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It's a public park, one with a soccer field. It's pretty chilly, so the park isn't very crowded--but there's a lone figure on the soccer field, wearing a dark sweatshirt, shorts, and a backwards baseball cap--bits of shaggy blond hair poking out from under the hat. He has a soccer ball that he's kicking around, doing some trick kicks, and occasionally just kicking--hard--sending the ball flying across the field and into a goal net.
If it's a public park, that means that there's no smoking allowed. Even in the evening, when there's no one around except this kid kicking the soccer ball.
But here comes some asshole of a kid, the cherry of their cigarette the only thing really visible on them. The hood of their sweatshirt is up, and they've got their hands shoved into their pockets and a beat-up looking backpack slung over one shoulder. They're walking along one side of the field, crossing the park, but about halfway through they stop to watch this soccer player.
The guy kicks the ball up into the air, clearly attempting to do some sort of trick shot where he turns and kicks the ball mid-air into the net--but he fumbles it, and the ball goes flying off to the side, not far from Calamity. He straitens and turns towards Calamity. He seems friendly enough, but definitely is giving off jock bro vibes. But when he speaks it's surprisingly not bro sounding--instead a very thick German accent. "Kick it back!"
Calamity shies away from the oncoming ball, fluid and agile, something in their bag clanking like metal as they do.
But then the German(?) jock bro speaks, and they turn their head toward him, and then the ball, and trot toward it. Their kick is in no way practiced, nor is it very strong. It maybe gets two-thirds of the way to him, bouncing, then rolling its way across the grass.
He doesn't seem bothered, just trotting the rest of the way closer, using his toe to kick the ball off of the grass and starts bouncing it up and down on the side of his foot, while hopping up and down on the other.
"Do you want to be playing?" he calls back to Calamity.
"I don't...soccer's not really my thing, you'd prob'ly kick my ass..." But they do take a couple steps closer, tugging their hood back and removing the cigarette from their mouth to flick the ash away. "Why're you out here so late?"
He shrugs, glancing around a moment. His eyes catch the nearby lamp lights a little strangely, almost glimmering in a too-silver sort of way. "Not so used to time, feels early. Hard to sleep."
Oh that's totally weird. 'Cause Calamity's pupils kinda do that, too. But it's like a cat's eyes glimmering, though they're blown too wide in the low light to tell whether they've got cat-like pupils, or regular old human ones.
"Oh yeah? You just get here, then?" They run their free hair through the short mass of curls on the top of their head, and take a lazy drag of their cigarette, careful to blow the smoke away from him. "For like, an exchange, or something...?"
"Couple month." He continues bouncing the ball a few more times, then kicks it back towards Calamity with a hopeful puppy dog look. "Exchange? Money? No one pay me to come..."
"Ah - no, like...I dunno, foriegn exchange students...? Are a thing...?" They sound less sure as they speak, and carefully kick the ball back to him. Yeah, they'll play fetch with the puppy. "Or are you just here on vacation, or something?"
"Oh. Yes! I am student!" he proclaims proudly, and immediately runs to kick the ball back to Calamity--harder this time, though not enough that it would threaten to whack against them, but definitely eager to play. "Temple University, yes."
"I am Anton," he adds, while waiting for Calamity to kick the ball, though he pauses a second to stare at Calamity's too-feline eyes, but only for a beat before hes focusing back on the ball.
As much as they said soccer isn't really their thing, they seem to know how to at least stop a ball. They blink away, not meeting his gaze when he stares at them, and kicks the ball back.
"I'm Calamity, what uh...are you doing soccer in school or just for fun...?"
Anton doesn't bother looking away or trying to hide his eyes--which continue to almost glimmer in the low moonlight. He energetically runs to fetch the kicked ball and kicks it back to Calamity--then darts backwards, to goad the other into kicking the ball harder and further. This means he has to raise his voice more to be heard though, which makes his thick accent even harder to understand. "Ja! I have--" Pronounced thickly haf "--scholarship." He leans over, hands on his knees as he prepares for Calamity's kick. "Calamity," he echoes, sounding out the name, but doesn't quite get it perfect.
