[justmedk]

Ciri nodded happily when Denisa suggested that she teach her how to ride a bike the next time she came back to the village. This was apparently something that almost everyone knew how to do, but her. And it was definitely an embarassment for her.


The suggestion to go to the park to play football cheered Ciri up immensely, and she eagerly went to get her gear on as instructed. She'd seen this played. Now she wanted to play it! She knew she could run, after all.

She couldn't help but roll her eyes a bit in a very teenage-like-fashion when told to not pick up the ball, and not attack the other players. She'd figured that much out from watching the moving-pictures-screen.
So when they got to the park, and there were, in fact, a lot of kids playing football, it should have been easy for her to go over, introduce herself, and join in.

In fact, it was not. She hadn't been used to being around other kids for a long while now, and the girls back at the village were different, because in that place it seemed to be...different. She couldn't say how, but it was.
She hesitated for a moment, then looked back at Denisa, and was about to say something when she was interrupted.


"Hey! You", a girl's voice was heard. "Come on. We need a fourth here."
Ciri hesitantly moved closer, and the girl coralled her towards her team.

"I'm Darja", she said with a grin, and introduced the others on their team, and then the ones on the other team. "Haven't seen you around before"

"N..no, I'm visiting my...cousin", she said, trying to find the best way to describe Denisa to them, before mentioning the village where she actually lived.

If anyone reacted to that news, Ciri didn't realize it, trying as she was to size up the pitch.


When the game started, Ciri moved like lightning, finding herself at the opposing team's part of the pitch before the others knew what had hit them.
If she'd been as good as shooting as she was at positioning, they'd have scored. Sadly, having never kicked a football before, she ended up shooting ridiculously wide the first time she got the ball when she slightly panicked in front of the goal.

She blushed and then ran to get the ball, realizing that was the least she could do.

The pattern repeated itself over and over: Ciri was a master at outrunning the others and positioning herself, but when it came to finishing...it was a different story, and the level of frustration she felt was growing.
So, apparently, was her teammates, and at one point one of the others, a boy about a year older than her, slapped her across the neck with a remark to pull herself together or get out.

That triggered a fight-or-flight response that had been drilled into her by the witchers of Kaer Morrhen, and she instantly turned around and sent him to the ground with a punch to the nose. She looked down at him, twisting and turning and holding his nose, then looked at Darja.

"Sorry about the game. I'll leave", she said quietly, thinking her chance to make friends here had gone for good now, before heading back towards Denisa.

"Let's go back", she said gloomily. "This was apparently a bad idea. I stink at this sport"