Looking around, Tora didn't see her best friend, Adrienne, there so there was no particular team she was leaning toward. Really, if Adrienne had decided to show up it would be easy: just join the opposite of whatever her friend did.A good friendly competition never hurt anyone! But Adrienne wasn't there at the moment and so Tora had to decide all on her lonesome.

There were far too many Blues, Tora decided, and far too few Bronzes. Better balance out the teams then! "I'll be Bronze!" she said, walking over to the Bronze team and giving everyone there a salute. She thought she knew everyone... but wasn't sure.
"Hello my compatriots. If you don't know me, I'm Tora. Seventh Year." she said before dropping to a whisper. "Also anyone have a plan?"

Tia listened as their house head explained the little bonding game and she was pretty much regretting the decision to join the house pride activity. Not that she didn't have house pride, but just the whole paint thing? On the plus side, at least she'd worn her sneakers and t-shirt but still.

She held back though whilst everyone was choosing their teams - headed conveniently by the prefects. Which oddly enough Sophie's team seemed to have all females, but Gabe's team didn't have all too many males. Where were all the Ravenclaw males? Reading books? Avoiding house pride?

Clearly the females did have all the pizzazz and flair and style though, as Sophie had just shouted in her recruiting efforts. Smiling at the sixth year, Tia made her way over to team bronze. Oh look and her dormmate was there too!

"Go team bronze!" She cheered. See, she could be spirited. And she even know the pingo spell.

What a way to start a year Xavier thought grumpily as he trudged down to the activity. Late. He had missed the entire first week of school due to special circumstances and had arrived this morning at Hogwarts. However, in the middle of all of the things he'd had to accomplish, he realized he was late for the activity. The activity where he hoped to meet all of the people from his house that he hadn't met during the first week. The week he'd missed.

Regardless, he was here now, and the weather was beautiful. There were people here of all ages and they seemed to be splitting into teams. Blue and something else. The other color didn't matter. "I'll be team blue," he announced decisively. He hadn't a clue what they were doing, but he would figure it out as he went.

"Okay, it looks like our teams are divided up!" Yes, they had everyone? As far as she could tell they were ready for action. "So let's spread out and get to paint warring!"

Tiara leaped into action, sprinting towards a particular tree on about 20 yards away she had scoped out earlier. It was perfect for hiding behind, but there was a break in the trunk where it branched out so she could sneak a peek when needed. But obviously she was going to do some damage before getting too far away.

She directed her wand at Tora Gallaway, who was closest and had her back turned to make a plan with her team. "Pingo bronze!" she shouted before making her getaway.

"I was thinking that maybe we could- OOF!" Tora had been about to hash out the beginnings of what would be a stellar plan against the blue team when she was hit from behind. Ha. So much for the plan, apparently they had started without the Bronze Team. Well not for long! She whipped around spotting Professor Tanner scampering away towards a large tree.

"PINGO..." Tora caught herself just in time. If she had been hit, wasn't she now on the blue team? That didn't make sense, her arm was covered in bronze paint. She twisted her head around to see the back of her purple shirt was no longer purple but a glittering brown. Lovely. Good luck hiding now, Tora.

"You know, Professor, I'M ON YOUR TEAM!" she shouted after the professor and then, for good measure, she decided to send a return volley. In a shimmery, glittery, bronze of course!

"Pingo Bronze!" she muttered and a paint ball went flying towards Tanner.

Abby saw that the game was starting and she was on Gabe's team just for fun and blue was her favourite colour and she saw Tora shouting after professor Tanner and pointed her wand at her said "Pingo Blue!" Abby watched as the paintball went flying towards Tora

SPLAT!

She should have known.

"What? You look good in our color, Gallaway!" Besides, that bright purple she had been wearing? Yes, that would camouflage SUPER well with the landscape. It had been a favor, really.

But now it was time to be a bit more strategic and go for the other team. Closest nearby was Penelope. "Pingo Bronze!" she said clearly, yet softly. Alerting your enemy opponent to an attack was not helpful.

When everyone had found their teams Tiara included Leo said "I'll be on Team Blue." It was the logical way to go considering that he couldn't be on the same team as Tiara.

With his wand in hand he gestured toward the field. "You heard Professor Tanner, lets get paint warrring!" Without further words Leo excitedly leaped into action heading for the nearest and largest rock. Ducking down behind it he peeked around its side for opponents. Spotting Josette Edayson he whispered "Pingo Blue" and watched the bubble of paint shoot off towards the girl.

