Water Polo Tournament

A muggle sport. Maisie had never been quite so excited about the idea. Since she had the worst track record at magical sports, the corollary had to be that she might find some luck and purpose here. Well, that was if you didn't count the ice hockey, which she'd done her best to block out.

Despite this, she was glad to be on a team with Cecilia, perhaps the only decent Slytherin she knew. And it might be nice to know more people in general. Still, she would greet Cecilia first: "Hey Cece. Good to see you. Think we can figure this one out?" A sport was not a puzzle (though perhaps if she thought of them as one, she might fair better at them?), but it was in that giant Halloween riddle that Cece had shown herself to be competent, kind, and just normal.

And honestly, normal seemed like a good bar to set for this game. If it could be fine—not good, not bad, not dismal—just normal, she would take that. Despite this hope, when the ball was released, no one seemed to rush it. So, in an absence of action, Maisie reached for it. But it almost wasn't worth it because the boy who did get his first hands on the ball did so with incredible precision and speed. She blinked twice just trying to spot exactly what had happened.

And that was on top of figuring out what to do in the absence of her precious goalposts.

And there was precious little time to do so.

Stamina: 7 | Evasion: 9 | Strength: 2 | Wisdom: 8 | Arcane Power: 5 | Accuracy: 9
Muggle Condition | Perfectionist

date ; xx/xx/xxxx mentions ; @person languages ; english | thoughts

place ; location xxxx ; wordcount description description ; ooc notes

XXXXXWater Polo....? Like Marco polo.....? Prat jogged over to the pool humming a song in his mind, which one? No idea. There wasn't really much to attribute to a song, one such as this, when your brain was already occupied with ideas of food and games and then perhaps more food.

However, he did remember his mum telling him to not eat right before or after getting in the pool, which did irk him the wrong way. Humans were such fragile creatures, pizza in pool would go so well if it wasn't for the mortality that these bones, muscles, tendons and veins held. And for their proper functioning, one had to maintain adequate conditions for them.

How was the object of one's desire, the tool for their freedom also the cage that contained it, the way a body held you back, deciding your natural limitations. To have all this ingenuity, all this brilliance and never be able to exert it to it's maximum simply due to being too frail and too—too human.

Anyway, the time to ponder had left, Prat arrived and began doing some warm up tricks to get his body ready, a little jog around, a few stretches and a few quick pushups to get it out of the way.

More people arriving would only make it worse to warm up sooner. All was good in the world until Prat saw the frail, toothpick esque boy that Prat last saw belonged to Castelo.

xx

𝐒𝐓𝐀 𝟔 | 𝐄𝐕𝐀 𝟗 | 𝐒𝐓𝐑 𝟔 | 𝐖𝐈𝐒 𝟕 | 𝐀𝐑𝐂 𝟕 | 𝐀𝐂𝐂 𝟏𝟎 𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 | 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐋𝐘 𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 | 𝐄𝐕𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐕𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐄𝐔𝐕𝐄𝐑𝐒 coded by elena clarkxx

x

Water Polo huh? Why had she signed herself up for this? She'd never played or even watched a game. She only had a vague understanding of what the rules were and how it worked. Sigh She would have to make do with what the others as well as various books from the library had taught her.

She walked towards on the edge of the pool, dipping her toe into the clear water. A shiver passed down her spine. Was it from the unexpected cold of the water or the nerves? She couldn't tell.

She had seen a few of the others before, mainly through quidditch, but wasn't exactly close to them. They all seemed much stronger than her, but hey, there was a first for everything, even if this might just end up being her last.

She sent a last quick glance around at the other players before beginning to warmup. She hugged one leg to her chest while balancing on the other. What my leg cramps and I can't swim? she thought anxiously. She switched leg. What if I miss the ball and get hit in the face?

She knew there was no point in worrying now, to pull out would mean forcing her whole team to a disadvantage if not making them forfeit the game. No, she had to do this.

Reducio

WC:222/200
Charmer
Stamina: 8 Evasion: 7 Strength: 3 Wisdom: 7 ArcPower: 6 Accuracy: 4

Denise felt the cool water hitting her swimsuit, and she slowly adjusted her swimcap. She can't believe it... She's swimming... with other witches and wizards in this magical world, playing regular old water polo.

The water waved slowly, it's blue and beautiful. Denise smiled in ease, wondering how she agreed to such a dangerous sport, considering that she was a novice swimmer. At least, she's the goalie, meaning she only has to defend or maybe do something else, making her job easy enough.

Slowly, she waddled to her position, adjusting her cap that was about to slip off her head. Anthonie Engelbrecht, the organizer for this event, from an African wizarding school, Uagadou (other countries and continents have their own wizarding schools, apparently...), winked, stating, "Have fun, stay safe, know I will intervene if you attempt to drown each other..."

