A Derelict Factory-Warehouse-Looking-Thing [Ethan]

[Reli Kain]

Reli was never bored. Oh no, she was never bored. But right now she was coming damn close. She'd found some derelict factory-warehouse-looking-thing and decided to climb in and have a look around. What she hadn't counted on was this derelict factory-warehouse-looking-thing being so much like everyother derelict factory-warehouse-looking-thing. Just like the others she'd been scrumaging through that day. The floors had the same holes, the beams were in the same rotting/rusting state and the doors all squealed in a way that humans couldn't even always hear but always drove her insane.

She wandered about, near one of the big, open sliding doors. In an attempt to liven things up, she had changed and run around a bit, but the game had lost its taste prematurely and she had changed to a more bipedal form. So no she paced about the door, scuffing her shoes and dragging her heels, wanting a game to show up on the doorstep. She heard something (or thought she did) and picked her feet up so as to walk quieter. Concentrating, it sounded like the boarded fence around the building being shaken. She ventured outside the buliding, figuring that if someone was trying to get in then this may very well be the game she had asked for landing on the very literal doorstep. She picked up two crates as she walked, figuring she could through them over the wall if there was a stranger that needed a hand.

[robbie117]

Ethan hissed in pain as he quickly retracted his hand, holding it close to his chest. The rusty gate had cut his index finger, and it glowed bright red, a trickle of blood seeping from the gash. He shoved it in his mouth, sucking on it and hoping to stop the bleeding.

Before him was a narrow single gate, flanked on both sides by a wooden fence, the kind seen around most construction. It was meant to be temperory, but Ethan supposed that they had cancelled construction and just left it up. It was covered in grafitti. Multiple plants had grown out of it's base over the years. Behind it was some kind of warehouse or factory, Ethan wasn't sure.

Why was Ethan trying to break into the building? Because it seemed like a fun idea, to go somewhere he shouldn't and poke around. He wasn't even bored, he justed wanted some mild thrill, a mild risk, a mild adventure.

After a quick, failed attempt at climbing over the fence, he took a step back, his finger now out of his mouth. It still stung horribly, but at least it had stopped bleeding. In attempting to climb the fence it had almost fallen over. He wasn't here to vandalise, he wanted to get in without a trace. He studied the walls closely, looking for a way over.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ethan spied several rusting barrels, idle probabily for months. If he could stack them, Ethan thought, maybe he could climb them. Looking around, he couldn't see an easier option besides just knocking the wall down himself. He hoped to avoid that.

Two barrels were placed on top of each other, with a another as a step to it. Ethan climbed to the top. The barrels shook violently under his weight, almost throwing him off, but he somehow managed to keep control. In a single leap he dived over the wall, avoiding hitting the fence and knocking it down. He landed painfully on his chest in the dirt, a crash accompanied with the sound of barrels collasping behind.

'That,' thought Ethan, vision swimming and chest pounding, 'was totally not worth the effort.' Still, he told himself, he managed to get across. He couldn't see well yet, but in a second he'd back to normal, up and exploring. Ethan blinked repeatly in an attempt to focus, he couldn't make out the blurded figure that seemed to be approching him.

[Reli Kain]

Reli had almost reached the wall when she'd heard a series of obvious sounds. The scrapeing of metal on concrete and other various noises, she backed away a bit planning on giving the stranger enough room to land when they jumped over. What she hadn't expected was to have to jump out of the way as a figure came flying over the fence, crashing into the ground and swirling up dust. The dust settled enough for her to make out the stranger still lying on the floor, squinting in her general direction (though surely not on purpose). She walked up to him, a broad smile on her lips, letting her body shake as a laugh built up inside her from her gut. Starting to make that snorting-laugh she approached his head and cleanly jumped over it, her landing seemed to jolt the laughter out of her.

She laughed loudly as she stood next to the boys head, leaning down to get a better look at this stranger. This should be fun. Howdy Stranger, howdy... And he did look like fun. He was about her age, she thought, and a bit on the thin side. But he looked like he could take a few knocks. Even better, she couldn't hear any accomplices or see any spray cans, so he didn't seem to be a vandle. Which meant he was probably here for the fun of it. Just like she was. Finally the day was looking up - it only took half of it to get here. This stranger would make the boring midday worth her while, she couldn't wait for this new game to start!

