appraising gaze. Some of them were likely more familiar with the game than others. "Who wants to be captain?"

"I will," Jae-shin offered.

Ian eyed him for a moment, and something passed between them (some small spark of competition.) "Anyone care if I take the other one?"

Grace
It's just like Kalen to stall with the aid of tangerines and why they're a dire need. Nobody ever needed tangerines to play soccer, Kalen.

Still, it's nice to see that he's willing to be argued with. Nice to see Alexander is also arguing on her side.

Sometimes, along the path, you don't exactly stop. Never stop. It's always a help though, to make sure that you can continue putting one foot in front of the other. Sometimes, it's other people who you allow to convince you of this fact.

Grace smiles at Jae-shin when she and her pod of Mages arrives. "Pick me last. I have a reputation to maintain here."

Lena Reilly
"Hey."  She says it with a little smile and looks around as she senses first Elijah, then the trio of Grace, Alex and Kalen.  She raises her hand to wave at them all, including the ones she doesn't know--Jenn, Jae-shin, Emma--getting comfortable in her position against the tree.

"Nice to meet you," she says, directed to Emma and Jae-shin...and Jenn too, once she gets within the vicinity.  Her introductions are made with a warm, easily friendly tone.  "I'm Lena."  Nice and simple, left there for the moment.  "Hey guys," is her greeting to the Awakened that she does know.  When the two guys step up to be captains she smiles and shakes her head.

"It's all you guys.  I'm just spectating today anyway."

Elijah
"I'll be captain if no one else wants it," Jenn said. She was a pretty enough girl with a messy haircut and a tattoo of an iris on one of her thighs. She had a tank top on, so only part of a unicorn peaked out over her shoulder.

"That's Jenn. Jenn? That's Kalen and Grace and Alex and Lena-"

"I've heard, like, a ton about you guys."

Alexander
Alex jogs over to join Kalen and Grace.  Ian gets a nod in return.  The jury is still out on the final opinion on the man.  Preliminary verdict: dick, but might be ok.  Lena gets a smile and a, “Hey!” in return.  Elijah, a nod and a wave.  Kalen?  A grip on the shoulder.

He’s about to introduce himself when Elijah does it for him.  “Alexander,” he corrects, giving Elijah a look.  He isn’t Alex to strangers.  But otherwise it’s smiles and nods for the others.

He shrugs when they ask about captains.

Grace
Grace rolls her eyes at the 'Alexander' comment, because oh God, can he stop being so uptight for five minutes? Something about cops and sticks up their asses huh? But she doesn't say anything. She's in too good a mood to spoil it.

Instead, she waves at Lena, who's 'just spectating' and why didn't anyone tell Grace that spectating would be an option here? She's likely to kick someone. In the head. Somehow. It's bound to happen, despite the unlikelihood.

"Oh, man, Lena has the right idea. Spectating on our excursion to sportsball? Should be just hilarious."

Kalen
Kalen rolls his eyes when Alexander catches his shoulder.  "Oh?  You think you're already forgiven?"  But there is definite affection in that tone, though he doesn't fit himself into Alexander's side or do anything cuddly.  He does shake off Alexander's hand, but only so that no fingers are smashed when he bounces his shoulder into Alexander's.  It's rougher than he is with Grace, but light enough.  Playful.

Look!  More people.  He waves to them, and doesn't manage quite the show of being social he put on for Alexander.  "Hey."  But they all get a smile and a bit of a nod.

"However," is all he says about teams and captains.

Ian
"I care," Emma responded to Ian's suggestion with a teasing loft of her brow. "Just because the two of you called us here, don't think you get to run the show. Besides, I'd like a female captain." At this she smiled at Jenn, the expression delicate and wry. Ian glanced between the two, then offered a little huff of laughter that seemed intended mostly for Emma.

"Fair point," he conceded, gesturing to Jenn. "She can have it." There was a quarter stuck between the laces of one of his shoes. Ian retrieved it and flipped it into the air. When he caught it, he pressed his hand down over it, glancing back at Jae-shin. "Heads or tails?"

"Tails."

Ian revealed the quarter on his hand. It was heads. "Jenn gets first pick."

