Why numbers? I'm going to be a banana. on Quidditch Pitch

The Craven Captains

September 14, 2007 8:45 AM

Pecari <s>Tryouts</s> Bootcamp. Walk-ons "welcome" by The Craven Captains

As usual, more people had signed up than the team could take. It just showed the Pecaris were mad about sport, and this year the Cravens were going to convert that into an all out win. The first test had already begun, as - at quarter to eight on a Saturday morning - the twins were already out on the pitch. Tryouts began at 8 o'clock sharp. Whilst they held little regard for the importance of things like punctuality and deadlines for classes, the chances of anyone who showed up late were going to be severely damaged. Anyone who couldn't get themselves up for tryouts clearly lacked dedication. Especially when you could use magic to set all kinds of anti-lie-in measures on yourself (as Ash's usually gelled, but today damp and dishevelled hair attested). Contractually, they were also obliged to welcome walk-ons, but how welcome anyone was going to be who hadn't bothered to make the minimal effort of writing their name onto a piece of paper remained to be seen. The chances were they would have to work twice as hard to prove themselves half as good.

"There's lots of skills needed to make you a good Quidditch player," Sorrel began, once the players had assembled. Not so much as a 'good morning' or 'sorry to drag you out so early'. They weren't sorry. If people didn't like it, they weren't team material.

"But it can be divided into four main categories we want to see from you today."

"Dedication,"

"Agility,"

"Ability,"

"And endurance. You've shown something towards the first by making it out for this time, well done," Ash nodded, figuring that a little praise here and there was due. You had to have a team feel happy and valued, otherwise they weren't going to put in the work.

"We're going to be doing a range of agility and ability tests throughout the day. Yes, you heard me correctly,"

"throughout the day," Ash echoed. "That's where the endurance comes in. A match could last for days. It's no good having someone who can blaze it, but burns out after five minutes."

"You'll get a mid-morning, mid-afternoon and a lunch break, but the rest of the day's going to be full-on. Take a warm up session - whatever you feel's most relevant to you and the positions you're trying out for. If you want to do practice passes, ask one of us, if no one else wants to do them with you."

"We'll blow a whistle when it's time to come down, and then we'll set you your first exercise of the day. We know this is a big ask, but Quidditch is tough, and we need to know who's got it."

"If you don't like it, and don't want to be involved, you can walk away now."

"Are there any questions?" Ash asked. If not, it was straight into the air to warm up.

OOC - ok, I want to see warm-up posts people! Whilst bored at work tonight and having cheesy music forcibly pumped into my ears, I will be preserving my sanity by devising the full schedule for these try-outs. It will be published tomorrow, so you know what you're getting yourselves into. Broadly speaking, there are going to be writing challenges for each of the categories the twins listed, and there will be deadlines for each. I'm testing your ability in writing and to post promptly. I know I'm not one to talk, but with the tight Quidditch schedule this year, it's going to be vital, and I'm promising that I'll be on the ball as captain, therefore I need to see that back from you. I, unlike the Cravens, really am sorry to be being so militant. They seem to have spilt over and are brainwashing me with their crazed enthusiasm. Walk-ons are more welcome from me, and I will give you a fairer shot OOC than their attitude will be IC.

Subthreads:

Warming up by Saul Pierce, Pecari Chaser with Meredith Lail, Irene, Caedence

*salutes* Yes, Captains! by Elly Eriksson with Caedence Redoak, Elly

Reporting with Fido by Stephen Baxter

Go time! by Irene

[OOC - The Plan] by The Twins with The Craven Twins, The Cravens, Elly

0 The Craven Captains Pecari <s>Tryouts</s> Bootcamp. Walk-ons "welcome" 0 The Craven Captains 1 5

Saul Pierce, Pecari Chaser

September 14, 2007 10:29 AM

Warming up by Saul Pierce, Pecari Chaser

Regina's voice had yelled "SAUL!" at precisely 7:15am which launched the fourth year into a flurry of activity. He was dressed and looking around a little wildly for a box of cereal within five minutes. His hair still stood out in messy clumps and his shoes were untied. Slowly, it dawned on him that he wasn't in a campground and today was the day of the Quidditch try-outs.

More aware than he had been a minute ago, he tied his laces, pulled on his Quidditch robes from last year, and ran his fingers through his hair to make it fall in curls that did not defy gravity. Combs were reserved for after showers and there was no point in showering before playing Quidditch. Then he went down to the Cascade Hall to grab breakfast. He made it out to the pitch, fully alert and carrying a school broom, at 7:57.

He chatted with some of the younger team members (he was much closer to Elly, Meredith, Irene, and even Caedence than he was to Stephen, the Cravens, or Lizzie) until the co-captains called them into line. It sounded like return positions were not guaranteed and Saul look doubtfully at Meredith, Irene, and Caedence, all of whom were presumably vying with him for two chaser slots (he assumed Lizzie was a given since she had the most experience of all of them).

Okay, then. Into the air. The school broom he'd selected had been the newest one he could find and it seemed to not yet have developed any strange quirks, for which he was glad. He lapped the field twice, the first time to get a feel for his broom's handling - dives, sharp turns, acceleration - and the second just to see how fast he could do it. Once those were completed, he headed over to where some of the other Chaser hopefuls were gathering with a ball.

He came at them from below, planning to try a steal when one of them passed to another.

1 Saul Pierce, Pecari Chaser Warming up 82 Saul Pierce, Pecari Chaser 0 5

Elly Eriksson

September 14, 2007 2:32 PM

salutes Yes, Captains! by Elly Eriksson

Elly yawned widely, rubbing sleep from her eyes. She’d woken up half an hour ago, but still felt as though she was asleep. She’d gotten up earlier than was strictly necessary in an attempt to be fully functioning for the Quidditch tryouts that morning. The truth remained, though, that Elly hadn’t been in the habit of getting up early over the summer, and had yet to fit properly back into the school routine. Nevertheless, she got showered and dressed, and made her way down to the Cascade Hall in search of some fruit juice for a quick energy boost.

By the time Elly made it down onto the pitch at a few minutes to 8 o’clock, she at least felt more awake, though her faded blue t-shirt was on inside out and the orange tangle of curls attached to her head was almost inexcusable. Not having her own broomstick yet, Elly had already collected her preferred Cleansweep from the school stores, and held her own Seeker gloves in the other hand. Both the grey tracksuit bottoms and the trainers Elly wore had been purchased new over the summer, but had since been worn in, thanks in large part to the assorted sports she’d played whilst staying with Echo.

As other Pecaris began to gather round, Elly greeted and grinned at those with whom she was particularly close (everyone except the sixth years, in fact), until the Cravens began the session. Elly listened with a growing sense that somehow, over the summer, the twins had become somewhat obsessed with winning the next Quidditch season. Elly had no qualms with that; her enthusiasm for playing to win was unlikely to be easily matched. In fact, her reaction to the announcement that the tryouts would last all day was just to grin yet wider. There was little Elly loved better than playing Quidditch, and to play it all day would undoubtedly be hard work, but immensely fun, too.

When given the go to warm up, Elly took to the sky on the broom, revelling in the rush of air as she ascended, basking in the exhilaration of soaring above the worries of the world. Starting with a couple of circuits of the pitch to reacquaint herself with the handling of the broom, Elly progressively gathered speed until she could feel the handle starting to judder below her gloved hands. A few sharp turns later, Elly’s head was clear of everything except the subtle manoeuvring of her broom. Then she tried a couple of dives, which made her stomach turn to jelly. Elly wasn’t satisfied with the speed she pulled out from the dives, nor with the height at which she had to pull back. If the Snitch did decide to hover near the ground in a game, there was no way she’d be able to catch it at this rate. Determined to improve, Elly flew back above the posts and, making sure there were no other players below to instigate collisions, set to bettering her skills.

0 Elly Eriksson *salutes* Yes, Captains! 92 Elly Eriksson 0 5

Meredith Lail

September 14, 2007 4:46 PM

Joining in by Meredith Lail

Meredith’s eyes kept opening and shutting over the course of an hour and a half or so. The earliest time she remembered seeing was four fifty-two in the morning, but as soon as it was obvious that Saturday had come, she could barely sleep from excitement and anticipation. By six-thirty, she knew she wasn’t getting any more decent sleep so she sat up and stretched with a yawn and then got ready for the day. Mere showered and then dressed in shorts, her Nashville Negators tee shirt she got for her birthday last year, and her sneakers. She put her hair up in a ponytail with a chaser hair tie this time and that was that.

Mere looked at the time again. It was a little after seven. There was still a lot of time before she had to go down to the Pitch, but the last thing she wanted to do was sit still while she ate breakfast. She didn’t think she could manage it anyway. She took a muffin with her as she went back to the common room for her Nimbus. She picked at the muffin while taking a slow ride through the Labyrinth Gardens. She stayed low so the tips of her sneakers just moved the grass below her. The ride wouldn’t prepare her for an actual game or practice, but it sure beat sitting still.

She estimated how long she had been flying and decided it was about time to head down. A double check of the time confirmed she had fifteen minutes before eight rolled around so she set off, still on her broom. Even for little trips, there was no greater feeling than flying. When she caught sight of the Pitch, Meredith hopped off her broom and shouldered it for the rest of the way down. The Captains hadn’t started speaking and it didn’t look like everyone had shown up yet. Mere smiled knowing she had made it early or at least on time. There was general chat noise while waiting for the Captains to begin. When they did, Mere realized they weren’t kidding when they said you must be dedicated. Practice all day long? The speech didn’t scare her so much as made her mentally brace herself for what might be thrown at them. But Mere was ready.

The group was sent to warm up. Mere took a quaffle to practice chasing. She mounted her broom again and was off in the air. She did a few loops, some dives for the ball and then did a quick run from one side of the Pitch to the other just to feel for faster flying and sharper turning. She figured she should enjoy the easy time while it lasted because it sounded like the Captains were really going to put them through their paces. She then flew over near Irene and Caedence who were going for chaser too. Saul had flown off to do laps. She called out ‘heads up!’ and tossed the quaffle Irene and Caedence’s way, only to see someone come up from behind and snatch it in mid air. Her eyes followed the flyer and she smiled incredibly, caught off guard by it. So much for laps.

“Saul!” She exclaimed with a laugh and flew after him. She wished the team was big enough for her and all of her friends, but the reality was that it wasn’t. She chose to save her thoughts on when positions were filled for later. For now, she pushed her broom to catch up with Saul because she had warming up to do.

0 Meredith Lail Joining in 0 Meredith Lail 0 5

Caedence Redoak

September 14, 2007 8:55 PM

I'm faster than you are nya nya by Caedence Redoak

Caedence had woken up rather early that morning. She glanced at the time. It was five thirty? Just great… Caedence rolled over, but she felt her eyes had barely closed when they were open again. Six forty three. She groaned, and turned over again. When sleep didn’t come again, she pulled herself out of bed. While rubbing her eyes, realization hit her like a lightning bolt. Tryouts were today! She dressed quickly in a turquoise t-shirt and jean shorts before throwing her robes on over that. Quickly, she brushed her teeth at the same time as she brushed her hair. The end result was several strands of her hair were plastered with tooth paste. She did her best to get the tooth paste out, but her hair remained minty fresh.

After whipping her hair into a strict braid, tied down with a blue ribbon from top to bottom, she rushed downstairs. She skidded to a halt outside the entrance leading outside. She almost left her broom! She raced upstairs to fetch it. She was half way to the great hall when she decided to check the time. Holy crap! It was seven thirty! How long did it take her to get the toothpaste out of her hair?

She raced down to the pitch, hoping she wasn’t going to be too hungry, with not a minute to spare. Moments after her arrival, the speech started.

It was the usual. The twins competed against each other to see who could get out the sentence first, and they whole ’be dedicated’. Caedence flinched at the thought of an all day practice but didn’t complain. Why bother? If she complained, the Cravens would tell her to take a hike. She didn’t mind.

She mounted her broom and shot off into the air. She reveled in the wind whipping her face. Her braid lashed out and back, as if attempting to flog her back, but she ignored it. She did a quick loop, but nearly fell off her broom. Hanging on tight with the one leg still hooked over the handle, she flipped back on. Okay, so she wasn’t ever the best at tricks in the first place, and she was rusty.

“ELLY!” She hollered, seeing her friend pull out of a dive. Laughing, she sped up to meet up with the redhead. Turning around, so that she was facing in the same direction, she said, “Let’s play my favorite game, Dare. It goes like this, the weaker loses in a predetermined game. I chose the game to be a race from post to half pitch. First to win is the stronger. The loser is the weaker. Okay?” She didn’t pause for acknowledgement, “One two three!” she called, then sped off, laughing with the sheer rush of speeding forward with nothing but the wind supporting her. This was bliss. She didn’t even care if Elly was chasing her. This was bliss. \n

0 Caedence Redoak I'm faster than you are nya nya 94 Caedence Redoak 0 5

Stephen Baxter

September 15, 2007 4:07 AM

Reporting with Fido by Stephen Baxter

Stephen was disgustingly awake from an early hour for a Saturday morning, but then that wasn't such an unusual thing for him. Unlike most other days, however, there had been the opportunity to see Ash attempt to make sure that he didn't sleep in, and Stephen had enjoyed every second of it to the point where he had had to forcibly remind himself to shut up and not antagonise one of the team co-captains any further. Being chucked off the team in disgrace for ribbing Ash didn't really appeal to him.

