Captain Jose Hernandez
November 21, 2011 1:06 PM
Pecari Quidditch Try-Outs by Captain Jose Hernandez
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: Am I messing this up? by Demetra Mason, Beater with Cap'n Jose
Taking Flight! by Jhonice Trevear with Mellie Goodwin
Throwing things: my favorite! by Sophie Jamison with Amira Thornton, Cap'n Jose, Captain Jose
Handicapped Hero by Elijah Errant with Assistant Captain Demelza Eagle, Jade Owen, Elijah
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Captain Jose Hernandez
Pecari Quidditch Try-Outs
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Captain Jose Hernandez
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Elijah Errant
November 29, 2011 9:16 PM
Handicapped Hero by Elijah Errant
Sunlight peeked over the hedges of the labyrinth. Rubbing his eyes and stretching his mouth in a silent yawn, the barest whisper of breath escaping his throat, Elijah weaved blindly through the gardens, seeing the bright morning orange of the sun through his closed lids. For awhile he let muscle memory and instinct lead him out, guided by the growing soft noises of familiar creatures that kept carefully out of sight. The urgent need to get to the pitch before Jade Owen had convinced Elijah that he should stay up all night in order to not risk oversleeping. He wanted to make a good impression on the captain by arriving before everyone else and especially his temporary rival. But the second his head hit that soft pillow, his body easing into the sheets, his pet rat nuzzling his cheek, Elijah was quietly snoring before the lights finally dimmed out. Now he was headed to the pitch as part of a trickling dispersed crowd of Pecari, all arriving around the same time as each other.By the time his feet were treading the pitch, Elijah had fully woken up, his eyes blinking and registering location and people. All day yesterday his heart had pounded with every glimpse of the tall rings shooting up into the sky, great metal circular fortresses that reminded Elijah of potential honor and disgrace. Today he felt a strange ease overcome him. Maybe because he had rested well, maybe because already Captain Jose Hernandez was the coolest guy he had ever met - ‘Wow! I get to sign his cast!’ - or maybe it was because he had decided to not go through the hassle of bending, twisting, and turning awkwardly to get his arm in and out of clothing and arrived to try-outs clad in his baby blue pajamas. Green sleeping dragons patterned all around his matching pajama shirt and pants snored fire, sometimes stretching, a few changing colors, reverting to green, and changing again. Done signing his name on Jose’s cast (Elijah J. Errantez, a momentary lapse, forgetting that in America all Errantez were registered as Errant, just as in Italy they were registered as Errez in order that distant family could always find one another), Elijah beamed up at the captain, not for the question asked of him but for this moment of extra attention he was getting. ‘Take that, Jade.’
“Ah, it’s okay. I already saw a Healer back home.” Lie! He would never voluntarily go to a Healer. Healers dealt in hospitals which always had a peculiar too-clean smell (bland oatmeal soaked in soap) and were filled with people with twisted, distorted faces, and whose mouths stretched in screams of agony, the sounds echoing down the too-clean, too-white, too-much-of-everything halls. Elijah hadn’t actually ever been in a hospital (both he and Yasma had been borne at home, and neither had suffered any injuries that the Tamers around the ranch hadn’t insisted they could fix) but he’d heard enough stories about the horrors that befell there from his older brother Noah. “She said that it would heal up soon.” The Tamers said that anyway, and they were semi-qualified to make that judgement. “It’s not my bone that’s the main problem, it’s the scars that hurt. I just need a few more days and the pain will go away for the most part. They put on the cast so the bones heal easier and so I won’t move it around so much because everytime it bumps or something it hurts like crazy!”
Special privileged private time with the captain was over, and Elijah fell in line with Jose Hernandez’s other loyal followers. Though none were as reverent, Elijah silently declared, as he was. His dark brown eyes followed the introductions, committing Assistant Captain Demelza Eagle (Jose was the coolest guy ever, Miss Diaz was the most beautiful, but Demelza had to have the most fantastic awesome name in the whole world), Keeper Sophie and Chaser Mellie’s faces and names to memory. Jose explained the instructions, and despite the consistent comfort of the soft pajamas he wore, Elijah couldn’t help the tightening of his chest as he fully realized his competition as three other Seeker hopefuls. Two of which were older than him. All three lacked the misfortune of being handicapped. ‘But if I show that I can do this even with a cast and a sling, and even without my left hand, then maybe the captain will see that he doesn’t have to worry about me ever getting hit with a bludger.’ Elijah held onto this thinking, reaching for a pouch to awkwardly tie around his waist (he turned to someone to ask for some help, fighting down the humiliation threatening to explode as a blush across his face), rejecting the thought that suggested Jose would simply assume Elijah was accident-prone.
