Welcome to Gaia! ::

Joseph Ross had been into urban exploration for years now. Usually, though, the places he liked to scope out had been abandoned for a long time, often ransacked by looters. But the church he planned on visiting tonight, while old, had been in use until very recently. It had only just been closed off due to a fire, and while it was far from safe to enter that only meant there had to be something interesting to see inside it. Sometimes fire damage was fascinating, awful as it could be.

And what was life without risking a little life and limb, anyway?

To that end, he'd called up his girlfriend to invite her to come with him - they were going to meet up at the other end of the block from the church, and head in together. Hopefully he wouldn't have to wait here much longer - Emily Wren Wiley had never been one to turn down an adventure.

"Hey there," Joseph greeted, tugging his finally-a-decent-length ponytail over his shoulder to grin at Emily as she approached. "Been a while, pretty lady," he said, and swung an arm over her shoulder once she was near enough, both out of affection and toward off the chill. "You ready to check out the place?"

It should be unoccupied, given the time of day, so he didn't think there was too much risk of running into trouble. "Me? I'm good. Bored as hell, but tonight's gonna put that to a stop for a while. How about you? Your dad doin' alright?" He knew how protective she was of her (ridiculous) old man, after all. It wouldn't be right to ignore that.

"You expect your brother to do anything less?" Joseph asked, chuckling a little. He caught the way she was looking at him and rubbed his chin in thought, deliberately making it clear that he'd been foregoing shaving well for a bit - not enough to get a beard, but... enough to be noticeable.

No-one said he couldn't have a little fun teasing her before their adventure.

Grinning, he waited just long enough for Emily Wren to register what he'd done, then started tugging her down the block toward the church. "The place is this way. We'll have to be quick and quiet, but it should be easy to get in -"

They were near enough to see the building now, and he frowned. Up on the roof...

"...Huh. That statue wasn't there before."

"Yeah, it's new. Looks pretty heavy, too," Joseph said, frowning. As much as he wanted to go inside, to take some pictures and give the place a good once-over... "...I wanna get up there and get a closer look at it." It shouldn't be too hard, whether or not they transformed. It wasn't an enormous church, after all, and the climb itself could be a lot of fun. "Whattaya say? Our buddy up there looks pretty lonely. Could be fun to give him company for a few minutes."

And maybe figure out how the hell anyone got that statue up there, given how heavy it had to be. Along with why - the church wasn't being used right now; the fire damage made that impossible, so... why bother decorating it? Let alone with a creepy-a** gargoyle?

"Right, let's go see our new friend," Joseph said with a grin, and squeezed his girlfriend's hand for a moment before looking around for a good way to get started on climbing up to the church's roof. "Should we cheat 'n power to jump up, or do it the hard way?" He asked, half-thoughtful. It would certainly be easier to do it that way, but there was always a little more fun in some good old-fashioned trouble. And climbing up the outside of a fire-blasted church was definitely trouble.

"Fine with me," Joseph said, more than happy to attempt this feat without relying on magical power-ups. (He'd.. been more or less neglecting his own 'superpower'd side for a while anyway, focusing instead on school and his work... and his girlfriend, of course, when they both had the time.) "Should be fun."

Looking for a good place to start was harder, but... eh. They'd work something out. Then stupid pictures with a weird-a** statue would be a go - hell, this'd be a good halloween photo op. Pictures with creepy gargoyles counted for themed shots, didn't they?

"The best view," Joseph agreed, more than happy to climb up behind Wren. Emphasis on the behind. Heh. It took a little concentration to scale the building, but altogether it wasn't that bad, at least so far. Once they'd made it a little higher and were more tired, he might have to change his mind - but for now? Nahhhh. Nah, this was good.

"So, once we get up there," he said, trying not to snicker in case it would make him lose his balance. "You wanna give our stone buddy a kiss? Bet he ain't had any attention from a pretty lady before."

"Why don't we both give it a kiss, then," Joseph said with a laugh, pulling himself up to perch near Wren. It was a little risky, putting both of their weights on almost the same place, but... worth it, to have a chance to sit here and smile with her. "But either way our buddy would appreciate a makeover." He tipped his head back and peered up toward the roof, and found himself frowning. From this angle, they should be able to see the statue....

"Uh. Wren? I think our new date ran out on us..."