Trying-Out on Quidditch Pitch

Captain David Wilkes

April 14, 2012 11:24 PM

Aladren Quidditch Try-Outs by Captain David Wilkes

David bit down on the inside of his mouth as he glanced at his wristwatch for what felt like the hundredth time, but which he knew to be only really about the fifth or sixth. When it came to presentations, he was ready to concede already, before he even really tested the theory out in this circumstance, that Annabeth was right about the wait being the worst part of it and no doubt about it, because if the actual performance was any worse than this, David didn’t think he would make it through the damn thing. All the adult women in his family that he and his siblings were on familiar terms with mocked him and his sisters for making mountains out of molehills that everyone in the world had to deal with, but he was pretty sure that even Anna had never quite had performance anxiety like this. Hard to say for sure, of course, but he was pretty sure that the people evaluating his sister had never been the children of the oligarchy.

He looked at the watch again. Five minutes, and someone was approaching. How was he supposed to make conversation for five minutes?

He didn’t, he thought, do a very good job of it between then and his next glance at his watch, at which point he stopped attempting to talk in a voice a bit higher than usual from the sheer horror of realizing that showtime was just about two minutes away, and realizing that now he wanted those two minutes to drag by at the speed of depressed snails, but that they were starting to speed up. His religious life had been a topic David had sort of mentally avoided since arriving at Sonora, but he found himself mentally praying to get through this without making a complete fool of himself.

It did calm him down a little, though the thought of a literary parallel almost made him laugh. Then he drew on reserves of courage he had not previously been aware he possessed and got started.

“Hey, everybody,” he said, looking around and reminding himself that he knew these people. That did not make him feel better, so he thought instead about how he knew these people had never yet attempted to bite him. That worked a little better. “Welcome to, er, Aladren…tryouts.”

He looked around again and then decided to just throw it down on the table for everyone to see. “So, last year, we lost,” he said bluntly. “The final. We had to have bad luck one time, and that was just the day. This year, we’re going to win again, right?” Oh, that was wrong. He shouldn’t have said ‘right.’ It should have just been a statement, not a question. Oh, well, it was too late to do anything about it now. He kept on plowing forward. “The first thing we need to sort out is who’s going to be our new Beater, so if you want to do that…” Okay, he knew where he was going with this…. “We’re going to start practicing, so anyone who wants to do that, talk to me for a minute while Sam goes in as our Keeper, then we’ll just run a normal practice.” If one thing was going his way, it was that Samantha had come back, and they had a good turnout this year in general. It meant some problems, since he’d have to work out who got a slot and who didn’t and worry about how that could come back to haunt him, but in matters of Quidditch, it was always better, he’d concluded, for his team to Have rather than Have Not, just as it was better not to show how worried he was about it already. If he didn’t seem to be the one running this show the whole time, his new assistant, not to mention the rest of the team, would eat him alive. “So let’s do that.”

OOC: Welcome to Aladren try-outs. Have fun, give me good, detailed, creative posts following all the rules, site and Quidditch, here – good practice for that game! I’d like at least one post from everyone.

Subthreads:

Trying-Out by Thad Pierce with Preston Stratford

This year we’ll be awesome! by Katrina (Kitty) McLevy with Samantha Hamilton, Arthur Carey, Russell Layne, Kitty

Beating? Reserve? Whatever, I guess...? by Andrina Thornton

Back again by Arnold Carey

Volunteering by James Carey

16 Captain David Wilkes Aladren Quidditch Try-Outs 169 Captain David Wilkes 1 5

Thad Pierce

April 15, 2012 1:46 PM

Trying-Out by Thad Pierce

Thad looked around at the gathered group of Aladrens and realized that he might get to be on the bench again this year. Not only had everyone except Edmond returned from last year, but two others as well.

There was a new older student he recognized as both a Prefect and a Library Monitor. She was a girl, though, which Thad had sort of gotten used to with Kitty last year. (There was a difference, he had decided after a few weeks worth of acquaintanceship with the tiny Chaser, between a lady and a girl, and some girls were just not fit to be ladies.) He would have given Miss Hamilton the benefit of believing that she could be a lady, but she apparently wasn't in agreement if she was here. Besides which, she only wanted Keeper or Reserve, so she wasn't really in competition with Thad anyway. Thad liked Keeper, too, but he had already written it off as impossible, since that what what Captain Wilkes was.

