Pecari Tryouts Part 2 on Quidditch Pitch

Amira Thornton

June 11, 2013 10:14 PM

Part 1 of 2, Please Read BOTH by Amira Thornton

Amira stood on the Pitch setting everything up for her Tryouts and thinking about the past few days. She smiled, remembering the poster she had made one evening after classes sitting down on the floor of her room, cross legged with a posterboard she’d brought with her from home. It had been a medium sized board and with it she held a few permanent markers. On it she had written the time, 11am and the place as well as the date of the tryouts. At that point she was trying to make it more interesting by adding pictures that moved of Quaffles, Snitches, Bludgers so that people saw it right away and would join them at the tryouts. She’d hung it up the morning after and at the same time had peeked at the list of those who’d signed up.

As she set up the small water table, she thought back to the names that were on the list and how she felt when she saw them. The first on the list had been Rupert. Mira had smiled at seeing his name again. She enjoyed the company of the younger Beater and was confident that he would do a wonderful job this year once again. The next name down had made her sigh. Jade was now her Assistant Captain and she was going to be the bigger person for it. Mir hoped both girls would grow from this and that was what she was going to tell herself over and over again if she had to. The next name down the list after Jade, was Clara. Confused for a moment, she had wondered if there was a first year with the same name as her cousin, but then read the last name once more and realized that her cousin DID sign up. Grinning at first, Amira was thrilled that her cousin wanted to sign up. Apparently all the playing over the summer was a good thing in a few ways? she thought to herself as she put the finishing touches on the water table. She was almost sure that with Clara joining in she was sure to get Waverly back too as a walk on, (at least she hoped so!). Then another thought plagued her mind…

At the time she had the thought, she really did fear it would come true, but she vowed to do all she could to prevent it. Grandma Abernathy is going to KILL me for letting her sign up! she thought, as she looked at the next two names on the list. Ann and Ann Pierce… NICE! she thought to herself again. Mir counted down the list. Including herself there were six people actually signed up and there was still time for walk ins! She was so excited that she almost had a full team already that she had almost walked into someone on her way out of the Common Room for breakfast before class.

“Sorry!” she called to whoever it is as she left the room. Amira giggled at the memory and moved on to putting the obstacle course together, thinking about how the few days between then and when she had checked the signup sheet had felt like such a blur. She was getting more and more worried by the day as she kept checking the signup for new names and didn’t see any. Mir worried even more when the night before tryouts came and still no more names were added. She had paced the Common Room until it was time for curfew. Only then did she wander up into her room. Sitting right down on her bed, the sixth year sighed and laid back into her pillow with all of her clothes on. She wasn’t sure why her roommates hadn’t signed up to play again, but she sincerely hoped that they both would. Even Jhon had been getting better through the years and it would be helpful to have a full team… Mira had wanted to ask the two of them if she’d see them in the morning, but no sooner than she’d decided to ask, she heard the sounds of sleeping through their room. Remembering the night before with the same sigh, she had changed into her pajamas and after checking to be sure she’d put everything she’d need in the trunk, ready for the morning, she had went to bed.

Amira had procured a Quaffle, a few fake Snitches (tennis balls and ping pong balls), not to mention some school brooms for anyone who didn’t have their own, and a few bits and bobs for an obstacle course. She also had a small basket of softballs she’d begged Arista to send her set inside the trunk the rest of the things were lying in. She had dragged the trunk down to the Pitch with her that morning and having set almost everything up for the day, Mir took a second to look up at the sky better.

The heat of the sun could be both a help and a deterrent for more players. She hoped it would be more of a help than a hindrance, however. Amira herself, wore her lucky brown and gold sneakers, a pair of brown capris and a gold tshirt with her red hair pulled back in a brown pony tail holder. She pulled her robe on over her clothes and carried the trunk down to the Pitch by 930am. She’d sent an owl to Jade to ask her to please show up by 10:30 so they could discuss everything that would be happening that afternoon and she hoped that her Assistant would show up as asked while she set the Quaffle, Tennis balls, Ping Pong balls, soft balls, and school brooms down on the ground beside her. As she finished setting up she heard footsteps and looked up to see Jade standing there.

