Somewhere unplottable in California....

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There was only one way to visit to Blue Silver, in Monty’s opinion.

In 1989, Octavius Pepper had begun living a double life. A backfiring prototype time turner, thought decommissioned by his father had shot the wizard back twenty years just at the moment he would finally meet a distant American relative - Monty Pepper. Existing, paradoxically, on both sides of the Atlantic simultaneously, the wizard followed what he recalled of news stories, photographs and other snippets to live the life of ‘Monty' Pepper.

It had first led him to the flying car maker, Blue Silver, in California. A more modest affair back then, the owner was looking to sell quickly. The company had been fined for a severe breach of secrecy which had financially ruined them. Octavius - living as Monty - easily fell in love with the concept and took over the company for a criminally low fee. Nobody else seemed to want to touch the company.

His brash British ways had dragged the company away from its unfortunate reputation, and the wizard had embraced the culture, art and market of flying cars in America. Every time he welcomed a new guest to the workshops in this way, he got the same thrill as he did when he brought the first.

Sat in the passenger seat to Monty’s right (for they were in America now), was young Shade O’Connor, the promising portrait artist who had shadowed Monty a while back home in Britain. Not strapped for cash despite his age and unemployment, money was burning a hole in the pocket of young O’Connor, and through his interactions with Monty back home in Bedfordshire, Shade had also fallen in love with the notion of buying a flying vehicle of his own - even if they were strictly illegal in Britain.

An international floo trip from London, and then several across states had brought Shade to jump into the regal sports car with its top down, hurtling through the California air. Chrome and bright red metallic paint gleamed in the sunshine, while wind whipped at their hair.
“Welcome,” Monty called across, “to Blue Silver,” he steered the car through the air, putting a modest collection of barns to the right of the car, so Shade could see them out of the passenger window. The roofs of the buildings spelled out the company’s name in stylish calligraphy, and as they began to descend, it was possible to pick out clusters of cars in the sunshine with figures milling between them, and the discernible roar of engines.

“Britain doesn’t know what it’s missing, Shade. Steady yourself we’re about to land.”

It had been a while since he had talked to Monty Pepper.  But he still thought the guy was an amazing artist, and he visited every so often. One such visit, he had mentioned the whirlwind travelling his sister was doing and how he was slightly envious that she was off doing what she wanted to do and there he was, trying to be a responsible adult who was looking for work and all.

He had heard of Monty's flying car business in America, but shrugged it off as something fanciful then because he never thought he would ever be in America, let alone be in the market for a flying vehicle.  But after awhile, he started to act his age and felt that he needed to unwind a little and that's when he contacted Monty.  He had no idea how to get to America and even if he had made it safely there, he wouldn't know where the flying vehicle place was.

So he gladly joined Monty in travelling first by international floo, then the trip through the states, most of which Shade could not remember the names of, they finally reached their final destination.

Shade was having the time of his life.  He'd never travelled so much in his young life and it was amazing, the scenery in some of the places they passed through was just breath-taking and he could feel himself wanting to try and recreate some of them and put them in his portfolio.  He was in a very nice sports car and was feeling very carefree with the wind rushing through his hair when he heard Monty say they were about to land.

He saw the buldings with the name of the company on them and how many cars were out there he was slightly overwhelmed.  But there was a part of him that was getting really excited, almost like a kid in a candy store, he was actually going to make a reckless purchase today.

"Land away, I'm ready."

Down, down, down went the scarlet car in an elegant arc, descending to the ground, engine notes falling until they came to the ground, dust billowing up around them to either side as tyres met the ground and they motored forwards down what might be described as a runway of sorts. From out of the cloud they emerged, roaring proudly up to the nearest building, greeted by a wizard in jeans and a plaid shirt who raised his hand in greeting at them.

Monty drove over, and brought the car to a stop beneath the bright sunlight. He pulled on the handbrake and without killing the engine, threw open the driver’s door and clasped a firm handshake to the wizard beside.
“Hop out, Shade, we’ll take our tour on foot!” Monty called to his British companion, pulling up his flying goggles and perching them atop his long greying hair. The other wizard slipped in, took the wheel and gave Shade a grin and a nod as he got out, before driving the car away.

“How’d’ya like that?” Monty asked enthusiastically, gesturing behind them at the retreating car. “It’s liberating, liberating being over here where you can just drive. Nothing like it! Come in, come in, let’s get you a drink and you can see where the magic happens.” He winked, albeit a little over-dramatically, but he was like a kid at Christmas when it came to showing new friends around - especially ones from Britain.

