I was wondering about that... on Pecari Commons

Stephen Baxter

February 11, 2006 6:15 PM

Quidditch by Stephen Baxter

Ash and Sorrel were both acting like girls. It was sad, really. Depressing even, considering Ash was Stephen's roommate, and Sorrel his best friend. Here he was, realising that his friend Ty was hot and all they cared about was what she looked like! Not even bothering to realise the slight contradiction in his thoughts, he continued to rail inwardly about it all as he stomped loudly out of the shared room and down into the commons.

There was a glaring hole on the noticeboard.

There was a second's thought of returning and poking Ash until he got up, or yelling for Sorrel down the girl's corridor, but they were quickly dismissed. He wasn't going to talk to either of them until they admitted that they were being stupid, and it didn't matter what people dressed like. Only girls worried about that kind of thing. Heck, Stephen thought, Ash should be chucked out of the boys dorms and made to live with the other girls!

But that didn't mean that quidditch should be neglected.

Scrabbling around, he managed to locate some parchment and a quill which he quickly scribbled on before tacking it to the board.

Attention Pecari!

Your Quidditch Team needs YOU!

Stick your name and year and the position you want to play here:

Stephen Baxter - Third Year - Keeper

Ash and Sorrel could put their own names on the list this year... even if they were the captains.\n\n

Subthreads:

I was wondering about that... by Elizabeth Lavine with Stephen, Lizzie, Eduard Grimaud, Celia Andrews

And the biggest difference between CA and NH is... by Saul Pierce

It took me a while to figure out what it is. by Ginger Silverstein

Read this post by Ginger Silverstein with Eduard Grimaud

We don't do second by Ash and Sorrel with Stephen, Ash

39 Stephen Baxter Quidditch 49 Stephen Baxter 1 5

Elizabeth Lavine

February 12, 2006 12:07 AM

I was wondering about that... by Elizabeth Lavine

It had been a long sort of day for Liz, and to just escape the scenery of her dorm, she was sitting in the common room reading. Her black hair was tied back loosely in a ponytail, and small gold studs dotted her exposed earlobes. She was dressed casually, but despite her jeans and t-shirt, the changes that had occured over the summer were evident. Liz was slightly taller, but more importantly, she was a 13 year old who had definitely blossomed over the summer months. Javon's slightly worn copy of Quidditch Through the Ages rested in her hands as her light blue eyes perused each page, taking in the complex diagrams that her brother had written in the margins. The New Orleans Hurricanes' plays, he had told her, were hidden throughout his book.

Lizzie yawned, stretching her arms and legs out from her position on one of the common room couches. The first few weeks back at school were the hardest for Liz just because she had fallen into the habit of staying up until early in the morning, and then sleeping late all summer, and now she had to be up early every morning for school. Bummer. She let her book dip slightly out of her view as she looked around the commons. Liz noticed Stephen posting something on the notice board. Curious, she picked up her book and made her way to the board. Upon closer inspection, Lizzie found it was about quidditch!

Finally, she thought to herself, I can't wait to get started with the team.

The thought then occured to her that this was wrong- where was the note from the Captains? Perhaps they were too busy doing whatever it was the two of them got themselves into to take the time to make a poster. Lizzie sighed and gave a small smile to Stephen as she signed the bottom of the notice anyway in a neat script-

Elizabeth Lavine, Third Year, Chaser.

\n\n

0 Elizabeth Lavine I was wondering about that... 53 Elizabeth Lavine 0 5

Stephen

February 12, 2006 6:42 AM

What makes a girl a girl? by Stephen

It was almost like magic really. Put up a notice, and then a pretty girl comes over, smiles at you, and puts her name down. Stephen turned up the watts when he smiled back at Lizzy, although that might have also been a subconcious dig at Sorrel. Who was she to think he couldn't like girls who cared how they looked? Stupid girl.

