Well, now you'll have to work! on Quidditch Pitch

Amy Fox

April 24, 2007 11:37 AM

Quidditch Match: Teppenpaw vs. Pecari by Amy Fox

With Midterm, and thus Christmas, ended, the snow had eventually melted away from the pitch. Although the temperatures were still rather cold due to the weather charms, the day seemed to be fairing nicely enough. It had, however, taken quite a bit of time to remove the sledding and tubing lifts from the pitch and return it to normal. Luckily, the freshly melted snow had left only one thing behind: mud. Although the conditions weren’t quite what Amy had hoped for, the ground was quite a bit softer than necessary; the school was more than ready for a new game.

Amy, however, was not so sure that she was quite as ready. It had taken her nearly an hour to force herself out of bed and she had had little time to get ready. Instead of the bright orange robes she had donned for the previous match, Amy had pulled out her warmest pair, which incidentally were black, and then grabbed her red, fur-lined cloak. Her hair had been thrown into a messier bun that usual, her gloves pulled on and a supply of handkerchiefs had made their way into her pocket. A few moments after departing from her room, she had entered again, muttering under her breath as she grabbed her bag.

With little time to spare, Amy unlocked the supply closet, the darned kids could get their own brooms out this time, and entered the pitch, noting that people had already started to arrive. Great, she mumbled, as she huddled against the cold. Dropping the heavy bag to the ground, Amy fished out her pair of goggles and pulled them onto her face. Sniffling, she coughed as she ducked down again and removed her broom as well.

Standing back to her full height, Amy’s face screwed up and she was soon overcome by a giant sneeze. One of the many handkerchiefs had luckily made its way into her hand, but her body was wracked with the effects of the sneeze. Returning the handkerchief to her pocket, Amy set a heating charm on her gloves and rubbed them back and forth.

A few moments later, she noted that the teams had entered the pitch. Blinking her eyes a few times in order to adjust her vision, Amy rubbed her forehead with her sleeve, removing the beading perspiration. Okay, hopefully this game won’t last too long.

Waving the students in closer, Amy cleared her throat before speaking. “Alright, you know the rules. No funny business. No cheating. Catch the snitch, get the Quaffle in the hoop. Mainly catch the snitch though.” The sooner the better, she added silently. “Captains come and shake hands and then I’ll release the…” Looking over her shoulder, Amy noted that the large chest of game balls wasn’t there.

Cursing under her breath, she turned back to the captains, “Okay, shake hands and then say whatever you need to say to your teams. I’ll be right back.”

She quickly stomped back across the pitch and to the supply closet and magicked the chest of balls to follow behind her. Returning to her place on the pitch, the chest dropped to the ground heavily. “Now that that has been taken care off…” she started, trailing off. “Get ready.”

Her head swam for a moment, as she dropped to her knees and opened the box. She quickly released the Bludgers, barely getting out of the way in time, and then released the Snitch shortly after. With the Quaffle in hand, Amy turned to the teams.

“You know the drill so let’s get this game going.” Without even so much as a count down, Amy hefted the ball into the air. “Game's started,” she said, straddling her broom and then pushing off the ground.

OOC: Please remember that the same rule applies, please place your name, house and position in the line. Thanks.\r\n\r\n

Subthreads:

Hope I don't get hurt by Caedence Pecari Chaser with Lexi, Teppenpaw Beater, Dalila, Tepp Chaser

I like to fly. by Elly, Pecari Seeker with Hannah, Tepp Seeker, Hannah, Elly Eriksson, Pecari Seeker, Saul Pierce

The fine art of bench warming by Law Teppenpaw Reserve

Ah, the lovely bench... by Irene, Pecari Reserve with Meredith, Pecari Reserve, Irene Liddowe- Pecari Reserve

GAME OVER. PECARI WINS. (nm) by Fox

It's finally over by Jake Santoro with Jennifer Zucchero, Dalila Bastet, Jennifer

[spectators] PECAAAAAARI! by Echo Elms and Brett Hodges, Pecari

Another Post-Game by Lizzie Lavine

0 Amy Fox Quidditch Match: Teppenpaw vs. Pecari 0 Amy Fox 1 5

Caedence Pecari Chaser

April 24, 2007 8:08 PM

Hope I don't get hurt by Caedence Pecari Chaser

What a great day, not, Caedence thought as she made her way down to the pitch. Her brown and gold robes were pulled on over a black t-shirt and warm pants. Her hair was braided and tightly bound with the crimson and black hair tie that Hyana had given her. Her tan eyes glanced sharply around the pitch as the hated yellow-clad opponents graced the field. She looked at the Craven twins and stated firmly, “I won’t get hurt this time, promise. I won’t let you down again.” She glared hotly at the Teppanpaw beaters, trying to psych them out. Her broom was held firmly in her right hand, the handle resting on the band-aid that decorated her cheek.

She couldn’t help but hope that Coach Fox was okay. She held a sort of affection for the woman, seeing many personality similarities between the two of them. Both were temperamental and both loved quidditch. Her sympathy was limited when Coach forgot the balls. How stupid could one get, even when sick? She hoped that Coach was all right to referee the match.

She mounted her broom at the call to get ready. Her legs twitched with anticipation of getting back into the skies again. She licked her lips eagerly, eyes trained on the red ball before her. She followed it like a wolf watching its prey. With the call of “Game's started,” she jumped into the air, her ascent slowed only because of the muddy takeoff. Her tennis shoes would need a good cleaning when she got back to earth, but for now she didn’t care. Her hands were reaching for the ball. Her fingers were almost around it. Her arm now. Yes! She tucked it firmly under her arm and sped off towards the yellow-clad keeper.

“Saul! Lizzie! Someone get open!” She called. With a yelp, she did a swift barrel roll to dodge a bludger headed her way. Wait… bludger… that gave her an idea.

Flying closer to the first Craven she saw, she called, “Don‘t bother to guard me, I have a plan!” She turned after the bludger. Following on its heels, she waited until it turned to attack another player. Great. Looking downward, she saw a brown-clad team mate.

“Catch, quick!” she called before dropping the quaffle and following the bludger again. She grinned her wolfish smile when she met a surprised Teppanpaw beater. “You won’t get this one!” She declared happily, adding a burst of speed to get around the bludger. Just before colliding with the beater, she turned to the side. She hoped there wouldn’t be enough time for it to recover, thus hitting the beater. Grinning, she didn’t look back to see if her plan worked. She rushed back to aid whoever had the quaffle now.\r\n\r\n\r\n

0 Caedence Pecari Chaser Hope I don't get hurt 94 Caedence Pecari Chaser 0 5

Lexi, Teppenpaw Beater

April 24, 2007 10:40 PM

Then why play tag-along with a bludger? by Lexi, Teppenpaw Beater

OOC: Hey, Caedence, just a word of advice- you might want to watch the god-modding. There really wasn't much, just the fact that one of the beaters was surprised, but it made for a pretty awkward situation, since I had an emotion I know had to write. BIC

\r\n\r\nLexi Stafford had developed a plan to deal with the whole quidditch issue. Well, technically she had many plans, but only one that had the potential to go poorly right now- her father’s order that she was not to seriously injure anyone on the quidditch pitch. If she had been feeling more suicidal than she was when he announced this, she probably would have argued that it was impossible for her to do that. Of course, given that Benjamin thought she wasn’t going to be playing at all, it probably wouldn’t have helped.

This had actually worked out well in her little rebellion, though. Ben’s broom was the same model as hers, so it wasn’t like she’d had to get use to a completely new style of broom in the weeks before the first Teppenpaw match. She actually hadn’t mentioned anything about her punishment to Jake yet. She kept meaning to get to it, but…it just never seemed the appropriate time. Plus, it really didn’t seem relevant, since she was completely disregarding it anyway.

Back on subject, though, she had a master plan. Despite her reputation as the fierce beater (although she recognized, and midly appreciated, the fact that Lily Collins might have taken it from her), Lexi was perfectly content to be the one who would stay back and make sure none of her team’s players got hurt, while Jake could go out and play executor. She’d miss it a bit, she mused as she glanced around at the undeniably gross conditions on the pitch, but she could get used to it until her dad had cooled off. Besides, she was still trying to rework her image, and not maiming people could only help.

She did regret the decision a bit, though, as she noticed Caedence whatever-her-last-name-was glaring at her and Jake. Lexi wasn’t quite sure why, though the fact that it was Lexi who broke the now second year’s arm last year might have something to do with it. Still, it seemed like the chaser was trying to…intimidate them, or something. Lexi merely raised an eyebrow skeptically at the girl, then turned back to try and mentally prepare herself, zoning out a bit from Jake’s standard pep-talk, and from everything else happening on the pitch.

By the time Fox had blown the whistle, Lexi had pretty much forgotten about the open show of hostility. She’d drifted to one side, scanning around, and trying to keep an eye on Teppenpaw’s seeker, since, after the massacre of an Aladren/Crotalus game with Zach getting pulled out for a time, she didn’t want to let the Cravens get away with the same. However, she was pulled out of her watch by the sound of a bludger approaching her. Somehow, that was the possibility that had never crossed her mind- that a bludger would actually come after her, meaning she’d actually have to aim to hurt someone on the opposing team. Just what she needed.

And apparently things were only to get worse. As soon as she managed to get past the bludger, Lexi’s eyes widened with shock. What the hell did Caedence think she was doing? Lexi had never heard of anyone following a bludger. It was complete suicide. Even as the fourth year unconsciously prepared to deal with the metal ball coming her way, she tried to figure out how Caedence had escaped the bludger turning on her already. It wasn’t in bludger’s natures to play favorites; they just tried to knock whoever was nearest off the broom. Obviously, there were severe gaps in Miss angry-second-year’s education about quidditch.

Still, despite the fact that Lexi hadn’t quite gotten over her shock, and the fact that Caedence seemed to think she was pulling off something highly sneaky, the fourth year was already ready to go when Caedence tried to pull of a pick with a bludger (honestly, how stupid could one be?). She ignored whatever the comment was that was made her way, and, without consciously thinking about it, as soon as the chaser had passed the bludger up, Lexi had begun a pivot so that the bludger was in position for a hit from her strongest side, and swung straight at the back of the skull of the stupid little girl who didn’t realize that one didn’t follow a bludger to an experienced beater, because there was no way one could escape fast enough.

As soon as she’d made contact, though, Lexi’s autopilot went off, and she recognized she’d done precisely what she’d been trying so hard to avoid. Even as she just watched the bludger make its way towards Caedence (her aim was, as usual with this easy distance, impeccable, and there was appeared to be little way anyone could get to the bludger, or the other girl could avoid it, if she even noticed it zooming toward her), Lexi began to panic.

In almost every probably scenario, Caedence was going to end up fairly seriously hurt, and she was going to end up wounded no matter what, not accounting for the sort of miracle that just didn't happen and there was no way Benjamin Stafford wasn’t going to hear about that. It wasn’t like Lexi had meant to hurt anyone, though, so as she waited for the impending strike, she tried to think of a way to make self defense a reasonable argument. That, or just pure and simple Darwinism.
\r\n\r\n

0 Lexi, Teppenpaw Beater Then why play tag-along with a bludger? 0 Lexi, Teppenpaw Beater 0 5

Elly, Pecari Seeker

April 25, 2007 12:10 PM

I like to fly. by Elly, Pecari Seeker

Elly was a nervous wreck the morning of her first ever Quidditch game. The time she had spent practising since she got a place on the team had enhanced her performance immensely, but she knew there was still plenty of room for improvement. She’d also got some of those gloves with bumpy grips on the palms to help her keep hold of the Snitch if she ever got as far as catching it. She was hoping to get some proper Seeker gloves soon, but she had to ask her Dad for the money first, and then find out how to go about getting some.

Having managed to eat half an orange for breakfast, which she was now regretting as her insides squirmed with equal parts excitement and anxiety, Elly had collected the Comet she liked to use from the school’s collection. It definitely wasn’t the fastest broom, but having tried several, Elly found this one to be far less temperamental than the others.

Since it was still rather cold after midterm, Elly had on some thick joggers and a knitted sweater under her Quidditch robes. Her hair was less keen on staying tied back now it was sorter, so Elly had put it in bunches to keep it out of the way, though she was pretty sure it made her look stupid. That was the least of her worries, however, as she made her way to the pitch. She wasn’t sure she was entirely prepared for the game (then again, Coach Fox didn’t seem to be, either), and she barely heard anything the captains said to her as she mounted her broom and took flight. All she had to do was catch the Snitch, though, right?

As the game started, Elly vaguely registered that Pecari had managed to get the quaffle first before she headed above the other players and devoted all her attention to searching for that tiny little gold ball that would, with any luck, win her house the game.
\r\n\r\n

0 Elly, Pecari Seeker I like to fly. 0 Elly, Pecari Seeker 0 5

Law Teppenpaw Reserve

April 25, 2007 4:29 PM

The fine art of bench warming by Law Teppenpaw Reserve

This was so cool! Sure he was on the bench, and it wasn't very likely he was going to play, but that didn't matter. This was a real, organized Quidditch game. He hadn't been to one when he was younger, barely old enough to remember what it was like. There was just so much learning to be done - Law was going to make sure to keep an eye on both Keepers to see if he could learn anything new. And the Chasers, also, to see how they liked to shoot. That way he could keep focused, and not get lost in the excitement of it all. And besides, if he did need to go into the game, he'd be more or less ready.

The heavyset boy hadn't really dwelled on what it would be like to randomly be put into a game. The situation would probably be bad, considering something really serious would have had to happen to the starting keeper for him to be put in. But Law was an optimist, and he didn't like to think about bad things happening to people, even if that gave him the chance to play.

It was probably hard to imagine Law being airborne, he was far from lean. But on his reliable Cleansweep he had brought from home, he could get the job done. He might not have been in ideal shape, or particularly talented, or equipped with the best broom on the market. But that didn't stop his fierce love of the game, and it didn't stop him from working hard anyway.

He blew on his hands and rubbed them together to keep warm. The brown-haired boy had keeper's gloves on, but they weren't designed for insulation. The boy balanced his broom on his lap, he'd forgotten to take his broom-care kit to school and didn't want it getting ruined in the mud. That would be pretty bad, and the boy was fairly sure his younger brother would laugh at him.

"Hey," he turned to a kid on the bench with him, "Do you know any heating charms or spells or anything?" he checked one of his pockets with his left hand, holding his broom with his right, "I think I brought my wand with me."\r\n\r\n

0 Law Teppenpaw Reserve The fine art of bench warming 0 Law Teppenpaw Reserve 0 5

Dalila, Tepp Chaser

April 27, 2007 4:00 AM

But with your luck... by Dalila, Tepp Chaser

Dalila woke up the morning of the first Quidditch game of the year and promptly blew her nose loudly. 'Well, though Dalila, 'I fell better than I did yesterday.'

