Touch Football mega thread
Apr. 13th, 2019 12:22 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
nola_eleanor posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
return_to_nolaThere was a field not too far from Phoenix Effect that was too small for all the various sports leagues in the city to have snapped up for weekend practices or games, but big enough for the fairly flexible game of touch football, so that's where they played. People came and went for most of the afternoon, though the game itself only lasted an hour and change. Almost everyone played, but there were several people watching, choosing to cheer or heckle or talk amongst themselves as it suited them.
When everyone got together enough to actually start the game, they divided into two teams, with Matteo as the referee. Zach's team was made up of Hazel, Max, Hanne, Nori, Nick, Alex, and Oliver; Kyle had Elspeth, Joel, Carrie, Caleb, Irene, Sam, and Elena on his team. It wasn't a blowout, but Zach's team won by a few touchdowns and were crowned the victors. Despite a couple minor accidents, everyone came out of it in one piece. More or less.
When everyone got together enough to actually start the game, they divided into two teams, with Matteo as the referee. Zach's team was made up of Hazel, Max, Hanne, Nori, Nick, Alex, and Oliver; Kyle had Elspeth, Joel, Carrie, Caleb, Irene, Sam, and Elena on his team. It wasn't a blowout, but Zach's team won by a few touchdowns and were crowned the victors. Despite a couple minor accidents, everyone came out of it in one piece. More or less.
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-22 01:51 am (UTC)Was this the sister Oliver had mentioned? If so, what a sweet way to bring it up. But Katie wasn’t going to push it. “I’m not really a sports person either. I just wanted to spend some time outside with nice people. So it’s lucky you sat next to me.”
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-22 03:08 am (UTC)Dani flushed a little, though she wasn't sure why. And Katie was clearly the nice one here. "I definitely don't spend enough time outside." Maybe she should try to study outside more.
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-22 07:07 am (UTC)"Me either! Look how pale my arm is," Katie said, holding her arm against Dani's for comparison; the brush against her skin felt electric, so she just grinned.
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-22 07:23 am (UTC)The spark set off by such a little touch took Dani by surprise. "I think you look perfect."
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-22 07:25 am (UTC)Perfect! Katie smiled at Dani, now with a softer edge to it, touched. "Thank you! So do you, though."
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-22 08:09 am (UTC)Dani had meant to work up to the whole talking about being Wanda thing, but now she was so distracted by how pretty Katie was and getting lost in her smile and a sudden surge of feelings that she completely forgot to mention it. Or say pretty much anything at all, really.
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-22 08:16 am (UTC)Dani was so sweet and shy and she didn't need to talk if she didn't want to! Katie could handle that. "I have my sketchpad here with me," she said, reaching over to pull it from the purse by her other side. "Because I'm an artist and a total cliche and sometimes I like to draw whatever I see, or whatever I'm inspired to draw by whatever I see. This morning I was hanging out with Caleb--" She pointed to him "--See? He's over there. He's kind of my brother in law. Well, it's a long and weird story. But anyway, I feel like every time I see him he's drenched in sunlight, so I think that's the next thing I'll draw. But what's great about knowing that is that I can skip the whole cliche thing right now, commit that image to memory, and just be here with you in the moment."
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-22 09:11 am (UTC)Dani had a hard time believing that anything about Katie was cliche, but she didn't interrupt. She liked listening to Katie talk, and how she made Dani want to see all her drawings even though she hadn't ever been particularly into art before. And even if Dani didn't already have a list of things she liked about Katie, she'd be grateful for how Katie didn't make her feel awkward or weird, just shared bits of herself like it was easy, like it was okay if Dani gathered them all up and kept them and cherished them. "I'm glad. That you're here with me."
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-23 01:08 am (UTC)Katie smiled; she felt like pure sunlight. "So am I. Really, so am I." This was a thing, right? They were vibing? This one of those moments when people aligned and looked at each other and thought, oh, that's what this is? But in case she was wrong, she didn't let the moment stretch on too long. "Oh, hey. So, right after I met Oliver, our mutual friend, I was drawing him. The colors are, I can't really explain why they're so important, but I felt like these belonged to him. And I wanted to sketch in movement, and so..." Katie flipped the pages to find her Oliver sketch, showing it to Dani. Really, it was Peter as she remembered him, grounded in Oliver's look now.
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-23 01:28 am (UTC)Dani reached out instinctively the touch the page, to follow the lines of movement with her fingers. Normally she would have asked first, if she'd even dared at all, but there he was, her brother. He was in the motion and the colors more than anything else. It was the first time she'd felt close to Pietro since she'd remembered him. It was a gift. "He looks like my brother here. You know him? A version of him?"
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-23 01:43 am (UTC)So she was the sister. Wanda. As well as being Dani. Katie nodded, watching her -- gently, even, encouraging her to take hold of the book. "I don't know the version that is Oliver, if that makes sense? His name is Peter, in the memories I have. We were friends. We went through some pretty intense stuff together. You can keep the sketch, if you want it?"
