Captain David Wilkes
January 30, 2013 6:50 PM
Aladren Quidditch Try-outs. by Captain David Wilkes
As he got ready for Quidditch practice, it occurred to David that this was the first time since he’d been pulled off the bench that he thought he’d walked onto the Pitch without any particular feelings of anxiety. Instead, it was almost like he was walking on air. For the first time in years, he didn’t have to worry about what might happen to him if, for some reason, the Aladren Quidditch team didn’t win, because there was nothing this year for them to win. They had, along with the other three, been stood down for a year in favor of the challenge teams, and since those weren’t an Aladren thing, he didn’t have to worry about large numbers turning on him if his lost – Thad Pierce, maybe, and he’d probably bring his friends along with him, but not the whole House. He was free.Now, he thought grimly as he watched the last few come to the practice session he’d set up in accordance with the staff’s dictates, he just had to make sure to watch for traps to fall into. There was no point in being like that one guy in the Hunchback of Notre Dame, the one who kept getting out of every form of confinement royal France had to offer and then falling straight into another one. David refused to be That Guy. He didn’t know how he could be, but then, he was pretty sure That Guy hadn’t seen half of it coming, either.
“Hey, everyone,” he said. “Thanks for coming.” He gave them a second to settle, then went on with the most normal speech he thought he had ever given in his Quidditch career.
“First things first. I know a lot of you are disappointed about Quidditch being cancelled this year. I am, too.” Who said he wasn’t a good liar? He could be, when he wanted to. He just generally didn’t think to do it in time, but this time, he’d had some lead time with the knowledge that he was going to have to lie convincingly. “And I know some of you are probably wondering what the point of even being here and having to listen to me for another year is. About that, I say, think of it like this, guys. I’m the only seventh year on this team. I’m the only one who’s not going to come back and play again next year. The rest of you will still be the team. You don’t want to come back and have not worked together all year, do you? Because I’ve got to say, I mean, I’m no expert, but that doesn’t really sound like the best way to win again when you’ve got the chance, right? You’re still the best dang team in this school, and everyone knows that. No point in losing that now.”
The end, as usual, always felt as though he were cutting it off too early, but he was out of things to say. “So, it’s business as usual,” he said, his tone shifting out of speech mode and into a directional one. “Everybody fly around, let’s say a lap and a half to warm up, and then we’ll play. Andri, I’ll throw you in as Keeper for now – we’ll switch you and Thad around after a while, start figuring out how to reshuffle the positions for next year, but that’s something to start with.” If it had been up to him, he would have put Arthur in with the Beaters and made Thad a Chaser, since he somehow just didn’t see Arthur giving a damn about whether or not an opposing Chaser was his cousin or a little girl or anything else, really, and plus they could have perhaps taken advantage of the creepy twin mind reading thing to end up with a Seeker with a bit less of a reputation for ending up in the hospital wing, but David wasn't pushing anything. It was no longer his concern. He was free as a bird. "All right, let's go play some Quidditch!"
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Captain David Wilkes
Aladren Quidditch Try-outs.
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Captain David Wilkes
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