Group outing! Eilen hadn’t been on one of these in– actually, when was the last time? Was it bad that she was struggling this hard to recall? Man, she really needed to get moving on that whole hanging out with coworkers thing. But later! Today, Eilen was looking forward to seeing Sofila again - and apparently one of her friends.
Just keep it cool, she told herself, inhaling deep. Wear a smile, don’t do any weird stuff, and it’ll be juuust fine…
Eilen parked her swoop near the spot. From below, she looked up at the structures around bathing in artificial light. The port station’s local time was fairly early evening, and the skylights reflected it with a faintly orange hue setting into the distance. The few nearby structures that didn’t quite reach the ceilings would still have enough residual light hitting their rooftops for good visibility. All she had to do now was wait.
In the meantime, Eilen swung a leg over her swoop and got comfy, at least as one could be in bike shorts and a tank top in Ol'val’s interior climate. She withdrew her backpack and brushed aside her mess of hair, though it mostly fell back down over her eyes again. No new messages, which wasn’t necessarily a sign of bad news, much as her nerves tried to think otherwise. Her foot started bouncing on its own, and she decided it couldn’t hurt to at least send an update of her own to Sofila.
Heya, I'm here! See you soon
Port Ol’Val wasn’t Ellisyn’s first choice for a social outing. Nor was it her second or her third. As she drove her rental speeder bike to the location given to her by Sofila, all she could do was think about the variety of criminals and evildoers she was passing by. Maybe it was Sofila’s way of trying to get her back into the game when it came to doing good. Or perhaps it was just a convenient place for the Mirialan’s friend. Whatever the reasoning, she was just happy to do some socialization outside of chatting about the babysitter’s day at college.
She slowed down as she made her final approach to the rendezvous, her mind suddenly racing. What had Sofila told this friend of theirs? She wouldn’t share her nocturnal activities, would she? No. These weren’t the kinds of thoughts she could be having while trying to make a new friend. She needed an open mind and a smile.
She parked up a ways away from the meeting point and dismounted her bike, doing a couple of stretches now that she was free to use her own two legs, legs that were covered by some well-fitting sweats and topped with a tank top and open sweatshirt. It was chilly for now, but once she got moving, she knew she’d be burning up in too many layers.
The lawyer grabbed her messenger bag off of the bike and started her short walk to the meetup point, pulling out her datapad to take a quick look at an empty message box. She shrugged and slid it back into her bag, already finding herself at the exact coordinates sent to her to find not Sofila but instead, a Selonian woman lounging on a swoop bike. And she just stood there. Totally not awkward at all.
The ambience of the station obscured the approaching footsteps enough that Eilen didn’t see anyone approaching until they’d stopped. She caught the figure in the corner of her eye on a random glance up from her datapad and just about jumped at the sudden presence.
“Oh! Uh– S-sorry. Didn’t see you there, eheh.” She rubbed the back of her neck with a nervous grin. At this rate, she’d never be used to not having her old senses.
The woman standing there was actually quite large, almost as tall as herself and quite a bit thicker. Eilen’s head twitched almost imperceptibly as her eyes ran up and down, taking her in. The figure was difficult to nail beneath the jacket and sweatpants, but judging by the shape of the neck and belly, the density was muscle. Eilen tried not to stare in any way that would immediately signal her lack of charismatic tact, but the fact that the other woman was staring just as blankly didn’t help.
She finally eked out, “Um… You’re… Ellisyn?”
It was Ellisyn’s turn to fumble on her words a bit as she realized the woman sitting there waiting was in fact waiting for her. “No no, don’t apologize. I probably should’ve said hi or something. I just didn’t realize you were you.” She paused a moment before realizing she should probably confirm her own identity. “Right, yes. I’m Ellisyn. Ellisyn Kendis. It’s nice to meet you.”
Elly took a not-so-smart moment to just look Eilen over, definitely seeming like she was checking her out. It was hard for Elly to tell with how Eilen was sitting on her swoop bike, but she was pretty sure the Selonian was as tall, if not taller than her, which was rather uncommon with her stature. She was lanky too, which led Elly to believe she wasn’t much of a fighter but maybe more of an endurance athlete, which would check out since that’s the sort of thing they were gathering to do.
After a long pause, Elly made an effort to break into some sort of conversation. “Is Sofila somewhere around here?” She asked, still under the impression that she was tagging along with Eilen.
Without really thinking about it, Eilen subtly twisted as she caught Ellisyn’s eyes looking her over. Then Sofila’s name.
Eilen’s ears twitched up and down. “Uh… No, I thought… she was gonna be with you.” She lifted her datapad to look at her messages again. Nothing. Her ears flattened as her eyes shifted back to the other woman expectantly, uncertain.
“Well if she’s not with you, and she’s not with me…” she hummed to herself in thought.
She reached into her bag and pulled out her own datapad to look at it just as Eilen had. When it still read empty, she put it away and looked over to Eilen once again, catching her gaze for a moment before looking away
“I’ve got nothing… should we message her?” She asked, stumped on what to do. Without Sofila there to mediate, she didn’t know how to approach this all. Elly didn’t know the first thing about Eilen, besides the fact she was athletic like herself.
