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 Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 7:45 pm
"Ain't no problem," he said smoothly, taking the glass from her when she was finished with it, setting it to the side before giving her forehead a critical look. There was a nasty bump for sure, but he wasn't sure if it was going to bruise or not. That'd be fun to explain to people if she decided to suddenly become a social butterfly.
He settled down on the couch, making space by lifting her legs up briefly, sitting, then putting them back down across his lap, and watched to make sure she wasn't falling asleep or if she had, that she didn't sleep for too long of a span.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 7:49 pm
Had she been sober, Antony would have been more appreciative, but the table attack had left her in a less than desirable mood. She yawned once he was situated, leaning her cheek against the back of the couch, the cool leather comforting her.
She had a feeling this was going to be a long night.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 8:01 pm
Blinking over to Jamal, she rolled off the couch with a resounding thud and crawled her way to where he had left the aspirin. The bottle was popped open, and she took two of the pills into her mouth. Groping for the glass of water, she swallowed and downed a gulp or two.
She soon stumbled to her feet and headed for the bedroom. Crumpling onto the edge of the bed, Antony grabbed the discarded socks from some other day and shoved them on. Her boots were on next, but she didn't tie them. Not for just going outside for a smoke.
Clearly she had forgotten that she could smoke in her own duplex just fine.
Shoving a new pack into her back pocket, she grumbled and headed for the door, but stopped halfway there. Doubling back, she grabbed a second pack and a blunt or two, the latter being tucked down her shirt for lack of any better place to put it.
The second pack went in her other pocket once a smoke had been ganked from it, and she shuffled aimlessly outside.
Where she smoked, and wandered.
She couldn't remember all that she did, but she was soon back in her duplex, half a pack down from when she started.
Antony couldn't remember if Jamal was there or not when she returned either. It had been straight to bed for her, clothes, glasses, and otherwise.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 8:25 pm
That night, at 3am on the dot, there is a LOUD sound of an explosion, originating from the sky above the Island. Looking out, or anyoune outside would look up to see a brief fireball in the sky. Following that, any power that is on begins to flicker, going through a few brownouts before finally shutting down altogether. If you happen to be awake at that point - you would notice all the lights around you, any electronic equipment that wasn't battery operated flicker and die. However, within a few seconds of the final powersurge and failure, you find yourself being pulled into a forced unconsciousness.
When you wake up, it is midafternoon the following day, though it would vary within a few hours depending on the individual. You are NOT in your duplex. You wake up to find yourself deep in the jungle with no one else around.
All of the buildings on the island are in 'shutdown' mode. This means that everything is locked tight. If you attempt to force your way into any of the buildings, your own duplex and the Town Hall included, then you will find that from the outside at the very least, they are impenetrable. If any window was broken - it is now fixed. All of the lights are off - in every building. Even the electric fence surrounding the main laboratory is turned off - though still closed. Attempts to break into the main complex will be met with equal lack of luck as breaking into a duplex or the town hall.
The only items you have on you are the items that you would have been wearing when you were asleep/fell unconscious: including clothing and perhaps a few battery-powered electronics IF You would have been wearing them. That's it. Everything else is where you left it - if it was in your duplex, it still is and you can't get to it.
There is no sign of what happened to the staff. The labs are quiet from the outside.
Welcome to the Wild.
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Island of Moreau Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:29 pm
Her first reaction was to try and kick off the covers. It was way too hot in this damn duplex.
Who the ******** turned off the AC anyways?
Grumbling at the heat and still half asleep, Antony rolled over onto her back. Her eyes snapped open when she felt a sharp object jabbing painfully into her spine, and then widened when it wasn't the ceiling that she saw, but a thick canopy of green. She was sitting seconds later.
The first thought that came to her mind was that she may have wandered somewhere drunk. It wouldn't be the first time that something like that had happened, so to her it was entirely plausible.
But, she didn't have anything to drink. No matter how hard she searched her memory, all she could remember was taking a walk and having a good long smokathon.
A gasp and a rushed pat down later, Antony relaxed visibly. The smokes were safe, and she had her lighter. Everything was okay.
Until reality really set in that is... Her violet eyes immediately scanned her surroundings carefully. Alone. There was no one else in sight.
Pushing herself to her feet, the tattooed woman listened hopefully. Nothing. Only the distant sound of water running and the general animal sounds greeted her.
And she still did not know how the ******** she ended up here.
How the HELL did she end up here?!
Panic began to tingle slowly through her body, until her brain was on fire.
"Hello?" She called out hopefully, tiny sliver of hope disappearing almost instantly. There was no ********. ******** ******** ******** chest began to rise and fall quickly, anger soon replacing fear. It had to be that ******** Doctor. It just had to be.
And Antony seethed. What a ******** reality check this was, and just like that, any hope she had been hanging onto was gone.
Carrot Top was going to ******** die.
Soon her anger turned into a wrathful determination, and Antony oriented herself towards the sound of the running water before she began to push and shove her way through the foliage.
It didn't take her too long to find a stream. Kneeling down, she removed her glasses and began to splash her face with the refreshing liquid. After a while, she gave up and simply ducked her head into the water. She splashed her head free with a bout of coughs before replacing her glasses to their rightful place.
The water was making her thirsty, but was it safe to drink? She stared at the sparkling stream before sighing deeply and dipping her cupped hands into the water.
Bottoms up.
Moments later her thirst had been satisfied and she was back on her feet. All else fails, she would get sick and then gleefully get to throw up all over Carrot Top. The mere thought made her grin, and was enough to fuel her hike along the stream. A smoke or two made it even better.
She would be at the beach in no time.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 11:35 pm
Awen Zyn Awen awoke only a short while later. The sun hadn't even the time to dry her clothes. She opened her eyes first this time, not letting any other sense take control. She was now facing the jungle. She heard the crashing waves behind her and slowly got to her feet.
Drawing in a breath she shivered slightly. She couldn't freak out again... she had to stay...stay calm. She closed her eyes and steadied her breathing slowly.
She wondered vaguely what's going on. What happened to everyone else... Was that last night just a crazy dream? Maybe her instincts had taken over and driven her to the water. She didn't know.... but she just...kept walking. Antoinette Devereux "EEEEEEE!" Came a rather high-pitched and obviously feminine scream from the general jungle area. Antony had just gotten a face full of spider web and was now pawing frantically at her face and hair. She didn't usually have a problem with spiders, but this one had crossed the line! A little ways down the beach, the sounds of loud cursing mixed with various forms of 'get it off' were heard before a flailing Antony exploded from the jungle. Oh there would be a war on all spiders. Awen Zyn Awen was startled from her attempts to calm down. She looked towards the loud crashes and swears bursting from the jungle a little ways to her left. Recognising this as other life, and possibly something to distract her from her little problem she jogged towards the girl.
Awen smiled slightly noting the patch of blue in the girl's hair, that was so cool. The girl was new, or at least someone Awen hadn't seen before. Her mind quickly snapped back to the less casual matters at hand.
"Hey, are you alright there?" She asked approching at a slower pace.
Seeing the tattoos the woman had this situation ran a gong in Awen's mind. This was the person who had attacked Joliette when she jsut asked what was wrong. Remembering this Awen stopped a respectful distance away. Antoinette Devereux Antony didn't recognize who this was, nor was she even caring at the moment. All thoughts were on the rare tropical spider that was going to bite, and kill her. Awen Zyn Awen looked the other girl over quickly, searching for a spider amidst her intricate tattoos. She couldn't see anything that looked like the spiders she has seen on this island so she simple shook her head.
"Doesn't look like it's there anymore." She replied.
She scratched her left arm, starting to itch from the dried sand and salt on her skin. Antoinette Devereux Antony sighed deeply in relief, relaxing noticeably before finally focusing on the girl in front of her, grinning sheepishly over her fading anger, "Thanks... Walked into a spider web..." It was explanation enough for her. Looking over the other girl, she cocked her head to the side before offering Awen a hand to shake, "I'm Antony." She only noticed that this girl was one of the 'strange' ones after her hand was offered, not that the gesture wouldn't have happened either way. And suddenly it dawned on her, and her bruised brow furrowed. "Hey... Did you wake up where you fell asleep?" Awen Zyn Awen took the offered hand and shook with a small smile. "I'm Awen." But it seemed there wasn't much time for pleasentries.
She frowned a little bit realising this girl must know less than she did at this point. "No, I didn't really fall asleep either. There was a huge explosion last night, the power flickered and died and then... I kind of blacked out myself. I woke up...." The words caught in her throat and she was painfully reminded of her now only damp clothes.
She shifted her weight a little bit adn felt her socks squish. "Well here." She said quickly enough before switching subjects, back to this..Antony girl. "Didn't you hear it last night?" Antoinette Devereux Antony blinked, that name sounded familiar and she had a nagging feeling that she should KNOW this person, but for the life of her she couldn't remember. Damn that pot. "Nope, I sleep like a rock, and then there's my lovely forehead decoration too," she gave Awen a strained smile as she motioned to her forehead with another deep sigh. "And then I woke up in the ******** jungle." The tattooed woman waved irritably towards the greenery she had just exploded from. The strained paused was noted, but Antony didn't comment on that. "Yippy skippy." Antony said dryly. She was obviously being sarcastic. Awen Zyn "Ah well hey." Awen let out a short little laugh. "Your forhead decoration is better than mine." She brushed her hair aside a moment and shrugged.
"But either way something happened and I have no clue currently what that something is. It was big though...." She glanced around slowly and scratched some more.
"Haven't seen anyone else have ya...?" Antoinette Devereux "Eh, that's not your fault though," she shrugged before plopping down onto the sand with another sigh. She wished that she had seen someone else, but the last time she saw someone was at her duplex. "The last person I saw was Jamal, he took me home after this," Antony referenced to her forehead, "Happened. But after that? Nilch." Awen Zyn The skin on the back of her neck tingled again. Something inside didn't feel right, something Joliette mentioned was just out of Awen's recollection. That reminded her she hasn't actually seen Jamal in a little while... she wondered where he was...
"Oh I hope he's okay...." She said outloud but in a distant tone as she looked back inland. Her stomach tightened, she should go looking for him...or anyone else for that matter. Antoinette Devereux "He's a good guy, and if we're okay, then he is too." Antony didn't know why she was in fact comforting this girl she just met, but it simply seemed like the sort of situation that called for it. She mentally wondered just how pissed Jamal was at the moment. At least, that was the safest assumption she could make. Ah well. Turning her attention back to the blue haired girl, she ran a hand through her hair, messing it up more. "I hate this island. Vacation my a**." Anger was starting flood her senses again, but at least this time, Antony had the wit about her to yank out a pack of smokes and shake one free. Good ol' nicotine. Soon she was taking a long, calming drag and shoving the lighter back into her pocket. Awen Zyn Awen nodded a little bit at Antony's words. That's right Jamal was tough, he could take care of himself. He was probably out there somewhere just as confused as she was.... She frowned. She should find him...
Glancing back to the girl now Awen heard why this new comer was on the island anyway. Not that it really registered. Awen wondered how this girl could be so calm about this, except for being bitter. Wasn't she worried at all? Didn't she care that anyone else might not be fine, that the others might be in danger? That Jamal might be...
Quickly looking away Awen steeled herself agaisnt that flood of thoughts. She was just displacing her anger and worry. The girl was just new, she didn't know many people so it was understandable that she would be more self centered. Right. That was it. It was understandable.
But not for Awen. Her heart raced thinking of what might have happened to not only Jamal, but Joliette, or Chubbs, or Lauren, or Amaya, or that...girl that lived in the upper duplex, the gamer, Kim? Or everyone else... Awen shook her head sowly.
