The festival has all but finished, with a great many of the stalls having been taken down. The great bonfire still burns, and people still mill around enjoying the festivities, but there are no more logs to be added to the fire and soon everyone will be packing up to go home. Jason finds the designated meeting place devoid of activity, dark, and a little bit chilly.

In reply to Aeternitas (msg # 1):

Jason steps into the clearing, his head sweeping the opposing tree line instinctively. He breathes in through his nose, taking in the rich earthy scent of the forest outskirts mixed with the distinctive smell of wood smoke from the bonfire, carried on the wind.

He took up position under a large tree, leaning back on it with every indication of guarded calm.

Truthfully Jason was a bit nervous, a strange flip flopping in his stomach. But it was the excitable sort of nerves that Jason first experienced just before Colonel Marsh threw him out of a plane for his first skydiving jump.

A tiny voice in the back of his mind suggested that maybe it wasn't just the flight that had his stomach twisting.

He swiftly throttled that thought.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:49, Tue 10 Sept 2019.

Lesleigh's voice flutters against Jason's ear on the breeze. "Jason... Over here... Jason... This way..." He can also see a faint light, dancing like a lantern's flame, waving at him from within the trees.

Should he follow it, the whispering voice continues to urge him forward, while the faint light remains just out of reach. By the time he catches up, he's gone far enough into the woods that he can neither see nor hear a single sign of the dwindling festival.

The next thing he knows, he's standing in a small clearing, bright with moonlight that makes the heavy white fur cloak wrapped around Lesleigh seem to glow amongst the tree's shadows. She's sitting cross-legged on a besom, an old fashioned handmade broom - one of the local heather industries products - with at least four feet between hers and the forest floor. She's not wearing her glasses. She smiles as he comes into view.

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 3):

Jason starts when he hears the voice. It's unmistakable Lesleigh's but it also sounds like the natural sound of the wind blowing through trees.

He advances towards the light warily. Slowly at first, moving with all the grace of a natural woodman but as it dances away he feels a compulsion to quicken his pace as well. By the time it stops and he reaches the clearing he almost falls into the moonlit grove.

Without her glasses on, The girl's eyes reflected the bright moon so perfectly that Jason was lost in a daze for a moment.
"That's...That's a nice coat."

Lesleigh sputters into soft laughter. "Again, I fail to predict what you'll say. I would have wagered the more surprising thing is floating in the air but it is a nice cloak. Mama insisted so I don't catch cold if we stay out too long. The wind chill when I go fast gets pretty bad, too," she says, then the broom floats down until she can hop off and stand on the ground properly. The broom winds up in her hand, held vertically.

"So, um, would you like to take control for a bit, or would you simply like to go along for the ride?"

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 5):

"I forgot about the windchill..." Jason realises.

Jason looks down at himself, dressed in the same T-shirt and jeans that while perfectly suitable for a late summer festival did not lend itself well to high altitude flying.

His eyes track Lesleigh as she guides the broom down, off and into her hand and is a little jarred by the juxtaposition of the frail girl Lesleigh pretends to be against the young woman who in front of him who is obviously very confident and assured in her movements.

With a start he realises that she may have had just as much training as he himself has had, just in a different field and Jason begins to wonder exactly how much of a powerhouse Lesleigh actually is.

"I'll ride shotgun..."He gives another half smile.

What does that mean? Urgh, why can't people just speak plainly!? Lesleigh thinks vehemently, but ultimately this one isn't too difficult to decipher.

She hopes.

She turns and tosses the broom toward the centre of the clearing, while her other hand tosses a handful of dark puffs of cloud which dart out and catch it from below, holding it aloft a couple of feet above the ground. "This, um, this can be uncomfortable to ride for a long time, like I said, um, like I said at the festival before. It's easier to sit on it sideways but I don't think we'll both fit, so, um, so you'll sit behind me and I'll take us around the glade and see how it goes. The broom could break or you could get sick from the movement, and that would be bad, so."