“I did a minute ago,” Eilen said. “So far–”
The ping of a new message brought her ears up. She looked down, hopeful, but then frowned. Oh no.
“…Uh… So, um…” Eilen glanced toward Ellisyn with a sheepish sink. “That was her… Sheeee had something come up. So… I guess it’s just us?”
Elly watched as Eilen inspected her datapad once again, her attention solely on the Selonian. But when she saw the frown cross Eilen’s face, her stomach dropped. This was gonna be an interesting day.
She was patient, content to let the taller woman pick her words. She was just as nervous after all and wouldn’t have been any better.
Elly offered a soft, comforting smile once Eilen finished relaying Sofila’s message. She had already made the trip and spent the credits on a rental, not to mention the amount she spent on some more presentable exercise clothes. She couldn’t back out now.
She pondered the situation a moment longer “I won’t be offended if you want to call this off” she said, offering Eilen an out. “Promise.”
Eilen’s feet bounced. The offer for an easy way out was sweet of her. “…Hmmmmmm-no no no, then we’d have come all this way for nothing, and that… would kinda suck. So…” She shrugged her shoulders high and smiled shyly. “…Screw it, let’s do it anyway! I planned out a whole course and everything, eheh.”
Elly didn’t try to hide the relieved smile that grew upon her black painted lips, a small amount of excitement lighting up behind her eyes.
“I promise I won’t disappoint” she assured, doing her best to push down the worry growing in her chest. “I’m excited to see what you’ve planned. And even more excited to see what you can do”
She crossed the gap between them, feeling a little awkward about being too far while talking. But now that she was within just a couple feet of Eilen she felt even more anxious.
That last sentence was probably meant in a different way than the image that immediately appeared in Eilen’s head. She shook the thought out quickly. “Right! Yeah. So!” Her datapad went back into her backpack, and she pushed off her swoop. After sticking a leg out for a quick stretch, she pointed up at the building behind her.
“This… is Bright Solutions. Small tech company, usually pretty lax - lax enough, in fact, that they don’t seem to take notice to people climbing their walls. And the best part: Their rooftop doesn’t quite reach the plaza ceiling.” Eilen’s pointing hand shifted upward. “Which makes it super great for climbing! And from there… I’ve got us an awesome parkour route.” A smug smile settled into her face for a moment, though it shifted back to her prior mix of nerves and excitement. “Sooo… yeah! Eheh, heh…” She cleared her throat. “I was, uh… hoping to do sort of a, um… competition type of… thing, with it, since Sofila was interested and all, but… I mean– I assume you are too, since you, like, came and– well, we can do that, or, if you don’t wanna do that without her, we can just… you know, run the route. Your choice.”
Elly watched as Eilen pushed off her bike and stood to her full height. The first thing Elly took notice of was that she was, in fact, taller, something she could definitely appreciate. So she looked at her and listened, having to tilt her head the slightest amount.
The lawyer was silent, content to listen to her muse about her plans, happy to hear some confidence from her. She followed where Eilen was pointing, looking up the wall and to the building’s rooftop. Quite a start, indeed. Already, she started to get a rough idea on where to grab.
Once the explanation of the building was over, Elly turned her head to look back at the taller woman, her smile growing ever wider as she listened to Eilen trip on her words. Some Butterflies fluttered in her stomach, ones that she worked to quickly shoo away.
“I’d love to compete,” she said, cocking her hip out and placing a hand upon it. “If you really think you can keep up.”
Oh, a challenge in turn? Eilen couldn’t help but smile with excitement. “Maybe I can,” she said slowly, almost slyly. Her eyes darted down and back up, twice. “You, uh, might want to take off your jacket, though.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she had to resist the urge to slap herself and quickly added, “UH– You know, because– gets in the way, and you’d have to carry it if you brought it up, eheh, heh… Not trying to, uh, tell you you can’t wear it if you want to, though, just– might be a hindrance, or actually I could probably just put it in my bag if you want to keep it now but drop it later or…” She waved a dismissive hand at herself. “I’m rambling, I do that, shutting up now. That way?” Her hand quickly pointed toward the base of the building, between it and the next over.
Elly went from being satisfied with the sly comment to a blushing mess as she realized what Eilen may or may not be insinuating. Eilen was so difficult for her to read that she couldn’t tell if she was backtracking an advance or if it was truly an accident.
She smiled and anxiously giggled before removing her jacket as requested, now in just her tank top with her robust arms on full display. She offered the jacket to Eilen, not only because she was right but to also try and reassure her.
“Don’t shut up, you’re right. It’ll just get in the way.”
Eilen’s ears lifted. “Oh, uh, sure! Yeah. Eheh…” She’d definitely called it - those were some muscles. It took a moment to realize she was staring at Ellisyn’s whole upper body instead of taking the jacket. It was way too soon to have her thoughts start trailing off.
