Coach Amelia Pierce

June 08, 2012 8:10 PM
Amelia's midterm had been quite enjoyable but very cold. Returning to Arizona from Boston, Massachusetts had made the school pitch seem downright balmy by comparison, even in January. The fact that it was still below freezing, however, was made clearly evident by the light flakes falling from the overcast skies above them on the morning of the academic year's second Quidditch match.

The competing teams represent Pecari and Aladren, last year's finalists. Pecari had come out on top that game, but Aladren had claimed the Quidditch cup for each of the previous three years before that while Pecari hadn't even made it to the finals. This would be a good match-up, and Amelia expected the Aladrens were especially looking forward to trying to prove that last year had been nothing more than a fluke for Pecari. She was also sure that Demelza Eagle and her team would be equally eager to prove it wasn't.

Both teams were flying under new management this year, too, so Amelia was curious to see how that might shake things up.

She brushed a snowflake off her eyelashes - it was only a light snowfall, not nearly enough to for her northeastern sensibilities to even grace the poor attempt with the description of a 'flurry' but there were definitely white flakes in the air - and checked the progress of the captains' pre-game speeches. The wrapped up shortly thereafter and she called the new team leaders to her.

"Today," she announced loudly with the help of a sonorus charm, for the benefit of the spectators, "we have Pecari, lead by Captain Demelza Eagle and the returning Quidditch Cup Champions, up against Aladren, led by Captain David Wilkes and the previous Quidditch Cup Champions eager to reclaim their title. It should be an exciting match, so let's get to it. Captains, please shake hands."

After they had done so, she sent them back to their teams. She released the snitch first. It flitted around for a moment, then shot away, disappearing from sight. Next, she let out the bludgers. The charmed iron balls flew away, gaining altitude before seeking blood. Finally, she lifted out the Quaffle.

"Game begins on my whistle and ends when a seeker catches the snitch. Whistle on three. One, two, tweet!" Amelia let the whistle override the final count, but she mentally completed the final three as she threw the Quaffle high into the air to begin play.

She grabbed her own broom and followed the players into the sky.


OOC: Quidditch rules are available here, but the big ones are follow site rules, no god-modding, and write long clear detailed posts. Any questions, don't hesitate to put post on the OOC board. Enjoy!
Subthreads:
1 Coach Amelia Pierce Game Two: Pecari vs Aladren 20 Coach Amelia Pierce 1 5


<font color=blue>Thaddeus Pierce, Beater</font>

June 09, 2012 12:18 PM
Thaddeus didn't find the Arizona winter to be too cold after spending most of his midterm in the mountains of New Hampshire. They had fireplaces in all of the rooms of the house, of course, but even with those going, the sub-zero temperatures had made the midterm rather chilly, especially when he went outside to practice his beating. Aladren's first game would be not too long after their return, and he hadn't wanted to lose any of the skills he had painstakingly gained over the first half of the year. This game would be Thad's Quidditch premiere and he wanted no part in helping Pecari win against his House again.

He still wore beater gloves, as much for the protection against wind and snow as for the palm traction to help hold his bat, and a winter hat (blue, of course), and a sweater underneath his Quidditch robes, so he didn't anticipated getting too cold out here today, even with the flakes drifting down from the clouds. He stood in the huddle as David gave his speech, and wished a little bit that he wasn't the shortest guy on the first-string team. That wasn't an impressive statistic for any beater, never mind the one that was supposed to replace Edmond Carey.

It was, however, somewhat unavoidable when all the other first-string males were in their fifth or fourth year while Thad was only twelve. He didn't turn thirteen until March, and the end of March at that. He thought he was probably taller than Kitty, but the fact that he wasn't sure did not speak highly of his vertical reach at all.

He readied himself on his broom as his sister began counting, and pushed off the ground at her whistle. Though he was certain Coach Pierce would conduct the match in unquestionable fairness, and he wouldn't want her to do it any other way, just the fact that the referee was more closely related to him than to anyone else in the pitch, made him feel Aladren had a very slight advantage if it ever came down to an uncertain call that involved him.

He'd also heard enough stories from Duesius and Wesley about the old Pierce games, back before WAIL discovered the negative impact of Quidditch on females and when the Pierce cousins had numbered exactly fourteen, that he felt pretty sure a foul would have to be pretty bad before she would call one. He wasn't sure that this game was the time to take advantage of that knowledge, but it was an ace in the hole he could hold on to until he thought they needed it.

He eyed Jade Owen, reconfigured his mental file about her to replace the words 'second year girl' with the words 'public enemy number one' and braced himself against showing her, or any of the other Pecari players, any mercy. He was a beater and this was Quidditch. Mercy had no place here.

Thad had been watching where the bludgers had gone since Amelia - er, Coach Pierce - released them and he sped toward the nearest of them. He had a brand new top of the line broom, that he had unwrapped less than a month ago, on Christmas morning. That was the other reason he'd been out in the freezing cold winter this midterm: to get used to the new broom and its new quirks. The broom got him to the bludger faster than any other beater reached it, and he batted over toward where he saw Miss Owen - er, the Evil Jade Monster.

The Jade Monster had attacked the heroic Aladrens a year ago and she it could not be permitted to continue running rampant around this Pitch. Thad drew back his bat, holding it in both hands for greater power, and hit his bludger at her the monster as hard as his twelve-year old frame could make it go. He grunted as his bat made impact with metal ball, his hands tingled, and shock waves passed through not only his arms but also his spine. He had to tuck the bat under one arm and grab his broom with both hands until the vibrations stopped and his steadied. Only then did he feel he was secure enough himself to look to see what had become of the Jade Monster.
0 <font color=blue>Thaddeus Pierce, Beater</font> And now I am here to help 0 <font color=blue>Thaddeus Pierce, Beater</font> 0 5


<font color="blue">Arnold Carey, Seeker</font>

June 09, 2012 12:58 PM
As he stood with the rest of the team, trying hard to resist the urge to fidget and otherwise show un-Assistant-Captain, un-winner-like signs of nervousness, Arnold’s main thought wasn’t about the coming game, or what the team would do to him if he lost it for them again, or Demelza Eagle, or even the snow coming down, which was sure to impair visibility and meant there was little sunlight to help him locate the Snitch more easily. Instead, the main thought on his mind was, I wish Edmond was still here.

