Dec 02 05:47:16 108 PA - How to Fall From the Nest

From Chronicles

Dec 02 05:47:16 108 PA.

NEAR THE LANDING STRIP

Jaxain is on the field, waiting for Gabriel to arrive. He has a large sack with him, which he has set on the ground, and is wearing his new environmental body armor. He is pacing back and forth across a small section of the field, enjoying the clear weather that has show itself. For once.

Gabriel seems to be enjoying the break in the weather himself, and perhaps amusingly, arrives on foot, despite the fact that he too is clad in armor, and with a nice little jet pack attached to boot. Obviously needed to be modified to fit, but it works. His helmet is off, attached at his waist and clanking. He runs up rather effortlessly. "Hello, Jax. You wanna give me a lap for sake of tradition?" A large grin follows, and he points to the sack. "So, Santa?"

Jaxain laughs at the greeting and nods to Gabe, "Yeah, bought a cheap pack and had it fixed up. Apparently it runs great, but...." He gestures at his armor, which has a few dirt stains here and there, mostly in the chest and the helmet, which he removes a moment later, attaching at at his side on a convenient strap.

It's actually a nice day today. Sunrise is coming, but it's not up yet. A good forty-five minutes or so. The snow is thick on the ground, and Gabriel and Jaxain are standing off the landing strip in the same open area that Gabriel has used as a teaching forum countless times before. Even with Jaxain. Both are clad in armor, helmets off, but with Gabriel wearing a modified pack on his back, and looking into a big bag. "Oh. Looks like a Falcon 300, right? Good model. Not zippy, but it works." He should know. He's wearing one.

Jaxain nods with a smile, "Yeah, it's all I could afford, and I've heard good things about it's miles per e-clip." He shrugs, not knowing all that much about the Packs in general. "Thanks for coming out here, these things are damn tricky, and I was having a hell of a time trying to figure it out myself."

Gabriel lifts it out and points out a few features. "Charge, thrust, overall electrical drive system status." Two digital columns and a single digital readout. He flips it over. "Exhaust jets - keep your hands away." Finally, it gets moved over to the man's back. "Yeah, you're like me. You're going to need to have it modified to fit conformal. You could leave it and just try to cinch it down real tight, but it won't work nearly as well. Stretch out your arms like it's a backpack for now. I'll adjust it."

Jaxain nods, doing his best to follow along with Gabriel's words. "Charge, thrust. What does that mean?" He asks, looking at the Pack. "I see the exhaust jets, they hurt a bit when I first fired this thing up." He smirks, "Learned that lesson fast." He then stretches out his arms as Gabriel instructs and says, "Ok, great. Hey, by the way, if we have a moment to talk I wanted to ask you about that battleship."

As Gabriel moves around front to help cinch up the temporary ties, he says, "Sure. What do you want to know about battleships?" He continues, "Charge is basically how much gas is left, thrust is how hard it's pushing. You'll need different thrust to do different things, and you need to make sure that you don't run out of fuel at an inopportune time." After a moment of walking around and examining the pack a few times, he pushes Jax's shoulders, suddenly and strongly, to see if his balance will be good enough to keep him upright in his early seconds of wearing the machine.

Jaxain staggers forward in surprise, but takes the push in stride and just assumes there was a good reason for it. "I never thought about that... I guess if you run out of 'charge' at the wrong time, things could go really bad, really fast." He chuckles. "Ah, not battleships, the Battleship. The one that is phasing in and out of reality, somewhere north of here." He shrugs his shoulders and does a few simple stretches to make sure the straps are on tight and secure. "Apparently it's from the early 20th century."

Gabriel walks around front and shoves Jaxain again. "Who says it's early twentieth century? And what the hell's phasing?" He steps back. "Walk around, run around, just get used to wearing its weight. It's a lot like wearing a combat pack, so it was easy for me. Not sure how you may or may not be used to that kind of balance, though. Let your armor take the weight, you do the balancing."

Jaxain does a couple exaggerated shrugs and then walks and jogs a bit. "To be honest, I hardly even notice the weight." Says the man who can carry 20,000 pounds. "The balance is a bit strange, but I usually bring my backpack with me on long trips and it's a lot lighter than what I usually carry." He swings from side to side a few times. "I'll try wearing it around town a bit though, just to get used to it." He looks at Gabriel, "Well the Council said it was early twentieth century, from what I recall. And that it was disappearing and re-appearing at intervals, which is also called phasing." "Oh. North?" Gabriel gives a quick wave. "Okay, jet up about ten feet for me."

