Xylon smirked. This was the one question he had expected. "The same reason people in the Wizarding World duel it out on the competitive platform, learn to fence or sneak into caves they come across and know they shouldn't sneak into," he answered lightly. "The thrill. For some people it's a career or a passion. They want to make a name and be remembered or are as enthusiastic about it as people here can be about Quidditch. But for most, it's the amazing sense of adventure."

Alex blinked, "Oh.." Alex repiled that wasn't why she would duel, she just liked to know if she could defeat someone or not. She rose her hand again, "Have you ever.. Skydived?" Alex asked curious as to what the answer was.

So now it was time for some fun and games because so far Marcus had been particularly tame.

As Xylon took his spot up the front of the class, Axe took out the biggest piece of chocolate fudge you have ever seen.

About a pound of sugar sat in his hand and he eyed gleefully for a moment before almost shoving the whole lot into his mouth.

Oh yeah feel that rush of sugar coursing through the bloodstream.

Now he have been consuming the huge chunk of fudge but he was listening to everything the Gryffindor was saying but he waited a moment for the sugar to take full effect before he raised his hand.

And by this time Axe, was practically bouncing in his bean bag. "Sir, sir" he called out with his hand held in the air. "I has a question Professah Saaaaaar. What MORON would want to jump out of a plane for recreation?"

Those people must be daft!

Gravity dude had an amazing pull to it.

Bwhahaha.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kris

Alex was confused, raised her hand and asked, "So people willing jump off of those areoplanes because.. why?" Alex didn't like being confused at all.

"Because it is one of the greatest experiences ever" Patroclus piped up, grinning at Professor Saar, Patroclus had skydived a couple of times, but only as a tandem with his father, due to the general age restirctions of muggle skydivers!

"Professor? How high have you jumped from?" Patroclus questioned the seriously awesome professor!

Alex looked at the Professor and then at Zane, was he sugar high? She already had a best friend who loved to eat chocolate pound a day as it was. She however nodded to the.. boy she's seen in class to show she understood what he was saying, "Er.. This is off topic but isn't saying 'Moron' a bit offensive?" Alex asked raising her hand.

That was unexpected. Xylon nodded.

"I have," he said simply.

Merlin's purple pants! Xylon's eyes nearly popped out at the fudge Lawson had on him. "Oh no you don't ---" he began.

Too late.

Next thing he knew, Lawson was literally bouncing up and down. "I has a question too, Mr. Lawson," he said. "Why don't you be a good boy and go to sleep?" That much sugar amounted to DISASTER.

Okay now to answer the question.

"The kind of moron who has an amazing sense of adventure. Don't you agree, Mr. Lawson?" The moment he had asked that, he knew he shouldn't have. God knew what kind of response he might get.

Oh.

This parsleyshooting stuff sounded way dangerous, and even Destiny, being the rebel she is, would NEVER do anything like that. She shook her head just at the thought. Jumping out of an airplane, pshaw!

"Professor GUY!" she totally forgotten his name too, and she didn't want to call him the boy that was always with Rae, "Is it trueeeee, that OLD people do this parsleyshooting, to make them feel young again?"

Once again, she glanced at Lawson, who just SHOVED that WHOLE piece of fudge in his mouth, after she said this.

Sure, she used this question before.

But it was STILL funny.

Marie watched wide eyed as Lawson STUFFED his mouth full of chocolate. She knew he had a big mouth but WOW... that was a LOT of chocolate. If he was anything like Destiny he was going to be bouncing off the walls soon. "Should you really eat all of that at once? You might..."

Whoa!

Hello there, Marie sitting here next to you.

She had to jump back out of his way before he hit her in the head while swinging aronud his arms. Merlin, he may be worse than Destiny on a chocolate sugar high.

Hmm, maybe while he is bouncing around she will be able to get that saw back from him. He probably wouldn't even notice it, you know since he just has it sitting there... right under his leg. The next time he bounces up she is going to grab it from him.

Bwahaha, the saw would be hers... again!

Someone who appreciate parachuting. Good, good. "Roughly 13, 000 feet," Xylon answered. Simple questions so far!

Xylon grinned. "Depends on who you call it."

Bwaha.

"Student MA'AM!" Xylon replied. "Old people, if they really are old people, would most likely break a back if they attempted it." Well not necessarily. "But I've seen a 70 year old do it so I can't say. I don't think he wanted to feel young again though. He wanted to enjoy being old. I hope you don't want to do it when you're older, to make yourself feel younger." He smirked slightly.

