Closed Unsuccesfully Being Succesfull

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

Try-outs had been a pain and Ivelisse had gladly left the field as soon as they were over. Just the bare sight of Celia wearing the captain's badge made her stomach turn. It was needless to say the other girl had it out for her and honestly? Ive wasn't keen on whatever she had in store for her this year. Perhaps she wouldn't even let her play but would just put Avery in during every game. Perhaps she'd simply kick her off the team. Granted, she was sure Celia wouldn't be allowed to do the latter even if she was now the one sporting the captain's badge. But still. Things were not looking great and the only thing Ivelisse could do was just bite her tongue and keep her head up. Something that would perhaps be easier if she reminded herself of her skills. So, she had quickly changed after try-outs and made her way towards the trophy room. Wet hair and bag full of quidditch gear included. Ive took a moment to look at all of the trophies before landing on the one that mattered most: the quidditch cup. Three years she had been holding the starting position as a seeker for the team and three years they had won the cup. It wasn't difficult to see that she had been a huge factor in making that happen and yet aside from her no one else really seemed to take notice. Her team didn't seem to care. She didn't think they would ever be satisfied with how slowly or quickly she caught the snitch. They only cared about themselves and their own performance. She got that, sure, she did the same. The only difference was that she actually did what she was supposed to. She couldn't say the same for half of the team. Ive was torn away from her thoughts when she heard the door creak, glancing in its direction as it did. "Room's occupied." She stated coldly in a lost attempt to keep whoever was heading in from actually doing so. Another person in here was probably not what she needed at the moment.

 

[Louis Alcott]

Gryffindor tryouts were happening tomorrow, but Louis wasn’t really nervous or anything. His spot on the team was secure. He did hope they could get some good new people. Everyone knew Elara would replace Flynn as seeker, and Louis hoped she would start getting some wins for them. Even if he resented her implications at the end-of-year feasts when she said chasers only did what they did to make the game watchable. Like it would be better if seekers were the only two in the air. Sometimes Louis wished he was a seeker, but he enjoyed the active role of being a chaser too much. But it still sucked that they got all the glory. He realized a while back that he wasn’t sure how the winning Quidditch team was immortalized in the Trophy Room. Gryffindor hadn’t won in years, so he’d never cared to check. As far as he could remember, Slytherin always won. Except that one time Hufflepuff won, before Louis was on the Gryffindor team. But surely, this would be their year. And Louis wanted to know if his name would be on a plaque or something once they finally won. But before he could even step fully into the trophy room, someone told him the room was occupied. This only made him curious, so he stepped inside fully. “Didn’t realize there was a one-person limit in this room.” He said as he spotted Ivelisse. He spotted she was carrying her Quidditch gear. “Are you alright?” He asked, wondering what she was doing.

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

Ivelisse had hoped her shallow attempt at keeping whoever was at the door at bay might've worked anyways, but it hadn't. Ofcourse it hadn't. Perhaps it would have if the student at the door had been young, unknowing. A little bit naive. But it hadn't been someone like that. Instead, it turned out to be Louis. If anything she felt like he was the type of person who would purposefully still enter even when subtly asked not to. "Well I was hoping it would work to keep out any lost first years." She replied with a shrug. At least if anyone had to walk in on her checking out the trophies she was glad it wasn't someone she disliked. Louis was tolerable. Even a little fun at times. Although she might never admit that out loud. "Yeah, I'm good." Ive replied stoically. "Just thought I'd check out my successes after try-outs.. which our lovely new captain decided to host at 7:30 in the morning." She added. If her sarcastic tone hadn't given away how dissatisfied she was with the situation her rolling her eyes at the mention of their captain certainly had. Knowing Celia though, she would've likely already made sure anyone she knew was aware of her new position so Ive was certain Louis wouldn't have to doubt who she was referring to.

