Flying! Yay! on Quidditch Pitch

The Coach

May 28, 2020 9:46 PM

Flying Lessons, first years! by The Coach

The sun was behaving today because it was staying behind a gentle bank of puffy clouds. This was ideal for flying, especially for new fliers, because it meant they didn't have to try to accommodate being blinded by a giant ball of fire whilst learning how to grip a broom, hover, and, hopefully, actually fly. The coach was well aware that not all of the students in the first year flying class were actually beginners though, and the goal was to be accommodating to everyone. The sun was doing its part, now it was the coach's turn.

A number of first year students had signed up for Quidditch tryouts, so this lesson seemed especially important in that case. Amazingly, almost enough students had signed up for tryouts to make multiple teams, and the coach was confident that their competitions would be a greater success this year for that reason; having a full team was great, but having a reserve team and getting to avoid forfeiting was even better. The coach had high hopes that they would even be able to host some home games, rec style, and students could come watch what essentially amounted to practice games between mixed teams of players and reserve players.

But that was the future - at least a few weeks in the future - and today was flying lessons for first years. Baby steps.

The coach waited for the students to arrive on the Quidditch pitch and directed them to take a spot beside one of the brooms set up in two lines facing each other as they did so. When everyone was either present or marked officially absent, the coach began.

"Good morning, first years! We're going to start with some basic activities to get all of you used to a broom. I know that there's students with all sorts of backgrounds here, and while some of you can probably fly very well, others only just recently learned that you can fly on a broom at all." The coach smiled softly, wanting to show the students that this was perfectly fine. "First, I want everyone to take their broom and board it however you feel is the most comfortable. It should look something like this." Swinging a leg over the broom in the coach's hand, the goal was to demonstrate that they should not try side saddle. "I'll come around and check your grips and then you can kick off from the ground and attempt hovering. I promise, it isn't as hard as it might sound. After that, those of you who feel comfortable flying already can have the rest of the period for some free flying - please wait for my approval to do so - and I'll spend time working with the rest of you more individually to help you get accustomed to broom flight, answer your questions, and help you achieve what is absolutely one of the best parts about being a magic user." The coach grinned, clearly excited about this. Of course, anyone who made their living based on a love of brooms and flying must really love brooms and flying. "Any questions before we begin? If not, go ahead and start working. I'll be available if you need any help."

OOC: Welcome to flying lessons! As with all classes, posts will be scored on length, relevance, and creativity, along with adhering to all site rules. You may godmod the coach approving your grip and hovering if your character is a more advanced flier, as well as approving your character to go off to free-flight if they're that degree of advanced. Add a tag if there's something dangerous going on, and ask any staff member in the OOC or Chatzy (as the Coach is a shared character) if you have any questions out of character. Be realistic and have fun!

Also, thank you to Grayson Wright's author for the outline of this lesson and most of the content of the OOC. :)

Subthreads:

I'd like to keep my two feet on the ground. by Aelia Astley with Jasper Brockert

Flying! Yay! by Valentine Duell with Quincy Wright

Leave me alone by Bertie Jackson with Philippe Delachene

Can I politely decline? by Wally O'Malley

22 The Coach Flying Lessons, first years! 0 The Coach 1 5

Aelia Astley

May 29, 2020 3:52 AM

I'd like to keep my two feet on the ground. by Aelia Astley

If there was one thing that Aelia hadn't been looking forward to at Sonora, it was the flying lessons. Broomsticks, flying and the game of Quidditch were three things that she knew absolutely nothing about simply because it would've been considered unbecoming for Aelia to be zipping about on a broom. She was an Astley. They pursued careers in politics, finances or, a lot of the time, both. Well, Julius would be. It seemed likely that, for the sake of connections, Aelia would be married off to a boy from another powerful Pureblood family (just because that seemed likely to happen, that didn't mean Aelia wasn't going to resist and be stubborn about it. She wasn't Aurelia) but the point was the same. She was supposed to focus on appearance and it was improper for her to be flying all over the place, her legs straddling a broom. If she had asked for a broom, her mother might've allowed it as she was a touch more understanding of her children's frivolous activities but her father would have firmly denied her.