Jaxain nods and says, "Yeah, it was up north. Apparently giving off some kinda energy signature. Lots of people are gonna go looking for it." He looks to be bracing himself and nods at Gabriel. "Ummmm... Ok. Might wanna put your helmet on first though. Just in case." He says, putting his own on for good measure.

Gabriel smiles and raises an eyebrow, grabbing at his helmet, ready to put it on quickly. "Okay. Just in case." He fastens it, and now there's an old Knights Templar-like visage looking at Jaxain. Was he smirking?

Jaxain has already found the on button, attached to the back of the pack, and reaches around behind himself to press it. As he has done several times before. And each time, to disastrous effect. There is, literally, no possible way of controlling the pack like that, but maybe the knucklehead just doesn't know the control module is supposed to detach... So off he goes, flying about 20 feet into the air, to land some thirty feet distant. Slowly, he gets up, and takes off his helmet, frowning in consternation. "I just don't see how this is supposed to work!"

Gabriel removes his helmet, laughing. "Have someone put a lid on that button before you run off. You don't want someone poking it when you're in the heat of combat." Then, he walks over to where the many is climbing to his feet and kneels down with an open palm. A palm containing something that looks rather like an artificial clam; it fits in the palm of the hand, and has buttons. "Hold this. It's the controller."

Jaxain doesn't quite get the reference, and cocks his head to the side as he finishes standing and dusts some of the clods of earth from his armor. "Controller?" He asks with a raised eyebrow. "What does it do? And, know anything about the Battleship?" He prompts, though at this moment dividing his attention might not be the best idea. He's been wanting to speak with Gabriel about this for weeks though, and this is his first time with the older man alone.

Gabriel plops the controller into Jaxain's palm - the one that he grabbed for this purpose - and says, "You control thrust power, thrust vectoring, monitor your charge, diagnostics, everything, through this pad. You lose it, you lose control." He opens up his own palm, and there's a similar controller, though at this point permanently fastened. "The lid? Look at mine. My pack was new, so the switches are in the proper place. Look up top, you can't see it. There's a plate over it; it has to be deliberately removed before the pack can be engaged or disengaged. Now. Just jet up a tiny, *TINY* bit. Just once. These are not forgiving instruments." He shrugs. "It's a fucking rocket on your back, Jax. Treat it with some respect."

Jaxain looks at the controller in bafflement, "Hey! No, yeah my jetpack has a plate just like that one, but I took it off so I could reach the button." His face colors slightly, "Crap, thought it was the only way to make the pack work...." He walks over to the bag and picks up a piece of cloth, and unwraps it to reveal the plate. He hands it to Gabe with a chagrined expression. "Man... ok that was pretty stupid." He looks at the controller in his hand again, and says. "Which one takes me up?"

Gabriel moves over and points out, "They're labeled. But in your hand, they should feel pretty obvious. Roll your thumb forward, thrust goes up - you go up. Roll it back, thrust goes down - you go down. Now just give it a little squirt. Only a few inches." As he steps back - not wearing his helmet at the moment - he says, "Ah... okay. I can see how a twentieth century battleship might bring people to my doorstep. North Missouri? I don't know exactly where it was - too damn worried about keeping people alive at the time - but that's where the Louisiana popped out. But I thought that we saw it explode."

Jaxain nods, "Well, they asked if anyone there was an expert in 20th century history, and that's what made me think of you." He looks at Gabriel and focuses for a moment, showing him the glimpse of the ship he got from his psychic vision about it. "Is that the ship?" He asks, before he steps back a bit, and presses gently up on the pad. The pack goes up, and sideways, then back. "Crap!" Jax says, now close to thirty feet in the air, moving sideways at about 10 mph and raising.

"Pull your thumb back, Jax!" Gabriel calls, cupping his hands around his mouth. Quickly adding, "Slowly! Just pull back and roll when you hit the ground!"

Jaxain nods, laughing as he spirals out of control, and releases the controls. "This is way easier!!" He calls out as he falls, trying to roll with it but thrown off balance by his trajectory and landing with a *THUMP* and a groan. He gets up quickly though, apparently unhurt, and starts jogging towards Gabriel. "Man, way more fun! I was starting to think Jet Packs were just freaking impossible!!" He sounds pretty excited. "Can I go again?"

