I2DT - Barely Controlled Flight ((open))

[Amy Myers]

Amy, still kind of frustrated from her talk with Basil, is in the Danger Room, staring down an aerial obstacle course. It's not too complicated, just a number of holographic hoops projected within the canyons of a cityscape. She's wearing a training outfit along with a short cape. She's looking a little worn out and her hair is in bit of a disarray. Here and there the buildings around the course have broken windows or faint signs of impacts left behind on their walls. Amy takes a deep breath and slowly raises into the air from where she's standing on one of the rooftops. She let's out her breath and zips off through the air towards the first hoop. She zooms right through it but continues on afterwards, only stopping and suddenly changing directions at a weird angle in an attempt to aim for the next checkpoint. Instead she narrowly misses it and slams into the side of a building before she has a chance to correct her flight.

The room produces a loud angry buzzing sound that only serves to startle her, making her miss the next hoop as her power hurls her down the street at a downward angle. She barely manages to get her feet underneath herself and lands in an awkward run that has her stumbling head over feet until she finally slides to a stop. "Damnit!" she curses, rubbing her various sore spots.


((open thread))

[Wanda Johansson]

"Rough time?" says a voice from the intercom on the observation deck.

[Amy Myers]

Amy is in the process of getting up and dusting herself off when she noticeably tenses at the realization that someone is watching her.

"I, uh, yeah, I g-guess." she answers, looking around a bit awkwardly, not sure which direction to talk towards.

[Wanda Johansson]

The system removes the image hiding the observation deck to reveal a tall young woman standing at the window. She dressed in a training uniform as well, though her's has a cape in a different style. "Flying gives me all sorts of grief," she says over the intercom. "Mind if I join you?"

[Amy Myers]

"Uh, yeah, sure, I guess..." she says a bit hesitantly.

[Wanda Johansson]

The observation deck reshrouded and after a bit, the door opened, admitting Wanda to the simulation. "Hi. My name's Wanda."

[Amy Myers]

"Amy. Hope I didn't make too much of an ass of myself there..."

[Wanda Johansson]

Wanda gave a dismissive gesture, "Don't worry about it. Judging by the impact marks, you've earned a little time being an ass. Turning's a real problem isn't it?" The wind ruffled Wanda's cape a bit.

[Amy Myers]

"Turning, stopping, any kind of control really..." she says carefully.

[Wanda Johansson]

"How do you fly?" She looked carefully at Amy. Then she quickly added, "Not that I'm an expert. I'm just curious."

[Amy Myers]

That question seems to perplex Amy a little. Apparently she's never really thought about it. "Uhm... I just do. There's this restlessness inside me and it just kind of makes me ignore gravity and pulls me along."

[Wanda Johansson]

Wanda scratched her nose as she thought. "Dumb question, but have you tried one of the higher altitude courses? Less slamming into buildings and the room can give you some support to give you a bit more freedom."

[Amy Myers]

"Yeah, but this is the course I'm supposed to work on."

[Wanda Johansson]

Wanda looked thoughtful, then a thought seemed to actually occur to her and she looked sheepish, "Sorry, I'm giving unsolicited advice again. I get that from my mother."

[Amy Myers]

"I've never really thought too much about why I fly, so thanks anyway, I guess. It's fine, really."

[Wanda Johansson]

"I just think about whys all the time I guess," Wanda said, looking towards the hoops. The wind curled around and fluttered both their capes. "Maybe try what I do. Try to use your cape to help you steer? It works... sometimes."

[Amy Myers]

"I've tried that. It's... really more for show." she admits. "I mean... eventually. If I ever get to the point of showing off, I guess." She suddenly regretted even adding it in the first place. What a stupid idea.

[Wanda Johansson]

"You'll get there. We're all trying to get there. Why don't you give it another shot?" She gestured towards the hoops.

[Amy Myers]

"Right. Yeah. Sure." she says and turns towards the course. She slowly hovers into the air and then zooms off, managing the first hoop pretty well again. Picturing the curve in her head she manages to bend her trajectory, although it's not quite enough to make the turn. She manages to turn around her own axis and only hit the wall at an angle this time, dragging along it with her back until the building stops and she tumbles through the air for a moment. To her credit, instead of continuing straight towards the ground this time she manages to slow herself down and keep hanging in mid-air, trying to catch her breath and calm her nerves.

