Spring Races Gryffindor V Ravenclaw Spectator Thread April 2022

As Sophia started to explain about how she'd met Juniper, Kim listened for a few seconds.

And then raised a brow.

Two boys, a cup of cocoa, a lizard, and an almost fight? "It certainly sounds intense!" Kim remarked. "You should tell me about that later!" He added, wanting to know the whole story, but preferably not right now. There was too much going on and he didn't want to miss anything, such as the race. And to keep an eye out for any more people that he 'knew'.

It was around this time that Juniper poked him, whispered something into his ear and then got up to leave. Kim nodded and glanced over at Regina and Faye. "You guys should take a seat, or the race will be over before you know it! And of course, Gryffindor will be the one who wins." He said and looked back over at Sophia again with a little smirk.

Kim picked up his hot chocolate and sipped it lightly, a slight shiver running down his spine. Yes, that tasted delicious and warmed him right up from the inside.

The players were now arriving and had mounted their brooms. Xailah Alptraum, Hugh Lowe, Nicholas McCowan, Levi Drakos and Della Barfield. The Ravenclaw team had also followed suit. Their team had Silver Arrows and a Nimbus 1700. Gryffindor had Silver Arrows, a Moontrimmer and a Nimbus 1700. A nice assortment for both sides. Yes, Kim was aware.

Before coming to the race, he'd researched.

If he was being forced to come, he might as well know something about the brooms!

The race had finally started.

Kim actually wasn't doing too bad for once.

Mostly because the broom races seemed to be closer to the ground than he'd originally thought they would be. Yes, they were still in the air, and Kim would never be caught dead on a broom that went higher than a few centimeters off the ground, but all in all it wasn't too bad, to watch at least. Kim saw the green sparks charm go off, signaling the start of the race and focused his attention onto the track. He sipped some hot chocolate as the racers took off.

He raised his banner into the air and set it down on the railing that separated the spectators from the track. It was quite visible from a distance.

Unit one, two and three proceeded smoothly and it looked as if this part would be focused on the broom speed of each player on the course. And then the trees made their appearance as an obstacle. Kim watched as the racers tried to make their way through them. All but one managed to escape unscathed. The only one who got tripped up had been a Ravenclaw, one he didn't recognize. That meant she was a higher-year, or else he would have seen her before.

Back at the Sorting Ceremony.

The race continued and Kim felt himself becoming more interested in it.

As for the next part of the race, unit 5, nearly everyone got messed up in that section. Only one Gryffindor, a higher-year he didn't recognize, and two Ravenclaws managed to get out of it unscathed this time. Kim grimaced upon seeing the mess that had occurred. Levi's broom seemed to be acting up and he wondered if there was something wrong with it. Part of him was slightly concerned over its state, after all Levi was his roommate, but it seemed to be fine.

For now.

The others just seemed to have some bad luck with tree branches.

Which wasn't too bad. And Kim glanced over to see two Ravenclaws also having issues with their brooms. Ari, his club member from the Goosebumps Club, nearly rammed directly into a tree but managed to pull away at the last second. And a Ravenclaw girl's broom got stuck on a branch and slowed her progress a little. The Ravenclaw girl from before Bloom, who had been the only one near the start of the race to take damage, seemed to attract bad luck to her.

As she once again took damage from a large group of tree branches.

Two racers pulled ahead of the rest of the group, Levi and that Ravenclaw girl with bad luck.

It seemed as if her bad luck had also enveloped Levi too, as both of them took a large amount of damage soon after forging ahead. But with Levi's broom acting up again, it was much worse for him. Kim watched and grimaced upon seeing his roommate take so much damage. If no one said anything after the race, he'd make sure Levi went to the hospital wing to get checked up just in case. But finally, those two at least had cleared the woods, still in the race.

Kim glanced back over at those near him.

What would they think of the events that had happened so far at the race?

Sophia watched the race begin with a sinking feeling in her belly.

