Late Night P2 | Rough Draft | Fin

Ikrans and Training

"Mom, come onnnn, come on. I'm in a hurry."
Lo'ak is sitting just before you, his arms and legs crossed as he flings all of his hair to one side — exposing the shaved section he has.
"They're all waiting."

"Since when did you get so demanding?" You smack him on the back of the head as you sit behind him, and fumble through one of your bags for a razor norm had given you.

His legs are shaking with impatience, making it even harder to be careful with him.

"Lo'ak." You call out to him, and press a hand out to his knee. "Stop."

"Sorry." He grumbles.

"I know you're just as bad at staying still as I am, but you can spare me a few minutes."
And thankfully he gives you that, letting you give him a smoother finish on the partial shave he favors aesthetically.

"Alright." You flick at the back of his head sarcastically. "Go, have fun."

He runs his fingers over it, enjoying that the stubble feeling is finally gone.
"Thanks, Ma."
And before you even look back up after putting it away, he's off across the pathway to see his friends.

"This is so.. odd." Aonung remarks as he's finally settled down, sitting so carefully on top of Lo'ak's Ikran.

He's really been warming up the idea of showing him off to his friends, and eventually they'd all have a turn at it.

Today was Aonung's try, seeing as he was hardest to convince. He seemed a little unsure about the Ikrans feeling toward him .. it was hard to get them close at first.

"Don't lose your balance." Lo'ak calls out to him. "You have to hold on properly or else you'll fall off."

"Oh please, me? Fall off?" He holds his hands outward and grins dramatically. "—Of this thing? Never. I'm not some amateur."

"Bro." Lo'ak deadpans toward him. "—You say that now, just wait til we're in the air."
Lo'ak is still adjusting the harness and saddle, making sure everything is secure before they take off for a test flight.

"This is a bad idea, isn't it?" You turn over to Jake as you both stand watch at what unfolds.

"Proooobably." He agrees, yet remains unbothered.

"Shouldn't we stop it?"

"Might be easier to just let them learn the hard way." Jake considers. "That seems to be lo'ak's way of it, anyhow."

"I mean; you're not completely wrong there."

"Exactly, I never am."

You're just lucky Jake let's it slide that you whisper something about bullshit under your breath.

Lo'ak jumps up finally, and helps Aonung by showing which parts of the Ikran to hold on to — not just the reins of the harness.

"Oh, god." You can't even watch at first.

They're off in the air, soaring above the clear open water as Lo'ak does some simple circular patterns.

Aonung screams with joy, and at first you were frightened of what else it may have been.

"I give it a few minutes, no way Aonungs not gonna come back down without feeling nauseous." Jake comments enthusiastically.