Yeah, yeah, whatever on Cascade Hall

The Coach

September 05, 2021 8:12 AM

Quidditch Sign-Ups by The Coach

A new year was here already and the coach was pretty sure that was impossible because it had only just been the last year. Or at least, so it seemed. The most obvious proof that it was a new year was that some of the team - a lot of them actually - had graduated and new members would be joining soon. That was only possible if the coach posted sign-ups for tryouts though, so a post went up. It appeared in Cascade Hall the morning after the Opening Feast, once students had had a chance to revisit their rooms, find their rooms, and get lost a few times all before their first on campus breakfast. There was a bulletin board in the corner of the room filled with waterfalls and feast tables and today's announcement featured the time and date of the upcoming tryouts, as well as a general explanation of each of the positions.

Quidditch Tryouts!

Interested students should leave their name, year, house, and positions they are interested in on the parchment below. Questions can be directed to the coach, who will be available for office hours all week outside of flying lessons.

There was enough paper for most of the students at Sonora to sign up for Quidditch if they chose to and the coach was optimistic that that might just happen someday.

Subthreads:

Sign me up! by Valentine Duell

Once and for all. [Hilda] by Felipe De Matteo with Hilda Hexenmeister

Diving in head first. by Tissena Randall

This is for you. [Oz] by Augustine Reed-Fischer

This'll be great! by Billy Cobb

Still here, still breathing down Jeremy's neck by Anya Delachene

Yeah, yeah, whatever by Hansel Hexenmeister

Here goes. by Reighleigh Mae Thorn

I'm allowed? by Oz Spellman

One last time by Jeremy Mordue

22 The Coach Quidditch Sign-Ups 0 The Coach 1 5

Valentine Duell

September 05, 2021 9:15 AM

Sign me up! by Valentine Duell

Valentine hurried over to the Quidditch sign-up sheet as soon as she saw it posted. She very briefly scanned it, just in case there was anything strange on it that hadn't been there in the past. Not seeing anything she pulled out a quill and wrote her information on the parchment as neatly as she could.

Valentine Duell, Teppenpaw, 4th, Seeker or Chaser

She knew her chances of getting Seeker remained slim to none as long as Jeremy and Anya were still here, but she wasn't about to give up on it yet. One of these years she would get to reclaim Mama's position! She had gotten a new broom last year, after try-outs. So now she was ready to have an amazing performance at try-outs. Maybe it would be good enough.

Still, Val hadn't actually gotten a lot of flying practice in over the summer. As she tucked her quill away she thought that maybe she should try to get some practice in before try-outs. Just to be safe. She wondered if she could talk Bonabelle into helping out, or.... maybe she should try to find a boy to help. There was the ball coming up that had to be taken into consideration. Who did she know that might want to hang out for a little? She'd have to think about it. Turning, she went off in search of Bonabelle for their traditional first breakfast of the term, though this one may be different that most of the others.

2 Valentine Duell Sign me up! 1490 0 5

Felipe De Matteo

September 06, 2021 7:20 AM

Once and for all. [Hilda] by Felipe De Matteo

This was it. Felipe was going to graduate at the end of this year. He thought that he would have liked to graduate the year after Jeremy so as to get to enjoy one full year without the obnoxious pighead to worry about, particularly on the pitch, but alas, it was not to be. Not sure that he had ever been a terribly good beater, Felipe was proud to say both that he had done decently, that he had enjoyed himself, and that he would not be pursuing a Quidditch career after graduation. Of course, what career he was going to be pursuing was its own question.

He was on his way to Cascade Hall, pondering these things in anticipation of the Quidditch tryout sign up being posted sometime soon if not today, when he passed by Hilda. He gave a small wave; the two had never been terribly close, but they did play together after all, and in the same position at that.

"Are you playing Quidditch again this year?" he asked cordially as they fell into stride on their way to breakfast. "Congratulations, by the way," he added with a smile at the badge pinned on her chest.

When they did arrive and Felipe saw the sign up was there, he added his information.

Felipe De Matteo, 7th year, Crotalus, Beater

22 Felipe De Matteo Once and for all. [Hilda] 1434 0 5

Tissena Randall

September 06, 2021 7:24 AM

Diving in head first. by Tissena Randall

Tissena had, like many magic children raised in magic families, flown before. She was pretty sure she wouldn't need lessons despite them being a mandatory part of her schedule just now. Still, her real interest wasn't in playing Quidditch or even flying but in learning more about the mechanics of these things. She was a firm believer that if you knew how stuff worked, you could make it work better. Plus she was pretty sure that high levels of adrenaline and cortisol would be good for her. Plus it would be fun and if she broke some bones, then she'd get to enjoy learning about that as well.

