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Posted: Sun May 21, 2006 11:43 pm
"Cheers!" Emerwyn called as she turned away.
There was a great spring in her step as she trotted away. The visit with Emelyn had raised her spirits so high. And now she was off to spend another evening with Ian... nothing could be better.
Still, a mental note remained in her head to see Fiona about her plan...
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 9:15 pm
New RP
Thom was terribly bored. And, with the knowledge that he had a game shortly--providing he got off the island as planned--he had begun practicing earlier in the day and kept at it for much of the afternoon, using whatever landmarks were available to accomplish various drills. Eventually his sporting had led him away from the village and, after hovering near the edge of the jungle for ten minutes or so, he had abandoned all inhibitions and taken his game to the loam.
The trees were players of the rival team. Avoid them all, make it to the goal...wherever happened to be. With the ease of long practice, he manuvered the ball around and through the closely spaced trees, weaving here, looping there, generally finding every way he could to add to the challenge. The unfamiliar and unlevel jungle floor did add to the difficulty, but that only made the drill all the more enjoyable. Kicking a ball across flat, open ground was terribly dull when you were alone. Jungles were much more interesting.
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 9:29 pm
Cass had been coiled over a low branch for perhaps a half an hour, half-dozing and bored and thinking. She needed something to do with herself, really. She was going to go crazy this way.
What was that sound?
She could make out some sort of heat source, human in shape, coming through the trees; whoever it was, they smelled unfamiliar. Cassidy began to uncoil herself and slither down the tree trunk. Maybe she could slip away without being seen. There was no need to scare people, after all.
It quickly occurred to her, however, that she was not equipped for speed, at the moment, and she probably should have stayed high. What if it was someone changed, someone who wasn't taking it well? Cass was certainly not equipped with claws with which to defend herself.
Well, sometimes you had to bite the bullet. She coiled herself up near the base of the tree. "Hey!" she called out. "Who's there?"
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 9:41 pm
Spin, dodge, duck under a tree branch--and then a shout, and Thom lost focus, scowling as the ball spun away and bumped a nearby tree. In retaliation, he quickly 'stole' it back, darting around the offending tree and punting the soccer ball off between two others--a goal. Satisfied, he slowed to a walk and, breathing heavily after the drill, scanned the area for the source of the voice.
From his position he couldn't see anyone, and he briefly debated simply retrieving his ball and escaping back to the safety of the village. However, he quickly reconsidered. The voice hadn't sounded like a bloody thirsty tiger man and, after his run...he wasn't exactly sure where the village was. Oh well.
"Thom," he shouted in response, not that it would prove very helpful. He hadn't recognized the voice, so he obviously hadn't met whoever was speaking. "Arrived a few days back. 'Oo's there?"
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 9:50 pm
A few days back? Cass's heart sank. Sure, on the one hand, she probably didn't have to worry about being mauled to death, but did the guy know? It wasn't too late to escape entirely, was it?
Yes. Yes, it was. Be brave.
"Name's Cassidy. Um." Cass hugged herself tightly and uncoiled herself to slither, as slowly as she could bear to, in the direction of Thom's voice. "Don't freak out. Please." This last was said rather softer, her tone worried and faintly hopeful.
She leaned around the trunk of a tree and peered at him curiously from some distance off.
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 9:59 pm
Chuckling dryly, he doubled back to gather his soccer ball, then started after the voice once more. "Trust me, Cassidy, I doubt anythin' could--" He abruptly fell silent as he caught sight of the woman, lip curling in a mix of absolute disbelief and astonishment. This...this thing was once a girl? A human? Like him!? ...Well, now he understood the 'don't freak' request.
He cleared his throat, pulling his gaze away until he regained his composure. At some point following the shock, his grip on the soccer ball had tightened, and now he relaxed it, passing the ball nervously from hand to hand. When he again looked up, his smile was apologetic..and perhaps a tad fearful. "Well... You were right, then. Ah, sorry."
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 10:07 pm
After a nervous feather-fluff, Cass came out the rest of the way. It seemed that he at least knew what was happening--thank goodness--but that didn't make that moment of shock any less painful. "Don't worry about it," she said, as dismissively as she could bring herself to. "I'm... a bit of a sight. I know I am."
Still, she didn't come any closer; she'd leave it to him to make that move. "Just a few days, eh? I guess you know already?"