And he made very certain not to say anything to Sorrel when he met up with her either. But then, he'd always had a little more respect for Sorrel's temper than he had for Ash's. Not much more respect, but enough to make a difference.

Breakfasted, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed he joined the throng of Pecari's on the Pitch with Fido casually carried on his shoulder. He found himself a good spot next to Lizzie (so he could drape an arm around her neck and see how long it took Ash to notice - or for that matter Lizzie to object, although by now most of the people at the school knew he was just being friendly and not necessarily trying anything when he did things like that) and settled in for the Ash and Sorrie show.

A little later he let out a low whistle. "Well, well. This is going to be a fun day. Good thing we haven't been completely drenched in homework yet!" He grinned at her in a slightly self-mocking way. He knew it was odd that he'd mention homework let alone worry about it, but things changed, and RATS level classes turned out to be one of those things that caused things to change. "We'd better get to work before we're accused on insubordination or whatever other trumped up charge they can think up. See you in the air."

He got Fido hovering at mounting hight, jumped aboard and rocketed up, doing a loop the loop to get the feeling of being back in the air before heading for the goals. He was Keeper after all, and some sprints from one goal to another would probably serve as a good starter for his warm-up.

39 Stephen Baxter Reporting with Fido 49 Stephen Baxter 0 5

Irene

September 15, 2007 1:19 PM

Go time! by Irene

Irene pulled herself out of bed at seven o'clock this morning. She was not going to trash her chances by deciding she wanted a few more minutes. This year she was going to be on the team. That was her motivation. She was still going by the same thing she had thought as she signed up: Irene was not like her dad and she was going to prove it. As she looked into the mirror as she threw her brown hair into a ponytail, she noticed the mark on her cheek. She was glad to be be almost rid of it. But the problem was the 'almost' part. A purple circle the size of a golf ball still remained there. Throwing on her old Pecari Quidditch t-shirt and a pair of brown cotton shorts that cut off at the knee, she headed toward the field.

Irene arrived at the pitch five minutes early, her Blurr in hand. She could honestly say that this broom was perfect for her. She didn't know how it was, but it just seemed to know her, know when she wanted to turn, go faster, or dive. Its link to her family added the finishing touch. Uncle Will and Aunt Claera had allowed her to give it a test run, before it was even on the market! When they saw how much she loved it they supplied her with one of the first ones to be released.

Irene listened intently as the Cravens told them, straight forward, what they were expecting. Dedication, agility, ability, and endurance. She could do that. Dedication was a no-brainer. Agility, she had been working on that over the summer, doing sprints and practicing in the air. Ability, well, she was going to make sure she had that. And as for endurance, if she didn't have endurance then she didn't know who would. There were some times she was grateful for what happened with dad. This was... sort of one of those times. She learned to deal at a young age and it stayed with her.

Irene wasn't going to lie. She was a little surprised when the Captains had said "throughout the day," but, yet again, they had warned them about dedication. Once the okay was given for them to warm up Irene grabbed her broom and headed onto the pitch. She knew what she wanted to be this year, but going for it meant competing with Caedence. Going for seeker meant competing with Elly, but she really wanted that spot on the team, rather than the bench. Altough, the bench was better than the stands.

Irene mounted her broom and kicked off into the air. It felt wonderful to be back in the sky again. She had been stressing out over people asking questions about the bruise on her face. She had smoothly told them that it was a shame first years couldn't try out because Josh was a big competitor for beater. But all of those worries stayed on the ground. This was Quidditch time, and that's all she was worried about right now. Irene headed up so she was level with the goal posts. She zig-zaged through the posts, turning sharply. She kicked her broom into speed, shooting across towards the other end of the pitch where she turned and headed into a dive. The air rushing through her hair was putting a new excitement in her. All she wanted to do was get a Quaffle or a snitch and get to playing.

0 Irene Go time! 0 Irene 0 5

Saul

September 15, 2007 9:07 PM

Yo Lizzie! (and Irene) by Saul

Saul shot upwards and intercepted the Quaffle shortly after it left Meredith's possession. She was hot on his tail but that wasn't going to phase him. He put on another burst of speed and looked around to see where everybody else was.

"Yo Lizzie!" he called out to the only Chaser older than him as he flew toward her. "Let's keep the ball away from the kiddies!" He turned around to give Meredith (who was gaining on him, however slowly) a teasing grin just before he looked back toward Lizzie and tossed the ball her way.

He dove low, using gravity to help him try to speed away from Meredith. After a few seconds, he rose back up to standard Chasing altitude and tried to give Lizzie an opening to toss the ball back to him before she was overtaken by any of the second or third years. Caedence seemed to be busy racing with Elly at the moment, but Irene should have heard his shout and figured out that she was teamed with Meredith for the currently two-on-two game of Keep Away.

1 Saul Yo Lizzie! (and Irene) 82 Saul 0 5

The Twins

September 15, 2007 11:05 PM

[OOC - The Plan] by The Twins

Ok, this is just a brief notice of the dates new posts will go up. You'll learn more about what they are when they appear! I was going to give a few days off as the 'lunch break' but I figured you'd all rather just have longer to work on each section. I understand RL crops up, so these are just notices of when to look for new posts, not deadlines for the previous section. However, if I'm really torn between two people for the team, speed of reply/meeting deadlines may be something I use as a tie-breaker. But it will ABSOLUTELY be quality first, and other things may affect it (ie be used as tie-breakers), so don't rush them just for that. Bracketed things indicate IC features that will not be set as writing exercises.

16th - Agility 1
(Mid-morning break)
19th - Ability 1
(Lunch)
22nd - Endurance
(Afternoon break)
25th Agility 2
27th Ability 2

0 The Twins [OOC - The Plan] 0 The Twins 0 5

Elly

September 16, 2007 7:25 AM

That may be true, but I am taller :P by Elly

Elly experimented with assorted techniques for enhancing her performance. After a few minutes of trial and error, she’d discovered that holding the broom almost near the tip of the handle gave better pull out of a dive, and turning slightly as she rose seemed to lessen the strain on the broom elicited by the sudden change in direction. Pleased with her progress, Elly was about to try some other manoeuvres when the calling out of her name brought her to a halt. Looking around for the source of the shout, Elly’s attention was immediately drawn to Caedence, who was rapidly approaching to fly alongside. She shouted out a challenge in the form of a race along the pitch. Before Elly could either accept or decline, her friend had counted down and sped off.

The little warning that Elly had received was sufficient for her to react quickly enough to give Caedence only a small head start. However, even as she lay almost flat on her broom to encourage as much speed as was humanly possible, Elly knew there was no way the old Cleansweep could outstrip a newer model in a game. If she was serious about playing Quidditch, which she thought she was, she was going to have to get herself a good broom, and stop relying on the school stock. ‘Her’ Cleansweep, as she now thought of it, had been available thus far for matches, but as she had no real claim on it there was always the chance that one day another student would get there first, and that wouldn’t be good news for the Pecari team.

For now, though, the reliable borrowed broom would have to do. Caedence’s own broom wasn’t in the best of shape from the knocks it had suffered during games over the past two years, and so Elly thought she might have a chance. The wind, however gentle, was against the racers. Elly dropped her broom a couple of feet, and in doing so managed to gain yet more speed from the descent, at the same time falling below the stream of air that was hindering Caedence’s acceleration. Despite Elly’s gain, Caedence still managed to win the race.

“Damn your faster broom,” Elly yelled, laughing. She pulled her broom sharply round, stopping almost instantly in mid-air. She saw the other Chasers were passing round a quaffle. “Go join your kind!” she told Caedence with a grin, before barrel rolling and returning to her exercises.

0 Elly That may be true, but I am taller :P 0 Elly 0 5

Irene

September 16, 2007 11:58 AM

Hey Saul! (and Lizzie and Meredith and whoever else is here) by Irene

Irene was just pulling out of a dive when she heard Saul's shout of, "Yo Lizzie! Let's keep the ball away from the kiddies!"

Oh, so that's the game is it? She put on a michevious grin and took off in the direction of Saul. He was readying himself for a pass and she was readying herself to put on a burst of speed the second the ball left Lizzie's fingers. She wasn't going to be underestimated because she was only a second year. Too bad first years weren't allowed to try out, or Irene would be among the young ones here... Irene kept her speed behind Saul, but to the side so she could race forward at any second. She loved when games were thrown into Quidditch practice. It always made her competitive nature kick in. Nothing personal was ever thrown in, it was just pure sport and fun.

0 Irene Hey Saul! (and Lizzie and Meredith and whoever else is here) 0 Irene 0 5

Caedence

September 16, 2007 3:44 PM

Joining my own kind by Caedence

Caedence laughed at Elly. “Faster, or merely better?” She called before chasing after the… well chasers. She cursed softly as the handle of her Nimbus started to vibrate. It was probably still beat up. She still drifted off to the right when she didn’t keep a firm hand on her broomstick. Maybe she could save up her money, any money she got, and buy a new one. She could probably afford a new Nimbus, or maybe an American model. Irene’s family liked her, maybe she could even ask for a discount at their store.

She caught up right beside Irene, careful to keep far away so that she didn’t drift into her fellow chaser. “Keep away from the kiddies is it?” She hollered. “Lets show these old folks how it’s done, shall we?” She grinned.

Motioning in a circle, she tried to convey that she wanted the two of them to surround Lizzie and Saul. She pointed at Irene, then at Lizzie, then herself and Saul. “Underneath” She added, noticing that she was riding the air current that had slowed her down in her race with Elly. Diving slightly, she went to hover under Saul, ready to scoop up the ball when it was passed. If she missed the catch, hopefully Irene would get it.\n

0 Caedence Joining my own kind 94 Caedence 0 5

Mere

September 16, 2007 6:25 PM

We accept you. One of us. by Mere

Meredith pushed her broom go faster and was ecstatic to see she was managing to catch up. Saul wanted to play Keep Away? Sure. Mere was up to it. It was just like playing with her brothers back home. She was still too far to stop him from a pass to Lizzie, but she could close the gap to stop another pass from getting back to him. She followed him through the dive, which sped her up considerably, but sped him up as well, and did her best to keep an eye out for him and his teammate so she could be ready to take the ball back. After pulling out from the dive she wasn’t quite next to him, but she was plenty closer than before. Definitely close enough to speed up and intercept so long as she could beat Saul to it.

Mere did a quick glance back, having a bit of a head start on the other girls since she went after Saul right away. She saw Irene and Caedence actively joining the fray. Caedence seemed to have a plan. If Mere recalled right, Caedence’s plans led to her getting hurt or in harm’s way. All she could do for now was hope the girl stayed safe. Luckily there were no bludgers out by the looks of things. Mere didn’t doubt Caedence to be clever, but also a bit danger prone.

She saw Caedence ready below Saul, so she chose to keep her position somewhere centered between the two older students. It made sense. Three on your team. Two to guard the two opposing players and one to get in between them for a hopeful steal back should a pass be made. Mere wouldn’t feel quite right until she got the ball back from Saul. An eye for an eye was all it was.

‘It would be rude not to return the favor.’ Mere thought to herself with a little laugh.

0 Mere We accept you. One of us. 0 Mere 0 5

The Craven Twins

September 16, 2007 8:16 PM

Agility 1 by The Craven Twins

Once the players had begun to warm up, the Cravens continued the set up they'd been working on since they got down to the pitch. They'd been working charms on several large poles, which they now levitated into the air. The magic they'd had to place on them had been all the trickier, as they wouldn't be keeping their wands trained on the objects they were enchanting, so it was a great relief when, upon lowering and stashing their wands, the poles stayed put. Having to do it balanced on a broom hadn't exactly helped either, so by the time they'd finished setting up, the twins felt confident that they'd proved their agility to themselves. With a loud 'Phweeeep' on their whistles, they gathered the players back to them.

"Ok, what we've got for your first agility test here is a slalom," explained Ash.

"Those of you from wizarding backgrounds should know it from flying events, and those from Muggle families from skiing. But just to be sure you know what's expected of you Ash-"

"-Sorrel will give a demonstration." Both twins spoke the other's name at the same time. As they'd previously agreed they'd both demonstrate the tasks, it was just a bit of competition to see who could get the other's name in edgeways first. With winks and tongue pokings, they set to face the hovering, evenly spaced poles. They flew in a weave between them at a steady, but not excessively quick pace, before rejoining the others.

"Looks pretty simple, right?" asked Sorrel. "And it is for now. However,"

"However, we're going to keep moving the poles closer,"

"And closer,"

"Until you drop out - by which we mean bump the poles, in which case,"

"This happens," Sorrel finished, kicking a pole. It flashed red and emitted a short, sharp, klaxon-like burst of noise. She set about resetting it whilst Ash finished the speech.

"Or there isn't room enough to move a broom between them," Or our charms fail and the poles fall out of the air, he added to himself. "Then the next person will go. We understand there's different levels of ability that are needed for each position and are possible for each player; Elly's got a lot less bulk than me, for instance, so her frame will fit through gaps mine wouldn't, giving her an advantage in this task. Of course, that's why she's good for Seeker, and I'm good for Beater, so don't worry if you don't complete as many runs as someone else, because we won't just be basing it on who "wins," we'll take into account how relevant it is to your position, and what natural advantages or disadvantages you have."

"And that goes for all the tasks," added Sorrel, rejoining them. "And, so you don't think we've got it easy, we're going to be joining in," she said, glad that Ash had used himself as an example. Strength and accuracy of aim, they were good at. Delicate, precision movements... Not so much their forté.

