I'm here, I swear! on Quidditch Pitch

Anne Wright

May 10, 2008 9:27 PM

Aladren Quidditch by Anne Wright

She had a new, if cheap, broom, pretty blue robes, a long-suffering Assistant Captain she imagined was ready to kill her because of how much of his time she'd taken up lately, and five people she was reasonably sure she could count on to show up when she told them to. Throw in two knuts and a miracle, and Anne thought she might be ready for Quidditch season.

Most of the team was composed of "old timers" - people who had been with her at the beginning. Of people who'd signed the list, only Paul didn't fall into that category, and he had been around for three years. It was that and lingering elation over having made up with Geoff that allowed her to smile easily at them and feel, as she did at unpredictable intervals, a great sense of affection for the whole group. Maybe things would go well this year, even though she was, once more, out of a Keeper to best of her knowledge. Geoff had said he'd do it if she absolutely couldn't find anyone else, and beating Pecari had just convinced her, as if any convincing had been necessary, that her team was the best.

"Hey, y'all," she said, wanting to play with her hair more out of habit than any real anxiety. "Thanks for coming out here this afternoon. Haven't really got much to say to you this year - just that the plan is to win as much as we can and make 'em think that they've been dragged the wrong way through a wringer if we can't." Which was, of course, much easier said than done, but she was sure they were equal to the challenge. They were Aladrens. "I guess you've noticed we're out of a Keeper again, but I'm working on it. Please feel free to talk anyone you think you can into trying for the slot. And..."

Giving into impulse as her anxiety level started to rise, Anne pulled forward and began playing with the end of her ponytail. "Well, as I'm also sure y'all know, this is the last year Zack and Zoey'll be with us." Even now, she was more than a little uncertain about the wisdom involved in doing this. "They've both been on the team since before I started here, and I just wanted to - you know - thank 'em for all they've done for it." And, before this got really awkward or to feeling like a funeral..."And to remind 'em that being almighty seventh years doesn't mean being able to get out of practice all the time," she "joked", though she was privately dead serious. She had lost track of how many times she'd wanted to strangle Zack in the last year or three.

"Well, like I said, we don't have a Keeper, but I want to get some practice in anyway. Beaters, y'all can work with the Bludgers, but try to avoid taking the rest of us out. If you really want target practice, you can find some bit of junk and make it fly. Zack, I want you hunting for the Snitch while me and the Chasers run drills. We can do any ones y'all want, Ben and Zoey, so long as they keep us in Zack's way. It's more like a game that way, sorry, Zack." She was actually somewhat sincere, since she doubted that her Seeker would like the new strategy at all, but Anne's interest was more in getting one last win from him. "Zoey and Ben, we can leave shooting until the second half - if nobody shows up by then, we can put Chris in front of the hoops. That cool, Chris? Great. Any questions?" She had a suspicion there would be, as she'd said all of that quite fast, but there was always hope.

Subthreads:

But I'm from Alderaan by Zack Dill

I'm here, I swear! by Zoey

16 Anne Wright Aladren Quidditch 59 Anne Wright 1 5

Zack Dill

May 13, 2008 11:19 PM

But I'm from Alderaan by Zack Dill

Zack arrived on the Pitch exactly on time for the beginning of practice. Usually, he liked to be early to everything, but this year, his schedule was so tightly packed, that wasn't always possible, and his potions homework had taken a few minutes longer than he had allocated to it.

He did have time to swing by the Quidditch shed and pick up Enterprise, his trusty WarpSpeed that he'd used since he joined Alderaan's team. That made it one of the older brooms in the shed now, but that just meant he knew its every quirk and nobody else was likely to steal it out from under him. A broom of his own was something he'd never had the money or inclination to buy. In all honestly, Zack expected he'd never ride a broom again after he graduated, and he wasn't terribly torn up about it, either.

He'd miss the Snitches though. After six years as the team seeker, he felt he understood the alien species much better now. The crafty mind-reading tricksters.