So, the flying lessons were the one experience in Aelia's new Sonoran life that she hadn't really wanted to face, not because she wasn't interested. The flying part seemed fun and exciting and was probably very thrilling but Aelia had never ridden on a broom. She didn't want to make a fool of herself and falling off seemed like quite a high possibility. She didn't want to finish the lesson with new bruises because bruises were ugly and breaking a bone was absolutely out of the question.

Still, Aelia tried to take everything in her stride and walked onto the Quidditch pitch with her held high, a smile on her face and trying to appear confident, despite what she felt inside. When the lesson started, Aelia behaved as she had done in all of her lessons so far. She was attentive, observant and quiet as she watched the Coach demonstrate how to grip the broom. It seemed easy enough but Aelia wasn't about to foolishly underestimate a stick.

Mounting the broom felt awkward and somewhat uncomfortable and looked at her broomstick dubiously, not entirely convinced that it wasn't just going to take off now that she was on it. She didn't really believe that sitting on a broom was the best part of being a witch. Surely that was something more interesting like dueling or making potions. They were also probably more useful than straddling an object that probably should've stuck to its job of sweeping floors.

She had tried to copy the Coach's grip but when they circulated, her hands had to be adjusted and moved to the correct position which was a little embarrassing. She couldn't even hold the stick properly. This was absurd and ridiculous and Aelia was starting to understand why she and her siblings had never done this before. It was a complete waste of time. Still, she was curious as to what other people thought and why they enjoyed this so much.

She looked at her fellow student, eyeing them before asking, "Are you enjoying this?"

20 Aelia Astley I'd like to keep my two feet on the ground. 1494 0 5

Jasper Brockert

May 29, 2020 9:26 AM

Me too by Jasper Brockert

One part of coming to Sonora that Jasper was absolutely dreading was Flying Lessons. It wasn't as if he didn't know how to fly or even that he was really that bad at it objectively. It was just that...he'd developed sort of an aversion to anything having to do with flying or Quidditch because of the fact that Uncle Eustace would basically force him and his cousin Christopher into Quidditch drills and modified Quidditch-like games, actual Quidditch being impossible with the amount of people available as Jasper's uncle did not believe girls should play Quidditch -which was why Uncle Eustace thought girls were inferior to boys-and at the time, the three younger boys weren't even born yet.

Initially, this did not seem like a terrible thing....but it was. And in all honesty, Jasper's parents as well as Uncle Gene and Aunt Amanda should have known better. Or at least Father and Uncle Gene should have. They'd grown up with their brother, but then Uncle Gene was Uncle Eustace's twin and was the one person besides Grandmother- and at one time,Ruby- who tried to see the best in him. Or he was sort of a pushover when it came to his twin brother.

Jasper was pretty sure Uncle Gene had learned his lesson on this one at least. Uncle Eustace was brutal. The Teppenpaw and his cousin had gotten hurt many times over. He could put the number of injuries related to Quidditch on par with the ones related to Topaz. Christopher could put his Quidditch ones higher, given that he wasn't Topaz's sibling or close to her in age.

And of course, Uncle Eustace had no sympathy for them when they cried in pain. Men didn't cry, according to him. He would tell them to suck it up. To not be weaklings and crybabies and sissies. Never mind that he had caused them to be injured. Nor was it only when they got hurt that he berated them. Uncle Eustace also berated them for what he saw as lacking in their abilities.

As a result of all this...ill treatment, both Jasper and Chris had developed a strong aversion to all things Quidditch and while none of his sisters or cousins had been the target of extreme berating by the coach, the first year was wary. Someone who liked Quidditch and flying so much that they taught it at school had to be enthusiastic about it, something that as far as Jasper knew, nobody in his family but Uncle Eustace was. Therefore, his experience with someone passionate about the topic had been incredibly negative and he was not going to implicitly trust this coach like he might other professors.

It started out pretty standard though clearly the coach was enthusiastic.The part about it being the best part of being a magic user made Jasper cringe a little. In all honesty, he wanted to point out all the better, more useful, more important parts of being a magic user despite the fact that it might make him sound like Topaz who very much valued all things intellectual. He also instinctively wanted to do what he'd do if Uncle Eustace tried to get him to play which was flatly refuse, walk away and go do something more interesting.

