Gryffindor Tryouts?
Who: Cora, William, Evelyn, NPCs
Where: Quidditch Pitch, Hogwarts
When: 7 October 2008
Synopsis: The tryouts for the House Team turn a little bloody.
Logger: Cora Petit

-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Hogwarts Grounds - Quidditch Pitch(#278RJMa)

     Like the arena of an ancient colliseum, this expanse of grass is a huge,
open air field that stretches across the meadow, with stands built up and
running along the oval shaped perimeter. At the very top of the stands a flag
pole stretches up to the sky at the opposite end of each section, draped with
the banner colors of the current competing teams. The quartered sections are
divided by House, with a fifth, central section for the teachers and the
score-keeper. Built into the walls at central opposite ends of the field are the
respective team boxes, where players wait anxiously to take to the field at the
beginning of each game. At each long end of the oval is a trio of rings set upon
tall poles of varying heights, the very tallest of them standing higher even
than the top of the arena seating.

Contents:
Obvious Exits:
Meadow    Locker Room One    Locker Room Two    

It's one of those gorgeous autumn afternoons where the sky is bright blue,
dotted with big white puffy clouds, and the leaves color the landscape
beautifully. Classes have been out for probably an hour or so, and there's a
good couple hours of sunlight left. There's a gentle breeze, and the temperature
is not overly warm, but not necessarily chilly. It's /perfect/ Quidditch
weather. Following her last class, Cora rushed back to the dorms to change, then
came right to the pitch, to ready things for this year's tryouts. She's wearing
her gaudy "Gryffindor Captain" t-shirt again with the animated lion, and this
year on the back there's an addition. Her Name "Petit" has been added, in the
same gold that is used on the front. Grey drawstring sweatpants and well-worn
trainers are also worn. She's laid out equipment and for the moment, is giving
herself a workout, firing off bludgers at a fairly decent pace. She's charmed
them to follow their path, then
eventually return to her, so there's no reason for anyone else to be hitting
them either, for now.

William wanders out onto the pitch, broom in hand and decked out in full pads.
Spotting Cora, he wanders up and gives a wave, "Hello there. Getting in some
more bludger work? Hopefully I'll get the snitch at least once this year..."

Evelyn is still in her Ravenclaw school robes, apparently not dressed to tryout
for the Gryffindor Quidditch team if one was to assume. She has her bag over one
shoulder as she meanders onto the pitch instead of into the stands. She lifts a
hand in greeting across the pitch even if no one is looking her way--it's a
greeting that suggests she feels welcome here despite being Ravenclaw. She
doesn't approach the going-ons but rather makes her way to one of the ends of
the pitch but still within hearing range.

*whump* goes Cora's bat as it connects with a speeding iron bludger. She grunts
a bit with the effort, and only after the ball's sent away does she turn to see
who's speaking with her, "Just getting loose, Cheaver," she says smoothly, "You
should go weave around these," she says, as another ball begins it's large arch
back towards Cora, "You've got to tighten up your turns this year," she says.
Her words are a touch cool. She doesn't seem to notice Evelyn's arrival yet.

William frowns and nods a bit as he gets ready for takeoff, "Yeah, I know. I
almost got it that one game, but noooo..." Will lifts off and does a quick
warmup lap, spotting Evelyn, giving a quick nod before heading into the bludger
dodging.

Some other eager Gryffindor students come in for tryouts. Cora has no choice but
to stop hitting bludgers for a while, as she deals with them. She sets a quick
spell on them though with her wand, to ensure that William's flying will not be
terribly easy. Then she's over taking down names and things on a clipboard that
she left among the gear.

Evelyn moves on to the end of the pitch and gets comfortable, that is to say she
takes out some homework and lays in the grass on her stomach. Her homework is
for the most part already done, an astronomy chart, but she has a few more
things to label and explain. Right from the get go it doesn't appear as though
she intends to give her homework too much attention, nor that doing homework out
of doors was the reason to come out.

William spots some of the enchanted bludgers coming at him and just barely
manages to get out of the way and proceeds to mutter something about crazy
quidditch captains under his breath, though he doesn't try to look for her, yet
at least.

Cora eventually splits up some of the hopefuls, into groups that keep people
interested in like-positions together. Beaters are lined up, and each given a
school bat and a set of charmed bludgers. They repeat the exercise Cora was
doing just moments ago, which means suddenly instead of two Bludgers in the sky,
there are nearly a dozen total. This should make for interesting broom work for
William. Chasers are told about Quaffles hiding around the Pitch and Meadow. The
first three back with them, will probably be on the roster. There's two students
trying out for Keepers, and they are sent to the hoops at either end
respectively, and told to hover a while. There is one other student after the
Seeker job, so soon there is another another broom in the air, dodging much like
poor William.

