Coach Amelia Pierce
October 01, 2010 12:37 PM
Game One: Aladren vs. Pecari by Coach Amelia Pierce
It was Amelia Pierce's third year as Sonora's Quidditch Coach. She felt she had done a reasonably good job of filling Amelia Fox's shoes (at least, nobody had complained about how much better Fox had been where she could hear it) over the last two years and she no longer felt the need to prove herself to be just-as-good-as-the-other-Amy. She was Coach Pierce, and she was comfortable and established in that role. The three youngest years had known no other Coaches and, without a sixth year class, that was half the school now. Even most of the staff didn't personally remember Amelia Fox.So on the morning of the first game of her third year, Amelia Pierce stepped onto the Pitch and felt ready, confident, and . . . wet.
It wasn't thundering and lightning, and the downpour wasn't heavy enough to warrant postponing the game, but it was definitely less than Ideal Quidditch Playing Conditions. At least it was a warm rain. The temperatures were in the low eighties so even with her hair curling and sticking to her face and her robes clinging wetly to her, she was in no danger of feeling cold.
This year she had mixed things up and put Pecari up against Aladren for the first game. The two teams hadn't seen each other since the finals two years back. Then, Aladren had taken the trophy (barely), but both teams had changed leadership since then so it was anybody's game. (Secretly, she supposed it would probably go Aladren's way again, if only because they still had the same Seeker, and Pecari's new one simply did not have the experience Elly had during her final game - but the great thing about Quidditch was that it was always unpredictable.)
"Okay," she called out drawing the attention of the two teams away from their captains who were presumably giving pep-talks. "I know it's kind of miserable out," she wiped some rainwater off her forehead before it could drip into her eyes, "but the game's still on. Captains, could you come shake hands."
After Jose Hernandez and Thomas Fitzgerald did so, she sent them back to their teams without further instructions. They both knew the rules, and the sooner the game started the sooner they could all get dry again. "Play a good game everyone. We start on three. One. Two. Three." She blew the whistle and threw the Quaffle as high into the air as she could.
OOC:
Most of you have played before, so you all know the rules. For those who are new to Quidditch the rules are pretty simple: (1) Write clear, detailed posts; the more quantity AND quality your post has, the better chance your team has of winning. (2) Don't write for other players . . . that means the Keeper, not the Chaser, decides if a Quaffle scores. The next person to post decides if a pass is successful. The target or an opposing beater decides if a bludger hits its mark. The seeker does not catch the snitch until they get an email from me saying they may. You get the idea. (3) Spectators, if you want to post about the game, make a separate Spectator thread.
If anyone has any questions about any of that, drop me a line on the OOC board. Thanks. Play on and have fun!
Subthreads: Taking the Quaffle by <font color="blue">Thomas Fitzgerald,Chaser</font> with <font color="blue">Jera Valson, Seeker</font>, <font color="brown">Neal Padrig, Chaser</font>, <font color="brown">Cap'n Jose, Beater</font>, <font color="blue">Edmond Carey, Beater</font>, <font color="blue">Grayson Wright, Keeper</font>, <font color="brown">Delilah Kerrigan,Chaser</font>, <font color="brown">Sophie Jamison [Chaser]</font>, <font color="brown">Demelza Eagle [Beater]</font>, <font color="blue">Daniel Nash II, Chaser</font>
Seeking another win by <font color="brown">Dorian Talksy (Seeker)</font> with <font color="blue">Devlin Shortt, Beater</font>
1
Coach Amelia Pierce
Game One: Aladren vs. Pecari
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Coach Amelia Pierce
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5
<font color="blue">Thomas Fitzgerald,Chaser</font>
October 02, 2010 1:39 AM
Taking the Quaffle by <font color="blue">Thomas Fitzgerald,Chaser</font>
The weather was wretched, and he still wasn't sure how confident he was in his new kids, but as the Aladren team gathered before the game, Thomas thought their chances in the game against Pecari were good. Jose Hernandez was only a fourth year, most of his team was younger or even brand new, and his assistant captain had apparently either gone through a nasty encounter with a rouge Obliviator or had a traumatic head injury over the summer. Part of him wondered why they were even letting her play with that kind of damage, though another part wasn't going to complain about anything Jose did or was allowed to do to shoot himself and his team in the foot.They were, he felt sure, better than Pecari right now, but they still needed advantage anywhere it could be gained. The new kids of Aladren were still untried, and Gray was still...Gray, if better than he'd been in the Geoff Layne days, but the player on his own side Thomas was still most worried about was Edmond. The guy's sister had gotten shot, which was probably a concept Edmond didn’t understand because of the tech gap, and then, because of who they were, it had ended up in the papers. Thomas could understand it - his grandfather was a politician, and he could imagine how it would be if he were still in Missouri and it was Frank – but he also acknowledged that he wasn’t quite good enough of a person to not be...irritated if Edmond used the game as therapy and ended up giving Pecari penalty shots.
It was his seventh year. After this, nothing was certain. He knew it was, in the grand scheme of things, not very significant of an event, but he'd like to win the finals again, just to end on a high note. If that was to happen, though, they had to win today. He needed his people fully engaged with the game.
“You all know what you’re doing,” he told the group. “Just do it as well as you can. Visiblity’s no good with this rain, even with repellant charms, but I think we’ve got a good chance today, as long as we keep our heads on straight and don’t get distracted. “ Hopefully, the rain would confuse the younglings on the Pecari team – which he didn’t imagine was as well disciplined as his team, eccentrics aside – and make it easier to keep the Quaffle firmly trained on Gregory and the Bludgers on Talsky. Even more hopefully, it wouldn’t make his new people panic. “Good luck, everyone.”
He nodded briefly, if not unamiably, to Pierce and Jose during the ceremonial handshake despite the rain likely making it a pointless gesture and then, once the whistle was blown, wasted no time in taking the Quaffle. It was a pity that there wasn’t a spell to make them less slippery as there was to keep them from falling quickly; holding on to the ball as well as he could, Thomas made a note to tell Gray to tell Anne Wright to start working on that, if she wasn’t already. He’d never known her personally, but her obsession had been legendary enough in its own time for him to assume it hadn’t simply gone away after school.
