Welcome to Gaia! ::

Bobby leaned back with a smirk. Oh, how she knew that look so well. She imagined it was the same look she herself wore. The pig in her held back her own anger, too lazy to bring it forth until necessary.

When he called her 'pig', the woman couldn't help but think is the movie Babe... instead, she suppressed her laughter of the thought: Babe was a cute little piggy!

"Who said I was pretending? Do you honestly think your story is the first I've seen or even heard? Please, you insult me."

Bobby shrugged, well, women were always right. It was a biologically known fact... and besides, the pig serum just enhanced that part of her, it didn't take it away.

Picking at her bottom teeth with a long, flat black nail, the woman only gave Billy half of her attention when she snorted quietly before she countered, "Typical Irish ignorance!"

Bobby watched Billy stride away. She wasn't really concerned. Even ina body made of fat, the woman still knew at least how to take care of herself... Besides, she'll see him again; and who knows what will happen next time!

The woman, having gotten her fill of the sun, walked back to her duplex and grabbed random food from her sack to eat on the way.

END RP

She stood to her full height, knees cracking and joints popping as she did. Emelyn placed both her newly gotten root and her digging stick into her basket- the sharpened branch sticking up like a tongue from the lopsided weave of her food-carrier. It was nearly full, which brought a sort of satisfaction and joy to Emelyn- those days when she'd depleted her stores, starving herself for fear and exhaustion were ones she longed to forget- and wished for their memory to heal over and scar like those marks on her back. It was spring- though, surely, the island boasted no more than two seasons and spring had long since graced its shores- for in Emelyn's mind, she was determined to start anew.

She saw Colche right away as she broached the divide between the darkness of the jungle and the bright, warm sands of the beach. It had been so long since she'd seen the girl- but even through her changes, that ebullience and joie de vivre was unmistakable- as were the girls marks... so easily identified by her lack of clothes.

Setting her basket down on the sand, Emelyn called to her from several feet off- not wanting to startle her... and, truthfully, giving herself the distance she might need to scramble up the mountain's face... should Colche prove herself to be as vicious as Jamal. Her knife was tucked into the pocket of her cutoff shorts- but she prayed for no need to use it.

"Mrs. Tiggywinkle?" Em said softly, chewing the phrase slowly as if it were an alien cuisine... then, at the insistance of her childhood memories- she laughed, and recalled the rotund washer-woman hedgehog of the tales of Beatrix Potter. She laughed.

"That's right, we're both hedgehog girls." She came forward and wrapped her arms lovingly around the cheetah princess' neck. "So you've been reading? Or someone has been telling you stories? That's so wonderful, Colche."

Somehow... she doubted that Colche posed any danger to her. Call it a hunch.

"A princess cheetah, hm? Let's see..." Emelyn stood back, as if to examine her, searching for evidence of royalty. She brushed a bit of hair away from the sweet, yet animalistic face and smiled, nodding and coming to her 'conclusion'. "Yep. I think that suits a little princess well enough. ...In fact, if you've been reading and watching stories... have you read a book called "A Little Princess" yet? It's about a little girl who has some trouble because she has no parents, and is treated badly... but then she finds happiness in stories and has a happy ending. I think you'd love it." She wished she had her own, childhood copy to provide to Colche- but relying on the island's library would have to suffice.

It struck Em as peculiar- to say the least- that someone so much further along in a change to a dangerous animal might retain so much more of her humanity, her innocence- indeed, becoming even more so human with the insinuation of knowledge and a comfortable environment. Especially after what had happened with Jamal. True- tigers were of a different brand of viciousness than cheetahs- especially princess cheetahs, Emelyn thought with a wry aside. ...But in the end, Emelyn decided that there must be something more inherent, more... soulful about humanity than the possession of ones mind by a dangerous creature- or by the shape and form of ones body. For how else could you explain the princess cheetah who, with every new spot- found a new breadth of her humanity?

"Of course we can swim. But I don't have the story with me, or I'd read it to you. ...I can probably remember enough to tell you, though, if you'd like. Or if you found it in the village, I could read it to you if you brought it out here to me." As she spoke, she unzipped her shorts and slid them down over her hips. She was wearing her bikini bottoms- as well as the top, sans shirt- and so, after kicking the ripped jeanshorts aside, she was ready to wade into the water.

"I'm not living in the village anymore," she explained simply, "I live up in the mountain, now."