Beauxbatons Quidditch Practice

[Professor Grace Holland]

Beauxbatons,PracticeGrace was happy that it was time for another practice, time to get her team together and see how they were doing. She and Jessica had talked a lot about strategy over the past few weeks, and Grace was eager to see the team in action so she could think of the perfect way to beat the Hogwarts team they would get to play at the end of the year. She had been writing her couins at the school, trying to figure out which team was in the lead and what sort of strategy they would have. It was hard to prepare when you had no idea who you were going to compete against. But neither of her cousins really cared about quidditch, which made it hard to get useful information.

She waited on the quidditch pitch with the supplies. Once her teammates arrived, she would give them a little speech. But nothing too long or extensive, as the precious time was reserved for actual practice. She hoped today's practice would be useful, as well as fun.

Out of Character:

Practice will be open around 2 weeks! Please participate if you are able and on the team, even if you're an alternate!

 

[Peter Lee-Prescott]

With another Quidditch practice scheduled to take place, all thoughts of NEWT preparation had gone out of Peter's head for the day. Not that it took up too much space to begin with in this early phase of the return to school after the holidays. Quidditch was always a welcome distraction whatever the circumstances, however, and as a result he turned up at the pitch slightly earlier than the rest of the team - though not as early as Grace, of course, hard-working team captain that she was. Nodding to her, Peter left his broom to hover in the air beside him as he did a few arm warm-ups. He wasn't usually one for small talk, but seeing as they were the only two there while they waited for everyone else... "Did you get much flying in over the holidays?" he asked.

 

[Dominik Milne]

Dominik smiled when looking at his two teammates and nodded his head at them, adding a quick wink when looking at Grace, before putting his broomstick down on the ground. He was a little tired from his late night homework session but hoped that it wouldn't affect his play during today's practice.

 

[Jamie Derouin]

Jamie bounded on to the pitch and glanced around at the other players who were there. He was one of the first to arrive and as an alternate he was just excited for another opportunity to fly around. The possibility of the upcoming game was just very exciting to him. he smiled at who was already there, before just holding the broom tightly and waiting to get started. He was sure they'd have great fun. Jamie thoroughly enjoyed Beauxbatons more than hogwarts.
​

 

[Elvira Rojas]

Elvira was ready for today! She wanted nothing more than to fly, to show her skills and to have a blast. She had a wide grin on her face as she made her way down to the quidditch pitch along with her best friend Celine. The two were only alternates, and Elvira was eager for both of them to prove their worth with practice. She saw some of her teammates already there, and waved at them. "'Sup Jamie." She said to the boy in the year below her, who was also an alternate. The two hadn't really talked before, but that had never stopped Elvira before. "Excited to start?"

 

[Brendan Fulke]

Joining the group gathered at the pitch, Brendan had very little to say. He was more keen on focusing on the game today than anything else, eager to put the stresses of daily life behind him and unwind in the sky. Tapping his foot impatiently against the bristles of his broom, the redhead waited to take to the air.

 

[Professor Grace Holland]

Out of Character:

If you haven't RPed arriving yet, feel free to do so in your first reply and combine it with playing.

Grace was happy to see her teammates and smiled at each of them as she arrived. She was surprised to see Peter actually attempt to make conversation, and grinned at him. "Not as much as I would have liked." She told him honestly.

But then she put her captain mask back in place. Today was serious. "Alright everyone, thanks for coming. I know it's February and we'll all be freezing on our brooms later, but I appreciate your dedication. We're only a few months removed from our big game, and I want us all to be ready." She told them with a serious face. "I'll be releasing the bludgers and snitch in a minute. Act like it's a real game. Dominik and Celine each take one of the sides of the pitch. The seekers will also compete." She nodded at Liesl and Elvira. "Chasers will alternate between goals. Beaters, try to hit the other players but try not to injure." She smiled, nodded at them to mount their brooms, and released the balls into play. Instead of taking the quaffle herself like she had last time, she tossed it to Brendan with a nod. Grace flew up high to oversee what was happening on the field.

 

[Liesl Huberta]

Standing on the field with her head held high, Liesl wrapped her fingers around her nimbus, taking a firm grip of it. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before the practice session started. Placing the broom in between her legs, the blonde leaned toward it and flew high up in the sky. Closing her eyes as she listened to the wind blowing, Liesl took a deep breath before opening it and flew toward the moving object in front of her. She flew in loops and to random directions, following wherever the snitch wished to fly. Her arms stretched to the south, the girl aimed for the snitch and bam... She fell to the ground. With aggression and irritation filling her heart, Liesl got up on her feet and waited for the captain to give a signal her for round two.​

 

[Elvira Rojas]

Elvira zoomed around to look for the snitch, eager to prove herself by catching it before their real seeker could. But unfortunately, she didn't see it anywhere. What she did see was the older girl falling off her broom after only a few minutes of practice. Was she okay? Elvira hovered, but then decided it wasn't her responsibility to take care of her. Their oldest captain already flew over in her direction, so Elvira looked around for the snitch once more.

