TEST DRIVE #5 - Low Gravity Gymnasium and Ten Forward

[tenforward_m]

Option 01. Ten Forward: The first thing you see is a bar. A large, lively bar filled with many different faces and many different smells, sights and sounds. This is Ten Forward, the Enterprises' off-duty lounge; feel free to get acquainted with your fellow travelers and try to find somebody who's in charge: this is your new home now, after all...



Option 02. Aboard the Enterprise, The Low-Gravity Gymnasium: The gym is a large room with several alcove-like sections housing the aerobics and martial arts areas, a parrises squares area, an anbo-jyutsu court, and a separate fencing room. While there is normally a zero-gravity area as well, today all of the gym is in zero-gravity conditions.

Zero-gravity can be, well, kind of weird, because it's not like a gradual loss of the pressure holding you to the floor--you may have taken the turbolifts, just expecting to take a leisurely run, or maybe work out with a treadmill to get in some cardio, but the minute you step into the gym you're floating, as is anything you might have been holding or bringing with you.

Do you freak out, start flailing and trying to swim through the air back to where you can escape? Do you make the best of it and tough it out to get your exercise in, or do you start having fun with the sudden game of weightlessness? Pick your personal scenario and have fun with all the other weightless people.

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Harry Dresden | The Dresden Files (books) | Option 01

[wizard_is_wizarding]

As is so often the case, the first sign Harry has that anything's wrong comes from Mouse. They're within a couple of blocks of Harry's basement apartment, just on their way back from a morning walk before Harry gets started on a not very inspiring case he's got waiting for him.

Any thought of that vanishes from his thoughts when Mouse, snuffling around the base of a street light, stops, his muscles tensed, and lets out the low growl that usually means trouble.

Harry doesn't bother asking him what's up; he doesn't have his staff or his blasting rod with him, but he does have his kinetic ring on one hand and his shield bracelet around his wrist, just below the black leather glove that hides his horribly scarred left hand.

He's already drawing power pre-emptively into the shield when there's a flash of light and Harry and Mouse are suddenly no longer on an early morning Chicago sidewalk.

The first thing Harry hears is Mouse's continued growling.

"What the hell?"

The second is the all-too-familiar fizzing sound of technology going crazy in the presence of a wizard. He has a moment to see his surroundings -- a lounge, all sleek lines and futuristic designs and like nothing he knows in Chicago -- before the lights go enthusiastically out with a shower of sparks. All of them.

Great. Technology.

That's what happens when he goes and gets all upset about things.

[ Oops. Harry broke every piece of technology nearby. For those of you unfamiliar with his canon, Harry is a wizard, and is his world, wizards tend to accidentally break any technology they go near. Harry is a very powerful wizard, which means he's great at breaking things. Have fun?

He has a very big, very grey shaggy dog of indeterminate breed with him. Canon point for this exercise is between Proven Guilty and White Night.]

[just_be_quiet]

"Ooof!"

Andrew had not expected the lights to very suddenly go out. He was about to put up his empty dishes from an early breakfast he had. The young boy really did not enjoy having his day disrupted.

It isn't just the sudden dark and the dropped dishes that leave Andrew unhappy. He doesn't like feeling the sudden wave of feelings that he knows aren't his own. Andrew takes in a very sharp breath of air and wishes that he had Bernie with him. With his dog around he wouldn't have to worry about other people's feelings too much.

"Hello," Andrew calls out in a questioning tone.

"Can someone turn on the lights?" He pauses groping for something so he can pull himself up. "I tripped. I can't see."

He sounds both very young and more than mildly annoyed with himself.

[wizard_is_wizarding]

Oh, great. That sounds like a kid. Great work, Dresden. He's blown out the lights wherever the hell they are and he's tripped over a kid.

"Hang on there, kid."

Harry reaches to his throat with his good hand and reaches for the silver amulet resting against the fabric of his shirt. He's already killed the lights, so a little more magic probably isn't going to hurt.

He hopes.

He reaches for the amulet, gathering his will and channeling it into the silver emblem, making it glow blue, perhaps a little eerie in the sudden dark. He winces as he holds it out, the light throwing shadows of more than one suddenly endarkened person.

Harry Dresden knows how to make an entrance. Goes with the black coat.

Before Harry has a chance to decide what to do next, Mouse makes the move for him, trotting forward on his lead, with a firm determination that gives Harry little choice but to either follow him or wind up bowled over by the sheer force of the big dog's determination.

