"Coach" Isis Carter
September 25, 2015 5:19 PM
Quidditch Game III: Teppalus vs. Aladren! by "Coach" Isis Carter
Once again, Isis was called upon to officiate one of Sonora’s Quidditch games, and once again, she felt incredibly uneasy about the entire thing. She supposed it was simply a part of life given that Sonora had no actual, specific coach. It was usually Professor Olivers, stepping up and filling in to help out the kids who so clearly loved to play the game. Unfortunately, the professor/coach could not make it today, which left substitute Isis to fill the hole once more.To add to her irritation, the Pitch was surprisingly warm, hotter than she had ever personally felt it to be on the grounds, as if the school metaphorically woke up and remembered it was situated in the desert. Isis took care to warn the Teppalus and Aladren captains, advising them to keep their team hydrated and cooled as much as possible. She definitely didn’t want to see anyone passing out from the heat.
“Welcome, everyone, to our final match of the school year!” Isis began with forced cheer when the appropriate time came. “Today we have Aladren, led by Captain Francesca Wolseithecrafte, versus Teppalus, led by Co-Captains Liac Reinhardt and Alistair Johnston.” She nodded to the boys to shake hands. They should know the routine by now, and saying it all felt so redundant.
“Good luck to both teams,” she added as the captains found their starting positions. With the Snitch and Bludgers free in the air, Isis stuck the whistle between her teeth and took a breath. Tossing the Quaffle as high as she could, its shrill shriek signified the formal start of the game.
OOC: You all know the rules by now, but just in case you forgot, here’s a refresher. All other site rules, of course, still apply as well. Be creative, have fun, and tag me if you need anything!
Subthreads: A view from the bench. by <font color="orange">Tobi Reinhardt, Bench</font> with <font color='blue'>Capt Francesca W, Chaser</font>, <font color="orange">Jake Manger, Bench</font>
Watching and waiting by <font color="blue">Leonidas Bennett, Beater</font> with <font color=blue>Clark Dill, Seeker</font>, <font color="orange">Arne Reinhardt, Beater</font>, <font color="orange">Shinohara, Seeker</font>, Coach Olivers
Ready to defend by <font color='blue'>Theodore W, Keeper</font> with <font color=orange>Ginger Pierce, Keeper</font>
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"Coach" Isis Carter
Quidditch Game III: Teppalus vs. Aladren!
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"Coach" Isis Carter
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<font color="orange">Isaac Douglas, Chaser</font>
September 30, 2015 6:50 PM
The road to a Teppalus victory, you mean? Let's go! by <font color="orange">Isaac Douglas, Chaser</font>
Isaac, like all of his family but one, was a slightly-built wizard with pale coloring better suited to the far-distant and naturally much cooler climates that his ancestors had come from than he was to the southwest United States. As he walked over to his team, he was almost prepared to swear the sun really was burning the top of his head and for a moment seriously considered whether he might look good with longer hair next year. Then he remembered both that more hair would probably just make him even hotter and, more importantly still, that his father thought men with hair any longer than his looked like idiots playacting at being dark wizards of a bygone age and would therefore never allow Isaac to do it.Another miserable day in the neighborhood, he thought.
He looked at Tobias Reinhardt, who did not look all that sick too him, and accepted the inevitable. He could only worry about maintaining his personal dignity in this one, because with an alternate for a Beater, they were doomed. The only way they were not doomed was if Arne was the Arnold Carey of Beaters, and Isaac seriously doubted this. Exceptional Quidditch talent was evidently a trait of Aladren Seekers, Clark Dill evidently inheriting the status of lucky freak of nature with decent Beater support from the last holder of the position.
This, to Isaac’s surprise, prompted very amusing mental images of one of the Careys enchanting a broom, somehow, with part of their brother’s personality – perhaps it had selected Dill, like those magic swords in some old stories? – and of Clark someday strolling into a Carey stronghold and announcing that he, rather than another Carey, was the true Heir of Arnold. Despite knowing that such a tale could only have a tragic end, Isaac had to work to keep a completely straight face as he listened to their co-captains speak. By the time they were done, though, his mind was back on the game, and he kicked off with only a faint hope that a Teppalus would maim Clark today instead of letting the honor go to the Careys.
