Researching on Quidditch Pitch

Aislinn Nicolls

November 19, 2016 1:59 AM

Spectating by Aislinn Nicolls

If anyone knew Aislinn, they would have known that it was unlikely they would find her watching a Quidditch match. Sports were an absolutely mystery to her. She understood the basic rules of the game, but she didn’t understand the actual appeal or point of the game. She didn’t see why it was fun to fly up and down a field with a ball just to try and throw it in some hoops. She couldn’t even say it was just a weird wizard thing when muggles were just as bad. In the muggle world, they played similar games where they ran instead of flew up and down a field with a ball. She just didn’t see the fun in it. She would have preferred to have been reading ahead in the class chapters.

But Sutton had convinced her that going to see John play would be a good idea, because it would show that she supported his activities. Aislinn had tried to argue that John wouldn’t notice if she were there or not. That he had a girlfriend. That she was low on the totem pole of people that he would notice. Sutton said that was all the more reason that she should go and go looking all cute in the off chance that he noticed even slightly. She thought her sister was crazy, but she was also persistent.

Aislinn felt incredibly awkward sitting in the bleachers wearing mascara and lipgloss. Things that were normally out of her vocabulary. She had even gone as far as to style her long hair so that it fell in pretty brown curls. Now, only if Sutton would show up so that she didn’t feel utterly foolish sitting here all alone. It wasn’t as if she had many friends, though, she had found a confidant in Sammy, but unfortunately, she was on the Pecari team, which they were playing and therefore, was obviously unable to sit with her. Sutton better show up, especially since it was her House that was playing too. Where was she? Aislinn started looking around in the faint hope that she would make an appearance. She was definitely going to be angry if Sutton flaked out on her.

Oh, there she was! “Sutton!” She shouted, but it didn’t seem that her sister heard her. “Sutton!” She stood up to try and get her sister’s attention and nearly tripped on someone. “Oh, I’m so sorry! Are you okay?” She hadn’t meant to nearly fall into the person, but she wasn’t exactly the most graceful of people. “I was trying to get my sister’s attention. She’s over there.” Aislinn pointed towards where her sister had been. Where did she go? “She seems to have disappeared.” She sat down in disappointment. Maybe she should just leave? But the game had already started and she didn’t want to seem like a traitor to her House either. Trying to feel a little more in place, she asked, “How do you feel about the odds for each team?”

Subthreads:

Researching by Barnaby Pye with Aislinn

*~*~*Spirit Club Cheering Section*~*~* by Gia Donovan with Farrah Welsh, Laila Kennedy, Ayla Tremaine

Feeling silly by Caelia Lucan

0 Aislinn Nicolls Spectating 297 Aislinn Nicolls 1 5

Barnaby Pye

November 19, 2016 8:36 PM

Researching by Barnaby Pye

Looking out of his bedroom window that morning, Barnaby had been rather excited. He could tell from the condensation on the glass that the air, at least, was cold even if the sun was shining and from the years of attending Quidditch matches with Father, he had gleaned that many players preferred weather like this. Perhaps it was that nostalgia of the less complicated days before Father had started teaching him things about their business, before he had noticed Jax Donovan, before he had been sent to America to keep an eye out on his older brother who had been disowned years earlier, that caused Barnaby to pull an Aladren blue sweater over his normal button-down shirt and slack and go for a walk up to the Quidditch Pitch.

Quidditch wasn’t Barnaby’s thing. Alfie had played back at Hogwarts and Barnaby had spent most of his life trying to prove that he was better than Alfie and part of this was not engaging in the frivolities his brother had enjoyed while at school. As he walked to the pitch, a light wind blew his scarf around his neck and he found himself reaching up to readjust it so that it wasn’t falling off multiple times. His nose was a little red and his ears were probably similar in colour, but he didn’t really care. It was an odd thought—he hadn’t ever really enjoyed even watching those matches with his father. What he’d actually liked was the feeling of importance sitting with Father in their special seats, quietly watching as Father met with important looking wizards in suits. Certainly no Sonora match would emulate that, but just maybe he could find an appreciation for the game too—the only thing Alfie had over him.