Fortunately Jasper knew how to do exactly what was requested of him. "Up." He commanded his broom. It twitched a little. Sometimes, it took time for him to get the broom to agree to rise because it knew he didn't really want to fly. Still, this was something his uncle had ridiculed him for. Both not getting the broom up immediately which was the most basic thing about flying and not wanting to becase in his uncle's world, real men played Quidditch.

Before he could try again, the girl next to him spoke up. "Not really." Jasper replied. Then he noticed her Pecari badge and wished he could retract his answer because Pecaris typically loved flying, Quidditch, and all things sporty and physically demanding, but what was he supposed to do? Lie? Lying was something Topaz would do which meant it was wrong and bad. Doing so went against Jasper's personal code.

Therefore, he braced himself for a berating.

11 Jasper Brockert Me too 1496 0 5

Valentine Duell

May 29, 2020 8:56 PM

Flying! Yay! by Valentine Duell

Flying lessons! Now this was something to get excited about! Valentine found her way out to the pitch with her new broom that Mama and Papa had gotten for her. Hopefully she'd be able to see what it could really do today! Following the rest of the first years out of the school she marveled at the Quidditch Pitch. She'd only gotten to see one in person once before. Now she was going to be flying around one. This was great!

The coach directed her to stand with the other students along side one of the school brooms. Was she going to have to use the school broom and not her own? Well, unless someone directly told her otherwise, she was going to use her own broom. No one did, so when the time came, she swung her leg over her broom and waited for the coach to come inspect her grip.

With only a minor correction on the grip, the coach cleared Val for hovering. Which she promptly did, kicking off and hanging in the air near the ground. This was a little silly since she had flown plenty before, but she was going to follow the rules. As soon as the coach finished the grip inspection round, Val was sure she'd get approved for flying. In the mean time she smiled at the person next to her, "Are you ready to fly?"

2 Valentine Duell Flying! Yay! 1490 0 5

Quincy Wright

May 30, 2020 12:11 AM

I might be sick. by Quincy Wright

Quincy was not ready to fly and he stared at the girl beside him with a sense of horror. Unfortunately, both his grip and his hover had been approved. It wasn't as if he'd never flown before, but he sure as heck didn't like it. He would rather play soccer than Quidditch and he'd really rather not play either of them. He was sure that his face was green and his mind raced as he attempted to calculate the angles and force of impact if he fell off his broom at various speeds and heights. Numbers and degrees were blotted out by nausea and fear, though, and when he tried to make a response happen, something like not in a million years, you crazy, are you kidding me?, only "uh-huh" came out.

He'd agreed to go fly with this smiley girl who clearly did not know about how bad a grass burn would hurt or how much pressure was required to break human bones. If he fell from fifty feet, his impact would be over 14,000 pounds of force, and it only required like 900 pounds of force to break a femur. That was, if he was doing his math right. He'd done it before but those numbers were swimming around in his head a bit much to be sure right now. Maybe he had too many zeros? Or maybe not enough?

Somehow, quite by accident, he followed the crazy first year into the air, trying to remember how to breathe as he did so. "You like this?" he confirmed, gripping his broom so hard it hurt. He noticed then that the broom the girl was riding was not a school broom. This, unfortunately, prompted him to look down at the one he was borrowing, at which point he saw past it to the ground and was convinced he was going to die. Shutting his eyes, he clung to the side of his broom. "Why do you like this?"

22 Quincy Wright I might be sick. 1495 0 5

Valentine Duell

May 30, 2020 5:44 AM

You're doing great! by Valentine Duell

Val thought her flying partner looked a little uneasy. She slowed down and maneuvered her broom next to his. "Yeah," she smiled at the boy, longing to carve her way though the air around the pitch as fast as she could go, with the wind whipping around her and the grounded objects racing past her in a blur. The thought of an exhilarating flight pulled at her to shoot off away from the boy who was moving very slowly and looked like he was trying to strangle his broom.

She couldn't though. He needed help and reassurance, and possibly someone close by to catch him. Right now, he needed to be distracted just a bit from his plight. Not enough to make him loose concentration on is position, just enough to give him something else to think about.

