Aiming for the Seeker. on Quidditch Pitch

Coach Pierce

August 02, 2013 10:35 PM

Quidditch Game II: Aladren vs Pecari by Coach Pierce

The second game of the year was always Amelia's least favorite. It took place in mid-January, only a couple weeks after everyone returned from their midterm break, so it was cold. This morning's temperature was above freezing - with the weather charms, extremes were mitigated so it was very rarely truly bitter cold on Sonora grounds - but it was cold enough to require some kind of extra warmth, whether that be coats and hats or just a strong warming charm. Amelia had opted for a warming charm, some heavy refereeing robes (in black to catch all of the sun's rays possible), and a scarf (in gold so Pecari didn't feel she was biased for wearing Aladren's secondary color).

The sun was shining, too, which helped a lot, especially with the dark colors. She was almost approaching comfortable as she stood in the center of the Pitch, waiting for the two captains to finish making their first pre-game speeches. As with the last game, both were new to their positions after the year hiatus. Pecari had seen greater turn-over since their last game, but they had been booking a lot of time on the pitch - each team was allocated an equal amount of time during the more traditional practice time window, but there were early morning slots and some late night openings just before curfew that Amira had reserved in addition to the regular hours - so it would be interesting to see which team came out on top today.

"Welcome to the second Quidditch game of the year," Amelia announced once she felt the captains had been given a sufficient amount of time to give their pep talks. "Today, we have Aladren, led by Captain Arnold Carey, facing off again Pecari, led by Captain Amira Thornton. Would the two captains please come and shake hands."

She waited for them to do so, and then sent them back to join their teammates. She released the snitch and the bludgers as she made her usual summary of the game rules. "Game begins on my whistle and ends when a seeker catches the snitch." She picked up the Quaffle and straddled her own broom. "Players, please mount your brooms and the game begins in three, two, tweet!" She blew through her whistle, tossed the Quaffle high into the air, and kicked off into the air.

OOC: Quidditch rules and FAQs are available on the wiki. If you have additional questions, please ask them on the OOC board.

Subthreads:

Come along, Aladrens! by Arthur Carey, Chaser with Francesca Wolseithcrafte, Captain Thornton, Beater, Adam Spencer, Chaser, Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater, Jay Carey, Chaser, Annabelle Pierce, Chaser

Let's go Pecari! by Clara Abernathy, Keeper with Andri Thornton, Keeper

Aiming for the Seeker. by Rupert Princeton, Beater with Captain Carey, Seeker, Jade Owen, Pecari Seeker, Arnold Carey, Seeker, Clara Abernathy, Keeper, Thad Pierce, Beater, Coach Pierce

0 Coach Pierce Quidditch Game II: Aladren vs Pecari 0 Coach Pierce 1 5

Arthur Carey, Chaser

August 03, 2013 2:50 PM

Come along, Aladrens! by Arthur Carey, Chaser

The cold was refreshing, on one level, but Arthur would still have seriously considered testing the viability of introducing coffee breaks to Quidditch games if he had ever planned to play the game anywhere other than home, where it did not get cold, again. As it was, he focused on what a lovely job the sub-arctic – he thought – air did of making him feel awake.

Arnold was colder than he was, and more nervous, but he was holding it together well, Arthur thought. He had impressed Arthur generally that way this year; he knew Arnold was a nervous wreck, really, that he never stopped thinking about one thing he couldn’t change before another one occurred to him this year, but he had dissembled very well so far. Arthur only knew for the same reason Arnold knew Arthur hadn’t slept well the night before, again: they knew things. Arthur had read in a book that it had something to do with tiny facial expressions someone who was not the twin of the person having the expressions would ever notice, but whatever it was, it was amazingly hard for either of them to hide much from the other. He doubted Arnold had ever kept anything from him in his whole life.

In any case, Arnold gave the speech they had prepared together pretty well, and Coach Pierce was mercifully brief. The air went from cold to smartingly cold as Arthur kicked off, and he blinked furiously, seeing first that the Quaffle was not falling at a good angle for him anyway and then trying to see where the Quaffle had gone. Or, alternatively, though today’s uniform colors were not the worst in the world to wear against the Quaffle, not at all like Crotalus, who they wouldn’t have to play this year and would have the more mixed feelings for it, just which way everyone had started to go. He had not seen the catch, missed it somehow in all the bodies and equipment flying around, but presumably, someone had.

He was, he thought as he figured it out, glad he had not become captain. If he had, he would have had a devil of a time not thinking about the whole game – trying to gauge what the Beaters were doing, the Chasers, did the Keeper seem alert enough, was Arnold all right? That sort of thing. Here, he thought of it all still, but more distantly. When it wasn't his responsibility to see to it that they all did things right, he could focus on doing his own job right. He hoped, though, that Arnold did not think of such things at all, because a lot of good it would do them for him to do things right if his brother was too busy worrying about the rest of them to pay attention to the Snitch.

Seriously, however, he didn't expect it to be a problem.

0 Arthur Carey, Chaser Come along, Aladrens! 0 Arthur Carey, Chaser 0 5

Francesca Wolseithcrafte

August 04, 2013 12:05 PM

Out of the thick of it [Chaser] by Francesca Wolseithcrafte

Training with a proper team was wonderful. Francesca had learnt so much in her short time as a member of the Aladren squad. Having played at home, she was already a proficient flier, and had some transferable skills, such as ball-handling. There had still been a lot to learn though. Being an Aladren, she adored the challenge and the acquisition of new knowledge. That which was gained through experience, or in practical things, was just as valuable as that gleaned by sticking one's nose into a book. She was glad that their first match was later in the school year, having allowed her to build up her knowledge and skills over a whole term.

As the day of it dawned, she felt a mixture of excitement and several different types of nerves. Or possibly the same type ﾖ nervousness was nervousness after all ﾖ but from several different sources. Firstly, there had only been a handful of times when she had flown in front of so many people. Those had been at Quidditch camp and at least had the saving grace that, after a fortnight, she would not necessarily have to see any of the people present again. The people she was about to fly in front of would be her companions for the next six years. It would not do to embarrass herself, simply on a personal level. There was also the organisational level to consider... She represented something. She was here to inspire the notion that playing Quidditch was something to which girls could aspire. If she spent the day falling off her broom and fumbling passes, it wouldn't be much of an inspiration. There was also the nervousness to do with how well she would be accepted after taking part. Admittedly, the rosters had been public knowledge since their creation, and she had not experienced any noticeable backlash. However, there was always the possibility that 'proper' girls didn't even let their delicate eyes read such information, or that people were burying their heads in the sand, denying her actions until they were forcibly confronted with them. Today was a test of a great many things.

She had eaten a healthy breakfast of porridge with sliced banana and a large glass of orange juice, although it had all tasted rather more like cardboard than the usually excellent food of Sonora did. She was wearing dragon hide gloves which were thin and flexible enough to allow her good grip and control but which would keep her hands nice and warm. She had opted for a thinnish sweater but one which her mother had endowed with a very stable warming charm. She was used to much worse from the Chicago winters and was perfectly comfortable, from a temperature point of view if none other, as she walked out onto the pitch.

For a moment she was overwhelmed by the sight and sound of the crowd but she forced herself to focus; there was precious information to be gleaned from the walk out. Ground condition (firm but not freezing ﾖ good for a solid kick off with a bit of spring), what the weather was doing (cold, which she was prepared for but with bright sun which could create glare off the hoops or be blinding of looked directly into). She watched the captains shake hands and mounted her broom on the coach's command. As the whistle went, she launched into the air. She had prepared herself for the scale of the match in many ways ﾖ the size of the pitch, which she had become adapted to through her training, the fact that there were going to be so many people watching. The number of people playing, though, had barely crossed her mind. She was used to playing with her siblings, or training with her team. The sudden crush and potential tangle of bodies in the air was something she hadn't experienced for over a year, not since her last experience of a full game at camp. She had forgotten quite how manic it could be. She had never thought herself, the rookie Chaser, as being likely to get the Quaffle from the toss, and so she focussed on positioning herself so as to be able to assess the situation; to be ready to get herself into a space to receive a pass if one of her team mates had the ball, or to be the relief further down the pitch if they were fighting Pecari's Chasers for it. She darted upwards and away from the action, towards their own goals, possibly in the path carved out by Andrina, if she had made it to her post yet. Arthur seemed to have taken a similar approach to her, and she scanned the air, trying to see how the rest of the game was unfolding.

13 Francesca Wolseithcrafte Out of the thick of it [Chaser] 250 Francesca Wolseithcrafte 0 5

Clara Abernathy, Keeper

August 04, 2013 8:07 PM

Let's go Pecari! by Clara Abernathy, Keeper

Clara glared at her alarm clock when it began beeping on the morning of the game with Aladren. She groaned aloud and pulled the blankets back up over her head. She knew that she was going to have to get up soon and get ready for the game. She pulled the blankets off of her head and left them crumpled up on her bed as she put her bare feet on the floor and padded bare foot to the bathroom to grab a quick shower. She stood under the water for a moment trying to wake up. It wasn’t really working. She dried off and threw her bathrobe on as she dug her Quidditch robes and under clothes out of her wardrobe. Since it was going to be a pretty crisp January day she made sure she had an extra layer of clothes on so she didn’t freeze to death out on her broom. Her stomach flipped repeatedly as she got dressed. She braided her hair back out of her face and prayed that it stayed that way especially since she was going to be trying to stop people from throwing a red ball at her face. She had heard about Leo’s unfortunate encounter with the quaffle during the Crotalus/Teppenpaw game and it made her stomach even more uneasy. She tried hard not to imagine the ball being thrown at her own face as she tied on her tennis shoes. She was just getting ready to leave the dorm when she felt her stomach flip so hard within her that she almost puked right there on her shoes. She slapped her hand over her mouth and ran back into the bathroom. She had just barely made it before her dinner from the night before made an encore appearance. She coughed towards the end of the expulsion and once everything was done coming out she rinsed out her mouth, re-brushed her teeth and then after grabbing her new broom she had gotten for Christmas, she headed out of the dorms and towards Cascade Hall.

She walked into the hall and grabbed a very light breakfast seeing how she just lost her dinner. She nibbled on a piece of toast and drank her apple juice very slowly. Once she was pretty sure she could get up without feeling sick enough to lose her breakfast, she gathered up her broom and headed out to the Pitch. She couldn’t help feeling incredibly nervous on her out there since she was going to be on her broom FLYING around and praying the whole time that she didn’t fall off of her broom or that she didn’t puke on herself or anyone else. The last thing that she wanted Lucian to see was her vomiting on herself in front of the whole school. Great way to look good for your boyfriend, covered in your own vomit. Yay! Clara let out a few deep breaths as she approached the players side of the field. She watched as the other students piled into the stands to watch the game and felt her stomach flipping all over again. She could not believe she had actually signed up for this. She felt a slight panic begin to build up within her, but she bit it back and kept walking, broomstick tightly in her gloved hand. She had signed up to do this and now she was going to do it. She glanced over the pitch and sighed. She had seen this pitch soo many times over the course of the first half of the year that she was almost sick of looking at it. Her cousin Amira had the Pecari team running so many drills on this field, Clara was actually having dreams about them even while still awake. She had run on foot over that field soo many times that she was sure her feet were still blistered from the effort.

Amira had had them practicing so often and in so many different areas that Clara almost felt like she run the field with her eyes closed. A dangerous endeavor, to say the least, given her track record with most things athletic especially flying. However, since they had been practicing so much both on the ground and in the air, she actually wasn’t as afraid of flying as she used to be. She had actually gotten slightly more comfortable with it which said quite a bit given that her very first flying lesson on this very field turned out to be a bust. Heck, her first flying lessons period could have been categorized as repeated suicide attempts given the number of bones she broke trying to do them. If not for Lucian’s help during her second year at school, she would never have been remotely comfortable enough to even attempt this new act of insanity. Technically that’s exactly what she was to be doing this sort of thing, certifiably insane. Clara laughed to herself over that thought and shook her head. She was totally insane to be playing this game and she knew it, but like everything else that she did that was crazy, this too she was going to pour herself into two hundred percent. Clara walked past where the Aladren team waited for the game to start heading for her own teammates. She glanced in their general direction and after giving Lucian a small wave and a smile, she stopped walking when she reached the spot where her own team waited. She let out the breath that she had been holding slowly so as not to faint and waited near the Anns and Rupert. She saw Adam nearby and Amira and Jade not far from that. She felt her grip on her broom tightening and loosening as she waited for her cousin’s pep talk/speech thing.

Clara found herself nodding during her cousin’s speech because she didn’t trust herself to speak at the moment without her voice cracking or just fainting. She figured if she could at least nod then she would be doing something that momentarily took her mind off what they were about to do. She took a couple of deep breaths and let them out slowly. She tried hard to ignore the flipping of her stomach. She put on her serious face as she mentally kicked herself for being a coward. You were able to ask Lucian how he felt about being your boyfriend and he is now, you practically broke your neck learning how to fly and now you can…you can do this she told herself. She trusted her teammates to do their jobs and keep each other safe. She also trusted them to keep her safe as well to a point. Not even they could keep her completely safe from all the action going on around them. Eventually a bludger was either going to fly in her direction or it was going to get hit in her direction, either way she was going to have to worry about that while they worried about the other stuff. That’s just how it worked. She was a little worried about playing against the Aladren team because she had heard that not only were they crazy, but they were a special kind of crazy. That might have changed slightly since some of their old members have graduated since the last time they played, but she couldn’t be certain. The only thing she was certain of was that she was going to try to stay on her toes (so to speak) and try not to get knocked off her broom. She was hoping that despite his being one of their beaters, that Lucian wouldn’t whack any of the bludgers towards her. She knew that there was no guarantee he wouldn’t, she merely hoped he wouldn’t. She wasn’t going to be angry with him if he did. After all, they were playing on opposite teams and both teams really wanted to win so just about anything could happen.

Clara watched as Amira and Arnold shook hands and then rejoined their teams for the mount up. Clara felt her tension returning as the start of the game came closer. She climbed onto her broom and prepared to kick off. “Let’s do this cuz,” she said to Amira as she mounted her broom and prepared for the kick-off. She nodded to her cousin and even gave her a nervous smile. As she waited for the start of game whistle, she began to wish that she had put on her pink helmet that Lucian had given her on the first flying lesson he ever gave her. Why didn’t I put that on? she wondered to herself and then realized why she hadn’t. Duh, because I would have looked like more of a target than I already do now she reminded herself as the whistle sounded and the game began. Clara kicked off the ground with the rest of the players and made a beeline for the Pecari hoops. She watched as Coach Pierce tossed the quaffle into the game. There were soo many people flying around the start area that Clara couldn’t see who had gotten the quaffle. All she could see was a bunch of people flying around in Brown and Blue. She held herself on her broom and merely waited. Until she saw them either flying decidedly away from her or decidedly towards her she had no way to know which team had the quaffle. It was all just a waiting game from this point and Clara hated waiting.

0 Clara Abernathy, Keeper Let's go Pecari! 232 Clara Abernathy, Keeper 0 5

Captain Thornton, Beater

August 05, 2013 11:49 AM

Go PECARI! by Captain Thornton, Beater

Knowing that they didn’t play their first game earlier on in the year, Amira knew they’d be playing the worst time of the year. The cold time, right in the middle of winter. Being the oldest on the team, and the Captain to boot, she knew how important it was to lead from the front. She had been practicing the warming charm so that she could put it on any of the younger kids on the team, even the older ones who needed help with the charm. But even still, she put on an extra layer (both for padding’s sake and for warmth, and had suggested that her whole team did the same. She wasn’t sure if they would or if they had, but she could only hope.