"Well I'm going to find someone else." She said determined. "Coming?" Antoinette Devereux In her mind, people could take care of themselves, and if they couldn't then that was called natural selection. Over population was bad enough anyways, why encourage it? Hopefully lizard girl would be selected this time around. Antony was never one to help the hungry in some far off, foreign country. As far as she was concerned, Darwin was finally coming about. That and why help other countries if you haven't finished cleaning up your own? Stupid Bush. And Awen was right, Antony hadn't met many others, and Jamal was the only one who didn't piss her off. Well Awen hadn't yet, and she really should apologize to that girl from the beach. Chana was it? Her eyes glanced upwards silently during her thoughtful silence, "It'll be dark soon, and unless you can see in the dark..." She trailed off, looking upwards at the blue haired girl. "It won't help Jamal for you to get lost too you know..." Blinking, she wondered absently why she had automatically assumed Awen was worried about Jamal? That look in her eyes... Oh s**t. "Hey... Are you and Jamal...?" Antony made a motion with both her hands, cigarette dangling from her lips, as she squished them together. It was something she had picked up from The Fifth Element. Awen Zyn "I know my way in the jungle at night." She said quickly with much protest. "I've been walking them a lot since I couldn't sleep and I've gotten a feel for it. But I'm not just going to it here and do nothing when the people I've come to care about could be in danger." Her face a getting a little hot then and she knew she was getting angrier with the girl.
"AND not that it's any of your business or anything but yes me and Jamal are a couple!" Antoinette Devereux Whatever, if this girl wanted to go traipsing around the jungle in the middle of the night looking for a man who probably would be very hard to see in the dark, then that was fine by her. But damn if she didn't treat her like she was a heartless wench. ******** that s**t. "Excuse you, but the people I care about are at home, gods know how many miles away. So don't you dare act like I'm heartless!" Antony was irritated, but was doing a pretty damn good job at keeping her temper at bay, for the most part. What Awen said next made her pale slightly as if this was news to her. For all the tattooed woman could remember, this was the first time that she had heard that. "Well ******** b*****d!" She growled. Now she was pissed. Angry that she had not only been wenched at by this little girl, but lied to by a friend. Why couldn't people be honest ever? Time for her to not be a hypocrite... "I'll be honest with you... we've been ********," she explained bitterly, eyes dark when she looked up at Awen. "I didn't know..." Trailing off, Antony thought it best not to add that regardless of whether she had known or not, she would have still ******** him. Details details. Awen Zyn Awen had already opened her mouth to give the girl another lashing but stopped when the girl called Jamal a b*****d. She didn't have long to wonder though, her mind ground to a halt hearing her next sentance.
They had been...what...?
She stood frozen for a second, not quite able to grasp what she was told. It worked it's way out slowly in her mind. Jamal was..well Jamal. He and Awen were together... sure they hadn't been for long... but they had sorted a lot of crap out together, and damned if Awen hadn't been..falling in love. This girl, Antony.... was new to the island. She attacked Joliette. And... she and Jamal...
Awen opened her mouth again to speak, but it moved wordlessly. What could she even say? Her throat tightened, her eyes welled with tears.
After all... it did make sense. She knew what Jamal was like before. Had she really expected him to change? Yes. She thought she was special, the way her looked at her.... But she was almost the only girl on the island who wasn't too young or pissed at him or taken. She should have seen it before. Had she really expected it to last? Choking back a sob she knew the answer yes.
Looking over Antony Awen realised a gilr like that was more Jamal's speed anyway. She certainly didn't waste time anyway. She had tattoos, she acted more like Jamal, she smoked so he wouldn't be nagged about that anymore. And.... she was fully human.
Awen became painfully aware of her changed now. She held her arms close to her, squeezing at the rubbery gray patches. Her tail and horn things began to make her stomach chrun. She was hiddeous, or at least would be by the time she transformed again. Jamal.... didn't want that. No... he wanted something... normal. She wanted the same thing, it made her turn to Jamal in the first place, she just wanted to be normal.
So it was Awen's fault after all...
Just like Moreau tricked her... in a different, almost more painful way, so had Jamal.
She nodded slowly and drew in a big breath. She even smiled at the other girl.
"I'm going to find my friends." She said, her voice wavering and tears clearly stinging her now bloodshot eyes.
She turned mechanically towards the jungle. After everything this day brought she did not need this. After everything... this was not what she could handle. She would find....find... Chubbs or Joli or ..or..or..someone. And everything would be okay.
She couldn't hate Jamal... she couldn't blame him at all. After all it was all Awen's fault. Antoinette Devereux She watched her reactions silently, something inside feeling very bad about all this, but it was soon stomped back to the cavern it had crept from. Opening her mouth to apologize, or something comforting, Antony could find no words. And then Awen was gone. Too many thoughts were going through her head right now. Too many emotions as well. Obviously it hadn't been 'just sex' to this other girl, and she felt bad for crushing this girl's hopes. The feeling didn't last long however. This girl had to learn that mixing love and sex just didn't work, and if she had to learn the hard way, then so be it. And if that made her a cold hearted b***h... Oh well. s**t happened. The world wasn't fair. Everyone doesn't play by the rules. You're going to get hurt. And you can't do a damn thing about any of it. Too bad she couldn't apply that to herself nowadays. But that was different. That involved family. At least, mostly. This situation was slowly going nowhere good fast, and that was her cue to make a visit to the Captain. Standing, Antony headed in the opposite direction, making a beeline for the Beach Bar.
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Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 11:36 am
The look on Awen's face still echoed in the back of her mind, too stubborn in itself to shove away. She couldn't forget it.
Antony had just crushed her heart.
No.
Jamal had. Don't shoot the messenger. Don't blame the messenger either.
But what if said messenger was also involved in the act that caused the pain?
The woman shook her head, despite being alone. She didn't like this feeling, whatever it was, guilt probably.
It wasn't her fault.
If Jamal had told her... Then you would have ******** him anyways, Antony mentally informed herself, frown deepening. Why hadn't it bothered her with Owl? -That- situation was far more serious than this one.
But that was different. Owl is not Jamal. The voice of 'reason' reminded her, and she grunted, trudging through the sand towards the village. She had a headache again and maybe aspirin and a nap would make everything better.
In the meantime, she had to deal with these morals. Something continued to nag her that this shouldn't have been a surprise. She should have -known- that this girl... s**t. If only she could remember the other day more clearly.
A sudden throb of her head reminded her plenty and she stopped thinking about it.
The duplexes were just up ahead. First aspirin and nap, then beach bar.
What if she hadn't told her the truth?
Then you would have been lying.
That fact seemed to irritate her even more, she hated liars. But what she didn't know couldn't hurt her right?
Too late now.
"Shut up!" She hissed at herself on the way up the stairs to her duplex. Her legs took them two at a time.
A sigh of relief escaped her lips when her hand wrapped around the door knob, but a quick flick of the wrist told her it was locked. Whatever. Her hands quickly went to the pocket with her keys. Only they were gone too.
Well ******** in through the window, she saw them on the counter where she had thrown them last night.
Okay then, now what.
Windows can be fixed.
One glance to the window and it was decided. She took a step back and gave the glass a sharp kick with her heel, only to ricochet off with a pained groan. What the ******** momentarily at the window, she looked about the stoop for something hard. Her eyes drifted over a decorative cluster of rocks and shells. Perfect.
The largest and meanest looking rock was hefted up, and with a predatory grunt, was launched at the window.
It bounced back like a basketball. Antony barely had time to dodge out of the way is it crashed into the railing behind her. She blinked, looking back and forth from rock to the glass window. There wasn't even a scuff mark to be seen!
Antony seethed, giving the door a few sharp kicks and a line of profanity before stepping back, eyes narrowed at the inanimate objects that denied her access.
Maybe she should try somewhere else?
With a few extra kicks and choice words, Antony turned and huffed down the stairs, brooding. Why did -her- windows not want to break but Jamal's were obedient and broken?
It was only halfway to the cafeteria that she saw the smoke rising from the helipad. What the hell happened last night? Then Antony remembered something Awen had mentioned, an explosion.
s**t.
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Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:06 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 1:24 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 5:35 pm
Antoinette Devereux "Well then, you're my new best friend Anjali." This was in fact -really- good news, "What about fruit in the jungle by the beach?" Antony inquired, knowing from watching Survivor that coconuts were a source of liquid and food. She'd think about how to get them from the tree tops later. Due to the fact that it sounded like what Antony had been thinking these past several days, she thought nothing else of the slip up. "Plans? Well... I'm going to dig a fire pit, and if you all want to help it'd be appreciated," she said, frowning slightly up at the sun before shaking her head in response to her next question, "There was an explosion, but that's all I know." A grin came to her face when her boots met sand, and she immediately stopped to survey the beach halfway towards the water. She was looking for where the tide stopped, but that didn't mean she had missed Lily's recovery. "Can someone check to see if the Beach Bar is open?" Antony wasn't trying to be bossy, well actually she was, someone had to take control of the situation. Anjali Frangipani "An explosion?" Anjali looked startled. "I wonder... if something happened in the labs? If everything just shut down?"
But if it had, why bother moving them all? Why bother injecting her? That didn't make any sense.
"I can go into the jungle here and bring back what I can. Fruit... possibly, it depends on what's ripe and what isn't. Edible leaves, certainly. And..." She paused for thought. "If there is alcohol, you might want to save some of it. Not to drink, but for things like first aid." Anjali glanced towards the woods. "Let me go look for something we can eat before it gets dark... and take this." She handed Antony the trowel. "If I find any good dead wood for kindling, I'll bring it back too..."
She hoped, desperately, that it wouldn't take too long. She didn't want to collapse in the forest alone if the injection worked... but she refused to sit around and sulk and be useless. Lily Delaney Lily, once on the beach, spots what she imagines would be the beach bar. She notes that Antony is good with taking control of distressing situations, and decides she may as well be useful as well- if she's kept busy she might stop saying the wrong things.
"I'll check the bar," she offers, nodding at Anjali's comment about medical uses for the alcohol, "If there is some there I'll get it." Antoinette Devereux "Who knows," she replied. Hopefully, the labs were destroyed, but with the way things seemed to go on this island, she highly doubted it. "Thanks," Antony said as took the small shovel offered to her and smiled graciously. This would help in digging a fire pit. Good, someone that was willing to work instead of whine about everyone else. The island was too big to go search and destroy to find every SINGLE one of your friends. At that moment, she briefly wondered where Jamal was, but then thought better of it, figuring that wherever he had ended up, she was pretty sure he would've started smoking immediately. Nodding towards Lily, Antony began walking towards a place right in front of the natural dunes, between where they were and the Beach Bar. It was well past the highest tide line, which was very good, and she staked the area with the shovel. Now to find wood. With a glance down the beach, Antony was pleased to see piles of driftwood littering the shore. At least she didn't have to go back in the jungle again. Bloody spiders. She went off to start dragging back as much wood as she could per trip. Anjali Frangipani Anjali set off into the forest, though she tried not to go too far in just in case. Hmm. If she remembered correctly, there was a mango tree just over here... she bent down and picked up a long, dead branch. It was a bit damp, but it would serve for knocking fruit off of tall branches.
After a few minutes' searching, she found the mango tree, and was glad to see fruit clinging to the branches. They weren't very ripe, but green mangos were still perfectly edible. A few hard, scraping movements of her stick brought a rain of fruit down from one of the branches. She stripped a large leaf off of a nearby tree and bundled them up.
There was a coconut palm further down the beach, she realized. They were a lot harder to knock down, but after five minutes she had three brown coconuts that she stuck into the impromptu leaf-bag as well.
A dozen good-size mangos and coconuts... good, not perfect, but good.
Another foray into the edges of the forest brought some possible kindling to light, in the form of driftwood pushed way up, maybe during a storm, then abandoned. It wasn't parched-dry, but maybe it would light. Maybe.
Arms full of leaf and sticks, Anjali plodded back down the beach towards the bar. Ugh, she was hungry too, now that she thought of it. And thirsty, but the bar would have bottles to fetch water in if nothing else. Lily Delaney Lily headed directly for the beach bar, and finds the bar in an interesting state. There is still alcohol there, though some is sitting in pools of water, while others are sitting in what would now be a non-functioning cooling system (whatever that may be.)