And Jenn's first pick? Ended up being Ian. So when it came time for Jae-shin to select his first player, he surveyed the group for a long moment, then nodded to Alexander.

Back to Jenn, who unsurprisingly grabbed Emma for her team.

Jae-shin's next pick was Kalen. And Jenn went for Grace, who, as it turned out, was not going to be the last picked on this particular day (despite her reputation.)

That honor was left to Elijah, who got to join Jae-shin's team by default. When they were all grouped up, Jae-shin turned to his team and asked, "which positions would you prefer?"

Assuming Jenn did the same, Ian and Emma both offered to take offense.

Lena Reilly
She watches the back-and-forth picking with a bit of a smile, keeping track of who's going where.  The team makeups interest her; it's chemistry, or a recipe, or human dynamics.  It's connections splitting, forging, reforging.  There's a bit of a tilt to her head as she watches, and then they're done choosing and she grins.

"Unfortunately I couldn't bring my pom-poms with me on the motorcycle, but I'll throw out all the 'Go Teams' I can manage."

Alexander
And it’s almost like being back in the high-school gym again.  Alexander had been pretty good at the more physical side of high-school, so didn’t often have the honour of being the last picked when teams were being formed.  He walks over to stand near Jae-shin while the rest of the teams are picked.

“I’ll go offense.”  There’s maybe a flash of a smile as he offers.

Grace
Ohh, so now it comes to it, eh? Grace makes faces at Alex (I'm going to wipe the floor with you!) and Kalen (look out, punk, you're going down!) as she walks over to join the other team.

Which, hello Jenn. Nice to meet you. Have a pale nerd wearing a shirt that displays all of her knowledge of soccer.

"Hi. I'm Grace," she says to the others, before going to stare at the grass. They already kind of knew that, didn't they? "I have no idea what offense means? Uh. I know not to use my hands!"

Elijah
"Okay," Jenn starts, "who wants to be what? Offense goes and takes the ball down the field and scores, defense keeps their people from kicking the ball into our goal. Goalie is in charge of defending the goal. You might wanna be defense? Besides, it's okay if you're not super sure what to do because I've got a good feeling that our offense is going to rock faces."

Jenn said this all with the kind of confidence that came with being team captain, even if she wasn't the best player on the field she certainly tried her best to inspire some kind of confidence in Grace.

--

Meanwhile, there was the question of where it was Elijah was going to play. He looked a little like a deer in the headlights, because this was very much like high school gym class and that usually ended with him getting sent to the nurse because he faked an injury well enough that he didn't have to do pushups anymore.

"Dibs on defense," Elijah said, eager to avoid having to actually make his way down the field.

Kalen
Grace's look gets a little flash of amusement from Kalen, but no return challenge,  Jae-shin just gets a black look in return to his question.

"I may not have been into teams as a child.  You're going to have to explain."  That tone is flat, distant.  He'll try for Alex.  He'll try for Grace.  He cannot be bothered to try for strangers.  Even strangers he would otherwise take a stronger interest in.  "But I'll do whatever."

Ian
"You can be defense," Ian offered to Grace. "It's easy. Just hang out by the goal and when the ball gets close kick it back down the field, preferably to me or Emma."

And that left Jenn as goalie. Hopefully her skills would make up for her small size.

On to the other team...

Jae-shin nodded to Alex and Elijah. When Kalen offered him that look, Jae-shin regarded him for a moment quietly. "I apologize. I should have explained. The goalie protects the goal." He nodded toward the large white net at the end of the field. "He or she must stay within the boundary of the goal, but within that boundary they can do whatever they need to do to catch the ball, including using their hands. No one else may touch the ball with their hands but the goalie. Defensive players remain on their side of the field, and they help protect the goal. Their job is to get the ball away from the opposing team and back to their offensive players. The offensive players do most of the running. They try to take the ball to the other team's goal in order to score points."

After this explanation, Jae-shin considered the options. "If you think you can run, I can take the goal. If not, I can take offense."

