Landon is totally and utterly excited! He’s buzzing and jumping about and grinning from ear to hear. Of course, the crowd can’t tell because Landon looks a neutral as ever on the outside. His broom is grasped firmly in his hand and he is holding his beater’s bat between his arm and his side. He uses the free hand to wave at the audience in no particular rhythm. A few waves here, a finger-wiggle there, and arm flap after he gets a little further towards the center. When he reaches his spot, he stops and just stands like a Landon-Statue.
Gabriel is psyched. Holding his broom well off the ground as he makes his way onto the pitch with his team, Gabriel looks around, reminding himself to take cleansing deep breaths. “We’ll win this,” he says aloud, switching his broom from his left hand to his right. Looking to Keelan as she speaks, Gabriel gulps a little, glancing at Briony.
Briony, who has all week been practically shivering with excitement, looks a bit green in the face now as she strides onto the familiar pitch. An unfamiliar sight greets her as she makes her way out behind Gabriel. There are far more people here than she ever remembered seeing at a match, all with their eyes down on the pitch as the teams collect and get situated. Oh, Briony is very nervous now and she hardly hears what Keelan says; she is far too distracted by all the commotion.
It is a clear day, free of rain, and Noémie smiles a bit as she pauses at the edge of the pitch. The fifth year has a determined smile on her face as she makes her way to the center of the pitch, holding on to her broom and comes to a stop near where Keelan is. “Yes, Professor,” she responds, as she always does and puts her hand out to Marie-Anna. The Ravenclaw’s hair is skillfully pulled back for once, rather than flying all over the place in a mess of wavy light brown, for better sight of the snitch.
Clavicle Gravely comes striding out carrying his Sandsweeper 25. The Egyptian broom has sleek lines. He waves to the Ravenclaw stands and yells “AUK AUK!”
Keelan Walsh is already in the center of the pitch, perched atop the box that holds the Quidditch balls. Her broom is nearby, waiting for it’s use. Today, her robes are a somber shade of deep red. The whistle hanging about her neck shines in the autumn sun, and she plays with it idly, waiting for the children to arrive. When they do, she stands up, shoulders straight, and says, “Captains? Shake hands, nice and sportsmanship-like, now.” with a grim smile.
Broom in hand Marie-Anna stands in suitable position that she may shake the opposing captains hand. Upon the professors call the Gryffindor beater shakes Noémie’s proferred hand, offering the Ravenclaw captain a polite smile.
Van stalks behind the rest of her team, gripping tightly to her broom. The Seventh year isn’t too excited, but a faint smile is still plastered across her lips as she gazes out into the stands. She breathes out a little laugh at Clavicle, shaking her head a little but in no belittling way.
Tegan makes her way onto the pitch, a foul look on her face. The fourth-year beater grips her bat in one hand and her broom in the other and stops far to Noémie’s left, looking the Gryffindor beaters up and down, sizing them up before the start of the match. Tegan is now seasoned to the matches, and she has to suppress the urge to laugh as she looks at the faces of some of the newer players, who look rather nervous. She says nothing, and no sounds emit from her while she stands there, waiting the beginning whistle, just smirking.
Andy Carver‘s heart pounds with excitement as he enters the pitch with his team. He has clenched his right hand around his broom to minimise the trembling. He takes a few deep breaths, lines up near Gabriel and nods towards him slightly, not being able to force himself to a smile.
Josh MacLean is pale beneath his freckles, his eyes wide and his newly-developed adam’s apple bobbing as he swallows nervously. He raises a hand to his mouth to chew on a fingernail, but puts it back down at his side after accidentally tasting the leather of his gloves, proceeding to stand somewhat near Landon, and waits, his knuckles white with his hand clenched tightly around his broom.
David walks in line with the other players of his team, holding his Moonsweeper over his left shoulder. He punches his right fist in the air, saluting the Ravenclaws who were cheering on the team from their bleachers. It is a fine day for flying, and David is feeling exceptionally confident, owing to the inordinate amount of training the team captain arranged for the whole team… he certainly feels less frightened than on his first match last year.
Quidditch! Hooray! Tybalt‘s favourite sport on the planet. He lives for it, he’d die for it, and it is the best opportunity in the world to show off! He slicks his hair back with a graceful movement of his hand and pulls on the bands of his fingerless gloves a few times – just for how of course, they’re already firmly attached to his hands. Once he’s done with that move he waves towards a group of girls that are frantically waving their red and gold banners at him in an attempt to get his attention. He winks in their direction and they all shriek with giggles and start talking excitedly amongst themselves. Now, off towards the center of the pitch! After a slinking along in a graceful fashion, Tybalt reaches the seeker’s spot and stands tall and proud, waving like he’s the one who invented Quidditch, or something.
Clavicle says, “Auk! Auk!” he grins and trots over to David with a laugh. “Come on David…Just one Auk, for the team!” He grins and prepares to mount his broom when signaled to.”
Bailey Williams follows David, no trace of fear or excitement on his face whatsoever. He tries to concentrate on the match, remembering the moves drilled in him after those numerous practices. He holds his broom in his right hand, waiting for the order to mount it and dart into the sky.
Riley Markham cant’t help but feel somewhat nervous as he makes his way on to the pitch, broom slung across his shoulders like a clothes rod, as if he were carrying pales of water. A feigned attempt at looking cassual, almost as if he hoped he might somehow fool himself. His aim had gotten better in practice, but there was still a lot of work to be done. And here of all places, with his Gran wave down at him from the faculty stands, he could almost feel his heart beating somewhere in the vacinity of his throat. Purposely not turning his gaze up to respond to her, pretending interest in the color of the grass.
Keelan Walsh spends the hand shaking time undoing the latches on the trunk. Almost as if sentient and able to understand what was going on, the Bludgers begin to shake the box from the first releasing ‘click’. However, when it’s opened, they just struggle against their bonds. Keelan pushes a button which reveals the Snitch. Taking it gingerly from it’s holder, the Professor turned Referee allows the tiny golden ball to unfurl it’s wings and bat them a few times before letting it zoom away. Now, the Quaffle is collected, and Keelan turns back to the teams. “Everyone ready?” She doesn’t let it go yet, “Let’s play a fair game, I don’t feel like giving a lot of penalty shots today.” This is said seriously, and she raises the whistle to her lips with her free hands. Giving the Quaffle a toss rather impressively high, she blows the whistle, signaling the beginning of the match.
