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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on May 10, 2012 14:14:46 GMT -5
It was cold. Way too cold. There was no snow, no brutally harsh bitter wind, but it was more than obvious winter was practically here. Lark shoved her hands into her hoodie pockets and bunched her shoulders to try and stay warm, though it was rather futile. If only I could manipulate heat right about now… It was one reason she wanted to go to the Academy college. She wanted to continue to strengthen her elemental powers while at the same time stick to the Hollow. This was her home. She walked down the sidewalk towards the recreational center downtown in hopes to find something to do with a few friends. The air was chilly, but with a little running around she would warm up in no time. With winter break coming up fast and people graduating, Lark wanted to be able to have an opportunity to hang out with a few people before that point. Some were going away on vacation and others were probably going to leave the Hollow for however long. It was kinda depressing. I wonder how this Christmas is going to go… Her heart ached. Last year she spent it with Samson and Beatrice. That couldn’t happen again.
“Can I help you?” A friendly voice reached her ears upon entering the recreational center, Lark glancing over to see a woman behind a desk. She was smiling and cheerful. Lark instinctively smiled a little and nodded. “I’m just wondering if any of the fields are open today?” The woman looked down at the desk where a sheet of paper lay before looking back up with a nod. “Sure! The soccer and football fields are open for a few more hours. Did you bring your own equipment?” Lark shook her head and shrugged; in her efforts to merely get out of the house and find something to do, she forgot to bring a ball or Frisbee along with her. Oh well, this was the recreational center! They were bound to have something she could use. “No, I don’t.” The woman tilted her head and pointed to a hallway on the opposite end of the room. “Okay, go down that hallway and grab whatever you need. Just be sure and sign the sheet, and return it when you’re finished.” Lark patted the desk to let her know she understood before turning and walking down the hallway. She grabbed a soccer ball from the rack, filled out the form they requested, and then wandered out onto the soccer field. She shivered upon going back outside.
There were already a few kids on the other side of the field playing, but they had on uniforms. Possibly practicing? Lark kept to the other end of the field and dropped the ball on the ground, glancing at the team before dribbling the ball between her legs. The cold made her stiff and uncomfortable, but the movements were helping. She made a few kicks into the goal and ran around for a few minutes, juggling the ball on her knees and smiling with contentment. Eventually the team shuffled off of the field, and a couple of random people wandered in afterwards. “Hey!” One called out to Lark, stopping her mid-dribble. “Can we play with ya?” In response, Lark kicked the ball in their direction with a quirked eyebrow and a smirk. “Yeah, sure. I don’t mind it.” They split into teams, one on two; the other ‘team’ was one short. They weren’t opposed to that of course, being as they weren’t playing for trophies or money (which would have been pretty neat). “Maybe someone will join us! We can always just have them jump in whenever they want.” For the first while they spent their time chatting and Lark introduced herself before they decided to get started. They figured that, while they got acquainted, it would give someone else a chance to possibly seize the opportunity to join them for a small game.
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Post by MATTHEW FUYU CHANG on May 16, 2012 16:36:56 GMT -5
| [atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 425px;] His lungs were clearly not okay with the state of the air outside of his rather toasty apartment as they felt like they were going to freeze over the moment Matt left his building. He had slipped up on his rather lax regiment of exercise once school started getting real, and he had told himself that he was going to get back into it today, and with no excuses. His lungs desperately wanted to give him an excuse to just go back inside, but giving up was not an option. So, tucking his headphones into his ears and making sure his mp3 player was secure in his pocket, he skipped getting into his car and got on the bus instead, taking him to a stop a short while away from the rec center downtown. His plan for the afternoon was to jog a good distance to warm himself up, and then spend the rest of his time at the rec center kicking a soccer ball around. Hopefully there were people already there so he could engage them in a friendly match, but if not, that was cool. He just missed his most beloved of sports. Once he was off the bus and found which way he should be going, he started to run, going at a slow pace at first so his lungs wouldn't cry mutiny. But, just as he figured, his body grew to adjust to the biting cold of the air and his breath came a little easier, limbs loosening as it fell into the natural rhythm of his running. He probably looked like a crazy person, out running on a blustery day like it was, but it did a body good or something like that. Besides, it seemed like a good idea to lose a few pounds before going home for break so it didn't look like he totally disregarded his father's warning about the freshman fifteen. He'd never hear the end of it.
