trans_9 | 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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With a quick mock salute, Jr. grabbed onto the broom again- mainly because a salute required use of a hand that was important to hold on and keep balance. "In that case I'll work hard to get the hang of it, too!"

He was doing a little less wobbling, but still kept things slow as he rose a little further off the ground. "So is your whole family wizards, too?"

"Yeah, that's it! You're getting it." Cedric was reminded of himself as he watched. He could've done with some more encouragement and less pressure, so he strove for that sort of balance.

"Yeah. My father worked for our goverment---the Ministry of Magic. Magic tends to run in families, but sometimes a magical person is born to Muggle parents or a child from a magical family doesn't have magic. It's tricky when it happens either way."

It was sad for them, and a better sadness for him to focus on right now. He couldn't help thinking of his family grieving.

"A whole government? That sounds cool." He looked down to the broom again, wondering if there were like, broom speeding tickets and stuff like that when it came to laws, if their world had a government like that.

He tested out movement a little more, moving through the air slowly and making a small turn. "Okay ... I think I'm getting the hang of it a little better." At least he wasn't flipping over again.

Cedric had to laugh about that. "You'd think so. They do a good enough job, I suppose, but the bans on certain flying objects and enchanting Muggle things really bother some people. If they were allowed to, they'd be making magic teapots that a Muggle might accidentally try to use someday."

He sometimes wished he had a magic teapot, but that was hardly the point. "You are! You're getting your bearings, they'll all be there soon."

He turned that statement over a couple of times in his head before responding. Along with that Cedric had told him about keeping their world a secret and using memory loss magic, it made sense. "Right, cause if people saw things flying around that shouldn't be, they'd find out about you, right?"

"Exactly," Cedric nodded. "We're allowed to practice on teapots at Hogwarts, but we're not allowed to have those enchanted things out in the Muggle world."

He dipped lower on his broom, watching, encouraging. "How're you feeling, Jr.?"

"A little better, now! Sort of like riding a bike ... slow and steady til you get used to it and it comes more naturally." He followed Cedric's movements, only a little slower than the other boy.

"What kind of things can you enchant? Like ... big things?"

"Right. You're getting it," he nodded happily, turning to watch Jr.'s excellent progress.

"Sure! It takes more than one wizard to enchant a very large object, but most things are possible. We have laws limiting big objects, as they're too easy for Muggles to find, but it can technically be done. There are enchantments cast over whole buildings, to make them undetectable to enemies."

"Woah, ninja buildings?"

The thought of that distracted him for a moment and he lost a bit of the balance he had obtained, but quickly snapped focus back to.

"Uh, when you say enemies, do you mean the people without magic?" That was the only conclusion Jr. could jump to - if wizards tried to hide away from the, wasn't that because things could get ugly from their vast differences?

"Not always," Cedric sighed. "Muggles aren't our enemies. We just have to protect them and ourselves. Every magical location has defences to keep Muggles out, but there are different enchantments to protect against unwanted magical visitors. Some buildings are Unplottable, meaning their locations can't be mapped. Others are protected with charms that make them appear as though nothing's there unless the person is meant to be there. There are barriers as well."

He'd heard all about the community's attempts to escape the Death Eaters during the war. It had been a dark time.

"Unwanted magical visitors ... okay, I think I get'cha." After all, most groups of people always had their bad eggs and assholes, right? "Those are some pretty useful sounding skills, too! If you wanted to hide away somewhere, you'd be pretty well off."

"Precisely. In our case, the bad eggs wanted to murder those of us deemed unworthy." It was a harsh reality, one he'd never directly faced. But what he battled now as a crew member was worse.

"Yeah. And we learn personal defences as well. Shields, disguises, disillusioning, distractions...I can't quite make myself invisible, but I can become almost impossible to see." That was always fun.

Jr. leaned forward on the broom a bit, swaying it back and forth as he listened. "Woah, really? That sounds like fun! ... and an easy trick for Halloween."

"It is," Cedric laughed. "But I prefer slightly simpler tricks. Have you ever seen a singing pumpkin?"

"... not real singing pumpkins."

The look he gave Cedric basically said 'are you implying what I think you are dude'.

"Then you're in for a first performance!"

Cedric conjured his art: a simple, stationary, ordinary pumpkin. With a few muttered spells and waves of his wand, it became a jack-o-lantern. One more tap, and it lit from within, beginning a deep and mournful song about the spirits of Halloween.

The silliest charms were always his favourites.

Jr. stared, head slooooooowly tilting as the thing slowly came to life. That was impressive -- when he remembered that you can basically do anything in the Sensoriums but all Cedric had actually done was summon the pumpkin. The rest was him.

And then engulfed in watching the pumpking, the red-head almost fell off of his broom again.

"Careful!" Cedric yelped, flying close enough to grip Jr's arm. "You're safe. I just---hush now, that's enough!"

That pumpkin had been getting louder and louder. He swiftly dropped it, punting the thing to crash into the ground somewhere else. Maybe the field mice could make pumpkin pies with the remains.

"Sorry about that. The spell's not usually so strong."

On your broomsticks! [OPEN]

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