trans_9 | On your broomsticks! [OPEN]

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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
.
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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Cedric's name under Howard's mental 'sucker' column just got underlined and circled. "Um, if you don't go in with suspicions you're kind of hiring a team of idiots. What, you think just because people sign up for sports mean they're great guys and girls?"

"I would hope so...well...you do have a point." He frowned and crossed his arms. "I wouldn't trust the Slytherin team as far as I could throw their brooms. Cunning and ambition don't have to involve antisocial behaviour, but they tend to take it to extremes," he muttered to himself. No doubt there were Slytherin-type people among the crew.

"Slytherin's what, another group of wizards or something?" Howard doesn't see what's wrong with cunning and ambition, or at least cunning - ambition has a tendency to backfire - but then again, he's pretty antisocial himself.

"Yes. Everyone at Hogwarts is sorted into one of four houses based on their aptitudes, and each has a Quidditch team. I was captain of the Hufflepuff team. People are placed in Hufflepuff if they're industrious, kind, and fair. Slytherins are known for their cunning, ambition, and self-preservation instinct. They could be good businessmen, but most choose to be common bullies instead. We can all get a little heated about Quidditch, I'll admit, but they're the worst. Deliberately injuring other teams' players, trying to steal playbooks. It never ends!"

How many Slytherins had he stopped in the hallways as prefect? He'd lost count.

"Anyway, time will tell who the captains need to keep an eye on here."

Howard looks a bit lost in thought as he tries to figure out a way to respond to that that doesn't make it obvious that he's have totally ended up in Slytherin, from Cedric's description. "So what, you show up for your first day of class and they give you a personality test to tell you where you go? Seems a little deterministic."

Cedric had mostly figured that out anyway. Not all Slytherins were bullies! Just the ones who tended to end up on their Quidditch team and the troublemakers in the hallways.

"Almost. We have an enchanted sorting hat that makes the decision. It's said to contain the wills of the founders of the Hogwarts houses---the brave and reckless people are Gryffindors, the wise and studious are Ravenclaws, the cunning and ambitious are Slytherins, and the loyal and hardworking are Hufflepuffs. Our attributes don't sound as impressive, so the other houses tend to call us a group of duffers."

Hmph. They could think what they wanted to, but it wasn't true.

Not that Howard wasn't a bully, back in his day, even if a few months ago seems like a very long time.

"And enchanted...hat." Howard nods as if this all makes perfect because, well, in this world now, it does. "Honestly, the Riverclaws sound more boring than you guys do. At least you guys are loyal. There's a ton to be said for loyal."

Howard has one rule he truly sticks to: you never abandon a friend. Everything else can and should be compromised as the situation demands.

"Yes. It sings too. A new song every year," Cedric grins. He always had liked to hear those tunes. Something about supposedly inanimate objects having some resemblance to life is amusing to him.

"Hey, not all Ravenclaws are bad. My..well, the girl who was my girlfriend is one."

He's not sure about their relationship status. He'd still want to be with her, but he shouldn't. He's at the end of his life on Earth. And Cho would probably come from a time after he'd died, wouldn't she?

"Anyway. We're all rivals, the different houses, but it rises to ridiculous levels, especially when Gryffindor and Slytherin are at each other's throats. Really, all we get for the House Cup is the hall decorated in our colours at the end of the year. There are more important things."

Like Quidditch! He always liked to try for the Quidditch cup. He'd ask Howard about his school, but he gets the feeling that personal questions are unwelcome.

Howard makes a face at the mention of relationships, then wags a finger. "Hey, don't count her off yet. If she shows up here she might still be under the impression that you're together."

Aren't different points in the timeline fun, Cedric?

"We didn't have anything like that at my school. I mean, I guess we had a sports team, but they only ever competed with Coates and the Coates kids are scary. That's where all the kids whose parents had money went instead of juvie." Howard sounds like he genuinely is scared of those kids, and why wouldn't he be? The representatives from Coates included the sociopathic murder-zombie in his basement and the deluded, homicidal 'king' of the FAYZ.

"Did Hufflepuff ever win?" And no wonder everyone makes fun of Hufflepuffs, with a name like that. It's almost as bad as 'Muggle'.

"That's true, but...I couldn't lie to her about my future or lack thereof." That's the sticking point, but he didn't want to analyse it too closely. Better to move on.

"That's the juvenile detention system, isn't it? That happened to you?"

Sorry. Personal question. He can't help it.

"Sometimes, yes! Not as often as the other houses, and one win was due to an accident, but I was proud of my Quidditch team. We did well."

