Open Climbing & Cheering

[Elizabeth Fletcher]

Elizabeth Fletcher often found herself in slightly dangerous situations and typically did not have a good excuse for it. Today was no exception, but the only one around was her twin brother, Harper. She had climbed to the top of the net and was looking towards the top of the poles.

A few kids watched from the bottom, including her brother, who was neither amused nor upset. Elizabeth had a great big smile flash across her face and she gave a big wave to the other kids. Grabbing on to the pole she began to climb her way to the top, definitely not what the playground structure had been designed for. There wasn't a nervous bone in her body and nothing was going to stop her from getting to the top.

 

[Harper Fletcher]

Harper had gotten used to his sisters' adventures and daring tasks. He watched her at the top of the net, wondering what exactly it was she was going to do next. Looking around, he saw several kids running around not really paying attention to her, but next two him stood a couple of kids that were deeply invested in Elizabeth's climbing.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Harper hollered up to his sister when he saw her grab onto the pole. He could already see this ending in disaster and the last thing their mom needed right now was her getting hurt too.

Elizabeth didn't seem to hear him or didn't care because she continued to climb her way up.

 

[Kasim Safir]

Kas had been drawn to the commotion on the playground by the crowd. Chances were anything with a crowd was usually interesting enough, and he had to admit he was intrigued by the spectacle as the girl on the rigging began scaling higher, seemingly unfazed by both the height and her audience. "You reckon she's gonna make it?" He asked the boy who'd yelled out to her. Kas wasn't sure he actually wanted to see her fall. Maybe slip and get scared a little, just to keep things interesting.

 

[Elizabeth Fletcher]

Elizabeth was halfway up the pole and now the wind was starting to become a factor. You are almost there, you can do this. She told herself, neglecting to think about what it was she was going to do when she got there.

Her legs were wrapped around the pole and she could feel her arms getting tired. The challenge had proven more difficult than she originally thought. Hesitating for a couple of minutes, she began to climb again.

 

[Harper Fletcher]

Harper sighed as he watched his sister hesitate and then continue to climb again and turned towards the boy. "For her sake and my sanity, I hope she makes it. Elizabeth will climb almost anything," he added. "The problem with my sister is she doesn't think about what she is going to do when she makes it. How's she getting down? Who knows."

A couple of parents that were playing with their children stopped to look up at Elizabeth. He wondered if any of them would call for help, but hopefully, they would continue on their way. Harper glanced at his watch. Their mother was at work for at least another few hours. "Would you make the climb?" He asked the boy.

 

[Kasim Safir]

Kas watched as the girl paused for a moment on the pole, wondering whether she might be finally starting to panic up there. He had to give her points for dedication when whatever reservations she had passed and she continued her climb. "She does this a lot then?" He asked mildly, taking a quick break from watching Elizabeth's progress to look at her brother. "She ever fallen before?" Kas was curious what their odds were here. He was starting to suspect after hearing that that the interesting part wasn't going to be Elizabeth getting to the top, but getting her down.
He had to laugh when the boy asked if he would ever do it. "Me? Heck no, I'm happy down here thanks," He said, waving the idea away with his hand. "Would you? Reckless climbing like, an inherited trait maybe?"

 

[Elizabeth Fletcher]

Elizabeth was nearing the top now, she had attempted to not look down. Something fell out of her pocket to the ground below, it was her small notepad. In her alertness to it falling, her eyes followed it to the ground. This made her a little queasy.

"Hang on to that for me, will ya brother?" She hollered down with a laugh, half in an attempt to distract herself.

Her arms clung to the pole once more and she made the last climb to the top of the pole. Elizabeth wrapped her legs around it tight and with one arm she waved and pumped her fists in the air.

 

[Harper Fletcher]

"Yes, she does this a lot," Harper replied. "And of course she has fallen. Don't ask her about it though or she'll drone on for hours showing you every bruise, scar, and scrape."

He pondered for a moment, would he do it? Harper chuckled and shook his head. "I used to do climb with her, but I don't find it interesting anymore. The entertainment to me isn't worth the risk."

Harper saw something fall to the ground and picked it up. It was his sister's note pad, sighing at her request, he tucked it into his pocket. He turned his attention back up to Elizabeth, noting that she had made it to the top.

"I don't think she knows what she is going to do now," Harper told the boy.

 

[Kasim Safir]

"Bravo!" Kas called out, clapping when Elizabeth finally reached the top. Now they got to watch the real fun part and see if she could get down. "Don't fall now!" He added for good measure. Sparing a glance from watching Elizabeth's progress, Kas nodded at the boy as he spoke a bit more about his sister. "Aren't you guys a bit young to be adrenaline junkies? Well, at least you seem to have come to your senses,"
Kas eyed the notebook Elizabeth had dropped, hoping his pointed look at the boy might prompt him to share a little more about it. "Does she take notes up there or something?" He asked, before miming writing in a notebook, "January, 2049, got stuck on the playground again, prospects grim, send help."

