Just in mE

@miranda

The match had been good, for what it was worth. There'd not been many instances of him having to protect any of his teammates after all but that was something the Slytherin team was good at; working together to the best of their ability. The majority of the time he'd been busy trying to knock the Ravenclaw chasers off their broom and he'd almost succeeded but fell short. He made a mental note to be less mindful of the people involved next time, maybe then he'd be able to do some actual damage to the opposing team; not physical of course, although he wouldn't be above it given half the chance. But enough to give their team an edge.

Karel landed easily after the match and stood near the centre of the pitch with his teammates as he waited for all the onlookers to file out before they head to the changing rooms. His hair was in disarray and he ran his fingers through the windswept knots to untangle them. The rest of the team were talking among themselves but as he glanced over he spotted Miranda stood a little to the side not really talking to them. He knew the witch loathed having to be overly sociable so naturally, he wanted to poke the bear with a stick and he sauntered over to her, offering her his most charming (and fake) smile. "Powell... you did well in that match, you're welcome though. If I hadn't kept that bludger away from you when you earned a point for Slytherin, it probably would have ended terribly." The bludger hadn't been that bad, but he knew that any hint of a 'damsel in distress' type situation infuriated her to know end. He'd learnt that the hard way in September when he'd brought up helping her with her homework and Miranda had all but exploded in his face so pissing her off had quickly become one of his favourite thing to do.

The rest of the team were making their way to the changing room now that the stands were empty and Karel grinned at her once again, more genuine this time; but not a friendly one, no he didn't do 'friendly'. A smug one, one that showed that he knew exactly what he was doing and Karel was determined not to stop until he'd pushed Miranda's boundaries. Even then, he probably still wouldn't stop. When things were dull around school, he enjoyed causing trouble. Sometimes they were long term, others passed quickly, but he liked to stir the pot and when he was subtle enough to hide that he had done it, the people on the receiving end sometimes came to try and 'stop' the trouble and all Karel had to do was step back.  No one needed to know that though and besides, he always enjoyed the payment or secrets that came with him helping to 'fix' problems. 

[attr="class","backgslyth"]

[attr="class","lyric1slyth"]trust in me

[attr="class","lyricbgslyth"]

[attr="class","lyric2slyth"]Sailing on a silver mist
Slowly and surely your senses
Will cease to resist

[attr="class","textbodslyth"]Miranda wasn't proud of that game. They had won, sure, but she hadn't played well. Nowhere near as well as she could have played. And she knew very well that they would have been done for if it hadn't been for Oralie. Miranda could blame Alis all she wanted for being a really good Keeper, the reality was still that she hadn't been playing up to par. She couldn't help it, though. Her mind had been elsewhere, as it had been for the last couple of months. Things had been so abnormal, and the idea of her father being sick... it ate away at her. He had always been the rock in the family. He always knew just what to say, and just what to do, to make things perfectly fine. But he had gotten sick, and seeing her father weakened had been tough--tougher still was having to leave home and be apart from him while he was going through that. Miranda tried to take his words to heart and not put this burden on herself. But she couldn't help it. Family was... a touch subject, for all of them. They were close, the four of them, and protective of one another.

She was trying to move past it, and focus on school. On anything else, really, but the fact that the magical world was falling apart outside those walls. But Miranda couldn't help but think what that meant for her future. She had... she had plans. Her sights had been set on doing Spell Invention at Lufkin, just like her mother had, for a long time now--and she had highly considered reaching out to Lady Catherine Yaxley, with her parents' help, to see if she could get a head start on an occultist apprenticeship. But what if she ended up getting sick, too? What did that mean for her and her future? These were questions that filled Miranda's mind, and she hated not having any of the answers. So, naturally, it had all been distracting her. A lot. Which was the last thing she needed the year of her OWL exams. She needed Os across the board if she wanted to land a Department of Mysteries internship next year.

