do you want to fly away? [dastan]

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Jamie tried her best not to gossip. There were some things that people would rather keep private, and she didn't want to intrude on those sorts of things, which was the essence of gossip. Even though she tried not to gossip, though, the Hufflepuff ended up hearing a thing or two. The most recent piece of information that she had happened on was a bit more tragic than Jamie had been bargaining for - Jesper Oscarsson was dead. Jamie had never met the boy, but she knew Jesper's twin brother, Dastan, and liked him quite a bit. She wasn't sure if there was a good way to talk to Dastan about something that had probably, if not definitely, hurt him, and Jamie thought that making an effort to go out of her way to start that conversation was silly. If she did see Dastan, though, she was certainly going to offer her condolences to him. Jamie was hanging out around the Quidditch pitch quite a bit these days, partially because she was practicing in preparation for the spring season and partially because she was hoping that she would be able to run into Dastan there. Today was no different, and when she walked out to the pitch with her broom under her arm, she saw a familiar figure. "Dastan!"

@dastan

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Dastan was flying. It was one of the only things that could get his mind off of what happened. One of the other things was Gwen, but she wasn't always available. Right now she was in classes, and even if she wasn't, Dastan knew that he couldn't monopolize all of her time. So to the Quidditch Pitch he went. He was in the air, zooming around, when he heard someone call his name. He flew down to the figure, smiling when he recognized her. It was Jamie, the girl he flew with a while ago. "Jamie. How are you?" he asked, not landing. He knew it was more polite, but maybe if he stayed on his broom she would mount hers sooner. 

@jamie

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Dastan quickly descended from his place in the skies to talk to her, and Jamie offered him her best and brightest smile. She wasn’t really sure how to make him feel better, but not dragging Dastan down with her own worries and woes seemed like a good place to start. His voice seemed…different, and Jamie didn’t know if that was because of her preconceptions about what he ought to sound like or not. Dastan asked how she was, and Jamie lifted her shoulder in a noncommittal shrug. “I’m about as good as one can be in January.” She said, deciding to attribute her slight sadness to the dreary weather rather than to being left behind. “How have you been? I…heard about your brother.” Jamie said quietly.

@dastan

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Dastan smirked at her response. Did that mean she wasn't a fan of January in general? He couldn't help but wonder why. "I am assuming you don't like January then ... may I ask why?" It probably wasn't anything big, but Dastan was still curious. He couldn't think of a reason to separate January from the other months. To him, it was almost entirely unimportant, but that didn't make it bad. Then she asked him how he was and he shrugged as well. "It is hard. I- Jesper is a part of me and now he is gone. I did not even get to say goodbye." He opted to go for the sad emotions right now instead of the angry ones. Margaux may understand his fury at what happened to Jesper, but Dastan didn't expect most people to. He looked away from her sadly.

@jamie

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Jamie shrugged when Dastan asked why she didn’t like January. She didn’t want to be sad, so she was actively choosing not to be. She would say her bit, and then spin it in a good way. Yes, that’s what she would do. “It seems like a lot of people make resolutions they never intend on keeping.” Will hadn’t made a resolution to her, so she wasn’t talking about him, but people in general made a lot of promises in January. “But they also make a lot of resolutions that they do keep!” Jamie added, voice once again bright so that she could keep them both from being melancholy. Dastan admitted that he was going through a hard patch, and Jamie nodded. She could only imagine what she would be like if Max had actually died. Her heart ached for her friend. “Can I give you a hug?” Jamie asked quietly. It would be hard with Dastan on his broom, but Jamie had never not hugged someone because it was hard.

@dastan

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Resolutions. Right, that was a thing people did in January, normally. Not Dastan. He was having a hard enough time thinking about the moments he was in, much less what he wanted to accomplish over the next year. Other than justice and revenge for his brother. He smiled and even gave a small chuckle when Jamie tried to sound more upbeat. He wasn't sure if she was trying to be positive for her sake or his, but he appreciated it. She asked if she could give him a hug and Dastan landed his broom to make it simpler. He had no intention of coming out here to enjoy flying and then somehow fall and injure himself. That would not help him or Jamie. 

@jamie

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Dastan landed his broom, and as soon as he did, Jamie went over and wrapped her arms around him, trying to put as much positive energy and warmth into the interaction as she possibly could. It was really hard, especially since Dastan seemed a little off, but eventually Jamie withdrew, hoping that she had done at least a little good. “Do you want to go back to flying?” Jamie asked, since Dastan had been so reluctant to come down off his broom, even for the hug. “I’ve been practicing that spinny thing you showed me!” Jamie added. She still wasn’t as good as he had been when he had shown her, but it was a lot better than she had been during their first practice session, and Jamie hoped that maybe Dastan seeing that he had helped add a little goodness into the world would help him. Jamie knew it would help her, but she didn’t know how similar she and Dastan were outside of Quidditch.

@dastan

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Jamie immediately came over to him and gave him a hug. While a part of him enjoyed it, Dastan couldn't seem to get himself to relax. He hadn't relaxed since he got the news of his brother's death. Well, other than a few minutes when he got to talk with Gwen about things that had nothing to do with his emotional state. She was good at distracting him. He nodded when Jamie pulled back. "Yes, let's fly." He forced a smile when Jamie said that she'd practiced his spinning "thing", though part of him was really pleased by that fact so it wasn't entirely difficult for him to smile. "Good! Are you going to show it to me? Or do we want to do something else?" He asked. Quite honestly, he just needed a distraction, so he didn't care how it came about.

