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The tattooed woman glanced over at Jamal at his statement, eyes gaining a bit of surprise at the tone of his voice, worry taking over when his body shook. He had gotten up before she could stop him, and she simply watched as he fell apart, stumbling towards the ocean.

A wince hit her when he fell, but her attention was caught by Anjali. She was the one changing after all, and she had promised.

Luckily, Antony had missed the rest of the transformation thanks to Jamal's outburst, watching cautiously as Anjali dealt with the insect. Swallowing, she looked from the freaking out Jamal back to the freakishly calm Anjali.

Props for Anjali's keen ability to keep composure during her transformation.

Antony didn't want to think of how she'd react when... if she herself changed at all. Optimism, two weeks weren't up...

"How... Do you feel?" She asked tentatively, tearing her eyes from the gooey fingers to the darker woman's face. Hopefully she was okay, because Jamal didn't seem to be handling it too well.

She had accepted the fact that people on the island were going to look different, were going to change, and to Antony, she viewed them as 'body modifications,' conveniently forgetting that they weren't exactly voluntary. Whatever kept her sane.

Another glance was sent in Jamal's direction, lips curved downwards in a frown.

"Anjali, I'm going to help the hysterical one right quick," she didn't like how he was acting, and with an apologetic look towards Anjali, Antony turned and chased after the black man.

With her luck, Jamal would try and drown himself.

Jamal huddled on the cool, damp sand, shaking every once in awhile. Seeing a person as normal one day and then running into them the next day changed was bad...but to watch it was horrifying.

"She...she wasn't 'spose ta change...no...all wrong," he mumbled in a keening wail, muffled by his arms and chest as he remained in a curled position, the rush of blood in his head making his ears ring.

Maybe he hadn't really escaped the serum...Anjali had been there longer than he had and she was just NOW finally getting the effects. They hadn't forgotten about her....they probably hadn't forgotten about him either.

Antony closed the distance between her and the curled up Jamal easily, and she instantly sank to her knees next to him, reaching out to rub his back in a comforting motion. She didn't know how he'd take to a hug, and decided that this would be the best way to start off.

"It's over Jamal..." The tattooed woman whispered before crawling in front of him and gently wrapping her hands around his wrists to pull them from his face. "She's safe... You're safe..."

But you still smell, a voice in her head was quick to remind her. It was brushed aside almost immediately

Her eyes watched him with concern, her thumb absently caressing the insides of his wrists as she held them still.

He flinched at the initial touch on his back, fleeingly wondering if Anjali had come over, and made an odd noise...a mix of a grunt and raspy whine. He didn't want to talk to her or see her, let alone be touched by her.

The tuggings at his wrist met resistance when he didn't immediately drop them, instead tensing and actually giving a low growling noise as he grit his teeth behind the 'curtain' he made.

"Don't," he said in a low, strained voice that sounded harsh.

Her hands released his wrists immediately, falling to rest on his knees as she remained silent for a while, contimplating what to do. She decided to go with a subject change.

"Am I to take that as a raincheck on the de-smelling of Jamal?" Antony said woefully, a look of mock mourning settling on her features. Absently, her thumbs restarted their motions on his knees, but other than that, she did not advance on him further.

He was much bigger than she, and Antony had yet to see him violent. Now was not a time to find out either.

It was probably a smart idea to not continue to pull on his wrists, as he probably would have gotten angry...as anger almost always seemed to follow outbursts of fear in the black man for some reason. Anger of of showing his fear? Or just anger that needed a spark in order to be set off?

"I kin sleep alone. Ova' herr or sumthin'," he rumbled heatedly, a detectable seriousness to his voice that was not meant to get sympathy. He wasn't sure if he wanted to share the fire tonight anyway. Not with Anjali there. How was he to know if she'd suddenly sprout an extra arm or head out of the blue at this point.

His side smarted painfully as his lungs started to calm and resume a normal breathing pattern, but they hurt from being constricted in such a cramped position. His stomach, however, continued to rumble and twist obnoxiously.

"Personally," she began. "I'd rather you didn't, and besides it'll probably make you feel better."

Antony gave his knees one final rub before removing them to tug off her shirt, which she balled up and chucked far up the beach. Away from the rising water.

The water was already beginning to crash up around them as the tide came in, a small smile coming to the woman's lips. "My hands are magic~," she crooned, hoping to lure him out from his hiding place behind his arms.

Under any other circumstances, he probably would have jumped out of his turtle huddle and mowed her over to be the first one in the water, then would wait expectantly for her to get out to where he was. Tonight, however, he gave a huffing snort and only parted his arms so one eye could be detectable from the little shelter he made.

He didn't say anything.

"Please~," she murmured, giving him a sort of puppy dog look as a last resort. Standing up, Antony held both her hands down to him, offering him help up.

"You're already wet, might as well finish it. Anyways, you can still brood in the water." Antony beckoned him to her, giving him a crooked smile. Damn, he was a stubborn as she was.

Jamal really didn't feel like deal with the ocean anymore. He could smell until morning....until next month at this point, if it meant that he could escape a doctor's needle because he smelt so bad. However, he knew that Antony was just as stubborn, if not more so, than he was.

It was this fact, not the puppydog look (as cute as it might have been), that made him give up on getting peace there at the ocean's shore.

"Fine...but only 'cause I know you ain't gunna leave me alone 'til I do," he said grudgingly, though he was reluctant to move at all just yet.

"Whatever worked," she grinned, attracting his attention to her offered hands again before going on, "Besides, after you're clean I could give you a back massage... Return the favor from the other day? Suck up a bit?"

It was a rare oppertunity that he should probably take advantage of, Antony wasn't one to suck up often, much less admit to it.

Ooo....back massages were nice...especially since his back was pretty ******** up from his sleep on the jungle floor and attempting to haul himself around on one working foot and a stick. That and she really did need to suck up. He was still mad at her...not as much as before, but enough to where he could milk it and potentially get favors out of it.

With an eyeroll, he took the offered hands and when she helped to get him to his feet, he used enough of her help to stay steady and put most of the reliance on standing on his own power. He was, afterall, bigger than she was by a considerable amount.

She gave him a smug grin before offering herself for him to lean on her as they made their way down into the water. The deeper in they got, the less heavy he became. Huzzah for boyancy.

Antony debated whether she should just have Jamal sit in the surf or walk out a bit deeper. Nodding, she stopped when the water came up to just below her hips.

"Sit," she said, waiting until he did so before kneeling down behind him and scooping up a handful of sand. Using this to scrub, she started on his back, scrubbing the sand into his skin. "Tell me if it hurts."

This was how she washed earlier, and it had worked.

"Yous worse than ma mutha'," he commented peevishly as he did as ordered, using his hands to help keep him somewhat steady as he was submerged in the warm ocean water. "Ya both always tellin' me what ta do 'n' when ta do it." Except I won't have ta deal wit' ma mom no more... His lip quirked into a small frown at that thought, but he pushed it out of his mind. No way was he going to sit and emo-whine about everything wrong in his life right now.

