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 Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 5:46 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 5:01 pm
 Where Emelyn inspires another to forsake 'Civilization'Ian Campbell Ian had gone back into the cafeteria for some more tomatoes after he couldn't find Emerwyn and he found himself atop the cliffs with a small backpack full of tomatoes. He sat down on the edge with a leg dangling over the side as he ate a tomato. Ian could hear the sounds of the waves breaking and he could smell the salt in the air. It was a strangely alluring scent, the ocean called to him. He would have to go swimming one day. Weird, he had never before even considered swimming. As a kid he never went swimming and he had never desired to. With the smell, and the absence of his antlers he felt very light headed and relaxed. He leaned back onto his palms and started to hum a song his mother had once sung by his cradle when he was a baby. Emelyn found herself at the top of the cliffs, running low on breath and high on company. She recognized the man from behind- surprisingly, she thought, for the lack of times she'd seen him altogether. It was likely the similarity to the circumstances she'd met Ian under that first time, on the cliffs, that she recalled his name at all. She'd come this high searching for the right size rocks that she might fashion into tools- Emelyn figured that the 'source' was the best place to search, as lower down, all she could find were splintered, smaller versions of these parent rocks. She hadn't expected to find company, but smiled to see it, anyway. "Hello," she said softly so as not to startle the man, even though he wasn't near enough the edge to warrant the extra caution. "I didn't know anyone else would be up here at this hour. ...Thinking?" She placed her basket down at her feet, stretching after the long walk up. Ian Campbell Ian paused in his song as a person spoke from behind him. Emelyn, he remembered. He turned and almost jumped, she had changed since he had last seen her. "Hello," he responded with a smile. "Yeah, I was thinking." he looked out over at the ocean. Things were so different after being in the wild. One grew more appreciative of what they had, and viewed nature differently as well. The ocean called to him, he wanted to swim. To feel her carry him in her hand, to hear her deep song from close. He wanted to be a part of her, however briefly he could stand to swim. "Things are very different now." he said, definately speaking to Emelyn, having noticed her basket and how she appeared to look like she was ready to live forever in the wild. "Different?" She echoed, assuming he was talking about himself. "How so?" She pushed her basket with her foot, moving closer to Ian. When she was about five feet away from him, she sat, scooting the basket between them. Her digging stick, dried mud clinging to the end, hung over the edge. Inside, there was a shallow selection of nuts, a few berries, and fat roots and fresh greens. "Hungry?" She asked, indicating the basket. Ian Campbell Ian looked at the basket and shook his head wryly, pulling his backpack over and showing her the large quantity of tomatoes within. "Help yerself." His smile was impish such as no one had ever seen Ian have before. "It is really hard to go back to the way things were. A bed, showers. We survived too long without them." He picked up a tomato and casually tossed the red fruit in his palm. "We had to survive on our own and now that everything is provided again we have troubles adjusting." Himself included. Over the past few days he had found himself yearning for the fresh smell of the jungle he had grown so used to. "It is almost like we were part of a technology-less country then we were taken to a place filled with technology. "It would be hard to adapt and we would constantly want to go back to what we were used to." Emelyn's eyes widened at the veritable cache of tomatoes, and she pulled three out of his pack with a smile. They went directly into her basket- one she'd eat later, and the other two she'd attempt to dry. "Thanks," she said, "I'm not likely to find a tomato out here." She listened to his spiel on going back into a technological civilization though with a wry smile on her face. She placed a berry from the basket into her mouth, moving it up against her cheek with her tongue and sucking the slightly bitter juice out of it with gusto. "I wouldn't know. ...I've not gone back to the village at all. I just kept living out here." Ian Campbell Ian grinned as she snagged a few tomatoes and he turned back to the ocean. "I should have stayed, but now that I've gone back I do not know that I can bring myself to leave." He chewed slowly on the tomato that he had grabbed earlier. "There is so much here, and so much there." He thought of Emerwyn, and how he had heard her voice earlier. Perhaps it had been his imagination. And Julian. . .did Julian know that everything was working again? His eyes dimmed as his happiness faded a little bit. He hadn't though of Emerywn in a time, too caught up in his own problems had he been. He saw her face and it brought him sadness. She deserved someone so much better than he. "Thou hast been the wiser of the two of us then." "Thou hast." Emelyn echoed his words again- far from mocking, but rather, as if to test them upon the air, clinging to her breath as it escaped her lips. "You sound so much like Emer," she said, smiling, and drawing her legs out so they might splay against the cool rock. Ian Campbell Ian nearly jumped out of his skin at the mention of Emerwyn. He rubbed the back of his neck a little bit, feeling the hair rub against his palm. "Mayhaps. . ." He sighed and moved his hand down to his lap. He didn't know what to do. He loved Emerwyn, didn't he? But Julian loved her too, and in the forest. . .how they both had reacted. What did he feel through all this? He needed to speak with Emerwyn. He tried to smile back at Emelyn and it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Hast thou spoken to Emerwyn lately?" Was she alright? He hadn't seen her in awhile. Emelyn picked up on the 'mayhaps' and the 'thou', further cementing in her mind that folks like Ian and Emerwyn were a... special breed, and likely belonged together. She'd lived in 23 countries and a handful of states in her short lifetime... and she'd never heard someone speak like this and not be a) in a Shakespeare play, b) drunk, or c) all of the above. She nodded. "Mm. About... well... I don't know how many days it's been now. It's hard to keep track out here. But late in the afternoon that day that everyone filtered back into the village." She wondered if she should tell him about Emerwyn's... could she call it a breakdown? Something in the way Ian reacted to her name in the first place made Emelyn believe he wouldn't take the news well. Ian Campbell Ian made the time calculation in his head and nodded slowly. So it had been days. "Was she alright?" he pressed again. The last time he had seen her they had all gone their separate ways. Then, after the influence of her scent was when he had started to question everything. When he had smelled her he had wanted to drop everything and find her, but after it faded he wasn't sure of he had ever wanted to see her again. He had been ashamed of him smelling her for that day. Ever since then he had wanted to see her, but he hadn't. He wasn't sure what would happen if he saw her again. It would hurt him to find out how she was, that he knew, but he wanted more than anything else, for her to be happy. He knew then that he did love her. He loved Emerwyn more than anything, so much so that he would remove himself from her life because all he had really caused her was pain. If. . .it all depended on what Emelyn told him. "Well, at first she was like you are now- not really wanting to go back into the village but also not too keen on running back into the wild," she said, trying to ease into the state the deer-woman had been in. "She said something about how no matter what she did, she was always letting people down, and hurting people. She was slightly cut up, so she ended up going back into the village. I hope she got herself taken care of." She skipped graciously past the breakdown. Ian Campbell Ian managed not to gape. Emerwyn thought she was hurting people? It had been his fault. His decision was clear, he couldn't allow himself to see Emerwyn anymore. Much as it would hurt him to do so, he couldn't allow himself to keep hurting her like that. "Thanks" he muttered staring down at the ground. She's better of without me. It still hurt though. "I hope she is okay as well." He would inform no one about his decision, but he would try to get on with his life, one should never dwell on what could have been. The way he averted his gaze while he talked set of a red flag for Emelyn. She leaned forward, her palms flat on her downy legs. "Are you alright?" She said it softly, as if to tell him that she truly did want to know. Ian Campbell Was he alright? Ian didn't really know. He had just made the hardest decision he had made since arriving on the island. "Yeah, I'm alright. I guess. I just keep causing everyone pain." Ian decided that he might have to take Emelyn's example. It would be easier to distance himself if he stayed in the jungle. After he finished talking to Emelyn he would go to his duplex and grab a few things, then he would head to the jungle for awhile. And he would go swimming. "I need to stay away for awhile." then he paused, "Thanks, thou hast helped me make some very important decisions." Emelyn narrowed her eyes- both against the sun, and Ian's words. "You're not causing everyone pain. You sound just like Emer, and no matter how wonderful you both are... you're wrong. You're not causing anything when your heart is in the right place." Her words were harsh, but heartfelt. She didn't want these two people orbiting around each other, afraid to reach out for fear that they would cause some imagined, all-consuming hurt. She shook her head slightly, quills rustling against her sides. "Anyway... you're welcome, for what it's worth. I hope you find what you're looking for." Ian Campbell "What I am looking for," he echoed softly then smiled again genuinely. "Yes, I think I can" He reached out and grabbed Emelyn's hand giving it a quick squeeze before letting go. "Thou hast my most meaningful thanks again." His green eyes shone with a new hope. He, Ian Campbell would return to the wild, but this time with a certainty of who he was.
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Posted: Fri Mar 10, 2006 5:19 pm
 Poetry...
Emelyn held the note between clawed fingers, rolling the paper as gingerly in her fingers as she did the words in her mind.
She didn't know who it was from- or if it was even meant for her... but considering she'd found it tucked amongst the leaves of her drying crop, she didn't spend much time doubting the latter. Instead, she turned her mind to the possible author of the poetic note, digesting the flowery words. The only two people she knew who spoke like that were Emerwyn... and Ian. And both had recently told her that they felt like they'd hurt others, even though they'd only been trying to help- and in this note that seemed to be half explanation of sorrowful guilt, half plea for help for a disintegrating mind... gave no further clues.
"I am not who I am..." Emelyn said. The words seemed vaguely familiar, and it took her a moment to connect it to the text it referenced. "Othello." Would that it were Hamlet, she thought ruefully. She'd never been fond of Othello. Not that she believed it mattered- what was enough... was the knowledge that the last line referenced the further segregation of the soul, the person.
But which person? She folded the note and slipped it into the back right pocket of her jeans- which she'd cut away to exist as shorts- and went back up to her mountain home, not even checking the grass for moisture- the purpose for her visit to the beach in the first place.
