FALL FROM THE SKY | OPEN

[alexandre lilly]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 320px; height: 330px;] can't hear a sound, WORDS DON'T MEAN A THING, I'M NOT LISTENING

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Alex wouldn't have found himself on the Quidditch pitch had he not forced himself to rise that morning. It was a nice, fresh Thursday morning. Birds were chirping away and the smell of fresh bread was wafting through the entrance hall as he wandered through, broom slung over his shoulders. He hadn't had the chance to really try out the Quidditch pitch. Now that the teams were beginning to grow, he was sure he'd have more students trying out and wanting to join their house teams. He needed a few more people from all the houses to really start a team, and hopefully he'd grab himself some alternates and students who'd be interested in helping out around the pitch itself. None of the work was appealing, he knew, especially to students who'd be more interested in being the superstar Quidditch players instead of the behind the scenes crew. He was grateful he found two commentators who were enthusiastic to say the least. He knew Kabriel would be interested in the position - his little sister always managed to seek attention wherever she so desired it. Hyo, he had heard from other students, was also incredibly enthusiastic so he was glad to have him on board. The two of them were sure to keep the audience riled up and excited. He figured he made a good choice.

The air was thick with the morning fog of summer and he breathed it all in. A fresh start before the day got truly muddled up. He smiled and made for the Quidditch pitch, about a ten minute walk away. During the walk, the young man thought back to his Quidditch days, how he used to wish those would remain for his lifetime. Unfortunately, one small twisted ankle managed to kill the season for him. And thus, his career. He wasn't much of a professional, but the fact that he had made it into the league said miles about his character and perseverance. When he had played at Hogwarts, he was the captain of the Hufflepuff team, and he had led them to a near Quidditch cup victory, but unfortunately Gryffindor had stolen it from right under their noses. No matter, as a Hufflepuff you are humble and gracious. He let it slide and he knew that his team did all they could. Alex liked to think he was a good leader, even though sometimes he'd lose his cool or his his attention would be elsewhere. Easily distracted, he was truly a Lilly brother.

As he entered the grand field, it nearly took his breath away every time. He smiled, staring at the three golden hoops at either end, towering over the man as he stood there. Surrounding him, seats soarred high above him, up to the level of the highest of the hoops or perhaps just underneath the smallest. Regardless, they were all in the action. There was just something so wonderful about the sport that drew him to it every time. He loved the way he felt while he was on a broomstick, and although he wouldn't ever get paid to play the way he did, he was grateful for the job at Beauxbatons where he had the opportunity to really show the school and the wizarding community that he could make winners and create a winning team. He swung his leg over his Cleansweep and kicked off. Despite the old broom's wear and tear, it worked as it had when he first got on at a young age. Alex soared high, level to the middle hoop and he shot through it. Laughing loudly, he shot through it again, as though he were the quaffle. Roaring with entertainment, the young man then began to coast through the air, casually glancing over at the palace that stood tall and valiantly upon its hill. He imagined the students waking up to the morning and he, relaxing in the air as he took in the sights.

It didn't really occur to him that he ought to be watching where he was going. He swerved quickly to avoid hitting one of the stands. Yelping in surprise, he shook a little on his broom. He nearly lost his balance and quickly exhaled in relief as he was still alive. He looked down to see how high up he was and was greeted with a small speck at the edge of the pitch. He squinted but couldn't tell who it was until he slowly drew himself closer and closer to the pitch. He landed a few dozen yards away from the person and offered them a wave. Perhaps they knew him?

TAGGED: open
NOTES: getting the hang of him, still!

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[layla aubrey jameson ,]

Hiss hiss grumble grumble hiss

A stream of curse words tickled their way across Layla’s lips as she banged her head, for the second time - might I add, on the underside of her bed. The brunette had spent the better part of her morning combing through every drawer, bag, and space that could possibly be harboring her wand. She couldn’t believe she had been so careless with it. Thankfully, Layla wasn’t due for any classes until the afternoon but unthankfully that afternoon class was Charms. Which required a wand. Especially in fifth year. She never listened to the last minute or so of class where the professor would ramble about what the next lesson was going to contain because frankly, Charms was not her favorite subject so as soon as she was able to stop thinking about it she seized onto that opportunity. Once the words “and I think that’s all for today” were out in the air, Layla was on to the next thing. Edging herself backwards on her hands and knees, Layla was careful not to bump her head for a third time. She sat back on her heels on the purple fringe carpet next to her bed, a tight pout pulling at the edges of her lips. This was frustrating.

