Closed Flying Free PV Alyss(a)

Alyssa: #8f6dab
Interacting with: @Alyss Gilmour

It was an early morning with wonderful weather, one that Alyssa would normally spend in a corner of the common room with a good book. But today was not normal. Today, Alyssa was navigating her way toward the ever-changing terrain of the Outdoor Club Area with a borrowed school broom clutched tightly in her right hand."How did I end up here?" she wondered aloud. She had never once had any reason to venture to this part of the school. Well, until now.

Since the start of the school year, Alyssa had prided herself on excelling in her classes and learning as many aspects of magic as possible. It was her goal, you see, to understand the intricacies of how magic worked, be it through spells or magical objects. But theory only got you so far. Some things just had to be learned and grasped the practical way - especially flying. Which was what frustrated Alyssa to no end. She simply did not have an affinity with broomsticks at all! Her first flying class, she had spent half the time just trying to summon the broom to her hand. And when it finally listened, she could barely balance on it, let alone fly. To say it was her most disastrous class was an understatement. Which was why she was here first thing in the morning with a broom in hand. The school year was ending soon, but she still couldn't fly on a broom without it going out of control. I mean, was she even a witch if she couldn't even manage basic flying? No. She had to try, try, and try again until she could fly like every other normal witch.

Alyssa took a deep breath and stepped onto the grassy terrain, making her way to a more open area so she could begin flying. The sound of the wind picking up around the hills and trees in the area made Alyssa more nervous than she thought she could be. Nature didn't usually scare her, but today, she would be battling the winds in the air.

Looking around for the perfect spot to begin, she spotted a girl with blonde hair doing some exercises. It seemed like she was warming up before riding her broom, which was on the ground beside her. She seemed familiar, like Alyssa had seen her around before, but she couldn't quite put a finger on where. The girl summoned her broom to her hand with ease and the practiced grace of an experienced flyer. Recognizing an opportunity for observational learning, Alyssa pulled out her notebook and pen from her pocket. As she watched the girl climb atop her broom and ascend into the air, Alyssa made notes of the way she sat on the broom and the way she postured herself. Then, Alyssa saw her say something, though she was too far away to hear it, and the next moment, she was flying speedily into the distance.

"Wow," Alyssa heard herself say. How she wished she could fly just like that girl. Stuffing her notebook and pen back into her pocket, she shook off her nerves and hovered her hand right above the school broom beside her. "Up!" she commanded, and to her biggest relief, the broom floated up into her hand. She had spent many lessons practicing that command.

"What's next..." she muttered, trying to recall how the blonde girl positioned herself on the broom. Doing her best to imitate her, Alyssa perched herself atop her broom and started to rise higher and higher above the ground. So far, so good. With a deep breath, she leaned forward like how she saw the other girl do, and found herself zooming forward. Just then, she caught sight of the blonde girl flying past some trees nearby. "Hi!" Alyssa yelled and took a hand off her broom to wave at the girl. Big mistake. Alyssa realized too late that taking a hand off the broom was all it took for her to lose control. She found herself yelling and fighting to control the path of the broom, which was wobbling and turning where she didn't want it to, sending her straight into the path of a canopy of trees. "Aaaaargh!" she screamed, crashing into the branches and leaves and tumbling toward the ground. Thankfully, it wasn't a great height, and the branches and leaves helped to soften her landing. Still, her butt hurt from where she landed on the ground. "Urgh," she groaned, picking herself up and dusting off the twigs and leaves caught in her hair and clothes. "That was embarrassing..."

Reducio

Sorry it took such a long time to reply! I'll do my best to check in more often

Banner credit to: Erendriel Ravaxidor

April 29th, 2025	Outdoor Club Area
“English”	“Gaelic”

The feeling of adrenaline rushing through your veins is a thrill that cannot be described; It can only be experienced. Alyss understood this once again, as the roar of the air around her shooting by filled her ears, hair whipped back by the wind. This was why Alyss had taken to broom racing. Not because of the coolness, the bragging rights, or even the people— at least initially— the reason that she soon adapted was because of the sheer amount of energy she gained from flying as fast as possible on a mere magicked broomstick. All that stood between herself and the ground? A household cleaning item that had been painstakingly molded into the life of a flying broom and enchanted to lift off of the ground.

