The New Days

Almost a week have passed since the bath tub incident. In this time, Andreas ordered a new one, and hired workers to install it for him. That one was even bigger than his previous jacuzzi, which meant the situation like before wouldn't happen again.

Things between the two roommates got initially awkward, because they didn't know how to talk to each other initially, but they broke through it when Andreas started to teach the Lamia how to cook meals. Turned out she had a natural talent in the kitchen, and took over most of his meal preparing duties.

Sally was deep into learning the history or this world, studying the inventions, and the drive to go further with technological progress. She saw how the Earth struggled with it in similar fashion to the old world, before finally breaking the chains of the dark ages and moving towards the future. The Lamia was interested in those dips to the ages of decadence and not doing much for centuries, which was strange, but it happened a few times in the humanity's history. She tried to draw analogies to her world and figure out if the people back home will ever be able advance beyond their current technology.

Andreas however took upon improving things around the house. Some of the painkiller pills were working better than the other, so he was actually able to walk without the cane for most of the days. He even picked up a lawn mower, and dealt with grass outside. Then, he used some paint to make something resembling the penalty box outside of his house and even set up his own improvised soccer goal, made out of planks. It wasn't ideal, but it sufficed for some light touch ball kicking.

Nothing spectacular, or out of place happened until the six days after they were stuck in the bath. It was still morning, but they were both already after breakfast, and in the living room, sitting side by side and watching television. Her tail was enveloping the couch and the tip of it was flapping and making circles near Voigt's legs.

"... teach me more about that sport?"

She asked when they were watching soccer news.

"Football?"

"Football, soccer, whatever you call it." She smiled.

He started off his response with a sigh.

"Europeans and pretty much almost every country in the world calls it football. Americans call it soccer, cause they have their own kind of football, which has absolutely nothing to do with soccer."

She nodded.

"Well... I suppose we have time before we should go and get groceries. Ask."

He grumbled, and got comfortable on his part of the couch.

"Okay... I saw that the game is like an hour and a half long. How are you able to run for so long without getting tired?"

She asked genuinely trying to know. This world's sports were something completely new to her and she barely had an idea of someone being an athlete before coming in here.

"First of all, it's not 90 minutes straight. The game is split into two, 45 minutes long halves. Further more, in the summer, whenever there are like heat waves, referees are allowed to make additional breaks during the game for the players to rest up and drink some water."

"Doesn't that mean that the actual game is shorter? I saw that you don't pause the timer like in a lot of other sports."

He shook his head.

"No. Referees are counting all of that towards the extra time. But that's not over."

"Oh?"

"If the cup game ends up in a draw, there is usuall an extra time, two halves of 15 minutes each to decide the score."

He explained.

"And if there is a draw after that?"

"Then the game goes into penalties which are the mix between luck and skill, but are fairly decisive."

She nodded, trying to set this all up in her head.

"That's so much running... I get tired when I'm at full speed for more than a few minutes."

Andreas just laughed.

"Yeah, but you are not a trained athlete or someone that is used to run every day."

They were watching again for a few moments, before she gathered up the courage to ask about something.

"What position did you play?"

She could see his teeth gritting, and muscles on the face twitching.

Andreas took a few deep breaths. There was no need to get upset over innocent questions.

"I started off as CAM, central attacking midfielder, but then I was moved into center forward."

"So you scored goals?" She asked.

"Yes... You can find all of that online, you know? You don't have to ask me."

She dropped her head.

"I can... I even wanted to. But it would be like peaking at your life without your permission. Besides, it's always better to learn things at their source."

Andreas grabbed his cane.

"Yes, I scored goals. I was a poacher, someone who tried to find lose balls in the penalty area and send them into the net. Not very valuable when it came to team play, but I pulled more than my weight when it came to actually winning games."

He stood up and started to walk away.

That was a trend that Sally noticed, he did that every time when she tried to ask about him or his past. She was curious what happened to him, but didn't want to learn it online. She knew already that every media platform has its own way to spin the news to their own perspective.

But she didn't pry. The Lamia felt that if she waits long enough, Andreas will finally open up to her.

He only managed to move a few steps away from the couch, when he heard that someone ringing the bell at the gate. Andreas turned his head towards Sally and asked:

"Are you expecting anyone?"

She shook her head, without even turning her eyes away from her phone.

"Guess I'll check who is it..."

Andreas moved to the hallway and - after pressing the button to open the gate - waited patiently at the doors.

He then heard a two weak, barely audible knocks.

Voigt proceeded to just open doors without looking out first. What he saw...

Was an elf. Way smaller, and less developed in certain areas than the one he saw last week, this one looked like she barely stepped into adulthood. She was dressed in the clearly oversized shirt, had big, bright eyes and long, green hair. Her face expression showed only what can be described as annoyance full of disdain.

"Where is the mistress?!"