She walks over and throws one leg across the floating broom, fussing with her skirt and the cloak while leaving plenty of room for him.

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 7):

Jason approaches slowly, slightly unsure of how to actually mount the broom.

In the end he has the throw caution the the wind and just swing his leg over. Thankfully the broom holds steady.

Jason spends a moment messing about trying to follow Lesleigh's advice, sitting behind her before he manages to get into a position where a sudden stop of jerk wouldn't ruin his chance of having children.

Lesleigh checks on him over her shoulder and when she thinks he's settled, she starts to move the broom slowly and directly upwards. If there are no problems, she starts them casually floating around the edge of the clearing at a speed roughly equivalent to how fast Jason walks. She turns back again and says, "How is it? Not feeling queasy, are you? I don't think increasing velocity will make you sick if this doesn't but it's a bit of a journey to get where I'm thinking I would like to go."

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 9):

Jason was surprised to find that the broom seemed deceptively sturdy. The brief feeling of weightlessness as they ascended had Jason's stomach doing flip flops briefly but that soon passed as Jason focused on his breathing,c calming himself down.

"I'm okay." He said, hoping his voice didn't come off as breathless as he moved any nervousness and trepidation to the back of his mind.

Lesleigh chuckles and reaches back to take hold of his hand, and unless he jerks it away or resists, she guides it around her and places it firmly around the broomstick, directly in front of her. "You'll feel safer if you hold on more tightly, but don't worry, even if you fell I could catch you with my magic, okay?"

While this is going on they're slowly gaining altitude as they continue their loop around the clearing.

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 11):

Jason takes the broom in his hand, gingerly at first then with growing tightness as they start to grow higher. He had thought this would be like flying in a plane. The main difference between this and a plane was that you had a incredibly good view of the ground as it grew farther away from you.

He was also curious if it worked like a moterbike, in that you would gain most of your turning power from leaning.

He resolved to stay as still as possible, despite Lesleigh's assurances.

As they rise above the trees Lesleigh picks up the pace and sharpens their ascent. Soon it'd be hard to talk without shouting, but the view of the ground increasingly far below is quite something as Moorhaven rapidly passes by and disappears from sight. It's hard to gauge without prior experience, but Jason might figure they're flying about as fast as a sportscar and have sufficient altitude that even if somebody looked up and saw them, they might not be sure what it was they saw.

Maybe ten minutes, maybe twenty passes, and what is most likely Boston comes into view. Lesleigh slows down and takes them in a wide arc around the city, steering clear of it while still allowing them to admire the view. She looks back over her shoulder again to see how he's doing, grinning from ear to ear herself.

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 13):

Despite being prepared for the ascent, Jason still gasped as the broom darted rapidly upward, his knuckles whiten around the broom handle but as Lesleigh levels out and the glimmerinf vista of the city comes into view and his eyes widen, his jaw dropping slightly as his previous anxiety is forgotten.

Lesleigh slows the broom such that they could converse, although the wind at this elevation still blows pretty strong at times. "Pretty, isn't it? A year ago, you could have told me that such a place exists, and I'd have bluntly stated that you must be a liar. And there's lots of cities, just like this, all around a world so big that I'm having trouble putting it right in my head," she says, taking a more thoughtful tone than usual.

Jason continuies staring at the brightly lit city below him, the entirety of Boston stretching out like some great glittering hive. Somthing about Lesleigh's words caught his attention though,"A year ago?"

Lesleigh nods and ponders what to say for a moment, staring at the city.

"A year ago... A lifetime ago, seems like, whenever I ponder it. I was living in my blood family's house... I'd never gone outside, not once, not to go to school or play in a park. After I taught myself to read by listening to my sister studying, all I had to read were old journals and grimoires, books full of incantations and formula for potions. Sometimes I would see people outside of the window, and in the journals, they would talk about other people, so I had some idea of what the world outside was like. Well, some idea of what it was like as of the most recent journal which ended in the early nineteen hundreds with something about a war that I haven't learned about yet on Mama's iPad," she slowly says, picking through her words.

