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Quidditch in the Congo
Author: Adina Blackwood
Date: 02-12-11 16:21
Adina joined the rest of the quidditch team at the magical RV for the trip to the Congo and the Okapi Ecole de Sorcellerie three days ago. The trip had been wonderful thus far, the photo safari was fantastic and she had dozens of pictures that she'd taken and would develop as soon as she could. She and several others of the team were glad that the time difference wasn't anywhere near as extreme as the other time differences had been - it was only an hour time difference.
The photo Safari had been fantastic, and the trip to Rwanda was equally wonderful and Adina had gotten just as many pictures during that trip as well. She also had picked up some wonderful souviners from the capital city when they'd been there, gifts for her Mum, Dad, and her roommates and for her friends in Greece that would be sent as soon as she got home from the Congo.
Practice this morning had included all the team, not just the starting line up because there would be substitutions just like in the last couple of matches. Adina wasn't on the starting line up for this match, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't be playing.
Adina at the moment was in the locker room with the rest of the team getting ready for the game to start. She'd heard the stands filling up with spectators from both schools, and family and friends of the players who were playing in today's match. Finally, the time came and the teams headed out to the pitch for the game.
African Safari and Quidditch
Author: Charisma Stone
Date: 02-12-11 16:39
Isma and Blake had come to the Congo three days ago with the rest of the Quidditch team for the next match in the Quidditch Tournament. The trip to the African Congo had been fantastic so far, and it was only going to get better when the match started, and ultimately came to an end. There was going to be a party after the match win or lose, and she had no intention of acting in a way that would get her in trouble considering she was ON the team.
They'd gone on a safari their first day in the Congo, and they had both taken hundreds of pictures at least. There were more taken at the jungle trek in Rwanda, and had done pleanty of shopping in the capital city of Kinshasa.
The fifth had dawned early enough and it meant that the game day had finally arrived. They'd spent the first part of the morning after breakfast practicing, and then handed the pitch over to the team from the Okapi Ecole de Sorcellerie for their practice time for the morning. Tensions were high like always before a game, a series of games that they had yet to loose so far in the Quidditch Tournament beating Brazil and Sydney and now they were playing in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
They were in their uniforms, neither Blake nor Isma were in the starting line up for this game but that of course did not mean that neither would get a chance to play. Right now, both teams were in their respective locker rooms waiting for the annoucements that would signal time for them to enter the pitch and ultimately for the game to begin.
First With The Quaffle (Deak)
Author: Kody
Date: 02-12-11 18:36
Trailing Ophelia and Kody into the stands, Drake pauses on one step and points. "There's Aaron and Saffron and two seats up from them are Sage and Georgia."
Ophelia stops to look the direction he's pointing. "There are empty seats between them. You think they're saving them for us."
Behind Drake Kordelia chimes in, "I bet they are and if they aren't, we can take those seats anyway."
Kody had continued up a few more steps but then stopped upon realizing the others were no longer behind him. He backs down those steps then ends up going one up again since it's the best route over to where Drake's family is sitting. The empty seats are indeed saved for them if they want them so the four get quickly settled as the match is set to start soon.
In the locker room, Deak has broom grasped in hand, eager for the teams to be announced and the match to begin. He's a starting chaser, along with Alexa Wenlock and Jill Prewitt this go around. Though that means he might not be in the game when it ends, thanks to the substitution rule the tournament is using, with the nature of Quidditch and the fact that a seeker could catch the snitch within seconds after the official game start, at least being a starter ensures he'll get a little game play today.
Soon enough the match announcer, speaking first in French and then in English, introduces both teams. Griet and the other team's captain, Luzolo Galati, meet in the center of the pitch to shake hands the Griet moves to the sideline and flies up to the platform where the rest of the Hogwarts team and Coach Batuti await. Drake moves to take Griet's place. He's doing the face off, against Luzolo Galati, for the quaffle.
After ensuring that non-playing team members from both Hogwarts and Okapi are clear of the pitch boundaries, the head referee gets right to things. The red ball goes up, up, up and Luzoli and Deak are up like shots after it. Luzoli has his hands on it first but doesn't have a very good hold, allowing Deak to steal straight away.
Deak grabs the quaffle and shoots forward to put some distance between himself and Luzolo so that the other player can't immediately steal the quaffle right back.
