45th Autumn 517 AV
"Speech"
"Others"
"Speech"
"Others"
The Call of the Wilderness was an impressive building, at least, that's what she thought. Hubert, a man who had delightfully been forcing her to be his acquaintance for the past few chimes, thought otherwise and told her so regularly as they both stood outside the shop trying to figure out how to get past the sudden quicksand that the city had placed there.
"Ooh, ye bugger, I said to 'im, the one inside, right. And what did 'e say back to me in return? Only that I was the one in the wrong! The bloody cheek of it. As if I'd broken the thing, when I hadn't even 'ad a chance to touch the mother-petchin' thing. It was fine when it left the shop, but ohh nooo when it got home, in a thousand pieces, and my wife was in tears."
Ssanya rolled her eyes but said nothing, letting the man's irate chatter wash over her. They'd attempted to traverse the sands a few times now, but each time the gripping, sucking sand had grabbed hold and refused to let go until they'd tugged the other out.
"So I said to 'im - you listening girly? - I said, "I'm returning it and getting my mizas back!". But 'e only ignored me, didn't 'e? So here I am, to get my mizas, and means 'ow." Hubert chanced his foot in the sand again, but it gulped alarmingly and his boot disappeared into the churning space. The Call of the Wilderness stood perfectly still, looking the picture of calm. Ssanya sighed as the elder man squealed and tugged at his foot until finally it popped free and he reeled backwards trying not to fall over.
Still, it was tricky. How was she going to get to work? Ssanya looked around, trying to see if there was an alternate way around. The shop was wedged between an ivy-infested house on one side and a brightly painted, wooden building on the other. Neither were accessible either, as the quicksand ran up to the edges of each, quite unhelpfully for both the Dhani and the occupants of the houses, who merely looked out the window and shrugged as Ionu built a perfect excuse for being late around their front doors. But Ssanya was just annoyed. Mostly because she was saddled with an irate customer that she didn't care about, and also because she just wanted to get into the building. How hard could it be? Maybe if she just ran, just... chanced it.
It was a doubtful plan. She didn't think much of it. What else then? She could climb up onto the roofs of the nearest buildings and walk across, perhaps. Or she could give up for the day, go somewhere else. Then she wouldn't get paid, or the owner would yell at her for the few specks of dust that would drift out of their aligned places. She sighed, but it was a resigned sigh rather than an angry one.
"Hubert?" The older man, who had been lost in thought or at least been wondering whether he too should turn around and give up for the day, cocked his head at the sound of his name.
She spoke quietly, though the old man could still hear her well enough. "I'm going to climb... I work there, ssso I need to get it. Could I asssk you to help me watch my ssstep?"
It was a mistake to mention she worked there, as Hubert's eyes narrowed and a frown eased into the cracks of his face and across his bushy eyebrows. Suspicion and distrust followed readily.
"You work there, do ye? It's a scam shop, miss! I don't see why I should..-"
Ssanya cut him off, aware this his tirades could last a while. "I'm only the cleaner, Hubert. I do no inssstrumentss. I have to get mizass, I.." She hesitated before the lie, but then continued. Lying would simply be easier in this current predicament, and it was very unlikely she'd ever see this man again. "I hate it there... Isss bad employer. I have to... To get mizasss for my sssisster." She smiled as best she could, hoping that the grumbly old man would concede. At the mention of family, his eyes widened again and she was glad to see his nod. "Aye, I dunn' trust you, but I'll 'elp yer, young miss. Fer y'sister if nuttin' else." She nodded in gratitude, and together they walked to the nearest accessible house, whilst she silently thanked her sister in silence, all those miles away in Ahnatep.
The building they approached was a squat little thing that was decorated gaudily with badly painted murals, but she was glad to see it had a few windows and thus windowsills for her to hold on to. Other than that though, she was suddenly doubting whether it was a good idea. The fall from the top would be painful, if she dropped. But the quicksand looked like it wasn't going to be shifting in a hurry, and she was running out of patience.
Ssanya peered through the window, trying to see if there was anyone in, but it looked empty. The house was only small, and inside it had a table and a fireplace, which meant there was a chimney somewhere on the roof. She tucked that information away in case she needed it, and then pulled herself up onto the lowest window ledge so that her feet were now stood on the ledge. She clung to the edge of the window as if she was a spider, but she felt remarkably less able that a spider and in fact felt rather more like spider's silk, blowing in the wind and liable to breaking.
"Don't break anything girly! Okay, try reaching to yer left. There's a lump of wall to hold." She wasn't sure she trusted the old man's judgement, or even his eyesight. But, she had asked for his help, and so she reached up with her fingers stretched to feel for the lump. Just like he'd said, there was a strut of the wall that poked a little way out of the surface, enough to allow her to grip hold of it. She looked about, peering her head past her body to look at the rest of the wall, because she needed to move her feet to allow her to pull her body weight up. The wall was made out of a roughly cut stone, and there were various different shapes. Some were tiny and of no use, but others were quite lumpy and she cautiously shifted her left foot to place it against one of those outcrops whilst she held on for dear life to the higher lump.
Now she was leaning across sideways, and she could feel her foot slipping. It was now, or never. She swung her other foot up and just before she slipped she had just about enough muscle power to pull her body weight up and reach... "Go fer the window ledge above!" ... She was now somehow spread across the wall, but with one hand gripping the lump and the other reaching up to the window ledge, she just about managed to hold onto it and then she was suspended rather uncomfortably.
"Almost there!" Hubert was being surprisingly helpful. She could hear a kind of youthful enthusiasm in his voice, and she suspected he'd been a bit of a miscreant in his youth, which made her smile.
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