His cousin, he knew, had not ranked among the great captains, but he thought that Edmond would be placed, in later years, into the ranks of the great Beaters. In terms of sanity, he had been about what Arnold believed to be average for an Aladren captain, falling neither into the territory of the bizarre nor into the even more unusual land of the completely sane, and he had not held the job long enough to be deemed a winner or a loser if non-Seeking captains really still were thought of that way, but he had been a damn good Beater. He had not managed to keep Arnold from getting hurt at all very often, but he had kept Arnold from getting killed, and had done enough return damage to the opposing Seekers and other players that, as pleasant as he generally was off the Pitch, just having him stand with them during all the pleasantries that happened before a game had seemed to be a little bit intimidating to the opposing teams. And now he was gone.

It didn’t matter, of course – Preston was more than capable of standing up to Demelza Eagle, whose size Arthur had contemptuously assured him he did not believe was backed up by any brains, and Thad had been training, too – but it would have made him feel better, facing the girl who was now the school’s biggest Beater, to have the former toughest Beater around still looking out for him. He liked all of the team, of course, but they had stuck together so much as he Sought and Edmond tried to keep someone else from effectively Seeking at the same time that they had almost felt like a team within a team to Arnold. He was going to miss that.

As the speeches went on, though, and the starting whistle drew nearer, the snow began to make him start thinking more about other things he was going to have to deal with today. He had, to his mother’s annoyance, slipped out into the rain several times over midterm to practice, but practicing in snow had never occurred to him, and he’d never had a chance, anyway, since the only snow he ever remembered seeing in South Carolina was the fake kind at his great-great-grandfather’s that he definitely wasn’t allowed to practice in. It wasn’t very bad, but it might still, all things taken into account, be as bad as rain; he wasn’t sure yet.

At least, he thought as he gave her a friendly wave from across the center, if it was, it would be a problem for Jade, too. He was okay with the thought of an honest competition – even sort of, at this point, relieved. There was more pressure on him to win than ever, but not the same expectation, that he’d held for himself after a while even if no one else had, that he had to win every game, always, no matter what. He’d lost, the world hadn’t ended, and now he could concentrate on playing the game again as long as he practiced more than ever. He never would have chosen to lose, he thought, even if something like the idea had flittered through his head a few times, but since it had happened, he was choosing to look at the part of it that was almost a relief.

The balls were released, and Arnold looked up after the Snitch, trying to follow it with his eyes as he always did, but he wasn’t surprised when it got away from him. It did that even in good weather, and he once again nodded slightly, familiarly, to it, acknowledging that it had won again and they’d try it again at the Championship match. Then it was time for the kickoff, and his first priority became getting high enough to have some flying room and see where Jade had gone at the same time. He needed a minute to assess how the snow was going to affect visibility, but if Jade was better at following the Snitch from the ground than he was, then he needed to be able to jump that way very quickly, too. While keeping an eye out for the Beaters; he knew that if it came to a flat race, he would almost always win if the Beaters didn’t succeed in knocking him off-course.

After a quick loop to clear his head out, he spotted Jade, and then he spotted Thaddeus, who seemed to have decided to jump into the first string with both feet with a Bludger for the opposing Seeker. “Nice one!” Arnold called as he passed the younger Aladren, both because he thought it was an Assistant Captain thing to encourage the other players and because another important thing was, after all, to know who he needed to look to for protection now that his default guardian was no longer here. All in all, he thought Thad might not make a bad replacement; he’d concluded, between one thing and another, that the guy might be almost as crazy as he was, so they’d either work well together or it would be a complete, but possibly very entertaining for the crowds, disaster.

He looked for the Snitch, but continued to see nothing but colored robes and drifting snowflakes and…the other Bludger, heading his way. He couldn’t tell if it had been hit that way or was just still flying at random, but he dodged it quickly, leaving it to Thad to deal with that one, too, or else for it to redirect down to the more crowded part of the Pitch; he thought, at that angle, that either could happen, and didn’t really mind which as long as it didn’t hit him right now. Injuries to the Seeker were, of course, another thing that really entertained the crowds, and entertainment for others was one of the three reasons they were all out here, but he thought a dodge would amuse them enough for now, not yet even five minutes into the game.
0 <font color="blue">Arnold Carey, Seeker</font> And now I am here to win 181 <font color="blue">Arnold Carey, Seeker</font> 0 5


<font color=brown>Captain Demelza Eagle</font>

June 11, 2012 10:40 AM
Today's game was part of the handful of games Demelza had played in her six-year career as a beater where she actually had nerves. Mel, who was generally a glass-half-full kind of optimistic, couldn't help but be slightly distracted the morning of the game by the kinks that could effect the outcome of this game. First off, it was only the first game of the season, so it made little sense to face the top two teams against each other. Because, honestly, once Pecari beat Aladren, the next game would probably be a breeze. Hopefully. Stupid Teppenpaw and their inability to win even one game. Still, Mel had confidence that her team could beat both Aladren and Crotalus.