He kept his pace and steps light as he drew closer to the rec center, only having a moment of slight panic as he dug around in his pocket to see if he remembered his membership card, reassured to find it it tucked in the fold of his phone. Slowing down to a walk, he opened the door to the rec center and was greeted by the desk staff. She was there most times he was, it seemed -- he'd have to learn her name one of these days or something. As it were, she smiled at him and waved a little, prompting him to smile and wave back, going up to the desk to make a little bit of small talk. 'How are you today? It's cold out there, eh? If you're here for the soccer field, there's already a few people out there, but you can take a ball out there yourself if you want. Just remember to sign out your equipment!' Matt considered the fact that there were already people out there, but decided to go and sign out a ball of his own anyway, just in case they weren't the type to share. He dribbled the ball down the hall towards the doors to the field, much to the chagrin of the staff, and even the blast of cold couldn't stop him from running out onto the field, kicking his ball around.
Looking up, he saw a small group of players running about, kicking the ball between them. There were only three of them, but it did look like they were playing teams, which meant that there was a team of one, which didn't seem all that fair, really. "Hey!" |
[/color] he called out to them, waving his arms around to get their attention. "Are you short a player? Mind if I join?"[/color] He began a slow jog towards them on the other side of the field, faces becoming more familiar as he drew nearer, and he recognized the girl's face, someone he had seen walking around the Academy before. He smiled at them as he joined up with the player flying solo, introducing himself to them all before getting right back to the game.[/div][/td][/tr][/table][/center] |
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on May 16, 2012 23:20:42 GMT -5
Lark was competitive by nature, and loved a good game of soccer or football among friends. Of course these two were mere acquaintances—though one did look rather familiar, possibly from school—but that probably made it better anyway. Fires did have a tendency to have rather short tempers, and although Lark managed to channel it well enough during sports it did have a tendency to flare up. She just hoped that there wouldn’t be an issue like that today. After shaking the their hands and kicking the ball back and forth a few times, Lark turned to see someone else approaching them with a soccer ball of their own. She lifted her chin and smiled at him in a sort of welcoming gesture. “Yo,” She greeted. He looked vaguely familiar but she could not be entirely sure. The guy standing next to her nodded eagerly. He was by himself on his team so he seemed more than happy to take on a teammate. “Sure thing bro! These two versus myself…didn’t seem all that fair.” Lark chuckled and shook her head. “You said you were up for playing, brah. No whining on the field.”
She kicked the ball towards Matt to let the other team start off. It did not take long for Lark to warm up against the chilly weather, though she still wore her jacket as they played. She managed to snag the ball from the Water graduate and shuffled in the other direction. “Too slow!” Lark teased, glancing back at him with a smirk before going down the field and making an attempt at the goal. Matthew’s teammate blocked the kick and kicked it back towards them. “Damn,” She muttered before letting her teammate take the ball into his own hands (or feet) to see what he could do. Lark merely ran a fair distance behind him, watching their opponents with a competitive eye. After quite a bit of the back and forth, they slowed up to take a small break before going at it again. She stripped off her jacket and slumped down in the grass with a sigh. “You guys are pretty good,” The girl complemented, slight of breath from the cold and the running around. She glanced over at their newest addition to the game and offered a firm hand. Though she was not always good with being overly social, introducing herself was sort of a given. “Th’ names Lark,” She said. “Who are you? You’re pretty good with your feet.”
