IR Day 5 - Cool, right?

Ingrid is with Angela, both are very excited, but Ingrid is also anxious. She looks glad to see you and grabs your hand.

"This is cool, right?" you ask.

"It is scary," she says, looking like she really means it.

Angela suggests eating lunch. You wish that you and Ingrid were on the same team, but it's better this way. You don't want to be away from her... waking up with her is the best. But being her captain would make things complicated, so this is simpler. You hope her feelings won't be hurt if you have to break past her to score a goal... but to do that, you will have to get through Beth and Duni first. This will be tough...

"You will not get past me," she says, blushing, trying to act cheerful.

"OK," you say. It won't hurt your feelings if Ingrid stops you from scoring. You just want to see her happy.

After lunch, she goes off to call her family and tell them what's going on. You do the same, walking around on the patio in the sun, talking to your mom and sister on the phone. They are shocked, but happy for you. Your mom asks if your secret will be OK, but your sister just wants to know how much FUTA is paying you...

After the call, you notice some of the girls gathering outside to practice informally. A lot of the girls on Adella's team are already here, and so is their coach, Motoko... so they get a head start on everyone else.

You see Ingrid come out of the Lodge and join them. You wish you could spend this time with her... but you can't take her away from her team. Speaking of teams, you have several teammates that are already here, and Lara comes to talk to you about strategy. She knows a lot of the foreign players. You aren't sure how.

"Blue Team's obviously the best," she says bluntly. You already knew that. "Olga's a fighter. Feng is fast, but small. I know Miranda well. Cocky. Fancy. Incredible ass," she adds.

"I want to meet her," you say.

"What about this Jill girl? Do you know her?" she asks you.

"No." You have played in America a lot and know a lot of players... but not her. "What about the Red Team? We don't know any of them."

"Chun's a beast. She's better than you, me, and Adella combined. Nobody kicks like her. Nobody on Earth. Jack's inconsistent. Kelly's not very good. Sakura is good, but she's not very big. I don't know Edi. Or Ling."

"Chun is that good?"

Lara nods. "But she's like me. She's got a job. So she might have to leave to go do it. Who knows?"

"What about Green Team? Do you know any of them?" you ask.

"Lot of tough girls on that roster. Shep's a badass. And I have a bit of a crush on Monika," Lara admits, making a face. "Cam's a good friend of mine. She is stupidly good. Van's not much use, but I like her. Aria's wonderful, but she's not a threat. I don't know Kaine."

"I know Meghan. She's hardcore," you say.

You spend some time going over the roster together. You'll have to look some of these girls up, watch some replays and check their stats.

"What about our coach?" you ask.

"I've never heard of her," Lara says.

You look over at Blue Team practicing and see Ingrid running, her huge boobs bouncing... you aren't the only one looking. Adella is staring.

"Yellow Team is probably the weakest," Lara is saying.

"Syd and Ela are good," you say.

"Yeah, but Karin's their captain. She's... a great player, but not leadership material. I don't know why they'd pick her." Lara looks puzzled. "On the other hand, they do have Zofia. She's a bit scary. If anyone can make Karin useful, it's her."

"Sucks for Ela. Having her sister as her coach."

"Yeah, and they have like a weird relationship," Lara agrees.

So it goes for a while, until dinner time. You go looking for Ingrid, finding her still with her team... it's good that she's on a team with a lot of girls who were already here at camp. So she knows them.

"We are going for sushi," she says in her thick accent.

Oh. Her team is. You were thinking about having dinner together. And maybe, you know... later...

"Oh," you say. "OK. Have fun."

She hugs you, and you at least remember to stop her, then kiss her on the mouth. She kisses you back, blushing, then goes to join the others.

You go to the window and look outside, watching Adella open the car door for her.

This... really sucks. You don't even know what your relationship status with Ingrid is... you need to tell her how you feel, but it's too late now. You will have to do it tomorrow, because she will definitely come back late... and you can't keep her up all night. Tomorrow is the first day of real work, so you all have to be rested.

You know one thing for sure: Adella's team is one of the strongest in FUTA. It is overwhelmingly likely that they will win their game on Friday. So if you want to see Ingrid at the Lodge one week from now, you will have to win your game too.

You can do that, right? Unless your game is against Blue Team. Then things would be complicated...