I guess it's time to mix it up a little. on Quidditch Pitch

Coach Olivers

April 13, 2015 12:32 AM

Quidditch Game III: Teppalus vs. Aladren by Coach Olivers

Today was a match Florence was not particularly looking forward to seeing. It was clear that the combined Teppenpaw and Crotalus team was much less experienced than the dominating Aladren and Pecari houses. Though Aladren dominated almost every Quidditch match they played, Florence hoped they would show just a little mercy to the young first and second years. She doubted, however, that Anthony Carey would take that into consideration. No one could, after all, underestimate their opponent on the pitch no matter how young and inexperienced they were.

The weather today was fair—slightly cloudy with a nice breeze that was strong enough to push the Snitch off course, but gentle enough to make no difference to a bludger. After the unpleasant weather in the last couple of matches, Florence was glad today was a pleasant day. She had never liked standing out in the rain even if it was to make sure those kids on brooms were playing safe. Dressed in black-and-white striped robes, much as a muggle referee would wear, she watched the players come onto the pitch. Once it was time, she pressed her wand against her throat and silently hoped Alistair was well enough to play.

“Welcome to the last match of the season,” she said, enunciating her words for everyone to hear and understand. “Here we have the combined Teppenpaw and Crotalus team led by co-captains Liac Reinhardt from Teppenpaw and Alistair Johnson from Crotalus facing off against Aladren led by Captain Anthony Carey. Captains, if you would please shake hands.

“When I blow my whistle, the game begins. The match ends when the Snitch is caught. Players, please take your positions.”

Once the players had mounted their brooms and the Keepers had flown to their respective positions, Florence released the Snitch and picked up the Quaffle. She put the silver whistle into her mouth and made brief eye-contact with the Chasers. After a moment, she blew her whistle and threw the Quaffle into the air. With the Quaffle now in action, she released the bludgers and took a step back off the pitch to watch the game progress.

The game had begun.

OOC: Two paragraphs minimum; creativity, detail, and realism will be rewarded. Make sure your names are colored according to your house and stick to the rules. Any questions, tag Coach Olivers on the OOC board. Good luck!

Subthreads:

Flying right along by Clark Dill, Seeker with

Hoping this goes better by Ginger Pierce, Keeper with Theodore, Keeper

Making the best of things. by Isaac Douglas, Chaser with Ali Johnson, Chaser, Francesca, Chaser, Captain Anthony, Chaser, Ginger Pierce, Keeper

Ending the game by Clark Dill, Seeker with Coach Olivers

0 Coach Olivers Quidditch Game III: Teppalus vs. Aladren 0 Coach Olivers 1 5

Clark Dill, Seeker

April 13, 2015 10:02 PM

Flying right along by Clark Dill, Seeker

Clark was not quite sure what to make of the combined Teppenpaw/Crotalus team. He'd sat in a torrential downpour to see how they did in their first match and, frankly, it wasn't terribly impressive. He'd mostly been watching Uzume Shinohara and Annabelle Pierce, as they were the only people who generally had much impact on what he was doing (though the Beaters could certainly cause trouble, too) but overall, the team just seemed . . . amateur compared to Aladren and Pecari. No doubt that was a least in part to the fact that the majority of them were Clark's age or younger, but they were certainly brave for attempting to keep up with the older and better established teams. He had to respect them for that.

As for Uzume, she had lost to Annabelle which was in some ways encouraging since Clark had won against the Pecari seeker every time they'd played (three times now, so it couldn't entirely be a fluke), but Clark still had some concerns. For one thing, her first game had been in the rain, and now it was a beautiful sunny day, so she might prove much better in fair weather. She had beaten an older player for the slot (if the rumors that Jake Manger had tried out for Seeker were true), so she clearly had some talent. Maybe her inexperience just meant she didn't know how to play in the rain.

Mostly though, Clark had only played against Annabelle Pierce. Which meant while he was pretty sure his methods were effective against the older Pecari, he couldn't be sure they would prove equally useful against the younger Crotalus. And Clark was definitely bigger than Uzume. He and Annabelle had been pretty close to the same size, but Uzume clearly had the smaller frame that tended to work best for Seekers.

Now on the day of his own match against the school's newest Seeker, Clark tried to see what kind of broom she had, if she was stuck with a school broom like his or if she held the same material advantage that the Pierce seeker had always been able to hold over him. He couldn't tell from here, gathered in the Aladren huddle while Anthony said something that probably wouldn't affect him at all. He assumed Leonidas would again be protecting him, and Anthony hadn't had any useful Seeking advice yet so Clark saw no reason why that might change. He tuned back in anyway, because it was Anthony's last pre-game pep talk and it might end differently once he got past all the obvious stuff, given his imminent graduation and departure from their team.

As he watched the captains shake hands minutes later (three of them this time instead of the usual two which made it a bit of a novelty), Clark readied his broom - the same one he'd practiced with for two years now, which he was beginning to think of as his own instead of school property, and which thankfully nobody on the Teppalus team had seemed to have claimed - and hoped it would continue to serve him as well as it had so far. It wasn't the newest in the school batch, possibly explaining why nobody else had chosen it, but it had once been a fine broom and Clark took good care of it. He still hoped he wouldn't have to try to out-fly Uzume on her potentially better broom. Fortunately, he'd had good luck with his searching patterns against Annabelle and had always been better positioned when the Snitch appeared, so he hadn't ever had to go broom-to-broom against her. He really hoped that trend continued.

When Coach Olivers blew her whistle, Clark kicked off quickly and immediately headed upward. The initial heading of the snitch was never indicative of anything as it was tricksy and it naturally want to lay down a false trail, so he hadn't tried to follow where it went before it disappeared. Instead, he settled into his basic search pattern as soon as he reached the normal Seeker altitude, well above the goal hoops to avoid the Chasers running about. The pattern hadn't failed him yet, and without a blinding fog to make things difficult, he saw no reason to change it up today.

1 Clark Dill, Seeker Flying right along 277 Clark Dill, Seeker 0 5

Ginger Pierce, Keeper

April 14, 2015 3:33 PM

Hoping this goes better by Ginger Pierce, Keeper

The last game had been horrible as far as Ginger was concerned, and she honestly did not have much hope this one would go any better. She had seriously considered dropping off of the team after discovering the hard way how seriously Sonora took their Quidditch matches, but Teppalus didn't have another Keeper (their only reserve was the back-up Seeker) and she wasn't going to be responsible for making her team get disqualified again for lack of numbers. So she had returned to practices in January with the rest of the combined Teppenpaw-Crotalus team and practiced as much as she could in hopes that maybe she could make just one save against Aladren and at least marginally redeem herself.

Fortunately, nobody seemed to hold her personally responsible for their loss, which did make her feel happier about her teammates if not the game itself. And Jake had given her a really nice pillow for Christmas with the goal hoops, a brave little orange robed Keeper in front of them, and the Teppalus team name stitched into it. It was really sweet. She was wearing the orange ribbon that came in the pillow's little pocket in her hair today for good luck.

And the weather was better today, that could only help.

She found herself feeling just a little bit optimistic as she joined the rest of her team on the pitch. Not that she thought they'd win. She was just hoping that maybe they wouldn't lose as badly as they had to Pecari. Sure, it was Aladren - the school's reigning Quidditch champions - but the sun was shining, and they'd had a few more months to get used to playing and flying together. The Chasers had more than doubled the amount of practice they'd had to get used to each other and develop plays since last time, and lately it had even been in nice weather that didn't leave their fingers frozen by the end of practice! That had to count for something, didn't it?

Ginger listened to her captains, watched them shake Anthony Carey's hand, and then mounted up on her school broom and headed out to guard the Teppalus goals once more. Every so often, when the Quaffle wasn't in immediate danger of entering her territory, she'd glance over to the stands to see if she could spot Jemima or Lauren watching and cheering her on.

1 Ginger Pierce, Keeper Hoping this goes better 302 Ginger Pierce, Keeper 0 5

Isaac Douglas, Chaser

April 14, 2015 8:18 PM

Making the best of things. by Isaac Douglas, Chaser

After Aladren won against Pecari almost as predictably as Pecari had against his team, Isaac had thought they would let the season end without attempting a championship. Even if they somehow lucked out and beat Pecari in a rematch, he assumed Crotalus and Teppenpaw would lose to Aladren the same way he assumed the sun would rise in the morning. The Aladrens were even less likely to be merciful than the Pecaris, and the Pecaris had been about as kind as his grandmother. The only thing that could be accomplished by making their ragtag bunch of misfits face Aladren was a fresh bout of humiliation. It wouldn’t be as bad as the first one had been, since Pecari couldn’t beat Aladren either, but the game was a path to certain humiliation nevertheless.

It seemed, though, that the world had it out for them. Isaac tried to convince himself it was a kindness, a way to take some honor from Pecari, but he had never been good at thinking the best of people. It was more likely that the Headmaster was just bored and wanted something to point and laugh at. They could hardly do worse than they had the first time, but he didn’t really see them doing that much better, either.

The sight of the sun was slightly encouraging – they might even do a bit better than Pecari had against Aladren, which would really be a slap in the face to the Wild Boars after their loss; Isaac indulged for a moment in the fantasy of succeeding in that goal and writing a rude poem insulting Rupert Princeton and anonymously mailing a copy to everyone over breakfast tomorrow – but not enough to make Isaac smile like the good sport he wasn’t and very much never had been. Instead, he settled for watching first his captains, then the coach, and then the Aladrens with as little expression as possible.

Cringing in even more fear than he felt would have been smarter, made the Aladrens think even less of him than they should have, but there were limits, at least when he wasn’t in immediate physical danger, and Aladrens annoyed him at the best of times. They were, after all, very nearly the antithesis of his House and its ally with their independence and willfulness and such. He thought it would have made them a lot easier to view as enemies than just being Other would have – he could never see why outside sport teams had rivalries when there was no difference in them besides hometown and most of the players weren’t even from the places the teams were – even if his favorite sister hadn’t been one when she was in school, or even if he’d actually liked her.

Isaac still began, behind his calm mask, to feel a little sick all over again as the captains started to rejoin their teams and the beginning of the game loomed suddenly, after days of being a distant thing to dread, close. He thought frantically about how vulgar and repellant the Aladrens and their ideals were to try to give himself some sense of purpose and distract himself from the thought of imminent ritualized humiliation. It worked, and it took him a matter of seconds after kickoff to start thinking it had worked too well, because at the end of those seconds, he realized he had just thrown himself at the rising Quaffle and had somehow gotten his hands on it.

Dear mother, please don’t cry, I’m afraid I had to die….

Nope, no poetry for or about him. Clinging to his breakfast and the Quaffle both with his fingernails, he assured himself that they probably had the useless little Beater, the one who’d cheered all non-Aladren hearts when he played Chaser last year, down here anyway and flew toward the younger Wolseithcrafte as fast as he could, hoping it would take the Aladrens long enough to figure out what had just happened to at least let him get rid of the Quaffle.

When he saw the chance, he slowed enough to feel properly in control of the broom again and tried to draw closer to level – exactly level was just asking Underhill, or whatever his name was, to get lucky and hit one of them with a Bludger hard enough to knock him into the other guy and take them both out at once or something equally awful and improbable – with one of the other Chasers so he could pass. Biting his lip in worry and concentration, he threw the ball toward the chosen one and hoped for the best.

16 Isaac Douglas, Chaser Making the best of things. 273 Isaac Douglas, Chaser 0 5

Ali Johnson, Chaser

April 15, 2015 1:23 PM

A much better start this time. by Ali Johnson, Chaser

There was a part of Alistair that looked forward to playing against Aladren. It was good to physically be able to play again and to have the opportunity to show everyone that it took more than a nasty bludger injury to deter him from pursuing the sport he loved and leading his team to victory. Although victory was more something that Alistair dreamed about rather than hoped for because it was almost certain that Teppalus would lose today. Everyone knew it. Pecari had destroyed them before Christmas and there was no reason why things would not unfold in the same way against the Aladren team, if not worse considering the Aladrens long history of wins and their current selection of skilled, seasoned (and generally quite ruthless) players.

