Two World Wars and One World Cup. [Arthur and Ludoviga]

Arthur was feeling a bit inactive; he hadn't worked out in a while, for a couple weeks really. He was feeling so terribly unfit, and after all the beer, curry and chinese food, he was really guilty. He was going to get a beer gut at this rate. But he didn't feel like running or going to the gym, he wanted something, today, more fun. Well he supposed he could go to the park and practice some football, even though he didn't have anyone to play with.

He got up from the sofa and went to his wardrobe, pulling out an england football shirt and some shorts, since it was a warm day and changed in to them. He felt more healthy already, and he hadn't even done anything yet. He rooted around his flat for his football, having no idea where it was. He lost everything at one point or another and he hadn't played with his football since last summer. Finally, he found it in the back of a cupboard (along with an old pencil case, three socks and a voucher for Foyles which was sadly, out of date. He would have liked to use that.

But, missed opportunities to buy books out of the way, he had his ball, he had his clothes, his trainers a waterbottle and towel, he was all set to go. So he did, bounding over to the lift and getting in when it was called.

It was finally such a bright, sunny day out that Ludoviga couldn't stand to hide in the gym to work out today. Instead she opted for the park. Several other people had the same idea that day, but she still managed to find a nice little area where she could run and kick a football against a tree for a bit. The shorts and t-shirt were the same that she normally wore to the gym and her breasts were snugly taped down to prevent them from becoming a nuisance. Men stared when a woman's chest bounced during sports. Her brother had made that clear to her years ago.

While she kicked against the tree, Ludoviga noticed a young man playing fetch with his dog. Truth be told, Ludoviga was lonely. She'd always wanted a dog, but they'd often lived in places that did not allow pets and her father had considered animals to be a bother. But maybe now that she lived alone it would be possible?

Lu shook her head when she found herself staring instead of exercising and went back to playing football with the tree.

It was a pleasant day and he made his way slowly down to the park. He still felt pretty pumped and ready to exercise (but ever so slightly more nervous about being seen as a loner, playing football by himself). He went to the park and searched out a good place to play football.

Then he noticed it. The person playing football by themselves, kicking it against a tree. Arthur couldn't really tell if it was a boy or a girl from this angle; it was one of those people who made themselves look as androgynous as possible. However, if Arthur got closer, he could probably tell, there was something about boys and girls that seemed so blatantly obvious with his new power. He could sense the blood as it rushed around somebody's body, if he paid attention, so he knew the differences between a boy and a girl. Not that he really cared, he just prefered having a pronoun by which to call someobody - 'it' was far too rude.

He stepped closer, not to try and work out the gender, but because the person was playing football. He wasn't the type to approach people he didn't no, normally, but he wanted to play football, and he was sure it wanted to play football too. "Hey there." He said, in a much too chirpy manner, because he didn't want to come off creepy, besides, they were in a park, playing games, he felt he had a little room to be casual. "Um... do you want to play football with me?" He asked, "I have nobody to play with." He hoped the other person would agree.

Ludoviga stopped mid-kick when someone spoke. She almost resumed playing as they couldn't possibly have been speaking to her. Just to be sure, she turned and looked around. A young blond man with thick eyebrows was looking at her expectantly, clearly dressed for a work out of his own. Actually, he looked familiar. She'd seen him going in and out of her building, most likely.

Her first instinct was to tell him that no, she was fine. But after pining for some company just seconds earlier she realized that was foolishness. What could it hurt to play a friendly game with someone besides a tree?

"Sure," she finally answered, and nudged the ball enough for it to roll over to him.

Arthur hurried closer, happy to be able to play with someone and also pleased that he hadn't stuck his neck out just to be harshly rejected. "I'm Arthur," He introduced himself, dropping his ball on the side, along with his coat, "Pleasure to meet you." The other person seemed around his age, probably a bit older though, but Arthur looked older than he actually was, so hopefully they wouldn't be put off by his youth.

As the ball rolled over to him, he stepped on it to stop it, kicking it between his feet lazily. "Alright, what do you want to play, penalties?" He asked, and studied the terrain. Good flat land, there were two trees they could use to mark a goal, and they could always use their coats or such like. "Or we could just kick about a bit."

Since she didn't know her opponent and the British and Germans were quite.... competitive... with this sport, keeping score in any way wouldn't be a good way to start. Besides, they'd just met. Ludoviga didn't know what she was truly up against. Like at work, it would be best to assess the situation first.

"Let's kick it around a bit. Warm up."

Oh, right, he'd introduced himself as Arthur. He was probably expecting a name in return.

"My name is Lu."

"Sounds like a good idea." Then he could asses the other person's skill. Not that he was getting competetive about it, of course. Whoever would think such a thing? He kicked the ball back to them, and gave a polite nod when they introduced themselves. "Nice to meet you," He said, in his normal, clipped manner that he usually used when talking to people he didn't know, though it was hardly appropriate in this informal situation.

