Page 2 of Jockstraps & Newspapers

Chapter two

A new piece

Cassiopeia

“W elcome Ms. Darling, what a pleasure!” Rick Pearson chirped from his office as Cass stepped into the room.

His assistant shut the door behind her. The resounding click made her stomach twist in knots.

Mr. Pearson’s office was a glistening paradise of accomplishments.

Plaques with his name on them, photos with every lead in the publishing industry, and there were books with his face inside or on the cover. Rick Pearson was somebody.

Cass smiled, waving sweetly as she scurried across the room. Head up, shoulders back, you can do this!

“Mr. Pearson, an absolute honor,” she breathed, extending a hand to him.

The rugged dwarf was that kind of writer who clearly doesn’t sleep and had movie star looks with unintentionally good facial hair.

His long, salt and pepper beard was styled to perfection, defining his cheekbones.

His eyes were ringed with light purple circles, but he had a distinct glimmer in his eyes.

His suit was pristine. Mr. Pearson sat up from his chair, shaking her hand vigorously.

“The honor is mine. I mean, we read your journal articles on crystalwire about the tech crisis hitting the magic engineering field and knew we needed to bring you into the fold.”

She exhaled heavily, “Oh! I’m so glad, I thought it was a pretty good piece.”

Sinking into the seat across from him, she set her briefcase on the floor.

Ankles crossed; she made her hands into a perfect fold over her lap.

The last thing she wanted was to seem nervous.

Despite the internal screaming. She smiled, “I’m so glad my work got me this interview.

I’ve dreamed of working here since I was a kid. ”

“Oh, well, we’re just a newspaper. We print the news, and we do our best to keep our readers engaged. Nothing special.” He waved off the comment with a chuckle and a flick of his wrist.

“Nothing special?” she snorted. “You covered the last food shortage in the Maylor Kingdom and the coverage of the slime dragon revival has been some of the most riveting stuff I’ve read!”

“Mmm, good, flattery will get you everywhere, Ms. Darling!” He flashed her a finger gun.

“Thank you!” She winked, giving him one back. Oh, my dragons, is this working? Is this? She tried not to give into the frantically molting intrusive thoughts beating around the sides of her skull.

“So, let’s get down to brass tacks, huh? I mean, sure I could interview you, but I’ve seen your articles, I’ve seen your social media presence, and we already know you’ll be a good fit, so why don’t we just put you on a story and use that as your entrance exam, huh?” He cocked his head.

Wait…what? Her heart skipped a beat. That’s so unusual. She let out a slightly nervous laugh. “I mean, yeah, sure, I’d love to show you what I’ve got. But I thought this was for a permanent journalist position here at the daily.”

“It is, but we can’t just hire anyone off the crystal web. There’s no better interview than seeing you work a story. Plus, I wanna see what your process is. How you take a story and make it your own, and how adaptable you are.” He sat back in his chair.

Oh shit…am I gonna get paid? She nodded, “Fantastic! I’d love to show you what I’ve got.”

“Perfect, so let’s get you set up with payroll, we’ll pay you per piece like we do for freelance, and we’ll use your pieces as your probation.

If you do bad, we’ll just part ways. If you do well, then we’ll bring you on as a permanent journalist. It’s how I got my first shot; most of the writers here you’ll find got our start this way.

It’s a little strange, but I’d rather pay you for a few bad pieces and find out you won’t fit then bring you on payroll and not get the journalist I want. ” He tossed his hands up with a grin.

Ah, so this is how they get you. No problem, Cassiopeia Darling was in this for blood and fame. If it took a few pieces at freelancer pay, she could do this. It wasn’t about the money but it sure would be nice.

“What did you have in mind?” She clenched her hands in her lap.

“What do you know about SportsBall?” He cocked a brow.

She barked out a laugh, “What?”

“SportsBalls? King’s Fall has a sports league, four teams under our banner, plus two from the Maylor Kingdom, and two from Tritus. Every year we put on a full summer of games with one winner. The King’s Fall Knights win every year, naturally. Do you watch?”

No! Why would— Cass laughed sweetly, shaking her head. “Sure haven’t, but I’m down to try anything new.”

