Another Day in the Air! (Open)

5th Year Posts : 516 Stats : 455 Join date : 2010-10-03

Emma thrived on the open air outside. The time that wasn't spent in class, in the dormitories, or in the Great Hall, she was outside, even when she couldn't get to the Pitch. Today however, she knew for a fact that the Flying Instructor had the Quidditch Pitch open as a free day today. Meaning anyone could take their brooms- or the official school brooms- for a spin. Emma wanted to take this chance to practice her upside-down turn-around, where she dives down and does a sort of vertical U-turn. The last couple times she tried it, she nearly fell off her broom, and she hadn't had the chance between the drills at Quidditch practice to really nail the trick down. If she did manage to master it though, it'd be a great maneuver for several possible situations during a game.

She ran down the dirt path as fast as her feet would take her, her broom over one shoulder, and her book bag over the other. She had to make it down there as fast as she could; the quicker she got there, the more time she'd have to practice. Then she would have time to study. Her priority however, was nailing that blasted trick. She lived and breathed Quidditch, and she only wanted to get better and better.

When she finally reached the pitch, she quickly made her way into the locker rooms to change into her Gryffindor gear; she didn't mean to show off to other flyers who weren't on a team, but official Quidditch attire and gear just worked and felt so much better than her girly school robes. When she got on the proper gear and tied her hair back, she threw her bag into her locker and made her way back outside, broom in hand.

Emma didn't wait for more than a second to get herself in the air. She took possibly two steps out the doorway before she was off, her hands tightly wound around the broom, and her feet planted firmly to the pegs on the back. She tore up high into the air, before leveling herself out to take a look around. She could spot who she assumed to be the Flying instructor, on his own broomstick down below, near the center of the field. She noticed a few other flyers as well, some in their own Quidditch team wear, others just wearing the proper padding over their school uniform. Either way there weren't too many flyers to begin with. She supposed many were probably too busy with studies, so she simply continued with what she had planned to do. She flexed her hands across the broom, making sure she could get a hold of herself if she stumbled through the maneuver. Somehow, she just couldn't bear the thought of the instructor having to save her. Once she was confident, however, she took a dive, and started to try and perform the trick.

Subject: Re: Another Day in the Air! (Open) Thu Jul 04, 2013 4:35 pm

 
He ran, he walked, he sprinted, he dragged his feet, but the only thing he saw was green and green and green. He had had enough of the cold grey stone and he had no time for his studies. He went around the castle's grounds and he went along the edge of the forest, bright eyes trained on the tiny flying insects. He marvelled at the occasional spider. He moved carefully, like a cat, yet small branches kept tugging at his robes and hair, as if they were trying to make him stop and stay in a certain position forever. There were leaves stuck in his hair. And his eyes shone with childish wonder.

When a flitterby flew by, its glowing orange wings immediately caught Matthew's attention. He ran after it, reached, missed, tried again. He caught it gently between his palms and the insect's wings tickled his skin. He let it fly again; and the insect laughed, the light hum of its wings sounding playfully when it was in flight. Matthew laughed along with it.

He had no sense of time or direction. The flitterby led him across the grounds, made him spin in position as it flew around him, and Matthew caught it again. Palms closed around the insect and Matthew lifted his hands to his ear, to hear it laughing again. He heard something cut sharply through the wind instead; and as he lifted his eyes towards the sky, Matthew saw three hooped goal posts reaching up in heights. He looked around and saw three more, on the other side of the field. He recognized the Quidditch Pitch, but his mind did not register this information right away.

Someone flew above him, crimson gear glistening in sunlight. Matthew squinted against the light in his eyes and lifted up his hands to cast a shade over his forehead. He could make no sense of the person on the broom; they were far above him and they blurred with speed. Matthew couldn't tell if it were a boy or a girl. His gaze followed the flyer, and he turned his head so as not to loose sight of them. His body followed and then he was running after them, as if trying to catch them as well.

The flitterby laughed as it flew away, but Matthew never noticed he had let it go.

5th Year Posts : 516 Stats : 455 Join date : 2010-10-03

As she dove down, her fingers began slipping from the broom, and in a rush of panic, she cut the dive early, and steadied herself. She kept flying forward though, as she tested her grip once again, and then spun a few times to the right, then the left. Her grip was fine, so why did it loosen during her dive? She darted down, trying again, but with the same result once more.

