tampered | ongoing

Current Mood: annoyed
Current Location: The graveyard

ongoing

When; Tuesday November 6 (curse day)
Rating; PG-13
Characters; Eliza Faust

belovedeath and Harry Dresden

dresden4hire
Summary; Eliza was thinking, but then the weeds got the better of her ...
Log;

As Eliza watched the vines creep through the tall grass and between the cemetery stones she realized quickly that now had been a dammed fool time to have a crisis of doubt; especially one that took her so far from the apartment that she and Johann shared. Pushing herself up onto a monument she saw that the lights of the city were out. That seemed odd, for a place as bright as this to be covered in pitch as it was now.

There was a brief moment of wonder; had the power gone out? No, the power of an entire city would hardly fail from anything these inhabitants would do. Most of them seemed less interested in experimentation then they were with simply surviving these curses; ad Eliza had quickly seen why. In the simple span of two or three weeks; she'd forgotten how long she'd been here; she had almost been burnt at the stake, turned into a fairy, and had to deal with countless screaming prepubescents talking about how her husband had touched her decaying corpse in ways inappropriate to speak of in even the most foul of company. Most anything this word would throw at them would certainly be no good.

The vines seemed to grow thicker and the grass taller. As she sat on the monument, she could tell this was no ordinary growing cycle. Even the fastest of cultivated seeds wouldn't be this quick.

Making her way further, to higher ground, or as high as one could get on a large statue of a Celtic cross, she noticed that it wasn't simply the grass and vines. The trees themselves had even taken on a growth of their own. They'd become thicker, more full of life then she had ever seen trees become. She was quite certain now that this was, in fact, a curse.

Overgrown plants and, as far as Harry had said, all technology was gone as well. He'd also mentioned that it was a curse. There was a fleeting thought, a hope that Johann would be alright. There was food in the apartment and she doubted that he would come looking for her. No, he would wait for her to return; she wasn't he skeleton after all. With luck, these two things would be the only issues that came of this curse; with even more luck these plants wouldn't start having a taste for human flesh. Heaven be dammed if sh was going to allow herself be eaten by a ficus.

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Harry muttered darkly as he tromped through the incredibly lush and increasingly annoying vegetation. He hadn't really been all the bothered when the technology had suddenly stopped working or ceased to exist. He hadn't really been able to use much of it since he had been ten years old. The jungle that was rising up though, that was a big pain. Harry had lived in cities most of his life, and even his time on the farm was nothing like this.

Still, Eliza was trapped and if there was one thing Harry could never turn away from, it was a lady in distress. He was just old fashioned like that. The fact that the particular lady distress was someone he considered a friend only added to that. There was very little the wizard could do about the trees popping up, but all of the other vegetation was easily cut with scythe of air he had created with his magic. Burning might have been easier, but it would obviously have some rather disastrous side effects.

"Eliza?!" he called out as he got closer to what he hoped was the graveyard. It was hard to tell in this place really. "Eliza, it's Harry, are you close by?"

The tall, slightly skinny wizard tried to peer over and around the lush vegetation for the woman. He idly wondered if her husband might be coming to get her as well. The man seemed incredibly devoted to an almost unbalanced extent, so there was no telling what he would do. Harry figured that Eliza had a reason for coming out here by herself though and hoped that Faust would stay away. Plus Harry had no desire for the man to get the wrong impression about why Harry might be out here. He had enough problems with that as it was with some of his other friends.

The woman in question was now standing on the Celtic cross and trying her hardest not to be covered in vines and other plants that were popping up around the graveyard. The graves, having been disturbed, pushed up skeletons and caskets to cause the place to gain an air like something out of a horror movie or book. She feared she would soon be encompassed in the foliage; never to be seen again.

There was nowhere else for her to go. No further up to go, and she would be dammed if she was about to step on skeletal remains and coffins in order to get out of here. The graveyard had seemed like such a nice place before this curse. She hoped all tis foolishness only lasted a day, two at most.

She could hear something soft from far away. It sounded vaguely human and male. Though she wasn't sure if this was a trick of all this brush or if there really was someone here. The reasoned also that the plants may be obscuring the sound of their voice; and they could, in fact, be very close by in-

Oh hell! Something moved. A blood curdling scream ripped through the air from her lungs. By the scattering of the plants it was a large something; not a small one such as a rabbit or mouse. Well, it could be an ROUS(Rodent of unusual size) with the way this curse was going. At that thought it could be one of the bugs that feast on the decaying flesh of the dead. Dear god, a creature of that size would surly take her for lunch; and not in the way Harry had offered.

