Broomstick Engineering (and blatent advertising) on Quidditch Pitch

Stephen Baxter, Geoffrey Spindler and Fido too

August 02, 2010 6:05 AM

Broomstick Engineering (and blatent advertising) by Stephen Baxter, Geoffrey Spindler and Fido too

It hadn't been obvious at first that they'd accept the invitation to return to attend the Alumni fair at Sonora.

'Yes,' Geoffrey said, 'I see your point about how it will help, but I feel a bit-' his voice went so low that it wasn't audible to his cousin who looked over at him from the broom prototype he'd been working on.

'A bit...?' Stephen left it hanging.

'A bit embarrassed about going back, okay?' Geoffrey said, defensively.

'Embarrassed?!' Stephen repeated the word as a question, completely baffled at the concept. He had, in his time, been embarrassed. But he didn't remember it having really been that big an issue, and for some reason it'd always been about girls- oh. 'This about Jen?' he asked, with a twinkle in his eye.

Geoffrey looked flustered at the mention of the name.

'I'm not a child anymore,' he complained, and quite rightly. He had grown into a handsome young man of twenty years. 'I got over that crush years ago.'

'Sure.'

'I did. I still respect her and would like to consider her as a friend,' which was difficult as they hadn't really kept in touch after school. Which might have had a lot to do with how he'd mooned over her for years. And possibly with how he abandoned her beloved house team soon after being given charge of it. 'I mean more, well, I did leave school very suddenly, if you recall. I didn't even finish up my seven years.' And I let people down, he thought morosely, without even a proper word of explanation. People like Helena.

'Well,' Stephen said reasonably, 'you didn't have to. I wouldn't have if I'd known that. I really liked hanging out at Sonora - it was fun, you know - but the whole school bit? It wasn't entirely my thing. As a student, I was not the greatest.' He grinned self-depreciatingly. 'I'm better with my hands, but you don't need to take my word for that-'

Geoffrey rolled his eyes as he interjected. 'No, I'm sure Sorrel has better things to do than, well,' he went pink again. 'Anyhow, we're getting off topic.'

'True. I think we need to get you laid.'

Geoffrey promptly choked.

'No, seriously, hear me out-'

'Steve, back on topic,' Geoffrey said, in as close to a thunderous tone as he ever managed, all the while doing a creditable impersonation of a beetroot. Or a beetroot with with tightly curled dark hair, anyhow. 'Alumni fair. Do we go or not?'

'I vote yes,' Stephen said, switching back as easily as he'd gotten off track. He flicked his brown hair out of his eyes so he could see what he was working on properly, and with a slight furrow of his brow - and the echo of his mother's voice suggesting that a haircut might be in order - pulled out his twig clippers and made some slight adjustments. 'See the old place, catch up with others who go back. And, best of all, it'll be cheap advertising. We haven't got the money behind us to really have a proper go at starting up our own company beyond the basics until the Evil Grandmother kicks the bucket-'

That Alan was going to share his inheritance with his brother and cousin was an unspoken understanding.

'Unlikely to happen anytime soon.'

Stephen nodded, 'Exactly. So until then, it's up to us to take every opportunity as it comes. Besides,' he looked over at Geoff, sincere resolution in his gaze, 'I think we've got a really good product. It's time to share it with the world. Or Sonora, anyhow,' the expression hadn't lasted long, turning into a more usual lopsided grin.

'So we should go then,' Geoffrey said, carefully attempting to not thinking about the main reason he was hesitant to go back. Which wasn't, he thought huffily, Jen at all. 'Except...'

But the pros and cons - and the sheer chance for a fun reunion - had been discussed at length some time ago, now, and the decision that had been made was quite clear as Stephen took centre stage in the Quidditch Pitch. For those looking, he might have seemed nothing too special. He was of middling height - Geoffrey was taller. His hair was a nondescript shade of brown, and long enough that it flopped into his eyes, needing to be pushed aside at regular intervals, unlike Geoff's neat dark curls. Even the shade of his eyes, brown again, was nothing much worth saying anything about. Geoff was definitely the handsome one of the two.

