[Journal]~Awen Zyn~Special Aquatic Duplex #1~

[Awen Zyn]

Never trying that again

Awen took a deep breath standing at the edge of the trees. She didn't want to do this, she didn't want to be here. Everything in her body, phobia, anger, hurt, it all just wanted her to turn away and go back to camp. She could make an excuse, they didn't share the knowledge, they turned her away. Something like that would probably work.

But she knew that she couldn't do that. The fate of the group's health depended upon her in part. They could surive without fruit and veggies.. but it wasn't a good idea. She knew she had to face Jamal and Antony sometime anyway. Why not now, while she had a reason.

Stepping through the treeline and onto the soft sand she started forward seeing two figures by their fire. She frowned a little bit seeing what she did. Antony was...was... And Jamal..? She shook her head a little bit as she noticed the cuts over Antony. Right. She was hurt... they were..uh..taking care of things..right? It still didn't put her in a good mood as she approched.

"Hey there."

Awen may have been put into a bad mood, but Antony, thanks to that damn coconut tree, was already in a bad mood. And the greeting of whoever it was caused her to look up, a distinctly disgruntled look on her features.

If it was Godzilla so help her...

But it wasn't, but who it turned out to be wasn't much better. Awen, oh great. Just what Antony needed, love drama.

"Yes?" She said curtly, not moving to put clothing on due to her injuries. If Awen was uncomfortable around girls in their underwear then tough cookies. Thankfully, the fire was doing a good job of drying her off. She'd be able to put her pants on soon.

What little fruit that they had, aside from the bloodied coconuts, were in their 'fridge' and weren't visible.

Jamal glanced up as he saw Awen approaching and mentally ran through every curse word and phrase imaginable, a hand moving to rub at his chin uneasily.

Cue awkwardness right.....now.

"Uh," he said articulately at first, trying to decide if he was just going to play this off as nothing, which it was, and hope that Awen would not freak out or get obnoxiouss....or should he try to explain?

He decided to just not anything about it. Antony didn't seem to care...and really, he didn't either. He was -not- going to let this little encounter make him mad.

"How goes da group at da river?" he inquired innocently, handing Antony back her shirt now that she was drying off.

Antony she hadn't expected anything from. But Jamal... Maybe even just a 'hi Awen' would have been nice. Instead of ignoring her for her completely? But she was on a mission for her group, she wouldn't get into it. Even if seeing the two made her heart twist.

"Well.... not too good actually. A few injuries..." She frowned. "As I guess you guys can sympathise with." She bit her lip a little bit. She didn't want to ask things of them... but oh well. "Joliette said you guys had fruit... we were just wondering if you could tell us where to find some. We're not looking to mooch off of yours, we just...wanna know where to find some. We... kinda need some ediable greens..."

Antony attempted to take her shirt with one of her fingers so she didn't have to bend her arm. This ended up making her look quite weird, but she could care less. Her arms HURT goddamnit and she was going to do whatever she could to keep them from hurting more.

Hearing Jamal's casual question, Antony raised a brow. Group at the river?

But she didn't have time to think over it when Awen started talking, eyebrow raising and eyes darkening at the mention of Joli's name. And that was Awen's first mistake, mentioning Godzilla's name.

Like hell she was going to help that girl, and if that meant Awen wasn't going to get her 'greens,' then so be it. But she also didn't want to piss off Jamal, so she told the truth in a relatively 'nice' way.

"The botanist found the fruit," she said bluntly, "Somewhere in the jungle."

"Oh..."

He crossed his arms loosely over his chest...he didn't know what he expected her to ask, but it wasn't anything about fruit.

"I ain't got no idea where she found it..it was all herr when I got herr da otha' night," he answered, stating the truth whether Awen believed him or not. He hadn't been in the jungle since he hobbled out after leaving her back with Joli.

Awen nodded, a little bit disappointed to be sure. She looked over the camp that they had and figured it was a bit better than their own. Joliette would just have to find the fruit herself. She was trying to just keep this about survival...but she couldn't just be cold.

"How's your leg doing Jamal?" She asked softly. "And Antony, you're going to be okay too right?" She was genuienly concerned for them too, even if they had hurt her she didn't want them to be too injured or die out here...

She would let Jamal answer about his own leg, so that she didn't sound like his mother or anything. Besides, he had to deal with his drama.

