13 Apr 2020, 01:53
Blame it on Cain
Blame it on Cain
Don't blame it on me
Oh-oh, oh, it's nobody's fault
But we need somebody to burn
~Blame it on Cain, Elvis Costello
SWAG matches had turned out to be illuminating. In the thick of the fields, Ruthie had gained great clarity about herself, her abilities and even her relationships. The first match had allowed her to reconnect with Thora, one of her dearest friends, not to mention the girl who saved her life. The second shed light on both her strengths and her weaknesses as Thora once again came to her aid. She had in that game produced immense magic of no less than three consecutive successful spell casts. But she'd also relived the dangers of the Ball. What an embarrassing moment that had been. And most recently, a SWAG match had empowered her to confront a broken friendship.
And so, following this, she decided to strike up a meeting with her SWAG match ally, Anastasia Beckett. Ruthie had to admit when the older girl had approached her to join forces, she didn't exactly have time to respond or analyze it. But as the match progressed, Ana had demonstrated a certain ferocity the first year found kind of mesmerizing. She was bold in her spell-casting, going after Aurelia after hit by her curse. It was the kind of bravery and quick-thinking Ruthie wished she had possessed on that fateful October night. For this reason, she was keen to get to know the girl better.
And so, she'd sent Darby, her owl, with an invitation to meet up in the Courtyard one afternoon for a match at Gobstones. Ruthie had played often at home with her sister, Kirsty, but as yet had not found anyone who could make for a solid and regular Gobstones player. There was something about Ana--perhaps it was her competitive spirit--that suggested she might just be the match Ruthie had been looking for. The Ravenclaw hoped as much. That, and the opportunity to pick Ana's brain. Perhaps she could teach her how to be gutsy, how to be brave. Gris couldn't be the only one attacking giants.
And so Ruthie entered the courtyard one Sunday afternoon in April, dressed in a pair of second hand jeans and a honey yellow sweatshirt topped with her Ravenclaw scarf for a bit of extra panache. Hanging from her wrist was a worn leather pouch. The plum color was slightly faded and eve holed in some places: the result of playing outdoors. Sitting down towards the Northeastern corner of the courtyard, she took a piece of chalk from her bag and drew the concentric circles around the cobbles on the ground. A little wonky, but they would do the trick. Pulling on the corners of the bag, she let the gobstone marbles spill out onto the floor. Small and round, they ran the color gamut from cobalt to scarlet. Smiling, she carefully began to separate the stones into two groups as she waited for her partner-in-crime.
For @Anastasia Beckett
Ruth Iona Greer
Stamina: 6 | Evasion: 4 | Strength: 5 | Wisdom: 9 | Arcane Power: 6 | Accuracy: 6 | Ability: Sixth Sense
Frog Choir President | Ravenclaw Chaser
15 Apr 2020, 21:56
Blame it on Cain
Anastasia had quite possibly the strangest method of choosing friends. If a person seemed fairly nice and the two got along alright, Ana would consider them an acquaintance, but not really go out of her way to get to know them better. If the person did something absolutely insane, like hexing a random audience member, jumping off the owlery with her, almost setting her on fire, or taking a hex for her, Ana pretty much decided that they were meant to be friends and made sure to spend more time with them. That was what had lead her to a gobstones match on this Sunday afternoon.
Ana had been more than a little irritated at the Ravenclaw for hexing some random boy in the audience at the game, but seeing as that was 100% something that Ana would do, she couldn't exactly hold it against the girl. She was sure that it wasn't completely out of nowhere, or at least she hoped not, but she supposed she would find out. Anyway, after everything that had happened with that match, Ana certainly didn't mind getting another friend out of it.
She generally preferred Wizard's Chess, or really, Quidditch to Gobstones, but she didn't mind the game too much. She hadn't played it in a while, so she was probably going to lose, and badly. She minded that a bit since she was an extremely competitive person, but this wasn't the worst thing to lose.
Her hair was loose, and she looked more like her normal, girly self than she had when she'd met Ruthie. She wore a light pink skirt that was definitely shorter than her mother would have approved of and a white blouse. Apparently unable to leave her room without some representation of her house, she wore a gold necklace with a lion pendant and matching earrings. Her style was definitely getting more causal, but she still liked skirts too much to wear pants very often.
Clutching her usual cup of coffee, she entered the courtyard. She was well aware that she consumed far more than was good for her, but she was also perfectly willing to fight anyone who attempted to stop her. She was rather cold and was mildly regretting the decision to not wear a sweater. Still, it just hadn't looked right with her outfit and she stood by that choice.
She smiled when she saw the Ravenclaw. "Good morning, Ruthie!" she said brightly as her coffee began to kick in. She really ought to sleep more and drink less coffee, but that just wasn't an option at the moment.
@Ruthie Greer
Long story short, I survived
Stats - Strength: 5, Agility: 6, Control: 12, Stamina:7