Howard presses his lips together and squints a bit. "You know, Ced, where I'm from most people expected to be dead by the end of the year. Didn't stop people from boinking each other like rabbits. Which is gross."

But it didn't stop people from forming emotional connections, either. If anything, knowing they probably didn't have much time made a lot of people come closer. Including Howard. Unfortunately for him, it didn't end well.

"Nah, didn't happen to me. The sheriff threatened me a few times, but mostly I just got talking-to's for causing trouble because they didn't want to risk sticking me with a bunch of other kids." He shrugs. "For my safety, not theirs. Being small and all."

"I quite agree," Cedric laughs. It was a bit hasty, wasn't it? He'd never do that sort of thing.

He nods. "They tried to keep you safe. Somehow it never quite works that way when people try it."

But he's going to try harder, yes he is.

"You'd think about a few thousand years of evolution people would be over it." He wishes he could care, actually. His complete lack of interest in sex is one of a large pile of things that makes him feel disconnected from other people. That Cedric agrees with him, even jokingly, does make him feel a bit better.

"I got safe my own ways. And then they all disappeared so it didn't really matter." He shrugs. "I mean, what can anyone do but try and plan for the worst? At least you're ready that way."

"I've heard it's fun. And when have we ever known people to surrender their fun?" Cedric certainly hasn't! His is simply on a broom for the moment.

He nods. That's a sad way of looking at the world, but he supposes it makes sense. "That's true. I've been told I should worry more about that, but I don't want to edge into the other extreme, you know? We had a professor like that---or at least we thought he was our professor. Placed wards all around the classroom, forced us to prepare for the worst curses, told us terrible things would happen."

Even in the end, it hadn't been enough.

"Good point. Back home we had some kids nearly starve to death because they couldn't be bothered to give up their playtime and go work in the fields." Even being up in the air can't lift Howard entirely out of his tendencies to be morbid. Although he does have to admit this is fun. The only things he has to fear, this high up, are lightning and falling. Counterintuitively, he feels safer up here than he does on the ground.

"And he was right, right? Or else you wouldn't be here."

How silly. Cedric hopes they'd learned to take care of themselves eventually. He shakes his head, clearing some space for other thoughts. More morbid thoughts.

"Yeah. Of course, he was plotting to resurrect the most evil wizard in modern history and to murder my rival. It went fairly well for them, except that they killed the wrong person."

Ah, plots. Always prone to go wrong. "But someone like him would know best, wouldn't he."

"Sucks to be collateral damage." And Howard actually looks genuine as he says that. He's been caught between larger forces vying for power too, stuck as just someone stuck in the middle trying not to die. It's not fun.

"Hey, good guys can be conniving too. You just sort of have to be gun-shy to go along with it."

Cedric doesn't say anything further on the death subject, but he gives Howard an appreciative look.

"Gun-shy? Right. That means they'd have to be less willing to immediately resort to violence, doesn't it?"

Wizards avoid guns. All those mechanics and all the blood. Murderers much prefer the killing curse, it's far cleaner.

"Right. I'm not big on violence. Barely even know how to fire a gun, you know?" He doesn't imagine Cedric is big on it either. Cedric seems remarkably restrained with his talents, height and looks and athleticism - like someone who believes they are lucky gifts, not something one is entitled to.

"Got it," Cedric nods. "Subtlety. It's remarkably hard for most people I know to pull off."

Himself included. He takes a swing, one more loop around the field, enjoying the wind all around.

"But you know that, don't you?" Howard knows a lot, Cedric thinks. Wherever he was before, he'd had to learn. Fast.

"Well, most people are pretty dumb. They need things explained five or six times first." Howard follows Cedric's course, slower and much more unused to the broom, but marginally less afraid now.

"Yeah, I know. I mean, there's a place for brute strength and explosions, there really is, but if it isn't something you're naturally good at you sort of pick up the subtle side of things."

"Exactly. I know I'm guilty of all those things too, but it's almost a miracle that the school was still standing. After all those feuds, something should've fallen by now."

He shakes his head. Exasperating! People wasted their energy picking the wrong battles, he thinks. It's better to lie low and strike when it counts.

"At least Medical can't be that bad. Right?"

"So what are wizard feuds like, anyway? I mean, not the serious ones where people die, but just fights at school? Do you curse people with bad hair days instead of shoving them in lockers? Jinx their mouths shut instead of swirlies?"

He nods. "Medical's good. Mostly calm, except the field work, and usually you've got too much adrenaline going for the terror to kick in. It's...nice. Almost relaxing, you know?" He likes the Med Bay especially. It's become a safe haven, a place where he feels like he belongs and doesn't have to dwell on fear.

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On your broomsticks! [OPEN]

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