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 Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 7:05 pm
Joliette looked through her pile of envelopes she went through them as carefully as possible having already poked holes in the corners of many of them by accident with her new claws.
She found the one she was looking for and slid it under the door of her friend.
Note Enclosed with Merry Christmas Emelyn I couldn't think of anything else to give my friends so I holed up in the darkroom for a few hours pouring through my Photographic work and thought you might like this one... ~Joliette
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Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 4:30 pm
Sometime in the middle of the night, a grey-furred figure quietly makes a stop on your doorstop to deposit a cloth-wrapped package. The cloth is cut from a scrap piece of blue tarp from the looks of things, and tied shut with a length of rope.
Pinned to it is a note on Feral Labs stationary (much like the pad found in all of your duplexes in the desk drawer), penned in an elegant, confident hand.
Quote: Emelyn, I... must apologize again for my lack of tact and the burden that I had to levvy on you. The fates seemed to have dealt us all a heavy hand since our arrival on this island, and long before even that for many of us. I wish that I could be there for you still - to lend an ear to your concerns and problems, and to be a shoulder for you to cry on, and an arm for you to lean on. I do not wish to cheapen the relationship that we had, but neither do I wish to think of you as a stranger from this point forward. I hope that the time has found you better... and perhaps, even lifted your heart. Let this gift be a sentiment of the fact that I have not forgotten you - nor do I wish to keep avoiding you on this small island. I think that the goggles you wear on your head characterize you better than you may think - as even when things are at their darkest - they remind you to keep your head and your eyes on the skies - that some day you might fly above them... and perhaps away from this Hell. So, my little pilot, I could not bear to see you without a plane - as crude as it may be. ~ Ambrose
And once the rope is cut or untied, inside the package is a pieced together wooden airplane made of pieces of lumber. It is hardly more than a foot and a half at it's widest point, but it appears sturdy, and polished to avoid splinters. The little propeller even spins.
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Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 11:24 pm
When you wake up you find a large wrapped box in your room.
When you open it up you find a nice, expensive remote control plane. It appears to be one of the ones that costs multihundred dollars that is based on a real airplane.
You may have seen something similar at Radio Shack. It appears Moreau was trying to one up Ambrose.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 8:32 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 your arms wrapped around Angelina.
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: Wed Jan 04, 2006 7:04 am
 Time-Warp Transcription
((Note:: This Rp took place before the metaplot. I just didn't transcribe it till now. Whoops.))Em's tray was, if such a word could describe a plate of food... avalanching. She practically tripped over her own boots, she was paying so little attention to her footwork. All her attention was focused on the bending and weaving of her upper body that was required to keep the mass of Caesar turkey wraps, bagels, and marzipan logs balanced on their veritable tray-tower. She finally plopped it down onto the table before Joli, ignoring one one of the bagels that rolled off the pile and down the long stretch of table. Instead, her eyes were on her new friend- she'd obviously changed. "Hello Joli," was all Em said, knowing better than to bring it up immediately. "Mind if I sit?"
Joliette looked up her yellow tongue flicked out and in, she hadn't even heard her come in "Oh! Emelyn, yes feel free to" she nods
"I see you've joined the changed club," Em said, admittedly side-stepping the realm of exceeding good taste, but also realizing that pretending she didn't notice the green-tinged skin or the yellow tongue would be to "ignore the elephant in the room"- or rather, the lizard.
Joliette nods "Yes, a few days ago, myself and David both actually" she replies with a nod looking now at Emelyn rather then the salad in front of her or the pile of magazines atop her laptop
"David?" A single, vertical wrinkle of thought appeared between Emelyn's dark brows. She didn't recall anyone by that name on the island. Not that it was surprising- she'd been holing herself away in that duplex for weeks. A part of her wouldn't have been surprised had Joli said the entire British army had appeared on-'set'.
"Chubbs, sorry I keep forgetting more people call him by his nickname then know his true first name." she blushes slightly
"Chubbs... I heard of him. Never met him," Em said, shrugging a little sadly. "I've not gotten out much recently though. ....So...." she said, spearing at a wrap with her fork and using the weight of it to swing the utensil like a pendulum between her fingers. "...Something of the lizard family I'm assuming."
She doesn't want to say and pushes the pile of magazines off the top of the laptop and opens it once more, then pulls it out of sleep mode. She pulls up the encyclopedia and tells it to open the last search. "There..." she turned the laptop towards her friend the screen showed info for the Varanus komodoensis
Em took a bite of her wrap and chewed.... slowly, deliberately, letting her thoughts mull just as leisurely. Without looking up from the screen, she nodded, and spoke to Joli without lifting her eyes. "Hm. Well, that's new."
"Tell me about it... I am not thrilled about it at all" she looked down to her salad and then speared a forkful of ranch-drowned salad and munched on it
Em finally looked up, and a sigh was the first thing that managed to pass her lips. All the comforts, the sympathies and the fighting chance words that had tumbled through her mind at the silence did just that... tumbled around in her mind as what came out of her lips was a simple sigh. "Yeah. ...I don't blame you," she said, communicating much more through her eyes than with those plain words.
"I doubt any of us are... look at this" she pulled a magazine to herself having near memorized the words in each of them now
Two weeks have passed since the reported disappearance of young woman and the search has now been joined by Feral Labs whose extensive worldwide company has many outlets. Founded by the charitable Doctor Nicolas Moreau P.H.D.. Feral Labs has many resources they are donating to the Rigiel family in their time of need. Em dropped her hand to the magazine and dragged it towards her. "Oh my god!" Her eyes darted over the glossy print, and her jaw fell. "Where did you get this?"
"This whole pile were in my Christmas present, they date at the same time I left Britain in search of Vasile, the last one is two days before Christmas" she opened that one to page 3
After an extensive search the search for missing Photographic Journalist Joliette Rigiel has been called off. It is with the combined efforts of Feral Labs and Interpol that an large area of the ocean has been combed. While authorities are no longer on the hunt for the journalist, the woman's family has informed World Weekly News that they will never give up searching for her
Joliette's whereabouts will remain a mystery and at this time her file will be put with the Interpol's cold case files as she is not legally considered dead for a few more years and hope remains she will return. "Oh my lord..." Em covered her mouth with the tips of the fingers from one hand, and spoke between them in hushed tones. "I'm so sorry, Joli. ...I can't imagine what it would be like to read something like this. And your family. At least the others here can only imagine how their family must feel. You have to see it in black and white."
"Some Christmas present huh... This is the magazine I worked for when I left Britain and wound up here... what did you get from Moreau?" she asks quietly
Em huffed an ironic laugh. "A toy plane. One of those nice remote control ones that little rich kids get on their birthdays and then trash by dive-bombing their gardeners. ...Sort of a nice way to remind the perpetual traveler that she'll never get off this island."
Joliette makes a face her and sticks out her yellow forked tongue "Lovely" she grimaces trying to ignore that even doing that felt weird with her mouthful of sharp pointy teeth
Em noticed the tongue again and cocked her head, propping it up with her hand, her elbow anchored to the table. "The tongue must drive you mad."
Joliette looked down at it then pulled it back in and nodded "Yes, it likes to flick out and in and get it's scents without warning to me, I haven't figured out how to control that so it doesn't have a mind of it's own... not to mention the forked end feels very weird" she sighed and put her chin on one fist elbow on table
"I'm overdue for a change," Em said, a part of her realizing that this casual, easy conversation was of the strangest subject in the world. She'd been here for months, but still, not a day went by that she didn't wonder if she was suddenly going to wake up from the surreality of it all. "...But right now, I don't have much of a problem with smell. Everything is only slightly heigthened for me right now."
"Smell is heigthened through my stupid tongue, then I have scales smaller ears, big feet little fingers and stupid claws... not to mention the scales and the tail nub" she felt like grumping over them, only person besides the feral gits who knew the full extent of her changes was David
Em nodded. "Yes, I've read about the amphibious sense of smell. Among others," she thought to herself, thinking back to her days of being trapped on a boat or a plane or a sketchy depot station in some developing country with nothing more than a book. "A tail nub as well? Wow, you really have progressed rather far for your 25%. I haven't got anything beyond this downing of fur all over.. my nails are harder and longer... the nose... some of the senses..." and she flicked at a limp quill that hung by her ear, "And these. ...I can't imagine trying to sit down with a tail nub. You have my sympathies," she said, popping a pear slice into her mouth.
"I'd rather fur then scales" she sighs "and yeah the tail nub is annoying, especially if you sit on it wrong... so where have you been lately, I' haven't seen you" ok that seemed a stupid question considering they were all trapped on an island
"Honestly?" ...Em was silent for a good long while, pushing things around on her plate as she stared up at Joli. Finally, she decided that there was no reason to make up a lie. "I've been hiding in my room. I've been avoiding... a lot. Mostly... certain people."
"Oh... I hope I wasn't one you felt you had to hide from" Joliette said quietly looking back down to her salad
Em laughed, ironically again, and took the goggles off her head, dropping them to the table. She'd been doing it often, lately- as if to say that the strap was what was causing the immense headaches she'd been getting recently... when in reality, what was causing the pain was likely... all inside. "Oh no. In fact, the last... two times I stepped out of my room that wasn't in the middle of the night when I knew no one would be around, I talked to you. ...No... I'm avoiding Ambrose, mostly. ...And The Dude. And- Angelina." She took a swig of her drink. "Not that I've even met her," she said quietly... sadly.
"Ahh, I've seen Ambrose once.. the day I changed, but I've still yet to meet Angelina... and the Dude I haven't seen in a while either" she looked sympathetic "I'm sorry you have to avoid people, there's not many of us here..."
"Ha. It's nice of you to put it that way... 'have' to avoid. I'm just isolating myself, really. ...It's one of those things where I berate myself for doing it- but then I imagine coming face to face with the 'happy couple'- and feeling like nothing."
Joliette nods "I'm still sorry, I can only imagine what it must feel like... I suppose I can be lucky David didn't have a girlfriend back home..."
Em put her fork down. "You and David are...? ...Really?"
Joliette blushes and nods "Yes, we are 'going out' for lack of a better turn, we had a special night... the night before..." she lifts a hand looking at it
"Oh wow..." Em said, more of an exhale of shocked breath than words. "That's amazing. I'm so happy for you." "It's so great to be able to... connect with someone in a situation like this. For a while... it makes everything seem... that less...." she looked down, her voice suddenly a little quieter, "dark."
Joliette nods slowly, she knew Emelyn had lost that same feeling and felt bad that she had gained it when a friend had lost it.
"So..." Em said, looking up with a simple smile on her face, pushing aside her own thoughts for the more pleasant ones of her friend. "I don't know him, but tell all. How'd it start? What's he like? Tell tell."
"Start? well that one is tough... Needless to say I met him the first day he got here, but we were just friends then, he was there for me and others for problem times so I knew he had a kind heart... He was there for the dissolving bathing suit and was the one to help me get back to my duplex.. We watched a few movies together, we talked about our pasts.. eventually I kissed him and it went from there" She tried to paraphrase teh previous couple of weeks
"Oh, that is so sweet. ...What is he... well, if you don't mind my asking- what is he turning into? You said you two changed the same time."
"A wolverine, a Tasmanian devil and a bear of some kind I think if I remember what he said correctly... We did, uhm in his duplex, the early morning after we uhm... slept together..." and she didn't mean share the same bed
"Well, at least you weren't alone," Em said, rolling around the combination in her mind. She hadn't even known Moreau was capable of such a thing, and didn't want to say anything out loud about it, because she didn't trust herself not to go off in a very visible tirade about how awful the wretch was for destroying people's lives and toying with them all this way. ...One of these days soon, she'd have to either let him know that she was no longer on his side... or escape once and for all, or else she'd explode.
"No, I wasn't, and our combined noise brought Hargun pounding on the door of David's duplex... somehow I don't know if I'll be alone or not next time either... I'm staying with David now... he asked me to" she frowns slightly "I don't know if I could imagine going through it alone..."
"Well, if our serums are anything alike, you'll have a good while before you have to face the change again. ...Probably just long enough for you to bear this form, though," Em said ironically.
Joliette nods "That would figure... it's really something I don't look forward to, I don't imagine anyone does... and to think I just wanted a news story..."
"Well, if you ever get out of here, you'll have the story of your life." Em said it in a purposefully jokeful manner, giving off very light body language, so as not to alert Moreau or the other FERAL Lab employees, were they manning the security/observation cameras that she was discontent. ...But she couldn't resist giving Joli one quick burst of a serious look, as to let her know: "I've not given up thinking about it."
Joliette didn't say anything but the look on her face when she slowly nodded gave off a definite lack of hope
It was heartbreaking. As if all the dark spots in Emelyn's mind- all the despair, all the doubt and the betrayal... and the loneliness. Dear god above, the loneliness, that ate at her soul and made her wonder how she, the independent, solo-flier... had ever let herself feel so... alone. ...They all gathered up in her mind and overtook the girl. She had only one thing left for her friend, and Moreau and his cameras be damned, she took her hand from across the table, ginger with its new additions, and looked into her eyes. "Don't give up hope, Joli. There's always hope."
Joliette smiled weakly, she knew her friend took a risk.. "I'll try, I can't promise, but I'll try... I just feel like there is none right now, and it's Moreau's fault" she looked at the magazine and then back
Em looked down, not able to say any more. She'd used up all the last hope and joy she had, and now, all that was left was a swell of inadequacy and doubt, and she found herself overdue for a return to her seclusion. "Well, I don't think I can eat anymore, Joliette. ...So I'll be letting you free from the rambling for a while, and head back to the duplex. I'm so glad you and David have something... special," she said, smiling to let Joli know that she was genuinely happy for her, but also lifting her tray from the table and standing to leave as she did.
"Thankyou for visiting with me Emelyn, I do enjoy talking with you, hopefully after my birthday I'll start to feel better about everything. please don't stay hidden too much... Or I may have to come hunt you down" she joked softly giving her as much of a smile as she could muster
"I'll try," Em said, knowing that she wouldn't do any such thing. "It's been great talking to you. I'll see you later. Take care of yourself, okay?"
Joliette nodded gathering up her own stuff getting ready to leave the cool building herself
With a nod of her own, Em took her tray over to the cleaning station, scooped up her goggles where she'd dropped them earlier in the conversation, and walked from the cafeteria. She affixed the goggles to her head once more as she went- but never looked back.
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 7:13 am
Unlikely Party Angelina Swanson Angelina slowly began to swim to consciousness. Vaugely she remembered waking up to a loud noise...passing some sleepy, half-awake theories to Ambrose, then...falling back asleep? She guessed so, she didn't remember anything else.
She felt the warm sun on her face, but her head was groggy and she didn't want to get up. She felt a warm body in her arms and snuggled it close, kissing at any exposed skin her face nuzzled up.
Angelina was not a morning person. It was usually Ambrose who was drill-sargenting her out of bed, so as long as he would let her sleep.... Emelyn Her consciousness was... fuzzy grey, at best, edged with a very potent sense of sleepfulness. She was dreaming, and that was the only thing she could convince herself of- for the half-dewy glow on her skin, and that feeling of warmth around her must be part of the sleeping world. Em hadn't felt that warm in a while. And when someone kissed her face, she moved- not wanting to entertain a dream of Ambrose after everything that had happened. It would undoubtedly be sweet to continue, she half-thought... but there was no worth in it, and she would only wake up unsatisfied and alone. So she pushed against the dream... only to find that it was a body, and that with the force of the shove she'd scooted her back into the leafy end of a... bush? She sat up straight, dropping all levels of unawareness from her as she realized where she was- surrounded by trees... and a half clad girl, laying in the foliage. "Holy hell," she whispered. "What on earth is going on?" Angelina Swanson Angelina yelped as she rolled out of the embrace of who she was assumed was Ambrose. Her eyes jerked open, which she immediately regretted since it was bright outside.
As her eyes adjusted she managed to realize she was for some reason outside...in the middle of the jungle. And the figure she was wrapped around was definately NOT Ambrose.
"What the hell?" she said confused, consciousness finally reaching her and making her feel very awake. "What am I? Who the hell are you?" She sounded more exasperated than rude, but the brown haired girl looked up at Em and blinked. Emelyn Em was taken aback at the sudden outburst, and frowned... but eased up when she remembered that she, too, had burst out in an obscenity. Also, it eased her (ever so slightly, but any ease in a situation such at this was welcomed) that obviously, whoever this was had no idea what was going on. That exasperation was too exposed, too raw to be faked. Emelyn doubted this was one of Moreau's spies. Em reached up to her head to check and make sure her goggles were still in place- more a comfort than anything else. Once her fingers graced the leather edges, however, she sighed, and answered the stranger. "Emelyn. ...And just so you know, I have no idea what is going on, just like you. ...Who are you?" Angelina Swanson Angelina's face paled. "Emelyn...?" She tried to hide the look of bitterness on her face she looked her over. Dammit, she was cute. Why did she have to be cute.
