QUIDDITCH: Feb 25, Match #6

[goosemods]

EBONHIDE

AZURCREST

• The weather is warming up but it's still winter-cold. The snow's been cleared from the field, and Captains Powers and Ignacz are feeling ambitious, as both serve up routines with plenty of somersaults, flips, lifts and basket tosses. Azurcrest comes out ahead when it comes to audience cheers, maintaining their reputation for high-flying tricks, but Ebonhide's experienced, coordinated squad is a worthy rival.


• Game start. Chaser Castillo gets the Quaffle, and he and his teammates pass it between them, trying to avoid Ebonhide's offensive maneuvers. They get almost all the way down the field when Beater Bailey serves up a Bludger that nearly knocks Chaser Morales-Tran off her broom. She loses the Quaffle to Chaser Webb. Through masterful coordination between the Ebonhide Chasers, Quayle scores the first goal.


• Ebonhide cleans up. The Quaffle exchanges hands regularly, but Keeper Wilde is knocking it out of the park in terms of defense, barely letting anyone get past him. It's more than 20 minutes in before Azurcrest manages to score, knocking out two goals in quick succession by Castillo and Key, but Ebonhide then pulls ahead almost immediately, with Decourt scoring, and another for Quayle, barely a minute between them. By the 45 minute mark, the score is 70–30 for Ebonhide.


• Keeper Flowers looks discouraged by all the Quaffles getting past him, so Beaters Hobbs and Delgado make a concerted effort to weaken Azurcrest by aiming to disable Bailey. They succeed in sniping the Bludger from her multiple times, giving Azurcrest the chance to jump a couple more goals ahead, but Beater Kim shoots a Bludger at Hobbs' batting arm to defend his partner. Hobbs gets away with only bruises, but Delgado takes advantage of the Beaters' distraction to hit a Bludger at Chaser Decourt—who's slammed in the side of the head, immediately taking her out. Coach Thorn slows her descent to the ground and Healer Mufferaw conjures a stretcher to take her to the infirmary. Captain Quayle makes the call to put in Reserve Rose.


• An hour into the match (12 minutes after they lost Decourt), the score is 80–60 for Ebonhide. Ebonhide still in the lead, but Azurcrest rapidly closing in. Seekers North and St. Clair chase each other around the pitch, trying to distract the other from finding the Snitch. It's still too early for either to end the game. At one point, North jumps up, both feet on her broom, and then moving into a handstand, an impressive maneuver that distracts the Azurcrest Chasers enough to allow Rose to steal the Quaffle from Key. The reserve scores his one and only goal for the game.


• Although Flowers seems to have cheered up by this point, now blocking most of the shots going his way, Ebonhide still maintains their lead. The closest Azurcrest gets is around the 80 min mark, when Castillo scores and takes his team to 90–80 for Ebonhide. But Wilde has yet to show signs of fatigue, and Kim and Bailey work efficiently, breaking up the Azurcrest formation enough to keep their Chasers ahead. Although Delgado is fighting to keep Bludgers off of Azurcrest, it's obvious Hobbs has been slowed down by her injured arm.


• Captain Castillo debates swapping out Hobbs for a reserve, neither of whom are practiced as a Beater. Meanwhile, Kim sends a Bludger over to Bailey, who sends it crashing towards Morales-Tran, her favorite target of the match. Morales-Tran pulls up too late and is hit in the side, knocking the air out of her lungs. Castillo starts to call for a swap in the line-up, but there's a shout from the audience: the Golden Snitch, flying so close to the stands that you can almost touch it.


• The Seekers are off like a shot. St. Clair is closer, but North pulls ahead when Kim sends a Bludger at St. Clair, who swerves hard to dodge it. The score is 110–90 for Ebonhide, not ideal for either team. Despite her injury, Morales-Tran swoops in fast enough to snatch the Quaffle from Rose, and tosses it over to Key. Key spots Castillo in the distance, and throws across the pitch to him—but Quayle dashes in, intercepting the Quaffle. St. Clair is seconds behind North; the Snitch veers up and down, trying to shake them, but both Seekers stay on target and cut right through Castillo's path, giving Quayle enough time to speed off towards the Azurcrest goals. Delgado tries to stop him with a well-aimed Bludger, which comes close enough to Quayle's hairline to get him to drop the Quaffle, but Webb is there, grabbing it before Key can. The Seekers are now shoulder-to-shoulder, following the Snitch as it ducks below the action. North only wants to chase her opponent off so Ebonhide has time to rack up more points, but St. Clair remains tenacious. Flowers' attention is split between Webb and Quayle; Webb passes to Quayle; Quayle slams the Quaffle into a hoop for another goal. Out of the corner of her eye, North sees St. Clair pull himself up on his broom, and suddenly leap forward, for a full-body collide with the Snitch.


