Completed [Edge of the World] Falling off the Edge

[Lavira]

Vira was carefully wiping her cheek against her shoulder, wincing at the sting that it caused, when Addy hollered back up at her. "Huh?" She looked down over her other shoulder to the woman. It hadn't occurred to her that Addy was actually someone familiar, not in the least bit! In all liklihood, the two had probably passed one another countless times up in the aeries, and may have even met two or so years ago. "You're a healer? Well then!" Vira grinned good naturedly and then canted her head some at the trilling call.

The reappearance of the owl and its actions that followed were a welcome surprise, his training shining in the simple grab and offering of cloth. "Oh, you didn't have to do that, it's okay, really!" But Vira grabbed the scrap out of the air before it could fall out of reach and gingerly wiped the scrape clean, tucking the fabric into the neck of her own torso wrap in case she needed to wipe the blood again. "Thanks, though!"

"I still need to set two more braces and then you can start up. I'll walk you through grips from here." Vira was far from perfect when it came to climbing, but it was a skill she needed because of her caste job. If one of the hatchlings got a little too bold before their wings could hold them, or if a mama bird dropped something to a spot she couldn't quite reach, it was Vira's job to retrieve it. Mountaineering was as much a necessity, therefore, as birdkeeping and falconry. The Chiet's only real frustration with that came that she lacked the proper supplies still. She was hoping to be able to afford to purchase a complete set at market some time, but the cost was too much right now and Vira didn't have that much free time. What she was able to obtain tended to go into studying and private training (like that morning consisted of).

Vira swung out again after telling Addy to get ready and got her grip secured better this time. She set the next hook, threaded the line, and climbed carefully up a crack in the rockface to a small ledge, just wide enough for her to brace her feet on without risk of toppling (unless a bad wind came through).

"Alright, Addy, you ready?" the teen waited for confirmation. "Do like I did now. Look for the best grip within arms reach but as high as you can find. Mark it and use the dirt beneath your feet to give your hands some traction. Just rub it between your fingers and palms. Then, grab the point you saw and use the opposite foot to pull yourself up. I can weight the line so you don't fall either, but you'll be free climbing most of the way. Keep doing that, following the lines to each hook until you get to this ledge. Use the balls of your feet and make certain you're sure of your grip before moving ahead. You're smaller than me, but that doesn't mean much. Go when you're ready!"

[Aidara]

Addy hadn’t realized just how lacking she was in the ‘Recklessly Daring’ department until Vira called down for her to get ready to climb; her heart began to hammer at her chest as images of the first date with Sira kept flashing through her mind: The Kelvic woman going up, up, up the climbing wall, and then quickly coming back down for a personal, face-to-face hello with unyielding stone beneath it was enough to make Addy visibly flinch at the memory. Why was this ever considered a good idea.

“I, uh… Okay. Alright. Hold on.” Of course, it really wasn’t fair to ask Vira to hold on in any sense of the phrase, since Addy was the one with all the the time in the world, with her two feet safely on the ground. She wasn’t the one hanging by her fingertips far overhead. “Let me make sure this is all secure…” Shaky fingers pulled randomly at knots that Vira had made, adjusting the looping and the positioning of the rope as if she knew exactly what she was doing. Truth be told, there really wasn’t much of a reason for the little woman to be so nervous. Nothing had happened to either of them yet and well, nothing probably would.

But having been stuck in a rut of work, work, work, Addy hadn’t been able to get out and play, or even enjoy herself for a long time. Rather than lacking anything crucial to her personality, Addy simple had forgotten how to loosen up and have fun. Danger wasn’t the end of the world, and she had once found the same thrill in doing something potentially harmful as the rest of her people. Since when did you become such an old lady? Though coupled with a tang of sadness, Addy couldn’t help but smile at the thought of what her sister would say should she bear witness to this cowardice. Sira didn’t choose you cause you were a clipped dek licker.

Petch it, you’re right! Perhaps conversing with the phantom voice of your absent sister was not quite sane in its own right, it got Addy moving. “Alright! I’m ready! I’m going to start here where you did and try to follow exactly where you went.” A tall order, since she hadn’t been looking up for the majority of it. “Here we-“

Oh, but then she called down about the dirt and Addy audibly gagged. “Really? That’s completely necessary?” Practically glaring down at the pulverized bits of stone, sand, and debris beneath her feet, Addy closed eyes and made a quick decision; she hadn’t come out here to stand in the sun, holding a rope, to let a bit of dirt deter her. Stooping quickly, the little healer rubbed the palms of her hands quickly over the ground, wincing and whining as she felt the grime cling to her skin with a spiteful sort of glee. “Ugh, oh. This is terrible. Gross. Really? Give me blood any day… Blah. I can’t… just…. We’re going to the baths after this!”

