Keeping out of it on Quidditch Pitch

Coach Olivers

November 02, 2014 8:01 PM

Quidditch Game II: Pecari vs. Aladren by Coach Olivers

The last match had been a close one, but Aladren had ended up finding the Snitch first. The little Pecari in Florence’s heart had hurt a little, but she generally did well staying unbiased during Quidditch games. Today was a little warmer, the first bit of spring after a cold winter back in Chicago. It was nothing like the brutal heat during the last game; only a little foggy in the morning with promises to clear up later in the day. The fog didn’t pose too much of an obstacle to the players, though it might hinder the viewing for the spectators in the stands. Ah well. It wasn’t like Florence controlled the weather, though she would surely make games interesting if she did.

As the players made their way to the pitch, Florence waited around dressed in dark robes with the whistle around her neck. She smiled and greeted them, recognizing all of them from her Charms classes. Once the fog cleared up a little, it would be great weather for a game and Florence was looking forward to it. She hoped dearly that the rosters would be full next year for all of the houses, but as Crotalus had next to none and Teppenpaw only had three this time around, she didn’t count on it. At least Aladren and Pecari had teams to give the players something to do and the other students something to watch during the weekends.

When ten o’clock came around, Florence made eye-contact with the team captains before stepping out to the center of the field. She pressed her wand against her throat and amplified her voice before spreading her arms out. “Welcome to the last Quidditch match of the year,” she announced. “On this side we have Pecari, led by Captain Rupert Princeton, playing against Aladren, led by Captain James Carey. I expect you all to cheer loudly for your teams today. Captains, if you will please shake hands.”

When they came together to shake, Florence smiled at them both after she removed the Amplifying Charm. “Good luck, boys.” Carey and Princeton were both seasoned Quidditch players who most likely knew the drill by now. She had always liked it when she could depend on students to carry their own weight. Once the captains had rejoined their teammates, she gestured for the teams to gather around her. “When I blow my whistle, the game begins. The Seeker who catches the Snitch first ends the game. Players, please take your positions.” As the players went to their respective areas or simply rose into the air, Florence released the Snitch and picked up the Quaffle. She would release the bludgers after throwing the Quaffle up. She went and stood in the middle of the Chasers, hand poised to throw it and the silver whistle in her mouth. She looked at the Chasers and made sure they made eye-contact with her before blowing her whistle and throwing the Quaffle into the air. She stepped back and released the two bludgers and the two iron balls immediately went after their respective targets.

The game had begun.

OOC: Welcome to Quidditch! As per posting rules, two paragraphs minimum are expected, but creative, detailed, and realistic posts will earn more points for your team. Please stick to the rules. In addition, no one should be falling from their broom to their deaths/injury. Florence will intervene before anyone falls to the ground. If you have any questions, tag Coach Olivers in the OOC board. Have fun with it!

Subthreads:

The game is on! by Francesca, Chaser with Liliana Bannister, Keeper, John Umland, Chaser, Rupert Princeton, Beater, Joella Curtis, Chaser, Leonidas Bennett, Beater, Adam Spencer, Chaser, Anthony Carey, Chaser, Theodore, Keeper

Watching from on high by Captain Carey, Beater with Atlas Primred, Beater

Keeping out of it by Theodore, Keeper

Recentering (nm) by Coach Olivers with Joella Curtis, Chaser, Jay Carey, Beater

0 Coach Olivers Quidditch Game II: Pecari vs. Aladren 0 Coach Olivers 1 5

Francesca, Chaser

November 03, 2014 7:06 AM

The game is on! by Francesca, Chaser

Francesca was excited for the final Quidditch game of the year. It was a little odd to be facing off against Pecari again but the weather was promising and, for her at least, the atmosphere felt happy. There was a little more of an edge to her role than usual, as if Pecari won, she assumed they'd be deciding the overall winner on points, so it was up to the Chasers and Keepers to do well for their sides. Still, she was enjoying the excitement rather than feeling cowed by the pressure. Maybe it had something to do with knowing that, after this was over, and her exams were done, it would be the ball – a good chance to see a busy year out with a party. It was interesting to think how much had changed since the last school dance. It had been her first year, her first real chance to mingle with her peers and find out what they made of her. She had had to adjust to playing on a full sized pitch, and it had felt like forever from one end to the other. It still did sometimes, when someone was on your tail and you couldn't see a team-mate to pass to, but mostly now it just felt normal.

She scanned the stands as the captains shook hands, hoping Ginny had come down to cheer her and Adam on in equal measures. She felt a little like her friend hadn't been around so much since Midterm. The rational explanations of Ginny going into some kind of revision hibernation or that she herself was being paranoid had both occurred to her, but she felt the former was less likely, as they had always studied together and, as for the latter, she had become much better at seeing things as they really were. In spite of that being generally a good thing, she did seriously hope she'd got it wrong this time, and it was just her over anxious imagination.

The whistle blew and she kicked off, firm and direct, plunging towards the scarlet Quaffle – another sharp contrast to her first game where she had been lost and overwhelmed by the tangle of swiftly moving bodies in the centre of the pitch. She emerged from the pack victorious, her heart beating loudly in her chest. It always felt good to be the one to get the Quaffle but it was amongst the most difficult and dangerous times of the match to be in possession, as everyone was still huddled close. The opposing Chasers would be on her in a flash, and the Beaters and their Bludgers were bound not to be far away either. It got the adrenaline pumping far quicker though, and she used this to her advantage, throwing herself against her broom, trying to put some distance in towards the Pecari goal. On the plus side, her own team-mates shouldn't be too far behind her either...

She sped along, watching the hoops grow in size and the small brown blob start to come into focus as a real person, in the form of Liliana Bannister. Pecari was a good team for Quidditch playing Pureblood girls and she hoped that, between their two houses, they were setting enough of an example for others to want to follow. Not everyone, of course – it wasn't in everyone's nature, and she doubted very much that her own sister would be swelling the ranks of whichever house she ended up in next year. But if people just felt like they had a choice...

She hadn't got a long way down the pitch before she heard a tell-tale whistling of something closing in behind her. She glanced over her shoulder, confirming there was a Bludger nearby but also catching sight of a blur of blue. She threw a hasty reverse pass before diving out of the way of the heavy iron ball, leaving it to latch onto someone else or be redirected by one of the Beaters, and hoping her team-mate had received her pass.

13 Francesca, Chaser The game is on! 250 Francesca, Chaser 0 5

Liliana Bannister, Keeper

November 03, 2014 8:42 PM

And so is my determination! by Liliana Bannister, Keeper

After Percai had lost their last match to Aladren, Liliana had not been in the best of moods. While in England witches could play Quidditch without much scrutiny she had found that in America it was different. A few of her father’s business partners had made rather stiff remarks about her being on her House team and though Liliana had tried to brush them off, it made her wonder how the other students at the school viewed her. There were a select few who she knew it didn’t bother-- her fellow teammates and the Wolseithcraftes came to mind, but she couldn’t help but worry that was what was keeping someone from asking her to the Ball.

All talk of the Ball though, Liliana pushed out of her mind as it came time to prepare for the next match against Aladren. She badly wanted to win because to do so would show anyone that witches could play Quidditch just as well as wizards. Since Aladren didn’t have nearly as many girl players as Pecari, Liliana was worried yet another loss to Aladren would prove to the world that all the doubters and anti-witch playing fanatics had valid points. These thoughts rushed through her head as she watched Francesca Wolseithcrafte grab the Quaffle before her male counterparts on the Aladren team could and come towards her hoops.

Despite the fact that the elder Wolseithcrafte was not on her team, Liliana was still smiling because she couldn’t deny it—the witch was a fantastic player and no matter who won at the end of the day good Quidditch playing was good Quidditch playing. “Come on, Primred!” she yelled to Atlas. “Do something about that!” Her call was teasing and in good fun-- to let Atlas know that if he didn’t figure something out quick she would never let him forget it. She didn’t feel as close to her other teammates as she did Atlas so she didn’t know how comfortable she would have felt yelling at Adam Spencer, for instance, to steal the Quaffle from Wolseithcrafte, or Rupert Princeton to send a Bludger in the other girl’s direction.

The whole game was making her extremely nervous-- more so than a usual game might. This time around every last detail mattered. It would decide if Aladren was going have a no-loss season and as part of a team who had won the last Quidditch Cup Liliana was not looking forward to having a double loss tucked under her belt. If Pecari won then perhaps there would be a third game and another chance for her team to come out on top again-- or else there might be a shoot-off. Either way it would give Pecari another chance and that’s what she desperately wanted. So, in honor of it being possibly the last game of the season, Liliana had really gone all out with her uniform-- as much as she could, anyway, without making it harder for herself to play. She’d threaded brown and gold ribbons into her trademark braid and made sure that every bit of clothing from her shirt to her socks were Pecari colors in case her uniform slipped a little while playing. Liliana had also used gold glitter paint to decorate her shoes with tiny moons and stars.

It was a little eccentric, yes, and not at all something her grandmother would have been proud of her for but there was plenty of time for being a lady later, over the summer. Now was the time to sport house and team pride and keep Pecari’s hoops safe from an Aladren attack. Hovering in between the hoops, she kept both hands firmly on the broom in a ready position and prepared herself hoping that a Pecari Chaser would interfere with the pass and take the Quaffle away from her hoops and over to the younger Wolseithcrafte to try and score some points over at the only end of the Pitch that would be letting in scores. She was absolutely determined that no Quaffle would get past her today.

10 Liliana Bannister, Keeper And so is my determination! 274 Liliana Bannister, Keeper 0 5

John Umland, Chaser

November 04, 2014 5:10 PM

This counts as some improvement, right? by John Umland, Chaser

John was more prepared for his second Quidditch match than he had been for his first. He had practiced flying in the MARS room every other day since he got back to school. He had studied strategy and tactics – maybe he had also briefly, in the process, gotten derailed into trying to figure out how to convert Quidditch into a board game, then how to convert it into a board game he could play with friends who didn’t know that broomsticks could fly, but he had gotten more or less back on track before this morning and now at least felt like he knew a few basics about strategy and tactics, hopefully enough that he would not be acting at random, picking the first plays or just movements that popped into his head if he was in a position to choose his own patterns. He'd even figured out who the patron saint of athletes was and, after taking a moment to think about coincidence again and wonder who had decided these things and whether they'd been brilliant or deeply, deeply disturbing, requested his intercession, too. He had done everything he could think of to get ready for the game, and the knowledge made him feel enough better that this time, he was just bouncing-on-the-balls-of-his-feet nervous all morning instead of borderline-catatonic nervous.

This was, he guessed, at least something of an improvement. As long as he was moving, he could concentrate, more or less - not as much as if he could have talked, but enough. He would still have given a few teeth and at least one of his toes to be a genius and capable of quickly calculating trajectories, but he thought that as long as nothing epically bizarre or particularly focused on him happened in the next five minutes, he was going to be okay this time.

There were the usual formalities of speeches and Coach Olivers reminding them of what they already knew, and then the game began. For a moment, John felt the panic of being in a crowd, like they were all pinballs, or whatever they were called, and he was a pinball which had just become sentient and had no clue what was going on, but then he steeled himself, looked for something red, and was pleased to find it with one of his own colleagues.

He followed, knowing he probably couldn’t catch up to her but reminding himself that there was more than one way to be useful. One pawn in the right place could lock down a Queen; he had done that by accident once, but had been so pleased when he noticed that he had never forgotten it. It wouldn’t work as well here, since the only people who could seriously harm Beaters were maybe other Beaters and only then if the first Beater was stupid and not too athletically skilled, other players couldn’t remove each other from the board without penalties, but just being in the way could work. Even if he got hit, that could give their Beaters time to get into a better position to protect a more valuable player, after which he could probably keep just…being in the way at the right time.

Or, alternatively, being in the right place to catch the ball when he saw Francesca turn. Reverse pass; he had practiced this before, so while it wasn’t as neat as he thought it might have been because of the uncontrolled situation, he was able to pull the ball out of the air and put it under his own arm. He grinned, but only for a second – he realized Francesca was avoiding a Bludger and, panicking a little again at the realization that he didn’t have time to think, he flew up and further right while still going forward (something he couldn't, even while doing it, help but noticing and finding cool; he was going in three directions at once on a stick) when he saw her dive to avoid it, hoping to confuse it into going after neither of them.

The new problems, of course, were first that this separated him from the pack, as he realized seconds after he did it, and then that there was a word for people who separated too far from the pack in Quidditch: target. A Quaffle-holder who was too alone turned the opposing players into a pack of lions, which instinctually understood what John had to read about to understand: avoid what is strong and attack what is weak. He had to move, and now. Grinding his teeth together in annoyance and anxiety, he dove, flying back toward the nearest flash of blue, hoping his teammates would either start surrounding him again, setting up for some sequence of plays, before the Pecari Chasers could cut him off and set up for theirs.

16 John Umland, Chaser This counts as some improvement, right? 285 John Umland, Chaser 0 5

Rupert Princeton, Beater

November 05, 2014 11:41 AM

Let's put it to the test. by Rupert Princeton, Beater

Rupert had been walking on air all term. Everything was pleasant: his schoolwork, his classmates, his team-mates and Quidditch. When he arrived at the pitch, even the weather was pleasant and Rupert couldn’t help smiling. Today was going to be a good day whether they won or lost, though winning would make it a thousand times better. He was earnestly awaiting the end of the term and the Midsummer Ball. He didn’t have crucial exams to study for this year, luckily, and he was doing well in his courses. He still had to talk with Wendy about the colours he ought to wear to accompany her dress, but he wasn’t all that concerned. She was going with him and that’s what mattered most.

Half of him hoped she had come to watch him, but he tried to smother that desire, though his brown eyes scanned the stands briefly anyway. Quidditch didn’t seem to interest her and that was all right with him as long as she wasn’t against it. He didn’t see her, so he slid on his Beater’s glove and brought his mind to focus. Distractions weren’t going to help them win this match.

His team-mates looked lovely in their uniforms and he greeted each one of them with a friendly smile and a, “Ready to win?” Coach Olivers started her introduction early and whilst she spoke he gathered his team-mates around him. “Atlas, you’re watching Annabelle and aiming for Aladren’s Seeker. Chasers, do your best and don’t forget what you’ve practised. Liliana, go on guarding the hoops as well as you do in practise. You’ve all done well in our practises; let’s win this and make our house proud, yeah? Hands in the middle, everyone.” It was a Muggle practise Rupert had learnt and very much enjoyed. “Pecari on three – one, two, Pecari!”

They finished in time for him to give Jay Carey’s hand a firm shake. “May the best win,” he said, nodding at him before he rejoined his team. Olivers’s instructions were standard and Rup allowed himself to tune out slightly, focusing on fiddling with his new bat in his left hand, until it came to getting into position. He rose and lingered towards the centre of the pitch, his eyes on the Quaffle. He’d be marking the Chasers again this game, and he rather enjoyed the excitement and constant movement. It made Beating a bit more challenging and he was getting better at following more than one person at a time.

Olivers blew the whistle and Rupert immediately went after the bludger that had attached itself to Francesca. She avoided it, dropping the Quaffle into the arms of her fellow Chaser, and Rupert swooped in. John Umland proved to be the perfect first target. With the bludger in control by his new bat – a Christmas gift from his dearest, thoughtful brother – Rup rose and smacked the bludger right into the path of Umland. By the time the bludger had covered the distance between him and John, John would be right in its path. Rupert waited eagerly to see if his bludger had met its target, less so for the gruesome visual and more to see if his target practise had paid off.

