Post by Renata Mancini on Aug 8, 2014 22:31:48 GMT -5
The alarm on the overflowing nightstand next to the bed started to blare. Renata sat up quickly, forcing her eyes open and turning the alarm off quickly. She looked over to the other girls who she shared a room with, double checking that she hadn’t woken them. Though, they could probably sleep through the ceiling falling in from what they said, but still, she was the new girl and didn’t want to ruffle any feathers. So, she crept out of bed as quietly as she could and into the little bathroom they shared. She splashed some cold water in her face to finish the waking up process before brushing her teeth. She looked out the little window that was letting in the first rays of sunlight. Up with the sun, as per usual. She was glad to see that some things didn’t change, regardless of the new time zone. Mornings were the best part of the day, quiet and tranquil. She tiptoed back into the main room and dropped to her knees in front of the trunk at the end of her bed. She dug through it looking for her insulated clothing that she like to wear when she went flying. She preferred not to have loose or flowy clothing on when she flew; too much chance to get tangled in yourself and fall and that was never good. Satisfied with what she pulled out, she dressed quickly. She could always cast a warming charm once she was outside anyway. Grabbing her broom from under the bed, she walked down the stairs carrying her shoes with her.
She walked into the common room, happy to see that it was empty. That meant she could just stretch here and do a light jog down to the Quidditch Pitch, excellent. She had her audition for the Gryffindor team today, but she wanted to get there early and fully warmed up before the Captain arrived. She placed her broom on the couch and bent at the waist, reaching for the floor, feeling a slight pull from her hamstrings that were just about always tight, and hoped that the audition went well. She straightened and twisted and forth before rolling her shoulders. She wasn’t nervous per se, but she did feel the normal jitters that came with having to fly in front of someone, even if she should be more than used to it. In an attempt to settle the jitters, she went through a few sun salutations with her eyes closed, just to center herself a little and focus on her breathing. Opening her eyes, she nodded already feeling a little better. Once she was up in the air, she was sure that she would feel even better. Adrenaline was the best medicine, the best high. Shaking out her arms, she picked her broom up and walked out into the corridor. She thought for a moment, still getting used to where everything was here before turning to head for the entrance of the building. She walked quickly, trying to keep her muscles warm until it was acceptable for her to start running.
She wandered down the stairs to the Great Hall to grab a piece of toast. She would eat a real breakfast after she had come back inside, but she didn’t want to go out on a completely empty stomach either. She nodded at a few people she passed, but there weren’t too many people that were up yet and the slight heels of her boots clicked against the stone, echoing around her. She very carefully picked out a lighter piece of toast, because she didn’t like the brown they got when they were overdone. In her usual unladylike fashion, she shoved most of it in her mouth at once, humming in satisfaction and turning and walking back out towards the large doors that led out to the grounds. She finished her toast and wiped her face off with the back of her hand before opening the front door just enough to slide through and closing it behind her. She took a deep breath of the crisp morning air. She jogged in place for about thirty seconds before taking off towards the Quidditch Pitch. The crunch of snow under her boots felt familiar. At home in New York, and Salem, she was used to snow. She loved the sound it made as she ran over it. Keeping her run light and easy, she grinned as the pitch came into sight.
Not waiting even waiting to get to the pitch, she slowed to a stop to mount her broom and kick off. She started off just flying upwards, gaining the altitude she needed to both scale the sides of the pitch and start doing a few easy tricks. She liked Quidditch; she was even proud enough to say that she was pretty damn good at Quidditch. But what she really enjoyed, what she got up early on the weekends to practice at for years, was trick flying. It was something that was more popular in the states, the only thing she could think of to compare it to was BMX or Motocross type sports. Happy with how high up she was, she adjusted the grip of her legs around the broom and threw her weight sideways while gripping the handle. Her momentum caused the broom to barrel roll three times before she countered the force and righted herself. She was working on getting up to five rolls before ending up slowing too much and just halting upside down. After a moment, she pushed herself up, balancing on her knees while she adjusted the grip of her hands. Then, slowly, she lifted her lower body up until she was doing a handstand on her broom. Figuring that she might as well go for it, she tilted her body a tiny bit and lifted her one hand from the broom and putting it out to her side. Her other arm shook under the combination of her body weight and the added pressure of the wind blowing her around.
She left her body fall down, her other hand returning to the handle as she swung down to hang underneath her broom. It was a better idea to not hold the pose for too long or her grip could falter, hands could get sweaty, and she didn’t really want to fall from this high up. One day she wanted to be able to fly up really high and do something really wild, like a backflip off of her broom and then call it to her as she falls a hundred feet or so, but she hadn’t been doing this for anywhere near as long as people who could do that trick. Just had to keep practicing. She swung her legs backward and then forward a couple times before using old gymnastics moves to swing back up, like she was on the uneven bars, and return to sitting comfortable on her broom. She checked her watch, amazed to find that she had been out for quite a while already, and that her audition would be starting soon. She wanted to get one last thing in first though. She flattened herself to the handle and pulled up at the same time executing one of her favorite moves: a very tight loop de loop. Then letting herself freefall for a few seconds before righting the broom about fifty feet from the ground. From there she flew over to land near the entrance to the pitch and wait for the team captain there.
