Captain Jose Hernandez

November 21, 2011 1:06 PM
The list had sat at six people for a while. Jose had been starting to get nervous. He'd had Mel, Mellie, Sophie and Jhonice returning. Jade and Elijah were new. Demetra and Amira were missing (though Amira had told him verbally she planned to try out, so that had reduced his anxiety about his team's numbers somewhat). Now, on the day of the try-outs, he stood in the center of the pitch, his broom (selected from the school's supply since his family still wasn't pitching in for a personal broom for him - that was the problem with being communists) sitting in the grass beside him.

He held the list in his hand, and he mentally checked people off as they arrived (the first unfamiliar young boy to appear was dubbed Elijah, the first unfamiliar young girl to appear was dubbed Jade). As they arrived, he also had them sign his cast (which confirmed he did indeed have Jade and Elijah). He had thought about getting it removed for the try-outs (his arm was perfectly intact inside it), but that would have made him miss a few names, including those of his newest teammates. Besides, he was guaranteeing himself a spot on the team, so it wasn't like he had to impress anyone.

He was also suprised that he was't the only one on the Pitch who had a cast either. "Have you had the mediwizard look at that?" he asked Elijah. "Magic can usually fix broken bones real easy. Mine's just for show now."

Once he had his full roster, he cleared his throat at waved a casted arm to get everyone's attention. "Hey, everyone, welcome to the Pecari Quidditch Try-Outs. I'm Captain Jose Hernandez." He pronounced the H at the beginning of his surname, proving beyond all doubt that his Mexican genes had done nothing to affect his California American accent.

"For those who don't know, this," he indicated the young woman who had half a foot of height on him, "is our assistant captain and beater, Demelza Eagle. Sophie," he pointed out the blond girl who was running unopposed, "is our Keeper. Mellie -" it had taken him a few seconds to figure out that the Melanie on his list had been her, but he restored her more common name for introductions, "is one of our Chasers."

Then he looked at the remainder, judged them all as not very good beater material, at least compared to a seventh year who'd already played it for one year, and made an executive decision, "I'll be playing Beater with Mel this year, so that leaves two Chaser spots and Seeker open."

Three of them - Amira, Elijah, and Jade - had only indicated an interest in Seeker. He dearly hoped he didn't need to use Jhonice as Chaser again. Which meant he had a real try-out on his hands. "So we'll try-out Seeker first, since that seems to be the most popular one." And, really, it was the most important one as well, his normal Chaser bias notwithstanding.

"Mel, Mellie, and Sophie," he pointed out the three who already had spots again, "will be throwing gold-colored rubber balls around," he pointed at a trio of bags full of them. "Jhon, Elijah, Jade, and Amira, you guys will be wearing pouches," he pointed to four pouches that could be tied around their waists. "Try to collect as many of the rubber balls as you can."


OOC:
Usual school rules apply. You must post to get a spot. Any walk-ons are welcome. Just post, give your name, position preference, and join in the rubber ball hunt.
Subthreads:
0 Captain Jose Hernandez Pecari Quidditch Try-Outs 0 Captain Jose Hernandez 1 5

Jhonice Trevear

November 22, 2011 10:04 PM
Jhonice was ready for this. She had been training all summer, well most of the summer. Something was going on with her, and she wasn't entirely sure what is was. Last year she joined the team for access to the Quidditch players and Boston Matriarch Amelia Pierce. This year though, those thoughts were definitely there but it wasn't what was driving her to get back on the team. She wasn't exactly sure what was, but she knew she had to get back on again. Failure was not an option. She did have to come to face reality, she had been in a little denial, but she could face it now. Her Quidditch skills could use a little work, she was not the best player on the team. It came as a shock to her as well when came to this realization.

The first thing she had to do was find a broom that would not betray her. She had considered signing up for flying lessons again. It would have been a wonderful excuse to spend some more time with Matriarch Pierce, plus she could test out a few of the brooms and find one that liked her. Unfortunately, she had gotten sidetracked by some new information she had found on Sully... and missed sign-ups. As such, she had to do some 'late night reconnaissance' into the school's broom supply. It had payed off though, she had found one. Last year she had attempted to find and mark such a broom with a ribbon. When the critical moment had come, the ribbon had let her down. Now she had plans for something a little more 'permanent.' Interestingly enough she didn't need to, someone had already marked the broom. The word 'Enterprise' was scratched into the broom, she wasn't sure what that meant, but the mark was all she needed.

She casually strolled onto the field a few moments ahead of schedule, she was ready for this. Captain Jose Hernandez was there already, looking commanding, dramatic and 'in-charge' as he should. He wanted her to sign his cast as well! She scrawled out her name, dotting the 'i' with a smiling heart. She then took her place with the rest of the team. Seeker try-outs? She hadn't really expected to try out for seeker, but she had written down 'Not Keeper' so... she'd try out for Seeker.

It took her only a moment of digging to find the broom marked 'Enterprise' in the school's pile. There was no question about it, she was nervous, there after Demetra showed up, there were only two spots left, and more than two people trying out. She was going to have to put all of her summer training to the test, and take her spot. She tied Jose's pouch around her waist and mounted her broom and took to the air. The broom rose steadily into position, and as the little gold balls started flying around the pitch she whispered, "Okay broom, we can do this... let's go!" With that she kicked the broom into gear and shot off after the pretend snitches.

The balls were relatively easy to spot, catching them however proved to be another issue altogether. She raced for the first one she spotted, the broom followed her directions for the most part. It wavered a bit, but stayed on course. She closed in on her target and grabbed at it, she didn't however close her hand fast enough, and the rubber ball bounced out of her grasp. "Gah!" She spotted another, turned a bit quick and tumbled around her broom as she reoriented and took off again.
2 Jhonice Trevear Taking Flight! 209 Jhonice Trevear 0 5


Mellie Goodwin

November 24, 2011 4:55 PM
For a minute, Mellie had just been surprised that she had gotten her spot back without any contest, had even wondered if there was supposed to be a joke in there somewhere. Then, though, things went on, and she had glanced at her roommate in consternation, wondering if Jhonice was going to hate her forever now. They had both been lousy first year Chasers together last year, and while it was true she had pretty much avoided actually falling off her broom, she hadn’t really been that much better than the other girl.

Jhon didn’t look horribly upset about it as they got their assignments for the try-out and everyone started doing what they were told, but Mellie was still biting her bottom lip as she took one of the bags of gold balls to throw. Of course, part of that might have been worrying about how she was going to hold up her part of the game; she was all right with dealing with the Quaffle, but she wasn’t sure how adding in a bag she had to carry around with her was going to work out. It was entirely possible that any chance of rivalry between roommates might be abruptly ended by her being sent to join those chasing little gold balls instead of being one of the people throwing them in a few minutes.

She had thrown two balls, leaning forward to put a little more strength behind her arm, when the game was abruptly stopped to announce that Demetra had come back after all and so only one Chaser spot was open. Mellie smiled in the older girl’s direction, but didn’t know if she saw it, and then the game was back on. She flung another ball straight ahead of her and reached for another, wavering slightly in her seat but not feeling at risk of losing it, the way she sometimes had last year. She’d started to think of it as just one of those normal things, just something she wasn’t confident enough yet in her flying to stop noticing a little.

Once she had the new ball, she threw it, too, off to her left, then flew away to throw the next one, wondering what they would do when everyone ran out of balls to throw. Repeat, she guessed, especially if Jose hadn’t made up his mind about where to put everyone by then.
16 Mellie Goodwin Throwing things. 206 Mellie Goodwin 0 5