What was I thinking?[Jake]

[Inora Theos]

Inora paused halfway up the mountain and clung to the side like an idiot. She knew it probably wasn't the best idea to stop and look down while rock climbing, but she did it anyway, that was just how she functioned. Here she was, clinging to a mountain for dear life with nothing but a piece of rope and a harness seperating her from the miles of air below her. She really hated herself for this.

She took deep steadying breaths, attempting to ease the panic overcoming her senses. She wasn't afraid of heights, never had been really, so she had no idea why she was frozen all of a sudden.

A shudder took up in the back of her throat and she suddenly knew exactly what was wrong. "Oh no...not right now...ah...ah...achoo!!!" She nearly lost her hand hold on the mountain before her as her allergies took their toll at the worst possible moment...like always. She clung eagerly to the mountain before her again and sighed happily.

"Okay, guess I better keep going...What in the world was I thinking?" She asked herself as she looked at the ground one more time. Clearly the answer to that question was that she hadn't been thinking, as usual.

[nadian]

Jake frowned yet again. Craning his neck up and squinting at the glare from the hot California sun, he glared up at Cody. “Hey! Move up a bit, I got too much slack on my end!”

Cody didn’t bother looking down as he searched for a handhold. “Yeah, whatever- just adjust the slack from your side…”

Jake glared at him again. “I can’t. As soon as I do that, you move and I have to adjust it back again- its not worth it. Just move faster you sloth!”

Cody growled, banging his head against the rock face of the mountain. “This isn’t working. Why don’t we just split up then? Less hassle that way.” Jake nodded, and scaled his way up next to his friend. Adjusting the clamp to the side of the mountain so that his friend would plummet to his death while they exchanged and slipped their harnesses apart, Jake clung to the side of the cliff with one hand while he untied the knots in his belts. Finally separated, they each inserted their own individual clamp into the rock face.

“Meet up at the taco shop in two hours, okay? Call if something happens”

They separated ways. Jake went up along the east side of the mountain face, carefully picking his way up. What a difference, he thought to himself. His endurance had always been superb, and his strength phenomenal. However, in the last couple couple of weeks, things had changed- while normally he would have been exhausted, ready to turn back in a bout a half an hour, he wasn’t even tired. He felt… fine, in fact. Not even fazed, his breathing was completely normal. His senses were also heightened, he thought. He could smell the sharp tang of minerals in the air, could pick out birds wheeling high in the sky on thermals, could hear… what was that? Did someone just sneeze?

Adjusting the clamp to move again, Jake swiftly but carefully edged around an outcropping of rock. There, clinging to the rock face and shivering like a leaf, was a girl. Her blond ringlets were swept back over her shoulders, in slight disarray from the wind and exertion. It looked like she had just sneezed, and was trying to get a better grip on her handholds. Jake’s sight zeroed in on the clamp that her belaying rope was tied to- it was slowly edging out of the wall. Thinking quickly and speaking softly so as not to startle her, Jake tried to get her attention.

“Hey, um. Hey, are you okay? Do you need some help?”


OOC: Sorry for the monster post... eheheheheh....

[Inora Theos]

Inora was startled out of her reverie by a soft voice, she turned her head abruptly trying not to move any other part of her body. She eyed the boy near her and smiled, he was cute and he seemed to be trying to assist her.

"Hi...I think I'm okay, but you probably know better than I do." She glanced down at her hands and sighed. "Umm, I've never actually done this before. And my allergies have decided that they want to start acting up now that I'm dangling over nothing but air." Her smile grew sarcastic and she added, "I just love my allergies. They pick the best time for things like this."

She felt some of her vital equipment moving and quickly dug her nails into the cliff face. "Oh god...yes, I need help. Help me..." She was suddenly conviced she was going to die, it was irrational but she was still just a kid in reality so she had every right to be irrational every once in a while.

A whimper escaped between her lips as she felt the necessary piece slipping further. "I don't know what to do...I'm going to die...death by falling. How stupid can I be?" She was half talking to her self, half talking to him. Her blue eyes were frantic as she drew them up to his face. "What do I do?" Her voice wavered and could barely be heard above the wind between the two of them.

Life as she knew it was surely over.


OOC: No problem, it just pushes me to do better! Or at least try to do better.

[nadian]

"Hi...I think I'm okay, but you probably know better than I do.” The girl glanced down, and her mane of bright curls swished over her shoulders. "Umm, I've never actually done this before. And my allergies have decided that they want to start acting up now that I'm dangling over nothing but air. I just love my allergies. They pick the best time for things like this." Jake grinned at this. He was about to open his mouth to make, what he hoped, was a witty comment, when the clamp edged a bit more out of the wall. It was more noticeable this time, and the vibration thrummed down her belay rope to her harness. Jake’s eyes widened a bit more, and he began securing his own harness more tightly to the mountain. The girl had realized that she was in danger, and he could see in her wide eyes the realization that something was wrong.

"Oh god...yes, I need help. Help me..." Jake was already sidling by up to her carefully on the inch wide ledge that her toes were dug into, pulling more chord out of his backpack. "I don't know what to do...I'm going to die...death by falling. How stupid can I be?” She was babbling now, frantic. “Easy now, easy…” he tried to calm her.