"You’re up first," Ash nodded.

OOC - whoever gets here first can decide that's who's being nodded at! You go through the slalom and then the poles get moved closer together (I won't count that as writing for my characters, don't worry) until you can't go any more. Obviously I don't want a post that's just "And the poles got closer and s/he got through but it was harder and then the poles got closer and...' Fewer runs with more details is preferable. Just the usual quality over quantity stuff. And, just like IC those who come after will be - I'm sure, in spite of what Ash has said - trying to beat the run number of the person before them, I understand that everyone who comes later will be trying to beat the word count of the person in front. Quality, not quantity, I know going first is a tough job.

0 The Craven Twins Agility 1 0 The Craven Twins 0 5

Caedence

September 16, 2007 9:59 PM

I'm up then by Caedence

Caedence heeded the rally call of her captain’s whistle. “We can continue our game later, oldies,” She taunted, sticking her tongue at Lizzie and Saul. She turned her broom sharply and headed off towards the Cravens, silently begging her broom to behave. She needed a new one, or she would need to use the school’s brooms. She was getting better at learning how to control her broom though. She knew that if the Cravens noticed, though, they’d demand her get a new one.

She listened patiently, but with growing worry. Drawing her braid over her shoulder, to give herself something to do with her shaking hands, she tightened the knot at the end of the ribbon. So they had to dodge around the poles? That should be okay. Except for the fact that they were going to get closer and closer. Hopefully, her broom would behave well enough. She just hoped she wasn’t first, so that she could judge how tough this really was. Ash and Sorrell made it seem okay, but they were the captains.

"You’re up first,"

Ash had nodded at her. Didn’t they know that she still had a broken broom? Didn’t they know that every time she was on a broom someone, usually herself, was hurt? Caedence didn’t know if it was her own thoughts saying that, or her panic.

She swung her broom around to face the poles. They seemed okay at first, but now they were pretty close. She closed her eyes, steeling herself. She could take down a guy two grades older than her, yet she couldn’t do an obstacle course? She shook her head. She could and would do this!

She shot off at the poles, faster than she meant, and she had to jerk her broom off to one side. She yelped, seeing another pole coming at her fast. She jerked her broom over to one side. She pulled back on her handle, slowing down a bit. Looking around for the next pole to dodge, she didn’t notice it right in front of her. With a startled yell, she went to the left, then quickly to the right again seeing another pole. She made it out of the slalom alive! Of course now she had to try again. She went back to the beginning of the course and faced her enemy.

The poles moved closer. She sucked in a breath, moving through the course slower this time, to avoid turning into poles. The next time she barely avoided the poles, her broom handle was beginning to shudder. Caedence felt her palms sweating on the handle as she went in for the fourth time through. They seemed so close to her, but it didn’t seem like it would be that difficult, right? She could swear that her robes hit one of the poles, but she must have imagined it. However, fifth time though, her broom gave a huge shudder and slammed her into a pole, raising the loud sound.

Caedence cursed softly. “Next up, I guess. Hope you do better than I did.” She glared at her broom handle and pounded it with her fist, causing her to flip over. Grabbing on for dear life she waited for the broom to right itself. With a harsh glare to cover her crimson cheeks, she watched the others.\n

0 Caedence I'm up then 94 Caedence 0 5

Meredith

September 16, 2007 10:40 PM

Number two is ready by Meredith

The whistle sounded, which Meredith took to mean the end of warm ups and the end of the easy part. She flew down to the captains with the other Pecaris and eyed the floating poles with a raised eyebrow. As she touched down she moved beside Elly, who had been warming up on her own, and smiled. The Captains began the morning session by explaining the poles. Mere’s eyes jumped to the slalom when Sorrel kicked one and it turned red and let out a blast of noise Mere hadn’t been prepared for. It was a good thing it was demonstrated or the noise might’ve made her jump right off her broom.

Mere nudged Elly in the side with a grin as she was mentioned to the group. So far the task didn’t look so bad, but Mere wasn’t looking forward to hearing that noise once the poles were too close for her to get through. If she went really slowly, her small frame could make it quite a few times, but she seriously doubted that was the point of the exercise. She wouldn’t be moving that slowly in a real game.

And then Ash called up the first person. Meredith watched Caedence’s run closely. She made it through four times, but her broom seemed to give her some trouble or she just wasn’t steady up there. She finished, looking pretty flustered, and Mere was next. Her stomach gave a tug, but she stepped forward with calm look, mentally pep talking herself. She wasn’t nervous. A little jittery with excitement, sure, but not nervous. Not over beating the bar set by Caedence. Not over the crowd watching her. Not over her vying for limited space on a small team. Nope. Not nervous. Not Meredith.

Mere mounted her broom and kicked off towards the start of the poles. They were a fair space apart. She could handle that. She began her first run, weaving through the poles at a steady speed and counting as she passed each one. A little faster than she probably should have. She came just a bit too close for comfort to the last pole. Mere let out a deep breath as she went back to the beginning with a pleased smile. She took the next run through the now closer poles at a speed just a smidgen slower and made it through with ease. She was grinning a bit by that point and took another deep breath before taking to the slalom once again. She wanted to say three times’s a charm, but it really was more difficult than it looked. By the fourth time, those poles were looking awfully close.

The captains said they could stop if a broom couldn’t fit through, but she and her broom could fit, just not at a very high speed. Those would be some sharp turns. Mere didn’t quit though and went ahead. Four down (barely), one to go. But on the fifth try she only made it past the second pole before knocking the third. The sound blasted right by her ear and she winced and quickly flew a good distance away rubbing her ear that had been nearest to the pole. She touched back down near the group and shouldered her broom awaiting any more instructions or for the next person to go. She became a bit distracted by an annoying ringing in her ears.

0 Meredith Number two is ready 0 Meredith 0 5

Saul

September 17, 2007 9:51 AM

I suppose that makes me #3 by Saul

The number to beat was five. Sure the captains said they weren't going to compare, but both Meredith and Caedence were also trying out for Chaser (presumably, he wasn't a hundred percent sure of Meredith's intended position besides beater and that wasn't happening with the Cravens as captains) and so they did fall into the direct competitor category.

Unfortunately, Saul was not really the most agile of people, but he figured with a slalom course he did have a little bit of an advantage. It didn't look all that much more difficult than carrying instrument cases through large crowds and much less awkward. The poles didn't even move except for between runs.

He was waved forward and he took a deep breath before moving through the course. Speed didn't seem to be a requirement, so he took the first time a little slower than Caedance and Meredith had gone through it. Saul hadn't been on a broom for several months and he hadn't used this particular school one before so he didn't want any surprises taking him out during the gimme round.

He sped up a tiny bit for the second round, so he was going close to a normal flying speed (certainly not as fast as he could go by any means, but just fast enough that it didn't look like he was trying to get out of the spirit of the exercise). He took the turns a little wider to compensate, zigzagging in and out, but he made it through with only one close call in the middle when he'd made one turn a bit too sharp.

The third round was hard. He was a bit taller than both Caedence and Meredith and his broom was likewise longer than theirs. He made great sweeping turns that that took him a long way out of the line of poles as he flew in an oscillating pattern that brought him almost perpendicular to the poles as he passed between them.

For the fourth pass, he had to slow down again. He used the same strategy as before doing a one eighty degree turns out of the way of where he might run into the posts, then coming back between the next pair before doing the same in the opposite direction. Unfortunately, he misjudged where his elbow was and smacked it into a post about three quarters of the way down and the klaxon sounded, nearly making him fall from his startled jump.

Well, he'd tied Caedence. He moved back to join the other players and shrugged good-naturedly. He hadn't expected to do great in the agility tests. The important part was that he hadn't embarrassed himself. He'd make up for it in the endurance test (easily the least intimidating of the named criteria since he usually spent his summers lugging around heavy musical and stage equipment all day with only a few breaks for performing in his own shows - a day-long Quidditch practice was nothing) and possibly the ability test.

1 Saul I suppose that makes me #3 82 Saul 0 5

Elly

September 17, 2007 11:36 AM

Why numbers? I'm going to be a banana. by Elly

[OOC: Don’t you hate it when you spend so long writing a post that someone else has got there first and you have to rewrite it?]

At the sharp blast of a whistle, Elly followed the others in returning to the ground, and landed a great deal more graceful than usual, which surprised her somewhat. She grinned as Mere joined her, and then turned her attention back to her captains to receive the next instructions. The slalom looked tricky, but Elly felt an immediate advantage – going especially fast was not something her broom was up to, particularly when competing against a Nimbus. Manoeuvring, however, was a skill she’d spent a great deal of time enhancing, as it was important for her position as Seeker, and so she felt perfectly capable of executing this task successfully. Ash soon pointed out another advantage that Elly had; she knew she was a skinny wretch, but did he have to say it in front of everybody? Mere nudged Elly lightly, and she responded by poking her tongue out.

Caedence went up first, and Elly watched as her friend gradually adjusted her speed to be more suitable for cornering. Mere was next, and Elly whispered a quick good luck as she alighted. Elly noted how she made the same mistake as Caedence of starting off too fast. She made a mental note to start off slowly and gain speed as she felt more comfortable, and not the other way round. Mere and Caede successfully completed four runs each, which, considering how close the poles got, Elly thought was very good. Saul was next and he didn’t do badly, either, drawing the turns out wider round the poles.

When the run had been reset ready for her go, Elly heeded her own advice and made fairly slow progression through the first couple of turns, accelerating only when she’d become accustomed to the distance between poles, and the angles she needed to turn to avoid them. As she began each new run, with the poles closer together, Elly found it harder to stay on track. Once or twice she flew a little off course by misjudging a corner, but still managed to stay within reasonable boundaries. Even as she approached the fifth go, Elly was confident in her steering skills. Ash has been right about her advantage in build; Elly’s knees and came dangerously close to the poles a couple of times, but she was thin enough to slip by. As she began the sixth run, though, Elly grit her teeth together as she pulled hard on the handle of her broom, steering it yet sharper than she normally would in a game. She was travelling at a much slower pace, too, though still avoiding contact with the poles. Approaching the end of the course for the sixth time, Elly had just started to release the breath she’d been holding when a furiously loud alarm set off just to her right. In her eagerness to complete the run, Elly had clipped the penultimate post with the tail end of her broomstick.

As she headed back to ground, she realised her heart was beating faster than usual – she attributed it to the shock from the klaxon charm, though inwardly admitted it might be a little due to how hard she’d been gripping her broom handle to corner so tightly. She took a seat on the grass next to Meredith, and watched as the rest of the team took the challenge.
\r\n\r\n

0 Elly Why numbers? I'm going to be a banana. 0 Elly 0 5

Irene

September 17, 2007 5:14 PM

May I eat you? by Irene

OOC: I had my post typed out and I almost missed the bus so I left it here. Now TWO more people have posted! *sticks out tongue* ... *five minutes later* It is a GOOD thing that I copied this! I hate it when the internet exits & takes your post with it! I clicked on an internet link and POOF! There goes my (admittedly rather long) post. I had to redo the last half of it :( Could have been worse. But anyway...

BIC:

Irene pulled her broom to a stop as the whistle blew down near the ground she didn't really want to go back to. Nevertheless, she headed towards the group gathering on the grassy lawn of the pitch, laughing as Caedence called, “We can continue our game later, oldies!” Irene touched down and joined the group. In front of her, floating in the air no less, was a group of poles, each stationed a certain ways away from the other. Ash and Sorrel each explained the rules to the group. Basically, all they had to do was get through them, but the same could be said about a ring of fire... But these weren't dangerous. Just a bit annoying, she noted after Sorrel aimed a kick at one of the poles causing it to let out an obnoxious burst of noise.

Irene watched as Caedence flew through the poles, keeping her fingers crossed in her pocket for her. She made it through four times before her broom did something funny, but it wasn't a bad run. At least, Irene didn't think so. Caedence apparently did, as she didn't look to happy when she neared the ground, telling Meredith she was up. Meredith was her fellow reserve last year and they had had some fun. Around the end of last term they had gotten some training out on the pitch. Looking around, she realized that everyone here was aiming for a spot on the team and everyone had a decent amount of talent behind them…

Meredith made it through about the same distance as Caedence, wincing at the drill of noise. Saul got just as far. Irene noted to herself that the fifth time would be the most difficult so far. But she did have one thing going for her; she was fairly skinny from the early years where she had been barely skin and bone. She had grown a bit over the summer too, which she couldn't help but notice made her even skinnier. Elly took off and did a spectacular run, getting through six times.

As Elly touched down again and Irene grinned at her as Elly took a spot on the grass. Irene felt a twist in her stomach as she realized it was her turn. Ignoring the annoying feeling in her gut, Irene grabbed her broom, kicking off so she was level with the poles. She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, and started off at a decent speed. Like she expected, it was harder than it looked. She dodged left, right, left, each time feeling a rush of wind go behind her. She made it to the end, with an inward sigh of relief.

One down, five to go. She thought. If she was going to make the team she had to make it through this. Irene set of at a slightly slower speed, completely aware of the increased difficulty of the challenge. It was a consistent timing she needed. If she kept a pattern, hopefully she would be consistent in a successful turn. Strangely, the challenge gave her this weird sense of competitive nature. The poles are just bludgers, or players or something, she thought as she got dangerously close to a pole. Irene pulled her broom to one side, narrowly avoiding it. She couldn't hit the "players" if she wanted to remain intact. She pulled her broom around, starting the third round.

