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 Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 6:53 am
Groggy most of the afternoon, when night fell Fiona was still sleeping on and off, nursing both her sore feet after her transformation and her bruised ego. The girl was just about to leave her room to get some food, and as she was making a quick check of her mini-fridge to be sure certain things were still there, a voice crackled to life over the speakers. She listened, confused, and looked around fearfully. A staffmember had been injured by an islander, and- if she had heard right- almost killed. Suddenly Fiona felt the need to reconsider leaving her duplex door open all the time.
Suddenly a new voice hit her strangely heightened sense of hearing, and it took her only a second to slip outside and find its source, still on the stair of the duplex. "Annie, are you okay?" Her first thought was that her friend was being attacked by some ferocious half-man, the second that she was transforming. But no- neither seemed to be the case after cursory inspection. It was then that Fiona remembered her bizarre appearance and, slightly ashamed in front of her lifetime companion, retreated a little into her doorway, expression revealing guilt and regret.
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Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 7:00 am
Angharad looked down, arms still wrapped around her, eyes trying not to cry as she caught sight of the familiar lanky figure and the reassuring voice.
And saw the changes.
She couldn't help clapping her hands to her mouth, letting out a strangled squeak.
"Fee... oh Fee, what have they done to you?"
The dream was getting worse and worse, now. She and Fiona had wandered through the dream unharmed, they weren't truly going to change... but there Fiona stood, looking a little scared and ashamed, her legs distorted at odd angles, her ears lengthened at the side of her face. And the tears started spilling down Angharad's face now, as she slowly reached one arm forward, not trusting her body to be able to stand, but wanting Fiona to come closer.
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Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 7:07 am
Any urge she might have had to flee was quickly overwhelmed by the need to comfort her best friend, and Fiona quickly went to her side. "Hey, hey, it's not so bad. It won't stop me, won't change who I am inside. Don't cry, Annie. We're going to be okay." Soft, meaningless reassurances spilled from her heart, a comforting hand (made bizarre by the pads now adorning her palms and fingers) touching the girl's shoulder. "I'll be fine. Don't you worry about me. We'll get through this."
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Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 7:11 am
Angharad gripped Fiona's hand on her shoulder, hurting even more as she felt the changed, rough pawhand in her own. She looked up, trying to stop the tears, because she knew it wouldn't help. The announcement was forgotten for a moment; what was happening to her friend was far more important.
"Oh Fee, did it hurt? Dreams shouldn't hurt..." She managed to choke out softly. She hadn't washed her hair since the storm, and it was tangled and messy, leaving her expression even more lost.
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Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 7:23 am
"It... it hurt. A lot." She said truthfully, wishing she could spare Angharad from concern, but not willing to lie to her or get her hopes up. "But it goes away. I don't feel too different, except for my feet." Well, her teeth too. Those had taken some getting used to. But no sense in scaring the poor girl any more than she already was. It probably wouldn't be long before Annie too started to change, since they had arrived at the same time.
"Did you hear that announcement?" She asked, hoping to draw the conversation away from the depressing line of thought. "One of the scientists got attacked, or something. And they want us to help them figure out who?" Fiona paused. "Wait, Annie- do you know what that means?? There must be somewhere on the island without any security cameras!" The girl seemed more excited about this than she was worried for the life of another human being, strangely.
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Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 7:28 am
Angharad realised that the subject was being changed, and unhappily forced herself to think of that instead, still clinging to Fiona as she spoke.
"It was the Lockheart woman... you know, the one I said was so mean? But..." She suddenly realises what put her back to sleep so swiftly that morning, and looked a little more determined. "They must have zapped us in case we were doing anything else strange... but, the cameras..." She looked more unhappy again. "Fee, there was a power cut. That's probably what knocked out the cameras so that they don't know who did it." She laid her head against Fiona's shoulder, hair falling over her face and obscuring her expression slightly.
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Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 7:40 am
Fiona began to rub soothing circles on her back, frowning. "A power cut? I don't remember a power cut..." her frown deepened. "Actually, I don't remember much of anything that happened yesterday. Maybe I passed out or something... I didn't sleep much after the changes happened." The admission was made with a sheepish grin. "But what do you mean, they must have zapped us? I think if I got electrocuted through my neck, I would remember. Did they do it to you?" Her voice grew dark, the need to protect her friend swelling up inside.
