[open]

[dancingmd]

who: Beverly Crusher and you
what: Quantum Tentacle Shenanigans
when: February 13, afternoon
where: Down by the river
warnings: none; will add if needed



If you happen to be taking a nice stroll by the river on Tuesday afternoon, you will be treated to the rather unusual (for most people anyway) sight of a woman flying. Said woman does not look very happy about this state of affairs: jaw clenched tight, she resolutely avoids looking down. Her arms and legs move almost like she's treading water, as she doesn't exactly know what the correct motions are for flying. Experimentally, she gives her arms a flap, but that only sends her higher into the air.

Okay, so not that. She closes her eyes, takes a deep breath, and tries to force her body down in an awkward sort of dive. All she succeeds in doing is somersaulting in mid-air with a rather undignified yelp. Panic is threatening to set in and she calls for help from anyone who is walking by, at least until a certain magical girlfriend can come to her rescue.

ooc: if anyone is interested in other skill/power/mental swaps with Bev, don't be afraid to hit me up, PM or on plurk at curiouslyenough!

Comments

whats the weather like up thereeee

[scholiast]

(Lucretia doesn't notice her for a long while at first; she's actually found a nice spot to read by the bank, and is lost in her book for a good ten minutes before she realises somebody is calling her name. Marking her place, she glances up, but there's nobody there? Nobody to her left, her right.

A sudden yelp makes her pause. After a beat, she tips her head right back.)

... Beverly?

(She can make her out against the clouds; she's trying to... walk in mid-air, propelling her arms around to try and gain traction. Lucretia stares, at a complete loss for how to react to this. Can Beverly even hear her? She's fairly high up.)

lucretia pls

[dancingmd]

(Beverly waves frantically to get Lucretia's attention and sighs with relief when she finally looks up. She can't hear her very well, but it's easy enough to see the confusion written all over her face. Well, join the club Lucretia because she doesn't know what the hell is going on either and it's freaking her out. Less so now that Lucretia is here but still.

Beverly cups he hands around her mouth and calls out again.)

Lucretia! Can you hear me?

sorry babe

[scholiast]

(She can, albeit faintly.

Lucretia opens her mouth to call back, then shuts it again, because this whole thing is ridiculous; she knows how to fly. Leaving her book carefully beside a tree trunk, she casts the spell and pushes off the ground, into the air. Rising up to meet Beverly is easy, and she catches her hands to gently rights her in mid-air. A quick glance down confirms it: they are ridiculously high up. What's going on here, exactly.

Now they're just hovering awkwardly, bobbing up and down a bit with the wind currents. Lucretia's mouth twitches.)

Hey. Come here often?

;;;;;;;;;;

[dancingmd]

Very funny.

(She's clinging to Lucretia's forearm, every part of her resisting wrapping herself around Lucretia entirely. Some dignity must be preserved, after all. That and she's not entirely sure if that might send then plummeting and... oh god, no, don't think about that. She gulps and closes her eyes again.)

[scholiast]

(Not a time for goofs, got it.)

You're okay, we're not going to fall. I've got you. How... did you get up here?

(The spell does allow her to rise and fall so Lucretia's taking herself down in a slow descent, tugging Beverly gently along with her. She actually has no idea what kind of magic Beverly is using, if any, and knows that if she did suddenly fall she probably wouldn't be able to hold her aloft. She's no Magnus. Got no guns to speak of.

Beverly doesn't need to know this though.)

[dancingmd]

(Beverly follows Lucretia's lead more than willingly and is relieved to see it at least sort of seems to be working.]

I don't know... one moment I was walking along the river and then...

(She shakes her head in disbelief, despite the fact that it is happening to her right now.)

I was flying!

[scholiast]

Just out of the blue like that?

(That's so strange. She has no idea why powers would manifest in Beverly like– oh. Wait a moment.)

You're not developing magic, are you? I've heard of some people gaining new powers while they're here.

[dancingmd]

I hope not!

[She pauses, her eyes getting bigger as she realizes how that sounds. Quickly, she amends:]

What I mean is, if I'm developing magic, I hope it's not this particular magic. [She flushes, embarrassed.] I'm terrified of heights.

[scholiast]

(She's unable to help a surprised little snigger in reaction to Beverly's vehemence.)

I see.

(A woman who lives in space, afraid of heights? Lucretia thinks, oh, I love you, but doesn't say it because she's aware that this is incredibly endearing only to her; not so much to Beverly. She does give her hands a reassuring squeeze though.) Well, we'll be down soon. Is this the first time you've used magic?

[dancingmd]

(Listen, space is different, okay? Don't ask her how, it just is. (Fortunately she'll find it funny too...once her feet are firmly on the ground, that is.) )

Yes, unless you count the potion or the bracelet.

[scholiast]

Wow.

Well, you're good at it.

(All this time she's been taking the two of them down, Beverly's spell hasn't waned.) Perhaps it's a hidden talent.

[dancingmd]

If I was good at it, I wouldn't need you to get me down!

[scholiast]

Semantics.

I'll teach you how to go down once we're closer to the ground.

[dancingmd]

So you know this magic then?

[Hmm...... Suspcious!]

[scholiast]

I think so? It doesn't seem too different to the spell I'm using right now.