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 10:22 pm
"No, no, I apologize," he insisted, shaking his head, though his hands abruptly fell still as she approached, the ball held tightly between them. "I 'ave met a few...ah, islanders, an', to be frank, snakes never crossed m' mind. Ambrose was the farthest change yet." And while Ambrose was furry and had the face of a wolf, he was a mammal, had legs, and looked more like some high school mascot than anything. Cass....didn't.
"Yes, I know," Thom replied with a faint grimace. "I didn't b'lieve at first, I'll admit, but after a few...things, y' can't really deny it any longer." He shrugged. "I doubt I'll be 'ere long enough t' change, 'owever."
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 10:31 pm
"As far as I know, I'm the only snake," Cass said. Despite herself, her tongue flicked out; it was nearly as reflexive as blinking, sometimes. "Probably a good thing. It's definitely not what I would have picked, had I a choice."
Soccer. While she'd never been particularly inclined to athletics, the ball gave her all sorts of ideas she couldn't follow up on.
"I guess there's only so long you can deny it, the way some of us look," Cass admitted. "Though I've known some people hold out stubbornly for quite a while. What do you mean, though, you won't be here long enough?"
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 11:01 pm
He grimaced despite himself as her tongue darted out, finding the trait far too animalistic for his tastes. He had never been much of a reptile fan, and seeing someone nearly transformed into one was more than a tad unnerving. He wasn't scared of the scaley things, persay, but he preferred not to come in contact with them. "That's understandable. Losin' y' legs..."
He gave a sad shake of his head, for the first time noticing the stumps that remained of Cassidy's legs. Eck, he couldn't begin to imagine how horrible that must be. Mind, she seemed to get around alright, from what he could tell, but all the same... It couldn't be comfortable.
"Oh--I 'ave a game on Friday," he replied with a shrug, as if there were nothing more obvious in the world. "And th' team knows I'm 'ere. Now that I'm past th' concussion, they'll be callin' for me t' play."
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 11:12 pm
"I suppose," Cass said, "it could always be worse." Admittedly, she wasn't entirely sure how. The feathers were nice, true. And at least she wasn't venomous. And at least she still had bones and wasn't growing extra limbs, which probably hurt more than losing them.
"A game? Soccer, I assume?" Oh, dear. Denial. She hated to crush his illusions, but she couldn't very well let him continue to entertain them. Of course... Friday would be soon enough. "Um. Are you sure they know you're here? Have you talked to them?"
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 11:29 pm
"I'll take your word for it," he drawled, giving her a once over...purely to see how it could be any worse, of course. But there were possibilities, now that he thought about it. She wasn't oozing slime, and she still had arms, even if they were covered in feathers. ...Imagine being turned into a worm. Poor worm-person.
"Ah, yes... 'soccer'." He rolled his eyes at the word. Those were Americans for you. Rather than accept the name the rest of the world had granted the game, the superiority complex demanded that they grant it a title of their own and replace 'football' with a less interesting version of rugby. "...No, I 'aven't spoken with them," he grudgingly admitted, then laughed. "But, what, y' think they kidnapped me? Would be extremely difficult, I assure you."
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 11:39 pm
She winced slightly at his eye-rolling. "Or football, whatever. Gimme a break. If I went around calling it football where I'm from, no one'd know what I was talking about." Cassidy hunched her shoulders a little.
"Why would it be so difficult to kidnap you? They got the rest of us, one way or another. Hell, we got Vasile Di-freaking-Rossi here." The jerk. No, no. That wasn't fair of her. She was better than that. "Besides. You think they're going to let you leave, after what you've seen?"
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 11:49 pm
She did have a point, and he said so, waving away her words. "Yes, yes, not your fault. Personal bias, I'm afraid. My apologies."
"I'm a recognized figure across Europe," he countered dryly, raising a brow. "Th' teams knows I was sent to a hospital... They won't accept that I up an' diappeared from it." Though, once again, she did have a point. Frowning, he settled for a shrug in reply. The thought hadn't occurred to him previous, and he wasn't sure of an excuse around it just yet. Perhaps later.
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Posted: Thu May 25, 2006 11:57 pm
Cass shrugged. "Maybe you are. I can't say that there's any likelihood I know who you are, Thom... No offence. I don't follow any sports. Not really, although I usually cheer when the Canucks are doing well. But sure, okay. There are people who'd miss you. More than would miss me, definitely. If they've come up with excuses for the rest of us... I'm not sure what they told my family, or what they might've told yours. I'm just saying... maybe you shouldn't be too hopeful about getting to that game."
Her gaze was fixed to the ground as she spoke. "For your sake, I hope I'm wrong. Really."
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