• St. Clair tumbles twelve feet out of the air and crash-lands onto the yellow grass. After a few seconds, he pulls his head up, reaches into his robes, and shows everyone the shining metal wings beating between his fingers.

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AZURCREST WINS
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.

Comments

PLAYERS & CHEERLEADERS

[goosemods]

Ulysses

[ulixes]

Christ. Christ, what a game. Ulysses is still trembling a little as he lands, adrenaline blowing out his pupils and making his heart work double-time. He and Decourt may have a little more than a little difficulty when it comes to getting along, but on the pitch, they were a well-oiled machine, mirrors in flight. The two of them have been playing together since Ilvermorny, and watching her drop out of the sky like that leaves him more shaken than he would've expected.

It's fine, though. Injuries are par for the course when you play like they do, and he knows better than to let a substitution knock him off course. Ulysses calls Archie in, and he feels good about that; he's awful fond of that kid and after the work the reserves had done, training up with the first string chasers, he's sure he can handle the pressure. He's right, too. The team plays well. Not as well as when Clem's there, but there's nothing Ulysses can do about that now, other than his level best.

And in some ways, this is an incredible game: Wlide blocks, what, 10 goals? Something like that. The beaters are perfect. Tuesday does exactly what they asked her to do, and damn it, he's proud. He'll thump her on the back later — a tiny bit too hard, as always — because she played great today. They're sitting right behind Coppertale, and that's fine. He just wishes... a few more goals? Just a few more. If he'd brought his best game, it wouldn't have mattered that they lost the snitch. They've scored 150 points without it before, and the fact that he couldn't do it today, without Clem, bugs Ulysses. A lot.

But at least, on the outside, he's all smiles as he shakes Jaime's hand. Well played, Castillo. You jays earned this win.

Micah

[stclair]

It's true that Micah's Quidditch confidence hasn't been too hot lately. Winning or losing never bothered him much as a reserve—he cared, of course, but all he really cared about was getting to hang out with his team. It's different as a starter. He'd wanted Seeker just because Calvin and Essie and Jeffy thought he could do it. And who didn't want the speed, the glory, the transcendent moment at the end when it's just you and the Snitch and the screams of your adoring fans?

The desire for those things have faded over the past few months, leaving just... this. An hour-plus watching his team, counting the goals, silently praying, praying, praying for Azurcrest to get ahead. They've worked so hard, all of them, so fucking hard. Micah wasn't even really thinking about what he was doing when he went for the Snitch. Only that they had to win. They had to.

His body feels bruised, but the metal Snitch in his hand is all that matters. Azurcrest wins. Micah's laughing as he lets it go free again, and he's still laughing when he stumbles to his feet and runs for his teammates. "We did it!!!"

Wilde

[destructobot]

Adrenaline has Wilde jumpy and shaky when he touches back down on the pitch. That was one of his best games ever, but it's hard to quantify against the rest of the team's performance, and he fucking hates losing.

He doesn't bother good-gaming Azurcrest -- maybe it's poor sportsmanship, but he's not impressed by their win and he just wants to know what's up with Clem.

After that he leaves the pitch fairly quickly without hanging around to talk much, though he'll companionably clap teammates on the back as he runs across them, and Sofia gets a little parting salute.

Essie

[magitechnically]

Being part of the school team was supposed to help Essie become a stronger chaser, so it's frustrating that the onslaught of Bailey's bludgers has her scrambling throughout most of the match. She should have expected this. She's the smallest, most inexperienced member of this chaser team. It paints an obvious target on her back. When Jaime starts to swap her out, she wants to yell back that she's fine, that she can keep going, that she can prove that she's meant to be part of this team, but all that manages to come out are some breathy protests. The appearance of the snitch is the only thing that saves her. And then it doesn't matter how much pain she's in. She has something to prove.

Micah doesn't give Jaime another chance to swap her out and she's glad because, okay, yeah. This hurts a lot. But thankfully, down on the ground, Micah's holding the snitch. They'd won. They'd actually won.

When she sees this, Essie lets out a triumphant whoop and flies straight for Jeffy, circling around him and grinning. She owes him a giant smooch.

Casper

[casperkim]

While Casper never fails to be an intensely aggressive and sharply focused player on the pitch, he's not passionate about Quidditch in the same way that most players are and losses don't impact him nearly so much. He would've preferred to win. Obviously. But this was a good match, one worth putting time and effort and sweat into, regardless of the outcome. What makes the final score actually matter to him...is his teammates. The first thing he does when he lands is scan the crowd of players and cheerleaders for them. Ulysses and Wilde first. Corrigan. Archie. All the others. He isn't surprised by what he sees on their faces and frowns tightly, silently cursing the fact that his Bludger had failed to knock St. Clair out of the sky before he'd been able to catch the Snitch.

