Sounsyy smirked ruefully when Ryanti told her he trusted her. She took extra lengths of the rope in her hands to give some slack between the window frame and her body while she waited for the man to start his perilous journey around the ring.
"Yer a bit of a fool then," Sounsyy said with a half-laugh, "But I won't drop yeh."
She touched her toes to the base of the wall beneath the windowsill and sat back onto her bottom, bringing her knees up into her chest so that she sat almost in fetal at the foot of the window so that any sudden weight upon the rope would jerk her forwards into the wall instead of catapulting her through the open window after her partner. Though Sounsyy had no fear of heights, falling to her death was not on her approved list of ways to die.
That, and truthfully the sight of Ryanti disappearing into the dark shaft made her nervous. Being alone in the dark was certainly one of her fears, and though much of her physical discomfort from the previous encounter had subsided, she still felt ill at ease being alone in the corridor with some bloody, Allagan specter - real or no.
"So," she said quietly so as not to startle him off the edge, "When yer not 'seventy-seven', er, before or after this is over, yeh have a normal life that yeh go back to? Do yeh work or have someone waitin' at home fer yeh?"
It seemed like an oddly personal question, even to Sounsyy as she uttered it, but she was curious and Ryanti seemed like the type to not take offense to it. Sounsyy had often wondered how so many others she knew could revert and assimilate back into a seemingly normal life and routine, be at peace, be happy. She had only rarely felt such assurances, the memories weighing back in the night or thinking she heard the clip of Garlean jackboots during the day. Often she'd find her hair on end where she'd duck into an alley to evade the ghost of something that wasn't there, like what she had seen in the hallway, only that was more tangible and real.
She waited while he mulled over his reply, only lifting her head up slightly over the window's base to see mostly darkness on the other side, penetrated only by Ryanti's small torchlight. It was hard to see from her angle but he didn't appear to have gone too far.
"Yeh there yet or...?"
"Yer a bit of a fool then," Sounsyy said with a half-laugh, "But I won't drop yeh."
She touched her toes to the base of the wall beneath the windowsill and sat back onto her bottom, bringing her knees up into her chest so that she sat almost in fetal at the foot of the window so that any sudden weight upon the rope would jerk her forwards into the wall instead of catapulting her through the open window after her partner. Though Sounsyy had no fear of heights, falling to her death was not on her approved list of ways to die.
That, and truthfully the sight of Ryanti disappearing into the dark shaft made her nervous. Being alone in the dark was certainly one of her fears, and though much of her physical discomfort from the previous encounter had subsided, she still felt ill at ease being alone in the corridor with some bloody, Allagan specter - real or no.
"So," she said quietly so as not to startle him off the edge, "When yer not 'seventy-seven', er, before or after this is over, yeh have a normal life that yeh go back to? Do yeh work or have someone waitin' at home fer yeh?"
It seemed like an oddly personal question, even to Sounsyy as she uttered it, but she was curious and Ryanti seemed like the type to not take offense to it. Sounsyy had often wondered how so many others she knew could revert and assimilate back into a seemingly normal life and routine, be at peace, be happy. She had only rarely felt such assurances, the memories weighing back in the night or thinking she heard the clip of Garlean jackboots during the day. Often she'd find her hair on end where she'd duck into an alley to evade the ghost of something that wasn't there, like what she had seen in the hallway, only that was more tangible and real.
She waited while he mulled over his reply, only lifting her head up slightly over the window's base to see mostly darkness on the other side, penetrated only by Ryanti's small torchlight. It was hard to see from her angle but he didn't appear to have gone too far.
"Yeh there yet or...?"