"I like the feeling of freedom while flying on a broom," she started softly. She wasn't sure if he had noticed he approach and certainly didn't want to startle him off of his broom. "When you kick off from the ground, it's like you're leaving everything else behind as well. All of your cares and worries stay rooted down on the ground. Up here," she used the term loosely, noticing that they were still not really that far from the ground, "it's just me and the broom and the sky and we can dance and play however we like."

This would work better if she could get him to talk to her, "Oh, I'm Valentine. You were sorted into Aladren, right?" She was fairly certain she had seen this boy go to that table during the sorting process.

2 Valentine Duell You're doing great! 1490 0 5

Quincy Wright

May 31, 2020 12:18 PM

At getting sick. by Quincy Wright

Quincy forced himself to listen to the girl because she was actually being very nice, especially if she was being serious. If she liked flying that much and yet she was hanging by to keep Quincy company, then that was pretty cool. Also he wished she would go away so he could go back to the ground without feeling bad, but he knew that was rude of him.

"Freedom," he repeated in a murmur, forcing himself to sit up a little bit. "I'm mostly worried about free fall," he admitted glumly. The ground was not terribly far away, but it was much further than it was when he was standing on it.

Playing and dancing with the sky were not ideas that Quincy could quite wrap his head around, but it did make him think a bit more about the possibilities. He wasn't exactly sure whether it was really possible to catch part of a cloud, or whether he could catch air, but he thought it probably was, especially with magic, and that would be interesting to study. If he could get some equipment up here, he could look get some cloud in a jar - well, get some water molecules and condensation nuclei in a jar - and check out the properties, and then bring it back to the ground and see how those properties remind the same or changed in the process of dropping elevation. He was sure there were folks who had already studied it but that wasn't half so interesting as actually learning about it himself. Seeing it first hand.

He cautioned a glance upwards, trying to ignore the feeling of his stomach spinning around and tying itself in knots. Cumulus clouds were drifting lazily across the sky, and he knew that they were some of the lowest-level clouds, only about two thousand feet from the ground. Now . . . he did not at all want to go two thousand feet in the air. But he also sort of did want to touch them, and that was less than half a mile. There was dense enough air and plenty of oxygen up to about twenty thousand feet above sea level, so that would probably be alright. It was just a matter of nerves and rules then.

"I'm Quincy," he returned when she introduced herself. He turned his attention back to her, looking at her face properly for the first time. "Aladren," he confirmed. "You're Teppenpaw?" He didn't have to have seen her sorting or seen her badge to suspect that. He thought Valentine was probably a shoo-in for either Teppnpaw or Pecari. "We can maybe go a little higher if you want," he offered, swallowing hard.

22 Quincy Wright At getting sick. 1495 0 5

Valentine Duell

May 31, 2020 1:24 PM

And expanding your horizons. by Valentine Duell

Quincy looked like he was doing a little better, Val smiled encouragingly at him as he raised himself up a little bit on the broom. At his mention of falling however, her expression turned more serious. It was a real danger and wasn't something to be glossed over or sugar-coated. When Mama and Papa had taken her to go see a live game, one of the players fell from a considerable height, at a considerable speed. The result had not been pleasant. The player had survived, the healers were ready for that sort of situation at a game like that, but it wasn't something she felt the need to experience first hand.

"You should be worried about falling. Everyone on a broom should be, I am." She tried her hardest to talk to him in a straight-forward, yet still encouraging manner. "Worrying about something doesn't need to stop you from trying new things, it just helps you keep safe while you explore." This was the same speech Papa had given her when he had set her on a broom for the first time. "Worrying lets you examine the things that could go wrong and account for them ahead of time. In this case, the biggest factor is your grip on the broom." She gestured to his hands and then back to the Coach. "That's why you weren't allowed to take off before Coach approved it."

He had suggested that they could go higher, well a little higher, and Val desperately wanted to soar. She couldn't though, she couldn't leave Quincy here alone. Being alone was terrible. "Yup," she smiled at him, "Teppenpaw. So, now you know that since you've started talking to me, you're stuck with me for the class."