Yesterday she had a Transfiguration lesson in the morning and a Double Potions lesson in the afternoon. As far as she could remember she had her wand for both of those. She remembered tucking her wand into the side pocket of her bag at the start of Potions because she knew she wasn’t going to need it. That was her first problem, right there. She really had to learn to put her wand in a place that wasn’t so careless. Her wand could have been taken or fallen out or caught on something. A side pocket with no zippers or clasps where a good 2/3 of her wand stuck out really wasn’t the brightest spot to place something so valuable. After Potions, she went back to her room to switch into some more comfortable clothes, then she met up with some friends for dinner, then she went to the Library for a few hours… but she already checked all of those places. After all of that last night she spent a few hours flying around the Quidditch Pitch…

Wait!

The pitch! Eyes widening with the sudden realization of a new possible location, Layla practically flew out of the room her feet were moving so quickly. She grabbed a light blue sweatshirt, similar to the color of her eyes, from the edge of her bed and began pulling it on over her head as she fled the dorm room. Her roommates were all still mostly asleep, but her footsteps were so light it would be impossible for them to detect any sorts of sound. The door to the dormitory room clicked shut as Layla ran a hand through her unruly mop of brunette frizz. Her jeans were getting dangerously close to the limit of times you can wear them before you have to wash them. A pair of sneakers on her feet, Layla could have easily passed as a normal muggle kid if she left Beauxbatons and wandered into the nearest nonmagical village. The sounds of students stirring mixed with the natural creaks and clicks of the ancient castle. The older Cossu students didn’t have classes on Thursday mornings, so it would mostly be the younger grades who were all beginning to rise. All the better for Layla to get out of there as soon as possible. First years tended to be rather loud in the morning.

Bursting through the front doors of the castle, it was only a few minutes’ walk to the pitch, Layla realized that the morning air outside actually wasn’t as cool as she thought it was going to be. The sun was starting to heat the grounds, which was a pleasant surprise since Layla wasn’t really sure that they were really entering the summer season just yet. It was still very possible that they were going to get some frigid rain storms or just dreary chilly weather. This was the opposite. This gave the teenager hope for upcoming warmer days. She looked forward to parties by the lake and students milling about tanning or flying around the pitch.

She wasn’t so sure where she stood with Quidditch though. Having recently been appointed as the Keeper for her House Team, Layla was giving herself regular anxiety attacks. She had never played competitively before. She was pretty decent as far as skills went, but that was going off the fact that she had always played with her older brother Jensen who used to be a Keeper here at Beauxbatons a few years ago for Rouerie. She grew up learning everything from him. They had a makeshift pitch in their backyard, just one set of hoops, that they used to play around for hours. But she had never donned a uniform and flown in a competitive, fully numbered match before. Cossu hadn’t had their first team practice yet and she wasn’t sure what their game schedule was going to look like, but the longer it took the more anxious she got. She had taken up going out to the pitch to fly around and get the feel of a real sized Quidditch field to prepare herself. It was helping a bit.

The pitch loomed into view and Layla instantly made her way towards the Cossu locker rooms. She remembered setting her things down in there while she flew around last night so maybe her wand had dropped out of her wand there? Stuffing her hands into the kangaroo style pockets of her sweatshirt, she entered under the main arch and walked through the tunnel towards the green of the pitch. It would be faster to walk across the grass than to walk under the stands to get to the locker room. The Cossu entrance was directly across from the main tunnel to get onto the pitch, just slightly to the left. Emerging onto the grass, she found it was quite wet with morning dew as it began to seep its way through the canvas of her sneakers. A flicker to her right caught her eye and her head snapped to the side, worried it was a bug or something that had flown too close to her face. She was mistaken, however, for it was a person. Said person was up in the air, on a broom, and almost a permanent part of the stands judging from how close they had just flown to the giant wooden fixtures. She stopped in her path and stood watching the person, a male. He had stopped after avoiding the collision and appeared to be looking around. It looked as though he noticed her down on the grass, since he began drawing his broom closer and closer to the ground. Finally he landed a decent distance away and gave Layla a wave. Her brow furrowed in confusion. Did she know him?

