Let's go Pecari! on Quidditch Pitch

Coach Amelia Pierce

January 13, 2012 9:56 PM

Game Two: Pecari vs Teppenpaw by Coach Amelia Pierce

The second match of the season would prove interesting, Amelia believed. Like Aladren and Crotalus, they were fairly evenly matched, and as neither of them had made it to the finals in the last several years, both would be eager to prove they were better than the other.

The other thing she found particularly fascinating about this particular match up were that there were a number of family groups playing against each other. Ms. Amira Thornton was still on medical leave, unfortunately, so she would not be facing Ms. Arista Thornton on the field today. Mr. Andrew Duell, however, would be facing his first cousin, Ms. Jhonice Treveor. Also, it would be the first time in Sonora history that two Pierce branches would go head to head, with Mr. Jose Hernandez representing California and Pecari while Mr. Derry Pierce represented Boston and/or New Hampshire and Teppenpaw.

She had chosen to wear red today, in part because Crotalus was already eliminated and it showed no bias toward any of the remaining competitors (which was perhaps more important for this game now that Derry was transitioning into her own branch), but mostly because the color had grown on her since she became their Head of House and she liked this robe. It was warm, which was particularly important when flying around outside in the middle of January. She had accessorized with a silver scarf, black gloves, and a matching red hat. The warming charm was not visible but no less important because it was quite cold out today.

There had certainly been games in colder weather, but it was the first time this winter the temperature had dropped down to single digits, so it felt particularly cold after the fairly mild weather they'd been having. Fortunately, everything else was in their favor. There was no snow to reflect light and blind people, the light cloud cover also protected players and spectators alike from the sun's glare, and the lack of precipitation would keep lines of sight clear.

She stood in the center of the pitch, awaiting the captains to finish their pre-game speeches. Like in the previous game, there was the potential that one of those speeches would be the last one given by that particular captain. Captain Hernandez, like Captain Carey and Captain Stephenson, would be graduating at the end of the year. She gave them a little longer, then called them over as they both finished before she decided to take pity on the freezing spectators.

"We've gathered here today to witness the second game of the Sonora Quidditch Season, featuring Teppenpaw, captained by Ms. Kirstenna Melcher, versus Pecari, captained by Mr. Jose Hernandez. Would the captains please shake hands."

She waited until they had done so, dismissed them back to their respective teams, and then continued, "The winner of this game will advance to play Aladren in the Final. Game ends when a seeker catches the snitch." She released the snitch as she said that, and then also freed the bludgers into the air. Finally, she picked up the Quaffle. "Game begins on my whistle. Three. Two. One. Tweeet!"

She threw the Quaffle into the game and the match had begun. She picked up her broom and followed the players into the air.

Subthreads:

Let's go Pecari! by Cap'n Jose, Chaser with Captain Kirstenna,Keeper, Demelza Eagle, Beater, Laurie S., Chaser, Andrew Duell, Chaser, Jhonice Trevear, Chaser, Mellie Goodwin, Chaser, Arista Thornton, Chaser, Sophie Jamison [Keeper]

Seeking a success. by Kate Bauer, Seeker with Derry Four, Beater, Mel Eagle, Beater, Jade Owen, Seeker, Coach Amelia Pierce

Recentering and Recap by Coach Amelia Pierce with Mel Eagle, Beater, Kate Bauer, Seeker

1 Coach Amelia Pierce Game Two: Pecari vs Teppenpaw 20 Coach Amelia Pierce 1 5

Cap'n Jose, Chaser

January 13, 2012 10:39 PM

Let's go Pecari! by Cap'n Jose, Chaser

Jose arrived at the pitch with time to pick his broom out of the school supply, but not much earlier. This had little do with his attempts to always arrive at his classes exactly on time and more to do with how freaking cold it was outside. He was from California, and when it got cold outside the California Pierces, like birds, migrated south to warmer climates.

Even warming charms did not make standing out here comfortable. They helped though. Aware that a fair number of his teammates were still in beginner classes, he began with a simple practicality: "Who here needs me to cast a warming charm on them?"

Believing that the sooner the game started, the sooner the snitch could be found and they could all go inside again, he wasted no additional time in starting his speech once everyone had been warmed. He also kept it limited to the basic strategy they'd use. "We are up against Teppenpaw. They have a very good Keeper, so Chasers, we're going to have to be at top form to score against her, but we've been practicing, and I believe we can do that. Their best Chaser is Andrew."

He had contemplated a couple of strategies against his best friend, and thought he had hit upon the one most likely to work. He just hoped Andrew would remember afterwards that this was a game, the goal was to win, and Jose hadn't meant anything personal by it. "Jhon, get in his way so he has to hear it from both your moms if he runs into you." And since Andrew's mom happened to be pregnant right now, she was probably in an unfavorable condition to hear that her son had run over her sister's little girl . . .

"Otherwise, we have the better Beaters, so Mel and Dem, go for Kate, who's been seeking longer than Jade has. Also, if you get a shot at Kirstenna, take it. Those should be your biggest two targets. Otherwise, keep Jade safe, and use your best judgement. Jade, Kate has never caught the snitch in a real game, so you just have to keep that streak going. Let's show Aladren that Arnold's not the only first year who can win."

"Go Pecari!"

\r\nAfter that, he shook Kirstenna's hand, wished her luck as was required by good sportsmanship even if he did kind of hope her luck this game was the bad variety. This was his last shot at the Quidditch Cup, and he really would like to at least make it to the finals his senior year.

Once the whistle blew, he took off, snatched the Quaffle out of the air, and flew up into the sky. He could remember when that had terrified him, but now it just pushed an excited surge of adrenaline into his bloodstream. He headed toward the Teppenpaw hoops, but didn't hold onto the ball long, throwing it toward one of his teammates as he leveled out at the normal playing altitude.

0 Cap'n Jose, Chaser Let's go Pecari! 0 Cap'n Jose, Chaser 0 5

Captain Kirstenna,Keeper

January 14, 2012 10:59 AM

Come on, Teppenpaw! by Captain Kirstenna,Keeper

It had occurred recently to Kirstenna that her team had never won a game since she'd been captain. It wasn't entirely her fault or theirs. They were good players, all of them and even though she hated to think so egotistically, Kirstenna was pretty much the best Keeper in school. Sophie Jamison and David Wilkes were okay, but she had the most experience. It was just that the Aladrens had been imperiused by the Imposter so they were a little tough to beat.

Today though, they were playing Pecari and as much satisfaction as Kirstenna would have gotten wiping that smug smirk off Renee Errant's evil little face had it been Crotalus playing and despite thinking it was a mean thing to think, the fifth year figured Pecari would be the easiest to beat and for once, Kirstenna, who was usually about doing their best and having a good time, wanted to win .

She wasn't too pleased with herself for it. It scared her just a little bit. The Teppenpaw captain had never been the competitive sort and she didn't want to really become so now. Kirstenna was sort of worried that this change meant the Imposter had cast a spell on her . Or Quidditch itself had some sort of weird powers that corrupted people, only instead of it making girls into lesbians-which there was nothing wrong with being anyway-it made people into worse human beings.

Still, Kirstenna wasn't going to quit. That would let down the team. She wouldn't abandon them, she just needed to overcome any tendencies caused by the game itself. Besides, it was probably the Imposter anyway which meant it was too late. Maybe Kirstenna needed to try to find a counter-curse for it but not at the moment.

As she waited for the game to start, shivering, she surveyed their competition. The cold seemed to be getting to Jose more than her. He was from California, she was from the Midwest, born technically in Indiana and spent her last midterm in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She'd spent her childhood going between Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa and Northern Illinois. Kirstenna was used to colder climates. Though it was still uncomfortable, it worked to her advantage that she was better able to take the weather than the Pecari captain.

Merlin, what was wrong with her? These were not Kirstenna-ish thoughts. Kirstenna-ish thoughts involved the Imposter being out to get them all. She hated herself and the way she was thinking right now. She threw the Quidditch Coach-that the Imposter was the Quidditch Coach was something she and Quentin had decided was an indisputable fact, what was in question was that the woman was Amelia Pierce-a glare that matched the weather. She'd-Kirstenna decided that her nemesis had to be female in order to give birth to the embodiment of evil, ghost males could impregnate humans like Tate and Vivien on American Horror Story, but female ghosts, as far as she knew, could not give birth-obviously done something to the Teppenpaw girl that was a detriment to her personality.

It was obvious that the Imposter had done this to her in order to get her to quit. Well, Kirstenna would show her! She would not quit! The Teppenpaw captain turned to her team. "Okay, guys. We can take this one. Our chasers are just as good as theirs, if not better." Jose might have been evenly matched to Andrew, but Arista and Laurie were better than Mellie and Jhonice since Arista was a year older and Jhonice was, well, not the best Quidditch player. "And we definitely have the advantage in Seekers. Theirs is a firstie. Derry and Ben, just try your best to take her out, as well as the Captain."

The whistle blew. Kirstenna shook Jose's hand, returning his likely false wish for good luck with one of her own and took her post at the Teppenpaw goals.

11 Captain Kirstenna,Keeper Come on, Teppenpaw! 161 Captain Kirstenna,Keeper 0 5

Demelza Eagle, Beater

January 14, 2012 2:56 PM

We got this, Pecari! by Demelza Eagle, Beater

The morning of the game Mel tore through the halls, running at top speed to the kitchens. She accidentally slept in, but the good news was that she had initially planned to wake up earlier than the rest of the team. Still, there was a reason for that, and now she was going to have to rush to stay on time. Panting slightly, Mel threw open the door to the kitchens and was approached by several prairie elves. Mel smiled at them, and then went on with her special order.

"Okay, guys, so today's the Pecari and Teppenpaw Quidditch game, and it's freezing out. Could you guys get me 9 to-go cups of hot chocolate? And make sure there's whole milk in it," she added, wanting nothing but the best for her teammates. Mel may have been a hard-ass during training, much more so than Jose in most cases, but she liked to give people treats, so then they would listen to her and not hate her. Her intentions were always in interest for what would be best for the team. Pecari needed to get out of it's slump, and ASAP.

Already dress for the game, Mel was able to stop by her dorm to grab her broom, gloves, bat, and goggles before heading down to the locker rooms. She wore her lightest but warmed clothes she could find, including several layers of Under Armor and sweats, all under her actual Quidditch robes. The weather got this cold in Delaware on occasion, but Mel always preferred the warmer weather. The cold kind of sucked. Snow was superfun and supercool, but after a while it got boring.

"Hi guys," Mel greeted her teammates through clenched teeth (her gloves were in her mouth), looking slightly flustered with so much in her hands. Her goggles we strapped around her head, rested on her forehead as opposed to being over her eyes, her broomstick was under left arm, and her bat under her right arm, and with both hands she was carrying the tray of hot chocolates in. She set them down on one of the benches. "Everyone grab one and drink up, it'll warm you up better than any spell can." Warming spells usually worked on the outside skin, as opposed to hot chocolate, which warmed you up from inside. Mel grabbed one for herself and took sips from it, debating how she should put her hair up. Eventually, she went with a simple, tight ponytail to ensure that her hair did not get in her face.

Mel listened to Jose talk before the game, not at all surprised by his advice. She figured that was who he wanted her up against. Mel had confidence in Jade's skill, and she believed that as long as no bludgers came at her, she would be in good shape. The Teppenpaw seeker hadn't proved herself to be a prodigy or anything. Mel would just have to beat the snot out of her, that was all. Pecari was going to win, and if that meant that Mel had to blow them out with bludgers, than so be it. She had now had almost 6 full years of hard-core beater training, from professionals and peers. She was confident in her skills.

The extremely muscular and tall 6th year (at 6 feet tall) walked out onto the pitch, trying to not let the cold bother her. In no time she will have completely forgotten about the cold whether and be in total game mode. As the whistle was blown, Mel immediately show into the air with everyone else, already on the attack as she shot forward to get to the first bludger she could. Mel liked seeking out bludgers; she was kind of a bludger-whisperer, if that made much sense. She swung back her dominate left arm, her right arm also on the bat to give her hit more strength, and brought it forward with as much force as she could muster towards Kate Bauer, hoping that it would make contact with her. If that were the case, than this game would go by pretty easily. They didn't even have any reserves! This could potentially by great. Mel continued to glide in and out around the chasers, patrolling to make sure that no bludger made contact with one of her players. Pecari was going to make it to the finals Jose's last year; he'd been a dedicated and loyal captain for so long, they deserved to give this to him. Glaring coldly through green eyes at Teppenpaw's seeker, she hoped that her bluger would take her out quick enough and that Jade could catch the snitch.

0 Demelza Eagle, Beater We got this, Pecari! 0 Demelza Eagle, Beater 0 5

Kate Bauer, Seeker

January 14, 2012 11:01 PM

Seeking a success. by Kate Bauer, Seeker

At some point in the distant past, it was possible that Kate’s ancestors had come from a place where it was sometimes very cold. If that was in fact the case, Kate saw why they had left. She did wish, though, that if they existed, they could have left her some trace of cold-enduring genes, but if there were such things (her grip on the science of genetics was loose to say the least, though she was increasingly convinced that ambition was a product of heredity rather than environment), generations of Laynes in South Carolina had caused them to lose effect long before Kate had happened to do a lot of growing up in a warm part of California.

Since Sonora’s weather was charmed into having a little more variation than its surroundings suggested, this meant that today, she was finding it easy to avoid being nervous about the game. That was more thought for the future than she could really have when her first concern was whether or not she was going to freeze to death before the game even began. It occurred to her, as Kirstenna spoke, to put a warming charm on herself finally, but she wasn’t sure how much good it did. She was already chilled through, it felt like, and she wasn’t that great at Charms anyway.

Kate hoped it helped, though, because two things were at stake here. One was Teppenpaw’s chances at the Championship, where she could finally have another chance to beat Arnold Carey (at this point, she thought the Aladrens had built themselves up into enough of an ogre, probably helped along by how many members of the team belonged to the same family with the interesting reputation, that beating Arnold would probably make her undistinguished record as a Sonora Seeker be completely forgotten about, all but guaranteeing her a place as one of the Great Seekers of Sonora. Or at least an honorable mention on the 'okay' list.) and Teppenpaw to…not completely look as bad as they did right now in the House Points competition, anyway. The other was her chance to just win something, and not get beaten by a first year. Especially a first year who was supposed to be the reserve, for crying out loud. That would just be embarrassing.