0 Rupert Princeton, Beater Let's put it to the test. 0 Rupert Princeton, Beater 0 5

Joella Curtis, Chaser

November 05, 2014 4:31 PM

Determination all round. by Joella Curtis, Chaser

Since the busy festivities of the midterm break had resulted in an unfortunate lack of Quidditch practice, Joella returned with the intention of spending even more time out on the pitch and in the MARS room. On her return to Sonora after Christmas she had been filled with much new found determination and numerous optimistic objectives. Many of these had been short lived but Quidditch practise was among the few that still dominated much of her free time. Frequent practices alone had seen a particular focus in Joella's flying skills and hence resulted in considerable improvement in said area. Whilst maintaining her shooting expertise on the sideline, Joella had been fixated on using the strengths of her broom to the maximum and pushing its limits. Endless hours she had spent trying to achieve this by racing around the pitch and flying in and out of the goal hoops and making sharp turns here, there and everywhere. Stamina was something she was fast bettering with regular intense or prolonged exercise. The last match had been exhausting and the fierce heat had done far from help. Whilst such weather should be unlikely to occur again on the day of the second match, it was better to prepare for the worst and stamina was not an attribute useless in any weather.

Joella was determined to make a name for herself out on the pitch. She had been nervous for the first match and that had perhaps affected her playing. She felt that her role in the match had been minor and insignificant. The fact that Pecari lost only made her feel ashamed. The eleven year old took pride in being on such a good team and there was a guilty part of her that made her feel like it had been herself who had let these great players down. To be fair to Aladren, they did have a good team too and Joella thought the two houses well matched. It was a shame that Teppenpaw and Crotalus had not been able to make up teams themselves and playing multiple teams over the course of the year would have been very exciting. Nevertheless, Joella could hardly feel unexcited about playing Aladren again and her strong desires to win only added to this. She was determined to win and determined to shine. If she didn't play her best now then there was a chance she may not get back on the team next year. Who knew what competition her second year would hold?

The weather added to the perks of the day and Joella felt relieved at the prospect of playing in some much more forgiving elements than that of the previous match. It was with a slight feeling of disappointment that Coach Olivers reminded her of it being the last match of the year. However, this simply furthered her drive. Bursting with pride and energy, Joella joined in with the Pecari teams pre-match ritual. She was ready to win, that was for sure.

At the whistle the youngest member of the Pecari team took off from the ground, eyes locked on that familiar scarlet ball. Unfortunately, she managed to get herself a little caught up in the fight for the Quaffle. Noting the victory of the female Aladren Chaser, she ducked down out of the skirmish. The tail of her broom briefly clipping someone else's, Joella sped off up the pitch after Francesca Wolseithcrafte but she was too far behind after a delayed start.

It was Joella's fellow first year, John Umland, who was next in possession of the Quaffle. She grinned as she became aware of her captain with a bludger. He smacked it towards the young Aladren Chaser and Joella didn't hesitate and she sped up toward the bludger's target to receive the Quaffle should it John Umland not manage to dodge the incoming ball. As she focussed her attention on the unfolding event enlargening before her as she neared it, the young Pecari reminded herself of perhaps her biggest flaw. She glanced around quickly to check for the whereabouts of fellow Chasers - this game wasn't just about her and should she get hold of the Quaffle it would be useful to know the position of her team-mates so as to bring it back up the length of the pitch.

8 Joella Curtis, Chaser Determination all round. 295 Joella Curtis, Chaser 0 5

Leonidas Bennett, Beater

November 06, 2014 12:31 AM

Yes, but it's one of our House traits, so.... by Leonidas Bennett, Beater

He been a little worried when he woke up and saw fog outside his window, but had finally decided that it was not heavy enough to be much of a problem for him on the Pitch. Whether it was thick enough to be a problem for James and Clark was another question altogether, but Leo couldn’t do much to help them and so didn’t spend much time feeling bad about that.

He did, though, feel a little bad for his roommate and what the fog would do for his position if Leo didn’t do his well enough to keep the Pecari Chasers away from Theodore. James and Clark were far enough away from him in a lot of ways that Leo was mostly indifferent to them in general, but he had to live with Theodore. Theodore was most of the reason why Leo was on the Aladren Quidditch team at all. Theodore’s successes and failures were at least a little related to Leo’s own quality of life at this school, so he really hoped that the fog did not impair his roommate in being a good Keeper if he had to be.

“Good luck on your end,” he said to Theodore before the game. “Hopefully things’ll clear up soon.”

He listened to the speeches a lot less impatiently than last time, as foggy weather at least meant weather which was not as miserable to be out in as that they had had the last time they had been in this position, and kicked off with the others, immediately looking for the Bludgers, which were flying back toward all the shiny new targets which had just obligingly followed them into the air, and covering the Chasers again, his eyes moving around the chaos as much, he imagined, as a Seeker’s did, only his target could break his nose if he wasn’t careful.

Aladren took the Quaffle, and the first pass went pretty smoothly despite going pretty quickly due to interference, but then….

“Oh, you,” he muttered when their first year Chaser - while holding the Quaffle, no less – flew away from the Bludger which had inspired Francesca to pass. As a Beater, it was often hard to tell who individual targets and even individual protected people, his own teammates, were, but he would have called that John’s work even if the first year had not been easily physically distinguished from the other two; the first year had improved, but was still not on par with the rest of them, and the move accomplished nothing other than making John easier to hit. An opportunity Rupert Princeton promptly started trying to take advantage of. “Hello again, other you,” he added under his breath as he sped up to intercept the Bludger, dodging another player quickly enough that his stomach lurched and smacking it as fast as he could back toward a brown robe.

One of them, he noticed as he rose again to avoid tangling traffic up too much, was heading toward Umland as Umland tried to come back. He didn't know if he could take her out without accidentally being the cause of what he was trying to prevent, which was the maiming of John, though, so he just hoped his Bludger was enough to keep the Pecaris from ganging up on the first year and making it impossible for him to pass, or at least that he could be quick enough with a Bludger to prevent it in another move if they started to. Though letting John get hit while holding the Quaffle was always an option - if he fell while holding it, they'd have to stop the game; he wasn't sure if it would revert to Aladren automatically or if they would all go back to the center line and start over, but either way, Anthony and Francesca would have a chance to get it back, he thought - he did feel it was a matter of at least something related to professional pride to try to keep his Chasers all intact if he possibly could.

0 Leonidas Bennett, Beater Yes, but it's one of our House traits, so.... 269 Leonidas Bennett, Beater 0 5

Adam Spencer, Chaser

November 06, 2014 2:52 PM

...so what? by Adam Spencer, Chaser

Adam was worried about Ginny. He’d been seeing less and less of her this year and when he did see her in classes, she seemed to avoid him. He assumed it was mostly because of the ball situation which seemed to have discombobulated their trio just as he’d feared. He had asked Annette perhaps a bit hastily, but he didn’t fancy it a crime worth losing both of his friends. Francesca at the least seemed all right, but Ginny – she was the flightier one of the group. Adam thought her very attractive and his feelings had been muddled a bit concerning her at one point, but his will to not choose between the two witches had shut that down quickly.

Though she was lovely and could easily snag any wizard she chose, he was afraid she was too much like Charlotte before meeting Emrys: low self-esteem, passive and seeking to find her self-worth in the approval of others. He’d been a bad friend, perhaps; with Quidditch and his new responsibilities as Prefect, he’d hardly had time to breathe let alone meet intimately with his mates. But he had noticed Ginny’s disappearance whether or not she thought he cared.

On the morning of the match, Adam hoped that she would come to watch him and Francesca. They were friends and he hoped they could stay that way despite all that Sonora threw at them. The weather was pleasant and Adam took a deep breath before joining his team, adamant to push all of his worries aside and do his team justice.

The Aladrens picked up the Quaffle quickly and Adam soared closely by, waiting for an opportunity to snatch the leather ball back. It went from Francesca to Umland, but the wizard seemed to panic in the way he flew away from everyone else. Adam hoped his cousin had seen the lone Chaser, and his hope was fulfilled when he heard the crack! of a bat. There was another crack to follow, however, and he saw the bludger aimed for the Aladren deflected. However, it was going generally the same direction and Adam was slightly confused for a moment before he realised it was going after Joella. Having three younger siblings, Adam naturally wanted to protect those house-mates younger than him and he didn’t want to see Joella hurt in her first year playing Quidditch. Since she was heading towards Umland, Adam was intrigued to see how this scene would play out. Would Umland be hit or Joella?

Adam flew almost shoulder-to-shoulder with his fellow team-mate, an idea suddenly coming to mind. “Joella, when you get close to John, fly right under him,” he said, keeping his voice low so that only Joella could hear him. It might not work if John happened to dodge it as well, but at least it was worth a try. He didn’t have time to give her a reason for doing this; he hoped she would trust him. If Umland was hit, both he and Joella would be able to catch the Quaffle unharmed if it fell.

0 Adam Spencer, Chaser ...so what? 0 Adam Spencer, Chaser 0 5

Joella Curtis, Chaser

November 06, 2014 3:49 PM

Ready for some action. by Joella Curtis, Chaser

Joella had little competitive experience and therefore it was tactics that more often held her back than her actual abilities. She had been invisaging how things were going to play out on her way toward Umland. Once Rupert's bludger hit its target she could seize the Quaffle. Using her much practised sharp turns and speed she could race back up the pitch and pass to Adam once she was near enough to him should she find herself under attack which was very much likely.

Unfortunately she had been rather optimistic and not planned for the defection of her captain's well aimed bludger and therefore wavered briefly in the air before continuing her path. Glancing around as she flew in an attempt to locate a fellow teammate, Joella noted that one bludger was now locked onto her.

She felt relieved when Adam came to her side and gave her instructions. It seemed that she was on the right course in heading straight for Umland irrelevant on the incoming bludger. Nevertheless she wasn't entirely sure as to what Adam's plans were. Was he suggesting that she transfer the bludger's target to John?

Despite her slight uncertainty regarding the intentions of Adam's directions, Joella gave a nod that the older Pecari may or may not even notice before accelerating toward the Quad fled clutching Aladren. Her new sense of purpose giving her the conviction required to perform better.

It was a matter of seconds before she was flying right beneath John Umland as Adam had directed. She glanced up and then behind, aware of the vulnerability of staying on a set course with a bludger not far behind. There was something very exciting about the question as to how the next part of Adam's plan would play out. Joella felt prepared - ready to dodge and ready to catch. Pecari needed that Quaffle.

8 Joella Curtis, Chaser Ready for some action. 295 Joella Curtis, Chaser 0 5

Liliana Bannister, Keeper

November 06, 2014 5:40 PM

Ready for anything. by Liliana Bannister, Keeper

Liliana let go of a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding when Wolseithcrafte passed the Quaffle on to another teammate when he caught it. Watching the action sometimes gave her eck aches as she would crane herself to be able to see as much as possible all at once. However, she found herself cheering as Rupert sent a Bludger to John Umland and Joella followed him in order to get the Quaffle. Another crack and Liliana was back to holding her breath as she gripped her broom tightly and wished with all her heart that the crack had come from Atlas and not one of the Aladren Beaters redirecting the Bludger.

Unfortunately, her best friend had not been responsible and she watched as the Bludger relocked onto Joella. Umland still had the Quaffle, but Joella was headed right towards him and Liliana hoped to Merlin it was some sort of play and not simply the young girl fleeing from the Bludger. After Adam hovered near Joella for a few seconds (giving words of advice? resting?), the younger player seemed to fly faster towards Umland and as the only Quaffle was engaged in this little play, it was all Liliana could do to watch and pray that whatever it was Adam was planning it would result in Joella receiving the Quaffle and no attempt at the Pecari hoops made.

It was weird, for Liliana, being the Keeper. She dearly loved Quidditch and fancied herself to be a rather good player, but it seemed as though an integral part of her role to wish to play as little as possible. After all, the less she had to play the better that meant her team was doing, right? She frowned to herself with this backwards logic and gave a little bit of a sigh, thinking that she wished she was perhaps something, anything else other than a Keeper so she could get some more action on the Pitch.

10 Liliana Bannister, Keeper Ready for anything. 274 Liliana Bannister, Keeper 0 5

Leonidas Bennett, Beater

November 06, 2014 9:22 PM

Good policy by Leonidas Bennett, Beater

The Pecaris, Leo concluded, were crazy. His sole aim had to been let Umland get back into the pack. Once he did that, in a game like this, where it looked like everyone was going to be close together, Leo’s job was mostly to play a defensive game, keeping the Bludgers away from his own team. He’d take a chance to hit one of them if he could, might make some plays which amounted to just getting in people’s way so they couldn’t come between Aladren Chasers without crashing into him, but his main duty in a game like this one looked like it was going to be was just to keep his Chasers safe, far more than it was to attack the Pecaris. Yet there the Pecaris went, practically asking to be hit.

Well, if that was how it was, he would be happy to oblige them.

The key was timing and target. Who did he want to hit: Spencer or the girl? The answer, of course, he realized a moment later, was whichever one was in a better position to hit, less likely to dodge it in such a way that the Bludger went back to an Aladren player. When he could tell the girl was heading down, then, after the two were close together but broke apart before Leo could try to kill two birds with one stone and take out one of Pecari’s players who actually mattered, he put on a sudden burst of speed and redirected the Bludger toward Spencer.

He couldn’t say he was sorry about that. Spencer had gotten on his nerves last game, and it looked like Spencer was trying to be a thorn in his side in this game, too. It was his job, but Leo had never been one for the thrill of the game or appreciation of honestly good competition when he was actually playing; he just liked winning and took some half-shameful pleasure in smashing the faces of people who came between him and that goal. Spencer was their best, the one with a real talent for foiling Aladren's plans this year, so however much he might admire it another time, right now, it just meant that Leo wanted him on the ground. It was as simple as that.

Provided Umland could just get the ball to someone competent and then go annoy someone else, that was. If he couldn’t, then things would quickly get complicated again, but right now, Leo was just pleased to have an excuse to aim at Spencer before Spencer could get as much in the way as he had been last time.

0 Leonidas Bennett, Beater Good policy 269 Leonidas Bennett, Beater 0 5

Anthony Carey, Chaser

November 06, 2014 10:05 PM

We'll put your preparations to the test soon by Anthony Carey, Chaser

It was strange to think that the next time he set foot on this Pitch – assuming they even had enough players to have Quidditch next year, but Anthony had to assume they would; he almost smiled at the memory of Arnold’s expression when he’d heard there were only two teams this year and his brother, the least political person in the whole family, then trying to propose that they should get involved in the argument over girls in the game before finally admitting his interest was solely because it would make the game seem acceptable to more of Crotalus and Teppenpaw, enabling his old favorite enemies to get back in the game – Anthony would be captain of the Aladren team. Not Jay, not Arnold, not even Arthur holding strings behind Arnold’s back, as most people had assumed Arthur had and Arthur might well have done. It would just be him, Anthony, captain of the team. The man in charge. The heir to the Carey Quidditch dynasty. It was an intimidating prospect.

Accordingly, he tried not to think about it too much. His last game as a player was a lot less important than his cousin’s last game at all, so his focus needed to be on ending the year on a high note, which meant doing his best in the role he had right now. He greeted the rest of the team cheerily, seeing morale as one of the more important influences on victory that he could actually help with.

The captains spoke, shook hands, and the game was on. Francesca took the ball first and then a Bludger appeared and everything went to hell.

He thought he understood John’s logic: Francesca was going one way away from the Bludger, he was going another, and Bludgers kept going straight as long as the force behind them did, then just toward the nearest warm body. If he went in another direction, no Bludger. Logical enough. It just overlooked the fact that Beaters could redirect Bludgers – easy enough to forget in the heat of the moment, when just the immediate circumstances were in front of you, but it caused a problem now.

Anthony wanted to groan when he realized that though the immediate threat – Rupert Princeton – had been intercepted by Leonidas, the Pecari Chasers were beginning to gang up on John, and that Miss Curtis looked like she was a better flier than his beleaguered teammate, but it would have been a waste of breath. Diana had told them her roommates were pureblood, so it made sense; she had most likely been flying for years, where from what he had put together, the Umlands were mixed blood city people, unable to fly much without attracting attention from Muggles. It sounded like a miserable life to Anthony – he couldn’t imagine spending his whole life on edge, waiting for the mob at his door coming to kill people like his great-grandmother and his sister-in-law and his little cousins, the ones who’d have a hard time defending themselves, or even to try to burn his house down with him and his whole family asleep inside it – but it was, he knew, the only way wizards who couldn’t afford more remote property, or at least good defenses for city houses, could get by. Which was unfortunate, especially right now.

