Ready for duty, Ma'am! on Teppenpaw Commons

Kirstenna Melcher

April 02, 2012 11:55 PM

Teppenpaw Quidditch Sign-ups. by Kirstenna Melcher

Last year had been rather disappointing for Kirstenna as far as Quidditch had gone. They had lost to Pecari . Crotalus and Aladren were widely regarded as the best-probably because the Imposter had wanted her house team to win as well as the team with three of her relatives on it, given that she was really a Carey, but Pecari ? Then they'd even gone on to beat Aladren and Kirstenna didn't quite understand. The only thing the Teppenpaw could come up with was that the Imposter recognized something sinister and evil in Jade Owen and that the girl was her apprentice.

It was totally scary. Not only did Kirstenna have to worry about the Imposter, but now the Imposter had minions . Not only was there her apprentice Jade, but there was her half-ghost spawn and of course, Renee with her dark, soul sucking abilities, kind of like a dementor, but instead she just sort of led others into being evil and had them in her power. And apparently, seduction was part of the power too given that she'd kissed Sophia.

The sixth year was worried about other things too regarding Quidditch. First of all, she really didn't want to go down as the worst captain ever. It didn't matter that Kirstenna really was a pretty good captain, everyone would just judge her by her amount of wins. She knew there were others that had never won games, but those were also people who'd only been captain a year. Kirstenna didn't think Kate would want to be known as a Seeker who'd never won a game either.

Furthermore, there was the fact that she was worried about even getting a team. She needed at least two new people. Andrew had graduated, that was a given and...then there was Ben. He just...wasn't working out. Kirstenna didn't want to hurt him but he just wasn't pulling his weight and as much as she hated to do it, she was going to have to replace him.

The problem was, Teppenpaws weren't exactly known for their desire to play Quidditch. They were not a very competitive bunch, which was generally a very good thing that spoke volumes about them as human beings but didn't do much for getting a full team. She supposed she'd have to put Solomon as a full time player rather than a reserve if he signed up again-and perhaps Kirstenna could make Laurie a Beater now that Ben was not getting the position.

She pinned the sign-up sheet to the board. It was a different piece of paper than last year, that piece was tainted, likely cursed by the Imposter. If that woman would curse poor Autumn for reasons Kirstenna could not figure out-maybe her relation to the Teppenpaw Captain? Quentin was gone and nobody else was any more closely related-certainly the sixth year wouldn't put it past that monster to jinx the Teppenpaw Quidditch sign-up sheet. So unlike last year, when Kirstenna decided to recycle, this year she'd gone through making a whole new neon yellow one which already contained her name.

Kirstenna Melcher, sixth year, Captain and Keeper

Subthreads:

Second Greatest Pleasure by Solomon Asa Davies

Ready for duty, Ma'am! by Derry Four

This is our year! by Arista Rose Thornton

Signing up by Laurie Stratford

I'm in! by Kate Bauer

11 Kirstenna Melcher Teppenpaw Quidditch Sign-ups. 161 Kirstenna Melcher 1 5

Solomon Asa Davies

April 03, 2012 12:52 AM

Second Greatest Pleasure by Solomon Asa Davies

Solomon relaxed on the couch, legs extended on the pile of pillows he’d assembled, wand flicking lazily through the air until he’d constructed a fortress of comfort. Across the room Kirstenna was pinning a sheet to the message board sending Solomon into sudden despair. ‘Damn, I’m gonna have to get up.’ Experimentally he stretched out his arm, leaning forward a little, trying to see if it was possible to reach the sheet from a distance of twenty feet. ‘No such luck.’ Groaning a bit, he pushed himself off the couch, reaching for the thick black square glasses he wore just for show, believing it gave his face more intelligence. Slowly he made his way toward the sign up sheet for Quidditch, pulling out a self-inking quill from his robe’s pocket and pressing the tip against the parchment.

Solomon A. Davies
Third Year
Reserve Keeper

A slow grin spread across his dark face, the white of his teeth glinting in pride. He’d been practicing his cursive. He admired his handwriting, the noble flick of ink forming the A. Signing up was the second greatest pleasure of Quidditch. The first greatest part was when he was settled comfortably on his own reserve bench, sprawled on the grass, shielding his blue eyes and squinting into a sunny sky, cheering blindly for his fellow Teppenpaws, mostly unaware of their successes and failures until the very end of the game when he’d scan their faces for happiness or defeat. None of that really mattered to him. He only enjoyed the energy pouring like a wave over and over again from the surrounding stands, washing over him. ‘Another year, another good feeling.’ He turned from the sign up sheet and hurried back to the couch with his his piled up pillows begging for his feet. He could wait patiently for the season of waves and sunny skies to start.

0 Solomon Asa Davies Second Greatest Pleasure 0 Solomon Asa Davies 0 5

Derry Four

April 03, 2012 10:41 AM

Ready for duty, Ma'am! by Derry Four

Derry was eager to return to Quidditch. Baseball had been fun over the summer, but the muggle game was firmly stuck on the ground and could be much improved, he thought, by introducing broomsticks. As it was a muggle game, however, played

primary by, well, muggles, he supposed this change was unlikely to be adopted. It was a shame really. If it included flying it would have stood a chance of becoming his favourite sport.

It didn't though, so Quidditch reigned supreme.

As soon as he spotted the sign up sheet on the bulletin board, Derry produced a quill from his bag and added his name to the list.

