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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 13:50:31 GMT -6
Rhys flapped his wings a few times, experimentally, but in the end, he confirmed what Aster had guessed. {I’ve never done it before. I’ve tried, a little, but…} He seemed a little sheepish about it, but Aster merely shook his head.
“Don’t worry about it. A lot of creatures don’t know right off the bat.” Offspring that were raised by humans rather than their own kind was the most common example, though often times custom-made creatures had a better command of their abilities. Rhys… evidently wasn’t such a case. Perhaps imbuing him with telepathy had taken up too many of his mental resources.
Whatever it was, it was easily remedied. “Let’s see if you have the proper muscles for it first,” Aster said. Flying was in itself a sort of exercise, and if a creature didn’t have the strength for it, trying to sustain it could lead to them hurting themselves.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 13:51:32 GMT -6
“Flap your wings for me,” Aster said, after a moment's thought as to how he wanted to go about this. “Don’t try to lift off, just focus on flapping them for now.”
Dutifully, Rhys applied himself to the task, though he looked a bit bemused by the whole ordeal. Aster watched him carefully for signs of exhaustion or strain, but it appeared that he was fine with the amount of exertion needed to maintain the flapping, at least. After a moment, Aster signaled for him to stop, and Rhys subsided, blinking at Aster.
“That’s good enough for now. Let’s figure out how to get you aloft, then. Hmm.” Pondering the situation a moment, Aster picked up the Felusine again.
{You aren’t going to throw me, are you?} said Rhys, sounding a little nervous now.
It startled a laugh out of Aster. “Throw you? No, nothing like that,” he said.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 13:52:01 GMT -6
“Or, well, maybe a little, but I’ll be there to catch you,” he amended. “I thought I’d bounce you up and down a bit, like I do with my Sarane hatchlings when they’re young, to get them in the habit of flapping their wings.” In their case, it was just a matter of stimulating the instinct to get them to make the proper motions and exercise the limbs, even though no hatchling Sarane had wings that were big enough to carry them. And of course, when they grew big enough to make a proper attempt at it, they were well past the size where Aster would be able to pick them up.’
But in Rhys, Aster hoped that the instinct--- if he had it--- might take him further. Maybe it was less about thinking and trying to fly than it was about just letting your body take over. A man could hope, anyway, and he’d tried stupider things that ended up working out in the end.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 13:52:29 GMT -6
{Well, if you’re sure you’ll catch me,} said Rhys. He still didn’t sound terribly certain about what he was about to do, but he didn’t refuse either. Aster nodded, and began tossing him very gently into the air.
It wasn’t a very high toss, just a little, just enough to get Rhys airborne for a moment before he dropped back down into Aster’s waiting hands. The Felusine made a startled noise the first time, but after a few more, he seemed to settle himself. {Oh,} he said. {This isn’t so bad. It’s kind of fun, actually.}
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself,” Aster said. He didn’t quite urge Rhys to start flapping his wings again, hoping that the Felusine might come into it himself. As Aster tossed him higher, Rhys did begin fluttering his wings, haltingly at first but then more insistently.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 13:52:57 GMT -6
And then it happened. Aster held his hands out and braced himself for the weight of the Felusine, only to come up empty handed. He looked up, and there was Rhys, fluttering unsteadily in the air.
{I’m doing it!} he said, sounding even more surprised than Aster himself was. {Look, I’m flying! I’m---}
His joy was short-lived. He faltered, and was immediately sent plummeting down. Fortunately, Aster’s arms were still outstretched, and his reflexes were fast enough that he caught the Felusine despite having so little warning.
{It really isn’t easy, is it?} said Rhys, ears drooping.
“Hey, you managed to do it,” Aster said. “That’s a pretty good start. We’ll just keep trying til you get the hang of it. Are you ready to go again?”
{I suppose so,} Rhys replied.
“Good. Now, fly,” Aster said, and tossed him up into the air again.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 13:53:12 GMT -6
This time Rhys tried flapping with all his might, but to no avail. When Aster caught him again, he said, “Don’t just use your strength… Try to remember what it felt like the first time. Find that sense of… balance. It’s not about going all out, it’s about generating lift--- beating your wings down and pushing the air with it.”
Aster clocked the expression on Rhys’s features, and sighed. “You know, nevermind. Don’t think too hard about it, and just try to remember what it was like last time. Ready? Fly,” he said. With that, he tossed Rhys into the air again.
The second attempt didn’t work either, but a third saw better results. They practiced for the better part of an hour, by the end of which Rhys was able to manage more or less consistently to fly for a short span of time.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 13:53:37 GMT -6
Aster deemed it good progress, then called an end to it, despite Rhys’s protests. He could tell that the Felusine was tired, whatever he might say otherwise on the matter, and there was no sense in overworking him. There would be time enough. Besides, sleep might help reinforce the lesson still further.
They resumed the next day. “Are you ready?” Aster asked. When Rhys gave him the affirmative, Aster picked him up and tossed him up again. “Fly, Rhys,” he said.
Rhys beat his wings--- in a more controlled manner than his earliest attempts, though he still had to do so quickly to generate the initial lift. His descent stopped, and then he rose another inch or two. “Great, now try to keep it up. Move around if you like, just don’t come back down.” Aster watched him carefully, in case he faltered and fell, in which case Aster would be as good as his promise to catch the Felusine again.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 13:54:09 GMT -6
Rhys managed to stay aloft for several minutes before he tripped up and fell again. “Hey, that was pretty good,” Aster said, his brows arching up as he caught Rhys in his arms.
{Was it?} Rhys sounded uncertain, like maybe he thought he could sense an empty compliment. But Aster had meant what he had said. At the very least, from the pragmatic perspective of that flight compared to all their previous efforts, it was a definite improvement.