She had woken up a week earlier with a pretty bad cold and had spent every waking moment shoving either spoonfuls of Pepper-up Potion or her grandmother's teas which had been promptly sent via owl when Dalila told of her illness.

But today, there was nothing left of the hated cold, except a slight cough and a need to blow her nose every few minutes. She grabbed her wand off her dresser and pointed it at her coffee mug with a smiling sphinx walking around on it and it instantly filled with hot water. She put her grandmother tea in, and let it steep while she got into her Quidditch gear. A long sleeved shirt and jeans went beneath her uniform as it had been rather cold the past few days. She didn't think today would be any different.

Fully dressed, Dalila sipped her tea and daydreamed about crushing Pecari for a second time in a row. When she had finished he tea, she ran out the door and down to the Quidditch field. She had been right. It was cold. Luckily her chasing gloves did wonders to keep her hands warm. She grabbed her favorite broom from the broom shed (a Comet 260 in rather good shape) and trudged through the sticky mud to meet up with the rest of her team.

When Coach Fox lobbed the ball into the air(Coach didn't look too happy to be there) she took off, spraying mud everywhere, but she didn't mind. Mud was fun, especially in Quidditch. There should be more mud in this world. She quickly searched the skies and players for the red quaffle and finally spotted it in the arms of a younger Pecari chaser. That had to be fixed.

Dalila zoomed over to the girl and watched the red ball zealously waiting for her moment to strike. Then the moment came. The girl passed the ball to another Pecari chaser. Dalila sped up and intercepted the throw with ease. Dalila grinned and turned around, heading for Pecari's goal.\r\n\r\n

0 Dalila, Tepp Chaser But with your luck... 0 Dalila, Tepp Chaser 0 5

Ash, Pecari Beater

April 27, 2007 3:13 PM

Cos she's an idiot by Ash, Pecari Beater

OOC - I think I'm going to have to say the same to you Lexi... Saying that there's very little way anyone could get to the Bludger, or Caedence could avoid it is pretty restrictive on our options. Seeing as Caedence flagged up what she was doing to the twins, there's no way they wouldn't be near, so I'm just going to interpret that as Lexi not seeing anyone being able to get in, rather than the omniscient author knowing it would be nigh on impossible for someone to get to it, cos if it's the latter it'd be MSish to say my character could, but there is no way that they'd let this happen, so...

IC

The coach seemed off. Way off. Who forgot the balls for a game of Quidditch? Whilst other players might have felt sorry for her, or anxious that she wasn't going to make it through the match, it delighted the twins. If the coach wasn't on the ball (literally, almost) then so much more could be slipped under her nose than usual. They'd already pep talked their team in the changing room, so as the coach went stumbling off in search of the equipment, they just reminded their team to 'kick ass'.

Mounting up, they kicked off the second the whistle blew, splitting in opposite directions to each try and find their iron targets before anyone else got onto the Bludgers (or the Bludgers got onto anyone else...). Ash caught sight of one, and sped after it, surprised as he saw another Pecari blur streaking towards him and it, seeing as Sorrel had headed in the opposite direction, and surely no one else wanted to get near the Bludgers, if they could help it.

'Don't bother to guard me, I have a plan.'

Ash glared after Caedence. How dare she bark orders at him on the pitch? Ok, if you had a brain wave and only a split second, then maybe it was acceptable to talk to your captain like that, but as Caedence shot after the Bludger it was quite obvious she didn't have the first. If anything she had brain damage. It was purely suiciadal and totally idiotic, so now he was going to have to save her useless ass. As if the girl didn't attract enough Bludgers without chasing after them! What was she playing at? The only thing that consoled Ash slightly - and it was very slight, because he was so utterly pissed off - was that the Bludger was what he was after anyway, so she wasn't taking him away from something he was trying to do. Just getting in the bloody way of it.

Ash rolled his eyes as she "lured" it towards a Beater. Bludgers went for the nearest person anyway, so to follow it was crazy enough. They could only be lured from in front really, and that was pretty dangerous. As for chasing it, when unarmed, into the path of a person with a bat for smacking it around...

As Lexi, predictably, smacked the Bludger right back at Caedence, Ash put on a burst of speed, diving in. The short range meant he had to twist uncomfortably and couldn't get much of a swing, but it deflected the Bludger. Following through meant he swung around on his broom, and was able to give it another, slightly more powerful hit, to set it zooming off. He didn't have time to say anything to Caedence. Or rather, he could have got in about two syllables, but far too many were steaming around his head, and he didn't have time for one to squeeze through the bottle neck into the small, still rational-thinking part of his mind. He just shot her a look dirtier than pitch and headed off in pursuit of the Bludger, lest it latched onto one of his other players (if it went after Caedence, he might let it try to knock some sense into her) or the Tepp got it.\r\n\r\n

0 Ash, Pecari Beater Cos she's an idiot 0 Ash, Pecari Beater 0 5

Irene, Pecari Reserve

April 27, 2007 3:25 PM

Ah, the lovely bench... by Irene, Pecari Reserve

Irene scanned the sky as the game raced on overhead. Enertering the field with her team was exhilerating. She really felt a part of something, even if she was a reserve.

The game had barely started and was already in full swing. Irene almost gasped when a bludger came close to hitting the Teppenpaw beater. Her name was Lexi, right? She really did gasp when Lexi recovered and hit the bludger straight in Caedence's direction. Irene felt she should shout a warning, but knew perfectly well that no one up there could hear her with the wind whistling in their ears.

She was barely aware that she was doing this awkward little dance as she sat on the bench, rising half out of her seat at any difficult looking play and sitting back down when the team pulled it off. She gave a sigh and muttered under her breath,

"Man, I love Quidditch..."\r\n\r\n

0 Irene, Pecari Reserve Ah, the lovely bench... 0 Irene, Pecari Reserve 0 5

Jake, Beater, Captain

April 27, 2007 3:51 PM

What a nice thing to say. by Jake, Beater, Captain

Jake was not having the best day thus far. Already he had lost his Seeker due to whatever illness she had this week, not to mention the fact that he had little sleep the night before. There was no doubt in Jake's mind that the Pecaris would try all they could in order to beat the Teppenpaws in this game. He had enough faith in his players to know that they would do all they could to keep themselves in the running for the Cup, but Jake didn't trust the Pecaris to play fair.

And as he entered the Pitch and noticed the Coach, he knew immediately that this was going to be a rough game. He had to keep in a sigh as the Coach ran off to grab the balls. During this time, Jake turned and motioned for Hannah to come closer. "Kaylie's sick, so I need you to fill in for her. You're good in practice, just keep your eyes out for the snitch and Lexi and I will take care of you." Jake said quietly to the first year before speaking up to the other reserves, "Hikaru, be prepared to get up in the air if one of the Chasers gets knocked out. Law, I might need you in the air too, so just keep your eyes open and be prepared for anything."

It didn't take long for Coach Fox to return and when she did, she was sending them off into the air. Jake took the first chance he had at locating a bludger and easily smacked it towards the Pecari Seeker, though, mid-swing, Jake noticed a Pecari chaser following a bludger. That was an odd sight. Because of that, Jake wasn't too sure of his aim with the bludger, but figured it would at least give the seeker a scare.

"Go for it, Dalila!" Jake called out when he realized Dalila had somehow gotten the quaffle. He really had to start paying attention. Shaking it off, Jake saw another bludger and took off for it.

He knew this was going to be a rough game, he just hoped his team was up for the challenge.\r\n\r\n

6 Jake, Beater, Captain What a nice thing to say. 42 Jake, Beater, Captain 0 5

Tally Teppenpaw Chaser

April 27, 2007 4:34 PM

It's not likely by Tally Teppenpaw Chaser

Tally couldn't do this anymore. She couldn't handle the added pressure that it brought to her every time she came out onto the field. She didn't even come to other games because of it. This would be her last game...she just hadn't told Jake yet. She knew it would upset him and possibly others on the team, but Tally just wasn't up for it any longer.

The excitement that the crowd had, the nervousness from the other players was like anxiety on Tally's already raw nerves. Their emotions were equivelent to voices in her head, constantly there, bickering, one trying to dominant the other. A throbbing, constant headache at a time when Tally needed to concentrate the most. She thought, with all the counceling, that she would be better able to handle all this, but, instead, she felt like the opposite was happening.

She felt like she was losing complete control over all of it.

Standing on the pitch, Tally stared up at the sky. It was chilly, so she was layered, hopefully it wouldn't rain. Her long waves were pulled back into a tight ponytail to keep from falling into her face. Her boots were sinking into the mud and when she pulled them loose, they made that disgusting sucking sound like a plunger in a toilet.

Tally ignored most of what was said as it never really changed. She only glanced away from the sky when the Coach went off somewhere and Tally was unsure of what was going on. But at that time, Jake was talking to the newbies on the team and Tally zoned out again. In this moment, she neglected to realize the Coach's return and the initial kick off. She was slightly behind the others, but it didn't seem to matter since a Pecari got the quaffle.

Oh please, let a bludger knock her out.

Tally had to force herself to concentrate. Luckily for her, Dalila seemed to be on the ball. Having caught the interception, Tally sighed a bit and mentally rooted for Dalila. She stayed back though, incase the Pecaris got the quaffle again. She wasn't sure where Gil was with all this, but Tally wanted to make sure one of them was back enough to stop them from being able to score against the Teppenpaws.\r\n\r\n

0 Tally Teppenpaw Chaser It's not likely 0 Tally Teppenpaw Chaser 0 5

Lizzie, Pecari Chaser

April 27, 2007 7:54 PM

Oh, what a quidditch game! by Lizzie, Pecari Chaser

The morning of the first quidditch game found Lizzie in an odd state. She had gotten up early, her mind restless and uneasy. Lizzie had been in the same uneasy, uncomfortable mindset ever since her return from Louisiana. The whole situation with her brother was rubbing her the wrong way, and everytime she thought about it, a sickening image of Miss Melanie Mayer popped into her head. It shouldn't have bothered her, but it did. And that didn't even cover the unresolved "relationship" issues she had with a certain one of the Pecari Captains. It was going to be a long day.

Reaching the pitch, however, Lizzie brightened up. She automatically entered her focused mode, shutting out the annoying little voice pestering her about Brett and his finacee. It was game time. After the usual pep talk and the brief "kick ass" memo from the Cravens, Lizzie took to the air. For the first few seconds of the game, it seemed like everything was going right. A brown-clad player had the quaffle, and was proceeding the proper direction. Then the player went after a bludger.

"Caedence!" Lizzie yelled, her cry falling on deaf ears, "Are you insane?!"

The girl had nearly been maimed by a bludger during virtually every game of her Sonoran quidditch career, and now she was chasing after it? Things did not bode well. Lizzie followed Caedence, shaking her head all the while. It was only when she dropped a pass in Lizzie's general direction did Liz comprehend the full insanity of what Caedence was trying to do. The girl is mad, She thought to herself, There's just no other explanation. She's taken one bludger too many. Lizzie was too far from the ball and completely caught off guard, and watched as a Teppenpaw chaser intercepted.

It seemed as though that intereption brought Lizzie crashing back into the now. She bolted after the girl -Dalila, was it?- trying to put as much defensive pressure as possible on her. Lizzie's black ponytail whipped in the wind behind her as she came level with the opposing chaser, glaring at her. She needed that chaser to drop the quaffle, and fast. Lizzie was in game mode- it was time to play Pecari quidditch. From her tight position on the right side, Liz jerked her broom right, then left, intentionally slamming her weight against the other girl. Nice? Maybe not, but it was definitely a means by which she could attain her goal. \r\n\r\n

0 Lizzie, Pecari Chaser Oh, what a quidditch game! 0 Lizzie, Pecari Chaser 0 5

Dalila, Tepp Chaser

April 27, 2007 8:15 PM

What a quidditch game indeed! by Dalila, Tepp Chaser

Dalila saw the goal before her. She sped up a bit in her excitement, her eyes on nothing but the three lovely hoops in front of her and the whereabouts of the Pecari Keeper. Suddenly she felt someone ram into her. Dalila gasped and spun a few times, veering way off of her course, but kept a firm grip on the quaffle.

"What the hell was that?" she called out to no one in particular. Looking back to where she had been, she saw a Pecari chaser - Lizzie, she was fairly sure what her name was at this point in their schooling - had slammed into her. That couldn't be allowable...could it? So far, Coach Fox hadn't blown the whistle yet, so there was nothing she could do.

Dalila grimaced. The arm Lizzie had hit was throbbing. Dalila turned back towards the Pecari hoops, hoping for another chance at the goals and hoping Lizzie wouldn't try that again.\r\n\r\n

0 Dalila, Tepp Chaser What a quidditch game indeed! 0 Dalila, Tepp Chaser 0 5

Hannah, Tepp Seeker

April 28, 2007 5:25 PM

Me too by Hannah, Tepp Seeker

The image that had stared back at Hannah had been disconcerting, yet thrilling. It was the same girl that she saw every day, except for one major difference. This girl was dressed in a Quidditch uniform. She had given a little squeal of excitement. Granted, she would most likely not be playing today since she was only a reserve Seeker. Her real Seeker counterpart, Kaylie Brockert, was really good and from what she had heard had won past games for the team. Still, though, even being on the bench was enough to make it seem like butterflies were fluttering in her stomach and she vowed to cheer for the Teppenpaws until her voice went hoarse. The Teppenpaws, that was her team! Hurriedly, Hannah had left the dorm to head to the pitch, sure to bring her gloves...just in case.

The muddy pitch and chilly weather did nothing to dampen Hannah's mood. Aside from the low temperature, it reminded her of home, where rain was considered a season. She was a Louisiana girl, through and through. On the pitch, she listened eagerly to the Coach, even though it was standard information, mostly since it was her first time. When the Coach left to get the chest of balls, Jake summoned her over. Eagerly, she headed over. She adored Jake, as a Captain, because he seemed to really care about the team and encourage them. When Jake informed her that she would be filling in for Kaylie, her mouth dropped open. She would be playing? Kaylie must have been really sick. She knew that if it had been her, short of being hospitalized, she would have been here. Watching the way her parents' worked in the family restaurant, Hannah knew that the importance of the team was far more important than the individual. Nodding solemnly to Jake, Hannah knew what she had to do. She had to catch the snitch and win the game for her team. She just had to. She couldn't let the team down by not being Kaylie. Kaylie would have caught the snitch.

Determinedly, she mounted her broom and headed up with the rest of the team. The game had barely started and it was already a hazy mess of players and balls flying everywhere. Trying to avoid any potential stray bludgers, Hannah flew up above everyone. She noticed that Pecari's seeker had done the same, but that shouldn't have been a surprise since they were after the same thing. She forced her attention away from the girl. It wouldn't help her if Elly found the snitch before her. Her complete focus was now placed on finding her target.

