He watched, crouching down to watch Vanyel do whatever the hell he was doing.

he looked at the little doodle vanyel had made in the dirt, and while yeah, it wasn't a work of art or anything, and Barnabus wasn't about to lie to him, he tried. he supposes that matters. plus, its kinda cute.
he jumped slightly when Vanyel kicked the ground to cover it again, looking in the direction the bone was thrown. why'd he do that?

he ran after him, "hey, it wasn't that bad! i liked it, atleast" he called out. he shuffled back to his side, book floating back to its place on his neck, eyes focused forward. "i don't know how to do that, so... you're better than me at that thing." he said, he had to specify it was only that thing, for all they know barnabus could be superior in every way. he wouldn't say that out loud, but he was sure thinking it, just a little.

"so, how far away is it?"

@Vanyel

"When I speak"
When I think

Vanyel pouted and sighed, ”I mean, I guess. Sorry.”

He was used to natural talent. His singing had come right away, and his mother even called him 'songbird' when he cried, which was fairly musical in of itself. Lyrics were as easy as talking was, and he could make up tunes fairly easily too. He really didn't like failure, if he was honest.

”It's more than a thousand steps that way,” he said, pointing off, ”Maybe more than two thousand, or even ten thousand!”

He shrugged and spread his wings again, flapping them once before taking a running start, leaping into the air and striking them downwards, trying to fly. His wings caught the air, billowing out like sails. It was a fight to get up into the air, his chest heaving as he panted and gasped, flapping rapidly to get as high as his mother could in one lazy flap.

Vanyel was high up by the time he stopped flapping and had to spread his wings to rest, looking down and gasping, surprised. He was... he was flying!

”BARNES!”, he gasped, ”I DID IT!!”

He was flying!

@Barnabus

"dont apologize, you're fine" he huffed.

Barnabus only having hatched a few minutes ago didn't quite get the whole 'expecting natural talent' thing, as, in this moment, barnabus has no talent other than accidentally being a little shit. mostly accidental.
to him, it was very confusing why vanyel was so upset about a silly little drawing. he wasn't gonna say anything about it though since it seemed everytime he tried to it just came out bad.

he let out an almost offended gasp, groaning horribly, he didn't wanna walk that far!!! he wanted to be there now, why was it so damn far away?! whatever, he wouldn't say anything about it, because right now he had better things to think about, one of which being the fact vanyel was ACTUALLY FLYING. why couldn't he do that?

he did it a few minutes ago but it was like, for a few seconds.
he looked up, jumping in place again. "ayyy!! you did it!! you're flying! man, why don't i have wings?" he laughed. very jealous. but also happy for his new pal. he could be both!

@Vanyel

"When I speak"
When I think

Vanyel laughed and flapped harder, flying forward and swooping around in a large circle. His mama was right, once you got it, you had it forever!

”I dunno!”, he called down, ”Maybe ask your life-giver? If you have one, or maybe you can ask my mom, she's smart.”

He floated down and stumbled as he landed, falling and scraping his knees. He stood up and shook himself out, refusing to let it get him down. He grinned at his companion and tucked his limbs back in, squealing with delight.

”I did it!”, he cheered again, mostly in disbelief.

@Barnabus

He huffed. "if i knew who they were i wouldn't have been on my own, now would i! not my fault whoever did it must've ditched!" he yelled. honestly, he was kinda bitter. vanyel sounded like he had this huge family that loved him, that let him explore, that was there for him since hatching, and Barnabus.. well, he had vanyel.

he watched Vanyel fly, nodding. "you sure are!" he called up after him.
he thought, for a moment, and if vanyel could see it, he'd see every single mouth on the boys body curl into a smile. "hey! think you can carry me while you're up there? it'd be pretty cool~!" he asked.

@Vanyel

"When I speak"
When I think

Vanyel shrugged, ”My sister's stone-giver isn't here. Don't know who they are. Did you know my momma was born alone though?”

He swooped down and put his hands on Barnabus's shoulders, flapping lightly just to keep himself aloft, ”She got herself adopted into a nice family. She's made a lot of families despite not having a mom or dad like I do, so... you can too, if you want.”

He looked down at him and grinned, happy to volunteer his own if Barnabus wished.

”I can try, hang on!”, he said, grabbing Barnabus's hands.

Vanyel gripped the other's wrists and heaved, flapping hard. It was like an eagle carrying a small deer, definitely difficult but doable. It took a lot of effort, but soon Barnabus was off the ground, being carried by the other.

”Hnngh-! You're friggin' heavy!”, the drelf complained, having to set him down before he wrenched his shoulders out.

@Barnabus