She picks up several bottles, and eyes the melted ice around the bar- fresh water this close is good. She nods, and makes several trips back and fourth from the bar gathering up alcohol- taking her time so she doesn't drop any- the sand may not smash them, but hitting each other would. This, of course, would be bad because it wasted the alcohol, she's in bare feet, and she feels she's smashed enough glass lately. Antoinette Devereux Not being the kind of girl to shy away from manual labor, Antony soon returned with bundles of sizeable driftwood over each of her shoulders. She could always go back for larger chunks when the fire was good and started. Grunting, a sheen of sweat visible on her brow and back, the sticks were dumped next to shovel, and with a crack of her neck, she meandered off down to the shoreline. Now to collect rocks. Beach tumbled rocks would be good, and lucky for her, the shore was littered with them. When she could find nothing to carry the rocks in, Antony kicked off her boots and began filling them. Once both were full, they were lugged up to where the rest of the stuff was. Damn if she wasn't sweaty. Her eyes drifted towards the beach bar. She was thirsty, but Antony figured that Lily would come back with water soon enough. Better get started on digging the bloody pit. It was painstaking work with the little shovel, but the tattooed woman didn't mind. She liked hard work and it made the island feel a little more like home. Eventually, a hole about two feet deep and three feet in diameter was dug. The sides sloped inward and Antony was damn proud of how good it came out. Wiping sweat from her forehead, she set to lining the sand with all the stones she had found. This, thankfully, was a less physical task than the previous ones. Anjali Frangipani Anjali slowly trudged up the beach - yes, her injection wound was stinging now, though she sincerely hoped it was just from sweat. "Got some," she said, simply, as she finally reached the new sand pit. She whistled appreciatively at the work Antony had done in her absence. "Some coconuts, and about a dozen mangos. They're not ripe, but they're still edible - just not as sweet as you might be used to." She dropped the leaf 'bag' on the sand and sank down to deposit the small bundle of driftwood. "Kindling, perhaps. Most of the wood in the forest is damp - it is rainforest, after all."
Then she half-fell down to sit in the sand, heaving a sigh. "I'll help," she added, picking up a few stones and trying to arrange them as Antony was. Lily Delaney After the trips with the alcohol, Lily returned to the bar to contemplate the removal of the water. The ice in the ice dishes didn't leave the dishes full, so she can pour a couple into the same one, and of course this makes the trips easier.
With the melted ice, she brings back to the fire pit whatever fresh water she can find, in whatever methods are available to her. She carefully digs little holes with her feet so that she can set down opened containers of the water without worrying about it spilling.
"I've got some water," Lily informs them, "It isn't that cold, but it's fresh."
She carefully fills a glass also taken from the bar, and offers one to Antony first. Antoinette Devereux Antony grinned proudly at the whistle, puffing her chest comically and pretending to preen. She was in a much better mood after doing some physical labor. Her eyes went to look over her findings as she listed them off, nodding approvingly. "Better than nothing, and I'm sure there will be tidal pools tomorrow if we need protein." Smiling at the help, she reached over for one of the less enticing alcohols that Lily had brought back, Peach Schnapps. It could be used as fuel if needed. "I think I may have seen some dry palm leaves down shore a bit, do you think those will be worth getting?" Regardless of the answer, Antony stood, dusting sand off of her before looking down past the Beach Bar. She tried to remember what she had seen the days she had come to the beach. Nodding to Lily, Antony took the glass and thanked her before gulping down half the glass. How much water did they even have? She passed the glass to Anjali. They would need more... And then she remembered, eyes lighting up, "Do you think the shower up the path would still be working? I used it to de-sand one day..." If they were, that would be loads of help. Lily Delaney "Well," Lily comments, looking over the stash of alcohol and water she'd gotten from the bar, "This is all I could easily take from the bar, though there are a couple of other things I can go get." She shrugs- alcohol and water seem the most important at the moment to her.
Lily pauses at the question about the shower, glancing down the beach curiously, "I didn't see a shower, where abouts would it be- I can check, water usually works even if electricity doesn't.."
Being pointed in the right direction, Lily goes to check if the shower is source of fresh water that they can use~ Lauren Granger Lauren tracked back, her stomach full of day old sandwhiches and what not from the dumpster but her mouth parched. A trash bag full of day old food, not the best in the world but still things that were edible, was in her possession. She saw life. Great. Hopefully they knew how to get ahold of water. Lauren was totally in survival mode, not really having much time yet to reflect on her ******** up situation at the moment. Anjali Frangipani Anjali quickly took one of the water bottles and drank deeply. "There's no lack of fresh water from the streams," she added after swallowing, in case anyone was going to panic about rationing. "I think we should be fine... and anyway, there should be someone here, somewhere. Otherwise, why bother giving me another injection? You don't do that if you're in panic mode... right?" She rubbed at the wound, then poured some of the water over it to clean the muck away. The welt was raised, but it seemed the puncture had had time to scab over before her 'planting'... fortunately. Infection was not something she wanted to deal with, even if only in such a small wound.
"If you're done with the trowel, I can open the coconuts," she added, nodding at Antony. Then she realized there was movement up the beach...
"Hi," she called out, turning to face the person approaching. Antoinette Devereux Antony nodded towards Lily, eyebrow arching when she notices another person, also female, coming down the beach with a trash bag. She decided not to ask, "Hey." "I'm going to grab some of those fronds, I'll be back in ten or twenty," And with that, she gave them a wave and headed down past the Beach Bar. She had been right, there were piles of dried fronds littering the sand by the jungle's edge. Carefully, she set about collecting as many as possible before throwing those over her back and walking towards their 'campsite'. Lauren Granger Lauren waved, noting the darker skinned woman drinking water. She dropped her trash bag. "WAAATER!!" She exclaimed running up. "UR, uh can I... please?" She looked at the woman giving good begger puppy dog eyes. She felt a little like tank girl at the moment, right in the midst of a post apocalyptic world where water was like gold. Anjali Frangipani "Ah, sure," Anjali said, startled. She quickly held out the half-empty bottle to Lauren. "Just make sure you save it so we can refill it from the stream later," she added.
After handing over the water, she pulled the trowel and one of the coconuts over to her and began trying to crack it. Wedging the nut between two stones to hold it, she hit it smartly with one edge of the trowel. In a few hard whacks, the shell cracked and liquid began to ooze out. Quickly, she picked up the coconut and tried to catch the milk in her mouth. It was fresh and sweet, not rancid at all. "Want some of this as well?" she added to the new arrival, tilting the coconut so that the milk didn't all come out. "I'm Anjali, by the way... and you are?" Antoinette Devereux Meandering back, she tossed the fronds next to the driftwood. "Now," she panted, "We need to build a fire..." Patting around for a bit, Antony soon pulled out her trusty Zippo and showed the two there before shoving it back in her pocket. No sense getting it sandy. "Ah, I'm Antony," she said, waving. Lucky for her she was in a fantastic mood, considering the circumstances. Lauren Granger Lauren picked up the water, drinking a lot but being nice in not wasting it. Even then she probably drank more than she should of. She then took the coconut milk and drank some all of that, feeling full at least for the next 20 minutes. Lauren's metabolism required constant eating most of the time. "Lauren." She said in between guzzling the water and coconut milk. Her tail wagged at something not rotten, she was worried and felt very stupid for her first instinct being the dumpster. But even then, unashamed she pointed to the trash bag. "There's food in there, it's a little old but nothing too smelly. But there is meat." She neglected to tell where she got it from. Her moose was sitting right next the the trash bag. Lauren probably could use it as a pillow just like she did before. "Just like old times I geuss. . ." She muttered to herself looking down and a bit defeated. Having it been 24 hours since Lauren had last slept once her belly was full she crashed. "Goodnight." She said going to reach for her moose plushy then makeing as comfortable of a bed as she could under the shade of the beach bar. She dreamt of her duplex and lessons with Moreau. Anjali Frangipani "Ah... rest well, then?" Anjali was surprised at the girl's quick crash into sleep, but it had been quite an odd day... and she seemed to have some changes. Maybe that affected things.
Once she had the coconut back, she whacked it a few more times until the shell cracked completely, exposing the white nutmeat inside. This, too, was sweet and pleasantly firm. "Do you want some, Antony? It's... not terribly filling but it will do in a pinch, and if this doesn't count... I don't know what does." Antoinette Devereux "Pleasure," she mused before she sat next to the finished fire pit, where she began shredding one of the palm fronds for kindling. Accumulating a large pile of fluffy frond shavings, Antony arranged them in the bottom of the pit before she went about lighting them with her Zippo. They exploded into flames almost immediately and she quickly began to add smaller dry sticks and as they caught fire, she gradually added larger sticks. Soon enough, a fire was roaring and Antony was beaming. "That'd be wonderful," she chirped in response to Anjali's offer, smiling before standing and proceeding to break the driftwood into smaller, more manageable, pieces. Stacking them next to the pit, Antony added a couple more so that the fire wouldn't go out before plopping down into the sand next to it. Anjali Frangipani "Now that is a welcome sight," Anjali remarked, glancing back in the direction of the Village. She supposed the chances of things changing by nightfall were remote, but at least they were on a tropical island - barring storms, the weather was pleasant enough. Camping on the beack wouldn't be too bad... for now, anyway.
"What brings you to the Island, Antony?" Anjali said, after a few minutes of picking the meat out of her own coconut half. Antoinette Devereux "And just think, no man had to help us," Antony mused happily, lips curling into a smile as she reached over to carefully take the coconut from Anjali. She took a bite and chewed on it with a low groan. Food was so great right now, no matter how little it was, but her question made her frown, "I won a vacation. Some bloody vacation." Her voice was quite spiteful. Anjali Frangipani "Oh..." Anjali stared into the flames for a moment. "I'm, ah, sorry... I was brought here. Hired, actually, to be the groundskeeper and gardener... I guess I still am, technically. I'm still paid, though what that money is good for here I certainly don't know. But I didn't read it through all the way... they tricked me, and I tricked myself too." She shook her head. "Do you know what you're going to be...? If it helps, I'm supposedly turning into a, ah, plant."
She looked at the fire again. "They gave me the injection sometime while we were all out. So if I... act funny or... change... I don't know what'll happen, but... maybe you could watch out for me... or something..." The words were hesitant, even frightened. Antoinette Devereux "Not a clue, but not like I can do anything about it right?" Her fingers picked at the white meat of the coconut as she shrugged, giving her a somewhat forced smile. A smile which faded moments later as Anjali mentioned that she was given an injection during this whole ordeal. Glancing down at the coconut in her lap, Antony blinked before nodding in agreement. Usually she didn't do things like this, but she could sense the fear in her tone. That and this girl had worked hard to set up this little 'campsite' by finding food, and Antony couldn't imagine how it must feel to know you're going to change and being helpless. "I promise..." The tattooed woman brought her eyes even with Anjali's as she offered her hand as a way to seal the deal so to speak. "Does this mean you'll end up... What's the word? ...Sessile?" Gods, it had been so long since college biology. Anjali Frangipani Anjali reached out and took Antony's hand without hesitation, offering a grateful smile as she did so. "Thanks... and I really don't know," she added, with a frown. "I was going to become a proper, scientific botanist before I decided that test tubes and sterile labs wasn't how I wanted to approach my passion. It might not be as 'advanced', but I prefer gardening and traditional methods... anyway. I can't fathom how human cells and plant cells, which are so very different, can work together. Maybe... maybe they can't. Maybe it'll fail."
And maybe it will kill me, she left unsaid, though her hands did shake just a bit before she suppressed that reaction.
"If I do root, though, er... this is as nice a place as any. Though... if I need something like that, maybe you could, ah, put me in the earth on the jungle's edge," she said, awkwardly. What a ridiculous conversation.