Angelina got to her feet and smoothed down her shirt, thankfully Ambrose was much bigger than her so it covered her down to her thighs. "I don't know how I got out here."
She continued to examine Emelyn, noting that she was basically the same statue as she was...brown long hair.. she quirked and eyebrow, trying to imagine what she would look like without the fur and spikey hair she knew was te result of Moreau.
She seemed reluctant to say so, but Em was obviously waiting for her introduction. "I'm Angelina." Emelyn Emelyn had been brushing the dirt from her jeans, and pushing the proto-quills from out of her face when the name assailed her ear. Angelina. ...Her mind said it once more, and then, as if it were a catalyst, all other thoughts went dead. Emelyn tried to draw forth on a thought- an emotion... anger, happiness, anything at all. But all she could to was sit and stare at Angelina. The pause seemed to last forever, when in reality, it could have been no time at all. Finally Em sighed- just a small little exhalation of breath. "Angelina." She said the name, realizing how pretty it was on her lips as it escaped, and wanting to bite it in half before it did- almost as if having it out in the world would validate everything that had gone on with her and Ambrose. "I've heard a lot about you." She said finally...slowly... and not sarcastically at all. Just a little... quiet. Angelina Swanson Angelina tried to distract herself from Em's gaze by focusing on brushing the dirt off her tush.
"Yeah... same here," said awkardly, not knowing what else to say.
She didn't look Em in the eyes, instead she let her gaze wander over the jungle and tried to figure out how the hell she got out here.
A sudden thought came to her and she quickly pulled up the sleeves on her arm and looked for needle punctures. Emelyn Emelyn didn't know why Angelina had suddenly grabbed for her sleeves, but she backed out of the bush she'd rolled herself into and made to stand. "...Well.. besides this being... painfully awkward," Em said, not willing to ignore the 'elephant in the room', "I think probably Moreau did this to us. ...For whatever sick reason," she growled. Angelina Swanson Releived to find no puncture marks, she turned her attention back to Em.
"Yeah... I guess so..." she said, feeling perfectly fine ignoring the elephant.
"So.. do you know which way back to the village?" Emelyn Em had to consciously keep herself from narrowing her eyes at Angelina. ...Brown hair, blue eyes, roughly the same body type... Em suddenly found herself wishing Ambrose were available to scream at. Not that she could ever be considered the twin of the girl she was staring at- but it was obvious there were similarities. "I think so," she said. "We'll have to wander around for a bit until I come to something I recognize, but any edge of the jungle will tell me where I am. We just have to keep going in one direction." She looked down at Angelina's feet- clad only in socks. "If you'd like, you can take my boots on the way back," she said quietly, understanding that Angelina wasn't up for discussing 'the situation'. "Your feet might get awfully beat up- especially in the jungle. ...Mine have already transformed," she said, almost bitterly, wondering if Angelina would feel better than her because of it, "and they're not likely to get hurt." I am a poor man's Angelina... Her mind whispered. And she screamed at it silently to be quiet. Angelina Swanson Angelina scratched at the back of her head. "Uh, no, it okay. I can take it."
Actually, the logic made sense to her. But something in her just couldn't bring her self to take the woman's shoes. Dear lord, she felt horrible enough already.
"You probably know the island better," she said, hoping she would take the lead. Emelyn "Fine," Emelyn said, wondering why she'd bothered to offer. Angelina probably didn't want to see the claw-like hedgehog toenails, or the rough brown pads on the bottom of her feet. Or maybe she just wanted to seem tough- Emelyn had no idea, but she kept her expression neutral. "That's fine." She echoed. "And yes, I know it... passably well." Was she trying to patronize her, saying she'd been here for longer than her? Emelyn thought, turning and walking in one set direction, away from the sun, knowing that if they kept in one direction they'd eventually come out of the jungle and she'd know where she was. She chose that particular direction because these days, the sun bothered her eyes, and if at all possible, she stayed away from it. She looked only once over her shoulder as she picked her way through the underbrush, refusing to wince her blue eyes in the moment of brightness. "You can follow me out," she said, and then set off walking. Ambrose Maurlias Meanwhile, Ambrose was picking his way closer and closer to the two females with Amaya in tow.
The woods were cooler in the early January air, but certainly couldn't be called cold in the humid heart of the jungle. Still scent-blind and with a miserable, acrid odor firmly stuck in his nose, Ambrose didn't notice he close he was to the object of his search until the quiet talking of the two females reached his ears.
Angelina! Her voice was unmistakable to him. With a quick grin to Amaya, he urged her forward. "I hear someone! I think it's Angelina!" He hurried, minding the brambles less and more interested in accurately locating the voice... until he heard a second... familiar voice.
At which point Ambrose nearly tripped over his own feet, crashing through the dense underbrush to nearly run headlong into an innately awkward situation. Amaya Vaughan The cool air didn't help Amaya very much, but it didn't really hurt her either. She was a little colder and slower then usual but not so much that it was noticable. Seeing the look in Ambrose's eyes she grinned, not really able to hear the two from so far off.
"Great!" She sped after him, having let go of his hand for the time being since it would be easier for them to make their way through the dense jungle brush. Though as the wolfman nearly tripped and fell on his face she picked up her pace. A large hand pressing against his arm as she looked up at him worriedly. "Hey, slow down or your gonna hurt yourself." Angelina Swanson eek
Angelina stumbled back, at first in fright then in shock as Ambrose came tumbling into their clearing. "Ambrose?!"
For a moment she completely forgot about tact or the present company and went flying into his arms. Emelyn It was Ambrose. Emelyns heart leapt to her throat, then dropped to the pit of her stomach, coated in distaste and a little misplaced anger as she watched Angelina vault into his arms. ...She didn't know much about Angelina, and had only spent a few minutes- at least, a few conscious minutes- with her... but she'd already terribly misjudged her. Instead of seeing a frightened woman, relieved at the sight of some stability and comfort... one who'd been dropped only recently on this hellhole to deal with the fact that Ambrose had essentially been cheating on her.... she saw someone who was rubbing in the fact that they were still whole, still with Ambrose... and that they'd won. Emelyn was blind, and didn't even know it. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose had barely started to pick himself up when he was overwhelmed with a wonderful short brunette who had flung herself into his arms.
"Angelina!" He exclaimed, smiling, relief flooding over him. "You're alright! I was so worried!" His tail began wagging as her presence in his arms confirmed that this was real - she was safe.
Then, the world seemed to open up around him and he felt the icy stare of .... Emelyn. His fur ruffled. The curiousity as to whether or not she had received his gift passed his mind only briefly as he could feel the tension thickening around him.
He swallowed, looking over to the blue eyes underneath the leather goggles. "Emelyn.." He breathed (or perhaps wheased would be more accurate). He turned to Amaya who had emerged behind him and sprung on the opportunity to hopefully defuse something.
"Amaya...! we... uhm... found others." He stated the obvious as he shifted from one foot to another, rubbing a hand down Angelina's back.
"And.... Angelina.... Emelyn..... looks like you've .... met." He winced. Amaya Vaughan Having not noticed the other two before Angelina spoke up, she nearly jumped out of her scales when she rushed into Ambrose. Green eyes then trailed over to Emelyn, the woman she barely knew but just enough to know she was a friend.
"Yeah!" Amaya tried to sound positive, though not really knowing what to do and feeling horribly exposed. Slowly she inched behind the wolfman in an attempt to hide herself. Knowing neither of them very well, all she wanted to do now was find Hargun. She almost completly forgot about Ambrose's situation due to the fact that Emelyn hadn't seen her after her second change and Angelina had been rather... hesitant in seeing anyone else as changed as her. Angelina Swanson "You were looking for me?"
Angelina looked him over, noticing he was also in his sleep clothes, and then to the lizard woman she had met briefly in the cafeteria. She was hardly clothed at all, showing virtually all her changes and Angelina tried to stifle her uncomfortableness.
She followed Ambrose's gaze towards Emelyn and then back. Part of her told her it would be polite not to hang all over Ambrose, but another part of her felt feircely protective. So she compromised, dropping her hands from around his neck she stood by his side, but kept his paw in her tight grasp.
Then she looked at the four of them. "Ambrose, what is going on?" Emelyn It took all the willpower in the broken woman's possession not to narrow her eyes at the clingy couple. "Yes Ambrose," she said, cutting through the obviously nervous statement of the man, feeling like it was a little insulting and pandering, "we have met. Somehow we woke up together." Then she turned to the girl who was cowering behind him. It took her a moment to recognize Amaya, and her frozen heart melted. "Amaya? Are you okay? Were you hurt? You look so scared," she said, her voice sweet and low. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose noticed the audible change of tone as Emelyn noticed Amaya, and he almost felt guilty for thanking his stars that she was by his side.
Ambrose gave Angelina's hand a squeeze, and looked back to his green-eyed 'little sister' with an encouraging look.
He took a breath. He had to focus things, take the charge. "I... don't know precisely what's been going on... I woke up on the cliffside... precariously close to the edge. I headed back to the village only to find everything locked down tight. I looked through our window and noticed that you weren't there, Angelina.." He paused at that, the obvious indication that Ambrose had expected Angelina to be in the room they shared with an apologetic look to Emelyn.
"Then.... I followed my nose. I smelled smoke and found Amaya on the helicopter pad. There... there was burned wreckage... two... two ... figures inside." He swallowed, absently wiping at his nose - wishing that he could get the smell out of his nose and the images that it brought to his mind.
"I don't think anyone is in their duplex anymore.... It looks like we've been scattered... but I don't know why. Even... the cafeteria's locked down." Amaya Vaughan Even though Amaya tried not to care about how Angelina had looked at her, it was hard. She looked down at her incredibly large feet which... didn't help very much. Her tail gave a twitch towards her as the iguana tried to convince her to be angry. After all, it wasn't HER fault she looked like this. But no, she would have none of it. The fear was still inside her, quickly over throwing the aggitation.
Slowly she looked up and passed Angelina to Emelyn. The lizard-girl had the sudden urge to run over to her and cling to her and babble out everything she had seen in the past hour or so but she didn't dare leave her 'hidding' spot. "I-I'm okay... Just scared. Yeah." Green eyes went to the ground at Emelyn's feet as Ambrose explained. Her frown deepened, probably indicating that she was the one who had initially found the bodies. Angelina Swanson Angelina blinked. "Scattered? You're kidding." Angelina inched closed to Ambrose, thankful for his stability. This was Angelina's first real big spoonful of the twisted mind of Moreau. She had yet to change, like the other three people here, and generally she had been able to keep herself happy by fooling herself into believe they were on some tropical resort.
But to just throw everyone out over the island.. on a cliffside? What was the point?
"Bodies? Any idea who? Was the staff... evacuating or something?"
Wait.. if the staff was leaving in such a hurry that they couldn't bother to try and save crashed coworkers... that must mean something bad had happened.
"Maybe there was an accident in the labs.. maybe something dangerous.... or maybe they were caught... there has to be a reason!"
Angelina felt the panic rising in her chest. Emelyn "If it weren't for the... bodies," Em said, cautiously, due to the already sick, frightened look on poor Amaya's face, "I would think that this has something to do with Moreau. That he'd set us up, or something. ..Unless those two bodies are people who tried to escape, and now Moreau has the island locked down." A twinge of bile rose into her throat at the thought of Moreau killing anyone. She didn't want to be here- more than anything, she wanted to run off into the woods- she was going to see Angelina back to the village, but now she'd been reunited with Ambrose. So why was she sticking around? But somehow, something told her she shouldn't be alone right now. Not in the chance that Moreau had turned murderer. What if he'd found out about her premature escape plots with Joli? Her face suddenly paled. "Have you seen Joliette anywhere? Any of you?" She said, fear rising. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose's ears lay back against his head as the questions arose. He was scared himself, but was trying his damndest to provide a brave front for the girls. And more than anthing, something in him was screaming that they could get through this as a group much better than paired off... or alone.
Ambrose shook his head. "I... I couldn't tell from my look who they were.... other than there were two of them." He winced. "They were... pretty badly burned. And the helicopter was in smoldering pieces."
Ambrose fidgeted with Angelina's hand, rubbing his thumb against its back. "If they were running from something.. or there is a reasoning for all of this... I don't see how or why we were scattered and the buildings locked. It doesn't seem to make sense to me. I was thinking maybe we should try to make our way to the labs. Maybe they're there? I... I don't know."
Ambrose shook his head to Emelyn. "I haven't seen Joliette since around Christmastime.... why?" Amaya Vaughan The panic in Angelina's voice wasn't exactly helping Amaya at all, but she couldn't blame her. She was scared too.
"I haven't, no..." Came her tiny voice from behind Ambrose. "Ambrose found me and then we found you two..." She trailed off with a pause before adding. "I need to find Hargun to make she's alright." Assuming Emelyn wanted to find Joliette because they were close friend's or something.
The thought about going to the labs sounded promising, but she didn't want to somehow find a way to escape or go anywhere and not have her best friend around just in case they needed to do it right then and there. And what about Greer? And Chubbs? And Colche? Where were they all? Angelina Swanson "YEah... yeah... we should definately stick together and try to find more people," Angelina said, trying to calm herself down. "Somethings up, yes... yes I guess we should head to the labs..."
She shuddered to think that two people had died on this island. Was it...murder? An accident? Did some of the islanders commandeer one of the helicopters... did they get shot down?
"Wouldn't anyone here be able to look at the wreckage and tell what happened? Why it crashed?" Emelyn Everyone was talking at once. Em put the flat of her palms against her temples, pressing in the headache that was growing there. She answered everyone, only looking off into the distance as she did, not willing to meet the eyes of anyone in present company- Ambrose and Angelina for obvious reasons, and Amaya for the fear that surely resided there. "I ask because I think... Moreau may have done something to her. Especially if the reason those two in the helicopter are dead are because they tried to escape. ...Moreau may think that... we have been... well..." she was unwilling to finish the thought, in the case that the cameras were still trained everywhere on the island. "And yes, as much as it makes me sick to say," she said, once again not ignoring the obvious tension there, "I think we have to stick together. At least to get to the lab." Finally, she looked up, meeting Angelina's eyes with an unreadable expression on her face. "And who is to say that it crashed? It may have been blown up. But I may be able to tell. I was a youth diplomat," she said, her tone flat- she didn't want to seem as if she was bragging, "and I've been through war zones. Mostly Macedonia, Kosovo. The only real accidents the UN aid and US troops had were from people shooting at helicopters. I've seen several crashes." Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose's tail swished in indecision. "Well.... " He glanced between the two brunettes. "I can easily get back to the helipad from here - it was only ten or so minutes back in the way we came. I know that there is a road that leads directly from the helipad to the labs - they dove me down it when I first arrived."
Turning to Amaya, he spoke. "Hargun could be anywhere if our scattering is any indication. I didn't see her at the village... nor the cliffside. There are at least thirty of us here based on the duplex Angelina was assigned. Perhaps many more - including a good number of people I've likely never even met. From the look of the state of the village - with the power off and the place abandoned-looking, we're all scattered somewhere. I would say heading one direction might be as good as any unless you know somewhere she might have gone?"
He sighed. "Normally I wouldn't want to ... see that ever again. But if you think you might be able to tell something from seeing it, Emelyn - it might be necessary. And..." He took a breath, unable to just pretend nothing was wrong. "I wish I could say I'm sorry in a way that you believed me." His ears drooped and he looked to Angelina. "No one could have predicted what happened and is still happening on this Island. YOu have every right to hate me. But know that the feeling is not mutual if so."
"From there, we'll go to the labs - maybe they'll speak to us - tell us what is going on. I... didn't know Joliette was on Moreau's bad side... she kept talking about one of the doctors - a 'Sabin' who was picking on her- but never said anything about Moreau himself."
Ambrose turned, never letting go of Angelina's hand, and started to head back in the direction that he had come. Amaya Vaughan As much as she wanted to go to the labs and hopefully find out what was going on or even find a means of escape, not to mention stay together, she couldn't bring herself to unless Hargun was with her at the very least.
But Ambrose was right. They could very well bump into her on their way to the labs... Biting her bottom lip she watched as he started with Angelina. She didn't want to see... THAT again. Taking a few hesitant steps behind them she paused.
Come on, your not going to get anywhere just standing there. Follow them and maybe you can help or something.
