We could be immortals PV Hugh Lowe Finished

Being caught off guard by his reaction, Serena stopped inhaling sharply as she stared at him. Relax? How could she relax! That was like asking her deepest darkest secret, airing it out for the world to see and then acting like it was no big deal when it was! Her eyes watered a little as she listened to him,"It's not quite that simple, Hugh," She responded back as she looked around a little before looking back at him.

They were alone for now but she knew very well that there were quite a few people that did know her and her family not too far away. Phaedra Stavrou would have a field day with this knowledge, dragging her through the mud with it she was sure. She would tell her brother, of course, too since they were actually friends. But there were quite a few people she knew outside of Hogwarts, people who knew her family, who attended gatherings together.

"You realise that my brother is like somewhere on these grounds at this very moment, right? And I grew up with some of these people. Not that we get along anymore but yanno, they know me and my family. And they'd love to get something on me, even if it hurts my family... And my dad. He made me promise I would try and hide it for a reason, you know? None of us talks about it for some reason. Like I don't get it but... still, I don't even know my ancestor's name. It's literally been removed from what I can see," She continued, referring to her goblin ancestor whose name she did not actually know. From her research, she could not figure it out and her father did not really talk about that side.

Why they hid it, she did not know. But they did. If her entire family - for generations - chose to hide it then who was she to defy that agreement? She smiled softly as he continued, talking about pirates or fancy helmets. Looking down at her sketchbook, she allowed her eyes to fall onto her designs. He wanted the design to burn off the paper and have the metal melt into her brain? Sounded kind of scary!

Immortals... what a dream.

"Don't be silly, I don't have dreams..." She replied as she leaned against the dream. What would her dream be? She had once wanted to be healer, then a professional quidditch player but those things were dropped. What would she do now? She was going to try her hand at broom racing in the coming weeks but did she really have any long-term dreams? Not really. The concept that her armour might be what he spoke of was not a thought that crossed her mind. She was not that talented, after all. "What if... I don't know what I want?" She asked, wondering what she was meant to wear if she did not know if she wanted to be a pirate or a cowboy or anything else!

"I- Wh- HEY! I'm not thickheaded! You're thickheaded!" Serena responded with a grumble and a huff, as she crossed her arms over her chest with a pout on her lips feigning irritation with him. Was she being thick-headed on the matter? She did not think so but it was also hard for her to be unbiased on this topic. She was far too close to it, after all. Tilting her head, "Oh, I see where you get your charm from!" She teased him, implying he was clearly very similar to his uncle in that regard - in the most sarcastic sense of the word 'charming', of course.

She scratched the back of her head as he spoke some more, as she contemplated his words, "He told me the reason. He didn't wanna break up the family, you know? My mother probably knows by now but her relatives? Unlikely. It's to keep everyone together, so I mean, it's not a bad thing. Telling people would just shame the family or reputation or whatever and everyone will end up splitting or some shit, I guess," Serena explained, clearly not entirely in agreement with the train of thought. For her, it was never about reputation or 'shaming' the family. It was just to keep people happy. A part of her was... probably also a little scared. Scared of what people would do, and how they would treat her differently if they found out.

Tilting her head up high to actually look at him, she found herself just blinking at him. She was definitely not a princess! She was also not a knight, by any means! But didn't most little girls want to be a princess? Wasn't that what the fairytales were all about? "What if I want to be a princess?" Serena asked, though... she kind of knew the answer. She did not want to be a princess. Being a knight actually sounded way cooler. They got armour, after all.

"You're going to train me? What is this? The medieval era? What, we're gonna be a knight and a squire now?" She joked, wondering what exactly this training involved. Putting both of her hands firmly on her hips, she huffed, "Excuse you, I am not lacking in whatever that is," She announced, huffing and puffing at him in a pout as she did not want to be defined as 'tiny' or whatever he was trying to imply there!