The poles moved closer together, looking more menacing than before. Irene set off, taking it slower this time. Left, right, left-- She gasped as she almost crashed into the last pole, but turned her broom to come out of the series of obstacles. Irene readied herself for the fourth run, reminding herself of her motivation. She set off, using ever ounce of judgment and focus she had in her. She was going to do this, whether she liked it or not. She couldn't help but grin as she pulled out of a sharp turn as she got to the end of the fourth round. Now it was big number five... Irene felt some nerves kick in, but she shook her head, blocking out everything but what was in front of her. Hadn't she sworn to herself that was going to finish this with the best results she could produce?

Irene set forward, knowing that she had to get past this in order to really show that she wasn't just the youngest one here. She turned at the first pole... The second... She had a scare at the third and she had to twist her broom handle in order for it to avoid those oh-so-sensitive sensors... She was nearing the end, but didn't let her guard down. She had noticed Elly speeding up at the end of her run which had been her "downfall" or whatever you'd like to call it. Irene let out a sigh of relief as she flew past the last pole. All she had to do was get through this last one and she was in the Go-Ahead zone! But her nerves were really starting to kick in... She had been training all summer and the end of last term in hopes to make the team this year. And now she had a new reason to make sure she got on the team. She was not like her father. Hard work would keep her away from becoming anything like him, or even thinking about him. Hard work was last on his list, but she wasn’t like him.

Irene took a deep breath as she went to start her sixth run. Just get through this... Just get through this... she coached herself. Irene kicked her broom into a speed that little Elaina would laugh at back home. She wasn't taking chances. Irene curved around the first pole, trying to keep even the end of her ponytail from hitting the obstacle. She gave a yelp of shock as she found herself all too close to the next pole. She tugged the handle to the right, avoiding contact with the strangely intimidating piece of plastic. She turned her broom again, realizing how close she was to the end, feeling sweat on her face. She felt a rush of excitement and achievement, but she wasn't done yet. Irene pulled out of the last turn, biting her lip to keep from looking too pleased with herself.

Irene blinked in surprise as the poles scooted even closer together. Could she even fit? Irene felt that temporary excitement drain away and her nerves creep back. She edged forward until the front of her broom was at the almost miniscule gap between the two poles. She turned, keeping an eye on the back of her broom. She curved to the other side, trying to keep a zigzag pattern. Sooner than she would have dreamed, there was a pole in her face. Irene yelped and tugged the handle of her broom away, but in the attempt, the back end of her broom collided with the previous pole. The loud screech that emitted from behind her rang in her ear. Irene sighed and touched back down. She took a seat, happy to be back on the lovely lovely ground...

0 Irene May I eat you? 0 Irene 0 5

Saul

September 17, 2007 6:04 PM

ooc by Saul

I have a small inaccuracy. There is one sentence in my post that is wrong. Fortunately, it was a POV thought, so I can blame it on the character. Saul's belief that he'd tied Caedence is erroneous. He's actually one round behind her. Poor boy miscounted.

1 Saul ooc 82 Saul 0 5

The Cravens

September 19, 2007 8:50 PM

Ability 1 by The Cravens

"Good going guys," Sorrel nodded, once the last person had completed the slalom.

"Mind yourselves," Ash added, casting a 'finite incantatum' on the poles. They dropped suddenly for a few feet, before Sorrel caught them with a levitating charm that allowed her to set them down with only a small bump, rather than the crash that letting gravity take its toll would have resulted in.

"Ok, we need to see twenty press-ups from each of you, and then you can take your morning break. Fifteen minutes - grab a drink, go to the bathroom, be back here." To show spirit, the twins dropped, speeding through the push-ups, before jumping up to set up the next task's equipment.

Once the would-be players had reassembled (and been led on a run around the perimeter of the pitch) the Cravens, after swigging large amounts of water, detailed the next task on the agenda.

"Ok, so next we've got an ability task," Ash informed them. "It's obviously kind of hard to find a task that's relevant to everyone in equal measures,"

"You'll find that this task is more Chaser-friendly than any other position, but we'll have other tasks later in the day for different skills,"

"And good general ball skills, aim and dexterity are important for all players, so we don't think this is a waste of anyone's time."

"You'll see we've got a selection of baskets in the air, seven in total," explained Sorrel, indicating the wicker tubs that were suspended over their heads.

"Above and below that red ribbon. The ribbon is the marker for the level you have to fly at," Ash informed them, indicating a red streamer that rippled only slightly, and remained at a level position between the baskets.

"You have four shots with a Quaffle. Obviously it's easier to score in some baskets than others," she gave them another vague wave with her arm. It would have been hard to miss that some of the baskets had advantages, such as being closer to the line, larger or - for four out of seven of them - the fact they were below the line, rather than above it.

"But they're worth fewer points; it's up to you to judge your own ability. If you're good, you've got to decide whether you want to go for safe shots and definitely get points, but fewer of them,"

"Or go for the trickier shots for more but risk getting nothing."

“One by one again, you first this time.”

OOC - off you go! Feel free to invent the characteristics of the baskets - their distances, sizes, anything else you can think of that would make them trickier/easier. Don't worry about how other people have described them; it's like in classes, where you can all decide the spell or potions ingredients yourself, rather than all copying the first poster - it gives me a greater gauge of your creativity. Enjoy.

0 The Cravens Ability 1 0 The Cravens 0 5

Saul Pierce

September 20, 2007 10:50 AM

I will follow Elly's lead and be . . . a pineapple by Saul Pierce

Saul was still huffing a puffing a bit from his running lap (perhaps after a summer long road trip was not the best time for an endurance test after all) while the twins explained their next task. It sounded easy enough and his aim was pretty good, so he was sure he'd do just fine for this part of the try-out.

It was good that his hands came up and automatically caught the Quaffle tossed right at him because he wasn't expecting to be named to go first. "Aye, aye, captains," he grinned at them and flew up toward the ribbon. He had four shots for seven baskets. He took a moment to look over his choices.

He picked a medium sized hoop about ten feet away and above the shooting line as his first one. It wasn't the hardest one of the exercise, but Saul was going for chaser so he thought he should try one that was at least a little challenging. He tossed the red ball and it dropped through, no rim. Saul grinned, pleased, the flew over to it to fetch the ball from inside the wicker tub.

Flying back up to the ribbon he picked out his second choice. It was the same size as his first choice and at about the same altitude, but this one was more than twice as far away. Saul eyed the distance, hefted the Quaffle, and gave it a go. It bounced of the edge of the basket's rim and didn't go in.

Saul dove and caught the ball before it hit the ground and went back to the same spot as before. For try number three, he picked the same basket as last time and adjusted his aim just a little bit. This time it dropped in after hitting the far rim. Letting out a rush of breath, he flew over to collect the ball, and returned to the ribbon for his final shot.

The last basket above the line was small and nearly as far as the one he'd just made. Saul doubted his ability to get the ball inside (he was sure he could hit it, he just didn't want to risk losing the points because it bounced wrong). He looked back at the others, bit his lip, and wished he knew what kinds of scores they were going to have. Going first stunk.

Risk a lot, gain a lot. He went for the basket tried for twice and only got once. If he got it, he'd show he'd definitely fixed his error. If he didn't, he'd show the second time was luck. He was about eighty percent sure he'd actually fixed his error.

He took a deep breath. He aimed. He shot. He pumped his fist in the air and gave a shout. It went in.

He collected the quaffle for the last time and returned to the others. Tossing the ball to the next person, he called out cheerfully, "Your go."

1 Saul Pierce I will follow Elly's lead and be . . . a pineapple 82 Saul Pierce 0 5

Irene

September 20, 2007 4:32 PM

I'll be... an orange! getting hungry by Irene

Irene stood by their next challenge, taking deep calming breaths. It had just occurred to her how good everyone here was, not to mention older (but she sternly told herself that it didn't matter), and she was beginning to panic slightly. What if she didn't make it? Well, then she had obviously not tried hard enough, right? But did that make her like Damon? She certainly knew how she would feel if she didn't make it at all. Reserve was great and all that. She remembered the fun she'd had last year, but she wanted to push for that first-string spot...

In front of her was a series of baskets, all different sizes, distances, some moving, and materials. They had to shoot from behind a ribbon in the air. Some of the baskets were metal, which would make the ball bounce off the rim easier. Some were sort of cloth-like, like a basketball net. Those would be easier to shoot for. Irene wasn't too sure about this one... When she was called to do something when she wasn't, you know, "in-the-zone" or playing, she didn't seem to do as well... She wasn't sure why, but when it was a game she just played better. It was like her entire being was focused on this one thing: Quidditch. It was almost like second nature when she was out there. Catch. Throw. Duck.

Irene watched as the Quaffle was tossed to Saul. Saul was good. He was nice too. She had talked with him at the Fury! last year. She hoped he got a spot, he deserved it. She hoped Caedence and Elly did too. They had been so awesome through last year, plus they were pretty great at the sport! And Lizzie. She was really great in the Pecari/Crotalus game last year before she was hit. Meredith was so nice too. She had joined Irene for practice last year and had been her fellow reserve. Ahh! If she wanted everyone to get a spot that meant that she wouldn't! Darn it, nice people... Irene looked on with her blue-green eyes as Saul shot once, making it no problem. The second time... Not so much. Close, but no cigar, or some other random old saying like that. Saul shot again and made it right into the basket. He tried the same with his last shot, making that too. Irene's theory was to go for the difficult shots. Not too difficult, because she thought that going for the farthest back metal baskets bordered on maybe being a little too sure of yourself. Saul headed back, looking pretty happy with himself. He tossed her the Quaffle with a happy, Your go." Irene caught it and grabbed her broom. Her turn...

She flew up to the marked altitude. She had four shots. Irene examined the baskets, trying to figure out which of the seven she wanted to pick. There was a medium sized metal basket placed near the back-middle. It looked promising enough. Irene lifted the Quaffle back and let the ball go towards the basket. She crossed her fingers, praying karma was with her... It was. Irene smiled a bit and flew to retrieve the Quaffle. She took her place back at the ribbon, picking out another basket. There was a basketball net looking hoop farther to the back, but not ridiculously far. Irene took aim again, taking a calming breath, and launched the Quaffle towards the basket. For a moment she thought it was going to miss, but a spin on the Quaffle pulled it back to its target. She couldn't help but sigh in relief as she went to go retrieve the oh-so-generous ball.

Irene looked down at the players below her. She was going to have to do something great if she wanted to really show what she was made of... She picked out a metal basket at a tricky, but (she thought) doable angle. Irene pictured a game thundering all around her. There was a Keeper, Beaters behind her, Seekers circling the pitch, her teammates playing to their fullest. Irene flew back a few feet. In order to really feel in the game she flew towards the ribbon, aiming the Quaffle. As she reached the ribbon she hurled the Quaffle towards her goal. It bounced on the rim, bouncing onto the other side of the rim, and falling into the bin. She bit her lip to keep from shouting out in happiness and relief.

Irene took off, retrieved the beautiful merciful Quaffle, and headed back to her spot. Maybe... Just maybe, she could try a moving target. They were in the middle, but no doubt the most difficult. Maybe she was letting the last goal get to her head... But it was worth a try, right? Irene decided that if she made it, it would be awesome. If not, she gave it a try. If she did a really horrible throw maybe it would go into a different basket! Not probable, but, hey, she had to be optimistic. She arched her arm, observing the speed of the basket. It reminded her of a game at a carnival her mother had taken her to for her fifth birthday. The hoops moved back and forth. Irene took aim and pitched the Quaffle at the spot she had picked. It soared through the air, hit the rim of the basket, and bounced away.

Irene felt a small let down of disappointment as she fetched the Quaffle, but she couldn't say she was surprised. She gave it a good effort and she was happy with how she'd done. Irene hopped off her broom and tossed the ball to the next person.

Smiling, she said, "Tag."

0 Irene I'll be... an orange! *getting hungry* 0 Irene 0 5

Caedence

September 21, 2007 6:05 PM

Fruit is overrated, i'm a carrot by Caedence

Caedence did her push ups silently, feeling pretty good with herself. Sure, Elly and Irene did better at the flight test, but Saul did worse and Meredith tied with her. During her break, she got a quick drink, but didn’t delay. After she got back to the pitch, with seven minutes to spare, she stretched her arms, shoulders, back and legs. While she was warmed up, there was no such thing as too warmed up. While swinging her head from side to side to stretch her neck, she noticed other people coming. Show time, kiddies. With a big grin, and a thumbs up at Elly, she took off on her practice lap, taking calculated breaths through her nose and out the mouth.

She listened to the Cravens’ speech, smirking at the promise that this would benefit chasers. That would be good, since she wanted to become a chaser. And she was merely making goals, with a slight twist. That was bound to be fun.

Saul went first, missing his second shot, but getting the other three. Irene’s first shot made it in beautifully, as did her second. The third not so much. This was beginning to look a bit tougher than Caedence thought. She knew she could do it however. Being a chaser was what she did second best. Bashing a metal ball at semi-suspecting opponents was what she did best but the captains had that covered.

She saw something red streaking towards her face. Out of reflexes, she grabbed the ball and tucked it under her elbow, against her side. Blushing, she took it out from under her elbow and got on her broom. She kicked off hard, shooting towards the red ribbon.