The other newcomer was another second year, like Thad was. She was also a girl, which was starting to get disconcerting; one girl was an anomaly (and Kitty made an excellent anomaly), having two girls was still unusual (and Thad would not speak against a prefect even if he'd been inclined to publicly denounce girls in Quidditch), but three was moving toward a trend he couldn't entirely approve of.

Still, he'd been on the team last year (if only as the reserve - a position he had come to understand their new captain had held for a few years himself), so he figured he should at least try for first string. It would look bad if the second year girl got in but he didn't.

"I'll try for Beater," he told David as the team began to break apart after the speech finished. He held his broom in one hand, and he had even brought along one of the school's bats from the broom shed in anticipation of trying out for this slot. If he got it, he'd probably have to get Father to buy him one of his own. "I worked with Edmond and Preston on that a little last year, and I know some of Derry's tricks if we go against Teppenpaw."

1 Thad Pierce Trying-Out 213 Thad Pierce 0 5

Preston Stratford

April 16, 2012 3:50 PM

Just returning for my spot by Preston Stratford

Edmond was gone. Edmond freaking Carey was gone, and Preston was left alone in the Beaterdom of the Aladren Quidditch team. One part of the redhead was happy that he was now the most experienced beater of the team, but the other was scared, because Edmond had been an incredible beater, and now he had to take that place. That for most part he felt was too big for him. The Aladren was quite conscious that he was good, but Edmond had been great. And bigger. And scarier. The fourth-year had gone through a growth spurt during summer, but he was still on the shorter side and he didn’t have enough muscle...yet. Preston had never been too worried about appearances, because at end the brain was what counted. However, he couldn’t deny that practicing for Quidditch had some positive effects, and he liked the way his body had been shaping. It wasn’t enough.

Preston was going to train a new beater, and he wasn’t very happy about it. He didn’t like change too much, and he was sure he and Edmond were a good beater team. It had ended, just like when Daniel left, leaving him in a team he hadn’t liked too much. That had changed, and now Preston was happy he could balance sports and academia...and a new girlfriend. The thought made him smile.

It was the day of Quidditch try-outs, and the Aladren was somewhat nervous about what would happen now that there was a new Captain and Assistant Captain. He knew that growing up was part of life and everything, but it was going to be interesting to see how David and Arnold handled things.

After getting ready in his room, Preston entered the Quidditch Pitch a little early like it was his habit. He hated being late for things, so he usually arrived 10 to 5 minutes before the actual time. His punctuality was something his mother found a tad bit irksome; especially when it was time for parties and such, since fashionably late was something in vogue with the Pureblood society.

Preston was the first one to arrive. The new captain seemed to be anxious, but that could be due to a numerous of things not necessarily about Quidditch related stuff. He nodded to him in greeting and stayed silent until the rest of the people arrived. They finally did and David began talking to them. His speech was somewhat erratic in his very humble opinion, but Preston decided that confidence in the new captain was a must, so he stayed quiet. It would be unwise to talk right now.

The Beater looked around and when David was finally done, he took out the Bludgers and left them free to fly around. He mounted his broom and began circling the pitch in pursuit of them. The redhead began smacking the bludgers without a specific target in mind waiting for the New Beater hopeful to join in.

0 Preston Stratford Just returning for my spot 0 Preston Stratford 0 5

Katrina (Kitty) McLevy

April 17, 2012 4:19 PM

This year we’ll be awesome! by Katrina (Kitty) McLevy

After a large breakfast of oatmeal with strawberries, bananas, blue berries, and a ton of brown sugar with cream, Kitty felt ready to take on the day. She still had the original broom she got from Daniel in her first year, lovingly cared for and meticulously tended to, even though her dad offered to get her a new one Kitty still liked this one more than any other. This would be her third year of playing hopefully and her broom had carried her though all of it, she wasn’t about to get a new one! That would be like getting a new horse when her faithful companion was still perfectly fine. Nope, they’d won two out of three championships on this broom, and unless something tragic happened she wasn’t going to ruin that sort of magic.