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-23 01:59 am (UTC)She pulled the sketchbook into her lap. It was strange--the longer she looked at it, the more of Katie she saw in it, like by looking at this picture of someone she knew so well, she could see the person who drew him, too. "Are you sure?" Dani asked, looking away from the sketch for the first time and back up at Katie. "Oliver isn't the version I know, either. But he misses his Wanda like I miss my Pietro." Almost like. He hadn't lost his Wanda like she'd lost her Pietro.
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-23 02:03 am (UTC)"I'm sure," Katie promised. "Sometimes art just belongs to someone, and this just belongs to you." She paused, thoughtful. "It's hard, right? When they're who you know, but they're not quite who you know. Like Sam." She pointed Sam out, in case Dani didn't know him. "There's a version of him where I'm from, we were close, but where he's from, we had this different relationship. He looks at me and sees a whole lifetime I don't know, and I'm so glad he's here but I miss the one I knew, you know? But it's also so weird, all of it." Maybe she was saying this all wrong; maybe she should have introduced herself properly, as Jean; maybe everything she said sounded harsh. But it was hard, and she had felt lonely in a way she couldn't describe, not sharing a history with these people she... you know... shared history with.
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-23 02:28 am (UTC)Dani slowly pulled the page from the sketchbook, so so careful both to preserve the drawing that already meant to much to her and to respect this amazing gift that Katie had given her. She was so touched. And then everything Katie was saying made sense, and felt so like what Dani had been experiencing. Dani reached out, lightly touching Katie's wrist, this tentative contact that she felt like they both needed. "It's so hard," she agreed. "I want to be there for Oliver. He feels like my brother, and I miss him, and I want him to be okay. But he isn't my brother, really. He doesn't know what we went through. He doesn't know me, and I don't know all these people who are important to him."
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-23 02:32 am (UTC)"Yes," Katie breathed, twisting her hand to take Dani's in hers. "That's-- I feel the same about Sam, Scott, his name was Scott. We were married, but where I'm from we just... we were interested in each other but it wasn't a marriage, you know? I don't know how to be the Jean he married, I'm just the Jean I am, but I'm also Katie, and I date girls so like, that's a whole weird thing." She glanced at Dani. "So I guess I'm saying I know how you feel. I wish I knew you in our other lives or whatever they are, but I'm glad we can relate to each other in this way... because it's lonely, right? In this almost space."
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-23 02:43 am (UTC)With her hand in Katie's, Dani felt stronger than she ever had in this life. She was normally so reserved, so careful, but it felt like everything was pouring out of her and that was okay. "I wish I knew you there too. My twin died but Oliver's didn't and I don't know how to be the Wanda who didn't lose her other half. I'm so lonely all the time except maybe right now."
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-23 02:46 am (UTC)Katie held tightly to Dani's hand, but then that wasn't enough anymore, and she let go -- but only so she could pull Dani close and hold her. "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry you lost your brother. I'm sorry that you found him but it's not the same and that you have to feel guilty for that, as well as probably a lot of new grief." As she said that, she remembered that she too had died on someone who loved her; she filed this particular piece of empathy away as something she owed to Sam, too. "I can't fix this but I can promise that you don't have to be so lonely anymore. You have me."
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-23 03:07 am (UTC)Dani would usually be so self-conscious about all of this, but she wasn't--she didn't even notice that she wasn't, because it felt so right. She could let Katie hold her, and she could hold onto Katie right back, and everything would be a little bit better. "You have me too." She couldn't remember the last time she'd wanted to share herself with someone new, but Katie felt different. Katie felt special, and trustworthy, and careful with everything she was given, and Dani wanted that. Dani wanted her. "You don't have to be their Jean or anyone but you."
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-23 03:11 am (UTC)Having Dani comfort her right back was something Katie hadn't quite expected, and that compassion touched her in all the right ways. "You too. You're amazing in all the ways you already are."
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-23 03:32 am (UTC)"When you say it, I almost believe it." Maybe she'd even get all the way there, if she could keep her head on Katie's shoulder, where it felt like it belonged.
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-23 03:41 am (UTC)"I believe it," Katie replied, and she meant it. She also didn't seem to be able to let go.
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-23 04:16 am (UTC)When Dani finally pulled away several moments later, it was regretfully. "I have somewhere I should be, but I don't really want to go."
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-23 04:35 am (UTC)Katie’s face fell, but only because she couldn’t believe she had to say goodbye so soon. She shook her head quickly to recalibrate, offered Dani a smile. “Would you want to see me again soon? Just you and me?” A date.
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-23 04:40 am (UTC)Dani didn't blame her, she felt the same way. She was only leaving because she hadn't meant to stay this long to begin with and she worried she'd miss Ian completely if she stayed any longer. "Yes. Please."
Re: Katie
Date: 2019-04-23 04:52 am (UTC)"Let me give you my number... you can text me when you're free and we can talk more." And maybe touch more. That would be good.
Re: Katie
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