[robbie117]

With each passing moment the figure came more and more into focus, standing in place and watching him. Ethan recognized the shape after a moment, a girl, his age or possibly a tad over. Eventually, Ethan could make out her hair, which was uneven and red in colour, as well as her earth stained clothes and shoes.

She seemed to be, laughing? For a moment Ethan struggled to realise why, until he remembered the events of the last thirty seconds of his life. He'd just thrown himself body first over a low wall, crashing hard in the dirt. She was laughing at him.

The girl was shorter then he was, but fit, attractive enough that he was genuinely embarrassed. He almost lept to his feet, rubbing the dirt off his jacket aggressively, trying hard not to blush.

"Crash landing huh?" he joked, hoping that the girl wouldn't keep laughing at him. "It's just, I didn't want to break the fence, and the barrels I used to jump over weren't steady, and, um..."

Ethan sighed in defeat as he gave up on his rushed explanation, deciding the best course of action would to be simply to move on.

"Hi, name's Ethan," he introduced himself, giving a brief wave, "What brings you to this friendly waste?"

[Reli Kain]

The boy seemed to finally register that she was there, the squint leaving his eyes, and in response he hurridly got to his feet wiping his jacket. He covered up his... embaressment? Nervousness? With a joke, and stuttered to explain his spontaneous entrance. The 'crash landing' comment (which normally would've fetched a comeback joke) just made Reli evenly break out in more persistent laughter. The stranger sighed, Damn sighs, completely untranslatable..., and introduced himself with a wave before asking why she was here. She took a moment to let her laugh die down (though the sigh had killed some of it).

She stuck out a hand so that it was almost touching the middle of his - Ethans - torso. "Reli." Insert trademark grin. "And I'm here for entertainment. And you, mister Ethan-the-not-a-vandle?" He was already fun, stuttering about as he did. He seemed like he was halfway trying to impress, but she couldn't see why... But he would be fun. He seemed like the kind of boy she could 'push', the kind she could peer-pressure into a bit of fun. Seeing how far he could - or would - go seemed like such a fun game.

[robbie117]

It took Ethan nearly half a second to realise that the girl, Reli she called herself, had asked him a question. Whatever embarrassment he had felt falling over was replaced instantly with confusion as she greeted him, sticking out her palm close to his chest. Still, she was grinning, and talking to him, so he supposed he hadn't embarassed himself too much.

Wait a minute, Ethan-the-not-a-vandle? He knew he didn't knock that damn wall over for a reason. He snapped himself back to reality, answering Reli's question.

"Er, you mean besides the satisfaction of surfing the dirt?" he joked, "I guess I'm here for the same reason you are."

Ethan took a look around, glancing at the outside of the structure clearly now that the fence was out of the way. It was rotting, collapsing, the metal exterior a brown-red colour. Between two large, open, sliding doors he could see inside, and the place was empty.

And then there was Reli. From their intro, Ethan had picked up nothing about her, except that she found his entrance most amusing. 'Can't really blame her for that'. Her greeting was odd, but ultimately unrevealing. Her location was,.. different, but that could say so many things about her. Why did she talk to him, even though they had never met? 'Probably the same reason I talk to her,' he thought, 'because where the only two people here.'. She was still an unknown. Ethan found that extremely interesting.

"Quick question," he added, "what exactly is here?"

[Reli Kain]

((LOL - chirstmas anyone?))

As Ethan looked around Reli began to pout. He wasn't following the rules, wasn't being what Reli thought polite was. The longer he stayed silent the more pronounced her pout became, and began to stare at her hand. When he finally spoke, asked her where they were, she promptly ignored him. Instead, she opted for pokeing his chest. "Hands are for shakeing. They are for other things as well - handy (ha handy) opposable thumbs - but they are also for shaking." She looked up at his face. "Shake." She commanded in a tone similar to how one trains a dog.

