The Coach
November 08, 2020 12:32 PM
Quidditch Tryouts! by The Coach
OOC: your student is welcome to come to tryouts even if they didn't get their name on the tryout list, although that's always good if you do. BIC:
"Hello, everyone!" the coach said, greeting the gathered students with a grin. There were a mix of return players and new players, and everything in between. The coach wasn't sure about this year in particular just yet, but there were even years where return students were new players, and that was always exciting too. The variety didn't stop with demographics though; there were excited students, nervous students, and students who were definitely both. Most students were probably both. "As most of you already know, Sonora has a school team rather than house teams, and we play against other schools in the area. That means the team will be traveling, and my hope is that we will have enough players to have a reserve team for games at home, as well as for some support if players can't make away games." The coach grinned, unable to help showing some serious excitement.
"And now, on to tryouts! I have a poster up on the wall if anyone needs a refresher on the positions, but if you get on the team, you'll also have the opportunity to learn a lot more about it." The coach pointed to a large poster illustrating the positions in simple terms. Moving animations showed little figures of what each position sort of did. "Anyone who is trying out for more than one position may need more time than we have here today, so please follow up with me afterwards if you don't get a chance to try for all of the ones you want to.
We'll start with some warm ups, stretches, and laps to get our blood pumping, and then the tryouts will begin. I expect everyone to be limbered up properly. I know many of you are nervous, but injuring yourself because you were too important to get through a proper warm up won't do anyone any good, and I won't be impressed by that sort of behavior." The coach looked warningly at the students, although still with kindness. It wouldn't be the first time someone hurt themselves and it really was very frustrating to see it happen. "When that's done, I want you all to take a couple warm up laps on your brooms. I've set up some obstacles, so I want you to take your time getting through those. Over or under posts, through rings, around poles, things like that. I want to see that you can handle yourself, not see how fast you can manage it, so be careful. Finally, we'll begin the tryouts for individual positions."
The coach had a clipboard with a list of people who had signed up for tryouts already, although that never ended up being exactly true of who showed up but it did help. Pointing out spots around the pitch, the coach explained where each position would be trying out. "Those of you trying out for seeker will be over there. The contraption over there is charmed to fire off different color balls about the size of a snitch. First, you'll take turns--" the coach paused to assign each prospective seeker a color "--trying to catch balls of your color alone. Then, you'll all be up there, trying to only catch balls of your own color and not each others'. It's important that a seeker can be lithe, quick, and aware of their surroundings so as not to get run into or run into anyone else.
Those of you trying out for Keeper will be over by the goal posts with a similar contraption, except you won't be going at it at the same time at all. This will be a bit shorter because perspective Chasers," the coach pointed to another spot on the field, near the goal posts, "will be practicing some passing and catching activities together and then showing me what you can do for making goals. You'll do that without a keeper first and then I'll have the keeper tryouts get in there and give it a go. Missing a goal because the keeper gets there doesn't mean you did badly, and getting a goal because a keeper missed it doesn't mean you did well. Just do your best. I can absolutely see when you are playing skillfully, whether or not you get a goal out of it."
The coach paused to check for questions and then moved on to the final position. There were fewer people signed up for this one, particularly considering that they needed at least two, but that didn't mean they wouldn't be expected to tryout just like anyone else. "Prospective beaters, you're going to first take a bat and be working with a contraption much like the others I've mentioned. It'll shoot off Bludger-sized balls at you and I want you to hit them back at the targets that are set up where I've pointed. When that's done, you'll pair up and pass balls back and forth with your bats. If we have enough people, I want you to switch partners; I need to see how all of you work together."
Double checking the clipboard, pausing for questions and answers, and taking a deep breath, the coach grinned one more time. "I'm really glad you're all here. Let's play Quidditch!" The coach blew a whistle and the students began.
OOC: Welcome to Quidditch tryouts! This will function essentially like classes, although there won't be points award for this. I am trying something new and setting up specific groupings for subthreads for each position and general threads. We'll see how well that works. Feel free to tag the coach if you need, or god mod the coach slightly as necessary.
The team will be determined both by IC factors - experience and skill, things that the school would logically take into consideration - and OOC factors - essentially, contribution to tryouts. If you have any questions, shoot a message my way (Evelyn Stones') way in chatzy, or in an OOC. If you signed up for tryouts, it is assumed that you came to tryouts. However, if you don't actually post at tryouts, your chances of being on the team are significantly reduced. You'll have two weeks to post here and get your tryout in, and then I'll start building a roster to be posted in three weeks.
