Flyin' with ma sister!

[Vega]

7th Ymiden 722
Following this....

The last time they'd met up to have a sort of flying lesson, things had taken an entirely different turn. Vega couldn't argue with that, though, it meant that she and her sister had strengthened their bond, one to the other, and commitment to being family.

Family, after all, was more important to Vega than she could easily put into words. Mostly, therefore, she didn't put it into words at all and instead chose to let her actions speak.

"Righ', so lets do this then, shall we?" Vega grinned at Vivian. "An' no more lollygaggin', thanks." She gestured over to Martha, her dragonling. "An' lets get goin' with this, shall we?"

Vega had never considered herself a good teacher. But because of that, she worked at it. So, she'd considered things, thought about them - and actively tried to improve them. "So, I reckon, Viv, that you're more of a learnin' by doin' person, rather than a learnin' theory sort of person." That was certainly how her sister seemed and, while Vega did not doubt that Vivian could sit and listen to lectures, she'd rather be getting on with things.

"First thing, before you get on the mount is to know your mount," Vega said. "I reckon that's true with everyone, but it's especially true when you're flyin'. SO, this is Martha, an' peekin' round there is Arthur." If Vega had meant the names to be funny, there was no sign of it. "Martha's pretty chilled out an' mostly happy an' content. But she does like to know you, so take a moment an' get to know her." Vega was quiet while Vivian did that, and then she spoke.

"So, most of this is pretty transferable from horse to dragonlin', but there's a few key differences." She moved over and made a fuss of Martha, who seemed very content with that. "The biggest one bein' that dragonlin's have wings an' that means you put your feet an' legs diff'rently. " Gesturing to the side of the Dragonling, Vega made a comment which, to her, seemed obvious but she knew probably wasn't. "Where you put your legs'll depend on the particular creature. It's a bad idea to have your legs behind Martha's wings, because o' the jets of flame. So I put my legs up, like this."

Making sure that Vivian was able to see properly,, Vega climbed on to Martha. "She'll lower herself down to help you climb up. Get up like this. Hold on here, see, she don't mind that. " Vega carefully and slowly demonstrated how to climb on this particular mount. She was careful to do so as carefully, slowly, and in a controlled manner as possible. Then, she positioned herself as she did when she was flying on Martha's back as Martha stood up. "I direct her with my feet, but she's bright is Martha, an' she don't mind where my feet are. She don't need much, jus' a gentle nudge. She'll also respond to a pat on her neck."

Climbing back down, Vega looked at Vivian. "I could talk about this all day, an' you'll learn nothin' except how long I can run off at the gob. Get yourself on there, an' get settled. If you want to take off, that's a gentle squeeze of both feet. Or, she responds to the word 'up' with a gentle tap on the side of her neck." But, they'd go at Vivian's pace and, if she didn't want to take off, then just getting on and sitting on Martha was a fine start.

[Vivian Shiryu]

Vivian was glad that the bond between her and Vega had been strengthened, because she really did consider the redhead family. Granted, especially these days, Vivian operated purely on "family of choice" rules, and even she wasn't sure how much of Faldrun's blood had actually remained in her after reforging in Emea all those arcs ago, but none of that had meant that Vega wasn't family. But for now, it was time to ride a Dragonling, and that was something Vivian was definitely looking forward to. "Aye, we should. Before she gets bored and goes to sleep on us. I don't know about you, but I feel like she'd be hard to wake up, being all metal." she said, gesturing at Martha, which Vivian felt was entirely too innocuous a name for a flaming metal Dragonling.

Vivian nodded at Vega's assessment of how she learned, then laughed slightly at a memory. "I learned humility by having it knocked into me, pretty literally. I was very snobby when I was younger." she said, looking slightly embarrassed about it, in hindsight. She had been utterly unsufferable during the days before the Rynmere rebellion. For all the Qe'Dreki's many, many failings, they had least put her on the path to becoming a tolerable person. She reflected that she probably could fairly easily beat Hector these days, but her path to being who she was now had all begun with him knocking her arrogant hide around without even bothering to draw a sword. If she ever met him again, if he was even still alive, she'd have to thank him for that. More than that, she reflected, as his first lesson was about how foolish it was to attack in blind rage, the very principal she used against Sessfiend's and ragelings nowadays.

Pulling her attention back to the present, however, she nodded when Vega said that it was important for your mount to know you. "That's why we raise our Zephyrus from kittens. You've met Raio before, and I've had that vain furball since he was barely ankle high on me. It's important for them to know their riders, especially since they've got teeth like knives." she said, letting Martha sniff or otherwise examine her as the Dragonling liked. "Makes sense about the wings. I've got a Scalvwing, but the way their wings are set up doesn't change footing at all." she said, watching as Vega mounted the Dragonling. She listened attentively to Vega's explanation, then nodded when Vega climbed down.

"You know, right now, I'm thinking it's a good thing that I can catch myself if I fall off." she said, her tone wry. Granted, Vivian could practically fly on her own with Palenon, but it had some pretty solid limitations. It was less true flight and more throwing yourself through the sky. For now, however, she mounted Martha with rather less grace than Vega had done, apologizing to the Dragonling if Martha made any grumbles or groans about it. Once she was in place, and Vega was satisfied with her position and posture, Vivian took a deep breath. "All right, let's do this." she said, opting to reach out and touch Martha's neck. "Up." she said, her tone firm. She knew better than one was telling someone, animal or human, to do something, you didn't hesitate. Now to see if she could stay on.