Quidditch: Slytherin v Hufflepuff Spectators

[font=century gothic]OPEN TO INTERACTION[/font]

The thought expression of consideration that overcame Quin's expression was oddly satisfying. It was always nice to know when a suggestion hit home in some manner, and that he didn't dismiss it entirely right off the bat meant that her ego remained only somewhat bruised by the trio's relative dismissal of the quidditch game.

"It's certainly something, yes," she smiled, allowing her gaze to wander periodically from the boy to the game as it played out. "There are some aspects to it that do make it a little bit more interesting as well, of course. I suppose nothing in the wizarding world is entirely only what it seems or left to simplicity. The notion of minimalism doesn't appear to have yet made its way into mainstream wizarding culture..."

The pause that transpired accompanied a vague far-off look as Evelynn tried to think of anything, really, that she had encountered so far at Hogwarts that could be described as simple and not needlessly complicated. Nothing really came to mind.

"Anyway.." she continued with a shrug of a brow, attention pulling back to the boy. "Racing isn't simply about the speed. I suppose it's more like rally racing than, say, Formula or the others. There are obstacles that need to be avoided and navigated and I think there's an element of duelling as well. I know you're allowed to use your wand to some extent. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be for the obstacles or each other... but it's certainly interesting."

Nearby motion stole Evelynn's attention momentarily. She turned her head to see that Beckett had come up into the stands. A brief meeting of gazes yielded the arriving girl to smile. It left Evelynn momentarily confounded. The two of them had a... rather confusing relationship. At times it was rather amicable; at others, it often seemed like Beckett wanted nothing to do with Evelynn. Yet here she was offering a smile. Perhaps it was simply a lingering effect of how well the Gryffindor had played in the previous day's quidditch game. They had really come together in their teamwork to dismantle the Ravenclaw team (even if they hadn't necessarily won—results still pending—in the end). As Evelynn had never intended to end up on poor terms with her upperclassman, she raised a hand in a small wave and reflected her own demure smile.

"Hm?" Quin's question pulled Evelynn back again before she could engage Beckett with any small talk. "Oh, yes," she commented, realizing what the boy was inquiring about. Several students—Bowen and Bezuidenhout of Hufflepuff, and Shymane and Ironwoods of Slytherin—were doubled up on brooms. Even now they could be seen flying fast, each racing towards the ground to the empty brooms that had drifted down to the ground of their own accord the moment they had been left riderless. "It's quite commonplace to see players knocked from their brooms, whether from a well-struck bludger or a blatch or something else entirely. Sometimes, they get lucky and a teammate might be positioned well enough to be able to catch them before they hit the ground. Or before a professor stops their momentum when they're able to intervene in time.

"If they manage to pull the person to their broom, they are allowed to keep playing. They can do so just like that, with the two of them together—we call this playing as a "Two-headed Dragon". There are some benefits to that now and then. Two sets of eyes, a bit more durable at times. But it can be cumbersome and the added weight can make it hard for some people to fly, so depending on the strategy, they might try to return the fallen person back to their brooms—" She went ahead to point this out to the two sets of players that were doing just that. "—like they're doing now."

As they continued to watch, Evelynn would idly point out certain strategies playing out, or a particular statistic of a player such as the number of games they'd won, or how many goals they'd successfully blocked, or pointing out a particular number on a uniform and informing the name and year of that particular player. But the moment she noticed the Hufflepuff team pulling away from centre, her brows furrowed and she grew quiet.

"Ooh, oh my goodness!" Palms came together, hands lifting to splay fingers along either side of her jaw. Her posture straightened and angled forward, her attention fixed on that pitch. "Watch carefully," she suggested, tone softening as though speaking too loud could set off a bomb. And then, how the field suddenly exploded.

It was Ironwoods' bludger that set it off, barrelling towards Healy at the same time that Larkston sought an opportunity to rush him from another angle. Healy managed to catch the bludger and rocket it straight back at Ironwood. The force of the impact and the explosive CRACK! with which he had hit it was enough to send a shiver of dread running the length of Evelynn's spine. It would be against him that she would be facing off in Gryffindor's next game. So far, she'd avoided having to rest at the receiving end of that brutish arm, but it wouldn't last forever. There wasn't a lot that could shake her, but the power behind his bludgers could. She'd also noted that his aim had significantly improved over the summer. He must have been practicing. Fewer of his bludgers were missing these days.

Needless-to-say, Ironwoods didn't stand a chance. She was blown from her broom moments later with that returned bludger. But Healy wasn't much better off. Evelynn hadn't quite seen exactly what had happened, but his massive falling form was impossible to miss, and the call for Larkston to take a penalty lap obviously meant that her blatch attempt had succeeded. That was a massive (heh, pun) gain for Slytherin. And it also meant...

