Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sound of unfamiliar birdsong drifted through the window, eliciting a groggy, incomprehensible growl from the cocoon of sheets on the bed. An arm snaked out and grabbed the alarm clock on the nightstand. "Whuh time izzit?" Apparently the answer the clock gave wasn't pleasing, for it was tossed unceremoniously aside with another half-coherent curse. Chert didn't travel well. It boggled his mind that something as simple as sitting in place for a few hours could wreak such havoc with one's internal cycles. He was muzzy, sore, and definitely not ready to face consciousness, but even burying his head into its customary place under the pillow couldn't help him to fall back to sleep. The rest of the island was waking up, and he seemed destined to join it.

"I surrender," Chert said, flopping clumsily out of the sheets. He sat on the edge of the bed for a moment and blinked owlishly at the unfamiliar room, slowly letting the details of last night come back to him. After he and Valentine had hopped into the jeep, Chert had asked to be taken directly to his room. His mood had been rapidly deteriorating ever since he'd stepped foot on the helicopter, and by the end of last night it was either get the hell out of the jeep or hope he would be mercifully smothered under the weight of Val's luggage. Or hope that Val got smothered under Val's luggage. Yeah, that probably would have been more entertaining.

Chert yawned hugely as he shuffled towards the bathroom. A warm, soothing shower sounded absolutely wonderful right about then. He tossed his clothing carelessly onto the floor and hopped into the stall, letting out a contented sigh as the near-scalding water washed all of his travel grime away and began to loosen up his knotted muscles.

A few minutes later, and Chert even felt well enough to sing. Of course, it would probably be classified as "singing" by only the most forgiving and broad-minded people. but what Chert lacked in talent, he made up for in volume.

"I'm a Barbie girl in a Barbie world
life in plastic, it's fantastic
You can brush her hair, undress her everywhere
Imagination, life is your creation

Come on Barbie, lets go party!
Oh, oh, oh!

A small songbird that had been perched on the window sill turned its back on the room and made for the safety of the forest.

Some time later, Chert stepped out of the duplex and made his way into the outside world. His pace was relaxed; there wasn't anywhere he had to be. Which was fortunate, because he hadn't the slightest idea where he was going.

Awen stumbled out of her duplex. She had changed out of the soaking wet jean shorts and put on some pants, but unfortunately she couldn't get the shirt off without much work because of the IV attatched to her one arm, let alone putting the other shirt on.

She turned around and frowned. She had to struggle with the stupid wheelie IV thing to get it out of her duplex. "Aha!" She grined as she finally got it free. She reached around and closed the door of her duplex, taking a deep breath of fresh air.

She glanced to the side seeing the man strolling along the line of duplexes moving towards the main complex. He was too far away to really talk so she followed him a little ways. Wheeling her IV as she went along.

She didn't see, hear, or smell Colche nearby as none of her senses were inhanced above water. But she did finally get close enough to the guy. "Oh... hello there."

Antony, now fed and showered, had just ambled out of her duplex, hair dry and tucked unceremoniously behind her ears. She was surprised to hear voices coming from down below, and her eyes followed the noises curiously. One was easily recognized as Awen, with her blue hair, and the other, near naked and with an unmistakable cheetah tail, had to be Colche.

But who was the obviously male islander with them?

Interest piqued, as it usually was when a male was involved, Antony moved quickly down the stairs to catch up with them. She returned to a normal pace once she hit flat ground, walking towards the three.

She arrived just in time to hear him utter a familiar word for her, but took this as a sign that he was new to the island. Obviously Awen was the first changed person that he met.

"You must be new," she stated bluntly to the man, giving him an appreciative look before turning her attention to the two females, immediately noticing the IV hooked up to Awen. "********, what happened to you?"

Blinking at Awen, Antony turned to force a smile at Colche while waiting for some kind of explanation, "Morning Colche, sorry I left you sleeping... You looked tired."

Awen first blinked at the man's reaction. Crap, he was a new islander. He must not have seen anyone else yet. Awen usually quick to tell new comers the truth was in no mood now that she had just failed to help people get away, to stop the new comers from moving in. She should have stayed in her room, she knew she should have.

She opened her mouth to say something but suddenly Antony spoke from behind her. She turned and smiled slightly to the woman. Wait Colche? Awen turned just in time to see the cheetah pad around the corner to greet them. "Oh heya Colche! Good to see you."

As the clawed finger poked the bag Awen held her breath. She wouldn't want that thing to burst. Aubrey said she needed it for a few days... "It's um... well I'm not sure exactly. Aubrey gave it to me...to help me feel better."

Glancing back to Antony she gave a half smile. "Er... I went for a swim. Appearently salt water does me no good." Awen was not about to explain her escape attempt. It had failed, no sense the whole island knowing about it.

But soon her attention went back to the man. She frowned and stepped back a little bit. "Um...stay calm it's alright."

"Not bad," she said to Colche after looking back over to the male. He looked rather not skeezy compared to Billy. For one thing, he seemed to shower on a daily basis, which was a plus.

She glanced towards Awen and nodded, "So you're fresh water?" Well that kind of made sense. Why would Moreau give the islanders the ability to leave the island?

And then Chert started walking backwards.

Antony to the... uh rescue?

"Welcome to the Freak Show," Antony announced to the new male with an amused grin. She had tried being blunt and explaining it to both Zach and Billy and hadn't gotten anywhere, so it was time to have some fun with it. "Have you had your injection yet?"

There was something strange about the way she said the second statement. She obviously wasn't joking, but was definately attempting to put a sarcastic spin to the entire thing.

Awen sighed a little bit. Freak show was right, but she wasn't exactly sure if this was how they should handle the guy. She had gotten used to seeing newcomers that had seen other changed islanders before getting to Awen she hadn't been exactly careful with Chert.

"Now please dno't back away. We don't bite or anything. Except maybe Antony, but even then I'm sure it's not in a bad way." She gave a sideways glance at Antony with a slight grin, she was only joking with the girl. Looking back to the man she smiled trying to seem welcoming. Hearing Colche introduce herself the manta decided to follow suit. "My name is Awen Zyn, this is Antony and like the girl said her name is Colche. I know this is very confusing for you, but how about you come with us to breakfast and we can explain calmly. Um..the cafe has great pancakes..."

She glanced to Colche and gave the girl a soft smile. "Awen's okay Colche. Breakfast sounds good too."

She simply smirked lightly at Awen's comment, expression not denying it. Seconds later she raised an eyebrow at how Awen was explaining it to him. Some crock of s**t. He wasn't going to listen to that.

And then he spoke, confirming her thoughts.

"Ohh, fiesty," she grinned briefly before rolling her eyes and turning serious, holding up her arms in a sort of surrender soon after. "I'm not going to give you some 'things will be a-okay' bullshit, because that's not me. So before you go off and through a s**t fit, let me level with you about this island."

Absently, she reached out and grabbed hold of the back of Colche's shirt, nudging the cheetah girl behind herself. She also stepped to the side so that she was somewhat between Awen and this new guy. Antony wasn't about to let Awen or Colche get beaten for her comments.

Once she felt everything was okay, Antony continued, "Moreau's turning everyone into animals via injections, hence me calling it a 'freak show.' No one leaves the island. We're all trapped in one big, twisted experiment."

Antony sighed, all humor and amusement gone from her voice and eyes. Like she said, she was leveling with him, and was making sure to be entirely serious and honest with him.