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

[thewunderkind]

"Is that a challenge? Because your on!"

She walked over to the brooms and looked at them.

"So I just grab the one I want?"

[theboywhodied]

"It is now!" This one had a competitive spirit. She might be a Quidditch player in the future, so he resolved to keep an eye on her.

"Yeah, pick any one. They're all the same. Then you'll mount and kick off. Shall I show you how?"

He'd better. Cedric had the fleeting thought that Lash was the type of person to jump into things headfirst without waiting for instruction.

[thewunderkind]

Pick one up she did, quickly moving it exactly like he was holding it. It was, possibly a good thing he hadn't asked her to do the whole, getting it to stand up in your hands because it would have probably smacked her in the face on the first try.

"Well it depends what you mean by kick off. I push myself off the ground?" She would have run around to see what worked, if it wasn't for the fact that it would look really dumb.

[theboywhodied]

Yes, it was a very good thing, but he would've helped her anyway.

"That's all there is to it. You bend your knees and use your feet to propel yourself in the air, like this."

He landed, squatted, and performed a tricky little kick at the best angle for a fast takeoff. That had taken some effort to master.

[thewunderkind]

"Soo... like thi--" the broom tore off in the sky and Lash held on to it by both hands as it moved by it's own accord one way and the other.

"HEY NO! STOP THAT! BAD BROOM!"

[theboywhodied]

"Lash!" Cedric tore off after her, zooming up to get a handle on her broom's handle.

"Maybe...maybe that was a little too fast. Balance, breathe. We'll get a handle on steering in a moment. You just point the handle and shift your weight, all right?"

[thewunderkind]

"Aww come on! I was made for the dangerous stuff! I've done worst than hang upside down with just my hands on a broom!" She pushed herself upwards, which was slightly difficult with not having much platform to work with and adjusted herself.

"So you're telling me I control this like a stealth fighter?"

[theboywhodied]

"I'm sure you have," he said, still feeling mild disbelief. How much worse could it get?

"I've never flown a stealth fighter, so I couldn't tell you, but...probably? If it helps you to think of it that way? Show me how that would work."

[thewunderkind]

"With pleasure!" Suddenly, the pair found themselves inside the workings of a black stealth fighter, as Lash disembarked from her broom, assuming the controls of the two-person jet.

"You might want to tie yourself down using the seat belt," she offered.

[theboywhodied]

Cedric started. Wow, that was sudden, but he supposed it made sense that others could just as easily take control of the simulation. He hastily followed her instructions, taking just a split-second longer to figure out the clicks.

"This'll be even faster?"

[thewunderkind]

An evil grin spread across her face, as she pressed a series of buttons and the hovering vehicle slowly turned itself around from floating into a full frontal burst. "I have no idea how many Gs your broom can do, but trust me, this is gonna be a trip."

She pressed the big red button and the plane suddenly tore off in the sky.

[theboywhodied]

"Got it!" Cedric gripped the seat as they tore off, pressed back as the sky raced past them. It was an incredible marvel Broom travel might be possible at this speed, but it certainly wouldn't be safe .

It was thrilling for the sheer speed, but he preferred the broom---being out in the air, really feeling the flight. "How much faster?"

[thewunderkind]

"this baby can travel at Super Sonic speeds," Lash explained. "Even if this just a simple sensorium thing, I dunno how the brain would handle the effect, real or not." She pressed another button and two oxygen masks appears.

"Wear this first," she explained. "Pilots wear them so they don't loose consciousness in a flight. In my world they do anyway. Then I'll show you some real speed and height." She demonstrated how to properly put it on and waiting for him to go next.

[theboywhodied]

Cedric wasted no time in following suit. "We probably would've invented a spell for this, but I'll do this your way. Let's see just how fast it is."

He really was curious. But he'd always prefer brooms, always! No matter how many bells, whistles, and machs the plane had.

[thewunderkind]

"Good!" She gave him a thumbs up, her voice distorted by the breathing apparatus. "Let's take this plane to new heights...and beyond!" She pressed a few more buttons and switched to manual controls.

The hum of the rockets stopped for half a second, and they began to fall down when she punched full throttle in. Instantly, the plane tore into the skies, into the atmosphere, barely a few seconds before they were above the clouds, the blackness of the fake Sensoriums space above them. Lash's ears popped as she forced a yawn. All that could be heard now was the roar of the engines and the clouds, which passed so fast they were mostly a blur.

