West was PLEASED that he and Alice would be FIRST to practice for the term. That said something, he reckoned, about dedication. And also, about how nice he was for showing the Gryffindor captain a thing or two. She was lucky, basically.

And maybe later they could go get some bludgers from that new professor to bash around and dodge and all that. Maybe. West wasn't sure if the new professor was the type to say yes to that. He'd make Alice ask, since she was a captain and all that. Meantimes, he had his own Quaffle, so he'd brought that.

The Slytherin arrived first, broom slung over his shoulder, Quaffle under his arm. And well, he wasn't going to just stand around and wait. West mounted his broom and flew higher. He tossed his Quaffle upppppppppp as high and hard as he could and then zoomed after it, throwing in a little barrel roll to warm up with.

Alice was TIRED.

She needed more sleep, you know. Hyper people didn't just become hyper— they needed plenty of sleep, food, and loads of candy. And since she had to get up bright and early for Quidditch practice, she was practically dead on her feet. Nevertheless, she had promised West that she would come, and she wanted to learn all of his tricks. So the lioness forced herself to wake up and get dressed and drag her bat ALL the way to the Pitch.

He was going to OWE her for this.

After fetching a broom from the shed, 'cause she didn't have her own, Alice stumbled over to where someone was already flying and followed them into the air. "HEY. Person." She waved her bat at the figure, stifling a yawn. "You have to leave, because I have a practice planned with someone else and you're going to get in the WAY."

So. Yeah. SHOO.

He caught the quaffle again and swung around, hanging from his broom like it was monkey bars, his knees bent over the wood. Blinkblink.

West might have looked a little crestfallen, hanging there upside down.

"You're practicing with someone else?" But he was gonna let her try his broom out and everything!

She was ready to bite this person already. Did they not realize that Alice was serious when she stated that she had a planned Quidditch practice and tha-- WAIT, who was that? The lioness flew closer and blinked at the person. Hard. And then stifled another yawn.

"West? Is that YOU?

She rubbed her eyes and took another look. Oh. It was him.

Heh. Whoops.

"Did you hit your head? Is that why you can't see properly?" She was rubbing her eyes. He flew closer, still upside down.

Paaaaaaaaause.

"You still want to practice with me right?" He held out the quaffle and hovered there.

Upside down.

"I didn't hit my head." Alice grinned, almost laughing. It seemed kind of funny that she'd mistaken him for someone else. "I'm just tired. It's EARLY." Why wasn't HE sleepy? It was probably some weird Slytherin thing, because any normal person's eyes would have been drooping.

"'Course I do. Would I be here if I didn't?" She rubbed her eyes again, tucked her bat under her arm, and yanked the Quaffle out of his hands, spiraling down the pitch.

Beaming all the while. And yawning, too.

"Good, on account of that sucks when you do. I know." For reals. Worst way to hurt yourself. It WAS early but West had never had problems with being up even before the sun. He had as a kid been one of THOSE jumping on his dad's bed and tugging eyelids to get him to wake up TOO. At least until he was old enough to get his own cereal or whatever. But then, when he reached that age he was also old enough to EXPERIMENT in the kitchen, which was a disaster for all, and generally encouraged his dad to be up before West JUST in case.

And good. Good. He smiled and followed, turning right way up as he went. "I figure after we mess about with my Quaffle for a bit, we could maybe ask that new professor for permission to practice with Bludgers." On account of they'd have to ask about those, he was pretty sure.

In case of death.

"I got Jelly Slugs for energy." That was an offer? Maybe. He put his hand out and waaaaved it, indicating she should toss the Quaffle. Mmhmm.

"It does, but hitting your head is really nothing compared to Quidditch injuries." Not that she'd ever been hurt during a game. Mostly, she DID the injuring. The bat wasn't just for show, mhm. It did DAMAGE. Almost as much damage as those pretty little fangs of hers. They were excellent for biting Seekers with, too.

Especially Slytherin Seekers.

"Bludgers?" Yes, please. Alice hadn't hit one of those in AGES. "I maybe, possibly could let you use my bat. MAYBE." Because it was special, obviously, and not just anyone could use it. She had standards. "Have you got any Jelly Slugs to spare, then?" she questioned, tossing him the Quaffle.

SAY YES. This lion needed a sugar rush.

