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

[robbie117]

Reli took a-hold of his left arm, lifting Ethan and giving him the leverage he needed to push himself upwards and get out of the skylight. Quickly after she grabbed him and braced herself, Ethan moved his right arm to a position perpendicular to the roof and shoved down. He got high enough to throw his left leg over the ledge, before rolling over and dragging his right with it, pulling his arm out of Reli's grip has he did so. Pulling his arm away wasn't a rude gesture, but one that had to happen so he could get his whole body above the ceiling.

Ethan ended up on his back, his head resting against the hard surface. Orange sunlight illuminated the surroundings, painting the sky in an almost-reddish colour. The wind was fierce up here, but lying down most of it passed over him. Some people might say that the sunset was beautiful. Ethan supposed it was, the way each day died before being re-born again the next morning. Or something like that. He never really got it. And while it managed to captivate him for a moment, he grew uninterested quickly.

He tilted his head to look at Reli. She was much more interesting. Ethan examined her, from her grass stained jeans, to the cut on her forearm, right up to red, uneven hair. Merely hours ago, she had been a total stranger. But in that time he'd learnt a few things about her. Firstly, Reli was really fun. She wasn't scared easy, and she loved to take risks. She clearly wasn't afraid to meet people. There were very few people like Reli. And yet, there was more about her he didn't know. Maybe there was something she was hiding from him, something he might have glimped in the rain of glass shards that fell apon her or in her accent to the roof. Ethan's gaze passed over her hands. The image of claws hung in his mind. He was fascinated by Reli, but he lacked the confidence to ask more about her, or to inquire as to what happened while climbing. If anything happened that was. So, for now, he bit his tongue.

Ethan had been lying down for all of three seconds in silence. "Thank you." Ethan looked at her face when he spoke, unsure of what to say. He paused for a moment, before adding, "Well, we made it to the roof." He couldn't keep a simile off his face even if he tried.

[Reli Kain]

Ethan swung his way up onto the roof, extracting himself from her grip when nessicary to pull himself onto the roof. Ending up on his back, his face in particular was soaked in a red hue from the low slung sun. His head titlted so that he was looking at Réli who was still crouched (albeit in a more relaxed squat) next to him. He seemed to study her, washing his eyes over her. He then thanked her before proceeding (after a pause that Réli felt no need to fill) to state their obvious achievement. A smile pulled across his face, and Réli's muscles followed suit. She stood, stretching her arms above her and opening her mouth in a tall yawn.

Smacking her lips, she looked down on him. "That we are." She looked about her taking stock of the surrounding area. It was pretty unremarkable, tin tiles broken only by the skylights. They were near the edge of the roof, about three strides from the edge behind them. To their far left and on the oppesite side of the roof was what Réli assumed was an old smokestack. of course nothing came out of it now. It was made of brick and patched with cement, a walkway circled around it a bit further up and wires poked around the top. The roof came to a shallow corner along the center. Deciding what to do, she turned and walked to the edge, plonking herself down with her legs swinging over the edge.

Réli looked out, the sun glaring into the corner of her right eye. "It's funny, isn't it, that the sun makes things red and orange. Yet, it also takes away the rain and water." She gave a soft laugh, gazing out over New York City.

(( I am very sorry for being afk for oh so long. I hope you get some luck with another thread!))

[robbie117]

Reli had crouched next to Ethan, looking down on him as he lay down on the rooftop, before standing again and striding to the roof's edge. Ethan sat up to watch her move, bringing up his knees so his legs made an inverted v shape, which he rested his wrists on. Reli sat on the edge, dangling her legs over the side and commenting on the sun.

"I suppose," Ethan replied, still grinning. The wind swept into his hearing, carrying the sounds of New York City with it. Car horns mostly, but other, harder to recognise sounds as well. It was all difficult to hear from so high, it sounded distant. Ethan stood up and followed Reli to the edge. "Can you hear that?" he asked her.

Ethan reached the edge, standing besides where she sat and looking out. He could see New York clearly, looking down at the streets below them, his view moving upwards to take in the surrounding suburbs. In the distance he could see taller buildings, skyscrapers and apartment blocks. Ethan had not paused after his question, continuing to talk.