What seemed like hours, but was most likely minutes, of looking, she saw the little golden ball flapping near a goal post. Did the other seeker notice? Could she get to it first? Only one way to find out, as the training from practices kicked in, her body already knowing what to do before her brain did, she was heading full speed towards it. Hoping the other girl hadn't caught on yet.\r\n\r\n

0 Hannah, Tepp Seeker Me too 0 Hannah, Tepp Seeker 0 5

Elly, Pecari Seeker

April 29, 2007 1:49 PM

If you can't say something nice... by Elly, Pecari Seeker

Elly had barely been in the air for half a minute when she noticed something wasn’t quite right. She’d located the Teppenpaw Seeker flying at a similar height, but it wasn’t the student Elly had been expecting. Kaylie Brockert was the Teppenpaw Seeker, and Elly hadn’t heard anything about her quitting the team. From such a distance Elly wasn’t able to ascertain who the replacement Seeker was. She did have one positive thought, though: if the Teppenpaw team was using a reserve, then that couldn’t be a bad thing. Kaylie had way more experience than Elly did, and the fact that this other Seeker might not gave Elly a renewed burst of hope. Somehow she felt there was a greater chance that they could win.

Still with half her attention on the other Seeker, rather than all of it on the game, Elly was suddenly jarred back to the pitch full tilt as she heard the telltale whoosh of a bludger coming up on her left. She instinctively swerved to her right and watched as the bludger continued its course. It looked as though it could have been far enough to her left that it wouldn’t have hit her even if she hadn’t moved, but she couldn’t be sure. Either way it was a sharp reminder to stay focussed, and not worry about menial details like who the other Seeker could be.

Mentally scolding herself, Elly clutched her broom tightly between her knees and turned tail, starting a lap of the pitch. There was a lot of noise coming from the stands below, but Elly blocked it out, trying hard to concentrate only on important things, like the Snitch. And bludgers. And maybe keep one eye on the other Seeker for clues. Elly had flown part-way around the pitch, hovering just over the Pecari hoops, when she saw the Tepp Seeker suddenly streak downwards. Elly had a momentary panic. If the other team had seen the Snitch over there, there was absolutely no way she would be able to get to it from the other side of the pitch. Biting her lip she hoped for one of two things: either that the other Seeker hadn’t really seen the Snitch, or that one of the bludgers would stop her from getting to it.
\r\n\r\n

0 Elly, Pecari Seeker If you can't say something nice... 0 Elly, Pecari Seeker 0 5

Hannah

April 29, 2007 7:37 PM

Continuation by Hannah

Hannah barely registered the wind whipping at her cheeks, as she raced towards the snitch. She didn't know where the other seeker was nor did she care. All that mattered was she didn't see the other girl near the golden ball. Closer and closer, she could almost reach it...She gripped the broom tightly with her gloved left and reaching out with her right, almost there, her fingers grazing it. She blinked and it was gone. Where did it go? It had been right there!

Joining her other hand on the broom, Hannah made an angry little noise, as she placed her forehead on her hands in frustration. She nearly had it. She berated herself for not being faster or more focused. She could have had it, if she had been. What was she doing now? She looked in horror at her hands, at what she was doing. She wasn't paying attention like she should be. Moments like this were what allowed the other Seeker to come in and steal the glory. Shaking her head slightly to clear it, she tugged on her left pigtail for luck before circling up ahead once more.

She was thankful that no bludgers had come close to her yet and wasn't sure how long that would last, as it was very probable one would soon. She was sure that she had Lexi and Jake to thank for how clear she'd been thus far. She hovered high above in the center, trying to find the snitch and hoping her luck would hold out and the bludgers would stay far away.\r\n\r\n

0 Hannah Continuation 0 Hannah 0 5

Saul, Pecari Chaser

April 30, 2007 11:39 AM

Tag team by Saul, Pecari Chaser

It was Saul's third year on Pecari's Quidditch team, so he wasn't quite as nervous as he had been for the other two years. He was thirteen now and starting to be almost adult sized. His mother swore he'd grown two inches just over Christmas break. Unfortunately, his latest growth spurt meant he was no longer quite so certain of exactly where his limbs ended. He had a tendancy to bump into things and trip over his own feet that he really hoped wasn't going to affect his ability to fly today.

He collected a school broom (picking a slightly longer one than the broom he usually used) and headed over to the changing room where he listened to Ash and Sorrel give their pre-game pep talk and put on his team uniform. Before going outside, though, he added a warming charm that he hoped would last at least most of the game, or at least until exertion provided its own form of warmth.

When Coach Fox went to retrieve the balls she'd forgotten to bring out, Saul gave Elly and Meredith grins of amusement and greeting, then gave Elly a few words of encouragement for her first game. By then Coach Fox was back and letting out the bludgers and Saul launched into the air, without even giving the squelching mud a passing thought.

In the air, he saw Caedance get to the quaffle first, but then she went promptly insane dropping the red ball so that she could go chasing after the metal bludgers instead. Before Lizzie could catch the pass, Dalila had intercepted and the chase was on.

Saul saw Lizzie bump the Teppenpaw from one side, so he sped up and started flying on Dalila's other side, not quite touching but really close. "Hey, Dalila," he greeted, pleasantly enough because she'd been a cool partner in CoMC for the treasure hunting class, but this was a Quidditch match, so he reached toward the Quaffle and tried to knock it out of her hands toward Lizzie. "We kinda need this."\r\n\r\n

1 Saul, Pecari Chaser Tag team 82 Saul, Pecari Chaser 0 5

Caedence

April 30, 2007 5:41 PM

Allright, allright, I'll be a chaser. a sane one... by Caedence

Caedence jumped at the shound of wood cracking on metal. The war cry of a beater's bat. She turned her head, and, as expected, saw an Ash that wasn't too happy. She blushed crimson. Not from embarassment, but anger. Why was he mad? She just wanted to help! It seemed like a good plan at the time! Besides, it wasn't like Lexi would hold back if she wasn't taken out and he wasn't doing his job! Looking around, she found Dalila in posession of the ball. That stupid Lizzie missed the catch!

With an irritated growl, she spun her broom to face the other chasers and sped off towards them. Can't anyone do a proper job? Well...she had already made Ash mad, what would hurt if she pulled another stupid move?

With her hunter's grin back on her face, she swooped down low over Dalila's head. Any lower, and she would colide with the girl. She knew she had to get out of the way soon, or else risk an open bludger opportunity from making it.

"We kinda need this." Caedence laughed. Yes, Saul, we did. After her head had begun to clear with a new plan forming, she had realised how stupid giving up the quaffle was.

"Yeah, so could we please have it?" Caedence said before swooping over her head and braking in front of Dalila. She hoped this plan worked, she thought, eyes staring hungrily at the ball.\r\n\r\n

0 Caedence Allright, allright, I'll be a chaser. a sane one... 94 Caedence 0 5

Lizzie, Pecari Chaser

April 30, 2007 7:27 PM

Alright, all three chasers at once! by Lizzie, Pecari Chaser

After Lizzie knocked into Dalila in an unsuccessful attempt at making the other chaser lose the quaffle, she sped up to where she should have been, flying closely on Dalila's side. Lizzie was relieved to finally see Saul on the other side of Dalila, and even more so when he tried to knock the ball out of her hands. Just then, Caedence seemed to have regained her senses, and was flying just above Dalilia. Granted, it probably wasn't the best field positioning to have all three swarm-defense on one Teppenpaw chaser, but at the moment, the ploy would have to suffice.

The moment Caedence began to move in front of Dalila, Lizzie's knee-jerk reaction was to pull away. So Lizzie broke off from the Pecari Chasing ameoba, hoping Saul would do the same. Being in a tight defensive position wasn't a good place to be in when the opposing chaser probably was going to crash into the front player. Lizzie hovered a few yards away, a safe distance from the immediate crash that was sure to ensue, but not far enough to miss a dropped quaffle.

Lizzie took the moment to glance quickly around the pitch. The Teppenpaw Seeker had a replacement, it seemed, which boded well for Pecari. A semi-inexperienced seeker was ten times better an opponent to face than Teppenpaw's first-string seeker. Lizzie focused back in on the situation with Caedence, Saul, and Dalila. She hoped that Saul would have the instinct to move away as she had, avoiding any kind of injury. Their chasing team did have the propensity to get itself in medical trouble during the games. \r\n\r\n

0 Lizzie, Pecari Chaser Alright, all three chasers at once! 0 Lizzie, Pecari Chaser 0 5

Saul, Pecari Chaser

April 30, 2007 11:09 PM

you're kind of outnumbered here, Dalila by Saul, Pecari Chaser

Saul was a bit surprised to find Caedence up a bit over Dalila's head, and even more surprised when she dropped down in front of Dalila. The Teppenpaw didn't have much choice but to plow into one of the three of them as they stood now, and Saul had had quite enough of falling to his presumed death in his first match. He veered a bit out of the way and he saw out of the corner of his eye that Lizzie was doing the same.

He dropped to a lower altitude, still keeping pace, but ready to catch a fumbled Quaffle or falling player should either of those events come to pass. A glance at Lizzie showed she'd had the same idea, so he sped up a bit and rose higher so he could get between the Dalila-Caedence mess and the goal posts.

The Nimbus he'd grabbed moved a bit faster than the broom he was used to so he shot a little further ahead than he meant to, but that was probably just as well in case Dalila did manage to get around Caedence somehow and take a shot. He stole a quick glance away to try to figure out where the other two Teppenpaw Chasers had gotten to.\r\n\r\n

1 Saul, Pecari Chaser you're kind of outnumbered here, Dalila 82 Saul, Pecari Chaser 0 5

Jake

April 30, 2007 11:22 PM

Break it up, people by Jake

Jake had to focus back on the game after trying to figure out what the hell the Pecari chaser was doing with the bludger. He knew Lexi could handle herself, but it was still irksome just the same when someone tried playing another person's role. Or whatever it was that she had been doing. Jake had almost wished the bludger had turned around and went after the Pecari girl. Sadly, no such luck happened.

But the distraction had been enough to throw his own bludger slightly off course and missing the Pecari seeker. Cursing silently to himself, Jake went off for the closest round metal ball he could find. It was during this time that the Pecari seekers decided to gang up on his Chaser. Jake guided the bludger for a better shot and once he saw an opening, he smacked it with all his might while shouting for Dalila to drop, hoping she understood to go low. Although, where the current Pecari seeker was positioned, it would be hard for Dalila to do much else aside from crashing.

Jake didn't wait to find out what happened, instead, he turned his gaze to Pepper, "Watch for it, Pep!" Jake called out and took off down the field towards his chasers and where the bludgers seemed to be heading. "GIL, TALLY, GET IN THERE!" Jake shouted, ignoring any angry looks shot his way.

He didn't have the time to play Nice Captain, not when he was against the Cravens.\r\n\r\n

6 Jake Break it up, people 42 Jake 0 5

Dalila

May 01, 2007 4:05 AM

Gang up on the Tepp, why don't ya... by Dalila

She just wouldn't leave. Wherever Dalila went Lizzie stayed right there. And then suddenly a second Pecari chaser was sandwiching Dalila in. This was getting bad. Dalila had just decided that the quaffle would be safer in other hands, when the little Pecari chaser cut her off.

Dalila screamed in shock, but recovered enough to hug the ball closer to her body as she flew. She had to get the ball away. She could either make a sudden stop or drop down. Then out of nowhere Dalila heard Jake's voice. Without a moment's notice, Dalila vanished from the circle after having dropped about ten feet in the air.

The sudden drop had left Dalila breathless. She took in a big gulp of air, glad to be out of the circling vultures. But the ball was no longer safe in her hands. They were almost to the Pecari hoops, but she couldn't make it.

Dalila spotted the first yellow-clad chaser she could find and zoomed towards them.

"Catch!" Dalila yelled as she handed off the ball and fled down the pitch, ready if the ball ever came back to her.\r\n\r\n

0 Dalila Gang up on the Tepp, why don't ya... 0 Dalila 0 5

Lizzie, Pecari Chaser

May 01, 2007 7:43 AM

Well, that's what you get for taking the quaffle... by Lizzie, Pecari Chaser

Lizzie had been watching Dalila from her position off to the side, and when the Tepp chaser dropped altitude, Lizzie followed. Although she couldn't figure out just how the kid had managed not to crash straight into Caedence, Lizzie still tailed the chaser. This plan got abandoned, however, when the opposing chaser shouted "Catch!" to another chaser. They were too close to the Pecari goals for her comfort, and Lizzie decided to take some action.

Dalila fled the scene as soon as she tossed the quaffle, the perfect position for Lizzie to wedge herself in and tip the airborne ball towards her. Much like a muggle basketball tip off, Liz reached up for the ball with one hand, knocking it back towards her body. Her other hand rushed to meet the leather ball, securing it tightly in the crook of her arm. Now in possession, Lizzie looked around the pitch.

Saul had moved near to the goals after the almost-crash, putting him in a good position to run an offencive down the other way. Besides, Caedence seemed like she was having a particularly odd day. So Liz mustered all the voice she could, and yelled "SAUL!". With a quick jerk of the head indicating the direction of the Teppenpaw goalposts, Lizzie took off down towards the three hoops. Lizzie clutched the ball tighter to her body, making speedy progress down the pitch. She couldn't chance a look back, but she hoped that Saul had gotten her message. \r\n\r\n

0 Lizzie, Pecari Chaser Well, that's what you get for taking the quaffle... 0 Lizzie, Pecari Chaser 0 5

Saul, Pecari Chaser

May 01, 2007 11:37 AM

Message received, loud and clear by Saul, Pecari Chaser

Saul's attention was grabbed away from Tally when he heard Lizzie shout his name. Turning toward the shout, he found that Lizzie was now in possession of the Quaffle and neither Caedence or Dalila were currently falling to their deaths, though a bludger was heading in Caedence's direction. "Bludger, Caedence," he called out in warning then shot back toward the other side of pitch.

As Pecari now had the ball, it was time to line up a shot at the Teppenpaw goals. The Nimbus sped toward the three hoops more quickly than his old broom had ever managed. His stomach was left feeling slightly queasy from the unaccustomed velocity, but he managed to come to a stop without overshooting the goals or running into Pepper or anybody else.

Looking around to locate Lizzie, he readjusted his position so he was at least momentarily open for both a pass and a shot. The other team would probably rectify that soon enough, but for just then he was unguarded, "Lizzie!" he shouted, holding up both hands, ready for a pass.\r\n\r\n

1 Saul, Pecari Chaser Message received, loud and clear 82 Saul, Pecari Chaser 0 5

Lizzie, Pecari Chaser

May 01, 2007 5:40 PM

Excellent! by Lizzie, Pecari Chaser

Lizzie wondered what it was about everyone that was making them act crazy. First Caedence chased after a bludger, then Caedence just dead stopped in front of another chaser- well, maybe it was just Caedence who was acting odd. It was still disconcerting to Lizzie, however, that 1/3 of their chasing team was having an off-day. Maybe it was the pent up anger the Pecaris had against the Teppenpaws for taking the Championship from them last year. Or maybe it just was that fact that Pecaris were fundamentally crazy. That seemed like a plausible option.

