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

October 06, 2012 3:26 PM
Having gone over her notes of past seasons, Amelia Pierce noticed that Aladren had not played against Teppenpaw at all in the last three years and decided this should be rectified. Plus, it amused her that both teams had a Pierce & Stratford Beater line-up and felt the two sets of relatives should get to play against each other. There were also Thorntons on both teams, though the Aladren one was still a reserve since Aladren had not felt the need to make any change to their previous year's starting line-up.

As they were returning Champions once again and had not suffered any graduations or drop-outs, Amelia could not fault Captain Wilkes for this decision. Though they hadn't graduated anyone either, Teppenpaw's team had seen a small change to their roster with the new influx of first years. Mr. Davies was back on the bench as Teppenpaw's emergency Keeper (the position, as Amelia understood it, that he preferred) and his unwanted Chaser position had been claimed by newcomer Carter Browning. Otherwise, Teppenpaw's starting team remained unchanged as well.

However, since they had not played each other last year, or the year before, or the year before that, both teams would be relatively new to each other at least, if not to the spectators watching.

"Welcome," she announced, once the time for the match to begin had arrived. The stands were filled with those who wanted to watch, and the two teams were gathered on the ground in the middle of the Pitch with her. The two captains had finished with the speeches, so the new Quidditch Season was ready to begin.

The sun was bright, the sky was blue, and a few fluffy white clouds provided intermittent relief from the sun's blinding glare. Right this moment, though, Amelia was squinting a little and shielding her eyes from it with a hand as she looked up first toward the stands and then toward the teams. "Today, we start the new season with Aladren, led by Captain Wilkes, facing off against Teppenpaw, led by Captain Melcher. Will the two captains shake hands?" She waited for the two to complete the request before continuing. "The game begins on my whistle. It ends when a Seeker catches the Snitch."

She released the Snitch, and the bludgers, and lifted up the Quaffle. "Ready? One. Two. Three." She threw the ball into the air and blew into her whistle.

The game had begun.
Subthreads:
0 <font color=silver>Coach Pierce</font> Game One: Aladren vs Teppenpaw 0 <font color=silver>Coach Pierce</font> 1 5

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

October 06, 2012 7:38 PM
This was it, this was Kirstenna's last chance to prove that she wasn't a complete failure as a Captain. Well, she supposed that if they won, the championship would be her last chance to prove herself, but if they didn't win this one, they wouldn't be playing again. She wouldn't be playing again.

It was a sad thought. Kirstenna had really come to enjoy Quidditch, despite the Imposter and the fact that they hadn't won. Personally, she didn't even really think that she was a bad captain. She ran perfectly acceptable practices without being too hard on anyone and least her team wasn't psychotic. It wasn't Kirstenna's fault or theirs that the Aladrens were Imperiused. Though she was pretty sure that Arnold Carey really did have some natural talent as a Seeker. But being under the Imperius curse probably helped.

And she'd really come to have real affection for her team. Aside from Sam, they were the closest thing the Teppenpaw had to friends now. Ever since Brian had been kidnapped and Sophia had fallen prey to Renee Errant's dark powers and Quentin graduated, Kirstenna had been alone and it really got to her at times. Stupid Imposter. She knew that there were some people that she just wasn't going to connect with but the ones she had were gone. Well, Sophia wasn't, but she might as well be.

It made her sad. It really did. Losing a friend hurt more than anything, more than losing Quidditch games or the way her father's family-other than Quentin-rejected her and her parents. The Teppenpaw had always wanted a best friend and now she didn't have one. She missed Brian a lot too and couldn't help but feel his kidnapping was her fault. If she hadn't told him her theories, he wouldn't have tried to stand up to the Imposter and been captured. He'd still be here.

Sometimes Kirstenna would think about him. She'd wonder if he was okay, if he was even still alive. She wondered what it would be like if he were still around. Maybe he'd have been Quidditch Captain instead of her, but that would have been okay. They would have been able to hang out and become the sort of friends Kirstenna had always wanted. She missed Sophia too, but that was completely hopeless. It was just too late.

Brian, though, was another reason that she wanted to win. For him. Tobar too. And for everyone else she'd ever been on the team with. For Kate, Arista, Derry, Laurie, Marcus, Carter, Solomon, Brielle, Eris, Enion, Hannah, Lucie, Andrew, Dmitri, Colleen, Ben and Jessica. For the entire House, past, present and future.

The Captain turned to face her team, possibly for the last time. She couldn't believe they actually had four reserves this term. "Okay guys, I know Aladren is tough but we can do this. We're pretty good. Arista, you were amazing last year. Derry, Laurie, you're terrific Beaters and I think you're just as good as your cousins, if not better." Derry almost certainly had to be and Laurie at least wasn't psychotic. Though it was likely not Preston Stratford's fault he was that way. It was the Imposter's."Kate, you're a great Seeker and don't ever think otherwise. Marcus, I feel you've done a good job so far and you'll continue to improve. Carter, you show a lot of promise. Reserves, I have every confidence that if someone gets taken out, you'll do wonderful filling in.This is going to be our year."

It just had to be. Winning wasn't everything, but it would mean so much to Kirstenna, to feel that sort of pride. She'd felt it before, like after the concert when she'd totally nailed her song but not when it came to Quidditch. She really didn't know what it was like and it was something she wanted to experience just once. All Kirstenna really wanted was to win just one game, just this game. Winning the Championships would just be a bonus.