Jill and Alexa move in on either side of Deak, ready to take the quaffle when he's ready to pass it off. Meanwhile, starting beaters Jade Green and Caerwyn Valentine are already vying against the Okapi beaters Elke Van Roekel and Georges Ngedza for the two bludgers. Jade reaches one bludger a shade before Georges and sends it in the general direction of Okapi chaser Anka Van Roekel, the sister of the beater Caerwyn is currently flying in a dead heat with to reach the second bludger.
About the same time that Caerwyn and Elke reach that bludger, Deak's passing off to Jill. She leans over her broom handle, cutting down wind resistance as she increases her speed. Third Okapi chaser Olivier Etsu is hot on her heels but Alexa keeps weaving back and forth in his path to both block him from getting to Jill and to force him to deccelerate his speed at least a little.
Deak catches up with Jill, ready to take the quaffle back should she want to pass it. His timing couldn't have been better because by moving into the position he does, he ends up being the block to a bludger that Georges Ngedza had aimed at her. It's not a particularly bad hit as bludger hits go but Deak's shoulder does sting and will for another minute or two.
Alexa stops the weaving back and forth she's doing to get even with Jill, taking a close quarters hand-off from her as they make the first approach to the Okapi kept hoops. Keeper Dieudonné Labilo is ready for them, blocking the shot Alexa makes. It rebounds with Deak catching it before Anka can. He promptly shoots the quaffle but Dieudonné bats away with his broom tail. This time Olivier Etsu grabs it. He jerks his broom around in a sharp one-eighty and rockets away with Deak, Alexa, and Jill following closely behind, looking for an opening to steal.
Starter (Jill)
Author: Aaron Miller
Date: 02-12-11 20:09
Based on what Coach Batuti had told the team Jill knew that unless something changed, she would be starting either this game or the next one. Eager to be able to get right into a match for a change Jill had hoped her time would be sooner rather than later so when the starting line-up for the match in Africa was announced, she'd be estatic. Now, if only Hogwarts could get the quaffle back and score!
At the moment, Okapi has the coveted red ball. It's changed hands a great deal as it's been moved closer and closer to where Glori Hodfuffer guards the Hogwarts hoops. This very second Anka has it and is crouching far down over her broom as a bludger sent by Jade whizzes by. Anka and her sister Elke, who's a beater for the Okapi team, look so identical to Jill that she'd asked them that first night here if they are twins but was told no, that Anka is a year older. Still, as much as they favor each other, having them both up here in the air but playing different positions is a tiny bit disconcerting to Jill. If not for the bat in Elke's hand, she isn't sure she could tell which is which.
Anka is rapidly shortening the distance to where Glori is attentively watching and on guard. Jill hustles to get between Anka, Glori and the hoops, hoping to be able to block the shot it looks like Anka's about to take. At the last second, Anka shoots the ball to her teammate Luzolo. He catches it, shifts his grip slightly then throws the quaffle to Glori's right. Jill shoots forward on her broom but can't intercept the shot in time. Alexa had come from Luzolo's other side with hopes of getting there as well but she too isn't quite quick enough. Deak meanwhile has been positioned in such a way to make it hard for the third Okapi chaser to get in close enough to take a pass and make his own shot.
Glori is able to block Luzolo's shot but she doesn't catch the quaffle. It bounces at an odd angle off Glori's broom, coming more at Jill than in the direction from which it was thrown. Jill gets her hand on the quaffle only to jerk it back in pain as a bludger smacks into her lower arm, causing her to lose what slight hold she had on the ball. Somehow Olivier has gotten around Deak and it's he who gets the quaffle now.
Olivier shoots but again Glori blocks. Olivier gets it again but instead of shooting for a goal he hurls it to Anka. Deak dives to intercept. Between his quick manuevering and a bludger from Caerwyn slowing Anka down, Deak now possesses the quaffle. He pulls away only to have that same bludger sent at him by Okapi beater Georges cut across his path. This allows Luzolo to get even with Deak who shifts the quaffle to his other side, away from Luzolo only to have Olivier dart in on that side and grab the quaffle away.
Olivier swings back around to shoot the ball. Jill and Alexa both move to block only to have Olivier not throw. Instead he zooms even closer to the hoops then hands off to Anka. Anka in turn does shoot for a goal. Glori makes a valient effort to get the block and nearly has it but Anka's shot is good. Okapi gets the first goal of the game making the score 10-0.
