Goofing Off

[Rhys Rockwood]

After a day in the office, Rhys was thrilled to be outside again. This was normally the time he'd spend going to a gym or to a park for a fun, but he mixed it up today. He grabbed his bag on his way out of the office, changed in the bathroom, then headed down to the training field. It took a considerable amount of effort, but he moved one of the soccer goals into place and retrieved his ball from his bag.

He put himself through a warm up that would exhaust most people before even bothering the ball further. His sleeveless shirt clung to him as he ran laps, sprints, agility drills...anything he thought important. The ball bounced between and in front of his feet as he moved around the field.

After popping a shot into the goal, Rhys jogged up to it and hopped up, catching his hands on the cross bar for a few pull ups and dropping back down. He dribbled the ball back out to midfield then turned and headed back toward the goal at a full sprint. When he was close enough, he pinned the ball with one foot to the back of his other leg and hopped to arc the ball overhead. Another quick two steps and he hopped again, twisting nearly upside to kick the ball while in midair before crashing to ground and sliding through grass a few feet with a laugh.

He picked himself up and smiled when he saw the ball in the net before jogging to his bag for a drink of water. Rhys glanced around the area, wondering if he'd picked a dull day or if there was anyone around who would be interested in playing around a little. Almost everything was more fun with someone else

[Jez Steele]

Jez left her gym bag in the girls locker room and took her bo staff outside. She didn't want to be in the training room today and had decided to go outside. Jez walked towards the soccer field and stopped when she saw someone running across the field. He wasn't a student she knew that for sure. He looked vaguely familiar though she couldn't place it. Jez was caught up in the wonder of watching him with the soccer ball. She had never been good at soccer, preferring her bo staff to a ball that could run away from her.

[Rhys Rockwood]

Rhys smiled and waved when he saw the girl with a staff. She looked a little young to be on the staff, so she was likely a student. There was no way to be sure without asking, but it was definitely better to play things safe and not get fired for being an idiot. "Hey there!" he called out. It never hurt to try to entice someone into playing a bit. "Any interest in a kicking a ball around for a little bit? No worries if you don't have a clue about it. I can teach you the basics easily enough," he said loudly enough that he was certain she could hear him. He smiled again before heading back to the goal to retrieve the ball he'd left there.

[Jez Steele]

Jez bit her bottom lip for a moment before setting her staff down and walked towards him, "Sure, but you'll be nice right? I've never played before."

Jez looked down at the soccer ball as if it were going to attack her, even though she knew that it wouldn't. She glanced up at the man, he looked distantly familiar, like she knew him from somewhere but didn't personally know him. Jez walked towards the ball and kicked it with the side of her foot like her P.E. teacher had taught her in middle school, more control of the ball or something.

[Rhys Rockwood]

Rhys received the ball easily and passed it back lazily. "You seem to know something about passing a ball. You didn't just kick at it. That's good," he commented, waiting for the ball to come back to him. The next time she passed it to him, he slipped his toe underneath the ball and popped it up into midair, bouncing it off each thigh before letting it fall to the ground. He was a little bit of a show off sometimes...a lot of the time. Most of it, really. "So, I'm Rhys. I'm a recruiter here. You are?" he asked as he pushed the ball back to his new acquaintance.

[Jez Steele]

Jez kicked the ball back to him, she was a little off so he had to reach for it. She bit her bottom lip again but when he started showing off she laughed softly, covering her mouth before she stopped the ball and with her tongue sticking out between her lips she tried it as well. Well she got the ball in the air... that was about it. She glared at the ball as if it were the balls fault before she kicked the ball back to him, "I'm Jez. I'm a senior here. I think I've seen you around before."

[Rhys Rockwood]

"A senior, eh? Well, considering I work here, you may have seen me in the halls now and again, but it's more likely you saw me here several years ago when I was a student. You're a senior, so you probably were like twelve or thirteen," Rhys explained with a smile. "I'm a little young to be on staff, but I seem to be okay at the job." He shrugged and juggled the ball a few more times before passing it back to her. While waiting for the ball to come to him again, Rhys stretched his arms and back a little. "Since you're a senior, have you put any thought into what you're doing after graduation?"

