The Experiment discussion

((Hee-hee!! Excuse me if I'm not to good with this at first, because this is my first one-on-one.))

Rachel walked into the thrift store, and began browsing down the aisles. She was looking for a belt, because she had lost her other one, but she was open for buying anything that caught her eye.

((It's fine, I don't do lots of one-on-ones either.))
Rain sat on a small chair in the thrift store, absorbed in an old book. She didn't look up when Rachel passed. She brushed some light brown hair out of her face and continued reading.

Rachel, passing by the bookshelf, began casually looking at the titles. Seeing Rain, she casually asked, "Whatcha readin?"

Rain held her hand up as she finished reading something, then she looked up. "Hmm? Oh, it's just an old book." She held the book up for Rachel to see. It had cracked leather binding and yellowing pages.

"I LOVE old books!! They're probably some of the best literature out there." Rachel carefully peered at the cover. "Oooh, an old copy of LES MISERABLES! I love that book! Such a great storyline." Rachel stepped back with a smile.

Rain smiled. "Yeah?" She pulled the book back. "I've never read it before, but from what I've read, it's pretty good."

"You have to get used to when he spends 70-odd paged talking about whatever pleases him, but normally it has something to do with the storyling." Rachel smiled. "I'm Rachel, by the way." She held out her hand.

Rain smiled and shook Rachel's hand. "I'm Rain."

"That's a really pretty name." Rachel smiled all the wider. "So, what are you doing here? Silly question, being in a store, but all the same?"

((Plot ideas....?))

((Um, maybe bad people kidnap them and they find out they're part of a big magical thing and they have to fight against the bad people! l: ))

"Thanks," Rain said. "Oh, I'm here because I love to read, and I was looking for a good book to catch my eye."

((Sounds good!! And we can change or modify it as needed to fit what we write. =]))

"High fiveage for being a book lover!" Rachel cried with a large smile. "I've just been browsing... I need a new belt, but good belts are always so hard to find." she shook her head slightly.

((Okee dokee, then!))

Rain chuckled. "You're right. Hey, maybe if I have an extra belt lying somewhere, I'll give it to you."

((Hee hee!))

"Oh, you really don't have to do that." Rachel shared in the chuckle. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed two large men dressed in leather slip quietly in the door. "Who do you think those two guys are?"

Rain frowned. "I don't know. They look… intimidating." One of the men turned and stared at Rain for a few moments. He turned to the other man and whispered something. Rain looked at Rachel. "I think we should leave," she said quietly.

"I think so as well." Rachel stood, acting like she was done in this store. "Let's act as if we've got everything, then split." Just then, Rachel heard a little squel of pain coming from Rain's direction as she felt a man's hand clamp a cloth hard over her mouth, and everything faded out silently.. into... darkness.......

((Do you want to put the first post after they wake, or should I?))

((Um, I don't care. I guess I will.))

Rain awoke, her head throbbing. She groaned, forcing herself to open her eyes. She surveyed her surroundings. She was in a small cell of damp gray stone. Dusty cobwebs hung from the walls, and the dripping of a broken pipe could be heard. A small, ugly beetle scuttled across the floor. It was dark and depressing. And what was tht awful smell? What's going on? "Rachel?" she moaned. Her voice ecoed slightly in the small cell. She put her hand on her forehead and pulled it away to find blood on it. "Are you in here, Rachel?" She hoped the other girl hadn't been hurt as well.

Rachel woke up in a gloomy near-darkness, surrounded by three walls of stone that glistened with cobwebs in the moonlight. She gave a small groan, but cut it in her attempt was she heard someone call her name. Recognising Rain's voice, she called back, "I'm here, Rain. Are you okay?" As she said that, she slowly did a check on her own body, working from the toes upwards, seeing where those people had cut her and bruised her. Taking some cobwebs, she used them to bind a nice cut along her left arm.

"I don't know," Rain replied, giving a check for injuries. She had a gash on her forehead, a bad bruise on her left knee, and a few other small cuts and bruises. "I think I'm okay," she called. She sat up and shuffled over to the cell door, wincing when she bumped her knee.

"Are you sure?" Rachel called back. "Cobwebs are great bandages. Do you have any major cuts?"

"Well, there's a cut on my forehead," Rain said. "Cobwebs? If you say so." She grabbed a wad of cobwebs and pressed it against her wound. It was still bleeding, but just a bit. The cobwebs would probably stop the blood. "What happened?"

"I dunno." Rachel said. "The last thing I remember is being drugged with a cloth, then ending up here." She leaned back against one of the walls of her cell with a sigh. "How do you suppose we get out of this place?"

Rain shook her head, then remembered Rachel couldn't see her. "I don't know.. Hey!" She had a sudden realization. "I-I've picked locks before." She sounded slightly guilty. "But I don't have anything to pick the locks with.. Nevermind. If you had some hairpins you could get to me we might be able to escape."

Rachel reached back and felt around in her hair. Sometimes she used bobby pins to hold it back, and it was so wild that she was sure she hadn't been able all of them out. Finding a bobby pin buried deep in her hair, she struggled until she go t it out. "Yeah, I have a bobby pin right here. Where are you?"

"Uh.. I think I'm somewhere to your left," Rain said, pressing her face to the bars. She got a view of the cells. They were lined up and down the hall, and there was a row of cells across from hers.

