| Details for Paladin's Challenge Round 1: Ivy vs Jackson |
| Summary: | Ivy and Jackson square off in the club room. (Referee NPC'd by Mikhale) |
| Date: | Thursday, February 3, 1938 |
| Location: | Club Room |
| Related: | Paladin's Challenge - 1937-38 |
| Characters |
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This large room has a variety of uses, and can be setup differently for each club that uses it. Large storage doors around the room each hold a different club's equipment, to be setup with the wave of a wand. When the Athletics Club is here, for example, the room is full of gymnastics, weight, and other sports equipment. When the Domestics Club is here, however, stoves and cauldrons and workstations are more likely to be found here.
The club room has filled up with students of various origin at the mention of a Paladin's Challenge duel occurring at the stroke of whatever time it is right about now. People have filled into seating arranged along the sides of a regulation-sized dueling strip that has been set up for just this purpose.
Jackson Jacob Potter, Junior occupies one side of the dueling strip. He has dressed down for the event, in only his shirt, tie and (thankfully) pants. His wand is already in hand, and his eyes remained closed for the moment as he seems turned inwards towards his own thoughts.
Dressed in a thick brown 'jedi' robe that prevents the students face from being seen is the ref of this particular match. He stands near the middle of the match, his wand out as he waits for the combatants to settle in.
If Ivy's at all nervous about this match, there's no sign of it in her expression. She's still in uniform, minus the robe, and her wand is also in hand, though it's presently pointed at the floor. She turns her attention to the emcee, rather than trying to study her opponent, her expression carefully neutral.
Opening his eyes, Jackson likewise turns towards the emcee of the match, studying the jedi-like figure with a slight quirk of his head. He chews his lower lip for only a moment and he nods his head to the ref, "Looks dreadfully hot in that thing. No doubt you're sweating. Bet you're glad they banned incendio for this tournament, aren't you?" He falls silent, waiting for things to get on. He glances out of the corner of his eyes towards Ivy, quite briefly, then his eyes move back to the emcee.
With a nod of the head, the Ref turns to look at Jackson for a moment, the dark hoods slowly shake at his joke. The hood then turns toward Ivy and seeing her ready holds up the wand, "Do either of you need the rules explained to you again?" The voice is androgynous, magically altered to be unidentifiable.
"I don't know if he is, but I certainly am," Ivy replies to Jackson, despite not having been addressed. "I'd just as soon not come out of this singed, if it's all the same to you." She is, after all, a girly-girl, and takes some pride in maintaining her appearance. Inclining her head to the robed figure, she says, "I believe it's tradition?"
Jackson shakes his head at the mention of the rule reading, "Since I doubt you'll honor my request of repeating the rules in a sultry tone, I'm good." He then looks towards Ivy, shaking his head, "I wouldn't singe you anyway. I have enough girl problems in school to earn the ire of yet another…" He then looks towards the emcee, "Ready when you are."
The hooded figure bows as Ivy requests that the rules be read, and pulling out a scroll begins to drone on the list, it's standard stuff, the figure adds on the Paladin challenge rules as well though then turns to each of them, "Bow to each other and then I will count to three. At which point the duel will commence. The duel will end when I have determined that one of you has won, or one of the contestants is unable to continue."
After bowing to Jackson, Ivy waits until the 'three' to bring her wand up. "Protego Totalum!" Her wandwork is flawless, her elocution spot on, but there's a flaw in her strategy: it takes her a couple of seconds to say all those syllables.
Jackson turns towards Ivy at the conclusion of the reading, raising his wand at the designated time in salute. When he assumes his dueling position, it's actually pretty good. Though not a member of the dueling club per se, he seems to know which way to point the wand and how to hold it. Studying Ivy with alarming green eyes, Jackson juts his wand forward and then wiggles the wand in two smooth bumps from the left to the right. As he completes the movement, he calls out, "Avis!" A loud blast, much like a gunshot, emits from Jackson's wand. It is quickly followed by a stream of multicolored birds that angle towards Ivy and pull into sharp and distracting turns around her head.
Claire slips into the club room, the flapping of birds covering the noise of the door opening and closing. She takes a position in the back of the room, where she is out of the way of any crossfire, but still has a good view of the duel.