He was pretty sure, when he saw her and Adam Spencer confer and then her start flying underneath John, that Miss Curtis was planning to try to rise up and intercept a pass. John’s lack of experience and resulting lack of predictability could actually work for them there: if he moved suddenly, the Pecaris might not have time to react. Then again, they might. It was hard to tell. What was sure, though, was that if Anthony didn’t get in there now, the Pecaris would cut John off entirely from every direction, almost guaranteeing the loss of the Quaffle if John wasn’t mission-oriented enough to hang onto the Quaffle even as he fell off his broom to the ground. Putting his trust in Leonidas to handle the Bludger, he flew forward toward the side John still had open, aiming to get in too close for Joella to cut between them and just hoping his teammate had enough sense and skill on a broom by this point not to crash into him.

0 Anthony Carey, Chaser We'll put your preparations to the test soon 0 Anthony Carey, Chaser 0 5

John Umland, Chaser

November 07, 2014 8:27 AM

Don't blink. by John Umland, Chaser

It was amazing, John thought, how quickly he could go from at least knowing what he was doing and what was likely to happen in the next minute to, once again, having no idea what was going on. He was not actually blinded with dust and smoke (the fog wasn’t that heavy, and they weren’t in contact with any solids other than their brooms and clothing, which did limit the occasions for dust most of the time), but it felt as though he should be. There were a few seconds where, with a thrill of the kind of panic which made bolting, contrarily enough, impossible, he really thought his own team’s Beater might have just helped the Bludger along to him before he realized it was trying to cross paths with Joella Curtis.

Joella was the only member of the Pecari team John knew from all the others. He wasn’t sure they had ever interacted in more than passing, but she was in his classes and she went to clubs, too, so she stood out a bit from the crowd of students at the school as someone to remember. He neither liked her nor disliked her, just recognized her, but at the moment, her being the only opponent he did know by name made it feel almost personal, her coming after him. He had hoped that on the Quidditch Pitch, since they were the same age, that she, at least, might be his equal instead of his superior, but that didn’t look like a hope that was going to come true.

He lost sight of her, didn’t hear any screams of terror and pain, looked left and right, and instantly became even more worried about himself. The times when one couldn’t see the other players were the times when they could move freely; they were planning something, and he felt like not spotting them again right now would be - bad. Worse than anything in the situation actually could be; it was times like this when he hated having an active imagination....

Imagination. Moving freely. Four directions. He looked straight down and yes, there she was. What she was planning, he didn't know, but at least he knew where she was. Couldn't sneak up on him when he could see her.

He was still deeply relieved to find a blue uniform again as he and Bennett finally extracted him from the position he had gotten himself into and took the first opportunity to throw the ball toward his teammate. At that moment, he was almost tempted to lapse into superlatives and titles that implied greater intimacy than remotely existed in his relationships with any of his teammates, but he controlled himself. Instead, he just swore to do it right the next time. The exact procedures for doing it right would depend on the situation, but as long as the end result was not needing rescuing again afterward, he would be okay with it.

16 John Umland, Chaser Don't blink. 285 John Umland, Chaser 0 5

Adam Spencer, Chaser

November 07, 2014 1:09 PM

Things can change quickly. by Adam Spencer, Chaser

After passing his message on to Joella, Adam flew off to the side. He didn’t want to run into Umland himself; all he could do was wait and see whether or not Joella would come through. Adam was surprised by the sudden speed Leonidas found to knock the bludger in his direction, but Adam’s instinct was to duck, and duck he did. The bludger was so close that it might have nicked a few of his brown hairs off his head, and the speed that the bludger was going made it soar right over and past him. The close call set his blood racing through him and Adam felt everything more distinctively than before.

It was as if time had paused for a moment for Adam to collect himself. The weather suddenly felt cooler, the colours on their uniforms looked brighter and he felt the sturdy wood of his broom in his hands. Adam flexed his fingers. This was the sort of rush he felt during flying practises when he went so fast he was in danger of falling off of his broom, or when one of his siblings scared him half to death by jumping out at him from a dark corridor. It was not a pleasant feeling, losing half his wits in a moment, but in return he gained sudden keen senses which weren’t so bad.

Adam was satisfied that Leo had sent the bludger his way and not Joella’s. Their plan hadn’t worked in getting Umland to drop the Quaffle, but it temporarily put his mind at ease. Now both Joella and John were open as long as Rupert didn’t do something stupid like aim another bludger at the pack of them. It was unfortunate that it was an Aladren that still had a hold on the Quaffle, but Adam hoped to change that soon.

A small part of him wondered if Ginny had seen the close call and if she cared at all. Adam would have felt nervous all over if Francesca had a near-death experience during Quidditch. The same went for Ginny. It was irritating, this tension between them, and he hoped to remedy this before the year ended. Quidditch was just a game just as the ball was just another party. Did Ginny feel betrayed? And why? Adam didn’t know how to reassure her that they were all still friends and he still considered them to be a trio just as he hadn’t known how to convince Charlotte that she was good enough. Charlotte had eventually found that reassurance in Emrys, but there were only two of them. Still, couldn’t he, Adam Spencer, play a similar platonic role for Ginny?

He was getting distracted and it was not helping his current situation in the slightest. Adam gathered his senses. Time started again and almost immediately after ducking the bludger, Adam rode his adrenaline rush and sidled up to John. This time there wasn’t the worry of a bludger, and he hoped Joella or Annette stayed close to John’s side as well. Anthony Carey was in the front of them, most likely aiming to catch the Quaffle before they did. They were all on edge, waiting for John to do something – to either drop the Quaffle or pass it before they managed to smother the poor lad.

Finally John threw the Quaffle and Adam was quick to intercept it. He stuck his hand out and the leather ball smacked against his hand before gravity pulled it down. It was a bit awkward, leaping from one side of Umland to block his pass to another Aladren, but he'd done it. Adam scooped up the falling Quaffle into his arms, satisfied that he had done his duty and immediately made his way to the Aladren hoops, keeping an eye out for any of his team-mates and his ears for the sound of heavy iron.

0 Adam Spencer, Chaser Things can change quickly. 0 Adam Spencer, Chaser 0 5

Rupert Princeton, Beater

November 07, 2014 1:13 PM

That is true. by Rupert Princeton, Beater

Rupert’s bludger had not met its target, but it was not because he’d missed. There were other Beaters around, but the disappointment was still there. He flew around the Chasers, hoping for another opportunity. Bennett, however, took two whacks to the bludger, the first heading for Joella, and the second heading for Adam. That couldn’t be fair, hitting a bludger twice like that. But Adam seemed to have said something to Joella and she acted as though she were going to run into Umland before making her way under him. Rup was proud of Joella for following instructions, but equally impressed by the amount of authority Adam was showing. Already the young wizard was acting like a captain. Rupert was proud of him, but he would have to wait to tell him so.

Now that the bludger Adam had ducked was free, Rupert raced after it. When he had retrieved it, he turned to see that the Chasers had all gathered together, acting as both a hindrance and a defence for Umland. It made it difficult for the Beater to attempt to knock out the Chaser with the Quaffle when they were gathered like this, but Rup allowed them to have their own way. He looked instead for another target – Carey would have to do.

It took just a moment for Rupert to position himself and smack the iron ball hard towards Anthony Carey. With one eye on John and the other on the Quaffle, Rupert hoped to catch him off-guard. Rup respected Carey’s older siblings who had played against Cepheus in years past. Cepheus had never managed to beat them, but Rupert hoped to change that. Pecari had, after all, managed to win the Quidditch Cup against several of the Careys. It was a bit strange that most, if not all, of the Carey wizards managed to stay in the same house. But Rupert was not one to judge; his two brothers were, and had been, in Crotalus.

After sending the bludger at Anthony Carey, Rupert looked over to see how his team-mates were doing. The Chasers had for the most part gathered in one area. Liliana was at a distance with the Quaffle still too close to her for his liking, but she was at least eagerly paying attention to the match. Atlas, he hoped, was doing his job and Rup was confident that Annabelle was doing hers. He was proud to be the captain of such a fine team, proud and confident in their abilities. Rupert turned to look briefly at the stands to see if Aladrens dominated or Pecaris, but a bit of yellow hair caught his eye. An inexplicable feeling filled his chest and a smile spread across his face. Wendy wasn’t wearing bright clothing that would make her stand out, but she looked at the very least excited to be here. She was even wearing their house colours. It made Rup feel warm just thinking that she had come out here to cheer him on.

His concentration would be completely shot if they made eye-contact, but already the damage was partially done. When he turned back to the match, his head was swimming slightly and he couldn’t stop smiling. Her image was in his head and refused to budge. Rupert squeezed his bat, trying to focus on the task at hand. He wanted to impress her, but he didn’t want to be foolish or make his team look foolish. Rupert wondered if his brother had ever fallen so hard for a witch he found it difficult to concentrate at times, but he thought it highly unlikely. Quidditch, however, was a highly dangerous game to lose his concentration in. He didn’t want to be caught letting a bludger hit one of his team-mates because his mind was elsewhere.

Adam had taken the Quaffle now and Rupert shouted his approval. He looked eagerly for another bludger to smack towards the Aladrens, his mind focused on the match once again.

0 Rupert Princeton, Beater That is true. 0 Rupert Princeton, Beater 0 5

John Umland, Chaser

November 07, 2014 2:13 PM

No time for napping here. by John Umland, Chaser

John’s relief over being rid of the accursed Quaffle lasted only seconds. His heart had begun to pound almost painfully hard when the ball left his hands, and when Big Pecari Chaser suddenly just appeared and stole it before one of his own teammates could catch it, his hand rose for a moment toward his chest in surprise.

This game was insane. How long until he could fly like that? The guy hadn’t even looked especially like he thought he was about to die, from the glimpse of him John had gotten. It hadn’t been a long look, but still – John was still mastering the art of maneuvering a broom in space, but he had spent a lot of time climbing things (he wondered sometimes if that wasn’t actually part of the reason for his awkwardness on a broom: in climbing trees and his house, he was used to carefully thinking through his movements, where flying was…smoother, more elegant, all muscle memory) and didn’t think BPC had been worried about falling or crashing into him the way John would have been in the same position, even though he thought that kind of move was one that would require more cerebral involvement than some.

He tried, as he gathered himself together and began to turn around to chase the Quaffle back down the Pitch, to figure out if he could put time aside to practice his flying every day, at least for a while. The unemotional part of him knew it wasn’t a good idea since there weren’t going to be any more games this year and he had more reading than even he cared to think about to finish before the end of the year, but….

Less thinking, more flying, he reminded himself. It was unlikely his teammates were going to let him anywhere near the Quaffle if there was any other choice or the rest of the game, and that was probably for the best, but he was still with the Aladren Chasers, which meant following the Quaffle back and forth like a cat following a dangling string until Clark caught the Snitch.

16 John Umland, Chaser No time for napping here. 285 John Umland, Chaser 0 5

Joella Curtis, Chaser

November 07, 2014 2:43 PM

Proud to be Pecari. by Joella Curtis, Chaser

Joella knew she should feel relieved and glad to find Pecari in position of the Quaffle and she was. Adam's interception had been impressive but a part of her regretted that she had not made the move. It was a foolish thought and one that should belong to a bad team player but it crossed the young Pecari's mind all the same. Joella overrode this selfish glory-hungry feeling with the logical point of how it would have been an ugly manoeuvre had she attempted it and probably end up with Adam coming to Pecari's rescue whilst Joella herself whacked John Umland one in the face with the end of her broom and made a complete mess of things.

Moving her mind on to follow the next steps of the game, Joella refocused after reminding herself that Pecari had just had their first success of the game. Now it was time to score some goals. With an optimistic heart, the eleven year old put her practise into action with a sharp turn. She tried not to feel to smug as she sped away from the turning Umland but Joella couldn't help enjoying the confidence that she could at least outplay one person on the pitch.

She was sure that Adam's brilliant Quidditch expertise would get him a good distance up the pitch before he found himself in a situation that would require passing on the Quaffle. She noted Annette's position as she powered up towards the Aladren goal in anticipation for a pass from one of her fellow Chasers.

Any doubts the proud Pecari may have had when Aladren grabbed the Quaffle first or when her plans regarding John Umland failed had vanished. As she kept her eye on Adam and the Quaffle ahead of her she smiled and turned very slightly to get off her teammate's tail and in the direction of a helpful position should she be required.

8 Joella Curtis, Chaser Proud to be Pecari. 295 Joella Curtis, Chaser 0 5

Captain Carey, Beater

November 07, 2014 11:53 PM

Watching from on high by Captain Carey, Beater

Intellectually, Jay was aware that this was his last Quidditch real game. He might play casually again, with family or business acquaintances or something, but he would not play for a school again, much less go pro. He was a pretty good player, but he lacked both the skills and, maybe even as importantly, the love for it to do that. To him, the game was something he did to pass the time. Being a player of the game wasn’t part of how he defined himself, and while he loved his cousin, he honestly didn’t understand how Arnold could see it that way, as Jay was sure he did. It was a game, a diversion, and after today, Jay knew he was going to be done with playing it in a truly competitive spirit.

Emotionally, though, he didn’t think he was really processing it yet. Maybe it was because it was only the second game they had played this year when he was used to playing three, maybe it was because they were playing the same team they had played on that brutally hot day in the fall, but it just didn’t feel like the last game of the year. The season still felt incomplete, and it was hard to take this game as seriously as he thought he probably should.

He hoped, and thought, it wouldn’t be obvious to the team, though. He wanted them in full fighting spirit, because he thought this one was going to be hard at best. At worst, Pecari was going to make them all regret the day they’d first heard of broomsticks and curse the memories of the wizards who had realized they could be used in games. He thought they would win, but they would have to fight for every inch of the Pitch crossed, and he expected to be too tired afterward to enjoy the victory very much by the time he was done fending off all the threats that were likely to come Clark’s way. No team liked losing, but he thought they would all especially hate to lose twice in the same year, and even more to lose twice to the same team in the same year. It might not just be about winning to the Pecaris today, it might be about taking revenge for the last loss now.

“All right, everyone,” he said to his teammates. “Here we go again.” He paused, not sure if he should really get sentimental, then added, “I assume you’ve all realized by now that this is my last game. However this goes, it’s been an honor working with you all.” He decided that was indulging the occasion as far as it needed to be indulged. “However, just do your jobs, don’t get too cocky because we won last time, and we should win it again. Focus and conquer.”

He smiled fondly at them and then went to go shake hands with Rupert, nodding his agreement with the other captain’s statement. “Let’s have a good day out there,” he said in return.

That had most likely, he reflected as he walked back to his own team, been the wrong thing to say. The nice-guy act worked a lot better when one was either a lot more charismatic than Jay thought he was or, better yet, was not in a position where it could so easily be taken for extreme arrogance or sarcasm. Aladren had lost to Pecari twice, once with Arnold and once with Thaddeus Pierce, but for the most part, Aladren won, and had been winning for a long time. Crotalus had been their strongest opponent for a long time, then Pecari had taken its place, but they had dominated the school for so long that victory had gained its own momentum: from having, by chance, a natural athlete and a couple of crazy men on the team at the same time, they had become a powerhouse, and then it had all been about proving that the team hadn’t just been Arnold, that the rest of them were good players who could win without him instead of just a bunch of sidekicks who’d ridden his coattails, and now….

There were barely words for how happy Jay was to be almost out of it.