She had been raised on disipline - whether she followed it or not - and knew all about ettiquette. Ettiquette in either form. This was just the first part of the game that was forming in her mind, she wanted to see if he would do what she said. Only fools don't think for themselves... I wonder who told me that? This may very well turn out to be the highlight of her day.

((Soz, couldn't think of much after that first paragraph. Hee hee.))

[robbie117]

((A handshake? That's what that was?))

'A handshake!? How did I fail to regonise that she was after a handshake!?' wondered Ethan, 'Did I hit my head when I landed? And ow that poke hurt.'

In his haste to get up, and in his embarassment at the landing, Ethan had failed to read the visual ques, mistaking her hand gestures for some other strange greeting.

Now Reli stood before him, hand outstretched, commanding him to shake. Commanding. Ethan hated commands, hated the idea that someone was telling him what to do. And the way this girl spoke, she was definatly commanding him to shake.

His embarassment got the better of him though, he hasently took Reli's outstretched hand, although he could not hide the twitch in his eyebrow in annoyance, or the way his hand tensed momentarily on contact with hers. Still, he shook.

"Sorry." he stammered, trying to hide both his annoyance and his blush.

'This is going well...' Ethan was struggling hard to determine just how he could make even more of an arse out of himself. 'I need a distraction.'

Moving out of the shake, he could feel his headache dying, and he was returning to his senses. "So," he inquired, "your here for entertainment. What is it here that entertains you?"

((I'm not losing the X-Mas colours, I like how they make my posts look))

[Reli Kain]

((Yes it was a handshake - jeez. It was an odd, abrut handshake, but a shake nonetheless. Ha ha.))

She felt him quickly take her hand and shake it, but since she was watching his face she saw the annoyance move over his face for a moment and she felt his hand tense in an unresponsive manner. He stammered an apology, though she was stumped as to whether it was for ignoring her handshake or for the evident annoyance. He let go of her hand, she tilting her head in response, before he asked what entertains her. She barked a short laugh, "Anything really." she bared her teeth in a grin. "But around here, mainly exploring. This place is great for exploring, there are about four different floors, though it might be more like three and a half, and there are overhead beams to balance along and, and- And well a lotta stuff." She concluded.

She was trying to place the origin of Ethan's annoyance. It must've been her command. Did he think the tone was demeaning? Apparently many people thought so, not that Reli ever understood why. Something about humans thinking they were better than dogs... Well, she hoped she hadn't ruined her chance of making a new playmate.

((Dude! Have u seen Steam? Best weekend deal. I'm probably gonna get it... And come on Steam so we can chat? Or, u know, not. ))

[robbie117]

The girl was laughing, and grinning. Ethan felt a little bit of him embarrassment die, the grin meant she wasn't annoyed with him. It made him feel better. Maybe she could forget the awkard intro, and just have some fun. And the way she described the place, the two of them had plenty of oppunity to have fun. He espically liked the mention of overhead beams, he hadn't had much oppunity to test his balance lately, and it seemed like a healthy, incredably risky way to try it out.

In fact, the whole idea seemed risky. Following a complete stranger into an abondended building, exploring, climbing all over the structure, Ethan couldn't help but grin. Of course, this all relyed on Reli to lead him. But she seemed to like the idea as much as he did.

"Well," he said, looking at Reli, "that does sound fun. You lead the way then, assuming your intrested in exploring a creepy, old, abandoned building with a complete stranger?"

He had to make his comment give Reli a choice, he wouldn't allow himself tell her to lead. Still, he worked to do it in a way that didn't make it seem he was offering to lead, he wasn't much of a leader and he knew it. In Ethan's mind, he recongise's how parthetic this was, but he said it anyway, because there was no way she could figure out how him mind was working.

[Reli Kain]

From what Reli could tell - from his tone and his words - he seemed to like the idea of exploring as much as she normally did. He asked for her to lead the way. "Ha! Most people are complete strangers, and I'm always interested in exploring." She bounded away in the direction of the building, not once looking back. "Come on!" She called out. She planned on heading up to the top floors, if not up to the beams themselves.

