Scoping out the competition. on Quidditch Pitch

Theresa Carey

July 11, 2013 7:33 PM

Watching the game by Theresa Carey

The season was opening with Crotalus versus Teppenpaw – Theresa guessed the school had weighed the options and decided the chances of being able to draw the maximum drama out of Arnold’s last game was good enough – so really, there was no reason for Theresa to attend the first Quidditch match of the year. None at all. Nevertheless, here she was, annoyed at Henry and Lucille for both refusing to cooperate with her and support their Houses and trying not to look nervous as she sat in the stands, reminding herself every moment that, here or not, her brother and her cousin’s fiancée were both Crotali and that she, therefore, had every right to watch the game. Maybe it would have been more proper to find Arnold, who was surely here somewhere whether Fae was or not, and sit with him, but, well, there were a lot of people here. It was easy to miss one short guy.

A little harder to miss his taller brother unless she deliberately tried and ducked behind something for a few minutes, but, well, that happened, too. There were lots of reasons for avoiding Arthur, not least of which was his interest in her CATS. She had explained to him several times that his RATS really were much more important or, failing that, that Arnold’s were, but to no avail, and threatening him hadn’t worked, either; he’d taken that as an excuse, during last Tuesday’s session, to review poisons and curses, trying to get her to describe in great detail exactly what various combinations would do to kill him if she administered them, and then she’d gotten so upset she had finally ended the session by throwing a book at his head.

According to Henry, whose much more necessary tutoring sessions were immediately after hers, he’d found that absolutely hilarious.

Once she was sure Arnold and Arthur were out of the way, she had found a seat, pulled her hat as low as she could, and tried to pretend she was invisible. She wasn’t good at it, not the way Jay and Anthony were – they could stand still and not really be noticed at all; she thought it was mostly just that they had really boring hair colors, but the standing still had something to do with it, too, and she couldn’t keep her foot from jiggling or something when she was nervous like this – but it was, she thought, worth a try.

The game began, and she tried to pick out which red dot she definitely didn’t care about.

Subthreads:

You're such a rebel by Jade Owen

Scoping out the competition. by Lucian D'Alesandro with Heaven Baird, Lucian

0 Theresa Carey Watching the game 219 Theresa Carey 1 5

Jade Owen

July 12, 2013 9:16 AM

You're such a rebel by Jade Owen

For the past four years, Jade hadn't missed a Quidditch game at Sonora. She had played in several of them, of course, but had watched the others partly for pure enjoyment, and partly to help improve her own performance. It was especially helpful for a Seeker to be familiar with her opponent - to know their distraction techniques, and to ascertain any weaknesses. She was thrilled to be playing Arnold, guaranteed, thanks to this year's line up. He was beating her two to one, and as he was in his seventh year, Jade only had this year to even the score. Actually, as she'd beaten him as a first year, and as this would be his last year playing, if she beat him this year, too, she would consider herself the victor.

Speaking of Careys (or thinking about one, anyway) Jade thought she saw Theresa a little further along the bench, trying to be invisible. So Jade scootched up to her. "T?" she asked, her tone inquiring because she didn't think Theresa attended the Quidditch games. Then again, her roommate had been surprisingly her a lot recent. Jade was sure she'd seen her holding hands in the labyrinth with a student who was rumored to already be engaged to somebody else. She hadn't told anybody else, because she wasn't that sort of person, but she had it in mind to warn T to be more careful. If Jade had seen them together, there was a chance somebody else had, too.

What was with her roommates, anyway? Waverly was all upset over her Muggle boyfriend not working out, and T was evidently into a guy she couldn't have. Jade was feeling pretty smug about her position that boyfriends weren't worth the hassle. Look, admire, but don't let them touch you, as her mother said (admittedly, she had been talking about garden gnomes). "Didn't think this was your scene," Jade greeted her fellow fifth year, brushing off her jeans as she settled back down.

0 Jade Owen You're such a rebel 221 Jade Owen 0 5

Lucian D'Alesandro

July 20, 2013 10:19 PM

Scoping out the competition. by Lucian D'Alesandro

Lucian decided to attend the Crotalus vs. Teppenpaw game to scope out some of Aladren’s potential competition. He wanted to pick up on some of the maneuvers of the players, and assess their skill levels. Though it wasn’t a side of himself that he revealed often, Lucian did enjoy competition. When there was a challenge before him, he would do whatever he could to meet it head on and become a victor.

He found a seat in the stands next to a few girls who were chatting. The one was wearing a hat and seemed to be trying to maintain a low profile, which he found a bit odd, but didn’t pay much attention to it besides acknowledging that stray thought. He didn’t want the girls to think that he was eavesdropping on their conversation.

