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 Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 3:46 pm
((This rp is meant to be for Sophie C. Bell and Gaius Harper. If you'd like to join, PM me first. Otherwise, expect a very hard kick out the door.))
It had been a long day: Sophie hadn't expected to spend the whole day out of her room, but here she was, the sun nearly set, and she was just now walking back to her duplex. A grim look was set in stone on her normally cheerful face, and even her walk had become somber. She tried not to relay the events that had happened that day in her head, but the actions kept repeating themselves, and she took shallow breaths to get herself under control.
It had been a bold move on her part, trying to talk some sense into the other islander. Sure, he had just transformed, but did he have to destroy half his room? It had been a rather loud racket at the time, and Sophie had merely paused to investigate. Upon discovering the source of the noise, she had tried to calm him down, tried to speak soft, calm words, but instead he began to take it out on her. Roars of anger, claws that dug into her weak, untransformed flesh...
She came to her duplex door, but made no attempt to fumble for the handle, made no attempt to get inside. She leaned her head against the door, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, trying not to notice the way her good jacket was torn to shreds, the way a bruise was forming on her cheek in the reflection of the shiny duplex number.
Then the tears came. A quiet whimper escaped her lips, and her shoulders shook lightly as she placed a hand on the door, almost slumping against it in support. It wasn't so much the wounds that had hurt: it was this newfound fear, the nightmares she knew would soon follow. How, how could someone have changed so much from a single transformation? It baffled her, through and through.
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Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:06 pm
Gaius was just leaving his duplex to head over to the entertainment room for an evening movie. He closed the door behind him, not bothering to lock it. Out of the corner of his eye, Gaius noticed someone else a couple doors down, and grinned, glad to see one of his neighbors.
"Heya So-" His greeting died on his lips as he saw looked at her. What in the world had happened to her? She looked like she'd been in a bad meeting with a wild animal! "Sophie? Are you okay? A-are you hurt?" Moving closer, Gaius's eyes mirrored the concern in his voice. Then he saw the tears. Instinctively he reached out to put an arm around her shoulders.
"Sophie! What happened to you?"
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Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 5:19 pm
Sophie had been entirely lost in her thoughts, so it had taken a moment to realize that there was a weight around her shoulders. Sharply, she turned around, an arm up in a defensive pose, before her teary eyes recognized the face, and relaxed. It took a moment later to register the concerned look on Gaius's face, and she touched a hand to her wet face, wiping her eyes.
"Oh-uhm-hi Gaius...I was just-uh-it's nothing, really. I just...fell, um, taking a walk in the woods. You see, there was this branch, and I...tripped on it."
She smiled weakly, pursing her lips in a meek attempt to fool him. She didn't want Gaius to know what the day had done to her, and she didn't want him to see her as a weak person. Being seen crying in public was bad enough, she didn't want him to know she had let herself get attacked by someone else.
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Posted: Tue Jun 13, 2006 6:03 pm
He lifted his arm at her sudden jump, wondering if he'd somehow hurt her. The purple bruise gracing her cheek was not lost on Gaius. His eyes narrowed as he listened to her stammered excuse. A branch wasn't likely to leave such gashes, especially in evenly spaced rows - like claws. The hair on the back of Gaius's neck prickled. No way was this any accident...
Gaius's concerned look hardened. Cupping Sophie's chin in his hand, he forced her to raise her head and look him in the eyes, those blue eyes that now flashed dangerously. "Someone did this to you, didn't they? Who was it?" If someone had hurt Sophie - sweet, caring Sophie - he would make sure they never touched her again.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 11:34 am
Sophie knew her excuse wouldn't work, but she definitely hadn't expected Gaius to react like this. For a moment, she stood there, frozen, but finally broke free from his gaze, squirming her way out of his grasp. After today, she didn't want to be held by anyone.
"I'm fine, Gaius, really. You don't need to worry about me. In a few weeks, it'll all be healed...I probably won't have any scars from it, either."
She had decided not to try and keep up with the charade: it would probably only make him madder, and he seemed pretty steamed already. It was both strange and frightening to see such a different side to him...oh God, he wasn't turning into a predator, too, was he?
Sophie reached behind her foor the doorknob, opening the door into the darkened duplex. "Come on inside. I think I'm going to need to find some disinfectant." She made the invitation because for one thing, she didn't want to be along, and for another, because she didn't want Gaius to go do something he would later regret. She flipped on the lights and stepped inside, hoping he would do the same.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 2:01 pm
"Sophie," he used her name to get her attention, "we can't let whoever did this get away with it! What if they come after you again? I don't want to see you hurt like this!"
He remained standing stubbornly at the door as she went in, clenching and unclenching his fists. Every inch of him screamed with righteous indignation, wanting nothing more than to bottle it all into one good blow to that b*****d's face.
