InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Huh?"

Ellie is supposed to be grown now (lady_dragon) wrote in neeps,
@ 2018-02-03 15:02:00

Entry tags:

! ic/ooc, # portree, ainsley galbraith, amir khoury, bart roberts, chidera okeke, david urquhart, elspeth macfusty, lorna macfarlane, madeline savage, maggie macdougal, meaghan mccormack, owen macfarlane, sara scrimgeour, terry boot

Who: Pride of Portree Players & Staff
What: Hell Week -- to challenge and test the endurance of the team because did you see the Falcon v. United match? 20 hours! Also with the Golden Neep and Post Season, they are going to be busy. (Use this as planning or threading fun!)
When: 1 February - 9 February
Where: Pride training grounds, MacFusty Reserve

Welcome to Hell Week! (and many gifs)

҈
PRIDE OF PORTREE: HELL WEEK

It's going to be fun!

CODE BY TESSISAMESS

GENERAL SCHEDULE

6a-9a »» Captain’s Sessions
A mix of running, strength training, and agility drills with Lorna and Alasdair at the helm. Other staff members are at the pitch to oversee and be available as resources if needed because Ellie won’t be there.

9a-12p »» Break!
Nothing official planned. Nap if you need it. (Please nap!) Time for one-on-ones if needed.

12p-2p »» Strategy Sessions
Lunch strategy meetings. Menu by Maggie. Reviewing old matches. Focusing on styles of other teams, with a bit more focus on Montrose. One day might even be media training/PR stuff, just to cover all bases here.

2pm onward »» Coach’s sessions
Lots of scrimmages in weird variations. They will be playing down, she might challenge players to play as if they have an injury, not using an arm, or any other weird thing you might think of. Most days players will be out by 5pm.

Exceptions:
Saturday, 3 February, training 7am-1pm
Sunday, 4 February a day of rest. (you're welcome)
Thursday, 8 February team will be dismissed just after 9am.
Friday, 9 February is the day at the Dragon Reserve.

Subthreads to Watch

+ General Status
+ Late Night Junior
+ Late Late Night
+ Thursday Morning Session
+ Dragon Day

+ Monday; Ainsley & the Death Wish: Announcement
+ Monday: Bart, Ellie & Maddie all sit down to talk about seekers.
+ Monday: Ellie checks in with Amir at how things are going.

+ Tuesday: A sleepy and not up to full speed Ainsley appears.
+ Tuesday: Seeker Update, Pip edition with Ellie & Bart.

+ Wednesday: Terry & Ellie anticipate how the long day will go.
+ Wednesday: Maggie has feelings about Cotton and the Arrows.
+ Wednesday: David is having none of Ellie’s more extreme methods.
+ Wednesday: Lorna and Alasdair check in on each other and watch over the team.
+ Wendesday: Maggie provides Ellie with snacks of friendship...or at least agreement.
+ Wednesday: Amir nearly falls asleep on his broom, Maddie to the rescue!
+ Wednesday: Lorna & Owen may mix just a little pleasure with business.

+ Thursday: Ellie wakes up the tiny rage dragon.

+ Friday: Ellie & Lorna reflect on how things went ahead of Dragon Day.

+ Friday: Owen commits the ultimate party foul and delivers some bad (but probably not unexpected) news.

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lady_dragon
2018-02-07 03:07 am UTC (link)

Her head was a weird stream of Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. and Be Braw. Be Braw. And she wasn't sure which voice to listen to. Ellie was grateful that he waited until she was outside and away from the rest of the team.

"Shite timing, all of it."

Ellie leaned back against the railing, sliding until she was seated. She banged her head (gently) against the rail, pressing her eyes closed as she titled her head upward.

"But no, can't fault her for family." Certainly not when Luag had pretty much done the exact same thing for her. "Yes, please. Think we can hold off telling the team until Monday?"

