[D1, Early Evening] It's Time to View the Duel (Wampus Basement)

[Violet Lockhart]

The evening was nice inside the Wampus arena, small snacks and other features flowing. Already the students had begun to practice their forms as the arena began light up in a magical light. Around the arena, Violet begins to stand up nearby the stretch of the dueling floor, preparing herself to witness the events unveil. Ever curious who would be able to step up this year, her face could not hide her excitement over the upcoming events.

With a butterbeer in her hand and her wand in the other, she awaited the first pair to start.

[Arlington Wayne]

Arlington grabbed a cup of punch and found a good spot to watch everyone else. That was the advantage of losing early. You could sit back and enjoy the show.

[Layla Smith]

Her unwanted but extremely close duel finished, Layla moved to the sides to get a drink and watch the other duels.

[Violet Lockhart]

Watching the duel with a smile, Violet smiled and nodded towards the young wizard who stepped off the field. "10 points for Horned Serpent, for a impressive display of skill. You're gonna be a welcome addition to the school, Miss Smith." She puts her mug down and puts out a small round of applause for Layla as she steps off the stage.

[Arlington Wayne]

"Good show." The Thunderbird raised his cup to Layla, then turned his attention to the next duel.

[Layla Smith]

...and at that Layla blushed, saying a quiet and shy "thank you" while hoping the next duel would make people forget about her duel.

[Violet Lockhart]

With the next duel, Violet nodded over to Cian with appreciation. "10 points for Pukwudgie for a fine display of skill there. Maybe next time, Mr. Cian, you can skip with the fancy flair and actually go for the win. May do you well to remember that in the coming days, sir." With that, Violet smiled and looked over at John.

"Seems you've managed to upset a few of your fellow students, Mister Mallory; everyone's gunning for you."

[Cian]

Stepping away, having given Faith a nod as she stepped up and one of his devilishly charming grins he sauntered off. Glancing over to Ms. Lockheart as she gave her reminder, shrugging it off, and finding himself in a corner as he watched Faith's match with an ever growing smirk.

[Faith Cassidy]

Faith had a quick talk with John after the duel. Her heart was still pounding, but she was both excited at how intense the duel was and also a bit relieved it was over.

"Well, I did get to watch three of your duels before it was my turn." she said to John with a small laugh as they spoke back and forth. It did definitely give her a bit of an advantage, he had to duel multiple times in a row, and she had more information on her side going in.

"Well, probably should let you get ready for your next challenger." she said, moving off to the side with the others that had gone already, wanting to stick around and watch for a little while. She sat down cross-legged nearby Cian, glancing up at him.

"You have fun?"

[Flession]

John slumps over after his defeat against Faith acknowledging her abilities, as well as the nice small embrace there afterwards. "Honored to face them, Miss Lockhart. Just...let me catch my breath first." Sitting down in the chair, one of his fellow Horned Serpent students rush to give him something to drink and relax before someone undoubtedly would attempt to challenge him again.

As Faith spoke, he smiled and nodded. "You've got some good eyes then, Faith. You should really consider joining the Dueling Club, then; we could really use your talent."

[Cian]

"Well, you have fun?"

Sliding down the wall he fell to a most casual sit, propping up a knee to rest an outstretched arm across, right where he was, before or perhaps after the student dueling leader spoke up, he was glancing at Faith with his favorite grin, "More fun watchin' you show'm what for, good show, Cassidy."

[Faith Cassidy]

"Might be fun, hadn't really thought'a doing it before." she said sheepishly at John's comment, watching for a moment before determining that he seemed to be in good hands and glancing back at Cian.

"Yeah, pretty good? I was so nervous." she said, the excitement hadn't abated much, at least not yet. "I don't know, I just figured I wanted to give it a try if everyone else was, you know? No harm in it, at least."

[Cian]

"Worst thing, is you lose," he said, shrugging, breaking to glance up at the surely parting dueling leader with a grin and a wave, "and well, I'm doing fine so guess you're right there. Was good you did, gotta show them once and a while that us... Pukwudgie's got some fight in us after all. Y'know?"

[Jerric Mason]

Jay walk off the center area rolling his should a bit, he must have twinges something with that take down botch he pulled there. He cursed himself silently for a moment, winning wasnt the point being his best was and that mistake in there wasnt his best.

He shook his head and headed into the crowd he saw Faith talking to Cian and didn't want to interrupt the two glancing at them and deciding to grab some water instead, he would get another chance to congratulate her. Surely.

[Violet Lockhart]

"Excellent work, mister Mason." She nodded in his direction as he dropped to the ground and away from the student's reach. "Nice form at the end. "

As Violet turned to look at Grace, she couldn't help but smile. "Miss Wilkinson, perhaps next time you should strive to take on someone more of your caliber?"

