Closed Practicing Spells Silently Together

[Leia Hume]

Leia liked being back at school. She'd done well in her OWLs, far better than she had thought she would, though she had of course worked very hard for them. Leia just had expected that something would go wrong and she'd fail them, but it hadn't, and she'd passed, with O's something to certainly be proud of. The slytherin wasn't taking any chances though, she was just bad and back to work at all the things she needed to, including duelling. Leia was so looking forward to being able to practice her spells outside of school, it was annoying to her that she couldn't quite do it yet. So whenever she came back to school she felt like she needed to go to the duelling chamber and practice. She couldn't fall behind in her spell casting not when come the next semester she would have to defend her title once more. Leia noted there was another girl in the room, she wasn't sure her name, but she'd seen her a few times in this room, they'd never spoken but she'd also never once bothered her, which Leia was happy about. ​

 

[Kiasora Cantore]

Kia was feeling conflicted this semester. Things at the orphanage were getting... complicated. Any time anything happened, she was always blamed, and she often found herself in trouble for things she didn't do. It wasn't anything she couldn't deal with, she supposed. What she was struggling to deal with, though, was how she was missing being around @Zelda Wigham and @Waldo Wigham. She had never in her life ever needed anyone other than herself. She wasn't going to allow herself to need these... these strange adults with their farm and their army of pets and the biscuits Zelda made. She was in the Duelling Chamber, trying to focus on her defense spells instead. There was another girl there, Leia Hume, but Kia didn't pay her too much mind. They weren't really friends. She was growing frustrated, her spells seemed to keep fizzling out. She sighed in frustration but pushed on.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia couldn't help but notice as she was practicing her spells that the girl, Kia, who was practicing next to her was struggling. Her spells weren't hitting. Leia was half watching as she practiced her own, hesitating over whether or not she wanted to try her hand at helping. Leia knew she wasn't very good at helping and could figure that this girl wasn't going to be the sort to just accept help. But she felt like she could and should help. They were in the same year. She was a duelling champion by metrics she knew her spells. She took another moment to watch Kia and could note that her stance was a little off, and that she had a lot of frustration that wasn't helping the spell, but she could assume, pointing out the frustration wouldn't help. "You should adjust your stance," she told her quickly, with a little sharpness in her tone. ​

 

[Kiasora Cantore]

Kia was brought out of her reverie as the girl next to her spoke. She nodded without speaking and adjusted her stance. It helped a bit, though her spells didn't seem to pack the punch they usually did. Giving up for a moment, Kia walked over and sat down against the wall, unscrewing her water bottle and taking a sip. She sighed and leaned her head back against the wall, shutting her eyes. She wondered idly what Zelda and Waldo were doing right now. They were probably cuddling all those sweet dogs.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia noted that the girl was managing a little bit better. But Leia could tell that she probably wasn't managing it better. The Slytherin went back to her own spells and after a few moments of practicing her own spells she glanced back at the girl, noting that Kia had stopped casting spells. She glanced at her and would spot her just being idle against a wall. Leia frowned a little, she felt like Kia wasn't doing too great but Leia didn't want to assume anything or put herself into a situation that would invite anger. "Your spells aren't working because you're distracted," she told her, unable to stop the slightly sharp tone when all Leia was trying to do was offer her. ​

 

[Kiasora Cantore]

Kia didn't move, humming idly in response. "Yeah I got that," she replied a bit dryly. She just needed to get the Wighams out of her head. They only bothered with her as long as she could do something for them. She was trying to lock her emotions away, she knew they wouldn't do her any good. Emotions never got her anywhere.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia knew her advice wouldn't be too welcome, but she had thought it best to at least say it, just in case the girl didn't know it. "If you can focus on anger, or harness the frustration, you might be able to focus the spells better," Leia said, she knew that you could use the emotions to increase the power to the spell, she just also knew you had to really try, you had to harness it, and not just let it cloud. But she was sure that Kia was doing that. ​

 

[Kiasora Cantore]

Kia let out a deep sigh. "Alright, alright, yeah," She agreed, pushing up onto her feet. She walked back over, trying to clear her mind. She grabbed onto her anger instead, thinking more about how annoyed she was with the orphanage before firing off her next spell. It didn't hit straight on, but it did blow a hole in the mannequins shoulder. She smirked. At least it worked well.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia was half expecting the girl to get annoyed at her, but she didn't and actually seemed to listen to her. Leia watched her line up to do the next spell, and after a bit more build up, it was a much better spell. Leia felt rather happy with herself, she had helped the girl and it hadn't ended up blowing up in her face at all. It had almost been nice to see the girl succeed. Leia didn't know her well, but she knew that there was little more frustrating than spells not working. "Well done," she complimented before deciding to just refocus on her own spells, having done her bit. ​

 

[Kiasora Cantore]

Kia nodded as the girl complimented her. Things continued on like that for a few weeks. The girls just kept randomly meeting up and practicing without speaking much to each other. It was a few weeks before Kia bothered to say anything. She almost didn't, but when she arrived to find Leia there once more, Kia thought she might as well say something. "Do you like biscuits?" Kia asked idly. "A woman I know keeps sending me more than I can eat. Do you want some of them?" She asked, setting her bag down.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia always kept her practice up. She wasn't the sort to slack off when it came to her training. There was so much riding on her being able to do another duelling tournamnet and hopefully winning too. Besides duelling she knew she wasn't particularly good at anything else. She worked hard for her grades but that was not the same. She wanted to be good with this. She turned up with good time to the duelling chamber and then began practicing. She hadn't practicing long when Kia turned up and she gave the girl a little smile. Leia had grown somewhat accustomed to her being there. They didn't often speak, but she didn't mind. She looked at her when she did speak. She looked at the biscuits. "Whats in them?" ​

