blood sweat tear

[imeanforever]

He's moving her to a different court to see if it'll improve her attitude. She's allowed to fly. It's been a long, long time since she was allowed to -

She is only allowed to fly to her destination, not anywhere else. She notices that she is not where she should be, that she cannot progress to where she was told to go, and she careens out of control when her wings won't flap anymore, and she crashes.

---

with Miles (kappa)

with Minus (kappa)

Comments

[imeanforever]

It doesn't look like anything. "It's settling," Promise announces after a brief moment.

[thisvorlunatic]

"As in the process that takes some unpredictable amount of time, or as in the end of that process?"

[imeanforever]

"The former."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Time to wait, then, I guess. Would you like me to show off more nifty mortal gadgets in the meantime?"

[imeanforever]

"Okay."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Did you like the look of that game I was playing? I could show off some of those. Or, I don't know, what do fairies not have, lightflyers? Float pallets? I suppose you don't need lift tubes..."

[imeanforever]

"I don't know what any of those things are."

[thisvorlunatic]

"That is a lightflyer." He points. "It's a flying vehicle that goes very fast. A float pallet is a levitating platform that can be hauled around as though it's mostly weightless regardless of how much stuff you pile onto it, as long as you don't exceed the safety limitations and break the thing. And a lift tube is a different application of the same technology used in float pallets, which allows wingless people to move from one floor to another inside a building without having to go up and down stairs. If none of those sounds sufficiently exciting to be worth a look, I'm sure I can think of more."

[imeanforever]

"They sound worth looking at," acknowledges Promise. "It must be inconvenient not to be able to fly."

[thisvorlunatic]

"I am pretty pleased about my lightflyer," says Silver. "If you'd like, I can fly you around in it and demonstrate how well it compensates for my tragic lack of inborn flight capability."

[imeanforever]

"Okay."

[thisvorlunatic]

He goes over to the lightflyer; he opens it so they can get in; he looks from Promise to the non-wing-optimized seating.

"Can you sit in there comfortably or do I need to disassemble the seat a bit?"

[imeanforever]

Promise's wings roll up behind her and she sits a bit forward. "It's okay."

[thisvorlunatic]

"All right. There is also a safety harness. You may wear or not wear the safety harness according to your preference; it's there to prevent serious injury in case of a crash, but for a number of reasons we're really unlikely to crash."

He goes around and gets in the pilot's seat and does up his safety harness.

[imeanforever]

Promise looks dubiously at the safety harness. She does not wear it.

[thisvorlunatic]

Silver does not say anything more about the safety harness. She has been informed, she has made her decision, there it is.

The lightflyer closes itself up and tidily departs the ground, rising noticeably faster than most fairies could manage.

The lake is even prettier from above, and the forest is a visually interesting tangle of green plants with red, and beyond the forest are the foothills of a range of tall and lovely mountains. Silver regards this vista with a smile of deep contentment and heads mountainward at a gentle acceleration.

[imeanforever]

Promise beholds the view. "The plants are different here," she murmurs.

[thisvorlunatic]

"Are they? The green stuff is from Earth, the red stuff is native to this planet," he says. "I'm nastily allergic to most of the local plant life but I do admit it can be attractive from a distance."

[imeanforever]

"Fairyland plants are more often green than anything else, but they can be other colors."

[thisvorlunatic]

"Earth plants come in other colours once in a while, I think, but green is a strong theme. The local stuff sticks to red and brown as far as I can tell."

They are definitely moving much faster than wing power could manage, although at this altitude the difference is a little subtle.

"I don't actually remember whether the mountains are named after a person so I'm erring on the side of caution - likewise the lake, and the planet, and a whole lot of cities - but those are my very favourite mountains in the galaxy. I grew up here."

[imeanforever]

"They're nice."

[thisvorlunatic]

He smiles.

As they approach the mountains and the elevation of the landscape below them rises, their speed becomes gradually more apparent. Zoom. Very zoom. Still a comfortable distance from anything they might conceivably crash into, but: zoom.

[imeanforever]

"I think there are some fairies who can fly this fast but I top out much lower."

[thisvorlunatic]

"It goes faster," he says. "If very fast flying vehicles are a thing that interests you, there's a wide selection available. Also some that will operate regardless of the presence or absence of air outside them, but those tend to be bigger and harder to fly."

[imeanforever]

"If you're trying to convince me the mortal world has cool stuff so I'll do magic for you, I don't object, but it's not the real bottleneck."