Nonetheless, time had passed since the first match of term and Alistair liked to think the Teppalus team practices would pay off enough that this loss wouldn't be so brutal. Returning from the midterm break, Alistair had been out of condition and it had taken him a while before he had been able to even join in the team practices. Obviously, that didn't mean he hadn't gone to practices as he was, after all , the Crotalus captain (or rather, the Teppalus co-captain) and a dedicated one at that who liked to exercise his new authority by barking instructions at his team in a rather commanding manner that didn't suit his size or age but didn't seem at all funny to Alistair. He refrained, of course, from acting the same with Liac Reinhardt, who he had begrudgingly accepted to be on a authoritative level with. Isaac Douglas he also gave more respect, namely because the other Crotalus boy was considerably older and bigger than Alistair. He had enough faith in the fourth year that he tended to let Douglas do his own thing.

Determined to put up a better fight this time around, Alistair had been keen to schedule team practices as frequently as possible. Annoyingly, he had to allow for his team having other commitments (himself included) so they couldn't be held everyday. Even so, when he found himself with free time, Alistair would usually be in the MARS room practising alone or in the common room reading up on all elements of Quidditch, something he was already considerably read-up on anyway. He'd instigated contact with his former coach, Frances Curtis, for additional help with his captain duties, despite having decided he no longer required her tuition once he began at Sonora. After the Teppalus team's defeat last semester, Alistair had admitted to himself that he wasn't at all experienced in coaching (although he prided himself at being knowledgeable in the sport, enough to quickly become good at coaching it) and so was glad when Franki agreed to lend him a hand through letters whenever she could.

Asking for and accepting help was almost alien to Alistair Johnson but his determination to prove himself to all doubters overrode these, although he obviously kept his correspondence with his ex-coach strictly confidential. Since he had been allowed to play again, the first year had requested less advice from his former Quidditch tutor and was not quite so intense with the team practices as he had been before, more intent at this point on getting his own playing back up to scratch. Even now that his injury had made a near full recovery, he still had to pay a little extra care to his shoulder and make sure he warmed up and cooled down properly before exercise. Fortunately it was not his throwing arm that had been damaged as such a repetitive or forceful movement would not be wise.

The weather was good which made a nice change from the torrential downpour of the last match and set Alistair in a fairly optimistic mood. It would be far easier for his Seeker to spot the snitch and he felt that the chances of him not hearing or noticing an approaching bludger were slim. He still hasn't forgiven Rupert Princeton for that. Although he couldn't blame the Pecari captain for simply playing the game, he had found an personal dislike for the older student. Perhaps it was just because Princeton had made his first defeat all the more humiliating but it didn't help that the seventh was apparently dating a muggleborn, and Joella was always singing his praises.

As was the same with Pecari, the Aladren captain was a pureblood and as far as Alistair was aware the older player wasn't well-known as a 'blood traitor'. Alistair was very familiar with the name Carey and gave the opposing captain a firm handshake and a serious nod. He wasn't cold because it didn't do to act in such a way with older pureblood students of good status but wasn't friendly either because the first year could easily picture the Aladren team giving Teppalus a good thrashing in a few minutes, much as he was determined this shouldn't be the case. He didn't feel like smiling but doubted Anthony Carey would appreciate it if he did anyway.

Alistair grouped the Teppalus team together for a pep-talk, making sure to get in before Liac. "OK team, just remember everything we've done in practice and give it all you've got. The weather much better this time so we've got more of a chance," he tried to be vaguely inspiring as Franki had written about the importance of team morale and how it was a captain's job to maintain it. They were much better practised as a team than before and Alistair hoped that they wouldn't fall apart with pressure and that the rest of the school would be able to see their improvement as a team and be impressed. "Shinohara, you just focus on finding the Snitch."

He turned to Liac now, content that he had done the most part of the co-captain pre-game speech. In the last match he had picked Liac's cousin to mark Uzume but Liac was the better Beater and this time around the sky was clearer to see the Snitch so Alistair wondered if they should switch it up. Either way he wasn't particularly fussed, so long as both Reinhardts did their job and constantly distracted the Aladren players by sending unfriendly Bludgers their way. Although he didn't like sharing his captaincy, especially with someone like Liac Reinhardt, the first year felt he could rely on his co-captain to pull his weight on the Pitch.

Once Liac had given his own input, the team took to the Pitch. Alistair flashed Ginger Pierce one of his more charming smiles (not his usual smirk) as he mounted his broom near her. "Good luck," he said. It was important that she be confident in herself to keep positive so that her playing didn't go to pieces. Alistair planned to try his best to keep the Quaffle in Aladren's half but thought it was likely that Ginger would recieve a lot of shots from Aladren during the game. It couldn't be easy, having such pressure and the Pecari match must have been morally diminishing for her as shot after shot went in but Alistair appreciated the Teppenpaw girl's perseverance. Overtime he was very much doubting that she was of the respectable Pierces but liked her none the less.

The whistle went and the young Crotalus was up into the air. He was surprised to see Douglas soon making off with the Quaffle. It was a good start and would be even better if they could hold onto it. Alistair flew fairly parallel to the older player, some distance away but not too far that a pass would be difficult. He'd managed to get out of the initial struggle for the Quaffle fairly easy as, perhaps due to a slight worry for his recently healed shoulder getting knocked about, he had been hesitant to get in with the scrimmage. It was likely for this reason, and his speedy broom, that he was fast to find himself a good position, ahead of the Aladren Chasers.

Alistair was ready for Isaac's pass when it came and sped up immediately after catching it, hoping to get some way closer to the Wolseithcrafte boy before having to pass. When he did release the Quaffle again it was perhaps sooner than he usually would have done but Franki Curtis had drilled into him the benefits of being a 'team player' and his last run with the Quaffle in the Pecari-Teppalus game was still somewhat on his mind. When he noted another orange-robed Chaser in a good spot, Alistair neatly threw them the leather ball, hoping to avoid Aladren interception.

8 Ali Johnson, Chaser A much better start this time. 306 Ali Johnson, Chaser 0 5

Francesca, Chaser

April 16, 2015 7:03 AM

It was nice while it lasted.... by Francesca, Chaser

Francesca was usually more excited than nervous before matches – sure, there was a little anticipation which worked itself up over breakfast, making her want to just be up in the sky already, and which got worse as the time until the match stretched out, running ever slowly. But it was more the edginess to be getting on with it than true worry, and it was left behind once she kicked off and had something to do. She could only hope the same would be true about today's nerves, which were worse than normal. Teppalus shouldn't have been a worry – they were an easy opponent on paper. But perhaps that was what bothered her... Losing to Pecari would be gutting, especially after their long winning streak, but losing to Teppalus would be utterly humiliating. However unlikely it was to happen, that fact remained and was bothering her.

She made her way out to the pitch. The weather was about as perfect as could be for Quidditch – the breeze was refreshing but not too much of an interference. It might have affected the Snitch but Clark had never seemed to end up in all out races for the little gold ball anyway. If he did, she rather suspected it would be his broom that failed them, not a sudden puff of wind knocking the Snitch into the Teppalus Seeker's hand. She listened to Anthony's pre-match speech, trying not to really think of it as his last one. On the other side of this match, lay her being in full command of the team. It was something she had always hungered for but she was also nervous about taking over.

As the whistle blew, she hung back just a little. She had seen very little of the Teppalus team, owing to the fog that had shrouded their last match. As – to her knowledge (and she was assistant captain) – Aladren had not stooped to spying on practises, she only had limited sources to go on. One was the post-match reports, which mostly said that Pecari had run circles around the younger team, which was about as uninformative as it was unsurprising. The only other information she had was what Jemima said Ginger had said about practise. Had this information been at all helpful she might have felt bad for taking advantage of her younger sister's tendency to be so open and unguarded when it came to conversation but it had scarcely given her anything on which to base tactics. She had shared anything that sounded like it hinted at a particular play with Anthony but it wasn't as if they had learnt of any surprising and radical new moves. The Teppalus team, after all, was still walking through the basics. If they had anything more than staying on their brooms and doing a competent job up their sleeves, she was going to be very surprised. Still, she allowed herself a little time to watch, confident that she could catch up. One of them took the Quaffle. Everything was so fast in Quidditch, even at beginners level, that she was sure she was just imagining the look of surprise as he realised what he'd accomplished. She tailed the two players, close enough to catch up when she put some effort in but not near enough to be seen as a threat. She nearly closed the gap by accident as they came to pass, as the one with the ball slowed much more than she would have done for the manoeuvre. The pass was completed, competently and with care and attention. They would need to do more than that to stop the Aladrens being able to run constant interference. Confident she had a handle on what their current ability was, she sped up, marking the new bearer of the Quaffle closely. It was the boy who had received a nasty Bludger shot from Rupert Princeton in the last match. Whilst that was the game, she couldn't help but feel the job of a Beater was to use as much force as necessary, especially when the opponent was an eleven or twelve year old. She could only hope that it was because Rupert hadn't had a clear line of sight, and be happier than ever that her sister hadn't been press-ganged into joining a team she didn't want to play on, and which would have had her potentially in Alistair's place at that point. She was trying to put off thinking how it would feel to face off against Ingrid next year. Those were emotions that she would deal with when she had to. She thought she could handle it. Unlike Jemima, Ingrid was game for whatever the world threw at her. And, as Francesca didn't play Beater, it wasn't like she had to make the decision personally to maim her sibling. She just had to be detached from it should it happen.

Alistair passed quite soon, but she had been alert to the possibility. When she had first played, she remembered not making it far down the pitch before the pressure of holding the Quaffle started to needle her, making her sure she could hear a Bludger just behind her. Given what had happened to Alistair in his first match, it was unsurprising that he too should feel skittish, as she saw it. She swooped in, easily snatching his pass before it reached his team-mate, and turning tightly to begin a run towards Teppalus's goal and The Teppalus Keeper. Not Jemima's room-mate. Not the girl her little sister had had a craft party with to decorate their dorm room. Jemima being Jemima, had told her how upset Ginger had been after the last match – how she had found her crying her eyes out. Francesca could not afford to think how much worse it would be if it happened again, and if Jemima, trying to comfort her friend, knew that her own sister was part of the reason for her tears. This was the game. It had to be played. And The Teppalus Keeper was just a position, not a person, that she had to get past.

Of course, it wouldn't be now. The ball might pass back to her before they got to goal but it wasn't now that she had to cross that bridge. She looked around for a blue robed Chaser. She allowed herself to fly in a bit nearer, confident that the Teppalus players would take time to close the gap, and that they wouldn't be as comfortable with making moves that required them to get in close to other players. Of course, they might be tempted to try, and cause a pile up, but that was a risk she would have to take – the resultant penalty would go in Aladren's favour anyway. She made the short sharp pass to her fellow Chaser.

13 Francesca, Chaser It was nice while it lasted.... 250 Francesca, Chaser 0 5

Captain Anthony, Chaser

April 16, 2015 10:44 PM

But all things must end by Captain Anthony, Chaser

Anthony had considered just going to spy on the Teppalus practices himself, but had finally decided it wasn’t necessary. The information he could get from doing so hardly seemed worth the also very slim chance of detection. He had told Malcolm to get as much out of his little brother as he could, but Mal had said all Andrew had to say about that was tell Anthony hello, and good luck from me!

He thought he should have been annoyed – Malcolm had definitely looked like he expected him to be – but Anthony had actually gotten a pretty good laugh out of that one. It helped that the other team was a complete non-threat, but still, the boy was evidently one to keep an eye on. And a reminder not to completely disregard them just because only Douglas was really old enough to walk from the main building to the Pitch without someone to hold his hand. They were young and probably too nice to stand, not necessarily stupid, and as Anthony had been further reminded by an unusually long note from the man himself, his brother Arnold had started winning in a year when everyone had assumed the Aladren team was going to meet a horrible end because of all the first years on it. These kids weren’t Arnold and his roommates, but it was worth remembering that Arnold and his roommates hadn’t been themselves until they were, either.

With that thought in mind, Anthony had hoped for more miserable weather, something he assumed his team could handle better than the Teppalus team could, but instead woke to the most pleasant Quidditch day they’d had all year. Undismayed, he’d gone to breakfast as normal and made an effort to greet each member of the team. He didn’t insist on eating together or participating in bizarre initiation rituals or any of the other excessive closeness he thought the Pecaris indulged in before games, suspecting most of his teammates would just resent it or at best mock him behind his back if he tried, but four of his six teammates had sisters in Teppenpaw and he thought Jack had one in Crotalus. Clark was the only one whose loyalties he was sure were not at all divided in this, and while it definitely helped that none of those girls were on the opposing team, he didn’t think it could hurt to reinforce everyone’s Aladren connections today. He especially did not want his Beaters holding back because they were worried about their older sisters scolding them for making the Teppenpaw first years cry or something. It wasn’t likely that they’d think that way – Quidditch was Quidditch, after all, and even Teppenpaw girls probably understood that – but since he had felt a little sorry for the Teppalus team himself after their game with Pecari, it seemed like yet another thing to bear in mind.