[Feel free to have him take the ball back and make goals and what-not. :3 Just didn't want to have a bunch of posts with like, no conversation. XD]
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Post by MATTHEW FUYU CHANG on May 18, 2012 21:42:14 GMT -5
Matt barely had time to introduce himself -- actually, he really didn't have any time to introduce himself before the girl of the group kicked the ball towards him. Thinking it was just to warm up, Matt had started kicking it around a little but when she, in turn, stole the ball back and tore down the field with it, Matt figured that it wasn't for practice, no. Instead, he raced after her and her teammate, his own teammate running ahead of him a little, managing to save the ball before it made the goal. "Nice save, man!" Matt called out, though he never took his eyes off the other team. Since that first steal, Matt was on his guard -- they really weren't just playing around, or something, which suited Matt just fine. The competitor in him slowly came to life as they played, taking over by instinct as the four of them ran around, chasing a ball, saving goals, and hopefully trying to get one in the net. Despite the chill in the air, Matt was finally warm as his body moved, pumpking blood through his veins. He passed the ball to his teammate, who ran towards the net, passing to each other every so often but always getting it stolen, or missing the goal by just a tiny bit every time. Matt didn't really mind -- he loved just playing after so long going without.
When it came time for a break, Matt took a swig of his water and merely flopped onto the floor next to the rest of them. He grinned at Lark, the name coming to mind for some reason -- he didn't think he knew her much, if at all, but he now definitely knew he had seen her around before, back when he was still in high school. Once she introduced herself, though, a few memories of seeing her randomly throughout the Academy finally floated to the front of his mind and he nodded, smiling a little bit. "Oh, hey! I think I know you..."
[/color] Matt trailed off, not quite knowing how to ask her if she attended the Academy without giving themselves away, in case their two compatriots were not Elementals. He thought they might be, but better safe than sorry, or something. "Anyway, I'm Matt. And hey, you're not so bad yourself, miss. You've got some pretty sweet moves!"[/color] Matthew said -- it was clear from watching her play that she definitely knew what she was doing out on the field. He then gestured to all of them, his and her teammates included. "Do you guys all know each other or something?"[/color] [ word, no prob! yeah, feel free to do whatever. i hadn't expected writing a soccer thread would be all action, funnily enough. >_> ][/justify][/color][/font][/blockquote][/blockquote] |
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on May 22, 2012 10:57:07 GMT -5
“Damn!” Lark cursed quietly as the goalie made the save, but decided to take advantage of the lack of teammates and the empty field to play to her advantage. Having fewer people in her line of sight made it infinitely easier to run down the field without a bunch of people in the way. Granted that was the whole point of the game, but why not use the small teams for a boost? They stole the ball away again, made a few more attempts at the goal, and to her competitive happiness, missed most of the time. She tapped the ball with her shoe and whirled around to dodge her opponent and streamed down the field to try and make another shot, but it was caught easily enough. Had this been a real game she might have been really pissed off, but blew it off as best she could. Besides, the cold snagging at her lungs somewhat dwindled any profound energy she might have. “Well that was a bit of a stalemate,” Lark panted a little bit, placing her hands on her hips in order to catch her breath. “If I ever get a team together, I know who I’m gonna call.” Ghost busters? Whoops, now that catchy jingle was stuck in her head.
The girl tilted her head when Matthew claimed to know her; it was not to be rude, but Lark was not the most social creature. She remembered a few names and faces but not enough to make her knowledgeable with everyone at the Academy. He did look vaguely familiar but not enough to make her snap her fingers and exclaim “Aha!” or anything like that. Instead she merely smiled and glanced over to see the other two boys chatting with one another about something to see if they were listening. “Maybe. You go to the Academy?” Most everyone in the Hollow assumed the castle was a school for gifted students; gifted meaning they excelled in their studies and practically had the IQ of Einstein. She kept her question casual and conversational just in case. If he said no, then she would shrug it off and let their chat drift elsewhere. “Nice to meet ya.” Lark lifted her chin a bit with a faint smirk of acknowledgement. “Thanks. Though calling me ‘miss’ makes me feel old. Lark will do me just fine.” She could not stand to be labeled as “ma’am” or “madam” or “miss” because it felt weird. There was really no other reason besides that. That, and as she said, it made her feel old. Only the kids she worked with called her “Miss Lark” and could get away with it. The kid behind her leaned over at Matt’s question and shook his head. “Nah! We just showed up and asked to play. We’ll actually need to be leaving soon, though. Thanks for letting us join you.” Lark nodded and leaned back on her hands, sighing. “It was no problem.”
