A Knight Without Wings.
Most things in life were deemed as essential skills, taught from an early age to ensure full development of said skill, serving useful for later in life and proving to be a vital life skill. In the Wizarding world, it was flying. Fortunately for Meiyu, it was not an unbeknown skill to her, previously hearing tales from her uncle Cyrus about Qudditch Matches during his time at Hogwarts, nicknamed best Beater in his own league some time prior to her own birth. Though, as interesting as the tales were, her failure to excel in Flying compared to other classes only prompted her develop a hatred towards the activity, refusing to invest spare time in the skill, thus refusing to practice outside of the curriculum, struggling to even mount her broom at most times.
Credited to her lack of interest for any broom sport, whether it was Qudditch or Broom Racing, Meiyu firmly believed that in essence, flying was useless and served no purpose to the twelve year old — particularly at this moment. As the end of year exams approached faster than the transition of Winter to Spring, which lulled over the Highlands graciously; decorating the landscape with serene in bloom plants cascading sparsely across grounds, her thoughts shifted to sudden determination in developing her vast skillset, notably, in flying.
Much to her delight, temperatures refused to rise, settling comfortably at five degrees this afternoon. Equipped with her awful broom, regretting her choice in not pursuing a broom sport that would prompt the purchase of a classier broom, Meiyu trudged to the Quidditch Training Pitch, dragging her broom behind her without a care, internally praying to the skies that it would be less occupied with adequate skilled broom flyers. Her expression remained unreadable, despite the determination deep rooted within her to better herself at flying. Though, the embarrassment lingered like a horrid reminder that once more, she was unable to excel; the mere subject contributing significantly to the E's scattered across her report card, another painful reminder she was bringing shame to the Knight family.
"This is so humiliating." She scoffed, scowling as she glanced around, the training pitch equipped with a few students who presumably participated in Quidditch, gathered together for training. Fortunately, the students began to take their leave, their grip on their respective brooms vastly differing from how Meiyu dragged her own to the pitch.
Huffing in dissatisfaction, she tightened her grip on her broom, determining that merely asking a player for help was more embarrassing than her intrusion on a secluded area. Immediately turning on her heel to head back to depart, her pace quickening with her departure from the private area, finding open-ground situated where flying classes were typically held. Spared from humiliation, the lack of formality found on grounds appeared less intimidating, easing the tension which brewed rather too quick for her liking.
Finding an opportunity to observe her surroundings briefly, mostly for any onlookers who'd seek humour in her horrid attempt at mounting her school broom, Meiyu noted features of the few students passing by, glaring with malice should they dare to interrupt or view her as a type of guinea pig. Internally confirming they did not oppose true threat, Meiyu's gaze diverted back to the broom she trudged along with her, tossing the wooden object to the ground, a groan departing her lips in distaste towards the entire ordeal she had forced upon herself.
If she were to develop this useless skill, she would have to begrudgingly go back to the bare basics, even if her reputation would be at stake. The potential for injury being the least of her worries, besides, she was yet to ever break a bone; dreaming such circumstance would be the result of a more fascinating story; not the result of improving her flying skills, or, the lack of.
NOTE awful starter sorry
A Knight Without Wings.
Sometimes Avis really hated Quidditch, namely during practices where she just couldn’t seem to do anything right. It was already bad enough that she was fairly new to the team (as of the beginning of spring term) but being the new kid and looking like a complete ninny in the air made for a pretty miserable combination.
Avis let out a frustrated huff as her team broke away from their post practice huddle. She was too angry to speak, too angry to think, too angry to do anything but get back on a broom and prove to herself she wasn’t complete shite at the sport she’d been playing her whole life.
And that’s exactly what the girl did. Slinging her broom over her shoulder and snagging a spare Quaffle, she marched off the training pitch as Slytherin’s team began to warmup for their training slot and headed towards the open area meant for classes and recreation.
Moments later, the Ravenclaw was floating a good meter or two above the ground, wand in one hand and the Quaffle in her other.
“Wingardium Leviosa,” she grumbled with gritted teeth and without another moment to berate herself mentally, Avis sent the ball flying across the pitch, simultaneously shoving her wand into the waistband of her training slacks and racing after it.