The brooms rose into the air, and Jay ignored what was happening with the Quaffle entirely to follow Clark. The Chasers and Keepers took their part of the game seriously, but the truth was that he didn’t think it was very important. The Chasers could go completely to pieces and a game could still be won by the Seeker, whose job was about evenly half skill – it demanded some impressive flying, good reflexes, and even training their eyes; Jay had seen Arnold work with little paintings full of rapidly-moving miniature figures who took up a lot more of the frame than the other players and the ref did on a Pitch, trying to pick out one specific little figure, to practice his concentration and tracking skills – and half luck, as the Snitch was very good at hiding itself and might slip up by chance closer to your or your opponent without much rhyme or reason other than ‘fate.’

He spotted that his House had taken the Quaffle and was pleased enough to move away from the gloomy thought. Maybe it was a distraction from what was important, but the Chasers did give the game most of its interest. He couldn’t watch much, though, because he had to look for the inevitable Bludger heading Clark’s way. Mr. Primred was the newer of their Beaters, but he had put Clark on the run last time, so Jay was not going to underestimate him just because of his age and how much of that had been spent on a Sonora Pitch. He'd rather overestimate his opponents than underestimate them, since that meant they could disappoint him in a way he'd welcome.

0 Captain Carey, Beater Watching from on high 0 Captain Carey, Beater 0 5

Anthony Carey, Chaser

November 08, 2014 12:27 AM

Pride loses more trophies than it wins by Anthony Carey, Chaser

A few more seconds, Anthony thought grimly. That was all they needed. Leonidas was doing a good job – he thought; he couldn’t really see what anyone was doing, but he knew Leonidas was the one looking over the Chasers today, and since there had been a lot of sharp cracks and none of them had been of bones yet, he assumed that Leonidas and Princeton were locked in a fierce battle of their own over control of a Bludger – of keeping them safe, which was the only reason John hadn’t yet been flattened by a Bludger or just cornered by Pecaris until either they herded him into a position where he could be flattened by a Bludger or he panicked and did something spectacularly bad that lost them the Quaffle, but he couldn’t keep it up indefinitely. It was Anthony’s turn to make some moves, and he just needed a few – more – seconds –

He didn’t get them.

The problem with situations in Quidditch was that one second, what looked solid could dissolve into air. He heard the whistle too close behind him and dodged before he even thought, and didn’t even do that well enough: the Bludger clipped his shoulder painfully and started him into a dive, away from the Quaffle he should have caught. Coming up again, he exhaled sharply in exasperation when he saw Adam Spencer running away with the Quaffle.

He pushed his bangs, already damp with sweat, off his forehead and began the pursuit. It was just as well, he told himself. They needed to get out of the formation they had gotten into. Starting over was for the best. He just had to intercept the Quaffle the second Spencer passed it, which meant he and another Chaser – he hoped Francesca – should get into position to flank Spencer, but stay far enough out of the way to allow Leonidas to work some magic if possible….

Muttering under his breath, he sped up to draw level with the Pecari Chaser and then dropped just beneath his line of flight, hoping to either make Spencer think he only had one way to pass or at least to be able to reach up and intercept the Quaffle if he did try to throw it in Anthony’s direction. There was no way to completely eliminate all legal moves for an opponent who knew what he was doing and kept a cool head and had a functional team, but limiting them was possible, and if John could just, well, attempt what had just been attempted against him and cover the action beneath the game, maybe Francesca could intercept a pass the other way – or Leonidas hit him with a Bludger, or something. The problem was that there were still two directions the Quaffle could move this way and the whole other side, and Anthony wondered who had decided there should only be three Chasers. He imagined it had been someone with a very special sense of humor who had wanted to include a real psychological element in the game, since with only three, everything depended on perception and nerve.

0 Anthony Carey, Chaser Pride loses more trophies than it wins 0 Anthony Carey, Chaser 0 5

Francesca, Chaser

November 08, 2014 1:58 AM

And comes before falls by Francesca, Chaser

Francesca pulled up out of her dive away from the Bludger and assessed the situation. John had caught the Quaffle. She had to give him credit for that - her pass had been sloppy and with a Bludger in the vicinity it was easy to panic. Sure, it had been more focussed on her, but your tolerance for what constituted a danger zone tended to be a lot lower when you were new to the game. He hadn’t let it worry him - at least, not until after he had secured the pass, apparently. She tried not to be frustrated with him for what he’d clearly done next. He was new and was still learning, and if he hadn’t been there Pecari might already be in possession. It was difficult though, when she had got so used to being part of a well oiled chasing unit, to have that suddenly compromised. It made her anxious for the future too. All the players she thought of as the core members of the team were growing up and graduating. Next year she would be probably be assistant captain, and captain the year after that… It was hard not to picture herself and Theodore, representing the Wolseithcrafte family and the famed Aladren Quidditch Dynasty, with a bunch of incompetent children running around them. Leonidas would, she hoped, stick with it too. Clark had done well in his first match, which she could hope was more than a fluke. And there was another year for him and John to grow into their positions before they reflected on her in a much more personal way. And, she told herself firmly, now was not the time to be thinking about it.

Anthony was speeding towards the knot of players, giving them a shot at resolving John’s mistake and coming out of this with the Quaffle still heading the right way. She stayed below, ready to pursue it in whichever direction it went. The Pecari players in the developing scrimmage outnumbered the Aladrens, true, but there was little to be gained by adding herself to the mix. They would all be on top of each other with no room to manoeuvre or pass - the Quaffle just being wrestled back and forth in a deadlock until someone sent a Bludger in to scatter them. That was, perhaps, a bit of an exaggeration but she knew it didn’t help to have everyone in one place.

She kept an eye on the action, wincing as Adam had a close call with a Bludger. She had always avoided questioning herself too deeply on what she would do if he got seriously hurt during a match because she didn’t like either answer. If she abandoned her duties as Chaser to see that he was alright, her team-mates would be disappointed in her - it was the point of the game, to injure your opponents and take the advantage, and emotional detachment was part of being a good player. However, if she left him hurt and played on, pursuing something trivial like a goal, she would be disappointed in herself. She had reassured herself that if anything to make her that worried ever happened, the game would likely be stopped to save Adam whilst he plummeted off his broomstick (she wasn’t going to get all weepy eyed and worried over him having some slight injury) so the conflict of interests would have very little time to arise… She also tried not to wonder how he would react in the same circumstances, as - silly as it was - the thought that he might be able to do what she couldn’t, and not care what was happening to her, hurt her feelings.

He seemed none the worse for his encounter though, as seconds later, he was muscling in on John and stealing their Quaffle, the absolute pest of a boy! She turned tail, pursuing him down the pitch, aware of Anthony breaking from the pack to do the same. There was a risky move she could make… Adam was likely more jumpy having just been brushed by a Bludger and if she flew in sharply, he might be more likely to brake sharply and drop the ball than he would have been at other times. But though the little knot that had formed in her stomach when she thought he was going to be hit had undone itself, the memory of how it had felt was still strong enough to stop her wanting to make that kind of play on him…

She cast around for other options, putting her lack of backbone on the increasingly long list of issues to worry about off the pitch. Anthony was gaining ground well, between them they could do a good job of marking him and forcing his hand. It was a little less effective than straight up making him drop the ball but also less risky. She didn’t have the time or inclination now to calculate whether that made it an overall more effective move. It didn’t matter - it was what she would be doing regardless. Anthony had marked one side of Adam, lurking just out of his sight, so Francesca drew level with Adam’s other side, flying close alongside and as visibly as possible. He couldn't pass that way. Hopefully he would pass to the other side and Anthony could nip forward and grab it. There were always the options of straight up, straight down, forward or backward but it was going to be hard for any of the Pecari players to catch up and overtake in order to take it from ahead, unless Annette had stayed well back from the action. Up required more effort and she could easily reach in to at least knock it off course if not grab it. Down or backwards was probably the biggest threat, but maybe - just maybe - Anthony could drop a little further to handle the former. There was the possibility that John, having taken time to sort himself out, was in a position to prevent the latter and, if not, the receiver of that pass would still have to come through her and Anthony, which definitely made it a bad option. It was impossible for two, or even three, people to block six directions at once but with her on one side, slightly up and slightly forward, and Anthony on the other, slightly down and slightly back (and the possibility that John might be somewhere vaguely useful perhaps), she thought they had the bases as well covered as best they could.

13 Francesca, Chaser And comes before falls 250 Francesca, Chaser 0 5

Joella Curtis, Chaser

November 08, 2014 3:20 AM

Tact has never been my forte. by Joella Curtis, Chaser

Joella was aware of the two older Aladren's boxing Adam in and it looked near impossible for him to make a successful pass. The Aladren tactics were similar to what she and Adam had been doing only moments earlier but from her position it looked as though Carey and Wolseithcrafte's version was much more foolproof.

During practices with the team, Joella had been able to focus better on tactics but this was still only her second competitive game ever and it was difficult to think carefully with that knowledge that she had to think fast. It often felt like the whole outcome of the game depended on her every move.

Joella switched direction again very slightly so she was once again heading straight for Adam. Unfortunately in her detour she had lost a significant deal of ground and the three older players were too fast for it to be possible to catch up.

It was about now that Joella glanced around. She wanted help and instruction like Adam had earlier given her. She felt it was a mark of a bad player to rely so much on direction from others but she couldn't pretend she knew what to do. As she continued her path behind the Quaffle she looked to Annette before resigning to giving her captain (who was considerably nearer than either of her fellow Chasers) a look which he would hopefully notice and realise she was very much in need of some tactical advice should he be able to spare a moment.

8 Joella Curtis, Chaser Tact has never been my forte. 295 Joella Curtis, Chaser 0 5

Leonidas Bennett, Beater

November 08, 2014 1:15 PM

How about falling, are you better at that? by Leonidas Bennett, Beater

For a second, Leo thought he might hit Spencer square in the head and felt a flash of anxiety – he wanted to hurt Spencer, yes, enough to make him stop being so infernally good at what he did, but the thought of really hurting him, to the point that he might have to go to the hospital wing for a day or two, was unexpectedly unpleasant. A second later, though, he saw that Spencer had managed to dodge the Bludger altogether, if narrowly, and breathed again.

A moment later, he wanted to kick himself for feeling any sympathy any of the Pecaris, ever, because Princeton hit the Bludger back toward Anthony and Leo knew, even as he started to fly, that he couldn’t get back to it in time. It was going to be up to Anthony to dodge it himself, and he – focused on getting the Quaffle away from Umland – wasn’t able to do that this time, not enough. He took a hit to the shoulder – Leo had another moment of not breathing quite enough until he straightened up, apparently well enough to keep going – and then, just as bad, Pecari intercepted the Quaffle.

And so they started moving the other way. Hopefully, this way, now that everyone had gotten the crazy out of their systems, things would go better for Aladren.

In his speech, James had told them not to get too cocky, and Leo suspected that was exactly what they had all done. They were used to being the Aladrens. Untouchable. The most skilled players, from Seeker to Keeper, in the game. They were not used to putting up with the likes of Mr. Umland and Mr. Dill. They were the sort of players who would have normally been benched for years, but right now, they didn’t have anyone else, and they were all still…adjusting. Now, hopefully, the Chasers at least knew what they had to accommodate for with Umland under real game conditions and would do better.

This game was going straight to the dogs, he thought glumly as he followed, once the Carey era was over. He felt sorry for the Wolseithcraftes. Unless they got lucky with the incoming classes, lucky the way Arnold Carey’s year had been lucky, Francesca and Theodore were going to end up looking a lot worse than they were through no fault of their own….

Unless, of course, the other teams looked even worse. The first year girl fell behind the pack, and hadn’t Umland just shown them why not sticking with your fellow Chasers was a really bad idea? She wasn’t quite as bad, since she didn’t have the Quaffle, Spencer did, but in retrospect, Leo wasn’t sure why at least one of Aladren’s other Chasers hadn’t just followed the new guy when he went off-course, and at the moment, he didn’t really care about the degrees of failure they’d experienced in the recent past. He was more interested in the degree of success he could have right now. His arms were beginning to ache from hits, but flew toward the Bludger now flying toward him and then smacked it back toward the smallest Pecari Chaser, hoping to do some good by swatting the fly even if he couldn't kill the dragon.

0 Leonidas Bennett, Beater How about falling, are you better at that? 269 Leonidas Bennett, Beater 0 5

Rupert Princeton, Beater

November 08, 2014 1:56 PM

I think you're unbeatable in that category. by Rupert Princeton, Beater

A good part of any match was strategy. Rupert had worked a bit with the Chasers to strategise, but had ultimately left it up to them. It was required of any player to think quickly on their broom when they were on the pitch. Adam and Annette had been working together for a long time and he trusted them to know what they were up against. Joella was still new, however, and he hoped the Chasers were keeping an eye out for her, as difficult as that would be in this match. Rup always struggled with the balance between nurturing the new players and throwing them out onto the battleground. Joella was the first new player they’d had in years, and he was glad for the opportunity to welcome her to the team as her captain.

Rupert was satisfied to see his bludger hit his target. It successfully deterred Carey from picking up the Quaffle and allowed Adam to go ahead and take it away. His cousin was showing quite a bit of daring, more than usual, and Rupert was impressed. Adam had improved tremendously in the past year or two and he was pulling his weight in this match. He hoped it would lead to an attempt at the hoops.

Bennett wasn’t doing too badly in defending his team and now the bludger was in his territory. Rupert didn't know whether or not Leo was going to take a jab towards the group of Chasers huddled together. The Aladrens were doing the same thing to Adam that the Pecaris had just done to John. It made it difficult now to aim at one of them in particular without risking hitting one of their own. Sending a bludger into a pack of them would force them to either scatter or be hit.

The point of Beaters, in Rupert's opinion, was not to knock a player out but to allow his Chasers easier access to the hoops. If he happened to knock a player out in his endeavour, it would be an unfortunate result. In marking Seekers, however, that was a bit different. Rup had always found it slightly boring playing a batting game back and forth with the opposing Beater. Marking Chasers was much more exciting.

Rupert heard the smack of the bludger before he saw it, and it was coming near Joella. He was close to her, having followed the Chasers closely, and luckily was able to fly in quickly and bat it away. He didn't want to hit the group of Chasers. He simply sent it far in another direction so either one of the other Beaters would find it or Leonidas would have to go chase after it. In either way, it would find itself back soon enough, but at least the youngest player on their team was safe for now.

Joella looked nervous. "Lucky I was nearby," said Rup with a little laugh, but this was no time for small chit-chat. She looked lost by her facial expression and the way she was lingering behind them instead of rushing into the fray. “Look for where Adam's open and fly close to him. He’ll throw it to you when he needs to,” he said with a wink.

0 Rupert Princeton, Beater I think you're unbeatable in that category. 0 Rupert Princeton, Beater 0 5

Joella Curtis, Chaser

November 08, 2014 3:55 PM

One can only hope so. by Joella Curtis, Chaser

Joella was relieved when Rupert came to her rescue - regarding both of her situations. Her captain didn't look frustrated or disappointed in the fact that she was very much in need of direction and she couldn't quite understand why she thought he would be. Rupert Princeton had proved a good captain and always appeared very patient with his team during practices. But it could be argued that such a brilliant team never did anything to provoke impatience anyway.

It was not something worth thinking about concerning what would have happened had Rupert not been there to defend her from the incoming bludger. Would she have noticed in time or would she have been too late? Whatever the outcome could have been it would likely result in her falling or having to shake off the bludger, neither of which would be at all convenient, especially at such a point in the game. Joella was therefore glad to hear the smack of Rupert's bat against the bludger, even though it did sound dangerously close.

The Pecari captain's light remark, accompanied by a laugh, did not make Joella feel as though she were a liability who needed someone keeping an eye on her at all times but reassured her that being part of a team meant that someone would always have your back. Of course, this by no means allowed for carelessness.

As the Pecari Beater offered instructions, Joella looked ahead at Adam with determination. She gave her captain a brief nod and a smile before accelerating away from him. There was no doubt that her fellow Chaser was way too far ahead for her to catch up, even with her newfound speed that came with the certainty that came from Rupert Princeton's directions. If she had thought previous points of the game had required much appliance of her newly practised flying skills, that was nothing compared to now. Jaw set in determination, she whizzed along after the Quaffle with the hope that she could at least get close enough for Adam to pass back to her.

