Battle Royale Quidditch Match

Under different circumstances, Mel would have been upset about being chosen for

second-string and therefore, benched. She was clearly a better player than that Third Year "Niffler" guy from Durmstrang. However, the recent terrorist attack had rattled her in a way not much could. Seventeen deaths?! She hadn't known any of the students, but still. This was a lot to process. It had snapped her right out of the "secret-world-of-magic-la-la-la-everything's-incredible-I'm-living-in-a-dream-and-nothing-can-hurt-me" mindset she realized she'd been living with ever since finding out she was a witch. Sure, magic was real, but that didn't mean that those who possesed it weren't dangerous. This was real life, and not everything was as it seemed.

Many of the other campers seemed shocked and/or upset as well. Maybe this Quidditch game was just what they needed. A little fresh air and some healthy competition. Even benched, Mel would support her "team" to the best of her abilities. She'd stretched and eaten a healthy breakfast before the match, just in case she got put in, and while she hadn't brought a giant foam finger or anything, she was prepared to cheer and clap whenever necessary. And perhaps do a bit of backseat-driving if they really needed it.

Speaking of the "team". Because of the murders, there hadn't been enough players to

have the teams they'd all planned on. So instead of playing with her Ilvermorny team mates whom she'd practiced with and gotten to know all year, Mel would be a part of a mish-moshy, chaotic, inter-school team. Nevermind, she would make the best of it.

On the bench with her were three other kids. A red-haired Durmstrang girl whom she'd heard being called Nikita, a stuck-up Horned Serpent called Silver, whom she'd seen in the halls back in the U.S. but never really met, and an arrogant, muscle-clad boy called Arjan who, in her opinion, had been way too loud and much too cocky all summer.

Her inner assessment of her peers was interrupted by the game, about to start. As the players took their places and pushed off into the air, Mel couldn't help but be bitter that she wasn't up there with them, soaring through the sky and chasing after that snitch.

She turned to her benchmates. "May as well settle in, folks. We might be here for a while."

ACTION: Taking her place on the bench | Entering thread

MADHUP HEXUM Fourth-Year Durmstrang Chaser BUTzIFzYOU'REzLIKEzME,zYOUzJUST

STA - 8 11 | EVA - 10 13 STR - 9 12 | WIS - 3 6 ARC - 3 6 | ACC - 13 16 zzKEEPzCHASINGzTHEzSTORM

Madhup was known as many things, but somber was not one of them.

As a student, he put forth an adequate effort just to get by, showing no notable love of academics. As a person, he was warm and quick with a joke, though these traits typically presented themselves as ribbing everyone around him. As a player, he was boastful, cunning, and fiercely competitive. Madhup was frankly unafraid of penalties, willing to do whatever it took to see his team succeed. There was little he loved more than Quidditch. Magical homework was still homework, but a magical game was always bound to be fun. The moment his boots left the ground, he felt weightless, limitless, invincible. Wind whipping through his hair, balls barreling by and spectators screaming, these were things which filled his heart with joy and purpose. However, he was not having any fun at all in the current atmosphere. The news of that dark tragedy hung over the crowd like a great weight. Typically, when a moment of silence was called, Madhup was the one to break it with an armpit fart or obnoxious fake cough. Today, even he held his tongue, glancing around uneasily before frowning at his feet. An effort was made to rattle his team from the gloom: "Wake up, let's fly! Durmstrang still owes these smelly Hogs for that last game."

Where this would usually be followed with taunts and funny faces for their opponents, Madhup did not seem to have the heart for all that nonsense today, or at least, not yet.

Reducio

ACTION: Getting Ready / Per Strategy

BROOM: Silver Arrow, +3 to every stat (added to stat list in green)

ABILITIES
Foulplay - 25% chance that fouls will go unnoticed
Interception - automatic chance to Intercept a passed quaffle
Fearless - Immunity to fear effects such as terrible presence

Broom: Silver Arrow | doing as strategized | open to interaction

The fourth, well, near fifth year was quite excited for the game, though also a little saddened knowing that it would be his last. Though it was a little uplifting that this match would be special and different from all the other matches he had played before and even more complicated than what he had gotten used to know. Though he would do his best this game not to disappoint his team, to leave it with them proud rather than happy that they would have a handicap less. The prefect shook his head slightly as his eyes wandered through the mass of students who were watching from the stands, and he would raise his hand and wave lightly in the direction of familiar house banners. Today he wouldn't just try to make his house proud, they were fighting in the name of the whole school, so he found it only accurate to greet the other students of Hogwarts as well.

