can't stop | mickey

[addilyn elara slater]

Wait a minute, I'm passin' out
win or lose

JUST LIKE YOU

March 3, 2029
michelangelo tiberius mclaggen

Addy avoided sitting on the bench, preferring not to stand still for so long in this weather after that practice. The Healers had signed off on a clean bill of health as of February, but she was still riding the Harpies’ bench. It didn’t take much to succeed at that. The reservist called up in her place and still played with the remainder of the starters for the Harpies. Milly always smiled and spoke to Addy when she saw her, but there was no indication of whether Addy stood a chance to play again or maybe she would only have her fifteen minutes of fame.

The previous year’s conversation with Claire lingered in the back of her mind like someone waiting to jump at her when she turned the corner. And the last thing Addy wanted to do was crawl back to the Ministry with her tail between her legs. But as someone sure of her talent, Addy felt the shame of riding the bench. Near the end of February, however, she began to receive messages from a few other teams to play as a Chaser or Beater. The one that surprised her, The Ballycastle Bats, had eventually called. Addy hesitated at first, not because of performance anxiety but because the Captain was her ex-boyfriend’s older brother. Addy knew of Mickey but hadn’t interacted with him outside of events Cheese used to bring her to from their neighborhood and family. He probably didn’t even remember her.

But Addy reminded herself that this was her life now—her career. So she accepted, and the hours that morning were spent with a handful of the team. She doubted she’d ever play with full teams, as they never wanted to give away their secrets or strategies. Addy waited for the rest of the players, some going directly into the locker rooms to escape the chill that crept up so easily in such a state. She bided her time but lightly stretched.

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[michelangelo tiberius mclaggen]

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While adding to the team was ultimately up to the management, recruiters, and coaches, Mickey always kept an eye out for wayward players that were suddenly abandoned by their teams for no good reason. He had no qualms about being the one called out for ‘poaching’ if one could really even call that. He had acquired one of his beaters that way the year prior, after Falcons suddenly found themselves with three on their roster and no injuries. Which in itself was a miracle because beaters were always dropping off left and right. Today’s practice and potential addition was with one Addy Slater. Mickey knew of her through his brother, and while there was a moment of hesitation because of that when he found out she was benched by the Harpies, he still put the word into the right people on the team to reach out to her. There was enough data on her from the few matches she’d played, and he had a feeling that if the Bats didn’t put their feelers out sooner or later, another team was going to end up with her. Plus, her brother had asked a probing question about potentially looking into her playstyle a month earlier. Mickey had thought nothing of it at the time, but now that they needed another chaser, it seemed to be perfect timing.

”They have you on the bench still?” Mickey asked as his broom lowered down next to the Slater girl. Everything he had seen so far today seemed impressive. The problem that the Harpies had was that they were always chock-full of talent. Which led them to benching important players as a sort of ‘just in case’. Some seemed to be fine with that, but if Addy was here practicing with the Bats, clearly, she wanted to play more than have the notoriety of being a reservist for Holyhead. He’d known about the injury too, though he never saw that as an excuse to bench a player for longer than was necessary. If his team could snag her, it was the Harpies’s loss.

addilyn elara slater ● 347

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[addilyn elara slater]

Wait a minute, I'm passin' out
win or lose

JUST LIKE YOU

March 3, 2029
michelangelo tiberius mclaggen

Addy drank from her water bottle while nodding. She wasn’t used to Mickey's height, considering Cheese was just a tad shorter. But from her perspective, it all looked the same. Still, she noted the resemblance between the brothers. Mickey didn’t have the faraway look in his eyes that Cheese often had, but Addy was now dealing with the athlete rather than the artist. ”Armstrong is filling in.” Another reservist who began to play after Addy’s injury and he was doing fine. Then again, Addy was a bit biased, but she knew she played better. It was a difficult pill to swallow. Addy had trained her entire life as a Chaser but had done well as a Beater. One could only imagine what she’d accomplish as a Chaser in the big leagues.

