Closed A Cruising Start to November OPEN Spectator

November 4th, 2023

Outdoor Club Area

Open to Interaction

𝓦ith the inevitable arrival of November came the first real flush of winter's unforgiving chill, and nestled in her seat in the stands a shivering Bex was currently more marshmallow than girl. It wasn't even snowing yet, but Bex's cold tolerance was practically non-existent, and as such the brunette was wearing a puffy grey coat layered over her jumper, as well as gloves, a blue woolen hat, and her favorite blanket wrapped around her shoulders for good measure. By the time December rolled around Bex would likely be bed-bound and comatose from the cold, which was going to make January's Quidditch match miserable to say the least.

But Bex loved broom sports, and since Helena happened to be a competitor in today's unofficial broom race, Bex had dragged her chattering self down to the club area to support her friend. Hopefully if she cheered loud enough it would inject some much needed warmth into her body. How was it this cold in the afternoon?

Even with her mood drastically lowered with the season, Bex couldn't help but be excited. While she'd been to many Quidditch matches in her life, broom racing was new to her, and she was eager to see it in action. Regardless of the outcome it was likely to be a thrilling race, though ultimately she hoped that Helena would stay safe and come out on top.

Breathing on her hands gently to warm them, Bex hunkered down and waited for the race to begin.

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Outfit: Here | CC: #1f5cc6 | Words: 323 | Graphic by Helena Rose
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─────One of the benefits of being a quiet person was that you sometimes overheard things that you otherwise wouldn't have known about. Landon wasn't a gossip or anything of the sort, but he did get to learn things from what other people were saying. People often overlooked Landon because he was so quiet. He would sometimes just be sitting there and people would have their full conversations without realizing he was even in the room. Not that Landon would repeat the things he heard. He was usually trying to just focus on his book instead of what they were saying.

So when Landon overheard that there was going to be an unofficial broom race, and that Helena was going to be a part of it, Landon made up his mind. He listened long enough to find out where and when the race was taking place. He wanted to be there to support his friends when they did things, and he decided he was going to surprise her by being there. He didn't want her to be expecting him when he was there. Landon went back to his dorm to put away his book and tug on some shoes, before he headed out to where the race was taking place.

Landon found his way to where the race was taking place. He noticed there weren't many people there yet, outside of those who Landon guessed were participating in the race. He guessed they were doing so because they had brooms, though he supposed some of them may be carrying brooms to loan them to the actual racers, he wasn't sure. Landon smiled widely when he saw Helena and Alyssea. He hadn't realized Alyssea was involved too. He waved at them, not sure if they saw him, but he was hoping that they would be pleasantly surprised to see him there. He tucked his hands into his pockets and waited for the race to begin.

Elsian had, whether through the Hogwarts grapevine or the odd bits of conversation he actually remembered, learned about a little race taking place. Apparently a small thing, meant for fun or maybe a challenge…he couldn’t be sure. Hadn’t thought to ask, to snoop, and if it’d been any other race he’d probably have ignored it, let it fade into obscurity with the rest of anything he didn’t care to think about-

But this race was different.

Special. Interesting. Had become the single most important thing in Elsian's life since he found out yesterday and couldn’t stop thinking, plotting because of all the possible students that were participating a certain bludger brained menace was playing. His roommate. Constant annoyance of a teammate. Sweater thief. An absolute gremlin of a housemate whom he so affectionately had a bit of an on and off grudge match with ever since he’d styled the boys hair to absolute perfection-

Finnegan.

Of course it’d somehow gotten better once he’d realized who else was in the race. Raizel, his fellow flying tightrope challenger! The mad lad was in the race. And against Finn! It was a wonderful thing that made hope bloom in his tiny shriveled heart as he slaved over the large, sparkly pink sign that would help pave the way to bullying- ahem…helping Finn become a better flier through tough love, challenges… and horrible injury. May his sign and bribery bring nothing but horror and inconvenience towards his way.