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Post by MATTHEW FUYU CHANG on Jun 7, 2012 14:00:32 GMT -5
Matthew waited until their respective teammates got up and left, saying his own nice to meet you in return, turning his head to watch them disappear into the rec center building. It wasn't until they were far enough for him to be absolute sure they wouldn't hear their conversation when Matt replied to Lark's question about attending the Academy -- of course, there was the possibility that their teammates went to the Academy, too, but better safe than sorry. Matt was pretty sure speaking about it out loud like this was probably not a good call at all. "Yeah, I do. You do too, right?" Matt asked. He was now 80% sure he knew her and seeing as the Academy was how and where he spent most of his time around Maple Hollow, back when he was in high school, he figured he had to have seen her there. Shame he didn't know anything else about her, though, since that wasn't very much to go on at all. Well, he knew that she had some pretty kickass soccer skills, but that wasn't all that helpful, either, if he was being honest. "I think I've seen you around there, before. Well, I graduated last year, but you know...when I still went to the Academy,"
[/color] Matt clarified. He probably sounded like a total idiot. Now that they weren't moving, the frigid air wasn't as comfortable as before, biting at his nose and fingertips, despite his gloves. It really had been way too long since the last time he had played sports at all, judging by the way his heart was still racing, in part to the adrenaline, but he figured some of it was due to his being ridiculously out of shape. "I hope you weren't joking about getting a team together. It'd be hella fun to play regularly again,"[/color] Matt told her, thinking back to when he actually played real soccer matches and had that sort of competitive edge in him. Probably some random summer he went back to the motherland and played with the teens in the neighborhood. "I wonder why the Academy doesn't have sports teams or anything?"[/color] he wondered out loud -- too easy to cheat, maybe. For Wind students, anyway, they could just use the wind to blow the ball into goals.[/justify][/color][/font][/blockquote][/blockquote] |
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Jun 8, 2012 12:16:25 GMT -5
Lark stretched out slightly, feeling a bit stiff from the cold after sitting there for a time. Her body was slowly going back to normal and the chilly weather had had an effect on her muscles by this point. She adjusted her hair a bit before glancing at him; he had waited until the other players left the field to actually speak to her. "Yep. Fire. You?" She would not have responded in such a manner had the others stuck around, but being as it was just the two of them there was no need for subliminal messages or cryptic answers. Lark rattled her brain to try and place Matthew's face among the students at the school but nothing instantly brought her to remember who he was. If it was in passing then there was a chance she forgot. Lark did not allow herself to feel guilty about it because, well, it was not exactly controllable. "Oh, well it's definitely possible. Been there since ninth grade so there's a strong chance you have. You go to the Academy college?" If he did then Lark still could not use that to help her figure out if she had seen him at some point before. A gust of wind blew by and caused her to shiver, the sweat that formed on her skin now making her ten times colder than she was before. Oh how she wished it were summer. Or at least spring. Then there would at least be hope of the weather warming up.
"I think it would be really fun, actually," Lark replied, mind now buzzing with the idea. How could she go about that anyway? "Maybe we could like, do a recreational team or something? We might have to talk to someone who works here to find out how to get that set up though." Who knew? Maybe this would become a popular thing and they would be able to create the first soccer rec league in the Hollow. It would not be a huge deal and she had a feeling that it might not be extremely popular but the venture would be fun none the less. Give them something to do, at least. "I don't know." Lark shrugged, never having paid much attention to that fact. She liked sports but being as she never attempted to be on an actual team the thought never crossed her mind. "Maybe it's because the Academy is supposed to remain hidden from humans and it would be kinda hard to have competitive sports if you can't play with other schools?" That could be a possibility. The Academy was meant to remain a secret; if they were to try and do sports, then the teams would have to remain within the school. The competition would be minimal and it could potentially cause a lot of problems among the elements as well. There was enough tension between them as it was. Sports would more than likely make things worse. "So you'd be interested in starting up some sort of team deal?" She asked, turning her head towards Matthew with a small smile. "We could at least try and see how it goes. Can't hurt anything, I don't think."