She grabbed the jacket and quickly rolled it up to fit in her bag, trying to keep things moving. “Okay! Race to the top, yeah? We can start right over here!” Her arm extended as it had before, and she walked around her swoop to approach the wall.
Ellisyn’s heart lifted right alongside Eilen’s ears. She hadn’t even realized that it had sunk after seeing Eilen admonish herself for her rambling. The silver blush on her cheeks only grew stronger as she stood there, her arm outstretched and her jacket waiting. She didn’t have to wonder anymore about whether or not the Selonian was checking her out. She was quite positive now.
She let out a relieved breath when Eilen finally took her jacket, her composure finally breaking and forcing her to turn away. Thankfully, by then, her companion had already started her journey to the building.
Elly silently followed, not saying anything until they had both stopped in front of it. She took a deep breath and bounced on the balls of her feet a couple times to hype herself up and force herself out of her embarrassed, quiet mindset. “I hope you’re ready to lose,” she taunted
Eilen briefly huffed when she had a moment facing the other way. She turns SILVER. The word ‘firrerreo’ finally clicked. The red in her hair was natural, not a dye. Buh, focus!
Her mind finally did settle when she looked up the wall, its never-ending racing pace finally able to focus on something - grip points, distances. The taunt sent another flicker through her ears and tail, and she turned back with a growing competitive grin. “I hope you’re ready to–” She almost said eat it. “–lose.” Impeccable.
Well, if she couldn’t win with words, perhaps she could still win with raw athleticism. Here went something.
Elly looked to Eilen one last time. She was ready to do something alright. She stretched one last time before opening her mouth to speak, “On three. One. Two.” Her whole body tensed. “Three!” She shouted, immediately throwing herself at the wall.
She let everything around her slowly fade away as she focused on scaling the building. She looked to her side and saw Eilen easily keeping pace and decided to take a few more risks than was probably healthy.
A few times when there wasn’t an easy thing to grab, she’d launch herself up with all her might and grab something far out of reach. Though, she only did that a few times before almost missing a foothold and plummeting to an untimely death. But the rush she got from it… it was hard for her to resist, but she managed.
She didn’t dare risk another peek at her companion’s progress, focusing more on her own. She knew she could win. She had to win. Her muscles began to burn as she neared the top, but they thankfully didn’t give up on her, and she was able to safely pull herself onto the rooftop.
She jumped up to her feet. “Fuck yeah…” She silently commented to herself. She was no stranger to climbing buildings; she did it quite a lot, actually, but something was different this time. The thrill of competition, of having a challenger. It was addicting.
After a moment of satisfying feelings, she walked over to the edge to peek down at her fellow parkourist, eager to see their progress.
For every jump, scramble, and hoist Eilen made up the wall, her hefty competitor was getting a little further. Instinctively, she reached within for the sort of supernatural nudge she might have once given herself in desperate moments, but nothing came forth. Right. She felt dumb for even feeling the urge.
That initial workout burn was running the length of her arms by the time her hand reached the top, and at that point, Ellisyn was already vaulting herself over. Eilen let out her breath and just hung in place for a moment, until she looked up to see the victor looking down at her. She smiled sheepishly through the tangled hair over her face.
“Congrats. Pull me up?” Not that she couldn’t pull herself up, of course. Just a curiosity.
Elly offered Eilen a toothy grin, her sharp teeth on full display, “You almost had me,” she chuckled and offered her hand to Eilen. Once their hands were joined, Elly hoisted her up onto the rooftop. She was used to lifting up smaller beings and would usually hoist them up higher, but since Eilen was even taller than the Firrerreo, she ended up pulling her in a bit too close.
Man, she was strong. Eilen helped leverage herself with her feet, only to wind up skittering over the top to just an inch from Ellisyn’s face. “Oh– um… eheheh, s-sorry.” Her eyes darted down to the neckline of her tank top and back up before she could consciously stop them. A small, nervous grin was all she managed. She really needed to stop doing that. “Th-thanks.”
Elly did her best to steady the larger woman, her breath hitching in her chest when she was suddenly met with Eilen’s face just an inch from her own. Ellisyn’s mind scrambled to think of anything to say in response to her apology, but all it could come up with was a shaky breath.
Her silver blush returned as she watched Eilen’s eyes drift down once again. “You’re welcome…” she half whispered, goosebumps appearing on her skin as she shared the pair shared the same air. She hadn’t even realized she was still holding Eilen’s hand, too lost in the moment.
The station didn’t feel so cold right about then. “…SO,” Eilen said too loudly, halting her coming train of thought before it started. She couldn’t wipe the dumb smile off her face, but she clasped her hands close and sidestepped past Ellisyn. “Still– still got more of a course to, uh, run, eheh… Yeah.”
Eilen’s loud exclamation was enough to rouse Elly from her clouded mind. She felt Eilen’s hand slide out of her own, her flesh suddenly feeling cold as she turned in time with the Selonian’s step, making sure to keep her eyes on Eilen. She sported a tender smile as she admired how Eilen stumbled through her sentence.