Jamal's brow furrowed at the strange sensation of being scrubbed with sand; it didn't hurt, at least not yet, and probably wouldn't as long as she didn't linger too long in one spot with it. It actually felt sort of good, in a way that was hard to really describe. Or maybe he just really needed a bath and the feeling of being semi-clean was just that good.

"But, I am not your mother," she stated matter of factly, finishing up his back before collecting a new handful of sand. Reaching around him as if she were bear hugging him, Antony began scrubbing his stomach, her front pressed against his back.

She debated humming, but decided that her voice wasn't exactly meant for music and simply continued to scrub.

Small talk would be good, "So, how old are you Jamal?"

"I should hope you ain't ma mutha," he said ruefully, staring blankly off into the distance. "Othawise there'd be some problems." Actually, problems wouldn't even be the start of what there would be...especially since the 'twins' were now pressed not-so-secretly to his back.

At the question of age, he came back into the present, letting his toes curl into the soft sand below to help anchor him in place.
"Age ain't nuthin' but a number," he commented, almost as though he was trying to be evasive, but followed it up with "25" shortly after. He didn't feel like trying to be coy right now.

"Exactly. That would be gross." To say the least. Antony made a face before scooping up a handful of sand in each hand and working them up his sides. Capturing more sand, she shifted to rub down his arms, raising an eyebrow at his answer.

She so had him pegged younger than that. Well, at least she didn't feel as old now.

Nodding in agreement to his comment about age, Antony soon followed up his answer with an indirect clue, perhaps because he wasn't being coy. "Well aren't you young." Inwardly, she wondered how old he had thought her to be.

Jamal lifted the unoccupied arm up to peer at his slowly prunifying fingers, wriggling them just above the surface as he heard her little quip about being young. She was rewarded with a expression that read somewhere along the lines of 'O RLY?'.

"I ain't dat young, unless you's 30-somethin' and been hidin' it well," he drawled as he let the hand drop back into his lap, turning his head to give her an apprasing look out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey... I'm not that old," she retorted, smile playing on her features as she caught his glance, and after a bit of a pause, she told him hers, "27."

She had never thought of herself as old, but considering how old everyone else seemed to be on the island, Antony had been starting to feel it.

Finishing what she could reach, she hoped that he had taken it upon himself to wash his own nether regions, and maybe even his legs and face. Most importantly the manbits. There was nothing worse than a stinky crotch in Antony's opinion.

"Well a'ight then," he said flippantly as she finished the sand scrub on his upper body, hence leaving him to do the rest himself, which he started. She probably needed a brief scrub herself, having been sweating and whatnot with all the driftwood gatherings and whatnot. "Like I said, age ain't nuthin' but a numba. Not like I'dda cared any if yous been 30-some."

He was amused that she had so easily given up her age; he knew better than to ask a woman how old they were if they looked to be past a certain age block...the younger ones were usually prouder than hell to say their age, as though saying "HAH I really am legal even though I look 16" while the older ones were "I'm old enough to know better but that doesn't stop me >3" and leave age out of it.

Looking back to make sure that Anjali wasn't staring outright, Antony stood up and tugged off her thong, stepping out of it before 'washing' it a bit in the water. Gods wearing the same underwear for days on ends was gross.

Once those were clean to her liking, Antony unhooked her bra and draped both articles over Jamal's shoulder so they wouldn't float away, "Hold these for me."

And with that, she too sat down in the sand, using the sand to scrub herself down. Starting at her stomach and moving upwards, then washing from her stomach to her toes, and everything in between. She even dunked her head under and gave her hair a bit of a cleaning. Oh how she loved short hair.

Jamal hardly bat an eye at being a makeshift clothing rack, busily washing his legs, wincing as he discovered the scabbed over scrapes on the one. Whoops...forgot about those. Lovely. At least saltwater was good for healing, or so he had been told.

The boxers were removed at one point to get a good rinsing before they were put back on, all managed under the water should anyone be paying attention to them out in the ocean. The last thing he needed was an audience that would go yap to Awen.

His skin felt a bit raw from all the of the grit, but it was better than nothing. At least he didn't sunburn easily.

Closing his eyes, he cupped some water and splashed it on his face, then rubbed it gently with sand before rinsing that off too. His hair was left alone, for now. It was really going to be a pain to deal with if they were stuck out here for very long...

Once clean, she replaced the undergarments and stood up once she had rinsed herself of all the sand. She loved feeling clean.

For show, she gave a tenative sniff of the air around Jamal before nodding in approval. "There, much better," Antony said with a grin, offering Jamal a hand so that he could stand up easily.

Jamal rolled his eyes at the sniff, his mood still teetering between all-around sour or just irritable, and got up easily thanks to the combined efforts of the water and Antony.

"I'd kill fo' some shampoo," he grumbled, starting into a lurching walk back towards the shore, using the water to hold his weight as he tiptoed on his bad foot each time he needed to move it.

Antony scooted so he could lean on her, wrapping an arm around his waist for added stability.

"Yeah, so would I... And a steak, with some hazelnuts for dessert," she said wistfully, stomach grumbling angrily at her for mentioning food. Nevermind where she got the idea for hazelnuts, she just wanted food.

Soon they were back by the fire, where they could let the smoke help dry them off.

"Hazelnuts...?" he trailed off. Of all the odd things to want...

Once at the fire, he stood/wobbled near the fire to dry off from the combination of heat and drip-dry, contemplating what they were going to sleep on. He didn't want to sleep in the sand...at least, not directly on it. The black man's eyes landed on the dried palm frond shreds, a pensive look falling over his face.

"I have no clue," she muttered, shaking her hair dry while holding onto her glasses.

Following his gaze, Antony nodded slightly, "Sand isn't too bad, but it is when you're wet." While he decided on what to do, Antony went and gathered her tank top, shrugging it on before pulling her bra off so that it would dry a bit more.

She debated taking off her wet underwear as well, but simply threw out that idea, dragging a palm frond by the fire for her to sit on and dropping onto it with a grunt. "Do you want that massage now or later?"

While she was away, he had already gathered up a decent spread of palm leaves to use as a bed. It wasn't perfect, but it'd have to do. Had he been a bit more mobile, he'd have gotten more, but since he could only get what was close...

His jeans were picked up and shook out, then given a sniff when Antony wasn't looking. Ick...they needed to be washed, but he was too sore at this point to hobble back down to wash them. He tossed them away from the camp so they wouldn't stink up the immediate area, making a mental note to deal with them later.

"Massage now sounds fine," he answered while checking out his bed one last time, then dragged one remaining frond over in front of her and sat. A good massage...then bed. He was so tired...

Antony shifted behind him, moving so that she was up on her knees behind him. Her hands began to work along the back of his neck, rubbing the cricks from it before she let them trail down to his shoulders.

Staying there for a while, Antony made sure to work at them until they were relaxed, thumbs kneading the muscles methodically.

"Tell me if it's too hard," she said lazily as her hands moved lower to his upper back, and when she felt the knots there, Antony knew this would take a while. He was rather tense.

He "Mmmed" in acknowledgement of her statement and let her 'magic hands' attack the painful knots and cramped muscle of his back, eyelids drooping slowly until just narrow slits showed a bit of brown and black of his pupil and iris. He wasn't the only person to appreciate a good massage.

