Ring Toss

A

Artemis Tuuri

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,528
Urk, it’s too sunny, thought Artemis to herself in disgust. What she wouldn’t give to be back in England right at this moment. At least it snowed sometimes in New Zealand. Winter was perfectly tolerable. But then again, summer in New Zealand was better than Summer in Australia. When they had stopped there during their flight, Art had burned her feet just running around on the footpath.

Idly she spun the silver-ringed puzzle, given to her by Henric, on one finger. She’d simply tried everything to untangle the twisted metal. She had even considered wrestling it with her teeth, but not only was that unhygienic, it was slightly degrading also. She was meant to be a Ravenclaw, wasn’t she? What on earth was stopping her? Art was sure that one of the older girls could solve the puzzle. After all, Henric wouldn’t have given her anything that was impossible to do (for a normal person). Would he? Oh yes, he would, she thought with both a scowl and a chuckle. It had been at least a week since she had received it, and absolutely no progress had been made.

She pinched the metal rings between two tiny fingers and lifted them up to the light. Art squinted at them from below as she lay on the grass. Obviously there was something she was missing. She rubbed the metal together thoughtfully...

Clink. Clink clink, clink.

The look of astonishment on her pixie face would have made a priceless photo at that moment. For instead of pulling the pieces, she had slid them against each other. It had simply fallen apart. Well, it really would be that obvious, wouldn’t it? Far from wallowing in embarrassment for the length of time it took to figure that out, she leapt to her feet immediately and charged off to find Henric. Oh no, he wasn’t getting out of training her that easily.
 
"Hahaha..." The low rhthymic laughter seemed to float across the air as the Slytherin boy observed her while perched on the branch of a rather tall tree. "Oh well done. It took you quite awhile didn't it?" Henric Lee flashed her a wry smile, swinging from the branch of the tree in one elaborate movement and landing upon the ground smoothly. Matter-of-factly, he stated, "Some things open when they close." Raising a finger to his temple, he tapped it once and whistled. "Think before you act."
 
Somehow, she wasn't surprised when he was right where she needed him. Although that probably wasn't why he was there. I'd call it serendipity if I wasn't entirely convinced that it's purposeful, thought Artemis. She mimicked the exact wry smile that he had on his face to perfection, although her eyes were mischievous.

"I tend to use fortune to my advantage when the need arises," replied Artemis, which didn't mean much of anything. In the end, it probably meant something like 'I tried thinking, but it didn't work.'

She tossed the rings at him smoothly and folded her arms with a severe look. "What next?"
 
"If you solved the puzzle, you should know the answer." Henric said simply, with a pleasant smile plastered upon his face. As usual, he was displaying his maddening ability to confuse people whenever he talked to them. "Luck won't get you far this time... Call me when you've got it." Turning away from her, Henric started to march down the lawns while waving at her airily.
 
For-get it! Artemis had paused for a moment to stare at his retreating form after the most cryptic remark that she had ever heard, before tumbling after him with her nose screwed up. How ridiculous! In half a minute she had caught up with him as she ran at top speed, which was impressive for legs as short as hers. "Oi!" she called, hand whipping out and catching his arm in her hand.

"Ye're not walking away, leaving me with some mental puzzle for goodness sake!" She was right tired of trying to figure out how to balance herself when she was still getting picked on by some of the older kids. Three times she had been forced to deck a few boys, but now the brute force was getting to her more than usual. She had had a taste of what could be, and she wanted more. He was going to do this manually. Art simply could not learn this way.
 
As she took hold of his arm, Henric appeared to take a step backwards and bump into her suddenly; turning on his heel, with the other foot firmly wedged in the grass, the pale boy ducked under her body and took hold of her waist, then kicked off the ground and promptly fell backwards in a heel drop. It seemed the girl's head would smash into the grass and render her unconscious, but inches before she hit the ground, Henric held back, and her head hung there dangerously.

"Employ calm, calculated force against brute strength. That's what you were meant to figure out." Henric stated, slightly amused, "Why don't you try touching me again?"
 