Now there were many important things to remember when flying at high speed on a broom but arguably one of the most important was to be aware of one’s surroundings, especially if those surroundings contained other people. Unfortunately, Avis, in her anger, had not bothered to check and so as she went into a slight dive to snatch the Quaffle from the air, she finally noticed, to her utter horror, that a girl stood directly in her path, staring down dejectedly at a battered broom lying by her feet. Merlin’s Great Bollocksing Beard.
With mere seconds to react, Avis desperately pulled up on the handle, fighting against gravity to swoop up last minute but alas, physics proved itself stronger than an 11 year old girl and despite the enhanced grip of her Chaser gloves, the girl’s hands slipped off the handle and she tumbled off her broom, directly into the innocent bystander the Ravenclaw had been so desperately trying to avoid.
“Look out!” she managed to cry before flying into the girl with a painful thud, the Ravenclaw’s Comet 180 shooting off to crash land a few meters away.
@Meiyu Xiang
Reducio
ooc: noo it was great haha. sorry for the wait!
sta 8 | eva 8 | str 3 | wis 7 | arc 6 | acc 10
inpc: bastien archambeau
A Knight Without Wings.
Enticed by amount of students who successfully mounted their broom, a skill Meiyu had yet to develop adequately outside of class, she failed to notice the cry coming from a girl nearby, who approached the young lioness in speed almost equivalent to light. Met with sheer force, gravity working overtime to lull Meiyu to the ground with a foreign body on top of hers, her limbs painfully twisting as she was forced to the ground upon collision. Her face morphing into one of pure pain it quickly dawned on her that someone had fallen onto her, her mind previously occupied with the horrid task of mounting her broom that she failed to notice the earlier warning cry.
Taking a few moments to briefly assess what had happened, Meiyu scowled, scoffing, "Get off me!" with a strong push to the foreign body on top of her own. Despite the twist of her limbs, fortunately, she had yet to break a limb as consequence to the collision, though, the pain prevalent enough that once Meiyu attempted to regain composure, attempting to stand once more, her face scowled as her breath hitched in pain. Shifting her gaze to glare at the girl, noting ocean-like eyes, which had it not been for their current circumstance, Meiyu would likely compliment. Yet, her carelessness in a mere skill; one Meiyu would expect her to be better in, given she supported a Ravenclaw Quidditch uniform, irritated the young lioness. Faced with utter embarrassment, once more, she took a moment to brush off any soil from precious clothes — taking pride in her appearance more than anything, then scoffed as she begrudgingly extended a hand out, offering the assailant a helping hand, one that would naturally, come at a cost.
"I would expect a Quidditch player to have better control of their broom, for that reason alone, it's safe to assume you're usually benched." Meiyu muttered bitterly, though, unable to restrain the volume of her voice, likely gaining stares from passer-by's who had the misfortune of witnessing the entire ordeal. Had it been a few months prior or the severity of the main matter at hand — broom flying, Meiyu would likely have either attacked the girl in retaliation or spew a string of insults at the girl, though, her internal monologue resorting to the latter in the moments she continued to stare at the girl, awaiting further movement.
Squinting her eyes, she noticed the broom which was vastly different from her own, one she'd seen months prior to the first term, though, the memory was too vague — Meiyu knowing from early on that she'd refuse to participate in a broom sport, thus resorting to a battered school broom, one she dragged around, aiding the battered look it carried with her lack of care towards the useless object. "Interesting choice of broom, wasn't too expensive if I recall correctly." She piqued, moving around the girl, inching towards the broom she ejected from, as though, similar to a wand, the girl's broom of choice did not align with her, as though they failed to reach symbiosis. Fixated on the broom and less-so the girl, who was equally as hurt, though, Meiyu chose to ignore the itching pain from the abrasions which formed as a result of the collision, experiencing worse with the winter plague. On the contrary, a little abrasion was incomparable.
"As consequence for injuring me and potentially ruining my future activities, you will teach me how to fly and you will do so right now." Meiyu commanded with a huff, once she turned on her heel, diverting her attention back to the girl who's appearance was oddly intriguing, likely accredited to her alluring eyes. Despite Meiyu's newfound belief that the girl was likely to be benched with how their acquaintance came to be, she knew the best way to learn would unfortunately, be at the mercy of a broom racer. Much to her misfortune, it was not who she had in mind as a tutor nor who she initially searched for, though, it will do.