It wasn't her grip... it was... the momentum. She had to keep herself as small as possible during the dive, otherwise the air would try to keep pushing her up, off her broom. That was why her grip kept loosening. Yeah, that totally made sense! Now if only she could get this kind of act together for class!

She dove yet again, this time pulling herself in towards her broom as tight as she could. She even ducked her head a bit. She shot down about 20 feet, before pulling straight again, spinning midway until she flew straight once again. "Woo! Yes!" She swerved to and fro, before slowing to a stop to catch her breath. Her adrenaline was spiking like crazy.

She looked down, her eyes zoning in on the little ant of a shadow she had below her. But wait, that wasn't her shadow. Her gaze scanned over the pitch, but she didn't notice anyone else on foot. It was a bit dangerous to be running around under so many flyers. Emma was curious as to what this little Shadow was doing here, so she dove once again, getting closer and closer to the ground. Several yards away from the one traveling on foot, Emma leveled out and landed, laughing as she nearly stumbled forward flat on her face.

She started running towards what she could now see was a Slytherin around her age. Upon noticing this, she slowed down a bit, frowning thoughtfully. She didn't recognize him as a Quidditch player, but could he be spying on her for his fellow Slytherins? She couldn't help the thought, but she still pushed it to the back of her mind.

"Hey! Are you supposed to be running around down here?" She called to him.

Subject: Re: Another Day in the Air! (Open) Thu Jul 04, 2013 8:13 pm

Matthew kept his eyes on the one flyer that kept going up and down; a dance that seemed funny to him, of a kind that the flitterby had done. It was still a lot faster at times and Matthew had trouble keeping up. He ran faster but the little bug eluded him.

And then it started coming closer, growing bigger as it flew down. Matthew paused in his step to watch it land; finally caught the form of the girl that had been flying. She started towards him and he jogged to meet her halfway, now looking around guiltily, now as if looking for something. He stopped in front of her and rubbed at the back of his neck to work out the growing discomfort. Matthew's mind was elsewhere again. He hadn't planned out what to do once he had caught the bug.

“Tony got away,” he realized then, voicing the thought as though it was supposed to make sense to someone other than him. He wasn’t sure what the girl had meant; Matthew was always running somewhere, he didn’t think it was necessarily a bad thing. Then he remembered he was on the Quidditch Pitch. Maybe the players minded his presence. His eyes finally stopped looking around in search for the flitterby and his gaze settled on the girl. He smiled, that mixture of guilt and innocence tugging at his lips. “You’re right.”

5th Year Posts : 516 Stats : 455 Join date : 2010-10-03

"Tony?" Well at least the Slytherin didn't start out with an insult, that was already better than most Slytherins Emma had met or seen around school. Emma glanced around, a bit amused by his confusing statement. Perhaps Tony was a pet of his, like Rook was a pet of hers. Speaking of which, she hadn't let the mouse out of his cage in awhile. He could use a bit of fresh air, maybe she'd take him out tomorrow. But that was later, right now she was talking to someone.

"Someone could have crashed into you, you know." She teased as she stood her broom up and leaned her weight a bit into it. While she was speaking to him, she was looking around, at the other flyers. Again, there weren't a whole lot in the air, so it wasn't that big of a deal, but still, you really never know!

But she smiled back at him nonetheless, before extending her hand out to him, "I don't think we've met before have we? I'm Emma."

Subject: Re: Another Day in the Air! (Open) Fri Jul 05, 2013 10:41 am

“The flitterby,” he said, again looking for the insect. “You haven’t,” Matthew moved to circle around the girl then stopped in front of her again, looked up and pointed towards the sky, “seen it up there. Have you? I’m Matthew.” He caught her hand in a light grip for a moment and felt the rough leather of her gloves. They were open, exposing her fingers, very soft in comparison. 

There was wind in his ears, as others flew their brooms. He remembered her voice now and smiled as he said, “You were kantakari. It’s good that no one crashed into me.” 

There was excitement in his eyes. He was outside and there were lots of things happening at once. And he babbled because he’d forgotten that, once he started talking, it made people want to avoid him in a very large circle.

