Having finished his own tryouts, West didn't go and change right away, instead he found a spot in the stands and waited to watch the next team tryouts. Which happened to be Gryffindor. It was no big deal. Just... watching the competition and stuff. Really. That was all. He watched them come out and kept his eyes on the pitch as Alice told them stuff and then started the scrimmage.

... and then he just kept watching.

No big deal.

Ravenclaw tryouts were coming up soon, and Mo was feeling... conflicted about them, which drew him out to the stands well ahead of time. It was good to be out in the fresh air with his broom and bat clutched to his chest as he took a seat up and over from where West was observing the Gryffindor tryouts.

That West... always watching.

"Good Gryffindor turn out this year. Liquorice wand?"

West looked up slowly, that really obvious sort of tearing eyes away from something that had his attention.

...

He nodded once. To the turn out thing. Though actually he hadn't really noticed and had to glance at the pitch again to check. "No. Thanks. Not really into liquorice." West said quietly, and smoothly too, not a crack or a squeak to be heard.

Yeah, hmm. They weren't his favorites either, but they were different and Mo had a sophisticated palate for sweets and required variety. Or no, really, he just was overloaded on chocolate frogs and jelly slugs and couldn't stand them at the moment.

He shouldn't have bought so many over the summer, obviously, but that was before.

"I have chocolate frogs too. You can let me know if you get hungry," Mo answered casually as he settled his bat and broom on the bench beside him and leaned back. His gaze returned to the pitch and to the Gryffindors gathered there.

"Thanks, but I can't. Quidditch season, y'know." West paused and decided to elaborate in case Mo didn't know. "Dylan has us on pretty regimented food intake." Which wasn't so easy this term so far. Not that there wasn't food available, just that... the food provided by the school wasn't all that palatable. Made it hard to eat healthy and all, even if West was inclined to shovel almost anything into his mouth.

His eyes were back out on the pitch too, but only on a certain Gryffindor.

"..... you have tryouts today?" West had noticed the gear. His own broom was laid out carefully on the seat behind him, and he was still in his practice robes, hair tied back and all.

No, Mo didn't have ANY idea what Quidditch season had to do with not being able to have chocolate frogs. He glanced down at his stomach and patted it almost affectionately before returning his attention to the pitch. Was Elise going to make them all go on restrictive diets? Wasn't it enough that Mo'd spent all summer training (and growing)?

"Yeah, in a bit." He wasn't nervous or anything, just sort of wishing that it was over and the team was selected. Trying out had him all conflicted anyway, so it would be better if the decision was just made. "Did you end up making that salmon ladder thing?"

"We just had ours. Earlier." Obviously. West watched as the Gryffindors left and the Hufflepuffs started their tryouts. Eh. Well. That wasn't so exciting. He had no interest in watching Ella run a practice, even if he should be taking notes.

"Yeah, at home, not here yet. My dad helped me build it."

That earned a nod, because it was obvious to Mo that the Slytherins had just come off a practice too, especially considering that West was sitting here dressed for the occasion and carrying a broom. And, y'know, it was tryout season. "How do you think you did, then?"

Probably a stupid question, since West was an ace Quidditch player and always did well in tryouts, but it seemed like implying infallibility was unwelcome. Plus it was good to know what West thought about his performance.

"How'd you like it? The ladder thing? Did it work for you?"

"I did good." West said casually. "But I arrived late and Dylan isn't too happy about that, and I got a lecture about not presuming I have a spot on the team and all." Which... yeah. Alright. Point taken. But still, he'd proved himself hadn't he?

"That new girl, Derry, she's in our year?" West looked at Mo to see if he twigged onto who he meant, "She's pretty good." So that was interesting. West thought Derry was pretty cool. A bit quiet, but maybe Quidditch would fix the stuff wrong with her.

The ladder...

"Its fun." He said, eyeing Mo sideways, "I'm strong enough I just..." Eh it didn't matter. Mo didn't care. Mo wasn't his friend. It didn't matter.

Of course he did well. Mo scoffed a little at getting a lecture from Dylan, especially when it was impossible to get anywhere in the school on time with the turnstiles and things. "Sometimes being late is just being late and not a sign of presuming anything, though."

Mo tilted his head and continued to watch as the Hufflepuffs took the field, although he was trying to figure out who Derry was. Oh, he'd seen her in class, yeah? A little quiet, but that was pretty natural for most new students. She seemed nice enough, and clever enough to answer in class.

West dropped out half way through talking about the ladder, and Mo wondered if West had just remembered he was mad or bored or something. He go a side-eye, and Mo hesitated before commenting, "You just what? I've never tried one before, so that makes you the expert."

"I was doing research." West said, looking out at the pitch again, taking note of that one firstie that was zipping around. Interesting. "But I shouldn't have been late its a bad precedent." Especially given his personal Quidditch goals.

