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It had been several days since Jamal was with Kaveri in the jungle playing some hyped up version of Clue as they dug through the dirt for evidence. Throughout most of the time between that and now, he had spent a great deal of his time alone, wandering the jungle or sitting in his duplex. He hadn't been approached by anyone, nor had he the ambition to track anyone down. Frankly, he didn't care. If anyone thought his 'disappearance' to be suspicious, Jamal didn't seem to mind. He didn't have to answer to -anyone-.

It was later in the evening when Jamal surfaced from the jungle at the beach, the thought of a swim in the warm waters a fair time-waster. He hadn't been there in awhile. He was currently wearing a pair of roughly-treated basketball shorts and had a dirty wifebeather slung over his shoulder...decent swim attire.

He hoped he'd get through a swim uninterrupted, but he could always ignore anyone who got on his nerves too. That or scare the piss out of them. Jamal laughed to himself, muttering something about Aubrey under his breath as he paused to hang his shirt on a piece of driftwood to keep it away from the tide.

Jamal hadn't noticed the teen at first, having had his sights set on the swelling ocean. He cautiously stepped into the water up to his knees, ears flicking as the breeze caught the sensitive baby fur lining the insides of his ears, and squinted out into the distance as though hoping to see signs of a boat or some other sea craft. There was nothing, of course, but one could always dream. He growled and shook his head, then caught movement out of the corner of his eye. Oh, -lovely-.

The black-turned-white man eyed Alec with a slightly disinterested expression, yet it wasn't a true feeling. He didn't recognize the kid at all...and from the looks of it, if Jamal had seen him before, he would have recognized him. How many people had mohawks in multi-colors anyway?

The tiger grunted, lip curling slightly at the side, and continued to stare for a bit.

Jamal had crossed his arms while Alec skimmed the first book, thus when the teen looked at him, the larger man appeared rather standoffish. What the hell was that funny-looking kid looking at?

"Eh," he grunted flatly, twisting his ears back to keep the wind away from the insides, and pointed at the book. "What's dat s**t fo'?"

No hi, bye, drop dead, or kiss my a**...Jamal wasn't into formal greetings.

"...Ya must be sorta new then," Jamal murred bluntly, the tips of his fangs constantly protruding past his top lip as his mouth moved. "At leas', usually it's da new ones dat don't know what da hell Moreau decided ta screw 'em wit'."

The tiger man didn't bother to mask his critical appraisal of the kid's new changes, eyes focusing on what looked to be odd projections at his heels before he glanced up and saw the mess of sharp teeth in his jaw. It was still too early for Jamal to wager a guess on what the kid was transforming into. Not that he cared, anyway.

"Oh, so you be -real- new then. Lucky you." Jamal's voice was thick with sarcasm. "I was herr several months b'fo I even got so much as a stripe. ******** sloshed a little deeper into the ocean, his gaze still mostly focused on the kid on the beach, before he turned and plopped down on his butt so the water reached his shoulders and no higher.

"Look dat way, don't it?" he remarked icily after the tiger inquiry, as though his question had been as stupid as Alec might have felt it was. "Though I wasn't all dat sure until ma last transfo'mation. I didn't read up on it...didn't care ta. I was too busy tryin' ta deal wit'....prol'ems." He chuckled then, eyes narrowing as his mouth curled into an eerily serene smile. "But it seems like I'm 'bout ta have one less pro'lem wit' da rumors I been hearin'."

"Yeah, da...girlie, if dat's what ya called 'er. I prefer ta call 'er a b***h. Or dead." He smiled again before sloshing a handful of water over his head, the skin between his cornrows feeling a little sunburnt. As a matter of fact, he was more sunburned now than he'd ever been before. It was irritating.

Jamal gave the kid another appraising look over, feeling like he ought to know who this was. Jamal was sure he'd heard of a mohawked youngin' from someone...

Jamal bristled a little at the cage comment, eyes narrowing to mere slits a moment before he exhaled noisily in a sound of obvious disapproval.
"Da cage wasn't dat bad," he said in a droll tone despite how murderous the man might have looked; he wasn't always aware how severe his expressions looked nowadays. "Nice 'n' breezy...people brought me food when they rememba'ed..."

The name didn't ring a bell either...odd. Well, it must not have been that important if he had heard of this kid before.

"Jamal," he grunted in return. "I'll be ********' surprised if you ain't heard of me 'round herr. Ev'rybody hates me. Good reason too."

Jamal snorted again and licked a bit of salt water from above his top lip that had splashed up from the ocean, then made a face. It would have been funny if the man didn't seem to be generally unpredictable and could go off the handle at any mockery.

"Hmm, well I'm sure if ya ask 'round, people are gonna tell ya I'm ******** up in da head. They might be righ'. I don't give a s**t what they think no mo'." He gave Alec a hard stare as the boy fidgeted. With any luck, the kid would get uncomfortable enough to move on. Jamal was lazy and the tiger was happy enough with where he was plopped in the water, so he sure as hell wasn't going anywhere soon. Jamal apparently had begun to specialize in making people uncomfortable. Then again, would any normal person hang around someone who'd tried to eat three different people?

After a long pause, he rocked back a little, submerging himself deeper into the water, gaze going skyward as he tipped his head back. "Tell ya one thing though...if I was da one dat got ma claws in Aubery a few days ago and knew it, I wouldn't lie 'bout it. Ev'ryone knows I got it out fo' her...but I kin't honestly say I know I did it. I was out in da jungle fo' a long time. God, da jungle was weird dat night..."