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

[robbie117]

Reli turned and ran up the stairs, skipping steps whenever she choose to. Ethan couldn't figure out why. It wasn't until one of the stair collapsed beneath him that he realised. Ethan had followed closely behind the girl, but hadn't bothered to skip the stairs like she had. One stair simply dissolved silently beneath his foot, causing him to stumble forward, pulling his other leg to the next just in time to avoid falling through. He remained upright, but was slowed for a moment, allowing Reli to pull ahead. Cursing his stupidly, he gave chase, carefully skipping over the same steps that Reli did.

It was fortunate that he had been slowed, cause Reli came to an abrupt halt for a moment at the top of the stairs. Had Ethan been following as closely as he had a second ago, they would have collided. As it was, he reached the top as she softly moved out into the walkway. Ethan stood at the end of the staircase, observing the scene.

There was no floor here, just a broken walkway that ran around the room and the railings above. A stack of crates were balanced nearby, in what Ethan assumed was a way into the beams. 'Reli's been up here before,' he realised, although he had already guessed as much.

Reli had placed her a few metres from Ethan, walking futher away, and away from the crates. He jogged to catch up, slowing only when he reached her side, still grinning.

"Ok, we're up here. Now what?"

[Reli Kain]

As she wandered about Ethan walked over to her, staying by her side. He's like a stray puppy... He asked what they do now. The question sounded just so odd to Reli, she couldn't help but turn and raise an eyebrow at him, smirking. She looked ahead again, now considering. "Well... any manner of things. If you've got balance then we can get up onto the railings or the beams. Or we can try figure out a way onto the roof." She stopped and considered the smogged up glass paned roof that was spotted with jagged holes caused by bricks and other stones, most certainly. "Or we can play Down-The-Rabbit-Hole, but maybe that's better for a lower floor." She placed small pout on her lips.

She always liked playing 'Down-The-Rabbit-Hole', her pain threshold helped - one of the times she was clearly glad she wasn't human. But finding a way onto the roof was also enticing, mainly 'cause she hadn't gotten around to figuring that out yet. But likely he'd choose one of the 'safer' options - one of the balancing acts. Reli could decide for the life of her if he'd go for the beams or the railing - the beams were higher but broader. The railings might be that bit closer to ground, but they were thoughorly rusted.

[robbie117]

Shit. That wasn't a clear direction. Was she letting him pick? Ethan didn't know what to do. He wasn't a leader, he shouldn't be made to decide. Still, that's apparently what she'd done. Fine, he wasn't going to leave her standing there without some-place to go. Where was the fun in that after-all.

He looked upwards to the glass celling. It was damaged, and dotted with holes, but unless she knew something he didn't there was no clear way up there without physically scaling the walls. 'No way we can scale a flat wall.' The term 'down-the-rabbit-hole' didn't ring any bells, but Reli said that would be better on a lower level. 'Yeah, like I'm heading to a lower level. I almost fell through getting up here.' That left only the one choice.

After a second of looking up at the roof he turned back to her. Was she,.. smirking? She was mocking him? Or maybe she could tell he hated making decisions. 'Ok, no way she could know that. We just met.' Well, something clearly amused her. He'd just have to ignore it.

"Er," he began, not sure where to start, "well I can't see anyway up to the roof, so unless use humans possess a secret ability to scale flat walls and noone's told me. And you say this Rabbit hole thing is downstairs. So, unless you know a path up that I can't see," Ethan glanced briefly at the floor, scratching the back of his head in nervousness, "I say we take climb the railings."

He looked across at the railings. They were thin and rusted. No way they would take their weight.

"On second thoughts," he added, "I wouldn't trust those railings with my life. We climb the beams?"

He planned to wait for a response, but curiosity got the better of him.

"Hey, what's 'Down-the-Rabbit-Hole?'"

[Reli Kain]

Reli watched as Ethan looked about him, evaluting the choices she'd given. Little expressions passed across his face as he considered little problems. He finally spoke, saying that there seemed to be no humanly possible way up onto the roof and indicating that he didn't want to go down stairs thus he chose the railings. He took one look at them and reconsidered, changing his choice instead to the beams. The choice made, she was off. Instead of backtracking she ran all the way around the walkway until she reached the crates. Nearing the crates she heard his question; inquiring what 'down-the-rabbit-hole' was. She ignored the question for a moment, instead opting to reach the crates and place a tentative foot on the bottom most one.