A Bludger just missed him, and Thomas nearly swore. Rain, of course, meant it was even harder to hear the indicative whistle than the crowd and speed made it normally, and – since Bludgers were usually a sign that he’d had the ball about long enough, though he’d go a little further and change his position in case it had been hit at him intentionally to get him to pass just as a Pecari got into position to intercept – changed tossing, since robe sleeves were heavy when wet. Best to make the pass as narrow as possible without colliding with…whoever he was looking for a good chance to pass to. Seizing a moment when he couldn’t immediately perceive a nearby opponent, and wondering what they were going to do if the water made it get hard to distinguish between dark uniforms, Thomas tossed the sleeves back and tried the pass.
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<font color="blue">Thomas Fitzgerald,Chaser</font>
Taking the Quaffle
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<font color="blue">Thomas Fitzgerald,Chaser</font>
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5
<font color="blue">Jera Valson, Seeker</font>
October 04, 2010 4:56 PM
Taking to the sky by <font color="blue">Jera Valson, Seeker</font>
Rain. Lots and lots of rain. Jera looked up at where the sky should be as she psyched herself to leave the building. She was currently dry, and knew that the moment she stepped outside that small fact would change. Sighing, she pulled her Quidditch robes tightly around her, and pushed open the door. The seventh year decided to fly down to the pitch, but it did nothing to stop the damp. In fact, byt the time Thomas started giving the team his talk, her bangs had stuck to her forhead and the rest of her dark hair was clinging uncomfortably to her neck. It was unfortunate, because Jera had considered that this might - if things went badly - be her last ever Quidditch game at Sonora. It would have been better to have it in decent weather. Still, Jera considered, there was something she could do about that. If she caught the Snitch and one this game it would get Aladren a spot in the championship game after midterm, and hopefully the weather would be better, then.The whistle blew, and Jera kicked off very slowly. It hadn't been entirely intentional, as she did slip a little in the damp ground, but the Seeker didn't see any reason to race into the sky like the Chasers. In fact, the Seeker couldn't see anything much at all right now. The rain wasn't cold or thunderous, but it was relentless and made colors run into each other. Spotting a glint of gold might be easy, in contrast to the varying tones of gray, or it could be impossible behind this curtain of water. Spotting a Bludger, on the other hand, would definitely be impossible, so Jera would have to be on the lookout for those, too. keeping both eyes and ears open in this rain would be difficult, and exhausting. Jera sort of hoped it would be a short game. The faster she was in clean, dry clothes, the better. She liked the outdoors, true enough, but nobody in their right mind liked playing Quidditch in the rain.
While the rest of the players set themselves to clocking up as many points as possible, Jera's job was solely to seek out the Snitch. Oh, and avoid the Bludgers, yes. So tightening her grip on her broom handle, Jera shifted her weight and began a low circle of the pitch. She might go higher later, but for some reason she wanted to fly low for the time being. Going with her gut feeling, the Aladren stayed below the other players, and flew against the rain, droplets hitting her face and she sought that Snitch. Although she mostly kept her concentration on the game, she couldn't help that her mind wandered off from time to time. It kept doing that recently, anyway. Mostly she was wonderign whether or not to go to college. Her Ma and Pa wanted her to, she could tell. They had said she could do whatever she liked, but they were both scholars and professionals, and she could tell they wanted her to go to college at the very least. For her part, Jera would very much like to go and work with dragons. Unfortunately she hadn't taken Care of Magical Creatures, so probably couldn't study it any further at college. In which case, she really didn't know what she would study. She already knew enough about herbology and Runes from her parents, and taking exams in those subjects would feel like cheating. Of course, if she did decide to go to college, where would she go? She didn't want to go too far from home so she could come back to look after her Ma if her illness got any worse.
Woah! Jera's concentration kicked in just in time for her to swerve harshly to get out of the way of an oncoming Bludger. She really needed to keep her head in the game or she was going to lose it, and Thomas certainly wouldn't be impressed by that. Neither would Gray. At this point Jera wasn't sure who she'd want to disappoint less. As her heart slowed back to a normal rate, Jera fought to keep her mind on the game, and her eyes open for the Snitch.
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<font color="blue">Jera Valson, Seeker</font>
Taking to the sky
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<font color="blue">Jera Valson, Seeker</font>
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<font color="brown">Neal Padrig, Chaser</font>
October 04, 2010 9:38 PM
Taking an chance by <font color="brown">Neal Padrig, Chaser</font>
The line-up may have been different this year, but the game was still the same and that’s all that mattered. Neal looked over at the rest of his team as they made their way out onto the pitch, sort of like taking them in for the first time. It looked like he would be the only Chaser returning from last year, though he had heard Delilah had been a Chaser before he even came into the picture. That would make Sophia the only new member of the team, but Neal had the complete confidence in her. He had been so nervous last year because he hadn’t felt like he was good enough to be on a team full of people with more experience. He didn’t want anyone else to feel that way, so he hoped she wouldn’t. Practices had also gone well enough, so now it was juts time to apply everything they’ve done up until now and see what would happen.The weather was dreary, as it had been the first game last year against Crotalus. Though instead of fog it looked like everyone would be dealing with rain. Holding his broom in a tighter grip, Neal shrugged off the weather for the meantime and listened to Jose’s pre-game talk. Sometimes they proved to give really accurate advice and even made him feel better about playing. It was one of the reasons why Neal thought Jose was a great captain; he really made him feel involved.
Speaking of being involved… his eyes couldn’t help but rove over to Starbuck and Mel. He hadn’t picked up on any tension, so maybe things were better between the two. Not that he really knew what issues they had last year, but the strain between them was obvious to even him. He didn’t want team animosity or anything this year, so he hoped they worked out their differences. For as much as he felt he was out of the loop as far as gossip went, sometimes he really wished he knew what the heck went on sometimes.