"Hey Liz," he said casually, watching over her shoulder as she put her name and position on the sheet. Chaser, just like last time - hardly unexpected. "Good holidays?" he glanced down at her book. Quidditch Through the Ages, one of those books that seemed highly recommended by everyone in the magical world, although it's popularity seemed to have kept the libraries copy out of his hands to this point.

With that in mind, he reached down and took the copy from her hands, leafing through it absently but noting that there were definite annotations within it. "Cool book," he commented, not even sure if she had answered his earlier enquiry. "Can I borrow?"

Without waiting for an answer, he flopped down on a nearby sofa and started to read.\n\n

39 Stephen What makes a girl a girl? 0 Stephen 0 5

Lizzie

February 12, 2006 11:06 AM

No, about quidditch! by Lizzie

"Good Holidays?" Stephen asked.

"Just fine, thanks. And yours?" she asked before she had the time to react to him slipping the book from her hands, "and, uh, sure. Go ahead."

Putting the quill she had used down on a nearby end table, Lizzie turned around just in time to see Stephen flopping on to a Pecari couch, her brother's book in hand. She walked around and sat in a highbacked chair next to where he had taken up residence, looking over his shoulder as he read. As he was reading through, Lizzie tried explaining the origins of her annotated book, in case the fading Javon Lavine written in clumsy 10 year old script wasn't enough.

"That's my brother's book, actually," she started off, "It's a bit worn 'round the edges, but he's had it for eight years... He plays pro quidditch now, and I was just looking over some of the plays his team's working on. I thought maybe we could try some of them this year for the house team."

With that, she leaned back in her chair, still casually looking about to see if any of the other Pecaris had noticed Stephen's notice. \n\n

0 Lizzie No, about quidditch! 0 Lizzie 0 5

Eduard Grimaud

February 12, 2006 7:26 PM

Oh joy of joys. by Eduard Grimaud

Eduard Grimaud had seen the older students put a notice up.
He nervously approached the board after the others had sat down, trying not to make eye contact in the quiet common room. It was a sign about the quidditch team.

Quidditch - his favourite game, the one he secretly idolised despite his mother's rantings about responsible embassy behaviour. He thought back to the time when she had caught him flying round the marble halls on the broom his father had purchased without telling 'Maman.' That had caused quite a row, but little by little he had become adept at flying through the narrow corridors and making quick turns. Geeves would throw the balls in the air so that he could practice beating, throwing and catching every day.

The only thing he never had was a team.

Barely able to contain his excitement, he grabbed a quill and wrote his name down, but he stopped when it came to his position. He didn't know what to put. Grim had never played with other people, except the butler. He had no idea what his talent was. The thought crossed his mind that he might be terrible at real Quidditch.

Shrugging his shoulders, the quill shook ever so slightly as he completed:

Eduard Grimaud - first year - will play anything. \n\n

0 Eduard Grimaud Oh joy of joys. 0 Eduard Grimaud 0 5

Saul Pierce

February 13, 2006 2:26 PM

And the biggest difference between CA and NH is... by Saul Pierce

Saul paused before the notice board, taking Connell's suggestion to heart by creating an early habit of checking to see if there was a password change. There wasn't today, but another notice did catch his eye. Quidditch sign-ups.

He'd heard about the game of course. No one raised among those with wizarding blood hadn't. Some of his cousins followed Quadpot (Maria had a crush on one of the players on the San Francisco team, though she tried to deny it) and many of his uncles bet on both Quidditch and Quadpot games (as well as baseball, football, horse racing, and just about every other sport known to wizarding or muggle kind). Simon even claimed to have played on a Quadpot team at his college - Saul was even willing to grant that he probably had, he just didn't believe a casual intramural team was as good as Simon claimed they were.

But Saul had never played. Heck, he'd barely even touched a broom, nevermind flew on one. It was one of the disadvantages to living in muggle campgrounds. There were always muggles about, so overt magic like flying on brooms just wasn't practical. He wasn't even sure anyone in his family owned a broom, for fear of some muggle asking to borrow it to sweep the dirt out of their tent. (Even if none of his family were ardent players, they had enough respect for the specialized brooms to recognize that would be sacriledge.)