Dusting off his brown leather jacket and blue jeans, Monty’s boots sprung across the yard they had arrived in, heading towards a building that could be described both as a barn, or perhaps a hanger. It had a large open door, four times the height of either wizard, and five times that wide. The sun did not reach inside though fell through the roof through charmed windows in the roof, illuminating the work within. It was a scene of fifteen partially completed cars, milled out by a dozen or so employees sporting a range of boiler suits, aprons, dungarees and other uniforms, with cloths, wands, tools and other equipment to hand.

Leading the way in, he led Shade aside to what looked a bit like a makeshift kitchen. Being a huge garage, even magical, everything was a little rough around the edges. Perfectly functional, but with the smell of engine oil and grease.
“Help yourself, all sorts in there, iced tea, cream soda, gillywater, lemonade - though not the fizzy stuff as this is the States, of course.” He opened the door to the charmed coldstore for Shade, and let the younger wizard decide while he looked across the barn to see what was going on.

“Now, you’ve come a fair way,” Monty considered, letting his guest make a decision, “so what do you prefer, take a look at the range, or have a look how we do it, first?”

Shade climbed out of the car, a little shakily at first because he wasn't sure of this kind of travel, but he quickly gained control of himself and looked around.  Everything looked so... fun.  He walked over to Monty and said, "These all really fly?" as if he was unsure of the fact, even though he had just gotten out of a flying car.

Shade grabbed a cream soda that was offered to him and looked around, "I'd like to see how you do it.  I'm curious." he said as he opened his drink and took a sip.  He'd been thinking for a while before he'd gotten back in touch with Monty.  He was a little tired of being the good twin, the one who never did anything wrong or even slightly adventurous.  His sister was the one off in foreign countries having the time of her life. It was his turn.

“Good! Stay curious!” Monty declared, grabbing a gillywater and closing the coldstore. He lifted the bottle to his lips and drank thirstily. America was a good deal warmer than Britain, and since catching up with himself he was spending more time in England with his family and was less acclimatised. It was only going to get warmer though, what with Shade’s request.

“This way!” Monty led on, through the hangar. They passed witches and wizards perfecting metalwork, paintwork and leaning over engines with their wands weaving complicated charms. The owner of the company led the young wizard through it all at a brisk pace, missing the tall blonde witch with the ponytail lifting her goggles to look Shade up and down with interest.

A moment later, they were threw a door and into an adjoining building which was darker, and altogether warmer. The air had a strong metallic tang, like an alchemy lesson on a grand scale was occurring inside. There were a line of pegs near the door, where heavy aprons hung and other odd looking uniform.
“Here,” Monty thrust a set of dark glass goggles at Shade, “You’ll need to wear these if you want to keep your eyes.” He tugged them on over his wiry hair and grinned, seeing that Shade did the same before clapping him on the arm and motioning to follow.

The two wizards rounded a corner and the reason for the gloom became apparent. To their right were great cauldrons of molten metal glowing over great green fires. The heat would be unbearable were it not for the shield charms which held like bubbles. Inside the air rippled and wavered around the globules of metal. Right in the middle of it were two enormous half-giants, wearing goggles and heavy aprons and dragonhide gloves. They were manipulating the metal with magic and might.

“Nothing on a goblin mint,” Monty agreed, “but exactly what you need to start the bodywork. Get’s melted down and then pressed into sheets or poured into casts.” He had to nearly shout over the noise of the presses battering down rhythmically on the metal to their left. Steam was escaping up into the roof and cold water was boiling in an instant. It was a startling, humid but busy place to be. “Alright Walt, Amerson! This is Shade O’Connor, come to see how we do it so he can run the place when I’m senile.” The two half giants gave Shade a nod, their hands busy.
“D’ya start last year?” Walt asked, giving Shade a grin that was missing several important teeth. Monty laughed, socked him on the arm and then regretted it - remembering Walt had solid tree-trunks for arms.

After shaking out his hand he gestured to Shade to follow again, and the pair escaped from the oppressive atmosphere of the metal press to the metal workshop. Here they could remove the goggles and breathe in the relative cool of the sunlit room. Pistons, nuts, bolts, engine bodies, wing mirrors, and all number of car parts were dancing steadily out of crates and down long tables under their own volition, while yet more of the Blue Silver team checked and corrected any worked with all manner of unusual tools.

“So once the metal’s been cast or pressed, it’s in here to create all the individual parts before assembly can begin. The attention to detail of these guys is second to none. Ever seen anything like it?”

Shade followed Monty, his curiosity growing with each step he took.  He may be an artist with ink, pencil, and paper, but this was completely different.  So many different practices it seemed went into making Monty's vehicles.  They walked into the adjoining building and Shade at once noticed the considerable difference in the light of the room.  He was busy trying to figure it out when Monty handed him a pair of dark goggles. “You’ll need to wear these if you want to keep your eyes.” Shade barely heard the man, but put the goggles on over his eyes. 