Skipping, her broom cradled lovingly over one shoulder, Kitty made her way to tryouts. Once she arrived Kitty gave David a big reassuring smile. He looked quite nervous, which Kitty thought was kind of silly. He had been chosen as Captain, which clearly meant he would be awesome. Someday, that’ll be me Kitty thought with a dreamy smile as she pictured herself in his place, rallying her team in preparation for the season to come. A glance around at the other people who’d showed up for tryouts made her feel antsy to prove that she still deserved her spot. Even though the older girl hadn’t signed up for Chaser, Andri had signed up for anything so there was always the small chance that one of the other two girls might get her position which was entry unacceptable. Kitty loved playing way too much to lose her spot to anyone else.

When they were released to do normal practice, seems the only position that really was vacant was the beater position, Kitty quickly scooped up the Quaffle and with a whoop of joy she took to the air. After a few playful zig-zags to elude imaginary bludgers Kitty began looking around for her fellow chasers while she kept an eye on David for him to take his accustomed position in front of the coveted rings. She saw an open chaser and threw a nice clean pass in their direction.

0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy This year we’ll be awesome! 0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy 0 5

Samantha Hamilton

April 24, 2012 6:14 AM

Here come the girls by Samantha Hamilton

As long as Samantha could remeber, Aladren had been a male-dominated team. She hadn't been the only girl playing when she'd originally signed up, but for several years, now, either she or Kitty had represented the full female component of the Hawks. This year, her sixth and penultimate year at the school, Samantha was witness to not one, not two, but three girls having signed up to be on the team. She didn't really expect to be on the starting line up herself, considering the only position she was any good at was the Captain's position, but she did hope that maybe some female presence would curb the insanity for which the Aladren Quidditch team had become notorious. If nothing else that might help to calm David's nerves; he did seem to be a bit flustered as he made his introductory speecg, but then samantha had never been all that good at public speaking herself.

At his request, she flew on her borrowed school broomstick up to the goals to Keep while he saw to any potential Beaters. She had already lamented not being on the team during the year that Daniel Nash had seen fit to bestow decent Quidditch brooms on the less wealthy members of his team. As a result, she now felt like the person with the least respondant broom on the pitch. Ah well, it wasn't like she intended to play Chaser or Seeker, when having a fast broomstick really mattered. All Samantha needed to do for now (and potentially in a game scenario) was to protect the hoops from the Quaffle, and she'd been casually playing Keeping positions in various sports for as long as her memory cared to let her recall.

Admittedly, she had signed up for reserve player, and so there was a possibility that if someone was taken out of the game for any reason then she might have to play any of the positions going. She thought she might just about manage Chaser, but she would need some training up in Seeking at beating to be considered anywhere near competent. That, she supposed, would be part of David's job once he had the starting line up sorted: to make sure his reserves (if there were any) would do a decent back-up job. Samantha didn't envy her friend his leadership role; she was already prefect and library monitor, and those combined were more than sufficient. Having actual responsibility for a team victory in which the whole House would want to share sounded like more pressure than was indicative of a good time. herself, Samantha was more than content to sit pretty up in front of the hoops and wait for the Chasers to try and make a move past her.

0 Samantha Hamilton Here come the girls 159 Samantha Hamilton 0 5

Arthur Carey

April 24, 2012 11:01 PM

...Oh, dear by Arthur Carey

As the older boy made his way, somehow, through his opening speech, Arthur found himself studying Mr. Wilkes, as if by looking at him intently enough he could discern, as though one of them was a particularly tricky kind of watch and the other a particularly good clockmaker, what made him tick.

Watches, Arthur thought, were interesting. He had taken a few apart, and was considering taking them up as a hobby. People were rather more difficult, though; they didn’t work by set rules. Mr. Wilkes was excellent proof of this. He should not have become Quidditch captain, that should have been Arnold now, but instead, he had, because a lot of people were involved. Had Preston been a serious contender, then, or Russell? Himself, Arthur dismissed almost as out of hand as he had dismissed himself as a potential Beater. He was too prone to using the bat on people when he had it, and he was just…not a Quidditch captain. He had always intended that for Arnold.

