undergrounds | May logs for Ellie

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May logs for Ellie

1. Wandering in Dangerous Territory, May 17th
The fact of the matter was, Ellie was playing hookie. There wasn’t much of the school year left anyway, and it had been such an...intense year that it had become very hard to care about it. Ellie thought that if her teachers knew she was turning into some angry animal once a month, they’d cut her some slack. Since they didn’t, though, Ellie cut the slack for herself. Generally, she tried to pick a new place every time she skipped, so no one would get suspicious. There were only so many times her story about being new and not having enrolled in school yet would work in the same area--even if school was supposed to finish soon.

So Ellie was kicking around the Thames, heading from Lambeth to Southwark. The market in Greenwich was tempting, more because it was something to do than to buy anything. The walk past the Thames was nice, too, as was getting to see the Globe from the outside.

Ellie looked up at the building. It was old architecture, and it didn’t seem like it should hold anyone. It wasn’t ugly, but it wasn’t something she loved, either. Against the overcast sky, it just looked washed out, as compared to some pictures she had seen, where it was bright against the blue sky.

There were red flags out. Ellie remembered the flags had to do with the play being put on in the globe, but she couldn’t remember what matched with what. Red, black, and white for the flags, and comedies, tragedies, and histories for the plays. Since comedies and tragedies were opposite, maybe those were for the white and black flags? Ellie frowned at her feet contemplatively, kicking at a stone on the sidewalk to see it bounce.

2. Full Moon with No Pack, May 10th
In western Richmond, there were joking rumors about a werewolf. No one actually saw anything, of course, but every now and again horrible sounds had been heard through the streets at night. Most figured they were actually stray dogs, or even cats in heat, but still the jokes persisted.

At about 9:00 on May tenth, Ellie made her preparations for the night. A space on the second floor, with a lobby and four rooms branching off from it. Once it had probably been an office space of some kind, but it had been since abandoned. There were some trees that led to windows which were mostly boarded shut, with a couple of exceptions. Ellie wasn’t worried about the windows--they were probably too high for her to get to. Instead, she pulled the downstairs door shut and locked it. Then Ellie stripped her clothes off and left them, with her knife, in a cabinet which she overturned in front of the door. As a human, she could pick it back up, but it would have to be slid backwards to get at the door, which opened into the room. Ellie thought that unless she broke through the door, it would be fine. It wasn’t great material, but the one downstairs was a little better.

Then, all there was to do was wait.

At 9:30, a dark red wolf slowly staggered to its paws, wincing as her muscles protested. She had hurt, not long ago. She was still hurting, but she made herself move, glancing around in every room. There were many smells, some that smelled like prey, appetizing, but it wasn’t new. That was infuriating--this place was infuriating because she wanted out. Out, to chase and eat and hunt.

The wolf suddenly turned on her paws and raced across the space, jumping at the last moment to slam her shoulder into the boarded up window. Glass broke, and she snarled as it tangled and sliced her, but now she could smell the outside.

Ellie stood on her hind legs to start gnawing at the wood, fury building as she wasn’t able to catch a hold with her teeth. It hurt.

3. On the Subway and Poking Around Werewolf Territory, May 20th
Taking the tube was almost second nature to Ellie. She’d grown up in enough cities that she could navigate well enough, and she’d been wandering around London for months. This was the first time it had ever been nerve wracking. Ellie shifted unhappily as her stop got closer to her destination.

Ellie wasn’t sure if she would actually...talk to anyone yet. She just wanted to get a feel for the area, and try to figure out who was living there. She’d only been given an address, but--hopefully--this would help.

4. Wildcard
Want to write your own starter? Go right ahead!

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It's no surprise to be sensing another wolf around, she's always catching the scent around here in the territory. Even as new to the area as she is, Girl finds it comforting; almost like a security blanket every time her wandering brings her on the path of another. Or at least another from the pack.

The sharpness of someone unfamiliar trips her up. She hasn't met the whole pack yet, there hasn't been enough time since settling in. It's what has her walking up to Ellie on the tube, unsure if this is someone she should be talking to, making a good impression on or if she should be walking away.

"Mind if I sit here?" She asks instead, trying to look friendly.

Ellie jerks her head up from staring at an old iPod. She only had one earbud in, the one facing the window. It made people think that she was open to conversation, which she mostly wasn't, but it was better than being caught off guard.

Ellie considered the girl, a bit wary. Teenagers could be viscous little pricks, Ellie was one of them. She tried to summon one of her wolf powers to tell her if the girl wanted to steal her iPod, but evidently it didn't work that way, and Ellie was just left staring at the girl for a little too long.

The girl looked calm, though. "Yeah. Sure." Ellie shifts her jacket over so the girl doesn't have to worry about sitting on her pocket--and her knife, actually, but no one has to know that. Ellie takes a little breath in through her nose, and the girl smells sort of familiar, but Ellie doesn't know how. Maybe not familiar, but like the way you're supposed to recognize the smell of rotten eggs or clean laundry. You know what it means, except Ellie doesn't.

