InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "Ya wanna check it out?"

Richard Harrington Summerby (the_richard) wrote in finnigans_rpg,
@ 2015-06-11 01:33:00

Entry tags:

character: lucy spinks, character: richard summerby

At the Broom Racing Track
Who: Richard and Lucy + Open for spectators and other flyers
What: A visit to the race track for the open house
Where: Just outside Cockfosters on the north edge of London
When: Last Saturday - backdated due to RL
Rating: PG for broom fu

...and Richard smiled as he led Lucy down to his pit stall along side the track. With any luck there'd be a fairly good turnout and he could do his part toward turning more broom riders to the dark side - convincing them that racing was even more fun that Quidditch. HIs hand on the handle released the wards as he rolled the door up. He knew Lucy with her non-magical background would recognize it as a standard garage door, but he still smiled a little at what an innovation an aluminum roll-up door had been to those whose entire life had been spent in the wizarding world.

He pointed past several racks of brooms and his trackside broom tuning bench. "Your leathers, boots, and helmet are in the loo back there if you'd like to get changed. And yes, they are meant to fit that tight. Something flapping about at over a hundred miles an hour can raise quite the welt, as well as mucking up your flight characteristics. The track crew will be sending up the corner markers and the high and low crossing gates and I thought I'd take you up on a Two-Place first and show you how to fly the course before I turned you loose solo on a trainer. You seemed to be pretty much a natural at the broom rodeo, so that shouldn't be too long."

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Lucy/Rich/Open

addingvalue
2015-06-11 12:30 pm UTC (link)

Lucy laughed at that, shaking her head. "You didn't see me in first year," she said. Where this natural flying ability had come from she had no idea, but it certainly hadn't been there during her time at Hogwarts. Perhaps it had something to do with stress, or fear. Lucy didn't think of herself as a fearful person but at age 11, away from her parents for the first time, being asked to do something she only barely believed was possible - she could see how that would mess with her mind enough to create a psychological block. She liked the idea of going fast, though, even if it was a little scary. It was the same kind of feeling she'd experienced when she started rock climbing.

Despite the earliness of the morning, Lucy was energised. Rich was obviously passionate about all this racing stuff, which helped. "No time like the present," she declared before excusing herself to the loo to change. The leathers were tight, but Lucy didn't mind that. She wasn't exactly one for tight tops and short skirts usually, but these were practical and she knew she had nothing to be ashamed of. "These boots are amazing," she said as she emerged, her hair still hanging loose for now. "Would it be wrong to wear them to work?"

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Lucy/Rich/Open

the_richard
2015-06-12 07:01 am UTC (link)

Richard chuckled at Lucy's enthusiasm. "Wouldn't bother me any. Or if you'd rather, we can pop over to Paris - the gent who made your boots is a fellow broom racer - and I can ask him to do up a dress pair for you. I've seen some of the women racers wear them. All the same attitude with more of a heel and a cushioning charm."

The track crew had been busy while Lucy changed. Richard pointed to the track. "They've got the markers up. It's basically a big figure eight. Start-finish is at the low crossing - 25 feet up. Then you climb 25 feet and level off into a right-hand turn, going on the outside of all three poles. Climb 25 more feet to the high cross, then down to the left-hand turn which is also flat at 50 feet. Down to the low crossing, then pull up and do it again. Each straight is a quarter mile, so you can get going fast enough that you have to pay attention to when you start braking to get into your turns. Smooth is fast."

He had a broom up and idling, warming up, in front of the pit stall. It had a longer stick than a solo, and two sets of irons. Richard turned to walk over to it. It was showing off. He admitted that to himself. But after all the times he'd had to use it during the war to change his appearance, it really was a simple spell. The real trick was to get the timing just right so you weren't standing about in you knickers. As he walked, he Banished his street clothes and Summoned his racing leathers, and did his clothing change between one step and the next. Holding out his hands, he caught his helmet as it appeared in the air in front of him.

With a bit of a bad boy grin, he swung up onto the rear seat of the broom. "Decide what you want to do with your hair and put on your helmet. Our helmets are spell-linked, so we don't have to shout. I'll show you how to warm up a broom and do the flight checks, then I'll run some laps at increasing speeds and let you see how we know when to start braking for the turns, then you get to take control. Sound good?"