Mouse seems to have a destination in mind. It is, of course, the fallen kid, and when they get to him, Mouse noses over, sniffing at the ground, then pressing his nose to the boy. In the dim lights of the amulet, Harry can see Mouse's tail waving, whatever it was he'd been growling at apparently forgotten.

"You okay there?"

[just_be_quiet]

Again,Andrew has to deal with other emotions. There are a few other people here. They are unsettled by the sudden power outage. Andrew suspects it is just the lights.

Suddenly he sees something glow blue. Andrew's gaze snaps towards the source of light. Is that magic?

"That tickles, boy," Andrew lets out with a tiny laugh escaping him. His small hands reach out to stroke the large friendly dog. Andrew just detects a big friendly and determined creature. There is no danger for him in petting this friendly dog.

"I'll be okay," Andrew tries to assure Harry. "I just don't like the dark too much."

[wizard_is_wizarding]

Well, at least Mouse is making friends. And not tripping anyone over. Not that he usually does; for a dog as big as he is, Mouse has a really good sense of who and where he is. If someone's going to blam into Harry and nearly knock him over on any given day, it's usually Mister.

Then again, Mouse is a sucker for having a fuss made about him.

Harry winces.

"Uh. Yeah. Sorry about that. I, uh, don't have a great relationship with technology."

As in, he can kill it just by walking into the room. Walking into the room and holding up his shield while feeling a sudden sense of surprise, shock, and, yes, okay, some fear?

Yeah. Sparks.

[just_be_quiet]

"It's not your fault," Andrew mumbles. It is just loud enough for Harry to hear. His hands are a little occupied by Mouse. Dogs are very soothing for Andrew and having one he can focus his attention on so his power doesn't overwhelm him is nice.

"I'm a little bit different too." He doesn't usually admit this but maybe it is a kind of magic. He glances up a little sadly.

"It's not something that I can 'turn off' either." His fingers search for a spot to see if he can get Mouse to really wag his tail. Andrew does love dogs. "I don't like talking about it usually."

[wizard_is_wizarding]

Well, that's nice. Most people who know anything about Harry's impact on technology are, at best, wary when it comes to letting him near technology, and they tend to blame him when things go wrong. Murphy still glares at him if he gets too near a computer, and he fried that hard drive years ago.

Harry crouches down beside Mouse, the better to talk to the kid. He towers over most people he meets, let alone kids. That's the trouble with being all tall and lanky like he is. The bottom of his duster fans out on the floor behind him, and he unclips Mouse's lead and shoves it into his pocket. It's not like the dog actually needs it, mostly.

Mouse is enthusiastically licking the kid, his tail wagging madly.

"I'm a wizard. Goes with the territory. Magic and technology don't mix."

[just_be_quiet]

Mouse is obviously a very friendly dog. Andrew keeps fighting off the urge to laugh. He should be used to dog kisses given the fact Bernie gives them out pretty regular tongue baths. Andrew has gotten used to it. Besides, he often gets to curl up with a dog so this really is totally normal.

Andrew just seems very relaxed now. He glances up through his bangs that probably need a decent trim at Harry.

"Really?" A wizard. That's a little different. "Neat!"

Of course it's neat. Magic is neat. "Sometimes...."

Andrew's expression goes a little distant. A little sad because he misses his uncle. "Sometimes my Uncle John encounters weird things on his cases. He's a police detective."

[electro_kinetic]

Well.

The good news is, for Noriko, that she's pretty sure she didn't cause this particular power outage in the lounge, having only just stepped over the threshold of the place when the sparks literally started to fall. The better news is that, she being what she is and electricity functioning the way it does, she can produce light. It's a handy little ability currently utilized in the form of her hands glowing as she holds them up to see what the damage is from.

The bad news is that Mouse--and Harry, but Noriko can better hear Mouse at the moment--are going to get one glowy quasi-visitor of the blue-haired mutant teenager persuasion, in her effort to get out of the doorway. It's not that she's aiming for them, but they're near-ish to the bar and that was her original destination, as well as where she hops up to sit, lifting her hands and surveying the now half-shadowed bar. "This looks impressive."