"Hitting your head can be a Quidditch injury." West pointed out. "Or like, if you hit a bludger at someone's head or something." Which he was sure she could do. He used HIS head as a weapon in a way. Battering Ram. It worked. And if you did it right it didn't hurt you, just made people move out of the way.

"That would be cool, if you did. Maybe possibly." West said, trying to play it totes cool. Yeah. HE WAS EXCITED THOUGH! He caught the Quaffle one handed and reached into his pocket, tugging some jelly slugs out of the packet in his pocket. "Open your mouth!"

He was gonna fling them.

"It'd probably be more serious, then. Like a concussion or something. Penelope got one of those almost every game, though. "Don't you like headbutt people during Quidditch?" Didn't he do that to Vivi last year and end up breaking his nose? Alice hadn't ever had anything worse than a sprained ankle.

She STARED at him, trying to read the expression on his face. He seemed pretty indifferent, but she could see the tiniest bit of excitement in his eyes. Who wouldn't be thrilled if they got to use the most awesome bat in the world? OH. And YAY. There were going to be Jelly Slugs launched.

"Ready, aim, fire!" And then she opened her mouth and awaited her candy.

"Yeah, I got one of them." He nodded. "Its not fun." See, he was speaking from experience. His great and vast experience. "And yeah but only if they don't get out of the way. Sometimes they just THINK I'm gonna." And heads were pretty hard so if you did it right it didn't hurt.

He tucked the Quaffle under his arm again and then flung the first bit of slug, concentrating hard on aiming so that it was gonna be in the general vicinity of her face. Alice could do the rest and he was FASCINATED to see if those chompers of hers would help her catch candy.

She didn't need to have experienced a concussion to imagine that getting one was fun. "I think I've given someone one of those before," Alice stated. She didn't want to have one, though. Because she knew for a fact that being on the receiving end of a bludger was painful, thanks to that EVIL Ravenclaw.

But, seriously, what kind of Beater cracked a Bludger at another Beater? UNCOOL.

She waited for him to toss her a bit of a Slug. It was a little too high for her, but she managed to snap her head up fast enough, catching the candy in her teeth. "Score one for Alice!" MHM. She held her hand out for another piece of candy, so she could chuck this one back at him.

'Cause he was going to try it, right?

"I have too." Which was better than getting one for sure. 'cept when it was his mates, then he felt bad.

West watched her catch her slug and whooped in celebration when she managed it. "And the crowd goes wild!" And he made err... 'crowd' noises. He flew closer and deposited a handful of slugs in her hand, then far enough away for her to chuck at him.

READY.

"Chasers and Seekers get injured most often, yeah?" Which was the reason Alice was a Beater, 'cause they were almost never hurt. That, and the fact that whacking things with a bat was fun.

Alice couldn't help but laugh now. "Thank you, thank you." Cue mock bow, which was rather hard to do on a BROOM, but she managed. "Ready?" Of course he was, so it was time to launch Slugs. The lioness tossed a bit of the candy at West.. and then chucked another piece at him, too. Because boys' mouths were supposed to be bigger than girls'. So he should have been able to catch TWO at a time.

Or something.

"Yes." He said, trying to sound brave and impressive in his acceptance of that fact. "But you've got to do what you've got to do, and my team needs me, so that's just how it is." Really. He sacrificed SO MUCH for his team. Mhmm.

He was laughing too, especially at the bow. Impressive. And hey, was that a school broom? The Gryffindor Quidditch captain had a school broom? West and school brooms did not see eye to tailtwigs. They just did not. Not since he'd murdered one of their number in a rage.

SLUGS!

He caught the first one in his mouth, the second he wasn't expecting but sorta got it on the side of his face, so he promptly used his tongue to juuuuuuust.... moooove.... it..... a liiiittle.... there! Success! He beamed at Alice around the jelly slugs and then grabbed another from his pocket to toss at her, this time throwing it UP high.

Was he being serious? Was this bad time to snort all Slytherin Captain-like? Yes? Okay. "Mhm. That's brave. Very Gryffindor of you." Now seemed like a good time for that Dylan-ish snort, didn't it? Alice thought so.

He was EYEING her broom, hmm? "What? What's wrong with it?" she questioned blankly. There wasn't anything broken, was there? She couldn't break a school broom. She would get into trouble and Selina might give her the disappointed face again. That face was BAD.