 

[Elizabeth Fletcher]

Elizabeth beamed at an unfamiliar voice shouting bravo and cautioning her. That's precisely what she was worried about now. How am I getting down? Climbing down a pole was never as easy as climbing up a pole.

She wrapped her arms around the pole tight and began to attempt to climb down. If she made it down halfway, she could probably just jump on top of the net. That seemed like the best option. Elizabeth made her way half way down and with a deep breath let go.

She released herself and fell back letting the net catch her. Elizabeth sat up, rubbed her arm a little, and began to scale down the rope net. She walked up to her brother and the other boy. "Just a little rope burn." Elizabeth smiled as she fixed her hair and wiped sweat from her brow.

 

[Harper Fletcher]

Harper found it somewhat amusing that the boy was cheering on his sister. He was sure she was loving the attention. "Elizabeth has been a daredevil since we were born, I was always the one that just followed along. Her adventures got a little more daring time after time. Our dad likes to rock climb." Harper cut himself off, their dad did like to rock climb. He brushed over it.

He laughed about the notebook. It was one of his sister's quirks. "It's more or less an adventure log, she keeps track of the things she does and accomplishes. I am sure this will be in it." Harper was telling most of the truth. The journal was more important to his sister for many reasons.

He held his breath as he watched his sister scale down, fall on the net, and walk over to him. She didn't seem phased by anything. "Nice, but you really should consider something less dangerous next time," Harper said reaching into his pocket and handing over her notebook.

 

[Kasim Safir]

Kas nodded as Elizabeth's brother filled a little extra backstory, wondering if maybe their dad was too busy rock climbing to give his kids a self-preservation instinct. "Maybe the adrenaline junkie thing is hereditary," He said with a shrug. "Any adventures worth peeking at?" He asked as the boy put Elizabeth's notebook away, curious what other ill advised objects they might have tried climbing.

Watching as Elizabeth seemed to make up her mind and start scooting down, Kas was a little disappointed to see it was going to be over that simply, until Elizabeth paused and lept from the pole to the netting. He was unable to suppress a wince as she fell, releasing a breath he didn't know he'd been holding when he didn't hear any following sounds that would indicate Elizabeth had flubbed the jump. She was halfway down to the ground already when Kas was able to look again, and he was a little disappointed in himself for potentially missing something cool. "Good job not dying." He said when Elizabeth finally reached them, putting his hands in his pockets are peering speculatively at her elbow. He could appreciate that she seemed composed enough after the climb and jump especially.

 

[Elizabeth Fletcher]

Elizabeth had a very big grin on her face. "Thank you. I have done a pretty good job of that so far." She said with a smirk. Taking back her notebook from her brother, she flipped it open. Her pen was clipped to her pocket and didn't seem to be affected by the climb. Elizabeth began to scribble things in her notebook about her climb success.

Feburary 2049

Tākarokaro Park
Climbed top of net pole all the way to the top
- Work on methods of climbing down
- Find a way to keep notebook in my pocket while climbing

"So what's happening here on the ground?" She said with a smirk at the two boys.

 

[Harper Fletcher]

Harper nodded, maybe it was hereditary. "Not my tales to share, but I am sure if you asked she would be more than happy to tell you." His sister was his best friend, but her adventures were usually more than he would be willing to do. Harper wasn't a fan of her grand theatrics when they are typically dangerous. Elizabeth had made her way over to them and asked what was up.
"It's a bit selfish doing that don't you think?" Harper was slightly annoyed. "But, dad would be proud."

 

[Kasim Safir]

Kas wasn't sure how interested he was in amateur daredevil. On one hand, someone who felt the need to do stuff like that was probably plenty interesting, but at the same time, possibly a bit not sane in the head.
He couldn't tell if Elizabeth was taking his comment about not dying at face value or not, but he could still appreciate the attitude either way he supposed. "You really are documenting all this, huh," He said with a raised eyebrow, watching her jot down what he could only presume was a short summery of her little stunt just now. "Do you write something every time you fall over or is it only the big stuff?" He raised an eyebrow at Elizabeth's brother's comment about their dad. "My dad would kill me for doing something like that, if the fall didn't kill me first I guess." He said, trying to imagine his dad's face.

