[hr][i][h1][color=skyblue]Wendy Lucker[/color], & [color=lightseagreen]Rowan Campbell[/color].[/h1][sub]Written in collaboration with [@Mr Allen J].[/sub][/i][hr][hider=Silversun Pickups - Pins & Needles][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sttzg1vYMmE[/youtube][/hider][hr]
[U][I]Eastgriffin Ruins, Roseview.[/I][/u]


Rowan led them on a thin path through the forest, their route accompanied by the occasional bit of discarded trash, beer cans and used condoms.  Wendy followed behind, occasionally stopping to take pictures. Her feet were starting to hurt, but she really wanted to see what Rowan had to offer.

Eventually, as the two approached what at first seemed to be a clearing in the forest, a building could be made out in the near distance. "Almost there," Rowan muttered, speeding up to a brisk pace as they'd finally got through the thickest of the woods. Ahead of them sat the remains of the Eastgriffin Community Resort, a decaying, fenced-off ruin that had sat there, practically untouched by larger society for well over a decade. 

Whilst nature had already begun to reclaim the place, it was definitely clear that people had left their mark here - the road leading back into town could still be made out nearby, albeit it had since become weathered by the elements, cracked and coated in a layer of weeds trying to push through to the surface whilst whoever owned the land had put up some perimeter fencing to deter intruders.

Pacing up to the grid-shaped fence, Rowan glanced over his shoulder at Wendy, then shifted his focus back towards the fence. "Uh, should've asked - any good at climbing?"

Wendy gulped. She really wished that she had her paper powers right about now, she could have just went right through this like it was nothing. Looks like she's going have to do this the old fashion way.

"Umm...." Wendy walked up to the fence, and looked back at Rowan as she reached for the fence. "Yeah, I think I can mana-"

When she made contact with the fence, she transmitted electricity into it and it immediately began crackling. Wendy quickly retracted, surprised as ever, and looked back at Rowan.

"... I think you should go first."

Shrugging, he tugged his bag from his shoulder and, after a moment of contemplation, tossed it over the fence. Then, with that done, he glanced back towards Wendy one last time, then reached up to grab the first hand-hold in the fence, then the other. It rattled as he pulled himself up and he could feel the thin metal digging into his palms, but all the same he kept on climbing until he hit the half-way point at the top. With his legs thrown over the other side, he outstretched a palm for Wendy to grasp. "Come on, I'll pull you up with me."

That made Wendy a bit worried.

"... Aren't you afraid I'll shock you?"

"Uh... I'll probably be fine."

Wendy hoped that the worse case scenario would not occur - because there were no ambulances nearby.

Taking a deep inhale, Wendy grounded herself a little bit in preparation, and hopped up into the air and grabbed onto Rowan's hand. Thankfully, she didn't electrocute him. She grabbed onto the fence, and made sure that she wouldn't fall and drag both of them down.

With a slight grunt, he tightened his grasp and pulled her up as much as he could, assisting her in their unsteady ascent of the fence. Eventually, both of them had made it over and dropped to the ground on the other side, leaving the fence to rattle in the absence of any weight bearing down upon it. Rubbing his palms, Rowan grabbed his bag, then turned his attention towards one of the larger buildings in the resort - what had once been the Roseview Hotel. Even from here, one could make out where visitors had made their mark with graffiti scrawled across the lower walls along with signs of physical vandalism.

Landing on her feet, Wendy was glad that she didn't electrocute Rowan. She dusted herself off, as Rowan pointed her towards the hotel. Interesting... she's been to this place a few times, but never really paid attention to the graffiti (That was always she ignored). Though, this whole place always had a strange aura around it - like something awful gone on here. She's heard the rumors about the massacre that took place here almost ten years ago. No one is even sure of who attacked this place. Speculation lead to the Changeling Unit, but that's not even one-hundred percent.

Setting off, Rowan beckoned for her to follow - heading over towards the hotel. Even now, the place gave him a strange sense of mystery, yet at the same time it was comforting. Seldom did other people visit here and most were just explorers, or people looking to leave their mark. The first time he'd found the place, he felt uneasy but now... it was peaceful, really.

Circling around, he led Wendy towards the spa connected to the back of the hotel. Once, hundreds of people would've visited daily to relax and enjoy themselves inside. Now? As they approached, it became clear that any semblance of luxury had since been lost; one of the walls looked to have been collapsed, probably from the attack all those years ago, with glass shards and fragments still dotted all over the exterior. Windows that were shattered or otherwise non-existent were also pretty commonplace and as Rowan stepped in through the gaping hole where the wall had collapsed, he paid particularly special attention towards watching where he stepped, both to avoid getting shards of glass stuck in his shoes and to avoid injuring himself where the floor tiles had been destroyed.