Yet she was still beaming, despite all her thoughts of Selina's cross face, 'cause West and Jelly Slugs together were pretty hilarious. "THAT is cheating," she pointed out, still laughing. "No tongues allowed. BUT you can have points anyways." And that would make it two, wouldn't it? Because he'd eaten two slugs. "Score two for Odessa!" And then she somehow managed to applaud, while still hanging on to her broom AND her bat, because the awesome could do things like that.

And then more slugs came flying her way, but higher. She flew up to reach them and caught the next candy in her teeth, as well. Her chompers were coming in handy

He made a slight moue of distaste. "It happens sometimes, the Gryffindor thing." Unfortunately. But Alice was one! Shouldn't she LIKE Gryffindor things?

"Its a school broom." He pointed out. "You'd be faster on a better broom." Like his, which clearly was NOT a school broom.

And of course he got points, it wasn't cheating. "Tongues are part of a mouth." He excused himself. He was having way too much fun. It was weird. He bowed theatrically. Yesss Twoooo for Odesssssssa! The CROWDGOESWILD HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

And Alice was REALLY good at this. "And Fischer gets the equalizer!" He imitated an announcer-type voice. "And that's how its done, folks! Can Odessa make the next play?"

HE TOTALLY COULD. He opened his mouth. READY.

West said that as if Gryffindor things were BAD. "But Gryffindor things are cool," she pointed out. "And most of us are cool, too. Except for the ones who.. like.. FAINT after they're sorted." Those ones should have been disowned. Immediately. Because that was embarrassing for the rest of them, too.

"I know. I don't have my own, though." They were too expensive, and she thought the school ones were okay.. kinda sorta. But she had a bat, and that was really the main part of her job in Quidditch, wasn't it? Using it. And HITTING things.

Tongues were definitely cheating. "FINE. I'll accept the usage of the tongue, because I'm using my teeth." She beamed again. Her teeth were LEGENDARY, yep. She had bitten her teammates countless times. Not to mention the two Slytherins that she'd chomped on, too. And one was even outside of a Quidditch game.

And his bow was impressive, too, MAYBE even as good as hers. "Yes, yes, Odessa can!" FIRE MISSILE. Alice launched three at him this time. And she was totally just handing him points by tossing more than one, but it was fun to see if he could get them all.

"I SAW that. What was that about? What kind of Gryffindor FAINTS? Like, ever?" Blacking out was different, if it was from a Quidditch injury, but FAINTING? What even? "I'm not so sure about Gryffindor things. But I like some Gryffindor people. Like you." Obviously. Also Penelope. And Selina and Tag and Anya sometimes. But mostly Alice right at that moment.

"You should ask your parents or something. Cos you're captain now and all." West suggested. "My dad got me mine." And Theo's but that was just on account of Theo was muggleborn. He didn't mention Theo though.

Tongues and teeth were both legit. Both mouth parts. West was more and more aware of mouth parts these days, on account of all the kissing he was doing with Kat. Mouth parts were involved.

THREE? FOR REALS?

GAH!

He got the first one, when it rebounded off his nose, and then for the second he reached out and grabbed it even while he caught the third one with his own teeth, which might not have been as impressive as Alice's sharp ones, but they did the job just fine.

"YUSHHHH SHUCKSHEHSSHH!" Which was, yes! Success! through a mouth full of gummy candy. He let the Quaffle drop from under his arm, to fall on the grass, while he thrust both arms up in the air, fists raised in celebration.

He then reached into his packet of slugs and tossed a handful towards Alice. SEEWHATSHECOULDDOWITHTHOSE!

YES. Exactly. "I dunno. Weird ones, I suppose." Weren't they supposed to be BRAVE? It made absolutely no sense in Alice's mind. "I like you, too. Despite the fact that you're a snake." Because snakes were EVIL. Most of them, anyways. Apart from Montmorency and that one girl that she'd met at the Feast. And Duck Boy.. and West.

"GRANDparents," she corrected. "They aren't really interested in Quidditch, y'know? And.. I guess school brooms are.. alright." No. No, they were not. But they were tolerable, for now. "That's a nice broom." It was probably the best looking piece of Quidditch equipment she'd seen.

Other than her bat, but that was kind of OBVIOUS.

Two out of the three Slugs? Not bad. "Which brings us to a total of FOUR for Odessa!" Cue more applause. And this time, she wasn't paying too much attention to that beloved club of hers, which slid out from under her arm and landed next to West's Quaffle. "My turn?"

SIX SLUGS? WAS HE MAD?