Chasing Bludgers (Caerwyn)
Author: Julian Valentine
Date: 02-13-11 10:44
In the time since Okapi scored the first goal, the ball has changed possession four times but with very little progress made for either team. They're still only a half hour into the match and so far it doesn't appear as though either seeker, Cornelia for Hogwarts and a bloke called Mobutu Kabango for Okapi, have spotted the snitch since it was first release. Caerwyn hopes the game doesn't end quickly unless it's Cornelia, or another of the Hogwarts seekers, who catches the snitch. He wants Hogwarts to have a chance to get some goal points on the board. Plus, the longer the match, the more others will get a chance to play though Caerwyn wouldn't really mind getting to stay in for the duration even if the game lasts for hours.
He'd lost sight of both bludgers for a second as he flew around the pack of chasers. Caerwyn pauses a moment, looking both for one of the hard black balls and for the two Okapi beaters since either or both are likely on the trail of a bludger as well, unless like him they've lost track of them. He gets around Hogwarts chasers Deak and Jill and finally sees something round and black just beyond them. Caerwyn starts for it, accelerating to reach it first when he spots Georges Ngedza after it as well. Caerwyn gets there first and sends the bludger on a path to hit Olivier Etsu if Olivier doesn't alter direction within the several seconds.
Georges changes his direction to now zoom after the bludger Caerwyn's hit. Caerwyn's in motion as well, going after to either get to that bludger first again or to try and get to it before it reaches whatever targer Georges sends it to.
Things happen so quickly that Caerwyn isn't exactly sure how the accident happens. He thinks it's a case of Georges being so intently focused on that bludger that he didn't see Alexa. The result is that Georges takes a hard crack to his head with the tail of Alexa's broom. No foul is called on Alexa so Caerwyn's guessing at least one of the refs saw the accident and knew it wasn't anything deliberate on Alexa's part and that the accident was because of Georges being inattentive.
Alexa's broom is fine but Georges head is not. The hit must have been just right for it to crack that hard and possibly give him a concussion. Georges leaves the game with Kawanda Kalumbi taking his place. The match continues with Deak in possession of the quaffle. Caerwyn gives a brief nod to Kawanda to acknowlege the other beater but then is off after that same bludger again, Kawanda hot on his heels.
Starting Keeper (Glori)
Author: Phinfilius
Date: 02-13-11 12:04
Glori feels bad for Georges Ngedza. Being taken out of the game because of bad playing or because the coach just wants to make a substitution or whatever can be disappointing enough for someone really wanting to stay in the match and play for as long as possible but being taken out for injury is really bad. Not only does it mean the player was hurt badly enough not to go on, which in Quidditch can sometimes take a lot depending on the type of injury and where it is, but it also means that the player likely can't come back into the game. With the substitution rules, someone who leaves the match can return but if someone is badly injured, like with a possible concussion, getting back into the match isn't likely.
With Alexa now the one with the quaffle, Glori can sit back on her broom and relax a little, watching as the action moves further away from her. As the current Hogwarts keeper, that's just how Glori likes the action to be. Most of the time anyway as she does love the challenge of keeping the quaffle from going through any of the three hoops behind her. Unfortunately, so far one quaffle shot did get past her, putting the first points on the board for the match. The score is still 10-0 in favor of Okapi but Glori hopes that will change soon enough and Hogwarts will get on the board.
She watches as Alexa passes to Jill who passes to Deak who passes to Jill as the Hogwarts chasers work the quaffle closer and closer to Okapi keeper Dieudonné Labilo. Elke Van Roekel
shoots a bludger at Jill and it does connect but not before Jill's already sent the quaffle back to Alexa. Jade Green goes after that bludger and returns the favor by batting it at Elke's sister Anka, one of the Okapi chasers.
The other Okapi beater, new to the match Kawanda, clips Alexa with the other bludger and that's when chaser Luzolo Galati moves in for the steal. He grabs the quaffle and zips away, moving still towards his own team's goals while starting to curve around so he can head back this direction.
Luzolo, Anka, and Olivier begin working together to move the quaffle back towards Glori. As she watches them manuevering to get the quaffle to this end of the pitch, moving past the obstacles the Hogwarts team keeps giving them, Glori thinks that though a small team in comparison to Hogwarts and the two other schools they've played so far, Okapi's team is very good. The other day, when first learning that even though the tournament allows them to have a team equal in size to those of the larger schools, the student population of Okapi École de Sorcellerie is so small that having a team of nearly 30 students would mean the team would comprise a third of the school's enrollment. That's why Okapi decided to stick with a smaller squad. There are two people for each position totally fourteen players and then there are four well rounded people who may be played in any of the four Quidditch positions, bringing the Okapi's team total to 18. That's still about a fifth of the school but at least this way there are more in the stands to cheer the team on.
