Flying is a simple matter (Avu)

[Sebz]

“I'm going to bet you all my marks that this is not a good idea,” Ke'von whispered as he followed Ontehth towards a ledge they had disocovered earlier that week. It was dark and far past cerfuw, but by Farenth, the brown weyrling wanted to fly. Nobody had told them they weren't supposed to, so Ontehth reasoned that as long as nobody told them explicity that they were not allowed, they were. Good reasoning, no? What good would marks do for a dragon, to make the bet legitimate, you must offer an item that both parties find valuable. Now Hush before we get caught.

Ke'von grinned widly. He had to admit, since impressing the brown dragon months ago, his life had gotten far more interesting than he had anticipated. Ontehth was a master of mischief, but he always planned out his mischief to a T. They were yet to get caught breaking the rules. The brown claimed that it was because of his excellent planning, but Ke'von preffered to think of it as pure dumb luck. Of course, whenever Ke'von chose to mention it to the brown, he was immediately rebuffed. No. Luck had nothing to do with it. It was all Ontehth.

Where here, Ontehth said, halting abruptly and spreading his wings to help him regain balance. Ke'von plowed right into the dragon. “Oofff,” He gasped, the wind knocked out of him. You really should pay attention more, Ontehth pointed out, offering his invaluable advice. Ke'von groaned inwardly, he had had qutie enough of the brown's advice. “We all don't have night vision,” Ke'von said, thumping the brown's shoulder. That's because human's pupils are not capabale... Blah Blah Blah. “Shhh, Ontehth, tell me later, do you want to fly or not?” The first few weeks after his impression, Ke'von had listened with interest to Ontehth's explanations, surprised that brown was able to reason so well, but it had grown old quickly. Even when Ontehth was oh so wrong, he was right. Now, Ke'von had become acustomed to cutting off the dragon when he started to delve into an explanation at unopertune time, but it was only postponing the inevitable. Eventually Ke'von knew that he was going to be lectured about the difference in human and dragon eyes.

But Ontehth was amused by Ke'von's impatiance, so, green eyes cutting through the night, he let out a small bulge of agreement. “Shh!” Ke'von said, bringing a finger to his lip. Sorry, Ontehth was clearly amused by the percassions his human was taking to stay hidden. They would not get caught. Ontehth had planned this excurssion after all.

[Avu]

Not that he expected Kyrahth to ever admit that there was a single benefit to having ground ‘ledges, but there sort of was—the ability to go straight from the ‘ledge to the ground without including a fifty-meter drop. A’emi had also discovered a tree of the old and gnarled variety literally right beside one of the ‘ledges, and so, several hours prior to Ontehth and Ke’von invading the premises, had curled up comfortably about twelve feet up in one of the branches. So it was that by the time the brownpair had arrived A’emi’s eyesight had adjusted to the darkness, and also he had run out of arrows to shoot at things and was half-dozing with his leg hooked around the branch to keep himself from tumbling to a painful demise. Darkling, Titania, and Kyrahth were conspicuous by their absence: Darkling was likely bothering people with Mojo cheerfully, Titania had been carried off by Kami (literally so), and Kyrahth was probably with Castidenloth.

All things considered, it was a pleasant sort of silence until Ke’von and Ontehth butted in.

A’emi woke with a feeling of momentary disgruntlement before he actually placed it and it became full-blown irritation, the greenrider curling around the trunk to peer behind himself at the disturbance. Very softly, he said, fully aware that he would probably scare the both of them to death, but clearly they weren’t supposed to be out here anyway, “There is a tree approximately five meters to your left. This tree is the temporary home of a Rider whose dragon is easily eight Turns older than yours, and he is armed with a bow and arrows.” Except minus the arrows by now, but they didn’t know that.

(The arrows in question were actually stuck in several trees farther down by now, since A’emi lacked the motivation necessary to get them and then climb back up the tree, and had been there for quite some time.)

“If you cannot kindly shut the fuck up, he is going to shoot you.” A’emi paused for effect, never quite able to resist the allure of melodrama, and then continued, “Further, if you get hurt trying to fly at night, without straps, without training, ad nauseum, he is definitely not calling a Healer for you. In fact, he’s probably just going to laugh. Please: Continue.” He settled back down on the tree branch, pressing his lips together indignantly; it was one thing to break the rules quietly but being so irritatingly noisy about it was entirely another.

[Sebz]

(Fail Post is Fail. Sorry it took so long, I just wanted to get something up before I went out for the night!)
Ke'von's head whipped to the left as soon as A'emi started talking, but despite trying, he couldn't locate the source. Over there, Ontehth said, sounding displeased. He should have seen the other human, but A'emi had been so still so he was easily overlooked. "Oops," Ke'von murmured. Major oops. "I thought you said nobody was out here!" the weyrling hissed to Ontehth quietly. An affronted Ontehth sniffed in distaste, This is hardly my fault, if anything, it's yours! The statement was not qualified, because honestly, Ontehth felt it didn't need to be. He was always right.

