Coach Olivers
November 23, 2013 3:47 AM
Quidditch Game I: Aladren vs Crotalus by Coach Olivers
It was a new concept for Florence to put “Coach” before her stage name. She had eased into the role of “Professor” quite well since she had tutored students in Charms since she was eighteen. Lessons were easy for her to plan and charms came naturally, but she had never been in the position of coach before. When the opening arose, she could only imagine how the students would feel with Quidditch canceled. It was sad enough that Amelia was leaving, but to have the sport canceled too? As a student herself in Chicago, she had loved going to Quodpot matches particularly to watch her older brother play. She knew how hard the players worked during their practices and she saw the excitement of game day on the faces of her students in her classes. Quidditch was such a popular sport here and she didn’t want to see it canceled.It was the first Quidditch game of the year today; Aladren against Crotalus. Florence had no reason to be biased towards any particular house which made her an ideal candidate for coach, though it was unfortunate that Teppenpaw would not be able to play Quidditch this year. The weather was relatively cool for the first match, not to mention a little cloudy for autumn. The clouds didn’t allow any sun through which darkened the skies, but Florence doubted it would hinder the match much. Blue would be a little more difficult to see with the players flying around than red, but not difficult by much. The wind was scarce and for that Florence was grateful. Being in the stands or up in the air with a fierce wind always made games hard, though it did make them more interesting.
Since coaching Quidditch was so new to Florence, she did not even know how long each of the players had been on the teams. She could only hope the captains knew what they were doing. She was not so new to it that she was unaware of the fierce competition between the two houses when it came to the game. Starting the year off with these two highly competitive houses would be fun to watch.
As she had learned from watching her brother’s part-time Quodpot coaching job in Chicago, she allowed the captains to make short speeches to their respective teams before opening the game. “Welcome to the first match of the year,” Florence announced, making sure to make her voice audible to the entire pitch. “Here we have Aladren, led by Thaddeus Pierce II, playing against Crotalus, led by Linus Macaulay. Captains, please shake hands.”
Once eye contact was made and hands were shaken, Florence indicated for them to rejoin their teammates. The Snitch was released as well as the bludgers and she removed the Amplifying Charm to speak to the teams. “When I blow my whistle, the game begins. The Seeker who catches the Snitch first wins. Good luck to you both.” She picked up the quaffle and readied herself to kick it into the air. She amplified her voice once more before saying, “Players, please mount your brooms. The game begins in three, two, one—” She blew hard on her whistle and kicked the Quaffle into the air, a motion she had practiced all summer. With that, the game had begun.
OOC: Welcome to Quidditch! Remember to keep your posts clear, detailed, and realistic. Stick to the rules. If you have any questions, tag me on the OOC board. Good luck, teams!
Subthreads: Seeking a clean victory by <font color=blue>Captain Pierce, Seeker</font> with <font color=red>Cepheus Princeton, Seeker</font>, <font color=blue>Thad Pierce, Seeker</font>, <font color="red">Paul Bennett, Beater</font>, <font color="blue">Jay Carey, Beater</font>, Coach Olivers
Why am I here again? by <font color=red>Leo Princeton, Keeper</font>
Making my first appearance by Theodore Wolseithcrafte, Aladren
Here to cause some trouble. by Sasha Sinclair, Crotalus, Beater with <font color="red">Captain Macaulay, Chaser</font>, <font color='blue'>Francesca Wolseithcrafte</font>, <font color="blue">Jay Carey, Beater</font>, <font color="red">Isaac Douglas, Chaser</font>, <font color="blue">Anthony Carey, Chaser</font>, Andri Thornton, Chaser
Watching. Not crazy. by Leonidas Bennett, Aladren Reserve
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Coach Olivers
Quidditch Game I: Aladren vs Crotalus
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Coach Olivers
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<font color=blue>Captain Pierce, Seeker</font>
November 24, 2013 9:33 PM
Seeking a clean victory by <font color=blue>Captain Pierce, Seeker</font>
Thaddeus Pierce was ready for this. Aladren was ready for this. Sure, Arnold and Arthur Carey had graduated. True, Kitty had not returned, thus throwing Thaddeus unexpectedly into the Captain role with no experience as an Assistant. But they were all Aladrens, and they could handle these bumps, both predictable and unforeseen, with intelligent capability and only a couple obsessive panic attacks.The latest one Thaddeus had suffered had been shortly after try-outs, when he realized that he didn't really have the time to be a Library Monitor and a Quidditch Captain and participate in a concert event and start preparing for his RATS and offer all of these various responsibilities proper justice. That had culminated in him not offering his name to the highest library honor, which had put him in low spirits for several days following because he had really liked being a Library Monitor.