As the Imposter began to speak, Kirstenna sending her nemesis the usual glare, she shook hands with David Wilkes and took her spot in front of the goals, watching as possibly the last game she'd ever play unfolded.
11 <font color=yellow>Captain Kirstenna,Keeper</font> This is it. 161 <font color=yellow>Captain Kirstenna,Keeper</font> 0 5


<font color="blue">Arthur Carey, Chaser</font>

October 06, 2012 8:20 PM
Here they went again. Arthur couldn’t pretend to be very worried about the game. The sun was bright, which would hinder Arnold somewhat, but most likely not more than it would Teppenpaw’s inferior Seeker, and he did not think that much of the Teppenpaw Chasers, either. One of them was difficult to hit with Bludgers, if their game with Crotalus the year before was anything to go by, but he believed Preston was tougher and more bloodthirsty than Mr. Calhoun, and the other two were very small. Arthur expected he and Russell and Katrina would be able to walk over them with contemptuous ease. Derwent might pose more of a threat to Arnold, but his brother was used to flying injured and Arthur was slightly more used to seeing him injured by outsiders and not doing anything about it now, so he wasn’t too worried about that, either.

Another Aladren victory was almost a sure thing. It was just a question of how tidily they’d come by it. He listened politely to the speeches of both Mr. Wilkes and Coach Pierce, and looked over the Teppenpaw team to make sure that there had been no surprise substitutions. It seemed there had not been. He revised his appraisal of the game from ‘almost’ to a sure thing. Today was not the day the Pecari upset would be repeated in any fashion.

He looked over at his brother fondly, though only Arnold himself, if he had been paying attention, would have recognized the expression. As it happened, Arnold was not paying attention, but waving to his opposite number on the Teppenpaw team instead. Arthur decided it was for the best, at this moment at least, not to consider too much whether or not the gesture was supposed to be intimidating, mocking, or genuinely friendly, since there were moments when he thought of it and concluded that had things gone just a little differently, his brother could have ended up in Teppenpaw, and where should they have both been then? He couldn’t imagine them being split up that way, since Arthur knew there was no way in any reality with any vague resemblance to this one in which he could have gone there. Aladren was his place, as it was Arnold’s, which worked out well for both of them. In no other House, after all, could they have been part of a generally excellent Quidditch team, rather than Arnold just being a particularly brilliant Seeker, and neither could they have made such connections as they could in Aladren. Crotalus had a lingering reputation from the old days, but Aladren was where most of the people who were going to be somebodies went now.

As everyone mounted their brooms, Arthur looked around the stands, but wasn’t able to make out faces distinctly or see if his future sister-in-law was here. Anthony was one reason he expected that he and Arnold would play better than usual, he didn’t fully understand the relationship between his brothers but was sure that Arnold wouldn’t want to look foolish in front of their younger brother any more than he did, but Fae was, he had to admit, another. Arnold especially would not want to lose in front of his future wife. A dramatic scene after the game did not seem completely improbable if she was here, but it wasn’t the whole reason he hoped she was present. Still, there was nothing he could do about it now. He mounted his broom, kicked off….

…And got the Quaffle. For a moment, Arthur didn’t completely process that, his hands having moved automatically when he found himself near the red ball, but then it caught up to him: he had the Quaffle. That was the only important fact he needed to know at this exact moment, at least until the Beaters caught up with their charges. That, and which way to fly, which took a second longer to sort out in the tangle, but which he quickly figured out and headed in.

He dodged a yellow blur, swerved to the side when he thought he heard a whistling noise behind him and to his right, but made fast and steady progress toward Miss Melcher. What was it about Teppenpaws and resident half-bloods, he wondered? From what he’d heard, North Carolina’s had gone there, too, when she was in school. He rose in the air to avoid another Teppenpaw and then, on his way back down, passed the Quaffle down and at an angle to one of his fellow Aladrens, hoping the move would go through smoothly and take them perhaps, as they had started in the middle and had, for the most part, better brooms as well as better people, all the way to Miss Melcher’s position and a quick first goal of the game.
0 <font color="blue">Arthur Carey, Chaser</font> Game day is indeed upon us 0 <font color="blue">Arthur Carey, Chaser</font> 0 5


<font color=yellow>Carter Browning, Chaser</font>

October 06, 2012 9:40 PM
Carter woke up extra early that morning so he could get some extra flying in for their game this morning against Aladren. He had no idea what to expect from them, but he was certain they wouldn’t get the better of him. It didn’t matter to him that most of their team probably consisted of older classmates who were familiar with the Pitch. He spent almost every day since making the team out on the field flying around it getting to know every pole and turn. He had flown soo much at one point the was sure his butt probably had sores on it, but that didn’t stop him either. Just as he was determined to show Kirstenna that he was worthy of being on team, he would show the other team that Carter Browning may be small, but he was a force to be reckoned with. After his stint on the pitch he went back inside to shower and get dressed. It wouldn’t do for him to reek of sweat before he played his first game. As he showered he thought of all the ways he could possibly move to get a leg up on his opponents. He had no idea who any of them were yet, but it never hurt to be prepared.

