Vertigo Helps a Friend: The Climb

Vertigo and Taiga both look up at the mountain.

Cliff would be a better word, actually.

It was so rocky, Vertigo had decided to wear shoes for once. (He usually wasn't much of a fan of constraining clothing. But when the choice was between that and roughing up his feet on some rocks, well...)
He would have brought Joy along, but they both agreed that maybe that wasn't the best place to be blind, at least not on Vert's first climb. Taiga, however, had felt fully confident, especially with its little hip wings. 

"They're not little!" Taiga complained yet again.

It was a bit of a sore spot for it -- Vertigo wasn't sure why. They were clearly very small. (Vert liked them small, big wings got in the way a lot anyways.) But whatever, it wasn't a big deal, at least for Vert, so why make a big deal out of it? "I'm sorry. I do think they're pretty, And they'll be sure to give you a helping hand!"

The little exchange had been a nice distraction, but now that they were on the topic of climbing again... well, Vert regretted their decision. Just a bit, because climbing was fun ... just maybe not here.

But they didn't have time to voice their concerns, as Taiga grabbed their hand and reached forward to the jutting stone with the other paw. (Hand? Paw? Vert wasn't sure.) He wasn't going to drag a friend down, so he only semi-reluctantly stepped forward. But as he let go of its hand and reached up for a hand-hold of his own, he felt a welcome rush of adrenaline - this is why he climbed. He reached up with his other hand, then again, higher, to a studier and bigger hold. Once he felt stable, he picked up one foot, using the point of his climbing shoe to push off of a nook in the rock. Taiga reached to the right, separating the two a bit more. It reached up again, then brought both feet up individually, before panting, "It'll be good to have a bit of space around us, so we don't need to share hand-holds." Vertigo nodded.

The sky was clear and it brought a hint of a breeze with it, causing Taiga's wings to flutter. Its tail waved in the wind happily, before it reached up again. Clouds speckled the sky, leaving streaks of shadow across the mountain face. They both continued onwards - well, upwards - finding their stride as they went. Vertigo's path must have been slightly easier, because he began to overtake Taiga, even with their equal climbing skill. Luckily, he hadn't had much of a chance to get ahead before he heard a surprised yelp, and turned his head- just soon enough to see Taiga's fingers (do paws have fingers?) slipping. Clearly the clouds were the remnant of some earlier rainstorm- but that wasn't the point right now. Even as its mind went through these different thoughts, Vertigo's hand was reaching down from its hold, grabbing onto Taiga's hand. Without checking to see if its other holds were secure, Vert pulled it up higher and closer to his path, where a larger outcropping provided a spot to stand. Taiga gasped out while reaching with its other hand, grabbing onto the ledge of the outcropping, then pulling. Vertigo let go as it strained to pull itself above him, guiding its feet to a better, closer foot-hold. Finally, it got its other paw onto the ledge, then its right forearm, then all at once it was up. 

"I did it!" Taiga said exuberantly, yet breathlessly. "I made it." It was about to relax when it saw Vertigo straining on the holds below. "Oh-"

"I'm okay, I've got it," Vertigo said unconvincingly. 

"Aw, save it, I've gotta preserve my honor too but you still caught me," replied Taiga, squatting down to grab both of his forearms and pulling him up. He got one knee under him, then the other, and then he was up.

"Thanks." He sat down, leaning against the rock face. "I think I'll take a little breather here."

"Me too."