Jamal might have been considered uncharactersitically quiet during this as he let his thoughts wander in a vain attempt to get everything straight in his mind. Okay...so...he was stuck on an island, having to survive basically with what he knew (which wasn't much), had watched a woman transform whom he was certain had cheated the system as he had, and had Awen pissed off. The Awen thing was over and done with, aside from the aftermath. He could handle that. The being lost in the wilderness thing wasn't so bad, now that he was in good company...that could be handled also.

It was just the transforming thing that had him by the balls.

Antony yawned, but grinned afterwards, working her hands lower and lower, until she was sure that all the knots were gone. When she reached the base of his spine, she finished up and patted him lightly on the back. "All done."

It had been a decently long massage, and her fingers were slightly sore. She'd easily get over that, but first... The woman crawled over to the bottle of Goose. So what if it was warm? Uncapping it, she took a decent swig before screwing the cap back on.

Her eyes caught sight of Jamal's 'bed,' and a look of jealousness spread onto her features. Part of her debated trying to steal it from him.

When the tug of her hands on his back halted, he yawned widely and rubbed at his face, feeling much less achy and that more tired. "Thanks," he said gratefully, also crawling away from where they had been sitting then, but he went for his bed, not the alcohol. For once, he wasn't in a drinking mood.

With a grunt of contentment, he slumped down onto the palm leaves, the sand shifting enough to conform to his body and become mildly more comfortable than he would have guessed once he had rolled over, facing Antony with his back to the fire.

His 'bed' wasn't huge, but if she felt so inclined, she could probably take over the room that was left. Jamal wasn't going to kick her off it after all she'd done for him today, even if she did need to suck up after her slip of tongue to Awen.

The little bit of alcohol before bed dulled her mind just enough to allow her to sleep. It kept them quiet and gave her peace of mind. Literally.

She watched him carefully, and after a moment's consideration, decided that he would probably share and she crawled over. Rolling onto her side as well, Antony took the edge in front of him, back facing him as she moved around to get comfortable, leaving space between them. "Thanks," she murmured softly as she closed her eyes, too lazy to take off her glasses.

He made sure she had enough room without pushing himself off the makeshift blanket, a wide yawn splitting his jaws before he managed a slighty garbled "ain't no problem". To save himself the probable drama if Awen wandered over, he kept the space there between them. He wasn't sure where he and the younger woman stood at the moment, but it was best to get things hashed out eventually. Wouldn't surprise him in the least if she was done with him.

Though, during the night, he had a tendancy to snuggle up to whatever was handy...so...he wouldn't be held responsible for that once he fell asleep.

He stared off into the dark jungle for a bit, keeping a half-hearted watch over the 'camp'.

Antony reached behind her to absently scratch an itch on her lower back before returning her arm to where it had previously been. Luckily there was a fire and it was quite comfortable outside.

Her eyes watched the jungle as well, making a mental request for no one to come and steal food from them all. The food had actually been stashed in a hole in the sand that had been dug, with palms covering it and then driftwood laying across it.

It was a makeshift fridge, or way to keep wild animals out of it.

Jamal sighed and closed his eyes finally, deciding that if anyone was going to show up and partycrash, there was little they could do about it until it happened. He pitied ANYONE stupid enough to try it; he'd seen the knife that Antony had on her earlier and between the two of them, they could take a solo intruder...maybe even a couple of them. He'd rather not find out, but some of the villagers proved to be stupider than he'd originally guessed.

He also decided it was pointless to try and stay all "invisible wall" between himself and his bedmate, considering how small the bed was to start with, plus he knew his own tendancies. Awen obviously didn't care about his well-being right now, as she hadn't yet come out to check on him. If the younger woman couldn't cut him some slack (the situation of sleeping on the beach on palm leaves wasn't exactly ideal), then so be it. Besides, Antony was warm and even though they were on a tropical island, it did get breezy and a tad chilly at night.

Therefore, he felt little remorse as he cuddled up to Antony's back, chin resting lightly on her shoulder, and draped an arm casually over her middle. Much more comfy, this was, than trying to worry about offending the wrong person.

Her thoughts echoed his, and when she felt the warmth of his body come up behind her, Antony simply leaned into it. He didn't smell anymore, after all.

Yes, this was much more comfortable. She relaxed considerably, eyelids drifting closed now that she was situated. She wouldn't be surprised if they woke up in an entirely different tangled position; Antony shifted a lot when she slept, unless she was dead tired. Or drunk as a skunk.

It was sort of eerie to be falling asleep on an open beach like this; the constant whoosh noise of the water breaking the shore accompanied by the occasional animal noise or brush rustle could be unsettling if one wasn't used to it. Since he had already done the jungle thing once already, it wasn't so bad. The rhythm of the water was soothing once he stopped focusing on it so much.

It didn't take long for him to eventually drift off into sleep...one that would hopefully not be as restless as he feared.

Antony was coaxed into sleep by the sound of the waves breaking, a sound that had always relaxed her and now wasn't any different.

She hoped Anjali was okay.

Absently, her arms wrapped around his arm, as a child would hug a stuffed animal to themselves.

It was late morning by the time Antony finally stirred, having slept pretty damn well considering. Much better than the night before at the very least.

Somehow, she had shifted so that she was using Jamal's chest as a make shift pillow. Not that she'd realize this until she woke up fully.

For now, her eyes stayed closed, and Antony willed herself back to sleep. Or tried to anyways. Her actions failed, and she was left half awake and half asleep.

Jamal hadn't moved much during the night, but then again, he generally never did once he was out. He was still fully sleeping, as her stirring wasn't severe enough to bring him around.

He'd slept fairly well, considering the pain in his ankle...which was now a vivid mesh of blue and black, but the swelling had gone down.

Antony really didn't want to get up, but the sun in her eyes demanded otherwise. After rolling over and away from the blasted sun, she sat up and immediately looked to the fire, which was still burning though needed more wood.

She made a mental note to gather more today as well.

Then her eyes went to the 'fridge' and she was happy that everything was how she left it. At the mere thought of food, her stomach rumbled painfully, and she cringed openly. They should really try a hand at fishing or... something today. Protein was needed, badly.

Jamal made a noise...a mix between a grunt and a sigh...and peeled one eye open a little. He was about to ask what time it was, but realized there was no way to tell.

Instead, he grumped and rolled onto his stomach, burying his head in his arms.

Her eyes moved over to Jamal when he grunted, chuckling softly as he rolled over. She herself took her glasses off, setting them aside so that she could rub the sleep from her eyes before replacing them back on her head.

They definately needed more food, and she wasn't about to go hunting after wild animals with naught but a knife from the bar and no experience whatsoever.

Maybe they could set some sort of snare trap? Or they could dig a hole and cover it up with leaves and stuff?

Jamal would certainly be ueless in the matters of hunting unless he had a gun...but he could dig a hole if necessary. He wouldn't like it, but he'd do it just so he didn't come off as being lazy and unproductive. What else was there to do anyway?

"All our s**t still there?" came a grumbled query from against the palm fronds.

"Yep, thankfully," she replied, eyes moving to appraise his ankle momentarily. "At least your ankle looks a bit better..."

