[ORP] The Beach

[Cassidy Smith]

She winced, almost imperceptibly. "Nine months or so. Long enough. But I guess I have a tendency to keep to myself."

Cassidy leaned back into the coils of her tail. Jamal was certainly an intimidating individual, but not nearly as bad as she'd feared. She'd had images some some feral half-man creature running through the jungle, eating whatever happened to cross his path. To be fair, no one had said anything of the sort to her, but after that one night a few weeks back... she wouldn't put anything past anybody, not even herself.

"What about you? You look pretty far along yourself."  

[Jamal_Reedy]

"Since Octoba'...so dat's what...seven months? Damn, I didn't think it'd been dat long..."

Jamal looked a little disturbed at this ephiphany, depressed even, but shook it off as quickly as he could. It was much better to not think about how long he'd been here because that in turn made him wonder about his parents and how they had handled his disappearance. For as much as an a*****e as he might seem, his attachment to his family was as real as anyone else's could be.

"I only changed twice," said the tiger man in a more conversational tone, lifting a hand from the water to emphasize the word two by holding said many fingers up. "I wenta real long while b'fo I even changed da first time. I thought they screwed up. Well, they did screw up, but not how I was hopin'." They'd screwed up in giving him a dangerous animal serum, not in giving him a faulty one. "You 'n' Pyroth look like yer pretty close in how much ya changed, I think. Though seems like Pyroth got a lot mo' trouble gettin' 'round then you do. Makes me wonda jus' how far them a*****e docs plan on havin' this go."  

[Cassidy Smith]

Cass bowed her head a little. "I've changed three times. I think Pyroth has, too, though I guess I haven't asked him right out. As far as I know, three times is as much as anyone's changed. But I admit that doesn't mean that's the end." She shrugged carelessly. "As much as I might wish it did."

How many more changes would it take to lose her legs entirely? For that last little bit of unscaled skin to grow over? "I know I could certainly use a few questions answered straight," she said, scowling a little, "but I doubt these doctors know as much as they want us to think they do."  

[Jamal_Reedy]

"So then no one really knows what da end is then?...besides da docs, but like ya said, I agree they prolly don't even know what da end is anymo'." Jamal growled deep in his chest at the mention of the staff; that was a topic that was always sure to set him off.

"All them staff peeps do anyway is lie...wouldn't surprise me if they been actin' like they know what's really up when they ain't got the foggiest ********' clue. I ain't trusted a word they got ta say afta' it came out dat da lockout was an exper'ment." Jamal grunted as he finally hauled himself upright, the salt water starting to prune him up as well as making his sensitive nose and tongue twinge irritatingly. He wasn't nude, which was probably a good thing for Cass since he normally had no shame in the matter of being naked, so hopefully she'd be spared any impromptu embarrassment. The jean shorts he was wearing looked sort of weird on his frame though. They looked like they'd been full jeans at one point that had been cut above the knee and either side looked to have had panels of denim roughly and sloppily sewn...possibly to expand the overall size of the shorts. In actuality, it was highly likely they had been a pair of jeans Jamal had snagged from the box in the cafeteria.

"I ain't even sure if da whole thing wit' Aubrey bein' attacked was real," he continued as he plodded onto the shore and tried to swipe some of the excess water off using his hands. "I got half a mind ta think dat was staged 'cause I don't know no one dat hates dat b***h mo' than me 'n' I know I didn't get my hands back on her since da last time I met up wit' her."  

[Cassidy Smith]

Cassidy shrugged. "Well. I haven't seen the evidence myself, but... I don't think it was staged, because I know who did it. Or who they're saying did it, anyway." Her gaze was drifting over Jamal's shorts; something about them was rather familiar, but she was having trouble placing what it was. "And they showed him the photos. He seemed pretty convinced. But hell, it was their fault anyway. You don't want people to go all violent-carnivore on you, don't shoot them full of foreign DNA and hope for the best." Her tongue flickered, vaguely indignant.

"And... I'm sorry. But I have to know. Where did you get those shorts?" She tilted her head.  

[Jamal_Reedy]

Jamal's lips curved into a smirk as he adopted a very interested countenance. "So who did it then? I ain't heard a single word 'bout who they figgered tried ta do Aubrey in....I thought somethin' like dat would spread like fire 'round this ********' rock." Jamal also needed to congradulate the individual and smack them around for not doing a better job to ensure the woman would die.

The question about the shorts threw him off his little daydream and he defensively hooked his clawed thumbs over the pockets in the front. Oh great...maybe he hadn't messed with them enough to kill the 'hello, I'm wearing women's jeans!" aura. Maybe it was the low-rise cut.

"I...made 'em. From jeans I found in da cafeteria," he answered slowly, trying to look nonchalant. Maybe she wanted a pair for herself! Except...the woman had no legs or rear to speak of that needed covering.

God dammit, he didn't want to be known as a crossdresser AND a psychopath.  

[Cassidy Smith]

Cassidy shrugged again. "I know how to keep a secret," she said. "His secret, not mine. I'm not saying a word. He's pretty upset about it anyway, if at least partially because Moreau's threatening to kill him if they can't fix their 'mistake.'"