 

[Elizabeth Fletcher]

Elizabeth tucked the notepad into her pocket. Her dad used to always document his rock climbing adventures and Elizabeth took after him. "My dad always logs stuff in his notepad. He told me to write down my adventures so I remember my progress." Elizabeth didn't like people knowing her dad wasn't around anymore, after all, she still had a hard time believing it. "He said that sometimes it's hard to see how far you've come when you are looking through a small window. I write down anything I think is important and also things that I need to research." She wondered for a moment if that was unusual, after all neither her brother nor her mother had a notepad. Her cousin Kara had a journal she took notes in, but she wasn't the adventurous type. "Do you not like to climb? Wouldn't you want to take notes?"

 

[Harper Fletcher]

Harper was annoyed by his sister's ignorance of his comments. She still pretended like he was still around and Harper wished she wouldn't. It was stupid. He was gone. "He used to," Harper said in a murmur, barely audible. "I don't go on dangerous climbing adventurous, so I wouldn't have anything to write down."

 

[Kasim Safir]

"What's your dad do that's so adventurous then?" He asked, wondering what sort of parent encouraged their daughter to do dangerous stuff and then write it down of all things. He was still pretty amused by the image of the aneurysm it would give his dad if he ever tried something like that. "So you're like a rock climbing nerd or something?" He said when Elizabeth mentioned research. He wondered if she could have fun doing regular kid things or if it had to be some kind of field experiment all the time. "I'm good, thanks," He said, laughing it off when she asked if he would climb or take notes. "I don't need notes to know I'm smarter down here," He said, looking over at Elizabeth's brother curious when he seemed to be muttering something to himself. "See, your brother's probably the only sane one in your family by the sounds of it."

 

[Elizabeth Fletcher]

"He professionally rocks climbs," Elizabeth said proudly. "And he worked for some company." She didn't really remember if she was honest with her self. "I wouldn't call myself a nerd, I just decided to take after my dad. He made it seem really important." Her tone shifted slightly, she really missed her dad.

 

[Harper Fletcher]

"Yeah, I am good on the ground," Harper said definitively. "Dad wasn't a professional. He just did it all the time. He did do competitions." He said rolling his eyes at his sister. "Our mom didn't particularly approve of our dad's climbing, but it was his passion and he was always really big on safety. Something Elizabeth didn't seem to get through her head."

 

[Kasim Safir]

"Right.." Kas said as Elizabeth talked a bit more about her dad. "That explains.. some of this at least," He said, waving a vague hand to encompass Elizabeth and her notebook.
"Nerds, rarely do," He said under his breath a little as she denied her nerd status, taking a bit more notice of what Elizabeth's brother was saying instead. Kas wasn't sure if he was imagining a bit of familial tension here, or if he was just projecting, but it was more interesting than loitering on the swingset or something so he figured he'd keep poking at these two. "I mean, who needs safety anyway, that's all the boring stuff," He said dryly. "Wait, competitions. Like winning stuff? You mean people will actually pay you to climb stuff?" It wasn't exactly Kas's idea of a career choice, but it was a novel idea to think about.

 

[Elizabeth Fletcher]

Elizabeth folded her arms in a bit of a sassy pout. "Of course they do. There are prizes for winning of course." She spoke proudly about her father. "What does your dad do?" Doubting it could be anything cooler than her dad, after all, she held him on a pedestal.

 

[Harper Fletcher]

Harper watched the two go back and forth about climbing being a thing. He didn't think it was that cool what his dad did, but it was unique. Honestly, he was more a fan of standard jobs. No excitement, no dangers, no risk of death. Not that he feared death, but he didn't want to abandon his family like his dad. Besides, he was still trying to understand what death really meant.

"Dad worked for an outdoors magazine, writing articles about rock climbing and rock climbing events, but most of the articles were general nature stuff. That was his usual job." Harper said plainly.

 

[Kasim Safir]

Kas shrugged when Elizabeth asked about his own dad, it wasn't really something he cared much about. He knew their family mostly got their money just on account of being related to other people or something, and it was all pretty boring in his eyes. "I dunno, some business banking stuff I think, it's pretty dull," He said, shoving his hands in his pockets. He cut his eyes over to Elizabeth's brother as he spoke up, clarifying a few things. Elizabeth certainly seemed to think pretty highly of her dad, but Kas got the feeling he and her brother were a bit more on the same level when it came to their opinions on their parents. "Wait, worked? So he doesn't write anymore?" His parents had always said writing wasn't a real career anyway, so maybe their dad had quit for something a bit more lucrative.

 

[Elizabeth Fletcher]

Elizabeth knew some people that worked at a bank, she wondered if his dad did something like that. She didn't like math that much and couldn't see herself in a position where she had to do that all day. Thinking she would like a job much closer to her dad, she didn't really care to go to school. When the boy asked about her father, she immediately became quiet. If Harper wasn't there she would have instinctively lied and made up something that made it seem like he was still alive. "He.." With Harper right there, she doubted he would allow her to get away with something like that. Elizabeth's eyes drifted towards the ground and she shifted her feet.