[wizard_is_wizarding]

His first thought is Lasciel. That's probably not unreasonable. She does have a habit of showing up when his brain is otherwise occupied and spinning crazy illusions, though she usually does it when he has some sort of crisis happening. Until now, there was no crisis. He takes a moment to snarl a warning at her inside her mind, just in case it is Lasciel, though there's a distinct lack of leggy busty blondes in Greek tunics immediately apparent.

What is apparent, though, is a girl, surely not much older than Molly, wandering unconcernedly across the room, her hands glowing. Harry reaches for his amulet with his right hand, the clumsy, gloved left hand resting on Mouse's head. The dog's snarls subside a little; apparently it's not the girl he's snarling at, but their surroundings.

Does that mean this is real, that Mouse can see it and felt what just happened?

Harry's face is screwed up in concentration, watching the girl. There's no sense of power in what she's doing, at least not magical power.

Harry holds out his silver amulet, power running through it to make it glow.

"I know how to make an entrance," he says. "Walk on in and boom, instant darkness."

Just like magic.

[electro_kinetic]

"Just as a hint for next time, we'd all be okay if you didn't with the spark-showers," she says, watching what he does.

But having this conversation in the dark is not really her thing, and she holds up a finger to stall for a second. The glow intensifies, reduces, and then disappears entirely as the lights above their heads flicker. Several times, and they come back on, and Nori smiles gently. "So. Thusly illuminated again, you must be new. Who's Fido?" she asks, gesturing with her chin to Mouse.

[wizard_is_wizarding]

Now that is something he hasn't seen before, and it's not magic. It's definitely not magic. If it were magic, she would have just killed the lights even deader than Harry did. Unless she's not mortal; no mortal spellcaster can use technology, let alone revive it when a wizard's just killed it.

"Yeah. Uh. It's not exactly something I can control."

It takes a lot of effort to hold off the effects his aura has on technology, let alone doing any magic without setting sparks flying and things breaking.

Still. His voice is a little sheepish, because it's a damn pain that he can't go anywhere near technology without something like this happening. There's a reason he has an icebox instead of a refrigerator and candles instead of light fixtures. It just took way too many lightbulbs.

"If by 'new' you mean 'just kidnapped', sure." He shrugs, like this whole thing isn't freaking him out, like he's not expecting an attack at any moment. If he doesn't keep that under control, he's just going to undo whatever she just did to fix the lights.

He lowers his amulet, letting the will he'd been channeling through it dissipate.

She doesn't bother asking for his name, but that's Mouse for you. He always gets the attention.

"This is Mouse."

It seems an entirely ridiculous name for a dog who looks like he could be half bear. At least he's not growling anymore.

[electro_kinetic]

No, no, not magic. And Noriko has never been--and very likely never will be--magical in any way save for certain assumptions drawn from Arthur C. Clarke.

"Ah, well. At least that one I've got some experience with," she says. "Don't worry about it. I did something similar but less impressive when I got stuffed in here too. Just...understand that yes this is kidnapping, but I promise most of us aren't going to hurt you. We got stuck here too." And no, she is not from space originally.

"Nice name," she chuckles. "And yours?"

Have a Padawan

[pink_haired_padawan]

(OOC: Molly's canon point is somewhere before Changes :D Let's not break the girl just yet.)

Molly had been on a health kick lately. Okay, it wasn't really her kick. It was her attempt to kick her Jedi Master in the nuts and not die of heart disease before he was a measly Wizardly 150. All that coke and coffee for breakfast wasn't good either. So, Harry and Molly had a deal going. Sure, Harry bitched and moaned about it but he was going to eat that whole wheat toast and drink some orange juice. A can of Coke was not the breakfast of champions.

Also, she was really sorry for almost blowing up his lab during their last practice session. Breakfast made up for that right?

Quelling the fire on the stove and shoving more ice in Harry's actual ice box of a refrigerator, Molly plopped down two plates of eggs, toast and 2 glasses of orange juice. Before she could eat, and look up to see if Mouse or Mister wanted some breakfast too, Molly felt something. Something Bad.

And then she wasn't in Harry's apartment. She was in some weird, and rather lame club filled with smoke from protesting technology.

She took one look around. Panicked. And veiled. With any luck no one would bump into her.

pfft Coke is totally the breakfast of champions Molly XD

[wizard_is_wizarding]

Harry has seen a lot in his time wizarding and private detecting, but he's never been suddenly transported somewhere from outside his apartment. Lasciel's name comes to mind, but this is completely unlike any of her previous tricks (there are no hot tubs, for one, and no sweetly beautiful visions of her for another). This isn't the Nevernever, either.

