The whine of the bludgers and the goals ahead of her became Wallis's entire universe. Her face locked in her usual maniac grin, her blonde hair slowly coming loose from its bun and her robes tugging at her as the wind in turn pulled on them - the whole world slowed down into a small moment of perfection.

She shot on towards the goals, weaving to keep the bludgers off her, though they closed in closer with each breath, until she was almost on top of the goals - the hoops coming at her at a speed that ricked her crashing into them past the Keeper -

It was at the edge that she took the shot, lobbing the Quaffle at the hoops as the bludgers closed in, taking a sharp turn. The Quaffle left her hand as the bludgers came; she twisted and ducked but they both hit her broom, sending her spinning off towards the ground.

"Bugger!" Was her cry, as she fought for control of her broom.

The game started quickly, and the new team lineup didn't seem to be too bad so far. The bulky Falcon's keeper, Adric comfortably flew in front of the goals as he watched the quaffle tossed around and the bludgers batted around. The Magpies were good, but the Falcons beater made sure the game was as rough as ever.

When the Magpie chasers huddled together in formation around Clayton, with two bludgers charging her from behind, comfort, safety, and caution became the least of the tall keeper's concerns. If the Magpies chaser wanted to barrel towards him and the goals with two bludgers on her tail then he would be all too welcoming to the challenge.

He followed her flight path and when she darted for one of the hoops on the edge the Keeper charged for the edge hoop as well, ready to crash into Clayton, bludgers, and all. But when Clayton took a sharp turn, Adric had to quickly shift his focus towards the quaffle.

While still in mid-flight towards the quaffle, Adric kept a firm grip on his broom, with his hands around the handle and his leg locked around the broom's end. He swung his free lung around his broom, throwing himself into a barrel roll that gave him enough momentum to punt the quaffle away from the goal and high over the field.

Adric pulled himself upright again as he steadied himself, happily watching Clayton plummet towards the ground as the two bludgers began to make their way back towards the players.

Beater, Magpies

'Dammit!' Poppy swore. Both Knight and Wiedman had managed to get control of both bludgers and send them whistling after Clayton once she had intercepted the quaffle from the Falcons. And neither she nor Falkin had been quite fast enough to stop them.

Determined to make up for the botched goal, Poppy sped after one of the bludgers as it careened away, braked long enough to get a good strong swing at the metal ball, and sent it spinning towards Ainsley and Kiyomizu. She needed for them to break formation to give the Magpie Chasers a better chance at recovering the quaffle.

With one bludger redirected towards the Falcon Chasers, Poppy signalled to Falkin to go after the other one while she herself nosed down after Clayton, intent on giving her teammate some cover while she regained control of her broom. She wouldn't put it past Wiedman to go for another strike while Clayton was struggling.

Following close behind Clayton, Kiki pulled up and away as the opposing chaser aimed for a goal! Luckily, Foley did a good job of intercepting the shot, and managed to kick the ball away! "Yay! No goal for youuuuu!" Kiki called out at Clayton, sticking her tongue out at her! Not wanting her team to lose possession of the ball, Kiki quickly positioned herself and grabbed the quaffle out of mid air!

Holding it close to her chest, Kiki huddled as close to her broom as possible and flew towards the Magpie goals, all the while keeping a close eye out for her fellow chasers and the bludgers!

Seeker, Montrose Magpies

Cruising some several meters above the action, Lorraine Irving was every bit the Magpie, ready to pounce on the winged golden ball that was her bread and butter (and so much more). The rivalry with the Falcons was particularly contentious for both sides, in no small thanks to their Ian’s and Dominik’s brilliant quarrel; the fans and teams alike were also riled up by the Magpies wins, and Laney could not help the arrogant grin that adorned her face whenever she thought about it. (Not that she wanted to do such a thing. She was not modest, after all. That was Cuddyer’s territory.) But the rivalry did not mean that Laney didn’t have a few friends on the other team. It was perhaps because of that that her adrenaline was released faster, her determination to win greater. Why not buy poor Dom a pint after she grabbed the snitch? He looked like he could use a drink. Kill two birds with one stone snitches with one palm.

But there was only one, and she was unswerving in her hunt to catch it.