Climbing the stack with hands and feet, she answered; "Down-the-rabbit-hole is fun but dangerous. Basically, you find somewhere with a dodgey floor - a rotting floor or a very water damaged floor or a combo tof the two. Then, you jump around really heavily - if, um, that makes any sense. And if the floor is damaged enough, it gives way and you fall through." She'd reached the top of the crates by now, and was judging the distance to the beam, the slight upward angle and the small leap to make it over there. "The falling through is the funnest part." She leapt from the crates, checking herself seconds before she jumped to try and make sure it looked like she used as much energy as a human would. She landed on the beam, made herself overbalance, then righted her self splaying her arms out as if she were a tightrope walker and turning to try and smile at Ethan.

[robbie117]

Reli ran over to the crates, answering his question as she got there. 'Damn that sounds dangerous,' he thought, before adding to himself, 'she has to try that one with me later.' Reli climbed up the crates, carefully jumping and landing on the beam. She turned and similed at him.

He had to get up onto the beams. Reli had just used the crates, and he felt it would be weird to follow her up. No, he would find his own way up, to his own beam. He choose the beam next to her.

Now Ethan had a problem. The beam was just over three metres from the ground. He was almost two metres tall, adding half a metre in the length his arms could reach. Jumping, that made a total of three metres he could reach. Not high enough, he needed some way to booast himself up.

The walkway Ethan stood on had a handrail, almost a metre high, parhaps just enough to make the distance. Ethan hesitantly climbed the rail, carefully balancing on the metal bar, using his hands to steady himself. He wasn't going to fall.

Aiming himself in a direction of the walkway in case he missed, Ethan threw himself off the railing at the beam. By the edges of his fingers he managed to grip onto the topm, scrambling, trying desprately with his hands to grab something. His finger's stopped scratching the surface as they clung on to a groove in the beam's edge. Grunting and using all of his strength to pull himself up, he climbed over the over he collasped over the beam, lying head down, both his arms numb from pain. He turned his head across from Reli and grinned. "Ow," was all he could say, before giving a slight laugh and forcing himself to stand, holding both arms out like a gymnist. They felt like dead weights. Still, he managed. He didn't spend all that energy just too fall off.

[Reli Kain]

Reli stood on her beam and watched the display of Ethan going to such lengths to avoid her human-handy crates. She giggled quietly as he went about blancing and jumping and scrambling for a hold. He finally pulled himself up, but only seemed to have enough energy to look up at her and say ow. He rested for a moment, then seemed to have collected anough energy to stand on the beam, holding his arms out for balance. He looked a little wobbley on his feet. Reli looked at him for a moment, cocking her head to the side, before crouching down and proceeding to straddle the beam. She looked over at him. "Rest?" she asked. "Because it would be a pity for you to fall off now because you wasted all your energy getting up there." She looked away speaking now in a more scolding manner, "And going to such pains to find such a stupid way to get up there too. Why not use the crates that's what they're here for. Because it's meant to be that hard without them." She folded her arms and kept her faced turned away, Ethan still in her peripheral vision, in a slight paradoy of being affronted.

[robbie117]

She asked if he wanted to rest? How frail did she think he was? Ethan had no desire to rest, or stop. She scolded him. Scolded? 'If I'd seen someone pull themselves into a beam three metres in the air, I'd be damn impressived!'

As he walked along the beam, his balance returned, and after a few seconds he'd recovered to his normal self. His arms still stung, but it was getting better as well. "I'm not going to fall," he replied, almost spitting the words, slightly hurt by Reli's reaction, "and I don't need to rest." He paused before continuing, but in a much more relaxed tone. "And why are we even climbing onto beams in the first place? The crates led onto your beam. This one is my beam." He chuckled as he added another line, regretting his reaction to being affronted. "I took the hard way up because it was the most fun."

Reli had her back turned and her arms folded, not looking at him. "I'm sorry?"

