| Details for Flights of Fancy |
| Summary: | In which Angus gets personal tuition from JOCUNDA SYKES!! |
| Date: | 1939-01-05 |
| Location: | London Velodrome |
| Related: | — |
| Characters |
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There is, perhaps a large Gymnasium building somewhere in Wizarding London where someone can fly indoors, and within it, Angus is doing laps and loops.
A hushed silence passes over the people are using the Velodrome. It's a Broom Racing Venue from the indoor series - But when it's not in use for obstacle runs of circuits, it's free for the public to use. But that's not what causes a hush. The hush comes from the dirty-blonde haired woman who walks in with an Oakshaft held firmly in one hand. Jocunda pauses to attend to those who flock to her, before she signs a few things and mounts her broom with an affectionate wave for her fans. Joining those in the air, and causing more than a few fumbles.
Angus is head down, doing steep banking turns, and shoving a hand out occasionally to grab one of the end posts to pinwheel his way around it in a rather…. risky fashion.
Jocunda leans into her oakshaft, the woman flattening herself against her old friend, picking up height and speed swiftly as enters the Velodrome proper, joining the several other people flying around the wide open space. She's taking it easy for her warmup, navigating a swift slalom, weaving back and forth with an almost casual air, despite her speed.
Angus flies straight past one of the slalom posts. Past? No…. one scrawny foot has hooked itself around it, and he does a neat 180 turn, barely losing any speed, although a few of his bristles flip out of the broom end in protest. "Yeah! I didnae thing that would wuruk!" And of course, not thinking something will work is a _great_ reason to try it.
That's little figure looks familiar. The Quidditch Pro twists a little on her broom at the neat 180', a neat corkscrew sliding thet woman alongside him. "Angus; wasn't it?" She greets him with the bizarre informality of a casual acquintance. A smile at his broom, "I see you decided to stick with what you knew best?"
She should know, after all. What she's riding? Nothing less than her legendary Oakshaft, in it's pristine condition.
Angus admits quietly, "I cannae afford tae upgrade just yet." It's said _really_ quietly. "That's a nice little screw yehs did there, Miss Sykes. Howsit go?"
"A friend;" Jocunda admits with a chuckle. "Just out-raced me on one of those the other day." And it's a loss that shes is being significantly more gallant about than Shelley is. "It's an easy enough corkscrew, little one. It's just about keeping your balance, heading, and remembering which way is /up/." A smirk.
Angus hrms, and essays it. It's not a bad first go. But he does end up at 90 degrees to reality at the end, "Mebee no _quite_ like that!"
"Relax, Angus." Jocunda smiles, watching him end up on a tilt. "The problem with that is that if you then had to make a sharp turn, you might end up straight in the ground. You should /always/ know what your heading is, at any point. The minute you forget it, you need to stop, and figure out which way you're facing and how you're sitting." A pause. And then she flies up in another smooth, graceful corkscrew. Over the top of the boy, to his other side, she speaks calmly. "90, 270, 0, 180, 0, 90, 270, 0." Calling out her angle as she goes, stopping at the last zero and righting herself. "Understand?"
His second attempt is smoother- three full corkscrews, which he slightly overdoes, perhaps by 20 or 30 degrees, which he then rocks back, "Whoah. Wee bittie light headed!"
"Much better. If you don't know where your broom is, you've got /no/ chance." Jocunda pulls a little bit closer to Angus. "Once you're more familiar, you can do things even more exotic. Some just to show off.. Others can be useful. But Showmanship is a Quidditch Players Best Friend."
Angus floats easily, "Ah saw one where you half looped aroond the ball an took a shot upside doon."
Jocunda smirks. It's a lovely, tell-tale Sykes expression. "Exactly. It's for the fans, Angus. It's so the crowd wants /you/ to win." The woman pulls up swiftly, twisting 180's and then pulling firmly on her broom - She flies upside down for only a moment, miming catching a quaffle tucking it in an rolling back up the right way with a snicker.
Angus laughs, "That's BRILLIANT!" He pauses, "What's th' Beater version? Ah mean, Ah play pretty physical. So, lots of Bludgers t'wards th' other side."
Jocunda giggles softly, and dips down. Swerving amongst the obstacles beneath, it's without warning when she suddenly comes flying up directly infront of Angus, a tight spin making it all the more dramatic when she releases the handle of the broom, her knees slowing the spin for a fraction of a second - She leans away from the broom, and mock-swings at an imaginary bludger with both hands, and all her might - One of her hands following through, catching the broom and peeling off with another wonderful twist.
Angus's jaw drops. "Och, that is gonnae be a _billiant_ crowd pleaser. Ah heard o' somthin' called an Immelmann." And he's away towards the far end of the drome, spinning at the end (and using his boot against the wall as he does so, then he's flying back at speed
It's a combination of a half loop from below you, and up, with one hand dropped from the handle as he goes around you to swing an imaginary bat at your head as if it was the bludger, followed by a half roll, to leave him right way up, and flying in the opposite direction. Not a brilliantly performed manoever, but you get the general idea. No way would he have hit something he was shooting at though
"Has a /lot/ of promise." Jocunda smiles. "I've always called that a roll-off-the-top. Immelmann sounds significantly fancier." The woman pulls up sharply, catching herself on an obstacle in order to assist her slowdown - Holding onto it, she floats, and waits for Angus to join her. If he does, of course
Of course he does, by the simple expedient of grabbing the back of her broom handle, just behind her butt, and half looping himself up, using her brooms speed as well as his own, and dangling, upside down, a couple of feet above her at the end of the manoever.