New students can get an idea of how tryouts can go by looking at last year's post here. Happy flying!
Subthreads: Warm-Ups
Seekers with System, Valentine Duell, Anya Delachene, Jeremy Mordue
Keepers with System, Augustine Reed-Fischer, Morgan Garrett, Graham Osbrook
Chasers with System, Heinrich Hexenmeister , Evelyn Stones
Beaters with System, Billy Cobb, Hilda Hexenmeister, Nathaniel Mordue
22
The Coach
Quidditch Tryouts!
0
The Coach
1
5
System
November 08, 2020 12:32 PM
System
November 08, 2020 12:32 PM
System
November 08, 2020 12:32 PM
System
November 08, 2020 12:32 PM
System
November 08, 2020 12:32 PM
Valentine Duell
November 13, 2020 6:57 PM
Let's fly! by Valentine Duell
Val stood on the pitch and was determined to make Mama proud. Hopefully by first not getting critically injured on a broom, and secondly by being an awesome Seeker. She knew she had some stiff competition for the position, and would be sad but not completely heartbroken if she didn't get it. She would be fine with reserve chaser again if that is what it came down to, so long as she was on the team and doing her best. She could only get the position if she tried out for it, so she was going to try for it... then she'd try out for Chaser again.She ran the warm-up drills as instructed, they were good to do. Then she hopped on her broom and a grin spread across her face as she eyed up the obstacle course again. Last year she had darted through it nearly as fast as she could, just because it had been exhilarating. She should be smarter about it this year. She wasn't. Once she was around the first obstacle, she just couldn't help it, she darted and weaved nearly as fast as she could go. There was a close call or two, but it was fine, no problems.
Now it was rim for what she had come here to do. Seeker try-outs. She was assigned the yellow balls to catch from the contraption. She took to the air on her turn and flew about trying to catch all of the yellow balls. They were all over the place, and she was pretty sure she got more than half of them. Then all of the potential seekers were in the air together. Now she was dodging and weaving around them as well. This was tough, but she could do it! "Are we having fun?" She shouted cheerily over to one of the others as they whizzed past each other.
2
Valentine Duell
Let's fly!
1490
0
5
Billy Cobb
November 15, 2020 1:52 PM
This looks like fun! by Billy Cobb
Billy had mostly figured out the whole flying broom thing. He wasn't sure how it exactly worked, but he wasn't exactly sure how Pa's truck worked either, so it was fine. For the most part the broom did what he wanted it to do now, which was more than he could say for Pa's truck. So he found himself out on the Quidditch Pitch, to try out for the Quidditch team... Quidditch, heh. That was a funny word. As far as he could figure out, that was 'playin ball' around these parts. It sounded a bit odd, but no worse than some other games he and his cousins had made up over the years.He hadn't been sure what position to sign up for on the paper, and he still wasn't. He'd figure it out as they went. The warm-ups were nice. Finally he could just get out and run again! The obstacle course on the broom was fun enough. He definitely didn't win any speed awards though, but he made it. His broom mostly listened to him which was good. Then came the point that he had to make a decision. Did he want to catch little balls, catch and throw normal balls, or hit balls that were trying to attack him and his team? Hmm... when put like that, he headed over to the Beater area and picked up a bat.
Taking off, he attacked the first ball he ran across and missed it completely. The second ball he made decent contact with, but it didn't go anywhere close to the target. After that he began to figure this out. He wasn't great and his broom work could use some improvement as well, but he wasn't terrible. When the time came for partners he grinned and swatted a ball over to the nearest person. "This here's pretty fun, ain't it?"
2
Billy Cobb
This looks like fun!