That would work out, in time, but Arthur was not mad enough to imagine he had anything to do with it. It was just people. And this person in the way, and Arthur was still slightly confused as to why. Mr. Wilkes was not, in the pinch, showing any particular previously-hidden aptitude for leadership; if he’d been a Carey put in a high position and behaved like this, he would have already had five plots going against him, and three and a half of them would have been started with good intentions instead of just pure ambition. Sonora was, though, a different world.

It did not, Arthur thought glumly, bode well for their chances of reclaiming their lost honor in the championship. Mr. Wilkes was softer-seeming than Edmond, and even Edmond had not been really cut out for this. It was going, he suspected, to fall to him to make Arnold behave with some discipline so he didn’t lose to a first year again or something like that. It could be passed off as an anomaly if last year was the only time it happened, but another year…Well, Arthur didn’t like that.

He smiled slightly at the sight of Miss Hamilton back among them, then a bit more grimly when the Chasers got to Chase. It wasn’t especially fun without people to dodge around, but that was balanced by how the opposing players became irritating after a time, and it was often pleasant simply to fly through the air. When Katrina passed the ball, he caught it, and then passed it almost immediately just because it was not something he was known for doing. They were back in it, anyway.

0 Arthur Carey ...Oh, dear 182 Arthur Carey 0 5

Andrina Thornton

April 26, 2012 3:33 PM

Beating? Reserve? Whatever, I guess...? by Andrina Thornton

Andri wanted nothing more than to be with her friends, learn and grow to be the best Andrina that she could be. Sports, education, the whole gamut. The sign had gone up for tryouts for the Quidditch Team, and because of her friendship with Kitty she wanted to play with her. The night before the tryout she slept soundly. She felt secure in her ability and seeing that she didn’t care if she was first string or just got to play as a Reserve there wasn’t any real competition in her mind to worry about.

When morning dawned, the now twelve year old donned a pair of black leggings and a bright blue ¾ sleeve shirt. She put her long red hair in a ponytail and looked at herself in the mirror. I’m getting taller and more slender than ever. she thought to herself as she flexed her muscles. I look good. she said to herself as she smiled at herself. The freckles that adorned her face made her look tan, though in all honesty there was no tan to the girl. She knew that, as did any who knew her. They were just coming out of summertime and that was when her freckles really shined brightly on her cheeks and the bridge of her nose.

She left her room, carrying Arista’s borrowed broomstick and walked down to the Pitch. She met up with the other Aladren’s and moments after she’d arrived David, the Captain, welcomed them. He looked around at them and told them bluntly that they’d lost the final the year before. Andri knew that, she’d seen the game and had seen what happened. It made her mad that her house team hadn’t won, but it made it worse in her own mind that her team’s loss was the RESERVE Seeker’s fault on her sister’s team. If it was her sister who’d won she probably wouldn’t have been as mad about it. But THAT was just too much.

“We’re gonna win. We are!” Andri said to him in response to his comment. He continued, asking them if anyone wanted Beater they should go talk to him while Sam went out as Keeper. Andri thought about it a moment and with a shrug of her shoulders that most likely nobody could see, she walked up to David.

“I guess I can try…” she started to say to him. But Thad also said he’d go for beater, and she wasn’t interested in taking it from him if he really wanted it. Pausing her sentence, she backed up a bit and let Thad tell David that he could be useful. Andri could play any position, that she knew. Sure, she too had ability of getting inside members of the other teams heads (her sisters), but that didn’t mean that she needed to go for Beater. Beating wouldn’t have been her first choice, but if that was what David needed, she wouldn’t let her team lose cause nobody tried for Beater. But since Thad had said he would, she’d still talk to David.

When Thad walked away from David, Andri walked up to him again. “I can try to Beat too, if you want. I’m not too bad at it, even though its not my favorite position, I know how to. I’ve been practicing with my sisters who are on the Teppenpaw and Pecari teams all summer.” she said to him and took to her oldest sister's broom to join the others to let him make his mind up.

0 Andrina Thornton Beating? Reserve? Whatever, I guess...? 214 Andrina Thornton 0 5

Russell Layne

April 26, 2012 6:30 PM

Quite a few of them, too. by Russell Layne

Another year, another try for the Cup. Russell was sure, as he gathered with the rest of the Quidditch team, that he wasn’t the only one who wasn’t assuming that things were going to go as smoothly as they had in his first and second year. Their golden streak had broken; now, they not only had to prove that the earlier string of victories hadn’t been a fluke, but also that last year’s loss to Pecari, of all people, had been one.