Amira didn’t sleep well the night before, in fact, she barely slept at all, so as early as it was, she got her things together for the game and left her sleeping dorm room for the warmth of Cascade Hall. She set herself a nice meal of oatmeal, a banana, a glass of orange juice and some sausage and started eating it while almost nobody else was in the room with her. As she sat there, eating she thought about what she was going to say to her team. This was her first real ‘Game Pep Talk’ and she wanted it to be good enough to both rile them up to win, and make them understand that she believed in them. From top to bottom, Amira loved her team like they were family (though one actually was) and she wanted them to understand as well that if they lost, she would still love them too. She knew they were going to try hard, but Aladren was very hard to beat and she knew that. So Mir wanted them to understand all the facets in her speech and as she finally finished her breakfast, she piled her plates up nicely and got her things together.

She headed out for the Pitch, early. Glad for the movement in the cold weather, and the sun shining over them, Amira set herself up by one of the benches and once her Quidditch Robes were on, she pulled her wand out from it’s safe spot and performed the warming charm on herself. She felt warm and cozy now and smiled, stretching as she waited for the rest of her team to join her.

When they had, she looked at each of them specially. She didn’t look at one longer than the next, but she did look at each and every one of them before she turned back to look at them all as a team. “Okay. Here we are, this is our first game of the year. It’s cold, and we play Aladren.” Here, Mir paused both to look again at each of her teammates faces as well as to catch her breath. “Anyone that needs a warming charm, please come to see me right now.” She waited for them to come to her if they needed it, and then when all that was done, she went on. “Okay good. Now we’re all warm and cozy. Listen carefully. I know we’ve had more practice than any other team, we have the teamwork, we have the talent and whats more important is we have the drive to win. Jade, you’ve caught the Snitch before, and I KNOW you can do it again. Annette, Annabelle and Adam; you work so well together that its almost like liquid meshing together in different directions when you fly. Go for it, don’t hold back what we all know you have inside. Clara, remember, not everyone takes a Quaffle to the face if they reach out for it. Aladren can play rough. I’ve seen it, but you know what you’re doing, you got this.” she took a moment here, to pause and look at her cousin to be sure she was okay. Uncle Bryan would kill me if something happens to her… she thought as she watched Clara another moment before turning to Rupert.

“Rup, you and me, we’re in charge of keeping them all safe. I want you on Jade. Be sure that Aladren’s Beaters can’t find her with a Bludger. And if they try to, do your thing. I’ll be watching the Chasers.” Here, she paused again. “Aladren plays rough and tough, but so can we. We may have a mostly younger team than they do, but we want the win as much as they do, if not even more. Right?” She asked them all. Waiting for either some cheers or nods or something, she spoke again. “We are a team, a family and even if we don’t win today, I still say that we’re winners. We’ve worked hard and long for this day and whatever the outcome we will be there for each other. Whether we win or not today depends on both us and Aladren, and either way, I still know we’re the best! Hands in everyone!”

She put her hand in the middle and the others (hopefully) followed suit. Not bad… Not bad at all… she thought as she said, “One, two, three, PECARI!” Their hands separated just at the right time for Coach Pierce to speak and call the Captains to her. Amira walked towards Arnold and using her strongest possible grip, she shook his hand with a slight nod of her head of respect for the older boy. She went back to her teammates after the shake and Coach started releasing the game balls.

Clara came over by her and mentioned doing this. “You got this cuz. I know you, you won’t give up.” Directions were given to mount and through her nod and nervous smile, Amira knew that Clara wouldn’t give up. Clara flew off to the Hoops, and Mir flew upwards as well, knowing that the rest of her team had done the same.

Rup was watching Jade, something they’d done a few years now. Amira thought it would be better that way anyway especially since the girls hadn’t ever really gotten along swimmingly. So the Sixth Year knew she didn’t have to worry about her Seeker. It was just her Chasers and Keeper she was going to keep an eye on. Spotting Adam and the Anns, she flew off nearby them to watch for the mean and nasty black Bludgers and noticed that neither Francesca or Arthur had the Quaffle. Who has it? she glanced around, curious as to why Arthur wouldn’t have gone right for it. What’s he planning? she wondered, hoping that maybe that just meant that one of her Chasers had beat him to the red ball? She looked in hope at each of them and smiled to show them that she was there and watching over them.

0 Captain Thornton, Beater Go PECARI! 0 Captain Thornton, Beater 0 5

Adam Spencer, Chaser

August 05, 2013 2:40 PM

Um...quaffle? by Adam Spencer, Chaser

It was obvious Adam was a little nervous for his first Quidditch match ever. He had always loved the sport, but he had never played it like this; professionally. It was enough to make his knees knock, but he tried to keep it together as he sat at the Pecari table that morning. His cousin came by and Adam tried to bounce off of Rup’s enthusiasm, but it was difficult partially under the circumstances and partially from the recurring image of a bludger smashing into him. It was different when he was watching it happen to someone else. Very different.

Still, Adam hoped for a win. He had trained hard both individually and with his team-mates and, though he couldn’t stomach anything that morning, he was looking forward to racing around the pitch. He hadn’t been used to practising so hard on a daily basis so Adam had struggled quite a lot in the beginning. He could hardly keep up with everyone else, but he had somehow lived through it and was standing here now. He just wasn’t sure how he would endure the crowd. Normally he enjoyed being the centre of attention, but right now it was nothing but nerve-wracking.

He joined him team on the pitch on time, dark hair brushed and warm robes pressed for this match. He carried his broom in hand, a broom that was a bit outdated. It would work fine, but it wasn’t nearly as fast as his cousin’s broom. He looked over at the Pecari stands, wondering if his younger sister had come. She was usually on her own and he didn’t doubt she was afraid of large crowds, but for him he was sure she would make an exception. He flashed a blind smile in that direction anyway, hoping she’d see it, and then turned to listen to the captain’s speech. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, allowing the cold air to soak into his flushed cheeks. The cold wouldn’t be a problem once his blood was warmed up chasing, but at the moment it felt freezing. It was at times like these he wished for the warm summers or the pleasant fall weather.

The coach blew the whistle much too quickly and Adam was slightly disoriented in the amount of people who gathered in one space at once. He flew up in the air on his broom with the others and found himself in the perfect position to snatch the quaffle. So he did. He zoomed forward and grabbed it out of the air and began to make his way to the Aladren hoops. He was so nervous he felt like his heart was going to leap out of his mouth. He tried to remember not to keep his mouth open just in case a bludger made its way towards his face, but thinking of a bludger heading right to his face made him even more nervous and he didn’t think he could hold onto the quaffle for much longer without his nervous hands losing it to someone else.

If nothing else, Adam’s passes had improved with practise and when he spotted a free Pecari Chaser, he threw it at them. It wasn’t nearly as impressive as the more experienced Chasers, that was for certain. In fact, it was a bit weak and he followed the Chaser who had caught it with red cheeks that hadn’t come about from the cold. “It’s my first match,” he muttered to himself. “There’s nothing to be ashamed about.” He pressed himself instead to his broom to keep his eyes on the quaffle and keep it from Aladren hands.

0 Adam Spencer, Chaser Um...quaffle? 0 Adam Spencer, Chaser 0 5

Rupert Princeton, Beater

August 05, 2013 2:42 PM

Aiming for the Seeker. by Rupert Princeton, Beater

This was one of the first matches for Pecari this year and Rupert was excited for it. His first step on the day of the match was fresh and brisk and he liked the feeling of the cold air around him. He filled his lungs with freezing air that made his nose hurt, but it sent his blood pumping. Amira had set them to practise more than usual and Rup had gotten used to the hard work. He enjoyed training even at the level of intensity Amira had them on. He knew Adam had struggled a bit and still did, this only being his second year, but Rup had hope for his cousin. Adam was a tough lad.

He had woken up quite early this morning, but he didn’t realise how early, really, until he had come out onto the pitch. In his excitement for today, he still had half an hour to kill before mounting his broom. He knew he probably wasn’t allowed to be here before his captain anyway, so he went back to Cascade Hall and nibbled on a bit of toast and sausage before rushing back to the pitch with his other house-mates, his heart pounding in his chest. He couldn’t wait to get up into the air.

Rupert looked at his fellow Pecaris and greeted them all, glad to see them here. He fitted the leather Beater’s glove he had received this Christmas on his left hand and tightened it around his wrist. He flexed his fingers, the padded palm already wearing from all the practising he had done over the holiday. The bat in his hand felt stiff but familiar in his hand and he gripped it and felt the weight in his hand again. It felt so light in his hands, but he knew the magical reinforcement strengthening the bat could make a deathly impact. Megan’s gift to him had been really kind and he had not expected something so nice from her. He hadn’t gotten her anything personal, but he knew he had to right that immediately. Perhaps exchanging Muggle literature would do. As much as he wanted to use his new gift, he didn’t want it to mess up his careful practises with the school bat. It would be safer to go with what he was comfortable with and then perhaps practise for the next match with his new custom-made beating bat.

Rup half-listened to Amira’s speech as he eyed his targets on the opposing team. There was no mean spirit in Rupert that wanted to destroy particular Quidditch players. Friends could be enemies on the pitch, but it was never anything personal, at least for Rupert. He couldn’t exactly say the same for everyone, but he hoped the players on the opposing teams knew that.

Coach Pierce blew her whistle and the match began. Rupert rose into the air on his broom and focused on keeping a close eye on Jade as well as taking advantage of a free bludger. He had told Amira previously that he would keep an eye on their Seeker and hit bludgers at the Aladren’s Seeker. He was not afraid of following Jade too closely or giving her some space when she was on her way to the Snitch. She was tough and he appreciated that, but he still couldn’t wait to feel the impact of a sharp metal ball on his bat and feel it reverberate against his arm. His opportunity came quicker than expected when a bludger zoomed by. As it made its way past, he smacked it hard in the direction of Arnold Carey. He wasn’t getting his hopes up for a critical hit this early in the match, but it would be nice to see it make an impact. His aim was good, but better at close range.

0 Rupert Princeton, Beater Aiming for the Seeker. 0 Rupert Princeton, Beater 0 5

Captain Carey, Seeker

August 05, 2013 3:59 PM

Avoiding the Bludger by Captain Carey, Seeker

He could spend the rest of his life at Sonora, Arnold thought, and still never get really used to how cold it was outside in December and January. Warming charms kept it from actually slowing him down much – at least not as much as a lot of layers would have, anyway – but he couldn’t completely ignore it, no matter how he tried. Winning would be wonderful, but he thought that today, it wouldn’t be that much better than the hot shower which would follow it.

The Pecaris, however, were most likely not thinking that way, so he tried not to think about it, either. Winning, that was the thing. Winning, winning, winning, as quickly as possible. Hopefully before anyone got hurt too badly. In the Championship, that was all part of the show, he would be a little disappointed if he didn’t get a little knocked around, but this was just a regular game. A quick, clean victory was the best thing for today, something which would keep the team and Fae and Arthur and his mother, the ever-present trinity of authority figures in his life who didn’t quite get it, all happy. If they were all happy, that was one less thing for him to worry about, so he was going to do all he could to make it happen.

“Great weather we’ve got today, huh, guys?” he said. “Does anyone need help with warming charms or anything? We can’t play if our joints are freezing up.”

He kept smiling but silently cursed Russell and Preston. They were from the vast frozen uninhabitable depths of the northeast anyway, so he was sure they could have stood the cold better than their replacements. Kitty might not have been so bad, he knew she could play this game, but she wasn’t able to play today, so Jay was taking her place, and Francesca was from somewhere cold, too, but she was a little girl. He knew girls could do a lot of things as well as guys, but all other things being equal, a big guy his age was not only probably a better Quidditch player, but also more likely to be able to resist the cold. Unless this really was normal and comfortable for them, but he couldn’t believe that.

“Everyone good? Okay. It’s a little cold, but that’s not going to stop us. Nothing is going to stop us.” Not absences, or illnesses, or anything. Having Anthony around helped, too. It was always easier to be endlessly cheerful and confident around his little brother. “We’ll go in, do what we do best, and get home to the party before the audience even loses all the feeling in their fingers, what do you say? Then we show off at the Championship. Good luck, everybody.”

He shook hands with Amira Thornton without trying to hurt her hand, since he didn’t see the point of that kind of thing, but didn’t, as he would have with Derry or Topher, smile or say anything, just returning her nod before going back to his own people. She had not started out with them, did not routinely hit him, she was mostly a Chaser Beater, and he had the idea that she was the intense sort of Pecari, the kind he found offputting, anyway, so he was afraid she’d take friendliness the wrong way and hit him before they got started. A cracked skull during the game at least had the potential to be an honorable way to be removed; one right now did not.

The whistle blew just after that, and Arnold forgot about the rest of the game, flying up above the action to survey as much ground as possible, hoping to catch the Snitch. He also looked for Jade’s location and noted her Beater, managing to avoid his first Bludger.

He wasn’t too excited about that. It was easy at the very beginning, before things got crazy and everyone got tired. Neither hitting nor missing a Bludger was really a big deal until everyone settled in, until the thrill of just being back in the air wore off and they started to forget they had lives outside that really didn't have anything to do with Quidditch and the rhythms of the game started to take over from really thinking. He did, though, fly back toward them, watching over his shoulder for the Bludger in case it followed him, and waved as he passed. They could get to really trying to get under each others' skin later, too, if it lasted that long, though he hoped it wouldn't.

0 Captain Carey, Seeker Avoiding the Bludger 0 Captain Carey, Seeker 0 5

Francesca Wolseithcrafte

August 05, 2013 4:55 PM

Ah, that's where it got to by Francesca Wolseithcrafte

Adam had got the Quaffle. Francesca tried not to mind that it was his first match at the school too, although he might have had more chances to play at home – she believed he came from the countryside, whilst she was a city girl. Either way, she was friendly with Adam, off the pitch, and with the Anns too. However, that would all be put aside for now. If they were anything like her, they would rather enjoy the friendly competition. After all, she and Adam had had a good bit of banter about the house cup when they'd been at the pool party. But all that would come later. Right now, they had to concentrate on pummelling each other.

Adam came streaking down the pitch, towards their end. Francesca started to close the distance although she suspected she was too plainly in his line of sight for her to throw him off course. Instead, she focussed her attention on the next nearest Pecari Chaser – whichever Ann it was – and flew very directly into her field of vision. Francesca began to barrel towards the twin, prepared to match any swerve she might make. She would not fly to collide as she thought that not to be a bluff for which the Ann would fall. But her intention was strikingly clear. I am marking you. I shall be in your way unless you get out of mine. The idea was to try to distract, to force the Chaser to alter her path and to keep her off-balance.

As she neared the girl, Francesca leant forward. She made a beeline for Ann, flying swiftly. At the last moment, she swerved between the girl and Adam. This was her best chance for throwing the pair off for the pass, although it would put her at an angle virtually impossible to catch it herself. That was not the purpose of her flying though – hers was for interference. She was sure she had seen a blur of blue nearby, and could only hope that it was one of her fellow Chasers.

Having got clear of the Pecaris, she swerved her broom, turning to see what had become of the ball and other players, ready to get stuck back in. As she did so, she realised that a wolfish grinhad spread across her features. Having had something do, having had a chance to really fly, she seemed to have left her nerves behind.

