Unexplored Ideas PV Juniper Kelly Closed

Tuesday | 22 February 2022 | close to sunset

Aaron had been at the Training Pitch for about twenty minutes now doing warmups. He had jogged the length of the field, done some stretches, done a fast couple of laps on his broom, and even used it as a pull-up bar. He was wearing his normal workout clothes of sweatpants and a plain white T-shirt, so his developing muscles were a little more evident in those pull ups. The fourteen-year-old was clearly an athlete, in discipline and build. He had been in taekwondo since he was young, and last year he had also been on the Quidditch team. Despite not being enrolled in a sport this year, the Hufflepuff had been staying active and developed a hobby of freerunning. He continued to exercise and eat right, meaning he was getting stronger and taller and he could feel those changes fueling him.

After his warm ups that evening, Aaron felt ready for the big stuff. He remounted his Moontrimmer and started going higher and higher in the air. Time to practice some dives. He had never had to do much high-speed diving when he was on the Quidditch team last year - after all, he had been a chaser not a seeker. There was one time that he'd been on save duty and had to maneuver pretty quickly, but diving had never been a skill he practiced a lot. Until now.

In addition to his new parkour hobby, Aaron had decided to bring his flying into the mix. The last couple of months he had been practicing combining the two hobbies, and found that doing tricks on his broom was really exhilarating. Diving, looping, surfing and jumping off were a few things he had been practicing. But there were still so many unexplored ideas he had, and it excited him just thinking about it.

When he reached a height that felt a little more than normal, Aaron pointed his Moontrimmer towards the ground and bolted. He put every ounce of speed and athleticism into this dive, heading straight for the ground of the pitch. The rush of the wind in his face egged him on to go faster, even as the ground got closer and closer. At the last possible moment, Aaron pulled out of the dive and ended up riding parallel to the ground. He was so close to it, that if he wasn't leaning forward on the broom in an aerodynamic manner, he could've touched it. He was internally critiquing his form, because the pull up from the dive wasn't as smooth as he wanted, but his thoughts quickly turned to his next move.

The boy pulled up on his broom and launched into a couple of consecutive loop-de-loop moves, going upside down and forming a coil as he went. To prevent himself getting too dizzy, he limited himself to just a couple of them, then ended up in the middle of the training pitch. He stopped mid-air, and tried to make the transition into his next move seamless, but this was admittedly one of the more nerve-wracking ones. He scooted to the back of his broom and maneuvered so his legs were in front of him and his feet landed on the handle. Carefully, but trying to be a bit quicker than normal, he maneuvered to his feet. It was an awkward transition still, since he had not perfected it yet, but eventually he was actually standing on the broom in a surfstyle manner. Extending his arms to either side of himself for balance, he began to direct the broom forward and slowly got faster and faster. He did a lap around the pitch in this surfstyle manner, waving at the imaginary crowd, and only stopped when he was back at the center of the pitch.

Feeling rather triumphant and maybe a little too proud of himself, Aaron had a huge grin on his face as he began to lower to the ground. He continued to stand on the broom as it lowered, using its descent as further practice on keeping balanced. It was only once he hopped off the broom and onto the ground that he realized there was someone there - an unfamiliar girl that must have been watching him. How long had she been standing there? Aaron adjusted the beanie that was on his head, his grin becoming a bit more neutral at the realization of an unexpected audience. How bad had that looked to her?

@Juniper Kelly

Aaron has a Calming Presence.

Your presence simply puts others at ease, if it is your carefree personality or the trust others have in you, the result is still the same. With you there, perhaps through your encouragement, your allies are able to better focus.