Daniel cocks his head at Max, who's pretending not to be scared of the towering water below the cliff edge they're standing at.
"It'll be alright Max, these thermals are easy- you'll barely have to do anything at all."
Max is watching him suspiciously, feathers shifting with nerves. He's finally flight ready, even if he doesn't think so, and it's taken quite a bit of work to get to where they're at.
Things had started moving once they'd gotten Jos banned from the paddock- Max stopped his biannual clippings, and his primaries have finally reached their full length, long and glossy.
Daniel's been painstakingly helping him preen, carefully adjusting and straightening coverts, delicately arranging his pin feathers as his primaries came back in.
The process was entirely unfamiliar to Max, which makes Daniel want to break a certain set of swallow wings and toss their owner off the cliffside.
Max won't step any closer to the edge, wings held tight against his back. Daniel's going to have to take a page out of his mother's book, and also the same book they'd used to teach Michelle.
Max will... hopefully not hate him for life.
"Hey, you like me, yeah? At least a little?"
He pauses, looking slightly insecure- even if he's trying not to show it. Daniel's gotten good at reading him.
Daniel gives him a gentle smile. Max might take that back in a few seconds, but it's nice to actually hear his younger teammate verbalize it for once.
"Yeah Maxy, we're flock. So you've gotta have some trust there, right?"
"Awesome, please-don't-hate-me-"
He wraps his arms around Max and launches backwards off of the cliff, shoving away from Max once they're in the air. The thermals here are strong, so it would be easy to snap out his wings and hover- but the goal is to see Max do it.
Max, who is currently screaming on his way down to the ocean.
Daniel's going to give it a few more seconds before he starts a recovery dive, and he's getting ready to descend in a swooping downward spiral when he hears the screaming cut off, and Max's wings snap open, carrying him up away from the ocean.
They're light brown and blonde, matching Max's hair, and they're sharply angled- which means GP is probably going to win the betting pool on what kind of wings Max has.
Daniel had jokingly said kookaburra, but GP's falcon guess might not be too far off.
Max gives a few strong wing beats to ascend, and Daniel circles in, close enough to hear the Dutch swearing before Max spots him.
"You! What the fuck is wrong with you, chucking people off cliffs? Were you dropped on your head as a baby?"
Daniel laughs, even as Max keeps cursing at him.
Max stares at him wide eyed, mouth dropping open as he beats his wings.
There's a grin starting to overtake Max's face, childlike and youthful- he can't quite keep it in.