But Stephen had charisma. And character in bucketloads. His eyes, his facial expressions, his gestures has a tendency to be animated and engaging. And he knew how to dress to get attention.

He took a moment to look around, remembering the good time. That time he'd hung upside down to save a goal. The time he'd made a save that he hadn't even believed he'd make. The first time he'd taken Fido, his broom, for a spin with the addition of the flashy racing stripes. Several times in under the stands... He grinned widely as he took in his audience. There was a fairly good crowd there, and he was pretty sure that one or two faces even looked vaguely familiar.

'You ready?' he asked his cousin in a low tone.

Geoff looked up from where he was, in typical finicky fashion, adjusting the display of the basic process of broom manufacturement. 'Er...' He twitched his wand, making a last minute adjustment while eyeing the crowd speculatively, and with a slight hint of tension. 'As I'll ever be, I expect,' he said, letting his wand arm fall to his side, and shifting to his mark, just left of the raw materials. 'The others?'

'Eh,' Stephen shrugged. 'The twins haven't failed to put on a show yet.'

He turned to face their audience. While some might have put on a voice enhancement charm like sonorus, Stephen didn't really see the need.

'Hello!' he greeted their audience with an exaggerated wave and a loud, carrying voice, sure that his new robes were exactly right for the occasion. The were a decidedly eyecatching shade of green, and cut with an eye to broomriding. 'I swear you kids get younger every year - they do, don't they, Geoff?' Geoff rolled his eyes and gestured for Stephen to get on with it. He was dressed in a more sombre shade of burgandy, in honour of his erstwhile house, Crotalus. 'Right, well, I'm here to tell you about the big old world outside of Sonora, and what you can do when you escape these walls. Or, at least, my experience of it. My experience, and that of Geoff here. I think it's safe to say you all love Sonora - I know I did! I enjoyed almost every moment of my seven years here. Some moments,' he suddenly grinned, and his whole face lit up with the action, 'more than others.

'I was not the biggest brain - I think that if you look around there'll be a small, nerdy looking guy who answers to 'Zack' around somewhere. He was the brain. I was not top of my class, or prefect, or Quidditch Captain. Geoff was Captain though,' He indicated Geoff with a thumb point over his shoulder, not looking back at his cousin who grimmaced at the mention, and again swept his eyes over the crowd. 'As were a couple of people I'll be introing later. My point is, you don't have to be all those things to get to do what you want to do. What you love. I love brooms. I love tinkering with older brooms, like Ol' Fido,' he indicated an older broom with red racing stripes, amongst their display. 'And I love building them from scratch. And I'm doubly lucky there as I've got myself a great buddy - my cousin Geoff - who feels exactly the same way. Which is why we're setting up our own business. At the moment, it's part mechanic service - that means we check over your broom to see if there are any bugs in the charms, fix those and physical damage. Stuff like that. We also do a line in specialising. If you've got an older broom that isn't quite what you need it to be, bring it to us and we can make adjustments, so it's suited more strongly to you, the rider. And we're currently designing our own broom range as well. Keep an eye out for it!'

It was going well, so far. No one had tried to stop the blatent advertising he'd slipped in.

'We've got fliers with all the details and are contactable by multiple means. We've even,' and this, he thought, was quite a coup, 'got a website. So, if you haven't got access to an owl during the holidays, visit the website and drop us an email.' Geoff, on cue, cast a quick, nifty charm that sent dozens of the fliers flying into the hands of the students assembled.

'But how, I can see you're all asking, did we get to this point? Did we go to university? No, not a chance! I made it through my CATs and RATs, but you'd have been hardpressed to see me make it though a year more of academia! Not my scene. No, with a lot of trades like broom manufacturing, you get your qualifications by entering an apprenticeship. And, some of you might be interested in learning that you do not need RATs for most apprenticeships like this. They help, yeah, but they're totally not necessary - Geoff here never even graduated from Sonora. He dropped out to take up an apprenticeship too. Man, I wish someone had told me that after fifth year! I could have been two years ahead of where I am now. I didn't really bother to look into this stuff until after I graduated. Coasted,' he grinned again, completely impervious to Geoff's discomfort, and shook his head with a slight chuckle.