Mounting his broom, Gabriel resolves to shake of his nervous feeling as he prepares to kick off the ground, trying to have faith in his game skills. He and Briony had practiced a lot, and he needed it to pay off. At Keelan’s whistle, Gabriel jumps a bit before lifting off in the direction of the Quaffle.
Eh, what the heck? She’s not going to be here much longer so who cares? She over beside Clavicle and Dave, waving her fists in the air towards their audience, “AUK! AUK!” She screams, giggling. Van claps, turning and grinning to her teammates before swooping over to her position.
Switching from anxiety to alertness in a split-second Andy Carver mounts his broom as the referee grabs the whistle and pushes off the ground with all his force, even losing the balance a bit and nervously adjusting his seat again. He heads for the quaffle. Maybe he would be able to grab it before Gabriel. Every second counts now.
In one move, Landon jumps onto his broom and pulls his bat from under his arm, ready for use. Then, with a quick move of his leg, Landon shoots straight up into the air, and slightly off to the side so that the Chasers can have control of the field and he won’t be in the way. Now, to wait until the bludger are released so he can make sure they don’t hit anyone on his team.
As soon as she hears the whistle, Noémie is on her broom and she flies high above the pitch, above the hoops. The Ravenclaw sees the golden snitch released and watches as it quickly is gone from her sight. Well, it’s still early in the game, and Noémie is not concerned about missing it this time. She stays perched on her broom, staying very high above the action of the game, hoping to quickly spot the snitch, rather than have the game go on for days.
“Don’t clobber the ball, control your swings, follow through with the connection,” Riley murmurs, over and over again under his breath as the call to mount brooms is given. Athletism and mindless bravado his specialty, Riley hardly thinks at all as he pulls down on the handle of his broom from his shoulder, flipping it in to place. Mounting it and kicking off from the ground in one smooth motion. Impressive for a second year, even though he nearly dropped the broom and fell off the other side of the broom. Recklessness to match his brash flying style. Soaring up high, he flips his bat in to his scarred hand with a flick of his wrist. Still pointedly avoiding looking the faculty stands as he glances around the pitch at his teammates and enemies, looking for a leather-wrapped cannon ball.
Marie-Anna Greyton is back in the appropriate position for her to start on the ground from, bat under one arm as she mounts her broom. It’s not long after that she launches into the air, her bat in hand. She’s a little to the side, much like Landon is.
David mounts his broom and, with a firm kick on the ground, takes off in the air, taking his position. Once floating in the air, waiting for the whistle to be blowed, he looks at this teammates, grinning at them. “Give’em hell, Riley!” he shouts, and mutters under his breath: “and don’t send the Bludgers to me, please.” David was impressed by Riley’s skills on the broom, and never forgot that it was thanks to him, inderectly, that he got on the team. However, Riley’s aim was sometimes very random and downright dangerous…
“Remember, Riley! AIM!” Tegan calls as she, too, gets onto her broom and kicks off the ground, quickly ascending with her bat gripped tightly in her hand. She may not have as much power as her fellow beater does, but at least she can aim. Tegan‘s smirk is gone from her face now that the game is in session, and she gives a passing bludger a hard WHACK!, aiming it generally in the direction of the Gryffindor seeker, in hopes of quickly giving Ravenclaw an advantage.
Josh MacLean takes a deep breath as he mounts his broom, flying at a steep angle upward before levelling out to head towards the opposite end of the field, but not too far from the Quaffle, trying to keep himself open for passing and mostly paying attention to the other Chasers.
As the whistle is blown Tybalt makes a big show of turning on his `Seeking Sense’ – as he calls it – as he hops onto his broom and soars as high up as he can be while still visible to the female members of the audience. He flips his hair out of his eyes and scans the skies for that elusive, golden ball. He needs to catch it and he looks like he won’t quit until he has it.
Keelan Walsh gives the teams a moment of playing before stepping back from the box and undoing the bludger restraints with a charm. Mostly because she can and partially because the stupid balls are dangerous. Having unleashed them on people ranging from 12 to 17 (or possibly 18) who are typically assumed to be at least partially under her care, the Herbology Professor mounts her own broom, but does not rise as high as the players, as of yet.
Clavicle Gravely mounts the”Auk Auk!” he hops on his broom and the sandsweeper and zooms up. He heads for the quaffle as well, trying to use the foreign brooms speed to go for the falling quaffle. He pours on the speed to try to cut through the crowd. For now he trusts Riley to keep the bludgers off.
Briony Wexler flies up towards the hoops, looking rather unsteady as she does so. Chances are high that the second-year will lose her breakfast before the match is over. “Whoo, Gryffindor!” she calls as she takes her place in front of the three high hoops. Is it possible that they’re higher up? Briony doesn’t know. The girl tries to watch as there are now twice as many people on the pitch as she is used to, more things flying around to keep her eyes on. Just watch for the red one, Bri, that’s the ticket. Keep your eyes on the prize. Echoes of Gabriel’s recent pep talks fly through her mind.
Still concentrating on the match, Bailey follows his fellow Chasers and takes his position, on the right wing of the field. He keeps his eyes fixed on the box where the Quaffle was stored, waiting for it to be released. Bailey doesn’t partake much in the cheering, and totally ignores the comments that the other players of his team were exchanging between them as a way to release the tension. His flying is the only thing which matters to him now. As the Quaffle is released, he pushes his broom forward and flies directly towards it.
Worry rapidly becomes frustration as Riley flashes a slightly uncomfortable look toward David, then an annoyed one toward Tegan. “Yeah, alright, already!” Gritting his teeth a bit, Riley bucks his broom, spotting the second down low. Twisting in to a barrel-roll dive that is perhaps even more reckless and showy than normal (as if to show that he did have SOME talent), thesound of Riley‘s own bat connects with the ball almost in tandem with Tegan’s own CRACK. Pivotting his broom in a smooth turn, he does as instructed, and the bludger whistles off fast in the general direction of Briony. The first person he’d seen after coming out of the one-eighty turn. “Ha!”
Being totally surprised Andy finds himself having plucked the quaffle out of the air just in time. He hectically turns his head into all directions, sees Josh first and tries to pass the red ball to him. Giving the toss way too much of speed.
“What? I’m on your team!” Tegan calls, scoffing a bit. Really, now, one would think he’d be grateful for the advice she was offering. No matter, Tegan watches as Riley shows off a bit. “Oh, gimme a break, Riley!” she calls, rolling her eyes again at her teammate. She is forced to duck, however, as his bludger comes directly at her head. “Aim at THEM! Not ME!” Tegan does not seem very pleased, does she?