This would be fun, Ethan seemed keen to explore - just as keen as her. This certainly was shapeing up to be a good day. The only thing to top it off was if it started to rain... But Reli knew better than to hope for that.

[robbie117]

Reli ran off in the direction of the building, calling after him without a backwards glance. Ethan could do nothing but watch in amazement for half a second, before bouncing off after her. She was fast, but he was as well, and he could keep up. The pair were rapidly approaching the building, Ethan following Reli closely.

'Wow,' he thought, 'this girl really does want to explore.' Ethan couldn't think of the last time a girl had lept off that fast. Ethan couldn't help but notice her eagerness to explore, few people shared his enjoyment of strange abandoned buildings after all. It was as if there was a child-like desire to just play hiding beneath her adult exterior, a desire to be free. Or maybe it was a trap, and she actually wanted to mug him. 'Only one way to find out.' There was no way Ethan would back out now, if anything the sudden idea of a trap only pushed him on harder.

The pair made it to the outside of the building, Reli still leading the way. He expected her to lead them in.

[Reli Kain]

Ethan kept up with her bounds, Reli heard his feet pounded the loose ground next to her. He didn't say anything, not even when they reached the building, but that was okay with her - she was just pleased to have the wind in her hair. She stepped inside through the semi-open sliding doors and bounded over to the rickety, rotting stairs. She made it halfway up before stopping. She leaned over the railing, which gave an alarming squeal, and looked up at the roof. The beams zagged across, creating zebra stripes on the floor with the shadows. This was one of the newer buildings in order of abandoned buildings that she'd explored. She didn't completely know it's ins and outs. But she'd breifly scouted it out - she'd figured out how to get to certain obvious places. But there were still places she hadn't gotten to, nooks and crannies she'd yet to squeeze into. She tossed her head to look at Ethan and asked with a completely serious expression, "So... wanna come up to the dodgey floors?" Before cracking into a grin.

[robbie117]

Reli ran through the warehouse about a metre ahead of Ethan, passing through the large doors and up the decaying staircase. Ethan hit the first step slightly awkwardly, but kept his balance almost perfectly and followed Reli, not falling another centimetre behind.

'Noone else around,' he thought, 'This girl is actually here for fun.'

Reli stopped halfway up the stairs, leaning over the railings and staring up at the roof. Ethan used all his agility to stop himself from bowling here over, managing to stop just before colliding with the female. Luckily she kept her gaze upwards, so she didn't see.

She turned to face him, asking completely seriously if he would head up further. Ethan glance quickly upwards. The roof was high, below it were several beams and railings, narrow paths that crossed from one side of the room to the other. How fun.

Ethan turned back to Reli in time to see her face crack into a grin, a grin he couldn't stop himself from sending back. "I'd love to," he replied, "Why don't you lead the way."

[Reli Kain]

He grinned back at her and replied in the affermative. She turned-tail and ran up the stairs - sometimes skipping steps she thought looked too rotten. The staircase was pretty much just one set of stairs all the way to the top floor, though Reli remembered seeing other, shorter sets of stairs. Reaching the top floor she drew to an abrupt halt but only stood still for less than a second before smoothly padding out onto the floor. Like most of the floors, this 'floor' was really only a walkway around the edge. At its original length it was still about three or five meters out from the wall, but there was a gaping rectangular hole in the middle. In one corner was a stack of crates (preceriously balanced) that Reli had left there before - the beams where easily three meters from the top floor's 'ground', if not four. Even though Reli had learnt that she could jump from the rusted railings along the walkways inner edge onto most of the beams, she still found the crates simpler.

Or maybe you had an idea that you'd be bringing someone up here and covered your tracks... Her Uncle didn't instil the family laws in her (he didn't obey them so why would he teach them to her?), but she still remembered some of them. Like keeping what they were a secret, especially from the humans. You never know when you'd come across a hunter or even just a human who knew a hunter. She aimlessly wandered along the water damaged walkway, walking the oppesite direction to the crates, just soaking in the environment.