Sure enough the scarlet ball soon came flying through the air towards her. Joella made an attempt to grab it but it fell short - not a fault of Adam's for it had been a particularly impressive throw, Joella thought. There was no time for frustration or embarrassment as the eleven year old dived down to collect the falling Quaffle. She was fortunate to be easily the closest player and therefore caught it again swiftly without any incoming opposition evident before soaring upwards once more, unsure as to whether she had just performed well or not. But what was important was that Pecari were still in possession of the Quaffle and forever getting closer in proximity to the Aladren hoops. A quick glance told Joella that Adam was ready to take a pass should she need to and with much excitement she flew on to join him in the Aladren Keeper's so far untouched area.

8 Joella Curtis, Chaser One can only hope so. 295 Joella Curtis, Chaser 0 5

Liliana Bannister, Keeper

November 08, 2014 7:16 PM

I for one hope so! by Liliana Bannister, Keeper

Liliana felt as though she were going to puke.

The game dragged on, no attempts being made on either side of the Pitch but the Quaffle was being bounced back and forth between the Chasers and the nerves and fear of being caught off guard was starting to catch up to her.

Liliana raised a hand to press against her forehead. She didn’t know what it was-- it wasn’t too hot out, but she felt as though she were overheating and she wondered if perhaps that was due to all the pressure she had been heaping upon herself. Though it was rare that a team who caught the Snitch lost due to points scored by Chasers, Liliana was still worried that in the event that Clark did not catch the Snitch her team would still lose because of her. Although logically a team’s loss was not to blame solely on one player as a Keeper it was still a lot of pressure to perform well and keep the Quaffle out. And the Quaffle being in a sort of limbo was piling on even more anxiety for the thirteen year old.

She lifted her eyes from the battle between the Chasers and Beaters to look for the Seekers and their respective Beaters but to no avail it did not seem as though either Seeker had spotted the Snitch. She closed her eyes shut for half a second, a sudden wave of nausea and headache attacking her nerves, but she shook her head and took in a deep breath because if she wasn’t alert should Aladren take control over the Quaffle again she would never forgive herself. “Snap out of it Bannister,” she said to herself, giving her face a light slap to wake herself up. “When the game is over you can do whatever you want but right now you have to concentrate.”

Liliana put her eyes back on the game, grateful that in her moment of weakness it seemed like the game might have been in Pecari’s favor seeing as Adam was headed towards the younger Wolthescraifte with the Quaffle in hand, though Joella was a fair bit behind him and she wasn’t entirely sure where Annette was because everyone was far enough away from her that she couldn’t tell the twins apart from the backs of their heads.

10 Liliana Bannister, Keeper I for one hope so! 274 Liliana Bannister, Keeper 0 5

Theodore, Keeper

November 09, 2014 12:00 AM

Keeping out of it by Theodore, Keeper

Quidditch mornings invariably began the same way - a preliminary assessment of the weather via the bedroom window and a good breakfast. There was a light fog but already his still sleep-tired eyes were protesting against the glare as the sun tried to break through it.

“Should burn off before long,” he shrugged in response to Leonidas’ comment, “Though do be sure to knock all their Chasers out, just to be on the safe side,” he added sardonically. Theodore was a quiet person and usually fairly serious which often led people to the mistaken conclusion that he was also humourless. This was quite far from the truth and, in fact, his relatively low conversational output and love of a well timed line meant that a higher than average percentage of his remarks were in jest than one found in the general population. His humour just tended to the dry and was not to everyone’s taste. Being in a position to hear his remarks more often, Leonidas probably knew this better than most, on all counts.

The weather was light enough that he eschewed his cold-day breakfast, not feeling the situation anywhere near serious enough to warrant porridge, and had opted for a plate of bacon, eggs and toast instead, all washed down with grapefruit juice. Feeling content with his morning’s preparations, he made his way down to the pitch.

He felt a little more pressure than usual, as the goal difference could be a crucial factor. It felt a touch odd… Keepers tended to be somewhat invisible unless they did spectacularly badly. Rarely did people make a fuss if you did it well. If today’s match came down to goal difference, he still thought people more likely to celebrate what the Chasers had got in rather than what he had kept out. That suited him fine. He knew the standards to which he held himself and whether he had done a good job or not. He neither needed nor wanted being thrust into a spotlight for it. If they lost because of him… well, he would probably be ignored, save for glances through angrily narrowed eyed. Much as he didn’t seek the company of others overly often, he did not particularly relish the thought of being disliked, but they would mostly likely lose by Clark’s hand with him compounding the difference rather than by his fault alone. In glory or defeat then, he was likely to be granted a quiet life.

He appreciated Captain Carey’s speech - the occasion was worth marking but it was short and to the point, rounded off with some good advice. Apparently the dance Jay would be sharing with Theodore’s sister was nothing more than a matter of mutual convenience but Theodore thought he would not have minded if it had been more (and he did mind very much who Francesca gave her heart to as it was, in his eyes, a very valuable treasure). Admittedly, he knew little of Jay than what he saw on the pitch but he seemed a decent enough fellow.

He took to the air on the whistle, making his way smarty to the hoops. The ball was with his sister and he flew a few laps of his territory to warm up. The action soon shifted though, with a Bludger throwing Francesca off her path and the ball passing to one of the newer members of their team. John was an interesting character. Theodore couldn’t quite pin down what it was about him except that neither he nor Clark seemed like the kind of person one would normally find on a Quidditch pitch. He often looked like he was thinking about something entirely different to what was going on. Theodore had noticed him at mealtimes as well, scribbling away in a little book, whose contents he very much desired to know. He was sure John was working things out, or at least trying to. What things those were and whether he would be any assistance was anyone’s guess but the mere fact of John’s curiosity piqued Theodore’s. These observations had been building over the first half of the year and now he was focussing his mind on how best to act upon them. The trouble with people like himself - and, if his suppositions were right, about John - was that they tended to be more interested in the puzzles in their heads than the people around them. They therefore had a tendency not to share their ideas with others who would be interested but only keep coming up against those chatty souls who invaded their space and their thinking time but gave nothing for it. At least being on the same team gave him an excuse to speak with John - indeed, had given him an opportunity to observe him in the first place, to notice his existence, which their gap in years and social status would otherwise have made quite unlikely. Perhaps he would simply walk up to John one day and ask about the little book. If the boy was anything like him he would also detest small talk and be quite happy to immediately delve into the heart of his theories on… whatever it was he theorised about.

There seemed to be a skirmish over the Quaffle which was playing out rather interestingly, with John being spectacularly out manouvered. He had to admire the Pecari Chasers their skill, though he thought it was partly the inexperience on John’s part that let them make such good moves. Leonidas wasn’t making a bad showing either, very nearly taking out one of the most experienced Pecari Chasers, which would have been a blessing - although he thought one of their own more experienced might have become rather distracted by such an outcome… On one level, he automatically disliked the notion of things that would upset or hurt Francesca. She tried to present such a tough front to the world but he knew that she really cared very deeply about others, as well as about what others thought of her. However, Adam was not his friend and he had no personal qualms about seeing the other boy break a bone and his own team gaining an advantage. He wasn’t ruthless, he didn’t bay for blood on the pitch, but he played the game how it was meant to be played, even if only on the psychological level when it came to dealing out injuries. It was like chess, you couldn’t get sentimental or apologetic when one of your pieces started to beat up someone else’s. It was just how it went, and was what everyone had signed on for. The fight for the Quaffle resolved itself not in their favour, and took more seriously to attending to his hoops, although his sister and Anthony were closing in fast on the quarry and he trusted them to chase him down, friend or not.

OOC - observations of John based on his posts around the site and checked with his author

13 Theodore, Keeper Keeping out of it 270 Theodore, Keeper 0 5

Francesca, Chaser

November 09, 2014 9:13 AM

I hope we're all better at flying, frankly... by Francesca, Chaser

OOC - Adam’s post stated that he continued to make his way towards the Aladren goal, whilst Joella’s stated that she joined Adam in the Keeper’s area. As Joella’s states something for Adam that he hadn’t written, and as this would be a foul (only one Chaser is allowed inside the opponents’ scoring zone), I have continued as if they are making their way towards it, and am assuming she just meant the general vicinity of the goal/thus far untouched Aladren territory rather than the actual scoring area.

IC
Francesca was flying close alongside Adam when she heard the crack of a Beater’s bat. She glanced over her shoulder, seeing that it was Rupert Princeton hitting it, which probably meant it was intended for her rather than Adam. Even though they were tightly packed it wasn’t a threat to be taken lightly. Rupert was a good shot and she trusted that his aim was good enough to get her rather than his own team mate. But her flying was also good enough to dodge it if she needed and maybe even have it latch onto Adam, or more likely just sail past the two of them (she tried not to think that the next nearest person it would meet would probably be Theodore - he had more than enough time and they had more than enough defences for it not to really matter). It added a complicating factor, certainly but it wasn’t enough to make her scatter. She also caught a glimpse of a second brown robe hanging about nearby, which unfortunately gave Adam an option for a reverse pass.

She turned her attention back to her mark, only to find him braking sharply. She followed suit but too late, skidding to a halt forward of him. The Bludger had been sent by his team mate but he’d still jumped… Clearly he was feeling shaken from his previous encounter, and she had mixed feelings about not having used this to her advantage. Unfortunately, for all he hadn’t noticed it was his teammate in control of the heavy iron ball, he had noticed the option for a reverse pass and taken it. Even with Leo helpfully redirecting the Bludger again it wasn’t enough to foil them, though the little Pecari almost fumbled it.

Still, they weren’t over the line yet, the one after which it would be a solo effort from each team; their Chaser versus her brother. She took up a position on the edge of the scoring zone, intending to dog the first year with the ball by flying along the perimeter, blocking her from entering the goal zone and forcing a pass. One which she hoped Anthony would be there to intercept. Or, she reminded herself, John.

13 Francesca, Chaser I hope we're all better at flying, frankly... 250 Francesca, Chaser 0 5

Theodore, Keeper

November 09, 2014 9:59 AM

But that some of us are better than others by Theodore, Keeper

Theodore’s eyes narrowed and he flexed his muscles. The Quaffle was actually getting near enough to be a threat. He had learned to keep this reaction - getting coiled, ready to spring - only for the occasions when he was truly under fire. So often the ball was wrestled back and forth only to come, ultimately, no where really near him at all. It made for an unsatisfying feeling, like an itch that hadn’t been scratched, to psych yourself up only to have nothing come to pass. He spent his matches, for the most part, analysing the rest of the action, trying to work out what tactics and countertactics people were trying to employ and how likely he thought they were to succeed. It was satisfying not only seeing the outcomes but learning whether his predictions had been right.

The Aladren tactics had been going well and they had been in a good position to squeeze out the Pecaris, especially as the new recruit had looked unsure what to do. Spencer had even baulked at his own team-mate’s Bludger, something that was normally a mistake but which had worked out, in a weird and irritating way, to their favour. Theodore disliked illogical outcomes at the best of times but especially when they happened against his team in a match. Now they were closing in, though Francesca still stood between them and him.

He knew it was the right play on her part but there were times when he just wanted the shot to be taken, whether he got it or not. The closer the Quaffle got the slower time moved, until the moment where the ball was actually sailing towards him, whereupon Chronus seemed to make up for his recent slovenliness and set things to go at two to three times the usual pace. Even though it was his only real involvement in the game it was a little like waiting to take an unpleasant tasting potion… The anticipation as you watched it slide, viscous and slow onto the spoon, when you could smell it and know how it was going to taste and feel in your throat. The more you thought about it the worse it got until the moment where you just gulped it down, taking mere seconds, became a relief compared to the build up. He had to wait now, seeing whether Pecari would get past his sister and the other Aladren Chasers. Which of them it would be, how long they’d wind up for and where they would eventually target…. Then they would shoot and it would be done. Whether he saved it or not, he would take control. He would collect the Quaffle. It was a solid and definite fact that, after the attempt on goal, Aladren would have possession again, even if Pecari were ready to spring straight back on him.

He watched closely. There was the risky option of getting involved himself. If he thought no Chasers were in a good position to intercept a Pecari pass, he could do it. He could also just fly forward right now and try to snatch the ball from Miss Curtis, hoping that she was sufficiently surprised by the manoeuvre as to let go. There were no rules on the ball having to be in the air to be intercepted, so long as he didn’t physically assault her. It was an oddly tempting thought, purely because it would cut short the interminable wait for someone to do something, though if it didn’t come off correctly he did risk looking like he’d just gone a bit mad, and it was this thought that stayed him - it was bad tactics, when they had Chasers in the vicinity who looked like they might well force a pass. That he would keep an eye for though, as they might still need someone to intercept it. It was a strange exhilarating feeling as he rarely had such a chance, though of course he should only take it if he was certain of success, otherwise he left his goal open to a very easy attack.

13 Theodore, Keeper But that some of us are better than others 270 Theodore, Keeper 0 5

John Umland, Chaser

November 09, 2014 3:09 PM

That is very true. by John Umland, Chaser

The Quaffle was moving the wrong way, the Bludgers were flying, and John knew he was dangerously close to not thinking, and not in the good way. The good way involved being calm and focused on what he was doing, not distracted by questions and observations and half-remembered facts and lighting fixtures and anything else that might normally catch his attention while he was trying to do something. The bad way, on the other hand, involved being overwhelmed with emotional and sensory data until he didn't have any attention left over for thinking, and that was the one he was worried about slipping into now. He was moving as fast as he ever had through the air, he couldn't get rid of the idea that the game going the wrong way was entirely his fault, and he was angry with himself and with the Pecaris about it. He was behind most of the action, so he was still thinking some, but he was close enough to the problem that he couldn't think completely clearly even with the Quaffle well away from him.

This was the problem, he thought, based on the same issue coming up in his first game, with real games versus practices. Practices were like taking notes for himself, or just talking to one of the people he liked and trusted while calm instead of debating or lecturing: he knew there was nothing at stake right then, that he was preparing, not performing, so he could think. With an enemy, though, and everyone moving fast, and his own role hugely limited by the rules of his position and frustrating him at every turn while something real was on the line, he stopped seeing and solving what amounted to word problems or building puzzles when the Quaffle was in play and started letting his feelings take over, which made him want to act like the worst stereotype imaginable of a primitive hominid instead of like an intelligent person who had already been taught that feelings didn't have much to do with right and wrong and who was well on his way to being decently educated. His feelings took over his logic and his range of responses tried to narrow itself down to wanting to flee for his life, or at least reputation, and wanting, when flight didn't appeal, to hit people with a club. Neither impulse was very helpful, though, because as physical and violent as Quidditch was, it was still (unless one had someone holding one's hand at every turn, as his fellow first year seemed to; John would have died of embarrassment, as that seemed even worse to him than his mistakes had been, but to each their own) a game where players had to think.

When Joella started to fumble the Quaffle after it was passed to her, he lurched forward, remembering fragments and impressions of a lot of sentimental poetry about suicidal charges even though the Bludger had been sent toward the older ones and wasn't an immediate (until Leonidas saw that Joella had the Quaffle, anyway...) threat to them., but didn't even get started properly before she recovered it and kept moving toward the Aladren goals. Trying hard to remind himself that he'd only look worse than he already did if he let himself get more worked up over inaccurate data, which was the only term for the perception that anything in the game was personal, he kept following, trying to evaluate the situation and plan a few potential moves ahead.