Luzolo is the one with the quaffle when the three Okapi chasers near Glori. They continue passing the quaffle rapidly back and forth, no doubt trying to confuse the Hogwarts chasers and, more importantly, trying to confuse Glori. When the shot is taken, it's Anka with the quaffle. The ball comes straight at Glori at first but there's a spin on it that's causing it to curve to Glori's left. She leans that way and easily stops the shot.
Glori throws the quaffle to Deak only to have Olivier intercept the pass. The Okapi chaser tosses the ball to Luzolo who throws hard to Glori's right. She has to hustle to get there but again blocks the shot, this time with the quaffle bouncing off the palm of her outstretched hand. Luzolo scrabbles with Jill to get it with Luzolo coming up triumphant, though he doesn't hang onto the ball long, letting it fly again at one of the hoops. Glori knows she's got the shot block again so it comes as a surprise when a bludger hits not her, but the quaffle. That knocks it just out of her reach and though it's path is now off kilter, it's not shoved off course so much that it's no longer heading through one of the rings. The quaffle makes it through the hoop on Glori's right, bringing the score to 20 Okapi and still 0 for Hogwarts.
Still No Goal For Hogwarts (Jade)
Author: Emerald Green
Date: 02-13-11 14:00
"Drat!" Jade says aloud when Okapi scores its second goal of the match.
The quaffle goes back into play with Alexa who passes off to Deak within a few seconds. The Hogwarts chasers get into a much practiced formation to work the quaffle down pitch with Caerwyn and Jade providing support with the bludgers. They don't make it all that far though when Kawanda Kalumbi gets to a bludger before Jade. The black ball, making that sort of screaming sounds bludgers sometimes do, which Jade has always found erie, is well placed, smacking Jill in the center of her back just as she goes to catch the quaffle. The force of the blow is enough to throw off her balance, which in turn means she doesn't catch the ball. It goes into a free fall for all of half a second before snatched up by new to the game Okapi chaser Jeannette Batumike, substituted in for Olivier Etsu even before the announcement of that team's second goal finished reverberating through the stadium.
Jeannette, along with Luzolo and Anka, start back the other direction. Jade gets a bludger into Jeannette's path though, causing the girl to swerve. This in turn allows Alexa to swoop in and take the quaffle back for Hogwarts. Just like that the bulk of the action is heading back down the pitch again. Jade starts to go after the bludger she'd just hit but sees the second bludger and as it's closer to her position she shoots off to her right to intercept it. Elke gets there first though so Jade slows, lets Elke get it then darts forward again, ready to alter the bludger's course.
The bludger hits Luzolo's thigh and the Okapi chaser slows without thinking for a second to absently rub where the bludger hit. In the meantime Alexa's passed to Deak. He's able to rocket ahead for the moment and is soon past the midpitch point. Kawanda gets a bludger off at Deak and forces him to slow and swerve. Jade goes in pursuit of that bludger as Deak hands off to Jill.
Caerwyn's got the other bludger and his bat a mighty swing to send it straight into Jeanette. This keeps the girl from getting in close enough to Jill to steal the quaffle. Working together this way the two Hogwarts beaters and the three Hogwarts chasers get the quaffle within goal range. It's Deak who takes the shot but Dieudonné blocks with a catch. He shoots the quaffle over to Anka who then throws to Luzolo. Jill intercepts then quickly lets the quaffle go again for another Hogwarts goal attempt. Dieudonné once more blocks, with Jeanette getting the quaffle this time. With one eye on Jeanette and the quaffle, Jade approaches one of the bludgers with the intention of stopping Jeanette from getting far. As soon as Jade's sent the ball on its way towards Jeanette, she's flying at a fast clip to the other bludger, which is only a short distance away. Maybe Caerwyn and she can help Deak, Alexa, and Jill keep the quaffle within goal range for Hogwarts!
(Cornelia) Poor Sportsmanship
Author: Griet
Date: 02-13-11 14:26
Cornelia hated losing. She hated it so much that it made her feel angry, such that it blinded her to everything else and made her react recklessly. When the match against Okapi École de Sorcellerie began, Cornelia felt pumped up and ready to kick Congolese arse. She'd been placed in the starting line-up, which in her opinion was as it always should be. Nothing against her fellow seekers (except maybe Aleydis), but she thought she was the best of the best.
