Different Name, Same Game

[Akilles Torbin]

Eric entered the locker room carrying his stuff in a dark blue duffel bag. He nodded and offered a greeting to anyone he made eye contact with, but mostly remained silent as he changed into his practice uniform. Then he leaned down to tie up the laces on his shoes.

Today was Eric's first day of futbol, no, soccer practice. He had never thought of why America had a different name for futbol than the sport's European inventors, but he was sure wondering it now. Maybe the coach would know. Eric made a mental note to ask the coach later.

The snow and cold weather outside made it impossible to play soccer outdoors, but Eric was alright with that. He had been playing only indoors soccer since had had turned twelve, opting to focus his efforts on rugby during the warm months.

When his laces were all done up, Eric raised himself up to his full height. He stashed his street clothes into his new locker, happy that he would not need to carry the bag in every day. An eager expression on his face, Eric exited the locker room. he wondered what the Hammel soccer team did for warm-ups.

[Deleted]

The recent snows made it difficult to actually play the game, but that didn’t mean that the soccer team couldn’t get together and practice. Routine exercises, mostly. Sometimes they’d do an actual game in the gymnasium, but that place was set up mostly for basketball and volleyball and pep rallies and other basic PE activities.

Physical activities were something that Jackson really enjoyed, though he much preferred team sports to ones you could do by yourself. It was more fun that way, to him, because you shared in the experience with your teammates. If one of you succeeded, then everyone did. You could hold some manner of pride when your team won, and share in the victory with them, even if you yourself didn’t seem to contribute much. Jackson didn’t have too much of that problem, though. He was always an active participant, and liked to think that he brought a lot to his team, but he knew it was a problem for a lot of the less athletic people, who were often picked last to join a team. He liked winning for their sake as well. Give them something to feel good about. Right?

Anyway, Jackson was already out in the gym, early to practice as usual, when the new kid stepped out onto the floor. Jackson knew he was new right away, because he hadn’t seen him before! And also because the advisor told him to keep an eye out for him. You know, be a guide or something and make sure he integrates and knows what he’s doing etc. So when Jackson spotted the new kid, he beamed out a smile and jogged across the floor to go greet him, picking up his ball along the way. “Hi!” he said brightly. “You’re new, am I right? I’m Jackson. The teacher told me to take care of you today.” He extended a hand. “What’s your name?” he asked, leaning forward slightly with interest.

[Akilles Torbin]

Eric nodded toward Jackson as the latter introduced himself. "Hey", Eric responded, offering a friendly smile, "Call me Eric". He tentatively took Jackson's hand and shook it. Not that Eric was nervous or shy, but he had learned long ago that he needed to be gentle when he shook people's hands.

When Eric spoke, he spoke with a strange accent, a dialect that sounded like an odd combination of a Swedish and Italian accent; however, his words and meaning were clearly understandable.

"I'm new to the team", Eric continued to introduce himself, "I played some fu-soccer back home, but nothing too serious. Nice to meet you".

[Deleted]

Eric. That was a good, strong name. Jackson liked it. No doubt Eric didn't have any issues with a name like that. Not like "Osiris", named after some ancient king or God or hero or whatever it was from. Jackson heard the story once, and only remembered bits and pieces of it. Something about coming back from the dead and being saved by his Queen or something of the sort. Oh, well, it didn't matter. They were here to play soccer, not talk about the etymology of names.

He smiled when Eric spoke, noting the accent, and the almost slip of calling soccer by it's arguably more common name. That was a conversation Jackson's aunts and uncles engaged in often enough back at their home.

"That's okay," he replied to Eric's admission to not having anything serious under his belt. "We have tryouts, but it's pretty lax because...well, we only have ourselves to compete against, so I guess it'd be silly to care too much about ability and stuff, y'know?" Otherwise, they might have problems being able to form even one team, much less two. It was all for fun and recreation, not competition. "So, what kind of stuff have you done? Do you play any other sports?" It'd be cool if he did, because then he and Jackson could play together there too! Jackson spun the soccer ball between his fingers, smiling brightly.

[Akilles Torbin]

Eric nodded, understanding the relaxed atmosphere regarding the soccer team. It had been the same at Kosher, where the lack of competition had prevented the team from taking itself too seriously. Eric had missed the competition, and he still did, but he understood why other schools would be reluctant to play a sports teams who's players had superhuman powers. Maybe there would be a chance for Hammel and Kosher to actually play each other in the future, but Eric doubted that such a game would ever actually happen. Instead, he contented himself with just the love of the game itself.

"I played lots of sports", Eric answered to Jackson's question, "My favorite was rugby, but after my powers went off, couldn't play so much sports any more". Cocking his head to the side, Eric continued, "What about you? Do you play other sports?"

[Deleted]

Jackson missed the competition as well, the kind that he used to get from his basketball team when he was young. It was a shame they couldn’t compete against other schools, but Jackson couldn’t understand the reason. Too many meta kids had powers that would give them an unfair advantage. That was unfortunate. He wished there was some way to get around that, to make sure that meta kids didn’t use their powers during the game..

“Really? I’ve never played rugby.” Jackson smiled, returning Eric’s statements with a nod. “I play basketball too. I tried football once…American football,” he elaborated, trying to emphasize the distinction between American football and futbol. “But it didn’t really take.” Jackson wasn’t exactly built like a linebacker or a quarterback.

[Akilles Torbin]

Akilles nodded at Jackson's statement, thinking back to the American football he had seen on the television. "Your football looks like a tough sport", he commented, "Very violent". Eric had never been very interested in basketball, but he knew it was another popular sport in America. Maybe he would have a chance to learn it.

For now, however, Eric reminded himself that his focus needed to be on soccer. That was why he was here after all. He gestured towards the ball spinning in Jackson's hand. "Ready to start?"