Axe's eyes widened to huge saucer like shapes. "Go to sleep?" he waved his hand around the classroom while still bouncing slightly. "With all these children in the class. Who would take charge if I went to sleep."

He looked at Xylon and then tapped his nose. "I know what you're up to Professah Saaaaar. You want my job. You're trying to get me to go to sleep so that you can take over the world class. I'm on to you."

Mmmhmm you couldn't get one over Axe. Nuh uh.

Sense of adventure?

Well he had done plenty of adventurous things in his time but they didn't include throwing himself out of a plane and hoping that the flimsy bit of material strapped to my back was going to open in time.

"Can you demonstrate it for us?"

Because that would be so funny watching him jump off the desk.

Oh right. He had banished all the desks.

"Scratch that last question. Um...what are the safety procedures for skydiving?"

Because safety first everyone.

Xylon seemed to be taking this, pretty calmly. Gold knew, knew very well, that she wouldn't be able to annoy him, too easily. So she took a leaf out of Professor Lawson's book and, stuffing her hands into her bag, brought out LOTS of chocolate. Mwaha!

Unwrapping a big, BIG bar, she took a bite. Then another, and then another, and then a BIG another. Then she waved a hand in the air.

"Professor Saar, sir! Why do 'Saar' and 'sir' sound so alike, Professor Saar, sir?" She took a few more bites of chocolate, and sat up straight, looking at him out of WIIIIDE, green eyes. "Professor Saar, sir!"

Hehehe.

This class was made of win! Even though Sugarized Lawson wanting him to jump off a desk was mortifying. Xylon was glad there were no desks in the classroom. Or he wouldn't have said no. Ego and all!

"I've already taken charge, Mr. Lawson," Xylon said, grinning in an I-am-sooo-evil way. "There's nothing you can do about it, Mr. Lawson, there's nothing you can do about it!" He even gave an evil cackle for effect.

Then he went back to being all serious.
Yes just like that. All of a sudden.

"Safety measures include proper training, AAD's, knowing what you're doing, doing what you're supposed to be doing, and a sane mind."

Oh God. He should have seen that coming. Gold seemed to have had a good amount of sugar too while he had been paying attention to Sugarized Lawson! Two Sugar Babies. Heaven help him now.

"Miss Laksh ma'am! They sound alike because they both have the same first and last letter ma'am! Miss Laksh ma'am!"

How much longer could he go on like this?

!!!

SEVENTY YEARS OLD?!

Sweet Merlin!

Destiny was surprised the guy didn't have a heart attack..jumping out of an airplane at THAT age! She wanted to meet this guy..he was the definition of a REBEL.

A really old rebel, but a rebel nonetheless.

Her eyes widened and she shook her head, "Ohh noooo, Professor GUY! I wouldn't want to do it now let alone when I'm OLD." She held her tongue and refrained from saying old like Lawson.

But enough about age and all, since Destiny decided right then and there that she WOULD never get old, another question came to her, "How heavy are these parsleyshoot things they wear, and what happens if someone gets stuck in a tree?"

Back the Hippogriff up!

The Gryffindor though HE was in charge?

Bwhahahahahaha.

That was just too funny and Axe cracked up laughing and began to roll around on the floor until he realised that technically for the next ten minutes or so, the seventh year actually was in charge.

That kinda sobered Marcus up. Kinda.

"What are AAD's?" he asked before belatedly realising he hadn't raised his hand. So he quickly put his hand in the air, "What are AAD's? Annnnnnnnd is it true that you don't necessarily need a plane to skydive?" What did they call that thing they did when they jumped off buildings?

Marcus turned to Gold and snorted, "Well that's telling you Miss Laksh."

Hehe.

ooc: I'll be back in a couple of hours.

Xylon grinned. "I think you would make an awesome skydiver, Miss Shepard," he said. Yeah she would scare the other skydivers right off the plane. Ten seconds into the ride and she would have it all to herself!

"They're called parachutes ----" Why was he even trying? "---- and the answer to your question depends upon a number of factors such as the size and weight of the person who will use the parachute and the type of parachute he or she wants. If you go for a 7-cell square reserve, I believe standard wing loading is 1 square feet for every pound of weight."