'Anyhow, now you're wondering, why would I want an apprenticeship, or, if you've got the same kind of frame of mind as me, you're wondering - 'where do I sign up!'. Bad news, guys! I'm afraid we won't be taking on any apprentices ourselves, just yet. I'm only just out of mine, and Geoff is finishing his up, so we're officially "journeymen" - or almost! - if you want to go with the old way of thinking about these things. Maybe in a few years,' he shrugged expressively, 'who knows! But that doesn't mean your options are limited. There are loads of people taking on apprentices. Broom companies do that, so if you're a massive fan of, say for example...Cleansweeps. Their American Division generally takes on a few people every year. Same with most of the other big companies. Or you can do what we did, and go old school. Find someone who specialises in the industry without being part of the corporate machine. Boutique or simply independant craftsmen. Totally cool with people who want to be part of the big companies, but I didn't want that. There are still guys out there who are independant, and that's the path We've taken.

'There are other apprenticeships out there too. Not all will be as awesome as broom engineering, but you can't have everything! Some things will be like ours, in that you don't need high end qualifications. Others, particularly those that generalise in a magical field,' Stephen had done a little study before this. And Geoffrey had done even more and passed his notes to Stephen, as their main spokesperson, 'like transfiguration or charms, you do need more academic qualifications. I think Prin- Mia, is doing something like that. Dunno where though - you'll have to check the schedule.' Unless her talk was already done... in which case, whoops!

'But what makes broom engineering stand out for me? I think it's that it both involved multiple forms of magic as well as being able to do physical work. It also combined several of my interests - brooms, tinkering with things, mechanics - and was an interest I could share with less magical members of my family, like my older brother, Alan. He's a muggle-style mechanic, and helped me with lots of ideas before I'd even graduated and started looking for what to do with my life. Also, it is indisputably awesome - what other trade lets you turn raw materials like,' Geoffrey set their first display to work, 'string or rope, twigs - different trees make for different effects - and wood - again, different trees have different properties to give to a broom - into a deceptively simple looking device that can be used for so many things. They are the basics of a broom. Extras can be added, footrests are a prime example, but the basics are so mindblowingly simple you almost have to wonder what brilliant mind first made the connection between brooms and flying. The main spellwork you use is charms, so having good grades and an interest in that certainly helps.

He walked towards the second display case, pulling out Fido. Geoffrey set the rest of the display in motion.

'You can take an ordinary school broom,' Stephen wondered, as those words left his mouth, just how much it was worth advertising that he'd effectively nicked a school broom way back in first year. But no one had complained over his seven years, and it was now several years since he had graduated, so any repercussions were almost certainly well behind him. And besides, Fido was an awesome broom, clearly meant for Stephen. 'Older model, has it's quirks. And with a few minor modifications, you can make it far more suited to you as a player. And physical changes - note the red racing stripes - can make it look flashier, and give both you and the broom more confidence in the air and your capabilities.

'Or,' and he glanced back at Geoffrey, to flash an excited grin at his cousin. 'You can start from scratch, and make something like this.'

He moved to join Geoffrey, glancing to the side in anticipation. The brooms that the twins were about to demonstrate for them were of his and Geoff's personal design. The first, they hoped, of a proper range of brooms, others of which were still nowhere near the level of completeness of these. They'd been tinkering with the idea for years - even back to their school days. And they were, Stephen was sure, something pretty special. And he didn't think he'd want anyone other than the twins to show off what they were capable of.

'Oh right,' he added, just as they appeared. 'If anyone has any questions after this, just come on up. Geoff and I will be happy to answer any you've got. Those two too,' he pointed at the two on the brooms. 'Thanks!'

OOC: Hey guys, been a while since I've been here! Hope it all still works like I recall. Should be a followup post to this by the twins, but feel free to post your own replies whenever ;)

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