His grin grew wider as he pulled on his helmet and fastened the strap, then leaned back to let Lucy mount. When she was settled, he took hold of her hips and pulled her back against himself. "On a racing broom, you lay flat out with your hands out in front of you. More of your body for the sticking charm to grab and less wind resistance." He leaned down on her back and wrapped his arms around her so he could take hold of the broom stick swith both hands. "Ready to go?"

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Lucy/Rich/Open

addingvalue
2015-06-15 12:22 pm UTC (link)

"Now you're talking my language," Lucy said, grinning as she pulled her hair into a low ponytail. It was fascinating seeing Richard outside his role as her employer. Not that he was one of those people who tried to put himself above his employees in the office, but everyone was so busy, popping in and out, that Lucy hadn't had time to form much more than a fleeting impression of him. Sometimes, because of his position, she forgot that he only had a few years on her. Here, though, he was acting much more like the twentysomething he was.

Lucy clapped his mid-stride clothing change, both because it was impressive and because she sort of liked this showing-off side of him. He wasn't flaunting his wealth, though he obviously could have done, but rather his skill and passion. She followed, securing the helmet's chinstrap as she went. "You seem to have thought of everything," she said with a smirk of her own. "And you didn't even have me to organise it all for you."

She mounted more carefully than he had, mostly so she wouldn't accidentally clock him with a flailing limb. At his instruction, she settled herself low against the broom, heart already beating faster in anticipation. She was unselfconscious as he arranged himself behind her, lining them up in close proximity. "Ready," she agreed, smiling. "Show me what you can do."

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Lucy/Rich/Open

the_richard
2015-06-16 04:59 am UTC (link)

"Flying lessons," Richard chuckled. "Been giving them for years. Since we bought up the old Bluebottle firm, even moreso. You might say I've got the routine down by now."

"First thing we do is always double-check the sticking charms." He lifted the broom up to about ten feet and did a slow roll in place. When they were upright again he nodded, even though he knew Lucy couldn't see him. He guided the broom out slowly onto pit row and ran light thrust against the braking charm, listening and feeling. "Even though I checked this broom out last night, you always do one final set of checks before you go out on the track. Taking things for granted can end you up in the trees or a crater in the ground. Unpleasant, and occasionally... messy."

At the early hour they had the track to themselves, so he flew a few slow laps, not trying to turn close to the corner poles, letting Lucy get the feel for the way the course was set up, calling out things like, "Start braking here, start your turn here."

Then as they came down to the Start/Finish line at the low cross, he warned her, "Now we'll do it fast." As he crossed the line he pulled up toward the first turn and opened up the broom. Then it was a touch of the braking charm, slam the broom over flat on its right side as he entered the turn, jerk upright on exit, roll inverted over the high cross, brake again and a quarter roll to flat on their left side through the other turn. Power dive to the low cross, a touch of brake, pull up as they crossed the line, and do it all again.

A two-place broom with two up wouldn't set any course records, but Rich flew as if it would. He made no wasted motions, his head barely cleared the corner poles, and his touch on the braking charm was a little as could be used to maintain their speed. "Smooth is fast," he repeated to Lucy as he sped up for each following lap.

After ten laps at speed, he slowed the broom as they crossed the line and spoke again. "Take over, get a feel for this thing with some slow laps, then start speeding up. If it gets away from you, just level off, go straight, and slow down. Don't worry about running off the course if you have to. Happens to all of us when we push the edge too hard."

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Lucy/Rich/Open

addingvalue
2015-06-17 01:54 pm UTC (link)

Lucy's stomach lurched as Richard rolled them 360 degrees in the air - but it was the good kind of lurch, the same one she got when she'd climbed a particularly difficult wall and her muscles were aching and she looked down at the ground where she'd started. Sometimes, though it wasn't advised, she'd just push off from the wall and fall, knowing the ropes would keep her pace slow enough that the landing wouldn't hurt her. She'd been meaning to look into abseiling for ages, but this was better.

