Cashing In PV Mylo closed

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Dad

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Pa

Andrea

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Interacting with @Maisie Gemmell	Date - 06/01/25
WC 810/200	Color Legend - Mylo | Thoughts

Flashes of light filled the duelling room, accompanied by the sound of incantations carefully being pronounced. Mylo had taken up residence in the room for the better part of the afternoon. Having finished their lessons for the day and not having much in the way of homework due to just having finished the holidays they had decided to perfect their spell casting.

Before the holiday they had participated in a duel against Slytherin, and had lost spectacularly. Now they didn't mind losing, it meant that they had places to improve as they knew they weren't perfect, but what he did mind was the fact that at one point one of their spells hadn't even left their wand. And that was something Mylo had very rarely had happen so for it to do so during a duel, where every spell counted, was something he was not happy with. Which is why they had found themselves in the empty duelling room, practising every spell they knew, casting them at varying speeds and angles. Not even letting themselves think about what spell they'd cast next as that was the best way to practice without another person to cast back at him.

Every time Mylo noticed a spell go slighly awry, or not leave their wand at all they stopped and focused on that particular spell. Casting it over and over until they had it near muscle memory, making sure to pronounce it perfectly and practising the wand movements many times.

They were so focused on what they were doing that he didn't hear the shouts of his name echoing down the hallway, their back to the door they also didn't notice the origin of those shouts coming up to them. At least not until they felt a tap on their shoulder, which startled them into aiming their wand at the wall and not at a dummy. A blindfold calmly drifting down to the floor, not very effective unless you wanted to use it to make someone trip, but there were better spells for that.

Turning around to see who had come up to someone in the middle of casting spells they saw a familiar face. A fellow Ravenclaw whom he had met before, both occasions a little chaotic to say the least. Taking a few deep breaths to calm themselves from the small shock Mylo lowered their wand to their side, taking a closer look at her.

She seemed pleased and Mylo had a feeling he knew why, they had noticed the new duelling list and saw that her name had been added. Which they hoped meant that she was more likely to practice safely now, but having seen the way she had left her previous practice duel they slightly doubted that.

"Hey, uhm yeah I saw. Congrats! Please be careful when people are casting spells though, you could have gotten hurt. Are you here to practice?" He asked, watching as Maisie swayed on the spot slightly.

As she started talking a confused look came over Mylo's face, as at first they didn't exactly know what on earth she was talking about, but as she called them coach a thought struck them. During the trip to the hospital wing Mylo had told her what they knew about duelling, and she had seemed very very interested, and something had been mentioned about their end of the bargain leaving them to wonder if this might be that bargain.

Watching as Maisie got out her wand Mylo knew he didn't have much of a choice, the other student was quite stubborn as he had seen for himself. And they'd rather teach her what they knew safely than that she went of and did her own research and got herself hurt, and Mylo really didn't fancy another trip to the hospital wing. So accepting the fact that he'd now be teaching what little they knew he faced Maisie.

"Okay, first things first we're going to talk safety. Firstly, unless you are actually in a duel or planning on hitting someone with a spell don't point your wand at anybody. Secondly, don't use spells you don't know, unless you've actually practised them or learnt them from someone like a professor or a higher year, you don't know what will happen if the spell backfires or you cast it wrong. Third, don't come up to people who are casting spells and don't notice you coming in. Things could go very wrong if you spook the wrong people.
Lastly, if you find yourself duelling someone outside of a match if you can do so safely run away, it's always better to run away and get help than to stay and fight a fight you might lose."

Looking at Maisie he hoped the safety rules they'd told her actually stuck and didn't just go in one ear and out the other.

ABILITIES | STATS
Perfectionist | Wandmaker [Dragonheart, Elm wood]
sta • 8 | eva • 6 | str • 5 | wis • 9 | arc • 6 | acc • 6

Code by Ara Villa

"Hey, uhm yeah I saw."

Good, that was good.

"Congrats!"

Thank you, thank you so much!

"Please be careful when people are casting spells though, you could have gotten hurt."

Seriously?

"Are you here to practice?"

And that was the first statement the Prefect had said that Maisie was prepared to take issue with. With an eager nod, she replied, "Yeah, now, of course!" Giving them a broad smile, she added, "What do we do first?" There were a million things—a million spells—and she was excited for what Mylo might have in mind for a first plan of attack in her duelling education.

Regretfully, their ideas were not exciting. Her expression soured into a small pout as Mylo, responsible as ever, drummed on with safety concerns for what seemed like at least a solid five minutes. Somewhere in the middle of all it, she tapped her foot. Eventually, they did stop, at which point she could only add, "Whatever you say, Coach."

