|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 3:05 pm
Cody didn't reply. He couldn't even if he wanted to. Now that the changes reached their end all that was left from the pain was a large soreness that the water was slowly releaving
He looked like he was sleeping, his breath slow though a bit too audible
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 3:14 pm
Gallen poured more water over the boys head form the wet rag. "sigh" Gallen sat there wondering what to do it seemed the changes had stopped. He did not want to leave Cody alone, but he knew he should go find someone to come and look at the boy to make sure he was ok. He growled under his breath from just the thought of having to go and ask for help form the labs. But he had to find someone to check on the boy, just to make sure he was ok. Gallen quickly got up “don’t worry bud I’ll be right back with someone to make sure your ok.” With that he hurried out of the duplex, not realizing that a security team was already halfway there ready to relocate Cody to his new duplex.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 5:03 pm
New Accomodations Hours passed by before Cody was concious again. It started slowly, the feeling of water calmly splashing against his skin. He probably fell asleep in the bathtub again
There was something odd though, but he couldn't quite place it. He stirred, still half-asleep, but his body felt so sore and heavy..... even the spongy surface didn't help making that better. Wait, sponge!?!
Cody immediatly opened his eyes and tried to get off of bed, but everything bellow his waist was sluggish to respond. He didn't noticed though, because he was too concerned in trying to understand where he was
This wasn't his room, that's for sure
He could see the room was divided in 3 layers. The deep area was filled with water up to 12 feet, a large but empty pool with a large glass window. There was a door in it, but the plastic covering was slidded down, so he had no idea where it leaded to
The middle area was the shallow where he was lying, a shelf covered with the spongy material and the slope that connected the 2 other layers
And finally there was the dry level, where he saw all his belongings neatly stored in their places and a wheelchair with a hole in the back part
So apparently this was his new room. Maybe the guys up at the labs decided to give him a bigger bathtub to swim in. But he couldn't figure out what was that wheelchair was doing there
That was, until he realised what had happened to him
Despite the sore feling over most of his body, Cody wanted to explore his new accomodations. But when he tried to get up his legs didn't responded like they were supposed to and he ended up falling inside the pool
Shocked and surprised he tried to move them again, but they wouldn't budge. It was like they were glued together!
Whatever he was expecting, it certanly wasn't this. He almost fainted again when he looked down and saw nothing but tail
It couldn't be, he couldn't believe it!!! When he was first told he was going to become a dolphin, even then he never expected to lose his legs. He was supposed to get cured right? Have his life back to normal, even if changed! So how was that supposed to happen if he could never walk again!?!
Panicked Cody desperatly tried to move the legs away, as if the movements could seperate them from the tail, but the flesh remained strongly connected. Actually compared with his previous stage, the movement from the legs was barely recognizable compared to the tail. Like an occasional spasm on the much larger muscle
He started to cry, though underwater that would be completely invisible if it wasn't for his expression. First the christams fiasco and now this. Why, why did everything had to happen to him? He didn't do anything wrong, he never asked to have MS, he never wanted to be taken away from his family and certanly he never asked for loosing his legs
He would never be able to run, to walk, to feel the grass under his feet, to ride his bike, to play soccer..... he was condemned to live in the water and to be handicapped... to be alone....
He lied there in the not very big depths of his pool room, angry, tired and sore, feeeling more miserable than ever before. His only company was his parents photo, which he holded dearly against him until sleep started to close in
He did not notice, his brain dorment from so much suffering, but some unknown instinct took him closer to the surface and allowed him to drift in a half-awaken, half-asleep dream, filling his lungs with air as he needed during his slumber
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Dec 29, 2006 9:58 pm
Outside your duplex door is a small gift, wrapped in simple lined paper with your name written on top, and a little card taped to the top. Upon opening the gift, you see an apparently blank CD;  The note reads: Cody
Hey, kiddo! Sorry for the late gift, but it's a CD with some songs me and a few friends made. Hope you like, and happy holidays!
Shenzi
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Dec 30, 2006 1:12 pm
Merpeople Meet: the Elegant and the Swift Cody Archer Despite the living nightmare he had gone through the last few days, Cody was feeling a little bit more cheerful today
He still hadn't gathered enough courage to sit on his wheelchair and face how handicaped he felt on land, but being underwater all the time in his "flooded" duplex, the discovery of his new speed and improved maneuverability was only a matter of time. It was like he has a living torpedo and there was no way that feeling didn't left a smile on his face
But his private pool didn't have enough room, so he set out to the lake to explore his new limits. And what a discovery! Everything felt much more alive!!!
He didn't know because he never bothered to read the extremely boring explanation the dolphin books gave of their senses, but that sensation was coming from his hearing. Though not able to understand them as ecolocation, he had a pretty good idea of what was surrounding him by the sounds things made. It was like human hearing brought underwater
This completely distracted him from his worries. Cody was so amazed he couldn't help himself to feel at awe with so much richness of sound, both produced underwater and the distorced and amplified ones coming from the surface Sayuri Satoharu Sayuri's tail flicked a little as she approached the Lake side, looking out across the deceptively still water. She twitched at the sleeves of her thin cotton yukata, the hem of it brushing above her flippers. Underneath the yukata she was wearing a shorter under-kimono, if no one seemed to be around she would remove the yukata and swim fully under the water.
She moved down the bank, walking into the shallows, closing her eyes as her flippers gently moved with the slight current of the water. The cold was very welcome and she smiled a little, wading in up to her knees. Cody Archer Cody heard something entering he water above him, somewhere close to the shore. It was hard not to notice because a sound of bubbles and an object breaking the water surface was similar to a low thunder to his hears. And there was no such thing as underwater thunder
Curious he made his way towards the surface and scanned the shore line to see who it was. Not someone he had met before, but the way this lady dressed was far more interesting than avoiding someone who seemed still human at this distance
"Hi!" Sayuri Satoharu Sayuri flailed and slipped in the mud when the head popped out of the water. Her head went under the water for a moment, her gills immediately going to work and as she could breathe still, her panic wasnt as bad as when Billy had grabbed her the first time she had come to the Lake.
Her flippers pushed into the mud and she stood again, her hair now in her face and her yukata soaked. She blinked, realising that it wasnt the squid guy, it was a blond boy..she thought he looked pretty young but she wasnt really good at gauging people's ages.
'Hello.' she said, squeezing water from her hair before recovering the hair pin that was bobbing past her on the surface. Cody Archer Cody was startled when the woman slipped and her head went underwater. Oh god, please don't let her be scared of him like Gallen. Once was enough
But before his brain could snap out of the confusion and realise that he should help, she resurfaced and stranger still she replied a hello
"Sorry if I scared you"
Cody swimmed closer cautiously, a bit unsure on how to act. Apparently she knew about the islanders, so likely she wouldn't be afraid of him, but then again he didn't want to spooke her like he just did Sayuri Satoharu 'It okay,' Sayuri said, actually 'bowing' in the water! Her head touched the water and she stood up properly, giggling.
'You make me think it was man who grab me.'
Her tail gently sculled the water as she looked at the boy.
'I am Sayuri.' she said, smiling at Cody. Cody Archer "Man!?"
He was a bit surprised in the way she talked, both because of the accent and the not proper english. But luckly it was completely understandable
"I'm Cody"
Now that he was closer he was starting to see she wasn't fully human. The blue on her neck and wait, was that a tail?
He tried to circle around her to have a better look, exposing his not so human shape below the waist as he got quite close Sayuri Satoharu Sayuri drifted some as she lifted her legs from the mud floor of the Lake, gently sculling with her flippers to keep herself in one place as much as possible.
'Hai..yes.' she nodded, noticing that the shape under the water didnt look so much like legs as a sort of tail. Was he something like her?
'He was squid man I think. He pull on leg and say Lake his.' she frowned a little at the memory. She watched him moving around her, her tail giving a flick and showing above the water for a moment. Cody Archer "I don't think I met him. And I didn't know the lake belonged to someone"
That worried him a bit. If his house was built with an exit to the lake, how was he supposed to use it if it bellonged to someone else? Maybe he would be forced to pay a tax...
But that thought was lost when he noticed Sayuri's tail. It was blue, black and very yellow. Something that really got his attention
"Whoa, you have a tail too?"
Cody pointed out at it with his webbed grey hand, partially using his tail to support him and raise his upper body above the water, revelaing his flippers and the begining of his white belly
He didn't added the fact that she would possibly have the same fate as him. He had met many of the other islanders who too had tails and none of them were losing their legs like him as far as he knew Sayuri Satoharu 'It not. I think he just. He has bad mouth, angry head.' she said, trying to explain in her limited English that Billy had been a grade-A a** to her.
She nodded at his question, lowering her feet again and standing so nearly all of her tail that was poking out from the slit in her yukata could be seen. She flicked the fin of the tail, splashing the water a little.
'Oh, you are being fish as well?' Cody Archer Bad mouth and angry head? Cody didn't really understood what she meant by that, but he nodded as if he did. Right now his mind was elsewhere
He grabbed the tail and slightly pulled the fin open, fealing it stretch with the movement. He didn't meant any harm by it, he was just curious. And his dolphin curiosity always meant touching stuff
"No. Dolphin"
Cody grabbed the the underwater floor and used his arms to support his weight, exposing his whole back right down to the tip of his dolphin tail. It was clear his whole body was dolphin from the waist down
He wasn't wearing anything, though it didn't meant he hadn't tried to tie one of his t-shirts around his waist. But when it didn't slipped or the knot got loose, it really felt awkward when he tried to swim
So whenever he was in the water he just gave up on clothing. Not like any mermen he saw in the movies had any either Sayuri Satoharu Sayuri would have pulled away if anyone but Oz had done this prior to Cody touching the tail, but he seemed to hold it like it was some interesting toy and he was only a little boy.
'Oh.' she said, when he explained what he was turning into. She vaguely remembered seeing a picture of a dolphin. She moved back a little when he flipped over in the water, backing out of the way of the tail in case he caught her when he changed positions again.
Curiosity overcame her a little though, and before he did pop back right way up again she reached a hand out and pressed her fingers briefly into his tail. It was a peculiar sensation, hard but slightly rubbery to the touch. Cody Archer Cody didn't mind Sayuri when she touched his tail. He did the same to her, so it was only fair
But soon he had to submerge his lower body again, not because it was hard to keep it in that position, but because the debris was hurting his hands
There were a couple of questions starting to pop in his head though
"What type of fish are you turning into? Do you like to swim too?"
At least this time he managed to keep his mouth shut about how cool her tail was. He was trying to correct himself on that. Changes weren't good or cool. People could die from them and that wasn't good at all Sayuri Satoharu 'I not know what fish. No has told me. I dont think anyone know?'
It hadnt really occurred to her to want to know what sort of fish she was turning into. It had been bad enough just knowing that she was becoming a fish.
'I like it a little bit. I have not really swim before coming to Island.' she explained.
'I think it is easier with my feet. But I miss dancing.' Sayuri sighed a little, then looked at Cody as questions occurred to her.
'You are on own?' Cody Archer "You can ask the labs. They were the ones who told me"
Cody tried to sit in the best position he could. The tail was flexible and he still had the hip bones to allow such angle, but it just didn't feel confortable on his "upper spine" if he didn't use the arms to counterbalance and relieve the pressure on the vertebrae
"I bet you'll swim great. I can swim really fast now too"
He couldn't help himself to admit he actually liked swimming that fast. It was a great sensation to zoom around in the water
But the mention of feet and dancing brought him back down to a bitter mood. Not that he blamed Sayuri to complain about it, but he felt envious. She could still walk while he didn't even have them anymore!
And the next question didn't help either
"Yeah...." Sayuri Satoharu The labs. She guessed that would mean talking to Sabin and she wasnt about to do that.
'I not want to know too bad.' she said, giving a forced smile.
'I think you must swim very fast. I not see Cody come, you pop up like magic fish!' and she giggled before realising that even though he hadnt said much other then a positive answer, his body language said alot more.
'I sorry. It is just I have not seen someone young on Island yet.'
It must have been terrible for him. Not only changing into an animal, but taken away from his mother and father! Cody Archer "Magic fish?!" Maybe it was a story or something. Magic was something only little kids believed it
Cody shook his head as saying it was not her fault. Or perhaps to shake those feelings off and show a brave face
"Actually... I never saw anyone of my age too!"
It wasn't really surprising, he came here to get medical treatment after all. But still it felt strange to think he was probably the only kid here. He was surrounded by adults. Yuck! Sayuri Satoharu Sayuri nodded.
'I think I heard story of magic fish when I was lit-tle Maiko, but I do not remember it.' she frowned a little, lifting her feet from the Lake bed again and drifting deeper into the water. She swam a little way, her legs bending and straightening automatically as if she had swum her whole life. She turned, pushing the yukata skirts out of the way where they had floated up and twisted around to her front.
'But you have friend here?' she couldnt quite fathom how anyone could remove a little boy from his family, she had never had a choice in her life but he wasnt Japanese. Nor a Maiko. Did he have no family back where he came from? Cody Archer "Pitty. I like stories"
He dived and swam along with her, watching curiously at the elegant way she moved in the water and the yukata flowing around her. Even though he had suffered more changes than Sayuri, his style of swimming was more straight foward
"Not really. I know quite a few other animal-people, but... it's not the same"
He really missed having other kids to play with. And as much as he liked some of the other islanders, it just wasn't the same type of friends. They were all too old..... maybe except Ambrose. They had a lot of fun playing tag the last time
I wonder how he is right now... Sayuri Satoharu 'Me to. I liked going to see Kabuki play when I was taken by patron.' she let out a sigh, the water rippling away as she did so. She ducked under the water, slowly opening her eyes, her gills working away to filter the oxygen from the liquid around her. She watched the way that Cody's tail moved through the water before breaking the surface again.
'I guess it not. It hard for me too. I do not speak as easy as others. And I get things confused or wrong alot.' Cody Archer "Kabuki?"
She was definitly from another country, with so many strange words and the different accent. But that was really neat too. Meeting people from other parts of the world was always interesting, even outside of this stupid island
"I think you talk well. Not really well well, but well enough. I'm not having any problems understanding you"
He suddenly had an idea and did a complete horizontal flip before getting in an upright position
"Hey we could become friends. Then I could help you learn english and you could teach me some of your words!"
Though it wouldn't be the same type of friendship with kids of his age, he would have someone to talk to that would actually be a water dweller like himself. It was perfect Sayuri Satoharu 'It is story play. Men are play as women, and women play as men. It is Japanese play.'
Sayuri smiled at Cody's words.
'Sankyuu - thank you.' she said, remembering herself in time to add the proper english, even though they sounded so much alike it was difficult not to know the words.
She clapped at his aqua acrobatics;
'Hai,' she said nodding happily.
'I would like that very much.'
She splashed him, turning and flicking water in a mini-wave with her tail. Cody Archer "Weird. But sounds fun. You're from Japan? That's really cool"
He was really feeling in a good mood now. The idea of having a friend underwater really cheered him up
He was feeling so hyper he had to show it. Cody dived and with a powerful kick of his tail he tried to propell himself out of the water. It wasn't such a high or beautiful jump as the dolphins, he would still have to practice before doing anything similar, but it was strong enough to get most of his upper body out of the water and create a considerable wave when he splashed back down Sayuri Satoharu 'It is?'
Sayuri didnt think of where she was born as being something that would be interesting to people. It was just where she came from of course. She looked into the depths when Cody suddenly dived down, and then kicked hurriedly back as he leapt from the water again in a sort of curving jump.
When he landed again he splashed Sayuri considerably!
'Hey!' she giggled, swishing water at him with her hands to splash him back. Cody Archer "Yeah! Land of anime and all other cool stuff"
Cody paused for a moment to reply before starting to splash Sayuri back, laughing. His webbed hands pushed a lot more water than when he was a normal kid, so his splashes were quite big. But if he really wanted to soak her completely, he would have used his tail instead
He kept doing this play for some time, until his stomach started to hurt. He was getting hungry
"I nedd to get something to eat" Sayuri Satoharu Sayuri looked quizzical at that word but was pleased that he seemed to think her birth place was a 'cool' one.
'...blurgle,' she said, coughing as she got a mouthful of water as Cody splashed her back. She ducked under the water, her hair floating around her as watched him move around in front of her and then she bobbed up, making a mini-wave as she did so, giggling again.
Sayuri nodded at his words, floating a little, drifting.
'I need rest, not do much swimming but I think I will like it.' she smiled at the dolphin-boy. Cody Archer Cody waved at Sayuri as he left. He would had liked to give her his duplex number in case she wanted to stop by for a visit, but to tell the truth he didn't had a clue where he was living. He hadn't had the guts to get himself on his wheelchair and check the front door
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Dec 31, 2006 12:08 pm
Telling Fears to the Super Penguin Cody Archer Cody was missing his trips to the beach. Fresh water was nice and all, but it just wasn't good enough. He felt heavy, constrained, something in him needed the wider spaces and the fresh, salty sensation against his skin
But going there on a wheelchair was unthinkable. Even when he had legs and could ride a bike the distance was big, he'd probably never reach it before sunset just by arm power
But he was pretty sure the river connected with the beach somewhere. That's what rivers do right? Flow from wherever spot they were born from down to the sea. So all he had to do was finding the right way
That was easier said than done. His orientation skills have never been one of the best and things looked pretty different from this angle. But he wasn't in a hurry, there was lots of interesting things for him to poke his hands in and lots of sounds to listen to
Right now he was just drifting close to the surface, watching a few fish feasting on the algae below him. If anyone from the shore was to look at him, he'd probably seem an unconcious body drowning from so still he was Marshall_Green Marshall wasn't exactly sure WHY he decided that coming out to the middle of the river was a good idea. Especially with a broken arm. They had some fancy name for it, but no matter how you cut it, it was still a broken arm. They told him no swimming, but he'll be damned if they didn't allow him to at least enjoy getting his feet wet.
Wearing his usual attire of white shirt, orange vest, and shorts, he looked down at the cool water longingly. He sighed, taking a seat, putting his large talon-like feet in the water, allowing himself to just...relax. He didn't even look over at the blonde-haired boy in the water.
