missnicegirl | (no subject)

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Her best friend can fly.

Her best friend can fly.

Her best friend can fly.

Lavender can fly.

Of course, the moment she heard, after she was done with the celebratory hug, she immediately asked Lavender how it works so she could try it herself. Unfortunately, Lavender's developing vocabulary was not quite adequate to communicate the process. But they had a long conversation about their powers, with Matilda sitting in a comfy chair in her bedroom and Lavender hovering casually beside it. They both agreed that Jenny is the only grown-up who is allowed to know. Things like this are too important to trust to unqualified adults.

A day later, Matilda is still unable to get herself off the ground. She's sure there's a way; she just hasn't found it yet. Maybe if she learns, she can teach Lavender how to move things other than herself. But for now... she needs more data.

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"Should I try lifting you up again?" she volunteers.

"Yes."

He doesn't think it's likely to make any more difference to his abilities than it did before, but he wants to see if it might bring that other thing into more focus. The change in setting has clearly had an influence there.

She does.

Again, it's no closer, but for the first time it offers the faint but steady impression that it could get closer.

Or, more accurately, if he can find the right angle, take the right twists

(tell the right story)

he can get himself closer to it.

Not today. Maybe not even any time soon.

But there is a way.

After a minute or two, she lowers him to the ground again.

"No luck, huh?"

Slowly, he opens his eyes.

"I think," he says, choosing his words with a certain amount of care, "it's going to be a bit more complicated for me than it was for you or Lavender."

"Huh," says Matilda, intrigued. "Does that mean you got something?"

"There's something there to be had," he says. "I can't get to it yet."

Little wonder Lavender can't articulate her experience. It isn't just that she's six and ordinary; it's that the vocabulary for it doesn't exist on worlds like theirs.

"...That's really interesting," Matilda observes. "That you found something but not a useful something, I mean. I'm not sure what it says about the flying thing, but it's interesting."

"There are quite a few variables," he says. "You and Lavender are children, female, and from this world, none of which apply to me and any of which could make a difference in ease of access to the energy you're using."

He cocks his head slightly, then adds,

"It is external. Whatever that was I was sensing, that was it. I'm certain of that."

It is possible it was something else entirely . . . but it wasn't. He knows it wasn't, the same way he knows he wouldn't have felt anything if he'd looked for it a month ago.

"I think I have more questions than I did this morning," she says ruefully. "But I guess that's still progress. Thanks for helping me figure it out."

He chuckles.

"That's how experimenting goes more often than not," he says. "Besides, it'd be boring if you worked it all out at once."

What would there be left to do?

"I think being able to fly would be a pretty good consolation prize," she says, giggling.

"I've heard of worse," he concedes.

It would probably be at least a week or two before the shine started wearing off.

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