Chess. Either Joella, BPC, or Twin Pecari Chaser was almost certain to make it to within a space of home row. It would be up to Theodore to 'capture' them by blocking the shot. Nothing legal he could do to prevent that if they got that far. Then, though, whether one of them upgraded or not, Theodore would throw the Quaffle back into the conflicts. It would be desperate ground: fight immediately or lose it, since the Pecaris would not want the Quaffle to go too far away - would they? The rest of the game didn't stop for a goal attempt, he had to think about more than one piece moving at once. If they hung around the goals too long, then Leonidas could start picking them off - but he'd endanger Theodore if he tried too hard, and Theodore was a more valuable resource than any of them, so Pecari would - probably, if he wasn't failing too hard at guessing how someone else would think or remembering how Quidditch worked - not want to let Aladren go too far. So they would try to intercept, so in the extremely likely event that he wasn't the one who ended up with the Quaffle...he should try to block one of their Chasers, keep them away from Francesca and Anthony.

He had a plan. A few other possibilities existed, but he thought he knew what was going to happen. Feeling much better, he flew on toward the action, noting Francesca's position, considering the possibility of an interception, and watching the Quaffle and trying not to think about automobile crashes.

16 John Umland, Chaser That is very true. 285 John Umland, Chaser 0 5

Anthony Carey, Chaser

November 09, 2014 7:39 PM

Just flying along by Anthony Carey, Chaser

It was, Anthony thought, wanting badly to laugh but trying to hold it back because it might distract him at a crucial moment and would look really strange besides, a special Quidditch game where he felt that his team was more in control of their situation while their opponents had the Quaffle than he had when Aladren had still been in possession. Pecari was holding the Quaffle, the pass from Spencer to Miss Curtis narrowly succeeding, but Spencer had been startled into passing it, and that meant he was not psychologically in control of his game and that it was now Aladren’s turn to take advantage of a first year in over their head. Miss Curtis was better than poor John, but Anthony thought he had most likely been better than poor John when he’d still been reading stories which had been illustrated to help him figure out what was going on when his then-uncertain grasp of the printed word faltered. Unless she was a freak of nature like Anthony’s now-professional older brother, which her performance so far did not make Anthony think she was, she was not as good as the rest of them who had been at this for a few years.

He did wish Leonidas would take advantage of one of those chats the older players kept stopping to have with Miss Curtis to take out a big fish, or maybe even break two heads for the price of one Bludger, but he didn’t hold it too much against the third year. For one thing, Leonidas was doing a good job – Anthony’s shoulder was sore, but other than that, they had gotten out of that tangle with no injuries, which was saying something, especially since Leonidas was a third year up against the captain of the opposing team. For another thing, the way Spencer and Princeton pulled up beside her was, he thought, more evidence that Miss Curtis’ advantage over John was mainly that she was steadier on the broom, not that she was really a player. Now that she had the Quaffle, that meant she was not only going to be less secure in her seat – hard not to be while holding the Quaffle; most Chaser falls happened while holding it, just because that meant taking at least one hand off the broom or else, for most people, bending into a very awkward position to grip the handle around the ball – but that she was, if he and Francesca played their cards right, possibly going to be easy to mess with until she made a mistake.

He saw Francesca advance and dropped back himself, lowering his altitude. If she was also startled into passing, he meant to steal it. His last mistake had been being visible for a few seconds, so he wasn’t going to do that again if he could avoid it. If Francesca and Leonidas could just spook her into passing, then they could reclaim the Quaffle and never put Theodore - however sure he was to pass it if it came ot that - to the test on this round.

0 Anthony Carey, Chaser Just flying along 0 Anthony Carey, Chaser 0 5

Leonidas Bennett, Beater

November 10, 2014 12:30 AM

Expecting an interesting show by Leonidas Bennett, Beater

Leo ground his teeth together in irritation when Rupert Princeton intercepted his Bludger yet again. The Pecari captain was faster than he was, probably stronger than he was, and since Anthony had taken that Bludger, that grated on him a little. He was not going to lose his head over it, but he wanted to land a hit on one of Princeton’s people a lot more now.

He reminded himself that one shot didn’t matter much more than another. Princeton would miss eventually, if the game went on long enough, and neither Dill nor Pierce looked likely to catch the Snitch right now. Sooner or later, everyone did. Beaters were no different than Chasers, Seekers, or Keepers in that way. Sooner or later, the Bludger was in just the wrong place, or your attention wavered for one second too long, or someone blocked you off just long enough, or something, and you missed. Arnold Carey had missed once. Sooner or later, if he kept at it, Princeton would miss, too, and Leo’s job was just to try to make the hit Princeton missed more serious than the one he had missed.

Well, that and not missing another. There was always that….

Leo, glad to see the Bludger not heading straight for anyone but looking for one to keep hitting toward people he was temporarily antagonistic to, heard a shout but didn’t see the pass back for a moment and was confused about where the Quaffle had gone when he looked at Spencer again. One good thing about his brother’s old team being out of the tournament for this year at least was that the Quaffle was usually easy to spot no matter who was carrying it, though Teppenpaw would have been the easiest team of all to spot it with no matter what.

Grimacing, he caught up with the Bludger, summed up the situation around the goals as quickly as he could with the ball snarling and looking very interested in smashing in his face, and hit it toward the best Pecari option he saw, hoping to force a pass which could be intercepted, cursing the lack of an opportunity to account for Rupert and pick the player his opposite number could least defend. Playing tennis with his opponent was one way to keep his own Chasers and, now, his roommate safe, it at least kept the Bludgers away from them, but it was not the best way, as he couldn't help the Aladrens deal with the skills of Spencer or the skills of Umland if he was busy playing with Rupert. He would do better trying to keep the Pecaris from scoring, limiting their passing options and, if he could, scaring the their first year into doing something dumb.

He would have to let it go, he thought, for a while when the action turned around, if it got out of the main game that way again. Let it attack the Seekers - or, more accurately, Carey and Primred - if he could. He couldn't keep up chasing the Bludger this closely forever, and he didn't wand to run out of fuel at the worst moment possible. Right now, though, it looked like the Chasers were setting up something, and if the Pecari first year got startled, as Adam seemed to have been, then maybe it would even work and turn this game around in every way.

0 Leonidas Bennett, Beater Expecting an interesting show 269 Leonidas Bennett, Beater 0 5

Coach Olivers

November 10, 2014 4:16 PM

Recentering (nm) by Coach Olivers

0 Coach Olivers Recentering (nm) 0 Coach Olivers 0 5

Joella Curtis, Chaser

November 11, 2014 3:37 AM

Making a decision without help. by Joella Curtis, Chaser

With the Quaffle tucked tightly under one arm, Joella headed for the scoring area. This was the part where she could show everyone that she wasn't such a bad player, that she had her skills. Shooting was arguably the young Pecari's best attribute on the pitch and whilst the rest of her team would know she had a good shot, perhaps Aladren would better their opinion of her. Joella had always been comfortable with a Quaffle under her arm. Even on that one occasion when she had crashed her broom as a young child she could often be found with her mini-Quaffle, looking for somewhere to practise her shooting, whilst she waited for her brand new broomstick to arrive. The practices she had spent recently on her flying only aided the confidence with which she held the leather ball.

Joella found out all too late that she was flying into a trap. She was an alert player with quick eyesight that soon informed her that the Aladren Chasers were in perfect positions. Francesca Wolseithcrafte would force her to pass and then it would swiftly be intercepted by either her or one of her teammates, which would give Aladren back the Quaffle.

The first year was determined not to let this happen. She needed to do this for her team and for herself. Joella didn't want other players to think she relied heavily upon her teammates all the time and despite some restrictions and uncertainties due to her age and inexperience, she was adamant that this was no excuse for a poor performance.

With the voices of Franki, Rupert, her other teammates, and even her father (who had given up his typical pureblood distaste for female Quidditch players when Frankie had made clear her intentions to pursue a career in the game) giving her advice in her head, the eleven year felt rather overwhelmed. She didn't need help. She couldn't recieve help. This was her moment to make a decision by herself, to show everyone that she was more than capable of doing so. And to do just that she needed to believe in herself.

There was so much that could go wrong whatever she did but Joella considered it part of the game to take risks. After all, she was a Pecari and not an Aladren so even when strategy was important it was her gut that won over. She would try to dodge Francesca Wolseithcrafte and enter the scoring area. Wolseithcrafte was a skilled player and knew what she was doing but Joella had the upperhand in that she knew what the Quaffle was doing. The female Aladren could only follow and rely on her own abilities being better than Joella's. Of course she could assume the young Pecari's next move but the eleven year old regarded her plans as illogical and something the Aladrens would therefore not expect by nature.

With little hesitation, Joella carefully altered her course last minute to taking a lower right direction into the scoring area. It was a particularly risky move but should she take to the left of Francesca the Quaffle would be more vulnerable and also at risk of being seized by Anthony Carey.

Joella could not pretend that her surprise that the supposedly terrible plan actually worked existed. She thought it something of a miracle as she entered the scoring area with the Quaffle still in her possession, unscathed. It was not fault in the playing of the Aladrens' playing but Joella was certain that they had been anticipating a pass and underestimating the confidence with which she flew when she had the Quaffle under her arm and was close to shooting. The young Pecari did consider that a bit of luck may have been on her side at the same time but she was now in prime position to score and surely the fact that she had achieved this was impressive in itself. Perhaps prime position would be an exaggeration for Joella felt a little disappointed at the inconvenience of her stationing inside the second Wolseithcrafte's area.

Still, shooting was the only part of the game where the eleven year old actually trusted herself to get it right. The pressure of competition did not put her off in the way it may have during other moments of the match but instead gave her more incentive to make her shot good. And it was. One powerful, confident throw came Theodore's way as she rose up and aimed down so the ball would only just enter the hoop, therefore making it harder to save. Joella obviously wasn't superhuman in her shooting abilities and was pleased at her performance. Once the Quaffle left her hand her nerves were allowed to appear in the form of a wide grin. Now it was up to Theodore Wolseithcrafte to determine the outcome of the first goal attempt and whilst she didn't doubt his abilities, it wasn't an easy shot to save.

8 Joella Curtis, Chaser Making a decision without help. 295 Joella Curtis, Chaser 0 5

Atlas Primred, Beater

November 11, 2014 5:04 AM

Watching and Attacking by Atlas Primred, Beater

Although he wasn’t from ‘The Foggy City’ of San Francisco, Santa Cruz could be equally misty when it wanted to be. As a result, he was used to the dewy feeling of the mist on his face, and felt quite at home in the clouds of dew. Atlas looked down from his broomstick, watching the game out of the corner of his eye as best he could. While the rest of the team was working their hardest to push forward in an attempt to score a goal, Atlas silently cheered them on from above.

Understanding that he may not be able to protect all his teammates, especially when he was assigned to guarding Annabelle, was an essential part of coming into his role as a beater. Although at first it seemed like backwards thinking to the young Pecari, after his first real game the idea made a lot more sense. If a beater fretted over every bludger that went near his teammates, he would end up spreading himself too thin. He had his job, and that was to protect Annabelle. Atlas knew that most of their players could dodge bludgers on their own without too much problem if given enough time, and even more so that Rupert's skills as a beater were very high, so he had no real reason to worry about the well-being of his teammates. Even so, he still felt a sting of guilt somewhere inside his chest, but this was something he had to let go of if he wanted to really be of use to his team.

He looked across at the Pecari goal- or what little he could see of it. It was unfortunate that his vision was slightly blurred by mist, but if that meant the view of Liliana playing keeper would be obstructed (at least for a little while), then he didn’t mind. He furrowed his brow a little before looking back to his teammates, gripping his broom tightly in irritation. He hadn’t yet indicated to her just how upset he was about her ‘big news’, and had been debating internally if he wanted to tell her at all. He had played off the incident in a friendly manner, and knew the easiest course of action would be to just accept the fact that he was friend zoned. It could have been the Quidditch adrenaline talking, or perhaps the fact that he was a thirteen-year-old boy, but the idea of being friend zoned didn’t sit well with him. In fact it made him fairly mad that she had blatantly talked to him about her first kiss as if he really was one of her girl friends.

The sound of another bat striking metal released him from his gloomy thoughts, bringing him back to reality- if only momentarily. He quickly skimmed the Pitch for the source, making sure it wasn’t aimed at Annabelle. Thankfully it wasn’t, but unfortunately Leonidas was not going easy on the Pecari players. Trying his best to shake off his bad thoughts, Atlas decided that he needed to get into the game too. Besides, at the moment, he wanted nothing more than to hit something. Weather it was just a bludger or by extension an Aladren, he didn’t care, he just needed to get his frustration out.

Atlas squinted his eyes trying to see if he could spot anything. The fog wasn't too much of a problem now, and thankfully he caught sight of a free bludger not too far off. If he remembered correctly, it was the one Rup had hit towards the Carey boy. Even though Atlas wasn’t one for superstition, he still hoped that maybe this bludger would be lucky, and land a hit on his target too.

Be right back, gonna try for a hit,” he said to Annabelle before flying off to the bludger, slower than usual in an attempt to skim the skies for Clark. He spotted a blue robe, and although he wasn't sure, he hoped it was the Aladren Seeker. He hit the bludger hard with his bat, following it up with a double tap, as his opponent had done in the last game. It felt good to get his anger out in a constructive way, but it would feel even better if he managed to land a hit. Atlas could be a bit of a perfectionist when it came to sports, so he made sure to practice a few extra maneuvers after the last match made his subpar skills painfully obvious. He hoped that by understanding the techniques used by his opponents that he would become a better player- that and he thought the move just looked really cool.

Once he was sure it was heading for the Aladren player, he used his forward momentum to begin making his way back to Annabelle. Although he already knew perfectly well that he didn’t really have to worry about her, he still felt it was his duty to stick close to her.

0 Atlas Primred, Beater Watching and Attacking 276 Atlas Primred, Beater 0 5

Theodore, Keeper

November 13, 2014 7:33 AM

But with consequences by Theodore, Keeper

Theodore almost relaxed a little. The Aladren team members were in great positions - not only was his sister poised to badger the Pecari until she gave up and passed but Anthony was in a good place to receive the ball. Leonidas was adding to the pressure on the other team by sending a Bludger into the mix. And John was…. also there. But he couldn’t quite bring himself off his guard until the Quaffle was heading back in the other direction… Which turned out to be an excellent thing as it didn’t. Inconceivably, the little Pecari ducked past Francesca, bringing her to a one on one with him.

He guarded his hopes carefully, noting her movements and trying to follow best he could. He never liked to under-estimate an opponent but he couldn’t help but feel that part of the reason she was here was that she’d just got lucky. When Francesca wanted to get in someone’s way she, generally speaking did. Still he took her as a serious threat, mirroring her movements as she flew upwards, though a little slower, ready to swerve should she make a sudden change of direction.

She threw the ball, and he wasn’t sure it was going to make it through the goal - it was going to be tight either way. Still, he wasn’t going to stop until he was sure. He was already part way there having emulated her movements, and now he pushed his broom upwards as hard and fast as he could, stretching his arm out. The nearer he got, the more certain he was that it was going to be just the right side of the hoop as far as Joella was concerned and just the wrong one as far as he was. Fine then, he had always prefered proving his own worth rather than having the Chaser mess up. What he was less certain of was his ability to reach it in time. There would be mere centimetres in it, though he was getting closer, closer, just a little further….

The ball smacked painfully against his fingers, bending them back a little. She could throw hard. But hard for a first year girl. He was more than up to the task of deflecting it, although it hurt. The contact knocked it off course, causing the ball to bang into the metal hoop and he caught it as it was deflected. It was a lot to think about at once though - the rush to reach the ball, the pain in his fingers and then the moment as it threatened to topple one way or the other having hit the hoop, and his effort to catch it as it went. In all the commotion, he didn’t manage to brake as sharply as he might have, and the Quaffle wasn’t the only thing to collide with the metal hoop as a result.

He wobbled away, his right shoulder throbbing. He knew he should have been pleased to make the save and that it was really all that mattered but he resented the clumsiness of it, feeling he had been made to look foolish in front of his peers. He liked things clean and elegant and that had been neither. He almost threw the Quaffle straight out in a pique of temper but managed to retain some basic sense and look for where their Chasers were. They had done such a good job of positioning themselves that, even though it hadn’t stopped the attempt on goal, they may as well benefit from it somehow. He threw sharply, his pass perhaps a little shorter than he meant as the pain in his shoulder threw him off slightly, but hopefully still within easy reach of an Aladren.