Second, the weather totally sucked. Mel hated the cold, so she'd be sure to cast a heating charm on herself and whoever needed it. As Mel ate a giant breakfast filled with lots of protein, she began thinking like her usual self and focused on the positives of this game. Pecari was way better than Aladren. Her team had one of the best Keepers in the school and the best seeker and beater, no doubt about it. Now that Edmund Carey was gone, Mel was quite sure it was safe to say that she was the best. After all, she didn't know of anyone else who played at a national level for their region. Even her chasers were a pretty great team together, growing stronger every day at practice with her guidance. If things worked out like they should, Pecari had the championship title secured.

After breakfast, Mel went back to her dorm to stretch her arms and grab all the supplies she needed, including her broom, wooden bat, leather gloves, goggles, robes, and sneakers. Then, she went down to the locker room to change. She braided her long, chocolate brown hair back into a single ponytail. Her teammates from the North Eastern Regional team taught her how to braid her hair, and ever since she always preferred to play with it tightly packed in a neat braid. Some people thought it was impractical to play Quidditch with long hair, but it was really no problem for Mel once she learned how to properly pull it back.

Soon the rest of her team piled into the locker room. Mel, feeling so pumped to play some Quidditch, patted everyone on the back and spoke words of encouragement. She would get to deliver her first speech as Captain soon, which was also very exciting. The minutes ticked by, and finally it was time to go onto the pitch. Captain Demelza led her team out to cheers from fellow Pecaris. She called her team in for a huddle.

"Alright guys, we have not worked our asses this hard to leave this game not feeling proud of what we've done. Everyone better go out there, beat up some people (cleanly), and prove to everyone that last year wasn't just a fluke. We're a really good team, and if we lose today no one is going to know what we're capable of. And if we're capable of it, why not strive our best to show everyone? Screw the weather, screw everyone who doesn't have faith in us. You know what you're capable of.

"Mellie, Jhonice, and Amira--be rough. Don't be afraid to give someone a nudge as you fly past them. Just don't foul or kill anyone,” Mel said with the faintest trace of a grin. It wasn’t a technique used in many schools, mainly because it wasn’t taught until you played in higher leagues, but if Mel had the knowledge, why wouldn’t she pass it on?

“Sophie, you’re fine. Jade—I’ll be there to guard you. We both know that games often surmount to a war amongst beaters in the seeker domain, so I’ll definitely be there. Elijah—that means you’ve got the chasers. I’ll be depending on you,” she added very seriously. There were two bludgers out there, and sadly Mel could not control them all. Still, she had confidence in Elijah.

“Okay guys, Aladren has good chaser and seeker strength, but we’ve shown that we can beat them. So, just go out there and play the best game you’ve got. Hands in,” Mel said, a rush of emotions coursing through her. She’d been waiting for this moment since she was about five years old and saw her older brother Jamie lead his Quidditch team. She had loved the sport her entire life and always known that one day, she would lead her own team. Her amnesia had not erased those life-long ambitions of hers. This was that moment. This moment finally had come after 18 years of preparing. And Mel was going to do whatever it took to lead her team to victory.

“One, two, three—PECARI!” She shouted, throwing her hand up. She walked toward the middle of the pitch to crush shake David Wilkes’ hand. After that, the whistle was blown, and Mel felt a rush of adrenaline hit her as she rose up high into the air. Curse it, the bludgers were much closer to Aladren’s side than her own. She would have to defend.

Mel flew over closer to Jade, not trying to make it look as though she was defending her. This proved to be a good idea, because in a matter of what felt like seconds a bludger came her way. Mel flew to the bludger and shot it in the direction of Aladren’s seeker with all the power she could muster behind her shot, her green eyes in total concentration. A bludger was already heading his way, so everything was starting to look promising. Arnold got out of the way of the first bludger that Mel had not sent easily, but she wasn’t sure if he could get out of her bludger’s way quite was easily. Mel watched the other bludger, however, which was hit by Aladren’s other chaser, Preston. The bludger was heading towards Jhonice who…who….

“What the hell?” Mel muttered, panic rising in her. Oh, she was going to kill Jhon. “Elijah!” She shouted at him, not quite sure if he was able to make it in time. Mel couldn’t leave him out there alone, there were too many people to protect. However, she couldn’t leave Jade here by herself with Aladren’s other beater possibly ready to redirect the bludger Mel sent back at Jade. Still, that was only a maybe possibility. Jhonice needed help now.

Mel flew over as fast as she could, prepared to call a time-out after something was done about this bludger. She could easily have given Jhonice one of her old but still good brooms up in her dorm—why had the idiot girl not told her that her broom was wonky? Mel was much too far away, though, to reach the bludger. She realized that at the last minute and started flying back towards Jade, hoping to Merlin that Elijah would be there to save Jhon, and then Mel could call a time-out. Right now, a wonky broom was the last thing Pecari needed.
0 <font color=brown>Captain Demelza Eagle</font> Fine. I'll play this game. But remember: You started it 0 <font color=brown>Captain Demelza Eagle</font> 0 5


<font color=blue>Thad Pierce, Beater</font>

June 11, 2012 1:19 PM
His stability restored, Thad resumed his observations of the nearest players. Arnold was nearby and congradulating his attempt. A rogue bludger made a half-hearted attempt at knicking Arnold, but the Seeker avoided it and Preston claimed it for his attack on the Chasers before Thad could figure out if he should just knock it away or send it after Jade, too.

It was just as well that Preston was there to deal with that one before it could bother Arnold again because his analysis had concluded that q more pressing issue was the first bludger he had sent toward Jade and which Demelza - aka the school's biggest meanest beater - had redirected back at Arnold.

Thaddeus was a proper young man with excellent manners and his age was a still tender twelve years. He didn't know many curse words yet - just the one he had once caught his father use and had been told never to repeat or tell his mother about - but he felt the circumstances required that he disobey the first part of that paternal order right now.

After all, he had not only just given Demelza Eagle ammunition to use against Arnold, but Thad was about to get in her bludger's way. This, he was sure was going to hurt much worse that the book Father had dropped on his toe when the elder Pierce had cursed.