Marching through the grounds of Hogwarts and towards where he could only assume was the general area of the race in question. Bribe money carefully tucked away and vibrant, glittery sign carefully hidden in his enchanted backpack. Pink sparkles had already spread everywhere, dusting his hands and even his clothing. The dark navy sweater and black pants he wore sparkled like something out of a Barbie movie; that’s how you knew the sign was a good one. Finn would be so pleased. Imagine, him, actually showing up to an activity of his own free will, with a sign and everything! If the obvious threat on the glittery pink board didn’t cheer him on to win and avoid dying he didn’t know what would!

He frowned when he finally arrived, noticing the race had already started. But it was okay. Better late than never. After all, the small last minute touches he’d added to the sign had been worth it.

Carefully, oh so carefully, he set the bag down and began to open it. No sooner had he opened it than 2 purple balloons covered in glitter began to float up before suddenly stopping, as if stuck to something. With another tug the pretty glittery pink of the board appeared, finally free of the bag and out for all the world to see its horrible, glittery existence.

The boy had slaved away over the thing, covering the pink board in sparkles of different shades of pink and purple. 2 balloons attached to one side bobbed in the air weakly, weighed by the glitter covering them both. Ink spelled to be different colors covered the front side of the board in the crappy and tasteful doodle of Finnegan on a broom being knocked off his broom by a whomping willow, loving finished with the boys robes being bedazzled by cheap, pink, rhinestones he’d traded some 2nd year a galleon for. A pink darker than the rest of the board was used to write big, bold letters that spelled out the conditions of his bribery, ‘10 GALLEONS TO 1st RACER TO TAKE OUT FINNEGAN’,outlined by gold and pink glitter glue every other letter.

On the other side, similar to the front with all its glittery and bedazzled glory was another message. Though this side of the sign was far more tasteful and elegant, with the back being spelled Gryffindor red and covered in a pretty golden dusting of glitter. The doodle on this side was also far more kind, with a doodle of various colored glitter pens depicting Rai in a bedazzled red and gold robe, crossing a finishing line and Finn…being zapped out of the sky by a lightning bolt. The ink, a tasteful gold, was used for bold letters, outlined by golden glitter glue offered a much more positive message! ‘GO RAIZEL! YOU’VE PREPARED FOR THIS MOMENT!’

And then written far smaller, shoved underneath the cheer for Rai was-

‘...OH AND FINN TOO.’

He held up the front part first, offering bribery to any racers who felt the 10 Galleons worth targeting a certain enemy…or even a teammate willing to betray, before noticing Finn in the lead and scowling. Slowly lowering the sign to quickly dig out a red glitter pen to cross out the 10 and write out a 20.

The new words on the sign saying, ‘20 GALLEONS TO 1st RACER TO TAKE OUT FINNEGAN’.

He waited patiently until the sign could be read. Bribery put into the world! Before turning it to the other side with a grin, showing off the cheer for Raizel!...and Finn he guessed. Taking turns to rotate the sign so both sides got equal amounts of attention.

He hoped they knew he was being serious. He’d even brought the galleons!

Open to interactions
Mentioning @Elsian Cox
Astra speaking: #136323
Thoughts: Italics
Others: Bold

Just a few days earlier, Astra had had the privilege to watch a broom race where sneks were pitted against lions. Today, the redhead found herself bored (read: procrastinating) and heard, through her small but apparently quite sporty social network, that an unofficial race was taking place in the afternoon. With no classes at that particular time to occupy herself with, Astra decided to check it out. After all, Colin and Ulysses were both racing on the same team, why not cheer them on?

When the first year reached the stands, she noticed that a small crowd had formed. She also noticed the lack of blue among the racers. There were two sneks, Colin and Ulysses, a Hufflepuff she vaguely recognized from that stint in the dungeons she'd witnessed (and nearly forgotten about), and three Gryffs who she had absolutely no- Oh, wait, Finnegan! Scratch that, two Gryffs she had no recognition of and one feisty second-year from that little dungeon stint.

She sat in the stands, much closer than she had with Renelle, passing a girl bundled up in layers galore, and one Elsian Cox, aka baking buddy, being his usual amazing self. Astra grinned when she saw his sign, shelving the name Rai away, attached to the face of the Gryffindor accompanying her snek friends.

