CHARON
The very mountains whisper your name...

Charon was indeed very wobbly, struggling to get his tail in order behind him as he also tried to focus on his wings. It was a lot harder than it originally looked!

He tried to bank like Blight did, snapping his wings out straight to try and glide over. After a few seconds it was very clear he was stalling out, and he only really seemed to realize this when he started to drop. He yelped as he fell out of the sky, thankful for Dread's magic as it caught his wings again.

He was shaking as he lowered down slowly, wings out and catching the air as he sort of parachuted down to the water below.

Charon landed gently and bobbed, his talons clenched beneath him as he bobbed in the waves, stunned.

”... I flew,” he mumbled, starting to gently paddle as his tail waved through the water behind him, letting him turn and start to head back to shore. As the shock wore off it was quickly replaced with excitement, and he swam as hard as he could.

Bone was going to be so proud of him when he flew into Ursa to show her!

@Blight

"You flew!" Blight agreed, cheerfully, and lowered himself to fly just above the water. He gave Dread a grateful nod; he knew the dragon was what had kept Charon from crashing any more harshly.

"I think you'll need to build your wings up more before you can really hover--and you have to flap a lot, for that. If you go too slow without that, you'll fall," he explained--he figured Charon had stalled. It'd looked that way, at least.

"Want to try again?" Blight asked. "Once you get good at it, we can have races, you know! And we can teach you to hunt from the air, if you want," he added. He didn't say it, but he doubted Charon'd have such an easy time burrowing with larger wings--he wasn't even sure how they'd managed with theirs, before. It seemed like a lot of extra... skin, and stuff, to tuck in underground.

If it turned out not to be a problem, though, it'd still be good practice for his wings: adjusting flaps and glides on the fly (ha) when giving chase to nimble cave deer was a challenge for the best of them.

Dread landed, a slow thud and then a rock forward, resting on the sand. He was content where he was: with sea spray and warm light, and the brush of the breeze against his scales.

His blast of air had helped; now he waited to see what'd happen next. Blight seemed to have most of the lesson well in hand, but he spoke up too. "IF YOU EVER USE MAGIC, PRACTICE IT IN THE AIR. OTHERWISE IT'S HARD TO DO BOTH AT ONE," he advised.

@Charon

CHARON
The very mountains whisper your name...

Charon got to shore and shook himself off again, spraying water everywhere. He perked up at the prospect of races and shook off the rest of the water, turning around to face the two dragons and snorting, chest puffing up.

”Of course I want to try again!”, he said, though not in a 'duh' sort of way, more enthusiastically.

Charon took off running with a 'yep!' spoken to Dread, lunging up into the air and flapping to get airborne again. After a wonky first flight and a landing in the ocean, he felt like he was safe up there, enough to really go for it.

His tail rose and he shot across the bay with a mighty roar, his bellow echoing across the cliffs as he banked, the tip of his wing touching the water as he turned around one of the pillars of Leo, taking to flying like a fish to water. It was exhilarating to fly, to see everything from up high and to feel the wind on his face and the warm light on his back from above. It was amazing!

He was home.

”Blight!”, he called out, turning in a tight circle and shooting back towards the shore, ”Let's race!! Right now!”

@Blight

Blight peered at Charon, and two opposite feelings rose in him. First, caution--"You sure you're ready-? It's easy to fall down, at first," he warned; but second, there was optimism. Excitement, even, for his sort-of-sibling's newfound enthusiasm. "If you are--where to? Not over too much water, if you're not so sure about swimming, yet," he advised, following the other dragon along in a sweeping glide.

Dread shook himself in mild irritation. It seemed that Charon had ignored him, his advice--his warning--and he wasn't the sort who offered a kind hand enough to be used to it being disregarded. If the 'yep' had been directed at him, he hadn't really realized it.

