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 <font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font> with <font color="tan">Liliana Bannister, Keeper</font>, <font color="blue">John Umland, Chaser</font>, <font color=tan>Rupert Princeton, Beater</font>, <font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>, <font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>, <font color=tan>Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>, <font color="blue">Anthony Carey, Chaser</font>, <font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>
Watching from on high by <font color="blue">Captain Carey, Beater</font> with <font color='tan'>Atlas Primred, Beater</font>
Keeping out of it by <font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>
Recentering (nm) by Coach Olivers with <font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>, <font color="blue">Jay Carey, Beater</font>
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Coach Olivers
Quidditch Game II: Pecari vs. Aladren
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Coach Olivers
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<font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>
November 13, 2014 7:33 AM
But with consequences by <font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>
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.
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<font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>
But with consequences
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<font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>
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<font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>
November 13, 2014 8:23 AM
Mostly for you... by <font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>
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.
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<font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>
Mostly for you...
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<font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>
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<font color=tan>Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>
November 13, 2014 3:05 PM
Keeping up. by <font color=tan>Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>
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.
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<font color=tan>Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>
Keeping up.
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<font color=tan>Adam Spencer, Chaser</font>
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<font color=tan>Rupert Princeton, Beater</font>
November 13, 2014 3:37 PM
I hope you are. by <font color=tan>Rupert Princeton, Beater</font>
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.
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<font color=tan>Rupert Princeton, Beater</font>
I hope you are.
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<font color=tan>Rupert Princeton, Beater</font>
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<font color='tan'>Liliana Bannister, Keeper</font>
November 15, 2014 7:14 PM
A true champion can adapt to anything. by <font color='tan'>Liliana Bannister, Keeper</font>
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.
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<font color='tan'>Liliana Bannister, Keeper</font>
A true champion can adapt to anything.
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<font color='tan'>Liliana Bannister, Keeper</font>
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<font color="blue">Anthony Carey, Chaser</font>
November 15, 2014 8:34 PM
No one can solve all problems by <font color="blue">Anthony Carey, Chaser</font>
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.
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<font color="blue">Anthony Carey, Chaser</font>
No one can solve all problems
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<font color="blue">Anthony Carey, Chaser</font>
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<font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>
November 15, 2014 9:04 PM
The problem of you guys, though, can be sovled with Bludgers by <font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>
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.
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<font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>
The problem of you guys, though, can be sovled with Bludgers
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<font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>
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<font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>
November 15, 2014 10:43 PM
The I in Team by <font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>
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.
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<font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>
The I in Team
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<font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>
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<font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>
November 16, 2014 4:44 AM
I wouldn't say solved... by <font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>
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
<font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>
I wouldn't say solved...
295
<font color='tan'>Joella Curtis, Chaser</font>
0
5
