Play ball!(?) on Quidditch Pitch

Sammy Meeks

September 08, 2015 2:46 PM

Play ball!(?) by Sammy Meeks

Since joining Quidditch, Sammy had spent a ton more time on the Pitch. Shocking, right? But she was there, like, beyond actual Pecari practice or matches; she found it was a great place just to go and be, the fresh air filling her lungs and providing a bunch more space (or at least just feeling spacier) than the Gardens. It gave her more room to run around, which was something she definitely liked.

Sometimes she went out into the grass and just spun around until she fell. Maybe she was getting a little bit too old for that, but, y’know, whatever. Don’t harsh her mellow. Today, though, she didn’t plan on just spinning. She wanted to play ball.

She brought with her a baseball and two gloves, none of which was in great condition but all of which worked just fine for her. Sammy would’ve probably dragged Gia along with her, but for whatever reason, she couldn’t find her today, so she supposed Gia was probably busy. But whatever, she would just come down here and play catch…. By herself. Suddenly, her plan didn’t seem so great.

But not too long after she got to the Pitch, her luck changed, and somebody appeared. “Hey!” she called to them. “Wanna play catch?” Her inquiry was shouted to accommodate the distance between them. “I have an extra mitt!” Sammy picked up the nicer of the two, feeling generous, and chucked it at the person, although she didn’t think it would make it all the way there. That was fine, though. Decency dictated they would either have to play with her or at least bring it back, and Sammy had it on good authority that when you touched a piece of equipment, your soul would beg you, Play, play!

12 Sammy Meeks Play ball!(?) 310 Sammy Meeks 1 5

Jax Donovan

September 13, 2015 7:23 PM

And what does that mean? by Jax Donovan

The Full moon was coming and Jax was beginning to feel the effects of it on him. Because of this, he kept more to himself than what was normal for him. He even took some of his meals in his dorm room instead of the hall. The noise, the hustle and bustle of people, the random spells… it was all too much. The closer to the moon he was, the more heightened his senses became and the more things agitated him. He couldn’t wait to be done with it. To be over the full moon and have another 30 odd days until the next one. It was an ongoing battle for him. A forever thing. People liked to make assumptions about others who were living with curses or diseases when they really had no idea what it was like. He may not be dying, but he certainly didn’t feel like living either.

He liked the fresh air the best whenever it was getting too close to that time again. Fresh air meant a feeling of freedom and despite hating his heightened senses most of the time, when he was outside; he was able to be a part of something more. He could smell different sort of flowers, ones that he never gave much consideration before, he could hear the wind through the trees, feel the sun on his face, all these little wonderful things that most normal people never even thought about, he felt in his very being. This was the only blessing to his cursed life.

Jax was walking into the pitch, as he often did when he was wandering around outside, when he heard someone call out. He turned towards that voice and even though she was further down the field, he heard her quite clearly. He could see and smell her too. Sammy Meeks, Gia’s best friend. Jax had grown accustomed to the other Pecari girl as being part of his sister’s life. He didn’t mind her all that much. She talked a lot and sometimes what she said came out sounding backwards to Jax, but he knew that was only a language barrier. Along with understanding the proper grammar and spelling, Jax was learning the different dialect that Americans had in his tutor sessions with the other foreign students.

He frowned at the other girl, not sure what she was asking him. Jax did not play Quidditch but she wasn’t holding any of the Quidditch equipment that he was used to seeing. Jax was more athletic than Gia (he enjoyed running and climbing more so than his sister), but he wasn’t necessarily on par with those who played sports. He was hoping to get into that after school program in the boxing club that was on the corner of his street, but that was as far as that went.

“I do not know what this is.” Jax said when he moved closer to her, picking up the item that she had thrown at him. “Is this some Quidditch side thing?” He asked her.

6 Jax Donovan And what does that mean? 296 Jax Donovan 0 5

Sammy

September 15, 2015 2:44 AM

It means you take a ball, and you play with it. by Sammy

Obviously, Sammy had spent a large portion of her life playing sports, but off the fields/courts/etc., she had another pastime which she missed dearly while at Sonora: television. And because of this, somewhere along the line, she had picked up the interesting habit of casting people as if in a sit-com in her head. For example, she was always the Jock--but not the bully one, the cool one who was nice and funny and everybody liked, a role usually filled by boys, but, y’know, whatever. Gender roles were lame.

Jax Donovan fit very, very nicely into a pre-set ABC Family mold: the angsty, aloof brother of the main character’s (holla) best friend. Usually there was a two or three year age difference there, but Jax and Gia’s twinliness was cool enough that Sammy let that slide. Thanks to that aloofness (and somewhat thanks to that angstiness she perceived from him), she hadn’t really gotten to know him too well. Thus far, they shared classes and Gia, and that was about it.

But maybe now they could share baseball. She couldn’t help but chuckle lightly at his question. “No, man, it’s baseball stuff,” she answered with a grin. “It’s a Muggle sport, so the good news is nothing will actively try to kill you.” The brunette wasn’t entirely sure why witches and wizards developed a sport where part of the game was literally to hurt people, but then again, that was a lot of football, too. And, as a Beater and said deliverer of pain, she supposed she couldn’t really complain.

“I’ll teach you, though,” Sammy added brightly. “This is a mitt.” She presented her gloved hand and with the other gestured to the similar one she had tossed in his direction. “You use it to catch this ball. In a real game, there’s nine players on each team, and they take turns trying to hit the ball or catch the ball. With only two of us, though, we’ll just play catch, throwing it back and forth and trying to catch it in our mitts. That is, if you wanna play.”

