tricky to be tricky (Sierra)

It was their only hope of practicing in private: entering the room of requirement. Oddly enough, he'd only used the room on a handful of occasions, and mostly that was to break up parties that were happening after hours. Now this was the first time he'd actually required something specific, the room had opened up to them with surprising ease. Clearly the castle sensed his desperation, or perhaps it was Sierra that had really made it work.

Now they were in there, it was equipped with everything they needed: targets, cushioned floors, books on duelling magic - everything. It was an amazing bit of magic, but he didn't have time to marvel in it.

"I spoke a bit more to Lien Chang the other day, and some of his suggestions to strategy made sense," he was saying to Sierra, twirling his wand around his fingers distractedly. "I think I've mainly got to concentrate on strengthening my defensive spells." Also, he didn't want to burden her too much. She'd been nice enough to offer her help, but how much was she doing merely out of obligation?

@Sierra Longbottom

Sierra couldn't remember ever having used the Room of Requirement. She wasn't sure why she hadn't, it always had been something that had fascinated her, just thinking about the fact that there was a room that no matter what she needed or wanted that it would provide it for her. But now here she was and she was a little in awe as she stood barely inside the now closed door as she looked at everything the room had to offer them. Anything they could ever need to practice dueling was there before them. Even the floor felt soft and squishy beneath her trainers.

"What were his suggestions? Since we obviously can't count on Piran to give pointers since he would probably run right to Burke and tell him the advice he had given you for a few coins." She frowned a bit. She didn't dislike Piran by any means but she didn't trust him either, there was just something about him... She smiled over to Jerome. "I think that'll be a good idea. Burke will want to show off, to show how strong of a dueler he thinks he is so if you can defend against his showing off then maybe he'll tire quickly and you can get the upper hand?" It was just a thought, she wasn't sure if that was how things might go down at all but she wanted to help Jerome as much as she could. She took out her own wand, ready whenever he was.

@Jerome Estrada

"Yeah... something is definitely off with Vaukley. I don't think he's on Burke's side, so to speak, but just that he's on whoever's side pays the most..."

Just when he thought their wavelength couldn't align any further, she'd said exactly what he was thinking, as though she had read his mind. Far from being unnerving, however, a wide smile spread across his face from ear-to-ear, flashing a brief sight of his top incisors.

"That's one possibility, yeah, and definitely the one I was thinking about," he said, watching as she took out her wand. "I don't think he will go with using his strongest spell first, though. No one does. But also, he probably thinks he can win by just using a simple jinx. Anyway - are you comfortable with throwing everything you got at me? Because that's kind of what I was hoping for..."

He took a sort of stance, running his tongue along his top lip steadily.

"I need to check my shield charm is good enough first."

@Sierra Longbottom

Sierra had definitely gotten the same sort of vibe from Piran. He just seemed like the type of person who never really chose a side because he wanted to but rather because it could benefit him. She almost felt bad for thinking of him like that. It wasn't a very flattering light to see someone in but she just couldn't help it. And it felt a little better to know that Jerome seemed to think the exact same thing. "Yeah, so we definitely shouldn't depend on his advice." She said, including herself despite the fact that in honesty, she had nothing to do with the duel aside from hoping to support Jerome.

The wide smile that he flashed her had her own growing right along with his along with making her heart do some funny little stuttering within her chest. She was sure her cheeks were redder than they should be but she tried to play it off. She just didn't see him smile like that often and she liked that it was at her... "He's not going to expect to need to go all out. He thinks he's worlds better than everyone." She agreed. It was nothing against Jerome and his skills but just the fact that Burke knew he was more experienced and she was sure he would be cocky about it. "If you think that will help you, I can try to."

She didn't want to hurt him in any way but she knew that she would have to do this in order to help him build up his defenses. "Ready?" She asked as she took up a stance as well.

@Jerome Estrada