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Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2006 1:12 pm
Swimming Lessons for Avery Avery Calder Avery took his dirty clothes to the laundromat and got them washed, before he headed back to his duplex and changed back into them. He tossed the pyjamas onto the bed, deciding to wash them later. He decided to go for a walk and get some fresh air - and the beach seemed like the best place to do so. Avery left his duplex and headed to the beach, taking off his boots and socks when he got there, not wanting to get sand in them. He stuffed his mismatched socks into his boots and carried them with him as he walked along in the sand. It was so peaceful here. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad being stuck here... as long as he didn't change into anything. And the people here seemed very nice; he's already made a few friends. Emelyn Emelyn saw the man walking in the sand as soon as she crawled off her mountain. (For, in the past week, she'd come to think of that most southwesternly slope as being hers- away from the 'contaminated' side of the mountain that housed the disgustingly appropriately named Feral Labs.) His back was to the girl- but that long blonde hair tipped with smurf-like highlights? His identity was as obvious as his purpose, Emelyn realized- for she'd come for the same thing. Some relaxation and perhaps a swim. "Avery!" She called, coming over the rolling dunes wearing only a smile, her goggles, high on her forehead, and her white bikini- an ingenious addition that Joli had left in her bag for her. "You look happier when you're dry," she said, referencing their last- and first-meeting with a smile. Avery Calder Avery stopped and turned around when he heard someone call his name, and he smiled when he saw the other woman approaching him. "Hey!" he greeted, waving to her. "How are you doing, girl? You're - Em, right? Sorry, I've met so many people over the past few days, it's hard to remember everyone..." he grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, I feel much better too. I - well, I found out... the doctors had a duplex waiting for me with my name on it. I had a nice shower and I got my clothes washed, and had a nap in the bed... it was great." Emelyn She nodded. "No worries, you nailed it right on the head," she said, referring to her name. As to his glee at having a duplex waiting for him, her smile was small, but genuine. "I'm glad you had some.... civilization waiting for you," she said, not willing to begrudge the poor man his cursory comforts. He'd already washed ashore the eighth level of hell... no need to deny him soap and a sheeted bed. "Come down for a dip?" She said, walking up to the water and wading into the gently lolling waves. Avery Calder "Well, to be honest, I'm not sure I was so glad it was waiting for me... I mean, how did they even know my name - let alone my full name?" Avery shook his head, sighing. "Nevermind." He didn't want to think about it right now. Besides, there was some hope, thanks to Awen's plan. Hopefully it would work... "A dip? Uhhh... well... I'd love to, but," Avery blushed a little, looking embarrassed. "I... don'tknowhowtoswim," he mumbled quickly. Emelyn Emelyn would have explained to him that the island was canvased with surveillance cameras, microphones, and other gear- but the tone in his voice suggested that he didn't want to talk about it- so Emelyn filed the information away as something he would likely learn on his own in the time to come. "I thought you washed up on shore, though. Fell off an... what was it, ocean liner, cruise ship? Poor thing, being dropped in the ocean and not being able to swim. ...I'm glad you made it." Avery Calder Avery grinned a bit. "Yeah, it was a cruise liner... but I didn't fall off alone; Rex tried to save me - have you met him? I guess he was able to help me stay afloat until we passed out..." he shrugged a little. "But, Rex said he would try to teach me how to swim. Well, he promised when we didn't know where we were, anyway... I don't know if he still will." Perhaps he would have to ask Rex about his offer sometime. It would be nice to know how to swim... Emelyn "Rex?" The name was followed by a bubbly chuckle that escaped up her throat and past her lips in an almost joyous hiccup. "No, I think I would have remembered meeting someone named Rex." She was sorry to hear that, even now, there were new people coming to the island. Would Moreau ever decide to put a cap on this torture farm? She put her hands atop her head, wading backwards through the ankle-deep water, her eyes still on Avery. "Well, if you'd ever like, I can teach you. I've got a lot of freetime these days." A single corner of her mouth lifted up, curling upwards towards her blue eyes in a crooked grin. "All you have to do is find me. I'm not exactly... easily accesible these days," she explained. Avery Calder Avery chuckled a bit. "His name is pretty unique, isn't it? Maybe it's just his nickname or something... he's a tall guy, muscular, with short blond hair. And he's really optimistic about everything," he nodded. "I'm sure you'll run into him sometime." His eyes fell from her face for a moment - he could only last so long without looking at someone's body when they were wearing a bikini, of all things. He looked back up at her face again, though, and said, "would you teach me? Swimming seems like it would be fun... are you busy now?" Avery grinned. "And, what do you mean you're not easily accessible?" Emelyn The drop of his eyes to her bikini-clad body was brief... but noticeable, and Em put a hand on her hip, amused. She had pegged this well-coifed man as gay. She thought to herself that she was either wrong, or that his gaze was stricly related to curiousity at the fur that covered her body and the quill-like masses that had transformed her hair. "Oh, sure- I've done everything I wanted to do for the day; I just came out to get a swim in. I'd be happy to start to teach you now. Just come on in the water and we'll pull out all the stops, alright?" She smiled, and said over her shoulder as she waded a little deeper, explaining, "Oh, and I meant that I'm not living in the village anymore. I live up on the mountain." Avery Calder Avery noticed the fur on Emelyn's body, but he was getting used to seeing fur (among other things) on people around here that he didn't pay it any mind. She was still a woman, after all - and an attractive one. "Great! That sounds good to me," he said, putting his boots down and pulling off his shirt. He pulled off his arm warmer and fishnet glove, stuffing them into his boots as well. Then off came the pants - he was wearing his red boxers underneath. These clothes were all he had on the island, so he didn't want to get them wet again. Avery walked out into the water towards her until he caught up to her. "Really? How come you live up there?" He thought that was kind of... odd, when there were perfectly comfortable beds back in the village. Emelyn "It's a long story," she said softly, yet free of angst. "Suffice it to say, when you arrived, Moreau had us in the middle of a ...sick experiment to see how we would react to being kicked out into the wild. When he decided to be 'magnanimous' and let us all back into the village, I just decided that I wasn't going to be his little yo-yo. He made a very clear point that he controls our lives, and that the comfort he provides can be taken away at any time. So I decided to... deny him the choice." She waded about waist-deep into the water, and indicated with outstretched palms, fingers curling repeatedly back towards herself for Avery to wade in with her. "So... why haven't you learned how to swim?" She asked. She needed to know how quickly to start him- whether to familiarize him with breath-holding or the water in general, or to skip past basic flutter-kicking and teach him how to hold himself up by strokes. If he was afraid of the water, or was uncomfortable with the idea of total submersion, she'd start him off slower. Avery Calder "So the disappearing act with the power going out was all just a game, huh?" Avery asked as he followed her out deeper into the water. "This Moreau guy sounds pretty ******** up. I don't blame you for not wanting to go back... I don't think I could, though - especially without clean clothes and a shower." He grinned. "Well... I don't know why. I just, never got around to it, I guess?" Avery shrugged a little. He had always been interested in doing other things. Swimming was never really on his list of fun things to do, and his parents never forced him to do things he didn't want to do. "I can kind of float, though. You know, on my back. And sort of... doggie paddle, but it's really more like flailing. I get tired really quick doing it that way." Emelyn Em just nodded, glad to see that Avery was already on a good start for realizing what Moreau was. She focused her mind on the task at hand- one infinitely more enjoyable than lambasting the mad doctor with her words. "Oh good," she said, "then you won't mind starting from slightly deeper water. Here, just follow me." She reached out and took his hands in hers. "Disregard the claws. They're not very sharp. I still have to use a digging stick to get any decent roots out of the ground." Her smile was easy and warm, and she kept her eyes on his as she guided him out to deeper water- as if to hypnotize him, should the water suddenly seem frightening to him. She paused her gait and halted them at a certain point, about armpit- deep in water. "Now, I know this spot. There's a dropoff past here that goes about a foot or so deeper. Before we get there, just practice this..." she put her arms straight out to either side of her and made steady, synchronized circles in the water with them. "Just do it nice and steady, and when you can match how I'm doing it, just step off the dropoff and keep spinning your arms at that pace. Also, kick your legs slowly back and forth, just gentle kicks, like you were sitting at a desk in school and swinging your legs. I think if you can float, you'll be pretty good at treading water," she explained. "And then I can teach you how to do strokes in shallower water." Avery Calder Avery was a little nervous when she mentioned there was a drop off nearby, but he trusted her to keep him in check. If it was only a foot deeper, he thought he would do alright getting his footing back. "Well, that seems easy enough." He held his arms out in the water as he watched her, and started copying her movements, moving them in circles under the water. When he was satisfied he was doing it right, he stepped off the drop off and went under for a moment - but he moved his arms faster to keep his head above the water. "Oh, right, move my legs too," Avery said, remembering what she told him to do. It took him a minute or so, but he got the hang of it, managing to keep his head above the water. "Like this?" Emelyn Em stood on the edge of the dropoff, her toes curled around a ream of silky wet sand, watching her 'student' and smiling. She clapped once with glee, and nodded emphatically. "Yes. That's exactly how to do it. Treading water is a good skill to learn- because you can pause in swimming if you get a little tired, or if you just want to hang in one spot without staring at... well... the sky," she laughed. "Alright, now I'm going to pull you back in, and do some stroking." She told him so he wouldn't be surprised, but she snaked out her arms and pulled him in from the chest, ducking underwater temporarily to pull him those last few inches back to the level mark. She surfaced, brushing the water out of her eyes as she did, and smiled. "Sorry. I'm sure you could have done it yourself, but I didn't want to risk you going under. You're doing so well." She shook out her quills a moment, brushing them out of her eyes by pinning her goggles down atop them. "Now," she finished, "if you didn't mind, I could hold you up in the water horizontally, so you can work on the kicking and stroking. That's really the easiest way to do it, as long as it doesn't make you uncomfortable. ...We could just go to the shallow end," she reassured. Avery Calder Avery could think of better things to look at than the sky if he were going to hang around treading water. "Okay," he said, letting her pull him back to level ground. He kept moving his arms in the water, but made sure not to accidentally hit her when she dunked under. "Thanks! I guess it's a little silly that a grown man doesn't know how to swim, huh?" He grinned at her. "Nah, right here is just find. I trust ya. I think I'll be alright. So, what should I do next?" Emelyn "No, it's not silly at all. People just have different circumstances. We'd be such a bore if we were all the same." She wrinkled the tip of her leathery, moist hedgehog nose, as if to show just that point with her science-fiction like features. "Me, I didn't know how to tie my own shoes until I was in second grade. I kept tricking other people into doing it for me." She laughed once, then stepped back to give Avery room. "Okay, what we're going to do is, I'm going to put my arms out in front of me here, and under the water, like this... now you just "fall into" them- stomach first- I'll hold you up so your head is out of water. Then you'll just kick your legs at this pace.." Emelyn lifted her legs up in the water and tipped herself back until she was floating. Then she kicked her legs at a steady pace- quicker than her arms had been going for treading. "As for your arms, you'll work them like a windmill- lifting it up above your head and then down into the water, like you're scooping it down past your torso and then up in the air again at your middle. You can only practice that part with your right arm, since... well... you'd smack me in the face otherwise." She laughed. But I'll correct you if you're doing something wrong, and then when you have the hang of it, I'll let you go and see how you do. Okay?" She put her arms out in the ready position. Avery Calder "You have a point there... being the same as everyone else is no fun at all!" Of course, it was obvious how Avery felt about that, considering the way he dressed. He liked to stand out and draw attention. Avery nodded as he listened to her explain what they were going to do next. "Okay, then. I think I got it... I've seen people do it on TV and in movies." He moved closer to her, concentrating on her instructions so that he wouldn't make a fool of himself. He leaned over her arms, letting his legs float up so that she was holding him up. Alright. Now he felt a little silly. He glanced back at her. "So I just - move my arm around, right?" He lifted one of his arms up over his head, bringing it down in front of him, mimicking what she had told him to do and thinking about how he had seen it down on TV. Emelyn "Right, just like that... although don't bend your elbow so much on the upswing. ...And kick your legs, too. That you can do without hitting me," she laughed. She thought he was doing rather well for a first real swimming attempt- Avery seemed to be a quick study. For all she knew, however, this was all futile- perhaps the animal he was turning into would be an adept swimmer, and come to it naturally. Emelyn didn't know. ...But she certainly wasn't willing to bring that opinion to light. Avery Calder Avery was a quick learner with physical activities. If you sat him down with a book, however, you wouldn't be able to get him to pay attention for longer than ten minutes. "Ah, right, I keep forgetting about the legs." He kicked his feet in the water a little and continued to move his arm, making sure to not bend his elbow as much as he had been. Well, this is just dumb... it's easy, why didn't I just try it before? Avery thought. Emelyn "Alright, you're doing great! You've got good natural buoyancy. Do you think you could put it all together if I let you go? Oh, and I almost forgot- you put your head to the side away from whatever arm you currently have over your head while you paddle. That way you can still breathe. So it's alternating left right, left right. Got it? Think I can let you go?" Avery Calder Avery laughed. "Well, that's important information! Alright... I think I'm good to try it out know. This is pretty easy... I'm ready." Emelyn "Alright... bon voyage," she said laughingly, and dropped her hands out from underneath him, ducking away as she did so. Avery Calder Avery couldn't sync up moving his head in the correct direction as he moved his arms at first, but he got the hang of it after he slowed down and took a moment to think. Left, right, left, right... well, this isn't so hard at all! He wasn't quite sure how to quickly change directions, so after he swam out a little, he stopped and waded in the water for a moment (like Emelyn had taught him to). Avery grinned and waved at her, before he swam back over to her, looking a bit smug when he stopped. "I did it! There's probably an easier way to turn while you're swimming, but," he shrugged. "I think I did pretty good!" Emelyn "You did better than well- you did amazing!" She wrapped her arms around his neck in a cursory hug, laughing at their success. "Congrats- you're no longer land bound." Avery Calder "Well, I guess I just had a great teacher!" Avery said, smiling happily and then hugging her around her waist. "Really, thanks for helping me out. I'm sure Rex will be surprised when I tell him!" he grinned. Emelyn "Any time, Ave," she said, letting go of the hug. She took a deep breath and winced against the onslaught of the sun. "Now if you excuse me... I think I'm going for a little diving. I'm hoping to learn more about the area," she explained, making sure her goggles were secure on her head- she didn't want to lose them. "Take it easy, Avery." She said, before diving neatly beneath the waves, kicking out to the ocean deep. Avery Calder "Alright then - have fun, Em!" Avery said, waving to her before she dove underwater. He made his way back to shore, picking up his discarded clothing. He decided to leave them off, and he went back to his duplex for another shower to wash off the sand and saltwater in his hair.
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Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 11:04 pm
**Reserved for Madison rp**
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Posted: Sun Mar 12, 2006 11:05 pm
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Posted: Fri Mar 17, 2006 2:30 am
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
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Posted: Wed Mar 22, 2006 10:04 pm
Emerwyn comes Full Circle
Emerwyn Emerwyn began to feel restless sitting in the cafeteria for so long. It was wonderful to speak with Greer again. It was wonderful to have someone to listen to her, and to listen to. And, it was so good to see Ambrose and to find that miracles can happen on even so dreadful a place as this. But, she needed to move. Something wasn't right with her still, for all she had been able to get out. She still didn't feel all herself - there - while she spoke, or drank her tea. So, she sbruptly said, "Greer, I need to get out of here." And, without hardly waiting for Greer to respond, she stood, and began to walk swiftly towards the cafeteria doors.
