Coach Olivers
April 13, 2015 12:32 AM
Quidditch Game III: Teppalus vs. Aladren by Coach Olivers
Today was a match Florence was not particularly looking forward to seeing. It was clear that the combined Teppenpaw and Crotalus team was much less experienced than the dominating Aladren and Pecari houses. Though Aladren dominated almost every Quidditch match they played, Florence hoped they would show just a little mercy to the young first and second years. She doubted, however, that Anthony Carey would take that into consideration. No one could, after all, underestimate their opponent on the pitch no matter how young and inexperienced they were.The weather today was fair—slightly cloudy with a nice breeze that was strong enough to push the Snitch off course, but gentle enough to make no difference to a bludger. After the unpleasant weather in the last couple of matches, Florence was glad today was a pleasant day. She had never liked standing out in the rain even if it was to make sure those kids on brooms were playing safe. Dressed in black-and-white striped robes, much as a muggle referee would wear, she watched the players come onto the pitch. Once it was time, she pressed her wand against her throat and silently hoped Alistair was well enough to play.
“Welcome to the last match of the season,” she said, enunciating her words for everyone to hear and understand. “Here we have the combined Teppenpaw and Crotalus team led by co-captains Liac Reinhardt from Teppenpaw and Alistair Johnson from Crotalus facing off against Aladren led by Captain Anthony Carey. Captains, if you would please shake hands.
“When I blow my whistle, the game begins. The match ends when the Snitch is caught. Players, please take your positions.”
Once the players had mounted their brooms and the Keepers had flown to their respective positions, Florence released the Snitch and picked up the Quaffle. She put the silver whistle into her mouth and made brief eye-contact with the Chasers. After a moment, she blew her whistle and threw the Quaffle into the air. With the Quaffle now in action, she released the bludgers and took a step back off the pitch to watch the game progress.
The game had begun.
OOC: Two paragraphs minimum; creativity, detail, and realism will be rewarded. Make sure your names are colored according to your house and stick to the rules. Any questions, tag Coach Olivers on the OOC board. Good luck!
Subthreads: Flying right along by <font color=blue>Clark Dill, Seeker</font> with
Hoping this goes better by <font color=orange>Ginger Pierce, Keeper</font> with <font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>
Making the best of things. by <font color="orange">Isaac Douglas, Chaser</font> with <font color='orange'>Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>, <font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>, <font color="blue">Captain Anthony, Chaser</font>, <font color=orange>Ginger Pierce, Keeper</font>
Ending the game by <font color=blue> Clark Dill, Seeker</font> with Coach Olivers
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Coach Olivers
Quidditch Game III: Teppalus vs. Aladren
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Coach Olivers
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<font color="orange">Tobi, Beater</font>
April 23, 2015 10:44 PM
I like that idea. by <font color="orange">Tobi, Beater</font>
Tobi grinned when he had hit his target and prepared to head closer to Shinohara since technically, technically he had been told to protect her. However, the open bludger had ended up being more intriguing than a girl he was fairly sure would clobber him if he told her he thought she was cute. However, out of the corner of his eye he saw that the bludger, after hitting the elder Wolseithcrafte, headed towards the next body in motion. He was too far away now to hit it and it was going in the opposite direction of him anyway, so he felt slightly guilty when he realized its’ next target would be without a protector. However, to get hit with flying balls was just one signed up for when they agreed to play Quidditch so he tried not to let that failure bother him too much.He looked around again, and seeing that the other bludger was closer to him, he decided to try for a second hit. Since he had joined the Quidditch team, Tobi found that he was actually enjoying himself. He had missed lacrosse greatly and the position he played was somewhat similar. To a degree, at least. So, over the break he had gotten ahold of some Quidditch reels, studied playbooks and come back ready to perform. The result was, of course, a more confident Tobi. One who still didn’t like to converse with others, still didn’t care or have the need for approval, but also one who was more comfortable in social situations and one who didn’t feel the need to lean on Liac all the time now for support.