Carter threw on his most comfy pair of black jeans, his favorite rugby shirt, his lucky sneakers and his team robes which he had gotten after making one of the Chaser spots. He grabbed his broom and headed down out of the Teppenpaw dorms towards Cascade Hall to see about grabbing some breakfast before he headed out to the pitch. His grandfather always warned him about playing on an empty stomach. “Canna concentrate boy-o if yer stomach is talking to ya” Grandpa Browning always told him. Carter kept that in mind as he piled his plate with pancakes and sausage. He always thought his grandpa was a little nutty, but he never ignored the old man’s advice. He found that as he ate his stomach stopped flipping around. He found it odd that he would be this nervous. He’d never been nervous playing Quidditch before. Maybe it was because it was about to play his first game at school in front of all of his fellow students and he didn’t want to make his house look bad. As he understood it, his house had never won a game and this was his captain’s last year to try. He really didn’t want to let Kirstenna down. He wanted her last year as captain to be a great one and if he could help make that happen, he wanted to try.

He finished up with breakfast and headed out of the hall down towards the field. The walk down to the pitch felt a little longer than the other times he had done it. Carter shook his head to clear his thoughts and jogged over to where his team was assembled. He took his place beside Marcus and waited for Coach Pierce to finish talking to them all. He nodded to the rest of his teammates and tried to look serious. That was when Kirstenna addressed them all. "Okay guys, I know Aladren is tough but we can do this. We're pretty good. Arista, you were amazing last year. Derry, Laurie, you're terrific Beaters and I think you're just as good as your cousins, if not better. Kate, you're a great Seeker and don't ever think otherwise. Marcus, I feel you've done a good job so far and you'll continue to improve. Carter, you show a lot of promise. Reserves, I have every confidence that if someone gets taken out, you'll do wonderful filling in. This is going to be our year." she told them all. Carter was pleased that she felt he had promise. He was more determined than ever to show her how right she was about him. Once Kirstenna finished her pep talk he mounted his broom and prepared to kick off the ground into the air. Hr heard the whistle blow to start the game and he kicked off into the air.

He saw the quaffle take off into the air and before Carter could grab it, it was snatched up by one of the Aladrens. Carter frowned slightly, but was determined to get it from the other player. He followed the other Chaser as closely as possible, avoiding the bludgers that flew freely through the air. He kept an eye on Aladren’s other Chaser and where his own beaters were located, watching closely for an opening to steal the Quaffle for Teppenpaw. His chance finally came when he saw the other boy attempt to pass it to one of his teammates. He swooped around from near the other boy and caught it cleanly before his teammate could grab it. Tucking it safely under his arm, Carter zoomed like a rocket away from his team’s goal area and towards Aladren’s. He kept his eyes peeled for Marcus should he need to pass the Quaffle, but made an attempt for Aladren’s goal and keeper. He waited until he was close enough to try before flying head long at Aladren’s Keeper hoping to give himself that one second he would need for their attention to be on him and not the goal before he made his move. Once he was sure he had it he made his move. He wrapped his way around the poles and tried to slip the quaffle into the goal passed the keeper. He threw the quaffle with all his might and waited. If his stunt worked, Teppenpaw would be sitting on their first goal of the game. He held his breath a little as he watched the quaffle sail towards its target.
0 <font color=yellow>Carter Browning, Chaser</font> It most certainly has 0 <font color=yellow>Carter Browning, Chaser</font> 0 5

<font color="blue">Captain Wilkes, Keeper</font>

October 08, 2012 1:51 PM
David paced back and forth before the game, including a few rounds in front of the team itself. He suspected that was not the best move he could have possibly made, tactically speaking, but the nervous energy had been building up for him since about seven the previous night, keeping him up, and he had gone through a little too much coffee this morning, and standing still wasn’t, somewhere in the midst of it all, really an option. He hoped – expected, really – that his head would clear once he was in the air, but for right now, he was all wound up. The anxiety before the performance, for him, was almost always worse than what he went through during it.

“So,” he said. “Teppenpaw.”

David had never played against Teppenpaw. The last time Aladren had faced off against them had been when he had still been safely and happily on the bench as a reserve. He hoped the rest of the team didn’t have that on their minds. “Well – it’s more of the usual, I think, lads,” he said, wondering for a second why he’d ended his sentence that way before deciding it wasn’t really important. “We shouldn’t have too much trouble, but don’t get too overconfident, they’re not made of complete fail. Their Beaters are especially likely to be a Problem, and their Chasers have a track record for making crazy desperate moves. If they do, you guys – “ he looked between Thad and Preston – “you unleash all hell on them as soon as they start, help ‘em break their bad habits, yeah? Just aim for whoever’s holding the Quaffle at that moment, if they pass or if they don’t – “ people being worried about the crazy one passing, and thus aiming at the wrong person, was the only way he could think that people got away with crazy long runs – “it doesn’t really matter, if they’re wearing yellow, they need to be hit, right?”

The perks of being on the villain team, he thought fondly. He had already decided that if they made it to the Championship next year, when it was far too late for Coach Pierce to do much of anything – to him, anyway – about it, he was going to lead the team out while magically blaring the Imperial March at top volume. More than half the audience wouldn’t get it, but he would have a story to tell his great-grandkids until they murdered him from sheer boredom at hearing the tale again. “Russell, Kitty, Arthur – you guys rule, you know this, here’s hoping I don’t see any of you again until the victory party. Arnold…just win again. Reserves, be ready.”