Owing to the fact that she was upside down, Artemis' face was pink in seconds. Even so, the challenge was both accepted and responded to within half a second of hearing it. "Well," she began as she twisted her upper body towards him, hair skimming the grass. "I only employ violence," she said as she locked her arms around his legs from her precarious position, "When I'm angry!". With her arms around the back of his knees, she pulled them towards her to lose his balance. At the same time, she aimed a well placed kick to his jaw before twisting her head and biting him on the ankle.

As she released him from her bite, she continued. "So what I'm really looking for," panted Art as she wriggled furiously in his grip on her waist. "Is to be calm when I'm not." Her arms were not idle after her tricks, though. If all went to plan he would drop her, and she would be ready for it. But things were never that simple, she knew. Just for luck, Art latched onto his ankle again with her teeth.
 
Side stepping swiftly, the tall boy grasped hold of her ankle and swung her, still upside down, away from his body as she attempted to strike at him, causing her to miss most of her wild attacks. "Being calm doesn't just come like," He snapped his finger, "That."

Relinquishing his grip on her, she fell to the ground safely, only an inch away from it. "The key to maintaining a sense of calm in situations where adrenaline races through your veins nonstop," he said while he faced her crumpled body on the ground. "Is Meditation."
 
She rolled neatly to her feet as she was finally dropped but slid on the dew-wet grass till she was a few feet away from him. "Meditation before or after I get pummeled by a centaur?" asked Artemis sarcastically as she regained her footing.

Her green one-piece was covered in grass stains by now. It was a strange situation, because they were obviously not sparring. He was just playing with her, and she was only doing her best to be released. Either way, it was unlikely that she'd have to face someone like him in every-day combat, but that didn't mean that she didn't want to get the better of him. Against opponents who were bigger and stronger than her, she deigned to be smarter and faster. But what if they were both that and more?

Maybe Art had brains, but she certainly didn't know how to use them.

"I also want a larger range of attacks. Hit and pin is a bit barbaric."
 
"Uh-Uh... We start with the basics - and then we stick with the basics. And the basics, come in the form of Meditation" Henric Lee said with an air of finality; "Sit down, do as I do..." The tall boy sat down upon the grass and crossed his legs, placing his arms on either side of his lap and closing his eyes. He looked for all the world like he was sleeping, yet his body remained guarded and his presence was as intimidating as ever.
 
Art did as he bid, seating herself down on the grass smoothly. Meditation ... well this is going to go well, she thought in a disgruntled manner. She watched him assume a classic meditative pose and it was obvious that she was supposed to copy him, and so she did. Everything but for the fact that she kept her eyes open.

Obviously she was waiting for him to do something else, for she wasn't about to close her eyes just like that. She didn't trust him as far as she could throw him. Given, that was probably a fair distance, but that was beside the point. For several seconds nothing happened except for the slight stirring of the breeze, and reluctantly she close her eyes and 'meditated'. Like him, she did not relax for a moment, and to quell the boredom she thought of clovers and red poppies.
 
A wry smile twitched at Henric's lips and morbid, emotionless expression. "Clear your mind," he advised, tilting his head back as if looking at some unseen entity in the heavens. "Enter a state of blankness. Then, and only then, you will understand yourself." Swaying from side to side wistfully, the boy made odd little movements, but restricted it to just that; he remained perfectly still otherwise. "Once you have achieved nothingness ... You will be able to grasp your own weaknesses."
 
Artemis tried ... she really did. But the fairy-headed girl had a million and one thoughts bouncing through her brain all at once. It never stopped. Everything that Henric was doing she copied, but for the slight swaying motion, yet nothing helped. Emptying her mind was like asking her to squeeze blood from a stone. It was in this moment that she realised how chaotic a person she was. Never once had she sat still long enough to listen to her mind fluttering about like a startled butterfly.

Thinking calming thoughts wasn't helping, so instead Artemis thought of the most serene person she knew - her brother, Gregory. As her thoughts turned to him, the world faded and it became centered and balanced. The two siblings were like two pieces on the other side of the same puzzle. As he mind became calm, there was little separating her from the nothingness she had to seek. One more breath, and she found it.

