Jinny listened to the instructions with full attention. She didn’t want to have to ask questions, having already realized that Mikron’s patience was thin. “Alright, got it.” While she did not have her own video games at home, she did at least understand the controls easily.
Tucking her braid inside the back of her shirt, she took the controller in hand. “This is going to be awesome.” There was glee in her eyes and in her voice, and she missed the look on Mikron’s face as she hit the forward thrust. The jetpack lifted her into the air, and Jin’s grin widened. “Sweet.” Carefully, she took off, quickly lifting herself higher than her powers currently allowed. The view wasn’t breathtaking, exactly. Maybe if they had been outside. Currently all she could see were students and equipment. They seemed rather unbothered by the display, and aside from some upward glances, Jin was not getting much attention.
Jin spurred the jetpack forward, doing a few lazy circles around the training area, just to get a look at things from above. She never tired of flying. It still amazed her to see things from a higher perspective, to see the world from the eye of a bird. “Let’s see what this baby can do!” Her eyes glittered as she started to fly faster. A few twists of the controls made her do a spinning loop, like a biplane pilot showing off. Jin giggled and continued, making a twisting, turning and twirling.
Her flight pattern dropped suddenly, nearly 3 feet in one go. Jinny felt her breakfast nearly make a reappearance. She tried to level herself out, but found herself listing to one side, sinking at an alarming pace. “Uh… that can’t be good.” She clicked at the controls, trying to get higher again. The jetpack did not respond.
“Fuck.”
Picking up speed, Jin was approaching a drop level that would be painful when she hit the ground. “Come on, come on, you stupid machine!” Jin was trying to mitigate the drop speed by pushing upward with her own power, but the weight on her back wasn’t making it easy. The ground approached at an alarming pace. “No, no, no – please don’t let me screw this up!” She absolutely knew that Mikron would not forgive her smashing his project to pieces on the ground.
As the ground approached, students pointed. They quickly abandoned the area that she was to land in. “Get outta the way!” Jinny warned anyway. She shut her eyes and prayed to whatever god would listen, then pressed the lift controls one last time.
The jetpack jerked once then soared upward, finally. She skirted just a few feet short of hitting the ground, and started accelerating upward. Jin let out a shaking breath as she returned to the place where Mikron waited.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, she released the harness and carefully extracted herself. Then she stormed over to Mikron. “What the fuck was that?! You’ve got some major kinks to work out of that thing!”