A Knight Without Wings.
“I’m off. I’m off!” Avis retorted, her ears reddening in embarrassment and annoyance at the girl’s tone and her unnecessary shove. The Ravenclaw shook her head, trying to clear it of the dizziness their collision had induced and sat up slowly, wincing at the new collection of bruises that were now blossoming on her bony knees and elbows.
To her surprise, the disgruntled Gryffindor offered a hand, which Avis naturally took, but as she climbed to her feet, the girl’s next sentence caught her off guard. She narrowed her eyes, although the statement was true enough. She had sat the bench during the last match as the Avis was only second string, but she’d beat out enough people to get the spot. Besides, the other first string Chasers were all older and more experienced, which begrudgingly she had to respect.
Regardless, the comment stung a bit.
“I had complete control. You just happened to be in the way… and everyone knows you’re not supposed to stand around like a ninny in the middle of a training pitch waiting to get hit,” Avis snapped, aware of the stares the two were getting yet her anger taking hold. The guilt she’d had about running into the girl was slowly fading away, especially as her victim began to point out the cost of her broom. Avis’ cheeks flamed red to match her ears. The audacity of this prissy know-it-all.
The Ravenclaw marched over and snatched her precious broom from off the grass, taking note of the Gryffindor’s battered school broom as she went. Avis smirked.
“Bit more expensive than yours, I would say,” she muttered, indignantly clutching her own Comet and giving the girl a lofty look. The strangely pristine Gryffindor seemed to be quite unaffected however, given the nature of her next comment. Avis’ eyes widened in shock. She quite openly baulked at the mere thought, closing her open mouth with a snap as she reigned in her surprise.
Before she could sputter out an indignant refusal, a thought took hold in her mind. Teaching a beginner how to fly wasn’t necessarily entertaining but watching this girl fail would be undeniably fun. And perhaps, Avis figured she might be able to convince her to pay for possible future lessons, in Galleons or otherwise. After all, one can’t learn how to ride a broom in a day. Regardless, she needed a training partner off the team to spare her from embarrassment and eventually get on that pitch in a real game… which she was never going to admit out loud.
After reasoning with herself, the Ravenclaw turned to face the girl fully.
“Fine. I owe you a 30 minute lesson if it’ll keep you from getting in anyone else’s way. Need someone to throw Quaffles at me anyhow,” she admitted, sticking out a gloved hand to seal the deal with a handshake. “If you want any further instruction though, we’re gonna have to bargain,” she added.
The Ravenclaw promptly walked over to pick up the girl’s rickety school broom and set it by the Gryffindor’s feet. She straightened, putting her hands on her hips.
“I’m Avis. Your lesson starts now,” she said. “Command the broom into your hand, like we learned in Flying and then maybe we’ll see if you can mount the thing.”
@Meiyu Xiang
sta 8 | eva 8 | str 3 | wis 7 | arc 6 | acc 10
inpc: bastien archambeau
A Knight Without Wings.
"Ninny?" Meiyu piqued with curiosity, unfamiliar with her string of vocabulary, preferring to get to the grit of an insult. Narrowing her eyes, she once more craned her neck to note her location, evidently far from others who successfully managed to mount and fly. Evidently, she was not directly on the training pitch, though, the lack of ability to truly understand social cues left Meiyu puzzled when interacting with someone who evidently, was not of high society. Akin to the unfamiliarity revolving around the entire ordeal, she showed little to no interest in anything broom related, truly believing such ability would serve fruitless in any future endeavour. Besides, what need was there to develop a useless skill if she would heavily rely on the Floo Network once she grew older, it was what she was more familiar with, forcing her to develop a small prejudice towards those who had selected broom flying as their preferred mode of transport.
Watching the stranger snatch the horrid broom, Meiyu was unable to hide the displeasure plastering her face as she observed the girl, growing humiliated at the mere thought of being tutored by another; who she knew for a doubt, did not have the same cascade of O's neatly decorating her report card. To her dismay, Meiyu's ears perked as the muttered remark failed to escape her own ears, forcing her to glance down at the school broom she had the misfortune of supporting this semester. "I refuse to waste my allowance on a broom." She retorted back with a hint of bitterness far too evident for her liking. It wasn't like her uncle Cyrus had not offered to buy her the best broom during a brief conversation over the Christmas holidays. His enthusiasm and interest in his only niece's endeavours at the castle had only resulted in a persistent urge, desiring her to follow in his own footsteps and make the Quidditch team much to her dismay — the young girl immediately deeming the horrible Gryffindor team as useless, participating in a poorly organised team would only equate to social suicide.
