(Untitled)

[notyourutopian]

WHO: Eleanor Lamb and Sirius Black
WHERE: Outside the MAC, then on a motorcycle then...somewhere else!
WHEN: Friday, 11/19
WARNINGS: Teenagers?
SUMMARY: Sirius offers to show Eleanor his motorbike.
FORMAT: Paragraph

Comments

[purmoncul]

She'll hear the motorcycle before she sees it - a loudening roar that resolves itself into a dark shape flying in between the buildings. The bike is an antique compared to most of the motorcycles people drove in the city today, but it gleamed in the morning light. It's driver was dressed much more sensibly for the cold - and for motorcycles and for flying, which would only exacerbate it - in a black leather jacket (slightly too big), goggles under his helmet, and thick gloves.

He touches down easily on the sidewalk next to her, to the surprise and dismay of the other pedestrians and gives her a big grin.

"Well good morning! ...Aren't you cold?"

Sirius 'Highly Observant' Black, folks.

[purmoncul]

"And you look darling in it, but I'd be surprised if you can see a thing in it, and half the fun of this is the view!"

He keeps his face pointed carefully forward as her hands settle.

"I will make every attempt to be a comforting anchor for you, Ms Lamb." He then kicks the bike into a comforting roar, guns it to a sudden and comforting speed, and tilts it comfortingly up into the air.

[notyourutopian]

"Mmm," Eleanor made a non-commital noise in response to that, not entirely sure she was prepared for all the fun of the view...or that she trusted him to be a comforting anchor...but she'd try.

When the motorcycle kicked off the ground, Eleanor made what was probably the first shout of genuine fear she had made in years. It was almost a squeak really, and the hands on Sirius's sides tightened their grip noticeably. At first her eyes were closed, but she opened them slowly, just a tad, and watched the sides of buildings pass as they moved onward and upward.

Her grip relaxed...but only a tiny bit. And she may have murmured something about not looking down.

[purmoncul]

Sirius generously pretends not to have heard her squealing in his ear. They circle the MAC and then leave it behind, spiraling up until only the skyscrapers would pose any obstacle.

"There, that's the worst of it over. And if you don't want to look downwards, look outwards!"

The whole city is spread out beneath them in the crisp morning light. It extends beyond the glittering river, but from this height, there are hints of a wider landscape outside of the city: forests and fields and roads leading through and beyond them. A glimpse and a reminder that there's a wide world out there.

[notyourutopian]

Eleanor was quiet for a long time, just sitting there looking out at the tops of buildings before she finally managed to convince herself to look down and around. It really was amazing. Terrifying...utterly terrifying...but also amazing.

"Sometimes I forget that everything is so much...bigger...here than in Rapture." She said, quietly, though loud enough he could hear considering she was sitting behind him. "Or just that everything feels bigger here because there isn't any water everywhere." Yes, she's still scared. But at least she's talking.

And no, that grip isn't any less grippy.

[purmoncul]

It might be a cold morning, but Sirius is warm under his jacket, and that warmth seeps into his voice, in moments like this when he's not crowing.

"If you love a place, it's all the world you need sometimes. But since we're away from our own places, it can't hurt to explore a bit, eh?"

It's a little tingly, getting gripped by a girl while Miranda purrs happily away, zooming them along. He might never attach that sidecar again, after this.

"Speaking of exploring, there's something else I wanted to show you."

The bike tilts a bit as they bank.

[notyourutopian]

"I hated Rapture," her voice remained quiet. "It was beautiful and...horrible and I hated it." She paused. "But in a way, I guess that doesn't mean it wasn't home." She sighed quietly and shifted slightly on the seat behind him. "Exploring this place...the world...is certainly worth the time."

She leaned forward some, pressed into him lightly if only so she could more easily see what he was doing. "Where are we going?"

[purmoncul]

...Definitely tingly.

"You'll see."

And she would, soon enough, as the Institute was hardly a small and subtle campus.

"I figured that after I scared you half to death with all this zooming around, you might never want to speak to me again so I'd better get you over to the school while I have you or the Headmaster might accuse me of horrifying students away."

There were things to know about Sirius Black, and they included the ability to string together a run-on sentence like no one else.

[notyourutopian]

She could indeed see the institute approaching, and her eyes narrowed some as he talked. "So, was this whole 'showing me your motorbike' just a trick to get me to actually come look at the school? Because I already said I would, it's not like you actually had to be sneaky about it."

She adjusted again, leaning away some now to look more at the city they were passing over. Of course, just because she said she'd look didn't mean she planned on actually going there.

[purmoncul]

"Yes, I am secretly horrible, with my desire to expose you to something like a normal life. It's good that you've learned this early, just in case you were under the impression that I am in any way a good person."

You could just hear his eyes rolling in his tone of voice. The bike began to descend, though he wasn't touching down just yet (because then they'd be subject to banal things like traffic lights), until they were no longer going over the city but through it.

[notyourutopian]

Eleanor glared at the back of his head for a moment and then sighed. "I wouldn't know what to do with a normal life, Sirius." She wasn't even sure what to do with the stalled life she was working on now, to be honest. "Sorry, though." She added, then let her attention wander again as they dropped down.

She could see people working in office buildings as they passed, some pointing out the window at them. It must have been quite a sight, really...in Rapture it had been normal to see things...boats, Big Sisters, sea life...swimming past the window. Here all there was were birds.

[purmoncul]

"No worries there, Lamb. None of this looks normal to me either, but we must make do. Keep calm and all the rest."

Sirius enjoyed the attention, though that should surprise no one. They touched down in the parking lot of the school, and Sirius let her off so he could park Miranda, a tarp billowing out of the tip of his wand to cover her up lest any birds, hailstones or passing children get any funny ideas.

[notyourutopian]

Eleanor waited as he parked his motorcycle, though her eyes went a tad wide as he made a tarp appear out of his wand. "So...is there anything you can't do with that?" She asked, nodding towards the instrument when he returned to her.

She hadn't figured magic would be anything quite that...well...adaptable. She hadn't really figured about it at all though, to be fair.

[purmoncul]

"Not a lot. Magic can do most anything, if you figure out how, which leaves most wizarding people completely uninterested in non-magic technology and science. I've fought tooth and claw to stay on a level with peers my own age, but fortunately the Institute's basically set up to handle imports."

He'll chatter her all the way inside, if she lets him. (Which is his goal.)

[notyourutopian]

"Even when the plasmids really took over Rapture, when people could get all their powers, we never stopped using technology. But then...we couldn't make a tarp appear out of thin air either." Eleanor didn't seem to notice the clever chattering walk he was doing, or if she did she was humoring him so that he could get away with it.

Her attention wandered even while she was speaking though, looking at the parking lot and the building and everything. She had passed here a few times on the bus but otherwise knew nothing about it.

[purmoncul]

"Well probably you got your plasmids through technology discovering the slugs and all. We just never had a need to develop it much to start with. We'd borrow from you, usually, though many would deny it now."

The building isn't much on the outside, but inside much has been done to improve on the industrial decor of most schools. They pass students on their way to homeroom, but Sirius seems in no particular rush as he leads her up to the Headmaster's office.