"You live here long? Is home?"
Calamity finally pinches out their half-smoked cigarette and shoves it in a battered cigarette pack from their pocket, and drop their bag so they can kick the ball properly.
"Home...kind of? Been here for...fuck, six and a half years, now?" They call out. "What are you studying, or do you just play soccer all day? Is - do they call it football, in Germany?"
He looks weary, briefly, puffing out a breath. "Not Germany! Austria. Vienna. Is okay, everyone thinks this." Once Calamity gives a proper kick, Anton also stops holding back, kicking the ball up into the air to bounce on his foot--then spinning to kick it back towards Calamity. He shrugs helplessly. "I decide later. For now I just go. And play." He looks amused. "Fußball."
"Ah - sorry - " they grimace when he corrects them, and they lunge to reach the ball before it gets past them.
"Foosball?" They tried, at least, though their accent is atrocious. "You must be good, if you got a scholarship...?"
He laughs at Calamity's pronunciation. "Very good!" he agrees. "You good too. Why are you in park so late?"
"I like to walk. It's quieter at night, no one gives me dirty looks for smoking." They shrug. It might not be the whole reason, but it's all the reason he's gonna get, right now.
"And, you know, sometimes I meet guys who wanna play soccer with me."
He flashes a toothy grin--then suddenly, when he gets the ball back, he doesn't kick it--instead running at Calamity while kicking at the ball to keep it going, trying to angle around Calamity to get to the goal behind them.
They freeze for a moment, their eyes widening in something that...may be fear? As he starts to run at them.
They understand what's actually going on half a second later, and shift to try and block him. It's pretty clear they don't have training - but they've got instinct. Maybe they do some other sort of sport, that they've got such good control of their body.
Anton clearly does not expect Calamity to be much of an obstacle for him, but enjoying the moment of friendly competition--either not noticing the flash of fear or just ignoring it when Calamity moves to play instead of run.
He certainly isn't expecting for Calamity to throughly block him and manage to get the ball out from his feet. His silver eyes blink-blink. WHAT DOES CALAMITY DO NOW?
Uh. RUN, I guess?
After a moment of clear confusion, Calamity starts to kick the ball down the pitch, toward the opposite goal. They're fast, though they don't have any of the fancy footwork that Anton does. They're just kicking and running, and hoping for the best.
"AH! Nein!" Anton cries, though with utter delight, and goes running after Calamity, fully intent on trying to stop them from getting to the goal--and trying to get the ball back. It's very much eager over-enthusiastic puppy energy, though... He's clearly the sort that isn't very used to having a lot of physical boundaries--and honestly, he's used to people who can stand a little playful rough housing. It might get a little intense fairly quickly, by normal people standards.
Does Calamity roll with it or any negative reactions to the rough housing?
They shy away from being touched at all by this stranger at first, more willing to let him have the ball than to rough house over it. They're light on their feet, always out of reach of his arms, even if it means the ball is closer to him. They don't seem to mind the attempts all that much, but they definitely don't engage.
And they're fairly soon out of breath, anyway, and lift up a hand as they breathe and cough in turns. "I gotta - break," they gasp out, a wide grin on their face.
He looks a little disappointed when Calamity just gives up the ball, but he doesn't turn down getting the upper hand--just turning and sprinting across the field so that Calamity is the one chasing and trying to block him, instead. Back and forth a bit, like this.
Anton is sweating and panting, but doesn't seem to want to stop--he huffs, but stops when Calamity does, kicking the ball up and catching it between his hands. "You are good."
"Thanks -" they break off to cough. "I do a lotta...is parkour a thing in Austria? So I guess maybe that...translates. I always gotta know where I'm putting my feet next."
"Ah!" He brightens up immediately, grinning widely. "My Mutter does this! It is very hard! No wonder you are fast. Let me see!"
"Wh...now?" Their eyes narrow slightly, but they do look around for anything worth free running on, and return to their bag, unzipping their hoodie and shrugging out of it. They're in a t-shirt, despite the cold, and their arms are skinny and wiry - to be expected, given the soccer they just played.