As soon as Jose had shaken the Aladren captain’s hand, everything seemed to blur in a mix of rain nerves. Neal squinted his noticeable bloodshot dark brown eyes through the spurts of the downpour, hoping to see exactly what was going on around him. This storm seemed to be a lot worse now that he was off the ground, he begrudgingly admitted to himself. He should consider getting goggles or something so he wouldn’t have to struggle so much to catch a glimpse of anything. Not that it mattered if he got a glimpse of anything, everyone’s robes looked the same to him since they were soaked to a dark gray.
Great, this game just got a whole lot more challenging.
Noticing someone with a Quaffle coming towards his direction, Neal sped off after them, trying his best to figure out which team they were on. He couldn’t recognize their features, but they must have recognized him since they threw the Quaffle at him. Not wanting to waste time questioning who was who, Neal took off toward the direction of the Aladren goals with the hopes of getting one in, something he didn’t even try to do the previous year. He was pretty close when he noticed his grip probably wasn’t good enough to make a decent shot. Spotting what he hoped to be someone from his team, he shouted at them to take it and tossed the Quaffle at them. Biting his lip, he wondered if he did the right thing since everyone still looked like they were on one team. It just had to storm today.
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<font color="brown">Neal Padrig, Chaser</font>
Taking an chance
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<font color="brown">Neal Padrig, Chaser</font>
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<font color="brown">Cap'n Jose, Beater</font>
October 05, 2010 3:23 PM
Captaining and Beatering by <font color="brown">Cap'n Jose, Beater</font>
Jose loved playing Quidditch in the rain. Well, warm rain. Jose was a Californian who started wearing jackets when it got below seventy-five degrees, but warm rain was good. Probably not so much for the Seekers, the Spectators, or even the Chasers, but he thought it might actually help the Keepers and the Beaters. Even as a Chaser though, he liked the rain.He wasn't a Chaser today, though. He had a water repellent charm on his robes, broom, and bat. They'd still get wet - he wasn't good enough for water to be repelled entirely and the charms he'd learned for the purpose were used in muggle company so even after they were charmed, the items in question would still look drenched - but at least the robes wouldn't get too heavy or soggy or restrictive and the broom and bat wouldn't slip out of his hands too easily. He still hadn't found any beater gloves in his size anywhere, so he was bare-handed yet for this game.
"Okay, guys," he called out to his team to gather them 'round once he counted and found they were all there. "It's wet, so anyone who doesn't know basic water repellent charms, let me know and I'll put one on your robes and brooms." Once those had been distributed, he got into the main pep talk.
"So we've got rain. Dorian, you've got your work cut out for you, but Jera's in the same boat. She's tough, but you've been doing really well in practice. You can do this. Chasers, the ball's gonna be slippery so watch your hold. With all the water in the air, it also won't go as far when you throw it, so make shorter passes, get closer to the goal before taking a shot, and put a little more oomph behind it. Starbuck, you've got the rain helping you drive the ball down and the wet makes tricky shots even harder than normal, so just keep an eye on the Quaffle and you'll do great. Mel," he grinned at his assistant captain, "we've got stealth bludgers today. All right, team, go get 'em!"
He shook Thomas's hand when told to and gave the older captain a cheerful grin and good sportsman blessing of good luck, then headed back to his team. He had to quell the instinct to go after the Quaffle when he heard the whistle blow, but he gripped his bat tighter and took off after a bludger. "I'll take this one, you keep an eye on that one," he shouted at Mel and pointed at the other bludger before following the first dark metal ball up into the sky.
He caught up to it pretty shortly and batted it lightly to keep control of it while he tried to find a good target for his attack. Thomas had the quaffle and he thought he saw a Pecari Chaser not far off, so he whacked the bludger that way.
Unfortunately, the other captain deftly avoided the shot, and didn't immediately pass off so the Pecari could sweep in like Jose had hoped, but Thomas was good so it wasn't too surprising. Jose dove to retrieve his bludger, keeping one eye out for Aladren's beaters, but it was hard to make them out when everybody's robes just looked dark. Normally, he thought Blue and Brown would be easy to distinguish (at least easier than Brown and Red like in the Crotalus games) but apparently the fabric the uniforms were made of didn't much care for color once it got wet.
In any case, he reached the bludger again before an Aladren did (maybe they were bugging Mel - Jose couldn't see her or the other bludger either). He looked up to see if Thomas still had the ball but . . . he squinted a little . . . no, he was pretty sure that was Neal. "Go Neal!" Jose cheered, then batted the bludger ahead of him as he started to head toward the Aladren goals.
Making a goal was hard enough in the rain. If Aladren didn't have a Keeper, that ought to make it easier. He didn't even need to take Gray out. He just had to distract him at just the right time. The tricky part was going to be keeping control of the bludger long enough to set up the distraction at just the right time.
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<font color="brown">Cap'n Jose, Beater</font>
Captaining and Beatering
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<font color="brown">Cap'n Jose, Beater</font>
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<font color="blue">Edmond Carey, Beater</font>
October 05, 2010 10:50 PM
Just Beating, I'm afraid by <font color="blue">Edmond Carey, Beater</font>
He corrected her for her behavior regularly, thinking that it was his duty as a sort of older brother, but there were certain advantages Edmond would privately admit to his one relative at Sonora being loose on proprieties. One was not having to explain that his family would strongly oppose an outdoor activity when it was raining. In Virginia, anyway, that was a good way to get sick, and he was not allowed to be sick.Jane, of course, had been firmly informed that she was to stay indoors. Her health was of less import than his, but she was a young lady. Young ladies did not go out in rain even if they had the temerity to watch Quidditch. He was sure, then, that she had found a place just above and off the side of the center of the Pecari stands, in a spot he would never look for her in, at least five minutes before Thomas began his speech. He trusted her, though, to bring her umbrella, and he imagined there would be some kind of warm drink the Hall afterward anyway. Those should do for keeping them out of the infirmary and trouble with Julia.