"We'll see... Hopefully won't get infected. Already washed it and sterilized it with alcohol," she sighed and put her shirt back on daintily. It was a slow process, but she managed not to touch her wounds with her shirt. The shirt would have to be washed later.

Antony then stood up to grab her pants, putting them on as best as she could without bending her arms too much. Gritting her teeth to offset the pain, she smiled lightly when the pants were on. Like a proud little kid who had just learned to tie their shoes.

"So how are you all doing if you don't have fruit?" She asked, genuinely curious. If they couldn't find fruit then they had to be not so well off. Not that she cared if Godzilla starved to death or anything.

"It's gettin' better," he commented as he lifted the leg of his jeans up to show off the ugly mosaic of blue and black that modeled the area around his ankle, down the heel, and under the arch. "I kin' walk on it a'ight but it's still sore." He put on an expression of nonchalance as if it were nothing to worry about.

Antony's question did make him also wonder how they were surviving at camp. What exactly were they eating then, if they didn't have fruit? Leaves? Fish?

"Well, you two should be fine." She smiled encouragingly to them both. They did seem like they were doing alright. She shouldn't worry at all. She was taken a bit aback by the question Antony had asked. She wondered what she was going to say. They had agreed that Awen wouldn't talk about the boar so...

"Chubbs caught some fish." Awen smiled brightly. "He's quite the handy man ya know? Made a fishing rod from scratch and everything." She was quite happy about that success, even if it wasn't hers.

Antony nodded, frowning somewhat at the 'fishing line from scratch' phrase, "What did he used to make it, if I may ask?" There wasn't any fishing line anywhere, and no string from clothing would have been able to reel in a fish.

What was it with everyone else and magically appearing objects? He and Godzilla must be in cahoots or something.

"So just a fish over..." She trailed off to count mentally, "Two...Three days?"

This was starting to get fishy, bad pun and all.

Jamal sort of cocked a brow at the mention of fish-catching and the construction of a fishing pole. How the ******** did everyone else seem to have access to stuff like that while he and Antony were doing it the old fashioned, pain in the a** way....

"Well, good," he said lamely, scooping down to snag the bottle of liquor from the sand and walked over to put it with the rest so it wouldn't get lost in the shuffle or be broke open on accident. He had to really resist the urge to take a swig of it.

Fish for several days straight didn't sound appetizing...but...if that was all there was to eat, then it seemed reasonable to him that that's what they'd ate. He had no reason to guess she was holding out on them.

"I don't know I didn't make it. Chubbs had a strong stick and the cord from his pants probably 'cause that was missing." She shrugged. "And 'some' is the word, not a."

She felt herself starting to get edgy with this girl. It was really stupid the way she was trying to challenge their survival methods like this. She wasn't the one with a camp member bleeding from the head because they were attacked by a bloody huge pig. Not that she would mention that but still.

"Well I should get back. I hope you all enjoy your booze and your hidden fruit places." She smiled and kept he tone civil but she was getting a little bit bitter at them, and all the older scars were surfacing again. She didn't want this to get out so she turned on her heel and headed back to her own camp.

Whatever, Antony wasn't going to fight with her about the fish. It was just strange that she'd be looking for fruit when the had fish. Fish > Fruit. At least, that's what Antony thought. She didn't know that Godzilla was as vegan, nor did she give a flying ********.

It was all going to be fine and dandy until Awen made the last comment, and Antony narrowed her eyes. She didn't appreciate smart a** jabs under the cloak of a civil attitude, especially after she'd been honest with this girl.

"Wait a ******** second young lady," she called after the blue haired girl, "I've been nothing but honest to you, and I do not appreciate the blanket assumptions." Antony bit back a sneer, taking a deep breath before continuing, "You can take back a coconut or two if you want, but that's all we've got. Honestly, there are a few people on the island that I could care less if they starve, but you're not one of them."

Jamal owed her.

Jamal o_o'ed from his spot by the alcohol. Oh god, please don't let this get ugly because then he would have to intervene and everyone knows where THAT got him last time. He didn't fancy being 'broke' AND having a ******** up ankle. Especially coming from two girls he had sex with. That would be awkward.

At the mention of coconuts, Jamal stooped to pick up two of them and held them out like peace offerings.

Awen paused a moment, not turning back to either of them. She took a deep breath. "Keep your coconuts.... I told you we're not going to mooch from you. We'll find our own." She said very calmly.

