Open Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

[Dominic Torres]

Dominic paced around the student lounge waiting for the rest of the team to arrive. Their first practice hadn't gone as smoothly as he would have liked. While Dominic wasn't captain he still cared about them team and wanted them to do well and after a practice like that the team seemed a little tense. Things were said, and while he had his own opinions on the subject Dominic at least had the common sense to keep them to himself. They were a team after all and if they wanted a chance to be any good they needed to start acting like it and get to know each other a little better. That's why he decided to put together his own unofficial team building get together. Dominic glanced at the time and the team should be arriving any second. He chewed on his lip nervously, suddenly worried no one was going to come and they'd have to spend the rest of this season without ever becoming a team. Thankfully he spotted some of them entering the lounge and he let out a sigh of relief. "Hey everyone! Why don't we start by going around and introducing ourselves? Let's all say our name and I was thinking we could play two truths and a lie! So just say two things that a true about yourself and then one thing that's a lie, and the next person can try and guess which one the lie is." he explained as most of the team started to arrive. "I'll start! I'm Dominic and I grew up in Arizona, I have two dogs named Rango and Starfish, and I have never broken a bone." He began and turned to Isaak, hoping he'd lead by example and participate. He knew stuff like this was kind of silly but it was a good way for the team to get to know one another.

 

[Isaak Baros]

Isaac Baros would have been lying if he said that what Dominic wanted was a bad idea. He thought that this was perfect. He walked into the student lounge and smiled toward Dominic. He mouthed a 'thank you' for putting this together. Isaak smoothed out his robes, and listened to Dominic start the fun game of two truths and a lie. Isaak hated lying, but this would be a fun game, so it wouldn't hurt, right? Isaak could only guess at the whole two truths and a lie bit. Isaak clasped his hands together, and introduced himself, "Hey, I'm Isaak Baros, and I am a seventh year Pukwudgie." He smiled a little bit more, and then heard the two truths and a lie. Well, what could be a lie. He looked toward Dominic and took a wild guess, "I think that one of your dogs would have a different name, so that one is a lie, perhaps?" Isaak definitely sounded pretty bad with that one, but he didn't have a freaking clue.

 

[Adam Everett]

Adam didn't really want anything to do with the quidditch team outside of practices and matches. They weren't his friends, and he didn't really want them to be. The majority of the roster seemed to be classmates from his year, who he felt he already saw enough of in general. The whole thing was supposed to be a means to an end, and that was meant to be the end of it, but if he felt he needed to at least pretend to be the "team player" Isaak had told him to be, so he reluctantly turned up to the ridiculous team-building exercise, if only to lower his chances of being kicked off. Adam took a seat on a lounge as far from the rest of the group, while still trying to appear close enough to be a part of it, and quickly got himself into a comfortable lounging position - shades pressed up to his face even though they were indoors, because he was just that kind of guy, and perhaps with the tint obscuring his eyes, no one would notice if he dozed off due to how utterly boring it was to hang around them. "Who names their dog Starfish." He mumbled to himself, his voice practically inaudible as Dominic spouted off his truths and lies. This was so elementary. Did he really have to waste his time with this?​

 

[AJ Ari]

AJ had heard they'd be trying some sort of teambuilding exercise with the Quidditch team and wasn't sure what to expect. He knew some Quadpot teams did all sorts of hazing rituals and was half prepared to have to do something terrible like eat a stinkbomb when he arrived at the student lounge, relieved to see there was no pillow fort obstacle course or ominous torches set up or anything. In fact, as Dominic explained things, it all seemed pretty tame, which was good. AJ could do tame. He was looking for tame.