Marie-Anna Greyton grins as she watches the release of the bludgers. “Let the games begin,” she states with a bit of a cackle before swings her arm a bit, warming it up a little for those encounters she’s certain to have with those nasty bludger. As she see’s the bludger go flying towards Briony, Marie offers a shout. “Bri! Heads up!” is given, as she herself races towards the keeper intent on getting between the bludger and the Gryffindor keeper.
As Noémie sees Tybalt showing off for the girlies in the stands, she rolls her eyes. Go right ahead and do that, she decides as she flies in a figure eight over the pitch, watching around carefully. Noémie is alert, determined not to watch the action in the game, rather, to look for that bit of precious gold that will name her team winner.
David briefly turns his head towards RIley and Tegan, hearing tiny bits of their argument carried to him by the wind. He quickly turns his head back to the Quaffle, which Andy has just thrown to Josh. David decides to try and steal it from the Gryffindor player, and flies in his general direction.
Watching the players, Landon flies the length of the field as he waits for one of his players to be in danger. He’s the defensive beater, at the moment, and he doesn’t feel like chasing down a bludger so he can whack it at another player, just yet. Of course, once he has a bludger he will whack it at a player on the opposite team.
The Ravenclaw keeper wets her lips, adamantly watching the game as it continues on, leaning here and there as Van does her best to predict when she’d best actually do her part.
“Josh!” Gabriel yells upon seeing Andy’s pass to the boy. “I’m open!” he adds, shooting forward towards the Ravenclaw goals, hoping to get into a better position to be passed to. Gabe is unaware of whether or not Josh actually caught the Quaffle, or if it was intercepted.
Clavicle Gravely turns to try to intercept the quaffle as it was speedily tossed. He doesn’t have time toi catch it. So instead he tries a quick 180 to try to tail bat it toward David.
Watching David going for the Quaffle, Bailey decides to play a preventive game and manoeuvers such as to place himself between Gabriel and Josh, should David fail to catch the Quaffle and the Gryffindor try to shoot the Quaffle at Gabriel. Besides, covering the Keeper is never a bad idea.
Briony shrieks a bit and flies downward as she sees the ominous black orb flying towards her at a rather fast pace. No, Briony would rather abandon her goals than get hit straight-on by a bludger. She is now about halfway down the tall hoops, rather out of the way of where she ought to be in order to block shots, but — but the bludger! Briony is not going to head back up until the object has been deflected.
Luckily for him, Josh is better at catching and throwing than he is at flying, and was paying attention, so although the quaffle is flying really fast, he sticks out an arm in time and with a sound thwack, it connects with his arm and is held close to him, his arm curled around it, as he zooms further towards the Ravenclaw goals when he notices David and Gabriel almost simultaneously. With a nervous glance from one to the other, he clamps his teeth down on his bottom lip and circles a little to the left to see if he can’t get a clearer shot to Gabriel, and attempts to chuck the ball with enough speed to get it safely to his teammate.
Marie-Anna Greyton takes a quick whack at the bludger, the noise resounding as bat meets ball, and deflects it away from Briony, who gets a crooked grin. The bludger, meanwhile, was deflected in the opposite direction from which it was going, perhaps far and fast enough to get to Van.
Tegan is in the middle of the pitch and seeing Marie-Anna alter the bludger’s trajectory, she flies as quickly as her broom will take her to stop in front of Van. It is a mere moment before the bludger has connected with her bat again, and it spirals towards the clump of both team’s chasers who seem to be still jockeying for posession of the quaffle. “Riley! Get the other bludger!” she calls, watching as one flies his direction.
As Andy speculates that his pass has not been caught by Josh, he lets his broom fall back a bit out of the action and pushes it up afterwards to get a better view on the events on the field, not flying out of his fellow chasers passing range. And then he sees the quaffle swooshing through the air again as Josh passed it. Andy shoots forward on his way to place himself in front of the Ravenclaw hoops.
Eek. There’s a bludger flying right towards him. Stupid things have minds of their own. He winds up and whacks it across the stadium and away from himself. And, now it looks to be heading straight for Van! Good aim, Landon! Good thing he practiced with targets at the last practice!
Marie-Anna Greyton flies off towards the bludger that’s flying towards the clump of chasers. “Landon, stop Riley, get that bludger!” is shouted by the elder beater, though her call is unnecessary as, evidently, Landon’s already on it. Of course, now the Gryffindor eyes the bludger, trying to assess if one of her own chasers will get hit, or if it’ll hit a Ravenclaw chaser. Then again, it may not hit anyone. Either way, she doesn’t seem intent on stopping the bludger if it’s going to get a Ravenclaw.
Riley Markham seems fairly pleased with himself there for a moment, as he as the bludhger sails past Tegan toward it’s original target. A faint smirk touching his lips. “Past you! Jus’ followin’ your advice, eh? Aimin’!” It wasn’t his fault Tegan’d got in the way, and though he usually got on with him at least amiably, the nervousness he felt being on the pitch for the first time and the aggrivation of being told the same thing day-in, day-out during daily practices with both the varsity and junior squads — it had ground down on his patience. Add to that the undue expectations he felt with his Gran watching.. His nerves were fairly shot, she he had reverted to his more base self-defense mechanism. Show-boating and gloating. Gloating soon to become brooding. “Hah!” He shouts again, before blinking. Having, briefly, taken his mind out of the game to admire his own handywork. Turning, he manages to get his bat up just in time to deflect the bludger half-away (in the direction of Tegan herself, which is doubtful to improve her mood or disposition toward the boy). The impact catches Riley off balance, though, knocking him in almost exaggerated slowness off the edge of his broom after flailing hims arms in circles not unlike a duck. He does, however, manage to save himself, reaching up to grab the handle of his broom, leaving him dangling there for a moment with a slightly dumbfounded expression.
“Catch it, Bailey!” shouts David, as Josh throws the ball towards the Ravenclaw balls. David is too far away to attempt a catch, and besides, it would be better for him to be slightly nearer of the middle of the pitch so that if Bailey catches the ball, he could pass it to David afterwards.
Looking backwards to check for a pass in his direction, Gabriel‘s gaze first falls onto Briony– what was she doing!? “Gah!” is Gabriel‘s outburst, but he then notices Josh’s strong pass to him and turns his broom around, extending one hand towards the ball.
