fandomhigh | Flight- Monday- 3rd period

Entry tags:

flight and flying

Flight- Monday- 3rd period

The students had been instructed to meet in the Danger Shop, where they'd find themselves in a large field with hot air balloons in front of them. They'd also find Jaina, who was back to her correct gender and was shielding like woah, because sdhsdhs, basically.

"I did tell you you'd by flying all sorts of craft, didn't I?" she began. "For those of you who don't know, this is a hot air balloon. People get in these, fly through the air, and let the wind take them where it will. I think it's crazy, personally, but as long as we're in the Danger Shop, that's sort of the place for crazy."

She gave them a short lecture on how to actually work the things- most importantly how to get down- and said, "I want you to pair up in twos or threes if you want and take one of these things up for a while. And please, no one push anyone else out of the baskets, that's just uncalled for."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It's short, and you might be missing necessary info, but hey. Where else are you gonna pick your partners?

Cade looked around, hoping he wouldn't end up with someone he'd actually consider tossing from the basket.

"Why," Victor asked Cade with some distaste as he looked at the balloons, "would anybody want to go up in one of those in 2013?"

He paused. "And do you wanna pair with me?"

Victor was a stellar salesman.

Edited 2013-01-28 14:21 (UTC)

"What time should we want to go up in the air in a balloon with no engine?" Cade asked, frowning hard at the thing.

"And sure. What the hell."

"Back in 1800 it was like the only way to fly," Victor explained. "But even then --"

He shook his head. "C'mon. Let's go before I lose my nerve."

Karina was back to her normal self! That alone was cause for a good mood today!

She glanced around for a partner.

Evan was actually pretty excited about this! It was flying, but not at the breakneck speeds that he was used to! Actually, it would be kind of relaxing!

And that's why he approached the nearest person who seemed to be looking for a partner without really checking to see who it was, first.

"A hot air balloon," he was almost chirping, yes. "Doesn't that sound- Oh!" Oh... "Hi, Karina."

Awkward.

So awkward.

Karina had already been looking at him funny when he’d approached her chirping of all things but his abrupt realization told her what had happened clearly enough. Just a mistake. "Evan," she said, "hi."

… if he wanted to go away, he could do that now. She’d totally understand.

Maybe she would, and maybe he was tempted to do just that, but now that he'd initiated a conversation, he was going to bravely barrel ahead with it. Walking away would be rude. He took a deep breath, attempted to look, of all things, as normal as possible, and gave her a smile.

"Have you ever been up in one of these things?"

Everything was fine. See?

He was even smiling at her. Crap. That meant there was zero chance of him just going and letting them pretend this hadn’t happened.

And she couldn’t tell him to go away because… because he was the one that had made the mistake. Karina’s smile was rather doubtful, since she was hugely dubious about this being an even vaguely good idea and this was all his fault anyway, but it was there.

Happy, Evan?

"Not me," she said, giving the balloons a look. "We see them in Sternbild, but they’re mostly for advertisements. You?"

"Never," Evan replied, bound and determined, now, to make some good come from his mistake. "I mean, you see them sometimes back home, too, but they're more... novelty things that get pulled out around county fairs and the like. I never got to go up in one myself."

His family had never been poor, but a balloon ride was still a luxury they couldn't afford. And besides, he had his jetpack.

... Which wasn't quite the same thing.

That wasn’t even remotely the same thing.

"I’ve never been to a country fair," Karina offered, since she had to say something. "Sternbild’s rather… too big for country."

No kidding.

She steeled herself. "Did you want to be my partner for this?"

Karina hoped he’d say no but seriously doubted that he would. It was totally unfair that social manners said she had to ask.

Good call, Karina! And Evan... Well, he could think of worse fates than being stuck in a hot-air balloon for the rest of class with the girl who had freaked out at him for using his powers, at least, so he swallowed, and nodded.

"I'd love to be," he replied. "Thanks for asking."

Because he couldn't say no!

Look, she wasn’t the one who’d started this whole conversation! This was all his fault. If one of them hadn’t asked, now, they’d have just spent the class making awkward small talk because leaving would be rude.

Wasn’t it better to get this over with?

Karina shrugged, almost apologetically if you squinted. "Lead the way?"

Oh, guess who looked more than a little bit sulky about this.

Because really? These things looked clunky and unmaneuverable and slower than a sleepy bantha with a bad leg. What fun was this going to be?

. . . sorry, Jaina, but this reaction from him was probably predictable.

"This is dumb," Topher whined. "There isn't any tech on it, like, at all."

Hi, Anakin! Want to be partners?

Hey, for once they could agree on something, right?

"This is low-tech even for this galaxy," Anakin said sulkily, thereby proving that he had, in fact, inherited the Skywalker Whine Trait in full. "No life support systems, no navigation, no way we can even get out of the atmosphere. What's the point?"

"I'm generally against any transportation mechanisms that can be destroyed by a really sharp leaf," Topher said. "All the beautiful tech systems in the world, including jet packs and rocket boots, and she goes for the one rich tourists thought was romantic back in the eighteen hundreds."

SIGH.

"My sister loves a challenge," replied Anakin, who felt obligated to defend Jaina even in the middle of a giant sulking fit. Then the first part of what Topher had said sank in, and he looked horrified. "A leaf? These things are that fragile?"

Come on, Earth, no ridiculously durable fabrics? Get on that.

Topher shrugged. "Probably!" That was encouraging! "So, wanna go fly one?"

"Kriffing fantastic," muttered Anakin. "It doesn't look like it can even carry the weight of a really basic navcomputer."

He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, as if it needed the extra help being messy.

"Sure, let's go see what, if anything, one of those things can do."

"Probably not much," Topher sighed. "If we get bored, we can always try to upgrade it?"

That was not likely. But with that, he set off toward the balloons.

Edited 2013-01-28 16:22 (UTC)

Well.

Emily supposed at least one of the classes had to be boring.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Flight- Monday- 3rd period

Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture

Re: Listen to the lecture