She bit the inside of her cheek rather hard to further break herself out of her stupor, shaking her head slightly. “Right. The course. Running. Where uh… where to next?”
Eilen cleared her throat and took a deep breath. After running both hands through her hair, she outstretched her arms and pointed her clasped fingers to the far edge of the rooftop. “So… The next few buildings have barely a gap between them, and the roofs are, eh… pretty level. But you can see from here, they’re, uh.. Well, lots of little obstacles.” Her hands pointed more individually. “Vents, pipes, that pillar– pretty sure that’s a maintenance turbolift, actually. But yeah! It’s a good run.”
She propped her hands onto her hips and stretched her elbows forward, then glanced back to Ellisyn with a smile. “I bet I can run it faster than you.”
Elly just stood there and admired her companion for a few moments as she spoke, listening to every word and looking out towards the obstacles she named. Already she was planning another route in her head.
She crossed her arms and smiled back “What are we betting?” She asked, taking Eilen’s words literally
Eilen’s brow raised. “Huh? Oh! I– I didn’t mean, uh, actually… you know, betting something for real.” She sat with the thought a moment. “…Did you have an idea? ‘Cause, I don’t even know what I’d bet, eheh.”
Elly kept one arm crossed, holding her elbow with one hand while the other held her chin in thought “Hmmm… how about… the loser has to buy the winner a drink after we’re done” Elly smiled. She was just trying to think of something on the spot and essentially invited Eilen out for drinks on accident.
“…That works!” Eilen said with a little hop. She shook her hands and kicked her feet a bit, loosening up, then lowered onto her forelimbs to a runner’s starting stance. “Well, ready when you are!”
Elly smiled and joined Eilen in stretching and loosening up her limbs, getting ready to run right beside her
“Three… two… one… Go!”
Eilen tore off on all fours, immediately gaining distance. Across the roof, over the first gap, between the shafts, she hastily weaved through her makeshift obstacle course with natural agility. Physiologically, she had the advantage. It was a shame, then, that she’d spent her life growing accustomed to the added benefit of a potent sixth sense to tell her exactly when anything and everything was coming, because learning to live without that was still proving to be a problem, particularly in that moment when she twisted from a narrow path beneath some coolant tubes up over an adjacent heat vent, where the ground where she expected to land was actually five feet lower. An embarrassing noise escaped her as she flailed to stabilize, counterbalance, and catch herself in the air, to little avail. She hit the lowered floor with a graceless roll.
Not a second later, she heard footfalls nearby as Ellisyn stuck the landing and ran ahead. Eilen scrambled back to her feet and stumbled once before returning to pace, but it was too late. The last jump to the finishing rooftop was too close for her to catch up in time.
The moment Eilen said go, Elly was off. She was taken slightly off guard by Eilen’s stance, dashing forward on all fours at a pace it would be difficult to keep up with. She was a Selonian, after all.
But Elly didn’t let the disadvantage hold her back. She jumped across rooftops almost every night for years, this was her element, and she wasn’t about to lose.
She watched as Eilen took an alternative route, able to slip under and over things easier with her lanky form. Whereas Elly had to vault and kick off of small walls to traverse the obstacles.
She barely heard a small little noise, one she quickly pushed away after Eilen joined her for the final stretch, somehow slightly behind her. With a loud growl, Elly put one last burst of power into her legs and jumped from one building to the next, just barely landing on the finish line building first.
She tumbled into a controlled roll, springing out of it to her feet with a smile, an elated giggle echoing from her chest.
She quickly turned to Eilen. “Guess you’re buying drinks!” She smiled brightly
As her hands and feet touched down on the last rooftop behind Ellisyn, Eilen let her limbs collapse her into a sideways roll, scattering her momentum. She ended on her back, staring up and panting lightly. “…Welllll crap.”
On the other hand, she had an excuse to buy a drink for a really attractive and busty woman that could outmatch her athleticism and probably carry her with ease and wouldn’t even make her crane her neck to chat. She didn’t feel the need to complain.
Speaking of drinks, Eilen caught her breath with one deep inhale, then asked, “Aitha or Csaplar?” From where she lay, she smiled slyly. “Didn’t say what kind. Those are your options. Choose wisely.”
The moment Eilen touched down and began to roll, Elly was jogging over to be by her side. The moment she lay flat on the ground, Elly crouched down beside her head, looking down at her with a big ol’ smile.
She stayed there a moment, her chest heaving as her body tried to recover. Sweat glistened off her warm bronze skin despite the chilly air surrounding the pair. She locked eyes with Eilen, a skylight displaying the galaxy behind her head.
“Aitha.” She smirked, “Because why get a dessert when I’ve got a treat right here?” She motioned to the splayed out woman before her.
It took a moment for the comment to set in, but the instant it clicked couldn’t have been mistaken. Eilen’s face went wide-eyed and blank, her ears shot up, and she quickly covered her head with her hands as the rest of her body closed in and seemed to shrink. A barely audible noise was uttered into her palms, and then one hand shifted for her to bite her middle fingertip. A furious blush was building under her fur, even if it wasn’t visible. She finally muttered as she stared up through the gaps between her fingers, “Guess I walked into that one.”