Then she twists a little at the waist and looks directly at him. "What is it about you that makes me feel like talking about this kind of thing, I wonder? I don't really talk about it much with Mama, much less the boys."

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 17):

Jason didn't have an answer for her. He was trained to be a good listener, but more for baroed orders than whispered confessions.

Even though he had no reference for it Jason understood what she meant. There was somthing about Lesleigh that put him at ease as well.

He shrugs but his voice is thoughtful as he stares at the glowing Boston skyline."I don't know...I went through somthing similar..." He starts before hastening to add, "No where near as bad as you but...maybe it was just because I never felt trapped?" He chews the inside of his cheek then shrugs again. "Maybe I'm just good at listening."

"Hrm... Could be. Well, puzzlin' on it won't amount to much but making me feel melancholy some more, so, how about I really show off for you? Moorhaven isn't so far from here that flying as fast as a car doesn't get us here pretty quick, but there's a place I'd like to see with my own eyes about thirty minutes from here at my top speed, give or take. Interested?" she says, an impishly expectant slant creeping into her grin.

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 19):

Jason refused to let himself be ruffled, keeping what he hoped was a cool and nonchalant expression on his face even as his hands gripped tighter around the broom, squeaking slightly as his knuckles whitened.

"Sure." He said, but it may not have come out as strongly as he wanted.

"I won't let you fall off, Jason, don't worry. Here we go," she says before she starts the broom moving again. She takes her time accelerating as they come around in a wide arc, picking up even more as they slowly ascend to a good cruising speed well above the tallest buildings in the city. It isn't long before Boston has faded over the horizon.

After about ten minutes, Jason discovers that the land below has been replaced with the Atlantic Ocean.

Some ten minutes more go by and Lesleigh starts taking them down until they're racing along close enough to the water that they're creating a wake like a speedboat without actually touching the water. This close, Jason has a better grasp of their velocity than provided by the simple force of the wind trying to rip him away from the broom. And then he sees it.

Lady Liberty in all of her finery lit up against the backdrop of the night sky.

They slow down and gradually spiral closer, delight writ large across Lesleigh's face.

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 21):

Jason feels his stomach somersault as Lesleigh swings the broom down, that odd mixture of strangled elation that always comes with a sharp descent. A laugh bursts from his mouth as Lesleigh they straighten out, the cool spray of the ocean whipping up around them madly.

His face is partially shielded from the surge so when he first glances at the statue it's from a side long glance but he's soon enraptured by one of the worlds most recognisable landmarks.

Any fear or trepidation lingering has vanished in his awe.

"She's beautiful... It was worth flying two hundred miles to see her. I don't know about you, though, but I'd sure like to get off this broom for a bit. Are you hungry?" Lesleigh says, turning at her waist to look at Jason better.

This guy sure makes some good faces when he isn't pretending to be a rock.

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 23):

Jason nods absently but his attention is still squarely focused on Lady Liberty, the spotlights below it casting her angles and features into sharp relief.

However he soon snaps out of it, giving a firmer nod. Although he had almost acclimatised to the unusual mode of flight the mention of getting his feet on the ground was to good an opportunity to pass up.

Lesleigh smiles at him for a moment then turns to look at the magnificent landmark for a little longer, and then they slowly turn and fly toward the city, rising in height rapidly so they have a good view of the terrain. Without a word of small talk, Lesleigh finds a place to slip down to the ground unobserved and brings them into a large park so they can dismount the broom whilst hidden between the trees.

"Should I, um, should I wait here while you get something, do you think? I have my glasses but the broom is kind of, um, kind of strange to be rambling with... Or, um, or I could hide it here, um. What do you think?"

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 25):

Jason pauses midstep, drawn by the smell of the late night, boardwalk food calls him. He turns around.