 

[Louis Alcott]

Louis approached Ivelisse and laughed softly. “Trying to use your prefect privileges to scare off firsties? Scandalous.” He joked, nudging her as he got close. He nodded as he explained what she was doing, then frowned. “Wait, who is your new captain?” He asked though he had the distinct feeling he should know it. He clearly hadn't been paying enough attention.

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

Ivelisse grinned at Louis remark, dropping her bag of quidditch supplies down onto the floor since she was sure she wasn't leaving within a minute or two. And straining her shoulder from carrying it around would do her no good. "Might as well use the badge to my advantage, right?" She replied smugly. The prefect badge had been something she had wished for, knew she deserved but she had to admit not everything that came with it was fun. She could do with a little less patrolling. So if she had to live through that she might as well use her privileges for her own sake sometimes as well. Ive cocked her head as she looked at Louis for a second, trying to see if he was joking or actually didn't know who their captain was yet. "Celia." She eventually replied, the disdain clear on her face.

 

[Louis Alcott]

Louis chuckled at Ivelisse’s comment, he shrugged with a nod. “I suppose so.” He said easily. “I honestly kind of forget about mine half the time, you know?” He added, glancing down to see if he had even remembered to pin it on today. He had. A lot clicked into place as Ivelisse said Celia was captain. He really should have known that. He knew the two girls hated each other, which was always a bit awkward as Louis enjoyed hanging out with them both. As much as anyone could enjoy hanging out with Celia, at least. “I see. Bet she’s intense.” He said with a grimace.

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

Ivelisse laughed when Louis mentioned he forgot about his badge half of the time. "Now why does that not surprise me?" She grinned. She could appreciate Louis being a prefect, thought it was funny, but she still wondered how he had managed to snatch up the badge. Then again, her own sister had somehow managed to do the same and Ive knew for a fact she had terrible grades. So it couldn't be just about that. "Oh, no, she's a doll." Ive joked, swinging her still wet braids over her shoulder as she did. "It doesn't really matter though. It's not like Liusaidh was great either so y'know, who really cares about the captain when it's me who wins us the games anyways?" She added perhaps a little cocky. It was the truth though. Sure, Celia would probably try to destroy her but as long as she kept winning who cares? If there was one thing she had learned last year is that she was playing for herself and herself alone.

 

[Louis Alcott]

Louis couldn’t help laughing a bit at Ivelisse’s expression as she talked about Celia. She then talked about her former captain, and Louis was about to say something about how at least Isaiah was nice when she said something that made him pause. He frowned. “Right, because seekers are the only players that matter.” He said bitterly. He’d had a similar conversation with Elara recently at the end-of-year feast, and was getting a bit sick of being dismissed. “Maybe we can all just sit on the sidelines and just let you and Elara play next time we have to play against Slytherin.” He muttered.

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

Ivelisse was a bit taken aback by Louis' response to what she had said. Especially since he seemed offended. It was obvious there was more to it, that it couldn't just be her remark. At the same time she wondered if some of the chasers actually thought they made a difference. She liked Louis' well enough not push him even further though so instead she just bit her tongue. "No that's- that's not what I mean." Ive offered carefully, her tone leaning towards being apologetic. "It's just that in our team no one really seems to support each other much." She tried to explain in a way that would hopefully make him understand that she hadn't meant to dismiss other positions but rather that she had always felt dismissed by her own team. This was her fifth year on the team, her fourth year as starting seeker and she didn't think she had ever felt supported. "Slytherin is just.. a lot of competing ego's. Mine included, I'll admit that. And whatever I do it's never good enough. If we lose everyone turns to me because it's my fault yet if we win they're not content either and start complaining about how they didn't really get a chance to play or how I should've caught the snitch sooner." Ive finished with a shrug. She hadn't fully planned on just putting her struggles out there and yet here she was. "So, y'know, I didn't mean that the other players aren't important I was just.. trying to talk myself up a bit, because I know no one else will."