It was going to be pretty hard to guess who was lying as the game got started. AJ didn't think he'd even catch if someone told them the wrong name, let alone any personal stuff, but it would a pretty fun way to find out about his teammates. "We had a dog called Moose when I was kid so it's not that weird I guess," AJ offered weakly, trailing off with a shrug when Adam had a go at poor Starfish. He was pretty intimidated by Adam, he was pretty and way cooler than AJ, but he was finding it was a bit easier to be less scared of people once you'd seen them take a few bludger hits."I reckon Dominic's lying about the broken bone," He offered. Dominic just had the look of someone who'd broken an arm or something before. He was sitting next to Dominic now, so AJ guessed it was his turn. "Uhh, I'm AJ, and my two truths and a lie are uhh. I'm Canadian-" AJ winced, he should have thought of something before speaking-"Uh, I can touch my elbow with my tongue, and um. AJ stands for Alder Jackson.. Like star seeker from the Haileybury Hammers.." AJ trailed off again, hoping someone would guess so he could shut up now.

 

[Dominic Torres]

Dominic gave the captain a double thumbs up when he came and thanked him. It wasn’t a problem at all. He wanted to get to know his fellow teammates regardless, nothing had really changed but now they needed it. “Nope!” he said proudly, happy he was able to fool Isaak. He rolled his eyes at Adam’s comment but stayed quiet, not wanting to give away what his lie had been. “Moose is a great name for a dog!” he said earnestly as AJ piped up.

“Correct!” he said excitedly and pointed at AJ. “That was the lie! I stole my brother’s broom when I was 8 and went a little too high, and fell off. Broke my arm and my leg. It made for a very boring summer.” he explained with a laugh. “And as for sweet Starfish, my brothers and I named him when I was 5. I still think it's a great name and he’s really grown into it over the years.” he finished and crossed his arms. He listened to AJ give his answers and Dominic was pretty sure the lie was the elbow thing. He thought that was supposed to be impossible but he kept quiet hoping some of the other’s would participate, as he glanced at Adam.

 

[Eli Carter]

Eli knew that being part of the quidditch team meant he had to attend practices, but he hadn't thought they would have to do stupid team building things. But here he was, against his better judgement. He knew that if he didn't attend things like these, he might stay an alternate forever. The boy was sitting back, his arms crossed with a stormy look on his face as he listened to Dominik. He thought it was dumb to introduce themselves, half of them were in the same year, and they all should know each other's names by now from practices as well. He was glad when the answer to Dominik's two truths and a lie was already found before it was his turn to guess, and he turned his gaze to AJ who then spoke. He rolled his eyes at the other kid, those were some lame statements about himself. "You can't touch your elbow with your tongue." Eli said before he could remember he had decided to stay quiet at this meeting. "It's impossible." He pointed out.

 

[Einar Haines]

Einar hadn’t thought that quidditch would involve much of getting to know the other players, but it seemed it did. He’d come to what he’d thought would be a strategic meeting, where they would be able to decide plays, where they would go over the best way to get the ball, the most efficient beater strategy, but in this occasion, it hadn’t been either of that, they appeared to be doing an ice breaker. The horned serpent had purposefully sat his chair a little away from others, remaining within their little circle. He didn’t want to get to know any of these people, he didn’t even know what he could say about himself, two truths and a lie. He hadn’t had pets like the first one, and He didn’t particularly want to start talking about his family or how awkward it would be for everyone to realise that when he spoke in the past tense that he didn’t have any of them left. Einar just sat quietly listening, opting to not offer up any information or contribute anything. ​

 

[Noah Thomas]

Noah was excited to attend this team-building exercise, it'd be nice to get the rest a little better, even if half of the team was in same year as him. While he had accepted the fact that he would probably be an alternate forever, he was still a little disappointed that it wasn't him who got the spot. But he was determined not to let it get him down too much. Noah joined the others as he entered the student lounge, giving them a friendly smile before sitting down. When Eli said that touching your elbow with your tongue was impossible, Noah tried it out for himself almost immediately. It didn't matter how much he was pushing his elbow towards his face, sticking his tongue out whilst doing so, for he did not even come close to touching his elbow with his tongue at all. ''Yeah, impossible,'' he decided to go with. He then turned his attention back to the game and thought on it for a second. ''I think the Alder Jackson thing is a lie,'' the boy said, watching AJ closely to see if he was giving anything away.