Lizzie went against her better judgement and snuck a look behind her, seeing Saul coming just as fast behind her. Whipping her head back around, Lizzie almost collided with another player. She couldn't even see what color robes they were wearing, but she rolled away, continuing goal-ward. It was a close one, and she hoped that no one had really noticed the slip-up. Lizzie had seen her share of reckless injuries from not paying precise attention to the game at hand, and she didn't wish to replay that.

As Lizzie noted Saul coming into her peripheral vision, she felt a wave of relief. She looked up when he shouted her name, then turned to face him. Liz slowed her broom immediately, which had been going at near full throttle in order to get closer to the Teppenpaw Goals. Lizzie took a moment to sit up properly on her broom, then when she saw that Saul was perfectly open, she chest-passed the leather ball as hard and fast as she could.

"Go Saul!" she yelled while silently praying for a goal.\r\n\r\n

0 Lizzie, Pecari Chaser Excellent! 0 Lizzie, Pecari Chaser 0 5

Saul, Pecari Chaser

May 01, 2007 6:03 PM

He shoots! by Saul, Pecari Chaser

The pass came at him fast and hard, but Saul was ready for it. He caught the red leather ball with only a small grunt and almost immediately turned and flew a few feet closer to the goal posts. As he moved that small distance, he raised the ball up with one arm, ready to hurl it toward the center hoop.

At the last moment, though, he change his direction and aim slightly just as he released the quaffle. It flew, straight and true, toward the left most hoop. Short of Keeper interference, it ought to make it in.

He glanced in Lizzie's direction to give her a wide grin and two thumbs up, before looking back to see what Pepper was making of the attempt to score. He wondered where the stray thought, she's pretty like that, came from. To distract himself from it, he looked around to check on the status of the bludgers. After last year's game, it was best not to ignore the Teppenpaw beaters for too long.\r\n\r\n

1 Saul, Pecari Chaser He shoots! 82 Saul, Pecari Chaser 0 5

Caedence Pecari Chaser

May 01, 2007 8:12 PM

Do I wear a shirt that says "hit me wtih a bludger?" by Caedence Pecari Chaser

Caedence grinned. Dalila didn't crash, like she had hoped, but she was blown off course. She thanked whoever would listen that Lizzie and Saul didn't get hit. Watching the chasers nearby, she was pleased to see an interception on Lizzie's part. Her attention to a whistling bludger coming her way was alerted by Saul. With her mouth in a small 'o' of surprise, she hadn't turned in time to avoide it, taking the bludger in the stomach.

Luckly for her, she hadn't had too big a breakfast. Unluckily, her stomach was not in extreme pain and she flet pretty lightheaded. Almost slipping off her broom handle (actually having to catch herself at one point) she waited for the stars in front of her eyes to clear.

Her stomach still hurt like heck, and she was rather shaky, but she wanted to prove herself on the pitch. So, still rather woozie, she made her way, slower than normal to prevent anything from hapening, to the other goal. "YEAH!" She cried happily, seeing Saul shooting at the goal. She brought her broom up near the posts, circiling in case the score missed. One arm still clutched her throbbing gut. With a glance downward, she saw the medic's tent. No way was she letting him get to her! She glared purposefully ahead, watching the quaffle. She'd show them! She wasn't a usless player! \r\n\r\n\r\n

0 Caedence Pecari Chaser Do I wear a shirt that says "hit me wtih a bludger?" 94 Caedence Pecari Chaser 0 5

Hannah, Tepp Seeker

May 01, 2007 11:40 PM

Lalala by Hannah, Tepp Seeker

Hovering in one spot for several minutes trying to find the Snitch provided futile results. Where was the blasted thing? Of course, it would have to be harder to find the small ball in the actual game than at practice. It really shouldn't surprise her.

Another frustrated sigh later found her circling around the pitch. She had to pull her broom up or down based on bludgers. They really were annoying buggers and she knew that they were dangerous. She had to brake on her broom quickly when one went right past her face. If she had stopped later, she probably would have been hit and out of the game. That would do no good when she was normally the Reserve. They now had no Reserve for the spot, which meant if she went out, they would most certainly lose. She couldn't let that happen, couldn't let down the team.

The normally delightfully happy girl gave a small snarl of protest at not having found it yet. There it was! Near the other goalpost now. Did it have some sort of affiliation for the posts? Quickly now, she headed towards it, halfway there, it was gone again, disappearing into the crowd of chasers and beaters.

"Ugh!" Hannah let out. She just had to get it!\r\n\r\n

0 Hannah, Tepp Seeker Lalala 0 Hannah, Tepp Seeker 0 5

Elly, Pecari Seeker

May 03, 2007 12:59 PM

Tum-ti-tum di-dah? by Elly, Pecari Seeker

After Elly’s initial heart-stopping moment of panic when she thought the other Seeker had found the Snitch already, she started to relax as the game progressed. She hadn’t paid any attention to the game but guessed that nobody had scored as yet as there hadn’t been any especially loud roars from the crowd of students assembled below. Elly was pleased beyond words that she was playing on the team rather than watching from the stands this year – it had been her aim almost since she arrived at Sonora and heard about Quidditch for the first time. Being part of the team was as hard work as she had imagined – as well as team practices Elly was out on the pitch perhaps more than was necessary trying to further improve her skills. She was quite possibly the clumsiest person she knew, and still had an awful habit of dropping the Snitch once she caught it, or allowing the little gold ball to flit through her outstretched fingers. Wearing gloves helped with both of these faults, however, and with the Seeker’s gloves Elly hoped to purchase she expected to eliminate those possibilities completely. Still, her performance could further be improved by extensive practise.

Soaring high over the pitch with the wind whistling past her ears and making her cheeks pink, Elly thought that it was definitely worth it. Obviously catching the Snitch would be immeasurably more preferable than not, particularly as it would almost certainly secure the win for her team, but Elly wouldn’t deny that simply taking part was worth it even if they did lose. There surely was no feeling in the world comparable to the utter thrill of trying to find and catch the tiny gold ball first, whilst being several feet in the air balanced on a flying broomstick.

Elly hadn’t seen the Snitch yet, though the other Seeker kept dodging around the pitch. Elly didn’t know if she was chasing the Snitch and failing miserably or if she was just faking, hoping to confuse Elly. Either way, the pitch was a whole lot bigger than it had first seemed when you were trying to find a tiny gold ball. Elly just had to keep her eyes peeled and keep on the move, that’s all. And perhaps hope that luck was on her side.

Elly grinned at the other Seeker as she passed her in the air, finally getting close enough to see the girl's face. She was an unfamiliar first year - that only encouraged Elly further; she could easily beat a first year, right?\r\n\r\n

0 Elly, Pecari Seeker Tum-ti-tum di-dah? 0 Elly, Pecari Seeker 0 5

Hikaru, Tepp Chaser

May 03, 2007 5:13 PM

Here I go! by Hikaru, Tepp Chaser

Hikaru had been nervous for this game. I mean, the practice had seemed kind of hopeless as he had seemed like a total moron because of his sub-standard way of thinking that he had botched everything up with his teammates. He had dreaded this day more than anyone knew. Hikarus eyes had bulged when Jake had told him that he was to play! I don't think I can do this. Hikaru thought shakily as he rose into the air.

The higher he got, the more his stomach quavered. He couldn't help but watch as the other Chasers flew circles around him, getting the ball before he was even close! Hikaru did one thing, stay close to the Tepp goal posts. That was the only thing he could think of doing to be of any use, he might be able to save a ball and help his team!

Hikarus eyes widened as the three Pecari players smashed into Dalila repeatedly! How dare they treat his friend that way! He rocketed towards the goal posts and glared as Saul and Lizzy seamlessly passed the ball and shot. This is it! He thought to himself as he raced towards the ball. I can do this! He reached for the ball...and, grabbed it by the tips of his fingers. He felt a swooping sensation as he flew towards the Pecari goals. I actually did something worthy of my team! He grinned devilishly and continued to fly down the field. Daring someone to try and stop him.\r\n\r\n

0 Hikaru, Tepp Chaser Here I go! 0 Hikaru, Tepp Chaser 0 5

Hannah, Tepp Seeker

May 04, 2007 4:49 PM

Di-dah tum-ti-tum :P by Hannah, Tepp Seeker

Hannah looked at the other Seeker in bewilderment. Why was she grinning at her? Weren't they in competition? Maybe the other girl was just trying to psych her out. Well, the little blonde girl wasn't going to stand for that. Maybe, she could return the favor. Hoping Elly, who she knew of, because well, everyone knew of the older years, gossip and all, was still looking, she threw her a victory sign with her gloved hands. Then, with the intention of faking her out, she took a sharp dive, as though she spotted something. She didn't really.

She was now below the game going on. She gave a brief glance around to make sure the Snitch really wasn't down this far and hoped that no one noticed her. Going to the other side of the pitch, she pulled her broom up, soaring above the game once more. With a little luck, Elly had followed suit and was now stuck below the game to leave the Tepp Seeker free to look for the Snitch high in the air.\r\n\r\n

0 Hannah, Tepp Seeker Di-dah tum-ti-tum :P 0 Hannah, Tepp Seeker 0 5

Stephen, Pecari Keeper

May 06, 2007 12:16 AM

Just hanging around... as usual... by Stephen, Pecari Keeper

For Stephen being in this game had been a test. On one hand, he knew that Sorrel (and possibly Ash) would kill him if he let the team down. On the other, he knew he had to prove to himself that he could do this too... he just wasn't so sure.

The flying part, well, he was dealing ok with this. He concentrated on what was happening - up the other end of the pitch, as seemed usual, although he wasn't so disappointed as he normally was in these situations - and it helped to keep the dark flashes of the half-remembered flight away. He was rugged up - under his quidditch robes - against the cooler air, although it wasn't half so cold as that night had seemed. And the fact that aside from the temperature it was a bright day helped disassociate it too. Disassociation was something that Stephen was finding himself with a great appreciation for these days.

It was the other things flying around that bothered him. Well, not the snitch so much, except when he caught sight of what he thought might have been it for half a second in the corner of his eye and flinched slightly. And the Quaffle, well, it might never get here, and ... he could deal with that, surely. But the Bludgers...

He had almost gone up to talk to Sorrel before the game to ask her to keep them away from him, but he'd managed to stop himself. She'd never have anything to do with him again if he admitted any weakness. And it wasn't that he was really that afraid of them, he tried to reason to himself. It was that he was more aware of what they might be able to do. And he didn't want to be in the line of that kind of pain, if he were to be hit. hadn't he been through enough? not that he couldn't deal with it if he were hit, it was just- just...

He glanced up at the stands, searching momentarily for a face before pulling his attention to the game. The attention was almost entirely on the Quaffle, with five of the six chasers on the field apparently going all rough and tumble in its vicinity.

And Saul, Saul had the Quaffle. He was going for a goal. But... some firstie had jumped in now. And he had snatched the Quaffle before Pepper could do much about it. And he was heading up this way.

Stephen tried those deep breathing exercises that one of the mediwizards had liked so much. In, two, three, four. Out, two, three, four. Relax. It's just a firstie, they'll probably intercept and get it out of the way before the Teppenpaw Beaters even consider clearing the way up here for a goal.\r\n\r\n

39 Stephen, Pecari Keeper Just hanging around... as usual... 0 Stephen, Pecari Keeper 0 5

Lizzie, Pecari Chaser

May 06, 2007 12:40 AM

Right, you do that... by Lizzie, Pecari Chaser

Lizzie was waiting for the cheers of the crowd in response to Saul's rather excellent shot, when she caught sight of some little cocky Tepp chaser dashing between Saul and the goals. Before the keeper could even attempt a save, the young player -she didn't really follow these first year's names- had managed to get a hold of the ball. She let an aggravated sigh loose before turning her broom and tailing the chaser. Lizzie caught up to him relatively quickly, getting a tight defensive hold on him before trying to steal from him.

"Going somewhere with that?" Lizzie asked just as she reached a tight position.

She was now up close on the the little Teppenpaw's right side, almost shoulder to shoulder with him. Liz looked up towards the goals momentarily, checking that Stephen was on his guard if the chasing team couldn't block this kid in time. She had thought of Stephen often after the airing of the Sanderson family's dirty laundry, wondering about how he was dealing. It must have been traumatic, horrendous to experience from anyone, but to find out your captors and abusers were your own family? Lizzie had a hard time empathizing. For all that the Lavines were a bit off their rockers, she was confident that none of them would resort to abusing a kid over fiscal matters. It was terrible.

Stephen was at his post, as she had hoped, but looking a little paler and thinner than usual. She sent a quick prayer to whomever it was that listened, and focused back in on the game. Liz couldn't believe the nerve that little Tepp kid had, goaltending Saul's shot like that. It was more that just bothersome, it was unacceptable. The Pecari team had to show the Teppenpaws that they weren't a team they could walk on, regardless of what had happened at the Championship last year. They needed to know that Pecari didn't go down without a fight. \r\n\r\n

0 Lizzie, Pecari Chaser Right, you do that... 0 Lizzie, Pecari Chaser 0 5

Hikaru, Tepp Chaser

May 06, 2007 2:21 PM

Well, now you'll have to work! by Hikaru, Tepp Chaser

Hikaru glanced at the Keeper that hovered near the Pecari goals. Now this was going to be annoying! He hd caught the ball with sheer luck and that was all. He probably could throw it decently but that was about it. As he flew closer he felt a nagging sensation pulling his eyes behind him. One of the Bludgers was getting closer, and closer to him. This not good. Oh my god this isn't good at all. He thought as he made a tight swerve upwards to avoid it.

He watched as it lazily changed directions and went towards the Tepp goals. Hikaru rolled his eyes at his tension. You could probably cut the air around him with a knife. So, he did the obvious thing. He suddenly leaned down and punched the broom to move more quickly. His broom may not have been a Firebolt, but it could still ride with the best of them. He moved forward and once again continued his rocket towards the Pecari Goal.

He felt a swooping sensation as he realized what he was doing. He was a First Year, he was a Chaser for his Houses Team, he wasn't extrodinarily talented. But he was also playing against older kids. This wasn't a good combination.
I could always try blasting him with Vicario...that would make him get out of the way. Hikaru thought as he continued to fly down the pitch. He smacked himself mentally as he realized what that would do to him. Bad Hikaru! No hexing Pecaris. BAD! Hikaru continued his charge and remembered a tactic that he had seen a professional Quidditch Player had performed.