"...Are you playing hooky, too?" Ellie thinks the girl is probably younger than her, given her height. Is she even in secondary?

"Um, yeah. Sort of," she starts slowly, perching on the edge of the seat. It's not the question she expected, evident by the confused smile crossing her face. "Just moved, so I don't reckon anyone really expects me to be anywhere anyway."

They do, but she doesn't consider it an issue as long as her uncle doesn't care. And he doesn't; he's too busy being pleased she's actually getting out of the house to worry about school. Besides, it's not like there's danger when she stays in the territory bounds.

"What's your excuse for it?"

Ellie suddenly feels very awkward. Damn, why does she always have to make things awkward with kids her own age? Either she says the wrong thing, or she expects the other kid to attack her. Why would she even ask that, like some kind of creep?

Ellie grimaces a little, but nods when the girl turns the question back on Ellie. Okay, maybe she didn't completely screw up. "Fair. Where from across the pond?" Ellie thinks she's American, but the girl could be Canadian too. Ellie isn't really well traveled enough to distinguish the accents.

A shrug. "The same, except I leave out that I moved here eight months ago." Ellie's not very good at school. It gets her in trouble to skip, but it's better than sitting there feeling like an idiot.

At least she's not the only one being awkward. Girl's so out of practice when it comes to people her own age she barely notices it anyway. If anything, Ellie seems a lot more sure of herself than Girl does.

"Was from Nevada, before here. US, that is." She crosses and uncrosses her legs, fidgeting with loose threads from the knees of her jeans. "What 'bout you? You sound American, from the way you talk."

"Eight months? Must have this place figured out pretty well, then." It only makes Girl more curious what Ellie's doing heading into this territory, if that is her stop. Surely someone would have mentioned if there was another teenager in the pack. "Guess you're already with one of the groups then."

Ellie's okay at false bravado, for better or for worse. False bravado and a lot of anger.

"Nah," Ellie smiles a little sheepishly. "I just grew up with some ex-pats, so I got their accent. It comes out more when I'm talking to Americans." Her normal accent, if anything, sounds a bit Canadian. Ellie glances up at the subway, but there are a few more stops to go before she gets off--not the closest stop to the address she was given (also known as the Den, to Girl), but she wants to scope the place out a little.

"Sorta, yeah. London's a big city, though." Ellie shifts and swings her legs a little, kicking them into the seat across.

"...Is it that obvious?" Ellie knows she's not dressed too well, but she'd think it wouldn't be that obvious that she's in a group foster home. "I guess it takes one to know one."

[OOC: so...is it possible that through a comedy of errors and nonspecific word use, that Ellie can think Girl is a foster kid too, and Girl can think Ellie's part of a pack, to avoid confronting the werewolf-issue since I'm playing the whole "oh shit I'm a werewolf" thing with Ghoul up there? Alternately, Ellie could have just forgotten to use her nose, and is returning from the trip to the Den? Whichever works best for you!]

"Oh. Then where are ya from?" Girl has had so little experience with anyone outside her hometown she's not sure how to place anyone's accent. Anyone that doesn't sound British is American, in her limited knowledge of things.

"Huge," Girl agrees, still sounding a little awed even for having been here the past few weeks. She was used to small town life, stretches of lands between houses and the rural living of being half-way into the desert. The city was culture shock. "Don't think I'll ever figure out my way 'bout here."

She glances over at Ellie, confused. Of course it's obvious. The smell never lied. Girl taps the side of her nose, wondering if maybe the other was just worried about what was being said in public.

"Yeah. I mean, you deal with it long enough you always know the signs." Being raised in it, Girl would like to think she didn't need scent confirmation to get the hint. She might be gravely overestimating her own skill. "Been dealin' with it since I was, like, a baby. So."

She shrugs, slumping down in her seat. "Sorry, probably not somethin' you wanted me to mention." Not out around other people, at least.

[OOC: First one works for me! Gives them something fun to work out next time they meet.]

"Originally I was born in Liverpool, but I got moved around a lot. I probably spent the most time in Gloucester." With one person, Ellie had lived in the country, but that was a while ago. She liked it a lot, though. She'd even got a taste for old American country music, not that she would admit that to anyone.

"It takes a while to get used to, but it's doable. That's why I wander around." That, and avoiding school. All that.

For half a second, Ellie's offended. She doesn't smell. Sure, it's a fight for the showers every day, but she manages on a regular basis. Then she realizes that the girl probably means something else.

"It's okay," Ellie assures. "I just didn't expect you to. I sort of have been, too, but I never..." What Ellie means to say is that she's never been observant enough to catch other kids in foster care so easily. What it could be taken to mean, is that Ellie never expected to become a werewolf, what with gender rolls.

"Where in America are you from?" Ellie's not too sure she'll recognize much, there, but she'll try.

"Sorry, can't really say I know where those places are." It's not like her education in the States covered geography for anywhere but the US. "Movin' a lot though, that sucks."

She's only moved twice in her lifetime, but she's hated the reasons each time. At least she had her uncle as a constant. She can't imagine having nothing but another change to look forward to.

