fandomhigh | Flight and Flying [Friday morning]

The flight simulator looked radically different than it had last week.

For one thing, there was only one. It was also longer, sleeker, and painted maroon and white.

Anakin leaned up against it with his eyes closed, holding a giant cup of coffee like it was the only thing keeping him upright--not entirely inaccurate--and waited for the class to arrive. When they came in, he put the box of cookies from J,GoB on a table and turned to face them.

"This is the training sim for the Delta-7 Aethersprite Interceptor," Anakin said, patting it. "It's better known as the Jedi starfighter. Today we're going to use it to practice flying in a zero-g environment."

He pushed a button and the door to the simulator swung open. "Because it's a trainer, it's designed for two people--a pilot and an instructor--to fit. The real things only have room for one being on the inside and an astromech droid." He looked at the class. "Um, think of it as a robotic co-pilot of sorts who can get to mechanical problems while you're flying. For example, fixing shields that have been damaged by laser fire." He pointed at the empty socket on the simulator. "Obviously, I don't have an astromech with me but the sim's been programmed to make up for that. And for very elementary maneuvers like we'll be working with today, you don't really need to learn how to work with the astromech."

He pointed into the inside of the cockpit. "There are a lot more controls on the starfighter than the podracer, obviously. Here you need to regulate atmosphere, gauge fuel and weapons' levels, as well as communications, landing gear and assorted other bells and whistles."

He tried to smile at them. It sort of worked. "But don't worry too much--you're not going to be tested on this." He sat in the cockpit and ~~handwavily~~ showed them how to make the ship speed up, slow down, turn and spin. "Obviously, this moves much faster than the podracer," he said, "and the sim has been programmed with the grav you'd have in your cockpit, so if you spin yourself too fast, you will make yourself sick. And then you will be cleaning out the sim."

Anakin clasped his hands together. "Okay. You'll each get a chance to try the sim out to learn how it works. You'll be in a program set way out in space so there's nothing for you to hit if you can't figure out how to steer right away and stuff. Once you feel more comfortable, there'll be a choice of two courses to run through--one that's strictly testing you on mobility, the other than also allows you to use the laser cannons. You can try either one, or both if you're feeling especially motivated." Anakin closed his eyes and drank from his cup of coffee again. "Get to work."

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Cameron of course had impeccable timing as he showed up after the workshop was over. "Yo, Anakin!"

Anakin winced at the noise, then spun around. "Cameron," he said, glaring. "Give me one reason--one--why I shouldn't force you to kick your own ass."

Both eyebrows went up as he hadn't exactly been expecting this kind of mood. "Because you like working on swoopbikes?" he tried.

Anakin rubbed his eyes and sighed. "Not as much as I like Molly," he said. "And you hurt her."

Oh, look, he was back to glaring. "You said you wouldn't hurt her."

"I said I didn't want to hurt her," Cameron nodded, quickly catching what this was about. "Which I did, it's not exactly something I'm happy with but Molly and I worked things out. We're good now. I know Rory seems to think I'm stringing Molly on, but she's wrong. I've been upfront with her."

"I didn't get this from Rory," Anakin said, taking a step closer. "I got this from Molly. Whatever she's telling you? She's not fine. Far as I can tell? That's entirely your fault. Which means that we're not fine."

Cameron tilted his head, not moving back. "Do you really think I did this on purpose? I screwed up, yes. I'm the first to admit that and I hate it. I took a risk and it turned out the wrong way. If you think kicking my ass for it is going to make Molly feel better, go ahead."

"This is about me keeping my promises," Anakin said, folding his arms over his chest. "You broke her heart. I break you. I told you that. I'm just following through."

"Fine," Cameron held up his hands. "Do you want to do it now or should I make an appointment? And if you could tell me what is up with Molly or at least give me some hint on what to do about it after you're done, I'd appreciate it because clearly she's not giving me the whole picture. It's hard to fix something when you don't know what's wrong."

Anakin blinked. "Are you naturally this stupid, or did you have to take a course?"

"It comes natural," Cameron told him, pulling back a little. "I don't know what you want me to do. I get that you're pissed and all I can say is that I'm sorry, but I already said that to Molly and I'm pretty sure this isn't exactly your business. I've already had Rory lecture me this weekend and I didn't know then what more I can possibly do then and I still don't know it now. So if you've got a suggestion. Go for it."

"Stop. Being. An. Ass," Anakin snapped. "Pick a position and stick with it. You're together, you're not, you want to, you don't. Just pick one. And if you've finally, finally come to your decision of just wanting to be friends because you're so broken or out of strikes or whatever," Anakin said, rolling his eyes, "then, yeah, I get to beat on you because that's not what Molly wanted to hear."

Cameron closed his eyes briefly. "I picked a position almost two weeks ago. Things weren't working so we went back to being friends. That's it and I'm sorry that that's not what Molly wants to hear, but forcing it is what made it go wrong in the first place."

"She kissed you back in May," Anakin pointed out. "And you've been changing your mind ever since. From where I'm standing, this looks a lot like taking advantage."

His hands clenched into fists. "And I don't appreciate that kind of behavior."

That stung and Cameron flinched at Anakin's words. "And I told her back in May that I wanted to just be friends. I screwed up. I should have listened to my instincts instead of to people telling me to go for it and take a risk. I thought I could make it work and I couldn't," he shook his head, his voice unsteady as he continued. "I have never lied to her, I never tried to mislead her. Sometimes relationships just don't work the way you want them to and it hurts."

"So ultimately you were never really interested in being more than friends? You just did it because other people pressured you into it?" Anakin narrowed his eyes. "That's dumb."

Yeah, there was a reason that Obi-Wan did all the talking.

"I didn't say that," Cameron sighed. "There was more there, yes. The timing was just off and I thought that maybe it didn't matter, that I could make it work and I was wrong."

"You were," Anakin said flatly. "And Molly didn't deserve that."

"No, she didn't," Cameron agreed.

"Which brings us back to you needing to kick your own ass."

"Do you honestly think I haven't already?"

"I'm not seeing bruises," Anakin said.

"Molly isn't the only one who got hurt in this," Cameron said softly, not that he expected it to matter.

"Yeah, I'm not really feeling moved," Anakin replied.

"I don't expect you to be," Cameron looked away. "I'll ask Sam for help," he decided and took a step back.

Re: Talk to Anakin

emo-padawan.livejournal.com - 2006-07-21 19:47 (UTC) - Expand

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