QUIDDITCH: Feb 11, Match #5

[goosemods]

RIBBONFIN

COPPERTALE

• Weather is cold and lightly snowing. Mr. Covington cleared the pitch of snow earlier today, but by 2 PM, there's a fine layer of snow on the field when the cheerleaders venture out. Both Captains Ives and Patterson have had months to prepare their big dance routines.


• Game start. Chaser Lewis flies straight for the Ribbonfin goals while Stoker and Lacey fight Ribbonfin for the Quaffle. Stoker grabs it and throws to Lacey, Lacey winds up and throws it straight down the pitch to Lewis. Before any Beater can even get their bat on a Bludger, Lewis shoots the Quaffle past Keeper Davenport, scoring in a record twenty-eight seconds from game start. Crowd goes wild.


• Coppertale parlays that early momentum into another goal by Lacey. Ribbonfin makes two shots at Keeper Velasquez, both blocked. Chaser Rush gets it on the third try, with assist from a sneaky Ryder who snipes the Quaffle when Stoker tries to pass to Lewis. Coppertale is confident, but Ribbonfin isn't shaken. Davenport calls out encouragement to her team. All that practice pays off, as they pull into tie by the half-hour mark, 3-3.


• Beaters on both teams are playing for maximum Chaser damage. Coppertale Beaters go after Rush on point, while Ribbonfin Beaters aim to take out Lewis, the fastest of Coppertale's Chasers. Beater Barringer gets a hit on Rush's shoulder, who literally shrugs it off as he tosses the Quaffle over to Bagman, who zips down the field to score again. Ribbonfin teamwork has noticeably improved, although Coppertale pulls ahead again as Lewis starts flying too close to the other team's Chasers, fouling the Ribbonfin Beaters' efforts to disable her. Beater Delgado almost hits Rush when Lewis starts tailing him too closely, but despite his bruises, Rush drops out of the path of the Bludger just in time.


• About 50 minutes in, the score is 60-40 for Coppertale. The gentle snowfall turns heavy, obscuring everyone's visibility, but especially the Seekers'. Seeker Wainwright suddenly makes a sharp dive, which Popplestone doesn't notice until the announcer yells out. She follows after him, too late to catch up to the Snitch. Beaters Delgado and Evercreech scramble to buy her more time, but as Delgado's Bludger comes for him, Wainwright pulls away entirely, revealing that he was running a distraction. Stoker scores another goal for Coppertale.


• Ribbonfin Beaters redouble their efforts, especially as the game stretches on past the hour and the Chasers start looking tired from all the snow. While Lewis is occupied trying to take the Quaffle from Bagman, Evercreech makes an excellent shot on Lewis. But Lacey sees it and puts himself in the way of the Bludger, and gets knocked in the face and dislocates his jaw. He's sent to the Healer, and Reserve Dixon is subbed in.


• 90 minutes in, the score is 90-70 for Coppertale. Sensing the end, Davenport has a second wind, and gets 7 of her total 12 blocks in the last half hour. Coppertale manages to play well, with energetic Dixon taking point and getting in a couple of goals, but Ribbonfin quickly closes in. Beater Meer aims to take out Bagman now, but Ryder and Rush manage to get in the shots to bring the score to 110-100 for Coppertale as the game comes to 2 hours on the clock.


• Snowfall begins to wane. Popplestone sees the golden gleam of the Snitch against the darkness of Lewis' ponytail, and zooms right for her. Lewis and Dixon are passing the Quaffle back and forth, making it tough for Davenport to know what direction it'll be coming from, while Stoker and the Coppertale Beaters keep the Ribbonfin Chasers from interfering. Popplestone flies right into fray, with Wainwright seconds behind her, so close that the tail of his rust-colored robes hit a Bludger aimed by Meer. The Snitch takes them around the pitch. The Seekers are shoulder-to-shoulder, mere inches away from a win. Bagman flies over Stoker's head and gets between Dixon and Lewis, stealing the Quaffle from them and passing it to Rush. With his unhurt shoulder, Rush throws the Quaffle back down the pitch to Ryder, who scores. Popplestone outflies Wainwright, and grabs the Snitch.

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RIBBONFIN WINS
160–110

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.