Snorting under his breath, Gaius forced himself to relax his tensed arms and followed into the room. He saw where she was going for a cupboard and got to it first, gesturing for her to go sit down. "Here, let me help. There's probably spots I can reach more easily than you." His voice was still tense, coming across more as orders than the reassurance he intended it to be. He turned back to the cupboard and shuffled through the bottles lining the shelves. "Which one is the disinfectant?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 2:18 pm
Sophie stopped her breath just short of flipping a light switch on, clenching a fist against her jacket sleeve. I don't want to see you get hurt like this! However, she exhaled in a soft sigh, turning on the lights, and absent-mindedly replying, "It's the medium blue one with the red cross and the bubbles on it. And 'Hydrogen Peroxide' on there somewhere."
To put it nicely, the room was in shambles: books were scattered across her bed, and even more packed against a shelf in a reckless manner. A Sno-Cone picture pulled from a magazine (signed by Marshall himself) hung on the wall, as well as many other photographs, articles, and general sheets of paper, a collage upon the wall. Sophie made some attempt to clean up by stacking the papers on the couch and floor on top of her bed: she would go through them later. For now, she refocused on Gaius, and fear settled itself in her throat.
What if Gaius really was becoming a predator?
She shook the thought from her head, and discarded her jacket, and quickly, her t-shirt, hoping Gaius happened to be looking the other way. She fumbled through a drawer and after a moment, found a light blue tanktop and slid it on, walking back to Gaius. The scratches were now fully visible: not as bad as they had seemed, but still there, and most of her arms were red from the irritation. Also visible was the tattoo Sophie had 'forgotten' to mention to anyone else, but her thoughts weren't on her drinking mistake: she rested a hand on Gaius's wrist, guiding him to the right bottle. "There we go. I think there's already a towel on the couch." She turned away from him and sat down, looking up in a sad expectancy after reaching through a nearby drawer for some gauze.
"Okay, I'm ready."
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 2:40 pm
"Ah, right, thanks." He grabbed the bottle she'd pointed out and a bag of cottonballs.
Gaius turned back around to see her dressed in the less covering tanktop. He sucked in his breath at the sight of the scratches, imagining how much they must sting from the redness around them. Wetting one of the balls, he dabbed it gently against her arm.
"...You're not going to tell me who it was, are you?" he sighed. The initial rage was burning off, but Gaius was still far from being satisfied with the situation. Sophie seemed scared, and he didn't know why. He could understand her being jumpy while outside, but they were safe now in her duplex, and she had him there to protect her, so why was she so tense when he came near her?
"Will you at least tell me how this happened? Did they jump you outside somewhere? Was it in the jungle?"
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 3:01 pm
Sophie didn't seem bothered by the feeling of peroxide on her skin, and yet, she had almost flinched when Gaius softly touched her skin. The whole time she was alert, watching his hands as if at any second, they might change into talons and start where the other had left off in tearing at her arm. She shook out of it, though, hearing the man's voice. This was Gaius: she could trust him.
Of course, she'd had a warm, fuzzy feeling about Zachary, too...
"It...well, the person in question...he's just changed, and I don't think he was thinking too clearly...and his duplex door was open, and I just stepped inside to see what...was...going on..." She had to pause for a moment to catch her breath: the experience was too new to be speaking of casually.
After a moment, though, she was able to speak, and her stomach was churning in the utter anxiousness of her current existance. "Gaius, please tell me you're not gonna turn into some predator. I mean, not that it'd be your fault or anything, but..." She bit her lip, eyes frightened by the idea. She didn't do it consciously, but she leaned away from him and moved an arm into her lap, ready to be a defensive. "It's nearly been a month," she added, at nearly a whisper. Most islanders knew what that meant for newcomers.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 3:27 pm
Gaius froze, staring at Sophie. Shock, anger, and worry battled behind his face. Someone did this because they changed? It was appauling! ...but not unlikely. He'd heard the stories, the famous 'Aubrey Incident'... The changes did something to your head, blinding you to friends as instincts took over. It was with fear when he spoke.
"Sophie... I... I don't know what I'm becoming..." He gulped, staring down at the bottle in his hand. "I didn't want to ask the staff... never really thought it was important. I figured I'd find out when I change... But I was guessing it might be some kind of... predator..." He shook his head, too ashamed to look up at her. The idea that he might be the one to hurt Sophie next screamed through his head. "I... I was guessing it might be some kind of bear... I mean, I like lots of food, right? And I enjoy meat... I could see myself as one..."
Any day now. He knew it was coming, he'd been expecting it. Oh Lord, please don't let him lash out, not at Sophie!
