(no subject)
The weather here at the cliffs is never good, but it is especially bad today. Thick clouds hang overhead with rain falling, and the threat of it getting heavier. Waves crashing at the base of the cliff add to the noise, not to mention the wind blowing. Through all of this, Toxin is standing close to the edge, a pile of climbing gear at her feet. She's currently fixing her own harness around her body, checking the straps to make sure everything is secure.
Without his hat, and his trademark overalls, Shield looks less the country-boy part and more that of the musclebound wrestler. Decked out in tight fitting clothing, he also looks pretty damn .. well .. Sexy. Of course, not one to notice such things about himself, Cyrus remains completely in the dark about his apparent good looks. His handsome features, however, are presently set into a scowl, as he pushes against the wind on his way to the cliffs. Once there, he waves to Toxin and moves to stand at her side. "Ya'll sure ya wanna do this today?" he asks, pushing a hand through damp hair. "Mighty awful weather for a scale down a mountain side.."
A shake of her blonde head, and Toxin picks up another harness and pushes it on Shield. "Oh, don't be such a baby. I promise I won't let anything happen to that pretty face of yours." she teases, flashing him a grin and finishing the adjustments on her own equipment. She turns to assist Shield with his, and the woman leans over to look down the cliffside. "Besides, you know as well as I do that you can't always have sunshine for your workouts."
It's not like he'd feel the pain of a fall anyway, but even so - he's not completely invulnerable. And a heavy smack to the head is -still- a heavy smack to the head. Holding up his hands in supplication, Shield exclaims, "A'right, a'right. Let's have a go at it, then." Putting on the harness, he allows Toxin to help him out with it, before offering her a leacherous grin, while he states, "Just as long as I'm allowed to go first, so that, whenever I look up, I can get a good look of your luscious bee-hind..." The grin widens as he ducks the anticipated smack for that sexist remark.
Toxin glares up at Shield for several seconds, then a hint of a smirk crosses her face. "That's not a bad idea. That way if -you- fall, you won't land on me. It's not like I'm going to." she retorts, adjusting the straps of his harness. Once it fits, Toxin picks up the ropes and stakes they will use, and points at the nearby ground. "Now, use your big man-strength and drive those stakes in nice and hard, okay?"
Shield raises his head, when he finally realises that he's not going to get smacked afterall. However, Toxin's comment makes him wince nonetheless. "Ooh girl, ya cut me deep." One hand over his heart, while the other reaches out for the steaks. Damn straight he's gonna knock'em in good and tight. As much as he wouldn't mind a romp with the poisoneous beauty, having her fall on him from miles up isn't what he'd call a frolicking good time... Tossing her one last quick wink, he gets to work.
Romps with Toxin are indeed a rare thing. She watches him put the stakes in, then works the rope through those and the harnesses, taking her time to clip everything on properly. Finally, she grins up at Shield, then nods towards the cliff. "Okay, what we're going to do is climb down the cliff to the rocks, then climb back up. We could rappel down, but that takes all the fun out of it." she says with a wink. "You remember what I told you about rope tension and all of that?"
The large man inches towards the side of the cliff, looking down - way down - before nodding his response to Toxin. "I had damn well better remember," he jokes, "Considering what a drop this is..." Checking over his equipment one more time, Shield moves even closer to the lip of the cliff, tests his line, and then begins to inch over the edge, pulling tightly at the rope with each step. At one point, he's actually horizontal - his strong legs holding him parralel with the cliff ledge. Then, ever so slowly, he begins to climb - his fingers and feet searching for the strongest purchase.
More water is wiped off her face, while the toxic woman waits for Shield to get a good start before she gets going herself. Her gloved hands have little more help than Shield's do, the rain making all holds slick. Toxin moves carefully down the face of the cliff, doing the double duty of climbing and also watching over Shield while he climbs down. The rope will hold him, but she doesn't need to get tangled up in his ropes.
The rain makes things more challenging, but Shield simply clamps on to his holds with a stronger force, in order to assure a secure grip. Without functioning nerve endings, his fingers are soon scratched and bleeding, and he adjusts his grip so as to not damage his hands further. Thankfully, his regeneration also kicks in, healing the wounds at a surprising rate. At less than one third of the way down, he nearly loses his footing, and falls a short distance before his rope goes taut. He curses, his words carried up by the wind to his climbing partner. More grumbles follow about how such heavy muscle mass isn't always a necessarily -good- thing.
Toxin is having less problems than Shield, but her lesser mass is making it easier for the wind to pull her away from the cliff. For a heart-stopping moment, it almost succeeds, and Toxin has to stop climbing and hold on tight to keep from getting smashed against the rocks. Not everyone heals as quickly as Shield does, and the woman proves it by cursing as a sharp rock pierces her suit and cuts her arm.
