Chasing the stars on Aladren Commons

Captain David Wilkes

August 24, 2012 12:07 PM

Aladren Quidditch Team Sign-Ups. by Captain David Wilkes

Last year, just when David had been ready to bid goodbye to his health and well-being, a miracle had happened and the Quidditch team had won both games it played his first year as captain, primary and championship. They hadn’t been the big, epic wins Aladren had sometimes known in years past, one where half the people on the field ended up in the hospital tent afterward despite his orders to the Beaters before the Pecari game, but they had been wins, and that had been good. It meant that he had approached his CATS with both his ego and his person intact, and those were both things David thought he had a healthy amount of regard for.

The problem with being made captain in his fifth year, though, and not immediately proving himself sub-par was that he now had to do the same thing two more times before he could leave and not have to think about it anymore. If they lost this year, no one was going to care that they’d won last year; they’d just know that they’d lost this year. They’d passed off losing once as a fluke, so if a new pattern established itself, then last year could just as easily be termed a fluke. That was not so good, possibly still particularly for the guy who wasn’t and knew he wasn’t in the ‘in’ crowd, so David knew he had to stay on top of things.

Well, game on. He had spent his summer reading books on sports psychology and training regimens and Quidditch strategy for every position, and two days ago, he had reached the culmination of his program to brush up on his rusty computer skills by first making packets for everyone he thought he could reasonably expect to return, plus about ten extras just in case, and then making what he thought might be the sweetest sign-up sheet every seen at Sonora. It had images of hawks flying on brooms on it and used three different fonts, and he had printed seven copies before he got the flourishing signature right on one. If the team didn’t get its usual turn-out this year, he didn’t think it would be because his sign-up sheet was in any way inferior to those posted by rival captains.

Aladren Quidditch Sign-Ups

It’s a new year, and that means a new chance to join the world-renowned Aladren Quidditch team. Just fill in your name, your grade, and what spot you want and then come to try-outs (Date Coming Soon) to get in on the fun. Good luck to everybody.

David Wilkes

Keeper-Captain.

Beneath that, he had used the Underline feature to make a series of perfectly evenly-spaced sign-up lines since he’d heard those had been a popular feature of last year’s piece of notebook paper. He made sure to post it before going to bed the first night so no one else could have more sign-up time than Aladren.

Subthreads:

Ah, happy day. by Russell Layne with Arnold and Arthur Carey, Preston Stratford

Here again by Jay Carey

Here for the first time by Anthony Carey VIII

You haven't gotten rid of me yet by Thad Pierce

Chasing the stars by Kitty McLevy

Sign me up, kinda like beam me up ;) by Andrina Thornton

16 Captain David Wilkes Aladren Quidditch Team Sign-Ups. 169 Captain David Wilkes 1 5

Russell Layne

August 24, 2012 12:16 PM

Ah, happy day. by Russell Layne

On the first morning of school, Russell walked down the stairs from his dorm ahead of the others with two scrolls in his hand and a spring in his step, still feeling like he was on top of the world. He was prefect, he wasn’t Quidditch captain or in line to become Quidditch captain, and all this was happening after his summer had been pretty darn good, too. He didn’t see how things could get much better unless the headmistress walked up to him right now and told him that not only was he exempt from CATS, but she had decided to also make him Head Boy on the spot and let him keep it three years.

As he entered the common room, he looked around just out of habit and spotted a big piece of paper on the bulletin board. Going over, he found it was what he thought it would be. After frowning for a moment at the strange pictures, he wrote down his information - Russell Layne, 5th, Chaser - resisting the temptation to add something about being prefect, and then he turned and headed back for his room to relay the message to the others so they couldn’t, at the very least, accuse him of withholding information if they were feeling…displeased with him today, the one thing that could possibly put a cloud over the next hour, anyway. He knew at least two of them had wanted it, so it seemed better, more logical, even in his happy state, to be nice to them for a while.

“Hey, guys,” he said. “The Quidditch list is up. It looks like David’s a little more on top of things this year.” Unless he was planning to make them wear something with that logo on it, anyway; he wasn’t sure what he thought of it yet, and he was even less sure of what the school might make of them trying to customize their uniforms, even if he finally did decide the bird-on-a-broom was okay. “Thought you’d want to know. Catch you later, I've got to go send these.”

And with that, ignoring any hostile looks he got or thought might be directed toward the back of his head because of the new badge gleaming on the front of his robes, he proceeded to the owlry to send the letters he'd written about his badge.