The teacher just watches his student fall out of the sky and roll around like an idiot. "Jax, I know that armor's nice, but now consider doing that from half a mile up. Not fun. Do it again, yes, but just *slowly roll* your thumb forward. In fact, hold onto the controller with both hands this time like you're doing this 'texting' stuff. Roll. *Slowly.* Just enough to get you off your feet." Gabriel shrugs, "You'll be an inverted pendulum, like any rocket. Hard to control." He waits for his student to take off, calling out, "That, ah.. vision? Yeah, that looks like the Louisiana, just before I saw her blow. This thing in my head, it's.. recent? Some kind of reading the past? Future?"

Jaxain cocks his head to the side, "Texting?" he asks in puzzlement, not really having much of a head for technology. But he follows the instructions, and indeed two hands on the stick prove better than one. He goes up about three feet, then down to the ground, landing hard, then back up about 5 feet, down to two, and back up to between 8 and 12, swinging and spinning slightly, but with slightly better control than before. "Yeeeehahhh!!" He yells out, apparently enjoying himself. "Uhhh, yeah, the vision was from my own future, or at least a possible future, so it's definitely not the past!"

Gabriel angrily motions his hand to the ground, and is once more quite the instructor from last time. "GODDAMNIT GET DOWN HERE AND STAY DOWN!" He's certainly in no mood to discuss battleships.

Jaxain looks at Gabriel in surprise and releases the control, falling a dozen feet and landing lightly. "Oh sorry, was trying to hit 10 feet, couldn't quite get it." He is quiet, watching Gabriel.

"MY WORDS WERE 'JUST ENOUGH TO GET OFF YOUR FEET'!" Gabriel shouts angrily. "You're making a damn fool of yourself! You're not learning anything except the *wrong* things, Jax. You want my instruction, then listen to my fucking instructions!" A few step take him back and away from the other other man, and he smiles. Eerily. "Again please. Just enough. To get. Off. The ground." Fingers are narrowed before his eyes.

Jaxain is more or less used to Gabriel's drill instructor method of instruction by now, and simply nods. "Shit, sorry. Ok." he says, partly to himself, as he looks at the controls and takes a deep breath. He seems to find the machine both strangely daunting, and exhilarating, at the same time. "Ok." He repeats, pushing the button and taking him up about a foot, then lowering down again and staying there, focusing his attention on trying to stay just off his feet. And failing, as he keeps fluctuating slightly, landing then taking off again. But damn if he isn't trying.

"That's okay, just stay off the ground like that," Gabriel encourages. He starts shoving Jaxain around, hard, soft and from all different heights and directions. None of this should be easy to do without stumbling, being the obvious thought. "Stay upright. Do your best to stay in one place, with your feet right off the ground." He keeps shoving. As he shoves, "So... there might be a battleship up north that might be the Louisiana? That's pretty strange. But, if I'm the expert, what do you want to know?"

Jaxain not only stumbles, but falls on one of the first shove, attempting to shift his balance as though he was standing and not paying attention to what is *actually* holding him up: the jet-pack. He forgets to let go of the button at first, and actually manages to drag himself along the ground for a good ten feet before remembering. He laughs at himself and gets back up, shaking his head as he again tries to do the hover thing. And he falls again, though this time he catches himself on his hands and remembers to let go of the button.

Gabriel looks on as if he'd pretty much expected that response. He waves Jaxain to the ground, then walks up and puts his hands in the other fellow's armpits. "I'll hold you, and I'll shake you. This time just stay off the ground. I don't care if you feel like you're falling over sideways. Just stay a *little* bit off the ground." He starts shaking even before the jets can engage. "This is easier if you get an implant."

Jaxain engages the jets slowly, but even with Gabriel steadying him he seems to have a lot of trouble with the concept of not shifting his feet to compensate. In fact, they dangle and shift as if they should be doing something, which makes his focus even harder to maintain on his hand. "Battleship." He says, as if trying to take his mind off of something. "Battleship... the power supply?" He cocks his head to the side, "Implant? You have one?"

"Here, just hover a few inches like that. I'm going to run and push off, and you try to just stay in a straight line. I know that you'll fall and swerve, just keep it up and straight as long as you can." Gabriel starts off, asking, "Questions, before I let go? Yeah, I didn't want to get one, but I have a tiny little gyro-compass tacked beneath my clavicle. My sense of balance and orientation is much better than I could ever do alone."

