With the start of the season comes the Fall Banquet, an opportunity for the teams of the Southeastern District to meet and mingle without the competitiveness that comes from facing each other on opposite sides of the court.
Though the host of the Fall Banquet is chosen by lottery each year, it’s been quite awhile since the Foxes’ number has come up, and this will be the first time in many years the Foxes will be hosting. With the attention of their district and the ERC squarely on them, the Foxes are under pressure to pull off the Banquet seamlessly—with none of the drama and disruption that the Foxes are known for.
Wymack makes sure everyone on the team knows it: though he’s given them free passes during other banquets to goof off or leave early, there will be no such allowances this time. The Foxes are expected to be on their best behavior, and to stay for the entire banquet: anyone who gets into trouble, or causes a scene, or isn’t there at the end of the night will find themselves scratched from the Foxes’ next game—no exceptions.
And he pulls the Vixens in to help, too, giving them full control over the decorations and entertainment, and they spend the Friday afternoon before the Banquet converting the Foxhole Court from an empty orange-and-white stadium to a space for an elegant affair.
By the time the other teams start to arrive, the Foxes, the Vixens, and their dates are dressed up in their finest and putting on their most welcoming faces, and the court is equally transformed, almost unrecognizable from its usual game night configuration: thick mats cover the polished wooden floors of the court to protect them from being scraped and scuffed by the tables and chairs laid out in neat rows, with each teams’ seats marked by their team colors.
The Foxes, as the evening’s hosts, have the table closest to the front to themselves, keeping them away from their rivals—teams they’ve beaten so far this season or last season, players they’ve exchanged hits and nasty words with on the court. In an unashamed display of pettiness, the Ravens find themselves crammed into the back.
The night begins sedately: Wymack, though he looks supremely uncomfortable at being forced to speak in public, welcomes the rest of the teams and makes a short speech about the beginning of the season, after which food is served. After dinner, the court is cleared of tables and transformed yet again: this time, into something more like a party. The majority of the court is taken up by a DJ and dancefloor, with the remaining space taken up by smaller tables and icebreaker games for those not inclined to dance, including a ping pong table and a volleyball net for those who want to face off against their rivals in a different sport.
The Foxes are left to their own devices, then, to stick with their teammates or mingle with other teams as they see fit, so long as they’re there at the end of the night. Wymack breaks away from the other coaches long enough to remind them that he has his eye on them—encouraging them to have fun, but not too much fun, which sounds like it might be another threat all on its own.
ADMIN NOTE: The moment you’ve all been waiting for! The event will run for all of the next two weeks, meaning that starters related to the event can be posted from now until the next game on October 6. After that date, threads from the banquet can be continued, but new threads cannot be started. As always, you are allowed to continue threads from prior to the event, and to post non-banquet starters and threads. And, if you feel inclined to post outfits/aesthetics for the banquet, please tag them with foxholeedit.
Enjoy! And if you have any questions, please let me know.