REANIMATION

[24]

The last light of the sun disappeared beyond the horizon, plunging the entire city into the darkness of the night.

     Liy spat and cursed at the base of a tree.

     "I still don't get how you deal with this every night."

     "More than every night!" Leafy remarked, "It's easy once you get a hang of it, I promise!"

     Liy's head angled upward to glance up at Leafy, who laid on a sturdy tree branch much higher up than from where she stood.

"Can you give me some pointers? I have no clue how to do this."

"Uhh, I don't know what to tell you, I thought a visual representation would make sense out of it."

"Well clearly it didn't work!" Liy whined as she attempted to lunge herself upward to grab onto the tree's lowest branch, just barely managing to brush it with her fingertips before falling back onto the ground.

     "Okay, so basically... you uh—..." Leafy paused, "try to like, grab a hold of the tree... and... you kinda wrap your legs around the base...? I-- I have no clue how to describe this."

     Liy rolled her eyes in exasperation.

     "Did that make any sense?"

     "No."

     "You know what? Let's find a tree with a lower branch." Leafy began to make her way down to the base of the tree, one sturdy branch at a time.

     At points, the branches make cracking noises on impact, and shuddered like crazy. Her heart skipped a beat everytime, fearing the possibility it would splinter and break under her friend's weight, only to be met with nothing.

     Leafy hopped down from the final branch, brushing her clothes off.

     "Let's try that one!"

     She immediately dashed off to a different tree within sight, one with a particularly low hanging branch. Liy followed not too far behind, making sure to stay a fair bit of a distance away from Leafy.

     She stopped right below the next tree, arm raising to point upward with her index finger, "You go first, you should be able to reach the branch from here, considering I can literally touch it without reaching up on the tip of my toes."

     "What if I fall?" Liy asked, reaching high upward to grip onto the branch with what little she could reach.

     "I'll catch you!"

     Liy shot her a glance.

     "...Okay, I probably won't be able to catch you, but I think you'll be fine!"

     She snorted in amusement before bracing herself.

     She jumped into the air gripping firmly onto the lowest branch with both her hands and began to haul herself upward, straining her arms.

     "AM I DOING IT—"

     "Yes, you are! Keep going!"

     With one last heave, she was able to get her leg over the branch, then the other leg so she was sitting upright.

     "I did it!"

     "Good job!"

     Leafy then preceeded to join her on the branch with nearly three times the amount of speed Liy had.

     "Am I good to stay here?"

     "Maybe the next branch and we can call it good."

     "And what happens if I fall out of the tree while I'm sleeping?"