hate_gettin_older | IC inbox for ainmhian

Yeah sure, meet me outside the pub 'nd I'll bring what we'll need.

Be there in a bit.

-----

A bit, in this case, turns out to be roughly ten minutes. Edgar jogs up the road toward the pub, already on the lookout for Ren.

(He might also be on the lookout for another face or two, but for the opposite reason; there's some people he doesn't want to see just now.)

Ren doesn't even both replying and instead goes in hunt of the things they'll need to keep Edgar safe for rock climbing. If she falls, she'll regenerate, she hasn't seen any sign that Edgar is anything other than human just yet. So it's a helmet for him.

Max would never fucking let her live it down if he got hurt.

"Yo!" Ren threw up a hand in greeting as he approached.

He waves back and breaks into a faster lope, closing the distance between them until he pulls up in front of her, panting just slightly through a grin.

"Hey, 's all this?" he asks, tilting his head at the gear she's brought.

"Ropes, helmet f'you, chalk, harnesses." Ren listed it off, raising the backpack that she had. "Supplies." It was never great to get stuck out in the forest without water in the weird heat they had from time to time. "Stuff t'make sure y'don't die, mostly." She grinned.

His eyebrows go up, but he's grinning back. "Just how big is this rock we're climbing then?"

"Don't matter how big it is. If y'feets off the ground, you need something on y'head." Ren tutted at him. Normally she wouldn't give a shit. But, Edgar was better in one piece and the more she could do to stop him getting hurt, the better.

"C'mon bonny lad, times wasting and we need to get there first." She started to lead them off towards the forest.

The tutting is ... actually weirdly endearing, for some reason. Edgar tilts his head in cheerful assent, and follows her.

"Was wondering more about the ropes, actually," he says, as they go.

"That's for tyin' you to the tree, obvs." She easily replies, giving him a playful wink as they go.

"Nah, yet again, it's safety. There's loops you run ropes through that attach onto your harness. Means if you fall 'nd I can soften the landing."

"Starting to sound a wee bit more complicated than 'see a big rock and climb it,'" he says cheerfully. "I'm game."

Ren shrugged. "Start y'off on the baby stuff, but I figured once you get a go of it, you'll want to have a try at the big boy stuff." She laughed, Edgar didn't strike her as someone who backed down from a challenge.

Edgar laughs back at her. "Damn right I will. Let's have at it."

... He's going to need help putting on the harness, of course.

Ren led them off into the forest, taking them on a short trail towards the Green Man's temple, chattering about this and that along the way but nothing of great import.

"Here we go, big rock number one." Ren announced when they reached a clearing and there was, true enough was a rock climb of about eight foot high with clear spots for handholds and footpushes. "So, first things first, we gotta go through the rules." Ren set down her backpack and unclipped the helmet. "First of all, y'gotta be wearin' this. You ain't got no meat on you to bounce with if y'fall."

"Y'gonna keep at least two points of contact on the rocks at all times. If y'get stuck, y'gonna go down rather than go up, okay?"

He nods, and holds his hand out for the helmet. "Never worn anything like this before," he confides. "Tell me if I put it on wrong, will you?"

Once he figures out which way is forward, it's actually pretty easy to get right, although the straps give him a little trouble.

"Here, put y'chin up." Ren directed him when she noticed his struggled with the straps. "It clicks into this bit here, 'nd you tighten it up just like that." There, safe at least from the perils of Rocks.

He fidgets with the strap a little -- its unaccustomed snugness under his chin is uncomfortable -- but doesn't loosen or undo it. "Right then, what's next?"

"Elbow 'nd knee pads." Ren answered, returning once more with more things for him to put on.

"... Promise you're not just fuckin with me?"

But that's about all the protesting he does, except for a little quiet grumbly muttering as he puts on the rest of the protective gear.

"I mean, I'm not, but..." Ren grinned. She wasn't winding him up on purpose. But the fact he was getting grumbly about it was quite cute. "Y'fucking cute when you get all pissy."

He looks up at her, both hands busy with the last strap on the last pad, and grins. "Yeah? Nice someone thinks so."

Ren winked in response.

What? Like it was a secret she liked him? Nah. She wasn't that smooth.

"'Kay. Now you're all goosed up, I'm gonna show you how to climb this fucker." She gestured back towards the rock formation, notably wearing none of the safety equipment she had put on Edgar. But she did clip a open bag of chalk onto the band of her shorts.

"So, you're gonna reach right up--" Ren demonstrated, stretching up to find a good finger hold "'nd grab on, then you lift y'leg to find the foothold that's gonna take your weight--" She did so, finding a protrusion that was safe enough. "Then, y'push y'self up from your legs don't pull yourself up by your arms - that fuckin' knackers you." All things considered, it was a good demonstration and Ren carried herself up a few rocks, marking out the easier ones with white chalk for Edgar to copy before dropping down to the ground once more.

"Y'ready to try? I'll be able t'catch you if you fall." Edgar certainly didn't seem like he'd weigh more than she was able to handle.

"Ready," he says, flexes his hands a couple of times, and starts for the rock.

As tempting as it is to try jumping right in at full speed, swarm right up like a monkey and impress Ren with how good he is at this, he's going to make himself move slow. At least for the first few holds. Falling on his ass isn't going to impress anybody. Test the foothold, test the handhold, and up.

And up, and up; even moving (relatively) slow, he's already passing the last point Ren marked.

"Ayyyy! That's it!" Ren encouraged, clapping her hands. She watched from the ground, conscious to keep her eyes where he was putting his hands and feet, her own hands cautiously outstretched just in case she did actually need to catch him.

Hopefully it wouldn't come to that. It was hard to explain why she was so strong.

"You coming up or what?" he calls down to her, grinning.

(Without turning his head, though -- the last thing he wants is to lose his concentration on the next handhold above him.)

"Nah, too busy admirin' the view." Ren called back.

She was giving him space to clamber up before she started.

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