The honor of first holding the Quaffle had gone to Francesca Wolseithcrafte. He knew his sister Alicia was hoping desperately that she could get Francesca and the rest of the Heritage Society to like her, volunteering for everything and spreading her gold as thick as she could and such, because they were the only halfway-respectable eastern political group she probably stood even half a chance of rising within even with a Pierce husband, but he could not imagine that him intercepting one of Francesca’s passes would make it less likely that Alicia would succeed in this goal. He would have resented the hell out of it, but he thought most people would be indifferent to it even if they knew he was the younger Mrs. Pierce’s half-brother and suspected there was a chance that, as some Aladrens seemed to have a strange notion of honor in competitions, it might actually increase Wolseithcrafte respect for the family. Accordingly, he quickly began to shadow her, and when he saw an opening, he took it.
He had actually gotten pretty good at it, not to mention was playing against an unusually weak Aladren Chasing team, but it never failed to surprise Isaac when his interceptions actually worked. Luckily, he had reluctantly trained enough since he joined up that his body knew what to do even while his mind was busy being surprised. He quickly rose in the air to break away from the Aladren Chasers now on either side of him and then turned back toward Francesca’s brother. As soon as his mind rejoined the party, which didn’t take as long as it once had, he started warily watching for John Umland as he flew. He hated that kid.
He also hated carrying the Quaffle any distance, so after putting a respectable, though not at all ambitious, amount of distance between him and his starting point, he looked for an opportunity to pass to one of his comrades in orange and took it when he found it. He breathed a little more easily once the ball was out of his hands, though never too freely in Quidditch. For one thing, there was always the possibility of interception, and for another, not having the Quaffle didn’t guarantee him safety. Umland could always get it into his head to pick off the other two and leave the one with the Quaffle with nowhere to go, or just to target the modest threat Isaac had just helpfully pointed out that he represented. As Umland's mind was something he could not read and would not want to read if he had the ability, he just couldn't know. Now that he’d made a decent move in the game, he could only hope things continued to go well for him and the other Chasers.
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<font color="orange">Isaac Douglas, Chaser</font>
The road to a Teppalus victory, you mean? Let's go!
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<font color="orange">Isaac Douglas, Chaser</font>
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<font color="orange">Andrew Carey, Chaser</font>
October 02, 2015 12:24 AM
It's one of the best roads there is by <font color="orange">Andrew Carey, Chaser</font>
Andrew stepped outside and immediately had to swallow as the heat washed over him. It was a desert-like heat, not a humid, summer in the south heat, but it was hot enough that he thought it made less of a difference than usual. This was not going to be fun to play in at all.He made sure to join the rest of the team with a smile on his face. He couldn’t do anything about the sweat already making his thick dark blond hair stick to his forehead, but he tried to look as unaffected by the weather as possible. After feeling embarrassed in the Potions lesson in the Gardens because Fabian knew all about the outdoors but was used to going there alone because all his cousins were girls, Andrew had resolved to do everything he could to keep from looking weak whether he was completely sure it was going to work or not. Smiling almost always worked when he needed to do that.
He wondered for a moment, though, if it was really appropriate to not look worried today, considering that Tobi was supposed to be sick. As the captains spoke, he decided that it probably was. If he was well enough to sit on the bench instead of going to the hospital wing, then he wasn’t going to die any time soon and therefore was less important right now than doing their best against Aladren, which partially included looking unfazed and optimistic. Most of that team was pureblood, after all, and would notice appearances. Andrew had spent far too much of his childhood bored stiff by descriptions of how he should pay attention to people’s faces and trying to guess how stories would end from pictures of facial expressions to doubt that.
Francesca Wolseithcrafte got the ball first, but then Isaac surprised Andrew by intercepting it. He didn’t waste much time thinking about it, though, because following the ball and holding onto it was more important and he and Isaac had passed the ball back and forth okay in games before, which meant there was a good chance Teppalus was going to hold onto the ball for another move.
The pass wasn’t too flashy, but it got the job done. Andrew got his hands on the Quaffle and pulled it in without any interference from Aladren, not even a Bludger. That was a good start, though he didn’t know how long it would last. He varied his flight path a little, trying to avoid spending much time on a straight line, to avoid all the Aladren players in his part of the game until he decided it was time to try to pass. Once he did, he tried a backward pass to one of his teammates, hoping that would confuse the Aladrens, who were most likely expecting Teppalus to stick strictly to the simplest moves because he thought the other Houses still didn’t expect more from them than what they had done last year.