[Wanda Johansson]

"Hey, you're still flying," Wanda calls up to her.

[Amy Myers]

"Y-yeah!" she calls back, wavering back and forth in the air a little. "That's something, right?"

[Wanda Johansson]

Wanda nodded, "Give me a minute. I'll try to join you." The wind whipped up around Wanda and she rose into the air, wobbling slightly, but eventually managing to hover up to where Amy was.

[Amy Myers]

Amy holds up her arm in front of her face when the winds start whipping around her. "That explains the huge cape."

[Wanda Johansson]

"That and anything on me is huge," she said with a chuckle. She managed to tighten the wind, trying to keep it out of Amy's face. No sense in taking out the other flyer.

[Amy Myers]

"I wasn't going to say anything." she jokes carefully.

[Wanda Johansson]

Wanda laughs. "Yeah. I had to make peace with being tall some time ago."

[Amy Myers]

"Nothing wrong with being tall. I think it's great. Very... stately."

[Wanda Johansson]

"Growing up, stately was a word I would never have believed would be applied to me. Thank you," she said with a chuckle.

[Amy Myers]

"Lots of girls would kill to be tall. Then again, I guess plenty of people would kill to be able to do this..." she says, glancing down to where her feet are hovering way above the street.

[Wanda Johansson]

"I would give a lot to be shorter, but I don't think I could give up this," she said, gesturing at their floating selves.

[Amy Myers]

"This is pretty cool. It's the rest of it that's bugging me..."

[Wanda Johansson]

"The training? Or something else?"

[Amy Myers]

Amy looks hesitant for a moment, chewing on her lip as she tries to make up her mind. Ultimately she comes to the conclusion that this is the one place where she should be able to be open about this. Plus after what happened in the XUB it's not like she'll be able to really keep this a secret anyway.

"No... This." she says and holds both her palms out, aimed at a building a block or so away. She begins to glow faintly and a stream of bright white energy pours from her hands and slams into the building, shattering windows and stripping away the wall until the entire corner of the building is blown away. The stream of energy carves a path of destruction through the building, all the while pulsing as if it was straining to grow wider. In turn beads of sweat are forming on Amy's forehead as she slowly forces the beam to diminish. She finally manages to close her hands into fists and cut the beam off. In the distance the building with most of it's front missing groans faintly before the roof collapses into it's frame with a loud crash.

[Wanda Johansson]

Wanda made a thoughtful noise, "That's interesting. And it's certainly effective. The destruction bothers you?"

[Amy Myers]

"It doesn't bother you?" she asks almost a bit incredulously. "Real houses aren't empty. If I ever lose my grip on this..."

[Wanda Johansson]

"I could roll out the speech they gave us when I was back at the Institute, but the gist of it is that that's why you're here: to figure out what keeping a grip means and takes." Wanda lifted her hands to the 'sky' and there was a loud rumble as storm clouds began rapidly forming and dumping rain on the area in front of them. "Everyone here is keeping a grip on something."

[Amy Myers]

"I guess..." she's forced to admit at the sight of a storm brewing within moments. Did everyone else deal with the same stuff? Vinny didn't seem to, but Basil kind of did and she can't argue with Wanda's display. "You keep that under wraps inside you all the time?" She suddenly feels whiny and weak in comparison. Maybe it wasn't her power that's too strong, maybe she's just too weak.

[Wanda Johansson]

Wanda waves her hands and the rain begins to slowly taper off. "Back at the Institute, I accidentally hit a power outlet with a lightning bolt while I was arguing with my roommate. Luckily they were prepared for that and it only took out the power in our room, but yeah, I'm pretty constantly aware of what the weather wants to do and what my power would like to do with it. It's taken a lot of time and effort to get it to this point."

[Amy Myers]

Amy frowns a little and slowly let's herself sink down until she gently lands on the roof of the house they're hovering over. "Maybe you're right..."

[Wanda Johansson]

Wanda followed her in a somewhat wobbly fashion. "Not that you asked for it, but my advice is to break things off into manageable pieces. Aim for the next hoop as it were."