 

[Kiasora Cantore]

Kia looked at the cookies. "Chocolate chips maybe?" She picked one up and bit into it. It was really good, but she kept her expression carefully controlled. "Yes, chocolate chips." She nodded. She set the bag of cookies down, somewhere where they both had easy access. "You can have as many as you'd like." She shrugged.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia frowned a little. Chocolate chip cookies. She didn't know if she should be having chocolate chip cookies. But in the fairness of trying to make friends and being nice she decided to take one. She ate one and just kept stood. "Why does a woman keep sending you cookies?" Leia asked, since it was a little odd that a random woman was sending her things. Perhaps they weren't even safe to eat, but Leia had already taken that first bite. ​

 

[Kiasora Cantore]

Kia shrugged at the question, blushing. "I don't know why she does. I worked on her farm for her over the break." Kia decided not to mention the fact that she'd only done so because the woman had caught her trying to steal a pair of boots from her shop. "I guess she's one of those old ladies that thinks they need to send treats all the time? I don't know," She ate another one, walking over and brushing the crumbs off her hands on her skirts.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia frowned slightly at what Kia said. "So she's not like some random lady, she's like your boss," Leia said back, since the way that it was being described for her certainly made Leia think that she wasn't just some random lady. She knew her and if she was her boss, that could still mean that she was a kinder old lady that still sent her things. "That's nice at least...," she couldn't really tell if it was something that Kia liked or didn't like. ​

 

[Kiasora Cantore]

Kia shrugged. "Yeah, that sounds about right," She could live with that. Zelda was her boss. Nothing more. She stretched a bit. "So... you like... dueling?" She asked kind of lamely. Kia wasn't really the most social person ever. But she was trying, really, she was. She didn't know why, but she was.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia stopped herself from scoffing at the duelling question, instead just nodded. "Yeah, I'm the duelling champion for our year," The slytherin replied, she resisted the urge the add that she'd been the champion for a couple of years now - or really every year since they had been able to do the slytherin. "Do you like duelling?" Leia asked. ​

 

[Kiasora Cantore]

Kia nodded, her eyes lighting up with recognition. That was right, of course it was. Kia nodded slowly again at the question. "Oh, sure. I like to watch the duels," She agreed easily. Kia had never participated herself, but she liked watching. It was good to know what others could do. "It can be amusing. Like whenever Sydney Townsend would get mad at Michael Newton when they dueled." She almost smiled at the memory.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia nodded, "but not actually duelling?" Leia asked, if the girl liked duelling she couldn't but wonder why she didn't. Leia gave a half shrug to Kia's latter point. Leia had never found the duels that amusing, it was a pity in her mind Sydney was a better dueller but so quick to anger it made it almost pointless. "Sydney should've learned to not get mad, it did her no favours," Leia replied. ​

 

[Kiasora Cantore]

Kia nodded. "I prefer to keep my cards close to my chest," She explained with a shrug, like it was obvious. Kia couldn't help but snort at Leia's comment. "Well, you're right about that." She agreed cooly. "Sydney did get worked up rather easily. I watched her break up with some girl for just saying hello to Eric Holland." Kia shrugged. "Tempers like that are really only trouble."

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia didn't know why duelling and keeping cards close to ones chest would go together, in leia's mind it suited her fine, she wouldn't have someone else to beat, but she didn't think it really worked to do so. You got better by practicing, and what better way to practice than on the pitch against someone. Leia decided to not say anything. She did agree that tempers were only trouble. "I'm sure Sydney's doing better now she's out of school, it was probably just the people in the school that bothered her. " Leia had to imagine, or it would forever be her biggest problem. ​

 

[Kiasora Cantore]

Kia shrugged. "Maybe. But I doubt people outside of school are suddenly just more mature. People are always going to be people," She countered. She didn't trust anyone, and she doubted graduating would change that at all. People were always horrible.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia gave a little frown, "Well, maybe not all people but some. In school, you can't exactly stop seeing someone you hate, whereas out there, you can..especially as an adult, so meet a not mature person and just never see them again after that," Leia knew that family was a little more complicated but she knew if she hated her brother and her sister, her parents she'd be able to walk away easily enough.."Whats the point of being an adult if you don't then get to pick exactly who you have around you," ​

 

[Kiasora Cantore]

Kia shrugged. "Maybe to an extent, sure. You can chose who you keep close. I just think Sydney took her anger to an extreme. You still have to be able to interact with people. Co-workers, shop workers, bosses. You can't just flip out anytime you have to deal with someone stupid." She countered. This was probably the most interesting conversation she'd had with someone in a long, long while, and she found she was really enjoying it.

 

[Leia Hume]

Leia considered the point, it was true that as an adult you couldn't just flip out anytime you deal with someone stupid. That wouldn't be good practice. "That's a fair point...," Leia agreed, she wasn't sure how a person like Sydney would cope then. "Perhaps though that's not a bad thing, in school you kinda mostly just get let off when you get angry...like the real world will always more consequences than school, because school is a safety net of sorts," she had to imagine that adults who needed money would quickly learn they needed to be agreeable and keep to themselves, where in school, a telling off was all you got. It was hard to be expelled from school, it wouldn't be hard to be fired. ​