They had won, mercifully--but Miranda couldn't really enjoy the win considering she had only gotten one of their measly three goals. It was sad, really, when the Eagles had gotten fourteen on them. Miranda stood near the back of the group as they debriefed and waited for the stands to clear. She wasn't in the mindset to offer anything constructive, honestly. And she wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone--but, alas, it didn't seem like a particular Beater cared. He always had a way of approaching her when she was at her worst. Miranda fixed her glare on Karel as he spoke, her expression unfaltering. "That was a shit match, and we all know it," she shot back, then huffed and swung her broomstick over her shoulder with a roll of her eyes. "Maybe you should've directed it to the Eagle chasers while you were busy trying to be a hero."

@ hero complex | 522 words | outfit: quidditch robes

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF GS + WW

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Karel worried about his family, naturally, ever since he was a child he had witnessed what a stable family looked like. Both the Kopitar and Higgs family had their secrets but that was no different to every single family in the world. No family was perfect, everyone had something they’d rather not talk about and pretend that it didn’t happen. His family’s issues stemmed from the Death Eater ties. Sure his mum and uncle were proud of their marks, but it was a little known fact that his grandparents had taken the cowards way out when things got hard and Karel believed that, that was probably the biggest secret in his family. Maybe there was a bigger one, but if there was he’d not been told about it which was an unusual occurrence, he and his family were very open with each other after all. Knowing his uncle was ill though had Karel suitably concerned but he’d made a promise to his uncle to focus on his studies and not worry about him as much and he intended to keep his word.

Early that morning, he’d promised himself he would play his best to make his parents and Uncle Nik proud, but he’d faltered a few times and even he knew he hadn’t played his best, but he had tried his best so he wasn't going to dwell on it too much. He was glad that his team had won this match even it had been disappointing overall, but it was still better than losing to those goddamn eagles. Karel wished that he could have hit at least one of the teams opposing chasers, or even the keeper maybe then it wouldn’t have just been sheer luck and the quick reflexes of their seeker.

The venom in Miranda’s voice when she spoke to him, made Karel’s grin grow even more and this time it was a genuine one at how easy it was for him to make her angry, she did however have a point it had been a shit match. ”You have a point, it was pretty awful, but at least we didn’t let them beat us.” He pointed out, ”And if I hadn’t stopped that bludger, ljubica, you would have been pissed about losing more than just points.” He smirked, swiping his hands through his hair again. Karel bit his lip and swung his own broom over his shoulder when Miranda did, when she told him he should have directed his bludgers at the others, the wizard feigned hurt and held his hands up, ”I directed quite a lot at them, I just unfortunately didn’t hit them as much as I wanted to, but you see, ljubica, you seemed like a damsel in distress, I wouldn’t dream of leaving you high and dry.” He said, bringing his hand to rest on his heart and he glance at her, the same glint as before in his eyes.

Karel took a few more minutes watching the witch before he sidled around her and started to stroll towards the changing rooms, ”You’re welcome.” He called over his shoulder, waiting to see if she’d follow him in a temper, he wasn’t quite ready for his fun to end just yet.

[attr="class","backgslyth"]

[attr="class","lyric1slyth"]trust in me

[attr="class","lyricbgslyth"]

[attr="class","lyric2slyth"]SAILING ON A SILVER MIST
SLOWLY AND SURELY YOUR SENSES
WILL CEASE TO RESIST

[attr="class","textbodslyth"]Miranda took Quidditch seriously. Everyone in the family played. Well, as far as she had been told, anyways. It wasn't like Miranda had ever actually met her father's siblings. But Dad played a lot of Quidditch at Hogwarts, and he had mentioned something in passing about her aunt being the team captain at one point. And then, of course, she knew about her cousin--the one that actually played Quidditch. Or used to, anyways. Merlin only knew what was happening now with this whole epidemic. Miranda worried for her parents a lot, but it also made her feel... curious. More so than usual, about the family she had never met. It was a touchy subject. She didn't usually get much out of her father on the topic. He was, unsurprisingly, closed up and cold as ice when it came to his siblings. But Miranda knew they existed--which only made her more curious. She knew there was bad blood, and that there was no point in broaching the topic, but... well, she couldn't help it. They were there, after all, and she was curious.

