Re: Inexorable Altercation [Round II - Armada]
07-18-2010, 11:25 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by SleepingOrange.
Anna had stood up, following the encounter with the weird bird. It was time to get out of this stupid basket before more weird birds came and did whatever it was weird sea birds do. Anna had no idea what weird birds did, but it was probably weird. This whole situation was weird with its weird sky and its weird water and its weird people. And boats. Boats were automatically weird because it took a really weird person to decide "I am going to ride these trees across a big old ocean full of sea monsters and storms and gods that are frankly not very nice".
Between the witch's flustered internal monologue and her search for a ladder, she managed to miss Felix looking up at her. Anna couldn't imagine who designed this stupid ladder anyway. Surely if you were going to have a big giant basket at the top of a pole, the least you could do was attach a real ladder instead of nailing a handful of planks to it and calling it a day. This shouldn't be an unreasonable expectation! It's not like Anna was asking for stairs or a clockwork elevator or a magic glyph that made a twinkly noise and just poofed you up and down; she just wanted a ladder.
In her estimation, it looked like getting over the crow's's nest would be the hardest part of the climb down. She had to throw a leg over and try to get it balanced on one of the stupid "rungs" while trying not to get her skirt tangled around her ankles or a nail that someone just put there so it could tangle her up, then shift her weigh over with no real handholds. If she could get past that, the rest of the climb down should be easy. Anna was pretty fit, she could handle some exertion. She wasn't some creaky old woman who just sat around and yelled at people.
The actual process of getting onto the ladder was less trying than she'd expected: no vengeful nails leapt out to snag her clothes, no sudden attacks of vertigo sent her plummeting to the deck, and no weird birds showed up at all. After several extremely wobbly seconds, Anna was on the outside and heading down. She allowed herself a small smirk for conquering the stupid boat. It was about that time that there was a small creaking noise and the nail holding the rung she was grabbing slid out of the mast.
Felix had spent several seconds watching Annaliese's awkward attempt to get out of her high position, hands in his pockets and moonlight glinting off his monocle. He was actually rather relieved he wouldn't be having to rescue her; even if it did work towards his goals, he was nothing if not a man with standards, and that sort of blatant heroism just rankled with a deep part of him. He took a couple of quiet steps, repositioning himself that he would be right there when the witch turned around after climbing down; as he waited, he tried to coax his customary smirk into a genuine-looking smile.
His target was about halfway down the ladder when she let out a small whimper and leaned back. Felix's brow furrowed as he wondered what was going on, but by the time he realized what was happening, Annaliese had already fallen several feet. He wasted precious seconds wondering if it was worth revealing his hand by using his powers, and before that dithering was over the witch was on him.
There wasn't really time for shock or internal annoyance or much of anything at all. One second Anna was eyeballing a very rude nail, the next she was falling through the air, and the next she was wincing as her back collided with something that was mercifully not a hard wooden deck. It had only been a fifteen-foot fall, but it hurt.
Anna had stood up, following the encounter with the weird bird. It was time to get out of this stupid basket before more weird birds came and did whatever it was weird sea birds do. Anna had no idea what weird birds did, but it was probably weird. This whole situation was weird with its weird sky and its weird water and its weird people. And boats. Boats were automatically weird because it took a really weird person to decide "I am going to ride these trees across a big old ocean full of sea monsters and storms and gods that are frankly not very nice".
Between the witch's flustered internal monologue and her search for a ladder, she managed to miss Felix looking up at her. Anna couldn't imagine who designed this stupid ladder anyway. Surely if you were going to have a big giant basket at the top of a pole, the least you could do was attach a real ladder instead of nailing a handful of planks to it and calling it a day. This shouldn't be an unreasonable expectation! It's not like Anna was asking for stairs or a clockwork elevator or a magic glyph that made a twinkly noise and just poofed you up and down; she just wanted a ladder.
In her estimation, it looked like getting over the crow's's nest would be the hardest part of the climb down. She had to throw a leg over and try to get it balanced on one of the stupid "rungs" while trying not to get her skirt tangled around her ankles or a nail that someone just put there so it could tangle her up, then shift her weigh over with no real handholds. If she could get past that, the rest of the climb down should be easy. Anna was pretty fit, she could handle some exertion. She wasn't some creaky old woman who just sat around and yelled at people.
The actual process of getting onto the ladder was less trying than she'd expected: no vengeful nails leapt out to snag her clothes, no sudden attacks of vertigo sent her plummeting to the deck, and no weird birds showed up at all. After several extremely wobbly seconds, Anna was on the outside and heading down. She allowed herself a small smirk for conquering the stupid boat. It was about that time that there was a small creaking noise and the nail holding the rung she was grabbing slid out of the mast.
Felix had spent several seconds watching Annaliese's awkward attempt to get out of her high position, hands in his pockets and moonlight glinting off his monocle. He was actually rather relieved he wouldn't be having to rescue her; even if it did work towards his goals, he was nothing if not a man with standards, and that sort of blatant heroism just rankled with a deep part of him. He took a couple of quiet steps, repositioning himself that he would be right there when the witch turned around after climbing down; as he waited, he tried to coax his customary smirk into a genuine-looking smile.
His target was about halfway down the ladder when she let out a small whimper and leaned back. Felix's brow furrowed as he wondered what was going on, but by the time he realized what was happening, Annaliese had already fallen several feet. He wasted precious seconds wondering if it was worth revealing his hand by using his powers, and before that dithering was over the witch was on him.
There wasn't really time for shock or internal annoyance or much of anything at all. One second Anna was eyeballing a very rude nail, the next she was falling through the air, and the next she was wincing as her back collided with something that was mercifully not a hard wooden deck. It had only been a fifteen-foot fall, but it hurt.