Tegan hasn’t moved since Marie-Anna’s bludger shot came straight for her team’s keeper. Rearing her arm back, the beater chucks the bludger towards the group of chasers once again, hoping that it’ll come into contact with someone from the other team rather than her own. Of course, as they’re all in such close proximity, it makes it difficult for her to judge where it will go or who it will hit.
Clavicle Gravely turns seeing Riley having trouble. He flies fast and herd under the boy ready to pull a catch if he needs catching. “Riley! Are you alright?” he calls out, then sees the boy catch himself and he gives him a thumbles up. “Auk Auk!” He turns and zips back after the quaffle.
Keelan Walsh is being a nicely unbiased ref(really!) and just sort of slowly circling the pitch at a level where she can see what is going on without getting involved unless she needs to be. For a worried moment she hovers, watching Riley. Under her breath a muttered, “Ruddy Ravenclaw, don’t get yourself killed.” She resumes her slow circling, patiently waiting.
Having noticed the ball being thrown at Gabriel probably second before he did, Bailey pushes his broom towards the Quaffle and intercepts it deftly. He then dives a little, attempting to get some speed so as to distance Josh and get to the middle of the pitch, hoping that he would be able to send the Quaffle to another chaser then.
Now that she is out of peril, Briony flies back up to hover about three feet in front of the hoops. As the other team gains control of the ball, her arms go up in a defensive position, one that she has been taught through copious practicing. The girl still looks a bit green in the face, but is noticably shaking less as she watches the action. Her exhileration is beginning to overcome her nervousness.
Marie-Anna Greyton hovers close enough to get in the way of a bludger if it appears to be out to hit a Gryffindor, but she makes no move to try to stop them if they’re out to hit a RAvenclaw.
“N-noooo!” Gabriel cries as the Quaffle is intercepted and whisked away from him. “Oh no you don’t!” he yells, shooting after Bailey, hoping to catch up with him and regain possession of the Quaffle for Gryffindor.
His cheeks turning crimson, Riley pulls himself back on to his broom with no small effort — immediately glad that he’d done so well with chin-ups in muggle grade school. “Yeah, yeah, dandy, Clavy,” he calls out, once he’s he’s secured himself back on to his broom, and pulled his back back in to his hands. The confidence and bravado of his anger suddenly gone, he pushes forward.. Allowing himself enough time to flash a half-dark, half-embaressed sort of look at Professor Walsh, Riley returns himself to the game. His movements nowhere near as quick or sure, but much more controlled.
“Ugh, Riley!” Tegan shouts as she gets knicked in the hand by the bludger before she manages to whack it towards Gabriel. She grabs onto the hand that got hit by the black sphere and frowns hard at her teammate. “Haven’t you been listening at all?” she snaps at him irritably, clutching her hand for the pain in it. Deciding that she would get it looked at later, the beater, rears her bat back up, waiting to see where the bludgers end up next.
Curse it! They were beaten away! Landon makes a dive and manages to hit the bludger hit by Tegan. He aimed it straight towards Noémie and it sails quickly through the air, displaying the force it was hit with. Landon supposes he probably should have waited until someone on his team was in immediate danger, but that could take too long. It was much more likely to hit a Ravenclaw if it was aimed at one.
Clavicle Gravely is lagging behind the quaffle chase, So he’s actually in good position as he never got so far down the pitch to chase the quaffle, going after Riley. He zips towards the Gryffindor hoops. “I’m open!”
Van Douglass is more nervous about Gabe and Josh then anyone else, throwing up an arm to attempt and block the approaching bludger rather then abandon her post just as her teammate moves in front of her. Not noticing the other one coming from Landon, the girl pushes out from behind Tegan to once again have a view of the field. When she does notice it, she swoops back behind Tegan until the girl beats it away, at which time she comes back out. Nope. She wasn’t as cowardly as the other keeper at all.
Josh MacLean yells, “No!” at the interception, and zooms closer towards Gabriel, trying to stay in an easy throwing distance to his fellow chaser, but not actively going back for the quaffle himself, until Clavicle shouts out from near the Gryffindor hoops and Josh lowers himself to his broom to get more speed as he flies towards the path the ball will probably take if thrown to Clavicle.
“Argh!” Andy ‘articulates’ under his breath as the pass is intercepted. He whirls round to try to get the quaffle back as he hears – and a split second later sees – a bludger fizzing behind him. Maybe he could redirect it to a Ravenclaw. Andy races down towards David and crosses his way, touching the tip of the Ravenclaw’s broom slightly. He looks back to see if it was a successful attempt, still rushing across the field.
Riley Markham shifts his gaze toward Landon, then the bludger than he struck. Tegan’s shout ringing in his ears, frustration and embaressment gripping him at nearly equal measure. Darting upward, he moves in a quick attemp to put himself between the bludger and Noémie, to perhaps reclaim some of his honor. Bat ready to knock the cannonball back at Landon with as much force as it was struck. Calm the bloody hell down, Riley.. you can do this..
Noémie is not ignoring the action of the game so much as to miss that there is a bludger flying in her direction. She quickly flies away from where the bludger is, but had not spotted it fast enough to avoid it altogether. The bludger knicks the front of her broom, tacking a good six inches off of the tip of it. “You’ll pay for that!” She hollers as she rocks back and forth unsteadily on her broom. The usually graceful Noémie looks decidedly displeased as she manages to move herself out of the bludger’s return trajectory.
“Argh!” yells David, nearly hit by the second-year Gryffindor. “That’s a foul!” he yells, and as a result looses sight of the Quaffle for a split second. Upset by the near miss, he only realizes a couple of seconds later that the Quaffle is still in Bailey’s hands… but for how long? He flies towards the Gryffindor goals, trying to catch up with the other Gryffindors who were beginning to build a defensive wall.
A day late and a galleon short, as they say. Riley‘s attempt to intercept hadn’t been quick enough, and the bludger is missed by centimeters off the end of his bat. This was going quite splendidly for him, wasn’t it. As the end of Noémie’s broom is clipped, Riley winces violently, flashing her an appologetic “I did the best I could” sort of look, before swinging back for the bludger’s return path. The same mantra he’d been repeating when the took off play in his head, he flashes Landon a somewhat harsh look before lifting his bat and swinging again. The crack errupting from his bat colliding with the ball something like thunder. Maybe the destruction of part of his Captain’s broom helped bring focus, but his aim is true, sailing quick and fast at Landon. He can do it.