He could just SEE the questions she would ask next.

Okay scratch that. The tree question was completely unexpected. "If someone gets stuck in a tree, you leave them there and make them promise they'll give you ten bags of candy if you help them get out." The questions Destiny could ask!

MERLIN!!

Lawson was actually rolling around on the floor. Xylon wasn't sure what to do. If Lawsonator vanished in a puff of smoke it wasn't going to be his fault! Thankfully their (once) Muggle Studies professor stopped his disturbing antics in time and asked a question.

"It stands for Automatic Activation Device," Xylon replied. Someone had had too much chocolate for his own good. Someone known as Professor Marcus Lawson. "It's a device that automatically opens a parachute container at a preset altitude or time ----- in general, if the descent rate surpasses a preset activation speed. It helps if a skydiver isn't able to get his or her parachute to open or if there is a malfunction. Potential life-saver," he added.

"You need an aircraft to skydive unless you can fly or know a way to get 12, 000 feet into the air without one." He smirked slightly. He could imagine Professor Lawson the awesome flyer. "But people can jump from much lower altitudes sans an aircraft. That's called BASE jumping."

No one had driven him mad yet. Score!!

OOH.

"But 'Saar' has four letter and 'sir' only has three, Professor Saar, sir!" Gold stood up, hand in air, and bounced up and down on her tippy-toes. Because yes, she had slipped out of her shoes. She bounced up and down again, slipped her feet back into her school shoes and, sitting up straiiight on her bean bag, looked up at Xylon out of wiiide, green eyes.

"Were you scared when you skydived for the first time, Professor Saar, sir, were you, were you, were you?"

She gave him the wiiiide-eyed look again, before leaaaning so that she could whisper to Professor Awesome Lawson.

"I want a parachute."

......

"TWOOO parachutes."

Oh please, oh please, oh PLEEEEASSSSE!

Merlin's inflated socks!!

But at least Gold was only hyped up on sugar. That was way better than a Gold who was normal. The normal Gold a) glared at him b) got snappish if he smirked and c) had once punched him. Of course it was usually his fault that she glared or snapped (and had been his fault when she had punched him that one time long long ago) but what mattered was that right now, she wasn't glaring or snapping or ready to punch him.

"I can't say I was," he answered honestly. "I was looking forward to the experience." Of course he had been lucky. In most countries you have to be 18 to skydive. But the age limit varies with location. So yes luck.

"Miss Laksh ma'am, please don't whisper ma'am."

Must not smirk.

!!

Hmm, yes. She would've actually hugged Lawson if he wasn't the object of her increasingly decreasing bad mood. And well, her other hand was still stuck to the hammer, so it would be kind weird.

Still though, he made those other two be quiet. Which was awesome. Since she felt as if she was going to be sick if they continued any longer with being all lovey dovey in the middle of class.

Bleh.

Skyfalling. Skyliving. Sky...something. Or maybe he said pie...

Whatever. What was important was that she was interested in whatever this sky pie thing was! "Professssssor Lars...or whatever...!" she said, raising her free hand and waving it about. It felt soooooo nice to have her hand free. Now she just wished the other one would be. "Is there an age requirement to do this Sky thing?"

Teehee. Not that she wanted to know for herself. Unless... actually no. She did want to know for herself. Mwahaha! Sky Pie Falling! WOOOOT! And maybe instead of a parachute, she could take a broom with her instead.

Simon listened too what everyone was saying, sky diving, he had wanted too do it for ages, but his dad hadn't let him, even though he had no idea why not, it wasn't like it was too scary.

Saar. Get the name right, person, or I'm going to bang my head in a wall. Or maybe not. Because given the number of people who were pronouncing his name wrong that would mean a trip to the hospital wing.

Xylon settled a pair of hazel eyes on Evelyn. "That depends upon the location you choose to skydive in, Miss Flores," he said. "The minimum age in the UK and the USA for example, is sixteen. That said parachuting centres often have regulatory structures of their own which sometimes cause the minimum age to be raised to eighteen, even in these countries."

Then he added, "There's no maximum age though. If you're fit enough you can skydive at the age of seventy or eighty or even hundred." He grinned as he said that. Imagine a hundred year old skydiver!

Yes. Just as she suspected. This was that Gryffie dude that Rae liked! And was practically moving in with this summer. Hehe. Rae got herself the skydiving type. Which seemed weird since, she totally didn't seem like that type herself. Unless, she was? Or...

