Closed Taking Notes

[Michael Watson]

As keen as Michael was to play Quidditch, he knew he shouldn't run before he could walk, so to speak. He hadn't even flown on a broom yet, so as much as it was technically possible for a first year to try out for Quidditch, he knew he'd have to wait a year to actually try out, much to his frustration. At least that gave him a year to properly learn the rules of the game. He'd learned a lot about cricket and rugby from watching them on TV before joining his school teams, and he'd had to pick up soccer since a lot of the kids here seemed to play it, weirdly enough. But he hadn't actually watched any Quidditch before (although he had read up on the rules), so he'd made a point of going to the try-outs solely for the purpose of watching, and applying the sports knowledge he did have to the sport.

The captain looked pretty nervous already - Michael guessed he'd only just been made the captain? But the nerves wouldn't help the team out at all, he thought, making a couple of notes. Hopefully he'd be able to at least look calm before Ravenclaw played any games. Still, it was better than disinterest, and it looked like he wanted to put in an effort for the team. He'd seen plenty of coaches and captains who hadn't really cared. Why isn't there a coach, actually, Michael thought, a little confused by the whole setup. Kind of a lot to put on the captain. The batters - no, beaters - were a different story, and Michael winced at each missed hit, wondering if he should set them up with a cricket bat and have a bowl at them and see if they could hit anything. He knew it was a bit different, in that they weren't trying to score by hitting the bludgers but rather protect themselves and their team, but even he could see they'd probably need a bit of practice. He took a few more notes, gradually moving a little closer to the team setup in order to get a better view.

 

[Sawyer Carnahan]

Sawyer wasn't nervous. He repeated that in his head several times as the team and the few new Ravenclaw hopefuls took to the air. Maybe if he repeated it enough times it would stick. Quidditch was meant to be Sawyer's escape from pressure at school but this whole captain thing was quickly and surely undoing that. He couldn't even get his younger siblings to listen to him, how was he supposed to get seven plus other students to?

Sighing, Sawyer scrubbed a hand over his face, glancing sideways as he caught sight of a younger student scuttling closer. "Are you... Taking notes?" He asked, mildly incredulous. Paper and ink wasn't exactly common out on the pitch and Sawyer wondered if he was being too paranoid expecting a spy. Or worse, someone from the school paper. He was pretty sure the kid was one of their new first years, but for all Sawyer knew he had an older sibling on the Slytherin team to and was getting ready to tell Liusaidh how sweaty he looked right now. He'd have to put a stop to that, ASAP.

 

[Michael Watson]

Michael didn't really see the problem, as far as he was concerned he was making strategy notes (and actually studying up on how Quidditch worked). But he'd scribbled a couple of images of a field, thinking up how they were supposed to move around the pitch and really just getting a handle on the rules. Kind of like how the rugby coach for his team had pulled out the whiteboard at half time at their games, giving diagrams and strategies. Kind of old school, but it helped to visualize it.

"Uh, yeah," he admitted, looking up at the captain. "It's the only sport they really play here so I gotta get a handle on it." He shrugged. "I like sport stats and strategy." It was pretty easy to see why he'd been sorted in to Ravenclaw over Gryffindor or even Slytherin, as the hat had suggested. "Figured if I've got a good handle on cricket Quidditch will be a breeze," he added as a joke, before looking up at the captain with a grin. "Pretty harsh that they don't give you a coach or anything."

 

[Sawyer Carnahan]

Sawyer raised an eyebrow dubiously at the kid's explanation. "Right.. so purely educational then... Not going to sell all our team secrets to the highest bidder or anything?" He asked lightly, thumbing his nose before turning to look when he heard one of the beaters bats connect, unable to suppress the instinct to duck even when he was still on the ground. "Significantly more balls in Quidditch than cricket," he said idly, "In case you didn't notice." The comment about a coach did make Sawyer pause, it would certainly make things less stressful, though he couldn't imagine who would do it? Professor Holland maybe? "Yeah, I guess..." He said with a frown, turning the idea over in his head. "Don't think anyone has the time to bother though really, I mean," Sawyer gestured vaguely to where one of the new chaser hopefuls had managed to drop the quaffle and was trying to catch it before it fell too far. "Can't improve on perfection, really."

 

[Michael Watson]

Michael was a well behaved kid, but he couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at the older boy and give an exasperated sigh. "Bro. Come on. Who's gonna buy notes off a first year?" His notes were probably impenetrable to anyone but himself as it was, and a lot of reinforcing of the rules and basics which other teams didn't even need. "Sure, more balls, but have you seen the laws of cricket lately? That thing's massive. Quidditch is up there in terms of confusing rulebooks, though." He'd had to pour over some of the fouls, astounded that there were so many potential fouls one could even make. At least that was all pretty clear cut for the most part. If they put some rules down to 'it's legal but it's not polite' like cricket did then they'd be in trouble. He raised an eyebrow again as the older boy gestured to the field, seeing a chaser fumble the quaffle. "Right, of course. Keep coming straight down the middle though and they're going to be pretty easy to intercept." Not that he really knew too much about what he was talking about beyond what he'd experienced from other sports, just applying that to also being airborne.

 

[Sawyer Carnahan]

"True, most people would probably just take them," Sawyer said distractedly, watching as one of the perspective try-outs started flying backwards for a bit. "I'm all for muggle sports but I think cricket might actually just be some kid of cruel joke they're playing on us," he said, glancing back at the first year with a wry smile. "So you're just here to observe then?" He said after a moment as it became more clear the kid was here out of curiosity rather than malicious intent, despite how sweaty Sawyer was feeling at the moment. "Yeah it takes a little bit to get used to flying with the quaffle so you can be a but more subtle," he said, glancing at the boy again with a raised eyebrow of his own at the rather insightful observation, considering it sounded like this was the boy's first brush with an actual game. So to speak. "You sure you don't wanna try out?"

 

[Michael Watson]

Michael shrugged. Rugby was certainly his mid-year sport of choice, it was quite simple. He just usually didn't get to play as much as he would have liked because of his smaller frame. He hoped he'd be able to bulk up a bit when he hit his growth spurt, not that he'd get to play much rugby anyway being at Hogwarts. Surely there'd be some other kiwi sports fans - though he kind of suspected there weren't many in Ravenclaw. "Yeah, I guess. I've only flown a little bit," he admitted, honestly. He wasn't going to straight up lie to the captain and imply he had played quidditch when he never had before. Sure, he'd jumped straight on a broom as soon as he could, but he didn't have a lot of experience. "I mean, I can, you look like you could use a laugh and all," he joked. He didn't think he'd be terrible on a broom, but he'd probably have the awkwardness of someone still grappling with the rules. He understood it all on a technical level, but actually doing it was quite different.