A little annoyed, he flapped away, a ways. These two could fly, and practice; it was clear that Charon had it well in hand, anyway, and Dread could just hang out within hearing range. He'd go hunting, or something, while the two taught Charon to properly fly. He'd come back if they called for him, obviously--if he was needed--but right now he'd been disregarded entirely and so he felt little need to stick around.

The black dragon took off out over the trees, peering in among the canopies to find something to hunt, and eat. Magic sparked faintly, granting him dim vision of the hearts that beat beneath the leaves, and his attention turned to this, instead of the two flying out over the shoreline.

@Charon

CHARON
The very mountains whisper your name...

Charon looked over at Blight, eyes bright and alive.

”I'm... not sure, but I won't know if I don't ever try,” he said, ”And I feel good! I wanna see what these wings can do is all.”

He'd wanted to fly since he was a hatchling, every time Asimona alighted at the edge of their den with food he ached to come with her on her next hunting trip, but every attempt either ended in rescue or... in nothing. The last time he jumped from the nest, no one had come to help him back up, and that was the last time he'd seen his mother.

Charon went quiet at the thought and looked away, staring down at the waves with a bit of sadness in his heart.

”... Do you think my mom would be proud?”, he asked, ”Asimona?”

He hoped so. He missed her dearly, and wondered if she was okay, wherever she was.

@Blight

Charon's quiet question was very nearly lost to the wind. "What?" he called, banking a little closer, puzzled. ...Asimona? he thought, confusedly. "Uhh--I don't know? Maybe? I never really knew her," he explained; did Charon think he was Asimona's child-? He clarified, flapping into a loose glide alongside the other dragon. "She isn't my mother--she's Bone's, Svartis's. And they raised me--she wasn't really around anymore by the time I came to Monoceros!" Svartis had maintained the cooler patch of river in the gorge, and Asimona, so far as Blight knew, had mostly stuck to Pisces. "I'm sure she would be, though-?" he went on, though he was confused as to why flight would be something a parent would need to take pride in. It seemed the nice thing to say, anyway.

Blight considered, but he didn't think Charon had answered Blight's other question--the where to; and to save time, Blight figured he'd just pick a spot, himself.

"Okay, uh--first one to that island and back?" he suggested, first nodding off at a distant sea stack before glancing to Charon. His magicka flickered out, and he tried to get a sense of Charon's general health: was he strong, healthy? Had he come out of his chrysalis ill, or anything like that? Racing over the sea if his vital signs weren't good was not a great idea, but Blight didn't think he seemed sick.

Just... thoughtful, maybe. But he didn't know him very well.

@Charon

CHARON
The very mountains whisper your name...

It was a bit disappointing to know Blight didn't know his mom let alone know her enough to judge whether or not she'd be proud. To be honest he still wanted her approval despite being grown, his bitterness about her disappearance having faded over time.

”Sorry,” he said, shaking his head out and facing the island, squinting at it (he didn't have the best eyesight, seeing as he was part blind worm), ”Yeah, that's good.”

He peered over at Blight for a moment before taking off as fast as he could, laughing. Sure, he might have cheated, but he'd only started flying a few minutes ago. He called it 'evening the odds' thank you very much.

”I'm gonna win!”, he roared behind him, shaking his head and snorting to release a bit of energy, his claws almost grasping at the air as he flapped hard, pushing himself to his limits.

@Blight

Blight bit back a faint smirk, though his face wasn't really built for such expression, anyway. When Charon took off preemptively, he flapped twice and settled into a swift sail just alongside and behind him. Tattered wings occasionally beat at the air, and he felt he could have shot past the heavier, newly-fledged dragon if he'd wanted to, but hell--may as well give his new friend a moment's triumph, let him bask in this joy a little longer.

To make it fun, he edged forward and then fell back, content with faking a loss. Maybe Charon would realize, or maybe he wouldn't. Blight didn't care either way.

"How do you like it?!" he called out, over the sound of beating wings and the rush of air against his ears.

@Charon