~ ☼ With wings as big as hers were, it was no wonder that they ended up getting in the way a lot of the time, or were just trouble to take care of in general. Onyx had quickly learned that she needed to be mindful of her wings and where exactly they were, especially when they tended to drift along the ground beside and behind her if she wasn't actively lifting them a bit. Getting sand on the fur that covered the backs of her wings wasn't too much of an issue, sand could always be washed out, but she had to be careful of what might be laying in the sand, like, say, a jellyfish, she did not want to bump into one on accident. Aside from that, she had to be careful about stretching, or just extending her wings in general, when anyone else was nearby, didn't want to hit anyone or knock someone over. Plus, cleaning herself off without help could be a bit...difficult.

Still, even with those problems, they really were helpful! They were great for grabbing stuff, much better than her paws were, they really, really helped her out with climbing, oh, and they made her look cool too! Most of all, however, was the knowledge that, some day, she'd be able to fly, like a bird...a really big bird, with scales! To soar through the skies, feeling the wind running through her fur and across her scales, it was a big dream of hers, and now that she was a discens, it would finally be a reality. No more getting pulled down off of a roof and getting told she was too young, or that it was "too dangerous", today was the day. Ohh, it was so exciting, no more running from place to place with the winds to carry her there, prey easily taken down from strikes above, and best of all, no need to climb to get up into trees where those birds like to hide their eggs, free, easy eggs from this day forward!

Climbing to the top of one of the taller rocks around the camp was the easy part, the harder part was looking down and remembering that she was about to jump off. It...it wasn't super high up, she had climbed taller trees before, but the thought that she was about to jump instead of climbing her way back down was enough to make her a little...hesitant. "No...come on, you can do it!" the hybrid shouted, a bit louder than she meant to, giving her wings a short flap to clear some of her dead scales off and into a small cloud of glimmering purple dust. Crouching low, she took a deep breath to steady herself, and pounced forward, legs stretched out to her sides, extending her wings and flapping them as hard as she could.

It didn't take her long to realize that she wasn't gaining any air, when her eyes peeked open and she saw that the ground was approaching, steadfastly refusing her any distance from its embrace. She wasn't exactly falling, but neither was she flying, she was caught in a clumsy, wobbly glide, getting closer and closer to the sand, until she finally smacked into it spread eagle, sliding for a brief moment before finally coming to a stop, limbs out to her sides, wings giving one final flap before laying still, spread across the sand. "Ughhh....owww...." It didn't feel like she had hurt herself too bad, there were definitely going to be bruises though, but, laying there, groaning, she couldn't help but wonder just where she had gone wrong. She had flapped her wings, and...well, that was all, but that was all there was to it, right, so....why hadn't it worked?

— Reggan

~ ☼ It hurt, of course it did, she had just smacked into the sand at a decent speed, she just hoped that none of her scales had gotten cracked from the rough landing. It could have been worse, but she was just a little winded and dazed for the moment, laying on the sand as she waited for the pain to fade out. Perhaps worse than the physical pain however, was the instant embarrassment she felt when she realized that more than a few of her groupmates had probably just seen her jump off a rock and plant herself straight back into the sand. She couldn't believe she had failed, today was supposed to be the day she took to the skies, not the day she splatted onto the sand, but she just couldn't puzzle out how exactly she had gone and messed this up, this was supposed to be easy.

Hearing someone approach, the hybrid tilted her head up, and-oh wow, it was the guy who was on fire! She always kind of wondered just how you could be on fire and not be hurt, but maybe it was just a fire control thing, like...like her mom had had. Another voice brought her out of her thoughts, and it was only then that she realized she had been asked a question, two questions, in fact, her crimson eyes flicking between fire-guy and the other newcomer, one of Winter's kids? "I'm fine, I'm good, just stings a bit. Onyxpaw, nice to meet you Swordskit!" she answered, pushing herself up into a more dignified seated position, giving herself a firm shake to as much sand and grit off of herself as she could, wings folding and settling back against her once more. Then, she was bombarded by question after question, and, as they went on, a big grin of her own started to form. "Uh, that wasn't really flying, more like gliding, but I'll tell you when I get it down, just give me a few days! I dunno about the sky, but I'll definitely go touch a cloud, that's like, number two on my list of cool flying stuff. I never had feathers, I'm not part bird, I'm part snake, and they are really cool aren't they, I mean, look at 'em!"