Greer Cassenwari Greer blinked and cocked her head, things changing too quickly for her to follow while lost in her own thoughts. A moment later her brain clicked into gear, she put down her cup, bussed her tray, and sped after Emerwyn's retreating back. "Hey, are you okay?" she asked as she caught up to the other woman outside.
Emerwyn "I need to go..." Emerwyn panted as she sped, though she slowed a bit for Greer to catch up. "Something's not right..." her voice grew a little panicked as she went, and she even looked about herself nervously, as though observed by some unseen being. "Come with me... We need to go. And, please, please, don't ask me why... I just... can't be alone for this." Whatever it was that was bothering Emerwyn, it was not going to leave, and her voice was pleading with Greer, though her eyes never turned to meet hers. She continued to move quickly out of the village.
Greer Cassenwari Greer did her best to keep pace, but hawks were not known for their running abilities. "As long as you don't get too far ahead, I'll be here." She'd been a jogger and a fencer once, damn it, but the halfwings were slowing her down and her legs weren't set up to run as well anymore. She better get some flying out of this or the doctor and she were going to have words
Emerwyn Emerwyn slowed her pace, but slow for her legs was probably a little different than Greer's definition. Emerwyn had never been an athlete; she hardly left the house as a youth, and found herself shut up in a bookshop for the rest of her life on the mainland. But now, she found her strength and stamina increasing rapidly. Periodically, she'd slow herself down for Greer to catch up again, but then, ahead she'd dart once more, toward some unknown location. The cliffs loomed in the distance.
Greer Cassenwari Her body knew what she wanted from it, but try as it might it couldn't give it. There were going to be painful, crabby muscles for her tomorrow.
Emelyn Emelyn reveled in the strange mix of sensations that were afforded to her in her position. She had splayed out on the rock face, her spiney back to the sun while her downy stomach practically shivered in sheer delight with the sweet deliciousness of the cold that the rock still harbored. She had been writing for hours, sitting up on the cliffside, musing over everything that had happened to her over the past few weeks, and had only recently put aside her journal for a moment's respite from thinking. She allowed herself only to feel, and to soak in the day with an abandon totally unknown to someone who was confined to a life of sheer humanity... and nothing else.
Emerwyn Emerwyn continued this odd pattern of running until she found herself at the top of the cliffs. Her chest rose and fall at a pace that reached a gradual decrescendo as she slowed to a halt. The world was so clear up here, and the sky so perfectly visible, seeming only now as unfathomably wide as it was. After she had taken all of this in, her eyes roamed until they fell upon a creature bathing in the sun on a rock. This was what she was looking for! Of course! But why? She didn't know yet, but emotion completely overwhelmed her. She turned to Greer quickly. "Greer! This is it! ... Thank you for helping me." What Greer had actually done remained to be seen, but without another word, Emerwyn ran to Emelyn.
Greer Cassenwari She wasn't exactly winded, per se... I mean, her lungs were fine it was just her legs that wanted to kill her. A little exasperated with her dysfunctional anatomy, she continued doggedly behind Emerwyn until they came to hedgehog and the cliff. Then she sat down. "Em is it? Why?" Not that she minded, of course, being rather partial to the writer herself she just didn't understand.
Emelyn Emelyn heard the commotion long before the two caught up with her, and she rolled over to her side to look at their heads poke up over the rock as they finished their ascent. "Hey..." she said, her voice filled with suprirse. "To what do I owe the pleasure?" Regardless of her surprise,she was happy to see them, and joy tugged the corners of her mouth up towards her eyes in a crinkling smile.
Emerwyn Emerwyn crouched down on her legs in a quick, bouncy, and very chldlike manner before Emelyn. "Emelyn, I've been a great fool. And, why hadn't I seen it before? ... but, as someone once told me we are all fools, after all. Please forgive me; I ... I was not who I am."
Greer Cassenwari Greer sat and preened her wind-whipped feathers, much more comfortable once they were settled. What the hell had happened between these two while she'd be off breaking rabbits?
Emelyn I am not who I am... the words drifted slowly into Emelyn's realization. The letter. It was Emerwyn who had left it, she who was apologizing... who was afraid she was losing her mind. What little of it made sense came together for Emelyn in that moment, and she flattened her palms against the rock, pushing herself into a sitting position, wrapping her arms gently around the woman when she was nearer to her. "It's all in the past, sweetie. I just hope you're better." She shot a look over the deer-woman's shoulder, giving a small and happy smile to Greer, with a look that seemed to say "I will explain this later".
Emerwyn Emerwyn cried. There, in the prickle-haired arms of this woman, she shed tears. They were so cleansing. They freed her from whatever self-imposed torment she had been going through. "Greer... Emelyn. I don't even know myself anymore." She laughed softly. "But, of course, I suppose it's to be expected. But, what I have been able to save... what's left of me... the old me... I'm just grateful to you both." It was true, these two woman had born much of Emerwyn's frustrations and had been there to hear her greatest sorrows. And had supported her though she had acted such a fool.
Greer Cassenwari She may not have known why exactly her friend needed comfort, but that didn't mean she couldn't give it. Pushing herself forward, she joined the hug. "We'll always be here."
Emelyn The 'group hug' flooded more delicious warmth through Emelyn's system than basking in the sun ever could, and she echoed Greer's sentiment with a heartfelt "You said it, sister." Having those words come out of her mouth made her laugh, but it struck her as truth in that moment. ...She had lost her sister, and would never again regain that special bond that she and Mizzie had shared. But perhaps, in some way... she had sisters in these women- who, despite all that had happened to them, she loved them dearly.
Emerwyn Emerwyn laughed lightly again. "What an odd place we have all found ourselves in. What an unwordly, completely unbelievable situation. For all I have read, I could never in all my dreams imagine something like this ever to happen - least of all to me. We are truly a marvel. We physically stand against humankind - we look blasphemy to their unseeing eyes. And yet, thrown into this as we are, we have become all the more human for it. I shall ensure that I never forget it."
Greer Cassenwari Greer chuckled. She was a scientist surrounded by poets. "For what it's worth, my life with feathers has been far better than the preceding years without."
Emelyn Emelyn brushed a bit of hair out of Emerwyn's eyes, tucking it behind her ear in a tender, soft gesture that left her hand near Emer's cheek, and she cupped it with a slightly curved palm. "I'm just glad you're... better," Emelyn said, her emotions unwilling to delve into the subject of their humanity. "I've been worried about you."
Emerwyn Emerwyn smiled. Though, it held a melancholy air. "Yes, for now."
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Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 1:28 pm
Meeting Chubbs Chubbs MacKraken Chubbs after waking up finally since his change and knowing Colche was alright, hoped not to run into this Billy as he'd gone to get food. After a giant helping of sausages and steak, he decided to take a detour towards the beach to enjoy a smoke and calm down. He'd gotten a little fustrated with the knife and fork, finding that his claw weren't useful for gripping delicate and small things. The sand was easy on his toes, he'd hardly trip up here. He contemplated actually cutting his claws with a hacksaw to trim them back. He'd been feeling alot better since the change and his birthday he'd sworn he had missed by now. Chubbs didn't have the courage to get too intimate with Joliette lately, at least he still got to hold her. Looking out into the water, he puffed on the cigarette in his lips and sat down easilly. His poor backbone still needed some extra time to feel better. Emelyn Emelyn burst from the clear water, tossing her hair behind her, and brushing the water from her face with a single, backsweeping carress. The moonlight was so soft and gentle on her face, and she smiled to see it- almost as glad as she was to get a good breath of air. She'd been underwater just as long as her lungs could bear it- searching the sea floor for those small oysters that dotted the shelfline. It was only when she stretched upwards and turned to the shore, brushing droplets of water off her neck, did she see the half man, half creature sitting on the beach. She stopped, still thigh-deep in water, and blinked. "Hello..." she said softly, not knowing if the man could see her. Not all the island denizens had such clear night vision as her. Chubbs MacKraken Chubbs blinked, and for a minute, checked his cigarette to see if it was not tobacco. He was almost amused, the girl coming out of the water reminded him of so many beer ads with the hot woman coming out of the water, except in the style of the island she looked a little fuzzy. Chubbs waved a little and flicked the ash behind him, he'd never seen this one before. He wondered how many damn people were on this chunk of rock, he was still meeting new people. Chubbs looked awkwardly around and finally decided to speak. "Ah.. G'day, I erm... sorry I disrupted ya umm...I can move further down if ya want?" Emelyn "No, you're perfectly alright," Emelyn said, moving closer to shore towards the bear-like man. ...She thought 'bear-like' for, assuredly, he seemed more like that animal than any other; she couldn't place what he was becoming for all the fur, claws, and various additions that the poor man had suffered through. "I was just looking for oysters." She put her hands out, palms up. They were empty. "So, as you can see, you're not interrupting anything." She walked out onto the shore, not insecure about her body-extensive 'fur suit'- not in the face of such a kindred transformation. "I'm Emelyn," she said, coming up nearer to the man. "I don't believe we've met. ...Which is odd." She said as an afterthought. Chubbs MacKraken Chubbs stood up as she approached, oysters huh?, he never understood why people wanted to eat something that looked like someone hacked up from their lung. He dusted down his paws and his backside, his tail gave a wiggle to dust itself off. Chubbs took a moment to be careful while taking her hand in his not to scrape it or cut her. " It's not that hard, I don't get out much and I hang out at few places really... Name's Chubbs... well, it's really David but I use Chubbs cuz it's unique" He gave a bit of a smile with his big teeth and tried to cover it up, thinking it might have looked a bit off puting. He gave her hand a shakeanyway, and thought to himself that this island was so full of hotties, Moreau's car must have a bumper sticker that says " No fat chicks". Emelyn Emelyn took a seat next to him in the sand, stretching her legs out before her and rolling her ankles to crack them. "David..." she chewed the name in her mind, and it idled slowly on her lips a moment before it connected to something meaningful. "Oh... I do know you. Well, by proxy, anyway. Joli is one of my best friends here on the island. ...We've often said it's strange that you and I haven't met yet, for all the time I spend with Joli. ...It's nice to finally meet you." She smiled at the man, peering at his eyes behind the fur. It was strange for her- she was so used to looking beyond the animalistic features to see the person behind them- but she had never seen David before this moment, and so her entire frame of reference were those eyes... set deep within the mask of fur and teeth. "Joli thinks the world of you." Chubbs MacKraken Chubbs slowly sat back down in his spot and out of being polite, stubbed his cigarette out in the sand. It was also a force of habit, Chubbs had always fought to make the best first impression he could through life as his looks were always a downer. He listened to Emelyn for a moment, surprised to hear he was known of. He smiled hearing about Joli and blushed as he realised he was spoken about. " Yeah, nice to meet you too" Chubbs blinked a little as Emelyn looked into his eyes, his face went really warm and red. He couldn't really help it, for all the changes he still felt shy with a new girl. He blinked again and blushed like crazy when Emelyn told him what Joli thought of him and he had to hide he face. " Awww