Friendly Football PV Closed

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RPing as Raphael Aveline

French | English

Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin was what Raphael Aveline would possibly refer to as pleasantly uncomplicated. And by that, he meant that she might very well be his ideal acquaintance. They had a few things in common... well, really only one thing. Sports. Two things if you counted the specific sports separately, namely broom racing and, more importantly, football.

Two and a half years ago, Raphael had thought that coming to Beauxbatons meant giving up his very favourite hobby. After all, it was a school for fancy wizarding kids in their fancy wizarding robes and fancy wizarding sports, surely no one would be playing football there. As it turned out, this wasn't entirely true, you just had to find the right people.

Cassie was such a person, one of the few he'd found who weren't absolutely exhausting. They didn't talk much, most of the time. (Raphael less than Cassie.) But they did hang out, mostly to play and talk about football, sometimes to huddle together in front of Raphael's radio, listening to a football game, and the rest of the time, Raphael didn't have to worry much about her. It was pretty much ideal.

As such, Cassie's note had been a pleasant surprise, although there had been this very awkward moment after the first year had delivered it, and they had stood there, looking at each other. He still wasn't sure what he had been supposed to do? He'd thanked the kid, hadn't that been enough? So finally he had muttered an awkward "bye" and walked away.

The day after the note, Raph jogged down to the Quidditch pitch right on time, excited to be playing again. There was a smile on his face that was really only ever to be seen when football was involved; and, recently, also sometimes when talking to Cassie. Perhaps they were a little more than acquaintances. He supposed he could call her a friend, as long as it didn't mean that he accepted more social responsibilities than what they were already doing. He didn't really have many friends, and was happier that way. Friends were exhausting.

Not that you would guess it from the energy on his face when he reached the pitch, and he returned Cassie's wave with more enthusiasm than most people had seen from him in two years. "Thanks for the invite," he said, skipping greetings, and bouncing lightly on his feet. "I'll just run around the pitch once to warm up, you want to come?"

@Lucia Fox as Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin

If the way Raphael was bouncing from one foot to the other was any indication, he was looking forward to their two-player match. (If it could be counted as match when the pitch wasn't big enough and, since there was just one person on each team, you had to play all the positions at once unless you wanted a blade of grass to act as your goalie.) "Can't play against myself now, can I?" Cassie pointed out jokingly in response to the boy's gratitude. "Sure," she added when Raphael asked if she wanted to go on a quick run around the makeshift pitch. Running had never been Cassie's thing - what was the point of it? - but it was kind of essential to warm up your legs before playing football. So, she followed her friend if he led the way, and led the way herself if he didn't.

When they reached where they'd started, Cassie shook out one of her legs and sat down to do some stretching. Then she realised something. "Ah, shoot. Forgot my football." Since football wasn't exactly a popular sport in the Wizarding World, Cassie generally had to bring her own ball if she wanted to play, or borrow someone else's. She glanced over at Raphael. "Should we just use a quaffle, or do you want me to go up and get it?"

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RPing as Raphael Aveline

French | English

A lightly scrunched up face was the most of Raphael's response to Cassie's joke (in all honesty, he had made attempts at playing by himself before he had snagged Cassie as a partner... or rather, she had snagged him) but when she agreed, he set off on a quick jog around the Quidditch pitch. The entire pitch, mind you, not just the small patch they used as their makeshift football field. Couldn't really call that a warmup, after all.

He fell into an automatic set of stretches after they had finished the lap, but looked up when he heard Cassie cursing. Since he'd come under the assumption that Cassie would have her ball with her, he hadn't thought to bring his own, either. "A Quaffle?" he repeated, a slight sense of bemusement audible in his voice. "I've never kicked one before, but we can give it a try." He expected higher friction than with a football, considering Quaffles had gripping charms on them, and it was probably harder, less flexible. But it had roughly the right size, and it was round, so what more could you ask?

A more genuine smile snuck onto his face, complete with an amused spark in his eye, and he gave Cassie a nonchalant glance from the side. "I can beat you no matter what ball we play with, after all. Where do they keep the Quaffles?"

@Lucia Fox as Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin

"Oh really?" Cassie responded to Raphael's statement. That was it, then - she couldn't go get a proper ball now, or it'd look like she was backing out. And after all, Raphael was entirely wrong. The two were pretty fairly matched, but Cassie liked to think that she could beat Raphael no matter what equipment they were using. "You're on."

Cassie walked over to where the quidditch supplies were kept and pulled out an old quaffle that was used for practises rather than actual games. She'd made sure earlier that there were no scheduled quidditch practises today, so she and Raphael would have both the quaffle and the pitch to themselves - and if someone else turned up, they could always call first come, first served.

As she returned to the pitch with the quaffle under her arm, Cassie rummaged in her pockets to find a coin. She tended to carry around a mixture of Muggle and wizarding currency, not on purpose but just because coins have an annoying habit of turning up when you don't want them and disappearing when needed. Today, she found a euro and presented it to Raphael, dropping the quaffle in the middle of the pitch. "Heads or tails?"

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RPing as Raphael Aveline

French | English

Raphael turned his face away just the slightest bit to hide the small smile on his face as Cassie immediately jumped at the perceived challenge. Fine, it wasn't just perceived, and he'd absolutely known the type of reaction he'd get, but Cassie was just so easy to provoke. He'd never tell her that, of course, because she'd probably stop doing it just to prove him wrong. He'd also never tell her that this was maybe one of the reasons he was more fond of her than of most others.

He stayed behind as she went to pick up a Quaffle, stretching his shoulders as he did, head tilted to one side. The Quidditch ball most certainly wasn't the optimal choice, while it was round and kick-able, the increased friction that made it possible to hold with one hand while on a broom would slow it down tremendously when being kicked across the grass. Perhaps his superior strength would give him an edge, though.

Raphael's eyebrow twitched at the random coin she produced; he was used to Muggle currencies - he was used to Muggle everything, still, after several years, more than to the wizard equivalents - but he didn't have any with him here. Why would he? There was nothing to buy at Beauxbatons with Euros. "Heads," was all he said, though; there was perhaps only a sliver of dryness in his voice, and he didn't think she would be able to read it. His sister might, but she was one of few who knew him well. Still... the urge to tease a little was there, and he didn't see the harm in following it. "But I'll defer to you if you think you need the headstart."

@Lucia Fox as Cassie Heather McGregor-Martin