“Thank you very much for coming to see me before everyone shows up. I wanted to talk to you one on one first if you don’t mind.” she started. She’d been working on what she was going to say to the fifth year all Summer long, and it still didn’t sound good, but it was going to have to do. First thing was first, Mira was going to tell Jade the plans for the day, and then she‘d get to the biggest part of why she‘d wanted her Assistant to come early.

“Okay. I have a Quaffle, some Tennis Balls, Ping Pong Balls and Soft Balls as well as some school brooms and some, like in past years, items to use for an obstacle course. Just because Mel and Sophie graduated doesn’t mean Pecari can’t be in shape. First we are going to start with a lap around the Pitch on foot. Then we do the same on our brooms…” she started. She finished by telling Jade what else would be happening before sitting down on a bench and patting the spot beside her. “Please come sit a minute…” she said, waiting for the younger girl to either do so or not. When it looked like Jade’s decision was made, Amira started again.

“I know we’ve never really got along before, but I feel it is absolutely necessary for us both to try our best, for the whole of Pecari’s Team and House. We CAN win Quidditch Cup, House Cup too if we pull together and work for it. Deal?” she asked, holding her hand out for Jade to shake. She may not like the girl and Jade may not like her, but for Pecari House, she would try. Now it was up to Jade to decide.

By that point she started hearing footsteps around them and Amira looked up, hoping that would help her and Jade get along with each other for Pecari’s sake. She waved to the others as they walked up to the Captain and her Assistant and smiled to Clara specifically, almost as if to ask her if she was sure she was up to this. When it looked as if everyone was there, she looked at each of them and said,

“Okay, have a seat for a moment please.“ When they’d sat, she went on. “Welcome to Pecari Tryouts! I’m glad to see each of you here. First thing’s first, some of you may or may not know the others, so we’re going to sit down and introduce ourselves and tell each other what we’d like to be on the team. I’ll start. I’m Amira Thornton and as Captain of our team I’m going to wait and see what is needed and fill in the spaces.“ she said. “Go ahead, you go on.” she said to whoever it was that was next to her.

Subthreads:

Pecari Tryouts Part 2 by Amira Thornton with Clara Abernathy, Annabelle Pierce

Introducing ourselves by Annabelle and Annette Pierce

0 Amira Thornton Part 1 of 2, Please Read BOTH 208 Amira Thornton 1 5

Amira Thornton

June 11, 2013 10:15 PM

Pecari Tryouts Part 2 by Amira Thornton

When the others had their turns, she spoke again. “Great. Welcome to all of you! Now, those of you who’ve been on the team before know how Mel or Sophie ran the team. I won’t be running it much differently. I will not let Pecari turn into some namby pamby team because Sophie and Mel aren’t here anymore. Its as much my team as it still is theirs. And after next year will be Jade’s…” she paused a moment to look at her Assistant, hoping Jade knew what she was talking about. “Today is tryouts and because you’ve been on the team before DOES NOT mean you are set in the same positions. All spots are up for grabs and nobody is guaranteed the spot they’ve had in years passed. You have to work for your spots today just like you had to when you first tried out.” she paused for what she was sure to be moans and groans from the others. When all was quiet, she went on.

“Some rules.” pausing for dramatic effect, she looked at each of them. “No whining, we’re all doing the same things so I don’t want to hear ‘I can’t’ or anything of the like. No laziness, we can’t win if we’re lazy and I don’t know about you all, but I want Pecari to WIN!” Amira took a second to check reactions before going on again. “With all the hard work we will do, we will also have fun and form not only a team that flows like atoms in a water molecule but also a family of people who are here for each other through thick and thin.” she said, smiling at Clara again. There was something about what had happened to their family over the summer that made her want to make Pecari’s Team more of a family than ever before and she hoped the others would pick up on it too.

“Today, we become one team with one vision. The win.” she added. “We will meet up for conditioning as we used to with Mel two days a week to start, then before games we will make that three days a week. Two days a week will be for skills on top of that until the season starts, then we will be seeing each other every day at least for a short time in the day for skills and whatnot. Weekends, will depend on how hard we work during the week. Be aware of that.” Amira knew she was being more hardcore than even Mel was, but she knew from experience that in order to win you had to prove yourselves and how could they prove themselves without having passion and team pride?

