Sammy had volunteered to post Quidditch signups this year, if not only for the love of the game but for the love of getting stuff done, especially in rough times. It was hard, being in Pecari without two of her favorite Housemates, but being around other people was weird too, so Sammy alternated between hiding in her room and loitering in the Cascade Hall. On one hand, she could people watch, but on the other, she never saw what she wanted to see.
She’d settled on her Gia-less dorm room to make the signup sheet. “PECARIS!” was bold, gold lettering at the top of the sheet, followed by the usual sort of message:
"Sign up today to join the Quidditch team. All years are welcome in this pursuit of glory as we attempt to reclaim what’s ours: the championship! Tryouts will be held at noon on the Pitch on Saturday. Please sign your name, year, and preferred position below."
The gold was nice, she thought, but Sammy decided that she wanted it to flash between the gold and a nice brown to highlight both of the House’s colors. Unfortunately, she couldn’t remember what spell people used for these things (something she’d have to work out before she was Captain next year), but as she trotted down to the Common Room to post her bulletin, she bumped into Isis and recruited her assistance.
After thanking her Head of House, she hung up the product of their hard work. Then she penned her name at the bottom, knowing she very well could have done it before hanging the list but finding the satisfaction of joining to be greater with the traditional form of sign up.
Ben had faithfully checked the bulletin board for the Quidditch Sign-Ups every time he passed it since he got off his wagon. He gave a little whoop this time, seeing it was now up. There was no hesitation in going for his pen (he used pens any time actual quills were not required because they were just plain easier to deal with) and adding his name beneath Sammy's.
Ben Pierce, 4th year, Beater
Having been the junior beater last year, he felt no obligation to offer his services as a potential Chaser this year, as Beater was the position he both preferred and was better at. He was sure if Joella asked him to play Chaser again, he'd do it, trusting her judgement that he was the best choice to move back to Chasing if Pecari was seriously short on that position, but he saw no reason to appear undecided when he had a clear preference. Neither Joella nor Sammy struck him as the type to feel shy about asking if they needed him somewhere else, if it was for the good of the team, so it wasn't like he was being selfishly inflexible or anything.
He took a moment to double check that he hadn't accidentally put an outdated year number (nope, he'd correctly graduated himself up to the exact middle of Sonora's grade levels) or misspelled anything, but his entry looked good, so he headed on out with an extra bounce to his step. He was looking forward to the coming year and doing exactly what the sign-up sheet promised: reclaiming the Championship.
Joella was entering her final year of Sonora and she wanted to go out with a bang. Would she be remembered after she was gone? She was captain of the Pecari team which put her name somewhere but she wanted a win to her name.
And it wasn’t just about her but also about her team and the way that a shared love for Quidditch had brought together such a variety of people. She had enjoyed training with these people and playing alongside them, winning or losing. It would be hard to say goodbye to the life she had made for herself at Sonora over the past six years.
But before she had to think about that, she still had another year of hard Quidditch playing ahead of her. How she performed this term was going to determine her future. As daunting as that seemed, Joella felt so excited.
She allocated the job of sign-ups to Sammy this year. She knew she’d been rather tough on her last year due to her initial reluctance to give her the assistant captain title and rather unfair with her expectations, especially since she had not shared as much responsibility with her as she would have. Maybe that had been her own selfishness as Joella had worked hard for the team for years and felt she really deserved the captaincy and all the responsibility that came with it. But the assistant captain existed for a reason and she knew she was supposed to utilise that a whole lot more than she had.
The seventh year now accepted that Sammy was going to run the team when she left so she would be doing a disservice to Pecari if she didn’t make sure her friend was fully prepared for that. She needed to start involving her in decisions more as well, rather than just explaining why she had chosen to do certain things.
Captain Joella Curtis, 7th year, Chaser
Joella wrote on the sign-up sheet after smiling at the good job Sammy had done with it. ”Reclaim what’s ours” - she liked the sound of that.
Jamie’s graduation was a big concern of hers as that left Pecari to find a new inexperienced Seeker who would have to up against Alistair, a Seeker with the potential to go professional. So on paper Pecari didn’t stand a chance, although Joella had a little faith in things not always going the way you would expect them to. Quidditch wasn’t all that predictable, she had come to understand during her time at Sonora, and perhaps this time that could work in her favour.
8Captain Joella CurtisThis is our time.295Captain Joella Curtis05
‘Missed’ was a very strong word and one that Ingrid really wasn’t going to apply to an arrogant prick like Jamie Park. But, annoying as he had been, he had been a fairly important part of their Quidditch team. Joella was one of her closest friends, and she really wanted them to win this year. That was going to be a lot harder to do without a Seeker… She really hoped one of the first years signed up. That would be stage one of them actually being able to field a team - something that had failed to happen in other houses but that she couldn’t quite imagine happening to wonderful, adventurous Pecari. If the person in question happened to be freakishly and sickenly talented, that’d be an added bonus.
For now though, there wasn’t much more she could do other than sign her name, although she’d be more than happy to extol the virtues of the team to anyone who looked like they were considering it.
Ingrid Wolseithcrafte, 5th year, Chaser.
She hesitated. She had considered the possibility of Seeker when she first started, but now she was glad she hadn’t pursued it. It was a lot of pressure and it honestly didn’t seem as much fun as Chaser, even if you did get all the glory. Ingrid wasn’t in it for that anyway - she liked being with the team, in the thick of the action. Being Seeker seemed kind of lonely. She put her quill away. She guessed, if there was absolutely no other option, she’d do it, but it wasn’t what she wanted.
Before coming to Sonora, Madison had played soccer. She loved soccer. She had been on a team with her sister, Alex, who was the star of the team. She couldn’t help being a little jealous of the attention that Alex received from it. But it made her play better too. She was highly competitive and always wanted to win. When she played on a team with Alex, they were nearly unstoppable, but during practices, she just could never seem to get the ball past her sister.
So, when Alex had said she would be trying to for her House’s Quidditch team, Madison knew that she had to try out for Quidditch too. This was her chance to outshine her sister. For once, she was going to be better in a sport than Alex. She just had to be. Otherwise, it would just be one more thing that Alex was better at than her. Reaching into her bag, she pulled out a black pen. She wished that she had a color that matched the coolness of the sign, but alas, she didn’t and had to add her name in a boring color.
Madison Leifsson, 1st Year, Any
She just hoped that her willingness to play any position would help her get to actually play. She was after all a first year among people that had probably been playing for years. Of course, she still had to get through the tryouts.