Elly stayed in place, content to be crouched down next to Eilen as the woman contorted and curled. She smiled, her eyes twinkling like the stars behind her.
Slowly, though, she realized what she had just said. She had only met this woman today, and she worried she was moving way too fast. The last time she started to flirt like this, she ended up dating a guy who put a bun in her oven and left her.
But something about how Eilen covered her face and bit her finger made Elly feel safer in this whole situation. The taller woman wasn’t boxing her in and getting physical, nor was she making any attempt to take advantage of Elly’s sudden confidence. So she fought through the raging blush that burned across her cheeks and just kept smiling
“You did,” she confirmed, unsure of where to go from there. She didn’t care if Eilen responded or not. She was too busy enjoying this moment away from her feelings and worries.
Thoughts were definitely racing. Hasty was an understatement, but still. All the more reason to complete this route! Eilen slapped her palms onto the roof at either side of her. “Let’s keep this ball rolling! Gotta, well, buy you that drink eventually, eheh.” She lifted her hands straight up, hoping for a pick-up.
As Elly’s confident high slowly tapered off, she felt her fluttering nerves come back along with a guilty conscience. They were here to have fun and compete, not flirt. For all Elly knew, she was making Eilen wildly uncomfortable, and she was just playing it all off.
She still managed a smirk, though, as an idea crossed her mind. She stood on up and stepped over Eilen, one foot on either side of her, and grabbed her hips. Once she had a firm grip, Elly hoisted Eilen up to her feet with ease. She stood there for half a moment with her hands still on Eilen’s hips before she quickly released her and turned away, choosing to look off into the distance and clear her head for a moment
Well, that was the most fun Eilen had ever had getting pulled to her feet - at least, in a relatively public place. A new little spike of adrenaline and giddy surprise left a dumb grin on her face even after she was released. She took a quick chance to fan herself while Ellisyn was facing away, then snapped back into form.
“So, uh… next challenge, right?” Eilen hopped back a pace, then gestured over the side of the rooftop. “Not another race, this time. Just, uh… a matter of athletics!” The next building over wasn’t terribly far, but there was a drop to the roof. Eilen turned to face it and pointed down, where a design like stripes ran across the way. “See those padded strips all along the top? They’re coverage for a ton of cables. But the covers are secure and safe! You can step all over them, no trouble.” Her hands clasped behind her back. “The strips make a pretty good measuring tool. Wanna see who can make it further from here?”
Elly stayed in place for a few moments, looking out in the distance in silence. She was deep in her thoughts, wondering how she should continue here. Eilen was just so damn hard to read.
Elly turned around and walked back to Eilen, looking to what she was pointing out. She took note of the lines and the distance between the buildings as well. It would be an easy jump but she was sure Eilen would have an easier time being able to leverage her whole body and a bit more aerodynamically shaped. She turned to look to Eilen with a tight lipped, almost anxious smile. Her attitude had changed quite drastically and rather quickly as well.
“Its a challenge” she said, her words lacking their previous mirth. Though she still couldn’t help but let her eyes linger on Eilen’s for a beat too long. “At the same time or one after the other?”
“One after the other,” Eilen clarified. “Running start’s allowed, of course… So… Yeah! Who’s going first?”
“Well, since I won the last one, wanna go first for this one?”
“Um…” Eilen’s ears flicked. “…Sure! …Ho boy, okay.”
She looked over the edge again, then backed off to the other side of the current roof. Just as she was getting into a running start, she realized: She was gonna tumble when she landed. Good thing she had a witness.
“Hey! Remember the landing spot for me, okay?”
With that, she got onto all fours, reared up, and charged. One little jump onto the rim of the roof, and she kicked off. Her hair flew off her face as the air caught her fur. Downward her body arced in tandem with her momentum, until her outstretched arms hit the roof and buckled with a tuck of her head. Feet carried forward into a roll, and she sprang off her back from the momentum, carrying her an extra few steps from where she’d landed before she wore down the inertia. Eilen turned back toward the higher roof and Ellisyn looking over the side and leapt with her arms held high.
“Tadaa! Which one was it?”
A silent chuckle and smile were what made up Elly’s response to Eilen’s words. She took a couple steps back to give the other woman some space. In the other competitions she didn’t get to see Eilen’s form or what it looked like when she ran and moved. She was admittedly pretty excited. “Sure!” She shouted in response, assuring her that she’d keep track of it.
Elly watched as Eilen got onto all fours and she couldn’t help but tilt her head slightly. Of the few Selonians she had met, none had been especially athletic so it was intriguing to see how she did it.
When Eilen landed upon the other building, Elly made sure to immediately point to where she landed “Right there!” She shouted over “Ready for me to go!?
Eilen scooted up and put a foot next to her mark, then called up, “Yeah, go for it!” She stuck a thumbs-up her way.
