Preparing for the Future Closed

Wait a minute. Was this....was this Capture the Flag? It seemed to be; at least, that's what Professor Rosier had said when he made his announcement. Adam loved this game! Albeit, he'd only played once before, but that one time he'd had the time of his life. Adam hadn't played Capture the Flag since he was ten years old. He wondered if it would be any different now that he was 12. I'll be much better at strategy....I hope. He still couldn't get over the fact that these people not only knew what the game was, but were organizing one of their own! It was incredible. He couldn't wait to play.

Adam didn't know his team captain, Erin Ryan, but she looked capable enough. He sidled over to the rest of his teammates after the lists were made and greeted them warmly. "Hi. I'm Adam. Ready to play?" Hoping he didn't seem too excited, Adam made a mental note to try and tone it down a little bit, "We'll probably need a few people on offense, a few on defense, maybe a few jail-breakers or decoy runners --" Realizing that he had totally taken over without consideration, Adam cut himself off and apologized quickly to his captain. "Shoot! I'm sorry. This isn't my job. Go ahead." It was an embarrassing start, but hopefully he could get over it. After all, he had a game to win.

The game had already started when Eris ran down to the grounds, hair flying in her face as she panted. She had heard about a game of capture the flag, and after spending plenty of days playing capture the flag with her friends in the muggle world, she considered herself a pro. The excitement of playing a familiar non-magical game, that she had loved as a child had propelled Eris to run as fast as she could down the stairs from the Gryffindor Common Room, where had seen the start of the game, and towards the grounds.

She dashed over to the professor in charge of the game, a brown haired man who was obviously a professor from the height difference and the way he carried himself, with a dignified air. Panting still, Eris offered the strange professor a smile. "Is it too late to play?" She asked, watching her friends get into their teams. There was a few people she didn't know, but those things really didn't matter. When you were playing capture the flag, you didn't play for your friends. You played to win the ultimate prize; bragging rights. Of course, bragging rights would be even more important at a boarding school one was stuck at for 7 years. Eris had no intention to stand on the sidelines. In fact if the professor said the game was full, she would drag herself into the game anyways.

Capture the Flag was life or death. At least in Eris's eyes.

Natasha had just received an owl that said there was a Capture the Flag game going on. She used to love playing a version of this game in Russia, whenever her extended family came over. Not to brag, but Natasha was amazing. The girl was afraid that she was too late, as she could see the teams had already been formed. Another redheaded girl was talking to the professor. Natasha really hoped she wasn't late - she would hate to miss the game. 

Well, if I join 1 team and she joins the other, there would be even teams, right? the girl thought, trying to reassure herself. She walked over to the professor and heard the other girl ask if she was too late to play. Her strategy was foolproof - she knew her, *their*, team would win. There was no doubt about it. She was a fast runner and knew how to deceive the other team. 

This was a game that she could not lose. Not just for the prize, but just for the feeling. Natasha hated losing. She was a very, very competitive person. Also, she really just loved prizes. She wondered what the prize for the winning team me. Chocolate frogs? Points? 

The blonde looked at the 2 teams. One of the captains was Rhea. Of course it was Rhea. Natasha laughed to herself. Rhea did deserve it though. She was a great person and student. Both teams seemed to be pretty good teams, and Natasha could recognize people on both teams. If she could still join a team, she would be happy with both. 

This was going to be far too simple. They had all learned the same spells so far, at least mostly. And Kaegen had a perfect plan. He would protect the flag. Using his slingshot he would snipe anyone coming close, reloading quickly he could take out as many as he had to. His weak incendio would start a forest fire heading in their direction. None of them would be able to handle a full-blown brush fire, Kaegen was almost certain of that. It was a pretty much perfect plan. To avoid the fire themselves he would simply dig a small hole, and hide in that. If they all worked together on that detail it wouldn't be all that difficult. In fact, it would be pretty easy. They would be forced to run to the nearest fire break, perhaps the castle or the lake.
"You guys dig a hole, I'll start a brush fire. We'll find the remains of their flags later."
It was a pretty much perfect plan. They would rake up the ashes. Somewhere in there would be the remains of the flag, and they would have won. What was the point to this game again? It seemed more like a massacre than a flag capturing sport.

The Professor, some young looking dude that did not look much older than the Seniors in the school. He did not look old enough, he claimed he was a Professor of Ancient Runes somehow. She was not entirely sure if that was true or if he was an upper classman playing a joke on them but he was not awful to look at.  

"Miss Bishop and Miss Ryan, you are the captains, now the teams" 

Wait, he knew her name? How the [bleep]?

"Those who i just pointed to will join Team Bishop, the rest will join Team Ryan"

He picked the teams, She was on the opposite team as a few familiar and annoying faces. Good.

"Before we begin does anyone have any questions, if not take your flags and put them on opposite sides of the field, form your defense and offense then wait until i give the signal to begin"

She had a question. "How do I defend? With violence? What are my limitations?" She needed to know this for 'personal reasons.' Who was on her team? Hopefully not a bunch of red shirts. They were probably red shirts. She was not entirely certain that there was going to be a favorable team set-up, she got the 'remainders.' He did not even bother pointing at those on her team. Typical really. Well, she was not going to go down easy.