Finally, it was time for kickoff. Hopefully, flying would help warm her up, too, though she was pretty sure her nose was going to be completely numb and an interesting shade of red by the time this was over. Going up, above the level the rest of the game began to settle at in the hopes of avoiding Bludgers a little longer, she looked around for the Pecari Seeker. Even though she was a first year and Amira Thornton had, for whatever reason, originally been thought of as better than her, that didn’t mean she couldn’t get lucky. It would be tempting fate way too much not to try to keep an eye on her as well as an eye open for the Snitch, especially since it felt like the day the Snitch might decide to appear in the first few minutes of the game. Because it felt like that day, it almost certainly was not, in fact, anywhere near the time when that might happen.

16 Kate Bauer, Seeker Seeking a success. 170 Kate Bauer, Seeker 0 5

Laurie S., Chaser

January 15, 2012 4:52 PM

No, you don't! by Laurie S., Chaser

Laurie was excited about the Quidditch game, but there was something new within him. Lawrence Roman Stratford actually had come to realize that he didn’t like someone. For the first time in his life he had strife with someone, and that someone was his older cousin, Preston. The Teppenpaw had never thought it was possible for him to hate someone like he hated Preston, and the fact that he was family just made the whole thing worse. During the winter break his older cousin had been a bit of a snob with him and had threatened Laurie to spill the information of the people he hung out with at school. For Preston, Michael and Kitty were unworthy of a Stratford paying them attention, because both of them were Muggleborns. Laurie had snapped at his cousin and called him a lot of names, but now he lived in fear of his father or grandfather sending him a howler about his friends. The redhead didn’t want to be separated from them. He liked them, a lot. Micheal was awesome and Kitty was too. He didn’t see why people would catalogue them due to their ancestry. The important thing was that they had magic and were learning to harness it, but his family didn’t think like that.

The redhead was determined to win this game and compete against Preston. Teppenpaw was going to win both games and the Preston would see that he wasn’t part of the winning side anymore. Laurie was determined to show his older cousin that he would not be bullied by him. He didn’t care what he thought about his friends, at least he had friends. Preston was lame and just had Sara Raines. The boys in his dorm weren’t even his friends, just people he shared a room with.

Anyways, the Teppenpaw Chaser trotted into the pitch fully clothed in the winter uniform. Laurie could already feel his face flushing due to the cold. He wasn’t worried about it, since he was sure that after going up in the air and playing for a few minutes he wouldn’t feel it anymore. The Teppenpaw listened to Coach Pierce give her speech and everything. When the whistle finally blew, he soared into the air and gave two laps around the pitch to warm up. During which Jose Hernandez got a hold of the Quaffle for Pecari. Laurie narrowed his eyes and zoomed at a high speed towards the recently passed on red ball. He got a hold of it and a little whooho of victory escaped his lips while he flew towards the hoops, but before he was close enough he passed the Quaffle to one of his teammates.

0 Laurie S., Chaser No, you don't! 0 Laurie S., Chaser 0 5

Andrew Duell, Chaser

January 15, 2012 6:29 PM

Let's keep it going! by Andrew Duell, Chaser

Andrew was worried. He was still having some trouble focusing past the news he had gotten over break, and to top things off now he was going to have to play against Pecari. This game was going to be critical. Someone was going to have to dethrone Aladren this year, and he really had been hoping that Marissa and the Crotali had been able to crush them last term, but they hadn't been so fortunate. Now it was up to either Percari or Teppenpaw to bring them down, but before that could happen the better of the two teams had to decided. The problem with that was that he was going to have to play against his best friend and his cousin. Well, he would hope for the best, it would be the first time he's actually had to play against Jhon maybe she would stay out of his way.

He made his way out to the pitch, carrying his broom and met up with the rest of his team. It was a bit chilly, but a quick warming charm fixed that. Coach Pierce blew the whistle and started the game. Andrew launched himself into the air with much practiced ease, but Jose managed to get to the Quaffle first. He followed close, and when Laurie intercepted Jose's pass Andrew moved to travel parallel to Laurie. They made it a good distance down the pitch when Laurie passed the ball his direction. It was an easy catch and he tucked it in close and shot farther down the field toward the Pecari goals. He was surprised at how easily he could tune out all of his other problems while he could focus on the game. That was good. The goal was in front of him, the Quaffle was in his hand, a quick feint towards the left and then let the ball fly towards the center. This would be a good game.

2 Andrew Duell, Chaser Let's keep it going! 145 Andrew Duell, Chaser 0 5

Jhonice Trevear, Chaser

January 15, 2012 7:30 PM

Not so fast! by Jhonice Trevear, Chaser

Quiddtich time! Jhonice raced to the Quittich pitch all prepped and ready for her first game of the year. This would her first and only time she would get to play against her cousin. Now she would finally show him what she could do on a broom. She bundled up nice and warm since it was downright frigid outside and chasing up and down the pitch would not make things any warmer. Despite the extra prep work, she made sure she was out early enough to be the first one to sort through the school brooms. She found hers with only a few minutes searching. One of these days she was going to have to look into how this broom had resisted whatever curse had fallen upon all the other brooms, but for today she was glad that it had been spared.

She took down some mental notes as the rest of the players filtered onto the field. Captain Jose appeared in all his splendor, ready to command them all to certain victory. She hadn't taken much notice of the Teppenpaw team previously, since she hadn't faced them before. Her cousin was on it and came out to the pitch swaggering as only he could. She would show him soon enough. Derwent Pierce IV was one of the exciting people on the Teppenpaw team, she had heard a rumor that he had recently been usurped and cast aside, tossed mercilessly from the heights of Mt. Pierce and taken in by the Boston branch of outcasts. She would have to see if any of that was true, and do what she could to help him reclaim his throne. Unfortunately Derwent wasn't in any of her classes this year, he'd moved up to the Intermediates... but, perhaps Thaddeus would know the details. She would have to talk to him the next time she saw him.

Laurie Stratford was another one that she would have to watch out for on the pitch. The heir to the Stratford legacy would doubtless be a force to be reckoned with as well. Before she could get much farther, Captain Jose was starting his speech. He must be psychic! She'd have to make an official note. The captain knew she would easily be a match for her cousin and be able to stop him cold! She thew a 'I'm coming for you' glare towards him as the teams faced off, he pretended to not see it. The whistle blew and the game was started!

She took to the air, and as per her Captain's excellent instructions, she stuck to her cousin like glue. Well, almost. The cold must have gotten to 'the Enterprise' and it was a bit slow off the ground. She caught up quickly enough though, with just a few loops going around the long way to make sure he didn't suspect anything. Captain Jose grabbed the Quaffle ball and tossed it quickly. The Stratford streaked from out of nowhere, grabbed it and raced it towards their end of the field. Andrew was close with him, time for her to make her move! She kicked the Enterprise into high gear and came in low, she saw the pass from Laurie to her cousin and she kept pace.

Andrew paused for just a moment before throwing the ball to the left goal, and she took her chance to dart up right in front of him to scare him off balance. Instead she found herself getting nearly knocked off her broom as the Quaffle collided with her chest. She and the ball both dropped a moment out of the sky before she could recover the wind that had been knocked out of her. Then it was just a matter of grabbing the ball and Throwing it in the direction of one of her teammates. Yeah... she nearly cackled to herself, she was going to be Andrew's worst nightmare.

2 Jhonice Trevear, Chaser Not so fast! 209 Jhonice Trevear, Chaser 0 5

Cap'n Jose, Chaser

January 15, 2012 9:13 PM

Pecari can speed, though. Speed, Pecari, speed. by Cap'n Jose, Chaser

Jose immediately regretted the early pass as Laurie shot out of nowhere to snatch the ball from the air between him and its intended recipient. He then proceeded to speed the same ball about half the field in one go so that Andrew could then take a shot at the goal. He was not used to that playing style. Both Aladren and Crotalus tended to do much shorter runs.

Though he normally would have tagged pretty close to Andrew, as they were the two oldest and most experienced players on the field, Jhonice was taking her assigned job quite seriously and he didn't want to get as fouled up by her as Andrew would inevitably be. She soon proved that by running into the Quaffle that Andrew shot toward the center hoop. It wasn't quite how he had intended for her to interfere but it worked well enough.

She did, after all, intercept and pass successfully, which was one of her better plays, even if it looked accidental and included a fumble. Jose caught the toss to him, turned around and headed away from Sophie and the Pecari goals. He might have been wary about duplicating Laurie's run, but Edmond was not on the field and he trusted his own beaters to cover his tail.

Still, it wasn't wise to just fly straight out with bludgers on the loose. The Eastern Pierce or the Holland kid could get lucky or a stray metal ball might find its way to him by chance. He jinked and juked and tried to fly as unpredictably as he could. He didn't quite dare to fly all the way to the central line either. He threw the Quaffle toward another brown robed Chaser when he was still a good quarter of the distance away.

0 Cap'n Jose, Chaser Pecari can speed, though. Speed, Pecari, speed. 0 Cap'n Jose, Chaser 0 5

Mellie Goodwin, Chaser

January 15, 2012 10:18 PM

Speeding. by Mellie Goodwin, Chaser

Mellie was nervous, but was determinedly keeping a slightly manic-looking smile pasted on her face so that no one would know it. It wasn’t going to be like last year. It just wasn’t. She and Jhon were both loads better this year than they had been last year, and plus, they weren’t against Aladren. The facts that winning would put them against Aladren and that Teppenpaw wasn’t half-bad itself were ones that she chose to ignore, at least for now.

Despite her best efforts, though, she wasn’t able to make herself force down much breakfast, her stomach being in a knot which did a good job of staving off hunger. She could only hope that she didn’t get lightheaded during the match; fainting off her broom just didn’t, in light of how that had worked out for Amira, seem like a good idea. Looking like she was too anxious to function just wasn’t something she wanted to do while she was at school. Hopefully, she could just get through this, then be hungry and actually eat properly.

Of course, hopefully flying would warm her up a little, but in reality, it was her guess that the speeds they were going to move at would make the wind chill or whatever it was called nearly intolerable. When Jose asked which of them needed help with the warming charm, Mellie, even though an Illinois native, put up her hand. She was used to cold winters, but also to her mother putting her in great big coats when she went out and to not staying out for very long at a time, which could happen in Quidditch. Look at what happened every time Crotalus and Aladren were allowed anywhere near the Pitch at the same time.

But again, they had nothing to do with this. It was just them and Teppenpaw, and they were going to win. That was the thing to remember.

Right away, Jose got the Quaffle, but then it fell into Teppenpaw hands for a whole pass before Jhonice got it back, then it went to Jose, and then – far sooner than she would have liked – to Mellie. It was almost a surprise to find it in her hands, but though she almost fumbled with it for a second, she did manage not to drop it. That would have been a thing which would have been seriously, seriously embarrassing, too. Since the embarrassment had been averted, though, she flew on, heading for the center line and getting almost to it before, feeling sure she was just asking to be hit in the head with a Bludger, she sighted one of her teammates and passed.

Oh, how she hoped that it worked. She’d hate to be the one who broke the string of Pecari doing well in the past few minutes. It wouldn’t really matter, she guessed, not this early into the game, but…she just didn’t want it to be her. She knew it was stupid, but Mellie found it really hard not to feel like she’d failed when stuff like that happened, like she’d let the team down. Stupid, but there it was, or would be if she failed. So she hoped that she didn’t.

16 Mellie Goodwin, Chaser Speeding. 206 Mellie Goodwin, Chaser 0 5

Derry Four, Beater

January 16, 2012 11:00 AM

Seeking a seeker by Derry Four, Beater

Derry arrived at the Pitch after a good breakfast and a reasonably good night's rest. Anxiety for the game and for what his life as a Boston Pierce might be like had woken him a couple of times but he wasn't tired anymore when he climbed out of bed in the morning, and that was what mattered most. His broom was in good shape - he'd tended to it just last night so there would be no bristles out of place or anything for today's game. Since neither Teppenpaw nor Pecari had recently had Daniel Nash for a captain, he thought his two-year-old broom, the Derwent IV, was probably one of the best ones on the field today.

He pulled the heavy winter Quidditch robes tighter around himself as he headed out onto the Pitch and eyed the Pecaris' cups of hot chocolate a little enviously. It was cold out, certainly, but he had grown up on the peak of a mountain in northern New Hampshire. A simple warming charm was enough to stave off the worst of the chill.

He nodded through Kirstenna's speech and as she went over to the coach to shake Jose's hand, he added to Ben, "I'll cover the seekers first, I guess." They didn't have time for much more planning after that because Coach Pierce started releasing balls and then blew the whistle. He took to the air, keeping tabs mostly on Kate Bauer and the two Pecari beaters. Demelza Eagle in particular grabbed his attention when she tried to send a bludger with bruising force in Kate's direction.

Derry prevented it from reaching her. Demelza had hit the metal ball with bruising force so the best he was able to do initially was deflect and even that sent painful vibrations up his arms. He wasn't a tiny first year anymore, but he was still barely fourteen and not nearly as large as Demelza Eagle was. He didn't let that stop him from running after the deflected bludger though, sheparding it around until he he was pointing the right direction and at a good distance from Jade Owen. At that point, he pulled back his own arm and swung hard at the Pecari seeker.

He felt a little bad about that. Jade was just a little first year, and a girl to boot. Derry was fourteen, making him both older and bigger than her, and a boy. Chivalry would have, under ordinary circumstance, found such a move to be utterly abhorrent. Quidditch, however, did not observe the rules of chivalry. The fact that they did not apply here did not mean he couldn't feel a little bad about it, though.

1 Derry Four, Beater Seeking a seeker 189 Derry Four, Beater 0 5

Cap'n Jose, Chaser

January 16, 2012 11:18 AM

Carrying on by Cap'n Jose, Chaser

Mellie caught his pass and they both continued to fly on toward the Teppenpaw end of the field, putting more precious distance between the Quaffle and Sophie. He trusted Sophie utterly to be a fantastic Keeper, but if the ball spent the whole game over near her, Pecari would never have a chance to score. It was better, all things considered, to just keep the ball over near Kirstenna instead.

Jose kept pace with Mellie and she passed back to him after a while. They had nearly made it into Teppenpaw territory and Jose caught the ball and carried it over into the other team's half of the Pitch. They were now nearer to Kirstenna than Sophie but still definitely too far off to make a run on the goals.