Keelan Walsh is alert and not wondering if she will have to start muttering about Astra needing potions ingredients, honestly. Almost missing the collision, it isn’t until David yells foul that she realizes he’s right. Her faces falls a little as she blows her whistle and announces, “Foul! Penalty shot to Ravenclaw!” A small frown, and she waits for the attempt to be made. Sigh.
Oh no, a penalty shot! Briony has not had much practice at all with this, and her eyes are wide as Keelan announces this. The girl grips her broom rather more tightly than she needs to, her knuckles turning white. Okay, Briony, time to show your skill, your merit. Aw, hell, just try to block the shot. She tries to think encouraging shots, though she has a hard time of it, knowing that two of the keepers on Ravenclaw aren’t first years at quidditch as she is.
Clavicle Gravely turns and wanders over to the side he’s supposed to stay on while a penalty shot is being finalized. he hovers a bit and grins “AUK AUK!!!!”
What? A foul? That would simplify things for David. The Ravenclaw chaser, still holding the Quaffle, now has a free way towards the penalty line. Once he reaches the line, hovering for a while to decide to which hoop he’ll throw the ball, he finally turns his broom to the right, feinting a shoot to the right hoop, but in reality throwing it to the left hoop.
Yes, the second year has seen shots like this before, but in her nervous distraction, she mistakenly begins to dive to her right, where David has first begun to shoot before realizing that the red orb is heading the other direction. Quickly pulling on the end of her broom to attempt the block for the other hoop, she nearly falls off of the flying mechanism just as the quaffle flies through the hoop with a loud CLANG! Briony‘s face falls and reddens as she rights herself on the broom and centers herself again. No, this was not a good start.
Keelan Walsh watches Briony miss with a wince, and the announcer gives a booming “Point to Ravenclaw!” but she flies in to collect the Quaffle and resume play. With another blow of the whistle, she does just that, and quickly removes herself from the thick of things while she’s at it. A sympathic glance to the Gryffindor Keeper is all she spares.
A loud groan escapes Riley as the foul is called, of course momentarily pausing the bludgers, including the one he’d clobbered at Landon. The one good hit he’d had, the one that was bound to actually have a positive effect. The air seems to slip from him and his shoulders slump. And he makes the horrendous mistake of looking back toward the faculty stands, as David shoots. Catching the surpremely dissapointed gaze of his grandmother from the corner of his eye. Yeah, that about did it. At the moment, there was nothing more he wanted than to land, find some great rock and crawl under it to die. The fight gone from him almost totally.
Clavicle says, “AUK AUK!!!” the chaser yells as he does a 720 on the broom. He then watches to see who will take possession of the quaffle.”
Giving a cheer as Bailey makes the score, Tegan starts flying a bit as the play resumes again as normal. Well, it was something, and it put them ahead, even if it was Gryffindor’s own fault that Ravenclaw even had the penalty shot. Spying a bludger heading down towards her end of the pitch, Tegan flies quickly towards the black object and gives it a hearty WHACK! She sends it towards the captain of Gryffindor team, trying a different tack rather than attacking the chasers or keeper.
Josh MacLean curses under his breath as the penalty is called, and scowls and repeats himself as Briony misses the shot, but once the whistle blows, he is all business once again, or even moreso now that they’re down a point and Josh is a bit angry. Ascending and zooming towards the quaffle, he grabs it, slowing down to glance around and try to spot one of the other chasers.
“It’s okay, Bri!” Gabriel shouts from across the field, though he doubts she could possibly hear him across that distance and amid all the noise. Looking the other way to Josh, Gabe sees his teammate in possession of the quaffle and flies up towards the Ravenclaw goals again. “Josh!” he calls again as he passes by.
Marie-Anna Greyton cringes slightly as she makes note of the score, a shake of her head is given before she spots the incoming bludger and aims to take a whack at it. Unfortunatetly for Marie, two things went wrong with this intent, the first one being, she was too close to the bludger to hit it properly, therefore resulting in it hitting her shoulder. The second thing, the black orb was hit too hard and was going too fast for Marie to maintain her balance, so not only did it hit her shoulder, and, quite possibly, break it, it also knocked her off her broom to the ground below. Upon landing the captain wrinkles her nose. “That’s gonna hurt in the morning,” is muttered as she stands to make her way off the pitch.
“Yeah! That’s for you Gryffindors!” cheers David, as Bailey manages to score a goal. When the Quaffle is put into play once again, David concentrates and turns his broom towards Gabriel. David had difficulties to steal a Quaffle from someone, but covering another player is easier. He hopes to catch the Quaffle as it is thrown towards him, or at least turn Gabriel into a tactically useless player for Gryffindor.
Sharp eyes spy the bludger heading straight for him. Yeegads! Luckily it pauses at the penalty shot is taken, but once play resumes it hurtles straight for him. Without missing a beat Landon lifts his bat and stops the bludger and reverses it’s flight. Of course, the force of the stop and hit combined chipped a hunk out of the top of his bat, but Landon doesn’t seem to be worried about it. He’s studying the bludger closely to make sure it takes out Noémie just as it has been aimed to do. He is forced to tear his eyes away, though, as Marie-Anna takes a hit. The Gryffindor boy is now the team’s only beater, and that could be a problem.
Well, Tegan‘s shot was successful, much to her own surprise, and the bludger in true form comes flying back in her direction. As it approaches she rears back and chucks it directly towards Josh, who seems to be the most agressive Gryffindor chaser at the moment. The girl rotates her shoulder a bit as she watches to see whether the bludger indeed goes where she indended for it to go or whether she ought to start flying to intercept it again.
Bailey is still lagging behind the zone of interest, due to the fact that he was the one who shot the penalty and thus has to cover the distance between him and the middle of the pitch where the Quaffle is. He pushes his broom forward, trying to get some speed, and hoping that nobody would have the bad idea to send a Bludger against him.
Clavicle Gravely pours on the sandsweepers speed to try to go help cover the hoops and try to snag the quaffle. He pours on too much speed and flies dangerously close to the hoops. It takes him a moment to recover and he looks for the quaffle.
Riley Markham had remained fairly near Noémie while the penalty shot had been made, so it doesn’t take much for him to place himself between it and the Ravenclaw seeker. He is, after all, quite quick. And he brings up his broom and deflects the bludger back with an annoyed expression. His hit is strong, even though he doesn’t place all his weight in to it. The aim is poor, however, flying wide of Landon by several feet, sailing instead toward the Gryffindor seeker.