Anyways, genetics or not, Miranda loved Quidditch and she worked hard. This hadn't been a good game for her standards. She knew she could do better, but her mind had been a mess. Maybe it was OWL stress getting the best of her. Miranda had a lot on her plate in that regard, and her expectations concerning school were not any lower than those concerning Quidditch. At least they had won, by some sheer force of luck.

It seemed to be at the price of dealing with a cocky Karel Higgs.

Miranda didn't really have anything against him. He just made her clench her jaw a lot of the time simply by speaking. It was like he went out of his way to rile her up, and impulsiviy had always been a weakness of hers, unfortunately. Miranda let out a scoff and rolled her eyes at his words. "It's Quidditch. People get hurt," she replied simply. And that much was definitely true. Deep down, she was pretty thankful that Karel had looked out for her--but she wasn't about to admit that out loud. Miranda liked to think that she could hold her own on the pitch. Becauseshe could. Her anger flared up more as he continued talking and she felt herself clench her jaw as she focused a searing glare on him. "Damsel in distress? Seriously, Higgs, you need to get off your high horse," Miranda shot back.

And then he walked away. Miranda was ready to just leave him be--until he glanced over his shoulder and said that. She crossed the distance between them with easy strides, cutting him off and stopping in front of him. "I'm welcome? For what--doing your job?" she questioned.

@ firestarter | 467 words | outfit - quidditch robes

[attr="class","cred"]MADE BY VEL OF GS + WW

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It had been no surprise for his family that Karel would be skilled on a broom, his parents had both played Quidditch in school and he’d just followed in their footsteps. He knew they were proud of him, they made it clear that they were, but Karel never tried to let it feed his confidence. Flying was something he truly loved and if his parents hadn’t liked it, then they’d just have to accept that it was something he’d do. He’d never considered it as a career, to Karel it was just a chance to relax, unwind and just enjoy himself and sometimes that was all he needed. Especially when stress and tensions were high and he was spending so much time studying and trying to bring in new clients.

Another source of entertainment was Miranda, he hated to admit how much he adored pushing her button, he had for a while now. There was just something about seeing Miranda, normally so cool and disinterested see red. He never missed the chance to tease her, he knew if he was careless in his annoying her, people would talk and speculate. It was like what parents told young children, ‘if a boy bullies you, he likes you’. Of course, Karel didn’t like Miranda, that was beneath him. Sure, she was attractive and he could appreciate that about her, but deeper feelings weren’t his thing. He had more important things than relationships and feelings.

Miranda was right, people did get hurt in Quidditch, for some people a match wasn’t a proper match unless at least one person got hurt, but that didn’t mean Karel was going to let it be his teammates get hurt, he valued his team and he’d rather take a hit and give a hit, then let one of his teammates get injured. Preferably, he didn’t want to get hurt either; only his rivals, but with being a beater, you often got hit first. ”That doesn’t mean I want to just let you get hurt.” He finally said smirking at her, he was being earnest, he’d regret it if she got hurt, but he didn’t want to give her an ego boost with the knowledge that he genuinely cared about her well-being.

”Damsel in Distress.” He repeated before grinning wickedly, ”By my high horse, I’m assuming you mean my white stallion that helped me to be your Knight in Shining Armour.” He teased. Walking away had been deliberate, he knew that would rile her up if he showed disinterest, he felt a certain smugness knowing how easy it was for him to infuriate her. ”My job?” He scoffed, ”Maybe it’s my job, but I could have tried to help someone else and let you get hit by that bludger, but I didn’t. I chose to help you and it was a damn good job I did too, that bludger and been hit hard.” He retorted, looking serious for a brief moment before he concealed it and looked at her in eager anticipation to see how she’d respond.