And they were off to a start, with the Arithmancy professor leading the bronze team quite well - or not - hitting her own team with extra bronze paint. Tia kept serious however; she needed to focus on blue players and though she was tempted to target the librarian first, she figured he was an adult and might counter her spell with some protection charm.

And there was her first victim target. Unsuspecting new first year, Xavier Fullmer. Peeking around from her hiding place, the fifth year pointed her wand at the young boy, "Pingo Bronze!" watching in satisfaction as bronze paint bubbled from her wand towards the boy.

Pingo? What even was that? Xavi didn't have time to think about it for long, because right after he heard the word he was splattered with bronze paint. All across his shirt. Hopefully someone knew how to clean that up, he liked this tee-shirt.

Okay, so now he was supposed to be team bronze. He shot a smile at the older girl who had hit him. "The spell is pingo, correct?" he verified. If he was going to be a good team mate, he had better know how to play the game.

This time, Tora was more aware of her surroundings. She was most definitely not going to get hit again. That's why when she saw the blue paintball barreling through the air towards her face she shouted "PROTEGO!" and it exploded harmlessly.
"Not this time!" she grinned in the direction of the blue paintball, though the name of the girl that launched the volley escaped her. For a split second she considered shooting a bronze one right back, but thought it wiser to go hide somewhere. But where?
A hit! That'll teach Tanner not to mess with this seventh year! She sketched a little curtsey and said,
"Why thank you, Professor. I look much better now in this mix of purple and bronze!"

But now it was time to hide, and Tora knew just the place. About 50 feet away a fairly large grouping of rocks would be a perfect temporary spot for aiming paintballs at her peers. She braced herself for the dangerous run to safety and 3...2...1 GO!!!!

Now that she had a sizable paint splatter on her robes thanks to Miss Gallaway, Team Blue would probably be able to smell her from 50 feet away. She was tempted to clean herself off, but that was certainly not in the spirit of the game. Plus she had to have battle wounds, and the paint was it in this case. So instead, she merely double checked to make sure she was well hidden behind her tree.

Who would be her next victim? Ah look, there was a seventh year. They tended to be taller and therefore easier targets. Poor, poor Eden McGee. "Pingo Bronze!" The paint bubble rocketed off towards its intended target.

THE GAME WAS ON.

As soon as the game began - signaled by Tanner hitting someone on their own team, funnily enough - Sophie quickly noted who DID join Team Bronze and, before anything else, gave Josie the encouraging nudge to go hide behind the nearby stone wall to take cover. Her looking out for Josie was kind of indirect repayment to Ethan, who had once saved her from being frozen solid in ice. So... by protecting Josie, she was thanking Ethan, y'know? Sophie totally had his back, and thereby Josie's. Though... she totally would've wanted to save Josie on her own accord anyway.

Soph couldn't stay behind to protect Josie herself, though, and was already dashing off to take cover behind a tree and scrutinize the competition. Her team was doing well so far, having already converted the first year Xavier to their side - she was glad the boy was being looked after by Tia now - and just after Tanner shot the paint bubble at Eden from the other side of the seventh year, Sophie also targeted Eden from behind her tree, aiming at the girl from a different angle than Tanner and hopefully catching her off guard, "Pingo Bronze!" The paint bubble flew at Eden and Sophie ducked behind her tree again to evade potential retaliation.

COME ON, EDEN. JOIN THE COOL TEAM.

Before Eden knew it, the game was STARTING and She was dodging paint left and right--MERLIN. THIS GAME WAS ALREADY HECTIC, AND SHE LOVED IT. Running felt so good--and she even rolled on the ground, James Bond style, once or twice for dramatics.

OH SNAPPLES--

TANNER AIMED RIGHT FOR HER--Eden quickly fell to the ground an DODGED that--oh thank MERLIN. She was trying her best to get in a hit--but it was HARD with paint flying everywhere--and before she knew it--

OH NO.

SOPHIE BROWN! Eden laughed quiiiiite a bit when Sophie shot her, and she hopped up and shook her bronze-splattered hair at Sophie. "You RASCAL!" she teased before taking off, looking for a blue team member to hit....

When she spotted Mr. Kitridge. HEHEHEHE. "PINGO BRONZE!" she cried, aiming RIGHT AT the librarian before giggling like a crazy person and scatter off--she had to find more VICTIMS.