 

[Hope Thompson]

Hope was really loving the fact she was part of a group. She hoped they would like her an she them. But she liking people was not hard. Hope didn't had problems with people that often. She was glad there was some team bonding stuff and she went to the place they would meet and as soon as she entered the student lounge she noticed the team and smiled as she found her spot with them. The game that Dominic had come up with seemed fun and Hope was already excited. Learning names was already hard so she had to pay attention and remember her team mates names. Both Isaak and Noah were in the same house as she was it seemed and that was fun. She already had been meeting with Noah and liked their ''competition'' together and they also helped eachother out. Adam was thinking strange of the dogs name and Hope just ignored him. Hope laughed as Dominic told about the truth and that seemed like something adventurous he did on young age. '' I agree with Noah the Alder Jackson thing for sure.'' She than guessed since some people could do the strangest things and she would not be suprised if he had an talent like that. Hope waited for the answer and until she could introduce herself, she waited patiently.

 

[AJ Ari]

AJ was happy he'd been able to guess Dominic's lie correctly. Between Dominic's generally cheery personality and them both having excellent taste in pet names as a kid, AJ was hopeful that Dominic could be one of the more approachable guys on the team. He kind or regretted picking what he had for his truths and lies though, since now, which some of the team doubting him, AJ probably had to embarrass himself a bit. "Yeah, Hope and Noah are right, AJ doesn't actually stand for anything," He said with a shrug. He'd come up with the lie a few years ago after getting tired of people asking. "But I can lick my elbow, see," AJ steeled himself for a second before rolling back his sleeve, stretching his arm around so his elbow was down by his chin and sticking his tongue out. It was close, he hadn't done it in awhile and it kinda hurt his neck, but he was just able to touch the tip of his tongue to his elbow. "Tada," He said, slightly muffled with his tongue partly out and his arm in his face.

 

[Dominic Torres]

Dominic watched in a kind of morbid fascination as AJ demonstrated his unusual ability. “Gross.” He said with a laugh. “I mean it’s impressive...but gross.” he added still chuckling. He was glad at least some of the team was participating. “Who’s next?!” he asked with a clap of his hands and looked around at the rest of the team. Everyone had shown up which was a good sign but getting them to start talking had turned out to be harder than he expected. He sighed quietly and tried not to channel his mom’s teacher voice and did his best not to bust out the 'if no one volunteers I’ll have to pick someone' line he had heard constantly growing up. He looked pleadingly towards Isaak, hoping he might take the hint and step up.

 

[Eli Carter]

Eli was annoyed when AJ proved him wrong, though he did think it barely counted. He rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, not answering when Dominic asked who was next. He was planning to slip away soon, maybe when they were distracted by whoever went next. It definitely wasn't going to be him, these people didn't need to know anything about him that they didn't know already.

 

[Adam Everett]

Adam couldn't help but roll his eyes as AJ and Ari patted each other's backs over them naming animals after other animals. It wasn't very clever. He thought it just made things more confusing to refer to your dog as a moose or a starfish. He didn't buy into AJ's claim that he could lick his own elbow either, until the boy did it in front of them. Adam sat up and lifted his shades with a look of disgust. Had he joined a Quidditch team, or a zoo? Why were they all such freaks? He wrinkled his nose in distaste and returned to laying down. "I'll pass." He said in response to Dominic. His own truths were without a doubt far more interesting than any of theirs at this rate, but the truth hurt, and the biggest truth of all was that the whole team was full of losers. Somehow he didn't think the captain would appreciate him saying so.​

 

[Einar Haines]

Einar watched as the silence continued, it seemed that no one wanted to be next, no one wanted to say anything. He didn't particularly want to get to know his teammates but after a small glance towards the captain, he felt he should maybe try, he cleared his throat. "I'll go," he spoke in a cold and quiet tone, looking at the ground between all of them. He ran a hand through his hair as he thought of a couple of truths and a lie. "I was born in the arctic circle, I have naturally black hair and I'm allergic to almonds," Einar looked between them all as he spoke, speaking a little more quickly than he would normally. He picked the most neutral and plain things about him.​