1519
0
5
Hilda Hexenmeister
November 17, 2020 7:00 PM
It is fun. by Hilda Hexenmeister
Now fifteen, Hilda was finally starting to look the right size to be a proper beater. She'd always been large for her age, both in height and muscle mass as well as bone structure, but now she was old enough and mature enough to hold her own against even seventh years. Well, the seventh year in question this term was Nathaniel and she thought she could fly circles around him, though he was definitely far superior to any other option Sonora had for Beater (other than herself), so despite still being pissed at him for wearing the Head Boy badge, she'd been glad to see his name joining hers on the sign up sheet, and she expected the two of them would be the first string beaters again this year. After the friendly fire incident last year, she didn't see Felipe as a threat, and the first year who had signed up would hopefully be good enough to take over for her or Nathaniel eventually, but she doubted he stood a chance now against kids so much bigger than he was.She got through the warm ups with just enough sweat to show she was trying but not enough to wear her out for the rest of the try-out. The obstacle course wasn't really a beater's best friend, but she bulled through it with more power than finesse, but she didn't think the coach would count that too hard against her given what she position she was going for. She hadn't been a totally uncoordinated oaf or anything, but the slighter seekers and chasers had definitely had the edge in that contest.
Now it was time for the beating tryouts. She recognized the contraption from last year, so even if Heinrich hadn't been offering explanations during the Coach's original run down of what they were doing, she would have had a good idea of what was expected of her. Still, it had been good to have her brother confirm some of the words she hadn't recognized on her own, and she felt she had a good handle on what was going on.
Smacking around the fake bludgers at the targets had been satisfying, both for the opportunity to demonstrate her competence after the obstacles, and because she just enjoyed smacking around medium sized balls with a bat.
Once that part had finished, the tiny first year swatted a ball at her and she swatted it back, being relatively gentle about it given his obvious inexperience during the rest of the try-out. She glanced over at Nathaniel, realizing that if she partnered with the kid, that left him with Felipe. Well, she was mad at Nathaniel. He could go be uncomfortable.
"It is fun," she agreed, hoping she had understood the boy's strange accent and grammar correctly. Her own words were laced with a very heavy German accent. "You are American?" she questioned, not sure if his strange command of the English language was a result of being foreign or just a native dialect she hadn't encountered before.
1
Hilda Hexenmeister
It is fun.
1433
0
5
Anya Delachene
November 20, 2020 7:17 PM
Yes! Always! by Anya Delachene
Anya was totally stoked for the Quidditch try-outs today. It would be the first time since coming back to Sonora that she'd get off the ground by more than just a few feet. She was craving the sky and starting to feel a little bit claustrophobic, having been tied down to the surface this long. She'd climbed a few trees and her vault in the MARS room relieved the pressure for a couple days at a time, but she was really looking forward to breathing some high altitudes today.She arrived and greeted everyone she knew by name and offered high fives to those who she thought might return them (which was basically everyone except Jeremy - even the super tall serious-looking Aladren guy returned it after watching his girlfriend show him how it was done). She also got high fives from Felipe (who she very definitely did not call Philippe . . . this time) and the Coach, neither of which she had quite dared to try that with last year, but her success with Tall Aladren With A German Name That Looked Kind Of Like Henry On The Sign Up Sheet But Sounds Nothing Like That had made her bold.
The exultation from those wins fueled her warm ups into something more exciting than they would normally be. She wasn't super keen on jogging laps, but she understood the importance of limbering up from her years of gymnastics, so she did a good set of stretches to start out, did some running, mixed in some round-off-back-handsprings when she had a clear shot during a straightaway mostly to keep from getting bored from the running but also because back handsprings were good exercises for getting the blood pumping, too.
The obstacles were, as they always were, a lot of fun. She enjoyed darting around, over, between, and through the different segments. She had fun with it, not worrying about speed because the Coach had said that wasn't important. So she darted around, sometimes doing the same set of rings multiple times just because they were really fun. She didn't do that a lot though, because she was aware that if she took too long, it would drag out tryouts and people would get annoyed at her.
Then it was time for the part of the tryout that was specific to the Seekers. She'd done this the year before, so she knew how it worked. It had been harder than she'd expected it to be to refrain from catching the balls that weren't her color, but she was hopeful that she'd show some improvement from this time last year. She'd won against Jeremy since then, so she wasn't a total underdog, even if she could admit he was probably still the better seeker in terms of measurable skill. She still thought she might have an outside chance of winning the position, and even if she didn't, she would probably get reserve seeker, which meant she'd get to play it the practice games, which was something at least.
