This is illuminating on Defense Against the Dark Arts

Isis Carter-Xavier

August 26, 2020 4:32 PM

Baby's First Dueling Club! Or, Rock-Paper-Wizards. [Beg. DADA.] by Isis Carter-Xavier

At this point, there was simply no hiding it: Isis’s son was getting closer to making his appearance. The wisdom of an old wives’s tale suggested that lingering heartburn meant a hair baby, and if that were true, then Isis was not entirely convinced she wasn’t carrying some type of chimp.

Fortunately, whatever was happening in there was being cooperative enough today, because Isis had a job to do. Tabitha had requested coverage of the beginners’ level Defense class, and so the Pecari Head of House was obliged to provide it. She couldn’t seem to find Tabitha’s lesson plan, though, so she decided to produce one of her own somewhat on the fly.

“Greetings,” she offered as the first and second years began pouring in. “Professor Brooding-Hawthorne couldn’t be here today, so you’ll have to make do with me,” she smiled by way of explanation when the group was all accounted for. “But I think we’re going to have a fun class today. We’re going to do a bit of practical work and have some basic duels.”

“Now, you’ll only be using three spells: Lumos to produce a bright light and disarm your opponent, Expelliarmus to take their weapon away, and Flipendo to physically stop them. Let’s get lined up into two lines - when you get to the front, step up and take your turn against the person across from you. I’ll count back from five when you’re both ready, during which you must choose your move. Then go to the back of the line. If you’ll all come up front for just a moment, I’ll move the desks out of the way, and we’ll have at it!”

OOC: Feel free to write Isis’s countdowns so you can get going. To keep it simple, I’d like to do sort of a rock-paper-scissors approach. Lumos beats Flipendo (can’t see to aim the jinx), Flipendo beats Expelliarmus (can’t shoot a spell when you’re flying backwards), and Expelliarmus beats Lumos (no light if you’re unarmed). Any other questions, either tag Isis or hunt me down in chatzy as they apply IC or OOC. Have fun!

Subthreads:

This is illuminating by Philippe Delachene with Esme Brockert

Lizard! No, Spock! No.. what were the options again? by Valentine Duell with Josephine Clyde

12 Isis Carter-Xavier Baby's First Dueling Club! Or, Rock-Paper-Wizards. [Beg. DADA.] 31 1 5

Philippe Delachene

August 31, 2020 7:00 PM

This is illuminating by Philippe Delachene

Philippe was enjoying Sonora, and was starting to feel settled in his classes. He was getting good grades in all his subjects - he wasn't entirely sure if this was because he was actually doing better than his peers or because he was producing work that far exceeded his professors' expectations when they saw the name 'Delachene' at the top of his essays. He would never call Anya dumb, but she was unfocused and easily distracted, and he suspected her schoolwork reflected that. And Anya had better grades than Jasmine did.

The bar was not set particularly high for Philippe, but he'd still put a lot of his energy during his first semester here into making sure he jumped it cleanly and with room to spare. He had a first impression to make that had to overshadow any preconceived notions the teachers here had made based on who his sisters were. He wasn't an Aladren, but he'd come to school thinking that was one of his two probable destinations, and he didn't really want to give up the grades associated with that House just because he'd ultimately been put into the other one.

DADA, in particular, he felt he needed to do well in. Uncle Daniel had been the previous professor, and though he wasn't sure if Professor Brooding-Hawthorne knew that they were related (Philippe judged the chances of Daniel admitting a relation to Jasmine to be about 30%, especially since Jasmine had been the only Delachene present at the time, so Anya couldn't distract the new professor from Jasmine's Jasmine-ness with her Anya-ness), he still had to assume she did know and was involved in sporadic correspondence with his uncle, and anything he did in class could get back to his family. Not that he expected Mom would care if he only did A level work, but Dad knew he was smarter than that, and Uncle Daniel definitely did. Philippe couldn't let either of them down by doing less than his best.