He pushed his broom to position himself between the bludger and his Seeker. He had his bat in both hands again, but this time with them positioned to push and deflect rather than swing. He had seen Derry do this in the last match Teppenpaw placed against Pecari. It truthfully had not turned out entirely well for his cousin or his bat, but Thad was smarter than Derry was and thought he could improve upon the move.

Derry had taken the bludger head on. Thad came at it using a more oblique angle. Derry had taken the brunt of the impact in the center of the bat, Thad took it at the thicker, heavier end of the bat which was designed to withstand impacts with bludgers.

It was trickier, and required good timing so fingers did not get crushed into paste suitable for using in potions, but Thad took the hit with another grunt. He was flung backwards, his arms ached and trembled, and there was a sharp pain in his wrist that he was definitely going to have Mr. Bailey look at after the game.

But the bludger wasn't on a collision course for Arnold anymore. Instead it was hanging there in the space where Thaddeus had previously been, seemingly confused as to what it should do next.

Thad decided he should help it along and - after conving his broom to fly forwards instead of backwards again - he took another swing that was both less powerful and more painful than his first swing. It still flew off, heading away from Arnold and Jade and Demelza and himself. It wasn't really heading toward the Chasers, either, but if they kept moving around like they usually did, either Preston could pick it up for another shot or it might find the Chasers on its own, hopefully a Pecari one.


0 <font color=blue>Thad Pierce, Beater</font> Noted: This is all my fault. 0 <font color=blue>Thad Pierce, Beater</font> 0 5


<font color="blue">Arnold Carey, Seeker</font>

June 13, 2012 7:36 PM
Arnold turned just in time to see Demelza Eagle pulling her bat back to swing. He was, he knew, in range, if he blocked out the fact she was a girl – that, he thought, was what had gotten him in the last game against Pecari; it was one thing to see a female Seeker as real competitor, smaller stature was a help in this part of it sometimes, but though intellectually Arnold knew Demelza could probably break his neck with her bare hands if she wanted to, years of home training still made it hard to view a girl as a physical threat if she didn’t have weapons that relied less on arm strength than a bat did in her hands – and guessed at her strength from her size and past experience. Once he did that, he recognized that he was in imminent danger of being hit.

He darted up in the air, smiling slightly. Now, he guessed, the game had begun.

He winced, though, when Thad got in the way and deflected the Bludger. That had never looked completely effortless even when Edmond did it, but watching a second year do it was sort of painful. He wondered if they should switch Thad with Samantha – not Beater-trained, but at least bigger than any of the other options – or Preston with Thad, or possibly risk letting Arthur have a bat or – something. Thad was trying his best, that was obvious, but he was up against the toughest Beater on the Pitch. Arnold might be able to make it through more of the game without getting hurt, but that wouldn’t last long if his Beater took all the damage in his place.

He felt a moment of hope when he processed that Demelza had started to abandon this part of the game before coming back, though, as though she couldn’t decide what to do. That was good. If it came down to it, he might be able to get her turned around and keep her that way, so she wasn’t her most effective. He wouldn’t do that, though, unless he needed to; in first year, it would have just been fun, but he couldn’t risk anything that might make them lose. He could have fun next year, maybe, when the stakes weren’t so high.

If the stakes ever went down again. Sometimes he wondered if they would. When he had been winning, it had just felt like he had to keep winning, and make each win more impressive than the last, or so he thought it had felt as he looked back on it now; now, after he’d lost, there was pressure to make it up, to prove it had been a fluke, that he hadn’t lost his edge, but had just had some bad luck one day and was back on form now. Beat Pecari now, beat Crotalus in the finals…He thought it would be good again after that, things would go back to normal. Crotalus and Pecari would be in the opener next year, and then they would play Teppenpaw in the winter, and Crotalus again in the spring, right back on pattern.

Then, as he tried to think of his next move, looking around for Jade, he saw it. Flash of gold. It was early in the game still, too early, but the snow seemed to have turned the game into something slower than he would have expected anyway, and he expected the people gathered to watch the match probably just wanted to go in, too. If he could catch the Snitch now, it would do, anyway, until they could put on a better show against Crotalus, when it really was all back on the line. He flew after the ball, blinked against the snow once, and found he had apparently overshot it, going past his goal.

That was not what he had intended. He turned again, but this time he did it a little too quickly, making himself slightly dizzy as he tried to find Jade and figure out if she’d seen it, or if he’d just lead her to it. If so, it was time to race, but otherwise to just keep looking.
0 <font color="blue">Arnold Carey, Seeker</font> You say that like it's a bad thing 181 <font color="blue">Arnold Carey, Seeker</font> 0 5


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

June 15, 2012 12:11 PM
It seemed unfair in some ways that Pecari had to play Aladren again so soon – neither of them had even had the opportunity to play one of the other teams in the interim, but Josephine had explained that it was probably to stop the two finalists competing against each other for the cup two years running – and so it was eventually and begrudgingly that Jade accepted that she would simply have to best Arnold Carey twice in quick succession, and that was that. She would also have to do it, apparently, in the freezing cold.

She was more or less used to cold winters; Western New York had real seasons, and she’d already spent her midterm bundled up against the chill outdoors. Not that she minded, as she liked snow, and she’d had a pretty good midterm, anyway. She’d taken much delight in teasing James and Josephine about going to some stuck up pureblood party, while she herself had cuddled the cats, sipped endless hot chocolates and spent the evenings completing jigsaw puzzles with her mother. She had, naturally, dedicated the daylight hours to practising Quidditch (though with the ancient brooms possessed by her family it was more a trial of forcing unco-operative broomsticks to bend to her will, but it helped her balance nevertheless), which she hoped would help her to beat Aladren for the second time.