He would have liked to have been the Assistant Captain, but if it could have been next year, he would have envied Arnold a lot more. The pressure on Arnold was going to be considerable anyway, and now he was the captain-to-be on top of that. He could only say that David and Arnold were lucky to be in solitary positions, so maybe they wouldn’t hear so much about it if things didn’t go well as they might have if they’d had to work closely with the rest of the team in absolutely every situation involved with being on the Pitch together.

Of course, if they lost again, maybe no one would be safe but the Beaters…but they weren’t going to lose again, so there no point in even speculating about it. Last year had been a fluke; this year, they were going to come back tougher than ever, even if their captain did seem more than a little nervous about stepping into his shoes. Russell just had to do what he’d been doing for the past three years and hope that Preston was twice as vicious as he had been in years previous (something Russell would have once said only a complete nutter would want) to make up for them not having Edmond anymore.

They were put to playing, and Russell went to the other two Chasers, Arthur and Kitty, to face off against the old Keeper, who’d come back. “No pressure this year, guys, right?” he remarked to neither of them in particular before they all kicked off, the ball starting with Kitty, then going to Arthur, and then –

Russell thanked reflex for making him catch the ball, because he didn’t expect it enough to think of doing so. It was habit to be prepared at any moment, but a half-conscious one, since he didn’t really expect the Quaffle to come flying at any moment. Still, he caught it, for which he was grateful, and then he covered some ground before passing it again, hopefully for someone to score with.

16 Russell Layne Quite a few of them, too. 183 Russell Layne 0 5

Kitty

April 27, 2012 9:53 PM

Yeah! Girl Power!! by Kitty

It felt so good to be back in the air, the only thing that would be better was if the stands were full of cheering fans. There was nothing quite like the rush of making a run for the goals with the roar of the crowd riding the wind too. Still, this was as important as a game, more so even. Try-outs were the gate way to everything else. Failure here meant that those doors would close and she’d lose out on the splendor that was the most amazing game in the universe.

The crimson ball left her small, almost dainty hands. Hands that someone who didn’t know her might look at and say were too small to be of use in such a male dominated sport. Ha! She would show them this year as she had the last and the one before. Being short and female didn’t hinder her ability to chase, to catch, or to score. In fact it often came in handy because it made her a much harder target to hit with bludgers and it made her maneuverability easer. Some of the magic kids in the school sure had a silly view about girls and their place in the world, and for once Kitty was glad she was a muggle born and that no one would ever be able to convince her that she couldn’t do anything the boys could do.

Arthur easily caught her pass, and quick as lightning passed it off again. Bright blue eyes widened slightly in surprise at the fast hand off. Usually Arthur was one to make long, sometimes crazy runs at the goals. It was unusual for him to pass off so quickly. Then again, it might be a good tactic to perfect this year, seems it was likely that she wasn’t the only one who’d noticed his habits. Apparently she wasn’t the only one not expecting the move if the look of startlement on Russell’s face was any indication. He managed to catch the unexpected throw and Kitty shadowed him, keeping her cerulean eyes open for any wayward bludgers as she flew. She’d learned last term how unforgiving the dark balls could be and she wasn’t going to be caught unaware again.

Russell passed as they were nearing the goals, and the Keeper that Kitty secretly had to thank for being on the team. They’d needed a Keeper her first year because Samantha decided not to play that term. It gave the young Muggleborn the opportunity she needed to make it onto the male dominated team. Smiling gleefully, Kitty snatched the red orb out of the air and tucked it close to her small chest as she flew fast the gap between the center and right hoops, perfectly in the middle so that it would be nearly impossible to tell which she was after until the Quaffle left her grip. Her heart beat with the quick excitement that any run at the goals filled her with and as she neared the hoops, Kitty leaned back and let the ball fly hard towards the center.

0 Kitty Yeah! Girl Power!! 0 Kitty 0 5

Arnold Carey

April 29, 2012 3:01 PM

Back again by Arnold Carey

He kept up a cheerful manner as he joined the rest of the team for the tryouts, but Arnold found he was looking at the upcoming season a little differently than he had at the last three of them. It seemed somehow more important this time; he had always worked hard at his practices, of course, but it had definitely helped that he enjoyed them. Now, he was thinking of them mainly as a way to improve himself, not a way to enjoy himself, or a way of filling up an hour, or whatever.