Maybe if Jax Donovan played…

Barnaby’s cheeks flushed red to match his nose and ears and he pushed his glasses up his nose. There would be no thoughts like that, he was trying to separate himself from his troubles. Spend some time focusing and paying attention to the match so he could talk about it with Father when he returned home even though he was sure Father wouldn’t really care about his American boarding school Quidditch league.

A falling witch shortly after the match started diverted Barnaby’s attention and he looked up. It was the only witch in Aladren in his year, Aislinn Nicolls. Barnaby wasn’t normally someone who paid much attention to the girls at Sonora (he’d only noticed how bright Nevaeh had shone at the ball the previous year because she was, somehow, his best friend at the school and she had looked so happy). He couldn’t really care any less about how girls styled their hair or the latest fashion trends—slacks and button-downs would be in style for as long as Barnaby planned to be alive, anyway—but he wasn’t so completely unobservant to not notice that Aislinn Nicolls looked different.

“I’m fine,” he said, an eyebrow quirked slightly as he tried to put his finger on what exactly was different about her. He didn’t respond to her explanation—what did he care about her sister? She wasn’t the one who looked different (aside from a haircut but, really, that change was a more obvious one than Aislinn’s transformation and therefore he didn’t really care).

He thought that she would leave, but instead she took the seat next to him and he studied her face carefully while holding in the frustration her interruption of his solitude caused him. At least he’d have a puzzle to figure out—no matter how shallow—while watching. “I suppose Aladren’s been the better team for a few years. All dynasties have to end, but it could have been a one-off. From what I heard, the Pecari Seeker only caught the Snitch last year because of how close he was tailing Dill.”
Barnaby didn’t care for gossip or Quidditch, but that didn’t mean he was unobservant, and he definitely took notice of what was going on around him. Any smart business wizard did that, his father always said. “Do know a lot about Quidditch?” There was always reason to learn, and if he could keep her talking, he could figure out what was different about her…face? Barnaby was pretty certain something there had changed. Were girls’ lips usually that shiny? Only hers seemed abnormally so. Barnaby didn’t make a habit of staring at other people’s lips (~~unless they were Jax Donovan’s~~) so he couldn’t be certain.

10 Barnaby Pye Researching 298 Barnaby Pye 0 5

Gia Donovan

November 20, 2016 1:06 PM

~~Spirit Club Cheering Section~~ by Gia Donovan

OOC: This is separate from Aislinn's thread BIC:

Gia was nervous. Today was the first game of the season and everything that she had worked hard on for the Spirit Club would all come into light during this game. It had taken her two months to get through making all of the uniforms. It hadn’t been difficult once she had the pattern she wanted down and the style that everyone wanted. But there were several members of the group to whom she had to create uniforms for and with all of her other responsibilities, she had been slow about getting the uniforms completed.

Since the game was on a cold game, Gia wore the white turtleneck long sleeve shirt beneath the uniform’s vest-like white top (she had opted for the midriff baring top, but some opted to have a full coverage top) and white fleece leggings beneath the white skirt. Because Laila had wanted to make the uniform universal for all houses, Gia had created seams that allowed for different blocks of fabric on the skirt and on the vest. This would help younger years with any color charms that they would need to do (Gia knew that when she was young, being able to distinguish between sections helped her focus on handling the charm).

Her favorite thing and the one that took her the longest to do for all the uniforms was the embroidery of the house crest that she created on badges and then sewed onto the front of all the uniform ‘vest’ tops. The buttons were worked into the design, becoming the boarder down the middle of the crest, instead of working against it. It was very difficult for her to get the animals just right, but she was still practicing the technique and when she had succeeded it, she could just easily remove the badges and replace them with the better works. For now, they were decent enough and people could tell what everything was. It was just the smaller details that were missing. On the back of the tops she had sewn Sonora Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Vasita Quoque Floeat.

Hopefully the other members of the club as well as her school mates could appreciate the work that was put into all of it.

Gia waited on the sidelines for the Spirit Club and watched the stands to see if her brother would show. He hated Quidditch, but since this was a big moment for her as well as for Laila (and because Joella was playing), she hoped that he would be there for support. She also hoped that Chuck and Sutton were up there too. Chuck was always such a good supporter for her and Sutton had been surprisingly helpful to her during a rough time earlier that Gia found herself enjoying the other Pecari more each time they were together.