"We can go higher whenever you are ready. But, it may be good to get some more practice in at lower altitudes first." That had been another point Papa had made, "The other thing about worrying is seeing consequences ahead of time and mitigating them where possible. If we do fall from only a few feet up we get a learning experience that doesn't hurt to much." She gave Quincy her best smile, "So, let's get some practice in. Maybe you'll discover that it's really fun as well."

Val slowly dropped lower to the ground until she was only a foot or two from the turf. "Let's start with some basic control maneuvers. I'll fly a pattern and then you repeat what I did, okay?"

2 Valentine Duell And expanding your horizons. 1490 0 5

Bertie Jackson

June 04, 2020 9:06 PM

Leave me alone by Bertie Jackson

Sometimes being the youngest of a three-siblings-and-five-cousins dynamic did not work out in your favour in terms of getting new things. For a lot of his earlier years, Bertie could remember having things that were passed down. A lot of the time it hadn’t mattered, or had even been quite fun. Bertie really didn’t care what his clothes were like, and some of the robots and trains and play potions kits had been really awesome. They also sparked enough nostalgia that whichever cousin it had originally belonged to would sometimes sit and play with him for a while. Or it would spark his aunt into looking through the photos to find ones of James, Levon or Braden in the same outfit.

Sometimes though, the age gaps and genders worked out that he got new stuff, given the next nearest male in the family was ten years older than him, and that the older James had got the less Bertie wanted any of his cast offs. The McLeods may have thought that boys could wear pink and sparkles or even dresses if they wanted to but the key point there was if they wanted to. Bertie did not. He did not want to inherit Eva’s dresses or James’ pink things. Zara’s clothes were generally less heinous but they all buttoned the wrong way.

Broomsticks, of course, did not have genders. Well, there were some super pink ones with tassels and glitter strips in the tails, but mostly a broomstick was a broomstick. However, unlike toy trains and play cauldrons, they didn’t necessarily do well with being preserved over time, especially when they’d been cheap models to begin with. The Jacksons believed that all kids should know how to fly, and had encouraged all of them to learn and spend a decent amount of their childhood whizzing around the backyard, but they weren’t going to splash out on the latest racing model. Just a good, basic broom so that you knew what you were doing. With stuff like that, the pattern could fall out in his favour or it could not. Levon had had a new broom when he was approximately Bertie-sized. Then James and Eva had been close enough in age to Levon that when they’d also grown out of theirs, his had been passed down. It had just about managed to serve Zara through her flying lessons, but when they’d dusted it off this year, they had sort of realised that all those ‘just passing down to someone a couple of years younger’ had added up to almost fifteen years and that maybe the braking charms weren’t what they had been and that perhaps it was time for a new one.

It wasn’t new new. It was still actually a second hand broom. Bertie was obviously never going to be an outdoor kid, and there wasn’t a lot of point spending loads of money on this, as he had no one to pass it down to. But it was a second hand broom that was newer and better than Levon-James-Eva-Zara’s and that stopped when you wanted it to.

Bertie clutched it proudly as he made his way out to the pitch. Sure, flying was a stupid class and he didn’t want to be doing it, but at least he didn’t have to use a school broom. He had already taught his own broom to obey him pretty well, so he felt confident he could get up into the air and be off. Zara had said the coach let those who knew how to fly go and do their own thing. That essentially meant he could spend an hour by himself, ignoring everyone. Given the amount of demands to interact in other classes, an hour to himself actually sounded pretty good.

“Up!” he called to his broom. He could sign it too, but ‘uh’ was an easy, soft enough sound, and everyone was calling out at the same time and no one was really listening to anyone else, so it was… pretty much perfect speaking conditions. He climbed on and waited.

The coach verified that his grip was indeed correct (he briefly wondered how other people were going about holding the broom for it to end up incorrect - you just sort of… put your hands round it? He couldn’t imagine holding it any other way) and he kicked off into a low hover, keeping his toes near enough to touch down, and doing this somewhat frequently. It was pretty hard to keep any kind of balance when you weren’t moving. He challenged himself, seeing how long he could lift his feet up before he had to put them back down again.

His hover was steady enough that he got approval to go fly, and he set off at a gentle pace, planning to just spend the period cruising around and being away from everyone else. Noticing someone getting closer, he increased his pace a little. However, he’d never been super comfortable with very fast flying, and before he knew it, they had closed in enough to speak to him.