“Yeah, and you’re going to get better, so let’s try again. Fly,” he said.
Progress wasn’t a linear thing. Rhys did better on some attempts than others. But the progress was, nevertheless, present; and by the end of the session, Rhys could consistently stay aloft after being bounced up, though the duration of the flights still tended to be somewhat erratic. Aster pronounced this satisfactory, despite Rhys’s look of concern.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 13:54:33 GMT -6
Land: Start
As the sessions wore on and his muscle strength and coordination built up, Rhys began to have more control over his flights, such that he was choosing to land rather than simply having his lift interrupted or cut short. It was not mastery of flight by any means, but it did give Aster the idea to teach him something else.
“Let’s work on your landing skills,” Aster said. “Can you try to land when I ask you to, and not before then?”
{I can try,} said Rhys, which seemed increasingly to be his response to being asked to do something new. Sometimes it was earnest and eager, but at other times, like now, it was filled with doubt. Still, he never refused outright, and he was generally as good as his word: he made the attempt, whatever his misgivings.
Aster could hardly have asked for more. He merely nodded, and said, “Fly, then.”
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 13:54:57 GMT -6
They had reached the point, a few days ago, where he was no longer bouncing Rhys into the air to get him to begin. Rhys instead launched himself with a little leap--- for he knew perfectly well how, physically speaking, to jump--- which achieved much the same effect. Now he launched himself into the air, and managed a tenuous flight.
One of the things that had made it easier for him to stay aloft was that Rhys had found, much like riding a bike, it was easier to stay up if he kept moving. He flew a slow, wobbly circle around Aster, waiting for the signal.
Aster didn’t want to push him too hard at first, so he set a duration that he knew was well within Rhys’s capabilities at the moment. “Land,” he said.
Rhys didn’t land so much as his wings stopped, and he dropped without much control.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 13:55:07 GMT -6
He did land on his feet, perhaps some holdover from his Felusine nature, but the landing was abrupt and not planned very well. “Hmm,” said Aster.
{It’s no good, isn’t it?} said Rhys, ears drooping.
“Not exactly…” Rhys had done as he’d asked, but it was more the technique that needed work. “It didn’t look very comfortable. Maybe we should work on your descent first.”
{Descent?} Rhys couldn’t have lacked comprehension of the word, given how he communicated, so this was more a question of ‘how’. Aster had to think about that for a moment. He knew enough of flying with feathered and leathered wings, but he hadn’t trained anything with quite this type before.
“Well… Instead of stopping completely, why not just slow your wingbeats?” Aster said. It was worth a try, at any rate. Even if it didn’t work, he had hope that they’d be able to learn more from the failure of it.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 13:55:37 GMT -6
Rhys looked dubious, either about the theory or his own capability, but again, he didn’t refuse. “Fly,” Aster said. He took off without issue, and perhaps it was because he was focused on the challenge ahead, but his flying looked more even this time around. Funny how that worked, that the less he thought about doing it, the easier it seemed to be.
“Land,” Aster said.
It didn’t go smoothly, but Aster was hopeful. The problem, or so he suspected, was that Rhys had to think about what he was doing when he did it now. Controlling the pace of his wingbeats wasn’t natural to him yet, and when he had to think about it, sometimes those thoughts caused him to stall. But Aster had seen enough evidence that it was possible, that this could work.
“Let’s try again,” Aster said. There was no getting anywhere without more practice.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 13:55:48 GMT -6
The third attempt was no better than the second, but the fourth showed some improvement. It wasn’t until the next day that real evidence of progress came through, however. Rhys had gone aloft, and was flying in a slow meander when Aster said, “Land.”
It was as though a night of sleep had worked some sort of magic. When Rhys tried to land this time, he did so almost entirely smoothly. There was only one moment where he faltered, and even then, he managed, gamely, to recover before his feet hit the ground.
“That wasn’t too bad at all,” Aster said.
{It… wasn’t, was it?} said Rhys. He seemed proud of himself, in a small, tenuous way. It made Aster smile to see it too.
But one success didn’t mean they could slack off. It didn’t mean anything until they could reproduce it. “Alright, let’s keep going. Fly,” Aster said.
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 13:56:16 GMT -6
End: Land
Rhys flew. When Aster said, “Land,” he managed it smoothly. Aster was a little surprised, but maybe it was more that the confidence from his last attempt had helped Rhys this time around. “Looks like you’re getting the hang of it,” he said.
That meant that it was time for them to step things up a bit, the way Aster had intended to originally. Now, rather than focusing on the landing, he meant to have Rhys practice staying aloft for longer periods. This time, when he asked Rhys to fly, he stretched out the interval for longer. It was only at the moment when Rhys looked at him, the beginnings of confusion in his bearing, that Aster said, “Land.”
Rhys did so without much thought, his attention focused on the question he wanted to ask. {You waited, didn’t you?} he said. {This was longer than all the other times.}
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Post by Noa on Sept 7, 2019 14:14:45 GMT -6
Aster nodded. “We’re going to try having you fly for longer periods of time,” Aster said. “You’re strong enough for it now, I think. Besides, it’ll be easier for you if you can fly for longer periods. Then you can get around however you like.”
As he said it, Aster began to wonder if he was going to regret teaching Rhys to do this someday soon. Rhys wasn’t the same as a troublemaking toddler, but there was a great deal that Rhys simply didn’t have experience with or knowledge of. Keeping him out of harm’s way was a challenge already, sometimes. How much more difficult was it going to be once, he started flying wherever he wanted?
But still, it was no good thing to restrict a creature’s mobility, and Rhys would probably have figured out how to fly himself eventually, since he was clearly capable.
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