Comments

PLAYERS & CHEERLEADERS

[goosemods]

Avery (& open if ya'll want)

[un_kept]

Although she's as tense as she usually is before a game, particularly against Coppertale - Avery's feeling pretty confident. Tobias, although not a very intuitive player, did great at practice taking the lead. The passing and teamwork between him, Eve, and Peyton had greatly increased and they were able to fly around a more aggressive beater set-up. They were really starting to feel where Ramon and Calvin were going to go with bludgers, and the dodging was getting to be pretty on point. She was walking into this game feeling much better.

Until of course she was scored on in less than 30 seconds. Mildly shaken, it takes nearly all game for her to get into her groove. It looks to have ruffled her teammates too, and she doesn't hesitate to scream encouragement from the poles. She knows the have this - and it works. Encouragement to Toby and Eve really work wonders on them, and fortunately for her, she was able to sit back at least a little as they start to take control of the game. Less shots are being sent her way, and she easily gets distracted by Reid's feint, Sy's score going right past her, uncontested.

Getting her second wind, she manages to block seven goals in half the time it took her to stop the first five. She knows it has got to be getting close to the end, the game has been tied nearly the whole time they've been playing. The snow is falling too heavily for her to focus too much on her teammates, and though she vaguely knows Reid and Gwen are going for the snitch, she's trying to stop the goal coming at her from the left - no, right - wait, it's left and --

And it's over. She can't see who won at first, the screams from the stands all sound the same no matter who wins (at least to her) and it isn't until a few moments later she realizes Gwen did it. She's screaming as she lands, going over to find Gwen to give her a high five and a hug. "I knew you had this, Popplestone!" She seeks out Toby next, congratulating him on the impressive bludger-baiting and complete nonchalance about being hit. Her team was unflappable, worked so in sync. She's so proud it's a little disgusting, honestly, and she raves to all of them about how well they did. She gives Calvin a nod of approval for the good suggestion on putting Tobias on point.

She makes sure to shake any Coppertale team's hands who look like they won't mind or at least won't try and break her hand if she tells them good game.

Nisha

[godzillabutworse]

Nisha's whole body buzzes with an anxious static energy that sets all of her to moving before she's even dismounted her broom. She pulls her goggles up off her face haphazardly, leaving them crooked on her forehead, then flexes her fingers, bends and stretches and swings her arms and kicks her feet until she finally lands.

A good game. A close game. But a lost game. And while her body does its thing her heads forty feet back in the air, recounting the last two hours. There's a voice in the back of her head that narrates every play; it's somewhere between her old gymnastics coach and her mother. A shitty John Madden drawing great big circles around every mistake.

But, there's so much to do. Too much to worry about nagging thoughts right now. Congratulate both teams. Yell at Dinah about how AMAZING they were (while also possibly climbing up on her shoulders). Check up on Reid and maybe(?) try(?) to hug(?) him(?). Is that a thing you do(??). And THEN visit Heathcliff and thank him for SAVING HER LIFE and immediately follow that up with asking him if she can call him Lockjaw, now.

So, no time to do that other, think-y stuff. Nope. None at all. Nisha turns to her nearest teammate and, still fidgeting, smiles.

Re: Nisha

[threatens]

"Hey," says Sy. He's looking considerably muted compared to the aftermath of their previous games, but at least he's not throwing anything. Shit, Nisha wasn't even around when Sy used to throw things after matches. The realization that she doesn't know even half of his fuckass behaviour is... weird.

He grabs Nisha's shoulder in a firm grip, and shakes her a little, in lieu of a hug. "You were on fire up there."

Tuff Boy Toby

[norush]

Hey! Nice! This is Ribbonfin's first win, and it feels awesome. Extra awesome, maybe, because he'd done pretty okay... he thinks. Tobias sneaks a glance at Avery, who's sweeping Gwen up into a bear hug, total joy obvious and apparent. Yeah! He did okay! Sweet!

Tobias isn't a sore winner — he'll earnestly shake the Copperteam's hands, only slightly chicken winged as he does so — but the grin on his face is obvious. It's good to win. Man, he's really lucky to have had a strong game today. He would've felt awful if he'd let his team down after they'd shown so much faith in him. But now he didn't have to think about it! Whatever he'd done in the lead up to this match, it must've worked.

And see? He told you guys "just letting Bludgers hit him" was a viable play strategy.

