The Craven Twins
February 09, 2007 11:55 AM
Pecari Tryouts and Training by The Craven Twins
The twins headed to the pitch with an item never before seen at one of their training sessions; a clipboard. The sign up sheet was a total mess (Stephen’s ‘helpful’ nicknames and the obscuring smudges over them notwithstanding) and there was going to have to be some good old fashioned hands-upping and skills testing to work out who to put where, especially with the proliferation of Chaser-wannabes and complete lack of Seekers. This suggested a lot of the first years were clueless about the game, given that Seeker was the big glory position.“Ok, listen up,” Ash called, once a sizeable group had gathered on the pitch. “We’ve got a fair few of you-”
“-but a bit of an imbalance in terms of who wants what positions,” continued Sorrel. Those who knew the twins quickly adjusted to the sentence sharing pattern of their speech. Those who knew them well realised it had nothing to do with some freaky twin bond thing, but everything to do with competitiveness.
“So, last year’s team are going to get up and-”
“-warm up. If you just signed up this year-”
“-stay down and have a chat.”
Ash pulled out a Quaffle and threw it to Liz. He tried to grin at her in a friendly friend sort of way (which he’d always been able to do before) but he could tell he just couldn’t pull that off for some stupid reason. Well, the reason being that he thought about her in her underwear (or less) a lot. Perhaps he should get her in a dark corner of the common room and try to find out about it first hand… It was getting beyond the point where he could pretend he didn’t want to, and he couldn’t do with being distracted on the Quidditch Pitch.
“Don’t relax too much, we’ll be sending the Bludgers in once you’ve warmed up a bit,” he warned them all, though he found himself still looking at Liz. Even in baggy Quidditch gear, she was fit. Trying his best to keep his mind on the outside of her clothes, he turned back to the first-timers (not all firsties, technically). Sorrel was already prepping them.
“-going to want to test your skills, obviously,” she was saying.
“-but we’d like to know a bit about what you think of your own abilities,” Ash chimed in, used enough to the pace to pick it up even when his mind had recently been elsewhere.
“So we want from each of you how long you’ve played,”
“And how able you think you are to play each of Chaser-”
“-and Seeker, on a scale of one-”
“-to five, five being the most able,”
“-and one the least.”
“The chances are you’ll be reserves for both anyway.”
“But we need to know who best to sub-on in each case.”
“Don’t try to give us bull to out do other people’s scores.”
“Cos we’re gonna test you anyway.”
“And we don’t want liars or big egos on our team.”
“There’s only just room for Stephen’s as it is.”
Above them, the old team seemed to have settled into their activity, so Ash took a Bludger and his bat, leaving Sorrel to go through the list person by person and get their ratings and experience.
“Ok, guys, I’m letting this loose,” he called up. Flying to join them he warned. “I’m just here to keep you from getting in trouble. I want you to practice your dodging skills, in case me or Sorrel can’t get there in a match.”
OOC - old team, play ball. Newbies, give Sorrel your experience, and ratings, one for each position (Chaser and Seeker), and make your posts juicey, as they will be part of what I use to decide who gets what. It’s quality of writing, not how amazing you claim your character is at playing that decides these things. Sorry this has taken so long, assume it's happening quite near the start of term. Go fuzzy time!\n\n
Subthreads: Oh! Pick me! Pick me! by Elly Eriksson
Woo! *is excited* by Irene Liddowe with Irene
hoping being a bludger magnet don't hurt me by Caedence with Lizzie Lavine, Saul
<i>hey</i>... I'm feeling a little less than appreciated by Stephen Baxter
Bring'em on. by Meredith Lail
Chaser Tryout Exercise (Attn: ALL) by The Twins with Elly, Saul Pierce, Caedence, Irene Liddowe
Part 3: Seeker Test by The Craven Twins with Irene Liddowe, Elly
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The Craven Twins
Pecari Tryouts and Training
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The Craven Twins
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The Craven Twins
March 12, 2007 7:16 PM
Part 3: Seeker Test by The Craven Twins
OOC - anyone who wants to may carry on below, just getting this up to get this done.IC
Whistling sharply to regain the attention of their players, the twins addressed the assembled players to explain how the tryouts for Seeker were going to work.
"K, I'm going to stay down here keeping an eye on and Bludgering you the way we've been doing," began Sorrel.
"And I'm gonna take all of you who want to try out for Seeker down the other end of the pitch, one at a time," explained Ash. "It's gonna be the standard kind of golf ball, fetch puppy exercise. I'll do the same set of shots for each of you, but assess who handles them better, rather than sending you all racing each after each other"
"And clashing heads,"
"Knocking each other off your brooms"
"And so on."
"You first," Ash nodded towards the person he was fairly sure matched the name at the top of Sorrel's list. Leading them to the far end of the pitch, away from where the team was practising, he ran through the golf ball drill, starting with easy shots (the kind that were the equivalent of the Snitch jumping down your robes for you) building up to harder shots, eventually giving them a countdown, only after which they were permitted to go screeching after the little ball. Once they missed three in a row, he thanked them and asked them to send the next test subject on over. \n\n
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The Craven Twins
Part 3: Seeker Test
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Irene Liddowe
March 13, 2007 10:18 AM
Re: Part 3: Seeker Test by Irene Liddowe
Irene stood with the others, listening as the twins told them what they would be tested on next. From what she had read, Seekers were usually small and lightweight. Well, she definitely fit that description..."You first," said one of the twins, noddin at her.
