[PRP] Down in (Star) Flames [A'iel/Skylla]

[ShinosBee]

Well, today was the big day. A'iel had been pulled aside after breakfast (and his head had alreadt been pounding to think that he was going to be scolded again, but thankfully not) and at last given his wing assignment. Thread had come the day before he'd arrived so there had been a few days he'd had to go without, but the young man was viciously keen to get to work.

Star flame, that was the name of the wing. It meant nothing to him in terms of history or prestige, but it also didn't matter. He was here to work and prove himself, even if that took a bit of time.

The wing had already been aloft by the time he had the news, and so he and Nasath had spent the hours of drills observing, not yet ready to join in until the wingleader thought they had the maneuvers more or less down pat. The lunch hour came, and the wing broke to eat, but not A'iel. With the skies clear now, he and Nasath took flight, wheeling and turning and diving through their best estimation of the routine, both of them wholly absorbed in the complex forms and the fantasy of seating thread from the sky.

BastetAmun

 

[BastetAmun]

Skylla had always been proud to be in Star Flame. The wings here didn't have as much history to them as she had heard about the ones from High Reaches, but that never mattered. At least their name sounded cooler.

Practice always saw Skylla and Neith practicing as hard or harder then the rest of the wing. She always did her best to prove herself, and at least here she could do that even being a green rider. Her enthusiasm always seemed to shine just the right way, it had landed her the position of assistant weyrlingmaster, at least one of the assistants, and her windleader seemed to like her.

Landing with everyone else, Skylla was about to talk off the ledge to go and eat with some of the others when she heard Neith speak. Look mine. At the words, Skylla turned to find her green standing and looking up into the sky. Lifting her eyes upwards, Skylla saw a bronze and his rider up in the air, doing the same formations that they had just been practicing. She had heard that a new wingrider had been added after her sister had been transferred, though from what she could see, this rider seemed young, or at least he looked it.

She moved back over to Neith and swung up into the saddle. "Why don't we go and say hi? Maybe they could use some help with the maneuvers."

You want to see if they measure up to Tyra and Orodreth. Do not try to veil the truth to me, mine. Skylla chuckled as they took off into the air. "Perhaps, but if they can't, they will still need help." Neith used her speed to move in front of the bronze before turning as Skylla spoke up. "Hi, guessing your the transfer to the wing?"  

[ShinosBee]

The turns of mild humiliation and harrasment over his looks and stature had left A'iel, already a hard worker, even more driven to apply himself. His application of the moves was a bit spotty, and he lacked the finesse that came with muscle memory and long months of practice, but the routine of the drill was more or less intact and complete by the time Neith came flapping up onto the scene. The pair had been so engrossed with their efforts that they almost hadn't noticed her in time; a flare of huge bronze wings and a whump of solid air catchig them to arrest their progress was all that kept them from a mid-air collision. A few quick strokes of the wing had them looping slowly through the air with this...must be someone from their new wing.

"That's us alright," A'iel called across the distance and the low rushing that was the flapping of their two dragons' wings. He reached up, one hand plucking govgles from his face as the other palmed his riding helm, hooking it to its place on the riding straps and revealing a shock of downy blond curls over wide, childlike eyes. "A'iel and Nasath, at your service and the weyr's." He came off formal and stiff, like a child trained from rote, though the dedication seemed honest enough. "Just come from Benden, and didn't assigned until today. Thought we'd come have a look." And try the moves out, obviously, though they weren't meant to join in training officially until the next day.

Hello, green, came Nasath's rumbling thoughts to Neith. Nice of you and yours to come meet us. Mine's A'iel, and I am Nasath, and you are very fast. Lovely, too, for a green. Atop the bronze's back A'iel swatted at what dragonskin he could reach, prompting an apologetic-ish croon from the bronze. He hadn't meant anything by it, honest!  