Having looked out the window in the Pecari commons and seen a portion of the garden decorated with a soft coating of snow, the second year had known to make adequate preparations for the game. She pulled on some old, black knee-length socks which had been darned more than once to prolong their lifespan, and a faded green vest before adding sweatpants, a second pair of socks, a long-sleeved t-shirt, a cotton tee with a picture of a pug puppy on the front, then a lumpy knitted sweater, a pair of fingerless gloves, and then her school-provided Quidditch robes, by far the most attractive garment in her ensemble. She half-heartedly braided back her dark brown curls, and grabbed a second-hand knitted brown hat – selected for its warmth, not its aesthetic qualities – for later before shoving her feet into over-sized sneakers and heading down to breakfast.

As a growing girl with a healthy appetite anyway, Jade knew the importance of a good breakfast. Moreover, a decent and nutritious breakfast before a Quidditch game could give her the energy she required to win, and a hot meal couldn’t hurt to boost her comfort levels out on the pitch. Therefore she selected outmeal, drowned in a sizeable helping of syrup, a coffee with sufficient sugar to hide its bitter taste, and two rounds of buttered toast. Then she accosted her sister to insist upon a warming charm being cast to see her through the match before Jade headed to the supply shed and picked out her broom – identifiable by the star and initials carved into the handle right near the tail end.

Preparations finally complete, the Pecari was ready to join her captain and teammates on the pitch. She fully approved of Mel’s speech: it just about relayed Jade’s own thoughts about the upcoming game. They could take Aladren down – they’d proved that much already – so it would simply be embarrassing to lose today. Jade wasn’t prepared to let that happen. She nodded Demelza’s way when her captain related her plans to protect the Seeker. Jade appreciated it; she was obviously the most important player in the game, and while she wouldn’t be Edmond Carey’s target practise this game, she’d prefer not to get Beaten to a bloody pulp by anyone if she could avoid it. Admittedly, she didn’t think it would stop her from putting everything she had into trying to catch that Snitch, but if broken bones could be avoided then that surely would be preferable. Excitement pulsing, Jade put her hand in with the others, being careful to avoid standing too close to Amira in case bitchy insanity was contagious, and hollered'PECARI' along with her housemates. It was times like that when she could understand the thrill of being in a team.

When Mel went off to shake the hand of the opposing captain, Jade jammed her hat on over her head, making sure that it and her hair remained out of her eyes, and then she swung her leg over her broom and took a couple of deep, steadying breaths. Then the whistle blew, and Jade shot up into the air to the clamouring of the crowds… in her mind, at any rate. With the wind rushing past her ears then she couldn’t actually make out for sure whether the spectators were cheering or not, but why wouldn’t they be? The clash of the Titans, Pecari against Aladren, was about to begin. Bring it on.

Unable to maintain her view of the Snitch for very long – that ball had a serious skill in escaping undetected when it wanted to – Jade set about searching for it, and avoiding the Bludgers. That secondary aim moved to the forefront almost immediately as one of the Aladren beaters didn’t hesitate to bring it, and slammed the ball right in the brown clad Seeker’s direction. Luckily, true to her word, Mel was there to deflect the Bludger, and the direction in which she sent it was the cue that drew Jade’s attention over to Arnold. She had to keep half an eye on him during the game, as any good Seeker knew was tantamount to success, which was undoubtedly going to be tricky in this visibility-reducing weather. Not that Jade had any intention of letting something as inconsequential as the climate push her around. Besides, Arnold seemed to be darting about like a mad thing without agenda, and with no sign of the Snitch and no Bludgers on course for her at that precise second in time, Jade took the opportunity to spread her metaphorical wings and began on a cursory lap of the pitch. If that little golden ball was anywhere to be found, she would find it. Pecari’s success was counting on it, and Jade would hate to be the bearer of disappointment.
0 <font color="brown">Jade Owen, Seeker</font> You're a Bad Thing 0 <font color="brown">Jade Owen, Seeker</font> 0 5


<font color=blue>Thaddeus Pierce, Beater</font>

June 15, 2012 7:12 PM
As the bludger sailed away, safely away from both Seekers, and the pain in his wrist dwindled, Thaddeus took a moment to reassess his current situation. Arnold was darting about, possibly in response to the snitch - Thad thought he may have seen something glimmer for a moment but it could have just as easily been a larger than average snowflake. Jade was keeping an eye on everything. Demelza was being highly intimidating just by existing in close proximity to Arnold.

His own usefulness at the moment was questionable. Sadly, wishing to be about a foot taller didn't make it so and he therefore didn't strike nearly enough fear into Jade and Demelza's hearts himself, especially without a bludger to back him up. Having thrown away the one that they had volleyed around earlier, he was pretty much just here to make sure no rogue bludgers wandered near enough to get to Arnold or Demelza.

Another idea did occur to him, though, which he wasn't quite sure what to do with. Last year, when he'd been the alternate, he had worked with Arnold pretty frequently, since the Seeker was generally one of the prime targets in a game, and he'd offered the advice that irritating the other Seeker was part of the game. So far as he could recall, there were no rules forbidding beaters from baiting opposing Seekers alone or in tandem with their friendly Seeker.

There had been enough times when his cousins had told him to get lost, to be quiet, or to bother someone else, often in a raised voice, and sometimes with the outright declaration that he was annoying, that he felt he would excel in this area of Seeker Baiting.

The problem was that the two seekers were just a little too far away from each other right now for Thad to feel comfortable leaving his seeker alone in favor of joining Jade for a conversation, especially with Demelza hovering about. If last year's games were anything to judge by though, there may be an opportunity to try it out later.

