gooseberryhigh | QUIDDITCH: May 20, Match #12

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QUIDDITCH: May 20, Match #12

AZURCREST

COPPERTALE

Conditions: Warm and sunny, with just enough cloud cover to dim the harshness of the afternoon sun. Perfect Quidditch weather. As with last year, there are a few well-dressed adults in the stands with Mrs. Bloom, presumably scouts for North American teams. Mr. Merrill passes out azure blue flags to anyone who wants to waves one, while Ms. Vector, with a stern look in her eye, performs a Color-Changing Charm on the clothing of any Coppertale student wearing an insufficient amount of orange. Both cheer squads present their showstopper routines, and it's Captain Patterson's squad that gets people standing and stomping. (Especially Agent Monet and Agent Yaeger, who are wearing Coppertale orange scarves and yelling support to their favorite team.) Georgiana Mills throws a garland of wildflowers onto the head of Mascot Skynner.

0:00:00–0:30:00 — Lewis grabs the Quaffle; Key reaches to block her but she passes to Stoker; Stoker speeds for the goals, tailed by Castillo; Stoker throws to Lacey; Lacey throws the Quaffle a quarter of the way down the field to land in Lewis' hands again, who makes a sneaky goal on Flowers, all under 45 seconds. Fox fans in the stands scream their support, but Delgado and Hobbs soon get control of both Bludgers, breaking apart Coppertale's formation. Morales-Tran scores the first goal for Azurcrest, then Lacey nails two on Azurcrest, just minutes apart. Castillo, now getting pretty good at dodging Bludgers, makes a few more shots on Coppertale, but Velasquez blocks every one. Stoker rounds out the first half-hour with another goal. Score is 40–10 for Coppertale.

0:30:00–1:00:00 — Each team knows exactly how many points they need to get in first place. It's a waiting game between St. Clair and Wainwright, so Wainwright helps out Coppertale by flying interference. He weaves through the Chasers, cutting off Azurcrest at every opportunity he gets, carefully avoiding coming close enough to be a foul. Hobbs aims a Bludger at him, and just barely misses hitting too-tall Key's head instead. As though they've practiced this before, the Coppertale Chasers aren't the least bit slowed down by having their Seeker in the mix. Flowers keeps his cool under the onslaught, but Coppertale is relentless—especially Lacey and Stoker, who throw hard enough for Flowers to know his arms are going to be bruised after the game. Score is 70–20 for Coppertale.

1:00:00–1:30:00 — Delgado finally hits Wainwright with a Bludger, striking the tail of his broom and causing him to spin out and very nearly collide with Lewis. Lewis, Wainwright and their brooms come out of it undamaged, but the Coppertale Seeker is more cautious after that. Coppertale might have eked out a lightning-fast lead, but Azurcrest has more energy reserved as the match creeps past the hour mark. Azurcrest makes two shots to every one from their opponent, and Velasquez, getting tired, lets in more than half their shots. There's a brilliant moment when Castillo's way is barricaded by Stoker and Lacey. Castillo suddenly turns and throws the Quaffle at his own team's hoops; Flowers hits it down into the waiting hands of Key, who throws it under the Coppertale Chasers to be caught by Morales-Tran. Morales-Tran flies like a bullet and scores her fourth goal of the game. Score is 80–60 for Coppertale.

1:56:42 — Lucas Kowalski exits into the hallways after a quick bathroom break, and runs into Micah St. Clair loitering outside the locker rooms. Wait, what? The student grabs their wand and fires off a low-level jinx at the mimic, who just takes the hit and flees. Suddenly, a tall cloaked Auror runs up, and shoots a shining net from out of their wand. The net wraps around the mimic, taking it to the ground. "We've got one! Take it back to camp!" Two other Aurors assist the tall Auror (whom they call "Agent Strangeways") in carrying the struggling mimic away, while Agent Larke checks that Lucas is okay, and escorts them back to the stands.