[BastetAmun]

She probably would have gotten guff from the Wingleader if he had seen her, because Skylla hadn't put her goggles back on, her helm was, she hadn't taken that off yet. Her green eyes stared at A'iel as he called out to her, and she listened closely to him. Her eyes moved to look at the bronze called Nasath, taking in his appearance, though she had to chuckle at the bronze's words toward Neith, and his rider reprimanding him.

You are not bad looking either, for a bronze The snide remark back to him from Neith caused Skylla to tell her dragon to play nice. The comment hadn't been meant to be mean either, just poking fun back at him for what he had said to her. It was just fun, she had liked that he had said she was fast, it helped to stroke her ego. I am Neith and Mine is Skylla. Skylla had nodded her head to Nasath before looking at A'iel. He appeared young, maybe younger then he actually was, but Skylla didn't let that sidetrack her.

"Are you having trouble with the moves?" She knew most of the moves and formations were the same from each Weyr, but there were certain things that changed and the different riders and dragons changes things to work right among their ranks as well.  

[ShinosBee]

A'iel sent a thought of thanks to Faranth that Nasath's mouth didn't have them in trouble already all of five minutes into meeting their wingmates. The green hadn't seemed offended, and even took a jab back at the bronze, which made the big male whine, as kicked-puppy-like as a 40'+ lizard could be, which served only to amuse his rider.

That Skylla seemed to be offering aid purely out of a politeness and not because of overtly thinking his apprent age would make this difficult for him made him immediately like her. He'd been babied through drills before, and even though most often it was unintentional, unconscious, it still rankled. "Most of it's the same as what I'm used to," he noted, mentally running through the drills again, which reflected in the subtle shifts and twitches of movement in the bronze underneath him, as the dragon reacted even to his rider imagining their flight through the movements.

"I'll admit I'm not used to the colors being so mixed together in parts of the moves. Benden was a bit...archaic on that point. Even in the same wing, all the browns were here, or all the greens there, not exactly migling. It seems like our burn path would be a bit erratic because of mixing it up here, but you've not had that problem, yes? How then do the more acrobatic moves work? I can't imagine a bronze being able to make the kind of turns a greeb or blue can, so do the smaller ones pace down or something?" In all honesty he'd mostly been minding the bronzes of hos wing, memorizing their moves, and a bit more oblivious to the rest than he could have stood to be.  

[BastetAmun]

Skylla kept herself from laughing when she heard the bronze whine at Neith's words. In Neith's defense, she tilted her head some at the whine that was released before turning her attention back to the rider atop his back.

A'iel asking about the mixing of the wing had Skylla turning her attention back from the dragon to the rider. She could understand his confusion to what was going on. Especially if he came from a Weyr that focused on the hierarchy of the dragon colors. She nodded her head as she listened, waiting before she began to speak.

"There hasn't been a problem. But I can see where you are coming from. From what you have seen, the bronzes remain their own pace, it's the normal pace. Greens and blues will shoot forward or do a bit more of the acrobatic movements to tackle thread quickly before returning to the bronze's pace. It allows them time to rest in the air as well. Anything that gets through those passes also fall to the bronzes to get." She paused as she stopped speaking, making sure he was getting everything that she had just said. "Following along ok?"

(Hope this is good.)  

[ShinosBee]

Skylla's explanation made sense enough to A'iel, and he could see the benefit of it if it was done well. The wings would have to be very well practiced to be able to pull it off, and it made the young bronzerider feel a bit more respect than he already did for them. Of course he would have to grow used to it—his previous wing had barely done anything that could be considered atypical from the traditional ways. And even that, really, was negligible. No one had thought thread would come back, and then they'd learned too late, lost too many. He shook off the creeping malaise at the thought of so many friends lost in the skies over Benden.