16 Russell Layne Ah, happy day. 183 Russell Layne 0 5

Arnold and Arthur Carey

August 25, 2012 8:56 PM

Indeed by Arnold and Arthur Carey

Arthur rubbed his left eye, wondering when the damn potion he had just swallowed was going to kick in already and make it stop feeling vaguely like it wanted to explode. There had, in retrospect, only been one thing wrong with his plan to get up early this morning and get some things done, and it was that he’d forgotten that he was never able to sleep, sleeping draughts or no sleeping draughts, during the first night back at school, which led to a first day of classes always characterized by exhaustion, dulled wits, and irritability.

Well, he thought as he redid his tie for the third time, trying to get the knot exactly right, more irritability than usual. It would be a bit better when – if, really – his head stopped hurting, but it was still not going to be a good day.

Not everyone seemed to agree. Arnold, of all people, was more subdued than usual, but Russell seemed to be having a fine morning. Arthur briefly reconsidered not hating him, but finally decided it wasn’t worth it, or wouldn’t be once he was able to sleep properly again. He could not make important decisions while he was tired and cranky. It was not good business. He knew that. Besides, Russell was also going away, which improved Arthur’s opinion of anyone when he felt like this.

Before he could take pleasure in that fact for too long, though, Russell came back. Arthur glanced at him, frowning slightly to express his displeasure over this turn of events, though he doubted it was noticed and the expression faded when he heard the message, only to be replaced a moment later by exasperation. “Thank you,” he said, nodding in acknowledgment of the information as he rubbed his forehead, this time on the right side. The potion was supposed to work faster than this, if it was going to work at all; it was not going to be a good day for him. “Arnold, sign us both up, won’t you?” I’ve got something to do.”

Arnold, who had been concentrating hard on relacing one of his shoes because it was much more pleasant than wondering if Fae was going to sit with them at breakfast and what he ought to do if she did or think if she didn’t and what the whole wide school knew and thought of it all by now and all of that, looked up in surprise, but nodded. “Thank you,” Arthur said, smiling faintly, and then he left before Arnold could ask what ‘something’ was.

Oh, well. He wasn’t entirely sure he’d really wanted to know. With Arthur, there was a good chance he would have ended up feeling like an idiot if he’d had it explained to him, and blank-brained idiocy wasn’t a condition he needed to be in before facing the public after this summer. The sharper he felt, the better. He went downstairs once he could stall no more and signed himself up for Seeker and Arthur for Chaser, as requested.

0 Arnold and Arthur Carey Indeed 181 Arnold and Arthur Carey 0 5

Jay Carey

August 25, 2012 8:59 PM

Here again by Jay Carey

Halfway through lunch, Jay realized that one of the books he would need for his next class was still in his dorm, so he finished his turkey and cheese sandwich quickly and headed, as quickly as he could without being in an improper hurry, back toward Aladren to get it. He found it lying on the end of his bed – he could only guess he’d been sleepy when he was packing his bag and had taken it out to put with his other things for the day and then forgotten about it halfway through – and was on his way back across the common room when he saw the sign-up sheet on the bulletin board already.

It was, he thought, a lot fancier than last year’s. David must have thought they needed an edge in collecting new people this year. Or maybe he had just been bored. Jay had seen his brother Brandon produce surprisingly good drawings when he was just so bored that he let himself be convinced to do something as quiet as drawing. Either way, though, the sign did catch the eye.

He read over it just to make sure it didn’t say anything he didn’t expect, anything that might be some kind of deal-breaker, but he didn’t expect to find anything and he didn’t. Putting his book down on the edge of a sofa, he opened his bag to find a quill and sign up as a Chaser or alternate before he forgot all about it and didn’t show up in the right place on the right day for tryouts or something like that.

Finding an okay quill, he wrote his name, not bothering with the full ‘James’ he usually only heard on roll calls from professors and not even there all the time, and then added that he was in second year before writing in his preferred positions of Chaser or Keeper, and then he went on his way. He was almost to the classroom he was supposed to be in when he looked at the quill still in his hand, remembered the sequence of events that had led up to him holding it instead of it being in his bag, and exclaimed in dismay as he got to the part where his book had only gotten as far as from his room to the end of the sofa before he forgot it again.

Some beginning of the year he thought as he ran, with no pretense of dignity this time, back toward the common room to get it before he could be hopelessly late for class. And to think that he had been thinking just the other day that second year was bound to be easier than first year because he was more comfortable in the school now. Last year, knowing the place or not, he hadn’t been late for a single class, and now he was late for one on the very first full day. That was a great beginning to the year and no doubt about it.