Antony stood, stretching before collecting her discarded clothing. Namely her bra and pants, which she shrugged on easily before she went in search of her foot wear. "We need to find a way to get meat since it doesn't seem like the power is coming back to the village."

"Dat requires me ta get up, don't it," came another muffled inquiry before he lifted his head and blinked against the harsh sunlight that greeted him. Hands moved to brush stray grains of sand from his face as he clumsily turned into a sitting position.

"How you figger we gonna get some meat? I ain't got no weapons on me...they made sure o' dat when I first got here."

"You don't need weapons for a trap though..." She smiled, the more she thought about the trap idea, the more her mind began to put plans together. Pulling a few ideas from both movies and her own hunting experiences, Antony began tweaking them to fit their cause.

This may just work.

"Have you ever seen Hidalgo?" Pausing, Antony thought for a moment before nodding, "They set traps in it where they dig holes and put a bunch of spears facing upwards in it. We don't have spears, but I'm sure we can fashion sharp sticks or something... Then cover the hole with vegetation so you can't see the hole. Maybe even bait it..."

She trailed off, mind whirling over the possibilities. It was the same look she had when she got some hairbrained idea for a tattoo, or one of her mechanic projects.

"Hm..." was the only answer he gave at first, staring blankly off into the horizon as he mulled over the idea. s**t, that stuff did work in the movies, but this wasn't a movie, unless someone was -really- good with their special effects.

Eventually he got to his feet, hesitantly putting weight on his battered ankle, and was visible relieved when he could walk on it with a slight limp that didn't hurt too bad. He went to retrieve his jeans, which he held at an arm's length away.

"Well, if you think it gonna work, I guess we betta try...I'm ********' starvin' for some meat...fruit ain't gonna hold me ova' til' they figger out what da hell is goin' on wit' the duplexes 'n' whateva," he said before trudging towards the ocean to wash his jeans.

"Well, we have a shovel and a knife," she murmured, half speaking to herself in thought. It was, in her opinion, quite a good idea, and it didn't involve her running after a wild animal with naught but a knife.

Boots on and laced, Antony gave an irritable look towards the jungle before making her way towards it, scooping up the knife on the way there, "I'll be back in a bit."

She could have sworn she saw some bamboo earlier, maybe there was some growing around here as well. It didn't take her long before she was in the thick of the forest and unable to see the beach anymore.

Making sure to go relatively straight as to not get lost, Antony kept her eyes out for fruit as well. She easily identified a few coconut trees, as well as a few other plants bearing the types of fruit that Anjali had collected several days ago. This was good.

After a bit of wandering, she found a rather large amount of bamboo, ranging in sizes. Maybe some of these could be used for more than just a trap.

Now came the physical labor. Stooping down on her knees, Antony took out the knife and began to chop. It was slow work, but she didn't mind. The work soothed her to a degree, and soon she was humming happily to herself, despite her stomach's rumblings.

She remembered that bamboo shoots were edible as well, and while she was down on her knees hacking down stalks of bamboo, Antony made sure to gather any shoots that she found. Soon she had a rather decent pile of both on either side of her.

Standing back up, her eyes went upwards until she spied some low hanging vines. Perfect. These were soon cut free and yanked down. With the 'rope,' she tied up the bamboo stalks she had cut down, wrapping the leftover vine around the bundle and tying that off as well.

As for the bamboo shoots, Antony bent down and hacked off the end of a rather thick bamboo stalk at the joint so that she now had a cylinder open at one end. The shoots she had collected were stuffed in there, and without thinking twice of where to carry them, the 'container' was shoved between the girls.

Hefting the bamboo over her shoulder so that it was parallel to the ground and perpendicular to herself, Antony made her way back to the beach.

Who knows how long it had taken, but when she finally emerged from the jungle, Antony was covered in sweat. Part one of the mission accomplished.

While she was away, he went into the ocean to try and scrub the birdshit from his jeans using sand, just like they had used last night. Privately he bitched to himself that they were now ruined; so much for having nice clothes. Not like it mattered much, since they were going to get ruined one way or another with the way things were going. Once this was done, he went to the first to add some more fuel to it (most of the palm leaves they had used for a bed went in), then stood there with his jeans held out to attempt to try them somewhat.

He didn't know that she had gone off to hack bamboo, so when she returned with her arms full, he gave her look of mild annoyance.
"Ya coulda told me ya were gonna go do dat," he said, testing the dampness of his jeans briefly with a hand. "I woulda helped some. Not dat you 'pparently needed it..."

"You can help me now," she replied, giving him a crooked smile, "I also saw some more coconut trees back there, but you can't climb those with your ankle." Not that Antony knew how to climb them either, but she was sure as hell going to learn fast.

Hefting the bundle down onto the sand away from the fire, Antony ignored the minor cuts that she had gotten from the bamboo's leaves. Her shoulder and arms would deal.

"Okay," she began, handing him the knife, "Do you think you could cut the smaller ones into sharp points? Like cut at a sharp angle. Maybe around a foot long? Scratch that, make it two feet so we can bury half of it."

Antony was sure he could handle that, and after pulling out the makeshift container from between the girls, Antony deposited it by the 'fridge' before heading back towards the jungle.

Before leaving, she took one of the vine ropes she used to carry the bamboo with her. Just in case.

He tugged the jeans on, figuring that they would dry well enough on his body while he sat and cut bamboo spikes by the fire.

"A'ight," he answered taking the knife and inspecting the edge on it with pursed lips of disapproval. The edge on this thing wasn't going to last long...

He pulled over one of the remaining palm fronds and took a seat, trying not to send sand all over, then grabbed a piece of bamboo to test out his 'technique'.

Antony made a bee line for the the coconut trees she saw, and once she reached them, she frowned up at them. Now how was she supposed to do this again?

Firstly, she tried giving the trunk a couple of good health kicks, fleeing the vacinity after each as to not be in the way of any falling coconuts. The sound of an object crashing down to the jungle floor made her smile. Maybe she wouldn't have to climb the ******** afterall.

Several more kicks and dodgings later, Antony still only had one coconut. Well ******** how the hell was she supposed to climb up a near vertical tree?

Trial and error.

Wrapping her arms around the trunk experimentally, Antony attempted to grapple with her feet and shimmy her way up. She barely gained her footing after falling from that ******** tree," she muttered, eyes narrowing at it.

Pacing around it and occassionally attempting to climb it without success, Antony finally cocked her head to the side and blinked, suddenly feeling really stupid.

Grabbing the vine, Antony folded it until it was wrapped around both her wrists, with the tree between her and the vine. Never say that watching the Logger competitions on ESPN 2 is a waste of time. Cackling at the thought as she worked her way up the tree, Antony was pleased once she was at the top.

Reaching up, she grabbed onto a frond, testing it with her weight before pulling herself up to stand on it.

Ha HA! Victory was hers!

By twisting the coconuts, the tattooed woman had eventually stripped the tree of all its nuts.

That's what it got for pissing off Antony.

Now she just had to get down...

