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She looked from one to the other and then blanched, her stomach twisted in knots as her heart tried very hard to burst out of her chest it seemed like. All at once she remembered Sabin's little spiel and instantly wondered if these people were inflicted with that 'Dingo Fever' or whatever he had called it. Could a disease make you look like....that?? She didn't know and she sure as hell didn't want to find out. But, she had recieved a vacination, had been given a shot just a few hours ago! So....she was okay... right?

Bracing herself, Maryke slowly sat down on an empty barstool, in between where Nita was sitting and Awen was standing. "I'm not scared," she said turning towards the blue girl and attempting to look confident, easily making it look so. "I just want to know what the hells going on..."

"A doctor Moreau runs this island. He has tricked or taken people from all over the world and brought them here to the island for his experiments." Awen continues were Nita left off. "There studying some sort of gene therapy, to my understanding. They are researching the effects and properties of their serums. People have been taken here for a number of reasons, I for example had hydrophobia, so they wanted to see what transforming me into a manta ray would do. Other people have some diseases or conditions or defects that they are trying to erradicate from our systems." She was piecing together all that she learned from her time on the island as well as everything Sabin had mentioned.

If someone didn't know better it would sound like Awen had the entire inside scoop like a lab tech. She was very glad Fee wasn't here at the moment to hear all of this.

"We're tricked and brought here and we can never again leave. I'm sorry, really sorry you had to hear it like this. But... the sooner you know the truth, the sooner you can get over it. Lying for the doctors and beating around the bush never helped before..."

Nita sat quietly through Awen's explanation, occasionally nodding to emphasize a fact she already knew. "I was supposed to be studying abroad," Nita added. "And while I suppose this is technically 'abroad,' it wasn't precisely what I'd been expecting."

It didn't occur to Nita to wonder why Awen had such an eloquent explanation, rather, she was mostly just relieved to have someone else doing the talking. She almost smiled at Maryke's reaction, watching curiously to see what would happen with the phone. She had figured that cell phones didn't work on the island-- surely others had brought them along-- and clearly she was correct in her assumption. "I don't think your lawyer can help you now," Nita said softly, shaking her head.

Nita watched the new woman fold herself over the counter as Awen indicated she needed to go. Shaking her head softly, Nita was inexplicably sorry for Maryke, obnoxious behavior aside. Learning the true nature of the island was difficult for anyone.

Moving hesitantly, Nita placed a furred hand on Maryke's shoulder. "You'll survive," she said softly. "It's what we all do."

Nita could practically hear the gears turning and twisting in Maryke's head. This woman was obviously someone who always got what she wanted, one way or another. She wondered how long it would take her to realize that what she wanted hardly mattered here.

The red panda girl withdrew her hand and met Maryke's gaze. In spite of the fur and animalistic features, Nita still felt like herself. Whether or not 'herself' was completely human was another question all together.

"Yes, well," Nita said, shrugging slightly. Being felt up like that had been distinctly weird, and she didn't want to say, 'Oh it's alright,' because it wasn't, really. But she would accept the apology. "I'm Nita."

At least she was willing to make amends. Nita brushed her long hair out of her eyes, suddenly noticing how much Maryke resembled pictures of her own mother as a young woman. Their attitudes were radically different, but the features had a similar Latin cast.

Nita nodded solemnly. "This kind of thing is enough to make the kindest-hearted person a b***h," she said, only to crack a smile a moment later. "And uh.. yeah. No need for money here. But thanks." She looked across the bar at the cooler where she had been resting her feet. Her half-finished drink sat nearly forgotten, ice melted and probably flat.

"Rum and diet Coke is what I had before," she offered. "At least they keep this place well-stocked. And the cafeteria isn't bad, for what it is."

Nita snickered appreciatively. "I always had people say they could hardly imagine me getting angry-- and the prospect scared them." She sipped her new drink slowly, knowing that her altered metabolism worked slowly as well. Alcohol took a while to get to her, but if she crossed her limit even a little, it would hit her hard.

She held her glass up in a mocking toast. "To bitches, then," Nita quipped. Maryke's question surprised her; as far as she could remember, the only islander who knew 'Nita' was a nickname was Rex. "It's Juanita, actually," she said.