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Post by MATTHEW FUYU CHANG on Jun 14, 2012 13:32:26 GMT -5
Matthew shook his head no, tugging the sleeves of his shirt back down to protect his arms from the cold wind, now that they weren't moving and letting the chilly winter air assault them. He tried to search the recesses of his mind for Lark, maybe seeing her sometime, somewhere, at the Academy, around Maple Hollow, but he couldn't come up with anything and felt a little bad about it. Once she mentioned her element, though, he tensed up a little bit -- it was no big surprise that Fires and Waters didn't get along, obviously, but things had been so pleasant already and Matt didn't know if she'd unleash her claws the moment he told her what his element was. She didn't seem like the type, for sure, judging by the conversation they were having, at any rate, but he decided to keep his guard, just in case. "No, I opted to go to a different college nearby, and commute. My sister's in 11th grade, though. I don't know if you'd know her, though..." Matthew trailed off as his mind began to piece something he had heard together. Maybe it was around the same time that Josh had switched sides, but he remembered someone mentioning a girl who had done the same, and he wondered if this was that girl. But then he couldn't figure out a proper way to ask without being invasive. "And I'm a Water,"
[/color] he finally said, deciding to just let it go and see what would happen. He doubted anything could be done here, in the rec center, of all places, but he wasn't sure if he had just inadvertently put Sandra in the hypothetical line of fire. When the talk turned back to soccer, though, and how making something like a recreational league would be fun for theh community, Matthew decided that he liked the girl after all. Soccer, man. Speaking his language. "I think it would be a really good idea, definitely. I know we can't be the only soccer fans in the Hollow,"[/color] Matthew said, thinking about the other guys that had just left the field, and he was sure he'd seen some other people out here playing from time to time when he came to practice on his own. They'd have to advertise the hell out of it and see if they could get ways to garner more interest, but it definitely seemed like a good idea to him to keep it away from the Academy. Just knowing that Lark was of a rival element had sent him on some weird defensive streak -- he wasn't sure how it'd be like if there were competitive teams involved, and on second thought, he didn't really want to know. It'd probably just jumpstart the war. "And even if we don't get enough members for full-pitch teams, maybe we could change it to futsal instead?"[/color] That was what his friends back home did, whenever they were a few members short. Teams of five were always more attainable than eleven. "Plus, we could play indoors instead, and not have to deal with this hellish weather,"[/color] Matthew added, kind of as an incentive, though mostly to curse the biting wind chill currently stinging at his nose. [/justify][/color][/font][/blockquote][/blockquote] |
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Post by LARK MARIE HARPER on Jun 16, 2012 1:24:06 GMT -5
Lark was completely oblivious to the fact that stating her element set Matthew on edge. It was not that she expected him to know who she was or what side she was on, more like her focus was on relaxing after their soccer game and considering going inside to find something else to do as opposed to turning into icicles. She lifted her chin in understanding and nodded. "Oh, I see. Didn't feel like sticking around at the Academy, huh?" Not all of those who graduated highschool at the Academy wound up staying there for college; some degrees and areas of interest were only available at certain places and there was really no choice but to leave and pick a different school. Lark was still not sure what she wanted to do so the Academy college would be a safe bet. "I might know her." Lark shrugged. "What's her name?" His sister was in the same grade as she was, so there was a chance that they at least had a class together. She was not always the most social person so she did not remember or recognize everyone she came across but there were a few that stood out in her mind. Usually because they did something to stand out, like Yeager dousing her with water in the bathroom. She would have never remembered much of him otherwise. Speaking of Waters...Lark raised an eyebrow and smiled at him. "Ohh. Well, no worries here. Side-switching and all that." She pointed at herself lightly, shrugging as though it were no big deal. It had not been an easy deal but it was worth it all in the end. Being able to see and talk to her best friend freely on a daily basis was the best thing in the world.