YEEEEEES! EDEN WAS TEAM BRONZE.

Sophie GIGGLED at being called a rascal and shrugged innocently, calling to the seventh year, "I prefer hellion." Because that's what Tobes called her. "Bronze is a good look for you, McGee." HEHEHEHEH. The prefect shot a THUMBS UP to Tanner from across the way - their excellent team work was beautiful - before darting out from behind her tree and hiding behind a massive rock instead, moving away from the blue team members that were trying to sneak her way.

She peeked out from behind the rock, calculating the remaining blue team member's moves and ducking behind the rock anytime paint bubbles went flying, then she heard it - Eden's casting of the spell, and Sophie leaped up, following her gaze to Kitridge. "PINGO BRONZE!" Sophie joined in the aiming for their Head of House and the paint bubble shot toward him - there was POWER in NUMBERS, okay? - then she ducked back behind her rock again when more bubbles went flying.

GO TEAM BRONZE GOOOO.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hpluvr037

SPLAT!

She should have known.

"What? You look good in our color, Gallaway!" Besides, that bright purple she had been wearing? Yes, that would camouflage SUPER well with the landscape. It had been a favor, really.

But now it was time to be a bit more strategic and go for the other team. Closest nearby was Penelope. "Pingo Bronze!" she said clearly, yet softly. Alerting your enemy opponent to an attack was not helpful.

Wait, they were starting now? The teams looked really uneven. There seemed to be a lot more people on team bronze than there were on team blue. Before she could even think of a strategy for how her outnumbered team blue could beat team bronze, she had been hit with bronze paint. Where had that come from? That meant that she was on the bronze team now.

Who was still on the blue team? Penelope ducked behind a boulder and aimed at her dorm mate Abby. "Pingo Bronze!" As the bronze paint bubbles went flying towards Abby, Penelope ducked down being the boulder again. Go team blue bronze!

Somehow Tora made it to her safe rock hiding spot without being hit. Hmmm, perhaps this bronze paint all over her back would be a good thing. This rock was kinda brown. Sorta. Agh billywig rot, she was glittery and stuck out and she knew it.

She peeked around the rock at the bunch of students in the center. Who to target? Who was still on the blue team? Her Bronze teammates were doing a really stellar job of catching those blues. So they hadn't needed a plan after all! She spied Benzi amongst the Ravvies still out in the open. HA. Perfect.

"Pingo Bronze!" she whispered, then turned and ran. When the paintball hit Tora didn't want to be anywhere near where it came from. He would never suspect and therefore couldn't possibly go after her in revenge.

She left her relative safety behind and dove for a clump of tall grass. It was the first thing she saw as a possible hiding spot, and for reasons previously discussed, she had needed one fast. She dropped to her stomach under the tips of the grass and hid . Well, hopefully.

Abby saw the bronze paint bubbles heading towards her and said "Protego" Abby watched as the bubbles hit her shield and she ran and hide behind some rocks and said "Pingo Blue" Abby sent the blue paint bubbles towards Penelope

Adrienne was lucky- Tora didn't seemed to have noticed her yet, which gave her the perfect opportunity to get her vengeance on her friend. For what, exactly, she wasn't quite sure, but she knew that at some point Tora must have done something to get on her nerves, because she was always on her nerves. So now she was going to get back at her, that's all.

The blonde seemed to be trying to hide behind a bunch of tall grass, which might actually have worked if it weren't for the fact that Adrienne was directly behind her. Making the whole hiding thing a bit redundant.

Raising her wand, she pointed it square at Tora's back, directly between her shoulders, and shouted, "Pingo Blue!" Whatever 'pingo' meant. Weird spell, now that she thought about it. Having cast it, Adrienne just stood there, crossing her arms and looking satisfied.

Leo was moving across the field in search of a better hiding place. He did know where his team mates were but he definitley heard the sounds of paint bubbles bursting in the air. He had almost made it to his destination when he felt something connect with his back SPLAT!

A quick look over his shoulder told Leo that he had been hit with bronze paint. He didn't move around as quickly as he would have liked when another bronze paint bubble SPLAT against his chest. Wiping away some paint that had sprayed up on his chin he called over to Eden and Sophie over the field who probably had gotten the same idea to shoot at him smiling wide. "You got two lucky hits ladies!"

Darting the last distance to his new hiding place Leo cast "Pingo BLUE!" in the direction of Eden McGee. Go team BLUE this was FUN!

YEEEEEEEEES! They GOT HIM!