Today, however, he stood out with his team on the Pitch with confident aplomb, neatly dressed with his captain's badge displayed prominently on his blue Quidditch robes, and greeted each of the Aladrens with an encouraging smile as they arrived. Once they were all present and accounted for, he began the speech he had carefully prepared at breakfast that morning. He would have done it sooner, but then he wouldn't have been able to script the weather issue appropriately. Fortunately, that hadn't changed in the meantime, else his speech may have started sounding like one of David Wilkes' once he started improvising.
Having avoided that, he kept it simple, short and sane.
"Hello, everyone," he opened with a greeting he hoped would put the team at ease. "We are up against Crotalus first." That was less easing but he had mitigating circumstances to offer. "Rumor has it they had trouble filling all their positions this year." He hadn't actually heard this - mostly he'd heard about Teppenpaw needing to bow out due to lack of players - but it could be extrapolated from the fact that Crotalus had no reserves. That was never a comfortable position for a team to be in. "Their most experienced players left are Linus and Cepheus. These are your primary targets, beaters." He'd let Lucian and Jay figure out between them who would deal with whom. Traditionally, the better beater stuck to the Seekers but Thad knew through personal experience that the Chasers were actually much harder to keep track of.
"We have great weather for the match. The sun's not going to get in anyone's eyes. It's cool enough that we don't need to worry about overheating but not so cold we're going to freeze up there. And it's not too windy or raining - or snowing." As Seeker, Thad's job would be a little harder because there wasn't as much light to reflect off the snitch, but that wasn't anything the rest of the team had to worry about. "So we're in luck there. Let's enjoy this game. I think it'll be a good one. Let's go, Aladren!" And with that final exclamation of team spirit, the speech was done.
Professor Olivers - he couldn't really think of her as the coach - soon called him and Linus over to shake hands. Thad did so cordially enough, but offered neither smile nor pithy remark to the other captain. Truthfully, he had tried to think of something in the later category but nothing had really come to him that hadn't sounded stupid when he tried it out loud.
Returning to his team after the handshake, he picked up his broom from where he'd left it and prepared to launch into the air at the inevitable whistle. The broom was a new one, picked out over the summer as a reward for earning Assistant Captain. At the time, he hadn't really expected its maiden game to be his first one as the actual captain, or as a Seeker for that matter. He hadn't known what to expect as far as position went (though he had hoped for Seeker, of course, with Arnold graduated), so he'd picked out a good all-around broom. He hoped it was a solid match for whatever Cepheus was riding.
The whistle sounded and he kicked off, moving immediately away from the Quaffle and the mess of Chasers that he had never really enjoyed working around, either as a Chaser himself or as Beater. It was just too chaotic for him to really follow or feel comfortable around. He like the Seeker arena much better. And while he wasn't tiny like the ideal seeker, he wasn't any bigger than Cepheus - he was actually an inch or two shorter since Ceph's latest growth spurt, though they probably weighed about the same - so they were fairly evenly disadvantaged there. Certainly, he wasn't built to be a beater and he was glad to be rid of the bat.
Once he was a bit away from the main group of players, he started looking around for his yearmate as he rose up toward the traditional Seeking altitude. Spotting the blonde, he angled his broom toward his friend-turned-game-rival. Arnold had always seemed to think that playing Seeker was a mind game as much as it was a physical competition, and nobody could really argue that his methods had proved effective for him. Plus, well, he'd rather make it hard for his own team's beaters to take out Cepheus than make it easy for the Crotalus beaters to take out him.
"Lovely day for Quidditch, isn't it?" he called out once he was within easy vocal range.