They did have the meat after all. They could survive on fish and boar for awhile. It wasn't healthy without the good stuff from greens, but they could survive and Awen was not going to accept this girl's offer.

"...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come here. Causing problems and whatnot. We can survive with what we've got. It's not healthy, but that's fine we can survive. You keep what you guys earned and we'll do the same."

She wanted to just leave and continue on. She just... wanted to get out of there. At the same time she wanted to share their boar with these people. She wanted for everyone to just share and get along. But that wasn't going to happen...and it wasn't her boar to give out. She'd talk to the others...but for now. This was all she could do.

"Just take care of Jamal, eh?"

Without another word or any more stalling, she continued back into the trees. Feeling like absolute crap.  

[Awen Zyn]

Back at Camp

Awen stormed back into the camp in quite the huff and sat herself down back by their little fire. She took a look around at their living area. Broken glass still littered the ground, shreds of tarp lay scattered across the camp, Lauren was bleeding from the head and still hadn't woken up and Chubbs was passed out in the dirt.

Yeah they were doing splendidly. And yet Antony had the gaul to question Chubbs' fishing rod technique? How the hell should Awen know how it was made. She wasn't useful like Chubbs, she didn't know this survival stuff. Sure she went camping and was surrounded by woods back home, but those were at camping sites. A store was just down the road, park rangers patrolled, and bathrooms were never too far away. Chubbs was more resorceful and used what he had to make a fishing rod, that was damn impressive.

She had time to stew over this on her way back to the camp. And what kind of self rightious b***h did that girl think she was. Trying to make Awen feel guilty with the whole "I've been nothing but honest with you" crap. Awen curled her legs to her chest. Sometimes she would appreciate some dishonesty. It went against her own morals, but she didn't want to hear the truth from Antony anymore. It always made her hurt. Even if Jamal would have told Awen it would have been better, she knew him, loved him..? It would have been easier if he would have just admitted it.

She choked back a tear or two as she made herself face Joliette. "They weren't any help. Fruit's in the jungle somewhere....Just as we thought."

Joliette had been silent observing her friend for a time... "Yeah, we'll find it dont worry... berries?" she asked motioning hte piece of bark with the berries she'd managed to find, regardless it wasn't a ton, but she hadn't cleaned teh bush off

Awen shook her head, not daring to test her voice further. She didn't want to eat right now. Her stomach was knotting and her heart was doing backflips. Or was that the other way around? Awen didn't even know anymore. She just drew in a shakey breath and put her head to her knees.

She didn't want to be here. She wanted to be home in her nice comfy bed. She didn't have to worry about surviving or becoming a mutant fish or about the one man she had cared enough for to share her body with, cheat on her. No. Back home everything was nice. She'd be going to university this year, she'd be making new friends. She'd be normal without these stupid rubber patches on her skin. She would have good meals and no gash on her leg, she wouldn't have to worry about where her food was coming from after the boar was gone. She wouldn't have smashed an animal's head in.

Awen just sat and started to cry. Silent sobs ran through her but she refused to allow noise to escape.

Joliette sighed softly and without a word crawled over the gap between them and put an arm around her trying to comfort her. She didn't know exactly what Awen was thinking but suffice to say her own thoughts were similar

She curled around Joliette as soon as the girl placed a hand on her. This wasn't right. Nothing of this was ever right.

A stab of pain cut through her heart when she found herself longing for Jamal's comforting touch. Her arms tightened around the smaller girl as she squeezed her eyes tight.

She hadn't dared respond anymore to them at the beach. But she heard what Antony had shouted after her. "We're not in some stupid love-dovey relationship thanks!" She just wanted to make sure the big guy was alright with her. She figured that there must be something behind what they were doing. After all they were looking out for one another by being in a group in the first place right? It was jsut her way to telling Jamal she still cared. She didn't need to hear what Antony had said. That's what she had been cheated on with then? Someone who just didn't give a damn about him.

What happened when Awen had comforted Jamal, held him, talked him out of anger or depressions. After everything that she had done for him it wasn't good enough was it? Physical gratification obviously meant more to Jamal than anything Awen could give, which was also physical at this point. Guess she just...wasn't gratifying enough for him.

"She doesn't give a damn about him." She said in a shakey voice. "She doesn't give a rat's a** about him...."