Staying out of trouble with Thomas might be more difficult for him. The rain made it hard to see anything, and it was his luck that the Bludgers were the darkest balls involved in the game. He would try his best, but it seemed to him a bit less likely than usual to be good enough today.
The game proved almost as difficult to follow as Edmond had expected it to be, with the water making it hard to see the difference between teams. He didn't get the Bludger quickly enough to prevent Jose taking a shot at Thomas, or stop the pass from going awry.
He thought he could, though, keep the Pecaris away from his goals. It would have been - he hated to admit he would even think of such a thing, but he could blame it away as a bare hint of the Savannah Carey dramatics left in him for all of his foster-mother's educational practices and point out the comparative mildness, all things considered, of it if there was the question - lovely to hit the Bludger Jose had under a semblance of control with the other and send them both to Dorian Talsky, but there was no way he could justify trying something so tricky in this weather. It would be hard to do so on an exceptional day. So, instead, he took advantage of Jose's distraction and the lack of Miss Eagle's presence on the scene to hit the free Bludger toward what he sincerely believed and hoped to be a Pecari Chaser.
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<font color="blue">Edmond Carey, Beater</font>
Just Beating, I'm afraid
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<font color="blue">Edmond Carey, Beater</font>
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5
<font color="blue">Grayson Wright, Keeper</font>
October 07, 2010 3:18 PM
I'm sincerely hoping I don't have to do anything at all. by <font color="blue">Grayson Wright, Keeper</font>
Fifteen minutes before the game, Gray looked out a window to contemplate the universe and came to the conclusion that he was quite possibly done for.Since Care of Magical Creatures lessons were always outdoors and the Founders had never seen fit to key all Sonora's rain to the nighttime hours, Gray had taken the time to learn how to make his glasses repel water very early in his academic career. Since his glasses were out of date again, though, because the next-highest prescription wreaked havoc on his depth perception and gave him headaches, he was pretty sure the knowledge was not going to help him today. He was still less likely to get hurt than the other players, since his relative lack of movement if they were doing their jobs meant he was less likely to slip and fall off the broom, but in terms of visibility, he was going to be at a disadvantage. He'd be lucky to see the Quaffle coming before it hit him in the nose, never mind work out where it was going.
At least his team had older Chasers, the new one excepted. Thomas and Daniel were all that stood between him and a combination of embarrassment, family shame, and possibly the antagonism of his Housemates. If either or both of them got sick, or announced that they were actually also half-blind but had been too proud to wear glasses prior to seeing his heroic example, he planned to quit reality in protest.
Neither disaster, though, seemed to be on the horizon. Gray though Thomas seemed a bit briefer than usual, but he didn't think that was a traditional sign of mortal illness. If his reading was anything to go by, it should actually be a sign of perfect health, considering how long everyone seemed to ramble on during a death scene in fiction. Probably just the knowledge that, while they weren't done for, this was going to be harder than writing an O-level Fawcett Special at midnight when it was due at eight a.m. There were people - Gray among them - whose disjointed ramblings sometimes got a better reception from their professors than deliberate attempts at good prose, but he was pretty sure there weren't any who saw or flew better in the rain. Liked it, maybe, but weren't better at it.
Once the game began, he found the goals. Gray thought this was a good omen for future prosperity, since he had been a little worried about flying into them by mistake. Visibility, though, actually wasn't as bad as he'd thought it would be, though that wasn't saying much; he had half-expected it to be blacker than night by the time the whistle blew. Expecting the worst worked for him because it meant he got to have nice surprises like it only being murky gray.
Quickly, though, it became evident that he was the only Aladren player things were going well for. He wasn't sure which one it was, but since the possibly-a-guy with the Quaffle was heading in his direction, either they'd lost the ball or Brad was very, very confused about which end of the Pitch was which. Gray hoped not; it had been a while since he had felt the need to evaluate his classmates for Evil High Priest or Priestess of the Aladren Gods potential, so he thought he might be out of practice. Besides, some of them might be able to carry the role off with style, but none had the right actual feeling to put behind it.
He still hoped even more, though, that one of his boys got the ball back, or at least knocked Pecari Chaser Guy out, before anyone got close enough to him for the ball to be thrown. Especially since it looked like Pecari Beater Dude was trying to play one-man Ping-Pong with a Bludger that Gray really doubted he meant to use on himself.
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<font color="blue">Grayson Wright, Keeper</font>
I'm sincerely hoping I don't have to do anything at all.
113
<font color="blue">Grayson Wright, Keeper</font>
0
5
<font color="brown">Delilah Kerrigan,Chaser</font>
October 07, 2010 11:11 PM
Where's the fun in that? by <font color="brown">Delilah Kerrigan,Chaser</font>
Reflexively, Delilah put her arms around herself in response to the rain. It wasn’t actually cold and for that she was thankful since it was hitting off the back of her neck. Having woken up quite early in anticipation of playing Quidditch since she hadn’t been able to play the year before and with all that free time, she had opted to style her hair in a way that she didn’t normally. Usually, she just threw her hair into a ponytail for practice, but today, she had opted for two braids. She was glad that she had, because while she wasn’t freaking out like her sister, Veronica, would have been, it was annoying to try to play with wet hair getting in her eyes and sticking to her face.Thankfully, Jose offered to place basic water repellent charms on their robes, which she quickly took him up on. She was horrible at spell work. Really, she was horrible at school. It was amazing that she hadn’t managed to fail a grade yet. Though, in fairness, the actual wand work wasn’t so bad, it was getting the words right. Every time they worked on a spell, it sounded like everyone was saying something other than what was written on the board. She didn’t understand it at all. But Quidditch she understood and she understood the compensation that was going to be required with the rain.
