15 Mar 2022, 23:14
Soaring through the skies
OOC-I'm so sorry for the late post! I hope y'all are still interested lol.
The weather was perfect for flying, in Pax's opinion. A little wind, but not so much, and the sun was in a prime position as to not shine in their eyes. It was their first time back on a broom since the summer (their parents had insisted that the very expensive broom they owned stay at home), and they were very excited about it. Professor Stube had kindly lent them a broom and a quaffle, and this chance wasn't going to go to waste. Besides, they'd recently made second string beater for the quidditch team, and needed to get back into shape with their flying skills.
Gently, Pax mounted the broom and set off into the skies. They were cautious to not fly too high, but they couldn't help but hover at least 100 feet in the air. They gripped the broom tightly in one hand and threw the quaffle up and down, not moving yet but merely warming up. Slowly, they began to fly around the pitch, still throwing the quaffle up and down, but a little further now to give them more chance to catch. They weren't aware of anybody watching them, but they wouldn't have cared. A stupid grin was plastered on their face as they flew around the pitch at increasing speed.
They'd missd this so much. The pure freedom of being in the air and being almost accessible to anything. If they tried hard enough, they felt like they could almost reach the stars. It made them feel invinsible. No one could touch them up here.
Interacting with: n/a
Outfit: X
10 Apr 2022, 05:32
Soaring through the skies
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There was a slim chance he would make it to his house's Quidditch team, especially as a seeker - his most desired position. Marius was very sure that once someone got into the team, they were determined not to give up their position. But still, it did not discourage the Hufflepuff to improve his flying skills in case there would be a spot opening one day. Dressed in his sport jacket and comfortable white polo shirt, the boy borrowed a couple of school brooms from Professor Stube - one for himself, some more in case there are pupils who saw him practicing and got interested in joining. He also would love to borrow a Golden Snitch to help his practice as a seeker, but the teacher said no. It was a pity, but Marius decided to be satisfied with the brooms. They were better than nothing.
After getting the brooms, the eleven-year-old immediately proceeded to the Quidditch pitch, only to find that another student was currently using it. There was only one kid, though, so Marius thought that they could share or maybe practice together instead of fighting for the whole area. He mounted a broom, kicked hard against the ground, and up he soared. "Hey!" he called out cheerily to the flying preteen. "Can I join you?"
After getting the brooms, the eleven-year-old immediately proceeded to the Quidditch pitch, only to find that another student was currently using it. There was only one kid, though, so Marius thought that they could share or maybe practice together instead of fighting for the whole area. He mounted a broom, kicked hard against the ground, and up he soared. "Hey!" he called out cheerily to the flying preteen. "Can I join you?"
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Having eyes, but not seeing beauty; having ears, but not hearing music; having minds, but not perceiving truth; having hearts that are never moved and therefore never set on fire - these are the things to fear.
12 Apr 2022, 22:45
Soaring through the skies
Hearing a call below them, Pax turned to look down on the newcomer. For once, they didn't actually want to interact with other people, and instead just enjoy the feeling of being on a broom. However, this kid seemed nice enough, and they could use a person to practise with. So, with slight reluctance, they flew down to meet him.
"Yeah, sure, you can join me. I'm Pax Zhang, first- year Gryffindor and my pronouns are she/they. What about you?"
"Have you got much experience flying?" Pax continued on, not waiting for answers really. "Are you on your house team? If so, what position? Sorry, I'm a bit of a quidditch nut. And it's just been so long since I got out here, you know?"
Seeing as there was no-one else on the pitch for now, Pax resolved to use the entire pitch. "Do you want to do a warm-up lap or two, just to get back into it? And then we can do some routine practice drills, and potentially do a few fun games with the quaffle?" They held up the ball as an example. "Of course, we have nowhere enough people for a proper game, but that shouldn't have to stop us from having some fun and making the most of our time in the air."
Interacting with: @Marius Brown
Outfit: X
16 Apr 2022, 03:55
Soaring through the skies
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Marius was, honestly speaking, confused with all the things Pax had talked about. The first reason was because the Gryffindor had spoken many things in such a short span of time. Beside this, there were also other elements the Hufflepuff could not fully grasp; but since there were a number of them, it might be better for us to look at these things one by one.
Introducing oneself with "pronoun" was one. Even though Marius had heard about people who preferred to be referred to as "them", he had never heard of anyone with two pronouns at one time. Furthermore, this was the very first time he met someone who so straightforwardly, and orally, made their preference known.
Number two, Marius kind of doubted if this kid really was mad about Quidditch. Well, maybe they were, but only for professional Quidditch. If they really were interested in the Quidditch teams of Hogwarts, then they would have watched the previous matches and know very well that Marius was not on the Hufflepuff team. At least not yet.
However, the Chinese-English boy realised that it would not be polite to bombard the other preteen with all thoughts he had in mind, so he said nothing about them. Instead, he simply introduced himself and answered the kid's last question, "I'm Brown, Marius Brown. I was just going to improve my flying skills, but since you've got a Quaffle it'd be nice to play with it. And I'm afraid I know nothing about the Quidditch's routine practice drills you mentioned; maybe it would help if you could please explain them to me?"