Before the match itself, he smiled at his team. “Well, here we are again,” he said. “This one should be an easy win, but don’t take it for granted that it will be. They’ve had most of this year to get better than they were against Pecari, the weather’s also much better today, and as my brother – who, for those of you who didn’t know him – “ he thought that was really just John and Jack; Clark had come to Sonora after Arnold left, but was more likely to have heard of him than the Beginners – “does this for a living these days – decided to remind me, anyone who assumes he’s won a game just because the opposition looks weak might be in for a nasty surprise. Play well, okay? Luck might come into it with the Snitch, but we control the Quaffle and the Bludgers.”

He’d mildly disparaged the Pecaris for doing the exact same thing in his last speech. Well, Quidditch was not a pretty game. “John, you did well last time,” he said. Better than he thought anyone had expected, anyway, though Anthony privately still assumed the fog messing up Rupert’s aim had as much as anything to do with it. Against inexperienced Beaters and Chasers, though, who most likely hadn’t been pushed half as hard as an Aladren would push himself, much less be pushed by Leonidas, John might end up looking pretty competent. It was worth hoping for. “Do so again. Leonidas, you’ll stay with Clark. Keep in mind that they’re half-trained and maybe a little desperate, so there’s no telling what their Beater and Seeker might do. If they get close, keep an eye on them for that and – well, don’t over- or underestimate them. That applies to everyone, really. Now it’s time to go. Good luck, everyone.”

He smiled kindly at the co-captains as he shook their hands, then returned to his own team for kickoff. He missed the Quaffle and blinked in surprise when he realized Isaac Douglas had it instead. Douglas, of all of them, was the one Anthony had thought the least of; it was hard to take a guy seriously when he was a fourth year subordinate to a first year. If it didn’t turn out that the catch was a freak accident, Anthony might have to think of him the way Arnold had thought of some opposing Seekers: doomed, but deserving of some respect for the quality of his attempt to succeed.

The quality of the pass made that seem a little less likely, and Francesca reclaimed the Quaffle on its next journey through the air. It made its way to him easily from her to him afterward. After covering more ground, he passed again, another short one made at very little less than his previous speed and angled slightly up to the next Aladren player, assuming it reach its destination as easily as it had the last time.

0 Captain Anthony, Chaser But all things must end 0 Captain Anthony, Chaser 0 5

Francesca, Chaser

April 17, 2015 7:23 AM

That doesn't bode well for us (goal attempt) by Francesca, Chaser

Her pass easily reached Anthony and Francesca flew up - putting on a burst of speed to try to get back ahead of her team-mate. For all that they could pass at speed, taking the Quaffle involved a little braking and it was almost impossible to fold yourself as flat against your broom with it as without. She varied her path a little, swooping left and right but never so much that she lost the distance she’d gained. She focussed on staying close. Not close enough that one Chaser could mark the two of them, or to make them an appealing ‘two augureys with one stone’ affair for any passing Beaters, but close enough to be useful.

It worked well. Anthony’s short, sharp, upward pass reached her easily. Tucking the Quaffle tightly under her arm, she made her way towards the Teppalus goal. The distance closed rappidly, the pitch falling away behind her and the goal line looming. Then she was over it. It was just her and the Keeper and that sense that something was about to happen. She tried to block out any noise from the crowd, quite sure that a lot of them would be rooting for the under-dog. There wasn’t much pride to be gained from beating the twelve year old but there was certainly a lot to be lost from losing to her. Besides which, it was her job to put her all in, regardless of who she was facing, and feeling like everyone watching wanted her to miss wasn’t going to help her.

She tried to look for the space around the Keeper, registering her body and which way she might be poised to move, but trying not to notice her as a person. Francesca angled her body, her eyes focussing to the left, having also registered in her peripheral vision that there was good space to the right as well. She drew her arm back, as if aiming left. She didn’t feint the actual pass, just very quickly threw her body weight left as she slowed, thus swinging her around to face right, suddenly changing her angle as the ball left her hand, sending it sailing to her right instead. Then it was just a case of watching and waiting...

13 Francesca, Chaser That doesn't bode well for us (goal attempt) 250 Francesca, Chaser 0 5

Ginger Pierce, Keeper

April 17, 2015 10:08 PM

Or me either by Ginger Pierce, Keeper

For a little while, Ginger thought her team was doing well. The Quaffle had actually made it well into Aladren territory. Then it turned around and came back. And it crossed the center line. And it made its way to Ginger. She recognized the girl carrying it as Jemima's sister. By all accounts, Jemima's sister was a very good Chaser.

Ginger was too small to cover all three goals effectively, so she picked two and was not at all surprised when Francesca went for the last one (though for a moment, it had looked like she was considering the opposite one as Ginger's arc brought her closest to the middle one). She'd been expecting it and was ready for that. Had been counting on it, even. She changed directions - she had a school broom, true, but she'd carefully selected one that seemed to handle a Keeper's need for tight sudden turns and quick bursts of speed better than most - and pushed for the other side. It was a tactic she'd been working on for months, trying to get people to go for the hoop that seemed less protected, but Francesca was a little faster, a little better, than the Teppalus players that she'd been practicing against.

She came close. She came really really close.

But the Quaffle passed just out of her reach and sailed through the hoop.

Ginger growled under her breath - a sound that would have seemed quite ridiculous really coming from the tiny girl if anyone had been close enough to hear it - but she dove and caught the ball on the far side as it fell. Returning to the front of the goals she looked for an opening and threw the Quaffle to one of her teammates, hoping they'd at least get it out of scoring range for a little while so she could have a few seconds to regroup.

They'd scored against her again, yes, but she felt they'd done it on her terms and if she'd been a little taller, a little more practiced, she might have maybe gotten that one. It was more hope than she'd had at any point during the Pecari game.

1 Ginger Pierce, Keeper Or me either 302 Ginger Pierce, Keeper 0 5

Liac Reinhardt, Beater

April 20, 2015 1:36 AM

I guess it's time to mix it up a little. by Liac Reinhardt, Beater

Since their grueling defeat by Pecari, the Tepulas team had been training hard almost every day to improve themselves, and Liac loved every minute of it, sans his Crotali co-captain that was beginning to get on his nerves. The twelve year old liked to think of himself as a fairly thick-skinned boy, however there was a limit to just what he could put up with, and that limit was Johnson. Although he felt bad in the moment for thinking it, he was actually a little happy earlier in the term when his co-captain had to sit out some of their practices. It wasn’t that the boy was a bad player, in fact Liac thought quite highly of his co-captain…when the Crotali wasn’t shouting orders to the rest of the team.

He is just a really passionate player, Liac told himself on more than one occasion to justify the boy’s personality. In a way, Liac was almost a perfect fit for Alistair, as not every student could handle such a situation as delicately as the Teppenpaw. As a result, Liac often found himself on more of the encouraging side of the leadership coin. He tried his best to talk to everyone on the team daily, and simply give friendly advice during drills.
Originally he felt a little guilty when his head of house chose him for the position of captain over his upperclassman, so he didn’t exactly feel comfortable advising Jake like he did the rest of the team. Even as he got ready the morning of the match, he felt a tinge of guilt as he placed the shinny badge in its usual spot on his uniform. Slapping himself a few times with his hands, and shaking his head, he pushed the thoughts out of his mind and headed out. Maybe it was the good weather, or the anticipation of some pre-game cinnamon oatmeal, but Liac felt good about today.

Not even Alistair jumping the gun on the pregame speech could ruin Liac’s good vibes, although it was a little annoying. He tried his best not to show any signs of irritation, choosing to nod and smile attentively instead as his counterpart spoke. He wanted to set a good example for his team, even if just within the hour, mutiny had crossed his mind more than once. Before Alistair turned the attention the Liac, he took a breath to clear his mind. He wasn’t very good at rehearsed speeches, so instead he tried to talk to the team as he would any regular practice. No reason to make them nervous before the game even started.

“Chasers,” he began following Alistair’s lead, “if you think you have a shot, or have the opportunity to steal, then take it. We’ve all got each others backs so don’t be afraid to go for it. I’ll be guarding the field players, and Tobi will guard Shinohara. Ginger, just keep your eyes open and on the ball and you will do great,” he said giving her a warm smile. He played Keeper on more than one occasion with his family, so he knew how difficult a position it could be, even when his dad was going easy on him. It was obvious to Liac that Ginger was really putting her best foot forward, but there was only so much a player could learn in practice. Unfortunately a lot of being a good keeper came down to good broom maneuvering, and wingspan. Sadly, the latter was directly related to height, so they were a little out of luck in that department with a first year Keeper. Still, she always seemed to be trying her hardest, and that was more than enough for Liac.

“Regardless of what happens on the field I just want everyone to do their best,” Liac said, continuing in a very Teppenpaw manner. “Aladren is tough, sure, but that’s no reason to let them psyche us out! After all, every single one of us has improved since our first day out on the pitch. This is our chance to show everyone what a tight oiled team we have become!” It wasn’t a complete lie, they had been working hard, but he wasn’t sure if he could honestly consider his team a ‘well-oiled fighting machine’. In truth they really were just a team of leftover players, most of whom didn’t really seem to fit together, but still managed to somehow create the illusion of a functioning team. In short, they were the Frankenstein’s monster of quidditch teams. Liac chuckled a little at this thought as he mounted his broom for the game to begin. He knew he really shouldn’t be thinking this way, especially as captain, but he supposed there was some value in seeing the humor of the situation.

Once the whistle blew, Liac was up in the air, the humor of the moment disappearing as he focused on the task at hand. He immediately began combing the skies for the nearest bludger, his team maybe a mess, but that doesn’t mean he is going to let Aladren beat them to a pulp. As he waited for a bludger to get within range, he decided to check out which Aladren he might want to smack around first. Moving to a slightly higher altitude to get a better vantage point, Liac noticed the Teppenpaw chasers moving the quaffle up the field. However, it was short lived as the Aladren Queen quickly took it in an interception, passing it down the field to the Aladran captain.

Target Acquired

Liac moved along with the action down the field, hoping to find a passing bludger to knock Carey out with, or at least shake him up a bit. Just because they exchanged pleasantries, didn’t mean Carey was exempt from a well placed bludger. But alas the bludger just wasn’t close enough for Liac to make a fast enough move. Carey passed the quaffle up to the Queen once more as she neared range of the goals. Realizing that following the quaffle wasn’t helping, Liac veered off slightly to get within range of an incoming bludger.

It was coming his way, and he knew exactly where it needed to go. Taking a large swing and using all of his twelve year old weight, he sent the metal ball flying down towards Anthony Carey. “POW!” he grunted, mimicking superheroes of yore, although he was glad he didn’t have the strength of The Man of Steel. He wanted to win sure, but not kill the guy! Maybe send him to the hospital wing at most, but even then Laic would probably feel bad and get him an apology pie to make up for the bump on his head.

The bludger was well on its way, and all Liac could do now was prepare for a counter. He hoped that opposing beaters and the upperclassman in question would be too busy watching Francesca to notice a bludger. However he quickly scanned for the location of his chasers just in case they tried to pull a fast one.

0 Liac Reinhardt, Beater I guess it's time to mix it up a little. 288 Liac Reinhardt, Beater 0 5

Andrew Carey, Chaser

April 20, 2015 1:48 AM

Everything's going to be all right by Andrew Carey, Chaser

Andrew knew he was probably going to be on the losing side of the Pitch again, but he couldn’t help smiling, far more optimistic than he had been in his first game, as the team congregated before the match. For one thing, the weather was clear, which was a huge improvement over when they’d played Pecari, and for another, he had realized halfway through a conversation with his brother that Anthony had bothered to recruit Mal to spy on them through him. That had to mean they were maybe at least in the vicinity of being worth spying on, didn’t it?