"Someone should have told us there were sticking charms in 1st year," she said. "So many of the girls were afraid to fly in case they fell off." She'd been one of them, though she didn't say so. If she'd known there were invisible safety precautions, would she have felt better? Maybe not. She hadn't trusted magic much then. Still didn't, though she was getting better.

Her hands gripped the smooth wood as Rich kicked the speed up, but despite the pace and the tight corners she never felt unsafe. The wind whipped the short strands of hair that hadn't made it into her ponytail, which only made her feel like they were going faster. She leaned into the turns, her muscles tensing and relaxing as if she were in control long before Rich handed over.

She didn't want to go slow - but she didn't want to end up in a heap on the ground, either, so she forced herself to be sensible. It was harder, being in the metaphorical driving seat. At first, she forgot she had to focus on keeping the broom level in vertical space (she was more used to cars and bikes than brooms) and they dipped a few times before she got the hang of it. "You made this look easy!" she teased when she turned too wide on the corner.

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Lucy/Rich/Open

the_richard
2015-06-17 07:48 pm UTC (link)

"Pet peeve of mine," Rich replied. "Been flying unteathered since I was five, racing since I was six. Still had a ruddy difficult time with the crap brooms at school, and trying to do manuvers the way flying was taught there. Can only imagine what a mess it was for firsties who had never even seen someone fly a broom, let alone ridden one. Another stupid pureblood tradition, no doubt. 'Of course everybody knows about brooms and flying and Quidditch.' As if Quidditch is all there is about flying. Didn't matter who it turned off on flying."

He rode silently as Lucy felt her way through flying a precision course at speed. As he mentioned earlier, she was a good natural broom rider, just untrained in the finer points. There were no side trips off the course or into the trees or ground, and she hadn't piled into any of the corner poles or crossing gates.

"Practice and more practice," he said with a smile in his voice. "First and foremost, this broom is heavy, underpowered, and wants to skid through turns. The main thing I can tell from your flying style is that you're not used to thinking in three dimensions. Automobiles only go up and down when the road does. You're treating each pole or gate as a destination and not a waypoint; not planning far enough ahead. Also not using thrust in multiple directions at the same time. Give me control."

Rich slowed the broom way down as he swung around to the far end of pit row at about twenty feet up. "Trick here is to spot in the direction you are heading like a ballerina or gymnast." He put the broom into a slow flat spin without changing the direction they were traveling. "I'm keeping thrust in our line of travel no matter which way the broom is facing." They did that for a half-dozen or so spins when he went on, "If this next makes you airsick, sing out and I'll stop." With that he added a slow right-hand roll into the mix, so they were rolling and spinning at the same time, all while holding altitude and traveling slowly down pit row. "Thrust is always in the same direction no matter how turned around we are. Lift is always up."

"Then there's this." As they came up to his pit stall, Rich let the broom come around more or less facing the way they'd been traveling and used combined thrust to cancel all the rotations. Then, pulling the nose of the broom up, he used rearward and upward thrust together rather than braking to bring them to a stop and drop them to mounting height. "When I take a corner, I'm over on my side so I'm using forward flight and pulling the broomstick up in front to make the turn, and using upward lift sideways to stay close to the pole, and sideways thrust up to keep us at altitude. You've been crabbing up and around and it slows you down. Hop off and grab that old Nimbus 2000 off the rack, give it a try solo. It tops out about 120, so you'll have to remember to do some braking if you go wide open on the straights."

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Lucy/Rich/Open

addingvalue
2015-06-19 12:36 pm UTC (link)

Lucy let Richard rant - it was refreshing to hear her own growing antagonism to pureblood traditions reflected back from someone who had more reason to be in favour of them than she had. "I hadn't thought of that," she admitted when he seemed to have finished. "I was wondering why flying comes so much easier now than it did then. I could hardly get my broom to fly at all."

She tried to follow Richard's advice, between the constantly-changing movement and the the introduction of new concepts (thrust is always the same direction?) it was starting to make her head spin as much as the broom. She was pretty glad to shift over onto the Nimbus and give it a go on her own.

She concentrated hard on trying to fly the course in a more fluid manner, managing to smooth out her motions somewhat. After a few medium-speed laps she slowed again, trying to do what Richard had demonstrated and spin while moving forward. The first time, she managed to spin a quarter turn before her movement in every direction stopped and she dropped several feet towards the ground. She managed to catch herself, laughing into her helmet. "Are these things still linked? Because it would be great if you could pretend you hadn't seen that."