"Just...Relax..." Cody Archer The sound of something breaking the water surface not far from him, broke Cody out of his trance. Watching fish was hipnotising, not to mention it made him hungry, but now his curiosity was elsewhere
Taking his head out of the water (and his lower body descending to counterbalance the movement), he immediatly noticed who caused the sound
He didn't recognize the specie right away. With the shirt on the easiest clue was hidden from view, so Cody kept on approaching the shore, with a concentrated and puzzled expression written all over his face
"Are you.... a penguin!?" Marshall_Green Marshall looked down, too relaxed to really be startled. Even though he did find it weird that there was a...Well, it was obviously a kid! Why was a kid here!?
"Yep. Sure am." Marshall nodded down to him with a smile, trying to figure out why a kid was out here...Or what was wrong with his lower half. Was he turning into some sort of fish?
"My names Marshall. Whats yours?" Marshall asked the young kid. Cody Archer "I thought penguins liked to live in cold places"
Cody obviously knew Marshall was an islander as well, but which such warm weather here all the time finding a creature from the cold was odd to him
"I'm Cody" Marshall_Green "Eh, they're supposed to, but I'm a special case. Able to survive tropical climates...I'm Super Penguin!" Marshall chuckled, striking a little pose just to help the joke. He then held his only available hand out to Cody, smiling warmly.
"Its nice to meet you, Cody."
Where have I heard that name before... Cody Archer Cody laughted as well, imagining a penguin in a cape and tights
He used his tail to support the weight as he tried to raise out of the water enough to reply to the handshake, revealing the top of his lower half
The sensation of the feathers against his rubbery webbing caught his attention. Though he knew penguins were birds he always thought they were covered in skin like seals
He grabbed Marshall's arm and turned it around its axis, to see them from all angles
"I didn't know penguins had feathers!" Marshall_Green "Ah!" Marshall said, shocked as Cody investigated his arm. Inquisitive little kid, wasn't he? Marshall let out a small chuckle, "Heh heh...Be careful, don't want to break my other arm y'know!" Marshall laughed, "But yep. We got feathers." Cody Archer Cody soon had to let go and get back in the water. His tail was built to propell him, not serve as a standing point
"How did you break it anyway?"
He looked at the cast, but it seemed like the ones he occasionally glimsed at the hospital or the one his friend had after breaking the leg from falling of a horse. Which reminded him...
"Do you have a pen? I want to sign it"
How many opportunities he would have to do it again? It was fun leaving all types of drawings and messages for the injured person to feel better. When he was little he almost wanted to break a bone to have one too Marshall_Green "Well, my freind, Gaius? He's building this giant theater, and I'm helpimg him build it. Me and a bunch of other guys, I mean. Any way, there was an accident and well, I got hurt. Thats why you should always watch where you're goin' y'know." Marshall said, rubbing the back of his neck. He figured that sounded a lot better than 'My friend changed and dropped a large plank of wood on me then my adopted brother sent me to the labs to probably be dissected'.
Marshall smirked at his second question, and began to rummage through his pocket. Luckily, he some how had a sharpie on him. How convenient.
"First person to sign." He said with a smile, holding it out the young boy. Cody Archer "A theater!? Cool. Sorry about your arm though. That's gotta hurt"
Cody wasn't exactly the biggest fan of theaters, mostly because all the plays he went to see had been awfully boring. But still it was cool to hear people here were building something. Construction sites were always awsome to look at
Cody grabbed the sharpie and again balanced himself on his tail to write. Wasn't exactly easy because he had to be careful around the broken arm
But when he finished there was a not very well drawn penguin riding what looked a skateboard and under it a note saying "Get well soon", followed by the caracteristic Cody, the same signature he ahd used in all those christams gift
"There, an official cast now" Marshall_Green Marshall looked down, recognizing the hand writing, "Heh, why you don't say...Were you the one who left me that rock on Christmas?" Marshall asked, enjoying the little doodle of a penguin on a skate-board. Part of him wondered if this kid knew about Sno Cone. Cody Archer "Yeah. I can't remember all the numbers where the people I know live, so I left painted rocks and shells for everyone. That way they would surely to get one"
Though not directly related to this, Cody's expression went a bit gloom at the mentioning of gifts. He still felt sadness when he thought of his one Marshall_Green "Well, thanks kid...It meant a lot to get a gift, y'know?" Marshall chuckled with a smile, looking down at Cody. He was a good kid, even if he was part fish. If Cody was older, Marshall would've asked him what he was becoming easily, but he couldn't of been older than 10, so why would he ask him some thing that might upset him?
"I wish I knew where you stayed. I would've given ya a present." Marshall chuckled. Cody Archer "You're welcome"
Cody tried to fake a smile. He was happy that Marshall had enjoyed the gift, he really was, but he still had a lot weighting on his heart
"I probably wouldn't get it anyway. They've put me in a new room when I changed. Actually... I don't even know where it is. I always use the lake door" Marshall_Green Marshall sighed, "Wish I could help with that...Hey, how about as soon as my arm heals, I'll help you out, okay? I'm a Penguin: Master of Land and Sea!" Marshall said, striking the same 'super penguin' pose he did moments earlier. Cody Archer "I have a front door, I just never used it...." he paused and gulped, not really want to admit the next part "... because.... because I'd have to use the wheelchair"
Cody just kept getting deeper in the water, the one environment he didn't felt restrained in. He still hadn't managed to admit the loss of his legs. Once he stepped on that contraption, then it would really be true, he would never walk again Marshall_Green Marshall looked down at the kid, a pang of guilt crossing over his face. Damnit, this wasn't fair in the least. The kid wasn't supposed to go through this s**t. No one was, but especially not some one would hadn't even hit the double digits in age yet!
"Well kid...At least you get to keep your face. Besides, you look a lot cooler than a lot of us." Marshall said, trying to comfort the kid. Or at least, attempting to. Cody Archer Cody looked surprised. He never thought of that. Actually everyone he met that was already changing, the face was being affected as well. But in his case only the ears got changed. That was really weird now that he thinked of it!
But what would mean to keep the face unchanged? He touched it, eyes, nose, mouth, hair... they were pretty much the same as when he arrived. All that he truly lost so far was the legs and the space between the fingers. Was there a meaning for that?
"Was does it mean? Why do I get to keep it!?" Marshall_Green "Hmm...Ever hear of mermaids? Half-fish, half humans? Like that movie with the red-headed girl and the octopus woman? Well...Maybe you're becoming like that? But you're a boy soo...Merman?" Marshall suggested, pondering the possibility. There was a dragon, and Gaius was obviously turning into some sort of winged thing...Perhaps mer-people weren't out of the question? Cody Archer "Yeah, I watched that movie with Colche. It was a really cool"
"But... aren't merman supposed to be half-fish? I'm a dolphin and dolphins are mammals!"
Cody didn't really know what to think. They weren't tring to turn him into a dolphin but into a merperson!? Why? All he wanted was a cure to his MS... Marshall_Green "Hmmm...Well, I think Mer-people are any thing half-watery and half-humany. Or, I dunno. At this point I'm just grateful I'm not some sort of sea-slug or barnacle or some thing, y'know?" Marshall said with a small shrug. Cody Archer Cody didn't know what a barnacle was, but he did know about sea-slugs. Creepy, floating sacks of color that looked like fat dead algae on the low tide. For some reason they always reminded him of leaches, so he was really thankful he wasn't getting turn in one of those
"Yeah, I guess. But turning into a rodent would be even worse" he shivered at the thought Marshall_Green Marshall chuckled, thinking of Mickey Mouse of course. Deep down, he felt that it would've been easier to be a rodent than some sort of bird. Staying a mammal had to be easier.
"Or a snake. Being a snake would suck." Marshall nodded. Cody Archer Cody shaked his head negatively. He knew Cassidy and in his opinion she was really cool
Of course getting turned into an animal wasn't good no matter what, but considering the discussion snakes were pretty close to the top of his list, although obviously he didn't know about the lack of eyelids and many other details that would make him reconsider
"No. Rodents are the worst ones. Well... slugs aren't better either, but I don't like rodents. They're scary!"
Memories were flashing back. The blood, the eyes and horribly long, white teeth. Cody was trying to keep a brave face, but his body language was saying the opposite. He was scared Marshall_Green Marshall looked down, telling that the small boy was obviously terrified of the very idea of rodents, for some reason. Marshall thought back, and took a note from Gaius on how to comfort some one. Slowly, with his only available arm, Marshall gently put his hand on top of Cody's hair, ruffling it a bit.
"...Its okay." Marshall said with a soft smile, "I promise." Cody Archer Cody shaked his head again. He knew he was being stupid, his parents always told him to face his fears, but he just couldn't take that horrible vision out of his head
He shoved Marshall's hand away, probably a bit rudely though he hadn't intended it
"No. No it's not. Only stupid people are afraid of seeing a dead rabit in a butcher shop, but... I just can't stop it!!!"
He let it out without really noticing it. He was so angry at himself, the words just slipped. Usually he never talked about it, ever since he got laught at by half the school Marshall_Green "...A dead rabbit in a butcher shop?" Marshall asked. He let out a clearly visible shudder, "Believe it or not kid, being freaked out by some thing like that is perfectly normal. Heck, the mental image alone is gonna give me nightmares for a couple of days...But yeah, Cody, being afraid, even of some thing other people tell you is silly...It just makes you human." Cody Archer For a second Cody stared at Marshall, dumbfounded for him to know of his fear, but a second later he realised the answer came from his mouth moments earlier
But in a way he was glad he didn't though he was being stupid. Actually he was quite happy he wasn't the only one being afriad of that
"I don't really remember well. All I know is I was in the shop with my mom, and then there was a bloody, skinless, dead rabbit right in front of me, with huge teeth and red eyes. My mom said I went screaming for days. And when the teacher said for us to tell a fear on halloween, everyone laughed at me"
But before Marshall could act sympatetic or anything, Cody tensed himself and put a serious face. The last thing he wanted was people to people act all nice on him because he had a problem. He had enough of that when he had the full MS
"I don't want to be afraid and I don't want to be a coward. And if people laugh at me again I'll kick them in the a**!" Marshall_Green Marshall reached down, giving Cody a small bop on the side of the head. "You must be this tall to talk like that." He said, moving his hand a good four inches above Cody's head. Cody Archer "HEY!"
Cody hated people acted like that with him. Yeah he was a kid, but that didn't mean grown-ups were always right and could keep telling him what to do
And telling him that he needed to be taller to do something was a bad move. He just couldn't stand higher because his tail wasn't made to vertically support his weight
Cody was about to be unfair with Marshall, but he was so full of what had happened to him lately he just needed something to vent on. He just felt like he was being made fun at, after revealing one of his biggest fears
In a way Marshall was lucky Cody could no longer stand up to give him a royal push on his chest. A mostly harmless gesture in the pain department, but the landing could endanger the broken arm
Instead he bumped his tail against Marshall's leg, most a warning that a sign of dolphin aggression. Problem was the tail can pack a lot of strength and Cody still had little idea of its limits Marshall_Green "Ow! Yeeessh, watch it..." Marshall grumbled, after the general surprise of being hit with a tail. He pulled his legs out of the water, a rather nonchalant attitude considering how angry Cody was.
"Well Kid, I think I'm gonna head home." Marshall yawned, still oblivious to how upset Cody was actually.
"Think you can get back to your Duplex okay from here?" Cody Archer Cody just huffed and grumbled, looking straight at Marshall with a not very pleased expression. He really felt like giving him another kick or two, to show him he shouldn't be underestimated just because of his age
"Well duh! it's in the water!!!"
He hadn't remember that Marshall was probably refering to his old duplex, but then again it would make little sense for someone so advanced in the aquatic changes to be still living in one Marshall_Green "In the...Water..?" Marshall blinked, not exactly sure how that'd work. Did they actually build Duplexes inside the lake? Like some sort of flooded city?
Wow...That'd be cool...
"Well alright. It was nice to meet you, Cody. And thanks for the Ecks Mas present." Marshall said with a smirk, waving slightly as he left for his duplex.
He was kind of glad he met Cody, even if his leg was hurting badly now. At least it got his mind off being pissed off...
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 6:51 pm
Shenzi Thompson Outside your duplex door is a small gift, wrapped in simple lined paper with your name written on top, and a little card taped to the top. Upon opening the gift, you see an apparently blank CD; The note reads: Cody
Hey, kiddo! Sorry for the late gift, but it's a CD with some songs me and a few friends made. Hope you like, and happy holidays!
Shenzi
((Requested to be done by Birvan))Gallen had wondered back to Cody's old Duplex again hoping he would find it unlocked and Cody there. No such luck, as he stepped up to the door and sighed, upset he left the boy alone, he saw a small package on his door step addressed from Shenzi. Having also received a similar gift Gallen figured that she had left this for Cody not realizing that he had been moved. Gallen took the gift, figuring he would hold onto it for safe keeping till he saw Cody again. Sadly he was worried that he would see the poor kid again as a name on a grave stone.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:51 am
Scars for the Future Flipper Cody Archer It had been 2 weeks since Cody was brought in to the labs. The reason he was there in the first place was because of some nasty cuts all over his body, specially along his back and tail
The whole situation was rather suspicious. According to the records he had gone out to the sea as usual, spend a couple of hours swimming along the coast, but after a period of standing in the same area, he made a straight line back to his duplex. He was already carrying the cuts and bleeding quite a bit from some of them when the first cameras spoted his return
Right now he was mostly healed, though some of the cuts left their scars. But ever since his arrival he had refused to say more than a couple of words, quite unusual considering his curious nature Robin Fergusson Robin watched through the observational window for a good long while befor she entered, carefully reading and rereading hte reports. She was young, tan, and looked as though she had never brushed her hair a day in her life. Her brown dreadlocks rustled as she moved, the front few pulled back with a rubber band to keep them out of her face. Her glasses were oval shaped, and glinted in the halligen light of the lab room. Cody had spent the good first long while on a normal bed with a wet blanket and a labtech underling to spritz him moist untill his wounds had closed up enough to trust him in a tank bed. That's where he had been laying now for several days befor she finally moved in on her own.
The clip clop of her shoes on the linolium stopped at the foot of Cody's bed. "Are you ready to talk about what happened yet, Cody?" Her voice was light and breezy, like an older sister who had been stuck babysitting and would much rather be out in teh garage dissecting the family cat Cody Archer Cody wasn't particularly happy for both places he had been put in, but he never spoke out his displeasure for feeling so restrained. He knew from experience that he was required to stay still if he wanted the wounds to heal. The water bed was a happy change when it came to confort at least. Didn't make him feel so heavy
He tried to turn around to see who was approaching. The doctors never talked with him much except to instruct him to stay still or to take his medication. Still he liked to know who was sent to look at him this time. This woman was a new face as far as he could recall. He'd certainly would remember that messy hair
But the question made him break the visial contact and turn his head away in a ashamed manner. He didn't want to talk about it, he didn't want to THINK about it! He just wanted to make that whole thing disappear and pretend it never happened
He didn't replied to her, only shook his head and curled around himself on the corner of the bed. Maybe she would just check on his scars and leave, like the other doctors did Robin Fergusson "Alright. How about I put it this way," She replied, frowning down at her clipboard again as she straightened her glasses. "If you talk, you get a fish. If you don't talk, no fish. Can you understand that much?" Cody Archer
Cody was a bit startled and angry at that reply. Despite everything he did not like being treated like... a pet poodle or something!
He looked back at her with a frown and uncosciously banged his tail against the bottom of the bed once, a display of how annoyed that make him feel. Like she could buy him with just fish!
"You think I'm stupid or something?" Robin Fergusson "Ah, so it talks!" She reached into the pocket of her labcoat, pulling out a can of sardines. It took only a moment to twist it open befor she tossed him a salty fish Cody Archer Cody's cheeks were red with anger and his face was annoyed to match. He completely ignored the fish and stared at her with a stubborn determination of not letting himself get embarrassed like that again. She was definitly getting on his hated people list Robin Fergusson "Where did you get those cuts, Cody?" She asked again cooly, eyes lifting to watch him critically Cody Archer "Why do you care?"
Cody was still upset for the treatment she just gave him. And so far he had no reason to trust the doctors here. All they cared was for his physicall well being, not wanting to know if he was feeling good or not Robin Fergusson "We are the grownups here, Cody. We give you the bandaids, and we punish the bullies who pick on you," She assured him with a nod. She walked to the side of his bed, setting hte clipboard down again. "Tell us who attacked you." Cody Archer Cody was a bit surprised at that. Punish the bullies? he had never expect anyone to do that for him that weren't his parents or his closest friends. It sure felt weird
It took him a while to reply though. He rubbed his arms and tried to came up with words, but all he could say was one word
"dolphins....." Robin Fergusson That made the young scientist raise her eyebrows, tapping a finger to her lips, "I beg your pardon?" Cody Archer "Dolphins"
Cody couldn't bring himself to tell the rest. That he had found the local pod and he had gone over to get a closer look. But for some unknown reason some of them chased him off after a while, head butting, biting and trying to keep him from reach the surface
Actually what had happened was a misunderstanding on both parts. Cody was simply curious and didn't know anything on dolphin behaviour. The dolphin DNA wasn't enough to tell him how to interpretate the signs, it was something that was learned and not inherited
The pod was curious at first, seeing a creature that was part dolphin, but not a dolphin at all. But to them he was a stranger and the males did not want to have any competition from his part. Sadly for Cody he ignored the warnings to keep his distance, so they had to teach him his place the hard way
Dolphins can be a murder to each other, specially when they are bottlenoses, the most agressive of the species. The boy was lucky he managed to escape with his limbs intact Robin Fergusson Dolphins. That explained where these tooth marks had come from. "I see." She tossed a second fish into the tub, lifting her clipboard to scribble down a note, "And what did you feel about seeing other dolphins?" Cody Archer Again he pretended that the fish was not there, not to let her think he was doing this for just a piece of (discustingly conserved) sardine
Cody wasn't sure what the labs could do against the dolphins or why they were so curious about it. He didn't really want to see them hurt, but the memories and the pain was still rather fresh. And to him the saying "an eye for an eye" made perfect sense. He still hand't learned that people don't need to retribute for everything that is done to them
"I dunno... I never thought... they would be this mean" Robin Fergusson "What did you think when you saw them?" Cody Archer
"I just wanted to meet them. I though dolphins were supposed to be cool..." Robin Fergusson "So you just wanted to swim with the dolphins? You didn't think they might think of you as one of them?" To her, the boy was just an animal. He wasn't human, he wasn't dolphin, he was something new and different, and he wanted to find out how different. She turned to a fresh page and gave him a kind, calm, patient but expectant look. Cody Archer That question surprised him. Cody never considered himself like them, no matter how much they looked alike. There was a part of him deep down that longed for company and the seeing the dolphin pod had awaken it, but even then he knew who he was. Cody, plain old Cody
"Yeah. I'm not a real dolphin!" Robin Fergusson "Interesting," Robin nodded. Very interesting indeed! "What do you generally prefer to eat?" She tapped the eraser of her pencil against her nose excitedly Cody Archer This was starting to get confusing. What was with all these questions all of the sudden? They've never bothered to ask him anything before!