Andy hangs his head as the penalty has been called and sweep aside as it is performed. Not watching the first Ravenclaw goal he feels like having a big chunk of stone in his stomache. But as the game action sets in again, Andy sees Josh carrying the quaffle and tries to fly ahead of him to be the preferred receiver. “Josh!” Andy calls.
Josh MacLean doesn’t notice the captain go down, being preoccupied with having the quaffle in hand. He chews on his bottom lip, Gabriel is covered, where the heck is Andy? His searching is interrupted, though, by the glimpse of something black, metal, and moving very fast in his peripheral vision, too fast… Josh turns slightly, unable to get out of the path of the bludger, and is hit in the stomach, at which point he drops the ball, doubling over in pain and wobbling precariously on his broom as he floats towards the ground.
Tybalt Holmes flips his hair back and winks at his girls as he soars around the stadium for all to see. So, of course he doesn’t see the bludger that is heading straight for him! It connects with his shoulder and sends him spinning around in circles so fast that he is nothing more than a red and gold blur for a few seconds. Several groups of girls sprinkled throughout the audience scream in horror as their pretty boy is shot down. He floats down towards the ground for a bit before he regains his head a bit. “YEEGADS, LANDON!” He shouts across the pitch and he grabs his shoulder with one hand and rests his forehead against the handle of his broom. But, after a few moments he lifts his head and throws both of his arms up into the air (One of the making a sickening POP as it is raised) and he shouts, “But I’m OK!” and his girls shriek and clap excitedly. Now, he needs to go back to finding the snitch. That bludger is now flying off towards Clavicle and it doesn’t appear as though it’ll bother him twice in a row.
“Good one, Riley!” Noémie calls encouragingly to the beater with a wave. She has managed to pick off the sharpest bits off of the end of her now-shorter broom, and appears to be paying a bit closer attention to the game, knowing that she has not got the same flying advantage as usual. Momentarily, Noémie thinks she spots a glint of gold near to the ground and begins flying downwards, around the center of the pitch so as to avoid her teammates who are attempting to get the quaffle and make shots. She manages to get the feel for the less-than-whole broom as she comes down, but her lack of control at the start had her taking too long to get to the ground and the snitch is now gone again. Grumbling quietly, the fifth-year makes her way back up above the commotion to see if she can’t spot the snitch again.
“Aaah!” shouts Gabriel as he sees Josh hit, bringing both hands to his head, each grasping his hair. Without hesitating anymore, Gabe grips his broomstick and heads downwards, trying to catch the Quaffle before it falls down completely. Gabe comes up with it, hurling it at Andy. “Go!” he shouts after the haphazard throw.
ACK! Landon‘s losing it! He was speeding off towards Tybalt in hopes of grabbing that bludger and he completely forgot about the one headed for Josh. “Sorry!” Of course, it doesn’t sound sincere, or anything. Landon‘s not capable of that. He flies off after the bludger and smacks it with one sharp movement. It hurtles off, after Riley. Take that!
Wow. That’s got to hurt! David watches Josh falling down, but remembering the advice given him during the practices, he turns his eyes back again on the Quaffle. That Gryffindor player who nearly downed him a few minutes ago now has it. David turns his broom in his direction and pushes it into full speed. Ravenclaw has scored a penalty, but David is still decided to show Andy personally what he thought of his flying skills.
Riley Markham arches a brow.. watching the bludger collide with Tybalt with a hint of surprise and growing satisfaction. It didn’t quite ease the void that had grown in the pit of his stomach, but it did make him feel sizably better about things. “Thanks,” he calls back to Noémie, though the cockiness is gone from his tone. You can do this, just stay calm. As Noémie goes in to dive, and knowing that her broom is damaged — Riley makes a last second choice. Considering he just winged the Gryffindor seeker, if Noémie has seen the snitch, she’d become a target. Turnning his broom, he plays point, matching her descent, keeping himself between she and the Gryffindor keeper. As Landon smashes one at him, he lifts his bat to simply bunt the bludger away, pushing it almost gently in the direction of Tegan.. “Madison, heads up, ammo coming!” He shouts. He could salvage this.. he could pull himself out of the grave, or at least out from under the rock.
Keelan Walsh watches the game with a masked but growing concern. The Gryffindor team really seems to be getting smashed up, but so far it hasn’t been in the appeaance of a foul. She is, however, watching the Ravenclaws like a hungry predator, just waiting for one of them to do something that is actually against the rules.
Bargaining for Gabriel saving the quaffle from fumbling again Andy positions himself away from the other Ravenclaw chasers and the bludgers trajectories. As Josh is floating down he notices his captain lying on the floor, either. “Fair enough.” he mutters and sees the flying quaffle from the corner of his eye. And it’s flying perfectly. Andy boosts up his speed at snatches the quaffle out of the air, not thinking about his actions, just letting it flow. Like a falcon bringing its prey to the nest… Andy shakes his head slightly to redeem this flow of his consciousness, though it got him in a quite more cheerful mood. He races towards the opponent’s hoops and clinges to his broomstick, the quaffle under his arm.
Clavicle Gravely wasn’t paying attention to the bludger, but sees it at the last moment! He blinks and takes off, but he’s too close for the bludger to target someone else. “HEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLPPPPP!” he cries as he takes off….the bludger mere inches from him. It’s not a rogue bludger, just too close to find a new target. “RIIIIIILLLLEEEYYYYY!!!!!”
His head swimming, Josh reaches the ground near the edge of the pitch, where he staggers off of his broom and promptly vomits on the ground in front of him. His expression pained, he remounts his broom, wincing but determined to stay in the game, and rises slowly back towards where the action is, his eyes wary, watching for bludgers.
Bailey finally comes to the Ravenclaw end of the pitch, and flies towards the hoops, attempting to prevent Andy from having a clear view of the goals. He is essentially acting as a secondary goalie, flying in front of, and a little below, the Ravenclaw keeper.
Having had to entertain herself for the last few minutes, dear Van takes a few moments to realize that Andy is approaching. Hurriedly, she tries to finish up adjusting her pony-tail to prepare to actually do something. She grips her broomstick with one hand, keeping the other open and braced for blocking. Which hoop? Whiiich hoop?
David flies behind Andy, reducing the distance separating him from the Gryffindor, and soon flies to his side. Were they not wearing robes of different colors, one would nearly think they were two players of the same team flying in a perfect formation. David then releases the grip of the broom with his left hand, and extends his arm to try and punch the Quaffle out of Andy’s grasp.