Having a substitute did not lessen that pressure. Professor Carter-Xavier would report back to Professor Brooding-Hawthorne, and then he'd be right back where he started.

Still, he was feeling pretty confident in his achievements so far, so the task set before them seemed more interesting than stressful. It wasn't a really a real duel, not with their still limited spell casting abilities, and none of the spells they were instructed to use were particularly dangerous. The least dangerous was Lumos, he thought, so that was the one he chose to use as he stepped up the center of the room for his turn.

He faced off against his opponent, trying to look serious and like he was about to cast something impressive like Expelliarmus (which truthfully, as a first year, he was still struggling to get right under normal classroom conditions nevermind against another person in a mock duel), but suspected his total lack of intimidation ability and his reflexive mouth twitches toward a smile whenever he looked at people rather reduced this effect to something more along the lines of 'the first year Teppenpaw is utterly failing to look scary and such a sunny person is almost certainly going to cast lumos at you.'

And when the countdown completed, that was what he did. "Lumos!" he cast loudly.

1 Philippe Delachene This is illuminating 1489 0 5

Esme Brockert

September 01, 2020 7:09 PM

Not the adjective I'd have chosen by Esme Brockert

If Esme had to pick a core class that she really loathed, looked forward to dropping after CATS, and wished she didn't have to take at all, it was Defense Against the Dark Arts. She understood, on principle, needing to know some defensive spells to protect herself and her loved ones from dark creatures, such as Topaz. However, Esme really tended not to like many of the activities that were done in the class. They were too...sporty for her tastes. Unladylike.

It wasn't just that either. It was the attitude of the professor, who seemed to think they were all Pecaris who went looking for dangerous, unpleasant, messy, physically demanding situations. That could not have been further from who Esme was. Plus, she still bore a bit of a grudge towards this Professor Brooding-Hawthorne for what Allegra had been put through last fall. The second year had all the sympathy in the world for whatever traumatic event or events had led the professor to be so paranoid but that was no reason to make Allegra's issues worse. Especially when the fifth year had already had a terrible experience with an obstacle course. It wasn't just that she could be hurt physically-especially with what happened regarding prefect and Topaz being out for Allegra's blood-but that it could lead to the sort of humiliation that could lead to being bullied.

As it turned out, Professor Carter-Xavier was subbing today. Esme really hoped for the sort of lesson that was like....disarming a booby trapped box using some sort of spell, or some sort of theoretical thing. Something that did not require them to be physically active.

No such luck. The Crotalus sighed to herself. Basic duels? Yuck! And that Professor Carter-Xavier said it was going to be a "fun" class was irksome. Apparently, being the Pecari Head of House had warped the woman dreadfully, because she had a very skewed idea of fun. Okay, Esme supposed she could, in theory-as in when she didn't personally have to do something she found abhorrent-accept people had different ideas of fun. The bothersome thing was that quite obviously, Professor Carter-Xavier, like Professor Brooding-Hawthorne, assumed that everyone would find specific things fun that Esme most definitely did not .

That was possibly more obnoxious than the lesson itself, given that the second year was fairly competent. Her pride would not let her not be and being a good spell caster was the most important part of being a witch. After all, the ability to do magic was what made a human being a witch or wizard in the first place. However, the attitude that things like dueling were at all enjoyable for everyone-Esme was sure they were for some-was rather offensive. It assumed that liking to do these physically demanding, more athletic things was what was normal and there was something wrong with those who didn't. It was a very Uncle Eustace-ish way to think.

Of course, Uncle Eustace simply thought there was something wrong with boys thinking that way and it was normal for girls to not like those things....but then he thought girls were inferior because their normal wasn't to like sports. Yeah, Uncle Eustace didn't make a lot of sense and that was one reason why nobody should ever think like him.

Point was, by assuming everyone would find this sort of lesson fun, when Esme very much didn't, Professor Carter-Xavier was implying something was wrong with the Crotalus and she really did not appreciate that.