“Harry?” She tried to use all her lung power. If he were nearby, then maybe he could hear her. More movement around her. She felt as though she were being circled and whatever it was, was about to attack.

The instant the scream ripped through the air Harry picked up his pace, running all out in the direction of the scream. He wished that he had started running more regularly before just the other day, it was times like this where some speed and endurance would come in handy. At least he could be thankful he had his tennis shoes on when the curse hit and not his cowboy boots.

"Eliza!" he screamed in response to hearing his own name. It only slightly registered to his brain that whatever was scaring Eliza, he was running directly to it at full speed. For all he knew, the jungle was some prehistoric curse and it was some giant dinosaur that was there. Whatever part of his brain that processed rational thought in times like this though was overwhelmed by the part of his brain that was chivalrous, which was already pretty overwhelming.

He stumbled over a headstone that was pushed up by the root of the tree and bursting into the small area that Eliza occupied. She stood on top of a cross and looked absolutely terrified, which made Harry freak out a bit more. What had she seen that scared her so much?

"Eliza, what..." before he could finish the question though, the largest, scariest bug he had ever seen burst out of the nearby foliage. A loud humming sound filled the air as it took wing, heading straight for Eliza. Operating almost purely on instinct Harry swung his staff around and pointed it at the creature.

"Fuego!"

He used the word and his fear to focus his magic and the runes of his staff flared orange. A gout of hellfire as wide as his hips exploded from the end of the staff and vaporized the the big. His heart pounding wildly, Harry looked up to Eliza, offering his hand to help her down.

"Are you okay?"

As the bug took wing against her Eliza did the only thing left for her to do, squatted down on the cross and screamed. She didn't even see Harry; as her eyes were transfixed by the insect large enough for them to ride. In all honesty, it reminded her of an old 1940's horror movie.

At the sounds of something combusting, she uncovered her head, just sightly, and peeked out to where it had last been. Instead she saw Harry, and breathed a sigh of relief. She knew she had thought of something before she had been attacked. It had only been a split second, but it had been there.

She took Harry's hand and stepped down from the cross very carefully. She was in heels, tights and a very inappropriate (http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/2943712/0~2376776~2374327~2374331~6001765~6010498?mediumthumbnail=Y&origin=category&searchtype=&pbo=6010498&P=18) dress for climbing, after all. When she was finally down into the jungle-like foliage, she dared to speak.

“Thank you; I'd be locust food by now if it weren't for you.” Now that she was safe, all be it desperately trying to catch her breath from having a near death experience (funny how those were far more freighting then having an actual death experience), she dared to look around her. The world had taken away technology and become larger then life. It was obvious at this point to her that the world had not gone prehistoric. “Perhaps ...” No, they couldn't have shrunk them. The gravestones and other things were still the same size; it was nature that had grown. Seemed a strange curse, to be honest about things.

She was still holding onto Harry's hand, worried that, if she didn't keep in contact she would become lost forever in this dense foliage. “Oh for heaven's sake.” She cursed quietly under her breath. This really was a mess, and Johann was, of course, taking his own issues as if they were nothing. He seemed to not care that she was alive and would be the one dealing with the consequences should he die. To him, she most likely didn't matter; so long as the skeleton was safe, that was all that mattered.

It wasn't hard for Harry to divert his eyes from the leg that Eliza's dress revealed as she climbed down on the cross. Fearing for your life and keeping a vigilant eye out for any predators was a good way to keep yourself occupied in any situation.

"I'm just glad I got here in time," Harry told her. He didn't really mind that she kept holding his hand and he wasn't about to let go. The was something comforting about not facing something alone, to having someone else there with you. Even if it was just to run or scream in panic, it helped the situation. Just because Harry was confident that he couldn't deal with anything that came along didn't mean those things still didn't freak him out a bit.

"I think things are a bit more civilized near the center of town and the temple," Harry said, gving the woman a lopsided grin. "Normally I'd invite you to a picnic or something like that, but I'm worried if we tried that, we might end up being the snack."