He thought about it. “I think that’s all,” he said, relieved to be done with it. Talking like this was not in his nature – Mr. Tough Guy, like; he found it hard not to stammer or at least laugh at himself half the time – and giving orders to the Careys and Stratfords and Pierces of the world was not a good long-term strategy, he never felt right doing it, and the speeches were the worst. He hoped he had to give another one in a few months, but that didn’t make him any less glad that this one was over. “Let’s go pulverize them.”

He shook hands with Kirstenna Melcher, and though he was a little unnerved by how she’d looked at the coach for a second there, he chalked it up to being put against Aladren and gave her a nod anyway. Neither of them, he thought, was really suited to this captain thing, but here they went anyway. He flew up to his goals, nodded again in approval as Arthur took the Quaffle….

…And promptly found himself watching as the Littlest Teppenpaw sailed merrily down the Pitch. “Dudes!” he yelled, forgetting that he was a little afraid of his team’s Beaters in his indignation. So it was a first year. Smaller target, sure, but more breakable, and he didn’t think Preston and Thaddeus were as squeamish as he was outside of the abstract about beating little kids senseless since they did both play Beater more or less voluntarily. David was aware that he’d have trouble doing it if he thought about it, but that was why he gave the Beaters their orders instead of playing their position.

He watched the first year closely, just in case he tried a last-second pass, glad that the red Quaffle stood out well against yellow robes, then had to twist around when he decided to wind around the hoops, which made David decide it was much less morally suspect for the Beaters to hit him now, and he batted the Quaffle away from the goal it was eventually sent for with the tips of his fingers. Then, to make that look more deliberate and less like he’d had a little trouble with the first shot, he bounced the ball back and forth between the tips of his fingers a few times before throwing it, as hard and directly as possible, toward one of his own Chasers.
16 <font color="blue">Captain Wilkes, Keeper</font> Let's get to it, then. 169 <font color="blue">Captain Wilkes, Keeper</font> 0 5


<font color=yellow>Carter Browning, Chaser</font>

October 08, 2012 6:09 PM
Carter had stayed pretty close to the goal area to see if his shot had managed to sail into the goal. He wasn’t all that surprised when it was stopped by Aladren’s Keeper. I made a first good shot at it he told himself watching to see what the older boy would do. I’ll just have to make my next shot better He was a little miffed that his first attempt bombed, but he wasn’t going to let it get him down. He still had an entire game left to make more attempts. The fact that he had been bold enough to make that first move made him really proud of himself. He kept an eye out for the beaters and Aladren’s chasers making sure to keep an extra special eye on where his own people where located. He wasn’t entirely sure which ones of the guys in blue out on the field were the beaters, but he would watch for them just the same. He wanted to make sure he didn’t miss anything if he could help it. So far the only thing he had to really worry about were the free flying bludgers which so far he had managed to avoid. He heard one sailing in his direction and stuck himself along his broom dropping a couple of feet to avoid it. He turned his attention back to the action happening around him and almost missed Aladren’s Keeper hurling the ball towards one of his own players.

Carter grinned as he took off after the flying quaffle, determined that it would not reach its intended goal. He managed, barely, to get in front of it and caught it hard against his chest. It momentarily knocked the wind out of him, but he quickly shook off the shock and clutched it close to his chest. He took off into the air across the field trying to come up with a small game plan since he had already tried the other move and it hadn’t panned out so well. It would probably be a short amount of time before he tried it again. He saw one of the bludgers flying towards him out of the corner of his eye and had barely managed to duck before it sailed about an inch away from his head. The blood was racing through his body soo fast that he could hear it pounding through his ears. He had to breathe in and out a couple of times to clear his head as he looked around him to see where his people were at. He was a little relieved when he spotted Arista not to far away from where he now flew. He looked over in her direction hoping that she saw the signal he was giving her before deciding he was going to wing it her way. From where she was at she looked like she had a better chance of scoring on them than he did. He swung himself around and took careful aim before lobbing it in her direction. He just hoped that she caught it before one of the Aladren’s did.
0 <font color=yellow>Carter Browning, Chaser</font> I love a challenge 0 <font color=yellow>Carter Browning, Chaser</font> 0 5

<font color="blue">Captain Wilkes, Keeper</font>

October 08, 2012 6:27 PM
It was a fact generally assumed that an Aladren Keeper in possession of his current Chasers could, after blocking the occasional random attack against the Aladren goals, relax for a while, since while it wasn’t entirely uncommon for his players to have some fun with the opposing Keeper, no one really did that to them. It took, then, a second for David to realize that the little first year had somehow intercepted the pass back to an Aladren Chaser, a development he could only respond to, initially, with a sort of outraged squawk.

It was a good thing, for Aladren, that the first year had apparently not bothered to read up on the Quidditch rule where Chasers could only score against the goal guarded by someone whose robe color didn’t match theirs, because if he’d taken another shot, David thought he might have been surprised enough to miss it completely. This did not happen. He had warned that the Teppenpaw Chasers were desperate, and this one had demonstrated already that they were desperate to the point of appearing a little suicidal, but this. Did not. Happen. He had, when he had been forced off the bench, chosen this spot specifically because this did not happen. David thought of himself more as a commentator than a Keeper, because no one ever got near him. That was a fact, and he did not want that to ever, under any conditions, cease to be a fact, because if it did, he was a target for Bludgers just like everyone else, as witness Nic Sawyer, and he did not want to break his neck for a stupid game he didn’t even like that much anyway.