“See you in a second!” She shouted down. Not wanting to keep Eilen waiting, she jogged over to the edge of the building and quickly got into a running pose. “Here goes nothing” she mumbled to herself before taking off forward.
She didn’t have fur but when she took the leap and was soaring through the air, her black and red mane flowed behind her, looking nice and soft like usual. Like Eilen, she had to go into a tumble roll in order to not break a couple limbs. But she miscalculated just a bit. Usually she was in her armor when she pulled stunts like this so she went a bit further than expected and skidded on the ground because of it.
Eilen visibly cringed at the sound of scraping across the ground. Her ears fell flat as she rushed over. “Are you okay?!” she asked hurriedly.
Elly groaned and rolled onto her chest, wincing as she did. But it didn’t take long for her to pick herself up and sit back on her knees “Yeah I’m fine… just had the wind knocked out of me is all.”
She was more embarrassed than anything else. She was supposed to be good at this. She was too engrossed in blushing to realize she had a couple of small cuts on her bicep that were bleeding just a bit.
The question, ‘Are you sure?’ was on the tip of Eilen’s tongue, but an echo in the back of her mind stopped her. Instead, she pulled off her backpack and fished out a small bacta bottle, which she offered.
“I, uh, packed this… just in case… Should help with those spots on your arm.” Eilen clasped her hands sheepishly.
“Ah don’t worry about it” she waved her off and sighed. “Just give it a minute and they’ll be gone.”
Elly couldn’t bring herself to look at Eilen just yet, rather humiliated at the whole situation. But true to Elly’s words, the cuts on her arm were already almost all closed and healed. One of the many perks of being a Firrerreo.
She looked up at Eilen with a smile and pain in her eyes “Thank you though.”
Sure enough, the wounds were closing. Eilen’s ears flicked back in surprise. “…Oh… Wow… Huh.” Talk about resilience. She fumbled with the silence for a moment. “…Well, uh… d-despite the rough landing, um… that was a good jump.”
“Was it?” She asked, doubt in her voice. She stood on up, looking completely fine on the outside. She looked up at the ceiling and took a large breath in and out “Did I at least win?”
Eilen’s mouth stretched crookedly to suck air. “Nnnnnnot really…” Her mind raced for something positive to say. “…But hey, you still looked good doing it! Eheh, heh…”
She wanted to say something but bit her tongue instead. She had gone through enough embarrassing situations and panic attacks to have developed a coping skill or two. She she just looked up for a few more moments, naming off things she saw, before letting out a long breath.
“A shame I only look good when jumping off a building” She commented, turning to face Eilen again. Maybe some humor would help
It took a second of staring blankly to click. “Oh– you’re joking, eheh, heh.” Eilen’s fingers started fidgeting together instinctively at how dumb she felt to annunciate that. “I mean– right, yeah, of course you’re joking, I know that– why did I call it out, right? Because that– that totally ruins the joke, and all, to do that. Eheh, right, yeah, um– I’m gonna shut up again.”
Truly, Eilen was a wordsmith.
And now she just felt worse. Elly sighed and tilted her head up just enough to look Eilen in the eyes “Am I making you uncomfortable? You’ve been stumbling on your words a lot and I’m worried you’re just forcing yourself through this.”
Eilen’s ears shot out in alarm. “What– no! No no no no no, I– I’m– that’s not– words–” She groaned at herself and hit her forehead. Of course she’d do this to herself again. “Sorry, it’s– I– words are a problem. I’m bad at words.” Deep breath. Internal rhetoric. “…Especially… when… I am rushing them. And nervous. Because I– I… I really… really want to get it right– them right. Right.” Her cheeks puffed with a hard exhale, glancing off. With deliberate effort to articulate herself, Eilen gently crossed her hands onto her heart and smiled shyly to say, “I am having a wonderful time. Promise.”
When Eilen’s ears went up, Elly started to get worried. When she hit herself in the head she started to get really worried. She listened carefully and closely, doing her best to come off as understanding and show that she was paying attention.
“Don’t apologize. Some people have a hard time with how fast their minds go, my mom is the same way sometimes when she’s excited and having fun. It makes me really happy that you’re having a wonderful time” she assured her, a bit of the caring mom voice coming out “You’re getting it right, I promise.”
The last note brought a positive note back into Eilen’s expression. “…Okay… Good.” After a pause, she breathed in sharply, then added in barely more than a mumble, “Because… I really wanna buy you that drink after this.”
Dinner? That was more than just a drink. That was a date! Eilen twiddled her fingers excitedly, then turned around, as if to examine the next part of the course, to whisper to herself a quick, excited, “Yess…”
There was more to go, though. Eilen quickly pointed ahead. “Keeping it moving, then - for my next trick, I challenge you to… a balancing act!” In front of her, a dense, taut spiral of cables ran over the street toward another rooftop. Her head turned back with a smile that was as excited as it was nervous. “This one’s actually kinda dangerous, eheh… We can skip it, if you want.”