“Today we are going to start out with each person playing each position so that I can see what you can do and we can be a more well rounded team.” she started. “First, I want you each to start out with running or jogging a lap around the Pitch on foot. Then we will do the same in flight. After that, a short obstacle course.” she said, pointing at the other end of the Pitch with hoola hoops and jumping ropes as well as a small hurdle.” The hurdle was short enough for even the shortest of first years to get over it easily, but Amira was testing their endurance more than anything. “Then we will break for a few minutes to catch our breath and drink some water.” she said, pointing to the water she’d set up before Jade got there as well. She was hardcore but she wasn’t stupid. “After a few minutes we will go through each position with each one of you. Each will be done first on the ground, then we will move into the air just as with the laps around the Pitch. The first position we will use will be Beater, you will each be using the beater’s bat I have here to hit the soft balls that I will throw for you. After each of you have had your turn there, we will move to Keeping. I will throw the Quaffle and your job will be to catch it, clearly. Next we will swap to Chasing where we will play a small pick up game in the air where we will work against me as your Keeper. When we get to that point I will split you in teams.” she said, pausing there, noting if anyone new had joined them that wasn’t on the list since she started to speak before going on.

“Then, the Seeking.” she said, the prized position in many passed years all to this day. “I will be throwing tennis balls all around the Pitch from the ground to you all flying above me. When you catch one, throw it back to me so I can throw again. I will be watching and counting, so no faking.”

Amira looked around at them. “I know that’s a lot, but we’re going to do it all in stages. If we all work on every position we are interchangeable and able to beat ANYTHING. Besides, you never know if maybe the one position you’ve always done isn’t your best unless you try, right?” she added, taking this bit from Sophie’s speech the year before. “If we are flexible and adaptable we will build better players and from that, a win of the decade. I’m sure of it.” Sophie and Mel had built her and she would build the others, this she knew. The pair of them, and Jose before them were Captains she had looked up to and had been a source of respect that she’d not really seen anywhere else and she hoped to be the same.

“Okay. Ready to run or jog?” she asked them, standing up herself and wiping off her robes from the grasses of the Pitch. “When you get back, mount your brooms and we’ll meet back here for the rest. Got it?” she asked, waiting for nods or ‘okays’ before she ran off around the Pitch herself, leading the others. She felt exhilarated, happy and ready to win, she just hoped the team was behind her and she hadn’t done Sophie, Mel or Jose wrong.

OOC: Welcome to Pecari tryouts! Walk-ons are definitely welcome and would follow Amira’s directions just as much as those who were able to get to the signups. All usual rules apply and well written, creative posts of at least 200 words will increase your characters chances for the role on the team that they desire. Good Luck to all! Also, Jade’s author has given permission for her to come early and talk to Amira. And Amira has made a mistake in the comment about the water molecule, it is a planned mistake to show that she may know things about certain things, but not about everything.

0 Amira Thornton Pecari Tryouts Part 2 208 Amira Thornton 0 5

Clara Abernathy

June 12, 2013 2:34 AM

Here goes nothing by Clara Abernathy

Clara saw the sign go up for Pecari’s tryouts and almost groaned aloud. She knew the day had been coming and she knew that she would dread it nonetheless. She really wasn’t sure what she should be wearing for this endeavor since she had yet to get her Quidditch robes. So she opted for her boot cut faded blue jeans, her brown Ramones t-shirt with the band’s name (coincidentally) in gold lettering on the back and her gold-ish converse sneakers. She braided her hair back and used a brown scrunchie just for good luck. Feeling particularly Pecari-ish, she grabbed her new broom (new because she hardly used it) and headed it out to the pitch to join her cousin and the rest of the house team. She found what could only be described as a torture run waiting for them all and shook her head. Not only was I dumb enough to try this and possibly kill or maim myself she grumbled to herself, But my dear cousin has decided she’s going to try and help speed up the process she thought grumpily to herself as she made her way over.

She waved, half grinning at her cousin Amira as she listened to Amira give her “Welcome to Pecari Team” speech. She glanced nervously from Amira to Jade and back hoping that there wouldn’t be any problems between the two of them. Everybody knew that the two girls were not the other’s biggest fan (which was a gross understatement to say the least) and that they had been battling for a coveted spot on the team since her cousin lost it to Jade a few years back. Clara knew that deep down Amira was still terrible bitter about that fact and hoped she didn’t use her position as Captain to get back at Jade for it. It really wasn’t Jade’s fault that she got the Seeker position and Amira ended up playing another spot. It wasn’t Jade’s choice where she was on the team, it had been the Captain’s decision at the time. She just hoped for all their sakes that the two of them called a truce or something. She wasn’t at all surprised when Amira suggested that they all go around and introduced themselves.