There were things to enjoy here, things that made her think that she was a firm Aladren-esque Pecari, but the biggest part of all, the part that made her confident she was in the right place, was how sincerely stoked she was at the possibility of learning how to do a flip and land on her feet. The mechanics behind acrobatics were hilariously impossible to her mind and since magic enacted on one's self was much harder than some of its other uses, she was determined to enjoy the non-magical methods of such stunts. Namely: jumping off stuff. With a flourish, she added her name and information to the sign ups.

Tissena Randall, first year, Pecari, whatever

22 Tissena Randall Diving in head first. 1534 0 5

Augustine Reed-Fischer

September 06, 2021 7:32 AM

This is for you. [Oz] by Augustine Reed-Fischer

Gus didn't particularly enjoy Quidditch because it was hard and required a level of physical activity that he thought way exceeded any level of physical activity he was interested in participating in. That being said, he wasn't entirely sure, after the way things had ended last year, how Billy and Oz were going to get on and Gus wanted to be there for it. Of course, Oz had said he wouldn't play Quidditch because of insurance stuff. Gus had talked to his parents about that over the summer and they assured him that they hadn't been billed for anything medical yet. While he wasn't sure if that meant that basic things were covered and other things weren't, or if his family fell into the same category of poor people coverage as Oz, he wasn't sure, but it was helpful to know. He was also pretty sure they didn't fall into the same level of poor people as Oz' family, just based on what he knew of his roommate.

Pretty sure that it was Dathan and Patience who were supposed to be the nice ones and Jezebel who was supposed to be the thoughtful one, and Marcus who was supposed to be the knowledgeable one, Gus was feeling a bit worn out by the time he got to Cascade Hall for breakfast. Luckily, there was breakfast. Slapping his name haphazardly into mostly the right place in mostly a straight line, Gus dashed off to find food just as soon as his pencil left the parchment.

Gus Reed-Fischer, third year, Pecari, any position but please don't make me run

22 Augustine Reed-Fischer This is for you. [Oz] 1509 0 5

Billy Cobb

September 06, 2021 8:00 AM

This'll be great! by Billy Cobb

Billy looked gleefully at the Quidditch sign-up sheet. Finally he could play proper again! His attempts to teach his cousins back home a non-magical variant never worked out right. He was starting to think that maybe they thought he was a bit crazy for keeping on insisting that they keep trying to figure out how to make the game work.

Now he was back though and he rooted around in his stuff for a bit before pulling out a semi-mangled quill. He scanned down the list and got a little shock, Gus was signing up! Dope! This was going to be a blast! At the bottom of the list he scrawled his own information.

Billy Cobb, 3rd, Pecari, Beater

After admiring his handiwork, he wondered briefly if Ray would want to play as well. She hadn't shown any interest in it before, but neither had Gus. He'd heard somewhere that 'proper witches' didn't play Quidditch. He wondered what she would think of that. Granted there had been a few girls on the team last year, and some signed up again already. Oh well, it could be fun but she'd do what she wanted to do. Still, maybe he'd ask if he remembered when he saw her next.

2 Billy Cobb This'll be great! 1519 0 5

Hilda Hexenmeister

September 06, 2021 9:30 PM

All for once? by Hilda Hexenmeister

Hilda was on her way to breakfast when Felipe came up alongside her and fell into step with her. This mildly surprised her, but they had never been on bad terms, so she took it at its face value of two teammates walking together in the hall entirely by chance. This impression was strengthened when he brought up Quidditch.

She nodded. "Naturally," she confirmed her plan to continue with Quidditch for her final year. That had never been in doubt. She was, in fact, expecting to at least earn a Quidditch Scholarship to University, and continue to play at that level, if not actually pursue a professional position as a Beater somewhere. That was not off the table either, but competition would be tough in the pro-leagues. She'd probably have a better shot at an an all-female team, given that she was better equipped as a beater, physically, than most other women were, but equally, she did want to prove she was just as good as any man in the position.

"Und danke - thank you," she added to his congratulations, glad he had accompanied it with a smile toward her badge so she knew what he was talking about. "I was over - no," she realized she had almost said the wrong thing and frowned slightly, trying to remember the right one, "I was surprised," she finished after a moment. "My English is not good. I thought not people votes for me."

They arrived at the sign-up sheet, which she was pleased to see was posted already, and let Felipe add his name first. When he was done, she took her quill to the parchment.