He made sure to bring it farther than he'd made it during his initial ascent with the ball, but he wasn't quite to the halfway mark between Kirstenna and the middle line when he spotted an opening to another Pecari Chaser and took advantage of the opportunity for a clean pass.

He also took advantage of an opportunity to bring his frozen fingers up to his mouth and blow the heated air from his lungs onto to them for a moment. Did he mention recently that he hated the cold?

0 Cap'n Jose, Chaser Carrying on 0 Cap'n Jose, Chaser 0 5

Kirstenna, Keeper

January 16, 2012 1:35 PM

Someone stop them! (Wotw) by Kirstenna, Keeper

Right now, Kirstenna did not really want to playing Quidditch and it was not really because of the weather, though even she didn't find it pleasant. Though it beat things being too warm. She was more disgusted with her own behavior, her own feelings. Kirstenna wanted nothing more than to take down Pecari and since she normally was not that competitive, she was certain the Imposter had put a spell on her.

Her nemesis had tried everything to torment her. Kidnapping Brian, boiling Tobar, sending in Renee to lead Sophia away from her and corrupt the Pecari girl, somehow getting the Embodiment of Evil into Teppenpaw (which was an impressive feat given that Teppenpaw's were kind by nature, which might have been why there wasn't an overwhelming number of them signed up for Quidditch.) Now she was trying to destroy Kirstenna's very personality. Make her into a horrible person, though she'd never be at the Imposter's level of wretchedness or Renee's either.

It made the Teppenpaw Keeper feel a bit sick. As did the fact that the game started off by Jose taking the quaffle and Demelza firing a bludger at Kate. Fortunately Derry got it away from their Seeker and towards Pecari's and Laurie intercepted the Quaffle and passed it off to Andrew, taking it closer to Pecari's goals, and further away from her.

No sooner was she silently cheering over this than Pecari had the Quaffle again and Kirstenna groaned inwardly. She was certain she could stop it if it came to that, she was absolutely not letting them score today, even if she put her own personal safety at risk. Teppenpaw needed this win, Kirstenna might not have needed to be the very best captain ever but she certainly didn't want to be considered the worst! It might have been Jose's last year, but he'd won a game before as a captain, even if it had been awhile ago.

Still, she would prefer that her blocking the goals and maybe risking her life if necessary not be a factor. She wanted the Chasers to keep the Quaffle at the other end where Teppenpaw could score. That would thwart the Imposter too, because it was likely to the Imposter wanted Pecari to win, because Kirstenna was on to her.

She was still doing everything in her power to destroy the Teppenpaw Captain. She had put this corrupting spell on the fifth year because she wanted Kirstenna to be angry and yell at the team, to become an ogress, and make them all turn against her. Just like the Imposter had taken away Brian and tried to take away Sophia through Renee. Thank Merlin that Quentin had graduated so the Imposter couldn't harm him. He was safe in L.A. so long as he stayed away from Murder House.

Of course, it might have worked in the Imposter's favor for Teppenpaw to win because then they'd have to face Aladren and everyone knew that playing Quidditch against Aladren was one of the most dangerous situations to be in. But the Imposter had to inherently hate Teppenpaws, maybe even Jane, because the Imposter was an evil twisted creature and Teppenpaws were inherently good and kind-other than that half-ghost son of the Imposter who was inherently evil-and Kirstenna's nemesis abhorred that.

That was why she'd chosen this particular spell to place on the fifth year. Because it would corrupt her, her very essence. Well, Kirstenna would not give her the satisfaction! She'd do all she could to overcome it but she wouldn't give the Imposter the satisfaction of Teppenpaw losing either. She watched the Quaffle, more determined than ever to stop it if it came her way.

11 Kirstenna, Keeper Someone stop them! (Wotw) 161 Kirstenna, Keeper 0 5

Mellie Goodwin, Chaser

January 16, 2012 4:55 PM

Carrying further on. by Mellie Goodwin, Chaser

Yes! Mellie thought when the Quaffle landed safely in Jose’s hands, wishing dearly that she was on the ground so she could do a happy little dance of celebration. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!

The pass had completed, and Pecari was still in possession of the ball, still moving steadily closer to the Teppenpaw captain. This game was theirs. All that needed to happen was for the Beaters to keep Jade safe long enough for her to get the Snitch, and then they could all go home happy, and celebrate a win in their captain’s last year and the fact that they were going to the final.

It would be great, too, if all that could happen after Pecari scored a few goals. This wasn’t the final, so it couldn’t hurt too much to think of scoring a few times, could it? At the final, the real thing would be Jade or Amira who whoever was playing Seeker by then catching the Snitch as soon as possible, but this wasn’t that yet. So she could at least hope in good conscience that they would get to score a few times, since that didn’t also mean it was inevitable that every single one of them would end the game with broken bones in repayment for those goals.

Jose passed again, back to her once more, and Mellie completed it again. It had been a pretty straightforward pass, but she still felt a little thrill of accomplishment, both for herself and for the team. Weaving around a little to shake off any imminent attempts by one of the Pecari Beaters, she covered more ground, then passed again, wondering how soon it would be before they had the first goal taken care of. It seemed like it had to be a pretty sure and quick thing now.

16 Mellie Goodwin, Chaser Carrying further on. 206 Mellie Goodwin, Chaser 0 5

Kate Bauer, Seeker

January 16, 2012 5:55 PM

I appreciate it. by Kate Bauer, Seeker

Kate was looking for Jade Owen, but what she saw was a Bludger heading toward her. Oh, fantastic. The Pecaris were going to assume that the best defense was a good offense when it came to their first year Seeker, which meant there was at least an even chance that she was going to end up, at some point during or immediately after this game, being carried to the medic.

She was a Seeker, and that meant accepting the very good chance of being in a certain amount of pain by the end of each and every game. She was okay with that. She was not, however, either masochistic or flat-out crazy enough to want it to happen, and unless it was the only way to catch the Snitch, she was going to avoid any hit she could possibly avoid taking. She began trying to fly away, trying to strategize quickly about how to avoid the death ball.

Then Derry, bless him, swept in and took care of it, sending it instead off toward Jade. Probably not easy or pleasant for him, considering that Demelza girl would have been fearsome in any school that didn’t include Edmond Carey and still wasn’t anything to sneeze at, but the Bludger was heading away from her and toward a Pecari, and better yet, the Pecari Seeker. That was the way they wanted things to go for now.

“Thanks, Derry!” Kate called, flying off in the other direction, now. Near Jade wasn’t the place to be when she had a Bludger after her, and she didn’t want to be too promising a target, if she could help it, for the Pecari Beaters if one of them managed to get in the way of Derry’s shot and try to save Jade. They didn’t have two backup Seekers, so she had to take care of herself and just catch the Snitch as quickly as she could.

16 Kate Bauer, Seeker I appreciate it. 170 Kate Bauer, Seeker 0 5

Andrew Duell, Chaser

January 16, 2012 7:01 PM

...and back again. by Andrew Duell, Chaser

No! Andrew screamed to himself as he nailed Jhon with the Quaffle. What is wrong with that girl?! He dived to rescue his cousin, but she pulled herself upright before he reached her. That was close, he hated to think what his aunt or mother would do to him if anything happened to her. He had plenty of time to think about that as he chased the Percaris down the pitch as they tossed the ball back and forth. Not only did he have to concentrate on winning the game, he also had to make sure that nothing serious happened to Jhon... and with her flying... this would be a very interesting game.

He watched as the ball as it was passed back and forth between Jose and Mellie, he finally saw his chance as Mellie tossed it back towards Jose. He swung his broom between them, caught the Quaffle and raced back towards the Pecari end of the pitch. Normally he liked to make long, fast dashes down the pitch, but he knew that Jose knew that. So he decided to change things up a bit, he did a quick burst as normal, but before he even crossed back into Pecari territory he spotted an opening and passed the ball to one of his teammates.

2 Andrew Duell, Chaser ...and back again. 145 Andrew Duell, Chaser 0 5

Mel Eagle, Beater

January 16, 2012 8:55 PM

Well, frankly, I don't (WotW) by Mel Eagle, Beater

Okay, it wasn't totally unexpected that Teppenpaw's beaters would both be on the alert for protecting their seeker. That knowledge didn't make Mel any less angry when her shot was deflected. A much smaller beater came out of what seemed like nowhere and took a shot at their seeker. Well, that couldn't happen! Mel flew as fast as her broom would allow to head over in Jade's direction and deflect the bludger away from her and back at Kate Bauer.

The hard part of this was deflecting the bludger softly, and in the right direction, so then she could get the best hit possible off it when she sent it back Kate's way. She also had to angle it right so that it wouldn't head back to MiniTeppenpawBeater. As her bat made the lightest possible contact with the metal ball to send it spinning sideways towards the ground, Mel couldn't help but laugh slightly under her breath. Had that ball been hit by someone with real strength, like a professional, there was no way she could have stopped it so easily. Teppenpaw clearly didn't treat their beaters right. The amount of weight lifting, push-ups, pull-ups, body building, and general arm work-outs Mel required Dem to do with her ensured that they were ready to beat the crap out of ever bludger they came in contact with. Mel wanted to be a professional--training was no joke.

The tall beater rushed forward in the direction she sent the bludger moving, pulled her left arm back, and shot the bludger right back at the opposing seeker. The bat made a sound often described as 'terrifying', or, in the case of when it crushed bones, 'disgusting'. But, to a beater, it sounded glorious. Hopefully, MiniTeppenpawBeater wouldn't be there to deflect it, because then a beater war would certainly happen. Mel gave no mercy.

On the other hand, she really hoped that Dem was watching the other bludger and making sure that none of their chasers were being knocked out, 'cos that would really suck.

0 Mel Eagle, Beater Well, frankly, I don't (WotW) 0 Mel Eagle, Beater 0 5

Arista Thornton, Chaser

January 16, 2012 11:31 PM

Heading for a goal (KEEPER!) by Arista Thornton, Chaser

The night before the Teppenpaw/Pecari game Arista Thornton had an awful time trying to fall asleep. Her brain was working on overdrive. She wanted to win the game so badly, both for Kirstenna and for her house. But she also had the pure desire for her little sister Amira’s Pecari team to win as well. The fourteen year old was conflicted worse than ever before. Amira had sent her an owl the day before to tell her that they wouldn’t let her play. Ris knew that Mir was mad and upset and she had tried to find her with no luck. This was the main reason for the fitful attempt of falling asleep.

Finally the red-headed girl fell into a nightmare which culminated in her falling out of her bed and screaming Amira’s name. Once awake, she realized that it was just a nightmare, but in her haze she hadn’t realized that until it was too late. She could tell that she’d woken up at least half of Teppenpaw House by the way the noises centralized around her room. She hid her face in her arms and took a few deep breaths to try to calm down. Addi, knowing the sound of Arista’s screams came barging into her room. The sounds of her younger sister’s heavy footsteps woke her mind from the terrifying nightmare-ish thoughts. “Nightmare.” she said with soft and crackling words. Addi pulled Arista up off the floor and sat down next to her on the bed.

“Ris, you’re worried. I can tell. Mir will be okay, she will. She’s angry now, but she’ll get over it. She’s better than this and soon she’s going to realized that its for her own good that she doesn’t play. Really. Watch, you’ll see.” Addi said as she nodded, patting Arista on her back and laying her older sister back down on her bed. She turned to everyone else who had sleepily gathered to see what had happened and spoke in a stronger voice than she was used to. “Okay everyone, the show is over. Go back to sleep.” she said as she turned back to Arista. “Now, go back to sleep. You need your energy. Go on, I’ll stay till you fall back to sleep.”

Arista nodded and laid down again, but pulled Addi to lay next to her and the pair fell asleep just like they did at home when Addi was upset.

******

Arista woke with a start and looked at the sky out her window. “Ohmygosh!” she said as she got up fast and furiously got herself together for the game. “I’m so going to be late! Addi, wake up!” she called as she struggled out of the sheets of the bed. Stumbling all around she finally had herself together and ran out of the room, not sure if Addi was up yet. Grabbing her broom and her robes she ran out towards the Common Room, not even touching her hair which was up in all of the strangest of angles as it always was in the morning.

Getting to the Pitch in record time, she expected to see loads of people there for the game as she thought that she was very late. However, there was nobody there… Taking a moment to catch her breath she just went into the Locker Rooms to calm herself down. She knew that she was still reeling from her nightmare the night before and if it hadn’t been for Addi falling asleep beside her she wouldn’t have slept at all. She knew she’d have to thank her sister later, but for now, now she needed to bring her thoughts to rest at least for the time of the game. The others showed up after a little while and Kirstenna started her speech which basically, to Arista, said that they were better than Pecari and that they had a better team. Parts of the fourteen year old was happy she said that, but the rest of her was so mad at the shot down of Pecari that her brain went right back into its overdrive of the night before. When Kirstenna mentioned the Pecari Seeker, Arista heated up inside. She glanced towards Kirstenna, unsure if her Captain saw the look, but she’d hoped that she had. Arista was ready to win for her, also for Amira. If she couldn’t play, the fourth year knew that she’d want her sister to win. Wouldn’t she? she thought as Kirstenna went to shake hands with Jose.

The game began, but Arista’s eyes scanned the crowd for Addi, Amira and Andri instead of watching the game. A loud whoosh beside her ear told her a bludger just went right past her head and she pulled her head back into the game. “Fat chance bludger.” she said as she watched it head right for Kate. “KATE!” she called as Derry sent the black ball away from her. “Good.” she said as she watched the Quaffle change hands many times from her position. Finally she saw her chance. Andrew swung his broom between Jose and Mellie and caught the Quaffle. “YES!” she called aloud to him. Then she saw him go straight for her. Her eyes widened and she braced herself for his pass. The ball hit right where he’d aimed it, right into her hands. “GOT IT!” she called happily to him and in a flash was headed closer to the Pecari Keeper’s area. She kept her eyes and ears pealed for any bludger sounds allthewhile wondered how best to get the ball into the hoops.

That’s it! she thought as she decided on her plan of action. By now she’d flown so close to Pecari’s goals she knew that she could get it in. She could do her signature move, she’d not yet played Sophie as keeper and wondered if it would work. She flew sideways, the red Quaffle tucked nicely under her arm and kicked back with the base of her broom as she flipped over completely. This move was something she’d perfected over the summer and it felt good to do it out there in a game. It was cold, this she knew as she wasn’t in as many layers as she was sure the others were in. She could tell by the way her teeth were chattering, but that didn’t matter now. What mattered now was that the red ball in her clutches made it into the shimmery goal hoops.