13 Bertie Jackson Leave me alone 1497 0 5

Quincy Wright

June 04, 2020 11:08 PM

And making a friend? by Quincy Wright

Quincy was surprised that Valentine was so straightforward about the possibility of death by gravity, but it was encouraging somehow too. At least he knew she wasn't just bumbling her way through this with no idea of the risks. Risks that could be mitigated and planned for were alright most of the time. Risks that were unknown were much more dangerous. He grinned a gap-toothed grin at her when she said he was stuck with her. Maybe that wouldn't be all bad. "Thanks," he managed. "That means you're stuck with me too, I guess, so I think you're probably making some sacrifices for the sake of kindness." He gestured up at the sky above them with his eyes, suspecting pretty strongly that Valnetine would rather have been there than here.

Following what Valentine did was not as hard as he expected at first. As it turned out, he wasn't so much a bad flier as a scared one, and he was able to manage some figure-8s, some loops, and some rolling hills sort of movements that took enough concentration that he momentarily forgot to be afraid altogether. When they were done, Quincy was flushed. "Where'd you learn how to fly?" he asked, suspecting her papa had been involved, since that's who she referred to. Wanting to make sure she knew he wasn't totally lame, he pressed his broom upward, making his way to about twenty feet off the ground before leveling out. "Wanna try some of those again here? Or do you want to do more free flying?" he asked.

22 Quincy Wright And making a friend? 1495 0 5

Valentine Duell

June 05, 2020 7:49 AM

Yes! That is the best result of all! by Valentine Duell

Valentine shrugged and smiled at Quincy's comment about her making a sacrifice. "A minor one maybe. Racing though skies is exhilarating and wonderful." She did a fast little loop on her broom to accent the point, as she rose to match his new altitude. "But, it's much more fun with people flying with you." She gave him a mischievous grin, "So really, I'm just being selfish. The sooner I can get you flying high and free, the more fun we'll both be having."

"Mama and Papa both taught me how to fly. They were Quidditch players here at school and had me on a broom as soon as I was old enough." She looked down to the ground and then all around them, then nodded in satisfaction. "This is good. We'll run through the same drills again. It's pretty much exactly the same as lower, with one extra thing to keep in mind." She paused to make sure he was paying attention, this was important. "The higher you go, the more chance you have of wind trying to blow you around." She wanted to tell him that she'd keep pace with him just in case a gust blasted past them and he wasn't ready for it, but then she had a better idea.

"What do you think could happen if we got hit with a sudden, strong gust of wind? What we can do to help mitigate the consequences?" Quincy was an Aladren and they were smart and liked to think, it would be a good way to help get his mind off their height. Plus he may come up with some even better ideas.

2 Valentine Duell Yes! That is the best result of all! 1490 0 5

Aelia Astley

June 05, 2020 10:33 AM

Then let’s be not excited together. by Aelia Astley

Aelia felt relief wash over her at finding out that she wasn’t the only person that hadn’t been looking forward to flying. It made her feel a little less self-conscious. There was also another positive in that she had found common ground with someone. That was always a good start towards making a new friend so even if she came out of this lesson having learned very little, maybe she’d have a new friend instead. So, she offered a friendly smile towards the boy.

“Me neither,” she said, glancing back at her hands. The Coach had adjusted them but Aelia didn’t particularly understand why. What did it matter where your thumb was? Surely that couldn’t have much of an effect on broom control? The position her hands were in felt uncomfortable and awkward. “I’ve never flown before. It’s weird just sitting on a broom.”

She looked back at the boy and decided to focus on the more positive aspect of the lesson which was the potential of making a new friend. Another step in that direction was to introduce herself. Normally, she would’ve stuck her hand out but didn’t want to lose the apparently correct position her hands were in so she just smiled again. “I’m Aelia, by the way. Aelia Astley.”

Aelia always hoped when she introduced herself that she didn’t say her last name with the same entitled or pompous tone that her brother and sister often adopted. She didn’t understand why they did that. The Astley name was well known. If you read the papers often enough, you knew it and even if you didn’t, you probably heard it through word of mouth. They were tied forever to money and politics and Aelia was always of the impression that the last name made enough of an impact without the added patronising tone. She was aware that they were wealthy and was grateful for it. She just didn’t feel the need to rub it in.

