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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 8:40 pm
Richard was could barely believe it. It was all coming together at last. After weeks of procrastination the newsletter was almost done. It still wasn't very big and needed a million more little things done to it before it went to print. But the content was almost done. Another couple hours and the rough drafts would be ready.
As he sat at a table in the entertainment, piles of paper spread out infront of him, he could barely contain his excitement and sense of accomplishment. After months in this god forsaken place he was finally about to finish something! As he worked on the current artictual his tail lashed behind him in an almost hypnotic manner. Every few minutes he'd clear his throat due of an odd sensation deep within it. His tentacles hovered upon him, curling and uncurling with restless energy.
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 8:57 pm
Sophie didn't know what finally got her out of her duplex: maybe it was simple boredom. Maybe it was curiosity. Or maybe it was that she just didn't want to stay in that room any longer: either way, she found herself wandering back to the village, exploring the parts she hadn't seen from her first visit. In all honesty, she wasn't all too thrilled with the idea of moving about: moping had left her feeling drained, and her medicine wasn't working like it used to. She knew it was stupid to take it if it would just turn her into an animal, but she liked not having to go to sleep.
Poking her head inside the entertainment room, her eyes widened: stuff. Lots of stuff. She quietly entered and closed the door behind her with a soft click, her gaze glued to the mass amounts of DVDs, games, and the perfect centerpiece, that huge TV. If it was for public use...oh, Sophie had found home, and a constructive way to get rid of the empty feeling she'd had since she'd found out the Island's secret.
However, it seemed she would have to share: at the table, there was a...well, Sophie wasn't quite sure what it was. It had a lot of arms, and it twitched a lot, and most things fitting that description would cause Sophie to whap it with a newspaper until it was dead. However, it seemed rather interested in something, and therefore, Sophie became interested, too.
She shyly stepped up behind the man, peering over his shoulder from a distance. It was no use: she couldn't read the writing from that far away. But, she still looked for a while longer, hoping not to be noticed so that she could take inventory of the beautiful collection of stuff in so close a proximity.
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:14 pm
Richard heard somebody come in to the entertainment room but was too involved with writing to look up immediately. In fact it wasn't until he felt a sudden presence. That indistinct yet indescribable feeling that you get when somebody is reading over your shoulder. A tentacle curled toward Sophie before Richard turned around to peer at the new comer.
Richard looked her over for a moment before speaking. He shook his head in disapproval, yet again Moreau probably chosen a perfectly healthy young woman with her whole life ahead of her to reside in his freakish zoo.
Remembering his manners he smiled and quirked a eye brow. "Hello there, I don't believe we've met."
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:20 pm
Sophie stifled a yelp at the curled tentacle, backing away. It had curled towards her, but she certainly wasn't going to let it get any closer. When she finally looked to the man on which it belonged (or, at least, she'd thought him to be a man), her stance relaxed in the slightest bit, though she was still staring at his odd features. It took her a moment to get her brain in gear again to reply.
"No...I don't think we've met, either." Realizing that she might have sounded sarcastic, she added, "That is to say, I haven't been here long enough to forget the people I've met."
Deciding she'd done enough verbal damage to her first impression, she just dropped the subject and continued on. "I'm Sophie," she said, sidestepping to get a little bit closer to the table, but still not quite as close to him. "What exactly are you working on, if I can ask?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:35 pm
He pulled back the errant tentacle, noticing her timidness with a slight frown. It had been awhile since someone had been afraid him. He'd never admit to it but he was quite sensitive about his current apparence. In particular the he hated the sparse hair on his tail and back, it looked unhealthy and diseased. Jordan and Newt didn't count, he had been trying to be intimidating.
When she mentioned her name his brow furrowed and he reached for a piece of paper. "Sophie Bell right? Duplex 10?" The name had appeared only a week ago, how had she changed already? "Um how long have you been here exactly?"
When she inquried about his work, he immediately brighted up, his tail curling with pride. "Ah, I'm working on a little project of mine. A community newsletter. Nothing fancy."
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:38 pm
Sophie blinked, then gulped: the guy knew her name and duplex already? But how??? She nodded in response, but couldn't quite bring herself to answer for a moment. "...I've only been here a few days, really. It's been a bit hectic." She bit back a weary, despaired expression, then looked back to the papers, suddenly very interested once again.
"A newsletter? That must be a bit more than a little project. And...community?" She paused: it had never occured to her just exactly the size of the Island. "How many people are here, anyways?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:46 pm
"Really? and you've changed once already?" He took his glasses from his shirt pocket and held it in front of his eyes to peer at her closely. The glasses no longer stayed on his flattened nose. Yup she had definitely changed once, not that much but certianly enough to see the canine features. "Do you know what your serum is?" He was doubly curious now.
"Oh yes there are about eighty people here now according to the list." It was said in an off hand manner.
