13119/Alternate Instructor Flight School

Alternate Instructor Flight School
Date of Scene:	25 April 2021
Location:	Backyard - Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Some of those drops sparkle
Cast of Characters:	Sunspot, Nightingale

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Sunspot has posed:
Roberto Da Costa roberto stands in the early morning sun, most of the sky is still twilighty except along the eastern crest where the sun has just broken the edge flooding the world, Bert is standing on the practice feild facing that light positively drinking it in arms out stretched waiting for you. "Ola Menina, I hope you do not mind a change in instructor for the day? Sam had mentions how much you want to be an X-Men and I thought I migt have some insight that the... more entitled do not share." His eyes shift to you mischeivisouly but he doesn't outright wink. "The X-men are about being a team, working well with others becoming more through our combined skills and abilities. Using our strengths to accomodate another's weakness."

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon's just back from her usual dawn run, in black sneakers, black leggings, and a long black t-shirt with a large, hot pink sequined heart emblazoned dead center. She's got her hair pinned up in a bun to keep it out of her face and off the back of her neck for the morning exercise. The call for flight school is a little bit odd, but she's not one to refuse. What could it hurt? She smiles and waves to Roberto, sketching a somewhat theatrical bow with a flick of her wings, before easing into some light stretches to stay limber. "Ola, Mr. DaCosta. Ugh, Sam let on about that, did he? I've got my doubts about ever being enough for something like that."

     She does, however, listen, when he speaks on teamwork, and she nods. "Exactly. I'm better in the air where I can be eyes in the sky, or a medic on the wing. I might have some basic hand to hand skills, and some with the bo staff... even starting to pick up some archery... but when it comes to full-on combat, that's not my strength. I leave that to people like Warpath, or Wolverine, or Cyclops. And definitely to Cannonball, with that blast field of his."

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto Da Costa nods and smiles, "Right, everyone has a role to play, but there are times when the battle picks the role not you. That's what we train to prevent." Berto shakes his head, "Everyone thinks of Jim as an attack dog but he and Sam like myself are problem solvers. We're toolboxes that fix things, we can change the battlefield, and I think you can learn a similar role. You want to try? Today we are going to work on alternate fligt styles and some power interaction." Berto nods, and his form darkens as he hands you an ear bud, "So we can talk while we're flying, you can subvolcalize right?"

Nightingale has posed:
     The comms aren't unfamiliar to Shannon, and she settles it into her ear easily enough. "My powerset is three-fold. Flight, a robust healing factor, and a healing gift that often backfires on me. In the field, I rely more on flight, with agility to keep me out of harm's way." Regarding battle picking one's role, the winged teen just cracks a light smile and nods, with a look that speaks of understanding that all too well. "Battle can also force one to learn new skills very quickly, that one might not have considered before. Consider archery, or handling a shield, for example."

     And with that, she spreads her wings and takes to the sky, sending remnants of morning mist swirling away from her with every downbeat of those large, feathered limbs that sends her higher into the air.

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto Da Costa slowly generates thrust, pushing himself away from the ground, using additional thrust from his hands to steady himself as he moves higher in slowly arching circle centered on you, he's actually a little wobbly as he does this, you can tell it is not his usual style of ascent. He lets you get airborne and steadily ascend before kicking up his speed easily matching you, "Okay, we'll head out over land to the inlet, some of these moves are best practiced over water, you can swim right?" He smiles, and nods, "Phase one do your best to keep up." Roberto does his best to accelerate slowly allowing you yo build speed to follow him.

Nightingale has posed:
     "On your left, Sunspot!" Shannon calls out, easily accelerating to keep up. Had he done his homework as to her top sustained speed? One could only guess. But she does play a decent game of follow-the-leader, thus far keeping up with the gentleman. The smile on her face bespeaks a simple enjoyment of flight, relishing the simple joy of being in the air. "So far so good. What's next?"