"To be honest Awen, I dont think she gives a rats a** about anyone but herself. The day he stepped into the fight to stop it, she didn't stop until she had gotten him in knackers, but I can't say she wasn't still only worried about herself. I truely didn't expect help from her..." She sighed softly and tried to comfort Awen, friends had to stick together... especially now

Chubbs opened his eyes sleepily, the ground eventually became somewhat damn itchy and uncomfortable. He looked about and yawned loudly with a long stretch in which he cringed, it started to feel nice but then the aches came in. He rubbed his eyes, trying to focus on the world around him. Chubbs spotted a pair of boddies hugging into each other, Joliette and Awen. He pondered what was happening. then taking a moment, he saw that Awen was upset. He thought about what could have made her cry, and how could he fix it. Chubbs got to his feet and made his way over. Even if he didn't know, a hug would surely help, and so he bent down and wrapped his arms around Joliette and Awen.

Awen smiled a little bit when Chubbs wrapped the two of them up in a bear-hug. Pardon the pun. She couldn't move to try and hugs Chubbs back or anything so she just wait until he let go.

"Thanks guys..." She sniffed and wiped her nose with her hand. "I really...shouldn't break down like that honestly.... Not right now." She sighed and shook her head. "Anyway, Chubbs, we need help with this meat situation.... Could you, by chance tell uh how to smoke it at all eh? I have...no idea what the proper place away from the fire is good for it."

Joliette sat up more and pulled away and giving her friend a supportive smile. She turned and looking to David said "We were trying to figure that out while you slept, how to preserve parts of it..."

Chubbs sat down beside the two girls and scratched the back of his head. It was the only think he could think of at the time, he wasn't sure it was a good plan though.

"Um.. I ah...well, what I remember, ya did it in like a room or a box. Kinda hang it over sorta burning wood chips.. hmm... I'm really not to great on the process, I don't want to like poison the hell out of you guys"

Chubbs softly petted the two, he couldn't think, still a bit sleepy. He stood up again for a moment and stretched.

" Er i'll ah be right back... nature calling and all..."

With that he walked his way to get out of sight.

Awen sighed and shook her head a bit. Chubbs was the handy man ofthe group, she would have thought he knew how to do this stuff. She guessed not though.

Awen scratched the back of her neck a little bit. Feeling her hair she cringed. This was the worst condition she had ever felt her hair in. Not only the dye but the dirt and grim were building up. She didn't want to go near the river more than nessisary. She'd get smelly sometime, but t's not like a little water would help that much anyway.

Letting her arm fall back to her side Awen frowned softly. What was that in her hand. Was it some of her hair? Great...just peachy. Awen looked oer to Lauren, worried she hasn't woken up yet...  

[Awen Zyn]

Speak of the devil

Lauren shook, tossing deep in dream. With a few convulsions, and after rolling around a bit she sat up suddenly, her hair a birds nest.

"OMG Moreau!" She yelled out in terror, then realised that it was indeed just a dream she shook her thoughts off. "Oh sorry, weird dreams, nightmares"

Out of everyone else, Lauren could sleep like a baby on the ground because she was so used to it. It never seemed to bother her.

Joliette looked at the sleeping member of their party in surprise "Hey you woke up... good we were worried" she smiled and watched Lauren... "You know how to smoke meat by any chance?"

Chubbs hummed as he took a wizz out in the bushes, it was just some song in his head he had on his mind. He peekd around, making sure he wasn't in view of anyone. It was a habit of his to need the bathroom first thing in the morning. He wondered if this island had soap leaves. They were good in australia, you could break em up, and actually use them like soap, they even foamed up and everything. He doubted this place had em.

He was finally done and fixed his boxers and went down to the river. He took a drink then headed back to camp, wondering what to do next.

Awen sighed a little bit. "Well....everyone..." She got up slowly. "There are fruit somewhere in the jungle. I'll be back later successful or not. I'll take a look and see what I can find. You guys can..take care of things and..well yeah."

She smiled and waved a little bit as she started to walk away. "I'll be fine don't worry, I won't go too far either."  

[Awen Zyn]

Survivor!

Amaya had wandered away from her camp for a little solitude and most importantly, a decent bath alone. She wandered far enough from her camp so no one would see her, but close enough to still know the way. After having checked all around to make sure no one was watching she drapped her undergarments on the river bank and waded into the middle of the river. It wasn't a hot spring or sauna or anything and was actually a little cold... but for some reason it felt really good on her scales.

She stood near the towards the center of the river, deep enough to come just under her armpits as she stood. There she began to rub down her body, getting off the dirt and that nasty burnt people smell that she knew still lingered there... she could taste it.