OOC – according to the Quidditch wiki, it is acceptable to use 'the opposing Chaser' etc in the abstact. I am using 'the Ann' in the abstract, as the unnamed Chaser that Adam referenced must be one. Therefore I hope this is acceptable and does not count as writing for anyone. Beaters mention striking Bludgers at particular players too, so I'm not sure why I shouldn't throw myself at one (not in that sense, WAIL....)

13 Francesca Wolseithcrafte Ah, that's where it got to 250 Francesca Wolseithcrafte 0 5

Adam Spencer, Chaser

August 05, 2013 5:19 PM

Didn't see that coming. by Adam Spencer, Chaser

Playing Quidditch was a past-time Adam did not get to enjoy on a daily basis. He had been born and raised in the heart of London and therefore had made use only of the trips his family took to the country or the small pitches in London for recreational use. He and Francesca had that in common, he thought, and he enjoyed the competition between them. They weren't out for each others' blood. At least he hoped. He had played with some extremely competitive wizards before at the smaller pitches who actually enjoyed seeing others in pain and would stop at nothing to win even an informal, supposedly friendly match. It was partially because of that reason he rarely went to those pitches in the city anymore.

As he passed the quaffle over to the one of the twins, Adam had not expected a blur of blue to distract them. He saw it and faltered in his pass, his arm power weakening in the toss. He hoped Ann had received the quaffle anyway, though it hadn't exactly been the best pass to date. He had almost been afraid Francesca was going to run straight into Ann, but she hadn't, meaning there was no penalty to be dealt. He was somewhat thankful. With Francesca he knew it was at least friendly competition. With another Aladren Chaser he couldn't be as sure, but he knew he had to get used to playing against strangers.

Francesca seemed to have the same mindset as Adam did. He turned his eyes from her to follow after the Chaser who had caught the quaffle. There were a handful of Aladrens he enjoyed the company of, but it was quite different on the pitch. He looked over at Amira and smiled. He had watched a bit of the Teppenpaw and Crotalus match last term and he had seen the bludgers then. With Amira nearby he knew he didn't have to worry too much about stray bludgers targeting particular Pecaris. If anything, he hoped the bludgers would target particular Aladrens instead.

The adrenaline that came with flying and actually being a part of an actual professional match was exciting and Adam, after getting over his initial nerves, was enjoying the thrill. He felt almost invincible, though the sound of iron balls flying by succeeded in bringing him back to reality. He followed closely after the current quaffle-holding Chaser, hoping to intercept a pass or be tossed the quaffle and bring a point to Pecari.

0 Adam Spencer, Chaser Didn't see that coming. 0 Adam Spencer, Chaser 0 5

Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater

August 06, 2013 2:23 AM

You should have expected this. by Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater

Lucian woke up unwillingly the day of his first Quidditch game. In fact, he had fallen back asleep the first time he tried to wake up. Reluctantly, he put his feet on the floor, while rubbing his tired eyes, and blinked a few times to make his vision clear again. It wasn’t that he would rather sleep than play Quidditch, for he was undoubtedly excited to be a part of the Aladren team. His excitement was the problem that kept him awake most of the night.

After showering and changing into his Quidditch robes, he sat back down on the bed and put on his shoes. He made sure to use a warming charm on them, as well as his gloves. They weren’t the fanciest of gloves, but they were good for gripping and were warmer. Lucian was used to colder climates during the winter months in Boston. They usually got a decent amount of snow. The opposite was true during the muggy summers where it seemed that a person could practically slice through the heavy air. He didn’t live in the most extreme weather, but it did help to prepare him for the match against Pecari.

After grabbing his new broom and gloves, Lucian made his way to Cascade Hall for a light and healthy breakfast. Surprisingly, he wasn’t too nervous about the game, but he did not want to regret eating a heavier breakfast that could bother him later. He opted for egg whites, a few pieces of toast, fruit, and hot tea. His choices would help to keep him energized without weighing him down.

Once he finished eating breakfast, Lucian quickly made his way to the Pitch. He was running a bit late, and the stands were nearly full when he arrived. Lucian stood next to Jay, his roommate, who would be playing in Kitty’s place, and listened to Arnold’s speech. There would be a lot of Carey’s on the Pitch during the game, but Lucian figured that he was in good company. He had always gotten along with Jay well, and was looking forward to playing against Pecari with him.

Lucian looked at the Pecari players and recognized a few of them. Rupert was in his classes and had worked with Lucian before. He assumed the Captian of the team was a Thornton, since Clara had mentioned that her cousin needed more players. Clara had walked past and waved at him on her way to join the rest of the team. He simply nodded and smiled a bit to acknowledge her. Lucian doubted that anyone on the Aladren team knew of their relationship, but either way he did not want anyone to think he would hesitate in sending a Bludger towards any member of the Pecari team. Granted, he did not want to hurt anyone or be completely brutal in any manner, but he would not let his team down. He would do what he had to do to help Aladren win.

Realizing he was thinking far too much, Lucian turned his attention to his breathing. For some reason, the cold, crisp air entering his lungs was refreshing. He breathed slowly, allowing the cold air to enter and leave through his nose. It stirred up a memory of home, when he played hockey on a frozen lake when he was younger. His father had let Lucian join in a game with a few muggle children. Lucian couldn’t help but feel compelled to make his father proud and help Aladren make it to the Championship.

Lucian mounted his broom when it was commanded, and waited in anticipation for the whistle. He gripped his broom tightly, and tried to clear his mind the best that he could. Once he heard the whistle, he was up in the air rather quickly. Players were scrambling everywhere, and he could not make out who had the Quaffle right away. Lucian hung back a little to scope out his surroundings. Arthur and Francesca seemed to be taking a more defensive strategy, and appeared to be doing the same thing as he was for the moment.

He turned his head to allow his green eyes to scan the rest of the Pitch. He spotted Arnold in the sky above everyone, most likely beginning his quest of finding the Snitch. Lucian debated whether or not to keep an eye on Arnold and protect him from Bludgers, or start sending some towards the Pecari chasers. His mind seemed to be made up for him when he spotted a younger Pecari chaser heading towards Aladren’s goals. Lucian glanced back towards Arnold’s direction once more, just in time to see Rupert hit a Bludger towards him.

Lucian almost muttered a bunch of curse words, but then sighed with relief when he realized Arnold had moved out of the way in time. He hoped Arnold was safe from the Bludgers for a while, as he decided to follow the Bludger the Seeker had avoided as it flew by. He willed his broom to go faster as the Bludger made its way down the Pitch and closer to the other Aladren players. The cold air stung his face almost to the point of numbness as he flew faster, finally catching up with the Bludger. He maintained a safe distance between himself and the metallic ball, just in case the Bludger shifted its path abruptly. It turned slightly, angling its path, and Lucian took this as his cue.

He sped up even more so that he was barely passing it, and turned his broom slightly so that the Bludger was coming right at him. He quickly reached out his arm and cracked the Bludger forcefully with his bat. Because of how quickly he had to execute the hit, his aim was a little off, but the Bludger was now successfully sailing towards the Pecari chasers.

0 Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater You should have expected this. 0 Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater 0 5

Captain Thornton, Beater

August 06, 2013 12:18 PM

You should expect this, then by Captain Thornton, Beater

Amira glanced around to see if she could find the red ball and when she spotted it, the grin appeared on her face from ear to ear. With the mess of Chasers all trying to get the ball, one of her Chasers got it! Not only was it one of her Chasers, it was the youngest one to boot! She wanted to cheer for Adam for getting the ball right from the toss and was going to, but then she spotted two things that would be really bad if they happened. One from the corner of each eye. The first thing she spotted was Francesca going right at one of the Anns (which one, she wasn‘t sure, Amira had a very hard time figuring out which was which standing still on the ground, never minding when they were flying!). The second, was a mean black Bludger and it was headed right into the mess of Chasers. I can’t do both… she thought to herself as she flew towards the Bludger, calling out “ANN!” as loud as she could, in the hopes that it had caught whichever twin’s attention Francesca was headed towards (or even throw Francesca off, she didn‘t care which). She made it to the Bludger, holding out her Beater’s bat and hitting the metal ball right towards someone clothed in blue. She wasn’t sure who it was, but it was headed for blue and not brown, (at least for now) and that was what mattered. There was no doubt in her mind on that.

Mir caught sight of all three of her Chasers and took a moment to glance towards Clara in the hoops to be sure they were all okay. So far so good… she thought to herself. She spotted Adam’s smile towards her and wondered if that was a smile of thanks or a proud smile since he was the one to get the Quaffle straight off. She wasn’t sure which one of the two it was, nor was she sure she’d ever know. It’s not important, what is important however, is to keep going! If I remember later, I‘ll ask him, if not, its no big deal. she thought as she spotted red fly by. Since Crotalus wasn’t playing there was no red clad players, she knew that was Quaffle she’d just seen out of the corner of her eyes. The question was who was carrying it down the Pitch?

She didn’t exactly see who had it just yet, but she followed it, because where it went, there went the Chasers and where one teams Chasers were, the other teams were as well. Mir wasn’t sure if calling Ann’s name out loud had done anything, but she knew nobody was hurt and that was important to know. The Captain followed the red ball and the Chasers, listening for the telltale sound of the Bludgers and watching her teammates to be sure they stayed safe.

Hearing the telltale sound of the Bludger once more, she saw Lucian, one of Aladren’s Beaters smack one right towards her Chasers. Oh, no you don’t! she thought, positioning herself in the right spot to not only smack the mean black ball away from her teammates, but to return the favor and sent it back towards the Aladren Chasers. Jay Carey was right off the bench, in Kitty’s place, then there was Francesca, and Arthur. She wasn’t sure which of Aladren’s Chasers it was heading towards now, but it didn’t matter as long as they were clad in blue.

0 Captain Thornton, Beater You should expect this, then 0 Captain Thornton, Beater 0 5

Arthur Carey, Chaser

August 07, 2013 1:08 AM

Of course. I planned it like that. by Arthur Carey, Chaser

Arthur was not sure whether he should feel embarrassed or mildly amused when he saw that one of the Pecaris – Malcolm’s roommate, rather than a Miss Pierce – had the Quaffle. On one hand, the first minute of the game was irrelevant unless the Snitch just flew into Arnold’s hand during it. On the other hand, Mr. Spencer was a second year. He chose to chalk it up to pure chance and move on.

He saw what Francesca was attempting, then grimaced when Miss Thornton yelled. This was why, he supposed, he was not allowed to carry a bat on the Quidditch Pitch; morality was a little different out here, and if she kept shouting and smiling, he was soon going to want very much to hit her. Particularly if she kept smiling; even if she had not accepted the inevitability of defeat, she should be taking things seriously. This was a serious business. The chances were high enough that Arnold could win without cheating that it hadn’t been worth the risk, but he had considered it, not because he cared so much about this game as because of the bigger picture. This was his brother's reputation on the line if nothing else. If she was that confident that her merry band of miniature misfits - he chose not to acknowledge the changes to his own team's lineup for the year - could ruin it, then she needed to be dissuaded pointedly.

He spotted Jay and Francesca again, trying to stop reacting and start strategizing, and so the crack of bats on Bludgers came through to him a second late. He swerved, but it grazed his shoulder, hard enough to bruise later, he was pretty sure, and knocked him enough off balance that he was momentarily dizzy before he got himself oriented again. Cursing, he looked for the formation, determined to either get his own hands on the Quaffle the next time it moved or else to be a very large obstacle to the Pecari who wished to get it instead.

0 Arthur Carey, Chaser Of course. I planned it like that. 0 Arthur Carey, Chaser 0 5

Jay Carey, Chaser

August 07, 2013 1:13 AM

Flying under the radar by Jay Carey, Chaser

When Jay was at home, it was usually his job to keep Henry, Brandon, Diana, and, more and more, Cecilia all reasonably safe and out of the adults’ hair. With Henry, that mostly just meant keeping Brandon away from him when he was being quiet and making sure he hadn’t gotten into the compartment they weren’t supposed to know about in Mother’s dresser again, but the others could require a little more management. In the process, Jay had developed the ability to look a lot more unfazed than he really was by things, which he was putting to good use as he watched his cousin shaking hands with Amira Thornton. Arnold had warned him a few days ago that this might happen, but he hadn’t really believed it until it happened.

His first thought had been that he was glad it wasn’t Crotalus. His second had been that he had most likely been glad too soon. Pecari, after all, had beaten them once, years ago; that meant they were probably even more anxious to do it again than Crotalus would have been to do so for the first time in at least six years.

Either way, though, the point was clear enough, it was like Arnold had said: they just had to do what they had to do and get through. Jay thought he might even be useful, in a way. He was on the bench because he didn’t even really like Quidditch that much, it was just to put on a united front, and because to have his cousin and both brothers on his first-string team would have reeked of nepotism on Arnold’s part, but he guessed it might make the Pecaris underestimate him, even though Francesca was younger and a girl. They could possibly use that. Jay didn’t really know how, but it could happen. They’d just have to see what happened when they got into the air, and how well he and Arthur, a cousin team, stacked up against the Pierce twins. He suspected the honest answer was “not so good,” since Arnold and Arthur could practically have a whole argument and come to a conclusion without saying five words when they wanted to and they were only fraternal twins, with the way he and Arthur were not especially close as far as cousins in their family went and hardly ever did things just together rather than as part of the larger band of children Uncle Anthony and Father had had, but he guessed Arthur being the oldest and most experienced Chaser on the field by years might balance out some things.

As they all mounted their brooms, Jay wondered, again, why the other two seventh years, the twins’ roommates, had left the team. Arnold had given him the vague impression it had something to do with RATS, but he hadn’t sounded too sure himself. Arthur had been even less helpful, shrugging about the inconstant nature of time and chance. Either they didn’t know or they weren’t telling him. Then the whistle blew and he had just enough time, as they all rose in the air, to feel absolutely terrified before the boy Pecari Chaser got the Quaffle and the game really began.

The Pecaris, he noticed quickly, had the Quaffle, Francesca was marking one of the Pecari girls, and Lucian and the Pecari captain were right on top of them all, the latter managing to hit Arthur. All this, he was pretty sure, had happened in under two minutes. Taking a deep breath, he spotted the Quaffle and concentrated on that, hoping the other two would be the center of all attention and that he could slip in quietly and steal the Quaffle the next time it moved. He was good at getting in through narrow spaces; another advantage, he guessed, of having his family.

0 Jay Carey, Chaser Flying under the radar 0 Jay Carey, Chaser 0 5

Jade Owen, Pecari Seeker

August 09, 2013 4:25 PM

Having a Gay Old Time by Jade Owen, Pecari Seeker

The three-storey stack of waffles flooded with maple syrup wafted sumptuously sweet odours around the Pecari as she wolfed down her breakfast. It was a cold day, but Jade was used to cold winters. She had on layers, and would cast a warming charm, but it wasn’t at all likely that she would notice the cold once she was on the hunt for the Snitch, anyway. Either way, the waffles were delicious, and warmed Jade internally as she washed them down with coffee that was more milk and sugar that beans. The fifth year was more or less oblivious to anyone around her, as was often the case when she was around food, and enjoyed her meal before making her way down to the pitch a little earlier than was strictly necessary, firstly to claim her broomstick (identifiable by the green star and initials she had carved into it during her first year), and secondly in case Amira wanted to talked to her. Thankfully, that was not the case, and the rest of the team soon joined them.