Finally up in the air, the Pecari booed when the other team’s Captain quickly stole the quaffle. Growling softly to herself, she took off after him, but it was becoming quickly apparent just how tricky this was going to be. Even with the charm, she was still wetter than she would have liked and that made movement more difficult. For a Chaser that was key. Without being able to have the speed and quick air changes necessary for interceptions and passes. As it stood, telling one person apart from the other was going to be difficult enough. They really need to have something shiny on their robes. That would have helped a lot. Maybe they could make their brooms sparkle for the next game or something just so they wouldn’t have this problem again.
There went the quaffle and there was no way that she was close enough to get it. Someone got it. She wasn’t sure who it was, but figured out quickly that it was one of theirs when the person took off in the other direction. Was it Neal or Sophia? If the person ended up taking the shot, she hoped it was Neal, only because he had more experience and in this weather every shot was going to be more significant than if it were a regular game. But this wasn’t to say that Sophia was bad. She was just less experienced. Delilah had no doubt that if she was allowed to continue playing that she would be able to rely on the other girl with a little time.
Speaking of players, where was Mel? She needed a good Beater, because that sound sure wasn’t thunder. Since they had come back to school, things had been strange between them. Mel had lost her memory and it was apparent she no longer had a clue that they had been best friends. It was really hard to know they had been and to no longer be the same. There were things that she could only share with Mel, secrets that they had, and that was all gone. But she had hope that it could all be rebuilt. They were on the team together once more and there was nothing Mel loved more than Quidditch. She was pretty certain on that.
Though, if Mel (or Jose) didn’t hurry up, maybe she would end up getting hit by a bludger and be the next to lose her memory! Oh, there was the pass! Urging her broom forward the best she could, she held out her hand in an attempt to catch the pass and she had it, she really did, except it slid right out of her fingers like butter. No! It passed to her only to pass right by her. There was no way she could get to it now. She just had to hope that Sophia was nearby. Please, please, please. She couldn’t let the team down, not after just getting back on it, not during their first game.
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<font color="brown">Delilah Kerrigan,Chaser</font>
Where's the fun in that?
0
<font color="brown">Delilah Kerrigan,Chaser</font>
0
5
<font color="brown">Sophie Jamison [Chaser]</font>
October 08, 2010 4:25 PM
Go, team! [Quaffle @ Aladren rings!] by <font color="brown">Sophie Jamison [Chaser]</font>
Today was the day that Sophie would make her family proud. She would show her Quidditch prodigal cousins Juliet and Lola --oh, those twins-- that she was just as skilled at Quidditch as they were. True, she loved her cousins, and they loved her back. The girls were a Beating force to be reckoned with, but Sophie was a Keeper by training. However, Sophie wasn’t playing Keeper. Today was the day she Chased.Ileum and Serapes would no doubt find out how her game was to go, followed by her father. She would show all three of them her promise in the area of sports. Sophie highly wanted her godfathers to be proud of her, and though they always were despite whatever stupid thing she did, she wanted to give them a reason to be proud.
That morning, Sophie woke up smiling. The eleven year old loved the game of Quidditch, no matter what position she was playing. The wind whipping through her blonde hair as she squinted her blue eyes against the gust that was no doubt doubled by her speed. It might be a challenge to adjust to not lurking around the rings, but Sophie could correct herself if she stayed too near.
At the first sign of rain that day, Sophie’s eyes glistened mischievously. So many Quidditch tactics would fail due to limited sight; she was prepared to exploit that against Aladren. Sure, most of those loopholes would work against her own team of Pecari as well, but as long as her team was ready --which they totally were-- there would be no problem.
Once the team was gathered, her captain’s offer was instantly accepted by the first year. Water repellant charms were a great idea. She’d have to remember that for when she was captain some day, which she had decided she would be. Sophie grinned at her water-proof robes, twirling slightly in youthful glee.
Sophie listened intently as Captain Jose gave his little speech thing, nodding when he spoke to the Chasers after a moment of hesitation that was filled with the thought, I’m Keep-… Wait, no I’m not! Soon the Captains shook hands and the game began. Badly.
An Aladren Chaser had the Quaffle. Well shoot. Sophie zoomed to try to help, but in the blink of an eye, she lost where the Quaffle and other Chasers were. Spinning around frantically, she scanned the air for them, water flinging off of her water-proofed robes but soaking her hair and making her hair stick to her neck.
Eventually, she discovered that Neal had the ball. Neal was on her team; this was awesome! Sophie hovered over near the other Pecari chaser, Delilah. Then Neal passed it towards Delilah and-… What?! Delilah missed the Quaffle? Seeing it fall, Sophie thoughtlessly dove straight down, her broom just faster than the ball’s descent. She jerked her broom straight right beneath the Quaffle’s path of plummeting and let it fall into her lap a few seconds later.
Tucking the big ball as best as she could into her small arms, Sophie sped off towards the Aladren rings, zigzagging with all of her might. As she flew, she tried to wipe off the ball with her sleeves to make it dryer and easier to throw. When she was close, she glanced at the opposing team’s Keeper, an envious fire in her eyes for this player who got to play the position she so loved, and hurled the somewhat slippery ball directly towards the hopefully unwatched middle ring.
The throw felt excellent and strong, and Sophie commiserated with the Keeper who would have to stop it. Her eleven year old arm was a decent thing to be reckoned with, and in pickup games with her cousins, she had taken a few good hard throws, not to mention a Bludger now and then. (Thanks so much, loving cousins Julie and Lola.) However the amount of empathy in her heart, Sophie crossed her fingers and hoped their keeper would miss.
12
<font color="brown">Sophie Jamison [Chaser]</font>
Go, team! [Quaffle @ Aladren rings!]