Maybe he wouldn't miss them too much. Especially after that nasty taunting they'd done to him in the library last year with the dancing books. He was sure they were behind that. He wondered if they would even leave him alone now. Zack was fairly confident that they picked on him more than other people. He suspected that since he knew what they were up to, he gave them more satisfying reactions. Snitches were sadistic like that.

Zack focussed on Anne as she began to speak and nodded through the pep talk part because that was what she was supposed to say and obviously everyone was there to win. Alderaanians did not like failing at anything. Zack was certainly no exception, even if Quidditch wasn't his highest priority.

When she told them they were short a Keeper and they should try recruiting, Zack made a mental note to ask Guenther if he was interested. With Zoey already on the team, that halved his pool of friends available to talk to about it.

Before he could think too much about how he'd broach the subject though, Anne turned the team's attention toward him and Zoey. He flushed a little at the praise, and flushed deeper at her little dig (which absolutely had to be aimed at him) about not getting out of any practices. "Barring any emergencies, I think I've fit them all into my schedule," he promised, missing the attempted joke entirely. He'd always been a bit of a literalist.

Anne continued on with instructions for the day's practice and Zack nodded with a small grimace at the fact that he wouldn't be left alone. It was one of the small irritations of being involved in a team sport that he didn't often have to deal with. But Anne was the boss and he knew he'd already been trying her patience for a couple years now. He felt kind of bad for her that nobody had signed up as a relief seeker (and even worse that she didn't get a primary keeper either - definitely had to talk to Guenther about that).

"Sure," he agreed to the plan without any fuss or complaints. It wasn't that bad. He'd just have to avoid running into the chasers and work on otherwise ignoring them. It wasn't any different than in a game, really, and he could see the advantages to getting more practice dealing with obstacles to his vision and flying path.

He straddled Enterprise and lifted into the air to get started. It was time to track down little golden aliens.

1 Zack Dill But I'm from Alderaan 40 Zack Dill 0 5

Zoey

June 16, 2008 9:26 PM

I'm here, I swear! by Zoey

Zoey had managed to get her wild red curls into a half attempt of a french braid. It may not have been the prettiest of looks on her, but it kept her hair out of her face without much fear of it falling out during the windy rush of air as she flew around. Gloves on, broom at her side, boots tied, Zoey was ready for her last, first Quidditch try-out/practice. She couldn't believe she was already at this moment of her life. The last time she would sign her name up on that board. The last time she would greet new members. The last time she would have to really prove herself to Anne. She would be graduating at the end of this year and probably would never pick up a quaffle for the rest of her life when this is all said and done.

It was a sad thought to have, but one she knew was true. She enjoyed playing Quidditch, not as much as basketball, but it still gave her a high when the adrenaline was pumping. But, it wasn't her life long calling, it was only something to do while she was at Sonora.

Anne started the practice and Zoey's hazel eyes fell onto her Captain. Despite the cold shoulder Zoey often felt from her Captain, she was rather please by the send-off even if it did embarrass her a little. Zoey glanced at Zack while he commented and resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Zack was odd, very odd, his thought process seemed completely on a different plane than everyone else. That was one of his quirks. Part of his charm. However, it often left her feeling slightly off when she was never sure how to respond. And then there were moments like this when he was so serious about something that was meant as a jest. Or, what she assumed was a jest. Either way, Zoey shook her head and only grinned.

Anne went on to talk about what she expected from the practice, indicating that it was Zoey and Ben's choice on what drills they would run. Why Zoey? Perhaps Anne was letting up on her hate for Zoey and believed she was capable of actually doing something well. Or maybe it was because she was a Seventh year and Anne was only being nice to her about it. Of course, it could simply be because Zoey was an older member of the team and had more experience than, well, Chris. "Yeah, that sounds fair." Zoey answered after a moment. If all they were doing was running drills, it was just going into automatic pilot and making sure she was at specific points that were designated for her. "I'll leave the drills up to the Assistant Captain though." Zoey said, grinning slightly at Ben.

6 Zoey I'm here, I swear! 39 Zoey 0 5