It was a good question actually...It was unlikely someone would swipe the broom, but not impossible and it would be a long journey back to Rainsford if they lost it.

He pauses for a moment, frowning as he ponders the problem.

"Do you want me to carry it?"

"N-no, I'd at least be able to pass it off somehow if I carried it. Ah, I should have brought a pointy hat. Then I could tell anybody that asked that I'm a witch and they'd just laugh," she says, laughing softly.

She pulls her dark glasses out and puts them on her face. "I guess I can just carry it," she says, proceeding to take hold of Jason's arm with her empty hand.

A warm comfortable feeling washes over Jason as Lesleigh leans into him. Jason's heavy foot falls echo across the wooden jetty, contrasting Lesleigh's whose dainty steps are almost silent in comparison.

The smell of salt spray mixes with the scent of sweet pastries and salted savories. The whole boardwalk bathed in warm light from the various stalls and storefronts on the boardwalk.

He nods at such a front, a small plate night food place with a set tables outside, overlooking the whole of New York bay.

There's a neon sign above the door, glowing softly as moths float around it.
"Giuseppe's"

On the walk from the park to the restaurant that Jason indicates, Lesleigh does a frankly poor job of pretending to be blind. Every window display, crowd of people, or fancy signage attracts her rapt attention. She gradually grows more comfortable leaning into him, which serves in part to negate the overwhelming difference in the length of their strides.

When they stop, she looks the restaurant over carefully and says, "This looks lovely. And they have heaters, so we can eat outside in comfort."

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 29):

Jason pulls one of the aluminium seats out for Lesleigh before taking his own place. The restaurant didn't appear to be super high brow, more of a small family run place but the food smelt good and looked to be decent value if nothing else.

Jason peers at his menu, the space between him and Lesleigh filling with a noticable,  but not uncomfortable quiet.

After an appropriate amount of time, a woman wearing a maroon apron with the restaurant's name emblazoned on the front walked up, panic and pad in hand.

"Hi, welcome to Giuseppe's, you guys ready to order?

Lesleigh had accepted the seat and briefly scanned the menu before putting it down again - it would blow her cover if she was reading it, after all. The broom is tucked beneath the table by the time the server arrives. There's an awkward moment of indecision and then she says, "I um, I'll just have a salad, please. I don't eat very much."

"Okay. Would you like chicken with that...?"

A rapid series of questions and answers later, Lesleigh finishes her order of a salad with grilled chicken and a small side of breadsticks with a soda - to which she seems to be especially looking forward to. The server smiles and says, "You must have been looking forward to this."

"Yes!" Lesleigh says, before turning sheepish at the volume of her response and the server's friendly laugh.

She leans down closer to Lesleigh's height and says, "Well don't be shy now. Is this your big brother treating you?"

"No, I, um, this is, um, I'm older than I look and he, um, he is..."

"Goodness, I'm sorry. I hope I haven't spoiled your date," she says as she connects the dots. Lesleigh turns pink from ear to ear and remains silent while the server turns to Jason and says, "Well then, what can I get for you?"

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 31):

Jason stares at the menu slightly before choosing the surf and turf. He briefly considers a milkshake before wincing, the previous suger filled abomination still fresh in his mind.

He frowns slightly as Lesleigh blushes, the stuttering girl in front of him clashing with the self assured, confident young woman he'd seen berate Talberon and whisk him half way around the USA.

He gave a smile which he hoped was more encouraging than nervous and searched his brain for somthing to say.
"Have you ever...done this before?" He asks, gesturing around him.

"N-Not exactly. We ate dinner out in the yard a few times during the summer when it was warm enough. I've never eaten in a restaurant before. Have you?" she says, fidgeting a little with her hands in her lap while the server takes their menus and such.

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 33):

Jason likewise fiddles with his hands, locking his fingers and staring at his thumbs as he twiddles them.