Esme sighed inwardly again as she stepped up for her turn against Jasper's roommate who was doing his best to look scary and intimidating. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, as it wasn't his fault that she was in a bad mood now. Truth be told, Defense always made her a bit grouchy. As the countdown finished, Esme cast " Expelliarmus ." Expelliarmus would work well against anything they were allowed to cast if she could get it out faster than her opponent.

11 Esme Brockert Not the adjective I'd have chosen 1479 0 5

Valentine Duell

September 04, 2020 8:17 PM

Lizard! No, Spock! No.. what were the options again? by Valentine Duell

Valentine was a little surprised to see Professor Carter-Xavier at the head of the classroom today. Hopefully nothing was wrong with Professor Brooding-Hawthore. She was the defense teacher... had something terrible happened? Had there been a monster attack on the school and she has been the only one to stand in their way? Was she recovering from repelling hundreds of evil creatures in a glorious battle that would forever remain under wraps so no one would know how close they had all come to certain death? Probably not, but it was fun to think about. She had no doubt that the DADA professor would give any rampaging horde a run for their money.

Ooo.. they were going to be dueling today. Excellent! She'd been having fun in the dueling club, and that should undoubtedly help her with her lesson today. This would be fun! She got in line and thought a bit about which spell to use. It didn't take to long. She'd been working on Expelliarmus in dueling club, so she may as well continue practicing it here. When her turn came, she stood before her nemesis, her sworn adversary, the one who's evil must be stopped! She gave them a bright smile and the standard dueling salute.

She took her dueling stance and locked eyes with her opponent. What were they going to try? Would she be faster? Would her charm actually work this time? The professor counted down and Val cast her spell at the end of the countdown, "Expelliarmus"

2 Valentine Duell Lizard! No, Spock! No.. what were the options again? 1490 0 5

Josephine Clyde

September 07, 2020 10:07 AM

I'm obviously not the right person to answer that question. by Josephine Clyde

Dueling? Josie’s heart sank a little. She didn’t want to duel! Some of the textbooks had sections on it and as far as she could tell it meant flinging spells at each other until someone got hurt or gave up or died. But as Professor Carter-Xavier explained the types of spells they would use Josie felt much better. Lumos, Expelliarmus, Flipendo. She knew and had tried the first two, they weren’t terribly difficult, but Flipendo was something she’d only read about. Physically stopping someone was the least of it. She distinctly remembered something about being physically pushed back and not in a soft, gentle way.

Josie listened to the rest of the instructions with unease growing in her stomach. Would she be able to do this? She had never cast a spell on another person before. What if she messed up and nothing happened? What if she got hit by a Flipendo and she hurt herself? The worries kept occupying her thoughts and suddenly it was her turn. Noooooo. She wasn’t anywhere near remotely ready. What did she need to do? Oh! Dueling stance, dueling stance. Uh…salute? The professor’s countdown continued in the background and Josie looked at her opponent, hoping they were a bit more prepared than she was.

A female Teppenpaw student was standing in front of her and smiling. Josie smiled back on reflex. Okay maybe things will be alright! All the Teppenpaws she’d met were really nice and this one even smiled at her, so things should be okay. Then the countdown ended and the girl was flinging an Expelliarmus at her. Seeing that red bolt of light coming towards her Josie did the only thing she could think of. She ducked down with her hands over her head and maybe a little tiny scream slipped out on her way down.

She wasn’t even embarrassed, just scared. The textbooks didn’t say anything about how scary it was to actually see a spell coming your way! Josie risked a peek up at her opponent and gave her a wobbly smile.
“Sorry.”

44 Josephine Clyde I'm obviously not the right person to answer that question. 1477 0 5

Valentine Duell

September 07, 2020 11:42 AM

I guess we'll just have to figure this out together then by Valentine Duell

Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh was all that ran through Val's mind as Josie shrieked and ducked. What had she done? Was Josie hurt? What happened? Had she messed up the spell? She wanted to drop her wand and rush to Josie's side to make sure she was okay. This was Defense Against the Dark Arts class though, dropping your wand was frowned upon. So, instead she held onto her wand and rushed to Josie's side. "I'm Sorry I'm Sorry I'm Sorry" poured out of her mouth in one continuous stream as she arrived.