Letting out a shaky sigh she started onward again, a little distance between the couple and her pace slow. Angelina Swanson Angelina crossed her arms and looked defensively at Em. "Excuse my vocabulary but that's what I meant. Did it crash because of a malfunction or because it was shot out of the sky? Or did it even get to the sky?"
Feeling her anger rise, aggitated obviously by the situation she just threw up her hands and turned harshly on her heels, re-taking Ambrose's hand and following him into the jungle.
She mumbled something to herself, but Ambrose could probably make it out "youth diplomat" mumbled out in a sing-song bitter manner. Emelyn Emelyn followed along behind the couple and Amaya, feeling a thick bile rise in her throat. She truly believed that Ambrose was sorry- though it didn't come as much of a comfort to her, she didn't have the desire to yell at him like she did before, screaming at him that he'd used her. ...But as much as she silently forgave Ambrose in that moment, she built up as much resentment towards the woman he'd left her for. ...He left me... for this? She thought, holding back tears and furious curse words at the same time as they made their way back to the scene of the horror- would it seem as horrible to her as this did? ...Why would Ambrose want such a spiteful creature? She'd not done anything to hurt Angelina, and yet, here she was, taunting her, whispering, leaping into Ambrose's arms and being defensive. Emelyn didn't let herself realize that Angelina might have cause to be uncomfortable with her. She may think "I've done nothing to her", but really... hadn't she been the 'other woman'? ...There was so much to reconcile Em to this situation... but so little of it that was happening. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose winced at the mocking tone in Angelina's words. This was doing anything but helping things.
"Please.... we're in this together... all of us...." He looked pleadingly towards Angelina. Things were hard enough already - the bitterness of both of the ladies towards eachother... he wished that he could do something to see them both smile.. both of them happy. He cared more than he could say for Angelina... but he had also come to really value his connection with Emelyn that had been roughly severed on that fateful night... after that bitter argument. He had entertained the ideal that maybe things could be okay again - that maybe if they met they could all be friends.... but that little fantasy world seemed to be crashing down around his ears at the snide comments and bitter looks. He could only imagine what they were actually thinking - not that he wanted to.
But what could he say to make things better? To reassure Angelina that Emelyn wasn't a 'threat'... and not rub it in Emelyn's face even more that he was with Angelina again? He let out a growling sigh of frustration. 'Why can't we all just get along' flashed through his mind, and the ineffectiveness that stating that thought aloud would likely bring.
"We're not enemies here.... or at the very least, I want very much for us not to be." He finally stated.
Fortunately the edge of the jungle wasn't much further as the black tarmac slowly became visable through the trees.
Ambrose hung back. "I... don't particularly care to see it again - and I'm willing to bet that Amaya feels the same. I still can't get the smell out of my nose from the first time. " Amaya Vaughan Amaya stopped once Ambrose had, still hanging a few paces behind him. She didn't want to see it again either... Keeping her green eyes focused on the ground, she remained silent. Angelina Swanson Angelina didn't acknowledge Ambroses condiscending belittling to her feelings. She was -not- in a good mood, and while most of it was displaced frustration with her whole life at the moment, her being bitter at Emelyn seemed like the least of their problems.
She just gave a cold stare back to Ambrose and just waited for someone to start walking. She didn't know where the hell she was. Emelyn Em simply nodded at Ambrose, and gave a sympathetic look to Amaya. "Going it alone then," she said, more to herself than anyone else. "Alright. Be back in a minute." ...Hopefully, she thought, and she stepped out of the jungle onto the square of tarmac. Immediately, her senses were accosted by a horrible sight. From the dense surrounding jungle, the air had smelled and tasted of ocean salt, the sounds were twittering birds and the feeling of being pressed in at all sides by foliage. Here, in the square, her hedgehog olfactory system could practically taste the charred flesh on the air. ...It wasn't Emelyn's first time around the dead- but certainly the first time she'd been able to experience it in this sort of gut-wrenching, powerful animal senses. Even breathing through her mouth didn't do her much good, and she just swallowed it down and made her way to what could vaguely be called... a helicopter. It was charred- almost beyond recognition, though there wasn't any indication that it wasn't the same, familiar helicopter that had always been there. She had no reason to think it was a different one. But those thoughts were all to stall time, and she forced her boot-clad feet to walk directly up to the open side. The inside was completely ruined. There was nothing usable left, and certainly nothing recognizable. Even those charred bodies... they could be anyone, so destroyed were they from the flames. Emelyn had regretted the possibility that she'd have to crawl over them to see the innards of the machine- looking for the source of its destruction- but now she saw, almost gladly, that there was no way a further instruction could help her bare eye. The inside had been completely demolished. The outside... wasn't much help either. It didn't look so completely wrecked as the inner 'coffin'- but there were parts all over the helipad. No one side looked as if it had smashed to the ground, but she couldn't be sure- pieces of the metal had come flying off at all angles. She took a deep breath, then regretted that she had once she walked back to the jungle edge. She didn't know who she should focus her words to, so she just turned away from Amaya, fearing she'd upset her further. "The inside is completely blown to bits- there was obviously a fire. The outside doesn't look... quite as demolished, but I looked for a crash point and I really can't tell. What it looks like now is that it was blown up from the inside... maybe when it was still on the ground, or just taking off, or landing. To be honest though?" She looked at Angelina, "it could have crashed. I wish I were more help. But there's no impact mark. Just a lot of destruction." Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose waited within the treeline, but the smell was already accosting his nose again. he hadn't even noticed as his sense of smell had slowly been returning until the smelled of charred flesh and rubber and twisted metal hit him again as he approached the wreckage, letting Emelyn do her thing.
He felt hated - both by Angelina and Emelyn - for something that wasn't really his fault. It was such a unique situation, and it pained him to see things falling apart when they were finally getting better.... at least from his limited scope of being with Angelina. However, it was obvious that at least from Emelyn's side, things were NOT getting better.
But could they? If they banded together in this hour of need could they be a functioning group, or would the bickering and resentment pull them apart?
And most importantly .... could they both forgive him? Ambrose gave a small smile to Amaya, running his padded hand over her mop of hair. At least she wasn't involved in this twisted relationship. She was there - a little sister... someone he could help without the awkwardnesses.
But Ambrose said nothing to Angelina in response. Let her be mad... maybe it would help, he thought self-depreciatingly.
Ambrose didn't look up again until Emelyn's words called out to him with the status. It wasn't very informative, but it was a confirmation that the damage was as bad as he had surmised. Certainly nothing usable from the wreckage. Perhaps there had been a bomb on board from the description? But who...? And regardless, he had heard the explosion from the air... it had to have exploded, and then crashed, not just crashed.
"I wonder who did it... and why.." He mused quietly.
He shook his head. "Let's try to get to the labs. See if we can find anyone who knows what the hell is going on - if this is some sort of twisted punishment... a test... or a real emergency."
He stood up again, and circumventing the helipad, made his way towards the narrow dirt road that would lead to the labs. Amaya Vaughan She gave a tiny smile up at Ambrose as her ruffled her hair, though it fell right off once Emelyn came back and let them know.
The lizard-girl gulped at this new information, mouth looking as though it was sealed shut. Blown up from the inside? Oh god... what if it was someone from the island that had tried to escape?
Keeping quiet, she followed the group towards the labs. + Rp Continues here: http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=1911028&page=3(Where they crawl over the lab fence and discover it's been locked down tight- and tempers rile even further between Angie/Em. Confrontation time. O_O) + New Rp: http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?t=1911028&page=7(In which Em offers her shirt to a nekkid Cass, and starts the long vigil of living in the woods with just a white lacy bra. Eep. She also helps Cass create the shelters/lean-tos that the group will stay in for its "jungle adventure". Also, Em and Cass go off and find HONEY. Em gets a few nasty stings for her trouble, but manages to bring the honeycomb back to the camp w/ Cass.)
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Island of Moreau Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Feb 06, 2006 9:39 pm
Whenever Emelyn awakes from her nightmare, and after Ambrose is gone... something feels wrong. Unfortunately, the wrongness is hauntingly familiar of a time several months ago now. It begins with a nausea, and a prickling of her skin all over. The few spots of coarse fur that had been on Emelyns skin appears to be spreading like a rash, and she can feel the sensation of each... new... strand, all over your body. But that's not the end of it... The length of your hair becomes stiffer than it was even before.... but your quill-like hair is soon joined by a sympathetic prickling down your back... then... a shapr pain! And another... and another and another and another... Thick hair-colored spines push their way out of the tiny hair follicles along your back, blending with your long spiny hair that lays down your back. It seems to last forever, and you can feel your back muscles twisting and tensing, feeling the roots of the spines in the muscles as they erect and lay flat with each spasm. Finally, your nose pushes out with a grinding sensation just a wee bit further... and then .... finally... you're just left with a residual soreness.
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Posted: Sun Feb 12, 2006 6:37 pm
50% Transformation: The Awful Dream... and Joli Even the most humble of men plays God when night falls. ...In the dark theater of sleep, one finds themself either center stage as the curtain goes up, staring out at the audience through murky eyes... or they become the phantom in the wings, maneuvering, planning... or just watching the black ballet unfold. Emelyn was... humble. Not in a lack of pride- for the girl, though so recently browbeaten- was filled with it, sustained and contented by this, her own most beloved, bountiful deadly sin. Instead, she was humble in that she was near to the ground, connected with the low, dark earth in her sleep. She had fallen prey to her exhaustion hours before, curled in the nook of her lean-to with an arm beneath her head. She hadn't ever intended to forgo this makeshift pillow of flesh, but in the throes of sleep, she found herself sprawled, stomach flat on the earth and face pressed against the brown jungle floor. She was humble, prostate to nature, her breath low and even as she kowtowed to whatever God demanded it of her as her eyelids jumped and danced in sleep. It was a sure sign that though her body was humble... her mind was not. Emelyn stared out of borrowed, omnipotent eyes- the phantom in the wings, watching herself clearly in her dream as though replaying one of Grandpa John's old home movies he used to take of her and Mizzie. But this was no recalled memory- no beloved taping of birthday parties gone past or recitals- it was a mere sham of reality that was tied together from pieces of reality, colors of fear, and scents of emotion. The glue that held the mockery together was that of every dream- an altered, nebulous state of consciousness that our mind allows us to slip into, pretending that what could be... is real. Only when our consciousness is restored do we have the ability to look back on a dream and realize that the mortar that held it together was a facade... and it crumbles. What we fear in the moment of our dream can slip from our fingers like so much sand, and we wonder... why were we so terrified? But in that moment, our terrors are an hourglass... and the sand has nowhere to go but to fall again and again. It was the camp, and Emelyn sat with Amaya, warming their hands on the remnants of the dying fire. The sky was grey and blue, visible clearly from the camp, as if the canopy had just been peeled away. Amaya was shivering, her elongated hands twitching as she rubbed at her shoulders. Her mouth hung open, a silent scream as her body shivered. "It's so cold," she said, croaking as if someone had a vice on her throat. "Warm yourself on the fire," Emelyn said. "You'll feel better." "No! It's too late. It's too late," she wailed, voice cracking. Emelyn shook her head and rubbed her own hands together. "No, I can get the fire going again. It will be warmer." "It's too late! They're already coming," Amaya screamed, and suddenly her voice rose to a piercing crescendo. It was subhuman, almost torturous, and Emelyn fell to her knees as Amaya's voice screamed on and on, dragging out the last syllable for what seemed forever. Em clapped her hands over her ears, and as if by magic, the noise blessedly stopped. Amaya was now a silent horror movie, her mouth agape and eyes terrified. A dark shadow was suddenly cast over the two. Amaya looked up, her mouth still twisted in its perpetual scream, and Em watched as the horror movie went on. A figure dropped from the sky in an instant- it was a twisted, misshapen beast with wings and immense talons. In silent pathos, the scene unfolded- the beast grabbed Amaya up in its clutch, ripping her as she was pulled from the ground. Emelyn opened her mouth to scream then as well, though with her hands still fixed to the side of her head she heard no noise as Amaya was torn from her. The misshapen creature disappeared with its prey into a grey cloud, and Emelyn was left alone. The phantom released its hold- Emelyn saw instead from her own eyes, looking now from a new perspective. Someone touched her shoulder and she jerked to stand, moving away from her fear, her hands finally falling back to her sides. "Shh... don't be afraid. It's all okay." The voice was soothing and low, and there were no more remnants of the piercing scream echoing through the camp. Em turned to the sound- and was shocked to see to whom the soothing voice belonged. "Angelina?" She nodded. "It's all okay. ...Won't you come with me?" She put her hand out, a gentle gesture in the midst of all the terror- and her eyes were so soft and inviting that Emelyn reached out her own hand to touch hers. Angelina beamed, nodding as if to comfort an infant, and drew Emelyn out of the camp and into a clearing where she saw Ambrose and Vasile standing before a fallen log and waving with happy smiles upon their transformed faces. Emelyn felt suddenly comforted, and stepped forward to see them clearer. There was no log. Those few steps showed her the truth that her eyes had denied her. Ambrose and Vasile were standing around not a log- but upon the flayed carcass of Cassidy. In Ambrose's hand was a long, winding intestine, the end of which still anchored in its owner- and Em's stomach curdled to see that his grin was stained with blood. "Come, have some," he said, "or you'll be hungry." "NO!" Emelyn screamed, "Oh God, no!" In her haze, she turned to run, smashing into Angelina, who held her shoulders. "We saved you the heart," she said, her voice sweet and low, "because you can't have Ambrose's. You can have this one." Emelyn's bloodcurdling scream echoed up into the dream, and if it had had the ability to, it would have gone further, spreading itself to every corner of existence as she ran and ran. She ran through jungle scenes that her mind constructed solely for this terrible escape- trees and vines that existed only in this terrible state of unconscious. She ran until she fell to the murky earth... tears streaming down her face. No matter how far ran, she knew that it was all right behind her. She could have stayed there forever, the time that exists only in a dream- if not for the gentle hand lifting her up. Emelyn had no time to start- this was Greer, and she trusted Greer. Her friend didn't let her down, and wiped the tears from her face with a soft feather. "I saw what they did," she whispered, and she pulled Emelyn in an embrace. "I'm so sorry." She sobbed, and clutched at her friend, a desperation wholly unknown to anything sane. "I'm so afraid. Everything has gone so wrong." "There there, I know." Greer held her out to arms length, her sweet, loving hands upon Emelyn's shoulders. "I have something that will make it better. Something for you to write on. You can write all your sorrows away." Then she produced... a skin. Not the rabbitskin she'd promised to bring to Emelyn to cure, that she could then write upon to soothe herself... but the skin of a girl who was transforming into a lizard... scaly and green, those parts that had been pinkish in life now blue with the taint of death. Amaya's scalp still clung to it, black and vicious as it slumped over the hawk-woman's arm. In that instant, the walls of reality and dreaming collided, and as the nightmare ended with Emelyn bent over herself vomiting onto the earth... consciousness took the cue, and Em awoke, curled upon the earth in her own vomit as her body wrenched itself into the changes. The stink reached Emelyn's nose before the feeling of it did. ...But when she realized she truly was laying in a puddle of her own vomit, she rolled back onto her knees, her stomach still twisted in nausea. She wasn't yet completely awake, and so the situation seemed oddly cruel to her, and tears ran down her face as she tried to comprehend what was happening. It was not understanding that forced her into full awareness, however- but a prickling feeling that ran over her like a rash. It was a sticking, feverish feeling that bled out as if through her pores, and she wiped at her skin furiously, wiping the vile moisture from her arms and stomach. Then... a sprout of fur came up on her left hand... and she realized what was happening. She was changing. With that realization, something switched off in Emelyn's mind. ...Something primal, and the images of the dreams floated back into her mind, pieced together in a patchwork quilt of terror. She didn't want to be near these predators- there was something wrong about the fear that gripped her- something terribly wrong. And so she stumbled from the lean-to and ran. She ran deep into the jungle, her tears being absorbed as tawny colored hair sprung out across her face and rippled down her neck. ---
Joliette hadn't been back to her camp yet, she wasn't sure she was going to go back yet, her stomach still gurgled for food, and despite what berries she could find it didn't seem to satisfy. She'd been wandering aimlessly for longer then she had any inkling. Joliette didn't hear the oncoming footsteps, but then, she wasn't paying attention to them as she moved through the foliage.
Emelyn didn't realize who she was running into. In fact, she didn't realize much of anything at all- her mind was systematically clearing itself of all her memories, good and bad, and all her hopes and fears. All that remained was an almost numb understanding that the prickling along her back was exquisite pain- hundreds of sharp needles pressing through her back. They were her proto-quills, stabbing out from the newly forming muscle in her back. They were criss-crossing themselves, aching to form a grid that could support these would-be quills. Her muscles shuddered and spasmed, and her hair stiffened as she barreled through the brush- and straight into the figure who was coming at her through the foliage.
