What is the worst that could happen? on Magical Arts Room and Sports

The Coach

January 13, 2021 5:16 AM

Quidditch Team - Wind Speed by The Coach

“Morning all!” the Coach sang out cheerfully, as the players arrived for training. They had been asked to assemble in the MARS foyer area – it was a situation that was unusual, but not entirely unheard of, and usually meant that the coach wanted to put them through a specific scenario, or do something with a more complicated set up.

“Today, we’re going to be practising flying – and for those of you who handle the Quaffle, throwing and catching – in different wind conditions. Now, blessed as we are,” the coach gave a slight chuckle, “with the lovely Irish weather courtesy of our weather charms, we don’t always need to come to MARS for a windy day. But what this will allow us to do is to directly compare different wind speeds. We’re going to start with a light breeze, and move up gradually – that way you can hopefully see a gradual increase in how much you need to compensate, and will be able to do that a lot more smoothly.

“First up, after we’ve warmed up, will be the same obstacle course you flew for your try outs. You’ll each try that again, and when we’re back at the start of the line, the wind speed will kick up a notch. Once we’ve all gone through up to strong, stormy winds, I’ll have it settle back down, and the Chasers and Keepers will go through that same process with ball exercises, whilst the rest of you follow your personal programs.” By now, each player knew enough training exercises both for the game in general and specific positions that they should have been able to keep themselves usefully occupied during any session where the coach was having to focus more on one particular group.

“Alright, let’s get to it!”

OOC: This functions much like a class. You can have your character reply to whatever part of the situation you want. You may also lightly god-mod the coach as needed.

Subthreads:

What is the worst that could happen? by Valentine Duell with Heinrich Hexenmeister

I am but a small human. by Evelyn Stones

13 The Coach Quidditch Team - Wind Speed 0 The Coach 1 5

Valentine Duell

January 18, 2021 6:50 PM

What is the worst that could happen? by Valentine Duell

Valentine had been disappointed last term for not making seeker this year. She'd known it was a long-shot since last year's seekers were more experienced, but... still she had hoped. She still did hope, maybe if she practiced more for it, then next year she would claim a seeker position. So, she was going to do the best she could and train hard and claim Mama's old position! Hopefully.

Today they were doing something different, that could be fun. She stood listening to the coach in the foyer of the MARS rooms. They were going to be playing with the wind? Ooo.. and the obstacle course! When the coach let them into the room, she briefly thought back about her first meeting with Ness in this room. That had been a fantastic stroke of luck! She'd gotten more friends and a gaming group out of that. Also a good chunk of those friends from that gaming group were in the room again with her. She grinned, things were going great. She wasn't failing out, she had friends, her aunt was here, she even had a boyfriend! Life was pretty darn good.

Taking her turn in line, she flew through the course smiling and humming a happy little nonsense tune. She was good enough on her broom to dodge and weave her way through the course with little trouble. The winds didn't bother her much the first few laps around the course, but she started struggling as they began to pick up in intensity. It was nearly all she could do to hang on to her broom and maneuver it for the final pass. The wind was grasping at her, trying to tear her apart from her broom and fling her into the open abyss. Fortunately, she made her fortitude saves and strength checks.

Then came the ball exercises. Again, that started off easily enough. However, this time she wasn't able to keep both hands locked on her broom, she needed them free to catch and throw the Quaffle. She was managing by hugging very close to her broom, then she saw a ball flying her direction. Bracing to catch it, she held out one hand just as a particularly nasty gust of wind blasted into her from the wrong direction. Reflexively she wrapped her arms back around the broom for dear life and the ball struck her on the shoulder. That impact along with the wind sent her spinning end over end with a squeal of terror.

2 Valentine Duell What is the worst that could happen? 1490 0 5

Heinrich Hexenmeister

January 20, 2021 2:02 PM

Though unlikely, you could fall to your death. by Heinrich Hexenmeister

Heinrich was, if he excluded self-modesty, a pretty decent Quidditch player. A large chunk of that was because he was simply older than everyone else on the field except Nathaniel (and the same age as Evelyn though her seniority hadn't translated to size) and he therefore had a bigger and stronger body, and enough years of experience that the fact that he'd only started playing for the school in his third year was more a footnote than a handicap. He wasn't the best player on the team, and probably not even be the best Chaser on the team (him, Ness, and Evelyn were all about equally skilled in his opinion), but he was a good player.

It wasn't until the wind reached really strong levels that it started to affect his performance through the obstacles, and even then he had just enough mass combined with a narrow enough profile that he could dart through without being seriously buffeted around. Only the sudden gusts of the strongest winds, which came an unpredictable intervals, really gave him any trouble and knocked him around enough that he brushed alongside some of the obstacles instead of clearing them. Only once, on the final run, did he bump into a pole hard enough to leave a bruise.

As they switched to ball exercises, he rubbed at his bruised arm, but the return to light breezes to start with was enough of reprieve that his throwing and catching felt unaffected by the minor injury. As the wind speeds began to pick up again, though, he noticed he was favoring the arm more and more, and wasn't sure if it was actually hurting more or if it was just psychological association.

He'd just tossed the Quaffle toward Valentine, and watched another sudden gust push it (and him to a lesser extent) a bit to the side when she squealed. Heinrich looked back to the younger student and saw her tumbling out of control. He didn't think. He just flew.

He dove, trying to get under her, then picked up the nose of his broom to stablize her from below. He grunted as they collided, taking at least two more bruises in the process from flailing elbows and feet, but he got a hold of her broom with one hand and used his body to stop hers from spinning.

Once she wasn't completely out of control anymore, he asked, a little breathlessly, "You got it from here?"