Here, though, in Sonora, there were no muggles and Saul was free to fly if he so chose. And he did. He didn't hesitate at all before he produced a recycled number 2 pencil from his bag and scratched out his name with the too-dull tip:

Saul Pierce - 1st Year

It was only at the last part that the pencil slowed and hovered. He had no idea what position to play. Worse, he wasn't even a hundred percent sure which positions were for Quadpot and which for Quidditch as he wasn't an ardant fan of either game and they sort of ran together in his mind. Fortunately, Grim had provided an out, and he copied the idea.

Any position

Satisfied by that, he shoved the pencil back into his bag, then turned back toward the dorms to fetch a pencil sharpener before heading down for breakfast. He'd had to make his letters far larger than he liked them just so they'd be legible and he'd prefer not to do the same in his notebooks.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

1 Saul Pierce And the biggest difference between CA and NH is... 82 Saul Pierce 0 5

Ginger Silverstein

February 13, 2006 10:38 PM

It took me a while to figure out what it is. by Ginger Silverstein

The qudditch notice had been up for about at day in the Pecari common room. Ginger had only heard of the sport quidditch from her aunt. All Ginger knew about it was that it was played on broomsticks. She didn't know anything about how it was played, or the fact that there were three balls until she went to the library that day. She checked out a book called Quidditch through the ages .

She was upset that her PSP, or any of her gameboys would work. She had to find out that electronics or any muggle devices didn't work at this school. This was heresy. Ginger figured that she needed to keep herself occupied somehow. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to be piled with too much homework.

She didn't read the whole book in one night, she read about how to play, and the positions. The only position that she found appealing at all was seeker. Sure there were a lot of people resting a lot on the seeker's shoulders, but it didn't seem as dangerous as the other positions. Plus, this was her chance to prove to herself that she wasn't pathetic, and that she could become her own video game character in her own game.

She made sure there wasn't anyone around when she signed her name, she didn't want to attract too much attention.

nger Silverstein~First year~Seeker\n\n

0 Ginger Silverstein It took me a while to figure out what it is. 1484 Ginger Silverstein 0 5

Ginger Silverstein
February 13, 2006 10:40 PM

Ginger Silverstein
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Read this post by Ginger Silverstein
OOC: Sorry about that, stupid HTML.

BIC:

The qudditch notice had been up for about at day in the Pecari common room. Ginger had only heard of the sport quidditch from her aunt. All Ginger knew about it was that it was played on broomsticks. She didn't know anything about how it was played, or the fact that there were three balls until she went to the library that day. She checked out a book called Quidditch through the ages .

She was upset that her PSP, or any of her gameboys would work. She had to find out that electronics or any muggle devices didn't work at this school. This was heresy. Ginger figured that she needed to keep herself occupied somehow. She had a feeling that she wasn't going to be piled with too much homework.

She didn't read the whole book in one night, she read about how to play, and the positions. The only position that she found appealing at all was seeker. Sure there were a lot of people resting a lot on the seeker's shoulders, but it didn't seem as dangerous as the other positions. Plus, this was her chance to prove to herself that she wasn't pathetic, and that she could become her own video game character in her own game.

She made sure there wasn't anyone around when she signed her name, she didn't want to attract too much attention.

Ginger Silverstein-First year-Seeker-\n\n

0 Ginger Silverstein Read this post 1484 Ginger Silverstein 0 5

Celia Andrews
February 14, 2006 12:05 AM

Celia Andrews
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Hmm, what's this? by Celia Andrews
Celia could cut the anticipation with a butter knife. Something majorly exciting was going on, and it had to do with that notice. Being the curious little bumblebee that she was, she raced to see for herself what this all could mean. Reading the sign only caused more confusion...quidditch? Ooy, yet another magic term she didn't know. Thankfully, she caught sight of Grim. He knew all about this stuff, he could explain!

