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 Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:38 pm
He didn't realize how cold he was until he felt how warm she was in comparison. Normally he'd complain about being cold, but it seemed pointless to do so when he was tired and frustrated enough that he didn't need any more negativity on top of it.
"I'm sorry."
The black man's eyes opened, gaining a distant quality to them for a few seconds before closing them again because they burned from exhaustion. He wondered why she was apologizing, unless it was over that strange guy, and even then he wondered what compelled her to say that. Jamal was well-aware how Antony worked...she shouldn't have to apologize for that and it made him feel worse, oddly enough. He didn't comment though, finding it better to let the topic lie for now. Besides, he didn't see a point in starting another argument when he clearly wasn't thinking entirely under his own power.
"I think I oughta jus' go ta bed," he sighed weakly as he parted his eyelids again in an almost-painful manner. "Dat's prolly part of da problem."
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Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:44 pm
"Probably," she confirmed, easily shifting and leaning against the wall so that he could curl up against her if he wanted. Though she was mentally tired, she wasn't quite physically ready to sleep yet, and so she didn't mind not laying down.
"Just get comfortable," Antony said softly as she loosened her grip, not really wanting another arguement to happen. Once he got situated, then she would work out a comfortable position around him.
Maybe the rain will have let up by morning?
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Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:51 pm
Jamal, for once, didn't have to be told twice. He more or less flopped into an open spot with a grunt, caring little that unforgiving concrete was his matress instead of soft sand, and made himself as comfortable as was possible. The big cat's 'voice' in his head had quieted now that it had what it wanted. Jamal could think for himself now...he wanted sleep and he wanted it now.
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Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 10:57 pm
Antony stayed silent, simply closing her eyes when he finally got settled. She leaned back against the wall and yawned, not quite ready to go to sleep quite yet. Her hands rubbed what free skin of his she could reach in attempts to help the blood circulation.
Sleep would come to her, not quite yet, but soon enough.
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Posted: Thu Feb 23, 2006 11:02 pm
Fortunately for Jamal, it did not take long for him to fall asleep now that he was warmer, out of the rain, and in familiar surroundings again. Hopefully he'd wake up in a better mood the next day...or at least keep his mouth shut if otherwise.
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Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:09 pm
After the relatively short trek to the beach Awen headed for the place she always knew Antony's camp to be. She didn't know why she figured that Antony would still be there, in this weather? It was a horrible place to be. At least further inland the winds were cut down by the trees. Awen nudged the bits of ash that was left over in the pit with her toe and sighed. She had to have left to find shelter.
Awen had focused on the sand and the camp before her. Honestly she was slightly afraid to look upon the stormy waters of the ocean. The one place that had been the source of all her fears, the place that the manta still longed for.
Looking up slowly Awen gazed upon the waters and gasped. A bright stream of lightning etched across the sky illuminating the rolling waves. The manta burned for her to just dive in, wanted nothing more than to swim away from the confines of this island but deep down Awen still felt a fear. Such a passionate one Awen was shocked that it still existed. She forgot how strong the pull of fear was on her body from this water. This was no confined, controlled lake inland. This was the vast and dangerous place that stole her parent's lives so long ago.
No...Awen would not be swimming off of this island to save anybody.
Awen sighed and decided it best she just returned to the lake. Antony, or anyone else, wasn't around anyway, so what was the use so sticking around here for? She started to turn back to the jungle when something caught her eye. The outline of the structure just a ways down the beach, a place where Awen had never rightly been but had seen a couple of times. Of course! How could she have forgotten. This was a ready-made shelter for anyone who would try to seek it. Why bother building lean-tos when you could have that sturdy piece of craftsmenship instead.
She started towards the bar awkwardly. Sand was not her specialty thanks to the flipper-like feet. She stumbled once or twice but was happy to be nearing.
"Antony?" She called ahead of her, trying to announce her arrival incase the girl was getting jumpyand defencive. Not saying that was specifically an Antony quality, but having something just appear without a sound in a place you thought was safe after being alone for so long? Not Awen's idea of a safe place for that something.
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Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:28 pm
Antony, unlike Jamal, had been up for a while now, but instead of simply shifting the black man off of her lap, she stayed put and smoked a cigarette. She was halfway through the smoke when she heard Awen's voice down the beach. Squinting while taking a much needed drag of the cig, Antony was finally able to make out the manta girl's figure.
What in the world would this girl want?
"Yeah?" She half grunted, frowning somewhat. Letting the smoke dangle between her lips as she spoke, Antony kept her voice as hush as possible given the circumstances. Jamal waking up would just add to the impending drama.
Awen was too far and the visiblity was too poor for Antony to even begin to notice the additional changes since they last met.
