A boy from Zeeland and the All-Stars

[Thunfish 72]

To examine the circumstances around one, oneself has to be able to observe the situation around them with the look of an outsider. So far, the Dutch winger Sunrise van de Schubbekuteveen couldn't see the events around him as anything besides peculiar. From what he was told, he had been selected for one of the skill events and the All-Star games themselves, something that sounded rather funny in retrospect, for he had spent the past seasons trying to battle the tides of opposition to what was essentially fated as repeated failure. Yet, here he was, perhaps due to rules of elimination, serving as an All-Star for his beleaguered Chicagoans. Luz insisted that it was an advantageous situation, a moment of pride for him but it didn't quite land on him that well. He rated his honour more on things that were related to the team he was supposed to defend, after all, not the team he was selected to be on a technicality. The more he thought about it, the more it tasted odd, the more it felt off. And he already felt that by the skills competition bit, where after essentially being placed last in the list and given a jersey that, to his chagrin, didn't even have his surname written right on it; he decided to amuse himself by touring the entirety of the rink as "preparation", passing the puck off, goofing off a bit while taking in the sights and then scoring to a flat thud.

 

Once the pleasantries were over, Sunrise skipped into the night, only making sure to take his girlfriend with him back home. He exchanged some words with the owner of the house he was staying at (a rather usual occurrence that started once she returned from a business trip back in Australia) before going to bed. While Luz remained in very good spirits after the whole ordeal, saying that it was a dream come true and that she was pretty pleased to see him doing his best on ice, the Dutchman might as well have clocked out in the early hours of the day and he probably wouldn't have missed it all that much. Sure was a fun sight to see people relaxing and fans that were willing to eat the most basic things up like it meant the world to them but it all packed inside his mind to a jarring point.

 

It was a big moment, wasn't it? Then why was it so superfluous? Why did it feel like something that just happened for the sake of it? Why was he not taking in the heat of the event? Was it all just meant to be some sort of curiosity, a side event to the regularities of another year in North America, away from his friends and family? It was the sort of thing that kept him at night. The kind of stuff he couldn't quite shake off, the lack of help from Luz also meant that this was something new to her as well.

 

His thoughts warped in circles before he finally conceded the point and went to sleep. The next day was war. Again.