In the meantime, he supposed he would just continue to follow Arnold and make sure no bludgers got close.
0 <font color=blue>Thaddeus Pierce, Beater</font> Who? Arnold or me? 0 <font color=blue>Thaddeus Pierce, Beater</font> 0 5


<font color="blue">Arnold Carey, Seeker</font>

June 16, 2012 10:28 PM
Jade began to make a loop, rather than moving quickly and with purpose, and Arnold nodded to himself and decided it was okay to take a second or two to get his balance completely back after that fast turn. He didn’t know what she thought he had been doing, but whatever it was, she clearly didn’t think it involved the Snitch.

That, he thought, was probably one of the benefits of having a reputation for deliberately going out of his way to do things just to confuse or irritate his competition. Last year, he had decided not to try it out against Jade, and he had lost, which he took as evidence that he’d had a good idea in the one he’d almost accidentally stumbled onto in his match against Kate Bauer – or at least, that was how he remembered it now. He thought he might have given a lot of that game more significance in memory, and maybe more drama, too, than it had really had or seemed to have at the time, though he was confident that it really had been his favorite game that he’d ever played. That one had been fun, unlike a lot of the games he’d played at Sonora, which had either been dull or quickly disintegrated into brutal, bloody, desperate wars to the finish between his team and those who sought to shove them out of the position of top team. Those games, he had enjoyed even less than the dull ones since he figured out what they were.

So far, he was having trouble deciding which kind of game they were playing here today. It seemed slow, there had been no moments of high drama yet, but yet…they were playing Pecari. Pecari had, by the skin of its teeth, beaten them last year in the Championship game, where only one of them could go this year. He had been expecting this game, snow or no snow, to be a bloodbath, and not a little of the blood on the ground at the end to be his. Had they become insanely overconfident in the past year because of that one win, or was something else going on? He didn’t see how they could be luring him and the rest of the Aladren team into a trap, but….

He had completely lost the Snitch, anyway, and Jade didn’t seem to be making a move for it, so he went back to looking. Keeping a careful eye on Demelza’s position – there was no reason to get hurt before he had to, or to make it necessary for Thad to use his bat again before he had to, to not give the guy a minute to recover from the past few minutes; he thought there was probably something off about a Seeker trying to look after one of the Beaters, but that was how it seemed to be falling out – he flew so that he met up with Jade’s lap around the Pitch and waved at her.

“How’s it going with you?” he called, then flew around her for a moment to give the Aladren crowd something while actually looking all around, cursing the snow silently behind a smile, to be sure that she wasn’t about to fly right on top of the Snitch without either of them even knowing it until it was too late for him to catch up.

So far, it didn’t seem that she was. He began to weigh the benefits and disadvantages of staying close to her versus going to search out in the center of the Pitch.
0 <font color="blue">Arnold Carey, Seeker</font> Either way, it wasn't a very nice thing to say 181 <font color="blue">Arnold Carey, Seeker</font> 0 5


<font color=blue>Thaddeus Pierce, Beater</font>

June 17, 2012 12:24 PM
Arnold seemed to calm down after another moment, either loosing sight of the snitch, or loosing interest in his aerobatics. The seeker looked around and then began a partial circuit around the pitch and then met up with Jade. Thad followed behind, far enough back to keep an eye out for bludgers approaching from either direction. He apparently hadn't needed to wait long at all for the two seekers to get close enough to implement the annoyance plan.

As Arnold pulled up beside Jade, Thad closed in, flying up along Jade's other side, so she have to turn her head to see both of them. He caught the tail end of Arnold's comment, but not enough to get the whole gist of the question. Thad decided it probably wasn't important. It would probably confound Jade more if they seemed not to be acknowledging what the other said.

"Hello, Jade," he greeted, seeing little reason to be impolite even if she was a monster that had to be destroyed. "Your hair looks nice today, did you do something different with it? Or is it just the snow and wind? Where does your family come from? Do you get snow there much? Or is this something you don't experience much?"

He looked around again, to check for bludgers and Demelza. He didn't think she would send any this way with them so close to Jade, but there might be rogue ones, or she might take exception to him being near enough to talk to her seeker and be heading in to join the party as well.
0 <font color=blue>Thaddeus Pierce, Beater</font> Quite rude, really. 0 <font color=blue>Thaddeus Pierce, Beater</font> 0 5


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

June 17, 2012 3:54 PM
She was vaguely wondering how devastating to the game it would be for her to land, roll and pack up a few snowballs, and then retake to the skies to pummel her opposition, when the character who’d featured in her thoughts pulled up alongside her. Jade cast Arnold a fleeting glance, but afforded him no other privileges or acknowledgments. She was going to ignore him, even when he asked how she was doing. Firstly, she was not going to let someone else dictate her position on the pitch; Jade was going to fly exactly where and when she wanted to fly, regardless of whatever scheme the Aladrens were executing. Secondly, any opportunity to be overtly rude to a Carey was not one to be missed.

However, when the Aladren Beater who took the form of Thaddeus Pierce arrived on her other side, Jade frowned in disgruntlement. Ignoring two morons was going to be harder than just ignoring one of them, and searching for the Snitch with blinkers on either side was going to be practically impossible, unless the animate object decided to present itself clearly in her direct vision and path (in which case, Arnold would see it, too, and his broomstick was faster than hers, and Thad was definitely close enough to witness any attempts she might make to ram her opponent off his broom). Gritting her teeth, the Pecari filling in an Aladren sandwich lowered her head a little to better tunnel through the falling snow, determined to pay no attention to her blue-clad flying companions.

Unfortunately, Thad’s comment about her hair drifted from his mouth to her ears without her permission, and she could stand it no longer. Mock her on her sub-standard broomstick quality, hand-me-down robes, or even attack her Quidditch skills and Jade could tolerate the baiting, but Thad was drawing on the fact that she was a girl. Jade couldn’t help that, and she’d certainly never drawn attention to it, let alone made any conscious efforts to do anything with her hair other than prevent it from getting in her face. Damn it all, she was going to chop the whole lot off straight after the game.