Her competition for Reserve Seeker (if, that was, she didn't get First String Seeker) was assigned the yellow balls, and Anya was going for the purple ones. In the first round, Val had collected a fair number of them, but Anya was pretty sure she'd gotten more purples than the younger girl had snagged yellow. Though, with Val's color being yellow, which was really close to gold, Anya had also grabbed a few of those. Plus a couple orange ones, too. And well, some other colored ones got too close, too, and it was just instinct to reach out and close her fingers around them. But most of the ones she snatched were purple. Like, probably more than half. Maybe even two thirds. She wondered if the coach would believe she was colorblind? Unfortunately, even though she'd gotten the most balls of anyone, Jeremy had gotten more of his colored balls than she had of hers, probably because he focused better than she did on getting his color rather than All The Balls!
And now they were all flying together, trying to catch just their balls, and Anya was trying extra hard to remember she only wanted the purple ones (sadly, her fingers were totally not listening and she'd already grabbed one wrong color one), and now Val was talking to her?
"Yeah!" she agreed and grabbed a green ball out of the air. Val was totally trying to distract her. "Good luck!" she yelled and climbed higher to spot her next purple quarry and dive for it. Her dives were her best quidditch skill. Having zero fear of heights helped a lot. Being an adrenaline junkie aided and abetted.
She saw purple and went for it, catching it only about a foot or so off the ground, and pulled out of the dive low enough to make the grass blades below wave in the wind of her passing. Anya laughed in delight.
OOC: I am making guesses on Jeremy's ball catching skills based on previous tryouts and relative experience levels. Also permission granted from Felipe's author to say he high-fived Anya back, and permission granted from Evelyn's author to say she showed Heinrich how to high-five. Tall Aladren Who Has A German Name That Looks Kind Of Like Henry On The Sign Up Sheet But Sounds Nothing Like That is mine so I can make him high five Anya with impunity.
1
Anya Delachene
Yes! Always!
1453
0
5
Augustine Reed-Fischer
November 20, 2020 10:59 PM
This was hard and then it was okay. by Augustine Reed-Fischer
It was pretty stupid, Augustine thought, that a game about flying required them to run around the field first. Sure, he liked to get out and move around and run around, but he wasn't about to win any races and he didn't see why that should have any impact on whether he could play the flying room sport. Or maybe it didn't. The coach said that their speed didn't matter, so maybe it was like the coaches who made you stretch your arms for soccer and stuff; you just did it because that was how blood worked or something. Jazz would probably know. Although she didn't seem to like flying much and definitely didn't play Quidditch, so who knew.Gus was pretty excited because Billy was also gonna be trying out and that was cool. He wasn't sure if Oz was yet and hadn't looked around too much to find out because looking around made him think about all the people who would be watching him maybe mess this up and he didn't like getting stuff wrong in front of people. That's why he'd become the prankster, because no matter how it turned out, he could say it was part of the plan. Also it was hilarious.
When their (stupid) warmups were finished, Gus decided that the best thing for him was Keeper, and he made his way to where the coach had said he should. It was a bit wild, now that he was here, to think of trying to play goalie for three goals, while also flying around on a broom. This was probably not a great idea, but bad ideas were lots of fun until they went wrong, so at least he could give it a shot.
He took a breath and geared up to go before deciding that a good chat would help because chatting usually helped. People were like medicine - you could just keep taking more and then you'd feel better about anything. That was probably how medicine worked, right?
"Heyo," he called happily. "You're gonna crush it," he grinned. "This is exciting, right?"
22
Augustine Reed-Fischer
This was hard and then it was okay.
1509
0
5
Heinrich Hexenmeister
November 22, 2020 6:41 PM
Flying high by Heinrich Hexenmeister
Heinrich was kind of divided about Quidditch. On the one hand, he had joined primarily to help out Hilda, and stayed on the team because a lot of his friends were on it, so he didn't think he was particularly invested in the sport and wasn't worried about the possibility that he wouldn't make first string. On the other hand, he had thought the same thing about being elected as Head Boy, and if he allowed himself to imagine what the year might be like if he was likewise not chosen for this, he found himself more upset by it than he thought he should be.He had been first string for a few years running now, and he was the only seventh year signed up for the position, though, so he figured the chances of that actually happening were pretty slim. He had enough experience and an impressive enough reach now that he was pushing six feet tall that he'd probably have to perform very badly today for the coach to bench him as a reserve player at this point.
The beginning mingling and catch up with his friends was briefly interrupted by last year's reserve Seeker - Anya, if he recalled her name correctly - trying to perform some kind of strange social ritual that luckily Evelyn understood and coached him through, and then the tryouts began properly a few minutes later.
