Welcome to Gaia! ::

If there was one thing Ellie had never quite understood, it was flea markets. Yet her dad, when he had the spare time, was always going to them to try and find good "bargains." It really was a crap shoot when it came to her dad's schedule, and for once, he was able to free up a weekend. In all his wisdom, he decided to bring his daughter with him to the local flea market.

Ellie hoped there were some wrenches there. Or something mechanical. Maybe some sort of watch that she could take apart later for her own amusement? Once the girl and her father (both with a matching set of blonde hair) arrived, they parted ways. Mr. Spectre would look at everything in search of a bargain, where as the highschooler would only look at a small percentage of the merchandise available.

She loomed through the plots, weaving in and out of the aisles with her hands hitched behind her head. Where many would look carefully, the girl's golden eyes just lingered long enough to judge whether there was anything remotely interesting in a booth. The tomboy had managed to make it through three aisles without finding a single thing of interest. And then she saw him.

Some boy she could have sworn she saw at Meadowview. Where specifically, she didn't know. There were way too many students at Meadowview last she checked. Being the energetic soul she was, she rather easily bounded up close to him and loomed over to see what he was looking at. "Ya find somethin' interestin', kid? Or ya jus' like talkin' to yerself?" she asked, only vaguely catching a hint of this boy's voice. If he was to turn around, he'd be greeted by a rather wide grin from the tall girl.

The girl continued to grin, watching in amusement as the little boy practically squirmed. She remained standing there at her full height, hands hitched behind her head. In a rather indifferent tone, she offered "Dude, you sound like y'just sh*t yerself." This was the closest thing he'd probably get to sympathy about the situation.

It was obvious that Ellie wasn't into girly things, especially based off how she was dressed. Skater shorts, a couple chains hanging from her belt loop and a torn shirt were the outfit she had haphazardly tossed together for the day. Her eyes looked over the merchandise, spotting 3 dolls and a duck toy. All which screamed out "LAAAAAAAAME" in her mind. The boy sputtered out his excuses in a voice that sounded like he had just hit puberty (which was entirely a possibility from her perspective).

"Chill kid!" she eventually exclaimed. She looked over the duck toy from where she was standing and offered conversationally "So yer sister's inta frilly gay sh*t like that? She got a birthday comin' up or something? Must be a drag bein' expected t'buy this sorta crap fer a girl. It'd be like gettin' a guy t'buy underwear fer some complete stranger-girl."

Ellie, now complete with unfiltered thought action. She really needed to start learning to think before she spoke.

Her shoulders rolled into a shrug before she spoke again, addressing the reason why she approached in the first place. "So, I'm right in thinkin' y'go t'Meadowview, right?"

It was a bit odd for him to be defending his sister in such a fashion, but then again, the blonde really didn't have much to compare to. She had no siblings of her own, so she never really bothered to figure out how strong that sibling-bond could be. Not like it would have made a difference in her everyday life.

"Y'must be a pretty nice brother t'pretend that it's not frilly. Seriously, unless yer sister is in elementary still, I'd say she needs t'grow up a bit." Ellie had been the girl who grew up with Hot Wheels, not dolls or stuffed animals. Stuffed animals were lame, end of story. No amount of arguing could change such an opinion.

At the mention of which year the dark-haired boy was in, she snickered. Not wanting to leave the boy in the dark, she even added in comment:

"Wow, yer a runt fer a sophomore even!"

Tact. Ellie had none.

"Well kiddo, I'm a junior. Name's Ellie Spectre!" She tugged both of her hands away from behind her head and reached out her right hand for a handshake. It was only proper to shake hands when you first introduced yourself to someone. Even if you had just been insulting the boy's height and taste in plush animals.

Did this guy have no class? Rather than shake hands, he decided to have a hissy fit over his height, pointing his finger in a nearly accusatory manner at her. Obviously, there were some negative vibes here.

Though her expression remained relatively chipper, she leaned forward and shared a bit of advice with the runt. "First rule when y'meet someone. Y'shake their hand. Otherwise, yer bein' a rude son ov'a b*tch." She shrugged her shoulders slightly before standing up to her full height again, turning her body slightly so she was facing the entrance to the little plot. He already made his statement, so she wasn't going to offer her hand any longer. "I guess y'jus' prefer bein' a rude son ov'a b*tch then, Shepard."