Meh. Rae was just confusing.

Listening to what Professor Lars was saying, Evelyn nodded a few times before raising her hand again. "So, the age requirement here would be...." What? Eighteen? Well that failed if it was eighteen. Means she would have to wait five years. Or, four and half really. "And, do you think it's possible to sky fall with a broom instead of a parashoes?"

ooc :: there is so much to reeeeeead, I cayn't dooooo it

"Skidoosh," Jake announced, leaning back as he held up a piece of parchment, taking aim.

He'd HAAAAAAAAD some shooger. Mhmm. After launching it at Professor... Professor, Jake eyed Axe.

Hehehe.

ANDTHENHERANATHIM!

And tried to tackleded him.

:3

HEWANTEDCHOCKLIT!

Only 13,000, Patroclus thought to himself, he had done 14,000. But Xylon had probably done it alone seeing as though he was older, Pollux had been with Patroclus when he had jumped.

Patroclus had another question, so he raised his hand again!
"Sir did you prefer Free-fall or the Chute section of a skydive?" Patroclus thought both had pros and cons, however the biggest con, was the Massive Wedgie that usually occurred.

She could go after some kid named Jacob. Sweetness. Grinning at the professor, she turned her attention back to the conversation at hand. Noming on her liquorice wand she listened to them talk about skydiving and base jumping. Sounded dangerous and fun at the same time.

Raising her candy free hand high in the air, she waved it about before asking her question. "Professor, what happenes if their parachute doesn't open? Where do these base jumpers jump from? Do they jump in cities? Do they jump alone or with other people? How did they come up with the idea of jumping out of planes with only a piece of cloth to break there fall? What happens if they open thier parachute too late? Ooooor too soon?" Lots of questions this litte puff had. Could've been from all the candy she had been eating. She stuck the rest of the liquorice wand and looked at the professor expectantly.

"Sixteen," Xylon answered. Unless of course she managed to land herself in the kind of place that insists on eighteen. "---- and I think everything is possible, Miss Flores." He half smirked. "You would require a helper of course........ and space. Being on a broomstick is bound to make things tricky." How can one 'poise' oneself for a parachute jump on a broomstick? The idea sounded improbable, even bizarre, but why not? "It would be a challenge. You would enjoy it, I think."

He paused and then added, "If you ever find a way to make that happen, let me know. I'll be the first to try it." He smiled lightly.

Or the second. She might want to try it before him ----- assuming of course, that she found a way to.

Sweet Merlin he had a hyper Jake on the loose! "Take your seat, Mr. ----" Wait. Xylon didn't know what Jake's last name was. He couldn't be expected to either. He barely knew the kid.

"What did you say your name is again?" Not that Jake had told Xylon his - Jake's, not Xylon's obviously - name before. But it couldn't hurt to ask. He was the temporary professor here after all. He could ask what he wanted to. He could even dock (okay, think he could dock) points if anybody got on his nerves. Mwaha.

Xylon thought about this. "I would have said free-fall," he said after a moment. "If I didn't think it would be unfair to compare. I enjoy every bit of a jump in its own way, Mr. Hudson."

Whoa whoa whoa! Xylon tried to sort out the questions in his head. If the parachute doesn't open..... "In that case you can pray," He offered, perfectly cheerfully. "Or as an alternative, hope you're dreaming." He smirked. "Jokes aside, all international parachute jumps have to be made with a duel parachute system. In other words, a skydiver has a secondary reserve parachute fitted with an AAD in case the first fails to open."

"The 'BASE' in BASE Jumping is basically an acronym," he explained as he sifted through her questions in his mind and mentally ticking off the first, moved on to the next. "B for buildings, A for Antennae, S for Spans and E for Earth. That pretty much explains where BASE jumpers jump from." What next? Oh yes. "Parachute jumps can take place in a city though of course definitions of 'city' can differ for different people ----- people are usually grouped in an aircraft ----- and they came up with the idea the same way Quidditch was perfected until it became the sport we know it to be today - creativity, imagination, inspiration, the need to have fun and of course, the need to make that fun safer and more accessible to the masses."

Which of her questions were left now? Ah yes. "Modern parachutes are fitted with AADs which ensure that they open at the right time."

Then he added,
"So what does that wand taste of?"