Jocunda… Well. If there was /ever/ a face like thunder, it would be hers right now - Her grip keeps the broom from shifting overly much as it's grasped, . It takes a few long seconds, and a few deep breathes, before she can speak even. And then it's very firm. "… Never… Touch… My Broom." The celebrity has a fixed glare, too. The sort that promises horrible things. "Are we clear?"
Angus blinks, "Och, Ah'm sowry Miss Sykes. It wus jus' there…"
"And if you just missed? Or clipped it?" Jocunda asks. still floating upon her treasured broom. "Or if I didn't have a firm hold on my broom. All of these things can be disastrous, Angus. As a rule, /never/ touch someone else's broom without their explicit permission. "
Angus looks abashed, "But you'd ALWAYS have good grip. You're Jocunda Sykes." And it looks like he viewed it as a Quidditch field move. And it also looks like he plays… as he says… 'physically'. "An' if I missed, I'd have spiraled in, and broken a leg again, probably!"
'Again', huh?
"What would you do, if you had damaged my broom, Angus? Much less broken your leg — again — ?" Jocunda is at least polite enough to put his leg above her broom. Not much, admittedly. "There's nothing wrong with a bit of a shove, a friendly bludger or some physical interference. But the only hands on a broom, should be the riders.
Angus ponders this, "Okay." It's a bit grudging, but there we go. It's YOU saying it. "An' if I'd hurrrt your broom, I'd have heroically caught you."
You can practically see him writing 'Daily Prophet' headlines in his mind, "Hero Schoolboy saves plummetting Quidditch Star in Hero Dive Heroically'
Jocunda pauses. She takes on a more serious tone. "… This is the first broom I ever rode, Angus. We crossed an ocean together. Can you heroically replace that?" The headline becomes less heroic. 'Schoolboy Ruins Quidditch Star Sykes Most Treasured Possession Forever.'
"Think." A pause. And a sigh. "Hey. Sorry, I just… I get protective." A gentle pet for her broom. "Why don't I show you something kinda neat instead?"
Angus rolls himself back the right way up, and drops down a little. "Och, sorry, Miss Sykes." A pause, "And yes, that'd be neat!"
One boot kicks off the obstacle, and Jocunda takes the the skies again. Of course, some other people are watching - And there's a few interested parties as Jo picks up speed and altitude, and then pulls /straight/ up, headed for the roof of the Velodrome. The broom is slowed in the same instance, Jocunda's grip changing abruptly - Releasing one hand, one foot, and kicking the oakshaft with the other as she bends and twists in a way so graceful it might have Douglas's lower jaw cleaning the flooor. Her body lines up with the broom, kicked in a perfect one eighty. She remounts swiftly, and accellerates /straight/ down. Pulling up at the last possible moment, the woman allows herself a chuckle as she speeds back to Angus.
Angus lets out a 'whoah' noise, and is already pulling up.
His turn at the top is similar, but he doesn't _quite_ get astride as easily at the top, meaning that in addition to a straight fast dive (which he manages) there's also a twisting element to his manoever, which if he doesn't pull up in time will result in him corkscrewing into the floor. He does pull up, but late (as Jocunda can probably anticipate a split second or so before he does it), and his feet in the last flipping turn bash into the floor with an audible thud. "Ow!" he says, but it's in good humour, as he lifts back up to the floating player. "I mightnae have got that _quite_ right."
Jocunda watches as yet another person picks up on the move. It's nice. "It's not the fastest, or the most elegant. But it's misleading as hell for anyone trying to figure out what the hell you're doing, and the crowd'll love the way you look doing it." She grins. "Again though. Remember where you are, and your broom.
Angus lets out a little sight, "I dinnae think Ah'll be able to sit doon on a broom for a week when Duggie catches up wi' me tho'."
"Why? What've you done to… Him?" Jocunda was going to attempt the name, but there are so many ways she could have got it wrong.
Angus admits, as he floats there casually, "There _might_ have been gatecrashin' a sixth and seventh year party where there wus booze and smoochin', and things, and poooossibly one o' th thugs kickin' me oot mighta gotten a black eye."
"My sister better not have come to harm," Jocunda warns, "But hey, if you can't get invited to a party, you might as well crash it." A soft giggle, as she slowly descends.
Angus adds, "Aaaaaand, there might _also_ have been itchin' powder and skin dye in the guest bedroom beds." He also lets his broom drift downwards.
Jocunda can't help but giggle a little bit at that. "Ah. Sometimes I miss being one of you Warties, you know. Wasn't so long ago I was playing pranks and seeing just what I can get away with. Careful what buttons you press though. Some people demand a mean answer."
Angus says virtuously, "Well, if there werenae doin' bad things in beds, they wouldnae get hit by it." There's a snigger tho', which replaces the temporary angellic look. "Och, Ah expect to get the hell beaten outta me fur a while. But _so_ wurth it!"
Oh. If Ria has been colored, Jocunda is going to tease her MERCILESSLY. A soft snicker, as her feet finally touch the ground. "Well, I can't say you don't deserve it. If Ria had /dared/ do something like that to me, I'd have fed her the bed over the next year."
Angus winces as he touches down, and gets off a bit gingerly. Looks like that ground impact was a touch harder than he'd been letting down. Indeed, he hadn't tried any stunts afterwards. And he leans on his broom. "Och, aye. But yehs ken, it had tae be done!"
Jocunda dismounts her broom, examining where Angus grasped on a few moments ago. "So you say. We'll see what the host has to say about that, though…"
A small greasy mark, nothing more.