Fall Games Quidditch: Gryffindor v Slytherin

The adrenaline coursing through Thora's veins made for an oddly unfamiliar feeling as she stepped into the Quidditch pitch for the first time in her third year. She'd played (well, been benched for) just three games the previous season, and each entrance into the grassy stadium alongside her teammates had been accompanied by a heavy dose of fear and nerves. It was all irrational, really, since her needing to play keeper was only a possibility, and she wasn't half bad at flying. All the hundreds of gazes upon her and the rest of the players, though, was something the girl hated, being one who appreciated solitude. There had been a constant fluttering of restless butterflies as she sat through each game, only intensifying as more goals were scored and more players fell…

But not this time. "Good luck, guys," she grinned at her teammates, "You got this." There was confidence in her step as she left the first strings and took her place on the bench, green eyes sparkling as she strained to see the players and those watching in the stands beyond.

Her excitement at returning to Quidditch was somewhat marred by the sheets of rain, of course; moments after leaving the locker room, she was already drenched and hairs had been teased out of the customary braids. The weather was enough to affect everyone's playing and only added a further level of danger to the game, and the longer she stood away from the shelter of locker room, the less optimistic she felt. Being somewhat used to such a climate, the rain itself didn't bother her much, but she was a player seasoned enough to have the conditions dampen her confidence.

Of course, there were also the roster changes to worry about ─ she wasn't so much worried about the new players' abilities, but rather the necessary cohesiveness in a Quidditch team which could only really be achieved through practice. Despite a couple losses, Slytherin'd had a team of amazing players the previous season and Thora was loath to see some of them leave, but the pull of duelling or other responsibilities was certainly understandable. Still, she was happy to welcome in a new wave of players, hoping they'd stay safe as much as she did the ones she'd known for longer.

As the players took to the cloudy skies, Thora could feel some of the old nervousness returning as if summoned by the storm raging above ─ she couldn't help it; anything could go wrong. But all the same, she watched as everyone found their positions and squinted her eyes against the wind and rain, ignoring the droplets flying against her face and rolling down her cheeks. All that was needed was the first whistle, and they would be off.

It was the first game of the new year. Joining late in the season last year, Tyranni was waitlisted and benched during her first game as captain. Chaos was the most accurate description she could find to describe Year 1 at Hogwarts, but this was to be expected. With the new season meant new players to coach. She finally was past the waitlist for players and she was sitting as second string Chaser. While she hoped that none of her players were injured and would need her to enter the game, she was excited at the potential to play in her first game.

Entering the pitch she took her Silver Arrow for a lap around the pitch with her team as co-captain and then flew down to the bench. The team had been prepped in the locker room on their game plan and it was time to get back at Gryffindor for the last game of the season last year when they beat Slytherin by what had to have been sheer luck.

Stamina: 9 (12)	Evasion: 7 (10)	Abilities: Seer Effect: 10% auto-dodge & auto-hit
Strength: 5 (8)	Wisdom: 4 (7)	Broom: Silver Arrow | +3 to all stats as indicated by the bold numbers in (#)
Arcane Power: 3 (6)	Accuracy: 7 (10)	Position: Second-String Chaser

Action: Entering Pitch | Doing as strategized

Alexx knew she had to have a better season. While she was probably the most defensive chaser on the team, she knew that she had to step up her game. The beaters could do their job, she needed to do hers (unless she was asked otherwise). She knew it was likely that someone would ask her, but this season, she really wanted to focus on making a bigger impact. Especially against Gryffindor.

She was mostly just thrilled to have the top chaser spot in general, because Alexx did pride herself in being extremely athletic. Not everyone could be multitalented like she was, and she knew that gave her an upper hand while participating in extra curriculars such as Quidditch. To hold so many titles was unbelievable, and it definitely gave her some serious bragging rights around the school; at least in her opinion.

Thought popularity wasn't everything, everyone would see the back of her Quidditch uniform that read "Severin, 99" and they would know the name. The ultimate goal was to always make an impact anyway, right? That was what it was to Alexx. To be something, do something. And that mentality reflected onto her goals for the season. Be better.