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<font color=blue>Captain Pierce, Seeker</font>
Seeking a clean victory
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<font color=blue>Captain Pierce, Seeker</font>
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<font color=red>Cepheus Princeton, Seeker</font>
November 27, 2013 1:51 PM
Afraid of dirt, are you? by <font color=red>Cepheus Princeton, Seeker</font>
It had been a bit of a surprise to Cepheus to find Thad in the position of Seeker this year. He had always seen Arnold Carey as his rival in Quidditch, a rival he had always lost to, and with him one he had hoped for something better this year, a new first year to pummel with his experience and the speed of his broom. So finding Thad in the position instead hadn’t only surprised him, but disappointed him. Though Cepheus had never seen his year-mate play this position, he did not dare underestimate his skill. Thad could have been practising as a Seeker all his life for all Cepheus knew. Perhaps he’d even picked up some of Carey’s skill.That thought was dismaying, but he refused to think any more on it. The diet he’d put himself on was important to begin his day with and he went for a light breakfast. He looked sharp as he did every game day and he straightened himself out in the loo before striding onto the pitch. His confidence was oozing, a tactic he had learnt to psych out his opponent. It hadn’t worked yet, unfortunately, but it made Cepheus feel good in front of the competition.
One more year and he would be entitled the Quidditch Captain of Crotalus. The thought made the air a little cleaner, the day a little brighter. Thad was his year and the captain already, but Cepheus didn’t let that discourage him. Thad was lucky – that was all.
Cepheus listened to Linus’s pre-game speech with enthusiasm, marking his words with more attention than he had to all the dull lectures of his professors. It was odd seeing Professor Olivers conduct this match instead of Coach Pierce, but so far she seemed fine. The former actress in her probably helped her seem more confident than she actually was and it made Cepheus contemplative for a moment. He did something similar in life, acting a certain way in order to hide different attributes that weren’t considered respectable or gentlemanly. Shakespeare had written a line about that idea, but Cepheus couldn’t recite it off the top of his head. He hadn’t spent much time in Muggle literature during his pre-schooling days.
He mounted his broom, ready to take off against this unfamiliar opponent when Professor Olivers blew her whistle. Cepheus kicked off once the whistle was blown and elevated himself a little higher than the mess of Chasers and Beaters. From here he could see any bludger coming his way from a distance as well as any glints of gold. The sun would have helped in picking out the Snitch, but at least the bright light wouldn’t hurt his eyes.
Thad was nearby and Cepheus turned to him briefly. “Yes, it is,” he replied audibly. “Been Seeking long, have you? With Carey gone I’m sure you all were dead-pressed to find someone to follow his legacy. I’m sure you’ll try your best.” He added the last bit sympathetically. Seeking was a mind game as well as a competition of who had the faster broom, though Cepheus had not been on the receiving end much of one of Carey’s psychological speeches. He was prepared, however, more than he had been the first year he had ever caught the Snitch in a match and his preparation over the years couldn’t go to waste now.
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<font color=red>Cepheus Princeton, Seeker</font>
Afraid of dirt, are you?
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<font color=red>Cepheus Princeton, Seeker</font>
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<font color=blue>Captain Pierce, Seeker</font>
November 29, 2013 11:29 AM
I just don't care to wallow in it by <font color=blue>Captain Pierce, Seeker</font>
Despite never playing Seeker in a game before, Thaddeus truthfully was not terribly worried about losing. As both the team's seeker and captain, it would be almost entirely his own fault if Aladren did lose, but he felt oddly confident about the whole thing. Perhaps it was that Aladren had only lost once since he joined the team, or maybe it was that he felt a fresh taste of freedom and competency now that he wasn't confined to a position he knew he sucked at, or perhaps it was simply that he couldn't allow himself to even conceive of losing when this game meant so much to his Quidditch reputation.He'd put in the time. His first year on the team had been as a reserve, and he'd particularly focused on the Seeker position in case anything had happened to Arnold. His summer practices had, by the simple fact that he'd had nobody to play with since Derry left the mountain, focused on Seeking. Well, this summer, he'd had the Anns, he supposed, but that had been kind of weird, and they preferred not letting the Aladren learn their Pecari secrets anyway. And, of course, he'd been practicing with the Snitch since he named himself Seeker this year.
That might not add up to the same amount of Seeking experience that Cepheus and Jade had, particularly in the competitive match realm, but he was no newbie either.
When Cepheus tried to psych him out, he actually laughed. He'd trained under Arnold, not just as an understudy but as the Seeker's guardian beater. Did Ceph really think that would rattle him?
