Week 80: A Dark Star In Beijing

Fenris was pacing outside the Jing Lei Memorial Stadium. She was waiting, unsure of exactly who would be turning up. But she was already getting the pre-match buzz, and so she was pacing. It was obvious who the German woman was here to support. If you ignored the occasional glances towards some of the Blazing Red fans, her t-shirt gave it away. Team Darkstar were here to crush the Ai Jinn team, and Fenris was going to support them every step of the way. She looked around impatiently, waiting for someone else to turn up.

The thudding sound of heavy, booted footsteps approached Fenris from behind, and decided that announcing itself would be a good idea.  Karishma chirpily called out to her colleague as she strode forward, accompanied by a friendly wave.  "Hey, Fenris!"

Fenris? I'm just arriving. Silvia's voice was coming over smeaker. I'll be at the stadium in a moment - where are you?

Dani strolled up with a grin, wearing a Team Darkstar jersey and so hyped up she was practically bouncing along. "Hey, Fenris! Good to see ya! How's it going? This is gonna be great, huh?"

Hugo was with Silvia, feeling... unsure, but trying not to show it. He was dressed down for himself, in a large hoodie and dark trousers, looking around. He didn't bother to smeaker Fenris, yet. She'd see her in a minute.

Fenris actually managed to stay still for a little while, people were finally turning up! She turned to greet Karishma with a smile. "Hey! How've you been?" It was obvious Fenris was excited. She hadn't been to a match since.. Well, for a long time anyway. And it would be good to watch the Darkstars thrash the Ai Jinn again. Hi Silvia! We're outside the main entrance, I thought it would be easier for people to find so we can meet up.

As Dani strolled up Fenris' eye was immediately drawn to the nukes t-shirt, she was a bit perplexed as to why she wouldn't support her own team for a home game, but Dani must have her reasons. "Of coarse! You're gonna get to see a real team play!" Fenris was clearly trying to do the friendly rivalry thing, but her underlying uncertainty on where the hell they stood kind of robbed it of enthusiasm.

"I'm great, thanks!  Got an awesome new cybernetic installed, so that's kept me entertained.  And thanks so much for the invite!  I know it went out to everyone, but still, it's nice to know that I haven't managed to completely seclude myself."  She smiled embarrassedly as she thought back on the long periods she spent cooped up at Eroz, cut off from most of Oracle.

As the other woman approached them, it took Karishma a moment to put two and two together inside her head, but she came out with four in the end.  A barely perceptible look of dawning comprehension passed across her face.  "Hello there, you must be the new newbie!  Dani, right?  I'm Karishma, pleased to meet you."  She grinned and extended a hand in greeting.  "I'm really looking forward to this.  I've never actually been to a Weltball game before," she said enthusiastically, and glancing at Dani's top added, "but I'm guessing you're a bit of a veteran?"

Han appeared from behind the back of the a bus across the street. He was clad in a battered and severely out of date Kowloon Brawlers jersey. He waved at the group from across the road, before dashing across, nimbly dodging the traffic and other fans filtering into the stadium.

"Hey everyone, you guys alright?" Han grinned. "Man, it's been months since I got a chance to go see a Weltball game. Last time, the CEO comped everyones tickets for a particularly well done job."

He turned to Fenris. "Thanks for the invite Jianta Xiaozi"

At that point, the figure of Silvia (accompanied by the massive frame of Hugo) became visible in the crowd, waving towards Fenris. She was dressed much as she almost always was, in dark green combat trousers and a sleeveless white top, with her hair loosely tied back. The top was, however, emblazoned with a large Tokyo Dragons logo, which was relatively unusual. She hurried over, smiling.

"Hey, Fenris. And...everyone else. Sorry we're a little late - hope we haven't kept you waiting."

"Hey, Blazing Red is a hell of a team, they play like nobody else dares to. I mean, they're gonna get thrashed today, but that doesn't mean they won't play a beautiful game of their style," Dani said shrugging at Fenris. She shook Karishma's hand enthusiastically. "Nice to meet ya. I've only been to a couple of actual matches, tickets were way too expensive, but I watch everything, devour all the news and stats, buy tons of merch... You're in for a treat, this should be a damn good game. I prefer Blazing Red's style, but the Darkstars have been amazing this past couple of seasons and I'm not one to cheer for the obviously losing side. Not that it'll be a curbstomp, but it doesn't take a genius to see how this will end up. Between them you get a good varied look at how Weltball's played by some of the best,, it's gonna kick ass."

When Silvia showed up, Dani nodded a little. Of course Silvia was a Dragons fan, how could she not be? "Hey, Silvia, Hugo! You guys ready?" she asked with far more enthusiasm than she'd shown towards any previous interaction with Silvia around. "Gonna be great, yeah?"

Fenris grinned back at Han "Well, I had the box anyway, and thought I may as well fill it up. Even if it does mean inviting a Strasse Ratte." She was just teasing, clearly excited about the coming match. As the others arrived the turned to greet them. "Hey! Ready to see some Ai Jinn get crushed?"

Hugo made a small "mm" of agreement to Fenris; it was immediately obvious to her that he still felt uncomfortable, from his nod to her with an awkward and apologetic smile. He was slightly warmer to Dani, nodding a little at her and trying a more genuine grin. "It looks like a good match up, yeah." Neither were Hugo's team, but a game was a game, and.. Well, Stephen had been pretty insistent on going. Where was he?

"You know me, Fenris, always happy to see the Red's get stomped. Never been much of a Darkstar fan, but tonight, I know who I'll be rooting for and no mistake."

He grinned. "You know, I've been a weltball fan since I was 5, but I've never actually been to a major league match. Always more into the city-level divisions myself."