Jaxain nods, following the instructions given, but manages to get a few words off before he 'takes off'. He seems a bit more relaxed now, just taking his focus off of his feet entirely. "Can't, implants get in the way of using magic if you aren't careful." He manages to say, "You think we can remove the power source? Was curious what it might look like." He then takes off, managing to make it an entire 5 feet before he dips too low and spins to do a neat face plant in the dirt, still laughing. "Ok, I see what I'm doing wrong here." He shakes his head, "You know, I've never driven anything before. Only ridden a horse a half dozen times. But, in a way, this is kinda similar to skateboarding.. I just have to learn what *NOT* to do with my feet."

Gabriel nods, and waves Jaxain over, ready to remove the second-hand 'pack and apparently look over it for defects. "Okay, the Louisiana was a testbed ship that officially never existed. They laid the Montanas down before they knew that aircraft carriers were what really mattered, then they got scrapped. But, some guy in Congress saved the Louisiana, built her in secret up in Maine, and she turned into a testbed for defense technology - even before she was finished, people figured that guns were done, missiles were the way to go." He again motions the other man to take off his pack.

Jaxain nods and does as instructed, taking off his pack with some trouble. He's not used to the straps, and takes them off in the wrong order, causing difficulty in lowering it to the ground. "Huh. What is a testbed ship, and what are Montanas?"

"A testbed ship is a vessel that goes to sea, that can be modified to hold all sorts of different... tests. Weapons, sensors, propulsion, armor... whatever. The 'Montanas' were a class of vessel. Like the 'Iowas' or the 'Essex-class.'" Gabriel swishes his lips back and forth. "The Montanas would have been the largest big gun battleships ever put to sea by the United States. Huge!" He opens his arms wide to indicate it. After thinking for a moment, he asks, "If I think of a picture, can you read my mind?"

Jaxain nods, "Yeah, if you picture it hard enough and long enough, I can get a good picture of it." He says, focusing his mind on the task after he says this. "Ok, so this ship, the Louisiana, was a ship to test experimental technologies?"

Gabriel thinks an image in his mind. Hard enough that he closes his eyes, all scrunched up! Then, "Yeah, of course. I just said that. You asked about her propulsion. Nothing unusual when we put to sea for the last time. Boilers and turbines. But we had this thing, I don't know what it was, honestly. I was head of security, with Natasha as my second. Huge crew of scientists, techs and just about a one-for-one defense for people under my command." But they had this... thing. He wrings his hands, trying to figure out a way to describe it.

Jaxain nods, letting out a breath in awe as he receives the image, "She's huge!" he whispers, "Ok, so it isn't the power supply or engine of the ship, but something they were studying..." He pauses again, waiting for Gabriel to describe the item. He will also probably pick up an image of it from the other man's mind, as he hasn't had a chance to break contact yet.

"Ah.. it was a big room. Like a cube. Maybe forty-by-forty-by-forty." Gabriel wavers his hand in the 'give-or-take' sign. "But there was a pyramid inside. The scientist in charge had been a Nazi, but they put him through Paperclip so that he could continue his work for us. It was all... Egyptian and stuff. Hieroglyphics on the walls inside a battleship, this big polished pyramid.. but then a big ball. Maybe, ten foot diameter? Very electronic, wires, all sorts of stuff, hanging down from the ceiling so that it almost touched the apex." He then shrugs. "But I only got to see the room once, and I only got to do that because I was head of security. I don't know what it was, or was supposed to do. But.. it *was* the mission." The agent's eyes quirk again, "Whatever it was."

Jaxain raises his eyebrows, obviously impressed. "Ok, that changes things somewhat. This cube, was it part of the object, or was it just something your people housed it in?" He ponders for a moment, "I'm trying to figure out how heavy this object might be, so that we can figure out how to move it."

Gabriel shakes it off. "No, no. That was just the room they carved out for it. Real deep in the bowels beneath the superstructure. I think it was built somewhere else and brought on site whole, but I never did see specifically how they got it down."

Jaxain nods, looking a bit relieved. "This Pyramid, was it something your people might have made, or was it far out of your experience? Like an object from another time, or dimension, even?"

"Do I look like a stonemason?" Gabriel smirks, but waves it off again. "Nah, it just looked like a really nicely built pyramid. I'm pretty sure that there were no extra dimensions existing around then. Hell, it'd only been a decade after we launched the New Mexico alien rumors. Nah, nah. Just some guy with a good chisel and a decent polisher, I think."