But... then Kitridge was still shooting blue paint bubbles. WHAT? Wait... were... TEAM LEADERS INVINCIBLE? Did that mean she didn't have to worry about people hitting her either, because she was representing her team? AWESOME!

That meant: FULL SPEED AHEAD WITHOUT WORRY!

Cackling to herself with this newfound knowledge from behind her hiding place, Sophie looked for a new blue target - no targeting Gabe or Kitridge, then, but... who...?

AH-HA!

"Pingo Bronze!" Sophie shot her bronze paint bubble at Benzi, just after Tora did the same. SHE WANTED HER YEARMATE ON HER TEEEEAM!

OKAY. He was ready. This is what he was good at after all, what he'd been practicing at home and at his old school. Evasive tactics and accurate spellwork while running around and dodging others. Or, as he preferred to call it, magical parkour.

The second the first spell went flying Benzi backed away from the group with his wand drawn out, on high alert. CONSTANT VIGILANCE, and all that. His teammates seemed to be dropping like flies and he curled his lip. Bad choice of team on his part. He refused to lose. Where was Gabe?

Looking around him to try and find a nice looking tree he could hide behind, Benzi caught Kitridge being hit twice with the bronze colours yet still shooting out blue. Did that mean the team heads didn't change sides? Good to know, because he had been meaning to target Sophie.

Speaking of Sophie, she and some other person whom he suspected strongly was Galloway - hello Tora, long time no see - shot their spells at him about half a second after he realised they were there and instinctively Benzi DROPPED to the ground and roooollllllled away. PHEW. That had been VERY very close. Too close. He'd gotten lucky. Scrambling to his feet, Benzi sprinted for the trees.

Better luck next time suckers.

But now they'd be on the lookout for him, so he opted for a different mission; regain his fallen comrades. Keeping to the shade of the trees - mighty useful, his skin tone - Benzi tiptoed silently around until he was within pingo-ing distance from one Crazy Eyes, a miss Eden McGee.

"Pingo blue," he murmured with a smirk, and scarpered off in case her reflex was to shoot a defensive spell towards the source of the attack. WAHOO did it hit? NO MATTER, he was already on the lookout for his next target. HMM HMM.

THIS WAS FUN.

Billywig rot! She had missed Benzi, but only because he moved. Damn him and his reflexes. Tora army crawled a little further, just to make certain she was properly hidden in the tall grass and prepared to make a daring pop up to see who to target next. Then she heard a crunch in the grass right behind her. Billywig rot. She moved without thinking.
"PROTEGO!" she yelled, effectively breaking any semblance of cover (though apparently it wasn't any good anyway) as she rolled onto her back, putting the spell between herself and a paint glob which splattered itself all over the grass. Geez, that had been close. Who knew her reflexes were just as good?Leaving a roughly Tora-shaped painless patch on the ground, Tora jumped to her feet
"Adrienne! I would've been disappointed if you had willingly choose my team," she gave her best friend a slightly maniacal grin and shot a "Pingo Bronze!" paintball right back at her.

Rather unfortunately, this put her back, and weakest point, facing the majority of the paint battle, but what could she do? Either face the fight with everyone and have Adrienne get her from behind or face off against her friend and leave her vulnerable. What was the saying? Stuck between a rock and a hard place was it? "Billywig rot." she cursed, for the third time in thirty seconds. It looked like the blue team was about to get a new member soon

WAIT WHAT. SO. She had gone through AAALLLL this darn trouble to shoot Kitridge with some BRONZE paint and he couldn't even be TURNED? WELL POOP.

She was getting over this tiny piece of UNFAIR information...and felt BETRAYED by Kits because he suddenly turned on her and splattered her with BLUE PAINT. Well CRUD. Eden just sighed and tried to be vigilant--but then BENZI was shooting her with MORE blue paint--and she was just a paint-filled MESS.

Blue and bronze mess.

Eden was unamused. She just glaaaaaared at Benzi(in a good natured way, of course) and smiiiiirked. She was on the blue team. She was, now. But that didn't mean...."PINGO BLUE!" she cried, her wand pointed at the BENZI. She winked over at him and TOOK off to find a victim--HEHE!

Amanda heard laughter and saw some people she sort of recognized acting crazy. What on earth were they doing? She had always kept mainly to herself but that kind of looked fun. She hung back and watched quietly, giggling a bit to herself. She didn't really know anybody. Besides what if she looked silly?