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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:39 pm
Lauren shrugged a bit, "Truth is always subject to interpretation." She said rather coldly. She could see Awen's gears spinning about the doc. "Eh, you will probably hate him like the rest and that's alright I suppose, I don't see any point in that myself. We're stuck here might as well adapt to survive. Besides, how many times do normal people wish for something strange to happen to them just once? That's why you see those crackpots claiming they see bigfoot or aliens. They want something out of the ordinary."
She smiled a bit, "We're like mutants now, you know like x-men!" They had reached the clearing and the village was within sight, the sunset had turned the whole island an orange pink mixture. "Well, it's getting late and I need to get up early for my lessons. I'm at Duplex 10 if you want to hang, give me a buzz." She waved at Awen as she started saunter off in an opposing direction. Their duplexes were nearly at opposite sides of the village.
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Posted: Wed Oct 12, 2005 7:50 pm
She smiled back to Lauren. She really did make some good point and gave Awen a lot to think about. "I liked x-men...." She mumbled softly. As she headed for her duplex. "Oh um, 21 by the way is mine. You've given me a lot of things to think about..." She shook her head. "Don't just class me with other people, I'm not a fan or a hater of Moreau just yet...."
She once more changed the subject before they went too far to talk. "And if you really do like video games i got a Game Cube and a PS2 set up in my room! Come over sometime!"
She waved a little and started back for her duplex. She grinned softly. Lauren might be tough in real life... but if she ever did come over she;d have to be ready for a butt whooping in Soul Calibur 2.....
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 9:53 pm
You couldn't work all the time.
Anjali, as had become all too common in recent days, had run out of work to do. They were waiting on this supply from the mainland that hadn't come yet, or that plant shipment that hadn't arrived, or... any one of a number of excuses. Excuses, excuses everywhere. Anjali was beginning to suspect that it might be a conspiracy, something designed to force her out of her routine and make her respond to what was going on. She'd seen the pleased smirk on Doctor Duvert's face when he'd told her she was part of the experiment too, and wouldn't put it past them to watch her emotional reactions just for kicks, sick as it was...
She refused to be used. Not like that, anyway, not in what ways she could still help. She was going to be a lab rat; she refused to be entertainment as well. So when work ran thin, Anjali had taken to plunging into the jungle and losing herself in the plants that needed no tending, that grew wild and thick. Being able to explore essentially pristine island forest had been a draw for her originally, hadn't it?
And now it was another sort of sanctuary.
Right now, Anjali was absorbed in an orchid clinging to the side of a huge tree, apparently growing either parasitically or symbiotically, she couldn't quite tell yet... but it had quite a perfume. She made small notes in her dirt-smudged notebook and tried to relax. While she hadn't cracked emotionally again yet, she felt tense, watched, all the time. Her shoulder muscles were tight and achy - but she felt she could loosen up, just a bit, here. After all, they couldn't be watching her even in the depths of this place... could they?
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 10:04 pm
Tramping through the jungle without shoes on was an interesting experience, but due to her new nearly-hawk feet it was the best way not to damage her shoes. After finishing reading Emelyn's book in one sitting, Greer had strapped on her utility belt, grabbed her notebook and net, and set out into the jungle for a nice twilight bug hunt. She didn't think too many people would be out in the wilds around this time, and besides, she'd just stayed still for five hours straight. Too long not to be moving. Too long indoors. She needed excercise, and wasn't in the mood to find out her feet wouldn't let her jog anymore.
Her wing-length feathers made her bulkier than she was use to, and the woman was forced to abandon her usual tricks of slipping through the dense growth and stay on the more clear, path-like areas. This meant she was more likely to come across another islander, but again, she didn't expect anyone to be out. Hmm, maybe she should go take a gander at some of the local orchid population. They always attracted some interesting arachnids, and she hadn't drawn any of those yet-
Greer skidded to a halt, unsure what to do. Her orchids were already entertaining an exotic looking woman she had never met before, who was still very human. She gulped. All her old social insecurities came flooding back, and even the hawk's more prominent influence of strength and need to interact couldn't overcome a nerdy girl's fear of rejection. She was very much an other now, and she had no idea how those who hadn't changed yet would react.
"Oh, um, excuse me." she managed shakily. When in doubt, be polite.
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 10:12 pm
Anjali jumped at the sound of another voice - she hadn't been expecting that, not out here! "Ah! Oh..." She turned quickly, and her eyes widened at what she saw. A... apparently young woman.... or... mostly... woman...?
She blinked, realizing too late that she was staring, and had been for almost thirty seconds. "I'm sorry, where are my manners?" Anjali quickly inclined her head in a respectful nod. "I am Anjali... and you are...?" Questions like 'why do you have feathers?' and 'what happened to your face?' could come later - although she suspected, with a twisting feeling in her gut, that she knew the answers to those already.
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 10:16 pm
She was staring, but it didn't hurt as much as when Ambrose had done it. Strangers who were still human were allowed to stare for a bit, it seemed.
"I'm Greer. Greer Cassenwari." she mirrored the woman's nod, casting around for something else to say. "I'm sorry to have startled you, but I wasn't expecting to see anyone out here. Usually I'm the only one poke at the orchids."
What she wouldn't have given for a nice cup of tea right then! They were so calming, and gave you something to do when you couldn't think of the right thing to say.
