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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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.

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.

"Well, a demonstration doesn't do much good if it's out of eyesight, right?"

Howard chews on the corner of his tongue as he looks over at the brooms. "You said anyone can do this sort of thing, right? I mean, it's not like I'm afraid of heights."

More than he's afraid of anything else, that is.

Is Howard curious? Cedric's smile widens even further. "Yeah, I'm sure you could! As long as the broom comes to your hand, you'll be fine. I'll show you first, all right?"

Cedric lays his broom on the ground, steps to the side of it, extends his hand and shouts a well-practiced "Up!"

The broom handle jumps straight into his hand, hovering at a perfect mounting height.

"It is the Sensoriums, right? I've done crazier stuff in here. I rode a motorcycle in here." Which is absolutely as scary as riding a broom, probably.

He holds his hand out, stepping side-by-side with one of the shorter brooms, and mimics Cedric. The broom hops up to his hand, though a little more reluctantly than Cedric's does, if only because the 'Up!' isn't so well-practiced and commanding. Still, Cedric's confidence is a little infectious.

"Now what?"

"I think I've seen motorcycles before. They're the bicycles with more parts and louder noises, right?" No, Cedric wasn't entirely well versed in Muggle technology.

That was great. Cedric grinned his approval and mounted his own broom, preparing for takeoff. "You mount like this, and to takeoff...you kick against the ground. When you need to reach the ground again, lean forward. Pulling the handle in a direction will steer."

He rolled up the sleeves of his robe and demonstrated, quickly kicking against the ground to push himself upward. He turned this way and that where Howard could see, and then touched back down.

"Yeah. And they go faster." He figures, even though he's taught himself the basics of motorcycle maintenance through reading manuals in the media library and tinkering with leftover parts at the Warehouse, that the specifics might be lost on Cedric.

"I never done anything like this," he admits. He guesses from the motion it's like riding a horse, but, well, he's never done that either. He reminds himself that it's the Sensoriums and thus he can't get hurt, but his face still betrays nervousness and he clutches the broom handle tight to keep his hands from trembling.

He kicks off the ground and the broom rises, just a little. He hovers with his shoes about an inch over the ground.

"Okay. Okay. This is. This is cool." He starts to grin.

"I thought they would. Muggles are always tacking things on to make their inventions more powerful," he observes. But that's not the subject of today's lesson. While he's sure motorcycle rides are enjoyable, he much prefers flying---and he hopes Howard will too.

Cedric is very pleased to see the smile forming on Howard's face. That's a first! He hovers patiently, offering his encouragement. "If you think this is something, wait until you head up and start steering. It's incredible---but you don't need to rush, take your time," he hastily amends.

"How is that any different than you guys using Cushioning Charms to make your brooms comfier?"

The idea of heading too high up is daunting. Howard coaxes the broom up another two feet and then seems to chicken out of going any higher for the moment. Cedric may be a good teacher, and encouraging, but heights are still heights. "How do you steer? Do you just point the handle?"

"You have a point, I suppose. And the manufacturers are always competing to make the fastest broom." So he'll concede that much. Cedric grins at Howard's progress, lad to see that things are going well.

"Yes, and it helps to shift your weight in that direction as well." He does so, twisting left and then right. No need to show off the fancier tricks yet.

"How fast do these things go? I mean, there isn't exactly a face shield or anything. Aren't you worried about getting bugs in your teeth?" At least motorcycles have helmets.

Howard smiles back at Cedric as he tries to turn the broom, though it's nervously until he gets the hang of it. "Alright, this isn't that bad. You probably been flying these since you were a toddler, right?"

"The Firebolts are the fastest brooms at the moment. They can reach a speed of a hundred and fifty miles an hour in ten seconds. We deal with the bugs by using repelling charms and goggles. There's an incantation that will keep our faces clear. It's especially helpful in the rain."

He smiles at that, aware that it's a completely new experience. "More or less, but the younger wizards start on toy brooms. Most of us don't learn to fly on real brooms until our first year at Hogwarts, but you're doing well! I've been acclimating you a little faster than Madam Hooch would like."

Howard whistles in response to that. A hundred and fifty miles an hour is faaaast.

"Why, are we supposed to do training exercises on the ground or something first?" Howard's still not going up more than a few feet above the ground, but he's getting more used to turning. He turns in a slow 360, adjusting.

"Not exactly," Cedric laughed. "That's a good idea for warming up if you're going to be flying for a while, though. We just have training brooms that vibrate if you go higher than three or four yards. Since we're protected in the simulation, I gave you normal racing brooms. You can push the boundaries as far as you'd like to."

He dips and rises with the wind currents, rather enjoying the feel of flying under his own power after so long.

"Sort of like stretching before a long run." Howard's lip twists a little in concern. As simple as getting the broom up in the air was, this is seeming a lot more athletic than Howard expected, and while he's in pretty good shape right now things like hand-eye coordination were never his strong suit.

Howard leans back a bit to try and figure out how one would keep their hands free while riding. "So what's this Quidditch sport like, anyway? Since you seem really into it."

It's an attempt to be friendly. Howard still doesn't know Cedric well enough to feel really comfortable thanking him, but he's happy to make friendly conversation and listen to Cedric.

"It's a lot of fun," Cedric smiles brightly, always glad to have the opportunity to talk about his favourite sport. "We've got seven players on each team. Three on each team are Chasers. They compete for the Quaffle, a ball that gets passed between them as they move across the field. They're aiming to throw it through one of the opposing team's hoops, guarded by a Keeper. Each successful shot from a Chaser earns their team ten points."

