Land of Confusion [Brody]

[brody christopher dubois]

September 12, 2026

Lyka had been blown away by the brief time she'd spent in the air, answering him that it was "amazing" almost breathlessly. "I really need to figure out what the schedule is here so I can come down when practices aren't going on. If I can get out every couple of days, it makes focusing in class so much easier."

"Yeah, I dunno if they have it posted yet," Brody commented with a shrug. "It shouldn't be too long before it's up, though." Figuring out when to get some practice in outside of the times when the field and the airspace above it weren't reserved would be a little tricky, maybe, but she could probably manage it early enough in the day or with a free period in her schedule during the week and maybe more often on the weekend.

"I'm going to sleep so well tonight," Lyka laughed. "It's crazy how much I took flying for granted. There’s like, nowhere to safely do it in Diagon, so I've always been stuck waiting until Hogwarts."

Though he hadn't tried it for himself, Brody didn't think that Diagon Alley was the ideal place to practice flying. It was fully magical and not a risk in the sense of being exposed to the No-Maj world, but it was packed. There really wasn't anywhere to take off and land safely, either, even if there was space in the sky above the alley. "I'm sure, yeah," he replied in relation to her mentioning sleeping well. "It's good to get back into a routine. You might be able to get in some night flights, too." If flying helped her to wind down, then maybe that was something she was interested in. "Probably once it starts getting darker out earlier."

lyka cruz malkin

[lyka cruz malkin]

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Lyka was vibrating with adrenaline now that she was on solid ground again. She hadn’t noticed it at first, until she went to walk, her legs wobbling ever so slightly. In the past, she had equated it to being similar to getting her ‘sea legs’ back. The sudden propulsion from zooming around on her broom the first day of every fall term always left her life this. It was hard for her to not be passionate about flying and Quidditch when her body literally reacted this way. Clearly, she was addicted.

Brody stated that it probably wouldn’t be too long until the schedule for the pitch, or whatever it was that they called it for Quodpot (probably field, because Americans). She rocked anxiously on her feet, using her broom to hold her up as her legs still felt wobbly beneath her. ”Working around the house teams is going to be a pain…” she said, mostly to herself. ”Are there any other places we’re allowed to fly? That way I can avoid this as much as possible?” She still wanted to get into a stadium of any kind on the off chance that there would be other Hogwarts students like her that would want to play a pick up match. Lyka liked to think that they wouldn’t become uncivilized and switch to Quodpot just because they were here. That would be silly.

Placing her hands on her sides, Lyka stretched a bit to try and curb the adrenaline rush. It had been decreasing steadily, but she could still feel it hanging on. ”That would be the best. Hogwarts always was silly about being indoors by a certain point, wasn’t it?” If they didn’t want students wandering into a dangerous forest at night, all they had to do was literally make it not as bad. Wasn’t that what the Ministry was for? Clearing out dark creatures and magical folks?

brody christopher dubois ● 317

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[brody christopher dubois]

September 12, 2026

"Working around the house teams is going to be a pain…" Lyka mentioned in response to his talking about how the practice schedule would likely be posted before long. "Are there any other places we’re allowed to fly? That way I can avoid this as much as possible?"

"Yeah, we're isolated enough up here that you can usually fly around the grounds," Brody explained, "as long as you're not in anybody's way or anything." Basically, as long as she didn't do anything stupid or break any other rules in the process, she'd be fine. Ilvermorny was camouflaged from the No-Majes, so the only real concern was flying too high up. "Sometimes, people will have, you know, pick-up Quidditch games and stuff like that, too," he added. "Nothing officially refereed, but…" he shrugged. That kind of thing didn't really get as violent as a proper, drawn-out match.

As far as night flying, Lyka sounded more hopeful. "That would be the best. Hogwarts always was silly about being indoors by a certain point, wasn't it?"

Brody chuckled a little. "Yeah, uh, there's no Forbidden Forest here at Ilvermorny," he pointed out, not that there was anywhere to put one atop Mount Greylock. "Just the Pukwudgies." While they had a similar role to the house-elves at Hogwarts, they were grumpier, on the whole. They weren't anywhere near as dangerous as some of the creatures that were just casually living around Hogwarts, though.

lyka cruz malkin

[lyka cruz malkin]

▲

Basically what Brody was saying was that she could fly whenever she pleased, as long as she wasn't a hinderance to anyone. The same rules as back home in the garden behind the house. Which had almost zero space and meant she could only levitate about twenty feet in the air before getting a stern talking to from her father. He was the more serious one out of her parents, though she feared the quiet stewing of her mum far more. At least they had been direct when addressing her whining before coming to Ilvermorny. Lyka agreed with them on that now. She'd been horrible all summer, and had been called ridiculous on more than one occasion for throwing child-like temper tantrums over being shipped off to Massachusetts instead of France.

"Merlin, I hope so. I need that," she said in response to pick-up matches. If nothing else, she would be the one setting them up. Because she needed it. Any remote chance of improving her skills would greatly increase her stock as a player for next year.

The lack of super-dangerous-potentially-lethal magical forest was definitely a highlight to being at Ilvermorny. Lyka had never had any true interest in going into the woods, except to fetch a stray quaffle. As for the Pukwudgies, well, she hadn't really seen one yet. "Are they around often?" she asked. She'd caught glimpses during the opening ceremony, but had her view blocked by taller classmates. They seemed to be similar to house elves, though she had also heard Ilvermorny students discuss their displeasure. Either way, she wasn't keen on crossing a Pukwudgie on a bad day. Because she could definitely be rude if she felt like it.

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