Amy Fox
May 25, 2008 12:23 AM
Flying Lessons: Part One by Amy Fox
It was a new year and a new year meant a new beginning. It was difficult to fathom the amount of time she had spent at the Institute- years had passed and she had found herself drifting into a routine: lessons, games, fights with Wolfe, attacks from Quidditch haters and WAIL. The anti-Quidditch movement was escalating to new heights, attacking all females associated with the sport. It was antiquated and inane. Those women, if indeed they could be called such a thing, were scared of the future. Although times had changed, they were still stuck in a world where they were the lesser partner in a marriage. It amazed Amy that women had fought for so much and yet there was still that few who struggled to hold on to the past. It infuriated her.Looking out at the field before her, Amy smirked. WAIL's movement would have little effect on her classroom and lessons- in fact, they had driven her to new extremes. If WAIL was determined to keep all females from flying and Quidditch, Amy was determined to push both in her lessons. All first years were required to attend flying lessons. No parental excuse note would be accepted. Also, some form of Quidditch would be incorporated into each of her lessons. She hoped that each of her students would develop a love for the sport in time.
Removing her hands from her pockets, Amy sighed as she scratched at a welt that had begun to form near her elbow. The mark, of which she was certain was a result from a bug bite of some sorts, had been annoying her for the past few days. It had only further annoyed her when she had found two more within the following days. Jerking her hands into her pockets, she made a mental checklist, ensuring that she hadn't forgotten any of the supplies. The brooms were located in a pile to her left and to her right was a stack of balls approximately the size of a Quaffle. The field had been filled with obstacles which had been erected earlier that morning. Each obstacle would play a large portion in her lesson.
Another year meant new lessons and new students, and students, she had to admit, were never her forte. She could barely stand the ones who were on Quidditch teams, let alone the whining little first years. It had also annoyed her to no end when it had been decided that second years, while not required, would also be welcome to attend the lessons. Shaking her head, she glanced at the entrance, noting that the first few students were beginning to enter.
Soon the pitch was filled and it was time for her lesson to begin. Without bothering to clear her throat or wave her hand, Amy threw her wand into the air and a loud, shrill whistle echoed across the pitch. When silence fell over the pitch, Amy cleared her throat. "Alright, I'm Amy Fox, the Quidditch coach. Yes, I'm sure a good portion of you have heard of me. Yes, I am that Amy Fox and no, I won't sign anything for you and no, I won't answer any of your questions. This is flying lessons and you are required to attend, no ifs, ands or buts.
"On top of that, each of you will be required to attend at least one Quidditch match each term. Following the match, you will owl me a recap of the game. Don't think that you can get your friends to write it for you and don't think that you can get them to tell you how it went. If you didn't attend, I will know. I have my sources. If you lie, you fail. Got it? Good."
Running a hand through her hair, Amy pushed the short strands behind her ear. The once wild multi-colored highlights were now mostly gone, her hair now a tame red, lightened by the sun. "I've got just a few rules to go over with you and if you follow them, you'll get through my class just fine. First, I expect each and every one of you to be on time. My time is valuable and I don't want to waste it waiting on you. I have better things to do. Second, don't talk over me. If you are talking you could miss out on important instructions and then you could be injured. If you are injured then I have to deal with the consequences. And if I have to deal with the consequences, you better believe that you will have to deal with them too. Third, do as I say, not as I do. I know many of you have heard about my career and all of the things that I may or may not have done. I don't expect you to look to me as a role model, I just expect you to come to my classes and learn. I know what I'm talking about and if you want to learn how to fly then I'm someone who can teach you how to do so.
"That being said, I now want each of you to go and grab a broom, if you don't already have one. I then want you to separate and practice hovering on a broom. The command to activate your broom is "Up!". All you need to do is place the broom below your wand arm, which is your dominate hand, and command the broom. It won't always work the first time, so be prepared to do it more than once. Remember: you have to be authoritative. Don't be timid. When your broom is in your hand, I want you to practice hovering in the air for a few moments. If you have any questions, raise your hands."
