but i abhor the dull routine of existence (closed)

[ratiocinations]

Who: Holmes and Sprezzatura
When: 9/10 9/15 gently nudges this forward a little
Where: The school exterior
What: Trying to climb the school with rather mixed results.
Warnings: None! Will add if needed.

Comments

[velluminous]

Yes. [ slowly, as though she finds him to be lagging behind in this conversation. ] I am not meaning side-by-side vertically. Is this what you thought?

[ratiocinations]

[VISUALIZING………]

You mean you wish to lag behind slightly adjacent to me. Why didn’t you say so?

[A rhetorical question as he shuffles a few inches to the side as instructed.]

[velluminous]

[ twitches her hands like a woman desperately tempted to yank him off the vines ]

[ratiocinations]

[i fucking dare u]

[velluminous]

[ she allows the urge to pass over and through her, and grasps the vines in front of her instead. ]

Still holding?

[ratiocinations]

[HE LIVES FOR ONE MORE DAY

Rustling, rustling, as he begins climbing upwards.]

Steadfast. Take it slowly.

[velluminous]

[ she waits for a moment or two longer, then with a grunt, hefts herself up the first step off the ground.

and hesitates. and drops back down, bends over the mattress, and tugs it more squarely into the space below them both.

and up again. when she looks skyward... oh, it's a long way. ]

[ratiocinations]

[He's climbing up a few more feet in the time she drops back down, then joins him again — he can feel the rustle of the vines when she does.

He calls to her-]

You do know the first rule of heights, don't you? Do your best not to look down.

[velluminous]

[ ...rests her forehead against the ivy and stays like that for a second, unmoving. ]

I already tell you height is not unnerving to me.

[ratiocinations]

I know. But I assume—

[A grunt of effort, pulling himself up. She may pause, but he will keep going.]

—that a wizard’s tower is a bit sturdier than this.

[velluminous]

[ she's toeing about for a foothold; an upward glance to check his progress ]

It could be gossamer thread and I would not be afraid.

[ such is the way of someone who knows Featherfall. they lose that fear a little. ]

[ratiocinations]

[A breathless:] Ha!

If only I were so fearless.

[A strange thing to say for a man who is willingly scaling up ivy clinging to an old, rickety, haunted school. And though he has the courage enough to brave heights head-on, his experience at Reichenbach always warbles at the back of his mind.]

[velluminous]

[ through the exertion already springing sweat upon her brow: ] You climb, do you not?

[ratiocinations]

I do. But there is always the lingering question of how terrible the fall would be if one were to slip.

[velluminous]

[ his ascent dislodges small chunks of brick, mortar, and sends them clattering down the side of the building to the grounds below. because she has asked him to climb adjacent to, rather than above, her, she is not rained upon. but she nevertheless ducks her head, resting it against the warm stone and ivy. ]

Could you please stop speaking of falling.

[ratiocinations]

[He would warn her if the pieces were large! But they aren’t, so… sorry about that.]

Very well. Do watch your head.

[They can talk about head injuries instead!]

[velluminous]

[ just pebbles and grit!
For Now. ]

It is you who should watch your feet!

[ because of her horns! ]

[ratiocinations]

[Oh, yes, he is very aware of her very pointed horns.]

More than just my feet, I would think, were I to fall. Try your best not to skewer me, hm?

[He is... now passing the first storey! Making good progress. Does he need to slow down for her?]

[velluminous]

[ it may be best to; while she does not struggle to pull her own weight, she is not experienced with finding footholds. one might even say... she rolled a natural one to do so. where she currently clings to the ivy, forehead pressed to warming stone, she opens her eyes and sees a tiny little bird's nest tucked into the crevice of a window. just to her right.

it's probably nothing.

meanwhile, the man cannot stop fantasizing about plummeting back to the earth! ]

Stop! Saying this! I am going to come up there and push you, and then maybe you stop talking about falling so much.

[ here, she lifts her face and leans to look up at him. look at this face. do you think she doesn't mean that?
(she doesn't mean that.) ]

[ratiocinations]

[And pauses just enough to look down at her, his hair wild and brow shining with sweat.]

Will you? Come up here? You’ve a way to go, Ms Fairplay.

[Indeed, there is a little nest tucked into the corner of a nearby windowsill, and maybe the flutter of wings, but surely it is nothing.]

/2

[velluminous]

[ biting him biting him biting him ]

[velluminous]

[ hauls herself up another foot. ]

Unlike some of us, I do not spend free time climbing walls like monkey!

[ratiocinations]

[wowowowowwow]

That is why your profession is not mine, now is it?

[He doesn't even bother to rebuke that he spends his free time climbing walls like a monkey — which he doesn't, by the way!!!]

[velluminous]

[ that, she does not rise to, and instead she sets her jaw and finds another foothold and tests the ivy and angles her climb towards a break in the wall where she might take a little more solid support.

up... and up... her fingers brush another nest: this one cozied in the corner of a blown-out window. empty.

how high are they now? her back feels warmed by the sun and slick with sweat. ]

[ratiocinations]

[He slows at about the halfway point along the second storey, catching his breath. Seeking a foothold beneath one foot to anchor himself.]

I've not... noticed the birds before.

[Like, the nests are obvious now. But he does not recall ever seeing them flitter around the school in the past. Where are they now? Does it matter?]