(wait why are you looking at her like that)

I'm sorry

[snapkaboom]

Roy had only arrived in the city yesterday, but he had already made leaps and bounds when it came to orienting himself to the quarantine. He had found Edward and Alphonse (though they were technically not from his version of Amestris) and had even snagged himself a date or two.

He was on break from the training that the Perimeter Guard insisted he participate in despite his military experience, but it wasn't too difficult and they kept a far looser leash on their recruits than what Roy was used to. He decided to enjoy the decent weather with a walk along the river bank. As he walked, he noticed something in the distance, hanging in the air. At first glace, and from so far away, he thought it was a bird and took little notice. Upon his approach however, he noticed that whatever it was just hung there. Curious, he came over to take a closer look...

And found a woman awkwardly flailing around in thin air. She seemed to be very distressed, and Roy couldn't blame her one bit.

"Hello?" He waved up at the poor woman, hoping she'd notice him so they could try to figure something out.

don't be!

[dancingmd]

Oh good, a stranger. What a lovely way to make a first impression on someone. But, maybe he can help. And at least someone knows where she is now. Taking a deep breath, she does her best to regain her composure by straightening her hair (more or less) and giving him a small smile.

"Hello. I am... stuck." Obviously. "You don't happen to know any magic do you?"

c:

[snapkaboom]

Yes, Roy could see that she was indeed 'stuck.' He had to give her props though, she was keeping her composure quite well for being so high up in the air.

He had to keep himself from frowning when the woman mentioned magic. But then again, if there was a scientific explanation for her situation he had no idea what it was. Perhaps 'magic' was an appropriate word for now. "No, but I'm an alchemist. Hold on-" He stopped short. Telling her to hold on seemed inappropriate considering the situation. "This shouldn't take long," he reassured her.

His trademark flame alchemy was absolutely useless here, but Roy knew enough about alchemy in general to perform other transmutations. He just needed a circle, or something to draw one with. He was never one to carry chalk on his person because he never needed it after getting his license as a State Alchemist. He quickly looked around and found a stick, running over to grab it and start drawing a transmutation circle in the soft dirt. His idea was to transmute some stairs with a railing for her to grab on to and hopefully pull herself down with.

He quickly drew the circle he needed and knelt down, placing his hands along the edge of the circle. A bright light emerged, and blue flashes of energy looking a lot like lightning swirled around the rising set of stone stairs and railings that ascended high enough for the poor woman to grab a hold of. Meanwhile, a depression formed in the ground surrounding the stairway, as Roy had to utilize quite a bit of material to make a staircase that big. If anything, she would at least have something to hold on to. He looked up. "Can you grab that?"

[dancingmd]

At this point, Beverly's just come to accept that magic is indeed a thing in this world and many others, even if it's not real in her world. Though, if she weren't currently internally panicking about the current state of affairs, she would be questioning exactly what the difference between alchemy and magic was. Especially since he's drawing what looks an awful lot like spells or runes or something similar in the dirt.

She watches with anxious curiosity as his starway grows towards her. As soon as the railing gets close enough to grab, she does. For a moment, there's an awkward bit of maneuvering and flapping before she can orient herself properly over the steps. Unfortunately, it seems her feet won't quite stay. But... she can at least pull herself down the railing, hand over hand, until she's a much more comfortable distance from the ground, hovering just a couple of feet above Roy.

She sighs, then offers him another small smile. "Thank you."

[snapkaboom]

"Don't mention it." He smiled and extended a hand, both in greeting and to offer in case she wanted assistance to get as close to the ground as she could. "I'm Roy Mustang. Sorry, but I don't think I can do anything right now to fix the uh...gravity." Whatever was keeping this woman in the air was something beyond his skill in alchemy, or anything for that matter. "What happened?"

[dancingmd]

"Beverly Crusher. Sorry we had to meet like this." She shakes his hand, albeit the action is a little awkward, what with her floating and all. She sighs. "And I don't know what happened, exactly. Probably some experiment gone wrong over at Gramayre."

[snapkaboom]

Roy tilts his head. He was brand-spanking-new in Riverview and hadn't learned about all of the different institutions yet. "Gramayre? Is that some sort of lab?" He carefully takes a step back as it looks like she's got herself more or less under control, though he's not far away enough that he can't hop back in a help her steady herself.

[dancingmd]

She nods. "Magical research facility. My... girlfriend works there. I know a few other people there too. They might know what's going on."

[snapkaboom]

For Roy, 'magic' and 'research' did not belong in the same sentence. As skeptical as he was about it, he wasn't about to be rude.

"Where I come from 'magic' is just a superstition. We explain everything through science, so I apologize for having trouble wrapping my head around around a magical research facility."

He was hoping that 'magic' had different connotations here than in Amestris. Otherwise his stay in Riverview was going to be a little more difficult than he initially thought.

[dancingmd]

She chuckles and shakes her head. Far from being offended, Beverly is in fact extremely sympathetic. "Believe me, this is not normal where I come from either. But as a good scientist, I also know to keep an open mind and not reject something out of hand simply because it doesn't exactly match what I already know." She gestures at the stairway. "Besides, in my world, alchemy would hardly seem any more believable than magic."