1:30:00–2:00:00 — Azurcrest is unstoppable. With Castillo on point, they score two more goals by the time the match stretches to 100 minutes, which is just enough to beat Ebonhide if they get the Snitch. St. Clair desperately scans the field for a glimmer of gold, while Coppertale, sensing their opponent's confidence, amps up the aggression. Lewis starts making herself an obvious target, trying to deliberately draw fire from the Azurcrest Beaters. When the gambit works, it works beautifully: Hobbs takes her attention off the Quaffle and hits a Bludger at the apparent sitting duck, but Lewis' broom drops at the last second, giving Barringer and Meer the perfect opening to swoop in and redirect the Bludger at Azurcrest. They both hit it for double the power, and all that force crashes directly in Morales-Tran's side, instantly knocking her off her broom. Coach Thorn saves her by slowing her fall with magic, but Morales-Tran has cracked ribs and won't be able to fly. Reserve P. Lacey is put in, but the momentum is with Coppertale. Stoker, Lewis and H. Lacey all score in the next ten minutes. Score is 110–90 for Coppertale. Coppertale needs just one more, and the Snitch.

2:00:00–2:07:46 — The pressure is on for the Seekers. Catching the Snitch here will be the difference between the 2015 Quidditch Cup or placing dead last. St. Clair zips around the pitch, trying to search all corners as quickly as he can, but Wainwright hovers motionless above everything, scanning the tiny waving figures of the audience, the shadows of the grass, the patchy white clouds above. There! A tiny metal ball, the barely perceptible flapping of delicate wings. Coppertale doesn't have enough points, but Wainwright sees Stoker grab the Quaffle out of Key's hands, and goes for it. St. Clair follows two seconds later, too slow. Wainwright's way ahead. Stoker nearly rams Castillo on his way to the Azurcrest goals, but Castillo pulls out of the way, and Thorn doesn't blow his whistle. Lewis and H. Lacey come up after him, but Delgado hits a Bludger at Lewis, and she swerves away. Wainwright's caught up to the Snitch, but he holds back, waiting, trusting his team. Meer closes in a Bludger, and looks for the best target. P. Lacey begins harrying Stoker, slowing him down; Stoker passes to H. Lacey. Finally, St. Clair catches up to Wainwright, bumping his shoulder hard as he reaches for the Snitch. Coppertale Lacey raises his arm and throws the Quaffle with all his might. Wainwright hears the audience screaming, but no words. He finally extends his arm, but St. Clair is already there, his fingertips catching metal wings. Just a little further and—

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AZURCREST WINS THE QUIDDITCH CUP
140–120

Whether you're a player, cheerleader or spectator, post below with your character's reactions! If you wish to post separately about the game, please use lj-cuts and mark for spoilers for the first 24 hours, so no one sees the result before reading the official match description.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Just like last year, it came down to him, and he fucked it up. Reid doesn't bother with congratulations. Azurcrest doesn't need it. They have the fucking cup. They don't need to think he likes them.

Reid lands, waits about five seconds for it all to sink in, and then he leaves. He cuts a line right through Azurcrest, and makes a point of coldly looking down his nose at St. Clair as he passes. Fuck it. Fuck everything.

Sy can do math. What was an excellent last-minute goal by Heathcliff would've only counted if Reid got the Snitch, but he hears the audience chanting Azurcrest's name and he knows they fell far short.

Fourth place. Fourth fucking place, for his last year at this school. In full view of the goddamn scouts and everything. If they're not idiots, the Drake Kill Devils will rescind their offer. Fuck. Fuck!

Sy shuts his eyes, and takes a deep breath. Shit, he can't do this right now. "God-fuckin'-dammit shitheaded mother—" Sy goes on like this for a few more seconds while he's up in the air and no one's close enough to hear him, but eventually, he has to hit the ground. He keeps it together long enough to shake Jaime's hand and give some kind of congratulations, and say something vaguely encouraging to a few of the people wearing orange. Just enough to prove that Sylvester Stoker isn't gonna lose his almighty shit over a Quidditch game. Good job. You played well. There's always next year.