“Perfect!” Mr. Pearson clapped his hands. “I’ve got just the story for you that’ll allow you to show off your chops across many different mediums.”

“Huh?” she blurted out, blinking rapidly.

“Come with me, did you drive here?” He jumped to his feet, sinking below the top of his desk.

“Uh, no.” Cass clambered to her feet, panic pumping through her. Sports news? You’ve got to be fucking kidding! She rounded the desk, watching Mr. Pearson grab his briefcase and motion to the door. His assistant appeared in the blink of an eye and opened the door.

“Good, we’ll take the portals, it’ll be great.”

And so, Cassiopeia followed the jolly dwarf out the door of his perfect office and out into the deadly sunshine.

T hey arrived at the field ten minutes later.

Thankfully, a cold breeze was cutting through the heat from the sun.

King’s Fall had near perfect weather all the time.

Wizards stayed up in towers all the time keeping the spell intact.

The sun was always shining. The clouds were always fluffy.

The sky was always cerulean. Except, seasons still happened.

It was spring now, and the wind was biting cold, but the sun was blazing hot.

It made it easy for Cassiopeia to keep temperate while charging after the swiftly strutting dwarf. He was practically frolicking.

Cassiopeia, on the outside, was pressed and prepared for anything.

Internally, she was freaking out. Sports?

We don’t write about sports! We couldn’t tell you the last time we even watched a sports romance movie!

We can’t write about sports! But her name in neon lights and awards to rub in her sisters’ faces was depending on this.

How hard could it be? Right?

It’s just a test anyway. She’d watch a game or two, write up about the stats, do the research, maybe do an interview or two, and get her name on the payroll of King’s Fall Daily. Perfect. Easy. She could do this!

Cass regretted her pumps immediately as her heels sunk into the thick pitch. Halfway through, she had to forgo them and accept the shame of her stockings walking over a dew-damp field. Cass held them in one hand, her briefcase in the other, and stopped beside Mr. Pearson at the side of the field.

Sweaty bodies—everywhere!

There were people all over the field, stretching or running.

Some man in a pair of gray sweats and no shirt was in the middle of the field, cap on his bald head, whistling at people before barking orders.

An ogre was doing push-ups in the top right corner.

She spotted a Fowlst—bird folk—flying from circular goal post to circular goal post. A minotaur was jogging in place with high knees next to a green Dragos, both laughing at something between them.

A pair of humans were doing tuck and rolls in the middle, springing up to their feet, and repeating the action across the field.

Oh no. She felt her hope of getting the job go up in flames as she absorbed the whole field. What are they even training for?

“Ah! Mr. Pearson!” Another person in sweatpants, a towel draped over his shoulders, jogged up to them. “Great to see you. This the journalist?”

“Yup! This is the one and only Cassiopeia Darling, she’s going to be working the season with y’all.” Mr. Pearson motioned at her grandly before turning to her. “Cassiopeia, this is Coach Renner, the one in the center is trainer Lee. And the big lady at the back is Tens, she’s the team cleric.”

Cass glanced past everyone to the goliath woman with a mohawk that was handing out water and lecturing players from the opposite side of the field. She was as impressive as she was intimidating. The glistening muscles on her arms made Cass feel weak just looking at her.

“Well, Cass, lemme introduce you to the man of the hour, huh? Elliot!”

“What?” Cass blurted out, glancing at Mr. Pearson.

“The story, you’ll be following the team in the season and reporting on training, interviewing, and doing game wrap ups, but the biggest piece—and the thing I’m most excited for you to write—is Elliot Bonesaw.

He’s the man of the hour. Elliot is the team captain and has been the reigning champ for six years now.

And at the end of season, Renner here is retiring and Elliot is becoming head coach.

So, the main piece is a look into the minotaur in charge.

The ins and outs, overview of his accomplishments, the whole works.

I want a massive piece about him to wrap up the season. ”

A think piece…about some sports player? Cass swallowed down what was left of her pride as she faced her challenge.

Seven foot tall, white and rust spotted minotaur in only a pair of hot pink, mesh shorts.

He jogged across the field toward them. Cass, having never once noticed sports players before, noticed suddenly how muscular Elliot Bonesaw was.

His shoulders were a brick wall, his waist was fluffy but bulky, and his thighs made her jealous.

