QUIDDITCH: October 8, Match #1

[goosemods]

COPPERTALE

EBONHIDE

“Welcome, one and all, to the second most anticipated event of October!” Announcer Lee’s voice booms out of the magical loudspeakers as everyone finds a place in the stands—staff and students alike, and even a few black-robed MACUSA officials lead by Agent Larke, who can be overheard assuring her colleagues that Gooseberry High plays amazing Quidditch. Light snow is anticipated for later in the evening, but for now, the sky remains gray and partly cloudy.

On the field, cheerleaders are still stubbornly wearing their warm weather uniforms as they line up for the opening routines prepared by Captains Powers and Patterson. “Of course, everyone knows the incomparably lovely and talented Captain Vee, who cheered for Ebonhide every step of the way as we crushed all the competition last year,” Lee starts off. Despite the announcer’s obvious bias, Coppertale still wins screaming cheers from the crowd as they demonstrate that the squad’s dance legacy remains intact.

The three captains meet in middle for the customary pregame handshake, but Stoker pointedly only shakes hands with Decourt before walking back to his team. There’s little time for Decourt and Quayle to discuss what just happened, as it’s time for the players to take to the air. “Oh dear, that was awkward,” comments Lee. “There isn’t any truth to those love triangle rumours, is there?”

Coach Thorn throws the Quaffle up high, and elbows fly as the Chasers jostle each other for the Quaffle. It’s beefy Chaser Lacey who breaks out of the melee with the ball under his arm. He makes it a fair distance until he spots Beaters Bailey and Kim catching up to the Bludgers, so he throws an impressively long shot—but it’s handily blocked by Keeper Wilde. With both of their Beaters now on the Bludgers, Ebonhide easily takes possession next.

Over the next 20 minutes, Ebonhide shows they’re the more experienced Chaser team, and knocks out a 30–10 lead. This becomes 40–10 only a few minutes later when Chaser Decourt, neatly dodging a Bludger sent by Beater Meer, passes under Lacey’s broom to Chaser Quayle. Keeper Velasquez is milliseconds too late to stop him. The purple-clad supporters cheer, along with Announcer Lee. “Good try, Velasquez! I think your fingertips touched that one! Everyone, let’s pray she can get closer than that today, or this will look very bad for our favourite foxes.”

At the same time, Chaser Lewis weaves through the other team’s defenses, just barely avoiding getting hit as Beater Kim’s Bludger takes off the last inch of her ponytail. When Chaser Stoker manages to grab the Quaffle next, she’s in position to catch the ball from him and score on Wilde. Lewis also scores the next goal for Coppertale after that, but the tight teamwork of Ebonhide continues to keep them ahead.

Above the drama, Seeker Wainwright carefully circles the pitch, hoping to avoid a repeat of the last time he ended a match after only 20 minutes—or so Lee speculates during a lull in the action, giving everyone a play-by-play of what happened to ruin Coppertale’s chances at the 2014 Quidditch Cup. Ms. Vector can be heard cutting in as Lee sighs, “It’s honestly such a pity,” and ordering him to focus on the present. The pointed commentary might be the reason why it’s Seeker North and not Wainwright who sees the Snitch flitting very obviously around the Ebonhide goal posts. She hesitates, but not long.

The Chasers are busy jockeying for possession of the Quaffle, which ends with Lacey bumping shoulders with Decourt and taking the Quaffle from her. Lacey turns for the Ebonhide goal, and is knocked hard in the elbow as North swoops around him. He drops the Quaffle, but it’s caught by Stoker. Seconds behind North is Wainwright, hot on her tail, both Seekers punching through the cluster of Chasers to pursue the Golden Snitch. It’s still ten minutes before the hour mark, the score 50–40 for Ebonhide. Quayle takes advantage of the excitement to grab the Quaffle right out of Stoker’s hands, and he gets it to Webb. The Beaters scramble, looking for a clean target; it’s Barringer who gets to a Bludger first and sends it rocketing towards the Seekers. Wainwright pulls up just in time, but North doesn’t. Her broom is sent spinning through the air, and she nearly collides with Keeper Wilde. Chaser Webb scores on a frustrated Velasquez, bringing the score up to 60–40. The Snitch is lost.

