fandomhigh | Flight and Flying (Friday, July 14, 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 didn't realize that he was imitating Obi-Wan's way of standing.

He gave a short nod to the class as they assembled in front of him. "Welcome," he said. "My name is Anakin Skywalker, but most of you know that. 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 Peter a small smile. "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 noise that's normally associated with the podracer. But the simulator has been programmed to go very, very quickly." He pointed to the simulator on the left-hand side. "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 pair up to fly against each other." He gave them a slightly predatory smile. "Since there are nine of you, the person without a partner will get to fly against me. 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."

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Dean climbed into the simulator, deliberately trying to take slow deep breaths to fight the urge to hyperventilate.

No big deal, he told himself. It was just a giant video game; his butt wasn't leaving this seat and this seat wasn't actually leaving the ground, no matter what it looked or felt like.

He could do this -- he'd always been good at video games. As long as he kept looking at this as just a big game...

Still, Dean had an excess of adrenaline running through his system as he started the run, which led to his attempt being rather like a podracer version of panicked flailing, that through probably more luck than skill managed to get him almost all the way through the course before smashing into a wall.

Anakin had been watching Dean closely. He hasn't seen anyone look that uncomfortable in a cockpit since Obi-Wan that time on Ithor--which had totally not been his fault.

When the sim went dark, he approached Dean. "You did really well for a first run," he said. "Want to try again?"

"No," Dean answered honestly. He took a deep breath. "But I will." He managed a shaky smile. "Just a big ol' video game right? Like racing cars, just without wheels."

"And faster," Anakin said, nodding.

He really thought he was being helpful.

"Yeah. That too." Dean turned back to the controls and grit his teeth. He could do this. He took another deep breath, humming to himself to try and keep his focus.

He started off again, with a little bit more control though he was still going through the course in a rather wild and haphazard way, carreening from near disaster to near disaster.

He actually made it cross the finish line though it was more in a long tumbling crash than coming to a controlled stop.

"Much better," Anakin said, more to be positive than because it was very true.

"No it wasn't," Dean said wryly, pulse still racing and eyes still a bit wild. "But at least I finished before I crashed that time."

"Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing," Anakin said, smiling.

"Walking away from landings is pretty much a continuous ambition of mine," Dean confirmed.

Flight and Flying (Friday, July 14, morning)

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

Re: Individual tries in the podracers

Re: Individual tries in the podracers