The subject needed changing, Anjali decided abruptly, not wishing to dwell on it any further. "You mentioned explosions earlier. Did you see the source?" Antoinette Devereux Antony hoped to whatever gods there were that she would not turn into a plant, for she knew that plants and animals were too different at a cellular level. Hopefully, it wouldn't kill Anjali. "My father probably thinks I'm still on vacation, two weeks haven't passed yet..." Trailing off, she pursed her lips before sighing and fumbling for a smoke. Hopefully she didn't mind, and Antony surprisingly made a gesture as if asking permission. If this girl was going to change, she didn't really want her last however long as a human to be miserable. This was indeed a weird conversation, "Um... I'll make sure to find a nice place, though... I'm not much of a gardener. I'm much better with machinery." And then she'll have a nice little 'chat' with Carrot Top. Paid or not, that would be beyond inhumane. She shook her head, "Nope, I was asleep... But a girl named Awen said there had been one, and I saw the helicopter... And the two charred bodies inside." The woman looked as if she was going to be sick for a moment, remembering the smell vividly. It soon passed and she looked out towards the crashing waves. Anjali Frangipani "Oh, go ahead and smoke, you're downwind of me anyw-Helicopter?" Anjali looked up, frowning. "The helicopter... exploded? Crashed?" Her mind was racing. That was the only way off the island... and only official people used it.
"Do you... suppose perhaps Moreau was on it... and... the island shut itself down? No, that's crazy... somebody had to move all of us, and inject me..." She shook her head, but her eyes were narrowed in thought. "Maybe it was somebody trying to escape and we're being punished? Or... ahh, it's too much." She sighed and tilted her head back to look at the clouds. "Maybe it's a test, maybe it isn't. Perhaps if we find more people, we can get a consensus. If it IS a real emergency... we could escape. Go home." The thought sent a thrill through her, and then her heart sank. "But if it isn't, and we try... life could be even more unpleasant very, very easily indeed..." Antoinette Devereux Antony liked this woman even more for not being uptight about her smoking, and with a grin, she reached out and lit the smoke in the fire lazily before brining it to her lips and taking a drawl. She made sure to blow the smoke away from Anjali as well since she was nice enough to let her smoke. "Do not underestimate the lengths a sadist will go to get their kicks," she frowned, knowing all too well and having a few scars to prove it, "Believe me." The idea of escape sounded too good to be true, and a sudden idea dawned on her, face falling, "What if the people in the helicopter... Tried to escape..." The possibility alone made Antony want to stay on this island. Dead she'd have no chance to go home, ever. Anjali Frangipani Anjali shook her head again. "I just don't know. I guess we'll have to find more people and ask them. Maybe tomorrow we can try and see if the lab is open... and if not, if we can get in somehow. There has to be a way... if we speak with the others... some are further along in their transformations. They have enhanced senses, among other things - things that make them, I think, more than human. Not less," she added, with a wry smile. "I always was an optimist."
The coconut meat no longer appealed to her, but she wrapped the remains up in the leaf anyway and set it aside. It wouldn't rot in one night. She felt tired, abruptly - night was beginning to fall and while she had slept quite a bit, apparently, it hadn't been her own choice. She'd had to struggle a lot today, in many ways.
"I may curl up and try to sleep," she said. "I don't think there are any dangerous animals on this island, at least we were never warned of them before and I never saw evidence of them. With the fire, we should be fine... would you like to alternate watches and feed the fire, or do you think we should just save the fire for while we're alert?" Antoinette Devereux She simply nodded. Tomorrow they would see. "Try and sleep, my mind isn't tired enough to sleep yet." It was true, her mind was racing with thoughts of too many things at once. She'd never get to sleep until they were sorted, or unless she an Captain had a bit of a date. Maybe later, she had made a promise after all. There was too much to worry about on this island... Anjali Frangipani "I will. Thanks, Antony." She gave the other woman a grateful smile before shifting in the sand, wiggling to make a sort of 'nest' in the warm softness. The sand here was far softer than most, as was common in the Carribean, and really it wasn't too hard to get comfortable - even if the little grains were a bit annoying. Still, there were worse beds.
Soon, Anjali had drifted off to a somewhat fitful sleep, one hand moving to cover the injection mark. Would she still be the same way when she woke up?
Who knew.
Fortunately, sleep came quick enough that she didn't have to think about it for long.
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 6:39 pm
Just in case.
Walking around the botanist's sleeping form, the tattooed woman began to walk slowly towards the Beach Bar. Maybe there was some orange juice or something still there.
The entire walk there, her mind kept whirling with unanswerable questions.
What would she turn into?
Who were those people in the helicopter and why did it crash?
Where was Carrot Top?
Why was everything locked?
How did she get to the middle of the jungle?
Who?
What?
WHY?!
It was all too much and Antony groaned inwardly as a dull pain accumulated in her forehead.
She was so angry.
Bending over to scoop up a large clam shell, Antony tossed it in the air and caught it before suddenly narrowing her eyes and throwing the shell as hard as she could towards the water.
Her mind continued to torment her, despite her outburst, and she sighed.
She was physically exhausted, but her mind had other plans. It went over the day's events.
Meeting Awen and finding out about Jamal.
Trying to break into her duplex and failing.
Having a naked girl continually hump her for comfort.
The smoking helicopter...
The dead bodies.
Lily on the roof.
Meeting Anjali.
And setting up camp.
Everyone kept asking her for help. Most of her hated it; loathed it in fact, but she still helped them.
Maybe you cared? The voice mocked her, and she snarled, having finally made it to the Beach Bar.
She didn't care about people she didn't know. ********. Had being on this gods forsaken island made her soft? Weak even?
Antony dug through the fridge, pulling out orange juice as well as the bags of lemons and limes. All were set on the bar top, along with a jar of olives she found. She'd take all those back to the camp in a bit, but first, she was going to down some orange juice.
And maybe a little Goose. Just to sleep.
Making herself a tall screwdriver, she capped both the juice and the vodka before taking a long drought of the glass. A warmth soon covered her appendages, her mind quieting down, and then going silent once the glass was effectively empty.
Much better.
A hand ran through her hair and over her face as she sighed, contemplating whether she should stay in the Beach Bar or not, but she remembered her promise to Anjali. Who knows why she made that promise?
Making one last sweep of the bar for something useful, Antony spied a knife and carefully added it to the pile of supplies to take back with her.
Somehow, she managed to get all the objects safely into her arms, and she ambled back to the fire. It took her longer to go back than it did to reach the bar in her inebriated state, but after a while, she dumped the supplies next to the rest of the fruit.
Sitting down next to the fire, Antony eventually laid down, the alcohol working its magic.
Good brain. Good Goose.
Goodnight.
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 10:34 pm
Jamal_Reedy Jamal finally broke through jungle, for hopefully the last time, and was pleased to see the white sand of the beach. Finally. He passed a quick look around and noticed the bonfire, but he didn't see anyone. Perfect. He hobbled painfully towards it, slipping some as his crutch was not good for the slippery, easily moved sands because of the narrow end. He smelt the sweet scent of fruit as he went and his stomach rumbled painfully in demand for nourishment. Antoinette Devereux Antony was just a ways down the beach, gathering as much driftwood as she could to occupy herself. Her early morning shower/dip in the ocean had done her body good, despite the lack of protein. Surprisingly, she didn't notice Jamal's arrival, or his condition upon arrival. Instead, the tattooed woman was focusing on not dropping any of what she was carrying. When she got back to the fire, Antony dumped the collected driftwood in the growing pile of firewood. Reaching up to wipe sweat off of her brow, she blinked in surprise when she saw Jamal, but her eyes soon narrowed. Lying son of a b***h. Jamal_Reedy Jamal hadn't quite reached the fire when Antony came into view and he stopped immediately. God DAMN it. Could he just -please- find somewhere that didn't involve people he was upset with? Instead of offering her -any- sort of greeting, he turned and started to stagger away, heading for the beach bar. No smile, no nod, not even middle finger. Sadly his progress was even more limited, being that he was hurt and he was frustrated, so he couldn't get away from her as fast as he'd have liked. He was hungry and tired, but not enough to deal with her if that was how he was going to be treated before he even said a word. Antoinette Devereux Her anger lifted when she saw him hobbling, but then resurged the moment he blew her off. He must have run into Awen. Then why was he mad at her? Whatever, Antony knew where Jamal was heading, and she had a smidge of heart for the injured black man. Sighing and cursing to herself, she turned to face him, "There's no more alcohol in the Beach bar. Just thought I'd save you a trip." Her voice was curt, sharper than any she had ever used with him. She was obviously still miffed about being lied to and having to hurt the poor self-esteem lacking girl. Sprawling onto the sand next to the fire, Antony opened the orange juice and took a swig from the bottle. Hey, no one else had wanted any earlier. Jamal_Reedy "I don't ********' care," he said as he barely concealed his brewing irritation, his back still turned, continuing to struggle down the beach towards a bar that was WAY too far away. The crutch continued to slip and slide until finally it grew to be too much of a bother. He all but hurled it off towards the water and hobbled forward, biting back a squeak of pain each time his swollen ankle supported his weight. Well...alcohol would have been nice, but at this point, he'd take shelter away from everyone else. He actually didn't get too far, now without his extra support, and finally just said ******** it and flopped into the sand, back still to Antony, his injured leg straight out in front of him while the other was bent up towards his chest. It both helped him remain steady as he sat there and cradled his growling stomach. He'd catch his breath and try again in a minute. Antoinette Devereux "Why are all men stubborn?" She hissed to herself. He didn't look well at all. His ankle was an obvious mess, and he was doing more damage then good walking on it. If he wanted to hate her for being honest when he lied, so be it. But Antony was not about to let him starve or not allow him water. Wincing inwardly at each step, Antony immediately began to search for the water bottle that she had refilled recently. Afterwards, she picked up the knife and proceeded to slice up a papaya and some coconut meat from the one broken open the night before. She placed all of this on a piece of the 'leaf baggie' that Anjali had made the previous afternoon. This all collected and knife left by the fire, the woman made her way over to Jamal, walking around to the 'front' of him and sitting down. The 'plate' of fruit was set within reach of his hand, and Antony unscrewed the bottle top for him before offering the water bottle to him. "I may be mad you didn't tell me about Awen, but I'm not a big enough b***h to deprive you of food and water." There were no lies in Antony's eyes, and Jamal, if he looked, could tell that she meant well. Somehow. Jamal_Reedy Jamal's lip curled as he heard her scuffing footsteps towards him and completely ignored her until she sat down in front of him. The smell of the fruit was so strong that he couldn't ignore looking to see where it was, yet when he saw it in her hand, he tried to push it out of his thoughts. "I -did- tell you," he almost growled, lifting his eyes to look at her with a very pointed, yet also vaguely upset manner. "I told you." He thought they had an understanding...that...Awen wasn't to know about this. At least not now. He didn't realize she was THAT high until after the fact, and even then she seemed to remember things he said when she was lit up. Antoinette Devereux "When?" She huffed, setting the water down and crossing her arms over her chest irritably. "If I had known, I wouldn't have said anything." Her voice was almost haughty. How dare he make up things to make it be her fault. Antony was about to make another comment when something dawned on her, and she paused in mid movement, eyes going wide. Face contorting into a look of 'well ********,' the woman slouched, feeling very much like s**t. Well that explains the nagging feeling when she first met ********," she muttered, "You told me when I was high didn't you? Right before..." Her features scrunched up in thought as she tried to remember what exactly happened. "Before the table attacked me..." Somehow, 'I'm sorry' just didn't cut it for a situation like that, and Antony was at a loss for words for a good deal of time. The little voice in her head was laughing at her, cackling at its perfect timing. Now what could she do? "Well," she said softly, rubbing a hand over her forehead with a sigh, "Please at least eat and drink, it's the least I could do." Screwing the top back on the bottle so it didn't spill, Antony stood and started to head back towards the fire. She figured