Description: Gabriel meets Roberto, and he's manly, driven, a little rugged, but nothing that a little bleach, holy water and a brillo pad won't fix. Yes, he's perfect. Too bad for him.
Roberto normally tries to avoid this area like the plague. Really he does. So he's pretty surprised that he's here. Of course that kid kicking the soccer ball from the park might've had something to do with that.
So Roberto dutifully goes for the ball that rolls in from the north. He takes a few steps, gives a loud sigh and attempts to chase the ball before it get into the river because while frankly in the best of weather he wouldn't want dive in for it. And now that winter is upon us, jumping in is totally out of the question.
But the ball is stopped, under the cold foot of a person most people agreed they didn't want to see. That thing, A fanatical zealot who was previously staring at the water before noticing the approach of a soccer ball. She didn't play soccer, she didn't approve of soccer balls. The game brought out the worst in some people, a lot of fans seemed to take it far to seriously, far to violent, though she didn't have a thing about violence. There is the river, just a little kick and the ball would go away, but then where? To the hands of some child? It was hard to say.
Cold green eyes in a black silken jacket, baggy slacks, long white sleeves, blond locks. She might even be beautiful if she wasn't also generally agreed to be out of her friggin mind.
Well, it's truly unfortunate for Roberto that he hasn't heard enough about this particular zealot that he could recognize her as the religious lunatic. So he's glad the ball is stopped though that might change in few moments. For now there's a smile on his face. "Hey there! Nice trap." He begins to move closer that smile still there on his face as he begins to speak again, "Thanks for stopping that ball. It would be hell to swim in for."
When he gets to about 20 ft. away, he holds up his hands in a familiar goalie fashion in case she decides to kick it to him up high but below the waist he stands as a field player in preparation to trap the ball down if it's low. "If it's alright, could I have my ball back?"
[OOC] Roberto says, "Poor Roberto doesn't know what he's getting into."
Gabriel turns around. She looks rather less cheerful and friendly, but looks at the way he is holding his hands, then at the ball. Now lets just face it, Gabriel knows nothing soccer, nor how to play, nor how to kick the ball, but it SEEMS easy enough, kicking a ball, right? Right? So she decides with a lack of any other thing to do, reason to act otherwise, she kicks the ball.
Wrong all wrong, it's clear now she knows nothing soccer, the way it shanks off her foot, someone couldn't of done it on purpose, not like that, if they did it would of gone off her foot more maliciously. It's just a really bad shot.
The pride of Taiyo's soccer looks up with wide eyes as the ball arcs up high and well over his head over to one of those tall, concrete barracades in a bounce with some weird spin on it that also takes it well to the side.
If this was taking place at Taiyo Arena or in a Gymnasium he might've laughed about it but now his mission is clear: Stop that ball. He breaks into a full run hopping over debris here and there before making a desperate dive for the ball. And Miura... Doesn't come up with the save. Hey he can't be great all the time. Anyway the ball rolls just off of his finger tips and off one of the docks dropping into the river with a plop. There's a dramatic silence as he lays down on the ground, looking behind him into the river where the ball floats just mocking him.
You know.. As Gabriel watches the running energetic boy she can't help but think, he's rather cute. His hopeless crusade, it reminds her of her own hopeless crusade if you can compare trying to stop a terribly kicked ball from going into the river to attempting to save the souls of the world by dousing them by water. She decides she actually approves of him and rather then grunting or looking vaguely irritated she tries to comfort him.
"If I bless this water at least you can be certain your ball will be pure again." And she does, bowing her head and praying.
Now most people running into Gabriel is considered an unpleasant experience. There are a few exceptions to this rule, but this was one where Gabriel instead of trying to kill/steal the soul of/mame/purify she is actually trying to be.. nice? Run Roberto, use your scrawny little legs!
Scrawny? You don't get scrawny legs from a near fanatical devotion to the game of soccer. Oh wait... We're getting side tracked here. A look of skepticism appears on his face as the word comes to his lips, "Purified?" He then watches her pray and his eyebrow raises slightly. He then looks towards the soccer ball as both heart and mind come into conflict.
His heart tells him to dive in. It's his soccer ball for goodness sake. His love for the game not wanting to allow him to lose that ball in that fashion.
Then his mind rebuts his heart with the reminder that it's winter, it's freezing, and also there's the fact that bodies and other undesirable things tend to turn up there.
His heart then counters with the fact that there's no soccer game tomorrow. And both heart and mind shout in unison, unheard to anyone else but him, 'SICKDAY!!!!'
Unfortunately this silence is totally mistaken by Gabriel to be a coy shyness, instead of thinking about the ball, which she is already forgotten about, he is clearly paying attention to her. A flush comes to her cheeks, very faintly and her visage softens in the most terrifying of ways. Because she isn't exactly looking polite, she's almost looking stern as if to say, 'you better be interested in me', though she doesn't say it, it is just her body language while shyly misinterpreting what it is he is actually thinking about.
"You can call me Gabriel, " she says, as if he actually asked her what her name was. It is accompanied by a bow and holding out her hand, which she continues to do while approaching him. If only Roberto's heart and mind realized that at least diving in would get him the hell away from her.
He lifts his foot as if he's about to take a step to begin his run into to the river but then he sees Gabriel make her approach. The combination of the stern look and the blushing kinda throwing off his read of her. But it wasn't like he was very good at reading people anyway so there's a look confusion on his face before performing a bow in return he then shakes her hand. "I am Roberto Miura. Umm.. Nice to meet you." He glances into the river as he realizes his soccer ball is continuing to float away. "Excuse me. I think I better get it before it gets too far away. But we'll continue the conversation when I get back."