She ran to Grim's side as he signed his name on the notice. On closer inspection, she could see that there were different positions on this Quidditch team. Could it be a type of sport? Adrenaline rushed through her veins as she started to question him.

"Griiiim! What's Quidditch? What do the different positions do? I want to join in!"\n\n

0 Celia Andrews Hmm, what's this? 0 Celia Andrews 0 5

Eduard Grimaud
February 14, 2006 10:43 PM

Eduard Grimaud
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What! Seeker? by Eduard Grimaud
Later that evening, as Grim returned with a crowd of other Pecaris, he checked the quidditch notice again to see if any of the other first years he knew had tried out. Saul had put his name down, just like Grim, to play anything.

But what caught his attention was that Ginger Silverstein, a muggleborn that continually tried to play her silly muggle 'video games' despite the magical barriers and much more interesting surrounds at Sonora. What made him more angry was that there hadn't even been a flying lesson for the first years; she thought she would be able to fly? She thought she could play seeker?

Grim had never played in a team, but he was sure he had much more experience playing quidditch than Ginger. If this was the quality of the competition, he had just as much a chance as she did, if not more, to become the Pecari seeker.

He scratched out ~~will play anything~~ and replaced it with:

seeker

That ought to show the muggleborn girl who can play quidditch. \n\n

0 Eduard Grimaud What! Seeker? 0 Eduard Grimaud 0 5

Eduard Grimaud
February 16, 2006 3:29 AM

Eduard Grimaud
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Hmm, quidditch? by Eduard Grimaud
It was the happy girl again. This time, she was right next to him. He smiled as she asked 'Griiiim! What's Quidditch? What do the different positions do? I want to join in!" At last, something he knew loads about!

'Well,' he looked down at her, scratching his head. Where to start? 'Its played on a big field.' His inner voice was telling him tu es un idiot, Grim. 'On brooms,' he added, trying not to sound so dumb. 'There are three goal posts at either end, for different points, the aim being to get as many points as possible. Basically there are three positions you can play - Seeker, Beater and Chaser. The chasers try to get the ball off the other team and score goals, the beaters...well they try to beat up the other team by aiming balls at their heads. They also protect our players. And the seeker, there's only one per team, they have to catch the Golden Snitch.'

He wondered if that made any sense to Celia. He looked at her face to gage the reaction. \n\n

0 Eduard Grimaud Hmm, quidditch? 0 Eduard Grimaud 0 5

Celia Andrews
February 16, 2006 8:24 PM

Celia Andrews
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A revelation by Celia Andrews
It was like a light went on in the back of her mind. All of the sudden, she understood why she was a witch. It was not just a mere coincidence that she was thrust into this magical society. She had a purpose. Her years in softball were not just an activity to play with kids her age and get some exercise. No, it was preparation for this. There was actually a game in existence where the point of a position was to actually aim the ball at the opponent’s head. She was born for this! But wait, he had mentioned brooms…now, based on the fairy tales Mom had read to her as a little kid, witches flew through the sky on brooms. Could it actually be true here? If waterfalls could pour from walls and hedges could move with words, then it couldn’t be too farfetched.

“Now…what do you mean when you say the game is played on brooms?” she asked, while inside her mind, she pleaded to herself, please say they can fly, please say they can fly…\n\n

0 Celia Andrews A revelation 0 Celia Andrews 0 5

Ash and Sorrel
March 21, 2006 1:11 PM

Ash and Sorrel
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We don't do second by Ash and Sorrel
The twins couldn't believe what a hypocrite Stephen was being, going all doey eyed over some stupid girly girl. The real blow, however, came when they found his Quidditch notice. They wouldn't have minded him picking up their flack, and posting it - it was a Stephenish thing to do - but the absence of their names, those of the captains, was intolerable.

