Captain David Wilkes

April 14, 2012 11:24 PM
David bit down on the inside of his mouth as he glanced at his wristwatch for what felt like the hundredth time, but which he knew to be only really about the fifth or sixth. When it came to presentations, he was ready to concede already, before he even really tested the theory out in this circumstance, that Annabeth was right about the wait being the worst part of it and no doubt about it, because if the actual performance was any worse than this, David didn’t think he would make it through the damn thing. All the adult women in his family that he and his siblings were on familiar terms with mocked him and his sisters for making mountains out of molehills that everyone in the world had to deal with, but he was pretty sure that even Anna had never quite had performance anxiety like this. Hard to say for sure, of course, but he was pretty sure that the people evaluating his sister had never been the children of the oligarchy.

He looked at the watch again. Five minutes, and someone was approaching. How was he supposed to make conversation for five minutes?

He didn’t, he thought, do a very good job of it between then and his next glance at his watch, at which point he stopped attempting to talk in a voice a bit higher than usual from the sheer horror of realizing that showtime was just about two minutes away, and realizing that now he wanted those two minutes to drag by at the speed of depressed snails, but that they were starting to speed up. His religious life had been a topic David had sort of mentally avoided since arriving at Sonora, but he found himself mentally praying to get through this without making a complete fool of himself.

It did calm him down a little, though the thought of a literary parallel almost made him laugh. Then he drew on reserves of courage he had not previously been aware he possessed and got started.

“Hey, everybody,” he said, looking around and reminding himself that he knew these people. That did not make him feel better, so he thought instead about how he knew these people had never yet attempted to bite him. That worked a little better. “Welcome to, er, Aladren…tryouts.”

He looked around again and then decided to just throw it down on the table for everyone to see. “So, last year, we lost,” he said bluntly. “The final. We had to have bad luck one time, and that was just the day. This year, we’re going to win again, right?” Oh, that was wrong. He shouldn’t have said ‘right.’ It should have just been a statement, not a question. Oh, well, it was too late to do anything about it now. He kept on plowing forward. “The first thing we need to sort out is who’s going to be our new Beater, so if you want to do that…” Okay, he knew where he was going with this…. “We’re going to start practicing, so anyone who wants to do that, talk to me for a minute while Sam goes in as our Keeper, then we’ll just run a normal practice.” If one thing was going his way, it was that Samantha had come back, and they had a good turnout this year in general. It meant some problems, since he’d have to work out who got a slot and who didn’t and worry about how that could come back to haunt him, but in matters of Quidditch, it was always better, he’d concluded, for his team to Have rather than Have Not, just as it was better not to show how worried he was about it already. If he didn’t seem to be the one running this show the whole time, his new assistant, not to mention the rest of the team, would eat him alive. “So let’s do that.”

OOC: Welcome to Aladren try-outs. Have fun, give me good, detailed, creative posts following all the rules, site and Quidditch, here – good practice for that game! I’d like at least one post from everyone.
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16 Captain David Wilkes Aladren Quidditch Try-Outs 169 Captain David Wilkes 1 5


Katrina (Kitty) McLevy

April 17, 2012 4:19 PM
After a large breakfast of oatmeal with strawberries, bananas, blue berries, and a ton of brown sugar with cream, Kitty felt ready to take on the day. She still had the original broom she got from Daniel in her first year, lovingly cared for and meticulously tended to, even though her dad offered to get her a new one Kitty still liked this one more than any other. This would be her third year of playing hopefully and her broom had carried her though all of it, she wasn’t about to get a new one! That would be like getting a new horse when her faithful companion was still perfectly fine. Nope, they’d won two out of three championships on this broom, and unless something tragic happened she wasn’t going to ruin that sort of magic.

Skipping, her broom cradled lovingly over one shoulder, Kitty made her way to tryouts. Once she arrived Kitty gave David a big reassuring smile. He looked quite nervous, which Kitty thought was kind of silly. He had been chosen as Captain, which clearly meant he would be awesome. Someday, that’ll be me Kitty thought with a dreamy smile as she pictured herself in his place, rallying her team in preparation for the season to come. A glance around at the other people who’d showed up for tryouts made her feel antsy to prove that she still deserved her spot. Even though the older girl hadn’t signed up for Chaser, Andri had signed up for anything so there was always the small chance that one of the other two girls might get her position which was entry unacceptable. Kitty loved playing way too much to lose her spot to anyone else.