Joliette's eyes widened in shock when she was barreled over. Landing hard on that nub of a tail "Ow..." she says looking up at the trees before turning her head to see who had decided to plain train
Em collided with Joli and stumbled backwards. She might have fallen flat over on her back, but all those muscles were contracting with such a force that her mind allowed her leg to rush back- a last minute kick-stand of support to keep those infant quills from being wounded. She didn't look to see who she had maimed- her mind was still on 'off'- as something tugged at her ears, elongating them with a rip of flesh that echoed down the long path to her mind. All that was left of Emelyn's transformation was the final shudder of fur as it rippled to her fingertips and toes. Her nose shoved forth, elongating the delicate olfactory machine that was now her animal nature- and with a sudden splash of blood that poured from her leathery nostrils... her transformation was complete. Only then did the adrenaline that had rushed through her system start to fade, soaking back into the blood and allowing the girl's heartbeat to calm. Emelyn pressed her hands to her face, wiping away at the blood with her hands. The fur on her palms was stained with red when she finally remembered that she'd hit someone. ...Someone who must have seen everything that had just happened.
Joliette's eyes watched the change, she hadn't even been able to watch David's, but Emelyn had just changed before her very eyes... A flick of her yellow tongue brought back a scent that made her back away, blood, she still didn't believe she could trust herself... not after almost attacking Awen... Her eyes didn't leave the woman, she felt bad for her, she knew what change felt like, though not to quite the degree Emelyn had just experienced...
"Joli?" Emelyn hardly recognized the woman who lay there on the ground... she didn't even know where she was, after all. Her voice was raspy, and she still felt a great deal of lingering soreness- even pain- along her back and sides, and also along the bridge of her 'new' nose. But her mind was slowly piecing itself back together- and yes, it told her- that's Joli. Emelyn gasped. "Oh Joli!" She cried, almost in tears again. "I thought you were dead!"
"N-no I'm not dead, hungry, but not dead" She replies quietly and stops a few feet from her her tongue flickering again as she did her best to control the beast within her. "I'm glad you are not either"
"The helicopter," Em said, still coming into her own slowly, and wobbling on weak legs, "there were two charred bodies- I thought one of them might be you. I was so afraid Moreau found out about our talks... how we talked about... escape." She said the word in a whisper, as if there were cameras in every tree trunk. A small corner of her mind knew she must sound insane to Joli, but she had so long repressed the fears of her friend's demise that now it was hard to keep it all from rushing out. It meant that, for now at least, they were both safe- that Moreau hadn't found out. ...If he was still alive at all...
"I stayed away from the helipad... uhm wherever it is... I've never been there, I just took David's, Awen's and Jamal's words for it." she sat for a moment then used a tree to pull herself upright "As for Moreau, no idea, still haven't met him, don't want to either" she pauses "How... how did you change... I thought everything was locked down" or did everything open up while she was in the jungle... she didn't know
Emelyn wiped the last bit of blood from off her upper lip. The taste was vile to her- wrong. She didn't realize that as a hedgehog, she wouldn't include fresh meat in her diet at all- and so blood could hardly appeal to her. She stood in wonder. "I... I hadn't thought about it. I just woke up in a pile of... well, I woke up sick," she abridged, swallowing the saliva that flushed into her mouth at the memory of it. "And then the changes started. ...How could I have done it without an injection? No one could have gotten to me- I was in the middle of camp. Someone would have seen!"
"I don't know... Awen changed too, I don't know if anyone else has though" She leans against a tree digging her claws into the bark "I don't see how it's possible, everything everyone has said suggests we HAVE to have an injection..."
"Awen," she said the name slowly, forming it mostly with her lips, not letting her tongue lift from the bed of her mouth. "I hadn't seen her either. ...I'm glad to know she's okay."
"Lauren is ok too, and that... Antony woman is too " unfortunately in Joli's mind "I haven't really run into anyone else" Her yellow tongue flickers and she closes her eyes for a moment before opening them
"Lauren..." her mind grabbed at the name. "Oh I remember, she's the other one Moreau thinks is on his side. ...Or maybe she really is." Emelyn didn't know- and hadn't seen the woman since that long ago. And the other name... "Antony... I've never met anyone by that name. Oh, so many new people..." she said sadly. "Our camp started out as Ambrose, Amaya, me... and Angelina." She added the name as an afterthought, although truly the name had sprung to mind as soon as 'Ambrose' had. She'd only held it back as if by principle- not wanting the names to go side-by-side. "Greer is also there, and Vasile and Cassidy..." she paused, her dream springing to mind.
"You don't want to, she has a major attitude problem, Oh... Chana's ok too and someone named Timothy, they both have been through the camp we have, pathetic lil camp, even had a boar play party crasher the first day we were there" Joli lists the people she knows are ok "I hope Hargun is ok, and Ray, she was pretty nice too, Has anyone seen the Dude?"
"No, not for months," Em said softly. "Greer hasn't seen him forever. ..She's so worried about him. It's almost making her sick."
"Hope he's ok, last time I saw him he was doing a lot of underwater stuff... But there's a coral reef like thing a few hundred feet out now that wasn't there when I arrived in November, it's all metallic and such..." she didn't exactly elaborate how she knew it was there
"Metallic? ...Oh..." the last syllable was a breath of soreness as her back spasmed. She didn't realize that all the new muscles there would cause so much starting pain.
"Yeah, like to cut boats up if they started to come too close... Are you ok? ok that was a stupide question, change hurts... " Joli bites her lip and looks down at the dirt
Oh, metallic, she thought. That would make sense. She looked at Joli and almost smiled- she seemed so sheepish at having said what she did. "Yeah, I'm okay. And it's not a stupid question. It certainly does give a knock at you. ..." She looked at her hands. The light fur on them was almost flesh colored... and she couldn't see what her face looked like... but she could feel that her hair had gone stiff, pointed. She looked back at her friend. "Could you... tell me what I look like? I just want to know. Tell it to me straight. Do I still look like me?"
Joli looks up and at her friend her green eyes trailing over Emelyn's features "For the most part, but there's definitely a more... animal sense to you" She swallowed and did all in her power to keep her tongue in her mouth
"Oh." she said. Softly. Almost sadly. "Tell me. ...What do my eyes look like? Are they still... human?"
Joli looks to Emelyn's eyes and nods "Look pretty human to me" she smiles weakly, she hoped that would cheer her up a little
She sucked in her breath and nodded, content to hear that one of the last things she had left of her sister- eyes that mirrored Mizzie's own sweet, blue ones- were still in tact. It was only then that she looked over her friend and wondered.... did she look different? She narrowed her eyes, wondering, but then realized Joli may guess what she was trying to think, and she looked away, not wanting to stare.
"No further changes on my part. Neither David last time I saw him..." She says noticing Emelyn's brief wandering eyes. "The Komodo is fighting for control though"
"Oh," Em said, laughing that Joli realized exactly what she was thinking, "it's just that you look so tired. Are you okay? Have you been eating?"
"I am tired actually, not sure how long I've been wandering... as for food, just the berries I can find, but they aren't satisfying" her tongue flicked out and in "It took over briefly and I tracked down the scent of blood...." she wasn't sure she wanted to finish that sentence as she looked down
"Blood?" Emelyn's eyes, free of thought, wandered down to the brownish red stains on the fur of her palm. "...Why would you want blood? Aren't you... some sort of ...lizard?"
"A Varanus Komodoensis to be specific" she bites her lip with her rather sharp teeth "The git's idea of funny I would imagine"
Varanus Komodoenis. Komo... Komodo, her mind broke down. "What do Komodo's eat?" She said, almost fearing the answer.
"Everything except vegetation" she mumbled not wanting to say it "The exact opposite of what I arrived here as"
"Everything? I didn't know there were.... carnivorous lizards," she said softly, wondering what cravings were on Joli's mind.
"I think the Komodo really is the only one, it's 100% carnivore, my research says it wont even eat the herbivorous contents of the stomach and intestines of t's prey... I ... I don't want to except that, I don't want to eat what my body is demanding me to..." Joliette watched a bug crawl along the ground near her foot
"...So you really haven't eaten," she said softly.
Joli shook her head "Not really" and her stomach attested to that fact with a low gurgle "Just fruit, and a couple small pieces of smoked boar... I woke up one day next to a dead boar piglet and was horrified"
"Did you..." as soon as the words were out of her lips, she tried to pull them back. What good would it be to ask her if she had killed it in her sleep? Did it really matter? Did she even need to know?
"I guess, I don't know, it was dead, it had claw marks and bite marks, I had blood in my mouth... was enough for me" She sighs and looks up again
"I'm glad you didn't starve." Emelyn said simply, and behind it, she obviously meant for her to understand also: there is no need for judgments in this. There's nothing to be ashamed about survival.
"It was mostly whole, so I didn't really eat much of it, you? How have you been fairing?" Joli kinda wanted to change the topics of her diet before she mentioned what had happened when she hunted out the blood
"I've been... grey," Emelyn said, choosing her word carefully. "The nature part hasn't been getting to me- hedgehogs eat pretty much anything, apparently." She almost told Joli her 'grub story'... but it was hardly comparable to her experiences with the boar- so she held her tongue on it. "But it's not been easy being in camp with all the predators. ...Something about it makes me ... anxious."
"That makes sense, I guess being around me doesn't help much either." She didn't like the idea that she might be making it difficult for her friend
She smiled, ignoring the ache in what she guessed might now be called her forming 'muzzle', and put a hand out to touch her friend. "No, don't even think on it. It's not as if I'm skittish just coming into the sight of a 'predator'. Hedgehogs are actually rather brave. It's just all that time in close quarters. I think some of it may even be my own, human insecurities. ...Ambrose and Angelina are both in camp."
Joli backed slightly away from the hand more into the tree, she didn't trust herself at all. "That must be awkward" she muses after hearing Ambrosse and Angelina's names together again
...If she had felt no fear before, Emelyn suddenly did now. Not for herself- but for Joliette. Did she really fear her own self control so little that she had to back away from human touch? Em let her hand drop back to her side, and found herself floundering for something- anything- that would seem like she hadn't noted the poignant, frightening moment they'd shared, whether it be a look, a laugh, a word... "Yes," she said, her mind only half-on her words. "They're like a pair of Siamese twins fused at the hip. And when they're not together, Ambrose worries about her. ...And Angelina hates me. It's very awkward."
"Sounds like a situation I'm glad I'm not in, there's only one person here I know of besides the git who hates me" She sighs and pauses "Sorry, just... I did something... or almost did... " she wasn't certain that Emelyn had noticed but she did back away and Em did stop trying to rest her hand on her.
Em just shook her head. "Don't mention it. As far as I'm concerned, it didn't happen."
It wasn't that easy to forget, least not for Joli, but she nodded slowly anyways and looked at Emelyn again "You are the second person who has changed within feet of me, but the first I really... saw... "
"...What do you mean?"
"David and I changed at the same time, but I was so preoccupied with my own change, I didn't really ... see his. You, I saw I watched everything after the point of lifting my head after we collided" She tried to explain
"Oh." ...She still hadn't met this 'David', but from what Joli had told her about him, they were very close. Emelyn felt... not a stab of jealousy, but perhaps a pang. "I've watched only one transformation. Ambrose's. When Moreau brought me to his mansion one night to get me to be 'on his side', he showed me the tape from Ambrose's room that night he changed for the first time. ...He was the first out of any of us to change. It's not easy to watch," she said sympathetically, forcing her hands into her pockets so as to resist her natural urges to reach out to Joli.
"It's not, especially knowing there's nothing that can be done to stop it or ease it" her tongue flickered "What's his mansion like, I've seen it through my lens, but that's it"
"It's... opulent. Decadent to the point of... arrogant taste.", she said, trying to explain the rooms dripping in gilded finery. "It's like stepping into a world where money expresses rank... and Moreau wants nothing more than to let the world believe he is king."
"Or God, that is what he's playing here after all, he has the controls, we all are prisoners under his power, hell with 3 words the control over us is so much so that we fall asleep in a matter of seconds" she makes a face "I'd still like to know how the git did that"
Emelyn shook her head slowly. "I don't. I just want him to be dead. I want all these terrible things that have been happening recently to lead to some grand understanding- and I want... to be able to live my life in peace." The admission rolled from her tongue and from her heart- she didn't plan the words before she said them, she just let them be realized... and raw in their truthfulness. "I don't even think I want to go 'home' anymore. ...I don't even think I have a home anymore." She mused. "If I stay here for the rest of my life, and have my DNA fused with that of a hedgehog... so be it. I just hope... that I find some companionship, some lasting, deep friendship- and that I am peaceful and happy. ...And I don't think that can ever happen with Moreau here. I don't think that there can ever be a happy ending to this fairy tale."
"Add the git to your wish there and I fully agree, I don't think I could go home to mama and papa looking like this, and it's doubtful Moreau left space for error to allow for reversal" she sighs
"I'm assuming by the git you mean Sabin," Emelyn said. "...I suppose you could throw him in to our hypothetical weenie roast as well. ...He never did anything to me... he even saved me when I washed up on shore here. ...But he did hand me right over to Aubrey. So roast away." She leaned up against a tree and winced as soon as she did- her back ached so.
"Yes I mean Sabin, he's the one who tricked me, and then repeatedly did things to me, so yeah... who else could we toss on the hypothetical fire?" she says clawing at the bark of the tree
Emelyn's eyes narrowed. "As long as it's hypothetical, toss "Angie" on there as well. I didn't do a damn thing to the girl and she's treated me with nothing but contempt."
"And Antony, lets toss her on there too, girl tried to strangle me for asking how she was, and saying the truth that there wasn't much good about our situations" She nearly felt like growling at the thought of the woman
"She strangled you? ...I don't know if I want to meet her. What does she look like?"
"Short hair and covered in tattoos and piercing" she describes Antony in very simple terms
"Another tattooed person?" Em said as she readied to walk back in the direction of her camp. "Jamal must have been happy to find a friend." She looked back through the brush where she'd come from. "You know, I think there is still some meat back at our camp, if you'd like?" She offered gently.
Joliette pondered it for a moment and then nodded "Saves it being things I don't want to be hunting" or people she added in her mind and pushed away from the tree
"This way, then...or at least... I think." She laughed as she made her way through the foliage. "I wish hedgehogs were better trackers."
Joliette chuckles softly "And I wish Komodos were worse... Trade you"
Emelyn laughed. In her head though, as the two made their way back to her camp, she was glad that she didn't have the burden that Joli did.