0 Jay Carey Here again 0 Jay Carey 0 5

Anthony Carey VIII

August 25, 2012 9:01 PM

Here for the first time by Anthony Carey VIII

When he had left his dormitory in the morning, Anthony had been too excited and nervous about his classes to even think about looking around the common room, which he had already had a chance to look at the night before. He had crossed paths with Arnold in the hallway once in the day, though – he half-wondered if it had been on purpose, since if one of his brothers was going to check to see if he was getting along all right, it would be Arnold; Arthur, in what Anthony liked to think was supposed to be a compliment, would just assume he was doing so – and he’d mentioned Quidditch sign-ups being available then, a piece of information Anthony had carefully remembered all day in spite of all the new information hitting him from every direction. He was not, in his own estimation, very good at Quidditch, but he had to join the team anyway. He had to be in everything, especially if his brothers were in it, too. He had to prove he was as good as them, so they’d have a reason to respect him, or maybe even like him.

Not that he would ever tell them he cared about that, of course. That wasn’t the way. Even Arnold would look at him like he was nuts if he admitted he wanted them to like him, that he’d always, somewhere between them being twins and him being an Anthony, a little left out, somehow, even though he thought he could individually get along with either of them better than they would have gotten along with each other if they hadn’t been twins. It felt like they humored him enough as it was, and that had been when he could at least feed Arthur information because he’d been the only one of them at school; now, he was just going to have to prove himself or lose.

He read over the sheet, not sure what to make of all the decorations but definitely recognizing it as exactly what he was supposed to be looking for. Not that there were many things on the bulletin board for him to confuse it with yet, but he’d always had it stressed to him that he should be very careful to be sure that what he was using was what he meant to use, that he had the right book or document or special quill or whatever it was he needed and didn’t get confused. Since he was sure this was what he was after, though, he found a quill and wrote out his information in his neatest penmanship, making sure not to seem as though he wanted to usurp his brothers’ positions and only pausing for a moment to debate with himself whether or not he should include his numeral. Once he decided he shouldn’t, he finished up and began eagerly looking for a seat so he could begin working on his homework.

Anthony Carey of First Year, Reserve Seeker or Chaser

0 Anthony Carey VIII Here for the first time 234 Anthony Carey VIII 0 5

Thad Pierce

August 27, 2012 12:04 PM

You haven't gotten rid of me yet by Thad Pierce

Last year, in the first game against Pecari, Thaddeus had not so much as hesitated before going up against Demelza Eagle directly. At the time, he had been aware, but it hadn't mattered that she was a large seventh year and he was a second year of only mediocre size. It had been immaterial that she was her team's captain and he was fresh off the reserve bench. Later, he had nearly collapsed out of delayed panic and if he hadn't already been in the medic's tent getting a hairline fracture in his wrist seen to, he could have easily made a spectacle of himself as he fainted dead away in public, but fortunately, the few witnesses had probably assumed his brief lapse of consciousness was due to the medic treating his injury.

Thaddeus knew better though. He hadn't passed out because his broken wrist hurt. It had, of course, hurt, no question, especially since he had kept playing with it like that, but he'd been high on exhileration and victory and adrenaline. The pain was bad but not overwhelming. No, he had passed out because he had just realized exactly what he had so recently and so unexpectedly survived.

If she hadn't graduated last year, Thaddeus didn't think he could have played Beater again, but she was gone now, leaving Derry as one of the oldest and largest Beaters left in the school, and quite frankly, the Teppenpaw fifth year was just about the least scary thing Thad could imagine, even when he was holding a Beater's bat.

So he held no moral or sanity-related objections to adding his name to the Quidditch list with the same position options that he had used the year before:

Thaddeus Pierce, Third Year, As Needed

Beater was honestly his least favorite of the four positions, but it was the one it looked like he may need to reprise again this year.

1 Thad Pierce You haven't gotten rid of me yet 213 Thad Pierce 0 5

Preston Stratford

August 28, 2012 1:09 PM

Oh, definitely. by Preston Stratford

After The Great disappointment of the Opening Feast, all that Preston wanted to do was sleep, forget about it and start the new year. The redhead had woken up with a slight headache due to lack of sleep. Even when he knew the reason behind the decision the badge on Russell's robes seemed like an insult to the redhead. It was going to take a while for him to get used to it. Today was the first day, but not the last.