"Everyone always tells me not to wander." Because of the territory lines. Maybe they just don't trust her when she's so new and people like Ellie that have lived here longer get free reign of the city.

Girl nods. No one ever seems to expect kids to be turned already, like the idea of someone young killing is so far removed from reality that it's incomprehensible. She herself hadn't expected another teenager, so she couldn't complain at Ellie's surprise. She smiles in what she hopes is a reassuring way. "I know. I never expect it either, 'till I notice it. Kinda nice, if you don't think I'm bein' dumb sayin' it. Haven't ran into someone like me in a while."

Another teenager, she means. Never, she means.

"Nevada," she says, thinking it's easier to pinpoint that the small towns she'd been in. "Lived most of the time right near the state lines to California, right by the desert. Nowhere fancy, really." She doesn't know if wolves in this part of the world have heard of the trouble in California yet to make the connection, but she's not going to offer information about it if Ellie hasn't. Girl thinks ignorance would have to be bliss.

"It's alright--they're both in the north-west. Sort of south of all the national forests." Ellie would show her on a map, but she doesn't really have one handy.

Moving around has kind of become a way of life, but...staying in one place would be nice. Ellie thought she was going to do that with Joel, way out there in the country, but then he'd...pretty much died. If he hadn't, Ellie wasn't really sure he'd be up to looking after her after a coma and shit. Not that being punted around the foster system made it easy.

"Same, but I'm shit at following rules." Ellie grins, just a little, because that's probably an understatement. She nods at the girl's words, deciding that she must have been foster care, but had someone adopt her, or maybe long-term foster care. Somewhere she didn't have to interact with other foster kids, and had the privilege of moving to the UK.

"I know where California is," Ellie has to think about where Nevada could be, though. She sort of knows the shape of the US, but she has no idea where most of the state lines are. "That must have been cool. I like not being in cities--I always seem to end up in one."

The train announces a stop, and Ellie shifts her backpack up. Her stop is the next one, but still. It's good to be ready. "I'm Ellie, by the way."

"Right." She doesn't have enough of her bearings for that to help, but she'll nod along anyway. It's something for her to look up later. High time to start learning about the country she was in, anyway.

"Does anyone expect someone our age to be good with rules?" She still thinks Ellie was talking about the supernatural and smiles at the other conspiratorially. In her experience, being younger meant older members expected less, were lighter when it came to the hard and fast rules of the pack.

"It's close by to California," she offers. "Yeah, I mean if ya like lots of sand and cacti and reptiles. The desert is 'bout as far from city life as you can get."

And she loved every moment of it, before it all went to hell. Nothing about any city could ever compare to the open spaces of home. "Maybe you'll get out of the city someday, see what it's like."

She holds out a hand, trying to be polite. "Everyone just calls me Girl."

"The teachers always seem to," But the teachers expect way too much from Ellie, anyway. Like attending class.

Ellie smiles a bit. "I hope so. But I'm pretty sure I'll have to get off the island to see a desert." There is one sandy place, but it's more of a beach than a desert, in Ellie's opinion.

"Huh." Girl. Interesting. Ellie gets a weird look on her face for a second, but then reaches out to shake Girl's hand, hoping she doesn't notice. It's very non-British of her, but Ellie's been wary of shaking hands since she got handcuffed to a pipe.

...That sounded way worse than it was. It had just been one of her new foster siblings being an asshole, but the lesson had stuck.

"Here," Ellie digs in her backpack for a pen and a scrap of paper, and scrawls her number on it before offering it to Girl. "It's a big-ass city. Don't text me too much, though, I have a limited plan." Or well, the phone came with it. It's a dumb paperweight brick phone and supposed to be for emergencies only, but hey.

The train starts slowing as it approaches the stop Ellie wants off on, and she stands up. "Take it easy."

"Who cares what the teachers think?" Certainly not someone who had spent half her life being home-schooled.

Girl waits to see the reaction; everyone always has one whenever they hear the strange name. She's got the explanation at the ready, used to stammering about how much she hated her real name and the strange looks it got her. She tenses at the briefly odd expression, mouth open to start talking but Ellie sticks out her hand. She sighs in relief and gives a little shake.

"Oh. Uh, thanks." She takes the paper, chewing her lip. It's not like Girl doesn't know that it's a normal thing between teenagers but it's the first time she's gotten a number from anyone her age. She momentarily glad the other girl didn't ask for her phone to type it in. She doesn't think she could handle the embarrassment at anyone realizing how few friends she has.

"I won't, promise." She says, tearing the paper around the number and grabbing something out of her pocket to write with. The numbers end up in green eyeliner but she still hands it over. "Same, ya know. I'm not as much help, but if ya need something."

She watches Ellie get up, slumping further into her seat. It's not quite where she expected her to disembark and Girl's not sure whether Ellie's really heading into the territory or not. At least it's not the stop close to the nest. "Yeah. You too. Take care out there."

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May logs for Ellie

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:D Yes, that'll be a fun thread!

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