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Posted: Wed Feb 22, 2006 7:00 am
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Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2006 4:36 pm
...The Breaking Point Joliette spent hte night in her dark room and come early morning had used up most of hte hot water in her shower... She knocked on David's door and opened it but found him not there "Maybe he's still in the jungle" she says quietly and looks towards the foliage and then heads into it.It had been hours since the others had filtered back into the village, but it was only minutes since the last time Emelyn had to brush away the unbidden tears that collected beneath her large blue eyes and made pools in her tawny fur. She'd watched the villagers make their way back into the clearing of the village, still dripping, though the rain had ceased. Her eyes followed them silently as they dragged themselves back into 'civilization'... looking more like animals to her now than they ever had before. Heading for the warmth. Right back to the hand that feeds them. Above her, some tropical bird called, grateful for the cease of the rain... and Em wrapped her arms about herself, suddenly feeling cold and alone. She hated it out here. But she'd rather die than step back into that clearing... back into the mind games. She was so confused. Her tongue flickered and she picked the scent of a friend and turned, there some 20 feet away her friend "Hi Em" she says quietly wondering what was wrong with her as she changed her path and headed for her.Em shook her head, not knowing entirely why she'd made the gesture. "Hi." Her voice was scratchy- hoarse, from not having used it in so long. Joli trudges towards Emelyn "You ok?" she asks her hearing hte hoarse voice, this wasn't the voice she remembered hearing Emelyn use the last time they'd run into each other.Em sighed. "Not really." Her confusions flooded her thoughts. "It doesn't matter," she said, the sound of her voice saying otherwise. .."What are you doing in the woods again? Aren't you glad to be back in 'dry civilization'?" She said, the last two words drenched in bitterness. "Was going to..." she chews lightly on her lip "Going to go try and find David... As for it all back... It's better then starving... and being stuck outside" she admits catching the bitterness.A twinge of guilt crept into Emelyn's self-pity and fear and anger. ...She hadn't remembered those people who were transforming into carnivores, and how hungry they must have been, foraging in an unforgiving atmosphered... under the unforgiving conditions of a madman's experiments. At least she could survive off the land, as much as she despised the wet and the warm and the insects. ...Joli couldn't. Em nodded at her friend. "I'm glad you got something to eat," she said, her words as much an apology as anything else. "Actually I haven't yet, I wanted to try and find David, I just slept in the darkroom.. and took a long shower" she admits and her stomach confirms the words by growling audibly and she looked a lil sheepish over this fact."When's the last time you saw David?" Em asked, trying to keep bitterness out of her voice, and steeling her mind into the choices she was making. They weren't easy ones- but they were necessary. "Uhm... before I nearly attacked Awen actually" she says looking at the jungle floor her curls falling around her face, she felt bad for not trying to find him a lot earlier. She fidgets as she speaks her words to Emelyn.Emelyn blinked in surprise, and processed the startling new information with that same, bitter 'grain of salt' that seemed to inflict itself upon all her thoughts these past few weeks. "Hm." she said, a little sadly. "It seems the island is getting the better of us." "Perhaps... I just guess I haven't really trusted myself, Ambrose didn't seem to welcome me to his camp with open arms either once he knew what I've gone through over the last couple months... So I kinda left to try and find a cave" She doesn't look up as she talks...."Has it been too hard?" Emelyn said, feeling as if a darkness was floating between them. "Has it been too hard to... resist.. the urges? Such terrible things..." she didn't say them to be judgemental, but instead, as an almost effortless whisper of her deep, haunted thoughts. "I've been about giving up... vegetation alone doesn't satisfy my hunger" she looks up "I hate what I'm becoming" the look on her face speaking volumes of her own feelings about her situation."So do I," she said- a whisper that somehow carried through that cloud of darkness. "I hate this. ...Not even these...changes," she said, lifting up her fur-covered hands tipped in black, curving claws. "Just.. the violations. And how I've given up. Given myself over to them. I hate how I want so much to step into that clearing, and walk into that duplex... and take a shower... and comb my..." she paused. She didn't really have 'hair' anymore. She shook her veritable mane of quills, and the tears came once more, a cavalcade of emotional pain. This time, she didn't brush them away or try to hide them, but let them fall as her voice took up a wracking sob. "I... I want to write in my journal, I want to play with the little electronic plane that b*****d left for me for Christmas... I want to sleep on a regular bed. I hate it... oh god, I hate it so much, and the only thing that's keeping me from running to it is the feeling that if I step one foot into that village, I will be betraying ever memory I ever had of my sister. ...Oh god, Joli, you would have been so happy to know her. She was such a fighter. To the very end, she never lost hope. ...She lost her battle but she won it, because she never gave up. I gave up... I gave up..." "Your sister sounds like a wonderful person... and I suppose we all have our hioes and dreams and such.... Hopefuly we can find them" She looks over her shouldter ar hr village again."It doesn't matter now." Em said, not fully conscious of her words anymore. "This is all lies," she said, pointing back to the village. "I know you can't get away from it, because... you can't survive out here, in the wild. Not with what they've done to you." She tore her eyes away from the idea of comfort, the idea of 'home', and turned back to Joli. "But I can. So I think...I will. For all of us, to show that lies don't cloud us. ...There's nothing left for me in there," she said, in one fell swoop... both sacrificing her humanity... and saving it. "...Do you want help finding David?" She asked, her voice steely and resolute, the last of her salty tears falling into her fur beneath determined eyes. "You... stay stay safe if you stay out here... I don't know what the futrue holds for the both of us... not totally at least... So I'm not even gonna guess... " she says softly looking abck into the trees "Okay... I was going to go look near where our camp.... was" she nods.Emelyn nodded. She wasn't going to guess, either. "Lead the way," she said softly, indicating with a nod the way deeper into the jungle and away... from the mirage of 'civilization'. She headed towards the nearest river, she wasn't moving fast. "Feels kinda... strange to be going right back... out into what I wanted to end... Question is, can I keep control of myself now I can get food easier again.""I'm sure you can," Emelyn said, reassuring her friend. There was nothing in her voice or her countenance to suggest that the hedgehog-girl had become happier, cheerier- but somehow it was obvious that she had found strength in her decision, and she was surviving in the middle of the powerful crutch of action, decision...and also, delay. It was too painful to walk back into that village now- and so she chose a pain she knew. "I'm surprised you didn't eat anything before you left. It would have calmed you, I think." "I'm not going to look for too long, if he's not at camp.. I dont know where he'd be... " she admits "And I've had enough of being lost in here, first time I got lost the git found me, second time Emerwyn found me" she flicks her tongus looking ahead of them. "How is Emerwyn?" Em asked, picking delicately through the underbrush. "I haven't seen her since... she was sick on the cliffs. And that was... a long time ago." "Uhm bout as good as any of us have been I guess... She helped me find somewhere to dry off... I wasn't having luck on my own after I left... the big camp" She can see the water ahead, part of her really hoped he'd be waiting there for her with open arms."We're coming near the camp... I don't see anyone," Em said gently, hoping not to dash Joli's hopes too thoroughly. She herself had been hoping that David would be at the river- for she hadn't ever met the man she'd heard so much of through Joliette. She sighs softly . "Somehow I can't say I should be surprised" she said looking at hte ruined firepit and the old indications of camp which betrayed any sign of life. "I guess should go back... Where are you going to stay Em?" she looked up at the hedgehog woman.Em couldn't take her eyes out of the ashes of the firepit. They looked so soft and dark. "I don't know. Not here, though. Too many bad memories." She couldn't even force herself to stay in this camp when there were people- travelling out into the night whenever the urge to be away from everything struck her- which was often. "Maybe here or there. ...Where was that cave you told me about?"
"Yeah..." she looked back towards the village "On the other side of the village near the base of the mountain" she poins a clawed finger in the direction of the mountain.Em followed the clawed 'compass' to a point through the trees and past the mountain that no eye- human or animal- could possibly see from this distance. And yet she looked anyway. "What's it like?" She asked softly, wondering aloud. "Dry and dark with some small creatures, it's kinda hidden by the trees, It was protection from the cold cold rain, I've never been quite that cold before..." she shivered at the thought. She didn't move from her spot. "Were you there alone?" Her eyes widened at how the memory of the cold still clung to Joli, and wondered how much harder this journey would be for her. She nods "Except for when I ran into Emerwyn and she helped me find a place to get out of, and the short time in Ambrose's camp... Other then that it was just me.""So you've been alone a lot of this time." It was a half question, half sad statement that wanted corroborating. "...I think you should go find David." She didn't like the idea of Joli being alone for so long- especially when she was in this deep a state of distrust with herself. Emelyn hadn't seen the things she'd done, but there was a good chance that even if she had, she wouldn't have judged her friend, and wouldn't have believed her capable of true harm. ...But it was dangerous, she thought, to leave her in such a state of self-disarray. "Uhm I really wouldn't know where to start , besides here.. But he's not here, and I dont know how long ago he left" she sounded dishearted at the thought. She looked in multiple directions into the foliage around them."Well, he's probably out of the woods by now. Everyone else seems to have filtered back into civilization." She'd stood for hours on the edge of the jungle watching the 'people' return- all in various stages of undress and dishevelment. "It may be the best recourse to search the more... habitable parts of the island." "Considering what he's becoming and his apetite... perhaps I'll find him int eh cafeteria... other then that I don't know, he wasn't in his duplex..." she looks back up at her friend "I wonder if anyone else will stay in the jungle like you."Emelyn shook her head sadly. "I don't know. ...I would think some more of the predators would... it seems their instincts have taken over stronger than the omnivores or the herbivores... but it was so hard for many of them to find food, so I think maybe not." "I would prefer cooked food over anything I've eatten in the last month, the one thing I can't say I look forward to is .. if the git decides to torment me more... but I doubt he'd change" she sighs softly "I guess we'll just have to see.""I guess we will." ...Emelyn didn't know what else to say, so she leaned back against the trunk of that same thin, bendy stalk of a tree that she'd taken repose near... so many times in the past few weeks. She didn't know what to think about the campground except that it was perhaps some sad, decaying monument to a terrible time. Her memory let her drift back- it seemed way back- to those times that life was kind to her, and even those few, precious moments here on the island where things were sweet and lovely. She recalled the swims she had with Sean, diving under the cool blue water to view the beautiful reef life... the Halloween party, where she'd stepped in on the arm of a handsome musketeer, all eyes upon her. ...She even recalled a moment, deep into the night where she'd stood upon the hallowed clifftops and stared out at the ocean, resolved to find beauty in a terrible world. ...It had been so long ago. "That's what I'm doing out here, Joli," she said softly, as if the woman had been privy to her thought process, "I'm trying to preserve those good memories that I have. ...This place has been so ugly to me now, for too long. I want to remember those few sweet times, and the times before. Out here- when I'm not distracted by all the fears and hypocricies of that village... I think I can." She smiled for the first time in days. "...I hope you find David soon." She nods slowly "Yeah, hopefully you find success in that" she fidgets with the edge of the shirt she wore "I hope I do too" her stomach spoke again and Joliette made a face "I have a feeling I should deal with that... it really is a fear of mine to lose control again.""I wish I knew something to say to make you feel better." She bit her lower lip, easing her top teeth down upon it- but not enough to draw blood. She recalled all too well the last time she had come across this friend while the scent of blood clung to her. "Just understanding is all I can expect, or rather hope for" she turns her body in the direction of the village again "I know you don't want to go back... But I should... do you want to walk with me a bit? or... no?" Joli looks from the path to Em again."I'll walk with you anywhere you'd like... as long as it's not into the village." She said, 'kicking off' from the tree and coming closer to Joliette. Joliette nods and heads down the path again "Ok.. then we'll part company closer... I hope you find a safe place to be..." she says looking down at the path."I don't think anywhere on this island is 'safe' anymore." She paused in her speech, but not in her step, as she walked with Joli. "Do you..." she finally reconciled her voice to her thoughts once more. "Do you allow anyone to touch you anymore? Or would that make you too uncomfortable, too afraid of what you'd do? I just don't want to... do something in friendship, like touch your arm, and have you recoil. So I'd rather know." The tiny quills on the back of her neck pricked up. "I'm sorry to ask." Joli faltered in her own step, she was right in Emelyn noticing her pull away that night... "Uhm last time you and I ran into each other... it was right after it happened... or least within a few days..." she says quietly "Long as I feel able to keep control.. yeah, people can touch me... Emerwyn did to help me stay warmer as we were cave-hunting" she pauses "and it's ok... I'm the one who pulled away to begin with.""I'm glad..." Em said, placing a less tentative hand on Joli's arm as she walked. "I just didn't want to make you feel uncomfortable." They walked in silence for a while longer, and Emelyn winced at the sun that filtered down through the canopy. The luxury of pulling the blinds in her duplex and living in the quiet darkness was another luxury she was giving up, she realized. "Can I ask you a favor, Joli?" "I guess more then anything I was scared is all...." she replies and then like Emelyn grows quiet as they walk... The warm sun beating down unlike for Em was a welcome thing, something about her, and she presumed it was the Komodo, liked basking in the sun and absorbing it's warmth."Sure, you can ask me a favor, I don't mind." "I don't want to step foot in the village, lest I lose my nerve. But I don't want to abandon some of the things that I have there. Could you get them for me? Just... some of my clothes, my journals- they're all in my desk drawers or on the desk... and then two other things. There's a small box on my dresser- it's got a few old barnacles on the edges- it was my grandmother's jewelry box that Sean pulled out of the wreckage of the Wilhemina for me. ...And ...beside my bed, there's a picture of Mizzie in a salt-eaten frame. It's the only picture I have in the room, you can't miss it." "Yeah I can grab some of your stuff for you... Do you want it right away? or do you want to find a place to settle first?" That reminded her of her own stashed bag and she made a slight detour off the path closer to the village."I'd rather have it sooner... I can always find temporary shelter and then relocate later." Joliette nods "All right, I'll do it before getting food then... Uhmm remind me" she pauses and looks over her shoulder "What number is your duplex again?" she looked a lil sheepish but she'd completely unfocused on Duplex numbers over hte previous 2 months She pushed into hte bushes and reached a clawed hand into one. She frowns and pulls her hand out and then looks under the bush in the drying mudy soil "Oh god" she sighs and puts a hand to her face she picks a few things that were left off hte ground along with her mangled bag "I never should have left it.. " she gets up trying to hide the fact she wanted to cry, and hoped for an answer from Em to take her mind off her own problems. "Oh Joli... what was in there? I'm so sorry..." she slowly wrapped her arms around the woman, hoping it was the right gesture to do. It was was she felt like doing... overwhelmingly. "And don't you dare worry about my things before you get food in you. You look half haggard." "My camera and my laptop were in it, I put them there after hte laptop died, so I didn't have to haul it around" she sighs and rests her forehead on Emelyn's shoulder "All right... " she replied to Em's final words."It'll be alright," Em said soothingly, rubbing Joli's scaled arm. "Maybe you can get them repaired? Moreau seems to be pretty good about getting people what they want here." Except freedom, she thought bitterly. "They'll have to be replaced, they are in a zillion pieces... that plus the weather... they are toast... I have some of it on CDs in my bag, but I lost a lot" she sighs "I sure as hell aren't asking that gormless arse for it though..." she takes a beath and lifts her head again."I'm sorry. It was a lot to lose. ...but don't blame yourself for leaving it. I'm sure no matter what you did with it, something would have happened to them. These rains- all the things we've been through out here. They would have been destroyed. It's just another thing that's Moreau and his flunkies fault. Not yours." "Yeah, I suppose you are right on that one... I'll sort it out... Anyways, nothing I can do about it now.... " she looks up at the woman "One of these days.... I hope they get what they deserve for what they are doing to all of us""I want a happy ending, too." Em said, her heart pouring out in those six words. "And please... don't worry about it until after you've eaten, or I'll worry- but my duplex number is number eight. Way up there." She gave a small smile. Joliette nods "Uhm, when and where should I meet up with you to get your stuff to you?" she asks, she doubted Em would stay i one place forever. Do you know that spot just outside the woods near the cafeteria? There is a good-sized boulder there, about ten-fifteen feet into the jungle. You could just leave it there, wrapped up in a bedsheet or something. I don't think I have a backpack to keep anything in that you could use. So you could just wrap it up. I'll get it from there. ...Thank you, Joli. This means a great deal to me." "No problem Em, I don't mind helping you at all..." she smiles softly for a moment "Perhaps I could find a large garbage bag in the town hall, would keep it safer""That would be wonderful. ...You could get it on your way to food, hint hint. You really do need to eat something. ...I'm assuming the cafeteria is open again?" "I think it is, I picked up the scent of cooked food last night... " she nods "Well uhm.. I should go get food in me" They were nearing the edge of the jungle. Just beyond, Em knew was the village. "Well, take care of yourself, okay? I'll be roaming around. I may not be at the rock when you drop off my things- but I'll definitely see you around, okay?" She wrapped her arms around the woman. "Don't be a stranger." She hesitated a moment but then returned the hug "You as well Emelyn.. I'll see you around at some point" she pulls away and after a moment turns and heads into the village.Emelyn watched her go- disappearing through the threshold of the animal world... and the human one with one push through the foliage. She stood a moment, her eyes lingering on the light coming through the leaves... then she was gone- back into the depths of the trees.
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Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 5:50 pm
Last Kiss
Emerwyn Emerwyn found no solace in the village, and no desire to return to her room, no matter how much she wanted her book. So, still sore, muscles beyond burning, now only numb, she stumbled back toward the jungle. She stared, on the threshold. Did she really want to go back in there? There was nowhere left. She was caught between a rock and a hard place. Sighing, she walked in once more. The trees felt different. They no longer threatened to close in and strangle her. But, they didn't sing, either. She longed for them to sing again. Slowly she walked, but still she did. She could not stop. Hoping that maybe she could inspire them to join her again, she hummed, faintly, a soft melancholy tune, hardly audible, and scratchy. Walking and walking...
Em felt completely clean for the first time since she'd woken up in the arms of Angelina... all those many weeks ago. She hadn't known at the time that she was clinging not only a girl who would soon grow to despise her- but also, to those last fragments of her easier life in the village- in this mock civilization that Moreau had thrust upon them all.
She still wasn't truly clean- for her clothes were the same she'd been wearing since the beginning- but she'd taken a long, soaking swim in the lake, and more than that- she felt cleansed, eased by her decision.
Her things were just where Joli had said they'd be- behind the large rock that was ten or so feet into the jungle that was nearer to the cafeteria than to any other building. Emelyn saw the black garbage bag at several paces- for although the evening was already winding down, her vision was surely more keen at these hours than during the bright peak of day. Inside the bag, Emelyn noticed at a quick glance a familiar white gleam- Joli had wrapped her things inside her sheet. It was a sweet precaution, and Emelyn was grateful- though a part of her had hoped a change of clothes would be readily available on top. But it could wait.