"Don't steal my shit," they warn as they size up one of the larger trees near the edge of the field. The branches are too high to reach without climbing up the tree trunk itself, especially for a kinda short kid like Calamity.
One last glance at Anton, and they sprint toward the tree, running up the trunk to grab the first, second, then third lowest branches. They pull themself up so they can straddle it, facing Anton with a grin, their teeth and eyes flashing in the warm glow of the streetlights.
"See?" They call down to him.
Anton flips out, doing a WOOing cheer and jumping up and down, shouting something in German. "You are almost as good as Mutter!"
Calamity can't help but preen a little at Anton's excitement, bouncing a little on the branch. "Yeah I got bored walking everywhere so I figured out how to make it more interesting. Plus it's a lot more fun to look at shit when you're high up like this. 'S cool that your mom does it, she didn't teach you?"
He shrugs. "She try. Learned a little, but not so good. Prefer to just run." He waves a hand with a woosh sound. "Just go."
"See I get bored of running..." Calamity shrugs and swings their leg over the tree branch, climbing back down with slightly less panache. They're not showing off, this time, and they flop down on the ground to sit, bringing their knees to their chest as they lounge back against the tree trunk.
"Do you run 'cause you like to get places fast, or just 'cause you like it?" They cock their head and reach toward their stomach like they're going to put their hand in their hoodie pocket. Huff in annoyance and get to their feet to pad over to their stuff and light up that half-smoked cigarette again.
He also cocks his head to the side, thinking that over. "Both? I used to run to be alone, and now I just like it. Helps." He taps his temple.
"Helps...?" They exhale a stream of smoke into the air and look at him again. "Helps what?"
"Mind," he replies with a shrug. "Help focus."
"Huh. Never tried anything like that. But maybe running wouldn't work 'cause I think it's boring? Who knows." Calamity takes a lazy drag of their cigarette and slumps down against the tree again. "But like. When I have a shitty day sometimes just climbing up something I'm not s'posed to be able to climb up helps, a little. 'Cause I gotta focus on that, 'stead of whatever shit's going on in my life. Is...that how running is for you?"
His head tilts a bit as he considers that, then he bobs his head. "Ja. I think so."
"Sometimes I get... umm..." He squints, trying to find the word. "Fluffy. No--Fuzzy."
"No..."
"Mind-fuzzy."
"Mind...fuzzy?" They sit back a little, their eyebrows slightly raised. "Like...confused?"
"Sometimes," he says. "ADHD."
"Oh that kinda fuzzy." They nod, understanding. "I never got tested for any of that shit." They finish their cigarette and put it back in the battered pack - at least they dont litter, even if they smoke in public places - and they pull a scratched and dented zippo lighter from their pocket. Clink. They open and close it. Clink.
"Does it fuck with you playing soccer, or is it like, close enough to running that you can still focus?"
He shrugs. "Sometimes." He grips the bill of his hat and pulls it off, revealing a mop of hair--and actually, now that he's moving his hands more, his fingers are weird looking. Too long and moving in ways that don't seem quite right, like maybe they're double jointed or something? He smooths back his sweaty hair, then plops the hat back on.
Calamity blinks at the strange movement, and narrows their eyes just a little.
"You double-jointed?" they gesture at his hands, and flick their lighter open and closed again.
He glances towards his hand, then shrugs again, tossing the soccer ball between his hands casually. He doesn't seem very concerned with Calamity noticing any weirdness. "Ja. Is condition."
"Guess it doesn't mean much for soccer, don't have to worry about fucking your hands up if you're not supposed to touch the ball," they give him a small grin.
"Hey I'm fuckin starving," they say after another few moments. "There's this kebab place close to here that's open late, 's pretty good and cheap as hell...?"
Anton peers at Calamity for a moment, then grins toothily. “Is date? Or just friendly?”
The grin drops off their face, replaced by a slightly more guarded expression. "...Friendly. I don't...do dates with people I've just met."
His head cocks to the side a bit, then he nods, smiling still. “Okay! I like kebabs. You show me.”