The girl couldn't help but turn her head to face the elderly woman and give a small nod of apology. "Sorry 'bout the coarse language, m'am."

At the prompting about her activities at school, she grinned and turned back to the boy, her interest suddenly quadrupled. "Ain't in any clubs, but I live in th'auto shop and metal shop classes. They've got tools there that y'can't get unless y'got yer own professional car garage. Might as well use them while I've got access, right?" She laughed as if she said something funny. It wasn't a tiny meek laugh which some cute girl might have made, but a rather hearty one.

Ellie muffled her laughter before continuing on. "Maybe I've seen y'on the field before. My friend, Zuniga, he's on the soccer team. Y'on some sorta team, Shepard?" A runt like him probably wasn't on any sort of big team, like football, and he definitely wasn't on soccer (otherwise she would have already been quite familiar with him).

With a large grin, the tomboy easily took the kid's smaller hand in her own and shook. She was no lady when it came to her handshake, but that was strictly because she grew up shaking the hands of strong guys. In fact, her handshake was very strong, and perhaps a bit crushing to the unsuspecting. It was the silent guy code that meant "this person is respectable because they have a firm handshake." The two hands vigorously bounced up and down, largely due to Ellie's own energy.

When he called her out on her manners, she didn't even seem to fuss. "Yeah, I know" she said, almost beaming as she confessed such. Since she was already confessing one thing, she figured she could toss in another confession while she was at it. "And jus' so y'know... I tend t'call anyone that's shorter than me 'kid' or 'kiddo'...jus' a habit, Shepard." It was about this time she finally released his poor hand.

Finished up with the mild confessions (which honestly hadn't bothered her morals at all, she just said it because she could), she then rounded the conversation back to the subject of his sport. "So, track eh? Do ya do any of th'field events too, or are ya a strict runner?" There was a slight pause before she then added with a mischievous smile curling her lips "Are ya fast?" Hopefully poor Ladon realized how important his answer to that question would be. It would completely decide this girl's next series of actions.

The girl was no track star. She was an overall sort of athletic, but nothing polished or practiced about it. Ellie was able to take a hit, run a race in a decent time, and try her hardest at whatever task was given to her.

And right now, the girl had dangerous amounts of energy to burn.

At Ladon's statement, she nodded her head, acknowledging the fact lots of people had that same title as she had bestowed upon the boy. In fact, the only person she didn't give that title to who was shorter than her was her mother. You didn't call your Mom a kiddo in any lifetime. Ever.

Her mischievous smile, however, remained firmly upon her lips. She began to walk out of the booth to the narrow pathway, glancing back to make certain the boy was following her. Only once in the clearing, she announced her idea. "I wanna see how fast y'are, kiddo." There was a pause in her words where she offered the boy a hearty clapping of her hand on his shoulder. This was the sort of thing a tomboy did to encourage a friend to do something stupid.

"I'll race ya t'the north end parkin' zone. If y'get there first, I'll give ya five dollars. If I get there first, then I jus' get gloatin' rights." In all honesty, it was a win-win situation for the boy if he really thought about it. Though there was that issue of dignity if he lost. The girl's finger pointed out ahead towards the goal area, that smile remaining constant on her lips.

"How 'bout it, Shepard? Y'game?"

"Awesome! Knew y'wouldn't let me down, Shepard!"

The girl laughed a bit, and when the boy teasingly told her to not cry, she laughed even louder. "Oh god! Why th'ell would I be cryin'? Only lil' girls go cryin' t'mama!" That, and guys who were in reality just pussies, but she figured that was a given.

As if she was in P.E. class (which she technically did not have to take as a Junior, HURRAY), she began to stretch slightly, lifting one leg in a flamingo-like fashion and holding her foot up along her back. After a bit, Ellie switched legs before she got into a casual starting position. It was obvious she wasn't on the Track Team. Her stance was way too informal to give her a super fast start. However, as she glanced down to the shorty, she mused that her longer legs would help her a bit.

At least a bit.

"Yeah, on th'count of three. One. Two. Three!"

And the race had begun.