"I think so, so far. But I know it'll be different when we all move as one. Movement catches the eye and seeing someone else do something so disparate from what we need to do...I'm afraid I might fumble it once or twice along the way." The pull of the boyish man's browns in distress over the thought of failing in any way made him look even more the part of a child, worried about shaming himself in front of a judging parent, perhaps. Beneath him Nasath rumbled, reassuring and bolstering his rider's ego. they would do fine, and even if they messed up once or twice, in no time at all they'd be the best on the wing, he contended. Wingseconds, even, or wingleaders! All dreams that A'iel would have rolled his eyes at (having already dreamed those things himself one too many times to feel certain any more) if he wasn't in the moment so appreciative of the gesture.

"Perhaps you could fly along with us through them? Give us a few tries with you moving ahead and so on, so we can see what it'd be like, and do it better tomorrow?"  

[BastetAmun]

She didn't envy A'iel with what he was having to go through. She had impressed at Western, spent much of her life growing up here, so she knew how the weyr worked, inside and out. To be new and have to learn tactics or rules that are different from what you were used to? Skylla wondered if Tyra was having the same problem over in High Reaches. Maybe it was why she wanted to help A'iel, when she normally would have just brushed it off and let him figure it out for himself.

"That would be a good idea." Neith liked the idea that the younger rider had put forward. It would be better for him to get the moves so that his dragon and he didn't go bumbling about and get someone hurt. Skylla kept herself from laughing at her dragon's thoughts and she sent a very slight reproving thought to her. The green beat her wings, waiting for her rider to give the signal when they could take off and show off. "What were the tactics you used at Benden?" Skylla's question made Neith pause, but the rider put a hand on her green's hide. If she knew how he was trained before, she could maybe find a correlating factor that would help make this a bit easier.  

[ShinosBee]

This time the shame that A'iel felt was real and not supposed. "Benden...wasn't really training us," He admitted. "No one thought thread would return, so any drills we did, any formations were...really just for show. Straight lines, or tiers," He explained. At the time, it'd looked impressive enough, of course, but once thread actually came...He wanted to shake his head to fling the memory away. Honestly it'd been rare that they'd even broken out the ropes for drills, up to a few months before that fateful day. Lines of dragons arrayed by colors seemed fierce and strong and impressive for those visitors come to see the old seat of draconic power. They seemed much less so when they scattered in fear and panic, and previously unseen or unknown gaps in their defense laid bare and barren by swaths of thread gone uncharred.

"The leaders thought we'd never really need to know how to fight thread. After that, after first fall, we were playing catch up. We lost too many in the first sevenday to fill our full compliments after that, and I think fear...they just kept trying the same thing, over and over. 'It worked during 9th', they'd say, and...well. It didn't work. So all of this seems a bit different, but obviously it's working for Western enough that I'd say anything I'd done before might be better left to the records rooms, and out of the sky."

The glint in the young man's eye was one deadly serious. This was in no way a game to him, and he seemed beyond willing to more or less start over from scratch, work his butt off to catch up, and get the work done. Benden might not breed them creative, but apparently they bred them dedicated. "Anything else? Or can we give this a try?" Beneath him Nasath huffed a snort, feeding off his rider's eagerness to fly, and determination to show that he could measure up to whatever standards the Western green and her rider'd hold them to.  

[BastetAmun]

A look of understanding crossed Skylla's face at his words. Many of the weyr's hadn't been training before Thread had begun to fall again. Everyone scoffed at the idea. Western had been prepared and had bounced back into training so easily because they had a different view on everything. Or at least that was what she thought the reason was. Having a hierarchy that was nontraditional had kept them afloat, especially since they mixed chromatic and metallic into the same wings more often.

Aside from High Reaches, many of the other more traditional weyr's had fallen. It made her proud that Western had stood through such adversity and continued to thrive through out it all. Perhaps this was the way things were going to be now, Queens are still important, they were the only ones who could lay a clutch anyways, but that didn't mean they had to be the ones in charge. It should depend upon the rider and dragon team, not just on color alone.