He could spin his broom around in the air as fast as he could and that he would give the ball more speed, and an edge over the opponent. The only problem was he would probably out of the real action for a little while but; he'd be fine after a few minutes. He began the rotation and could already feel nausia as he came closer and closer to the goal. When he was at a resonable range he threw the ball as hard as he possibly could towards the far left goal. He couldn't see anymore as he gripped onto his broom and stopped it from doing anything but floating in the air. Hikaru really didn't want to throw up at a Quidditch match.\r\n\r\n

0 Hikaru, Tepp Chaser Well, now you'll have to work! 0 Hikaru, Tepp Chaser 0 5

Elly, Pecari Seeker

May 06, 2007 3:16 PM

Hey, you know it, too! by Elly, Pecari Seeker

The other Seeker didn’t even return Elly’s smile. Ah well, not everyone was as friendly as she was. In fact, very few people at all were as openly friendly as Elly. After the match she’d have to find out who she was, particularly if she was going to be replacing Kaylie full time. That puzzled Elly still – unless Kaylie had quit that very morning she was sure she would have heard something. Maybe she was just sick? She had been quite ill in her last Quidditch game, Elly remembered. It would be a shame if she had to give up being on the team if she promptly got sick every game, though on the other hand, it wouldn’t be any good for Teppenpaw if they kept on a Seeker who was ill all the time. All these thoughts passed through Elly’s mind in quick succession. After just a second her mind was back on the game.

At that moment, Elly thought she spied something tiny and gold hovering just above the stands. Hello, little Snitch! Elly leaned forward on her broom, urging it to go faster. After a split second of contemplation she whipped her head round to find the Seeker-who-was-not-Kaylie, and noticed to her delight that the other girl was diving towards the ground, and in the opposite direction. Ha! Well at least Elly knew she had been faking before, too. It was a good tactic; it had made her a little concerned. But then another thought struck – maybe the other Seeker really had seen the Snitch and Elly was confused? She looked up ahead and the glint of gold was still ahead, hovering around the top of the stands. Doing her best to ignore the doubts that had settled in her mind, Elly pushed forward towards the stands, hoping against raw hope that the game would be soon over and in her favour.
\r\n\r\n

0 Elly, Pecari Seeker Hey, you know it, too! 0 Elly, Pecari Seeker 0 5

Stephen

May 06, 2007 5:12 PM

OOC by Stephen

It might be useful, Hikaru, if you read and responded to Lizzie's post rather than mine, it being the latest in the thread. ;)\r\n\r\n

39 Stephen OOC 0 Stephen 0 5

Hikaru

May 06, 2007 8:35 PM

OOC RE by Hikaru

Oh, alright, I'll respond to that but after she responds to my new one, can you respond to the one I posted to you...

0 Hikaru OOC RE 0 Hikaru 0 5

Hikaru, Tepp Chaser

May 06, 2007 8:46 PM

Whatever... by Hikaru, Tepp Chaser

Hikaru continued to fly with the ball down the pitch. As he did, one of the opposing Chasers got right next to him. Oh crap! "Going somewhere with that?" The question was filled with snide contempt than anything else. Hikaru began to speed up before their shoulders were almost touching.

He thought of how he was only a first year and the girl had experience on him. He tried to push his broom to the very limits of his speed when she kept getting closer to him. She seemed almost angry that he had the ball. He couldn't really blame her. He'd be pissed too if someone had taken one of his teams goals.

He smirked at her and respoded to her question as he sped up once more "Yeah, I'm about to make a goal on your team!" He almost would have stuck his tounge out at her if he hadn't nearly crashed into a Bludger.\r\n\r\n

0 Hikaru, Tepp Chaser Whatever... 0 Hikaru, Tepp Chaser 0 5

Stephen

May 07, 2007 2:17 AM

OOC by Stephen

But... that was written without taking consideration of Lizzie's post. Now that you've written one taking that in, its irrelevant, isn't it?

39 Stephen OOC 0 Stephen 0 5

Amy Fox

May 07, 2007 8:29 AM

OOC by Amy Fox

Hikaru,

As you didn't take Lizzie's post into account, and were forced to make a second post, the first was made irrelevant. If you have both posts being valid, you would be doing two things at once. I apologize for the inconvenience. If you wish to use a portion of this post at a later time, be sure to make sure it takes into account the posts of the other players.

Amy Fox\r\n\r\n

0 Amy Fox OOC 0 Amy Fox 0 5

Saul, Pecari Chaser

May 07, 2007 1:46 PM

bumper brooms by Saul, Pecari Chaser

Where'd he come from? For just a moment, Saul hovered there in stunned disappointment. His goal had been transformed into a Teppenpaw save. It would have been different if Pepper saved it. (Saul was not going to think too closely about why that was and it had absolutely nothing to do with her hair, or, you know, the rest of her. Nothing.)

But it wasn't Pepper. It was some first year kid who didn't look anywhere near as good in action as - that is, it wasn't the Keeper at all, but another Chaser. Usually, if he failed to score against Teppenpaw, he at least got to see Pepper smile.

Grumpy now, and a little upset, Saul turned his broom around and chased after the boy. He was definitely seeing how his position got its name. Lizzie came up on the kids one side, so Saul trailed just a little behind on his other side. The idea of shoving at the back end of the kid's broom to make his spin around played in his mind, but that was probably against the rules.

"Yeah, I'm about to make a goal on your team!" the kid taunted in response to something Lizzie said, and that was that. Saul couldn't remember actually making the decision to do it, he just sideswiped into the bristle end of the kid's broom. Or maybe the kid sideswiped into him to avoid that stray bludger? Saul was flying a little bit behind them, the boy might not have realized Saul was even there.

Either way, Saul hoped their spinning and loss of control would make him drop the ball. The kid was just a first year after all, he probably didn't have a lot of broom riding experience, and his instincts would probably be to prevent himself from falling instead of hanging onto the quaffle. Even Saul's first instinct had been to grab one hand to his broom handle while the other arm braced against the thing he'd run into.

Lizzie would then be able to take over the scoring portion of the game from there, while Saul and the Tepp stablized their flying and sorted out which arm belonged to who and where their respective brooms ended. Collisions had a tendency to confuse that sort of thing.

[ooc grump]Don't you just hate it when you've got 3/4 of a post done, then you switch to a different tab so you can trick yourself into believing you're actually doing work at work, then you close the whole browser?[/grump]\r\n\r\n

1 Saul, Pecari Chaser bumper brooms 82 Saul, Pecari Chaser 0 5

Hikaru

May 07, 2007 5:13 PM

OOC by Hikaru

Oh, I'm sorry that I didn't read Lizzies post first. I'll make sure to remember that. I didn't realize that Lizzie had posted when I replied to Stephen...

Arrigatou Gomenasai!

(I am very, very, sorry)

0 Hikaru OOC 0 Hikaru 0 5

Hikaru

May 07, 2007 5:15 PM

OOC by Hikaru

(slaps himself) I'm sorry Stephen. I didn't take that into consideration...I'll try to make up for it...

Gomenasai! (Sorry)

0 Hikaru OOC 0 Hikaru 0 5

Hikaru, Tepp Chaser

May 07, 2007 5:30 PM

Hey, no fair! Two on one! by Hikaru, Tepp Chaser

Hikaru felt something begin to spin as he seemed to have rammed into something? It was another Chaser from Pecari. Why can't these guys leave me the hell alone? He thought as he tried to steady the broom. As he did, the other Chaser sideswipped him, at least that was what it looked like. Probably my fault darnit! Hikaru cried out as he began to spin around rapidly.

He had been planing to do a spinning move against the other Keeper, but he wasn't ready to do this! His broom was spinning around so violently that he almost dropped the ball. But the worst possible thing happened. He got flung off the broom. He felt the falling sensation and quickly realizedthat he was over two hundred feet off the ground. He would die if he made impact with it. He blinked in suprise as his broom caught up with his falling. He grabbed onto it and felt the ball falling from his hands but he didn't care. He wasn't going to die.

Hikaru knew that his broom was damaged from the get go. He had gotten it for a birthday present and his uncle had gotten angry with him and repeatedly hit it with a hammer. His aunt had told him that there would be side effects, it might stop soon and he should probably get it fixed. He hadn't even thought of it since then and now he was going to pay for it. He had caught his broom about twenty feet from the ground and swiveled side ways, resulting in him crashing onto the ground by his left arm. Hikaru cried out in pain as he heard something snap, and after that he couldn't really feel anything, just the aching arm.\r\n\r\n

0 Hikaru, Tepp Chaser Hey, no fair! Two on one! 0 Hikaru, Tepp Chaser 0 5

Lizzie, Pecari Chaser

May 07, 2007 7:31 PM

Oh it is so fair. by Lizzie, Pecari Chaser

The scathing remarks made by the firstie slid right off Lizzie's back; at that moment, she was contemplating the ways in which she could wriggle the quaffle free from the Tepp's hand. She could ram him in the ball-carrying shoulder, or maybe even punch the ball out through an opening at his elbow, if she could find one. These plans were interrupted by the sound of a speeding chaser swiping the opposite side of the Tepp's broom. Lizzie automatically pulled off, distancing herself as quickly as possible from the spinning wreck.

She watched as the opposing chaser spun about and was flung quite spectacularly from him broom. Amazingly enough, the kid was still hanging onto the quaffle. Lizzie kept a trained eye on his ball-carrying hand, and as soon as her reached his broom again, the hand relaxed. Lizzie took her cue and raced to meet the falling red leather ball. It landed securely in her arms as she sped past, turning towards the Teppenpaw goals. Lizzie didn't even look to see the other chaser careening towards the ground, and frankly, it wouldn't have really bothered her. Pecari's chasers were notorious for their multiple injuries, and one possibly broken arm wouldn't faze her all that much.

Saul was preoccupied with the post-collision spin about, and looked as though it would take him a minute to get himself sorted out. Lizzie took the opportunity to take the scoring into her own hands. Rocketing back towards the Teppenpaw goals, Lizzie neared the hoops with confidence. She was coming closer by the second, veering towards the hoop to her right. In a split-second decision, Liz launched the ball from her right side, aiming at the leftmost goal. The shot was straight, coming at the keeper fast, and with any luck, a scoring shot. \r\n\r\n

0 Lizzie, Pecari Chaser Oh it is so fair. 0 Lizzie, Pecari Chaser 0 5

Tally, Tepp Chaser

May 07, 2007 8:47 PM

Rolls eyes by Tally, Tepp Chaser

Tally had to blink several times because, clearly, she must still be asleep. She could not figure out how the Pecaris got from their goal posts, where Dalila had been, all the way over to the Teppenpaw goal posts to try scoring a goal.

Twice.

When she had been planted closer to the Teppenpaw goal posts for the very reason as to not allow them anywhere near the posts. Seriously, they were like Super Humans or something to be able to do that. Not once, but twice. Tally was tempted to believe that they were cheating. Maybe putting some spell on her so that she couldn't react to anything.

Not to mention somehow they ganged up on, not only Dalila, but Hikaru as well. Just what they crazy first year needed too...

Needless to say, Tally was pissed. Green eyes set in angry determination, mouth in an angry scowl, Tally leaned low against her broom, making her shoot forward at high speeds. If they were going to play the game of smashing into the sides of her teammates, then she was going to do the same to them.

Coming right up to Lizzie, full speed, Tally slammed her body sideways into the Pecari chaser with every bit of strength and power she could muster, she didn't even bother looking at the girl, just concentrated on the action that she was doing. Once contact was made, Tally adjusted herself back onto her broom (she had been at an advantage being the one who manipulated her weight, so she only had to roll to get back up again) and turned around to go after the other pest. She completely ignored Pepper, quite frankly, the girl hardly did much during games considering any quaffle sent her way, she's let passed her.

Picking up her speed again, Tally's eyes narrowed, she took off and heading straight for the Pecari male without another thought in her head.\r\n\r\n

0 Tally, Tepp Chaser *Rolls eyes* 0 Tally, Tepp Chaser 0 5

Caedence

May 07, 2007 9:44 PM

No you don't! by Caedence

Caedence wasn’t too sure what happened. First, she was watching for the quaffle speeding towards her, then that Hikaru took the quaffle out of nowhere. Then, Saul and Lizzie were having fun attacking him while she was still back here catching her breath. Her stomach hurt like crazy and she wasn’t entirely sure if it was just a bruise. Still, she gritted her teeth and bared it. Steering her broom with one hand, she followed the other two.

Then Hikaru was spinning towards the ground, and Saul was spinning in the air. She head a sickening crack, reminiscent of the championship last year. Slightly impaired by the pain, she swung her broom towards Lizzie, following her. Seeing the quaffle heading for the goal, she let out a triumphant whoop that caught in her throat, causing her to cough. She clutched her stomach to stop it from spasming.

She recovered in time to see Tally crash into Lizzie. How could she? Caedence never had much to do with Tally, but she seemed okay for the most part. Narrowing her eyes, she realized she was headed for the spinning out Saul. Not on her watch!

Fighting a wave of dizziness, she shot towards Tally, eyes focused like a hawk’s. She flattened herself to her broom, picking up speed. She was finding it hard to take in a deep breath, but she didn’t think much about breathing. Like so many times at home, she had but one thought ‘Attack, and don’t let them get up if you don’t want to be pushed down again’.

She didn’t bother to break as she came upon Tally. She didn’t think of how much it would hurt her stomach. All she cared was plowing into that jerk. “You wanna play dirty?” she growled, unable to yell, “Try this on for size!” She didn’t break as she drew even with Tally. Let her hit, please let her hit, she silently prayed.
\r\n\r\n\r\n

0 Caedence No you don't! 94 Caedence 0 5

Hannah

May 07, 2007 10:00 PM

I'm just talented like that by Hannah

On the other side, Hannah hovered on her broom, scratching her blonde head in confusion. Where was the other Seeker? If she had followed her, she should have been appeared by now. As though, guided by an invisible hand, she felt her eyes being drawn to the other Seeker. There she was and...Oh, crud! The Snitch! She had to try and get there, but doubted she would make it. If she went below the other players, it would waste time, but going over them was like flying over a minefield.

Taking a deep breath and a tug on her left pigtail, tightening her small, gloved hands, she went soaring over the field, trying to avoid the nasty bludgers. Hannah prayed that luck was on her side and that the impossible would happen, that she would be able to make it to the Snitch. That she would lead her team to victory. That they would all be proud of her. Please, please, please, she silently chanted, making the broom go as fast as she could. She wanted this more than anything!

The wind raged at her face, as she tried to catch up to the other Seeker, but Elly was so close and she was still so far. She knew she wouldn't get to it in time, but maybe, just maybe, the golden ball would take off and the other Seeker would lose track of it. Just like it had to her at the beginning of the game. She wished just willing it to happen would make it come true, because she was certainly willing the Snitch to fly off. When she wasn't doing that, she was encouraging her broom, "Faster, faster..."\r\n\r\n

0 Hannah I'm just talented like that 0 Hannah 0 5

Tally, Tepp Chaser

May 07, 2007 10:20 PM

What are you, Superman? by Tally, Tepp Chaser

OOC: Caedence, I have no clue as to where you are having Caedence positioned with Tally. So, I'm going on how I assumed she was position. If this is incorrect, I apologize, but it was really hard for me to figure it out and when I asked others, they couldn't figure it out either. BIC:

Tally was still forcing her way down the pitch towards the other chaser. She didn't care where Dalila was or the fact that Hikaru was on the ground with a broken arm. Why hadn't the Coach even bothered to blow the whistle and call time out like she had last year when the Pecari chasers were hurt and Lexi got a freaking foul for it?