34
<font color="brown">Sophie Jamison [Chaser]</font>
0
5
<font color="brown">Demelza Eagle [Beater]</font>
October 09, 2010 9:41 AM
Ensuring Pecari victory by <font color="brown">Demelza Eagle [Beater]</font>
If there was anything in the world that Demelza loved more than music, it was Quidditch. Quidditch was so amazing, it made Demelza want to jump around and sing! Actually, a lot of things made the third year want to do that, Demelza was pretty positive that she could even write a song about how incredibly awesome Quidditch was, and how important of a role it played in her confusing life.So according to Jose (whom, she learned through working with him in her least favorite class, was a pretty good seer unlike herself) and other members of the team, Pecari hadn't won the Quidditch cup since she's been there. Well, we'll just have to show them. Demelza wasn't any bit discouraged, 'cause, like, she totally didn't recall ever losing. The only thing she saw was win, win, win. Who didn't like to win? Mel Eagle sure did!
She woke up very early on the day of the first game. She noticed that some other of her roommates were already up, undoubtedly because they were also on the team. She loved staying up late discussing tatics with her roommates. They were all pretty cool people. After pulling on her Quidditch robes over her pajamas (hey, they were probably more comfortable than any day clothes she had!), she put her long, mocca brown hair in a high bun, a style she didn't try out too often. She skipped merrily down to breakfast for a lovely meal of bacon and ham, and then made her way down to the pitch with her broom under her right arm and her beater's bat under her left and dominate arm. She hummed a random tune the entire way down, and was pleased to see some people already there.
Seeing that it was raining, Demelza suddenly got very excited! She loved rain! Well, she also liked sunshine, but rain sometimes meant rainbows, and what was better than a rainbow? NOTHING! She smiled as she allowed Jose to put the water repellant charm on her robes and gloves, even though she really did love rain. Most people didn't so they would see it as a disadvantage, but it just made Mel very anticipant. Although, she really had to focus on one thing: beat Aladren to the ground. She could do that.
She followed her team out on the field, confused for a moment where she was supposed to stand. Uhh... oh yeah! She remembered where she was positioned by standing opposite of the other beater, Jose. When the whistle blew, she kicked hard off the ground and looked around for bludgers. The Quaffle was moving around quickly, and Demelza didn't notice anyone on the Pecari team in danger (yet) of being hit by a bludger. When Delilah dropped it, Demelza swore under her breath, but then lit up as Sophie, the first year, retrieved it. But then--BLUDGER ATTACK.
A bludger was zooming around close to the Aladren goal. Mel could just tell that Sophie was going to take a shot-- it was rather obvious. Taking advantage of the situation, she flew up a few feet in the air and, with her muscley left arm (which had broken several times before)she took a nice, strong crack at the bludger, which went zooming in the direction of the Keeper at the same time the Quaffle did. Most likely, since the bludger had a helluva lot more mass, it would make contact with the Keeper before the Quaffle could even get through one of the hoops. Mel grinned deviously, watching her epic plan take action, hoping it was good enough to get the Quaffle in.
0
<font color="brown">Demelza Eagle [Beater]</font>
Ensuring Pecari victory
0
<font color="brown">Demelza Eagle [Beater]</font>
0
5
<font color="brown">Dorian Talksy (Seeker)</font>
October 09, 2010 12:03 PM
Seeking another win by <font color="brown">Dorian Talksy (Seeker)</font>
Dorian was excited for the game, he was once again the Seeker for the Pecari team, and this year he was going to prove that he could win them more than one game. He had practiced all summer with the Snitches Dmitry had given to him for his birthday, the first nice thing he had ever gotten from his half-brother. The now second year ran a hand through his brown hair and smiled as he donned his Quidditch robes in the Pecari brown and gold.He pulled on his fingerless gloves Mama had bought him and then grabbed his broom. He didn’t care much about eating breakfast; he would eat after the game. Humming to himself he smiled at the others gathered on the pitch. He frowned when Jose said that they needed water repellent charms, he didn’t know any yet and he was a bit embarrassed to ask for one but the Captain was right he needed one. And so he casually mentioned that he needed one. Once it was cast he did feel a bit better glad that he didn’t wear glasses, or have to carry a bat through the whole game. He just had to find the damn small ball in this
He could do this. He knew he could. Dimitry had even said he was a good Seeker this summer. If his older brother thought he had what it takes then he figured he did. He swung his foot over the broom and kicked off as hard as he could in the mushy grass. Soaring into the air on his new custom broom Papa had given him for his birthday he grinned. The rain wasn’t cold, so it would make it easier to focus on finding the snitch then being cold. He pushed his hair out of his face and vowed to get it cut before the next game.
He sighed as he hovered for a moment above the Pecari goals looking for any sign of the little snitch. Having no luck he moved, slowly around the Pitch keeping his eyes opening. Finally he thought he spotted some sort of glittering towards the other goal posts. Not wanting to alert the other Seeker he causally turned and made his way towards there, only putting a burst of speed into when he defiantly spotted the glittering again.
0
<font color="brown">Dorian Talksy (Seeker)</font>
Seeking another win
0
<font color="brown">Dorian Talksy (Seeker)</font>
0
5
<font color="blue">Edmond Carey, Beater</font>
October 09, 2010 6:47 PM
I really can't permit you to do that by <font color="blue">Edmond Carey, Beater</font>
In Quidditch, things were simple - by Edmond's standards, anyway. Everyone moved around constantly, either with the same goal but different thoughts about how to reach it or with conflicting aims, and some members of the teams hurt people who couldn't defend themselves, but here, all this was done openly. Nothing, really, happened that could not be anticipated. He liked that.The key was also simple: keep moving. As soon as one thing was done, he had to move, looking for another, both to see that the original action was not interfered with and to do something else to accomplish the same goal in case it was. As soon as Edmond hit the Bludger toward the mess going on at his end of the Pitch, he followed it, taking care to be outside the Bludger's attack range lest it turn on him and waste valuable time, to follow up if it looked like it was going to go the wrong way or was intercepted by one of the Pecari Beaters.
It was, with the interference coming, he thought, from Miss Eagle. She was in the year below his, and had once been his partner in Care of Magical Creatures. The talk was that she was suffering from some kind of mental problem this year, a thing that did not keep her out of school but did cause her some problems with it, but if so, it was not enough to keep her from serving her House. Edmond thought that proved that she was competent enough for him not to need to feel guilty about disrupting her play. He supposed she wouldn't feel as much if he got his head knocked off doing it.