Jade tried really hard not to roll her eyes as Amira gave her version of a pep talk, or whatever that was supposed to be. The fifth year would have to give credit to her captain for well-organised practises and a sort of irritating determination that her team was going to do well, but she still didn’t respect her captain, and that was the main problem between them: no respect for each other. Jade would even grudgingly admit, if forced to, that Amira was a good Quidditch player and a good captain, but she didn’t have to like her. This game wasn’t about making friends. It was about making enemies.

Taking to the skies like a flea jacked up on caffeine, Jade soared high above the game, paying no heed whatsoever to which team had caught the Quaffle. That was none of her business. Her function in the game was to catch the Snitch, and if she got to annoy Arnold in the process, all the better. It wasn’t anything personal… well, okay, it was. It was Arnold’s last year, and he was Captain, and Jade knew it would bite if she took him out of the running for the championship. She had every intention of bringing him down, him and every other rich, snobby, better-than-thou pureblood like him. Still, she shouldn’t allow emotions to distract her; the last thing she needed was to be taken out by a Bludger because she was stupid enough to not be paying attention.

Luckily, Jade had Rupert looking out for her.
She liked Rupert. He’d couldn’t always keep up with her, of course – and would have an even harder time of it if Jade had anything near a decent broomstick - but he tried his damnedest during practises, and he had a hell of an attitude on the pitch. Too goody-goody to be immense fun, but the kid had great potential. She didn’t mind him watching her back, and in many ways felt safer with Rup keeping her safe than with Amira watching over her every move, secretly wishing she was playing Seeker, instead.

Cutting through the chilly air like a gently demented fifth year on a broomstick that wasn’t even top of the range ten years ago, Jade took pleasure in witnessing Rupert hit a Bludger in Arnold’s direction before she barrel-rolled over to her right and flew serenely off in the opposite direction, aiming to make a wide circle of the game and hopefully catch a glimpse of the elusive golden ball. She wouldn’t mind if this game dragged out for hours, especially if she could be a pain to Captain Carey. She knew that he liked to verbally abuse his opposition during the battle, and she was tempted to forfeit his pleasure as long as possible, just because that was bound to cause discontentment, but then she was partial to insulting banter herself. It could be fun either way, but the main objective was to catch the Snitch; annoying Arnold was merely a beautiful by-product.

0 Jade Owen, Pecari Seeker Having a Gay Old Time 0 Jade Owen, Pecari Seeker 0 5

Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater

August 10, 2013 11:01 PM

Aiming with the crosshairs. by Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater

Lucian narrowed his eyes into slits as he watched the Pecari Captain hit the same Bludger he had just sent towards her chasers. He could feel his competitive streak coming alive inside of him. Somehow, a Thornton, or one of their relatives, always managed to appear at the right moment. They must have some sort of special trait embedded in their DNA, or are just incredibly lucky. However they managed to do it, Lucian found it all quite annoying.

Almost as annoying at all the yelling they tended engage in on the Pitch as well, but not quite. Lucian figured yelling was part of their tactics when he was watching the Crotalus vs. Teppenpaw game, and had found it rather obnoxious from the stands. Playing a game and experiencing it first hand was a whole different story. It was a distraction he did not need. The only thing that kept him from being too frustrated was the fact that Andri was Aladren’s Keeper, and hopefully inherited the same luck as the rest of her family. That could come in handy when it became necessary for her to stop a Quaffle.

He continued glaring in the Pecari Captain’s general direction after the Bludger she hit grazed Arthur. Even though it was his first game, and he was trying his hardest, he did not appreciate the fact that his teammates were the only ones getting hit with the metallic balls. Lucian decided to stir things up a bit by borrowing one of Francesca’s moves.

Lucian quickly flew towards the Pecari Thornton, screamed “HEADS UP!", and turned his broom at the last second so that he just nearly missed running into her. He turned his head to smirk at her, and then returned his attention towards what was in front of him.

He flew towards the outskirts of the pitch, so that he was facing the Pecari goals. He hovered a bit in the air and gripped his broom firmly. Lucian tried to focus his hearing on the metallic sound of the Bludgers so that he could send another one towards the Pecari Chasers. He didn’t even know who had the Quaffle anymore, but it didn’t matter to him at that moment. Any Pecari player was fair game.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, he heard the unmistakable sound of a Bludger heading towards him. It was barreling towards the Aladren chasers. I don’t think so Lucian thought to himself as he took off like a rocket towards the Bludger. He cut off its path right before it got too close to his blue clad teammates, and smacked it forcefully towards the Pecari team. He smiled a bit, for his aim was improving, and the Bludger appeared to be headed right for the younger Pecari chaser. He hoped that a pesky, lucky Thornton didn’t magically appear to stop it.

0 Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater Aiming with the crosshairs. 0 Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater 0 5

Arnold Carey, Seeker

August 14, 2013 11:04 PM

It's a lovely freezing day for a casual fun game by Arnold Carey, Seeker

Flying away from Jade’s position in a long arc, Arnold gave into the temptation to make a few loops, enjoying the second of each he spent upside-down, before settling down to business again. He would have liked to do more elaborate trick flying, the kind of thing he did all the time when he was flying on his own, but he knew that he shouldn’t. Not now, not when he was playing against her. He couldn’t afford to miss the sight of the Snitch because he was having fun when he was supposed to be concentrating. Not only would he never be able to forgive himself, but Arthur would make sure he was reminded not to periodically until they were older than Anthony IV.

Curse it.

He shook his head a little. He didn’t have time for that, either. Thinking too much, except about which move to make, was a long way of saying ‘losing,’ and even when it came to moves, muscle memory might be more reliable than his deductive skills.

He flew a few more smooth, respectable lines, always looking for bludgers and Jade, but all he saw was that his Chasers seemed to be having trouble getting the Quaffle, which normally was not the case. That distracted him enough to make him sigh. He had hoped Jay subbing for Kitty might allow the Chasers to at least function, since Arthur and Jay had a certain level of rapport already just from growing up together, they knew sort of how the other thought even if they’d never been exactly best friends, that it might work because Arthur actually seemed to like Francesca insofar as he noticed her existence, but apparently, the Chasers were really done for this year. They’d had a good organization, a good pattern, and when that had fallen apart, the alternative hadn’t worked as well.

At least not yet, he reminded himself. There was probably still plenty of game to go, they could pull it together at any moment. He wasn’t used to having to maneuver closely with others, so what did he really know, anyway? He hadn’t played Chaser since he was…eleven, he guessed, just before he’d left home, and that had just been with his brothers and cousins. It could all be part of the plan for all he knew, that had all been so long ago and different. It wasn’t his place to comment on the Chasers, captain or not, just to look for the Snitch.

He indulged in a steep dive, though he didn’t try anything really neck-risking yet, leveling out before he could make out specifics of the ground too clearly. To make up for that, he flew straight, but very fast for a minute, looking for the ball, or rather, the flash of golden light which would signal its presence, before glancing back up to see where Jade and Rupert were right now.

0 Arnold Carey, Seeker It's a lovely freezing day for a casual fun game 181 Arnold Carey, Seeker 0 5

Annabelle Pierce, Chaser

August 14, 2013 11:32 PM

I don't have it either (wotw) by Annabelle Pierce, Chaser

Annabelle Pierce had one serious gripe about Quidditch: the uniform meant that she and her sister had to dress exactly the same. Usually, they took pity on those around them and at least wore different colors so people could keep them straight, if only for that day. But that was not possible in Quidditch robes. She tried to add a little variety by wearing a brown scarf and hat while having Annette wear a darker brown scarf and hat, but she feared it just wasn't enough contrast for easy identification. Pity she had no talent for sartorial alteration, else she might have taken a needle and thread to the robes to add gold piping or some such thing to one of their uniforms, just to give them a little visual variety.

On a more fortunate note, they had grown up in the mountains of New Hampshire, so the weather was downright pleasant for January as far as she was concerned, and an exchange of a simple warming charm (one of the most useful charms in existence, and therefore one that the third year twins had made a point of learning) with her sister ensured that it would stay that way even with the wind rushing across their faces. Once she had charmed Annette and Annette had charmed her (in unison, of course), she glanced over at the other team.

Their mother had figured out somehow that their absence from the Pecari roster hadn't kept. Her prime suspect for the blabbermouth was Thaddeus, standing over across the Pitch with the Aladrens and holding a beater's bat again. Mother had made her discovery when he was home, after all. He wasn't looking back at her either, which she took as guilt. She scowled at him, and hoped Annette made his life as a Beater difficult again, like she had in Pecari's last game against Aladren. She'd do it herself, but she felt rather less certain that Thaddeus wouldn't actually whack a bludger at her than Annette did. He had, after all, snitched on them. The rat.

The family was still deciding what to do about it. Thaddeus must have tried to mitigate his blabbing by bringing up the Heritage Society. They'd peppered him with enough questions about it last spring and over the summer that he was probably still fresh on the details. Annabelle just hoped they'd reach a decision by the end of term. Mother's dictate of 'if either of you join that team again, don't bother coming home' hadn't been too hard to follow at midterm when they could stay at school, but for next summer, they'd have to go somewhere, and she'd like to know whether it was Boston or New Hampshire - or possibly even wherever Francesca lived; perhaps if her parents weren't also considering disowning their daughter, they would let the twins visit them if Mother and Grandmother needed an extra week or two to think things over - before she got on the wagon. It might make a difference which one she took.

Speaking of whom, Francesca was also on the Aladren team. Annabelle let her scowl for Thaddeus turn to brief smile of greeting for her friend as her gaze passed to the younger girl. Who would have thought Francesca would play Quidditch? She had always seemed so proper during class. But here she was, dressed in blue and holding a broom that didn't even look like one that belonged to the school (Annabelle and Annette had their own brooms as well, discovered one summer in the attic, but they were brooms that probably hadn't been top of the line since Father was a teenager, and so didn't really count as better than school brooms).

Annabelle turned back to her own team abruptly as Amira began talking. She nodded at the appropriate point when she and the other Chasers were addressed. She and Annette obviously worked well together, and Adam hadn't been too hard to bring into the team. Amira's practice schedule was rough, and they'd had to miss some club meetings to attend them all, but it did mean they'd had plenty of time to get used to flying with each other.

As the whistle blew a few minutes later, Annabelle kicked off, and saw Adam had the Quaffle. With a cheer, she pushed toward the Aladren goals, trying to stay open for a pass, but Francesca was making that difficult. Several times, she had to change her flight path trying to break free of the other girl's shadow, and as Adam passed, the Aladren's better broom let her get between the two Pecari's and then she heard her name and she turned toward Amira to see if there was a bludger or something coming at her, but the bludger seemed to be after Arthur now as the Pecari Captain batted it that way. She didn't see what the shout was about, but maybe it had been directed at Annette.

She tried to find where in this chaotic mess her sister had gotten to. Oh, and the Quaffle, too. That would be good thing to know. It was only a couple minutes into the game and she was already wondering how Annette had survived two of them two years ago without going mad.

0 Annabelle Pierce, Chaser I don't have it either (wotw) 0 Annabelle Pierce, Chaser 0 5

Clara Abernathy, Keeper

August 15, 2013 12:32 AM

I couldn't agree more by Clara Abernathy, Keeper

Clara sat nervously on her broom, her hands tightening and loosening on the broom handle as she tried to watch the game happening around her. As far as she could tell Pecari had the quaffle although she couldn’t tell which player from her team still had it. Amidst all of the chaos she had been trying to get her own heart to stop wanting to beat itself right out of her chest. The pounding was soo loud it felt like she had a bass drum being beaten right by her ears. The sound was so deafening that it blocked out all other sounds around her. Clara fought hard to focus on the actions of her fellow players and their opponents. She watched helplessly as one of the Anns (she wasn’t sure which) were being followed by Francesca, someone shot a bludger towards the Pecari chasers and it was knocked away by her cousin Amira. She watched as Amira shot the same bludger towards Arthur (maybe) and it hit him. It didn’t hit hard enough for it to knock him out of the game, but it would definitely leave a mark of some kind. Clara watched as players flew all over covering various sides of the pitch at the same time. Despite not really wanting to play she was kind-of glad she was sitting in front of the hoops. After soo many months of practice and training for every position on the team, Clara was glad that her nitch appeared to keeping after all. She could play the other positions if she had to thanks to her cousin’s rigorous training regiment, but she actually preferred to stay right where she was. “Thank goodness for soccer,” she told herself as she waited for the quaffle to come her way.

She had been the goalie for her soccer team when she was younger and she had been halfway decent at it. Her team had made it all the way to the youth playoffs before losing their final game against the rival school. She missed catching the ball by mere centimeters and had thought they might luck out and win anyway when the ball bounced off the side of the net poles. Instead of bouncing outside of the goal, however, it hit the poles and bounced inside. She was still kicking herself for that one. She couldn’t do anything about it now anyway. She let go of the old thoughts and tried focusing on the game at hand. So far the game was looking pretty good with Pecari holding onto the quaffle. She had a feeling though that that wouldn’t last long and she was trying to prepare herself for that part. She knew that once Aladren had the quaffle that they were going to come straight towards her. She was already anxious about being in the middle of all the action going on away from her position, she could only imagine how she was going to feel when she became the focus of everyone’s attention.

Clara lost track of the quaffle and the player holding it and began to panic slightly. What if they’re flying towards me now? she worried to herself as she glanced around trying to spot both the ball and the player holding it. She saw Jade sitting off in the distance watching for the Snitch and was glad that she didn’t have to worry about trying to do that job. She had had enough trouble trying to catch the ping pong balls her cousin was throwing at them to simulate the snitch during practice. She was extremely grateful she didn’t have to try going after the real thing. Her flying skills were minimal at best and she was glad that she didn’t have to try using them in that capacity. Merlin only knew what kind of disaster that would have turned out to be. She almost laughed to herself sitting on the broom as she thought about the possible mess she could have made of herself if she had actually gotten Jade’s job. She silently said a prayer of thanks for being able to dodge that particular bullet (no offense to Jade). She could keep the Seeker position for all Clara cared. She grinned slightly as she watched Lucian fly close to the Pecari side of the hoops. She fought the urge to wave to him since they were supposed to be playing against one another. She glanced briefly towards him and then went back to watching her hoops. She heard the crack of wood on metal and her head snapped in the direction of the sound. She saw Lucian take a crack at one of the bludgers flying around near them and saw it go flying towards members of her team. She wanted to call out a warning to them, but she didn’t know if they would hear her or not. As she watched the bludger fly in their general direction Clara fought the urge to cover her eyes with her hands as she gasped. She turned her head slightly cringing as she waited for any sign of an impact. When she didn’t hear any calls or yells from members of her team she glanced back towards them to see what was happening. She had no idea where the bludger was headed, who it was headed for or where the quaffle was at that point. Until she saw the players either coming towards her or flying farther away from her, she had no way to know.

0 Clara Abernathy, Keeper I couldn't agree more 232 Clara Abernathy, Keeper 0 5

Captain Thornton, Beater

August 15, 2013 3:08 AM

Aim and shoot from the ribs by Captain Thornton, Beater

When Amira had hit the Bludger towards a blue clad player, she hadn’t realized which player it had been right away. When she saw, however, that it was Arthur it went towards and grazed, she wasn’t sure if she should feel amused or something else. The speed she’d hit the ball at him had seemingly knocked him a little bit off balance and that surprised her a little bit because she didn’t think she’d hit it that hard. But there was a possibility that she’d hit it harder than she’d thought too, so she shrugged it off and watched to see what Aladren’s oldest Chaser would do and if a Beater would pop out of the woodwork (other than herself) in the area as Arthur seemed to steady himself.