Now she was faced with seven hoops. One, very close, seemed all too easy and she was sure that she could get it. However, she doubted it would be worth many points. One was farther away, but very small opening, probably only big enough for the quaffle to fit, but with no room for error. She knew that it would probably be worth the most, but she didn’t want to risk looking the fool. Finally, she settled on a medium sized hoop half way between the two. Taking careful aim, she chucked the quaffle at it. Her heart fell fast as the quaffle went way off course, instead making it into the basket to the intended one’s left. Caedence cursed, but the one to the left was smaller, so it must have been worth more, but not too much more. She went to retrieve it, vowing to get it in the hoop she wanted this time.

She closed her eyes, trying to place herself in the last game, the championship, the one they lost. She could almost feel the wind ruffling her hair, hear the crowds screaming. She imagined that things were different. She had the quaffle, and it was one score to win. Elly was streaking towards the snitch. Saul and Lizzie were flanking her, waiting for a pass that she wasn’t giving them. A bludger whistled past her head, and a Craven zipped past to follow it. She opened her eyes, no longer seeing baskets, but hoops. Three gold hoops. She took careful aim at the middle one, and threw with all her might. The ball soared through. She let out a victorious whoop before coming back to reality. The ball, in reality, had settled inside of a medium sized basket set the farthest back from the others. She couldn’t help cheering for the good shot before going to retrieve it.

She felt pretty good about herself. Maybe too good, but she didn’t think it. She took a shot at the tiny basket she had considered before. The red ball bounced straight off of it. Caedence cursed as she sped off after the falling ball. Too cocky. She found a closer basket that was no doubt worth less points, of medium size, and shot it in easily. Maybe she should have gone for a tougher one her last shot, but she didn’t want to screw it up.

As she touched down, she smiled at Elly. She looked around at the remaining people. “Umm… next up I guess?” She said looking at the Cravens before sitting down on the field, broom laying at her side. Her nerves were getting very frayed. She hoped her temper didn’t start to arise, as it would be terrible to shout at her captains. Endurance next, she realized with a groan. Well, relax until then, she reasoned, laying back to watch the person up in the air.\n

0 Caedence Fruit is overrated, i'm a carrot 94 Caedence 0 5

Elly

September 22, 2007 6:37 PM

Go Caede! Don't conform - be a carrot! by Elly

Twenty press-ups? Only the twins’ dropping to start the exercises themselves persuaded Elly that they weren’t joking. Press-ups it was then. She managed ten before collapsing onto the floor and laughing at her lack of stamina. She completed the rest in two lots of five, and did an extra two afterwards as self-inflicted punishment for her lame attempt. In her defence, being a Seeker didn’t really require especially strong arm muscles – not like being a Beater.

In the break, Elly jogged up to the castle for a drink, as she hadn’t thought to bring one down with her. She returned with a bottle of water and sat on the grass in the sun with her friends, waiting for the next part of the tryout to begin. Before that happened though, the captains led their team on a lap around the pitch. Suddenly the pitch seemed a lot bigger. Elly managed the run without a great deal of trouble, but she knew that two years ago she would have found it a lot easier. She realised that the problem with the training she’d been doing for Quidditch was that it was all broom-mounted, and her legs hadn’t had much training at all. That needed sorting.

The next task was Chaser-oriented, according to the Cravens. Elly agreed – placing balls into baskets was definitely a Chaser thing to do. On the other hand, though, Elly thought she might do okay. The previous summer she’d done a decent job of playing goal shooter in netball games with her hockey team, and that was what had encouraged her decision to sign up for Quidditch in the first place – as a Chaser. She’d ended up being Seeker because that was the vacancy on the team, and she’d turned out to be good at that, too.

Elly watched with interest as Saul, Irene and Caedence all took their try at the task. She grinned and gave Caedence a thumbs up as she flew back down. “Next up I guess,” she said as she passed the Quaffle to Elly.

“Yeah, thanks,” Elly replied, catching the Quaffle and taking to the air. Despite her skills at shooting two summers ago, Elly hadn’t tried aiming for a hoop since then, and wasn’t sure her skills would come flying back to her in that instant. Bearing this in mind, she tried for one of the easier shots first – a big basket below the red ribbon. The ball hit the rim of the wicker basket then, to Elly’s relief, fell in. Pleased her first shot had gone to plan, Elly picked another easy target for her second go. This one was above the line, but still large, and relatively close. It was more like the netball shooting, and again Elly was pleased to see the ball safely enter the basket. Her third try, however, was not so lucky. Encouraged by her successes, she tried for one of the baskets that was both a little further away and comparatively smaller than the first two had been. She thought the Quaffle had skimmed the rim of the basket, but the ball didn’t go in. Deterred by her failure, on her fourth and final go, Elly went for the second basket again – the shot was messier and the ball hit the rim before falling in, but it was good enough for her. She flew back down to the ground, waiting to watch Mere as she took her turn.

0 Elly Go Caede! Don't conform - be a carrot! 0 Elly 0 5

The Twins

September 22, 2007 9:23 PM

Endurance by The Twins

The twins scrutinised the ability test, marking down the scores each player achieved, although it was rapidly becoming clear how difficult this was going to be, and how far the numbers in front of them might deviate from what they wanted, or saw as best. The scribbles on a bit of paper seemed almost meaningless; you couldn't crunch it down into the simple numbers achieved on a test, but they had to count them for something, and that was going to make the decision a lot harder.

"Ok guys, time to break for lunch. You've put in a good morning's work," Sorrel nodded.

"You've got an hour. That's round trip time - ie, includes your journey to and from the Hall."

"Be back within the hour, having eaten, essentially," stated Sorrel, as the twins turned their brooms to fly most of the way up to the school and thus cut the journey time.

[lunch]

"Welcome back guys, I hope everyone's got their energy up for this afternoon," Ash greeted, exactly an hour later (well, possibly not the second, but as near as damn was to swearing).

"You're in for your first formal endurance test. We thought too much swooping and diving and spinning wasn't going to be preferrable right after lunch, so we went for something slower and steadier." Although, depending on how exhausted they got, there was a possibility of some of the recently consumed lunch ending up on the pitch. They'd tried to prevent this by equipping everyone with water bottles for the test to keep them hydrated, but that wasn't going to stop it being knackering.

"Each take a jacket, we've laid them out by size," Ash instructed, pointing to a row of khaki jackets, each with a number of small metal loops all down the arms and body, as well as a loop on each side supporting a full water bottle. He and Sorrel picked up the larger jackets, shrugging them on.

"The keen eyed amongst you," Sorrel's eyes couldn't help but drift to Elly, "might have observed these, and the sharp minded worked out what we're going to do to you now." She indicated several piles of dull grey metal beside her. "We'll fly two lengths, so you can get used to the feel of the jackets and balancing with the water,"

"And then we'll start to add the weights. They'll be evenly distributed, so they won't throw your balance off much."

"They'll just make flying more tiring."

"Again, we're controlling for different levels. If Sorrel and I started off with the same amount as one of you younger ones, it'd barely make a difference to us," Ash informed them. It wasn't (very) boastful, it was just a statement of fact. This was the test he felt most confident in, in terms of his own ability. He wasn't slim and nimble, he had reasonable aim, but he was definitely strong. He ran, he did push-ups and chin ups as part of his daily routine. This was the kind of test he could really show his worth on. "The amount you start with and the amount we increase it by have been worked out to put people on roughly even footing." Obviously they hadn't had everyone on the team's weight when they'd got their dad to help them with the equations, but descriptions of height and size had been close enough, they hoped.

"You've got a packed afternoon, so don't fly until you're dying of exhaustion, as it'll just meant you're screwed up for the afternoon."

"And whilst the point is to see how well you do when you're tired, if you can't move off the pitch, that's going to be hard for us," Ash allowed himself a rougish grin.

"Go until you're tired, not until you've made yourself ill. Keep hydrated, you may stop to refill."

"Let's go," said Ash.

OOC as this is meant to go on over quite a long time, and isn't a discreet amount of shots like the previous test, feel free to break your post before your character is done, and react/interact with other people. I appreciate you've only got a short time in which to do that, so don't worry if ends are left loose in terms of coverstation. I'd rather have a change to the format than everything be absolutely neatly tied up.

0 The Twins Endurance 0 The Twins 0 5

Meredith

September 23, 2007 12:31 AM

Peanut! We legumes are cool. by Meredith

So Meredith hadn’t gotten through the slalom the most times. She didn’t feel bad. She was far more proud of Elly and Irene for doing so well. She did her best and that was all she could do. They were asked for push-ups before going to break. Mere shrugged and got down to do as told. It wasn’t hard having plenty of upper body strength. It came with the beater position and gymnastics helped to, but she didn’t rush herself through it. When she finished, she walked her legs forward and did a walkover to a standing position. She missed that over the summer.

After a quick water break, Mere was back at the Pitch. She waited by readjusting her ponytail and doing another quick stretch. It couldn’t hurt to be limber especially when you could do fun things like splits. Mere did one and waited that way for the short while it took everyone to return and for the captains to start. She was ready for the second test. She picked herself up and began her lap on the captains’ word. Afterwards she was certainly breathing heavier than before. She could appreciate the size of the Pitch.

The next task was explained. An ability task. Shooting. Perfect chaser business. Aim didn’t worry Mere too much. Then again those baskets were looking pretty tricky. She didn’t get the same luck as last time with going early. She watched, flexing her left hand that would be doing the throwing, as her friends went before her. They were all good competition. Mere was itching to get back on her broom. After what felt like an eternity, it was her turn after Elly’s. Mere took up her broom and a quaffle and made her way to the red ribbon in the air.

It was hard to decide which of the seven baskets to go for first. She passed the ball between her hands for a few moments as she thought and then let it stay in her left. She decided to make each shot progressively harder. The ones up close were far too easy. She wanted to keep away from those if she could. She went for a middle basket below the ribbon. It was a decent size smaller than the ‘give away’ baskets. She aimed and then let the quaffle fly. It did a ring around the basket before falling in. Mere smiled and retrieved it. Three more. She eyed a middle basket above the line. It was a hair’s width smaller than the other and about five feet farther back. She adjusted herself, backing up for a clearer view of the basket (and for a bit of sport) and shot again.

She watched the quaffle arch through the air and felt that rush when you just know for sure you made a perfect shot. There was a satisfying swish. Down to two. It was time to look at the harder baskets. The ones near the back. Mere took a deep breath and tried to measure how far the next target was. Another ten feet from the farther middle basket. At that far a distance she could make it for sure if it was a regular hoop, but this basket business threw her off some. She didn’t linger in thought for too long and threw the quaffle again. It did a bounce on the rim that sent a jolt through Mere’s body and then fell in. Mere slumped with relief. She honestly didn’t think that one would make it. Fate was on her side that day or at least for this task. She quelled the ever growing grin because, continuing with her plan, the last basket was the farthest from her and it was difficult to aim at. But she aimed and she fired. Another jolt inducing bounce, followed by a second, but not a third. It slipped off the rim and dropped towards the ground.

Meredith mentally shrugged and dove down, catching the quaffle. She thought she had a good run. It would have been so awesome if all four went in, but no one had that luck for the task. She didn’t think it was the end of the world. She flew back down to the ground, returned the quaffle, and shouldered her broom as she returned to her friends in the group with a half satisfied, half relieved smile.

0 Meredith Peanut! We legumes are cool. 0 Meredith 0 5

Elly

September 23, 2007 6:25 AM

Today I shun tangible objects: I'm a simultaneous equation by Elly

Lunchtime was a very welcome break. Elly had a large bowlful of vegetable and lentil soup, which helped to restore some of the energy used up that morning. She amused everyone seated near her by carving faces into an apple and a pear and making them act out a romantic tragedy.

By the time she returned to the Quidditch pitch she was back in high spirits and raring to go. She couldn’t believe that they were having an actual test of endurance, though – surely a daylong tryout was proof enough of endurance? She wasn’t complaining though – Elly approved of the no nonsense attitude the Cravens had adopted; it made everything feel like more of an achievement. She saw the jackets laid out on the floor and eyed them with suspicion. When instructed to do so, Elly selected a jacket – the one in the middle because she figured the older students were of a bigger frame than her, but she was certainly taller than the other girls. She fidgeted with the hoops on the jacket, trying to gauge what they were for, and wondering if the small heap of metal weights behind the captains had anything to do with it. Somehow, the fact that this was an endurance test gave her the impression that it did.

Elly listened to the instructions given and mentally groaned. Yep, this was going to be tough. For a start the jackets added an extra layer that was really unnecessary with the warm Sonoran weather. Her hands were going to have blisters by the end of the day from holding the broom handle, she just knew it – her hockey playing days had left her hands blistered most of the time. Nevertheless, she took to the sky with the rest of the team determined to do her best.

After a couple of weights had been added, Elly found it dull flying around without much to do other than keep herself balanced. It wasn’t long at all before she started quietly singing the Witch Doctor. She sang a little louder as she passed by Caedence, and louder again as she drew close to Meredith. By the time she got to the chorus, she was singing loudly, grinning like a maniac, and encouraging everyone else to join in.

“Ooo eee, oo ah ah,
Ting tang walla walla bing bang
Ooo eee, oo ah aha
Ting tang walla walla bing bang.

Everyone!”

0 Elly Today I shun tangible objects: I'm a simultaneous equation 0 Elly 0 5

Mere

September 23, 2007 12:00 PM

blink blink ...yeah, what she said. by Mere

Mere was half expecting another few laps around the Quidditch Pitch before being sent to lunch. It didn’t come though so Mere went up to lunch happily when they were dismissed. She had started feeling hunger pains a while ago, but kept them to herself. A plate of pasta and a romantic tragedy later, Mere was on her way back to the Pitch with Elly.