He scrutinized the field once more, willing the bludger to come near him again. He didn’t want to stray too far from Shinohara in case an Aladren beater decided to attempt something on her, and instead stayed at a close enough distance that should something nasty fly her way he would still be in a position to block her. He contemplated his different targets. The younger Wolseithcrafte was out because he was too far away and Tobi felt it would be inappropriate to hit Dill who really wasn’t doing much other than hovering on a broomstick. Granted the Aladren beaters might not be so kind to Shinohara, but that’s why he was staying relatively close.
Tobi chewed his lip thoughtfully trying to decide between another chaser or perhaps attempting to blindside a beater without giving them time to react. However, since the beaters had their bats and Tobi knew he hadn’t perfected his skills at all, he decided to go with the safer option. Perhaps one day when he was an older student with more experience he might try to mess with an armed opponent but for now, he would choose the safe, more cowardly route. Though this idea went against his basic principles (he still didn’t like hitting dangerous metal balls at unarmed opponents), it was in his job description, so Tobi prepared himself for another hit.
"Hey, Shinohara," he called over the wind, the adrenaline from his earlier success causing an uncharacteristic bout of extrovert energy, while he looked around. "You doing alright?"
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<font color="orange">Tobi, Beater</font>
I like that idea.
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<font color="orange">Tobi, Beater</font>
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<font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>
April 24, 2015 12:47 AM
I like the idea of maiming your Seeker by <font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>
If Leo had been even slightly more paranoid than he really was, he might have suspected Anthony Carey of deliberately dumping the mixed-blood brats nobody else wanted to deal with on him as a political move. Being known as someone who spent most of his time on the Pitch interacting with Umland and Dill and was, as a result, on pretty civil terms with them both really didn’t seem like something that was going to do Leonidas much good in life, but especially not on a team of purebloods in a school headed by a Brockert. The Careys – especially Anthony’s cousin, but Anthony seemed to work well with Francesca, too – seemed friendly enough with the Wolseithcraftes, friendlier than they had been with Leo's family in a while, anyway, so it had occurred to Leo that Anthony and Francesca and Jay could have cooked up some scheme to get Theodore both the prefect and Assistant Captain badges by making Leo look like a Muggle-lover for tolerating the two younger boys as much as he did.Even Eliza and Paul, though, had thought it unlikely when he had mentioned it to his older siblings. Eliza had laughed at him, Paul had asked if he was sure he wasn’t really a Crotalus, and Leo had left the discussion annoyed and a little offended. He had to admit they had a point, though. Quidditch relationships were usually just convenient, not really personal; looking after them on the Pitch just furthered the House aims, and being the guy who looked after the Seeker was usually a respected position whether the Seeker was Clark or Arnold Carey.
It was with only a little paranoid worry, then, that he wished both boys luck before the game began. Being protective of one and a little proud when Anthony praised the other was not a big deal out here, especially since the closest he’d come to mentioning such sentimentality to anyone had maybe been an offhanded remark to Theodore about being pleased with John’s progress sometime. That was natural enough, though Leo wasn’t sure why he was half-ready to suspect Francesca of conspiracy but didn’t really worry about it with her brother. He really hoped he wasn’t someone who started liking people just because he was around them a lot; that he liked Theodore and John, who were not exactly rays of sunshine, well enough suggested he might be, but that would be a really bad trait to have in life.
The Chasers began their battles, but above it all, Clark flew and Leo followed him around. He kept an eye and an ear open for Bludgers he could use to attack the other Seeker, but all he did was bat one away from himself one time because the girl was out of range. Then he looked around and her guardian was gone.
He assumed the same thing Clark did at first and approved when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Seeker flying like crazy to deflect the attack neither of them, it seemed, had yet spotted. Leo frowned, looking all around, but…
“Oh,” he muttered, spotting what was going on. His opposite had abandoned the girl. Pity both of the Bludgers were now down there; he could have taken her out and as good as ended the game right now, though he guessed even a second year Teppenpaw wouldn’t have been stupid enough to leave her alone if there had been any chance of Leo doing that. He had to assume the Bludger had come to the Teppenpaw in such a way that Leonidas had been between it and Clark, because otherwise, why hadn’t he just attacked Clark as soon as he had a Bludger to do it with? The first rule of Beating was ‘take out the Seeker.’