She watched Eilen fidget with her hands a bit before turning, smiling at her from behind. She hoped to heck that was a good reaction and not a nervous one. She was flying by the seat of her pants as they say, and she was going to put in her all.
“Balancing?” Elly seemd slightly nervous. She was great at running over things like this but if she had to slowly walk across it she wasn’t so sure. “I uh…” She was about to say no but when she saw the smile on Eilen’s face she didn’t know what came over her “It looks like fun, let’s do it.” She said against her better judgement
“Okay! All you gotta do is make it across.” No need to be extra crazy with this one, Eilen figured. “I feel better going faster, but no rush, eheh. Good luck!”
She rubbed her hands together, leaned back one foot, and then gave herself a short headstart to jump onto the wire. Her pace wasn’t racing by any means, but once she took her first step onto the wire, she didn’t slow down. One foot before the other with arms outstretched, Eilen carefully balanced her trek over the street, the wire pulled down just a bit beneath her. She nearly leaned too far in one direction near the end, but made it across without any real trouble.
Eilen hopped off the wire on the far side with a spin to face back. She offered a wave and a wide gesture to come along.
“Yep! All I’ve gotta do!” She parroted back. She had a feeling this wasn’t going to be too enjoyable. But she had a cute girl to impress, so logic wasn’t really an option.
She mirrored Eilen’s start and backed up a few paces before jumping to her potential doom. She landed on the wire pretty easily but now came the difficult part. She tried her hand at a faster pace but after wobbling quite badly a couple times she was content at a more moderate pace.
From afar it was very obvious she was nervous and not having too much fun in that moment but she persevered, getting to the other side and very happily getting off at the other building.
She took a healthy step away from the edge and nervously smiled “Easy stuff.” She chuckled anxiously
Eilen jumped a bit herself when Ellisyn hopped back to safety. “Hell yeah, that was great!” She exhaled sharply, maintaining a smile. “And, uh… s-sorry if it spooked ya, eheh.”
“Oh don’t be silly” she waved Eilen off, wanting to preserve the smile on her face “Thank you though,”
She took a moment to calm herself, facing away from Eilen and taking a couple deep breaths to stave off the panic. She could do this.
She turned back around and took a step closer to Eilen. She wasn’t exactly in her bubble but she wasnt really out of it. Right on that line.
Eilen’s head tilted at her behavior. Her fingers fidgeted together. “Are you sure? ‘Cause, you know, I– I won’t be upset, or anything…”
“Okay maybe it was a little nerve-wracking but” she motioned to herself the breathing exercises had certainly helped seeing as her hands were no longer shaking and all that fun stuff. “I’m perfectly okay”
An understandable response, Eilen figured. She rocked gently on her feet and nodded. “…Well… good!” A larger breath than she expected let out of her. “It’s… it’s nice to get that kind of honesty.” She subtly bit her lip and folded her fidgeting hands behind her back. “…Wanna hear a secret?”
“I try to be as honest as I can,” she said, cringing a little inside. Even she could see the irony in that statement seeing as she lies about what she does to literally everyone she meets.
“I would love to hear a secret” she smiled
After a moment of idly bouncing one of her feet, Eilen answered quietly, “I’m always scared of this stuff. That’s why it’s so fun.”
Elly waited through the moment, happy to have an excuse to just look at Eilen. She had to suppress an astonished look, Eilen’s admission was certainly a surprise.
A smirk flashed across Elly’s lips as an idea sprung forward. She took another step closer, barely half a foot away now, almost within whispering distance. She subtly bit her lip and spouted out the excuse “I couldn’t hear you…” in a hushed tone
Eilen’s head turned slightly away just to eye her back with a sly, knowing grin. “You totally did. You’ve got good ears.” Her foot bounced faster.
“I definitely did” she admitted, flashing Eilen a smirk. “I think your foot is ready for the next competition” she chuckled softly, not looking away and hoping to whatever deity might exist that she brushed her teeth enough that morning
More like all of her was ready for the rest of this course. Or maybe it was more about the things she hoped might come after. Both were good motivators.
“Last one,” Eilen said lightly before spinning around. Her mind was racing - it took far too much effort to focus her attention on the actual challenge ahead and not preemptive fantasizing. With a deep, steeling breath, she walked up to the edge and pointed over, where the structure they were on slanted down sharply toward the ground. “This is it! It’s just… just steep enough that you can slide right down it, and then drop onto the ground just fine. But who wants to just hit the ground and call it a day, right? Eheh…” She clapped her hands together. “So… let’s try to make it a trick landing! What do you think?”
Elly hated when she turned around but was more than alright to watch her walk away. She listened closely to Eilen’s words, only a little distracted. Her eyes darted up the moment Eilen turned around, a silver blush on her cheeks as worry about being caught spread through her mind.
“I uh… is a three point landing too basic?” She asked. As much as she was embarrassed to admit, she quite often did three point landings when jumping into the middle of a group of evildoers.
“You mean like a superhero landing?!” Eilen’s ears lifted with excitement. “I mean– if you can stick it, that’s awesome! I’d break a knee trying something like that!”