he didn't want her around him, and she understood why. She had ******** up, royally, and it was her turn to face the consequences. Jamal_Reedy Jamal glared hard at the sand as she went off, acting as though she didn't do anything wrong. Just hold you tongue Jamal...don't say anything you'll regret later... He didn't even feel like granting her another glance; he was just so angry about so many things. Angry that he woke up on a bird-s**t covered cliff...angry that Awen found out about Antony...angry that Antony 'forgot'.... He wanted to be alone, yet he didn't. When she got up, he didn't even bother to look at the food until her voice had faded off considerably when she started to walk away. Okay, so he felt a little bad that he'd taken it out on Antony, but not enough to apologize. He felt like a complete social outcast at this point. After a few minutes, he could no longer ignore the wrenching pain in his stomach as the smell of food continued to linger, so he did reach out to grab the leaf bag and slowly picked up a few cubes of fruit, giving them a sullen, dejected look over, before putting them into his mouth to chew silently whilst watchin the ocean. Antoinette Devereux She wShe wasn't acting as if nothing happened; she was giving him space. It had been obvious that he didn't want to talk to her, see her, or be near her in anyway possible. Not that she blamed him. Antony didn't once regret sleeping with Jamal, but she regretted telling Awen about it. She was so angry at herself that she picked up a rather large chuck of driftwood she had gathered, hefted it over her head, and chucked it down the beach with a snarl. "******** she had only kept her damn mouth shut. It was soon decided, that she was not going to smoke pot for a long time. s**t like this had happened before, but usually she'd just black out and wake up the next morning alone in a strange bed. Always evident of what had happened during the night. The morning after pill was a godsend in her mind. But, that wasn't the same. This involved other people, not just her ******** herself up and getting chucked in a bad situation. Her and her big mouth. Rubbing her head out of pure agitation, Antony made sure to move herself away from the alcohol so she didn't turn violent on the last bottles left. Swiftly, she took out a cigarette and lit it as fast as she could get her Zippo to light it. A long drawl didn't even seem to help. "I'm sorry," She finally muttered in his direction, loud enough so he could hear, "I ******** up and I'm sorry." It was all she could do, and she didn't expect forgiveness in the least. Antony took another drawl silently, eyes moving to the ocean as well. Jamal_Reedy Jamal finished off the fruit rather quickly, if only for the fact he was absolutely starving, then took the bottle of water to wash down the sticky sweetness. He was never one to be into fruit and it was almost harsh on his completely empty stomach, but he knew he'd feel better later once it settled. As he stared at the water, he sort of fell into a little bit of a trance. He wondered how far it was to the nearest mainland...could he make it if he tried? From the sounds of it, the island seemed almost abandoned by the staff. Surely they'd never notice if he left. When Antony spoke, he blinked, falling away from that line of thought. Sorry?...mmwell, too bad sorry didn't make time reverse. Then she could keep her yap shut and not get him on the shitlist of Awen and probably every friend SHE had, once they found out. Yeah, ya did, he mouthed silently before tossing the waterbottle to the side and carefully turning so he was on his belly in the warm sand, arms cradled on his crossed arms as he continued to face the ocean. He carefully made a little hollow with his bruised foot so it was held comfortably on the warm sand without causing too much tension. The sand felt good on his chest too, soothing the tired and knotted muscles of his chest from trying to heave himself along with the walking stick. Antoinette Devereux She knew it was useless. Hell, she wouldn't have accepted just an apology if she were in his shoes either. Turning, Antony made her way back to the fire and sat down. Picking up a stray stick and stoking the fire, she continued to smoke, savoring the cancer stick for as long as possible. Cautiously, she risked a glance over to Jamal, frown appearing when she saw his ankle again. It was a bad sprain, but there was nothing she could do to help. Not that he'd take her advice if she gave him some right now. Maybe he'd accept her blunts and then let her help him get over by the fire before nightfall? Worth a try. Standing up, again, Antony dug around in her pocket before carefully pulling out two, tightly rolled blunts. Not wanting to walk over and waste her time, she simply lofted them at his head. One plunked him in the back of the neck, and the other landed just in front of his face. She assumed he still had his lighter. Jamal_Reedy Jamal was appropriately startled when something struck the back of his neck and nearly jumped three feet sideways, but when the second object hit the sand in front of him, he was puzzled. "Wha..." he grunted, reaching out with a hand to pluck the white stick from the sand with a cautious expression on his face. Either it had started to rain blunts or someone was trying to get his attention....and since the first was HIGHLY, if not very sadly, unlikely, he could only go with the second option. Sigh. A quick, furitive look around produced the second joint. When given a joint, one did not take that for granted...especially when many of his were consumed earlier today and the night before. Against his better judgement, a hand went to the pocket of his jeans and he produced his lighter, all in it's shiny gold glory, and lit up. He didn't move from the belly-sprawl position on the sand though. He just raised himself up on an elbow and took a slow pull from the joint, still eyeing the ocean as though it would solve all his problems in some sort of mystical way. Antoinette Devereux The tattooed woman didn't even bother saying anything to him, instead going to retrieve the previously thrown driftwood back to the stick pile. Once done, Antony cut herself another chunk of the coconut, chewing on it as her stomach groaned pitifully at the lack of meat being provided. She briefly entertained the thought of fishing, or possibly hunting. Her lack of knowledge in said area caused her to quickly cast aside that idea. She'd just wait until the pot kicked in, and then tend to Jamal. Jamal_Reedy The second joint was tucked behind his ear absently, falling victim to his wandering thoughts and the effects of the pot smoke slowly but surely. Stupid island...stupid people...stupid everything. Graaaaawgh. Soon enough his chin dropped back to the cradle his arms made on the sand, about a quarter of the blunt drooping at the corner of his mouth, oddly mimicing how he was feeling. So emo. "....Emoshelf," he muttered to himself, closing his eyes and ignoring the warm ash that fell from the tip of his smoke onto his scraped forearm. He couldn't remember where he heard that from, but it sounded good at the time. Antoinette Devereux And that was just the cue she was waiting for. Antony cautiously made her way over to him, coconut half in tow. Now how was she going to get a man that outsized her and outweighs her over to the fire without hurting his ankle anymore. She'd figure it out later. Stepping over him, Antony waved the coconut in front of his face in case he was still hungry. "Hey, we need to get you by the fire so nothing eats you tonight." It was true enough. Jamal_Reedy Jamal grumbled and spat the end of the spent joint into the sand, flicking a bit of sand over it with his fingers. "Why not...It'd solve ma' ********' problems, wouldn't it?" he said bitterly. At least he was talking to her; that was an improvement. He eyed the coconut as it was waved about his face. Damn munchies...he didn't -want- to be nice. He didn't -want- to give in and just act like everything was peachy-keen. He just wanted to sit and sulk and wait until the island either imploded, exploded, or sunk to the bottom of the ocean in an ending fitting for such a miserable past couple of months. But damn, he was still really, -really- hungry. Antoinette Devereux "Oh stop emoing before I drag you, bum ankle and all, over into the fire so I can eat some meat." It was an empty threat, but a threat nonetheless. She didn't think Jamal meat would taste too good anyways. And as she watched him glare at the poor coconut, Antony rolled her eyes, "Oh just eat it, I know you're still mad at me." Losing patience? Not at all. Jamal_Reedy Jamal snorted and was so tempted to just ignore her again, but the effects of the pot just wouldn't let him do it. "...Fine. But I'm still mad," he muttered, his face shadowed by the fact that he was still clearly mad, but now he was high and mad, which went against each other enough to where he'd at least be civil right now. Antoinette Devereux "Yippy skippy," she exclaimed sarcastically before kicking him lightly in the side with her foot. "Get up and I'll help you over there." Antony had to bite her tongue and hold herself back from being a little bit more 'pushy' than she already was. Jamal_Reedy He shot her a very grumpy look, but did roll over awkwardly and stumbled to his feet, favoring his injured ankle as much as he could while he tried to get his balance. Okay so she could help him over there, but he didn't have to be grateful. He was doing it to get her off his case...yeah...that's it. Antoinette Devereux Antony put herself under the arm on the side of the bad ankle, taking his arm and throwing it over her shoulder and supporting as much of his weight as possible. For a white girl. Slowly, she helped him make his way over to the fire. Jamal_Reedy It was awkward...she was a great deal shorter than he was...but taking their time proved to be the best way to get the black man to the bonfire. Being slightly stoned didn't help much either, but the fact that Jamal wasn't resisting help was worth it, apparently. Once he deemed himself close enough, he pulled his arm off from her shoulder and stood there, much like flamingo does with the hurt foot hovering over the sand, looking as defiant as he could muster. Antoinette Devereux Antony watches him stand for a second before shrugging and sitting down. He'd fall over eventually, and she'd just make sure that he didn't fall INTO the fire. Personally, she wanted to kick the back of his knee right now, but that wasn't a good way to make him not hate her. So she settled for mentally willing him to 'Timber.' Jamal_Reedy He did finally sit down, back to her for that moment, and back to his stomach in a similar orientation to how he was over by the water. This time he faced the fire so he could watch the flame dance amongst the driftwood and dried palm fronds instead of dealing with Antony. Jamal was feeling less emo-ish, but he wasn't going to admit it. The fact that Antony at least continued to pester him until he hauled his sorry carcass over there made him feel a bit better; maybe he didn't piss EVERYONE off completely. He really didn't know what to say to her though. Yay awkward. Antoinette Devereux Antony didn't know what to really say either since she didn't know which topics was safe and which were taboo. Awen was an obvious no no, but what about the rest of this... whatever it was? "Where'd you wake up?" If he didn't want to answer, maybe she'd just ramble, or shut up. Reaching out, she pulled the bottle of orange juice over, uncapped it, and then took a long swig. Jamal_Reedy Jamal peered at the fire with a semi-vacant gaze, the light reflecting eerily off the dark brown of his eyes and casting shadows over his broad features that exaggerated the darkness of his skin as it was starting to get darker. To answer that or not... "On a cliff covered in bird s**t up in da mountains," he said finally in a flat tone, obviously displeased with his chosen location. "You?" Antoinette Devereux "In the jungle, alone," s**t (pun intended) he had gotten the worse end of that deal, "Did you see the helicopter? Or the..." Antony closed her eyes and willed both the smell and mental image away. "The bodies," she finally breathed. Her eyes looked back towards the ocean, frown knitted onto her features. Jamal_Reedy Okay waiiiiit a minute. That was enough to make him turn his head to look over his shoulder at her, brows raised high in disbelief. Was she just trying to get him him offguard or was she serious. "...bodies?" The look on her face didn't bode well for a joke. People had died? Who? And how? Antoinette Devereux Antony ran a shaky hand over her face as the smell of burned flesh seemed to hit her again, nodding in response to his question. "Two of them... In the helicopter... Burned..." She explained while willing herself not to throw up the only food she had all day. She was definately not joking. Jamal_Reedy Jamal was going to ask if they were identified, but the look of complete nausea on Antony's face made him rethink that. Maybe that was the explosion people kept talking about. "I wonder if it was some staff....o' maybe peeps tryin' ta escape," he drawled, mostly talking to himself than Antony, turning back to look at the first. A feeling of sadistic glee made him hold onto the hope that it was the former, not the latter, that went down with the chopper. Perhaps Aubrey and Moreau...that would be good, should that be the case. However, his glee was short lived. If that was the case, then what was going to happen to him and all the other villagers. In the end, all he could really say further on the matter was a whispered "Damn" and give a slow shake of his head. Antoinette Devereux Slowly but surely Antony combated the nausea away, and with a sigh of relief she listened to Jamal's suggestions, "No one knows... Entire village is locked down." The tattooed woman moved to lay down, finding a comfortable enough patch of sand and nesting in it on her back. Both her knees bent for added back support as she glanced over to Jamal, "I don't know how much longer we'll have to play Survivor outside." Jamal_Reedy Jamal peered over at Antony as she lay on the beach, lacking any sort of narrowed glare this time. A look of barely