Presumably they would be able to work out who went where by the time they all assembled on the field, because Jenn's team seemed more than ready to get going. Maybe Jenn had some suggestions for them, or maybe she'd wait and see how things went. Either way, when they were ready, Ian and Emma jogged out onto the field and took positions near the center line.

Whenever Jae-shin's team finished debating positions, Jae-shin leaned in to whisper a final piece of advice. "Ian and I have played before. He'll be focused on me as the main threat. Use that to your advantage."

And with that, he led their team onto the field.

Ian
[Alright, in the interest of efficiency, I figured we could handle the mechanics of this scene as follows:

The field is 120 yards long. Each success on a Dex+Athletics roll equals a distance of 10 yards. (Meaning it will take 6 successes to get from the center of the field to the opposing team's goal.) So we will determine where players are located on the field based on their dice rolls.

All other actions (stealing the ball, blocking the goal, etc) are also Dex+Athletics. Easy-peasy. Most will be standard diff, but if you want to do something tricky then add one or two, as suits. We'll be rolling this like rounds of combat, with inits and declares.

Obviously we will not have time to play out an entire game (which would be like... 60+ rounds?) so I figure we'll just go until we have to crash and whichever team is in the lead at that point can be assumed to win.]

Grace
[Init +6!]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (8) ( success x 1 )

Elijah
Jenn: 5+1d10

Dice: 1 d10 TN7 (7) ( success x 1 )

Elijah
Elijah: 5+1d10

Dice: 1 d10 TN7 (9) ( success x 1 )

Ian
[Ian Init +7]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (4) ( fail )

Ian
[Emma +7]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (1) ( fail )

Kalen
[Init +5]

Dice: 1 d10 TN7 (6) ( fail )

Ian
[Jae-shin +6]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (1) ( fail )

Alexander
Alexander catches the look from Grace and pokes his tongue out at her before turning to the others.

[Init+6]

Dice: 1 d10 TN6 (5) ( fail )

Ian
[And the order is!

Grace: 14 (+6)

Elijah: 14 (+5)

Jenn: 12

Ian: 11 (+7)

Alex: 11 (+6)

Kalen: 11 (+5)

Emma: 8

Jae-shin: 7]

Ian
[Jae-shin: hang out in the goal, like you do]

Emma: Go for the ball and run!]

Kalen
[Let Alex fight for the ball.  Get off and ready to take passes.]

Ian
[Who is going first?]

Dice: 1 d10 TN1 (3) ( success x 1 )

Elijah
{Jenn: Hangin' out at the goal, doobeedoo



Elijah: Chill out and wait for the ball to come this way. Block if necessary!

Alexander
[My ball, heading forwards!]

Ian
[Ian will run with Emma and wait for her to pass him the ball if she gets it]

Grace
[Stare at ball. Ooo ball.]

Ian
[Grace, Elijah and Jenn are holding action, so Ian's roll! Dex+Ath run-run-run]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 2, 5, 5, 7, 7) ( success x 2 )

Alexander
[Run-kick-run-kick - Dex+Ath]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 3, 6, 7, 7, 9) ( success x 4 )

Kalen
[Do not lose the ball and run]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 6, 6, 6, 7) ( success x 4 )

Ian
[Emma split her action so 1a: running -2]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (3, 4, 6, 7, 10) ( success x 3 )

Ian
[Aaand she didn't catch him so the second split is moot]

Elijah
[Ahhhh! Block, block like your life depends on it!]

Dice: 2 d10 TN6 (5, 5) ( fail )

Ian
[New declares!

Jae-shin: still hanging out

Emma: Split 1a: run! 1b: steal the ball if she gets to it]

Ian
[Also, placement:

Alex, Kalen and Elijah are all 40 yards away from Jenn's goal

Emma is 50 yards away

Ian is 60 yards away]

Ian
[Oh my god, I can math.

Alex, Kalen and Elijah are all 20 yards away from Jenn's goal

Emma is 30 yards away

Ian is 40 yards away]

Kalen
[Do I have this ball?  I will never get it in the goal.  Give it back to Alex.]

Kalen
[Edit: Run-run-run.  Watch this ball.]

Ian
[somehow I put Elijah on the wrong team and for a few minutes no one noticed. We will pretend that never happened.]