man, heh yeah... she's great" He waited till the blush settled a bit and thought about the words Emelyn said, and he sighed a little. " I wonder if I might have changed that though a little" Emelyn "Changed a little?" Emelyn furrowed her eyebrows slightly, her face warping into that of a questioning gaze. "What do you mean? Are you two not..." she paused, using the moment to wonder if she should finish her sentence, "...okay, anymore?" She hadn't seen Joli for weeks, and it troubled her that she and the man she'd described as being her only joy on the island could be having problems. Chubbs MacKraken Chubbs rubbed one of his ears and looked over at Emelyn awkwardly. It was better to vent things at strangers at times, even if the place was small and she knew of him at least. " Well.. it's been the second time i've changed... and well, before it happened, I wasn't too well. I was frustrated, and depressed, and feeling well... not good... not good at all" Chubbs rested his arms on his knees and scratched his chin a little, a nervous twitch so to speak. He wondered if he was talking too much, but he thought he'd continue, just to explain to her. " Well umm.. the serum I got, the injection.. it's grizzly bear, Tasmanian devil and wolverine. And well I've noticed before the second change, I've been getting a temper, a massive one that I've never had before. Well with everything that's happened, being pushed around by staff and well..." Chubbs sighed and took a deep breath and acted out of nervousness by scratching his chin again before he continued. " ..The change well it set me off, well, I can't say me... there's something else inside me that crraves to get out and I have to fight it everyday. The change let it loose and ... I... I went after Joli .. She did nothing, there was no argument, no fight, I just saw someone to tear apart and went after it. I stopped myself before too much happened. I pinned her against a wall before I snapped out of it and felt so sick I threw up." Emelyn "Oh god, I'm so sorry. ...To change into all those violent things... and then try to maintain even a shred of decency and humanity. I'm sure she understands." Without wondering how it would make the man feel, Emelyn put a comforting hand on his arm. She didn't put thought to it- it was an automatic gesture of comfort and understanding that came naturally, almost compulsively to the girl. "But still, it must be frightening to have that temper building up inside of you." Chubbs MacKraken Chubbs looked at the ground, or rather the sand and sighed again. Emelyn was really nice, she even patted his shoulder, it did help. He reached over and patted her hand in return and gave her a light smile. " Yeah, I'm just scared because of the look I saw on her face, I wish I hadn't caused that fear in her. I should be fine with the temper, I hope, I've been keeping myself fed, making sure I sleep well and I only hope the staff doesn't piss me off like they have. Specially that damn Sabin" Chubbs gave a smiole at least, it was good to get things off his chest like that. Emelyn at least looked like she cared about what he had to say, it was funny, he would have thought it was his job to be a comforter. " So what about you? I know nothing about you really, time to change that" Emelyn A small smile crept onto the lips of the nocturnal girl. She was surprised by the question. She had been the constant comfort of so many on the island- a forgiver, accepter, and counsel to those who mourned either the death of their past lives, or the realities of their current ones. She was content to subsist in this manner, but it was always a refreshing thing- and a true point to the depth of someone's character- when they focused on her, as well. "I'm surprised you want to know," she said, her voice holding no self-pity- for indeed, she had none, "I don't think more than two or three people on the island know more than a handful of things about me. I suppose I have one of those faces that say 'I listen', not 'I talk'." She grinned, plucking her goggles from her forehead to drop them in her lap, freeing those quills which had been twisted beneath them. "Well... I came to the island... in the first 'wave' of people- back before anyone had changed. I washed ashore after my boat crashed in a storm that also brought someone else to the island in the same manner." She looked up the sky, rolling only her eyes upwards, as if to probe her mind for facts. "And before that, I was a youth diplomat for a branch of the United Nations, and travelled around the world doing various things as part of the Peace Projects. ...And... let's see... I think that's a decent handful of facts. You've now acquainted yourself more than pretty much anyone on the island with Emelyn Honor White." She gave him the smallest of salutes. "Nice to meet you." Chubbs MacKraken Chubbs grinned and listened to her explain her situation for being here and her existance before the retched island. His tail swished lightly back and forth in the sand. His mouth opened in awe of what her life was like, he couldn't believe it. That was like, wow she really was somebody. He then grinned and chuckled at the salute and then returned the gesture himself, giving a click of his claws as he did. " Nice to meet ya too, but umm.. I recon ya face more says " I'm cute" " He chuckled lightly then grinned, but tried to hold it back, his teeth must have been terrifying. " But that really does blow big time, ending up here. I got tricked here myself, never really had a cool life like yaself. Sounds like pretty cool work, I mean going round the world and stuff, helping people, sounds great" Emelyn Emelyn returned Chubb's grin at the sight of his return of the gesture, and at the click of his dark claws. "Well, the animals that have infiltrated your DNA may be vicious ones... but they make you look very cuddly," she said, whispering- as if confiding in him. "...Not unlike a teddy bear." At his mention of her past life, and how great it must have been, Emelyn took a deep breath and leaned back on her arms, her fingers stuck into the sand behind her and her palms crunching the grains almost compulsively. "It was a nice life. ...But I don't think I miss it. I travelled because I was looking for something- or running away from something. Either way, I don't need either, anymore. ...What about you?" She asked, weaving the conversation back to him. "What did you do before being tricked into this "tropical paradise"?" Chubbs MacKraken Chubbs blushed again, smiled and hid his face again at the mention of teddy bear. It was a nice compliment, but he still had to hide his face all the same. He tried not to stare when she stretched out, he still was a guy and Emelyn even through her change was pretty attractive, so he went to talk about his life before. " Umm.. I was a boxer.. kinda a good one. I moved to America from Australia to get better promotional fights. Well one night I got asked, um well told really to rig the fight by some people and well I got so nervous I got sick and had to run out of there. Soon as I did I took off and lived on the streets for a bit so I had no records or home." Chubbs took a stretch, cracking his back a little and then laid back in the sand as he continued, looking up at the sky. " I eventually found an old abandoned sorta rusty fish warehouse at the docks. I mae a few friends by then and with kids too, so I managed to get together some gear and I taught the kids how to box. I got some extra food out of it and I liked teaching. Well some guy one day reconises me and says he wants me to go to an island to compete in a fight to win some prize money. I said I'd take it, so I could get a better place for the kids to train in. And so I ended up here" Emelyn "Wow..." It was more an exhale of breath than a word, and Emelyn shook her head. 'With each new story about how Moreau's ruined someone new's life... I can't believe that there can be a creature on this earth with so little soul." The sand felt good in her fingers, and the cool, night air so delicious on her moist, furry skin- but that did not mean that this was paradise- or even where she wanted to be. ...Not that she had any idea where that was. The mainland held nothing for her, anymore- and neither did the wide world of travelling that had once been her home. "Working with kids- that must have been great. I worked with orphans when I lived in the Czech Republic- we built them a new playground. You must like children quite a bit." Chubbs MacKraken Chubbs smiled and put his hands behind his head, he found out fast that his claws wouldnt let him and he rested his head on his arms instead. He did like kids, specially the group he was with, he wondered at that moment how they were and were they okay without him. " Yeah, kids are great, they got great laughs and love to have fun. The one's I was with were really adorable and sweet, I loved them all, they gave me a purpose in life, something to give my life meaning. I've been trying to find the same thing here, but it's not that easy" Chubbs thought about Moreau and sighed and shook his head. " As for Moreau, well, I hate feeling it, but I've nothing but hate for the man, and I don't like he made me feel it" Emelyn "I've never hated anyone before in my life," Emelyn said, "until Moreau. And I'll say this before anything else... for the benefit of the cameras," she said, leaning into Chubbs with a wry smile on her face, "...That I've never met a man so devoid of a human heart, and who, if you were to plumb into the depths of his soul, would be seen only to have mere scraps of humanity clinging to its caverns." It was a mouthful, and Emelyn would have rolled her eyes at herself- but the sentiment was to real to mock. She sat up, no longer relying on the anchor of her arms to support her, and placed a hand back on Chubbs' arm. "It's not our DNA that makes us human. I think Moreau is the best example of that of all." Chubbs MacKraken Chubbs chuckled and couldn't help it, the oppurtunity for humour was always taken by him, and at this point he took it, expecially to make fun of Moreau. He whispered back and clung to Emelyn, trying to avoid using his claws. " Eeeee, help meee, I'm Moreaus humanity... saveee meee... I'm so tiny Emelyn, and I'm surrounded by too many jerks I'm being over powered." He broke into chuckles and winced a little as his caught a couple of quill tips from Emelyn. He didn't mind though, it actually didn't hurt that much. Emelyn Emelyn laughed, her stomach contracting in bursts with her mirth. She caught the wince, however, and wiped away where the moisture had started to form under her eyes. "Oh, I should warn you- they're getting a little sharp. The new ones on my back are worse- but the ones that are forming out of my hair aren't so bad." She appreciated how gingerly he held her with those monstrous claws- even with her own, limited claws that were more an extension and thickening of her own, natural nails than those veritable blades that Chubbs wielded, she knew how difficult it was to manuever with a delicate touch. Chubbs MacKraken Chubbs checked out her spikey bits and ran a claw over a couple them, they were certainly getting sharp. He kinda pittied her, eventually having half her body incapable of unpainful contact with others. " Good to hear ya laugh, that's what I like most. I think I should start getting back though, before Joli starts wondering if I've gone walk about" Chubbs stood up and dusted himself down before grinning and pulling Emelyn up of the ground and pulling her into a big hud, regardless of the tips or not, she was going to get one for being there for him. Emelyn Being pulled to her feet startled her- but the hug genuinely surprised her, though she let herself be wrapped in the great-sized man's affections. When they released each other, Emelyn let forth a hearty chuckle that originated in her chest and bubbled from her lips with a happy abandon. "No wonder Joli loves you," she said, wrinkling her leathery nose to let the man know she wasn't trying to embarass him, "you're such a sweet man. ...Take care of yourself, okay? And say hello to Joli for me. Tell her to come and visit me out here in the wild." Chubbs MacKraken Chubbs chuckled and blushed again, looking at the ground, damn Emelyn lobbed out the compliments didn't she? " Awww hush now, damn ya and ya compliments, I'm gonna be a pink teddy bear at this rate" He gave her a playful nudge and started heading back to his duplex. " Will do, and I'm sure she'll visit" Chubbs headed off, and it wasn't ill later he realised what Emelyn said, and he thought to ask joliette when he got back. Emelyn Emelyn said nothing as the bearish man blushed and rambled back into the woods on the way to Joli... back to the mock civilization that Emelyn had so summarily dismissed. After he left, she turned, face to the ocean and eyes to the sky. The nights were hers- and at least out here- her thoughts were her own. She waded back into the water, and dove in to the cool water, freshened from her respite with David.