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Lucy/Rich/Open

the_richard
2015-06-20 01:50 pm UTC (link)

"I think some of those school brooms hadn't been tuned since Merlin was around. A lot of people found them pretty cranky. As for you, personally, it may be your feelings about the whole Hogwarts situation fed back into your broom and made things even worse. Or puberty. Or you never picked up a broom that liked you. Haven't a clue, and to be honest, it doesn't matter now, does it?"

Rich matched Lucy's laughter. "Yeah, well, that's one of those things you practice in some secluded field somewhere. The sort of trick my twenty-odd years of riding makes look easy and will have you getting grass stains on your helmet if you don't go at it carefully until you learn how. On the other hand, your lap times when you were concentrating on smooth flying and hitting your marks were better than when you were flogging your broom all over the air trying to go fast."

He thought for a few seconds before speaking. "Tell you what. That Nimbus is modified, but it still isn't really a racing broom. Head back to the pit and see if one of the Bluebottle C-Class brooms on that rack suits you. The control touch is much lighter than what you're on now, and you'll have a little over fifty more on the top end. Let me see what you can do on a broom like that now that you've got a feeling for smooth."

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Lucy/Rich/Open

addingvalue
2015-06-22 10:21 am UTC (link)

"No," Lucy agreed, nodding. "It doesn't really." Perhaps looking into her past and trying to understand it was a bad habit she was getting into - though it was hard to resist given the onslaught of memories and questions coming back to the wizarding world was bring up.

Bringing her broom back up to the level she'd been flying at, Lucy straightened out and decided not to try anymore fancy tricks where anyone could see. "Not a lot of secluded fields in London," she pointed out. "Or Sheffield, for that matter." The fact Rich had been flying for so long did make her feel a little better about fucking up - and she had the added confidence of knowing he'd seen her in her element more often than he'd seen her making stupid mistakes.

She let him get on with his own flying while she changed brooms. If anything, the one she selected was too responsive. It turned at the slightest touch, which meant she came in on the inside of the first corner she attempted, and the second. She seemed to have got the height changes under control, though, and after a few more laps she was pushing harder and faster.

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Lucy/Rich/Open

the_richard
2015-06-25 04:40 am UTC (link)

"I'll have to find you someplace to practice then," Rich replied with a chuckle.

He watched carefully, not saying anything, while Lucy quickly mastered the racing broom. When she'd obviously begun clocking quick laps he waved to a track official up in the tower who gathered several of the other officials to observe Lucy's flying ability. After several laps, the official waved back and gave Rich a thumbs up gesture. Rich nodded and gave the man a casual salute. He watched for a few dozen more laps; Lucy was quick, consistent, and above all, smooth. Not to mention she was clocking some respectable times.

Finally, he called her back into the pit area. "Take a break for a minute, Lucy. I've done something about that problem of yours of having a place to practice." Just then one of the officials came up, handed him a folder of paperwork, and shook his hand before heading back to the tower. He grinned as he leafed through the papers quickly while he waited for Lucy to return to his pit stall.

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Lucy/Rich/Open

addingvalue
2015-07-01 11:25 am UTC (link)

Eventually, Lucy seemed to settle to the broom's responsiveness and her laps became tighter, with less mistakes. It was unbelievably fun, whipping through the air with nothing but the stick and the stirrups holding her in place.

She pulled herself to a halt reluctantly at Rich's words and made her way back to the stall, staying on the broom even once she'd reached it. She wasn't ready to get off yet - and besides, she was pretty sure she'd discover new aches and pains as soon as she did. Riding a broom used different muscles to... pretty much anything else. "I'm going to be sore tomorrow," she announced, but her face was shining with happiness which indicated that it would be worth it.

"Place to practice?" she asked, hopeful but uncertain. Did Rich know she couldn't apparate? There was no mention of a licence on her CV, but nor had she specifically mentioned that she couldn't (at least, so far as she could remember). She'd been lucky that everywhere she needed to get, pretty much, was on the floo network.