5th Year Posts : 516 Stats : 455 Join date : 2010-10-03

Her gaze followed him while he popped in and out of her line of sight before she looked up, to where he pointed. She hadn't seen anything up in the air, and now she was glad she hadn't. If the bug he mentioned had been up there, it probably would have hit her like it would against a car's windshield. Yuck. "Well, no I-" But once he'd said one thing, he moved onto the other, and introduced himself as Matthew.

And the more Matthew talked in his strange and unusual patterns, the longer Emma took to figure out what he meant. She wasn't put off by it, but it certainly made her more curious. "Kantakari?" It took her a moment, but she did remember reading about the plant in class, "Oh, yeah, I did read that didn't I?" She smiled, realizing that he must have been in class with her. That meant he was also a fifth year, like herself. Strange that they had never met before.

Emma hadn't meant to make it awkward, but she was quiet for a short period, looking around up at the rest of the Quidditch Pitch once again. When she finally returned her attention to him, she gave a light shrug, "Your flutterby couldn't have gotten too far, could he?"

Subject: Re: Another Day in the Air! (Open) Fri Jul 05, 2013 3:53 pm

 
“Yes,” he said. “I don’t remember how smart people call it. Should we move?” Matthew followed her gaze, then watched several flyers individually. He didn’t know much about Quidditch, if he were honest. There was always something else to do and he never got interested. “What do you do up there?”

He lowered his gaze back to her as she did hers, back towards him. “Flitterby. Tony’s not mine, I only met him today.” Matthew did wonder where the insect was now, but it was a wonder that would soon pass and maybe he’d only remember Tony later, if at all. “What is the little shiny thing called?”

5th Year Posts : 516 Stats : 455 Join date : 2010-10-03

Emma also tried to remember what smart people called it, but laughed when she couldn't either. If Emma had the smallest thought about returning to her practice, she'd been too distracted to do so. His confusing way of speaking piqued her interest. She wouldn't do it if she could, but imitating him would certainly be a challenge. He was special, though Emma didn't see that as a negative thing.

His way of talking allowed Emma to choose what order she would answer him. And at the first mention of the 'shiny thing', Emma's eyes brightened as she answered with a grin, "The snitch! It's worth 150 points if the team's Seeker catches it!" She thought about it a moment, before looking up as she guided him towards the edge of the pitch, where they could slowly trail their way along to the exit.

"I was up there practicing for my next game. I wanted to nail a cool trick!" The grin never left her face whenever she talked about Quidditch. It was her favorite subject, and if it was considered a class, she'd have an Outstanding!

Subject: Re: Another Day in the Air! (Open) Fri Jul 05, 2013 7:03 pm

“The snitch,” Matthew echoed, following after Emma. “What about the other things?” He watched her and his attention drifted to her smile. It radiated such happiness that Matt thought that maybe she liked Quidditch as much as he liked being outside. It was enough to interest him more in the subject of the game and everything else that came along with it. “You danced through the sky. I saw.”

5th Year Posts : 516 Stats : 455 Join date : 2010-10-03

"Well, there's the Quaffle, which are what the Chasers score with by throwing into the hoops," Emma turned to point over her shoulder at the goal posts, and before she continued, she rested her broom on her shoulder, "Then there's the Keeper, who tries to defend the goals from the chasers of the opposite team. After that's the Beaters, which have the funnest job: they get to knock away the bludgers that are trying to ram into all the players. They keep the bludgers off so the Chasers can focus on scoring."

She gave a nod, believing she gave a pretty good summary of the game itself. She was more than happy to talk about it, if that wasn't obvious enough to begin with. She laughed a little as she looked back at him, "I wouldn't call it dancing though. Flying though, that's the one thing I can say I'm good at- for sure." She nodded again, though this time it seemed more for herself than anything. She struggled in all the technical classes, like potions and Herbology, and in DADA, she was about average. Charms, she was okay in, she gave herself that at least. But flying, she definitely enjoyed. Emma grinned, as she looked ahead, watching the Flying instructor barking up at the flyers above.

Subject: Re: Another Day in the Air! (Open) Fri Jul 05, 2013 10:22 pm

Matthew listened, his brow narrowing and relaxing, and lifting in wonder as he tried to memorize how all the players were called and what sorts of instruments they used to play. “And Sneaker catches the Snitch,” Matt decided with a nod, after Emma had explained everything else.