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mr_dragon
2018-02-07 03:17 am UTC (link)

Owen huffed out a laugh, but in no way found any of this the least bit amusing. It was shite timing. "I'm starting to put some credence to this whole 'curse' theory." He watched her for a moment, felt the pull of her frustration in his own gut, and then crouched low, avoiding spilled contents of her fallen cup. "But, yeah, I'll wait 'til Monday. Do it first thing."

He paused for a moment, and then reached out to put his hand on Ellie's shoulder. There were about a million things he wanted to say to her, but they all sounded so trite. Instead, he settled on, "I'm sorry for ruining your evening, I really am. This has been a great training week, though. Team's exhausted, but I've been hearing mostly good things. This was a good idea. Just keep that in mind through the weekend, yeah?"

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mmmcc
2018-02-07 07:18 pm UTC (link)

On the other side of the door Meaghan stood frozen, gripping the handle. She'd barely got to that point when Owen dropped his bomb, and everything just sort of stopped after that.

She'd been trying to tell herself this wasn't gonna happen, but here it was: Joy wasn't coming back. She wasn't coming back. She was gone. Again, another, like always.

Someone back in the party called her name, asking what she was up to. How long'd she been standing there? Too long for her apparently. Meaghan jumped, swore, and yanked the door shut faster and harder than needed. "Gotta use the toilet," she said abruptly, to herself and whoever was nearby, and fled accordingly.

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	lady_dragon 2018-02-08 02:49 am UTC (link)
	The door slammed shut. And Ellie whipped her head to try to see who was there. Except no one else was on the porch. It was still just her, Owen, and the spilled beer. She looked back to Owen brow furrowing in question. Was this about to get worse? (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

mr_dragon
2018-02-08 03:00 am UTC (link)

From his vantage point, he actually caught the motion of the door closing, and- what was more- the person doing the closing, before it rattled in its frame and then was still. "Shit," he cursed, low and under his breath, and swiftly got to his feet. He was almost to the door, when he shot back over his shoulder: "Meaghan."

And then he was back inside, and scanning the room for the Keeper. At this point, the last thing he wanted to do was cause a scene, which also meant that he needed to at least make an attempt to head one off if it looked like it might go in that direction.

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mmmcc
2018-02-08 03:50 am UTC (link)

Tired as she was, Meaghan was across the room in seconds -- having a heart that showed on your face was good for motivation. She was rounding the corner when Owen got back inside, not thinking about pursuit, just about getting away.

Her excuse was a good one as sudden party-leaving excuses went. People didn't usually question your bladder, even when it struck without warning. And even though she didn't really have to pee, since she was lacking any other ideas, she found herself pounding down the hallway, swinging the bathroom door open, and slamming it shut behind her.

Dammit, she thought, unconsciously mirroring Ellie's palms-to-face gesture. Dammit, she should've known better. Suddenly she kicked the cabinet, not caring if it hurt. It was good if it hurt. Something else to focus on, something to distract.

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mr_dragon
2018-02-08 04:09 am UTC (link)

He saw Meaghan slip around a corner, and knew where it led. Owen kept his face carefully placid as he crossed the room, nodding at a few of the players and reserve staff, until he was in the hallway. Now that he was there, it was difficult for him to figure out if pursuit had been the best course of action. It was hearing something be slammed into that decided him, however, and he walked down the hall until he stood just outside loo.

Clearing his throat, he called out to her, "Everything all right in there?"

He knew it wasn't, but this was his way of allowing her a moment to decide how this would go.

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mmmcc
2018-02-08 04:39 am UTC (link)

"Ha ha," Meaghan said, louder than necessary. But she had to be heard through the door, right? And she definitely was.

What the fuck was going on? Why couldn't they keep anything together? The team'd just fallen apart ever since... a couple years back. They were winning, yeah, but how much longer? Especially with Joy gone.

Joy had changed things. She'd been exactly what they needed after the war and the break, maybe she'd been the one that kept it all together even with being new. Maybe because so much of the team had been new too. Maybe just because it was Joy. Who the hell knew? It's not like it was due to Meaghan herself, anyway.