She slung the bag over her shoulder, then regretted doing so as the quills on her back stood to mock-attention and made miniscule cuts in the side. So she held it instead hugged to her chest, and set out deeper into the woods. Before she disappeared completely into this new way of life, however... she was drawn out, as if by a lilting song carried on the wind. Emelyn paused, hearing now only her own breath, even and heavy on the quickly cooling evening air. There it was again- a soft, melancholy tune. Emelyn didn't know who it was, so she headed towards the sound.
Emerwyn Emerwyn trailed off her melody as she heard approaching footsteps. Some people were yet left in the wood, no doubt. Or maybe they were like her, and didn't quite know how to go back. How long had it been, after all - nearly two months? Maybe more... She ventured a call to the sound, "Hello, there?" Soon, she came upon a familiar and most welcome face. Emelyn, fully cleaned and clothed, a pack held close. She'd been back to the village already, so it seemed. Emerwyn, on the other hand, looked like she still hadn't seen civilization for ages. Her hair was disheveled and oily, her skin and fur covered in dirt and dried blood. Her wounds were partially healed, those parts not healed clogged with dirt, occasionally stinging from infection. Her eyes were sunken, and her face pale. All she yet wore was her long green coat, filthy and tattered. It was what she'd worn since the wreck. Her face broke into a weary smile. "Emelyn!"
"Emer!" Em said, her voice laced with surprise. She took a step towards the disheveled woman and furrowed her brows, glancing in the direction of the village as she did, as if to see through the thick foliage to the buildings there.
"What are you doing out here? ...Why haven't you gone back to the village?" The girl looked half-starved, and those patchy, dried brown spots were undeniably blood- perhaps blood mixed with earth.
Emerwyn Emerwyn cast her head back towards the village briefly before responding. "I was there... But, I couldn't- Somehow, it was too hard to go back." "But, I am glad to see you. What brought you back out here?"
"I understand..." Emelyn said, answering the first part of Emerwyn's words. "...And I didn't 'come back'. ...I never left. I'm never going back," she finished, answering the last. She shifted her makeshift pack up, starting to feel its weight.
"I can't go back there and live a life of hypocricy. It's just... too much. All the sweet memories I have of my life, all my principles are jeopardized every second I'm in that den of lies. ...Sorry. I'll put away the soapbox. ...You know, you should really get something to eat. Take a shower, sleep- you look half-dead." She was worried about the deer-woman, and had been since she'd met her, vomiting blood on the clifftops. Obviously, this island, this lifestyle- had started to take its toll on her, and this was just another step in the path to her self-destruction. Emelyn suddenly felt bad for preaching her plan to stay in nature to Emerwyn, who could obviously benefit from the stability and the aid of the village.
Emerwyn Emerwyn nodded solemnly at Emelyn's words. She couldn't agree more. Staying there was risky. At some point, they would all return. "-Some people I can not see... ever again." Words spurting out of her thoughts. Broken ideas to outside listeners. It was an issue Emerwyn would have to sort out somehow. "It seems we have a similar predicament. There is enough for me to eat out here..." I just need to bring myself to eat it. "As for my health, I believe I am better than the last time we met." In some ways, not in others.
Emelyn didn't understand all of what the woman was saying, but she understood the meaning behind it, the confusion, the pain, and she nodded sagely.
"There is enough to eat out here. ...But I think it would be easier on you if you were further along in your transformation." She didn't respond to Emerwyn's statement of health- for she didn't look well, and Emelyn didn't want to make too much of an issue out of what seemed to be a cycle effect with the poor deer-woman. Her mind, instead, preyed on the idea that at one point, more islanders may choose to live, defiant of Moreau's faux civilization. She looked into the darkening woods and sighed.
"I'm sorry you have so many... natural enemies. I don't know how safe it would be for you to be out here." Emelyn was afraid that her earlier words had ripened this dissent in Emerwyn, caused her to feel this was the right course of action... when she may be sorely in need of medical attention, food- and some comfort. The latter, if not just for the health of her mind...
Emerwyn "Perhaps..." Emerwyn sighed, knowing it to be true. "-you may be right." She leaned up against a tree, more wearily than casual. "I don't know where to go anymore. This place - it haunts me so. But the village. In the village, I will see the objects that caused me my pain." The objects, of course, were in fact people, but she wasn't sure if she'd be able to talk about it to that extent. "We're lost in a world where there is no solace, no waking from my nightmares."
She didn't know entirely how to respond. Emerwyn spoke in rhymeless poems- dark stanzas of pain that Emelyn didn't begin to understand the many depths of. So she did what all she could- she dropped her bag gently to earth and came forward to place a comforting hand on Emer's arm.
"What objects are there that caused you pain? Is there any way to avoid them?"
Emerwyn Emerwyn almost cringed at the touch. How she longed to be comfortable in a fellow human's embrace. But it was a desire she had to deny herself. She'd never be able to let go. She looked into Emelyn's eyes, her own glazed with moisture. "I did not mean to hurt them... But, I always hurt... It is my fault-" Her head bowed down, her shoulders trembling. And yet, she did not cry.
"Them?" ...This didn't sound like a talk of objects, painful mementos any longer. As if being handed a key to her language, Emelyn understood that they had crossed a threshold in understanding. Emerwyn was speaking about people.
"It's not your fault," she said soothingly, reigning back on her physical comfort, but easing the feeling of that touch into the sound of her voice. "I'm sure you haven't hurt anyone. And not intentionally."
Emerwyn Emerwyn didn't look back up again. She couldn't meet another's eyes right now. "Oh, but I did; and now I have lost them both... I have a question for you, Emelyn." Her eyes moved slowly up, dragging as though held down by weights. "Have you ever tried so hard to help someone, not quite knowing why, only to fail, only to find that everything you'd done had only hurt him more..."
A lump formed in Emelyn's throat- and she didn't even know why, until she fully thought through Emerwyn's words, wondering if they may apply to her. The lump didn't threaten to cause tears to form, or even to create a grip on her chest, seizing her heart- like so many other lumps that formed in her throat threatened to do. Instead, this one sat, pregnant- malicious, unwilling to move in the face of the situation.
"...Not quite," she said gently, easing her voice past the lump in her craw at a hoarse whisper, "but I've tried to help someone before... tried with all my heart to save them, and it just didn't work. It was out of my power. ...Maybe everything you've done to help this person- maybe it's truly just out of your hands." Her mind was on Mizzie, that beloved sister that seemed now so long ago gone from her life. ...She had sat by her little sister and best friend's side during every chemotherapy, every radiation treatment- surgery... and she'd been there for the last moment, those final breaths of peace that were the catalyst for the greatest war in Emelyn's life. Nothing she'd been able to do had helped her sister- no amount of pleading, praying, bargaining, or hopefullness... had kept that angel on earth. And Emelyn was only now forgiving herself for that.
Emerwyn Emerwyn nodded, finding Em's face, but not her eyes. "What am I doing with these people. If all are brought here to suffer pain on a madman's whim, and all I can do is add to it?" The love she had for Julian was not enough. And the love she had for Ian, she couldn't give.
They were going in circles, and Emelyn couldn't reconcile her understanding with this circular, neverending pathos of Emerwyn's pain. So instead, she placed both her hands on the woman's arms, staring her directly in the eyes as she spoke. She knew it would greatly distress the woman- but that was partially the point- to focus her on some sort of issue that she could resolve. She gave the gift to Emerwyn- of a pain she could deal with, a pain she could handle- something to supercede the endless self-doubt pit she couldn't possibly draw herself out of.
"You're injured, Emer. You need to get back to the village, and get someone to clean you up. Those cuts could get infected." She spoke in slow, deliberate words- though she knew that what she said was not so important as what she was doing, what she was implying.
Emerwyn Emerwyn got a flashback. A cruel one. One that made her feel ... anger towards Emelyn. A memory of a time, on the cliff. It was when she had first fallen ill. "Come on. We're getting you back to the village." She'd wanted to bring her to Moreau. Fear overcame the anger. She was frightened of the doctor. Frightened of the village. Frightened of what Emelyn was doing to her. She couldn't stand looking into her eyes. Those eyes that seemed to reflect her own. Filled with pain, and concern. Emelyn truly cared. But, the panicking deer within her couldn't see that. She even began to breathe more rapidly, nowhere to go. "I-I can't," she gasped. "Nowhere to go, nowhere... I can't see..."
In the same breath, Em found herself consumed by a fear that she would let go her convictions. She let loose Emerwyn and backed up, grabbing her torn garbage bag and holding it to her chest as if it were one of her beloved childhood stuffed animals she'd used to comfort herself in times of need. She backed as far away from the woman as she dared without running into the woods, and she took deep breaths. She prayed that Emer wouldn't panic or hyperventilate- nothing that would warrant Emelyn having to take her back into the village to be helped.
Would she betray such newborn convictions? Did their youth make them frail, more readily violated? Emelyn felt sick to her stomach, and felt sick of her nagging guilt, that she should help Emer, should guide the very troubled woman.
"Emer, calm down. I'm not going to hurt you, or make you do anything you don't want to do," she said softly, from several feet away.
Emerwyn As Emelyn released her, Emerwyn fell forward, onto her knees. Her hands grabbed at the ground, kneading the dirt, uprooting the grass. "I-I... nooo... Hurt... only pain..." She looked up at Emelyn desperately. Somehow, she was upset Emelyn left her. "In darkness we do seek to find The answers to our darkest mind. Why sought we only without light? With it, we'd see the losing fight. We cannot win. I am sorry." Emerwyn's eyes closed.
The poem- how she established the word 'we' without seeming like she meant to include Emelyn... it frightened her, and if she hadn't been clinging to her bag so tightly, she would have run her fingers through her proto quills anxiously.
"Emer... we need to get you back into the village. Is there anyone you trust? Anyone you would feel safe with? Because I don't think there's any way I can help you." Emelyn truly did feel helpless- but also, she was at her breaking point. Emer needed serious help, and Emelyn was too distraught herself to provide it- and too tired of all the darker points in life. She was nocturnal now- but some part of her yearned for the metaphorical light.
Emerwyn Emerwyn opened her eyes once more, slowly. They were glazed, and though they looked toward Emelyn, they did not see her. "No one can help now. I am sorry," she said again. "I will return. It is the only way." She stood up slowly. One of her knees scraped itself on a rock.
Em wanted to scream. Who in the world carried this much angst inside them? If it wasn't so depressing, it would be damn obnoxious.
"No one can help you? Come on, that's a little... dark. It's easy to pity yourself, Emer," she said, realizing she was being cruel but knowing that kindness hadn't worked with her. Maybe 'tough love' would. "Come on, get up... oh, you've scraped your knee. I'm going to take you to the edge of the village- it's very near- and then you're heading straight into your duplex, and taking a shower and a long, long nap." She changed her bag to one hand, and used the other to lead the woman to the forest's edge- slowly.
Emerwyn Emerwyn wasn't talking about herself. She didn't care whether anyone could help her. She didn't believe she was the one who needed it. Silently, she went with Emelyn. She wasn't going to explain. Whatever happened to her now, she was never going to hurt anyone again.
Emelyn felt like she was leading a zombie through the woods. The creature that followed her was silent, somber- as if all the life had retreated back behind her eyes, hidden behind an invisible glaze of fear and confusion. She didn't know what to say, so she was the silent leader as the night approached. When she reached the edge, the village just in sight, she wondered whether she'd made the right choice- maybe she should go in with her, make sure she didn't harm herself, or fall deeper into her depressive pit. But as distraught as Emerwyn looked before- she was practically... subdued, now, and Emelyn honestly didn't know what good she might have done. The confines of the village would change nothing.
She wrapped her arms around the woman. "Take care of yourself," she whispered in her ear, "You don't want to hurt anyone... so just know that if you're not good to yourself, I'll worry about you." She then left a soft, almost unnoticeable kiss of friendship on her cheek, and before she could gauge her reaction to the gesture of affection, Emelyn disappeared back into the jungle, shaken from her encounter but determined to find her first 'settlement'.
Emerwyn A single tear was left where Emelyn kissed her. Emerwyn watched her disappear into the trees once more. Why had she said the things she said? What had she done? She couldn't even gather herself. It had finally happened. Emerwyn the Hopeful. Emerwyn, the Consoler. It had all turned back upon her. She had lost hope. Her room was dark.
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Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 6:34 pm
 Finding a New HomeAt that point where the island seemed to stretch up into the sky... Emelyn ascended. It was pitch black- a night devoid of stars. It had taken the girl well into this deep night to reach the northwest point of the island where the long-since dormant volcano reached into the heavens. She climbed with ease, for the gentle slope and the new, transluscent reflectors behind those soft blue eyes aided her in her ascent. Each step, she found herself moving faster, the stone cool beneath her pawpads in those places where it crept out from beneath the jungle floor. ...What a stubborn jungle, to attempt to climb a mountain. The trees went nearly halfway up its broad expanse, though they were thinned for the cool, arid air at this height. Emelyn didn't know where exactly she was headed, but she certainly knew where she was headed away from, and that was all that mattered. She was walking away from the hypocrisy of Moreau's civilization- rejecting his 'normalcy'. She had been... almost comforted, almost lapsing into a new form of life, a new routine, when Moreau and his vicious experiments had wrenched them away from her. She realized now...how fragile her life was, how precious and rare the feeling of control could be. So she climbed, each step representing her choice: you can take my comfort away, my freedom- but I refuse to play into your games, I refuse to submit to your reality when I know any minute you can take it away. I will live by my own rules. Just as Emelyn's thoughts began to level out, so did the mountain, gently rolling under her feet into the last flat nook before its drastic gradient change. Above this mark, they were as cliffs- steep, and unforgiving. The hedgehog girl stopped to suck at the sweet mountain air, and to drop her makeshift pack at her feet. The garbage bag shuddered, its contents making a wallowed 'thud' against the rock. There was still extra weight attached to herself, however, and Emelyn remembered suddenly that she'd walked through the old camp on the way here- to retrieve her steel-toed boots that no longer fit. ...She'd bound their laces together and hung them about her neck, not willing to lose these strange mementos to her earlier life. Emelyn pulled them off, then, and threw them aside. She expected to hear the smack of stone against steel immediately... but the sound was delayed and.... hollow. Her eyes followed their flight path. They'd not struck mountainside... but instead, flown into an indentation in the behemoth rock- a shallow cave. Emelyn smiled. It didn't seem possible that it was the same cave Joliette had told her about- but it was there, and it seemed to have found her, rather than the other way around. Upon further examination, the cave was about nine or ten feet deep, and just tall enough that Emelyn had only to duck down an inch or two to crawl in. There were some bones a few feet into the entrance- but whatever remnants of meat they'd held had long been rotted away by time. Whatever had inhabited this cave had likely abandoned it- or died- long ago. The floor was covered in patches of moss- and, in a few deep indendations in the cave floor, clear water still remained from the rainstorms. "Well, I think this will do nicely," Emelyn said to herself, putting her pack up against the back wall. She was slightly worried that it wasn't a dirt-floor cave- one in which she could have buried her food stocks and posessions and covered them in rocks to protect them from the animals- but her mind assured her that she was too high up for much wildlife interferance, anyway. In the morning, she would have to go out and collect more moss and grass, to make into some bedding, but for now, it was too dark, and she was too tired to do much more than reach into her pack and devour an apple out of the meager foodstuffs that Joli had graciously thought to add to her 'runaway' supplies. She stripped, also, gratefully discarding those things that had clung to her body for weeks- and changed clothes. Then Emelyn rolled up a sweater for a pillow, pulled her sheet over herself, and lay down on the cold stone floor. She lay her goggles gently aside... and drifted into dreams sweeter and less fearful than she'd had since she came to the island.
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Posted: Mon Mar 06, 2006 7:04 pm
Making a Life... "K-k-k-katie... beautiful Katie, you're the only one that I adore! And when the moon shines, over the cowshed, I'll be waiting at the k-k-k-kitchen door..." It brought a smile to Emelyn's face as she sang- not for some innate love of music, or even that she was wholly enjoying this time alone (which, in some ways she was- but not all)- but instead, because it drew forth a sweet memory of her Grandpa John and his deep-voiced warbling. K-k-k-katie, with its stuttering repetitions of k's, had been Emelyn's song when she was little, just as 'The Old Gray Mare' had been Mizzie's. Just singing those few lines to herself, Em was almost transported back in time. She was no longer on the edge of the beach, collecting long strands of blonde beach grass to dry- but instead, she was sitting in her old living room- back when all three of them had been together.
