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]

"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.

[firstofitskind]

"Pull your left hand back, out of the interface," Liam instructed.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity did that, easing it out slowly so they didn't come to a screeching halt that would send them crashing into the screens or whatever. "And to start going again, I just slip it back in again?"

[firstofitskind]

"That's... yes. That's it exactly," Liam replied, with a suggestive smirk. Even if the innuendo hadn't been on purpose, he was absolutely taking it there.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Fastest way to get things going in my experience," Verity said, her expression so angelic it could only be bullshit.

[firstofitskind]

Yeah, shockingly enough, Liam was pretty familiar with that particular expression. "Not too fast," he said, his voice low. "Remember, we're taking things nice and slow right now."

[arboreal_priestess]

Because his girlfriend was always angelic, right?

"You keep talking to me with that voice and I'm going to forget all about how good we're being right now," Verity warned because guh. "You know how much I like going fast."

[firstofitskind]

She practically had a halo.

"Mm, yes I do," Liam acknowledged, grinning. "But I promised you a look at the aurora, so we should at least get there first."

[arboreal_priestess]

And since possession was nine-tenths of the law, it didn't matter where the halo had come from originally, the important thing was that it was hers now.

"Fine, but on the way home, I'm piloting in your lap."

[firstofitskind]

"... That seems fair," Liam agreed. "Though, for now... do you want to try taking it into interdimensional? Or just keep going in normal space?" The former was certainly faster (which meant they could get to this evening's other planned activities all that much sooner), but the latter meant more time to practice flight skills.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity thought about it. "Normal space now," she decided, going with the practical need for practice more than her impatience.

And the mice weren't even here to take note of the day.

"And interdimensional on our way home, when I can really open her up."

[firstofitskind]

"You're the boss," Liam said agreeably. "The flight plan's mapped out already, so the nav systems will let you know with an alert if you deviate too much."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Oooh, I'm the boss, huh? I like the sound of that," Verity teased, sliding her hand back in. "So, when do I get to start going fast?"