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“That’s my brave female,” Rane praised, looking at the worker who was supervising the jumps so that no one jumped before their turn.
“Step onto the weight plate please,” the curious male said, staring at them as he gestured towards the jumping platform.
Rane stepped forward confidently, a rock for Sandy’s shaking hands to hold as she walked with him, stepping up onto the square plate. The lights around the edge were moving as it waited for them to stop in the center.
Rane turned, taking both of Sandy’s hands and holding them as they were weighed.
“Remember, it’s perfectly safe,” he said.
“Easy for you to say,” she mumbled.
“Do they not have things like this on Earth?”
“They do, but these kinds of things have, like, safety features. A parachute or a safety rope. A helmet. I don’t know what a helmet is supposed to do if you fall a hundred stories to the ground, but I swear they always wear helmets.”
Rane was chuckling as she spoke quickly from nerves.
“You’re adorable,” he said tenderly.
“I’m just saying, it already feels wrong to leap off a building. Doing it without so much as a safety harness seems crazy.”
“It’s so funny all the things humans have to do to stay safe due to your low technological advancement.”
She stuck her tongue out at him. What was about to happen might be old hat to him, but it seemed like magic to her.
“Weighing complete,” the worker announced. “Jump whenever you’re ready.”
Sandy took a fortifying breath. Then another.
Rane just smiled. Waiting for her to gather her courage. He’d never done this before either, he said, but this was a very common, popular kind of activity. The top of the largest building in the city had been doing these jumps since its completion. He also wasn’t afraid of heights or falling. Not just because he knew the technology, but because he was used to things like this because of trikball.
The worker was getting annoyed. He was staring at Sandy, like he was about to snap at her to hurry up. Rane glared at him, crest raising. His displeasure didn’t go unnoticed. The male flinched and looked away. It was sweet. And encouraging.
What she was doing was terrifying, but she had him.
Rane smirked, and looked back at Sandy-
-only to find her slamming her lips against his. Kissing him so desperately, their teeth knocked together.
It was quick. Over before he could do more than be surprised and start to reciprocate. She broke the kiss and turned, running while still holding his hand. He followed after as she rushed to the edge before she lost her courage.
Don’t think. Just jump. Don’t think. Just-
Jump!
They leapt into the air. He laughed as she screamed – immediately, before her foot even left the ground, launching her into the air.
They dropped. Rane kept tight hold of Sandy’s hand as she shrieked until the plunge stole the air from her lungs. Her eyes were wide, her hair whipping wildly, tears streaking up her temples as she tilted forward, staring at the rapidly approaching ground.
Rane pulled on her arm, yanking her around. She went without a struggle – her entire body gone limp with terror. He caught her ankle and, holding it and her wrist, began to spin with her. She couldn’t hear his laughter over the rushing of the wind, but she saw the wide smile over his face as he spun and bounced her about. Completely unafraid.
It was a quick drop – the building was tall, but it wasn’t like they were leaping from a starship or an aircraft. As they were getting close to the ground, the antigrav technology at the bottom caught them and their descent slowly stopped. It cradled them gently above the landing zone until they were floating right over the ground.
Rane let go of her ankle then, pulling on her wrist so she was swept up and he could wrap his arms around her waist, cradling her to his chest.
She was laughing.
Still crying, still shaking, her face pale but rapidly brightening, as her heart pounded and her belly flipflopped violently in protest.