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 9:53 pm
"Yeah...I changed state-side because of some pills I was taking, and they brought me here to get rid of the side-effects." Again, Sophie hid the dismay of having to tell her story, and tried not to remind herself of the things she'd heard about the true nature of the place.
Her discomfort melted into a pensive stare. It had never quite occured to her that she would know what animal they were turning her into, and Sophie paused, thinking for a moment. Come to think of it, the guy she'd met in the Cafeteria the first time had known he was a pegasus...or that's what he'd said, anyways. "Uhm...no, actually. I have no idea what I'm supposed to be. Can you tell?" She turned around once to get a good look at her nub of a tail. "Because I have absolutely no clue."
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:05 pm
With a closer look Richard had to admit he wasn't any closer to an answer of the serum question. In particular he looked at the hands and the eyes. "Umm perhaps a housecat? Claws don't look quite right though." He leaned back and desposited the glasses back into his pocket.
"Wait, you changed state-side? What happened?" The was a sudden edge to his voice. He stood up and leaned over the table, his inhuman eyes full of curiousity and the slight gleam of hope.
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:10 pm
Oh, dear. The stateside interest. Sophie could tell by his look that he was hoping that she'd stirred up some publicity, but she shook her head as she pulled up a chair and sat down. "I didn't make any waves with it...I just called the company, they picked me up, and that was the end of it. No one outside of Feral Labs even saw me like this." She scratched the back of her head and gave a weak apologetic smile: it was the least she could do.
"I don't know how, or why, but after about a month or so of taking medicine that Feral Labs produced, I woke up like this." She held up her hands, then rested them in her lap. "I don't even know my way around the place yet, to be honest." Sophie shrugged, looking away. "I just got here."
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:20 pm
"oh." Richard looks disapointed and slumped back into his chair. He used his hands to smooth out his whiskers. "Its alright. You'll have plenty of time to explore." He bit on his knuckle for a moment, collecting himself, trying to recover his good mood.
He made a strange noise, halfway between a sigh and growl. Then looked up with his trademark grandfatherly smile. "So you've met Giaus eh? He's a good fellow. Met anyone else? For just getting here your handling this awfully well."
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 10:27 pm
Sophie looked up, and couldn't help but have the feeling that perhaps she should've done more to grab the attention of others to her deformities back when she was off-Island. She smiled at the mention of Gaius, even though with it came the pain of the truth, as well as the encounter.
"Yes...I've met, uhm, Gaius the pegasus man...and then, Marshall...and I met Jordan right when he changed." As a small amount of comfort, she brushed through her hair with her fingers for a moment, and then put her hands in her lap again, trying not to fidget too much. The man had an austere sense to him that made her give respect, if nothing else.
"I'm just trying to stay positive about the whole thing as much as I can...it wouldn't do any good to mope, would it?" Her voice quivered and weakened by the last statement, and it was clear that she was anything but okay with the situation. However, she regained composure, and began fiddling with her hair again.
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Posted: Fri Jan 12, 2007 11:01 pm
"Oh Jordan changed? And how did he handle that." Richard opinion of Jordan wasn't high. Richard though him to be an incredably weak willed young man who he assumed was safely nestled in the middle of disgusting amounts of denial. Still he didn't truly dislike the boy, the question was fairly innocent. "Wait you saw him change? Well, everyone sees it at some point. Time doesn't make it much easier."
At her second question Richard started sliding some papers around on the table with his little hand while his first pair folded together. He found what he was looking for. A little scrap of paper with four names of it. Nathan Moriarity, Fiona Brooks, Matthew Brandovich and Sean "The Dude" Carrol. He looked at it for a moment. "I suppose I could sugar coat it. But I won't. Moping doesn't help but either does blinding yourself to the situation." He slid the paper at her. "Not everyone makes it to the end of the process."
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Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 8:20 am
"He took it fairly well, I guess: after all the screaming and everything, he was able to eat just fine." Sophie couldn't help but smile at her mention of the man: it was mostly his confidence that was feeding hers. The grin faded to a confused look as he presented the names on paper, then turned to one of surprise and fear.
"You mean...those people died?" She managed to squeak, trying her best not to fidget in her seat but doing so anyways. "People...people die here?" The confident tone in her voice was gone, replaced with a shaky uncertainty that came with those names. True, it was only one female name out of four...but all too easily she could see Sophie Cherise Bell put on the list, her last testimony to this world. She didn't want to die there, and she looked up to Richard hoping that it was some sort of sick joke.
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Posted: Sat Jan 13, 2007 8:38 am
Richard had been mulling over this particular aspect of the island the day before, when he had taken a hike to the graveyard. There was a fresh grave there. Another guard, which all things considered was probably a good thing. Still Anne worried him, Jamal didn't seem to think like a human at all, according to rumors Anne was much worse. How long would it be before Anne took her madness out on the villagers? "Well only three of them died due to their serum. Fiona was murdered." He sighed. "I'm afriad you haven't happened upon the happiest place on earth by any means."
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