Levitations

Alistair rested his head on a closed fist as he held the other on a fan casing embedded in a ventilation shaft. Levitations duty had been reasonably interesting the first time he had to do it, and hearing the cheers and whooping of the kids in the tent was fun and fulfilling. These days, the clientele tended towards the wealthy repeat customers that could purchase reservations on the after market, so there were fewer children and more spoiled adults.
He supposed it didn't make a difference. He concentrated a bit, magically forcing the fan to spin slightly faster. Although Rigana had warned him that fan control was a delicate thing, he had found he had a knack for making sure the speed of the air exhaust in the building was just right. It was better to be in the back doing this and going home rather than playing nice in the front and being a 'handler'. Less chance of complaints being sent your way.
He heard a short shriek, followed by a magical clanging noise; the sound was the signal for him to halt the fans slowly, stopping the Levitation. Once his fan came to a stop, he stood and looked out over at the tent, from his perch at the upper catwalk ventilation station. It looked like someone had gotten caught and stuck on the tent fabric? Probably was wearing something sharp, and refused to take it off for the experience. The wizard groaned. They'd probably ask for another free session, and he'd be stuck here for another fifteen minutes. 

Purpose / Function

Levitations is an amusement run by the Wizard's Association of Etoile, part of a Principality of Etoile sponsored push to make magic more relatable and friendly to the average Etoilean. Located in a large building on the far eastern end of the city, well past the original master-planned whitewashed blocks, Levitations sells the experience of magically-aided flight.
While wizards are perfectly capable of levitating themselves and others, true flight is a taxing affair, and dangerous due to the need to safely land (with mages that fly too high risking Mage's Burnout on their descent if they overexert themselves). Levitations achieves flight by instead having wizards funnel air through tunnels at high speeds from the floor to the ceiling, with participants suspended by segmented rubber cords from the ceiling as a safety measure. While Powered fans are capable of moving enough air to circulate fresh air through a building, only magic is capable of pushing air to the speeds required to counteract gravity.
Wizards are compelled to take 'shifts' working at Levitations as part of their duties in the Wizard's Association, much to their chagrin, but it is generally considered preferable to working at Wizard's Cold Comestibles.

Architecture

The building hosting Levitations was formerly an old long-term storage warehouse, a cavernous space for storing as much dry goods as possible, with high catwalks and few windows, built for ruthlessly practical concerns. Adapting the warehouse to a destination activity has involved some sprucing up, with the roof of the warehouse opened up to the sky (to permit exhaust) and some additional paint and woodwork to make the attendee area more pleasant.

History

Subsequent to The Anti-Magic Riot of 721, it became Principality policy to attempt to promote magic as a safe, ordinary capability, something that could be seamlessly incorporated into Etoilean society as an aspect of Progress. This resulted in a crash brainstorming project for consumer uses of Magic - something that would be safe, fun, and enticing to the average Etoilean. Chilled foods was the first foray, with wizards able to make ice slushes cheaply and easily during the Second Season without having to bring quarried ice from Eastern Saibh. Levitations and similar magically-aided tourist attractions represents the next step, a way for average Etoileans to have *fun* with magic.
Levitations has generally been a hit attraction; each day nearly a hundred citizens and tourists of the Principality arrive at the facility and spend up to five minutes flying around the warehouse, to rave reviews from the journals and high recommendations from the salons of the Capital.

Tourism

While at first Levitations was a first-come-first-serve type of attraction, its high popularity has forced movement to a reservation system; the reservations are booked out weeks in advance. Upon arrival to the facility, tourists are given one-piece uniforms to wear (to prevent the enhanced wind from tearing away their clothing) and are introduced to their 'handler', a wizard of the Association personally responsible for their safety. 
The 'flight' area is a large tented space within the warehouse, a roughly conical section with sixty magically-assisted turbines blowing air up the tent and out the upper exhaust (which is netted to prevent anyone from simply being blown out the top). Three or four attendees are spaced apart in the area, laying down on a metal grate, and on a signal, the wizards controlling the turbines spin them up, causing huge amounts of air to be blown through the tent, enough to lift the attendees up and into the air, as well as several soft objects that are placed in the area for fun. The control of the turbines is fine; air must be blown at a speed sufficient to lift people off the ground, but not enough to pin the attendees to the ceiling. 
For roughly five minutes the attendees are encouraged to swim through the air, throw soft objects at each other, and otherwise cavort in the open space, before the turbines are spun down and they land again. Handlers are instructed to help attendees have fun - slight pushes here and there to help them move to where they want to go, or assists in buoyancy when an attendee begins to fall through the air. 
One session for one person is a 500F ticket, but most consider the cost well proportionate to the unique experience of flying through the air. Experiments with having this experience occur in the open air under the sky have been judged too risky and costly by adjusters of Etoilean Term Insurance.

Founding Date

724

Parent Location

Etoile Capital City

Owning Organization

Wizard's Association of Etoile