But there's nothing he can do about it now. Apart from telling the others they played well before they call it a day.

Griffin

[cosmonot]

As usual, Griffin's thoughts are moving faster than his face lets on. He puts on a smile, even as his mind wrestles with the game's overall numbers. Shots attempted. Shots made. What Wilde could block that he couldn't. For a moment or two as he floats to the ground, Griffin lets himself get sucked into his head where it's quiet and he's alone and he knows his performance was not great and he isn't sure, yet, how to fix that.

But he pops back out. Because they won. And everyone was amazing. His own problems can be fixed, probably, and now's not the time to worry about them. Griffin throws both his arms up when he lands, nearly tripping as he scrambles to get off his broom and, laughing, run to throw his arms around his teammates. They won.

Jaime

[lupofiasco]

Jaime honestly feels a little sick when he lands. Not that he's not happy - he's ecstatic - but until this moment he hadn't really realized how responsible he'd felt for Azurcrest's losses this season. All that weight washing into relief is disorienting and overwhelming, even if this wasn't a neat win, and even if poor Clem had gotten knocked in the head, and even if, in the grand scheme of things, one win during the regular season doesn't really mean that much. It takes him a few moments to really get his wits about himself, and then he's smiling and relatively perky, praising his team and congratulating Ebonhide on a good game. He promises Azurquid another pizza party, if he can manage it, because they deserve it.

Jaime will go check on Clem after things have died down a bit... then maybe he'll just go lie down.

Lachlan

[lachlangalbraith]

After joining the cheerleading squad back in December, this is Lachlan's first game and he's been an anxious wreck all day even after his talks with Yancey and his extra practice with Mackenzie earlier in the week. But maybe less of an anxious wreck than he would've been. He chooses to think so, anyway. Because of this, though, he's focused entirely on not messing up and not getting cold feet in front of the crowd of onlookers and he barely even notices the unfolding events of the Quidditch match going on behind him.

While he gets off to a mediocre start, missing a couple cues and almost bumping into one of the girls beside him (sorry!!), he soon focuses and finds his rhythm and performs well throughout the remainder of the game. While it's mostly dancing and cheering, there are a handful of acrobatic maneuvers that he manages to execute properly and he even gets lifted and thrown on one occasion without getting dropped. Wonders never cease!

When the game ends and the cheering stops, he feels dazed and overwhelmed but in a somewhat giddy way. Had that actually worked out? That had actually worked out! And the Quidditch team won too! He'll have to tell Jaime how brilliant he was...even if he has no idea what his friend actually did.

Tuesday

[tues]

Tuesday dead-drops out of the sky to make herself feel better, but it really doesn't. She knows she did a good job in waiting, but she waited a little too long, and Micah got the Snitch anyway. They lost by twenty points. She should've fought a little harder for it. She'll apologize to everyone on the ground and tell Micah this handy strategy she knows for better landing, to make herself feel better about sportsmanship. And Then, she's putting her new jacket over her head so she can run away from this game like a very purple turtle, all the way to see Clem, who she's very worried about.

Solo

[theniceboy]

This is a loss, but it doesn’t entirely feel like one. It’s a good match. Ebonhide plays well together, the chasers play well in formation. But Solo has been playing with Clem and Ulysses for as long as he’s been playing quidditch so when Clem goes down - he feels it more as a chaser than as his captain taking a hit. That shakes him a bit. That looked like a hard hit.

Of course, he also feels disappointed and that disappointment settles on him when he lands after the game. He didn’t feel the disappointment of loss last year, but steadily, he’s been getting more invested in their winning. If they had only scored faster, just a few more goals, the snitch wouldn’t have even mattered - and that fell onto the chasers, and beyond the chasers, it fell predominantly onto Ulysses and Solo, and beyond Ulysses, it fell onto Solo because Ulysses pulled his weight and Solo didn’t match it.

Solo is quick to tell Archie he played great, because he did. And he goes through the motions of congratulating the other team, and shaking their hands, but he really just wants to go to the infirmary to check on Clem. He’s more quiet following this game than the last couple, even though he actually got to play for the entire duration of this game. He tells Wilde and Ulysses that they did awesome, but he’s also relatively quick to leave the pitch and he instigates much less hugging than usual.

AUDIENCE REACTIONS

[goosemods]

Calvin

[evercreep]

By the halfway mark, Calvin isn't expecting Azurcrest to win. The game is unfolding poorly for them, and even with Decourt out of the way, Azurcrest can't quite catch up. Ree's hurt, Essie's hurt. Micah's their best chance at grabbing a victory, and Calvin worries his confidence hasn't been the strongest recently. Calvin shouldn't have made that joke about breaking up with him, and Micah shouldn't have ingested unstable Amortentia yesterday. Calvin hates himself for it, but he's rehearsing consolation speeches in his head as he watches the brutal game unravel.