In all the chaos, as organized as Cora is managing to make it, Evelyn can be
found. In fact, she's at the tail end of the line with a big smile to greet.
"Hey, Petit," she says. "How do you think the team will fair this season?"
Evelyn has a school broom in hand, not having brought her own out and having
gone and grabbed one. Apparently at some point, Evelyn managed to make her way
over to those gathered and left her homework and bag unattended.

William gets a slight graze from one of the bludgers and streaks upwards to see
how many of the suckers follow him before turning around and heading for a quick
dive aiming right at Cora it seems though on the other side that Eve's coming
from.

Cora cannot help but smirk at Evelyn, her lips pulling tightly at the edges, and
her eyes narrowing some in a predatory fashion, "Better than Ravenclaw," she
says, in a tone that isn't necessarily friendly. Still, she doesn't prevent
Evelyn from taking a broom, or trying to join in the activities. She turns then,
and calls up to Cheaver and his opponent, "First one to catch the Snitch, is my
Seeker," she says. Then her grin widens, and her next words carry humor, "I let
that baby go twenty minutes ago. Have fun boys." She seeks William's diving for
her, but doesn't flinch at all. Instead, she flexes her bat in her hand.

Evelyn laughs at Cora's words and right after moves behind her, using Cora as a
shield should Cheaver's course be intending for some kind of collision, being as
Cora's attention to it drew her own that way as well. "Yeah, it probably is,"
Evelyn says to the back of Cora, peeking around a little to see Cheaver better.
"I'm the quidditch captain after all, which can only mean one thing: the
Headmaster wanted to ensure Ravenclaw won't be winning the Quidditch Cup for
another ... oh," Evelyn laughs a little, "four years?"

William does a low, high speed pass over Cora, though not close enough where she
can actually hit him with the bat before pulling up sharply, gaining a lot of
altitude in a hurry before giving a quick look to the other seeker candidate and
putting on a speed burst to open space between him and the bludgers.

Cora snorts a bit, "Chicken, Cheaver!" she calls after he breezes by. Then she
turns back to Evelyn, her bat still flexed in her one hand, "Is there a /reason/
you are here? Or do you think I just need another target?" She moves her bat a
bit now, swinging it to loosen her left arm some, "I do like the sound of flesh
hitting this piece of Ebony," she comments, peculiarly, and perhaps, in a bit of
a menacing fashion.

Evelyn grins, though uncertainly. "Hey, back off Petit," she warns, though in
such a fashion that likely sounds as if she's more worried than ready to back
her words up. She shrugs, quickly, as if the threat encourages her to give a
proper answer. "Just to see how another captain does it," she ventures, looking
uncertainly still at Cora. She smiles suddenly then, and drops back a step but
at the same time brings her school broom's handle end forward at Cora, not to
hit her, but just to put it between them. She's not in an aggressive stance, but
it might come off as such.

William finally spots what he's looking for and rolls over and goes into a near
vertical dive chasing a glint and pulls out a couple feet from the ground
getting a large burst of speed and closing on the snitch.

Cora's one hand reaches out, pushing against Evelyn's broom handle to get it out
of the way. Then her bat takes a full arch, aimed dead on the younger, smaller,
Captain. Holy Merlin, Petit's at it again!

"Bli--awh!" Evelyn states, reeling back a step and brow fluctuating. "Ouch! Back
off, Petit!" Evelyn declares in annoyance. She wants to hold her shoulder. It
hurts really bad and her countenance expresses this amidst her angst, but
instead of hold it Evelyn yanks her broom handle back into place between her and
Cora after taking another two quick steps backward and tries to ward Cora off
with a jab at the gut. "I'm going!" she states angrily.

William finally catches the snitch just in time to see Cora take a swing at
Evelyn and he flighs on over, still keeping an eye out for the bludgers, "Good
grief, what's gotten into you? You're more, how shall I say, animated than
normal."

Something that resembles an animalistic growl escapes Cora's person as takes the
jab to the gut. A moment later she's recovered, and attempts to continue
advancing on the retreating Evelyn, "Quidditch is /WAR/!" she then screams, with
quite a bit of pent up rage there. Her bat's accompanied with a flying fist,
since as a Beater, her strength is in her arms. Cora is in her red zone it would
seem.