Focus back on tighter than ever, she finished her flip and sent the red ball hurtling at the right side hoop, hoping it would go in. She’d sent it in with her fastball pitch and hoped that it would go right past Sophie as she hurtled away hearing a deep bludger sound behind her. It wasn't smart for ANYONE to intercept that shot and though the fourth year was almost sure that Sophie wasn't stupid, she wouldn't give away her thoughts.

She wasn’t even sure if the Quaffle went in because she had to get out of the Keeper's territory or have the chance of being bludgered, but she’d hoped, for her sake that it was too fast and the Pecari Keeper let it get by her.

0 Arista Thornton, Chaser Heading for a goal (KEEPER!) 0 Arista Thornton, Chaser 0 5

Cap'n Jose, Chaser

January 17, 2012 6:17 PM

You can do it, Sophie! by Cap'n Jose, Chaser

Jose rubbed his hands together in an attempt to keep them from going numb and grinned a little as Mellie completed his pass and kept going. He cheered her and dropped his still too-cold hands back onto his broom to push it back up to speed as he paralleled her and tried to set himself up for a run on Kirstenna. They were close enough now that the next pass could be the last one. Unfortunately, however, the next pass did not make it to him. Andrew got in the way almost exactly in the same manner that Jhonice was supposed to be getting in his way.

As Jose wheeled his broom around to chase after Teppenpaw's most experienced Chaser, he wondered breifly if it had been unfair to expect Jhon - who had enough trouble keeping up with herself - to keep up with a seventh year. He trusted her to doggedly keep to her assignment, though, so he didn't really dare to go in and get in Andrew's face himself. She was as likely to mess up Jose's plays as Andrew's. Instead, he kept his distance and tried to be ready to intercept. Unfortunately, he'd been covering the wrong side to be able to interrupt the pass to Arista and he tried very hard not to blame Jhonice for not messing up Andrew's interception on the one end, his pass on the other, or his flying in the middle. She was, after all, only twelve. Andrew had been playing Quidditch much longer than she had. And he probably started with better skill than she currently had.

He changed positions around, trying to jockey for a good place to intercept Arista's pass, but she never passed. He even tried once, when she was about halfway into Pecari territory, to scare her by playing chicken but even that didn't pressure her into passing. Instead, she went for the goal. At least Sophie had had half the pitch to see it coming.

He still thought he might actually pull one of the Crotalus/Aladren moves out next time though, if he thought Teppenpaw might pull another half-pitch run. He'd see how well his broom could get ahead of them then stop dead directly in front of them. He was a seventh year, the only one of their Chasers he didn't think he could handle a head on collision with was Andrew. But if he took out Andrew with him, it might almost be worth it.

He'd missed his chance for it this run, though. Now all that was left for him to do was cheer on his Keeper. "You can do it, Soph!" he shouted. He believed it, too. Sophie might not be very big for a fourth year or for a Keeper, but she was quick and capable. She'd come to Sonora already specialized in Keeping and had trained as Starbuck's alternate even when she played Chaser for them. The only player on his team who he thought had a better chance of going professional in their given position was Demelza.

That was saying something, too. He would be very surprised if Demelza did not become a professional beater. He had never regretted making her his assistant captain (except maybe the year she'd come back with amnesia and he'd had to re-teach her all the assistant duties) and he even sometimes felt their one year age gap was unfair to her since it meant she'd only get one year as captain compared to his five. Of course, for this transition year, they had been more co-captains than captain and assistant. That was mostly because he really did think she would be a more successful captain than he had been (his record was rather unimpressive thus far), but also because she was between test years and he now had Head Boy duties in addition to the RATS preparation that crowded his own schedule.

0 Cap'n Jose, Chaser You can do it, Sophie! 0 Cap'n Jose, Chaser 0 5

Jhonice, Chaser

January 17, 2012 7:13 PM

Go Sophie!! by Jhonice, Chaser

Curses!! Andrew had escaped her somehow. How had he done that? One moment he was right in front of her, the next he had the ball and was gone. Captain Jose was going to be upset. She hauled around on her broom and sent it after her cousin once more. She couldn't loose him again, she just couldn't! She had studied his moves, he had the Quaffle, now he makes a mad dash down the pitch. She could catch him! Kicking the broom into high gear once more, she closed the gap between them... much more quickly than she expected.

She shrieked as he threw the ball to Arista and stopped. Stopped dead right in the middle of the field! She pulled back and up on her broom as hard as she could, and she shot past him missing by a whisker. Upon slowing, the broom suddenly jerked to the side sending her into a tumble. When she recovered Andrew was gone and there were shouts coming from their side of the pitch. Arista had made it the whole way to the goal? How had she done that? She spotted Andrew and moved back towards her assigned position, there was no way she was going to let Captain Jose down!

2 Jhonice, Chaser Go Sophie!! 209 Jhonice, Chaser 0 5

Jade Owen, Seeker

January 18, 2012 6:57 AM

I don't care either way by Jade Owen, Seeker

Gloating wasn’t attractive, or so Jade had heard. Naturally, she would deny ever having made attempts at being attractive, but she had kept her jubilance to a minimum when around Amira, the second year Pecari who had originally been placed as starting Seeker. In Jade’s honest and most humble opinion, the other girl didn’t really deserve to be Seeker, since she’d fallen off her broom in the try-outs, but maybe she’d played really well last year or something (though the fact that Pecari hadn’t made it to the Quidditch finals didn’t offer any support to this second theory). Amira, then, had been off bounds, but Jade hadn’t restricted her gloating in any other arena. Her favourite target had been Elijah, who was the other reserve Seeker at the start of the year. He had flown into a goal post in the try-outs, so, really, it was only actually fair that Jade got to play Seeker in the first game, considering she’d been the only one of them who had shown any real aptitude at flying.

That had been at the start of the year, when Jade was still getting re-accustomed to flying a broom, and learning for the first time how to use one that was less than two decades old. Since then she’d had months to get much better as a flier, and admittedly she didn’t have the school Quidditch playing experience of Teppenpaw’s Seeker, but then Jade had first been on a broomstick when she was four years old. She had that in her favour, along with the fact that she personally had more tenacity than the entire of the Teppenpaw team put together.

On the morning of her first ever real Quidditch game, there were people with chattering teeth at every corner. Having grown up in New York, Jade was used to cold winters. She was wearing two pairs of socks, leggings under her pants, and several layers on her torso before her Quidditch robes were donned. By the time she’d had a hot drink and a warming charm cast upon her, she felt positively mollycoddled. Her parents certainly wouldn’t have made this much fuss about their children being out in the cold, and she would be exercising on her broomstick, anyway (as much as one could exercise without really moving all that much). She thought she would be very comfortable this game, and as she took up the broomstick from the school shed that she’d marked as hers – it had a J and a star shaped carved into its wood, near the tail – she would even admit to feeling excited.

Jose’s pre-game speech was endearing. Usually when she heard the instruction ‘keep Jade safe’ issued, the mischievous young witch would find some way of making this as difficult as humanly possible for those charged with her protection. Today, however, it seemed likely that her personal safety was already in jeopardy – one of the occupational hazards of being a Seeker – and hence it was probably best to let Mel and Dem do their jobs. Although scars could be cool, the fewer bruises she had to nurse after the game, the better she would enjoy her inevitable round of victory gloating. The additional knowledge that Kate had never caught a Snitch during a game simply made the first year more determined to beat her older counterpart, because if Kate were to win this game, then Jade would be the first Seeker she’d beaten, and that wouldn’t look good for the Pecari at all. Besides, she really wanted to be the first person to beat Arnold Carey to the Snitch – the look on his face would be priceless! – and she could only do that if Pecari got the play in the finals. If she won this game, Captain Jose would just have to let her play again, right?

When the whistle blew, Jade kicked off from the solid ground, and flew in the direction she’d already chosen once the balls had been released. It so happened to be the same direction that Kate had chosen, which was annoying, because Jade liked her space. Still, she wasn’t going to change her own ideas just to fit in with someone else’s plans, so she set about looking for the Snitch, only to be distracted by a pretty much continuous Beating of Bludgers. Chancing a look round, Jade realized that being in the same area as the other Seeker was annoying for another reason: their Beating Opposition could just redirect hits with comparative ease. Well, that settled it. Jade wasn’t remotely phased by the prospect of being hit by a Bludger, and this was something the other teams were going to learn to their detriment, she was sure of it. With multiple experiences of being thrown off horses, falling in briar patches and other dangerous situations in which adventurous children were bound to end up, plus the developments in Healing spells, Jade had no fear of pain. Neither had she a fear of falling (although she liked to believe she was competent enough to not let go of her broom for any reason, anyway, other than maybe to catch the Snitch, in which case falling would be totally acceptable). In fact, it was her fearlessness, coupled with no forethought of potential implications of her actions, that was going to make her the best Seeker Sonora had ever seen.

However, that didn’t mean she was just going to let the opposition hit Bludgers at her all game long. She wasn’t going to be a sitting target for anyone when she had far more useful things to be doing. Turning her broom (it was so much easier when your equipment did as it was told), Jade headed off to the other end of the pitch. Maybe beginners’ luck would be in her favour and the little golden ball would flit in from nowhere at an easy catching distance. Not too easy, though – she didn’t want people to say she hadn’t earned her glory. And not too soon, either; she wanted to enjoy playing her first game for a short while at the very least.

0 Jade Owen, Seeker I don't care either way 0 Jade Owen, Seeker 0 5

Kate Bauer, Seeker

January 18, 2012 3:29 PM

Okay, guys, all Bludgers that way! by Kate Bauer, Seeker

Kate was looking for the Snitch, and so she didn’t see the Bludger heading toward her, but she did hear it just in time. She ducked automatically, down toward her broom handle, and rolled away in the air, flying sideways, before lifting her head slightly and flying straight up. There were limits to how far out they could go, but not to how high, that she knew of, anyway.

It was always, she thought, hard not to look back. She wanted to turn around and see if it was coming after her, if a Beater had intercepted it and she just hadn’t heard the crack, but she knew that would slow her down, which would increase the chance of getting hit. Maybe it was possible that a Seeker could be good enough to just fly on without missing a metaphorical step while not looking ahead, but she wasn’t that good; when she wasn’t looking ahead, she slowed down a lot, and knew she might well end up coming to a dead stop just because she lost focus on moving. So she had to look ahead and keep moving.

Finally, though, she did turn and glance back, breathing a little faster after her rush away from the Bludger. Right now, she was safe. Or at least thought she was. Anyway, she neither heard nor saw the Bludger right this second, so she could look for the Snitch. And Jade, just to be sure she wasn’t diving like crazy for the Snitch and being right on top of it and making Teppenpaw losing the game.

She wasn’t, though; she was just at the other end, looking around for the Snitch. Right now, all was well. She just had to decide whether or not she was going to go down to the other end to stay close to Jade. Right now, she thought not. It was risking a Bludger, but it might also send the Pecari Beaters down the Pitch to defend their Seeker, or send all the Beaters back into the game. Not so good for the Chasers and all, but better for her (and for Jade, but hey, no one could ever have everything). If another Bludger came toward her, she might reconsider, but for now, she guessed this was worth a try. It could get weird, dull, or ridiculously intense when Seekers spent too much time together in a small area, and increased the chances of them getting into a race. That could be exciting in a good way, but it could also get messy, especially if the Beaters tossed all restraint to the winds and just went crazy trying to knock one of them out. They might both end up being carried off the Pitch on stretchers if that happened, kind of the way she remembered from the big Crotalus-Aladren final in her second year, only worse. Teppenpaw and Pecari hadn’t even had a chance in years, the first year technically-a-reserve Seeker might want to prove herself as much as Kate did and they all wanted to beat Arnold, and the three third year Beaters were getting bigger, so maybe it could be bloody if everyone just decided they really wanted it to be. Kate didn’t, but she wasn’t a Beater.

16 Kate Bauer, Seeker Okay, guys, all Bludgers that way! 170 Kate Bauer, Seeker 0 5

Sophie Jamison [Keeper]

January 18, 2012 9:26 PM

Have no fear: Sophie is here! by Sophie Jamison [Keeper]

It was freaking cold. Seriously, it was like the weather was out to get her. Actually, maybe not--she wasn’t that vain. Still, it was annoying beyond belief. She just wasn’t a fan of cold because she didn’t exactly generate a lot of body heat, and even though she was used to cold weather, it was not her friend.

This was not the desired Quidditch weather. Admittedly, the blonde just liked being on her broom in front of the goal, so it didn’t really matter what they climate. If for some crazy reason the game would’ve been cancelled, she was pretty sure Jose would have had to literally drag her off of the field kicking and screaming. Today was a Quidditch day. Awesomeness was meant to happen.

And on this day, Sophie thought to herself dramatically, Pecari won a Quidditch game. Her team had never made it to the finals, and this was her fourth year now. This year would be different. They were playing Teppenpaw, and while the blue-eyed fifteen year old never underestimated opponents, they did seem an easier match than Aladren or Crotalus. Maybe what Pecari needed was just some proof of their talent under their belts.

She took her position in front of the rings and waited. While her Chasers were top, it was inevitable that the Quaffle would make it to her eventually. As disgusting as actually doing work was, Sophie would defend the hoops to the death. Okay, so maybe that was taking it a little far, although dying was kind of possible with the sport. Bludgers could hurt a lot if they made contact with a person in the wrong place.

Diligent blue eyes followed the red orb, and when Arista Thorton flew at her, she was ready. While she had never had to Keep against Arista, Sophie always watched the other matches--sometimes with Jose when she could find him--to study the other team’s Chasers. It wasn’t surprising that the Teppenpaw tried to pull her unnecessary and tacky flip thing, but she was ready.

The fourth year shot over to the right hoop and reached out her arms. The Quaffle slid into her fingertips, and she just barely caught it, jamming a finger or two in the process. She glanced around for a Chaser of her team, and when she spied one, she lobbed the ball in the direction of said Chaser. “Now go the other way!” she shouted good-spiritedly. She knew all of Pecari’s players worked very hard, but she also knew that by now, her whole team should have been able to tell when she was teasing.