((hehe, I fail))

[Reli Kain]

Out of the corner of her eye she saw him walk along the beam, his steps becoming firmer with each one he took. He spat words at her; that he didn't need to rest and that he wouldn't fall, obviously offended at her assumption. He paused and when he continued talking it was in a calmer voice that he questioned why they were on the beams and outlined that they each had their own beam. He chuckled as he clarified his real reason for avoiding the crates; it was more fun his way. He ended with a questioning apology. She sat in silence for a moment, pretending she was mad at him, before lifting herself up with her arms, swinging her feet under her self and shooting upright. She turned to give Ethan a broad grin which ended up turning into an echoey laugh.

"More fun. Now that is reasoning I can respect." She semi-skipped along the beam for a while, whistling an anonymous tune. Now that she was up here she wasn't all that sure what to do. She didn't want to give away what she was, especially when he smelt so human, so she wasn't sure what she could get away with. It didn't help that human males tended to exceed females in physical ability.

((Only coz u said "I'll reply 2moz morning. Nice morning there. ;D Heh.))

[robbie117]

There's one problem Ethan found with exploring abandoned buildings, things became boring very quickly. Ok, so your first steps into a foreign territory are exciting, stepping into the unknown without any idea of what one might find; be it dangerous drug addicts, a forgotten piece of history or equipment, or merely an empty building. But it only lasts until the thrill of the unknown wore off, until every thing becomes familiar and safe. And when said building was empty, things became safe very fast.

Climbing the stairs and beams had been enjoyable, but now he was up there it all felt lame. The actual climb had been a challenge, Ethan being able to literally pull himself up. It had been dangerous, and the risk of falling off was always there. But any idiot can simply stand on a beam once up, and the idea of falling was pushed from his mind by the security of his position above everything.

Reli skipped along her beam, whistling. For a moment she had almost seemed angry with him, although he couldn't pick why. Was she insulted that he hadn't used her boxes? She couldn't have known he was coming, so they weren't there for his benefit surely. He had assumed she left them for use by herself. But he couldn't decipher any other reason for the glare she gave him with her arms folded.

Still, his explanation had turned her anger into laughter, and he assumed he was off the hook. After all, they shared a common goal atop those beams. Reli wanted to enjoy herself as much as he wanted to enjoy himself.

He glanced around, rapidly coming up with ideas. They could race, although he didn't think the girl would be up for it. He toyed with the idea of jumping between the beams, they weren't far apart, but he severally doubted Reli would be willing to take that risk. After all, not many humans would. He couldn't decide, so he went for the safest option that came to his head, the default option.

A few seconds after Reli's comments, he called back to her. "So," he inquired, "what do you want to do now?"

((So soz I took so long to reply, but it's nice and long and possibly the best post I've made so far, even though nothing happens. Still, enjoy))

[Reli Kain]

Reli had managed to get about halfway down the beam by the time Ethan called out and questioned their next move. She'd been taught to treat certain situations delicatly - and this seemed like one of those situations. So how to ask... She continued skipping down the beam, gaining on the oppesite wall, in what she felt was a comfortable silence. "How about..." her words were long sounds, trailing off as she stalled. She'd managed to get four fifths of the way down the beam. She glanced back, shifting slightly so that her skips were more careful - danger is fun but healing isn't. "Reckon we could race?" Looking forward again she reached the wall in a few small leaps and pivoted to look back at Ethan. "You know, from one side to the other. Extra thrill of falling off?"

((Sorry about length. I'll make it longer later - hopefully soonish later - but the longer will mainly be Reli thoughts. So um yeah. ;D ))

[robbie117]

((Um, if Ethan sounds like a dick here, he's not meant to. He wants to win is all.))

Ethan managed to stop himself from gawking in amazement at the girl. Just. She'd skipped across the beam to the other end of the room, facing away from him the whole time, before turning around to repeat an idea that had popped into his head mere seconds ago. He couldn't help but wonder if something had given away his thoughts, and the idea that she could read his mind occurred to him briefly, before he dismissed it as crazy.

He couldn't however stop the grin that cracked across his face. Not that he tried too. Placing on foot delicately in front of the other, he swiftly strode to the other side of the beam, following Reli across. A race. He honestly didn't think the girl would have been up for it. She was shorter then him, and although light and athletic looking she lacked his slightly more muscular build. She would be fast, he was sure of it. He just felt he would be faster.