He hadn’t tried, though, and now the Chasers’ lives were getting interesting. He could see John was trying, but Francesca got hit and her slowing down would be more of a loss to them than Douglas would be to Teppalus. Douglas had started off stronger than Leo would have expected, but hadn’t done much since, where Francesca was probably one of the strongest players on Leo’s team at all times and had, from what he'd seen when not watching Clark, been playing very well all game. Making up his mind, he flew closer to Clark.
“Gonna go help for a second,” he called, gesturing toward the madness. “And try to get something to hit her with.” He saw Reinhardt returning to his girl, but he didn’t seem to have armed himself for an assault on Clark. Evidently he wasn’t very good at this. “Be right back.”
Flying very quickly down to the Chasers, Leonidas caught a Bludger and hit it, hard, toward the side of Uzume Shinohara that Tobias Reinhardt wasn’t on, hoping to at least make him run after it to try to save her while Leo sped back to Clark, counting on his broom and greater skill to make him faster than the opposition could be. Hitting her would be the ideal, but he’d settle for giving the Chasers some relief without endangering his own charge. Spotting everyone, he put himself between Clark and Reinhardt, repeatedly looking down to make sure the other Reinhardt wasn’t about to leave his station and try to assault Clark from another angle in retribution. This game might, he thought, not be completely boring after all.
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<font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>
I like the idea of maiming your Seeker
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<font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>
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<font color='orange'>Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>
April 24, 2015 3:41 PM
Now that sounds really aggressive. by <font color='orange'>Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>
Alistair had tried something different, mixed up his passing technique a little as he had evidently been too predictable. But yet again it had been intercepted, although fortunately not by Jemima Wolseithcrafte's elder sister this time. He hadn't used a reverse pass yet but it was now clear that different was not so much what Alistair should be looking for but instead clever. It was much less about the type of pass and the direction it went and much more about how it was pulled off. The execution needed to make it unexpected - perhaps feinting a pass would be a good idea if the Crotalus got the chance again.Anthony Carey was cruising back toward Ginger with the Quaffle. Not only was it the duty of Alistair's Chaser position to keep the ball away from his own Keeper as much as possible, but he felt something else that was much less the rule of the game and much more a personal obligation that he needed to protect Ginger after her unfortunate suffering against Pecari. Growing up in a family of boys, it was very much ingrained into him that women (or girls) were the weaker sex and required the protection of their male counterparts. Alistair was very similar to his brothers, all of whom were ever the ladies man, and he loved to show off in front of pretty girls. Although Ginger Pierce wasn't someone he felt compelled to show off to - she wasn't like Caelia Lucan or Kelsey Atwater. But Alistair had a natural instinct that said girls needed his help even when they were in the same situation as a boy he wouldn't think twice about lending a hand to. He had always been his mother's boy, she was his soft spot. Ginger wasn't the only female on his team, of course, but Uzume Shinohara did not seem like someone who needed or wanted his help. She was more like the Francesca Wolseithcraftes of the Quidditch world who really did make the first year captain wonder at what he knew of W.A.I.L and their ideas, although he knew for a fact that quite fittingly the Wolseithcrafte family were against such opinion.
Currently the Quaffle seemed to be running back and forth between the two opposing teams and Alistair was pleased with how well his mix and match team was holding out against the longtime Quidditch champions of Sonora. He was too far to even attempt to intercept the pass from the Aladrens' Captain but hoped that the nearest Teppalus player would get in there and grab the ball before it got any closer to the Teppalus hoops.
Alistair was keeping his wits about him all the while, the Bludgers whizzing around making him slightly nervous. He continued his path anyway, hoping to close up the gap between himself and the Chaser that the Aladren Carey was passing to in the hope that he could catch up with them if the pass was successful, successful for the blue-robed anyway. The chances of him reaching the area in time to snatch away the Quaffle were slimmer than slim, however, so he didn't even consider another (what would have to be slightly crazy) manoeuvre to retrieve it.