He dutifully performed the warm-ups, taking the lead for the laps run on foot in part because he did enjoy running in the gardens for fun and if Sonora had more than one sport on offer, he'd pick cross country running as his over Quidditch any day, but mostly because his legs were just a lot longer than nearly everybody else's.
The obstacle course was interesting, and he mildly cursed out Gary in his head because as he was watching the other players run it, he couldn't help assessing their DEX scores. Hilda's, in particular, was notably lower than her STR score. His was marginally better - maybe a +2 instead of a +1, so he managed the course with a little more grace than she did, but DEX was not his best ability either. His best physical ability, yes, but his highest score was in INT, hence his Aladren sorting and his Real Life class being Wizard.
He headed over to the Chaser area when they broke apart into the individual positions. He had never really considered or played any other position and had no intention of starting now, particularly since Evelyn was heading that way with him. He gave his girlfriend a smile and a light hand squeeze, then wished her luck.
He also - less verbally - wished Valentine all the luck in the world for trying to throw her hat into the seeker arena; she was going to need it.
Once they reached the designated side for Keeper-less goal practice, he glanced over at Evelyn. "Should we pass together, or try to help out the younger ones?"
1
Heinrich Hexenmeister
Flying high
1414
0
5
Evelyn Stones
November 22, 2020 7:10 PM
On cloud nine. by Evelyn Stones
Evelyn was well aware that she was short, but it was rarely so painfully obvious as Quidditch tryouts. The fact that she ran and worked out as often as she did helped with their warmup activities, but there was no way Evelyn could keep up with Heinrich when he was pushing himself, and they even practiced together sometimes. Still, she did outstrip some of her fellow students, and that made her feel good. For her height, she was pretty fast. Speed wasn't her game though, it was agility, and she did much better in the weaving exercises than many of her classmates did. It was this sort of activity and the blood pumping in her arms and legs that made her glad she'd decided to play Quidditch at all this year. Well, that and the way Heinrich smiled at her. Teaching him how to high five was the sort of thing that she treasured because it was just so stinking precious, although she couldn't help feeling a little uneasy that she hadn't talked more to Anya. She was pretty sure, as Pecari prefect and as someone that Anya had maybe disclosed some possible neglect to the previous year, she should follow up. Was that a thing she was supposed to tell Professor Carter-Xavier? That seemed extreme. But then, where would she be if people hadn't gotten her to talk to adults about things? She made a mental note to follow up. Still, she was friends with others who were hoping for a spot on the team, and it was nice to be able to get together with everyone.She followed Heinrich and the other Chaser candidates to where they'd be trying out, feeling like the luckiest girl in the world. Life, it turned out, was a lot better when you weren't so worried about losing it. She was pretty sure she mostly had everything she could ever want right now, and she felt especially squishy that Heinrich didn't mind the little public displays of affection that reminded her exactly how much life was worth living. Not to say he was the only reason, but being loved was definitely a reason. Or being liked a lot; she didn't want to put words in his mouth.
Looking around, Evelyn wondered at the positions people were trying for. She'd ended up as accidental Beater the year before and would absolutely not be doing that again, so she looked on with some interest at who was interested. She was a bit surprised to see Felipe there, looking every bit as stiff and uncomfortable as he usually did. She thought he was probably extra uncomfortable right now, seeing as most of the people on the Pitch probably thought he should be very far from where he was. There were no good assumptions being made: either he'd done what he'd done on purpose and it was real bad, or he'd done what he'd done by accident and he was just a bad Beater. Still, it was Jeremy Mordue he'd hit and it was harder to feel sympathy than if it had been Hilda or something like that. Nathaniel was probably frightening enough but Apollo help the one who did something to hurt Hilda. That wasn't to say that Heinrich was particularly likely to hurt someone, but if it had been Hilda's arm that got broken, Felipe only would have been safe as long as she wasn't allowed to punch with it. Of course, seeing as Felipe and Jeremy shared a room, she couldn't imagine he'd gotten off exactly easy either.
Others were less surprising to her - like Anya trying for seeker - and Evelyn turned her attention back to her own tryout, looking up at Heinrich. She was pretty sure the right answer was that they should help younger students, because that was the nice thing to do, but she wasn't in Teppenpaw and there was a reason for that, so she shook her head with a mischievous grin. "Play with me," she said. "We'd probably make them nervous and this way they can get to know each other better anyway," she added, figuring she should throw in some real logic other than 'I like looking at you' or something.