It seemed as if both Anns looked to be okay from the small distance the sixth year was from them as was Adam, so Amira took the moment to glance towards Clara to be sure that her cousin was alright too as she saw Lucian fly right at her, Beaters bat in hand. She was shocked and in being so, stopped moving altogether. He shouted at her, but she couldn’t hear the words he’d said, and the younger boy turned on a dime at the last second, narrowly missing her. Only then did she realize that she wasn’t really breathing and coughed loudly into her arm, masking the sound of an incoming Bludger heading right for one of her Chasers. In her cough, she’d moved slightly and ended up between the mean black ball and the younger Pecari. It had been a complete accident and she didn’t know what was going on around her for trying to catch her breath.

It was too late however, for her to move when she realized it was coming right at her. She braced herself for the hit, she knew better than to think that she could escape it fully, but if she got hit at an okay angle it wouldn‘t be a bad hit. Turning her body to try to get it to hit a spot that wasn’t as big a deal, the black ball should have hit right on her upper right leg, where all the muscle and fat was, but it missed there and traveled up slightly which Amira wasn’t expecting. In fact, the Bludger hit her right below where her elbow was crooked on her side, right at her lower rib cage. Amira was pushed slightly off course and she felt a crack inside of her and tried to breathe in but it hurt to do that hard. His Bludger had totally broken at least one rib and she knew it.

She held in all the curse words that she wanted to flood right out of her mouth, and instead, pulled her bat out of her right hand, knowing she wouldn’t be able to do any of that right handed for the moment, as her whole side was tingling, and hit the black ball left handed, softly just in front of her as she flew right towards Lucian. If Aladren could fight dirty, so could she.

“Hey Lucian! HEADS UP YOURSELF!” she called out to him, feeling slightly dizzy from screaming and feeling the prick of her ribs. She flew right at him, bat in hand, continually hitting the black ball softly ahead of her. Amira’s adrenaline rush had started hardcore and even though her ribs hurt, she knew they’d hurt worse after the game. The Pecari Captain flew faster and faster right at Lucian and, as he had done to her, turned at the last second and smacked the Bludger as hard as she could, right at one of Aladren’s Chasers who was on the other side, hoping that she’d stunned Lucian hard enough to not realize what she’d been thinking. Now, more than ever, she felt the need to prove herself. She’d allowed Lucian to make her freeze and as much as it could have hurt a teammate she’d accidentally moved herself with her cough and it hit her instead. Sure, it was a good thing for her team, but not really for her, at the same time. Pecari had no alternates, as Teppenpaw didn’t, and Amira wasn’t about to leave her team down a Beater. I’ll live… Medic Bailey will fix me right up and I’ll be all better… she thought to herself as she wondered if her last Bludger had hit an Aladren and if Lucian was surprised as she had been or what had happened.

0 Captain Thornton, Beater Aim and shoot from the ribs 0 Captain Thornton, Beater 0 5

Andri Thornton, Keeper

August 15, 2013 3:10 AM

We can do it Aladren! by Andri Thornton, Keeper

Andrina was worried. There was no doubt in her mind that she was. Sure, she wanted to play Quidditch and she wanted to play with Kitty. But this was her first game, and Kitty wasn’t playing. AND… Aladren was playing against Pecari. Andri was worried enough about playing in her first game as a first string (finally!), but to have to play against Amira and Clara made her hold a whole new level of worry. Andri trusted her team, and she knew that they were all sorts of crazy (from both sides), but she still worried that Amira would find a way to get a Bludger right at her.

Andri was playing Keeper, opposite Clara, but that didn’t mean that her slightly older sister wouldn’t try to hit one of the black Bludgers right at her so that her Chasers could get some goals in. Andri wouldn’t put it passed Amira to do it, though she hoped with every fiber of her being that she wouldn’t be that stupid.

The night before the game, Andri tossed and turned in her bed. She could barely sleep at all. When the sun came up, she sighed heavily and went towards the bathroom. The fifth year took a nice long, warm, shower and came out, dried off and looked at herself in the mirror. Her red hair was now nicely combed into a pony tail, and her eyes were surrounded by dark circles. She moaned and yawned, rubbing her eyes, decided on coffee that morning. The game won’t work at all without it… guaranteed… she thought, thinking of how her father had always started the day with a cup of coffee. Come to think of it… He always started with coffee… Was he awake all night? Was he cheating then too? she asked herself, hoping not, but getting angry just the same.

Pecari won’t beat us… They can’t… she thought, making her mind up to do her very best from the time she mounted her broom till the time Arnold caught the Snitch. She saw it in her minds eye, their Captain’s smile as he caught the winged prize, the Quidditch Cup, the House Cup, everything. Andri got her robes and everything on and left her room for Cascade Hall. Once in the hall she poured herself some coffee, cereal with milk and opened a banana. Energy… I’ll have energy… she thought to herself as she finished her first cup of coffee and poured a second, both for energy and warmth. The Aladren knew that as it was mid January, it was going to be cold outside and had been prepared for that both by wearing thermals underneath her clothes and also practicing the Warming Charm just as her older sister (she was sure) had been doing.

Finishing her breakfast, she left the hall with her broom and headed for the Pitch. The sun was shining, but it was cold, so she was glad she’d been smart and done what she’d done with her clothes and the warming charm. She was out there before the others, but not too far ahead of them (she’d spent a lot of time in the hall before hand) and when Arnold gave them his speech and shook hands with her sister, Andri sighed, both wishing she hadn’t decided she wanted to be on first string after all. Of course she wouldn’t have felt that way if Kitty was playing today too, she’d been looking forward to playing first string with one of her best friends, but Kitty couldn’t play that day. Andri wasn’t sure why, but she hoped her teammate and friend was okay! When Coach Pierce told them to mount their brooms, Andri did so and flew up to Aladren’s hoops, just as Clara flew towards Pecari’s. Andri wondered if her cousin was ready for this almost as much as she wondered if she herself was…

When the Quaffle was released and she saw that Adam had gotten it, she almost cheered for the second year, but since he wasn’t on her team, she stayed stoic and watched the big red ball to see if it would come towards her. Francesca flew right at one of the Anns (Andri wasn’t sure which one) and Andri’s eyes widened. She’s not been on the team all that long, but it doesn’t seem to be stopping her from acting crazy like the other Aladrens… she thought, as she shook her head, watching where the larger red ball was to be sure it wasn’t right in her area.

0 Andri Thornton, Keeper We can do it Aladren! 0 Andri Thornton, Keeper 0 5

Rupert Princeton, Beater

August 15, 2013 4:24 PM

A lovely day for the Bludgers as well. by Rupert Princeton, Beater

The sky felt like Rupert's second home. When he felt oppressed at home, he always took to the skies for comfort. He enjoyed it and the strength that came as a Beater was glorious. He never wanted anything terrible to happen to his opponents off the pitch, but as a Beater, he had learnt to want blood on the pitch. Magic could heal it easily enough as Rupert had learnt after several trips to his father's hospital as a lad. He followed Jade, giving her a bit of space to do what she liked. He purposely did not try to keep up with her. He didn't want to smother her, but his broom was quick enough as were his reflexes to hopefully deflect a bludger headed towards her.

The match was fast-paced as always, but he didn't allow himself to be distracted by the others. The last he had seen, Adam had passed the Quaffle along to someone else, but Rup had lost track of it since. It was a bit lucky that Arnold was also the captain of the team, meaning his Aladren team-mates would be a bit of a distraction if he was a good captain. As admirable as that was, Rupert would use it to his advantage and hope to knock a Bludger into him before the match was even halfway through.

There was a moment where Arnold seemed distracted and made a steep dive. Rupert had trained hard as a Beater and he knew knocking a Bludger straight at him would miss easily. He had to infer where the Seeker was going to make his next move and hit the Bludger accordingly. With that in mind, he watched Arnold level out and fly straight quickly. It was too quick for a Bludger to chase him, so Rupert waited for another opportunity. It came when Arnold seemed to slow. Rup, in a flash, flew away from Jade to reach the nearest Bludger and smack it right at Arnold. By the time Arnold looked up to see where his opponents were, the Bludger would be only a few centimetres away from Arnold's good arm.

Rup never liked to see whether or not his Bludgers had hit its target. He could look afterwards, but watching the impact of the iron ball was a bit painful since Rupert himself knew what that felt like. He had never had to jump in front of a Bludger to protect someone, but as a lad, stray Bludgers seemed easy to come by when Quidditch lessons only consisted of him, his brothers and their coach.

The power in Rupert's arm had grown with all these Quidditch practises. For a third year he was quite strong. He was serious about Quidditch and he was serious about becoming a professional Beater in the future. He had a distant cousin who was a professional Beater and Rupert admired him from afar as they did not see each other regularly and his cousin was much older. Still, it was a goal that Rupert knew was not impossible and he worked hard for it.

He was back at his post near Jade, keeping eyes out for potential Bludgers to hit at Arnold and others to keep Jade from being hit by. Rupert usually liked to chat with Jade during practises, but he did not want to distract her in the real match. After a moment, Rupert turned to look at Arnold, hoping to see some damage from the Bludger. Though it was not always a pretty picture, to know that Rupert had caused such damage by his bat was both fulfilling and unsettling. Quidditch complicated his morals and he could only disregard them while he was on the pitch. Quidditch players couldn't take things so personally on the pitch. The danger of being injured was all part of the fun.

0 Rupert Princeton, Beater A lovely day for the Bludgers as well. 0 Rupert Princeton, Beater 0 5

Francesca Wolseithcrafte

August 15, 2013 4:44 PM

Once again, oh that's where it's got to by Francesca Wolseithcrafte

The crack of a bat on a Bludger, or its gentle whooshing sound, were cues to which Francesca had become increasingly sensitive over the last term. They did not use real Bludgers at home, lest they got away. They occasionally introduced a dodgeball element to their informal games (to make up for the serious lack of any consequence to being hit with a non-metal ball, excepting if it jogged your arm as you aimed, one had to freeze for five seconds if hit). She had learnt (occasionally the hard and rather bruised way) that a clunk of metal meant that scouting around became your top priority, even if it meant taking your eyes off the Quaffle. Losing the ball for a pass or two was better than losing a player from the game.

The sounds of the Bludgers were harder to hear above the roar of a crowd, though obviously the closer a Bludger was the louder the sound and the more chance of hearing it (which was handy as the closest ones were the most threatening). Thinking she heard such a sound, she turned from her search for the Quaffle. It appeared Lucian had been the provenance of the noise, attempting to scrape or scatter the Pecari Chasers. However, having been running a fly past one such player, Francesca was more or less sharing their airspace. Whilst the Bludger was definitely angled more at them, she couldn't be said to be safely out of its way. She swerved widley sideways, taking herself further from the group. She trusted Lucian not to have put her in danger but it was still better to be safe than to be scraped up off the pitch. A second thunk revealed that the Thornton beater had intervened, effectively in her favour, though not in Aladren's overall, as the Bludger moved further away from her but towards Arthur. He took a hit but seemed to weather it well.

Having established that she was safe for the time being, she returned her attention to the elusive red ball. It seemed odd that a ball so bright could disappear against brown and blue but then, when it changed hands so fast, she supposed it made sense. She quickly compiled a list of people who did not have it (which, rather irksomely, included both of Aladren's other Chasers, in spite of her attempts to throw the pass). One of the Anns was also lacking it, and she hoped that meant she had succeeded to some extent. Judging by her position, it seemed more likely that she was the one on whom Francesca had pulled her little stunt. And Adam had thrown it (she didn't think there was time for it to have passed away from him and back again). That left the other Ann or, she considered for the first time, no one. She scanned the air below them. With the Pennifold Charm, the Quaffle would not yet have reached the ground but it was possible that – between her interference and the sudden threat of a Bludger to both sides – no one had received the pass.

A flash of scarlet caught her eye and she dived. Someone was bound to notice, now that they were all free to search for the Quaffle again, and start to race her for it, but hopefully she had noticed first and had enough of a head start. She tried to tune out the shouting which was now above her, stretching out her finger tips to grab the ball. She had it. The Quaffle. In a real game. For a moment, she game very close to panicking. Having it was only the start – she now had to do something useful without fluffing it up or dying in the process.

She began a gradual ascent, aiming to bring herself up on the far side of the huddle of Chasers, though no doubt their formation would be rapidly changing. She had regained the right altitude, feeling like she had been holding the Quaffle forever (though it was minutes, if that) when she heard it again. Crack. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Amira and Lucian close together – too close for her to know which had hit it. However, judging by the direction it was heading, she could place a fair guess. She stood a better chance of avoiding it if she tucked herself as close to the broom as possible, or got well out of the way. The former would mean dispensing with the Quaffle. The latter would mean she retained the Quaffle but, by the time she could bring her position back to anything vaguely useful, Pecari would no doubt be waiting. If she kept it, it would therefore become useless, and perhaps even more likely to pass to the other side. She was better chucking it now and hoping. Aiming as best she could for blue, she threw it forcefully, then flattened herself against her broom and threw her weight to the left, pulling herself out of the path of the Bludger. It brushed past her, her sacrfice of the Quaffle having enabled her to just about keep out of its way.

13 Francesca Wolseithcrafte Once again, oh that's where it's got to 250 Francesca Wolseithcrafte 0 5

Adam Spencer, Chaser

August 15, 2013 4:47 PM

And the Quaffle is... by Adam Spencer, Chaser

Adam's endeavour to follow after the Chaser stilled when he momentarily lost the Quaffle. In the hoard of Chasers following after her, the Quaffle seemed to have been lost. He flew instead towards the Aladren hoops, hoping for a pass and the opportunity to make a goal. He was nervous, that was for certain, but he wanted a chance to make a goal despite all the opposition the other team posed. Adam took his place near the hoops, keeping his eyes out for the Quaffle, and as he sat there he saw Amira nearby. He didn't want to distract her from her job, so he stayed quiet.

The Aladren Chasers seemed to be everywhere and he was a bit tired of it. He focused on keeping his eyes on the Quaffle, but before narrowing his focus he looked over at his cousin. Rupert seemed to be doing well enough for himself. He had faith in Rupert's beating abilities. Pecari seemed to have competent Beaters and Adam was grateful for that. He had avoided breaking a bone so far in his life and he did not want to end that streak now.

D'Alesandro distracted Adam's attention and he looked over at the Aladren Beater. He seemed to be up to something, but Adam wasn't quite sure. He flew straight at Amira and Adam thought it odd and resembling Francesca's move, but he merely put it off as a distraction technique. Adam turned his focus back on finding the Quaffle and keeping himself open for a pass.

Amira was coughing near him and she moved in front of him and he frowned. She was blocking his view. The tell-tale sound of a Bludger came near suddenly and gripped Adam with fear, but the sound was too close for him to flee. Where was it coming from? He had to block himself, but he didn't know which angle to turn his shoulder to. Instead, he watched Amira get smashed by the Bludger right in front of him and his eyes widened. He could see the bat in her hand; why hadn't she used it? The close call sent Adam trembling down to his bones and he watched Amira, injured, head back to Lucian with the Bludger in front of her. What the--

Adam was shaken and completely distracted now. He had seen others getting hit by Bludgers at professional matches, but he had never had it happen in such close range whilst being protected. Amira seemed to have done so by accident too, making him feel even worse. He knew it was Amira's job to protect him and the other Pecaris, but he had never wanted her to use her body as a protective force. Adam was trembling still and he tightened his grip on his broom. He wasn't sure if he could make a goal now with how badly his limbs were trembling, but Adam wanted to be there for his team. He took a deep breath and let it out, hoping to shake off the feeling, but the image of Amira bracing herself for the impact and being hit by the iron ball kept repeating itself in his head. It was not an image he was going to forget easily.