12 Sophie Jamison [Keeper] Have no fear: Sophie is here! 34 Sophie Jamison [Keeper] 0 5

Andrew Duell, Chaser

January 18, 2012 9:59 PM

Getting suspicious... by Andrew Duell, Chaser

Andrew paused for just a moment as his cousin brushed past him, tumbling and shrieking like a... well, like a little girl. That was the second time that she'd been far to close for normal chasing tactics. Not that she'd ever, as far as he'd noticed, followed any type of 'standard chasing tactics'. He wasn't entirely sure if she could if she had wanted to, but still there was something going on. He watched for just a moment more as Jhon recovered from her tumble safely, then took off after Arista and her mad-dash down the pitch.

He looked around for Jose and spotted him keeping some distance away. He would have figured Jose would be all over him trying to interfere, they were the only seventh-years on the pitch after all. What was he planning? Arista was at the goal and had gone for the shot, unfortunately he was still to far away to interfere with Sophie's return of the ball. Well, the Percari would bring it back towards him anyway, he only had to wait and be ready. That was when he caught sight of Jhon again. She hadn't followed the Quaffle to the far end of the pitch, she had turned and was headed back his direction. Things were starting to click into place... Jose, you wouldn't...

2 Andrew Duell, Chaser Getting suspicious... 145 Andrew Duell, Chaser 0 5

Derry Four, Beater

January 19, 2012 11:51 AM

Working on it by Derry Four, Beater

Derry watched in dismay as his return volley at Jade moved the bludger right back into Demelza Eagle's hands. Not good. So very not good. His hands still stung from the last of her shots that he'd blocked, but Kate would hurt far worse than his hands did if Eagle hit her with a bludger. With intent to stop that from happening, Derry watched the bigger beater manipulate the bludger, flying around to get a good shot, but Derry tried his best not to let her have one. He delayed her for a little but then he zigged when he should have zagged and a terrible crack sounded across the Pitch.

The black ball was coming in fast and hard. Derry yelled, "Kate!" and she fled. It took Derry's best flying to position himself between her fleeing form and the incoming bludger. He held his bat in both hands, gritted his teeth, and grunted as the bludger ran into the wood and splintered it. Derry's eyes stung as he took the bludger in the chest, but the bat had taken the worst of its momentum and he didn't think he'd gotten any worse than a bruise from the impact. It pushed him a fair amount backwards, too, but his legs had a good grip on his broom and it came with him. Using the bat fragments, he more shoved the bludger away from him than hit it away. It didn't seem very impressed by that and started coming back but it just didn't have enough speed to do more than bounce harmlessly off the bat fragments again.

Abandoning the shorter piece to gravity and the Pitch ground, and not really having time to mourn the bat that had served him faithfully since Ben gave it to him, he repositioned his hands around the larger bat piece and gave the bludger another whack, down and away, not toward anyone (even if she hadn't wisely fled the scene, he wouldn't have dared go after Jade just now), and especially not toward him or Kate or Ms Eagle. A few more splinters of wood fell after the ball. There was already a long crack down the middle of what was left, too. This was not a long term solution. He needed a new bat before this one totally fell apart and he was left to defend his team's seeker from bludgers using his bare hands (gloved hands, really, but he doubted it would help Kate either way).

He brushed a bead of sweat from his face, and his glove came away red. He blinked at it breifly and realized his cheek was stinging pretty bad. Between the numbing cold, the bat's destruction, and the direct hit to his solar plexus, he hadn't immediately noticed that a piece of wooden shrapnel had managed to hit exposed skin. He thought it would be okay until the end of the game, though. It wasn't bleeding that bad. The more pressing concern was his bat.

"Coach!" he shouted and waved the broken piece he had left over his head, trying to get her attention. He took a few moments to fill his lungs - he was feeling a little breathless from the chest hit - then yelled again, "I need a new bat!"

At least Kate had gotten clear for the time being.

1 Derry Four, Beater Working on it 189 Derry Four, Beater 0 5

Kirstenna, Keeper

January 19, 2012 1:08 PM

I'm always suspicious. by Kirstenna, Keeper

Kirstenna sighed as Mellie Goodwin caught the pass from Jose and Demelza sent the bludger back at Kate. Fortunately, the Teppenpaw seeker made it out of the way. Then, Andrew intercepted Mellie's pass back at Jose and made his way back towards the Pecari end of the pitch, passing the ball off to Arista who made a run for the Pecari goals and attempted to score.

Kirstenna held her breath silently hoping that the Quaffle would go through. While she'd found Arista's flip a little show-offy and obnoxious, the fourth year was still her teammate and Kirstenna wanted her to score. That was the thing about team sports, they were a team . Even though it produced obnoxious behavior towards opposing players, there should be at least unity among teammates. It wasn't about personal glory, it was about the glory of Teppenpaw as a whole, and they all needed to remember that including herself.

Of course, for Kirstenna, it was also about proving that she would not let the Imposter get to her. Would not let the Coach break her. The woman could kidnap and murder Kirstenna's friends and use dark beings to take them away from her. She could Imperius and otherwise try to give the opposing teams advantages over Teppenpaw and mess with the fifth year's very personality but Kirstenna would not crumble!

Still, she groaned as Sophie blocked Arista's goal. Admittedly, the Chaser should have handed it off sooner, the Pecari Keeper probably saw her coming and was ready. Keepers had that advantage to basically be watching the game at all times. It helped her as a Captain. Jose (as well as Marissa and Edmond) would likely get distracted by their own jobs on the pitch. However, Sophie, while not Captain, maintained the same advantage Kirstenna did.

In fact, this vantage point allowed the Teppenpaw to notice something else as well. Jhonice kept flying awfully close to Andrew. Too close for Kirstenna to direct one of her beaters-where on Earth was Ben anyway? Derry was covering Kate, but what was the other third year doing?-to take her out. Normally Kirstenna would have picked out the second year as an easy target for Bludgers, because she wasn't known for her flying skills. But what was she doing now? Logically Kirstenna would have expected her to follow the Quaffle down in order to intercept and the second year hadn't done that. She was flying towards Andrew again instead.

That was more than bad flying, this seemed just wrong. Kirstenna looked warily at Coach Pierce. The Imposter just had to be behind this.

11 Kirstenna, Keeper I'm always suspicious. 161 Kirstenna, Keeper 0 5

Arista Thornton, Chaser

January 19, 2012 1:21 PM

There's no I in Team by Arista Thornton, Chaser

Arista turned back just in time to see Sophie actually catch her fast throw of the Quaffle and her mouth dropped. Are you kidding? That had to hurt! she thought as she swung back to try to intercept the lobbed pass of the large red ball. The oldest Thornton child was competitive; not nearly as much as Amira or Andri, but still she had a competitive streak. “This will not happen again.” she said as she sped back towards Pecari’s goal hoops.

She tightened her legs around her broom and reached out her hands for the Quaffle. The Chaser leaned forward and happily felt the ball hit back into her own hands. “HA!“ she shrieked as she heard the blonde Keeper speak to the Pecari chaser that should have caught the lob as she flew back towards Teppenpaw’s territory to meet up with Andrew or at least to turn around and try again, with the ball in her hands once more.

Ris knew that Teppenpaw would win, they had to, with Kirstenna’s fabulous Keeping, Kate’s years as a Seeker, Derry and Ben’s Beater skills and of course the terrific three chaser team of Andrew, Laurie and herself. They just rocked, she knew it.

Arista knew that she hadn’t given Laurie a chance to shoot, nor Andrew and she felt bad about it, but she really thought she could do it. Now she learned however. They’ll get their turns. she thought to herself knowing that trying to make another shot wasn’t a good idea so instead she made her way closer to Andrew. He was a seventh year after all, therefore, most likely had ideas of what to do better than the fourth year did. “Andrew! Laurie!” she called as she passed the Quaffle right for Andrew, but she knew that Laurie was within reach as well and wanted to give him the chance too. There was not much distance between the Teppenpaw Chasers now. There was about to be teamwork to make their dream work. She was sure that there could be no interception in that pass and that was her plan. Teppenpaw needed to win, for Kirstenna. And Arista Rose Thornton for one, vowed to make it happen if it was the last thing she ever did.

0 Arista Thornton, Chaser There's no I in Team 0 Arista Thornton, Chaser 0 5

Cap'n Jose, Chaser

January 19, 2012 6:52 PM

There's always a better idiot - my bet is on Jhon by Cap'n Jose, Chaser

OOC: Just as a note, Arista, it's godmodding to say that 'nobody can intercept' - the point of Quidditch Chaos is that whoever posts next probably gets the ball unless you specifically opt not to, as Andrew did. Short passes make it much harder for the next player from the other team to intercept believably, but - just ask Crotalus and Aladren - it's possible. BIC:

"Whoo!" he cheered as Sophie caught the Quaffle. She was definitely one of the school's better Keepers and he hadn't really thought she'd let it through, but it was always good to show appreciation for a job well done. He held up his hands to show he was open and she threw the ball toward him.

"Hey!" Jose protested as Arista flew right in front of him and snatched the pass practically from his waiting hands. He totally had not seen her turn around. He wasn't quite sure what she was doing with it though, running away from the goals. He wasn't going to point it out to her though. Any distance was good distance whoever was the one carrying it. It gave Sophie time to re-position.

He followed after her, and figured out she was heading for a close pass to Andrew. He veered away. He had no idea what Jhonice would do with this, but he was sure of one thing:

It was going to be very entertaining to watch.

0 Cap'n Jose, Chaser There's always a better idiot - my bet is on Jhon 0 Cap'n Jose, Chaser 0 5

Jhonice Trevear, Chaser

January 19, 2012 7:52 PM

Yeah! Hey.. wait... by Jhonice Trevear, Chaser

This was getting a little strange. Jhonice flew back toward her cousin, passed him and looped around to stay in range. She cheered when Sophie blocked the Teppenpaw's rather elaborate shot. Sophie was passing the ball to Captain Jose, but then that Teppenpaw chaser girl stole it right out of the air. The nerve of her! Then she started toward her own goal. That was still her goal, right? Had the goal sides switched? She didn't remember a rule along those lines, but.. that would explain why Andrew stopped. This was his plan! He had stopped here to wait for the switching goals! Now the Teppenpaw girl was bringing him the ball to take back to their own goal! That wasn't going to happen! She watched the Teppenpaw girl fly towards her cousin and planned her approach, it was going to be close.

Arista got real close before she threw the ball, but Jhonice was already moving. Enterprise swerved a little, but managed to come up from below the two of them and snatched the ball as it crossed the very small distance. She may have even smacked her cousin with the end of her broom as she flew away. The ball was hers, and she was on top of this weird change of the rules mid-game. With a cry of triumph she shot her broom back towards Sophie. Awesome! Jose was still in this direction, he was anticipating this change of sides just as Andrew had and held back. She threw the ball his direction, "Go Captain Jose!!"

2 Jhonice Trevear, Chaser Yeah! Hey.. wait... 209 Jhonice Trevear, Chaser 0 5

Cap'n Jose, Chaser

January 19, 2012 8:37 PM

Right then by Cap'n Jose, Chaser

He was right on one count. He hadn't been able to predict what she was going to do. He was less sure now, though, that it was entertaining. Maybe for the Teppenpaw spectators.

He wondered when everyone had everyone gone mad. First Arista went away from Sophie and then Jhonice came back toward her. Before he could yell at his mixed up Chaser for it, though, she threw the ball back to him. This time he caught it, turned around and started flying for Kirstenna. As he flew by Jhon, he shouted, "Other way! Kirstenna's still over there!" He pointed ahead and kept flying.

There were a lot of Teppenpaws in the immediate area, though, and they were in between him and their goal, so he rose up above the normal playing height, trying to go over them. After he rose about ten feet higher into the air, he took stock of where the other chasers were arranging themselves. He doubted that his original tactic was going to work, so he dove abruptly, attempting instead to go under them.

As he dropped, though, the gave the Quaffle a sharp toss toward one of the other Pecari Chasers, hoping that the Teppenpaws would be taken off guard and either miss that the Quaffle had changed hands or already be committed to blocking him and couldn't regroup in front of the second year girl in time.

He hadn't made up much ground this time, but he hoped he had cause enough distraction to let his teammate slip through the yellow robes.

0 Cap'n Jose, Chaser Right then 0 Cap'n Jose, Chaser 0 5

Coach Amelia Pierce

January 19, 2012 8:52 PM

Recentering and Recap by Coach Amelia Pierce

The day dawned sunny but not too sunny. The weather, in fact, is pretty near to perfect for a game of Quidditch except for one thing: the temperature is in the single digits (Fahrenheit).

The Chasers have been going back and forth with no score:
-Jose got the Quaffle first and made an early pass
-Laurie intercepted and brought it most of the way, setting Andrew up for a goal shot
-Jhonice ran into Andrew's attempt and got the ball over to Jose
-Jose passed to Mellie
-Mellie passed to Jose
-Jose passed to Mellie
-Mellie passed to Jose ... except she didn't because Andrew intercepted.
-Andrew passed to Arista
-Arista did some fancy flying and took a shot at the goal
-Sophie made the save and tossed it back to Jose
-Arista intercepted and passed to Andrew ... except she didn't because Jhonice ran Andrew over and intercepted.
-Jhonice passed to Jose who tried to get it out from right in front of the Pecari goal area, but had to pass before he got anywhere
-Kirstenna watches from afar, as yet unbothered by the Quaffle, and suspects the Coach of vile mind tampering

The Seekers and Beaters have been playing a more dangerous game:
-Kate began peacefully enough but she wasn't lucky enough for it to last.
-Demelza started right off with a hit at Kate
-Derry blocked it and sent it after Jade
-Demelza blocked it and sent it after Kate
-Jade fled the area
-Kate fled the area
-Derry stopped the bludger from following Kate, but at great personal cost to his bat, his cheek, and his solar plexus.
-The coach sent him off to the med tent even though he just wanted a new bat

1 Coach Amelia Pierce Recentering and Recap 20 Coach Amelia Pierce 0 5

Coach Amelia Pierce

January 19, 2012 9:10 PM

Seriously? by Coach Amelia Pierce

The game was going reasonably well. She wouldn't say the game was on the same level as the Aladren/Crotalus one had been, but the two teams were well matched and pulling off some plays that the crowd seemed to be enjoying. The Quaffle once almost made it to Kirstenna but it was largely staying over on the Pecari side. She was keeping an eye on it, especially when the noise from the crowd picked up, but she was also watching the drama play out around the Seekers.

It was one of the challenges of being the game's single referee - to watch for goals while also making sure the other players were not literally killing each other. It looked like Demelza Eagle was trying her level best to at least maim Kate Bauer. And despite being outsized and outexperienced, Four was doing his level best to stop her.