"What do I do?" Her eyes were full and wide with fear as she looked up at him, her voice small.

Holding on with one arm to his belay rope that was attached to the clip in the wall, he leaned out until he could wrap one hand around her waist, tugging her back to the mountain wall. “Look, I’m just going to reach around you and attach my this clip to your harness. You didn’t secure your clamp well enough to the wall, and it’s coming out. I’m attaching you to mine now, okay?” She was still scared, so as an afterthought, he added. “Look at my eyes, okay? Just don’t look away.” Jake was careful not say the words don’t look down- that was just an invitation to the person to do exactly that, and she would likely spazz out.

Carefully keeping his dusky blue eyes locked on hers, he followed the line of the harness on her hip to her navel with the tips of his fingers, where her belay clip was linked to the faulty clamp. He snapped a new one attached to his chord to it, and unlinked the old one. “There we go… easy does it…” he murmured to her.

“There, you’re linked now. Are you okay?” He broke eye contact with her at last to glance over her shoulder where the old clip dangled from the rock, barely, trailing the loose rope. “Did you want me to grab that, so you can go at it again?”


OOC: No worries. And do we want to do reccapping in our posts, like this?

[Inora Theos]

OOC: Umm..I'm not really used to doing it that way but you can if you want...I'm not really sure how to do it that way...

Inora calmed down slightly as she saw that he was close to her. He was going to help her and that immediately made her feel better. She sighed a breath of relief as she felt his hand tugging her back to safety. She listened to his words and nodded. "Okay, alright." She took deep breaths and fixed her eyes on his. She tried her best to focus on anything other than the mistake she'd made and how if this boy hadn't been around she could be dead now.

Her thoughts quickly became focused on how pretty his eyes were and she tried to think of the exact color for it. She tried very hard not to be distracted by what his hands were doing at her waist or the lack of floor beneath her. She forced herself to continue to breathe and to look at his eyes.

His hands moved in a way that told her he clearly knew what he was doing, which made her feel incredibly safe. She heard the click as he snapped the clip on and she breathed easier in that moment. She closed her eyes momentarily at his words, sending her prayer of thanks up to anyone who'd listen. She opened her eyes again and smiled with gratitude at him. "Thank you, so much. I'm fine now, for real this time." She laughed slightly. "I don't know what I'd have done if you hadn't been here."

She followed his gaze to the rope and shuddered. "I guess I can't really just get down can I?" She hadn't had many near-death experiences...in fact she'd only had one other than this, but nearly falling off a cliff had really shaken her for some reason. "But, um, can I just kinda...rest for a second. My heart is beating about three times faster than normal right now. Not to mention it's probably not the safest thing in the world to try to climb when you're shaking like a leaf."

She looked at the boy next to her and was surprised, now that she was really studying him she was shocked at how tall he was. She felt dwarfed by him, and while that was not hard to do, this boy was certainly taller than almost anyone else she'd ever met. "Wow.." She whispered, without even realizing it. Then she blushed deeply, she hadn't meant to say anything. What if he felt like a freak or something?

[nadian]

Jake grinned, leaning back in his harness with his feet planted wide against the side of the mountain. Now that she was a calming down, he noticed that she seemed a bit disconcerted with his height. He resisted smirking- that was usually everyone's first reaction. His fingers fiddled with the double eight knot attached to his clip as he regarded her.

"Well, you probably wouldn't have gone plummeting to your death if it's any consolation. Your wall-clip, see?" He held up the small device. "It wasn't anchored very well- you need to get it really in there, nice and sturdy so that it can hold your body weight." Jake shrugged, tossing his hair. "You probably would have been fine if it came out- just held on to the rock while you re-anchored again."

He leaned backwards even farther, enjoying the weightless feeling as he let the harness take the brunt of his weight. "Are you a beginner at this? You really shouldn't go climbing alone, its safer and more fun with a friend."

Remembering his manners, Jake reached over and extended his hand. "I'm Jake," he said with a bright smile. "Just let me know when your ready to start again, yeah?" he suggested, gesturing with her old wall clip and anchor.

[Inora Theos]

Inora nodded as she listened and then smiled. "See you should have let me go on thinking I'd be dead without you, then you would have had a girl forever in your debt! Though I am glad to know that I wouldn't be flattened right now."

She watched him lean back and marveled at how fearless he seemed, she wouldn't have been able to do that. It scared her just watching him do it. "Uh, yeah, I'm a beginner. I really didn't have any choice though. I've wanted to try this for so long but none of my band mates would come with me, they were all too busy talking on the phone with their boyfriends back home." She sighed at the memory of how her friends had blown her off, it had been happening a lot more lately. She seriously needed some new friends.

Inora smiled and took his hand, though it scared her to not have both hands free, she figured he would help her if she fell. "Hi Jake, I'm Inora." She took her hand back and looked up the mountain, it looked like a long way but she knew she had to do it sometime, she couldn't just hang around with Jake all day. "I guess I'm ready...But do you think you could maybe be my climbing buddy? Make sure I don't plummet to my death." The shaking had mostly subsided and she did feel like she was ready to climb again, but she would feel a whole lot safer with him in easy reach.