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 Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2016 6:17 pm
"Cas, come on!" Crouched on the edge of a rickety fire escape, Cassiopeia peered down through the metal slots at her brother, waiting for him to catch up to her. They had to hurry, not just because Cassie was afraid the whole thing might just crumble at any given moment, but because she wasn't at all sure there wasn't some sort of night watchman looking over this particular ancient lot. That wasn't usually a concern, not when the twins frequented more obviously abandoned buildings to sneak around, but this one was scheduled for renovation. A temporary chain link fence had been set up arund it, thick plastic hanging from the majority of it. It was very close to what Cassie imagined a construction site might look like, but with only a fraction of the security. So far. Give it a few more days, and the place would probably be swarming, but for now, for tonight, it was left unattended. As Cas drew level with her, Cassie flashed him a wicked little grin as she adjusted the straps on the backpack she was wearing(supplies). They just had to get up to go up a couple more stories, then they could get in through the broken window on the twelfth floor. "Ready?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2016 7:11 pm
"Hold your damn horses," came the airy answer. The sound of wheels on pavement could be heard and then the dark head of Caspian came into view, his skateboard skidding across the ground. He skidded to a stop with a scrape of gravel, kicked the board up into his arms, and flipped the backpack he was wearing around to his front.
"I just need to do this..." Caspian tugged on the straps of his bag, secured the skateboard horizontally, and then swung the backpack back around, grinning at his sister. His face, identical to hers, was bathed in moonlight, casting sharp, long shadows along behind him.
He kicked a booted foot at the fire escape.
"All right, let's go," said Caspian, and gestured grandly to her. "Ladies first."
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2016 7:22 pm
A roll of the eyes was answer enough to her brother, but Cassie waited until he was on the fire escape, climbing up to reach her perch. "Then shouldn't you be ahead of me?" It was always like this, and always had been. The two didn't bicker, they bantered. Something that came as a constant annoyance and point of amusement to their mother. The woman, young for the mother of a set of twins in their late teens, had never been altogether conventional in her motherly methods, which was likely why the pair were out, yet again, trouble seeking with little regard for any repercussions. Or safety, for that matter. The rusted metal of the fire escape creaked and moaned as Cass started up the ladder, climbing quickly, but more or less carefully. She should have been thinking about the state of the building itself, the sturdiness of the floor they were going to be standing on, but she wasn't. She never did. Neither of them did. "What took you so long?" This was directed over her shoulder as she rounded a corner and started up another ladder.
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Posted: Sun Jan 03, 2016 8:43 pm
Cassie's only response was a raspberry blown in her direction. Caspian clambered up the steps after her, his movements quick and well-practiced from years of doing exactly this: getting into places that they probably weren't supposed to be in.
Within moments they were both on the first landing, and Caspian made a face.
"Less talking, more climbing," he said loftily, scaling the next set of stairs within a few seconds. There was one more following; it creaked noisily under his footsteps, the edge of his skateboard smacking against the railing every so often and making it ring, but they reached the top soon enough. Caspian leaned around his sister to squint through a dusty, grimy window.
"Empty, as usual," he proclaimed, and dug around in his pocket until he found his pocketknife, flipping open the blade. He pushed it under the splintered ledge of the window and wiggled it around for a few minutes until it gave away with a creak and a shudder. Caspian stowed his knife away and shoved up the window, swinging his legs through and almost bonking his head on the ledge in the process.
"Get in here, loser."
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Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 2:26 pm
You're so bossy!" The exclamation was punctuated by a foot planted squarely on her brothers a** as she followed him though the window. Inside the room was dusty, worn down, and falling apart. Cassie's nose wrinkled as she drug a finger across the surface of an old desk next to the window. "Gross." As if she hadn't been expecting that. Her backpack slid off her shoulder as she freed one arm, and she rummaged through it as she glanced around the large open space they were standing in. After a moment he pulled out a flashlight and switched it on. "So what did this place used to be, again?" She'd asked at one point, but couldn't remember if Cas had answered or not. There was a chance she'd asked, then immediately gotten distracted with something and tuned him out. It had happened before. She nudges an empty mystery can with the toe of her boot.
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Posted: Mon Jan 04, 2016 9:39 pm
Caspian let out an indignant squawk, swatting a hand behind him in an attempt at hitting his sister's leg, but she was already through the window after him. Both of them stood in a large room that looked as though it might have been office space at some point - large room dividers were stacked haphazardly in the center, and there were one or two dusty, broken desks scattered.
