"Sounds perfect for an antigrav power I haven't ever tried!"

To the dirtlot!

The prices on the board are a little eyebrow-raising (40 argold an hour base with various discount plans), but Sammy the rabbit covers it and waves off any concern. At least for this first time.

She has to sign a waiver and tell a sporty lifeguard-looking woman what she plans to do today.

Sammy waves. "Hey Marnie. I'm practicing running on different surfaces with Azure Rabbit. Same as usual. And see Bella here do her thing!"

"I have a thing called Refusal of Gravity and I want to moonbounce around so I know how it handles!"

"Huh. Never heard of it. But I see your nametag, U-type. So you expect to be just running, jumping, walking? Going to try climbing or obstacles?"

"Walking running jumping and probably some climbing, not sure if it'll play especially well with any obstacles."

"That sounds fine to me! We're not super a coaching place so just go at your own pace. But first, gear check for both of you. Arms out, legs wide please..."

The gear check is quick and efficient as the safety person verifies everything is buckled and secure, and holds a tablet near her until it beeps.

"Yep, you're both all good to head on out. Enjoy!"

"Thanks!"

And in she goes and - moonbounce activate!

There's a mental sense of effort. She has to actively focus on it to keep it up.

Moonbouncing is weird. It takes a lot longer to fall. A normal walking and running stride does not really work with each step bouncing her higher, for considerably longer between steps. Her arms shoot up too fast when she lifts them, too, since by habit one applies a lot more force.

Sammy's Azure Rabbit step clearly works differently. They bounce into the air just fine, but also fall just as quickly. Bella is a lot more floaty. It actually makes her less mobile than Sammy, but running and jumping is clearly less physically strenuous for her than the Rabbit, too.

So probably what she'd ideally want to do is bounce toward something to catch and ricochet from?

"So... Want to throw around a medicine ball then? Or do you mean wall jumping? You could also try, uh, flickering it. To fall faster."

"Oh, flickering's a good idea! I was imagining something overhead like a branch or a streetlight or whatever but ricocheting off a wall could also work..."

Well, she'd probably have a bit of trouble reaching streetlight height consistently. Those're big up close. The skill seems to reduce gravity by about two thirds, letting her casually jump to about waist height. It seems like it would make climbing a breeze.

Sammy bounds over and fetches a medicine ball from the equipment racks. A light one, fifteen pounds.

"Hop around and play catch?"

"All right, but go easy on me, I had clinically severe clumsiness yesterday."

Some experimental catch reveals that things she holds benefit from reduced gravity, but keep all their inertia. Catching or throwing the ball hard midair sends her moving noticeably away, or even falling onto her back.

(There's a sudden tug when this happens, the safety systems keeping her from hitting the ground head-first or too hard.)

Sammy thinks this is wickedly cool and is excitably brainstorming acrobatics to try.

"...huh, are there things that bounce?"

"Trampolines! And maybe circus rope type things? I think there's a trampoline over there- Yeah, there is-"

They're set into the ground and surrounded by lots of padding.

"I meant like a bouncy ball, I'm wondering what happens if I slam one into the ground, then turn the skill on and jump and catch it for bonus oomph."

"Hmm... Can you even slam it that hard? I think most bouncing-type balls are pretty light. Kickballs or whatever."

"I think of basketballs as being pretty substantial but mostly because I got hit in the face with one once."

Well, there are basketballs around and Sammy is sufficiently invested in getting used to moving and jumping with Azure Rabbit to bounce one around with her.

It's pretty tricky. It kind of feels like she ought to be able to adjust the anti-gravity more than '100%' and '0%' but actually doing so is... Not really happening.

Eventually, the Skill cuts out. It just quits working on her suddenly.

"WHOA I was expecting it to - warn me or something -" Fortunately she spend a buttload of stat points and can land pretty nicely.

"Oh yeah, skill fatigue. I heard about that. Learning when you're almost out is apparently important if you want to use it a lot. And I hear some people learn to tell when it's about to go. You okay?"

"I'm okay, just startled."

"Yeah. Our two hours are almost up anyway. The gravity thing is really cool though! Thanks for showing me! Mine's a lot weaker, you know, it's a trait instead of a skill. I have to be constantly using my power to keep it up. And Ground is weird. Lots of things don't count..."

"Yeah, my Artonan language courses didn't really get into it but I assume it's a weak translation of something that's more precise and obvious in Artonan."