A line of jackets with metal loops awaited them. It was an endurance test so they would probably have those weights on their person. She could bet that wouldn’t be pleasant. Mere took a jacket towards the beginning of the line where they were smaller. As it turned out, she was right enough about the task and it didn’t look like it was fortunate to be right this time. Those weights were definitely going to take their toll. But it could have been a lot worse considering it was an endurance test. Multiple things that were a lot worse and involved bludgers came to mind.

Mere started the practice runs on her broom to get a feel for the jacket. The jacket alone felt inhibiting on her, but if she couldn’t make it past that, how would she ever get through this test? Then the weights were added. Okay, she could still handle it. She wouldn’t be winning any races with the weights on her body, but she was sure she could keep herself in the air for a while. A few laps and she was starting to feel the strain more than before. Or it could’ve been the monotony of it all. Just flying in circles would get very boring very fast. But of course, her best friend was always there to relieve boredom. She thanked Merlin for Elly Eriksson and whatever oddball song she was singing as she flew beside her. Mere had never heard it before in her life.

But when Elly said “Everyone!” Mere was more than willing to join in the chorus as best as she could, keeping pace with Elly's broom so she could hear more of the words. Only hearing it once wasn’t going to teach her the lyrics. But there were parts like that walla bing bing line that stuck to memory quickly just because of how goofy the words were. She still doubted she was saying it right, but it didn't matter. She laughed and sang it loudly with her friend. It sure took her minds off the weights.

0 Mere *blink blink* ...yeah, what she said. 0 Mere 0 5

Irene

September 23, 2007 8:45 PM

Well I'm going to be a Cheerio. by Irene

Irene was glad to head back to the castle for lunch. She had been feeling that lightheaded feeling that she got when she got too hungry. This was one of the side effects of living with her dad fot those two years. But the macaroni and cheese really hit the spot by the time she got to Cascade Hall. It was kind of weird to be reluctant to go backto the Quidditch Pitch. She vaguely wondered how many all-day practices there would be during the season... It was a good thing she absolutely loved flying. The Cravens had lined up a bunch of jackets in front of them, each with rings on the side. Aw man.... That means that they'd probably be wearing another layer in the hot Sonora sun. Irene pulled on one of the smaller ones, examining the little silver rings on the side. Not exactly a fashion statement.

The Cravens informed them that they would be adding weights to the rings. Awesome. This was going to take upper body strength and not to mention perserverance. She'd have to think of something to keep her mind off the laps. She thought that this was probably going to be the thoughest part of the try-outs. It was a good thing she had plenty to think about. Everything that had been going on. First her dad over the summer, but most recently (and much more cheerful), herself and Brett. Irenen couldn't help but smile a bit. Irene wasn't the best at pure laps. Playing a game was different. When she was in a game she had to keep her mind foccused on everything else but the flying. Here, all she had to think about was the lap. The weights.

Once they got to flying, Irene didn't go all out at once. That was the worst thing to do in an endurance test. The beginning was perfectly fine. It was just flying. Just flying. The first weights weren't so bad either. The next one, eh, a little thougher. After a few more laps, she was needing a distraction. And one came in the form of Elly. Thank Merlin for that girl.

"Everyone!"

And Irene knew the song! She happily joined in with Mere and Elly. The entertainment was helping minimize the weight on her arms and putting her in a much better mood. Her arms felt lighter and she flew ahead next to Elly. She flashed her a grin in thanks for the distraction.

0 Irene Well I'm going to be a Cheerio. 0 Irene 0 5

Saul

September 23, 2007 9:23 PM

And I am a, um, simple arithmetic problem by Saul

Lunch was a welcome break. Not so much because he was flagging yet (his shortness of breath after the jog had gone away fairly quickly and was thereafter completely forgotten) but because he was starving. He was a fourteen year old boy in the midst of a growth spurt so this was his standard state of being, but there hadn't been anything to snack on all morning except for during that short break. He was dying.

He sat down with the others in the Cascade Hall, but was so busy stuffing his mouth and pockets (he'd had a rare burst of foresight and figured that the afternoon was going to be as snackless as the morning and decided to rectify the situation) full of food that he was only able to pay Elly's play half the attention it deserved and was only able to pitch in a few extras for her production.

He made it back on time with his pockets bulging with rolls, carrots, sticks of pepperoni, and anything else he could lay his hands on that he didn't think would be ruined if they got a little banged up.

Spotting the jackets laying out on the ground, Saul wondered what they were for, but the Cravens shortly explained which cleared up his confusion. He was, however, left with something of a dilemma. He was wearing a robe heavy with foodstuffs that the jacket would crush and make difficult to get at. But if he took it off, his food would be on the ground and completely unavailable until after the endurance test. While Saul wasn't the smartest kid on the team, even he could figure out that an endurance test was going to take a long time.

He compromised. He took off his robe and put on one of the larger jackets (he lacked any real bulk, but he was nearly as tall as the average grown man and getting closer by the hour according to his mother). There was some extra room in the sleeves where his skinny arms weren't taking up the available space, and he filled that with a half hour's supply of food that he didn't think would stain the jacket.

He spent the first two lengths redistributing the food so it wasn't as irritating or interfering. Compared to his own additions to his load, the complications of the jacket and water bottle were barely worth noting.

The weights, on the other hand, were notable. Within a few laps of them being added, he had to pitch his broom at a slight upward angle just to keep flying at the same altitude. While they were heavy, however, they weren't particularly awkward (not like, say, a 76-key synthesizer in a case with a broken handle, which was both heavy and difficult to carry), so he was able to start munching on a carrot without any hindrance.

When Elly soon began singing, Saul grinned and came into formation with her, Irene, and Meredith as he swallowed down his last bite of carrot. "Oo-ee-oo-ah-ah!" he joined in, enthusiastic but entirely off key. He'd been raised surrounded by music for his entire life, but creating anything that resembled it was something he and the rest of the family had long since given up any hope of Saul ever accomplishing. Today was not looking like the day for that to change. "Ting tang walla walla bing bang!"

Still, the chorus was just so fun to say that he couldn't help inflicting his terrible singing voice on the rest of his fellow players.

And though the thought did not consciously occur to him, the possibility remained that he might drive some of them batty enough to decide they just didn't have the endurance to listen to him any longer.\r\n\r\n

1 Saul And I am a, um, simple arithmetic problem 82 Saul 0 5

Caedence

September 24, 2007 8:30 PM

And im going to reply to you and Saul down here by Caedence

Caedence couldn’t help but let out a small sigh of relief. It was finally time to eat. Her stomach growled at the prospect of food, and all tiredness was forgotten in her mad dash into Sonora proper. She stole a seat near Elly and the others and began shoveling food into her mouth at a dizzying rate. She choked many times, needing to gulp down water as fast as her mouth and throat would let her. She paused long enough in her eating to enjoy Elly’s fruit play. It reminded her of the odd shapes they cut the veggie kabobs into. She smirked before going back to her meal. Before she left, she grabbed a bread roll and stuffed it into her pocket, in case she should need it. The only problem was getting it to the pitch uneaten.

She licked her lips of the last of the crumbs and stuffed the last fourth of the roll back into her pocket as she listened to the Cravens speak. She glanced nervously at the jackets. Were they to test endurance of who passed out from heat exhaustion last?

The twins soon explained that the jackets were for weights. All right, heat exhaustion and lead weights. Not Caedence’s idea of fun. However, it was just another enemy to defeat, wasn’t it? She wouldn’t bow down and loose the battle against the weights.

The practice lap was a bit awkward, but not impossible. She had to work a bit at balancing on her broken broom. It was a bit tough, but she soon got the hang of it. After her practice laps, she grudgingly accepted the weights. As the time dragged on, she became more and more weighed down. Her shoulders started to ache. She bit her lip to keep from complaining.

OOO EEE OO AH AH, TING TANG WALLA WALLA BING BANG!

Caedence jumped about a foot in the air and cursed loudly as a streak of red, screaming some strange song, zipped past. Caedence blinked a few times. Her lack of control caused the broom to tilt downwards. She felt herself slipping, aided by the weights. She squeezed hard with her thighs to keep from moving farther down the broom handle and pulled hard upwards to right herself. She was in time to hear the rally call of ‘Everyone!’

Caedence rolled her eyes and wiped a bead of sweat that was trickling into her eyes. She imagined that she was rather flushed in the face. Taking a drink out of one of the water bottles (well more like sucking down the water like a man fresh out of a month in the Sahara).

After setting the bottle back in its holster, she righted the tilt in her broom. One more lap. One more lead weight. One more round of that dumb song. Saul was singing now. He made Caedence want to hurl a quaffle at his head.

Caedence grinned wickedly as she removed her water bottle coming up at him. “It’s RAINING!” she hollered, dumping a small trickle over his head. Grinning, she flew onwards, opening her mouth wide.

“I CALLED THE WITCH DOCTOR I ASKED HIM WHAT TO DO… BUH BUH BUH BUH! I CALLED THE WITCH DOCTOR I ASKED HIM TELL ME NICE! AND THEN THE WITCHDOCTOR HE GAVE ME THIS ADVICE:” Caedence screamed as she passed first Irene, then Meredith. As the song got to the ooo’s and eee’s, she rounded on Elly. “TING TANG WALLA WALLA BING BANG!” she hollered, reaching into her pocket and chucking the last of her bread at the girl. With a wicked grin, she shot off down the pitch, happy with her new way to forget the weights strapped to her body. \n

0 Caedence And im going to reply to you and Saul down here 94 Caedence 0 5

The Craven Twins

September 25, 2007 9:15 PM

Agility 2 by The Craven Twins

The afternoon break was slightly more generous than the morning one had been, in order to allow those who had lasted the longest on the endurance test equal opportunity to fully recover. The Cravens offered energy drinks, with the praise that they'd all done well, and even a few battered cereal bars (enough for one each) were fished from the bag, with the advice 'just chill and do breathing exercises or yoga or whatever hippy **** you want to bring yourselves back to normal.' Having bolted their snacks, they - as usual - devoted the break period to setting up equipment.

"Ok guys, gather in," they called, once it was finished and everyone seemed to have got far too loud to be considered exhausted.

"This will be your second agility test," Ash informed them. The layout hovering behind him looked somewhat like an obstacle course that someone had attempted to cobble together from ill assorted bits, with things ingeniously twisted out of their usual functions. This was because that was entirely what had happened. In an ideal world, the twins would have used beams to duck under and over, a scramble net and all sorts, but the school had limited sports ware. Most of it seemed designed to help people - things like the slalom poles they'd used earlier, or hula hoops and baskets in a variety of sizes for improving aim - rather than hinder them. However, the Cravens had done their best to make them into a short run of unhelpfulness. From the poles arranged as under-over beams now, down to the smallest hoop (through which a broom on its own, but not even a seeker sized player would fit), it was a test of ingenuity and nerve alongside the tight cornering and ducking-diving skills.

"The first obstacle is overs and unders. Some orders will come up as you go along,"

"Such as which direction to turn."

"For a couple of the obstacles, you've just got to try your gut instinct of how to get round,"

"Through"

"Up"

"Under"

"Over"

"Or just generally 'past' them. Numero uno, on your marks..."

OOC back to the one-after-another format. Feel free to keep going on the endurance, haha.

0 The Craven Twins Agility 2 0 The Craven Twins 0 5

Irene

September 27, 2007 6:24 AM

Now what are we? I'm purple. by Irene

OOC: I wasn't sure if all of the hoops were included, rather than just the small ones. But I took a guess that "down to the smallest hoop" meant all of them. Down to the smallest. Correct me if I'm wrong! =)

IC:
Irene lay sprawled out on the grass after the endurance run. Elly's singing tactic had worked miracles! Everytime she felt the weights pulling her down she would turn up the volume a little bit. Once the team was nearing the end, however, it was getting harder and harder to keep her mind of the aching in her arms. At least now they could take a break and just. lay. there. The Captains had brought along energy drinks and cereal bars, which she happily took. They only had two more runs to go. Just two. Irene was really going to go all out for these last two. Who cares if she was tired? She could sleep it off later. No worries. Irene felt the food start to kick in and, though a second ago all she wanted was to sit on the pitch and watch, she felt the strange urge to be up in the air again.

There in front of/above the group was what looked like an abstacle course. Irene felt her spirits lift a little. She had been good at this! She listened as the Cravens gave them the low down. Go over or under the beams. Looked easy enough, looked. Get past the hoops. They were arranged every so often so they would be difficult to fly around. Irene set her mind on her strategy. Slalom. Just do the slalom and it would be all good. She couldn't go through all of them. Some were far too small. But some of them... That was okay, right?

"Numero uno, on your marks..."