He tried to smile a little less when the teams faced each other, though, since he thought it was expected. This was competition. This was serious. He was not nearly important enough, to the team or in the wider world, for this to be South Carolina versus North Carolina, especially since his own brother had not seemed morally troubled by trying to figure out their strategy and sell them out to Anthony – Andrew had been a little hurt, honestly, but had decided to keep that to himself and just act like it was sort of funny – but the better he did, the better he would represent his family, especially when one of the opposition was from the South Carolina branch. This was a moment he needed to try to look like he was taking seriously.

It was hard. Even once he stopped smiling too much, he had trouble keeping his heels settled on the ground. He felt full of energy that needed somewhere to go and had nowhere, the way he sometimes felt at home when it rained or got too hot and Mama wouldn’t let him go run outside. Just knowing he needed to be still made it worse, and he quickly forgot to quit smiling around at the other Teppalus players, even Isaac, who he usually felt the least comfortable around just because he was a lot older than the rest of them.

Finally, it was time to kick off, and Isaac immediately proved the usefulness of having someone bigger than Andrew and Alistair around by getting the Quaffle. Grinning now, Andrew followed, almost clapping his hands when Isaac and Alistair completed a pass. He remembered that he did not really want to take both hands off the broom more than he needed to to work with the Quaffle before he actually did it, but was still excited by their success, even if he was confused about how it had happened. He hadn’t been able to see much during their game against Pecari, but they were supposed to be good, and since the Pecaris had flown as many rings around Isaac and Alistair as they had around Andrew….

His moment of pessimism was reinforced soon after he had it when the girl Chaser, Jemima’s sister, intercepted a pass and began passing the Quaffle back and forth with Anthony, ending with her scoring the first goal of the match. Ginger seemed like she almost got it, but Quidditch wasn’t usually an ‘almost’ game. Still, though, it meant she might get it next time, or made it more likely than total failure would have. He smiled, hopefully encouragingly, and caught the Quaffle when it was thrown back.

As he flew away, it started to seem very important that Anthony not get the Quaffle, at least not from him. He knew it was important to keep it away from any Aladren, but Anthony was the one he…didn’t know, but was related to, which he guessed really was worse. He had to keep the Quaffle away from Anthony. Accordingly, he looked for the tall seventh year above him and below him and to both sides and found his position before he even thought about looking for someone to pass to. He assumed the Aladren Chasers were covering him on three of the four sides, now, but chose to pass to the side Anthony wasn’t on without looking as closely to see if the biggest risk for interception was instead Francesca or Jack, hoping belatedly that Anthony hadn't somehow looped around behind him when Andrew took his eyes off him long enough to look at one of his teammates to pass.

0 Andrew Carey, Chaser Everything's going to be all right 0 Andrew Carey, Chaser 0 5

Ali Johnson, Chaser

April 20, 2015 12:32 PM

Let's aim for more than all right. by Ali Johnson, Chaser

Alistair wasn't in least surprised when his pass was intercepted, but he was nevertheless slightly irritated that Teppalus' headstart could so quickly be lost and only he could be to blame for it. Not hanging around to think on this, however, the first year co-captain swiftly manouvered around to face his own team's hoops and sped back up the pitch after the Quaffle.

Francesca Wolseithcrafte was fast and skilled and experienced and likely knew exactly what she was doing. She was a prime example against ideas that girls couldn't play Quidditch, as were the majority of the Pecari team, but of course this didn't mean they should which was the real argument surrounding the sport. It was difficult to follow this popular pureblood opinion when Alistair had in fact been taught everything he knew about Quidditch from a girl. But now that he had almost a whole year’s experience in captaining, he really felt he didn't need Franki's help any longer. This time he was sure of it.

Francesca passed to Anthony Carey, a close pass that Alistair felt he should have at least attempted to intercept. He was aware that in the back of his mind there was a little wariness about damaging his shoulder today as he was desperate not to have to sit out from playing Quidditch yet again. That had not been fun at all. Even if there was something nice about commanding others, the young Crotalus much preferred to be up in the air himself. Carey passed again, another short pass. It was inevitable, it seemed, that Alistair would have to take risks today. Aladren seemed to be playing more carefully than Pecari had, the Wild Boars simply passing and intercepting and shooting whenever and however and seemingly getting away with everything they attempted.

Wolseithcrafte had the Quaffle again and next thing Alistair knew she was in the scoring area and it was just her and the Teppalus Keeper. For a moment the Crotalus captain allowed himself to hope as little Ginger came so close… but not close enough. He didn't groan as the Quaffle continued through his team’s hopes but merely waited with his face firmly set in his typical manner, hovering in a good position for the ball to be thrown to him, eager to get it back up to the other end of the pitch.

On receiving the Quaffle, Andrew Carey flew off up the pitch and Alistair didn't wait around. He chased down after his fellow Chaser, popping up on the other side in a prime spot to catch a pass as he flew along parallel to the Teppenpaw first year for a short while before the Quaffle came towards him. Alistair caught it easily and this fuelled him with even more confidence in himself and his recent recovery. He made sure to fly some distance longer with the leather ball under his arm than he had before. He wasn't scared of the Quaffle. He could hold it. He was fine…

The moment he crossed into the Aladren half the Quaffle was gone, Alistair sending it flying toward the first orange-robed Chaser he caught glimpse of. It wasn't a hasty pass, however, and it was controlled. The twelve year old was simply aware that he may soon be under attack from several larger Aladrens who didn't care about his sensitive shoulder.

8 Ali Johnson, Chaser Let's aim for more than all right. 306 Ali Johnson, Chaser 0 5

Theodore, Keeper

April 20, 2015 1:56 PM

You have my best wishes by Theodore, Keeper

Theodore was not really expecting today to be a challenging day. Of course, pride came before a fall and complacency was as dangerous as it was unattractive, so he was doing his best not to count his dragons before they hatched. However, it was hard to feel anything other than that today would be a repeat of the pounding Teppalus had received against Pecari. It was less complacency - complacency was more a factor if one assumed they would beat Pecari just because they had tended to do so recently - and more just logic.

The match conditions today were much more favourable, giving him a clear view and relative comfort - as much as sitting astride a stick in mid-air for a prolonged period of time could ever be considered a comfortable experience. Still, the air was fresh and pleasant - it was the kind of day where being outdoors felt as if it would benefit one’s health rather than endanger it (Bludgers notwithstanding).

He took to the air when instructed, the flight causing the air to sting in a pleasant and refreshing way, and began guarding his hoops. He could see the distant speck of Jemima’s little room-mate at the other end of the pitch. His opposite, but not really his opponent. Keeper was the odd one out in that way. Certainly, comparisons were drawn between teams’ Keepers, and if one let in more goals than the other, they were usually deemed to be worse and, if that happened to be him today, it would be mortifying. But each was against the other team’s Chasers, not each other. It was competition by proxy, and it was only the fact that Teppalus’ Chasers were every bit as wet behind the ears as their Keeper that would really make a poor performance on his part a humiliation. That, and most other people’s inability to reason out the above, and to just compare Keeper to Keeper, instead of their true opponents.

The Quaffle made a few moves in his direction but nothing that really worried him, and soon it was speeding off the other way and troubling Ginger Pierce. He smiled as the goal went in but it didn’t feel like it warranted anything as exuberant as an air punch. Things were proceeding more or less as expected. The Teppalus players had the ball again but it was still a long way from troubling him. So long as he remained attentive to its position, and to the threat of Bludgers, he could relax for the time being and enjoy the sunshine.

13 Theodore, Keeper You have my best wishes 270 Theodore, Keeper 0 5

Francesca, Chaser

April 22, 2015 12:07 PM

You're certainly giving us the run around by Francesca, Chaser

Francesca grinned as her shot sailed in, though she noted how close Ginger had come to saving it. She had to have been on the ball for that, and to have some pretty good agility. Teppalus were not a good team. They had had limited time to train and were still a long way off that. But they had clearly been working hard, and were improving. It wasn’t much of a surprise that they caught the pass out from goal - Keepers usually had the luxury of a bit more time to consider things, and Ginger obviously wasn’t mutton-headed enough to throw it back towards Francesca, so there was little she could do about it from where she was. Except turn tail, and start to follow on again.

She sped down the pitch. Again, Teppalus got a pass in. She’d heard a few ominous thwacks behind her - it seemed the Beaters were starting to get in on the action, which perhaps explained where her fellow Chasers were. Hopefully they were just being held up, nothing more.

She started to look for a way in. The most logical thing was to mark Alistair again, as he had the ball. She almost felt bad, being the one to steal it from again but Quidditch often went that way… Passing, catching up, finding a mark… All of these took time, or left you in prominent places where no one was going to chance going near you, as had happened when Ginger was passing out from goal. It often ended up that you lined back up with the same person. Or maybe it just seemed that way because it was more noticeable.

He seemed to hold his nerve reasonably well, taking the Quaffle back the wrong side of the centre line. She waited, trying to see which way he would go, trying to keep close to another Teppalus Chaser but not so much as to put him off passing that way. As he drew back, she drew in, hoping that her timing was good enough that he couldn’t change direction but that she could get in there. She just hooked it with her fingertips, knocking the ball off course and having to tip herself sideways to scoop it back out of the air and prevent it falling away to the ground. She let the momentum carry her, leaning heavily into the arc as she swung round at speed.

It was mere seconds before she was back over the centre line but that was still a long way from scoring, especially with several irritated Teppali no doubt on her tail. She could only hope her fellow Chasers were in good positions. As she closed the distance, she saw one ahead. She’d been passing short so far but if Teppalus were proving anything it was that they were quick learners. She drew her arm back, using her greater size to go for the long pass.

13 Francesca, Chaser You're certainly giving us the run around 250 Francesca, Chaser 0 5

T. Reinhardt, Beater

April 22, 2015 9:52 PM

I'm trying my hardest. by T. Reinhardt, Beater

Tobi could understand that Alistair was a strong, confidant player, but he couldn’t help but wonder if his cousin’s blood status didn’t affect the way Alistair treated Liac. It always seemd as though the Crotalus captain talked first and never gave Liac a chance to have equal input. It was almost as if Liac was only allowed to talk once Alistair was done with his bit. And Tobi was tired of it. He didn’t know if it was because Liac was a Teppenpaw, older, or (and Tobi hoped beyond all reason it wasn’t this) because Liac was half-blood, but Tobi was tired of it. As Alistair took the lead that day, Tobi bit his tongue. He so badly wanted to speak up, an odd sensation for the usually quiet boy who preferred to stay in the background and let his cousin do all the talking. But something about the way Liac just let Alistair walk all over him disturbed Tobi. Tobi loved Liac almost more than life itself and he couldn’t bear to think that anyone could dislike him. There were only two redeeming parts of Alistair Johnson, Tobi thought, one, he was an alright player; and two, he at least didn’t feel comfortable bossing Liac’s cousin around in front of him. The second one made Tobi smirk a little as Alistair trailed off when he got to Liac and his positions.

He smiled when his cousin began to speak, using his Liac charm to encourage their teammates and he gave Liac a hearty nod when he spoke to him. Shinohara was alright, certainly better than her Crotalus captain, and he enjoyed her flippant attitude and the sarcastic way she spoke. He turned to her and gave her a shaky head nod, hiding a shy smile as he turned back to face his captain, Liac Reinhardt. That morning before the game, he’d had the distinct pleasure of his normal breakfast routine with Liac being crashed by Shinohara. And though normally he would have hated it for someone to interrupt his Liac time, much less a girl, the very thought that he had actually eaten breakfast with Shinohara Uzume made Tobi’s heart race and his ears get hot.

When Professor Olivers released them to commence play, he flew up to hover near Shinohara. Well, as near to her as he would allow himself to get. It didn’t really matter that Liac had asked him to look out for her, because he didn’t want to get too close unless she thought he was a stalker. So, from a comfortable distance away, Tobi gripped his beater’s bat, sweaty hands twisting around the handle as his mind raced with thoughts only the way a twelve year old boy in love’s mind could. He was hyper aware of his surroundings now, and luckily that meant he was able to sense unusual movement around him. Professor Olivers had released the bludgers.