Which leaves ... what, exactly?

Harry raises his amulet, willing power into it to create a portable light and frowning. He's never been anywhere like this. Not like that. He's been in plenty of bars, just not any like this.

He turns, looking around through the smoke of the dying lights, the acrid cloud tickling his throat.

And just there, there's a spot where the smoke shifts ... oddly around an apparently empty patch of air. Someone is veiled.

Harry glances down at Mouse. The big dog is still growling, but when Harry tugs on the lead, he turns around to face the patch of drifting smoke. And stops growling.

Which tells him everything he needs to know.

"Molly." Great time for his apprentice to show up.

[pink_haired_padawan]

Molly turned around, not that he could see it, and dropped the veil. She gave him a disappointed sigh--obviously she still had work to do. Not that Harry could veil his way out of a paper bag. That at least made her feel a LITTLE better. And he wasn't asking her how many of those stupid beads she could move. That hadn't been nice Harry.

"Know where we are? I was cooking breakfast--someone has to feed you something besides coke, pizza and Burger King. And then wham. This is pretty lame for a bar. And the Outer Space thing?" She pointed to the windows. "Extra lame. So have we been kidnapped by bad guys with super bad taste?"

She crouched down to give Mouse a hug and a scruff and looked around at the other occupants. To say she was a little at odds with the others appearance was putting it mildly. Her hair was neon, and she was pierced in places that no else seemed to be. Seriously. Lame Ass Club.

[wizard_is_wizarding]

Just great. Molly really has a way of showing up at the worst moments. Though at least here there's nobody jumping out of the shadows to kill him, which is a thing that happens way too much for Harry's liking. He sure has a way of attracting trouble.

"It was the smoke, kid," he tells her, in response to the question she hadn't asked. It was a good veil, and if it wasn't for the smoke, he probably wouldn't have known she was there. (She really is getting good at that. Way, way better than he'll ever be. Subtlety. Never his thing.)

"Don't knock the Coke and pizza," he tells her, but there's little actual bite in his words; he's too busy frowning at their surroundings.

It's actually a really good question. Really good one.

"Mouse knew something was up," he says. "It sure seems like kidnapping, but I've never heard of anything like it."

[pink_haired_padawan]

"Damn, I thought I had everything covered." And then, sheepishly, she looked around for her father, hoping he didn't just catch her swearing. Granted, after the tattoos and piercings, swearing was probably the least of her worries. At least her mom didn't seem to be here.

When Molly was content that there was no former Knight of the Cross lurking around, she relaxed a bit more. It would have been really bad if They had managed to get Michael too. With all the angelic cavalry around the Carpenter house, busting in there almost suicidal. Her father had gotten an awfully nice retirement package. Too bad Wizards didn't get nice retirement packages like that.

"So what do we do now? Order drinks and pretend we're having fun? Or I could veil and see if I overhear anything. I'll account for the smoke this time, I promise."

[wizard_is_wizarding]

That's the problem with being the Jedi Master. People expect you to have the wisdom of Yoda or something to go with the ass-kicking ability. Especially your padawan. Harry crinkles his brow, glaring around the ... yeah, it's a bar. Or it looks like a bar.

"Hell's bells," he grumbles, then winces, remembering his determination to try to avoid blasphemy or excessive swearing around the Carpenters. At least Charity's not around. "This looks like something off the set of Star Trek."

Molly stands out in a crowd, but ... in this crowd, Harry's going to stand out, too. Especially if anyone makes the connection between the tall guy in the coat who just appeared out of nowhere and the sudden sparks shower from the lights.

He lets out a breath.

"Okay, Grasshopper. You veil and take a look around. And I will go see if this place has anything decent to drink. Let me know what you hear."

[pink_haired_padawan]

Molly stuck her tongue out at Harry. Sometimes being the student just stucked. And since she wasn't around her parents, she was allowed to say that. Or think it. Her parents would probably flip if they knew all the things she thought about. Her nose scrunched up and she frowned.

"You're no fun." But she couldn't let the Star Trek thing just go. The scowl melted away and she grinned and jumped up and down a bit like a child. "I KNOW! I'm so excited. It feels like I'm actually there. Now before you say anything, it's the 21st century. I'm allowed to like both."

And with that she scrunched up her face in concentration, waved her hands a bit and disappeared, remembering factor in the smoke this time too.