Open Observing Try-Outs

[Salem Lee]

While Salem had never specifically been a big Quidditch fan, she loved flying. They'd gone to a few games when she was a kid and Salem had enjoyed the spectacle. She figured it might be more fun in school having a team to cheer for, and had already trekked out to the stands to get a look at the Gryffindor try-outs. It was a bit sucky she was too young to be allowed on any team yet, though Salem didn't even know if she could really play.

Leaning against the railing, Salem grinned at the flurry of activity on the pitch. It was like trying to follow four games at once and she wasn't sure where to look. Someone managed to score and Salem gave a hoot of celebration, her cheer and applause mostly swallowed up by the empty stands around her, but she was perturbed by it, still engrossed in the action on the pitch.

 

[Juno Belgrave]

Juno wanted to find somewhere high he could use as a launch site for paper planes and had become distracted after seeing the beginnings of the Quidditch try-outs. Flying on brooms wasn't as cool as flying on the back of a dragon, but Juno was still a little wonder-struck watching people up in the air. He could hardly imagine what it was like to fly like that. He went up to the stands to get a better look, but hesitated when he saw someone already there. He mentally shrugged and tried paying attention to the players to try get some idea of what kind of game they were playing, but he was completely lost. The other girl seemed to be into it though, so Juno skipped up to her. "Hey, uh, are those balls trying to smash into people?" he asked. If part of the game involved people being knocked off their brooms by enchanted boulders, Juno definitely had to find out more.

 

[Salem Lee]

Salem glanced over her shoulder when someone else joined her, happy to explain when it seemed he wasn't sure what was going on. "Yep!" She said brightly. "Have you seen a Quidditch game before? It's not really like this. Though the bludgers do definitely still try to hit people," She said explained, nodding as one managed to collide with one of the players on the field. "Ouch. Good hit though," She called out to the beater who'd managed the hit. At least maybe they'd make the team.

 

[Juno Belgrave]

Juno was pleased that the girl didn't mind him bothering her and beamed. "No, never! My mum says she used to play, but I don't know the rules or anything," he said with a shrug. Not knowing things just made it all the more exciting when he did eventually figure them out. "Do you know a lot about it?" he asked. He hissed sympathetically at the player who had just been hit, but there was so much happening on the field and he couldn't feel bad for them for long. Juno was intrigued by the sport, but also it looked terrifying and he kind of wanted to see if someone could survive a fall off their broom without breaking all their bones.

 

[Salem Lee]

"Oh fun, what position did she play? I can't imagine either of my mum's playing," Salem said with a laugh at the mental image. "Mae would probably get mad that she couldn't tell the bludgers off," She added, feeling a pang of homesickness at the thought of them. Salem was enjoying how exciting school was, and it helped to have Tyler around, but she missed her parents. "I've seen a few games and stuff, it's not too hard. Do you want me to explain?" Salem asked the boy eagerly, happy to talk about it. "I'm Salem, by the way."

 

[Juno Belgrave]

Juno tried to remember what his mum had told him about her playing. "Uh, charger? Or something like that." he said. He wished he had two mums like this girl and wondered if he could trade his dad for an extra one. "Yeah, sure?" he nodded. If she was offering to explain the broom-zooming sport, Juno wasn't going to say no. "I'm Juno. You have the same name as my roommate's cat, so you're Salem Two now. Sorry," he shrugged. Cats took priority over humans and Juno was not inclined to upset the natural order of things.

 

[Salem Lee]

Salem couldn't help but laugh when the boy got 'Chaser' wrong, but he'd been close enough. "Oh, you mean chaser right? Or maybe beater? They kind of charge things," She said thoughtfully, looking back at the practice to watch some of the chasers jostle for the quaffle. "The chasers are those ones," She explained. "They have to get the ball into those hoops. Make sense so far?" She said, moving her hand to point at the chasers and then at the hoops at the end of the pitch. "Juno.. Juno. I like your name, it's fun to say," Salem said, sound it out a few times before laughing when he mentioned someone else had a cat with her name. "I don't think I like Salem Two, what about Human Salem?" She offered, scrunching up her face. There were worst things to share a name with, at least.

 

[Juno Belgrave]

Juno pointed excitedly as Salem corrected him. "Chaser! That's the one." He'd been so close, but he was glad Salem had solved the great Quidditch mystery which had been bothering him for an entire fraction of a second. His eyes followed where Salem was pointing and he nodded as she explained. "Oh, so it's exactly like lacrosse," he deadpanned. Sharing his own name with a scary murder goddess technically made him Human Juno, too, and Juno tilted his head to look at Salem thoughtfully.. "That's an entire extra syllable, but okay, Human Salem," he rolled his eyes.

 

[Salem Lee]

Salem was pleased to have gotten chaser right, not that it was a particularly difficult question. But it was fun to talk to Juno about a fun thing she liked either way. There weren't always a lot of subjects Salem felt knowledgeable about, but she was happy to share whatever she did know either way. Her parents were always indulgent with her as a kid when she'd tell them fun facts they'd all just learnt moments before, but she appreciated that they'd listen. "Right, so you've also got the beaters who- Wait, what's lacrosse?" She asked, her train of thought stalling at the weird word Juno'd used. She nodded in agreement that Juno was okay with Human Salem, quietly counting out the syllables on her hand to check Juno was right and nodding again happily.

 

[Juno Belgrave]

Juno sighed deeply at the question and clasped his hands together. "It's a sport? Instead of brooms, you run around holding sticks with nets on the end and fling balls around," he said. "But like, on the ground. Not in the sky." Juno had never actually played lacrosse, on account of never having friends before. His cousins always mysteriously lost interest in sports whenever he asked to play, so Juno had more of a theoretical interest in team sports. He gestured with his hands for Salem to continue her explanation, hopefully before she could force Juno to admit that Quidditch was actually nothing like lacrosse.

 

[Salem Lee]

Salem tried to imagine the sport Juno was describing and it seemed kind of silly. "So, no one's flying? How many balls are there?" She asked after a moment. "The net thing sounds kind of fun though," She added quickly, not wanting Juno to think she didn't like it or anything. "So did you play la-lacroix?" They didn't have any nets around that she'd seen, but maybe she and Juno could try playing that sometime. It sounded a bit easier than trying to organize a quidditch game with the school teams needing the pitch all the time.