Josh MacLean gains speed, his expression still uncomfortable and his face greyish as he flies over to the Ravenclaw side, about as far from the hoops as Andy but on the opposite side, raising up an arm and calling over “Andy! Right here!” in a somewhat hoarse voice.
Seeing the bludger coming her way, Tegan rears her batting arm back and then brings it forward, hearing the bat connect with the bludger with a mighty WHACK. She watches as she aims the ball directly for Andy, hoping to slow him down to a degree by whacking either him or his broom with the sphere.
Landon spies the bludger right off, and speeds towards it. He’s hot in its trail and ready to beat it away from Andy as soon as he catches up. It’ll take some speed, though. He presses his chest flat against his broom until he can bring himself between the bludger and his teammate. *WHACK* And it soars off in David’s direction.
Riley Markham glances back with Clavicle’s shriek and exhales a rather loud groan. “NECKFRICHZT!” (A gobledegook word whose definition is best left undisclosed) He growls, wheeling about on his broom without thought and kicking up. Laying close to his broom, acting on instinct, he blazes daringly close to Clavicle. Close enough that his robes might brush the fellow second year’s face. And without pondering it, he gives the bludger a might stroke, sending it again, unintentionally, at the Gryffindor seeker.
Spotting the snitch again, this time, near the Hufflepuff bleachers, Noémie starts flying quickly in that direction as fast as her broom will take her. (She’s definitely going to have to replace the broom now, thanks to the Gryffindor beaters.) The fifth year speeds her way across the pitch, eyes focussed only on the little golden ball across the way as she keeps her right hand out in front of her, leaning close down to her broom to increase her speed.
The whole scene seems to center around Andy. Everything seems to slow down and last for minutes instead of seconds. David approaching from the right, Josh waving to his left and the bludger rushing towards him. “It’s hopeless.” Andy thinks. But just at this moment Landon knocks away the bludger and everything seems to be colored brighter than before and seconds become seconds again. He notices David’s hand shooting towards the quaffle and reacts by doing a braking sharply and slinging the red ball into restored Josh’s direction.
Clavicle Gravely grins thankfully “Good one markham.” he flips around and a sparrow bounces off his head. “Oww!” he grins and zips back towards the holder of the quaffle. “Great save Markham!”
WHAM! Again, poor Tybalt Holmes is smacked by a bludger square in the chest. Or, is it the same bludger. Really, he’s not keeping track. He’s winded as he spins around in a red and gold blur. Once he stops, he spies Noémie speeding towards the snitch! He’s got to get it. He tilts his broom in the correct direction and shoots off like a bullet. But despite his determination he’s going down, down, down, down. . .down. He collides with the ground so sharply that his broom is stick at a forty-five degree, angle, and Tybalt does a summersault as he rolls off and faceplants in the dirt. He’s gone black. The Gryffindor seeker is down and out. Tybalt‘s fan girls shriek in horror and all run towards the front of the stands. The reach out, leaning over the railing as though it the just reach far enough they can save him. They’re in hysterics now. Someone is going to pay later. Poor Tybalt.
Josh MacLean‘s eyes widen in alarm as he sees the bludger near Andy, shouting out, “Lookout!” on reflex, but apparently that wasn’t needed, and Josh breathes a sigh of relief in the second between the bludger getting hit away and Andy lobbing the ball at him. He catches it well, and without missing a beat, throws it at the left hoop.
Riley Markham frowns slightly, wheeling about to float momentarily beside Clavicle, watching the bludger blaze in the direction of the Gryffindor Tybalt — and looking somewhat satisfied as it connects with Tybalt’s chest. “Not really, eh? I was aiming fer that prat,” he mutters, motioning with his bat toward Andy, before turning on his broom and moving to place himself physically between Noémie and the Gryffindor seeker. Hopefully causing him to vere off. With Noémie’s broken broom, any number of seconds he could shave off of Tybalt’s flight might help Ravenclaw’s captain the win. And if nothing else, Riley had proved he could fly fast enough to at least put himself in the way of things. He might not be able to hit them, but he could get in the way.
Mere seconds pass between Tybalt’s unfortunate connection with the ground and Noémie‘s connection with the snitch. Her hand closes around the golden object and she lets out an exhuberant ‘Whoop!’ as she flies around the Hufflepuff bleachers, holding the small golden ball up in her right hand triumphantly. Ravenclaw has won the game! Noémie flies down to the pitch, Her broken broom in one hand and the snitch in the other, holding both up in the air. Yes, this was a good start for Ravenclaw’s Quidditch season.
Briony‘s face falls as she sees that the Ravenclaw seeker has managed to get hold of the snitch. Gryffindor has lost their first match of the season. The second year cannot help but feel slightly responsible for the game’s result and flies down to the pitch rather slowly, getting off her broom and wiping her eyes rather dejectedly. So much for lucky robes. She will not cry, she will not cry… except she already is. Rather than wait for the rest of her team, Briony retreats back into the school, intent on hiding out in the lockers for a while until she feels a bit better.
Clavicle Gravely sees her catch it and he hollers “AUK AUK!!!!” and does a circle around Noémie.
Van Douglass rears on her broomstick, using her own weight to swat at the quaffle with her broom’s end. She too doesn’t miss a beat… in hitting it right back in Josh’s direction. Her expression slowly melts away to one of complete horror, that is, until it is taken over by her smile after Noémie catches the snitch. She moves away from the hoops, motioning for Josh to take his best shot if he likes. What with it not mattering.
As Andy has just been about to switch into a celebrating mood, because his action seems to develop into a goal, he just gets his next and last punch into his stomach, because he hears the resounding noise coming from the standings. Even the most of it from the Ravenclaw bleachers. Andy looks up and sees Noémie commemorating the victory. He shrugs, looking to Josh and Gabriel with a miserable face and heading for the ground.
Riley Markham pulls up as Tybalt collides with ground, smirking softly to himself, the soles of his shoes almost brushing the blades of grass. He shifts his gaze toward Noémie as the Ravenclaw crowd roars, and rather carelessly hops off his broom as it still moves, stumbling foward a few steps.
“Hurrah!” Tegan calls exhuberantly, waving her bat around cheerfully as she sees that the team seeker and captain has caught the snitch. She flies down and runs with her broom quickly towards Noémie, enveloping her in an excited hug, screaming rather loudly with excitement. “We win! We win! We win!” Laughter mixes with her screams as she happily clings to the captain.