There’s a break to discuss the Ebonhide Seeker’s status. North insists she’s good to go save for some bruises, while Stoker calls down his players for a talk. “Big surprise, Captain Stoker is steamed. Or wait—is that actually strategy he’s discussing?” Lee wonders. “Strategy” apparently takes the form of slamming hard into Chaser Decourt the next time she has the Quaffle. Decourt swings sideways on her broom as she takes the impact, and aims a kick back at Stoker, catching him in the jaw. Coach Thorn blows the whistle on them, but given that both Chasers committed fouls, he awards a penalty shot to both teams. Webb takes it for Ebonhide, but Velasquez makes up for earlier and blocks it. Lacey’s up next, and fires a surprisingly powerful throw that gets in past Wilde. The game resumes.

The rest of the match becomes a furious back and forth, with Coppertale playing rougher than ever to claim the Quaffle and get it to Lewis, who has a knack for popping into Keeper Wilde’s field of vision only when it’s too late to stop her. The Beaters appear evenly matched, neither pair allowing the other to do more than get a near-miss on any players. But things change, as it always does when the minutes tick by, and the players get more and more tired swinging a heavy bat. The next time Lewis has the Quaffle, Kim chases down a Bludger—but Barringer’s there, ready to block him. Instead, he hits it towards Bailey, who’s in perfect position but not ready for the force of his Bludger, and she fumbles her aim. Lewis dodges easily, and Meer flies in behind her, swinging her bat. The Bludger slams into Webb’s upper arm, fracturing the bone. Now 90 minutes into the match, Coppertale finally ties, 100–100.

Although Webb’s able to fly himself to the ground, Healer Mufferaw that he needs medical attention, and Captains Decourt and Quayle call for Reserve Rose to tag in. The announcer is particularly enthusiastic about this change-up: “New to the team this year, Rose may look diminutive, but he’s a star in the making. Mark my words!” Sadly, this praise doesn’t get much chance to be proven, as the Snitch is spotted ten minutes later when Seeker Wainwright suddenly streaks across the pitch, an orange blur followed three seconds behind by a purple one. Unfortunately for North, three seconds is all Coppertale needs. She’s just caught up to him when she hears, booming across the whole pitch: “Aaaaand Wainwright’s caught the Snitch! I repeat, he has the Snitch! That’s right, everyone—”

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COPPERTALE WINS
150–110

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. Sorry this took so long! I ended up having to reroll the events for the second half of the game because what I wrote for the first half didn’t work well for the flow of the match anymore. HOPEFULLY STILL EXCITING?

Comments

PLAYERS & CHEERLEADERS

[goosemods]

Nisha

[godzillabutworse]

The closer Nisha gets to the ground after the game, the wider and more ridiculous her grin goes. Hair blown every-which-direction, she laughs - a big, bright sound - as the tips of her feet graze the grass, but she doesn't quite dismount. Cheeks rosy from the wind and the cold, smile gigantic, she looks almost sweet. Nisha tries very hard to remember the last time she felt this good.

She can't. Because, "that was a real game of quidditch." She manages to say over exhilarated laughter, talking mostly to herself. Ilvermorny never played like that.

The adrenaline must be getting to her, because Nisha congratulates her teammates with absolute glee and has a lot of very nice and specific compliments for any Ebonhide players she encounters for longer than an obligatory handshake.

Concordia Knight + Open to Multiple

[cheer_leader]

Concordia is nervous for the first game! Not just because she's performing and all, but because HER TEAM NEEDS TO WIN. She's extremely invested and is totally out there doing her damn best to make her Coppersquad proud, cheer the Copperteam to victory, and entertain the crowd.