Then he walks out, not even bothering to change out of his gear. Fuck it.

Jaime feels pretty similar to the way he felt when they'd finally won their first game: a little bit dazed. It's not that he didn't believe in his team, of course, but the game had been hard-fought and coming back from losing games for an entire year (even if it wasn't an entire season) is something else. And they'd more than come back. They'd managed to win the whole thing.

He's quicker to recover than he was before, so by the time he touches down he doesn't look pale or distracted or anything but happy and proud. He congratulates all the Coppertales that don't look like they want to murder him or have already left (it was hard to miss Reid leaving) but he obviously spends most of his time with the rest of the Azurcrest team. He takes the time to praise each one of them, because they all really pulled out all the stops. They're getting SO much pizza!!!

Heathcliff has never been good at keeping his emotions from rising to the surface and today is definitely no exception. He lands with shock and disappointment and frustration already clear on his face and in the slump of his broad shoulders, pushing back his sweaty hair and looking anywhere but at the Azurcrest players. Especially his sister. It seems impossible that they could work so hard and still lose. But here they are.

He knows he should stick around and try to be a good sport. Congratulate Pandora, at least. But he just...can't do it. Instead, he heads for the showers.

That's it.

Scheiße, that's it. That's all and she'll never have it again. The idea sort of thunders through her, disappointment and anger and discomfort with both, and Roxie doesn't swallow it down as quickly as she'd like - doesn't swallow it down at all. It gets caught up in her throat instead and fuzzes discontentedly between her ears - chiming in that little voice that counts in quarter-seconds and tells her to string herself up higher, to do more. And better.

So she tips herself sideways and dangles there for a while, braid swinging, just long enough that there's nothing to hear except the blood rushing to her head. Then she pulls herself together, smiles like she means it, and lets her feet touch the ground.

A flurry of information buzzes 'round and 'round in Nisha's head. She's still processing a narrowly dodged bludger when the game is called, and most of her teammates have descended before she's noticed it's all over. The realization settles as her broom sinks to the ground, and she stares at the faces of her teammates. Anger and disappointment writ on each of them. It makes her throat tighten.

This, she knows, was more than a loss. It was an end. Of Coppertale games. Of the season. Of their chances at the cup. Of brutal practices and hard earned hugs from a reluctant captain and utterly ridiculous ideas posited more to talk to her team than for strategic purposes. But there's more than that. There's a finality that's just beyond her own reach. She sees it in the faces of her seniors. For them, this isn't an end. It's the end. She'll never play with this exact team, again.

And it's almost unbearable to think about. So she doesn't. Instead, she thinks of the note Sy had written to her earlier in the day. Be a captain.

Nisha steps off her broom, tucks it under her arm and, with a muted but genuine smile, goes to congratulate Azurcrest on an amazing season.

Edited 2018-05-22 03:16 (UTC)

Griffin's arms are killing him by the time the game ends, but he's still got enough energy to throw them around every single one of his teammates as he approaches them. For a bumpkin in his first year on the team, having watched Azurcrest struggle for so long to come out on top - and boy, did they come out on top, the very tippy top - his team may as well have won the World Cup. And it shows in his bright smile and loud cheering.

More genuinely enthusiastic than he's ever been about anything.

They'd played amazingly. He'd done so well - he'd helped the team. And for the first time ever, all that extra practice felt like it had built up to something good. Like it had been worth it. And, judging by the joyful sound of Azurcrest's cheers, it had been.

Fuck. Fuck. FUCK.

As she lands, Charlotte wants nothing more than to snap her broom over her knee and chuck the splintered pieces at the rival team. But there's still the Hogwarts game to play, and she still wants a shot at the glory of captainship next year.