"I'll try," he responded dryly. "I've been Arnold's understudy for five years, I think I'll be okay." If that wasn't strictly true during the last four years when he'd spent most of the practices trying (entirely too unsuccessfully for his taste) to become a competent beater, he had often requested of whoever was the captain at the time that, should Arnold not be able to play, if they could substitute the reserve to Beater and let him play Seeker. It hadn't ever come up, so he didn't know if it would have happened that way, but the request had been made. So he felt he was entitled to make the claim, especially to a rival Seeker during a game.
"You've only won how many games?" he questioned, hoping that was sore point. And that Cepheus wouldn't hold it against him outside of Quidditch.
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<font color=blue>Captain Pierce, Seeker</font>
I just don't care to wallow in it
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<font color=blue>Captain Pierce, Seeker</font>
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<font color=red>Cepheus Princeton, Seeker</font>
December 06, 2013 1:33 PM
Wallowing is all part of the game. by <font color=red>Cepheus Princeton, Seeker</font>
Thad’s statement was more than a sore point; it was a direct hit at his incompetency as a Seeker. Cepheus was serious about Quidditch and keeping himself ahead of the game, but it had never paid off. This was what Thad really thought of him, that much was plain, and Cepheus felt himself cool considerably against this lad. Alicia could date whomever she wanted, but he didn’t think he could tolerate someone who thought so lowly of him. “Point taken,” he replied with a disdainful smile. “Goes to show ambition and hard work means nothing in the game.” The pitch was always personal when it came to comments like these between acquaintances – trash talk was not something Cepheus was well-versed in and perhaps never would be. “Now if you’ll excuse me--”He cut himself off suddenly at the appearance of a gold shimmer. His take-off was abrupt with not even a widening of his eyes to give any indication of his find. Cepheus made right after it as quickly as possible, angry at himself for allowing Thad’s comment to discompose his focus and ignite his temper. He was angrier still at Thad’s warranted opinion of him. Fortunately Ceph’s anger only encouraged him to fight back, to prove he was indeed a competent Seeker and that he could win a blooming match. He would show him; he would show all of them.
The Snitch disappeared in the midst of the Chasing chaos, but Cepheus was not discouraged. The Snitch enjoyed playing the disappearing game in the early minutes of the match. He distanced himself from the opposing Seeker, unable to speak to him after what he’d insinuated. Incompetent. Cepheus fumed and that anger channelled into energy, causing him to feel restless and itch to ride hard on his broom as he did whenever he felt frustrated at home.
On first being accepted to Sonora, Cepheus had hoped for school to be the solace away from his overwhelming duties he was expected to perform in England, but he had long since discovered that being away from his family simply meant there was more expected of him. He had big shoes to fill after his father who had been the Quidditch captain and Seeker as well back in England. His father had trophies with his name on them and Cepheus had only caught the Snitch once during his time here. It was pathetic and one of his acquaintances rubbing that in infuriated him.
The grip on his broom tightened until his knuckles turned white; he grit his teeth; he attempted to cool himself down by reminding himself of the Snitch. If he lost his cool in a match because of a petty insinuation he would never win. He had never been good at keeping his temper, but he did his best to seem unruffled by Thad’s comment. Cepheus rose up once again keeping one eye on Thad and the other out for gold. Another part of him worried slightly about the bludgers, but he knew he couldn't worry about that. That was the job of the Beaters, of Paul, to protect him. Cepheus missed Gareth now more than he had before. It was his first match without his Beater after five years partnering together. After some practise, Cepheus had learnt to trust Paul on the pitch, but he had no idea how the lad would act in an actual match.
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<font color=red>Cepheus Princeton, Seeker</font>
Wallowing is all part of the game.
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<font color=red>Cepheus Princeton, Seeker</font>
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<font color=blue>Thad Pierce, Seeker</font>
December 06, 2013 3:01 PM
Is that wallowing or sulking? by <font color=blue>Thad Pierce, Seeker</font>
Thad watched Cepheus fly off abruptly, trying not to feel bad that his friend no longer wanted to be near him. He told himself this meant he had certainly rattled his opponent, which was a good thing. Unfortunately, his distaste for causing harm was part of what made him such an awful Beater, and his words had apparently hit Cepheus harder than he'd meant them to.He let Ceph speed off toward the Chasers, unaware than his rival may have spotted the snitch. Rather, he assumed the other Seeker had merely chanced upon Thad's aversion to the Quaffle crowd and used it to assist in his desire to avoid Thad. Had Thaddeus been more ruthless - and less afraid of the flying chaos that surrounded the Quaffle - he would have followed doggedly after Cepheus and not given him a chance to regroup, but he didn't.