Once the game began, Lucian followed the Chasers closely. It was hard to tell who everyone was from the stands, but he was able to recognize Carter, who was in his classes, on the Teppenpaw team. The other Chaser that seemed to be in a lot of the action was a younger girl. Lucian also heard a lot of yelling from the Teppenpaws, and wondered if it was some sort of distraction technique.

The Teppenpaw team seemed to be relentless, and kept control of the Quaffle throughout most of the game thus far. Bludgers almost seemed to be bewitched to target the Teppenpaw players, and were often sailing towards them without the help of the Beaters. “What a weird game,” Lucian said out loud without realizing it. Lucian thought that Crotalus would be winning this game fairly easily, considering their past wins.

Finally, after some time, a Crotalus Chaser intercepted the Quaffle and was headed towards the Teppenpaw hoops, but was denied any points. This game seemed pretty ridiculous, and Lucian was glad that he was merely a spectator. He decided, however, that if the time came and he would have to play against the Teppenpaw team, he knew exactly which players he would be keeping an eye on. Until then, he continued to watch the game closely, wondering how it would end.

0 Lucian D'Alesandro Scoping out the competition. 223 Lucian D'Alesandro 0 5

Heaven Baird

July 21, 2013 1:51 AM

One can find all sorts of things. by Heaven Baird

Heaven would never consider playing Quidditch herself, but her mother insisted that she watch the games so that she would be able to entertain her future husband with her knowledge. However, in doing so, she had found that she enjoyed watching them, especially when it was Crotalus playing. They had quite a few decent players, which is why this game was surprising her so. What was going on that a couple of younger years were dominating the game? It seemed a little surreal. She had shuddered when the bludgers had hit them and she had no idea how they were still in the game. She had no doubt she would have been out immediately.

Glancing around in the stands, she was surprised to see Lucian since his House wasn’t playing. Normally, she refused to speak to him, but she figured that this was as good a time to talk to him as any. She wanted to know what was going on between him and well, everyone else. She didn’t want to see her sister get hurt, even though, Honey had insisted that everything had been resolved, but what was everything? She knew how rude he was, so she wanted to make sure that he hadn’t said anything inappropriate.

Making her way across, she sat down next to him, tucking her black skirt underneath. She was wearing a red top in support of her team and her hair was neatly pinned up with a red barrette. Since it was a little later in the season, she was also sporting a black and red plaid shawl to keep her warm. She wrapped it more tightly around herself. “Yes, it is. I’ve never seen bludgers act like that,” she shook her head slightly in disbelief. Heaven glanced at him before turning her attention back to the game. She hated looking at him, but lately, she had found herself doing so unintentionally. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here since neither Aladren nor Pecari are playing.” The latter was a subtle hint to both Clara and Honey.

0 Heaven Baird One can find all sorts of things. 229 Heaven Baird 0 5

Lucian

July 21, 2013 2:34 PM

Even a few surprises, it seems. by Lucian

“I know, and the fact that they keep getting hit and still remain in the game is surprising.” Though he didn’t want to completely maim anyone, Lucian decided he was going to have to ensure that the Bludgers he hit towards the opposing team at least slowed the players down.

Though the voice he heard next to him was familiar, he was watching the game so intensely that he hadn’t bothered to see who was sitting next to him before responding. When the voice inquired as to why he was there since neither Aladren nor Pecari were playing, he furrowed his eyebrows and turned to see who the voice belonged to, and realized Heaven was sitting next to him.

Why on earth did she decide to sit next to him? She must have been up to something. Lucian almost turned to look around to make sure she was actually talking to him, but decided against it. He glanced over at her skirt and shawl she had wrapped around her, and then looked away. Why is she mentioning Pecari? Then he realized the obvious answer: Clara. Heaven was fishing for information. Of course she was, why else would she sit next to him? He wasn’t exactly sure what to do, so he cleared his throat and decided to calmly respond.

“I decided to scope out the competition since I am on the Aladren team this year. I am sort of hoping we don’t have to play Teppenpaw much. I am sure we could beat them, but this game seems jinxed or something.” He then looked over at her once more, and then turned away quickly. “As for Pecari, I didn’t even know Clara was on the team until I saw her practicing.” He almost mentally kicked himself for adding that he had no knowledge of Clara playing Quidditch beforehand. Lucian did not want to give Heaven any kind of satisfaction by mentioning potential problems between Clara and him.

In order to change the subject, Lucian decided to return the favor and ask about Heaven’s betrothal. “So, how is Henri?”