Jaxain nods, "Ok, good. So this pyramid and globe thingy, how heavy, roughly, do you think it was, maybe? Like, can we get it on Bart's truck, you think?" He tilts his head to the side questioningly.

Gabriel shrugs. "Well, about ten feet in diameter, like I said. How big's his truck? I really can't guess at its weight. It was suspended by wires and mechanical arms. I was ushered out rather rudely before I had a chance to look. Maybe if I'd had a chance, I wouldn't be here having this discussion." He smirks. "Okay, suit up again. Just put it on as much as you can, and I'll show you if you mess up."

Jaxain nods, "Alright, cool. Thanks man. Was it locked up pretty good? I'm guessing we will need some cutting torches at the least." He suits up as he says this, putting on the Jet pack exactly right, if one wanted it to fall off on a sudden turn. Way to go, rocket boy.

With a chuckle, Gabriel walks up and around. "It's not seated right, Jax. See, look. The straps hold it close. When you get it fit to your armor, it won't be a big issue, but you never know when you might not have the fitted armor, and be left with straps alone." He takes a few minutes to make things right. "Okay. Now. Just hop up and down for me four or five times. But only a few inches. Like.. two inches. You need to get the basic feel for the up and the down at the most basic level." He steps back, giving the other man room to royally screw up.

Jaxain nods, raising an eyebrow. "Ok, thanks." He says, running his hand over the straps to try and get a feel for them. He nods to Gabriel, and does as told, just trying to ignite the thrusters enough to bring himself a few inches off the ground. And it works, in a way... he gets a few inches off the ground, but starts moving backwards at the same time and tries to compensate with his feet, again, "Wooah!" He calls, suddenly toppling over backwards.

"Whoa!" Strangely, Gabriel looks pleased at the failure. "See, now you're not learning the wrong things, you're recognizing what the wrong things are." He extends a hand to help his pupil back to his feet. "Try it again. Five hops, two inches each. Give or take."

Jaxain smiles at Gabriel, glad he seems to be making some sort of progress, and tries it again. And again, on the first time, he falls over - not able to compensate for the lack of being in contact with the ground. "Yeah, I think I can kinda see what you mean... it's like having someone carry you..." He says, but he doesn't sound at all certain.

Gabriel watches on as his pupil tries to bounce. "Here, follow me." He leads Jaxain over to a tall light pole. "Wrap your arms around it like a lover, and bounce. You'll get the feel of the thrust, without worrying about falling over right now. But continue to stay low." A nod is given, and he takes a few steps backward.

Jaxain nods and does as instructed, "You know, if it wasn't so damn cold I'd consider this fun." He winks at Gabriel. "I can't believe how easy it looks when you fly around the battlefield." He shakes his head, "I can't even imagine using a gun while flying!" He proceeds to wrap his arms around the pole, and thrust up it in start stop motions. He doesn't fall over, but he does fall on his ass a few times when he miss-judges when his feet should be re-engaged in 'stand' mode.

Gabriel just stands back, both analyzing progress and smirking. After all, it really does look like Jaxain's trying to hump the lamp pole. "Okay. Just keep doing that until you can make the jumps close enough together... that you're actually hovering, just a short distance above ground."

If he has anything going for him, it's not brains. But, he sure as hell can take a fall, and the beating he is giving himself still hasn't cracked his grin as he proceeds with the exercises. Falling again, and even one time when his arms accidentally open due to the ice on the pole and he, in his surprise, forgets to let go of the button right away and flies a good dozen feet into a tumble on the ground. He shakes his head, smirks at himself again and gets right back to 'humping' the pole.

The Kentuckian laughs. Training was something that he'd always done well, and sometimes it's more entertaining than others. "Okay, okay. I said, 'like' your lover, not actually your lover. Just go easy. You would grab your daughter and throw her down the street to teach her to run. Easy, slow. Jet packs aren't about harsh maneuvering. Aircraft do that. This is about *gliding*. That's what birds do."

Jaxain nods, taking a moment to try and wrap his head around these new instructions, and gives it another try. This time it goes a bit better, as he uses the jet pack as something to just give him thrust and then fall back instead of trying to 'fly'. He's still having trouble with it, however. He looks at Gabe, nodding, as he sees the point in the lesson and how far he has to go. This won't be as easy as simply running...