She squatted down next to her opponent, who seemed to be peeking back up at her with something of a smile and an apology. Valentine returned the wobbly smile with a concerned one. "Don't worry about it. Are you okay? I didn't hurt you, did I?" She really, really hoped she hadn't hurt Josie. She wanted to be friends with the girl and hurting her was not a good way to start that. "I'm so sorry, I haven't been quite able to get my expelliarmus quite right yet." She looked at the rest of the waiting class. "Maybe we'd better get out of the way so they can keep going."

Standing she offered her hand to the other girl, hoping to guide her off to the side. Maybe they could chat a little bit before the Professor told them to get back into line again. That would be great! "What spell were you thinking about using?" Hopefully if the professor thought they were discussing class topics, they could get away with it for longer. "I joined the dueling club, so I've gotten a little bit of practice at this, but I'm no expert. Would you like any pointers that I've picked up so far?"

2 Valentine Duell I guess we'll just have to figure this out together then 1490 0 5

Josephine Clyde

September 08, 2020 8:02 AM

Sorry for being a deadweight. by Josephine Clyde

Wow, yeah, no. Dueling was not for her. A flood of apologies gave Josie the chance to catch her breath and…Now that Josie got a better look at the Teppenpaw she realized that she knew her. She’d seen her in Herbology and Charms and what was her…Valentine. That’s right. She remembered thinking the other girl’s name was pretty. Wow, she must’ve been more terrified than she realized to have just completely blocked out an entire person from her memory.

Josie shook her head at Valentine’s concerned questions. She was fine, just caught off guard. Hopefully they wouldn’t need to do that again! She took Valentine’s hand, but she literally felt her heart sink at the Professor’s words. Again? Nooooo. Complaining in the middle of class was something she’d never done, not even last year when everything was new to her or when Transfiguration taunted her the entire year. But she came really close.

Her brain was made for learning! Even though she didn’t have any magical experiences growing up she managed just fine last year and this year was progressing smoothly. As Valentine continued talking three things became very clear to her. One, Valentine had experience dueling, no surprises there. Two, she was obviously skilled at it despite only having a little practice under her belt. Three, how was she going to tell this nice first year that when the dueling moment came all those spells and charms she’d learned and memorized so easily just vanished? Okay, okay maybe she just needed to review.

“Um, well, there’re three, right?”

Valentine had used Expelliarmus, so logically she should have used Flipendo to counter. How on earth was she going to use the Knockback Jinx if she couldn’t even handle seeing an Expelliarmus coming her way?

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t really thinking of any of them. I freaked out a little.” Josie gave a half-hearted laugh, “What would you have used to counter?”

44 Josephine Clyde Sorry for being a deadweight. 1477 0 5

Valentine Duell

September 08, 2020 6:47 PM

You are no such thing. by Valentine Duell

Josie seemed flustered. Val knew that meant it was up to her to do her best and make Josie calm and happy. She gave the girl an encouraging smile as she began to talk. "That's fine," she replied, "I think freaking out is a survival technique. It got you out of the way of the spell. I had a... similar reaction at the first dueling club meet up." It hadn't been exactly the same, but it hadn't been far off either. Valentine had spent a few years flying around with her parents and Aunt Jhonice, when she was around, playing Quidditch. She had been largely desensitized to that reaction when something was flying at her head. Catching spells like balls does not work though.

Valentine thought about Josie's question for a moment, "Well, out of the three options, let's see..." She started counting off on her fingers, "Trading Expelliarmus for Expelliarmus just comes down to a race I guess, who can get it off the fastest." She went to her second finger, "Lumos could momentarily blind your opponent which would help against something that needs to be aimed. It's faster to cast then Expelliarmus, but I don't think it would stop the disarming charm from functioning." Her brow furrowed a bit as she moved to the third finger. "Flipendo is faster than Expelliarmus and would most likely interrupt the charm." She smiled, "That would probably be your best bet."