Cutting the bamboo proved to be more difficult than he had originally anticipated. The thicker outer part of the bamboo deflected the knife easily, so only after cutting a decent sized notch out of the side was he able to find purchase to get the knife in and then start stripping off sections.

The first few were pretty ratty and beat up...the tips not super-sharp, but sharp enough to cause substancial damage if something fell on top of it...but they progressively got better. In any case, it took time and required a bit of muscle, which Jamal had plenty of.

Antony continued to peer down at the ground from her vantage, looking very much like a cat stuck up a tree. A cat who couldn't, despite it's retractable claws and ability to climb UP the tree, find a way down in which they were comfortable with.

After a substantial amount of time, she finally managed to climb down from the fronds, wrapping the vines back around her wrists and the tree. Her boots were on either side of the tree, supporting her as she started to cautiously slide down the tree.

Problem was, as she slid, the vines began to wear away, and eventually, halfway down they snapped.

The tattooed woman flailed and screamed, and after losing a decent grip with her boots, began to fall. Her arms instinctively went to wrap around the trunk, and luckily she was able to grab it. With that death grip, she managed to slow herself down enough so that it was safe to jump down from the height she was at.

Grunting as she landed with a resounding crash, legs giving out under her and causing her to go flying onto her rear. Right on a coconut.

"Oh MY ******** GODS!" She cried out in a sort of half wail, half grunt. Pain shot up her spine and both her arms and chest burned something fierce.

After the pain in her a** diluted somewhat, Antony opened her eyes to peer down at her arms. They were bleeding, and she could guess that the exposed skin on her chest was as well.

Gritting her teeth at the pain, she willed it to go away, and when that didn't work, she tried to focus on something else.

Like...

All the coconuts she had knocked down. While she was still sitting, the woman gathered up as many coconuts as she could fit in her arms and stood with the help of the bloody (literally) tree trunk. Her arms throbbed, burning with whatever nastiness that was on the outsides of the coconuts.

Pushing the pain from her mind, Antony set her thoughts on making it back to camp. Back where there wasn't any ******** coconut trees.

Well, at least THAT tree no longer had any nuts.

Antony huffed irritably with each step, cursing something colorful all the way back to 'camp,' which was a sight for sore eyes the moment her boots met sand and she saw Jamal.

The coconuts were dumped onto the ground, and Antony's attention immediately went to her arms, which she could only stare at pitifully.

Her tattoos~!

Jamal paused in mid-swipe, hearing what he thought was a scream, hand poised above the half-carved bamboo as he tried to decide if it was Antony or just some random animal shriek. When he didn't hear it again, he decided he was just hearing things and continued on.

That is, until Antony finally came stomping back, swearing enough to where Jamal actually looked up in bewilderment, and was greeted with the sight of blood and arms full of coconuts.

"Aw s**t," he said carelessly as he dropped the bamboo he was holding as well as the knife, getting up to cross over to peer at the damage. "What da ******** you do ta get them things?"

He sucked in a breath as he saw the extensive scrapes and saw blood bead and trickle down her chest and arms. Those would have to be washed...they looked ragged and somewhat dirty.

Shaken out of her trance by Jamal's voice, Antony frowned and tried to think of a good way to word it. "I... Uh..." She trailed off, still trying to think of something better than 'I fell out of a tree.'

"Well," she began, "I apparently suck at climbing down trees." Yeah, that sounded a little bit better to her pride.

Her thoughts mirrored his once she snapped out of her tattoo woes, her eyes looking towards the alcohol and then over to the ocean. "I'm going to wash these off in the ocean... Um, can you take off my shirt for me?" Sending him a hopeful look, she sighed softly to herself. The last thing she wanted was an even more blood stained shirt.

Normally an invitation in taking a woman's shirt off would have him on that task immediately, but the circumstances were way different and he sympathized with her injuries. Damn...that tree definately won the battle...maybe not the war, but...

"Hold yo' arms up so I kin do this as quick and painless as I possibly kin," he said as he moved to assist her in shirt-removal, trying his best to not bother her cuts.

Antony winced as she lifted her arms over her head, "Just stretch it a bit so that it doesn't drag on the cuts." To her, that would be the best way to do such a thing. Better than ripping it off of her like a bandaid.

The moment the shirt was off, Antony would be on her way to the ocean surf.

Jamal did as ordered, slipping it over her head with relative ease, then held it out in front of him to inspect the damage.

"s**t, our clothes ain't gonna last long at dis rate, ya know..."

"No s**t," she called back at him from her way down to the surf. Her pants, shoes, boots, and socks came off in quick succession, and soon Antony was in the ********!" She cursed under her breath, gritting her teeth as her arms and chest positively burned. Once it dulled however, Antony began to carefully wipe her hands over wounds, to gently scrub away any dirt and whatnot that was stuck in it.

Oh gods it hurt, but she would not allow herself to cry and instead continued cursing till she was finished. Out of the water, she made her way back to the fire, carrying her discarded clothing out in front of her so they wouldn't rub on her wounds.

Tossing them down on the sand, Antony moved to sit down on a palm frond, motioning him to grab some alcohol, "Now this s**t is going to hurt."

Jamal shook her shirt, trying to get sand and plant matter off it before tossing it over his shoulder, and nudged his bamboo spears into a more uniform pile. He then stoked the fire with most of the remaining palm fronts and some driftwood.

As she came back and motioned to grab some alcohol, he did, not really looking at the label as it was a clear liquor; definately not Captain. If he could help it, he wanted to save it.

He grimaced somewhat at the sight of the fresh cuts. Oh damn, those were going to sting tomorrow...

The cuts weren't as bad as she had previously thought, since the blood and dirt was cleaned off now, the damage, though definately still there, didn't look so bad. Antony was pleased at this, but at the sight of the up and coming alcohol, her spirit lowered and she automatically gritted her teeth.

"Let's do this," she hissed through her teeth, eyes watching the bottle intently.

Jamal looked a little unsure about this. If it really hurt as much as she made it sound...he moved his free hand down to his crotch JUST in case. C_C;

"A'ight," he said, steadying his hand with the mouth of the bottle just above where the cuts started on her chest. When he was certain she was 'set', he tilted it just enough so a thin stream coursed down from it onto her skin, then moved it slightly across from one side to the other until all the scraps there had been covered at one point or another.

Antony didn't even notice his protective motion, eyes focused entirely on the alcohol. A mix between a hiss and a growl came from her lips as the alcohol hit the fresh cuts. She probably would have kicked Jamal if she hadn't understood that this was what she had to go through for the wounds to be sterilized.

Her chest heaved somewhat as he finished, and she said nothing until her breathing returned to normal and the stinging stopped entirely. "s**t... Thanks."

Now to get started on that trap.

"How good are you at digging?" she asked, eyebrow raising as she brought her knees up to prop her arms up on. She wasn't really looking foreward to bending them at all.

"Sorry," he said apologetically as he capped the bottle and set it in the sand, privately mourning the spilt alcohol. It was for the greater good...yes, that's it.

At the question of digging, he smirked. "Ain't dat hard...plus I ain't gotta use my ankle fo' dat."

While Jamal had gone of to dig in the dirt, Antony had sat down to finish his job, ignoring the pain in her arms and chest. The knife was getting dull fast.