"Uh...No...most of my meals are pre cooked ration packs or whatever slop they serving in the mess hall." Jason looks up suddenly and hurries to provide context,"My...family is kinda...military?" Jason suddenly felt a pang of guilt as the smell of the fresh food wafted in from the backroom.

He thought of his team...

His family.

Should he really be out here, about to enjoy what smelled to be a great meal,with this strange nice girl? He felt a knot in his stomach as he contemplated his own selfishness, a worried look flickering across his normally stoic face.

"Oh... Oh, I see, that's why you didn't know if you could talk about them before," she says, nodding along with it to reinforce how that made perfect, total sense, yup, definitely.

Where had the companionable silence gone? After giving up on her fidgets with an exasperated gesture, Lesleigh turns somewhat in her seat and says, "I'm sorry, I didn't, um, I didn't mean to invite you on a date and not call it a date." Still pink from ear to ear she makes mollifying gestures with her hands so rapidly that they're rather unlikely to have their intended effect. "I mean, I honestly didn't mean it as a date! N-not that I wouldn't want to go on a date! I, um, I mean, um..."

She sigh that she heaves next could very well have let her soul escape with it, and she physically deflates, leaning forward slightly with her head hanging.

Good job making everything complicated for no reason, me! Christ Jesus hoppin' on the cross like a pogo stick...
This message was last edited by the player at 03:44, Tue 08 Oct 2019.

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 35):

Jason hurries to reassure Lesleigh, trying to snap himself out his own guilty funk as he watches Lesleigh become more and more flustered.

Jason tries to placate her but Lesleigh's words are coming a mile a minute and he can't get a word in edgewise until she breaths out and by then he didn't trust himself not to blurt out somthing that wouldn't just make things worse.

Jason fights the urge to squirm in his seat, the silence was truly palpable now and he felt the desperate need tondispell it despite his lack of anything decent to say.

Lacking any other ideas, Jason reaches out and gently places his large hand on Lesleigh's.
"It's fine...I'm enjoying myself."

She hesitates just a moment and then grips his hand, adding in her other hand a moment later. "I'm sorry, I just, um, I just don't have any confidence in anything that isn't magic, so... Um, if that's not it, then, what's bothering you?"

Her hands are tiny compared to his and as soft as one might expect from a person that's never done any kind of manual labour in their life.

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 37):

Jason clams up, opening his mouth several times as if he's going to say somthing before shutting again and sighing. After a moment or so of indecision, "Just...my family..." He breaths out through his nose and frowns in thought,"I'm supposed to lead them...To know where we're supposed to be going and get them there-" The words spill out quickly, but...I'm not sure where I'm going either...Everything that I saw at the festival...everything you said..." Jason shrugs, "I suppose I feel out of my depth..."

He goes silent after that, as if the novelty of saying so many words has drained him.

Lesleigh squeezes his hand and gives him her best attempt at a reassuring smile. "I'll help you. Mama says I've probably forgotten more magic than she ever learned to begin with, but truthfully I haven't the heart to tell her that I haven't forgotten any of it. Ask me anything you want to know, at any time."

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 39):

Jason raises his eyebrows, from the brief glimpse Jason got of Lesleigh's adopted mother he could only imagine how much she might have learned in her lifetime.
"Do you have a good memory or does magic just...stick?"

Lesleigh ponders this, keeping her hands occupied with a slow tactile examination of his hand. "I think I have a good memory, but it's not that I remember everything the first time I see it or something like that. I just... Well, once I had read everything there was to read in that room, I started over again. And again, and again. I can read very fast, or perhaps I should say that my eyes are very fast, just in general. I can watch the images change on a screen, something that is literally too fast for a human eye. I'm not hindered at all by fog or rain or even the absolute darkness of a room sealed away under the earth, either."

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 41):

Jason nearly asks if that's a side effect of her eyes but stops himself just in time and they lapsed into a silence as Jason pulled over her words.