It took a minute for his eyes to adjust, but when they did, Monty was on the move again.  Shade caught up and was struck by the cauldrons of what looked like molten liquid.  Which was what Monty said it was, but that made sense.  He really had never seen anything like the two beings who were manipulating the liquid, but in reality, he just was in awe at the work they were doing. 

The next room was a lot more bearable.  Shade took off his goggles and took a deep breath before looking around the room, "Wow." was all he managed to say as he looked at the various parts throughout the room.  He moved closer to one of the tables, careful to stay out of the way of the magicked items and the workers who were checking them over and working with them.

"This is bloody amazing." he finally said after Monty asked him what he thought.  "I never gave a thought to how much work went into something like this, it's a process that's hard not to watch." In truth, Shade wanted to go through the whole tour again and help with some of the aspects, but he was vastly inexperienced to even suggest it, so he asked a question, "Do you only manufacture cars?" he asked with a hint of a smile on his face.

“Do you only manufacture cars?”

“Not just cars, my son. Many types of,” Monty agreed, beckoning him onwards to the great hangar space they had begun in. Here a team were assembling different cars, the parts floating out of the boxes and assembling like complex jigsaws with magic, witches and wizards occasionally adjusting by hand. “Oh, you mean…!” Monty tapped his nose and grinned. “Come this way.”

On one side of the hangar were parked a variety of different coloured cars, with polishing cloths flying over their paintwork and chrome. Beside them were some larger vehicles that looked more like small lorries or vans, which were less fancy in their bodywork and altogether more practical.

“Only do a limited number of these,” Monty explained, patting the short bonnet of the first van. “Most people want to buy a car, but we have our business buyers who like the expandable insides. The second van was parked the opposite way round, and the wiry-haired wizard threw open the back doors to show Shade. Inside the van seemed to stretch into a size as big as a Hogwarts classroom, if not bigger.

“Got some designs on to do a version like an expandable tent, like, which you can live in. Like a Muggle caravan, only you’re in America and well, I’ll show you later what Muggles consider to be a mobile home here, bloody hell.[1]” Monty threw closed the back doors to the van and walked backwards a few paces as he spoke, coming to stand beside a line of bikes[2]

“Maybe more to your taste?” 

1.	A very posh British caravan today for example, is significantly smaller than an RV
2.	Along the same lines

While the sheer amount of work that was going on was fascinating to Shade.  He was impressed by what Monty was showing him.  However, after showing him the caravan thing, Shade was practically salivating at the sight of the bikes.  When he was still in school he would of never thought he'd want one of these magnificent vehicles, but now that he'd been out of school for a bit and no longer having to keep an eye on his rambunctious twin sister, he felt like he could stretch his legs a bit.

"Oh." was all he said as he stepped up to the closest bike and without even a glance at Monty, he softly ran his hand over the handlebars.  "I want one." he said, internally realizing he sounded a bit like a girl at the moment, but truthfully the minute he saw the motorcycles he'd fallen in love.

"I mean, I would definitely be interested in making a purchase." he told his friend as he tore his eyes away from the bike and back towards Monty, "What would my options be and more importantly can I have one in blue?" he asked with a sparkle in his eyes.

“I want one.” Monty chuckled quietly beneath his beard. Shade had been wide-eyed, marvelling at everything since they arrived, but now the childlike quality broke through entirely. These were the bicycles under the Christmas tree, the first broom desire in the Diagon Alley window.

“Blue? You can have it paint that changes with the weather, or galaxies swirling.” Monty’s fingers danced through the air as if he were painting it there before them, “I've a lass who can work paint for bodywork like no other I’ve met. Was going to introduce you later, never know you might have the knack yourself.” He gestured to the saddle of the bike the younger wizard had touched, inviting him to take a seat.

“Depending on your budget, we can customise everything from the engine to the trim, exhaust…” he stroked his beard and looked to Shade curiously, “ever ridden?”

Shade was barely hearing anything the other man was saying.  He'd heard the word customize and his mind was off on it's own little motorcycle ride through all the drawings he'd ever done.  Seeing Monty gesture to the saddle of the bike, he tried... and failed to take the seat with a little grace.  Instead he looked like someone who had never ridden a horse before, trying to get on said horse before it walked away.

A blush and a groan, for he'd sat a little awkwardly at first, Shade admitted he'd never ridden a bike before, not one like this anyway.

Then, as the realization hit him that he was actually sitting on this magnificent piece of machinery and not falling off, he said almost without thinking, "Money's no issue." and continued to be mesmerized by the vehicle. "Sky would be so jealous." he whishpered.

“Better get yourself a bicycle and practise!” Monty joked, eyes twinkling. He could remember his first time on a motorbike, but that had been a muggle one, when he’d been a younger man. That had been magical enough, almost as good as a broom, only you had to really concentrate on the corners, there were no charms.

