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Post by Noa on May 30, 2020 12:12:31 GMT -6
By the next day, Avander could manage two passable dashes in a row before he exhausted himself.
That amount of progress seemed to hearten Avander some, and he threw himself harder into subsequent sessions. Aster let him, since his endurance had built to a point by then where he could be pushed further, so the change came at just the right time. A few more sessions, and he could manage three repetitions; another two weeks and Avander stopped being winded by the efforts altogether. There was a limit to how many times Aster asked him to do it, of course, but by that point he felt comfortable that Avander could handle himself in a fight even if he had to sustain a battle of evasion with the opponent.
It was time for the two of them to move on.
Unfortunately for Avander, the next thing Aster wanted to work on involved more running.
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Post by Noa on May 30, 2020 18:13:07 GMT -6
“We’ll work on your running next,” Aster said, after they had dispensed with their warm-ups for a new session.
{Didn’t we just do that?} said Avander. {Actually, I feel like we just spent a whole bunch of days doing just that.}
”That was sprinting,” Aster said. “You use it to get out of the way of a close range attack in a hurry. This is running; you need to pace yourself, and make yourself harder to hit even from a strike at range.” Aster considered things for a moment, then said, “You ever see how a Wild Equillion runs when they’re being chased? They zigzag back and forth. Something like that.”
Avander didn’t seem enthused, but he wasn’t saying no, so Aster figured he had more or less resigned himself to the prospect that this was happening. And since he was already warmed up, there was no reason to delay.
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Post by Noa on May 30, 2020 18:13:18 GMT -6
“When I say ‘run’, try to run like you’re trying to get away from something chasing you, alright?” Aster said.
{Right,} Avander said, shaking out his mane with an air of resignation.
“Run,” Aster said. Avander took off, but it looked like he was sprinting rather than running. Aster frowned. “Hey, remember to pace yourself,” he said to the Wiurn. “This isn’t something you’re doing in bursts. You have to sustain this over a distance.”
Avander’s pace slowed somewhat. Aster watched him, measuring the new pace. It seemed better than the last one had been, and Avander himself had to be the best judge of what kind of pace he could comfortably sustain.
The real thing they had to work on now was Avander’s zigzagging. He was trying to do it, but it was his first attempt, and frankly he seemed a bit at a loss for the timing of it.
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Post by Noa on May 30, 2020 18:13:31 GMT -6
Aster let him go for a while before calling him to a stop.
Avander didn’t seem winded, anyway. It looked like the endurance he’d built up from the sprint training was paying off here.
“Tell you what,” Aster said, “I’ll direct you for a little bit, until you get the hang of it. Just worry about making the turns themselves, alright? They need to be sharp.” Avander knew how to do that much, at least, from having gone through agility training at the gym before. Weaving poles was a common exercise there, and he’d done plenty of practice with his footwork.
Avander considered it a moment before giving his assent, and Aster nodded. “Alright, run,” he said.
This time, when Avander took off, Aster watched him more carefully. “Left,” he called out, and then a little while later, “Right.” Under his direction, Avander turned this way and that.
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Post by Noa on May 30, 2020 18:13:44 GMT -6
His turns were as good as Aster expected; almost on a dime, despite the fact that he was so big, and bigger now than he had been. He must have been adjusting to the change well, if he could do this. It heartened Aster to see it.
They kept at it for a while before Aster called for Avander to stop again. “How was it? Did you get a feel for it?”
{There was no pattern to it at all, was there?} Avander said. He was breathing a little harder than before, but not so much so that Aster felt compelled to call for a break on his behalf. {It’s just back and forth.}
“That’s the general idea,” Aster said. “You wouldn’t want to double back and risk running into what’s trying to hit you. You’re just presenting an unpredictable moving target, so that it’s harder for them to do it.”
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Post by Noa on May 30, 2020 18:14:04 GMT -6
Avander thought on this for a moment, then said, {I want to try it on my own now.}
“Be my guest,” Aster said. Honestly, he had expected to have to direct Avander a couple more times, but the sooner they moved on from this stage, the better. “You ready? Run.”
On this occasion, Avander really had made a quick study of it. The next attempt he made was much better than his first one. It would take some polishing, but Aster didn’t feel the need to direct him any more after seeing this. A little more practice, and Avander would have it.
They gave it a few more tries, and Avander’s evasive maneuvering improved steadily. It had been some time since they’d had a one-session success, but in this case Aster was relieved to see them making such fast progress. It was always nice when they could get through something quickly.
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Post by Noa on May 30, 2020 18:15:55 GMT -6
But then, he supposed the physical ability was already there, and not something that had to be built up; and in terms of the actual mechanics of it, running in zigzags wasn’t really such a tricky concept once you’ve done it a few times.
“Alright, that’s it,” Aster said. “We’re done. No more running.”
Avander seemed relieved for a moment, but the feeling vanished quickly. {There's more, isn't there? I can tell from the look on your face,} the Wiurn said.
Aster shrugged. "Isn't there always?" They'd been working together, training and all, since Avander was a hatchling, and even then there was a long way to go, and plenty of things Aster still wanted Avander to learn.
{I guess I can't argue with that,} Avander said. {Well? What is it? You did say no more running.}
"Well, it's not running," Aster said. "It's flight exercises again."
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Post by Noa on May 30, 2020 18:54:08 GMT -6
Avander groaned, and fell to the ground. It wasn’t genuine exhaustion; Aster would have known the signs of that. This was just Avander’s dramatic way of complaining about everything they had been doing lately. Flight exercise this, running that; Aster could sense his boredom and frustration.
“Well,” Aster said, “we could work on one of your new abilities if you’d like that better.”
