She keeps trying it, but if she can't get it in a couple dozen attempts she'll have to give up and leave for patrol on the speed wings.

She can get noticeably better but not great over a couple dozen attempts.

She'll try it a couple more times that evening, then, and once or twice more on the way to school on Monday. Are Larissa and Sumiko around at lunch?

They are! Larissa has a cold and doesn't talk much; Sumiko's little brother has a new puppy and she has lots to say about training it.

Poor Larissa. Margaret listens raptly to puppy stories, recommends her mother if they're still looking for a vet, "though of course I'm biased and I don't know who's closest to your house."

"Your mom's a vet? Cool, I didn't know that," says Sumiko. "I'll suggest her, can't be too far away since we're in the same school district."

"Yup! We don't have any pets of our own because my dad's super allergic, but she's at the clinic on third street."

"She doesn't bring home enough cat hair or anything to set him off?" asks Sumiko.

"She puts on enough of an extra layer while she's there--lab coat and gloves and all of that--and takes it off before she leaves, so we manage alright, but for all I know Dad still sneezes more than he would if she had a different job."

"Makes sense."

"Yeah. Say, I went to the flight park on the edge of town yesterday. I know you do serious flying, do you ever hang out there?"

"Sometimes, but usually not. You don't need a regulation course to practice speed, just a way to tell where you are and how fast you're going," Sumiko says.

"Makes sense. I was testing wing shape tweaks on the obstacle course. How fast can you get?"

"Horizontal shortform? I can do a hundred and eighty miles an hour."

Margaret whistles. "Pretty nice! I'd say I should try to watch you compete sometime, but my life is school and patrolling and things to support school and patrolling and realistically I doubt I'll have the time soon."

"Honestly, it's not that interesting to watch, it's not like I'm an air dancer."

Shrug. "Air dancing is pretty cool. Not something I'd be good at even if I put in the time, though I do have a nice set of higher agility wings now."

"Make sure you have the adjustments really well memorized," cautions Sumiko. "There are bad times to notice you've messed it up."

"Yup," she nods. "And I'll make sure they feel right at the start of every patrol. Fortunately that's the only check I need to deal with then, I've managed to keep my combat outfit the same as my combat outfit the same as my regular one even if reassembling it after gym class takes ages."

"You wouldn't have to do that if you were Thaumatologist," croaks Larissa. "I know a girl who started coming to church because she didn't want to wear her school's uniform."

"True. I wouldn't want to say I was when I'm not, though, it seems unfair to actual Thaumatologists."

"We don't care if you lie to the school," she says. "If it gets you in the door that's nothing but good, is what my Thaumaturge'd say."

"Even if it gets people wondering how many Thaumatologists are just saying it for protections? Huh. Pretty live-and-let-live of you."

"There's not a legal definition of who's really a Thaumatologist," Larissa says. "The Thaumaturge won't know to back you on it if you've never shown up, though."

"Makes sense. I'll stick to changing for gym, but it's good to know."