Nailing my colours to the mast on Aladren Commons

Captain Arnold Carey

May 25, 2013 12:36 AM

Quidditch Sign-Ups! by Captain Arnold Carey

He hadn’t mentioned it because he could just imagine what Arthur would say if he did, but as Arnold went down to the common room to put up a paper for would-be Quidditch players to sign, he wished there was more of a show to the transition between one Quidditch captain and another. Not a ceremony, though – that would be psychologically helpful, but otherwise useless, and so not really what he was looking for. More like an orientation meeting, where exactly what he was supposed to do was spelled out to him in minute detail and then given to him written down in numbered points he could follow to the letter so he would know he was doing it right and not really leading the team into its second losing season since he had come to Sonora.

Unfortunately, they didn’t have anything like that, so he was going to have to do the best he could with what he had. It would, he was sure, be all right. Most of the team was sure to return, so all he’d really need was a new Keeper, and if he couldn’t train a Keeper that well, well, the Chasers would keep the ball well away from the new guy anyway, he thought.

Thought. Hoped. Anyway, as long as he could get a Beater to cover him, he knew he would be expected to win, and that definitely meant something. Arnold didn’t like disappointing people.

Aladren Quidditch Sign-Ups

Sign up here to be part of the Aladren Quidditch Team for this year. Tryouts will be soon, everyone’s welcome to come!

- Arnold Carey, Captain

Then he had signed himself up: Arnold Carey, Year Seven, Seeker-Captain for the sake of formality, hesitated for a moment over whether or not to go ahead and sign Arthur’s name to the list, too, decided against doing that, just in case his brother was in one of his odd moods, and went away from the sheet to tell people that it was up. However awkward he might feel in the role of a leader, it was his now, he might as well get used to it since he was, evidently, going to have to Set Up A Household not much more than a year from now, and it was his job to make people interested in and enthusiastic about the Quidditch team.

Subthreads:

Nailing my colours to the mast by Francesca Wolseithcrafte

Backing up my brother by Arthur Carey

Signing up by Thad Pierce

Keeping the ball out... by Andrina Thornton

Hoping to join. by Irina Volkov

Returning to glory by Kitty McLevy

0 Captain Arnold Carey Quidditch Sign-Ups! 181 Captain Arnold Carey 1 5

Francesca Wolseithcrafte

May 25, 2013 4:56 PM

Nailing my colours to the mast by Francesca Wolseithcrafte

Francesca had been anticipating this moment for some time. Admittedly, the shock of it was probably going to be slightly dampened by the fact that she had been voted most Quidditch obsessed in last year's yearbook. Still, it felt significant. The moment on which things turned, on which she stepped out of the shadows and could start demonstrating her opinions.

She felt a little anxious on finding out that the captain was to be Arnold Carey. She almost missed David Wilkes for a moment. Bizarre and occasionally irritating as he had been – and presumably still was, somewhere off in the real world – he would not have objected to her being on the team on the principle of being a girl, from the sort of family that didn't do such things. Still, the intermittent exposure to his leadership which being on his challenge team had entailed had probably taken the full capacity she had for interacting with him. She forced herself to remember all the times last year that she had counted her blessings for having two perfect excuses for avoiding his captaincy; one being that Quidditch had not really been taking place (though she might have gained ground as a team member) and secondly that she was supposed to be keeping a low profile and making friends to start with. That had not gone so well. Still, she reminded herself, the Careys were amongst those who had never been outright rude to her, and that had included conversing with one whilst proving to be more than usually competent at flying for a young lady.

As soon as she spotted the notice, she signed Francesca Wolseithcrafte, 2nd year – Chaser preferred. She knew that, with the departure of Wilkes, what they were really after was a Keeper. She felt that what she had put was the best chance of keeping her options open. If no one else came along, it suggested she might be persuadable. If someone came along with a burning desire for the position, she could join the reserves. The thought of waiting it out on the bench for a while did not bother her terribly – she would still be on the squad, making a point and inviting comment which she could then counter with sensible, reasoned arguments. She had been half tempted to pin a Heritage Society brochure next to her sign up but had held back on the grounds that it was probably still too aggressive at this stage. Still, she had a few handy in her bag in case anyone felt it was their moral obligation to question her....

13 Francesca Wolseithcrafte Nailing my colours to the mast 250 Francesca Wolseithcrafte 0 5

Arthur Carey

May 25, 2013 9:48 PM

Backing up my brother by Arthur Carey

His brother, Arthur thought as he looked at the sign-up sheet, was definitely more a man of action than of words. A man of convictions. He made no effort to persuade, influence, shade, or do anything else with his prose, at least on this particular piece of parchment and seldom at all: he just stated the facts, in their purest form, and then he left it alone. There was something rather charming about it.

Arthur worried about how he would survive the real world. He preferred not to, but Miss Wolseithcrafte’s name brought it to mind, and he scowled at her handwriting because of it. It wasn’t her fault, really, but….

He rubbed his temples. At worst, it would be a year or two before they really had to deal with that, hopefully. It might not become relevant at all. Arnold might burn out this year and never be involved in the game and its politics again. It could happen; nearly anything could happen, and generally did. Why, the two of them got along perfectly well, didn’t they? Arnold had never once tried to kill him for being the reason why Arnold was not Anthony, and neither of them had decided to solve the problem either by just killing Anthony. All of those were things people might have found unlikely before they had done them, he knew there had been concerns, and yet the three of them were perfectly civilized about things. There had been a little bloodshed in their relationship before, certainly, but it had been during games, not homicide attempts.

With that cheerful thought in mind, he signed himself up again as a Chaser and left the common room, hoping to find some coffee in the Hall if he did not get distracted en route by the books.