Then the Snitch is spotted, and Calvin holds his breath, only to let it out in a shocked cry when Micah hits the ground. He's on his feet with his head calmly informing him that Micah probably just died when Micah stirs and holds up the little golden ball. Azurcrest won, and Calvin's too relieved to even applaud.

Ennis

[sheepish]

Ennis is on the edge of his seat the entire game, but he erupts in cheers the moment Micah holds up that shining golden snitch. They haven't won a game in over a year!! This is a big deal!!!

He's so proud of the birdies and runs to congratulate them afterward.

Chickabros support corner

[readingrainbows]

Brace your butts, kids, because there are SEVERAL banners with glitter everywhere.

Sylvester

[threatens]

Sy hasn't missed a single Quidditch game in the entire time he's attended Gooseberry, no matter who was playing or how miserable the weather was or how much homework he had due on Monday. But when that Bludger hits Clem... He does think about staying. Just for a second. He's seen Mufferaw handle these injuries dozens of times. Going to her side won't make a difference, whereas if he stays here, he can observe the competition and take notes—

"Shit," Sy mutters. He grabs the shoulder of the nearest Coppertale player (who isn't Reid). "Watch the game. I want every fuckin' detail. Give me your notes later." He gets up, and heads off to follow Clem and Mufferaw to the infirmary.

Iliya

[iliya]

It's an Ebonhide game, so of course Iliya is here, representing the few and proud unathletic senior bears. There are a few cheers for his friends in Azurcrest too, mostly for Kenzie and Sofia, and for Lachlan's first turn on the squad, but the bulk of his attention stays on the players in plum.

Ulysses, Casper and Wilde play well. Extremely well, even with the upsetting loss of Clem in the first half. Iliya is so confident in their abilities that he ends up spending more time than he should watching the cheerleaders. Namely one very tall, charming cheerleader. Iliya's so preoccupied that he almost doesn't notice the Snitch before the Seekers are on it, which he'll feel guilty about later. For now, Iliya just lingers in the stands, quietly concerned and just waiting to see where his friends will go after this.

Addy

[addytives]

Addy is definitely and absolutely in, because almost everyone she loves is on one team or another. She's VERY impressed with the way the team does, and leads as many people as she can in cheers that actually devolve into excited squealing, really quickly. At the end of everything, for one of the very first times ever, she goes down to the pitch to congratulate the winning team, but also wink at an Ebonhide cheerleader close up. For consolation reasons!

AFTER THE GAME

[goosemods]

Sofia

[sovain]

While Sofia is pumped the game went in Azurcrests favor, she didn't openly celebrate like the others unless someone were to so specifically come up to her. There was too much crap still rattling around in her brain from the amortentia potion. She hoped it was a side affect and it would go away soon, but a part of her knew some of those emotions that had taken over during the experiment had been lingering deep down all along. After changing and sneaking away from the locker room unnoticed, she heads back out on to the pitch with her hands stuffed into her pockets, trying to go over the game and what they all did right this time. Then she remembers Clem. Maybe she would send her flowers with an apologize over visiting, since she would no doubt be surrounded by friends worried that Sofia had screwed her up permanently.

With a sigh, she looks up at the empty stands and frowns. This is her last year playing Quidditch, she finally admits to herself. She wouldn't be persuing it even after graduation.

Clem in the Infirmary (Open to Multiple!)

[neattrick]

Going from playing a match to waking up in the Infirmary is never a good feeling, but it doubly sucks when your team also lost. Once she knows the score she has to concede that it could've been much worse for them, but it's also hard for her to let go of the idea that she probably could've scored those three goals if she hadn't been taken out. If there's anyone she blames, it's more herself than Tuesday.

Even with Mufferaw's expert healing, she feels groggy and out of it, and ends up staying in the infirmary for the rest of the day. But she wakes up not long after the match ended, and she's free to entertain visitors all afternoon, even if keeping her mood even is a little difficult for her. She doesn't want the rest of the team to know she's upset. That'd be bad for morale.

OOC 💫 QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

[goosemods]

rng was rough this session

OOC 💫 GAME STATS

[goosemods]

Game Length: 1h 34m 41s
Final Score: 140–120 (90–120 without Snitch)

EBONHIDE
# goals blocked by Wilde: 9
# goals scored by Decourt: 3
# goals scored by Quayle: 5
# goals scored by Webb: 3
# goals scored by Rose: 1

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

Re: OOC 💫 QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

[readingrainbows]

HWY JESUS CHRIST WITH EHT HEAD INJURY

Re: OOC 💫 QUESTIONS/DISCUSSION

[magitechnically]

congrats to jeffy key for winning his first game with azurcrest since his birth :')