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<font color='orange'>Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>
Now that sounds really aggressive.
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<font color='orange'>Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>
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<font color="blue">Francesca, Chaser</font>
April 26, 2015 5:50 PM
If you can't stand the heat by <font color="blue">Francesca, Chaser</font>
The old adage went that if you fell off your broom you just had to get back on. She had done far less than fall, so the plan was just to carry on as if nothing had happened. Of course, theory and practise were different things. It was hard to suppress natural reactions, such as drawing away from pain, even when it could have consequences such as losing a Quaffle. It was a tricky feat for anyone and, for all that she tried to mask the fact under sheer force of will, it remained the case that she was a teenage girl.She caught sight of the Quaffle, irritated to see the ground she had gained slipping away. Anthony seemed to be in pursuit. She held her position, trusting Anthony to get it back and need someone to pass to further down, though ready to put on a burst of speed if need be. Sure enough, he recovered the ball, and her position proved helpful as Anthony seemed keen for a quick pass to move things on from the tangle in the centre of the pitch.
She stuck to Anthony's left, meaning that his pass would be to her right hand side – naturally stronger anyway, and even more so right now. She scooped the ball out of the air, continuing Anthony's trajectory of upwards and outwards, whilst heading towards the Teppalus goal. It was that irritating middle distance. It always seemed to be that irritating middle distance, so maybe it was just her... The dilemma of whether to pass of not. Whether it was too far. It would be better, surely, for someone fresh and different to go up against Ginger, so that she was less able to predict them. Not that Francesca planned to be predictable... She planned to do something different but then surely that would be what was expected, so different on her was still less unpredictable than someone new entirely. Plus other people weren't injured.
Risking the interception, she made one last pass before they would, all things being equal, be goal-bound again.
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<font color="blue">Francesca, Chaser</font>
If you can't stand the heat
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<font color="blue">Francesca, Chaser</font>
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<font color='orange'> Shinohara, Seeker</font>
April 26, 2015 11:34 PM
Luckily for you, we can. by <font color='orange'> Shinohara, Seeker</font>
As Uzu walked to breakfast, she couldn’t help but twirl the end of her freshly formed braid. She blushed just remembering the feeling of Makenzie-chan twisting and twirling the strands. Her mother had never done her hair, not with her actual hands anyways. Since boys kept their hair short, it wasn’t something she had to worry about growing up. At most her mother would pull her tortoise shell comb through her messy locks, but that’s as far as the hair play went. By the time Uzu was able to grow her hair long like a girl, she was already old enough for her mother to begin teaching her the basic hand movements for the hairstyling spells, and braids weren’t exactly traditional. Braids were out of the question for an elite Japanese witch, although that apparently didn’t stop her female classmates in elementary school from fixing one another’s hair. At the time Uzu thought it was stupid and vain, and chose instead to play sports with the other boys. However now that she experienced it herself, having someone do her hair, felt kind of…nice. Makenzie-chan was… sweet. She wasn’t sure when it started, but somehow over the course of the term calling Makenzie-chan a ‘friend’ didn’t seem so disgusting, it felt almost…“Hey Shino! Getting pumped for the game?!” Reinhardt-kun asked with a mouthful of oatmeal. Idiot. Since they had become teammates, Reinhardt-kun was becoming more and more informal with her every day, although something about his buffoonery entertained her. She still didn’t feel like calling him her captain, as he was neither her elder nor part of her house to begin with. However, he wasn’t a person she really hated either, she just didn’t see him as captain material. In Uzu’s opinion he was more fitting to be a goofy mascot. Despite her snarky thoughts and even more sarcastic replies, she decided to humor the Reinhardts by sitting with them for breakfast.