The Spirit Club had become a big part of Gia’s fifth year at Sonora. It was Laila’s baby, but Gia was sort of her second in command, so whatever Laila needed help with, Gia was there to lend a hand. It was a lot of time and effort to get everyone on board and figure out what they were going to do for the games, but she felt that everyone had such a positive attitude about it all that no matter what they did, they would have fun and make the most of it.

“Does anyone need the heating charm or the color charm?” Gia asked, pulling up her wand to help out wherever she could.

OOC: Mention of Sutton and Gia’s friendship approved by author

6 Gia Donovan *~*~*Spirit Club Cheering Section*~*~* 308 Gia Donovan 0 5

Aislinn

November 22, 2016 1:14 AM

Admitting by Aislinn

Barnaby Pye. It seemed that she was seeing more of the wizard than she had previously. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that or him for that matter. He was rather intelligent, even by Aladren standards. However, she also tended to feel a mixture of being slightly creeped and nervous around him. She wasn’t sure exactly what it was that gave her that feeling. Maybe it was because he kept looking at her. It tended to make her more nervous though she tended to be a little nervous around people in general. It was so much easier to deal with books than people. However, it was better than being alone at a social event.

Aislinn rubbed her hands on her jeans in an attempt to warm them up a bit. It was a little chilly out, which only served to remind her of how she could be in her nice warm room, a room that she shared with no one else, so it would be quiet, allowing her to work on other academic activities. But Sutton had made a point for why she should be here. She was somewhat disagreeable about that reasoning now though.

Besides, Gia was there to support John. Aislinn frowned at the other girl. She obviously knew how to pull off the entire ‘cute’ thing. Plus, while John might not have been considered a jock per se, he was on the most popular sport in the wizarding world and those on sports ended up with the girls that were the popular cheerleaders such as Gia. Obviously, they were the perfect couple.

She really wanted to leave, but that would have been rude, especially since Barnaby was being nice in answering her question. Perhaps, she had just misjudged him? She wasn’t exactly known for being the best judge of character. Sutton was better at that than her. Where was Sutton anyhow? She looked only to find her sitting elsewhere. Why wouldn’t she have come over? She tried to catch her sister’s eye, but it seemed she was being ignored. Sutton made absolutely no sense. Why would she invite her to the Quidditch match only to leave her alone? Well, she supposed she wasn’t alone since Barnaby was with her…sort of.

Aislinn wasn’t sure what to say when Barnaby asked her if she knew about Quidditch. She had done book research about the sport in the event that she would actually ever have the opportunity to talk to John about it. She supposed this would be good practice and she might learn more for the imaginary conversation that she played in her head. “Not really. I know the basics from what I read. Keeper. Seeker. Chasers. Beaters. Then, four balls in play. Chasers try to score against the Keeper. Beaters try to keep them from scoring. Once the Seeker gets the snitch, the game is over. But I don’t follow the game at all so I couldn’t tell you anything more than that.” She bit her lip, as she watched the game. It seemed more than a little aggressive.

She looked back over to him. “Honestly, I don’t really find the appeal of the game,” she admitted. “I prefer indoor activities.”

0 Aislinn Admitting 297 Aislinn 0 5

Farrah Welsh

November 26, 2016 5:14 PM

What was I thinking? by Farrah Welsh

Farrah stood nervously by the other Spirit Club members who were participating in the cheerleading part of the club. When she had first been given the option of designing how her outfit would look, Farrah had jumped at the chance to have the vest where the midriff was showing. She had no idea why she had chosen that. Farrah knew her parents would be furious with her if they knew she was walking around in a cheerleading outfit where her stomach was out in full display, but Farrah wanted to fit in with everyone else. It wasn’t like she was pretty or had much to look at anyway, so no one would notice her next to the older girls. At the time, it had felt like the right idea.

Then Farrah tried the outfit on.

What had she been thinking? People were going to laugh at her! She was pale, too skinny, and nothing worth looking at. She thought she would at least resemble the girls back home who wore these that were her age, but no, she just looked like a wannabe. People were going to laugh at her for sure. At least the first game of the season was when the weather was colder out so she could wear her white turtle neck and her white leggings and cover up her pale skin and lame abdomen.