Antony nearly stabbed herself when Anjali sat up so suddenly, her eyes going wide and hand going to her heart. A wince came to her face when she was reminded of the cuts on her arms. "God damn!"

Calming herself, she sighed and gave her an apologetic smile, "Sorry, you scared me... Jamal's off digging a pit trap while I cut these..." She explained, setting the knife down and turning her attention to Anjali.

"Are you feeling better? I didn't want to wake you after..." She trailed off, frowning somewhat before glancing up at the sky. Gods she hoped it didn't rain anytime soon, and at that thought her eyes gazed towards the Beach Bar.

Grumbling all the while as he dug, he threw the fresh, damp over his shoulder into a steadily growing heap behind him as he went.

"Dunno what da ******** she thinkin," he bitched to the earth as he shifted forward to get a full shovel scoop, eyes snapping angrily as the spade cut into the soil. "Tryin' ta help...tellin' Antony no...well it's on now, 'parently...them two ain't gunna get along and dat ain't ma problem."

Well, actually, it was...but he didn't wish to think that way.

A fine shimmer of sweat started to layer onto his dark skin as he toiled away, mindful of his bum ankle every time he moved to a new spot to dig. The outline was filled out now, but only about a foot deep worth of soil was gone. It was slow going from all the roots.

Antony blinked at both her comment and the waving of the hair. That was just plain weird, "Uh... No mirror." It was all she could think to say at the moment.

Shaking her thoughts back to the situation overall, she looked over at the Beach Bar again a slow smile coming over her lips. "At least we have a shelter if it rains..."

She motioned towards the hut/bar and grinned, "We'll be able to keep dry firewood too. I'm scared it's going to rain, I mean... It IS a tropical island... Is there a monsoon season or something?"

Jamal sighed and paused his digging, wiping his brow whilst looking at what he'd accomplished so far. It was just over waist deep on him...but definately not deep enough yet. He didn't have any idea on what they could possibly catch in this pit; he'd never seen signs of anything large, furry, and edible in the jungle before. What exactly could live out here anyway? The only experience he had with wildlife was what he saw at zoos and what occasionally ran into the streets in the city. Raccoon? Opposum? A deer?

Somehow he doubted that stuff lived out here.

Maybe a killer horse?

He shrugged to himself, deciding that he'd just wait and see what they ended up with and resumed his digging, the dirt growing cooler the further down he went. The soil was turning sort of squishy too from the water table built up from the rains. Ick...

"I got some more coconuts?" She said, motioning to the bloodied coconuts and then to her scratched up arms and chest. "Climbing down the tree didn't go so well obviously..."

Pushing herself into a standing position, Antony grinned and began heading down to the beach, "I'm going to try to find a stone to sharpen the knife a bit... Do you know how to fish?"

Meat was meat, and maybe she knew some things that Antony didn't.

Jamal was now about shoulder deep in his pit and had started to shape the bottom up a bit nicer so it was as wide as it ought to be. He wasn't sure how deep it really should go, but if they made it TOO deep then they'd never be able to get whatever they caught out. He figured that if it was large enough to jump out AND survive the spikes...well...it deserved to live. :B

Slight blisters rose on his hands as he finished up the work, much to his annoyance. He was a cityboy...they sure as hell didn't dig holes like this every day.

Antony nodded, "Fruit first then? After that we'll try and think of what to do next?" She couldn't think of much else to say as she went down to the water in search of some more of the stones in which she had used for the fire pit.

One was found easily, and she came back to camp, sitting down next to the knife before picking it up and running the stone along the blade. Hopefully it would sharpen the blade a bit.

"I'm glad you feel better though, you don't look so bad..." She was being honest, and it was a good subject change from Awen.

"Whatever you see as useful I guess. If you find anymore coconuts on the ground, and whatnot... I found some bamboo shoots earlier but I don't know how we'd cook them..." She trailed off, eyes going to the container from earlier.

After a bit of sharpening, Antony eyed down the blade and tested it on a stalk of bamboo, which, with a little bit of muscle, it cut. Much more cleanly than it had been. Much much better.

A few more stakes and they would be done.

"I just hope this trap works ya know?" They really did need some meat.

Chuckling at her comment about it being tough, she nodded, "Yes, and that is what Jamal is working on... He's big and strong enough I believe. And don't worry about doing anything too physical. Don't want you to break anything."

She had seen Anjali's eyes go to her fingers and understood what she was worried about. The tattooed woman didn't mind, Anjali was helping out with something that neither Antony or Jamal really could. A botanist could find more than just coconuts, and as long as this trap worked, they'd have a pretty good system worked out.

Her face fell at the question of news. Mental images of Awen caused her to scowl, but she shook it off the best she could.

"No news, we had a few visitors, but that's a story for when there is no work to be done," Antony gave her a weak smile, eyes glancing to her arms before returning to her stake chopping.

Antony sighed, stopping her work and just sitting there for a bit before looking up and over to Anjali, she might as well tell her now. "He was fine until Awen came over..."

Trailing off, she decided to drop the knife before continuing, "Remember me saying how I thought this was a vacation? Well, for me that meant partying, drinking, and to put it blatently sex. And I met Jamal..." Pausing, she ran a hand through her hair, hoping that Anjali could put two and two together.

"Awen found out under complicated circumstances, and apparently things didn't go well. She came over to ask where we found the fruit, and I told her you had somewhere in the jungle. I offered some coconuts to her, she refused, and then she left. Jamal was pretty pissed off."

Frowning, Antony glanced towards the jungle, but simply sighed and shook her head, "Figured you'd find out sooner or later, and that it'd be best to hear it from me. I had no clue he and Awen were... But what's done is done, and I do not regret any of it." A smile was visible, but not one of malice, "I do not regret good sex, ever... Nor do I regret being myself, it is unhealthy."

So either Anjali would think poorly of her, and/or not care. She'd just have to wait and see.

"Be my guest," she said with a half smile. At least she didn't get yelled at or anything, or even worse, lectured on the subject. This was something that Antony respected immensely.

"Thank you for not judging me," Antony murmured before Anjali left, her eyes sincere. Reaching up, she handed the plant woman one of the sharpened bamboo stakes that had been cut. "Good luck."

Jamal had about finished the pit and was rather filthy from the work, but felt pretty damn accomplished. All told, the pit was just over shoulder-height deep on him, which would allow him to still get out but perhaps keep their prey in.

He stooped to shovel a bit more earth as an afterthought, but noticed something odd out of the corner of his eye. Was it a root? Or maybe buried treasure! This was like one of those old pirate movies! Curiousity got the better of him, in either case.

Nimble fingers clawed at the dirt around the object that seemed to reflect an ivory color when exposed to the sun and soon he was granted with what looked to be a bone of some sort. It was marked with various cracks here and there that had looked like it healed or were in the process of healing...and as he moved more dirt, more bones surfaced. Probably animal bones of some kind. Really not that fascinating...