Can someone say favorite? Cos that was definitely how Tally was feeling at the moment. Pecaris were getting away with the worst sort of playing and Tally could only bet that the Coach would call a foul on her for doing exactly what the Pecaris have been doing the whole game.

It. Was. Rubbish. All of it.

Tally would have been oblivious to the third Pecari chaser had the stupid girl not opened her damn mouth. Tally glanced behind her to find the third chaser chasing after her. Who was she kidding? Tally was older and a much more experienced player. Not to mention, if you want to sneak up on a person, you don't freaking talk to them!

"Playing dirty?" Tally shouted at the girl, shifting left on her broom so that when Caedence forced herself up, she was merely coming in next to Tally. "I'm only doing the same as your team." Tally didn't even give the little girl the time of day, instead she rolled away and decided on a different route, heading back towards the Teppenpaw goals just incase Pepper actually (by some miracle) made a save.\r\n\r\n

0 Tally, Tepp Chaser What are you, Superman? 0 Tally, Tepp Chaser 0 5

Lizzie, Pecari Chaser

May 07, 2007 10:55 PM

What is this? by Lizzie, Pecari Chaser

Lizzie was watching, waiting for the satisfying ring of a goal being scored, when she got blindsided by a blur of yellow. Jolting to the side, Lizzie looked bewildered. Tally Adams had just rammed her, and she wasn't even in possession of the quaffle! It was ridiculous! What had ever possessed Tally, who had always seemed rather even-tempered to Lizzie, to just up and crash into her? Lizzie could have understood if she was trying to score, but the crash was after the fact. It was a blatant showing of poor sportsmanship and completely unprovoked.

"Hey!" she shouted after the yellow-clad player, "What the hell was that all about?"

Before she could get a response, however, Lizzie watched as Caedence zoomed off to confront Tally. Lizzie knew that quidditch was rough and could be pretty angry sometimes, but going around and trying to take out the other chasers who aren't even near the quaffle? It wasn't quidditch anymore, it was just brawling. Lizzie looked back at the Teppenpaw goals to see if their keeper had saved or not. She hadn't heard a goal, but then again, she had been recovering from a full-on ram. Lizzie decided to stay away from Tally, incase she thought to ram her again. What was getting into everyone? \r\n\r\n

0 Lizzie, Pecari Chaser What is this? 0 Lizzie, Pecari Chaser 0 5

Saul, Pecari Chaser

May 07, 2007 11:25 PM

I dunno but I'm dizzy by Saul, Pecari Chaser

They were spinning. The first year, Saul, and both their brooms were increasingly entangled and then, suddenly, they weren't. The Teppenpaw had freed himself from the mess, but had left his broom behind. "Kid!" Saul yelled, remembering his own first game's accidental attempt to fly like Superman.

He tried to dive after him, and did drop in altitude, but he was still disoriented and sorting out how to ride steadily on his own broom again. The boy's broom was falling, too, off a little ways away from his own descent, and Saul aimed for that and gave it a shove in the kid's direction. Once Saul saw the boy grab hold of it, he assumed the Tepp would be okay and rose back up into air.

He was still a bit dizzy but he saw Lizzie shoot for the goal and cheered her on. A glance back to check on the first year boy and Saul was shocked to find him on the ground, looking injured. Guilt assailed him for not attempting to bodily catch him like Jennifer had Saul, but the boy had the broom in hand . . . Saul didn't get it. He should have been able to right himself in time, even with only a few months of flying. Fear of death was a powerful motivator.

So intent was he on the first year boy's predicament, that Saul almost forgot about Lizzie's attempted goal when he heard angry shouting. He had no idea what was going on, but Tally was flying back toward the Teppenpaw goals and both Caedence and Lizzie seemed to have their attention on her.

It probably didn't matter. It seemed to be over and there was a far more important question resting in the balance: Did Lizzie score?\r\n\r\n

1 Saul, Pecari Chaser I dunno but I'm dizzy 82 Saul, Pecari Chaser 0 5

Amy Fox

May 08, 2007 9:05 AM

Oh stop it already! [ATTN: ALL PLAYERS] by Amy Fox

Amy watched the game from a reasonable distance-- she didn't exactly want to make her body, or her mood, any worse than it already was by being injured. Her eyes raked over the players, only half-watching as the Quaffle seemed to race back and forth between the two teams' posts. At one point she noticed that the accident-prone first year from the year before had decided to chase after a Bludger. It hadn't been too surprising when she had then gotten hit by yet another Bludger. Amy shook her head in bemusement. What's up with that kid and Bludgers?

Then the action truly started to happen. The two teams were starting to ram into each other's brooms, shooting people off course. Of course, the first couple of times she wrote it off as an accident. There really didn't seem to be any rules for two players trying to retrieve the ball from the opposing team. Moments later, when Saul collided with the newest crazy ankle-biter, Amy sighed.

Pulling her wand out of the confines of her robes, Amy dove, realizing she was too far away to get to the kid in time. She vaguely wondered how he had even gotten dislodged from his broom as he had really only been tapped. What would happen if the kid managed to get hit by a Bludger? Would he fall from his broom every time he got hit by something? Was this kid that unsteady on a broom?

Shaking herself, Amy moved to a lower altitude and charmed the ground below the kid with a cushioning charm to soften his fall, slowed by a slight hesitation with the spell, and then she immediately followed with a charm to slow the boy's descent, so that he lowered to the ground at a more reasonable speed. In fact, she was surprised that the kid had even gotten hurt (he must have landed in an odd position). (Her cushioning charm had worked, she was sure of it. She had seen the sheen from the spell hitting the ground.) She breathed a sigh of relief. The slight hesitation that had occurred when she had tried to cast the cushioning charm had alarmed her momentarily, but it had eventually worked and that was all that mattered. The medic could deal with the kid now.

Turning her attention back to the play, she noted that Saul was still in the air and then turned her head, watching as one of the Paw Chasers, Tally, she reminded herself, started bodily ramming the Pec Chasers.

Well, at least these two teams don't disappoint when it comes to injuring one another, she thought caustically.

It was then that the Blonde Bomb, as she was now starting to refer to the youngest of the Pec Chasers, decided to get in the way of Tally. First she chases after a Bludger-- why, I don't know-- and now she's getting in the way of a Chaser on a rampage.

Without waiting to see if the Pecs had scored, Amy shot off a signal to pause the game. Clearing her throat, Amy cast a Sonorus and then moved closer to the players. "Alright, I'm not going to give a penalty as both teams have been doing this but stop with the ramming each other. We only have one Medic." At this she coughed. "And as much as I'm sure he wouldn't mind fixing you all up, I'd rather not have this game go on forever because you only have two healthy players in the air. Got me? So Paws, get your reserve in, if you have one."

Turning her head, she wondered if the Quaffle had managed to pass through the Teppenpaw goals. Shaking herself mentally, she returned her attention to the players. "You got one minute, then I'm restarting the game."

Looking down at her watch, Amy waited until the time had passed and then started the game once more.
\r\n\r\n

0 Amy Fox Oh stop it already! [ATTN: ALL PLAYERS] 0 Amy Fox 0 5

Jake, Tepp Beater

May 08, 2007 10:23 AM

Sigh by Jake, Tepp Beater

Jake had no idea what was happening when the Coach signaled a time out. He paused in midswing and let the bludger go right on by as his focus was now on the Coach. What had happened to have a time out happen? Jake hadn't been paying attention to his chaser as he had had faith in them to know that they knew what they were doing. Especially since Tally and Dalila had been apart of the team forever.

But when he focused on the Coach, Jake realized Hikaru was on the ground and he was being told to put in a replacement. Well...Hikaru had been the replacement since Gil decided not to show up for the game. Which meant that Jake not only had to discuss Kaylie's health and if she was really strong enough to deal with Quidditch, but he also had to deal with Gil and find out what the heck was going on with him that he thought he could just skip out on a game.

And now Hikaru was useless to him. He couldn't even stay on his broom for one game!

Jake squeezed his eyes shut tightly for a moment and took a couple of deep breaths. It was going to be alright. They can still claim that they had beaten Pecaris at the Championship and that was all that really matter. Until the Pecs beat the Tepps at a Championship game, Jake still believed they had a leg up. This season was just an off season with Kaylie being sick and Gil being AWOL.

Jake flew to Dalila and Tally. "HIKARU, GET YOUR ARM FIXED AND GET BACK OUT HERE!" Jake shouted down, not even bothering to check him out since he didn't have the time. "Girls, we're down a chaser, do everything you can to keep the quaffle on the Pecari end of the pitch." After that, Jake flew back off to find the nearest bludger once the Coach resumed the game again.\r\n\r\n\r\n

6 Jake, Tepp Beater *Sigh* 42 Jake, Tepp Beater 0 5

Elly, Pecari Seeker

May 08, 2007 10:55 AM

Er - do we have to stop, too? by Elly, Pecari Seeker

OOC: With the game stopping I wasn't sure what to do with this post. I've left it fairly open. Poke me if there are any issues.

BIC:
Elly was drawing closer, the crowd of students sitting watching the game now loomed in front of her. Just then the Snitch made a sudden darting movement, and then began travelling fast back towards the other end of the pitch. Not willing to let it go now she had it in her sight, Elly turned sharply to follow it. The sudden corner made her wobble on her broom slightly, and she clutched hard on the handle with both hands to try and steady herself, not taking her eyes of the tiny golden ball for even a moment. She did see the other Seeker out of the corner of her eye, though. The Snitch was now about an equal distance between them – Elly had lost the distance advantage she’d had just moments ago.

Having been so close to victory there was no way she was going to give any less that her best efforts to ensure a win for her team. With a fierce competitive energy she’d forgotten she had, Elly leaned even further down on her broom, willing with every fibre of her being for it to go faster. This was the fastest she’d ever travelled on a broom, no exception. The wind was whistling in her ears and the gap between her and her target was closing. She just had to beat the other Seeker there. No problem.

Naturally, Elly hadn’t been counting on the coach stopping the game. She heard the signal for a pause, but she didn’t stop. Elly wasn’t sure if Seekers were supposed to stop, too. She guessed they should because the game was paused. But if she stopped now she might lose the Snitch again. But if she caught it now would it even count because the game had been paused? Now she was only a couple of feet away, and her instincts told her that the other Seeker wasn’t much further. She wondered briefly what had been happening with the rest of the game to warrant the Coach pausing it – she hoped her teammates were all okay.
\r\n\r\n

0 Elly, Pecari Seeker Er - do we have to stop, too? 0 Elly, Pecari Seeker 0 5

Caedence

May 08, 2007 5:32 PM

sighs Why does every fight I get into stop? by Caedence

OOC to tally: It said in the post 'do i have a t-shirt that says...' that she was by the Tepp goals. ^_^

IC: Caedence cursed in frustration as she missed Tally. She scrambled to break, the sudden stop causing her to begin to painfully cough again. Honestly, were her lungs bruised? She didn't know what it was, but it was annoying. She glared after Tally, but decided to let it go. Tally was probably sore that Hikaru got hurt. No biggie. Besides, there was probably some bad blood between the teams after Lexi's dirty tricks last year.

She was surprised to see the coach rise higher up at them. What was wrong? Only Hikaru got hurt really. It wasn't like they were in the pro's. Dirty plays were to be expected, pun aside considering the mud on her shoes and the ground. She really didn't get what was wrong, Tally was defending her team's honor, and Caedence was defending her own. Again, it was no big deal.

With an irritated sigh, Caedence floated gently to the other team's goal, holding one hand on her stomach. Even that brief amount of work hurt like heck. She hoped she didn't have to go to the medic; he would never let her on a broom again. It wasn't her fault she was injury-prone! She watched out for any goings-on, but knew her playing abilities were limited. It would probably be best to leave any goal scoring to Saul and Lizzie and hope Ash and Sorrel didn't kill her the moment her feet touched, mostly, solid ground.\r\n\r\n

0 Caedence *sighs* Why does every fight I get into stop? 94 Caedence 0 5

Meredith, Pecari Reserve

May 08, 2007 6:53 PM

Yup, we make it cool. grin by Meredith, Pecari Reserve

Meredith sat by the side with her fellow reserve, Irene, fully in gear and ready to play at a moment’s notice. Her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, something not unusual of her at all, though in the excitement of the holidays she had forgotten to cut it so it was inches longer than normal. Her new broom, as congratulations from her parents, sat beside her. Blue eyes scanned the skies determinedly as the game began and got well underway. She gave a small agreeing grunt as Irene mentioned her love of Quidditch. Very few things were better.

Mere was happy to see that it was an exciting game while not being a massacre like last time they faced Teppenpaw. She rose slightly from her seat when Caedence (she noticed later that she was still wearing her target shirt only visible to bludgers) pulled an odd stunt that wasn’t quite distinguishable to Mere from her seat on the ground. It turned into a game of ram the chaser. She could almost feel sympathetic pains in her own body.

Her eyes attempted to glue to everything at once from the chasers, to the beaters, and quite often to Elly flying about in the sky. Meredith was so proud of her. Elly was an awesome flyer. Maybe a little shaky, but she only just started. If she knew Elly at all, she knew she’d get it over time. She played muggle sports as it was, so being a witch she ought to be good at the greatest magic sport ever invented.

An opposing chaser was flung from his broom hitting the ground pretty hard after a tangle with the Pecari chasers. She started to watch his descent, but Liz was going for a shot! Mere rose again, but her flighty attention that wanted to see everything going on in the game was then pulled to the coach who was pausing the game so she didn’t see what happened. Why were they pausing? Well it was kind of obvious, but still. Mere wished it wouldn’t last long though maybe some of them needed a break. Caedence looked like she was hurt. Mere fell back into her seat with small sigh as she waited for the game to resume.

0 Meredith, Pecari Reserve Yup, we make it cool. *grin* 0 Meredith, Pecari Reserve 0 5

Hikaru, Tepp Chaser

May 08, 2007 8:16 PM

Because people don't like you being violent...[Tag;Medic] by Hikaru, Tepp Chaser

Hikaru groaned as he managed to sit up. His head was throbbing as tried to move his arm and grunted as it was in even more pain than his head. He looked up at the game and saw Tally ram into the female Pec Chaser. His eyes widened in suprise.

Why would she do that? She wasn't the one getting bothered. This action confused Hikaru imensely. He watched as Caedence returned Tallys actions in kind and glared. How dare she hurt one of my team mates! Who the hell does that girl think she is?