She waited until she and/or Jade finished their introductions before introducing herself. She stepped slightly forward and turned to face the others. “Hi…I’m Clara, I’m a fourth year and I’m hoping to try out for the position of Keeper. I just recently, within the last year, got the hang of flying down pretty well considering my less than stellar attempts in flying class for those of you who missed the show.” She glanced briefly towards the Anns and smiled sheepishly, remembering (if she was not mistaken) that one or both of them had been privy to that particular show of non-flying prowess. She was about to ask what the course of stuff laid out around the pitch was for when Amira beat her to the chase. Her cousin explained that they were going to try ALL of the positions to see where people fit in the best. Clara thought her eyes were going to fall out of her head they were opened so wide in surprise. But…but… she thought to herself as she continued to listen, horrified, to every word Amira said. She had a feeling that she was not going to live through the tryouts, let alone practices. She had spent a great deal of time working with her cousins and grandfather while they were in England over the summer, but she was not certain she was prepared for this.

Clara sucked up her objections and went for it like she did everything else. If she did well, she did well. If not…well…she could always be a bench warmer she supposed. She started off doing the running lap around the pitch that Amira had instructed. She was a little winded when she finished, but she didn’t feel too bad. She had even managed to jump the hurdles Amira had set up for them all. She wasn’t sure how she felt about having balls thrown at her to try and catch, however, that was the position she was trying for after all so she supposed that part wasn’t so bad. It was the idea of trying to catch balls she was using for the snitch and the beater bats that gave her a slight uneasy feeling. She wasn’t horrible at catching things, but what if she ended up with another spot besides Keeper? Clara tried very hard to make the next thought leave her brain before she really started thinking about it. When Amira started throwing quaffles at her for her to stop or catch, she had been so focused on the other thing that she almost missed it entirely. She caught it by the skin of her fingertips and clutched it hard to her chest. Sadly, it wasn’t until after she did that that she realized it had been a very bad idea. She winced slightly, reminding herself that next time she caught the ball not to slam it into her chest. She tossed the ball back to Amira and awaited the next one she tossed towards her. This time she had been paying better attention and had caught it easily. She tossed that one back towards her cousin as well. She was insanely glad that they had done soo much drilling over the summer or she would have been in trouble. Oddly enough Amira and Bri had both talked her into doing drills with them over the summer to help THEM train, little did she know she was going to sign up for this craziness herself. I must truly have a death wish she thought comically to herself as she snatched up the next ball and threw it back.

Once she finished having to catch the balls now it was time to try and get them get past the “Keeper”. Clara picked up one of the quaffles and ran towards her cousin who had set up a net or hoop of some kind for them to try and throw the ball into past her. Clara ran up tried her best fake-out move and launched the ball towards the net. Her first few attempts were foiled by her cousin, but the last few made it past her. Just barely though. Once she was done throwing the balls at her cousin, it was Clara’s turn to take her place and try to stop them. She stood in front of the make-shift goals and bent her knees slightly to make it easier to move around if she needed to. The first quaffle flew at her and she had to jump slightly to catch it before it went into the net. She threw it back and waited for the next one. The next one flew towards her and she jumped to the side to block this one since catching it was out of the question. She felt it hit her fingertips, but her arms weren’t long enough to stop it from going in. She hit the ground with a discouraged THUD, landing on her stomach and knees. She got up, brushing the dirt and grass off of her clothes and picked up the quaffle. She tossed it back to the would-be Chaser and took her position again. She blocked a couple more thrown at her by slapping them with her hands and missed two more. All-in-all she didn’t do terribly she thought.