Streaking back into the Pitch come two of the Chaser hopefuls. Each takes their
Quaffles to a respective hoop, and begins to try and get it past the Keeper
hopeful. The Beaters are too busy working their arms to notice the fistfight
that's broken out, but the other Seeker lad, since William's caught the Snitch,
does notice. He flies down, and frowns, and keeps his distance. He's a third
year too though, and has heard and see Cora do crazy stuff plenty of times.

Evelyn is best at defensive and reactive play, and it's not just luck that
allows her to avoid the assault Cora sends at her, though she nearly falls over
backwards as she manages to make Cora only get air. It is war now! And Evelyn
just wants to survive! Still backing up, faster now, Evelyn changes her grip on
the broom handle and suddenly uses it like a long bat, the twig ends coming
around from the side in hopes of knocking Cora hard and from the side, off her
feet. All else is ignored just now, even words!

William just groans, "Cora, come off it, I need your bat in the games not on the
bench to keep my butt out of the hospital wing."

Cora's mid leap, the taller girl leaping towards the younger one, when Evelyn's
sweeping broom comes and somehow, between flailing arms, Beater Bats, and
lengthly legs, she ends up falling towards the younger girl. It seems the two
may be destined to end up on the ground. Cora is also not saying much for the
moment, other than an unmentionable in some other language.

Evelyn isn't much to run into and take down, and in this situation she just
becomes the cushion beneath the plunge the grass, and again Cora hurts her a
good deal. Hurt, scared, and mad, Evelyn cries out in pain and no longer holding
the broom -- having dropped it at some point on the way down -- Evelyn's
flailing hands go for Cora's hair. She tries to get the upper hand by rolling
and getting on top, but she's smaller and weaker for sure and it may depend
wholly upon how much hair she manages to get!

William shakes his head, "Great, I'm going to have to get my captain kicked off
the team if I go get somebody who can break this up."

The two end up on the ground, and Cora gives a yelp when Evelyn gets a hold of
her hair and yanks it so. The fall did cause one good thing for Evelyn, and it's
that Cora dropped her bat. So instead of a bat heading for her face, it's merely
a fist. Apparently, Cora has no qualms about hitting anyone it would seem, "Stop
that!" she yells in protest at the yanking of her hair. Her hair was being worn
down, so there's a lot of long, uneven, raven tresses for the grabbing.

Evelyn yelps in turn to the punch in the face, which knocks her head hard into
the ground as Evelyn tries to get it back and away from a second. "Get off me,
you werewolf!" Evelyn shrieks. She tries to roll to her side, whimpering and
with one hand still holding onto some of Cora's hair, half tangled in it--she's
trying to keep Cora's head, by way of her hair, as far away from her own head as
she can. The more the brawl goes on the more it's obvious Evelyn just wants out
of it, and even now she tries to get to her side and to a knee. She tries to let
go of Cora's hair and get up in the same moment.

A particularly hard yank gives Evelyn just enough room to get to a knee, and out
from underneath Cora. The older girl though, finally catches on to the head
yanking, and leans towards it, to lessen her own pain. Her fists again fly
towards Evelyn, though she's a bit off-center so they may not land as solidly as
some of the others. "Wolves /like/ blood," she says heatedly, and a bit
erratically.

Evelyn stumbles as she's trying to get up from her side to her feet when she
gets punched again. "Clear off, Petit!" she yells as she goes down on her hands
and knees, staining her black robes with green, though it'll be hard to make
out. She scrambles to her feet immediately again and tries to keep the distance
by starting to run! Her black Oxford booties aren't the best for running in the
grass but they do their best at Evelyn's direction. She's sore, hurt, a little
mad, and will have bruises in quite a few places, likely even on her face where
Cora's best shot connected with her cheekbone, but run she does and head for her
pack and homework is her direction.

Cora lso returns to her feet after a moment, looking just a bit frazzled. She
brushes at her hair with a hand, angrily pulling it all back, and with a few
quick flips, she turns it in on itself and soon it's spun up into a bun. "Don't
you /ever/ come spying on my team again, Graham! If I catch you at it again, you
won't be able to walk!" She sounds supremely confident in her threatening. Of
course she is not uninjured in this, though most of her injury is hidden beneath
the tee shirt.

Evelyn is scowling once she gets back to her pack and homework and she scoops it
all up quickly. She doesn't add anything to the situation by word or gesture and
simply makes to leave the pitch before more harm is done her.

Very few of the others attending saw the outburst, or at least are acknowledging
that it happened. The third and final Quaffle is finally brought back, the poor
girl being harassed by several others who wanted to get it first. One Keeper
manages to fight off two different Quaffles, while the third Quaffle gets past
that hopeful. The Beaters are still swinging strong, even without a Seeker in
their paths.



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