0 Adam Spencer, Chaser And the Quaffle is... 0 Adam Spencer, Chaser 0 5

Arnold Carey, Seeker

August 15, 2013 9:14 PM

It would be very rude to exclude them from the fun by Arnold Carey, Seeker

Arnold didn’t have time to react when his look up to find his opposition showed him a Bludger instead. He didn’t have time to move completely clear of the Bludger, either; it caught him hard in his right arm, only the fact he was moving even as it made impact preventing, he was pretty sure, the thing from breaking.

Well, I was bored, he thought, and almost started laughing at just how mild and pleasant the tone of the thought in his head was as his body, reacting instinctively, bent forward and made a very odd noise as his arm began to burn and throb, a pretty consistent sensation occasionally broken up by unpredictable sharp notes.

Not for nothing, though, did he get up very early and yet frequently only gulp down the last of a very hurried and highly portable breakfast as he fell into his first period classes. Sometimes it was out here and sometimes it was in MARS, as the demands of others allowed, a few times it had even been in the Labyrinth Gardens if he couldn’t do any better, but every day, Arnold practiced. Flying was no longer something he had to think too much about; if he was hurt or frustrated or whatever, muscle memory could largely take over, letting him work it all out, and that was what happened after he was hit by Rupert’s Bludger. He was moving before he knew it, avoiding the Bludger’s possible turnaround, moving on in the game in spite of the stabbing pains in his damaged limb. He’d hurt worse before; he could deal with this.

He flew at random, big, zigzagging patterns as though hoping to throw off the pain, and only stopped abruptly when he saw the flash of gold. For the love of….

A second too late, he realized he had both made himself vulnerable to another Bludger and most likely tipped Jade off to the Snitch’s position; his only hope that he hadn’t was that she would assume he was just messing with her head, as he had with the dive, and who knew about that? Cursing the fact that he hadn’t taken the opportunity to say something to her when he had it, arrogantly assuming the game would give him plenty of time to work her up when he was superstitiously afraid failing to that first time they’d played was why he’d lost, he made his broom speed up as fast as it would, an action his arm complained about, as he sped after the Snitch, determined to get it whether he followed his game ritual or not. Formalities were all well and good, they made the world go ‘round and work the way it was supposed to, but every now and then, even he knew enough history to be sure of, it was fully appropriate to say ‘hang it’ and break all the rules to go get what you wanted, because you weren’t going to get it any other way. Quidditch was the perfect proof of that.

0 Arnold Carey, Seeker It would be very rude to exclude them from the fun 181 Arnold Carey, Seeker 0 5

Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater

August 15, 2013 9:26 PM

Let's keep it going in this direction. by Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater

Lucian watched as the Bludger he hit headed straight for the Pecari Thorton. Somehow, she had managed to get in the way of the Bludger once more. However, this time she decided to use her entire body to block it. She appeared to just sit there, waiting for it to hit her. Ouch, that had to hurt Lucian thought to himself as he watched the Pecari Beater get hit with the Bludger on her side, right below her elbow. He wasn’t sure how he should feel about what had just happened. His main goal did not consist of causing injury to the opposing team, but it was an almost inevitable part of the game. In a way he felt badly, though she should have at least attempted to move.

His thoughts were interrupted as he heard the Pecari Thornton screaming at him. He turned his head back towards her and raised an eyebrow. She was now charging at him like a bull during a bullfight. He had read about bullfights in a book that he checked out at the library back home, and had wondered why on earth certain muggles would participate in such a sport and tradition. Almost unconsciously, he gripped tightly, as if preparing for a large blow that could possibly knock him off his broom. Clara’s cousin was acting rather crazy, and he wanted to be prepared for the worst.

Lucian stayed still, his eyes now wide with surprise, as Thornton got closer and closer to him while continuously hitting the Bludger ahead of her. He figured he could do one of two things: get out of the way and let the Aladren chasers be open targets, or stand his ground. She probably wouldn’t actually hit him with her bat or the Bludger that closely...at least he hoped not. Hitting him with the bat would not be the type of conduct a Captain should be partaking in, and although she could very well be trying to take him out of the game, he found it unlikely. He decided the inkling that she was trying to psych him out was more probable.

Either way, Lucian was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he ran out of any time that he had to move. Luckily, the Pecari Captain was trying to psych him out and hit a Bludger towards the Aladren chasers. Nice try Lucian though to himself as he smirked a bit. It was a good effort, but the Captain had not thrown him off or scared him enough to make him move from his position. Overthinking may not be useful in most situations, but it had paid off for Lucian in this particular one.

Reacting rather quickly, Lucian took off without another thought towards the Bludger. He willed his broom to pick up the pace as he leaned into it as much as possible. There didn’t seem to be as much force behind her hit this time, so he was able to catch up with it. Lucian quickly reached out his arm and whacked the Bludger back towards the brown clad Pecari players. He hadn’t really aimed at anyone in particular. His main priority was stopping the Bludger from hitting Aladren’s chasers, and though it was a close call, he was able to do so.

After flying more towards the center of the game, Lucian realized that Francesca had the Quaffle, for she was heading towards the Pecari goals. He almost laughed out loud at the irony. The Chasers must have been so eager to find the Quaffle that they probably missed it right under their noses. Either that or the young girl managed to intercept it. Lucian assumed that she would try to pass the Quaffle to another Aladren Chaser, so he began flying towards the Pecari goals. He may not be able to help with the passing of the Quaffle, but he would send as many Bludgers towards the Pecari team as possible in order to distract them.

0 Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater Let's keep it going in this direction. 0 Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater 0 5

Annette Pierce, Chaser

August 15, 2013 9:59 PM

And it is still in focus by Annette Pierce, Chaser

Annabelle had spent much of the morning prior to the match fretting over their uniforms. Annette wasn't quite sure what the problem was, but from her twin's muttering, it seemed to be either that Pecari's colors were bland and unflattering, or that the two uniforms were, well, uniform, which Annette thought was rather the point. In either case, there was nothing they could do about it, so Annette spent the morning fretting over their brooms instead.

Annabelle's was newer, but that wasn't saying a lot. It had been Melinda's back well before WAIL made Quidditch an illicit act for ladies of breeding to engage in, which meant it was coming up on twenty years old, and was sized for a ten year old. However, it was a seeker's broom, so it was quick and maneuverable, and with some careful work, had been restored to a good condition. Plus, the thirteen year old twins were small, so while it wouldn't work for them much longer, Annabelle didn't yet look grossly out of proportion on it.

Annette's was older, but it had been really top of the line in its day, back when Father played for his House team. He'd taken good care of it, too, so it wasn't a horrible broom, even now, just outdated. It fit her better than Annabelle's did, and it flew reasonably fast, just not as fast as the new models some other players had. It was at least on par with the school brooms anyway, if she took proper care of it, which is what she had done for the two hours leading up to the match.

The one good thing that was going to come of Mother Finding Out was that, whatever happened, next year they'd be able to buy new brooms, either in support of the Heritage Society (because the New Hampshire Pierces did not do anything halfway) or financed by the Boston Pierces.

As she and Annabelle took their places on the Pitch, brooms in hand and uniform Quidditch robes in place (her hat and scarf were a little darker than Annabelle's, which she guessed was intentional, though she actually kind of enjoyed the times when she had an unimpeachable excuse to dress identically to Annabelle - it was so fun watching people struggle to keep them straight), she looked across at the opposition.

Thad was playing beater again, which she hoped she could take advantage of as she had last time. The Aladrens had lost a number of their other first string players from last time, too, which also boded well for Pecari. All in all, she thought they had a fair shot at it, and Amira's speech reassured her that she wasn't just imagining it.

Soon enough, the whistle blew and the game was afoot. Adam got the Quaffle right off while Annette watched Thad fly off after Arnold which was a real pity. She briefly considered flying around with Jade to make sure Thad didn't shoot any bludgers at their seeker, but decided Jade could handle herself and Pecari probably needed all three of its Chasers chasing since she was somehow the most experienced one they had this game.

Meanwhile, Adam tried passing to Annabelle, who was getting badgered by Francesca and missed the pass. Annette tried to dive in to recover it, but Francesca was still getting in an Ann's way and got there first. There was shouting and bludgers, but Annette wasn't paying it much mind, focusing instead on keeping up with Francesca. One bludger did come near enough to catch her notice, mostly because it made Francesca rush a pass, which worked entirely to Pecari's advantage because it gave Annette the chance to get in there and grab it.

She turned around and headed back the way they'd just come. She didn't quite make it back to where Annabelle had dropped the ball (figuratively speaking, since it hadn't ever been in her hands), but she was close when she passed it toward her sister, since Adam was further up and looking kind of shaken about something anyway.

OOC: Since the two simultaneous posts don't contradict each other and Adam wasn't quite sure where the Quaffle was anyway, I'm assuming both happened as written. Also, Thad's my character, so I can safely say he was going after Arnold.

0 Annette Pierce, Chaser And it is still in focus 0 Annette Pierce, Chaser 0 5

Annabelle Pierce, Chaser

August 15, 2013 10:23 PM

Towards Aladren's goals? Sure. by Annabelle Pierce, Chaser

Annette did not have the Quaffle, Annabelle realized, finding her twin tailing after Francesca, who did have the Quaffle. Annabelle paralleled them, flying a few dozen feet off, trying to be in position to intercept if the younger Aladren Chaser tried passing to Arthur. She was older than Adam, so she figured she'd be the better one take on the more experienced of the Careys.

As it happened, that never happened. Before Francesca passed, Lucien smacked a bludger at her, and she had to break formation to run away from it. It took a minute, but she managed to outmaneuver it, then she took a loop past Amira so if it was still tailing her, the Captain could take care of it from there.

By then Annette had the Quaffle somehow, and Annabelle's retreat from the bludger had fortuitously positioned her well for the pass. It was a fairly short one, as neither Ann was particularly strong armed for long distance throws, so it was an easy catch. She kept heading toward the Aladren goals, hugging the ball to her chest as she covered enough distance that she felt the next player had a shot at a goal run.

She looked for a good opening and threw the ball toward a brown clad Chaser close enough to catch her pass.

OOC: Again, the two 'simultaneous' posts didn't really contradict each other, so no foul for forgetting to check if anybody posted since starting Annette's post.

0 Annabelle Pierce, Chaser Towards Aladren's goals? Sure. 0 Annabelle Pierce, Chaser 0 5

Thad Pierce, Beater

August 15, 2013 10:58 PM

I haven't been accused of being rude yet by Thad Pierce, Beater

Thad's midterm had been fairly normal, or as normal as it got while he was still getting used to the new house, right up until politics exploded on the mountain. Specifically, Quidditch politics, and DISCUSS wasn't even involved. No, it was Heritage Society versus WAIL, and no clear winner had emerged by the time he had left on the wagon.

This lack of resolution made his interactions with three people particularly difficult, since he wasn't sure if he was supposed to snub the Anns or not, and Francesca was, well, it was apparently because of her the whole mountain was up in arms, taking sides, and trying to reach a consensus they could all live with. Plus, even if the Anns weren't getting snubbed, he was mad at them personally for hiding out at Sonora over midterm while he had to deal with all the drama they had caused at home. He was pretty sure every single adult there had accusingly asked him if he had known about them returning to Pecari's team, and he really hadn't been sure if it was better to pretend ignorance (a practice he generally abhorred) or admit to protecting their secret.

He really should have just blabbed it to everyone when he first found out. It was hardly the kind of secret that kept. But he'd felt a bit of sympathy for the girls and hadn't mentioned it. That sympathy was now gone. He almost thought he could even hit bludgers at them today.

Almost.

When the game began, he was relieved to see Lucien heading out after the chasers without being told. Perhaps he remembered watching the game from two years ago and seeing how much of a wuss Thad was when it came to hitting bludgers at his little cousin. And now there were two of them playing Chaser. Just as well Lucien was handling it.

He followed after Arnold, as Cepheus' brother did with Jade. Younger Princeton - Rupert, he thought it was - hit a bludger at Arnold, but the Aladren Captain dodged it handily and Thad made sure it stayed away. The second hit at Arnold was not so harmless.

Thad had been distracted by one of the twins being targeted by Lucien - despite his irritation at them, when push came to shove, it had been an effort to not head down there to rescue his cousin - and by the time he noticed what Rupert was doing, the Pecari was too close to Arnold to stop. He winced as Arnold took a bad hit, but flew in and claimed the metal ball before it could take a second go at the Aladren Seeker.

He batted it away, looking for Jade, finding her, and whacked the ball in her direction. In an attempt to prevent Rupert from doing anything to stop that, he pushed his broom to get himself bodily in the other beater's way.

0 Thad Pierce, Beater I haven't been accused of being rude yet 0 Thad Pierce, Beater 0 5

Arthur Carey, Chaser

August 16, 2013 12:46 AM

Bludgers toward Pecaris sounds better by Arthur Carey, Chaser

Rubbing his offended arm even though he knew that was most likely not the most effective use of his time at the moment, Arthur happened to spot Jay and was, for the second he did that, pleased. They’d get the Quaffle back soon, he was sure, one way or another, and soon.

Though he thought they might have done it faster if the Beaters had not decided to play just against each other. Arthur thought it was somewhat unsporting of them to do that, since that wasn’t really their function, Mr. D’Alessandro was supposed to be hitting Bludgers toward the Miss Pierces and Miss Thornton was supposed to be somewhere far away being useless, but then Miss Thornton took what looked like an unpleasant blow and Arthur found it in him to forgive a great deal. Her yelling to help her team – or whatever she was yelling about; he disapproved of that in general, as it was part of one of his brother’s superstitions, and Arthur disapproved of superstition in general, there were enough real things to believe in – had been growing annoying.

So was the Pecari Chasing team. Malcolm had not told him they were competent; that, sadly, was perhaps the danger of cultivating as a resource someone whose talents and weaknesses were entirely the products of being brought up by an apparently overbearing and, for lack of a better word, sometimes downright creepy mother. He couldn’t be sure if he had not been informed of this because Malcolm was too ignorant to notice it or if because it amused Malcolm to pretend to be.

Francesca managed, briefly, to get her hands on the ball, but Pecari managed to get it back, and Arthur considered the possibility that the problem was, frankly, mostly of size. Seekers were traditionally small, but really, Chasers could do well not to be as big as Beaters or Keepers, too. The others were all smaller than him, all would have an easier time maneuvering in closer quarters without risking getting in trouble with the referee for putting their elbows in people’s faces. It was quite possible he had literally outgrown the game, at least the part he knew best. If so, however, he didn’t see much he could do about it except pay attention well enough to avoid Bludgers directed at Pecaris while trying to block the Miss Pierce from passing in one direction, hopefully allowing Jay or Francesca to intercept the next pass.