Artemis was still conscious of the outside world, but her feelings about it were muted and gone.
 
The pale boy halted abruptly and breathed in deeply, his brow twitching for a moment. "Embrace the void." He was saying, his voice a low purr like those of a well-running engine, "Feel your body. Grasp what is wrong ... Amend your thoughts, amend your mind, reinforce your structure, and try to aim for ... Perfection."
 
In her mind, Artemis named this new place that she had found with something she had read once in a book. It described this new place perfectly. Art named it The Illusion of Elsewhere. But what was this perfection that Henric was speaking of? Perfection of the mind, or the body? Or was it both combined, harmonious? There was a tingling in her fingertips and a heightened sensitivity to her muscles as she longed to move and to be free, but was reigned in by this new order of mind.

Impulse is what is wrong. A lack of control, she knew. Art was a loose cannon.

She was to learn how to think before she acted. Well she was thinking now, unlike she had ever thought before - with clarity, and a purpose. Her state was perfect, but not perfection ... yet. "I know what's wrong," she told Henric.
 
One of his eyes flickered open lazily, and he looked at her calmly through one tempest orb. "Do tell." He said, inclining his head slightly and gesturing for her to speak while he kept his own position rigid, yet peaceful, as usual.
 
Artemis opened one eye, and then the other to look at him, expressionless for the first time in his presence. The lack of expression was lost as she furrowed her brows at him. "Do 'ye need to know?" she asked him, supremely uncomfortable with this change of topic.

I can't imagine him needing that sort of information, unless he knows how to overcome it. With that in mind, Art became more uncomfortable than before and soon losing that perfect state of mind. Soon her thoughts became like bees again, buzzing around in her ears. It was driving her mad. Perhaps that was why she was so on edge and hyperactive most of the time.

"It's impulse, and my lack of control." she told him as deadpan as she could.
 
Henric blinked lazily as she spoke, opting to act as if he was ignorant of her very presence as she explained her own weaknesses after a split second's hesitation. Raising his pale hand, he allowed a noisily chirping small bird to flutter to his outstretched fingers and settle there, nipping at him peacefully. When she had finished, he lifted his hand slightly, allowing the bird to flutter away.

Turning his gray orbs upon her, he murmured softly, "Impulse is overcome by careful thought." Tilting his head to view the baby-blue skies, he added, "Control is achieved by the focus of the mind, and the discipline of the body." Clapping his hands together, he smiled at her and said in a very indifferent voice, "And that, is the end of today's annoyance from you. Overcome your own weaknesses, and then we will speak again."

With a swivel of his feet, the tall Slytherin started to walk away cheerfully.
 
Artemis was unsurprised by Henric's sudden departure. In her mind, she said Wait for it... and there it was. Off he went. Overcome my weakness? What, am I meant to find my happy place or something? Art stabbed her fingers into the grass in irritation. To her increasing annoyance she buried her hand up to the wrist with the force of it. She then spent some minutes wrestling her hand out with muffled curses and occasional thrashing of her legs. Finally, there was a wet pop and her hand came free, trailing grass strands and a single dirty worm.

"Even 'ye would have a better understanding of me than I would," said Artemis to the worm, stroking it once with the tip of her other finger. Generally it was her frustration talking, for she knew in her heart what she was meant to be looking for. She had lied to Henric; it wasn't her impulsiveness that she had to battle, it was fear. It was around people like Gregory that she was not frightened, and so became her true self; kind, calm and serene. Clever and insightful and never hasty. But that self was lost under the terror of all those tall, strong people who could affect her mind and heart. So Artemis beat them off with her fists, and it worked.

The bird that had perched on Henric's hand was poised in a nearby tree, eyeing off the worm. "Zdrikt," she told it, tossing the worm to the hungry creature. Down it swooped in perfect precision and caught the worm midair. "Bad luck, mate." Art told the worm, and sauntered off towards the forest. There were no people around, and she was finally at peace until the next interruption.

End Scene​
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 1 (members: 0, guests: 1)
Back
Top