Thad hung back instead, looking around for the Snitch, and giving Ceph a chance to apply a mental bandage. He didn't spot the golden ball right away, so he began a systematic flying pattern to search the Pitch effectively and efficiently. When he caught the eye of one of his Beaters, he signalled toward his rival. If Cepheus wanted to avoid Thad, then that ought to be an invitation to the Aladren Beaters who no longer needed to be careful of their captain.
Still no Snitch, though, and he tried to reassure himself that this was not a sign that he was a lousy Seeker as well. It would show itself when it was ready, that was certain. He could only hope it would be nearer to him than Cepheus when it did. In the meantime, he just had to stay focused and ready to burst into action as soon as it was spotted.
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<font color=blue>Thad Pierce, Seeker</font>
Is that wallowing or sulking?
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<font color=blue>Thad Pierce, Seeker</font>
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<font color="red">Paul Bennett, Beater</font>
December 06, 2013 3:09 PM
I'm not really a fan of either by <font color="red">Paul Bennett, Beater</font>
Technically speaking, Paul was not a new addition to the Crotalus starting line-up. He had played Beater in an actual game before most of the people on the Pitch had even come to Sonora. He had taken up his broom and bat as a first year and flown for the glory of the rattlesnakes, and he liked to think he had most likely even succeeded in hitting something, though he would not actually bet on it, because he didn’t remember clearly.That, of course, was because he hadn’t done it in six years. In first or second year, he didn’t even remember which of those it had been, now, but suspected it had been first because he distinctly remembered playing against Edmond Carey and that guy had been gone for ages now, he had played, and then he had retreated to his natural habitat, an observer’s position. He was taking Defense Against the Dark Arts, only a fool or an incompetent wouldn’t even if he was not marrying a Brockert, but unlike some members of the class, his instincts really were mostly defensive, and not even in the big, showy way there, too. When he did more than observe a situation, he preferred to do so quietly, and if at all possible without anyone realizing he was involved; her more proactive tendencies were why he and his older sister Eliza made a good team and had plans to handle much of their business together after school. Beater was a position better suited to his physique than his personality, and even then, he knew most people wouldn’t assume it was that well suited to his physique. He looked soft, not strong; this was mostly true, too, though he knew, too, that he was both stronger and quicker than most observers would assume, though the more observant members of the Defense class might have observed it by now.
As he listened to Linus’ opening remarks and then surveyed the Aladren team, he wondered, idly, for a moment what his teammates and opponents thought on that subject, but knew one set had at least seen him in practice and did not have long to look at the other before the game began and he had to stop wondering and get to playing. Namely, to protecting the Seeker, though Cepheus and Pierce seemed for the moment content enough to play like Arnold Carey, too close to each other for shots to make much sense and talking to each other.
He did not get close enough to hear the conversation, assuming it was either trash talk – one of those things Paul could grasp in theory but could not actually get a practical grip on; since someone who engaged in it and lost would look like even more of a fool because of how big he’d talked before, it went entirely against his nature to risk it, since he always considered failure a possibility, one of the many ways in which he was simply not sports-minded – or else, and worse, banter between friends, since they were people who interacted socially outside of the game…
…Or had been, anyway. Paul was not sports-minded and did not really grasp the purpose or usefulness of rivalries and personal feelings about it all, but others were not like him most of the time, and after a moment, Cepheus flew away. Toward the Chasers. Paul considered whether to try to find a Bludger to attack Thad or to follow his own Seeker, finally settling on the former, trusting the general chaos to protect Cepheus long enough for him to get in a hit at Thad. Flying closer to the action, he came into the path of one of the demonic entities masquerading as part of a game for children and hit it, hard, toward the Aladren Seeker.
