Closed Commiseration

[Orélie Manuel]

Not wanting to let one loss overshadow their entire season, Orélie did her best to keep a calm, neutral face as they clattered into the changing rooms after the match. The whole team had been amazing, Bijoux had been an iron wall, their beaters, especially Mualla, had been fierce, they had nothing to feel bad about. But it was hard, to come all this way for a match and then lose. Still, she threw her bracers down a bit rougher than she normally would, spinning around as the rest of the team filed in one after the other. She didn't need the rest of the team to think she was anything but mildly disappointed, but as soon as she started seeing the rest of the BONSquad arriving in the changing room, Orélie felt her composure begin to crack. She had wanted so badly for them to win. For Nadine to have a final victory with all of them on the team. For Simone, who Orélie didn't think she had ever seen so focused until they joined to the team. And for Bijoux, who had seemed so oddly invested in this one match in particular.

"Well," She said, chewing on her lip as her friends began dismantling their quidditch gear. "That sucked, huh." Orélie said flatly, not knowing if she wanted to laugh or cry as the adrenaline from the game left her.

 

[Bijoux Laurent]

Bijoux was going to cry. She could barely keep the tears out of her eyes as her team made their way off the pitch. This entire trip had been for nothing, and their team losing was just the icing on that horrible, horrible cake. The tears had already started to fall by the time she made it into the changing room, and Orélie's outburst kicked Bijoux into one of her own. She started sobbing violently, sinking onto a bench and putting her head into her hands. She would be returning to France with nothing, no answers at all about her family. It was all a waste.

 

[Simone Moreau-Chen]

Simone stomped her way to the changing rooms and the moment they were inside, kicked the first thing she could see. That thing just happened to be a pretty solid looking bench. She cursed as pain shot up her foot and sucked in a hissing breath. How could they have lost? After all that work and hours of practice, for what? To travel across the world only to be beaten by a bunch of dumb kids. This is why she never played sports. She hated the way she felt now, defeated and angry at everyone and no one, or maybe just herself for missing the shot she had. Simone was just about to agree with Orelie when Bijoux burst into tears. She knew everyone was upset but this felt like a lot for just a game of quidditch, especially for Bijoux. “Oh my god, Bi. What’s wrong?” She asked and she crouched beside her friend. Simone settled on resting a hand on Bijoux’s knee since she also wanted to give the other girl some space.

 

[Nadine De Rosier]

Nadine's face was stormy the moment she touched down onto the ground. She was upset. This stupid game hadn't been fair at all! It had been supposed to be their crowning achievement, especially of her friend group, but now they were all disappointed and it felt like it was partly her fault for getting her friends to join the team in the first place. The moment Nadine headed into the changing room, she threw her broom onto the ground angrily."It didn't just suck. It was awful!" She snapped at Orélie. Then she turned to Bijoux, who had burst into tears. "You didn't even care bout Quidditch before..." She said, though the anger left her voice as she took in her crying friend.

 

[Orélie Manuel]

Orélie scrubbed a hand over her face, frowning as Bijoux began to sob. "Don't start crying, Bibi, or I'll cry," Orélie said, aiming for levity but feeling her face sink when it seemed like Bijoux was legitimately upset. Nadine she could get being sad, or even Simone, who had a bit of a competitive streak, but while Orélie was disappointed, she would get over their loss. She decided to give Nadine a pass for snapping at her, still shooting her a warning look as she moved over to sit on the bench with Bijoux, sighing and looking at the other girls helpless as Bijoux sobbed before tentatively curling and arm around Bijoux's shoulders, mumbling nonsense comfort words into Bi's hair, shushing her tears gently. "We'll get 'em next year, I'm sure." She said, though her heart wasn't really in it.

 

[Bijoux Laurent]

Her friends jokes washed over Bijoux for the most part, not worth paying attention to in the face of the crushing disappointment in every fiber of her body. What was the point of anything anymore? She only came back to paying attention when she felt Orélie's arm around her, choking back a fresh wave of sobs. After this level of disappointment there felt no point anymore in keeping her secrets. Wiping her eyes, Bijoux managed to finally splutter the words out. "My... s-sister..." She choked out, resting her face in her hands. "I have... a sister. She... g-goes to... to Hogwarts, I think..." Bijoux sniffled and pulled herself together a bit, still trembling hard with the sobs she was holding back. "I just... I wanted to f-find her..." She choked and shook her head, a fresh wave of sobs overtaking her.

 

[Simone Moreau-Chen]

Simone sat eagerly waiting for Bijoux to snap out of it and play off the tears as a joke. That's what this was right? There was no way she was that upset about a game even if she had been the one to convince all of them to join the team in the first place. But that was not what Bijoux said and Simone felt the weight of Bijoux’s words hit her as if it were a physical blow and let herself fall backwards just a bit until she plopped to the ground. “A sister?” She asked in stunned disbelief with her hands laying limply in her lap. “Secret sister…how? what?” she whispered, mostly to herself and hoped her other friends could come up with something better to say as she still tried to process this information.

 

[Nadine De Rosier]

Nadine felt uncertain as she looked at Bijoux, and she cast a glance at both Orélie and Simone who were better at handling emotional things. She frowned a little as she listened to what Bijoux said, and felt oddly betrayed when she realized why her friend had joined the team. "So... you... you wanted to join for your ...sister?" She asked, trying to understand it. "Why do you think she's at Hogwarts?" Nadine asked, moving a little closer. She crouched down in front of Bijoux, looking up at her. While she thought it was a little frustrating that she hadn't told them about this before, she was more concerned with how she was feeling now. "It's going to be okay... can you tell us about it?"

 

[Orélie Manuel]

Orélie was taken aback by the revelation that Bijoux was upset about a long-lost sister, not them losing the match. This was why Orélie asked them about things at the start of the year. There was always something with these girls. "You couldn't have just written her a letter or something, Bibi?" Orélie asked her with an indulgent sigh. Her friends just had to make things difficult. She worried sometimes that she and Bijoux where the only ones with any sense, but times like these made her think she was the only sane person in their group. It was a little hurtful that Bijoux hadn't told them about her sister, but Orélie could understand that it was probably pretty personal. "We would have helped, you know." She told Bijoux, giving her a gentle squeeze and hoping Bijoux might tell them more.

 

[Bijoux Laurent]

Bijoux listened to her friends, trying not to become entirely overwhelmed by emotion. These were the people who loved her the most, the people who would support her through anything. It was hard, but she calmed herself down enough to speak, staring at her knees as she remembered. "I... found letters. Really old ones, between my mum and some guy. She was a surrogate, they weren't... together or anything. But she's never told me any of this, I don't know why she kept it secret. The letters ended, really abruptly, out of nowhere. I only got a name, and a few... mentions of New Zealand. This was... the only place I could think to look, she would be... a little bit older than me." Bijoux sniffled, fidgeting with her hands sadly. "Mum doesn't want to talk about it, but I... want to meet her, I want to know what she's like, I've got... this big sister out there somewhere." Bijoux swallowed, wiping her eyes sadly. "She doesn't even know I exist..."