He could probably jump to the moon on those things.

His horns were a sweet corn yellow bone.

Her eyes kept dropping to the bull ring bouncing in his nose and the dripping wet fur around his bare chest. How long have they been out here working out?

“Coach!” Elliot saluted Renner loosely. His attention dropped to Mr. Pearson and Cass second. “Greetings and salutations, peeps.”

Peeps? What was he? Twelve? Cass smiled as best she could without a grimace. “Hi.”

“Elliot, this is the journalist I told you about, Cassiopeia Darling. She’s going to be working with us for the season.” Coach Renner motioned at her, “And you know Rick Pearson.”

“Ey! Rick!” Elliot crouched to knock knuckles with Rick Pearson. “My number one fan.”

“You know it. I’ve got my season tickets already.”

Number. One. Fan? Cassiopeia knew in that moment that if she didn’t do this piece justice…she would never have a chance again. She needed to win over her soon-to-be new boss or give up on her dreams entirely.

“Well, Cassie, you ready to get on the field? Maybe toss a few people around? We’re still warming up!” Elliot jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at the field behind him.

“Oh, uh, thanks, but I’m not really dressed to wrestle.” She waved off his comment with a brilliant a smile.

He gave her a once over and she resisted the urge to brain him with her briefcase.

Thankfully, he nodded after looking at her from crown to toe, “You’ve got a point there, not really a lot of wrestle material on, but that’s no worries.

We’ve got spares in the locker room if you wanna change.

Tens probably has some gym shorts you could tie up or something if you want. ”

“That’s so sweet of you,” she laughed fakely, putting her shoes down by her toes. “But I’m good, not really a sports girl.”

“And you’re going to be writing my piece?” He cocked a fluffy brow. He raked hard, chestnut-colored fingers through his mop of sweaty hair and brushed it back between his horns.

“I’m gonna do my best.” Oh, she was gonna fucking flop and burn and never write again in this city. Bemoaning her soon to be crashing career, she looked to Mr. Pearson. “So, what’s the plan? What do you need from me? Just so I know what to start with?”

“Well, why don’t you spend the day here, get your feet wet so to speak, the team’s gonna be going over the season and all the ins, outs, and in betweens, so that’ll be good to get you adjusted.

Then, tomorrow, I’ll see you in my office and we’ll go over the mediums I want you to produce for me? How’s that sound.”

“Perfect!” she chirped. Fuck. My. Life. “Can’t wait.”

“See you tomorrow then, nine am.” Mr. Pearson slapped her calf, the only part of her he could reach, and sauntered away.

Coach Renner had already wandered away to talk to some other players. It left Cassiopeia and Elliot at the edge of the field. Get it together! You can’t let Andromeda and Lyra win! Steeling her resolve, she folded her hands over the handle of her briefcase.

“So,” she glanced across the field, her face falling into a painful grimace. “What does…all of this do?”

“Do?” Elliot blinked, glancing around at the field, following her gaze’s travel. “Oh! You mean, how does it work?”

“Sure.” She rocked back on her heels.

“Oh, okay, right, so SportsBall is a summer sport. It’s a two-team game, where each game has a simple task. You gotta get the ball through the goal post. The gold ring posts, that’s the goal. At the beginning of the game, we flip a coin, and whoever wins the toss gets to pick the ball first.”

“Pick. The. Ball?” she winced, her shoulders slumping.

“Oh! Yeah, so the captain picks who on the other team is the ball. It can be anyone.”

“A person is the ball?!” she squawked.

“Yeah! It’s super rad, so you can try any strategy, but you’ve gotta think through who you think your team can conquer and get them through the post. The only rules are no magic and no pain.

And then your team must defend the ball while still trying to get the other ball through the post. There’s some few this, that, and the other, but yeah, that’s it. Pretty rad.”

Pretty. Rad. Cassiopeia set her briefcase down. Hands on her hips, staring at the field. This is your life now. She could do this. You’re gonna crash and burn . Cassiopeia Darling doesn’t let things stop her. You’re gonna fucking hate this. Doing this job is going to be worth it.

Her name in lights. Awards on her shelf. She was gonna be somebody.

She could do this!