22
Evelyn Stones
On cloud nine.
1422
0
5
Jeremy Mordue
November 24, 2020 6:11 AM
Flying solo by Jeremy Mordue
It was sort of exhausting having tryouts. Not physically, obviously. Jeremy was more than capable of whatever child’s play exercises would be put before them today, but just the sheer futility of it, at least for the first string. Many of them had been playing their positions for years now, and the likelihood of someone better coming along diminished with every year that passed. Only where a top player had graduated was it really necessary to hold tryouts. Of course, it was important to get new blood onto the team, and to rank and assess it, by why oh why was someone like him being evaluated next to first year Muggleborns?Still, it was a requirement that he showed up and beat the pathetic little children into the ground, so here he was, ready to show them all what a real player looked like.
Anya was bouncing around like it was her team, high fiving everyone (over what exactly?) and pointedly leaving him out. It wasn’t like he wanted a high five from her anyway, but if she was trying to make up for her lack of skill by being a ‘friendly team player’ then that was a really poor way to show it and he hoped the coach had noticed.
The introduction and instructions sounded literally identical to last year, though years of habit made him pay close attention. Quidditch coaches and Uncle Alexander were about the only two categories of people he listened to with near perfect attention, because a mistake in either scenario was unforgivable. Not that the coach was really ready to test him, but he’d played for enough proper organisations that giving his full attention in this kind of situation was automatic. Failure on the pitch was never an option, but doubly so this year. Nathaniel had been awarded head boy. He supposed that was a good thing. A feather in their family’s cap, and certainly it would have been shameful for Nathaniel to lose to a nobody immigrant whose parents probably no one had ever heard of even in his own country. However, Nathaniel was now much decorated, whilst Jeremy noticeably was not. He was pretty sure the teachers were still holding the fist fight he’d had with Felipe against him, even though that was totally unfair. Anyway, Quidditch was Jeremy’s thing. It was the thing that he did well at and got praised for, and Uncle Alexander was still willing to channel plenty of money into sending him to fancy Quidditch camps over the summer, and even though he had this growing horrible feeling in the back of his brain that half of the reason for that was that no one wanted to look at him- He needed this. He was going to get it. It was his thing.
He began the warm up run, trying to focus on the ground pounding beneath his feet. The ground that would soon be melting away beneath him. He only hoped every other annoyance could as easily be left behind. He had noticed that Felipe was back. He had some nerve even showing up after last year, and Jeremy hoped the coach hadn’t forgotten what Felipe had done to the team’s star player. He really deserved a ban for that.
He was both quick and neat during the obstacle course, not really needing to sacrifice one for the other because he was the real deal, and had a broom that matched his level of skill and status. After that they were into the familiar drills for Seeker. Once again, Anya went at it with all the enthuasiasm and about as much nuance as a golden retriever puppy. She collected so many balls of different colours that Jeremy had to question whether she was colourblind or something because surely someone couldn’t be that incompetent at following a basic instruction and not have blown themselves up by now? His outcome was clearly favourable on that measure, but after that they were into the part where her incompetence started potentially impacting him.
“Try not to steal any of mine this year,” he muttered to her in an undertone before they took to the skies together. He really hoped if she kept doing that that the coach would take it into consideration. It was unfair to judge him purely on how many he got if she kept taking other people’s targets. He wondered if she was actually doing it on purpose to undermine him. Sneaky little witch!
During the trial against the other Seekers, he wove expertly around, focussing on what he was supposed to be doing, instead of having friendly chats or grabbing the wrong coloured balls. Well, if neither of them wanted to take it seriously, that was his gain - not that he really needed it. He closed his fingers again and again around the red balls as they shot out. He didn’t try to immediately catch anything. That was part of his tactic, given that he (theoretically) wasn’t against the other two right now - absolute speed was less important than thinking things through. He could try to analyse which way the contraption would shoot and follow the trajectory of each given ball which gave him time to analyse whether he needed it or not. He wasn’t saying he never started off or dove for any that were the wrong colour, especially when they started coming thicker and faster, but he didn’t follow through and grab them.
Once it was over, he landed next to the two girls, noting the mixed bag in Anya’s possession. Again. Had she really not tried to overcome any of her weaknesses?