"PROCOPPIO!" With a rush of admiration and a reflexive determination to show encouragement to her friend, Evelynn had practically jumped to her feet.

Healy's removal from the game meant that Ami was going to be taking his place and although she had sat the bench earlier in the season, this would be the first time she would actually be playing. But as soon as her thoughts caught up with her subconscious rise, she froze, hands hovering awkwardly to either side of her mouth. Mind blanked, and embarrassed to have shouted out at all, she sat right back down without another word. A sheepish glow coloured her cheeks and fingers lifted to find purchase against them once again as though that would hide the embarrassment hidden so readily across her features.

Plus, the game was only just picking up. It was neither Healy nor Ironwoods that Evelynn had pointed out to Quin to watch. While that exchanged had been occurring, she had seen as the Hufflepuff quaffle offensive formed up and flew in on Palmer to flank him. The execution had been flawless. The bludger struck by Springhall at Ryan had left the rather frightening upperclassman falling to the pitch, opening the defences for the rest to cut off Palmer's escape as Bezuidenhout struck him squarely with enough force to knock him. Evelynn's brows rose in surprise. Bezuidenhout had appeared to her as a rather small and unimposing figure in the Great Hall during the T. Ruth fiasco, and his performance earlier with the quaffles had left much to be desired. He made up for all of that with this display of utter brawn.

The expected call for a penalty lap sounded, but she would be making a mental note to watch out for him in the next game. And not only him, but Hufflepuff in general. Apparently Ravenclaw wasn't the only team to have changed their strategy. The Houses of blue and yellow had previously maintained a reputation of integrity and dignity with their strategies. It seemed the hunger to win had broken them both down to fall to the same levels that Evelynn so desperately tried to climb up from with every call from D'Spacito for a less than honourable strategy.

"Well... it seems the badgers are no longer above cheating..." She commented, shoulders falling in tune with the decline of the action following that climactic peak. Hands dove in to her back to pull from it her omniocculars, already silently chastising herself for not having been making use of them already up to this point. She could have been replaying scenes for Quin and the other two, she realized, to supplement those aspects she tried to explain. "What they just did, with the three of them on the Slytherin seeker, that was the Parkin's Pincer. Ravenclaw used it against us yesterday as well, actually.

"And they might have more where that all came from.." she added to Quin, and anyone else that was listening really. Zoomed in on the game through the lenses, already she was nothing that Jones had flown in on Palmer—now riding with Whitethorn—with elbows flying. "Yes, here..." She pulled them back the moment the next call for a penalty sounded and offered them to Quin. "Take a look if you would like. This is cobbing. When a player goes in and tries to elbow another player to distract them and interfere with their aim, usually. Jones might be trying to throw him off the snitch. It looked like Palmer was trying to line up for an Alley-oop earlier with Shymane. He must have seen the snitch. The game may not last much longer.."

[font=century gothic]INTERACTING WITH @Quinlan Knight, @Merle Corbyn, @Cooper Ray, @Anastasia Beckett | MENTIONING @Ami Procoppio, @Quinn Healy, @Rafael D'Spacito[/font]

Interacting with @Falentra Black & @Cade Darkbound
Mentioning @Cassandra Ironwoods

The game pressed onward, with Hufflepuff scoring more and more. She had been in awe when Cash had managed to avoid that redirected bludger, but her excitement wasn't meant to last. She watched as a rather large Hufflepuff beater swung a hit at the Slytherin seeker, with Cash throwing themselves in the middle to stop it. In that process, Cash was knocked from their broom, and Starlee gripped the edge of the stands, watching as Cash slowly fell... but was then swiftly picked up by a teammate.

Starlee breathed a sigh of relief in knowing that Cash wasn't hurt. Well, hurt may be the wrong word there, since a bludger did hit them, but at least they weren't down for the count. They quickly returned to their broom, and Starlee began to keep an eye out for more incidents like it. It would be in vain, however, as no sooner had Cash gotten back on their broom, that another perfectly timed redirection from that same Hufflepuff beater occurred. This time, there was no one open to catch them as they fell, and Starlee watched in what felt like slow motion as Cash fell. Another body fell shortly after, another Slytherin beater... and then the team was left with one.

However, that was not what was on this young Slytherin's mind. She had just watched one of her close friends get hit square on, not once, but TWICE with a bludger, and then fall to the ground. Starlee stood up in a panic, looking at the two people she had chosen to sit with. "I- I-" she stammered to the pair, and then quickly launched herself onto the stair stands, her blonde hair whipping behind her, heading directly for the hospital wing. She just had to make sure that Cash was okay. She couldn't bear it if something happened to them. Quidditch was supposed to be safe... right?

Starlee leaves the thread.