"This city, it's always alive," he continued. The grin had not left his face. "Listen. You can hear it breathing. It stays like that at night." Ethan gave a quick shake of the head. "But you knew that, everyone does. Hard to miss the noise in New York. Where I'm from, Australia, we don't have a city like this. We have Sydney, but that gets too quiet sometimes. Things close, and on late nights one runs out of places to go. Sydney sleeps. New York, it never sleeps." He paused for a moment. "I love this city."

Realising he'd probably bored Reli to sleep with his monologue, he quickly removed his gaze from the urban playground and glanced at Reli. "Where you from?" he asked.

[Reli Kain]

His question, his aural question, prompted her to stretch out her senses hearing the life below and around her. The smog that stung her nose and hung in the air, the cars, the people, the buildings themselves... Ethan continued, working into a speech of sorts. He told of how he knew that the city lived up to it's reputation; The City That Never Sleeps. He compared it to his homeland, Australia. The land Downunder... She responded to his last question.

"Russia. I lived in one of the cities for sometime, but then-" Her features crumpled into sorrow and regret, "I- I was sent else where. To live with my Uncle. His house, it was in the forests." She sniffed and smiled, turning her head to show off her smile to Ethan. "You think your city of Sydney sleeps? Ha! If that is the case then the forest never wakes!" She tossed her head back and laughed, her feet swung out in front of her. She sat back up and continued in a more vauge tone (mumbling, more to herself than Ethan), gazing over New York again. "Then again, one could say it never sleeps - far more awake than New York ever is..."

(( ;D - QC rules))

[robbie117]

Reli continued to sit over the edge, gazing out over New York city as she answered his question. She commented on her home-country of Russia, though a wave of regret seemed to pass over her as she did. The girl sniffed, Ethan assumed holding back a tear, before she continued on about the forest were she was raised in a much happier tone. But perhaps it was a false happiness. Ethan could usually see through a lie like this, and her simile did seem like a lie. Reli concluded by mumbling something about just how awake the forest was, more so then New York.

Ethan saw the pain in Reli when she talked about her home city. Something had happened there. Something painful. Something he was suddenly interested in finding out. Yet, he'd only know Reli for a few hours, and that train of thought seemed too personal to head down. Perhaps her time in the forest had been better? Reli did seem happier talking about the forest, even if he had his doubts about just how much happier it made her. So that's the direction the conversation would take them. For now anyway. They had come to the roof for danger and risk, and sitting around didn't accomplish much of either. But they could afford a break.

"The Russian forest huh? Must have been cold." Ethan dropped onto his arse as he spoke, brining his legs up again in an inverted 'v'. He lent back, arms behind him to hold his weight up. His feet rested on the ledge. "I've never lived in a forest. Never lived in Russia either." He gave a single chuckle, before hastily realising he hadn't made a joke. Ever so slightly embarrassed, Ethan through himself back into the conversation. "But that's not surprising, most people here haven't. I went stayed in the Australia country for a while, several long holidays. Nothing but paddocks or desert. Very boring, all flat and lifeless. Except for the cows. But they don't really have much to say anyway." Ethan grinned as he recalled his homeland. As much as he loved New York, he did miss it sometimes. Never enough to go back though.

"New York is brought alive by it's people. The Australian country didn't have that. It didn't have anything." Ethan paused for a second, but only a second, to figure out how to word his next question. "I can see the forest having that either. What brought it to life? If I can ask."

[Reli Kain]

Ethan sat down as he spoke, commenting on her answer and admitting his own inexperince of Russia. He continued, giving his own example of places he thought comparable to her Russian forest home. He then linked it all back, saying why New York was alive, why Australian contry was dead and questioning how a forest can be as alive as New York. A trademark grin and a glance over her shoulder preceed her answer.

"You're typical." A sardonic laugh. "You rely on humans too much. That Australian country - if all you saw is all there is then it does sound dead. But the forest? It is teeming with life. Just not nessicarily human life. There's a whole ecosystem, ha - or two, in there. There's always a bird overhead or a rodent under p-" She caught herself just in time, the 'p' sound morphing into a 'f' sound. "Foot. And oh there are bugs crawling ev-er-y-where. But, they're not annoying. Not really. There's always something to do in the forest. If you can think of it, if you find it, if it finds you." She picked herself up onto the roof, shimmied back a bit and breakdance-spun to face Ethan. "If you're the right kind of," Pause "Person." She looked on him intently.

Reli wondered, in no alarmed way, what Ethan thought of all this. She guessed he'd be another city boy - a high-and-mighty human. But maybe he'd surprise her.