What to think about having decided that yes, he really wanted to win was not something he had made up his mind about yet, but he did it anyway. Fair was fair, and he didn’t hold any sort of personal animosity toward Jade Owen or the Pecari Beaters for last year – if anything, he admired them – but he wanted that Quidditch Cup back. This thing…this was his thing, the thing he did well and shone at more than anyone else in his family. His close family, anyway; he didn’t claim to be better than every Carey who was still living and had sometime played the game, since it would be virtually impossible to prove that, especially when he considered that he had no idea how he’d do as a Beater or a Keeper but thought it was reasonable to predict that he wouldn’t be so good at either as a bigger person would, but he was better-known for it, anyway, than any of the other South Carolina Careys. Everybody noticed Arthur because he was brilliant and eccentric, everyone noticed Anthony because he was an heir, but the only thing Arnold had ever been noted for before he became the Aladren Seeker was running into things at high speeds and somehow avoiding both death and permanent injury. He was used to that, but he liked being thought of as being skilled at something instead of just being thought of as an idiot.

So, when he heard that those of them who weren’t trying out for Beater should work as though it were a regular practice, Arnold thought for a moment that maybe he ought to watch the Beaters, too, and help with picking one out because he was the Assistant Captain now, but that thought was quickly overruled by the need to practice. He waved to his brother and roommates and then kicked off, testing how long it took his broom to reach top speed and being pleased to note that this didn’t nearly send him flying without a broom. It hadn’t for a while, but he had ended up needing Mother to patch him up while she yelled at him a few times over the summer while he was working on that trick. Still, it was worth it to think that he could, when it counted, get started on the hunt that much faster. Nothing short of fate would keep him from winning again this year.

0 Arnold Carey Back again 181 Arnold Carey 0 5

James Carey

April 29, 2012 3:03 PM

Volunteering by James Carey

From the day he had arrived at Sonora, Jay had told himself that he was not going to follow his cousins onto the Quidditch team. For one thing, he had no desire to live in their shadows for his entire time at Sonora, and for another, he simply didn’t like Quidditch all that well. It was one of those things one did as a Carey male, but since the team here was full, he could easily say there had just been no room for him and that a Carey was not a reserve and then let the issue gradually fall by the wayside, since by the time Captain Wilkes graduated, he would be able to argue that a Carey also did not join up at such a late date and end up on an equal footing with first years.

It, then, came as no surprise to him when, on the morning of Quidditch tryouts, he found himself on the Pitch, slipping in just as the speech started and finding a quiet spot in the back where he could all but blend in with the woodwork, escaping all notice unless someone was looking for him. It was a trick he had learned somewhere along the way, and he found it useful, sometimes. There were always times when it was helpful to be able to disappear; the odd thing to him had been realizing that not everyone knew this and had gotten the hang of doing it when they needed to, even if it was only to avoid a hated tutor or something like that.

At the moment, though, it wasn’t something he could keep doing the whole time he was outside, since at some point he had to address the captain directly. It was, he thought, fortunate, then, that he had never really had a fear of authority figures or of speaking to them. He supposed that was a side effect of being Anthony IV’s great-great-grandson, when Anthony IV’s family was still small enough to be reasonably close, not like the great Virginia-Louisiana monstrosity. He ate meals at the same table as authority figures on a semi-regular basis, and had observed that sometimes they looked tired and had favorite breakfast items and that kind of thing, that they were still people. So once everyone else had approached David Wilkes, a figure Jay couldn’t help but find interesting just on the basis of what the twins had said about him, Jay went up.

“Good day, Captain,” he said politely. “I am James Carey, of the South Carolina Careys. You can call me Jay. I apologize for not signing up in advance, but I’d like to be one of the team’s alternate players this year.”

That, he thought, was safe enough. By the sounds of it, Aladrens were not partial to letting their alternates on the Pitch, preferring to tough it out, and so he solved his own problem neatly enough. He just had to hope it working for him didn’t change it.

0 James Carey Volunteering 222 James Carey 0 5