The lighthearted breakfast didn’t last long however, as before she knew it she was on the field and into the air. She really didn’t pay that much attention to the beginning formalities of the match, instead using her time to stretch her muscles and test her reflexes, both ocular and muscular. This time she would be going against someone her own size, and now that her hair was tied back, she wouldn’t have to worry about being distracted like she was the last game.
Mounting her broom, she soared up to her favorite altitude: a little above the goals and far enough away from the other Seeker so that she could give them a stink-eye without them noticing. As the game progressed she tried her best to ignore the activities below her, as they would only distract her from finding the snitch. She had practiced different techniques, however in the end she discovered it was easiest to just relax and let the snitch do the work. If she moved slowly combing the skies, eventually the snitch would glint in the sunlight, altering her to its location, she just had to hope she spotted it before Dill.
Uzu gripped her Yajirushi broom, one of the newest models to come out in Japan, and now her most prized possession based on all the work she had to do to get the thing. Her parents still had no idea she was on the Quidditch team, and would probably make her quit if they knew what a distraction it was becoming, so she decided not to tell them at all. She felt bad persuading the Kaede the house elf to place the secret order for her, but she really didn’t have much of a choice seeing as the school brooms just weren’t fast enough. Still, even if her broom was nice, Dill had a lot more experience, not to mention luck, than her based on his performance against Pecari. She resisted the urge to shoot him another dirty look, trying her best to relax and keep and open eye.
Unfortunately, the quieter of the Reinhardts decided to disturb her. “I’m fine,” she retorted a little annoyed, “Just keep the Bludgers away and I’ll be fine.” Even to her own ears she felt this response was a little too sour, turning her head away from him she added, “Good shot earlier.”
With that she continued to look for her team’s golden ticket. Instead, what she noticed coming at her way was an ominous ball, the color of death with her name written all over it. Luckily she was far enough away to pull her broom around and moving away from the ball as fast as she could. She pushed herself closer to her broom, moving faster to escape the metal ball, thanking herself for splurging on a nice broom.
“Reinhardt!” she shouted, forgetting her usual formalities as she flew through the sky. At this point she didn’t care which one answered, as long as they took care of it.
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<font color='orange'> Shinohara, Seeker</font>
Luckily for you, we can.
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<font color='orange'> Shinohara, Seeker</font>
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<font color='orange'>Liac Reinhardt, Beater</font>
April 28, 2015 2:45 AM
Luckily for you, I'm here. by <font color='orange'>Liac Reinhardt, Beater</font>
As the Chasers made their way back to the Teppalus hoops, Liac looked for another chance for a knockout. He heard the crack of bats from either side of him among the chaos of the game, and immediately took a defensive stance. Gripping his bat tightly, he looked franticly for the Bludgers' targets. One of said targets made herself known by belting his name across the skies. Although her english had improved, her voice was unmistakeable, it had to be Shinohara. Looking slightly up, his eyes widened as he saw one of the rebound bludgers tailing Shino as she tried her best to lead it to Tobi. It's not that he didn't trust Tobi to take care of it, but if she got hit, they could kiss their chances of winning goodbye.Replying to the call, (after all he was a Reinhardt too) Liac flew toward the path of Shino and the Bludger in a steady upward climb. Thankfully Shino had a little distance between her and the Bludger, but that didn’t mean much if he let it go on for much further. Shino had some skills sure, but no one could outrun a Bludger for very long. Coming up from slightly below it, Liac swung his bat connecting with the bludger. Since he was right handed and the ball was coming from his left, he had to rotate his entire body with his broom to hit it away from Shino while still keeping it in bounds. The awkward motion left his bicep feeling a little strained, yet overall he was unscathed. He wasn’t very good at doing circular movements with his broom, but made a mental note to go over broom drills at the next Teppalus practice.
He looked to see where the Bludger ended up. He wasn’t able to rotate enough to get it into the thick of Chasers moving towards the goal, but honestly he was a little grateful for that. He hadn’t really been looking too much to where it was going, and hitting it to a group of moving foes and allies would have been unbelievably stupid. Presently it was headed in the overall direction of an outlining blue player, although weather or not it would hit the mark was unknown to Liac.