“Same problem as last year then?” he stated to her in a much more cheerful voice than the one he had given her the hissed warning in earlier. Also a much louder one. “I could show you some of the drills we do for impulse control sometime,” he offered, well aware that the coach would be waiting to count up their results and thus would be in hearing range. He was fairly sure that attempting to instruct Anya would be like hitting his head repeatedly against a brick wall, and frankly he had no intention of doing so unless literally forced. But it was important to show that you were a good teammate.
13
Jeremy Mordue
Flying solo
1443
0
5
Nathaniel Mordue
November 25, 2020 6:01 PM
Here I go again. by Nathaniel Mordue
Intellectually, Nathaniel knew it was the last time he would attend Quidditch try-outs, because in his mind, he knew he was a seventh year, and therefore everything he did at school would have a last first time. It seemed, though, like he should find the event more...interesting, or significant, or something than it presently felt to him. As he ran through warm-ups and listened politely to instructions, though, it all felt very....normal. Routine. Everyday and unremarkable, even. As if he would do it all a thousand more times.There were reasons for that, of course. For one thing, these were all basically things he had done for as long as he could remember, even before Sonora, and would carry on doing, no doubt, in future. Jeremy had emerged as something of a natural athlete in their family, and thus, especially after their father left, one of Nathaniel's duties had been practicing with his brother in between the formal practices of the youth league. It was also part of his long campaign to win back something of Jeremy's trust, and perhaps even a measure of affection. So there was that. There was also, of course, the fact that practices for this Quidditch team were not really so very much different from this, after all - especially when he suspected that for him and Hilda, the tests were more of a formality than anything else. He and Hilda had both come back, after all, and the alternatives to them....
Well. Try as he would to find a way to think it without being unkind, the best he could come up with there was saying that the alternatives...failed to impress.
They did, however, need training, as he would be gone next year and Hilda only had two more years to go. For a moment, he felt a flash of something like betrayal - an emotion he imagined Felipe more than merely shared, under the circumstances - when Hilda swept in to work with the first year and left him with De Matteo. Good manners forbade him from protesting this, of course, but he almost did anyway when he noticed the look Hilda gave him - something that made him think it was a deliberate insult rather than a thoughtless Pecari action. It was the sort of look he would have expected to get from someone he had personally wronged, someone who felt he deserved to have to work with someone he would have most definitely hexed in the emotional aftermath of a Particular Game last year, had he only had his wand on him at the time (for better or worse, he didn't carry his wand on the Pitch; his position involved too much time in close proximity to the Bludgers for him to feel entirely comfortable having his wand about him at the same time).
He could not think of any wrong he had done Hilda, with whom he had always thought he had a fairly amicable as well as respectful relationship, but he could not really address the matter now. It would not do to be drawn into a conversation where he could show a bad example. Reluctantly, then, he bit his tongue and turned to the black sheep of the Quidditch family.
"Good day," he said, not with overt hostility, but without any real attempt at warmth either. "May I assume you practiced over the summer?"
16
Nathaniel Mordue
Here I go again.
1412
0
5
Morgan Garrett
December 06, 2020 4:06 PM
Well, here goes nothing! by Morgan Garrett
Morgan struggled to pay attention while they were being spoken to as a group, occupied as she was with no bouncing on the balls of her feet from a combination of nerves and excitement, but one thing the coach said did stick out to her. Why, she wondered, would anyone use nerves as an excuse not to warm up properly? That seemed more like the behavior of someone who was stupid-overconfident, someone whose abilities only existed inside the none-too-reality-oriented confines of his or her own brain. Someone who was really, properly confident would doo all their warm-ups because that was the right thing to do, and as for the rest of them, nervous people, the warm-ups were things standing between them and the inevitable!The running of laps was a slow-ish process for her without her even trying to extend it at all, but ultimately, however, there was no evasion of the inevitable. Morgan felt she did a moderately good job on the flying obstacle course, avoiding most of the obstacles (her shoulder brushed one in passing, and her leg smacked against another) but not managing to do so at any very great speed. Descending back to the earth, she was lightly flushed from exertion, her forehead glittering with sweat, and she felt a little a little better about it all. The exercise was not always her favorite thing, but she did usually feel better once she got going – that, of course, being the other upside to warm-ups!
She took her turn up against the ball-throwing contraption with a will. The Quaffle-sized balls flew at her at some speed – could her classmates really throw that hard, she wondered? She was sure she never had when she had played Chaser – and she did her best to keep up.