"What da ********," he yelped suddenly as his hand brushed the dirt away from another gleam of white and found himself staring into the eyeholes of a skull. Okay, that was creepy...from what was uncovered, it looked like some sort of animal skull, to judge from the teeth. Ever curious, he continued to dig until he was granted full view of what it really was. His eyes widened in absolute horror and he jumped back, slamming into one side of the pit as he did so. That skull looked NOTHING like any animal he'd ever seen.

A panic rose as he stared at the skull, slowly forming his own conclusions; it looked VERY human if you ignored the muzzle and tusks...but all the breakage....something was not right. Not at all....was it a failed experiement? Or...was it someone who didn't follow the Doctor's commands? He pressed his dirty fingers to his cheeks and felt his jaw, staring at the skull. Those break marks could be from transforming...how else did people like Ambrose get muzzles? They had to be made of bone. The other bones that he uncovered also seemed to have marks like this. He knew enough to know that they were healed fractures; he'd gone into the ER for a broken arm when he was younger, then returned once it was healed for another X-ray and saw the odd markings an old break left.

"Aw HELL no," shouted the black man suddenly in fright, dropping the bones in his hands, and scrabbled out of the pit, hauling himself to his feet as swiftly as possible. "******** jesus christ. So DAT'S how it works! Breakin' our bones to turn us inta animals!" Of course, there was no confirmation on his thoughts being correct, but all he had -was- his own thoughts and that was enough to terrify the crap out of him. One had to have their bones broken in some manner to allow the growth to happen...

He pelted down the path he'd made in the jungle, ignoring the stinging in his barefeet as he stepped on branches or what have you. He needed to get -away- from that pit. Jamal didn't realize that he left the shovel behind and frankly didn't care.

"ANTONY!" he bellowed as he exploded from the trees, nearly tripping over a fallen log on the way.

Antony jumped at the sudden explosion and yell, nearly cutting herself in the process. Jesus, what was with these people and scaring the daylights out of her?

"What Jamal?" She said irritably before turning and looking at him, falling silent immediately. He looked a mess, not only was he dirty and sweaty, but he looked like he had just seen a ghost or something. "What's wrong?" She cautioned, her voice dropping to a more comforting tone.

The woman was worried, the only time she had seen Jamal like this was when Anjali transformed, but she was gone. What the ******** was going on?

She listened to him speak, ingesting every word that he said. When he mentioned the skull, Antony's breath caught in her throat, and she had to work to swallow, the back of her mouth feeling quite dry at the moment. "A skull," she repeated, trailing off as she looked at him.

The was no way he was lying about this one.

A hand ran through her hair as she thought, they had to make that pit. Period. Jamal had put in too many man hours for them not to use the hole.

Well s**t, this was going to be eventful.

Bending down, she gathered the bamboo stakes she had made, tying them up with one of the vines from earlier to make some sort of makeshift backpack. Swinging it on, Antony motioned to the jungle. "Lead the way," her voice wasn't happy, and she gave him a look that begged him to trust her, "I know you don't want to see that s**t again... But I'm not letting all your work go to waste. This trap will be built, just after I deal with the bones."

She figured that saying 'I' would be better than 'we,' this way, he wouldn't get the idea that he had to touch the bones again.

"A ********' skull," he confirmed, looking pained as he spoke. "Someone ********' died out here or they got put there...jus' like we got put out." A hand swept the air in a general, inclusive manner about the island as he said this.

He watched her bundle the bamboo and tensed his jaw, already knowing where this was going. Hell, he'd dig another hole...somewhere far away from that grave preferably...but he knew that she was right; he had wasted too much time to just give up on that pit. A nervous sigh escaped before he reluctantly turned and started back towards the jungle. As long as -she- dealt with the bones, then fine...but he was not going to touch them again.

"I'm not an anthropologist... But we'll see..." She didn't want to make any conclusions before seeing the bones. Maybe they died of natural causes? Who knows how long it may have been there.

Antony was trying to be objective.

Following him through the jungle, she stopped when she saw the metal of the shovel and set down her 'backpack' before edging close to it.

"You may have to help me back up, it's a pretty damn deep hole, which is great." The tattooed woman sat down on the edge of the hole before carefully hopping down into it. She made sure not to land on any of the visible bones.

Crouching, she sucked in a bit of the musty air before picking up the skull and turning it over in her hands. Like Jamal, she noticed the healed over fractures on it as well.

It really did look like a failed experiment, or someone that had had a lot of head surgery. Maybe? Frowning, she glanced over the rest of the visible bones. There were more signs of breaking on the other bones as well, but Antony didn't come to the conclusion that Jamal had, not having seen anyone such as Ambrose on the island yet.

Either way, she was relieved that there were only bones, and no flesh still attached, as well as the depth in which they had been buried at. That meant it wasn't recent, which was good in Antony's book.

"They've been here a while, and are in pretty good condition," she murmured as she began to dig them out with her bare hands, piling them up on the side of the hole's floor. "You've been on the island longer than me Jamal... What do you think?"

"And can you hand me the shovel?" She added as an afterthought, "I need to get these out of here."

Maybe the bones could be used as evidence?

Jamal figured he'd have to help her out, but he didn't linger by the edge of the hole while she examined the bones. He really didn't want to check them out again...they gave him the willies.

While she was messing around with them, he had unbundled the stakes and was trying to figure out an acceptable configuration for them once they were stuck into the soft dirt. Too close and they wouldn't really do much harm; it'd be like the man on the bed made of nails....yet too far apart and whatever fell in might not be killed quickly on impact. He heard her question and paused, sucking in a deep breath.

"I think they belong ta somone none of us ever seen b'fo and them staff people buried it ta hide da evidence...ain't no way they magically ended up dat deep if they as new as they look." He shivered some at the thought, but did get up to hand her the shovel, refusing to look at the pile of human remains as he did so.

"Hmm..." She said when she heard his explanation, taking the shovel from him to continue to dig out the bones.

It took a bit of painstaking work, but Antony finally got out all the bones she could find at the bottom of the pit. Most of them were randomly oriented; leg bones with rib bones, as well as the skull all in the same area. This obviously wasn't a proper burial.

"Toss me the vine... rope, whatever," she called up to him.

Jamal obliged, tossing the vine rope down once he had it free of the bamboo, and continued to mess with the spikes. He wasn't sure that this was going to work...sure, it did in the movies, but it seemed that many rules that movies went by had been broken at this point.

Catching the rope as best she could, she gathered it up and began to make another makeshift 'backpack' like she had with the spikes. Once she was satisfied with it, Antony stood up and moved towards the edge, whistling sharply at Jamal to get his attention while holding her arms up above the hole.

"Help me up," she requested, if he pulled, she could use her feet to climb up the side. Hopefully with little contact between her cuts and the jungle's floor.

Jamal nearly jumped three feet in the air at the whistle, not expecting it, and scowled. He got up from the bamboo spikes to assist her out of the hole though...it just seemed like they were alternating the "scaring the crap out of each other" duties.

He locked hands with hers and when she was ready, he lifted up while trying to keep from crunching her against the dirt wall.

Thank the gods he was strong. With his assistance, Antony was easily on her feet again. Brushing herself off, she immediately put the bones out of sight behind a tree, so that Jamal or her wouldn't have to look at them again.