Ke'von froze with displeasure as he processed the rider's statement. Does he actually have arrows on him? Ke'von asked tentivlly to his dragon. Ontehth cocked his head slightly. His night vision was not as prominent as that of his siblings, but his eye sight was still strong enough to see the tails of arrows lodged into the bark of a tree, out of reach, at least momentarily, of the other rider. The human had nothing discernible in his hands, so Ontehth reported back, I can't tell, if he has them, they are concealed. But he wouldn't shoot us either way, The brown said in a matter of fact tone that did not completely put Ke'von to rest. Ontehth had made a major mistake, assuming they would not be caught, so there was a possibility that he could be wrong...

I'm not wrong, I'm right,[/colo] Ontehth said, rustling his wings smuggle. Now shut up and mount. Ke'von ignored the dragon and instead dismissed A'emi. "Sorry to disturb you, we didn't know anyone was out this late. I'm K- the weyrling was cut off by his dragon giving him a slight nudge. Don't introduce yourself! He might not know who we are! The brown dragon looked up to the trees and asked in the most humble tone he could muster, which was not very humble at all, We are so very sorry, we only wanted to practice. Aren't we always supposed to be training and improving ourselves? Worst argument ever, Ke'von thought wryly, but it was ignored. You won't tell, will you? Even if A'emi said no, Ontehth had no intention of not flying that night.

[Avu]

Was he still talking? He was.

A’emi rolled his eyes to himself, unable to resist. Not that it mattered either way; he didn’t expect either dragon or Rider could see the gesture. Just—irritating. He ignored the almost-introduction, mustering an unimpressed huff of breath at the Weyrling instead, and then immediately went still with surprise when the dragon bespoke him, his entire body loosening in an automatic preparation for motion, trying to push the invasive voice out of his mind. Some people would’ve been honored to be talked to by someone else’s dragon, especially given the stigma—A’emi didn’t like it at all; it was intrusive and all sorts of wrong, and Kyrahth would’ve thrown a fit out of sheer possessiveness if she had been awake.

Bad enough that Titania and Darkling had a free-pass to access his thoughts, now strange insane brown dragons were talking to him too?

“Training to improve yourselves does not, typically, equate to crippling yourself by flying before you’re ready to, without decent straps or a chaperone, at night,” A’emi replied, instead of anything dramatic or flail-y that might’ve resulted in falling out of the tree and breaking his bow. “Go right ahead, I don’t give half a damn, honestly.” He crossed his arms across his chest, itching to rub his temples to try to get rid of the mental aftershock of the dragon’s speech. “If I cared to tattle you’d already have Millieth on top of you, it’s not like I couldn’t get Kyr to tell her.”

More bullshit—Kyrahth was asleep, and even if he had wanted to wake her up, she wouldn’t ever bespeak Millieth; her scorn for gold dragons was matched only by her scorn for the world in general. Regardless, A’emi was pretty sure that Kyrahth’s reputation was not widespread enough to have gained the attention of Weyrlings. Especially stupid ones. Also, it wasn’t even that he disapproved of their plan—if Kyrahth hadn’t been far too small as a Weyrling to even remotely consider it, he would’ve probably flown her early too. Patience, thy name was not A’emi.

“Go ahead. At the very least it’ll be entertaining.”

[Sebz]

Ontehth being Ontehth, didn't recognize A'emi's tone for what it was, instead deciding that the comments from the older rider were coming from his lack of knowledge on the subject. A'emi was annoyed? Nooooo, the other rider was simply worried about them, and how sweet of him to be! Well, it was alright, Ontehth had long been used to being the most knowledgeable creature in the weyr. He would simply explain to the rider why it was in fact a very good Idea to fly at night!

At least, that was what the brown had been intending to do, at least until Ke'von hissed "shhhh," cutting off his dragon before the brown even began to speak. However, the warning only served to hush Ontehth before he pissed the rider any further. Unfortunatly, whatever good advice that the other man may have offered the pair was lost on deaf ears, Ke'von had gained the unfortunate habit of tuning things out, brought on from the month's of being bonded to Ontehth. Ontehth on the other hand simply never listened to anybody. He would pretend to listen, he had to be curtious, but no knew information could be gained from participating in conversations, so why should he waste his valuable time listening? The other man had said he wouldn't tattle, so it didn't really matter that he was dissaproving. They could fly on.

Ke'von nodded to Ontehth, who sunk to the ground, belly brushing the floor. Ke'von pushed himself off the ground and clambered onto Ontehth's back. True it wasn't the most graceful assent ever, but Ke'von somehow managed to get on. At least he didn't fall flat on this face. The pair had forgone riding straps, so this excursion would be done bareback, perhaps not the best idea the weyrling pair ever had. But at this point, whatever second thoughts Ke'von was having didn't matter. Onteth rose to his full height and started charging towards the edge of the cliff, with an odd gait. Ke'von didn't have a second to protest before Ontehth jumped and snapped open his wings.

