Cedric Diggory (
theboywhodied) wrote in
trans_92011-10-23 03:55 pm
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On your broomsticks! [OPEN]
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
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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!))
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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!))
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He lifted his broom again, demonstrating the proper way to mount. "When you're ready, you kick off and use your hands and weight to steer."
It would work best to show her this, so he kicked off from the ground, ascended in a quick upward spiral, tilted into a sharp and speedy dive, and then circled back. That was always enough to get the blood pumping.
"Do you think you could try it?"
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"Yes, I believe so," Daja said, imitating Cedric movements, holding the broom between her legs. "This is very strange," she said, feeling like she must make a bizarre sight. But looking at the way Cedric flew...well, if she could manage that, then it was worth looking a little silly.
Taking a deep breath, she kicked off from the ground. Her ascent wasn't anywhere as near as impressive or co-ordinated as Cedric's, but she was nonetheless now shakily hovering a metre above the ground. "Oh!" she cried, looking down at her feet dangling in the air.
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The experience was strange - she couldn't feel anything beneath her feet! This must have been what it was like to stand on Tris's wind platform. She wondered what her grumpy sister would think of these brooms, and the thought made her smile.
"How do I maneuver it?" she asked, trying to not sound too eager to progress. "I don't imagine one could guide it like a horse."
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He demonstrates with an oval-shaped flight path around the area, leaning in toward the circle and pulling on the handle.
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"So I need to guide the handle," Daja said, focusing back on the practicalities. With that she concentrated, and as the broom rose higher she gently pointed the handle to the left, turning in a slow, steady circle.
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He nodded. "Yes, that's it! It's the same to go up and down,though you'll have to lean a little as well. There's really not too much to it."
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"And does everyone learn this, in your world?" she asked, as she started to experiment a little, leaning up to try and rise higher.
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He nodded. "Everyone takes lessons in their first year at Hogwarts, but not everyone likes it. Some people prefer to Apparate or use Floo powder to travel. Both of those methods are faster than flying, but I've always found flying more satisfying."
Realising what her next question would be, he explained the other terms. "Appariton is the ability to instantly teleport yourself from one place to another. Floo powder is thrown into fireplaces to activate a type of magic, and it's possible to instantly travel to any fireplace that's connected to our Floo network."
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"You travel through fireplaces?!" Daja gaped. "How do you not get burned? Do you need a special, magical fire, or are your kind immune to the effects of the flame?" Daja was herself, but she knew that the ability was by no means common.
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As for the fire question? He laughed. "It's both, actually. It's a magical protection cast over a fire with Floo powder. We don't feel anything but a tickling sensation. There's also a spell, the flame-freezing charm, that was used by clever witches when we were being burned by Muggles. One witch allowed herself to be caught and burned over and over again because she liked the tickling so much."
He would never understand that, but different paths for different people.
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It had been a painful history. "That's why the world of magic is kept secret from them. We can't risk another war."
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"My home is very different - there's no separation between mages and non-mages. Magic is a part of everyone's life, and any mage who abused their magic would have to face the law, just like any other criminal." Daja was silent for a moment, thinking of what Emelan would be like if mages and non-mages were divided. "It had never occured to me that things might be any other way," she said, solemn.
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Vainly enough. He had to admit that they did have good taste in clothing. "I'm glad we're not in hiding here. It'd be difficult to pretend."
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"We have our own villages. There's Hogsmeade, a village by my school, and several other settlements. Some of us live among Muggles too. We hide our magic use from them, dress as they do, and hide our magical creatures. We'd use disillusionment charms to make ourselves invisible while riding brooms, for example."
But that couldn't cover everyone. "If they do find out, we have teams skilled in the use of memory charms to erase it from their memories." He looked guilty when mentioning this.
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"You alter people's memories?!" Daja said, horrified. "But that's..." Barbaric, cut she stopped before she could stay that word. This was Cedric's culture - he would not appreciate her criticism.
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He winced. Yes, it was horrifying to think about. "Terrible, I know it is," he supplied. "I'd really prefer if we were open and resolved our disputes another way, but the Ministry believes it's the only way we can be safe. They're the ones who train the Obliviators."
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Daja was silent for a moment. She travelled through many lands, and one thing she had learned was that rulers were not always the just and compassionate ruler that the Duke was. "Perhaps one day, they will learn of a better way," she said softly. "In the meantime...at least here you do not need to concern yourself with those laws. Certainly this place has many amazing non-magical things - if I were not able to see magic, I would scarcely be able to believe what people can do without it myself."
Steadying her broom, she looked around at the surrounding scenery. "Like this place," she said quietly. "None of it is real, and yet there is no magic."
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He was interested in that, of course. Muggles really were clever, weren't they? "I'm amazed by what they've built. But---wait, you see magic? What does that mean, exactly?"
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She thought of Tris, and the way that her power could get violently out of control when she was young...Tris would have broken that kind of law a thousand times over, without even meaning to.
"Yes - it looks to me like a sliver of silver light, usually out of the corner of my eye. But if something has a lot of magic, I will see it when I look at it directly. I don't have the skill to see the nature of the magic though. I can only see it's presence."
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That was quite interesting. He tried to imagine such a thing. "Do you see it all the time, or only when it's actively being invoked?"
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"Magic is magic, regardless of whether it's being invoked," Daja said simply. "But magic that is active is easier to see, yes."
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That was interesting to him, very interesting. "So I wouldn't have been able to hide even if I'd wanted to, huh? We're using our spells to help. How do you work yours?"
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