Now a sixth year, Jose was starting to think he wasn't a very good Quidditch Captain. He'd been leading the team since his third year and the last two years they hadn't even made it to the finals. He was definitely going to have to sit down with Mel before Try-outs and brainstorm how they could improve their practices. They had a good team. They weren't all little kids anymore, so they had experience and talent and size working to their advantage (not so much Jose himself, because he was still only 5'4" at sixteen, but even that gave him an advantage over the first and second years anyway). They really should be doing better than they were.
But first he needed his team back, and for that, they needed to put their names on a sheet of parchment. So up it went as soon as he got up to the Commons from the Feast and found it in his luggage. By then the firsties had had their HoH speech, but some folks were still hanging out in the Commons before going up to bed.
So he stuck the animated parchment with its drawn broomsticks flying around the margins up on the bulletin board, and called out to anyone interested, "Quidditch Sign-Ups are posted!"
The sheet of parchment read in Jose's very best handwriting:
Pecari Quidditch Team! Sign-Up Sheet
Please put your name, year, and what position(s) you would like to try-out for below.
Please note that returning players will be given preference but are not guaranteed their positions so everybody has a chance to make it. Everyone must sign-up and show up to try-outs if they want to be on the team.
Try-outs will be announced at a later date, so please keep an eye out on the bulletin board.
And below that, he'd written his own name as a demonstration.
Captain Jose Hernandez, Year 6, As Needed But Probably Chaser
Subthreads:
Hey, I'm first for once! by Demelza Eagle with Jhonice Trevear
Round three! Ding! by Sophie Jamison
Loyally Returning by Demetra Mason
Taking A Chance by Dusk
Well, now we have seven, anyway. by Mellie Goodwin
Signing up at last! by Amira Thornton
0Captain Jose HernandezQuidditch Sign-ups0Captain Jose Hernandez15
Upon arriving back in her dorm, Mel usually would have gone straight to bed after the feast to catch up with her roommates, but by now she had learned that Jose put the sign-up sheet up as soon as the feast was over, so she hung around for a while, brightly saying hello as their Head of House, the lovely Professor McKindy, was leaving after leading all the new firsties to their new home. Mel really hoped that there would be a Quidditch prodigy or two among thsi year's first years. Pecari needed them.
She smiled as Jose walked by, put up the pretty sign-up sheet, and announced to the people still assembled in the common room that the sigh-ups were posted. "Hey, Jose," the fifth year greeted her captain brightly, picking up a quill that was laying abandoned on the nearest table. She sloppily wrote her name (she had the typical, messy left-handed people's handwriting) under Jose's:
Assistant Captain Demelza Eagle, Year 5, Beater
She turned around and found herself face-to-face (except not really, 'cause at 5'11" she was taller than most people) with who she guessed as the next person in line to sign-up. "Oh, hey, here you go," The chocolate brown haired girl handed the quill to the person, smiled at them, and then started walking to her dorm so she could sleep. She was starting to crash from the soda she drank at the feast.
0Demelza EagleHey, I'm first for once!157Demelza Eagle05
Jhonice had mostly been paying attention to the HoH speech, really, she had. She hadn't bee looking all around the room at the other older students filtering in and filling up the common room. She really hadn't been mentally taking notes on who she was seeing there and what they were doing. She was really listening to the speech, really.
Naturally then it had been by a strange quick that she noticed Jose Hernandez of the California Pierces slip in to the commons from the side stairs (she assumed it was the boys dorms), but the HoH speech probably should have covered that. The man in the pink hat must have just forgotten to mention it, oh well she had figured it out. Anyway, she watched as Jose deftly attached the paper to the announcement board and then shouted out to the room as Professor... McSomething finished talking.
She raced over to the board, but was beaten by the tall girl that Jose had pointed out at the opening feast. She sighed and waited her turn. Mel, Jose had called her, turned and handed her the quill. Jhonice smiled in return then grinned at Jose as Mel wandered off. "Hi!" she chimed, then read over the sheet. Wow... he even had incredible handwriting! She wasn't sure what position to sign up for, probably not beater. That sounded good. She wrote in her very best handwriting below Mel's entry.
Jhonice Trevear, Year 1, Not Beater
2Jhonice TrevearI'm number two!209Jhonice Trevear05
One thing Sophie missed the most about Sonora was Quidditch. Yea, occasional pick-up games with her cousins were okay, but there weren’t even really enough of them for one team, let alone two to compete. When she managed to force the siblings into cooperating, there were four. Half of that number were Beaters. It didn’t go well.
She drilled herself until she dropped over the summer. Ryan had been busy having awkward times with his uncle and his uncle’s girlfriend, who happened to be the Transfiguration professor at Sonora. Too bad, too, because with her father now representing Ryan’s father legally, their cooperation would have meant much hanging out time for the two third years.
But yea, Quidditch. As usual, she wasn’t expecting to get much more than Chaser. Starbuck needed to graduate, like now. As she had often said and felt, playing Chaser was a zillion times better than not playing, but Keeper was where her heart was, where her future might have been.
The blonde never wanted a typical desk job; it would be too mundane. To see her as a housewife was equally stupid. Staying home all day would only lead to better-calculated plans that might cause a little havoc. Not that there was anything wrong with just a little chaos now and then. No, Sophie wanted something more dangerous, more exciting.
