Flying Free on Quidditch Pitch

Oliver Abbott

August 09, 2008 5:59 AM

Flying Free by Oliver Abbott

Midterm had been fantastic! No school work, a decent amount of snow, and Talitha had come to visit. His family had mostly behaved themselves, and Oliver retunred to school feeling much refreshed. Of course he hadn't had any opportunity to practise Quidditch over the holidays. Matches were due to take place this side of term, so Oliver felt he ought to get back into shape as soon as possible.

The first opportunity he had, Oliver changed into a blue tracksuit and took his broom out to the Quidditch pitch. Although quite warm, the day was cloudy. Taking a chance, Oliver left off his sunhat, and only wore his indoor, slightly-tinted glasses, rather than shades. Mounting his broom and kicking off firmly from the ground, he started off with a few laps of the pitch before trying some sharp stops and tight corners, which were useful for catching up with the quaffle again if it was intercepted and suddenly changed direction.

Of course the throwing and catching part of chaser practise was much easier when there was someone to work with. As luck would have it, Oliver spied someone else making their way onto the pitch. Of course it could be a player from another team, or a beater from his own, neither of whom would make good partners. Still, there was a slim chance one of the other Crotalus chasers decided to fly at the same time. Changing course, Oliver flew lower to see if he recognised the approaching figure.\r\n\r\n

0 Oliver Abbott Flying Free 99 Oliver Abbott 1 5

Lutece Anthony

August 13, 2008 8:19 AM

Looks like you need company by Lutece Anthony

Just because stupid Coach Fox made her stupid new rule about Quidditch didn't mean, in Lutece Anthony's not-so-humble opinion, that she wasn't allowed to fly. It just meant that stupid Coach Fox had problems with her stupid head. Lutece had never liked the woman. Something about the huge clunky boots, general lack of fashion, and obvious social defectiveness had done it. Even if the woman did used to play for a professional Quidditch team. It had been as a Beater! She probably had disgustingly obvious muscles like the really good professional swimmers did. Eew, that was such a gross thought. A little bit of toning was okay, but actual, visible muscles? Euegh, how much more manlike could you get? The rumours were probably right, Lutece thought in distinct satisfaction as she grabbed her broom and headed out to the Pitch.

Midterm had been boring, but not in a bad way. Lutece had gotten some reading done and had the Commons almost all to herself almost all the time. There were no annoying first years to get in her way or anything like that. About two days into the break, when her parents realised that she wasn't coming home, she got a pair of owls. The one from her mother would have been a Howler if she had known what one was (but to Lutece's smug enjoyment, her mother had remained a Muggle through two and a half years of Lutece's schooling). The one from her father had been more apologetic in the annoying way he had, but had also included a year's subscription to Keeping Weekly, which the Crotalus had wanted almost since her first day on the Pitch.

Once she had arrived on the Pitch, Lutece pushed her highlighted brown hair back from her face and found herself grinning at the sight of Oliver Abbot already in the air. It was more fun to practise with someone else, and since she was a Keeper and Oliver was a Chaser, that was a perfect match. Plus, she hadn't seen the bespectacled doofus in awhile. From the sheer amount of talking that Talitha did in regards to Oliver, Lutece had the uneasy feeling that her roommate and friend might have a...thing...for the boy. Why that made her uncomfortable she couldn't say, but regardless, she was glad to see him.

"Good morning Oliver," she called up, blue-green eyes flashing a grin in his direction. Today, Lutece wore a pink cami and snugly-fitted blue jeans. She should have worn her flats as well, but since she was going to be on the broom she decided against the shoes and moved towards sneakers instead. After all, she was always the most fashionable person on the Pitch anyway. Most of the kids here at Sonora didn't bother to keep up with what they should and shouldn't wear, and half the time they had to cover their clothes with ugly robes anyway. "How was your Midterm?"

0 Lutece Anthony Looks like you need company 100 Lutece Anthony 0 5

Oliver

August 13, 2008 5:20 PM

Oh. It's you again. by Oliver

Did he have a homing beacon on him or something? As he recognised the familiar form of Lutece Anthony, Oliver wondered vaguely how she always managed to show up whenever he was out here. Logic, of course, dictated that it was to be expected, seeing how they had the same timetables. Oddly enough, Oliver wasn't as displeased to see her as he had been in the past. It probably had much to do with his current good mood, but could also be attributed to Lutece's apparent acceptance of her magic. She hadn't complained at all about magic this year, as far as Oliver could recall, and he had pretty much forgiven her for ruining his potion back in first year. She was still irritating, though.