"I've...been to a few," Silvia said, with a shrug. "All in Tokyo, though. I used to follow weltball a fair bit, but...I've been a bit out of touch lately. Maybe I should get back into it, but...the league seems to have changed a bit while I was away."

"It should be good, yeah," she said in reply to Dani, a little unsure as to how to deal with the American nuke. "I haven't seen much of Blazing Red, but the Darkstars...I went to a couple of their games against the Dragons. Really good games to watch, those are." There was a touch of wistfulness in her voice as she remembered those days. "It's going to feel odd, cheering for the Darkstars."

"Hey now, what's up, people? Sorry I'm late. Where the hell are you guys? Just kiddin', I could prob'ly see Hugo and Han from the fuckin' moon. Comin' on over."

Stephen shortly appeared from the direction of the throngs of people crowding around the general entrance areas of the stadium and made his way over to his fellow agents with a confident stride. "Well now, how y'all doin'? Sure we'll see some mighty fine... uh... hand-to-ballin' or whatever the fuck it is weltball players are actually supposed to be doin' when they ain't murderin' each other," he declared, coming over to stand by Hugo and giving the big nuke an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "Anyone else happenin' by or is this everyone?"

Karishma nodded along happily as Dani chatted about Weltball, with a couple of well-placed 'oh yes?'s and 'mm hmm's.  "Definitely sounds like this is going to be fun, then!" she concluded happily.  "I don't mind too much who wins, if I'm honest, so long as it's entertaining."

As other agents started to appear left, right and centre, Karishma waved and grinned in greeting, bobbing on the spot slightly in excited anticipation; she felt thrilled to be out socialising with her colleagues for a change.  Stephen's ridiculous comment about Hugo and Han caught her attention and illicited a giggle.  "And we could probably see the aftermath of your baking from the Moon, too!" she replied.  She chuckled, and then added as he joined them, "Although I'd best be careful what I say, or I might get an especially well-baked creation fired through my window at Eroz, all the way from Seoul."  Her teasing of the sniper, while a little clunky and possibly over done, was obviously meant to be well-intentioned.

The Ex-EI woman let out a peal of laughter at Han's comment. "Really? Did you forget you're filthy rich or something? You could easily afford this! And Silvia, you must have rooted for the Darkstars in at least one match! No-one hates us, cause we're just that damn awesome!" As Stephen asked his question, Fenris shrugged in reply. "Well, since no-one replied to the Invite I sent out, I can't say. But the match should be starting soon, so we should head in. Any stragglers can just smeak ahead and I should be able to get them through. Come On." With that she strode off towards a smaller entrance to the one being used by the mob of Blazing Red Supporters.

Waving her arm through the chip checker, Fenris got through the security with no trouble what so ever, and followed the directions they gave to get to her spectator box. The box was located beneath the standing area, on the lip of the Pit surrounding the pitch. One entire wall and part of the floor was made from armored plastiglass to allow an utterly unobstructed view of the carnage below. The rest of the room however was made of luxury, a pair of serving staff manned the bar and the tables of high quality food on offer, the edge of the viewing area was lined with faux-leather sofas, and there were several holoscreens mounted on the walls so that the Agents would miss none of the highlights of the match. "What do you think?" As soon as she entered, Fenris grabbed a drink from the bar and claimed half a sofa, eagerly awaiting the start of the match.

"Well, ain't this just luxury," Stephen observed, as the small party entered the VIP viewing box. "Maybe if we're lucky they'll even have decent beer! How long is it till this whole fiasco is supposed to be kickin' off?" he asked of Fenris, following in her footsteps to the bar and rapidly examining the various beverages that were available, as well as surreptitiously checking the tables of food for anything cakelike.

Fenris shrugged. "About 5 minutes? Well, that's when the teams come onto the pitch, the match won't start till a little bit after that." She turned to see what kind of view she could get from her place on the sofa, sipping at her drink as she did so.

Silvia turned to get a full view of their box, her expression suggesting that she was very impressed. "This...it's a great view. And luxury too." She made her own way over to one of the sofas, glancing over at Hugo as she did so before returning her attention to the pitch below. "And we get to see the coverage," she added, turning her gaze to the holoscreens for a moment. "That should make things easier to follow. Especially with the Darkstars on the field - a moment's distraction and you can miss some of the best action if you're watching live."

While others were drinking in the view and admiring the luxury of their surroundings, Karishma's attention was quickly grabbed by something else entirely; the large volume of very high quality food arrayed on tables before them.  As she made her way over to one of the unoccupied seats, she couldn't help but keep glancing over at the food, thinking to herself whistfully that this many cybernetics did have their downsides.  Her mind suddenly made up, she swerved away from the sofa and made a bee-line for one of the tables, calling over her shoulder to Fenris with an apologetic smile, "Is it alright if I tuck in a bit?  I didn't get the chance to eat on the way here."

Hugo was mostly silent, but definitely appreciative of the whole room. He made his way over to the food before Karishma did, looking down at the pitch below the whole time. "Iff amafinnng." The massive agent swallowed his food, moving back to Silvia with an overflowing plate. "It's amazing. Just, really great, F-Fenrir. We're gonna see everything." There was only the smallest hint by a stutter there, and he hid his awkwardness by shoving a makeshift sandwich in his face.

"Of course it's fine to eat! That's what it's there for! Hugo has the right idea!" There was a clamor from the crowds, and Fenris turned expectantly towards the pitch, but it turned out they were just getting impatient. She could sympathize, she had been looking forwards to this game for weeks. "And with the money I paid for this, I would expect to see everything. I'm just glad this match is against Blazing Red. It'll be good to see the Ai Jinn get their asses handed to them." Fenris didn't seem angry at all, though whether that was because she had forgiven the nuke or just because she was distracted, it was hard to tell.