Narrowly avoiding the Quaffle that locked on him instead of Andy, David lets out a cheer when he understands that the match has finished. Ravenclaw has won! “AUK AUK!” he yells, finally surrendering to the peer pressure set by Clavicle and the others.
“Ooof,” Noémie responds, being enveloped in Tegan’s arms. “Yes! Go Ravenclaw!” the usually reserved fifth year yells, waving around her fist with the snitch caught up in it still. She drops her broom to the ground. She’ll worry about that later, right now — they are the winners! “Good job, team!” Her elation is clear by the wide grin on her face.
Landon pants slightly as he rests his head against the stick of his broom. Sheesh, that game was tiring. This is why Quidditch has two beaters. He needs a nap now. But, of course, he has a terrible feeling that a hoard of angry Tybalt fans are going to want to tar and feather him. Hopefully, though, they’ll choose to fawn over him in the hospital wing, first.
Keelan Walsh gives a whistle to officially end the game, and collects the balls (either by summons or a player simply bringing them) back to their holding places until they’re needed next. “Excellent game,” she murmurs to any who go by, though her tone is considerably sulkier than one would expect from a mature grown woman.
Riley Markham is blissfully ignorant of Tybalt fans, luckily, as he makes his way over to the team, after collecting up his broom. His expression pleased, but somewhat subdued. He has resumed his practice of not looking back toward the faculty bleachers, and seems to be breathing fairly hard, even for the amount of excersize he just recieved.
Josh MacLean glares fiercely at Van, trying to resist the childish urge to stick his tongue out at her. Instead, he scowls unpleasantly, catching the quaffle and holding it far away from his injured abdomen as he descends to the ground and hands it to Professor Walsh. Walking over towards Andy, he groans. “Absolutely d-destroyed,” he comments. “And I think… I p-probably should head to the hospital wing.”
Van Douglass blushes as Josh glares at her, smirking a little as she floats gracefully to the ground to join her team in their celebration, cheering happilly.
Once he’s on the ground, Landon drags his feet over towards the spot where Tybalt is currently flopped and he pokes the boy a few times with the ends of his shoe. “Anyone care to help me cart him off to the Hospital wing, or something?”
“Nice shot, though.” Andy tries to encourage Josh and adds “I hope Nova will be back next time. I’ll come with you to the castle. I really need a shower now.” But as he passes Landon. “Ahm, sure, wait a second.” Andy fastens his belt and puts on of Tybalt’s arms around his neck.
Clavicle says, “Ravenclaw Ravenclaw AUK AUK AUK!!!!” he lands and joims the throng around Noémie”
Melvina Prichard walks out on to the pitch quietly, striding across the small grouping of damaged Gryffindor players, nodding the each in turn as she passes, “Well played,” she murmurs, congenially, to each. Keelan is similarly offered a small, polite nod. But her path across the field is fairly direct. And without wasting a word or movement, she finds Riley’s side and lays a hand down on his shoulder. Not so much lays, grips. Grips down on his shoulder, meaningfully, even though he gaze finds the Ravenclaw captain. “Well played, Miss Ribouet. Nothing less than I’d expect from a Bones descendant.”
Clavicle Gravely Blinks “Bones Descendant?” he steps forward. “Who’s a Bones descendant? The Bones are closely tied to the Gravely’s.. or were around the Goth invasion of Rome.”
Josh MacLean steps alongside Landon. “I’d help, but I, uh, wel, y-y-you two got it. I’ll walk with you, though, we’re all heading to the same place, anyways.” As the headmistress passes, he shrugs, and gives Andy a small smile. “If I’da been paying attention I wouldn’t have g-gotten hit in the stomach.” And he blanches. “Oh, no, I just puked in front of the entire school…”
“Thank you, Headm– what was that?” Noémie faulters over her speech halfway through, glancing to her headmistress and around at her celebrating teammates. Perhaps she had misheard. “What was that you said, Headmistress? I think I missed it.”
With a flip of his wand, Landon levitates the rest of Tybalt. “Come on, then.” He nods and motions his head towards the castle as he makes his way slowly across the field. “It’s fine, Josh. Come on, you’re going to the infirmary, too.” Of course, it is at this time a horde of fan girls decide to flood the field, and crowd around the trio carrying their fallen hero. They have their hoods up and sob on each other as they traipse across the field. Man, you’d think he died or something.
“I am, Mister Gravely,” Melvina replies, glancing to Clavicle with a slightly arched brow. “And Mister Markham, and Miss Robouet, more importantly.” Clavicle’s brush on geneology brings a faintly amused smirk to her lips. “Indeed, most all of the pureblood families are intermingled eventually. The Bones family is one of the oldest. Naturally, the Gravely and the Bones intermingled juncture, though as you said it was a great deal ago, on another branch of the family. Miss Ribouet’s relation is a but more, immediate, let us say.” Shifting her gaze toward Noémie, she grins, almost absently. “Second cousins, I believe. Once removed? I’d have to look at the tree again to be entirely sure. You and my Riley, I mean. Never the less, dear, well played. We must be off, an appointment to make, you see.”
“Oh no.” Andy moans as the horde of girls rushes towards and surrounds them. “Let’s get him there quickly.” he emphasizes and pushes the levitated Tybalt towards the castle. “Move!… Get out the way!” Andy keeps on repeating as the procession gets going.
Clavicle Gravely blinks at Pritchard. “You are a Bones? Wow! Er.. that means we’re related.. on a cousin aunt or uncle side.” he hmmms. “I could be your Uncle! Er…ma’am.”
“What, really?” Noémie‘s face is rather blank as she is informed of her family ties to, well, anyone, really. Noémie has known none of her family, save for Arnauld Ribouet and his parents, who are a part of her father’s family who were also ostracized. She is not able to react to Melvina any more than this however as the Headmistress makes her way off the pitch again, Riley in tow. Riley and Melvina were related? Noémie is shocked by this, and rather than celebrating with her team, now wanders into the school, seeming rather dazed and now distracted. She’s definitely going to have to think about this. And owl her parents. Yes, perhaps she would send owls. Truth be told, Noémie isn’t exactly sure where she’s wandering.
Melvina Prichard shakes her head toward Clavicle. “Perhaps, thirty or forty times removed. There are several branches of the Bones family. The one from which I hail has shied away from Gravely blood. The carnival nature, mind. I don’t think it suited their more.. refined, tastes.” She doesn’t waste anymore time, however, pushing Riley off. Not even allowing him a moment to react to the startling news.