To him reading had always been purely practical. Combat assessments, battle plans, terrain directions. It wasn't somthing he took pleasure in either. He always lagged behind the other Cadets with his words and he still struggled even now.

He couldn't imagine reading the same thing over and over again, let alone an entire room if books.

The revelation about her eyes was fascinating as well. He had an inkling that Lesleigh was somthing of a special case in the magical world but if such abilities were commonplace...

Jason started to feel even more out of his depth again and he wondered how the US government had kept a lid on the supernatural happenings of the world. If a magic user could just cast a spell and have the same abilities as a soldier with thousands of dollars worth of high tech equipment...

It boggled the mind.

He was dimly aware of Lesleigh examing his hand and despite everything he found the soft gentle touch was relaxing him slightly.

The food arrived shortly after, brought over by the smiling waitress who gave the both of them a knowing look.

"You're worrying about something again, aren't you?" Lesleigh says before they're interrupted by the waitress, which prompts a sheepish grin as they go through the process of distributing the plates with the waitress giving them that sort of look the entire time.

When she's gone, Lesleigh turns back to Jason and smiles brightly, "This smells amazing. Let's eat, and save our worries for later."

She's content to dig in if he is, her enjoyment of the relatively simple fare that she ordered palpable in the way she sways slightly while chewing.

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 43):

"I-" Jason started,  not sure how to go on. Everyone always considered him the blank one. A calm collected rock in a sometimes rather dysfunctional squad.

Such a personality was valuable in a high stress life when many different personalities clashed daily. He lent a steadiness that people could fall back on.

But it did leave Jason...isolated at times.

Not many people could read him easily, and those that could were people who had known him for years.

The fact that Lesleigh could do it so easily was...

Jason wasn't sure what it was actually but it felt...refreshing.

"Okay." Jason agrees as his plate is put down in front of him. He attacks it with gusto, showing a uncharacteristic amount of enthusiasm for his food.

He stops abruptly though, looking slightly sheepish as he speaks,"How is yours?"

"My tongue could die from happiness," Lesleigh says in an almost sing-song voice in between munches of her own. She doesn't eat nearly as fast as Jason, and there's not nearly as much food in front of her, but there's no mistaking the sheer joy in her expression, even with her eyes covered.

Then she stabs a small piece of chicken and some lettuce onto her fork before dipping it into the dressing and lifting it up toward Jason. "Would you like a taste?"

"Oh...Uh...Okay." Jason hands twitch awkwardly, as if he's not quite sure of the best way to grab the fork.

After a moment or two of faffing about he simply darts his head forward and eats it off the outstretched fork.

Jason immediately sits back, bit upright, immobile apart from his chewing mouth and his eyes which occasionally dart from side to side.

"It's good." He says, hoping his worry that he's just committed a faux pa isn't noticable.

Lesleigh snickers softly. "This is too much fun, but as much as I love your reactions, you can relax, you know. May I try some of yours?"

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 47):

Jason relaxes, or at least tries to as he breaths out through his nose again.
"Oh...Sure..." Jason looks for the most intact bit of food he can. After a while he settles on a healthy bit of battered scampi, after dipping it in the home made tartar sauce he offers it to Lesleigh.

As he does he's suddenly unsure whether he should just give her the fork or wait for her to take it off the end of the fork herself, like he did.

Lesleigh doesn't hesitate to take the bite directly from his fork, immediately sitting back up straighter in her surprise. "Wow that's strong!" she says, but she isn't complaining - in fact, she seems to be enjoying it, continuing to sway happily, beaming from ear to ear.



I'm starting to feel like this is dragging a bit, so we can jump forward a while if you want. Or not if you're having fun, but I got nothing in the way of ideas so I'll leave it up to you! ^.^

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 49):

OOC: Yeah, that might be a good idea. I'm not sure where you want to go though. I had an idea we could just be walking along the pier though if you happy with that?

Works for me!