As the game went on and Okapi scored its first ten points of the match, Cornelia frowned severely, but knew very well it was still early and that anything could happen. When she spotted the snitch, she thought for sure she would get it before Mobutu Kabango would even notice it, but she had underestimated his abilities. He'd caught on to her almost immediately and very nearly surpassed her in her chase to catch it. And then just like that, the snitch seemingly disappeared, leaving both seekers confused.
Cornelia didn't see the snitch for a good while after that, and as far as she knew, Mobutu hadn't either. Every once in a while, she darted a gaze in his direction to make sure, but he seemed to be doing the same thing she was. He looked this way and that, occasionally doing a double take at something he thought he saw, but never really seeing anything.
When Okapi scored for a second time, Cornelia felt much less comforted by the fact that Hogwarts was losing. Sure, it was only by twenty points, but still. Hogwarts wasn't supposed to fall behind so soon in the game (or at all, really).
Cornelia supposed she could attribute Okapi's good fortune to the fact that they were playing on their own turf. But, Hogwarts had beaten Sydney's School of Wizardry and Escola Mágica de Brasil on their home fields, so why should today be any different? She didn't want to believe that the Congolese team was simply better than hers.
And so, with anger clouding her vision, Cornelia tore this way and that across the field in a frantic effort to find the snitch and show Okapi that she could turn them into losers with just one catch.
Her mood only got worse when she realized that the chasers from Okapi were moving the quaffle with rapid dexterity closer and closer to the Hogwarts hoops. Glori hunkered down and got ready for the onslaught surely to come, and when Jeannette tried to score, she caught the quaffle square in her middle.
Glori tossed it to Jill, who turned 180 degrees to rocket across the Pitch, but a well-aimed bludger managed to pop the red ball straight out of the pocket of her arm. It arced perfectly in the air. Six players scrambled to pluck it out of the sky, but only one was successful, Luzolo of Okapi. He wasted no time attempting to score again for his school, but Glori was again ready for him.
She whacked the ball away with an expert spin on her broomstick. Luzolo and Deak jostled to catch the rebound, but Anka swept in out of nowhere and launched the ball at the left-most hoop. Glori made a good effort as she dived for the ball, her fingers grazing it just barely, but it soared straight through the hoops without making contact with the rim.
Cornelia groaned so loud, the people in the stands closest to her heard her. She had to curb the impulse to scream in frustration, and in the end did something she never expected herself to do. She flew to the sidelines and touched down on the platform where her teammates were watching the match and waiting for their chance to play.
"Coach, you gotta take me out," she said to Professor Batuti, gritting her teeth together but doing her best not to growl or shout. She was mad and had come to realize that she was no good to her team right at that moment.
Fouled (Alexa)
Author: Aaron Miller
Date: 02-13-11 14:46
In the aftermath of Okapi's third goal, Alexa wasn't immediately aware of a change in Hogwarts seekers. She was too busy picking up speed, attempting to pull away from Luzolo, bent low over her broom, quaffle tucked in close to her body. She'd taken the quaffle at those last ten points were score and jetted away without once looking up for back. She only knows it's Luzolo there just behind and to the side because he got in extremely close and teasingly said in accented English, "The sooner you let us win, the sooner we can get to the after match party and games."
About the time Alexa does look up and around to take in where Jill and Deak are relative to her position, Luzolo gets in really close again. Too close. They bump and jostle and come close to being tangled. There's a loud, sharp, piercing sound as a whistle is blown and referee Carla Plimpton calls a foul on Luzolo. In short order Alexa is gestured by Plimpton to move forward, within range of the Okapi hoops. The woman had taken the quaffle from Alexa a few seconds before and now hands it back. Alexa waits for the referee's signal before she considers taking the shot and when she does take it, the uaffle flies straight and true. It's a good shot but Dieudonné Labilo
blocks, much to Alexa's disappointment.
Jeanette takes possession of the quaffle and it's only when Alexa has made it halfway back down the pitch when she notices that Glori is no longer in front of that set of rings. It's Alexa's cousin Daniel Gelson. Just then she also notices that Cornelia is standing on the platform but when Alexa checks faces on the platform then swivels around looking back and forth to see who the substituted seeker is, she can't spot anyone. She doesn't know if it's Aleydis, Charisma, or Christopher who's entered the match. How did she not hear the substitution announcements?
Will Deak, Jill, or she be going out soon as well? With others eager to get into the match and with the three of them so far not having any luck scoring on Okapi, Alexa won't be the least bit shocked if any moment now Coach Batuti signals her out of the game. With a sigh, Alexa pours on the speed to try and intercept as Jeanette passes to Anka, determined more than ever now to make the most of whatever time left in the game she has.