Nevertheless, despite the ability to fly being deeply rooted somewhere in her DNA composition, Meiyu's inability to successfully fly had begun to burden her more than she wished to convey. Scoffing in frustration, her desire to abandon mission only grew stronger until the girl faced her and agreed. Meiyu's eyes diverted down to the gloved palm thrown at her, grimacing slightly at the mere thought of the bacteria lingering on the leather before taking her hand and firmly shaking it with an exasperated sigh. Shifting her gaze back at the girl, Meiyu tilted her head, brow immediately raising at the bartering she unwillingly entered. "I'm not paying you for future lessons, I doubt someone of your skill would make a good teacher." She harshly commented, quickly withdrawing her own hand and grazing it across the fabric of pants — immediately going into the wash after the awful lesson concluded.
As the young girl who supported a Ravenclaw Quidditch uniform finally introduced herself as Avis, Meiyu immediately straightened her posture, returning the introduction as a form of familiar formality she had grown accustomed to under her maternal family's wing. "Meiyu Xiang." She affirmed, hastily listening to Avis' impromptu lecture with her thoughts content that the girl had finally shown some use to the young lioness.
Briskly moving towards her broom, Meiyu halted and carefully stood by the old broom's side, raising her left palm up directly above the broom; just as she had previously learnt in the first flying class, and loudly called out "UP!" with no emotion. To her dismay, the broom failed to rise at her command, forcing her to repeat "UP!" for a second time, to no avail, then for a third time, which had caused the broom to lightly shuffle on the ground. "Stupid broom, absolutely useless." She groaned, using her heel to kick the bristles of the broom in frustration; one very reminiscent to her own brothers throwing temper tantrums whenever they failed to get what they desired.
"See? There's something wrong with the broom, it surely cannot be my fault." Meiyu rebutted, particularly in her own defence, resuming once more as she glared at Avis, "What am I doing wrong?"
A Knight Without Wings.
Meiyu Xiang. Well, whoever she was, the name sounded extremely posh, and it checked out, considering Meiyu was looking at her like a piece of Drooble's gum squished into the underside of a desk.
Avis watched as the Gryffindor took her place beside the rickety old broom and sharply commanded it to rise. She repeated it a few more times before kicking it soundly in the bristles, causing her current tutor to snort in amusement.
"I wouldn't say it's the broom that's useless," the Ravenclaw muttered, walking a bit closer to her student. She picked up the poor abused piece of wood and set it next to her own feet. Sticking her palm out, Avis opened her mouth.
"Up," she said simply and it rose, snapping into her palm with a light smack. She gave Meiyu a pointed look. "Nothin' wrong with the broom, save a few splinters. But you've got to be intentional about it. That's what my brother says at least," she instructed, her Cork accent filtering through her words. "When you say up, you have to think it, too. And say it to the broom, not at it."
Avis stepped back and gestured towards her previous position, dropping the school broom back in place. A nagging and certainly uninvited thought in the back of her head wondered if the girl had often experienced the harsh tone she'd so easily portrayed to the broom, but she banished it. Her curiosity tended to get the better of her when it came to the motivation behind people's actions, but she wasn't in the mood for sympathy and judging by Meiyu's character, she doubted the Gryffindor would welcome any.
Avis looked on expectantly. "Alright, give it another go."
Reducioooc: a THOUSAND apologies for the late response. just owl me if you'd rather not revive this thread. and let me know if you have any issues with avis' judge of meiyu's character. i have no problem revising!
@Meiyu Xiang
sta 8 | eva 8 | str 3 | wis 7 | arc 6 | acc 10
inpc: bastien archambeau
A Knight Without Wings.
Utterly a waste of time. Meiyu's fruitless endeavour into developing her flying skill was surely not going to get any better with the awful Quidditch player she had roped into teaching her. Her irritation growing by the mere minute she had to spend with the imbecile who had somehow made it into the Ravenclaw team; had she kept up with the useless sport, perhaps she would be familiar with whether or not they were as useless as her own house was, though, she only had intel from the bizarre benched seeker and the one broom-racing match she attended.
