13 12: Games we Play [Filler]

[27/03/1976] - Oriundo Family Manor, Backyard

"Ai caralh-" (Oh shi-)

"Ahem." (...)

"Desculpa." (Sorry)

"De novo." (Again) Holding the large football, Otto grinned to his son: "Até você conseguir, e é um bom treinamento pra melhorar seu equilíbrio e senso de gravidade." (Until you get it right, and it's good training to increase your balance and sense of gravity).

What were they doing? Well, you know how Wizards in England have always declared their little sport of riding a broom and throwing balls at people was the best one? Even though it was essentially built around making one player the focus of the whole damn game? Well, Brazilian wizards, like normal Brazilians, are fucking nuts.

"Gol!" "Aquilo foi incrível!" "Caralho..."

(Gol!) (That was awesome!) (Damn...)

Which is why they took inspiration from the little game of Quidditch, mixing in a very known game - football. The rules? Well, there's this ball, and this floating ring. You kick the ball through the ring! Like ground football, you're only allowed to touch the ball with your feet, even in the air. This is why this game is really dangerous, even more dangerous than the frail game of racing with brooms to try and catch a small golden flying ball because you play this game on a floating broom that is your vehicle. Of course, the broom can be used with a Stitching Charm to keep the rider from falling off, but a broom with Stitching Charm is boring, and it makes it hard for you to kick the enchanted football mid-air, so the majority of players don't use either enchanted brooms or regular brooms, but floating disks! These disks are commonly referred to as "Disco Voador" or "Flying Disk," which is also a small joke to OVNIs, that means "Objeto Voador Não Identificado" - or, in English "Flying Object Not Identified," the famous alien spaceships which is the UFO in proper English terms.

Following the few simple rules, this game is very playable.

You can only touch the ball with your feet (unless you're the goalkeeper), you can only touch other players if they have the ball and you're taking it from them, and one goal equals one point, wins whoever has the most points after a period of 1 hour and a half. Easy, right? Except, Derek was learning how to play the game with his dad using a broom and not one of the OVNIs that his fellow players would be using. This he was using came without the safety Stitching Charm (Or was it Sticking Charm?) that almost all of them come with, thanks to it being designed under his father's wishes. "Você consegue Derek." (You can do it, Derek) Otto, his dad, gave him thumbs up and grinned while Derek could only sigh.

It was like surfing, but unlike surfing, here you could possibly fall to your death. Except, Derek could fall from a great height and still be okay, thanks to the little gift his dad gave him - a pair of boots with wings that would automatically cast the Lightweight Charm spell that would make him glide like a feather to the ground safely if he were to fall from the broom, which happened a lot. He once again got on top of the broom, sitting on it first before mid-air adjusting and getting on top of it with his feet. It was hard to stand on top of the broom while it was still, and even harder when he had to surf it in the air and move quickly.

The other players also didn't make it easy on him.

Meet the fuckers who are making his learning experience a shit:

Agarothon, 8 years old with the appearance of a really tall teenager, he was already growing small hairs on his chin as his Giant puberty was starting.

Ahimm Verin Veronica, 6 years old with the appearance of a tall 14 year old girl, her body was also going through the major parts of puberty since she really freaked out when her period came, literally punching her father in the nuts because he made a little joke and she got so angry with him that she didn't even care about anything else than the need to punch him... It's scary but understandable.

Goliad, 7 years old and a menace. He was a half-giant like Derek but his fucking annoying personality really tested Derek's self-control and his desire to kill, because the boy was also half-fey... His mother was a giantess and his dad was a Púca. That was why he was a tall, lanky guy with a really long, fluffy tail and fox ears because of his Púca heritage. Being a Half-Púca also gave him their annoying personality of messing with people, especially people they judge to be assholes... and guess what? It's in their nature to mess with those types of people directly, making sure they suffer several minor to major annoyances. Goliad was the son of one of his father's herd members. He was given the task to help Derek learn how to not kill others, so he was granted permission to mess with him within a reasonable limit.

And it was working! The first week he met the boy, Derek wanted nothing but to skin him alive and drop him in a sea of lemon juice with salt and vinegar, but now? Now he just wants to skin him alive.

Hey, progress.

"Sabe, se você tentasse com mais vontade, tenho certeza de que você poderia cair com mais... graça." (You know, if you tried more willingly, I'm sure you could fall with more... grace.) Taking the opportunity to jest at him, Goliad grinned, his snow-white long cat/fox-like tail swinging with glee as his grin widened. Derek simply sighed softly for a moment before a bright purple glow surrounded the disk beneath Goliad's feet. The disk he was riding simply left his footing, making him fall with a grin on his face. Soon, the shoes he was wearing activated, making him glide down slowly. "Você ta progredindo Derek, dessa vez você nem tentou matar ele!" (You're making progress, Derek, this time you didn't even try to kill him!) His dad grinned brightly, his big teeth shining annoyingly bright as well, making Derek ponder if he was using a spell for that or if it was just within Giant physical capabilities.