When they were released to do normal practice, seems the only position that really was vacant was the beater position, Kitty quickly scooped up the Quaffle and with a whoop of joy she took to the air. After a few playful zig-zags to elude imaginary bludgers Kitty began looking around for her fellow chasers while she kept an eye on David for him to take his accustomed position in front of the coveted rings. She saw an open chaser and threw a nice clean pass in their direction.
0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy This year we’ll be awesome! 0 Katrina (Kitty) McLevy 0 5


Samantha Hamilton

April 24, 2012 6:14 AM
As long as Samantha could remeber, Aladren had been a male-dominated team. She hadn't been the only girl playing when she'd originally signed up, but for several years, now, either she or Kitty had represented the full female component of the Hawks. This year, her sixth and penultimate year at the school, Samantha was witness to not one, not two, but three girls having signed up to be on the team. She didn't really expect to be on the starting line up herself, considering the only position she was any good at was the Captain's position, but she did hope that maybe some female presence would curb the insanity for which the Aladren Quidditch team had become notorious. If nothing else that might help to calm David's nerves; he did seem to be a bit flustered as he made his introductory speecg, but then samantha had never been all that good at public speaking herself.

At his request, she flew on her borrowed school broomstick up to the goals to Keep while he saw to any potential Beaters. She had already lamented not being on the team during the year that Daniel Nash had seen fit to bestow decent Quidditch brooms on the less wealthy members of his team. As a result, she now felt like the person with the least respondant broom on the pitch. Ah well, it wasn't like she intended to play Chaser or Seeker, when having a fast broomstick really mattered. All Samantha needed to do for now (and potentially in a game scenario) was to protect the hoops from the Quaffle, and she'd been casually playing Keeping positions in various sports for as long as her memory cared to let her recall.

Admittedly, she had signed up for reserve player, and so there was a possibility that if someone was taken out of the game for any reason then she might have to play any of the positions going. She thought she might just about manage Chaser, but she would need some training up in Seeking at beating to be considered anywhere near competent. That, she supposed, would be part of David's job once he had the starting line up sorted: to make sure his reserves (if there were any) would do a decent back-up job. Samantha didn't envy her friend his leadership role; she was already prefect and library monitor, and those combined were more than sufficient. Having actual responsibility for a team victory in which the whole House would want to share sounded like more pressure than was indicative of a good time. herself, Samantha was more than content to sit pretty up in front of the hoops and wait for the Chasers to try and make a move past her.
0 Samantha Hamilton Here come the girls 159 Samantha Hamilton 0 5


Arthur Carey

April 24, 2012 11:01 PM
As the older boy made his way, somehow, through his opening speech, Arthur found himself studying Mr. Wilkes, as if by looking at him intently enough he could discern, as though one of them was a particularly tricky kind of watch and the other a particularly good clockmaker, what made him tick.

Watches, Arthur thought, were interesting. He had taken a few apart, and was considering taking them up as a hobby. People were rather more difficult, though; they didn’t work by set rules. Mr. Wilkes was excellent proof of this. He should not have become Quidditch captain, that should have been Arnold now, but instead, he had, because a lot of people were involved. Had Preston been a serious contender, then, or Russell? Himself, Arthur dismissed almost as out of hand as he had dismissed himself as a potential Beater. He was too prone to using the bat on people when he had it, and he was just…not a Quidditch captain. He had always intended that for Arnold.

That would work out, in time, but Arthur was not mad enough to imagine he had anything to do with it. It was just people. And this person in the way, and Arthur was still slightly confused as to why. Mr. Wilkes was not, in the pinch, showing any particular previously-hidden aptitude for leadership; if he’d been a Carey put in a high position and behaved like this, he would have already had five plots going against him, and three and a half of them would have been started with good intentions instead of just pure ambition. Sonora was, though, a different world.

It did not, Arthur thought glumly, bode well for their chances of reclaiming their lost honor in the championship. Mr. Wilkes was softer-seeming than Edmond, and even Edmond had not been really cut out for this. It was going, he suspected, to fall to him to make Arnold behave with some discipline so he didn’t lose to a first year again or something like that. It could be passed off as an anomaly if last year was the only time it happened, but another year…Well, Arthur didn’t like that.

