Side RP: The Quidditch Training

"Isn't it nice out today?" says Ava as she walks along with a slightly sullen Caroline. In all honesty, it's not that great a day. The fall sun isn't quite as warm as it feels like it should be, and when it goes behind one of the huge white clouds dotting the sky, it gets downright chilly. A breeze is starting to pick up as well and the clouds are slowly getting darker, suggesting rain might just be in the future. "I love the changing of the seasons," the Ravenclaw girl continues, bundled up against the blustery day in scarf and plenty of layers beneath her robes.

She's cheerful, certainly, but it still seems just a bit forced, as if she's trying to work up enough good cheer for the both of them. "Let's find somewhere to sit. You should see Bex fly... he really is pretty good." She pauses, purses her lips with a sudden realization. "Though... well, I mean, he looks like he's pretty good. I don't watch a lot of Quidditch, so..."

Ava gives a little mental sigh. You always manage to stick your foot in your mouth, don't you, Richardson? You don't have to admit that out loud.

Caroline grumbles something unintelligable in response to Ava's attempts to talk up the weather. She wishes she could just be lying in her warm, comfy bed instead of wandering around outside in the icy morning air.
When they reach the stadium, Caroline picks up the pace a bit so she can lead the way when they choose their seats. She picks out a bench in the section decorated with Slytherin banners.
"My dad always watches Quidditch. The world cup at least. I don't get why everyone is so obsessed with this game but if Bex likes it, I hope he gets chosen for the team."

Bex is focused on the quaffle, diving, bobbing, weaving. He's rather good at both flying and the game. It's in his blood after all. His mum and great uncle were both great players.
He doesn't notice his friends, as his focus ia entirely on the field. And on Rafa. He doges a stray bludger as he flies over.
What ARE you up to?

Rafa had been very excited for the Quidditch field to be available to anyone that wants to fly around, especially after hearing that Bexley was planning on participating on the tryouts for the Ravenclaw team. She had never thought about it until very recently, but it made total sense. People loved Quidditch, and of course, people loved Rafa as well. They were both pretty much made for each other! Plus, Madam Hooch was still making them work on the theoretical stuff and that is boring. She wanted to fly!

And so, she's was one of the first students to be there when the field opened up. She managed to bug one of the older veterans enough to teach her the very basics, and soon and maybe surprising enough, she's flying around the field, avoiding the rest of the students and just screaming around. The adrenaline she feels when flying so high, so uncontrollably — It's... Amazing! Exhilarating! There's nothing like that in the world! Plus, the whole thing is super easy. Why had she never asked her daddy for a broomstick before?!

At some point, Rafa slows down as she throws her arms up and lets a relaxed and pleased sigh out. She notices someone approaching, cocking her head to that direction and beaming at him when she notices it's Bexley. "Bex!" She exclaims as she turns her broomstick to his direction. "This is awesome! And super easy! I thought flying required practice but it's my first time and look—" The blonde girl suddenly hops up the broomstick, her legs faltering for a quick moment but managing to keep still. She lightly weighs her left foot against the back of the broomstick, and leans her right foot to the left, causing her and the broomstick to rotate around the same place. "I'm pretty much a pro!" Madam Hooch or whatever Teacher is around immediately berates Rafa, which causes her to roll her eyes and to sit down on the broom again. She looks at Bexley, thoughtfully, and wonders out loud. "Hmmm... Bex, what's the most important position again? That one person that has to catch the gold thing?" Rafa has never watched a Quidditch match on her life. Well, no, she has, but she's not really the biggest of fans. "Seeker, right? Yeah, I'll probably try for that. What do you think?"

Before Bex can actually respond, Rafa notices Richardson and Scrivener and immediately turn at both at them, cheerfuly screaming at them like a brat. "HEY! RICHARDSON! DID YOU WATCH ME DO THAT COOL TRICK?! I WAS AWESOME!" She says, beaming at her friend as well and cheerfully waving, totally ignoring Scrivener. Soon enough, she quickly turns to him again.

Seeker requires focus. And you spend a good chunk of the game doing absolutely nothing. And you have to rememebr, catching the snitch doesn't mean you win. it just ends the game

"He says he probably won't be," Ava replies to Caroline. "He says first-years almost never get chosen for the House teams, unless you're... you know, Harry Potter. But maybe he'll be another one!" she continues with that same slightly forced cheerfulness.

When Rafa yells, Ava breaks into a grin, raises her hands and makes a show of clapping cheerfully. Yelling back, though, that's just a bit too far out of her comfort zone. Except... oops.

Caroline.

Ava hunches her shoulders a bit and slowly lowers her hands back down to her lap. "Er. How are classes?" she asks. "Have you done that essay for Potions? I'm not sure how we're supposed to write that much about the uses of dried porcupine quills. I found seven, but I doubt that's going to be enough."

Caroline frowns when she notices Rafa. She turns to Ava and says: "You didn't say she would be here. I thought this was just about Bex!"
She is visibly annoyed at Ava's cheering for Caroline's worst enemy but she doesnt comment on it. She promised Ava not to force her to choose.
"I found a great book about it in the library. I can give it to you. The whole book is just about porcupines, not just for potions though. It has a lot of applications in it but there's some weird ones that I left out of my essay."

Ava gives Caroline a pained, apologetic look. "I didn't know... I'm sorry. I would have told you if I knew, honest!" she says in a small voice. "We'll... cheer for Bex. Yeah!"

But mention of the book brings her back out of that shell of cringing. "A book all about porcupines?" she says, brightening. You can almost see her thoughts taking hold of the idea and running headlong down some weirdo mental corridor with it. "That's amazing. I'd love to see it!"