The kebab place is one of those places with a front window and stools outside - the kind that tend to be co-opted by gentrified, fancy foods. But this place is not one of those, and despite the chill in the air they seem to be doing a brisk business. Mostly of folx grabbing things to go. "'M not paying for you," Calamity warns as they get close. "Just so you know."
Anton brings the soccer ball with him, idly tossing it between his hands as he walks, and occasionally just letting it roll along the ground when there's no one else around them on the sidewalk, kicking it along agily. But as they approach the kebab stand he kicks it up, catches it, and holds it under one arm.
"Is okay," he says with a cheerful, laid back air. "Did not think so." He sniff-sniffs at the air. "Mmm... Good smell."
"They - they do some vegetarian stuff, but d'you have allergies or anything?" Calamity lifts a hand to wave at the man at the counter, greeting him in a language that definitely isn't English, (it's Farsi, if Anton happens to know it), and the man responds in kind with a grin.
"What can I get you, Calamity's friend?" He asks Anton, after Calamity has ordered.
"No allergies," he replies with a shrug, hopping onto a stool beside Calamity, resting the soccer ball in his lap. He looks blissfully blank-faced, so odds are he does not understand... But he offers the man a smile. "Ummmm..." He stares blankly at whatever serves as a menu here, then points at something. "Steak?"
There's pictures! And words, but the pictures are definitely easier to see, and the man nods and and yells something to the person at the grill, who gets to work preparing both of their meals.
"A lotta college kids like this place," Calamity settles into one of the seats and gestures to a college-age couple who are getting food to go. "'Cause it's cheap and like. A fuckton of food, I always end up bringing some home..."
He smiles. "I like it. Is good. Family owned?" He peers towards the back briefly, sniffing the air again, hungrily. "I like places like these. Is not just McDonalds and Burger King. Ppphhbt." He pauses a beat. "Sometimes not so bad..."
"Yeah, I guess they've had it for a couple decades, now? Hell of a lot better'n McDonalds, but like. I eat there too, so." They shrug, and scuff their feet against the footrest of the bar. "God, I'd actually kill for a McFlurry after this...hmmm..."
"Why not?" he says with a grin, then waggles his head to the side while trying to make an exaggerated american accent, which just comes out... comical. "Treat yo self."
Calamity cackles, throwing their head back as they do, and laughs hard enough they start to cough.
"Fuck it, you're right," they wheeze when they can breathe again. "There's like, three on my way home. Do you like, have a super strict diet 'cause of soccer, or do you kinda just eat whatever?"
He starts drummingly idly on top of the soccer ball, soft pappap-pap-pap-papapap-paps. He considers the question, and pauses a beat to look left and right, as if checking that no one is spying on them.
"I eat good. Then eat bad. Is balanced," he replies with a look back to Calamity, grinning.
They manage not to fall apart completely this time, but they do snort out a giggle. "Hey, if it works it works. I'm not gonna tell nobody."
He shrugs. "I tell my Mutter and Mama... I am just having American college experience! Is what I came for, ja? They are not so amused..."
"Do you go out drinking all night with your friends too? Or like...go to parties? Or...whatever shit you do in college."
Now he just looks annoyed. "Too young. Stupid. Could drink at home." Another left and right look, even glancing over his shoulder before adding, softer, "Still do sometime." Then he straightens and goes back to drumming on the ball. "Not too many friend yet. But fun."
"Oh right, it's different over there, right? The drinking age, I mean...?" They cock their head, and turn as the server slides their food across the counter. "Oh hell yeah." And then there's no more talking from them for a bit, though they still look interested in his answer.
"Eighteen," he replies with a bob of his head. He pulls his plate closer and also digs in. He's a hungry boy, and not afraid of getting messy. Just chomp-chomping, occasionally making an mmm of approval. "Goooood."
"Mmh." Calamity asks something of the server between bites, and he disappears and comes back with a can of soda. "Dunno whether this is 'good' or 'bad' for you, but it's so fucking good..." chomp chomp chomp. "You live near here or 's it out of the way for you to go to?"
