As soon as the results of the preliminary rounds are released, people in town started talking about how their beloved Venomous Agendas were delivering the performances of their lifetimes. About how reminiscent of the 2024 HSNCT this all feel to them, where, for the first time, they went to the HSNCT with two novice players, and they suddenly burst onto the national quiz bowl stage.
At Daisy's home, at night, while Daisy's guests play karaoke to the sound of music styles they find "retro", Gaston, one of the Congressional players, starts singing when Do You Really Want to Hurt Me is played, with Anna playing cover as a violinist. "Do you really want to cut cards? // Do you really want the others to win?" Gaston sings.
Once that specific song ends, in which Gaston only replaced two lines' worth of lyrics without singing the song in its entirety, Daisy starts asking questions about Gaston's choice of lyrics, as if she was in a LD cross-examination phase.
"I heard something about cutting cards! Why sing about card-cutting?" Daisy asks him, with the distortion in lyrics giving her earworms.
"Do you remember about me being in AP US Government with Chantal? All season, we Congressional players cut cards for everyone else, thinking it would benefit us" Gaston answers Daisy's question.
"We made all our research available and both ways, this season and last season" another Congressional player laments. "And what do we have to show for it? We didn't place at NSDA-State! They wouldn't have made it without us!"
"And we gladly provided cards to the other theater kids if they needed help in a class!" Daisy adds to this chorus.
"Speaking of theater kids, I think you guys get too much into your roles as representatives or senators. That might have hurt you guys at tournaments" Anna mumbles, without any real idea of what goes on in a Congressional debate chamber. "You guys ran the debate team dinner as if it was a primary fundraiser! I only wanted to show school spirit. However, just because you guys didn't make it to Nats, and hence the benefits for your respective college applications are more limited, doesn't mean you didn't benefit from playing debates! You got better at arguing, public speaking and critical thinking, as well as writing, too. The most important lasting benefits have nothing to do with winning!"
Daisy's parents overheard the kids getting into an argument about their roles in this debate season. And with, of all people, Anna, a band girl who plays quiz bowl.
"I really hope that, upon return, they will show us some gratitude" Gaston sighs.
"It makes me wonder how stiff the competition is in Congressional debate to compete at Nats vs the other formats you guys are playing" Anna asks the theater kids.
"You have a point, Anna. The field is so large that Cong at NSDA-State is split into a House division and a Senate division. The Senate division only allows two players per school, House allows more players. There are about fifty players total" another theater kid concedes the point.
"I guess you had a bad karaoke session? I heard about cutting cards down there" Daisy's father asks the guests.
"Way to ruin my first date!" Anna sighs, while turning to Gaston, whose song caused the theater actors calling themselves Congressional players to question their respective roles in the debate team's successes this season.
"Guys, please, every Venomous Agenda at Nats is advancing!" Daisy's father announces after checking on Tabroom.
"International extemp and public forum I am not surprised. But policy? I never expected them to break at Nats, let alone clear to octos!" an excited Daisy shouts. "Dad, how far do you think our guys can get?"
"They must keep playing as they already have to go all the way, but one can still hope. And get lucky on schematics. For public forum, the luck factor comes from the coin toss, for Chantal, it's the topic draw. But policy will need to win every round from here on out" Daisy's father answers his daughter.
And yet, Gaston seems to hold a grudge towards Anna. Daisy watches that quarrel restarting, while the other Congressional players keep playing karaoke.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
"And you improved in research as well" Anna keeps arguing.
"As much as you could benefit from debate on everything you mentioned tonight, you would be unable to reap the benefits you refer to so long as you don't enter nat-circuit tournaments regularly" Gaston keeps up with a verbal barrage.
"Even in policy or Lincoln-Douglas? These are the formats that differ most depending on whether one plays locally or on the nat-circuit, at least, according to Daisy" Anna retorts.
I think Anna can play LD, Gaston muses about what benefits they may yield from playing debates. She'd get the same benefits from playing debates as we all do. Plus she feels smart enough to play it, maybe not on even Daisy's level, at least not right out of the gate, but she can think in the abstract.