He had never tried to fly on his own. There was first year, sure, when they were all instructed on how to handle brooms and hover and whatnot. It didn’t feel right for Matt, though. He liked his feet on the ground and someone yelling orders at him didn’t make him want to fly more. 

Sometimes he dreamed of flying. Sometimes when he ran, he would almost fly; out in the open and free from people who wanted him to do things their way. He wouldn’t really fly, but he felt like he did. He flew with the insects. Flew with the birds. It was new and strange, but he flew when Emma smiled at him.

5th Year Posts : 516 Stats : 455 Join date : 2010-10-03

"That's Seeker," She was quick to say, but not for the sake of being a know-it-all. She merely had a close place in her heart for that position; it was what she played, after all. She couldn't let there be any misrepresentation of it. It was the coolest part of Quidditch, ever. Stressful, maybe, but there was quite a thrill in chasing the Snitch. Especially when you had to catch it before the other Seeker.

"And when someone catches the Snitch, the game's over. Usually it also means that team wins, but that's not always true." She learned that after reading the most recent Daily Prophet.

Matt had been kind enough to let her go on about her favorite subject, so she thought it'd be nice to let him do the same, "So if you're not into Quidditch, what are you into?" She looked to him curiously, thinking about the flitterby he'd mentioned. Maybe he was a fan of bugs, but she'd let him tell her that.

Subject: Re: Another Day in the Air! (Open) Fri Jul 05, 2013 11:29 pm

“Oh.” His mouth formed an o, then tugged into a smile that could have been sheepish. He liked the little shiny thing, though, the Snitch. From what Matthew had seen, it was very fast; faster than the flying insects he so liked chasing. He had a sharp eye thanks to that, but he wondered if he would be able to find and catch the Snitch.

His face might have reddened at Emma’s question. No one had ever thought to ask him that. In fact, with the late exception of Kaden, Matthew didn’t think anyone had bothered to talk to him that long. Now that someone was talking to him, asking him about his interests, he didn’t know what to say.

“I like the outside.” It wasn't much, but it was the simplest thing ever to him and it first came to mind. "I like being outside. There is colour and sound and smell; and you can touch all of that. Sometimes there it too much bad energy in the stone. That's why it's so cold, I think. It needs air to breathe."

5th Year Posts : 516 Stats : 455 Join date : 2010-10-03

"Wow." Was all she really said at first, as she didn't quite understand, initially. She looked up at the sky, staring blatantly at the sun until it left a spot in her vision. She was quiet for a time, thinking about what he'd said, until it finally clicked.

"I think I get it. I don't like being inside much either. For classes sure, but any other time, I like being out here. Mostly on the Quidditch Pitch." She laughed a little; she knew she was practically obsessed, and knew others probably noticed that too.

Subject: Re: Another Day in the Air! (Open) Mon Jul 15, 2013 5:03 pm

“Sorry,” his cheeks warmed and he brought a hand up, rubbed at the back of his neck. “It doesn’t make sense sometimes.” Matt let her think about it though. When she laughed, understanding, he lightened up again.

“Right? Shouldn’t all classes just be held outside?” 

5th Year Posts : 516 Stats : 455 Join date : 2010-10-03

"Definitely! Especially Potions, it's always stuffy in there! I think it screws up my brain sometimes," she paused, thinking better of it, "Okay, maybe all the time." She grinned. She adjusted her broom so that it settled across her shoulders and let her hands hang over it. For a moment, she wondered what it would be like to fly all over the school grounds, soaring over the castle, and zooming across the lake. If only they were allowed! She glanced over to Matthew, trying to remember the last time she actually enjoyed a Slytherin's company, and said, "You're kinda different from other Slytherins huh?"

She hadn't meant any harm by it, and was merely curious of him. She glanced down at her worn down sneakers and smiled as the ragged shoelaces bounced up and down with each step she took. He was different from most Slytherins, but he wasn't all that similar to anyone else she'd met either. In her book, that made him even cooler to hang out with. She hadn't been waiting for a response from him apparently, cause the next second, she turned on him and said, "Do you like flying? We could get a broom from the storeroom!" She was only on the ground for less than 10 minutes, and already wanted to get back up there.