0 Arthur Carey, Chaser Bludgers toward Pecaris sounds better 0 Arthur Carey, Chaser 0 5

Jay Carey, Chaser

August 16, 2013 1:19 AM

And the Quaffle toward the Pecari goals! by Jay Carey, Chaser

Surely, Jay thought as the Quaffle and the Bludgers flew and the game moved around and having identical twins playing on the other team made things even harder to keep up with even though he knew it should have been irrelevant, there weren’t just fourteen players out here. Someone had to have decided it would be a great joke to release fourteen extras onto the Pitch after the rest of them started playing, just to see how long it would take them to notice. It was an experiment about the attention span of the average Quidditch player or something, not a real part of the game.

It was, after all, in no way possible that things were as crazy and confusing as they seemed to him if only the approved normal number of people were on the Pitch. There were supposed to be six Chasers and two Beaters here right now, with a Keeper at either end and the two Seekers and their warders somewhere else. Jay, as a Chaser for the day, was supposed to have seven people he was playing with, and he lived in a household of nine, so therefore, he thought he should be the person here best-equipped to follow what was going on around him, not the least. Surely a pair of Quidditch teams could not be more confusing than his house at breakfast….

He decided to seize onto that thought. Breakfast table. He was himself, the only sane man. Arnold could be Dad – good-humored, nominally in charge, generally not really someone they had to think about too much, as he was off doing his own thing. Arthur was Mother, the authority figure they actually dealt with and made fun of behind his back. Francesca could be Henry, the serious one, the real Henry even seemed to have gotten along with her well enough last year, so that worked well. Lucian was Theresa, Amira was Brandon, those twins were collectively Diana, Adam could stand in for Cecilia, and Anthony, on the bench, he could be Peter, the one who was just ornamental for the moment….

Correlating the other players to people he knew calmed him a little, though he was wary of aligning them too closely with people he knew. Doing that, he knew, would be a surefire way to mess up, because then he might start relating to them as though they were those people, and they, not being his brothers and sisters, wouldn’t react the same way to things that the real Brandon or Diana or Henry or Terry or Cecilia would. Especially since Annabelle and Annette were, after all, technically two people, neither of which was Di. Still, though, thinking that he’d survived worse made it easier to not panic, and not panicking made it easier to figure out what was going on, so he was glad he’d thought of it, especially when he realized that they were both getting very close to his side’s goals and that whichever Ann had the Quaffle was going to be obliging enough to pass it at least once more.

It would be close, he decided, but probably no worse than the narrowest stairs were on back to school day. Father had tripped and fallen down those one year, he remembered, trying to get Theresa’s trunk downstairs with the younger kids all under his feet demanding to know why they couldn’t go and Theresa shouting that she had forgotten something from upstairs; then there had been a lot of screaming, except for Diana, who’d started laughing until Henry uncovered his ears long enough to hit Brandon, at which point Diana had decided that what the situation really needed was for her to hit Henry. It was a miracle they had all gotten to school alive, but they had, and this time, he was a lot closer to a better medic than Mother and wasn’t carrying a trunk, so he thought he could manage.

He did, and was surprised by the feeling of elation which came with getting his hands on the Quaffle. It was just a ball, a minor moment in the game, really, the time had hardly started, and it wasn’t like he’d never touched one before – but feelings usually didn’t make sense. Merlin knew his real family was proof of that, too. Putting the Grail of the day under his arm, he turned and started to fly back toward the Pecari Keeper, trying to gauge how much of a snarl the Beaters were in to help him figure out how far he could go before he passed.

Finally, a respectable but not dramatic distance away from where he’d gotten the Quaffle, he decided he didn’t dare risk it anymore and reluctantly made a pass toward the nearest blue robe, hoping with more intensity than he would have expected that it would get there.

0 Jay Carey, Chaser And the Quaffle toward the Pecari goals! 0 Jay Carey, Chaser 0 5

Arthur Carey, Chaser

August 16, 2013 1:43 AM

Excellent suggestion, cousin by Arthur Carey, Chaser

Arthur was known for many things, or believed he was. He even liked to think that enthusiasm was one of them, when the subject at hand was one he deemed of sufficient importance or value to warrant such a response. Certainly his brothers and cousins believed he could be overly enthusiastic about what he thought were perfectly fascinating topics and which they thought were perfectly tedious abstractions of no value to anyone. He could go on at great length about fine variations in Latin-based spells between England and America – truly, at more length than he really had data to support when he wanted to, given that no one around him generally knew what he was talking about anyway and he thought he might as well enjoy the experience as much as he could because that was time not taken up in resenting it.

However enthusiastic he could be over transatlantic inflections, however, he was still not a person who cheered. Nor was he a person who indulged in an excess of smiling and laughter, knowing too well that he tended to wheeze when he laughed and that he only looked right when smiling perhaps twenty percent of the time. The rest, the effect was more unsettling than anything, whether he was really pleased or not, so he tried to avoid it just on principle. No point in looking like a fool when he could help it.

When Jay intercepted the Quaffle, though, Arthur laughed aloud, and even started to clap his hands, which the injured one did not welcome and so he ended the gesture quickly. He did not, though, immediately stop smiling. Finally, someone on his side had the Quaffle and he actually noticed this in time to do something with it. Finally, he might be able to do something productive this morning, rather than just coming out to see how much abuse from unnatural climates his extremities could take. Here they went.

When Jay passed, Arthur caught the Quaffle, feeling very content, not to mention a little relieved, as he put it under his arm. He couldn’t win the game for them, that was so unlikely he wouldn’t even bet on it if he cheated unless the cheating involved both time travel and liquid luck, but if this did somehow turn out to be his last game, at least he would be able to say he’d laid hands on the Quaffle during it, as a Chaser should. He had not realized before that it would have bothered him if he had not pulled that off, but he was sure, now that the chance was past, that it would have, and pretty badly. Not enough to ruin his life, or even his year, but it would have been upsetting. The month might well have been a loss, or at least the week.

He flew very fast, just because he could, relishing the sight of grass streaking past beneath him. Arthur didn't mind heights anyway, and at the moment, he couldn't imagine many things pleasing him better. Finally, though, he, too, passed, trusting to the reversal of their fortunes to continue, at least for another move or so.

0 Arthur Carey, Chaser Excellent suggestion, cousin 0 Arthur Carey, Chaser 0 5

Clara Abernathy, Keeper

August 16, 2013 1:47 AM

You can try, but I think you'll find it difficult by Clara Abernathy, Keeper

Clara watched as the other players seemed to fly around in all directions. She watched nervously as a bludger flew towards one of her fellow teammates and was about to scream out a warning when she saw her cousin place herself in the path of the bludger instead. She squeezed her eyes shut as she cringed against the impact. She knew that Amira probably wasn’t trying to put herself in harms way on purpose, but she was glad that she blocked the thing…sort-of. “Oh man…that had to suck,” she said to herself watching her cousin send the offending bludger flying towards one of the Aladrens. She wasn’t sure which of the Carey twins it was headed for, but she was glad it was headed in their direction than hers. She glanced down the field again trying to get a feel for where the quaffle was. Again she couldn’t readily spot the elusive red ball due to the number of bodies that were flying around everywhere. She thought she spotted Adam with it, but he appeared to have tried passing it. Then she lost it again for a moment, spotting it in Francesca’s possession. Then Francesca seemed to pass it and it went missing again. She thought she spotted it in one of the Anns hands, but she couldn’t tell which one from a distance. Her last spotting of the quaffle she was sure it was in a Pecari’s hands. She was slightly relieved to see it leaving her side of the field.

Her relief turned sour, however, when she heard the cracking of a wooden bat on metal and turned towards the sound. Coming directly in her direction was one of those nasty little metal bludgers! Her eyes widened as she saw the nasty little thing barreling towards her location. She had no idea if it had been hit her way by Thad or Lucian and if it had been done purposely, but she found herself trapped like a deer in headlights. Her brain was screaming at her to move or duck or do something, but she couldn’t get her body to cooperate. Not readily anyway. She had completely frozen when she saw the bludger heading in her direction and began to mentally panic. Holy Merlin…what do I do? What do I do? What do I do? she repeated over and over again in her head as she panicked. Something in her brain screamed “Move Dummy!” and she found her limbs and broom finally responding. They didn’t respond as quickly as she would have liked, but they did finally move. She drove her broom out of the way of the offending ball, but not before it clipped her thigh as it flew past her. She grabbed her leg where the bludger clipped her hissing through her teeth as she fought through the pain. Holy cripes did that hurt she said to herself as she rubbed the spot on her leg that hurt the most. She was fairly certain that it hadn’t hit her hard enough to break anything , but it definitely was going to leave a pretty bruise. When she was pretty certain that the bludger had gone from her position, Clara flew back into her spot in front of the Pecari hoops. Her thigh still stung a bit from the clipping, but she refused to let it bother or distract her. She steeled herself against the pain and put her game face back on.

She watched whichever Ann who had the quaffle try and pass it, only to have it intercepted by one of the Aladrens who were now heading abck towards her. She blocked out the stinging she felt in her thigh and watched the Aladren chaser like a hawk. She wasn’t sure if he was going to try making a run at her or if he was going to try passing it. Her question was answered when she watched him try passing off the quaffle to another of his team members. She couldn’t tell right off if the other Aladren managed to catch the pass, but she told herself it didn’t matter if they did or not. She was not about to let them score any points against her if she could help it. She just hoped she lived up to that vow.

0 Clara Abernathy, Keeper You can try, but I think you'll find it difficult 232 Clara Abernathy, Keeper 0 5

Jay Carey, Chaser

August 16, 2013 1:56 AM

Thank you, cousin by Jay Carey, Chaser

“Ha!” Jay exclaimed, almost giddy and momentarily, distantly, stunned by himself for being that, when the moment where the Quaffle seemed to crawl through the air in slow motion ended and his cousin pulled it safely back into Aladren possession. He was able to stop himself from waving his fist in the air, but his hand made one, just for a second, anyway. Even the only sane man could have his moments at breakfast.

With an effort, he stopped gloating and got back to the business at hand, watching the hands which held the Quaffle while trying to also listen for Bludgers and notice if any Pecaris were trying to form up to steal the Quaffle back from them. It was still hard, even after the burst of confidence his interception and pass had given him, even reminding himself that he paid attention to more than one thing at a time all the time when he wasn’t at Sonora, a haven of focus he had not been back at so long that he should have forgotten the skill of hearing and seeing five things at once already. If he had, he was going to be in trouble at spring break for sure.

Arthur’s run proved much less eventful than usual occasions when he had to pay attention to lots of things at once, and so he was a little overconfident when the ball came back his way and ended up nearly losing his seat as he lunged sideways to pull the ball out of the air from further away than he could really reach. Getting his fingertips on it, he swayed alarmingly, righting himself and getting a grip on the Quaffle at once and nearly failing both tasks. For one sickening moment, he looked down, imagined the impact of his person with the earth….

He didn’t fall, and he didn’t keep the Quaffle for long this time, either. When he passed it, though, he did take a moment to try a feint in one direction before, rather than flying that way, he passed the other, partially to hopefully keep the ball with them and hopefully also to regain a little of his dignity. Dignity was, he realized for the first time, he thought, a fine thing, at least in moderation; completely losing it when third year girls did not was not…He didn’t want to do that. Not at all. No more than he wanted Pecari to get the ball back. It just...it wouldn't suit, really.

0 Jay Carey, Chaser Thank you, cousin 0 Jay Carey, Chaser 0 5

Francesca Wolseithcrafte

August 16, 2013 1:47 PM

An actual shot may have arrived! by Francesca Wolseithcrafte

Her pass had been poor and thus it was predictable, though frustrating, that it was intercepted. She tailed Ann for a little while – the twins' brooms seemed somewhat slower than the general standard, and she was easy enough to catch up. However, the spooky psychic twin thing was bound to work in their favour sometimes. Or perhaps it was just rigorous training. For all that Francesca was fast, the other Ann was exactly where she needed to be. Francesca wondered what percentage was their being in tune with each other versus their training, and whether they'd tell her if she asked. She was on friendly terms with the twins and, as with Adam, hoped they saw this as a friendly rivalry. However, that didn't mean they'd be willing to talk tactics or give away potential secrets. And that was assuming she still had a friendly relationship with them. She had been reassured by one of them smiling at her before the match but she had been quite alarmed when she had found out her mother's course of action following her mentioning that they played. She understood her mother's motives and trusted her intentions but she could not help but feel that she had potentially landed then twins in a heap of trouble (even if it would have been coming to them sooner or later) and that they might be angry with her. She had heard no more though. They still seemed both to have a family and be playing the game, which was most peculiar.

That could all wait though. The pressing issue at the moment was the Quaffle. The other Ann was now speeding towards their goals with it. Jay and Arthur were nearer that end and had a far greater chance of intercepting it. Therefore, Francesca fell back, closer to Pecari's goal, in case the Quaffle came back to that end. Sure enough the Careys caught it and, between them, sped it down the pitch. Francesca continued to move forward, glancing over her shoulder to line herself up with Jay, avoid Bludgers and try to avoid getting a Pecari tail. As her team mate caught her up, she flew alongside, waiting for the pass. At the last second, it looked like he was going to try to get it back to Arthur instead. She was nearly caught off guard herself by his feint but luckily hadn't had time to alter her course a great deal, and caught the ball easily, if gracelessly.

Hugging it to her chest, she made for the Pecari hoops. The Quaffle had travelled fairly far with the Careys and they were near enough that she could go for it. The question was, should she? She felt it should be one of the more experienced Chasers who made the shot. But she could shoot. That was something she'd probably done more of than anything, even outside Sonora. The line of the scoring zone approached. Only one Chaser was allowed in there, so if she passed, it had to be before she got there. And that risked interception, and them losing the shot at goal. A shot by her was better than giving it back to Pecari. Miles better. The right Chaser to make the shot was the one who was in the right place at the right time... And that seemed to be her.

Steeling herself, she crossed the line. The noise was still all around them, as loud as it had ever been. She still had to watch out for Bludgers, though she trusted Lucian to have her back. He'd been good so far. But now it just came down to her and the Keeper. Without wishing to be arrogant, she thought she was a better player than Clara. Everyone said the girl hadn't managed to stay on a broom for more than five seconds until this year. Francesca had ridden one since she was a toddler.

“Don't fall off, Abernathy,” she called, feinting as far from the girl's current position as possible, in the hopes that she would lunge wildly for it and lose her balance, before shooting for the gap behind her. Even if she didn't fall for the feint (or just fall, full stop) that was an awkward angle. As she shot the Quaffle, she let the momentum carry her forward, lapping around the scoring area. A moving target was harder to hit, if anyone was aiming.

13 Francesca Wolseithcrafte An actual shot may have arrived! 250 Francesca Wolseithcrafte 0 5

Captain Thornton, Beater

August 16, 2013 4:34 PM

A shot? Come on Clara! by Captain Thornton, Beater

Amira knew without a doubt that at least one rib was broken, but she and her sisters and teammates have played with worse. It’s not as bad as it feels. We can still win… she repeated over and over again to herself. I’m the Captain and I say so… she added into her little mantra. Amira watched as Adam flew towards the Aladren hoops and wondered if he knew where the elusive red ball had gone, but shrugged it off as she coughed into her arm.

When she finished her cough the sound that came at her was one she had hoped wouldn’t right then, but it was coming and she knew that she couldn’t hit it with any semblance of aim at anything, nor could she block it using her bat, that could hit Adam that way. She’d noticed him nearby, and knew that protecting him and the rest of her team was her job. I’ll have to use me… she thought as she turned into the metallic whizzing sound and when it hit she almost lost her grip on her broom and she had been pushed slightly off course to boot.