They moved on next to mock beating which Clara had been a tad afraid of to begin with. It wasn’t soo much hitting bludgers with the bat that was the problem…it was the hitting bludgers with bats part while flying through the air on a broomstick that was the problem. While Clara could bat exceptionally well while on the ground, she had no idea whether or not she could it in the air with one hand. She figured that hitting the bludgers was a lot like playing tennis (only the balls are bigger, meaner and fly around on their own). If she looked at it that way she should have little problem with hitting them one handed. Amira launched one of the “bludgers” in her direction and Clara aimed the bat with her right hand, connecting with the far corner of the ball. The ball went flying off somewhere into the field and Clara geared up for the next one. She hit three or four more sending them this way and that, missing a few of them entirely and getting hit by a couple more (mostly in the side and her back) before they moved on to the Seeker part of the exercise.

Amira had said that she would be tossing tennis balls into the air to act as the snitch while they were on the ground. Clara nodded to herself as she recalled that fact. Okay…here goes nothing she thought wearily to herself as she rubbed her aching side from the last exercise. Clara was fairly certain there would be bruises all over her in the morning from this crack-potted idea of hers. All-in-all she wasn’t outright sucking entirely at the tryouts so she could at least feel pretty good about that. She stood on the end of the field they were told to and waited for the first “snitch” to appear. She almost missed it soaring over the horizon heading in her general direction. She tried to move underneath it and missed by mere inches. The ball hit the ground near her and she scooped it up and threw it back. The next one she spotted off to the left side of her and she made a mad dash for it, catching this one with her fingertips before she tumbled to the ground. She stood up and launched that one back towards her cousin. She had just barely tried dusting herself off when she spotted a glint of fuzzy neon green coming from the right of her. She hoofed it towards the flying orb and dove to try getting under it to catch it. She missed this one by sheer centimeters. She hit the ground a second before it hit the ground just outside her fingertips. She laid on her stomach for a moment staring at the fuzzy little orb and cursing in her head as she snatched it up off the ground, frowned at her grass stained t-shirt and jeans and got back up on her feet.

She threw the ball back to her cousin, a bit peeved at missing that last one and waited for the next one. The next one sailed over the spot where she stood and she backed up quickly trying to grab it. She leaned back to get it, managed to get her fingers around it, but failed to pay attention to how far back she leaned. She ended up landing flat on her bottom and back, however she still had her prize tucked safely in her fingers. She lay on the ground for a moment waiting for the wind that left her body when she landed to return before attempting to get up. Clara’s bottom and back both ached from the landing, but she managed to get to her feet. She threw the ball back, rolling her shoulders slightly to loosen the tension. She waited briefly for the next fuzzy snitch to come her way and barely spotted it soaring to her left again. She sprinted towards it and snatched it out of the air before tripping on a small rock and falling into a weird little tumble thing on the ground. She got up off the ground and hoped that was the last snitch to head her way. Blissfully it was and she waited patiently for everyone to take their turn before Amira had them moving on to the next exercise. While she waited she downed at least two bottles of water and felt better afterward. She turned to the teammate waiting beside her and said, ”Wow…that was intense! I wonder if the aerial workout will be just as much fun. What do you think?” she asked curiously, taking another sip off of her water bottle.

OOC: Any mention of Amira's actions in the post were done so with the consent of her author.

0 Clara Abernathy Here goes nothing 232 Clara Abernathy 0 5

Annabelle and Annette Pierce

June 12, 2013 8:00 AM

Introducing ourselves by Annabelle and Annette Pierce

They had woken up early, run their morning jog through the Gardens (a habit they had begun last year in training for the Challenges, but it was a good one and they had decided to continue it even after the last challenge had completed; they'd even made an effort to go jogging everyday through the woods at home over the summer), then ate a healthy breakfast of toast with jam, scrambled eggs, and a large glass of milk. After that, they had returned to their room and tried unsuccessfully to get some homework done before try-outs but spent most of the time discussing the other people signed up for the team this year, making plans for how to stand out as Pecari's best Chasers, speculating about who might show up as a walk-on, hashing out what they'd do if only one of them made it, and other Quidditch-related topics.

As they had outgrown their Quidditch robes from first year and hadn't gotten any last year with the games cancelled (and not being officially on the roster anyway), the two third year twins eventually headed out to the Pitch wearing just their jogging outfits - comfortable shoes, pants and a simple short-sleeved shirt. Annabelle's shirt was brown and her jogging pants were maroon to show off her House spirit. Annette's clothes were just the opposite: her shirt was maroon and her pants brown, so that she also showed off House Spirit while still allowing people to tell them apart at a quick glance.