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 10:20 pm
"Greer... that's an interesting name." Anjali nodded towards the orchids. "You made this path, then? I was wondering. I'm sorry if I'm disturbing a private place, but these specimens are truly exquisite." Her voice had a lilt to it, as well as a British accent. She hesitated.
"Ah... you're... here for the experiment, then?" Anjali said, finally, trying to put it as delicately as possible.
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 10:27 pm
She nodded, smiling, as Anjali's polite mannerisms put her at ease. "Yup! I'm an entomologist, and this particular stand has some really nice Misumenopes formosipes living in it. Nature belongs to everyone, so please, don't feel I'm chasing you off."
She chuckled at the woman's question. Impressively put. That more than accent meant she had some English in her background. Well, at lest she didn't have to be the one to explain the whole sordid mess to her. "Yes, sadly, I am. One of the first to get this far through the change, as far as I know. Are you?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 10:37 pm
"Misumenopes formosipes... you'll have to forgive me, I'm no longer as up on my etomology as I was while at university. Although, if it redeems my education any, I think these are fine examples of domingoa nodosa," Anjali added, smiling. She felt a bit more at ease. A fellow explorer and seeker of knowledge - and, really, she knew a bit about bugs herself, simply as an offshoot of her botany studies. "I was studying to be a botanist," she added. "But now I am simply a gardener... supposedly." Anjali looked down suddenly, as if avoiding something.
"... I suppose I am also part of the experiment," she said, finally, her voice tight.
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 10:45 pm
"Ah, sorry, that would be the yellow crab spider. I've spent nearly my entire adult life in either universities or scientific arenas, so I'm only recently learning not to speak in latin classifications all the time. You've certainly go me beat on the plant names though! I was lazy and only ever picked up common names."
Greer looked calm and still a little nervous, but internally she was extatic. Someone who was on her wavelength! Who understood her need to babble in Latin and her interest in knowing all about random flora and fauna! Well, not necesarrily, but it was highly probable. Oh, that would be so cool!
"I... I'm sorry to hear that, really. Still, it's a pretty little prison we have, isn't it?" Greer smiled encouragingly, wanting to cheer this new aquaintance up on general principles.
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 10:49 pm
"Pretty, yes... but rather marred by that last word." Anjali shook her head, then reached up with one hand to adjust the headband holding her bangs back. "You are... becoming a bird, then?" she said, lamely, feeling rather silly about stating the obvious but unable to come up with any pat, socially acceptable way to put it.
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 10:54 pm
Greer nodded. "That I am. A Harris' or Bay-Winged Hawk, to be precise." Sticking the end of her bug net in the ground so it stood up on it's own, she leaned back against a nearby tree and gestured vaguely. "Feel free to give me a full clinical interrogation: I won't be embarrassed and I'll answer all your questions to the best of my ability."
She didn't really want to offer that, but she knew that in Anjali's position she'd be itching for a carte blanche to question, and if she was going to be social she might as well go for the whole she-bang.
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 11:01 pm
Anjali shook her head. "I appreciate your willingness, but... you couldn't answer the questions I have, honestly," she said, quietly. "Although, if you don't mind, I will ask how you came here... and what your hobbies are other than the obvious, and other such common chit-chat. We might as well be in some arboretum enjoying a stroll before going to the theater. So terribly normal... and nice," Anjali added, wistfully. Unless Moreau decided to transform a whole troupe of actors, there would be no more plays of an evening for her. The realization was sudden and hit harder than she expected.
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 11:11 pm
She liked this woman more and more by the second! "Oh, not at all, I'll try to answer any question you put to me. Um, well, I've always wanted to be a field entomologist, but never managed to find a researcher who would give me a space on his team. I'd been working in forensic entomology for about five years when I recieved a letter from Feral Labs saying they were forming a research team to do a multi-year study in the Amazon, and my name had come up as one of the final candidates. I thought coming here would be like taking a test: a chance to prove I was worthy of the life I always wanted. So I quit my job, sold my apartment, and kissed my mother good bye before hopping on a plane with no regrets... and as odd as it may sound, I'm actually rather happy here. I didn't really have any friends before I came here and the hawk DNA dragged me out of my shell. Sad, I know." She smiled, moving on to happier things. "As for hobbies, well, I fence, read, spend time with friends, drink tea, look after my pet insects, and currently I am attempting to build a butterfly house with the complicity of anyone I can talk into lending a hand."
Greer shook her head, smiling a little. "I'm sorry, I ramble. What about you?"
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Posted: Sun Oct 16, 2005 11:21 pm
Anjali blinked at the sudden deluge of information - a bit more than she'd asked for, and all at once, but that was all right. "Feral Labs... yes, that was the name on the job posting I answered," Anjali said with a sigh. "As I said before, I was once studying botany in university, got quite high up actually... before I decided it wasn't what I wanted to do. I wanted to work with plants outside in good solid earth, not tiptoe around a white sterile room with sprouts clinging to sample vials." She shook her head. "Not that the scientific knowledge doesn't serve me well, but I prefer gardening - which is what I was hired here to do. I still am, actually; I get paid a fair salary and have the supplies I need... if not the plants, just yet. I'm working on landscaping the Village at the moment."
She paused, then sighed. "Greer, do you know anyone else that's part of this whole ordeal? Are there many on the island? I haven't been the most social of people lately," she admitted.
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