Actions: As strategized

Reducio

Position: Chaser

Abilities:
a1. 's Grace
a2. Sixth Sense
a3. Lovely Creature
a4. Foulplay

Statistics:
Strength: 9
Stamina: 10
Arc Power: 7
Wisdom: 5
Evasion: 9 (+3 = 12)
Accuracy: 11 (+3 = 14)

Broom:
moontrimmer
Stats: +3 to two separate stats of choice.
Effect: You have exceptional dodge. +10% chance to auto-dodge an attack.

First game. Never would Persephone have imagined herself with trembling hands and a steady sweat along her forehead in barely warm weather, masked by the drenching rain. In the one time it was so desperately longed for, confidence was swept away by the very same wind that tangled her platinum hair, tied messily back but soaked already. At the very second of her arrival, something in the air had shifted, yet only in hers, as the rest of the serpent team seemed to breathe like their lungs weren’t confined in eternal damnation. Excitement up until the sun rose, ascended in a brand-new shade of yellow, one that didn’t symbolize a new beginning. But rather, the death of something that had barely been born.

A boring, school-issued broom was clutched in her left and dominant hand, which still quivered, a fault the blonde would desperately blame on freezing rain. Upon mounting it, the world felt foreign and like one she’d never seen, even before her feet had left the ground. Persy’s emerald eyes lingered on her teammates—allies, for once—performing in a way that read so ritualistic. A question, a command, the compelling curtain-call of striking the fear of some god, graceful laps, and effortless kick-offs. But that admiring gaze hardened as the red flooded in, and she quickly joined the team in their laps around the pitch, void of a bright smile. She couldn’t be good. She had to be great.

Action | Arriving. As strategized.

Reducio

Position | Chaser
Broom | School Broom
Stats | Stamina: 8 | Evasion: 4 | Strength: 5 | Wisdom: 7 | Arc Power: 5 | Accuracy: 6
Abilities | Fearless

First game.

With the recent delivery of his new broom, one of the older versions of the Cleansweep series, which he's only flown a couple of times just to get used to the feeling of flying with the older model compared to the far older, buffer and general more skilled players who appeared to be using brooms from this Millennium and not the previous one.

With the pouring rain for his first game, this wouldn't be the best match for Quidditch and, with his experience of watching other quidditch games, it was clear that was going to be a couple of players on either Gryffindor and or Slytherin will be pulverized by blungers heading straight for the players or the occasional slipping that might occur.

Thankfully, he was on the bench, out of the rain, since he was a second-string player but he watched carefully as he crossed his fingers tightly as he pushed his Gryffindor uniform more tightly for warmth; reminding him of his time inside the lake for a mere moment in freezing lake.

"Go Gryffindor, go. We got this."

He said quietly to himself as he waited for what will happen next.

Action: Benched
Position: Second-String Keeper
Broom: Cleansweep 2(+1 accuracy)
Ability: Perfectionist
Stats --> Stamina: 6 - Evasion: 9 - Strength: 1 - Wisdom: 10 - Arcane: 3 - Accuracy: 6 (7)

There she stood.

For the first time, she stepped onto the Quidditch pitch. Only recently had she found out that she had made the team and it still felt like a dream. How would she know that this wasn't just one of the many fantasies she had, occupying this exact little patch of grass as she stared into the cloudy sky?

The gaze of hundreds of students was upon the Gryffindor team as they entered the stadium and flew their entry lap. This time they were joined by three other schools. Geez... Her heart gave a flutter. Was it fear or joy? She couldn't tell. All she knew was that she was here now.

She was finally here. The little girl who had a dream.

Her hazy blue eyes wandered the players soaring overhead. Her friend Scarlett was somewhere up there... alongside Evelynn who Aurelia would be replacing if worst came to worst.

Aurelia twirled her school broom in her hands as she stared into the pouring rain. Her mother had been enthused that she made the team, but nothing could compare to the radiant joy she was feeling at this moment.

The world seemed to slow down as she came one step closer to her goal. Yes, she may still be sitting on the bench. But she was closer... closer than ever before.