If she could play Quidditch forever, that would be her future. Sophie adored the sport. She felt like on her broom nothing bad could happen. Past actions and events could not touch her, and her life was perfect in the air. If not Quidditch, she was very much set on going into a Potioneering career. Hopefully, if that happened, she would make a few mistakes; practically nothing was more adrenaline-pumping than a bubbling cauldron of Merlin knows what!
In regards to the sport, she clambered up to the sign-up sheet with a grin streaking her face. She didn’t see Starbuck’s name on the list yet, which gave her hope, but it didn’t guarantee the older girl wasn’t signing up. The thirteen year old wanted tryouts to begin the second after she pulled her writing utensil across the sheet.
Sophie Jamison. Third year. Keeper but more likely Chaser.
Demetra was glad to be a second year. There was just something great about no longer being a first year. It felt like everyone was just waiting for you to mess up. Now, as a second year, she didn't have to worry about being the smallest in the school. She would, however, gladly be the youngest on the team this year. Well, if they had the same team from last year she would be. Not that she would be upset for a change.
She had just gotten back to the commons from her dorm when Jose announced the sign ups were up. By the time she reached it, a few people had already put down their names: Jose, Sophie, Mel, and a first year who didn't want Beater. She dug out a pen from her pocket, because as much as it bothered her father, sometimes the Muggle way was easier. She uncapped it, and with out even having to think about it, scrawled her name and position in the black ink.
Demetra Mason, Year 2, Beater
With an excited grin, she replaced the cap and stuck it in her pocket as she turned away. This season would be excellent. She had improved, in her own humble opinion, and Mel would surely be training her like an insane person. Maybe, just maybe, they could win this year.
Dusk Nysell, Year 1, As Needed Bit Prefers Chaser or Seeker.
Dusk stood back and surveyed that for a moment, his quill running black ink down his hand, staining the tanned skin for - no doubt - the next few days. That looked alright. Though, compared to the other names on the list, he wasn't sure how much of a chance he'd get. First years might not even be allowed on the house teams. He frowned, wondering whether there was a rule to that but coming up with nothing.
Guess he'd find out soon enough. Still, he had a chance. He was rather tall for a first year - not monstrously so, but enough that he stood out in a crowd. And, he knew how to fly. He sighed, slung his bag over his shoulder and headed out the door for classes.
Mellie liked flying, but she wasn’t that great at it, so she hadn’t come to school in the expectation of doing anything with it except passing the lessons pretty easily compared to the people who’d never heard of a broom, never mind been on one. The Quidditch teams of Sonora were something she’d heard a little about over the summer, but had no real expectation of being on as anything but an extra, if at all.
After a while, though, she noticed that the Pecari list, at least, wasn’t completely full yet, even though her roommate Jhonice and one of the other first years had signed up. The entire team, actually, looked really young; there was a sixth year, a fifth year, a third year, a second year, and then some first years. Not exactly the epic turnout she had been expecting from teams where six people could get injured in one match. Bit by bit, her theory of just scribbling her name on as an alternate once all the positions were full, so the older students wouldn’t think she was gunning for them or something like that, began to melt away.
Finally, one morning, she woke up and decided to just go ahead and do it, and forget about it. If she made it, she made it, if she didn’t, she didn’t. Just because everything was new didn’t mean that it was permanently the way it first turned out, no more than that was what things meant at home. Things would be all good. So she walked down stairs and to the board and signed her name, then actually looked at the rest of the list.
There were two Beaters, so that was out, and she was glad. One girl wanted Keeper or Chaser. Dusk wanted Chaser or Seeker. Jhonice didn’t want Beater. The captain was probably a Chaser. So…
She tried to analyze all this in her head and figure out what, then, was the best thing to write, but it all went over her thought processes and she had no idea. It all depended on what the captain thought of everyone’s Seeking and Chasing. So she decided to go with her roommate’s instinct and just specify what she wasn’t going for.
Though it did make her wonder just how ace of a team they were going to be, really, when there were two people on the entire thing who seemed to know what they wanted out of it. Maybe everyone, like her, was trying not to step on toes, but it still didn't feel good.
Mellie Goodwin, Year 1, Also Not Beater
16Mellie GoodwinWell, now we have seven, anyway.206Mellie Goodwin05
Amira had been hearing Arista for the last two years talking about Quidditch and how awesome it was, and now it was Amira’s turn at school! She was thrilled beyond belief that she had the ability of playing too! Their first night there at school, after the Head of House speech, Amira stuck down in the Common Room to see who she could meet as her sisters were not in her house. Glancing around the room, she spotted a boy who looked like an upper classman putting up a sign on the bulletin board. The animations on it caught the eleven year old’s attention, and her eyes lit up!
Broomsticks flew around the margins and the words the boy said, made Amira stand up from her chair and rush right over to the board, and the boy, though she was not the first one there! She read the directions, and nodded, pulling a quill and ink out of her bag.
Amira Thornton, first year, ANYTHING! she wrote in her small scroll handwriting and went on to read what the rest of the paper said. Tryouts would be announced at a later date and Amira nodded to show that she understood. She turned back away from the bulletin board and went upstairs to her room, and dropped down on the bed, stomach first and penned a letter to her sisters in Teppenpaw to tell them she’d just signed up!
OOC: Sorry so late!!!
0Amira ThorntonSigning up at last! 208Amira Thornton05