She looked around at her other classmates, some of whom were starting to or were already hovering. Despite her reluctance, Aelia was still aware that this was a lesson and she should at least try. Maybe she and her new potential friend could do it together? “Shall we try hovering?”

20 Aelia Astley Then let’s be not excited together. 1494 0 5

Jasper Brockert

June 06, 2020 12:47 PM

Sounds good by Jasper Brockert

Jasper breathed a sigh of relief when the Pecari girl said she wasn't looking forward to flying either. He was sort of surprised, but that was minor compared to feeling glad that he wasn't going to be criticized for not liking flying. The Teppenpaw had been told by his uncle that he was supposed to like it, that if he didn't, he was less of a man and there was something wrong with him. His father said differently, but those thoughts were still there in his head.

And the thing was, maybe Jasper would have liked it, had Uncle Eustace left well enough alone. Nobody would ever know, but as it was, the first year was not a fan. "I have." replied Jasper," But it wasn't really my thing." He was just going to leave it at that and wouldn't get into details about his bad experiences with someone he'd just met. There was nothing wrong with it just not being something he was into. Especially since she wasn't interested in it either.

"Pleased to meet you, Miss Astley." Jasper replied, bowing, when she introduced herself. Unlike with Alexander, the first year knew that the Astleys were a proper pureblood family and he was supposed to treat Aelia with...well, not respect exactly, because he liked to think he treated everyone with respect, but like with the all the proper ways. He was supposed to act like a little gentleman. "I'm Jasper Brockert, of the Western Brockerts. " Whenever he introduced himself this way, it usually came off more habitual than pompous. The Teppenpaw didn't really have a pompous bone in his body.

That was the thing though, people wanted to categorize purebloods as pompous, snotty, evil and just all around horrible people when the vast majority of the people Jasper knew were kind and caring and good. Yes, there were obviously a few bad apples- Topaz -but that didn't mean they were all rotten.

So he had to compensate by smiling a lot, just so people didn't think he was being a jerk when he was just doing what he was taught. And, of course, he couldn't just not do it, in case the person he was speaking to turned out to be a proper pureblood who cared about these things a lot. " 'But you can just call me Jasper.". As Aelia had not used the exact greeting-and was a Pecari- he figured she might be not exactly formal, but Jasper wanted to make sure before he just started addressing her by her first name. Plus, there were lots of Brockerts, and being called Mr. Brockert could end up confusing.

Then Aelia said they should probably give hovering a try, to which Jasper gave a much less genuine smile, more of a grimace. "I suppose so." He looked down at his broom again. "Up." It twitched a bit, rising a little before crashing back down. He flushed, his uncle's words ringing in his ears. "It can tell I don't want to do this."

11 Jasper Brockert Sounds good 1496 0 5

Philippe Delachene

June 07, 2020 12:33 PM

You say good bye, I say hello. Hello! Hello! by Philippe Delachene

Like all the Delachene siblings, Philippe had learned to fly around the same time he had learned to walk. Also like the Delachenes before him, this flying had been on the back of one of the calmest, gentlest flying horses they had on their ranch. Brooms came later, but not a whole lot later. He distinctly recalled there being pictures of him when he was two running around with a pretend broom, and actually flying on one by the time he was five. And with Anya as a sister, he'd learned to do some pretty fancy flying, too, if he did say so himself.

So, like Anya, he expected he'd breeze through the first year flying lessons just having fun with the other experienced fliers.

Sure enough, on the first day of lessons, he demonstrated his grip and his hover, perched on Anya's old broom (he was not clear on whether it had been Jasmine's first or if Jasmine had just disdained brooms as vastly inferior to horses and never had one at all; either way, Anya had gotten far more use out of it than his eldest sister had so he had always thought of it just as Anya's old broom and now his own). It was a decent broom, but not one well suited to playing competitive Quidditch, which was why Anya had gotten a new one when Quidditch was reinstated her second year.

It would work just fine for flying lessons though, and Philippe had no intention of trying to get involved in the mess that was Quidditch. Uncle Daniel had some stories, and he wanted nothing to do with that. Anya had some more up to date stories too, but they weren't nearly as exciting, and seemed to mostly involve getting left behind when everyone else got to go on a trip to another school, so that sounded less than enticing as well.