It was almost the same sensation as she’d felt before, on a rollercoaster. The beginning was calm, yet tense. The racers took off, and at first things were relaxed, but as their speed ramped up, Sophia’s belly tightened as if going up a hill on the metaphorical rollercoaster.

Sophia had no problem watching other people flying brooms, provided she was watching from the safety of the ground, but there was a difference between watching other students hover a few inches off the ground and watching them soar through a course at breakneck speeds.

She had to fight the urge to cover her eyes as they approached the forest. Her hand went to Kim’s arm, almost instinctively, and grabbed it for support as the racers built up momentum, despite the tumultuous path ahead. She could hardly see from the safety of the bleachers, despite the soft glow of the bugs illuminating the wooded area. She really felt bad for the racers.

As the racers became a blur of arboreal collision and entanglement, two students quickly pulled ahead; one from each house, no less!

As she watched the Ravenclaw girl emerge from the trees, her death grip on Kim tightened and, despite her nervousness, she screamed with an excited cheer. It wasn’t a sure thing, by any means, but the race was going well!

Poor Kim, and poor Kim’s ears, she thought with a smile. This race was more exciting than she thought.

“Come on, eagles,” she mumbled as she unknowingly sank her nails into Kim’s arm in an even tighter grip.

Flying wasn’t so bad when Sophia wasn’t the one flying! It was electrifying, watching and cheering on her own house from the luxury of the bleachers.

@Kim Sato

At first, Kim had thought Gryffindor would pull ahead of Ravenclaw.

The first section had been promising, as only a Ravenclaw had taken damage during this.

So technically, Gryffindor had been slightly ahead of them. But then the playing field leveled out upon entry into the trees, as everyone got caught up in them at some point in time. And one Gryffindor and two Ravenclaws had made it out unscathed this time. Still, this didn't mean anything, as there was still much more of the race to go. However, bad luck Claw girl, and Kim's roommate ended up destroying themselves later on, which was a little worrisome.

Neither was out of the race yet but if things kept happening like this, it was only a matter of time before both got taken out. Not to mention Kim himself, as his own body was being put through the wringer due to Sophia's death grip on his arm. Since her face wasn't too close to him and her body wasn't pressed up against his own, it didn't bother him much. Well, it wouldn't have, if it hadn't been for the girl's nails digging into his arm. It was alright for now.

He could tell she was nervous and since she was a muggle-born and didn't know much about broom races, Kim was fairly certain she needed some kind of comfort to latch onto. So he allowed it this time. As a Ravenclaw girl emerged from the trees, Sophia's nails dug deeper into his arm, actually drawing a bit of blood to the surface of his skin. He winced but didn't say anything, not wanting to make Sophia feel bad, embarrassed or guilty about any of this.

As in, what she was doing right now.

But when she suddenly screamed into his ear, Kim flinched a little.

And now he was going deaf. Sophia really was a force of nature! He wasn't the type to scream like Sophia, or raise his voice to support his House. It was enough for him to be here with his banner and make sure the racers could see it from a distance. Plus, in Kim's mind, screaming and cheering could have the opposite effect on some players. They might get distracted by them and end up making a mistake. It was best to remain quiet and wave your banner about.

After all, they could get motivation from seeing the support from the spectator section.

He continued to watch the race.

How would the next stretch go? Would Gryffindor pull ahead of Ravenclaw, or would the opposite happen? Or would they end up being on the same playing field, neck and neck?

Banner by: Liana Kerr

Interacting with @Sophia Nelson, @Kim Sato, @Faye Simmons
Colour code - #831100

"𝕱aye was the one who insisted on coming, and I am merely here to support my House, even though I would rather be anywhere else," Regina replied to Kim's question with her usual subtle pretentiousness. "I seldom entertain myself with such a rowdy sport."

Her gaze shifted to the other Ravenclaw girl whom she'd never met before sitting on Kim's other side, and gave a polite nod as a greeting. As the signal for the race started, the ravenette grimaced at the wet state the benched were in because of the downpour. It was absolutely outrageous of her to sit on such a thing, even less so allowing Faye to. She wanted the younger girl to stay close and right next to her. With a flick of her aspen wand, Regina casted the Cleaning Charm to get rid of the water soaking into the wooden bench.