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Posted: Thu Mar 23, 2006 11:19 pm
Animal Instincts Jamal_Reedy For one so against living in the wilderness not so long ago, one might think it odd that Jamal had willingly (or at least, partially) returned to that same wilderness in a desperate attempt to soothe his fazzled nerves after his stint in the cage. The confinement would have been bad enough without the tiger's constant influences on him...but add in the tiger's bitter hatred of the enclosure and the plea for the jungle's security and ta da, hello trainwreck! He had stumbled into the jungle without a second thought about checking in with Antony or Awen, instantly eased with the musty scent of decomposing foliage and damp earth, and had spent the night in a deeper section similar to his nook back towards the river. Instead of fighting the tiger's influence like he normally did, he gave in and let it take charge, finding that this allowed him a better sense of smell and more acute sight at times; the tiger knew how to focus on particular cues. It was now that he lounged lazily in a tree, back against the rough bark and a foot dangling below as he rested with half-lidded eyes. However, he was far from unaware of his surroundings. The slightest crackle in the distance made the tiger jumpy, fearing a recapture in that damn cage, thus Jamal could never truely fall asleep. That and he was hungry. Jamal would never stomach eating raw meat on his own accord, but it gave him something to 'listen' to as the tiger calculated it's prey options. Emelyn It was a long fall- or at least, in Emelyn's mind, time had stilled for her headlong dash to meet the earth. She didn't realize that she'd been going so quickly over the unearthed roots and uneven ground- not until she stumbled over a particularly gnarled bit of tree that peered up out of the earth. Had she been clipping along at any speed slower, it's likely she would have seen the root, and how silently it waited for a victim, crouched low against the black, moist soil with an almost dark intent. Instead, she had only the time- that long, stretched time as she fell forever- to think about it. Then she hit the ground. "God damn it," she breathed, a sharp pain echoing up her left leg. She prayed that she'd not broken anything- for she couldn't bear the thought of trying to survive in the wild with a broken limb... or worse, succombing to human nature and hobbling to Moreau to be fixed. Emelyn squirreled her eyes shut and rolled to her back, ignoring the p***k of those quills that disliked being caged against the earth- and rolled herself up to a sitting position. Only then did she loosen the squeeze around her eyes, and allow them to sliver open to look at her leg. ...It was bloodied- but only slightly, for she'd fallen on a stone. But after a probing examination, Emelyn sighed with relief- it was sore, but not broken. "Thank god." She crawled to her feet and stumbled a ways before coming across something she'd not expected to see: Jamal. Very changed. "Oh..." it was more an exhale of breath than a word, so still was she in her surprise. Jamal_Reedy Jamal heard her coming long before she appeared, his hearing focused on the noise she was making whilst his eyes remained lazily half-shut. However, as the sound got louder and seemed to be coming his way, the tiger had grown incredibly wary of the noise and latched on strongly to his stream of thought. He strank back into the fold of the branches and watched Em come into view. His first reaction was not of 'hey, I know her,' but rather an apprehensive 'trust no one' stance that suited Jamal's human side well enough for the moment so he didn't bother fighting back the instincts just yet. It was when she fell that Jamal's voyeuristic wait-and-see approach was sideswiped away at the smell of blood that hit his nose forcefully and prickled the predator's curiousity and hunger. The black man crouched down on the branch as she started to crawl, a calculating predatory air surrounding him as the tiger mulled over the thought of this funny human thing being prey. So interested was the tiger that Jamal couldn't squeeze in and stop this urge from sweeping his mind, so when Em looked up and noticed him, the tiger grew irritated that his cover was blown. A snarl crossed his broad features before he abruptly dropped down from his branch, landing in a squatted position with his gaze focus intently on her. Emelyn "Jamal... I hope that's a smile on your face..." she said, her voice low and halting. Everything in his posture, in the look in his face- the very way he'd dropped down from the tree like a cat stalking its prey... it put the hedgehog-girl on edge. She hadn't seen Jamal for a good long while- but even then, when he was as of yet undamaged by the intrusion of animal DNA, he had seemed predatory to her. True, then it had been more the case of a player after his next sexual conquest... but Emelyn couldn't deny that, one way or another, perhaps whatever he'd been injected with was only feeding on his natural desires. Her words were blunt- but there was a metaphorical elephant between them... and Emelyn was unwilling to ignore it. Jamal_Reedy He growled in response, hardly batting an eye at her very direct question/statement, and flicked his whiskers back against his cheeks as a strong whiff of blood again caught his nose. The tiger wasn't sure what to make of it...the combination wasn't anything it recognized and Jamal's human side certainly didn't know what Emelyn smelt like. He hadn't even -addressed- her as a human being yet despite the fact Jamal was having an internal battle with his two sides. Dammit, he'd never let the tiger willingly have control like this again. If he -ate- her, or attempted even, he'd never be able to live with himself. The tigerman slowly approached in a hunched/squatted crawl on all fours, eyes glittering with the cruel intelligence of a killer. Emelyn Fear flooded into Emelyn's mouth, practically drowning her tongue in acidic nauseousness. She didn't know whether she was going to throw up, run, or scream- but in the end, it didn't matter- her legs refused to budge. "Jamal... I don't know what has gotten into you," she said softly but resolutely, hoping that he hadn't completely given himself over to whatever animal had possessed him and could still listen to reason, "but if you're planning to eat me, I assure you, I'm not edible. And if you just want to kill something for the hell of it, there are better targets." Her legs finally moved- but only to shake. Jamal_Reedy Jamal's icey glare focused on her moving legs as he failed to acknowledge her words, the movements creating currents in the air that were soaked through with blood scent. The tiger latched onto this smell, instinctively trying to sort out the health of it's intended prey as the man circled wide around her, a low growl rumbling in his chest. Her fear was tangible on the air now too, but it wasn't of principle importance right now. Mentally, the human Jamal was struggingly fiercely to regain control, horrified at what might happen, but the blood and sight of a 'weak' prey item at the tiger's disposal only egged it on. He'd already almost killed one person in the past week and would rather not go for a second. Despite this, his circling tightened with each step until he was nearly directly in front of her, jaws parted in a manic leer as he reached out a hand to roughly smear her blood onto the pad of a finger, then lifted it to his face. Emelyn "s**t..." the word shuddered out of Emelyn's throat, and she found that her entire body followed suit. The sight of this half man, half beast, poised to lick her blood from his mangled hand... it incited such fear in her that she'd never known. Emelyn's heart was pounding a million miles a minute, and without letting thought possess her... she ran. Emelyn turned heel and ran, her eyes half to the ground, praying to a God she didn't believe in that she wouldn't trip... and that Jamal would not follow. She could taste the fear on her lips... and feel the death on her mind. Jamal_Reedy Whatever ground Jamal's sanity had slipped out from underneath him as Em took to her feet and fled. The predator's immediate action was to pursue. Pursue with the intent to kill. A bellow of outrage erupted from behind Em as she started to run and if she looked back, Jamal's form would be clearly visible behind her as he pelted after her, the manic glee still fresh in his eye. To the tiger, this wasn't a human...this was dinner and he wouldn't stop until her blood ran thickly between his jaws. Emelyn Do not go gently into that dark night.... Rage against the dying of the light. The words echoed in Emelyn's mind, and if she'd been in any frame of composure to do so, she would have wondered- even marvelled about the powers of the human mind. In such terrible, life-affirming- or life-threatening moments... the human mind has the ability to plumb into the depths of the psyche and draw forth the most peculiar mementos of the past. Those were words from a poem Emelyn had read to Mizzie as she lay on her deathbed, begging her not to die before it was her time- to deprive Emelyn of the sister she so desperately needed. But there was no time to reminisce- only to run, her feet pounding on the earth as she heard Jamal behind her- directly behind her, if her ears did not deceive. Mizzie died before her time... shall I? Jamal_Reedy Jamal's human sanity was only a small voice in the back of the man's mind, pleaded and pulling desperately for strings of control to get a handle on the situation but the predator would have none of it. He had gained on Emelyn easily, being a tall man with the endurance of a dedicated basketball player, and was literally snapping at her heels as they tore through the jungle. The tiger was growing weary of this chase, irritated that the injury hadn't been as substancial as he had guessed by the profuse scent on the air. The beast's intentions were quite clear. The unretractable clawed fingers arched into deadly hooks as he sensed his target to be in reach and without warning, Jamal leapt forward with a sudden burst of speed, looking to sink his partially formed claws into her shoulders and drag her down. Should she fall, he would strike the fatal blow within moments and then feast, as was the right of a predator. Emelyn Emelyn's world collapsed in a single instant. Her mind switched back into slow-motion mode, which was sadly ironic... as it happened in the exact same place it had before. Her foot caught on the arching root... and she stumbled. Emelyn expected her life to flash before her eyes. She expected to feel the cool breath of death on her shoulder, and to collapse to the earth. She thought that she had just expended her last time... standing on two feet. What she didn't realize was that the half-tiger had leapt behind her- and that her fall was... fortuitous, if not planned. Instead of landing full on her shoulderblades, those strong claws instead missed their mark, carving deep troughs in her skin as she stumbled, bowing. The scream that burst past her lips was high and unforgiving- as churning as that blood which now poured down her back. The mass of quills stood at rapt attention, and the muscles in her stomach contracted, begging her to fall to the earth and curl into a protective ball. Jamal_Reedy Jamal snarled bitterly as his claws failed to find the purchase he sought, instead feeling oozing blood and coiled strings of flesh beneath his claws, overshooting his target enough so that he stumbled and nearly tripped over her. Instead he had to circle back, which he did hastily, and found she hadn't moved from her fallen position. However, there was hesitation in his steps and his face wasn't quite as fixd in expression as it had been. The scream had shaken him. Not the him as in the predator, but as Jamal the person. The man was terrified that he was going to render this woman into hamburger and the scream intensified this fear ten-fold as he fought again with renewed strength to unsaddle the instinctual urges of his unwelcome companion. For now, the tiger was still winning. He stood over his 'prey, sharp eyes surveying the bed of half-formed quills apprehensively before he experimentally batted at the dark fibers, hissing when they pricked his soft palm and retracting it back immediately. The tiger was not accustomed to dealing with prickled meals and unfortunately these quills lay heavily on her vulnerable neck. He'd have to try a different method. Jamal paced the length of her body, prodding with his clawed hands for soft, vulnerable spots until he became aware that her legs were not covered in these quills...they were haired oddly, but surely not in the same painful material. His intentions focused here as he dropped to all fours and circled around towards her lower body. Emelyn "Oh god, oh god," Emelyn didn't know whether her cavalcade of words, so thickly tipped, overlapping one another as the words blended together... were a plea for Jamal to come to his senses... or the last words she'd ever speak. Emelyn had never been so afraid in all her life, and it almost blinded her. Either that, or she was losing enough blood that her vision was blurring. She didn't know which one she prayed was true. Do I wish for unconsciousness, so that death will come to me in my sleep... or do I rage against the dying of the light? She could not choose. Her mind was lost to her, in that moment of indecision and fear, and deep within the recesses of her consciousness... a swtich was flipped. Emelyn disappeared beneath the cloud of the hedgehog, and allowed it its repass. The hedgehog, in the face of such a threat- did not concede to its fear- did not run- but rather, it dropped to the earth, pulling itself into a ball. The criss-crossing muscles along her back pulled her spines up into a fortress in a motion not unlike tugging at the drawstrings of a purse. Emelyn watched- as if from a distance, as the animal in her attempted to save her. Jamal_Reedy As he moved to attend to her legs, he was sorely disgruntled to find her drawing inward, encased in those wretched quills. The tiger was furious that his meal was so easily putting off his attempts and Jamal snapped at the air in frustration. The tiger experimentally pawed and prodded at the sharp spines for long time, the only sound being Jamal's labored breathing, until finally he gave a hiss. It was then that the tiger lost interest, finding this meal to be too much trouble when the jungle reeked of prey, and that brief moment of carelessness on the predator's part allowed Jamal's humanity to swamp his brain and drive back the murderous urges. A keening wail left his lips as soon as the tiger retreated and he crawled backwards in a loud shuffle of dead leaves and branches, his stomach clenching violently as he felt her drying blood on his hands and pieces of flesh beneath his nails. "Oh GOD no. No no NO!," he cried out in a panic as he put as much distance between Em's fallen body and himself as he could, eventually backing into the knobby tree trunk. "Holy ********, god almighty, what'd I -DO-?!?!" Emelyn Deep in her mind, Emelyn heard Jamal's words- as if they were being spoken through a funnel filled with cotton. She wanted to loosen those tightly drawn muscles that wound around her abdomen, to lay flat and allow herself to drift to sleep- to forget the pain. Jamal had gotten a hold of himself- he was 'human' once again. But the hedgehog was less forgiving- it was a staunch ball. It would have remained in that position forever, if not for a sharp pang along her shoulderblades, where the troughs of blood lay. Then, her muscles relaxed, and she found herself laying flat against the ground... forgetting where she was... and wondering where the day had went as her eyes slowly blinked to a close. She was so tired... so tired, as the world swirled around her. Whether it was a combination of the bloodloss... or the confusion of her mind, she was having difficulties staying awake, now that the immediate threat had passed. Jamal_Reedy "Oh god, oh god almighty," he muttered incoherently, hysteria thickening his voice so he choked on his words and tears stung his eyes. He really -was- an animal. No matter how much Antony or Awen or anyone else denied it, there was no other explaination. Jamal was a beast that deserved to be locked up. Freedom had only led to this...to a potentially dead woman lying broken upon the ground. Emelyn Where did the words come from? They were so fuzzy... so distant. They hardly seemed like words at all. ********. ...What did it mean? Nothing at all. Emelyn's eyes closed. The words meant nothing at all. ...Nothing at all. Jamal_Reedy Jamal had no idea what to do. He was so repulsed with himself that he couldn't form a coherent thought and had to fight back the urge to vomit. Absolute shame wracked his entire being. Em had never done anything to him (other than reject his advances) and that wasn't something he killed over. And to do this to a woman?! It went against almost everything he believe in. He'd lost himself to his animal AGAIN, had maimed an innocent with the intent to EAT her, and had wounded a woman. He looked over right as her eyes closed and his stomach clenched; she was still alive for the moment. The dark puddle beneath her body told him that she wounded far worse than he had thought initially; he wanted to run and leave her there, but knew she'd never make it. Jamal couldn't and wouldn't bear the woman's death on his shoulders; death of those who deserved it were welcome burdens. Em did not deserve it He knew he was ******** either way...as soon as they found out he had all but mauled her, he was toast. Out here, she had no chance of survival. Jamal made the decision to try and right the decision as much as he was capable right now. He wasn't a doctor, but surely someone in the village could help. -------------------------- It took some time, but Jamal had made it to the village with Em draped in his arms, an absolutely haunted look on his face. He was going to take Emelyn to her duplex, but she would certainly never get the help she needed there. After quick, semi-rational thinking, he deposited her in the entertainment room on one of the couches, sure that someone would see her soon (be it cameras or people). He then fled back for the jungle, disappearing into the deepest possible place he could find. An animal belonged in the jungle, afterall.