Hearing the exclamation from above, Shield pulls himself tight against the rockface, before glancing up and calling, "Are ya a'right?" He's about ready to climb on up and grab her, should she be wounded enough not to be able to carry on.
"I'm fine." Toxin calls down, gritting her teeth. She pulls a handkerchief out of her suit, kept for purposes like this, and balances against the rocks while tying it around her arm, using her rope to hold her up. Giving up on climbing for the moment, she rappels down to be even with Shield, looking over at him. "You doing okay?" she queries.
Shield holds out his hands, one after the other, which are covered in blood, but otherwise appear to be ok. "A little scratch," he shouts over the howl of the wind, before cleansing the appendages with rain water. He glances down, just in time to see that the tide has already come in, and that the winds are causing havoc upon the sea. Great, massive waves slam themselves against the cliffs, growing higher and higher with every pounding crash. The man glances back up at Toxin, giving her a strange look. "You do this for fun?" He shakes his head. "I think I prefer my weights..."
Toxin glances over Shield's hands and nods, apparently satisfied that he's all right. Of course, she's well aware of how hard it is for him to hurt himself. She looks down for a moment, then back up at Shield. "Who said I do it for -fun-? This is a good workout." she calls back, then grins at him. "Don't look down!" The smaller woman then waves for him to continue climbing.
They're supposed to keep going down? "You're insane, ya realise that?" But that's as much as Shield gets out, before an exceptionally large wave sends a splash of sea water into his face. He sputters, glares angrily back at the ocean, and then continues downward, as though daring the waves to try that again. Of course, they do just that - this time, managing to dislocate him from the wall and send him and his rope spinning out into dead air.
"Well, -I- wanted to go out to dinner, but you said we had to train!" Toxin calls back, then barely senses the wave coming in time to hold her breath. As a result, she's a little better off than Shield, but has to scramble to get out of the way to avoid getting hit by the big guy when the next wave sends him for a loop. So Toxin does the only thing she can...start to climb back up. "Come on!" she shouts.
Oh, he's coming, all right. That second wave sends Shield spinning back -fast- into the rockface. A sickening thud can be heard over the crash of the water. Seconds later, the big man's rope goes taut, evidence that he's now dangling - dead weight on the line. As stated before, a smack to the head is a smack to the head... And Shield's apparently out cold.
Toxin hears that crunch that she's been fearing ever since they started out on this little venture. Looking down, she sighs and climbs back down to him. Healing power or not, even Logan can drown. Reaching for his line, she presses the button that will pull him back up to the surface. Not that she'll let it pull him that far, since she can't haul him over. But he'll wake up soon enough, she hopes.
Back up to where he first lost his footing, Shield finally comes to. He shakes his head, wincing - not from any pain - but from the blood that spatters with that movement. Already, the gash is healing over, but it would appear that this training session is over. He glances down at Toxin, unable to say anything to her, seeing how she's moving further and further away as he continues onwards to the top of the cliff, and the winds are now screaming around them both. Reaching the top at last, he hauls himself over the lip and flops into a seated position. How can she do this on a regular basis?
Toxin can't move as quickly as the winch brings Shield up, but she is a fast climber. She's climbed this cliff in all kinds of weather. Finally, she hauls herself up over the edge, sitting next to Shield and looking him over. "Are you all right?" she asks, looking at the gash on his forehead that keeps getting smaller.
Shield offers her a grin, once she pulls up close enough. "A'yup. Fine now. But got a bit of a smack on the noggin' down there..." The wound, small enough now to be covered by his wet hair, is hardly more than a scratch by now. The big man looks a little sheepish, however. "I guess you were right, though. Maybe dinner over training wasn't such a bad idea afterall, considerin' the weather and all." And the fact that this was the first time he ever tried to climb the cliffs. Put those factors together, and Shield shouldn't have a reason to feel embarassed, but .. He wimped out in front of a girl! How lame!
Toxin smiles at him and kisses her fingers, then touches her fingers lightly to his cheek. "Well, as long as you're not dead, then everything's okay." She shakes her head, then looks at the cliff. "You really didn't do too badly....do you remember the week I spent in the infirmary about six months ago? That was from this cliff, though I didn't tell anyone that's how it happened."
The big guy leans into her touch, then leans back and blushes. He wouldn't remember her being in the infirmary that long ago, seeing how he was still in Kansas at the time, but he nods nonetheless, understanding what she's saying. "Well, guess we should go and get cleaned up then." He rises and offers her a hand. "Beat ya to the showers?"
Toxin smiles again at Shield. He's so cute when he's shy. She winks at him and takes his hand. "Feel free, sweetheart. You should know better than to try and get me into the shower." she replies, shaking a finger at him in mock anger. Nevertheless, she follows him towards the compound and inside. They both need to get dry.