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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 2558118" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 276: Over the Edge“Shadow, a question for you,” Jyren grunted in a strained voice as he tried to ignore the pieces of glassteel digging into his chest as he lay on the floor at the edge of the window.    “What?!” Shadow’s voice snapped back, two arm’s lengths below. The high winds outside made it somewhat hard to hear her as she hung by Jyren’s arm outside the window.    Before responding, he attempted to shift his position without losing his grip on Shadow’s wrist. Though he knew she was moved slightly by that, he was currently doing his best not to look over the edge, “Why exactly do we have to do this the hard way, again?”    There was a grunt from below, and Shadow’s grip on his arm tightened slightly, “Because there aren’t any damned birds on this moon! We still have bounties on our heads, its not a good idea to stick them out and get noticed!”    “Oh,” Jyren grumbled, shifting again as a piece of glassteel was digging into the arm that was holding Shadow, “Right, then. Just wanted to make sure I understood.”    He could feel Shadow roll her eyes. In fact, the entire damned moon probably felt it. The weight on his arm shifted as Shadow probably moved to get a better view of...of...whatever the hell it was she was trying to look for. The extra strain on his arm brought up the need to ask another question, “So um...why exactly are we only using on arm each to keep you from falling and getting us both killed and/or noticed?”    Another grunt from below and Jyren felt his arm twist around in a way that should not have been possible. He whimpered before Shadow growled up at him, “Because I can’t see a damned thing if I’m using both arms...” there was a pause, another whimper from Jyren as he felt muscles being pulled, and then Shadow added, “And you’re supposed to be bracing yourself with your other arm.”    “Ah, of course,” the words were spoken through gritted teeth as Jyren glanced over to where his left hand was literally clawing into the duracrete wall. The fact that he was still human and had no claws only made him wince. He took a deep breath and forced his eyes shut again, “I can’t hold you much longer...all that twisting around is not doing anything but causing more pain.”    “Shut up,” the words were nearly yelled, though whether that was due to the fact that a speeder had gone by fairly close or because she was angry, Jyren didn’t know.    She moved again, and his arm was wrenched around and there was a snap. The snap was then followed by a pained growl from Jyren and then a weak sounding, “My shoulder is going to pop out if you keep moving like that!”    “How do you think I’m doing this, anyway?!” it was most definitely a rhetorical question.    Jyren’s eyes widened when it made sense to him what she meant, “You dislocated your own shoulder?! Dammit, Shadow, what is it with you and self-mutilation?!”    “It was the only way I could move and see without pulling you down!” Shadow snapped back. He heard a sigh(or maybe it was just the wind), and then Shadow said, “Pull me up.”    That was far easier said than done. Humans were really not designed for this kind of strain. But somehow, and still without the Force, Jyren managed to drag her back up and onto the solid floor in the large room. When up, they both remorphed the pained and broken limbs without even thinking. A moment later they were both back up on their feet and Shadow was looking down over again.    “She had to have fallen all the way down,” Shadow said quietly, glancing over her shoulder and through wind-ravaged black hair, “There’s no way to hang onto anything on the building without claws.”    Jyren sighed and nodded, stepping over next to her to look down again, “So that’s it, then?”    Silence.    Shadow was looking down again, her eyes not seeming to be looking at anything in particular. It was her ‘I’m thinking, shut up and be patient’ expression, and Jyren had (finally) learned that it was best to just shut up and be patient instead of asking question after question until he got an answer.    After another minute, Shadow stood back and crossed her arms over her chest, “There’s a traffic lane about halfway between this level and the platform walkway below.”    Jyren bit his lip and had a look, “Still a long way down...hitting a ship or a speeder would still kill a human, wouldn’t it?”    It was not lost on either of them that it was suddenly Jyren being the skeptic. Shadow shaking her head showed that the rolls they had originally taken were at least slightly turning around, “Not necessarily.”    “What do you mean by that?”    Shadow shrugged, “She was learning to use the Force, Jyren.”    He nodded. That was a possibility...a distant one, yes, but a possibility nonetheless. After thinking about it to himself for a short few moments, Jyren looked back to Shadow, “But how do we know?”    “We don’t,” Shadow admitted. She sighed and thought about it for a moment, but stopped when she noticed Jyren was staring at her...again. Not that she minded all that much, but it was still getting at least slightly distracting, “There’s still a couple people who owe me some favors. Let’s go see if we can track them down and find out if they know anything.”    Jyren grinned, “Are they the kind of people who are likely to shoot at you when they see you?”    Shadow couldn’t help but laugh, and idly put a hand on his shoulder as she started walking back to the turbolift, “Of course.”</blockquote>

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