Seeing the serious glint in his eye, Skylla knew that A'iel was mentally older then he looked. She smiled now at him, nodding her head. She had seen the way the dragon beneath him twitched both of them ready to go and give this a try. "Of course. It's better to practice then just study." Try to keep up The parting words from Neith were quick before she took to the sky again.  

[ShinosBee]

Nasath snorted, amused and offended, before streaking after the green. The pair fell behind at first, the huge bronze taking longer to accelerate than the sprightly female, but surged up behind them soon enough. A'iel was intently focused, splitting his attention as best he could (which honestly wasn't half bad) between the memory of the moves, the path Nasath was taking through them, and the way Neith worked through the air around and before them. The last thing he wanted was to collide with the others midair, and it made him drive Nasath on more cautiously than before, though no less intently.

From the ground below it might almost look like a flight. A terribly small one, with just one chaser, but so close was the bronze's effort to mirror the green's path and weave (as best he could for his bulk) around her trail.

Both of them wanted so badly to do it right, to make this first impression a good one. They would not let Western judge them for A'iel's looks as Benden had, nor question Nasath's own choice in rider. They could do this, here, at Western, they would do this...! Nasath trumpeted loudly as their determination overrode their caution, and they pulled up alongside the leading green. Show us, little Neith, how a green and bronze can work together...we would be allies in this, against thread, yes? The imitation of swooping and diving to burn thread did much to rouse the bronze's instinct to fight, and it made him amply more intent and interested in this apprently quite skilled green.  

[BastetAmun]

Neith was amused at the rise she had gotten out of the bronze. It was always fun to tease them, even if she was more carefree then some of the other greens. They moved easily through the air with Skylla glancing back to see where they were, but she was smiling all the time. There was a drive in A'iel that she liked, she could see the young man going far, even here. At least here there was a chance that anyone could go to where they wanted.

Always allies, dear Nasath. Her voice cooed to him as she flew, diving around them, the practice maneuvers. When the exertion got to much for Neith they easily dove down back down so that she was gliding on the draft that Nasath was creating behind him. She used this for continue to glide, to help her regain her strength and stamina before moving forward again.

Your wings are strong Nasath, the wind they rise help me to regain my strength. Skylla found herself laughing softly at Neith's antics, it seemed her green might have a crush, or maybe she was getting close to rising.

ShinosBee

Sorry it's taken so long!

 

[ShinosBee]

A'iel could feel Nasath swelling with pride beneath him at the green's approval. They were doing this, well enough at least, and being recognized for it! Western had clearly been the correct choice for them. Perhaps they'd have to work a bit harder than they would at HR, but they were up to the challenge, weren't they? In a way, it'd made A'iel think. If he'd hated being judged for his looks, wouldn't dragons too? Even Nasath had some preconceived notions about greens that he was working on laying to rest. No, all in all this move would be the best for them. They could grow as riders AND as people.

The bronze lifted his head to look back along the length of his own body to observer Neith's gliding coast in his wake. It was a new tactic to him, but he wondered that Benden hadn't thought of or put it to use before. Probably, he realized, as another bronze or brown, all he'd flown with before, would not gain the benefit as easily, or even grow tired enough to need it mid-flight. It is a smart move that your...our...Weyr has chosen. To mix the wings. I see now the value of a green or blue beside me. My wings are far stronger, so it is good to share that strength with you little ones! He still was a bit of an ego, though, Nasath. He'd...tried to be complimentary, A'iel knew. Hopefully Neith wouldn't take it badly.

You may ride my wind any time you need or like, green Neith. And now A'iel was rolling his eyes. Of course a proud bronze would take the green's no-doubt innocent words as banter, or flirting. I'm not sure she's that into you, Nasath, he thought to the bronze, patting him as he grunted in reply. Just what he needed. Thay'd made friends, and now his bronze's cocksure strutting was going to get them right back into trouble. That or the green was thinking of turning this flight into a capital-F-Flight. That was...also not really how he'd planned on getting to know his wingmates better!

BastetAmun