”I’ve been cleared by the Healers.” Receiving that stamp of approval from St. Mungo’s and League officials was a relief. Not that Addy had any doubt about her health but the formality of it all was the last missing piece. Playing that day had felt good. It reminded Addy that varied practices were not a bad thing. Everyone had their playstyles, and she had to admit that it was easy to grow accustomed to playing only against the Harpies and the other reservists. Considering her ultimate goal of getting off the bench, Addy needed to work every angle and make herself invaluable.

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[michelangelo tiberius mclaggen]

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"I don't even know who that is," Mickey answered nonchalantly. Reservists on other teams were nameless, faceless beings. Every once in a while they had a stand out match and kept playing. Slater here already preceded herself, she just didn't realize it. The Harpies were really shooting themselves in the foot with a Confundus charm by not putting her back on the playing roster. That was their loss though. Someone would end up stealing her away, as was the normal rules of professional Quidditch. In reality, Mickey was one of the rare instances of sticking with one team for his entire career thus far. Naming him Captain was the Bats way of saying they wanted him for the long haul. If they could only get a few more players just like that, then they maybe had a shot at the League Cup this upcoming year.

She added that she had been cleared by Healers, and he almost laughed. That much had been apparent by the practice that had just taken place. It all came back to the Harpies being stupid. Not only did they put her in a Beater position, which wasn't what she was, but she excelled elsewhere. Absolute fools in that clubhouse. He was starting to think that even if the injury hadn't occurred, she would have started to look elsewhere eventually. It was only natural.

"You've clocked your full speed at just about the same as our current Chasers," he said as he pulled a small notepad had rough notes on her statistics. "Which would make you an extremely fast Beater." Mickey peered over the top of his notes to see if she had any reaction to being one again. He assumed that at this point, she probably didn't care what position she was in as long as it was off the bench. "But I imagine that's not what you're looking for, right?" Having a two-way player would be incredibly useful though, he couldn't deny that.

addilyn elara slater ● 330

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[addilyn elara slater]

Wait a minute, I'm passin' out
win or lose

JUST LIKE YOU

March 3, 2029
michelangelo tiberius mclaggen

Addy suppressed a smirk at Mickey’s response. She supposed her recent play time had its perks, not to mention a memorable injury at the end of the year. Those four months of playtime had been the best of Addy’s life, and now that she had felt that freedom again, she was desperate to regain it. It was like some kind of addiction, but it probably ran through all professional player’s veins. The fact that the Ballycastle Bats were not the first team to reach out had also helped Addy’s confidence and worry over her short career. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a way to translate any of this to her parents—not that they cared anymore. All they would hear is “reserve” and “bench”.

”No.” Addy confirmed. Despite her status as a Chaser reservist, Luna had helped Addy get chosen as her temporary replacement. It helped that Millie Dawes had not found any reason to disagree. ”I’m a chaser, always have been.” Although Addy had successfully practiced as a seeker during her school years, only a Chaser position was open then. But she had also helped Luna get up to speed as a beater in those days. ”I trained Trelawney during school. The Harpies are lucky to have her.” Addy added. Every time Addy thought about school, she kicked herself for not jumping at the opportunities after graduation. There wasn’t a chance she’d be in this spot right now.

But now Addy waited, not wanting to fill the air with too much with the sound of her own voice. While mentioning her house team experience, especially as someone who had played since her second year and made Captain in her seventh, it was also years ago. There was a point where all that was a bit irrelevant.

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[michelangelo tiberius mclaggen]

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He’d nailed that right on the head. Mickey didn’t know if it was offensive to Chasers to say they would fit well in other positions on the pitch. They were an elite crowd, taking the majority of the fan attention except when the Seekers did some crazy, almost deadly dives to grab the snitch. Everything, for the most part, relied on them being as fast and efficient at scoring as possible. That didn’t mean he wasn’t opposed to a speedy Beater; having someone with the wit and strength of a Chaser in that position would only be beneficial to any team that had them. But Slater was refusing the position of Beater. Not that the Bats currently had an open spot for one. Those knuckleheads were somehow still healthy at this point in the season, a shock to even the beat reporters. If things had panned out a different way, he may have requested bringing her on in that position just as a placeholder, but it was what it was, and they needed a Chaser.