0 Arthur Carey Backing up my brother 182 Arthur Carey 0 5

Thad Pierce

May 26, 2013 2:59 PM

Signing up by Thad Pierce

This was the year Thad thought he might actually have a chance to do well at Quidditch. First year, he'd been on the bench. After Edmond graduated, he'd taken over as a beater and he really wasn't well cut out for that position in either temperament or physical strength. He personally preferred Keeper or Seeker, but Seeker was still out of the question until Arnold graduated. Keeper, on the other hand, was now available.

Seeing the sign-up sheet was up already when Thad passed the bulletin board on the way down for his first Sonora Breakfast of the year, he added his own name to the list:

Thaddeus Pierce, Fifth Year, Keeper preferably but as needed

He would have liked to just put Keeper, but he'd been Aladren's Beater for two years (three, if he counted the previous non-competitive year), and if Arnold really needed him to reprise the role, he would. He really hoped it wouldn't come to that, though, because if he was the best junior Beater that Aladren could field, they were in real trouble next year after Preston graduated.

1 Thad Pierce Signing up 213 Thad Pierce 0 5

Andrina Thornton

June 04, 2013 12:20 AM

Keeping the ball out... by Andrina Thornton

After the weird upheaval of her summer, Andri was starting to really understand what it felt like to have someone to talk to. Henny had been there for her when none but her family and Abbott had been, and it was a nice change to have something like that. She'd never really had that before. Partly because she was more of a loner, partly because she had been trying to help her sisters, partly also because Andri was very interested in doing well in her classes and in all she did. Her free time was limited due to spending extra time studying or reading when she wasn't practicing Quidditch.

Andri wanted some portion of normality back since she was back to school and had decided that (as Kitty was one of her best friends there) she wanted to really join her on the team now that David graduated. And not just on the bench either. I've practiced for both Keeper and Chaser this summer with Bri and Mir, Ris too. I can do either one and I'll be happy with either one. she thought to herself as she walked into the Aladren Common Room one morning to head down to breakfast. Arnold's sign was clear on the board and the three names on it already. I'd better hurry up and put my name on it! she thought as she pulled her writing utensil out of her bag.

Andrina Thornton, Fifth Year, Keeper/Chaser (but would prefer Keeper) she wrote, smiling as she walked away from the board and out the door for breakfast, stomach rumbling.

0 Andrina Thornton Keeping the ball out... 214 Andrina Thornton 0 5

Irina Volkov

June 11, 2013 2:07 PM

Hoping to join. by Irina Volkov

The Quidditch sign-up sheet had been posted for a few days and each day, Irina had stared at it with trepidation. She wanted to sign up, but she wasn’t sure she would actually be any good at it and if she failed, then that would just give Viktor one more reason to gloat about how much better he was. Not to mention, all of the other names on the sheet were older and who knows how many still had yet to sign up. It was possible that she could make the team and not ever actually have to play. The thought comforted her some. Plus, playing a sport would help her university resume. She just had to do it.

Determined not to back down this time, she pulled her quill out of her bag and added her name to the list. She wrote it slowly to make sure it was as legible as possible. She didn’t want anyone to say that she had sloppy handwriting. That would just be awful!

Irina Volkov, First Year, Any Position

There that looked good. She had thought about putting a preferred position, but honestly, people probably already had locked positions. Besides, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to play as. Each position had its strengths and weaknesses. Chasers got the most action, but were also the most likely to get hurt. Keeper seemed a little boring, but was extremely important as the last line of defense in the goals. Beaters seemed like fun. They got to target others, but they also had to be intimidating and a first year girl wasn’t very intimidating. Then, there was Seeker. They had the most pressure, because they could win it or lose it for the whole team if enough goals hadn’t been scored and it was all by finding a tiny miniscule ball. No, she didn’t think she would want to do that job.

In addition to not knowing what she wanted to play, the blonde thought that by saying any, it made her look more like a team player. Some people (like Viktor) liked to show-off. She was not one of those people. She could do this. She could be in a group and put her efforts towards a group win. After all, that’s what team sports were about. Yes. Satisfied that she had talked herself into signing up and to why she was signing up, she looked over her name one more time before heading up to her room.

0 Irina Volkov Hoping to join. 0 Irina Volkov 0 5

Kitty McLevy

June 17, 2013 3:21 PM

Returning to glory by Kitty McLevy

Excitement thrummed though Kitty’s blood at the sight of the Quidditch signup sheet. The Challenges last term had been a lot of fun, but she deeply missed the thrill of the game that she’d fallen in love with when she first started at Sonora. It was hard for the short Aladren to believe she was already sixteen years old, and in two short years she would graduate.

Looking over the list, Kitty felt a twinge of sadness. So many members of the original team had graduated. Now there was only her, Arnold and Arthur. Over half the old team was gone, and next year she’d be the only one remaining. “That’s all right. We’ll still be awesome, and no matter what it will be loads of fun,” Kitty said with a nostalgic smile. Her old team had been amazing, but their new team would be awesome too.

A happy smile flashed over her lips when she saw Andrina’s name. Her friend wanted to be keeper, but Kitty hoped that she got to be a Chaser with her. There was no doubt in her mind that they would work well together, and she already worked well with Arthur. She would miss both brothers when they graduated even if they were a little up tight some times.

Studying the list one last time, Kitty laughed. If everyone on the list made the team, there would be more girls than boys on the Aladren team.

Pulling out a purple pin, Kitty signed her name with flourish.

Kitty McLevy – 6th year – Chaser

0 Kitty McLevy Returning to glory 0 Kitty McLevy 0 5