His eyes, accustomed to seeking out wildlife on his solitary nature hikes, quickly spotted a bludger. Unfortunately it was a little too far away from Shinohara and there was no way he was going to leave her unattended. Never mind the spitfire could probably take care of herself if it came down to it, Tobi just didn’t want to be the one responsible to get her hurt. He cheered his cousin on when Liac made the first contact with the bludger the entire game, and it gave him enough confidence to venture a little farther from Shinohara towards the second bludger. If both Reinhardts were able to hit the bludgers first, well, Tobi thought that would be pretty splendid.

He swept the area quickly with his eyes and upon deciding that Shinohara had about a 95% chance to not get hit, he flew after the second bludger that he spotted. He lined up the shot and gripped his bat tightly—the bludger, seemingly sensing the presence of an animate entity, staggered towards him with a dangerous whiz. Tobi bit his lip down hard, tasting blood, and hit the blackish-grey ball nuisance as far away from him and as close to the general direction of Francesca Wolseithcrafte who had picked the Quaffle off Johnson as he could.

10 T. Reinhardt, Beater I'm trying my hardest. 289 T. Reinhardt, Beater 0 5

John Umland, Beater

April 23, 2015 12:42 AM

Trying to multitask. by John Umland, Beater

Facts, John had been taught, always had to inform opinions, but also had to be strictly distinguished from opinions. To confuse the two was probably not actually a mortal sin, but anyone who did it in front of his mother could have been forgiven for thinking it was. Mom was quick to catch any muddling of the two, which was something that got her in trouble whenever she tried to discuss politics with other adults and had probably made every kid she’d ever taught past age nine or ten want to hit her at least once. He didn’t mind it as much as some of the others had, but even he thought he could happily live the rest of his life without ever hearing anything about self-supporting statements or hidden arguments or distributed middles ever again.

Looking for facts, though, had sort of become a habit even before Mom started requiring him to examine them formally, and so John nodded appreciatively at the part of Anthony’s speech about not underestimating their opponents. The categories of ‘Beginner students’ and ‘competent Quidditch players’ weren’t mutually exclusive, and John thought his performance provided at least modest support to the statement that it was possible for players to improve in a short period of time. He wouldn’t use that in a real argument, biased as he was by being used to taking them…well, taking at least Tobias, the only one he was really acquainted with, seriously because they were in classes together and all, but he did think it was a point and was glad to hear the same thought from the seventh year.

He did not know if he was pleased by Anthony telling him he had done well in the last game. On one hand, praise automatically registered as a Good Thing. On the other hand, that was a vague term. Vague terms usually meant someone was being polite, which usually meant they were at least borderline lying. He decided to just nod and accept his directions without reading too much into it. He thought he had done pretty well in the last game, anyway, and expected he could, as Anthony put it, do so again.

As the captains shook hands, he was surprised to note a new fact, which was that the teams were not really as uneven as they might look. Anthony and Francesca and Theodore were definitely huge advantages for Aladren, but age-wise, he thought Old Teppalus Guy was older than Clark (he was pretty sure he had not seen his face much last year, anyway), and Clark was only a year above John and three of the Teppali, who were only a year above Jack and, he was pretty sure, the rest of the Teppalus players. And Jack was not exactly that much closer to being a prodigy than John was. If the other team had learned to play better….Well, Anthony and Francesca meant the Chaser game would still probably be a strange mix of brutal and dead boring, but the rest of them might not be as horrendously overqualified for this game as he thought people thought they were.

Accordingly, he scowled when he didn’t manage to intercept a Bludger as quickly as he had in their previous game, and didn’t stop when he saw where the Quaffle was, or even when Francesca got it back. He turned to follow her and Anthony as they passed the Quaffle between them and sped up when he saw Reinhardt Captain was going to get to a bludger ahead of him.

He deflected the shot, but only by hitting it toward the ground away from Anthony instead of at a specific Teppalus. At least that didn’t stop Francesca from scoring. As the game quickly resumed, he swept down to hit it toward one of the Teppalus Chasers moving back toward Theodore, though without much real hope of hitting the opponent. He chased after it and had to bite his tongue to keep from yelling in sheer frustration as First Year Captain crossed the line. Then he breathed for a second as Francesca intercepted, something that didn’t last when suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, he realized the other Bludger was heading toward her.

He started toward the problem before, all in the space of a second, deciding he wouldn’t make it. He had to get control of the other one back, with whatever attention he had left over from simultaneously hoping she’d duck the second Bludger, willing Leonidas to get down here and help him, and cursing the Reinhardt boys.

Illogical, especially that last one – if he’d been in the stands, he probably would have applauded them – but all noting that did was irritate him more. John tried to channel that frustration into hitting the first Bludger toward an orange robe again with a lot more force than he usually used. His remaining reason knew this was a bad idea, that he’d wear himself out too quickly if he kept it up, but he figured he could indulge himself just this once. Still annoyed despite the nagging voice in his head telling him that he had no good reason to be, he followed it toward the Chasers.

16 John Umland, Beater Trying to multitask. 285 John Umland, Beater 0 5

Francesca, Chaser

April 23, 2015 6:04 AM

It's not one of your strengths by Francesca, Chaser

Quidditch involved keeping your mind on a lot of things at once. Francesca’s had been on getting down the pitch, finding one of her own Chasers, and trying to throw the Teppalus Chasers off before she passed. The sound of Bludgers against bats was becoming more frequent, and she was trying to be aware of them at the same time. It wasn’t always easy though, especially if trying to keep track threw you off your game with the Quaffle. Sometimes, you just had to trust that some of those noises were your own team-mates defending you, backed up by what you could take in with your peripheral vision, and then duck suddenly if you were wrong.

Or not. As her pass sailed forward, Francesca tuned back into the rest of the match, realising she could hear a familiar and unwelcome noise close by. Very close. She had just enough time to process the fact that she probably couldn’t get out of the way, though she did her best, rolling to the side with an arm up to protect her head. The Bludger knocked her upper arm, pushing her further over. It hurt. It hurt but it wasn’t broken. She would have a cracking bruise to show for it later, she was sure. Luckily it was also her left arm, so it wouldn’t impact her playing too much, so long as she could get her annoyance under control.

She had heard and half seen John’s deflection of the Bludger and taken it to mean she had some breathing space. Or at least, she thought she had… Had she been wrong about what she’d seen? Her first assumption was that she must have been so. She reigned in a glare at John for not doing his job right. No one got their role perfect one hundred percent of the time, he had obviously tried, and glaring at others was bad for team spirit. It would take a long time and some headspace, some overview of what was happening on the rest of the field before she would realise that it was in fact the ‘Seeker Bludger’ that had got to her, and that it was Leonidas who had slipped up.

Having scored a hit against her, the Bludger had veered off towards the next warm body. She took the chance to get a few feet up and away, and to survey the match below for where the Quaffle had got to.

13 Francesca, Chaser It's not one of your strengths 250 Francesca, Chaser 0 5

Theodore, Keeper

April 23, 2015 6:28 AM

Trying not to hold it against you by Theodore, Keeper

Quidditch was a rough game. Francesca was a tough person. That hit hadn’t been a particularly nasty one. These were all facts which Theodore knew very well to be true. It didn’t stop him wincing though, or feeling a frustrated sense of powerlessness when his sister got hit. Despite all those facts - and the additional one that it was very much not his role in this game, and he was unarmed - he felt he was supposed to protect her. He hadn’t - he had no way of doing so.

He looped the goals moodily. Going for a long walk or a run usually helped him exorcise negative feelings. The fresh air, the physical distance, they cleared his head. He could only hope that flying could have the same effect. He knew it could but perhaps not when it was restricted to circles….

He didn’t want to come off the pitch angry with anyone because when he thought it through, no one was really to blame. It was a great advantage of playing Keeper that you had plenty of time to analyse the match as it went along. He had watched John with interest, convinced for a moment that he might pull of something spectacular and answer all his doubters. He hadn’t but what he had done was keep cool under pressure and make the right decision from a tough choice. The Bludger he’d gone for was his responsibility and had a better chance of meeting a target and giving them an advantage. He may not have been able to even get to the Bludger threatening Francesca, and would have lost control of the other in trying to do so. Better to have one Bludger under their control than none. These were all the arguments the logical part of his brain listed. Theodore liked to be logical, and he could see they were much better and well-reasoned points than what the emotional part of his brain had to offer, which was that John had let Francesca get hurt and was therefore a bad person who deserved his wrath.

A part of him that he was rather ashamed of suggested that, if he really couldn’t get rid of his anger, he should turn it against John, even though it wasn’t fair to do so. He couldn’t be mad at Leonidas because they had to room together, and Leonidas was Society. It would be better, politically, to take it out on the mixed blood brat. But, in an odd sort of way, he liked John, besides which it was ungentlemanly to make him a scapegoat when Theodore knew really that he had done nothing wrong. On a practical level, it might knock John’s confidence and make him more prone to errors in future matches too, as he dithered over what to do. Equally, he couldn’t afford to be mad at Leonidas either, and he knew - on his logical side - that no one did everything right. He let in goals and expected to be forgiven. He flew more laps, letting the arguments chase each other around, hoping that they would eventually wear themselves out.

13 Theodore, Keeper Trying not to hold it against you 270 Theodore, Keeper 0 5

Isaac Douglas, Chaser

April 23, 2015 10:36 AM

You must be a more generous person than I am. by Isaac Douglas, Chaser

Isaac had, honestly, expected his moment of temporary insanity to be the high point of his team’s game. He knew they had improved since the Pecari game – even his limited prior experience of the game was enough for him to see that; he suspected someone who didn’t know the first rule of the game could have seen that – but had still expected the first and second years to break just at the word Aladren. Had maybe expected it of himself, too. Impressions had a lot to do with what reality was – how many times had his father lectured him and his sister about how power could come from people assuming they already had it? – and the other House’s record was intimidating. Add to that the way that most Aladrens carried themselves as though they were that confident most of the time and, well…Isaac knew it was just a façade for at least some of them, but knowing didn’t help that much, especially out here, where the record supported their attitude. Assuming they were going to be horribly humiliated and just trying to make it as physically pain-free an experience as possible seemed to him like a perfectly sensible thing to do.

The tiny Teppenpaws (and Johnson, though Isaac really kind of skimmed over him mentally most of the time) were surprising him, though. His first thought when they made a pass was that Carey and Wolseithcrafte were toying with them somehow, maybe luring them into a trap for the Beater. Their response was, apparently, to carry on as though Carey and Wolseithcrafte were doing no such thing, or at least as if they could beat them at their own game. Maybe the two Beginners on the Aladren team were horrible embarrassments to the House, the types who shouldn’t have been let out in public without the babysitters their House didn’t currently have the manpower to give them, and had ruined the House mystique for the other Beginners, or maybe his teammates were just as suicidally overconfident as he thought of Aladrens as being, but either way, it was kind of impressive. He wasn’t really one to feel pride and camaraderie, but he thought he was coming about as close to those emotions as he was capable of being.

Admittedly, this was on the basis of two passes, so shame that he was impressed by such a little thing was in the mix, too, but still. Those were two more passes than he had ever thought they would make, Ginger had done reasonably well on the goals, and he hadn’t been hit by a Bludger yet. Maybe this was going to be marginally less awful than he had thought.

Isaac could only blame this optimistic thought for the impulse that made him speed up when he saw the Quaffle flying through the air and realized it was supposed to cross enough distance that he might have a chance of intercepting it. Or at least of knocking it off course; what Francesca had done during her second interception had looked like it took more skill than he had, but maybe if it was falling, he could chase it, or one of the others could catch it on its way down. He started forward, but his concentration almost immediately broke when something hit him in the back.

For the second time, he reacted faster than he would have guessed he could have, wrenching his broom away from the thing – Bludger, he thought distantly, good thing he had sped up just when he had, or that would have hurt a lot more – to avoid being hit again. He pulled the broom away almost too hard, almost flipping himself over in the process. Blinking, his eyes watering, he looked for the Quaffle, at least between rapid glances over both shoulders to make sure the Bludger wasn’t right on top of him again. How had he forgotten to pay more attention to them than to anything else on the Pitch? He was as stupid as an Aladren himself if he was putting that much faith in Tobias and Liac. Not only were they second years, but idiot Teppenpaw second years on top of it. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

16 Isaac Douglas, Chaser You must be a more generous person than I am. 273 Isaac Douglas, Chaser 0 5

Clark Dill, Seeker

April 23, 2015 12:40 PM

Still Flying by Clark Dill, Seeker

Clark continued to fly in his tried and true pattern. As was normal for him, he tuned out what was going on elsewhere on the Pitch, noticing the Chasers only when they blocked his view. He did, however, periodically check over to see if Shinohara had spotted the Snitch yet, and during one of those moments he noticed two things: firstly and mostly importantly, she had not found the snitch yet either, and, two, her beater guard was no longer with her.