And as the information zipped into memory, she did realize something. "You never answered that before, you know in the common room: why it isn't cowardly to run away," she added as she twirled her wand between her fingers. It wasn't just a stubborn comment, but rather a genuine curiosity. Growing up as the child of a political journalist, she'd learned to fight and raise your voice for those who needed it; running away seemed the antithesis of that.

But she didn't want to linger on it if Mylo was just going to repeat themselves. No, they had to get on to the fun part of all this. "So, what's our first spell?" she asked them with a glimmer in her eye.

@Mylo Atkins

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Dad

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Pa

Andrea

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Interacting with @Maisie Gemmell	Date - 06/01/25
WC 517/200	Color Legend - Mylo | Thoughts

At least she acknowledge what they had said, and although she hadn't seemed to interesting in what they had had to say about safety it didn't look like she had completely ignored it. Although Mylo wasn't quite sure what it would have looked like if she had completely ignored them so for all they knew she hadn't been paying attention in the slightest. But that was a bit of faith they had to have if he was going to teach her. They couldn't constantly be doubting other people, not that they did that regularly, or at all, though.

Although a question that was thrown their way took Mylo slightly off guard. They though it was perfectly sensible that it wasn't cowardly to run away, at least it a lot of circumstances it wasn't. Of course there were times it was braver to stay. And that's exactly what they'd explain to the other Ravenclaw.

"Well safety always comes first, and why would you risk staying and fighting if you could also run away and get out unharmed. Of course if staying means that another person could get out unharmed then that's the braver thing to do but don't be scared to run away if it would mean less harm overal." They hoped that she understood what he was trying to convey. Although she seemed very excited to learn anything about spells she could, and Mylo knew they couldn't push it any further away.

Thinking back to the first year he decided to pick one of the easier spells, hoping that she'd already learnt it. Having chosen one they thought was relatively simple they turned towards one of the practice dummies, ready to hopefully give Maisie what she wanted.

"Okay, so if you find yourself in a fight then you want to either win or get away as fast as possible. How do we do that? By incapacitating our opponent. Now you should have learnt this spell already but you need to know it, any spell you want to effectively use in a duel you need to know without even having to think about it, it needs to be muscle memory as sometimes you cannot afford to think when in danger. Now as you should already know this one I'm not going to tell you which spell it is, but I'm going to cast it and afterwards I want you to cast the exact same spell."

Hoping the younger student had gotten their instructions Mylo raised their wand at the dummy before switching it up and making a forward slash movement, their wand moving so fast you could only hear a whoosing sound unless you were paying very close attention, and stating the incantation "Verdimillious". As the spell went off flawlessly the space around the training dummy was filled with a shower of green sparks, blinding it if it had been a real person.

Looking back at Maisie they hoped she had already learnt that spell, and stepped back for her to take his place. "Okay, go ahead! I'll pay close attention so I can give feedback if necessary."

ABILITIES | STATS
Perfectionist | Wandmaker [Dragonheart, Elm wood]
sta • 8 | eva • 6 | str • 5 | wis • 9 | arc • 6 | acc • 6

Code by Ara Villa

Mylo seemed a little surprised, but they still continued to explain why it was okay to behave cowardly. Her brow furrowed as she listened. "Okay, well, at least we can agree on saving people," she said. That was perhaps the most important concession they could make—even if they were still being responsible.

But soon enough, they would get to the fun part: their first spell. Maisie nodded. She was ready. In fact, the spell Mylo had chosen was one that she used in her first unofficial duel: Verdimillious. It had bought her some time back then, even if Tracey's storm cloud ultimately had won the day.

Watching carefully, she took mental notes as Mylo skillfully sent the spell off at a training dummy. They had precision in the way they moved their wand and annunciated. It looked like a perfect shower of green sparks.

And soon enough, it was her turn. "Okay, sure," she agreed. Taking out her wand, she took aim at the training dummy. In a few seconds, she tried to focus and hold steady. Then, she launched the spell, "Verdimillious," towards the training dummy. It wasn't as powerful as Mylo's, but struck true. Perhaps she needed to speak louder or cast more quickly?

She'd await their instruction, but she did have a question: "So, it's not that hard with dummy because they don't move. People do. How do you react quickly in a moment like that?"

@Mylo Atkins

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Dad

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Pa

Andrea

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Interacting with @Maisie Gemmell	Date - 06/01/25
WC 417/200	Color Legend - Mylo | Thoughts

As Mylo carefully watched Maisie cast the same spell at the same dummy they took note of the way she stood and her casting trying to take note of anything that could be hindering her casting the spells even better than she currently was. And although the spell hit it's target perfectly covering it in a shower of luminescent green sparks Mylo had spotted something that could help her improve and be useful in duels.