She couldn't help giggling at his comment. No matter how true the statement was, it really did sound funny. Especially with the mental image of a giant ant coming to lunch, literally. She couldn't help glancing around, trying to see if there was anything else that was rustling the brush. “If I only had the scythe ...” but in a way, she was glad she didn't. That meant that Faust had it; and that did make her feel a little better about being separated from him.

She gave Harry's hand a quick squeeze, unsure if it was reassurance for her or him, or perhaps both of them at once. “If we could manage to saddle one of those giant bugs ...” She really wasn't quite sure where that was going, though she was sure it had to go somewhere. Everything had an end after all.

“Oh,” She turned to him once again, blinking slightly against the pollens that were being spread throughout the air by the over sized plants. “What did you do to stop that thing?”

Harry gave Eliza's hand a squeeze back and hoped that her husband wasn't coming to her rescue and around to see that. He had only met the doctor briefly a few times and while he did seem rather nice, he was also clearly not all there in the head, especially when it came to his wife.

"Saddle one of the giant bugs?" Harry asked, arching an eyebrow in curiosity. That was a very amusing mental image and made him chuckle. Eliza saddling one of the giant bugs and flying it around was something Harry would very much like to see. "I've ridden a dinosaur before, but never a giant bug."

Harry tugged slightly at her hand and began to lead her back the way he had come. Hopefully it would be a bit easier for her to make her way. Harry was really glad he wasn't the one walking through the jungle in heels.

"I used, ahhh, hellfire to kill it," he explained to her. "Literally fire from the pits of hell."

She frowned at him, but the action only made her look dammed adorable. At the tug she followed, stumbling the whole way. Really, she wasn't very good at things like balance when there was uneven ground. She wouldn't admit it, but Faust was right when he had called her clumsy.

“Yes, saddle.” She confirmed while still stumbling after. “If we could get above the ground I think we'd have an easier time of getting our bearings; don't you?”

Her foot caught in an upturned femur and she went down. She tried desperately to let go of Harry's hand. There was no reason for her to drag him down with her to the floor of this jungle. Who knew what he would find by falling flat on her face.

Harry tried not to look at Eliza, mostly because despite everything she looked very adorable tromping through the jungle. He didn't need what little resistance he had to feminine wiles melted away because damn it, if she pushed too hard he knew he would find himself trying to sadle a bug for her.

Harry pondered her suggestion about finding high ground and decided it was a good one. "Good idea, we can look for some sort of hi-"

His words were cut off as Eliza stumbled down. The wizard refused to let go of her hand, attempting to help her keep her balance but unfortunately he was severely lacking in the necessary mass to keep even the tiny Eliza up. With a grunt he pitched forward, finally releasing Eliza's hand as he stuck his hands out to brace himself.

He was partially successful, managing not to crush the woman beneath him but still pinning her beneath him. His face flushed red, knowing he was the cause of the fall with his haste.

"Ahhh, sorry," he said, averting his eyes from hers so that he didn't initiate a soul gaze. "I should probably slow down..."

She couldn't stop the small blush to her own cheeks as she looked away quickly. She couldn't deny that Harry was and attractive man; and she did have a bit of a weakness for the heroic types. Johann had saved her life after all. Eliza did love her husband though; even when she was worrying about their relationship, her feelings were not what were in doubt. “I should take off my shoes ... that ... could help.” It was a bit difficult for her thoughts to not stray with him over her like that.

She heard some more rustling and her eyes grew a bit wider as her head turned to look at Harry now, any other thoughts but those of giant worms and grubs trying to eat the flesh from their bones flying from her mind. “I think we've got a problem.” She tried to keep her voice soft so as not to alert anything in the nearby vicinity. Heaven knew bugs had sensitive hearing already.

Eliza smelled nice. Why Harry was thinking about that right now, he couldn't be sure. Maybe it was just because you didn't expect a woman you found in the graveyard to look or smell quite as nice as Eliza did. Those thoughts were all pushed away again as the blond woman whispered her warning and he went completely still, holding his breath as he Listened.

He could hear it, something, maybe several somethings moving closer. Harry brought a finger up to his lips in a "quiet" gesture, although he doubted it was hardly necessary. As carefully as he could, Harry rolled off of Eliza and got into a crouching position. Shaking his sheild bracelet loose he began to take off his leather duster, making sure to always keep his staff ready in one hand.