She does her best not to be distracted by the game and all that, performing to the best of her ability and hoping she did well. When Coppertale wins, Concordia doesn't hold back - she's cheering so loud it's almost obnoxious. Maybe she IS that peppy all the time!

Reid

[cygninae]

Reid walks off the pitch like he expected to win. He's the best Seeker here, right? To Ebonhide, he's snide and arrogant, every inch the untouchable star Seeker who needs to be knocked down a few pegs. Only in the privacy of the Coppertale locker room does he show any emotion. Teammates can easily deduce his relief and elation. The ice prince is giving out hugs with little pressure today.

Solo

[theniceboy]

Solo stays for the rest of the game, since it only goes on for ten minutes. And he is the first to give everybody hugs after the game, momentarily forgetting to get his arm checked out in favor of giving the entire team one armed hugs. It's hard to tell if Solomon isn't overly invested in the fact that they lost their first game of the season by forty points Bc he's quick to tell Corrigan, Tuesday and Archie that they all played really good. And then he goes on to congratulate Coppertale and compliment them. He doesn't seem too caught up about getting benched or fracturing his arm or being in pain. Solomon actually just really missed quidditch you guys.

Heathcliff

[heathclifflacey]

HELL. YEAH. This is the way to start off the season! With an intense, close game that put all of the players through their paces and ended with a Coppertale victory! And is he proud of that foul shot he made? You'd better believe it! Heathcliff is grinning from ear to ear when he lands and throws his fists up into the air with an excited shout. Everyone nearby is getting celebratory high fives or hugs or both from a giant, sweaty, athletic boy that's too worked up to consider his own strength.

While he may try to tone it down when he gets to the Ebonhide players, trading high fives and hugs for finger guns and exclamations of 'good game!', he's still beaming. Sorry, guys. This is EXCITING.

Tuesday

[tues]

Through most of the game, Tuesday is laughing and flying and spinning through the air. When she's pulled aside and asked about her bruises, it's almost Insulting. But maybe those insults hold some water, because in the end she's short by a few seconds. She kicks a tuft of grass and stares at Reid's shoes when they first dismount, like they hold the whole key to his years more experience and ability. They don't. She shrugs in his direction, like he got lucky. He did get lucky. Similarly, she only bothers saying good job to her Coppertale friends, but when she gets back to her team, the facade drops, and she is deeply apologetic.

She knows it's theoretically unlikely that she'll get kicked off a team for losing her first Snitch, but she is going to practice until there's more than a couple bruises to worry about, anyway.

Wilde

[destructobot]

Doesn't want to talk about it. He knows he played well -- probably better than he's ever played before -- but he hates losing, and he feels like he could have blocked a few of those shots if he'd been faster, and it pisses him off to watch other people celebrate.

He stalks off the field in a quiet huff. If stopped he'll be curt but move on quickly. No party for this sad baby tonight, though he may stay up practicing blasting curses outside of the ESB cabin / grumping around with the emergency flask.

Corrigan

[byebyebirdies]

This isn't how you survive Captain Leonardo Fiori's legacy OR his number. Cor knows she's small, and she knows she's not nearly as experienced as a lot of the beaters at the school, but she'd felt REALLY good about the groove she was getting in with Casper until she turned out to be a total WUSS. Who fumbles like that on their first game? Somebody who needs to get BETTER, that's who.

Today she's going to pout and be sullen; tomorrow she's going to the weight room to ask Mr. Thorn how to get bigger muscles. They seem to solve everything.

Dinah

[dinahdanger]

Dinah's feeling the spirit this game. She's like a feral cheerleader. With thematically appropriate face paint and some sick dance moves, she jumps between only half-trying to keep up with the actual cheerleaders on the sidelines and screaming vicious support for her teammates. Every time Nisha does an even kind of good thing, Dinah's near incomprehensible with how stoked she is for her. LOOK AT THAT GENIUS, LOOK AT THAT ACTUAL HUMAN GENIUS UP THERE, SHE'S SO PROUD OF HER.