"This is a disgusting place," said Caspian conversationally, and then grinned at his sister. "I dunno. Maybe a long-lost factory of some sort? It doesn't look very well used, I think there was something about the building company having lost funding halfway through putting it up."
He padded a few feet away, footsteps echoing in the wide open space. Caspian peered through a doorway, his hands wrapped loosely around the straps of his backpack.
"I think there are stairs over here, we can go down to a different floor."
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Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2016 6:13 pm
"Why do we continue to break into places that are all gross?" She said it as if it hadn't been their idea. As if they didn't both get a thrill from it. It was their hobby, that's why they did it. She followed along on his heels, flashlight sweeping the filthy floor in front of him to light the way as they headed out into the hall and angled for the staircase. "Think there's anything worth swiping in here? Antiques or something that can be sold?" Industrial era machinery was something collectors looked for, right? The beam of the flashlight stayed steadily before them as she pushed open the door for the stairs, holding it for her brother. "Watch your board."
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Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2016 9:41 pm
If it was possible for Caspian to roll his eyes into infinity, he would have. As it was, he merely gave Cassie an exasperated look, his dark brows contracting so that he bore the remarkable resemblance to a hawk eyeing its prey suspiciously.
"Your idea," said Caspian loftily, and kicked a broken chair leg out of the way. He sidled through the open door, angled so that his board wouldn't hit the frame, and emerged out onto a dingy, darkened stairwell, cramped and empty. Peering over one of the low walls revealed that it lead all the way down to the first floor, presumably with doors that opened at every level.
"Maybe we can find some computer things too, those are always money worthy," said Caspian, taking the steps down two at a time. "Antiques would fetch a good price."
Because really money was happiness, wasn't it?
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Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 2:23 pm
"Are you sure?" She sounded skeptical, and a mischievous little grin ticked into play on her lips as she followed along behind him, leaning against the half wall as well to peer over the edge. For a moment she lingered there, watching him team up with gravity against the old planks, then she followed behind, skipping gingerly, light footed. She made an agreeable sound about the computer tech. "That'd be nice. Btu it either has to be really old, or really new for it to be worth it, and the latter is really unlikely. Some old Macintoshes would be fab though." Collectors liked that sort of stuff, despite them running like absolute s**t and doing nothing. Whatever, to each their own. Far below, something stirred. Or rather a couple of somethings. Youma didn't often travel in packs outside the rift, but this evening a few had emerged, and they'd banded together. Wolf like, with large paws and long muzzles, the beasts had followed the scent of the humans to the construction site, slipping inside through a broken window on the ground floor that neither twin had noticed. They were creeping soundlessly, hackles raised and the spines along their shoulders standing on end as one of the two heard the sound of pounding from the floors above. It's head lifted, pupiless eyes fixating on the ceiling as a growl that was vaguely off trickled past glistening teeth. As one, the youma started moving towards the stair well.
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Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 2:28 pm
"Absolutely sure," said Caspian airily, hopping down a few more steps. "Any good ideas are all mine, and any shitty ideas are all yours. That's how it works, duh."
He flashed Cassie a smirk and then rolled his eyes again. "Okay, well, computer tech is out, then, we'll just look around for some good antique stuff that will get us a good price. Then we can go out and grab some fries, because I'm starving."
The air in the stairwell seemed to shift; Caspian's head rose, a frown on his face, and glanced back at his sister, wondering if they'd been caught already. It didn't seem likely; they had been quiet, for the most part, and they knew which buildings were more likely to be under surveillance.
"Did you hear that?" he said, peering over the edge of the wall.
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Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 2:41 pm
There came a disgruntled scoff from behind Caspian's left shoulder. "Uh huh. What about that time you suggested we jump in that marsh back in Florida, and ended up waist deep in muck?" When he stopped, Cassie ran right into the back of him, attention wandering with the beam of her flashlight through the door on the landing they'd just passed. Grunting, she put a hand on his shoulder and took a step back, frowning as she stopped to listen as well. "No. What did you hear?" Wait. Maybe she did hear something. A faint sound, almost like a scrapping... When Caspian peered over the edge he'd be meet by two sets of milky eyes staring back up at him and the white flash of teeth behind drawn back hackles. Another growl, this one louder, threatening dark fur and darker quills stood on end all the way along the beasts' spines. The other barked, and it was a loud coughing sound, and that seemed o signal the hunt. Both took off up the stairs, snarling wildly as they jostled with each other, snapping and biting. Cassiopeia gasped, eyes widening as they fell on the pair of monsters heading for them, and she grabbed her brother's arm as she started back up the stairs. "Run! Now!" They had to get out of here!