She began walking towards the figure, who was dressed rather casually. The sun gleamed off the watch around his wrist. As she drew closer, she noticed it was Alexandre Lilly the new Quidditch instructor. Quite dedicated to be out here this early, apparently. She wasn’t quite sure what it was Quidditch Masters did when they weren’t doing lessons or games or practices. Did they ever get sick of being around the pitch?

Layla gave a feeble wave back but wasn’t really sure how to greet Alexandre. Did she call him Alex? Mister Lilly? Instructor QM? Was she even sure that was his name? Sometimes she had a really bad memory with these things and mixed them up. As she got within human earshot, her lips curled into a gentle smile, her usual friendly greeting.

“Alexandre Lilly, right?” She called. “Isn’t it a bit early for Quidditch practice?”

[alexandre lilly]

[atrb=border,0,true][atrb=style, width: 320px; height: 330px;] can't hear a sound, WORDS DON'T MEAN A THING, I'M NOT LISTENING

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Alex hadn't flown in what felt like forever it seemed. It wasn't that he was rusty, he was just struggling a little with the feeling of playing in another location, one he knew rather well. Well, not too well. He knew from the various visits he had been forced to make for the graduation of certain brothers of his and of course to see his sister off to school when the time came. There was something about this school that he had always seen as comforting and yet also annoying. He had managed to elude the school and attend Hogwarts a ways away which he hadn't regretted one bit, but sometimes it was a nice feeling knowing that his family was so nearby. Well, at the time. Now, his family was strewn across the globe and he could hardly keep track of them. The only thing they shared was a piece of parchment that was charmed to keep the Lilly's in touch. A nice little enchantment that proved itself useful when passing on moments when important meetings needed to take place, or when it came to planning the gifts for the Lilly parents.

Alex squinted into the distance at the figure who approached. It was very clearly a girl, whomever it was. He couldn't quite tell, but noticed some dark hair and pale skin. As he approached, there was something familiar about the girl's face and features. Something along the lines of a porcelain doll. She was fair and lovely, and he knew her from one of the open tryouts for one of the houses. Of course, there were so many students that at some point all their faces blended together into this one mesh of faces and talents. He had managed to choose a few players, but some still remained undecided which he found frustrating because he wished to start the season as soon as he possibly could. He ran a hand through his hair and exhaled when he came close enough. "That would be me," he nodded, looking this ways and that to see if they were alone. He had this strange unease when it came to being alone with a student merely for the possibility of rumors spreading about him and said student. Especially if it were to be a female. As he glanced at her, he couldn't quite peg what her name was, but he knew that she was a member of one of the teams as her general body movement seemed rather familiar to him.

He laughed at her next statement. "Too early for Quidditch? Never," he chuckled and looked around. "In fact, I'd say it's the best time. Do you have a broom? Maybe we could get in a little extra practice. Not sure if you need it through." he smiled rather kindly. "Of course, it'd be best if you gave me a little refresher as to your name and position." It was always rather awkward asking for the name of someone one had already met. Alex never had a knack for names, either, which just made the whole thing a whole other kind of mess. He remembered meeting all of his family for the first time, he struggled to remember the names of his aunts and uncles until he really figured it all out. Otherwise, he figured he'd always have trouble with it. As a Quidditch player, you had to know the names of your teammates, especially if you were a chaser. Shouting surnames was something of a common trait, so if you had no idea who you were passing to, it ultimately ended in failure. He had injured himself in a match which led him to retiring extremely early in his career and pursuing something more up his alley; like instructing. Being a Quidditch master had never been apart of his plan, but many things never are. He enjoyed his position at the school though, as it was close to the ocean and close to Paris. Everything seemed to fit just perfectly here. He just had to begin to make a life for himself. He did have the option of staying at the school or renting a flat in the Rue de Paradis. He had chosen the latter as it was much easier to keep in touch with his adult side, constantly reminding himself that he was still young and had the opportunity to go out more and have his own mini adventures when he wasn't on duty at the school.

This girl was certainly a curious case however, because she seemed dressed as though she was planning on hanging around her dormitory for the rest of the day, or at least hanging around the palace. And yet here she was casually strolling into the Quidditch pitch of all places. Alex curiously thought on why she came out here, but the only thing his mind could muster was that she must have been sleepwalking. Or something of the sort.

TAGGED: layla & open
NOTES: GAH, forgive my shortness in all these posts henceforth! ;_;

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