concealed concern brewed there instead along with a tense jaw. "I'm hopin' not too long...brotha can't live off fruit fo' very long...but it sorta looks like we're screwed, don't it..." Antoinette Devereux "Yeah, threw a rock at my window... It didn't break," she muttered irritably, cursing the rock and then window respectively. Her mind wandered off to thinking about how she could find food easily. She couldn't catch fish or anything barehanded, she couldn't just hunt with a knife, and she damn well wasn't going to eat rats and bugs. Antony wasn't that hungry yet. Maybe they could find some bird eggs around? "It does," she agreed nodding slightly, "But at least we have water and some kind of food right?" The woman was attempting to be optimistic and positive, mostly to reassure herself. As if saying the words aloud would make them any more truthful. Jamal_Reedy "I guess," he said, though he didn't sound convinced, and turned back around to plop his head on his arms. Her attempt at optimism failed to work on him mostly because he'd been in a situation like this back a home...well...the whole not having lots of good stuff to eat thing. There was a time his whole family ate ramen and macaroni for a month... But those were different circumstances. Antoinette Devereux "It could be worse," she mused, eyeing his lower back as if it were a big, fluffy pillow. Pausing, Antony thought back briefly on the helicopter before sighing softly and shifting over so that she could commandeer his lower back. Carefully nestling back on it, she yawned before saying what was on her mind, "s**t happens, but at least we're alive." Hopefully he was mellowed down enough to not care about her using him as a pillow. If he wasn't, well she'd deal with that when it came about. Jamal_Reedy Jamal's lips pursed into a thin line as she scooted over and took the liberty of using his back as a makeshift pillow, but he didn't move away. It was pointless to try and continue to be outwardly mad at Antony...he could still be mad but not be a jerk, he figured. He did think that Awen would have a shitfit if she came out of the jungle and saw them sitting by the fire together, but Jamal didn't care about that. Maybe it would get Awen to explode and get whatever it was she was thinking out of her system. He knew that she wanted to yell and get angry but something wasn't letting her. At least, not yet. "s**t always happenin'," he murmured as he turned his head so his cheek was against his arms now instead of his chin. "But yeah, I guess we didn't come off so bad compared ta some..." The some being the roasted bodies in the helicopter. Antoinette Devereux Antony relaxed considerably when he didn't make a move to push her away from him. Sleeping in the sand had given her a crick in her neck, and at least this way it wouldn't hurt as bad later. She decided to ignore the fact that he smelled rather funny at the moment, figuring she'd make him take a 'bath' in the ocean tomorrow. Hopefully he wouldn't be as mad at her then because a bath, in her opinion, was something he needed badly. Lifting her rear, she fished for her last pack of cigarettes, pulling one out before shoving the pack back into her pocket and letting her rear fall to the sand once more. Maybe the smell of smoke would cover up the smell of Jamal the unbathed? She could only hope so as she lit the smoke dangling from her lips. Jamal_Reedy Okay well, of course someone was going to smell when they'd been sleeping on a bird s**t cliff and lost in the jungle for almost two days. It wasn't entirely his fault...he probably would have bathed if it weren't for the fact that 1) He didn't care right then and 2) he wasn't hurt. He didn't say anything when she pulled out a smoke, not knowing her motive for doing so, and just let the fire bathe warmth on his face as he tried to relax and ignore the twing in his ankle. Antoinette Devereux That still didn't change the fact that he smelled, but thankfully, the sweet smell of nicotine and burning plants seemed to dull the odor significantly. This was a major improvement. Tilting her head to glance back at his ankle, she frowned and sat up so she could see over his big black a**. Absently, Antony wondered if she has anything that was cold to ice it with because it looked -bad-. "How'd the ankle happen?" Too bad she didn't have any aspirin on her. Jamal_Reedy It took a moment for Jamal to answer because he didn't remember exactly what had happened at first, but when he did answer, he sounded somewhat sheepish. "Uh...tripped inna hole when I was ******** up," he said with a smirk. "Prolly didn't help much I tried ta walk on it mo' afterwards." Antoinette Devereux "No. It didn't, but it doesn't look broken... Really swollen though..." She appraised with a frown, shaking her head slightly. No ice and no painkillers. That and Jamal only had one blunt left. Oh this was going to be pleasant. Jamal_Reedy He actually had maybe three more all together, counting the one behind his ear, but they weren't going to last long at this rate. He didn't realize how low he was on weed yet either. "Looks like I ain't gonna be trompin' 'round then lookin' fo' anythin' ta help then fo' a lil' bit," he said sourly. "Unless I get a new stick o' somethin' ta lean on." Antoinette Devereux "No you won't. If you do you'll injure it even more," she grunted, frowning to herself. Even though she hated moochers, Jamal had taken care of her that one night, and she had royally screwed him over by accident. So to Antony, it was okay for Jamal not to do work and stay at the 'camp' that they had made. Once again, Jamal was broken and could not help her. Oh well, that just meant Antony had to do extra work to keep up the slack. No problem with her. Glancing over to Anjali's sleeping form, she frowned, concerned that the injection may be having negative effects. Jamal_Reedy He grumbled and snorted heavily, sending a flurry of sand all over his forearm from the 'breeze' it created. He hated being a moocher and just sitting around....well...actually, the sitting around part was fine, but he did feel like this was a time that he ought to be helping. It wasn't like there a few simple chores of cleaning house to do....this was about survival.
"As soon as I can, I'm gonna get up and do stuff, 'cause I'll be damned if peeps think I be useless on toppa' bein' a ******** class="clear">
Antoinette Devereux "As soon as you can," she repeated firmly, reaching behind her to pat him in the middle of his upper back. Her stomach absently rumbled in protest to the lack of adequate food, but Antony ignored it, instead responding to his comment, "You're not a ********... Or useless, an a*****e maybe..." Antony's lips curled into a teasing smile, hoping to lighten the mood somewhat, "But that's okay, because I'm a condescending b***h and a whore... And we're the one's chillin' next to a fire with the entire island's supply of accessible alcohol."
Jamal_Reedy Jamal was going to make a snarky comment, but realized she was more or less messing with him, so instead he rolled just a bit, enough to make it look like he was trying to ruin her comfortable seat. The mention of alcohol made him pause, a slow smile spreading over his broad features. "...just how much booze do we got?" he inquired, putting on a facade of innocent questioning.
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Posted: Fri Jan 06, 2006 8:06 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 3:35 pm
Antoinette Devereux "To make sure you weren't dead," she said absently, getting a rather displeasing waft of Jamal Stank and making a face. Enough was enough, "You smell... Bad." It was for the greater good, like... Her sanity, and maybe even her nose. Jamal_Reedy Jamal facefaulted. "....WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SOMETHIN' EARLIER?!" He was immediately trying to get to his feet, feeling disgusting. He HATED being nasty and smelly, but he couldn't tell since he'd dealt with it all day. Antoinette Devereux "Because you were EMOING at me!" She retorted before feeling him try and stand up. Antony was quick to react, and immediately straddled his back in order to hold him down, "You can't walk Jamal..." And Awen would throw a shitfit if she saw me helping your naked a** down to the surf, she thought to herself. Jamal_Reedy "But I SMELL," he whined feverishly, clawing at the sand. "Brotha do NOT like ta smell." He tried to wiggle free, but it was hard since he was lying flat and she was sitting on him like he was a ******** horse. Antoinette Devereux "But I don't want you to ******** your ankle up more," she said with a frown before sighing, mentally debating whether she should let him go or not. Jamal_Reedy "I ratha' have a ******** up ankle than be known as a smelly-a** black b*****d," he muttered forcefully as he tried to crawl towards the ocean, since it was closer. The river really was a better idea, since it wasn't full of salt, but...water was water at this point. Antoinette Devereux "Oh fine," she grunted, rolling her eyes and then pushing herself to her feet, surveying the situation, "But I'm going to help you damnit." Antony offered him a help up after shedding her pants, so what if someone saw her a**. Jamal_Reedy Jamal got to his feet after a bit more struggle and starts to shuck off whatever bits of clothing he had, then hobbled for the water, ignoring the pain in his ankle as he went. He smelled. crying How could she not TELL him?! Anjali Frangipani Anjali twitched in her sleep, then shivered. Was the wind getting cold? The fire out?
... no, it wasn't, she saw as she roused blearily. Furthermore, someone else had joined them, she could see them over by the edge of the beach... but not quite make them out.
Ugh. She felt warm then, then cold, then warm again. What was going on? She was far too young for hot flashes.
She reached to rub at her bare ams and flinched away as her hands touched something sticky. Her first thought was sap...
Sap...
"ANTONY!" Anjali shouted suddenly, staring at her hands in the firelight. Was it just a trick of the light, or were they... greenish? They were certainly tingling bizzarely at the tips, and aching in a way that was somehow subtly different from the abused-muscle feeling in the rest of her body. Antoinette Devereux The tattooed woman was mid yanking off her tank top when she heard her name yelled from back by the fire. Huh what the ******** was going on? OH ANJALI! In her haste to get her tank top off and turn around, somehow Antony managed to get stuck in it, her arms in a weird position over her head. "********!" She griped, finally managing to get the tank top off with a disgruntled grunt. She ran over and stopped in front of Anjali in nothing but her skeevies and a shirt in her hand. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn't find the words. Jamal_Reedy Jamal had ALMOST made it to the water but heard the loud "ANTONY" yell from futher up the beach, so he sort of stutter-stepped and nearly tripped face-first into the sand. Instead, he managed to catch himself with his hands and a knee and save himself the embarrassment. "What da HELL, I thought you gonna help," he snapped as he struggled to get up, still dressed in his boxers, which were on the verge of falling off his rear. He couldn't wash by himself because he'd probably drown on accident since he was a lousy swimmer AND his ankle hurt too bad to tread water should he get pulled out deeper than he could handle. What was the big deal anyway? He peered up the beach at Anjali, who looked somewhat scared, and noted Antony had stopped stock-still not far. He was obviously missing something. He cursed to himself and started back up the beach, tugging his boxers back up as to not scare Anjali anymore than she appeared to be, limping like a lame plow horse towards the two women. Anjali Frangipani Anjali was shivering now, her skin covered in goosebumps as prickles - not pain, just something like a bad case of pins-and-needles - swept up and down her body. All the hair on her arms was standing at attention, and she realized the hair on her legs was growing back at a bizzare rate - all to stand up straight, with a faint green tinge.
"I think it's happening," she mumbled as she heard people come up, not inclined to look at them when her body was changing right before her eyes. Antoinette Devereux Antony's eyes widened and she didn't know whether to vomit or to help. But how could she help? She dropped to her knees and moved towards Anjali, forgetting entirely about her lack of clothing. Ignoring Jamal for the most part due to the initial shock of the entire situation, Antony shushed him violently, turning to glare at him. Part of her wanted to keep watching, but the other told her to look away or face the possibility of being sick. On top of that, she didn't know how to be comforting in this situation. In the back of her mind, she remembered the simple phrase that would always make her feel better. "I'm right here... You're safe." It was a surprise to hear herself speak such... heartfelt words, but they seemed to be the right thing to say at the moment. Jamal_Reedy Jamal was taken aback by her shushing and was going to growl back some sort of retort, but saw the odd glinting of green upon Anjali's skin. He didn't remember that last time he'd seen her... "No ********' way," he said in a hushed voice, eyes turning wide as dinner plates as he hobbled painfully a moment, then took a knee since it was easier on his injury. "She's not...no...tell me she ain't..." His eyes searched Antony for confirmation of what he was trying to say. No. She couldn't be changing. There was no way. He couldn't help but turn back to stare in disbelief. Anjali was one of the few people who had been on the island longer than he had been that hadn't transformed yet. He had decided that she too was in the same boat he was; the serums just didn't work on people like them, but to see her changing before his eyes shattered that illusion. He didn't want to believe it. Anjali Frangipani Anjali did glance up at Antony's words, and offered her a wan smile. "Thanks," she said, then shivered again as another wave of discomfort hit her. Her hands tingled again, then suddenly lost all feeling and control, going numb in an instant. Her fingers hung limply.