Not spying the golden snitch in her vicinity, Laney flew down toward the Falcon’s keeper, wondering whether she mightn’t distract him and his teammates while stalking her target (always her primary goal). But Foley deflected Clayton’s throw and the snitch was nowhere to be found; the quaffle switched hands, ending up with Kiyomizu. Laney took off past her, light and smart as an arrow, whirling very close to the rival team’s chaser before shooting up at a hard angle and decelerating above the rest of the sky field. She offered a growly smile at her opponents as she circled again, combing the sky for the snitch.

Bludgers from the Falcons were enough to screen out the Magpies chasers from making the rebound, and it was the Falcon Kiyomizu who sped off with it. Juno had no choisce to make hot pursuit.

But instead of tailing right behind, she made a reckless dip, and made ready to charge at her from below, hopefully out of sight.  It would be a major foul if she actually collided with Kiyomizu, but Juno planned to wing her - throw her off.  Make room for a dropped Quaffle or a bludger to finish the job.

Well, that had not been optimal. Foster usually like to follow the bludgers he hit, to get in a better position should they be misdirected. The chaos of the field had prevented this, too many brooms in the way for him to make the turn to assist Wallace. Though the woman was built like a tree trunk, she should survive.

Catching Poppy's signal, Foster dove after the other bludger screaming towards the ground. It was starting to curve on its own. As it came back towards him Foster held the bat blunt. The nudge reversed the ball's direction somewhat before heading back towards the center of the field, giving him time to pivot and eye the brawl for the quaffle.

Kiyomizu was facing the prospect of bludger and human collision. What had happened to Wallis could play out very differently for the petite Asian. Foster smacked the bludger at a trajectory to catch her from the bottom, if the previous bludger didn't catch her first. With Poppy playing defense, Foster zoomed ahead to keep track of both bludgers.

Kiyomizu was small and aerodynamic, but the Magpies were in rebound-mode after Clayton's fast descent.  It didn't leave a lot of room to work with.  One of the bludgers had gotten closest to Kiyomizu and was liking her scent, even if she was managing to outrun it for now.  Poppy Feng and the new kid had tag-teamed it, redirecting both bludgers at his Chaser in retaliation.  Now Kiyomizu was flying as sharp and swift as a hummingbird, with two bludgers on her trail and a surprise visit from Juno Grimalken below.  She was in need of an intervention if she was going to get far enough to throw the Quaffle.  Dominik hoped they'd at least be able to play off a stealthy pass, but he didn't have time to pay that close attention to where Ainsley was on the Pitch.  His attention was zeroed in on the two bludgers and their mutual collision point on his Quaffle-carrying Chaser, Kiyomizu.

With perfect balance on strong legs, he flew with both hands round his bat, and popped the first bludger sent by Poppy Feng over his head and behind him as far as he could manage to strike it, aiming for the area where Wallis Clayton had just been recovering.  He couldn't be sure of the accuracy of his hit with this tricky move, but that wasn't his focus. 

The second bludger that Foster Falkin had sent was equally as likely to start following Juno Grimalken, who was below Kiyomizu.  Dominik didn't have time to do anything additional before the collision; he would just have to stay close and try to swing things in their favour after seeing what came of the close clip and second bludger situation.  He swept round the side of Kiyomizu to get close and bellowed out for Ainsley.   

They'd drilled this many times, but it was a risky maneuver.  A chaser coming up from below, assisted by a bludger with the same basic trajectory.  There was always that chance that the bludger would take a liking to Juno.

And luck was not in her favor.  The bludger from Falkin began to veer towards Juno, who had to adjust her own path to avoid it.  This put her on too tight a course in too short a time, and Juno barreled into Kiyomizu, the current quaffle-carrier.  The bludger was not far behind and hit them both.

In the tangle, Juno was dislodged from her broom and nearly on top of Kiyomizu's! And batted for the quaffle in the falling, tangled fray. 

Well the Magpies certainly didn't like her! Kiki only glanced down and saw that Grimalken was barreling towards her along with a bludger! She tried to swerve out of the way, but she couldn't moved quick enough! Grimalken slammed into her just before the bludger did!