"THASH NO' FAIIIIIIR," Alice complained as a few of the slugs bounced off of her nose. She managed to down three of them, though, which she considered good enough. "How many fell?" She managed to swing around her broom, dangling upside down from it by her knees, and catch a couple of the falling ones. And then she tossed them back at West.

And.. could she catch any upside down, hmm? She wanted to TRY.

"There are weird ones in EVERY house, I reckon." For reals. Like in their house, they had this one kid obsessed with ducks, and another obsessed with apples, and they were both prefects! How was that even logical? West did not know but he figured he had best start developing some kind of trademark obsession. Even if most people knew that Quidditch was totally that for him.

"I like that you like me." West added, sounding pleased, which was strange because most of the time he couldn't give a nogtail if someone liked him or not, but he supposed it was just preventative, and meant he was less likely to get bitten.

Oh GRANDparents? West didn't ask for details he just accepted that completely. For him it was just his dad and his sister after all, so he knew what it was like to have a different sort of home. "But its important to you, right? Maybe you could ask for one for Christmas. I get the QQS catalog owled to me, if you wanna see it when it comes next." And yeah his broom? "Its custom." He was so pleased with it, but she was right in that it wasn't cheap.

Gahh! He was laughing infectiously even as she tossed the missed ones back at him, which he again grabbed with hands, then ate them.

"Hey Alice? You wanna try my broom?"

"That's true." There were. Gryffindor was pretty much FULL of lunatics, counting Alice herself. So far, they had a resident fainter, a Chocolate-Frog-avoiding bat girl, and a Quidditch Captain who bit things for entertainment. It was kind of odd, but the good kind of odd. And it was nice to have a trademark obsession, because then you were at least good for SOMETHING.

She kind of smiled at that. "I like that you like me, too." Because that's what friends did, right? Even if that friend was a Snake. But she probably wouldn't bite him like she'd bitten Theo and Dylan, because he wasn't irritating her or trying to steal her Snitch or anything. And, also, she had learned from experience that Slytherins tasted disgusting, so she was going to steer clear of biting one of those for a while.

Alice shrugged. "It's important.. but I'm not a Chaser, like you. My job is to hit things." So a bat and a school broom would be sufficient.. she thought.. but he had a CATALOG. "You do? .. Yeah. Yeah, I would like to see it." It couldn't hurt to look, right? And maybe, possibly, she would find a perfect broom.. for like.. a galleon.

Mhm. That was likely.

She was still laughing, too, except not as hard as West. She COULDN'T, because if she shook anymore, she would probably fall off of the broom. It was pretty difficult to hang on that thing upside down using only your knees, y'know. Alice didn't understand how West had managed to do it so effortlessly.

".. your broom? I can TRY it?" She blinked at him. Hard. Was he serious?

"I like that you like that I like you." West added, without missing a beat. On account of, that was different from the acting liking someone, and also different from the act of liking that someone liked you. He slurped on another Jelly Slug.

"Of course, I like seeing all the different models. And sometimes people advertise old brooms for sale in it, which is cool cos sometimes its famous Quidditch players and everything!" So, there were plenty of reasons to look at the broom catalog. "And you'd be faster though, and that means you'd have more momentum and power behind your swing too." So it would be a good thing.

He blinked back and appeared to think about it. It WAS kinda a big deal.

"Yes. You can try it." He agreed, and pointed at the ground. They could land and switch?

.. what? "I.. I .. okay. I give up. You win." This whole conversation was making her dizzy. Or maybe that was just the feeling people normally got when they hung upside down. Either way, she was CONFUSED. West talked loads, and most of it just mushed together in one big sentence that made no sense whatsoever.

Did famous Quidditch players really sell their brooms? "They'd be really expensive, though, right?" Any broom ridden by a Magpie or a Bat was probably worth a fortune. "I.. I guess? But.. my bat's a school bat, too." Well. Kind of. Selina had sneaked it out of the shed for her last year, but it was still of the same quality. And she REFUSED to even look at another bat, because that was complete and utter betrayal. Mmhmm.

Alice swung over her broom, so that she was right side up again, and landed her broom nearby the Quaffle in the middle of the pitch. "You can try using my bat if you want." Even if it WAS a school bat, it was still the best club in all of Europe, so he should have been honoured. "We can enchant some rocks to use as Bludgers."

AND she wanted to try hitting something, too, because she wanted to know what he said about the momentum and her swing was true.