Open Sidelined

[Oskar Strom]

Oskar hadn't signed up for the tournament this year and he was waiting to feel some way about it. Instead he felt alarmingly neutral, at least about the tournament itself. After giving up quidditch he had hoped he might show some affinity for dueling but after several years of disappointment he had decided to give up on that too. For some reason he decided to come and watch the duels as if it would be easier to watch others succeed instead of him. He had to admit if he thought about how little he had going on he started to panic. It was hard to explain to anyone how lost he felt all the time. He watched the spells being tossed back and forth and couldn't help clench his fists, the tension of everything weighing on him as he sat in the crowd.

 

[Audrey Beauchamp]

Audrey would naturally toss her head back with a laugh if asked about how she was granted a free pass to the second round of duels, probably with a comment about how well of course she would, she's talented and entertaining. Internally, part of her went on alert, however, wondering if this was setting her up for disaster. After all, loathe as she was to admit it, Audrey had never actually won a duel. She deflected, of course, saying that she was obviously better at more useful magic. That didn't stop it from being a minor sore point. Right next to the sore point about her best Quidditch games being the ones where they still lost.

While Audrey was entirely optimistic, perhaps aggressively (and performatively) so, she was naturally bracing herself for the inevitable disappointment. Not that she had any intention of losing. There was just a small, nagging part of her brain that was hyper aware that it was somewhat likely she would.

She saw a flicker of movement out of the corner of her eye in the stands, and turned to look at Oskar, who she had sat near without even realising. He was still cute, and Audrey was definitely not going to be weird about it. She was an adult, now. "Do you think everyone's moved on from shaving heads?" she asked, picking the first thought that came to her head and going with it. Perhaps adult small talk was not yet something that she had on lock. "Would be a shame if either of us lost our hair, I think. The bald look is sooooo last year."

 

[Oskar Strom]

Oskar had been so wrapped up in his head he hadn't even notice Audrey sit next to him. She was loud and confident in a way that kind of scared him so he was a little surprised when she spoke to him. At first he furrowed his brow until he pieced together what she was talking about. He hadn't seen it himself but he had heard someone had gotten hit with that unfortunate spell. "I hope so." he said simply, not wishing that fate on anybody. But when she mentioned his hair being at risk this year he shook head. "I'm not competing this year." he corrected quickly. "So no risk here." he tried not to sound embarrassed by his lame attempt at self preservation. "Not unless someone has very bad aim." he added dryly.