A graveling pig-like snort had forced Meiyu's gaze back to the girl, her face twisting into a discontent scowl given the latter had taken clear amusement in her frustration. "Something funny or did the pig you morphed into get your tongue?" She scoffed with displeasure, a newfound desire blossoming within the young girl to use the broom to outright hit the girl — though, her ulterior motives served as enough to prevent her from doing so. Instead, she watched the girl, Meiyu's eyes beaming with a mix of irritation and desire to do better. She watched as the latter had succeeded once more in getting her broom off the ground, rolling her eyes with bitterness at how easy it had come to her. It was atypical for Meiyu to fail in something, hence her growing irritation, yet her desire to not only succeed where she fell short combined with her profound interest in broom-related sports had been her sole motivation for this endavour.
So, she tried once more.
Moving to her discarded broom once more, Meiyu stood on the old broom's side and raised her left palm once more, calling "UP!" loudly with no emotion. To her surprise, this time the broom had shuffled a little on the floor, indicating she was heading the right way. Once more, she called with purpose, "UP!". This time, her old manky broom rose, raising to her left palm and hitting her with force that she winced in pain, worsening her previous descent into the soil from when she had been crashed into on two broom related incidents. Scowling once more, the girl's earlier comment returned to Meiyu's mind, particularly how she should speak to the inanimate object in her mind. Another clear sign that the school's present inhabitants truly belonged in a psychiatric ward.
Sighing with exasperation, Meiyu tried for a final time, embodying the illness exhibited within the Quidditch players to internally speak to the rustic old broom she took pride in possessing. Glaring down at the broom on the grass which spewed hues of light green, confirming the start of Spring, she called once more with affirmation that the broom would rise, "UP." This time, the broom had rose to her raised palm, and her fingers curled to grip the wooden handle, her lips instinctively curving at the joyous occasion of final success. Slowly diverting her gaze from the broom she now had in her grip to Avis, Meiyu blankly spoke, awaiting the next phase of the lesson, "Now what?"
NOTE so so sorry this took forever, feel free to either continue or drop, I don't mind but I was halted on how to continue.
A Knight Without Wings.
tags: @Meiyu Xiang | date: 16-03-2025 | fit: x
Pig?? Great Merlin, it was just truly insult after insult with this high society bugger. Avis couldn't help but let out an incredulous laugh.
"As of matter of fact, it was rather funny," she said, eyes wide with the shock of being so callously compared to a farm animal. Sure, she'd grown up in a house the size of this girl's room probably, but it certainly wasn't a barn.
A few moments later, the Ravenclaw stood by as she watched Meiyu shift the broom back into position and try once more. She winced at the loud "UP!" that emitted from the Gryffindor's small form but to Avis' surprise, the broom shuddered, if not simply out of fear. Hands on her hips, Avis looked on, secretly willing her student to succeed. She herself knew a thing or two about a stubborn will and although she couldn't find much to like about the girl, they at least had this in common.
The small admiration vanished, however, when the broom flew up at Meiyu's next command and slapped her soundly on the palm, deigning to fall right back into its earlier position. Avis couldn't help the smug expression that crawled onto her face. Serves her right. She gave the old broom a look of amused approval. The thing wasn't quite sentient obviously but magic made it as alive as an old piece of wood could be. The Ravenclaw chuckled to herself.
Her laughter faulted as upon the next try, the broom finally obeyed its master and rose obediently into the Gryffindor's waiting palm. Her fingers curled around the handle in triumph and Avis rolled her eyes at the subsequent smile that the girl now sported. "Now what?" she demanded.
The Ravenclaw cleared her throat, commanding her own broom off the ground and swinging a leg over it.
"Now we fly," she said, a matter-of-fact tone taking over her voice. Pushing off lightly from her toes, Avis held the Comet at a hover, a few inches above the ground. "If you can control it here, you can control it up there," the Ravenclaw said, giving the sky a nod. With that, she rose a few more inches to survey her student's handiwork for the next few steps. Hopefully she'd take one or two amusing tumbles. That would certainly improve Avis' day.
sta 8 | eva 8 | str 3 | wis 7 | arc 6 | acc 10
inpc: bastien archambeau