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mr_dragon
2018-02-09 01:50 am UTC (link)

Glancing down the hall for anyone approaching, Owen quietly cast a muffling charm a short distance away, in case their conversation got any louder. He placed a hand on the door for a moment, and gazed at it, pressing his skin into the oak wood grain. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't find the words to offer Meaghan any kind of solace or encouragement or similar sentiments that would likely get him a punch to the face for his troubles anyway.

The silence stretched a moment too long, he could sense that, but he dropped his hand and said, "For what it's worth, I am sorry."

He started to go on about what an amazing player Joy was, how everyone was going to miss her, but that just felt like rubbing salt in the wound, even to him. Should he follow up with a request for her not to tell the others just yet? He knew that was too much like tempting fate, so he went quiet again, listening intently.

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mmmcc
2018-02-09 07:00 am UTC (link)

"Ain't worth shit," Meaghan snarled incredulously. "Sorry don't fix. Sorry's nothin'." Especially when it wasn't even Owen's fault, the bastard. Who said he could go bringing bad news and you couldn't even blame him for it? That was inconsiderate as shit, taking away your target.

She slammed her elbow against the door for emphasis, just in case, but she was too agitated to stop there, and really that was half the point of the kicking and elbowing, not just to make a noise but to shift focus, give you something to be mad about, because mad was better and stronger and safer. Her hands were shaking, so case in point: she turned and pounded on the door like she was the one on the other side and someone was taking way too long to piss. "Fuckin' hell it ain't fair," she muttered. "It ain't -- bloody -- fair." She just wanted a normal bloody season and a whole team, an end to the bullshit and life back to how it should be but it just -- wouldn't -- happen.

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mr_dragon
2018-02-10 08:30 pm UTC (link)

Another apology was trying to wrest its way off his tongue, because he was sorry. But she was right. It was nothing, and it helped nothing- and didn't that feel like the sum total of his life recently. Coming in to work most days was like trading the care of one set of kids for another, and he was tired. He'd been at this for- Merlin- fourteen years, and right now he felt every single second of it. What was more, he felt the failures of the past season compounding on top of each other, all of them pushing him deeper and deeper into the muck of arguable ineptitude.

Owen leaned his head against the door, and every pounding fist against it just seemed to hammer the doubt home: was he even the right wizard for this job anymore?

"It's not. It's really not," he agreed, though he didn't bother to raise his voice to make sure he could be heard through the wood between them. He let out a low, wry laugh at the next sentiment that came to mind, and turned around so that he was leaning back against the door. "I was about to say something unhelpful like 'we'll get through this' or 'things can only get better', but that's the last thing that feels honest right now." The apology wanted to come again, but it tasted like bile, burned like it in the back of his throat, so he forced it back down. "Joy's gone, and there's nothing we can do about it except for try to move forward as best we can- even if it hurts."

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mmmcc
2018-02-11 02:11 am UTC (link)

Meaghan could barely hear Owen through the door, through her pounding on it and the wall and the cabinet. Just a couple words here and there, enough to know he was still there and talking. Not enough to respond to, but she wasn't interested in a whole conversation about this anyway. Talking didn't matter, only doing mattered and there was nothing to do anyway.

He was probably just trying to be reasonable at her anyways. She fucking hated when people did that. Just fight back. Give her something solid to fight against.

Anger gave her energy. That was the thing about being pissed off: it woke you up, it made you possible and shit. But it had been a long week, and she was tired. She couldn't keep up her abuse of the bathroom forever. Soon Meaghan was out of breath and her hands throbbed too much to go on and she dropped to the floor, knees up to her chest, swearing.

What was she gonna do?

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mr_dragon
2018-02-11 02:32 am UTC (link)

The violence seemed to have run its course, if the silence beyond the door was any indication, broken only by a muffled sort of litany of curses that Owen could only barely make out. He was genuinely at a loss as to what to do; part of him wanted to reach out to Ellie, to ask her to come and help him. He recalled her sitting on the porch, however, looking defeated, and decided against it.