He would mount his broom as soon as the okay was given and kick himself off the ground and into the air, to ready himself in his flight position, his eyes on both Rafael and Evelynn to await any kind of sign on what their game plan would be. He truly hoped that Gryffindor could deliver and show they were the superior team, not because he felt like it was a matter of who is best, but because as any game, this fed into his ambition and made adrenaline course through his blood.

[font=century gothic]INTERACTIONS n/a
MENTIONS @Serena Towers, @Marshal Mozor, @Jorah Moussa, @Gryffindor Team[/font]

This was the moment she had been waiting for. Gryffindor's season had been hard fought. They'd emerged from the previous year beaten and down-trodden, with a roster that was nearly completely overturned. As captains, Evelynn and D'Spacito were among the youngest and least experienced, and with more than a few chips off their shoulders. It was a miracle that they could set aside their differences long enough to get through a practice, really. Sometimes they couldn't even quite manage that entirely.

Still, they'd made it. They entire team had banded together, each investing countless hours, sheets of sweat and buckets of effort into mastering their skills and challenging themselves to grow. Hurdles had been jumped and blows sustained. But every day, they picked themselves up and tried again. Determined to go boldly forth into the void of unknown and to face whatever trials and tribulations the other Houses might throw at them. They'd fought tooth and nail and carved—rather unfortunately, given her last interaction with Ami Procoppio—a ruthless reputation for themselves. And once all was said and done, and the dust had settled over the field, it had been Gryffindor lofting that golden cup on high and celebrating their first Quidditch cup victory in however many years.

Quid Pro Quo be damned, it was the lions that had earned the right to represent Hogwarts in the upcoming international games.

That was the dream. The vision. The greatest honour.

Was.

Now... now it was Evelynn's nightmare. The pressure had mounted with every passing day. Each night, she was reminded of the game to come. How the odds were stacked against them. Durmstrang would no doubt be clamouring to come back from their defeat at the hands of Hufflepuff. From the play-by-play that Flash had given her, the badgers had performed impeccably. Towers in particular. That girl. How she could possibly have put down the broom still floored Evelynn. Her talent was practically unmatched. Even with the two years now that Evelynn had invested trying—endeavoring—to catch up to her gold-clad upperclassman, she would scoff at any who suggested her own talents be anywhere in the same realm. Towers was an untouchable. A legend to strive for. And it was now the tailwind of her broom that Evelynn would be chasing.

Not to mention that she now had a four (five if the first scrimmage was included) game win streak to uphold. How disappointing that would be to falter and fail and bring shame to Hogwarts after their last memorable performance. Disappointing wasn't even the right word. Heart-breaking. Shame-inducing. Never mind that she would never hear the end of it from D'Spacito should she fail to catch the snitch, Evelynn wasn't even sure she'd have the courage to stand back up again. How could she face her team mates? Or Marshal who wanted so badly to join the team?

Taking a deep breath and allowing her eyes to drift shut, Evelynn gave herself a mental shake of her head. Be as the wing'd lion: majestic, fearless, unrelenting. Majestic. Fearless. Unrelenting. The cool surface of a certain coin rolled over in her palm to the rhythm. She repeated that little mantra several times over, letting the din of the crowd and gathering players wash over her like waves against unyielding stone until her hands had stopped shaking and the pulse in her head had subsided. Only then did she let her gaze drift open, fixating on the centre of the pitch where they were to gather. With the somber announcement of the recent tragedies as her guide, Evelynn offered no uproarious words to her teammates. Perhaps D'Spacito might. But it seemed inappropriate in the moment. Instead, she allowed the determination of her step and the undaunted look in her eyes to do her speaking for her.

Losing wasn't an option.

[font=century gothic]ACTION | Getting into position & doing as strategised[/font]

This was it. The final game of the season. Akari could feel her heart pounding through her chest as she took her seat on the bench, with her silver arrow parked beside her. They were up against quite the number of people, to say the least - but it was really no use dwelling on that. That would only bring more unnecessary nerves.
It certainly did not help the situation that her stomach was still churning from hearing about the horrifying incident of last week, however, seeing everyone still come together and play despite the circumstances definitely uplifted her spirits a bit more.