Her attention was quickly captivated by the race, which had already begun. Ulysses wasn't doing do great, and she winced as rocks hit the poor boy. Her eyes flicked forward to Colin and Rai, seeing the lioness hit the sides of the passageways while Colin stayed true to the course. Despite this, both Rai and Finnegan (who, Astra noticed, was also looking a little bruised from the passage) pulled ahead, Finn remaining in the lead.

He's good! Astra thought, cocking her head to the side slightly. I wonder why he decided to make Leveret his enemy. Ah, well, he is a Gryff.

She glanced back at Elsian for a moment, a short laugh escaping her as she noticed the bribe on the bottom of his sign. "Desperate, are you?" she called, one eye on the race as she awaited an answer. Elsian was fun to talk to, witty and humorous.

November 4th, 2023

Outdoor Club Area

Open to Interaction

Mentioning: @Helena Rose, @Finnegan Conner, and @Elsian Cox

Broom Racing looked so fun. While Quidditch had her loyalty, she'd love to try out racing some time in the future. Like Quidditch, everyone was attempting to knock each other off their brooms and down to their deaths, but unlike Quidditch the environment itself was also out for blood. It was exciting to watch, so she could only imagine how much fun Helena was having up there on her borrowed broom.

And Helena was doing so well, too, currently sitting pretty in second place behind one of her other team members, a Gryffindor boy a year or two ahead of them. Bex could only hope this would spark a permanent interest in broom sports for Helena, and give the two of them an excuse to practice flying together. Also, the Hufflepuff girl could really use a healthy outlet for all of the pent up stress inside of her. What could be a healthier outlet than blatching?

A few minutes into the match, an older Gryffindor arrived and sat a few feet away from her with a rather, uh, eye catching homemade sign. 20 galleons to take out Finnegan. 20 galleons was rather a lot of money, you could get a pretty decent starter broom with that. She could only assume then that someone would find this offer enticing and go for it.

She scanned all the non-Helena racers, trying to figure out which one of them was Finnegan. Was he on Helena's team? No way to tell, as she hadn't spoken to any of the other racers before. But Bex was not going to let anyone potentially sabotage Lena's team's chances of winning. She stared distrustfully at Daddy Warbucks and his war crimes sign. I've got my eye on you, she thought.

“Incredibly,” he deadpanned, eyeing the game. Not even the tiniest pinch of hesitation accompanying his actions, for he was in fact, desperate enough to resort to bribery. The game itself not mattering to the teenager so much as the players themselves.

“Horribly so really.” That laugh was awfully familiar though and had him looking over to his newest companion, a grin replacing the serious, slightly annoyed look on his face at the sight of Astra. Or as he would more likely refer to her as, Baking Buddy! “Why,” he began jokingly, “you got a friend in the race to try for the prize?”


…Actually it wasn’t much of a joke at all.

He was ready to pay the reward in full then and there after all.

“I’d offer you the bribe but, hmm,” he brought the sign down to rest on his legs, pink glitter dusting his fingers and clothes, “sadly you’re not a racer. And the sign does specify racer.” It wasn’t like the boy was a monster, he didn’t encourage cheating, at least in sports & big games. So of course he wasn’t about to offer a bunch of galleons to the audience to just start slinging spells at the racers & ruin the game. He wasn’t about that.

Offering…incentive to certain racers?

Fair game.

But not everyone seemed to share his very respectable opinions on the matter. Elsian could feel eyes on him and it had him giving a lazy look around before he caught some kid red handed, just openly staring him down. She didn’t look too pleased with him though he couldn’t begin to guess why. Oh, unless she was a friend of Finns?...Or maybe she thought he was being cheap?!

Well, couldn’t have that.

Ducking to grab a glitter pen he popped the cap off and began to write. A wonderful, ‘21 GALLEONS,’ replacing the previous 20. And, with a serious look he turned to tip the sign towards the mystery first year that was staring at him for her to see the additional +1 Galleon to the ‘prize pool’, sticking his tongue at her in a joking, childish challenge before turning away with a laugh and grin towards Astra.