[robbie117]

Reli mocked Ethan with her laughter, clearly showing distain for his need for people. Ethan felt a twinge of annoyance flow through him. She assumed that he, admittedly like most humans, had no respect for animal life. Which wasn't true. He just valued humanity more. His annoyance manifested on his face in the form of a eyebrow twitch, which thankfully Reli couldn't see. The darkness covered the far side of his face.

He turned in her direction. Calmly, yet smiling, he met her face, speaking in an equally calm manner. "If I appear to rely on humans a lot, it's purely because I can relate to them in a way I could never relate to any other species. It's not because I don't see importance in other life. I walked past a goose in central park the other day, merely a metre away. And it was beautiful. But I can't talk to a goose, can I? Can't interact in any meaningful way. With humans, I can. If that makes me typical, then so be it."

He paused, before changing the topic back to Reli's homeland. "But I suppose that would bring the forest to life. There being that many animals around. I should have guessed that, but I supposed I always associated that image with more of a rainforest setting. I didn't think that much would survive in the Russian cold. Then again, I've never been. T.V paints such horrible image of some places, doesn't it?"

Ethan turned back to face New York, staring out at it's high buildings and busy streets. A bleak fog of pollution hung around it like a dome, choking the city within it. And Ethan grinned more. This city and it's human problems held more appeal to him then Reli's forest ever could. He respected Reli, and her love of the forest. But he did need people.

In the back of him mind, small thoughts were bugging at him. In Reli's last speech, she has paused just before twisting a word into the word foot, but Ethan swore he'd heard the word paw. The image of her claws was fresh in his mind, and he recalled at least one other instance that night she had to catch herself before giving something away. There was something about her, something he had to find out, mostly because the only conclusion in his mind made no sense. The idea he had, it was impossible. Give her a moment to reply, then inquire.

[Reli Kain]

She tilted her head as she let the words wash throug her mind. She forgot, sometimes, how humans worked. The affinity they felt for each other. It probably wasn't just humans, in fact Reli knew it wasn't just humans - most animals held an affinity for their own kind. Not that you would know what that was like, would you fox? At least he was calm. He paused before he took the conversation back to being about the forest. He turned back to the urban scenery and Reli took that as a cue that he was finished. "Some are hardier than you'd think - Russians are born and bred for the winter. Hibernation helps too." She gave a short laugh.

She stared out at the smog choked city. "But I think I understand what you mean. New York is alive - it's alive in a totally different way to the forest. That's thanks to humans, of course." Thoughts strayed through her head, very few of any importance. She glanced over at Ethan and back to the view, sparking a thought of her puppy, far away at home sweet Russia. in a way, Ethan reminded her of Copper. Adverturing, ignorant fearlessness and happy attitude were common attributes of both. An odd puppy dog attitude as well... She sniffed at the air, the acidic smell singeing her nostrils.

[robbie117]

Ethan let Reli finish before he changed the subject, listening to her talk of Russia, and of New York. 'Some Russians are hardier then others...' Ethan contemplated her words. Perhaps some have secrets others don't as well? Ethan wanted to know.

'Wait a minute,' he told himself, 'this is totally insane! She's a person, she has hands. Damnit, with my head.' Ethan struggled with the memories of Reli... changing. Surely it was all one strange hallucination. But Ethan didn't hallucinate. It had looked so real. Rumours had passed into Ethan's ears about supernatural, but he'd never believed them. Still, something wasn't right.

"Human's can be good like that," he added to her final statement. He removed his gaze yet again from New York and looked back at Reli. Struggling to find the right words, he pushed onwards. "Hey," he stammered, "um, I totally don't know how to ask this. Er." Ethan missed a beat. "So, and I know this is gonna sound totally freak en insane here, but can you like, transform your hands or something?" Realising just how much of an idiot he sounded, Ethan quickly glanced away, blushing. "I mean, um. You know, never-mind."

Ethan rarely felt so stupid.

[Reli Kain]

Reli smiled at Ethan's added comment, but it turned to a smirk and a sideways glance as he began stuttering. Her laughter was, for once, internal and was at his expense. Then came the question; could she transform her hands? Her brain took just long enough to register what he had said for Ethan to quickly finish what he was saying. Shock caught in Reli's throat and she choked for a moment, thumping the collar of her chest to clear her airways. After two thumps she'd mostly recovered and thus swivled to face Ethan, her mouth still slack from choking shock moving her features.

