A Waffle with a Quaffle [Open, come play! Come spectate and chat!]

[theboywhodied]

It's a beautiful day for soaring in the sky. At least....it's a beautiful simulated day, Cedric corrects himself. He stands in the center of a grassy field, hoops standing tall on either side. Racing brooms that will soon take to the sky with their riders are laid out in neat rows on either side of him, and a case containing the many balls of Quidditch rests at his feet.

He's exchanged the loose-fitted clothing he'd taken up after his injuries for loose-fitting yellow and black robes, and even that small change brightens his mood. Cedric Diggory is in his element. His cheerful, dangerous whirlwind of an element, the finest sport the wizarding world has to offer.

This should be a fun one to watch!

((And go! Use the subthreads, or start your own threads to chat and trash-talk and have a good time! Threadjacking is totally encouraged.))

Comments

[17thangel]

"Touch controlled. Makes remote actions hard then I'd guess but ok."

She looks up and shakes her head.

"Where I come from everyone for the most part has some ether connection, not all of it is tossing fireballs but a lot of it is. I'm from one of the major families but due to some things my ability to control well..."

[theboywhodied]

"Remote actions? Like...your remote controls? I can't imagine why anyone would want a broom flying by itself."

He stared, puzzled, then wondered about the rest of her wild life. "Can you learn, or is it one of those things that just is?"

[17thangel]

"Well, lets say I wanted to jump over someone and have my broom go under them to confuse them while I uh.. I'm guessing you dive for things? Or if I get knocked off some sort of remote security setting."

She looks down then.

"No, I had my entire ether flow diverted in odd ways, even the other wisemen of Shevat say I'll probably never be able to do anything other than boss Seibzehn or possibly other gears like him around."

[theboywhodied]

"I don't think anyone's ever done that," Cedric looks confused. "We'd have to be able to fly on our own, and that'd be a very difficult spell if it does exist."

He looks sympathetically at her, gesturing for him to fly with him a little further. "I'm sorry. But at least you're not alone here---and that technology you use can do so much. I can't even comprehend it!"

[17thangel]

"Some time I can show you my Seibzehn if you'd like. But there is something a little disheartening about being so disconnected from the family legacy.... Even if they were all killed when I was young."

She looks up and adjusts her goggles.

"You think I could take a test flight and see how this thing maneuvers?"

[theboywhodied]

Cedric bites his lip. They're discussing something delicate, and there's a real danger of being insensitive. He hopes he can help, though.

"They'd be proud of what you do, though, I'm sure of it. And yes, of course. Go on!"

[17thangel]

She looks like she was struck at that last comment and shakes her head.

"My father told me he's proud. Right before the second time he died. Mind control is a terrible thing."

With that she kicks off and after a few minutes of nearly ramming into things and having a poor understanding of the controls manages to actually move about fairly well. She seems to be a natural in the air, just having problems with an unfamiliar control mechanism.

[theboywhodied]

"I've heard," Cedric whispered, bowing his head. "I'm sorry."

It was then best to let Maria go. He applauded when she returned, impressed by how quickly she'd learned the ropes on her own. "That's it! You'll be fine, trust me."

[17thangel]

"Thanks... The controls are a bit... Well you kind of have to have a talent with how the wind works, don't you? The game, is it where you have to catch something out of the air or something? Or is it you race through some sort of hoops?"

[theboywhodied]

"You don't need to manipulate the wind. You just need to be able to steer in it. And it's...sort of both. For the most part, you're catching balls and throwing them through hoops."

He points his wand to the ground and summons the Quaffle. The large red ball zooms into his outstretched hand, sticking there with the help of the ball's adhesive magic.

"Want to give catching it a try?"

[17thangel]

"Doesn't look all that hard. Here I was thinking it would be smaller."

Maria nods and kips up into the air.

[theboywhodied]

Cedric tosses it to her, eager to see what she does with it. "And once you've got it, try for the hoop!"

[17thangel]

She catches it rather easily, judging the weight of it for a minute. She doesn't really seem like she's strong enough to throw it far, but she's pretty good at charging the hoop and tossing it through roughly a foot from the hoop. She actually seems better equipped to catch it than throw it.

"So that's it? Tossing it in the hoops?"

[theboywhodied]

"There's more to it. In the full game, you'll be dodging a ball called a Bludger that's enchanted to attack the players, but your team's Beaters will protect you from that. And I'm the Seeker---someone who stays out of the way to search for the little ball that will end the game. There's also a Keeper to guard the hoops, if you'd like something like that."

He could try her in a few positions if she liked.

[17thangel]

She ponders for a bit and looks at the hoops, pondering how it was too bad they're not quite big enough to reasonably charge through.

"Um. Sure? I'm usually better getting in between things. Or at least that's what the bulk of my combat training was in."

[theboywhodied]

Cedric nods. "Then we'll try you as a Keeper. Fly in front of the hoops and I'll try to toss them through, all right? I'm not a trained Chaser, but I'll do my best to challenge you."

He waited for her to do that, bouncing the Quaffle in his hand. Not bad...not bad.

[17thangel]

She nods and hovers up to the balls.

"Hey, are you allowed to use anything in your power to stop this or just grabbing the ball from the broom?"

[theboywhodied]

"Just your hands and arms, please," Cedric clarified. "Other limbs are all right for players who don't have hands, but magic provides too much of an advantage. You'd think it would have been different when everyone playing was a wizard, but they kept inventing new ways to cheat with magic. I think the story of the player who transfigured himself into a duplicate Snitch and let himself get caught by another Seeker was my favourite."

He laughed in amazement at the ingenuity of some cheaters. "All right, go!" With that, he flew at the left hoop and tossed the Quaffle at it.

[17thangel]

Maria nods a bit and zips in catching the ball with a not terribly interested look.

"What's a snitch? Someone who rats out the other team?"

[theboywhodied]

"No, it's the Golden Snitch. Another one of the balls in the game." He conjures an imitation of one to demonstrate, the little gold ball flitting around between them before zooming off. "A player called the Seeker on each team pursues it, and the first Seeker to catch it ends the game and earns 150 points for their team. It's nearly always a winning move to catch it."

He approves of her blockage, zipping down to catch the Quaffle. He'll try again with a trickier and faster shot, now at the center hoop.

[17thangel]

Maria notices the fancier shot and smirks, zipping and kicking the out of the way, pondering a bit.

"So what if you're 160 points behind? Do they then have to knock the other guy out of the air till they catch up?"

[theboywhodied]

Cedric lets out a whistle of approval, giving her an even bigger challenge on the right-hand side. A twisty shot, backwards...yeah, he's trying for it.

"Yeah. Then the Beaters try to sabotage the other Seeker until you can get caught up---though the teams are usually within 150 points of each other, anyway. I did see someone catch the Snitch and lose the game once, though. It was a surrender. The other team's Chasers were too good."

[17thangel]

Maria's foot twitches, it looks like she wants to leap for it and the hesitation costs her a second so she just barely manages to ram the ball out of the way, letting out a small grunt as it bounces off of her arm.

"Surrender is pretty low."