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Posted: Thu Jan 07, 2016 8:57 pm
He gave Cassie a scandalized look over his shoulder.
"I thought we agreed never to talk about that," said Caspian, outraged. "You said we were gonna keep that s**t in the past, and just let bygones be bygones, right? There are just some things that shouldn't be brought up again, you know?"
The stairwell was enclosed and dim. Cassie's flashlight added a yellowish beam, illuminating nothing but the two of them, though Caspian could still hear the scratching of something. He brushed his hair out of his eyes and frowned, taking one more step as he looked over the edge.
And then gave a yell of horror, Caspian leaping backwards, crashing into his sister.
"What the hell is that - "
He didn't need telling twice. Caspian pushed Cassie up and stumbled after her, the sounds of growling and snapping teeth, claws against concrete echoing loudly in the small space. He grappled at the railing, staggered, and almost lost his balance, but kept running, chest heaving for breath.
"s**t s**t s**t - "
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2016 7:06 am
"Nothing good!" She didn't have a clue. Some sort of elderich horrors come to life. Is this what the news had warned against when they'd mentioned hidden dangers? It shouldn't have been possible. It should have been laughable, like the plot from a bad B movie, but Cassie could hear the things snarling at their heels, and the rough slam of paws into hard floors. Barely catching onto the door frame, Cass threw herself towards the window, practically diving out before turning to reach for Caspian to tank him through. The fire escape groaned under their weight, but there wasn't anything for it now, they had to get away! A howl sounded behind them--above them--and Cassie couldn't help glancing back, watching in horror as first one snarling beast aqueezed through the window, then the other. The old metal supporting them groaned louder, and above the ground she could hear the first cracks of rusted bolts in old bricks. The fire escape couldn't hold them. "Go go go!" Shoving now, she tried to get Caspian climbing down before her, keening in panic as she hurriedly followed.
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2016 9:42 am
A mantra of s**t s**t s**t was running through Caspian's mind as he bolted up the stairs, skittering on the floor. He followed his sister through the room, the sound of scratching claws and snarling sounds filling his senses, and he practically shoved Cassie through, out to the fire escape.
"Just for the record," Caspian panted as he staggered out, crashing into one of the fire escape's railings, metal creaking. "This whole thing was your idea."
He started to climb down, scaling so fast that his hands scraped across the rusted metal and finally reached the bottom, Caspian stumbling. He heard a growl, a snap of teeth, and leapt forward, something huge and black thumping to the ground, and whipped back to find a pair of gleaming eyes staring at ******** hell - "
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Posted: Sat Jan 09, 2016 10:10 am
If they hadn't been running for their lives Cassie might have had some smart assed response to Caspian's reminder that going out that evening had been her idea. As if she'd known there would be demonic wolf creatures trying to eat them! Cas had reached the bottom, and Cassie wasn't that far behind him, one level above and hurrying down to meet him. There was a loud growl, the creak of old metal as one of the beasts tensed, then a sickening lurch as the fire escape swayed, then startled to buckle. Dimly she was aware of something heavy hitting the ground, but her attention stayed on the beast still above her, and the twisting and snappy of rusted metal as it tore away from the building and started to fall. Cassie screamed, clutching white knuckled to the rail until fear got the better of her(thankfully) and she dove from the falling construct towards a patch of dirt, rolling as she hit the ground. "Jesus Christ!" Scrambling up, she made an attempt to run for her brother, but slid to a stop as a large dark form launched itself between them. Divide and conquer. "Cas, get to the park!" They had points throughout the city, places they had agreed to return to on those occasions when they were separated for one reason or another. It would have been better to stay together, but it didn't look like that was a possibility at the moment. So Cassiopeia cast a quick, desperate look past the monsters to her brother before turning on her heel and sprinting in the opposite direction. Her long board was resting against a dumpster where she'd crawled through a hole in the fence, and Cassie grabbed it as she threw herself through it, chain link leaving angry scratches against her cheek and arms, but she was running as she hit the pavement, the sound of heavy paws pounding against the ground right on her heels. "********!" <******** better make it, Caspian
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