"How could you lot sit on such a thing without any thought for your clothes? Scourgify."

As soon as it was safe enough to sit down, Regina took her seat beside Kim and patted the empty spot next to her whilst sending Faye a meaningful look. Her boysenberry eyes then shifted to the track course where the two Houses had begun the race, watching the teams flying proudly on their brooms with an indifferent face. She'd never understood the appeal of flying sports. The girl appreciated the finesse of duelling much more, the pride of being able to cast spells to defeat your opponents, the adrenaline that came with the rush of power. That was something which suited Regina much better. It wasn't that she disliked flying--Mother had been oh so kind to provide her money for a decent broom, after all--but it was the turbulent nature of Broom Racing and Quidditch that disinterested her.

And the Heiress was right on her thought, as it was not even five minutes into the race and so many people were getting harmed and tangled by tree branches and vines. It was honestly a quite unruly display and it made Regina clicked her tongue. At least the Gryffindor Team were fairing a bit better.

"This is why I do not participate in such a roughhouse sport. Far too dangerous and disorderly for my liking," She said with a serious tone, crossing her arms. "The injuries are usually far worse than in a duel."

WC: 396
Scourgify DC: 10
[d20 : 16] + 7 = 23 (success)

faye simmons
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Date: 09/04/2022| Time: 1:50 | Outfit: X| CC: #369676
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───── "Oh come on, Regeeee! Live a little! You know you'd do anything for me! And, anyway, I've heard it's super duper duper fun! Have you seen the size of the course? Apparently, it's like this big"

In order to make sure her words had meaning, Faye spread her arms as far as she could with her hand clasped firmly in Regina's, her free hand immediately smacked into the crowd, but she didn't try to say sorry or even notice if it had upset anybody, as she was too busy trying to impress her friend. With a skip in her step, she hopped her way beside her, extra careful not to trip.

"Is duelling nice? Isn't it just, people waving sticks at each other making them do stuff? I never quite understood it. Oh, look at me, talking like I'm in the future of some-ing! I don't understand it. There we go. Am I rambling? I am, aren't I? Sorry."

She was just about to make another enthusiastic gesture with her friend when she felt the warm feeling of Regina's hand leave hers. The loss of contact would make her falter and freeze for a second, confused. But, she would perk up once she noticed Kim Sato. She recognised this boy, so at least she knew somebody here that wasn't Regina. Although, she'd be happy with just Regina any day.

"Kim! Hey! Hi! You're here!"

The Ravenclaw didn't say anything meaningful after that for a while, just stood beside Regina and grinned up at her when she mentioned her name. It made her feel giddy, so much so that she didn't bother introducing herself to the other girl, she hadn't even noticed her at this point. She finally noticed her once she sat down next to her friend. But only then she gave out a small, wheezing 'hi', before turning to the race.

She thrust herself, almost dangerously, as far as she could go forwards, totally enthralled with what she was watching. Wind and rain swept through her hair as she cackled happily, watching the racers with glee. It was like nothing she'd ever seen before, and it was fascinating.

"Don't be so negative, Regeee! I'm disorderly, and you put up with me! Weeeeeeeeeee!"

Screaming and laughing into the air, she felt free.

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| 𝑰𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑾𝒊𝒕𝒉: @Kim Sato @Regina Miller @Sophia Nelson| 𝑴𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈: @ |
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--- Date: 09/04/22 || Time: 13:50 ---

Sophia felt a slight wetness at her fingertips and loosened her grip on Kim's arm to investigate. To her absolute horror, there was a slight - thankfully very slight - trickle of blood on the boy's arms. Sophia's eyes widened and she had to fight the urge to slink under a bridge, where no one could ever see her face again.

She whispered frantically to Kim, "Oh my goodness, I'm so sorry! Don't worry, I'll fix this!"