He smiled slightly at the sight of Miss Hamilton back among them, then a bit more grimly when the Chasers got to Chase. It wasn’t especially fun without people to dodge around, but that was balanced by how the opposing players became irritating after a time, and it was often pleasant simply to fly through the air. When Katrina passed the ball, he caught it, and then passed it almost immediately just because it was not something he was known for doing. They were back in it, anyway.
0 Arthur Carey ...Oh, dear 182 Arthur Carey 0 5


Russell Layne

April 26, 2012 6:30 PM
Another year, another try for the Cup. Russell was sure, as he gathered with the rest of the Quidditch team, that he wasn’t the only one who wasn’t assuming that things were going to go as smoothly as they had in his first and second year. Their golden streak had broken; now, they not only had to prove that the earlier string of victories hadn’t been a fluke, but also that last year’s loss to Pecari, of all people, had been one.

He would have liked to have been the Assistant Captain, but if it could have been next year, he would have envied Arnold a lot more. The pressure on Arnold was going to be considerable anyway, and now he was the captain-to-be on top of that. He could only say that David and Arnold were lucky to be in solitary positions, so maybe they wouldn’t hear so much about it if things didn’t go well as they might have if they’d had to work closely with the rest of the team in absolutely every situation involved with being on the Pitch together.

Of course, if they lost again, maybe no one would be safe but the Beaters…but they weren’t going to lose again, so there no point in even speculating about it. Last year had been a fluke; this year, they were going to come back tougher than ever, even if their captain did seem more than a little nervous about stepping into his shoes. Russell just had to do what he’d been doing for the past three years and hope that Preston was twice as vicious as he had been in years previous (something Russell would have once said only a complete nutter would want) to make up for them not having Edmond anymore.

They were put to playing, and Russell went to the other two Chasers, Arthur and Kitty, to face off against the old Keeper, who’d come back. “No pressure this year, guys, right?” he remarked to neither of them in particular before they all kicked off, the ball starting with Kitty, then going to Arthur, and then –

Russell thanked reflex for making him catch the ball, because he didn’t expect it enough to think of doing so. It was habit to be prepared at any moment, but a half-conscious one, since he didn’t really expect the Quaffle to come flying at any moment. Still, he caught it, for which he was grateful, and then he covered some ground before passing it again, hopefully for someone to score with.
16 Russell Layne Quite a few of them, too. 183 Russell Layne 0 5


Kitty

April 27, 2012 9:53 PM
It felt so good to be back in the air, the only thing that would be better was if the stands were full of cheering fans. There was nothing quite like the rush of making a run for the goals with the roar of the crowd riding the wind too. Still, this was as important as a game, more so even. Try-outs were the gate way to everything else. Failure here meant that those doors would close and she’d lose out on the splendor that was the most amazing game in the universe.

The crimson ball left her small, almost dainty hands. Hands that someone who didn’t know her might look at and say were too small to be of use in such a male dominated sport. Ha! She would show them this year as she had the last and the one before. Being short and female didn’t hinder her ability to chase, to catch, or to score. In fact it often came in handy because it made her a much harder target to hit with bludgers and it made her maneuverability easer. Some of the magic kids in the school sure had a silly view about girls and their place in the world, and for once Kitty was glad she was a muggle born and that no one would ever be able to convince her that she couldn’t do anything the boys could do.

Arthur easily caught her pass, and quick as lightning passed it off again. Bright blue eyes widened slightly in surprise at the fast hand off. Usually Arthur was one to make long, sometimes crazy runs at the goals. It was unusual for him to pass off so quickly. Then again, it might be a good tactic to perfect this year, seems it was likely that she wasn’t the only one who’d noticed his habits. Apparently she wasn’t the only one not expecting the move if the look of startlement on Russell’s face was any indication. He managed to catch the unexpected throw and Kitty shadowed him, keeping her cerulean eyes open for any wayward bludgers as she flew. She’d learned last term how unforgiving the dark balls could be and she wasn’t going to be caught unaware again.

Russell passed as they were nearing the goals, and the Keeper that Kitty secretly had to thank for being on the team. They’d needed a Keeper her first year because Samantha decided not to play that term. It gave the young Muggleborn the opportunity she needed to make it onto the male dominated team. Smiling gleefully, Kitty snatched the red orb out of the air and tucked it close to her small chest as she flew fast the gap between the center and right hoops, perfectly in the middle so that it would be nearly impossible to tell which she was after until the Quaffle left her grip. Her heart beat with the quick excitement that any run at the goals filled her with and as she neared the hoops, Kitty leaned back and let the ball fly hard towards the center.
0 Kitty Yeah! Girl Power!! 0 Kitty 0 5