It was a miracle Ari got down to the grounds without needing help--and got to the Mess Tent and got back. WIN. But ladders always made Ari nervous. This one especially. It went all.. the way.. to the fifth floor--and then Ari had no idea where it came out at! Even though she had the fifth floor down--if she didn't know where she was, she'd surely need help. She audibly grumbled at the idea.

Apporaching the ladder, she moved her white cane to the other hand, gripping the side of the ladder. She pulled, then pushed, checking to see if the ladder was securely in place. Even though she couldn't see--she tilted her head up anyway. Sighing, she took a step back, thinking for a moment.

Victoria walked up to the ladder that would take her back up to the common room, she saw a girl at the bottom. "Are you ok?"

Ari had been so lost int hought, she hadn't heard the other girl approach, "eh?" Ari turned, eyebrows raised, before turning back to face the ladder, "Yeah, yeah..." She nodded slowly, before laughing quietly and awkwardly.

"...No." She smiled, turning her head back to the other girl. "Honestly? I'm afraid of heights..and I'm afraid of getting lost." she said matter-of-factly. Once again, she took one step towards the ladder, tilting her head back up, "But, yeah, I'm..I'm okay."

"I am not into heights myself" she laughed "Do you want me to go up with you?"

She gave a half-laugh, turning back to her and touching her glasses, "I'd appreciate direction once I get to the top, yeah...thanks." Ari smiled. Even though she was sure she could do it herself--she wasn't going to take the chance. "Who's goin' up first?" She offered, touching her sunglasses again.

Heights...ugh. Ari nearly visibly shuddered. true--she was blind, she couldn't see the ground--but it didn't matter! It was the feeling of gravity pulling on her--that feel of being off-balance. Ari slowly collapsed her white cane, tucking it into her grey tweed vest pocket.

"I will go first, so I can direct you at the top" She then saw Ari's white stick and realised that she was blind. Victoria started to climb up the steps.

"Awesome." Ari filled, not knowing what else to say. She listened, counting the sounds of the girl's steps. When she reached twenty-four, Ari decided that enough space was between them for Ari to start climbing.

She placed one foot on the bottom rung, before stepping down again. "Better take off my glasses," she mumbled, pulling off her sunglasses and tucking them away in her pocket. Her eyes were white--milky white. Underneath a thick veil, one could see where her eyes are supposed to be green. Taking both sides of the ladder in her hands, Ari started to climb--slowly at first, but then slightly quicker as she got used to it.

Victoria got to the top first and waited for Aris, she saw that her eyes was white but deep down you could see that they should be a vivid green. "Are you ok?"

The ladders scared Kiri. When they'd first been affixed to the castle walls, she thought someone was having a laugh. See that ladder? You'll have to climb it to get into the school. It was not, unfortunately, a joke. The mess tents were out in the Grounds, and most of the lessons were inside. And on the bad days, when she had Care of Magical Creatures or Ancient Runes, she was forced to use them even more often.

She wasn't afraid of heights. The ladders were clamped into the walls tightly, they didn't shake or anything. But they were still scary. Their end was a a series of big windows in the fifth floor. The fifth! That was several dozen metres and at least a hundred rungs up. Kiri always resolutely stared straight ahead when climbing them.

That's what she was doing today as well. The weather was worse than usual, though. It was windy, her hair was being whipped into her face steadily. It had also been raining, the ladder was slippery. She was, by her own estimate, about sixty steps up when it happened.
She wasn't quite sure what it was. But, without warning, something big, something heavy slammed into her, accompanied by high-pitched screech of surprise. It sounds like an owl, Kiri thought dimly, and then she slipped.

She only slid one or two rungs before her panicky hands, driven by adrenaline, got hold of the ladder again. Instinctively, she grabbed it as tightly as she could as her feet dangled wildly, looking for their own steps to stand on. They did.
She panted, wide-eyed in fear, clinging to the ladder. Her heart was thumping wildly in her chest. The hairs on her neck stood on end. She swallowed heavily. Trying to calm down a little, hair plastered to her sweaty face and obscuring her vision, Kiri realised one thing with complete clarity: She was not going to be able to move one bit. Her whole body had frozen up.
"Er... help?" she suggested quietly.

OOC: Basically for anyone who wants to RP a little and who feels confident they can get Kiri to start climbing again, teehee. ^.^

This was not his ideal way of getting back into the castle but he had no other option. Marcus, grabbed at a rung and then hoisted himself up. "Kiri, any other time I would help you but I'm in a bit of a hurry at the moment. I'll come back to you if I can." That was if he didn't pass out from exhaustion first as she continued to climb his way up the ladder.

William stopped, gawking at the way up to the fifth floor and back into the castle. He was stuffed from eating too much cake and quote frankly he hated climbing. Heights weren't so bad anymore, thanks to flying lessons but this looked like a mountain of steps reminding him of Everest the mountain that went on forever. How in the world was he to make it up to the top without fainting? He had to attempt it; though sleeping outside was looking mighty good right now. no he had studying to do and his stuff was up in the tower.

Blinking he walked over to the side and began doing stretches. Lifting his leg behind him in his left hand he stretched out his leg muscles, knowing they'd be hurting something fierce after this was over. Stretching was good, relaxing...yeah right! Five minutes of stretching his legs out and William was ready to go. Hmm, or maybe not he thought as he cautiously approached the ladder again looking up. grasping the first rung he could get his hand on he began climbing. It wasn't so bad for the first little bit, fun in a strange twisted way. "I'm going to hurt Mastersen for this" he muttered breathlessly to himself as he trudged up.

Halfway to go and he started to feel a sharp twisted pain in his thigh. "Oh no... leg cramp!" he moaned as he stopped, lopping his arm over the rung and closing his eyes. "Ow ow ow ow." he said in a soft voice, edging over so others could pass.

There was a debate raging in Kiri's head, and it went thus:
Suppose, a part of her said, that you were to decide to stop hanging around like a sack of corn and start moving again. You are about, oh, twenty metres up already. In one minute, two at the most, you could be up on the fifth floor. Staging a major panic attack would be much easier with solid ground beneath you.

There is solid ground beneath me now, another bit of Kiri's mind replied. That is the whole point.
Indeed there is, said the first Kiri. Which is why you should start climbing again to put more distance between you and it.
The second Kiri pointed out that she was quite safe where she was right now, and that her muscles, as they were all tensed up, agreed with her.
The first Kiri opined that this was ridiculous.

On the neighbouring ladder, Professor Lawson passed her, panting heavily. Kiri stared at him as he climbed higher and higher. The ladder swayed gently. She suddenly felt very embarrassed. The professor had simply left her on the ladder. Was she really that much of a stereotypical girl in need of rescuing? Both debating parts of her denied this loudly. The first part insisted that she should go and prove it, then.
Slowly, her right hand unclenched and released its tight hold on the ladder rung. The inside of her palm was very red, but Kiri didn't think about it much and grabbed the next rung. Her legs started moving again, sluggishly as if they had not been forced to work in years. She heaved herself upwards another two rungs, thinking to herself that if anyone asked her what she'd been doing up on this ladder for such a long time, she'd say she was part of an official wall inspection team.
She could feel her shirt clinging to her sweaty body, but she was passing a third-floor corridor window already; the end of the ladder wasn't too far off now. She tried to resist the urge to look upwards.