Derry Four, Year Four, Beater Four Teppenpaw

1 Derry Four Ready for duty, Ma'am! 189 Derry Four 0 5

Arista Rose Thornton

April 03, 2012 11:45 PM

This is our year! by Arista Rose Thornton

Arista was still upset about Teppenpaw’s loss the year before, but was more than determined to win this year. Lilac deserved a win for her house and so did Kirstenna as hard as she worked on the team. The summer proved, to her, the best resource she could have. When she didn’t have to take care of her little siblings she was finally old enough to go off on her own to a solitary place and practice flying. A few times she’d even brought Amira along with her to toss a soccer ball around to each other. The practice would help both sisters, she knew. Amira was determined to return to her spot as Seeker for Pecari and Arista herself was looking to keep Chasing for Teppenpaw.

In any case, once they arrived at school and her younger sister Aubrielle was sorted into Teppenpaw and their younger cousin in Pecari, Ris couldn’t help but feel a full circle starting to form up. The only house their family was not a part of was Crotalus. Arista and Addi had gone to Brielle’s room to check on her before bed her first night to be sure she was okay. Brielle said she was fine, and Ris left from there. Addi tried to convince her that B was faking, but Arista wouldn’t hear it. She remembered telling Addi that she was worrying for nothing. Brielle was a happy girl, period. And that was that.

But now it was a new day, and Arista glanced at the bulletin board to see if there was anything new that she needed to know. Her face wore a scowl when she didn’t see anything new until she spotted a piece of paper that was neon yellow. How did I miss that? she asked herself as she walked closer to it to see what it was.

“YES!” she said once she saw Kirstenna’s name on it. “Signups!” she did a little dance and pulled out a pen from her bag as she read the poster. She saw two names above hers, Solomon and Derry Four. She added her own to the growing list:

Arista Rose Thornton, fifth year, Chaser

Satisfied with herself, she put away her pen and walked back out of the Common Room towards breakfast in the Cascade Hall.

0 Arista Rose Thornton This is our year! 0 Arista Rose Thornton 0 5

Laurie Stratford

April 04, 2012 10:14 PM

Signing up by Laurie Stratford

For the first time since he could remember Laurie was sad and angry at someone. The saddest part about his whole situation was that his very own cousin had been sneaky enough to rattle him to his parents, and now he needed to be a proper Pureblood. This whole new façade had the very awful down side of not talking to Kitty or Michael ever again, which was a tad bit difficult considering he shared a room with the other boy. It was hard to ignore Micheal and Kitty, because he couldn’t think of having better friends, but Preston had been a bad person and now he felt alone. The thought of defying his father’s direct orders had crossed his mind a couple of times, but he had to admit that he was scared of the consequences. His father could be scary sometimes.

Laurie sneaked out of bed and quietly changed in the bathroom to prevent any encounters with his former friend. As quietly as he could he left the room way earlier – his new routine since he had come back – than it was humane to go to breakfast. Going around his roommate was becoming harder and harder, because the redhead had never been a morning person.

A loud yawn escaped his mouth as he was grabbing his school backpack. His green eyes widened hoping nobody would wake up. Without sticking to see if that had happened, Laurie ran out of the room as quietly as he could. He skipped the last step and fell on his face as a yawn overcame him.

The Teppenpaw grumbled some not very nice things.

As he was looking up he saw the Quidditch sign-ups and smiled for the first time since he arrived back at school. He still had Quidditch and he was going to cream Preston as retaliation. Fortunately, he found a quill in his backpack and write down his name

Lawrence Stratford, Chaser or Beater, third-year

He smiled at his name. It really made him feel better.

0 Laurie Stratford Signing up 0 Laurie Stratford 0 5

Kate Bauer

April 12, 2012 6:14 PM

I'm in! by Kate Bauer

Over the summer, Kate had been, to put it quite bluntly, invisible. Between everyone fussing over Alicia as both the baby and as the returning first year and everyone fussing over Rachel as both the one who’d grown up too fast and as the one who’d brought the family the honor of another Head Girl, it had seemed all too easy for everyone, even their dad, to kinda forget about the less distinguished sister in the middle. It had never gotten to the point of her mother actually seeming surprised, in public or private, to note that she had three daughters, but Kate had the oddest feeling that she wouldn’t have been entirely surprised if it had.

She wasn’t mad about it, not really. For one thing, it had always been that way to one extent or another, just usually not so much, and for another, sometimes over the summer she had not so much not objected to being part of the furniture as she had actively embraced that role. She was old enough now that Momma had started dragging her to ‘events’ whenever she could, and the only thing Kate found more boring than those events were the people who attended them. Learning to blend in with the walls very thoroughly then so she didn’t have to engage the alleged people in conversation either about dull topics or with the use of infuriatingly offensive rhetoric had been completely necessary to save her sanity.

Now, though, she was back at Sonora, and she was more than ready, as the Assistant Captain of the Teppenpaw team and as its Seeker, to cast some of that invisibility aside. She wasn’t one of the most visible people here, not like her older sister, but she existed, and that was enough for her. She wasn’t going to sell her soul like Rachel had in order to be everybody’s darling, and besides, she had enough of a job on her hands already. Teppenpaw had definitely seen better Quidditch days than it had in the past few years, and that was even before she had also become a prefect.

That, she thought as she signed herself up, was still unbelievable. Her, a prefect? It was like Brussels sprouts somehow being cooked in a way that tasted good: theoretically, it was possible, she couldn’t deny that, and she wasn’t displeased that it had happened even if it did mean she’d gotten a definite sense that some of her relatives were more shocked than she was, but it was hard to believe even when the evidence was, so to speak, right in front of her – or in this case, literally pinned to her chest. That, though, was a completely separate issue from the Quidditch team, and she was dealing with that one first because it had a sign-up sheet on the wall and it felt like she was doing something active about an issue when she used a sign-up sheet, rather than just thinking about weird things.

AC Kate Bauer, 5th, Seeker

16 Kate Bauer I'm in! 170 Kate Bauer 0 5