"Err, fish... octopuss, squid... prawns... crabs... just any seafood really. And chocolate cake!" Robin Fergusson She nodded, writing it all down, "What about befor you... lost your legs? What were you hungry for then?" She flipped through the file, checking the security photos of each of his stages. Cody Archer The mentioning of the legs returned him to his bad mood. His reply was short and snappy, probably just to state that he wasn't liking the direction this conversation was taking
"I don't remember" Robin Fergusson "You dont' want to talk anymore?"
Cody Archer "Why do you keep asking all these questions!?" Robin Fergusson "Because we are your doctors, and we need to know these things." Cody Archer "Then why didn't you asked them before?" Robin Fergusson "Because you didn't want to talk." Cody Archer "Well I've been here before and you didn't ask any questions then" Robin Fergusson "We didn't have questions for you then," She smiled back easily enough. "But we have questions for you now." She hadn't been the one to ask the questions then, that's how. Robin had been enjoying her new position, although it had been busy enough simply directing the teams. Something had gone awry in Victor's serum, and they couldn't streatch out the time for Rachel's change any further. They needed a product, and she needed to find out what went wrong.
Untill now, she hadn't had the chance to come face to face with an islander, and the opportunity with Cody was something she had been looking forward to. She was here now, and she had to catch up where her predicessor had been slacking. Cody Archer Well that made sense, even if he was blissfully ignorant of all the twists and turns that went inside the labs. He calmed down a bit, enough to stop the aggression signs to dissuade Robin to approach him. But he was still tense to some degree, not completely trusting her intentions Robin Fergusson "How do your cuts feel? Do you think you can swim again yet?" She changed the subject. She had to take things slower, contain her excitement, but it was difficult business. Cody Archer "A lot better, they barely hurt anymore. I think I can"
It was kind of releaving getting a chance to talk again, after sending so much time in that place with nothing to do. And having someone's attention again filled another gap that his lonelyness had been building Robin Fergusson "Good, then I'll have you moved to the tank tomorrow," She nodded, thouroughly pleased. He wasn't complete yet, but he was very far along. What was his potential? What was he capable of? The possibilities were fascinating! She wanted to take notes for the C version of the Orca's third injection. Cody Archer "Tank!?"
Those words didn't sound well. Actual place to move, but being trapped like a fish in aquarium.... that idea was starting to make him feel claustrophobic Robin Fergusson She nodded with a smile, "We'll talk after you've eaten and had a bit of excorsize!" That said, she tossed him at hird sardine and gave him a pat on the head befor practically skipping towards the door. Oh, the arrangements she had to make! Yes, tank room G12 should be open, and would be large enough to test his speed as well. Could he do that funny over-the-water dance dolphins did? She wondered, and made a note to find out. "I'm sure we'll become good friends!" She assured him as she walked. Cody Archer Cody was completely baffled. What were they trying to do with him?
He didn't move until the strange woman had walked out of the door. He looked back at the 3 fish lying on the bottom of the bed. Usually he liked eating all types of fish, but as he gradually changed he started to frown upon the cooked one. And the canned ones were even worse
He picked and tossed them out towards the door. Like hell he would let himself be bought over food --------------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cody Archer
Cody was half asleep in his new accomodations, idly floating bellyup. It wasn't a bad place, though it was far from being as conforting as his duplex
He had been moved to the large tank last night and after a quick inspection he realised it was like a glass wall aquarium with no place for him to sit and rest. But compared to the water bed he was rather happy with it, despite feeling like a zoo animal. At least he had enough space to swim Robin Fergusson Robin stood on the other side of the tank, ever writing notes. She had watched him for a good long while, taking notes on how he rested and how he moved, recording with videos, stills, with transposed digital meters. Finally, though, she came out across the platform in a black one piece swim suit, her dreadlocks all pulled back into twin pigtails that stood up in the air like bundles of oats. "Good morning!" She set the bucket down beside her. It had been twelve hours since she had offered him the sardines, and a good twenty four hours since he had been unhooked from his introvenious feeding. Fish, fat, silver and quivering flopped in her bucket noisily Cody Archer Cody woke up and turned to see who it was, his body sinking back into the water as a counterbalance to his head rising above the water level. It was that woman from last time, though he was rather curious on why she was wearing the swimsuit. Maybe not to get herself wet when he approached
The bucket was another thing that caught his eye, but he didn't make the connection with the fish. He couldn't see them from that angle and he didn't recognized the flopping noise
"Morning" he was trying not to laugh at her pigtails, though he couldn't help to chuckle Robin Fergusson "Are you hungry?" She smiled down at him enthusiastically, sitting on the edge of the pool far up high above him, leaning on the railing. Cody Archer Cody's stomach answered before he did with a quite loud reply. One of the reasons he had been snoozing to begin with was to keep the hunger at bay
"Yeah" Robin Fergusson "Well, then I think you're going to like the game I have to play with you today," Her smile widened, almost feline like as she gave a chuckle Cody Archer
"Game?"
She first talked about food and now of games? Was she crazy or something!? Robin Fergusson "So you like swimming? How good are you? Can you do any tricks?" Cody Archer "Yeah, but what do you mean by tricks?"
Cody was starting to get suspicious and not liking the direction this was taking Robin Fergusson "You know... things you couldn't do befor they you can do now." She smiled, harmless as could be Robin Fergusson "Like... how fast can you swim? You'd know better than me," She folded her arms and rested her chin on them, lookign down at him. She was patient. "Any nifty things you can do with that talented tail of your's?" Cody Archer "I dunno. I never measured it!"
Cody was getting rather bored with this conversation, mostly because of the complains coming from his stomach. And the mentioning of the tail only helped shortning this patience
"It's stupid! It only brought problems!!!" Robin Fergusson "I don't know, I think you could have a lot of fun with it. Did you ever watch Flipper, Cody?" She replied, calm as could be as she reached into the bucket Cody Archer "No, I didn't and I don't think I want to!" this was mostly his hunger talking. His stomach kept saying 'enough nonsense, where's the food?' Robin Fergusson "Do you know how Dolphins can dance along the top of the water? Up on their tails? Have you ever seen them do that?" Cody Archer "Yeah, but I can't do that"
To tell the truth Cody could barely get any decent jumps out of the water. Most it was fault of the still existant leg structure merged with his tail. It didn't allow him enough flexibility to propell him fast enough. And he also had problems keeping the stability of the jumps, but that was lack of experienc Robin Fergusson Robin wanted to see him try, though. She moved to stand, in one hand holding up a nice fat flopping fish up over the side of the tank, and in the other, she held a remote control that controlled the camera system to collect all the data she could. "If you try for me, I'll give you breakfast Cody Archer In another occasion Cody would say eating whole fish like that was completely discusting, but considering how hungry he was his dolphin side took the best of him. That fish sure looked delicious and the way it wiggled only made it look more tempting
It was a good thing that Robin wasn't holding the fish up like a treat to tempt a dog to walk on 2 legs and beg, otherwise he would have refused no matter how hungry he felt. If there was 2 things he had was stubborness and pride
Cody tried to remember the move she asked and understand how the dolphins did it. From what he could recall it was just "walking" backwards really fast
Of course it wasn't as easy as it seemed. No matter how much he tried, all he could manage was a clumbsy series of splashes and falls. One of them even made him hit the head on one of the sides of the tank Robin Fergusson Once she was sure she had enough data on the movements, she tossed the fish into the water, "Bravo! Bravo! That was a good attempt, at least!" She encouraged with an excited round of applause Cody Archer Cody wasn't so proud of himself. His head really hurt
But he caugh a glimpse of the silvery fish swimming in the tank and he quickly went into hunting mode. Usually that meant a lot of frustrating attempts to grab the slippery thing (his hands weren't really meant to grab them and his teeth were far from being suitable for the job), but this one was still recovering from being exposed to the air for so long, so it was an easy catch Robin Fergusson
And Robin took pictures of the whole ordeal, throwing a second one in while he ate the first to give it enough time to recover befor he had to give chase. She stepped back, reaching for a swiveling flat-panel review monitor to glance over what footage she had captured thus far Cody Archer Cody was splitting his first caught fish apart and swallowing when the second one entered the tank with a rather loud (to him) splash. He was too famished to process what he was really doing, but as soon as he finished his small meal he proceeded to grab the next one
Because it had time to recover, Cody found himself in a load of trouble to catch it. He was faster and cornering it agaisnt the sides of the tank wasn't very hard, but every time he tried to grab it the fish dodged him like wet soap. It was a good thing he couldn't talk underwater, otherwise he'd be swearing and cursing all the time
But after a while he finally managed to tire the fish down enough to splat it against the glass surface. The hits it took against the sides of the tank over and over again during the chase probably helped as well
He immediatly proceeded to eat his well earned food. He was tired and hungrier than before after all that work Robin Fergusson "Very good, Cody! Very well done!" She cheered him on, clapping her hands in excitement. For doing such a good job, she turned the bucket over, spilling the rest into the tank with him. It was fascinating to watch how he moved, how he was able to navigate, and how he went after the fish. She wanted to see more of that instinctual behavior Cody Archer Cody's face was a mix between awe and horror. Loads of food, but all living and swimming around like mad butterflies. He didn't felt like he had enough energy to chase him all down, not after spending more than he gained. He swam back to the surface, with an irritaded expression
"What the hell are you doing!?!" Robin Fergusson
"Seeing what you're capable of," She smiled back easily, watching the handfull of fish scatter about the tank Cody Archer Cody wished he could just swim up, grab the legde and apply a good shove on that woman and make her fall in the tank. But sadly, as he had tried earlier, his arms couldn't hoist himself up, not without the help of the now unexisting legs
Annoyed, hungry and frustrated, he proceeded back to his swimming breakfast. But instead of chasing down the fish again, he contended himself with the few fish that were dead or halfway there. He was not going to give her the satisfaction Robin Fergusson She didn't seem to mind, stepping back from the edge to riffle through her data. She had collected a lot, and would need to sort through it befor performing more tests. The boy needed to build up his streighnth. "Those should keep you busy for a while," She nodded, pleased with herself. She'd let him go once he finished with all of those fish, to make sure she got as much data as possible. Cody Archer
Cody waited until that horrible woman left. He was still hungry, but he managed to control the urge for a while. But in the end hunger won and he was forced to hunt again
After what it seemed forever there were only a few couple of fish that had managed to evade him, but the rest were no more than piles of fishbones and a few remainers of flesh and scales
He was tired and discusted with himself, but his stomach no longer ached. So soon sleep came over and he dozed off on one of the corners of the tank, occasionally coming to the surface for air Robin Fergusson She let him sleep naturally for a little while befor having him buzzed. His wounds were checked over once more, a final protective salve rubbed on them befor he was transported back to his duplex. He would awaken in his duplex the next morning, all in one piece with the addition of a curious band clipped around his wrist. It seems to be of some sort of plastic, but is too strong a material for sissors or a knife from the cafeteria to cut, with a bar code printed along an inch of it. Robin likes keeping track of her experiments
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 03, 2007 8:52 am
Meeting Grandpa Again Cody Archer Cody was feeling miserable, more than usual. He hated being on the wheelchair, he hated being reminded the loss of his legs everytime le looked down at the pink areas of his tail (reason why he had a towel covering it) and he really, really hated those stupid scars
But sadly he could stay in his room forever. The mini-fridge had gone empty ages ago and he still hadn't the guts to eat freshly caught crabs (fish were way to fast and slipery for his grasp)
So he was out on the wheelchair again, heading to the cafeteria. It was a painfully slow trip, having to push himself with his hands. He wasn't accustomed to making so much effort with his arms, so he often had to pause and take a break to catch his breath. Stupid, stupid tail!
When he arrived there he was both famished and exausted, not to mention hot and thirsty. But the trials weren't over yet!
Because of his sitting position Cody couldn't have a full view of the displayed food. He was still too short at the age of 10 and picking food with that viewing angle wasn't easy. Damned it all!!! Richard Harrison Richard stared at the piece of meat on his plate, tentively poking at it with a fork. He was hungry but for once the meat didn't seem to appeal to him. Nothing actually appealed to him today. Yesterday that guard's body had appeared, causing thoughts that Richard had laid to rest to rise again in his brain. Jamal, the chips and the repercussions of their removal. That feeling of hope he had captured earlier still glimmered but it had been pushed deeper, occluded by Richard's calculating side as he tried to predict the out come of an active Jamal. He looked up to see Cody roll himself across the room. Multiple emotions flitted over him, relief as it had been a long time since he had seen the lad and concern from the sight of the wheel chair. What had happened to the boy? Richard stood for a better view and saw the greatly lengthened tail, as well as the absence of legs. Oh dear. He watched Cody stare banefully at the food counter and decided he should lend a hand. He approached the wheel chair from behind and put a clawed hand on the top of the wheel chair before greeting Cody, "Hey there lad. Need a hand?" The grandfather smile looked a bit odd on his feline features but it was still intact. Cody Archer Cody was so absorved in his thoughts of how much he hated his life right now, that he nearly jumped off the wheelchair when Richard approached him from behind
It took him a while to recognize who he was. Last time he had met the older man he was still fully human. But his eyes sparked with recognition and his face was graced with a smile, despite his current state of mind and how surprised he was on how much Richard had changed since he last saw him
"Hi..." he tried to remember the man's name, but he had never asked it before. The word grandpa was floating in his head again, but he refrined himself to call him that Richard Harrison Richard was wearing one of his brown jackets with holes cut in to for his extra limbs. This particular one he had obtained after his just after his second change and was beginning to look a bit ragged as those holes gradually enlarged through use and washing. His small arms fidgeted a bit with each other, prehaps distracting from the mounds on his chest which strained against a ace bandage under his shirt. Over his shoulders the two clubs of his tentacles were just visable as if they were about to grab Richard's shoulders and drag him away. Although, the inhuman eyes were perhaps the most striking feature. Richard chuckled a bit in a good natured way at Cody's jump. "Easy there lad. Cody was it?" Richard was blessed will a great memory of names and faces but often forgot many weren't quite so fortunate. He reached over Cody, took a tray from the stack and placed it infront of him. It was oblivious to him that Cody would need assistance so didn't ask first. "What will it be." He smiled while he sliently cursed Moreau and his cohorts for bringing the boy here and taking away his legs. Why not a terrestial animal at least! Cody Archer Cody was quite speechless now that he had calmed himself enough from the startle to have a good look at Richard changes. He had seen many changes by know, but this one was by far the oddest. Even Gallen's scales + fur didn't match it!
His curiosity was flared again. What caught his attention the most was both sets of extra limbs. The little hands were amazing, fidgiting on each other like that. But the tentacles were kind of creepy. For a second Cody was unsure if there was someone sneaking behind, but he couldn't see anyone as he tried to turn on his wheelchair. Then again he didn't had much room to move on it either
But Richard's second comment snapped him out of it. He was a bit unsure of what he was supposed to do. He didn't ask for help, but he didn't want to refuse it either. Richard was one of the few people Cody allowed to do these things for him without feeling annoyed by it, thinking they were treating him like a little kid Richard Harrison Richard could feel Cody's dance over him, it was to be exspected he supposed. Even still Richard's tail gave a flick of annoyance. When Cody remained silent Richard waited for answer for moment before turn around and looking at the buffet infront of the boy. It was the seafood section. Hrmm well that made sense at least. "Fish eh?" Richard start to pile various helpings of seafood on Cody's plate. The stuff looked pretty good to him actually, maybe he'd grab a plate for himself. Be a change from Pork and Cow. As he was doing this he gave Cody a view of his back with the tentacles emerging from mounds of muscle and bone at the mid point of his back and his tail lashing lazily. "So how have you been Cody?" Richard voice broke the awkward silence. Cody Archer "Err... yeah!"
Cod was a bit unsure if the question meant he wanted fish, or if it was a slight sarcasm of him picking fish. Either way the answer was the same
But before he could keep pondering on it, Richard's back caught his full attention. The tail was nothing surprising, maybe just a little bit because how naked it looked. But the tentacles was what it really suprised him
Often when he looked at squid and octopuss, all he felt was hunger. But these were way too creepy for him to have any interest in besides keeping a good distance between them
"Uhn? I'm... ok"
That was a big lie and he knew it. But he didn't felt like talking about his meeting with the pod, or explain how he gotten so many scars. Good thing the towel and the shirt kept them hidden from view Richard Harrison Cody's tray now full Richard turned and presented to Cody. "How's that?" Unsure of exactly what Cody's tastes were he had grab two of nearly everything the buffet had to offer and piled it so high he had needed a second plate to contain it. He doubted Cody would eat it all but this way he could pick and choose. Richard got the feeling that all wasn't well for Cody but figured it was just as hard for him as everyone else. Richard was sure he had closer friends than him to confide in. "Heh, Well I'm sure your having fun swimming all over the place. Are you keeping busy or are you a bit bored?" Richard's thoughts drifted to Colche's education, but he hadn't been able to find the Cheeta girl again. He wonder if the labs provided any education to Cody. Cody Archer "Thanks"
Cody smilled back and was surprised at such big amount of foo. He wasn't particularly picky about it, anything that went into the seafood section he enjoyed eating. Except raw, unprepared fish. He was still trying not to feel nauseous at the idea of swalloing that whole
But the mention of swimming made the smile disapear. Yes, he loved swimming, it was his life now, but after last time... he just couldn't help to be afraid
He tried to think of something to reply and hopefully change the subject, but what else did he do besides exploring the rivers and trying to map the best routes to the sea? Maybe the fishing and jumping, but the results were still too embarassing to talk about Richard Harrison Richard looked corned as Cody smile fell from his face. "What's the matter? Bored of that little lake?" Richard assumed all the islanders were confined to the lake and rivers, preventing them from exploring the ocean. Cody Archer "No.... It's not that..."