Get it back,” he yelled, hoping that his Chasers and Beaters were already so focused on doing that that they didn’t hear him, but hoping to convey a message about how he was seriously reconsidering his nonviolent policies to any who happened to hear. He knew that if he ever did just hex someone, it would be in the heat of the moment, right after they lost a game because one person had done something incredibly stupid, but if they thought he would persecute with extreme prejudice after the game, then right now, that was fine. He was not supposed to have to work this much for a living, and since the other two Teppenpaw Chasers presumably knew which end of the Pitch they were supposed to shoot at, he was going to have to work again soon if one of the Chasers did not get the Quaffle back.

He crossed his fingers, flying a few unusually fast and forceful loops around the goal hoops to help his feelings of stress wind down while he waited to see if his Chasers were going to do their jobs or if they had finally just gotten so sure of themselves that they neglected to play the game and made him have to understand how normal people felt about sports and fume about that because he'd never wanted to understand how normal people felt about sports.
16 <font color="blue">Captain Wilkes, Keeper</font> My advice is to get over it as soon as possible. 169 <font color="blue">Captain Wilkes, Keeper</font> 0 5


<font color="blue">Russell Layne, Chaser</font>

October 08, 2012 6:48 PM
Teppenpaw had not played Aladren since Russell was a first year, but that didn’t mean he didn’t have an opinion of their team. In fact, that encounter several years back was pretty much the basis of Russell’s opinion about Teppenpaw. That game had been long, it had been bloody (six people, him among them, had needed to visit the hospital tent by the end of the match; one more, and they would have had a whole team of convalescents), and it had been a good introduction to what the past four years had mostly been in terms of Sonora Quidditch. Some of the lineup had changed, on both sides, but he didn’t see Teppenpaw as anything less than a dangerous opponent who had the advantage of having not played against Aladren in so long that they weren’t too familiar with what strategies Kirstenna Melcher might be using these days with the most experienced of the school’s four Seekers.

He knew, though, that his teammates didn’t necessarily see it the same way, so David’s opening speech didn’t surprise him that much. Truth to be told, he thought they were going to win, too; he just didn’t think it was necessarily going to be easy. Keeping all of his thoughts to himself, though, he chuckled when he and Arthur and Kitty were deemed rulers and settled to checking his broom one more time while waiting for the game to begin.

Coach Pierce gave a brief speech, shielding her eyes against the light that made Russell squint, too, and be newly grateful that he wasn’t a Seeker, and then it was on. Arthur got the Quaffle immediately, and Russell was expecting an easy first run against Captain Melcher, provided that the Teppenpaw Beaters were doing the entirely sensible thing and concentrating all their combined energies on attacking Arnold, when one of the Teppenpaw Chasers intercepted the pass and shot off toward David.

“Huh,” Russell said, a little impressed and a little pleased with himself for calling the fact that the Teppenpaws weren’t just going to roll over and let them win too easily, and turned his broom to follow the Quaffle. The Chaser – a new guy, no one he recognized; a first year, he thought he had heard, their other one didn’t like being a Chaser so much and had gone back to the reserve bench – would pass soon enough, and then Aladren would recapture the ball and they’d either manage to get to where they could take a shot or else they’d just go back and forth in the middle for a while, constantly passing and intercepting. He hoped they didn’t do that for too long, but he knew, as the veteran of one too many Crotalus games, that it could very easily happen.

This time, though, it didn’t happen at all. The new Chaser went all the way across the territory Arthur had cleared for Aladren, back across the center line, and then across the Aladren half of the Pitch and to David without passing or getting, to use the captain’s word, pulverized by the Beaters. Russell sighed and got ready for a long, bloody, painful game. This was not going to be pretty, pleasant, or anything even remotely close to those adjectives. It looked like, after the other teams had lost a little spirit in the past few years, maybe, that they were back to Quidditch games being nothing short of wars of attrition, with no prisoners taken and no quarter granted unless Arnold and the other Seeker struck up some kind of weird relationship around the rest of the game. Maybe being Seeker wasn’t so bad, after all; Arnold got hurt more than they did, and had to deal with the light, but he seemed to have less Quidditch stress than the rest of them did most of the time.

David saved, showed off a little, and started to pass the ball back to Russell…only to have the same Teppenpaw Chaser intercept. Russell had to say this much for him, he had lots of energy. Not much sense, since he promptly flew away from the goals instead of taking advantage of no one expecting that and therefore maybe no one but Russell figuring out what had happened for a few seconds, but he had energy. And a death with. Russell followed, and when he tried to pass to one of the Thornton girls, Russell intercepted it.

Thanks for the ground, he thought, though he decided to save his breath for flying instead of pausing to yell it at the Teppenpaws. They had given Aladren a gift, going away from the goals for a little distance, so he could take it with good grace and also save some time. He went almost as fast as his broom would go in the opposite direction, the Quaffle held securely under one arm as he shot through the air, hoping to outpace the Teppenpaws by a little before he slowed down enough to make a close pass toward one of his own players.
16 <font color="blue">Russell Layne, Chaser</font> I'd listen to the man. 183 <font color="blue">Russell Layne, Chaser</font> 0 5


<font color="blue">Arthur Carey, Chaser</font>

October 08, 2012 7:38 PM
For a moment, Arthur didn’t realize what had happened, but there was enough noise coming from the Teppenpaw side of the Pitch that it didn’t take him long to figure it out. “Oh, for Merlin’s sake,” he muttered, turning quickly enough that his stomach and head both momentarily objected and moving after the Teppenpaw Chasers, intent on getting the Quaffle back. If they were going to rack up many points – or really, given the way games went sometimes, any points at all – in a game that went on more than ten minutes, he thought it would early, before everyone was too tired to aim properly when passing or shooting.