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto Da Costa smiles, and lets her pace him for a bit, accelerating past her top speed but not by too much, making her struggle to gain speed, a good workout before moving to the next phase. "Very good, Anjo." He arcs up and accelerates to his full 150mph speed, pulling away into the low lying clouds. Moving higher and away.

Nightingale has posed:
     There is some useage of the more 'conversational' bits of various languages as Sunspot accelerates to easily twice Shannon's top speed, the younger mutant pushing herself to follow. Though she can't make it to 150, she at least keeps an eye on his flight path, and follows into the lower-lying clouds. By now, though, the mist and clouds were gathering thick around her, swirling about with every beat of her wings through the air, visibility lowered considerably. "Remind me to bring goggles next time," she muttered. "Can you give me your approximate heading, Sunspot?"

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto Da Costa smiles, "Okay, this is where it gets tricky." You can feel the warmth and see the mist evaporating as the air around you warms, you can also feel yourself accelerating, "Relax your wings, use my thermal, ride the draft, I should be able to maintain you at speed." Sunspot has arced in a full circle and is coming up from underneath you, using his heat to generate a thermal updraft and carry you along pushing you easily above any speed you've achieved prior.

Nightingale has posed:
     This was definitely a different way of flying; riding the draft was not something Shannon was accustomed to doing. So she does her best, relaxing her wings to let them catch the warmer air, and ride through the mist. Swirls of pale, cool droplets whirl and eddy around her as she accelerates faster and faster. Something caught between a laugh, and a sound of worry escapes her as she is forced to shift her focus from accelerating or decelerating on her own, to simply keeping steady and not letting herself get knocked out of the sky! "Whoaaaah...!!!"

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto Da Costa grins at the exclamation and manages the thermal front to keep Shannon settled in the middle of it. The burst through the clouds and into open sky near the top of Berto's speed range and the sun is brilliant on the distant horizon. Berto continues to press upwards taking you higher and the temp drops a bit though it is hard to notice wrapped in the warm thermal. The oxygen hasn't thinned yet but that may be a concern shortly. "Phase two, freefall, you ready?"

Nightingale has posed:
     "How close is this going to be to what I practice by the lake all the time?" Shannon asks. "I don't think I've ever executed a freefall and skim-the-water from this altitude before!" Still, she had to admit, the view was beautiful from up here, and she takes a few moments to simply appreciate it all. "God... most people will never get to appreciate this outside of a plane. I feel bad for them."

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto Da Costa grins and shuts off his powers, the thrust, the lofting thermal, "Somewhat... " Berto does a somesault and heads down angling his body into the fall. Racing with gravity letting the momentum take him, "No, they never will."

Nightingale has posed:
     This could either go very, very well--or very poorly. It was far faster than Shannon had ever flown, and faster than she had ever dared to dive-bomb. Snapping her wings inwards, she focused entirely on the fall, keeping her body streamlined, her wings in, and watching the earth rushing up at her. Would she be able to snap her wings outwards at the right moment--and what would that do to them at this speed? Oh, hell, Mr. DaCosta had shut off his powers! "YOU'RE BLOOMING CRAZY....!!!!"

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto Da Costa smiles and loose a yell of pure unbirdled joy he matches you flight until your speed flattens hittibg terminal velocity and Berto breaks into an intricate series of rolls and twists a mid air dance routine of startling complexity and beauty. He didnt attend aboot camp but instead has a solid ten years of training and it shows.

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon knew it was highly likely she was going to need a shower and fresh change of clothing after this. Regardless, she still tried a few basic rolls after watching Mr. DaCosta, keeping her wings tucked in flat against her back. She might not have the ten solid years training, but she's no slouch, either. Perhaps there is a little bit of promise there--somewhere amidst the mixture of whoops of joy, and those shouted questions of her own sanity--or of his!

Sunspot has posed:
It isnt immediately apparent how Berto manages to accomplish this but by the time you are both done playing Berto is below you and within a a few feet, startlingly close for free fall. "Having fun, Anjo? Tell me whats the greatest danger right now?"