"I just.... its nothing." West shook his head. It was a personal thing, nothing to do with the actual physical act of using the ladder, more about... perceived results. "You can try it at Christmas if you like. Its around the back by the Sycamore." And West didn't mind if Mo went around there.

Settling into a spot on the bleachers, Eliza pulled a small blanket from her bag and threw it around her shoulders. The stadium got a little too breezy for her taste, at least when there weren't very many people in it, but she'd wanted to see Minerva try out for the team this year and would endure it for her. She noticed her competition sitting a few rows ahead of her and chose to stay quiet for now. There was West, who was obviously from a different house and therefore a possible spy, so she wondered if he'd be watching the Claws tryouts too. It made her more nervous than suspicious though, so she tried to stop thinking about the onlookers from other houses.

Mo on the other hand was in her own house, but trying out for the team like she was, so that made him sort of like competition - at least until they knew who made the team and could just go on rooting for everyone all at once again. She really hoped she'd make it, but she knew the other players were much better than she was, especially since she had literally never even played a real game of the sport. She sighed and cupped her face in her hands and focused her energy on sending good vibes to Min. Maybe that way her jitters wouldn't be able to overcome her.

Mo wanted to know what the research was about, because research was always interesting and because West's projects were generally the MOST interesting, but he could feel the wall inching its way back down. Two unfinished sentences in as many minutes were a sure sign.

Instead, he grunted and nodded in acknowledgement. "Still, once out of four years seems like a really good average. I'm glad he didn't come down harder about it."

Mo leaned forward, elbows to knees, and wrapped a hand around the handle of his broom. It was almost time for his own try-out, and he was going to have to head to the pitch soon. He was aware of the bulk and movement of newly developing muscles beneath his hooded jacket and t-shirt, thanks to the regimen his sister had set up over the summer. The salmon ladder thingy was interesting, but it turned out Mo hadn't needed it. Funny how that worked.

Still... "I'll check it out, then. I'm very interested in how it works."

"I've been late before." West said. He hadn't said anything about it being the first and only time had he? Or at least,l he'd been late to practices, not so much to tryouts but tryouts were kind of like practices in a way. "And I'd do the same thing, if it were my team."

West watched Mo for a moment and then straightened up in his seat, stretching out casually. "Its fun so, yeah. Feel free."

He should go shower now huh.

If he'd thought of it earlier, Dylan was probably not a topic they could talk about, since Mo never really got why West worshiped him and had recently given up on the idea that he could look to the older boy for any leadership or mentoring or... anything, really. The thing about Slytherins, maybe including West (was this one of those things Mo still needed to learn about West?), was that they were only able to care for a finite number of people and anyone else didn't exist.

So Mo did not exist to the older Slytherin boy. Was it a matter of time before he stopped existing to West? Nope, that was too sad, and Mo didn't want to think about it anymore.

He scrubbed his palms along his trousers before shrugging. "Well, thanks for that. I'll let you know if I try it out and what I think. I ought to head down... I think we're up next."

...

Yeah... nice conversing and stuff.

West just nodded. "Have fun." Y'know. With all of that. "I gotta go shower. So see you and all." He picked his own broom up and left, not planning to stick around to watch the Ravenclaws.

Watching silently as the boys talked and eventually left the area, Eliza unzipped her bag and pulled out a long, heavy box. She knew she needed to hurry over to tryouts soon, but she figured as long as she was here, she could try out her gargoyle. She lifted the box's lid and gently took hold of the stony prop and set it on the bleacher next to her. And since Quidditch had been on her mind lately, she also retrieved a small stick and a rock and sat them next to her as well.

She slid her arm out of its holder and aimed at the gargoyle. "Piertotum Locomotor!" The spell was cast and the stone came to life, tilting its head at her in a greeting. "Hello there little fella, want to play?" she asked sweetly. It would be a hurried attempt, but she really wanted to see if it could do this.

She handed the gargoyle the stick and said, "Hold this" and it did. Plucking the rock up with her dainty fingers, she slid further away from the gargoyle and said, "When I throw this...you do what I say." And hopefully don't hit me in the face, she thought. "One...two...three" she counted and lightly tossed the rock in an arch towards the thing, slowly enough to rush out the command. "Swingthebat!!!" she cried quickly as the rock flew towards the creature. Lo and behold, it swung! Weakly and with a near miss, mind you, but it had swung and connected with the tiny rock thanks to her dead on tossing aim, sending it bouncing past Eliza's shoulder. "Awesome job!" she congratulated her grey friend. She'd made a beater of a gargoyle!

Satisfied with her efforts for now, she said a simple, "Finite," and put him back in the box and into her bag. This was beginning to be fun.