She wouldn't have expected anything else of a Pierce, but when she saw his bat shatter under the bludger's impact, and he took a hit that sent him flying several feet backwards, she started moving in. She spared the Chaser group an occasional glance, just to make sure she didn't miss a goal, but Derry had blood on his face, his bat was in pieces, he looked to be having trouble breathing, and . . . and he was asking for a new bat.

"Med tent, now," she told him, not giving room for any argument. Bruises and dislocated shoulders were one thing. She would have let that go. But open wounds and poor lung functions were something else entirely. She would have made the same judgement for anyone who wasn't her son's brother. She was eighty-percent sure of that. "Pick up a new bat on your way out," she instructed. "But go to the med tent first."

He tried to argue that he was fine, but she wouldn't hear it. "Med tent, now, Derry." She ordered in a tightly controlled voice. "Or I will have you out of the game permanently." He went.

That settled, she made sure Kate and Jade were still on their brooms and that the Chasers hadn't scored yet.

1 Coach Amelia Pierce Seriously? 20 Coach Amelia Pierce 0 5

Andrew Duell, Chaser

January 19, 2012 9:54 PM

Don't tell me you're surprised by Andrew Duell, Chaser

Andrew watched as Jhon passed him, he wasn't sure where she was going and he'd really like to keep an eye on her, but Arista was heading his way with the Quaffle. She had grabbed it quite deftly out from Jose's clutches, that had been fairly impressive. He had been starting to move forward to help her in Percari territory when she turned and raced back towards him. He could see the logic in backing off a bit to get a better run at the goals, and the more chasers involved the better chance they had to get it past the keeper, so even if it was a bit of a strange move he had to admit it was sound. As she threw the ball towards him, he reached for it. He reached a bit to far and Jhon's broom clocked him fairly solidly as she weaved between the two Teppenpaw chasers. Reeling back he wasn't sure what was going on for a few moments. It almost looked like his cousin had stolen the ball to help them out and make a run on Sophie. That didn't make any sense.

He saw her pass to Jose, that made much more sense. She must have been dropping back for reinforcements as well, now Jose had the ball and Andrew kicked his broom into pursuit mode. His friend flew high, trying to get over the crowded area of the pitch. A good move, but Andrew could follow. He rose to Jose's altitude and closed the gap, whatever Jose was up to, he'd be ready. Jose dropped. Dang it! Andrew dove after, but it was to late Jose didn't have the ball anymore, he'd already passed it! Cursing himself (and Jhon's broom for smacking him upside the head) it took him a few moments more to see where the Quaffle was and rejoin the chase.

2 Andrew Duell, Chaser Don't tell me you're surprised 145 Andrew Duell, Chaser 0 5

Arista and Amira Thornton

January 19, 2012 11:36 PM

OOC by Arista and Amira Thornton

OOC: Jose- Nowhere did she say there COULDN'T be an interception aloud. This is all in her head, or in the narrator's mind. Please do not accuse her as such as there are no quotation marks to show she spoke it.

Coach- Amira did not say in her posts that she knew they saw it. Her thing is she thinks she should be playing, and by 'seeing the snitch' she's not actually seeing it. She just THINKS she is. She wants it so bad that she's seeing things. In her own mind she thinks that she should be the one playing Seeker, but its all in her head. She's still ill, so she's not seeing things through the same lenses as everyone else is.

All- I apologize if it seems as if I godmodded anyone, I was not trying to. I was only using my words to the best of my cruddy ability to speak thoughts into the girls, but I will no longer bother you all with my godmodding or anything most normal people wouldn't be able to do. I will keep my posts to speech only, not thoughts as I have been and this will allow for that problem to not occur anymore. Again, I am sorry.

~The Thorntons

0 Arista and Amira Thornton OOC 0 Arista and Amira Thornton 0 5

Mel Eagle, Beater

January 21, 2012 11:15 AM

BANG!--watch out, Tepp! by Mel Eagle, Beater

Oh-ho-ho! That is sweet!, Mel thought as she saw the opposing Teppenpaw chaser's bat blast into smithereens. Mel had no idea that she had the ability to do that! She couldn't help but grin madly to herself. She took out the only Teppenpaw beater who was doing anything. Taking out the rest of the team seemed like a piece of cake, now that the defense was eliminated.

However, he still did do a good job of defending the bludger, now hurtling towards the ground. Mel knew better than to try and mess with that; getting control of it was going to be hard, so she'd let it get back in a steady course for now. The other bludger seemed to be on a very steady course, but it had yet to hit anyone. How disappointing. Mel would have to do something about that.

Her long chocolate brown hair whipping back in the wind as she flew around to spot the other bludger, she leaned over as far as she could to make her broom go faster. She finally saw it moving around the Teppenpaw Keeper and Captain, Kristenna. Had this not been an important game, Mel would have felt a bit bad about wanting to take out the captain; after all, she was a nice girl outside of games, like Mel was. Still, Quidditch games always brought out the best and worst in people. It was always both cases for Mel; she got to show off her best talent, but he attitude towards other people never made them happy. She was fierce, alright, but only in Quidditch. In the real world she was bubbly and happy and quite the free spirit. On the pitch, it looked like she had a permanent frown.

The bludger happened to fly around Kristenna at the perfect time, which Pecari was finally making their way down the pitch. While they were doing that, it'd be nice motivation for them if Mel took out the Keeper, right? The bludger flew around her, however it was nowhere close to actually hitting her, so Mel though thought she'd give it a bit of guidance. Once she finally reached that height from being so low to the ground with the seekers, she wound up and tried to position herself the best she could to aim the swerving bludger at the Teppenpaw Keeper. It was moving at an undesirable angle. When it got close to Mel, she mover her body to hit it at the angle she needed, swung her left arm back, and brought it forward with as much strength as ever directly at Kristenna. A small 'pop!' sound came from her arm, but it didn't hurt too back. Grimacing, Mel massaged her upper left arm for a moment before realizing that she was showing weakness. That was unacceptable. It was probably nothing, she just hit the ball on an odd angle was all.

Usually, she would have liked to stay and watch to see where the bludger went, but she fled from the scene to go and see what the other bludger was doing, and if it was back on course. And, Melin dammit, where was Demetra?? If the girl wanted her beater spot back next year, she was going to have to do some convincing, because as of now Mel was pissed that she was the only Pecari beater doing anything. "Come ON, Pecari chasers, score a goal!" She screamed up at them fiercely, getting tired of all the shenanigans. It was screams of love and encouragement, though. She had faith in them. They were great! They could do it, they just had to do try harder!

0 Mel Eagle, Beater BANG!--watch out, Tepp! 0 Mel Eagle, Beater 0 5

Mellie Goodwin, Chaser

January 21, 2012 10:08 PM

Look at that and not me, Tepp! by Mellie Goodwin, Chaser

In the moment, Mellie could usually figure out what was going on, but once everything started moving on from that moment, she had discovered that she had a tendency to forget. Try as she might – not that she often thought long and hard enough about it to really try, not on the Quidditch Pitch, where everything moved so fast and there was no telling, at any time, what would happen next; it was hard to really think beyond the moment again, which she thought would mean twice the effort to then remember what she’d been thinking in a moment before – she could seldom relate the sequence of events leading up to a moment more than one or two back, because that was already in the past and she had plenty of things to look at and think about on her plate already.

Right now, she knew that a lot of things had happened, seemingly all at once, that something weird had happened with Jhon, and that their captain, after flying evasively to avoid the Teppenpaw Chasers, was passing the Quaffle, again to her. Okay. That was something she could deal with. That was something she could act on. She caught the ball and kept moving on toward Kirstenna, ignoring the vague sense of confusion that swept over her for a second and left her wondering if she was really sure she was heading in the right direction. She really should have eaten more breakfast.

Too late to fix that, though; the best she could do was look to make sure the Keeper she was heading toward was, in fact, a dot of yellow and then will Jade Owen to find the Snitch so they could all go to lunch. And celebrate their victory, of course, but Mellie saw no reason why that celebration couldn’t involve food. A grilled cheese sandwich could taste like victory forever under those circumstances.

Shaking her head firmly to clear it of such distracting thoughts, she veered away from her course to evade something yellow she thought she saw creeping up in her peripheral vision, speeding up as much as she thought she could. She might have misjudged it a little, since she felt wobbly for an endless second in a way she thought didn’t have anything to do with food, but she got it all back under control and then passed the Quaffle again. A nice, clean, short pass - well, in theory; in actuality, it wobbled a little and was not quite as close as she might have liked, or as might have been seen in an Aladren-Crotalus game, but she was sure it wasn't the worst pass she'd ever thrown, anyway. Hopefully, it would get the job done.

16 Mellie Goodwin, Chaser Look at that and not me, Tepp! 206 Mellie Goodwin, Chaser 0 5

Kate Bauer, Seeker

January 21, 2012 10:45 PM

Restarting the more dangerous game. by Kate Bauer, Seeker

Looking back, Kate had thought in the none-too-distant past, was a bad idea when she was on the run from a swarm of killer Bludgers seeking to turn her into a vaguely Seeker-shaped impression on the grass of the Pitch. At the moment, she was starting to think it was just a bad idea in general. Glancing over her shoulder revealed the thoroughly unappetizing sight of Derry, he and his bat both looking as though they had seen better days, being sent off the Pitch by the coach.

Oh, not good. For one thing, that was a Teppenpaw down. For another thing, that was her defender down. For a third thing…yeah, the guy was actually only a year younger than her, but he basically played dress-up every day and seemed perpetually friendly off the Pitch, and all these things made Kate think of him as somehow more…cute-like than she probably should have when she was to some extent aware of being square in the middle of her own phase of feeling like more and more like a cynical old woman as she observed her relatives being weird. She didn’t like to see anyone get hurt, but…ugh, couldn’t he have at least been a little bit of the remote-and-slightly-intimidating-seeming type off the Pitch? Maybe she’d feel less bad about it then.

More immediately, though, if she didn’t stop thinking about the relative morality of injury coming to cheerful people as opposed to intimidating ones, she was almost certainly going to be joining him in the medic’s tent soon enough. She might do that anyway, but if so, she’d rather it was like at the end of that game in her second year, when both Seekers had been injured at the end, only reversed so she got to be Arnold this time. For now, she was just…flying, and fast, and away, and not in a straight line or consistent altitude so far as she could manage without making herself dizzy, because she wanted to get Bludgered even less than she ever really and truly wanted to see anyone, even another Seeker, get it in her place, which was hardly ever. She thought she might make a special exception for Arnold, if they played each other again, but generally, while she didn’t mind opponents getting hit as much as she did Teppenpaws, she didn’t really want to see it happen to anyone.

16 Kate Bauer, Seeker Restarting the more dangerous game. 170 Kate Bauer, Seeker 0 5

Andrew Duell, Chaser

January 23, 2012 7:26 PM

Sorry, I need to show off to the spectators by Andrew Duell, Chaser

Okay, things weren't going that badly. The ball had been going back and forth a bit, but mainly staying on the Pecari side, and he really needed to make sure that kept happening. But, Jhon seemed bound and determined to get in his way. He was pretty sure at this point that was Jose's cunning, evil plan. With his family's current situation, if anything happened to Jhon he would be in serious trouble. Jose was playing dirty. Alright, if that's how Jose wanted to play... he would play. It didn't hurt that he was pretty sure he'd heard Marissa cheering from the stands.

He watched spotted Mellie making a run with the Quaffle, and flew after her. He was fully expecting Jhon to be close behind him, so he intentionally swept close past Jose. Let him deal with his cousin for a bit, he had to get a Quaffle. Tracking Mellie across the pitch was not to difficult. As he got close he must have spooked her as she veered off and sped up some more, a good reaction, but not quite enough. He dropped low, looped up and intercepted the pass she had thrown. Continuing the loop, he arced back towards the Pecari end of the pitch.

Decided it was best not to take the same path back, he raced back up the other side of the pitch. With any luck Jhon and Jose were still tangled up and he could avoid them completely. More than likely that wouldn't happen, but he could hope for the best. Spotting one of his teammates, he lined up the pass and threw the ball. He then aimed his broom farther up field, ready to help get the ball into the goals.

2 Andrew Duell, Chaser Sorry, I need to show off to the spectators 145 Andrew Duell, Chaser 0 5

Cap'n Jose, Chaser

January 23, 2012 9:18 PM

You are mean, Andrew by Cap'n Jose, Chaser

Jose came out of his dive under the other Chasers, took stock of the rearrangement since he'd last seen it, and was pleased to see that Mellie had gotten through. He followed after the other, trying to move wide of Andrew but Andrew was having none of that. The other seventh year seemed determined to buzz passed him and with Andrew came Jhon.

Jose dove again, trying to avoid getting run over by his own teammate, certain that he had far better control of his broom than she had of hers and therefore it was his responsibility to get out of her way. By the time he got back up, Andrew had the ball again and was heading back toward Sophie on the far side of the long axis.

With a grumble under his breath, Jose turned his broom around and headed back the way he'd come again. It would be really nice, he thought, if they could get it over into Teppenpaw territory far enough to actually threaten Kirstenna. She wouldn't even have to prove she was a good Keeper if they couldn't get the ball to her.

He looked around to see how the Seekers were doing and found Derry descending to the medical tent carrying a splintered bat. Kate still looked okay, though, which was mildly disappointing but Mel had clearly won the beater battle there. Being down a Teppenpaw beater could only be good for Pecari.

Feeling improved in morale he turned his attention back to the Quaffle in time to see Andrew pass. He was in no position to interfere, but he hurried ahead, expecting he might be able to cut off the next throw.

0 Cap'n Jose, Chaser You are mean, Andrew 0 Cap'n Jose, Chaser 0 5

Derry Four, Beater

January 24, 2012 7:07 PM

The coach sent me away, she's who's mean. by Derry Four, Beater

Derry tried to argue. He was fine, he really was. It was just a scratch and maybe a bruised rib. He could totally keep playing. He just needed a new bat. The coach wouldn't listen though and threatened to take him out permanently if he didn't go see the medic so he reluctantly turned his broom around and flew down to the tent set up for such emergencies - if this had actually been an emergency. Which it wasn't. The coach was just being evil again.