Sweet... Irene gave a salut and mounted her broom, kicking off to the course's level. Irene didn't like going first. There wasn't a pre-set bar that she could raise. She had to set the bar. She took a deep breath, concentrating on a game battling on around her. Irene kicked her broom to speed, heading over the first bar, her brown ponytail trailing behind her. She pushed her broom downward into dive under the next. It was all a pattern, under, over, dive, go up... All it takes is concentration, she told herself. She came to the hoops and she nudged the speed down a little. Irene pulled left around the first hoop, getting to the second where she turned, heading through it. Right around the next. Then left, then right... She could see the smallest hoop again and a brilliant, but impossible thought struck her. What if she went through it? Not her, per say, but just her broom. She could jump over it. It was so impossible, but she desperately wanted to try it. She swooped around the second-last hoop and came to the last. She braced herself, ready to push off the broom at any second. Quidditch was her thing! This was something she could just do and not be told that it was crazy because she was too young or small. Irene sucked in a breath and pushed off the broom, coming about a foot over it, just enough to clear the hoop. She landed on her broom, but felt herself slipping to the side. She desperately leaned the opposite way, trying to balance it out. Irene finally let out the breath she had been holding.

Heading back to Earth, Irene wiped at her forehead and joined the hopefuls on the grass. She turned to the next person,

"You're up," she said with a smile, jerking her head at the obstacle course.

0 Irene Now what are we? I'm purple. 0 Irene 0 5

Elly

September 27, 2007 2:41 PM

Purple's good. I'm Friday. by Elly

The endurance flying had been crazy hard work. The singing had helped a little – it was nice having everyone join in and distract each other as part of a team, as bizarre as that sounded. Caedence had almost caused Elly to overbalance by chucking food at her, and Saul had accomplished the same effect as Elly clutched her sides, which had started to ache from the effort of trying not to laugh at his appalling singing.

By the time Elly reached solid ground again, her hands, shoulders and things were all aching, and her neck felt stiff. She removed the jacket as soon as she could, and her skin beneath was moist with perspiration. In an effort to cool down, she rolled her t-shirt up and tied it in a knot about her ribs, letting her white waist and stomach be cooled in the open air. It was only then she noticed she had her t-shirt on inside out, and she laughed at herself, for some reason finding it a lot funnier than it warranted – she blamed her current state of physical exhaustion.

After a lie down on the grass, a drink and a snack, and a good stretch of her muscles, Elly almost felt energetic again, but couldn’t deny that she was really looking forward to a good evening meal and an early night. First, though, the team had to complete another Craven-designed task. This one was distinctly obstacle-y. Elly watched as Irene gave the run a go first, pulling a spectacular trick on the smallest hoop which Elly knew she herself wouldn’t be able to accomplish; although she’d been training hard all last year, all her manoeuvres had thus far involved her staying on her broom.

Elly was up second, and she thought she made a fairly good go of it, even if she did say so herself. The first bit of going between the poles that had previously been used for the slalom was easy – Elly was pleased she’d practised diving at the start of the day because some of what she’d taught her self only hours ago came in fairly useful. Her practice at tight cornering meant that weaving between a group of awkwardly arranged baskets wasn’t a problem either (not to mention Elly found it amusing to be weaving the woven wicker baskets). Elly’s main problems came with the hoops: she scraped her knee on one as she flew through it, misjudging the edge just enough to draw blood. Elly hardly noticed – she cut her knees all the time in her inevitable clumsiness – as she moved to try and contemplate the smallest hoop. There was no way she would fit through it, and there was no way she’d be able to do the stunt Irene had done, either. However, she was not one to be outdone. After a moment’s contemplation, Elly slowed right down and approached the hoop cautiously. Just before reaching it, she did a barrel roll – her second of the day – but remained upside down. She gently guided the handle of her broom through the hoop, lifting first one arm then the other around the hoop, treating it like one of those buzzing wire hoop games. When her legs were about to get it the way, Elly gently unhooked them, allowing the end of her broom to pass through the hoop. Unfortunately, she hadn’t counted on the nose end of her broom dipping down due to the unbalanced weight. Elly fell a few feet (luckily she was still travelling too slowly for it to be a huge disaster) before she managed to right herself by swinging one leg back over the broom and barrel rolling neatly back over. Not the most graceful of manoeuvres perhaps, but it did the trick.

By the time Elly landed again, she was feeling pretty pleased with herself.

0 Elly Purple's good. I'm Friday. 0 Elly 0 5

Caedence Redoak

September 27, 2007 5:25 PM

People tell me i'm the angry girl...*fails to look innocent by Caedence Redoak

Caedence lasted pretty long. She didn’t think she was the last out of the air, but she was definitely one of the last. She didn’t want to give up at all. She refused to. But she was tiring fast. Soon she wasn’t able to keep going without having energy for the rest of tryouts. She collapsed on the ground, gratefully accepted her food and drink. She didn’t really care that the cereal bar was a bit crushed, she was starting to get hungry and she had thrown her food at Elly. The bar did little to sate her hunger, but it did enough so that she was able to rest and recover.

She plopped down next to Elly as she leaned back, lounging back and closing her eyes luxuriously. She let herself relax, and she almost went to sleep when the Cravens began to talk. She managed to pull herself to a sitting up position to listen. Her legs felt like jell-o. She watched as Irene went first, and couldn’t help but cheer as she jumped over the last hoop. She laughed out loud at Elly’s idea to get past the last hoop. Caedence didn’t know how she would do it, but she also knew that she didn’t have to go through it. She didn’t think so. After all, the Cravens didn’t say they had to…

It was then her turn to go up. She gave Elly a thumbs up. “A klutz in the air, too, eh Elly?” she joked, winking at her friend. She mounted up and kicked off hard. She enjoyed flying, unhindered by the weighted jacket. She rolled her shoulders and stretched her neck. With a fierce glare she eyed the obstacle course. Her face, a mask of grim determination, studied the course briefly, as she decided about how she was going to get through the hoops. Then she was off. Over, under, to the right, the left, up, down. Her flight kept a steady even tempo. Her braid snapped as it flew behind her and hit the obstacles. Now she was at the hoops.

She went through the ones she dared, around those she did not. Her mind had been at work, deciding how to get through the last hoop. As both of the people before herself had proven, no person could go through it. Caedence slowed down as she approached. Gently, ever so slowly, she got up on the broom, in a catlike crouch, as if surfing, bent over, She took a route similar to Elly’s. Her broom was held in firm check by her hands on the end, but she knew that the broom would drift when she released it. Carefully, she slowed down further.

One hand let go of the handle as the broom creeped through at a steady walking pace. She put the hand back in place, the other mimicking its pair. She held the end of the broom tilted upwards as she stepped over the hoop and back on the broom. She let her second leg follow. She was through! Her left foot slipped, but it slipped to the left, landing her hard back into her seat, which despite the cushioning charm, hurt.

She glided down to the ground. With a triumphant smirk she made the thumbs up sign at Elly. “Not bad, huh? At least I didn’t try and to through it. Maybe you thought that I would huh?” She laughed. “Next one’s up, try and beat Irene’s slick move, I dare ya!” She said winking at Irene. She turned to watch the rest of the people’s try out. \n

0 Caedence Redoak People tell me i'm the angry girl...*fails to look innocent 94 Caedence Redoak 0 5

Saul Pierce

September 27, 2007 7:13 PM

I am pepperoni pizza by Saul Pierce

Saul's butt hurt. The cushioning charm wasn't very cushioning after zillions of laps wearing half again your weight on your jacket. His back hurt, too. And so did his throat from his own god-awful singing. Oh, and he was sweating like a pig and his hair was as wet as if he'd been out in the rain. When he hit ground after the endurance test, he dumped the weight-jacket, poured the remainder of his water over his head, and collapsed onto the relatively cool Earth. Right now, he could almost understand the more extremist of his hippie environmentalist cousins. Dirt and grass were wonderful things.

All of the food he'd stashed in his sleeves had fallen victim to either his stomach or a short lived food fight, but the Cravens provided snack bars and energy drinks and his abandoned robe on the ground held more. He gulped half the energy drink straight off, downed the snack bar, drank more of the drink, then started in on his stick of pepperoni.

He'd finished it and his drink by the time the Cravens explained the next task and the first three girls had gone. Caedance tagged him, and he rose up into the air, pushing his still wet (though no longer dripping) hair out of his eyes.

The task was to get through the course, not to avoid touching anything like last time. The others hadn't appeared to bump much, but Saul saw no reason not to cut things too close and use a hand or shoulder to guide him past some of the poles or baskets. Chaser-on-chaser contact, after all, was practically expected in a game.

He ducked through the hoops where he could fit (as much because a hoop demanded you go through it as because the others had). Jumping to the Cravens' orders, he darted among the obstacles, bumping into more than a few, both on purpose and by accident, until he reached the tiny hoop at the end that Irene had begun the pattern of pulling off some impressive trick to get through.

Saul knew he couldn't do the jump thing Irene had and he didn't feel like slowing down to complete complicated maneuvers like Elly and Caedance had, so what he did was speed up on his approach, dive just after he went over it, go under the hoop upside down, rise straight back up into the air, and then fly over the top of it again. He'd looped the hoop.

Touching down, he nodded toward the next to go. "Your turn."

1 Saul Pierce I am pepperoni pizza 82 Saul Pierce 0 5

The Cravens

September 27, 2007 10:57 PM

Ability 2 by The Cravens

"Ok guys, last test," the Cravens called, once the agility obstacle course had been completed by the final hopeful. They were impressed with the variety of ways that had been come up with for the smallest hoop. Being somewhat gung-ho, Irene's had been the first method that had sprung to their minds, and pulling it off had been a somewhat difficult feat when they'd practised it.

"We've done a Chaser-style thing, this next test will help for Seeking and Keeping."

"We know that leaves Beating, but we figure the endurance is proof of strength"

"And that these skills come into all aspects of the game,"

"Whereas hitting stuff would only be relevant for Beaters."

"It's a simple game of catch," Ash informed them, with a smirky aspect to his grin that suggested there was a little more to it than that.

"Only thing is," Sorrel informed them, a similar smile on her face, "We'll be using these." Upending a bag, she tipped several roughly ping-pong sized balls onto the ground.

"We'll start out with one, and add more in."

They'd also be starting with easier shots, the sorts of passes a Chaser would send to his or her fellow Chasers, and working up to the sorts of passes that would get sent at Keepers, or wild shots that would make them move like they were chasing an eratic Snitch. But they'd be able to work that out for themselves soon enough.

OOC - probably easiest to do this like the endurance one, ie interact. Obviously it'll then go on longer than try-outs, so regard it as training. :-D

0 The Cravens Ability 2 0 The Cravens 0 5

Mere

September 27, 2007 11:05 PM

I'm a front flyspring. by Mere

Even with water and the singing distraction, Meredith knew when she was beaten. She did fight herself for a good long while, but eventually she knew that one way or another she would reach the ground again soon. Painfully or not was the question. Well, more painfully anyway. Those weights had taken a toll. It was all right. She had stayed up for a long time. She dismounted her broom and removed the weighted jacket. She felt ten pounds lighter and probably was, along with being really hot and sweaty.

Mere sat with the others that had come down before her, gladly accepting the food and drink from the captains. She fanned herself by tugging her shirt repeatedly for the small breeze. Then she did a few simple stretches to get rid of the tenseness in her body from the last test. Stretching was something Ms. Laura had drilled into her head. She said it wasn’t good to sit still after a hard session. Mere didn’t remember the exact reason, just that she shouldn’t do it and now out of habit she didn’t. She felt a lot better after the short break and was ready for the next test.

Mere looked at the obstacle course as the Cravens described it. Again she watched the players ahead of her, curious about how they would get through the course. Her eyes kept going back to that last hoop. From the ground it looked ridiculously small and she had a feeling that even up close it would be a tight squeeze. Irene, Elly, Caedence and Saul all did some fancy moves to get around it, but none went through. She already began thinking of her own ways around the tiny hoop. When Saul nodded at her, Mere stood with her broom and walked forward.

She kicked off and sped towards the beginning of the course. It looked a lot more daunting up close, but it didn’t put her off. An obstacle course would be a fun challenge. She gave herself a quick countdown from three and then began. First up was dodging around the poles again, but this time they were positioned differently. She went under and over, around the sides, followed by more unders and overs. It wasn’t difficult. It just involved paying attention to where she was, where the poles were and what she needed to do to avoid hitting them.

Mere flew through most of the hoops with ease. Others were not as easy to fit herself through as it was to fit a quaffle through. And finally she was at the last obstacle. That final hoop where everyone had put their own flare on getting through. Mere certainly wasn’t about to just fly around it and leave it at that. No way. And she knew what she wanted to do. Admittedly she had never done anything like this that high in the air, but there was a first time for everything. Plus, it was a simple move...just many feet above the ground and on a moving broomstick.

Mere backed up a bit and then flew forward toward the last hoop. Not as slowly as some had done, but not as fast as Saul. As she went ahead, she swung her leg over to sit sidesaddle and then pushed herself up only with her arms. She felt them twitch a little under her entire weight. She was probably smart in sticking to something simple. It was going to be close cut with timing because she would be concentrating on standing, even if only for a second, rather than steering. When the tip of her broom was just inches from the hoop, she quickly pulled her legs in and stood.

Her following actions took place within three seconds because that was all the time she had before she suspected her broom would tip and she would have nothing meeting her around the hoop except a big drop. As the broom went through, Mere grabbed the handle with her forward most hand. She kicked her legs up over her body, but instead of landing in a lunge she landed in a seated position on her broom on the other side of the hoop. Mere smiled excitedly over the completed cartwheel. Mixing gymnastics and flying, the two greatest activities in the world.

And then she realized with a laugh that she had ended up backwards on her broom. Mere turned herself right again, still laughing a little, and flew back to the ground.