Elly smirked and rubbed her hands together. She had this one in the bag. And even better it seemed like Eilen didn’t notice her staring.
“That’s exactly what I mean. Can’t wait to see what you do though.”
Even for an abstract style competition, Eilen would have to do something pretty cool to top that. “Do you wanna go first, or should I?”
“Why not at the same time?” Elly asked, trying to calculate whether or not she could fit a flip or two unto her jump
A tempting thought. “I mean– we could… but then we couldn’t see each other do our thing,” Eilen figured.
“…Good point” Elly chuckled, putting a hand on the back of her own head and smiling “You go ahead and go first.”
Eilen breathed deep, shook her hands, and stretched her feet. “…Hokay… Here goes something!” She didn’t know what she was going to do, but she leapt right to it.
Her feet hoisted over the edge and hit the slant sliding. About three seconds stood between her and doing something really impressive. No Force-boosted trickery for this one. Two seconds. Flips were pretty slick, but a bad landing meant a bad ankle. One second. Spinning? Surely she could manage a little more than that. Her feet reached the edge and sprung.
Eilen leaned as she kicked off, letting her body fall to her right and roll horizontally through the air. Centrifugal force kept her body level as she spun. Momentum achieved, and now for the ground. Her arms and legs extended, catching air to slow down and waiting to buckle into a roll on contact. The left-side limbs hit first, pushing her right onto her back as she transferred her inertia. When the right limbs hit, she twisted to spring herself upright. A foot shot back to catch herself, and it was finished. Eilen threw her hands into the air victoriously as a few pedestrians gave passing glances toward the sudden furball from above.
“Tadaa!” she called up.
“you’ve got this,” Elly said, offering some words of encouragement. She watched in awe as Eilen bravely jumped off the edge of the building. For someone who was scared of this sort of stuff, she sure was enthusiastic about it, and Elly could definitely appreciate that.
She was impressed by Eilen’s spin in the air and even more so by the way she sprung up into the air. “WOOOO!” She shouted from up above, “Great job! Now watch this!”
Elly took a couple steps back before running forward and jumping off the building. Eilen might’ve been taller, but Elly was definitely heavier as she sped down the slope. She took in a couple of quick breaths to hype herself up. Eilen said she’d be impressed, and she wasn’t about to disappoint.
She kicked off the edge just as Eilen had done, but instead of spinning, she flipped forward, managing two full spins before positioning her body to land in the correct pose. She braced herself and kept herself limber as to not break every bone in her body.
And then she landed, hitting the pose perfectly and slightly fracturing her ankle in the process. A pained look took its place on her face, the snapping sound covered up by the sounds of the city. Slowly, she stood up and looked over to Eilen, forcing a smile onto her face. “How was that?” She asked
Eilen winced and covered her mouth at the impactful landing, though she grew a lot less concerned as Ellisyn stood. “Hot,” she blurted without thinking. “Er– I, uh– hm, wow, yeah, uh… Wow. You did it! With flips and– and gusto, and– kriff, are you okay after that?”
Elly couldn’t stop the blush that spread across her cheeks, all the way to her ears. Talk about being forward.
“I’m in a bit of pain” she answered, continuing her truthful streak “But I’ll heal.” With a small limp, she walked over to Eilen and once she was a couple feet away she smirked “You looked pretty good yourself.”
The panic running through Eilen’s mind after that mild outburst eased a bit at the return compliment. Words didn’t really come to her, just a dumb, nervous laugh.
Wait. She was limping. Eilen’s ears turned forward, alert, as she glanced down to Ellisyn’s leg. “…Oh. Oh, crap, uh…” She bit her lip anxiously. She’d encouraged this. One panic replaced another. “…I can go get my speeder for you to sit on,” she said quickly.
Elly shook her head “Give it a couple hours and it’ll be all healed up.” One of the benefits of a healing factor meant she could be much more reckless. Her legs were usually the part of her to break while she was out at night.
“But I could use a hand walking around,” she said. She wanted an excuse to embrace Eilen for a while now and this was as good of an excuse to as any.
“For real?” It was less inquisitive and more of a flitting mix between concern and relief. Still, Eilen didn’t hesitate to get under Ellisyn’s arm for support. “Right, yeah. For sure. We didn’t go too far, really,” she assured. “My Flare-S is just a block-and-a-half from here.” Not that Ol'val’s cavernous construction really aligned with standard city structure, but the intended meaning would surely click.
The raw weight was nearly oppressive when first pushing up against it. Hopefully what little might Eilen had would be good enough to help - even though she had put on some muscle these last months, she was still a far cry from muscular and a lightweight at best for her height.
Elly made sure to not put too much weight onto Eilen, not wanting to pull her down too much. Especially since Eilen was taller and needed to bend down a bit.
“Then let’s get going. You do owe me a drink after all.” Elly smirked
Under her breath, Eilen whispered a victorious, “Yess.” It put a little more pep in her step as they walked back.