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<font color="red">Paul Bennett, Beater</font>
I'm not really a fan of either
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<font color="red">Paul Bennett, Beater</font>
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<font color=red>Cepheus Princeton, Seeker</font>
December 06, 2013 8:02 PM
Sulking in dirt would be rather odd. by <font color=red>Cepheus Princeton, Seeker</font>
There were stages in the waiting period between the moment Cepheus lost sight of the Snitch and the moment it reappeared. The first stage Cepheus sat scanning the pitch fervently for a glint of gold. But once that stage passed, he made laps around the pitch with his eyes narrowed to focus on his target. Then he flew high above the fray to see if he could spot it from up there. But the stage after that came his idle thoughts, thoughts that helped him pass the time. They were mostly visions of him holding a trophy with his name etched on it. When he played, he played to win no matter what the game was. Quidditch itself was active and Cepheus enjoyed flying, but it wasn't a sport he would play actively after graduation. A pick-up match here and there, sure, perhaps on the summers he went to see his mates, but nothing more.Stage one had passed and Cepheus prepared to make his rounds. Paul had followed him and Ceph was glad to see that. If he'd heard right over the noises of the rushing brooms, a bludger had been knocked in his opponent's direction as well. Cepheus hoped it knocked Thad off his broom, but not in a life-threatening way. Alicia would kill him if she knew he was having such thoughts about her significant other, but she didn't have to know.
The two rounds were fruitless and the harsh flying had loosened his hair from his place. He brushed it back as he rose on his broom for the third stage. Perhaps he would be more susceptible to bludgers here, but as long as Paul proved faithful, Cepheus had nothing to worry about. Unless Paul was afraid of heights.
As he sat growing chilly up so high, Cepheus scanned the pitch, his eyes looking once at his brother to see how he was doing. As irritating as Leo was, he still cared about him to an extent. Leo had briefly spoken to him for the first time in eleven months and Cepheus had been impressed and disgusted by Leo's dedication to ignoring him for so long. Leo's annoyance had come about as a result of the Quaffle smashing into his face last year and Cepheus could hardly blame him after nearly signing his name for him on the signup sheet the year before. This year it wasn't his fault and Leo seemed to have recognised that. What a conceited little twit.
Ceph thought of who else could be in the stands. His eyes continued to scan the pitch instead of turning to the red and blue crowds. His mates had to be there if they were truly his mates. Cepheus could only imagine Alicia's torn loyalties, but that reminded him of Thad and his fingers tightened around his broom again. He took a deep breath to calm himself and thought instead of Theresa. She had to be in the stands as well and Cepheus did not want to lose in front of her again. It was embarrassing having lost once already in front of his girlfriend.
It was getting boring up here and Cepheus decided it was time for a feint. His feints had gotten better over the years and Ceph hoped this one would knock Thad for a loop. And if the Snitch decided to make itself known as he dropped, that would be the perfect time to swoop and snatch it. In an ideal world, of course.
This time, unlike the last where Thad seemed to have no idea that his opponent had caught sight of the real Snitch, Cepheus made it subtly obvious that he'd seen something. His eyes widened, his mouth opened slightly and he leant forward before diving and taking off towards the Aladren hoops. Cepheus made sure to pass Paul on his way and raised his eyebrows. Hopefully Paul would get the message and have a bludger ready in case Thad decided to follow. As he neared the hoops, Cepheus dove again, nearing the ground, then pulling up sharply and went around the pitch, this time searching for the real Snitch. Again there was no sight and Cepheus rose, eyes looking for Thad briefly to see if his strategy had had any effect on the Aladren Seeker.
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<font color=red>Cepheus Princeton, Seeker</font>
Sulking in dirt would be rather odd.
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<font color=red>Cepheus Princeton, Seeker</font>
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<font color=blue>Captain Pierce, Seeker</font>
December 06, 2013 9:55 PM
Yipes! by <font color=blue>Captain Pierce, Seeker</font>
Thad realized a bit belatedly that he should have been more concerned with what Paul Bennett was doing than what his own Beaters were doing. Cepheus being open for Aladren bludgers meant Thaddeus was equally open to Crotalus ones, after all. He was not entirely oblivious, of course. He was watching the field for the Snitch, so his eyes were darting around in a comprehensive manner. However, bludgers were not shiny or golden and, in fact, were a little hard to distinguish in the cloudy weather, so it took him a moment to process what he had seen coming toward him.It was a moment he didn't really have for processing, so instinct took over, and, well, the instinct he'd honed over the last several years involving bludgers was to raise a bat he didn't have today.