Now with her trademark overreaction, Addy practically threw herself at the wall, her fingers reaching and reaching for the first handhold that Vira had used; it was a decent gap in the stone just above her head and to the left. ”Oh petch. You’re taller.” After a few failed jumped and pathetic leaps towards the hand-hold, Addy had to step back and reassess the entire situation. She would be able to use the same path as Vira for the simple fact that her arms were not as long.

“Lets see here…” Pacing the length of the cliff face, Addy made sure not to tug or disrupt the line that Vira had pulled upwards as she searched, and finally found, the perfect starting point for her. Far to the right of where Vira had started up, Addy was able to step onto a low slung protrusion, her arms stretched far over her head as she grasped at another; small fingers of her left hand curled and latched onto the sharp crag as she pushed herself up, reaching with her right leg towards a small indent in the stone. Able to wedge her foot into the space, this gave the little woman a bit more leverage to pull herself up a even higher.

“Yes!” Beaming and taking her eyes from her hands, Addy tilted her head back as she looked for her next hand hold, jubilant in her success until she spotted Vira, still so far above her. A glance down showed the little woman that she had hardly managed to raise herself a foot off the ground. “You’ve got to be kidding…” The smile died on her lips and was reborn as a grim line, her brows swooping downwards as her entire face took on a determined glare.

However, try as she might Addy only managed to pull herself up twice more, looking to her left as she tried to find someplace to lodge her foot so that she could reach one of the cracks in the stone she had seen Vira use earlier. “I don’t know where to go! And I can’t reach that one! I think I’m stuck.” Clinging to the rock face, Addy tried to keep the nervous shrill from her voice as she turned her face up to the sky and squinted as she tried to pick out her friend dangling above her.

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[Lavira]

The younger woman watched the slighter one below carefully, trying to mark hand and foot holds from her vantage above as best she could, but the alternating shadows and her limited vision made actually seeing such holds harder from here. Vira took this time to further consider where she recognized Addy from, her fingers aching from having to stay in this spot for so long.

The Chiet rolled her eyes and muttered a moment when Addy began complaining about the dirt. "Yes, you need it. Grab the wall with sweaty hands or when it's wet and you'll be bugmeat at the bottom of the mountain. If I could afford climbing chalk, I would. It just gives your hands some grip so you don't slip."

She seemed far too familiar to be someone she may have passed by or seen at Market. Perhaps she'd seen her up in the Aerie section of the city. That meant she was probably an Avora or Endal. She looked too healthy to be a Dek and where Vira herself worked, there were very, very few Chiet. Maybe she was one of those privileged few. But then, the gear she had was pretty expensive; it would've taken Vira probably a year to save enough to get all of this! And that was assuming accidents didn't happen or Tulaj didn't do something...Tulaj-y.

Neglecting to consider that Addy was trying to concentrate on the rockface, Vira called down to her. "Hey Addy, do you work up in the aeries somewhere?" She pried. "I think I've seen you somewhere before, but I can't remember. Your face is really familiar, though." When it was apparent the girl thought herself stuck, Vira tried not to laugh. "Look along the wall closer, Addy. The grips aren't always so big and obvious, I've learned that much. I see a bulge in the rock to the right that you can use. Do you see it?" She pointed with her own right hand not very far from where the other clung.

"Use your right foot to brace yourself by sliding it about a foot and a half out. Plant your toes in that little crack there and then reach with your right hand until you got the bulge. It's not big, but it'll work for a grip. You can go up diagonally back to the line I laid."

Lavira looked up after she explained this and studied the wall and sky distractedly. The sky still had clouds across it and Vira wondered if it might not storm tonight or tomorrow night. The winds sure acted like it could. She was also seeing threads of sand being blown off the rockface of the Edge higher up in the mid section. That was going to be harder, she thought, both for herself and for Aidara. Today might not be good to go past that point; bad winds against amateur climbers were bad things.

"Hey Addy, once you get up to me, we're only gonna go a little further up and then repel back down. The winds look too strong higher and I don't wanna risk it today."

[Aidara]

“People will try to tell you that it’s not the size of the bulge that matters.” With her gaze skittering across the stone that loomed before her, Addy tried to follow Vira’s instructions to the next handhold. Sure enough, there it was, just slightly out of reach; Addy stretched as far as her tenuous hold on the cliff allowed, but the tips of her fingers only barely brushed the bulge. Retracting back to her former position with a grunt, the little woman grumbled loud enough for Vira to hear. “But you will learn that size does matter.”