{No,} Avander said immediately. {No, I was wrong, let’s do flight exercises.}
Aster didn’t know whether to laugh or to sigh. He had switched things up to something more physical to give Avander a break from all the mental mumbo jumbo that he’d been having to deal with in learning to breathe ice, especially since all of the rest of his new abilities were more complicated in their execution. But they were going to have to get to that eventually too, and when the time came…
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Post by Noa on May 30, 2020 18:54:21 GMT -6
They could cross that bridge when they got to it though, he supposed.
“Okay. This is the last flight exercise, I promise,” Aster said. Avander didn’t look terribly heartened by it, but the Wiurn did rise to his feet, shaking out his mane, and Aster took that to mean he was ready.
“Fly,” Aster said. Avander launched himself into the air. From there, Aster asked him to go higher, until he was at a fairly good height. From Aster’s perspective on the ground, the Wiurn had grown small enough that he actually looked relatively unintimidating if you didn’t know how big he actually was.
“When I say ‘dive’,” Aster said, “I want you to come down. But you’re not landing; you need to pull up when I ask you to go higher again. Alright?”
It was actually a somewhat risky maneuver. If Avander didn’t pull up properly, he could come crashing to the ground.
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Post by Noa on May 30, 2020 18:55:05 GMT -6
For that reason, for the moment, Aster meant to keep him fairly high when he tried to pull out of the dive at first. No sense in upping the stakes until he could see that Avander could do it.
Avander was the one who would be doing the flying though, and he’d been flying long enough that he had a more intuitive understanding of it than Aster did, so Aster did want his opinion. “What do you think? Think you can manage it? You don’t have to go very fast at first.”
Avander thought on it, and Aster could actually see the Wiurn making a few shallow, experimental dips in the air. {I haven’t done this for anything other than landing before,} Avander said, {but I think I could manage it… Maybe.}
That didn’t sound like confidence, but Aster could sense that Avander wasn’t bluffing either.
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Post by Noa on May 30, 2020 18:55:17 GMT -6
He did seem to think he had decent chances of making it work, which was definitely something. And they wouldn’t know until they tried.
“Alright. Just remember, if you feel like you’re losing control, keep yourself safe first.It’ll be hell if you break anything.” They did have Rhys on hand now for more intensive, magically fueled first aid, but even so, that kind of thing could be traumatizing enough to set Avander back a good deal, even if his physical wounds were treated.
“Ready?” Aster said. “Dive.”
Avander dipped in the sky. His first attempt at diving wasn’t very dramatic, but Aster wasn’t expecting much at first. He descended slowly, feeling out the movement and his own speed, but even then, he did accelerate as he went. Aster watched him carefully, and when he was still a good distance from the ground, he said, “Higher!”
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Post by Noa on May 30, 2020 18:55:41 GMT -6
Avander reacted immediately, but it was a few moments before he was actually able to pull out of the dive all the way. It had been a good idea to call it early, to give Avander plenty of lead time. It hadn’t been a close call, but it could have been.
“Good first try,” Aster said. “Think you can do it again?”
{I’ve got a better idea of it now,} Avander replied. He was gaining height steadily, and when he levelled out, it was higher than he had been last time. {I’m ready.}
“Dive,” Aster said.
Avander didn’t go any faster this time, but when Aster asked him to pull up, he managed it faster and with better grace than the last time. It wasn’t polished yet, but it didn’t look like he was flailing around in the air either, which was a definite improvement.
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Post by Noa on May 30, 2020 18:55:52 GMT -6
“Again,” Aster said, when Avander had gotten back up to a good height. “Dive.”
They repeated it a few more times, and though Avander always levelled out fairly high at Aster’s instruction, Avander did increase the steepness of the stoop over time, such that by the end of the session, he was actually going at a fairly fast clip when he got going.
But Aster decided to call it there. They had been out for a good chunk of time already, and this kind of up and down flying had to be taxing on Avander’s energy reserves. There would be time enough to work on it the next day.
The next day came, and they were back in the training clearing they’d been using the previous day. They went through their warm ups, and then Aster got Avander to take to the air, in preparation for more diving practice.
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Post by Noa on May 30, 2020 18:56:03 GMT -6
They did a couple of repetitions just to get Avander back into the swing of it. Then Aster said, “Now I want you to judge when to level out. Whatever you’re comfortable with. It doesn’t have to be flashy.”
{Me? Alright,} Avander said, agreeing readily enough. He didn’t seem bothered by the prospect, so he must have been confident in his abilities by now. And they hadn’t had any accidents since the first time, so it wasn’t completely unfounded either.
“Alright, if you’re ready, then dive,” Aster said. Immediately, Avander stooped into a dive. When he pulled out of it this time, it was much lower than Aster had been having him go, but he seemed in control, so Aster didn’t say anything. Aster was tense, watching him do it, but he hadn’t sensed any alarm from Avander, so it seemed that all was well.
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Post by Noa on May 30, 2020 18:56:16 GMT -6
“Good,” Aster said. “You’re getting more comfortable with it, huh? Alright, let’s go again. Dive.” Avander dove again when Aster gave the signal, hurtling down toward the ground at a fast clip.
But this second attempt… Aster watched him get lower and lower, with still no signs of stopping. Aster frowned. How close was he trying to cut it? Through their mental link, he could sense when Avander was intending to pull up, but he realized with alarm that Avander wasn’t thinking about that at all.
There was no time. Not to wonder why, not to intervene--- What could he do--- “HIGHER!” Aster yelled, but it was too late, Avander didn’t have enough room---
The Wiurn startled at the sound of Aster’s voice, or maybe at the sight of the rapidly approaching ground. There was a frantic beating of wings, thunderous flapping mixed in with a harried screech, and then---
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