His brain did notice that absence and managed to get him moving in avoidance, but not fast enough. He got his broom turned around and pushed it forward, ahead of the bludger, so that when the metal ball did hit, they were at least both moving in the same direction, at similar speeds, minimizing the force of the blow as much as possible.
It still hurt.
The bludger smashed into his left shoulder, and the whole arm started hurting. He dove, trying to put distance between himself and a potential ricochet hit. Pulling up again once he was clear sent jangles all the way down to his elbow and he grit his teeth against the pain of it. School games did not last long. The snitch could show itself at any time. He could not go down to the medic yet. Not until it was over.
Checking to make sure he was still safe from both bludgers, he tried flying one-handed to see if that was better, but his scan for bludgers showed him that Cepheus had spotted something.
Muttering a word under his breath that he would have kept to himself if there was any chance of anyone hearing him, he grabbed both hands around the broom and dove after him. His shoulder hurt like the dickens, and he couldn't see what Cepheus was after, but that might have just been because Ceph was closer.
He could not lose this game. Aladren had a reputation for winning, and he did not want to be the weak link in its history of success. He pushed his broom for more speed and blinked away the tears that forming - surely from the wind rushing into his eyes, not the shoulder throbbing - and muttered a different word of equal letter count as he saw, out of the corner of his eye, over toward the stands, the real snitch.
He fought to reverse his momentum, to go for the gold, but his shoulder protested horribly and it took too long and by the time he was facing the right way, the snitch was gone again.
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<font color=blue>Captain Pierce, Seeker</font>
Yipes!
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<font color=blue>Captain Pierce, Seeker</font>
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<font color="blue">Jay Carey, Beater</font>
December 07, 2013 12:35 AM
Hang in there by <font color="blue">Jay Carey, Beater</font>
Jay did, looking at his target for a second as a person with characteristics beyond a red robe, feel a little bad about hitting a Bludger toward a first year. It wasn’t at all the same thing, since Brandon was second only to Arnold for number of injuries in the family and even more likely than their cousin to just laugh them off, but he couldn’t help but think of the fact he had a brother in first year. He’d gathered from newspaper opinion columns that there was a minor controversy in Quidditch circles about whether first and second years should even be allowed to play with older kids, if at all, though at Sonora, enough of the population was inclined toward spectating that splitting them all up was not doable, making it a moot point.The first year escaped without injury, though, and the Quaffle went back into Aladren hands, at least temporarily. Anthony seemed to be handling himself well, he thought; he hadn’t really doubted that he would, but it was still a relief….
Glancing up toward the Seekers and seeing Paul Bennett closer to his, as the two split up, than he would have liked was not. Was not at all. He started toward that part of the action, but Bennett got there first, proving that Jay had been right not to assume he was a useless idiot and also that it was not always a good thing, even in his House, to be right. He didn’t get there in time to keep Thad from being hit, which meant he was scowling as he intercepted the Bludger and hit it back toward Crotalus, a rare expression for him. As the child between Theresa and Henry, both of whom, for people who really did not handle their emotions very well in general, were very good at expressing a desire to desecrate the graves of people who annoyed them with a look, he usually considered it his responsibility to be pleasant. But not right now.
He glanced at Thad, who did not look exactly on top of the world, but who was still in the air. Well, catching the Snitch was possible as long as the Seeker had one working hand; Arnold liked to relate, when Aunt Lorraine wasn’t around, the story of the time he’d caught the Snitch seconds before passing out. As long as Thad was conscious, they were basically all right, though he seemed to have enough trouble turning that Jay thought he should really do what he could to make sure the captain didn't get hit again. It seemed that, whatever Arnold was or had done, his successor did not enjoy pain and reacted to it like most of the planet.