0 Lucian Even a few surprises, it seems. 0 Lucian 0 5

Heaven

July 22, 2013 12:19 AM

More than I care to admit. by Heaven

“Oh, I didn’t know that,” Heaven stated, referring to Lucian being on his House team. Though, after she had said it, she wanted to smack herself. Why had she said that? It wasn’t like she was collecting information about him like some stalker. Of course, she wouldn’t have known that, especially since they weren’t friends of any sort, though, they were going to be related one day, which was still weird to think about. She still couldn’t believe that one day he was going to be married to Honey. It was just too awkward to think about.

On the subject of betrothals, Henri was brought up. Heaven’s face tightened visibly. It wasn’t that Henri was an awful person. In fact, he was a perfect gentleman. He said all of the right things. He did all of the right things. But there was nothing there. No spark. In fact, she found him to be rather dull. However, there was absolutely no way that she would ever tell Lucian that. She looked down at her hands. She knew she was wringing them. She did that when she was nervous or lying. Maybe she was a little bit of both. “Henri is fine. He invited me to his family’s estate over the holidays so that I can be formally introduced to the rest of his family. I guess they have a New Year’s party every year.”

The idea of spending New Year’s Eve with Henri was more than a little nerve wracking. She wondered if he expected them to kiss when midnight came. She had never kissed anyone before and she wasn’t sure that she wanted her first kiss to come from a guy that she had lukewarm feelings for. “Will you and Clara be spending time together over the holiday?” She asked suddenly. “Honey told me that you two are expected or maybe you are, a couple. Though, I’m sure my parents will invite you to visit at some point during midterm.” She was babbling. She knew she was and she couldn’t seem to help herself. “You and Clara make a fine couple if you are dating. Aren’t you worried though of becoming attached? You know...since you have to marry Honey.”

0 Heaven More than I care to admit. 0 Heaven 0 5

Lucian

July 22, 2013 11:11 PM

I am usually not fond of surprises. by Lucian

Lucian could not tell whether or not Heaven’s politeness was sincere or merely a façade for getting information out of him. Normally, she was glaring at him, ignoring his existence completely, or angrily stabbing her salad while staring at him across the Hall. Perhaps she was just trying to be nice since he would have to be a part of her family someday, but he wasn’t sure that was her style. Besides, he assumed Honey told her about the betrothal conversation, so there really was no logical reason for her to be sitting next to him talking on and on. Whatever her motives were, Lucian was at least glad that she wasn’t yelling at him or insulting him.

After he had mentioned Henri, Lucian looked over at Heaven to see what her facial expression was. Instead, he noticed she was wringing her hands together. It appeared he had hit a nerve, and he was just about to apologize, when Heaven said that Henri was fine and that she would be joining him for the holidays. Henri would probably try kissing her when the clock struck twelve.

As he thought about that, Lucian felt a wave of anger rise from his stomach and up to his head. “Oh, how nice. I am sure you will enjoy spending New Year’s Eve with him.” He said it in such a manner so that it did not appear rude, yet hinted at his distaste subtly. The words felt sour in his mouth. Instead, he wanted to tell her that he hoped she had a horrible time with Henri, though he wasn’t sure why.

Lucian placed both of his hands firmly on the bench, as if this would help steady him. He really needed to get it together. She was actually being nice to him, and he was getting angry for no reason. After calming down a little, he responded to Heaven’s next questions. “I highly doubt that Clara and I will see each other over the holidays.”

He debated whether or not to continue on, since she seemed very interested in his relationship with Clara, and decided to answer vaguely. “Her father is probably still trying to find a betrothal for her, and she tends to have a lot of family things going on. Besides, we are not a couple. Well, yet, anyway. I suspect that might change. Hopefully soon.” Lucian added that last part while looking straight ahead at the game. For some reason, he felt like it was some sort of revengeful statement that showed he was free to do as he pleased despite his betrothal to Honey.

However, Heaven’s next question quickly dissipated any freedom he felt. Lucian never looked at his situation in the way she explained it. He always told himself that he would not be bound to his betrothal, but her words seemed to cause doubts to surface. “Thanks,” he began, “I guess I never looked at it that way to be honest.” He was careful in the words he chose, for he did not want to insult Honey in any way, or reveal that he never intended to marry her. He sighed, and put his head in his hands. “I just wish things were different. Everybody should have the chance to find someone that they want to spend their lives with instead of being stuck with a person they don’t even know.” Lucian looked right into Heaven’s blue eyes, as if searching for understanding, “I mean, don’t you want that?”

0 Lucian I am usually not fond of surprises. 0 Lucian 0 5