She watched the all players kick off the ground and then took a moment to cross her fingers hoping that the outcome of this new rendition of the game would end with team Gryffindor on top once again. They had worked so hard all year, they truly deserved it.

She knew, in her heart of hearts, that without a doubt her team would do the very best they could. That was for sure. And so she believed in them.
With her full support and all the encouragement in the world, Akari waited for the game to commence, and of course ready and at the team's beck and call if need be.

[font= garamond]

Action: Benched

Position: Second String Keeper
Broom: Sliver Arrow (+3 to all stats)
Abilities: Charmer & Impartial
Stats: Stamina: 7 (10) - Evasion: 10 (13) - Strength: 5 (8) - Wisdom: 4 (7) - Arcane Power: 7 (10) - Accuracy: 9 (12)

For Haley, it was hard to imagine that a Quidditch match would take place today. Only a few days ago, a total of 17 students had died in a terrorist attack and, although she could only speak for herself, the shock ran deep. Not only the shock, but also the mood was depressed and since she usually associated Quidditch with fun, it felt wrong to run onto the field today and have fun. Even when she got up, she had an uneasy feeling in her stomach and that hadn't changed until now.

Today was probably also the first day she was happy to be a second string player. As much as she wanted to finally play on the field, she was relieved to be sitting on the bench today. Her mind was racing and she could hardly imagine that she could concentrate. Even the idea of cheering for her own team worried her. She wanted to do anything but cheer but she also wanted to stand behind her team.

She wanted to shake off all the thoughts and worries, but she found it hard. She walked onto the field towards the bench and tied her hair in a high braid, looking through the stands as she waited for the game to begin.

Action:Benched

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ [font=Courier New]Interacting with: No one specific atm Mentioning: Both Teams ━ Stamina: 5 - Evasion: 6 Strength: 5 - Wisdom: 7 Arcane Power: 5 - Accuracy: 7 [/font] ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Niklaus walked into the game behind his classmates, not being able to join in the chant that the other male was saying. His head was full of thoughts about his classmates, and how he couldn't protect them. He had his broom in his hand as he walked with them. He didn't know most of the people he was playing with and against, but he hoped that wouldn't cost him the game.

He was only distracted for minutes before he became angry. Because the other team still had their teammates. They had their fancy brooms and their friends. Niklaus clenched his jaw, he refused to look sad in front of the people who weren't hurting like he was. He looked over at his classmates, "Let's win this thing. . . for them," He said to them, his voice quiet though still able to be heard easy. He couldn't say their names still, not when they weren't here anymore. Their families grieving while he's walking into this game.

It didn't seem fair, and it really wasn't.

He got on his broom, flying up beside Kaz. He looked over the crowd, looking for someone, frowning when he didn't see them. He wanted her to be here.

Action: Arriving/As Strategized

@Akari Kato

“Crinus muto!” Piérre pointed to his hair. A small moment of pause and slowly the roots of his cyan hair melted to daffodils yellow. Ew, nope! “Crinus muto!” This time it turned crimson red. House pride... But not quite what he wanted.

“Crinus muto!” Lilac purple.

“Crinus muto!” Salt and pepper.

“Crinus muto!” Orange.

One more time just for luck. “Crinus muto!” The orange faded in order for a light bubblegum pink to take over. Putting his wand down for a second, Piérre ran his fingers through the new pink hair. He... Didn't hate it. Maybe this would be a good color for the game today. Being fickle as he was, he likely wouldn't keep this color for long. He had been toying with other shades of green for a while... But a bright pink would make him easy to spot. Especially for the chaos which he was to be a part of today.

A four-way game against the visiting schools. Oh goodie!

With his silver Bengal close, Piérre walked into what would assuredly be chaos incarnate...

His brother in arms, were he to be honest.

He stopped by the bench first, though, to talk with his second string. He smiled softly and encouraged Figaro onto the bench. “Hi Kiki.” His babu Keeper was already a second year. She was an amazing player in practice. Piérre sorely hoped he would get to see her on the field for real without it being because he would be wiped out of the sky. “If I wipe out, you know what to do! I believe in you!”

A thumbs-up and a pause. “C-could you keep an eye on Figaro for me? I don't want him to get hurt.” The silver Bengal would look at her with half-lidded eyes, his pink nose already trying to pick up her scent as a purr rumbled in the back of his throat.