A nod is given. "Okay, let go. No more dry-humping, you're starting to get some looks. If you think that you can have, even for just a few seconds, come over here and do it it. No more training wheels. Or training poles. However, you will get this Pole training you!" Gabriel laughs, humor that may be lost to the ages.

It certainly isn't the first reference Gabriel has made he didn't get, and it surely won't be the last. Jax grins along anyway, nodding as he leaves his training pole to join his Pole trainer. "Yeah, I can see what you mean. This is gonna take a lot to get used too." He tries to hover, then, and gets thrown by a sideways gust of wind he wasn't expecting. He manages to land on his feet this time, and tries it again. He can't hover, it's too much for him, but he can at least make hops without the pole. Though on each one he moves several feet horizontally as well, and manages to fall down some few times even when going slow and careful.

"Okay, not bad, not bad, Jax." Gabriel offers assistance getting to his feet again. "Listen, just do this. Close your eyes. Stand up straight, like you're at attention - then relax. Not parade rest, but relax. Become one with Mother Earth, stand there with your eyes closed as long as you like." He's moving around the other man slowly, painting a picture by moving his hands. "Hear everything around you so that you can see it in your mind. Feel the breeze. Feel the cold. Then, when you are at *peace* with yourself... try to go up a few inches, or even a foot or two, and hover. As long as you can, eyes closed. If you feel like you're starting to lose it, just dial back." He says nothing more, apparently wanting his words to speak without further action.

Jaxain follows the instructions given, closing his eyes and taking deep breaths. Then he starts a low hum, a Chinese meditation mantra, which is quickly drowned out by the sound of the jet pack firing up at low thrust. He raises up several feet, but he is moving slightly to the right as well. However, with his eyes closed he doesn't try to overcompensate, and he actually does alright for a short time, then starts lowering himself back down. He nearly trips when he lands (because of the sideways movement) and when he opens them he is shocked to find Gabriel a good twenty or thirty feet away from himself now. "Holy crap!"

"Not bad! But see, your center of gravity's been changed with the weight of the pack. You might have felt it one way, but your thrusters were at a slight angle, so you jetted off." Gabriel seems to be ignoring the other motions for the moment. "Okay, stay there, and do it again. Correct your center of gravity - but don't think about it. Flying a 'pack has to be reflex. If you're thinking about it, you'll be slow to react, and your mind on things other than gaining intelligence, or fighting, or whatever it is that you're trying to do. So... again, please." he stands back and crosses his arms, ready to offer assistance.

Jaxain nods, and looks around himself at the pack and at the ground around him. Then he fires up the pack again, but as soon as his feet leave the ground he starts trying to find footing by reflex, bracing himself for a fall, which throws off his balance. Apparently, with his eyes open, he still has quite a ways to go, and he drops to the ground with an *OOMPH* right onto his ass, his eyebrows raised in surprise. He gives a small smile and stands up, trying it again. The results are similar, but he's more aware of what he did wrong this time.

Gabriel just gives a quick upward motion of his hand. "Again. Eyes closed. If you *do* achieve a hover, then you open them."

Jaxain nods and does the same as before, closing his eyes and entering the beginning stages of proper meditation. Just enough to clear his mind, but still allow him to interact with the world in small ways. He starts floating upwards, this time moving forwards and left just slightly (mostly because he isn't used to the controls yet, and isn't very good at pressing just 'up' on the miniature joystick. He opens his eyes after a moment, and by that time he is about 4 feet off the ground... and he instantly looses control, starting to go up faster, and his legs move in a mini-flail that sends him in a slight spin. He lands on his feet, just barely, but nods to himself. And he starts again.

The old instructor doesn't move from where he stands. "Again. Keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them. Tell me when you think that you're in a hover." Gabriel looks on to see what Jaxain does

Jaxain manages to, again, close his eyes and start up the pack. He raises about four feet, then starts sinking slowly and moving to the right. "Alright, I think I'm in a hover."

"Okay. Now *don't change* the controller. Just open up your eyes." Gabriel's tone trails off like the wind, attempting to bring an air of peace to it. "You're a leaf on the wind."

Jaxain opens his eyes slowly, ready to follow instructions, and is shocked to see himself in motion and not hovering. He tries to keep his hand steady, but it reflexively moves and he is sent into a sudden left jerk that bring him up in the air about another 8 feet before he just lets go of the controller, realizing that nothing good will come of trying to correct his course, and he braces himself for the fall. Rolling some half dozen feet, he stands up quickly and looks at the controller and his hand, frowning slightly. And he gets ready to try again.