But what contorted every line in her face, what was etched over every folicle was something far more damning: Fear.

No, no! She couldn't stop thinking it. The prime family law, Kain law number one: never let a mundane human know what you are. There was no doubt that Ethan was a mundane. Horror stories circled through her head, drilled into her memory so thoroughly that she may as well have witnessed it. Her family, captured. Rope tight around their wrists, mouths sewn shut to keep them from talking, eyes sewn shut to keep them from knowing where they were going. Untreated stitches festering into infection, growing and scabbing and rotting. Stones breaking skin, breaking flesh, breaking bones. Bones. Futitives hiding amoungst the waste - living and dead - of their relatives.

Merciless hunters finding a hint of them and relentlessly persuing. Bullets tearing through ligaments, flesh ripped and distorted. Non-mundanes, employed. Artifacts, powers, abilities, stuck between human and wolf. Jaws with too large teeth, poking through gums and pulling itself apart. Ears disfigured and useless. Eyes a gooey mess, an unpealed grape if you were lucky. Claws but no paws, agony forever on the tips of your digits. Spine clicked out of place - paraplygic. Fur in patches, newborn fur - wirey - everywhere. Freakshow attractions. Feral with nothing but pain.

Even her Uncle - the outcast, the anarchist - obeyed this one pack law. Obeyed it as if it was a Law of Nature herself. Lasering into her mind over and over: If your caught, you're finished. You can only hope for death. The hollywood werewolves? That will be you. If you are held captive, kill yourself while you still have the chance. You'll find nothing to laugh about. They will pull you apart. Just pray they don't try and put you back together. If you are found, if you are caught, die. It's your only hope. If your caught, you're finished.

The older tales, fear destroying the common sense that would remind Reli that this is outdated. Manacles chafing wrists and ankles, chained verticle to a wall and stretched in four different ways. Red hot pokers searing flesh and hair and chokeing the room. The drip, drip, drip on the end of a sensitive nose - victims devouring as much of their snout as physically possible. Held in a cauldron, the lid too heavy to lift for an already starving Kain, and the water bubbling around you. Hotter, hotter, hotter. Their own kin, turned rabid. Wolves tearing other wolves apart. rats burrowing into stomachs and through the body - blood loss if you were lucky. The Black Death from the inside out if not.

Tied and bound to wood with a jeering crowd baying for your molten flesh: Burn burn! And Reli couldn't stop the treacherous voice, the leacherous voice taking too much pleasure from her intense fear. She couldn't stop it whispering in her ear that line from the stupid chlidrens' book. "His favourite food is roasted fox!"

Roasted fox, roasted fox, roasted fox...

[/color][/center]

[robbie117]

A choke from Reli caught Ethan's attention, the young male whipping his head around to observe the source. The red-headed girl was looking away from him, recovering. She turned to gaze apon him, mouth open.

And Ethan saw something he didn't expect. He hadn't known Reli long, but in that short time they had done the daring, the stupid. They had raced several metres above the ground, had endured hails of glass, had pulled themselves through skylights. They could have been injured. They could have died. But Reli had never once paused, or looked worried. So it took Ethan completely by surprise when he saw what he did on Reli's face, in her open mouth, in her eyes.

Ethan saw fear. Fear of what? He didn't know. Not pausing to think, he reacted, rolling over into a crawling position and taking a step with his hand closer to the girl. Ethan was worried, panicking internally, blaming himself despite not understanding what had just happened. The panic printed itself on his face.

"I'm sorry," he blurted out, "I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry." Ethan almost couldn't think of anything else to say, nothing he thought of made it better. "Forget I said anything. Really. Not important." He regretted his desision, although he wasn't thinking about why. He hoped she could forget. Whatever happened, it was out of his hands for now.

[Reli Kain]

She could see Ethan's mouth moving, but their was a white noise drowning everything out. But she could still see, her eyes still told her what was happening. For one, they could see the dark clouds, thickening over head - a result of her fear. And they took in his face, the panic scratched into it. It was then she decided. She was scared, that was true; but he was panicking. Panicking; a fear without direction. Fear in ignorance. He had no idea what he'd stumbled upon. It was this fact that made her consider, for silent a moment, lying to him. Denial or a distortion of facts.