Sylvester

[threatens]

Sy's not a good loser. He's never been a good loser, and it's frankly a shock that he hasn't has to suffer through losing since the first half of his junior year captaincy. (Coppertale's final game last year had been uniquely devastating, but it hadn't been a loss, as smug people kept pointing out when he'd raged at them about what happened.)

So he's out of practice when it comes to losing. He sits on his broom for a moment, watching his Seeker, watching the other team freak out over their win, watching his sister screaming in the stands, watching the other orange figures dropping from the air. Sy runs a hand through his hair, knocking all the snow out of it, and pushes his goggles up. His ears feel frozen. Shit, maybe he should've listened to Rosy and worn a helmet. Would've helped Heathcliff.

"Fuck." He's the captain, he can't just sit here getting steamed about it. They played a good game, a damn good game. They're still ahead. Ebonhide will need 140 to knock them from the top spot, Azurcrest will need almost 200... There are captains who would kill to be in Sy's position. He steers his broom to land, and goes to corral his team.

Calvin

[evercreep]

Calvin lands, mostly feeling relief. He's happy, too, of course, although he lacks the pep of many of his teammates. He'd been tense going into this, and it's hard to let this go. A lot was at stake. Not only did Ribbonfin need to rack up some points to stay in the running, but Calvin had made a number of major suggestions about strategy for this game. If Avery had listened to him, only for them to lose horribly, Calvin's not certain the team would ever take him seriously again. It wouldn't be the mark of a future captain, either.

But they won. Toby did well, he was a solid anchor for the chasers. Gwen caught the snitch. Avery protected the goals. Ramon was as focused as ever. Calvin... accidentally nearly killed someone. Oh well, no game goes perfectly.

He goes to join his team in celebrating.

Reid

[cygninae]

This is the first time Reid hasn't caught the snitch in... well, a long time. So long he can't actually remember the last game he didn't get it. He definitely remembers the last time he fucked up, but technically he caught the Snitch then too. He'd been unstoppable.

Reid's frowning deeply when he lands. That sucked. He sucks. He pushes his goggles up onto his forehead, and watches his equally crestfallen team. Everyone did well except him. It had been close but close doesn't count when you're a Seeker.

Reid goes through the post-game handshakes, robotic and stiff. He doesn't want to be rude, but never had the social grace to be anything else. As often as possible, he hides behind his teammates and shyly avoids interaction with the Ribbonfins.

AUDIENCE REACTIONS

[goosemods]

Eboncaps

[neattrick]

It was a tense game, and Clem spent the majority of it taking notes. She doesn't care enough to use an umbrella, and her notebook pages are snow-flecked, but it doesn't really matter. When the topic's Quidditch, she absorbs information eidetically. She grits her teeth as she watches Gwen and Reid go for the snitch, but when the crowd erupts in applause and shouts, she just flips her notebook shut with a snap.

Clem's never liked losing, and now it kinds of feels like she's losing whenever Sy does. Which she hates doubly much, because it's stupid. But at least she's got company here in the sourpuss corner. She and Ulysses always seem to end up sitting next to each other when Ebonhide's not playing - she's not sure why, but they've been doing it since before they were captains. After Quidditch games is the only time they really seem to get along, regardless of outcome, so maybe that's it.

"Know the plan for Azurcrest?" she asks him as everyone begins to stand to leave. She offers him her notebook - they usually swap notes anyway, even if they always end up writing mostly the same thing. She doesn't even really have to ask, because their one objective for the Azurcrest game has been pretty clear since before winter break, but her nerves are finally mounting.

Eboncaps

[ulixes]

Ulysses and Clementine have a long history of sitting beside each other, eyes fixed on the pitch, and this game is no different. First match since the fall. It's not even Ebonhide's, but Ulysses feels fizzy with anticipation nonetheless, like a cork is popping off inside his stomach. Alright. Here we go.

His notes are little more ... baroque than Clem's — he fully intends to make good on his promise to regale Casper with every stupid detail — although when you take away the unnecessary flourish, the content is much the same. Five goals from Rush (and that was new), three from Ryder, three from Bagman. One from Lewis in the first 30 seconds, and shit, he and Decourt really should've done a better job recruiting her for Ebonhide before her sorting. A feint in the first half. Damn, they had a lot to talk about.