Oh how well she remembered the day she first rode a broom. It had just felt- right. Everything about it.

And here she was, at her first game. A shiver ran down her spine that certainly hadn't come from the cold. She could feel the crowd, their roars were overpowering. Aurelia wanted to cheer with them, but her voice failed. All she could do was smile. And so she sat there grinning to herself like a little kid on Christmas.

Only that this was ten times better than Christmas.

Action Benched

Reducio

Position: Seeker (Second-string)
Stats:
Stamina | 7 | Evasion | 5 | Strength | 6 | Wisdom | 8 | Arcane Power | 6 | Accuracy | 8

Ability:
Lovely Creature
You are very distracting to look at. This increases the Control DC of spells in duels and adventures by +2 as well as the DC for finding things in adventures or the DC for finding the snitch in a game of Quidditch. This ability does not stack.

In Quidditch: The Lovely Creature ability in Quidditch matches only affects the snitch search DC for the opponent team.

NO SECOND YEAR ABILITY

Broom: School broom

────── ☆ ───────

October 23rd
@Cassandra Ironwoods

Scarlett was fu - no - freaking doomed. She had no idea why she had signed up to be a Beater, and had no idea why Rafael had actually decided she would be on the team. She was puny. Measly. Weak. She couldn't bat a Bludger to save her life.

Be a little optimistic, she thought. If you can shape up over the year and the summer, buy a better broom and practice a bit, you'll be fine. Fine!

Scarlett felt comfortable and alright before she got moved to first-string. Sitting on the bench was easy. Playing was not. She wasn't scared, of course. She didn't get scared. No, she was just...she was...

Scared alright.

Lugging on her uniform, Scarlett collected a school broom with a wince of distaste. Rickety and horrible, it had served her alright at the SWAG game, but Quidditch was a whole different matter altogether.

She arrived on the pitch with everyone else, an unpleasant feeling in her stomach. She hoped she wouldn't throw up on anyone. Immediately, Scarlett saw the familiar face of Cash, who she had met a few times before. The Slytherin was alright, but had a Beater's bat. Cash was a Beater? Like her? And from the look on her face, she was certainly more optimistic than Scarlett was. Perhaps it was because of the fact that, you know, Cash was way stronger than her?

Anyway, doubting aside. If Scarlett was going to suffer from an injury or anything, evidently, the second-string Beater was more than capable of taking her place. A rough and tough third-year, it seemed. She walked up to Cash, smiling in an exasperated way.

"Well hello there."

Reducio

Action Arriving/Getting Ready
Broom School broom
Abilities Prodigal Charms Leaner, Fearless
Stats Stamina | 7 | Evasion | 5 | Strength | 6 | Wisdom | 6 | Arcane Power | 9 | Accuracy | 7

────── ☆ ───────

────────────────── ♛ ──────────────────

Interacting With: @Anastasia Beckett @Alan Vanes @Dan Palmer?? @Basically Gryffindor
Mentioning: Ariana Walker • Wren Caster • AJ MacAllister • Marla Quinlan • Kyle DeRook • Remi Yao • Scarlett Aden • Aurelia Roberts
Hex Color: #800000

─────────────────── • ───────────────────

It was that time of year again.

The same time of year in which the stands roared with the voices of a million spectating classmates, in which the wind whipped as mother nature set the scene for a tumultuous battle of skill, and in which the fresh smell of soft leather emanated through the crisp autumn air as rain beat down on the vibrant green grass of the pitch – it was, of course, the same scent that followed the quaffle every quidditch game and practice, and the very same that clung to the jerseys clad upon every ball-playing boy and girl who had gathered at the scene of the match today. Alas, the quidditch season had finally arrived upon the children of Hogwarts, and a glorious season it would be! Rafael, in the least, had come to this conclusion, having quite enjoyed strategizing and preparing for the game several months in advance. This year’s roster, admittingly, had gone through quite a few changes over the off-season, a fact that both comforted and disturbed the young man all at once– his cousin Ariana, for one, had deserted the team’s ranks, followed shortly by the Captain’s dear friend Wren and brilliant chasers Marla and AJ MacAllister. Their leave had come with a spark of reassurance, however – for in their stead had arrived a mass of new and talented individuals, players such as the lovely Anastasia Beckett, Quidditch killer by blood, kindly Alan Vanes, an excellent flyer and duellist, and juggernaut Kyle DeRook, an outright murderous individual with a beater’s bat and a face in which the team had sorely missed in his absence. A few new unfamiliars had also joined the ranks: Scarlett Aden, a second-year well-versed with the beater’s bat, Remi Yao, a first-year with the naturally-sticky fingers of a keeper, and Aurelia Roberts, a second year with keen eyes and a knack for catching the snitch. The latter three, admittingly, had never been tested in a live-game scenario, but knowing the Gryffindor house, everything would surely be fine. …right?