She looked at his face and for just a flash saw Copper in his place. The little puppy, his ears dragging on the ground. When Reli had first changed in front of him his face had just lit up. A christmas tree couldn't have been brighter. They had run through the forest, and for once Reli had felt like she belonged. As if she wasn't an outsider. Wasn't a weirdo. Wasn't a freak. She shook her head, clearing the memory. But this isn't Copper. This is a human. A human boy. A human boy who could tell anyone. Even with him, you're still a freak. But the image of Copper's complete acceptance wouldn't leave her mind...

"Yeah." Her voice surprised herself. It was still clear as day, her accent still stringing it together. "Yeah, I can." She looked into his eyes, inquisitive about what he thought of this. The thought never crossed her mind to show him again, she merely stared.

[robbie117]

The words caught Ethan off guard, halting his apoligie mid-blunder. The impact of the shock resonated through his body, turning his embarrassed expression into a wide gaze, his mouth hanging open, eyes fixed on Reli. He lost track of his surroundings, lost any sense of where he was. All he could feel was surprise, and all he could see was the girl who caused it.

Was he crazy to be believing this? People can't just... Ethan figured transform was the right word. This was madness. No. It couldn't have happened. It was imposable, right? 'I know what I saw,' the young boy told himself. He had seen her hands change. Clearer then he could see the distant skyscrapers on the city, had he tried. It was too real to be an illusion of the light, and it wasn't a hallucination. He'd never hallucinated before, why would he start now? Besides, he was sure his mind would be able to tell the difference between fake images and reality, much like he could separate dreams from reality. No, it had happened.

After a few seconds had past, but what to Ethan had felt like an hour, the boy caught himself. Slamming his jaw shut, he ducked his gaze momentarily. "C-cool." He almost mumbled the words, he was still recovering from the shock. 'How am i meant to reply to this?' he wondered.

Ethan looked up again, this time focused clearly on Reli. He looked into her eyes, he remembered the fear. The boy couldn't pretend to know it's origin, but he had known extreme fear. Once, ambushed by a foe he couldn't see, a foe that moved a lot faster then he could. Ethan had nearly lost his life that night.

"Cool," he stated, much louder. Ethan stood up, jerking his neck sideways in a quick stretch.. He tried hard to present an air of casual confidence, despite not knowing completely what he had just seen in her. If she was scared, the worst thing he could be would be panicked and confused. "That must be handy sometimes." Ethan grinned. "Very cool." Sadly, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't keep the confusion and curiosity from showing in his eyes.

[Reli Kain]

He mumbled something, but Reli still wasn't up for listening properly. He spoke clearly next time before standing and stretching. He babbled on along the same lines as his first comment, only positive words. Inside Reli curled up on herself. He had stood, moved. He's trying to get away from you. But her eyes caught a glance of his and she say something in them. Something she saw so many times in glass reflections. We are not cats - it can not hurt us. Finally her mouth tugged upwards and she allowed a smile to spark across her face.

"Do you doubt me? Do you want to see? Or-" And this was her real questions, the first two where just distractions, stalling, "Do you want to know why?" Her smile turned slightly sly, cunning shining through. Her fear was ebbing away now, but as slow as treacle. The thick, dark clouds over head where growing lighter, but her tension still unconsciously powered them. She felt a fat drop of rain land smack bang on her nose. West dots where littered around the roof, few and far between.

[robbie117]

Ethan only noticed the sudden change in weather as the first drops of rain started hitting the top of his head, creating patches of hair that were slightly heavier then others, weighted down by water. It almost caught him completely off-guard, but he stood in the same casual pose regardless. After what had just occurred, the idea of something as ordinary as rain falling causing a shock was laughable.

He was glad to see Reli simile, he could almost sense some of the fear drain away from her. To see her beginning to regain normal composure, and it made him happy. The guilt within him fled, chased down and shot by Reli's grin. He hated the idea that he had emotionally hurt someone that much.

Ethan returned Reli's simile, looking down at her. Confusion still attacked him, but he planned to isolate and destroy that too. Reli would help with that. "Um, given the fact that my normal mind still can't comprehend just how imposable this notion is," he relied to her questions, "I think an explanation would be rather useful. So... why?" Ethan could hear in Reli's words that the third question she had hoped to answer.

The rain fell around them, pattering gently on the roof. A cool breeze hit them softly. Ethan felt the scene was rather peaceful.