“And as much as my business heart loves to hear money’s no issue, son, it’ll only last you so long.” He produced a handkerchief from his pocket and rubbed at the chrome handlebars. “The money that is, bike’s good unless you don’t get the charms renewed once in a few years.”

Monty smiled, and considered his eldest, Theta was back in Britain working her apprenticeship in London. She was a year older than Shade, and the older wizard often reflected on that. For all he encouraged and befriended the young wizard, he felt some responsibility towards him.

“Your sister into all this then?” Monty asked.

Shade just shook his head, "My sister's into everything that could be considered dangerous."  He thought about it for a second, "I think she's in India right now, ever since she graduated, she's been travelling all over the world seeing how much trouble she could get into.  She said something about a flying carpet in her last letter, but I'm not sure if she was telling the truth or pulling my leg."

He slowly got off the bike and stood next to it, one hand on the handlebars[1] "So, how would I go about getting me one of these beautiful machines?" he asked his old friend.  "I really want one, but I do have one question," He paused and looked to his old mentor/friend, "Can I have some of my artwork on it?"[2]

1.	(Not sure if that's what they are called)
2.	I know it's short, sorry

“Flying carpet?!” Monty exclaimed, “She’s got some taste. They’re more comfy than brooms, especially for families. Banned at home, of course, like the cars and the bikes.” That dratted Muggle Object classification.

“So, how would I go about getting me one of these beautiful machines? … Can I have some of my artwork on it?” Monty stood a little straighter at the request.
“Of course!” He told the younger man. “I’ll draw up some costs and you draw up some sketches.” He gestured outwards with both arms and a broad smile. “How about we grab a bit of lunch?"

Reluctantly Shade agreed that they should go and get something to eat. After all, he couldn't spend all day admiring these amazing creations.  All through lunch though, his head was full of ideas of things to paint on his finished bike.   He had finished eating and lost all thought to the outside world as he pulled out his ever present sketch pad (that admittedly hadn't gotten much use lately) and began to sketch a rough outline of a bike.

He didn't know how long he'd been sitting where he was.  He did look up once and see that Monty had moved on somewhere else. Oh well, he knew where he was and until he was finished there was no way Shade was moving from his current spot.  He stopped sketching and admired the work he'd done. The bike was looking good, now he just had to figure out what he wanted it to look like.

He pulled out some colored pencils (he loved using these muggle creations) and began to color in his sketch.

Losing all track of time, he looked up finally when he finished to see that it had gotten slightly darker outside and his friend was not sitting across from him anymore.  But he held up his drawing after putting away the colored pencils, he was happy with it.  Somehow he'd managed to make it look like there was a miniature galaxy on his bike.  Now he just had to show it to Monty and see if it could be done. Maybe make it look like it was slowly spinning too.  That would be awesome.

The young wizard’s mind was clearly whirring behind his eyes. Monty recognised the signs and left Shade comfortably installed with sketchpad and inspiration gleaming all around him in chrome, rubber and fresh engine oil. He passed by every now and then but Shade’s head with blonde curls were lowered over his work, hands busy with pencils. Magic in the form of hard work and talent was at play here, and it couldn’t be rushed. When inspiration struck, interruptions were not to be appeased.

The hours ticked by and the workshops grew quiet, the employees of Blue Silver heading home for the day, doors locking, tools hung back in their places and the fires dimming. Their boss had put thoughts to paper too, though in far more technical configuration of the machinery and combination of charms than conventional art.

“I feel I am seeing through your eyes,” Monty spoke approvingly as he saw Shade look up and glance around. He had seemingly come out of his trance-like state of creation at long last. “The universe captured in motion between chrome and rider, yours to conquer and see. Riding on stardust.” Cliche, maybe, but a notion Monty had also found romantic while riding beneath vast endless skies in America. They were more stars over here in the vast deserts than he’d ever seen at home. Only at sea on calm nights where the reflection of the heavens on the water could trick you into believing you were floating amongst stars.

He took a seat opposite, his off-white shirtsleeves rolled up to just beneath his elbows, revealing forearms with smudges of grease caught in the hairs. His brown leather jacket from earlier had kept his seat company while Shade transformed the sketchpad, the driving goggles poking out of one of the pockets. A parade of brown beer bottles hopped up and over the edge of the table between them like a gaggle of ducklings, and settled, ready to quench thirst.

“Now, how do you want it to swirl?” Monty asked, forgetting the specification lists beside him. He was the expert of the two at how to construct a flying vehicle, and would advise as honestly as he could to his friend and casual apprentice. “Independent, on speed, on the angle you ride? Did one the other month for a wizard to match whatever outfit he chose to impress witches.” He winked and offered Shade a cold bottle.