"Okay, great casting. Great movement and pronunciation, now the spell itself is just a case of practice and making it muscle memory. You don't want to spend precious time getting yourself into the right position to cast when that can mean the difference between hitting and getting hit." They said while moving more towards the other duellist. "Now one thing you can change is your stance, you want to be more stable so that in case a spell is being cast at you, you'll be less likely to be knocked out of balance or if your own spell backfires you can prevent stumbling which gives the opposite team an advantage."

Mylo had made their way next to Maisie and got into their 'duelling stance' which was basically a lesser version of the stance that any martial artist would use when fighting someone.

"You'll want to stand sideways with your wand hand in front, and the same leg in front as well. You'll then want to slightly bend your knees so that you're not as unstable as you'd be while standing completely straight. You'll also want to plant your feet in the ground, meaning that you're basically pushing against the ground which also gives you more stability."

Showing her the stance another question made it's way to Mylo, and it was a very valid one. "That's true, and for that it just comes down to practice. You want to be able to anticipate what your opponent is going to do based on their body language and the only way you can do that is by practising and noting what people do. That's also where the muscle memory comes in handy as you can fire of a spell as soon as you know what you're opponent is going to do without wasting time." They said, getting an idea for how they could maybe practice this without the other being in danger of getting hurt. Not that Mylo minded that but they were here to teach so that would make the situation slightly more difficult.

ABILITIES | STATS
Perfectionist | Wandmaker [Dragonheart, Elm wood]
sta • 8 | eva • 6 | str • 5 | wis • 9 | arc • 6 | acc • 6

Code by Ara Villa

Mylo, as it turned out, talked a lot. Maybe that was one of things that made them seem so very, very responsible. And yet, that same flawed feature could actually be useful in this very particular situation as Mylo seemed ripe to be able to provide honest and critical feedback. Maisie nodded and listened eagerly to her brand new coach.

"Great casting."

Yes, good.

"Great movement and pronunciation."

Also good. I do pay attention in DADA.

"Now one thing you can change is your stance..."

Her eyes narrowed for a moment before glancing down towards her feet. They looked okay enough in her black leather shoes. But as Mylo began to explain, 'the duelling stance' was about a lot more than just your feet. Watching them, Maisie tried her best to mirror Mylo's position: a little sideway, leg out in front and knees bent. "Like this?" she asked them for approval. Growing up the only real exercise she'd gotten was running through the city streets; the concepts of formal training were foreign, but she was determined to get it right.

As for her question, it was a matter of "practice" and "muscle memory." Somehow the dummy across the way looked unfit for dealing with either. Well, maybe practice in a comfortable, safe, responsible way, but not much beyond that. "So, coach, do I train against you then?" she asked, "To figure out the whole body language thing?" Of course, Maisie already knew the answer and the answer was no. No, that would be irresponsible and someone could get hurt. And yet, she couldn't help thinking that not only did she need to push herself to not end up in the hospital wing again, but that it might help Mylo come out of their deep, dark, responsible shell. So, she gave them a light smile that just tacked on a not very subtle 'pretty, pretty please.'

@Mylo Atkins

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Dad

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Pa

Andrea

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Interacting with @Maisie Gemmell	Date - 06/01/25
WC 242/200	Color Legend - Mylo | Thoughts

Maisie seemed to be listening very carefully to the advice Mylo was giving her, which he appreciated because it meant that she was trying to improve and not just here cause she wanted to learn higher level spells.

This fact was confirmed as she moved her body in the exact same position that Mylo had shown her, giving her a much more stable stance for a duel. "Exactly like that!" He said, giving her a proud smile.

Seeing as she was taking their advice to heart, although they'd see how much of it she'd remember with her first duel, he decided to give her a bit of a challenge, especially as she asked about duelling against him. Not that he minded duelling against someone, but that was something a bit more useful at a later stage of their coaching.

"No, not at this point. But I do have another way you can practise this." Moving over to the side he stood a bit away from the dummy they had been practising on. Holding out his wand he cast wingardium leviosa on it, causing it to start floating in the air.

"Okay, now I'm going to start moving this dummy around, try looking for any kind of stutters in it's movements and see if you can anticipate which way I'm going to move it. Feel free to use any spells that target just one person." He stated, not fancying catching a stray spell.

ABILITIES | STATS
Perfectionist | Wandmaker [Dragonheart, Elm wood]
sta • 8 | eva • 6 | str • 5 | wis • 9 | arc • 6 | acc • 6

Code by Ara Villa