"So what do you do for a living?" He asked, supposing he may as well make a little small talk with the conversation as they kicked the ball about. He knew that soon they'd speed up a little bit, so he thought it best to talk now.

Well he obviously wasn't flirting with that tone, which was fine by her. He really just wanted to play a bit of ball it seemed, which was perfect. Arthur would then be focusing on playing more than anything and some tough competition would be healthy for her.

"I'm a police officer," she answered, passing it to him smoothly. This was so much more engaging than playing with a tree. She was growing eager to really play and began to move faster and faster with the ball. "What is it that you do for a living, Arthur?"

They sped up, and Arthur started to dribble the ball rather than pass, kicking the ball away from her, to up the ante slightly. "I'm a student." He admitted as they moved. A police officer? Sounded interesting. "Literature student, to be exact. So what's being a police officer like? It sounds really exciting." But he guessed it was probably a lot of paperwork. He finally kicked the ball back to her. He was enjoying himself. He thought he was pretty good at football, he wasn't going to play for England or anything, but he'd played at school and he'd done decently then.

"It has its moments." She shrugged. And it did, especially being a lower-ranking officer who was given a lot of the dirty work. There was paperwork too, but all-in-all it was a fair balance.

Recently, however, catching criminals had been may more exciting by the abilities that she'd ended up with the night of the storm. Drug dealers, robbers, and even gang members on the run had grown steadily easier to catch. A quick tremor or a well-placed teleportation when she was out of sight of the public genuinely shocked her perpetrators and did wonders for her performance rate. As long as no one found out about these... skills... maybe that promotion was quicker than she thought...

The ball rolled by and Ludoviga realized that she'd been lost in thought. She muttered a low "sorry" and went after it.

"Maybe we're warm enough to play a real game now," she offered when she returned.

She'd missed the ball which was pretty easy to get, so she must have been a bit distracted. After all, she'd seemed pretty competent beforehand. He wondered what she was thinking about that had distracted him, but then he didn't really care that much. He liked knowing what went on in people's heads though, especially recently. He was a writer, and he couldn't help but wonder, to imagine what they were thinking. Perhaps she was thinking about something to do with her job, it made sense. He wouldn't want to be a policeman, it would be so dull, having to deal with drunks and loudmouths all the time.

"Hm?" He said, when she came back, looking up at her, "Sure. Do you want to make a goal?" He asked. The trees would work as a suitable makeshift goal, he thought, "We can play penalties." he wasn't a brilliant goal keeper though. Still, his skill as a striker made up for it enough, he thought.

"We can use those trees," she suggested, pointing to two that were close together off to the side. "How many should we play to? Or perhaps you'd prefer a time limit?"

When it came to most anything, Lu needed to plan rather than diving in, even if it was as casual football match against someone from her building. She did only intend to be at the park for two hours after all; supper had to be started promptly at 17:00 in order for it to be finished by 18:00 when she ate...every. Single. Day.

"I think the bst method is first to say... ten?" He suggested, "Shall we alternate goalkeeping and striking positions, like one shot at the goal then switch." He suggested, hoping he was being clear enough. She seemed like the type to plan and he hoped his planning would be sufficient. He wasn't really the type to plan - a forgetful chap, time often got away from him. The only thing he really planned was essays, other than that, he tended to do things as his body demanded it. As soon as he left home he fell out of the habit of eating at a set time each day, as nobody called him for dinner. Some days, he forgot to eat his dinner all together which he knew wasn't very healthy, admittedly.

He stretched a little, bouncing on the heels of his feet and went over to his bag where his water bottle was to take a mouthful of water. "So where do you live, exactly?" He asked, going back over so they could begin playing, "I'm on the 5th floor, so I live pretty far up." He hadn't seen her around much, he was sure they definitely didn't live on the same floor. That German guy on his floor though, come to think of it, he looked a little similar to her... he wondered if they could be related, being so similar in appearence and both German.

((OOC: Please let me know if I screw up any football terms. I am not an athlete. At all.))

Lu stepped on the ball to keep it from rolling off and nodded at Arthur's suggestion. "Ja, switching between sounds fine. And ten is... a good number." A nice, neat, even number. She liked those. Not to the point where everything had to be even, but they were preferable.

"I live on the second floor," she answered to his question as she waited for him to get into position at their makeshift goal. "Across from two Italian brothers." Two loud Italian brothers but she left that detail out. "Do you have a roommate?" Lu asked this for conversation's sake as she began to dribble the ball towards him.

(( I'm not at all either XD All I know is from living in England. ))

"Ten shouldn't be too short, but too long." He agreed. Plus it was a round number, round numbers were be a lot easier to remember and sort of neater. He smiled, moving in to the goal space, watching her move. His feet bounced, ready to jump towards the ball. He wondered how strong she was, how well she could kick. He was a little worried if he caught the ball, it would be with his face and he'd break his nose. He'd done that at least twice.

"Oh, I think I might know the Italians. Well, I know some Italians, we may have more than two Italians in the building. Rather loud, are they? I've seen one of them around a lot... uh... light hair?" He said. His mind when to that very odd encounter in the lift...