It was a painful few ticks that Addy hung there, her fingers cramping from the less-than-ideal wedged and curled grip they had on the rock, but eventually she did gather the courage to attempt to reach the handhold once more. It would take a little jump, her feet completely leaving the footholds they had found, but if she just pushed off from the cliff a little bit then her hand could grab that protrusion. “Okay, I’m going to swing wide!” Pushing off from the stone immediately after calling out the warning, Addy bit down on the little yelp that clawed up her throat when her hands and feet completely left the relative safety of the cliff. Stretching once more, the little woman tried to keep her gaze locked on the spot she aimed for, her hand slapping loudly down atop the bulge before her fingers curled and held on firmly. There was a loud thump as the rest of Addy’s body collided unceremoniously with the wall, the breath knocked from her lungs with a loud whuff. “I… am good… with the bulges!”

Choking out the terrible joke, Addy tilted her head back and gave Vira a shaky thumbs-up. “I got this. I’ll be up in a tick.” Her feet easily found the cracks while she regained her breath, waiting for the painful tightness in her chest to ease before she stretched and grabbed at the next spot to haul herself upwards. It was only then, belatedly, that Addy realized Vira had asked her a question; she had been much too preoccupied with flying through the air at the time to register it. “No, I don’t work in the Aeries…” Pausing, Addy regarded the awkwardly placed next hold above her, and the one after that. They were awful close together and would leave Addy hanging on with her arms almost touching, like she was dangling from the rock face rather than climbing it, but it would also draw her even with Vira.

Distracted while judging the pros and cons of this next step, Addy absently continued to talk, completely forgetting the “I’m not an Endal” premise that she had been going for. “I live there, with Sira. And formally my sister, though she’s gone now…” Yes, she was going to do it. Letting her sentence trail, Addy sucked in a big gulp of air and reached for the hold, lodging her fingers securely in it before she stepped up with her right foot and then, finally, reached with her left hand.

Not realizing she had given away her Caste, and that it might completely alter Vira’s view of her, Addy beamed at the young woman next to her, proud beyond belief of her accomplishment. “You’re right, the dirt was necessary. Even if it is disgusting.”

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[Lavira]

Vira laughed loudly at the crude joke and nodded. "Yes, I agree with you there. It's not about the bulge." Only the force behind it! Hah! She did not, however, say the rest out loud.

"You're doing great, Addy, almost there." She called encouragingly, watching to make sure the other didn't step the wrong way by accident.

Upon answer, though, Vira's brows raised in surprise. "Really?" And then further surprise and sympathy as the other finished, coming even with her. "I'm sorry to hear that.." About the sister, that is. "Truly. I work down in the nesting aeries, myself; been hoping to find a climbing partner for a long time since I need to get better. I'd hate for an eaglet to fall from the outer ledges to a protrusion below and me not be able to retrieve or at least steady them until a team can pick us up." This said in reflection of the pair that were due to hatch sometime that season.

Turning back further to the topic at hand, she reached out and clapped Addy on the back. "See? I told you! Now come on; we'll free climb the rest of the way. Just up to the sun-line, there." She pointed overhead, another fifteen feet or so up. There was a side jut of rock, large enough for three to stand comfortably and get their barings before continuing the vertical climb. "We'll be able to secure an anchor there and then repel straight down. Repelling's easy, too; I'll go down first again so that I can secure the line in case you slip. If you trust me, that is."

[Aidara]

“I never much venture near the nests. They’re largely smelly and well, my bondmate gave birth like regular Inarta do.” Smiling and freeing one of her hands to shelter her eyes, Addy tilted her head back towards the sky and observed the climb yet to come. “I didn’t have to visit her while she sat on an egg, though I bet Sira will tell you that would have been preferable to what she ended up having to do instead.”

A vague gesture towards where the sun line was the only thing the little healer had to go off of when they started climbing again, side by side. It was easier in one way, but harder in another. Vira seemed to have an easier time finding hand holds, while Addy felt like she hung for an eternity between each step; part of it was surely the little woman’s own insecurities, because the women were quite well matched. It was harder in the sense that there was less freedom of movement, one having to look out for the other while they ascended.