"Put this on," he whispered to her. Harry was thankful that Eliza was fairly tall, it would make it easier for her if she had to run. He was still almost half a foot taller than she was, but that wasn't too much of a difference. "I know it's big but it's enchanted. Fire, ice, claws... nothing will get through it."

She nodded a little, pulling the garment around her. It smelled spicy and a bit like newly tanned leather. It was a nice smell that caused her to close her eyes for a moment, but only a moment. She pulled off her heels and left them where the two of them were. She could come back for them later, if they were still there and in one piece.

She pulled the duster a bit more tightly around herself as she heard the noises coming closer. “What about you?” She looked to the man with worry on her face. If he gave her his duster then what would he have to protect himself?

Harry gave Eliza a broad grin at her question, holding up his arm that contained his shield bracelet and magic rings. Harry had come prepared to do battle. Or at least, prepared to do a very protected and strategic retreat.

"Don't worry, I'm covered," he assured her.

It seemed to be a bad idea to try and fight all the creatures since there was no telling just how many of them there might be. Running out of magic in the middle of an offensive fight was never a good thing. So, they would just have to get to a better defended or a less fierce portion of the jungle.

Slowly standing up, Harry peaked through the lush vegetation that was all around them. He heard some more rustling and glanced off to one side, his eyes suddenly going side.

"Eliza... run!" he said, lifting up his hand and releasing the kinetic power saved up in one of his rings. A giant ant that probably reach up to Harry's waist went flying through the air. Ants were bad. Ants usually came with a lot of other ants. They also moved along the ground, so blasting them with fire while surrounded by vegetation was probably out. Stupid jungle City.

Her eyes widened a moment at the simple size of the thing. Her feet seemed glued to the ground. It took her a few moment to finally make her legs work, but once she did she wan straight through the tall grass; trying to keep an eye on Harry, but the grass was so tall that she was lost in it in a matter of moments.

“Oh for-” She looked around, knowing she had gone straight, but neither wanting to move forward or backwards for fear of getting further lost and not being able to find Harry again. “Harry?!” She cried, thrusting her arms into the tall grass in an attempt to find him again.

She couldn't simply run away without knowing that he was alright.

Harry had guessed correctly about their being more ants. He couldn't see them all that clearly, but he could hear the clicking of their jaws and the grass moving behind the ant he blew away with his ring. One handy thing is that the grass would probably be a huge pain on the ants antenna.

He glanced around and saw that Eliza was gone, already lost in the tall grass. Harry heard her voice call out though and it was only a few feet away. Rushing forward Harry literally ran into the woman's outstretched arms. If you were running for your life, it was definitely a good thing to run into. Unfortunately, the giant ants and who knows what else were still trying to kill them.

Harry reached out and took her hand in his again, checking back over his shoulder to see if anything was coming up on him. The ants might be there any moment.

"Start running," he told her. "But not so fast you run into anything with teeth or claws. I promise, I'm going to make sure we both get somewhere safe, okay?"

She was breathtakingly glad to have Harry back in sight again; though her fingers hurt from being bent slightly wrong. Her grip tightened around his hand so as not to lose him. She couldn't help giving him a little roguish smile. “Teeth and claws ...” She started running as she shot back teasingly; “You never said anything about mandibles.” She really couldn't help herself. After being with Faust for so long she'd gotten more then a little snarkey.

She kept running as fast as she could; hearing the noises being made from the ants behind them. She'd never expected to be chased by giant bugs before, and she expected a director to scream 'cut' any moment now. It really was that fantastical of an idea.

She could feel the duster slipping from her shoulders and grabbed it with her free hand, pulling is back over them and tighter around herself. She felt more at ease knowing where Harry was. One could only imagine what those mandibles could do at this size. They were created for cutting and carrying, but she wasn't above believing that they could crush bone if they wanted to.

Harry couldn't believe that Eliza was making a joke at a time like this. Not because it was inappropriate but because it was amusing and he didn't expect someone else to make jokes at a time like this. It's usually his job to do that. Eliza was definitely a very special woman.

"Oh, it'll protect against Them too," Harry assured her. He really wished that he had time to see if she got the joke though, it wasn't every day you can to reference a campy horror movie about giant ants.

