Welcome to Gaia! ::

Aidene turned when people arrived. ”Hello!” she greeted by way of introduction. ”Aidene Azura Kieran, fifth year Ravenclaw, cooking and combat dual-main. Welcome! And we--err, I!--am super excited to have you here! Good to meet you, Kenna and Viv!”

There were lots more people than last year! She grinned when Kendall walked in, offering him a fistbump in Beater Solidarity. Roland got a grin and high five: not a beater, but he was in her year, which meant she’d had more interactions with him. ”Heya Kendall, Heya Roland! Thanks for coming!” She grinned. She looked forward to sparring with these old friends.

Aidene looked up when two other students arrived, and greeted them with a cheerful ”Hello! Um...Pietro and Aire?” she read off the sheets. She gave her usual introduction. ”Welcome, welcome! Join us, we’re just about to start.”

She glanced over the forms, making a little :O face of excitement when she realized one of the first years was a black belt! Shiny! ”Usually I start practice with stretches and kicks? Let’s gather in a circle for that today. Shoes on or off, whatever you’re comfortable with.” She covered her first fist with her left palm, bowing to the rest of the club.

Aidene was a little nervous but also excited at so many people. She did her best to show what she knew, but looked to Roland and Kenna and even Kendall, always asking if they knew or did things differently. Kicks were pretty universal anyways. She’d wait until Brennie was here for actual sparring, but for now: “Usually now I’d demo a move, but since we’ve a range of experience, would everyone be okay if we just did kicks, stances, and straight punches to start?”

Aidene managed to wake up a full fifteen minutes before 21:00, which meant fifteen minutes to brush her teeth, throw some clothes on, pack her potions stuff for after club, race down to the kitchen for a blood bag, and dart over to the dungeon to get things ready for Fite club. Luckily she moved much faster now.

Last year, Aidene had worried about shifting the club meeting time back to later in the evening in the second semester. But at least it was a consistent time now she could make on a nocturnal schedule. Aidene had to be much more careful now with demonstrating moves, but it was still good training, and she loved learning from other people. This was okay.

She had managed to wake up early enough—just before nine in the evening— to crush a few lemons and fruits together into a fruit water blend, which she set separate from her own things. She has a little embroidered pin to thank Ms. Marni, the school matron who would be their in-club healer, waiting on the seat next to the forms.

There. With all that ready, Aidene sighed, took a hearty swig of blood and settled into stretching and preparing herself for club members: "Good evening! Grab a form and a drink, we'll get started in a moment. What are people feeling, want to do kicks, punches? If I can get some older student volunteers we can start the year with a demo of things to come?"

”Miss Marni!” Aidene greeted, springing to her feet. ”Thank you for coming. Usually I just like someone around in case someone gets hurt. We try to be very careful, but especially when we’re doing stuff with wandless magic, I just like having an older student--or well, you! Along.”

Aidene frowned when Brook handed her a form without a hug or even friendly punch in greeting. ”Well hello to your beautiful face too!” she quipped as she rolled a nat 20 for insight: Aidene knew Brook had been looking forward to taking the healer post. Personally, Aidene knew her bestie was great at healing. But she had specified to Professor Drage that the club would have someone who got an E or above on their Healing OWL there. It would have been convenient if Aidene herself had done well enough for that E. But it wasn’t to be. But Aidene’s practical had carried her OWL grade, and Brook hadn’t shown up to the exam. Having Miss Marni--Nurse Kavanagh, gah!-- there made more sense, especially because it meant they wouldn’t have to find someone new every year. Ah. But Brook had been looking forward to that spot. Brook probably wouldn't even want to be here this late if it wasn't for...for her. Aidene picked her best cheerful and grateful emote: "Hey, thanks for still being here, Brookie. For me.”

Thankfully, Kenna joined them at that moment, with a bounce in her step and a grin on her face. Aidene shot Brook an expression that hopefully expressed they could talk about this again later. ”Pirate Kenna! Welcome back!” Aidene piped, rolling for performance and coming up quite believably.

Aidene figured people were just late. But since it was just her, Brook, and Kenna and they had a level professional Miss Marni watching over, Aidene figured they could do something exciting. Once they were stretched and limber, she asked, ”Hey, so since we’re all old hands at this, what about we jump straight to sparring? Want to do a free-for all? 2v1?”