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"Would take a lotta help ta make any sorta revolt work," he said after taking a hefty drag from the cigarette and flicking the ashes down onto the sand. He didn't purposefully blow the smoke in Vasile's face but the breeze probably sent a fair bit of it his way. Oh well; the black man hardly looked concerned. In fact, he bristled slightly at the mention of Aubrey AND Ambrose in the same sentence and his lip curled as he repressed the urge to hiss.

"You find me peeps dat wanna try 'n' mess the doc's plans up 'n' I'll see what I kin do." The idea was appealing in that Jamal missed being the 'big guy' like he was back home but he was realistic also; the island population was small and he knew a fair amount of folks would rather live under the staff's 'thumb' than try and cause trouble. He didn't have the best reputation, as this meeting had proved.

"'n' if they wanna kill me afta' I get done wit' Aubrey or whoeva' I get ma hands on, then fine. s**t, I've been shot b'fo. I ain't afraid of dyin'. It'd be betta then livin' my life as a ******** up half-breed mutt."

Jamal gave Vasile a very cool, unimpressed stare as the fox man sounded like he was going to choke. For godsake, it was just a little cigarette smoke. Well, for the sake of possible mutany plotting, he'd put it out. He only needed a small hit anyway. God forbid if Jamal had pulled out a joint.

He rolled his eyes and took another drag before flicking the half-spent smoke towards the ocean, promptly ignoring it as though it had never existed in the first place.

"Ya do dat," he said with a nod, though there was clearly skepticism in his expression. "I'll be int'rested in seein' who's got some balls 'round herr. I ain't 'bout takin' this s**t lyin' down, dat's fo' ********' sure. They wanted ta make monsta's...well, they got one." He pointed at himself as he said this, an eerie leer spreading over his face.

"You'd think so," he agreed, losing the brief spark of animosity and 'craziness' as he thought that part over. "Real docs got access to all sorts of s**t...they could figger it out. Maybe." Jamal frowned, whiskers quirking as he thought about it. Real, normal doctors hadn't even found a cure for 'average' health issues like cancer or AIDS yet, had they? Jamal knew -nothing- about genetics or any advancements in that field.

"If we stay herr, are they jus' gonna keep givin' us shots until we turn COMPLETELY inta an animal or what?...cause I ain't lookin' forward ta lickin' my a** clean fo' da rest of ma life if dat's da case. I jus' want this all ta stop. I'm ********' tired of bein' lied to."

"'s a'ight...I gotta get goin' maself anyway."

He stooped down to dig in his bag to produce a clean tank this time, shrugging it on, watching Vasile out of the corner of his eye. "I ain't hard ta find normally," he said. "Plus ain't many black folk on dis island ta confuse me wit'...but yeah. Let 'em know what's goin' on, I guess. Maybe somethin'll work out."

Jamal grinned slyly as he stood back up, heaving his bag strap to his shoulders. "G'luck findin' yo girl, whoeva' dat be. See ya 'round."

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.

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."

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.

"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. 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."