practice makes perfect;; puddlemere team

[ariella evelyn davies]

As the first weekend that Ari had completely off from her teaching duties over at Hogwarts in quite some time, the team had scheduled an early morning emergency practice session. After all, she was still a part of the team and would be easing back into it within a few months, so they had to make sure that she was still up on any new plays and also still meshing well with the rest of her teammates. Ari was, for the most part, extremely excited by the fact that she would finally be back on her home turf with her mates. It was, without a doubt, where she knew she was supposed to be and being away for them for as long as she had been was driving her absolutely bonkers. Of course, that excitement still came with a good deal of hesitation. As much as she loved being around them, it worried her a bit. She knew that she couldn't be as close to them as she had always been before, simply for the fact that she was dangerous.

It was already hard enough for her to keep secrets from them and that was with her away for most of the time. She was really only at the house late, late at night and only to sleep. The few occasions where she was actually around them and talking, well, it was crazy difficult. For the most part, they'd be amazing at letting her have her space and not asking questions, but that wasn't entirely the case. Especially now, six months later with her still acting weird, they were all starting to worry. Well, more than they had previously at least. That in itself was making it nearly impossible for Ari to just continue slipping around them and keeping things to herself. It wasn't as if she could hide all the little quirks that she had developed from them, especially since they knew her so well.

A lot of people, Ari included prior to her attack, believed that the affliction of being a werewold was a problem that was dealt with one day of the month, but it wasn't. For the week prior to it, Ari had to apparate to the hospital to pick up her wolfsbane potion, which was both a hassle to take and a hassle to hide from everyone else. Then there were the random little habits that she picked up as well. Being in the frame of mind of a wolf for that one night a month didn't necessarily end when she transformed back. The longer that she was subject to these changes, the more "wolf-like" she became in her normal life. Her sleeping habits were off, she was more or less addicted to raw meat, she sometimes found herself almost growling at people, any number of oddities that were just entirely out of place for her previously. Those subtle differences, those were the things that she knew would be easily apparent to her teammates.

However, she wasn't about to bail on the one thing that would put her in a better mood- a hardcore practice session with the team. She'd been more or less all night, a common thing as of late for the young woman, and was setting about getting into gear. It was still quite natural for her, so it didn't take more than a few seconds to strip down and put her Quidditch gear on. Grabbing her broom up from the corner of her room, Ari left from her bedroom, locking the door behind with the numerous spells and enchantments that she'd been keeping on it. From what she could tell, the house was still fairly quiet, which meant that either everyone was still asleep or already out on the Quidditch Pitch. That was one of Ari's favorite things about the flat they'd gotten together- the personal training field just behind the garden. It made things easy to get to, let them sleep in and just roll out of bed to the pitch and it was always right there ready for them.

Bouncing out the back door excitedly, Ari made her way out the gate and onto their field. Although it was a fairly standard pitch, Ari couldn't help but feel that it was the best one out there. Mostly because it was theirs and she felt a sense of pride from it, but also because of the memories associated with it. Padding down the lawn and over towards the stands, Ari hopped up onto them and stood there to wait for everyone else to get up. Ari, usually being the late one, found it strange that she was the first one to have arrived. Though, perhaps that was because the moon was still high up in the sky and the morning light had yet to hit. Ari was always wide awake with the moon, it seemed. Perhaps from her affliction, or perhaps just from the worry that something might change, that she might transform on just another random night. Either way, it was terribly inconvenient at times and she was quite tempted to just settle in and sleep. As such, Ari put her broom down and curled up next to the stands, closing her eyes to catch a quick nap before practice actually began.

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[daniel james barton]

Running a hand through his thick, messy hair, Daniel yawned loudly as he made his way onto the Quidditch pitch. It was only six in the morning and as usual Danny was the first up. Well, he’d thought he’d been the first up before he spotted Ari curled up on the stands. Was she asleep? Wandering over, Daniel placed his broom down besides the females and quietly moved to catch a glimpse of her face. “Ari?” he said quietly and when she didn’t respond, he decided that she was indeed fast asleep.

Shaking his head at his team mate, Daniel began to shake his way out of his Quidditch robe. He was going to go for his ritual morning run. The Beater had always been a morning person so he figured he might as well do something useful with the time he had. Running in the morning was a great release for him, it woke up his body and cleared his head, preparing him for the day ahead. Plus it was another way of keeping fit and Daniel was all about staying in shape and being healthy. He had to look after his body otherwise all of the partying, alcohol and food consumption (Seriously, he could eat as much as a hippogriff), would begin to take their toll. Which would not be a good look. At all.

Once he’d removed his garment Daniel placed it over Ari to give her extra warmth, it wasn’t exactly warm out and the last thing he wanted was for her to freeze right there on the stands. Stretching his arms up over his head, Daniel did a quick sweep of the grounds with his eyes, checking to see if there was anyone else around. Nope, he didn’t think there would be. That was cool, he’d wanted to get a run in before practice started anyway.

[rory]

Wake up in the morning feeling like P Diddy. Grab my glasses, I'm out the door, I'm gonna hit this city. Before I leave, brush my teeth with a bottle of Jack. 'Cause when I leave for the night, I ain't coming back. Rory's alarm clock sounded causing her to wake up from a deep sleep. She rolled over the stranger laying next to her in her bed and groped around her nightstand for the snooze button on the alarm. The girl slapped her hand into the button and rolled back over, falling back asleep. She did not want to wake up for quidditch practice. Last night had been quite crazy, from what Rory remembered. She had gone party hopping with some friends, hooking up with people so many times that she couldn't even count them all. The girl eventually ended up taking a guy home from a concert that she had stopped in at. And well, we all know what they did.