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Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:41 pm
Awen heard the reply and smiled. This was a good sign. She wouldn't walk in on a sneak attack, a frozen dead body or.... goodness knows what else. Her eyes were a little fuzzy through the haze on the beach and she honestly didn't see much of Antony with the bar in the way anyway. It wasn't until she was right up practically under the nice canopy did she notice the girl was pinned by the sleeping figure of Jamal.
She adopted a quick look of surpirse. She hadn't expected the back man to be here, he was, after all absent... or at least Awen figured he would be... when Rex had shown up. She rolled her shoulders a little, now uncomfortable with the situation. The punctures on Awen's shoulders seemed to mimic the one on Antony's shoulder, though the shreded bit of fabric across Awen's belly and slightly coloured skin under that was clear that it had been more deliberate than those given to the human girl.
Though she had thought to come to terms with her feelings and situation with Jamal seeing the near-naked Antony holding her ex sent a waved of jealousy through Awen. It made her a little sick to her stomach, despite the agreement her and Jamal had. She took a small breath and tried to calm down. Jamal wasn't Awen's anymore. It's no big deal. Besides they are just..sleeping. And...he had his pants on! Yes....see it wasn;t that bad. They were just...er..keeping warm? Yeah...
"I... um.. Was just coming to see if you were alright." She said meakly, still standing just outside of the beachbar where she had stopped from her shock. "I met Rex and said you gave him shelter and stuff. He hadn't mentioned the other girlk that was with you and Jamal and well... didn't really seem to make an indication that he knew very much about Jamal... So I thought you were alone... And..um.. might need some...company?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 10:59 pm
The tattooed woman finished the cigarette between the time that it took Awen to amble her way to the Beach Bar and finish her rambling explanation.
Now she was down to 3 cigarettes. Damn.
Awen's look of surprise did not go unnoticed, but Antony's expression remained indifferent through the manta girl's entire metamorphosis of emotions. In the end, the other girl still looked uncomfortable and nervous.
Not Antony's problem.
Raising an eyebrow at the question, and then again, only this time a bit further north, when she mentioned Rex. She looked slightly confused when Awen mentioned the 'other girl,' but soon realized that she was probably talking about Anjali. Hopefully the botanist was alright...
"Jamal showed up after Rex had left," Antony explained in a relatively low speaking voice, careful not to move and stir Jamal. Obviously she didn't want the tiger man to wake up anytime soon.
As Awen stumbled over the words to her last question, the tattooed woman absently scratched an itch on her chest before replying with a light smile, "That's sweet of you."
Though Antony wasn't about to share food since it had been refused the first time, she did motion the manta girl in out of politeness. Then again, Awen looked perfectly happy out in the rain.
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Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 11:23 pm
Awen didn't want to refuse the invitation, as she had refused the coconuts before. She hadn't meant any offence by the gesture before but... things happen. She did enjoy the rain but the constant tapping and drumming against her head was starting to give her a headache of sorts. It was much nicer just to be under the water where everything is nice and calm, where she didn't have to worry about hearing hte full blast of thunder the lightning produced. Or the uncomfortable social situations that presented themselves. The manta grinned a little bit insdie of her, a self satisfactory kind of smirk that just screamed 'I told you so'. It would have been perfectly content to let Awen slip back into the lake at the first thought of Antony.
Awen sat just under the canopy and out of the rain. She didn't really want to get their nice dry place wet, because Awen was still soaked to the bone and this place seemed nice for those who didn't have rubber skin. "I appreciate it." She mumbled with a little nod.
For a while Awen let this uncomfortable silence stretch between them. Antony really didn't seem like much of a talker at the moment and Awen still harboured some ill feelings for Jamal resting contently unaware in the tattooed woman's lap. It was fortunate though, that he was asleep.
Finally though Awen let out a slow breath. She had to face this and just let it go. She had to..let Jamal go. It was a difficult thing, seeing him in Antony's arms. But... she had to endure it untill these feelings faded. Besides, it's not like Awen had been completely fair to either of them. She had made her peace with Jamal... but Antony was going to be a tougher one to handle.
"Listen..." Awen said in a low voice, so she wouldn't wake Jamal. "I'm sorry for all this drama I caused you." Again she paused and looked right up to Antony's eyes. "Heh..." She once more looked away, facing the other woman, but not directly. "Jamal was just... ya know the first guy I..." The colour in her cheeks was still visible though the murky skin. "Well the first one I had any kind of real relationship with. So I wasn't really used to dealing with this crap, and it was just... dumped on me all at once with everything else that was piling up. Not that... it's any excuse..."