For just a moment, Clark panicked.

In his experience with the game, if Opposing Seeker Guard was not with Opposing Seeker, it meant Opposing Seeker Guard was trying to maim and kill Clark.

He went immediately into evasive maneuvers. While he trusted Leonidas to keep him safe, there was no logical reason why he should make it easy for Opposing Seeker Guard to target him by flying in a straight line now that he knew the guy was coming for him.

Clark had already done four jinks and jukes in three different directions before he realized he wasn't actually in danger. Both bludgers and Teppalus beaters were assaulting the Chasers.

Feeling a little silly, he straightened out his flight path back to its normal pattern. He might have over-reacted a little bit, but overall he was also kind of pleased with himself for reacting to a potentially dangerous situation in a reasonable way instead of screaming in high pitched terror and flying at a breakneck pace to Jay (or Leonidas as the case may be) to save him, like he had the last time he found himself chased by a bludger. So that was improvement, right?

Now if only he could get his hands to stop shaking from adrenaline letdown.

1 Clark Dill, Seeker Still Flying 277 Clark Dill, Seeker 0 5

John Umland, Beater

April 23, 2015 3:57 PM

You could both hold it against Tobias instead.... by John Umland, Beater

John had known it was a possibility, and was a little relieved to see that she looked at least all right enough to keep playing, but he still winced when he looked up in time to see Francesca fail to miss the Bludger. The satisfaction of hitting the Teppalus Chaser he’d aimed at didn’t make him feel much better, either, both because it didn’t actually remove the guy from the game and because it was wrong to feel that way anyway. Hitting people was part of his job, but not a part he was supposed to enjoy, no matter what else was going on in the game or how bad that what else was for Aladren. Mom, he was sure, would be more than a little disappointed in him right now.

She might not be the only one, either. It was the best option. Fact: I cannot be in two places at once. He would argue it, if he had to. He had had to make a decision. It had been, based on the information he’d had available in that moment, the option he’d decided was most likely to have a good outcome – he couldn’t prove that it had been that option, of course, but they couldn’t prove him wrong about being out of range of the second Bludger without a video tape and a lot of data on his flying speed that he doubted anyone had, probably forcing them to accept his evaluation for practical purposes, and he could back himself up with the good part of the outcome, which had been hitting the oldest Teppalus. He’d also had reason to believe Francesca was good enough at dodging to think it was better to let her try than to lose control of the first Bludger trying, and probably failing, to get to her in time, but he didn’t think he’d mention that part if she or Theodore confronted him about it….

Theodore was a concern because his position meant he was the most likely of everyone to have noticed that John had started in Francesca’s direction for that one second before deciding it wasn’t the best option. John knew he’d certainly be more annoyed by someone deliberately leaving his sister out in the cold than he would be by someone who just got overwhelmed and missed something. Not that that was a possibility. Comparing Julian and Francesca here was apples and oranges for sure, though, and he would be really surprised if it was only when it came to their attitudes toward Quidditch instead of a more general lack of similarity, so the line of thought might not be relevant at all; he really wasn’t sure how he’d feel if Julian had been in the game, making it impossible to figure out if he really needed to worry about that angle.

She was supporting the other side today, he remembered suddenly, flashing back to annoyance for a second. Stupid, but he didn’t like her being officially for the other team, even if he was sure she wasn’t pleased about him, personally, having difficulties even if she was glad about her House representing itself better today than it had the last time. He just didn’t like her being on the other side anyway.

Which is irrelevant. Irrelevant, irrelevant, irrelevant, he told himself, trying to push all the thoughts that weren't about where to aim next back out of his head. He could not think of an emotion which would really be an advantage; he needed to think, not feel, now. He didn’t really have time to do anything else, especially not about Julian or whether or not he was going to have to argue for every tiny move anyone might or might not have even seen him make. Dwelling on either of those things, especially right now, was thinking like a five-year-old, and not even like one who'd be part of the better class of five-year-olds at that. Frowning to himself again, John flew for the first Bludger he spotted, hitting it away from an Aladren.

He tried to look at the good part of the close quarters – at least he didn’t have to worry about hitting it hard enough to cover distance and pose a credible threat to his opponents – but still wanted this bit of the game over with as quickly as possible. Two of them against one of him was something that could end up making him look pretty good if he got through it and brought everyone else through as well, but was more likely to end with him completely overwhelmed and possibly someone hurt.

16 John Umland, Beater You could both hold it against Tobias instead.... 285 John Umland, Beater 0 5

Ali Johnson, Chaser

April 23, 2015 4:19 PM

It's nothing personal, it's Quidditch. by Ali Johnson, Chaser

As Alistair found his pass intercepted for the second time it was clear to him that he really needed to up his game. It wasn’t as though he could possibly be doing anything wrong, just not quite doing enough. Aladren were quick and should never be underestimated and Alistair knew he needed to bear that in mind a little more. He was somewhat concerned for his reputation as the Aladren girl swiped the Quaffle from Teppalus possession once again but did his best to keep his head in the game and not get too annoyed by this. He was still certain that he was easily the best Teppalus player on the Pitch but at the moment he couldn’t help wondering if everyone else still recognized that fact.

The first year turned tail and sped after Francesca Wolseithcrafte, flying almost parallel and at considerable speed (not dissimilar to the suicidal show-off way he had been right before his injury in Teppalus’s last match) but finding himself in the wrong place when she relinquished the ball in the direction of one of the blue-robed Chasers. He made a valiant effort to dive for the Quaffle all the same. And Douglas too appeared to make an attempt at intercepting but then had a close call with a Bludger, which almost made Alistair’s stomach turn, and seemed to lose his advances. Alistair closed in on the scarlet ball, collecting it up before it reached the opposition’s hands. He wasn’t quite sure how he had managed the whole manoeuvre, but maneuvering on a broom was his strong point and Alistair knew he wasn’t just a fast flier because of the worth of the broomstick he owned.

Upon seizing the Quaffle, the Crotalus captain did a hair-pin turn and flew off back up the Pitch with quite the feeling of elation at his retrieval but trying to slow himself down a bit now that he had the ball in his clutches. It was questionable as to whether his next pass would be successful and whilst he didn’t doubt his own abilities, Alistair didn’t doubt the abilities of the Aladren Chasers either. Obviously, it wasn’t as though the first year had just gotten lucky - his whole regaining of the ball had been sheerly through the Alistair Johnson’s super Quidditch skills. But nevertheless he was well aware that the Aladren team still had ultimate control of the game and would not let the younger team get anywhere near their Keeper.

The multiplying sounds of Bludgers against bats had not surpassed Alistair’s notice but he refused to let his play be affected by the horrors of the last match. Having seen Aladren beat Teppalus’s victors and having heard about Aladren’s long Quidditch reign, Alistair had been prepared for things to get much uglier than they had as of yet. So far this game, the first year Crotalus had actually held the Quaffle on more than one occasion, admittedly with unsuccessful results, but now that he was once again holding it he found himself enjoying the match, what with the weather and the better practised players to add to the improvements. Of course, once his team re-lost their current possession of the ball, Alistair would likely become irritated once again but that didn’t matter at this point.

Although Alistair knew that he had a long way to go before reaching the Aladren scoring area and he could not carry the Quaffle probably even half that distance alone without getting beaten up by the two larger Aladren Chasers and a couple of Bludgers but he was desperate not to fail another pass, especially not to that irritatingly good girl. Even so, Alistair knew the risks of leaving it too late to pass so when he glanced back over his shoulder and saw a familiar orange-robed Chaser, he didn’t wait about to chuck back the Quaffle in a reverse pass.

8 Ali Johnson, Chaser It's nothing personal, it's Quidditch. 306 Ali Johnson, Chaser 0 5

Tobi, Beater

April 23, 2015 10:44 PM

I like that idea. by Tobi, Beater

Tobi grinned when he had hit his target and prepared to head closer to Shinohara since technically, technically he had been told to protect her. However, the open bludger had ended up being more intriguing than a girl he was fairly sure would clobber him if he told her he thought she was cute. However, out of the corner of his eye he saw that the bludger, after hitting the elder Wolseithcrafte, headed towards the next body in motion. He was too far away now to hit it and it was going in the opposite direction of him anyway, so he felt slightly guilty when he realized its’ next target would be without a protector. However, to get hit with flying balls was just one signed up for when they agreed to play Quidditch so he tried not to let that failure bother him too much.

He looked around again, and seeing that the other bludger was closer to him, he decided to try for a second hit. Since he had joined the Quidditch team, Tobi found that he was actually enjoying himself. He had missed lacrosse greatly and the position he played was somewhat similar. To a degree, at least. So, over the break he had gotten ahold of some Quidditch reels, studied playbooks and come back ready to perform. The result was, of course, a more confident Tobi. One who still didn’t like to converse with others, still didn’t care or have the need for approval, but also one who was more comfortable in social situations and one who didn’t feel the need to lean on Liac all the time now for support.

He scrutinized the field once more, willing the bludger to come near him again. He didn’t want to stray too far from Shinohara in case an Aladren beater decided to attempt something on her, and instead stayed at a close enough distance that should something nasty fly her way he would still be in a position to block her. He contemplated his different targets. The younger Wolseithcrafte was out because he was too far away and Tobi felt it would be inappropriate to hit Dill who really wasn’t doing much other than hovering on a broomstick. Granted the Aladren beaters might not be so kind to Shinohara, but that’s why he was staying relatively close.

Tobi chewed his lip thoughtfully trying to decide between another chaser or perhaps attempting to blindside a beater without giving them time to react. However, since the beaters had their bats and Tobi knew he hadn’t perfected his skills at all, he decided to go with the safer option. Perhaps one day when he was an older student with more experience he might try to mess with an armed opponent but for now, he would choose the safe, more cowardly route. Though this idea went against his basic principles (he still didn’t like hitting dangerous metal balls at unarmed opponents), it was in his job description, so Tobi prepared himself for another hit.

"Hey, Shinohara," he called over the wind, the adrenaline from his earlier success causing an uncharacteristic bout of extrovert energy, while he looked around. "You doing alright?"

10 Tobi, Beater I like that idea. 289 Tobi, Beater 0 5

Anthony Carey, Chaser

April 23, 2015 11:03 PM

So you shouldn't mind me doing this by Anthony Carey, Chaser

One second, everything was…going as well as it could be said to go when a pair of first years and Isaac Douglas had all succeeded in touching the Quaffle at all, anyway. The next, it seemed, everything was in a state of total chaos. There was, it seemed, an extra body in his peripheral vision, Francesca was pulling out of a pass much less smoothly than usual, probably because of the Bludger from out of nowhere, and as Anthony reached for the ball, he instead found himself on the edge of a collision with one of the first years.

With a muttered word he at least hoped he wouldn’t have used in front of Effie, Anthony pulled away. Johnson would have surely gotten hurt worse than he would have if they’d collided, but there was no telling which broom would have. A second later, it occurred to him that a pause to the game was exactly what they needed, but it was too late to hit the boy on purpose just to cause a penalty. Maybe next time.

Taking a deep breath, Anthony tried to assess the situation. Francesca was hit, but still in the air. John looked appropriately murderous, or at least seemed to in Anthony’s admittedly over-excited state; Anthony had no idea what had really happened, too much had happened at one time when most of his focus had been on the Quaffle, but assumed he’d screwed up somehow and just hoped he was wizard enough to be angry with himself about it and do what he had to do to make it right. He seemed to have made some progress in that area, anyway; Douglas didn’t look his best. And Johnson had the Quaffle. Reluctantly putting his faith back in John, Anthony followed Johnson, ready to move either way at the first hint of movement from the Quaffle.

It moved backward, and Anthony, given a moment’s warning by Johnson looking over his shoulder, cut between it and one of the other Teppali to snatch it out of the air. As soon as it was in his hands, he dove away from the action before turning to face the Pierce girl again, hoping to avoid the Bludgers, and rose in the air again as he started toward her. While still rising, he spotted one of his Chasers and tossed the Quaffle quickly toward the blue robe. Hopefully they would get some movement away from this tangle and John would mildly injure Andrew and crack Andrew’s teammates’ heads and things would get right back on track now.