Cody was unsure if he should tell Richard. He trusted him enough, even thought of him as almost his grandfather, but this was the type of thing he never felt confortable sharing. He had gotten himself in big trouble and he didn't want the adults to worry over it
He tried to move his wheechair towards the tables, pulling one of the chairs out and moving the stupid wheeled contraption into the vacant space
But he pulled part of his towel up, revealing the a large scar that spread along the side of his tail, along with other smaller ones. He had more like that one over the rest of his back Richard Harrison Richard couldn't help but stare at the scar for moment before sitting the chair next to Cody. "God Damn lad. Who in the hell did to you?" Richard mentally ran through islanders he knew and attempted to determine who could have made a wound like that. He came up empty. He looked up a Cody, clearly worried. Richard earily unease with children seemed to have evaporated somewhere along his stay on the island. Cody Archer "Dolphins...."
Cody didn't look at Richard, but didn't cover he tail with the towel again. He was clearly not confortable with sharing this information, despite the wounds being old and completely healed Richard Harrison Richard's face first crunched up in confusion then a moment later his eyes widen in shock. Dolphin weren't in the lake, they were in the ocean, Cody didn't have gills, he wasn't fresh water bound. If it wasn't for the chip, Cody could just swim away. Then the second question came and he spoke it out loud. "Why Dolphins?" Was Cody also attempting to go feral? Like Colche's own botched attempt? The parallels were strikingly similar. Cody Archer Cody didn't reply at first. He was struggling to find the right words, a way to explain how and why he ended up in such a big mess
"I... I've wanted to meet them... since Nita told me about them. But... I don't know why, but they came after me and... and......"
Cody's words died as he started shivering and hug himself. He never had expected dolphins to be so aggressive, to hit and bite him and try to keep him from reaching the surface
Sadly he was unaware of the reasons or how some dolphins reacted to strangers and taught them their place in the hierarchy. That's what you get for trusting hollywood Richard Harrison Richard leaned down to put an arm around the boy's shoulders. "Its okay Cody. You got away." It occured to him that Cody's encounter was fortunate on some levels as he might be disinclined to try again. "But remember your not a dolphin." Cody Archer Cody nodded and snuggled as close to Richard as possible. He was still in shock after that encounter. If he'd never see another dolphin in his life he'd be more than happy Richard Harrison Richard was a little surprised that the hugs was accepted so readily but gladly pulled himself closer to the wheel chair bound boy. Which wasn't that close. A little two fingered hand reached out and patted Cody's hair. Richard was silent for a bit, letting the lad steady himself. "So, Cody perhaps you'd like to learn somethings other than what's in the ocean?" Like most Americans Richard believed the key to human civilization was education. Its structure and disapline enforced the best traits of humanity. That was what was required to fight off the animal side. Cody Archer The patting from the small hand didn't go unnoticed, but Cody's need for consolation was bigger than the urge to check the limb out. Still it felt funny, but in a nice way
"Uh? What do you mean?"
That got him puzzled. What did he meant by learning? Richard Harrison Hrrm.... How do you pitch school learning to a ten year old? Richard smiled as the memories of the crazy things he had done to avoid going to school swam through his brain. Start with what you know. Which in Richard's case was biology. "Welll.... You swim all around the island seeing things underwater that only a few people have ever seen before? Ever wonder how it all works? Why the rivers don't run dry and how the fish breath underwater?" Cody Archer Cody wasn't liking the way this conversation was going
"I already know that! Water evaporates to form clouds, clouds produce rain and the water from the rivers goes back to the sea. And fish breath through gills"
The last part he learned even more through experience, observing the fish swimming underwater and prodding the fish heads at the cafeteria before Delia started barking at him to stop playing with other people's food Richard Harrison "Thats impressive Cody," Richard smiled and realized that this was going to be a tough sell. Richard wasn't sure how to proceed. Ah well might as well be honest. "Not a big fan of schooling eh?" Cody Archer The S word was more than enough to make Cody edgy and sour. No kid in his right mind liked to have classes instead of a good game
"No"
His stomach started to grumble in complain, a reminder of why he was in the cafeteria to begin with. So he turned his attention to the plates and started eating. At least this way he didn't have to talk about school (at least that's what he thought) Richard Harrison Richard shook his head slightly and rolled his eyes. He thought about pressing the issue but really he wasn't in a position to do so. He wasn't Cody's mother and had no way to make the kid do anything he didn't want to do. He chuckled softly. "You remind me when I was your age. My mom had to drag me out of bed by the ankles to go to school. But the stuff is important, especially math and english." Cody Archer "Really?"
That sounded a bit strange, looking at Richard. He didn't seem the type to want skip school
Cody couldn't remember him ever being that bad. The most he ever did was burrying his head under the pillow or try to pretend to be sick Richard Harrison "Oh yes. And that wasn't the worst of it." Richard whispered. "Sometimes I'd lock arrange the pillows to look like me under the covers and sneak out the window. I'd go meet this fellow from next door and we'd play hooky." Richard was lying through his teeth at this point, he had been a very well behaved little boy who tended to oversleep. Cody Archer "I never thought of that. Neat trick!"
Cody wished he had remembered that when he had a dodgeball game. He simple hated it, because of the local class bullies. Playing against them was like being asked to be hit by a brick ball Richard Harrison "You shouldn't be inspired by my bad behavior." He waggled a clawed at the boy in jest. "And you should read as many books as you can. As your being spared school for now." There was a slight ominious note to Richard's voice. There was a plan forming in his mind. He still thought Cody should have a class structure. "I'm going to be tutoring Colche soon." As he could find her that is. Colche had been scarce lately. Cody Archer Despite Richard's attempt, that wasn't enough to convience Cody to go back to school. Reading maybe, but not school
"I'm sick and tired of reading books. The ones at the entertainment room are so boring I fall asleep just by opening them!"
This was obviously exaggerated, but it was true that all the books he had found on the island were too technicall for him to even begin to understand. The only ones he had managed to read were those he had found in his room, but he already had go over them twice at least Richard Harrison "Well, what sort of books do you like?" If Richard could place an order for the boy it would be a step in the right direction. Cody Archer "Any cool stories like Harry Potter or Gulliver's Travels. I didn't like the Lord of the Rings though, I spent nearly 3 weeks reading the first book!"
It was a good thing for Richard that all the time Cody had spent in the hospital waiting in line to get his injections gotten him to appreciate books more. It was a hell lot better than staring at the ceilling in total boredoom or having to look at those stupid, way outdated magazines they had there Richard Harrison Well Richard had read all of those except Harry Potter. "Ah fantastic stuff those are. The Lord of the Rings was one of my favorites when I was young." Not as young as Cody was but early twenties was plenty young to Richard. "Well Lad, I should be getting going. I've got a newsletter to write." And some staff to lecture about the importance of education he added silently. Not to mention he was getting tired, almost time for his afternoon nap. He stifled the yawn that came with the thought. Cody Archer "Newsletter?"
Cody half-remembered seing a newspaper like paper on the front of his duplex once, but he never passed his eyes over it. In his opinion newspapers were boring things only adults liked to read... well maybe except the comic page Richard Harrison "Yup. Hoping it will be monthly." He grinned when he saw confusing in Cody's eyes. "Have to spread the news somehow. Next issue is going to be really interesting." Although when he said interesting, he winced. He wasn't quite sure how to handle Jamal's gift yet. "Well..." He rose, "I'd best be going. See you soon Cody." He ruffled Cody's hair as he turned to head out the door. Cody Archer That explanation didn't actually clarified things, but his stomach was too empty for him to think straight
"See ya"
Cody waved and went back to his meal, only to remember some minutes later that he had forgotten to ask Richard's name again
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 17, 2007 12:34 pm
The Horse and the Dolphin Gaius Harper The sun was still rising as Gaius trotted down the path to the beach. He'd taken to wearing shorts more often with his latest change, the hair on his legs providing sometimes uncomfortable levels of insulation, especially when he sat out in the sun. "Are horses even supposed to have this much hair?" he wondered to himself. Best way to beat the heat, aside from lounging in his duplex or hanging around the shady areas under the trees, was of course to swim, and that's what he intended to do today. He had his blue and white swimtrunks and a towel over his shoulder. As he stepped onto the sand, Gaius found his feet were still quite susceptible to the hot sand. Hot-footing it across the beach, he dropped his towel above the waterline and splashed into the ocean, letting out a sigh of relief as he got in up to his thighs. "Aaaah..." He would have wiggled his toes in the wet, sticky sand if he'd still been able to. As it was, he got a little movement from his big toes and not much else. Letting himself sink down into the water up to his shoulders, Gaius found the water immensely relaxing and he just drifted a while. Cody Archer Cody was out to one of his swims again. Despite the attack he had sufferend from the last time, he couldn't help himself to prefer salt to fresh water. It felt a lot better against his skin for some odd reason, fresher and more clean. He just needed to be careful not to go closer to the pod and he would be able to explore the sea without trouble
At that very moment he was enjoying the warmer waters near the shore, more populated with all types of sea creatures than the open sea. It was a good place for him to practice his hunts. If he wanted to avoid getting on the wheelchair, he'd need to get better at catching those slippery fish
Without him knowing he was getting closer and closer to where Gaius was refreshing himself. It wouldn't be hard for the horse-man to spot him though, his dark, finned back often breaking the water surface while he chased the fish
Occasionally a sand haired head would come out as well for a split second, just long enough for Cody to fill his lungs with the salty air before he resumed his chase Gaius Harper The horse-man first caught a glimpse of Cody's body out of the corner of his wide vision. Instinctively, he jerked his head around, the movement startling his prey mindset. The second sighting, Gaius was able to make out the dark dorsal fin and tail and smiled to himself. Ah, a dolphin! And really close in to shore for some reason! However, the third sighting corrected that assumption. Gaius blinked as the wet-haired boy's head surfaced, gasping in air, and then disappeared again with a breach of his finned back. Understanding slowly dawning on Gaius, a smile spread across his face. It seemed the horse-man's presence hadn't been noticed yet. He watched the boy's movements for a while carefully, and slowly began moving into position, standing in the water so that the boy would either have to run into him or dodge around. Cody Archer Cody was too busy trying to grab the stupid fish to notice Gaius movements. Usually he'd be able to listen to most things moving underwater, but the surf muffled the sounds that weren't close to him
For some unknown reason the fish was heading straight towards the man and passed between the horse legs. Cody was about to do the same too when he suddently noticed that someone was standing there
He tried to dodge and slow down, but he didn't managed to move away in time and collided right on Gaius stomach. Luckly it was his tail that made contact and not his head Gaius Harper "Oomph!" Gaius had failed to take into account how fast someone part-dolphin would be swimming and had expected it more to be about average human speed. So, when Cody ran side-long into Gaius' legs, the horse-man was knocked back down with a grunt and landed on his tail with a great splash and flailing of wet wings. He wasn't upset, though. The mistake had been his own! He was just worried the kid might have gotten hurt in the process. "Whoo, quite a motor you have there. Sorry about that! You okay there?" Cody Archer Cody was more dizzy than actually hurt from making a turn so fast and stoping the way he did. He rubbed his head and shook the dizzyness away before looking at who he accidentaly ran into
He looked rather surprised at Gaius. He had a lot of dark fur and black wings, but what surprised him the most was his face. For some reason it seemed like a familiar animal, but he couldn't quite tell which one. And that was really frustrating
"Yeah. Hope I didn't hurt you. Was just trying to grab a fish" Gaius Harper The horse-man raised an eyebrow. Honestly, from a distance, he'd thought this dolphin-person was a girl. The slight frame and all... Perhaps a bit young, but he didn't realize how young. And now up close, Gaius could see it was a boy, probably no more than twelve at most. But so much of him was still under the water, despite the tropics being quite clear, it was difficult to make out the extent of his changes. His clear face and shoulders said that he'd yet to change much, but the length of dolphin tail suggested otherwise... And he'd yet to notice the lack of legs. As it was, he was sitting about chest-deep in the water, long hair dripping from his arched neck and shoulders. "Nah, nah, I'm okay... fish, huh?" He said and gave a loud snort, trying to clear the water from his nose. His expression was one of concern as he looked down at the dolphin boy. "You, uh... how old are you? You don't look very old to be out here by yourself..." Cody Archer "Dol-phin! And I'm 10!!!"
Cody wasn't angry at Gaius for thinking he was too young to be alone, just slightly annoyed. After all he had hit him by accident and he didn't want to make the horse-man angry at him
Again he looked at Gaius, trying to figure out what kind of animal he got. The snort and the neck kept reminding him of something familiar, but he just couldn't put his finger on what it was. Besides the ears looked quite interesting, but were too high for him to reach and inspect Gaius Harper "Dolphin! Dolphin, right right," Gaius chuckled at the misunderstanding. He'd been referring to what Cody had been chasing, but he didn't need to correct that right now. "Ten... huh. So they'll even experiment on kids..." Gaius' friendly smile faded. Compared to himself, this boy hadn't even had a chance at life yet... How did he feel about that? The sad thoughts were quickly hidden behind another bright smile. Wanting to indulge the kid a bit, Gaius asked, "So, what kind of fish are you catching out here anyways? Is it a game you play?" Cody Archer "Yeah, so?"
Cody still hasn't understood why people were making so much of a fuss about it. He knew he was probably the only kid around here and he was also aware of the pain and possible death serums could cause
But never considering about what he wanted to do of his future, besides the dream of being a soccer player, which now was completely forgotten due to the recent events, he couldn't image what the labs had robbed him
"I dunno, just fish I find swimming near the coast. Tastes better than the ones at the cafeteria... but they're really hard to catch" Gaius Harper Gaius' smile slipped. "Wait, you mean you catch the fish... and eat them? Raw? With your own hands and stuff?" He'd heard of sushi, but the equine in him revolted at the thought of... ugh, raw flesh! Cody Archer "Yeah. I didn't like it at first, but it's not so bad actually. I also eat squid and stuff, but at the cafeteria. I still haven't found them around here"
Actually he had captured crabs a couple of times, but he hadn't managed to pass through their hard shells before the pincers grabbed his fingers
Cody noticed Gaius reaction to the news and couldn't help to wonder...
"What do you eat? And what animal are you turning into? Or is it a mix like Shenzi? I don't think I know any mammal with wings besides bats. And what's your name by the way?" Gaius Harper "Well, I guess that's not so bad..." Gaius said in response to the fish answer. "I mean, at least you're happy with it, and I guess it's healthier than twinkies?" He blinked as the kid seemed to find his voice, spouting off questions one after the other. "Whoa!" Gaius laughed, holding up a hoofed hand. "Me? I eat normal food, mostly. Not a lot of meat anymore. I guess more veggies and fruit? And, uh... Shenzi? You know her?" His smile brightened. "She's a nice girl. And yeah, I guess you can say we're similar. No, I'm not a bat. They've stuck me with a 'pegasus'... uh, a horse with wings, you see." He scratched at his nose, looking a bit bashful. "Er, the name's Gaius! What's your's, kid?" Cody Archer "I hate twinkies"
Cody stuck his tongue out playfully at that. That happened to be quite true, he always prefered things like cookies over twinkies
"Yeah, I met her on the beach before. We played a bit too. She's really nice"
He wanted to slap his head at the horse word. He knew he had seen that animal before, even if never a live one
And he knew about pegasus, although not the myth. Between that and unicorns, he remembered seeing a lot of little girls playing with horse toys and having a lot of horse theme school items. Personally he was a bigger fan of dragons and other reptiles
"I'm Cody" Gaius Harper "Cody, eh? Well, nice to meet you!" Gaius grinned and extended a three-fingered hand for the boy to shake, then glanced around at the water he was still sitting in. "So, you catch fish out here? With what, your hands? Or do you use a pole or something?" Cody Archer Cody extended his webbed hand and shaked, but instead of releasing he holded Gaius fingers and looked at the odd way they were merged together. It was so weird!
"Just my hands. But they're slippery" Gaius Harper "Just your hands? But that has to be nearly impossible, even with the way you were swimming..." The horse-man blinked, glancing down at the boy clinging to his hand. His fingers curled as he fought the instinctive urge to pull it away, to hide it out of sight, but forced himself to relax, letting Cody turn it this way and that as he pleased. Water dripped from the matted black hair covering his forearms. "...You..." he began slowly, an idea forming in his mind. "You ever tried fishing with a net or something?" Cody Archer Cody kept exploring the odd fingers and the thick fur not too far from them. It was interesting to see how the bones appeared depending on how the hand was bent and the thickness of the nails felt interesting against his rubbery, nailess fingers
The thick, short, black fur was something that also got his attention. He petted it in the direction it growed, felling the rough hairs against his palm. But after a while he realised how embarrasiing this probably looked and stopped, blushing
"Sorry.... "
He then considered what Gaius just said. He never really thought about it before
"No. Just with a fishing rod when I was little" Gaius Harper Drawing his hand back, Gaius couldn't help but chuckle at the boy's shyness, and patted him lightly on the head. "Hey, it's okay. I'd probably be the same if I was your age and saw something weird like them. Looks like you've got a bit of similar trouble with your own hands anyways." He tilted his head, a horseish smirk on his blunt muzzle "Hm, I bet a net could help you with those fast fish out here... but we'd need some kind of rope that won't dissolve in the water. That, and..." Gaius winced, ducking his head, "I don't really know how to make one myself. Just thought one of them might be handy for a kid like you. But maybe someone else knows..." Cody Archer "You're not weird. And my hands are just matching my tail"
"Wait, ropes can dissolve!?!" Gaius Harper "Heh, well, my hands are just matching the rest of me, I'm afraid, including my feet and all..." Gaius chuckled dryly. "Yeah, after time they'll do that, I think. Rope gets old and worn out. It's because of all the... uh, chemicals in the ocean? Like the salt and stuff, that's probably what makes them fall apart. But thin string would definitely dissolve pretty fast, kinda like when you put paper in the water. Maybe the labs would provide something..." As he spoke, Gaius stood back up to his full height, dripping water all over. His hair clung to him like wet clothes, feeling incredibly heavy. It was like a sponge! The horse-man gave a great shake all over, like a wet dog. His mane flapped back and forth, clinging to his neck and wrapping around part of his face. Gaius pulled some of the strands away from his eyes and gave another snort. "Ah, sorry about that!" he smiled sheepishly. Cody Archer "I didn't know that..."
