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"I see," Nita said with a nod. She wondered vaguely if there would be people looking for Thom, since he was apparently pretty well known. But then, almost 50 other people had disappeared without being recovered, so it was unlikely.

She blushed again at the compliment and the kiss, aware of Thom's expression. Most guys, she thought sardonically, would be quite happy to be in the presence of a couple of gay girls. Not that it would do them any good.

"I'll see you around, I guess," Nita called after him as he walked off. "You want to go back to my place?" she asked Lauren, brows raised suggestively.

--New RP--

It was a beautiful day outside today, so it was no surprise that Jamal was out and about. Jamal was not usually a fan of such hot weather, but with the beach so easily accessable to him from where he usually lounged in the jungle, he often took trips down to the ocean to cool off.

It was early afternoon when Jamal had emerged from said jungle and plodded down the sands, hardly batting an eye at the hot sand on the soles of his feet. All the jungle prowling had left his bare feet calloused and his transformations had also added the tiger's pawpad material down there too; at least one good thing had come of his transformation.

He waded into the water to about knee deep before turning to face the shore and plopping down unceremoniously in the shallows. The feeling of the water crashing against his back was soothing and the tiger thoroughly enjoyed the sensation of water through his fur.

Jamal growled to himself in delight, eyes lidding partially as he enjoyed the water and the sand that he absently funneled through his fingers below the surface. Today was going to be a great day...no drama, no staff, no murderous intentions...privacy....

Or maybe not so much of the latter.

When he did open his eyes again, he thought he noticed a green figure wobbling across the sand. His improved sight didn't give him too much of a clue who it was; his first guess was Amaya, but the shade of green was wrong and he thought for sure he could just faintly make out wisps of blonde hair.

As the figure got closer, Jamal was able to make out the elongated body now too and his jaw more or less fell unabashedly as a faint look of disbelief and morbid curiousity crossed his features.

What. The. HELL. Was that an islander? And if so, what in God's name had happened to them?

Jamal stared. And stared...and stared some more. He could make out the bright feathers trailing what he THOUGHT were her arms since one had been lifted in a wave at him, but couldn't make sense of it. She looked reptilian. Why would she have feathers?!

And where were her legs?

This was the first time he had ever met anyone who had lost the fundamental human shape to such an extreme. Tails? Not so bad. Tentacles? Weird, but the owner of them still looked human if you looked hard enough. An elongated torso and tail with what appeared to be two vestigal legs dangling down in front was definately something new.

"Er," Jamal said intelligently as the hair on the back of his neck prickled uncomfortably, his human side sufficiently weirded out already over this naga woman even though he did slowly lift a hand to wave back out of reflex. "Uh...what up?" Normally he'd be annoyed over having his bath interrupted, but he wasn't sure if he ought to be mad or check himself into the labs for a psych assessment.

A form like hers shouldn't even be possible, his common sense screamed. How did she even get around? His gaze locked onto her muscular tail that seemed to be more or less propelling her along the sand, leaving a furrow in the sand. Oh god. She seemed so much further gone, even in comparison to Pyroth.

Jamal was hardly one to care if he was making someone uncomfortable and even less so when he HIMSELF was feeling rather uneasy at the same time. He was still boggling over the fact she had no legs...how in the hell did that work, anyway? The black man had to strong resist the urge to ask her how one walked without legs. Then again, if she had said "Just going for a slither", he imagined he'd probably either die laughing or become more disturbed than he was currently.

"...I think if we met, I'd rememba," he ventured after a long, uncomfortable pause while he continued to stare at her lower half, trying to decide if there was something he had overlooked in the mechanics of this person's locomotion. It never crossed his mind that it might at all make her feel violated since it seemed there was nothing to see aside from the two pouches of flesh that had vague articulations like legs. "I'm Jamal."

Normally introductions were followed by a snide remark of his reptuation, but the tiger man decided to pass on that. Somehow he felt cheated in that he'd never heard of a snake woman on the island, or if he had, it wasn't mentioned in detail.

The emphasized 'You're' made him blink rapidly in succession, as though dragging himself back into the present and his pupils constricted as he lost the vapid stare and focused on the woman's expression. Oh, so she was one of -them- then, to judge by her faulted words and the tension in her face...if he could call that a face anyway...

"I ain't surprised ya heard of me. I seem ta be a popular topic 'round herr," he grunted, flicking some clinging moisture from his whiskers. "Let me guess...I'mma ravin' lunatic who likes ta chomp on jus' 'bout anythin' da crosses ma path, hm? I'd be surprised if ya heard differently. If ya did, then I'd like ta know who said it so I kin set da record straight." He was joking. Sort of. The fangy half-smile he gave her probably didn't help get his sarcasm across.

He certainly didn't counter his self evaluating comment with anything that would prove otherwise. For all appearance, the man looked alert, well aware of his surroundings, and in completely control of his weaponry. The latter being shown as he fell to picking a bit of steak from between his incisor.

Jamal at least appreciated her honesty in the first comment. He hated being lied to.

"Yes, peeps do exaggerate...though I suppose there be a lil' truth to a rumor, even if no one wants ta admit it, don't ya agree?" Another fangy smile accompanied this, though there was clear tension about his eyes and his eyes had adopted a hardness to them that was amplified by their ice hue. Other than that, however, he remained as unthreatening as he could be; he made no move to rise from his cross-legged position in the ocean.

Her second comment made him snort. Jamal wasn't even certain if she was edible, though the thought had fleetingly crossed his mind. Even the tiger was confused by Cass, whom it didn't even register as a human being...snakes should NOT be that big around. That long, maybe yes...but...Jamal had no idea what she was capable of with so much muscle in such a tail that she was attached to.

"This place is full of rumors. I guess there ain't much mo' ta do then talk s**t about each other. Or ta ruin lives."

Jamal eyed Cass appraisingly in another long pause, clearly trying to figure her out. She wasn't quite like anyone else he'd run into...and luckily for her, he was in a fairly decent mood. She was either very smart or clever at saving her own skin.

"Fair 'nough," he finally agreed as he shifted onto all fours and contented himself with floating, claws dug into the sandy bottom to keep him steady. Luckily the waves weren't bad today. "I prefer ta make ma own impressions anyway. I take it you been herr awhile. Ya know...uh. Cause you ain't got no legs 'n' all dat."