Open Pity Party

[Dominic Torres]

It had been a few days since they had gotten back from France and Dominic felt awful about the whole thing. Hope had gotten knocked out and they ended up losing anyways. He had been so optimistic, and really thought they were ready. Yes they were still a new team and a lot of growing to do but the loss definitely still stung. So he decided to throw a "pity party" as a chance to feel sad and wallow in their loss and then get over it so they could get back to practicing so they would be ready for next year, and his last year. Dominic had set up a table of snacks and sodas to celebrate and as an incentive for the team to actually show up to this. He sighed, while they were technically a team, they sure had trouble acting like it. "Hey everyone!" he greeted cheerfully once he saw some of the team starting to arrive. "Welcome! Grab a snack and a drink." he instructed. "Lets all just take this time to embrace the disappointment so we can use it for next time." he said. "But starting next week, no more mopping at back to practice!"

 

[AJ Ari]

Ever though a few days had passed, AJ was still feeling pretty miserable about how their last game had gone. He hadn't been having the greatest practices lately, but the game with Beauxbatons had felt like an all time low in terms of performance. When he'd gotten word that Dominic was planning some sort of team party, AJ had considered not showing up at all, he'd been doing a decent job of avoiding his fellow teammates already since they'd gotten back and was quite happy to continue that streak. But AJ knew he'd have to face the team eventually, so keeping his head down, he joined the rest of the team at their little pity party.

He was impressed with how chipper Dominic was able to be, trying to keep a meek smile pasted on in return as Dominic greeted everyone and lamented the game. Dominic was right though about having practice again soon and AJ's stomach lurched at the idea. He grabbed a drink silently, not looking forward to being back on the pitch any time soon.

 

[Eli Carter]

Eli was not in the mood for more of Dominic's stupid team bonding, but he had somet hings to say so he decided to go anyway. He wasn't sad they had lots, he was furious they had played so badly. Quidditch often ended up being about luck, at least from his perspective. The seeker either saw the snitch, or didn't. But there was no excuse for how badly the chasers, beaters and keeper had played against Beauxbatons. It had been humiliating. So after Dominic gave his little speech, Eli rolled his eyes and rounded on AJ. "You must have set some sort of record, one hit and it was your own team member, on the bench." He said scathingly. "I bet the French kids are laughing about it even now."

 

[Cayleigh Baros]

Cayleigh Baros was all for the party even though it was just a reminder that they lost to Beauxbatons. But, they were a new team, and this was only their second game. Beauxbatons had been competing for years. From what she heard, they were undefeated. Cayleigh sighed as she nodded along with Dominic's speech. However, when Eli Carter jumped on AJ. She glared at him but looked to Dominic. She controlled her temper and just smiled at AJ, "Don't worry about that. Bludgers can go off course after they are hit." ​

 

[Einar Haines]

Einar had thought they might have more success in the second game against beauxbatons, but it was clear they were just a much stronger team than Ilvermonry were. Einar knew too that Lucas hadn’t particularly enjoyed his first experience of a game, but Einar didn’t think it was valid, they perhaps hadn’t scored but Lucas was a good player, he was good, it was just the other team was that little bit better than they were. There was little they could do about it. He had gotten the note about the party for the team and though he likely wouldn’t have attended before, with Lucas on the team he wasn’t going to take any chances about Lucas being there and getting into bother. So he arrived at the party and grabbed a drink and just stood at the edge of the room. Waiting for Lucas to show up. ​

 

[Adam Everett]

Adam was furious with his team for making him look like a total idiot in front of the entirety of the french school. He knew he was the best player on the team, but their distracting misplays had made him look like a total beginner, and it was all their fault. He slipped into the room after he'd watched some of the others go inside, not wanting to be publicly seen hanging out with some of the less popular players. He helped himself to a drink, tuning out whatever it was Dominic had to say, while he searched around the room for Lucas. He couldn't spot him, and figured he was probably too embarrassed to show his face after failing so miserably. Instead, he sniggered along after Eli tore into AJ. The team needed to be called out for how bad they were, and he rolled his eyes as Cayleigh came to his defense. "If you're a crap beater." He muttered loudly. "Seriously, what's with this team? We've got these newbies who don't listen to me when I tell them what to do so we can win, beaters hitting our own players, and chasers letting the quaffle be stolen. It's not that hard to hold onto the ball." The teen scoffed, giving looks toward the appropriate parties as he mentioned their blunders. "And if I'm going to be the only one carrying this team, maybe I should be the seeker instead. Hope's too slow to dodge bludgers." Adam continued. If they were going to have any chance of winning, he knew that the game needed to be all about him. If no one else was going to be any good, and since he thought he was the only one putting in any work, he may as well be putting that effort toward ending the game.​