Hikaru grabbed his broom and cringed as the Referee called a foul for both teams. I hope that we win this game! Those guys need to get put in their place! He pulled out his wand and raised it into the air with his other, useable arm. He thought of a spell that would get a medics attention. "Calliendo!" A shower of red sparks shot from his wand and hovered above him. They would disappear in a few seconds so he hoped that the medic would see him by then.

0 Hikaru, Tepp Chaser Because people don't like you being violent...[Tag;Medic] 0 Hikaru, Tepp Chaser 0 5

Amy Fox

May 08, 2007 10:06 PM

OOC by Amy Fox

Hikaru,

Just a quick note. Please be sure to pay extra attention to other posts as I didn't give a foul to both teams. Also, the spell you used seems a bit over that of a first year. The Medic would have seen the injury, as he has a tent on the Pitch, so no worries.

Fox

0 Amy Fox OOC 0 Amy Fox 0 5

Elly Eriksson, Pecari Seeker

May 09, 2007 4:38 AM

Woot! Yeah baby! by Elly Eriksson, Pecari Seeker

Elly’s decision was made for her as the elusive little beast (a.k.a the Snitch) darted yet further out of her reach at the same moment that a solid metal bludger came sailing almost half-heartedly towards her. Elly thought several things all at once: Where in the name of fairness had that bludger come from? The game was on a pause! But then again bludgers don’t need encouragement to continue their destructive missions. It’s coming right this way! That requires movement. But the Snitch…

There was nothing doing. Still unsure if catching the Snitch would even count while none of the players were in game, and wanting to keep herself unscathed and in one piece, Elly swerved sharply to her left, only narrowly escaping a collision with the Teppenpaw Seeker. She succeeded in avoiding the bludger, which then carried on its way, oblivious to Elly’s frustration, but she’d lost her gain on the Snitch.

Emitting a grunt of sheer annoyance, Elly hauled the handle on her broom back the other direction, intent on just following the Snitch until it was either within her grasp, or it vanished again completely. The golden speck was merrily whooshing along not so far away, and Elly set off in pursuit. She could feel the poor Comet starting to shudder with the strain – Elly had never worked the broom so hard in practise and she doubted it had seen much Quidditch. By the time the ball was back within short range, the game had resumed, and both Elly and the Comet were trembling with anticipation and exhaustion.

There it was, just a couple of feet away again, heading back down towards the ground in a gradual descent. Elly was both hot from working so hard to follow the little blighter and cold from the rushing wind as she’d chased it. She knew her cheeks were pink and her hair was an absolute mess but none of it mattered. The downward tilt gave Elly a weight advantage over the Snitch and she closed the distance between them. She was close enough now to make a grab. She didn’t know how close the other Seeker was, but that didn’t matter, either. Lifting her right hand from the broomstick’s worn wooden handle, Elly thrust it forward, wobbling a little as she attempted to maintain balance with the only one hand. Remembering her Quidditch practices, Elly gripped the broom tighter with her legs, and felt sturdier. No longer wobbling, Elly pushed the broom to it’s maximum, and surged forward just a tiny amount more, but it was enough. Her outstretched hand hit home, and her fingers closed around the struggling ball.

Elly let out an inarticulate whoop of victory, holding her fist high above her head, the Snitch clutched firmly inside. She hadn’t dropped it, she hadn’t fallen off her broom, and she had won the game! The biggest grin ever was shining all over her face as the Coach gave the signal to end the match, and Elly headed back down to earth.

0 Elly Eriksson, Pecari Seeker Woot! Yeah baby! 0 Elly Eriksson, Pecari Seeker 0 5

Fox

May 09, 2007 8:23 AM

GAME OVER. PECARI WINS. (nm) by Fox

0 Fox GAME OVER. PECARI WINS. (nm) 0 Fox 0 5

Irene Liddowe- Pecari Reserve

May 09, 2007 3:19 PM

Most Definitely =] by Irene Liddowe- Pecari Reserve

Irene let out her breath as the game was put on pause. So many thing were happening on the pitch and Irene wanted to watch them all! Her head had been turning to watch every angle of the pitch.

Irene blew a piece of her brown hair away from her face as to see the now resumed game in play. She followed Elly as she zoomed around the pitch. Irene was sure that Elly had seen the snitch! Irene didn't even bother sitting any longer, or standing for that matter, and was jumping up and down by the bench.

"Come on, Elly! You can do it!"

Irene let out a whoop as Elly raised her hand above her head. Irene thrust her fists into the air and cheering with the crowd.

"We WON!" She shouted turning to the girl next to her. "We won! We won!" Her excitement was bubbling over and she couldn't find a way to make the smile on her face any smaller. Well, that's not true. She could, but why would she?

0 Irene Liddowe- Pecari Reserve Most Definitely =] 0 Irene Liddowe- Pecari Reserve 0 5

Jake Santoro

May 11, 2007 8:17 PM

It's finally over by Jake Santoro

Jake had no idea if Pecari ever ended up scoring against them considering the time out and how quickly the Pecari seeker caught the snitch ending the game. So, in the end, if they had scored, it wouldn't have mattered much anyway.

He landed on the ground and gave himself a quick stretch. Hew as surprised to find he wasn't terribly upset about having lost this game. It was, after all, only a game and not the championship. So, the Pecaris can have their win, but the Tepps will keep their trophy for a little longer.

Besides, the Pecaris only really won because the Teppenpaws were having a rough go of things. Their usual Seeker was somewhere sick and their regular chaser had been a no show. So, they were subbing in two newbie players with a team that had four fifth years playing and only one new player. The Pecaris had started with an unfair advantage.

Jake watched his team, giving them a smile and telling them a 'good job'. He couldn't blame them if any of them were bumbed. Losing always sucked, but losing to the Pecaris were the worst considering they were terrible winners. He stood there for a long while and didn't move until he realized someone was standing with him. "Hey." He greeted easily, though not with his usual enthusiasm.

6 Jake Santoro It's finally over 42 Jake Santoro 0 5

Jennifer Zucchero

May 12, 2007 12:03 AM

And nobody died by Jennifer Zucchero

Similar to last year’s championship match, figuring out whom she was supposed to support had been a difficult decision for Jennifer Zucchero. Unfortunately, she didn’t think she was going to get the luxury of skipping any part of the match this time. Actually, on second thought, she was fairly certain she didn’t want to miss anything. Things certainly seemed to be exciting when Teppenpaw played Pecari, at the very least.

This particular game had proved to be no exception, even if the figures doing all the abusing had changed. In all honesty, Jennifer was rather shocked by how brutal first the Pecari chasers, and then the Teppenpaw ones, were. Yes, her team wasn’t innocent of blatantly trying to harm the other team, but at least it was only Lily and Gwen, whom were beaters, and therefore supposed to hurt their opponents. Chasers weren’t supposed to be anywhere near as ruthless, at least in Jennifer’s mind.

The end of the game had come as a bit of a shock as well, if only because most people’s attention had been fixed on the chaser drama happening below. Pecari winning, on the other hand, wasn’t. As horrible a girlfriend as it probably made her look, Teppenpaw had spent the game behind, in all aspects. However, it could hardly be helped, given that their players seemed to be dropping like flies, both before and during the match.

Jennifer followed the crowd of students heading out of the stands, but made her way over to the players rather than head back on up to the school. She ignored the Pecaris, both because she was sure all of her friends on that particularly team would be having their own little celebrations, which she didn’t need to witness, and because the ego just got to be a bit too much at times whenever Pecari won. Yes, they deserved some arrogance, but she would wait until it got a bit more bearable.

So she joined Jake instead. “Hey,” she echoed, putting an arm around his waist. “You okay? Tough luck on the match. They came out with a vengeance, didn’t they?” She glanced around at the other members of his team, mostly at the two she’d never seen before. “So, what was up with Kaylie?” she asked after a moment. While hers hadn’t been the only absence, it was the only one that was going to potentially affect Jennifer in the long run. It was always best to know what was going on with other players of one’s position. “It doesn’t seem like her to miss a match. Is she alright?”

0 Jennifer Zucchero And nobody died 48 Jennifer Zucchero 0 5

Echo Elms and Brett Hodges, Pecari

May 12, 2007 10:51 AM

[spectators] PECAAAAAARI! by Echo Elms and Brett Hodges, Pecari

"Elly's the seeker!" Echo repeated. Kid was beside himself, like he'd never been friends with someone on the field before. And it wasn't even true. He was friends with the Guide.

"Yeah, yeah. I got it," Brett said, "And Saul's the whatsitcalled."

"Chaser," Echo said absently. His eyes wandered down to the Pecari bench, "And Meredith's on reserve. But seeker! Dude, you know what a seeker is?"

"She's got the mad endgame prowess."

"For real," Echo said.

"For real-real," Brett added. The game was starting and the pair leaned toward the field. It was dumb, in Brett's opinion, that they were sitting so far away from the main crowd. They should totally part of any whooping madness that struck--that was the whole point of game watching, wasn't it? If it weren't his first game spectackating the Quidditch, he probably woulda left Echo to do his weirdo crowd avoidance thing by his lonesome. But, as it was, it was alright for today since Echo was being his personal Guide To Quidditch.

"PECAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRI! PECAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRI!" they joined in the chants and cheers anyway.

"Ooo! Elly!" Echo said several times over the course of the game, distracting Brett from the dramas of the Beaters and the Chasers. There was a lot going on out there, and robes were billowing like supermen.

Echo half stood up suddenly, tensing and Brett followed his eyes to Elly, leaning out over her broom, presumably toward the snitch.

Echo adjusted his glasses, "I think... yes..."

Elly held her fist in the air in a signal even Brett recognized as having caught the snitch. They pair of them broke into whoops and shouts and ending chanting, "EL-LY! EL-LY! EL-LY! EL-LY! EL-LY! EL-LY! EL-LY! EL-LY!"

0 Echo Elms and Brett Hodges, Pecari [spectators] PECAAAAAARI! 0 Echo Elms and Brett Hodges, Pecari 0 5

Jake

May 13, 2007 12:40 PM

Just a broken arm by Jake

Jake dropped an arm around Jennifer's shoulders, grateful to have her there with him, and kissed her on top of her as she spoke to him. For some reason, he felt even less upset about the loss with Jennifer here than he had moments before. He knew he should talk with his team, tell them that this sort of stuff happens and that next year they'll do even better, but he didn't feel like it at the moment.

Plus, he knew that if he were one of his teammates, he would want some time to pout about the loss and then some time to deal with the perking up. So, he would wait until later in the common room to give his teammates a speech of some sort and then seek out both Kaylie and Gil to figure out what to do with the two of them. He would probably also have to talk with Pepper and see if she's really up for the role of Keeper. He knew she always got so nervous at games and tended to beat herself up if anyone scored off her.

But he really didn't want to have to deal with any of that at the moment. He just wanted to think of absolutely nothing.

"I don't know. She was sick this morning just before the game so I sent her to see the Medic." Jake said in response to Jennifer's question. "Tally mentioned something about her being mopey and crying a lot, but didn't specify what the reason was for." Jake shrugged. "I suppose I ought to talk to her about that too, huh?" Jake said, almost looking pained at the idea of talking to a girl about her problems.

6 Jake Just a broken arm 42 Jake 0 5

Pepp, Tepp

May 13, 2007 6:39 PM

All's fair in love and Quidditch by Pepp, Tepp

OOC - I know the game's over, but as the question of whether Lizzie scored is still on everybody's lips, I figured I'd answer it. Put it here so I could read back Liz's post whilst writing, and cos this game's such a mess and over I figured it wouldn't make a difference.

IC
Pepper's experience of the Quidditch game was its usual. Hovering uncertainly - never boredly, she was too tense for that - in her position whilst the Quaffle to and froed in the middle, with moments of panic, flexing her fingers as it looked like it was coming her way. Her insides knotted up as Saul came pelting towards her. Saul was so sweet that it somewhat stopped her wanting to catch his goals. She felt mean. But when he was throwing Quaffles at her was the only time he was ever likely to notice her, given her complete inability to speak to him in class. That gave her a dilemma. If she was dreadful he was going to think she was some incompetent clutz. If she saved his goals, she'd be a rival. Luckily her general nerves usually made up her mind for her.

She furrowed her brows, trying to work out which way he was going, diving the right way, arms outstretched to catch it. She gave a small gasp of surprise as something yellow blurred past her, snatching the Quaffle. She knew the other Chasers probably hung around her watch because they didn't trust her to make the saves, but she felt a little hurt. Then she realised it was Hikaru. She couldn't believe that the newbie would have been secretly told to help her out. It was more likely that he'd been hanging back because he was scared. That made her feel a little better, although as she was sure she could have got that, she was a little peeved. At least it solved the Saul dilemma. For now.

She knew it was their job, but she winced as they all ganged up on Hikaru. She was a little too used to playing sports with younger people, and still had the mindset that they should be going easy on him cos he was just a kid. She tried to shake herself out of sister mode. This was Quidditch. It got rough. But that rough?! She screamed as Saul got caught into a spin with Hikaru and she saw someone fly off. She had to hold herself back from diving after him. She was too far away and there was nothing she could do. And Lizzie was coming towards her!

Pepper tried to focus on that, rather than Hikaru falling. She straightened herself, so she was face on in front of the centre hoop, but wrapped her legs around the tail of her broom. That way she could dive to either side without leaping off her broom. If Lizzie was feinting, it would be Pepper's right. Lizzie's left. Pepper leant slightly to her left in preperation, so as to have more weight to throw and thus move more quickly towards the Quaffle. As Lizzie lobbed it, Pepper dived, grabbing her broom with her left hand to push it around properly. She caught sight of a yellow blur again, but she wasn't going to let them rescue her this time. She leant forward urgently and swatted with only a slightly frantic manner with her right hand. It hit, bending her fingers a little. She brought her left hand off her broom to join in the batting. And suddenly, the ball wasn't quite heading to the goal any more. It wasn't in her hands, but it wasn't heading to goal! She dipped down and, with only a minimum of fumbling, gathtered it into her hands, turning to the pitch. It hadn't been Saul trying to score against her, so she couldn't help the triumphant grin breaking onto her face as she turned back around to... Find that no one was watching.

The coach had stopped the game. So, did that mean it wouldn't have counted if it had gone in? Before anyone could answer that, or the game could properly get underway again, there was a victory whoop from above. So there it was... Her first save... It may not have counted, and no one had even noticed.

0 Pepp, Tepp All's fair in love and Quidditch 0 Pepp, Tepp 0 5

Dalila Bastet

May 14, 2007 5:01 PM

And a broken heart being melodramatic by Dalila Bastet

They lost. Dalila landed on the pitch and chucked her broom aside. It rolled pathetically in the grass for a few moments before becoming still; as though it knew they had lost. Sher glanced up from the carelessly tossed broom and her eyes hit Jake's face. And her mind reeled back to her conversation with Lexi a few days before. Jennifer came into her view and everything in that conversation finally had a basis to it.