That was the tricky thing. He was sure he could intercept, but he did risk having someone plow into him. The risk was within acceptable margins, though; even if it happened, he thought he was more durable, and therefore far more likely to be able to return to the game quickly after a collision or other injury, than anyone on the Pecari team. They were all smaller than he was.
He would, of course, still rather not get hit, but the risk was small enough for the chance to be taken. Flying as fast as he dared with so many people to hit being in such close range, and feeling mild irritation at just not having the time for niceties like deciding exactly which Pecari to try to take out, Edmond caught the Bludger and, while still moving, hit it off its course for his Keeper and toward one of the female Chasers. It was not gentlemanly, perhaps, but did get rid of the chance that he was consciously aiming for someone on his own side.
0
<font color="blue">Edmond Carey, Beater</font>
I really can't permit you to do that
0
<font color="blue">Edmond Carey, Beater</font>
0
5
<font color="blue">Grayson Wright, Keeper</font>
October 09, 2010 10:17 PM
Guess your next stop is their Seeker, then? by <font color="blue">Grayson Wright, Keeper</font>
For a moment, the Quaffle was falling, and Gray felt a tiny glimmer of hope that his team would steal it and everything would be all right. Then some hotshot first year - or, more likely, some first year Jose Hernandez picked up at random, just like Layne had picked up Gray years ago, because there just wasn't anyone else available these days - recovered it for her team, and the glimmer died like the flame of a non-enchanted candle would if it, too, was brought out from its nice library in this rain.It was hard to see exactly what was going on. Edmond had something to do with it, he thought, since the only other big guy on the field was Thomas, who didn't have a bat to hit
When the little one with the Quaffle managed not to land herself in the hospital wing and, in doing so, removed from him the need to be altruistic, Gray tried not to resent the team's senior Beater too much. Aiming in this weather was probably hard.
Maybe that was why Little Pecari Chaser didn't try to feint or something, and threw while she was close enough for him to see her. Gray decided to believe that, as it was good for his ego when the other option was that firsties thought he was that incompetent, which he wasn't. He was no Anne and never would be, but he had been improving - if not always evenly or steadily - possibly since before Little Pecari Chaser stopped reading picture books. Not that there was anything wrong with picture books, Gray had all of his at home and sometimes looked at them even now because they were awesome, but - he didn't so much catch the Quaffle as have it bounce off his arm, but it didn't go in the ring.
"Ha," he said, but stopped short of celebrating further. He didn't particularly like swallowing rain water, and besides, victory shouts didn't work that well when he still had a problem with verbalized pauses arising from the part of his brain that was overly-cautious, which was also the part that knew he might let his mouth run away with him and get them in trouble with the coach if he even started. He had a feeling he wouldn't get lucky twice, especially since they'd probably have someone other than L.P.C. try for a penalty shot, and that Thomas might kill him if he saved and then brought down the Wrath of Pierce on them. Getting a half-decent grip on the Quaffle after fumbling it, he tossed it back toward Aladren.
16
<font color="blue">Grayson Wright, Keeper</font>
Guess your next stop is their Seeker, then?
113
<font color="blue">Grayson Wright, Keeper</font>
0
5
<font color="blue">Thomas Fitzgerald,Chaser</font>
October 09, 2010 11:16 PM
Whatever works. by <font color="blue">Thomas Fitzgerald,Chaser</font>
"Damn," Thomas muttered when he realized, after things began going the wrong way, that the guy with the Quaffle after he tossed it wasn't one of his. Then he reminded himself that he'd expected the ball to change hands a lot today, and had really seen the whole thing turning into a center-of-the-Pitch scramble in which no one was able to get remotely near anyone else's goals. That wasn't the desired outcome - that was for his team to score so many goals over the heads of the Pecaris that catching the Snitch became more about House points than anything - but as long as his team won, it would be acceptable.The Pecaris, though, turned out to be better than he had expected. When the new one, the one he'd never seen before, managed to save her comrade's fumble, getting the Quaffle back into Aladren hands began to feel almost urgent. One goal was one goal, but he didn't want to give it to them, and if he couldn't see, then how could he expect Gray to? The repellant spell should have kept the glasses from actually impeding him, but Thomas couldn't think of how he wouldn't need to add a "more than usual" to the end of that sentence.
And Pecari had control of both Bludgers. That was even more concerning, since having control of both Bludgers meant the Pecaris could potentially injure his Seeker and his Keeper so badly that they were forced to leave the field, leaving the hoops wide open for them to score as often at they got in range while Dorian Talsky looked for the Snitch at his leisure. When Edmond got one of them back, Thomas actually grinned for a split second, even though it meant moving well out of range to steal the Quaffle back himself to be safe. He wasn't sure why Jose wasn't attacking yet, but he would accept good news in the moment and leave keeping there from being any bad news up to Edmond.
With the shot taken, though, he knew he didn't have much to smile about at the moment. Hurry up, Jera, he thought, keeping an eye on the Quaffle so he could swoop in and get it and try to even up this mess once Pecari's points were...
Not registered. Gray, for the second time in his career on their team if Thomas' memory served, managed to save. He felt something close to pride and affection for his eccentric roommate as the Quaffle was thrown back into the action and Thomas, for the second time, caught it. Then, thinking this might be what Jose was waiting for, he began to make his way toward the Pecari goal posts for the second time as well.
It wasn't as good as the first time, though, because they were starting out at the Aladren goals instead of the dead center of the Pitch. He and Daniel and Brad would have to cover twice the ground to Starbuck Gregory that they would have had to originally, which gave the Pecari Chasers, at least potentially, twice as many chances to steal the ball. Now, if his luck wasn't in, the rapid-fire alterations to possession of the Quaffle would begin.