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 51):

The smell of Seasalt is palpable as the waves of smash against Liberty Island. Jason's heavy footsteps sound heavily against the solid wooden boardwalk. Although the majority of the night's stars were blotted out by clouds and the light coming from New York a few intrepid ones peek through the night sky.

His previous worries forgotten as he relaxed in Lesleigh's company.

"Thank you for..this." He says as they walk through the walk august night.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:48, Sun 03 Nov 2019.

Lesleigh grinned from her place on Jason's arm. She was walking more slowly than usual in part because she was simply enjoying the tie together, and in part, because she claimed to have eaten so much that she felt sluggish.

She giggles softly at his words and says, "Thank you for coming with me. I had planned out the route to the city but never gathered enough courage to come all the way here by myself."

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 53):

Jason quirked an eyebrow curiously, "You had a route?"
He hadn't seen any kind of navigation devices on her or her broom.
"How did you know where you were going? I just guessed you were following the coast."

The question wasn't confrontational, just idle conversation as they took in the sights and smells of the boardwalk. They weren't the only people out on the wooden jetty, not even the only couple...

"Couple?" Where had that idea come from...

He looked down at Lesleigh Cellotaped to his arm but didn't say anything.

Lesleigh grins mischievously. "Yes, well, the route follows the coast, but I needed some landmarks or we could have flown too far. There's also the information I collected about shipping lanes, other boats and airplanes so we didn't crash into anything or worse, be seen by a lot of people. Also, you may not have realized it because of the magic, but we were flying approximately eight hundred kilometres an hour, so everything I chose had to be useful while I'm flying at that speed," she says, looking up at him instead of where they're going.

"Did you know the speed of sound is roughly half again that fast? I want to try and break it some day!"

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 55):

Jason struggled to stop his eyes bugging out, 800 kilometers an hour?
The large boy's mind boggled at the capacity for magic to continuously astound him.
"I'm glad you planned." He said, inwardly imagining how far off course they could have gone if even one tiny thing had been wrong at those speeds.

"I didn't know that, but I would like to see it." He added encouragingly.

"What do you think the first day will be like?"

"Hrm, well... Paul said that it's mostly like a regular school, so on the first day there are a lot of tests to take, but not to worry about them because they're just assessments. The teachers want to know what we do and don't know already so that they can try to teach us better," she says before she starts to hesitate.

After a handful of false starts she says, "There are going to be people there that won't like me, or you and your family, but I don't think there will be any huge incidents on the first day."

In reply to Lesleigh Ebongrove (msg # 57):


For a moment, Jason was silent before breaking the quiet,

"You weren't exaggerating about your family, were you?"

Although phrased as a question, his tone left it in no doubt that it was more of a statement. He subconsciously hugged Lesleigh tighter to him.

He could deal with people not liking him or his family, his family had been trained to fight. To win.

But the thought of Lesleigh being targeted sent a familiar pang of unpleasantness through his stomach.

It was the same feeling he got when he saw his siblings fail at a task or sustain an injury during training.

But this wasn't training and he felt his stomach twist again.

Lesleigh has to stop walking while being held so tightly, but she doesn't complain, electing to embrace Jason in return with what feeble strength her arms possess. "Don't worry. I don't think anybody would do anything that's actually dangerous, and my magic is pretty good, you know? Ah, when you want to go back, let me know," she says.

She doesn't make any move to let go for an awkwardly long moment, though.

Jason doesn't seem to notice the fact Lesleigh hadn't let go and despite the late hour, Jason wasn't in any hurry to get back either, rather enjoying the moment.
"I'm okay staying for a little while longer." He said as they look out over Liberty harbour.

[Private to Lesleigh Ebongrove: OOC: I'm not sure if you want to call it for this scene here? I'm fine continuing if there is more you want to show but it seems like a decent cutting point.)]

I'm gonna cap this one off as finished under the circumstances, which include having already done everything of great interest to us as players, if I'm reading the private messages correctly. The witch and the soldier eventually go home without further event...