"Alright," he replied, calling after her. He could feel a slight but noticeable increase in his heart rate. How Ethan loved competition. "Racing sounds fun."

The idea of going easy on the girl never crossed his mind. He was sure he would win, but he wouldn't give the girl the dishonour of anything short of his fastest. She had been the one to ask about the race, after all. He wanted to win.

Ethan took a position next to Reli on the other beam, turning to face across the room. "When your ready." He waited for Reli to start them off.

[Reli Kain]

A grin was lsashed across the boys face and he swiftly strode to meet her at her end of the beams. He happily agreed to her propesition, and Reli let out an internal sigh of relief. Reaching the wall, Ethan turned his back to it and gave her word that she was to give the cue. She looked across at him, studying him for only a few seconds. Humans were usually so cooped up, it wasn't everyday she met one like this. But she could always have fun on her own - a friend who couldn't keep up got left behind. Let's see you in action then.

With a last grin, she subtly pushed her foot against the wall to gain a push headstart, bolting off without warning. She kept her steps light, taking care to balance and noting where her weight landed each step. Running on such a narrow surface was a sort of effort. She was glad for the sneakers she wore today, worn for comfort but new enough for that little extra grip. She ran for the opposing wall.

[robbie117]

Reli pushed off the wall with no warning, bolting down her beam with a speed he hadn't expected from her. Her balance was amazing, staying upright without ever looking like tripping. Ethan had only a fraction of a second to react, moving on instinct, no time to think. He sped after her, but her slight head start meant she had the lead.

'Damn my fat feet,' he thought, running down the narrow beam. Reli did have the advantage of smaller shoes, which helped her balance. Ethan had no such trait, and he had to carefully put one foot on the beam directly in front of the other, which would have been in the air by the time the first landed. A difficult task, made more difficult by his intense speed.

He belted down that beam. Not as fast as he could on a flat ground, he wasn't suicidal, but damn fast none-the-less. Fear crept into the back of him mind, but it was pushed sub-consciously aside. Reli was faster then she looked, and composed. But he was not going to lose.

They had travelled almost half way down the beam. Reli was still ahead by a few steps, but not many and Ethan was closely slowly. He wasn't grinning, that would break his concentration, but he was having immense fun.

[Reli Kain]

Running high over the ground across this dodgey beam - and Reli was having one of the many times of her life. If she'd listened, she could've heard Ethan catching up to her on the other beam, but instead she concentrated on balancing. Three fourths of the way across and her peripheral vision informed her that they where tied in the race.

She put on a burst of speed, but didn't expect it to take her to the wall in a winning fashion. Just as she thought, Ethan reached the wall a step before she did. She grabbed at the wall, sinking her fingers into the mortar, puffed and laughing. She looked sideways at Ethan, a cheeky grin on her face, as if they'd both had their hands in a cookie jar and someone had just walked past the kitchen.

((LOL, how did that become two paragraphs? Heh heh. Ta-da!))

[robbie117]

Ethan pushed himself as hard he possibly could without toppling off the beam, a task made significantly harder by the lactic acid building up in his legs, stifening the muscles. It would not have been such hard work had he not been made to place his feet so carefully in front of the other. He reached out, touching the wall and almost losing his balance in the process. It took a second to regain his composure, in which time his gaze fell across to Reli to see her touch the wall as well, just after him.

Reli was laughing, she looked back at him, a simile on her face. He knew that simle. He would put on a similar one just after he found himself breaking the rules, pushing the limits past where they were meant to go and getting away with it. The kind that followed fun.

Ethan was breaving deep, trying to fill his lungs with the oxygen lost to power him to push forward. Drops of sweat had collected at the edge of his fringe, forcing strands of hair together and making them fall in front of his face in a dark clump. He was sure his cheeks were a tad flushed.

He rested his forearm on the wall, leaning forward, using it to support his body and hold him up. He grinned as he looked back at Reli. Ethan had the energy still to talk, but he found nothing to say, not instantly anyways. So he gave a half-laugh, a single chuckle, before maintaining his wide simle. This had already become a great day.

((Wow I hope I got what I wanted to across))