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Posted: Fri Mar 24, 2006 2:17 am
Wounds that can't be Healed... Aubrey Lockheart
Several hours later, Emelyn would awake in an observation room in the labs. The small hospital room had a cot she was lying on in a hospital bed, a saline IV hooked up to her. Her wounds were clearned, sticthed, and dressed.Emelyn The first thing she did was cough. The second was to open her eyes. After that, all of Emelyn's actions blurred in that steady whine called consciousness. She realized a small handful of things: she had woken up in a hospital room- likely the labs... there was a dull ache in her back, but nowhere near the amount of pain there had been before... and she was alive. It was a very nice handful of things. Emelyn coughed again, clearing her throat of the dry mass that had lodged there in the hours since the attack. Her mind, strangely enough, was free of all the dizzying thoughts that had plagued her in those last few minutes before she'd lost consciousness- she was alive, and that was truly all that mattered. Emelyn sat up on the narrow bed, wincing as she did, and eyeing the juncture of the IV that was linked to her arm. She was reminded of all the hundreds of IV's that she had seen in her life- most of which were attached to her sister... and she sighed, in the same instant... grateful for the breath it took to make it. Aubrey Lockheart It would be about forty-five minutes before the doors would open, and a very haggard looking Aubrey would pass through the doors. Her mess of hair was pulled back on her head, and she had circles under her eyes. She rolled in a cart that contained a sandwich and a pyrex glass of water. "Hello Ms. White," she said softly, pushing the cart next to her bed and motioning to the food. Emelyn By the time Aubrey came into the room, Emelyn had been sitting and thinking... for quite a while. She wasn't surprised to see the woman- she'd been expecting one or another member of the staff sometime. If anything, she was grateful that it was Aubrey. Even in her 'grateful to be alive' state, she didn't think there was any way she'd be happy to see the mad doctor himself. "Hello, Dr." She said, her voice raspy from long lack of use. She didn't bother to clear her throat. She eyed the sandwich warily, then lifted her eyes, if not her head- to Aubrey. "I don't think I can eat that," she rasped. "And by the way... I've been here a very long time. ...The island, I mean." Her voice, in this soft montone so likened to her current state, held no malice. "I think you can call me Emelyn." Aubrey Lockheart Aubrey sighed, weighing on whether or not she wanted to inquire is she COULDN'T eat that...or WOULDN'T eat that.
"Ms. Emelyn," she said softly. "I'm sorry about Mr. Reedy...." what else was there to say. It sounded rather insensitive to just send her on her way. Emelyn Of all the things Emelyn thought she might respond with... 'well, that's what you get when you infuse violent DNA with that of a normal person'... or 'these are the ramifications of what you've done... it's on your conscience', or the like- instead, what came from the woman's lips were infinitely more... kind. "Things happen." She couldn't bear to say anything crueler- not to the face of this woman. Emelyn hardly recognized her. When she first met Aubrey, she'd seemed excited, confident- and that night in the mansion, sitting in all her splendor next to Moreau, she was radiant, a woman on top of the world. Though her happiness was tantamount to the happiness of Moreau- or so it seemed to Emelyn- she felt sorry for the haggard Dr. "You look tired. ...Are you alright?" The words were soft, and gentle, and she was surprised to hear that the concern in her voice was genuine. Aubrey Lockheart Aubrey lifted a skeptical brow. "Been better," she said. "Its been a rough two weeks. Dr. Duvert left a quite a mess to clean up after his little unauthorized experimentation while Moreau and I were away." It was mostly true. Jamal attacked her because he was pissed about being 'in the wild' for so long. She still wasn't convinced Sabin had nothing to do with Billy's state of mind. And Colche just took a giant step back in all the progress she had been helping her with.
"There have been...several physical attacks. On staff.." she pulled back her scarf to reveal bandages over a light, healing bruise on her neck, "on islanders.." she motioned to Em. "And not all serum-based-" she interjected defensively. "Mr. Woodrow is taking his drug withdrawl out on Colche." Emelyn Emelyn didn't let the mention of Dr. Duvert's 'unauthorized experimentation' go unnoticed- rather, she red-flagged it in her mind for later consideration. She didn't accept anything Aubrey said as utter truth... but found that she wasn't doubting it, either. She seemed too tired, too busy to fabricate stories for the benefit of an ailing islander. At the sight of Aubrey's bruised neck, and more so at the mention of Colche being attacked, Emelyn bit her lower lip. "I don't know who Mr. Woodrow is- but that's awful. ...Poor Colche, the girl must be so confused. ...And I hope that," she gestured with her IV-less hand to the marks on the Dr's neck, "...well, I hope you're alright." ..And that whoever gave it to you is still living, she thought- but wisely didn't add. Aubrey Lockheart "I will be," she sighed, going over to Em and beginning to detatch her from the IV carefully.
"Your concern is refreshing," she said, "though I doubt you don't think I deserve every ounch of what I get," she was with a touch of bitterness. Not at Em herself, but at the situation. It was a sad statement from a disillusioned woman, not an accusation. Emelyn Em's eyes narrowed- not in anger, but rather, almost sadly, resolutely. She shook her head, just once, from one side to the other, her eyes not leaving the downcast woman's face. "That sounds a little self-damning," Emelyn said. Her voice was beginning to regain its normal tone, the hoarseness falling almost gracefully to the wayside as she became accustomed with speaking again. "And if it's not... well... I don't believe in a vengeant world. ...It would mean I deserve to be here." It was a soft sting- the only one she'd allowed slip into their quasi-conversation. Aubrey Lockheart Aubrey freed Em from her IV and just shook her head softly. "I'm just tired." Aubrey realized quite suddenly that she wanted out of this conversation. Speaking to an islander seemed like a dangerous thing for her psyche at the moment. And she still had to break the news to Ambrose that they didn't know what was wrong with Angelina..and Aubrey couldn't remember the last time she slept besides crashed out on her couch in her office.
Aubrey pointed to a pile of clothes. "There are your clothes, washed," she said, a forced professionalism in her voice. "And an few extra shirts and stuff... some of torn and all. I can take you back to the village now." Emelyn "Thank you," Emelyn said, recognizing by the sound in Aubrey's tired voice that the conversation was summarily over. "...But if it's all the same- I'd prefer to leave on my own. I don't intend to go back to the village." She stood, wincing as she did. "...But I'm sure you knew that." Aubrey Lockheart Aubrey nodded. "I have to walk you out myself regardless," she said quietly. Emelyn "Understood." Emelyn picked up the neatly folded pile of clothes- fully intending to walk out as-is, with the bundle under her arm. "Lead the way." Aubrey Lockheart Aubrey led Em out in silence, leaving her on her own devices once she was out of the gate.
"The stitches are biodegradable," she said before she left, "So you won't have to come back to get them removed."
With a small wave and a sad smile she watched her walk off before heading back into the labs.
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 6:45 am
Wounded
Emelyn's attack had left her... shaken- in the most terrible way possible. She stood on the edge of the village, just inside that dreaded jungle (for now, how could she see it otherwise?), fearful to enter either- one for breaking her vow to herself... and the other... for that deep, now instinctual feeling that death waited for her. Her death.
She had never before felt the hand of death grasp her mortality so tightly. Even in those days, witnessing Mizzie's quick decline to her death- or in those moments as her boat capsized, Emelyn had held strongly to a feeling of her own immortality. She was the girl who had always been immune to even the most virulent strain of the flu, never broken a bone in all her life. She had screamed bloody murder upon the instance of her first beesting on the age of twelve- not because it hurt, so much as in furious indignation that her perfect health had been trespassed against. ...To such a self-seen omnipotent... the attack in the jungle had been more than just a brush with death. It had been the utter destruction of her security, of her hope that no matter what happened... she would ultimately be okay. No matter that her theory had been proven, in some way- for through another attack, the girl remained death-defying. It was enough that she had felt like death was upon her, and that, in her last moments before she'd succumbed to darkness- she had believed that she would never stand again, never speak- and never love.
It was this feeling- that the mortal coil was not so tightly wrapped about her like a slinky gone awry, but rather, that she might be simply clinging to a coil with fearful abandon... kept Emelyn at the edge of the woods.
What is worth more... my word, or my life? ...What a terrible decision for anyone to put upon themselves, to boil down a matter to such awful choices. But in Emelyn's mind, the choice was indeed that- one way or another, whichever step she took- she was damning one aspect of herself. Inevitably- and after an age's wait- she made a choice, stepping with a fearful heart- rather than a regretful one.
She headed back into the jungle.
-----+-----
When Emelyn reached the mountain, she was sobbing- partially from the pain, and partially from a wound that couldn't be healed with Aubrey's disintegrating stitches and a white room.
The mountain loomed above her- promising... not safety, any longer- for that was no longer afforded to the hedgehog-girl. But rather, as Emelyn climbed, the wounds in her back throbbing beneath their stitches and the muscles in her sides contracting, begging once more to be comforted in the 'hedgehog way'... she envisioned the cave in her mind, associating it with feelings of determination and strength. Emelyn stumbled halfway up, and fell to the ground, crying out for the indignation and the pain of it all. All she had left was her strength of spirit- and it was that which propelled her back to her feet and up the last leg to the cave. When she came upon the precipice, and that cool stone surface- she was both stronger... and weaker- infinitely, in both. Em felt her way down the wall to her bed- for although her nocturnal eyes had not been affected, she'd closed them- hoping to silence the onslaught of tears.
At the end of the wall, she lowered herself, palms flat against the cool, dark rock, and felt for her leaf-filled mattress with her knees. Then she crawled up onto the uneven surface and wrapped her arms about her legs.
...That night would be one of the worst in Emelyn's life. She would rock herself to unconsciousness, alternating between humming ... and sobbing. The last thought that would drift up from her last moments of lucidness... would be that it was such a shame. ...Such a shame that, had she died that night- there would be none who would mourn her death.
I am alone. ...And what a true shame it is........
And then, darkness.
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Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 11:02 pm
At your own RISK... Emelyn Emelyn's hand snaked out from beneath her and felt in the darkness for the basket near her bed. Her nightvision had not left her- the girl could see quite well through the blackness... but not when her face was buried in her makeshift mattress as it currently was. Her hand found the basket and gently probed the inside- finding exactly what she expected- nothing. She'd eaten the last of her stores the day before, and hadn't moved since that time. In fact- the last time the girl had left her cave was to venture down to the foliage point to go to the bathroom... and that need had since passed, due to her severe lack of food or drink. Emelyn either didn't recognize that she was slowly killing herself- or something in her told her it didn't matter, anymore. "Ohhm..." she murmured into the leaf-filled sheet- crinkling the old, not recently changed contents as she did. Zachary Bloodstone Zach didn't know where he was at this point. He had to get away from everyone. Hiding wasn't good enough. Avery, Colche, and another man he'd almost killed and he didn't even know why. Where were the caves here? He needed to find a cave. They must be higher up... It would be theraputic, he supposed. There were caves in the mountain. But the mountain was so tall... he wouldn't make it up there easily. He couldn't look down. That was the main thing to remember. His bandaged tail twitched and curled in fear.
He followed the mountain path, less and less on two legs and more on three. Before leaving he had deliberately shoved his terrible feet into shoes, and they were hurting badly from it. He'd stop and take them off here. The claws were stuck in the leather, so he sat down a good distance from the cliff to dislodge them and look for a place to rest. He panted as he pulled at the boot.
The sound of a pained voice echoed from behind him. He turned around. Someone was in a cave here, and they didn't sound like they were enjoying themselves. What was another person doing all the way out here? He abandoned his efforts and crawled, slowly, into the darkness of the cave. If they came at him, or if he got too close to them, he'd run. He'd just have to mind the cliffs or he'd fall to his death.
"Hello?" he called out.
Emelyn Emelyn jumped at the sound of someone coming. More and more these days, the hedgehog within her pushed insistantly, begging to come to the surface to deal with these split-second decisions. Regardless of its last intrusion into her life- and how it had saved her life...Emelyn was still wary of handing herself over to the animal. So although deep in her mind, an animalistic voice begged her to hide- to curl in a corner, to pretend she heard nothing... Emelyn swallowed back a lump of self-doubt... and answered the voice. "Hello?" She said tentatively, reaching over for her makeshift knife, hiding it in her palm... just in case. Zachary Bloodstone Zach slid against the wall of the cave until he heard the voice answer him back. It sounded... familiar. Oh god, it was someone he knew. It was Emelyn! He was torn. Her voice really didn't sound good. The predator, still pissed from the previous day's failure to catch live prey itched him mentally at that. It would settle for something sick or wounded... He noticed and fought the urge back all he could. He'd never let that happen again. Reaching in the darkness, his hand only hit cold rock. Good. He wasn't close enough to her for anything bad to happen instantly.