However Amaya wasn't as alone as she thought. The solitude she found was simply an illusion held by the water. Something by one of her scaled feet moved within the water and bumped against her leg as it raced passed, a dulled tone of blue and green could be seen from the surface. Whatever the figure was it had definately not been a fish. The shadow that moved under the water a little ways away now was far too big to be a river bearing fish.

The thing stopped now and broke the surface of the water. The figure now standing before Amaya was a soaking wet, still clothed, blue haired Awen. With just a few changes from when last they had met. She smelt a familiar scent from under the water when she bumped the scaley leg and grinned. "Amaya!" She was glad to see her friend alive and as far as Awen coudl tell, well!

It took a moment for Awen's eyes to adjust to the world of air and sunlight. She blinked slowly as her eyes adjusted. Blushing, something which brought the only colour to Awen's pale greying skin, Awen turned around. "Oh geez!"

"JESUS!" The iguana-girl screeched and almost started running towards the river bank until Awen's head... or at least it remotly looked like Awen's head, popped above the surface. For a minute she just stared dumbfounded... or at least until both of them realized she was nude. "YAH!"

Wrapping her arms around her front she turned her scaley back to her friend. "Uhhh... I'm... gonna go get my clothes. Yeah." Still wearing the same startled, embarassed expression she made her way to the bank and hastily put on her undergarments. "Okay, I'm good."

Awen slowly turned back and started for the river bank herself. Once her feet hit dry land it felt uneven to her now flipper-like feet. Still she didn't care as she wrapped her-not-nearly-as-naked friend into a tight hug. "I haven't seen you in ages. I'm so glad you're okay."

Taking a step back she looked at Amaya. She had changed further since Awen had last seen her too. More scales..and her hands... She smiled still seeing her friend after so long. Awen had changed twice since they last saw eachother so she couldn't be surprised.

Amaya was pretty surprised by the hug, but returned it with a smile nonetheless. Well, Awen had changed... that was for sure. Though how many times was unknown. Once? Twice like her? She didn't know.

"Yeah, you too." Her smile broadened as she cleared a patch of ground free of leaves and twigs near where they were standing with one swipe of her large feet. She then sat down, putting her feet into the water and gesturing for Awen to sit next to her. After shifting around a little bit so her tail could curl beside her, she spoke up again. "I was afraid I wouldn't find anyone else besides those I'm camping with... I'm guessing you were dragged from your duplex too? How have you been getting by?"

Awen sat next to her old friend and sighed softly when she felt the cool water around her ankles again. She didn't feel very comfortable in the dry air as she used to. She rolled her shoulders slowly but still was happy to hear of others.

"Oh we've...er.... been getting by. A boar attacked out camp and..well... we made jerky out of it.... and Chubbs' made some kinda make-shift fishin' rod and was fishing. It won't last much longer though and we've only caught like one thing. I went out to find fruit..because Jamal and Antony had got fruit coconuts and stuff.... but I er...failed." She looked at the webbings on her fingers. "And that's when I saw the village and ...changed."

She shook her head and tried to changed the subject. "So you have a group too huh? Who all is in it?" She was kind of anxious to know if everyone was safe.

Awsome, Chubbs was safe! Amaya's grin broadened as she wiggled her long, clawed toes in the water. Her feet were still a lot bigger then Awen's it seemed. What was with people's feet getting bigger? "Well, I've been camping out with Ambrose and his girlfriend Angelina. Emelyn is with us too, along with Cassidy and Vasile... we caught some big swamp rat thing the other day for the others to eat. I can't eat meat anymore though, so I've been sticking to fruit." Though despite that, she did seem a little thinner from all the activity.

Though at mention of her changing she froze and slowly looked over her. "You... changed? Now? How? I mean..." She trailed off and stared at her in almost horror. "The labs... there totally abandoned... how can you change without them around? Oh god, have you seen the helipad?" Amaya didn't even realize how much she was rambling.

She noted all the names of the people that were safe in Amaya's group. She smiled knowing people are safe, but she didn't really know who they all are. So these people have found fruit too though, wow everyone was finding fruit except them appearently.

She scratched the back of her neck a little bit. "I don't know how I changed. Labs are shut down and all you're right. I just kind of..changed..." She shrunk in a little bit now knowing what else to say. Now that the initial flare of instincts and everything had settled it did worry her. As far as she knew no one else changed without an injection...so how had she?