0 Anthony Carey, Chaser So you shouldn't mind me doing this 0 Anthony Carey, Chaser 0 5

Leonidas Bennett, Beater

April 24, 2015 12:47 AM

I like the idea of maiming your Seeker by Leonidas Bennett, Beater

If Leo had been even slightly more paranoid than he really was, he might have suspected Anthony Carey of deliberately dumping the mixed-blood brats nobody else wanted to deal with on him as a political move. Being known as someone who spent most of his time on the Pitch interacting with Umland and Dill and was, as a result, on pretty civil terms with them both really didn’t seem like something that was going to do Leonidas much good in life, but especially not on a team of purebloods in a school headed by a Brockert. The Careys – especially Anthony’s cousin, but Anthony seemed to work well with Francesca, too – seemed friendly enough with the Wolseithcraftes, friendlier than they had been with Leo's family in a while, anyway, so it had occurred to Leo that Anthony and Francesca and Jay could have cooked up some scheme to get Theodore both the prefect and Assistant Captain badges by making Leo look like a Muggle-lover for tolerating the two younger boys as much as he did.

Even Eliza and Paul, though, had thought it unlikely when he had mentioned it to his older siblings. Eliza had laughed at him, Paul had asked if he was sure he wasn’t really a Crotalus, and Leo had left the discussion annoyed and a little offended. He had to admit they had a point, though. Quidditch relationships were usually just convenient, not really personal; looking after them on the Pitch just furthered the House aims, and being the guy who looked after the Seeker was usually a respected position whether the Seeker was Clark or Arnold Carey.

It was with only a little paranoid worry, then, that he wished both boys luck before the game began. Being protective of one and a little proud when Anthony praised the other was not a big deal out here, especially since the closest he’d come to mentioning such sentimentality to anyone had maybe been an offhanded remark to Theodore about being pleased with John’s progress sometime. That was natural enough, though Leo wasn’t sure why he was half-ready to suspect Francesca of conspiracy but didn’t really worry about it with her brother. He really hoped he wasn’t someone who started liking people just because he was around them a lot; that he liked Theodore and John, who were not exactly rays of sunshine, well enough suggested he might be, but that would be a really bad trait to have in life.

The Chasers began their battles, but above it all, Clark flew and Leo followed him around. He kept an eye and an ear open for Bludgers he could use to attack the other Seeker, but all he did was bat one away from himself one time because the girl was out of range. Then he looked around and her guardian was gone.

He assumed the same thing Clark did at first and approved when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw the Seeker flying like crazy to deflect the attack neither of them, it seemed, had yet spotted. Leo frowned, looking all around, but…

“Oh,” he muttered, spotting what was going on. His opposite had abandoned the girl. Pity both of the Bludgers were now down there; he could have taken her out and as good as ended the game right now, though he guessed even a second year Teppenpaw wouldn’t have been stupid enough to leave her alone if there had been any chance of Leo doing that. He had to assume the Bludger had come to the Teppenpaw in such a way that Leonidas had been between it and Clark, because otherwise, why hadn’t he just attacked Clark as soon as he had a Bludger to do it with? The first rule of Beating was ‘take out the Seeker.’

He hadn’t tried, though, and now the Chasers’ lives were getting interesting. He could see John was trying, but Francesca got hit and her slowing down would be more of a loss to them than Douglas would be to Teppalus. Douglas had started off stronger than Leo would have expected, but hadn’t done much since, where Francesca was probably one of the strongest players on Leo’s team at all times and had, from what he'd seen when not watching Clark, been playing very well all game. Making up his mind, he flew closer to Clark.

“Gonna go help for a second,” he called, gesturing toward the madness. “And try to get something to hit her with.” He saw Reinhardt returning to his girl, but he didn’t seem to have armed himself for an assault on Clark. Evidently he wasn’t very good at this. “Be right back.”

Flying very quickly down to the Chasers, Leonidas caught a Bludger and hit it, hard, toward the side of Uzume Shinohara that Tobias Reinhardt wasn’t on, hoping to at least make him run after it to try to save her while Leo sped back to Clark, counting on his broom and greater skill to make him faster than the opposition could be. Hitting her would be the ideal, but he’d settle for giving the Chasers some relief without endangering his own charge. Spotting everyone, he put himself between Clark and Reinhardt, repeatedly looking down to make sure the other Reinhardt wasn’t about to leave his station and try to assault Clark from another angle in retribution. This game might, he thought, not be completely boring after all.

0 Leonidas Bennett, Beater I like the idea of maiming your Seeker 269 Leonidas Bennett, Beater 0 5

Ali Johnson, Chaser

April 24, 2015 3:41 PM

Now that sounds really aggressive. by Ali Johnson, Chaser

Alistair had tried something different, mixed up his passing technique a little as he had evidently been too predictable. But yet again it had been intercepted, although fortunately not by Jemima Wolseithcrafte's elder sister this time. He hadn't used a reverse pass yet but it was now clear that different was not so much what Alistair should be looking for but instead clever. It was much less about the type of pass and the direction it went and much more about how it was pulled off. The execution needed to make it unexpected - perhaps feinting a pass would be a good idea if the Crotalus got the chance again.

Anthony Carey was cruising back toward Ginger with the Quaffle. Not only was it the duty of Alistair's Chaser position to keep the ball away from his own Keeper as much as possible, but he felt something else that was much less the rule of the game and much more a personal obligation that he needed to protect Ginger after her unfortunate suffering against Pecari. Growing up in a family of boys, it was very much ingrained into him that women (or girls) were the weaker sex and required the protection of their male counterparts. Alistair was very similar to his brothers, all of whom were ever the ladies man, and he loved to show off in front of pretty girls. Although Ginger Pierce wasn't someone he felt compelled to show off to - she wasn't like Caelia Lucan or Kelsey Atwater. But Alistair had a natural instinct that said girls needed his help even when they were in the same situation as a boy he wouldn't think twice about lending a hand to. He had always been his mother's boy, she was his soft spot. Ginger wasn't the only female on his team, of course, but Uzume Shinohara did not seem like someone who needed or wanted his help. She was more like the Francesca Wolseithcraftes of the Quidditch world who really did make the first year captain wonder at what he knew of W.A.I.L and their ideas, although he knew for a fact that quite fittingly the Wolseithcrafte family were against such opinion.

Currently the Quaffle seemed to be running back and forth between the two opposing teams and Alistair was pleased with how well his mix and match team was holding out against the longtime Quidditch champions of Sonora. He was too far to even attempt to intercept the pass from the Aladrens' Captain but hoped that the nearest Teppalus player would get in there and grab the ball before it got any closer to the Teppalus hoops.

Alistair was keeping his wits about him all the while, the Bludgers whizzing around making him slightly nervous. He continued his path anyway, hoping to close up the gap between himself and the Chaser that the Aladren Carey was passing to in the hope that he could catch up with them if the pass was successful, successful for the blue-robed anyway. The chances of him reaching the area in time to snatch away the Quaffle were slimmer than slim, however, so he didn't even consider another (what would have to be slightly crazy) manoeuvre to retrieve it.

8 Ali Johnson, Chaser Now that sounds really aggressive. 306 Ali Johnson, Chaser 0 5

Francesca, Chaser

April 26, 2015 5:50 PM

If you can't stand the heat by Francesca, Chaser

The old adage went that if you fell off your broom you just had to get back on. She had done far less than fall, so the plan was just to carry on as if nothing had happened. Of course, theory and practise were different things. It was hard to suppress natural reactions, such as drawing away from pain, even when it could have consequences such as losing a Quaffle. It was a tricky feat for anyone and, for all that she tried to mask the fact under sheer force of will, it remained the case that she was a teenage girl.

She caught sight of the Quaffle, irritated to see the ground she had gained slipping away. Anthony seemed to be in pursuit. She held her position, trusting Anthony to get it back and need someone to pass to further down, though ready to put on a burst of speed if need be. Sure enough, he recovered the ball, and her position proved helpful as Anthony seemed keen for a quick pass to move things on from the tangle in the centre of the pitch.

She stuck to Anthony's left, meaning that his pass would be to her right hand side – naturally stronger anyway, and even more so right now. She scooped the ball out of the air, continuing Anthony's trajectory of upwards and outwards, whilst heading towards the Teppalus goal. It was that irritating middle distance. It always seemed to be that irritating middle distance, so maybe it was just her... The dilemma of whether to pass of not. Whether it was too far. It would be better, surely, for someone fresh and different to go up against Ginger, so that she was less able to predict them. Not that Francesca planned to be predictable... She planned to do something different but then surely that would be what was expected, so different on her was still less unpredictable than someone new entirely. Plus other people weren't injured.

Risking the interception, she made one last pass before they would, all things being equal, be goal-bound again.

13 Francesca, Chaser If you can't stand the heat 250 Francesca, Chaser 0 5

Shinohara, Seeker

April 26, 2015 11:34 PM

Luckily for you, we can. by Shinohara, Seeker

As Uzu walked to breakfast, she couldn’t help but twirl the end of her freshly formed braid. She blushed just remembering the feeling of Makenzie-chan twisting and twirling the strands. Her mother had never done her hair, not with her actual hands anyways. Since boys kept their hair short, it wasn’t something she had to worry about growing up. At most her mother would pull her tortoise shell comb through her messy locks, but that’s as far as the hair play went. By the time Uzu was able to grow her hair long like a girl, she was already old enough for her mother to begin teaching her the basic hand movements for the hairstyling spells, and braids weren’t exactly traditional. Braids were out of the question for an elite Japanese witch, although that apparently didn’t stop her female classmates in elementary school from fixing one another’s hair. At the time Uzu thought it was stupid and vain, and chose instead to play sports with the other boys. However now that she experienced it herself, having someone do her hair, felt kind of…nice. Makenzie-chan was… sweet. She wasn’t sure when it started, but somehow over the course of the term calling Makenzie-chan a ‘friend’ didn’t seem so disgusting, it felt almost…

“Hey Shino! Getting pumped for the game?!” Reinhardt-kun asked with a mouthful of oatmeal. Idiot. Since they had become teammates, Reinhardt-kun was becoming more and more informal with her every day, although something about his buffoonery entertained her. She still didn’t feel like calling him her captain, as he was neither her elder nor part of her house to begin with. However, he wasn’t a person she really hated either, she just didn’t see him as captain material. In Uzu’s opinion he was more fitting to be a goofy mascot. Despite her snarky thoughts and even more sarcastic replies, she decided to humor the Reinhardts by sitting with them for breakfast.

The lighthearted breakfast didn’t last long however, as before she knew it she was on the field and into the air. She really didn’t pay that much attention to the beginning formalities of the match, instead using her time to stretch her muscles and test her reflexes, both ocular and muscular. This time she would be going against someone her own size, and now that her hair was tied back, she wouldn’t have to worry about being distracted like she was the last game.

Mounting her broom, she soared up to her favorite altitude: a little above the goals and far enough away from the other Seeker so that she could give them a stink-eye without them noticing. As the game progressed she tried her best to ignore the activities below her, as they would only distract her from finding the snitch. She had practiced different techniques, however in the end she discovered it was easiest to just relax and let the snitch do the work. If she moved slowly combing the skies, eventually the snitch would glint in the sunlight, altering her to its location, she just had to hope she spotted it before Dill.

Uzu gripped her Yajirushi broom, one of the newest models to come out in Japan, and now her most prized possession based on all the work she had to do to get the thing. Her parents still had no idea she was on the Quidditch team, and would probably make her quit if they knew what a distraction it was becoming, so she decided not to tell them at all. She felt bad persuading the Kaede the house elf to place the secret order for her, but she really didn’t have much of a choice seeing as the school brooms just weren’t fast enough. Still, even if her broom was nice, Dill had a lot more experience, not to mention luck, than her based on his performance against Pecari. She resisted the urge to shoot him another dirty look, trying her best to relax and keep and open eye.

Unfortunately, the quieter of the Reinhardts decided to disturb her. “I’m fine,” she retorted a little annoyed, “Just keep the Bludgers away and I’ll be fine.” Even to her own ears she felt this response was a little too sour, turning her head away from him she added, “Good shot earlier.”