Stepping back, Amy motioned to the brooms. "Alright, get to it. We don't have long; I have a lot to cover with y'all today."
OOC: Alright, this is the first section. Posts must be detailed: fifteen lines (three paragraphs) minimum. The main portion of the lesson is in the second part, so be prepared. Most of all, have fun! \r\n\r\n
Subthreads: I may have made a mistake by Holly Greer with Amelia Smythe, Amelia
Hating baby classes TAG: Professor! by Seanus McFarlan
Zero-gravity. <i>That</i> is fun. by Kyler Kent with Mark Johnson, Kyler
Oh dear. Going in a plane is bad enough. by Andrew Tudor
wicked! by Mollie Buchanan with Jera Valson
here we go (WotW)! by Finley MacGregor
Not hard at all. by Delany
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Amy Fox
Flying Lessons: Part One
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Amy Fox
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Holly Greer
May 25, 2008 11:08 AM
I may have made a mistake by Holly Greer
While Holly had not exactly enjoyed flying lessons the year before, she had found she enjoyed flying. It was as close as she could come to horseback riding at Sonora, and horseback riding was her sanity check. She was also just starting to get into aerial acrobatics on her own time, and thought further lessons on flying might help with some of the problems she was running into - like the fear of going higher than five feet over the ground without supervision.So despite her wariness of the slightly frightening flying instructor and the small worry that people might get the mistaken impression that she liked Quidditch (Cecily had made it pretty clear how terrible the team sport was - it sounded even worse than football and Holly wanted nothing to do with it) but it hadn't been a major focus last year and she thought she could handle any minor references to it that her classmates might make.
Unfortunately, this year, the curriculum sounded quite different from last year's. She would have to watch one of those awful games? Holly really hoped it wasn't too late to change her mind about taking the class. Or maybe she could go just long enough to get seen and have Renaye write the paper for her. That might work. She'd see how the rest of the lesson went.
She held her hand over the school broom she'd borrowed and said, "Up!" as she'd been taught and mastered the year before. It worked very similarly to commanding a horse. The broom rose up to her hand easily and gracefully. Mounting it was easier than swinging into a saddle and she rose up with a nudge of her knees and a small clicking sound like she would use to urge Wendy into an easy walk. Holly's posture immediately straightened as she adopted her ingrained equestrian habits.
She hovered a few feet over the ground as easily as she'd sit at parade rest in a dressage competition back home.
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Holly Greer
I may have made a mistake
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Holly Greer
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Amelia Smythe
May 26, 2008 2:12 PM
Yes, sweetie, I think so by Amelia Smythe
When Cecily had complained last year about flying lessons being compulsory for all first years, Amelia had made a point of informing her parents that she absolutely must have her own broomstick, because she refused to borrow one from the school. She just simply couldn't be seen riding an old broom that who-knows-who might have used. Her parents didn't really have any option but to agree with her. So with her new Stratus VI held neatly in one well-manicured hand, Amelia sauntered onto the Quidditch pitch in a cute pink tracksuit with her long blonde hair tied neatly back in a tight ponytail.Amelia listened to the Coach go on and on about rules and Quidditch, and other matters that didn't bother Amelia in the slightest. She managed to feign intrest, though, and only yawned once. As soon as the students had been given instructions, Amelia moved into her own space, away from the crowd of ther first years, and did as she was told. She placed her broom on the ground before her, raised her right arm over it, and commanded it up. The broom rose lazily but obediently from the gound and sort of hovered a foot lower than Amelia's hand. Sighing heavily, Ameia grasped the brom firmly by it's polished mahogany handle and hauled it up to waist level. Hitching her leg over in a manner not entirely dignified, Amelia felt very uncomfortable straddled over the broom. She pushed off nervusly, and felt so peculiar floating that she leaned forward and touched ground again almost immediately. She decided that she didn't ike fying all that much, which is what she'd predicted, anyway. It was practically impossible to look graceful on a broom. The gril next to her seemed quite at ease, however, and came closer to gracful than any other student in the class. Amelia thought she recognised her as one of Cecily's friends, but she didn't think tht one of Cecily's friends would voluntarily attend a flying lesson, and the second years were here of their own desire. Curious, Amelia pushed off from the gound again so she was level with the ther girl, and said, "Are you one of Cecily's friends? I'm her sister, Amelia."