"Yes, we'll only cheer for Bex. Rafa won't get on the team anyway. She doesn't even want to play, I bet. She's just doing it to get even more attention. I bet she wants to be a seeker!"
Caroline makes a big show out of turning away from Rafa, hoping she sees it and realizes she's just here for Bex.
"It's honestly such an interesting book. Did you know that porcupines have been voted the easiest animal to transform into a handheld mirror five times in a row?"
Caroline's eyes light up when she gets the opportunity to share random facts with her friend. She loves learning those small fascinating bits of knowledge

Rafa nods her head at Bexley and then finally goes on a hmmmmmmmmmmmm, thoughtfully raising her stare to the sky. "I think I get it..." She turns her eyes to her friend and can't help but let a half-giggle escape her mouth, probably a sign she's being obtuse on purpose."You're saying that because the Seeker is the last to show up, all eyes are on him, and he needs to be focused, which I'm obviously am, because failing to catch the, uh, snitch? Yeah, the gold ball thingie means that his own team will probably lose." Decided, Rafa slightly lowers the front of her brooms and starts energetically flying around Bexley. "Then it's settled! I'll be the best Seeker this school has ever seen — Nay, Sir Bex! I'll become the best Quidditch player Hogwarts will ever have the honor to have!" She suddenly stops, however, and cocks her head to the left in realization, her hair charmingly falling to the side. "But, like... I guess that I don't know much about the rules. Can I push people off their brooms?"

If at some point she feels Ava and Scrivener's gaze on them, she absolutely can't hold herself and shoots a taunting wink at Scrivener, a smug smile appearing shortly next.

Bex raises an eyebrow. This poor girl...but then again. She does have potential.
Better than bloody Harry Potter? And no, you can't push people off.

"Well, 'course! Especially better than Harry bloody Potter!" Rafa proclaims matter-of-factly, as she stares playfully annoyed at Bex. She leans into her broom, slowly hovering to his side. "Didn't your mother play Quidditch as well? I'm sure you can recognize talent when you see it, right?" Says the blonde girl, bumping her shoulder against his, a bit too hard. She doesn't seem to mind, however, with a bratty smile popping up in her face.

"Still, it gotta be tough for you. If we both make it into the teams, I'll eventually end up kicking your butt. Having to compete with your friend for reals, while your only group of pals is breaking off because of your crush? Yeah... Hang in there, friend!" Rafa says, with a spirited grin on her face. By crush, she means Scrivener, a reference from their first night on Hogwarts. Independently of Bex actually having feelings for her, or for anyone else, she's clearly just trying to get a reaction out of him.

Caroline sees Rafa wink and smile at her and gets annoyed. Why does Rafa always know how to get a rise out of her? And how does she manage to do that without being all awkward, like Caroline is whenever she tries to fire back.

She turns to Ava and whispers. "You're, like, a magical genius, right? Do you know any spell we can use to embarrass her? Make her lose control of her broom? Look at how she's talking to Bex. She's trying to annoy him so he can't focus properly!"

Bex rolls his eyes to smart for her goading. Quidditch is a team sport. Dueling is solo
Instinct takes over and he dodges a bludger hoping that she is too focused on her taunting to notice the whizzing ball.

Ava straightens up in surprise. "Magical genius? Stars, no. I mean, I taught myself alohomora, but that was just so I could get into..." She stops, mouth open, and then clears her throat. "Never mind," she finishes weakly, looking away from Caroline until she can stop blushing.

"But even if I could, I wouldn't do that even to my worst enemy. It's dangerous! I mean, what if she fell and really hurt herself, or I messed up the spell and hurt someone else by accident, or..."

She lowers her voice to a whisper. "What if a professor caught me casting the spell? I'd get expelled for sure!"

"I'm sure you wouldn't mess it up. You're a Ravenclaw. They are supposed to be the smartest and best - together with the Slytherins of course."
That last part doesn't seem quite honest, more like she added it to show loyalty to 'her house'.
"And I don't mean anything bad. We'll just have her shake around a bit so she gets embarrassed and doesn't make the team!" Caroline smiles excitedly at Ava. She thinks this is a great idea. "And I'm going to do it anyway. With or without you. But it'll be much safer and much more fun with my best friend!"

Rafa's eyes go wide when Bex leans out of the way, revealing a hurling ball of iron, a bludger, flying at them. "W-Wow!" She yelps, and proceeds to do the only thing she can really do in that situation: Abandon ship. Hovering above Bexley, who probably lowered himself to avoid the bludger, she quickly tilts her body to his side and let go, falling with her butt and her legs to the same side right on Bexley's own broom, probably a bit in front of him. The broom itself most likely trembles on the air for a second and the muddled green-eyed girl makes sure to grab the stick firmly enough.

The bludger passes through without getting any of them, and she watches her own broom slowly falling down. "Huh." She mutters, blinking thoughtfully once or twice and then staring at Bex, a small, overly coy smile forming on her face. "I was going to ask you why you didn't warn me of the bludger, but I see your plan now, Bexley." She chuckles, felinely narrowing her eyes at the boy. "I mean, I know I'm amazing, but next time you want to spend some time together, just offer to buy me milk chocolate or something like that. That's my favorite.." She bumps her shoulder against him "You don't have to make sure that I literally can't go anywhere else!" Her expression goes neutral for a moment as she quirks her head pensively, and then finally glances at the boy. "Actually... That's kinda creepy. Not cool, friend. Now let's go get my broom before the teacher reprimands you for not being a nicer teammate."

We aren't on the same team!

Rafa rolls her eyes, a bit exasperated. "I know that! But it was that or fall to my death, so sorry but definitely not sorry!" She looks again to her broom, passing her hands through her whole hair so it all falls from one side. She looks kinda annoyed. "So?C'mooon, start moving already! You're either going to play with me on your broom or you're going to have to fly down there so I can hop on my own!"