Rachel pressed herself against the freezing bars of her cell. Looking to her left, she saw Rain, a wad of cobwebs wrapped around her head, clothes dirty and a couple little cuts along her face and arms. Rachel smiled slightly. "Well, you're looking just great today. Here's the bobby pin." With a little bit of struggling, Rachel was able to pass the pin to Rain.

Rain gave a small smile. "Thanks." She examined the lock. It was old and rusted, but she could probably pick it. She bent the wire to the right shape and took a bar in her right hand, inserting the wire in the lock with her left hand. She closed her eyes for a moment to calm her heartbeat. Then, she moved the wire carefully. There was a click, and the door creaked open. "Yeah!"
Rain opened the door and went to Rachel's cell. She put in the wire and started to pick it.

Rachel broke into a broad smile as Rain opened her lock and moved on to work on hers. "High fiveage for being a lock-picking genius!" she held her hand up through the bars.

Rain grinned and gave Rachel an akward high-five. She moved the wire again. It clicked, and the door loudly creaked open.
((Should the guards come after them?))

((Why not give them all the problems that we can? ;P))

Rachel was just walking out of her tiny cell when she heard an echoing sort of sound coming from down the hallway. The echoing quickly grew louder and more pronounced, resembling something familiar. "The guards." Rachel whispered. Quickly, she took off her shoes so that she would be quieter, then ties the laces together and hung her shoes over her neck. "Let's get moving."

((Good idea. :D))

Rain copied Rachel, tying her shoes around her neck. She closed the cell doors as quietly as she could and she started quickly down the hall. There was a door at the end, she hoped it wasn't locked.

Rachel sped up, then, upon reaching the door, found that it was locked, of course! She quickly found a bobby pin in her vast quantitiy of hair, then started trying to pick the lock as the footsteps grew louder.

After a few moments and mulitple tries at the lock, while the footsteps steadily grew louder, Rachel looked up. "I can't get it." she whispered to Rain.

Rain took the bobby pins. "Let me try," she whispered. She stuck the pin in the lock. She wiggled it up, then turned it. There was a click. "Wait," Rain breathed. "This lock is more advanced. It has to click one more time.." She moved the pin again. Another click, and the door loudly creaked open. The footsteps grew quicker. Rain cursed under her breath. "Let's get out of here!" she whispered.

Rachel quickly slipped through the door, and looked behind her to make sure that Rain was there and that the door was closed before she actually turned to observe her surroundings.

((I'm having a brain fart as of the moment, so would you mind telling us where we are? =]))

((I'll try!))

Rain closed the door quickly and leaned against it. They were in an old stone hall. Doors like the one they had just been through lined it. At the end of the hall, some stairs led up. Rain crept over to the stairs, motioning for Rachel to follow her.

Rachel nodded, and slowly followed Rain over to the stairs. At least this hall was cleaner than where they had been: There weren't any cobwebs, and looked as if it had been recently scrubbed down to the corners.

As Rain walked up the stairs, she heard the footsteps again. A gaurd was probably looking in the cells. There was a yell. Now he had probably realized they had escaped. Rain dragged Rachel up the stairs. They spiraled up for a while. Rain peered over a railing and saw a gaurd look out of the door she had just picked. Before he could see her, she pulled away and turned to Rachel.

"A guard?" Rachel whispered as a chill ran down her back. By the look in Rain's eyes, she could that that was exactly the case. Looking around, she that they were at one end of a hallway that looked exactly like the ones they had been in before. There were several doors on either side. She quickly walked until she reached the third door on the right, and testing it, found that it was open. Peeking her head through, she saw that it opened to a department store populated with a few people. She waves Rain over to her side, and they walked through the door together.

Rain looked around, confused. "You don't think they're guards, right?" A woman walking by didn't even look at them as she passed. I guess not. She looked at Rachel. "Maybe we can, I don't know, call some people or something. But I don't know where we are..."

"I don't know where we are either." Rachel furrowed her brow slightly. "Do you have a cell on you? I never have mine on me. I should carry it with me more often..... but that's my problem. I definently don't think these people are guards, but they don't seem like whole people either."

Rain looked around slowly. Rachel was right. There was something about these people that was strange... "No, I don't have a cell phone. Do you think we should ask someone if we can use theirs?

"If they'll even respond to us." Rachel said with a brief smile. As if on que, a man walked briskly past them. Putting a hand briefly on his shoulder, she asked, "Excuse me, sir, do you have a cell phone that my friend and I could use to call our parents?" The man only looked oddly at her, as if he had been in their position before but had been zombified into a position of not feeling and not being able to help. He then turned and continued walking on his way.

Rain frowned and looked at Rachel. She looked comically confused. "That-I-I don't.." She seemed at a loss for words. "What's wrong with these people?"

"I think they've been zombified by something. Brainwashed." Rachel said quietly, staring after the man. "He looked as if he'd been in our position before, but was helpless now."

Rain looked at the people. They all had the same blank look. "Maybe... But why?!" A young boy bumped into Rain. He didn't even acknowledge that Rain was there. He just walked past as if nothing had happened.

"I really don't know," Rachel murmured. "How 'bout we try and find the exit? That seems like that best plan as of now."

"Good idea," Rain said. She looked around, then just started walking, trying to see an exit.

Rachel peered down the hall. "Why is there one of those light-up green exit signs over there, at the end of the hall? Besides the obvious?" she asked quietly. Why would they put an exit sign by an exit if they didn't want anyone to leave?