The rushing of the wind was the only sound as far as she could hear, and it was all for the better. Alyss clutched the broomstick tightly, the wood digging into her palm as she fought to maintain her grip as the high winds rushed around her. The young girl managed to hold on, the wind biting into her face until it all but dissipated, leaving her gliding along beside a patch of trees. And then… Alyss could have sworn she’d heard a noise. But no one was ever up this early and actually flying, much less out here. So Alyss mentally dismissed the noise for all of two seconds, before the all too familiar scream of pure panic erupted from behind her. With all the elegance Alyss could muster, she whipped her broom around.

What she saw ultimately just brought her back to months ago, when she was just as hopeless. Perhaps her training and practices were beginning to help, as she hadn’t actually toppled off of her broom as badly as her fellow first year had in a while, seeing as she had made it a point to learn how to properly land after a tumble. The person that had been flying behind her seemed to have let go of their broom momentarily, and it appeared that caused for her balance and for her broom’s steadiness to be compromised. “Oof.” Alyss began, eyes sparkling with both faint amusement and the knowledge of the fellow Slytherin’s pain. “You alright?” Alyss called as she began to direct her broom towards the ground, practice beginning to appear pointless. Not only was the terrain easier than usual, not only did she have a potential stalker, but she also just saw someone fall from their broom into the trees.

Although Alyss had seen displays that ended in more pain, that didn’t necessarily mean that this one felt good by any means. Quickly landing her broom and scampering off of it, she approached the girl, who had ended up sprawled on the ground, staring up at some of the surrounding trees. Alyss had so many questions. Like, was this girl following her? If so, why? Was that a notebook? Who on earth was she? And how did Alyss end up in this situation? Did she have a concussion? Deciding to go with the most proper way to say it, Alyss began with her barrage of questions, leaving pauses in between her stream of thoughts, allowing for there to actually be answers.

“I’m Alyss, what’s your name?” This is how she began. “Why on earth are you outside at this hour? Are you following me? Stalking me?” she questioned, gesturing at the notebook that, in Alyss’ eyes, marked her guilt. Perhaps she could have phrased that last one a bit more eloquently, but that simply was not the kind of person Alyss was. She enjoyed getting straight to the point, finding that it often earned her more honest answers. “Are you okay? How many fingers am I holding up?” Alyss finally finished, holding up three fingers with her left hand as she propped her broom against a nearby tree with her right, and offering said hand to help the poor girl up.

Alyssa: #8f6dab
Interacting with: @Alyss Gilmour

Honestly, somewhere deep down inside her, Alyssa was hoping beyond hope that the girl with excellent flying skills didn't just see her unflattering fall from grace. Still lying on the ground, she squeezed her eyes shut and wished the last one minute never happened. Hopefully the wind was too loud. Or perhaps her voice was too soft and the girl never turned around. Hopef-

"You alright?" A voice called out from somewhere to her right, accompanied by the sound of feet landing softly on the grass. Just my luck, Alyssa thought. Burying her desire to dig a hole for herself, Alyssa opened her eyes and saw the girl leaning over her. Now she knew why she looked so familiar. She'd seen her around in the common room a few times before but had never spoken to her. Alyssa let out an involuntary chuckle and smiled nervously up at the girl.

"I'm Alyss, what's your name?" the girl asked.

Under normal circumstances, Alyssa would definitely be getting up and shaking her hand in greeting. But right now, moving would feel like this situation was a reality. And Alyssa would much rather live in delusion. "Alyss!" she laughed nervously. "I mean- Alyssa. I'm Alyssa... What a coincidence."

"Why on earth are you outside at this hour?" The girl—Alyss asked. "Are you following me? Stalking me?" Her eyes narrowed as she gestured at the ground beside Alyssa. Shifting her eyes to wherever Alyss was pointing, Alyssa saw her notebook, now lying open at her latest entry. It must have fallen out when she crashed into the trees. There were rough sketches of a stickman getting on a broom, with annotations of her notes and observations around it. In the blink of an eye, Alyssa had scrambled to retrieve it and stuff it into her pocket. Looking back at Alyss, she smiled sheepishly. "It's not what it looks like," she began, then internally cringed when she played back how she must have looked trying so desperately to hide the notebook. "I mean, I was following you. Sort of- But only after I got here, I promise! It was a coincidence!" She looked pleadingly at Alyss, but she definitely still sounded way too guilty. "Look, I obviously suck at flying, as you've witnessed. So I was hoping to get some practice. That's when I saw you getting on your broom and flying, and I thought I could learn from seeing how you do it."