He looked as Gaius stood up and was a bit amazed on how tall he was. But the shower he just gave him next distracted him from those thoughts
It wasn't really bad, he was used to be wet all the time, but some of hairs stuck against his face and a few even managed to get into his mouth somehow, which forced him to spit and brush his tongue with his firgers
"Bleargk, hairs....." he then laughed, looking at how funny the horse-man looked with his hiars sticking out and the mane all tangled Gaius Harper "Hey, not my fault there!" Gaius chuckled, twitching his tail as he tried to get it unstuck from his leg. "Hmm... Listen Cody, I'll ask around and see if anyone knows anything about net-making. I bet you can try making one yourself if you can find some good materials. I'd just suggest avoiding the labs, they're very... well, bad poeple, no matter what they say." Gaius shook his head. "I've dealt with them before, and it's not fun." "Anyways!" he said, brightening up again, "want to join me on my way back to the village?" He gestured back up the beach towards his towel and the trail he'd walked. Cody Archer "You just look funny like that"
"I've been there twice. First time a guy with weird clothes and white hair put me to sleep before I changed the second time. And the second they took me to heal the bites and a stupid woman with weird hair made spend hours trying to catch my food"
He uncosciously started to turn the plastic bracelet on his wrist with his fingers. It was a reminder of his last visit, though he didn't paid much attention to the fact it had a code written on, because he had seen similar back when he visited the hospital
"I.... can't"
He looked down, gloomy. Gaius couldn't probably see because of the turve water, but Cody was staring at his non-existant legs Gaius Harper The pegasus' ears flattened back, even as his wings puffed up. Ah, Sabin. His name always followed close behind any mention of torment... "Yeah, I've... met that guy before. He's messed with me at the labs too..." His head tilted a bit at the mention of the woman. The only one he'd heard about until now was Aubrey, but this description seemed different. "Woman with weird hair? Who's that?" Gaius caught sight of the bracelet, though he failed to understand its significance, and instead wondered at the boy's suddenly glum mood. "Can't...?" he asked, wondering if the boy would off an explanation. Cody Archer "Messed? He was ok with me, just didn't talk much. Not like Aubrey or that crazy woman"
"And I don't know her name, she didn't say it. But she has weird brown hair that looks dry sausages, oval glasses and she kept trying to treat me like I was some kind of poodle"
Cody tried to look for the right words, but he didn't want to say he didn't had legs anymore
"I just... can't" Gaius Harper Well, at least that answer affirmed the woman was different from Aubrey. He'd have to keep an eye out for her, though the last thing he wanted was any more dealings with the labs. Not after all he'd dealt with. His ears flicked up and back a couple times, silently expressing his confusion as to why Cody didn't want to join him, but he decided it probably wasn't best to press, even if he was curious. Shrugging, he headed for the beach. "Fine fine, I'll leave you to your playing then! I need to get to some work myself, and my dog's probably hungry by now..." Glancing back over his shoulder, he cast a friendly smile at the dolphin-boy. "I'll let you know if I find anything about a net, okay? Which duplex do you live in?" Cody Archer Cody accompanied Gaius up to where he could follow. When the water was low enough to reach his knees (if he still had them), he stopped and sitted on the sand. The water there was clear enough for the horse-man to see the boy's lower body completely, though Cody hadn't remember it
"Sure. I live in one of those rooms at the lake. Mine's number 3" Gaius Harper Gaius had padded up to retrieve his towel, shaking the san off of it before patting down his legs. Sand clung to the wet hair around his feet. That, combined with all the water he was still retaining, left Gaius feeling like he'd gone swimming in his jeans and boots. So, when he turned around to say goodbye to the kid, he hadn't been prepared for the sight. The horse-man frowned, perplexed, as he tried to figure out what was striking him so odd - a trick of the water? No, it was just... there was Cody's tail, but the boy clearly had no legs! It was difficult even in that light to tell where they had once been. A guilty pang hit him. So that was why Cody didn't want to go with him. Here he was, upset about his hands of all things, when he still had workable fingers, and this boy couldn't even walk anymore. How fair was that? All this passed through Gaius' head in a rush, mirrored on his face with the conflicting emotions and look of guilt. When the horse finally found his voice again, it came out in a high, broken note. "I'll," he squeaked, then cleared his throat. "I'll see you around, okay kid? Good luck with those fish!" Cody Archer Cody noticed Gaius change of mood and understood why. The man was clearly looking at his tail, but he couldn't blame him
Instead of feeling more miserable for himself, he put a brave face and waved a goodbye
"See ya. And thanks"
He turned around and swimmed back to deeper waters. The net idea was quite interesting and he was already making plans on how to use them. He would need to find one first though
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Feb 18, 2007 4:19 am
Which One Has the Best Tail? Cody Archer A warm day, cool water, fish glinting in the sun.... it was the perfect day for Cody to be out on one of his fishing attempts
Since his last talk wih Gaius he had been wondering on how to trap the fish. He still hadn't managed to find a net and using a rod was way too slow. Chasing the fish was a good technique, but his hands weren't made to grasp the slippery bastards
Righ now he was exploring the river, trying to find a good hunting spot. It was easier for him to hunt here, there was no surf to muffle the sounds, nor the high sea were they could easily escape
But so far he didn't had much luck. All the fish he spotted were too small to be of any interest to him, or... wait! there was a big one right in front of him!!!
Cody immediatly started chasing the fresh water fish. He was bigger, faster and he knew he would have better chances to grab it if he kept pushing it towards the shore
In a matter of minutes the fish was flopping on the river bank, struggling to breath. All the dolphin boy had to do was wait until it stopped moving to reclaim the prize Thomas Brinley A warm day, cool water, fish glinting in the sun... It was the perfect day for Thom to set his plottings aside and just relax down by the river. The warmth of the day was enough that he could tolerate the lower temperature of the water with relative ease, and he had opted to risk a swim. Swimming had become a favored past time since the loss of his legs, but with the unpredictable rains and slightly lower temperatures that marked the tropical winter, he had avoided the water in favor of what warmth he could find. At present, however, with the sun shining down through the trees, Thom was floating lazily along on his back, the very end of his tail looped around a thin tree on the bank to keep him from floating away, arms occasionally moving to keep him in open water, rather than let himself drift towards shore. It was quiet, calm, and utterly perfect for an afternoon of nothing in particular, and Thom was just debating the procs and cons of a nap while swimming when a splash a short while down the bank startled him to the present. He straightened up, which nearly sent him flipping over sideways before he remembered to release his hold on the tree, and somewhat awkwardly tread water, eyes wandering the shore and river for whatever had made the splash. His tongue snaked out, experimentally tasting the air, and with its aid Thom focused in on the boy near the bank. He was familiar... And he had hardly changed at all? He looked no different from when Thom had first met him, and that was months and months back. Oh, what was his name..? "Cody?" Cody Archer Cody was grabbing the now nearly limp fish when he heard someone calling his name. He looked around and saw the long snak-man floating in the river. There was something familiar about him, but he could tell what
"Who're you?" Thomas Brinley "Thom," he reminded the boy, not surprised in the least that Cody didn't recognize him. It had been months, after all, and Thom...didn't exactly look like Thom anymore, much to his displeasure. "Brinley. Remember me?" Cody Archer Cody dropped the fish. Thom? Was that really Thom? The famous soccer player he had met months ago? The same player he loved watching on television?!?
Now that he mentioned it, the first time they met, Thom told him he was being turned into a snake. But this was too much to believe, he could barely recognize the person he once was
The boy slowly approached Thom, shock still written all over his face. Yes, it was still Thom now that he had a closer look, but he changed so much....
It was still so hard to believe it was the same person. Most of the islanders he met were either already quite advanced in their changes, or still quite recognizable after them. But Thom...
"I'm sorry, I'm really, really sorry I didn't recognize you..." Thomas Brinley Ahh, the stare. Most of the islanders Thom met nowadays had been around for a while, so the stare was rarely won anymore. Having such a stare come from someone who had been around the island for nearly as long as he... Well, had Cody been any older, Thom would have taken offense. As it was, knowing himself how much he had changed sing they had last met, as well as taking Cody's age into account, Thom elected to ignore it. He waved a hand dismissively following the apology, even managing a smile for Cody's benefit. "No worries, eh? I don't exactly look th' same as when we last met, it's perfectly understandable... You, 'owever, don't seem to've changed much. Are they delayin' your changes for some reason?" Cody Archer Cody was quite reliefed Thom wasn't mad at him, but it was so suddent and unexpected to see someone he knew so completely different. He smiled back, though he still looked quite embarassed
"Sorry! But I did changed. 3 times!"
He still hadn't quite realised how odd it was for him to look so similar to when he first arrived. Having to grow a tail and then losing the legs kept his mind out of thouse thoughts until quite recently. But still it hadn't sunk in Thomas Brinley "Three times?" He raised a scaled brow, cocking his head down at the boy. Thom himself had changed three times, and comparing himself and Cody, he would have given about anything to be in the boy's shoes--or lack thereof, though he didn't know that just yet. "What are you turnin' in to?" Cody Archer "Dolphin"
Cody came closer and pulled himself into a sitting position by the river bank. It was clear how much inhuman he was from the waist below, especially the lack of legs. And the other thing that was quite visible was the large amount of scars he had
In other occasions he would be a bit relunctant to show his missing limbs, but it was the least he could do after not recognizing Thom right away. Besides he was still a big fan of him Thomas Brinley "Ahh..." Oh, yes, he could easily see the dolphin, Thom thought sarcastically, and immediatelyl regretted it when Cody pulled himself onto the bank to reveal the tail. "...Ahh..." he repeated, but his sympathy was clear in his tone. So Cody had lost him legs too, hmm? Thom knew how that felt, but he was torn as to who had the worse deal of it. Cody still looked like Cody, but Cody didn't seem like he could manage on land with a tail like that. The good with the bad. "I see what you mean now. Sorry to 'ear that. But 'ey, we're no-leg buddies." It was a bit easier for him to shift up onto the bank than it was for Cody, and one he had it was clear that only a stub of his left leg remained. Otherwise, it was all tail. "They must save th' legless serums for th' best of us." Cody Archer Cody looked a bit amazed at both the length of Thom's tail and what remained of his legs. It reminded him of Cass, though she had 2 stubs instead of one
And deep inside he was really jealous of the snake-man's luck. At least he could still walk on land, while he had to use a wheelchair
"Yeah.... I guess so. But you got lucky" Thomas Brinley "Lucky?" He grinned, curved fangs visible briefly. "Because I can get about on land, you mean? Per'aps. 'Owever," he paused, gesturing to his tail. "This last change took a full week. I thought it was goin' t' kill me. I'd think I'd rather be restrained t' water than 'ave to look forward to another like that." Cody Archer Cody didn't catch the glimpse of the fangs, otherwise he would had interrupted the conversation to talk about them
"Ouch, that's gotta hurt. My last change I can barely remember anything but the pain and then waking up in my new room"
"But I hate having to use that stupid wheechair. Makes my butt hurt and I get hot and dry after a while. I can barely do anything out of water!" Thomas Brinley "That's probably for the better," he admitted. It made it seem much less real when it was quick. You didn't have to focus on the differences that were taking place, and, when it was slow, it was easier to match the change with the pain, leaving a lasting mark in one's memory. However, for the last few days of his transformation, Thom hadn't been coherent enough to know what was going on, much less remember it. "Th' chair has to be miserable," he agreed sympathetically, nodding. "I' sorry you 'ave t' deal with that. I used crutches until my tail was strong enough t' carry me." Cody Archer "Still hurted like hell.... and I wish I could use crutches. They're a lot cooler than wheelchairs"
This topic was getting rather gloomy. It kept remind him how useless he was out of water and how helpless he felt. He needed to change subject
"You still play soccer? Bet you can do some cool moves with the tail" Thomas Brinley His smile faltered, and he shook his head. "I 'aven't played since my second change, t' be 'onest. Or shortly thereafter, tried for a bit with one leg, couldn't manage very well. I've debated tryin' again, but, eh..." He shrugged, glancing down to the stub that remained of his left leg. "I doubt I'd be good for much." Cody Archer Now Cody felt guilty for bringing that up. He should have known better
"Sorry... I've always thought snakes could do well at soccer. Because of the way they move and stuff..."
He shifted his position and used his arms to support the weight. Though he still had his hip bones, sitting was unconfortable when you don't have a butt to cushion the weight
"I haven't played either. I mean I couldn't because of the MS before, but now I'm stuck in water"
He was tring to cheer up Thom, making him feel lucky he still had the sport, no matter the changes Thomas Brinley "Don't apologize," Thom laughed, shaking his head and looking back up. "I'd thought th' same for a bit there. An', admittedly, I'm sure I could still do some interestin' tricks with th' ball, but actually playin' would be difficult. For one, I can't dribble th' ball without two limbs, an' my tail's too long for me t' function well on th' field. I'd 'ave people trippin' all over me. I could probably manage a damn good goal keep, 'owever," he admitted, looking thoughtful. "Per'aps you could make a water game of it?" he suggested, raising a brow. "Water polo or some such? I still 'ave a bunch of balls, if you want one. It wouldn't exactly be football, but it could be fun." Cody Archer "You'd probably could protect the whole goal at the same time"
Cody tried to imagine Thom playing in his current condition. Most of the moves were impossible, but what cared was how cool all of them looked
"Hm? Water polo? Never heard of that. And can I really have one? Signed up and all!?!"
That last part got him really excited. Owning a ball singed by a great soccer player... it was one of his old dreams come true! Thomas Brinley "I'd certainly try," he agreed, laughing, though he wasn't sure how possible it would be. Cass hadn't exactly been the goalie Thom had expected, after all, but he and Cass were built differently, to an extent. He was fairly sure he could strike after the balls and, between his longer body and arms, manage to keep most of them out of the goal. But that didn't matter right now. "Signed?" He hadn't even thought about that. It was so strange to come across a fan on the island, much moreso when he hardly felt like the self be had been back when he played football. It was flattering. "If you'd like. That's no problem at all." Cody Archer Cody was absolutly beaming. A signed ball, signed especialy for him!!!
He forgot about the changes, he forgot about the island, he even forgot about his parents. Right now all he could think about was he was going to be gifted with one of the things he had wanted his entire life
He didn't know how to express his gratitude. He wanted to hug, to jump, to run, but all of those were not the proper way to act around someone famous
He gave out his grey, webbed hand to shake, but his face was betraying the turmoil of happy feelings that went on inside
"Thank you" Thomas Brinley Cody's excitement was more than clear, and when the boy restrained himself to only a handshake, Thom very nearly burst out laughing. However, for the boy's benefit, he managed to choke back the laugh and solemnly shook Cody's hand, though he couldn't help but grin. "S'my pleasure, kid, though I'm not sure 'ow'll I'll get it to you. Which duplex is yours?" Cody Archer "I'm in one of those duplexes by the lake. Number 3"
He was getting one and he just got a professional handshake. He would dance if he could, out of excitment. Heck, he would even do a few dolphin jumps if running of wasn't rude Thomas Brinley "Lake duplex number three," he repeated to write it into his memory, nodding. "I'll get it to you as soon as I 'ave th' chance, which means probably tomorrow. There isn't much to occupy us 'ere, is there?" he admitted, grimacing. Cody Archer Cody did a back flip on his mind. He was going to get the ball tomorrow. He'd surely wouldn't be able to sleep that night
"Only if you count fishing. Takes me forever to catch one"
It was the only thing he did the last few days. But that reminded him of something....
"Do you know where I can get a net? Or anyone who knows how to make one?" Thomas Brinley "I 'ave the same problem 'untin' rabbits," he agreed, nodding. "Bloody irritatin' things." He paused, considering the question, then shrugged. "I know someone 'oo might be able t' make you one... I'd 'ave to ask 'im, an' I'm not entirely sure where 'e is right now, but when I see 'im I'll check for you. Otherwise, all I can think would be th' labs." Cody Archer The word rabbit was more than enough to send a shiver down his spine. He was still scared to death of those bloody rodents. But weirdly it felt good to know his local soccer hero actually ate them
"Really? Who is it?" Thomas Brinley "Newt," he replied shortly, glancing down to Cody. "Most annoyin' man I've ever met, but damn creative when it comes to inventin' this an' that. 'Ave you met 'im? 'E's turnin' into a frog." Cody Archer "Yeah I know him, he used to live above my old duplex. I haven't seen him in ages. I need to tell him I'm sorry for the things I said the last time. He's probably mad at me..."
The last part Cody was talking more to himself than to Thom. He still felt guilty for the way he treated Newt and he really wanted to apoligise. But he didn't have the guts to go near his old room, nor would he be able to climb up the stairs to talk with the frog man Thomas Brinley He raised a brow, but didn't pry. He had said plenty of things himself to Newt that he probably shouldn't have, after all--not that he was particularly sorry for them. But Cody didn't need to know that. "Tell you what, if he agrees to make th' net, I'll get 'im to bring it to you 'imself so you can apologize. 'Ow's that?" Sliding a bit further onto the bank, he drew his tail up out of the water to coil beside himself, already almost completely dry mere seconds from the river. "For the present, 'owever, I should be goin'. It was good seein' you again, Cody." Cody Archer "Really? You do that for me? Thank you"
Cody couldn't be happier, having the Thom Brinley doing him this favour
"It was great seeing you too. And sorry for not recognizing you"
He went back into the water after seeing the snake man disappear, proceding back to where he left the fish. Obviously it wasn't there anymore
But he wasn't angry, his happy bubble was so full that nothing in the world could get him down right now
Needing to express his feelings, Cody jumped and twirled in the water with ease all the way back to the lake, though he was still far from being graceful
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Feb 24, 2007 9:13 pm
Language Barriers are Tricky Thina Arlia-Pavlidis After the encounter with the komodo-monster, Thina was reluctant to go out more than necessary. She feared meeting anyone else, especially if they were some kind of ensorcelled creature. Today, however, she wanted to go out and do something.
The woman dressed only in her bottom dress. It was just too hot at this Island for all the layers the traditional costume called for. It was still modest, and covered everything. The hem was especially dirty, for the only cleaning it's had was her primitive washing. Thina went to the cafeteria for some food, and then she decided that she would risk her fear and see more of this strange island.
Her lyre in her hands, Thina looked at the edge of the forest. She figured there would be less people in the wooded area, assuming the habitants would prefer living in the little 'village'.