"Uh huh," Ulysses replies, too focused to take offence at the suggestion that he wouldn't. He flips through the pages of her notebook. Takes his pen out of his mouth and finally turns to his co-Captain. "One-fifty'd keep us steady. We catch the snitch on top of that, we'd be set."

Rosy

[browbeats]

Rosy gets very wound up during Ribbonfin vs. Coppertale games. At the end of the day she reps for Ribbonfin, but it's hard to tell her side every once in a while when she's shouting for Roxie and cheering on Reid and even sometimes approving of what Sy does up there. When a match is this long and this close, it leaves her hoarse as fuck, and it's a good time to get in trouble with her because you'll only catch half the incredibly rude things she calls you.

"THAT'S MY GIRL," Rosy hollers when Gwen nabs the snitch, but anyone more than five feet from her probably heard, like, "hat-tie Earl," but like what if a frog was croaking it. Dammit.

Azurquid

[cosmonot]

Bright-eyed and attentive, Griffin sits amidst a flock of other blue jay quidditch players, looking more awake than he's seemed all year. There's something nice about sitting with his teammates, watching such an exciting game. It makes the cold less cold.

He hops to his feet to cheer once the game is won, but sits back down quickly. Coppertale and Ribbonfin seem like two extremes. Fast and aggressive and steady and unstoppable. Griffin wonders where Azurcrest falls in there, and can't decide what's better. He opens his mouth to speak and gets a mouthful of blue scarf, instead.

Making a face, he tugs the thing down and instead of saying what he's thinking, asks, "Do you think our game with Ebonhide'a gonna look like this?"

Azurquid

[racingstripe]

Jeffy's trying to pay attention to how people play and what their strengths are, how that can be used in his own team, but it's HARD when he just really wants to watch the game?? He gets REALLY caught up in all the excitement and fast movement and OH MAN DID YOU SEE WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO HEATHCLIFF'S FACE??

At the end, he struggles a little to actually remember some of the finer details. Maybe he should have taken notes??

"I MEAN," he says, "the colors we be different."

AFTER THE GAME

[goosemods]

Webster and Gwen

[websterknox]

A thrilling match and a great finish! The result -- and Gwen's strong play -- make Webster hopeful that she's in good spirits. It's been about a week since the mimics invaded the lodge and drove a wedge between them. This seems like as good a time as any for him to test the waters. He waits for the crowd of well-wishers to die down some before approaching. "Hey!" he greets her brightly, perhaps trying to will the situation into a good place with his own energy. "You were awesome out there!"

OOC 💫 QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

[goosemods]

thanks for your patience during this mod hiatus season

OOC 💫 GAME STATS

[goosemods]

Game Length: 2h 10m 32s
Final Score: 160–110 (110–110 without Snitch)

RIBBONFIN
# goals blocked by Davenport: 12
# goals scored by Bagman: 3
# goals scored by Rush: 5
# goals scored by Ryder: 3

COPPERTALE
# goals blocked by Velasquez: 14
# goals scored by Lewis: 3
# goals scored by Lacey: 3
# goals scored by Stoker: 2
# goals scored by Dixon: 2

Re: OOC 💫 QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

[heathclifflacey]

Heathcliff blocking a Bludger. WITH HIS FACE. I'm so proud.

Re: OOC 💫 QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

[dinahdanger]

ahhh!! close game close game!!!!

Re: OOC 💫 QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

[godzillabutworse]

AHHH. I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!! ;u; I'm so glad my bad bad girl got to fly too close to the other chasers.

Re: OOC 💫 QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

[lilwitchhazel]

POOR HEATHCLIFF'S FACE but also ahhhh!!! ♥

(If anyone wants any of my children they're all here except for Rupert, because he's trash, so just hmu. I'm gonna... crawl into bed...)

Re: OOC 💫 QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

[un_kept]

"Beater Barringer gets a hit on Rush's shoulder, who literally shrugs it off"

*tear* our boy is so strong

Re: OOC 💫 QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

[ulixes]

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH im finally able to read this and YEEHAW motherfucks this was a good close game

Re: OOC 💫 QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

[bitterlysweet]

REID AND CALVIN ARE HERE AND FEEL THINGS ABOUT THE OUTCOME and I'll write them some day. Luv u guys.