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But she couldn’t escape it now. Everyone wanted to meet her. Besides Sal and Lisra, no one else on the team even really knew her. Their families especially didn’t. They all found out at the same time, through celebrity gossip news, so half of them were playfully offended that they weren’t told. All Sandy could do was beg their forgiveness and explain that she was just shy and getting used to this place.
It was a lot, but it was necessary. She needed these people as friends. She needed to foster good relationships with those that were most likely to be on Rane’s side. If these people didn’t wish for the best for him, then they had nothing to work from.
Still, she kept close to Lisra, the one person she did know, as much as possible. The story of her shyness actually worked in her favor because Lisra clung tight to her side as well and, after the initial rush to greet her, people began to stay back and approach her in lower numbers.
Then, the starting lineup began. Everyone rushed to the front and, despite who was related to who, everyone on their team was cheered for equally.
Unlike last time, Sandy actually recognized the teammates. She cheered as she couldn’t before and was quickly swept up into the energy.
Then, Rane’s name was called. She screamed louder, jumping in place as he swam up and posed, as he did before-
-then did his own tricks!
He didn’t just present himself and leave, he did a quick display that she immediately recognized as the fighting – punching and kicking – moves that they had been doing at the arcade in the first game they played.
That was his display. A reminder of their time together.
Sandy smiled, heart fluttering, as he dropped to the field to take his place on the floating rocks. Lisra smiled, nudging her.
“I haven’t seen Rane look that excited in a while,” she said, beaming.
“Yeah?” Sandy responded to her but didn’t look away. Rane really was impressive. All dressed up – even if it was in ugly beige that clashed so terribly with his golden skin. His expression was focused, crest half raised, all muscles tense in preparation for the starting buzzer. He was absolutely gorgeous, in the most masculine way that word could be applied.
Lisra chuckled, stifling the sound behind her hand.
“What?” Sandy asked, gaze darting quickly between her and Rane, not wanting to look away from him for too long.
“Nothing. Just that everything they say about humans appears to be true. You really do adapt to anything, huh?”
“What?”
“Nothing. Let’s go, Sal! Woo!”
Lisra started cheering. Sandy didn’t get a chance to ask her anything further because the others in the box followed along, cheering on the team as a whole and their player in particular as the ball dropped, the buzzer blared, and the game began.
Chapter 20
Rane
The teams’ cooperation was at an all-time high today. He didn’t think he could remember when they last worked together this smoothly. Certainly not at any point recently.
But their practices leading up to this game had been flawless, and it was translating into a game that was so one sided, it almost seemed unfair.
The team they were facing were from Holotulle. The center ringworld of the Coalition had no native species. Or, rather more accurately, their native species, the vitulli, were never seen. No one knew what they looked like or even where they lived within Holotulle. However, that didn’t mean there weren’t people from there.
Instead, Holotulle was something like an amalgamation world. Every species in the Coalition had citizens that lived there permanently, that were born and raised there, and some that had never even been to their native homeworld. There were some species there that weren’t part of the Coalition at all but had moved to Holotulle as refugees.
In a similar fashion, the champion team from Holotulle was made of different species, all with their own strengths and abilities. It made facing off against them that much more difficult since it wasn’t a matter of keeping one species’ abilities in mind.
But the teamwork of the Eliviers was so good, it almost didn’t even matter. It was like they were reading each other’s minds rather than their movements.
It had been too long since playing felt this good.
Too long since he had been this… happy.
That’s what it was.
Rane was happy.