Another ant came up behind them and Harry used another one of his rings to attack it, this time flinging the creature straight backwards, causing it to tumble into the insect behind it. He hoped that would slow them up enough to give them more of a head start.

"Eliza, if I have to let go promise me you'll keep running," Harry said, trying hard not to sound like he was too out of breath. "I promise if I have to stop I'll catch up with you soon, but I don't want you hanging back because you're worried about me, okay?"

If she'd gotten the joke, she didn't have time to acknowledge it. She was too busy trying to breathe and ignoring the fire that seemed to have taken up refuge in her lungs. Eliza had never been a strong or healthy woman; even after she was cured the effects of being sick for so long showed greatly in the fact that she had no stamina and a weak immune system. She simply kept running forward, trying not to be distracted by what Harry was doing behind her.

When he spoke, she dared to look back, only to spare a glare at the man. “If you let go I'll ...” She realized quickly she had nothing to throw at him. “I'll hunt down a giant slug to throw at you.” A weak threat, but she'd damn well do it. She wasn't about to lose Harry in this jungle to the giant ants ... or any other creature for that matter. If they go out, they got out together.

"Giant slug?" Harry asked. He could feel his heart pounding in his ears and his breath was getting a bit ragged. That was the problem with the fight or flight response, even if you didn't need that rush of adrenaline to run away you got it, then you got tired much faster. "That's the best you could come up with was a giant slug? You could have just said you'd be very cross with me and I would have given in."

Harry turned away for a moment and jumped up, trying to look back and spot any other creatures that might be following them. It looked like for at least a few moments, the ants had either lost them or had fallen behind.

"Is there any high ground around the graveyard we could go to?" Harry asked her. "Then we can try and spot some shelter."

"I was rushed." She pointed out, rather dejectedly, a pout gracing her lips for just a second. She looked around but saw nothing but grass and trees. She was really starting to understand what a bug felt like, and she was vowing quickly never to squash another one; nor to let Johann squash them for her.

Trying hard to think fast she realized with abashed embarrassment, that a tree could technically be considered high ground. If they could manage to get up one, and not be eaten by anything air-born (such as a passing bird innocently trying to feed it's children), they could see whatever they wanted to, and be quite safe from most of the creatures that lay in graveyards.

"There's a tree ahead, it's probably the best bet for high ground." She restrained herself from making a very off color joke about wood.

Harry thought it was very unfair that females looked so good when they pouted. When guys pouted it just looked immature and childish, when women did it they usually managed to look adorable. It was very disarming and shouldn't be allowed.

Glancing around, Harry thought he saw the tree she was talking about, which was bit enough that you could build a Swiss Family Robinson style tree house in it. He thought it would definitely be a good place to get a view of the surrounding landscape and such.

"Alright, the tree it is," Harry said, nodding his agreement. "Although I'm afraid I'm going to have to let your hand go while we climb, so do you think you can refrain from slugging me if I do?"

She paused only a moment to look back with a bit of a sly grin before continuing to run. "So long as you don't go charging after man-eating arthropods." The man really did seem to have a will of steel, but he kept her at ease. He was really just wonderful.

When they reached the tree she stopped, looking up. "I didn't think of this part." How were they going to get up the tree? It wasn't as if they could fly, or even were adept at climbing something that large.

Harry didn't even know what an athropod was, but he could take a wild guess that it was something antish. Even if it wasn't, he didn't want to charge after anything man eating.

When they arrived at the tree, Harry saw the same problem that Eliza did. Fortunately, he had half of an idea on a way to get around that.

"With magic of course," Harry told Eliza, giving her a sly grin this time, only a moment later it fell away. "Okay, magic is only going to help us get up there. We'll still have to climb, but I can at least get us a rope type thing up there."

Harry furrowed his brow in concentration for a moment, looking at one of the multitudes of vines that had suddenly sprung up all over the place. Muttering some pseudo Latin, Harry caused a slight breeze to wrap around the vine and haul it up the tree. It took a little doing but he was able to get it up to the closest branch and drop it back down. It wasn't exactly a ladder, but it should help them climb up.

"Ahhh, normally I would say ladies first but..." Harry gave a shy cough, his face turning bright red as he indicated Eliza's rather short skirt. "Maybe I should go first."

At the indication of her skirt she couldn't help but blush a deep shade of red. "I ... I think you're right." She mumbled, trying to hide her face a bit. This was just embarrassing. She needed to invest in pants.