“Surgir!” He commanded one of the school brooms, dark caramel skinned hand hovering above the Cleansweep Eleven that twitched once, rolled over at his repeated command, and then jumped into the air as Elijah repeated but in English. “Up!” The wood slapped the palm of his right hand. Elijah mounted, mentally warring with the stupid model that was unused to his Spanish. His own racing broom, Icarus, was a one-of-a-kind model made by his grand-père, who in addition to owning a ranch (filled with thestrals, hippogriffs, winged horses, and even mundane animals like pigs, cows, and fire-crabs) also had worked as a broom-maker’s apprentice when he was a boy, and had retained the knowledge and practice as an adult. Elijah had his broom safe back home in the canyon. His mother had promised that if he made the team she would send it over. Elijah knew Yvonne had done that to discourage him from trying out (he wasn’t supposed to until his arm was fully healed), thinking that without a good broom he wouldn’t make it as a handicapped first year, but that only made his resolve stronger. He missed Icarus.
“Alright, let’s do this thing!” Urging the Cleansweep up into the air, pulling up with his right hand that gripped the wood tightly, his whole body straining up, Elijah immediately scouted around for Demelza Eagle (Greatest. Name. Ever.) whom he knew was supposed to be throwing around some golden rubber balls. The Plan - impress the assistant captain who could then relate to the captain what a great seeker Elijah was. “Oh!” He wasn’t sure who had thrown it, but a golden ball streaked a few meters away from him. Elijah blinked, watching the ball curve in the air, dipping and beginning to fall... falling... falling further... “Oh right!” He dove, propelling his whole body forward, arms cradled against his thundering chest as sudden winds rushed up at him, a little uncomfortable as he slid on the wood, his dark curls brushing his cheek, one thin strand caught on his eyelash. He blinked furiously, batting it away with the lids of his eyes, already caught up to the ball he was diving alongside, noticing it a few half-seconds later. “Yes...” His arm darted out, hand releasing the broom, fingers tightening around the gold rubber, his whole body jerking up, legs and thighs and back all straining to pull up without his hands to aid him. “Yes! YES!” He could do it. Would be able to do it again. He could catch with his right! Fly with no hands at all. “Hahahaha!” Paying no attention to direction, Elijah let the laughter spill out from between his lips, staring with utter delight at the prize his lesser hand had won for him. ‘This is awesome. I am awesome! The whole Pecari team is awesome! I can’t believe I - uh oh.’ Forgetting that the pitch was more than just air and field, Elijah had only a second to cringe before the tip of his broom handle struck one of the metal goalposts.
“Nnngh!” Body flattening against the Cleansweep, Elijah felt the tremors of the collision, his left arm immediately shrieking in pain. ‘Yeah, yeah. Suck it up, lefty.’ His broom flipped over, Elijah hugged the wood as best he could, curving a little more around it. ‘Woah... dizzy!’ It was slightly more shocking but not as painful as flying into a Hippogriff. The broom steadied after a moment, floating through the air, shreds of a wooden raft bobbing in the ocean after a ship wreck. Elijah’s forehead was pressed down, lips puffing out air. ‘That was woah...’ His fingers twitched, twitched again, coming back to life, twitching again... “Hey!” Elijah shot up, a wide grin taking hostage of his face. “I still got it.” Happily flattening his palm, he widened the pouch around his waist and rolled the golden rubber ball he’d managed to hang onto down into it. “One down,” He murmured to himself, still a little disoriented but re-energized. “Everyone else’s to go.” Still favoring Demelza’s balls, he leaned down parallel to his broom and shot off, keeping an eye out for flashes of gold.
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Elijah Errant
Handicapped Hero
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Elijah Errant
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Assistant Captain Demelza Eagle
November 30, 2011 8:22 PM
What a cutie! by Assistant Captain Demelza Eagle
Quidditch try-outs always put Mel into a good mood. It gave her an excuse to eat a larger breakfast than usual (which rocked because breakfast was her favorite meal of the day) and she got to go back on her broom and hang with her Pecari Quidditch friends. Since she started in her first year, the team had changed so much every year; the only person she had been on the team with for the past five years was Jose, so he being gone next year was going to be depressing and very usual. Mel remembered the line up her first year on the team—that was actually a pretty good team, despite all the first years. Starbuck had been a good keeper, Delilah was a good chaser, and there were two BA seventh years on the team; one of them who was a BA beater, from what Mel remembered and was told after she had her amnesia, had taught Mel quite a lot. And then the seventh years left, and suddenly Jose was captain and she was his Assistant, and they’d both seen so many people come and go since. Times had changed like crazy, but Mel had never stopped trying her hardest every year to finally win that cup.Sometime after breakfast Mel went to her dorm to change into black workout shorts and a yellow Champion, sleeveless tee-shirt that made her curve-less figure look slightly curvier than it actually was. The seventeen-year-old stood at six feet (finally!) and had long, muscular arms and long, less muscular legs. She had a pretty flat chest and a thin waist with broad shoulders, making her very disproportionate for a girl. Mel didn’t mind her proportions, though; she was never a girly-girl, and appearances didn’t matter all that much to her. Her long, thin, and straight chocolate brown hair was tied back into a tight ponytail and no make-up surrounded her bright green eyes, like many girls her age did.