Farrah quietly scanned the stands to see if Georgia or Kellen had come to the game. She knew that Georgia didn’t really support her in this club, feeling like she was probably trying to become a mean girl or something, but she wanted her friend to be there and see that it wasn’t so bad. Everyone seemed really nice and Farrah wasn’t about to change herself for anyone. She didn’t back when she was being bullied and she wouldn’t now. She wasn’t sure if Kellen would come simply because there were a lot of people and she knew he wasn’t a fan of social things, but she felt the same way about wanting him here as she did Georgia. They were her best friends, after all. She wanted to share this with them too.

Farrah shook her head when asked if she needed the heating charm or the color charm. Those were charms that she knew how to do! Her uniform was blue since she was an Aladren, but if either Laila or Gia needed her to change it to brown, she had no issue with doing so. As for heating, she felt nice and warm in her outfit, despite how thin it actually felt. Magic was pretty cool sometimes. Weird, but cool.

6 Farrah Welsh What was I thinking? 344 Farrah Welsh 0 5

Caelia Lucan

November 26, 2016 8:52 PM

Feeling silly by Caelia Lucan

Caelia felt pretty silly, sitting there in her pretty light green dress and her nice, blue winter cloak to protect against the chilly air. She always came to the games to support whichever team it was Ali was captaining, and she usually wore Crotalus red, but after her recently formed friendship with Jack, she felt the need to support her other friend in his Quidditch matches too. However, this would be the first time she appeared to an Aladren match to specifically support the blue team much less a player on the blue team or even a player other than Ali! But Jack was her friend now and that meant she had to support him.

The Spirit Club had turned out in their uniforms, and Caelia had to admit that even though it was a very Muggle look, it was a nice idea. There were more members than she had expected, and she had heard that one of the leaders of spirit club was passing around a rather salacious (a word she had learned from the extra reading she’d been doing on her own time) book. It was all very interesting, and somehow it made Caelia feel out of place even though she knew she belonged there. She was a friend of a player and she was a proper pureblooded witch who, in her own right, was allowed to dress as modestly as she pleased to support her wizard friends.

However, that didn’t keep her from self-consciously fiddling with her blonde curls which had been tied back with a little blue ribbon to keep her hair out of her eyes, an action that she ended when she noticed someone looking at her. “Hi,” she said softly, her pale cheeks flushing slightly with embarrassment, hoping that her show of Aladren pride wasn’t very noticable (after all, she was wearing a green dress and it wasn’t her fault that her cloak just happened to be cornflower blue because it matched her eyes and looked good with her hair). “I do hope it’ll be an interesting match.”

She was careful not to use any of the new words she had learned from spending time by herself in the library. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to let people know just how much she was actually capable of just yet. She didn’t feel as smart as anyone else, and she was afraid they would laugh at her for putting on airs. Besides, Kelsey was supposed to be the smart one of the pair of them, and she didn’t want people to think she was trying to copy her best friend. It was also supposed to be a surprise for her brother. Caelia wasn’t sure the next time she would see him since he had decided to start his career as a magical archaeologist or whatever, and she didn’t want him finding out from someone else about her self-improvements.

“It’ll be interesting to have Pecari and Aladren play each other this first round,” she continued, using an airy tone and reusing words instead of changing her vocabulary up. Even if she was shedding her air-headness, she didn’t know if she wanted to lose that image just yet. “Maybe Crotalus will actually have a chance now.”

10 Caelia Lucan Feeling silly 307 Caelia Lucan 0 5

Laila Kennedy

November 27, 2016 3:04 AM

I don't know, that you wanted to have a good time? by Laila Kennedy

“You did a fantastic job, Gia!” Laila had gushed to her friend the first time she’d seen the cheerleading outfits, and as Laila stood in front of her mirror admiring the uniform Gia had put together, she stood by it. She had wanted one of those midriff baring tops that Gia had made for herself and a couple of the other girls on the squad, but she had been too embarrassed to show off that much skin in front of the student body. At home it was a little different—girls went around town in skimpy outfits all the time but here everyone covered up and wore cloaks and robes and all sorts of other bulky things. And besides, Laila didn’t want to send home pictures to her mom and deal with the scolding of a lifetime.