However, Rafael would be loathe to worry about roster changes, not now that the thrill of the game had properly infected his veins, leaving him enthusiastic and twitchy in excitement. The team had long since finished their lap around the stadium – in the midst of the pouring rain, Rafael would do his best not to slip upon the soggy grass, his hand clutched about the wrist of his best friend as he dashed through the downpour. Anastasia and he had given a lot of thought to the game in their second and first years, respectively. It would be an adventure to see how they fared on the field. He would celebrate this feeling via a hurried sort of rambling, his tongue moving faster than he could restrain it. “Remember what I told you,” he told his friend in a hushed voice. “Strike first, strike hard. All that karate stuff.” Then, glancing around the pitch at a few select people, “You know the drill. They’ll make you mad, right? They’ll get in your head!” He paused his advance, wasting no time in turning around and tapping the girl on the temple. “Take that anger out on the right people. We don’t like Slytherin, remember? Let’s make them ache when they leave the pitch.” Bold words, surely, but words he strongly stood by. They didn’t call him the Blatch King for just any reason reason.

[…well, maybe they did, but it was the thought that counted.]

Having found satisfaction in his small pep talk with Ana, he would promptly move on to the amassed group huddled together around the benches. His ears, in that moment, would pick up on a familiar voice, that starkingly-akin to an angel’s – it was Alan, one of Gryffindor’s new chasers and a small crush of the Captain. Upon hearing his words, the chest of the young man began to well up with something… pride? Excitement? Perhaps a bit of both? It, at best, mattered not. Rafael would waste no time in approaching his senior, slapping him on the back as a flamboyant grin spread like an infection across his face. "Birds don't have any training when their bird-mothers kick them out of the nest!" he jested loudly, shoving his fist into the air. "It's do or die, time, Alan! Now LET’S SINK SOME QUAFFLES!" Then, seeing the other visibly pale at his words, Rafael softened up a bit, looking at the other with a small grin. “Hey, it’s okay. They won’t aim at you. It’s too risky. Our seeker, on the other hand…” Was that the right thing to say? Probably not. “You got this!” he continued. “Seriously. You’re going to do great.” Patting him on the back a little softer, he turned towards anyone else who may have been paying any attention. “We got this, Gryffindor! KNOCK SOME HEADS!”

Was he cocky? Yes. Were his feelings founded? Absolutely not. Slytherin was a spectacular team, compiled of bulkheaded figures and powerful talents. If anything, the young man should have found himself watching in reverence, scanning the enemy for weaknesses… nah. Rafael would glance over at the other team, idly attempting to make eye contact with the other Captain. And should he garner it, he would complement the other with a small, prideful wink. We beat them once… we can do it again. With this rationale in mind, the boy would quickly board his broom, taking a moment to steady himself upon the smooth wood of his Nimbus 1700 as he took a quick glance around the field. All sound would soon filter from his ears, replaced with an eerie, hollow silence. It was time to play.

No, it was time to win.

Action • Doing As Strategized

Permission to interact with Ana and Alan. Permission to godmod Alan's reaction.