Even if Kiki was not okay with the cat being around her, Figaro knew well enough to stay out of the way, contenting himself with perching comfortably on the bench in order to watch his brother with feline green eyes.

Piérre kicked off. He was ready to make the game quick.

Doing as Strategized

Broom: Moontrimmer (10% Auto-dodge)
Stats: Stamina 5 | Evasion 13 (16) | Strength 4 | Wisdom 10 | Accuracy 12 (15) | ArcPower 5
Abilities: Keen Eye | Calming Presence (Gryffindor) | Beast Master (Figaro)

────── ☆ ───────

It was a shame that the Quidditch match had to start under the stifling atmosphere of grief. Scarlett still couldn't fully come to the realisation that kids, just like her, were dead. Seventeen of them. With families and friends. Dead. It wasn't the easiest thing to deal with before a massive match, but Scarlett managed to push down her shaky nerves and her shock at the terrorism. She had trained for months for this. She wouldn't let anything make them lose.

Across the pitch, she saw a few familiar faces, giving a thumbs up to Charles, Cassie and anyone she recognised playing for the opposition. Now was not the time to stoop to low sportswomanship. Then she mounted her broom, hoping that Gryffindor wouldn't end their winning streak today, and set off. It was just another Quidditch game. Just another Quidditch game.

Action Doing as strategized
Broom Nimbus 1500

Reducio

In the role of Beater, if you hit an opponent with a bludger the bludger will then ricochet off that user and target a second opponent of choice (must be declared, if not declared the target will be random and can be an ally but not yourself).

Abilities Prodigal Charms Leaner, Fearless
Stats Stamina 8 | Evasion 7 | Strength 8 | Wisdom 6 | Arcane Power 9 | Accuracy 12

────── ☆ ───────

Roleplaying as Durmstrang iNPC Arjan Oberoi

Interacting with Slava (@Ruby Cazares)

Arjan had not expected to show up for a game of Quidditch but he was - without a doubt - always game to play. He still did not know how to feel about this incident that had apparently happened a week ago. Details of it had passed him. It did not affect him, really but a part of him was somewhat curious. Either way, today there was something far more important to him. Today, he had the opportunity to impress everyone with his beautiful skills. That was clearly the only thing that mattered.

Admittedly, all of the words that the random flamboyant man - that he did not really recognise - was saying was lost on him. Things about teamwork? Pfft. The boy did not care so much about teamwork. If someone on his team annoyed him - even if they looked at him funny - he was ready to get a bludger bat and whack them straight in the face.

He sat on the bench - which was, honestly, the safest place for him to be for his own team. He was definitely more likely to hit his own team by choice than anyone else. Everyone knew that. Durmstrang knew that. There was a reason that he had not been the Quidditch team until now. He was a terrible team player. It was not a thing he enjoyed. He was here to simply show off. The conversation near him did not bother him. Arjan sat on the bench, just observing the opponents just to see who was actually here and who was going to play. Mostly, he was just curious to see if he recognised anyone - or more if he knew of any weaknesses. "Slava, don't make me clean up your mess," He said in a tone that could seem threatening. Slava would know it was not really as threatening as it seemed though. They had known each other for years, after all - though, they were obviously not friends, of course not.

Arjan was suited and booted... In Quidditch gear. The second he was called to play, he would get up and make his way into the pitch with the broom he totally stole from his sister's belongings. If he was ever called, that was.

ACTION: Whatever team says, as always.

For Moderation --

Reducio

Arjan Oberoi - Beater

STATS:

Stamina: 15 + (3) = 18
Evasion: 7 + (3) = 10
Strength: 17 + 15% [2.55]* + (3) = 22.55 (23 Rounded up)
Wisdom: 3 + (3) = 6
Arcane Power: 7 + (3) = 10
Accuracy: 10 + (3) = 13

* From Obnoxiously Strong

BROOM:

Silver Arrow
Handmade by Leonard Jewkes and can reach speeds of 68 mph. 
Stats: +3 to every stat [Added above for ease]

ABILITIES:

1. Obnoxiously Strong: Extra 15% Strength
2. The Martial Artist: N/A
3. Spell Spread: N/A
4. Charmer: -1 accuracy to all opponents (Hydra classed as allies, everyone else is an opponent)