Then her smile faltered a bit. "Unfortunately, being the beginners that we are, I don't think we really have the skills to recognize what our opponents are doing fast enough to be able to react to them yet." She shrugged. "I decided to use Expelliarmus while I was waiting in line because I needed to practice it." She gave Josie a weak grin, "Even if you had decided to do Flipendo and started at the end of the countdown, I wouldn't have been able to react to it."

2 Valentine Duell You are no such thing. 1490 0 5

Josephine Clyde

September 13, 2020 10:58 PM

I am every such thing, but maybe this will help? by Josephine Clyde

A survival technique was a really nice way of saying cowardly. Josie grimaced at the memory of her shriek and duck. Not exactly the best impression. She wouldn’t have laughed at anyone if they’d reacted the way she did, but she wouldn’t have blamed the other people in their class for laughing. Frankly, she couldn’t even remember if she’d heard laughter and now she wasn’t sure what was worse; a silent class judging her for her shortcomings or a mocking one.

Dwelling on depressing things wouldn’t make her feel better, so she focused back on the conversation with Valentine. Dueling club! No wonder the first year was so composed and her explanation was pretty logical. It would definitely be difficult to cast Expelliarmus if you were physically flung backwards. Speed seemed to be incredibly important for these duels and Josie agreed that it would most definitely be difficult for either of them to react quickly. She didn’t have a lot of experience with casting spells at other people much less doing them quickly to “protect” herself. Maybe she ought to join dueling club?

Josie watched their other classmates continue dueling and shrank back a little bit again. Would dueling be a big part of her future? Minnie worked in the magical government and her father had held a non-magical job her entire life. Neither of them seemed to use dueling or spells on other people. Maybe she didn’t need to join dueling club after all. But just then someone successfully cast a Flipendo and the following thud of the student’s body on the ground frightened her all over again. She didn’t think her second round of dueling with Valentine would go well.

“What if we choose which spells we’ll each do? I’ll do Lumos and you can try Expelliarmus or Flipendo and then you tell me what you’ll do and I try to use one of the other spells. 50-50 is better than trying to guess from the beginning and we’re still choosing, so I’d say that we’re still dueling. You decide!”

Plus, if she knew what to expect at least she’d be a little less freaked out.

44 Josephine Clyde I am every such thing, but maybe this will help? 1477 0 5

Valentine Duell

September 14, 2020 5:50 PM

Bah! You are doing great! by Valentine Duell

Josie still looked unsettled, and the look got worse as she watched the other students continue on with their practice. They still seemed to be in the clear... but she couldn't be sure that would continue and she really, really didn't want to get into trouble. "You're more than welcome to come join me at Dueling club sometime. It's pretty fun actually. The seventh year that is in charge of it, Parker, is really nice and there are some other great people there as well." She smiled brightly hoping to encourage her new friend.

"That's a good idea," She replied to Josie's idea. Then she thought she caught sight of the professor looking their way. "We'd better get back in line." She whispered quickly. "Just so we're not caught talking to much more," Val continued in a whisper as she started moving back towards the lines, "Whatever I cast to deal with your lumos will be the same thing I'll cast again on the next round and let you deal with it. Okay?"

There was a definite look from the professor and Val broke away and gave professor Carter-Xavier a cheery smile as she got back into line. What would she do? Expelliarmus or Flipendo? If her reasoning was right, Josie's lumos should interfere with a Flipendo, but if something went sideways again, Josie might also be thrown backwards and Val really didn't' want to do that. The Expelliarmus should only pull the wand from her hand, plus she'd seen it once already so she'd know what it was again? Hopefully. She was going to do that. Plus, she still needed the practice with it.

When her turn came around again, she took her dueling stance, saluted and smiled encouragingly at Josie again. Then as the countdown ran out, she cast her spell again, "Expelliarmus!"

2 Valentine Duell Bah! You are doing great! 1490 0 5