"Morning," he returned her greeting with a cursory nod of his head. He flew lower still so they weren't shouting at each other, and hovered a few feet from the ground. Having discovered recently that Talitha did wear make-up, Oliver found himself absently wondering whether Lutece was wearing lip gloss, the way he'd imagined she always did.

"Midterm was good, yeah," he said, not entirely supressing a grin as his thoughts returned to the holidays. "You probably know that Talitha came over" - the two girls shared a dorm and both of them chattered like their lives depended on it - "and that was cool. What about you? She said you stayed here, right? Get much flying in?"

As he listened to her reply, it dawned on Oliver that they were actually having a conversation, albeit meaningless palaver. Pretty soon one of them was going to get offended - it was inevitable.

0 Oliver Oh. It's you again. 0 Oliver 0 5

Lutece

August 13, 2008 8:07 PM

Why be surprised? by Lutece

"Oh, did she?" Lutece was surprised that her roommate hadn't mentioned her midterm visit to Oliver's, and felt a bit hurt at the exclusion. Sure, midterm at Sonora had been epically better than midterm at home could ever be, but midterm with her friends would have been a lot more fun. Then again, Lutece hadn't seen Talitha much since her return, so maybe that was why she hadn't mentioned it. Whatever. That pretty much assured the fact that there was something going on between Oliver and Talitha, which caused a small sprig of jealousy to stir in Lutece's head. How come Talitha got the cute, if kind of nerdy Oliver when Lutece couldn't get a boyfriend to save her life? True, there was always Lucas Smythe, but she would swear on her mother's grave that he was gay. He was just too much like her.

Then again, Lutece's mother wasn't dead yet, so she didn't have that opportunity.

As Oliver talked, the third year had mounted her broom, floating up so that they were on equal footing, so to speak. Lutece hated talking from what could be considered an inferior position, not to mention that she had come to the Pitch to practise, not just chat with a friend. Even if that friend might be going for her roommate.

Wait, what about Adam? Lutece pulled a pot of pink, sparkly lipgloss out of her jeans pocket and carefully applied it to her lips with the tip of her right pinky. She couldn't remember for the life of her if Talitha was still quasi-dating Adam. This simply wouldn't do. Lutece Anthony, unsure of the gossip of who was dating who around Sonora? Unheard of! She had to catch up on things and fast, starting on the home front with Talitha.

"It was kind of boring, but better than home," Lutece asserted with a nod of her head. Realising her hair was still free, the girl shook her head upside down, still managing to remain stable on her broom, then pulled her hair back into a ponytail from that position, finally securing it with a band as she looked back up at Oliver. One of the first things she had figured out how to do on a broom was tie her hair back. It was positively essential for any Quidditch player who wanted to look good and perform well at the same time. Even if she had never played a game, Lutece knew that she would be an awesome Keeper. After all, she was an awesome goalie!

"My mom sent me a letter that probably would have been a Howler, but she doesn't know what those are," Lutece remarked scornfully with a roll of her blue green eyes. "But whatevs. Better than dealing with them screaming at each other for the entire break, anyway."

0 Lutece Why be surprised? 0 Lutece 0 5

Oliver

August 16, 2008 12:21 PM

You continue to surprise me by Oliver

When Lutece retrieved a little pot of something pink and began applying it to her lips, Oliver knew he must have smiled. Lutece and lip gloss went together like... well, a girl and her lip gloss, he supposed. He then watched with a vague curiosity while she tipped almost the wrong way up on her broom just to tie her hair up. Impressive in a kind of odd, how-did-you-ever-learn-you-could-do-that sort of way, but surely it was far easier to just tie up hair before getting on a broom. Through all this, she still managed to keep talking.

"Well, it's nice they keep in touch," Oliver said ironically, with a smirk. His own parents still liked to pretend that Sonora didn't exist, but at least they didn't scream at each other when he was home. More often than not, it was Julian and Charlie screaming, each vying for most attention. "You've, um, got a brother and sister, right?" he asked Lutece. He thought she might have mentioned them - he must have gotten the information from somewhere. He wondered if they would be coming to Sonora. He still had half a year to convince Charlie to come and be a witch.

As interesting as it was to have a genuine conversation with Lutece, Oliver hadn't come to the pitch for idle gossip. "You here to get some practise in, then?" he asked rhetorically (why else would she be at the pitch?). "Shall I go fetch a couple of balls while you warm up?"

0 Oliver You continue to surprise me 0 Oliver 0 5