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<font color="orange">Andrew Carey, Chaser</font>
It's one of the best roads there is
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<font color="orange">Andrew Carey, Chaser</font>
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<font color='orange'>Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>
October 04, 2015 8:08 AM
We are definitely on that road right now. by <font color='orange'>Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>
Quidditch matches at Sonora Academy seemed to be jinxed with bad weather. Last time it had been cold and windy and now it was far hotter than ideal for playing conditions. Alistair knew from the moment he woke up that it would be a tough match, going up against Sonora’s reigning champions in the harsh desert heat. What’s more, it was the last match of the year and the Aladren Captain’s last game at Sonora ever so he didn’t doubt that they would be more intent than ever to thrash Teppalus. These thoughts didn’t dull his determination to prove just how much his team had come along even since their last match, although he still found himself longing for a better team to work with.Alistair went down to breakfast feeling fairly confident despite the fact that he was about to go up against the unforgiving Aladren team. It was only when he was informed that Tobi Reinhardt would be sitting the game out that a knot of nerves grew in his stomach. Wasn’t this what he had wanted all along? To pull fellow Crotalus Arne Reinhardt out of reserves? But now that it came down to it, Ali realised what it meant to leave his personal indifferences on the sidelines. No matter how much he disliked Tobi, he couldn’t pretend that it was nice being able to rely on the two older Reinhardt boys performing their duties on the Pitch. It wasn’t necessarily that he doubted Arne’s abilities but this would be the sassy first year’s very first match and Alistair knew he wouldn’t be able to focus on himself when there was an inexperienced kid protecting his Seeker.
That’s why he ignored the usual routine of leaving Beater decisions to Liac as he made his pre match peptalk. “Okay team, it’s really hot out here so make sure you drink up and keep yourselves hydrated. This is going to be a tough one but it’s nothing we’re not capable of winning.” Alistair wasn’t normally a nervous kind of person but their was a new element of doubt that he was feeling about today’s match. “Liac, you’ll have to mark Shinohara this match and Arne can cover us Chasers.” He glanced at Arne briefly, giving the younger kid a reassuring clap on the back that went against all Alistair mannerisms. “You’ll do great. Chasers, we should be dominating this match - we’ve got a stronger set up. Ginger,” Alistair paused, for once not actually sure what he wanted to say to his ‘star pupil’. Was it the nerves that were getting to him or something else entirely? “You know what to do. And Shinohara…” He wasn’t proud of his sudden inability to give sound advice, but perhaps he could allow his co-captain to take more of a lead for once. “...just catch that Snitch before Aladren do.” His tone and phrasing could have been put better, the whole point of a pep-talk was to inspire his team but he sounded completely tired of the fact that Teppalus had never managed to catch the Snitch first. Shinohara obviously knew what her job was so he had given her absolutely no helpful input whatsoever. “This is our last match of the year so let’s make it a good one.” He was tempted to mention that it may be their last game as Teppalus if they had any luck next year but he couldn’t think of a way to make that sound at all positive.
As he walked toward the Aladren Captain and shook hands he was slightly distracted, scanning the crowd for a certain face. That being said, he wasn’t so rude as to not make eye contact with Francesca Wolseithcrafte in their brief exchange. He flashed her a half smile that didn’t reach his eyes, feeling mildly disappointed that he’d never get the chance to play against her again. Of course, this was a feeling that he would obviously never admit to anyone. As he mounted his broom, Alistair resumed his searching for Joella in the spectator stands. As a crazy Quidditch-lover Joella always turned up to watch the matches she wasn’t in but when he finally spotted her red-clad figure, he knew she was here for him more than anything. This was what he needed know to get his mind to focus and ignore those doubts in the back of his mind, strange as it was for someone so independent and hardheaded.
The second the whistle was blown he was up in the air, racing for the first touch of the Quaffle. For someone who prided himself particularly in speed, Alistair rarely seemed to come out of the initial mess with the leather ball in hand. It took him a moment to realise that the Aladren Captain was already making off with it down the pitch and get his bearings as to where his teammates were but once he had, the Crotalus Captain was off on his course of action.
