At the Ready
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Philip's internals screamed "wrong" as he ducked out of the cabin. It had been seven days since he had arrived at camp and gotten the appalling news, and it was, to be frank, a whole week's torture. Suddenly appointed as the moderator of an official duel, a week of hasty studies was not what he had initially expected. What on earth was going on in those authorities' heads? How would they think that he, a first year who had not even been sorted, would be able to properly referee a duel? If picking freshmen was a trend, they should probably find someone more capable. Someone who was the descendant of a great Duellist family, for example. Certainly not him. Philip’s sneakers kicked the moist earth, and he took his way towards the Great Lake. When the schedule was announced, his first reaction was to scream, and then he sought help from everybody around – cabin mates, Duelling Captains, random people who showed up at dinner tables. He had written an owl to Levin the very first day, but it seemed that the Hogwarts postal system was not as reliable as he initially perceived, and he had only received his dearest brother's reply yesterday. Anyway. After days and nights of hard work, Philip had at least figured out the fundamental rules of Duelling, and several most used Duelling Spells. As someone who grew up in a two-world but mostly wizarding family, he should have known these better; yet Duelling had always seemed way too academic for him, and somehow Philip's knowledge of it was little. Maybe it was because they didn't broadcast them live on television. He thought. Otherwise he'd certainly see one game or two. While he wasn't sure of his moderation skills, he liked Hogwarts though, and maybe that kind of debut would be a good thing. Philip inhaled the fresh air, trying to clear his mind and take a break from the continuous studies. Aimlessly wandering, Philip was determined to take his final day before the game off. That was, until he spotted someone practicing. The raven-haired girl who was focused on her current training session looked decently familiar. Oh, right. He had been briefed when he received the task, and he had the information on the four Duellists who would be participating. Philip almost immediately stepped up as he recognised the figure. Well, he wasn't sure if moderators were allowed to do that, but surely she seemed nice and disciplined, and yes, corruption absolutely would not happen. "Good day, Shimizu-san." He greeted her in Japanese. While he thought Akane would certainly understand English, Philip was more than happy to honour his father's mother tongue. Although he looked far more Japanese than Welsh and could converse in the language fluently thanks to his father's efforts, the small hints of his original accent here and there were inevitable, and it could still be perceived that he was not a fully native speaker. "My name is," There was a slight hesitation. When he conversed in Japanese with his immediate and extended family, they mostly addressed him with his Japanese name which showed as one of his middle names on papers, but perhaps going formal was probably the best here. "Rosser. Philip Rosser." He switched to pronouncing his name in English. "I, um, I'm the moderator of your duel." Embarrassing. What would the senior Duellist think when she realised that such a kid was going to act as the referee? "You are really cool!" In fact, Akane looked so competent that Philip wondered if she could predetermine a win with her Duelling partner. But still, you never knew. "You might not be aware that I am actually a first year. And it looks like you duel wonderfully..." Hopeful dark eyes looked up at her with admiration. "I've been trying to figure out everything about Duelling lately. I was wondering if you could...offer a few tips from a Duellist's perspective?"
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| FOREVER YOURS, PHILIP ROSSER ❣ | LINDSEY SPRINGHALL (1st gen) || MAXI DE FOSTONCY (1st gen inpc) |
At the Ready
in hand: thunderbird tail feather wand (+2 AP, EVA, ACC once below 30% max health)
Though she knew of the various activities provided by the camp's organizers too, she spent many of her hours tucked away behind the treeline of Hogwart's grounds, idly casting spells. Fencing? Swords were much too archaic and barbaric for her tastes, for one. Akane was also not the strongest, with slightly weak knees, though the most important reason was that she preferred offensive action with a buffer zone between the opposition and herself, rather than hand-to-hand combat. It was also unlikely for her to wield two swords at once, to mimic a spell spreading maneuver, though she did know of an ancient tradition where Japanese warriors carried two swords into combat. She wondered if she was letting down her ancestors.
Her right arm waved in the air, staying suspended for long periods of time. She took the trees as target practice, faintly aware of the possibility that this was some sort of vandalism or simply poor treatment of mother nature. Nonetheless, spell after spell was aimed at the wood, sometimes causing a flurry of fallen leaves, sometimes just zipping right by. It was a shame trees lacked the ability to cast spells back. Perhaps she would create some enchantment when she grew older enable just that.
She must have grown lazy over time, for an increasing number of spells had shot off into the background. Akane switched to closing her eyes while casting, to justify her inability to hit a target. When a voice -- in Japanese, even more of a shock, when she was expecting English -- came up behind her, her eyes flew open and she twirled around, rather ungracefully. "Ah, didn't see you at first," she said, mostly to herself. "Good morning," she greeted, nodding to the boy. Whatever could he be here for? Perhaps a lost pet, or maybe she had simply been so bad at her accuracy that someone half a decade younger would come up and correct her. How did he know her name, in the first place?
"Nice to meet you, Philip," she said. "Did you... volunteer to moderate?" He looked like he had one and a half spells up his sleeve in total, one of being the severe cheerleading going on, but he sure was enthused, and for a first year, surprisingly brave. Akane surely would have been too nervous to even approach an upperclassman.
She made a face of surprise as he gave the impression that he didn't know anything about duelling. Maybe a couple of days prior to his first moderation assignment was slightly short notice to start learning, but it certainly wouldn't do any harm to help out. "Of course! What exactly were you wondering about?"
"Japanese" | "English" | "Thoughts" | "Others"
STAMINA • 11 | EVASION • 12 | STRENGTH • 5
WISDOM • 10 | ARCANE POWER • 10 | ACCURACY • 12
SPELL SPREAD | LOVELY CREATURE | CHARMER | Y7 ABILITYOUTFIT | athletic-ish
DATE | 07/08/26
TAGS | @Philip Rosser
| Akane Shimizu, Y5, Mahoutokoro sta • 10 | eva • 10 | str • 5 | wis • 10 |arc • 10 | acc • 10 | Guinevere Russetwood, Y5, Slytherin sta • 10 | eva • 12 | str • 6 | wis • 7 |arc • 10 | acc • 11 |