 

[Ragan Romanes]

Ragan Romanes walked into the room where there was the party for their loss. Ragan was rather optimistic about it, since they all needed to work together. He was ignorant of some of the issues there, and he went straight for the snacks. He turned his attention when there was some sort of exchange, then the keeper went off. Ragan fake coughed, "Says the boy that didn't block a single shot." Ragan took a drink and looked toward the captains. Ragan shrugged toward the keeper, "If you want to be the captain of a winning team, you can always go start your own. It wouldn't be official, but at least you can, I don't know, 'carry a team'. You can call it... Everett's Quidditch team. Only ones allowed are those that love themselves more than others!" Ragan was teasing at this point, which it was totally fun. ​

 

[Dominic Torres]

Dominic sighed. He definitely wasn’t surprised when the gathering almost immediately turned into an argument. He had hoped they would at least get to enjoy some of the snacks before the bickering started. “Hey!” he snapped to get everyone’s attention. “You know what? We could have done better.” he said firmly in agreement. “And we could always do better. There is always room for improvement.” he said and stared at Eli to emphasize his point. “But taking it out on each other isn’t going to help anyone.” he insisted. “We play as a team. We lose as a team.” he continued, and turned to look at Adam next. Dominic was doing his best to channel his mother at this moment. As a teacher she was amazing at getting through to unruly kids and he had first hand experience seeing how effective a disappointed look could work wonders. “Constructive criticism is welcome. That’s how we get better. But pointing fingers isn’t going to help anyone.” he insisted, and sent a pleading look to Ragan. Dominic wanted so badly to say something to Adam about ‘how he couldn’t even carry his own ego’ but he stopped himself. It would do no good and he had to lead by example if he was going to get anywhere.

 

[AJ Ari]

AJ had half been hoping with the game a few days behind them, everyone would have forgotten just how badly he'd managed to play against Beauxbatons. Unfortunately, it appeared neither Eli nor Adam had been kind enough to forget and AJ just kept his head down as they insulted him. He appreciated Cayleigh trying to soften the blow for him, but the more the others talked about it the more the idea of trying to drown himself in his cup seemed appealing. Dominic was doing his best to damage control, but all AJ could really think about was how much it was going to suck if AJ didn't miraculously become a better beater before their next practice. He'd always felt a little stressed having Eli breathing down his neck as their alternate, but now he felt like surely it was a matter of time before he got subbed out for good if he didn't suck it up. The team's arguments drifted into dull background noise and AJ tried to figure out some way, some practice routine he could throw together that might help.

 

[Eli Carter]

Eli turned to the co-captain, who told AJ not to worry about it. He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure. Tell him not to worry about it." He snapped. " That will help him get better." He didn't get all this soft stuff from the captains, it was making them weaker. "At least he hit something." He then added under his breath, not quite wanting Cayleigh to hear as she was technically able to kick him off the team. But while AJ had messed up, at least he'd done something. Adam then talked some sense, at least until he talked about carrying the team. Eli snorted and turned to him. "Carrying the team? You didn't even carry the quaffle because you kept failing to catch it." He snapped at him. He then rolled his eyes at Dominic. "Pointing fingers might wake some of you up. We're not all five years old, we can handle some harsh truths and we don't need our hands held, Dominic." He then snapped at the other captain.