“What do ya think? I think it’s a prize pool befitting a possible betrayal personally.”

Open to interactions
Mentioning @Elsian Cox and @Rebecca Lark
Astra speaking: #136323
Thoughts: Italics
Others: #theirhex

"Sure do. Two, actually," Astra answered, watching the race absentmindedly. "They're with... Rai, is it? They're with her. Colin and Ulysses." She pointed out first the white-haired Scotsman (or madman, whichever you prefer) and then poor Ulysses, who wasn't doing so hot.

She stood and hopped the stand below to stand a bit closer to Elsian, makes conversing easier."I'd gladly take the bribe. If I were a racer," she said, sticking her hands in her pockets. She, too, felt the eyes and gave the bundle of blankets a look as if to say, What? Bothered by a bit of sabotage?

And then Elsian raised the price. Astra raised her eyebrow. "Mr. Moneybags, ay?" she asked, impressed. Ten galleons was a fair amount, twenty a great sum, and this little, extra one galleon seemed to be a subtle little "There's more where that came from." Very impressive.

"Betrayal is certainly in the equation now, my friend," she said solemnly, looking out over the race. To her surprise, Rai was knocked off her broom and Finn right behind her. Colin, the other lion, and Scaredy-Puff were all neck-and-neck... and then poor, unfortunate Ulysses. At least he wasn't getting pelted by rocks anymore. "Someone needs to take you up on that offer soon, though. He's almost in the lead again!"

⋄ November 4th, 2023; 14:00 | Outdoor Club Area ⋄
⋄ Interactions: @Landon Matthews | Mentions: @Elsian Cox, @Astra Norrick, and @Finnegan Conner ⋄

𝓞kay, she was tad quick to anger these days, and the older Gryffindor boy adding an additional galleon to his offer before sticking his tongue out at her was apparently all it took to set off her fuse. She hadn't even said anything to him, she was just sitting here! Minding her own business, and staying in her lane. The gall of some people.

She needed to find out who Finnegan was immediately.

Problem was, she certainly couldn't interrupt Alyssea to ask her, as she was definitely a little busy at the moment, which just left her fellow spectators. Of those present, the red-haired girl was definitely out, as based on the look the girl had given her, she and Mr. Hit List were in cahoots. Aiding and abetting, the whole nine yards. That left just the quiet brunette boy, who was sitting by himself a ways from the rest of them. She was pretty sure he was in Hufflepuff? She'd never spoken to him, but that certainly hadn't stopped her before.

She made her way over to him, slower than she would have liked due to all the layers encumbering her movement. Petty spite was one hell of a motivator though. Once she reached him, she quickly plopped herself down next to him and held out a gloved hand for him to shake. "Hi! I'm Bex. Do you know which one of the racers is Finnegan?"

OOC: I'm not sure whether or not Landon's actually sitting down, so let me know if he's not and I'll edit!

⋅•⋅⊰∙∘☽༓☾∘∙⊱⋅•⋅
Outfit: Here | CC: #1f5cc6 | Words: 245 | Graphic by Helena Rose
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─────Landon moved to sit down, a little away from the rest of the group of spectators. He wasn't really familiar with anyone there other than Helena and Alyssea, so he didn't really know who to sit by or talk to. He just kept to himself mostly, not wanting to interrupt other people's conversations or anything. He was just there to support Helena.

Landon watched as everyone started to race, his blue eyes a little nervous. He didn't want anyone to get hurt, but especially not Helena. He was protective of her in a way. He honestly felt protective about all of his friends. But he needed to let them live their lives and if broom racing made them happy, then he was going to support them. Just as he was sure they would support him if he chose to participate in a sport himself. They were good friends.

Landon looked up, a little surprised as someone plopped down next to him and held out her hand. "Umm... I-I'm Landon," he said nervously, his stammer that often occurred around girls slipping out a little. He looked confused for a moment as she asked him about one of the racers. "I-I'm not sure," he answered. "I'm guessing he's n-not a Hufflepuff, because I d-don't know him," he added. "I'm just here for H-Helena." Landon gestured toward Helena a bit, but it was hard to really point toward the right person because people were starting to move around.