[Jez Steele]

Jez wished she had her staff in her hands, something to entertain her hands with. She kicked the ball back to him before jogging over and picking up her staff, she rested it on her shoulders then flipped her hands over it to hold it in place. "I'm not sure yet. I want to go back home for at least a year but I don't want to leave her forever. I think," she paused for a moment, "I think I might want to come back here and be a trainer."

[Rhys Rockwood]

Rhys gave her staff an odd look for a brief moment then just smiled; everyone had their eccentricities. His fascination with running and weight lifting was his. "Any thoughts about college? Never hurts to further your education. As for coming back to be a trainer, I've thought about it myself. I'm sure at some point I'll get my fill of travel and want to really put down roots. If I can shift jobs and stay here, that would be perfect." He played around with the ball a little more for a few moments then stopped and rested his foot on it. "I don't mean to be offensively blunt with the question, but what's your special ability?" he asked, seemingly out of nowhere.

[Jez Steele]

Jez thought about it for a moment, since he had the ball she took her staff down and started spinning it in her hands, almost unconsciously, "I've sent in letters to a few different schools, University of Dublin, the college here, NYU and UCLA. But," she paused for a moment, leaning on her staff, "I don't know which one I want to go to most."

When he suddenly asked what her power was she stopped in mid motion and stared at him for a moment. After a few moments Jez smiled, "I wish everyone were as blunt as you. I despise it when people beat around the bush. I'm a feline shape shifter, big cats are my specialty but I'm working on smaller cats as well. What about you? What's your special ability?"

[Rhys Rockwood]

"Big cat shifter? Nice. Pretty animals, fast, strong, deadly. My power is basically super endurance. Think of the Energizer bunny. I can just keep going and going and going," he said with a laugh. "Makes working out easier, so it's a breeze to stay in shape so long as I put the time into it, and I don't mind doing that. Being outdoors in parks or forests or on a field like this is a nice place to feel at home, and there's plenty of space to be active. Then I can eat an energy bar or twelve and do it all over again." Rhys smirked and passed the ball back to her, wondering if she was paying enough attention to trap it or not, which would be at least a little amusing.

[Jez Steele]

Jez burst out laughing when he said that he was like the Energize Bunny. No one had ever compared themselves to the Energizer Bunny and she liked it. She was a tad busy laughing that she missed the ball when it came her way and it rolled a ways away. Jez sighed before she turned and slammed her staff into the ground before using that momentum to push herself up and flip in the air, she landed in front of the ball before it got to far and she kicked it back to him. Maybe a little harder than she meant to.

[Rhys Rockwood]

Rhys caught the harder pass with his feet easily enough, quickly popping it up into the air to start juggling it with his feet, knees, and head again. "What, did I say something funny?" he asked rhetorically, smirking. The Energizer joke was usually worth a couple of laughs at the very least, and she seemed to have enjoyed it. "That was a nice little move you pulled there. Must take some real strength and agility...almost like your inner cat is showing off," he commented before letting the ball drop to the ground and passing it back toward her lazily. It was the kind of pass his coaches years ago would have chewed him out for.

[Jez Steele]

Jez grinned, "Two of my brothers used to tease the oldest about being the Energizer Bunny, for different reasons, much different reasons."

When he mentioned her inner cat Jez grinned slightly, "I've always had an inner cat, it was just at age eleven that my inner cat started coming out."

She caught the ball then kicked it back to him with a teasing grin, "Wanna see if you can pull any cool moves with my staff?"

[Rhys Rockwood]

"I likely can't do anything you can't, so I'll pass on the staff, but I'll bite on the mention of your brother being the Energizer bunny. There has to be a story behind that, I'm betting," Rhys replied as he popped the ball up and caught it. "If you're gonna tell me the story, tell me while I change out of my cleats," he said as he headed toward the sideline. He was thinking about heading home soon or at possibly just going for a walk. The training field was pretty quiet that afternoon, and it seemed unlikely to pick up. Maybe he could get a small game some other time. For now, he could just keeping with Jez.