 

[Adam Everett]

Adam's cheeks flushed with anger as some of the team's absolute worst players tried to round on him. "Ugh, just shut it, bench-warmers. Must be real cushy on the sidelines. You're barely even on this team, so who asked you?" He snapped back, glaring between Ragan and Eli. "I didn't say I wanted to be captain, Rag, but since you brought it up, maybe I should have been. There's no one better for it. I know what it takes to win, and if anyone listened to me, you might actually do better." He scoffed loudly and rolled his eyes, before turning to Eli. "I'm sorry, is it my job to carry the quaffle? Or is it the chasers? Because I was under the impression they were supposed to carry it from one end of the pitch to the other, not drop it for the other team halfway. That's not on me. If everyone else did their jobs better, I wouldn't have to scrabble to make up for it. Yeesh, it's no wonder you're an alternate." He all but spat. It wasn't his fault. The French girls were probably part veela or something anyway, which was why their chaser could keep slipping past him. It had to be some kind of spell.​

 

[Hope Thompson]

Hope was a little bit late to the party. For her it wasn't a party, she failed again. Was taken out of the game, she had to practice more and be quicker. Perhaps avoiding bludgers was part of an training as well? Hope was usually positive and sportive, but she felt it hard to face her team. But she decided to come. So walked towards the place they would meet and saw a lot of people inside already. Dominic spoke and Hope smiled. She saw Cayleigh and smiled to the girl walking towards her but than heard the boys discussing something. Adam was being Adam and people just were insulting eachother. Hope than decided to say hello. '' Hey guys.'' The girl said with an sweet smile. Hope than heard some things the boys said to eachother and sighted and than looked at Cayleigh. '' Boys..'' She than said with an grin. She had been spending some time in the hospital wing after the game. After being hit three times with an bludger. '' I feel bad for losing.'' She than spoke. '' Bludgers sucks.'' Hope than said and looked around. She was gonna get something to drink soon.​

 

[Eli Carter]

Eli felt insulted, being grouped in together with Ragan by Adam. He scowled at him as he answered him, crossing his arms. "It's your job to catch the quaffle." He told him coldly. "Something you seemed to have failed at for the entire game." He rolled his eyes. "Too busy flirting with the Beauxbatons chasers to pay attention, I guess. We would have done just as well without a keeper." He told him with a snort. "You didn't make up for anything, you made it worse." He added with a sneer.

 

[Adam Everett]

"Jealous?" Adam spat back. "Must have been hard for your beta ass to watch a real man like me up there. Those Beauxbaton girls loved me. We had a certain...je ne sais quoi." He said, in what he considered a flawless impression of the french accent. He mimed the kisses being blown his way by the girls, lazily catching them in the air. "I've caught more quaffles than you've hit bludgers in your life. Every practice, every match, if you weren't on the team, would anything be different?" He laughed nastily. "Let's get you bench-warmers some pom-poms, huh? You can cheer on the real players from the sidelines. You'd look totally cute in a little cheerleaders skirt." He continued with a smarmy grin, looking at Eli before shifting to Ragan in turn, then settling on Dominic. "Come on, team captain. Let's get these boys doing something useful."​

 

[AJ Ari]

AJ had been pretty busy wallowing his own stress and misery for most of the party, but it was starting to get harder to ignore the arguing, especially between Eli and Adam. It likely wasn't a secret that the other boys intimidated him, and AJ just watched with the same vague fascination that one would a broom collision as the two boys sniped at each other. He knew this wasn't great for team moral, and was pretty sure Dominic or Cayleigh was going to have to do something to stop the argument before it got too out of hand, though he was a little worried what exactly. They couldn't really risk doing something as harsh as kicking anyone off the team, not with their current track record, and despite how awful Eli and Adam could be, AJ would still feel bad if anyone had to be removed. Still, he picked his head up more to watch, grateful at least that his own abysmal performance at the last game was no longer the main topic of ridicule.

 

[Eli Carter]

Eli rounded on Adam. "Jealous, of a keeper who can't save a quaffle? Those girls were laughing at you." He spat back at him angrily. He wasn't even that angry at Adam, but at least he was reacting back in a way Eli could respond to. "I would have done something if I had been allowed to play." He grit out, clenching his fists at Adam's words. The mocking way he spoke to him was really setting him on edge, reminding him of why he'd hated Adam the most at first. He felt embarrassed about his comments. Adam always thought he was better than everyone, and he needed to realize he was not as great as he thought he was. "It wouldn't have made a difference if you were on the bench, there would have been just as many goals." He snarled before moving closer and shoving Adam back. "Shut your mouth."