Finding themselves in the atrium, the two came across one of the spa's chief attractions - a large swimming pool that ran from one end of the great complex to the other. Contrary to what it'd once been like, the pool had long been drained, rubble and discarded deckchairs scattered all over the place.

"Huh?" Wendy said as she poked her head inside. The dust and debris of this abandoned building messed her lungs a little bit - but this ain't her first trek inside an abandoned building. This was only as far as she made it inside this one. There was a pool, and Wendy had a feeling this was what Rowan wanted to show her.

Approaching the edge of the pool, Rowan gestured towards the inner walls. What had once been a calm, peaceful blue mosaic was now a collection of grand pieces from different artists over the last decade. From simple tags, to sarcastic remarks scrawled in paint, to stencil pieces, to great murals which spanned from end-to-end, they all sat here, on display.

"This is it," Rowan remarked in partial admiration for some of the greater pieces. Some might've called it disrespectful to paint over the ruin of a place left for the dead, yet he saw it as just another monument.

Following behind him, Wendy peaked over his shoulder at the art

"Oh?" Wendy said as she looked at it. It was a variety of different remarks, and art pieces... it was interesting. Truly what it means to be an artist. It wasn't being good, it was all about expressing yourself... which Rowan clearly knew. "This is... true artistic expression." Wendy told him.

"Oh, mind if I snap a picture?"

Hesitating for a moment, it occurred to Rowan that if she'd wanted to cause him trouble, she'd probably have done it already. "Sure," he said.

"I'll have to hop down to get a good picture of it..." Wendy trailed off as she knelt down to the edge of the pull. It wasn't that big of a drop - nothing that she hasn't taken before - so she simply just hopped into the empty pool. She held her camera tightly with both hands as she walked up to the wall of graffiti.

One particular mural was a piece displaying the evolutionary phases of man, beginning with a slouching chimpanzee and running all the way up to a tall human with a sphere. Yet after that came another figure, identical to the previous human albeit instead of a sphere they wielded a ball of light in their palms and held a glowing aura. Clearly a statement, though funnily enough, someone else had captioned "Stop following me!" over the last figure in that piece.

So much style.... so much passion. Wendy raised her camera up into the air, aiming for the graffiti, and the button. A bright flash appeared as Wendy took a picture of it. Looking at the backscreen, Wendy realized she took a great picture of it, and grinned a little.

Meanwhile, Rowan had something else in mind. The pool was a centerpiece here, where anyone who wanted to leave their mark could do so - and now it was his turn. Taking care to avoid ruining Wendy's view, he dropped down behind her and searched for an empty spot that hadn't been claimed just yet and found one in the corner, near a pile of rubble. Unslinging his bag, he knelt down and pulled out a stencil template, then a can of paint and glanced over his shoulder towards Wendy. "You've got photos, I've got [i]this[/i]."

Wendy looked at the can of spray paint and nodded her head as a silent way of saying "go ahead."

With plenty of time to kill, he set to work on his little stencil piece; which slowly began to paint a picture as he switched from can to can, template to template, before finally unveiling an end result: an overweight neanderthalic thug screaming and chest-pounding with the words "Pure" crudely scrawled on their shirt, whilst a hooded figure with a magnet stood behind them, pulling all the loose change out of their pocket. Others might not have got the idea, but for Rowan the symbolism was clear - and this piece and given him an opportunity to see [i]just[/i] how it'd turn out when those same 'Pure' folks saw it. Least to say, it'd be entertaining to watch.

Heh," Wendy said with a grin. She took a quick snapshot of the graffiti. It's pretty crude, but art's art. At least it isn't a dick. It had some pretty great symbolism. This would go on her Instagram if it wasn't such a bad idea (For reference, putting Anti-Metahuman politics on any form of social media is a great way to get attention put on you).

"There's more where that came from," Rowan remarked.

"Okay," Wendy nodded her head. "Impress me."

Shrugging, Rowan wandered over towards ine of the mosaic tiled walls, where yet another collection of tags and marks couls be found. Among them was a metallic-stylised tag, "Magnet", in red and white. It was anyone's guess as to who it was. "Every writer has a mark, y'know?"

"Nice," Wendy looked at the magnet... she had a feeling of what it had meant. It could mean that Rowan's a magnetic-type. Which would explain what happened when she accidentally discharged some electricity. She wanted to im
explore, but Rowan had other ideas.

Digging a hand back into his bag, Rowan felt around for a can and outstretched one out for Wendy to grasp, "What about yours?"

"Oh?" Wendy raised an eyebrow. She wasn't particularly expecting the gesture, but it was just something she didn't want to do. It wasn't fear (Wendy didn't really mind bending the rules a little... and they're in the middle of an abandoned hotel), she didn't want to embarass herself making an awful tag. "Oh no... I don't think spraypainting is my forte...."