Noting the success of the avis spell, Jackson takes a step back on the dueling strip, his wand moving behind him momentarily. Pulling it forward again, as if precognitive, Jackson calls out "Protego" in a terse but apparently passable voice, as a shield charm is erected in front of him to ward off any potentially hazardous spells coming towards him. Rather than wait, he's already turning his wand to prepare his next spell for casting.
"Augh!" Ivy finds herself assaulted by feathered creatures, but she doesn't let that slow her down. "Stupefy!" She's apparently not pulling any punches, but her too-successful shield charm works against her, slowing the bolt of red light that flashes from her wand so that it fizzles out against Jackson's shield.
Jackson takes another step back on the dueling strip, running out of room to back pedal. He brings his wand out again, "Protego totalus!" Casting the defensive ward around him, Jackson now steps forward to prepare his next spell, his eyes carefully on Ivy as he watches her next hand motion and prepares the appropriate counter for it.
"Stupefy!" Ivy's non-wand hand is trying to bat at the birds flying around her head, but her aim is solid, and her wandwork and elocution are still perfectly in sync. If Jackson were a hair slower, he'd be flat on the ground, but instead her spell bounces off his shield and over the heads of the crowd.
Ivy batting away the birds with one hand raises her wand to cast yet another Stupefy, Claire must be rubbing off on her fellow Ravenclaws since that's all Ivy seems capable of casting. Jackson on the other hand tries something different, with a Petrificus Totalus thrown to reflect off Ivy's shield and then hit her. The twin arcs of light one red the other green slip through their caster's shields, and then the defender's shield. Ivy's arms stop moving, her legs stop moving, in fact… everything about her stops moving except for the forward momentum that pitches her face first into the stage. Jackson on the other hand collapses backward his foot slipping off the stage and onto the slightly padded area around the stage. The Ref seems unable to catch both, a quick cushioning spell cast at Jackson prevents him from bashing his head against the floor, but Ivy's slow fall onto her face leaves a thin trail of blood down her nose, even after the Ref manages to undo the Hex that gives her back freedom of movement. The judge glances between the two, waiting until Jackson manages to recover he nods again, "Ivy is declared the winner. As her spells caused Jackson to leave the dueling area."
Nose to stage is not a fun way to land. Ivy's a little wrapped up in making sure her nose isn't broken, and it takes her a second to catch up with what the judge has just said. "What?" She's a pretty good actress, but there's no faking the shock that's visible all over her face. "I did what?"
Claire leans back in sympathy, trying to will Ivy into keeping her balance. She grimaces when Ivy hits the deck, but when she's proclaimed the winner Claire punches the air and hisses out "Yesss," through clenched teeth.
Jackson's eyes widen and then roll into the back of his head as he is hit squarely with a stupify just as his own body-binding charm gets off. When his eyes open, he is staring up towards the roof. A sinking feeling propels him into the ground, but then he is stood up, shocked to see his own spell held true. As Ivy returns to a standing position, Jackson gives her a nod of respect, "You throw quite the stupify…" When Ivy is declared the winner, Jackson shakes his head but then nods to Ivy, "Good match." Turning, he steps off of the dueling strip and heads for the door.
Getting to her feet, Ivy inclines her head graciously to Jackson. "Good match." Then she steps off the stage, her eyes still wide with shock as she looks at Claire. "I can't believe that just happened."
Claire grins, almost as triumphant as if she herself had won. "Cutting it pretty close there, though. That was pretty bad luck, trapping the birds in with you, but who uses Avis in a duel? Ever, for that matter."
"I know, right?" Ivy is fast getting over her shock at the win, and remembers to give the judge another little bow. "I guess I can see the potential for distraction." She pauses, then goes wide-eyed again. "I don't have bird poo on me, do I?" Priorities.
Claire says, "A couple of them got you but it disappeared when the spell did." Claire casts a quick eye over Ivy to double check, but it looks all clear. "It's good to keep 'em on the ropes, I almost had Lucian out of bounds.""
"Something to remember for next round." Ivy's been accepting advice from all quarters, and now that she's made it through the first match, she needs that advice. "I still can't believe there's going to be another round. I thought I was done for when I keeled over."