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Amelia Smythe
Yes, sweetie, I think so
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Amelia Smythe
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Holly Greer
May 28, 2008 10:41 AM
That's what I was afraid of by Holly Greer
Holly looked to the side, half surprised to find herself being addressed by one of her classmates. She thought of flying as a solitary pastime and simply hadn't been expecting anyone to try to talk to her, especially since she hadn't thought any of her friends were taking the class. When she looked at person in question and the younger girl introduced herself, however, Holly was not surprised in the least to discover that she was related to Cecily. They looked very much like sisters.Holly nodded in response to her question. "Yes. I'm Holly Thistle of the Hollywood Thistles," she introduced herself in return. "Cecily and I are quite good friends." Holly's eyes drifted down to the broom the other girl was using and a small flush of shame touched her own cheeks at having to use a school broom. She made a mental note to immediately send her father instructions on how to buy her one of her own. If she really was going to make a habit of teaching herself aerial acrobatics and dance, she was going to need a better quality broom.
The only reason she hadn't already asked for one was because she'd been afraid people might think she was interested in Quidditch if she bought a nice one of her own, but presumably if Cecily's sister had one, that wasn't going to be the case after all.
And while she was on the subject of Cecily's sister and mistaken impressions of seeming like a Quidditch supporter, Holly hurried to add, "I think of flying as riding a very skinny and not terribly interesting horse. I don't think I could survive being away from my beautiful Wendy for so long if I couldn't fly a broom along the garden paths or practice my dressage routines on the Pitch. Now that I'm getting a little better at it, I'm thinking of trying aerial dance, too."
She smiled in mild embarrassment and held her forefinger and thumb about an inch apart as she finished, "I'm still a little bit scared of heights, though, so I thought taking the class again might help with that." She frowned over at the Coach then in distaste. "But last year she didn't make us go to those awful Quidditch games. Honestly. I watched twenty seconds of a football game on television once. That was enough of an organized sporting event. I don't need to go to one in person." She shuddered in memory of the row of crazy half naked men covered in body paint that the camera had panned over briefly and had consequently scarred her for life.\r\n\r\n
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Holly Greer
That's what I was afraid of
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Holly Greer
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Amelia
June 01, 2008 11:57 AM
Still, there are worse choices you could have made by Amelia
The girl introduced herself as Holly Thistle. Amelia thought, 'Holly has a Horse', one of the may short labels she'd personally assigned to Cecily's friends, mostly so she'd have a clue who Cecily was talking about from one conversation to the next. Holly proclaimed herself to be good friends with Cecily, which Amelia acknowledged with a nod. She was just about to ask Holly why she was at the flying lessons, when the second year provided the answer without prompting."Oh, I see," Amelia replied. She didn't really understand these horsey types. She had enjoyed riding Heidi on a couple of occasions last year while Cecily was at Sonora and therefore not around to berate her to within an inch of her life for daring to touch the pony, but this obsession with animals that Cecily and Holly seemed to share was a bit bewildering. However, the idea of aerial dance seemed a little more plausible. "That does sound like fun," Amelia acquiesced. She could appreciate the poise and skill needed for perfoming graceful dance movements whilst airborn (if anyone in the class could do it, Holly could), though the activity didn't interest Amelia enough that she felt the need to take part. Then again, there was very little that interested Amelia enough for her to take action. "You could start a club and have rehearsals and performances, and everything," she suggested, fully supporting Holly's proposed venture. "That would be a far better use of your time than learning Quidditch manouevres."
Although Milly was not so anti-Quidditch as Cecily seemed to be, she did appreciate that it was a violent game, and any self-respecting young lady such as herself should not even consider taking part. Perhaps Holly's air dancing could create a more suitable alternative for those odd girls who actually enjoyed flying.
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Amelia
Still, there are worse choices you could have made
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Amelia
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