Gabriel is nodding along again. "Okay, look. Have you ever taken a feather, and put it over your mouth, then just given it little spurts of breath, here and there, keeping it in the air? It may move around side to side, up and down, but it doesn't fall out of the sky? Try to think of that, too. Total calm... plus nature holding you up. We're not moving on until you can give me a little hover time."

Jaxain nods slowly, "Ok, so I can go up, fall a bit, go up, correct, fall, go up, and that is a hover?" He asks, possibly not familiar with the term. He looks like he's ready to give it another try, he just need a bit of clarification.

Gabriel nods. "Okay, yes, yes. That's *not* a hover. But over time, your ups and downs will get smaller and smaller, until they completely cease to exist. Just bobbing that eventually evens itself out. Try it again."

Jaxain nods and gives it another try, and fails again... he seems to be having trouble, then comes up with an idea. He crosses his legs right after takeoff, which stops him from automatically trying to adjust his footing, and eventually manages to get a hover going, bobbing up and down, but in control. Ok, well he's actually moving right and then correcting left now and then.. but it's a hover, of a sort. He gives Gabriel a big grin.

"Okay! Good enough." Gabriel waves his pupil down. "I want you to keep practicing that until we get together again. Just allow yourself to bob, and slowly bring the bobbing in as close as you can until you're finally hovering. Now. One more thing to learn before I take off. I wouldn't feel right without it - you'd be left behind. This might be a little sore."

Jaxain nods, proud at the praise and excited to finally be able to do something with his jet pack except fall down all the time. "Ok, great! I'll do my best to master his part of it before we meet so I can keep up with your instructions. Four or five hours a day should be about right, I'd think."

"Minimum four or five hours. This isn't running where you'll get tired. You'll get sore, yeah. But don't set your watch. If you're not enjoying yourself so much that you completely forget about the time, or you keep hoping that it's over? You should probably learn to ride a hovercycle." Gabriel has crossed his arms at this point, looking firmly at Jaxain. "You got an 'atta boy.' Don't disappointment me by getting cheap on the practice. Now, don't use the 'pack. Just turn that way -" he waves a hand "- and hop like a bunny about a hundred yards." Is he serious? He sounds serious.

Jaxain laughs, shaking his head, "To be honest I'll probably spend all day practicing, I'm having so much fun." He grins, "But I didn't wanna come across as a keener." He does as Gabriel says, turning and hopping like a bunny for about a hundred or so yards, which takes him about 20 or so hops. He's quite the jumper, even when not trying. "Oh, I finished reading that book you gave me. Looks like it will work like she said." He calls, as an afterthought.

"Good," Gabriel answers. Though to what may be left for debate. He raises his voice so that he can be heard at distance. "Okay, now. Use the controller *GENTLY* and thrust yourself over here in little bunny hops. Little hops. Just about the same number would be ideal."

Jaxain does just that, turning and taking a moment to study the ground, his surroundings, and the controller in his hand. Then he leans forward and thrusts, sending himself in an out of control near-flip, but he manages to recover and regain his footing. Ah, no need to lean forward. Let the jet pack do the work... He tries again, this time instinctively giving a little hop with his feet first, and again not compensating correctly for the pack and nearly falling, but just barely managing to hop to a one footed stop with a laugh. The next few hops are similar, but after fifteen or so he is doing a bit better. Still not great, and he has a loooong way to go, but he can manage it. Somewhat.

"Okay, not bad. Do a loop of the strip, Jax. But I don't want to see your feet touch the ground." Gabriel swirls a finger over his head. "You've got a long way to go around and get better by the time you get back. Go."

Jaxain nods and does what he is told. He does a few false starts, and goes head over heels three times during the lap, but by the end of it he is managing to make shaky and unsteady bobbing forward progress with his feet off the ground. Well, for a time. Then he falls again.

Gabriel jogs along for the first few steps, then jets up only about five feet and flies smoothly along, just watching. "It's a little like getting yourself going on a swing, Jax. Not the same, but similar. Just be very controlled with the little hops. If you feel like you're getting out of control, try to lean back. That'll reorient your jets, and slow you down. Keep it up, you're getting better. Baby steps."