Some time passed. At first, the woman was wistful of home, in the mountainous lands of Epirus. It was then that she saw the lake. Thina stared, her mouth almost fell to the ground. It was beautiful. The sun reflected off the water as the small breeze formed little waves among the expanse. Something in her wanted to jump in, but she resisted and settled to just have bare feet -after taking off socks and shoes- submerged. Thina looked around, listening to the water and birds.
Eventually, however, her mind saw that it was all just the same, and a little too quiet. Sure, there was the natural music of the forest, but she wanted more.
Thina took out her lyre and hand-trummed a tune. It was an old song, kept alive from Ancient Greece. Originally, it was a song dedicated to Apollo, only it was replaced with God long ago. It spoke of the beautiful things that shined in nature as God smiled down from his heavenly throne. Cody Archer Cody was returning from another exausting hunting attempt in one of the many rivers. He was getting better at cornering the fish, but still he had trouble grasping them. He had tried using the fabric from one of his old shorts, but it did him little good. It acted more like a sail than a net
But then he heard something that caught his attention. It was a weird sound, distorced by the water, but it sounded familiar... like..... music!!!
It had been ages since he last heard any melodic sounds besides the songs of the birds. It was so alien in this place, but soooo pleasent!
Cody immediatly tried to find the source, his dorsal fin cutting the water like a thick, black blade. When he was close enough the fin disapeared, soon to be followed by the surfacing of a sandy colored head
He was floating a good 20 feet away from the woman, hearing the sounds of the lyre completely delighted. He didn't even pay attention to the scar on her face, so absorved he was in the song Thina Arlia-Pavlidis The song wasn't even close to being completed, but when Thina finally saw the person her voice faltered and her fingers froze. There was someone in the water!
"What are you doing? You'll drown!" she cried out in Greek. In her mind, Thina knew he probably didn't speak Greek, his sandy-blond hair told her that much -unless he dyed it, which was becoming more popular; but in her concern for the apparant-youngster gripped her fear.
Thina stood up and made wide motions as she shouted more Greek words, encouraging him to get out before he died. Cody Archer Cody was completely surprised by two reason. First, that woman was speaking in a completely weird language. Second, she started making strange motions to him
He didn't really know what to do. Now that he looked at her long enough he could tell she was still completely human and experience told him to stay away from them. But it seemed she was trying to warn him of something in the lake
Cody looked around, trying to see if there was something else in the water, slowly getting closer to the shore. Her message was still unclear, but the panic tone in her voice was not. And that was starting to make him feel uneasy, not of her, but of the deeper waters. Maybe the dolphins came after him to finish the job!? Thina Arlia-Pavlidis Thina was slightly relieved that he was coming to the shore. She hoped she could help him out when the time came. The woman waited, still making motions and yelling out encouragement.
Then, she saw exactly how he came, and Thina could only blink in surprise as she stilled her movement and words. The youngster wasn't swimming like she'd seen people before -granted, she couldn't swim herself. He was much more graceful and with less arm movement.
He was getting closer, and she instinctually took a step back. "How are you swimming like that?" Thina asked, but as her concern lessened she was able to think more clearly. And as such, she thought how he didn't look Greek and probably didn't know the language.
So, Thina tried again, "Your swim... is strange." Meanwhile, she eyed him carefully, clutching her lyre protectively. For one being so old, she sure reverted to childish actions quickly. Cody Archer Now Cody was really confused. Her behaviour started to change as he was now much closer to the shore, no longer shouting those weird words but acting more defensive and steping back
Until she spoken in english, he looked scared. Something was telling him that she wasn't aware of the reality in the island and would likely get spooked by him. An experience he really didn't want to repeat
"What do you mean?"
He now looked puzzled at her, with a bit of fear still showing. He was swimming the only way he knew, moving his tail up and down. He had forgotten a long time ago to use his arms to propel him. It was inefficient in his case Thina Arlia-Pavlidis Thina thought about how to phrase her words, since she now knew he was definately speaking English. She should have paid more attention to the English-speaking tourists!
She set her lyre by her feet. In order to try to get her meaning across, the woman flailed her arms in an effort to show arm-swimming. "You don't...." more flailing, "...to swim."
With her mind concentrated on trying to her the meaning to her words, Thina was not as worried. Curiosity was starting to get the better of her; for despite it all this newcomer in her life seemed very young and non-threatening. He for sure did not have the sharp teeth of the previous one she met. Maybe the people were not so scary? Cody Archer Cody started to relax a bit. It seemed she wasn't really freaked out by him after all. Maybe it was just her trouble in speaking english. He couldn't blame her after hearing that horrid vocabulary
"Ah! no, I don't. I just use my tail"
He decided to give a small demonstration to explain. He glided easily through the water, the dark fin showing again and the water being disturbed where the the flukes nearly broke the water surface
But because of the wind the water was quite muddy and that combined with Cody's dark dolphin skin, it was hard to tell what lied below the surface Thina Arlia-Pavlidis Thina stared in shock, again. "Tail?" she asked, not believing it.... until. What was that? She saw fin peek out, but... maybe that was just a trick of the light? But then how would his ease in the water be explained? That didn't make any sense.
The woman was torn: run away or stay and see what this boy had to offer in ways of the Island's strangeness.
"Tail?" she asked again, her mouth working once more. Thina watched him warily, if he really did have a tail, who knew what else. Cody Archer Cody mistaken her shock as not knowing the meaning of the word
"Oh, sorry"
He approached the shore as far as he could go and then used his arms to drag himself out a bit, enough to tell most of bottom half. The flippers, the fin and the fluke, all were quite visible and very dolphin like Thina Arlia-Pavlidis Thina watched in surprise, maybe a little bit of horror. With a squeak of surprise, the woman took a step back but tripped on her shoes that were laying there. She fell on her somewhat ample rump with a painful gasp.
As she rubbed her backside to try and chase away the pain, the woman went to think of her own mythical history. It was her mother and grandmother who kept those stories alive, though they were also interspersed with Christian stories as well. Thina mumbled to herself as she went through the myths. The ones that came to her mind were of Triton and Glaucus, two men with the torso's of men but tails of fish.
While their appearance sometimes struck fear and panic in those that saw them, they were not evil or cruel. So, it was their stories -instead of those of flesh-eating mermaids- that Thina recalled, and her fear dispersed. She still did not grasp the island's concept, but she did know her stories and legends.
Finally, Thina went back to English. As she repositioned herself in a more comfortable position, she leaned forward to the dolphin-tailed boy. Even though she was Orthodox, the proof before her of the Ancient gods was too much to ignore. "Which god... changed... you? Poisedon?" Was it possible that the Ancient myths were all true? Cody Archer Cody didn't notice the woman falling off until he heard her hitting the ground. He was busy dragging his body to dry land, so her clear shock on her face went unnoticed
He wanted to help her up, but he couldn't move any further in land. It felt like dragging a heavy sack of potatoes just by using his arms. But she didn't seem hurt, though it was hard to tell between the greek mumbling
"Poseidon? Who's that?"
Cody's knowledge of gods was very small. The ones he knew he learned through a couple of movies, but the only ones he could recall was Zeus and Thor. And maybe Mars and Venus, but that was because of the planets Thina Arlia-Pavlidis Thina crept forward, giving up her comfortable position. She had to truly see this for herself. "Poisedon. God of the big sea... or ocean. He had a son, Triton... half antheros -man-, half fish."
Up closer, the woman saw that he wasn't really 'fish'. "Dolphin?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowing as she thought. Dolphins were Apollo and Dionysus.... not Poisedon. Oh, how she was so confused.
The woman also, after really looking at him, saw that he looked very yound, "How old are you?" Cody Archer "Sorry, doesn't ring a bell"
Cody didn't know what this conversation was about. Why was she talking about gods and stuff?
"Yes. And I'm 10. My name is Cody by the way" Thina Arlia-Pavlidis "A bell?" Thina asked, not understanding the phrase. "No, Triton had a shell, not a bell." Okay, so she really didn't get it. But, it did appear that the boy didn't know what she was talking about. Which means, it probably wasn't one of the gods.... for they liked to make sure one knew about who they were.
With his answer, Thina knew he was part dolphin, not really fish. That was strange, but she still trusted him... not only because he was so young but also because he didn't look like a scary monster. The mermen she knew about were not malicious.
"I am Thina Arlia-Pavlidis. Kalimera Cody. Good day to you." She translated the meaning. Cody Archer Shell!?! What the hell was she talking about???
Cody decided not to ask more about that. He confused enough as it is and talking to someone with a limited vocabulary was quite frustrating. Best to keep things simple
"Thina Arli-what?! Do you mind if I just call you Thina?"
He looked embarassed for not getting half of the name right, but that pronounciation was difficult
But now that things seemed stable (and he was assured she wasn't going to freak out on him), there was quite a few questions he really wanted to get out of his chest
"How long have you been here? Do you know what animal you're getting? and how did you get that scar?" Thina Arlia-Pavlidis Thina smiled. Many people could not get many of the last names, so she understood what he was going through trying to pronounce it. "Thina is my name, so alone it is good."
She leaned back and grabbed her socks and shoes to put them back on. Her smile broadened at the questions. She loved children, and Cody was still one in her mind.
"I do not know how long. I was..." the woman visibly searched for the word, "asleep?..." she put her head to the side and closed her eyes for a moment to emphasize. "...when I came. I been awake for enya" Thina nine fingers, "days."
"Animal?" Thina cocked her head to the side and stared blankly into Cody's eyes as she buttoned up one of her shoes. "No animal." She didn't know that, like him and the komodo creature she did not know that she was also turning into one.
Self-consciously, her hand went to the side of her face and rested on the scars. "God punished me when I was child. He made a... fire?... on my face." So, she had no idea how to explain a firecracker, but when she said fire, she splayed her hands to try and show something exploding. Cody Archer Seeing Thina smile at him felt good, more than he would want to admit. There was something in the back of his brain that urged him to feel more socially accepted. A feeling that got a lot stronger since t he dolphin attack. Each of the scars on his body were reminders of the exclusion he suffered. And apparently that blow hitted a lot deeper than it should
He tried to make sense of information she was giving him and then think and rethink on how he should speak his replies. For a moment he felt like a teacher teaching a little kid
"So, you're here for 9 days, right?" which meant she was still pretty new to the place
The second question was trickier. For what he could tell she didn't know yet. That meant he would have to be the teacher. But at least he felt a lot more confident in his work
"The animal I meant is the animal they're going to turn you into. I got the dolphin, Ambrose got a wolf, Cass got a snake and Gaius got a winged horse, a pegasus. Everyone here gets changed in one"
"Ohhh! I'm really sorry" he didn't get the explosion quite right, but it was more than clear fire could leave such a mark Thina Arlia-Pavlidis Thina shrugged, "Was when I was little girl." It was her way of saying there was nothing she could do about it.... even though it was something that made her sad: for the scars had shown everyone -in and outside of the family- that she was cursed and barren. Thina never had a child, a bane in her culture.
"Nine," she mumbled, trying out the new word. Assuming that was enya, she nodded. "Neh - yes, nine days."
Her eyes almost bugged out of her head. "Ohee!!!" (No!) she shook her head in denial. "Athinatos!" (Impossible!) The rest of the words were a long string, and Thina spoke so face the individual syllables were lost. Cody Archer Cody tried to crawl closer and put his webbed, rubbery hand on her arm, a sympathetic gesture about her scars. In a way he knew how it felt to be marked, though in his case it had been the MS
He didn't completely understood Thina's later reaction, mostly because he couldn't make any sense of what she was saying
But considering it was just after him mentioning the animals, it was probably something about how impossible it was. All the adults he met reacted the same
To him a person turning into an animal wasn't at all possible. He saw the others and he changed himself, so why denying it? Thina Arlia-Pavlidis Thina flinched away from his touch, for just a moment. She noticed what she did, but settled. It wasn't the boy's fault. It was her stubborn Greekness that made her stay, to continue sitting by this boy-dolphin instead of running away with her arms flailing.
Finally, her words calmed, and she took a deep breath. Thina's mind grasped at this new reality. After the initial shock and denial, her thoughts went to doubt of reality. Was it really possible? Was she going to be turning into some animal? Thina scratched and rubbed at her scars nervously, trying to fit them together.
The Ancients believed people could be turned to animals and even plants. Sure, their stories died as Christianity came around, but still. Maybe there was some truth lost to the world, as well as the magic and power of the gods.
"Maybe it is possible," Thina mumbled in English, "that the gods still live with power." She sighed, already beginning to accept it. Her dark eyes looked at Cody. "You know what animal I be?" Cody Archer Cody looked hurt when she tried to move away from him. He was just trying to make her feel better
He still looked sad when she asked him the question. He hated being in this situation, having people not believing his word
But she didn't called him a liar or tried to loudly deny reality. That often hurt his pride and set off his agressiveness
"You'll have to phone to the labs and ask. They're the ones doing this to us, so they know for sure" Thina Arlia-Pavlidis Thina didn't notice his look at first, for she was too distracted. But when she looked again, she saw his face, and wasn't quite sure what happened. It did not dawn on her that it was her reaction. But either way, she felt sorry. A rough hand settled on top of his own webbed one, and the woman offered a half-smile.
She was unfamiliar with the terms. Thina knew what a telephone was -maybe that was what he meant?- but was unsure about what it meant 'to phone'. The 'labs' was another issue - where they gods? It was obvious as her eyes took on a glazed look that she did not quite understand. "Oriste? Erm, What?" Cody Archer Uncosciously Cody turned his hand and grabbed Thina's in return. The webbing comming from his thumb was stretched to its limits, but he didn't really care. That small moment and the smile was very reassuring to his soul
"Sorry. There is a phone in every room and if you press zero you can call the labs and ask to talk with the doctors. They're the ones changing us onto animals. Some guy named Moreau created an injection that make us change. I already changed 3 times!"
He pointed to the top of his tail. Between the white skin it was visible the outline and color of his former legs Thina Arlia-Pavlidis Thina held his web-hand, and gave it a slight reassuring squeeze.
And then, he spoke some more. Thina followed as best she could, but there were too many words she didn't know. Eventually, the woman shook her head, "Phone, zero, ask." That was all she understood... many of the other words were either unfamiliar or too strange for her to work them out.
As she was shown part of his changes, she could only look in confusion. She was not well-versed with dolphins, so could not see the subtle difference he was showing her. Cody Archer Cody felt frustrated against the language barrier, but there was little more that he could do. But maybe the labs would now how to explain things to her. Not that he trust them, but he had little choice if he wanted Thina to understand
"I grew out a tail and then my legs merged into it in my last change. I can still feel them in there. It hurted like hell"
He didn't really know why he was telling her that. Admiting the loss of his legs was something he always tried to avoid, but.... maybe it was just trying to get her to understand how painful and serious the changes could be
He grabbed her hand, gently as if he was trying to say he wouldn't hurt her, and motioned it over the remainings of his legs. Though covered by the skin they could still be felt in that area Thina Arlia-Pavlidis Thina chewed on her lip, noticing from Cody's new expression that he was not enjoying their communication problems. She couldn't blamed him; it was a common look that her family game to the balamii (non-gypsies)... but the boy seemed to be a lot more accepting than her past experiences. They were both trying.
Her eyes widened once again, "Painful." She agreed, that would hurt.
When he took her hand, Thina allowed him to move it. Looking at the boy with a strange expression, she leaned forward and rubbed the area. At the specific areas, she finally understood what he meant. She may not know dolphins, but she knew fish and other sea creatures had smooth bodies.
The woman shuddered, "I...." She didn't know what to say. Thina's other hand went to her face. That was bad enough, she still remembered the pain that was just a superficial change to her skin compared to.... a merging a bones and skin. Cody Archer Cody was happy the message was getting through, but on the outside he still had that same pained expression the loss of legs brought
He also showed her his lack of ears and all the other body parts he gained throught he changes. He wanted to make clear how much the serums changed people, even if he was one of the less affected
The only thing he had that wasn't serum induced was the deep scars the dolphins had bitten through his skin. He was still young and still hadn't enough insulation to protect him from the damage
"The others say I got lucky. Most people I know look really like animals. But they're ok... most of them. I've heard a guy named Jamal is dangerous"
For a moment he considered talking about people dying in the island, but that was something he probably wouldn't be able to get through. Besides he wasn't still completely sure about it Thina Arlia-Pavlidis Thina watched as he showed her the other parts. She saw the scars, but they looked more recent. That, and they looked like animal bites.
"Jamal..." she repeated, remembering the name. She had a good memory, her role as a -somewhat recognized- singer in her family helped to develop that skill. "I will... watch Jamal." Thina nodded.
She gathered up Cody in her arms and gave him an awkward hug as she tried to position him comfortably for them both. "Want a song?" Thina gestured to the lyre by her hip. Cody Archer Cody was a bit surprised by the hug but he gladly returned it. It felt like forever since he last had that warm, close feeling
"Yes please"
He tried to sit in a more confortable position, to enjoy the lovely music that had brought him to her in the first place. Thina was a really nice woman Thina Arlia-Pavlidis Thina gave him one last squeeze and then put her arms around him as she grabbed the lyre. One hand held the instrument while the other plucked the strings.
After an introduction to the melody, Thina began to sing. Her voice was low but not harsh to listen to. She was going to say it, but she wished she had someone to play a drum or bagpipes to do the back-sound.
The song she sang was one about Demeter. It had four parts. The first was praise for summer, the time when Demeter was with her daughter Persephone before the kidnapping. It was joyful and high, with a sense of merriment. The second part sounded like autumn, and was the time when the goddess searched in vain for her daughter. The melody became more subdued but there was still a bit of hope. Then came winter, and the despair in the song reflects Demeter's loss of her daughter to Hades and her refusal to continue her duties until her demands were met. Spring followed, and this was the time that the other relented to the goddess. It was full of hope, that her daughter would be returned. Finally, the song went back to summer. While the melody and words were much the same, there was a change in it. Persephone returned but she was different, and Demeter knew that come autumn/winter, her daughter would have to return to the underworld.
It was a song her grandmother sang to her many times when she was a child, and one that was particularly special to her. Thina had always hoped that one day she would have been able to sing it to her own daughter, and later maybe a granddaughter. Cody Archer Cody listened and absorved the lyrics like a sponge. He couldn't understand what it say, but he liked the rythm and the gentle sound the lyre produced, accompanied by the mature, experienced voice
His tail swayed gently to the tune, but because of the gentleness and the warm weather he was getting sleepy. By the end of it he was snoozing by Thina's feet Thina Arlia-Pavlidis Thina let the song slowly trail off, both words and music. She hadn't intended to put Cody to sleep, but it appeared that was exactly what she managed to do.