He landed right in front of the tent, laid his broom down carefully on the ground - the last thing he needed was the break his broom, too - and went inside. "I need a quick patch-up charm," he gestured toward the cut on his cheek that he guessed was still bleeding a little because it felt like he had another bead of sweat there again. He didn't touch it this time though because he didn't want to get more blood on his beater gloves. "The coach won't let me play again til its fixed," he grumped unhappily.

He tried to draw in a labored breath and decided that while he was down here anyway he may as well get that sorted as well, so it didn't cause a problem later. "And if you could fix my ribs," he ran a hand from the center of his chest along the right side of his ribcage, following the path the bludger had hit, "that would help a lot, too."

He hoped it wouldn't take long. Each second he stood here felt like an eternity as the game continued above without him.

1 Derry Four, Beater The coach sent me away, she's who's mean. 189 Derry Four, Beater 0 5

Jhonice Trevear, Chaser

January 24, 2012 9:50 PM

No way! Matri... Coach is kind and caring! by Jhonice Trevear, Chaser

Jhonice was on Andrew's tail the whole way. There was no way she was going to get left behind again by her cousin! Captain Jose was counting on her to keep Andrew in check, and she would do it! It was time to throw caution to the wind and show Andrew what she could really do! She let loose a battlecry, gripped the Enterprise and leaned forward against the onrushing wind, victory would be hers!! Nothing could stop her, nothing!

Captain Jose then appeared right in front of her, from out of nowhere. Andrew had nearly clipped him, what was he thinking flying around so dangerously?! She yanked her broom to the side and went into a spin. It was all she could do to hold on until she slowed enough to regain some measure of control. She sat on the broom for a moment, feeling awful dizzy, until the world around her stopped spinning as well. Okay now, where was she and where was Andrew? She spotted him on the other side of the pitch passing the ball, how had he done that again?! She was beginning to get a little perturbed.

If he wanted to play things rough, she could play rough. This wasn't the first time she'd been on a broom, now it was time to show him a thing or two. With a determined gleam in her eye, she aimed her broom at her cousin and set off at full throttle once more.

2 Jhonice Trevear, Chaser No way! Matri... Coach is kind and caring! 209 Jhonice Trevear, Chaser 0 5

Arista Thornton, Chaser, Tepp

January 25, 2012 3:06 PM

Doesn't care... much... by Arista Thornton, Chaser, Tepp

Arista knew that she hadn’t given her teammates a chance to get a score, but she truly thought she could do it. Apparently her run didn’t work as Sophie had actually caught her fastball. The fourth year still wondered how her hands hadn’t gotten red or fallen off or something. The red-head however had no chance to dwell on it, nor did she want to. What’s done is done. she thought as she careened back towards Andrew who was chasing the Quaffle from Pecari’s chasers who’d gotten pass after pass. She wouldn’t take another chance of missing, but she wouldn’t be yelled at later for not aiding in the scores either.

She felt as if she was a loser, playing in the game for no reason. Her sister was a better player than she was and the fact that she was sidelined didn’t help Arista’s momentum. Sure, she didn’t want to play against her, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t want her to play either! Even Arista’s new signature move hadn’t helped anything. She knew now that it made her look ridiculous. Like she was trying to show off. Part of her couldn’t disagree with that though. Shrugging the whole thing off she flew fast after Andrew towards Pecari’s end again and saw him prepare to pass.

Her eyes widened and mouth dropped as she figured out that he was passing to her.

Focus descended upon her and she saw only the red ball. Seconds later it landed safely in her waiting hands. She tucked it nicely under her arm and dipped down and around to end up above Andrew and sent the ball back down to him. He was in a better place to shoot anyway.

She didn’t want to be the one to mess it up for Teppenpaw either.

0 Arista Thornton, Chaser, Tepp Doesn't care... much... 0 Arista Thornton, Chaser, Tepp 0 5

Medic Bailey

January 25, 2012 3:37 PM

Medic Tent! by Medic Bailey

Quidditch had always been a rough game. Well, one couldn’t really expect safety for the players with two murderous bludgers trying to kill everyone. No, Dylan had never been a fan of the game. It was too violent for his taste. The medic preferred to heal than to maim. Plus, he had never been too athletic to begin with, so Quidditch had never been one of his interests. Unfortunately, he had learned the hard way. He still remembered the sting from that missed bludger hitting his back while flying. It had not been a good experience, and he didn’t understand why kids actually loved to play the game. Then again, he wasn’t anyone to judge them on their preferred activities. Everyone was different and that was what made life interesting. Not to mention that tending sport injuries was part of his job description. Quidditch was good for the job. As horrible as that sounded, he needed injuries to make the job more interesting.

Dylan wasn’t watching the game for the sole reason that it didn’t interest him. He was more comfortable in the safety of the tent that would serve as a Hospital Wing for the injured players. After the game they would be moved to the actual Hospital Wing inside the school. He was listening to some new song in the wireless radio waiting for his services to be needed – though he hoped nothing majored happened – when a boy entered the tent. He looked injured and not too happy. Dylan turned off the radio and got up while he listened to the description of the boy’s injuries. It was obvious he had a cut on his cheek, since it was still bleeding, but then he took a labored breath and pinpointed his ribcage. The medic’s eyes widen as the memory of his pain resurfaced. That had to hurt.

“Sure thing,” he said with a smile. He grabbed a piece of gauze from a nearby table and placed it on the cut. “Hold it for a second,” he said to the boy. Once he did it, Dylan carefully passed his fingers through the place he had pinpointed. The medic chuckled and waved his wand in front of the injury. The place where the spell had hit was going to feel hot for a few seconds. It was the magic healing him. “You should be able to breathe now.” A comforting smile was on his face.

“Now let’s get that cut fixed up.” The ribcage had been the more pressing injury. Dylan grabbed the gauze that had been soaking up his blood. He pointed his wand and muttered a spell. The cut instantly closed. “You are free to return to the game. Good luck,” he told the boy.

0 Medic Bailey Medic Tent! 0 Medic Bailey 0 5

Jade Owen, Seeker

January 26, 2012 5:56 AM

Making the game more dangerous by Jade Owen, Seeker

Once she’d left the melee of Beaters, Bludgers and Seekers, Jade felt a sudden surge of freedom. Yes, she was still in school, and competing in a school activity (who’d have ever guessed she was such a little joiner?), but she was up in the air, on the fastest broomstick she could lay her hands on without sneaking into the Aladren commons somehow and pilfering one of their team member’s disgustingly good broomsticks. She could swoop, dive and soar, and she did each with joyful abandon. Her hands were beginning to feel the sting of the cold, as even the warming charm couldn’t protect her extremities from the cool wind rushing past as she guided her broom this way and that, keeping her eyes trained for a sight of that little golden snitch; a falcon on hunt for its prey.

Speaking of prey, breakfast already felt like a long time ago. Jade had known she’d need her energy for the game, so she’d eaten a couple of sausages and some egg on toast, and then had a large helping of oatmeal with plenty of sugar, and washed it all down with a cup of blackcurrant cordial. Then for good luck she’d eaten a satsuma, but all that was starting to wear off. Exercise was hard work, and she was a growing girl – she was already amongst the tallest in the first year, and she was gaining on her sister Josephine’s height daily. She wasn’t fat like Josephine, either – their mother had commented on a couple of occasions that Jade must have hollow legs, and the Pecari could almost believe it. Why else would her stomach be rumbling already? For just a moment, she began to fantasize about what she could use to appease it at lunchtime, but no – she couldn’t be distracted by food. Her eyes and mind (and stomach, if it would help) needed to be on the game. She would catch the Snitch and bring glory to Pecari – more importantly, to herself – even if it meant flying around out here all day with no sustenance.

As she took another turn of the pitch, and took in for just a moment the pitiful sight of the benched Pecari reserves, all dressed up in their brown robes with no hope of playing unless something brutal happened to one of their team (a scenario that might be intriguing to experience, but one which Jade would prefer occurred to the opposition if she could have a say in it either way; the size and experience of Beaters was in Pecari’s favour, at least. She wasn’t a misanthropist by nature, but wouldn’t deny being a connoisseur of catastrophe, and horrific injury by Bludger wasn’t something she’d personally witnessed before), Jade did feel something peculiarly akin to sympathy for her comrades. Before she could analyse it, however, the feeling had passed, and her mind was once again occupied with thoughts of altitude and muscle tension, and the agonising sorting processes of rejecting glints of jewelry for Snitch sightings. All was as it should be.

Except it was sort of too easy. With no Bludger on her tail, and, from what she’d been able to ascertain without paying him a great deal of attention, one of the Teppenpaw Beaters had been sent to the medic tent - how ironic, she thought, that the player with most protection was the first to be admitted for medical attention – there was currently no challenge in Jade’s pursuits. True enough, she had yet to find the ball she was Seeking, but her opposition wasn’t having any luck in that respect, either. Where was the thrill, the chase? Usually, the first year was very much in favour of putting in as little effort as possible for greatest reward, but she was also very aware that this might be the only game she got to play this year (regardless of whether or not she was victorious in her Seeking endeavours), and she wanted to pull every last enjoyable experience from it she could, like a particularly pesky gnome, pulling up every last little shrub simply because he could.

Determined to rekindle some of that early-game rush she’d felt, Jade spied out the opposing Seeker and made a beeline for her, circumventing the other players, and straining her blue eyes so hard for the Snitch she thought she might be in danger of causing herself some permanent damage. The few brown curls that had pulled free from their fastenings whipped about the edges of her face, the wispy tendrils occasionally threatening to be detrimental to her vision, but were being kept in check by the sheer force of nothing but thin air as Jade flew onward. Tepp’s Seeker was just up in front of her now – Jade could mirror her movements, shadow her sashays. It occurred to her she could potentially try and pull up in front of the other Seeker, too, perhaps unbalancing her or causing some other sort of crucial distraction. It was tempting simply for the kick of a reaction, regardless of the consequences of the game. Of course that would rely on the other Seeker not seeing her there to begin with, and as the party with more in-game Quidditch experience, Jade didn’t wish to underestimate her opponent’s abilities, no matter how sorely she was drawn to self gratification through delusions of grandeur.

Cautiously, then, she pulled her broom a little to the side, still keeping Kate up in front in her line of vision, and waited to see how the other Seeker would react. If she gave sign of seeing Jade, maybe the Pecari would just fly in and make the Teppenpaw’s life a misery – she thought she could rely on Dem and Mel to assist her in that respect. Alternatively, if she’d somehow managed to get into that position unseen, she might try the surprise attack approach. Throughout, she would, naturally, still be looking for the Snitch. She was a girl – an unkempt, boisterous and unrefined girl, perhaps, but a girl nonetheless; she could multitask.

0 Jade Owen, Seeker Making the game more dangerous 0 Jade Owen, Seeker 0 5

Mellie Goodwin, Chaser

January 26, 2012 5:59 PM

I don't feel qualified to really comment. by Mellie Goodwin, Chaser

For a second, things seemed to be going pretty okay. Then there were a whole lot of people about to crash into each other, and Mellie wasn’t completely sure if this was because Jhon and her cousin were trying to fly into each other or if Jhonice was having trouble with her broom again or if some combination of the two was going on, but she really wished they wouldn’t do that. She wasn’t sure she even wanted to watch a big epic crash, but she knew beyond a shadow of a doubt, reasonable or otherwise, that she did not want to be in one, or the only Pecari Chaser left standing immediately after one.

Happily, one was averted…somehow, but less happily, Andrew Duell had the Quaffle now. Oh, that wasn’t good. The other Teppenpaw Chasers were not exactly reassuring characters, but he was…well, he was a seventh year, good enough to be specifically mentioned in the pre-game speech and all that, and just generally somehow a bit more intimidating than the other two Teppenpaw Chasers, even the crazy one. Good thing the other two Chasers were familiar enough with him to not mind getting in his way.

Unfortunately, they didn’t manage to, and while Mellie worked up the nerve to give it a try, it didn’t work, and the crazy girl got the Quaffle back. Oh, that wasn’t good, either. This time, though, she seemed a little less inspired – maybe she knew she couldn’t have that kind of luck twice, especially since Mel was not going to be happy about the last time if she’d seen it – and tried to pass back to Andrew, but Mellie worked up the nerve to interfere again and this time had success. With a sound in the back of her throat suspiciously like a squeak of surprised happiness, she turned around and headed back for the Teppenpaw captain again.

Maybe, just maybe, this time they could actually get close enough to attempt a goal. Wouldn’t that be nice? After a little bit, she tried a pretty close pass to one of her teammates, hoping she hadn’t just decreased the chances of that nice thing happening.

16 Mellie Goodwin, Chaser I don't feel qualified to really comment. 206 Mellie Goodwin, Chaser 0 5

Jhonice Trevear, Chaser

January 26, 2012 8:04 PM

Forward team! We can do it!! by Jhonice Trevear, Chaser

"Yeah!!" Jhonice cheered as her roommate stole the ball from her cousin's grasp. She knew Mellie had it in her, and now she was heading back their way with the Quaffle. This was it! It was time to be awesome! There was no worry about her abandoning her post, she was going to be with Mellie and no doubt Andrew was going to be right behind them as well. She twisted Enterprise around and aligned flight path alongside her teammate, she only had to readjust her broom a few times when it wanted to stray off before the ball came sailing her direction.

"Woo-hoo!" She caught the ball and held on tight. Her broom swerved back and forth as she attempted a B-line for the Teppenpaw goal. There was no stopping her now! She was focused on her goal and nothing was going to distract her. That was probably how the bludger caught her unawares as she crossed into Teppenpaw territory. The ball slammed right into her back and sent her broom careening out of control, the Quaffle went flying from her grasp.

2 Jhonice Trevear, Chaser Forward team! We can do it!! 209 Jhonice Trevear, Chaser 0 5

Coach Pierce

January 27, 2012 12:56 PM

Rescue by Coach Pierce

Amelia turned back to the game as Derry descended toward the medical tent. The Quaffle exchanged hands a few time, nearly reaching the Pecari goal again before returning back the other way, reducing the probability of another scoring attempt soon. She kept an eye on the Seekers, but they seemed to be unsuccessful as yet in locating the snitch. A glance just to complete the circuit drew her attention to a bludger attack on Kirstenna.

She had read once, that there was a rule against hitting the ball against a Keeper when the Quaffle wasn't in the scoring zone, but she'd never seen it called in America, and she generally didn't call fouls unless there was severe jostling in the Chaser game. Watching to see how that turned out almost made her miss the other bludger hitting Jhonice Trevear at the center line.