13 Theodore, Keeper But with consequences 270 Theodore, Keeper 0 5

Francesca, Chaser

November 13, 2014 8:23 AM

Mostly for you... by Francesca, Chaser

She was hovering on the boundary of the scoring zone, her eyes fixed on Joella. They only flicked away enough to notice the other members of their team rallying around her in useful positions. On paper, she was confident that she could out-manoeuvre Joella, having had four more years’ experience than the other girl, but she rarely felt that certainty on the pitch. Things didn’t always play out how they should on paper and the result that mattered was the one you got, not the one you hypothetically should have had….

As the girl drew nearer, Francesca was ready to spring in either direction. Joella didn’t feint but went straight for the right of Francesca, diving down. Francesca dove too, trying to fly parallel with the Pecari chaser and prevent her being able to make it into the scoring area. Somehow though, the girl dodged past her. She pulled up to a stop, irritated. The Aladren players had been in such good positions and a little first year had just nipped through. Now there was nothing she could do - it was down to Theodore (and any Bludgers that Leonidas sent, preferably towards some vital part of the Pecari Chaser).

She watched with baited breath. The girl had made a decent pass but her brother was already half way there… She tried not to think about what should happen in theory, as that so far hadn’t panned out for them. Theodore made it, though her smile of relief was tempered by the fact he’d beaten himself up a little against the hoop in the process. She knew he’d be fine once he could get some bruise balm on it but she wasn’t exactly pleased about the whole incident.

He threw out towards her and she reached, having to lean forward sharply at the last moment but getting her hands around the ball. She tucked in tightly to her chest and wheeled around. Although the Pecaris hadn’t scored against them she was more than feeling the need for some Aladren payback. She set off down the pitch, trying to put a good amount of distance between herself and the goal. She trusted Leonidas to keep the Bludgers off her back, and hoped her fellow Chasers had got moving as quickly as she had.

There were two times to pass in life… When there was so much danger you couldn’t avoid it, and when you thought you had out-flown the danger and had a clear chance to do it. Seeing a blue player getting close, she checked around for any threats. It seemed clear, though things had a habit of leaping out at you unexpectedly in this game, so she passed the ball, putting both hands behind it to give it some force.

13 Francesca, Chaser Mostly for you... 250 Francesca, Chaser 0 5

Adam Spencer, Chaser

November 13, 2014 3:05 PM

Keeping up. by Adam Spencer, Chaser

After tossing the Quaffle over to Joella, he lingered around the Keeper’s area, but not close enough to speak to her or that he would be in the shooting zone. He saw how close Joella was at being intercepted and he readied himself for a pass, but it didn’t come. He was surprised at her manoeuvring skills; for a witch her age she was surprisingly good. Their practises must have been very helpful one way or another.

Adam watched, mesmerised, holding his breath as he watched Francesca’s brother defend his hoops. It wasn’t a difficult shot to save in Adam’s opinion, but he still let out a breath of disappointment. He took a bit of comfort in seeing him crash into the hoop he had just defended. With how near the Aladren Chasers were, a pass to one of them was inevitable and Adam joined them in flying the other way.

Since joining the team, Adam had never had an opportunity to shoot. He’d done it loads of times during team practises, but never in a real match where it actually mattered. Someday he thought he’d like the opportunity to do so, but now was not the time. He would work closer with Joella during practises. Though her finesse still needed some work – that would come with experience – she had a natural talent for the sport and a great throwing arm. These were skills she could put to use in practises to become a great Quidditch player for Pecari. Adam didn’t have time to catch Joella’s eye, but he wished that he could get to know her a bit better. With all the problems his current friend group seemed to be having, he wanted to get to know his team-mates better off the pitch.

It was too bad this was the last match of the year. But if Annabelle managed to catch the Snitch, they would be having a party afterwards and Adam would surrounded by his team-mates all evening. There was something about the camaraderie his team shared that was different than his other friend groups. Though they were not all close mates, he fancied they got along rather well. That, in Adam’s view, was more important than winning or losing matches.

With his head back in the match and the Quaffle back on the field, intercepting a pass now would be incredibly convenient. Adam pushed himself forward, but Francesca didn’t pass. She just kept flying and Adam followed at her side, though on the edge of the pitch – too far to do much good. When she finally passed, Adam was unable to intercept it and he groaned a little at the missed opportunity. He continued forward to attempt to either intercept a pass or make himself open for one. Being on the edge and not in the fray made him an easy target for bludgers, but Adam kept one eye on the Beaters. There was really only Bennett he needed to worry about. Knowing where Bennett was at all times would be important in preserving himself.

0 Adam Spencer, Chaser Keeping up. 0 Adam Spencer, Chaser 0 5

Rupert Princeton, Beater

November 13, 2014 3:37 PM

I hope you are. by Rupert Princeton, Beater

The match was picking up at an incredible speed and Rupert watched close by, marking the Chasers. There was nothing he could do at this point but simply watch and hope for the best. His fingers clenched around his bat with his other hand gripping his broom tightly as Joella made her way towards the Aladren hoops. She made a shot, but missed and Rupert tried not to make it apparent that he was disappointed. He was animated on a regular basis, but even more so during Quidditch. Joella had put up some fight despite the Aladren resistance, and though nothing had come out of it except for Theodore’s seemingly sore shoulder after that contact with the hoop, Rupert was glad to see she was confident whilst still learning.

The Chasers flew back down the pitch with an Aladren holding the Quaffle. It was difficult to aim at moving targets especially at the speed they were flying, but Rupert didn’t practise religiously for nothing. He would have to get used to marking Chasers if he was going to join the professional leagues. He saw Adam flying near and Rupert wanted to shout at him to get closer. But Francesca passed and Adam was nowhere near to intercept it, instead flying at the edge. Rupert groaned in frustration, but he didn’t say anything else as he searched for something to hit that was preferably flying around and made of iron.

Bennett’s bludger was flying somewhere and Rup went to chase it down before it hit someone, Pecaris or Aladrens. Stray bludgers were never fun for anybody and were a bit of a nuisance in matches. Not that aimed bludgers were any better to their targets. Rupert slammed the bludger towards an Aladren Chaser and watched as his work unfolded. The timing was good, but his aim was slightly off. If it didn’t hit the Chaser, at the very least it would scare them. It was not his best shot and Rupert attributed it to frustration. Allowing his emotions to get the best of him whilst beating was detrimental to his concentration and he never did as well on the pitch.

Rupert flew a bit closer to his Chasers, wanting to keep up and protect them from bludgers. Adam was off on his own and Rup couldn’t understand why. He knew Adam was less competitive than the rest, but he could at least stay near. Rupert tried to think positively, hoping that Adam had a good excuse for missing an interception. From Rup’s point of view, it was an easy enough pass to dive in and scoop the Quaffle away. Granted, he was not a Chaser, but Adam was. Perhaps Adam was injured in one way or another. That adrenaline rush must have worn off leaving him shaking and uncertain. At least Rupert hoped that were the case.

On the pitch, Rup was incredibly competitive and loathed losing in any form. It was one trait he and Cepheus shared; one of the few. Rup especially did not want to lose again to Aladren, having lost the previous match to them. He wanted Pecari to become a strong Quidditch team, one that would surpass both Crotalus and Aladren in ranks. For that to work, he needed to calm down and concentrate. He turned into someone he didn’t recognise on the pitch, someone who didn’t mind seeing iron balls slam into bodies or brooms breaking and was easily frustrated and angered by a lack of competence or interest from the players. He could handle pain when he was playing, could hardly feel it. Only once the match was over, Rupert was himself again and less of an emotionally unstable machine. It was a somewhat recent development, one that had come with his captaincy. He would have to work on it.

On the bright side, his attitude on the pitch helped him get into the zone where nothing mattered but winning. It made him a great player, but not very emotionally supportive whilst on the pitch once he started getting really invested in the game. Rup looked over at Adam once more, hoping his cousin would dive into the game once again sooner than later and tried not to wish for a bludger to wake him up.

0 Rupert Princeton, Beater I hope you are. 0 Rupert Princeton, Beater 0 5

Liliana Bannister, Keeper

November 15, 2014 7:14 PM

A true champion can adapt to anything. by Liliana Bannister, Keeper

No matter how hard she wanted to shake it off, her headache did not seem to want to go away, and Liliana pressed her tongue to the roof of her mouth, clenching her jaw to try and reassign the pressure to another portion of her head. When this didn’t work, she resigned herself to her fate and continued to watch the battle over the Quaffle. At this point Joella had gotten close enough to take a shot and Liliana’s heart leapt into her chest when she saw the Quaffle leave the first year’s hands. Unfortunately, Wolseithcrafte blocked it and Liliana frowned with disappointment. It would have been nice to see Pecari get in some points.

However, when Wolseithcrafte then proceeded to crash into the hoop, Liliana winced sympathetically. During her first match against Aladren she’d attained a similar injury by instead of catching the Quaffle or batting it away with her hand or broomstick she’d decided to fly straight across the goal, using her shoulder as a shield. She had still been young then and done it without thinking about what would come next at all. In fact, after bruising her left shoulder with the Quaffle, she had then proceeded to run into the hoop with such force that it split the tip of her broom handle. Thankfully, Adam Spencer had been there to catch the Quaffle because after a reckless save like that, because Liliana greatly remembered the feeling of not being able to reach the Quaffle in time and being worried that an Aladren player would be there to catch the ball.

This time around though, both she and Wolseithcrafte were third years and as such were a great deal more skilled than they had been as first years. Wolseithcrafte had made the save with his actual hands and only crashed into the hoops afterwards, and not as a result of an ill-thought out half-made plan. However, one thing had stayed the same between the two attempts at scoring-- both times Adam Spencer had been there to step in and save Pecari. Granted the first time he had scooped the ball out of the air, but this time he was there to intercept a pass between Wolseithcrafte’s older sister and another Aladren player and that was just as good at this point in the game.

She was proud of Joella for taking a risk-- it was one that she thought most first years would be too scared to do without any urging on from older teammates and Liliana tried to remember to tell that to Joella as soon as the game ended. However, it was starting to look like she would want to take a shower, a nap, and a large amount of tea to fix the raging headache first. Her eyes closed again, for a brief moment, broom wavering slightly but once she felt the air begin to move she gave herself another slap to keep her brain alert. Now was not the time to get sick. She had plenty of time for that when the game was over.

It was then that Liliana heard some ringing in her ear and she snapped her head around in case it was the whistle and the Snitch had been caught. No such luck. She looked around at the other players in case it had been a foul. But no one had been pulled aside and when she did a mental count of them they all seemed to be in the air. Liliana puckered her forehead. What was that sound then? Was she going crazy? Had it all been in her head? “You’re losing it,” she said to herself. “You are absolutely losing it.”

At least her parents weren’t there to see her ridiculous behaviour-- though they weren’t against the idea of witches playing Quidditch, that movement hadn’t seemed to make it to England just yet, they also didn’t think that it was particularly lady-like for the only female Bannister-Rosenthal grandchild to be conducting herself in a manner of which her grandparents did not approve. Grandmère had always found Quidditch to be a revolting sport, only allowing her grandsons to play it because her husband had greatly advocated the need for the cousins to get their energy out in one way or another and Quidditch was preferably to them running rampant around her house. And Grandfather had handed over decision making regarding the proper behavior of witches in the family to Grandmère long ago with the birth of their first girl since he felt he had no authority over a sex of whom he could barely even begin to understand the inner-workings of the mind.

OOC: Don’t worry, I’m not going to make her get violently ill or fall off her broom or do anything ridiculous like that. She probably just has a 24-hour bug that in combination with the altitude is giving her a headache.

10 Liliana Bannister, Keeper A true champion can adapt to anything. 274 Liliana Bannister, Keeper 0 5

Anthony Carey, Chaser

November 15, 2014 8:34 PM

No one can solve all problems by Anthony Carey, Chaser

If House characteristics were reliable – which, given his own observations of all four Houses, he was not entirely sure they were – then Anthony thought it was surprising that Crotalus had managed to be a dominant House on the Quidditch Pitch for a while. Crotali were about plans, consistency, and Quidditch was about making plans and then watching them somehow blow up in your face, as Aladren’s did when Miss Curtis managed to evade both him and Francesca with the Quaffle still in hand.

That had, though, been an option – the plan’s backup plan, if just seeing Francesca was not enough to intimidate the girl, Leonidas being able to threaten her into passing instead of continuing to fly, and the Beater hadn’t pulled through there; Anthony guessed he and Princeton were both getting tired – and they still had a backup to the backup: Theodore. The Keeper didn’t let them down, saving the throw at the cost of a collision with the ring which made Anthony wince to see it, in the second before the ball reentered play.

As he turned to follow Francesca, he slightly reevaluated Miss Curtis. She was new, but she didn’t scare easily and she had a good arm. She’d make a good opponent in a few years. Fortunately, by then, Anthony would be gone and John and Clark would be the only people now here who’d have to deal with her. Maybe they could be brought up to par by then; Anthony guessed he and Francesca would have to do their best with their youngest teammates over the next two years.

For now, though, the Quaffle was back in play, back in Aladren’s hands, and all he needed to think about Miss Curtis was what he also needed to think about Spencer and Miss Pierce: how to keep the Quaffle away from her.

Francesca flew well and threw hard, and Anthony caught the Quaffle when she passed it to him. A second later, he heard the distinctive sound of a whistling Bludger and, with a stab of anxiety, altered his course, veering toward a Pecari Chaser in the hopes of throwing the ball off before, not wanting to get close enough for the Pecaris to try anything they might think clever, diving lower to continue flying even though it made his already-hit shoulder throb, trusting Leonidas to get in there and handle it until he got clearer of danger.

He still began to look for an opportunity to pass, wanting the Quaffle away from the Bludger even more than he wanted himself away from the Bludger. Ideally, he and Francesca would both avoid, or have deflected from them, any more hits – they could sacrifice John, but Aladren was going to have problems if Francesca got hit or he got hit again – but he did not want to lose the Quaffle at all, much less before they got it further away from their goals. He quickly checked his area for Pecari threats when he saw another blue robe flying nearby and took both hands off his broom to pass again, nearly holding his breath as the ball sailed away from him and he hoped for the best.

0 Anthony Carey, Chaser No one can solve all problems 0 Anthony Carey, Chaser 0 5

Leonidas Bennett, Beater

November 15, 2014 9:04 PM

The problem of you guys, though, can be sovled with Bludgers by Leonidas Bennett, Beater

Occupied with catching his breath, it took Leo a moment to realize what was going on among the Chasers. He had not been following the movements of the Quaffle very closely for the past few minutes, just focused on knocking any Pecari he could off of his or her broom and grinding his teeth until it felt like they should have long since become a fine powder when he was unable to do so. He had known the Pecaris were getting closer to the goal, that Anthony and Francesca were trying to stop them, but he didn’t realize the fly he hadn’t been able to swat was taking a shot against Theodore until he heard the mix of applause and groans that went with his roommate saving the ball.

He put his hands together, or as close as he could come to it while holding a bat, a few times in celebration, too, and then the game was on again. He was pleased to see that Aladren had gotten the Quaffle back after Theodore saved it – his oldest sister had told tales of tiresome games where one team would just hold the other up at the goals for ages; if he ever played in a game where the opposing Chasers were good enough or his own bad enough to keep the Quaffle in the scoring area for that long, Leo thought he’d just hit both Bludgers into the mix and stop caring who they hit, as clearly, his own team wasn’t going to do anything worse injured than they did intact – and that the Quaffle-bearer was most definitely not Mr. Umland, which was even better. They might actually keep the Quaffle long enough for Theodore to have time to celebrate his success that way.