 

[Professor Grace Holland]

Grace had a lot of faith in their team, but that faith took a slight hit as she saw her seeker fall of her broom once again. She had done this in practice before, but while there had been a bludger on her trail then, there didn't seem to be any real reason for it now. Grace grimaced, if that happened during the game she would die. She had her stern face on as she flew over to Liesl who was on the ground now. She hovered near her, frowning. She made sure the other girl seemed okay before she spoke. "Liesl, if you keep falling off your broomstick during practices I will talk to Jessica about the possibility to bench you during the match." She said with a tense voice. "I know you want to get the snitch badly and might take risks for that, but staying on your broomstick is a requirement of being on the team. Please be careful." She waited in case the other girl had something to say, though she didn't dismount to stand next to her. She didn't want practice to be disrupted by this any more than it already was. "If you feel okay, you can get back on your broom. But feel free to rest a bit if you need." She added in a softer tone of voice.

 

[Dominik Milne]

Dominik nodded his head in understanding and kicked himself off the ground towards the north hoops. He hadn't seen what had happened but when he turned around once arriving at his post, the seventh year saw Liesl and Grace down on the ground, talking to each other. He frowned and wondered what was going on down there before mentally preparing himself for the shots he was going to have to save.

 

[Liesl Huberta]

Glancing at Grace Holland who seemed to be irritated with her clumsiness, Liesl straightened her uniform and cleared her throat, oh very unladylike. "I apologize, I-I I've been having... A a-lot of things in mind. It wont happen again" grabbing her broom on her side, Liesl tilted her head and locked her eyes at Grace once more "I promise"

A promise is a promise, Liesl.

Shutting her eyes before keeping her mind in the game, Liesl lean down to the broom and flew up in the air. Moving from left to right, Liesl duck down and followed the moving snitch. This time, she strengthened her thigh and kept herself as close as she could with the broom. Taking a deep breath as she flew in a high speed, Liesl noticed the snitch flying under her. Wrapping her legs to the nimbus, the gymnast dropped her body with her legs still attached to the broom (she was flying upside down). Attempting to catch the snitch, the little thing flew off, causing Liesl to only fly in a higher speed. She made a sharp turn to the right, extending her hand to the north and finally caught the snitch. A smile of satisfaction appeared on her face as she flew down to Grace and handed her the snitch. "A promise is a promise" nodding her head to the brunette, Liesl waited for the commando of the girl.​

 

[Professor Grace Holland]

Grace felt a little bad for her speech to Liesl, as she knew the girl hadn't meant to fall. She sighed, proceeding with the game. She knew she took things too seriously sometimes, and that she needed to lighten up. Perhaps she should talk to the girl again after the practice was over. She made sure the keepers were in place, and then noticed something from the corner of her eye. Liesl had caught her eye again, and Grace's mouth opened in shock as she saw the girl fly upside down. She was about ready to go back to her for another talk, when she finally saw what she was doing. The girl had caught the snitch.

When she handed it to Grace, the brunette smiled sheepishly. "You can consider my earlier talk of benching forgotten, Liesl. Great job." She still wanted the practice to go on, though. "I'm going to release it again in a bit, and we'll see if you or the alternate will be able to catch it. The rest of the team needs to keep training a bit longer." She gave the girl a genuine smile. "Do this on the final match, and we'll have it in the bag."

Out of Character:

So... the practice seems to have ended by the capture of the snitch, something I didn't anticipate. I was going to see if I could re-open it in qcp, but it seems not to be working on Grace's account right now. The practice is on hold until further notice. Though you can react to the capture if the snitch with your character if you want.
You just can't try to score/alert/hit a bludger until I figure out what to do. A new practice may be opened if we can't continue in this one. RPing as far as you can in the meantime is encouraged.

Sorry guys

---

Out of Character:

And it's open again! Please resume practice

 

[Celine Lussier]

Celine had made her way down to the Quidditch pitch with Elvira, although she had done so at a much calmer pace than her friend. Although she listened fondly as the other girl struck up conversation with another of their teammates, Celine paid attention to their captain and kicked off as instructed. Seeing the older keeper head towards the north hoops, she turned the broom and made her way towards the southern end of the pitch, taking up position in front of the centre hoop. She knew she should be watching for chasers, but the seeker soon caught Celine's attention and she watched each event unfold in astonishment. The girl had caught the snitch already? That was so impressive! Practice wasn't over yet though and Celine looked intently for the quaffle, just in case the chaser in possession would decide to try and score at her end first.

 

[Peter Lee-Prescott]

Nodding in response to Grace's reply, Peter waited patiently while the rest of his teammates assembled. Before long he was given the all clear to mount his broom and kick off into the sky, which he was only too happy to do. It felt good to fly around in such a large and open space again, especially as he was accompanied by proper bludgers to practice with. He began tracking the path of the nearest one immediately, but as usual, chasing after it didn't really give him a good chance to hit it in any particular direction. It was probably for the best anyway, he didn't want to injure any other team members like he had done last practice. Liesl catching the snitch was a surprise, but thankfully that didn't mean that practice was over. He had too much work to do after the holiday off.