12 Sammy It means you take a ball, and you play with it. 310 Sammy 0 5

Jax

September 19, 2015 10:18 PM

And why would we do that? by Jax

Jax looked over the item in his hand as he tried to figure out the purpose of it if it wasn’t for Quidditch. He had liked to watch Quidditch with his sister and when he was a small child; their dad had taken him and Gia to see the World Cup. It had been a family event with all the Donovan clan filing up into the box seats to watch the Irish take on the Chinese. It had been one of the happiest moments that Jax could really remember. But that was a long time ago and those moments didn’t really exist for him anymore.

Baseball… that term sounded familiar. He thought it might have been said around the neighborhood where he lived now. They were currently holed up in the muggle part of the city, just outside the magical part. The Muggles had their own pastime hobbies that they did and sometimes Jax would see them whenever he was outside, but he didn’t have the slightest idea as to what it was that they were doing. Apparently, Sammy was into those sorts of odd games though, but that probably shouldn’t have surprised him any.

He actually smirked when she jested about the violence of Magical sports. Such a rarity for a smile or anything remotely happy to cross his face, but it was as genuine as any that crossed his sister’s face (which was quite often). “The near death experience is what makes the games enjoyable.” He joked, hoping that she knew that he was. The last few times that Jax had tried to joke with someone not related to him had fallen flat and so he wasn’t apt to make many more after that. “Besides, if you think Quidditch is violent, then you have never experienced Quadpot. That has explosions in it.” Jax added, his smirk turning more into a smile.

Jax put his hand into the glove as she indicated. It wasn’t a comfortable fit, but he supposed if it was her glove, her hand was likely to be smaller than his own and so it wouldn’t fit very well. He tried to follow along with what she was telling him, but he didn’t really understand the point of the game. They were to just catch balls and hit them? Hit them with what? Their hands? Why would they need to hit them? What was the point? How did someone win? The Aladren in him needed more detail. He needed to understand the reason for all of this, but he didn’t feel like really asking her. At least not right now.

Instead he obliged her and lifted his mitt up to attempt to catch the ball. “Exactly how is this a fun sport?” He asked.

6 Jax And why would we do that? 296 Jax 0 5

Sammy

September 23, 2015 4:10 PM

Fun. Ever heard of it? by Sammy

The notion of an even more violent magical game--Quadpot, as Jax called it--both terrified and excited her. And while he was clearly joking, Sammy actually sort of agreed with him about Quidditch; having an element of violence in the game (and the otherwise somewhat troubling aspect that you could literally die) honestly did make it more fun. The danger provided adrenaline, made it feel more real and intense and dramatic. Technically possibly lethal or not, she liked Quidditch just the way it was.

She was glad to see Jax smiling at their somehow lighthearted discussion of dangerous and lethal games. He seemed like a broody, mopey guy so much of the time. It definitely worried his sister, or at least that was what Sammy gathered from her. Gia was such a sweetheart, and worrying about her brother was definitely only natural. Sammy sometimes worried about her brother, but that was mostly because Ethan was in a Muggle high school back in Nevada, far, far away from her. At least they got to be together, both in age and location.

Even as Jax questioned the enjoyment of baseball, he raised the glove, which made Sammy grin even more. “It’s better with actual teams,” she commented back, “but playing catch is a good way to practice. Can’t let my arm go all floppy.” Sammy wiggled her throwing arm dramatically to illustrate the possible effects. Jelly arm was not part of her plan. As it regained its normal rigidity, however, she drew back and threw forward. Admittedly, her throw was not within her normal strength, but since Jax was new to this whole thing, she didn’t want to throw too hard and have it hit him. That would suck for literally everyone, although him in particular.

12 Sammy Fun. Ever heard of it? 310 Sammy 0 5

Jax

September 27, 2015 6:07 PM

Not for a very long time. by Jax

Jax wasn’t sure how an arm could go floppy unless it was boneless and if it was boneless, there was a potion that could fix it. He thought about telling her that but figured that wasn’t what she meant and his comment would just sound weird. Besides, Muggles wouldn’t have that potion and if Jax remembered correctly, Sammy was a Muggleborn. Floppy arm to her probably meant something completely different than what he was trying to understand.

Jax watched the ball come in his direction and he tried to twist his wrist with the glove to catch it, but he closed the glove too quickly and the ball only smacked against it and landed on the ground a couple of feet from him. Jax frowned. That was not fun at all. He felt stupid for not being able to catch the ball in the first place. Jax picked up the ball and rolled it around in his hand. He had never seen a ball like this before. Baseball. That was what Sammy had called it.

“What do you do on these teams?” Jax asked as he looked over the ball. “What is the objective of the game? How does one win it?” He asked her. He didn’t really want to ask the questions, but he figured, he had to know anyway since she was having him play catch with him.

Jax threw the ball back to her. He had never really known anything aside from a punch, so the ball was lobbed harder than he intended and probably not at all on target to Sammy. “Sorry!” He shouted after he threw it. Jax didn’t like not getting things right. He felt stupid and humiliated by it, but he knew this was not what Sammy had been in tending when she had asked for him to play with her.

“Do you miss these sort of things?” Jax asked. He didn’t normally try to figure people out. He wanted to spend most of his time away from people so that they didn’t dig too deeply into him for fear of what they would find out. But, if something or someone peaked his interest just enough, he would find it in him to have a chat. This was one of those times. “These sort of Muggle things?” He added as he wasn’t simply referring to the Muggle sport. It had to be difficult for her in a way even if she seemed to be assimilating just fine. Jax actually liked Sammy, she was really good to his sister.

6 Jax Not for a very long time. 296 Jax 0 5