Holding her lyre with one hand, Thina leaned forward and smoothed aside a lock of the boy's hair. She let out one wistful sigh, oh how she would have loved to have a son of her own.
As the woman tried to get up, her body resisted by cracking and arguing how stiff it was. Thina groaned discontently, but tried to be quiet so as not to wake up Cody. She didn't want to just, leave... so she walked away and picked a wildflower. Coming back, she carefully put it in his hand and then closed her own over it so he would hopefully clasp the small plant in his sleep. Cody Archer Cody didn't stirr as Thina got up and moved away. The flower she later put in his fingers laid there loosely
The sweet music induced him into a peaceful sleep. It had been so long since he last heard any tunes that this had a particularly claming effect over him. He really needed it
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Mar 01, 2007 7:31 pm
You a Freak? I Don't Think So Victor Zimmerman It was sometime in the afternoon when Victor decided to crawl his way down to the beach, he hadn't visited the beach in several days since his run in with Dee, and thought it might be a good chance to try and take a swim. The Sand on the beach was hot from the noonday sun, and Victor had to crawl quickly moved across it, making his way to the water's edge where the waves gently broke on the beach, the sand much cooler and wet under his feet and tail. Victor watched the waves and the water for some time before crawling into the water, only entering the water a short distance before the water was up around his neck, keeping his orginal mouth closed as he lowered himself down a bit more in the water, managing to open and breath though his other mouth, it felt strange, but was also interesting to realize he could do such a thing Cody Archer Cody was swimming close to the shore, investigating the abundant life it held. Usually fishing here was a big problem for him because of the sound of the surf in the background and the much wider area the fish had to escape. But this time he was out looking for much slower prey, crabs, clams and octopi
His instincts were slowly winning ground as he became more accustomed to eating raw, whole fish. Food was the only thing that forced him to sit on that wheeled contraption (unless he felt like visiting the entertainment room), so the more he could avoid it the better. That thing gave him one hell of back pains
He'd been lucky so far. He had a handfull of clams and a small crab. But now came the problem of opening them
The best option he had was finding a good rock to crack them open and the best rocks were located close to the surf, rolled and tossed by the strong, endless tides
So he stored his catch in a hole in the rocks, covering it with sand so no other sea creatures would steal it, and went off towards the beach. He travveld close to the surface, feeling his fin cutting through like a blade. He simply loved that rush of fresh air mixed with the water splashing against it Victor Zimmerman Victor had been wading in the water, keeping close to the shore for the most part, moving out of the water fo a short time to lay in the sun to warm up before crawling back in to cool off, he was enjoying himself, able to keep his mind off other things. The Lizardman failed to notice Cody's fin in the water, and the boy it was attached to just under the water's surface. Instead, Victor closed his eyes, and held his breath, before pushing himself underwater, and in Cody's direction Cody Archer It wasn't until Cody was nearly colliding with Victor that he noticed someone else was on his path
He wasn't swimming as fast as when he rammed into Gaius, but still it was fast enough for him not noticing the black, white and pink shape floating in front of him on time
Without really thinking he did one fo the 2 options he had. He jumped over Victor, only hitting his tail with his, instead of diving under him. Why he picked that one even he didn't know. It was just one of those things that makes you act before you actually think
The landing wasn't exactly graceful, because he didn't had time to do it properly, but it was one of his best jumps he ever did Victor Zimmerman With his eyes closed he didn't know of his near collision until the splash and backwash from Cody jumping in front of him, and then the dolphin boy's tail hitting his. The sudden flurry of action caught Victor's attention and he surfaced quickly, coughing as he caught his breath and ended up with some seawater in his mouth. Fortunately for Victor, the water wasn't too deep, and after a moment of floundering around, his feet connected with the sandy bottom, and Victor could stand up, keeping his head above water and he got himself turned around, using his forelegs to pull himself closer to shore as he looked for whoever hit his tail. "Hello? Who's there?" Cody Archer Cody hadn't been so lucky. His head had made contact with the sand and though cushioned, the hit really hurted him
He immediatly resurfaced, rubbing his head whille he cursed out loud at the pain, temporarly forgetting he wasn't alone Victor Zimmerman Victor noticed Cody once he surfaced and cursed outloud. The lizardman watched the boy for a moment before pulling himself closer towards Cody. "You alright? Sssorry I guessss we almossst ran right into each other.." Victor was still up to his neck in water, but he could rest back on his legs and tail while he checked to make sure the boy was ok... and kept his snout pointed down so hopefully this new stranger wouldn't freak out like the penguin had. Cody Archer "Yeah, my head hurts a bit. But it's better than ramming into you"
Up until now Cody didn't really notice who he was talking to, but once he turned he clearly saw it wasn't someone he had met yet. He could only see his face, but it was clearly reptilian. But the original mouth was hidden from view by the nose one
"Sorry if I didn't saw you sooner. I'm Cody"
He extended his webbed hand and gave an embarassed smile Victor Zimmerman "Itsss alright Cody, long asss you're ok thatss the important thing" Victor said, his large snout-mouth twitching and moving while he spoke, but didn't appear to be doing the speaking. He pulled himself a bit closer owards Cody, his twitching and moving chest arms brushing the surface of the water as the lizardman tilted his head to the side in order to focus on Cody's webbed hand, before extending his clawed foreleg to the boy. " "I'm Victor... guesss you've been here a while" He comments, looking at the boy's webbed hand Cody Archer Cody found Victor's way of speaking very odd. His mouth didn't seem to sincronize with his words. But from that point of view he couldn't look at the lower mouth
He wasn't at all surprised to see what looked more like an animal paw than a human hand. By his appearence Victor seemed to be more advanced than he was
"Yeah, since June. I don't count the days though, so I don't know what time of the year it is" Victor Zimmerman "Sssince June? you've been here longer than me then...I got here in November, and Thisss week wass Mardi Grassss" Again that upper mouth moved but didn't move in sync with what he was saying. Victor was surprised that the labs would experiment on a such a young boy, but at least Cody wasn't frightened of him. The lizardman had to shift his weight, moving on his multiple legs and stumbling a moment and going down in the water, before rising back up, shaking his head around to get the water off of him, his chest arms splashing the water a moment before Victor got his footing again Cody Archer "Really? You look more changed than I do.... but nearly everyone does..."
When Victor started to to stumble, Cody rushed foward and tried to help him up by grabbing under his arm and use his tail to keep them both afloat
But when he got that close he realised the extra set of arms and even the double mouth. His face was in shock, more out of surprise than with fear Victor Zimmerman "Thanksss" Victor said as Cody helped him up by grabbing under his former arm, now not much more than a lizard's leg. The lizardman noticed Cody's surprised and shocked expression, and furrowed his eyeridges, holding still a moment, was Cody going to scream or something? "Could you help me back over to the beach?" he asked, hoping it would snap Cody out of his shocked state Cody Archer Cody shook his head to snap out of the gaze. Man, that was awkward... not to mention stupid of him
"Yeah, sure"
He used his tail to propel them towards the beach. Actually he was quite surprised how little effort he had to do to drag a full grown man through the water
But he had to stop when the water was waist high. Though Victor could probably handle himself from there
Now that they were in more shallow waters, Cody could have a better view of the lizard man's strange body. He had too many legs for a lizard, that he was completely sure of. And the double mouth... he didn't know any creature with that!
"How did... THAT happened?"
He didn't know any more polite way to put it. But it was clear by the sound of his voice he was trying to be rude or anything. And there was no hint of fear on it either Victor Zimmerman Victor crawled his way out of the water, letting the seawater roll off of him as he laid on the sand to look at Cody who was still in the water, using his upper chest arms to wipe water from his lower mouth. "They gave me a different ssserum, sssomething experimental and didn't work out the way they exsspected it to" Victor felt his body warming up nicely now, almost all the water running off of him thanks to his scales and altered skin. "What they changing you into?" Cody Archer "And I thought the lab idiots couldn't be any creepier..."
Cody felt really sad for Victor. Compared to him the loss of his legs were nothing
"Dolphin" Victor Zimmerman "Yeah I know...and from what I know, got two more changesss to go" Victor chuckled bitterly and brushed one of his lower chest arms though the sand in front of him. "Ssstill getting usssed to everything, hardessst part is having to crawl everywhere, know when had enough sssun or too cold and deal with sssome that react much worssse than you" The Lizardman looked Cody over. "You have to ssstay in the water all the time?" Cody Archer "Two more to go? You know how many changes you're supposed to have!?!"
Cody was really surprised by this piece of information. He never though about it before really, that the changes had to have a limit. But now that he mentioned it did make sense
How many more changes would he have have to suffer... ?
"Yeah, usually"
He got closer to the shore, where the more shallow waters were clear enough to show his lower body
"I had a lot of trouble learning how to swim with this stupid tail. And now I can't walk anymore. I also have to keep my skin wet out of water"
The last part he had experienced soon after his first trip on the wheelchair. He didn't noticed it much at first, but after a while his skin felt dry and itchy. Since then he always traveled with his shirt and a towel on, submerged in water before he left the duplex Victor Zimmerman "I got told there is four changesss for everyone.." Victor sighed, it wasn't right that so many people would have to suffer this. He crawled a little closer to the water so that he could see Cody's lower body, and the lack of legs. That was much more unfair than him having to crawl. "Maybe they could modify a wet suit to fit you to keep your skin wet longer..." Cody Archer "Four changes.... then I only have one more to go"
Cody didn't know if he should feel relieved or afraid. On one side it meant that would be the last time he would ever need to go through that pain. But on the other there was no telling what the next changes would bring. He already had lost his legs...
"You really think so?"
Wet suits were awsome. He never had used one before, but he had seen surfers and bodyboarders wearing them. And all those people were really cool Victor Zimmerman Victor was also concerned about his own changes, and how bad would is body change, how much worse could things get for him? The lizardman shook his head, these weren't what he came down to beach to think about. "A Wet sssuit would probably work well for you, it trapsss water againssst you, they sssshould be able to make one to fit you if you asssk" The lizardman shifted his legs, curling his tail half way around himself. Cody Archer "It would be really neat. Maybe I should ask them for a decent wheelchair too"
But then looking at Victor he reminded he was off worse than the boy was and he felt sad about it
"What about you? Think they can get you something to help out?"
He seriously couldn't think of anything that could improve Victor's condition. It was weird seeing someone with so many sets of legs Victor Zimmerman "They ought to get you a fancssy all-terrain waterproof electric wheelchair" Victor said and he did mean that, they took Cody's legs, and he was just a young kid, there wasn't any reason they shouldn't do everything they could to make life easier for him. "For me? Mossst I can think of now iss getting one of thossse reacher-grabber thingsss or sssomething to make it easssier to open doorss, or reach thingsss high up on a ssshelf." Victor said, holding his chest arms against himself, he looked at Cody and saw that bit of sadness there. "I'll manage in any cassse..." Cody Archer "That would be really cool. And a lot easier to walk around"
Cody couldn't helpt to smile at the thought, him driving like a professional formula 1 racer
"I've seen one of those once. Back at the hospital when I still had to take shots for my MS"
"But maybe you could ask them to change your room instead. You know, building smaller shelves and stuff. Or have a trained dog to help out. I've heard they're really smart and a great help!"
These were all information he recalled from his previous life. One of the good things of spending so much time in the hospital was meeting different people and become more aware of the problems others had to face. And the use of a reach grabber wasn't uncommon for people who suffered from MS Victor Zimmerman Victor was glad he at least got Cody to smile at that, and grinned in return, which showed on his lower mouth if Cody looked for it. The lizardman was surprised to hear that Cody had MS, he had to meet a couple in the hospital he worked at before coming on the Island. "I know ssome people have dogsss already, but not sssure if I could take care of one very well, but you're right probably bessst to get my room changed, been keeping a lisssst of thingsss would like changed, like I can't wear clothesss or sssit in chairsss very well, ssso want a large couch, and my bed to be lower...jussst alot of little thingsss to make it easssier" Cody Archer "I bet they would give you that. I mean, they put me in a new room right after I changed the last time without even asking. It's like the old one but with an inside pool connected to the lake"
Cody looked at the strange grin but kept smiling himself. For some odd reason he was feeling a lot better this last few day, mostly since his conversation with Thom
Apparently his attempts to make the others feel better always involved him showing what he lost. But instead of feeling sorry for himself he acted like he didn't care. And it seemed that was actually start to happen, accepting his loss and move on
"Do you mind if I ask you something? How come you have 2 mouths?" Victor Zimmerman "Yesss, they could that, but I won't asssk for everything at oncsse I don't think they like it when sssomeone asssksss for too much." Victor shifted his stance again after Cody asked about his mouths, sometimes it was difficult with that extra set of legs to get comfortible "I don't know Cody, hasss to do with the exssperimental ssserum they gave me" The lizardman tapped his long snout-mouth with the long claw of his foreleg. "That ussssed to be my nosssse" Cody Archer "It's their fault to begin with"
Cody crossed his arms and made a grumpy face. He didn't like the labs and it seemed unfair that Victor wouldn't be allowed to ask to change his room when he clearly needed it
But at the mention of the nose his stubborn expression turned into complete amazement. Uncosciously he touched his own nose, trying to imagine how that felt like
"But... but it's bigger than you mouth!!!!" Victor Zimmerman "Yesss I know Cody, but I'm sssure it will work out and can fixss up my duplexss" Victor told Cody, and then laughed dispite himself at the dolphin boy's dismay at knowing his second mouth used to be his nose. "I know Cody....ssstill very sstrange to deal with, I can beathe though it but not much elsse..." Victor opened his second mouth for good measure to show Cody the toothy interior of his mouth before closing it again. "Makes me a little dizszy to do that, and sssteadily getting better at usssing thessse armsss on my chessst" Victor waved one of his chest arms flexing the fingers to demonstrate Cody Archer "That looks so weird, having teeth on your nose. But I can't do anything with my flippers"
Cody got up the best he could to expose his belly to the air, showing the flippers that sprouted below his stomach. They wiggled a bit to the sides, like waving his arms, before they were submerged again
Actually they were quite useful to keep him steady while he swimmed, but he never really payed attention to it Victor Zimmerman "Yeah, although technicly it really issn't my nosse anymore, sstill feelss like it ssometimess until I open it up, makess me feel like my head iss a Pezs Dissspensser" Victor chuckled, then nodded as he saw the flippers that were attached to Cody's body, those appendages seemed a bit odd, but not that bad. "I got thessse exstra pair of legsss here.." He turned himself a little to the side to show Cody the pair of legs that had grown in between what used to be his arms and legs. "they aren't very ussseful, but managing to keep them out of the way when I'm crawling around, I've actually tripped over the thingsss a couple timess" The many-limbed man smiled, dispite remembering how it did hurt when that actually happened. "Ssso Cody, What do you do to ssspend your time and keep bussy?" Cody Archer Cody chuckled at the pez dispenser idea. Though in Victor's case instead of a pez it would likely be something more goowy... if that mouth still behaved like a nose!
He looked at the extra pair of legs with a bit of apreension. What did extra pair of limbs this guy DIDN'T had?!?
"Hunt for food and sometimes practice my jumps. The fish are really hard to catch because they slip all the time. Thom said Newt could probably help me get a net, but I haven't seen him in ages..."
He suddently remembered the food he had stashed before bumping into Victor
"I just catched some clambs and crab a while a go. You want some?" Victor Zimmerman "Can't sssay I know Newt or Thom, but do hope you can get your net, maybe sssomeone can make a Fissshing Weir to trap fisssh and keep them in one ssspot." Victor said as he shifted positions again, listening to Cody, then shaking his head at the offer. "No thank you Cody...I already ate not too long ago, but maybe if we can get a clam rake sssometime, can get a bunch of clamsss and have fressssh ssssteamersss with butter" Now that sounded like a good idea, but would have to get someone else that was tall enough that could boil water and take care of the clams. Cody Archer "Newt is a frog guy and Thom a wicked looking snake. They're nice people, though Newt is always jumpy"
Cody remembered the last time he saw the frog-man. And again the feeling of guilt started creeping back, him accusing Newt of hiding things from him when he had no reason to. He really hoped he could apoligise to him someday
"That's ruining good food. But I can get some for you when you feel like it. They're easy to catch"
He sticked out his tongue at the mention of the cooked seafood. More and more he was loosing the liking for cooked food Victor Zimmerman Victor nodded as he commited the descriptions of the two people to memory, thinking to himself of how it would be to have a nice plate of clams and a big lobster, suddenly missing the pleasure of having a Maine lobster. "Well we each have our own tassstess Cody..." the Lizardman chuckled as the Dolphin boy sticks his tongue out. "If you ever need anything Cody or want to talk you can call me, I'm in duplexss Ssseventy five" Cody Archer "Yeah... I just don't like eating cooked food anymore. It kinda tastes like fake"
Cody remembered comparing the tastes not too long ago, in one of the few trips he took to the cafeteria
Of all the cooked selections the grilled fish was the most acceptable, but it lacked the proper texture and the healthy fat fresh fish possessed. All the other varieties had the original flavour ruined by the seasoning, especially the canned fish
But even the frozen and then defrosted fish didn't taste right. Because of that the boy kept trying even harder to hunt for his food. Now that he had been broken into fresh catches there was nothing that would bring him back
"Ok. I'm in one of those duplexes by the lake. Number 3" Victor Zimmerman "I enjoy Sssussshi sssometimesss, but ssshellfisssh I have to eat cooked" Victor had seen the duplexes by the lake, wandering by them in the village and wondered who lived in them, now he knew at least one person in them. For a while Victor just sat there, relaxing and reaching into the water to stir the claws of his foreleg in the water. Cody Archer "Sushi?"
