On your broomsticks! [OPEN]

[theboywhodied]

Following the instructions given to him by crew members here and there, Cedric stepped through a green archway tucked on a corner of the fifth floor and entered a grey void. He closed his eyes, concentrating on the sort of place that would be perfect for a day of flying. He imagined a bright grassy plain, a large lake, and a forest off to the side. Vague memories turned into vivid images surrounding him, so thoroughly convincing that he really believed he'd been taken from the ship and placed on a field back on Earth. It was quite a convincing illusion
.
All it needed now was the key piece: a group of brooms. He thought for a moment on which brooms to provide them with. Firebolts were the world standard, but he'd never known one well enough to be able to picture it accurately. The school brooms, Shooting Stars, were nice and safe for new riders but not quite reliable. In the end, he knew his own broom best: a sleek Nimbus 2001, gifted by his father. As long as he instructed the fliers to go slowly, they should be safe on those brooms.

Visitors would find Cedric side-mounted on a broom in his black and yellow Quidditch robes, gliding just slightly over the grass. As soon as he spotted them, he'd greet them enthusiastically and move to touch down. "Hi!"

((ooc: wide open for everyone to join in! We'll be doing some group exercises too, so thread around! Fly as a group when you're ready!))

Comments

[kungfu-sexnun.livejournal.com]

No need to touch down - as soon as Nima spots Cedric gliding, she opens the wings of her glider and lifts up on a sudden gust of wind.

"I've seen a lot of things fly, but never a broom. Tell me it can go higher than that!"

[theboywhodied]

Cedric's gaze flicks up the glider---how clever! He approves. "Oh, you must be...Nima, right? I was wondering how you controlled the winds."

He nods, throwing his leg over his broom into the proper mounting position. "Of course! We usually play from fairly high up. I just didn't want to fly too high and miss any arrivals."

To prove his point, he smiles and waves a hand at the sky. "Fly anywhere, I'll follow you."

[greeedycat]

...well, damn. They seriously meant broom-brooms, and not...well. Cazali didn't know what he was expecting, but they did indeed fly at the least.

"Couldn't you just as easily fly without the broom in here~?" Caz didn't quite get the sensorium, but he was trying.

[theboywhodied]

Cedric thought about that for a moment. It was true---he could grant himself wind powers like Maxine's, or wings, or fly as easily as he could swim. But he had no desire to do any of those things.

"I suppose I could, but I'm used to steering this way. It's more comfortable than it looks."

He touched down and lifted the handle of his broom, grinning. "Do you want to try one now, or do you have questions?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

As promised, Howard shows up to watch - and is a little blown away by how perfect the weather and scenery is. He knows it's an illusion and people can make things however lovely they want in the Sensoriums, but it never fails to catch him by surprise. Maybe it never will. He hopes it doesn't - he likes there being a little magic left in the world.

Magic. Hah hah.

He waves over to Cedric, surprised by how, frankly, shiny the brooms are. He figured just old wooden brooms like you'd keep in a hall closet, but these are clearly athletic instruments, sleek and professional.

[theboywhodied]

Ah, Howard made it after all! Cedric touches down, proudly slinging his broom over his shoulder and walking over to him.

"It's good to see you again, Howard. You're here to observe how it works, right? So I should show you without going too far."

That doesn't stop Cedric from turning to eye the collection of brooms on the grass, subtly suggesting that they could fly together if Howard ever wanted to.

[carrieswar.livejournal.com]

Blue, clear skies, vivid, green grass a beautiful lake were the first things Jr. noticed when he peered into the Sensoriums. He hadn't noticed the finer details just yet, which caused him to wonder who was using it at the moment. Someone who clearly liked big, open spaces. He could appreciate that, too.

When he spotted Cedric's figure nearby, he headed over in that direction. Getting closer, he remembered what the wizard had told him when Jr. bombarded him with all of those questions about magic, and realized quickly enough what it was he was sitting on. And then he spotted the others lined up nearby. Score.

"Yo, Cedric!" he jogged over the rest of the way. "Are you doing what I think you're doing?"

[theboywhodied]

"Hey!" Cedric brightened, glad to see him again. He'd loved talking about Quidditch, and he loved flying even more. To show Jr. how it worked would be great.

"We're having flying lessons today, if that's what you're thinking! No Quidditch today, I thought we'd take things slowly and learn to use the brooms first." And he couldn't be happier about it. He tugged on his robes and dismounted, showing Jr. over to the brooms. "Can you join us today?"

[potentialmonkey.livejournal.com]

"Uh, hey?" Ron said, wandering in with Rufus on his shoulder. "Whats going on in here?" He'd only rarely kept up with what was going on on the comms, so he had no idea what Cedric was doing.