With that the soccer star, runs and dives into swim after his soccer ball. He holds his breath as he swims and keeps his lips tightly closed not wanting to breath let alone getting a taste of the Southtown Punch as he swims wildly. Nagare, he is not but he eventually catches up to it and swims back. He tosses the soccer ball on to the dock and pulls himself up. "I think... I'm gonna need a shower."
Woah. Woah woah woah, this whole time there is Gabriel standing there and staring in disbelief, it even shows a little on her features. This was devotion, this was commitment, this was.. Faith. Yes, Faith. Roberto seems to be doing a terrible thing of everything right to not change her mind, which is probably what he should be trying to do if he knew that he was getting the total wrong attention. Gabriel's attention.
"You should consider one of the school dormitories, I am certain your dorm room is equipped with a proper shower and bath for such an occasion, as mine is." Gabriel comments without realizing how snobbish it is. Still she isn't improper enough to try to bring him to hers.
If only she knew his motivation. That would change her mind. Devotion, yes... Commitment, possibly... All said though she has the wrong idea of what the devotion is to. As for faith... This had nothing to do with faith because quite frankly he thinks the idea purifying of the ball is a load of hooey. And if he knew what thoughts were actually going through her mind, he'd be downright scared.
The shivering begins as he starts to respond, "M-my h-h-house is actually a b-bit closer th-than the d-d-dorms of T-t-taiyo High." He carries the soccer ball under his arm and laughs. "I'm p-probably g-going to g-g-get a sp-speech from m-m-mom about setting a bad example for my brothers."
"If you wish I will speak to your mother, I am certain I can persuade her you acted in a manner fitting an upstanding young man," Gabriel replies with a certain confidence and utter lacking grasp of the situation. Her parents were gone, and before they were gone she would of never dreamt of doing what he just did. She would in contrast get in trouble for accepting something used rather then insisting it be new. She was snobbish, but that doesn't mean she couldn't be attracted to something more common. Something like Roberto.
"At the very least allow me to allow you to escort me to your home so that I may not worry." She's worried? From the look on her face, no.
"Sp-sp-sp-speaking w-with m-mom w-w-w-won't be n-necessary." Roberto ought to say no that second request. Everybody on earth knows it. But Roberto has been raised to be polite and she hasn't given him any reason not to accede to that request and so against all that is logical with the world he says, "Eh, why not... I can't say I'll be the best company though."
In Gabriel's mind though, he can do no wrong, why even his stutter from being oh.. frozen to the bone, clears up, it's a filter which is in place to make him appear more cool then he actually is. He even acquires a DBZ halo, a patch of light from the sky that follows him. She's in total l... ll.. ll. .. mild appreciation of Roberto.
"Very well, please lead the way, Roberto-san," Gabriel replies and prepares to walk with him to his house, warning, the makers of Gabriel do not recommend ever showing her where you live, ever, for any circumstances.
And the player of Roberto does not recommend even telling her the neighborhood you live in. But anyway he continues walking to his house in a shivering silence, soaked to the core and in freezing weather, not even looking at Gabriel as he heads there. Oh boy... Does Roberto even know what he's getting himself into?
It was a first actually, at least it was a first so well as anyone could remember, including the makers of Gabriel. She meanwhile stays in silence she finds quite comfortable. It is not awkward for her it is normal. She is after all, anti social, so why would she expect that she should expeect there to be something to fill silence..? Sound? of any kind. Surely there wouldn't be. Therefore Gabriel walks along in silence made more uncomfortable by her lack of discomfort. She seems to be perfectly at home on this field while other people, Roberto in particular might be wondering what she is thinking.
For those of us party to her thoughts, IE the viewers, the voice over of JD would be talking about how she was memorizing every step to get to his house and oh how the real pain has not even begun.
Oh the humanity. When they reach the park Roberto gives the players he was playing soccer with a wave. And while they're surprised that he actually would dive into the river to save the soccer ball, they're even more surprised by who he walked with. So much so they're stunned silent and completely unable to return his wave. Apparently his friends know more about her than he does and will be getting a few calls and quite possibly a citation for disturbing the peace when he realizes that Gabriel knows where he lives.
Eventually the two get to his house and he bows politely to Gabriel and heads inside. From the inside of the house, she can hear screaming, the words 'bad example,' 'lost your mind,' 'crazy' occuring with the most regularity.
This of course troubles Gabriel some, even hardens her face, but she doesn't want her very first date ever to go badly and therefore she does her best to ignore first where he lives and second that his mother, or whom she assumes to be his mother, is shouting in such an undignified manner. She might have to do something about that woman, but what? Probably best she did nothing, but was that an option? Not for Gabriel.
"This is my card, it contains my contact information." Gabriel says and hands Roberto her card before pulling out a second and writing down his address, at least his apartment building and of course assuming she can tell where the shouting is coming from, his room number.
"What is your cellular number?"
Roberto says, "Oh I n-normally don't g-give m-m-my cellphone n-n-n-number to people I've just, m-met..." And you're probably breathing a sigh of relief right now when he says this. This is the probably the smartest thing he's said all day... And then here comes the disappointment because he writes it down anyway. Looks like a new cellphone and number are in his future and what with the money he's made off of fighting so far, it's a drop in the bucket. We can all hope that his shivering turned his number to chicken scratch."
Yes, it did, unfortunately for Roberto - Gabriel thinks she can read it. She gives what apparently is believed by her to be a smile, though it comes out much more like a grimace, infact that is exactly what it looks like. She then bows and does something that should relieve Roberto of her worries, she goes to take her leave. With the card with his number on it. Seriously, what was he thinking, perhaps later he will come to learn the error in his ways.
Log created by Gabriel, and last modified on 08:59:32 03/25/2007.