When the game ends, she hugs the nearest possible person and screams into their ear, just, too loud. It might have been Ira. It might have been an innocent bystander. Whoever it was, they didn't deserve it.

CASEY

[sunsoutgunsout]

Casey acts like the Cheer Squad won the match and he probably believes it, to boot. Was he nervous about his Cheer captain debut? Nah. Was he meticulous in making sure their entire routine went off without a hitch? You fuckin' bet. Casper Kim could've stood to get knocked around a little bit more but, fuck, he'll take what he can get.

He's totally going to chest-bump Sy.

Archie

[cherubic]

Playing is exciting, even if it's brief. Hero's voice singing his praise, his captains depending upon him, his teammates depending upon him... he loves it. But then they lose. Archie looks wilted as he lands, as though he had any influence on the game during his stint on the pitch. Logically, he knows that he probably didn't, and yet...

Some teammates can get a tiny but sincere hug from their eccentric reserve. However, many of them will find that it's like trying to hug an angry, wet cat. He actively dodges and shoves them away, resisting the gesture of kindness.

Casper

[casperkim]

Just losing isn't typically enough to get Casper bent out of shape, but losing to Coppertale when he's still angry at several of the foxes and when several personal blunders are standing out so clearly in his mind...it's difficult not to be frustrated. Still, he pulls in a sharp breath when he lands and forces himself not to leave the field immediately. He isn't about to let Solo hug him, but he does want to find Bailey before she can leave. Because he knows her well enough to know that she'll be blaming herself for the Bludger she'd been unable to control. Even though it had been his fault for failing to judge the force appropriately. For hitting the Bludger like he was passing to Leo Fiori instead of Corrigan Bailey even after all of the practice they'd put in.

He purposefully avoids the Coppertales while he goes to find his partner.

Ulysses

[ulixes]

This was a brutal game, but Ulysses managed to escape more or less untouched. No handshake, no bruises. Honestly, he should be thanking his lucky stars on both counts (the face he makes when Hero suggests a love triangle could probably be seen from the stands), but it's a little bit disorienting. Playing so hard and then walking away with nothing to show for it. He's so caught up in his thoughts that, by the time he lands, it almost feels like the match happened to someone else.

It's clearly a coping mechanism; normally, he would pout and radiate intensely-felt misery no matter how hard he tried to suppress it, but something deep in his lizard brain must realise now is not the time. He can't just be a shithead Chaser anymore. WWLD?

He and Clementine don't even need to discuss it: he'll take half the players, she'll take the rest. Webb needs to go to the infirmary. Ulysses isn't surprised to see the kid's still hanging around. He'll chase that up personally. Casper, Wilde — he'll be checking in with you too. Y'all played well. That was some damn good flying. Nobody on this team's got anything to feel bad about. (Well, with one exception. Hadn't he learned by now? Chaser's whole job is to put the Quaffle through the hoop so many times it doesn't matter who catches the Snitch. Today, he was short. Plain and simple. Damn it. God, he'd wanted to win this one so fucking bad.)

Just one thing left to do before he can step back and let his bullshit hit him like a runaway train. Stoker. Good game. Ulysses makes sure to find the Coppertale captain and, in a gesture of "good sportsmanship", extends his hand.

Clem

[neattrick]

Clem's trying harder to appreciate a game played well but still lost, a habit she picked up back when she thought there was no chance Ebonhide was going to win the cup last year. This was a game played very well on their part, but she's still not super good at the whole "appreciating it" bit. Especially in the first moments after losing a match.

She makes a rough touchdown on the field after the match is called, slugging Ulysses in the shoulder as she walks past him. Fortunately for him, she's got more important things to do than beat up on him right now, and she heads off to the locker room without saying so much as a word to anyone on the other team. She's probably not going to be winning that most improved award in sportsmanship any time soon, but she's still got the rest of the year.