Hilda Hexenmeister, Year 7, Beater

She hesitated a moment, debating whether or not she should add Hansel's name for him, but Heinrich hadn't liked that when she did it for him, so she decided to let her little brother do his own sign-up. She put her quill away without added a second line in her handwriting.

If he didn't do it in a timely fashion she could add it later.

1 Hilda Hexenmeister All for once? 1433 0 5

Anya Delachene

September 06, 2021 9:50 PM

Still here, still breathing down Jeremy's neck by Anya Delachene

Anya was starting to lose confidence that she would unseat Jeremy as the first string seeker. There had always been rumors that positions were selected as much on being a good team player as skill - and Jeremy was hardly a good team player - but so far that hadn't worked out to her advantage, and she doubted the Coach would change it up for Jeremy's final year at Sonora. The good news was that next year he'd be gone and the way for someone else to play Seeker would be clear finally.

Still, there were practices and pick-up games, and as second-string reserve, she had played a handful of actual games when Jeremy couldn't for one reason or another, and that was good enough to keep her signing up for another year.

Anya Delachene, 6th Year, Seeker

She glanced over the rest of the list, noting Valentine hadn't entirely given up yet either, and smiled a little at the girl's gumption. Maybe she'd try to seek (heh!) out the younger girl and do a snitch seek off just the two of them for fun sometime. She had a practice snitch they could use, and the team would need a good reserve seeker next year, and a practiced one the year after that.

The rest of the names were largely familiar other than the first year, and she was pleased to see they'd have at least one new face to add to the team that had just lost most of its first string Chasers to graduation. They'd hit seven players anyway, so that was enough to keep competing, though fourteen would be ideal so they could have mock games in practice and intraschool matches in front of the rest of the school.

1 Anya Delachene Still here, still breathing down Jeremy's neck 1453 0 5

Hansel Hexenmeister

September 06, 2021 10:05 PM

Yeah, yeah, whatever by Hansel Hexenmeister

Hansel was about 98% sure that if he didn't sign up for Quidditch this year, Hilda would do it for him. He had joined for the second half of last year, upon request, to fill out the numbers to make a solid fourteen and make full games using only Sonora students possible. The comradery was nice, he supposed, but honestly Quidditch wasn't really his favorite pastime. He didn't hate it. It just wasn't what he'd pick to do with his time if given the choice.

He was not brave enough to tell his older sister that, though.

It was just one year, he supposed. He could do it for one year. For Hilda. It wasn't like he hadn't also half-joined the dueling club for her as well.

So here he was, pretending like this was his decision, as he wrote down his name at the bottom of the list.

Hansel Hexenmeister, 2nd Year, Chaser

The choice of position really was his to make, but in this he though Heinrich had the right idea and so he picked the one that didn't involve murdering people (beater) or being the reason the team lost (keeper and seeker). Chasers just had to run a ball back and forth across the pitch and try to throw it through a hoop. How hard could that be?

Plus, he had it on good authority that none of the first string players from two years ago were still around, so that was where the team most needed people. Hansel liked to think that he was the sort of person who could be counted on to help out where he was needed.

And maybe he got lucky and had inherited whatever made Heinrich good at the position.

1 Hansel Hexenmeister Yeah, yeah, whatever 1524 0 5

Reighleigh Mae Thorn

September 10, 2021 1:12 AM

Here goes. by Reighleigh Mae Thorn

Ray was signing up for Quidditch. The way Billy talked about it . . . well, nothing would irritate her mother more than being informed that her daughter was playing school sports on a co-ed team. Plus she was pretty sure Billy had been wanting her to join and just hadn't posed it to her yet so she might as well take advantage of being the one with initiative here. There were a few things she wondered if she ought to have initiative for actually but that was a whole different thing that she'd need to put more thought into than she was willing to do right now. Ugh.

With a strut and a sway, Ray approached the sign up sheet. She hadn't ever been much of an athlete but mostly because she hadn't tried. She certainly was active, often hiking and always walking one place or another since she lived in a city, but never actually doing any real sports. Her mom said it was unladylike and her dad said Muggle sports were weird. Ray couldn't quite disagree with that one but she wasn't sure that Quidditch was any better. Worse, maybe.