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Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 7:46 am
Angharad looked confused. "You mean, you don't remember anything, but you didn't get zapped? I think that's what it was anyway..." She rubbed the back of her tender neck slightly, and took a deep breath. "Did you not hear any of the storm last night? There was only temporary power yesterday, when I got back.. " she clamped her mouth down over the rest of the sentence, feeling guilty about her trip to the cliffs still, and continued. "Then there was that really loud storm, and everything switched off.. it was hard to sleep, because of the noise, and no air conditioning, but I managed to get to sleep in the end." She lifted her head a little, looking sideways. " And then the power came back on, early this morning, but just as that happened, my body felt tingly and painful, and then... wham, blackness." She looked a little hesitant. "I guessed it was the zap thingy... but I thought maybe the power cut did something to the labs, and made it go off.. because I was in my duplex all yesterda, and I never did anything to hurt anyone..." Her voice became more anxious.
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Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 8:03 am
"A storm...?" She paused, thinking hard. "I remember there being clouds, and then- oh YEAH! That big huge insane storm! I remember now. But... I have no idea when I must have fallen asleep. Because I dunno about that whole 'power going out thing'. I must have conked out before it happened..." Had she been knocked out cold by the neck chips, then? "I had a headache this morning when I woke up, but that was mostly it. Do you think my chip thing went off? I mean, what does it feel like?" This was really confusing Fiona, and she didn't like it.
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Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 8:08 am
Angharad looked thoughtful for a moment, frowning still. "Welll... I don't know if it wakes you up, but... I just felt this tingling start, running all down my spine, like goosebumps or something..." She shuddered a little at the memory, and looked at the cool steps they were sitting on. "Then... it was a bit like those fairground things where you get an electric shock, my muscles went all funny.. and then I woke up again." She shrugged, looking anxious. "Does the back of your neck hurt at all, or just the headache?"
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Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 8:15 am
"Just the headache..." she mumbled, stopping to ponder something. "I wonder if somehow you can avert the electriciy to stop yourself from being shocked. Like those people who survive being randomly electrocuted because they were wearing rubber boots or something." Her mind jumped back to the announcement again. "I'm not helping them." Fiona said, rather out of the blue. "They trap us here and control us with electric shocks and then get all surprised when someone gets pissed and fights back. There's no way I'm going to help them catch whoever did it, no matter how freaky it is that somebody out there is pissy enough to almost kill another person." She wrinkled her nose, glancing around, suddenly wary. They were out in the open. It would be better to be inside. Too dangerous. Fiona pushed the thoughts down scornfully- she wasn't afraid... was she?
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Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 8:22 am
Angharad looked cautious for a moment, gaze unconsciously sweeping the village around them suddenly. It was quiet, at the moment....
"But Fee, what if that person comes after us? Surely, if we pick up some ideas, we might find out..." She looked nervous, fingers tightening on Fiona for a moment. "Maybe we should go down to the cafeteria later, see if anyone else knows anything... then if they know, then we'll know to avoid the person who did it."
She swallowed, trying not to think about it too much. Everyone she'd met had seemed aimiable enough, but... what if there were islanders here who were completely changed into animals? What if they'd been driven mad by the environment around...?
As a hundred what-ifs crowded into her head, one small, crystal sparkling thought appeared.
A challenge.
If she solved the challenge, would she wake up from the dream? Perhaps -that- what was it was! She'd solve the challenge, and nothing could hurt her, because she'd wake up at the end, and her family would be there, and Fee how she should be... her face incongruously lit up.
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Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 8:27 am
"I don't see what nosing around will do," she said, despite the curiosity that had begun to show its face in her mind. "I mean, I wish I did know. Because we could even find that they're an ally. Maybe they didn't mean to kill that scientist chick- but I mean, if they're going after the scientists and leaving the... the people who live in the village alone, then I don't see any problem." Her brave words with tinted ever so slightly with concern. Maybe living on an island with a bunch of animal people was more dangerous than she'd originally thought.
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Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 8:31 am
Angharad nodded a little, face still slightly bright. "Mmm, but what happens if it's someone who's finally gone mad? Someone who started going mad when they saw that doctor woman, then snapped? For all we know, they could be roaming around in the jungle now, waiting to spring on anyone who comes past..." She pulled her knees up, but the cheerful scaredness was more of someone wondering what the plot of a scary movie was going to be. "And asking questions can only help us defend ourselves more..." She looked sideways at Fiona. "And you never know, we might be able to find that place where there really are no cameras..."
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Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 8:43 am
Fiona nodded slowly. "Okay. But no matter what, we can't help the scientists. Why should we do their dirty work, right?" Her stomach decided it would be a good time to butt in, and gurgled loudly. "Oh yeah- I was going to go down to the cafeteria anyways. I haven't eaten since before the storm. I'm just going to check on some stuff and have a quick shower, and then get something to eat. Don't wait for me though. I'll probably catch up and see you there."
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