[Avu]

He watched in silence as the boy tripped over himself mounting, mouth twisting in a sardonic half-sneer. His eyes fell half-shut, his role dwindling to that of a studiously disinterested onlooker, fingers tapping loosely against his bicep—at least, until the brown dragon, in what A’emi could only assume was a fit of complete and utter stupidity, charged directly off of the cliff and threw himself and his novice, unstrapped Rider off of it. His jaw slack with absolute disbelief, A’emi pulled himself up in a sort of slithering motion to stand on his tree branch, peering over the edge of the drop with a kind of morbid curiosity before he swung himself back into a sitting position, folding his legs neatly beneath himself, and settled to just wait.

It wasn’t like there was much he could do—what, was he going to sit up there and panic, throw himself off of the cliff in mindless pursuit, or call Kyrahth, who couldn’t even see in this kind of light, to come rescue a dragon that already dwarfed her? Yeah, no, these kids were on their own. Still, without even really thinking about it, he brushed against Kyrahth’s mind to wake the green, not saying anything with words but catching her attention to the epic fail that was a Weyrling anyway; she couldn’t do anything and she wasn’t stupid enough to try.

Should I call the Healers to scrape his remains from the ground? Kyrahth asked sleepily. A’emi bit his lip, half-amused and half-appalled by the utter lack of common sense. You didn’t just throw yourself off a cliff to fly. That was like—I feel like I just watched a suicide attempt, he replied to the green, still peering at the cliff half-heartedly. Or something. What the fuck is wrong with my life?

[Sebz]

They were going to sharding die. At least, that's what Ke'von was convinced off as they fell through the air, clinging desperately to one of Ontehth's ridges. Fortunately for the weyrling, his dragon wasn't one to loose his head in this kind of situation. Honestly, why was his rider freaking out anyway, falling was just part of the flying process. The brown snapped his wings open, and immediately the rate of their fall was decreased as the wind caught under his wings.

Hush and look around, Ontehth commanded Ke'von as the brown concentrated on controlling the path. The brown was large for his age, and with his size came strength. It was good that he had always excelled in his training exercises- his wings were strong enough to keep them aloft, but just barely. Ke'von never once relinquished his death grip on the brown, but did look down.

The ground was aproaching fast, but at least not at a life threatening rate. "Can you go higher?" Ontehth bulged with effort as he flapped his already strained wings. No altitude was gained, but it wasn't lost eaither. No, but I can get us down. Now shut up so I can concentrate. "Shutting up," Ke'von murmured, craning his neck to look at the ledge they had jumped from. It seemed so far away now, but it surely couldn't have been more than a couple hundred feet. Ontehth angled himself towards a grassy clearing that was somewhat obscured by the trees around it. That was where they would land.

The touch down wasn't as smooth as the pair could have hoped for, they were still going to fast. Ontehth dug his feet into the earth as he tried to steady himself, but the speed of their deceleration had caused Ke'von to be thrown off the brown's back. He crumpled to the ground, not moving until the worried brown nudged him with his muzzle. "Ow ow OW!" he moaned, rolling over. I don't think you're broken or in any immediate danger, otherwise you wouldn't be so vocal. Ke'von disagreed but kept quiet sitting up slowly and stretching out. "Some flight huh," he said, grinning wryly after assuring that he hadn't got any lasting injuries. Ke'von swore loudly as Ontehth surprised him by letting out a blood curdling call. "What was that for!?" Ke'von hissed. For the rider who almost ruined our flight, let's watch him worry. the brown responded, sounding quite pleased with himself.

[Avu]

The brown was a very loud sort of creature, wasn’t he?

A’emi wrinkled his nose, blowing out his breath in an even, irritable exhale. Quite frankly, the brown was big enough to carry his Rider by now—he was bigger than Kyrahth already, at any rate, and Kyrahth as a fantastic flier—so if they died, that was their own fault. Whatever. Technically, only the fact that they’d been so blatantly sneaking had even alerted him to the fact that it was a Weyrlingpair at all; it wasn’t like A’emi kept track of them. They were all disappointingly boring and generally not worth spending time with. When the bugle had faded, he wrapped himself half around a tree branch, closing his eyes again.

Kyrahth?

The green’s voice was sleepy. Yes? Do you want me to do something? I think it might be good if they die. It saves the stupidity from being inherited, doesn’t it? That’s a good thing, remember.

A’emi grinned, swinging his legs slightly. Mm. Agreement, but dubiously so. He narrowed his eyes at the darkness—and went completely still at the shriek that emerged from the ground below, tilting his head thoughtfully. Too long for them to have straight fell, and if the brown was shrieking like that he was probably alive. Maybe hurt, maybe in danger, maybe…definitely on their own. He wasn’t going to worry about it if there wasn’t even anything he could do.

Well.

Except he could send Darkling, maybe, to go see, but if they were in danger a la feline or something, he was definitely not down with sending Darkling into the middle of something like that. At any rate—it was training of itself, survival of the fittest and the smartest.

Which meant the odds were considerable, probably.