She kept glancing behind them, her face still slightly pink from her previous blushing. There was no way she was going to let the ants eat anyone. Even if she had to pick up a vine and try to use it like a whip ... something she was rather sure would fail miserably.

Harry was glad that Eliza was blushing about the skirt situation as well, it made him feel less embarrassed about his own bright red cheeks. The whole situation was made even more horribly awkward (at least in Harry's mind) by the fact that Eliza looked really good in her outfit. That was an impressive feat, considering they were running through the jungle being chased by giant ants.

"Wait until I'm ten feet or so up the tree before you start climbing," Harry told her, adjusting his staff to the crook of his arm so that he could climb up the vine and (hopefully) still use it if he needed to.

Wight a steadying breath Harry gave a bit of a grunt and began to pull himself up the tree, facing it with his torso so that he could use his legs to help him walk up the side of the tree. Once he got to the first branch he could use that rest on while he pulled Eliza up. At least, that was the plan.

She gave a firm nod to his comment. Wait ten minutes, got it. She wasn't looking at him though; her attention was fixed on the area around them, looking for a sign of anything that was going to come out and attack them.

So far everything seemed alright. She stole a glance up to see how far Harry had gotten. Really, she shouldn't have. She found herself watching the man climbing for a few seconds longer then she expected to.

Blushing to herself for her own actions she quickly tried to look back down. She really shouldn't be looking at things like that. Well, she had to see where he was, right? It wasn't her fault if she wasn't sure how far he was and had to look a little longer, right?

"Uh ... just let me know when to start." She tried not to sound flustered at all; though it was a but hard when she still had that mental image running through her mind. It wasn't that it was a bad mental image, it was simply ... not the right sort of mental image to have.

Harry grunted with effort as he hauled himself up the tree. Fortunately, he was rather skinny and long limbed, so he didn't weigh all that much. Unfortunately, he had hardly any muscle mass at all to help pull his skinny ass up the tree.

About ten feet up, Harry glanced down at Eliza. "Alright, you can start climbing up, hopefully I won't yank the rope around too much."

Craning his neck out, he tried to take a survey of their surrounds. Fortunately, there were no giant animals trudging this way. He could see the large ants though, and while they weren't making a beeline directly for the tree they were wandering in this general direction. He just hoped he could get to the branch soon so that he could pull Eliza up quickly.

She looked up again, thankful that he wasn't, well, climbing. That could have caused more trouble all over again. She gave a short nod to him as she took hold of the vine and gave it a quick tug.

Hey, she'd seen it in movies before.

Once she was sure the thing wasn't going to come falling down around her and cause her to break her neck; not that she didn't trust Harry, she didn't trust the vine; she started climbing. Her tights by now were in tatters and her feet were a mess.

She didn't think about it though. What was most important was getting out of here alive. Besides, she'd looked worse when she was dead. She was careful at first, trying not to tug too hard or swing too much as she tried to repel herself up the tree as she'd seen rock climbers do on TV. If it worked for things like that, surely it would help climb a tree.

Harry finally managed to reach the limb of the tree, surprised that he had actually made it without much trouble. He glanced down to see how Eliza was doing and his cheeks immediately flushed red. While his leather duster covered most of her, the dress from a bird's eye view was still rather... revealing.

"I'm going to start pulling you up now," Harry called out, balancing himself on the branch as best he could from his seated position. Gripping the vine in his hands he slowly started to pull up, helping speed up Eliza climb.

Nervously, his eyes darted out to the jungle below, really not liking the look of how close the ants were getting to the tree. He knew they had no hopes of climbing up, but if one of them were to fall it would not be pleasant. Not only that, but he didn't plan on sitting in the tree until the curse ended, no matter how pleasant the company was.

She did her best to tighten her grip, closing her eyes tightly and steadying her breath from having just looked down. That was a very bad move really.

At his words she nodded a little. It wasn't that she was afraid of heights, it was just that she wasn't fond of them at all. "A-alright." She called back up. As a spirit she wouldn't have minded, but then again, as a spirit she wouldn't have had to do things like this.

She kept moving up, trying to keep a steady pace the whole time. Her feet were really starting to hurt now. She didn't want to complain though; after all they'd been though, if all that happened was her feet being ripped up, then it was a good day.