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<font color='orange'>Liac Reinhardt, Beater</font>
Luckily for you, I'm here.
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<font color='orange'>Liac Reinhardt, Beater</font>
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<font color='orange'> Tobi, Beater</font>
April 28, 2015 3:58 AM
A man in [crush] is not to be trifled with. by <font color='orange'> Tobi, Beater</font>
Shinohara’s initial cold response to Tobi startled him. He didn’t think he’d done anything in particular to make her dislike him, and he found that for what was perhaps the first time in a very long time he was beginning to care about what people thought of him. Normally he went through life doing what he thought was right, paying little attention to how others reacted. As the bludger from Umland approached, Tobi hesitated a little bit, his beater’s bat slightly raised. But Shinohara’s next words of praise assuaged the little doubt that had been. She approved of him, Tobi thought to himself, beaming as he prepared himself for the bludger that Umland had hit towards the two. She approved of the shot he had taken at the older Wolseithcrafte and he hoped she would approve of his next shot too.Tracking the bludger Umland had hit, however, had caused him to miss Leonidas Bennett approaching and hitting the other bludger, the one that had ricocheted off the older Wolseithcrafte. At the sound of the beater’s bat, Tobi whipped his head around, slightly light headed from the sudden movement, to see a bludger headed towards Shinohara. It was just his luck, that two bludgers would be sent by both Aladren players towards the Teppalus seeker and himself. In the few seconds it would take to reach her, Tobi realized he would not have time to hit Umland’s bludger, get to Shinohara and get in a good hit. But, he thought to himself, he could hit the bludger hit by Umland and try to get to Shinohara, push her out of the way, taking the hit himself. He was used to doing that sort of thing, having grown up with Arne who had a penchant for tackle-anything. Besides, if wrestling with Arne and climbing trees hadn’t been enough, he was also used to the heavy strain of growing up carrying wood into his family’s cabin and helping his father with the metal charming tools—all of which were a heavy burden for a young boy to carry, all of which had inevitably fallen on him by accident in one way or another when he was younger.
Logically, however, he knew there was no way he would be able to tackle both bludgers and to take on Bennett’s without addressing Umlands would result in both a seeker and a beater down. Nevertheless, he had prepared himself to take on Umland’s bludger, and Tobi closed his eyes briefly, grimacing as he prayed to whoever was listening that the game turn out all right in the end and flew forwards, gripping his broom tightly between his legs and pulling his arm back. He was used to balancing, having grown up climbing trees; however, the feeling of a thick tree branch was quite different than the thin broom handle and Tobi wobbled a bit as he leaned forward to hit the bludger. He drew his arms back, willing himself not to fall off the broom stick as he was so high up in the air he was certain a fall would mean extreme injury, calloused hands clutching the beater’s bat, and swung, putting all his strength into the hit. With a loud crack, the bludger soared away from him and Shinohara towards the Aladren player his previous target had just thrown the Quaffle too. He turned around to fly back towards Shinohara, hoping that his hit had been properly aimed and could only watch the scene before him unfold in what seemed like slow motion.
As Shinohara flew towards him, away from the bludger, she yelled out his last name. He had never heard his teammate use a name as plainly as she did then, and he wondered at it—did this mean they were friends, or was it simply a slip of the tongue during a moment of panic? He didn’t—wouldn’t—couldn’t allow himself to delve into that thought when, out of nowhere, his cousin, beautiful cousin Liac came in, cracking his bat and sending the bludger towards the edge of the herd of orange and blue chasers. Tobi beamed—Shinohara was safe, both bludgers were aimed at Aladren players and all was right in the world.
“All right, Liac!” he cheered, flying over to his cousin for a quick high-five before assuming his position as Shinohara’s guard once more. “Sorry about that,” he quipped to her once he was within speaking distance. “It won’t happen again.”
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<font color='orange'> Tobi, Beater</font>
A man in [crush] is not to be trifled with.
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<font color='orange'> Tobi, Beater</font>
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