 

[Hope Thompson]

Hope shook her head as an discussion went out of hand it seemed. She didn't liked fights. Perhaps they would not listen to her, but she could try. It was their captains thing to make sure they would listen, but she just didn't want people to get hurt. '' No girls would like you guys if you keep fighting like this. Come on, let's just have an fun night together. And keep the fighting spirit for in the game or practices.'' Hope than said calm and looked around. But than Adam and Eli went touching eachother as well shoving and than Hope walked closer to them. '' I feel bad for losing too, and am mad. But we won't become better if we keep fighting eachother.'' The brunette than said and hoped that they would listen to her, there needed to be an boy in the middle of them. If things would become even worse. '' Come on. Stop it...Please?'' She tried to look as cute as possible to the two guys. ​

@Eli Carter @Adam Everett ​

 

[Dominic Torres]

Dominic sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose as Eli started to go off again. He would never say this out loud but this kind of attitude was probably why the other boy didn’t have many friends. But at the same time Dominic didn’t exactly mind when he started to direct some of his anger towards Adam, who was being even worse. "You know what, I agree. I think you all do need to recognize some hard truths." he said seriously. "We are a team. Like it or not. We are not individuals out there. I’m not holding anyone’s hand but here is a difference between taking accountability and being cruel.” he said before Adam started up again about how he was the only talented one on the team or whatever. Dominic wanted to point out that Adam couldn’t actually score any points and therefore couldn’t make up for anything but he kept his mouth closed knowing it would be like arguing with a brick wall. He was going to just sit back and let them fight it out, hoping that it would maybe clear the air. If anything it would let them get it out of their systems by the next practice, but that dream was quickly shot when Eli pushed Adam. Without thinking Dominic maneuvered between them to hold them apart. “That's it! If you don’t cut this crap out right now, you are both off the team.” He said as menacing as he could. Dominic knew they didn't respect him and he had no idea if that was within his power as co-captian. He sent a pleading look towards Cayleigh hoping she would either step in or back him up. "Would it really kill you to shut and let it go, or would you really rather there was no team at all?" he asked finally getting angry as he looked back and forth between them.

 

[AJ Ari]

The argument between Eli and Adam was starting to escalate into a full blown fight and AJ grimaced. No wonder Beauxbatons had wiped the floor with them. He felt for Hope, she was one of the people who'd probably had the worst time at the game but she was still trying to wrangle Eli and Adam none-the-less. Thankfully Dominic stepped in and AJ was glad he'd really stepped up into the captain role. AJ had no idea how he managed to stay so level and positive all the time, but it was reassuring to have Dominic around, though AJ hoped he wasn't actually about to kick Eli and Adam off the team. As much as they sucked, AJ was suddenly fearful that if things kept going as they were going, and they lost some team members, then their Quidditch team might not even exist that much longer. They definitely weren't as popular as the Quadpot team, and the last thing they needed was all the bad rep from kicking Adam off the team. AJ had felt like he was maybe actually finding his groove before their last game, he wasn't ready to have the team crumble just yet.

 

[Adam Everett]

Adam let out a strangled yelp. Eli had shoved him. Shoved him. He was ready to brawl. He started on the redhead, taking a step forward and ignoring Hope's protests, until it was Dominic getting in the way, with the audacity to threaten to kick him off the team. "Both of us? He pushed me! He's the one who should be kicked off. He's barely even on the team." Adam retorted, looking highly offended at the mere suggestion he was at fault. He glared at Eli for a moment and scoffed, turning away. "This is ridiculous. Fine. But you should be grateful. I could tell the headmaster exactly what goes on in this team, how I was assaulted by another player and no one defended me." He complained, rubbing the spot he'd been shoved, as if it had been a harder push that it really was. Trust Dominic to be completely unfair, when Adam was so clearly the victim.​

 

[Eli Carter]

Eli wanted to shove Adam again, but he knew that if he wasn't kicked off the team yet, that would be the thing to do it. He barely held himself back, and glard at Hope as she talked to them. "Shut up." He said. "I don't care what you think." He added dismissively. Why did she think asking him please would help? She wasn't anyone important. But unfortunately, Dominic was. Eli reluctantly looked over at him as he yelled at them, and he crossed his arms. "Whatever." He said. "It's not like this team has ever won anything." He then glared at Adam. "Like the headmaster will care." He snapped. "Especially if I say the things you just said to me." He added more quietly. He then turned to the captains and raised his eyebrows, as if waiting for them to make the next move, since they were apparently trying to actually be leaders for once.