Harry slowly pulled the vine up, wincing as he watched Eliza walk up the tree. This could not be good on her feet at all. He wished that he could have lent her his shoes or at least been able to pull her up without her assistance. He supposed he could try lifting her up with air, but that would require a lot of fine control he didn't know he could manage.

"Okay, we're almost there," he called out when she was just a few feet below him. A few more steady pulls on the vine and she was close enough for him to pull her up by hand.

"Give me your hand and I'll lift you the rest of the way up."

She glanced up at the initial sound of his voice. "Oh, we're trying to blow up a death star now?" She teased. She remembered when that movie first came out. She'd dragged Johann to go see it; begging and pleading the whole way there. It'd been SO worth it too~

She kept climbing until he offered his hand. Taking it firmly and resisting a song cue. "Are you sure you can handle me? I'm kind of heavy." All the weight was in the chest, seriously. She didn't want to end up pulling him down though. That would defeat everything entirely.

[ooc: sorry, the muse didn't want to tag this till now. No clue why.]

Harry was glad that he had a good grip on Eliza's hand, because the Star Wars reference really caught him off guard. Funny, kind, could make Star Wars jokes in the middle of a dangerous situation, and she had large, gorgeous... eyes. Harry thought that Faust was a very lucky man.

"I promise I won't drop you Eliza," Harry assured her. Glancing down his face flushed at the view that he got. He hoped that Eliza would just assume his face was red from the exertion. "I'm a lot stronger than I look."

She hoped it was from exertion. Though she couldn't help blushing a bit at the idea that he was getting a very good view of something she'd prefer only her husband saw.

At the remark of him being stronger then he looked, she simply took him at his word. It would have been very to be an oversoul right now. She wouldn't have left Faust's side then. She wouldn't feel as if she were competing with a skeleton.

Quite frankly, she wouldn't be flesh. She wasn't quite sure how these things worked anymore. She'd been dead for so long that she felt as if she'd forgotten how to be the living Eliza. The spirit actions had simply taken over. If she had been upset she could simply disappear, and no one would really be the wiser. Unless she told Johann of course. She really only spoke to Johann while in spirit form.

Now, now she wanted what was best for Johann, as she always had; but things were more complicated now. It seemed as if friends were something that helped. So she talked to others now, was cheerful and bright. She didn't really mind making friends. It was new, interesting, but the ultimate goal was for Faust to make friends. For him to be happy. She worried that she alone wasn't enough.

Then she became jealous of her own skeleton. It made no sense. The skeleton was her, she was the skeleton. She'd never been jealous of it before. it didn't make sense, even to her.

Reaching up, she took hold of Harry's hand. "If you drop me I'll be rather cross you know." A quick glance down reminded her why you're told never to look down. A soft sound escaped her throat. Scared, she was scared. She really didn't want to die, not again that is.

"We did not just run from giant, killer ants and crawl up this tree just for me to drop you," Harry said, looking down at her and managing not to look her directly in the eye or stare at her chest.

"I promise you, I won't drop you Eliza, just hold on tight."

With a grunt, Harry began to pull her up. She was actually a lot lighter than he would have thought, not that she looked all that heavy to begin with. Maybe he was just a lot stronger than he initially thought. Yeah, that's what he was going to go with, he was stronger than he initially though.

"Come one, almost there," the wizard encouraged as he pulled her up. "Just grab onto the branch and have a seat."

She took hold of the branch as soon as she could, helping him pull her up by pulling on the branch. She hoped the branch wouldn't break from both of them being on it.

Once there she smiled brightly, adjusting herself so she wasn't flashing things that shouldn't be flashed. Her breathing was ragged from the exertion of the climb; causing her to breath more heavily, and thus her ... clevage was exposing itself more then she intended.

She looked over things. It really was rather breathtaking when you stopped to look. "You know, when you're not being chased, it's quite pretty."

Harry politely averted his gaze from anything inappropriate without managing to make it look like that's exactly what he was doing (since that was often just as embarrassing and impolite as staring). Besides, who knew what sort of creatures were after them, there could be another one of those flying things.

"It really is beautiful," he agreed, looking out at the vegetation that had suddenly sprung up all around them. "In a kind of violent, primal way. At least you know with ants it's nothing personal when they try and kill you. You're still just as dead, but it's not personal."

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