He didn’t, though, get a chance, and while he didn’t really understand what Mr. Wilkes was shouting as they approached him, Arthur was fairly sure that he understood the feeling behind it very well. If he had tried that, covering about two thirds of the Pitch in one flight, Arthur was sure he would have completed the mission as long as he didn’t actually sustain a head injury or serious internal damage, but that he would have only done so with a broken arm, if not a broken rib to match. The Teppenpaws, though, had all the luck for that kind of thing.

Well, they could keep it. He would rather have the skill to successfully rebel against Fortuna any day. Aladrens didn’t need luck; they had money, brains, and talent, which would outdo luck any day, and even if the other team had those, too, Aladren also had determination – or at least a fear of failure. He wasn’t even sure anymore if the will to win was really stronger than the will just not to be humiliated as those who climbed to a height and then fell from it always were, but nor did he care. It worked, whatever it was, and that was all that was important.

He put his hands together in the shortest expression of applause when Mr. Wilkes successfully saved the shot, then started mapping out their course back across the Pitch in his mind when…the Teppenpaw Chaser, a Mr. Browning, if he wasn’t mistaken, intercepted that pass as well, and decided to withdraw for the goals. Arthur watched him with interest, wondering if he would actually pass, or if he just wished to give the impression that he was going to pass to one of the other Teppenpaw Chasers before he attacked the goals again. He hoped it was the former, of course, since that gave Aladren a chance to get the Quaffle away from him, and was pleased when that was what happened and Russell intercepted, but he had to admit, he was curious to know whether or not it would have worked if he’d gone the other way. Mr. Wilkes was a person Arthur had trouble evaluating; seeing how he reacted was always amusing, as long as he wasn’t feeling too emotional about the game and getting upset about plays. That might come later, but for now, Arthur was still expecting an easy and almost purely enjoyable game.

Russell, however, was playing the game, so Arthur also sped along on his broom, thinking again of the role money played in Quidditch, and when the Quaffle was passed again, he caught it, completing the move before another interception could occur, and immediately sped back up to the pace they’d been using before the pass, putting more distance between them and Mr. Wilkes. He did not keep it long, though, before he passed again, feinting left before passing right and putting a lot of force behind the pass to his teammate.
0 <font color="blue">Arthur Carey, Chaser</font> It might be for the best 0 <font color="blue">Arthur Carey, Chaser</font> 0 5


<font color=yellow>Carter, Chaser</font>

October 08, 2012 7:56 PM
Carter saw the quaffle sailing towards Arista and was pretty sure it would reach her when one of the Aladren Chasers grabbed it before she could. Carter cursed under his breath for his mistake and watched the Aladren take off across the field. He took off after him as fast as his broom would carry him, weaving his way around the bludgers and the other players on his own side. He was determined that if he couldn’t catch up to him, he would at least give the Aladren’s something to think about. He flew up slightly higher trying to dodge a particularly stubborn bludger when he caught sight of the Aladren Chaser below him. The boy had made it to their side of the field and was getting ready to make a pass to one of his teammates. Carter tried to get to the quaffle before it reached its goal, but was a tad too slow. He missed it by mere centimeters. He took off after the new chaser who caught it determined to get it back. He almost lost the boy when he feigned left, but managed to pull away to go for it when the boy passed it to his teammate. He caught it again, just barely and sped away from them cradling the quaffle to his chest.

He kept his eye on the beaters as he zigged and zagged his way across the field. He dipped slightly narrowly avoiding a bludger that had been hit in his direction either by one of the Aladrens or by one of the Teppenpaws aiming for the other team. He knew that he was getting incredibly lucky with missing the stupid bludgers that flew at him and that sooner or later his luck may run out. Until that happened he would fly his little butt off. He flew with everything in him as he bolted towards Aladren’s goal. Whether his next attempt was stopped or not would not stop Carter from trying. He dipped past another bludger narrowly hitting him in the arm as it whizzed past. It almost made him drop the quaffle. Almost. He hugged it close to himself and continued towards his target. As he flew towards the goal he blocked out everything going on around him as far as the movement of the other players. He refused to let them distract him. He hoped with his next move that he could get the keeper to follow him before he made his shot. He started to fly right at the keeper again only to drop in flight, swing around behind the poles and backtracked before coming out by the side of them and winging the ball towards the goal. He just hoped that he hadn’t gotten his aim wrong when he made the shot.
0 <font color=yellow>Carter, Chaser</font> Perhaps...perhaps not 0 <font color=yellow>Carter, Chaser</font> 0 5


<font color="yellow"> Laurie. Beater </font>

October 08, 2012 8:53 PM
Laurie had spent the best part of his summer at Quidditch Camp honing his beater skills. The redhead had eaten Quidditch since he was born due to his father, and Laurie couldn’t be happier to be the only child to share that passion with him. Out of the siblings, Laurie was the only one that actually liked the sport. Darren was more of a socialite than anything else and Larissa was a girl. The fact that his little sister was girl didn’t mean she couldn’t play, but social norms dictated that she couldn’t, not that Larissa actually wanted to. She didn’t even like to fly, which was a shame, really.