Rory was woken up ten minutes later by her cat, Orion, poking her face with his nose. The girl smiled and stroked Orion's head. She finally opened her eyes and looked at the time. Damn, she was supposed to be out on the pitch in five minutes. Rory ninja-rolled out of bed, picked up the guy's clothing and threw it at him. The girl rushed to get ready, throwing on any clean clothes that she could find, washing up and running a brush through her hair, which was hopelessly messy. Rory grabbed her gear and pushed the guy out of her room without even bothering to let him finish putting his pants on. She wasn't going to let a stranger stay in her room unattended, nor did she really plan on seeing him again. "Uh, I have quidditch practice, ya gotta get out," she said blatantly while she smiled and blew him a kiss. Ha, she hoped that the guy knew that what he did last night was a once in a lifetime opportunity. Not everyone got to screw a pro quidditch player, and she was sure as hell that no one would get her twice. She pointed the guy toward the door and headed down the stairs to grab her broom. Rory whipped her wand out of her pocket and accioed her broom because it was too far above her head on the wall. It floated toward her and she jumped up, grabbed it, and ran out the back door.

Rory looked up as she stepped out onto the pitch; no one was flying around. She checked the time, she wasn't late, but exactly on time. Everyone should be here by now, the girl said to herself. Usually she was the last one to arrive at practice, and this time didn't seem much different. The girl walked across the field to the benches on the other side of the pitch and plopped her gear down. Rory started strapping on her leather shin guards and noticed Ari sleeping on the other side of the bench under a blanket. She picked up one of her leather gloves and chucked it at her, "Rise and shine, Sleeping Beauty," she said sarcastically. Rory was a bit mad at her friend for tossing her out of the flat and keeping secrets from her. After all, she had just kicked a perfectly good guy out of her bed to be here and have a practice. She could still be in bed with the stranger instead of waiting for Ari to wake up.

There were so many other thing that Rory could have done to wake her, but they included fire or pixies, and wasn't looking to get herself killed. Somehow she had done or said something that made Ari dump her stuff onto the street. The girl was lucky that she knew some guys that were willing to let her stay in their mansion for a while.

Rory finished putting on her quidditch gear and jogged over to retrieve her glove, which she picked up off the ground and slid onto her left hand. "I hope I didn't wake you up this morning when I came home," she said honestly. That was her way of apologizing for possibly being loud. She truthfully didn't know how loud or obnoxious she was because she might have consumed a few too many Dragon shots.

[ariella evelyn davies]

Considering how absolutely exhausted the young woman was, it was no surprise that she fell straight to sleep when she curled up on the bleachers. Sleeping was difficult for Ari to come by. The moon effected her to the point where she was restless all throughout the night and the daytime was when the rest of the world functioned and therefore she had to as well. It was pretty much one of those situations where no matter what, she would come up on the losing side. So, she was constantly tired and catching naps where she could or downing gallons of coffee to keep herself functioning throughout the day. Not the best way to go about life, but until she could find herself adjusting better to her new self, that was how things would be. It was definitely an inconvenience that Ari was not too pleased by, since she quite liked her sleep.

When Daniel came out, Ari shifted slightly in her sleep, but she didn't wake. By that point, the sun was starting to rise and she wasn't nearly as restless as she had been moments before, making her mind shut off completely. She was in such a state of dreaming that she didn't even notice as he laid his robe on top of her and took off for his run. Ari was completely out for the morning, only able to be woken again by something much louder. Of course, that something louder was Rory. The thump of the glove against her side caused Ari to jolt out of her sleep and jump back, falling off the bleacher, caught up in the robe Danny had put on top of her, and into the crack between the rows. She was a lot jumpier lately, almost as if she was expecting an attack on her while she was asleep. Which, in a way, she was.

Cursing, quite loudly, Ari pulled herself out from where she had fallen and shook her head a bit to wake herself up. "Fuck," she mumbled, realizing that the fall had caused her to scrape her left arm quite badly and that it was now steadily bleeding. "Gee, thanks mate. Come back to the flat and already I'm worse off than before," Ari scowled, a bit ruder than perhaps was necessary. What with the proximity of the full moon, Ari was certainly not in the best of moods and often tended to snap on people for the smallest of things. It was pretty much an entire week of PMS added to her schedule, which definitely didn't bode well for the rest of the people around her. Pulling Danny's robe off and setting it to the side, Ari took her own robe off to wrap it around her arm, leaving her in simply a pair of short shorts and a tank top. Definitely not the best outfit for the weather, but Ari wasn't exactly in a thinking frame of mind.

Glancing back up at Rory, she shrugged a bit at whatever apology it was that she was giving. "I've been up, so whatever," Ari nodded. Even if it didn't exactly appear like she had been awake most of the night, given that she was currently napping, it was true. Ari hadn't slept much and so hadn't been bothered by Rory's arrival. It was mostly just the thrown glove that had disturbed her sleeping. "You off whoring around last night than?" Ari asked, more than a touch of irritation and almost snide cruelty coming out in her voice. Definitely not the best of days for the young woman and it would definitely be a good thing when the rest of the team came to stop any further fighting that might erupt.

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