Welcome to Gaia! ::

Zach snapped his fingers. "A book! I haven't read one since I got here..."

He had gotten the vibe over the course of the conversation that Cassidy desired some quiet time - alone. He didn't want to bother her, and he did want to pick up something to read. It would take his mind off of everything, namely changing islanders. He did need something to eat, too... he didn't even remember having breakfast that day, and lunch he knew he'd missed.

He got to his feet carefully. "Cassidy, I've got to run. I hope you don't mind if I take off on such short notice..." He shifted on his feet nervously as he spoke. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

He found his way back to the path that led in the direction of the village. He glanced over his shoulder once, but soon Cassidy was lost behind the jungle leaves.

The beach was not unoccupied as Vasile would probably soon notice because Jamal was down closer to shore, jogging across the loose sand in an attempt to regain some of the body mass that still hadn't come back after the stint in the wilderness. It wasn't like he was scrawny and unfit by any stretch of the imagination; Jamal's standards for his athletic ability and his body structure were pretty high and he liked to keep himself maintained.

He'd been there awhile though, to judge how he soon fell into a walking pace, looking winded and tired as he pulled his arms over his head to help catch his breath. The black man soon sauntered over to a discarded dufflebag further up on shore and stripped off his damp wifebeater, musing the merits of a good swim before going to dinner.

He was unaware of Vasile's presence for the moment.

Jamal jerked his head around at the sound of the squeaked partial greeting, eyes narrowing out of reflex, and tossed the tank next to the bag on the sand. So help him, if it was that Billy guy....

He half expected to see the character that Antony had described to him there, but instead found himself facing a rather well-changed islander. Hm...it could still be that Billy guy though, maybe...though the changes seemed to be too far to be from just a single transformation. From the sound of it, Billy was supposed to be new.

"Hey," he grunted in response as he mulled all this over, a brow lifting apprasingly as he inspected the person on the rock. He was vaguely impressed that the guy said anything to him; lately Jamal tended to scare people AWAY instead of having them come up for introductions. "Uh...do I know you?"

Jamal's brow lifted further as he watched the man twirl his hair about his finger, finding the action to be rather...unmasculine. This -was- a guy, right? And what the ******** was he turning into anyway?

"Vasile...." he drawled thoughtfully, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes as he looked at the man's face for a sign of something he'd recognize. "Da name's a lil' familiar. I guess we prolly met at some point..." He paused to think that over a moment, licking the tip of a fang out of habit, then snorted, crossing his arms as it dawned on where he'd heard it before.

"You was there wit' Ambrose one day when he 'n' I was fightin', I think," he said as the realization hit, pleased that his memory wasn't so horribly warped by his constant pot use that he couldn't remember simple meetings. "You was blonde haired 'n' s**t, yeah?" Jamal gave him a fangy, smug grin and took the offered hand into a shake. "You ain't da only person ta have a bit a trouble gettin' recognized...sorta a common thing 'round herr, I figger. Da name's Jamal...Jamal Reedy if ya wanna be specific."

"Well s**t, they got all sort of peeps herr then. A ********' moviestar even." He grinned and shook his head lightly; luckily he was in a fairly good mood, otherwise he'd probably have made some snarky comment about Vasile being a star he'd never heard of. Then again, Jamal never watched many movies before his getting to the island. He was all about music.

The comment of jogging made him nod, looking pleased. "I jog 'n' lift weights wheneva' I kin," he responded, flexing his arms just a bit to show off the musculature. "Good stress relief fo' one plus I like ta be in da best shape I kin be in, jus' in case I gotta take someone down or da staff decides they wanna experiment some mo' 'n' throw us back inta da jungle...I play basketball too but it ain't much fun when no one else 'round this ********' place knows how." He looked fairly disgruntled at that and crossed his arms over his bare chest again.

Jamal's whiskers bristled at the question but he shrugged loosely, giving Vashin a slightly sharpened stare that came off very chilled and accusatory even if he didn't mean it.

"I did 'n' it's a ********' shame I didn't finish da job," he said flatly, wondering where Vasile had gotten the information. He didn't recall seeing this man from when Jamal was in the cage. "Always next time."

Jamal snorted, irritated at how Vasile backed away like the black man was liable to jump forward and rip off the fox's head or something.

"I ain't started a mass island riot 'cause half dis ********' island LIKES her 'n' da rest o' da staff....'n' I don't really like livin' in a cage too much," he retorted curtly as he tapped his claws over the crook of his elbow. "Though it ain't outta my usual duties back home, bein' a gang leader 'n' all. Why ya askin? You up fo' ********' up the doc's plans?" He stooped to dig in his bag to pull out a half-smashed box of cigarettes, popping one between his lips.

"As fo' takin' out Aubrey...they could kill me afta'wards 'n' I wouldn't care none," he muttered around the cig, looking very serious even as he lit his smoke.