Guts and Glory [Igyns]

[FirebrandPhlox]

Nocturne wing was running drills today, and nothing bored K'mina quite like the tedium of doing the same task over and over and over again. Sure, getting to fly with Gurrenth was always a joy, but having to repeat the same sweeping patterns in practice was a surefire way to suck the pleasure out of flying.

Gurrenth, can you please make this next turnaround more interesting? I'm dying up here, he moaned to his partner.

We're supposed to follow the flight pattern, and you know it. The wingleader will get mad if we mess it up after so many repetitions. She was trying to be responsible, but admittedly she was getting tired of flying in the same figure eight pattern too.

C'mon, just take the next turn a little bit faster or something. We'll blame it on a gust of wind.

Well...alright, Gurrenth replied, her tone uncertain.

She beat her wings a few times before going into the next turn, generating more power than needed. As she banked to change direction, she drifted much too close to another dragon, nearly scraping his wing with her claws. Sorry! Sorry! She quickly called out to the flashy dragon she had almost hit.

K'mina was laughing wildly on her back, excited by the new thrill. "That was a close one! That might've been a little too much juice on that one!"

[Ignys]

Drill flights were dull, but nessesary flights. Rebellioth kept his grumbling between himself and Glory, who had learned by now to mostly tune it out. If there was one thing about her dragon that she knew, it was that Rebellioth would _never_ grow out of is desire to laze about and do nothing all day. Some entertainment came in the form of another dragon - Gurrenth, if she recalled correctly - drifting far too close. She didn't know if the garnet's claws would have raked Rebellioth's wing if she hadn't directed him to angle his wing away from the other pair.

Watch it! He snapped, a little meaner than nessesary. Glory heaved a sigh, patting the side of his neck.

That level of annoyance wasn't warrented. She chided, earning a huff back from Rebellioth. This drill is a little less boring now, though, isn't it? THAT made him perk up a little. She was right, after all.

"That's an understatement!" She replied, not wholey unaffected by the event herself. Drills weren't the place to try new things. Though, she'd prefer it happen here rather than during actual Threadfall.

Hm. Well. I suppose no harm, no foul. It livened up this dull flight at least!
Rebellioth chirped, mood having brightened significantly in all of the thirty seconds for his rider to reply to K'mina.

[FirebrandPhlox]

I'm so sorry! Gurrenth called again, craning her neck to look back at the pair she had nearly clipped. Despite the sharp initial outburst from the dragon, the pair seemed to be fine and largely unphased by the incident.

K'mina laughed and patted Gurrenth's side heartily. "Sorry about that, caught a bit of wind there!" He hollered, knowing fully well there had been no wind that had caused that other than the hot air he was spewing from his mouth. "Besides, I was about to fall asleep up here! Nothing like a near collision to wake you up, huh?" He chuckled heartily as Gurrneth adjusted and fell back into proper formation.

"What do you say about keeping this practice lively?" He yelled at Glory and Rebellioth. "I bet you three marks that Gurrenth can make the next turn faster than Rebellioth there. What do you say?"

Oh, please don't. Gurrenth pleaded beneath him, knowing fully well that once he was getting his money involved, K'mina would not back down.

[Ignys]

Relax. It's not a big deal. You didn't even scratch me! He couldn't even remember why he'd been so irritated initially, but it definitely seemed like an overreaction now. Maybe it was just because he could see the value in changing things up after so many loops.

But the same can be said that we shouldn't do anything too flashy, else we risk getting in trouble or hurting someone. Glory reminded, getting a soft grumble out of Rebellioth. She was right, of course, but he was bored!

"Speak for yourself. It's boring, but it's too cold up here to really doze off if you ask me." That, and the wind constantly whipping her hair back into her face was more than enough to stave off the urge to close her eyes, let alone fall asleep. She furrowed her brow a bit at the idea of betting on their dragon's abilities in the middle of practice. That wasn't a good idea.

Oh, you're on! Rebellioth challenged, making Glory heave a sigh. Of course he'd answer before she had the chance to weigh the risks.

"No betting. And we're only doing this once. I do not want to get chewed out by Cornelia because we were being stupid. Let's maybe keep our claws away from other's wingsails too..." Just once... that couldn't hurt right? Well, it could, if they were stupid about it. But there weren't going to be stupid about it. "We can make it a real contest when we aren't in the middle of drills. How does that sound?"

[FirebrandPhlox]

K'mina grinned widely in delight. A chance to have a contest after these monotonous drills was exactly the thing he needed to light a fire under him and keep him going. "You're on! No backing out. After drills, we're racing!" He hollered with delight. He leaned down against Gurrenth's back, lowering his voice to talk to just her. "We still want to beat them now, though. You've got this, show them what kind of speed you're capable of!"

K'mina, I think that Glory might be right. We shouldn't be messing around so much during drills. The garnet relayed to her rider over their mental link. Maybe we should just go back to normal formation. We can race later.

"We can't just back down when we issued the challenge!" He shouted, forgetting that he didn't have to say everything he wanted to communicate to his bonded. "C'mon, show him what you got!"

With a sigh, Gurrenth tucked her claws tight against her body and pumped her wings powerfully to gain speed. Just this one last turn she would take quickly, then she would go back to normal flight patterns for drills.