...The old orange lamp behind the couch was on- the only other source of light in the room, sans the crackling fireplace. The old grey armchair was occupied, though the shell-pink one that matched it... was not. It had been Grandma Wilhemina's- the woman Emelyn had never met, though felt as though she knew her, from her portrait on the mantle. For having such a dignified name like Wilhemina White, the woman staring out of the gold, round-rimmed frame looked more like the sort of grandmother who would rush you with a watergun than take you out for tea. ...Her hands were folded neatly in her lap, and her brown dress suit was neat and pressed- but that was the end of her tidiness. A large blue and white gecko pin crawled up her shoulder, and well beneath the white braid she'd haphazardly wound about her head like a crown, was a delicate pink tongue peeking between her lips in jest. She was part of the merriment in the room as well- she always was.
Grandpa John sat at the edge of his grey armchair- Emelyn and Mizzie believed they had never seen him sit all the way back in it- he was just too full of energy and life to scoot back, they said. He played his harmonica and sang in between. Mizzie lay before the fire, curled up on the braided red rug, her head languishing on her arm and her eyes up on Grandpa John. Emelyn was the one who sat further away- stretched on the windowseat that overlooked their backyard. ...Looking back, Emelyn realized that her memory foreshadowed what was to come. Mizzie was always the one who was closest to home- laying there before the hearth, content always to be there in her heart. I was always the one that was looking out the window, Emelyn realized. I was connected to them, too- I loved the house and Mizzie and Grandpa... it was my life as well. But it wasn't enough to hold me. She felt a pang of something- it was almost... regret for regret. She didn't wish she would have stayed at home, for truly, what would she have now, without either of them there? Perhaps she regretted... that she had nothing to regret. It was as if her life had drawn her here- irrevocably, unreversibly. All roads... led to Moreau.
Emelyn shook the memory from her mind and finished pulling her last armful of beach grass from its root near the edge of the jungle. The last tug gave her a sliver of a cut along the side of her palm and she jolted. This bundle of grass was dead- dry and flatter than its round, live counterpart.
The cut stung, but Emelyn was glad that she'd come across the wounding grass. She'd intended to dry all that she had picked- and in a week's time, weave makeshift baskets from them.
"Whoo ha!" She rejoiced, laying out that grass that needed dry just beyond the tide point, and pinning it down with rocks so the wind wouldn't blow it away. It would dry here, splayed out on the warm sand and forced to kowtow to the noonday sun. She would come back to check on it- but now, she had enough dry grass in her hands to make a basket, and so she hunkered down next to her 'crop' in the sand.
"K-k-k-katie... beautiful katie..." she sang as she wet her fingers. It would help keep the grass pliable. The grass had to be dry to weave- but if it was too dry, it would crack, and then wouldn't be useful to her. She had been glad to find beach grass after her long morning's search for suitable weaving materials- for even after they dried, they still retained enough pliability and moisture that the individual strands didn't have to be soaked and cured before weaving. It was an old 'trick of the trade' that she'd learned while she'd visited Kodiak Island. Emelyn had always been good with her hands- fiddly, weavy type things came naturally to her. Mizzie had given up ever playing "Operation" with her, because Emelyn's steady, 'pick-happy' fingers had never lost. Anything larger than 'fiddly' was often lost on her- she'd despaired trying to put up a makeshift bookshelf while she lived in the Czech Republic in a dismal little apartment, and instead had been forced to keep her books and journals in cartons.
It was a long process... so Emelyn contented herself with the monotony and steadiness of her task, matching the steadiness of the waves as they washed up on the beach. When it was done, this basket would be her primary source of collection while she looked for foodstuffs... but for now, it was a peaceful task that connected her with all the sweet memories in her head.
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Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 10:28 am
The first company in days Emelyn The sun beat down on the girl, who, although enjoying the burst of warmth, winced at the bright light as she leaned down over her picked 'crop' of beach grass. Most of it was still rather moist, and wouldn't be ready for weaving for almost another week- but in the past few days, she'd been picking out any strands that were dry enough, and she hoped today to find enough ready to complete her third basket. The first was in her mountain home, sitting next to her "bed"- a pile of dried leaves and moss, over which her sheet bundled it all together and folded under into a makeshift matress. That particular basket was her smallest, and shallowest- made only the day before, solely for the purpose of holding her jewelry box, her picture of Mizzie, and her goggles, when she cast them off to sleep. The larger one she'd made that first day was the largest, and sat next to her on the sand, half-filled with nuts and roots. Her digging stick- sharpened by a rock she'd found by the lakeside- was in the basket as well, two inches soaked in dirt still moist from the rainstorms. This basket would be in between the two, she figured, as she sat to complete it, languishing on the sand and enjoying the swell of the waves. Zachary Bloodstone A short man in spelunking gear was following the mountain's curve to the other side of the island. Zach had spent over an hour being lost in heavy jungle brush. Surprisingly, he was having minimal difficulty despite his disability - to all who looked, it was obvious he lacked a left arm. A hasty knot to the shirt sleeve was the most he'd bothered to do that morning. He wasn't planning on talking to any of these other islanders until he'd gotten to the bottom of their little scheme.
Whack. That was another branch that came out of nowhere to hit him in the face. While he liked nature, it was preferrably from the other side of a glass wall. He'd had a rough night, and hoped sincerely he could find the caves that Dr. Duvert had mentioned were on the island. Though that too could be a lie. This was so confusing.
Suddenly, he was out of the jungle and onto the hot sand. The sunlight was nearly blinding. He'd definitely gone the wrong way, for sure.
But there! He could see a girl sitting on the beach, bending over something. Well, here went nothing. He carefully strode down the shining dunes to talk. His curiosity always got the better of him.
Emerwyn The second day. Emerwyn marked her path by sight and scent as she moved soundlessly through the jungle. It was an area she had not travelled before, and she wondered where it could lead. And who it would lead her to. Soon, she felt an old familiar smell reach her nostrils. And a faint, soothing sound reach her ears. The trees began to grow sparse, and she felt sand creep up between her toes. She was coming up on the beach. Vaguely, Emerwyn wondered how far she was from where she'd been discovered all those months ago. But, before she left the trees, she had to remind herself again, "There is no cover there, Emerwyn." And, somewhat reluctantly, she held back. She moved along, weaving through the trees, listening to the small, crashing waves. Soon, she came upon a figure, sitting on the sand. Upon inspection, she found the figure to be Emelyn. All at once, Emerwyn got a great urge to rush up to Emelyn and apologize for the foolish way she had acted the other day. But, once again, the greater part of her mind held her back. After all, another figure, clad strangely, and... somehow, uneven, was approaching Emelyn. Emerwyn got as close as she could whilst remaining hidden, and listened and watched as well as she could... Emelyn The sand crunched in a telltale way behind Emelyn's head, and she turned from her just-taken seat on the sand to see a man coming towards her. She narrowed her eyes- for although she was facing away from the sun, it was still a little bright for her to recognize who it was. "I can't see who you are," she said, her voice clear and carrying as she narrowed her eyes further to the realization that she didn't recognize this man, "oh... could be that I've not met you before. Sorry." She said simply, smiling, and placing her nearly-done basket in her lap. Zachary Bloodstone "Not a problem! I'll be down there in a minute." So the woman had heard him coming. He tried gazing back at her, but the sun was in that direction and he couldn't see a thing. Her silhouette and voice were human, though, and that was a relief enough. He started forward again to get a better glimpse of this beachgoer. He was getting sick of the--
Ohhhh no. This person had a fantastic looking getup. Better than the first two peoples', even. All exposed parts of her were covered with thin spiky brown fur. Her hair was even styled to match it. He marveled at the lengths these people were going to for a simple laugh. It wasn't normal.
He gave her a nervous smile. "Is this Halloween island or something?"
Emerwyn Emerwyn strained her eyes and ears. She picked up only snatches of conversation, and would not dare venture closer. Emelyn seemed happy, at least. It seemed Emerwyn's outburst hadn't had too harsh, lasting effects on her. That made Emerwyn grimly pleased. As for the man, he was a newcomer. She could tell by more than the simple fact that she had never seen him before. She could read the slightly apprehensive way he moved and held himself once he clearly got a look at Emelyn's less-than-human visage. And, now that he was clearly in her line of vision, Emerwyn discovered - he was missing an arm. She wondered whether or not transforming would change that. Emelyn "Hm.." she said, a half-amused sound that escaped her lips as the man came closer. She noted that he was an amputee, but it barely registered as important as she shook her head. "Something like that," she said, drawing her tongue across her lips in a cursory gesture, temporarily protecting them against the sun's onslaught. "It's genetic manipulation." She shook her veritable mane of proto-quills. "Hedgehog," she said simply, reading by his expression that he wouldn't likely believe her... so she kept it 'matter-of fact.' "Oh," she said, realizing that she'd lapsed in her manners. She stood, shoving the basket to the side and brushing sand off her as she came closer to the man. She extended the hand that he would be able to shake. "I'm Emelyn." Zachary Bloodstone He slid down the last dune and stumbled a few steps before coming to a halt in front of dried sea grass. One look at her told him what she'd seen - his left arm. Or rather, his lack of one. He hated that stares that people gave him when they saw it. Sometimes pity, sometimes disgust, no matter what he was uncomfortable with their expressions. But she seemed to have no reaction to it. Was that a good thing, or a bad thing?
Zach squinted a bit. Everyone here has their story straight. "Oh? Genetic manipulation?" He knew his voice sounded a little incredulous, but he didn't want to reveal his nervousness to this person as well.
He glanced at her as she explained her animal. She was very resigned to her fate, it appeared. But when she shook her "hair", it moved strangely. They looked as impossible as the moving tails and the yellow tongue. He shook his own head a second to clear his thoughts. Maybe he was seeing things.
He shook her hand with his own gloved right, managing to avoid touching the quill-like hairs that graced the woman's. He kept his gaze as level as possible, trying very hard to treat this costume as fake. It looked so real... "Uh... Pleased to meet you, Emelyn. I'm Zachary."
Emerwyn Emerwyn had heard the man well enough to know he was in utter denial. What she wouldn't give to live in blissful ignorance of their horrible fate... She sat down against her hiding tree, watching them still. She wanted to be there to comfort the man when he finally accepted the frightening truth... Then she shook her head. "Enough. You can't help anyone anymore... "She galnced at the appetiing foliage beside her. She'd better eat now. After all, you can't fight nature.Emelyn "Zachary," she said, familiarizing herself with the name. She'd long since learned from her travels that if you didn't use a name almost immediately, it could be lost to you, and you would fall victim to the dreaded use of "hey you". "Do you mind if I call you Zach? Or do you not prefer nicknames? And you can call me Em, if you'd like. Most of my friends do." She broached the simpler, sweeter subject, trying to steer the man away from the anxiety he was obviously walking towards. She wondered how many others he'd encountered on the island- and whether or not that look in his eyes was denial... fear... or something else entirely. Zachary Bloodstone "Whatever works for you," he smiled, releasing her hand. She had claws, which had actually made tiny scratches in his leather glove. "Most people call me Zach anyhow."
He noted that she say anything more about being a hedgehog. He was mildly surprised she didn't have more to add to the story of becoming an animal. Nor did she mention that all the people he was meeting on this island were becoming animals, slowly but surely. He didn't want to believe it though, simply because if it was true... it would be terrifying.
He'd press her for more details if he could stand to hear them. She was deliberately pointing the conversation away from the tales of transformation. "I'm surprised," he said quickly, "You're the third person I've met here, and all three of you say the same thing about this place. I'd really like to know more about it, since it sounds..." He produced a word that he figured played along with their game. "It sounds fun. Becoming an animal, getting to run around with fur or scales or who-knows-what."
He chuckled inwardly. That pretty much nailed her. The islanders couldn't possibly have a solid story for their dress up game. His eyes betrayed the cheer he was forcing into his voice. He wanted to finally get the truth.
Emerwyn Emerwyn shook her head as she ate her meal in silence. She could hardly take any more of this. She prepared herself to leave the scene. She had been satisfied. Emelyn was at peace, and had hopefully found it in her heart to forgive her. Though, she'd never understand. Of course, this was because Emerwyn didn't understand herself. The part of her mind that had been practically suffocated out of existence screamed for her to come back to sense, but she was beyond reach at this point. Maybe there was one way, but. Emerwyn sighed as she rose, ducking fully behind the tree now. She wished she could send Emelyn word somehow. She deserved it. Her warped mind toyed with ideas... What to do. A faint idea formed, and satisfied, Emerwyn prepared to leave the scene. Emelyn "Fun?" She huffed a single, breathy laugh, and shook her head. "Well, to tell the truth, the 'being an animal' part isn't so bad. It can even be fun at times. It's Moreau's treatment, mostly, that wreaks the most havoc on us." She spoke gently, for although his words seemed outwardly accepting of their situation, she could hear the jest behind them. He was probably trying to catch her in some sort of trap- waiting for her to 'let out the joke.' "Here, let's sit down." She indicated with a sweep of her arm the area near her crop of beach grass, flattened to the sand with rocks. "Since you're interested, I'll tell you anything you'd like to know." Her approach was to plough forth, answering his questions and not pulling any emotional gambits to try to convince him. He would realize soon enough that she was serious. Either that, or he would use her words to pepper the foundation of his denial. Either way, he deserved to know the truth. Whether he'd believe it or not. She took a cross-legged seat back in her place, pulling the basket back up into her lap. "So. ...What is it you'd like to know?" She said. Zachary Bloodstone This was weird. And who was this Moreau she was talking about? Joliette had said Sabin. Maybe that was a different name for the same guy. He sat down at her invitation.
"Sorry to bother you about it, of course." He tugged at the collar of his shirt with a finger. He'd forgotten it was so hot out, and these heavy clothes didn't help him to keep cool. "I guess I can just start with the basic question of 'how'. What's the mysterious process that's turning you into a... hedgehog, right?"
Emerwyn Emelyn had it covered. Emerwyn smiled at the two. "Good luck, Zach," she said, and she walked off again into the trees, her work for the day completed. Words swam through her mind as she went. She was ready. And maybe, through this, she could help herself with the greater obstacles that lay in the not-so-distant future. Emelyn "Oh, not at all," she said, waving off his polite apology, "it will do me good to have some company. More than just my basket, anyway," she said jovially, lifting her fingers to the nimble, if not monotonous, task of weaving as she spoke. "How... well, if I could answer that one, I'd probably be working on how to reverse it. But as far as we've been told, it's a process that changes a portion of your DNA through a series of serums that are injected into you- one when you arrive, then every few months or so until, assumedly, we're about half human and half animal. You don't change until after the second injection. And yes. This is all hedgehog DNA," she asserted, holding up one of her clawed hands as an example, before offering it back to her task. Zachary Bloodstone He felt a little more at ease now. There may still be some sort of creatures lurking in the jungle, but this girl wasn't one of them, to him. The longer he looked, the less confident he was about the fakeness of her appearance. Not even movie magic could pull off some of her animalistic features with costumes alone.
He processed the information she told him slowly. This was heavy stuff, if it was true. Biology was the class he was worst at of the three basic sciences, so it would be just as beyond him as Em. The story seemed to fit a few details he'd noticed. Things were revolving around shots here. His hand clenched tightly at the thought of having to get another one. That wasn't part of the story given by Duvert. Maybe he'd be able to avoid it, and therefore keep both his humanity and sanity intact.
I shouldn't be believing this, but I am, he thought. Her hand smoothly transitioned into claws. There wasn't a hint of plastic. He wasn't scared so much as guilty now. It was an awful feeling, because there was someone he owed a major apology to.
But no, he was still not absolutely certain. False until proven true. He continued, voice still quick with a slowly growing anxiety. "That's... uh... amazing. And why is Moreau doing all of this?" He made a wide gesture at the island. He hoped he'd gotten the name right.
Emelyn Emelyn looked at Zachary with a slow, 'hell if I know' shrug. "Insanity? A desire to fulfill some strange path he thinks is his destiny? He says its for medical knowledge, for some grand purpose, like curing cancer- but personally, I believe more the 'mad scientist' theory." Lauren Granger Lauren wondered upon the beach for her daily swim, fully equiped with her black bikini and a black sarong covering her boney hips and legs. Her hair was tied back, revealing her pointy ears. Her feet were bare as well, revealing the claws on her feet that matched the claws upon her hands. She spotted a couple of people ahead, one seemed unchanged. She hoped he had been given the talk already, she hated giving people the talk. "HEY! She hollered to the two from the distance as she ran upon them for interaction. It had been so long since she had seen anyone besides Awen, maybe other people would heal the wounds of rejection. Zachary Bloodstone So that was it. A mad scientist with a penchant for turning humans into half-animal creatures. But somehow, he felt drained of emotion. He should be scared, horrified. Nothing came to him.He looked back at Emelyn a moment to look very hard at her hairs. Every spine stuck directly out of her skin. It was not fake at all, he realized with vague sadness. How selfish of him to think it was all a game.
