Oh Oh It's Magic [Musebox]

[ringoutyourdead]

Adjusting to the magical department proves, for Sabriel, to be almost as difficult as adjusting to the giant ship in the sky with the handheld radio things. The new forms of magic she's been introduced to are not Charter or Free Magic, or anything even resembling them. She has no ability to tell if they're things that she can master or just forms of magic she is innately incapable of. And yet, she has to work with them.

She stands before some of the magical artifacts - at least those make conceptual sense to her, as they are objects that have, at some point, been charmed (usually) and strokes her chin. She doesn't speak to many when they pass, preferring instead to mull, but she does wave a hand slightly in greeting when Morgan enters.

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[ringoutyourdead]

"Oh?" Sabriel gestures for him to lead her towards this vehicle. "Did you fix a dilapidated one?"

[morganknight]

"No, I actually found my car here," he said, as he led the way with a smile. "My personal car, custom-made, iconic."

[ringoutyourdead]

"Iconic? Does that mean you're some sort of famous, where you're from?"

[morganknight]

Morgan smirked, looking down at the floor for just a moment. "I'm famous for being rich. I'm rich because I inherited it. So it's the worst kind of fame for the worst reasons. It's not something I'm proud of."

[ringoutyourdead]

"There's no shame in inheritance." God knows Sabriel has inherited enough - if not wealth, then power, respect and a few supernatural servants. "As long as you don't flaunt it."

[morganknight]

"No inherent virtue in it, either, which is why being treated like I'm somehow special for being rich irritates me." He smirked, then, combing his fingers through his hair to accentuate its thick length as he looked sidelong at her. "But then again, I might not have gotten that sort of treatment if I wasn't also good-looking. So who can say?"

Morgan grinned, encouraging her to do so in turn at his own vanity. He put effort into looking good, but sure wasn't above mocking himself for it.

[ringoutyourdead]

"Oh, I agree. It's...infantilizing, in a way." She pauses, as if wondering if that's the right word, then decides that precision is a gift and that she's glad to have chosen it. She smiles, a bit lop-sidedly at that. "Well, I certainly don't see any looks worth treating differently."

[morganknight]

"That's because I still have a shirt on." He grinned playfully at her, arching his eyebrows as he nudged the door open with his shoulder to step outside.

Easy enough to spot the 2017 Ferrari Infinity: as Morgan had said, it was the only car on the ship. Sleek, black, low-slung, all elegant lines and built to be the coolest car on Earth, it seemed to radiate subdued power even without being turned on.

[ringoutyourdead]

Sabriel doesn't get it. There's a point at which things become so futuristic as to look absurd, and unfortunately this is over that edge to her.

"Why is it so..." she tries to think of a way to say it without being rude. Nothing comes to mind. "Short?"

[morganknight]

"Aerodynamics," he said, not particularly bothered by her lack of being impressed. One had to have general knowledge and context to understand. "The design has two basic intents. First, to make sure that the car is pushing aside as little air as possible, with as little disruption as possible, when it's traveling. Second, to make sure that when it is traveling, it's being pushed down." He flattened a hand in midair demonstratively. "That way, it stays on the road."

[ringoutyourdead]

"Why wouldn't you want it to be elevated? Surely it would be more useful flying."

Her school for Ladies of Quality didn't dwell on physics much.

[morganknight]

"Not really. Acceleration, braking, and turning are all from the wheels, which require contact with the ground. If it loses that at high speed..." He held up a hand, then used it to mime the car flipping over and whirling off into the distance. "A flying vehicle requires entirely different control surfaces."

[ringoutyourdead]

"I flew a flying vehicle once, but it was largely protected by Charter magic, and even then I managed to crash it." She gives a rueful smirk. "And it didn't have wheels."

[morganknight]

"So in other words, extensive lessons before I let you behind the wheel. Got it." He winked at her, even as he dropped a hand into his pocket to hit the remote. Obligingly, the car started up with a warm purr of the engine, and the passenger door popped open invitingly for her.

[ringoutyourdead]

Sabriel jerks back that the car moves on its own - it's not as if her flying contraption didn't have some sort of personality, but this is all foreign to her - and then daintily seats herself. "How fast does it go?"

[morganknight]

"Oh, it can probably hit around two hundred miles per hour without too much stress, but I don't drive it that fast," he said, lazily vaulting the driver's side door rather than opening it. Why else would one have a convertible, after all?

He fastened his seat belt slowly and deliberately, giving her the chance to copy his actions without needing to self-consciously ask.

[ringoutyourdead]

She fastens hers as well, though all the vehicles in her time are bereft of seatbelts, so she isn't quite sure what the purpose is. What if the vehicle were to catch fire?

"But can you translate that into kilometers?" she teases.

[morganknight]

Hmph. 60 is 100, so 180... "Three hundred thirty three, if I've suddenly gained the ability to do math competently," he said, dropping one hand to the stick shift.

[ringoutyourdead]

She drops her gaze down to the shift stick, forehead knotted in curiosity.

"That's quite impressive."

[morganknight]

"I'm glad you think so," he said with a playful grin, "since I'm trying to impress you."

On that note, he shifted the car into gear, foot pressing down the gas pedal. The Infinity didn't leap forward; it was too elegant for that. Its acceleration was smooth and powerful, more like a jet taking off.

Within a few seconds, they've reached 60 (or 100, if she was going to be picky).

[ringoutyourdead]

Sabriel can't help it. She tries to hold it in, but it's too much for her. A little whoop of glee works its way right out of her lungs.

She clasps her hands over her mouth and blushes.

[morganknight]

So no fear, just pure enjoyment. Well, he'd be really attracted to her if he weren't already. That sure didn't hurt, though.

"If you're going to enjoy yourself," he said, still grinning as he upshifted, "don't be embarrassed about it."

And no more keeping the speed! He slid the car smoothly around a long turn to one of the major straightaways in the City, then poured on more gas. Faster and faster the buildings on either side flashed by, and the wind yanked hard at their hair.

[ringoutyourdead]

"It's not very ladylike, though," she says, in a disparaging tone of voice that states that, temporarily, she honestly doesn't give too much of a damn about being ladylike. She even runs her hand over her mouth a few times to dislodge the stray locks of hair the wind has decided to feed her.

"This is fantastic!"

[morganknight]

"Ladies should define ladylike, not the other way around!" he says back, speaking loudly over the roar of the wind and the growl of the engine.

...Okay, maybe he WOULD go a bit faster than he'd planned. Her delight was infectious, and her utter lack of fear invigorating. Onwards the speedometer climbed!

[ringoutyourdead]

For a good while, Sabriel's whooping and giggling. And then at some point it becomes a bit too fast to be fun any more, and her hands clench her knees in white-knuckled fear. It's reminding her, at this speed, of terminal velocity when her flying craft crashed.