Anyways, the Teppenpaw was determined to play his best game ever today. This game was against Aladren, and he really wanted to win and show Preston he wasn’t all that. When they had been younger the cousins had been sort of close. That had been a long time away. They actually avoided each other like the plague. The Teppenpaw had found better people to spend his time with and no longer needed Preston for anything, other than creaming his team to a pulp at this game.

The first thing Laurie noticed when he entered the pitch was the brightness of the sun and how that would be detrimental for the catching of snitch. It wasn’t his job, but he thought about these types of things all the time. Laurie liked to strategize about things, and he often ended up with very crazy moves or plans. He had an overactive imagination.

The redhead joined with the rest of his team and listened to Kirstenna’s pep talk. He beamed at the mention of him being better than Preston and decided they were going to win. He could already see the Teppenpaw team celebrating the championship.

Laurie was already anxious about getting on his broom and starting the game. It was obvious by the way he was fidgeting.

AND…Coach Pierce gave them the go.

Laurie jumped to his broom with a smile on his face and zoomed away. He swung his bat to get a feel of it. This was life; this was what he wanted to do as a career. He was going to become a professional player. The sun was getting in the way of his vision, but he managed to get a glimpse of a bludger not very far from where he was. He flew to his left and went after it before swinging his bat and sending it towards an Aladren chaser, since Derry was working on the Seeker.
0 <font color="yellow"> Laurie. Beater </font> Yippe! 0 <font color="yellow"> Laurie. Beater </font> 0 5


<font color="blue">Arthur Carey, Chaser</font>

October 08, 2012 9:58 PM
Only two factors kept Arthur from being a Beater, and size wasn’t one of them. Just on the basis of height and mass, he knew he would have looked far more natural carrying a Beater’s bat than Thaddeus did, and that he likely could have done more with that bat than his esteemed colleague could, as well. Unfortunately, that was part of one of the two factors keeping him as a Chaser; when he was busy with the Quaffle, he kept it in check well enough, but when he had something designed for hitting things with in his hands and was in the middle of a highly emotionally charged event, feeling frustrated and seeking to annihilate the other side, Arthur had an unfortunate habit of lapsing into behavior which would have been more appropriate in those of his distant ancestors who’d embarrassed their parents by finding ways to participate in Muggle wars solely for the excuse to kill things with their large collection of enchanted swords.

Arthur very much agreed with his mother that this was a flaw of his. He prided himself on his self-control, and beating someone over the head with a stick for no better reason than that someone not being Arnold was not the behavior of a person with a lot of self-control. Sometimes, though, just sometimes, he slightly regretted it. At the moment, seeing that same Teppenpaw Chaser heading for the goals again, he decided to use it.

He could not do much about the shot, not without risking a tangle which could result in injury for two Aladrens to only one Teppenpaw and, whether there were injuries or not, make the team look very foolish, but he could do something about preventing the scenario which had just played out from repeating itself. It was interesting to see what Mr. Wilkes would do under pressure, but not that interesting, and it was high time that the ball got somewhere far away from the Aladren goals and stayed there. Instead of even trying to intercept the Quaffle, then, Arthur instead flew directly toward Mr. Browning and counted on being a fifth year and reasonably tall to do the rest of the work of herding the first year away from the Aladren goals. If it didn’t work, he was confident of his ability to extract himself from the move without colliding and thus avoiding a foul, but he thought it would. As a first year, if he’d had a fifth year sweeping at him like an overgrown bat with no intention of stopping, he thought he would have gotten out of the way, too.

Only once did he take his eyes off his target, looking for a Beater and wondering if he could also herd Mr. Browning right into an intimate acquaintance with a Bludger. That would be a little trickier to manage, but if it could be –

Wham.

Arthur heard the whistle, but by then, it was too late to do anything about it except throw himself forward on his broom, more instinctually than anything, to try to lessen the impact, and he didn’t get far with that. The Bludger collided hard with a spot just below his left shoulder, driving some of the wind out of him and leaving in its wake a place which ached terribly, then began to sting and ache at the same time. Gasping, Arthur looked around wildly, couldn’t find the Quaffle, and continued sweeping toward Mr. Browning in the hopes of both deflecting him from it and possibly setting the Bludger on him.
0 <font color="blue">Arthur Carey, Chaser</font> Congratulations, Lawrence. You've successfully made me angry 0 <font color="blue">Arthur Carey, Chaser</font> 0 5

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

October 09, 2012 10:19 AM
As Arthur Carey got the Quaffle right away, Kirstenna groaned inwardly. This game was not off to a good start but what could she expect? Things never went their way. They were at a disadvantage, not because they weren't good, but because Aladren was under Imperius and the Imposter wanted Teppenpaw to lose. She glared at the woman again, mentally called her something as foul as she was, and prepared herself in case the other team tried to score.

She pondered, yet again, the unfairness of it all. If someone was going to be given an advantage that way, why couldn't it be Teppenpaw that was under the mind control? Of course, it was better to be on a level playing field from the beginning but it wasn't as if Aladren was fighting dirty, the Imposter was.

