Sky yoga??
@Ava Winchect
last of week of May
"Alright, class, turn in ye homework. Let's see if ye ready for finals!"
One by one, the third-years turned in their research on artistic flying. Today was the practical application, so Ruckus hoped they were prepared. It was a different sort of flying than they had been studying in years prior. Ruckus was following Professor Lin's lesson plans, and practicing Flying with Artistic and Refined Techniques (FARTs) was the finale of the third-year curriculum.
Ruckus glanced down at a few of the pieces of parchment he had received.
"Sky yoga is the practice of zen in the sky."
"Supreme balance is needed to perform yoga while on a broom."
He quickly scanned a few more.
"Downward dog usually requires two brooms."
"Child pose should always be done on the ground."
"Contrary to popular belief, tree pose doesn't require flying near trees."
Sky yoga? Downward dog? What were these students writing about? As far as he was aware, there weren't any stretching practices done on brooms. He turned to the class, wary that something strange was going on. He eyed one Gryffindor boy, a student he had so far experienced to be overly honest. "Why don't you reiterate for the class what the assignment was? Then we'll start on some practical flying."
The boy nodded and quickly answered, "We had to research sky yoga techniques. How can a normal yoga practice be transferred to the air? How might one do certain poses in the air? It was an interesting thought experiment, Professor. It was a thought experiment, right?"
The students looked at him with an array of expressions, but most hovered around confusion. Ruckus knew he had prepared the research assignment about FARTs, a real flying discipline. But all of these students seemed to have genuinely completed the "sky yoga" assignment. Could they all be pranking him? Was this a hazing ritual? Surely he would have heard from new professors about this treatment while he was caretaker.
Then he remembered last week's class. He had asked one Ava Winchect, Slytherin, to hand out the homework assignments. That was the last time he was holding the assignment that he had prepared. He scanned the huddle of students surrounding him on the grounds. There she was.
"Okay, everyone, grab yer brooms and do a few warm-up laps. And then we'll continue with today's lesson. Miss Winchect, can ye please come here for a moment? I'd like a word."
“This is the dialectic—there is a very short distance between high art and trash, and trash that contains an element of craziness is by this very quality nearer to art.” - Douglas Sirk
also Della Barfield | Quentin Gagné
Sky yoga??
Ava and the other students each handed in their homework’s about a so-called activity called ‘sky yoga’, but no one around her had a clue that their assignment was fake.
She kept her face neutral as she turned her homework in, although in her mind she was thrilled at the idea of students struggling to research a topic that didn’t exist. She herself had turned in her own version of the homework, although it was much shorter and more outlandish than the rest given she knew it wasn’t actually graded. She supposed it was her normal amount of effort, actually.
It wasn’t harder to contain her smile as she watched the professors face grow more and more confused, and he eventually called on another student to explain the assignment. She stared at the ground, hoping to hide her cheeky grin.
From the corner of her eye she watched as the students and professor seemed to cycle through varying stages of confusion, although the professor eventually seemed to have figured out what had happened, or at least suspected it.
The week previous, she had been asked to hand out homework assignments. Why he he had chosen her to do so, she didn’t know. She thought her reputation was more well known than that. However, it had presented the perfect opportunity to switch the boring assignment about FARTs out for her own, more exciting version. About sky yoga.
It seemed she was caught as the rest of the students were instructed to go warm up on their brooms while she herself was called over to have a word with the professor.
"Yes, Professor?" she said, looking as innocent as possible as she tried to keep her grin in check, although she was certain he could see through her poor act. "That was a really interesting assignment…"
Oh, she was definitely in trouble.
@Ruckus Weems
Sky yoga??
interacting: @Ava Winchect
Miss Winchect had the gall to play coy. She played dumb when answering Ruckus's question, though it did seem like she was barely keeping a cheeky grin from rising to the surface. A younger Ruckus would have been infuriated by her behavior. But the older Ruckus was a bit impressed. It was a harmless prank, and one that required a bit of forethought and a little creativity.
In fact, one could say he was inspired by her spark of ingenuity. Sky yoga was silly and preposterous, and probably would make today into an enjoyable lesson, even for the professor.
He affixed his own coy smile to his face. "Miss Winchect, I was just looking over the assignments. I couldn't help but notice …"
He looked her sternly in the eyes for a moment, hoping to make her sweat or break. Then he continued, the same smiling returning, "I couldn't help but notice that yer homework is especially detailed. It seems to me that you've gone above and beyond this one. Bravo!"
Ruckus punctuated his sentence with a few golf claps after putting the rolls of faux homework under his arm. "I daresay ye know the material better than even I! I think it would be quite lovely if ye led today's lesson with a demonstration of the … er, proper poses. Y'know, on a broom. In front of the rest of the class."
“This is the dialectic—there is a very short distance between high art and trash, and trash that contains an element of craziness is by this very quality nearer to art.” - Douglas Sirk
also Della Barfield | Quentin Gagné