Open Never Accept Mediocrity

[Yuelia Rossingol]

open after Ana posts with Celia

Yuelia didn't know what she was doing, really, but that didn't mean she was going to flounder. At least, not in all things. She didn't know what she was doing, or what she even wanted to do. She didn't feel especially passionate about anything. At least, except for duelling. It wasn't necessarily that she took pleasure in beating people, and didn't duel with an intention to cause pain. But what it did do was prove that she was a powerful and competent witch. Winning gave her a real sense of satisfaction, and if that was one thing she could feel then she'd have to keep working to make sure to maintain that.

The problem was that while she was enthusiastic and her magic was strong, she was unrefined as a duellist. Brute force and slightly unnerving character did a lot for her, but it wasn't quite enough. She needed more finesse, more strategy. Maybe not to get so heavily into character when she duelled, as it was a little bit childish - though she found it hard not to, it seemingly just happened. It was weirdly enjoyable, but she had to prove that she wasn't engaging in childhood fantasies, she truly meant business. Rolling her shoulders, she held her head high as she looked to find a spot in the duelling chamber to practice. It seemed that Celia had a similar goal, and Yuelia paused. The older girl was cool, clever, and stylish, and also an extremely good duellist. If she wanted to look to anyone for an idea of how to be better, it would be Celia. But, she wasn't rushing to annoy her by asking for help (as help was such a difficult word to say), merely pointing to one of the dummies past where she was standing. "Excuse me...do you mind if I use that dummy to practice?" she asked, perfectly polite and unemotional.

 

[Celia Vuong]

Unencumbered by the absurd restrictions on underage magic, Celia had finally been able to work on her spellcasting during the break. She'd bought a couple books on interesting charms and curses and was looking forward to deploying them during her duels this year. The tournament was not only an opportunity to throw curses at Caleb without getting in trouble, but also a chance to show off her spellcasting skills. She was tired of using the same five curses; she wanted to use spells no one else had heard of, spells so destructive that they inspired awe and fear in equal measures.

After reading about the Gouging Spell, Celia had headed to the dueling chamber to give it a try. It was technically intended for earth or stone, but who said she couldn't use it in a duel? After all, Blasting Curses were allowed. Celia headed towards the dummies and withdrew her wand. She was debating which one she wanted to hollow out, when she was interrupted by Yuelia. Celia regarded the girl for a moment before nodding and stepping aside. The younger Slytherin was a member of SDA, but more importantly she was a two-time dueling champion, which Celia could respect. "Sure, go ahead." And then with a slightly amused smile, she asked, "Are you going to taunt it too?" Celia occasionally watched the younger students' duels, and while most of them were fairly boring, Yuelia's trash-talking was always entertaining.

 

[Yuelia Rossingol]

Yuelia was quite happy to simply practice new spells over and over until they were second nature. This time, it was Impedimentia - surely this would be effective. If it hit, it would stop her opponent in their tracks and allow her to press her advantage. The other fourth years were good duellists, of course, but Yuelia intended to surpass them. She had no intention of bothering Celia, perhaps regarding her carefully a little to pick up some tips and maybe see what sort of spells a seventh year could perform as some sort of motivation or inspiration, but the comment about her taunting made her ears redden. She had been starting to cast a spell before halting, caught a little off guard. "N-no..." she admitted. She knew she got far too carried away, but it just overtook her when she was in the moment. "...I don't believe it will throw the dummy off if I did."

 

[Celia Vuong]

Celia suppressed a smirk as the girl reddened. She couldn't say she knew Yuelia well, but the younger Slytherin had always come off as rather soft-spoken, so it was amusing to see her transform into her dueling persona. "No, probably not," Celia agreed, glancing at the dummy before turning her attention back to Yuelia. "Is that why you do it? To throw your opponents off?" Based on the few duels Celia had watched, it did seem like a somewhat effective strategy for Yuelia if that was her goal. However, she wasn't sure if it would work long-term. "Because they'll probably get used to it after a while and learn to tune it out if you don't up the ante." One of the downsides of the tournament was that you ended up dueling the same people over and over again. While Celia did enjoy beating Valeria and Caleb (especially Caleb) every year, it would be nice to test her skills against someone new.