Introducing oneself with "pronoun" was one. Even though Marius had heard about people who preferred to be referred to as "them", he had never heard of anyone with two pronouns at one time. Furthermore, this was the very first time he met someone who so straightforwardly, and orally, made their preference known.
Number two, Marius kind of doubted if this kid really was mad about Quidditch. Well, maybe they were, but only for professional Quidditch. If they really were interested in the Quidditch teams of Hogwarts, then they would have watched the previous matches and know very well that Marius was not on the Hufflepuff team. At least not yet.
However, the Chinese-English boy realised that it would not be polite to bombard the other preteen with all thoughts he had in mind, so he said nothing about them. Instead, he simply introduced himself and answered the kid's last question, "I'm Brown, Marius Brown. I was just going to improve my flying skills, but since you've got a Quaffle it'd be nice to play with it. And I'm afraid I know nothing about the Quidditch's routine practice drills you mentioned; maybe it would help if you could please explain them to me?"
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Having eyes, but not seeing beauty; having ears, but not hearing music; having minds, but not perceiving truth; having hearts that are never moved and therefore never set on fire - these are the things to fear.
17 Apr 2022, 20:56
Soaring through the skies
Pax nodded. It seemed as though this guy didn't have loads of experience flying, they supposed. But that was fine.
Also, it didn't escape their notice that Marius hadn't given Pax their pronouns. They weren't sure if they didn't understand the concept of them, or just refused to acknowledge them. But they didn't want to play with someone who wasn't going to respect their pronouns. They ought to apporach this gently, but they were never great at that. "Can I just ask, what are your pronouns? I just don't want to misgender you. And I'd appreciate you doing the same, thank you. I'm sorry if I'm coming off as passive agressive, I'm just used to some people not respecting my pronouns, and I don't really want to spend a lot of time with somebody who's going to disrespect me. If you're confused at all, that's fine, please just say. I'd hate for this to blow up into a big misunderstanding."
Pax exhaled loudly. Maybe they had a lot of pent- up anger or something, but that felt really good. Probably not as nice for Marius however.
"If you're still interested in practicing with me, then I'd happily teach you some practice drills I do at home with my brothers. They're a little simpler and easier for less people."
Interacting with: @Marius Brown
Outfit: X
6 May 2022, 08:23
Soaring through the skies
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Marius Brown, not one who was used to politely refrain from speaking the first thing that came to his mind, replied in a sincerely sweet and naïve tone, "Oh, isn't it clear that I'm one-hundred percent a boy! Why would we need pronoun and such when we're talking to the person directly? Certainly we'll address one another with you and not with he or she or they?"
The country boy had never, in his whole life, met someone so insistent of making their pronoun known the first time they met, and in an informal situation too. He had heard about some modern people being referred to as they when the speaker was not sure whether this person was a he or a she (or so his elementary school teacher had once told him), but he was still confused why this preteen in front of him could either be a she or a they. "Don't they have to, at some point, decide to be a woman or a man even though their appearance is still somewhat confusing?" the Hufflepuff said naïvely, although this time it was fortunate for both parties since he only said it inside his head. (Poor Marius, he never meant to view any gender as "less" or "confusing", but he knew so little about modern gender identities!)
Still, he much preferred when Pax offered to teach him some practice drills. He nodded eagerly, directing his broom to follow the fellow first year's.
The country boy had never, in his whole life, met someone so insistent of making their pronoun known the first time they met, and in an informal situation too. He had heard about some modern people being referred to as they when the speaker was not sure whether this person was a he or a she (or so his elementary school teacher had once told him), but he was still confused why this preteen in front of him could either be a she or a they. "Don't they have to, at some point, decide to be a woman or a man even though their appearance is still somewhat confusing?" the Hufflepuff said naïvely, although this time it was fortunate for both parties since he only said it inside his head. (Poor Marius, he never meant to view any gender as "less" or "confusing", but he knew so little about modern gender identities!)
Still, he much preferred when Pax offered to teach him some practice drills. He nodded eagerly, directing his broom to follow the fellow first year's.
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Having eyes, but not seeing beauty; having ears, but not hearing music; having minds, but not perceiving truth; having hearts that are never moved and therefore never set on fire - these are the things to fear.
14 May 2022, 22:01
Soaring through the skies
Pax took a deep breath, trying to remind themself that not everybody was educated in different genders, and therefore it would not be fair to lash out at the boy (at least, not yet). "To some, how they present does not corrolate to what their gender is," they explained. "For example, I present quite masculine, meaning I wear the clothes of and can look like a male, but in reality I prefer to referred to as female. I always prefer to make my pronouns known to whoever I am interacting with, it wasn't intended to be rude at all. It's more of a precaution, in case you mention me in passing at another time."
Pax took off back into the air, waiting for the Hufflepuff to follow suit. "Before anything, I think it's best to fly a lap of the pitch to warm up, and in our case, get a feel form how this broom flies. Especially as they are school brooms and can be a little temperamental."