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 3:42 pm
For a moment, Sophie stopped. Simply froze. It seemed to take forever for her to process his words. A bear... Instantly, thoughts ran to the documentaries she'd seen, the torn faces of people who'd survived bear attacks, the ravaged remains of those who didn't. Every bone in her body was screaming against her in a mad panic, a disheveled accusation at attempting to befriend a predator. Two predators. She wanted to run, hide in some closet and never come out, but unfortunately for her, to reach the closet she'd have to go past Gaius, which a panicked part of her registered as 'bear'.
What she did next was a tad unexpected, and even reviewing the memory at a later date, Sophie would ponder her reasonings. Moving forward slowly, she wrapped her arms around his waist, snuggling her curls into his stomach. "Just promise not to eat me, 'kay?" she asked in her usual joking, cheerful voice. One would've thought she'd recovered from the incident, until they noticed the small shaking of her shoulders as she began to cry again, holding onto Gaius as if he was the only thing protecting her from being someone else's lunch.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 4:04 pm
It hurt. It hurt worse than any saw cut, any fist to the gut, that look she gave him. He thought he must have been sprouting fur and fangs even as she watched by the fear evident in her eyes. Was this the face a rapist saw as he advanced on his prey? The fear a murderer witnessed? He shrunk inside, feeling utterly ashamed of himself, pulling away for fear of hurting her.
He stiffened at her sudden hug, overwhelmed with surprise. Wh-what was going on? Had he missed something? Awkwardly, he patted her on the back, a blush coming to his cheeks. "Heh, how could I eat someone as cute as you? Maybe I'll be a bear more interested in pic-a-nic baskets than people..." His awkward smile faded as she began crying. Setting the disinfectant aside, Gaius wrapped his arms around her, shielding her from any predators stalking her mind.
"Shh. It's okay. It's okay. I'm here. I'll protect you."
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 4:27 pm
Slowly, but surely, the shaking stopped, the soft whimper ended, and shyly Sophie lifted her head to meet Gaius eye to eye, even if her eyes were a tad red at the moment. She didn't say anything at first, but she smiled, and knew it was going to be okay, at least in respects to Gaius. He would never hurt her, that she could feel within his embrace. "I guess if anything, you'd be protection, eh? I don't think Zach could take on a bear."
She didn't realize she'd given the name until after it slipped out, but at this point was simply too worn out to care. After all the crying and being afraid and playing the damsel in distress, she was pretty sure she hadn't taken her medication by the way her awareness was beginning to shut down.
"Please stay here, Gaius, just for a little bit. I don't want to...uhm, fall asleep off guard," she said, struggling with her words as her eyes drooped, and her tight grip loosened a bit. "Remember the party, when I fell? I..." she stopped speaking to yawn, then began again. "I have a sleep problem, and I don't want to be by myself when..." It was then that her eyes closed, and her breathing slowed, a little thirty-second power nap on unsuspecting Gaius's lap.
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 4:56 pm
Zach? He filed the name away for later, now was not the time to let his anger resurface. He continued to hug her as she recovered herself, crooning softly.
"I remember..." he said, looking down at her quizically. "Maybe you should -" He was cut off by her sudden collapse. Were it not for the fact that he already had his arms around her, and that she was relatively light-weight, he might've accidentally dropped her. As it was, he was quite surprised, and even a bit self-conscious to be holding an unconscious woman who was showing a good deal of skin (at least in his mind!). He looked around the room frantically, wondering if there was some medication or something he could give her to help, but nothing was in reach. Looking back down at her, he sighed. He didn't know if he should wake her or not. Was it like sleep-walking? Would it harm her?
"I don't even know what kind of medication you take..." he chuckled. She really was cute when she slept. Absently, he brushed some hair out of her face, revealing the darkening bruise. His stomach clenched and he pulled back, a sad frown twisting his mouth. "I hope... I never hurt you..."
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Posted: Wed Jun 14, 2006 5:12 pm
It didn't take long for her to wake up: it never did when she collapsed. Eyes fluttering open, she muttered, "...when I fall asleep...Oh wait, I already did, didn't I?" She wiped her eyes dry, then pulled herself into an upright position, silently hating the fact that she always finished her sentences when she woke up, no matter what she had been saying at the time..."I'm sorry about that. I was just out all day, so I missed my scheduled naps, I kinda faint like that...it's a narcoleptic thing."
Opening the drawer she had previously gone through to get the bandages, she pulled out an official-looking orange prescription bottle and a pack of caffeine gum. She shook the bottle, hearing the rattle, then quickly opened it and popped the pill, unwrapping the gum a moment later, ripping it in half and slipping it into her mouth, not actually chewing it but allowing the tiny piece to sit under her tongue. "Well, that'll keep me set for a few hours..."
She then looked down at the bandages, which due to her little breakdown, were still not applied. She laughed weakly, then picked up a strip, suddenly having a brain fart onto how one would apply gauze to their own arm. She looked up at Gaius, the bandage still in her hand.
"Do you think you could help me with this? We got a bit distracted."
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