Spotting a ledge just big enough to support her fingers, Addy stretched, grunting as she reached for the spot only for the other woman to reach it first; Vira was slightly ahead and hadn’t seen Addy extending for the same hold. Scrambling back to her original position, Addy had to readjust her grip so that she could look to her other side for an opportunity; Sure enough, there was a hand-hold just within reach that allowed the little woman to haul herself up further yet.

The climb to their destination, the sun line, took longer than Addy expected. By the time they both paused to catch their breath and take a look around their new vantage point, the muscles in her arms and legs are positively screaming. It had been a long time since they had been put through such strain. “Wow, I am going to be feeling this in the morning. It’s a good thing we got up here because I don’t think I can hold on much longer.”

Shifting her grip so that she could look over at Vira, Addy nodded towards the tools they would use to anchor themselves for the decent. “I can try and do that if you want to explain how. Otherwise it’s all you… It would be awful if I was the reason that we plummeted to our deaths. That would linger on my conscious forever.”

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[Lavira]

"I don't mind the smell, myself. It's comforting to me." She laughed a little when the other told her of her partner not having to sit on an egg and the preferences of birth besides. "I'm sorry to hear it was hard on her, Addy."

With conversation withheld, the younger began to climb, feet and fingers picking her grips carefully as she mounted the wall which had claimed many a foolish Inartan before. There was a bravery in the chiet that shone in this quiet setting, one that was not upset by her disability; a kind of steadfast resolve, as though this rock face represented some sort of perpetual conflict that lay deep within the woman and the only way to conquer it was to climb. Climb, climb, and climb, no fear of falling seen within that single intense eye. Fear was supposedly a choice, afterall.

Once they reached the little ledge, Vira straightened and leaned back against the wall, panting and closing her eyes. Man, what a work out. The real fun part came when they went back down. When Addy came up beside her, she turned to give the slighter dame that same amicable grin. "See? No sweat. And I'll show you. It's simple knots for this part." She refrained from telling her she didn't know how to do the grip-knots, figuring the endal probably would rather have not known that in the first place. Silence in ignorance was sometimes better.

"Well, you won't be the reason we fall, don't worry. I'm gonna show you how to do a slip knot. It'll let us repel and come loose easily once we're at the bottom. We'll anchor to this ledge first, however." She said, indicating some previously placed anchors at the back of the foot-wide lip. It wasn't fancy, this time. Vira showed her how to do the knot next, plain and easy to loose just as she'd explained. "Now, you'll turn and face the wall. Keep both hands on the rope, and just lean back. You'll use your feet to push off the rock whenever you swing in while I let the line out for you to descend. If you start to spin, use one hand to steady yourself against the wall and you'll be fine. Ready when you are!" There wasn't much in the way of gripping the line, though; it was really going to be up to Addy not to fall since there wasn't enough purchase on this ledge to allow for a proper two-man descent.

[Aidara]

Glancing to where Vira indicated the anchoring hooks that had been left behind by previous climbers, Addy extended her hand to the young woman and smiled. “May I do it?” Threading the rope through the hook was the easy part. It was the knots that Addy began to fumble on, the twists and turns that helped to insure the rope stated anchored kept tangling in her fingers and slipping loose.

Taking a deep breath, Addy tried a final time to thread, loop, and tie off the knot. With moderate, but sloppy, success the little woman stood and gestured for Vira to inspect her work. It wasn’t as pretty as it could have been, the free end of the rope dangling a bit too long, but all in all it was secure. When the Chiet proceeded to explain how to repel down, Addy nodded her understanding and took a glance below her. It didn’t look too far down but she was sure as soon as she started spinning or swinging wildly out of control she would quickly lose her tentative confidence. “I’ll go first!”

Bolstered by her success in climbing, Addy decided that it would be better for her to pioneer her way down rather than watch the trials and tribulations that Vira might face; the potential of seeing the woman swing wildly away from the wall was enough to keep Addy where she was and call for Sira to get her down.

Shimming around to the position that Vira suggested, facing the wall with the rope between her hands, Addy backed slowly away from where she had anchored their rope, holding it taught and firm in her hands. Going back over the lip of the ledge was the hardest part, but Addy managed to climb back down until she was clinging to the side of the cliff face. “Now I’m going to go down… perhaps start a bit slowly.”

As soon as she had begun, Addy felt her heart leap into her throat and was forced to take a moment to shove the fear to the back of her mind and lock it away. She had gotten up here, now she had to get back down. It wasn’t anymore dangerous than the former, and could potentially be more fun. With that mindset firmly in place, Addy took a deep breath and pushed off from the wall, loosing her grip on the rope enough that it allowed her to go back down.

“Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!” Squealing like a Yasi, Addy reveled in the feeling of falling, completely forgetting to brace herself for when she met back up with the stone wall; instead of bouncing professionally on her feet and pushing right back off again, the little woman smashed hard against the cliff, bouncing off her left side and back out into open air, coming down once more and thwaping her back against the stone.

With the breath knocked out of her on impact, Addy couldn’t even cry out the curse words that bubbled to her throat, her legs pumping uselessly in the air like a turtle on its back as she attempted to spin herself back around. “Crap.” Addy wheezed, unsure if whether Vira could hear her or not.

Though she managed to right herself eventually, Addy hung for a moment before jumping right back in the saddle, metaphorically speaking. Giving her no time to revel in the pain or the sense of dread she had experienced when the rope slipped a little too quickly through her fingers and the rock wall came rushing towards her face, Addy set her feet and pushed firmly away from the stone. Using less force this time, the little healer didn’t go as far but had much more control, managing to make it down to the bottom with no other hang ups.

As soon as she had both feet on the ground, Addy loosened her grip on the rope, used a free hand to shield her eyes and peered up where Vira still stood. “Alright! I’m down!”

OOC :

Unless you had other plans for them, we can end it soon and free up space in our schedules for another thread together in the Summer season! It'll be fun now that they know each other.

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[Lavira]

The younger woman checked Addy's work as best she could, testing the rope for her before giving it the okay. "Looks good enough." She smiled and waved the other to start down.

There was a moment of sheer laughter from the Chiet when the Endal let loose a happy little 'weee' on her way down, Vira rolling her eyes. If she didn't pay attention she was going t-. The teen winced as the other bounced off the wall. Calling over the edge to her, she said, "That's why we pay attention, Addy!" But the woman was still grinning as Addy repelled more carefully the rest of the way down. She watched her carefully fix her descent, nodding approvingly. "Good job!"

As soon as she was safely down and calling her all-clear back up, Vira followed suit. She made sure her line was secured as well, double and triple checking her knot after releasing Addy's, taking the rope in both hands, and turning to face the wall. She crouched low, both feet on the edge and making her look quite a bit like a bird on a perch. The teen hung there a moment, took a breath, and then leaned back slowly, checking the security of the line again as she applied more weight to it.

Once confident it could support her, she loosened her grip and leaned further back until she was completely clear of the lip. Then came the first kick of legs, sending her out about five feet from the walls face before returning so feet connected with it once. Another kick off and she was descending further, the rope sliding smoothly through her hands as she descended. It was quick work reaching the bottom, Vira landing heavily beside Addy and giving her a thumbs up. "All clear. Good job!"

A hard tug on the line afterwards brought her own length falling back towards them quickly and landing in a messy pile before her. "Now we just fold the rope back up and tie it together and we're done! Organization is key." Vira nodded simply and undid the belt holding the hooks from her own hips. "We'll double the rope out and then use our arms to wrap it back up, like this." She demonstrated with hers by moving away from Addy about ten yards and laying the rope out, then doubling back until the rope was straight but doubled. Then, with one end in her palm, she took the rope in her other hand and began wrapping it from palm to pit until it was a nice tight bundle. This was finished with a double wrap of remaining rope around the center, tying it tight with a simple slip knot once again.

"And then, we're done!" She'd let Addy do this too, watching appraisingly from nearby and then offering back the rope that had been lent. "You're not too bad, Addy. We should definitely do this again some time!"

OOCPretty much done then! =D

[Aidara]

Addy gave Vira a sidelong glance when she chirped happily as they carefully untangled themselves from the rope and replaced their gear to the large pile that had been left down by the rock Addy had initially perched upon. “I can already feel my arms and legs screaming at me.” The young woman’s tone was dry, but a smile played at the corners of her lips. “As much as my limbs will hate me, we should do it again. It feels nice to have such as solid sense of accomplishment.”

Red-faced, sweating, and wobbling a bit as her most disused muscles reacted to the strenuous event she had just put them through, Addy bundled all of the gear into her arms and started to make her way back down the path and towards the center of Wind Reach. “I don’t know about you, Vira, but I’m going to go take a bath.”

Her head turned, a smile cast back at the girl as she paused and waited for her to catch up. “You can join me if you’d like. Perhaps afterwards we could go to Inclement Weather and relax a bit?” Though formed as a question, Addy’s statement left the younger woman no such option to decline. Half the gear was portioned off and dumped into Vira’s arms as the pair continued down away from the wall.

“Come, we will drop this off first and then we will go…”

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