It was true. Jake and Jennifer were a couple now. They even had the illiteration thing going for them. Dalila sighed as she watched Jake wrap his arms around the Crotalus Captain and kiss her.

Dalila sighed and walked away. There wa no use crying over things you can't change. But pouting was acceptable, right? She quickly walked off the pitch. What she wanted more than anything right now was to forget it all. Maybe a cold shower or something.

0 Dalila Bastet And a broken heart *being melodramatic* 60 Dalila Bastet 0 5

Lizzie Lavine

May 14, 2007 11:35 PM

Another Post-Game by Lizzie Lavine

As Pepper batted away her shot, Lizzie felt her heart sink. For all they were trying their hardest, the Pecari chasers just weren't having a great go at shooting. No doubt that would be the first thing on tap for them at the next practice. But the game ended soon after the mildly dissappointing save, causing Lizzie to let out her own victory yell. They had won, avenging the rather embarassing loss last year to Teppenpaw. Lizzie congratulated some of the players around her as she descended onto the grass, while still looking around.

Looking around the field now crowded with players and fans, Lizzie couldn't find Ash. She checked the air above once more, but couldn't manage to find him there either. It didn't really matter too much; Lizzie would definitely see him at the after party in the commons later. At the moment, Lizzie was tired and her shoulders were aching and probably bruised from all the shoving that had gone on between the two chasing teams. She had really brought all that onto herself, but no matter who started it, Lizzie's shoulders were still in pain.

Everyone around her was talking, and being loud in general. Liz saw Jake and Jennifer going off as well as the very bummed looking Teppenpaw team milling about. All the Pecaris seemed to be excited except for Lizzie. Rotating her shoulders every so often, she accepted congratulations from passers-by and returned the sentiments to her fellows. Lizzie was about to leave the pitch to ice down her arms, but she stopped for a second and looked about just one more time to see if she could spot Ash in the crowd.

0 Lizzie Lavine Another Post-Game 0 Lizzie Lavine 0 5

Saul Pierce

May 15, 2007 11:21 AM

Whoo! ELLL-leeee! by Saul Pierce

Saul looked over at Pepper just in time. The Tepp boy was down and something had happened with the other chasers that made Fox blow the whistle, but Saul saw it. Pepper's smile. No, no, her save. Yes, her save that meant Pecari didn't get those ten points. Saul was supposed to be upset about that. He couldn't entirely remember why.

Then Coach Fox started snapping at people and Saul didn't want his head bit off, so he made himself look away from Pepper and her smile and focus on the reprimands and mutual penalty shots that were not going to happen because both teams were at fault. Then the game was back on, and Saul hadn't even flown more than a foot when he heard a victorious whoop from up above.

Elly had the snitch and was waving it around and grinning nearly as nice as Pepper (though, not, because Elly was like a kid sister while Pepper was, well, Saul wasn't going there). "Elllllllllllllllleeeeeeee!" he shouted, distantly aware that Echo and Brett had started up a chant of her name, but Saul was on a broom so he could do better. He flew up towards her and did the only thing appropriate under the circumstances.

He tackled her with a flying broom hug.

1 Saul Pierce Whoo! ELLL-leeee! 82 Saul Pierce 0 5

Elly

May 18, 2007 3:17 AM

Pecari rules! by Elly

This was the best feeling in the world, a sort of numb feeling of utter elation and complete exhaustion. Elly was barely aware of the crowd or of the rest of her team as, grinning like a moron, she flew back down, heading for the muddy grass below. Before she could make it, though, a big Saul-shaped hug collided with her without ay warning (unless you counted the calling of her name). Elly let out of victory-crazed shriek of laughter as she hugged Saul back, perhaps a little tighter than she usually would have done, partly because she was on a happy high, and partly because she would fall of her broom if she didn’t cling on to something.

After a moment she managed to steady herself, though, and almost let go of Saul, still clinging onto his arm with her Snitch-free hand. “Saul we won, we totally won!” she screamed at him, her hair now barely in the bunches it had been, but in a frizzy orange mane around her head. Her freckled face was deep pink from exercise and the wind slapping her cheeks as she’d streaked after the ball now clutched firmly in her right fist.

Elly’s senses were coming back to her now – she could see the other players making their way back down to the ground, and others running onto the pitch to greet them. She could hear chanting from the crowd – she looked over to where Echo usually stood out of the way of the masses, and saw him and Brett. She let go of Saul then and waved manically. She saw Mere, and Irene, at the edge of the pitch and waved at them, too. Then ahe grinned back at Saul before finishing her descent and landing rather clumsily, slipping a little in the mud.

0 Elly Pecari rules! 0 Elly 0 5

Jennifer

May 18, 2007 8:32 PM

Just what we needed by Jennifer

Jennifer laughed. She knew it was horrible, and probably un-supportive girlfriend or whatever of her, but she couldn’t help it. The look on Jake’s face was just too priceless. “You sound so enthusiastic,” she joked, grinning cheekily at him. “Please, remind me never to come talk to you when I’m having problems, if this is how you are about it. And I’m sure you can just ask Tally or one of the other girls on the team to talk to her about whatever’s going on, if you aren’t up to it.”

Talking about the personal problems of the Teppenpaw team naturally brought her thoughts back to the problems on her own, and her good humor faded a bit. “Actually, I’m not one to talk, as for all I know one of my teammates is on daily verge of a mental breakdown, and I still haven’t gotten up the courage to talk to him.”

She had no idea what to do with Geoffrey, if anything. Jenna had told her that he’d been looking for her back on the first day back, but by that point it had been too late to go track him down, and, having already had a weird conversation with Stephen, she wasn’t in the mood to have the same with another. Still, that was neither here nor there, so she shrugged. “Still, it’s not affecting his playing yet, so I guess it’s not that urgent. At least, I hope not.”

Jake seemed like he was alright, and not too upset by the loss. That was definitely a good sign. Not surprising, since he’d always been fairly easy-going about things, one of the reasons she liked him so much, but one never knew.

Trying to think of something else to say, Jennifer was struck by the strangest feeling, almost like someone was watching. It wasn’t actually that ridiculous of an idea, since there were obviously going to be some people focused on the losing team, same as the winning team, but she couldn’t stop herself from glancing away from Jake and scanning the rest of the field. There wasn’t anyone there that stood out, though, so she turned back and leaned into her boyfriend. More likely than not, the feeling was just the byproduct of previous lack of public displays of affection making her a little paranoid, or something. “Sorry,” she said after a second. “I thought- nevermind.”

0 Jennifer Just what we needed 0 Jennifer 0 5

Jake

May 21, 2007 8:26 PM

Angst is always welcomed by Jake

Jake thought about what Jennifer said for a long moment. It was true, he didn't really like the idea of having to talk with Kaylie over her position as a Seeker let alone with any personal issues she might have had. That probably didn't make him all that of a Teppenpaw, but Jake just didn't like to be personal about things. If he didn't talk about his personal stuff, he just assumed others didn't as well. "Like you'd tell me anyway." Jake said, slightly amused. "I don't think I'll ask Tally, she seems...well, not all that happy at the moment. And Lexi..." Jake let that one slide. Lexi had to deal with Jake when he had been so angry, he didn't want to force her to deal with Kaylie too.

Jake's eyes landed on the retreating back of one of his chasers. "I'll ask Dalila to do it. She's the sort of person who would." Jake suddenly decided, smiling for a moment having now dealt with one issue he had.

"Are you talking about Geoff?" Jake asked rhetorically. He had heard about what had happened over the break. It was huge news and his mother had been hell bent for her children to understand that these 'boys' would need space. Jake couldn't believe that two people he knew (one only through association) had been through a situation like that. "I'm sure it'll eventually fizzle out. Maybe..." Jake said, though not really all that certain as he had never (thankfully) ever been in quite a situation.

Jake grinned down at Jennifer. Ignoring her sudden distracted mind, Jake hugged her properly and lifted her up off the ground. He kept her up for a moment, despite any protesting she might have given him, before plopping her back down on the ground and taking her by the hand. "Come on, I've got to throw this stuff in my locker then we can go eat."

6 Jake Angst is always welcomed 42 Jake 0 5

Jennifer

May 28, 2007 5:10 PM

We're both very good with it by Jennifer

“You do have a point there,” Jennifer mused. “That is, after all, what I keep Lizzie and my other friends around for. Besides, more often than not you are the problem,” she added teasingly, giving him a quick kiss to make sure he understood she was joking (mostly).

She nodded as Jake deliberated on a teammate to ask, mostly because she didn’t know any of them that well, so didn’t have anything useful to add. “Yeah, I hope so,” she said when the conversation got back to one of her own players, although not with any great conviction. She supposed it was possible for such things to just fizzle out. It just didn’t seem likely.

Apparently whatever Jennifer thought she’d felt had been nothing at all, as Jake seemed to be completely oblivious to anything strange. And he obviously wasn’t suffering from any ill-humor because of the loss, nor feeling at all self-conscious. With a shriek of either surprise or indignation, she wasn’t sure which, Jennifer found herself being lifted off the ground. She might have intentionally protested a little, if it weren’t for the fact that she was giggling a bit too hard to get the words out. And it was endearing.

When she was finally put back down, she quickly examined her clothing to make sure it was still presentable. She wasn’t obsessed with things like clothes most of the time, but she also didn’t want to look completely mussed. Satisfied that she was fine, she glanced back up at Jake and squeezed the hand that had grabbed hers. “Food sounds good. I’m ready when you are.”
\r\n\r\n

0 Jennifer We're both very good with it 0 Jennifer 0 5

<font color="red">Amy Fox</font>

Quidditch Match: Teppenpaw vs. Pecari by <font color="red">Amy Fox</font>

<font color="brown">Caedence Pecari Chaser</font>

Hope I don't get hurt by <font color="brown">Caedence Pecari Chaser</font>

<font color="yellow">Lexi, Teppenpaw Beater</font>

Then why play tag-along with a bludger? by <font color="yellow">Lexi, Teppenpaw Beater</font>

<font color="brown">Elly, Pecari Seeker</font>

I like to fly. by <font color="brown">Elly, Pecari Seeker</font>

<font color="yellow">Law Teppenpaw Reserve </font>

The fine art of bench warming by <font color="yellow">Law Teppenpaw Reserve </font>

<font color="yellow">Dalila, Tepp Chaser</font>

But with your luck... by <font color="yellow">Dalila, Tepp Chaser</font>

<font color="brown">Ash, Pecari Beater</font>

Cos she's an idiot by <font color="brown">Ash, Pecari Beater</font>

<font color="brown">Irene, Pecari Reserve</font>

Ah, the lovely bench... by <font color="brown">Irene, Pecari Reserve</font>

<font color="yellow">Jake, Beater, Captain</font>

What a nice thing to say. by <font color="yellow">Jake, Beater, Captain</font>

<font color="yellow">Tally Teppenpaw Chaser</font>

It's not likely by <font color="yellow">Tally Teppenpaw Chaser</font>

<font color="brown">Lizzie, Pecari Chaser</font>

Oh, what a quidditch game! by <font color="brown">Lizzie, Pecari Chaser</font>

<font color="yellow">Dalila, Tepp Chaser</font>

What a quidditch game indeed! by <font color="yellow">Dalila, Tepp Chaser</font>

<font color="yellow">Hannah, Tepp Seeker</font>

Me too by <font color="yellow">Hannah, Tepp Seeker</font>

<font color="brown">Elly, Pecari Seeker</font>

If you can't say something nice... by <font color="brown">Elly, Pecari Seeker</font>

<font color="yellow">Hannah</font>

Continuation by <font color="yellow">Hannah</font>

<font color="brown">Saul, Pecari Chaser</font>

Tag team by <font color="brown">Saul, Pecari Chaser</font>

<font color="brown">Caedence</font>

Allright, allright, I'll be a chaser. a sane one... by <font color="brown">Caedence</font>

<font color="brown">Lizzie, Pecari Chaser</font>

Alright, all three chasers at once! by <font color="brown">Lizzie, Pecari Chaser</font>

<font color="brown">Saul, Pecari Chaser</font>

you're kind of outnumbered here, Dalila by <font color="brown">Saul, Pecari Chaser</font>

<font color="yellow">Jake</font>

Break it up, people by <font color="yellow">Jake</font>

<font color="yellow">Dalila</font>

Gang up on the Tepp, why don't ya... by <font color="yellow">Dalila</font>

<font color="brown">Lizzie, Pecari Chaser</font>

Well, that's what you get for taking the quaffle... by <font color="brown">Lizzie, Pecari Chaser</font>

<font color="brown">Saul, Pecari Chaser</font>

Message received, loud and clear by <font color="brown">Saul, Pecari Chaser</font>

<font color="brown">Lizzie, Pecari Chaser</font>

Excellent! by <font color="brown">Lizzie, Pecari Chaser</font>

<font color="brown">Saul, Pecari Chaser</font>

He shoots! by <font color="brown">Saul, Pecari Chaser</font>

<font color="brown">Caedence Pecari Chaser</font>

Do I wear a shirt that says "hit me wtih a bludger?" by <font color="brown">Caedence Pecari Chaser</font>

<font color="yellow">Hannah, Tepp Seeker</font>

Lalala by <font color="yellow">Hannah, Tepp Seeker</font>

<font color="brown">Elly, Pecari Seeker</font>

Tum-ti-tum di-dah? by <font color="brown">Elly, Pecari Seeker</font>

<font color="yellow">Hikaru, Tepp Chaser</font>

Here I go! by <font color="yellow">Hikaru, Tepp Chaser</font>

<font color="yellow">Hannah, Tepp Seeker</font>

Di-dah tum-ti-tum :P by <font color="yellow">Hannah, Tepp Seeker</font>

<font color="brown">Stephen, Pecari Keeper</font>

Just hanging around... as usual... by <font color="brown">Stephen, Pecari Keeper</font>

<font color="brown">Lizzie, Pecari Chaser</font>

Right, you do that... by <font color="brown">Lizzie, Pecari Chaser</font>

Hikaru, Tepp Chaser

Well, now you'll have to work! by Hikaru, Tepp Chaser

<font color="brown">Elly, Pecari Seeker</font>

Hey, you know it, too! by <font color="brown">Elly, Pecari Seeker</font>

Stephen

OOC by Stephen

Hikaru

OOC RE by Hikaru

<font color="yellow">Hikaru, Tepp Chaser</font>

Whatever... by <font color="yellow">Hikaru, Tepp Chaser</font>

Stephen

OOC by Stephen

<font color="red">Amy Fox</font>

OOC by <font color="red">Amy Fox</font>

<font color="brown">Saul, Pecari Chaser</font>

bumper brooms by <font color="brown">Saul, Pecari Chaser</font>

Rolls eyes by <font color="yellow">Tally, Tepp Chaser</font>