With that she continued to look for her team’s golden ticket. Instead, what she noticed coming at her way was an ominous ball, the color of death with her name written all over it. Luckily she was far enough away to pull her broom around and moving away from the ball as fast as she could. She pushed herself closer to her broom, moving faster to escape the metal ball, thanking herself for splurging on a nice broom.

“Reinhardt!” she shouted, forgetting her usual formalities as she flew through the sky. At this point she didn’t care which one answered, as long as they took care of it.

0 Shinohara, Seeker Luckily for you, we can. 0 Shinohara, Seeker 0 5

Liac Reinhardt, Beater

April 28, 2015 2:45 AM

Luckily for you, I'm here. by Liac Reinhardt, Beater

As the Chasers made their way back to the Teppalus hoops, Liac looked for another chance for a knockout. He heard the crack of bats from either side of him among the chaos of the game, and immediately took a defensive stance. Gripping his bat tightly, he looked franticly for the Bludgers' targets. One of said targets made herself known by belting his name across the skies. Although her english had improved, her voice was unmistakeable, it had to be Shinohara. Looking slightly up, his eyes widened as he saw one of the rebound bludgers tailing Shino as she tried her best to lead it to Tobi. It's not that he didn't trust Tobi to take care of it, but if she got hit, they could kiss their chances of winning goodbye.

Replying to the call, (after all he was a Reinhardt too) Liac flew toward the path of Shino and the Bludger in a steady upward climb. Thankfully Shino had a little distance between her and the Bludger, but that didn’t mean much if he let it go on for much further. Shino had some skills sure, but no one could outrun a Bludger for very long. Coming up from slightly below it, Liac swung his bat connecting with the bludger. Since he was right handed and the ball was coming from his left, he had to rotate his entire body with his broom to hit it away from Shino while still keeping it in bounds. The awkward motion left his bicep feeling a little strained, yet overall he was unscathed. He wasn’t very good at doing circular movements with his broom, but made a mental note to go over broom drills at the next Teppalus practice.

He looked to see where the Bludger ended up. He wasn’t able to rotate enough to get it into the thick of Chasers moving towards the goal, but honestly he was a little grateful for that. He hadn’t really been looking too much to where it was going, and hitting it to a group of moving foes and allies would have been unbelievably stupid. Presently it was headed in the overall direction of an outlining blue player, although weather or not it would hit the mark was unknown to Liac.

0 Liac Reinhardt, Beater Luckily for you, I'm here. 288 Liac Reinhardt, Beater 0 5

Tobi, Beater

April 28, 2015 3:58 AM

A man in [crush] is not to be trifled with. by Tobi, Beater

Shinohara’s initial cold response to Tobi startled him. He didn’t think he’d done anything in particular to make her dislike him, and he found that for what was perhaps the first time in a very long time he was beginning to care about what people thought of him. Normally he went through life doing what he thought was right, paying little attention to how others reacted. As the bludger from Umland approached, Tobi hesitated a little bit, his beater’s bat slightly raised. But Shinohara’s next words of praise assuaged the little doubt that had been. She approved of him, Tobi thought to himself, beaming as he prepared himself for the bludger that Umland had hit towards the two. She approved of the shot he had taken at the older Wolseithcrafte and he hoped she would approve of his next shot too.

Tracking the bludger Umland had hit, however, had caused him to miss Leonidas Bennett approaching and hitting the other bludger, the one that had ricocheted off the older Wolseithcrafte. At the sound of the beater’s bat, Tobi whipped his head around, slightly light headed from the sudden movement, to see a bludger headed towards Shinohara. It was just his luck, that two bludgers would be sent by both Aladren players towards the Teppalus seeker and himself. In the few seconds it would take to reach her, Tobi realized he would not have time to hit Umland’s bludger, get to Shinohara and get in a good hit. But, he thought to himself, he could hit the bludger hit by Umland and try to get to Shinohara, push her out of the way, taking the hit himself. He was used to doing that sort of thing, having grown up with Arne who had a penchant for tackle-anything. Besides, if wrestling with Arne and climbing trees hadn’t been enough, he was also used to the heavy strain of growing up carrying wood into his family’s cabin and helping his father with the metal charming tools—all of which were a heavy burden for a young boy to carry, all of which had inevitably fallen on him by accident in one way or another when he was younger.

Logically, however, he knew there was no way he would be able to tackle both bludgers and to take on Bennett’s without addressing Umlands would result in both a seeker and a beater down. Nevertheless, he had prepared himself to take on Umland’s bludger, and Tobi closed his eyes briefly, grimacing as he prayed to whoever was listening that the game turn out all right in the end and flew forwards, gripping his broom tightly between his legs and pulling his arm back. He was used to balancing, having grown up climbing trees; however, the feeling of a thick tree branch was quite different than the thin broom handle and Tobi wobbled a bit as he leaned forward to hit the bludger. He drew his arms back, willing himself not to fall off the broom stick as he was so high up in the air he was certain a fall would mean extreme injury, calloused hands clutching the beater’s bat, and swung, putting all his strength into the hit. With a loud crack, the bludger soared away from him and Shinohara towards the Aladren player his previous target had just thrown the Quaffle too. He turned around to fly back towards Shinohara, hoping that his hit had been properly aimed and could only watch the scene before him unfold in what seemed like slow motion.

As Shinohara flew towards him, away from the bludger, she yelled out his last name. He had never heard his teammate use a name as plainly as she did then, and he wondered at it—did this mean they were friends, or was it simply a slip of the tongue during a moment of panic? He didn’t—wouldn’t—couldn’t allow himself to delve into that thought when, out of nowhere, his cousin, beautiful cousin Liac came in, cracking his bat and sending the bludger towards the edge of the herd of orange and blue chasers. Tobi beamed—Shinohara was safe, both bludgers were aimed at Aladren players and all was right in the world.

“All right, Liac!” he cheered, flying over to his cousin for a quick high-five before assuming his position as Shinohara’s guard once more. “Sorry about that,” he quipped to her once he was within speaking distance. “It won’t happen again.”

10 Tobi, Beater A man in [crush] is not to be trifled with. 289 Tobi, Beater 0 5

Clark Dill, Seeker

April 29, 2015 10:06 AM

Ending the game by Clark Dill, Seeker

Clark tried not to pay too much attention to Leonidas leaving him to fetch a bludger back from the beleaguered John Umland. As long as Leonidas had control of it, Clark was safe and Uzume Shinohara was distracted. It would be the most ideal time of the entire game so far to spot the snitch. Her broom looked way better than his school broom did, so even if Leonidas didn't hit the Crotalus Seeker, as much distraction as he could provide from her search would be well worth it.

Clark's eyes darted over the pitch intently, feeling somewhat pressured to find that elusive flash of gold right now. Of course that didn't work. Snitches were independent creatures who would not be bullied to appear on anyone's time but their own.

Between them, both Reinhardt beaters defended the Teppalus seeker and it was back to game normal. Clark himself was too far away for the rebounded bludgers to pose a threat to him without further beater interference, and Leonidas would see to it that they either stayed safely away from him or continued to badger Shinohara. During this moment of safety, though, Clark kind of hoped Leonidas would go for the later option to keep her otherwise occupied while Clark sought the Snitch.

He didn't wait to see what happened though. He just calmed himself, put away all urgency to end the game swiftly, and settled comfortably and patiently into his standard seeking pattern, ready to keep this up all day if need be. Sure enough, the snitch showed itself just to mess with Clark's plan to enjoy the sun and fresh air.

Really, once you understood the snitch's alien psychology, it really wasn't too hard to train your thoughts to invite it to appear. The moment of smug self congratulation almost cost him the match. The snitch vanished again.

But Clark was already moving toward where he had last seen it and there! It hadn't gotten too far away yet. Clark's heart was in his throat as he chased it down, half-expecting Uzume Shinohara's fancier broom to speed past him and grab the snitch out of from between his reaching fingers any moment, but it didn't happen that way.

Clark had had enough of a head start. Or maybe the beaters and bludgers she had just encountered were crowding her airspace and she'd needed to avoid colliding with something along the way. Whatever the cause of his good fortune, Clark's fingers closed around the snitch before hers did and he whooped and held it aloft for all to see.

This game was Aladren's.

1 Clark Dill, Seeker Ending the game 277 Clark Dill, Seeker 0 5

Coach Olivers

April 30, 2015 3:25 AM

Aladren scores! 10 - 0 (nm) by Coach Olivers

0 Coach Olivers Aladren scores! 10 - 0 (nm) 0 Coach Olivers 0 5

Coach Olivers

April 30, 2015 3:25 AM

Aladren wins! 160 - 0 (nm) by Coach Olivers

0 Coach Olivers Aladren wins! 160 - 0 (nm) 0 Coach Olivers 0 5

Coach Olivers

Quidditch Game III: Teppalus vs. Aladren by Coach Olivers

<font color=blue>Clark Dill, Seeker</font>

Flying right along by <font color=blue>Clark Dill, Seeker</font>

<font color=orange>Ginger Pierce, Keeper</font>

Hoping this goes better by <font color=orange>Ginger Pierce, Keeper</font>

<font color="orange">Isaac Douglas, Chaser</font>

Making the best of things. by <font color="orange">Isaac Douglas, Chaser</font>

<font color='orange'>Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>

A much better start this time. by <font color='orange'>Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>

<font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>

It was nice while it lasted.... by <font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>

<font color="blue">Captain Anthony, Chaser</font>

But all things must end by <font color="blue">Captain Anthony, Chaser</font>

<font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>

That doesn't bode well for us (goal attempt) by <font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>

<font color=orange>Ginger Pierce, Keeper</font>

Or me either by <font color=orange>Ginger Pierce, Keeper</font>

<font color='orange'>Liac Reinhardt, Beater</font>

I guess it's time to mix it up a little. by <font color='orange'>Liac Reinhardt, Beater</font>

<font color="orange">Andrew Carey, Chaser</font>

Everything's going to be all right by <font color="orange">Andrew Carey, Chaser</font>

<font color='orange'>Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>

Let's aim for more than all right. by <font color='orange'>Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>

<font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>

You have my best wishes by <font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>

<font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>

You're certainly giving us the run around by <font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>

<font color='orange'> T. Reinhardt, Beater</font>

I'm trying my hardest. by <font color='orange'> T. Reinhardt, Beater</font>

<font color="blue">John Umland, Beater</font>

Trying to multitask. by <font color="blue">John Umland, Beater</font>

<font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>

It's not one of your strengths by <font color='blue'>Francesca, Chaser</font>

<font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>

Trying not to hold it against you by <font color='blue'>Theodore, Keeper</font>

<font color="orange">Isaac Douglas, Chaser</font>

You must be a more generous person than I am. by <font color="orange">Isaac Douglas, Chaser</font>

<font color=blue>Clark Dill, Seeker</font>

Still Flying by <font color=blue>Clark Dill, Seeker</font>

<font color="blue">John Umland, Beater</font>

You could both hold it against Tobias instead.... by <font color="blue">John Umland, Beater</font>

<font color='orange'>Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>

It's nothing personal, it's Quidditch. by <font color='orange'>Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>

<font color="orange">Tobi, Beater</font>

I like that idea. by <font color="orange">Tobi, Beater</font>

<font color="blue">Anthony Carey, Chaser</font>

So you shouldn't mind me doing this by <font color="blue">Anthony Carey, Chaser</font>

<font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>

I like the idea of maiming your Seeker by <font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font>

<font color='orange'>Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>

Now that sounds really aggressive. by <font color='orange'>Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>

<font color="blue">Francesca, Chaser</font>

If you can't stand the heat by <font color="blue">Francesca, Chaser</font>

<font color='orange'> Shinohara, Seeker</font>

Luckily for you, we can. by <font color='orange'> Shinohara, Seeker</font>

<font color='orange'>Liac Reinhardt, Beater</font>

Luckily for you, I'm here. by <font color='orange'>Liac Reinhardt, Beater</font>

<font color='orange'> Tobi, Beater</font>

A man in [crush] is not to be trifled with. by <font color='orange'> Tobi, Beater</font>

<font color=blue> Clark Dill, Seeker</font>

Ending the game by <font color=blue> Clark Dill, Seeker</font>

Coach Olivers

Aladren scores! 10 - 0 (nm) by Coach Olivers

Coach Olivers

Aladren wins! 160 - 0 (nm) by Coach Olivers