She zoomed around the goal posts with perhaps more enthusiasm than skill (at one point, a ball bounced off of her elbow by pure chance, and she deflected another with her head only because she only saw it coming just in time to register that there was no way to dodge it, and to think that she might as well make the best of the situation) but was not embarrassed by her performance as she descended to the earth again. She was not sure what the boys would think, but grinned and nodded to them agreeably as she landed and waited for the Chasers to get done with their passing and catching exercises, so they could come test the Keeper candidates against live opponents.
16
Morgan Garrett
Well, here goes nothing!
1470
0
5
Graham Osbrook
December 07, 2020 9:32 PM
I'm...going to choose not to be grumpy. by Graham Osbrook
Graham had been to Quidditch try-outs the year before, but he still did not feel comfortable assuming he knew exactly what to expect out of them this year. He thought this was a reasonable enough position to take, all things considered. It would have been ludicrous to, say, expect Nathaniel Mordue and Heinrich Hexenmeister to come to blows (all right, so they had both been up for Head Boy, and they were both pretty friendly with the same tiny blonde, which Graham thought was supposed to be against the rules once one got as old as they all were, but Nathaniel and Heinrich struck him as the sort of people his mother would approve of: reserved, gentlemanly, not the sorts to create Scenes about positions or girls), or even for Jeremy Mordue and Felipe De Matteo to do so (it would have made more sense for them to do so privately if they were going to do so, though Felipe was still a braver man than Graham thought he would ever be for coming back anyway), but it wasn’t ludicrous to assume things would be a little different around the Pitch in general this year. Tatiana was gone, for one thing, which opened up a first string position; that just begged for competition, as indeed it seemed they would have. There were also some new faces around, too, and who knew what any of them might do?He got the chance to see one of them up close soon enough. The cheery assurance that he would do well initially roused a flash of suspicion – Graham was irritated by his own performance on the obstacle course; it had been very precise, with all the obstacles neatly avoided, but it had not been very fast at all. On second glance, though, New Guy looked…remarkably guileless.
Everyone, his mother had once said, was a liar sometimes, and usually when it was least appropriate to be one. Therefore, if someone looked honest, they should be appreciated: either they had done him the courtesy of being honest in truth, or they had done him the courtesy of bothering to lie well. From Mom, that almost counted as unbending a little, he thought – Dad had made a joke about how it was good that Mom was a psychologist instead of a comedienne – but there was some truth in it, he thought, at least what he could understand of it.
“Yeah,” he agreed amicably about the events being exciting. “I’m Graham,” he added. “You’re new this year, right?” Graham knew that the other boy was, in fact, new; he had no doubt about this at all. He had a good memory for faces. It seemed somehow like slightly bad manners to speak as though he knew everything, though – or something. Maybe he had just picked up his mother’s slightly irritating habit of phrasing far too many things as almost-questions. “Have you played much Quidditch before?”
16
Graham Osbrook
I'm...going to choose not to be grumpy.
1498
0
5
Augustine Reed-Fischer
December 08, 2020 5:56 PM
HEY you're doing great already then! by Augustine Reed-Fischer
Gus grinned, pleased that the older boy had engaged with him. It would've been easy enough to just nod and go along with his day, but no! He'd stopped to chat. This was dope as heck. Plus, the dude thought this was exciting too."Good to meet you, Graham," he grinned. "I'm Augustine. Or Gus. Or whatever." His grin didn't waver because there was a lot to grin about and some cool stuff was happening. People were literally flying around him and magic ball shooters were shooting magic balls magically. It was like he'd been invited onto the field to meet the Chiefs, except all the Chiefs rode dragons. Except not that cool because actually he'd still really like to meet the Chiefs still.
He nodded, agreeing to being new. This was a badge he wore with honor (not a real badge - he had to mentally clarify that because they did weird stuff like wear real badges here) because it meant he could be anything he wanted to be and it was gonna be dope. "You're second year then right? 'cause they do that thing with second years and first years in the same class, so you'd have to be I guess."
The question about Quidditch didn't exactly catch him off guard, because that was like . . . basically all he was thinking about at this point. But he wasn't sure what most people would say. "No, never," he grinned. "Have most kids? I've never even seen people fly before."
22
Augustine Reed-Fischer
HEY you're doing great already then!
1509
0
5