0 Mere I'm a front flyspring. 0 Mere 0 5

Saul

September 29, 2007 12:17 PM

And now I'm a magic trick by Saul

Saul knew this one was going to be tough the minute the Cravens demonstrated the size of the ball they'd be trying to catch. He even went so far as to groan aloud when he caught sight of the tiny ping-pong. He'd encountered the little beasties a time or two before and it was all he could to do catch them when they were rolling away on the ground. On occasion, when he was on particularly uneven pavement, he'd even had to cheat and use his wand before he could capture a runaway one. This test was not going to go well.

Still, he rose up into the air without further complaint, and when the first one came his way, he fumbled, almost got hold of it, but then it slipped through his fingers and fell toward the ground below. He dived after it, but a Seeker he would never be. He managed to bat it around all the way down, but at an altitude of ten feet, he opted against colliding with the Earth and eased up. He drifted down and plucked the evil ball out of the grass where it sat so guilelessly innocent as if to mock him.

Flying back up to join the other Pecaris in the air, he tossed his ping-pong on somebody else and turned just in time to wrap both of his arms around his own torso as he was hit on the chest with another ping-pong. He managed not to drop it immediately, but he was stuck now stuck with the problem of how to get the precariously balanced ball untrapped from between his arms without letting it fall.

This proved an impossible task, even by trying to drop it gently into his lap. His legs were evidently not perfectly parallel to the ground and it rolled right off. With a frustrated sigh of irritation, he dove again.

1 Saul And now I'm a magic trick 82 Saul 0 5

Mere

September 29, 2007 1:09 PM

I'm a googleplex by Mere

Mere wasn’t sure if she was happy at the call of ‘okay guys, last test,’ or a little disappointed. It usually ended up being both. The tests that day ranged from easy to body aching, but she still got to spend the entire day with her friends and her broom up in the air. Of course, it had been the entire day and she was starting to wish she had caught that last hour and a half of sleep. She wasn’t completely drained yet, having tons of energy to start due to excitement and a natural supply since birth, but she wouldn’t be surprised if she fell right to sleep after dinner. However, while she was still needed to work, she would be ready to work. It was like a continuation of the endurance test, but with less weight and heat and sweat.

A slight frown formed on her face when the captains said the last test would be for seeking and keeping. Mere wasn’t much of either. Keeping, maybe, but seeking was definitely not her specialty. She just couldn’t keep the snitch in her sight. It was so small and fast. Not like quaffles and bludgers. She figured Irene would be happy about this one though. She knew from practicing with her that Irene was a great seeker. Mere wished this had been one of the first tasks when she had her full stamina to watch those tiny balls in the air. She just had to pull up any and all energy left so she wouldn’t wash out on the last task. It would be the captains’ last impression of her and she had to make it a good one.

So when the captains were ready to start, so was Meredith. She was up in the air and looking alert and prepared, ‘looking’ being the key word. The captains started by tossing one ball toward Saul. It looked like he had trouble with the miniature balls too. They were probably in the same boat with this test. He had to dive very close to the ground, but still couldn’t recover the tiny thing. She watched him fly back up and toss the ball her way.

Yup, the same boat. Mere managed to snag the ball after a small fumble and a drop of about a foot. She leveled herself with the group again and tossed the ball to the next player. Her eyes were drawn back to Saul though, with a pang of sympathy, as he was forced into another dive. She then turned to see how everyone else was fairing. When they went into a multi-ball game, she could predict trouble. Her eyes finally landed on the captains again for when they decided to add more of the tiny nuisances to the game.

0 Mere I'm a googleplex 0 Mere 0 5

Irene

September 29, 2007 2:25 PM

Back to numbers? Well I'm a weekend with no homework! by Irene

Irene held back her sigh of relief as the Captains announced the last test of the day. As much as she loved Quidditch, she did think that there was such thing as an overdose. She listened to the explanation of the test and thanked her lucky stars that it was a seeking drill. Chasing and Seeking were her strengths so hopefully this would work out! The team of players kicked off into the air. Irene felt this weird happiness that she usually associated with the last class on a Friday.

Irene was in the air, a smile on her face. She was so ready for this. After this, she was done. She could kick back and take a nice long sleep... Irene blinked and came back to Earth in time to see Mere toss her one of the little "snitches." Caught by surprise, Irene fumbled the ball in her fingers for a moment before restoring her grip on it. She tossed it to the next person, looking back to Mere for the next one. Saul was the starter and he seemed to be loving this drill (note the sarcasm). She felt bad for him. She was almost positive he would make the team. He was on it last year, and she thought he deserved it. Of course, everyone here did though.

Now that the try-out were nearing an end, Irene felt that nagging suspense feeling creeping up on her. She hated not knowing. She usually made point to know, but for something like this, she couldn't. She didn't like that. Irene brushed some stray brown hairs out of her face. She would just have to deal until the results were posted...

0 Irene Back to numbers? Well I'm a weekend with no homework! 0 Irene 0 5

Elly

September 29, 2007 3:09 PM

I'm a guitar solo by Elly

Hurrah! The final task of the day was something Elly knew she could do fairly well. She’d been quite good at Seeking ever since she started playing Quidditch, finding that long arms helped when it came to catching moving objects. She was notoriously clumsy, though, and had been working hard over the past year to try and overcome that potentially damning flaw. Her gloves aided her well, as they prevented the ball from slipping between fingers, and their firm grip reduced the risk of dropping, too. Despite having sweaty palms from a day of flying, Elly pulled the gloves on anyway, flexing her fingers inside. It was true they gave her an advantage over the other players, but Elly used the gloves in normal practices and in games, so it seemed silly not to wear them for tryouts, too.

Gloves on, t-shirt still knotted, hair a frizzy mess of orange, Elly mounted her broom and joined the others in the air. She gripped her broom tightly with her knees, and kept her ankles together, shoulders straight for optimum balance, while keeping her hands free for catching. She watched carefully, keeping an eye on the ball and, while there was only one going round, she also watched the other players to see if she could pick up and ‘dos or don’ts’ from their actions.

She caught the ping-pong ball passed to her by Irene with no problem at all, and threw it gently to the next player. The second ball had her lunging forward just a little and reaching in front of her, but again she made a successful catch. She wasn’t going to get cocky though – Elly knew that she wasn’t perfect (after all, if she was then Crotalus wouldn’t have won the championship last year) so she had to stay just as focused as anyone else out there… possibly more, as she was technically defending her position on the team. It was a shame, because Elly liked Irene a lot, but there was no way both of them could be Seeker, and Elly was far too keen on her position on the team to give it up. If she performed poorly then she would resign, in the interest of the team. However, seeing as she’d caught the Snitch in one out of the two games she’d played so far, she was hoping to stay on and better her record.

Elly had to reach high to catch the next ball thrown her way; luckily her long arms helped her out again and she seized it with her gloved fingertips. She looked back to the captains to see them throw another ball out in their midst. Bring on the fun.

0 Elly I'm a guitar solo 0 Elly 0 5

Lizzie Lavine

September 29, 2007 11:54 PM

...Right. by Lizzie Lavine

(OOC: Deepest and most sincere apologies! RL has been an absolute mess, and, I'm sad to say, Sonora has gotten lowest priority. :( But, I'm just going to pretend like Lizzie has been working through the tryouts just like the others. Again, apologies!)

The morning of the Pecari quidditch team tryouts, Lizzie had a conscious effort to arrive on the pitch bright and early. She felt rested and ready to tackle whatever sinister plans the Craven Twins undoubtedly had planned for the tryout. She had briefly chatted with Stephen, but as soon as Ash was on the pitch, she nearly bolted to where the group was gathering. Quidditch was what she had been waiting all summer for, something worth getting up at that godforsaken hour on a Saturday, and she didn't want to miss a minute of it.

Lizzie's tune, however, had changed vastly between the initial run-down meeting and the Second Ability Challenge. The Twins were really putting the prospective players through the paces. Even thought Lizzie felt as though she didn't really have to prover her worth to the captains, she still wanted to show off at the tryouts. So far, her performance hadn't been exactly impressive. Sure, she'd completed all the tasks set up for them, but some were done poorly at best.

The first test was simple enough- a slalom course wasn't anything entirely new to Lizzie, and as she had played chaser the past few years on the team, it seemed routine. The trick about the poles gradually closing in on each player did have its drawbacks. Lizzie was a bit apprehensive about the course, but when she got the nod, she was off. She did manage to get a pretty good run through, avoiding the poles until they were too close for her to pass through. There were advantages to being experienced in squeezing past other players, it seemed.

The next task was considerably easier, having worked all summer with the Hurricanes at their training camp. Press-ups were another fairly feasible item of business for Lizzie, completing the entire set and then some without too much of a strain. The heat of the day was just beginning, however, and she knew that the next challenges would only get hotter from then on.

The basket challenge, another chaser-friendly task, at face value didn't seem all too difficult. Lizzie was getting a little tired of the whole 'marathon quidditch try-out' bit, which affected her playing, missing a few of the technically more difficult shots. Berating herself silently, Lizzie finished and went off to lunch with an immense feeling of relief. She was halfway through this ordeal- if she could withstand the second half, she would be just fine. Besides, Saul and the other younger hopefuls were seeming to do alright for themselves, why couldn't she?

It was with this attitude that Lizzie returned from her light lunch for the second half of tryouts. The water-weighted jackets and their endurance testing proved problematic for Lizzie. Used to the feeling of flying lightweight, the addition of the jacket alone sort of threw off Lizzie's sense of good technique. By the time that she had a good portion of the rings filled with weights, Liz was about ready to give in. Controlling her broom was a lot harder with the jacket and weights, and, as the twins had predicted, wore her out faster than she was used to. The afternoon heat was mounting, but Lizzie was determined to keep flying the back and forth pattern across the pitch until she felt tired.

After the break and half of an energy drink, Lizzie was ready for what was next. The next round of what was slowly becoming an auditionee hell proved equally difficult. The obstacle course the twins had concocted was anything but simple or straight forward. Okay, so the concept of 'under' and 'over' was fairly familiar, but when it came to the tiny-sized hoops and extremely tight cornering elements of the course, Lizzie was perplexed. For one of the hoops, she jumped over the hoop caught her broom on the other side, after it had cleared the hoop. Aside from that, her run of the rag-tag course was passable.

Finally, the last test was upon them. Looking around her at the other players, Lizzie felt a little better. None of them looked to be in tip-top shape after the day's activities, which made Lizzie feel as though she wasn't the only one getting tired. When the bag of ping pong-like balls appeared, Lizzie couldn't help but laugh a bit. They wanted them to catch those? With a shrug, she mounted her broom along with the others, and took to the sky. Immediately, the ball began to circulate the group, making it into the hands of the players. Withing moments, there were more ping pong balls making their way into the group. With relative ease, Lizzie caught the ball passed to her, and the ones following. She casually tossed each to the next player, trying to keep the sharpest eye out for the smaller balls. These were no quaffles, afterall.

0 Lizzie Lavine ...Right. 0 Lizzie Lavine 0 5

The Craven Captains

Pecari <s>Tryouts</s> Bootcamp. Walk-ons "welcome" by The Craven Captains

Saul Pierce, Pecari Chaser

Warming up by Saul Pierce, Pecari Chaser

Elly Eriksson

*salutes* Yes, Captains! by Elly Eriksson

Meredith Lail

Joining in by Meredith Lail

Caedence Redoak

I'm faster than you are nya nya by Caedence Redoak

Stephen Baxter

Reporting with Fido by Stephen Baxter

Irene

Go time! by Irene

Saul

Yo Lizzie! (and Irene) by Saul

The Twins

[OOC - The Plan] by The Twins

Elly

That may be true, but I am taller :P by Elly

Irene

Hey Saul! (and Lizzie and Meredith and whoever else is here) by Irene

Caedence

Joining my own kind by Caedence

Mere

We accept you. One of us. by Mere

The Craven Twins

Agility 1 by The Craven Twins

Caedence

I'm up then by Caedence

Meredith

Number two is ready by Meredith

Saul

I suppose that makes me #3 by Saul

Elly

Why numbers? I'm going to be a banana. by Elly

Irene

May I eat you? by Irene

Saul

ooc by Saul

The Cravens

Ability 1 by The Cravens

Saul Pierce

I will follow Elly's lead and be . . . a pineapple by Saul Pierce

Irene

I'll be... an orange! *getting hungry* by Irene

Caedence

Fruit is overrated, i'm a carrot by Caedence

Elly

Go Caede! Don't conform - be a carrot! by Elly

The Twins

Endurance by The Twins

Meredith

Peanut! We legumes are cool. by Meredith

Elly

Today I shun tangible objects: I'm a simultaneous equation by Elly

Mere

*blink blink* ...yeah, what she said. by Mere

Irene

Well I'm going to be a Cheerio. by Irene

Saul

And I am a, um, simple arithmetic problem by Saul

Caedence

And im going to reply to you and Saul down here by Caedence

The Craven Twins

Agility 2 by The Craven Twins

Irene

Now what are we? I'm purple. by Irene

Elly

Purple's good. I'm Friday. by Elly

Caedence Redoak

People tell me i'm the angry girl...*fails to look innocent by Caedence Redoak

Saul Pierce

I am pepperoni pizza by Saul Pierce

The Cravens

Ability 2 by The Cravens

Mere

I'm a front flyspring. by Mere

Saul

And now I'm a magic trick by Saul

salutes Yes, Captains! by Elly Eriksson

I'll be... an orange! getting hungry by Irene

blink blink ...yeah, what she said. by Mere