Rhea smirked when she heard the she was appointed team captain. She didn't particularly know all the rules, not yet at least, but she had no doubt in her mind that she would win. She looked around at her team - Phedra, Isabella, Kaegen, Marcus and Mariah. Seemed like a good enough. Then she turned to look at the other team, headed by Erin Ryan. They hadn't really talked much, not yet anyway, but Rhea had heard about the other girl. The other team seemed strong enough, as well, but Rhea had no doubt that her own would win. They had the brains, the bravery, the loyalty, and the ambitiousness. A good balance, one that was set to win. The other team had some good members as well: Celynne, Adam, Aurora, Ava and Anna. Seemed like a good team, but neither seemed like they would be the type to charge if need be. Rhea shrugged and turned her attention back to the professor as Erin asked questions about their limitations. She was curious to know. But then, her teammate, Kaegan, proposed a plan of... burning their flag? Although the young Bishop didn't know how the game worked, she was sure that burning their flag would be cheating. 

"We can't just burn their flag, Kaegan," Rhea said, walking closer to the boy and whispering so the other team wouldn't hear them. "That's cheating." Rhea looked over as a voice sounded, a voice that asked if she was too late. It was Eris, and walking close behind her was Natasha. Oh, good, each time could take one girl and they would be equal. She turned to the rest of her team and raised an eyebrow, questioning who should join them. She didn't want to make the decision on her own - after all, this was a team effort. They had to work together to win. "Who should we get on our team? Eris or Tasha?"

Why couldn't they? A brush fire would easily wipe out anything the opposing forces could throw at them. It was the obvious way to go. But he let it drop. She was the team captain, with authority given by the professor of ancient runes. There was really nothing he could do about this, and he didn't really want to start a fight anyway. Rhemu had just asked them who they wanted on their team, eris or the other girl. Thinking about it logically, eris would probably screw them over, and that was going to be a lot more trouble than her powerful punching was even worth. Punches were good and all, but having someone who you didn't understand, someone who actively tried to deceive you to the best of her abilities for no reason other than simply wanting to on your team was a recipe for horrible, horrible disaster.
"We probably shouldn't pick eris. So the other girl?"
It was like if you were given the choice between a serpent that you knew would bite you as soon as it got the chance, and a unknown. You didn't hate the serpent, it was just being a serpent. But you sure didn't pick it.

Ava looked at the team captain and then at the new girls that just came by. One of them she didn't know, haven't heard about, seen in the hallways - nothing. The second one was Eris - one of her friends. The girl's face lit up. She nervously looked at Eris and then at the professor, back and forth. 

The girl heard something. A small, quiet chatter in her group. She walked away from the rest and decided to chime in. "Why not Eris?" she whispered, interrupting the two. The girl was her team captain - Ms. Bishop from what the professor heard and apparently a Gryffindor. The boy, on the other hand, was a Ravenclaw she has never seen before, but from what the girl said his name was Kae-something. He was talking about the hole-making strategy thingy. The girl had no strategy whatsoever so she would just go with it if she had to, but seems like the team captain had different plans.

"And..." the young Silver said, looking at her bag. "You two seem to have a strategy." she looked back at the team captain - Ms-Something-Bishop and took her bag off of her shoulders. "Here, I have no strategy or anything, to be honest. Take this," she said, just putting it into the girl's hands.

"What's wrong with Eris?" Mariah asked. The girl's strength was known to Mariah after a heated encounter in a hallway. It had ended on good terms so Mariah wasn't worried about Eris in any negative ways. "She's strong. We could use it."

Mariah was not familiar with any encounters Kaegan might have had with Eris, but since he knew her and decided against picking her, there was probably bad blood. Mariah could see how that happened. Kaegan was rather different with how he handled those around him. It seemed to Mariah to be a delicate process, keeping Kaegan's favor. What was the social norm for the general populace was unfamiliar to him.

But still, one could not deny Eris'usefulness, despite whatever quarrel he and Eris were engaged in. Mariah looked to Rhea, a waiting whatever answer she would give. She was Team Leader after all and it would only make sense that her decision was final. She looked around her at her other teammates, curious about their opinions. Maybe Rhea was one of Majority rules. Or the Tyrant kind of leader that says "My word is law" despite what anyone else had to say about it. Then Mariah would speak up about it if it were obvious that it wasn't made in their best interest.

Truly, she had no idea what to do. It seemed her team was split on who to choose on her team - Natasha or Eris. But, Mariah stepped in and stated her opinion, and Rhea was able to determine who would go on her team by majority rules.

“We’ll take Eris,” Rhea said. She cast an apologetic look at Natasha and mouthed, sorry Tasha before turning her attention back to the rest of the team. Was it the right choice? She didn’t know, but shrugged it off and just focused on playing the game. She couldn’t say she wasn’t excited; this was a lowkey, friendly game (that Rhea would win, definitely). Still, she was going to enjoy this game, and hoped the opposing team would be a worthy opponent. She didn’t want this to be an easy game to win.

Finally deciding to take charge, Rhea spoke up. They needed a plan - now. Still waiting for the professor to explain the students’ limits - but for now, she guessed that there was no violence and they were limited to the spells they knew right now, obviously. Which wasn’t much, seeing as they were still in the beginning stages of their education.

“I say we split up into two groups - offense and defense. We hide the flag somewhere, then the defense spreads out, hidden, while the offense goes to attack from behind. What does everyone think?” Rhea asked, making sure everyone agreed. She didn’t want to be bossy and take charge of everything - after all, this was still a team. But no one else was speaking up, and she was the team captain. “I’ll take offense. Who else?”