Soon enough, the coach made his way over, gave the nod of approval, and Philippe was allowed to engage in free flying. He looked around and saw one kid flying off by himself, so, not wanting the kid to feel alienated or anything, he flew after the other boy. Catching up (and Philippe wasn't totally sure but the kid might have tried to speed up when he saw Philippe coming, so that sparked an idea for him), "Hey, wanna play broom tag?" he asked.

"I'm Philippe," he added by way of introduction.

1 Philippe Delachene You say good bye, I say hello. Hello! Hello! 1489 0 5

Bertie Jackson

June 07, 2020 6:41 PM

Nope by Bertie Jackson

This was Philippe. Well duh. Bertie knew that. He paid attention during roll call. He knew it was polite or whatever to introduce yourself but it wasn’t like, at this point, anyone didn’t know what anyone else was called. With the exception of him. The teachers were still calling him Bertram. He would possibly correct them at some point, as he actually preferred using the shorter version of his name, but he wasn’t going out of his way to do that yet. Firstly, it was an unnecessary conversation and he couldn’t be bothered, but also it allowed him to watch how knowledge of his preferred name spread, and that was interesting.

Anyway, he had noticed not-quite-Phillip, not-quite-Felipe’s name, and even if it wasn’t exactly the same as Zara’s best friend, it was too close for comfort. He didn’t need to have matching friends with his sister. That was so pathetic.

It also seemed like that was going to be no great loss, as Philippe asked if wanted to play broom tag. No, Bertie did not want to play broom tag. Broom tag would just involve Philippe easily catching him whilst Bertie struggled to get up to high enough speeds to catch him back, and there was nothing fun about it.

“Sssssure,” he agreed. He tried taking a deep breath, and planning his words and making his voice soft even though he felt prickly and defensive. “You go -- first,” he managed, his voice somewhat flat, but at least smooth. “I’ll c-c-- you get ten seconds head start,” he offered.

Luckily, however little he wanted to play, broom tag had a built in exit mechanism. He could basically instruct Philippe to fly off in the opposite direction, and then go back to enjoying his peace and quiet.

13 Bertie Jackson Nope 1497 0 5

Wally O'Malley

June 13, 2020 7:01 AM

Can I politely decline? by Wally O'Malley

There were a lot of things about Sonora that Wally had been dreading. Being away from home. Potentially being disliked by his peers. Discovering he was actually quite stupid and failing horribly academically. But also decidedly near the top of his concerns was flying lessons.

Mom was a passionate Quidditch fan, so he and Stanley had gotten brooms pretty young. No pressure to ride them, but availability, which was basically Mom and Dad’s general parenting technique. “Here’s a thing, do it or don’t, but feel free to ask questions.” Wally had always appreciated that.

Stanley had talked Wally into giving the whole “flight” thing his best attempt, but the moment his feet left the earth, Wally was in absolute mortal peril. He was completely terrified. Then it got worse and the broom decided, through its own volition, that “up” was the appropriate direction to go. It was not, and Wally tried to convince it of such, but it was quite stubborn. Then Stanley tried to help, but that only made things worse, and to make a long story short, Mom had to get them out down from the neighbor’s tree. Stanley had befriended a nice squirrel while they awaited rescue, at least, so it wasn’t a total loss for everyone involved.

Wallace got his grip on the broom okay. He didn’t mind the broom while he was just standing over it, but his nervousness made his palms sweaty, which he realized the coach might notice when she came to check his grip, which made him uncomfortable and more nervous and more sweaty and oh gosh.

Squeezing his eyes shut, Wally kicked off the ground. He gasped sharply, doing his best not to scream as he felt his feet lose their connection to the earth beneath him, and when he opened his eyes, there was a solid three feet between his hanging feet and the ground. His brain helpfully interjected, Can I die from a fall this high? and after what felt like a century but was probably a total of eight seconds, the Crotalus willed himself back down. He removed the broomstick from his legs. Whew. He had done it. That was good enough for now.

12 Wally O'Malley Can I politely decline? 1492 0 5