As Amira instructed them all to sit down, the twins did so, finding themselves next to each other (that was intentional) and right next to the Captain. So after Amira introduced herself, Annette was next.

The younger twin in the maroon shirt waved to everyone else and said, "Hi, I am Annette Pierce. I've been on the team since my first year, and I played in both games two years ago. I'd like to play Chaser." Finished, she turned to Annabelle.

The older twin in the brown shirt frowned slightly, debated whether or not to let Annette claim sole responsibility for the twins' involvement in Quidditch the previous years, then sighed and decided that if she was going to get in trouble for being on the team this year, she may as well get in trouble for being on the team the whole time. "I am Annabelle Pierce. I've also been on the team since our first year, but I haven't played in any games yet. I'd also like to play Chaser."

1 Annabelle and Annette Pierce Introducing ourselves 246 Annabelle and Annette Pierce 0 5

Annabelle Pierce

June 21, 2013 11:56 PM

What have I gotten myself into? by Annabelle Pierce

Annabelle was willing to work hard for her goals. She had gone through all of Sophie's training. She had run every morning to improve her endurance during the Challenges. That had all been exhausting, sweaty work, and if Annette was just a little bit more into that kind of thing, Annabelle could at least keep up. What Amira was outlining, however, sounded like it might be just a little more than the pureblood girl was capable of. She glanced over at her twin uncertainly, but Annette was just looking determined instead of intimidated, so Annabelle adjusted her expression to match her sister's.

It faltered for a moment as she got confused by the reference to a water molly-que-el, whatever that was, but she re-affixed it as she caught the gist of Amira's encouragement from the second part of her analogy. Not that her family was really one that stuck together through thick and thin, what with its habit of throwing anybody that didn't toe the line off to Boston. Of course, that very predictability was why she and Annette were even here. Disownment wasn't nearly as scary if you knew where you were going and who would be taking care of you when it happened. So in a sense, the Pierces were with you through thick and thin. There were just different Pierces for the thick than there were for the thin.

But that was neither here nor there, and now the try-out was beginning in earnest. Annabelle was glad for the morning runs through the gardens as she started her lap around the pitch. When Sophie first did this, she'd flagged after only a quarter of the way around and had barely been able to stand by the end of it. Now, she made it the whole way, and if she was out of breath and not really at all in contention for speediest run, she at least wasn't wiped out or minutes behind the next slowest runner this year. She felt particularly pleased that she hadn't fallen on her face after jumping the hurdle as well, since that was new for her. On the other hand, she probably hadn't earned any bonus points for knocking it over, though she thought she should get some for keeping her balance despite that.

The flight lap went much better, as she was a decently good flyer. Again, not the speediest on the team, but respectable, and only a few seconds behind Annette this time. She'd gained a little time on the turns as she had the better maneuverability while Nettie did better on the straightaways. She knew she'd never ever ever get Seeker with both Amira and Jade on the team so she hadn't even attempted to put it down on the sign-up sheet, but it was the position she felt she was best suited for, with her small size and ability to turn on a sickle should the snitch veer off suddenly, as it was wont to do.

Landing, she was glad for the brief break and took two cups of water - one to drink and one to dump over her head.

During the beater part of the try-out, she did abysmally. She swung the bat at the 'softballs' - which, by the way, were not soft - and the the first time she connected with the ball (after three or four misses), she nearly shrieked at the force that went through her hands and she dropped the bat. The softball flew off to the side, nowhere near where she had been aiming, and it didn't go very far either. The second (and last) time she connected the bat to the ball, she at least managed to hold onto the bat, though her wrists, hands, and arms hurt from the effort. The ball also covered a longer distance, but unfortunately that distance was almost straight up and it landed a half dozen feet behind her. She did not expect she would be making beater.

Keeper try-outs went better, at least relatively. She missed some of the balls thrown a fair distance away from her position, but she caught all the ones that were thrown close to her. Of course, that was a good Chasing skill as well, and she had no reach to speak of, so she didn't expect to make Keeper either. Other people had done better than her in stopping the more difficult throws.