Thankful for the change of subject, not knowing what it entailed she tilted her head ot the side. "No what's at the helipad?"

How bizarre... could they change without getting injections? Her body shuddered involuntarily, tail giving a swish in the dirt behind her. Though she shouldn't worry about that just yet, now was the time to inform Awen of everything they knew. Maybe she could get it around to other camps faster then they could?

"Well... when I woke up, that's where I was. The helicopter crashed and... it's pretty bad... there were two bodies inside. Too charred to tell who they were. The labs are locked down tight as you know... and no one is inside at all as far as we know." She would let Awen think up her own theories before stating her own.

She bit back a feeling of sickness in her stomach. Questions floated through her head. Who were the bodies... what where they doing, trying to escape? Was it...Moreau and that girl he was with at the party? Or maybe Sabin and someone? It wouldn't have been the big man or they would have been able to tell... She shook her head with a frown.

"Well... things keep getting better and better, don't they?"

The iguana-girl just snorted. "Oh yes. Better and better." She sighed and looked down into the water, bringing her toes just above the surface and curling them before putting them back under.

"So who have you been staying with?"

Awen sighed a little bit and scratched her arm a little bit. Noticing a lot of her skin had begun to feel a little itchy actually. The sheen that she had seen before was getting duller.

"Well it was me and Jamal, then we found Joliette. Jamal saw smoke by the beach so he went that way while me and Joli waited for Chubbs. Then Lauren jumped us later on, she was real desperate for attention...." She smiled a little bit happy with their group. "Um..Jamal stayed with the beach group..which is just him Antony and...some lady I hadn't seen before."

"Well, it's good to know all of them are going alright... though I can't say I know who Antony is." She admitted, leaning back and kicking her feet through the water gently. "But if you ever wanna camp out with me, feel free to." Amaya smiled, looking over at her. "We have a fire, lean-to's, food, hunting supplies, almost everything."

Awen was gonna comment on how it was a good thing she didn't know who Antony was but surpressed it. She simply nodded instead. "Well I'll talk to the others about it. I don't want them to worry.... We..haven't had much luck. We tried to make a shelter but it was destroyed by a boar, as well as the booze Chubbs got from the beach bar. Er...purely anesthetic purposes of course. We still have some of the jerky left but... I dunno how good it's gonna be. Lauren made a knife out of bone though, it's pretty neat. And the shards of glass we figure are good for cutting too... but it's really a mess."

Amaya wanted to offer to go back with her, teach them what her own little group had learned. But two things held her back, one was she might not find her way back to Ambrose's camp and two was that it seemed Lauren was there...

"Well, I could give you pointers and stuff so when you get back you can hopefully straighten it out... Do you know how to make a lean-to?"

She shook her head a little bit. "Well I think Chubbs knows. We just haven't gotten around to working it out. I think we can make it, and things haven't been..too rough." She swished her feet around in the water. "But...I might see about having us join your group. It's probably better if we all stick together right?"

She swallowed a little. "I'll even talk to the beach group. If...you people don't mind. I mean...some of us don't...get along." Not talking about Amaya's apprehentions about Lauren but mostly thinking of Antony. "But really we need to concentrate on surviving. And if we do it has a group it would be easier. More people to help with tasks and things...more people to add suggestions and such."

"Yeah, the more we stick together the easier it'll be to get through this." Amaya nodded in agreement with her, then laughed at the whole 'not getting along' thing. "I know what you mean. Angelina and Emelyn both had or have a thing for Ambrose. Something went down earlier but now they're all... y'know... Not very friendly." She didn't care to explain what had happened to cause it. It was a story for another time.

Awen nodded. "Yeah... I know how that is." She crossed her arms and brought her knees to her chest leaning agaisnt them. But that was a story for another time as well. "Then it's settled. I'll talk to my people and you'll talk to yours and see what we can work out, right?"

"You betcha." Amaya grinned her sharp teeth and gave a salute with two of her freakishly long fingers. Pulling her feet out of the water, she stood up. It was getting to be late afternoon and she needed to head somewhere to bask, the tree canopy having hindered her heat-absorbtion over the past couple of days.

"After I bask a little and go fruit searching I'll let 'em all know and if you guys ever wanna merge with us, feel free." She paused for a moment and laughed. "Oh my god, this sounds like Survivor."