Alistair had never liked the way that Isaac Douglas played; the older boy lacked all the finesse that the second year himself had spent so long perfecting. But at least the fifth year got the job done, intercepting Francesca Wolseithcrafte’s pass. He didn’t travel with it for too long but his pass to Andrew Carey went smoothly. The Teppalus Chasers seemed to be working well together and Alistair changed direction back up the pitch accordingly. He was behind Carey at this point but the Teppenpaw was changing his angle continuously so Ali decided to stick to his course until he could figure out the best position to receive a pass. When a reverse pass came his way, he was a little surprised but not so much so that he hesitated in maneuvering to catch it. The accuracy wasn’t bad and he was able to collect the ball before the oppostion managed to get their hands on it.
With the scarlet ball tucked firmly under his arm, Alistair powered forward on his broom. He ignored the intense heat raining down on him as he sped closer toward Francesca’s brother at the Aladren hoops, keeping an eye out for bludgers, perhaps more so than usual due to an unintentional lack of faith in Arne Reinhardt’s abilities under the pressure of a real match. He flew upwards slightly as he went and if anyone were to know his team playing flaws they might have actually thought he was selfish enough to try and make the whole distance to the scoring area alone. But even Alistair had learned it was too far for him to go alone and that he’d likely be taken out well before he got anywhere near the goals so once he’d gained enough distance and height, he checked for an orange-robed player and dropped the Quaffle down to them, hoping that the Aladren Chasers marking and tailing him wouldn’t be too quick to intercept a ball going a different direction than the norm for Teppalus passes.
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<font color='orange'>Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>
We are definitely on that road right now.
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<font color='orange'>Ali Johnson, Chaser</font>
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<font color='blue'>Capt Francesca W, Chaser</font>
October 05, 2015 12:28 AM
You take the high road, I'll take the low road by <font color='blue'>Capt Francesca W, Chaser</font>
Francesca muttered several obscenities in her head as Teppalus took possession. It only went from bad to worse as they continued to pass with the rest of the Aladren Chasers not managing to stop them. Sometimes, she felt as if she was carrying the entire Chasing team. Though gallingly enough she felt that wasn’t something she could criticise for. It was part of the problem of being captain… Surely, if her Chasers were weak, that was as much her fault as theirs. If she tried to blame them, wasn’t she just highlighting her own failure? And what could she even blame them for? They worked hard, tried hard. Essentially, wouldn’t she be being angry at them for being the youngest ones out there? And there was no logic to that.She channelled her focus instead into recovering the Quaffle. It would be hard to make up the distance but she decided that the best and only option was to throw subtlety and caution to the wind. Arne Reinhardt was scarcely an intimidating prospect. She made a beeline, flying as straight and as fast as she could back towards the action. She missed the first pass, and the second - but that being a backwards pass gave her some precious extra seconds. It was hard to gauge whether they would go for it on the final stretch. The Chasers still seemed a little spooked by the notion of going a long way with the Quaffle.
As Alistair Johnson climbed, she thought that would be it. Teppalus weren’t known for passing well from the position. Still, it wasn’t over until it was over. If she wanted any hope of holding her ground against these Chasers, she would have to fight for every last inch. Or hope for them all to become horribly incapacitated. Her determination was rewarded, as Alistair tried to drop the ball downwards. She leapt in, feeling herself bump slightly against another player as she did so, but coming away victorious.
It was tempting to just go for it. With a rookie Beater defending the Teppalus Chasers, she was in a strong position to just try out-running them. The bigger threat was having all three Chaser converge on her at once (an image which was amusingly like having three little puppies excitedly tripping around her feet because she’d stolen their favourite ball - she grinned slightly hysterically) and that would take time for her opponents to organise.
She knew, really, that she couldn’t. That there was no I in team, and all that, and that - as the strongest Chaser on the team, she really couldn’t take the risk (however small) of being hit with a Bludger or forced to collide with something. Still, she put in a longer than average stretch before looking for a chance. Seeing a blue-clad player nearby, she threw as firmly as she could, hoping that luck was with them this time.
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<font color='blue'>Capt Francesca W, Chaser</font>
You take the high road, I'll take the low road
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<font color='blue'>Capt Francesca W, Chaser</font>
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