Alexander
[Can I boot it in from here?  Let's give it a try.]

Ian
[Ian: run!]

Elijah
[Jenn: OMG block]

Elijah
[Elijah: Chill out at his end, soooo glad he's not Jenn]

Grace
[Stare at the ball and kick it back without regard to anything! Super focus!]

Grace
[Dex+Ath = 4!]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (1, 1, 3, 9) ( success x 1 )

Alexander
[WP?]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 4, 10, 10) ( success x 2 )

Alexander
[And evade?]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (2, 7, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

Kalen
[Run-run-run]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 7, 9) ( success x 2 )

Ian
[Alex keeps the ball! Ian runs!]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (4, 7, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9) ( success x 6 )

Ian
[Emma runs! -2]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (5, 7, 7, 9, 9) ( success x 4 )

Ian
[Emma gets to Alex, second split steal! -3]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 4, 6) ( success x 1 )

Ian
[Emma has the ball]

Ian
[Positions:

Ian, Kalen, Emma, Alex, Grace = 20 yards from Jenn's goal]

Ian
[Jae-shin: waiting, waiting

Emma: Run with the ball!]

Kalen
[Let Alex fight for the ball, run after the ball and be ready for passing]

Alexander
[Split: Tackle Emma, Pass to Kalen]

Elijah
Jenn: PEOPLE ARE NEAR MY GOAL! D= Block if necessary

Elijah: Doobeedooo, so glad I'm not over there

Ian
[Ian will block Alex]

Lena Reilly
Lena actually knows the game of soccer quite well.  One of her many little things she never happens to have shared; she played soccer as a teenager in high school.  Her brother always told her that made her a bit of a cliche, but she didn't listen to him.  She probably should have paid more attention to him at various times in her life.

But we're getting off-base.  The point is, she knows soccer and she used to be a pretty solid center forward.  So she can follow the game well and she's enjoying watching her friends, and the people she doesn't really know, having fun together.  She cheers for both sides...whoever has the ball and whoever is defending, but more the attackers since that was her positional focus.  She gets almost as much fun observing as they probably have playing.

Grace
[Blocking Alex with Ian!]

Ian
[Ian blocks]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 3, 5, 6, 9, 10) ( success x 3 )

Grace
[Blocking stuff! Dex+ath!]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (6, 6, 8, 8) ( success x 4 )

Alexander
[Dex

Alexander
[Steal the ball?  Dex/Ath -2]

Dice: 4 d10 TN6 (7, 10, 10, 10) ( success x 4 )

Ian
[Alex is blocked, yo]

Kalen
[Run-run-run]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 4, 5, 5, 6) ( success x 1 )

Ian
[Emma runs towards the other end of the field]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 7, 8) ( success x 4 )

Ian
[Alright, positions:

Emma = center-field

Kalen = 30 yards from Jenn's goal

Ian, Alex, Grace = 20 yards from Jenn's goal

Elijah = 40 yards from Jae-shin's goal]

Ian
[Jae-shin: block if necessary

Emma: run!]

Kalen
[Run after Emma]

Alexander
[Run!]

Ian
[Ian: run!]

Elijah
[Jenn: chill out, it's out of danger now

Elijah: OMG wait until you might not have to block again[

Grace
[Hanging out, waiting for need to defense again!]

Ian
[Ian runs]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 8) ( success x 3 )

Alexander
[Run!  Dex+Ath]

Dice: 6 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 10) ( success x 2 )

Kalen
[Run-run-run]

Dice: 5 d10 TN6 (1, 3, 4, 6, 9) ( success x 2 )

Ian
[Emma runs]

Dice: 7 d10 TN6 (3, 3, 8, 8, 9, 10, 10) ( success x 5 )

Ian
[Positions:

Emma: 10 yards from Jae-shin's goal

Elijah: 40 yards from Jae-shin's goal (Heather if you want to say Elijah moved to meet Jenn last turn that's fine)

Ian: 70 yards from Jae-shin's goal

Kalen and Alex: 80 yards from Jae-shin's goal

Grace: back with Jenn at the other goal]

Ian
[move to meet Emma, that is. >_>]