Awen chuckled a little bit. "Complete with hidden cameras everywhere. Wonder if they still work...." Probably not if the power was out. Unless maybe they are held up somewhere in the main building. And are surveilling the islanders in their "natural" habitat. All new possibilities came to Awen's mind but this wasn't the time.

She stood stepping back into the river. The cool water feeling nice as it rejuvinated her dryingitchy skin. "Say Amaya can we meet here again..say in a day or so. We've gotta meet up somehow without knowing where each others campos are really eh?"

"I doubt the cameras are on... I mean, not even the electric fence around the labs was on. If anything had remained on, it would have probably been that." Amaya looked around as if to emphasize her point.

"And sure, no problem! Maybe we can even trade supplies and stuff or something if one of our camps is lacking something the other isn't." She grinned and watched her friend decend into the water. Green eyes looked around, eyeing a tree that had fallen into the water on the other side of the river bank. "Okay, we'll meet up here in a day or two... we can remember where exactly by that fallen tree." A long, clawed finger pointed over to it.

"Unless they don't want us to know they're in there." Awen mumbled then forgot that whole convrosation.

She glanced over at the tree and nodded. "Alright then. You know though... maybe this change was a good thing. I'm not really afraid at all anymore... a bit uncomfortable..but not truly afraid. And.. I mean traveling this was is so much faster." She nodded slowly. "And if things get really bad.... I might be able to swim away from the island, try to find people to help."

I'd be a monster freak fish thing but.... Awen shook her head. No. People would understand once she explained.

She smiled back at Amaya and waved before diving back into the water and going back towards her own camp.

Amaya nodded and waved as Awen left. "See ya in a couple days!" The girl actually didn't look that bad... and it seemed like her change had kind of been good for her. Smiling she turned towards camp, hoping to find a place to bask and maybe some fruit on the way.  

[Awen Zyn]

Pepe LePew and the Lady of the Lake

Timothy, who'd just changed further and had... not so pleasently developed his skunk musk had eventually, when he was used to the smell. As much as he could be, gone to the lake, near the village that had been shut down.

He remembered the large body of water here and was hoping... hoping he could wash all this off. Wasn't there something about tomatoe juice involved. Jeez, he was never going to live this down, especially if Vasile caught... pardon the pun, wind.

Timothy took off his clothing, it'd been musked too anyway. He moved into the water to wash off as he attempted to pay particular attention to his tail. Though the water might have reduced the smell, without any sort of cleaning suplies there was no way it was going to come completely out.

Awen had just decided to go for a swim in the lake. It was awhile before she had to meet with Amaya about the group joining thing and Chubbs and Joli were...somewhere. Creation only knew what Lauren was up to. Besides she didn't feel as safe in something like the river. The lake was her ideal place. It was the ocean, which her instincts would have prefered, but it was a large body of water and that was fine enough.

She was minding her own business, not even going after any of the fish that were around the lake, when she caught a sift of something in the later. She senses were assulted as the smell had been amplified for her. What the heck was that? It smelt familiar, but nothing she had smelt for years.

Her curiosity outwieghed her disgust as she swam closer trying to find where the smell was coming from. Soon it was too much, the stink seemed to be mixing into the water itself...like some kind of mutant koolaid.

Her foot touched a rock, it was still a short ways befor ethe natural incline of the lake would have her food touch anything solid but that was as far as she could go. Surfacing Awen took a big breath, and realised the smell was out here too!

She gagged anc coughed a little bit and just barely stopped from sliding back into the water. It may be bad out here but at least she couldn't taste it or feel it running into her gills.

"The heck!?"

She blinked a little bit as she noticed the thing making the smell. Something blurry and ..blackie white...and a bit of pink. What the heck kind of creature was black white and pink? As her vision cleared she saw exactly what was black white a pink.

Timothy's naked body!

She covered her eyes quickly but stopped herself from jumping back into the water from her surprise. "Gak! Sorry!"

Timothy was attempting to wash the smell out as he heard something behind him. As far as he knew he'd never seen anything big here, besides a few fish. He quickly turned around to be confronted with a pale blue creature.

"Ack!" He fell back as it appologized, after a split second only he realized it was an islander.

"Oh my god... I'm so sorry..." Timothy blushed benieth the fur as he grabbed his pants and pulled them on himself, under the water, soaking them. They were just as bad if not worse than his fur but alteast he wasn't naked now.