Denise looked at the intimidating team, looking nervous and scared. Oh dear... hopefully, things won't go wrong. The last thing Denise needed was to drown and suffer in pain, which was very possible since she's a novice swimmer.

Soon, the whistle blew, and Maisie Gemmell and another boy battled for the ball for the other team to win. Oh dear... Denise prepared herself, ready to do what it takes to win.

Abilities: Healing Sage

STA [7] | EVA [5] | STR [5] | WIS [7] | ARC [5] | ACC [6]

Action: As Strategized

Mentions: Reducio @Maisie Gemmell @Jada Blake @Charlotte Winfield @Cecilia Merrick @Anthonie Engelbrecht

After the brutal clash with Hufflepuff, a game of water polo seemed like the break Cecilia needed from quidditch. Though she knew very little about the sport, the presence of a familiar face eased her nerves.

“Hey Maisie,” a bright grin stretched across her face as she waved. Upon hearing Maisie’s question, she replied without hesitation “Of course we can. Let’s give this our all!”

Witnessing Maisie’s intelligence during the drowned palace and her competency as a keeper instilled Cecilia with an unshakable faith in her abilities. More than anything else, she was simply pleased to be on the same side as her friend.

Cecilia was also pleasantly surprised to see some of her teammates — Jada and Charlotte. Although they were not particularly close, they seemed rather reliable. She had not met Denise before, so she refrained from making any observations and quietly hoped that they would work well together.

Of course, there were familiar faces amongst the opposing team. She knew that Erast was rather mischievous and competitive, much like herself. Therefore she looked forward to facing off against him. Admittedly, the young snake may have overestimated her own abilities, but that would not be enough to deter her.

action: as strategised
stats: stamina 6 ; evasion 8 ; strength 4 ; wisdom 6 ; arcane power 6 ; accuracy 6
wc: 269

Perhaps it was the thrill of competition that had begun to hook Erast like a fish to bait after competing at the International Magical Olympic Games, or the promised company of his energetic friend, Cecilia Merrick, that he ended up in the situation he was in right now: Clad in long-sleeved, uncomfortably tight swimwear, standing in a pool with 9 other students about to play a muggle sport that he barely understood. Sports were truly something meant for first-hand, true-lived experience, and no books could prepare him for whatever fortune or lack thereof he would encounter.

After patting himself wet with water and stretching for a ridiculous amount of time, Erast finally slipped into the pool with his team. He never felt more grateful for his governess for forcing him into his family estate's lake to learn swimming than at this moment. He glanced nervously at Prat Pass, who was once again in his team. After their mediocre ranking at the figure-skating competition, he felt a bit shy to team up with this senior student again. The older boy had been running laps and doing weird arm exercises at the side of the pool, and Erast suddenly felt as if he had to snap out of his haze, so he matched that level of dedication. There were two players on his team from his cohort, and a boy whom he did not recognise as a student at Hogwarts. Oh dear, so many strangers. He had no doubt that their athletic abilities were there, but for a team game, was knowing only one person from your team really okay...?

The game began as soon as the ball landed in the pool, and almost instantly, Erast had to shield his face because huge splashes of salty pool water came sloshing in his direction. Oh my gosh, what is this— Erast immediately swerved aside and towards his teammate who had managed to catch the ball. He felt as if he had to do something, but for now, he monitored his opponents from this distance.

Stats: Stamina – 4 | Evasion – 6 | Strength – 3 | Wisdom – 7 | Arcane – 3 | Accuracy – 7
Abilities: Metamorphmagus (Year 1)
Actions: As strategised!

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TERRIBLE PRESENCE [OPPS] | PERFECTIONIST | BINDING MARK [BORAM]

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Arno hummed a fun song to himself, an old song he'd only remembered in parts, from a voice he couldn't visualize, but a tone he felt so familiar to. It was as if the boy's mind had been imprinted of the song; a french one at that.

Arno wasn't usually keen on revisiting France, or his french heritage. Most things stemming from France had only managed to leave the boy disappointed, and at times, disappointed. In fate, in people, and in himself. While the former could be brushed off as something he had no control over, the latter, was his own doing.

Nonetheless, there wasn't much to do once he reached the pool, he saw some guy doing a quick warmup before the game, decided to join him, only to find it was Prat. Ugh. If Arno could, he'd rather not cross paths with the boy again, he wasn't over the last they time they had a little tussle and Prat gave him a souvenir for the defeat. But the two boys had also managed to reconcile a little, mended their ways.

They weren't friends, but they were no longer enemies either. The duo understood they were too young to be enemies, specially for people living across half the globe.

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[ sta ] 08 [ eva ] 11 [ str ] 00 [ wis ] 07 [ arc ] 05 [ acc ] 15