Liam's Shuttle, Fandom and then beyond, Tuesday Evening

[firstofitskind]

So this time last year, Liam and Verity had woken up together for the first time. Yeah, much like this past weekend, it had been after being small children for a few days. But they'd decided that since that first weekend had involved sharing (toy) weaponry, then the morning after ought to count as far as anniversaries went.

Look, it made sense to them, just go with it.

A few months ago, Liam had promised Verity both flying lessons and a look at the Northern Lights, and tonight seemed like the perfect opportunity to make good on that promise, and so he'd worked out a flight plan to guide her through and packed a picnic dinner for when they got to their destination. Now all he needed was, well. Verity herself.

[ooc: for the giiiirl.]

Comments

[arboreal_priestess]

"Hey there," Verity said, showing up in a very cute outfit with two bottles of champagne. Look, a year anniversary was a big deal for her, okay? For both of them, really, since Liam hadn't exactly been going out and hitting the dating scene either. "What are the rules about drinking and piloting, huh?"

[firstofitskind]

"Frowned upon, technically speaking," Liam admitted. "Especially if we were going somewhere where we might run in to other shuttles or airborne vehicles." Which was... unlikely, given that Liam's reality was the exception rather than the rule when it came to space travel in this time. And he was absolutely not risking taking this particular trip through his reality, for reasons beyond 'drinking and piloting'. "But I won't tell anyone if you don't."

[arboreal_priestess]

"I promise not to get you too drunk anyway," Verity said, coming over and giving him a kiss that hinted at later activities.

...But only hinted, because she was excited to go flying, dammit.

"I have plans to take advantage of you later and too much champagne might interfere with those."

[firstofitskind]

Besides, he'd been pretty careful to avoid 'too drunk' since that whole incident in the spring with the energy-sucking demons.

"Mm, I'm looking forward to it," Liam replied with a grin.

[arboreal_priestess]

"I'm looking forward to everything," Verity admitted. The smile she turned on him was almost bashful. "Happy anniversary, Liam."

Felt weird to say. Weird, but good. Kind of like 'I love you' the first few times she said it.

[firstofitskind]

"Happy anniversary," Liam echoed, and... yeah. That thrill of unfamiliar-yet-also-exactly-right that accompanied the words was kind of amazing.

"You look fantastic," he added, waving away the virtual glass so they could step inside the shuttle. Out of habit, he headed for the pilot's seat, and then paused, shaking his head and making an 'all yours' gesture with one hand towards the seat in question.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity smirked at him, taking her seat in the pilot's chair. "Antimony is gonna murder me when she finds out about this," she said, with no little satisfaction. "So what first?"

[firstofitskind]

"Pre-flight check," Liam said, demonstrating the motion that would bring up the HUD. Yes, he'd done a check of his own before Verity had arrived, but if there was something he was a little neurotic about, it was proper flight procedure.

[arboreal_priestess]

And Verity wanted to know. She didn't want to be the cute girlfriend who steered through mostly empty space and then squealed, 'Look, I did it!' She wanted to be able to fly this thing in miserable conditions, under fire, with Liam unable to guide her.

"Okay, so what does a pre-flight check entail?" she asked. "Probably more than checking mirrors, pulling my seat forward - " stupid long-legged siblings " -and making sure the gas isn't on E again."

[firstofitskind]

That wanting to know was precisely why Liam had agreed to teach her in the first place.

"A little more, but also the shuttle equivalent to those," he said. "Navigation, weapons, conventional drive, ID drive, and communications," he pointed out each readout in turn. "You'll want to make sure they all say online."

Which they did, today. Was he planning on intentionally disabling one (or more) of those for future lessons? Absolutely. But for tonight, everything was optimal.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Is learning what we do if they aren't online a lesson for another day?" Verity asked, her mind traveling along different, but still parallel lines.

[firstofitskind]

"Of course," Liam nodded. "But you're not the only one with plans for tonight, so we're keeping things straightforward for now."

Not 'simple', but straightforward.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Works for me," Verity said with a grin. "Okay, so...navigation, weapons, conventional drive, ID drive, and communications," she repeated, pointing to each of them in turn. "All lit up and greens across the board."

...Metaphorically speaking, anyway.

[firstofitskind]

"Good," Liam said. "You'll want to engage conventional drives by tapping on it there, and then on navigation, which will bring up the controls. Right hand is elevation, left is direction. For take-off, just raise your right hand up, slowly, along the y-axis."

[arboreal_priestess]

"I assume speed of my hand is directly related to speed of the ship?" Verity asked. She didn't move her hand yet, unsure if that was an explanation or a direction quite yet.

[firstofitskind]

"You've got it," Liam confirmed. "The controls are very responsive, so we're going to start slow and ease in to the higher speeds." A beat, and then he added: "This is my first time actually teaching anyone any of this, so let me know if my instructions need work." He'd literally been born knowing how to fly, after all. Translating that innate knowledge into instruction was entirely new territory.

[arboreal_priestess]

"You're doing good so far," Verity assured him. She found him one of the easiest people to talk to that she'd ever known, and that included family. "So can I...?"

[firstofitskind]

"Take us up." Liam said, stepping back and settling in to one of the passenger chairs.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Ooooooh," Verity said with a grin, and slowly pushed her hand forward along the grid. "I am going to get us a speeding ticket from a martian, you know that right?"

[firstofitskind]

"You don't think with our powers combined we could sweet-talk them into just giving us a warning?" Liam mused as the shuttle followed Verity's direction and lifted off the ground.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Sounds like you're suggesting we try to seduce them into letting us off easy," Verity said. "And I just want to say, I'm entirely here for watching this happen."

[firstofitskind]

"I have it on good authority that I can be very charming when need be," Liam grinned at her. "And I know how charming you are."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Hey now, no flirting with the pilot," Verity teased. "You'll get me all confused and distracted."

[firstofitskind]

"If I thought you'd be easily confused and distracted, I wouldn't have agreed to teach you how to fly," Liam pointed out. "We're high enough now," he added. "Hold your right palm out as if you're signaling 'stop', and that'll move us forward. Sweep your left hand towards the right to veer right, and towards the left to veer left."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Okay and how do I actually stop?" Verity asked, practicing the sweeping and stop movements, varying the speed a bit to see how the shop reacted.