Using the sleeve of her heavy coat, she did her best to take advantage of its absorbency to dry up the blood on Kim's arm. She used her other hand to squeeze the wound, trying to stop the bleeding. She could hardly hold back the frantic tears that threatened her eyes, but she didn't want to bring attention to herself, or what she'd done. Kim had already noticed, but she didn't want to embarrass him in front of the other two girls.

She held her hand over the 'claw' marks and waited for the bleeding to stop, trying to focus on the race, or the commentary of the other girls, but her mind kept going back to the horrible guilt of what she'd accidentally done. She'd have to move away, and lose all of her friends. She couldn't live with the shame and embarrassment. Ireland wasn't so bad, and she could just live with her grandma and go to muggle school. Sure, there was an option! She could change her name, and no one would ever find her!

She frantically squeezed his arm tighter, mentally begging the bleeding to stop. She was such a horrible friend.

She forced herself to continue watching the race, but she was still quite flustered and her attention was divided.

Notes:

Reducio

Sorry Kim! Didn't mean to make you bleed

Interacting:
@Kim Sato || @Regina Miller || @Faye Simmons
Mentioning:

Regina's response came as no surprise to him.

Of course she wasn't here to support her House out of her own free will.

She wouldn't be caught dead sitting in the rain and cheering for people on brooms. Like him. Both Regina and Kim were victims of their 'friends' around them.

He glanced over at Regina as she commented on the state of the benches. "I know what you mean, taking a seat on wet benches is not advisable. But I happened to be the first one to arrive and got my choice of seats. There were some that hadn't gotten too wet, so I got one that was relatively dry and wiped off any dampness with the towel I'd brought before. So it wasn't too bad for me." Kim related to her.

The tall boy watched as Regina cast a spell to dry things off the bench and then took a seat beside him. If Kim hadn't had a fear of heights, he would have loved to become a Quidditch player. The reason why Quidditch and not a Broom Racer? Because Quidditch had been his father's sport. The man had been Slytherin's most popular Chaser at the time and had hoped his son would carry on his legacy. He'd wanted him to follow in his footsteps in Quidditch.

But that would not happen with Kim, which made him feel guilty.

He'd felt even guiltier when he'd been chosen to be in his mother's House at the Sorting.

So now, he couldn't even give his father the satisfaction of being in the same House either. Everything was crashing down around him when it came to pleasing his father.

"Indeed. You can't do much about tree branches when your broom flies you directly into them. At least with duels, you can try to dodge or avoid the spell coming at you." Kim agreed with her. He glanced over at Faye, who was being her usual bubbly self although this time wasn't crawling on the floor towards him like a creepy spider. Spider girl was what he called her inside his mind, when he couldn't remember her name.

As Faye suddenly got engrossed in the race and 'freaked out', screaming and laughing into the rain, Kim stared at her, not sure what to make of this. He glanced over at Regina and raised a brow. "Interesting friend you have there." The tall boy remarked with a faint twitch of his lips. "She's quite... carefree." Kim commented as he looked back over at Faye. He winced as Sophia's nails came out of his arm and glanced down at her worried expression.

Of course she'd be worried.

The poor thing didn't realize it wasn't that bad at all.

"It's fine. It doesn't hurt at all and I know you didn't mean it." Kim tried to reassure her and reached out with his free hand to pat her on the head to comfort her.

"I've been through much worse, so you don't have to feel bad at all!" He added, to try and make her feel better. Thinking for a few seconds, he nodded out at the racetrack to bring her attention to the racers. "Are you familiar with any of the racers out there? Obviously, I mean the ones from Ravenclaw." Kim asked, hoping the question would distract Sophia enough so the girl would revert to her usual happy, excited self Kim knew.

Or even the annoyed, mad version.

The guilty version felt weird to him, she should never feel guilty when it came to him!

The race was starting to get intense.

It was the first time he'd seen a race in person. Kim had to admit it was pretty fun to watch.

As long as he didn't have to see them go extremely high up into the air, like Quidditch, and he wasn't participating in the race himself, broom racing wasn't bad to watch. There were 21 units for the racers to go through and they'd only gone through 5 so far. That meant there was a lot more to come. He didn't want to think about the injuries the racers were picking up along the way, those were bound to hurt a lot. During an easy stretch, Hugh picked up a rock.