"Right? I think we could manage to pull something together. Maybe we can have the rec center put out fliers or something." She shrugged, but the eagerness to see this come to fruition was on her face. Lark was a competitive person by nature and loved the thrill of sports, so this was an exciting prospect! It was strange that being active kept her temper on the down low. Possibly because it released a lot of pent up energy and kept her moving. Focused. That's not to say that she won't lash out if someone intentionally fucked up the game or tried to cause drama, but it helped for the most part. Lark nodded eagerly. "Yeah! We could do that. Smaller teams don't change the sport and the fun of it all, anyway." Having five players or eleven did not really matter, so long as they could have their fun. "And playing inside sounds ten times better than being out here. Definitely not a fan of the colder weather." She laughed a little bit and shuddered as the wind brushed past. As soon as she mastered manipulating heat in college (hoping to, at least) she would be using that as often as she could this time of year. Assuming there were no humans around to take notice, of course. "I mean, I could handle it if I had to, but I'd prefer not to be a block of ice." She wasn't sure if anyone would want to freeze to death willingly. If they did, then...more power to them. No Larksicles here!
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Post by MATTHEW FUYU CHANG on Jun 20, 2012 9:48:47 GMT -5
Matt considered the questioned posted to him, about sticking around the Academy. He supposed that was true in some sort of vein, though him living in Maple Hollow disproved that right away. He supposed it wasn't that he didn't like the Academy -- far from it. Actually, he liked the Academy a lot! But he had a niggling feeling in the back of his head that it really had to do with his choice of major, first and foremost, and then there was a need to be totally independent. He liked having his apartment, not really having to worry about what he could and couldn't have as decoration in his apartment, or hell, not worrying about having alcohol in his dorm and whether that was a punishable offense or not -- he didn't really quite know what the rules were like for those not in high school, but it wass still nice to have a place of his own. But really, the school he did end up going to had one of the best Illustration programs he could find in the area, so it wasn't a surprise to him or his close friends that that was the route he chose. "The Academy's great and everything, and I still live in Maple Hollow, but I needed an Illustration program." Now that he thought about it, he didn't even know if the Academy had one or not -- he was sure he looked, but if he couldn't remember it then it probably wasn't anything remarkable. "Her name's Sandra? Sandra Chang. She's a Water, too, like me...kind of all over the place, falling asleep everywhere."
[/color] Matthew said, describing his sister the best way he even knew how. It was hard to find the words to describe his sister sometimes, seeing as she was just herself, but he hoped that Lark would pick up on it regardless. He smiled at her, glad that his suspicions were correct -- she was the one that switched sides that while ago. "It's all good, I wasn't worried."[/color] He paused. "Well, I was a little bit, not gonna lie, but I thought you might have been different anyway."[/color] That part was true enough. She had been perfectly pleasant, so there was no reason not to be pleasant right back. "I think they'd help us out with fliers and stuff. Like a stack at the sign-in desk, and maybe tack one on the bulletin board too or something."[/color] Matt mused out loud, pondering on the prospect of really getting this recreational league together. maybe 'league' was too hefty of a word but it would be really, really awesome to get a group of people together and play. It definitely would help him get back in the swing of competitive sports, rather than just kicking a ball around himself. There wasn't a big difference, either, between regular soccer and futsal, so really, any number of people they could find would do just fine. And the rec center was the perfect place to meet, as well, considering. "No, no, I definitely would rather not be out in the cold, either,"[/color] Matt gestured around them, where the wind was picking up slightly. He could handle cold to a certain extent, but this really was just ridiculous. "It'd be impossible to play, anyway, if you were a block of ice! Come on, let's go inside, I don't think the wind is going lighten up any time soon."[/color] Matt winced as a rather fierce gust of wind blew past them, stinging at his ears, deciding to hoist himself up off the ground, reaching down to give Lark a hand.[/justify][/color][/font][/blockquote][/blockquote] |
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