@jamie

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Okay, flying. That was something that Jamie knew how to do, and knew how to do well. She was still working on achieving the same level of skill with comforting people. Jamie mounted her broom and kicked off, pleased to see that Dastan already had a Quaffle with him. He looked pleased at her announcement that she’d perfected the trick that he’d taught her, and when he asked whether or not Jamie was going to show it to him, the Hufflepuff smiled shyly. “If you want me to, I can.” She said, gesturing for Dastan to toss the Quaffle to her. When she asked if she wanted to do something else, Jamie shrugged. “If you have any other tricks to show me, that would be cool, unless you want to practice feints or something.” It was always useful to practice old skills in addition to learning new ones.

@dastan

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It only took a few seconds for her to mount her broom and join him in the air, something for which Dastan was quite grateful. He just wanted to be doing. Doing something to get his mind off of. Then she spoke, saying that she could show him. He tossed the Quaffle and nodded his head. "Go ahead. I want to see," he encouraged with a small smile. Then he shrugged, "I don't really know which of my moves would be different for you. Maybe after you show me that move we can just play and give suggestions as they occur to us?" If she wanted to give him any suggestions too, that was. 

@jamie

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Dastan gave her permission to try the trick that he had showed her, and Jamie caught the Quaffle he tossed at her with a smile. She didn’t need as much preparation as she had then, and almost immediately after receiving the Quaffle Jamie let it fly again, sending it towards the left hoop. The ball felt good rolling off her fingers, but the proof of her skill would be in whether or not, and how easily, Dastan blocked it. After making her shot, Jamie nodded at Dastan’s suggestion of how they go about their mini practice session. “That sounds good.” Jamie agreed. One on one was something she rarely got to do it seemed like people were always jumping in and wanting to be a part of the action, not that Jamie blamed that. Sometimes, though, it was nice to be able to rely on your skill, and your skill alone. Quidditch was a team sport, sure, but being a strong player was important, too. “I guess we can start whenever?” Jamie said, unsure when Dastan was going to move to begin their scrimmage.

@dastan

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Jamie started moving the second she got the Quaffle, which was impressive. Dastan rushed to the goals, turning just in time to watch the ball leave her hand. Oooh, she was good. He reached up to try and block the shot, incredibly proud of himself when he tipped it with his fingers so it hit the edge of the hoop and then fell so he could catch it. Perfect. "That was great," he complimented her with a smile. She asked when they should start the scrimmage and Dastan tossed the Quaffle to her. "You start," he said with a nod, moving into a defensive position, though he doubted he'd be able to stop her if he wasn't playing as Keeper.

@jamie

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Dastan managed to tip the Quaffle that she had thought with the tips of his fingers, and while Jamie wasn’t happy that the shot hadn’t been a score, at least it hadn’t been the horrible misses that she’d experienced when she was first learning the skill. Dastan said that the shot was great, and Jamie grinned at him. “I had a good teacher.” She complimented him. The Hufflepuff was a little surprised that the Beauxbatons boy was letting her start with the Quaffle, but she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Without her team, Jamie didn’t have anyone else to cover any mistakes she made, so she needed to be on the top of her game. “Let’s go.” She said to indicate she was beginning the game. Without warning, Jamie turned her broom handle towards the ground, taking a dive that was nearly perpendicular to the ground. She hoped that Dastan was following her, because that was what her strategy was relying on. Just when she was sure she was going to crash into the ground, Jamie pulled up at an angle that was just as steep, hoping that Dastan had followed her on a wild goose chase and wouldn’t be there to block the goal that she shot at the center hoop.

@dastan

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Dastan pretended to think about her comment for a moment before nodding and smiling. "Yes you did," he said, chuckling at almost the same time as he said it. Hopefully she would understand he was joking. Then she started their game, saying go and almost immediately dove. Dastan was not typically one to dive, but this was a one-on-one game, so he started to follow her, but kept his dive less steep than hers. They were only playing with the Quaffle, so if he fell too far behind he wouldn't be able to block or intercept. A few seconds in, he decided that moving in her way would probably be the better option, so when she pulled herself out of her dive, he was just a short ways in front of her (seeing as how he didn't really dive), between her and the hoops. He grinned, waiting to see what she would do.

@jamie

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Jamie was glad that she had been able to get Dastan to laugh. Laughter, people always said, was the best medicine, and she knew that he wasn’t actually so self-absorbed to think that he was the only reason she had succeeded at mastering the shot. If he had been Émile, she might have thought he was serious, but he was…just Dastan. In the best way, though – Jamie was rather fond of just Dastan. It seemed that her gambit hadn’t paid off, but Jamie didn’t miss a beat, feinting right and then pulling her broom hard to the right. She hoped that Dastan had remembered what she had told him about her knees being her tell, because she had actually thought about it, and kept her knees swung to the right even as she jerked left. Assuming that she was able to get past Dastan, she was going to let the Quaffle loose at the left hoop, which would be closest to her at that point.

@dastan