"No, I don't have a roomate, I'm in one of the smaller single rooms so I don't really have room." He could probably do with one though, "I'd probably have more money if I did but... they'd have to put up with all my books."

Yes, that was the Italians alright. It didn't surprise her that someone else know of them as well. Likely the whole building did.

"I also live in a single unit," she said. "I think that's the best way to do it. "Privacy is very important." Lu gave the ball a fierce kick in Arthur's direction, curious to see how skilled he was at this goalie business. "What kinds of books do you have?" Unlikely anything she'd want to read, but it was a good question for conversation.

The ball came flying towards him and Arthur lunged towards it, hand reached out to stop it. However, he just about missed it, it was flying to fast and the ball skimmed over the tips of his fingers, dropping in to the goal. He cursed quietly, hating being so close and failing. Obviously he had underestimated her kicking power. He grabbed the ball and moved in to striker's position to take his shot at the ball.

"If I'm honest, I'll read most anything really." He kicked the ball between his feet, looking down at it, and up at her, then back down at the ball. He needed to work out how best he could get this ball through. She looked pretty strong and she was a police officer, so it was not one of those times when simple brute force would do the trick. "So I have most everything in my house. Even books in other languages. I have a book in Japanese, even though I don't speak it. The only thing that I hold no truck with is comic books. I don't see the point." He started running towards the left side of the goal with the ball, to get a bit of a running start. "I know, I'm an odd little - " He grunted as he kicked the ball roughyly and suddenly to the right side of the goal, hoping his little trick worked, "bookworm, aren't I?" He gave a small grin.

She'd held her breath while watching the ball sail towards his hands and released it when it barely went past. Maybe if she kept kicking hard enough this mini game would be hers.

But then the ball was coming right back at her while Arthur talked. Or more precisely it was going to the side where she was not. The ball went into its intended goal seconds before she arrived. Lu retrieved it and then smiled at Arthur.

"You're fast for a so-called 'bookworm', ja?"

Arthur gave a small smile, "Thanks." He said, "But being a bookworm doesn't mean I'm not fast. I used to play for my school side." He said. They'd been pretty good; they had won a fair share of the local championships and he'd had to work pretty hard. He was hardly professional level but...

He switched back in to goal. "And you, I should have realised that you have a pretty hard kick, since you're in the police and all that." He braced himself. "Don't bother trying to kick it so hard." He would catch this next ball even if he did so in the face, "Since I already know how hard you kick, it won't be as surprising as it was before."

Good, the scholar was going to be a challenge. She wouldn't need to go easy on him, though she'd been willing to at least a little bit. Brute force was not going to win her this mini-match.

Lu got ready to kick again, sizing Arthur up with a new perspective. She began to dribble again, coming up with a plan as she inched forward, then went to the side, and then forward again. She decided to try psyching him out, appearing to go in for a hard kick to the right of him but then only punting and taking the heavy swing at the left instead.

He bounced on his heels, his heart beat was speeding up, and he was feeling quite good about himself. The adrenaline was pumping, and he was beginning to feel a bit active now. He watched her, the grit and determination. But he would not lose to her, he hated losing so much. She went to hit one side and he leaned towards it, towards the side. He would catch this one... suddenly it was flying towards his left and he threw himself towards the left as hard as he could. The ball smacked in to his face and bounced off, and he grabbed it. Then, he smacked hard in to the ground, with a loud "Oof!"

It was a little painful, to suddenly be thrown on to the hard, stick and stone strewn ground. He burst out laughing, to help the pain, and checked his arms. They were a bit grazed, but she had caught it. "Ha!" He climbed to his feet, wiping the little blood from the grazes on his arms. This was fun! "2:1!" he gloated, but there was still a long way to go. He wondered how battered he'd be by the end of this.

The block was impressive but also made her wince. Even if he was good competition, Lu hadn't expected him to be competitive enough to stop the ball with his face. He'd not only done that, but grabbed a hold of it too. She expected expletives of pain after his fall but he was... laughing? She blinked at him dumbly while he stood and brushed himself off with a smile. Apparently he really liked winning.

"Ja, 2:1," she agreed as they switched positions. It finally hit her that she might be in way over her head with the scholar.

He groaned slightly, now the adrenaline had gone it rather stung. Perhaps he should have just let that one slide. He blinked and let himself focus while she got in to position, foot on the ball. Then he took a deep breath and smiled at her. "It's gonna take us quite a while to get to 10, isn't it?" He laughed and aimed the ball. "Maybe first to five or would you prefer to keep it like that?" He aimed and kicked.

"Five would be better," She agreed, taking her specifically scheduled evening into account. "You are quite the opponent, Arthur." And that wasn't just flattery. Lu never said anything she didn't mean. But it seemed the dramatic stop that he'd brought the ball to was starting to effect him. Maybe she could win after all, but she couldn't bring herself to exploit his injury. She moved into position to block the kick.