Roxie

[uponawire]

That was a good game, fast and brutal and well-played on both sides. She missed this. Roxie’s grinning widely, a happily wind-blown disaster, even before Reid’s fingers close around the Snitch and the final score is in. She’s bouncing on her toes the second she hits the ground - quick to offer compliments to both teams. (And a quiet nudge of both apology and praise to Ebonhide’s new Seeker.)

And now to start off the year right. With obligatory victory hugs, of course.

Re: PLAYERS & CHEERLEADERS

[thecourtier]

Dominic has trained hard because he enjoys Cheer, and it showed in his routines. Who wants him to toss 'em?

He whoops and hollers with the best of them when Reid catches the Snitch. Awesome job, dude!

AUDIENCE REACTIONS

[goosemods]

Sam + Solo

[oh_girl]

Samantha has always had fun at the games, but hasn't really been historically invested in any game where Azurcrest wasn't playing. Even when they were, she wasn't this excited. Solo has been a lifesaver and she feels she sort of owes it to him to cheer and be invested in something he loves so much. She doesn't even find this annoying or a burden or anything - she's actually excited to cheer him on.

So she's out in the stands with a Go Webb! sign. It flips through multiple things go, like Go Ebonhide! Kick their butts! and some other ra-ra type things. She screams loudly when he scores, yells when the teams foul each other, screams angrily when Susana manages to block his foul-point -- though she feels bad because she adores Ana and quietly cheers for her too after.

When Solo takes the bludger to the shoulder, Sam let's out a strangled sort of oh no!!!!! sound. He's obviously not that hurt and it's nothing Healer Mufferaw won't be able to handle but she's still pretty upset about it. She flees from the stands immediately and makes her way down to Solo.

Only to find him not wanting to go to the infirmary yet. "The hell you doing, Solo? You need to get that checked!"

Phin, Open

[phin]

Phin's in the stands wearing a ton of fannish gear that pretty obviously used to be in Hufflepuff colors. He... doesn't actually know as much about Quidditch as you might expect, but he's enthusiastic and swept up easily by team spirit and DEFINITELY trying to learn some cheers.

Calvin

[evercreep]

After reading comments from his captain and teammate, Calvin makes a quick exit from the post-game festivities. He busies himself with studying for the remainder of the evening, and is stubbornly taciturn for some days to come.

Marie

[prophesie]

GUESS WHO'S YELLING

It's Marie!!! She's never particularly cared about Quidditch, but now that she has friends on the team, she gives several more shits. Kill 'em, Nish!!!! Of course, she's always been more of a cheer-cheerleader, and the Coppertale team definitely deserves her enthusiastic support. Go!!! Yeah!!! She cheers for back handsprings the way most people cheer for points scored.

Ferdie’s Here?

[ferdie]

Ferdie, who looks for excuses to not attend his own team’s Quidditch games, is here and at this one. He’s even cheering for Coppertale. Mostly when everyone else cheers for Coppertale; he doesn’t pay much real attention to the rules of the game. But he figures there’s some unwritten law that states when you swallow poison with people, you have to support their athletic endeavors too. So hey, kill people nicely, Roxie and Reid!

AFTER THE GAME

[goosemods]

Spencer provides peer pressure.

[bitterlysweet]

ARE YOU SHY? ARE YOU SAD??? DID YOUR TEAM LOSE OR WIN OR DO LITERALLY ANYTHING????

Spencer is here to lure your character into a questionable party at Coppertale. There's not as much booze as there would be at a Grotto party, but if you want to loosen up and get to second base with someone (someone = probably Spence), now's your chance.

💫 OOC - Questions, comments, concerns! 💫

[goosemods]

sorry to inflict my obnoxious sophomore on all of you

Re: 💫 OOC - Questions, comments, concerns! 💫

[byebyebirdies]

I'M
SO
GLAD
WE'RE
BACK
!!!

marin this was a work of art, thank you so much for all the hard work you did <3