Charlotte takes a deep, calming breath and puts on a big smile that's a little too tight at the corners before jogging up toward Azurcrest to congratulate them on their big win. She'll approach Micah first, since she genuinely likes him, but the rest of the niceties are purely self-serving. Are you watching, Vector?

Edited 2018-05-22 16:48 (UTC)

Shake, shake. Click. Breathe.

Lucas parts way with Agent Larke at the foot of the stands after puffing another dose of corticosteroids into his lungs. "Yes. I'm fine. Thank you." He doesn't sound or look fine. A bit paler than usual, and shaken. He hopes it's not too obvious - his friends are probably distracted with the game, anyway.

It hadn't been scary. Not in the moment. In the moment, he'd just acted. Fired off a spell - a spell that didn't work - and then Agent Strangeways kidnapped the thing. In the immediate aftermath, he'd felt relieved. Maybe even proud. But the short walk back filled his head with storm clouds. A million of them. Each one its own world of terrible thoughts and feelings. His momentary pride at acting so quickly drained to a sickly sort of feeling - what if that had been the real Micah - Micah, whom he loves like a brother? What if he'd injured him? What did it say that he was so ready to fling such a spell?

And they have a mimic, now. What does that mean? And what was that net spell? What if they hurt it? What if it hurts them? What if it tells them how to find the thing they're looking for in the forest? Is that good? Bad? What if he tells his friends and they want to do something dangerous? Something stupid? What if he wants to do something dangerous and stupid? What if? What if? What if?

Lucas is sitting in the stands with his friends when he comes back to reality. He doesn't remember his feet carrying him back here, but they did. He watches, unbreathing, as Micah - the real Micah - catches the snitch, but not even the crowd erupting in cheers can overpower the static between his ears.

Edited (slam dunks some melodramatic bs into the stands) 2018-05-22 04:02 (UTC)

Sofia's eyes had gone wide when Micah caught the snitch. Not only had Azurcrest won the game, they won the cup as well. She couldn't believe it. Aside from Prom Queen, this was the only thing she had wanted from her last year at Gooseberry. Well, that and being signed to a team, but she has got over that dream by now.

After landing on the field and engulfing her teammates with hugs, and maybe even shedding a happy tear, Sofia wanted to celebrate hard. She needed to find Phin.

Calvin rushes the field the second it won't lose him any points. The teams are done congratulating one another with their forced smiles. Without warning, he hugs Micah so fiercely he lifts him off his feet.

tbh half the reason this is delayed is because i waited until the absolute last minute to rng the results bc i was dreading the season being over

thank you everyone for coming on this wild ride. congratulations to the winners!!!!

Game Length: 2h 07m 42s
Final Score: 140–120 (90–120 without Snitch)

AZURCREST
# goals blocked by Flowers: 17
# goals scored by Castillo: 3
# goals scored by Key: 2
# goals scored by Morales-Tran: 4

COPPERTALE
# goals blocked by Velasquez: 13
# goals scored by Lacey: 6
# goals scored by Lewis: 3
# goals scored by Stoker: 3

Edited 2018-05-22 00:50 (UTC)

Re: OOC 💫 GAME STATS

racingstripe - 2018-05-22 00:54 (UTC) - Expand

Re: OOC 💫 GAME STATS

bubblewrapped - 2018-05-22 00:56 (UTC) - Expand

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magitechnically - 2018-05-22 01:00 (UTC) - Expand

Re: OOC 💫 GAME STATS

gwenniepop - 2018-05-22 01:31 (UTC) - Expand

AHH CONGRATS TO MY VERY FAVORITE UNDERDOGS

PLAYERS & CHEERLEADERS

Reid

Sylvester

Jaime

Heathcliff

Roxie

Nisha

Griffin

Charlotte

AUDIENCE REACTIONS

Lucas

AFTER THE GAME

Sofia + Open

Calvin & Micah

OOC 💫 QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

OOC 💫 GAME STATS

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