"Ummm..." He chews a big mouthful as he looks around slowly, this time less paranoid and more just... clearly having no idea where the hell he is. "...Um. I think not far."
Their eyes narrow just a little bit. "How...did you get to the park...? 'Cause no offense but I don't really have time to help you figure out how the fuck to get home. And like...you don't wanna be wandering around lost in the middle of the night..."
"I'll be fine," he says, not seeming too concerned, shrugging before taking another bite. "Got phone."
"Doesn't make you less of a mark. A target," they continue. "How long have you been here, again?"
"Two months," he replies between bites.
"Yeah, dude, just...be careful. I'm sure your folks'd be pissed if you got robbed walking home, yeah?"
He looks... amused? Like Calamity had just said a funny joke. "Ja."
"...'S it funny?"
"Hm?" He perks a brow while chewing, then waves a hand. "Is fine. You worry too much."
"Mmph. Well 'f someone tries to fuck with you, don't blame me," they grump, and continue to eat.
"I will not!" he assures cheerfully, then finishes off the last of his food, looking all too pleased with himself and the meal. "What is it you do with your time, Calamity?"
"Uhhmm...?" They blink a few times at the question. "I...read comics, and like...I dunno. 'Odd jobs' for a couple people, I guess, when they need 'em?" They may be avoiding the question, or they may just be one of those people who forgets everything the minute you ask about it. "I do a lotta exploring around the city, but mostly at night. 'S easier for me to sleep during the day..."
"Ooh." He bobs his head, turning on his seat to face them more. "Any interesting places?"
"I mean yeah, 's a lotta places you can go when you're not just looking at the regular ways to get into 'em. You heard of Boner Forever? 'S a bulding over in North Philly, the view's fuckin' great at the top..."
His brows raise. "Seen, but not from the top."
"You can see the whole fuckin' city. But you gotta get up there."
"You climb?" he asks curiously, silver eyes bright.
"...Dude you just watched me fuckin', parkour up a tree," they say, their eyes (still weirdly shiny) glittering in amusement. "Yeah I can climb. Sometimes it's easier to take the stairs - less dangerous too. But you gotta get in to do that."
"Sky scraper is much different than tree," he says with a laugh. "Okay, okay. Very impressive."
"Yeah I don't do it a lot - 'f I fell I'd be very dead. But...I wanted to see how far I could get, once. Took a fuckin' while, but...yeah. Definitely took the stairs down, though."
He lets out a low whistle, then cants his head to the side thoughtfully. "Wonder if Mutter has climbed it yet..."
"Has she been to Philly? 'S pretty famous, 'f she does that kinda stuff." Calamity chews thoughtfully, finishing off their food.
"She lives here!" he replies cheerfully, then pulls out his phone to poke at.
"...Oh." They blink once, twice. "She move when you came to school or did you move to live with her...?"
"We all move when I come to school. Me, Mutter, Mama, and Onkel Ludwig," he says with a bob of his head. He clearly doesn't think this is strange.
"...Huh. Okay." They run a hand through their hair and hop down from the stool to pull out enough money to cover their food and a tip. "You live on campus for the real college experience, or whatever? Or do they make you live at home...?"
"Live at home," he replies, hopping down off of his stool. He digs out some bills, counting out enough ones to leave beside the plate. "Is not making. I like it."
"...Huh." That seems to weird them out more than anything else. "That's...good I guess. That you like your family."
He pauses and stares at Calamity for a beat, then gives a more sympathetic look. "Ah. You do not like family. Is okay."
"Don't have a family, dude," they say with a slightly bitter chuckle. "'Least not like that. I got friends and shit, but."
The sympathetic smile lingers. "Friends is good."
"Yeah. Could be worse, I know. I'm alive, and shit, and I got friends..." Calamity shrugs, and waves goodbye to the restaurant staff before turning away to pull out a cigarette. "You wanna get a McFlurry too? I gotta head out, but if you wanna walk with me -?" They gesture with the hand holding their zippo to a set of golden arches visible even from a few blocks away.
"Ja!" he says, instantly brightening up like a puppy offered a treat, grinning broadly again.
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