Resolve to make no response broken, Jade muttered, “Bite me,” just loud enough to be heard before halting her broom and allowing gravity to assist her in dropping several feet suddenly, with the accompanying sensation that she’d left her stomach and all its contents behind. Blithely unaware that one of Aladren’s Beaters was still directing questions at her, Jade pulled a hard right on her broom, and began to make progress again in the opposite direction. Cursed Aladrens and their ability to frustrate her even when she was doing her best to… Oh yes, to look out for the Snitch. Eyes on the prize; that was the plan. Taking a deep breath, the second year unclenched her knuckles and relaxed her misshapen eyebrows from the furrowed line they’d formed across her forehead, and raised her blue eyes to scan the skies. She couldn’t see the Snitch, and neither was she as high as she liked to be in the games – dropping to avoid her enemies (they’d made the progression from mere opponents by successfully provoking her into distraction) had been counter-productive in that respect. Hence she made to rise again gradually, casting a furtive look over her shoulders every few second to ascertain that she was being gained upon by neither Bludger nor player, and silently making pleads that Demelza take out first Arnold, and then Thad – okay, he had a bat, but he was about half Mel’s size; Jade had faith in her Captain.
0 <font color="brown">Jade Owen, Seeker</font> Your keen powers of observation astonish me. 0 <font color="brown">Jade Owen, Seeker</font> 0 5


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

June 20, 2012 6:28 PM
Okay, things had gone too far with the seekers now. Mel never did like it when the seekers decided it'd be a good idea to get all chatty with each other. That wasn't Quidditch. Quidditch was smacking bludgers at people and knocking their brains out. Mel liked quiet games.

Nevertheless, this was taking place, and because of that Mel decided she'd just hover around for a while. The bludgers were pretty calm, but since both seekers were so close, there wasn't much Mel could do. She hovered close by, but not close enough to hear anything. However, when one of the worst beaters in the school (okay, maybe that wasn't true, but Mel couldn't help but despise him for defending Arnold) tried to get in on the chit-chatting, rage started bubbling in Mel. She'd seen this so many times in games over the summer against co-ed teams. Admittedly, they were much tougher games, but that was because the co-ed teams were formed of the top people in the nation. The men on the team always tried to pick on her team's seeker, who was excellent at her job but very small and weak. Mel, being the tallest girl on her team at 6 feet tall, always came over to rescue her and try to scare the crap out of the men.

However, with Jade, Mel didn't think she would have to do that. She smiled proudly as she saw how easily she could walk it off--those stupid boys were no match for her. That meant that Mel's training had been working, surely--the Pecari Quidditch team was a strong group of fine young men and women. Mel flew in a circle around the beater and seeker, who seemed to be working as a pair, and shouted fiercely to them, "Get the hell away from her or I'll beat your brains out!" She raised her bat threateningly and then flew the opposite way, grinning to herself. Okay, so maybe this part of Quidditch was pretty fun too. The Pecari Captain then proceeded to search for a bludger to send at the Aladren duo, no matter that one of them had a bat; they were just plain annoying.

Mel finally found that bludger, although it was quite far away. That was not a problem, however--Mel practiced hitting bludgers across the pitch all the time. Making sure that she wouldn't accidentally hit a chaser on the way, Mel swung her bat back and brought it forward toward the Aladren seeker with much force, all of her anger at the way he and his accomplice/beater protector treated Jade behind her shot. Hmphf. That ought to teach them not to mess with an angry Pecari beater.
0 <font color="brown">Captain Mel, Beater</font> Bug off, you vermon 0 <font color="brown">Captain Mel, Beater</font> 0 5


<font color="blue">Arnold Carey, Seeker</font>

June 20, 2012 7:07 PM
When he spotted Thad again, Arnold was briefly concerned – his first thought whenever he spotted a Beater was always centered on Bludgers, but thought he didn’t see or hear a Bludger, that didn’t necessarily mean there wasn’t one, and in quarters as close as this, he could probably jump out of the way, but there was a chance that Jade would crash into him and maybe even succeed in pulling them both down – but then he put together what was going on and laughed a little in the back of his throat, even though the wind chose just then to blow what felt like a whole column of snow into his face, leaving him blinking rapidly to try to clear his vision. He had known he liked Thad. Arnold had never heard of the Beaters annoying the other Seeker, but it did make sense, probably more sense than him provoking the others directly did, as Thad had a bat to defend himself with if anyone ever went crazy and decided to attack him. No one had ever done that before, of course, but he thought Jade’s predecessor might have come pretty close in the one game they played against each other.

He glanced toward the Seekers, where she was today. Arthur had stolen the ball from her. He hoped that remained as civil, anyway, as their game had been. He’d hate for Arthur to get in trouble over something as unimportant as a game – or over anything, really, but especially over something that was supposed to be….

Well, not just fun, winning the game and then the Championship could change the results of the House points competition, and he remembered vaguely hearing somewhere that some people relied on sports scholarships to go to school, but anyway, it wasn’t worth getting yelled at by Coach Pierce and probably Mother, too, over. Mother was remarkably indifferent to their injuries in Quidditch – he guessed she had to be, after a point, just as they had gotten used to seeing each other take hits – but she had her ideas, and she wouldn’t, he was sure, like it if Arthur got in trouble for breaking the rules of the game or hitting a girl, much less doing both at once.

“How do you feel about the weather?” he asked at random. “It’s been a bit warm for my taste.” Maybe if he lied about it, it would be easier to pretend it wasn’t cold. He did not like the cold. His hands felt a little numb even now.