They wouldn’t, though, keep it even as long as John had the first time if Princeton had his way. He flew toward the action, raising his bat, and not a minute too soon, as Anthony only just caught the Quaffle from Francesca before a Bludger entered the scene. He flew into the chaos and, after Anthony dove, smacked it hard, with renewed energy, toward one of the brown robes, expecting to score a hit on one of them at last.

0 Leonidas Bennett, Beater The problem of you guys, though, can be sovled with Bludgers 269 Leonidas Bennett, Beater 0 5

Francesca, Chaser

November 15, 2014 10:43 PM

The I in Team by Francesca, Chaser

Once the pass was safely with Anthony, Francesca was free to check around a bit more than her peripheral vision. She was surprised to find Adam nowhere near her. She quickly ran through a list of possibly plays he might be attempting but nothing easily sprang to mind and she didn’t have a lot of spare concentration to analyse his behaviour right now; she needed to keep up with Anthony.

He had a Bludger on his tail, which in some ways made her job easier. He was likely to be ducking and weaving a bit, so she would be able to get ahead of him soon enough, ready to receive the next pass. Of course, flying too straight made her an easy target, and she had to monitor how his attempt at dodging the Bludger was going, lest he get cut off from her. She veered the opposite way from him slightly, and began zig-zagging up the pitch, never making any arm of the flight even - a short left, a long right, a long left… Anthony had ducked down, meaning she had to look down and ahead if she was behind him, which was easy enough but bad for passing, or down and back if she stayed ahead of him, which was better for passing but awful for keeping an eye on where you were going. At least Leonidas had dealt with the Bludger now, which made their job easier for the time being. She stayed a little behind him but when he looked ready to pass put on an extra burst of speed to bring herself ahead.

She caught the pass from Anthony and turned towards the Pecari goals. They were that irritating kind of distance away… The kind that was really just too much for one person to make by themselves without attracting a lot of trouble, but not far enough that it seemed worth passing and risking losing the ball back to the other side. She knew she would probably regret it once she got past the point of no return, but half of her already knew what she was going to do, although she still had that little voice claiming she might pass…. She wanted to be able to rely on her team-mates, and she knew that John needed to be given chances in real matches in order to improve. But it was all too easy to tell herself that she’d give him those chances later, once they had a comfortable goal difference and it didn’t matter so much. Francesca was used to working in a team, or working in a group but it was usually a good team, or a group whose strengths and weaknesses complimented each other. She wasn’t used to dealing with people who were going to mess things up, and didn’t really know how to. She wasn’t the most competitive person, in terms of Quidditch being the be all and end all, but when she knew how to do something it frustrated her to see someone botch it. She would rather just do more work herself and know it would be done right.

She flew as hard as she could, the distance seeming to stretch, or at least the amount of time she had been flying seeming to add up more quickly than could be possibly true. She kept an eye out, hoping for an Aladren Chaser to appear in a good space for a pass, and equally trying to be aware of the rain of Pecari trouble she was probably bringing down on her own head by doing this…. All the while, the goals loomed closer and closer.

OOC - sorry to stop still holding the Quaffle but as it’s a fair distance that she’s going for, I figured I should give people a chance to say what they’re doing, as the situation might be quite different by the time she gets near the goal.

13 Francesca, Chaser The I in Team 250 Francesca, Chaser 0 5

Jay Carey, Beater

November 15, 2014 11:23 PM

Protecting by Jay Carey, Beater

Since it was Seekers who made and broke games, Jay had focused his improvement efforts on Clark since returning to school for the second round with Pecari. That did not keep him from wincing as, perceiving no immediate threats to Clark, he instead watched his other problem child make a mess of things with the Quaffle. He had hoped, since John had not so much caused problems last time as he had just not been of any use to Anthony and Francesca, that he’d do no worse in his second game than in his first, but that was a hope that did not seem like it was in any immediate danger of being realized.

He wondered why his cousins had never had problems like these. They’d had Arnold himself on Seeker and he’d proven a freak of nature, yes, but even Arthur’s – Arnold had been amiable to everyone, but Jay doubted anyone other than his Beaters had really felt he was much of a captain to them; Arnold’s own position had called for a certain professional interest in the Beaters, but he had more or less handed the Chasers and Keeper over to his twin from a very early point and had obviously, to Jay at least, just been repeating things Arthur had told him when he did address them – Chasers had been a nice, smooth unit, even though they could have been infiltrated by incompetent first years at any time. Instead, though, they had even been competent when they were first years themselves – Arthur and Russell Layne had started together, and while he wasn’t positive, years where they’d had alternates blurred together with years where they had not, he didn’t think Francesca had been a third year when she made it to the first string, either. These just weren't problems Arthur had had, even early on, when his captain had been an insane Muggleborn....

Still, these things came and went, and they still had two good Chasers, and he still had his own job to do. Since the madness seemed to be entirely, for now, confined to the Chasers and their Beaters, he was free to watch the Pecari Beater shadowing Miss Pierce – strange, that they still wouldn’t put their captain with their Seeker – and intervene when the younger boy tried to shoot toward Clark. It had some momentum behind it, more than he’d expected, and took some effort to deflect, but he protected his Seeker so Clark could get on with looking for the Snitch uninterrupted, at least for a little longer.

0 Jay Carey, Beater Protecting 0 Jay Carey, Beater 0 5

Joella Curtis, Chaser

November 16, 2014 4:44 AM

I wouldn't say solved... by Joella Curtis, Chaser

Joella was frustrated that her shot didn't pull through. Theodore Wolseithcrafte seemed to be a good Keeper and the young Pecari was at least a little cheered by the mess he made of the save. He didn't make it look like an easy save, Joella thought, so surely the other players would notice that while she hadn't actually scored, the attempt hadn't been a bad one.

As soon as the Quaffle was back in play, the first year flew back up the pitch after it. Adam was ahead of her but missed intercepting the Quaffle when the female Aladren passed it on to Anthony Carey. Instead of switching paths to mark Carey, Joella kept on Francesca Wolseithcrafte's tail. By the time she reached Carey he would no doubt have passed again so that would be a pointless effort.

Joella found that she couldn't catch up in time to intercept the next pass as the distant from which she had begun tailing Francesca was too great.

As always Joella kept an eye on what was happening around her but perhaps she had been careless this time for when she looked behind her there was a Bludger coming straight at her. With no Rupert on hand to bat it away, the eleven year old had to deal with this herself. Gripping tightly with her hands and feet, the Pecari quickly slipped into a Sloth Grip Roll. It seemed that she had noticed all too late however for the Bludger caught her left hand side just as she swung round to the underside of her broom. Joella let out a gasp as she rolled herself upright once more, the Bludger safely past her.

The young Pecari clutched her left side only to find that this made it hurt even more. She felt slightly winded and had to take a few deep breaths to return the air to her lungs. She had lost some ground on Francesca but felt that she would have lost even more should she have attempted to shake off the Bludger. She had been far too careless about Bludgers so far in the game and should she not have made the decision to roll she could have sustained a much worse injury.

Joella was never one to bring attention to the fact that she was hurt both on and off the pitch so could only hope that the other players had not seen the incident or thought she had narrowly missed the Bludger rather than the reality of her getting a considerable blow from it. Joella definitely didn't want to give the Aladren Beater, Bennett, the satisfaction of putting a Pecari out of play. She set her jaw and ignored the pain as best she could. Distracting herself from it with a determined focus on the game, she sped up after Francesca Wolseithcrafte, desperate that the Chaser should not get any closer to the Pecari hoops. She flew towards the Aladren from the side and hoped that she could work with her teammates to close in on her and prevent her from scoring or successfully passing.

8 Joella Curtis, Chaser I wouldn't say solved... 295 Joella Curtis, Chaser 0 5

Clark Dill, Seeker

November 16, 2014 9:19 AM

Just looking by Clark Dill, Seeker

Jay had been working with him since the last game. Clark guessed he didn't have much experience actually Seeking - which was fine because Clark's Dad did and Dad had helped him learn some Seeking drills over Christmas so that had helped quite a bit - but Jay did know about Bludgers and Bludgers had definitely been Clark's weakest point in the last game. So they'd worked a lot on acclimating him to having a practice bludger coming after him.

So today, when Atlas whacked a real one at him, Clark kept control over all of his bodily functions and only had a perfectly reasonable spike of adrenaline that let him move out of the way so Jay could handle his own job of making sure the bludgers stayed safely away from him.

It was still scary, knowing a violent alien creature was targeting him, of course, but he also recognized now that Jay was a good deal bigger than it and was perfectly capable of sending it away. It was a bludger, after all, not a dalek.

So after Jay's bat cracked loudly against the metal encased beast, Clark just had to take a few calming breaths before he resumed his searching pattern, criss-crossing the pitch in the air well above where the Chasers were doing their thing. He didn't pay much attention to them, mostly only noticing them at all when they were blocking his view.

Right now, though, they were well away from where he was and he thought he saw something move in the air, far below, in the last remnants of the fog that had not quite burned off yet. He dove down, not quite sure if he had really seen something or if it was just a wisp of mist swirling about and fooling him. This uncertainty made him try to dive without looking like he was diving, because it was a long way away and Annabelle had a better broom than him. If she saw it, too, she could beat him there. So he tried to take Han Solo's advice and just 'Fly casual.' Downward. Toward what may or may not be a Snitch.

1 Clark Dill, Seeker Just looking 277 Clark Dill, Seeker 0 5

Annabelle Pierce, Seeker

November 16, 2014 1:54 PM

I'm looking, too, but with intent to buy by Annabelle Pierce, Seeker

Annabelle's morning could have been better. First of all, she had not slept well the night before. She had woken several times feeling anxious. She couldn't recall any dreams specifically, but she felt if dreams had been playing through her unconscious mind, they had certainly not been peaceful and restful.

Finally, at five-thirty - well before she had planned to get up - she gave up on sleeping anymore and just got up. Not wanting to disturb her roommates, she'd spent the next hour just reading quietly, hoping a good novel might calm some of her jittery nerves, but as soon as Annette got up at six-thirty and they went down for breakfast, they came back in full force.

Annette noticed, of course. She always did. And then Annabelle had to explain to her that she was afraid the second year Aladren was going to beat her to the snitch again, and how terrible a Seeker must she be if a twelve year old on a school broom could beat her like that? She wasn't sure if Annette was just trying to be nice or if she actually thought so, but her sister assured her that everybody just got unlucky sometimes and that was what had happened in the last game and she'd definitely catch it for Pecari this time around.

Annabelle just wished she was so certain herself.

She was seventeen years old and nearing the end of her sixth year. He was smaller, which ought to be an advantage among Seekers, but she was smaller for her age than he was for his, so the difference was not terribly significant. Her skill and experience should easy outmaneuver any minuscule height advantage he might have. She had a wonderful broom that she loved and had been practicing with for over a year now. She should be able to beat the little Aladren kid, hands down. He'd just had a bit of beginners luck in his first game. Anyone calling the odds would say she had the far better chance of coming out of this game with the snitch.

But if he was just plain lucky - and Annabelle would be the first to admit she did not have an overabundance of that particular gift - that could still overrule all of her other advantages. Again.

So here she was, on the Pitch, some time into the game, flying over the other players and trying not to pay too much attention to what Annette was doing. Her sister did not seem able to catch a break and the other Pierce twin had not yet touched the Quaffle yet when she saw Clark begin to descend on his broom shortly after the beaters had traded a bludger between them. It hadn't come at her, so she wasn't too worked up about it, but Clark's change in direction was interesting.

She looked down into the fog where he was heading but didn't see anything. Still, he wouldn't be going down there just for giggles, so she turned her broom to follow, picking up speed in a proper dive. Maybe if she got closer, she could see whatever he thought he'd seen . . .

0 Annabelle Pierce, Seeker I'm looking, too, but with intent to buy 0 Annabelle Pierce, Seeker 0 5

Clark Dill, Seeker

November 20, 2014 10:04 PM

Oh, I'll pick up this snitch here, I suppose. by Clark Dill, Seeker

Clark continued to dive without looking like he was diving, but he didn't see anything moving anymore. Had he been mistaken? Was there nothing there after all? He looked over to see what Annabelle was doing and she was diving too, with intent, for the same place he'd been heading towards, so either she did see it now, or she'd assumed he had when his attempt to fly casual had worked about as well as Chewbacca's had.

And as he started to turn back toward the mists, that was when he saw it. An actual flash of gold, not just something that might have been a wisp of swirling fog. It wasn't quite where he'd thought he'd seen it before, so Annabelle was heading the wrong way. It gave him a chance.

He stopped trying to disguise what he was doing and just dove full out toward the Snitch. It got closer and closer and Annabelle was not between him and it yet, so he reached out and his fingers closed around the small winged ball. He leveled out with a shout of joy and victory, waving the snitch over his head for all to see.

He'd won again! That was twice in two games! The snitches must really like him!

1 Clark Dill, Seeker Oh, I'll pick up this snitch here, I suppose. 277 Clark Dill, Seeker 0 5

Coach Olivers

November 21, 2014 12:19 AM

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

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

Coach Olivers

Quidditch Game II: Pecari vs. Aladren by Coach Olivers

<font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>

The game is on! by <font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>

<font color="tan">Liliana Bannister, Keeper</font>

And so is my determination! by <font color="tan">Liliana Bannister, Keeper</font>

<font color="blue">John Umland, Chaser</font>

This counts as some improvement, right? by <font color="blue">John Umland, Chaser</font>

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

Let's put it to the test. by <font color=tan>Rupert Princeton, Beater</font>

<font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>

Determination all round. by <font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>

<font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>

Yes, but it's one of our House traits, so.... by <font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>

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

...so what? by <font color=tan>Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>

<font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>

Ready for some action. by <font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>

<font color="tan">Liliana Bannister, Keeper</font>

Ready for anything. by <font color="tan">Liliana Bannister, Keeper</font>

<font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>

Good policy by <font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>

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

We'll put your preparations to the test soon by <font color="blue">Anthony Carey, Chaser</font>

<font color="blue">John Umland, Chaser</font>

Don't blink. by <font color="blue">John Umland, Chaser</font>

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

Things can change quickly. by <font color=tan>Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>

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

That is true. by <font color=tan>Rupert Princeton, Beater</font>

<font color="blue">John Umland, Chaser</font>

No time for napping here. by <font color="blue">John Umland, Chaser</font>

<font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>

Proud to be Pecari. by <font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>

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

Watching from on high by <font color="blue">Captain Carey, Beater</font>

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

Pride loses more trophies than it wins by <font color="blue">Anthony Carey, Chaser</font>

<font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>

And comes before falls by <font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>

<font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>

Tact has never been my forte. by <font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>

<font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>

How about falling, are you better at that? by <font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>

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

I think you're unbeatable in that category. by <font color=tan>Rupert Princeton, Beater</font>

<font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>

One can only hope so. by <font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>

<font color='tan'>Liliana Bannister, Keeper</font>

I for one hope so! by <font color='tan'>Liliana Bannister, Keeper</font>

<font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>

Keeping out of it by <font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>

<font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>

I hope we're all better at flying, frankly... by <font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>

<font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>

But that some of us are better than others by <font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>

<font color="blue">John Umland, Chaser</font>

That is very true. by <font color="blue">John Umland, Chaser</font>

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

Just flying along by <font color="blue">Anthony Carey, Chaser</font>

<font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>

Expecting an interesting show by <font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>

Coach Olivers

Recentering (nm) by Coach Olivers

<font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>

Making a decision without help. by <font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>

<font color='tan'>Atlas Primred, Beater</font>

Watching and Attacking by <font color='tan'>Atlas Primred, Beater</font>

<font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>

But with consequences by <font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>

<font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>

Mostly for you... by <font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>

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

Keeping up. by <font color=tan>Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>

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

I hope you are. by <font color=tan>Rupert Princeton, Beater</font>

<font color='tan'>Liliana Bannister, Keeper</font>

A true champion can adapt to anything. by <font color='tan'>Liliana Bannister, Keeper</font>

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

No one can solve all problems by <font color="blue">Anthony Carey, Chaser</font>