And he actually threw it at Bloom.

Kim made a face. He didn't know Hugh and usually he'd support his teammates but that was kind of uncalled for. It would be one thing if one of the Ravenclaw members had done something to one of the members of their team first. Then, it could be looked at as revenge. But the Ravenclaws hadn't done anything as of yet to them. So Hugh's action was uncalled for in his opinion. However, it wasn't as if they could hear anything he was thinking about now.

Even if they could, they probably wouldn't care.

The race was all that mattered at the moment. Due to what Hugh had done, it seemed as if he was being prevented from going further in this particular round. Kim didn't know if that meant he was out of the race or if he was just taking a penalty by being forced to stop for a time, thus adding to his current time. Regardless, Kim was interested in finding out the fate of the other racers. Awhile after the rock incident, the next big obstacle came for the racers.

Kim was actually kind of curious as to how everyone would navigate this. After all, there was a beautiful, but probably deadly, waterfall in their way they had to make their way through. His suspicions were soon proven correct as Della, Xailah, Ari and Judith all lost control of their brooms and crashed within the waterfall. But Kim knew it wasn't a fatal fall, they would be checked out by the healers after it was over. Racers crashed and fell off their brooms often.

As long as they didn't hit their head on something sharp, there would be nothing to fear on their parts. Kim didn't follow broom racing or quidditch but he at least knew the basics of both. Also, before coming to the cheering section, he'd read up on broom races. Yes, he took his responsibilities very seriously, even if he originally didn't intend to come. Levi and Bloom seemed to be the frontrunners for their team and although Kim didn't want to admit it now...

Well, he thought Bloom had a better chance at the moment.

Both Levi and Bloom were hurt and bleeding but Levi seemed to be bleeding worse. Then again, there was still much to go and one never knew what would happen in a race. As long as you remained in the running, there was always a chance to make a comeback. The only thing that mattered was who crossed the finish line first, not how they got there. It could go to either team. Kim couldn't wait to see what would happen next, as this was pretty exciting.

The tall Gryffindor just hoped Levi wouldn't end up really hurt by the end of the race. There was always a risk when you mounted a broom but the rewards were well worth the risks for most. If Kim hadn't been afraid of heights, he might have considered joining the team. It was downright fun to watch, that much was for sure. Maybe he'd end up watching it again. But he'd have to give it some more thought, after all there were other things he needed to do too.

Sophia winced as the rock hit Bloom in the back, but thankfully it didn't seem to hit her too hard, since she wasn't stopped in her relentless quest to destroy the competition. So much for Gryffindor being brave. More like being cheaters.

"'Atta girl!" Sophia cheered, but her face flushed at Bloom's colorful language. No matter. She couldn't do anything about it, and it didn't diminish her Ravenclaw pride! As if Bloom wasn't already amazing enough, the Gryffindor in the second place position was enthralled by one of the traps in the narrow passageway. Sophia didn't understand, though. Why was he going back?

"Kim, what was that? Why did that Gryffindor turn around?" she whispered, sitting on the edge of her seat. She didn't need to whisper, but she felt like she would disrupt the natural flow of the race if she talked normally.

As Bloom's lead intensified, Sophia grabbed Kim's arm again, only more gently. Cuddling up on his shoulder, she giggled excitedly. It was almost exhilarating, watching a broom race, though, to be fair, that could be because her house was winning. It felt very good to be a Ravenclaw in that moment.

"What was that about red and gold colors in first place?" she teased, "Don't worry Kim. I hear red/blue colorblindness is quite common. I still love you."

The words slipped before she realized it, and she hadn't even meant them like that, but she realized the implications the moment she said it. She's meant it in a teasing, playful gesture. Oh no. Her face was burning, so she did the only thing she could think of. She buried it into Kim's shoulder, hoping to salvage a bit of her pride. She still peeked at the race, though. She didn't want to miss Ravenclaw's victory.

@Kim Sato