"I'll eat your soul!" Kiki screamed in fury as they both became entangled! Even in the fray Kiki did her best to hold onto the quaffle, raising it above her head with both arms!

Kiyomizu was a whole lot crazier than she looked, and Juno was not at all happy to hear her scream about soul-eating.  But there was a match to be one and it was going to start by getting that quaffle. 

Juno untangled herself and got back on her own broom.  There was no way she'd get away with another full on 'assault' again - she needed bludger support.

She swung round and began to fly backwards in front of Kiyomizu, trying to slow her up until they could get a damn bludger in there, or force a pass.

Jacqueline watched the action from above. She watched carefully the bludgers to make sure none were coming towards her, while circling around to look for the snitch. If she could get it before any goals were scored it would be a good game for the Falcons.

Noticing the change of hands for the quaffle as well as Grimalken diving towards Kiyomizu, the Seeker decided to get involved. Putting sudden speed on her broom, she shot down from the sky and towards the two. It was time to have some fun.

Jacqueline leveled her broom next to the two Chasers and lost some speed to get right next to the Magpie Chaser. However, the moment the Seeker was even with the Magpie she put on sudden speed and made an abrupt right turn straight into Grimalken!

As if she had done nothing, Jacqueline shot straight up into the sky and once again leveled her broom above the other players, looking for the coveted snitch.

"Oh crup..."

Foster's broom wasn't fast enough to get to the mess of how Grimalken and Kiyomizu had collided with a bludger. Damn, Wiedman was just dishing back on the offensive. Time to play defensive.

Foster was much lower in the air where he could fly to block the bludger that had been sent towards his teammates, Wallis and Poppy.

Seeker, Montrose Magpies

Laney managed to avoid much of the drama as she circled like a shark for the snitch. (She didn't entirely stay out of it, of course-- there was little fun in that, and less skill.) The simple, pleasing, freshly-inked magpie beneath her uniform was no doubt moving with idle impatience. Laney didn't need to feel or see it to know that. She just knew.

Her eyes roamed until they landed on her rival seeker, but she had little time to consider Torret before a rebounding bludger decided to pay her its overdue greeting. Laney cursed and dove sharply to her left, hands redoubling their instinctive hold on her broom. It barely missed her, and was so close that it ruffled the black-and-white of her robes. If it had been half-an-inch closer, or if Laney had been a half second later in spotting it, it would have left a nasty bruise along her thigh (though the impact would not have been quite so bad as it was for the chasers a moment ago).

For Laney, the distraction of the bludger alone was as damaging as any collision.

By the time Laney refocused on Torret, the snitch had made its appearance. It might have been there three seconds, or five, or barely an eye's blink, but it had been there long enough to inspire a sinking feeling in the Magpie's stomach. There was the snitch, and there was Torret, and Laney, on the other side of the field. She would need nothing short of legal mid-game apparition and a divinely sanctioned blessing from the referee to get there in time. She had barely steadied herself before she tilted forward, racing as fast as her broom would carry her. Her fingers ached in the direction of the gold. Possible or not, Laney was too stubborn to admit defeat.

A flash of gold got the seeker's attention. It was the snitch! Diving from her place higher in the sky and zooming forward, Jacqueline did her best to keep her eyes on the snitch. Her blond ponytail whipped wildly in the air. Out of the corner of her eye, the seeker saw the rival seeker going trying to catch up with her, but it was obvious that Jacqueline would get to the snitch first.

The distance between the seeker and the snitch closed, and Jacqueline reached out her hand. The snitch made several abrupt turns, as usual, to avoid catching, but the seeker was used to these and followed in sync.

It was so close now. Jacqueline put on a little more speed and her hand swooped down at the snitch, trying to catch it. Her hand closed around the golden ball.

A roar of cheering exploded from the crowd and the seeker held up the ball. She had caught the snitch! The game was over already. How embarrasing it must have been for the Magpies to lose without a single score from the quaffle. Jacqueline turned on the spot with her broom, nodding to the crowd. It was her way of bowing.

Finishing her victory lap of sorts, the seeker started to fly towards her fellow teammates, passing Irving as she went. "Maybe next time Irving," Jacqueline called out to the rival seeker with a smirk. It was great to be back on the team.