At the loud yell of greeting, he snapped his head to the side to see who it was. A whimper escaped his lips. A woman with claws and pointed ears.
She was all it took to make him crack.
"I don't want to become an animal! I want to go home! I'm scared - I..." He ended with a dry cough from lack of air. He was already siezing up with terror, cutting him off from the breathing he desperately needed to keep crying aloud. Tears formed in his eyes. He believed it now, all of it. He just wanted to get the HELL out of this new nightmare.
He turned his face away from Emelyn and the newcomer. He was ashamed of himself enough as it was.
Emelyn Emelyn's eyes went wide, and then drooped down at the corners with twinges of sorrow. She'd never seen a reaction like this to the 'awful truth', and it touched her. She reached out and put a hand on the man's shoulder, hoping he didn't recoil from the animal-like features of her hand. With her other arm, she gave a cursory wave to Lauren, as if to say: walk up on us gently. "It's okay to be afraid, and to mourn. It's a terrible thing that's happened to you, and you're right to be angry and afraid. Those of us who are on the island... many of us haven't given up hope that one day we might be able to go home, to overthrow Moreau or to discover how to reverse this." She looked past Zach to Lauren, wondering how much she'd heard- and noting that the girl had changed since she last saw her. What was it that Moreau had said she was turning into, she thought, rolling the word 'mongoose' around in her head. Lauren Granger Lauren nearly jumped as Zach had spazzed out just after looking at her. She looked at her claws and her small tail, Damn I'm not that bad am I? She thought to herself. "Oh my... did I come at a bad time cause you know... ho crap are you alright?" Lauren asked the newcomer. She felt akward and wasn't sure exactly what to do. Zachary Bloodstone He shook a little from sobbing. He couldn't stop himself now, not when he'd already started to cry. He just tried to get some breathing through himself. He coughed again. It hurt so much. The truth was terrible.
He tried to get enough air into his lungs to talk, but it wouldn't stay. Every time he tried to find a way to calm down, his mind leapt back to the issue at hand - the zoo of an island. His mind drew a blank for what he could say. He felt sick, horrible inside, and he knew waking up wasn't an option. He barely noticed the hand she put on his shoulder, and held his right hand over his face to protect it from being seen. His red eyes would only get blinded by the sunlight if he tried to look around now.
"S-sorry..." he gasped, and another shudder ran through him. "Just ignore me... I always get panic attacks. I feel so stupid..."
Emelyn "Don't be," she said, referring to his apologies, and speaking in a soothing, milky voice that was honeyed with dulcet tones of understanding. "It's a very big thing, and you have every right to be upset. You're not stupid at all." Emelyn looked up at Lauren, who looked half-frazzled at her attempt to say hello, and eased a calming look in her direction, as well. "He just found out what the island is all about," Em explained, "it wasn't because of you- he's just upset, is all. ...I'm sorry, Lauren, this is Zach, and Zach- this is Lauren." She knew it wasn't the most socially acceptable place for introductions, but even so... it was the right place, based on the circumstances. Perhaps they could distract one another- even in the minutest way. Lauren Granger Lauren beamed a slightly out of place smile "Hey Zach." then caught herself and put a concerned look back on her face. "So, they brought you here." Lauren still wasn't fully convinced that Moreau was back and everything was alright. She had a full on conspiracy theory in her head that someone else was running the island. "Did... you see Moreau?" She asked tentatively. Zachary Bloodstone Shaky, he let his gloved hand fall from his face and instead shoved it into the sand, taking the rest of his body down with it in a curve. He tried to end the sobbing, it was embarassing. Get a grip on yourself.
This was not a time for him to be formal. He still couldn't look up due to the sunlight. "Hello... Lauren. Y-yeah, now that I t-think about it I was ensnared." He kept his eyes on the sparkling sand. "They offered me a job s-spelunking. It sounded too good to be true. It was..."
Lauren's question was one he couldn't answer. "No, Em is the first person... who's said that name to me. I got my shot from Sabin Duvert." He hoped that would help her. He wanted to meet this Moreau now, and Duvert at the same time preferrably, if only to stick it to the sadistic bastards.
Thank god they handn't confiscated his gear. He had a few heavy tools he could use persuasively.
Emelyn "Well, I'm sorry you're part of this particular 'club' now," Emelyn said. "But it is nice to meet you, all the same." She felt sorry for the poor, distraught man- who'd obviously had his share of heartaches in the past- she wondered briefly about the circumstances surrounding his amputation, but now really wasn't the time to bring it up. "Spelunking? Is that what you... do for a living?" She paused, trying not to say 'used to do'. "If you'd like, I could show you some of the caves around here. I live in one of them- though I doubt it would be of much use to you- it's just a duck in the wall." Anything to get his mind off his imprisonment. There would be time enough for him to focus on that in the years to come, Emelyn thought sadly. Lauren Granger Lauren looked a little shocked. Maybe Moreau wasn't back, maybe Sabin had taken over the island and now it would be him toying with them for the rest of their lives. She had heard lots of bad things about Sabin from Jolie, and now he turned the island back into action. Maybe... he killed Moreau? Oh god, Lauren tried not to panic herself. She was, unlike Zach, highly skilled at hiding her feelings. "Yeah... part of the club." She said softly, looking down. How could she be sure Sabin would take care of her like Moreau did? Zachary Bloodstone The whole crying thing was slowly subsiding. A little too late, he thought dryly, but better now than never.
He hated thinking of it as a club. It felt more like lab rats. No one here could possibly want this life. "I was mostly a geologist, but spelunking was a real hobby of mine. I'd love for you to show me the caves around here sometime." He slowly got himself back to his feet, used to his balance problems from years of living with his condition.
Poor Lauren. She must have been here a long time, without any hope... but that tone in her voice reminded him that the fight was not yet over. Though he was only one of the many prisoners here... maybe there was a chance to fight back. Maybe they could survive and reach civilization before they were beyond hope.
Or maybe that kind of thinking was even more hopeless than what he originally thought of this trap.
Emelyn "Well, any time, really," Em said, a carpet of soft concern still the foundation of every word. "In fact, if you ever need anything, I'll do whatever I can to help." She looked down at her hands, which had returned winding the grass fibers about themselves, and remembered that she wasn't exactly easy to find these days. She smiled, mostly to herself, shaking her head down into the depths of her basket. Then she looked up at Zach once more. "If you ever look for me in the village, though, I can assure you won't find me. I've decided to live out here. Ever since... well, suffice it to say, Moreau pulled a dirty trick on us all, and I'd rather not continue to live within his hypocricsy. Oh. ...Lauren," she said, pinning on the words as she recalled, "...I'm sorry." Her voice didn't hold much true remorse in it, but she didn't yet know if Lauren still felt the way she did about Moreau. And regardless how she felt about the man... he may be the only person the girl had ever trusted in her life- or perhaps a sort of mentor, father figure to her. No matter what her entanglement with the red-headed, blue-blooded monster had done or might do to rot her soul.... Emelyn was unwilling to sacrifice the girl's comfort and happiness for even... the truth. Lauren Granger Moreau pulled a dirty trick on us all... Wait a minute, no it was Sabin. How did she know if it was Moreau or not "What?!" Lauren nearly screamed at Em in a mixture of disbelief and teenage emotions. "NO! He didn't, he's dead and Sabin has taken over! How do you know that is was Moreau?" She hoped Emelyn didn't actually know, she wanted to stay in denile. Why else did she stare at the radio phone afraid to dial Moreau? Lauren in her rage forgot about Zach. She didn't want to know the truth, the truth would indeed send Lauren into a very bad place. Zachary Bloodstone Zach nodded at Em, his eyes still red from crying. "Thank you so much. I guess... maybe we'll see each other again some time?" He hoped so. "I'll keep a lookout for a redhead doctor."
After a moment, he snapped his fingers. "The intercom in my room! I'll try giving them a buzz and seeing if I can find out what they say is going on. I'm new here, so I can still play dumb for these laboratory doctors."
Lauren's sudden screaming shocked him, even causing him to jump. It seemed even shriller than a normal wail. Wasn't she on their side? Was she... did she want the changes she so obviously had?
He really needed to find out who this Moreau guy was. Everyone's lives here seemed hinged on a recent conspiracy.
Emelyn Em gave a quick smile and nod to Zach- and she would have replied as well, but Lauren's words, for all their insistance and bravado, were... needy. Not unlike the girl herself, Em thought with a kernel of sympathy for the one who called herself "Thorn". "I'm sorry," she said again, putting her hands up, palms out as if to surrender, "I shouldn't presume. I have no idea what happened." Lauren Granger Lauren looked over to Zach with her arms crossed and gave an intimidating hiss at his jumping, her tail was all poofed out like a pipe cleaner and a slight animal like odor wafted through the air. With a deep breath, she calmed down a bit, her tail dropping but still very fluffy and frazzled in appearance. "Can you find out please?" "Yeah... we don't know what happened. But we are screwed if Sabin has taken over the island. He just might keep leaving us out to the jungle for dead. Sick b*****d. Moreau cares too much about us to leave us like that!" Moreau had taken care of her, Moreau had given her everything and had taken her away from all the evils of the streets. He couldn't leave her to die, there was just no way. But a small voice in her mind told her he did, reality was there trying to tell Lauren the truth. "Smart move living out here. If you want, you can have my bow and arrow that I made. I'll bring it by later." She no longer needed that anymore. Lauren was reluctant to give up her knife though, she had grown fond of the crude tool. Zachary Bloodstone Zach took a good few steps backward, putting more distance between him and the hissing rodent-girl. He was hit with a sinking feeling... she seemed barely changed physically, and yet it could be too late for her to return to the world outside this island.
He was forgetting the days, weeks, and months these people had been trapped here, supposedly without any sort of supplies or technology. He glanced nervously. Emelyn looked and acted normal, but deep down, she could be just as liable to go totally animal as Lauren.
It was sick and wrong. They - himself included now, he realized bleakly - were people, not playthings!
Lauren looked a little calmer now. He grimaced. "I...I'll try to find out what I can. Just, please don't do that? The hissing thing..."
Emelyn Emelyn put her hand out again, this time to Zach. "It's just a noise she makes when she's agitated. I hiss as well," she explained, "though usually when I'm hurt. We all pick up things from the animal DNA that's encoded with ours- but we're always still human. It's what we identify as, and it's our brains that matter." It was less of a lecture than a reassurance- it was a lot to swallow, but she was sure that in the midst of all this science-fiction like dehuminizing, Zach would eventually find the core of what made him human in the first place, and embrace it. "And Lauren, I would love to have that bow. Thank you. I didn't even know you'd made one!" She said, smiling at the girl. As a hedgehog, she wasn't apt to hunt- her meat needs could be satisfied with the occasional grub, snake, or earthworm- but beyond not wanting to mention those unseemly things in front of the already anxious newcomer- she realized that the bow and arrow was more of a peace offering than anything else. That, and she didn't take the wild for granted- anything could happen. The day might come that she'd be glad for the protection. Lauren Granger Lauren blinked as Zach asked her to not hiss anymore, then Emelyn explained it, "I.. oh yeah I did hiss. Sorry." A small blush came across her face. "Don't worry I've not bitten anyone... yet." Happy in her state of disbelief and feeling like her assumption was indeed the correct one, Lauren returned to a chipper state. "No problem, I'm not useing it right now, I can order pizza. I think I'll stay in the duplex's though, might as well take advantage of things even if he's just gonna kick my a** out again later." She stared bouncing slightly, Zach and Emelyn seemed like good people, even if Zach did spazz out just a bit ago. Lauren was quite used to being on the side of controversy because she cared for Moreau so it didn't bother her that others thought he was mad anymore. And socialisation was making the mongoose very happy, no matter how warped it was. Zachary Bloodstone "Heh, it's no problem." He lied innocently. That hiss was inhuman. "I didn't realize you couldn't help it." He felt some more guilt. The longer he talked, the more damage he'd end up doing, he was sure.
"Emelyn, I'll meet you here again sometime... and tell you what happens."
Now seemed as good a time to head back as any. He was a little eager to try the intercom...
He looked over at Lauren. "I think I'm going to try to find my way back to the village and give the laboratory a call. Which is the fastest way?"
Emelyn "Oh, I can answer that," she said, giving an apologetic look at Lauren for jumping in, "don't go back over the mountains- it will take you forever. Just follow that track of woods closest to the mountains, and walk for about.... seven, eight minutes. Then, head south a bit. The forest will thin, and you'll be able to see the village through it. ...Good luck with everything." Lauren Granger Lauren nodded, not at all offended by Emelyn's jumping in, "That's the right way." She looked over at Emelyn. "I better get to swimming before the sun gets down further and the water chills. Bye it was nice seeing you again." And she waved at Zach, "And good meeting you too, don't worrying about spazzing." it's quite intertaining she added in her mind. Lauren walked off into the vast waves of the ocean and could be seen off in the distance, swimming around. Zachary Bloodstone Zach gave Em a small smile. He still felt awful... everything happened so fast. He'd make it up to her. He had a plan... sort of. "Goodbye, Lauren."
He prepared to leave, but before he did, he looked back at the hedgehog girl. "Em, I..."
No, he couldn't say it.
"I wanted to wish you good luck. Living out here... it sounds dangerous."
He mentally slapped himself. At least he knew he'd never have had a chance to begin with. Well, off with him. He clambered back up the sandy slopes and into the forest, following her directions. If the pair of them had survived this long on the island, they'd be better off dealing with thier problems without the hindrance of a newcomer.
Emelyn Emelyn watched both of them go- hoping for both that they found answers that they could live with... for those questions that haunted them. She saw Zach disappear into the trees, and kept an almost protective eye on Lauren as she dove into the waves. She felt a little like a mother, sitting on the beach and hoping for the best while those who seeked answers and guidance went out into the world. It was a strangely sage thought, and the hedgehog-girl laughed at the mock-seriousness of it all as she set her eyes back down to her task, one hand picking up the weave once more and the other hand reaching into the basket beside her to pop a sweetroot into her mouth. The day was young- and she had much to do, yet.
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Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 5:34 pm
How to Survive
Emelyn had lost track of the days, but knew somehow in the back of her head that it was approaching the week mark since she'd turned her back on the hypocrisy of civilization and comfort that Moreau could pull away at any moment. She had thought it would be a more difficult transition than it was- but truly, after this handful of days, she realized that living off the land was uniquely satisfying under her particular circumstances. Just the fact that she'd made the choice was a large factor- the feeling of being in control of her own life was another. In actuality, it went beyond control- she was responsible for her own survival. It didn't leave much time for that sort of brooding, 'pull the shades' existance that she'd perpetuated while in the village and feeling low. Out here, if she just decided to lay in the cave all hours, sulking in the dark- she'd soon find herself hungry, cold, and wholly unable to climb down the mountain in her weakened state.
It hadn't been an issue, however, thus far. She'd not felt anywhere near the need for a good sulk. Emelyn's body had gone into full-out survival mode- a package which came with a positive outlook on life and its prospects. Some primal switch had been activated, goading the girl to follow through with her convictions, igniting an encouraging voice of self-confidence that whispered in her ear that she could do whatever she needed to do to survive... nay- thrive. The natural adrenaline had done Emelyn good- in the past few days, she'd collected enough food to last her for a meager week, were something to happen and she was confined to her mountain home- and also ignited enough plans and projects to keep herself occupied and make her life easier.
She planned to create a permanent drying rack on the beach as soon as she'd finished her tools- which was another underway project- searching for the right sort of shale and flint to chip into a knife. But today, her goals were easy: take a walk in the woods, search leisurely for her rocks, and collect food as she went. She had her medium-sized basket (also the slightly misshapen one) at her hip, her digging stick peering over the edge as she walked calmly through the underbrush. When she saw the sprouts of a plant that would have a thick, tasty root, she hunkered down and dug it up from the earth with a few motions that were becoming routine. Emelyn realized that this knowledge of what was good and edible was likely the hedgehog in her. It often urged her to fill her basket with thick, juicy roots- grubs, berries- and even earthworms, when she'd see them poking up from moist earth in the early morning. Once, she'd even licked her lips as a small snake wound its sinewy way through the densely packed forest floor- but she'd let it pass, thinking that she would take on the meaty fellow later- perhaps when she had reasonable weapons to do so.
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