 

[Louis Alcott]

As soon as he finished speaking, Louis realized he had gone a bit too far. It wasn’t Ivelisse’s fault people had such a stupid view of chasers. He wished he hadn’t shown his frustration so clearly, it was way easier to be fun and easygoing. He listened to her explanation, rubbing his neck. “Yeah, sorry.” He finally said when she finished speaking. “I just got frustrated, Elara said something a while back about how chasers make the games ‘watchable’, like we’re just… some silly decorations to look at while you guys do the real thing.” He shrugged. “I know we’re not going to score 150 points and make a difference like professional players do, but we still make sure the overall score is higher… you know? Teams have been bumped up to second place before because of a single goal.” He paused. “Not that you’d care about second place, with your winning streak.” He added, attempting to sound light and casual about it instead of bitter. He grimaced. “The Slytherin team doesn’t sound like fun.” He said after a moment. “If they’re really awful to you, you could always tell Professor Castillo?”

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

Ivelisse shrugged when Louis apologized after her explanation. She didn't like to bother others with her problems, felt like she was quite capable of handling them herself. Or ignoring them in the hopes that they'd go away at the very least. At the same time Louis also seemed like he hadn't intentionally meant to share his frustrations. "Well that's.. a little rude. Especially coming from someone who has had a steady spot on the bench." She replied when he told her about his chat with the Gryffindor seeker. If anything, she could at least try to show him that she didn't think chasers were completely useless. Which was more or less true, specifically when it came to the overall standings. Granted, she could've been the one to make a remark like that but at least if she had it would've made sense. It seemed a little arrogant when it came from someone who has only ever been an alternate. "At least you'd be giving the crowd something fun to look at if it were like that though." Ive added in a joking manner. She knew she probably shouldn't be feeding Louis' confidence but there were definitely chasers that weren't as good looking as he was. "I don't think I need to be worrying about anything anymore if we don't continue that streak this year." She laughed lightly. Surely, Celia wouldn't let that slide. Perhaps she'd even try to make her disappear in one way or another. "And be considered a snitch? No, thanks. Plus, they're not all bad. It's just a joke that Celia got to take over, I reckon Indi or Natalia wouldn't have been such tyrants." Ive responded, leaving herself out to show that she wasn't just bitter because she hadn't been picked as captain herself.

 

[Louis Alcott]

Louis was pleasantly surprised to be reminded of Elara having been an alternate for a while. He had forgotten about that, somehow. He smiled at Ivelisse, as she immediately put the girl’s comment into perspective. Obviously, she was just jealous. Duh. Louis laughed softly at her next comment, wiggling his eyebrows. “Fun to look at? Oh my, Ivelisse, are you flirting with me?” He joked, knowing she probably hadn’t meant it that way. Louis shrugged. “Who said you’ll lose that streak? I mean, I know I’m supposed to say Gryffindor will win, but you guys have a really strong record.” He told her, trying to encourage her a bit. It wasn’t like her to sound so down. He nodded with a sigh. “Celia is… a bit extra.” He said cautiously. “I wonder if Liusaidh thought it would be funny.” She seemed like the type to pick her replacement based on that.

 

[Ivelisse Burleigh]

Ivelisse laughed at Louis' response, squinting her eyes at him for a second as she thought about what hers should be. "No.. Just telling it how it is." She replied with a small grin. She'd be lying if she said Louis wasn't good looking but there was no doubt about it that he was already perfectly aware of that fact. "I'm not saying we'll lose, I'm just saying I'll probably never live it down if we do somehow lose." Ive responded, trying not to sound so gloom but not being very succesful at it. "Doesn't matter though. You're right, we'll probably just keep winning anyways." She added lightly, not meaning to make it sound arrogant. Although she did hope she'd just be able to catch the snitch again and again. If she did, there would be nothing to worry about. Asides from Celia probably hosting practices that'll make them all end up in the hospital wing. "That actually wouldn't even surprise me. I don't think she ever cared for the team much anyways." Ive shrugged.

did Ive jinx things by mentioning losing the Slytherin streak here lol?