After changing Mel grabbed her new broom her daddy bought her over the summer and new bat and gloves her brother Jamie got her for her big seventeenth birthday a few weeks ago, and then headed down to the pitch. She was super excited to get to use her new equipment on people, although she figured that she would have to do that after try-outs because that wouldn’t be so fair if the first years had a big sixth year pelting bludgers at them their first day. As she entered the pitch and spotted Jose, she ran up to him and gave him a big bear hug, she was just so excited. She also had to give Jose more hugs this year, because once the year was over she may never see him again! After a friendly hug with the captain she scrutinized the new kids who wanted to be on the team and sized up everyone else. The first years looked like seeker material, but that was just because they were small. Very small. Still, Mel gave them all a friendly smile.
Mel grinned widely as Jose said that he was going to take the position as beater. This was awesome! Jose wasn’t the best beater, but he was reliable and Mel worked well with him. She gave the seeker wanna-bes an intimidating look, just because that was fun, while mounting her broom, but before doing so she spotted Demetra talking to Jose. She would be glad to work with her usual beater, but she had kind of been looking forward to working with Jose. Oh well. At least she could be all upperclassman-ly with Demetra. A bag of rubber balls in one hand, the sixth year mounted her broom and kicked into the air. Once she reached a steady pace she flew on her broom with no hands, a skill she had mastered over the years. The risqué girl often made up risqué Quidditch moves, which she felt would greatly benefit her one day in the future. She looked over all the potential seekers, trying to decide who she would pick on by throwing the balls at them as hard as she could, which was pretty damn hard. She was very skinny around the waist, but close to being overweight because she was so muscular, especially on her arms. Jhonice was ditzy as chaser, and Amira was the seeker last year. However, firsties were always fun to pick on. And a clumsy firstie with a broken arm just sounded like boatloads of fun. Demelza was actually a really nice girl, but she liked to have fun as much as the next guy. Besides, if he did rather well with her shots, that would look good for him. Mel picked up one of the rubber balls from the bag and began throwing them as hard as she could at the group of youngin’s in general, but soon she was aiming specifically at the handicapped boy, Elijah, she thought, hoping that he’d prove himself. If they had a great seeker, then they’d win every game, and finally Pecari would get the cup. It’d been calling their name for a looooong time.
The first ball Mel aimed specifically at Elijah went just where she wanted it to go (years and years of beater practice helped her out with that), and the boy went after it, just as she hoped. She gave out a cheer of delight when she caught the ball, thinking that he’d be promising, when--BAM--…did he really run into a pole?! Mel shook her head, hoping that he’d be okay, which he seemed to be. “Alright there, bud?” She called out, chuckling slightly as he got back up. At least he was determined. She threw another one, even harder, in his direction, hoping that he’d be a bit less clumsy this time.
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Assistant Captain Demelza Eagle
What a cutie!
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Assistant Captain Demelza Eagle
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Jade Owen
December 01, 2011 1:17 PM
Cute and fuzzy like a kitten by Jade Owen
It could perhaps be argued that even a fierce competitive streak such as that possessed by Jade Owen could be negated by the severity of her laziness. She had, however, managed to roll out of bed and stumble down to the Quidditch pitch in time for try-outs, which she saw as a good omen. Her hair wasn't brushed, but that was about normal for the first year; her loose curls were always haphazard, and she'd at least pushed them out of her face with a gray cotton headband. She hadn't managed breakfast, but then her eating habits had always been random. She ate when she was hungry, not necessarily when society conventions (or school rules) dictated she should. The try-outs probably only last a couple of hours or so, giving her plenty of time to work up an appetite, and so enjoy the meal traditionally consumed second in the day.The try-out was more or less straight-forward. There were only a small number of positions to fill, and Jade knew from having read the sign-up sheet that she had at least one competitor for the Seeker position. As Captain Jose continued directing them, however, it began to look like she was competing against three other people. That was like a one in four chance of her getting picked, rather than a one in two. The odds were against her, but Jade wasn't phased. She didn't really have the enthusiasm to get possessive over something that had never even belonged to her, so if she didn't get the Seeker spot then she didn't get it, and that would be the end of that. Of course if she did get it then she'd be able to laud it over the other potentials, and that would be magnificent.