Arthur attempted to pass the Quaffle and Carter intercepted. The Teppenpaw cheered as the ball began to move back the other way. The first year was really showing promise and she was glad she'd chosen him for the team. All the practice seemed to be helping him to improve quickly, and Kirstenna felt he also had quite a bit of natural talent that would take him far in the sport.

Of course, she had faith in all her players. Arista in particular had come a very long way. Not that the sixth year had ever really been bad but last year she'd been fantastic and Derry's training had really been a lot of help to Laurie, who was good to begin with. Kirstenna was extremely glad to have the fifth year's help with it since he seemed to know a lot about Beating. Which might sound like a scary thing but it helped them an awful lot.

Actually, she was concerned about Derry often. He lived with the Imposter or something. The vile woman had somehow done a really good job of convincing people that she was the real Amelia Pierce and Derry's mother had apparently been taken in. Kirstenna was both worried that the Imposter would hurt him-which would make them down a player, they had four reserves who were decent players but the fifth year was far better-and that she'd use him for her nefarious purposes, the way Seth Brockert had been sucked in by the Beetle Lady. Merlin only knew what that woman was up to now that she was no longer working at Sonora. Maybe Derry would get Imperiused too, but instead of being better like Aladren, he would become a worse player. Or she could end up trying to make him take out his own team instead.

She wondered why the Imposter, who was some Savannah Carey, had it in for the Pierces. Kirstenna didn't really understand pureblood society but perhaps she and the Real Amelia Pierce had once been partners and not just in the "in crime" sense. Their families hadn't approved which had lead to Amelia Pierce's disownment and eventual death, because the rest of the Careys had killed her out right for soiling their relative's reputation. The Imposter, angry at the situation, had vowed revenge on the New Hampshire Pierces, and decided to take her er, friend's place, because the Imposter loved Amelia Pierce that much. Because they were both so evil. Now the Imposter was going to either try to harm Derry or turn him into her minion.

Kirstenna watched as Carter zoomed down the field, noting that he was not passing the Quaffle. She frowned slightly. The Teppenpaw captain supposed it was one way to keep it out of the hands of the Aladrens but the thing was that this was a team and Kirstenna didn't really approve of one person hogging all the glory and being a show off. Plus, it made him a target for Bludgers.

Now, the first year was trying to score and it might all be worth it if he made it, but he didn't.She hadn't really expected him to, when he was going up against a Keeper who had played for years. However, David threw the ball at one of the Aladren Chasers and Carter intercepted it right away again, passing it off towards Arista instead of taking another shot. Which, he actually probably should have done given he'd for whatever reason been going away from the goal posts. Unless he was trying to confuse the Aladren Chasers or something, like apparently he sort of was Kirstenna.

Russell Layne intercepted the ball and passed it back to Arthur and she readied herself again just in case they made it down. Carter got the Quaffle once again from the Aladren fifth year and headed back down the pitch towards the goals, going for another shot as Laurie sent a Bludger at Arthur, getting him on the shoulder. It wasn't good to be happy at another's pain, a bit Imposterish perhaps, but she couldn't help but be pleased nonetheless and hoped it was bad enough for Arthur to be taken out for the rest of the game, but of course, quickly healed afterwards.
11 <font color=yellow>Kirstenna, Keeper</font> Fortunately, you're not the one with the Beater's bat. 161 <font color=yellow>Kirstenna, Keeper</font> 0 5

<font color="blue">David Wilkes, Keeper</font>

October 09, 2012 11:24 AM
David had long since internalized the habit of not swearing out loud very much – enough that it had been sort of weird even during his captain’s speech, one of those things he assigned to the role of ‘Captain Wilkes,’ an entity which didn’t have much to do with day-to-day David at all – but he was not so inhibited in his own head, and came up with a few new combinations when the Teppenpaw Chaser flew around the hoops again. He wasn’t, honestly, completely sure that was even legal, he remembered something from that Quidditch book about what direction the Chasers could shoot from but didn’t remember it if extended to whizzing around the Keeper’s head like a mosquito before that point, but it did annoy him, and he had, as previously noted, picked Keeper when forced to pick something specifically because it was the position where he was least likely to be annoyed.

Following the Chaser with his eyes, he saw him heading toward one side and started that way, too, but not quite quickly enough – the Quaffle slipped just past his fingers and into the hoop this time.

Be nice, he willed himself as he retrieved the ball, wanting very much to kick something. You are not that guy who throws helmets after the football games. You are not even at the football games. Good for the little guy, you like underdogs, he can go pro after you no longer have anything to do with this sport and that’ll be fantastic for everybody….Well, except you, because he’ll have a ton of money and if he does this again today, you’ll probably have a hit out on you, but that’s cool, too….

Arthur appeared to be trying to block the Teppenpaw out of another interception, which was just fine with David. If they collided, they collided; the worst that could happen was that Teppenpaw got a free shot at the goals, and since they had spent the game so far pretty much taking one of those every two minutes anyway, he really didn’t see what difference that would make. He threw the ball back to one of the other Aladren Chasers and willed them to shape up and go bother Kirstenna with it. She was the super-Keeper around these parts, she’d probably enjoy the challenge, and then they’d both be happy.
16 <font color="blue">David Wilkes, Keeper</font> I'm sneaking a Disillusioned one in next time. 169 <font color="blue">David Wilkes, Keeper</font> 0 5