He waves a hand experimentally, and a small transparent model of a Quidditch pitch appears before them, demonstrating this concept. "Then there are the Beaters, two per team, flying around with their clubs. They watch over two enchanted balls called the Bludgers. They're enchanted to attack players at random, and it's the Beater's job to protect their teammates and redirect the Bludgers at the other team. I can tell you from experience that being hit by one hurts."

This next ball's too small to see on a mini-model, so Cedric stretches out his palm and conjures a little winged golden ball there instead. "And this is the Golden Snitch. It flies very quickly and at random like the Bludgers, but unlike them it tries to avoid the players. One Seeker per team spends the match chasing the Snitch, and that's the only way to end a game. Whoever catches it earns a hundred and fifty points for their team. That's what makes Seekers so valuable---and such appealing targets for Beaters," he grumbled, remembering plenty of injuries past.

He releases the Snitch, allowing it to zoom around Howard's head for a few moments.

Howard jerks back a little as the model appears, caught off guard, but since he's holding tight onto the broom he doesn't fall. He looks at the Snitch, then back at Cedric, squinting a bit with curiosity at Cedric's tone of voice. "So you were a Seeker, then?"

Howard can think of nothing he'd rather do less than have two guys slamming enchanted balls at him - he already had his fair and disliked share of dodgeball games in school, until he got old enough that he could get away with skipping gym class entirely or hiding behind Orc during the games.

Honestly, he's starting to think Quidditch is for crazies.

He bats a bit at the Snitch. "It's like a hummingbird. Is it fragile?"

Some people at Hogwarts would agree that Quidditch was indeed a foolish game to get into. "I was! I spent a large amount of time in the hospital wing, but Madam Pomfrey wasn't so bad when you got used to her. And we have faster healing methods than Muggles for most injuries, from what I gather. They just tend to be more disastrous if used improperly."

Muggles who broke bones were in casts for weeks and weeks? That was so strange to him, Madam Pomfrey could heal them in a minute.

"That's because the object the Seekers caught was originally a small bird, the Golden Snidget. Wizards took more and more Snidgets as Quidditch became popular, endangering their future as a species. Eventually, the use of Snidgets in Quidditch was outlawed and we had to find a new way to play. That was when a skilled metalworker invented the Snitch. It's identical to a Snidget in every way, except of course that it's not alive."

He's read far too many books about the subject, clearly.

"You know, not all us Muggles are helpless." Howard raises an eyebrow. "One of the girls back home could heal people just by touching them, even if they had a hole in their head for hours. Sounds like that tops your magic and my medicine both."

Howard laughs a little bit at Cedric's ability to recite 'the history of the Snitch' at the drop of a hat, but it's not a mean laugh. In some ways Howard's jealous of people who have enough enthusiasm for things to just memorize everything about it because they can - then again, he sometimes forgets that he's not so different. He's acquired a vast wealth of (mostly useful) knowledge in the last few years, much of it simply because he could.

He takes a deep breath and rises another thirty feet or so in the air, so he's high up enough to be scared. "How high up do you usually play these Quidditch games?"

"I didn't mean to say that you were," Cedric frowns, though he was impressed. "It doesn't really matter who has the ability, as long as we're keeping everyone alive."

As best they can. For the most part. The new grim reality.

"Higher," Cedric answers with a little smile, waving a hand to summon one of the goalposts. It stands about fifty feet high. "But you don't have to rush. The view's just as good from here, isn't it?"

"I'm just saying. You wizards may give us a name like we're some kind of toy poodle, but just normal humans...they can be scary. I mean, we can be scary, I guess." He starts to ascend on the broom. "I generally don't think I'm all that terrifying, though."

Howard furrows his brow and decides he'll get up to the top of that goalpost, even if it terrifies him. "The view's great. Even when you know it's fake."

"Of course," Cedric agrees. "You've done things that wizards can only dream of."

He tries not to carry on the prejudice. It was hardly fair. "Yeah. I miss real views, but...at the same time I believe we're somewhat safe here. Though that could be an illusion."

It's hard to tell anymore.

"You can never overrate safety," Howard says. "But you're right, you can't trust it either. It just leaves like that when you least expect it." He snaps his fingers to illustrate, but also to try and distract from the way he quickly blinks back tears as he thinks of that. Funny, how some ideas still cut to the bone.

"Anyway. So the Quaffle goes into those hoops, and you want to score as many points as fast as possible because you don't know when the other guy might get the snitch and end the game, right? So in theory, the whole game could end in two minutes if one of the Seekers is good and lucky, right?" He chuckles a bit. "Do people ask for refunds if that happens?"

Luckily for Howard, Cedric sees nothing---or at least you wouldn't be able to tell by looking at him. They're simply discussing the winds of change, that's all.

"Yes. There's an old story going around that the Snitch was once caught in three seconds. No, we don't give refunds. It's rotten luck when it happens, but it's very rare. Most games last between 20 minutes and two hours."

Most of the games he'd played in had been around that length, thankfully. It was a good balance.

"Sounds like a decent length of time. Hard to plan a schedule around, though." He's up high enough that he's got a death grip on the handle of the broom, as if he's trying to throttle it rather than hold on, but he's up there. "So do you guys tend to go for speed or stamina? I mean, if you don't know how long the game will last."

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