[Grace Wilkinson]

Grace gave a small bow to one of her favorite teachers. "Perhaps, Professor Lockhart, but then if I never leave my comfort zone, then I'll wallow away in mediocrity." She smiled and grabbed a glass of bottle beer to join her teacher.

"How has your summer been Professor?"

[Violet Lockhart]

"A good attitude to have, Miss Wilkinson, but one should never bite off more than they can chew." She nodded her head firmly before looking at her. "Missing the break already, I suppose. Went to Germany to explore some rumors, turned out to be a dead end." Anything to avoid to write her book, really.

"Still, glad to be back here. How about you, did you return back home to England?"

[Fitz Crowinshield]

Fitz comes over, seemingly nonplussed from his duel and attempts to load up on food without drawing Lockheart's attention. He is expecting a lecture incoming.

[Grace Wilkinson]

"Well, I feel I should test my limits all the time. Perhaps ask for some pointers from John."She did feel good that her House had the Dueling Club Captain, at least.

"Yes, it was good to see family. Also visited Italy and France a bit, just a small family jaunt." She smiled fondly, though there was an edge to her voice. "I was looking forward to coming back, to be honest, by the end."

"Germany? Sounds intriguing! Were you doing research for your book?" Always eager to be involved in the lives of her teachers, Grace was of course, up to date on that topic.

[Layla Smith]

As each person went up to duel, Layla joined in the clapping. It seemed there was a number of good students here, which calmed her down somewhat.

I won't stand out if everyone is good, right?

She sipped her drink and enjoyed the show.

(Ooc; open for interaction)

[Jerric Mason]

"Excellent work, mister Mason." She nodded in his direction as he dropped to the ground and away from the student's reach. "Nice form at the end. "

As Violet turned to look at Grace, she couldn't help but smile. "Miss Wilkinson, perhaps next time you should strive to take on someone more of your caliber?"

Jay gave her a short bow "Thank you professor but we both know I can do better." He said with a confident smile. Jerric wasnt one to dwell on things too long.

With that Jay backed away and leaned against the wall watching further duels.

[Faith Cassidy]

"Yeah, but I think maybe I'll stick to my whole healing thing; not about swap to becoming an auror or anything; I'm not totally convinced a lot of that wasn't just luck, anyway." she said to Cian, occasionally distracted by the flashes and color of those dueling in the center of the room.

Jerric's duel seemed a lot more active and energetic, with a lot more movement and almost constant activity. Early on in her own duel it slowed down quite a bit once both realized they weren't making a lot of progress and proceeded to devolve into poking to test defenses. Jerric's was the complete opposite, and very based on movement. She could see how it must have taken John off guard, it certainly would have for her. She wasn't really sure what to make of it exactly but it was certainly effective. As he stepped away she caught his eye and gave him a cheerful thumbs up before looking back.

The duels were fun to watch, and she watched Uru's with curiosity and interest. When Uru lost, she called "Good try, Uru!" cheerfully

[Cian]

Cian too became focused a bit, during the duels, switching between appreciating them on the stage and the way his friend was watching them. Tugging up the corner of his lip he smiled while he watched her, and the match, his private thoughts to himself. When he wasn't watching his friend, he was watching the duel, and though he masked it as best he could he watched the movements intently. Sought in the action the tidbits of explanations, the thoughts that drove the actions and looked for what made those stepping up and the leader himself a better duelist.

When Uru finished, his eye's tracked her coming off from the stage as he resumed the conversation with Faith, "Luck, eh, suppose that's one way to look at it. I think you're just good at more than one thing, and capable of surprising others and yourself," he shrugged," but healing suits you, way better than this ever would."

[Ondine Corbeau]

Having lifted herself from the floor and when she managed to stop laughing, Ondine returned to the snacks to predate on them once more, cherry-picking.

[Violet Lockhart]

"Miss Oudine, nice work out there. You're lucky, however, that I am not allowed to take off House points for terrible jokes. At least...I don't think I'm able to." She quips with a smile. " Miss Miskwa'a, Mister Crownshield, nice effort, but you have to maintain your stances better. Form is important in this, more than just knowledge of spells. You mess that up, either you or your wand go flying."

"Well, I feel I should test my limits all the time. Perhaps ask for some pointers from John."She did feel good that her House had the Dueling Club Captain, at least.

"Yes, it was good to see family. Also visited Italy and France a bit, just a small family jaunt." She smiled fondly, though there was an edge to her voice. "I was looking forward to coming back, to be honest, by the end."

"Germany? Sounds intriguing! Were you doing research for your book?" Always eager to be involved in the lives of her teachers, Grace was of course, up to date on that topic.

"No, something Zeloph--I mean, Professor King wanted me to look into." It was apparent it was quite strange for him to call the man that name. "Very lovely countryside, France. I've been there a few times myself."