Ash flicked his wand, muttering a handy little charm he and Sorrel frequently tried to out do each other with, shunting everything down a few lines. His anger resulted in the swish being a little more... expressive than was necessary for the charm, and as a result, the bottom few names bunched together a little. They were still legible though, and they'd figure them out from those who came running when the tryouts were announced.

The twins scribbled their names, positions (Beaters, both) and the fact that they were the captains (in capital letters) in the space Ash had created.

Looking at the notice, Ash didn't feel a complete sense of triumph. He was glad he hadn't had to shove his name at the bottom, sure, but it didn't feel like winning a point in a jokey little game. It felt like proper fighting, and that didn't sit well with Stephen being the other side.

"Catch you later," he muttered to Sorrel, heading back upstairs to his room. He fidgetted around, flopping onto his bed and trying to look like he'd just been chilling when he heard footsteps outside.

"You were out of line with the Quidditch notice," he began. Perhaps not the most tactful opening in trying to mend a rift, but it had to do. The subtext of what was to be said moments later was miraculous enough; expecting tact into the bargain would simply be unfair. "So say we're even?" he asked, taking the pride hurting step of having to admit that maybe - just maybe - he and Sorrel had been out of line. \n\n

0 Ash and Sorrel We don't do second 0 Ash and Sorrel 0 5

Stephen
March 21, 2006 7:02 PM

Stephen
Peripheral
Written by: Emily Lewis

Which is why you're always going to be jostling by Stephen
After trying to find Ty for an hour or so without success, Stephen had headed back to Pecari. Ty was a good friend, he knew, but as a girlfriend - or even as a potentional girlfriend, as he hadn't told her yet, and didn't appear to be getting a chance - she was impossible to track down. And really, his thoughts continued as he saluted the armour with a grin and gave the password, with so many other girls around here, why change a perfectly good friendship? Particularly a good friendship with a photographer. He entered through the revealed passage, frowned at Sorrel and - not really wanting to have another fight - hurried on towards the boys passage and his dorm.

Where of course, Ash was lying in wait.

"You were out of line with the Quidditch notice, so say we're even?"

"Out of line?" Stephen started to ask indignately, then stopped himself. "Even, oh yeah, why not. Just lay off Ty, ok? She's cool... not one of those vacant 'looks are everything' girls." Perhaps it would just start everything up again when Ash appeared to be offering an end to it all, but Stephen didn't want it to just start again because ... he didn't want it to start again.

He headed over to his own bed, and patted Fido who was sitting on his bedside table. The broom was looking good, but then, Stephen had plans. He was going to look even better... if, maybe not look but he was going to be better.

"So, this mean we've got a full team now?" He asked, finally, for some reason not really game enough to ask the other question he wanted to ask. Did this mean that Sorrel and he could be friends again too?\n\n

39 Stephen Which is why you're always going to be jostling 0 Stephen 0 5

Ash
March 22, 2006 9:08 AM

Ash
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With each other, yeah, but not with you by Ash
For a tense moment Ash thought Stephen was going to reject his peace offering. He wasn't sure what he'd have done then. He didn't eat humble pie often, and had never had someone smash his face into it. This caused him to check his own temper at Stephen's comment about Ty.

"We will if she does," he said, confident enough to speak for Sorrel (she'd want Stephen back for sure, and the added bonus of not having to personally apologise... She wouldn't mind this). "Not that it bothered us, y'know," he added, not mature enough yet to let his masculinity be threatened by the suggestion that a few snipey comments from a girl could rattle him, "It's just not fair to put you in the middle."

"We should do," he said, relieved by the subject change, "Provided some of the firsties at least know one end of the broom from the other. We could head out now for a bit of throw around - just the three of us - if you want. Best if we're primed for the tryouts." That, and a good fly and a few hefty handed passes would get the tension from all that feely apologisey crap out of his system. \n\n

0 Ash With each other, yeah, but not with you 0 Ash 0 5