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Lucy/Rich/Open

the_richard
2015-07-02 06:31 am UTC (link)

"It will do that," Richard nodded. "At least until you get in shape. Dora Montgomery and I get together early mornings when I'm in town to work out. Martial arts, running, hit the gym and lift weights sometimes. You're always welcome to join us. Just doing a lot of flying will help too."

"Place to practice." He held up the folder the track official had given him. "I'll leave this with your street clothes so you can take it with you when you leave. Didn't want to make you nervous when you were out there so I didn't tell you; I had the racing officials watching you and timing your fast laps. You passed." Rich grinned. "Here's your track card so you can practice any time the track is open, and I picked up your membership for you. Your track and membership cards will let you on to any of the associated tracks as well - and there are quite a few local tracks scattered around the world. You'll have to check ride and qualify for an authorization card for each track, but from watching you, that shouldn't be at all hard for you to do. I'll show you some of my more favorite tracks if you want to tag along on some of the circuit with me."

"Oh, by the way..." He flipped through the pages in the folder. "Your times were good enough you're eligible for the novice races here. And I just happen to have your entry forms too. Take one first, two seconds, or three thirds in novice class races and you jump to E-classification and can start working your way up. That broom is legal and competitive up through C, which is why we named it what we did. You make it to B and we'll get you another broom and unlock the charms on both so you can start setting one up for short tracks and one for long cross country runs."

"My way of saying thanks for a job well done at the office."

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Lucy/Rich/Open

addingvalue
2015-07-06 03:04 pm UTC (link)

Lucy grinned, the idea of more training very tempting - and yet she didn't know how she'd fit all of it into her schedule. "I do some lifting already," she said, "to help with the rock-climbing. And I don't think I can justify martial arts - I just don't have the time. But the rest sounds good." She still wanted to make time for more winged horse riding, too, and the learning curve there seemed pretty steep.

Her stomach swooped with late-onset anxiety when Rich told her there'd been people watching, and she was glad she hadn't known while it was actually happening. "I come for one morning and you're turning me into a life-long convert," she teased, beaming gratefully at him. "This is all amazing, Richard, thank you." She flushed, both pleased and proud when he compliment her work.

"You've given me a hell of a lot of incentive to get reintegrated into the wizarding world, both in and outside work. I really appreciate it."

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Lucy/Rich/Open

the_richard
2015-07-08 01:42 am UTC (link)

"Martial arts is a lifetime commitment if you want to get anywhere with it. Although I've taken up freerunning lately, so I'm not one to talk about too many hobbies."

He laughed. "Maybe not a life-long convert, but you're good. Real good. Good enough to qualify for a race the first time you get on a racing broom. Think about it. I'll have to make a few calls, send a few owls, but something may come of this later. I'll get back on that in a week or two."

"Well..." Rich sighed. "At first, I admit, it was just me poking a stick at the Ministry again. It's one of my little hobbies. But you're good people, good in the office, and good on a broom. Win win win all around."

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Lucy/Rich - Complete?

addingvalue
2015-07-10 09:33 am UTC (link)

Laughing, Lucy nodded. "Hobbies seem to breed hobbies, I've found. The more people you know, the more hobbies they introduce you to, the more you end up doing - or wanting to do."

Beaming at the praise, Lucy looked back to her borrowed broom. "Fancy a race?" she asked. "You didn't come here to watch me all morning." She had no doubt at all that Rich would beat her handily - but it would be fun, and she already yearned to get back on the broom.

"And the same to you, boss," she said, giving him a quick mock-salute. "Now come on, don't let me get a headstart on you." And with that, she was mounted and zipping off to the track once more.

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Lucy/Rich - Complete

the_richard
2015-07-11 02:38 am UTC (link)

Richard laughed as he pulled Miss Susan Sto Helit off the rack and quickly mounted up. Named for Death's granddaughter in a fictional series, she was his Unlimited broom that was set up for short tracks. He'd spent a lot of time building her, getting her just right. He roared out of the pits and had passed Lucy by the fourth corner.

Laughing again as he passed the start/finish line he slowed up and called out, "Right then, speed demon. Tuck in tight behind me and I'll show you how to really tear up this course."

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