He was still panting from his endless uphill trek, and sank to his knees to keep himself from being as much of a threat to her. He couldn't see in this darkness. The old mining helmet wouldn't have fit now, anyway. Not with the two footlong horns curving up over his head. "Emelyn... oh my god... where are you?"
Emelyn Emelyn finally recognized the voice. It was Zach. She calmed, dropping the flint knife, and silencing the hedgehog fear within her. Zach wouldn't hurt her. He was such a sweet soul. "I'm probably just above you," she said, her voice thin from being silent for so long, "Your voice sounds close. There's an entrance to a shallow cave after you come to a flat precipice in the rock." Zachary Bloodstone Zach nodded and followed the directions, though it was a little slow thanks to his feet. He felt along the floor until he hit the woven basket. That meant he was close. He backed up carefully after that, not wanting to endanger her. Where was she? He could hear a little breathing if he listened carefully. He jumped when his tail scratched against the wall, and he grabbed it to hold onto it. He didn't want Emelyn to know what had happened to him.
He felt his own heart pounding. For an instant back there - before Emelyn had answered him back - he'd had the most horrible flashback. His left shoulder twinged, unusually painful as it had been since the transformation. He was sweating everywhere there weren't scales to stop it.
He squinted to no avail. "You sound sick... is everything okay?"
Emelyn Emelyn saw him clearly as soon as he kicked the empty basket she kept just inside the door. ...And her breath left her- suddenly, almost irrevocably. Zach had transformed- and into something monstrous. Emelyn didn't recognize what he had become- but in a way she'd never been before Jamal had attacked her... she was wary of him, and her hand returned to the knife. This time- she didn't pick it up- but simply left her quavering hand upon it. Just in case. "No... I'm... not sick." The pause that followed was ominous. "...I see you've changed," she said softly, drawing her knees up to her chest. Zachary Bloodstone "Oh, that's a relief. It sounded like you were..." He was about to ask about her cave, but there was an awkward pause.
His mouth suddenly went dry as she stated what he knew was true. He grimaced, though he forgot that it showed off his terrible new teeth. How she could see him was a mystery, but he heard the quaver of fear as she spoke it. There was no doubt that she really did see the horns, and the tail, and the yellow eyes.
It didn't hurt like some of the injuries he'd sustained the other day, but it was a different kind of hurt and it seemed most tragic at the time. He worked his mouth a moment, but nothing really seemed to come out. "I... y-yeah..." His claws dug into his tail as he stood holding it with embarassment. All the terror over his new features had once more been drained from him, as he'd earlier reassessed his appearance. He was still disgusted by his lizardy looks though. Emelyn brought it all back.
Emelyn "What are you doing up this high?" She whispered, her hand hesitating on the knife- his voice sounded so sad. Did she really think he'd attack her? Zachary Bloodstone Was she defenseless? wondered the predator. Zach shifted uncomfortably on his feet. He wouldn't lie to her about what he was doing here, but he didn't want to make mention that he'd nearly attacked three seperate people just out of hunger.
"I'm running away," he answered wistfully. He had been in such a panic he'd almost forgotten how fearfully tall the mountain was. The caves were safe, though. He didn't feel as scared in the dark where he couldn't see heights.
Emelyn She heard a strain of fear... and maybe even self-pity in his voice. Emelyn herself would have pitied the man- were her mind free of the occupation of... suspicion. "It's hard to run, Zach... when there's nowhere to go." She said simply. Zachary Bloodstone "You have a point." He let go of his tail, which resigned itself to curling and uncurling as he spoke, a hint of deliberating madness in his voice. "But I'm too... dangerous... to just stay in the village. Something happened. I just have to keep my distance from all the islanders." He wasn't going to use the term 'freaks' in front of the hedgehog-girl, for no matter how much he felt himself to be one among many, she wasn't a freak in his eyes.
Emelyn "You're... dangerous?" Emelyn's voice held the presence of her mind- which had practically snapped. Her hand tightened around her knife. "Zach, if you've attacked people... if you're thinking of doing it to me- I'm sorry- I know it's not your fault... but if you come near me and you even think you might hurt me, I'm going to stab you." Her voice was low, ragged, and nearly hysterical. "Jamal almost killed me a few days ago. I can't go through that again." Zachary Bloodstone He blinked in surprise. How had she known? Maybe he wasn't going crazy. He couldn't see the knife, but he didn't doubt she had something to protect herself with. Personally, he really didn't want to be stabbed, but he couldn't know when this damn... thing... would lash out again. Zach gave a short gutteral growl as his fear was taken advantage of by his predatory instinct. He shut his mouth quickly and put his hand to it to keep himself silent.
He had to leave. Now.
He backed away unsteadily, several claws now poking through his shoe material. His yellow eyes looked sorry as he made one last scan of the dark little cave for her spiny form. He saw nothing.
The news that Jamal had attacked her was confusing. Jamal had seemed calm, collected, and above attacking other islanders. Had something happened to him? Emelyn wasn't -- he stopped in mid-thought. Oh dear. He wasn't alone in this strange bloodlust. Was there no way to control it?
Emelyn Emelyn gasped at the sound of the growl, pushing up against the cave wall even though it put painful pressure against her infant spines. She refused to let herself feel guilty for her words- not when he'd given a growl such as that one- such a predatory, primal sound of- what? Anger? Disappointment? Emelyn steeled her eyes against the leaving form, and called after him with a sort of resolution and resolve. "I'm sorry Zach, but I can't take the chance. Not when you've already said you're dangerous." Zachary Bloodstone In contrast to Emelyn gaining confidence, Zach was losing his. He was filled with self-defeat, unable to control his animal desires. Even his friends were becoming enemies. There was no future for him. He didn't stop moving till he was back outside in the light of the sunset.
It was getting cold outside. He'd head back down the mountain while there was still light. A fall from these heights would kill him, and he didn't want that. He didn't like the heights at all. What a stupid choice to seek refuge up here. What a stupid choice to wear the shoes.
Exhausted and lonely, he left.
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Posted: Sun Apr 02, 2006 6:15 pm
Survival of the Fittest
After Zach left, Emelyn had stayed, rapt in that position, the knife held out before her and her breath stilled, listening to the night and all its terrors- hoping that the self-proclaimed 'dangerous man' didn't return. She didn't let down her harangued guard until nearly sunup, when her limbs practically gave out from such high level of tension... combined with such a lack of food. She dropped the knife, and fell back onto her bed, exhausted- where she remained for the good part of the next day.
...Her body had reached the point where it wasn't enough to live on adrenaline. She knew that if she didn't eat something soon, it was going to break down.
Before, there had been a part of Emelyn that... almost didn't care that she was starving herself, almost didn't see it as a terrible thing that she might die. ...But after what had happened with Zach- after she saw how willing she truly was to protect herself, to survive- there was no doubt in her mind that she refused to lay here until she died.
It was that frame of mind that helped propel the weak girl out of the cave- on her hands and knees- and down the uneven slope of the mountain. Sometimes she stood, and made her way shakily down the ledge- and other times her body succumbed to weakness and she slid down on her hands and knees. But by the end of the day, she was at the great peak's foot... looking up on her Everest, her mind a furious tangle of thoughts. ...Jamal had tried to kill her. Almost killed her. And who knows what Zach might have done, had she let down her guard and hugged him- like she might have before. It was truly an Island of Hell- and Emelyn, rather than cursing how Fate had forsaken her here... wondered instead how she might overcome its odds. She prayed there, standing anything but humble at the foot of the mountain- though she was not religious, and appealed not to its height or possession by any manner of God- but to its strength and power. She prayed... not for protection and safety- but for the strength to perservere through the hardship. For strength.
Emelyn stood there for several minutes, leaning back against a tree, letting sweat bead in her fur as the sun beat down through the thin canopy as her pious pride swelled. She would not starve today- or any other day... Emelyn bid the mountain a temporary farewell as she made her way into the forest... a makeshift knife... tucked into her pocket.
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Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 6:39 pm
Fresh Island Spunkiness... After waking up in her duplex and leaving to explore, Fiona had walked along the shore of the lake, trying to figure out where she was geographically. Mulling over what little she could remember about South America from grade ten Travel and Tourism, a class she had never paid attention in, the girl pointedly avoided the buildings and traced the treeline. She'd been walking and thinking a good while when her exploration met with another body of water, and, curious about whether it was just another lake, she headed for it.
Sand soon trickled between her toes as Fiona crossed the distance, squinting out at the endless ocean. "Hey, I was right." She said to herself, grasping ahold of whatever facts she could in the confusing jumble of information that had assaulted her upon arrival. "This is some kind of island." 'That still doesn't explain where Angharad is, though.'
It had been hours- nearly a day- since Emelyn's revelation at the foot of the mountain, and since that time, the strength the girl had prayed for seemed to have come for her- in spades. During the day, she had gorged her small, pained stomach in berries and grubs- and drank enough water to satisfy her tortured body. Then, during the night- she'd begun to gather herself, and walk slowly about the island, just enough to stretch her muscles before collapsing back inside her mountain home. ...Only recently had she awoken to find that her physical strength- though rife with many dips to contradict its normal valor- had mostly returned. Thus, why the girl found herself, basket at hip, coming down the mountain at midday to see if anything on her drying rack had been left lie by the birds.
The sun was bright, that day- and nearly blinded the hedgehog-girl as she made her way over the light, hilly dunes. Sand crunched between her toes, and she wiped away the beadlets of sweat that gathered on her torso- which was bare to the world, except for her old, white bikini top- and, of course, the tawny fur that covered her body. Emelyn almost didn't see that there was a girl on the beach until she'd hit the tidal zone- and then, she gasped.
"Oh!" She said, squinting into the light, "I'm sorry- I didn't see you there." She didn't know, based on the way the girl was turned- if she'd met her yet, or not.
Lost in her attempts to piece together the puzzle of everything up to that moment, Fiona didn't notice there was anyone else around until she was adressed. She turned and, squinting at the sun and the grunge of her contact lenses, smiled brightly. Long brown hair, had to be Annie! "Hey, where the hell have you bee..." the girl's happy, playful tone dissolved into silence when she saw her mistake. "Oops, sorry. Thought you were someone else. Hey, maybe you can tell me where the hell I am!" She sheilded her eyes with a thin, pale arm to get a better look at the stranger, and did an almost comical double-take. "Oh. My. God!" She took a step towards Emelyn, her expression clouding over with rage. "What did those sick, twisted scientists do to that poor animal??"
The girl's shock and rage were not lost on Emelyn- however, they did seem to slip past her, like butter in a hot skillet, melting away as a precursor to the more interesting fare to come.
"Animal?" Emelyn repeated, chewing the word in her mouth. She shrugged her shoulders lightly- as well as peaked her eyebrows. "I don't think anyone has ever thought that before. ...Makes sense, though," she said, her voice rather soft and non-effasive as she leaned down and put the basket on the ground. "It makes perfect sense." She looked at the slight redhead up and down for a moment- what a strange house for such a clever, unique mind- she thought briefly, before standing back up again.
"I'm not an animal," she said softly. "Well.. at least, I didn't start off that way. My name's Emelyn. And this," she held her arms out, palms-up- both a gesture of peace and an exhibition of her differences, "is the work of not-very-welcome hedgehog DNA."
Ack, it was talking! Wait... it had just done that before, hadn't it? Okay... maybe not an animal. Her face sort of froze, one eyebrow twitching as she listened. After the hedgehog-woman had finished explaining, yet another emotion played across her rather animated visage. "Holy s**t, Feral Labs goes a hell of a long ways for their scare tactics. No wonder they get away with so much. That's real funny, hedgehog DNA, sure. But you can't scare me off. The second I get home the police are going to find out about your security guards' not-so-nice method of apprehension, and it's going up all over the internet like you wouldn't believe."
A triumphant smirk. "Did they honestly think it would be that easy to get rid of me? Seriously, don't normal people just call the cops and get a restraining order or something? This can't be legal. PETA is going to have a field day with this." She crossed her arms, becoming serious. "Feral picked the wrong girl to try and intimidate. What a stupid thing to do, but then again, I wouldn't expect people who inject random crap into harmless rabbits and mice and kittens," she spat dramatically, "to have that much common sense."