Again, Derek got up on the broom, but instead of sitting on it first, he placed both feet on the broom and willed it upwards- he fell, ass first on the ground, when the broom shot up too quickly. He didn't even let Goliad laugh at his failures as he got up, a purple light coming from the broom as it shot down again, hitting the ground like it had been pulled down.

He tried again, and since his dad told him that he was not allowed to use magic to stick himself to the broom, he had to learn how to balance himself on it. He tried, again and again, always falling because he was an idiot - Until, at the end of the evening, he could perfectly get out of the ground with his feet on the broom. It was actually fun when he tried to fly on it. He did fall when he got the speed wrong, but today was day one of learning.

His progress was really good. Well, Otto had given his son this task to not only improve his body control (which is essential for combat) but also so his son could have some sort of sport he could play with his friends. Although he was constantly trying to murder one of them (Goliad got really good at dodging thrown objects by now), he still smiled whenever they were together, and his son had a really difficult time. He saw in the way he interacted with others around him, try as he might to hide it, he had difficulties when it came to communicating his wants and needs, most of the time letting others go before him. He literally saw his endless pain as something good. Why? Because, and I quote: "At least mom's not going through this. At least it's me and none of you."

And no son of his will ever be a fucking martyr.

-Scene Cut-

If flying on a broom with his feet to the handle was hard, imagine also kicking a ball while mid-air. Derek lost his footing many times, falling many more, and even hitting the broom on his balls on the way down too many times. Hey, he didn't even flinch when he slipped and fell crotch first on the broom, but the other three men around him all flinched as if they felt his pain... only that Derek didn't feel much pain, on a discomfort on his balls for a few moments before it faded away.

"Mais uma vez!" (One more time!)

Altough it was hard, it was fucking fun. No, really! Derek was learning how to keep his balance, which was crazy hard to do! He took a position, his arms closer to his torso as he shot up with the broom, twirling mid-air as a strong breeze blew his body to keep his footing. He also started practicing and learning how to skate and surf because these two helped him learn how to keep his balance and how to use his footing to do cool tricks. He had to learn how to pick the right wave, fine-tune his position, how to keep his center of gravity low properly, and mant other things from Surfing. From skateboarding, however, he did learn that footing is really important and a wrong step makes his face meet the ground.

Hey, he got better at it. Now he could do a few tricks, at least. Like a Backside 180, a Backside 360, a Backside Caballerial, a Backside Half Cab, a Fakie Ollie, a Frontside 180, a Frontside 360, a Frontside Caballerial, and a Frontside Half Cab. With a skateboard, not with the broom... yet.

"Aqui vai a bola." (Here comes the ball) His dad threw it high, going directly to his face - Derek lowered his center of gravity, lowered his head and back, letting the ball pass by his body while stretching his left leg backwards, hitting the ball with his heel and making it go back to the front of his body in a single and fluid movement. Hey, this is quite cool! Next, he had to do some kick-ups to keep the ball in the air while also trying to move forward with the broom.

The way brooms worked is that you tilt the handle in a direction you want it to go, unless you're going forward, because to go forward, you only have to will the broom to move forward, and it'll go. Now, moving while also kicking a ball to keep it in the air? That's something hard to do. Derek has good body control. It comes naturally due to his high affinity to Self Magic, but even he would need a lot of practice and time to learn how to play this game the really hard way.

"Quer tentar jogar uma partida hoje?" (Wanna try to play a match today?) His dad asked, grinning as he stepped forward, getting on top of his own flying broom-like stick that simply floated upwards with him. "Eu vou pegar leve com você, prometo..." (I will take it easy on you, I promise...)

Well, he was lying.

-Scene End-

Author Note: This is more of a filler chapter because I don't focus too much on the plot, but instead, I give you an idea I had. Everybody knows football is really big on Brazil, I particularly don't care about the game, but I do know it is heavily associated with the stereotypical view of Brazil.

Like hot women, the T-posing jesus statue, and of course, our babies, the Capibaras - which will make an appearance in this fic as well because I just love them. I truly do. Maybe I'll make them a permanent character too...

Also, fun fact, this August 21 is my birthday (not telling yall my age cause I'm in denial still).

also, I'll include an image of how a Boitatá looks like.