ORIGIN - dad help i have legs

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Dread swept in a moment later, flapping a slow circle around the pair; he didn't land, for now, but instead merely coasted on the updrafts. "THAT'S BLIGHT," he roared down, perhaps unhelpfully, given that he was a little late.

Other than that, he waited--they could get to know one another, for a moment, he figured. No point in him having to land and take off repeatedly; he could just soar, for now.

@Charon

CHARON
The very mountains whisper your name...

Charon heard a splash and turned his head, squinting. Had someone...?

He startled a little at Blight's shout, blinking for a moment before realizing he was talking to him. Right! This was Blight, another sibling of his. Hopefully.

"Hi,” he said awkwardly, ”Uh... n-no, I'm fine. Just... swimming. Dread said I should and I am, I just got legs today so I'm getting used to them.”

Yes, 'getting legs' was totally normal, wasn't it? Definitely.

”It's nice to meet you,” he said, ”Dread told me you breathe water? How does that work?”

For a moment he was tempted to dunk his head in and see if he could do it, but as he didn't want to drown today, he didn't. He was still curious, though. Blight didn't look like anything that would breathe water, though Charon didn't know what such a thing would look like anyway, so what did he know?

He paddled towards the shore, tail swishing behind him as he fluttering his wings like a bat would, definitely not the most graceful thing. But he managed to touch the sand at the bottom and immediately lurched forward, walking the rest of the way to the shore and shaking himself out, hating the way water weighed him down.

@Blight

"Got legs-?" he parroted, puzzled, and craned his head to try and peer at Charon's legs. This was not enlightening, and so he looked again to the dragon's face.

"Ahh, I ehh--went back into my stone after a fight. Down in Fornax," he explained. "For Farina-? If you've heard of her. She said it was a 'reward,' and I woke up able to breathe water," he explained. It had taken him time to realize that, even with the water-breathing pendant off, he still could; he'd gifted the thing to Dread, in the end, no longer needing it himself. And the bigger dragon loved to hoard his "shinies," so he'd been happy to make him happy. "Oh, Dad-Dad said you were in your stone, right? Is that what gave you legs?" he asked.

Charon was heading to shore, so Blight followed suit: dipping down and beneath the water before sweeping up again, waddling onto land. A soft pulse of green flared around Blight--a sickly color--and he spoke again. "I woke up with this, too. Some sort of weird magic. I think your stone can do all sorts of odd things."

They had, Dread judged (poorly), had plenty of time to introduce themselves to one another. So he bellowed down, thinking himself helpful: "YOU HAVE TO FLAP YOUR WINGS IF YOU WANT TO FLY." It was not a top-tier lesson: apparently the black dragon thought it necessary to start with the absolute basics.

To his credit, though, he thought about some details before moving on with the "teaching." "YOU HAVE TO BALANCE. AND AIR CHANGES HOW YOU FLY. WARM AIR MAKES YOU GO UP FASTER AND HAVE TO FLAP LESS. COLD AIR MAKES YOU FALL MORE. AND YOU CAN HAVE HOT AND COLD AIR CLOSE TOGETHER. PLACES WITH A LOT OF LIGHT ON THEM IN WARM CAVES HAVE WARM AIR COMING UP," he tried to explain--then hesitated, hoping that was clear. What he wanted to explain was that open stone and ocean warmed by a long day's heat and light sent updrafts spiralling skyward--but his eloquence left much to be desired.

"YOU HAVE TO BALANCE," he repeated, then, and wavered a little back and forth, tipping his wings left and right, as if to demonstrate. "STAY LOW AT FIRST AND OVER WATER SO IF YOU FALL YOU DON'T DIE."

Dread knew about that from experience: it was how he killed some of his prey, as Charon had seen firsthand.

@Charon

CHARON
The very mountains whisper your name...

Charon perked up and peered towards Blight, nodding, ”Yeah. I used to have two arms and two wings, now I have two legs and bigger wings.”

He went to say more, to comment on the glowing with a statement of awe before sand was swept up and he squinted at Dread, blinking. Yeah no shit Sherlock-

”Uh, okay,” he said, trying to make sense of everything Dread said, taking a few more confident steps away from the water.

He'd seen how Dread did it. A few running leaps and then he launched himself into the air. Easy, right? It couldn't be that hard...

Charon swallowed and tried to take off, running as clumsily as one really could before basically just jumping into the water, looking like a dying duck as he flapped his wings in a slight panic. His feet touched the bottom and he slapped his wings down, grumbling unhappily. That was... the worst attempt at flying anyone had ever tried.