Emelyn sighed, and found that, in the face of this onslaught of denial and sanctimonious rage- plus, the fact that she was staring into the sun- her eyes had begun to water. She put one hand up, bridging her nose- her thumb in the tearduct of one eye, and her forefinger in the other- and rubbed out the moisture. The other hand went up into a 'one second' gesture.
"Not that this isn't all very fascinating," she said, "but I can't stare into the sun this long. Besides, I just came to get things off my drying rack," she said, turning towards the makeshift rack she'd made with sharp sticks fitted into one antoher in a triple roasting spit pattern.
"...Not that any of it survived," she said sarcastically, mostly to herself. "The birds must have all picked it away." She left her basket where it was on the sand as she turned back to the girl. "Anyway..." she said, "I'm not with Feral Labs, and I'm really not a scare tactic. These," she flicked the proto quills where they lay, eclipsing the goggles on her forehead, "are quite real... as is all this mind-numbingly hot fur."
Emelyn cupped her eyes against the sun. "It's miserable out here today. ...Anyway- do you have a name, or are shall I call you PETA girl?" Emelyn had no desire to be cruel with the girl- and she considered leading her on, or pandering to her intelligence to be just that. The last time she'd tried a straight-forward approach... it had worked- and more than that, the person had come away with less of the confusion and terror that playing up to Moreau's games had yielded.
Again, Fiona's confident, straightforward train of thought stumbled. Why was this woman so unfazed? Not even disappointed that she was able to see right through the plot? And... complaining about the sun? "You most definately will not call me PETA girl, not that you need to know since I'm not going to be here much longer. My name is Fiona Brooks, and you'd better remember it! This won't be the last time Feral Labs hears my name." Obviously, she wasn't about to believe that a woman could grow fur and quills. That would just be... well, it would be impossible, that's what! She walked closer, following her attention to the drying rack out of curiosity. "Where am I, anyways? And where's my friend, Annie? She was with me when your goons clocked me upside the head. I swear, if anyone hurt her-" Fiona let the threat hang in the air, hoping to get a straight answer. Obviously there was nothing to fear from this lady- but maybe she know where Angharad had been taken.
"Fiona? ...It's a pretty name. It suits you." And it did. Something about her purple eyes, flashing with righteous indignation- and that orangey-red hair that seemed to flare out in all directions... Fiona was just soft enough, and just no-nonsense enough to fit the girl like a perfectly tailored suit.
Emelyn walked wide around Fiona as she spoke- moving away from the direct glare of the sun, but not coming close enough to alarm the new islander. "Well, I honestly have no idea who your friend Annie is- or whether or not she's even here. ...Which, by the way, here doesn't have a name exactly. I asked the first day I arrived as well- about a half a year ago. And the labtechs only said it was the 'Island of Doctor Moreau'. ...Who is, not-so-coincidentally, the head of Feral Labs."
By this time, Emelyn had reached a spot where the sun was at her back, and she sighed in relief at the small favor before continuing. "And it's unlikely, if... Annie, you said her name was? Was brought here- that she'd be hurt. Likely, she'd just be injected with a serum and put somewhere on the island. Probably in a duplex. ...Anything else you want to know? I'm really not here to hurt you. Or taunt you." She put up her hands in a 'surrender' gesture, her final words soft and apologetic. "I'm a captive. Just like you."
Fiona fell silent, watching her carefully and wondering if maybe, just maybe she was telling the truth. 'That's stupid,' she thought, scolding herself. 'People don't turn into animals. Although I guess if anyone was going to mess with human experimentation... it'd be these guys.' Absently her eyes turned to the distant building nestled against the mountain. "Moreau, huh?" She said out loud, skimming her memory for any knowledge about the man. Little came up, but her research efforts prior to being kidnapped did reveal that the founder was some creep with the name Moreau. So she wasn't lying about that.
"If they've injected her with something, I'll just get her to a real doctor and have them fix it. They can't keep us here that long." She said confidently, turning to Emelyn with a tilted brow. "How long have you been here?" Aha, this would prove she was just some laboratory lackey to give her a fright. She would stumble and trying to make something up, obviously. Then Fiona could be sure of what was really going on.
Emelyn sat, cross-legged in the sand, hunkering down to prepare for what might be a long conversation filled with a mixture of denial and heartbreaking revelations... or to watch as Fiona ran into the jungle, intent to find Annie... and/or Moreau. ...Either way, her legs were tired, and she didn't want to risk the slight health she'd so painstakingly regained.
"I have been here... since late August. So I guess that's... what, eight months?" Em said, calculating in her head while she squinted one eye in thought. "Mm. Eight months. ...And it sounds like a grand plan, to get your friend and escape- but unfortunately, none of the existing islanders has ever found a way to escape. Moreau has probably covered up your kidnapping- and this island is... quite far out. I'm assuming it's somewhere, many miles off the coast of Florida." She paused suddenly to pat the sand. "Come on, sit down- no need to exhaust yourself."
The spunky girl eyed the indicated spot with a sudden coldness, a new issue forming in her mind. "What, and if this is all real and you're actually stuck, everyone turning into hedgehogs? You'd just give up? Lie down and take it? Pretend like you're happy so you stay 'safe'?" Her tone became stern and practiced, as though speaking not to one person but to a large crowd. "There's nothing, nothing you can't change with effort and devotion. You know there are thousands of people out there who would pay an extra wad of cash each month to get Animal Planet on their cable, but 'can't afford' to spend a couple bucks every four weeks to support an animal santuary or a starving child. Damned is the man who does nothing, simply because he can only do a little!" Her hands curled into fists and she raised her voice to a passionate note without ever getting a decible louder. "There is never, ever, ever a situation where there's nothing you can do. And I'm going to be damned if I let some corperate big-shot keep me trapped on some freakin' island in the middle of the ocean."
Despite the irritated prickle Emelyn felt at being accused of being a 'lay down supporter'- she admired Fiona's spunk and determination- and told her so.
"That's the perfect attitude to have. For what it's worth- I'm sorry you're here... but I'm glad that the island will have a little more... kick, now. I truly believe that there IS a way off this island... and attitudes like yours will lead us to it." She brushed some sand off her knee, and leaned forward for what more she had to say. "But as for my giving up... I've done everything short of attack the staff, or try to swim out of here like a fish, to defy this madness." She pointed to the basket where it lay, fallow in the sand- and then to the drying rack over nearer the mountain. "See those? I don't live in the village with the others. I don't live in a clean little duplex and do whatever Moreau tells me to. I live out on the mountain. I get attacked by wild animals- I almost get killed. But I refuse to let myself sit dormant while he manipulates my life." What she said was resolute- with a matter-of-fact twinge to it- but no malice.
Finally, Em leaned back into her sit, tossing over her shoulder a stray mass of spines that had fallen forward. "And actually... I'm the only one that's transforming into a hedgehog. Everyone on the island has a different serum."
The redhead sat down and gave her a little nod which, in combination with her determinedly furrowed eyebrows, clearly said: 'Way to be.' But then her eyes softened, and she blew some air through her teeth. "So this is real. This is actually happening. There's some ******** island where they actually test things on humans." She laughed: a short, curt noise. "It's funny, I always told people they wouldn't like it if they were the ones being experimented on... I never thought someone would prove me right." A corner of her lip curled dangerously.
"This is sick. This is why I hate the commercialist, money-oriented world we live in. I bet you anything that if there wasn't fame and money to be made for inventing cures and crap that this sort of thing just wouldn't happen. God..." she turned her gaze to Emelyn and looked at her scrutinously, verifying her animallistic traits for the first time. "They really are screwing with people's DNA and making them into animals. Well they'll have to knock me out something nasty before they do that kind of s**t to me." Fiona suddenly reached up and touched a spot on her head. "Although I think they've already established that they're damn good at that."
She listened with the quiet sympathy of a soul who has heard many a tale of disbelief and personal ruin... the consumption of which never gets easier with time. Emelyn had been the catalyst for several islander's realizations of their new lives- and she didn't know- nor had she ever devoted herself to thought on the grisly subject- whether she regretted being the bearer of bad news.... or relished it. It was, she surmised, a cursed blessing- to be the one to listen to this outpouring of thought and confusion, and to offer someone solid answers and comfort- but also... to witness the downfall of so many promising lives- it was difficult.
Emelyn watched as Fiona's eyes softened, and as her thoughts drifted out of internal monologue and into a streaming dialogue of consciousness and anger. She said nothing, allowing every word its fair time upon the air... until Fiona touched the spot on her head, musing about her incapacitation. Then Em leaned forward, spotting a slightly swollen, red raised mark on the girl's shoulder. She was tentative and slow- as if to let Fiona realize that she wasn't out to hurt her- and lightly brushed the tell-tale spot, drawing the girl's attention to it.
"An injection," she said softly, realizing these were Fiona's last few seconds of living in a world where she knew her humanity was in tact.
An injection. A chill ran up her spine, and she pulled away from Emelyn in order to get a good look at the site herself. "Well, that's in then," she said firmly, although disbelief added a little waver which Fiona wasn't sure she liked. "I guess I didn't stand a chance." Her jaw muscles squeezed tightly, and she looked the other woman right in the eyes. "And they can put me in a cage, tag my ear, and call me by a number for all I care. But I'll be scraping at the cage door," a small grin sparked, "chewing at the tag, and making their lives hell. Because I don't give up. I'm getting out of here, and it might not be today, and it might not be tomorrow, but it'll happen."
"I hope they stuck me with something special, because I'll make sure they never forget me. I'm going to be the first person to break out. I'll find a way. Start a revolt. How many other people are there here? I saw a lot of the little hotel-room house things on my way here. There've got to be some people that'll back me up. Nobody in their right mind wants to be mutated in the name of science. It'll be a cinch to find supporters. And Annie will help me." Strength truly returned to her voice and her body language when she uttered the name. "She always helps me."
Emelyn nodded, but kept her voice to a soothing lull. There were still things that needed to be said to Fiona- and she wanted the girl to hear them... with an open mind.
"There are just a few things I think you should know, though," Em said softly. "First is... the lab techs and the doctors- particularly those in power- Moreau, Lockheart, and Duvert- know us ... and have chips implanted in us- or some sort of device that makes them able to say "Sleep Subject"... fill in your name- and you automatically drop to the floor. So an attack on them... will fail. And they have cameras all over the island. Surveillance everywhere. So anything you plot- I suggest you be very careful." Emelyn paused for the final matter- almost wanting to not bring up something so... painful.
"And... I know it would be a comfort to you ... to have Annie here. But perhaps you should ready yourself for the possibility that she's not. ...That maybe she got away at the start of all this, and doesn't have to endure this. Maybe- you should pray that you're alone."
Fiona's heart gave a sudden lurch. Cameras and chip implants she could work around. But... not having Angharad with her? It was... it was unthinkable. "Maybe... you're right..." she said unsurely, "Maybe I should hope she got away safely." But inside of her a seperate voice screamed in protest. She was nothing without good old reliable Annie. Her partner in crime, her ever-present voice of wisdom and reason.
"Am I never going to see her again?" The strong, powerful girl that had once sat in front of Emelyn suddenly wilted, like a lightbulb giving a flicker or two. She was... worried. "Maybe I should go back and check. I... I should go look for her. You said they'd put her in one of the rooms, right? She wouldn't be that far from where they put me." 'Where did they put me again? Urg, I should have looked at the number on it. They're all identical! I'll never find my way back!' "I should check. Just in case." Did she really need her friend that much?
"Perhaps you should check," Emelyn said, nodding and taking in a deep breath of sea air. "She may still be in one of the duplexes. It would be right near the one that you're in- they put new islanders quite near each other." She offered.
"Thanks. I'm gonna go. I guess I'll see you around, then? Um..." she paused, struggling a little with the words. "Sorry for, yanno... accusing you of being one of them. It kind of messes with your head when you're conked out in Alberta and you wake up on a tropical island. Anyways, seeya." She stood and brushed the sand from her skirt, turned to leave, and then smirked. "Oh yeah- power to the people. The animal people." Fiona winked impishly and then started off towards the village at a light jog. Life had changed... yeah, life had changed a lot.
Emelyn couldn't help but laugh as the thin figure jogged off towards the village.
"Power to the animal people. ...Indeed." She said to herself, smiling as she stood and stretched- ready to get her basket... and get back out of the sun. ...It was never good news when a new islander arrived- for it meant that Moreau's reign of terror had eclipsed yet another soul. ...But at least, Emelyn thought- there could be such a bright, vivid soul to keep them all on their toes.
"Be well, Spunky," Em said to herself... then went about what life she had.
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