Apparently baring ones’ midriff for a Muggle high school sports team was a much more appropriate display of skin than for a wizarding Quidditch team. Whatever logic was there, Laila couldn’t find and so she had asked Gia for the more modest version of the uniform and as she walked up to the pitch, she was grateful she had. It was a little chilly out and she smiled at Gia who was wearing Pecari brown and offering to help others with heating and color charms.

As the spectators gathered to watch the match and the Spirit Club members who had wanted to cheer were present, Laila gathered them around her and Gia for a pre-game pep talk. “Thanks all for coming,” she said with a large smile, her brown ponytail with it’s curls swinging as she turned her head to look at everyone. Today she had a blue ribbon tying her hair up, blue for Aladren since Gia was a Pecari and obviously wanted to support her house and best friend. Laila and Gia had decided that at each match, they would split the house colors between them so neither was ever cheering for the same team. Laila wanted to be sure that the other members had a leader to lead them and also that the Spirit Club was equally supporting the two teams playing. When Crotalus played then Laila would wear red and Gia the color of the team they were playing.

“I know it’s a little chilly, but we’re still going to do fabulously and try to keep everyone’s spirits up for the game! I have some face paint if there’s a particular player you wanted to support but couldn’t because you ended up with the colors of the other team, or for anyone, really,” she explained, holding up a couple of black facepaint sticks. She herself had written ‘#4’ for Sammy’s favorite number on each of her upper cheekbones just under her eye since she was in blue. “Of course the main point is to have fun, and afterwards we’ll have a little party with some treats and juice to celebrate out first match as Spirit Club. Go, Sonora!” She sort of shouted this last part, her right fist raising in a cheerleader-esque move that she had seen many, many times during the various games she’d watched back home over the years.

OOC: The colors regarding Gia and Laila were worked out OOC with Gia’s author.

10 Laila Kennedy I don't know, that you wanted to have a good time? 318 Laila Kennedy 0 5

Ayla Tremaine

November 28, 2016 6:01 PM

Here to cheer! by Ayla Tremaine

Ayla wasn’t much of a Quidditch fan, but she wasn’t going to turn down an opportunity to show her school spirit and support her friends. It helped that she got to wear her super cute cheer outfit that Gia Donovan had made for her. She’d decided to go with the more modest option, even though she really liked how the other girls looked in the shorter uniforms. Ayla had considered it, at length, and decided she didn’t want her parents to somehow find out about it that she was showing off her tummy. Maybe she’d change her mind when she got older.

For this match, she’d chosen to sport Aladren blue, even though it felt a little weird not to be in Teppenpaw yellow. It wasn’t a hard choice though, Kit and Amelia were both on the blue team, not to mention Louis. It only seemed right for her to cheer them on. The petite blonde made her way to the rest of the group with her hair pulled back into a sleek high ponytail that was adorned with a big blue bow. She’d managed to charm her outfit the right shade of blue, and was feeling pretty proud of herself on top of her overall excitement for their first game of the season.

“Hi Farrah!” Ayla said with a smile as she took her place beside the older girl and Laila began her pep talk. She had the color part down, but the first year witch thought she might need to take Gia up on the heating charm. She hadn’t thought to wear warm clothes beneath her outfit, though she probably should have. At least now she knew to be better prepared for next time. The idea of face paint was interesting, but she declined as she was wearing the color of the people she wanted to support. The after party was definitely exciting though--assuming Aladren won of course!

“Go Sonora!” Ayla cheered, echoing Laila’s sentiment before approaching Gia about the warming charm. Her legs and arms were covered in goosebumps, but she wasn’t unbearably chilly yet. She knew from watching Aunt Astrid play that matches could go on for a while though, so she definitely needed some help.

“Excuse me, Gia? Could you remind me of the heating charm? Please? The uniforms are beautiful by the way! Thank you so much for making them, you’re very talented.”

5 Ayla Tremaine Here to cheer! 367 Ayla Tremaine 0 5