Penelope made her way down to the pitch to watch the Slytherin tryouts. Normally she didn't pay much attention to the other houses' tryouts, but these were different. Ascanius was trying out and she was still...apprehensive, for lack of a better word, about it. She knew very well about his fear dislike for heights, so she wasn't too happy when his ego apparently got in the way and made him sign up. But she was trying to be a bit more supportive now, especially after hearing he'd done okay in his first one which she was still kicking herself for missing.

Taking a seat in the front of the viewing area so she could see absolutely everything, she kept her eyes on the pitch - and on him in particular - and absentmindedly rubbed the back of her left hand.

Staring? No, Alice was checking out the competition, obviously. She had to assess the other players' skill level for Captain reasons and all, right? Slytherin chasers in particular, because they were really, really tough to beat, and maybe if she paid them enough attention, she could snag a couple of moves from them to teach her own team. Or something. That sounded like a real reason, didn't it? One that she could tell people if they asked why she was watching so closely?

Of course it was.

"Hey Penelope," she greeted, slipping into the spot beside her and pulling her legs up onto the seat, crossing them like a pretzel. Was she here because Scany was trying out? Oh, he was, wasn't he? Alice spared him a glance, too, before redirecting her attention to searching for certain other snakes.

Doobedoobeeeee.

No, she was not spying on the other team try-outs. It was a free country, right? So she was allowed come and STAAARE at the newbies. But she wasn't here to do that. Nope. She was here to hoover. Blue dragged the vacuum along behind her, the nozzle over her shoulder. She was using BOTH hands to tug it because it kept getting caught. Stupid thing. Okay. This looked like a particularly dusty spot.

She grabbed her wand and slipped it out of it's holster. Tap tap tap. "Vacavis." Nothing. "Vacavus." The hoover vrooooomed into life. The fourth year ran the nozzle up and down and up and down the floor of the bench, sucking up dry and crunchy leaves, brown with the season. Not much help to the castle but maybe it would distract a couple of Quidditch hopefuls?

Once she'd vhooped up a total of nine leaves the hoover died and the curly haired brunette hefted the nozzle over her shoulder and whistled on her way, going to find a new place to make all clean and sparkly.

Penelope's eyes were glued to the pitch, so she didn't notice Alice approach her until she spoke. She jumped slightly at the interruption of her focus but managed to remain in her seat. "Oh hey Alice," she replied with a smile, glancing over at the captain. "Come to watch the Slytherins try out too?" Or just one Slytherin in particular like her? Penelope didn't ask that aloud though. No need to really.

"Uh, what?" Priorities, okay? Alice blinked a couple of times, but her eyes didn't move from the pitch while she spoke, because staring took precedence. "I, um, guess, so, but.. uh.." She sat up a little straighter and craned her neck to get a better view. "It's just for checking out the competition and stuff. Assessing the opponent's talent or something." Did that sound believable?

"Are you watching Scany? He hasn't fallen off his broom yet, has he? Is he looking down?" She was too preoccupied to check herself.

Alice was awfully distracted, wasn't she? Heh. Penelope turned her eyes back to the pitch as well, taking only a couple seconds before she found him again. Even from this distance, she could recognize him. She still listened to Alice though as the girl stuttered, probably trying to think of an excuse to be there. Honesty was usually the best policy, which was why Penelope would unashamedly admit why she was here, but the real reason for could be a little...well...awkward. For reasons. And stuff.

"Well there's lots of talent out there." It wasn't surprising though. The Slytherins were usually pretty good. But that was the same for all the teams, she felt like. They all had some level of talent. That was what made all the games so fun.

"Yep." She was watching Ascanius. It was the only reason why she was here, really. She didn't usually watch other tryouts after all. Just practices sometimes, but that was once teams had been decided and all that. "And no, he's doing pretty okay for the most part. I think he even scored." She was really proud. Not simply because he had scored and hadn't fallen off and hurt himself, but because it was really brave of him to face his fear like he was. Even if it was mostly an ego thing in the beginning, it was still brave, and she was proud, despite her lack of enthusiasm in the beginning. Maybe he had a little Gryffindor in him after all.

"Loads of talent on every team. Except, um, most of the other houses' tryouts are.. at, uh, awkward times for me. So I usually only watch Slytherin ones." Penelope could read between the lines, couldn't she? Alice knew she could, and with every word she said, bunches of things were communicated non-verbally, too. Things she didn't plan on actually saying aloud any time soon.

He scored? "Really? Scany scored and I didn't get to see?" She would beat herself up for missing it later, but right now, staring still took precedence. "I bet he will again, and then we can both see and cheer real loudly and obnoxiously for him." And if other people scored, she could just keep looking and cheer mentally or something. Did that make sense? She thought it made sense.

Also, watching from the stands gave her a much better view than in the common room with omnioculars. Alice was making mental notes to come back later.