Jaxain nods, his visage set in a slight frown of concentration as he does his best to control his movement with his fingers, an idea that is completely foreign to the village bumpkin who has never even driven a car before. "Ok, lean back..." He says, doing his best to follow his own words. But when leaning back, he somehow manages to push up at the same time. "Crap." He says quietly, as he starts ascending faster and faster, looking down at the controls in his hand in consternation.

Gabriel watches his student go off.. and rise, and rise! He mumbles a few quiet words to himself, and zips up to grab on to Jaxain, taking the other man's controller in his own hand, and lowering them both to the ground. "Okay, here. You went too far, obviously." He looks at the ground, swishing his lips, obviously trying to find another analogy. He does. Reaching back to a small pack on his side, he pulls out a six-inch length of pink ribbon, instructing, "Take off your gauntlet, and be very, *very* gentle. This is dear to me." The ribbon is held out, waiting to be taken when ready.

Jaxain sighs in relief when Gabriel comes in to save him. Sure he can survive the fall, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't *HURT*. He nods to Gabriel, "Yeah, I dunno, I just kinda froze looking at this little controller thing, like I couldn't remember which button did which..." he shakes his head, "I'm not so good with this technology stuff." He lets out a low chuckle, and reaches out to take the ribbon. Very gently.

Gabriel once more warns Jaxain, "Very precious," before telling him to hold the ribbing between his thumb and index finger, the same basic grip that he'd have around the controller, but with a piece of satin ribbon. "Now, this is how you want to move your fingers right now. *Gently* How would you feel this ribbon, if you wanted to know what it was like? Just sort of... gently rub it?" He nods forward, obviously indicating, 'try, see what your instincts are.'

Jaxain rubs the fabric gently between his fingers, a delicate touch which is rarely seen from a warrior such as he. "Like this." he says quietly, nodding at the lesson, before handing the ribbon back to Gabriel. "I see what you mean." He takes up the controller, looks to Gabriel for consent, then if granted it gently pushes the controls, showing a far greater control than he had before. But... he still has a long way to go. "Wow, ok that makes a huge difference!" He exclaims, nodding again.

Gabriel remains on the ground, delicately tucking away the ribbon and allowing his pupil to take to the sky. "Stay low, and come back down. I want you to try hopping around the strip like that - no touching the ground, just jet hops. You don't get to go before you can make it at least halfway around."

Jaxain manages to make it around the field, and only has to touch the ground once in order to reorient himself and re-adjust his grip on the controls. His control is shaky, his legs often keep trying to correct and throw off his balance, and he bobs up and down enough to make a watcher sick... but he makes it around the field. An ecstatic and brightly smiling Jaxain greets Gabriel back at the middle ground, nodding. "Alright! Ok, wicked! I'm gonna do a few more laps around, then meditate on what I learned. Then go around again!"

The experienced instructor does little to break his student's concentration and excitement, save to offer some minor improvements. There's obviously far more to be said, but for now, Gabriel allows the sense of success to try to carry the day. With a sweeping motion of his arm, "By all means."

Jaxain does another loop, and does even better this time. In fact, it's pretty impressive how much he has improved in just a single loop. But then, the advice he was given by his teacher helped a lot. He manages to keep his feet off the ground the entire time, though he does come close twice, and though his control is shaky and his course is erratic, he manages to pull off a decently described circle at a fair clip. "Yeeehaaa! That was awesome!"

Gabriel offers Jaxain a gentle pat on the pack. "Okay. So, practice. Next time we get together, I want to see you able to hover, anywhere from six inches off the ground, to six feet, and hold it pretty steady. Also, you should be able to just keep jet-hopping around the length of the strip until I get bored!" He gives a hard nod. "Let yourself go up ten or fifteen feet, but no more right now. That'll be plenty. Okay? If you have any questions, you can get me on the comm."

Jaxain smiles and nods at his instructor. "Ok, great! Man, I should have started this earlier, who knew Jet Packs could be so fun! From the few times I tried it, I thought they were death traps!" Poor boy has come a long way, but still has a much further road ahead of him until he can use it with any proficiency. "I'm going to do a few more laps, I'll catch you again soon! Fifteen feet max, got it."

"Okay, then. Be safe. Always wear the helmet, Jax. I'm going to be off, see if there's anything down around the Lady. Seb was really bitching about it." With a shake of his head, he tosses off a randomish-salute and takes to the sky.