"Now this is where it gets good!" Then she made the plane go even faster, as they speed down to the earth again, this time over a large, expanding sea of water that didn't seem to end. Expertly, she hovered closely above it, until, suddenly, there was a BOOM behind them as they surpassed the speed of sound, sending ripples of ice crystals and waves below them. Again, she took to the skies, this time the clouds moving like ripples right after they passed.

"Woohoo! Now that's what it feels like to go Super Sonic!"

The speed gradually died down as quickly as it had begun, and just a few minutes after they had started, she put on the hovering mode, the jet moving gently above the clouds again.

[theboywhodied]

They were going to send it up, all right. Cedric winced at the air pressure, but he could fix that with some swallowing. It was much faster and higher than he'd ever experienced. He wasn't sure he liked it.

Yet it was undeniable that the stars were beautiful. Cedric admired them, then the seas. He had to close his eyes for just a moment and remember to breathe, but they got through it.

When they were finished, he paused for breath, slamming a hand over his chest. "Your technology's amazing," was all he could say, awed by it all.

[thewunderkind]

"Of course it is!" She said without modesty, happy at a chance to show off. Without warning, she did a loop, thankfully the seat belt locks still in place. "It controls like a dream too! That's because I built this model myself!"

The vehicle them descended back into where they had started, before disappearing completely once they landed and they were back on the solid ground.

"Of course that's just one of the things I invented. Not all flying mind you but..." she took the broom again, closing one eye to look at it. "Maybe if I built a control panel on it..."

[theboywhodied]

An inventor, then! She was clever, no doubt. "You work in the Engineering department, then?" He'd heard of it! Not that he'd ever be able to be part of it.

He did have to warn her about mixing magic and Muggle devices, though. "I don't think you should. Magic's known to interfere with Muggle devices. Things like your radios and stopwatches don't work on Hogwarts grounds---the air's too concentrated with magic, and it stops them from functioning."

[thewunderkind]

"I work in a lot of departments," she replied, grinning. "But yeap! Engineering's one of them."

As he went on, however, Lash raised an eyebrow at his comments. "Muggles? Hogwarts Grounds? What are those?"

[theboywhodied]

"Muggles are people who can't use magic," Cedric started. "Your technology things are excellent, I'm sure, but they wouldn't work around too much magic. And Hogwarts is a wizarding school. I'd just about finished my sixth year of training before I found myself here."

It appeared just outside the window as he thought, the old castle majestic even in its emptiness.

[thewunderkind]

"Oh so you're a wizard!" That...would explain the brooms genius. "But tee hee hee, you've got another thing coming if you think I'm just a...muggle? Muggle's the right word right? Right! I'm Black Hole Wunderkind Genius extraordinaire! Maybe most people from your world live boring normal lives, but it's nothing like that in War's World!"

She looked over the castle.

"Ooooh. Snazzy. I never went to school."

[theboywhodied]

"The word doesn't mean you're ordinary." Cedric's interested in her other words, though.

"It's called War World and you never went to school. Does that mean you were training your entire life? You didn't have time for studies?"

[thewunderkind]

"I was part of Black Hole," she explained. "Let's just say that where I come from, they tried to take over the world. Worked with Sturm at first, he was a pretty cool guy." She made the 7 feet tall man appear before them. "Nice guy. Liked war, hated peace, you probably know the type. Mostly cause most people I talked too knew someone like him. Anyway, the other nations beat him up, we lost the war, Hawke killed him to take over, we left to come back a few years later. Then the Bolt Guard took over, Hawke and I changed sides, helped the Allied Nations win against him, etc etc etc. I was a soldier for all of my life," she added with a grin. "The brightest Black Hole had to offer! No one could build weapons like me, and no one ever did!"

She said it with such a straight face it was almost strange.

[theboywhodied]

That was...new. "I did know someone like him...but they're usually not described as nice. Or cool."

War? The wizarding world was terrified of war! It was so strange to meet someone who seemed to revel in it. He tried to retain his polite warmth, but he wondered if this woman had anything in common with him at all. Other than the flying thing.

"So I suppose you're well prepared for all of this. It's just another war, huh?"

[thewunderkind]

"Yeah the bad guys aren't really described as being cool or nice by the people they are fighting normally," she said agreeing. Lash was pretty cool about the whole used-to-be evil thing.

"Well not quite!" She said with her usual dramatic flare. "It's a question of me being prepared for all sorts of situations. But war tends to be rather...um...not as easy to predict when you're the one not causing it, you know?"