She looked at the other person to try and clamp down on the panic, and realized it was Jamal. "Jamal... I'm sorry," she mumbled, looking ashamed. "I was the only one left so old... wasn't I..."
Something was happening to her nails, and she winced as the discomfort squirmed into them. Still no pain... but the keratin in her nails was changing color to red, deep red. And something was happening on her head, too, at the roots of her hair, a very odd sensation as though she could feel every strand in a far more sensitve way than ever before possible...
Experimentally, she sort of flopped her trembling fingertips together and winced as the tips of her misshapen nails sagged completely, then began to ooze an odd, sweet-smelling substance that fell in sticky strands. "Sundew sap," she said, and her voice sounded very far away. "It'll attract bugs to eat..." Antoinette Devereux Antony glanced between Anjali and Jamal when the former addressed him, raising an eyebrow at him for an explanation. This transformation was too much for her, so she busied herself by putting her shirt back on and wafting the Stench of Jamal away from her. Somehow, her eyes moved to look at Anjali's fingers on their own, and soon she was unable to tear her eyes away from them as they grew. Then there was sap. "s**t," she muttered, unable to really grasp the entire situation. Jamal looked about ready to s**t his pants, and she had promised Anjali that she'd protect her. In reality, she had no clue what to do and felt entirely helpless. Jamal_Reedy Jamal didn't know what to say to Anjali. Why and how could she be apologizing to him right now. He had no idea how she could even focus on anyone else but her own body, which was betraying her before the audience of three sets of eyes. "I can't watch this," he suddenly said as a fierce tremor struck his own body, catching his voice harshly so it came out choked as he pulled himself away. He half ran, half stumbled towards the ocean in a blind panic but as his feet struck the slightly harder, damp sand that lingered at the edge of where the water reached, he just sort of crashed into a sitting position and inwardly curled in on himself, arms going up over his head and neck in almost in an instinctive manner as he forced his chin to his chest. His stomach heaved painfully as did his lungs, both threatening to overpower him with either a guest appearance of his early meal or hyperventilation from panic and sudden exertion. Anjali Frangipani Anjali cringed not only from the strangeness of the change, but from the reactions of the others. "It's okay... I'll be okay," she managed, her voice still sounding far away. "You don't have to... watch..." Turning away from them and the fire, she hunched in the darkness, staring at her hands.
Sharp pain - she'd been waiting for it, but still jumped and gritted her teeth - shot up each finger as the bones lengthened and changed, human cells twisting into something not quite plant... but not quite human, either. She brushed one of her hands into her leg and felt, with those sudden sensitive hairs, that the greenish skin was a bit harder, and waxy. Like a leaf.
She wasn't sure how long she huddled there, forcing herself not to whimper or cry for the sake of Antony and Jamal. The weirdest thing besides her hands was her hair - she really could feel it now, an odd but not uncomfortable sensation of confinement from the braid. A spot-check told her that the tips of her hair had developed the same sticky strands, clumping together into larger fused masses at the ends.
Sundew... drosera...
And then, suddenly, she could move her hands again, and did so, tentatively.
A bug, attracted by the sweet scent of the gooey nectar her fingers and hair were now secreting, flew blissfully into one of the globs before she could stop it - and simultaneously, she was hit with an odd crawling of hunger, a desire to lean forward and lick the struggling bug up and into her mouth and...
"No," she said, firmly, turning away and flicking her fingers violently until the bug flew free. She kicked sand over it with one foot, and slowly the longing vanished.
A bizzare sense of relief flooded her. It had happened... it was over. There was nothing more to dread for now.
Nothing more than this.
"I... I think it's stopped," she said, carefully, still not turning to look at the other two. She would not inflict her presence on them until they were ready.
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Posted: Sun Jan 08, 2006 4:14 pm
Antoinette Devereux The tattooed woman glanced over at Jamal at his statement, eyes gaining a bit of surprise at the tone of his voice, worry taking over when his body shook. He had gotten up before she could stop him, and she simply watched as he fell apart, stumbling towards the ocean. A wince hit her when he fell, but her attention was caught by Anjali. She was the one changing after all, and she had promised. Luckily, Antony had missed the rest of the transformation thanks to Jamal's outburst, watching cautiously as Anjali dealt with the insect. Swallowing, she looked from the freaking out Jamal back to the freakishly calm Anjali. Props for Anjali's keen ability to keep composure during her transformation. Antony didn't want to think of how she'd react when... if she herself changed at all. Optimism, two weeks weren't up... "How... Do you feel?" She asked tentatively, tearing her eyes from the gooey fingers to the darker woman's face. Hopefully she was okay, because Jamal didn't seem to be handling it too well. She had accepted the fact that people on the island were going to look different, were going to change, and to Antony, she viewed them as 'body modifications,' conveniently forgetting that they weren't exactly voluntary. Whatever kept her sane. Another glance was sent in Jamal's direction, lips curved downwards in a frown. "Anjali, I'm going to help the hysterical one right quick," she didn't like how he was acting, and with an apologetic look towards Anjali, Antony turned and chased after the black man. With her luck, Jamal would try and drown himself. Jamal_Reedy Jamal huddled on the cool, damp sand, shaking every once in awhile. Seeing a person as normal one day and then running into them the next day changed was bad...but to watch it was horrifying. "She...she wasn't 'spose ta change...no...all wrong," he mumbled in a keening wail, muffled by his arms and chest as he remained in a curled position, the rush of blood in his head making his ears ring. Maybe he hadn't really escaped the serum...Anjali had been there longer than he had and she was just NOW finally getting the effects. They hadn't forgotten about her....they probably hadn't forgotten about him either. Antoinette Devereux Antony closed the distance between her and the curled up Jamal easily, and she instantly sank to her knees next to him, reaching out to rub his back in a comforting motion. She didn't know how he'd take to a hug, and decided that this would be the best way to start off. "It's over Jamal..." The tattooed woman whispered before crawling in front of him and gently wrapping her hands around his wrists to pull them from his face. "She's safe... You're safe..." But you still smell, a voice in her head was quick to remind her. It was brushed aside almost immediately Her eyes watched him with concern, her thumb absently caressing the insides of his wrists as she held them still. Jamal_Reedy He flinched at the initial touch on his back, fleeingly wondering if Anjali had come over, and made an odd noise...a mix of a grunt and raspy whine. He didn't want to talk to her or see her, let alone be touched by her. The tuggings at his wrist met resistance when he didn't immediately drop them, instead tensing and actually giving a low growling noise as he grit his teeth behind the 'curtain' he made. "Don't," he said in a low, strained voice that sounded harsh. Antoinette Devereux Her hands released his wrists immediately, falling to rest on his knees as she remained silent for a while, contimplating what to do. She decided to go with a subject change. "Am I to take that as a raincheck on the de-smelling of Jamal?" Antony said woefully, a look of mock mourning settling on her features. Absently, her thumbs restarted their motions on his knees, but other than that, she did not advance on him further. He was much bigger than she, and Antony had yet to see him violent. Now was not a time to find out either. Jamal_Reedy It was probably a smart idea to not continue to pull on his wrists, as he probably would have gotten angry...as anger almost always seemed to follow outbursts of fear in the black man for some reason. Anger of of showing his fear? Or just anger that needed a spark in order to be set off? "I kin sleep alone. Ova' herr or sumthin'," he rumbled heatedly, a detectable seriousness to his voice that was not meant to get sympathy. He wasn't sure if he wanted to share the fire tonight anyway. Not with Anjali there. How was he to know if she'd suddenly sprout an extra arm or head out of the blue at this point. His side smarted painfully as his lungs started to calm and resume a normal breathing pattern, but they hurt from being constricted in such a cramped position. His stomach, however, continued to rumble and twist obnoxiously. Antoinette Devereux "Personally," she began. "I'd rather you didn't, and besides it'll probably make you feel better." Antony gave his knees one final rub before removing them to tug off her shirt, which she balled up and chucked far up the beach. Away from the rising water. The water was already beginning to crash up around them as the tide came in, a small smile coming to the woman's lips. "My hands are magic~," she crooned, hoping to lure him out from his hiding place behind his arms. Jamal_Reedy Under any other circumstances, he probably would have jumped out of his turtle huddle and mowed her over to be the first one in the water, then would wait expectantly for her to get out to where he was. Tonight, however, he gave a huffing snort and only parted his arms so one eye could be detectable from the little shelter he made. He didn't say anything. Antoinette Devereux "Please~," she murmured, giving him a sort of puppy dog look as a last resort. Standing up, Antony held both her hands down to him, offering him help up. "You're already wet, might as well finish it. Anyways, you can still brood in the water." Antony beckoned him to her, giving him a crooked smile. Damn, he was a stubborn as she was. Jamal_Reedy Jamal really didn't feel like deal with the ocean anymore. He could smell until morning....until next month at this point, if it meant that he could escape a doctor's needle because he smelt so bad. However, he knew that Antony was just as stubborn, if not more so, than he was. It was this fact, not the puppydog look (as cute as it might have been), that made him give up on getting peace there at the ocean's shore. "Fine...but only 'cause I know you ain't gunna leave me alone 'til I do," he said grudgingly, though he was reluctant to move at all just yet. Antoinette Devereux "Whatever worked," she grinned, attracting his attention to her offered hands again before going on, "Besides, after you're clean I could give you a back massage... Return the favor from the other day? Suck up a bit?" It was a rare oppertunity that he should probably take advantage of, Antony wasn't one to suck up often, much less admit to it. Jamal_Reedy Ooo....back massages were nice...especially since his back was pretty ******** up from his sleep on the jungle floor and attempting to haul himself around on one working foot and a stick. That and she really did need to suck up. He was still mad at her...not as much as before, but enough to where he could milk it and potentially get favors out of it. With an eyeroll, he took the offered hands and when she helped to get him to his feet, he used enough of her help to stay steady and put most of the reliance on standing on his own power. He was, afterall, bigger than she was by a considerable amount. Antoinette Devereux She gave him a smug grin before offering herself for him to lean on her as they made their way down into the water. The deeper in they got, the less heavy he became. Huzzah for boyancy. Antony debated whether she should just have Jamal sit in the surf or walk out a bit deeper. Nodding, she stopped when the water came up to just below her hips. "Sit," she said, waiting until he did so before kneeling down behind him and scooping up a handful of sand. Using this to scrub, she started on his back, scrubbing the sand into his skin. "Tell me if it hurts." This was how she washed earlier, and it had worked. Jamal_Reedy "Yous worse than ma mutha'," he commented peevishly as he did as ordered, using his hands to help keep him somewhat steady as he was submerged in the warm ocean water. "Ya both always tellin' me what ta do 'n' when ta do it." Except I won't have ta deal wit' ma mom no more... His lip quirked into a small frown at that thought, but he pushed it out of his mind. No way was he going to sit and emo-whine about everything wrong in his life right now. Jamal's brow furrowed at the strange sensation of being scrubbed with sand; it didn't hurt, at least not yet, and probably wouldn't as long as she didn't linger too long in one spot with it. It actually felt sort of good, in a way that was hard to really describe. Or maybe he just really needed a bath and the feeling of being semi-clean was just that good. Antoinette Devereux "But, I am not your mother," she stated matter of factly, finishing up his back before collecting a new handful of sand. Reaching around him as if she were bear hugging him, Antony began scrubbing his stomach, her front pressed against his back. She debated humming, but decided that her voice wasn't exactly meant for music and simply continued to scrub. Small talk would be good, "So, how old are you Jamal?" Jamal_Reedy "I should hope you ain't ma mutha," he said ruefully, staring blankly off into the distance. "Othawise there'd be some problems." Actually, problems wouldn't even be the start of what there would be...especially since the 'twins' were now pressed not-so-secretly to his back. At the question of age, he came back into the present, letting his toes curl into the soft sand below to help anchor him in place. "Age ain't nuthin' but a number," he commented, almost as though he was trying to be evasive, but followed it up with "25" shortly after. He didn't feel like trying to be coy right now. Antoinette Devereux "Exactly. That would be gross." To say the least. Antony made a face before scooping up a handful of sand in each hand and working them up his sides. Capturing more sand, she shifted to rub down his arms, raising an eyebrow at his answer. She so had him pegged younger than that. Well, at least she didn't feel as old now. Nodding in agreement to his comment about age, Antony soon followed up his answer with an indirect clue, perhaps because he wasn't being coy. "Well aren't you young." Inwardly, she wondered how old he had thought her to be. Jamal_Reedy Jamal lifted the unoccupied arm up to peer at his slowly prunifying fingers, wriggling them just above the surface as he heard her little quip about being young. She was rewarded with a expression that read somewhere along the lines of 'O RLY?'