Preston yawned while doing his tie. It was going to be a long day. Arthur and Arnold were in the room getting ready for the first day of classes. The Aladren had learned that the twins, especially Arthur, were people not to bother on the first day. He was watching them out of the corner of his eye with interest. Arnold seemed more off than usual and Arthur was his Irritable-First-Day-Self. He pitied everyone that had contact with his roommate.

Russell was not in the room, thankfully. However, the Badge-Stealer entered a few seconds ago with the news that David had already posted the sign-ups. Excellent. However, he managed to not glare at Russell and his shiny badge.

Preston donned his school robes and grabbed his backpack before leaving the room, “See you at breakfast,” he called at the twins. He yawned once again. He hated feeling this tired.

In a few seconds he was in front of the sign-ups. Preston blinked a couple of times. Maybe he was hallucinating things. The sign-up sheet had hawks flying on brooms. His brain took a couple of seconds to actually process the absurdity of it all. Hawks didn’t need brooms to fly. Merlin knew what David had been thinking when he made this, but Preston could clap the effort.

He took a quill out of his school bag and wrote his name in perfect penmanship

Preston Stratford, fifth-year. Beater.

He smiled at his name and went to the Cascade Hall to search for Sara.

0 Preston Stratford Oh, definitely. 0 Preston Stratford 0 5

Kitty McLevy

August 29, 2012 8:31 PM

Chasing the stars by Kitty McLevy

Kitty danced down the stairs, her heart pounding and feeling light as a feather. This was life! Quidditch. It was perhaps the very reason for Kitty’s existence. Well, maybe not, but it felt like it when ever a new year started, and before every game, and at practices, and in boring classes, and any time she flew. Oh gosh, did Kitty love to fly. And the only thing in the world better than flying, was Quidditch. “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” Kitty chortled as she leapt off the third stair from the floor and ran towards the signup sheet.

Pulling out one of her glittery purple gel pens, Kitty signed her name with a flourish.

Kitty McLevy, fourth year, Chaser

It wasn’t the carriage ride, or the feast, or unpacking that marked a new year at Sonora in Kitty’s heart. Nope, it was this moment, when her name joined the usually male dominated sheet as she signed up for another year of glorious Quidditch. Stepping back, Kitty admired the sheet. The design this year was quite good, much better than the torn out note book paper of last term. Kitty skipped back up stairs, wondering if Laurie would mind if she wrote another letter, even though she sent him one yesterday before bed.

0 Kitty McLevy Chasing the stars 0 Kitty McLevy 0 5

Andrina Thornton

September 12, 2012 3:16 PM

Sign me up, kinda like beam me up ;) by Andrina Thornton

Andrina had a great summer with their new Nanny/Housekeeper. Her name was Graciella, but she’d taken to calling her Gracie. Gracie is Lucy’s sister from Spain who came to help her mother take care of all the siblings. Andri and Gracie had taken the triplets around to many different places including to many of their teacher’s lessons. Andri had been teaching herself Sign Language the school year before and she’d learned so much that she was able to talk to Audi without a problem. She loved to help her little sisters, teaching them was her favorite past-time. Ashling had a different teacher to learn Braille (which was incidentally harder for Andri), and when she had to go to that teacher Andri went with her to learn too.

Braille was much easier now that she’d had some lessons and she was starting to be able to read to Ash that way. She also spent a lot of time reading to her younger, blind sister. She’d read up on blindness and learned that blind people use their other senses just like deaf people do. So Ash, who can’t see, would be able to hear, smell and taste much better than normal people can. And Audi, who can’t hear, can see, smell and taste better than normal people. This fascinated Andri and sort of made her wish that she was deaf or blind herself. Then she thought better of it, deciding that she knew what she wanted to do with her life.

She wanted to teach blind and deaf people how to communicate.

Sure, Andri still loved sports and would do anything to be on a broom again, almost anything anyway. She’d almost rather learn more signs than practice flight. Almost.

But now that school was back in session and she was back at Sonora it was time for Quidditch again. She was excited about that. David had been a good Captain, and she wanted to show him that even though she was only a reserve last year she could help them win.

Walking into Aladren Commons from her dorm the first morning there she spotted a sign up on the board. There were hawks flying on brooms and the sign had a lot of different fonts of lettering. Andri grinned and pulled out a pen.

Andrina Thornton, Third Year, Anything she wrote on the page and grinned as she left the room. I did it! she thought to herself and walked with a spring in her step to get food from Cascade Hall.

0 Andrina Thornton Sign me up, kinda like beam me up ;) 214 Andrina Thornton 0 5