"Thanks," she said with a smile, "Let's finish this trap." The faster they got it done, the faster they could get back to camp and hope for an animal to come by and fall in the trap.

Jamal gave a stiff nod in agreement on completing the trap and picked up several of the spikes. "So, we gotta bury these to about herr, yeah?" he said, marking off a height about a foot and a half from the bottom from the couple he held. "We gonna need one of us ta go down there ta stick 'em in o' you think we kin do it from up herr? Gotta make sure they in deep enough so that whateva' falls in don't just knock 'em ova."

The thing is that it would probably be hard as hell to get the spikes set in properly if someone was in the hole taking up space...but he wasn't sure if they could manage it from the surface. Maybe half and half?

Nodding in agreement, she quickly considered the predicament.

"I'm smaller than you, I'll go in and set them... You can tell me where to put them since you'll be able to se it better," she said, and before he could object, Antony was back in the hole, "How's that sound?"

Reaching up for him to hand her some stakes, Antony made a mental note to was her wounds again when they got back to camp.

He smirked and shook his head. "Ya got in da hole so damn fast, I dunno if I could object..." he said as he handed her the first batch. "I figure start from dat end furthest away from me 'n' sorta stagger 'em....so like put in da first row right 'cross 'n then the next row, put them between da' spikes of da first row. Likes bricks, I guess."

Hopefully they had enough spikes; he didn't figure the knife was going to be much good any longer.

Antony grinned cheekily and took the batch he handed her, doing what he had said and staggering them out, stopping to check with him to see if they looked alright from above. She made sure that the dirt around each spike was solid and compact, stomping around each of them afer she buried them.

These stakes had NO wiggle room whatsoever, Antony made sure of that.

Soon, she was finished with the stakes he had given her. Standing up, she reached up for some more, rubbing her lower back absently.

He handed her more and notes her slight lower back rub. Mmmm...someone needed a massage...? 8D

"Dat looks real good," he commented, circling over towards the end of the hole that had been filled in already and experimentally leaned over to try and wiggle a few with his hands. They were, of course, planted deep and firmly into the earth, but he felt better by checking to make sure. "If we get anything, we're gonna prolly have ta pull 'em out so we kin get at whateva' falls in...but dat shouldn't be a problem." The last comment was added as an afterthought and was really directed at himself than her.

"I'd rather have to pry a dead animal out than have a bunch of knocked over stakes," she replied, taking the rest of the stakes and repeating the process till she was backed up to the opposite wall from which she had started.

Skimming over to make sure she didn't miss any, Antony gave a nod of approval before turning to face the wall and holding her hands upwards. The universal 'pick me up' symbol of course.

"Now we just need to cover it up, and maybe bait it," she mentioned absently, mind mentally trying to figure on what they could put across it that would support leaves but not an animal. Maybe long pieces of mostly rotted wood? Long, thin sticks? Certainly not anything strong like bamboo.

Again he obliged, pulling her out effortlessly while considering their options. Damn, this trap might actually WORK.

"Maybe long pieces of bark? Cause there's lots of fallen logs 'n stuff...nice 'n skinny...not dat strong..." They could strip long sections off fallen trees pretty easily if it was a little rotted already. "Then jus' kick some leaves 'n stuff ova it?" That's what they did in the movies, anyway.

"Hmm... Sounds about right. A few of those for support, and then two or three palm fronds so that the leaves don't fall through." Most of the repeating was for her sake, her mind working it out visually before she fully agreed with the idea. "Yes, that works. I'll grab some fronds if you get the supports?"

Sounded like a good plan to her. She knew were a good amount of palms were after her ordeal with that bloody coconut tree.

"A'ight," he chirped agreeably before wandering off in search of the proper logs that would give up their bark relatively easily and do so in long sections that would span the hole decently. He was very careful to not get too far away from the trap, as he didn't want to get lost, and paused in front of a large fallen tree that looked relatively old.

He poked and prodded the tree in various places, looking for soft spots and cracks in the rough grey bark before succesfully finding a spot that would allow him to get a good hold on it. The bark was pretty well detached from the main body of the tree, but some spots were still tough so he wasn't able to get one large piece, but several pieces that were long...just not wide.

While he went to find the supports, Antony made her way back to the coconut tree which she had battled with earlier. There were still some coconuts left laying on the ground. She'd have to remember to take those back to camp when the returned to it as well.

Gathering three large, but dried palm fronds, she returned to the trap. The fronds were set down on the ground as she gathered, as best as she could, a decent pile of undergrowth and dead leaves to cover up the fronds with.

After a few more logs, which proved unsuccessful, he found a pair of tree that gave up it's bark easily and stripped long pieces from it. The bark held a musty smell that made him grimace, but it would do the job.

"Ta da~," he called smugly as he returned to the trap, arms laden with the tree matter. "These oughta do, yeah?"

He carefully deposited them next to the hole so they didn't break or disintergrate, and started to angle them across the hole. Some weren't long enough to go perpendicular from side to side, but they could be put at the corners for support.

"Perfect," she applauded, waiting for him to finish his supports before she layed the fronds carefully across the supports, covering the entire hole with a bit of overlap even.

Once that was done, she carefully tossed some of the jungle floor 'gunk' ou over the fronds, smoothing it as best as she could over any obvious see through places.

Standing up, she looked over their creation. "I think we did a damn good job. Let's go pick up the rest of the coconuts I got off the tree on the way back."

Waiting for him to start off in the direction in which she pointed, Antony carefully made her way over to the tree with the bones behind it, hoisting the backpack over her shoulders and following after.

Jamal admired their work, filthy arms crossed over his chest, actually grinning for once. "s**t, if this don't work, then I don't know what we gonna do," he stated. Hopefully the mere fact that this 'looked' to be a game trail (he'd seen hoof prints of some kind and some signs of half-eaten fruit) would work. If nothing happened, they could always bait it.

"I figger we check back lata' tonight or in da mornin'...hopefully we got something by then," he murmured as he turned to lead them back towards camp and where he remembered she headed to for those coconuts. She could always correct him on the proper direction.

She nodded, grinning as well before pushing him in the right direction, gathering a couple herself before making her way back to camp.

He could follow her, though she hoped that he didn't pay too much attention to the bones on her back. Antony'd have to find a place to hide them out of sight, just in case.

"This better damn work," she muttered on the way back.

((Elsewhere... further into the jungle... time for the daily trap-check.

1-4: something takes the bait, but the trap fails in containing it (or snaring it at allon a 1-2, the branches hold while something too light gets the food.)

5-6: nuffink. Unless one of the other Islanders happen into your trap. The bait is left.

7-10: It works! Details if the roll gets this. (7-8, normal, smallish meal-animal, 9- a good meal. 10- ninja ))


EDIT - when you go back to check on the trap the next time, you find some of the leaves disturbed above ground, where many of the big ones have fallen into the pit.

At the bottom, there is a field of broken bamboo spikes, most of them snapped in two. However, there is also several droplets of blood - but not as many as you'd like to see. Finally, there looks to have been a shift in the soil - a lot of the wet earth has collapsed in on the hole, allowing whatever was inside to climb its way out.

The wet earth, however, has left a good impression of footprints: large, cloven hoofprints.