He tried to remember when he'd last seen Bart, but figured it didn't much matter as he summoned his Patronus and sent it off with a request that the wizard join him in the hallway. Now it was just a waiting game. Would Meaghan still be there by the time Bart got there? Honestly, Owen was surprised she had Disapparated yet, or made her way back out into the party, screaming her displeasure and announcing Joy's final departure for all the team to hear. He'd certainly cocked all this up. Owen was silent outside of the door, as his words had been as ineffectual as his best intentions evidently were.

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	bbart 2018-02-11 04:54 am UTC (link)
	The arrival of a Patronus had never signified anything good, so Bart was alarmed when he showed up at the house to find Owen sitting outside the bathroom door. He couldn't tell whether anyone was in there or not, but he assumed so, so he kept his voice low. "What's going on?" he asked Owen, aware he wasn't going to like the answer. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

mr_dragon
2018-02-11 07:04 pm UTC (link)

By the time Bart had arrived, Owen had slid down the door and sat with his back against it and staring up at the ceiling, still listening for signs of life (or Apparition). He had to blink a couple of times to clear his thoughts, to even bring himself back to a point of situational awareness, and then he looked up at Bart before getting to his feet. He searched the man's face, then carefully asked, "Have you talked to Cav?"

Owen glanced behind himself, and kept his voice low as he went on. "Meaghan overheard something I was talking to Ellie about, and it didn't go well." He paused, considering how to put this. "It would be better if this didn't become an... explosion."

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	bbart 2018-02-11 07:14 pm UTC (link)
	"Cav was looking for me and I was trying to catch up with him," Bart said, taking Owen's low volume as a cue. "What's wrong? Bad news?" He could guess what it was based on the series of events, but better to let Owen confirm before he tried to deal with Meaghan. Meaghan was a pain in his arse but also if it was Joy, she was going to be heartbroken. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mr_dragon 2018-02-11 07:45 pm UTC (link)
	"So, you haven't-" Realization and dread hit him like a physical force, and Owen swore. "Shit. Yeah. Yes. Bad news." His gaze drifted to the closed door and then back again. "The worst news." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	bbart 2018-02-11 07:55 pm UTC (link)
	Bart mouthed "JOY?" at Owen. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mr_dragon 2018-02-11 07:58 pm UTC (link)
	Owen's mouth was set in a grim line, but he gave Bart a small, perfunctory nod. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

bbart
2018-02-11 08:03 pm UTC (link)

Bart couldn't help the wince, but he managed not to swear aloud, because that was all Meaghan needed right now, was one of them melting down on her. "You go deal with Ellie," he said to Owen, "and I'll deal with Meaghan."

Not that he really knew what to do about Meaghan, but he could give it a try, and he was probably in a better position to take whatever Meaghan was going to dish out than Owen was.

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	mr_dragon 2018-02-11 08:25 pm UTC (link)
	Letting out a small sigh, Owen nodded and pushed away from the door. "Thanks, Bart. I-- thanks." He walked back down the hallway, but left the muffling charm up, just in case. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	bbart 2018-02-11 09:07 pm UTC (link)
	Bart knocked on the door, rapping hard in a way that Meaghan had to recognise was him and not Owen. "Meaghan, you still in there? I'm worried about you." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	mmmcc 2018-02-11 09:39 pm UTC (link)
	It was funny how you could know someone by the sound of their knuckles. Bart had been coach since she joined the team, so though she hadn't heard him arrive and didn't know he was sent for, it was no surprise to hear his voice. "S'not my problem you're worried," she muttered into her knees, then raised her voice. "Go 'way." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	bbart 2018-02-11 09:44 pm UTC (link)
	"Not going," Bart said. "Got to make sure you're all right first. Owen told me. It's bad. Going to hurt the whole team." This wasn't the first time Bart had seen her like this, but he'd hoped it would stop after the war was over. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)