[theboywhodied]

A new face! Cedric jumped down with a smile, gesturing at the line of brooms. This could be fun.

"I'm offering flying lessons if anyone would like to learn," he explained. "It doesn't have much of a practical use without brooms on the outside, but I hoped everyone might enjoy it."

[punchedoutdestiny]

Simon strolled into the sensorium, caught up for a moment by the scenery before he found himself face-to-face with the fellow on the broom. It startled him for just a moment, but he grinned all the same. "Hey there - this where the flying stuff is going on?"

[theboywhodied]

"This is it, yes!" Cedric confirmed, jumping down to greet the newcomer. "It's been going well so far, though we always have room for more! As I said, I'm Cedric. What should I call you?"

He was very excited for all of this.

GROUP FLYING

[theboywhodied]

((This thread's for group mingling once your characters have a reasonable handle on it! Ced will still be around for talking and playing a few games, but mingle! Have fun, laugh at how ridiculous you all look. And do keep posting threads under this, this isn't a cutoff but something I should've posted earlier.))

[bequiet_hescreamed]

Once Clef had gotten the hang of it, brooms really were easier than spirit beasts in terms of maneuvering. They were also faster, smaller, and more versatile. He didn't approve of showing off, but if testing the medium to its fullest potential required doing things like loop-de-loops and flying really, really fast... well, it was For Science. These things needed to happen, and he was bloody well going to put his neck on the line to do them.

[fireforger]

Ever since Ron had mentioned broomsticks enchanted to fly long ago, Daja had been curious about this particular kind of magic. The choice of a broomstick of all things still baffled her, but the idea of being able to fly...well, she couldn't help but what to see that in action.

She tilted her head up to watch Cedric fly, fascinated. "Hello!" she called up to him. "You must be Cedric?"

[theboywhodied]

"I am!" Cedric called down to the next visitor, starting a descent toward the ground. He drifted around in a carefully controlled spiral, eventually coming to stand inn the grass beside her.

"I spoke to you on the omnicom device, right? You wanted to see the brooms?"

[bequiet_hescreamed]

Clef wasn't an expert on cleaning supplies, but these brooms didn't bear much resemblance to them in his opinion. They had all the necessary parts - stick, straw bits, string and unknown forces keeping the whole thing from collapsing into a pile of tinder - but as he ran a finger delicately along the handle of one and feeling the smoothness and raw power in that tiny frame he couldn't imagine ever using it to sweep a floor. These weren't brooms, they were brooms.

He had been curious enough to head over to investigate the broomsticks before saying much other than hello to Cedric, but he would stop short of admiring an inanimate object. Any feelings of child-like giddiness he may have been feeling were clearly born out of a desire to take to the skies, so he grasped the neck of the broom and mimicked Cedric's side-saddle position as he attempted to mount it. The sooner he was up in the air, the better.

[theboywhodied]

"That's it," said Cedric as he watched Clef go. He was pleased to see the other man's confidence, but he wanted to be nearby in case any pointers were needed. "Just kick off and hold steady, all right? It's set up to catch you if you fall."

[masterofnun.livejournal.com]

"Yo, dawg, what's with the wood?" Punchy wanders in to the Sensoriums, figuring he'll work out or something, when he notices that someone's already set up a really nice day. A little bit boring, by Punchy's tastes, but he's seen enough grassy fields and clear skies to last him his whole life.

He waves his non-puppeted hand at Cedric.

[theboywhodied]

'What a strange way of speaking' is his unkind first thought. Cedric tentatively waves back, walking over to one of the broomsticks and picking it up.

"They're flying broomsticks! I've been teaching people how to use them. It takes some adjusting to, but most people seem to like them."

[hisfathersstaff.livejournal.com]

Once he had heard Cedric was making the rounds with sharing things about his culture, Negi was so there. As it stood, he flew into the sensorium on his staff, touching down and slinging it onto his back. "Hi!"

[theboywhodied]

Now this was interesting. Cedric touched down seconds later, hoisting his broom over his shoulder "Oh, hello! I've never seen a staff like that before. You must be from one of the worlds with a different style of magic that I've heard about."

He offered his hand. "Anyway, it's good to meet you. I'm Cedric."

[alastirra.livejournal.com]

"Oh!" Not only was the scenery so pretty, but even flying brooms were familiar to Alastirra--it was just like Hallows' End on Azeroth! Though it had been quite some time since she had seen a broom like that.

"Your broom is very attractive and not rickety at all! May we fly some as well? It has been a while, but I do think I remember how!"