"The thing is, playing in inter-state tournaments is more demanding in every aforementioned respect, regardless of format. I believe Lincoln-Douglas would fit you like a glove" Gaston comments.
"But why would I be unable to benefit from LD so long as I'm not playing on the nat-circuit? I have no experience of LD..." an irritated Anna asks him.
"Even playing on the nat-circuit, by itself, is not the end of the story! Once on it, you will need to take debate seriously to benefit from it. You won't benefit so long as you won't be in position to win Tournament of Champions bids on a regular and consistent basis. You might not need to win the bids themselves, however" Gaston warns Anna about the benefits of debate.
Gaston made me not want to play. At least, the desire to play Congress, Anna feels the irritation increasing. He's the most gatekeepy on the team, and he makes me uncomfortable right out of the gate.
"Enough, Gaston, I break up!" Anna falls on him like a ton of bricks.
"Now, you have a better idea of what you're missing and how to obtain it!" Gaston starts chuckling before Anna picks up her instrument.
The following day, Daisy comes over at Anna's home in an attempt to set the record straight about that fight with Gaston the previous night. She finds Anna a little distraught.
"Anna, it seems like there's something wrong. What is it?" Daisy asks Anna.
"I broke up with Gaston after this fight" Anna answers, while crying. "While he acknowledged people benefit from debating, I wonder why did he believe I needed to regularly enter inter-state tournaments to get them?"
"Maybe he took advantage of your period to provoke you. Maybe he thinks you are not starting from scratch" Daisy gives some hypotheses.
"That's it! You saw me in this fight, you would have a better idea if I actually have some foundation to build upon. Before we broke up at the karaoke night, he said I could play LD" Anna adds. "So maybe he talked about LD specifically"
"But you do need higher levels of all the areas you benefit from debating to succeed on the nat-circuit. Plus if you were to join the team next season, you would actually get to play novice LD in inter-state tournaments we enter. You might not play LD at my level right out of the gate, but you seem to be OK with not doing well in the beginning, and you're right in that the core benefits aren't tied to one's wins and losses. From my experience, the people who obsess the most about their results are the people in the top half of the performance continuum"
"He makes me not want to play. Couple that with band, which, generally, does not interfere with quiz bowl, but interferes with debate. But what about we take a diagnostic SAT? Just without Gaston, he can take his diagnostic SAT or ACT whenever he wants" Anna suggests to Daisy.
"Gaston actually picked Cong because he believed nat-circuit Cong to provide the most benefits out of any speech and debate event" Daisy reveals to her.
"I know he insisted a lot on nat-circuit. But you guys kept talking about how LD on the nat-circuit is basically a different format. So I wonder what benefits I'd get out of progressive LD I wouldn't out of traditional LD"
"You'd hear a greater variety of arguments and hence sharpen critical thinking even further, as well as casting a wider research net than with traditional LD, and you'd process information much faster because you need to take notes from people talking super fast. Which are perhaps reason enough for Gaston to believe you would be better-served focusing on nat-circuit LD: you'd also gain the benefits of better public speaking, arguing and writing. However, novice LD tournaments are, by and large, very traditional, even inter-state ones"
"You need to do all these things at a higher level to successfully compete for ToC bids than you would need to compete in a local tournament, he said. But to claim I would need to compete for ToC bids regularly and consistently to get the full package? I get that, to him, ToC bids aren't the be-all, end-all of the nat-circuit, chasing them pushes me harder..."
"We're going in circles, Anna. So just stop it please"
I did debate, I did theater, I am the booster club's resident graphist, the SAT is the final piece in the puzzle for me, Daisy muses, while opening the webpage for the diagnostic SAT right in front of Anna, hoping that Anna could be convinced to sit for the August date paid by the booster club by virtue of her membership on the quiz bowl team. However, convincing Anna to take a diagnostic SAT with Daisy proved easy.
"I'll take it with you, I just need time to calm down" Anna replies to Daisy.
Gaston clearly believed I am smart enough to play LD, Anna muses, while mentally preparing for this practice test, and both girls believing they can do well on the diagnostic test without any complications.