 

[Elvira Rojas]

Elvira was very impressed by Liesl's successful capture of the snitch. She was an alternate for a reason, the real seeker was a lot better than her. Still, Elvira didn't want to do too badly. She wanted to catch it too, to show that she could. She looked around eagerly as the captain released it again, though the snitch soon flew out of sight.

 

[Liesl Huberta]

What was it about Vitale staying in the back of Liesl's mind? Or even Clemence who had her own kids? Shaking her head as she let out a loud sigh, Liesl remained quiet until Grace released the snitch again. With her thigh gripping the broom tightly, Liesl flew up in the air. Up, down, left, right, she flew. Her confidence left her when her mind didn't let her concentrate on the pattern of the flying snitch. Yet she continued on flying toward it.

Failed...

She had just failed again, something that she absolutely hated.​

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[Jessica Park]

Jessica was not feeling like herself lately because Asaiah had not been answering any of her letters and she had a feeling something was wrong, but she couldn't figure out what. In some ways the lack of distraction allowed her to focus on school and training harder than ever, but in other ways it was even more distracting with the endless wondering clouding her mind during times she was supposed to be focusing. She had shown up to practice and remained uncharacteristically quiet, nodding beside Grace as she let the older girl take the lead during practices and kicked off hard from the ground. She hadn't been paying attention when she saw Liesl fall off her broom so she was glad Grace had taken the lead in talking to the girl because the two captains had already discussed the issue amongst themselves previously and was even more glad to see that Liesl had quickly proven herself immediately afterward with the catch of the snitch. Once practice resumed, Jess continued to fly around the pitch in search of a bludger, trying to focus on the task at hand. But once she spotted one, she tried to swing and missed it. She was annoyed at her performance and decided she would use this time to take out her frustrations if she could only make contact with a bludger.
​

 

[Peter Lee-Prescott]

Keeping an eye on the whereabouts of the rest of his teammates, Peter looked across the pitch for the nearest bludger. He noticed Jessica was paying attention to one, and feeling confident that she would be able to minimise its risk to the rest of the team, he sped off to locate the other one. After a moment, he found it hurtling through an area of the pitch that was empty for now, but could soon be in the path of the chasers in the blink of an eye. Things changed that fast in Quidditch. Peter tried to knock the bludger off on a different course, but the angle he came at ball was slightly off and he missed. He was far from discouraged though, and decided to continue tailing the ball - maybe it would suddenly turn around and come straight for him, that should give him a good chance to have another go at it.

 

[Liesl Huberta]

Liesl continued flying in a high speed, following wherever the snitch flew. Extending her arm toward the object, the snitch turned to another direction in an instant. Whoa... The blonde didn't see that coming. Regardless, Liesl followed the object persistently.

Focus Lies, focus

This time, Liesl stopped and watched the snitch, studying it's pattern. It was flying back and forth, making sharp turns. Oh... She did not see this coming. Leaning toward her broom, Liesl flew in a high speed toward the snitch.
​

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[Professor Grace Holland]

After practicing for a while, Grace finally got her hands on the quaffle. She enjoyed her role as captain, but she truly loved playing as a chaser. She sped toward the goals where Celine was waiting, ready to make an attempt to score.

 

[Elvira Rojas]

In order to learn from Liesl, Elvira figured she had to act like Liesl. So the young girl started following the older seeker around, carefully watching how she flew in search of the snitch. She wouldn't do this for very long, but she would hopefully learn from it and be able to catch the snitch herself. It seemed like Liesl had found the snitch and was following it, so Elvira followed her, hoping to maybe steal it from her before the older girl could grab it.

 

[Professor Grace Holland]

Practice was drawing to an end, and Grace hoped to end it on a high note by scoring a goal. Though she supposed that wouldn't be a high note for the keeper. Still, she approached the goal and then aimed the quaffle for the middle hoop. She grinned as it soared through. She was happy to see her hard work over the past years had paid off.

 

[Elvira Rojas]

Elvira whooped when their captain scored. But she still kept an eye out for the snitch as she flew around.

 

[Professor Grace Holland]

Grace blew her whistle to let the others know the practice was over, she gathered the team together with a grin. "Great job everyone. Liesl, keep that up. Celine, you need to pay attention to where the chaser's eyes are going, not just their body. But you've done well. You all have." She smiled proudly. "One more practice, and then it's time to show what we have in New Zealand. I'm sure we will win this year, with a team as strong as this." And with that, she let the team go to the locker rooms. She herself stayed behind with Jessica for a moment to discuss strategy for the match and next practice.

Out of Character:

Next (and last) practice is only a few days away, please be there as it's nearly time for the match!