Cody had heard that word a couple of times before, in his previous islandless life. But he never managed to find out what it was
He had to lie down by the water now. The sun was burning his skin and the constant weight of his body on his arms were making them sore. In that position only his head sticked out, his arms grabbing the sand below him to keep the surf current from dragging his floating body Victor Zimmerman Victor smiled, sushi was one food he really liked. "Itss ussually raw fisssh rolled in ricse, ssseaweed paper, then sssometimesss more ricse, or can be made other wayss, itss good." The lizardman watched Cody lower himself into the water so his head only showed. The sun felt nice on his altered skin and didn't bother him a whole lot. Cody Archer "I have to try it one day. It sounds tasty"
Speaking of tasty his stomach left out a loud complain, even above water. Unlike Victor Cody hadn't eat in a while and he was getting rather starved
"Do you know where I can get a good rock? I'm really hungry but I don't have anything to break the shells" Victor Zimmerman "Itsss very tassstey, I liked Sssalmon and tuna." Victor said then turned his head to the side to look more directly at Cody. "A rock? Not here on the beach..." Victor hmmed and looked around. "Wait here a moment" Victor said as he turned, and started to crawl away from the beach and back towards the jungle's edge, digging around and then after five to ten minutes of searching, Victor came crawling back, with a fist sized rock in one of his small hands. "Got one for you!" the lizardman smiled, and stopped by the water's edge, washing the dirty, ovalish shaped rock off before crawling further into the water, to offer the rock to Cody. "Here you go" Cody Archer "Thank you"
Cody waited and then extended his webbed hands to grab the rock. If he wasn't so hungry he would probably spend some time investigating the scally texture and long claws of Vitor's many hands
In a moment he dived and quickly made way towards where he hidded his catch, his dorsal fin cutting the water for a brief moment before he completely sumerged. It was clear that one of the things he inherited from his altered dna was the dolphin speed, though he wasn't as fast as they were
A few minutes later he returned, holding the armfull of clambs and the crab, while he securely holded the rock in one of the hands. There was a feeling rooted in him to share his meal, or at least be in the company of someone while he ate. Probably the dolphin need to belong in a group
He laid down as before with the rock in front of him, trying to crack the shells by hitting them against the hard object. He realised it would probably be easier if he had a second rock to do the job, since the sand was too soft to serve as a surface, but he wasn't going to ask Victor for that. He was already kind enough to get him that one
When the clam finally opened Cody eagerly used his teeth to scrap the treasured meal out of the shell. But he took it out and washed it in the salt water to remove any traces of sand that got stick to it
"You sure you don't want some?" Victor Zimmerman Victor watched Cody crushed the clam with the rock, then smiled but shook his head when Cody offered some of his clam. "No thank you Cody, I'm alright for now" Victor waded in the water a bit longer, slowly crawling in deeper before dunking his head under the water again before crawling back out and laying on the beach, watching Cody. "Maybe you can get a hammer from the toolssshed, maybe eassier than a rock nexsst time" Cody Archer Cody shrugged and ate the clam like it was a bit of candy, chewing it to oblivion and enjoying the salty taste
"Hammers rust"
He proceeded to open the next clam Victor Zimmerman Victor chuckled to himself at his suggestion after Cody reminded him of the rusting problem. "You're right Cody..." The Lizardman sat there and rested his head on his crossed forelegs, quitely watching the kid eat for a while before closing his eyes, listening to everything around him and enjoying the sun, but not sleeping. Cody Archer Cody kept eating and cracking all the clams, until finally only the crab was left. That one was tricker to open because of the several different parts. And it wasn't easy to get his teeth to pull out the meat either. In the end he was forced to use his molars a couple of times, though that hurted his jaw a bit
But finally all of his catch was consumed, only one of the crab legs left. The boy handed it to Victor, determined to give him something in repay for the rock
"Here" Victor Zimmerman Victor opened his eyes up when Cody offered the crab leg and smiled, sitting back up and looked at the offered piece of crab. The dolphinboy was a good kid, and decided it couldn't hurt to try it. The Lizardman had to crawl closer to Cody to accept it. "Thanks Cody" Victor said as he used one of his small hands to squeeze the leg's contents into his mouth, and swallow it, tasting the sea-salt and wet crabflesh, and placing the empty leg on the sand as he crawled back out. "was alright, haven't had raw crab before" Cody Archer Cody smiled at the acceptance and his grin only grew wider when Victor approved the taste
"Good isn't it? I didn't expect to taste so nice when I first tried it" Victor Zimmerman Victor shrugged, it tasted ok, a bit more wet and slimey than he liked but wasn't overly bad either. "Wasss alright, but thank you for the crab" The Lizardman looked back towards the jungle, he had been out int the sun for some time now and he was warming up quite a bit, and would need to get into the shade or spend more time in the water. "I ought to get out of the sssun here sssoon Cody and head back, but hope to sssee you around sssometime again' Cody Archer "You're welcome. And see ya"
Cody grabbed his rock and quickly made his way into deeper, colder waters, happy with himself. If it wasn't for the discarded pile of shells lying about in the sand and rolling in the waves, it was like he was never there Victor Zimmerman Victor waved goodbye to Cody, and watched him go, waiting a short while before crawling back off towards the jungle, and back to the village
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 6:22 pm
Teaching the Kittyfish Cody Archer It was one of those days Cody couldn't stay put. Actually evening, since there was very little light left. But that didn't bothered the boy one bit, actually it was during those hours he always felt specially hyper
It had been some time ago the dolphin boy had figured out the blue hours were the best time to hunt. His eyes couldn't see much in the darkness, but the fish often could see even less. And with his sharp sense of underwater hearing combined with a net (something he had found out in the Supply Room by accident) made the job a piece of cake
Right now he was chasing a small school of fish, like a sheepdog chasing a flock towards where he had placed the net. It wasn't easy to keep them from spreading around, but hopefully the weeks of practice and his bigger speed would pay off and earn him a big meal
He was getting rather close to the shore now, which made the job both simpler and trickier. The fish had less room to escape, but he had less room of manouver in keeping them in a tight formation. But the net was getting closer and then it would be a dead end to his prey Gallen Marcuss After coming to, the young cat/fish man still felt disoriented. He could still hear the ringing in his ears and feel the numb ach in the back of his head and down his back. Soon his eyes widened in fear as he checked himself over to see if he had changed again. All that greeted him was what he originally had before he passed out. He soon rubbed his eyes, looking around his room. It seemed darker and dingier then he remembered, a slight musty smell met his nose, the heightened senses he was starting to developed only made it harder for him to ignore the smell. Soon he rolled to his stomach and turned on the light next to his bed. That was when he saw what was causing his room to seem less welcoming. A thick layer of dust covered everything. The only thing that seemed kept was the food bowl and litter box for his cat Drake. Gallen held his head, still feeling the aches and pains throughout his body. He soon got up, and went to the door of his room, opened it and left the room. He was not in the mood to ponder why his room seemed like it had not been lived in for a few months. He felt he needed to get up and about in the fresh air of the island. His paw like feet greeted the moist earth as the hot humid air greeted his face, arms and legs. He found it odd, remembering only yesterday how the island was quite cool and pleasant during the evening. But he shrugged it off and figured it to be part of the unusual climate one found in tropical areas around Atlantic. In a few short minutes Gallen had found his way to the beach. He took in a deep breath of sea air and admired the sea, as the last remnants of the sun set behind the horizon. He soon remembered the beach bar and figured it would not hurt to see if they had anything there. Maybe he see some fellow islanders and catch up on what had been occurring among the community. He might even gather some leads on where his sister might be in the labs. He soon turned around and walked back into the forest trying to remember exactly which path to sue to get to the beach bar, only to soon find himself walking back toward the village and the shore of the lake. Cody Archer There was a lot of sudden activity near the surface of the lake, the sound of something rushing through the water and then a loud series of splashing noises, halting quickly. It all came from a small bay hidden behind the trees
The commotion was cause by Cody as he made the final sprint and pushed the fish towards the net, located in the bay. He had calculated the distance wrong and hit the net himself, but the mistake didn't cost him the meal. There was still a good number of fish tangled along with him Gallen Marcuss Gallen stopped suddenly to the loud splashing sound in the lake. “what was that” he said to himself as curiosity crept up in him and he went to investigate. He sniffed the air, picking up an odd yet somewhat familiar smell, along with a fishy smell. He could hear grumbles and more splashing as he grew nearer. Though the sun had pretty mush set making his surroundings dark, Gallen’s changed eyes seem to adjust to the darkness quiet well and he could start to make out the familiar shape of a young boy in some sort of netting. “Cody? That you?” Cody Archer Cody was struggling to get himself untaggled without letting his meal escape when Gallen arrived
In the beginning he didn't recognize who it was, his eyesight being pretty much the same as when he first arrive. But the soung of Gallen's voice, accompanied by the rapid breathing, was enough to give him enough clues of his identity
"Gallen!?"
He felt a wave of mixed feelings. In one hand there was the usual bitterness toward the cat-fish man. On the other uncertainty. He knew Gallen saw him change and lose his legs and there was no telling how he would react towards him now
Cody simply sat there, body half submerged and tail tangled in his net, not sure what to say or what to do Gallen Marcuss Gallen eyed the boy then the net. “What on earth are you doing? Fishing? When I told you to go play with a net I did not mean literally.” He smiled, relived to see the young boy was ok, remembering the last time he saw him. Yhea the last time, he smiled still. “I am so happy to see your ok, I was so worried after you changed and then disappeared. I thought you had…well never mind, can I help you out of that net?” He crouched down by the lack edge. Cody Archer "No, I'm drowning" he spatted it in an anger filled sarcasm. Of all the things to say Gallen always managed to come up with the worse
Cody tried to get himself untanggled without Gallen's help, but the net was stuck in his dorsal fin, a spot he couln't reach no matter how many times he twisted and turned. And the big number of scars he had didn't help either, creating friction points on his otherwise smooth, rubbery skin
After a few good minutes of struggling and trying not to let the fish loose (though most were already dead under his mooving weight) the boy grumbled to himself and looked back to where the scaley catman was standing
"Just try not letting my fish escape" Gallen Marcuss Gallen ignored the young boys sarcasm as he leapt into the water. It felt good on his feet and around his body. He waded over to Cody and started to carefully remove the net from his fins. “Seems you have gotten comfortable with your new changes.” Gallen said as he made sure to not allow any of the still living fish escape. “I see also you have developed a healthy appetite for fish.” As he finally got Cody free he pulled the net up so he could had it back to the young fish boy. “By the way I have a CD for you back at my duplex it was left at your place a few weeks back, right after your change. It is from that girl, what was her name….hmmm well the one with the rock band.” Cody Archer "I didn't really had a choice. The mad woman up the labs forced me to eat fresh fish and I hate having to get on the wheelchair everytime I need to go to the cafeteria. It hurts my back"
Cody grumbled it out loud and snatched the net from Gallen, untangling eagerly the nearest fish. The chase made him hungry and he didn't really care what Gallen would think to see him eating the half-dead fish in front of him
He bitted the back, the bones cracking under the pressure of his teeth as he ripped a large bite and quickly prepared it to swallow. Before he tought of it as discusting, but now he was pretty numb to the idea. It was food and that was all it mattered
The mention of the Cd made him interrupt his meal however. It took him a while to recall who could have possibly left it there, before a person came to mind
"You mean Shenzi?" Gallen Marcuss Gallen watched as the boy ate at the fish, it bothered him a little, yet the cat in him envied the boy for having such a taste little snack. “yhea I think that is who it was. But wait what Crazy women?” He said with a quirk in his eye brow. He studied the boy as he asked this. Deep inside he felt bad for Cody still, such a young boy forced to go through such a horrible experience as this island. Cody Archer Cody noticed Gallen's gaze on his fish and for a while he pretended it was nothing to do with him. He worked hard for the meal, it was his and no one else's
But guilt started to consume him, so he grabbed one already dead and tossed it over to Gallen. It was the smallest one he could find though
"A doctor up at the labs, that looks like she has sausages for hair" Gallen Marcuss The animal instincts that had started to form in him forced him to grab at the fish and before he could stop he bit into it. Then he stopped…”Oh …my…god..I..I..I just bit into a raw fish…” His face went pale, he shook a bit form what he had just done. He stared at the bit mark and could taste the raw fish in his mouth. It both disgusted him and tasted good. he did not want to throw the fish away in fear of offending the poor boy, but he could not believe what he just did. Cody Archer Cody couldn't help to laugh at Gallen's reaction. His face of disgust was just too funny
"And you were the one that kept telling me raw fish was good!"
He took another one from the net and stated eating it slowly, kind of demostrating how to do it
"Don't worry, it's not that bad after you get used to it. Actually is a hell lot better than the ones at the cafeteria" Gallen Marcuss Gallen eyed the fish in his hand again. The taste was alluring to his feline taste buds, and the fish in him seem to not object, or was overshadowed by the cat in him. But still he could not stomach it for reason, yet he wanted another bite. “y-y-yyeah, but I was just teasing you” his face was still contorted in disgust and confusuion, “oooh man what is happening to me, to all of us. I am a Man damn it not some animal.” He slumped into the water still hold the fish. Cody Archer Cody smirked and kept eating his fish, slowly and loudly. It was so good seeing that little joke backfiring on Gallen
He could understand what he was going through, the same had happened to him, but experience told him to throw the disgust out the window and just go with the flow. It was not like it was going to kill him and it felt a whole lot better not having those conflicting thoughts all the time
"Eating fish doesn't make you an animal!"
He was rather offended by this statement. Yeah, he didn't like what was happening either, but that had nothing to do what he ate. Just because he started eating fish a whole lot more didn't made him an animal. He already ate it before, just cooked instead, but that didn't mean he was a mindless creature now. He was still Cody, no matter what! Gallen Marcuss Gallen took another bite, “no it doesn’t, and yet it does. We give into instincts that our new animal genes are…sigh but I am sure that sounds offensive.” He sighed as he sat in the water. Depressed he was tricked into coming to this island, sad he could not find his sister, and now more frightened of what he was becoming. Cody Archer "I don't see what's wrong with that. Losing your legs is a lot worse"
Cody didn't had any reasons to complain about the instincts as far as he knew. Actually he never realised they were there most of the time
Besides the ones that kept his body coordinated, like keeping him from drowning when he fell asleep underwater or using his flippers to aid his swimming, the dolphin instincts blended all too well with his human self. There were only 2 major urges that caused him trouble, hunger and loneliness
The other were subconcious changes in his own behaviour and because he was too young to have a proper idea of himself, he had never realised he was not the same Cody when he first arrived. He was no longer as shy, he was more curious, more eager to please and create attatchments, but at the same time more easier to anger. In other words, he had changed Gallen Marcuss Gallen sighed as he looked back to the fish in his paw like hands. He studied how the fish scales where similar to the ones covering his clawed hands. “I am sorry Cody, I know that must be tough to lose your….well I am sorry man” Gallen looked at the fish again…sigh “ironic I am like this fish, and yet I am eating probably a cousin cause of my messed up genetics” Cody Archer "It was...... and I still have one change to go..."
Cody's thoughts started to drift to the problem that had been nagging his mind lately. He knew there were 4 changes before anyone in this island was "complete" and no nothing when whould happen, or worse, what it rob him this time got him really worried
"Good thing I don't have that problem" he grabbed another bite before adding "but don't worry, you're too discusting to eat" Gallen Marcuss “Gee thanks dork.” Gallen purred teasingly as he bit into the fish again, and made a grossed out face. “I have no idea what will happen next” he sighed “but I just hope I don’t stop being me.” Cody Archer "Fuzzbutt!"
Cody sticked out his tongue in reply and smirked at Gallen's discusted expression. It was a great feeling for a kid, to have more experience at something than a grownup
"I know what will happen. You change 4 times and that is it. But you were a jerk before and you're a jerk now, so you'll likely will still be a jerk later" Gallen Marcuss “oh go play in a net twerp” he thought over what Cody said, “how did you find out about that? Are you sure there are only 4 stages? What if only some people have four and others have more?” Gallen could not believe it but he felt that Cody actually knew what he was talking about. Cody Archer Cody ignored Gallen's comment, feeling happy for knowing something he didn't. He took some time at finishing his fish before replying, leaving the catfish man in suspence
"Victor told me" Gallen Marcuss "Victor? he a scientist?" Gallen finished the fish and threw it aside. Soon he pulled of his shirt and slid into the water. it felt good in the water. He watched Cody intently as he started to swim in the water, testing his aquatic hands and feet. Cody Archer "No, a lizard guy I met on the beach... but the labs really screwed up his transformation. He's got loads of arms and 2 mouths! But he's really nice"
Cody didn't really pondered if it was a good idea to describe Victor like that. It was probably hard to believe if you haven't seen him in person, but there was no way the kid was going to miss a change to rant of the labs for being incompetent
He saw Gallen slip in the water and couldn't help to smirk at the weak swimming display. He could do better with his hands tied beind his back and flippers glued to his body Gallen Marcuss Gallen’s heart sank a little to the answer, though Cody might be right and what this victor guy said might be truth, it still was not an answer provided by the labs. “Still could he be wrong? Where did he get his information from? I am not doubting you or him, but remember everything that has occurred here, right down to how we got to this island has been deceptions so to amuse the labs. So Moreau could perform his sick experiments” Gallen’s voice shook with concern as he said this. Cody Archer Cody was getting annoyed by Gallen's reaction. Victor had no reason to be lying, he had it worse than anyone else here, and if he was being insulted, then it was like Cody was being insulted as well
"I don't know and I don't care. The labs were more horrible on him than anyone else, so the least they could do was telling him how many changes there were"
He started gathering his net, and all the fish in it, and rolled it in a ball. He was not in the mood to put up with Gallen any longer and besides, the sun had set and he didn't like being out in the lake at night, where he couldn't see where he was going Gallen Marcuss “I don’t think your friend is lying. I just don’t trust the Labs, they don’t care about any of us.” Gallen sighed, “I like to meet your friend Victor.” Gallen was tired of Cody over reacting to everything he said, he soon got out of the lake to head back to his duplex. “Your right it is getting late maybe best we end our conversation here.” He sighed again Cody Archer Cody didn't reply to that comment. He too hated the labs and he had no reason to trust them, but he still couldn't believe in them lying. The cameras, the changes, everything Aubrey had told him had been true
"When you meet him... don't stare. He doesn't like it"
With that he quickly dived and swam away. The sky was clear and there was just enough light provided by the moon for him to hopefully reach his room without bumping his head on something Gallen Marcuss “I won’t. jeez being told to watch my manners by a kid” he laughed to himself and soon ran off into the jungle heading back to his duplex.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Apr 15, 2007 7:42 pm
Late one afternoon, Victor leaves a hand-written note on the door of Cody's duplex 
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