"I don't think it's easy for anyone else- we're all suffering in our own ways-" She started, trying to defend her family and their actions. She did not hate them for the path they had chosen. Everyone had their reasons for doing it. Her father had likely been in the same position as her when his own father told him not to tell people. Perhaps their silence was the best way to respect their ancestors. But at the same time, generations change and the mindsets of the people should change. More than that, she just wanted to understand. Quirking an eyebrow, she started, "I'm like tiny. How am I supposed to be a rock or a boulder?" She questioned, wondering what was wrong with being a feather? That seemed more appropriate, she was kind of small and probably fairly light.

Blinking at his order, she started to get up with a confused look in front of her, wondering what he wanted to do. Was he going to make her lift a rock or build a catapult or something? Before she had even fully straightened, she found herself being lifted from the ground. Her eyes widened as her body started to act on impulse, kicking around a bit as a instant surge of panic fled through her body. She dropped the sketchbook and anything else she was holding quickly, both hands pawing at the hand that gripped her.

Serena opened her mouth to speak but it was too late. The words he said barely had time to register in her brain as she found herself being... wait what- FLUNG? "Whatthe-crapcrapcrapcrap-" She instantly cursed as she blinked, trying to make sense of everything. She was in the air. Moving fast. His words took a solid second to register, as she kicked around, seeing the ground very far away from her without a broom underneath her. She needed her broom. It was right there- "Accio!" She instantly called out, trying to summon her broom without bothering to look for her wand (rolled a 26 Wisdom check).

Her heart pounded quickly. The floor was so close, "Arresto momentum!" She continued, targeting herself with her hand (33 Wisdom check). Her entire being started to slow quickly. Everything was impulse at this stage. She did not want to go splat on the ground before her broom caught up to her.

Her hand reached out and grabbed the Silver Arrow that flew to her, hanging onto it as though her dear life depended on it. Sighing a breathe of relief as she swung onto her broom, she panted softly and tried to calm down. Honestly, she was just grateful for two things. One that her broom happened to be so close. She was glad she brought it out. And two, that she could cast spells without a wand. She did not have the time to look for it, to see if it was on her or by her items still on the ground or to pull it out. But she had the ability to cast wandlessly - something she did not do very often, admittedly. In times like this, however, they became essential.

Serena's gaze then moved to Hugh, "What. The. Hell? Are you TRYING to kill me?" She asked him, wondering why throwing her was his first lesson - and that too, with no warning. What if she went splat into a tree or worse, the ground? It would have hurt like hell!

Gripping the silver arrow tightly, she secured herself onto it as she turned back to Hugh, "How is that a-" She started to grumble under her breath, trying to understand where he was coming from. How did they get to the stage where he was throwing her to 'train' her. No one likes having their face smacked into the dirt, sure. But it was not the dirt that Serena was scared of. It was having her face impact the ground at a high force and speed that she was worried about. That seemed like something that would hurt. She was not trying to get herself up, she was trying not to break her face! There was a significant difference!

Unfortunately for Serena, she did not get a chance to ask him or even respond to him. Her eyes widened as she saw the rocks that shattered across the sky, trying to block out the sun (Accuracy rolls - 27, 13, 10, 13, 23 vs Evasion rolls - 28, 19, 18, 24, 30). Her fingers clenched tightly. One of the rocks scraped past her arm before she realised what was even going on. It took a moment or two before the pain surged through her arm, causing her to hiss. A smidgen of blood appeared as it grazed her. She grunted before quickly trying to navigate through the flying mess towards her.

She did not entirely know how but she, somehow, managed to dodge past another rock or two. Her body seemed to move on instinct. Until the fourth rock had passed her, she was barely managing to hold on, trying to control the panic within her and figure out what the hell she was supposed to do. In truth, it took her a few moments to gather herself.

If he was going to block out the sun, then she would fight in the shade. "Ventus!" Serena continued as she flicked her finger, still casting wandlessly (rolled 32 wisdom). A blast of wind shot out of her finger, spirally out and towards the fifth rock that approached her. It captured the small rock and started to push against it, which drastically slowed down its movement, forcing it to move in the opposite direction. She focused on the rock, carefully trying to control it as she knew that it was easy to lose control.

What was wrong with him?! What was the lesson here? Smacking her face into the dirt was definitely not the issue that she was facing.