Closed Navigating Responsibilities

[Elliot Briar]

Practices were a vital part of running a Quidditch team, but Elliot had never considered that they'd actually have to arrange something to schedule them with the other captains. He knew it was fairly obvious that would be the case in retrospect, but he still hadn't fully been prepared to sit down and sort it out with the other captains. Especially when the other captains included Blake, Lars, and Sierra. Abian had some Brotherhood stuff to deal with, so Elliot had agreed to go check in with the other captains and make sure everyone got their fair chance to book the pitch this year.

Elliot had cordoned off a table for them in the student lounge and sat there tapping a quill on the parchment in front of him as he waited, trying not to psych himself out too badly. Things with Lars were a lot better than the previous years after their break up at least, but Elliot still was wary of Blake. And it was a bit awkward with Sierra too, now that he was dating Alice, seeing as she had kissed Blake while Blake and Alice were still dating in Elliot's fourth year, though he didn't know if he should hold that more against Sierra or Blake. It was all a mess and Elliot hoped they could get through a meeting without things being too weird.

 

[Lars van Houten]

Lars knew that he relied a lot on Minnie for captain stuff, but today he had to do it on his own. Minnie was really busy, and Lars didn't want to bother her with something as silly as scheduling practices. But he wished he could skip out on this if he was honest. It was still strange enough to see Elliot again, but it was stranger with Blake around as well. He didn't know Sierra that well, but knew she had some sort of history with Blake. He kind of hoped Lysander would show up instead. Lars headed to the Student Lounge where they had agreed to meet up. He only saw Elliot so far, and he approached him. "Hey." He said, feeling slightly awkward. "Congratulations on becoming captain..."

 

[Blake van Houten]

Blake hadn't had a panic attack about today. Nothing of the sort. He had had a cool and normal guy experience of emotions, and if he had spent a solid fourty five minutes staring at himself in the mirror without moving.... well, that was just because he looked great today, and nobody had been there to really say whether or not what he was doing could be considered hyperventilating. Nah, he was fine. He was just going to a friendly and normal and totally normal casual normal meeting with the girl he had cheated on his first girlfriend with, the boy he had been kissing in secret, and that boy's ex-boyfriend who hated him. Terrific! Great and normal! Any normal person would have all kinds of normal and human emotions about this totally normal meeting and that was exactly how Blake was feeling.

At least Sierra hadn't arrived yet when he reached the lounge. That was the smallest of small mercies. Actually thinking about this meeting and experiencing it were two entirely different horrors though. As he approached the other two captains, Blake realised with a fresh spike of dread that he had to be mean to Lars. There was no way he could let on to the others that things were anything other than normal between them, and normal meant bullying on Blake's end. Actually being faced with Lars and the reality of having to be mean to his face, though... Blake scrambled for anything to say, and unfortunately his legs proved faster than his brain. He paused after reaching the other two for a moment too long before finally blurting out the first thing that came to his mind. "Hey, losers." Blake had to resist flinching the second it came out of his mouth, chancing a regrettable glance at Lars. This was all much too real, and as good as he had been at belittling others for his whole life, it was all falling apart now. "I mean.... like.... technically... you know..." He stammered, still looking at Lars. Even to keep his cover, it was too hard to insult the Ravenclaw now. "You did... both lose...." Blake trailed off, sticking his hands in his pockets defensively. "....I mean, hey." He landed on eventually, tearing his gaze away from Lars and looking around, desperate to change the subject. "...Sierra late?"

 

[Sierra Woodlock]

Sierra had agreed to take this scheduling meeting, excited to get involved with doing captain-y things. Quidditch was a lot of fun for Sierra, she was even beginning to think about doing it once she left school. Scheduling practices was surely going to be an easy task, and Sierra was excited to catch up with the other captains. She didn't know too much about them, except for Blake, and she didn't really have any qualms with him, she was just glad Tyler wasn't going to be there - he was someone that could stay away from her forever.
As she entered the room, Sierra heard Jasper's last statement. "Nope! I'm on time! Right? Am I?" She asked. She wouldn't be that surprised if she was late but was hoping she was on time for once.

 

[Elliot Briar]

Elliot wasn't sure if he was relieved when Lars showed up first, giving him a stilted nod in greeting. "Uh yeah, thanks," He said, giving Lars a small smile. Out of the sixth year captains, Lars was probably the one he was on best terms with, even if he still hated how awkward things were between them still. Blake arrived shortly after and Elliot could only stare as Blake decided to tease them both. While Elliot had tried to let last year's game go, it still stung a lot to be reminded, even in such a stupid way by someone like Blake and he just gave Blake a tight nod in response, deciding the best way to get through this meeting was going to be ignoring him. He couldn't believe they were in their 6th year of school and Blake still behaved like the bully he'd been back in their first year. "You're good, Sierra," He said, giving her a small smile as she arrived, if only because it meant he wouldn't have to make small talk with Blake.

"So uh, guess since we've got all the team reps here we should uh.. Hash out a schedule. I know some of us have players or our own club commitments to consider," He said, clearing his throat awkwardly and checking his own list of player availability. Elliot did not feel totally confident trying to negotiate or lead any sort of discussion with this group of people, especially not Blake, but he tried to focus on his paper and not anyone's faces to get through it. Maybe he should have tried harder to get Abian to handle this.

 

[Lars van Houten]

Lars wasn't sure if he was grateful when Blake showed up. At least he didn't have to be alone with Elliot anymore, but things were just more awkward now that the boy he used to kiss and the boy he was currently kissing in secret were both here. Lars didn't even think he could look at Blake without turning red, so he didn't. He barely reacted to his comment about them being losers, and let Elliot do most of the talking. It was a relief when Sierra showed up. He knew she had a history with Blake as well, but as far as he was concerned she was the most far removed from his own situation. "You're on time." He said quietly to her. Then he looked at Elliot and shrugged. "I think we all have people in all clubs in our teams, so maybe we could just try to plan around club events in general." He said quietly. "I'm not in any... so I don't know how often they have events." He added, glancing around. "Does that take away a lot of dates?" He asked in general, glancing at Blake but only briefly before looking at Elliot.

 

[Blake van Houten]

Blake didn't think he had ever been this happy to see Sierra. If he had had to spend a single second longer alone with Elliot and Lars he thought he would have combusted. He slid into a seat and listened stone-faced as Elliot and Lars started the meeting, piping up gruffly after Lars spoke. "Brotherhood and SDA usually do.... one thing every semester, so...." He shrugged, arms folded defensively.