She went on to explain that she was the one that had taught Luna Trelawney everything and Mickey nodded his head slowly as he made another note on his pad of paper. ”And you were Slytherin Captain too, correct?” he asked, looking up at her. Once she had a few more years under her in the league, she would be a formidable Captain. Mickey hadn’t realized it when he started, but there was a certain degree of knowledge for the pitch that Captains had over everyone else out there. The house teams typically granted the title to whoever was the oldest and most organized, and while more often than not that translated to the professional level with the majority of the current Captains also being so on their school teams, it meant that not every player could fill the spot. Now that he was one, he could sort of see the traits that other players did or didn’t have when it came to something like that.

”I’ll be honest, I don’t get it,” Mickey stated as he stared at his notes, which were adjacent to a stats sheet he’d found on her matches player. ”I assume that they’re trying not to play favorites, but not putting you directly back in once you were healed up is strange.” A genuine headscratcher. What on earth was Dawes doing with her team?

addilyn elara slater ● 404

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

[addilyn elara slater]

Wait a minute, I'm passin' out
win or lose

JUST LIKE YOU

March 3, 2029
michelangelo tiberius mclaggen

Addy remembered feeling fortunate when making Captain because she’d had the opportunity to play all the positions while training. With her small stature, even though she would admit Keeper was her weakest position, she felt comfortable with the other three. Chaser, however, was her preferred. Flying with such ability and speed was an indescribable rush on top of scoring a goal. Far better a feeling than swinging a bat around or searching an infinite space for a speck of gold. But, as she had with the Harpies, Addy would make do if it put her on the front line and people’s radar. One might call it a matter of pride. Which was worse, forced to swing a silly bat around or warm the bench?

”Yes.” She wasn’t sure what Mickey knew about her. Maybe Cheese had given his older brother the highlights, though knowing him as well as she did, Addy wondered how much the boy had rambled on. All throughout this conversation, Mickey kept making notes, and Addy wished he wasn’t so tall that she could take a peek. Every year that passed since her graduation, Addy felt less pride in announcing her past as a Captain. What was the point, as Jack had so boldly reminded her, when she had not elected to play professionally immediately after leaving Hogwarts? But if it still held weight, why not?

She raised an eyebrow while replacing the cap on her water bottle. Mickey’s frankness was a far cry from his younger brother. Addy supposed that many years around, the easygoing Hufflepuff did nothing to prepare her for the oldest, even if they looked remarkably alike out of her peripheral. However, she tried not to look too pleased at Mickey’s comments about her Captain. ”I don’t presume to know what goes on in Millie’s head.” She shrugged. Fortunately, Addy could now feel sure she was not crazy in wondering why her status as a bench warmer continued. She had a hunch Luna would return at some point. Which would have benched Addy in any case, but for the moment, she kept that fact to herself. For now, she was still a Harpy after all. ”So, do you always look outside your reserves for new players?” Addy wondered instead. It made sense, but that also meant Millie might do the same.

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[michelangelo tiberius mclaggen]

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Having two former house team Captains on the Bats could only be useful. Not that his teammates were slackers but...there were times where he knew they got away with laziness because they'd all been together for so long. Having a new, younger player that had the attitude of wanting to win would definitely spark something in the rest of them. So far, it seemed like they were mostly indifferent. Apparently they had forgotten that they were professional athletes. Winning was the only thing that should have been on all of their minds. Maybe that was why Mickey had ended up Captain in all of this.

Speaking of, Captains and Harpies: Millie Dawes. He had already aired some of his grievances about the opposing Captain, and it seemed like Slater agreed with him on not truly understanding what Dawes was doing with her team. Or maybe neither of them understood it fully. The Harpies were still doing exceptionally well despite being down a starter and on their second Beater replacement. Eventually there would be cracks in their play, but he wasn't seeing it just yet.

The more interesting question was Addy inquiring about his own choice of players. To that, he smiled. "Those are reserves. We're looking for a full time Chaser," he said cooly. If any of his bench players were good enough to be put into place, then this try-put wouldn't have even been happening. And those guys knew it too. They operated best as subs or fill-ins and were just happy to be on the team at all. None of them wanted the glory of being the Bats next phenom Chaser. They were too old for that. "A replacement for injury is one thing. But I know for a fact that trying to put one of the reserves in that spot for the season would not bode well for us."

addilyn elara slater ● 314

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0