Even though they'd already warmed up a little, they saw no harm in doing the warm up with Marius. They flew a quick lap of the pitch before holding out the Quaffle for Marius to take. "First drill is a simple passing drill. We'll start close to each other, throwing the Quaffle back and forth, and slowly move further from each other. When we're a good distance apart, but can still comfortably catch, we'll start to fly around properly. Does that sound alright?"Reducio
11 Jul 2022, 04:54
Soaring through the skies
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Marius' brown eyes widened at Pax's explanation. Wow, wow, wow! That was quite a lot to take in for a simple, rather traditional country boy like himself. All this time, Marius thought there were only three gender identities: male, female, and (if one did not feel like either, would prefer to constantly shift between the two, or wanted to be somewhere in between) gender neutral. And similarly, the Hufflepuff had therefore been used to refer people this way: "he" for a male, "she" for a female, and "they" for the other one. Having more than one preferred pronouns was something he had never heard about before.
The first year was very confused that he felt glad when their talk shifted to the basic Quidditch movements practice they were going to do. The Gryffindor suggested they do a warm up lap and told Marius that this was extremely important with school brooms as they could get quite temperamental at times. For a moment, the Hufflepuff considered doing two just in case, but at the end decided against it.
After the warm up lap, Pax explained what they would do for the practice. Just to make sure, Marius asked, "Did you mean we would practice passing the Quaffle without moving first, and later we would passing it while speeding with the brooms?"
The first year was very confused that he felt glad when their talk shifted to the basic Quidditch movements practice they were going to do. The Gryffindor suggested they do a warm up lap and told Marius that this was extremely important with school brooms as they could get quite temperamental at times. For a moment, the Hufflepuff considered doing two just in case, but at the end decided against it.
After the warm up lap, Pax explained what they would do for the practice. Just to make sure, Marius asked, "Did you mean we would practice passing the Quaffle without moving first, and later we would passing it while speeding with the brooms?"
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Having eyes, but not seeing beauty; having ears, but not hearing music; having minds, but not perceiving truth; having hearts that are never moved and therefore never set on fire - these are the things to fear.
9 Aug 2022, 12:07
Soaring through the skies
"Did you mean we would practice passing the Quaffle without moving first, and later we would passing it while speeding with the brooms?"
Pax nodded in response, mounting the broom. "It seems simple, yes, which, to be fair, for some, it would be. But it's never good to rush into things. You wanna take things slow and steady. I've learnt that the hard way."
They flew into the air with the quaffle in hand, waiting for the other to do the same, before throwing the ball to him.
"Did you say what position you preferred? Because we could do some drills more focuses on that, to help you practice, if you'd prefer? For example, as a wannabe beater, it'd be good for me to practice my accuracy for hitting bludgers. Chaser would work best with quaffles, and we could practice passing. Keeper, we could practise catching and blocking. Seeker, we can practise diving for the snitch, but with a bigger target, obviously. And everyone needs to practice basic evading drills, since a bludger could come flying in your direction at any moment, and you have to be prepared for that."
Pax hoped that hadn't been too much information for the boy to take. They had just said a lot.Reducio
28 Aug 2022, 08:18
Soaring through the skies
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Like most eleven-year-old going on twelve, Marius had heard words about rushing into things would only result in disaster. But still, it was disappointing, particularly in the case of this beginner's Quidditch practice. Unlike his dad or his first brother Alberto, Marius was never known to be patient. That, and coupled with the fact that this would be his very first Quidditch practice after months of dreaming to take part in one.
The fellow first year also mentioned about learning it the hard way; and since they were talking about Quidditch, Marius automatically assumed that Pax meant they had had an accident when practicing for this sport. However, thinking that it may not be very polite to ask such question to someone he had just met, the boy decided against doing so.
His company had already soared with the Quaffle in their hand. The Hufflepuff took this as a little bit of invitation and a little bit of challenge, (all right, let us just say a mixture of them) and up he went. Up, up, up.
The Chinese-English boy enjoyed the feeling of being so high that he did not truly comprehend that Pax was passing the Quaffle to him. He realised it just in time, though, and managed to catch the basketball-sized ball.
"No, I haven't mentioned it," he replied to the Gryffindor's question, throwing the Quaffle back at them. "I'm interested in the Seeker position. So, you're more into the Beater. May I ask why?"
The fellow first year also mentioned about learning it the hard way; and since they were talking about Quidditch, Marius automatically assumed that Pax meant they had had an accident when practicing for this sport. However, thinking that it may not be very polite to ask such question to someone he had just met, the boy decided against doing so.
His company had already soared with the Quaffle in their hand. The Hufflepuff took this as a little bit of invitation and a little bit of challenge, (all right, let us just say a mixture of them) and up he went. Up, up, up.
The Chinese-English boy enjoyed the feeling of being so high that he did not truly comprehend that Pax was passing the Quaffle to him. He realised it just in time, though, and managed to catch the basketball-sized ball.
"No, I haven't mentioned it," he replied to the Gryffindor's question, throwing the Quaffle back at them. "I'm interested in the Seeker position. So, you're more into the Beater. May I ask why?"
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Having eyes, but not seeing beauty; having ears, but not hearing music; having minds, but not perceiving truth; having hearts that are never moved and therefore never set on fire - these are the things to fear.