He hoped his luck was in, but he wasn't going to bet on it before he had to. Weaving and rising and falling in the air as much as he felt he could without slowing to a crawl or causing himself more problems than he solved, he flew further than he would normally think wise down the Pitch before attempting another pass, putting a little extra force behind the Quaffle so that, hopefully, it would be moving too fast in the middle for a Pecari to come up and steal with enough ease to get away before he or his fellow Aladren could steal it back.
0
<font color="blue">Thomas Fitzgerald,Chaser</font>
Whatever works.
0
<font color="blue">Thomas Fitzgerald,Chaser</font>
0
5
<font color="blue">Devlin Shortt, Beater</font>
October 11, 2010 2:36 PM
Beating down the opposition by <font color="blue">Devlin Shortt, Beater</font>
If there was one thing that could easily inspire Devlin Shortt to go out and do his best, it was that he had received a letter from Bianca and Viola. Sure, he and his little sisters had their own sibling rivalry, but Devlin would do anything the two girls. And his sisters told him to win.The first year (who was sometimes mistaken as a third year transfer because of his height) made sure to eat a good breakfast while reflecting on the plays he was hoping to participate in during the game. Devlin, honestly, couldn’t figure out how he had made the Aladren Quidditch team. He had been placed on the team as a Beater. He was pretty strong from all the farm work at home, lifting and stuff. But still…Beater? Devlin worked enough at it to, hopefully, keep up with the other Beaters in the game. Devlin really made an effort with whatever he did; Quidditch was not an exception for this perfectionist.
Devlin was not happy with the weather around here today. He could hardly see just walking across the Pitch. How on Earth was flying going to be possible? He sighed and held his bat tighter. His captain’s speech wasn’t completely inspirational, but it could be worse…
For instance, Captain could be telling them how they were all failures, how could they possibly hope to win against Pecari, and other dreary and depressing things like that.
But Captain wouldn’t do that!
Anyway, they were out on the Pitch and Devlin pushed into the air with the rest of the players. The push off wasn’t as excellent as it could have been, but Devlin blamed the wet ground on that problem.
Devlin was a bit more concerned about communication during the game. The rain made it hard to see and distinguish between teams. The Bludgers even seemed to be blending into the backdrop of rain and clouds. Devlin resisted the urge to groan, instead gripping his bat even harder and searching for a Bludger in the rain. Geez, it was like he was a Seeker, not a Beater. Ridiculous.
He spent quite a bit of his time like this, trying to find a Bludger and not doing very well in his inexperience. However, Devlin had noticed that, no matter how loud the rain was, he could hear the unmistakable whistling that a Bludger hurling across the Pitch made. He grinned and spotted a Seeker going after something. He couldn’t tell what team the Seeker was on, the robes were soaked, but the Seeker definitely seemed to be male. And since Aladren’s Seeker was female…
Bingo.
Devlin gripped his bat and followed the whistling. With a sharp CRACK!, the first year used all of his might to hit the Bludger at (what was hopefully) Pecari’s Seeker. Rain or shine, Devlin wasn’t going to let his inexperience stop him. Devlin was determined to help Aladren to victory.
0
<font color="blue">Devlin Shortt, Beater</font>
Beating down the opposition
0
<font color="blue">Devlin Shortt, Beater</font>
0
5
<font color="blue">Daniel Nash II, Chaser</font>
October 15, 2010 4:24 PM
This isn't so much working out for me by <font color="blue">Daniel Nash II, Chaser</font>
Daniel hadn't gotten a good lift off. His shoe had gotten sunk in a patch of mud and kicking off had taken more power to just escape from the Earth's grasp than it normally took to launch swiftly into the air to snatch the Quaffle first. Fortunately, Thomas didn't have the same problem. Daniel flew up ahead, trying to set himself up for a pass, but the rain was in his eyes (despite the charm he'd used to try to alleviate that sort of thing) and somehow (he wasn't quite sure how) when the pass was made, it ended up in Pecari hands, judging by how the wet figure with the Quaffle was flying back toward Gray.Daniel chased after but he wasn't in a good intercept position and the littlest Pecari Chaser managed to recover the fumble before he could get there.
Of course, coming back up out of that dive was what let him notice Jose Hernandez, nursing a bludger, and alternately watching the quaffle and Grayson Wright. It did not require a genius to figure out what the Pecari Captain's plan was. Daniel's intellect was more than equal to that task.
Getting between a beater (a beater with a ready bludger no less) and his obvious target was maybe not one of Daniel's wisest moves, but he was Assistant Captain now, and he had a responsibility toward Gray. He drew Jose's shot, which was a major part of his plan, and allowed Gray to make the save without interference from a second bludger (Edmond kindly handled the other one), which was also a key part of his plan, and flew toward Edmond so the other Beater could take care of the bludger on his tail, which was the critical part of his plan.
What wasn't part of his plan was having his hand slide on his wet broom, which then messed up his steering and speed, and allowed the bludger to catch up prematurely and slam into his shoulder.
Daniel let out a cry of surprise and pain (it was the first time he'd actually been hit in a game and it bloody well hurt). The rain didn't help his already precarious grip any, either, and it was all he could do to keep from falling off for the next few seconds.
He didn't know where the bludger ended up, and Thomas was already a quarter of the way back toward the Pecari goals, but he gritted his teeth and refused to give up.
Perseverance is a good Head Boy trait, he thought grimly as he turned his broom after Thomas and sped as fast as his ridiculously expensive broom could take him across the Pitch. He probably wasn't going to catch up in time to get a pass, but maybe he'd be able to set himself up for a shot at the goals.
If the burning of his shoulder didn't make catching or throwing the ball impossible. And if the rain pelting against his face (not that it was coming down hard; it only stung this bad when he was flying at high speeds - like now) didn't make him so blind he ran into somebody before he got there.
1
<font color="blue">Daniel Nash II, Chaser</font>
This isn't so much working out for me
130
<font color="blue">Daniel Nash II, Chaser</font>
0
5