─────────Statistics─────────

STAM | 10 EVA | 5 STR | 10

WIS | 4 ARC | 2 ACC | 10

────────────────────────────── Interception | When a Quaffle is being passed, users with this ability automatically get a chance to Intercept the quaffle. This does not replace their normal action for the round. This puts the quaffle in your and by extension your teams' possession. Also, if the Quaffle is dropped for any reason, you would automatically (without it taking up an action) attempt another Quafflegrab. At present there would be no mid-round way to drop a quaffle due to the order of operations, however there will be certain effects in future patches that can cause this effect. ──────────────────────────────

Broom | Nimbus 1700 [Stats Added]

Position | Chaser [FS]

Open to interactions!
Interacting with @Rafael D'Spacito
Mentioning @Scarlett Aden | @Alan Vanes

For Moderation:
Position: First String Chaser
Action: Arrive, doing as strategized
Health: 800/800
Broom: Silver Arrow (+3 to all stats)
Abilities: Lovely Creature | Fearless | Terrible Presence
Stats: Stamina 5 (8) | Evasion 10 (13) | Strength 5 (8) | Wisdom 9 (12) | Arcane Power 10 (13) | Accuracy 6 (9)

The Gryffindor wished that she could be perfectly happy about this. She knew she was more than ready for this and she had been waiting to play in her first Hogwarts Quidditch game practically her entire life. There was just something that felt off. Not something, she knew exactly what it was. Her parents. Not that they would have attempted come or even been particularly supportive, she knew for a fact they would have done neither, but she knew that it would have been one of the few letters home that she would have enjoyed writing.

She hated that this was hanging over her on what she knew was a day she would remember for the rest of her life. The rain also mildly dampened her mood. Her Dutch braid, which had been pristine and so tight she thought her head was going to explode when she had left her dorm, was soaked and loose hairs were plastered to her face. Rafa seemed to sense something was off as the two dashed madly through the rain. She nodded as he spoke, and arched a mildly amused eyebrow at his statements about their opponents. Smiling slightly, she attempted again to force those thoughts from her mind. This was her first Quidditch game, she was playing with her best friend and she would be damned if she let a little rain or thoughts about her parents spoil it.

She overheard Rafa rather passionately giving Alan something like a pep talk that seemed to scare the older boy more than comfort him. She laughed slightly as she checked her broom for probably the millionth time. It was fairly new, but it had been good to her so far. As with the numerous other checks, she came up with nothing more than a slightly damp broom in near perfect condition.

She caught sight of a familiar redhead and felt her blood boil. Seething, she made a mental note to smack Rafa for that. Was it entirely his call? She didn't know, so best to smack him to be sure. Was there a way for her to knock her out with a bludger? Unlikely, as Ana wasn't a beater and in an ideal situation wouldn't be anywhere near either bludger at any point in the game. Blatch her, maybe? No, some things were sacred, and if she wasn't going to let all that had happened with her parents spoil this, then she certainly wasn't about to let a mouthy redhead get the better of her.

She let out a supportive cheer in response to Rafa's loud declaration, doing her best to turn her anger to fuel. Inhaling sharply, she felt her heart begin to race. She was going to win this or get flung from her broom trying.

It was raining. Well no, it was pouring. Being Welsh, Edric had some knowledge of the difference between the two. He didn't mind the rain. It was kind of cool, being autumn rain, but Scottish weather wasn't any harsher than Welsh one, and he'd endured much worse tending to the Hippogriffs while storms were raging over the mountains.

This, while not pleasant, was... ok. Not good, not bad, but ok – but he was a smart enough boy not to mention that out loud to any of his team mates. They'd maybe disagree vocally.

Their captain was doing his best to rally the troops, so to speak – a phrase he'd learned from Marcia, who knew quite a lot about muggles being a half-blood herself. Whether or not it would do much good needed to be seen, but Edric was still impressed with his spirit. He wished he could hold rousing speeches like that. He really wasn't the speech type. More the bookish type, as in burying his nose in one and almost running people over while at it.

Edric sat down next to one of his team mates, a Second Year boy he'd never talked to before (@Percival Rainwood), now that he thought about it, and joined him in cheering for their team, his hazel eyes fixed on the shapes of his fellow Slytherins getting ready to start the match.

Action: Arriving. Benched.