In the growing trend, she did better still in the Chaser part of the try-out. She had caught all but two of the passes made to her (and those two she had missed because another player intercepted) and intercepted one pass herself. She had also thrown accurately, if not creatively, on all of her passes and attempts to score. She hadn't actually managed to earn her pick-up team any points personally, but she had made an assist on one of her teammate's goals. All in all, not bad.

For the Seeker part, the lack of real snitches was probably going to hinder her ability to show of her greatest asset - the ability to change direction quickly without any warning - but she wasn't expecting Seeker anyway. Her eye-hand coordination was still good enough to catch a fair number of the fuzzy yellow balls, and she thought there was only three or four that she missed that she could have reasonably been expected to get, and the first two of those were only because, for the first, she hadn't expected the balls to be so fuzzy and she'd yanked her hand away from in surprise and, for the second, she hadn't expected the balls to be so hard to grab - they were just a little too large for her hands, and they were kind of elastic so that second one bounced off her palm before her fingers could close around it (after that, she started using two hands to catch them).

After refilling her cup again (twice - once to dump on her head and once to drink) she turned as Clara addressed her. She grimaced a bit as she nodded and agreed, "Definitely intense. No idea what WAIL is on about. If this is what professional players do, I have no idea how any female players could find the other girls attractive, all red-faced and sweaty like this." Realizing belatedly how that might come across, she added quickly, "No offense meant. You're not bad looking right now. Just . . . um, sweaty." She was fairly sure she had not managed to dig herself out of that hole, and could only hope Clara was not insulted that Annabelle found her particularly unattractive at the moment.

1 Annabelle Pierce What have I gotten myself into? 246 Annabelle Pierce 0 5

Clara

June 27, 2013 3:37 PM

Hoping I don't break my neck during practice by Clara

Clara smiled at Annabelle’s comment and shrugged her shoulders. She’d never thought she’d hear another girl call her pretty or anything. She was fairly certain that Annabelle didn’t mean anything weird by the comment and she treated it as such. She laughed when Annabelle said something about being sweaty. She nodded in agreement trying not to choke on her water. Once she was able to swallow without possibly choking was when she spoke. “I definitely know the feeling,” she told her taking another sip off her water bottle. “I thought that was kind-of the point though…ya know with practice and everything. I could always be wrong about that part though. This is kind-of my first time ever really playing Quidditch.” She made the confession rather easily mostly because she recognized the other girl in front of her from somewhere. It took Clara a moment of really studying her to realize where she knew Annabelle from. When it finally hit Clara she was almost embarrassed she didn’t realize it before. Annabelle had been one of the first years she almost “ran” over in flying class her second year. Clara had seen her and her sister Annette since then, but they didn’t stay in the same dorm room. She wasn’t really surprised to find out that both girls had been swapping out with each other during the last Qudditch game before the challenges. Clara was actually really glad that the twins were on the house team with her. They were really good players and Clara was fairly certain that with them helping to protect her somewhat with the Beaters that she was gonna do okay as the Keeper. She would just have to work on blocking balls in the air.

Clara had been alright with soccer when she was a little kid and still remembered some of the moves the coach had taught them. She figured in a way it probably wasn’t much different in the air…right? Since she had never been really good at flying until now she had no reason to try out her soccer skills in the air (as it were). Now that she could actually fly somewhat she was going waaayy out of her comfort zone for this one. She figured that if she stayed mainly in one spot and flew a small amount she should do okay. She wasn’t entirely thrilled with the idea of learning all of the positions, but she could see where being able to move people around if you needed to was incredibly helpful and made them a more well rounded team. Clara just wasn’t looking forward to the amount of training that would need to be done to get there. She almost began to wonder how she was going to do all that training in between classes, homework, baking club and library volunteering. One would almost think Clara were actively trying to get a coveted Prefect position by all the stuff she was doing this year. She had never really thought that far ahead, but with the librarian being gone, and baking club starting up again and the house team being down a player or two she couldn’t help signing herself up for one of the open spots. She had no idea how she was going to do with it come their first game, but she was willing to give it a go.

She finished off her bottle of water and figured that since they were supposed to be practicing she may as well see if Annabelle wanted to run a few drills with her. She needed the extra practice anyway. “Want to do some practice shots?” she asked the other girl. “I don’t know about you, but I really need a lot of work.” She grinned sheepishly at Annabelle. The really sad part was Clara wasn’t kidding when she said she needed a LOT of work.

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