Nightingale has posed:
     "Going splat! Or straining my wings trying to slow my fall at this speed!" So what options did that leave? Not many. "Ummm, if you use your gifts, will that be enough to slow our descent??"

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto Da Costa smiles and nods. "Yes, Anjo, I can slow us. If I have permission to touch you, I promise not to be overcome by your considerable charms, but let us try another why first, change your of angle descent to parallel the water, this is not a lake and will anable you to maintain your speed. Are you ready? Good!" Berto fires up his powers again and shoots off a volley of close to a dozen shots that turn the sea below to a broiling churning mass from the glassy surface it was just moments ago. "Lesson one: flat seas are bad."

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon doesn't nod, but instead keeps her eyes on the water. Flat, almost glassy seas roil as if the god of the seas were at play beneath the waves. It gave an excellent visual reference, though, allowing the younger woman to change the angle of her body to hopefully slow her descent. If this didn't work, this was going to be the shortest flying lesson in history!

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto Da Costa lets you do the work, applying heat to aid your thrust and keep your balnced until your wingtips barely touch the water and you emerge moving at speed along its surface you can even swoop higher. But being so close to the waters surface your self means anything below you is submerged. Its hard to follow his dark shape as he zips along underneath its surface, staying submerged for longer than should be possible before accelerating ahead of you and rocketing into the open air, followed by a geyser of sea water.

Nightingale has posed:
     Indeed, Shannon does swoop higher, not at all keen on going for a swim at high speeds! It does feel like she's moving a little bit slower, and she finally dares to open her wings. There's a yelp as perhaps she might have opened them a bit too soon, and they are pulled. Her ascent isn't nearly as smooth as it could be, and looks as if it might not end quite so well....

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto Da Costa swoops around as Shannon struggles and at the last moment he takes her body in his arms and steadies her bringing them to a hover and then ascending slowly. "Bravo, Anjo, you did wonderfully... please dont get me in trouble."

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon breathes a sigh of relief as her ascent is slowed, and she can tuck in her wings at least for a few moments. Once the two are brought to a hover, however, she wriggles her way free, spreading her wings to test them and see just how badly they were pulled. She does wince slightly, but can seem to move them and fly under her own power. "Thank you, Mr. DaCosta... that could've ended badly. But I should probably head back and give my wings a few hours' rest. Feels like I pulled them just a bit. Not too bad, but I don't want to try any crazy maneuvers right now."

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto Da Costa does not impede her getting back under her own flight and in fact does everything he can to assist but he does sigh wondering how much damage has been done to his reputation by his indiscretion. "I would overall call todays endeavor a success. You did well. I will shadow you back to the mansion in case you require assistance."

Nightingale has posed:
     Hearing that sigh, Shannon comes to a hover, peering over at him. "What's wrong?" she asks, looking very confused. "Did I do something to upset you?"

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto Da Costa smiles and shakes his head, "No, no Querido. Not you at all. I was only seeking to protect you and did not mean to make you uncomfortable. i was worried that my besmirched reputation had caused you to view me in an unseemly way. It was not meant as an advance only as assistance, one friend to another. I am also upset you strained a wing, though you mastered the core the manuver and we couod perfect it with minimal additional work,"

Nightingale has posed:
     At that, Shannon just gives Sunspot the strangest look, and shakes her head, actually laughing. "I didn't see any advances, though. I came out of that ascent badly and you did what you should, and helped me out of it. What are you talking about, your 'besmirched reputation'?" She hadn't, of course, forgotten the discussion she'd witnessed with Sam, but neither was she going to go on about it. What had been said between them was said, and Sunspot -had- behaved himself, doing what was proper for the situation at hand, after all.

Sunspot has posed:
Roberto Da Costa smiles brightly and gives her a formal little bow inclining his head in thanks for her descretion. "Obrigado, Anjo. Come let us get you home safely." He shadows you back towards the mansion, reviewing the training session as you fly and making plans for the next?