Fortunately, though, she knew better than to completely ignore what the chasers were doing and her eyes naturally tracked toward the ball at the center of main group of Quidditch players in time to see the second year girl start to fall.

Her wand was in her hand without any memory of drawing it - she hadn't practiced a fast draw as Bel had, but she kept it in easy reach at all times and twenty years of habit allowed it to fall easily into her grip - and she cast the levitation charm at the falling Pecari. She still seemed to have hold of her broom even if it hadn't been helping her stay aloft.

With another look to make sure Kirstenna was not also in immenent danger of crashing, Amelia moved toward the immobilized Chaser, raising her whistle to her mouth and blowing the signal to pause in the game. She collected the loose Quaffle.

As they were already at the center line with no one in posession, she didn't see it as a disadvantage to stop the game at this precise moment. She gave Jhonice a moment to figure out which was was up again, released the levitation charm, then ordered, "Go see the medic." Having already sentenced a Teppenpaw to that fate, she felt little compulsion to shy from sending a Pecari there. If the girl thought she could still play, she'd argue it as Derry had and Amelia would revise her opinion as neccessary.

In the mean time though she announced to everyone else, "Score remains at zero to zero. Play resumes on my whistle." She blew her whistle, threw the Quaffle into the air right over the center of the pitch, and then followed Jhonice a few yards, more to get out of the way of play than in case the injured player wanted to argue being sent out of the game temporarily.

OOC:
If Kirstenna gets hit and falls, pretend she took care of that levitation first before dealing with restarting the game.

0 Coach Pierce Rescue 0 Coach Pierce 0 5

Kirstenna,Tepp Keeper

January 27, 2012 1:49 PM

Re: Rescue by Kirstenna,Tepp Keeper

Kirstenna silently cheered as Arista quickly intercepted the ball before Jose could catch it. The fourth year seemed to be a bit...aggressive this game. Normally, the captain didn't really approve of such behavior, but in this case, she had to admit it was necessary.

It wasn't a fair fight, she knew that. The Imposter had in for Teppenpaw because Kirstenna was on to her and Teppenpaws were kind. Kindness repulsed people as evil as the Imposter. Therefore, her team had no choice but to resort to this sort of behavior. They'd never quite sink to the Imposter's level of course. She didn't think they were capable of that.

Kirstenna didn't quite understand, however, why Arista had turned around and gone away from Sophie. Why was the fourth year bringing the ball back towards her ? Maybe she was deliberately trying to confuse Pecari...or the Imposter was at work again. That was more likely. The Imposter was trying to get them to screw up by using the Imperius on Arista to make her act this way. Kirstenna gave an involuntary shudder and watched as Arista passed to Andrew-and Jhonice snatched the pass away and her broom smacked Andrew. Then she passed the ball to Jose, which he caught and passed again.

The Quaffle was starting to come back towards her and Kirstenna prepared for it in case Pecari tried to score-which she was not about to let happen. She wouldn't let them-and more importantly, the Imposter-have that satisfaction.

That's when a Bludger came hurtling toward her. Kirstenna noticed it in time and jerked her broom upwards to avoid being hit as fortunately, the Quaffle was far enough away that she still didn't have to worry about it. The Teppenpaw wasn't about to give either the Imposter or the opposing team the satisfaction of hitting her and taking her out either.

She quickly looked around for the Beaters. The fifth year might have been able to avoid the bludger but why hadn't one of the Beaters gotten it away from her. Kirstenna spotted Derry down at the medic tent-she'd missed what happened to him because she'd been busy trying to figure out what was up with the Chasers-but why hadn't Ben done anything?

Honestly, Kirstenna didn't like to think it, but if at all possible, she might have no choice but to replace him next year. She didn't want to be mean, but she had to make sure Teppenpaw had the best chance possible-especially given the Coach was out to get them. It wouldn't be fair to the rest of the team or anyone who'd potentially want to join next year. And Kirstenna was optimistic that at least one or two first years would be interested.

She turned back to focus on the game and the movement of the Quaffle. Andrew had intercepted and was going back towards Pecari's goals. Unfortunately before she knew it, Mellie had the Quaffle again. Kirstenna groaned as Mellie passed the ball back to Jhonice and Jhonice caught it-followed by a Bludger to the back. Despite herself, the Teppenpaw winced. Back injuries could be bad and while she'd be thrilled to have the second year out of the game,especially with the way she kept trying to fly into Andrew, she didn't really want to see her crippled for life. She watched as the Imposter caught Jhonice before she hit the ground and collected the Quaffle throwing it into the center of the pitch.

11 Kirstenna,Tepp Keeper Re: Rescue 161 Kirstenna,Tepp Keeper 0 5

Coach Pierce/Jose

January 28, 2012 12:10 AM

OOC by Coach Pierce/Jose

It's all good. Arista's was okay. Andrew even yelled at me for pointing out that one because it was opinion and not explicit fact. Jose jumped the gun and was feeling threatened; in fact he god-modded himself in not allowing you to react to his chicken maneuver. So shame on me.

Amira's is brilliant actually. Don't stop giving her thoughts, they're what make things interesting. I just totally missed that she's imagining things. I'm not sure how you could have made it more clear, either, since it's from her perspective. Maybe an OOC so everyone gets that your narrator is not trustworthy?

0 Coach Pierce/Jose OOC 0 Coach Pierce/Jose 0 5

The Thorntons

January 28, 2012 1:58 AM

OOC reply by The Thorntons

No, really. It's my fault, and now I've learned from it. I will not do anything of the sort again, and if I do it unknowingly please point it out again so I may fix it and beg someone with ability to delete the wronged post in return for the corrected one. Thank you for pointing out my wrongs in the first place, it will only serve to help me better my writing skills to a point where I can even say that I am an okay writer. Thank you again and I apologize for any inconvenience I may (no, I DID) cause during this game. I have learned and hope I will not mess up again.

0 The Thorntons OOC reply 0 The Thorntons 0 5

Jade Owen, Seeker

January 28, 2012 11:04 AM

Oh hey, is that a Snitch I see before me? by Jade Owen, Seeker

Jade hadn’t yet been able to determine for sure whether or not Kate had seen her approach when something miraculous happened. She’d turned her head to check for oncoming Bludgers before she swept past her opponent for the ‘terrify her’ approach, when she’d seen the Snitch. She was sure of it! The Pecari Seeker did a double-take to make sure her eyes simply weren’t playing tricks on her. It was really there, flitting about and barely visible against the colors of its background, and not that far away. More importantly, it was behind Jade, so if Tepp’s Seeker hadn’t seen the first year start to sneak up on her, there would probably be no cause for her to look round and see it… of course, if Kate had seen her then that was a different story. Either way, Jade had seen the Snitch, and currently she was closer to it. All she had to do was get to it and catch it before her more experienced opposition could do the same, and she’d have that victory she’d been so desperately craving since the whistle had blown at the start of the match.

Wasting no time, Jade pulled hard on the handle of her broomstick. She’d already discovered that she wasn’t being tailed by a Bludger, so that was one less worry on her mind. A Bludger at this stage wouldn’t hurt physically more than at any other stage, but it could destroy Jade’s chances – this was one particular catastrophe she wasn’t keen to observe. All she wanted right now was to clench that metal ball in her fist, crushing its wings into submission with the power of her fingertips, claiming it as her own. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to be going fast enough. Her broom was turning sharply, the crowds were making noise about something or other – maybe someone had scored a goal? It wouldn’t matter now, not when Pecari were about to score a hundred and fifty points – and the wind was still rushing past, but Jade was experience everything in slow motion. Her thighs tightened around her broom and she leant forward, willing every ounce of performance out of the team that was her and her means of flight.

Then the Snitch was in front of her. She could see it clearly now, and she willed with every fibre of her being for it to stay put, not go shooting off again like a moronic insect. She raised her hand from her broomstick, not giving even a split-second’s consideration to the ground many feet below her, and lifted her arm, her long fingers splayed out. Just a little closer now, just one more second…

Jade brought her arm down, sweeping her prize into the butterfly net she imagined her limb had become, and felt a struggling begin to subside with her grasp. She dimly noted that the metal wasn’t as cool as she might have expected it to be as she raised her fist to her eyes almost in disbelief. There were glints of gold between her gloved fingertips, and she heard a decidedly unfeminine yell escape from within her, without consciously recognizing that she’d created the sound. She held the Snitch high above her head and whooped – this intentional noise more high-pitched and musical than the first – as she began a victory lap of the pitch. Suck on that, Teppenpaw!

0 Jade Owen, Seeker Oh hey, is that a Snitch I see before me? 0 Jade Owen, Seeker 0 5

Coach Pierce

January 28, 2012 6:03 PM

Pecari wins! 150-0 (nm) by Coach Pierce

0 Coach Pierce Pecari wins! 150-0 (nm) 0 Coach Pierce 0 5

<font color=silver>Coach Amelia Pierce</font>

Game Two: Pecari vs Teppenpaw by <font color=silver>Coach Amelia Pierce</font>

<font color=brown>Cap'n Jose, Chaser</font>

Let's go Pecari! by <font color=brown>Cap'n Jose, Chaser</font>

<font color=yellow>Captain Kirstenna,Keeper</font>

Come on, Teppenpaw! by <font color=yellow>Captain Kirstenna,Keeper</font>

<font color="brown">Demelza Eagle, Beater</font>

We got this, Pecari! by <font color="brown">Demelza Eagle, Beater</font>

<font color="yellow">Kate Bauer, Seeker</font>

Seeking a success. by <font color="yellow">Kate Bauer, Seeker</font>

<font color="yellow">Laurie S., Chaser</font>

No, you don't! by <font color="yellow">Laurie S., Chaser</font>

<font color ="yellow">Andrew Duell, Chaser</font>

Let's keep it going! by <font color ="yellow">Andrew Duell, Chaser</font>

<font color =brown>Jhonice Trevear, Chaser</font>

Not so fast! by <font color =brown>Jhonice Trevear, Chaser</font>

<font color=brown>Cap'n Jose, Chaser</font>

Pecari can speed, though. Speed, Pecari, speed. by <font color=brown>Cap'n Jose, Chaser</font>

<font color="brown">Mellie Goodwin, Chaser</font>

Speeding. by <font color="brown">Mellie Goodwin, Chaser</font>

<font color=yellow>Derry Four, Beater</font>

Seeking a seeker by <font color=yellow>Derry Four, Beater</font>

<font color=brown>Cap'n Jose, Chaser</font>

Carrying on by <font color=brown>Cap'n Jose, Chaser</font>

<font color=yellow>Kirstenna, Keeper</font>

Someone stop them! (Wotw) by <font color=yellow>Kirstenna, Keeper</font>

<font color="brown">Mellie Goodwin, Chaser</font>

Carrying further on. by <font color="brown">Mellie Goodwin, Chaser</font>

<font color="yellow">Kate Bauer, Seeker</font>

I appreciate it. by <font color="yellow">Kate Bauer, Seeker</font>

<font color ="yellow">Andrew Duell, Chaser</font>

...and back again. by <font color ="yellow">Andrew Duell, Chaser</font>

<font color="brown">Mel Eagle, Beater</font>

Well, frankly, I don't (WotW) by <font color="brown">Mel Eagle, Beater</font>

<font color=yellow>Arista Thornton, Chaser</font>

Heading for a goal (KEEPER!) by <font color=yellow>Arista Thornton, Chaser</font>

<font color=brown>Cap'n Jose, Chaser</font>

You can do it, Sophie! by <font color=brown>Cap'n Jose, Chaser</font>

<font color ="brown">Jhonice, Chaser</font>

Go Sophie!! by <font color ="brown">Jhonice, Chaser</font>

<font color="brown">Jade Owen, Seeker</font>

I don't care either way by <font color="brown">Jade Owen, Seeker</font>

<font color="yellow">Kate Bauer, Seeker</font>

Okay, guys, all Bludgers that way! by <font color="yellow">Kate Bauer, Seeker</font>

<font color=brown>Sophie Jamison [Keeper]</font>

Have no fear: Sophie is here! by <font color=brown>Sophie Jamison [Keeper]</font>

<font color ="yellow">Andrew Duell, Chaser</font>

Getting suspicious... by <font color ="yellow">Andrew Duell, Chaser</font>

<font color=yellow>Derry Four, Beater</font>

Working on it by <font color=yellow>Derry Four, Beater</font>

<font color=yellow>Kirstenna, Keeper</font>

I'm always suspicious. by <font color=yellow>Kirstenna, Keeper</font>

<font color=yellow>Arista Thornton, Chaser</font>

There's no I in Team by <font color=yellow>Arista Thornton, Chaser</font>

<font color=brown>Cap'n Jose, Chaser</font>

There's always a better idiot - my bet is on Jhon by <font color=brown>Cap'n Jose, Chaser</font>

<font color =brown>Jhonice Trevear, Chaser</font>

Yeah! Hey.. wait... by <font color =brown>Jhonice Trevear, Chaser</font>

<font color=brown>Cap'n Jose, Chaser</font>

Right then by <font color=brown>Cap'n Jose, Chaser</font>

<font color=silver>Coach Amelia Pierce</font>

Recentering and Recap by <font color=silver>Coach Amelia Pierce</font>

<font color=silver>Coach Amelia Pierce</font>

Seriously? by <font color=silver>Coach Amelia Pierce</font>

<font color ="yellow">Andrew Duell, Chaser</font>

Don't tell me you're surprised by <font color ="yellow">Andrew Duell, Chaser</font>

Arista and Amira Thornton

OOC by Arista and Amira Thornton

<font color="brown">Mel Eagle, Beater</font>

BANG!--watch out, Tepp! by <font color="brown">Mel Eagle, Beater</font>

<font color="brown">Mellie Goodwin, Chaser</font>

Look at that and not me, Tepp! by <font color="brown">Mellie Goodwin, Chaser</font>

<font color="yellow">Kate Bauer, Seeker</font>

Restarting the more dangerous game. by <font color="yellow">Kate Bauer, Seeker</font>

<font color ="yellow">Andrew Duell, Chaser</font>

Sorry, I need to show off to the spectators by <font color ="yellow">Andrew Duell, Chaser</font>

<font color=brown>Cap'n Jose, Chaser</font>

You are mean, Andrew by <font color=brown>Cap'n Jose, Chaser</font>

<font color=yellow>Derry Four, Beater</font>

The coach sent me away, she's who's mean. by <font color=yellow>Derry Four, Beater</font>