. "I ain't dat young, unless you's 30-somethin' and been hidin' it well," he drawled as he let the hand drop back into his lap, turning his head to give her an apprasing look out of the corner of his eye. Antoinette Devereux "Hey... I'm not that old," she retorted, smile playing on her features as she caught his glance, and after a bit of a pause, she told him hers, "27." She had never thought of herself as old, but considering how old everyone else seemed to be on the island, Antony had been starting to feel it. Finishing what she could reach, she hoped that he had taken it upon himself to wash his own nether regions, and maybe even his legs and face. Most importantly the manbits. There was nothing worse than a stinky crotch in Antony's opinion. Jamal_Reedy "Well a'ight then," he said flippantly as she finished the sand scrub on his upper body, hence leaving him to do the rest himself, which he started. She probably needed a brief scrub herself, having been sweating and whatnot with all the driftwood gatherings and whatnot. "Like I said, age ain't nuthin' but a numba. Not like I'dda cared any if yous been 30-some." He was amused that she had so easily given up her age; he knew better than to ask a woman how old they were if they looked to be past a certain age block...the younger ones were usually prouder than hell to say their age, as though saying "HAH I really am legal even though I look 16" while the older ones were "I'm old enough to know better but that doesn't stop me >3" and leave age out of it. Antoinette Devereux Looking back to make sure that Anjali wasn't staring outright, Antony stood up and tugged off her thong, stepping out of it before 'washing' it a bit in the water. Gods wearing the same underwear for days on ends was gross. Once those were clean to her liking, Antony unhooked her bra and draped both articles over Jamal's shoulder so they wouldn't float away, "Hold these for me." And with that, she too sat down in the sand, using the sand to scrub herself down. Starting at her stomach and moving upwards, then washing from her stomach to her toes, and everything in between. She even dunked her head under and gave her hair a bit of a cleaning. Oh how she loved short hair. Jamal_Reedy Jamal hardly bat an eye at being a makeshift clothing rack, busily washing his legs, wincing as he discovered the scabbed over scrapes on the one. Whoops...forgot about those. Lovely. At least saltwater was good for healing, or so he had been told. The boxers were removed at one point to get a good rinsing before they were put back on, all managed under the water should anyone be paying attention to them out in the ocean. The last thing he needed was an audience that would go yap to Awen. His skin felt a bit raw from all the of the grit, but it was better than nothing. At least he didn't sunburn easily. Closing his eyes, he cupped some water and splashed it on his face, then rubbed it gently with sand before rinsing that off too. His hair was left alone, for now. It was really going to be a pain to deal with if they were stuck out here for very long... Antoinette Devereux Once clean, she replaced the undergarments and stood up once she had rinsed herself of all the sand. She loved feeling clean. For show, she gave a tenative sniff of the air around Jamal before nodding in approval. "There, much better," Antony said with a grin, offering Jamal a hand so that he could stand up easily. Jamal_Reedy Jamal rolled his eyes at the sniff, his mood still teetering between all-around sour or just irritable, and got up easily thanks to the combined efforts of the water and Antony. "I'd kill fo' some shampoo," he grumbled, starting into a lurching walk back towards the shore, using the water to hold his weight as he tiptoed on his bad foot each time he needed to move it. Antoinette Devereux Antony scooted so he could lean on her, wrapping an arm around his waist for added stability. "Yeah, so would I... And a steak, with some hazelnuts for dessert," she said wistfully, stomach grumbling angrily at her for mentioning food. Nevermind where she got the idea for hazelnuts, she just wanted food. Soon they were back by the fire, where they could let the smoke help dry them off. Jamal_Reedy "Hazelnuts...?" he trailed off. Of all the odd things to want... Once at the fire, he stood/wobbled near the fire to dry off from the combination of heat and drip-dry, contemplating what they were going to sleep on. He didn't want to sleep in the sand...at least, not directly on it. The black man's eyes landed on the dried palm frond shreds, a pensive look falling over his face. Antoinette Devereux "I have no clue," she muttered, shaking her hair dry while holding onto her glasses. Following his gaze, Antony nodded slightly, "Sand isn't too bad, but it is when you're wet." While he decided on what to do, Antony went and gathered her tank top, shrugging it on before pulling her bra off so that it would dry a bit more. She debated taking off her wet underwear as well, but simply threw out that idea, dragging a palm frond by the fire for her to sit on and dropping onto it with a grunt. "Do you want that massage now or later?" Jamal_Reedy While she was away, he had already gathered up a decent spread of palm leaves to use as a bed. It wasn't perfect, but it'd have to do. Had he been a bit more mobile, he'd have gotten more, but since he could only get what was close... His jeans were picked up and shook out, then given a sniff when Antony wasn't looking. Ick...they needed to be washed, but he was too sore at this point to hobble back down to wash them. He tossed them away from the camp so they wouldn't stink up the immediate area, making a mental note to deal with them later. "Massage now sounds fine," he answered while checking out his bed one last time, then dragged one remaining frond over in front of her and sat. A good massage...then bed. He was so tired... Antoinette Devereux Antony shifted behind him, moving so that she was up on her knees behind him. Her hands began to work along the back of his neck, rubbing the cricks from it before she let them trail down to his shoulders. Staying there for a while, Antony made sure to work at them until they were relaxed, thumbs kneading the muscles methodically. "Tell me if it's too hard," she said lazily as her hands moved lower to his upper back, and when she felt the knots there, Antony knew this would take a while. He was rather tense. Jamal_Reedy He "Mmmed" in acknowledgement of her statement and let her 'magic hands' attack the painful knots and cramped muscle of his back, eyelids drooping slowly until just narrow slits showed a bit of brown and black of his pupil and iris. He wasn't the only person to appreciate a good massage. Jamal might have been considered uncharactersitically quiet during this as he let his thoughts wander in a vain attempt to get everything straight in his mind. Okay...so...he was stuck on an island, having to survive basically with what he knew (which wasn't much), had watched a woman transform whom he was certain had cheated the system as he had, and had Awen pissed off. The Awen thing was over and done with, aside from the aftermath. He could handle that. The being lost in the wilderness thing wasn't so bad, now that he was in good company...that could be handled also. It was just the transforming thing that had him by the balls. Antoinette Devereux Antony yawned, but grinned afterwards, working her hands lower and lower, until she was sure that all the knots were gone. When she reached the base of his spine, she finished up and patted him lightly on the back. "All done." It had been a decently long massage, and her fingers were slightly sore. She'd easily get over that, but first... The woman crawled over to the bottle of Goose. So what if it was warm? Uncapping it, she took a decent swig before screwing the cap back on. Her eyes caught sight of Jamal's 'bed,' and a look of jealousness spread onto her features. Part of her debated trying to steal it from him. Jamal_Reedy When the tug of her hands on his back halted, he yawned widely and rubbed at his face, feeling much less achy and that more tired. "Thanks," he said gratefully, also crawling away from where they had been sitting then, but he went for his bed, not the alcohol. For once, he wasn't in a drinking mood. With a grunt of contentment, he slumped down onto the palm leaves, the sand shifting enough to conform to his body and become mildly more comfortable than he would have guessed once he had rolled over, facing Antony with his back to the fire. His 'bed' wasn't huge, but if she felt so inclined, she could probably take over the room that was left. Jamal wasn't going to kick her off it after all she'd done for him today, even if she did need to suck up after her slip of tongue to Awen. Antoinette Devereux The little bit of alcohol before bed dulled her mind just enough to allow her to sleep. It kept them quiet and gave her peace of mind. Literally. She watched him carefully, and after a moment's consideration, decided that he would probably share and she crawled over. Rolling onto her side as well, Antony took the edge in front of him, back facing him as she moved around to get comfortable, leaving space between them. "Thanks," she murmured softly as she closed her eyes, too lazy to take off her glasses. Jamal_Reedy He made sure she had enough room without pushing himself off the makeshift blanket, a wide yawn splitting his jaws before he managed a slighty garbled "ain't no problem". To save himself the probable drama if Awen wandered over, he kept the space there between them. He wasn't sure where he and the younger woman stood at the moment, but it was best to get things hashed out eventually. Wouldn't surprise him in the least if she was done with him. Though, during the night, he had a tendancy to snuggle up to whatever was handy...so...he wouldn't be held responsible for that once he fell asleep. He stared off into the dark jungle for a bit, keeping a half-hearted watch over the 'camp'. Antoinette Devereux Antony reached behind her to absently scratch an itch on her lower back before returning her arm to where it had previously been. Luckily there was a fire and it was quite comfortable outside. Her eyes watched the jungle as well, making a mental request for no one to come and steal food from them all. The food had actually been stashed in a hole in the sand that had been dug, with palms covering it and then driftwood laying across it. It was a makeshift fridge, or way to keep wild animals out of it. Jamal_Reedy Jamal sighed and closed his eyes finally, deciding that if anyone was going to show up and partycrash, there was little they could do about it until it happened. He pitied ANYONE stupid enough to try it; he'd seen the knife that Antony had on her earlier and between the two of them, they could take a solo intruder...maybe even a couple of them. He'd rather not find out, but some of the villagers proved to be stupider than he'd originally guessed. He also decided it was pointless to try and stay all "invisible wall" between himself and his bedmate, considering how small the bed was to start with, plus he knew his own tendancies. Awen obviously didn't care about his well-being right now, as she hadn't yet come out to check on him. If the younger woman couldn't cut him some slack (the situation of sleeping on the beach on palm leaves wasn't exactly ideal), then so be it. Besides, Antony was warm and even though they were on a tropical island, it did get breezy and a tad chilly at night. Therefore, he felt little remorse as he cuddled up to Antony's back, chin resting lightly on her shoulder, and draped an arm casually over her middle. Much more comfy, this was, than trying to worry about offending the wrong person. Antoinette Devereux Her thoughts echoed his, and when she felt the warmth of his body come up behind her, Antony simply leaned into it. He didn't smell anymore, after all. Yes, this was much more comfortable. She relaxed considerably, eyelids drifting closed now that she was situated. She wouldn't be surprised if they woke up in an entirely different tangled position; Antony shifted a lot when she slept, unless she was dead tired. Or drunk as a skunk. Jamal_Reedy It was sort of eerie to be falling asleep on an open beach like this; the constant whoosh noise of the water breaking the shore accompanied by the occasional animal noise or brush rustle could be unsettling if one wasn't used to it. Since he had already done the jungle thing once already, it wasn't so bad. The rhythm of the water was soothing once he stopped focusing on it so much. It didn't take long for him to eventually drift off into sleep...one that would hopefully not be as restless as he feared. Antoinette Devereux Antony was coaxed into sleep by the sound of the waves breaking, a sound that had always relaxed her and now wasn't any different. She hoped Anjali was okay. Absently, her arms wrapped around his arm, as a child would hug a stuffed animal to themselves.
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