Since there were fewer people signed up for the position with the most people needed than anything else (other than maybe keeper so far but one kid just didn't wanna run and while she was pretty sure none of the positions strictly required running, keeper was definitely the least active of the bunch), she thought about signing up for chaser. At the same time, she didn't want to risk not getting it and then seeming too lousy. She doubted she'd get beater since there were already three people signed up for it but it would have been her first choice for sake of hanging out with Billy. Of course, she probably would be a better chaser than beater, so there were advantages there too. In the end, she decided not to cast her net so wide as to seem desperate, and not so narrow as to be made a fool off; she put herself down for two positions.

Ray Thorn, Pecari, second year, chaser or beater

22 Reighleigh Mae Thorn Here goes. 1525 0 5

Oz Spellman

September 16, 2021 4:22 AM

I'm allowed? by Oz Spellman

Oz sat, shovelling overly colourful cereal into his mouth and staring at the notice board. Some habits died hard, as evidenced by the banana and the English muffin with peanut butter that he was sliding into his schoolbag - though those may have had more to do with the lack of nutrition in his cereal of choice, and the fact it would most likely not see him through to lunch.

It was also hard to look at the notice board and see this as anything other than beyond his reach. What Gus and Billy had said had stuck with him though. He had asked several different authority figures. And then he had got Henry to re-explain their situation and to double check in case he wasn't saying it right. But it really seemed like no one was gonna charge his mom for it if he broke himself playing stupid murderball.

Sport was another habit that died hard with him. It wasn't like he never used the MARS rooms to let off steam but this was so different. He didn't really fancy his chances of a sports scholarship, but just being on a team was a good leg up. It was one of those things that showed you were responsible and stuff. It kept you from spending your time making your own, inevitably bad decisions about what to do. It just...felt nice.

He finished his cereal. He could sign up. He was done with breakfast with time to spare and there was nothing stopping him, except for the fact that it suddenly felt like his butt was glued to the chair.

It didn't feel like a real thing that he was actually going to be allowed to do. But as he got up from the table, the universe didn't buckle and pull him away. And then the pen was in his hand, and it felt like it was a trap or a bad idea cos things that were too good to be true usually weren't.

He scribbled his details quickly.

Oz Spellman, 3rd year, Pecari, Beater.

And then he noticed Ray's right above them. Great. Did she have to muscle in and ruin everything? He really hoped she didn't make the team. Whatever mixed feelings he had about it were squashed under hoping that he did, just to show her.

13 Oz Spellman I'm allowed? 1514 0 5

Jeremy Mordue

September 24, 2021 5:23 AM

One last time by Jeremy Mordue

OOC: Details about Leonor and Nathaniel approved with their authors BIC:

Jeremy was returning to Sonora with the information that he had a say in whether or not he wanted to become formally betrothed to Leonor, and the distinct feeling that he had better decide that his answer was 'I do.' A host of details was being thrashed out about how much time he would have to spend in Mexico (not much), and who got what in the event of people up and dying (Felipe would, apparently, inherit Los Jardines if Leonor died, they did not have children, and Jeremy didn't spend more than fifty percent of his time there, which was almost enough to make him want to endure the heat. Or at least plot Felipe's murder - he was beginning to see why that was such a common solution in families like his. If you crammed all these people into a hot cauldron and forced them to share nicely and give and take favours, unless one of you died, then what did people think would be the logical outcome?). Nothing had been made official yet, but it felt like the net was closing around him.

His feelings about it were complicated, so he was shoving them deep down with a lid on top. Part of him felt proud at achieving something none of his siblings/cousins had achieved so far. He tried to let that bit out the most often, ignoring the shadow that tried to slip through with it. The shadow that said his aunt and uncle would take any offer, whether it was good for him or not, in order to be shot of him. Nathaniel seemed suspicious of the situation, but Nathaniel was suspicious of everything, which made his predictions of doom about as useful as those of a circus seer. Not that he was actually saying them out loud. He was very carefully trying to not tell Jeremy what to do, out of fear he’d do the direct opposite out of spite. Jeremy couldn’t even fault Nathaniel’s approach on that, though that was another feeling he was trying to deny. He had liked Leonor, when she was a way to annoy Felipe. Now that his family potentially approved of what he was doing… The petulant streak in him made him want to go against it, but even he couldn’t fully conceive of why. If he had flat out been told to do it, it might have been different…. But he had been given just enough choice to potentially hang himself.

Still, there were some things more important than an impending fiancée. Or rather, one thing. And the sign up sheet for it was up the first morning back. As soon as he got to the hall, Jeremy added his name.

Jeremy Mordue, seventh year, Cortalus, Seeker.

He had a whole year of glory ahead before he needed to worry about adult life.

13 Jeremy Mordue One last time 1443 0 5