fandomhigh | Flight and Flying (Friday, May 26, morning)

Anakin stood in front of the Flight Club shed with his hands hidden in the folds of his robe, looking every inch the confident Jedi.

He gave a short nod to the class as they assembled in front of him. "Welcome," he said. "My name is Anakin Skywalker. You can call me Anakin or Master Skywalker--I don't really care." Secretly he was hoping someone would call him Master Skywalker, but he wasn't going to mention that. He looked at the students and continued. "Today, we're going to fly podracers." He cleared his throat and opened the door. "Well, in a simulator, anyway." He gave a small smile to Rory and Sam. "The last one I built was made for, um, much smaller people."

Inside the shed were two 6 foot-long simulators sitting side by side. Anakin walked over to one with evident pride. "Okay," he said, pointing at the controls, "everything you need to fly a podracer is located on its handlebars. You push them forward to go faster, pull back to slow down, and pull one or the other towards you to turn." He pointed at the buttons in the center of the console. "That controls the engines," he said. "You push the big button to light them up, and on these two models, you can push it again for an extra burst of speed." He looked at the class. "Which burns your fuel very, very quickly, so save that until you need it."

He raised an eyebrow. "Normally, these things are attached to giant engines--like 6 or 7 meter long engines--but these aren't real, and the simulator won't really give you the loudness that's normally associated with the podracer. But the simulator has been programmed to go very, very quickly." He pointed to the left-hand simulator. "This one, properly piloted, can get up to 950 kilometers an hour. The other can get up to 900. To fly a podracer at those kinds of speed requires iron nerves and split-second reflexes."

He clasped his hands in front of him. "Okay. Today you can take a turn learning how the simulators work, then I've put you into pairs to fly against each other." He gave them a slightly predatory smile. "And if you'd like, after that you can fly against me. Fair warning, I built the real version of this podracer," he patted the left-hand simulator, "and used it to win a race when I was nine years old. And I won't give you a head start."

[OOC: ~~Plz to wait for the amazing OCD...~~ Done! Fly away!]

Oh, and in terms of simulator, mod yourself through whatever twists and turns you think you'd make, especially in the comment where you're by yourself. The modifications that Anakin has made cause the simulator on the left (the one that looks like his podracer) to be much more likely to spin into walls and down canyons and stuff if you don't have super-reflexes--but it's a sim, so you'd only get a "game over" type deal--no real damage.

ETA: He finally noticed that the sim was hinky. Both now work like they should, so you're on equal footing when you face off against each other.

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Anakin nodded. Because it really, really did explain it.

"Relationships are weird," she states simply.

"I believe you," Anakin said.

She raises an eyebrow, and decides everyone is dense, but leaves it alone in case it needs to be left alone. "Yes, of course."

Anakin's cheeks went pink. "What?"

"You're kidding, right?"

"Hardly ever," Anakin answered honestly.

"Rory."

The color drained from Anakin's face. "Oh."

"You really thought I didn't know?" she asks curiously.

"Kind of hoped," Anakin said, staring at his boots. He met Aeryn's eyes for a second. "I shouldn't be," he said softly, then looked back at the ground. "It's going against millennia of rules." He bit his lip, then squared his shoulders and stood straight. "But I find myself not really caring."

She nods knowingly. "I wasn't exactly supposed to get involved with anyone, either. Especially someone not even of my own species," she admits. "Didn't stop me at all. I get it."

Anakin gave her a shy smile. "Worth it?" he asked.

Aeryn curls her left hand to smooth her thumb against the ring on her finger. "I was in trouble the microt I met him and I can still say yes," she answers.

Anakin bit his lower lip. "Me too," he said, blushing.

"If it helps at all, I'm not going to say anything," she says. "I always figured if you weren't saying anything about it, it was for a reason."

"It really is," Anakin said finally. "I know that no one here really keeps in contact with the Jedi Council or anything, but this? Would get me kicked out." He stared at his hands. "And I don't know how to be anything else."

"Yeah," she says, and adds, "It all comes down to a choice and even if you know from the beginning what you have to do... It's hard."

Anakin nodded, swallowing hard. "The end of the summer is going to be...difficult." He shook his head sharply. "But I'm not going to think about that now."

"No," she agrees. And changes the subject, sort of. "I came back with my Prowler, though. I can't fly it, but I have it."

"Is it broken? Or does it have a tracking device or something that they could use to find where you went?"

"No tracking device, but it's pretty obvious. And the Peacekeepers already found me once, technically," she says. "It should operate just fine, despite a low fuel supply and the fact that it's not getting the maintenance it's supposed to, though."

"Any time you want me to take a look at it, let me know," Anakin said. "Not sure what I can do about fuel, but I know the twitchy-finger thing about wanting to get back up into space." He smiled. "I talked to Obi-Wan about getting a starfighter out here for the end of the seminar for the students who would be ready for that kind of a firepower."

"I was going to ask when you were free," she admits with a little smile. And about the last part, she asks, "Seriously?"

"This weekend I'm working on Alec's motorcycle," Anakin said, "but most of the week I have nothing but time on my hands." He grinned back at the second part. "Seriously. He has to ask the Council--they're not exactly thrilled at the idea, but Obi-Wan's very convincing when he wants to be."

Re: Talk to Anakin

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