1 Heinrich Hexenmeister Though unlikely, you could fall to your death. 1414 0 5

Evelyn Stones

January 21, 2021 12:30 PM

I am but a small human. by Evelyn Stones

OOC: Some of the action based on the thread between Heinrich and Val.

Edited because I can read. BIC:

Evelyn regretted not bringing more hair ties. She could only manage a ponytail with the one she'd brought and usually that was fine when they were out on the Pitch, but it was less fine now and her hair whipped around, making it hard to see and harder to stay upright as the wind tugged at her head. She was also very small and that didn't help her case. While she was a strong enough flier to manage the first several laps, it was clear in the last one or two that she was struggling. She saw Heinrich hit one of the obstacles hard enough to make her worry but she'd also been dating a Quidditch player long enough to expect that they'd both have injuries at times and she didn't let it get her so distracted that it caused her problems. Besides, she'd only barely managed not to clip them herself and he was broader than she was so she couldn't blame him for having made contact. By the time they touched down to switch to ball practices, she had a sore jaw from having kept it locked and she was sweaty everywhere the wind hadn't wicked the moisture away. The familiar burn of hard work coursed through her arms and legs and she was breathing hard, but it felt good. She liked that feeling, even if it meant she'd be sore the next day.

Ball practice gave her a chance to breathe a little again because they started at lower speeds, but things got bad for her earlier this time, and she saw she wasn't the only one. Valentine was gripping her own broom tightly and Evelyn felt a bit bad that she couldn't do more than grit her teeth and hold on for dear life in solidarity. She'd managed to catch the last Quaffle that came her way and she was practically curled around it, trying to decide which way she wanted to throw it. Heinrich had just flown by and thrown a Quaffle toward Val so Evelyn tried to huck it toward the nearest player who wasn't one of the two of them. It was actually a pretty good throw but Evelyn didn't see if it got where it was meant to because she heard a squeal and turned to see Val spiraling away. Evelyn gasped and sat up straighter on her broom, in time to see Heinrich dive after the younger student.

She managed a sigh of relief and a grimace of sympathy for them both when they clouded further down but quickly regretted the distraction at all (other than the fact that she did naturally care for Heinrich and Val and was glad to know they were both relatively okay) when she nearly flew into the next obstacle. Yanking hard to avoid it steered her towards another player and she dove to avoid colliding with them. Deciding that her arms were going to wear out before she was able to catch or throw anything else, she leaned into the dive and made her way to the ground, landing hard. Her knees buckled - better than breaking them - and she landed fell forward on to her hands, breathing hard as she took a moment to just appreciate the ground underneath her.

Sweat dripped down her nose and she pushed herself over onto her back so she could at least see what was going on in the air still and hopefully avoid any other crashing or landing students. She knew the coach was pretty used to seeing athletes sprawled out trying to get feelings back in their limbs but she flashed a thumbs up to alleviate any worries all the same. She sat up and then stood when another player landed a few feet away.

22 Evelyn Stones I am but a small human. 1422 0 5

Valentine Duell

January 21, 2021 6:32 PM

That would be pretty bad. by Valentine Duell

The world spun about Valentine as she desperately held onto her broom. She felt as though she was loosing her grip though, and perhaps her latest meal at the same time. Fortunately neither occurred, she instead spiraled into something big and warm and solid. She may also have pummeled that big, warm, solid thing a little bit when she ran into it as well. She was pretty sure the thing had stopped her, but the world still felt like it was spinning. Valentine shook her head to try and get the world to calm down for a moment, she reached out without thinking to brace herself against the thing and caught hold of cloth?

Heinrich? He was close to her, he was holding her broom and was had already braced himself against her spin. He was warm, and strong, and had saved her from certain doom. She was starting to feel fairly warm herself now, what was...?

"You got it from here?"

His question snapped her out of whatever daze she had fallen into. "What? Oh, yes. Thank-you!" She already had a wide smile across her face, but she wasn't sure where it had come from. She didn't seem to be able to not look at her savior just at this moment. It looked like he hadn't emerged from the encounter entirely unscathed. "Are you alright?" She remembered the collision with 'the thing' and realized what had caused some of those missing hit points. "Oh," she gasped slightly, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to... when we hit..." Something in her wanted to run and hide, something else wanted to help fix him up. She didn't know what was happening, things weren't making sense all the sudden. It was just Heinrich, her pa... the gaming group's paladin. Their steady beacon of all that was good and right in the world. The one that kept everyone safe. He... no, going was right. She needed to go... somewhere. Not here.

2 Valentine Duell That would be pretty bad. 1490 0 5

Heinrich Hexenmeister

January 31, 2021 5:27 PM

Quite bad indeed by Heinrich Hexenmeister

Valentine still seemed a little dazed, but Heinrich assumed that was from the dizzying tumble she'd just taken through the air. He nodded in confirmation to her query about his own health. "I am fine," he promised. He figured the bruises would probably bother him more tomorrow than they did right now, but he did not feel the need to share that and make her feel worse.

"Let us touch down for a moment," he suggested as he lead them both down toward the ground where they could wait out the remainder of this high wind period. He figured they had demonstrated pretty clearly for the coach that this level of hurricane gale force winds was not optimal for passing Quaffles and more practice was needed on the prior intensity before the Chasers ought to attempt this one again.

He touched down and made sure Val was steady on her feet before stepping away. "Can you keep playing or do you think you need to visit the medic?" It occurred to him that there were options between those extremes, and added, "Or you could just sit over there," he indicated a bench along the side the ersatz pitch, "and take a break for a few minutes if you think that would help. I think you do not have to fly again until the wind dies down." And he would argue with the coach if they said otherwise.

1 Heinrich Hexenmeister Quite bad indeed 1414 0 5