She couldn't help but clap her hands, overcome by the excitement.

[theboywhodied]

It was the strange woman who had offered them food! Cedric couldn't deny her a chance at flight, of course. He welcomed her over.

"Of course. Thank you for bringing the food the other day, by the way. I really needed it after all."

Picking up one of the brooms, he studied it and gestured for her to take whichever broom she wanted. "And you should be all right. Were your other brooms like these?"

[volatile-vespa.livejournal.com]

"That's a unique way of flying." Janet replied with a keen eye on the broom. She had not shrunk down yet so she would not freak out the others. "We spoke on the omnicomm but we did not introduce ourselves. I'm Janet, what's yours?"

[theboywhodied]

Cedric heartily agreed, flying over to meet her. "I'm Cedric," he introduced himself, lifting one hand from the broom to offer it. "It must be wonderful to fly on your own whenever you want. You've seen everything from above, huh?"

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

And here comes Kaya, who felt only a little guilt about not being at med bay and wanting to get some fresh air. When she heard abut what Cedric was doing, she definitely decided she wanted to have part on it. When she stepped into the Sensorium, she was pleased to see how bright and sunny everything looked. She knew this would be the closest she would ever get to actually flying, and hopefully, she wouldn't make too much of a fool of herself.

"Hello," she said, staring at the broom. "Er, how exactly does this work?"

[theboywhodied]

"Kaya!" Cedric called happily, flying over to demonstrate just how it worked. "I'm sure you can fly. It doesn't require any magical training. You only need good instincts and the ability to shift your weight. I''m sure you can do both."

He finally landed, slinging his broom over his shoulder. "Do you want to?"

[windwitch]

Maxine rather excitedly made her way to the Sensoriums to join in on this. It sounded like a lot of fun, honestly, and she had said she would do it (or at least try out the game he'd mentioned), after all, so there was that, too. Plus, she had to admit, there was a fun thought about flying around on a broom instead of via the air currents she normally did. If nothing else, at least it'd match her costume! (Not that she had anything besides her witch's hat here, anyway.)

"Hey Cedric!" she said enthusiastically as she entered the Sensoriums, smiling brightly, landing gracefully on the floor, and looking around the room in admiration.

[theboywhodied]

"Hi!" Cedric greeted her just as happily, swerving to a stop and touching down in front of her. "Welcome to...wherever this is. I thought we'd need some space for a flying lesson."

He started walking with her, over toward the pile of brooms. "How've you been?"

[sky-high-king.livejournal.com]

Keith looked all around before spotting Cedric, impressed by his ability to fly.

"Ah, a flying broom? They don't seem very aerodynamic, but it looks like you're doing fine with one." Keith says and smiles brightly. "I'm Keith Goodman."

[theboywhodied]

"If you think these brooms have problems with aerodymanics, you should see what we've had in the past." Cedric swooped down, jumping onto the grass and offering his hand. "Cedric Diggory. Were you just looking around, or did you get my message?"

[thewunderkind]

Lash had no idea what she was looking at but...what was he riding on?

"A broom. You're riding something that's used for dusting floors."

Whaaaaaat.

[theboywhodied]

"You wouldn't want to dust with this." Cedric had been expecting someone to make the comment eventually. "We have the bristles molded together for aerodynamic reasons."

He dropped to the ground and poked at the end of his broom to demonstrate. "Brooms are our transportation---'rides', I think I heard someone say. They're easy to carry and store. Easier than a motorcycle, anyway."

to catch a snitch (open!)

[theboywhodied]

Some time later, Cedric had decided to hold a Seekers' demonstration. He'd told everyone that catching the Snitch was one of the hardest jobs in a Quidditch match, and today he was to prove it. He flew back and forth in front of the gathered people, talking briefly.

"The trouble with the Golden Snitch is that it's incredibly fast, appears at random, and is almost impossible to see from far away. You won't even clearly see it until you have it in your hand. And because the other Seeker's team will probably win if they catch it first, you have to be faster than they are. Like so!"

He conjured a Snitch in his hand and released it, watching the golden glint disappear. Unfortunately for him, he was unaware that there were two such objects now in the sky....

((In which Cedric embarrasses himself and catches the wrong object. Feel free to tag in, you'll know the fake-Snitch when you see it.))

Re: to catch a snitch (open!)

[volatile-vespa.livejournal.com]

Janet was flying around to stretch her wings as well as to spectate from a good angle without any hindrance. She stayed pretty high off the ground out of habit.

Then, she saw Cedric releasing a golden object with shining wings. "Ah, that must be the snitch he was talking about." She unconsciously decided to fly closer to the flying object.