Then another voice chimed in, and for a moment, he thought with delight that Jade was answering them, but then he realized her mouth wasn't moving. "Good luck with that!" he hollered back at Demelza, despite the whispery little voice in the back of his head which now, as it sometimes, rarely, did, piped up to tell him something was a bad idea. Making an armed Amazon angry at him, especially after she had made him lose a game before, was the kind of thing that could bring this idea of self-preservation to mind for him, but he had already gotten caught up in the moment. Besides, she was nowhere near a Bludger.

The fun ended, though, as Jade dove to avoid them. Arnold chose to go look around the center of the Pitch instead of completing his sweep of the periphery, since he was pretty sure he wasn’t there and the players were all in the area of the Pecari end, anyway. That gave him…maybe a minute, two if he was lucky to only a reasonable extent instead of an unnatural one, before he’d have to go up or down or all around to avoid getting trampled as the players tried to run back toward that area. The center was usually a hot spot in games, with Aladren never letting anyone get too close to their goals but the others doing well enough to at least push them to the starting line; Arthur told him it was the dullest part of the game, just rushing back and forth over the same few yards of the Pitch over and over again, neither team able to hold the Quaffle very long.

Arthur was probably happy enough right now, then, since Aladren had not experienced very many upsets yet as far as Arnold could tell. He wondered where all of Pecari’s fight was, anyway. Last year, he thought the two teams had been close to warfare by this point in the game, but now they were dominating things easily – The Chasers were keeping all the heat on Sophie and off David, he and Thad were able to push Jade wherever they wanted, really, he was avoiding Demelza, their other Beater hadn’t even gotten near a Bludger that he had seen. Very strange.

He swept over, keeping a close eye on Jade and her movements while scanning the ground just as intently, looking anywhere for the Snitch. He thought of that as a useful skill of his.

Seeing the Bludger, though, was pure luck, since he had only a few glances to spare for Demelza. He turned quickly, but it still nearly caught in his robes, and he executed a sort of awkward flip in midair to avoid geting his ankle smashed. That, he knew, would be bad; joints were messier than long bones. The worst thing would be a hit to the hand, which would break small bones and also leave the thing he was supposed to catch the Snitch with useless for the duration, but an ankle or a knee or an elbow being reduced to a pulp would be pretty bad, too.

Righting himself, dizzy, he did the only sensible thing he could think of to do: without waiting to see if Thad had gotten it or not, he flew, as fast as his broom would go, straight toward Jade, knowing that if the Bludger followed, she couldn't outrun it as quickly as he could, so it would more than likely fixate on her instead of continuing on after him.
0 <font color="blue">Arnold Carey, Seeker</font> Now Mel, that's not a nice thing to call your own Seeker 181 <font color="blue">Arnold Carey, Seeker</font> 0 5


<font color="blue">Arnold Carey , Seeker</font>

June 23, 2012 9:26 PM
Arnold shot past Jade without a clear destination in mind, his main thought being to get away from the Bludger he had drawn down on his head and stay away from it. He didn’t hold to a straight line once he left the other Seeker behind, only briefly glancing back before he jumped higher in the air, then dove for a moment, flew to the side before rising again – actions which looked, he knew, pretty crazy, and were the circumstances where he was most likely to crash into some of the Chasers if he didn’t pay attention to what he was doing, but as seconds passed without a Bludger hitting him, he focused enough again to think he’d eliminated that as a major problem.

After a minute or two of rapid, sometimes gut-wrenching when he was engaging in especially abrupt evasive measures, he slowed down once he was pretty sure the Bludger was no longer directly on his tail and rose in the air in a more controlled manner, looking around to assess what the situation was. He had heard no whistles, nor a great roar of the crowds, so he knew that no one had scored or caught the Snitch, but other than that, anything could have happened while he was on the run.

As he looked, he couldn’t find Jade, so he didn’t know if she had been hit or had also evaded the Bludger by running in the other direction just now. Amira Thornton had the Quaffle and was running it back toward David; if nothing else interesting happened in the next minute, he’d sweep in front of her when she got to him just to be annoying and possibly startle her into passing if she felt inclined to take a page from Teppenpaw’s weird book and try to make a long run down the Pit –

Something glimmered in his peripheral vision, and the thought stopped as abruptly as he had been rising and falling in the air as Arnold turned rapidly to see what it was. Where had it been, where was it –

There. He had it. A slight sparkle, dimmer in this snowy weather than it would have been in the sun, but still visible, and even moving, he thought, almost lazily right now. Just begging him to reach out and catch it….

…Or trying to lure him, because the minute Arnold started toward it, it darted away. Determined to end this before taunting Demelza Eagle ended in her ending him, Arnold flew after it, screwing his eyes up in a desperate attempt not to blink.

He followed it across what felt like half the Pitch before he did, and when his eyes opened again, he could no longer see it. Cursing mentally, he looked around again, knowing it couldn’t have gotten far, and saw it hovering three feet away from him, idle again and this time, apparently content to stay that way. He was all but able to put his hand out and take it from the air.

He was still a little sure this was one of the only slightly strange Quidditch dreams he had sometimes when Arthur materialized. He shook his head as he looked at his brother, then back at the Snitch in his hand. So last year had been a fluke after all; he felt almost sorry for Pecari. It would be awful, to lose year after year, then think that it was over, that the big two teams had been toppled or at least one of them had and the other could be, and then…. “Well, we won,” he said.
0 <font color="blue">Arnold Carey , Seeker</font> Neither is 'loser,' but that would be more accurate, anyway 181 <font color="blue">Arnold Carey , Seeker</font> 0 5


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

June 23, 2012 9:32 PM
 
1 <font color=silver>Coach Amelia Pierce</font> Aladren wins! 150-0 (nm) 20 <font color=silver>Coach Amelia Pierce</font> 0 5