He slumped back onto shore, head hanging, face burning with shame as he let his tail drag behind him. He shook himself out and faltered, wondering how he was going to fly if he couldn't actually take off.

@Blight

Blight took wing a little ways off, mirroring Charon's attempt. He did his best to give advice, but deep down, he was wondering if perhaps the worm-dragon wasn't still a little too heavy to fly.

He started to take wing just as Charon leapt into the surf--but when he saw his vaguely-almost-adopted-sibling crash into the surf, he folded his wings and slammed in, too. For solidarity.

As he turned and swam back, serpentine, he glanced at Charon.

"Maybe give yourself a little more space to start," he suggested--"and if you have real trouble we'll find someplace where you can jump down and try to catch yourself. That's how I learned," he added.

Dread eyed Charon thoughtfully--watched as he basically belly-flopped into the sea.

"I WILL HELP," he suggested, loudly. "GET READY AGAIN AND I WILL GIVE YOU AIR UNDER YOUR WINGS! BUT DON'T GO TOO HIGH."

He waited, then, lowering himself down so that he was hovering along the beach--each flap of wings sending a little burst of air forward, tumbling sand and dry dust from higher along the shore. He was near vertical as he flew there, and craned his neck back, head twisting to watch Charon closely. "I'M READY," he called, and waited.

On Charon's next attempt, Dread tried to push magic into the wind--but nothing came, and he huffed and shook his head, blinking against the dust in irritation.

Oh, well; maybe the moral support would help.

@Charon

CHARON
The very mountains whisper your name...

”Okay...”, he said, stepping back until his butt touched the cliff. He breathed for a second and looked up, staring at the open sky with longing.

He wanted to swoop and soar, to drag his talons along the water and fly so high the breath was snatched from his lungs. He wanted to be up there! He wanted to be mighty!!

Charon growled deep in his throat, his growl turning to a snarl as he lunged forward, letting his legs go as they pleased. It was all instinct as he leapt from the sand, wings snapping out and downward, carrying him up and up into the sky with every desperate wingbeat. He couldn't even relish in the victory as he just fought to stay skybound, a little wobbly and less than graceful, but hey, it was his first time.

It hit him once he was a decent height, a gasp leaving his throat as he coasted, hind legs dragging behind him as he just... flew. A few more flaps and he held his legs up, let his tail raise behind him and his wings stretch out more and more.

Flying. He was flying.

”I DID IT!!”, he roared, ascending higher and higher before leveling out again, finally looking down in awe. Everything was so small up here... it was amazing!

@Blight

Blight looked doubtfully between Dread and Charon, but as it turned out, the black dragon did--nothing. It was all Charon from there on out--the blue-gray beast bolted out toward the surf, leapt, and--took flight.

Blight hastened to follow suit, bounding along and leaping skyward, flapping tattered wings until he, too, was airborne.

"HEY, GOOD JOB!" he called out, over the sound of both their wings. "IT MIGHT BE A LITTLE HARD, AT FIRST, BUT YOU'LL GET THE HANG OF IT WITH PRACTICE!" It was a wise warning, considering how wobbly Charon looked, for now.

He circled, slow, keeping a wide distance between them--he didn't know how unsteady Charon was, as yet, and didn't want to accidentally get smashed into if the other dragon veered by accident. And again, a warning--"CAREFUL HOW HIGH YOU GO, AT FIRST! TRY--MOVING," he suggested. "FLY TOWARD ME, IF YOU CAN!"

He wasn't remaining still, however; his was still the slow and lazy banking, a soaring circle that could be followed easily enough, but which would take a bit of calculation to get behind.

"GOOD!" Dread echoed, his voice a screechy roar. He hadn't actually gotten his magic to work, but he'd have taken full credit, if anybody'd asked. Right now, though, there was genuine, protective concern in him: Asimona's child was rising higher, higher, wavering unsteadily in the air.

He drew closer, though like Blight, not too close--and he tried to ready his magic, just in case the other dragon began to fall. He could slow his descent, at least, though likely not stop a fall. Dread's wingflaps tossed air forward, magic beginning to coalesce: if Charon did fall (and only if), then he would send a powerful gust of wind to curl the air beneath him in a twist of wind.

It was a magic he'd used to briefly toss himself, before; when one had wings to catch on wind, it was not too hard. It could certainly slow the fall of even a heavy-built creature like Charon. Blight was giving the necessary pointers; Dread simply remained close by, like a dad watching as their kid tried out the training wheels.

@Charon

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