"Gotta start somewhere. You think my first throw-ups were great? C'mon, give it a shot." Rowan urged her.

After hearing him, she felt a bit more receptive to the idea. Peer pressure's a bitch, ain't it? She sighed as she swallowed her pride (and her excessively high standards) as she grabbed onto the can of spray paint and nodded her head. She stepped over to the part of the pool that wasn't tagged by Rowan (yet), and shook the can. She shook the spray can (and enjoyed the rattle) as she walked up.

Taking in a sigh, Wendy pressed the button ontop of the spray can, and aimed it at the wall. Out the nozzle was a jet of black spraypaint, and she didn't feel as bad about using it now. However, she didn't want to waste it all, she kept moving her arm just to adjust her aim.

When she was done, she smiled.

It was simply a W spraypainted on the wall in black.

"... It's a work in progress," Wendy said as she put both hands behind her back. "This is what we artists call the [i]sketching[/i] phase - I'll put something excellent up over this later." She smiled at him again.

"It's a start," Rowan said with a markedly warm expression "If I were you there, I'd do the filler first - then the outline."

"Maybe you can..." Wendy thought about it for a moment as she stared at the spraycan. "... Yeah, maybe you can show me the ropes." She had no idea how to spray paint the "proper" way, and was winging it.

Pulling out yet another can, this one a white, Rowan gave it a firm shake before stepping over to the wall, pressing down against the nozzle  criss crossing across the wall. First, he scrawled over Wendy's vague outline, filling in a "W" with a thicker form, before going the extra mile and starting on another quick piece next to it; the shape of an origami figure. "Now you try filling in the outline for them."

Wendy nodded as Rowan improved upon her horrid design. She nodded her head, as she given the prompt to write out the outline. She shook the spray can again, and instead of making another crude W, Wendy tried her best to fill out the outline as Rowan instructed. When she released her finger, she had willed out the outline. Which brought the original design one step closer to completion.

"Better," Rowan gave an affirmed nod of approval. "See? Just gotta work the paint 'till it's coming out your fingers."

Wendy nodded her head. This was looking better, but she was wondering what else it needed. If they had the outline... they needed another color perhaps? She realized that she had a bright future in spraypainting, but she knew that she could use her paper powers to form a better stencil.

"You know... if I had my paper powers, I could make some pretty neat stencils for us to use...." Wendy mused. "Anything we wanted really... long as we have lots of spare cardboard." She took a step back and examined the empty part of the wall.  "... But, alas..." She looked at her hand as it sparked once again.

'So how'd you, uh, y'know, get the paper thing in the first place?" Rowan asked.

Now that was a story.... a simple one at that.

"Um. well," Wendy almost stuttered as she looked for the right words to say. Trying not to make this the most droll conversation ever. Before she realized that things got awkward. "My older sister... her power turned out to be paper manipulation and then I got it from here," Wendy sighed, feeling a tad relieved. "It's funny, since she thinks her power is the lamest thing in the world... but, to me, it's the greatest power in the world...."

"Right, so... just gotta find your sister and get it off her, again." Rowan said, with a shrug.

"... She's in Alaska." Wendy bluntly said. "You see... she got into some trouble with RAVEN-" And that was putting it lightly. "-a few years back, and she got sent to Academy 218, I think?" 

She finished her explaination, but then remembered that isn't the problem.

"But, I didn't explain this properly; whenever I copy a new power, I'm like "locked" into it until I figure out how to use it," Wendy started off. "Which means I'm pretty much Electro until then." She shook her head.

Rowan shrugged, "Then you've just gotta figure yours out. Can't be that hard, right?"

"It's..." Wendy trailed off. "Challenging. I've been practicing for a weeks straight, and I [i]just[/i] figured out how to shoot bolts... maybe I should stop complaining and get on the saddle...."

"You could try it on me, I guess? If that means you can get some stencil cut-outs set up faster, works for me. Always liked the idea of having a crew," Rowan mused.

"You mean you want to help me practice?" Wendy asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean... if.your power really is magnetism... it can really help due to the connection between magnetism and electricity "

"I guess, yeah..." Rowan had never given his own power much thought, but it was there. [I]The old man would've loved to have known that[/i], he wagered.

"Good, good, good... I guess we'll get started then?" Wendy asked as she faced Rowan. "... We should get back to the Academy - they tend to get worried when I'm out too long..." She scratched the back of her neck. She didn't mean it in a way that they cared about her, mostly because she tends to get into trouble.

"It'll be dark soon anyways, best we go," Rowan nodded in agreement, tugging at the strap of his bag as he twisted to face the exit.

"Yeah," Wendy started skipping towards the way out.