As she selected a school broom, Jade considered that it was this apathy for hard work but delight in being victorious that underlined her entire Quidditch-playing ethos: losing to another team wouldn't make her feel all that bad, but the ability to celebrate and hold the win over their heads would be sufficient to drive her to beat the opposition at all costs, without the apparently 'normal' accompaniment of guilty feelings of failure in the alternative outcome. Her draw to the Seeker position in particular had a little to do with this attitude (in that the deciding outcome of the game was often down to the Seekers), but also because she didn't really work well with others. She knew how to share and was a very sociable person, but when it came to having to rely on other people, Jade was infinitely more content on her own. While it was, admittedly, part of the Beaters' job to look out for their Seeker, they had the rest of them team to focus on, too. Jade was comfortable with the notion that she might need to be responsible for avoiding her own Bludgers. She'd been bitten by stray dogs, pecked by chickens and thrown off horses for most of her life, not to mention the excessive rough and tumble play she'd engaged in with James before her brother decided he was above such activities.
Her aim here was simple: catch the little gold rubber balls and somehow get more than the other Seeker hopefuls. Jade eyed up her competition. There was a kid in her year, the one with his arm in a cast - he must be Elijah. Jade couldn't help but feel this was a bad starting point for him, but maybe that would work out well for her. The other girls were older, but once they took to the air, Jade couldn't help but notice they didn't look any more comfortable on a broom than she did herself. Luckily - in this situation, at least - Jade had learned to fly on broomsticks so ancient they really ought to be in a museum. In comparison, the school brooms moved easily for her, and the flying lesson had reminded her how to grip properly with her legs (her horseriding experience had been helpful here, too). As she took off into the air, Jade also realized that it was probably in her favor that she genuinely didn't have any fear of flying, falling off her broom, or being smacked in the head by a Bludger. In her twelve years, she'd fallen off and/or been hit in the head by most things she'd encountered. She'd broken several bones, and the reassuring of the hospital wing with qualified medic nearby was sufficient for her to be perhaps a little more reckless than usual. Coupled with the exuberance of soaring through the air without a professor nearby, all this served to allow the first year to dive and chase those rubber balls in a way that would make her mother gasp. She'd already caught two of the little devils before she saw Elijah fly into the goalposts; she laughed. His cast was now more understandable.
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Jade Owen
Cute and fuzzy like a kitten
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Jade Owen
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Elijah
December 08, 2011 1:34 AM
I am fierce and terrifying like a lion. by Elijah
Immediately delighted that Demelza Eagle was addressing him, Elijah opened his mouth to call back to her but she suddenly threw one of the gold rubber balls in his direction and his attention was pulled, his body and broom quickly following. It’s arched pathway through the air suddenly dropped in height and Elijah slanted forward in another dive, the rush of wind cooling his heated skin, excited to try again to impress the assistant captain. ‘She called me bud. I’m bud!’ Racing gravity, his left arm twitched, ready to reach out for the ball falling right beside him before Elijah remembered why that couldn’t work. In a descending spiral around the snitch-substitute, the ground rushing up to meet him, Elijah lifted his hand from the broom, his arm shaking unsteadily without the support, and grabbed the ball. “YES!” Not eager to have another collision (at least not so soon; sometimes they could be fun) he jerked his legs, back, and neck, thrusting the Cleansweep up towards the heavens where Demelza pelted golden rubbers balls at him.Circling around Jade who was also seeking gold, Elijah sped toward Demelza, holding up a wide grin and the hard rubber caught in his raised fist. “I’m perfect!” He declared proudly, quickly diving below her to travel beneath and then popped up again on the other side. “How are you?” Opening the pouch, he felt accomplished with his meager gathering of two. A quick glance around at his competition provided no analysis for how he was doing; all he saw were blurred figures in wind and sunshine. When he caught sight of one of the Seeker hopefuls on the ground with the Captain, nervousness weighed down on his chest. ‘Oh. He talks to everybody one on one.' Special feeling sinking, he returned his focus upon Demelza. Her attention was the only edge he could hope for.
Another throw, another glint of gold, and Elijah sped after the ball, one arms stretched out, the broom pressed against his pajama covered chest, his legs squeezing so tightly to the wood, willing himself to become one with it. He resumed blinking away the strands of dark hair brushing across his lashes, ignoring the tightness in his thighs. “Yes... yes... hah!” His fingers closed on another conquest and immediately he raised himself in the air, sensitive to any metallic obstacles nearby. “This is my third!” He called out to Demelza, a proud grin lighting up his face. More shouted words were prepared in the back of his throat but the competition was still raging, golden rubber balls still falling through the air, and he had to catch each and every one of them. Leaning forward, parallel to his broom, wounded arm tucked in, he shot off, glints of gold reflected in his focused dark brown eyes.
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Elijah
I am fierce and terrifying like a lion.
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Elijah
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