Amira caught her breath back, and made small breaths in and out instead of larger ones that hurt more. She flew right at Lucian, as he had done to her and as Francesca had done to Ann and hoped that her flying right at him would either make the younger boy move or show how stoic he really was. He didn’t move, however, and she turned on a dime at the last second and smacked her Bludger right at the Aladren Chasers, away from the direction their Beater was. After all, she’d gotten herself between him and them in her flight, for that reason. He reacted quickly however, and flew off after it. Lucian whacked the Bludger right back at Pecari’s Chasers and Amira scowled inwardly while leaning into her broom handle (as her body tingled at the movement) to go faster. She also saw that Francesca had the Quaffle at that point and instead of letting a Bludger hit any of her teammates again, she went quickly after the one Lucian had hit and almost missed it if it hadn’t been for Ann taking a loop passed her to get the Bludger towards her Beater. Amira had to give it to Ann, (she realized this one was Annette, but the color of the scarf) and was glad of her decision to make the girl Head Chaser. Sure, both Annabelle and Annette had played in the past, but Annette was the more likely candidate for the position anyway. Thanks to Annette, Amira reached it just in time to hit it right at Francesca instead. The Aladren Chaser was headed towards Clara and Amira knew what this was doing to her cousin and she was going to try to prevent this as best as she could.

She made the pass and the ball turned hands a few times to where Jay Carey had it tucked under his arm. Amira wasn’t sure if the Bludger went near Francesca or hit her or not, but what she did know was that her Chasers still had a chance to get it back. Her Chasers were practiced and almost liquefied together with their movements, thanks to their practice schedule and she was glad she was sort of tough on them. It made them a better team for it. They all knew what needed to be done and they could do it, any of it, if need be. And that was her goal.

Mir glanced towards Pecari’s hoops and her little cousin and her eyes widened when she saw the Bludger heading for her cousin. She was too far away to do anything about it from there and she screamed inwardly at herself for it. Move… Clara move… Oh please move… Uncle Bryan’s gonna kill me! she thought to herself as she saw Clara finally move a little ways away, but it didn’t stop the blasted ball from grazing what looked like her cousin’s leg. “Damnit…” she said softly, saying a few choice curse words in her head.

Jay passed the Quaffle and Arthur went for it, catching it. He flew fast and then passed the ball again to Jay, who almost missed it and even Amira’s heart lunged at the hope the boy didn’t fall off his broom for it! Wait, what is going on? Why am I actually caring about people? This isn’t me… I must be a pod person or something she thought to herself, shaking her head roughly to rid her mind of those odd thoughts.

Amira watched around her for another Bludger and listened for the tell tale sound as the game went on around her. Suddenly Francesca had the Quaffle again and was heading right for Clara, apparently the Bludger hadn’t hit her earlier… Great, chalk another one up to me… she thought. Some Captain I am… she added to herself as Francesca threw the Quaffle at Clara’s hoops.

Come on Clara… Just as we practiced… she repeated over and over again, waiting to see what was about to happen.

0 Captain Thornton, Beater A shot? Come on Clara! 0 Captain Thornton, Beater 0 5

Clara Abernathy, Keeper

August 16, 2013 6:09 PM

That was some shot (tag Coach) by Clara Abernathy, Keeper

Clara could still feel the sting of the bludger in her leg as she repositioned herself in front of the Pecari hoops. She frowned at the unpleasant feeling thanking Merlin that she hadn’t taken the nasty little thing to her ribs like her cousin Amira had done. I don’t even know how she is able to fly right now she said to herself. I probably would have called it quits right then and there. She then frowned at her own cowardly thought. Knowing her crazy little self, she probably would have gone after the person who sent the bludger after her in the first place. She glanced down the pitch trying to get a fix on the quaffle and frowned when she didn’t spot it right away. It took her a moment to realize that Pecari no longer held control of it. “Ah cripes!” she mumbled to herself, watching anxiously as two of Aladren’s Chasers seemed to be heading her way, the elusive red ball in their mitts. “Remember practice…,” she told herself as she watched them pass it between each other heading her way. She had no idea which of them was going to be the one to throw it and found herself silently panicking again. Calm down Clara she told herself. You can take them. She wasn’t entirely convinced of that, but she wasn’t about to let them know that. She hardened her eyes and steeled her nerves as best as she could waiting for them to get closer. “Just like soccer,” she told herself. “They’ll pass it to each other and then they’ll try shooting it at you. You can stop them,” she mumbled to herself, watching them pass it.

Clara kept telling herself she was ready fro whatever they could throw at her as she watched the boys with the quaffle. What she hadn’t been prepared for was Francesca swooping in to collect one of their passes and making her way towards Clara herself. Where the heck had she been hiding? Clara wondered to herself, trying not to show her confusion. Her eyes darted between the three Aladren as she watched their movements. Francesca broke away from her teammates and headed straight for Clara. Well…straight-ish anyway. Clara tried breathing normally as she watched Francesca’s flight towards her. She saw the girl feign a bit and almost flew in the direction she moved to except her brain couldn’t make her muscles move at that moment. She was snapped back to reality when she heard Francesca call out to her just before she threw the quaffle towards the hoops. “Don’t fall Abernathy! she had called. Clara glared at the comment before frowning. Did she really just do that? Clara asked herself as she took off after the quaffle which was now leaving Francesca’s hands. Clara bolted towards the hoop the quaffle was heading for and noticed too late that the ball was flying towards it as an awkward angle. Crap! I catch that and I’m gonna run right into that hoop she realized a split second before she made it to the hoop in question.

By the time she realized what was happening everything was moving too quickly for her to stop any of it. Between the awkward angle of the ball and the speed at which she flew to intercept it, Clara watched in what felt like slow motion as she had barely managed to wrap her hand around the ball before clutching it to her chest and trying to turn to miss the side of the metal hoop. Unfortunately the momentum at which she was traveling spun her backwards and sent her backwards into the side of the hoop at a pretty decent force. Her right shoulder and the back of her head hit the metal hoop one right after the other, her shoulder slamming\\first and then her head. Clara felt her body sag slightly on the broom against the hoop and shook her head trying to clear her vision. Thousands of tiny little sparkles of light exploded right before her eyes when she did. She moaned slightly closing her eyes against the dancing balls of light, waiting for her vision to clear. When it did she opened her eyes and glanced slowly down towards her lap and found the quaffle still tucked loosely beneath her arm. She glanced towards the metal hoop realizing that she was still leaning against it on her broom. She blinked several times trying to make her vision quit twitching before she gently pushed herself away from the metal hoop. She hovered on her broom for a second before she glanced towards Francesca and smiled slightly. “Nice try,” she called out, holding up the ball slightly. She immediately dropped her arm in her lap when her right arm and her head exploded with pain. She placed her hand gingerly on the back of her head and frowned when she spotted the red on her fingers when she pulled her hand away. I don’t remember wearing red today she thought to herself as her vision swam in front of her eyes. “Wow…my head hurts,” she half mumbled as she felt the quaffle slipping from her grip. She lost track of the world in general at that point as her vision left her completely and she slipped into black unconsciousness, falling off her broom and heading for the ground.

0 Clara Abernathy, Keeper That was some shot (tag Coach) 232 Clara Abernathy, Keeper 0 5

Arnold Carey, Seeker

August 16, 2013 10:59 PM

That's commendable of you by Arnold Carey, Seeker

He had barely blinked. Barely at all. Arnold was pretty sure his eyes had not even fully closed when, dried out beyond the point of discomfort in the cold air as he kept them on the Snitch, he finally did stop looking directly ahead for one second. That, though, was all it took: the Snitch moved in that length of time, and here, not far from the main action of the Pitch, he missed where it went completely.

I should have insulted her when I had the chance, he thought grimly.

Because he couldn’t think of anything better to do, Arnold thought a few highly uncomplimentary things, worse than he’d ever actually say aloud whether she was right there to hear them or not, about Jade in the hopes it would redress the balance while his eyes kept moving, looking for the elusive fleck of gold to reappear. Stupid Snitch; Wright might have been a little less clever in his use of metals and magic, might have made it a little slower or less agile than a real Snidget, but –

No. That wasn’t the way to go about it. He was supposed to be petitioning for a faster Snitch, not griping about this one. For one thing, this was as close to a centuries-old tradition as he was ever going to really understand, and for another, the whole point of the game was to really compete, at least unless you were a gambler or Arthur. Just winning didn’t matter much if it wasn’t properly done, and a moment’s frustration was no good reason to forget that, no matter how much his arm hurt and he was afraid of losing.

Looking around, he saw that his Chasers had the Quaffle and that Thad was blocking Rupert, and that cheered him up again. A little, anyway – enough. Shrugging his shoulders, he rose in the air further, his eyes moving rapidly over the grass beneath him in all directions, seeking the Snitch, as he was supposed to. It had to be around here somewhere, and he would find it and catch it and then the game would be over and they’d all go have a nice party. Too bad Fae couldn’t come; he guessed she was cross with him right now about the arm, but she would forget all about that when he won, right? He would, after all. No point in remembering, really….

0 Arnold Carey, Seeker That's commendable of you 181 Arnold Carey, Seeker 0 5

Arnold Carey, Seeker

August 17, 2013 10:13 PM

I should get a few modest compliments for this by Arnold Carey, Seeker

Arnold knew it was a little risky, especially since they were not that far from the Chasers and thus from his cousins, but he decided to trust Thad to keep him intact and gave most of his attention to moving out from his position in gradually widening rounds, looking for the Snitch. Moving as fast as he could while paying close attention to what was around him and only in small increments took a lot more attention than just flying and looking, not leaving him much time to worry about the Bludgers. The Snitch had to be close, he just had to figure out which way it had gone, which way it was going, and grab it....

So focused was he on reciting the list of steps that he almost missed the chance to complete them – almost, but not quite. He only froze for a split second before his heart hit his throat and he began almost at the same moment to dive again, chasing the glimmer of gold, feeling the rush of heading toward the face of the planet far too fast and the excitement of knowing this might be it and that every eye in the school, or very nearly, was probably on him, with Beaters and Jade behind and either a celebration of humiliation in front of him.

He was still heading downward when he caught up with the Snitch and had to catch it before pulling out of the dive and leveling out, holding up the Snitch and feeling nothing so much as relief.

The game wasn’t going to abandon him now. It could at any time, the championship could very easily turn out to be the worst moment of his life, but he wasn’t going to have to go the rest of this year without it. He had it for now, and that would do.

0 Arnold Carey, Seeker I should get a few modest compliments for this 181 Arnold Carey, Seeker 0 5

Coach Pierce

August 18, 2013 3:05 PM

Aladren wins! 150 - 0 (nm) by Coach Pierce

0 Coach Pierce Aladren wins! 150 - 0 (nm) 0 Coach Pierce 0 5

Coach Pierce

Quidditch Game II: Aladren vs Pecari by Coach Pierce

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

Come along, Aladrens! by <font color="blue">Arthur Carey, Chaser</font>

<font color='blue'>Francesca Wolseithcrafte</font>

Out of the thick of it [Chaser] by <font color='blue'>Francesca Wolseithcrafte</font>

<font color=tan>Clara Abernathy, Keeper</font>

Let's go Pecari! by <font color=tan>Clara Abernathy, Keeper</font>

<font color=tan>Captain Thornton, Beater</font>

Go PECARI! by <font color=tan>Captain Thornton, Beater</font>

<font color=tan>Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>

Um...quaffle? by <font color=tan>Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>

<font color=tan>Rupert Princeton, Beater</font>

Aiming for the Seeker. by <font color=tan>Rupert Princeton, Beater</font>

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

Avoiding the Bludger by <font color="blue">Captain Carey, Seeker</font>

<font color='blue'>Francesca Wolseithcrafte</font>

Ah, that's where it got to by <font color='blue'>Francesca Wolseithcrafte</font>

<font color=tan>Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>

Didn't see that coming. by <font color=tan>Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>

<font color=blue>Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater</font>

You should have expected this. by <font color=blue>Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater</font>

<font color=tan>Captain Thornton, Beater</font>

You should expect this, then by <font color=tan>Captain Thornton, Beater</font>

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

Of course. I planned it like that. by <font color="blue">Arthur Carey, Chaser</font>

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

Flying under the radar by <font color="blue">Jay Carey, Chaser</font>

<font color="tan">Jade Owen, Pecari Seeker</font>

Having a Gay Old Time by <font color="tan">Jade Owen, Pecari Seeker</font>

<font color=blue>Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater</font>

Aiming with the crosshairs. by <font color=blue>Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater</font>

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

It's a lovely freezing day for a casual fun game by <font color="blue">Arnold Carey, Seeker</font>

<font color=tan>Annabelle Pierce, Chaser</font>

I don't have it either (wotw) by <font color=tan>Annabelle Pierce, Chaser</font>

<font color=tan>Clara Abernathy, Keeper</font>

I couldn't agree more by <font color=tan>Clara Abernathy, Keeper</font>

<font color=tan>Captain Thornton, Beater</font>

Aim and shoot from the ribs by <font color=tan>Captain Thornton, Beater</font>

<font color=blue>Andri Thornton, Keeper</font>

We can do it Aladren! by <font color=blue>Andri Thornton, Keeper</font>

<font color=tan>Rupert Princeton, Beater</font>

A lovely day for the Bludgers as well. by <font color=tan>Rupert Princeton, Beater</font>

<font color='blue'>Francesca Wolseithcrafte</font>

Once again, oh <i>that's</i> where it's got to by <font color='blue'>Francesca Wolseithcrafte</font>

<font color=tan>Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>

And the Quaffle is... by <font color=tan>Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>

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

It would be very rude to exclude them from the fun by <font color="blue">Arnold Carey, Seeker</font>

<font color=blue>Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater</font>

Let's keep it going in this direction. by <font color=blue>Lucian D'Alesandro, Beater</font>

<font color=tan>Annette Pierce, Chaser</font>

And it is still in focus by <font color=tan>Annette Pierce, Chaser</font>

<font color=tan>Annabelle Pierce, Chaser</font>

Towards Aladren's goals? Sure. by <font color=tan>Annabelle Pierce, Chaser</font>

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

I haven't been accused of being rude yet by <font color=blue>Thad Pierce, Beater</font>

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

Bludgers toward Pecaris sounds better by <font color="blue">Arthur Carey, Chaser</font>

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

And the Quaffle toward the Pecari goals! by <font color="blue">Jay Carey, Chaser</font>

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

Excellent suggestion, cousin by <font color="blue">Arthur Carey, Chaser</font>

<font color=tan>Clara Abernathy, Keeper</font>

You can try, but I think you'll find it difficult by <font color=tan>Clara Abernathy, Keeper</font>

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

Thank you, cousin by <font color="blue">Jay Carey, Chaser</font>

<font color='blue'>Francesca Wolseithcrafte</font>

An actual shot may have arrived! by <font color='blue'>Francesca Wolseithcrafte</font>

<font color=tan>Captain Thornton, Beater</font>

A shot? Come on Clara! by <font color=tan>Captain Thornton, Beater</font>

<font color=tan>Clara Abernathy, Keeper</font>

That was some shot (tag Coach) by <font color=tan>Clara Abernathy, Keeper</font>

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

That's commendable of you by <font color="blue">Arnold Carey, Seeker</font>

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

I should get a few modest compliments for this by <font color="blue">Arnold Carey, Seeker</font>

Coach Pierce

Aladren wins! 150 - 0 (nm) by Coach Pierce