Oh boy, first in line! Irene thought sarcastically, but not really meaning it. She didn't mind going first. Going first set the bar and she was sure she could pull it off.
"Okay," she agreed, snatching up her broom. Irene brushed stray strands of her brown hair back towards her ponytail, keeping out of her sea colored eyes. The sun was shining brightly, which would make it difficult to see once she was in the air. Just catch the ball She told herself.
Once at the end of the pitch, Irene kicked off into the air, watching for the first throw.
She saw the first soaring through the air towards her. She felt the small ball in her hands and almost immediatly felt her confidence boost a little.
You can do this. You can do this. Just remember what you did over the summer... Eye on the ball. Irene thought as she stretched out her hand for the second.
Soon the 'snitches' were coming faster and farther away. Irene swooped down about three feet and caught the small ball. The next was heading to her original position and she sped her way back to swipe it out of the air. Irene felt the cool surface of the ball graze her fingers and she closed on it.
The next one was far down and to her right. Irene sped towards it and snatched at it, but only caught air. Irene bit her lip and looked back to watch for the next ball.
Don't beat yourself up! Jeez, Nini, its not the World Cup! Uncle Mike had said. She had bit back her sarcastic remark and instead made sure to score every time after that.
It's okay. It's not the World Cup She coached herself, shooting upwards to catch the next golf ball. Feeling her competitive nature kick in, Irene raced after the next three and caught them.
She raced over the where the next ball was headed. She reached out and felt it against her fingers, but she fumbled and it fell towards the ground.
One more and she was out. Irene quickly caught the next one, and the one the came after that. The small golf ball was proving to be hard to see in the bright sunlight. Irene squinted against the blazing sun and caught the ball that was shooting by her right side.
Irene watched the next golf ball soar towards a spot about five feet above her head. She zoomed upwards and raised a hand to catch it, still trying to sheild her eyes from the sun. But seconds later, she felt the wind rush through her fingers as the snitch passed by.
Irene heard Ash calling her down and she landed beside him. He thanked Irene and asked her to send the next person over.
"You got it!" She said, feeling proud of her try-out. She headed over to the group of Seekers and tapped the next person of the shoulder.
"Hey, you're up," she said with a smile. She sat down on the grass to watch the rest of the try-outs, but, all the same, feeling pretty good about her own...\n\n
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Irene Liddowe
Re: Part 3: Seeker Test
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Elly
March 13, 2007 2:49 PM
Is it too early to be using seeking puns? by Elly
Elly was surprised to find herself disappointed when the captains called a halt to the chaser tryouts. Her stomach’s mysterious disappearance at the start of the session felt like it had happened to someone else, not to the redhead having so much fun practising her skills on the Quidditch pitch. Still, it was only a trial session and it couldn’t last forever. Elly reluctantly returned to the ground and awaited her turn as seeker.Irene wasn’t bad, but then again she said she had been practising for several years. Elly sidled up to Meredith, feeling it was safer to chat now they were on the ground. “Hey, it’s not going bad, huh?” she said, though her eyes were still focussed on the first year. Elly looked up at where the current team were practising their passing and dodging skills. “I’d look good in the Quidditch uniform,” she mused aloud, the corners of her mouth twitching into a smile.
Her attention was distracted just then by a tapping on her shoulder. She turned to see the first year, who had obviously finished her seeker trial. “Hey, you’re up,” she said, smiling.
“Great, thanks,” Elly said, smiling back. With one last grin back at Meredith, Elly remounted her broom and headed up to where boy Craven was waiting. She wasn’t feeling as confident about this part as she had been about the chaser bit, but it did help that the other part of the tryout had been first. It meant that Elly had already improved herself, learning to grip more tightly with her legs, and finding out that she got a better turn if she leaned in a little as well as in the direction of the turn. Little things like that, small improvements here and there, were what Elly knew came with practise – hence her mother’s personal favourite ‘practise makes perfect’.
The first few golf balls thrown her way were easy catches, despite Elly’s unfamiliarity with having to catch anything so little. A relatively easy one went straight through her outstretched fingers, though, and Elly had to try hard to let it go and just concentrate on catching the next one. Which she did, though she dipped the front of her broom just a bit too much and slid several inches forward on her broom. She missed the next snitch stand-in while she righted herself on her broom. Luckily, the next few catches were substantially more successful, one in particular being noteworthy: the snitch flew a fair few feet further down the field, too high to catch, and Elly sailed underneath, overtaking it. She turned spectacularly, catching the snitch as it came to meet her.
As determined as Elly was to do well, though, she was notoriously clumsy. As soon as Ash gave countdowns before Elly could chase after the snitch her performance started to drop. More accurately, she started to drop the ball. The thing was just so small, and travelling at higher speeds it just slid through her fingers. She fumbled a couple, managing to catch them by pulling the ball immediately to her chest, but as soon as she messed up three catches in a row it was her turn to retire. She tried not to feel too bad about it. After all, she’d given it a good shot.
“Hey, your go,” Elly she said cheerfully as she approached Meredith. “Good luck!”
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Elly
Is it too early to be using seeking puns?
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Elly
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