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<font color="blue">Jay Carey, Beater</font>
Hang in there
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<font color="blue">Jay Carey, Beater</font>
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<font color="red">Paul Bennett, Beater</font>
December 07, 2013 1:06 AM
Or don't, it's up to you, really by <font color="red">Paul Bennett, Beater</font>
Pierce nearly got away, and Paul could tell before it was even done that the hit was not going to be enough to put the Aladren Seeker out of the game if he was, well, any kind of Aladren, but he succeeded in his goal of inflicting injury on the opposition and was content with that. He had, from his well-worn and much missed spot on the Crotalus bench, seen games come down to a second, or at least it had seemed that way, or seemed that way now in memory; if he succeeded in slowing down Pierce enough that Cepheus was on the right end of that second if it came, then he didn’t see how it was any less of a victory for him than if he’d done enough damage to keep him from being a contender anymore at all.Besides, the game was just plain no fun when one side just beat the other to a pulp; not as bad as when neither team could get an inch, of course, but still. A fair fight where one side came out the superior, or at least the luckier, in a reasonable amount of time made a better show. Not actually doing Pierce lasting harm was also good for Paul in other ways; Beaters who liked the job too much could get a bad reputation in the school, and Pierce was a popular guy, anyway. Whatever happened, happened, but Paul was definitely aiming to just inconvenience him, not actually kill him.
It was, he thought, ironic that he thought he might be more sports-minded than many people who actually enjoyed playing the game in this regard. If someone tried to hit Leo, Paul thought he would be indifferent to that; if his brother had played today, Paul would have tried to hit him himself, if Leo – or Leonidas, as Paul had gathered he was calling himself now; Paul considered that kind of lame, but since they had exchanged about five words since coming back to school, he had never expressed this opinion to his second-to-youngest sibling – had gotten in his way. He didn’t consider it anything personal, but knew other people might have taken it as somehow indicative of his character, which he did not think was very fair. People who rambled on about Quidditch showing who people really were and having anything to do with the real world, outside of the betting and investments, were, in his opinion, kind of delusional.
One of the Careys hit the Bludger back toward them, but Paul was more interested in finding Cepheus than in trying to injure Aladrens at the moment, so he deflected it away from the nearest Crotalus without much strategy, looking for his Seeker and trying to figure out what his strategy was so he could play along with it while still keeping the sixth year safe. That, he thought, might be the hardest part of warding the Seeker, since their plays could be complicated and fast moving and it wasn't like they could exactly have a conversation about it while the Aladrens politely refrained from either listening in, looking for the Snitch themselves, or beating Cepheus to death with Bludgers on the side which would necessarily be left open.
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<font color="red">Paul Bennett, Beater</font>
Or don't, it's up to you, really
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<font color="red">Paul Bennett, Beater</font>
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<font color=blue>Captain Pierce, Seeker</font>
December 07, 2013 6:36 PM
I'll hang in for the win! by <font color=blue>Captain Pierce, Seeker</font>
Thaddeus kept heading toward where he'd last seen the Snitch, a wary look was drawn toward Jay as he heard another bat hit a bludger, but his assistant captain was not aiming at him, so he kept going. Another look shot toward Paul moments later, drawn by the same sound, but that bludger wasn't heading toward him either. Putting the thought out of mind, Thad focused once more on finding his primary target.There!
He saw it, still in the general area he'd seen it before. He leaned forward, pushing his broom to its top speed, his shoulder all but forgotten in the thankfully numbing rush of adrenaline. This was it. He just had to reach out . . .
The fingers of his right hand stretched toward the small golden ball. He had no idea where Cepheus was. The Crotalus seeker could have been right next to him and he wouldn't have known it. He only had eyes for that tiny winged ball.
His fingers closed around it. He felt the chilly metal against his skin. He whooped and held it aloft, waving it around and showing his prize to the world.
"We won!" he shouted, uncaring that most of the team was too far away to hear. "We won!"
He directed his broom into a shallow dive, heading down to the ground. When his shoes touched grass, his legs could barely hold him up, shaking as they were with reaction to the win. His hand shook, too, as he held the snitch aloft, but he didn't care.
Aladren had won again. Aladren had won.
A medic visit was definitely in his immediate future, but this moment was for the team. As they flew down, he made sure they could all see the proof that the loss of Arnold Carey not mean that Aladren had lost its edge. In this precise moment, he was really much more aware of his face hurting from grinning so hard than he was of his shoulder anyway.
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<font color=blue>Captain Pierce, Seeker</font>
I'll hang in for the win!
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<font color=blue>Captain Pierce, Seeker</font>
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Coach Olivers
December 07, 2013 8:11 PM
Aladren wins! 150 - 0 (nm) by Coach Olivers
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Coach Olivers
Aladren wins! 150 - 0 (nm)
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Coach Olivers
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