Alyssa wasn't sure if Alyss believed her or not, but she propped her broom against a nearby tree and held up three fingers in front of her. "Are you okay? How many fingers am I holding up?" she asked. Alyssa felt relieved. This must mean she's cleared of her charges of being a stalker, right? Alyss extended her other hand to her and helped her up to her feet. "Oh! I'm quite alright, thank you," Alyssa said, standing up. "That's definitely two fingers." There was a beat of silence as they looked at each other before Alyssa burst into giggles. "I'm messing with you! There were three fingers. I'm fine!"

Fixing her hair and picking up her broom from the ground, Alyssa asked her curiously, "So, where did you learn to fly like that? You must be on the quidditch team or something with skills like that." She tried to recall if she'd seen her in quidditch gear before, but couldn't remember anything. In fact, Alyssa didn't even know who was on the quidditch team. She hadn't been particularly interested in sports at all, and was clueless about it. She did hear some seniors talking about tryouts and signing up for broom racing, though.

No matter, all she needed to know was Alyss could fly. Now that they were talking, there couldn't be a better opportunity. "Say... Would you mind giving me some tips or a quick lesson on how to ride properly? I barely managed to get the hang of hovering above the ground. There must be something wrong with my technique or something." Hopefully, having someone else around to guide her would help her to finally fly properly.

Banner credit to: Erendriel Ravaxidor

April 29th, 2025	Outdoor Club Area
“English”	“Gaelic”

Standing on the ground with your broom propped up on a tree whilst surrounded by shrubbery wasn’t exactly Alyss’ favorite activity during her private flying practice. Even less so when she was rescuing a silly girl that had fallen from her broom and had been taking literal notes on what Alyss had been doing. Now, Alyss had greatly improved at her flying within the past couple of months, but she still very much needed to continue with her practice.

Clearly her stalker was more interested in maintaining her pride, given the quick scramble to retrieve her notebook, an organized jumble of pictures and jotted notes, detailing Alyss’ own flying mannerisms. “Huh.” she grunted in response to the greeting, eyebrows shooting up in exaggerated surprise. “That is rather funny, I suppose.”

Alyss was perhaps thinking too far into this. The fellow girl, clearly a first year, similar to Alyss, was just curious. It was clear that Alyss had greatly improved in her performance, so it was only natural to wish to improve as well, and one of the highest forms of flattery was imitation. However, that still didn’t make it sit right with Alyss. “This is now two coincidences in a row, Alyssa. I’m sure you understand my caution?” Alyss prodded, breath escaping from her nose as she let out a quiet sigh. She began to take a few steps back, retrieving her broom as she continued her conversation. “It’s not like flying is a simple matter. It isn’t. There’s a lot that goes into it, including quite a bit of practice.” Alyss offered in reply, eyes flicking across the girls body, ensuring there were no serious injuries, at least on the surface, before extending her hand and hauling Alyssa to her feet. Alyss then held up her three fingers, fairly certain they could skip by that question, given how coordinated her limbs had been as they scooped the prized notebook from the ground. That was, until Alyss heard the initial answer that escaped Alyssa’s lips.

Alyss’ heart dropped into her stomach for a split second, eyes widening in slight horror. What did she mean, two fingers? Clearly she had a concussion, and since Alyss was merely a first year, she had no clue how to best treat it. She could feel her lips pressing together, the gears turning of how to best handle the situation. This was, of course, during the two seconds of silence between the two following Alyssa’s statement, which felt like minutes as Alyss desperately grasped at any straws she could, trying to figure out the best course of action. That was, until the words “I’m messing with you!” had left Alyssa’s mouth, and Alyss let out a true sigh of relief.

“I nearly had a heart attack.” She said in response, miming her eyes widening in horror and mouth gaping, leaning her head back to glance up at the sky. Alyss paused for a moment as Alyssa snagged her broom from the ground, before beginning the trek back to open land, without trees overhead to disrupt their flying space. “—The Racing Team.” Alyss interrupted as soon as the word “Quidditch” left her companions mouth. “I’m the Co-Captain of the Slytherin Racing Team, and have been on the roster since March.” She stated, mouth beginning to drop into a small smile. It should probably bother her, that if people saw that someone could fly, they assumed Quidditch. But it was fine. After all, it simply meant that they hadn’t been exposed to Racing, something that she could very quickly remedy.

Alyss stopped as the reached the edge of the tree line, and placed her broom onto the ground. For some reason, it helped her to fly well if she started to process from the very beginning. “Up!” She commanded, pleased when the broomstick swiftly followed her order. “Sure, I could teach you from time to time. Did you mean now, or would you rather go inside to the Hospital Wing, to make sure you’re actually okay?” Alyss spoke as she swung one leg over her broom, allowing her eyes to glance back at Alyssa, awaiting an answer prior to taking off.