She trailed her finger along the floor slowly. Dipping her finger in the pool of water that surrounded her, Awen then traced shapes on the dry part close to her. "I guess I'm just apologising for the crap I caused. And... I really don't want any ill feelings between us." She glanced up from her drawings once more. "I remember whatcha said when you tried to give me those coconuts. Said you didn't care if a lot of people on this island starved to death, but I wasn't one of those people. I... don't know why exactly ya said that, I caused so much crap and really you seemed angry at me for the way I was acting. But I remember ya saying that and... I appreciate it. I just want to put this stuff behind us, this hostility and everything. I'd like it if... we might be able to be friends...or...something. Damn that sounds lame outloud huh?" She laughed a little pathetically as she looked out to the rain.
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Posted: Sun Feb 26, 2006 8:31 pm
Antony watched the manta girl with mild interest, gaze moving to the pool of water that was growing underneath the soaked Awen. It wasn't until she started to speak did the tattooed woman's eyes return to her face.
She kept steady hold of Awen's eyes, both her gaze and expression rather unwavering. So Jamal was the one who popped her cherry? Well that would explain things a bit more.
Frowning as she continued on, Antony didn't really know what Awen wanted to hear from her, or if she should really care about this drama. After all, the tattooed woman had already put it all behind her. Why did girls just love to bring things back up that have already been dealt with? Closure probably, or some s**t like that.
"Well, s**t happens, and it's done. No use harping over it anymore," she began with an absent wave of her hand, careful not to speak too loud or move sharp enough to wake Jamal.
With a sigh, Antony paused, trying to figure out how to respond to the latter group of comments from Awen. She didn't see herself as being overly hostile or deliberately mean to Awen. Jolie, definately, but not Awen.
Sure she may have been a bit callous, but that was just her.
"To be honest, I've never really had a problem with you..." Antony started, trailing off with a lazy shrug, "You just seemed to catch me while I was irritated probably."
Truth was, she remembered the meetings, but they weren't exactly 'important' to her. Thus, they weren't worth thinking too hard just to remember them. At least to her they weren't.
"Looks like The Big Black Cat took a chunk out of you too," she stated with a chuckle, changing the subject.
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Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 12:08 pm
Awen smiled slightly hearing the girls words. That was it then and Awen could officially go on the mend. She could put all this crap behind her, she didn't have to think about the awkwardness anymore. Sure Antony said that she didn't have a problem with Awen, that she was just irritated at the time, but Awen still felt it was a bit more personal or something. She just hadn't been used to Antony's attitude is all really.
But it was over. Closure on every aspect had been gained, the healing would be starting and everything would be okay from then on.
She noticed for the first time the healing wound of Antony's and realised she must have been hurt by Jamal in a similar fashion. She gave the other woman a small laugh. "Yeah... kinda spazzed out in the bush there for a minute. Glad to see he's feeling better anyway, more in a right state of mind..." She smiled down at the black man who was still dead to the world. "And to see you're alright too."
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Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 12:31 pm
Antony chuckled softly, eyes moving to watch the dark lump on her lap, "He's pretty much back to normal." Her lips curled into a smirk, letting the other girl take that comment as she wished.
True the sex was more feral, and Antony ended up more sore than she usually ended up. Aside from that, Jamal had been pretty much himself. Well until he got all tiger territorial that is.
"The tiger's always there though," she said quietly, glancing up at Awen before returning her eyes to the male. It was likely that the tiger would get worse as he continued to change, but they'd deal with that can of worms when they got to it.
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Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 12:41 pm
She nodded a little bit with a soft sigh. "Yeah... I didn't figure it would go away completely. I'm just glad I got a more passive animal." She rolled her shoulders a little bit wonder how she would cope with a more dangerous animal. She worried for the others on the island. Jamal had... issues before he started to change, but still he was never that bad.
As for the normal comment she hadn't intended to take it the wrong way but the smirk set her back a bit. But she simply decided to ignore the comment. She was just... saying Jamal was back to normal nothing more. Awen thought it best just to let the smirk go.
"Oh hey um..." She scratches the back of her neck a little bit. "If... you guys ever start doing bad on food, I can get you some fish if you want me to. I mean I'm sure you guys... know how to get yer own food by now but if that source ever dries up or you just have a string of bad luck or something. You know I'm just by the lake now so... yeah."
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Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2006 12:49 pm
Her attention returned to the other woman when she offered food, and Antony nodded in polite thanks. "I'll keep that in mind, thank you."
She sighed and slumped down more against the wall, trying to shift into a position in which she could get blood to her legs without waking up Jamal. It was hard, but somehow she managed to do it.
"Do you think the rain will let up soon?" Antony lazily asked, not really sure if this girl knew anything about weather. Given the folks on this island, she wouldn't be surprised if a meterologist landed on this spit of land as well.
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