She didn't uncover her eyes because she was't sure if it was safe. She didn't want to accidently get another peek. So that was three girls and two guys she's seen naked on the island so far. Well, three and a half girls anyway. Why did this always happen to her?

"No, no." She said rather quickly. "I should be sorry. I was the one that was sneaking up on you."

She choked back another gag as the smell got to her again. She was going to ask him what had happened what the smell was. But the bit she's seen of him she saw the big black and white tail. And she thought becoming a....manta ray did Chubbs call it... was bad. But a skunk?

Wait a second. She had seen someone with a nub of a skunk tail before, hadn't she? Yeah yeah... the one that made that little song of her. To hell if she remembered his name though...

Timothy had a memory, atleast when it cames to words and names, he had to to remember his lyrics sometimes. But he had no idea who this person was.

Besides the blue hair, blue hair, he remembered a blue haired girl and a song.

"That you... Awen?" he asked the last part with a particular question trying to see if he could remember the name correctly.

God, he didn't know what to do as he squirmed a bit, he was particurally uncomfortable around girls.

"How ummm... are you?" he was embarrased, he knew she could smell him. He didn't know what fish sense of smell was like though.

She slowly peeked through her fingers at the hopefully-not-naked-skunk-boy. And surely enough he at least had pants on. She let her hand drop to her side and nodded a little sheepishly.

"Yeah... it's me. Quite a bit different from last time..eh? You too it seems." She could hardly stand not covering her nose, but instead she used a technique she had since she was a kid. Sort of internally blocking her nostrils by...well.. she wasn't exactly sure how it worked but it did. Gave her a funny feeling in the back of her throat and nose though. It didn't help much but it took the edge off the smell.

What was his name his name....dangit. It wasn't a name she was used to hearing at all so she couldn't recall it right away. Now that she was looking at him her mind started working slowly. She remembered an M. So... Mike, Matt, Mitch? No no those didn't sound right... though the T in Matt sort of rung a bell. Ted? No there was an M remembered. T-M? Tom? Yeah that had to be it!

"As well as we can be right now. What about you Tom? Where've you been hiding?"

"Tom?" Timothy said with a quizical look on his face.

Timothy snicked, it was the first time he'd thought about laughing in a bit. Then it turned into a bit more of a laugh, for a moment then he smiled.

"It's Timothy, though you can call me... Pepe?" he tried to have a sense of humor about things. Being depressed wasn't getting him too far. Despite how comfortable it normally was.

He extended his hand, to shake. "Mind if I call you Blue Girl?"

She wasn't sure if shaking his hand was a good idea. But well... ah she was in the water enough now. She took his hand and shook it heartily. "Blue Girl? Sounds good to me." She chuckled a little bit about his Pepe comment. She was glad to see he had a sense of humour about it. She wasn't sure if she would have the sa-- Yeah she didn't have the same about becoming a fish.

"Sorry about getting your name wrong. It's...been a while and ...I'm terrible with names."

"It's Timothy... no big deal" Timothy shrugged.

"Sorry about... ummm... this but I need to get this out. Besides, I didn't know you were down there." he blushed a bit.

The differences in his anatomy were already more obvious as well. The shorts bobbed a bit in the water. He knew stepping out in them was going to make them lead heavy.

"Sooo... fish huh? How's ummm... that?" he attempted to smile.

She nodded a little bit with his explaination. She would want it out too... Now that she had been around him awhile the smell wasn't quite as staggering. Sure it still smelt bad but she got used to it.

"Hell at first." She chuckled a little bit and sat down on the rock she had been standing on. The water came up to about her chest. The fabric in her shirt and jean shorts now started to seem a little worn with the movements and water damage. It wasn't bad though it would still hold for a long time, it just didn't look as nice. "Hydrophobe and all that."

She shook her head a little bit. "First change was the worst. Wanting the water but hating and fearing it. Now that' I've changed a bit more.... The water is amazing. It's like a whole world I haven't known since I was a kid." Her eyes sparkled as she described what it was like to move through the water and see so clearly and...smell usually. Then she slowly shook her head. "But I still have this feeling in the back of my mind. Somewhere the water still doesn't sit right in my stomach."

"Hehe, your like the Lady of the Lake or something." Timothy read a lot before high school, he was particurally interested in stories that weren't reality based.

"I was gonna be a performer, now though I'm a stinky skunk." he shrugged getting down a bit more.

"But listen, I'm sorry about the smell, I'm gonna go for now, maybe it will come off better at the beach.