Jeans from the cafeteria?

Wow.

Oh, wow.

She could feel the giggling bubbling up, tried for a moment to stop it, and failed miserably; Cassidy clapped her hands over her mouth and tittered helplessly. "You're wearing my pants," she managed to gasp out. "No wonder they looked familiar."

She tried to cough, tried to disguise it, tried to do anything at all to stop laughing, but without much success. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I'm okay."  

[Jamal_Reedy]

Jamal was about to make a snide comment, about how she had at least narrowed it down those of the male gender, but stopped when the woman started to more or less convulse in laughter. Not a good sign. His manhood was on the line.

The explaination didn't help him feel any less ridiculous, but he steeled himself, gritting his teeth and jutting out his chin obstinately. Jamal had just recently managed to get over the fact they were women's jeans too. Dammit...the other pairs were going to have the waistbands made bigger so he could sag them better so they didn't look so form fitting.

"Well, I ratha' wear women's pants then ask staff fo anythin'," he said stoutly in a weak attempt to bolster his confidence. He had also adopted a persistant whisker twitch all of a sudden. "B'sides, they ain't so bad now dat I changed 'em..."

Part of him wanted to tack on a fervent "Right?" to that statement.  

[Cassidy Smith]

"It's fine, it's fine," Cassidy giggled. "I put them in there so at least somebody would get some use out of them. And hell, they're jeans, it's not like it's a skirt or anything."

She had to pause to catch her breath. The infamous Jamal, running around the jungle in her old jeans! It was too much, really. When she'd dumped that box in the cafeteria, it had never really occurred to her how weird it would be to run into people who were actually wearing her old clothes.

And somehow, she'd always assumed they would be female, but beggers couldn't be choosers.

"They're really hardly recognizable as women's jeans. Really," she assured him. "I won't tell a soul, I swear."  

[Jamal_Reedy]

Jamal was stuck between getting mad at her laughter or being appreciative of the fact she had given up her clothing in the first place for him to ruin with his jungle escapades and her vow to keep a secret. He wasn't one to easily trust people though so in the end, all he could was give her a stern stare and put his hands on the hips of his oh-so-stylish shorts.

"I would 'preciate it if you kept it to yo'self...'cause I ain't got no problems wit' you 'n' would prefer it dat way. I think you'd prefer it dat way too."

...he was seriously going to have to revamp his meager sewing abilities to mutate the rest of the pairs into something completely unrecognizable.  

[Cassidy Smith]

"I said I'd keep it a secret, and I meant it," Cassidy said, still trying not to grin. "Just old jeans. I don't think there's any need to make veiled threats or anything."

She shrugged, though she watched Jamal carefully; that last sentence had come out too fast and she wasn't sure how well it'd be taken.

"I'm sorry for laughing, I really am, and this can just be our little secret for the time being, eh?"  

[Jamal_Reedy]

"Yes. Jus' old jeans. Good fo' trashin' when I'm climbin' trees," Jamal said in the same stern voice though it was quickly growing obvious that he was pretty uncomfortable about this discovery of his partial cross-dressing. He didn't want there to be any confusion on his masculinity.

"Like I said, I'd 'preciate it if you kept quiet...so that's fine wit' me. I prolly betta get goin' though, since it appears I still got some messin' 'round da to wit' these things." He picked idly at a belt loop, a grimace on his face.  

[Cassidy Smith]

Ah. He did climb trees. Something worth remembering.

"Okay," Cassidy agreed. "Good luck with that. And really, not a soul." She waved a hand vaguely. "I suppose I got stuff to get to, myself."

With this, she straightened herself out, and began her awkward slither across the sand.

"Really nice meeting you, though. See you round."  

[Jamal_Reedy]

Jamal watched her go, apprehension taking over the stony expression on his face. Lovely. Just ******** lovely. He managed a choked "Bye" before he turned and stalked up the beach, shaking the remaining water from his arms and hands as he went.

...he was going to be known as a crossdressser by the end of this week, he was sure. Between him in Antony's robe and him wearing Cassidy's jeans...it was all over.  

[Ambrose Maurlias]

[NEW RP]

Ambrose had managed, for the better part of two weeks, keep his spirits remarkably high for being on the island. He had heard word floating about that there were new islanders, and even met one of them - Thom - fortunately after he had already had "The Talk."

A soccer league was in the works, he was going to be getting a ring catalogue from Aubrey, he was settling into his new form as well as could be expected, there were new interesting rooms in the town hall, and he had most importantly found out that he was not responsible for Aubrey's injury - and that his ... 'condition' at the time was a planned response to a temporary serum - he wasn't going crazy!

He had put off making fliers for the soccer league for most of the day in favor of grabbing his rapier again and hitting the beach. Some part of him felt almost guilty, as if he were cheating in entertaining the idea of starting up an entirely new sport when he had dedicated the better part of his high school and college life to his first passion, fencing. So he vowed to still keep up with the swordplay - especially if he could con Alec and Amaya and Angelina ... wow, perhaps something with A-names and fencing? ... to do it with him. Even if he was an instructor.

Unforutnately, the blaring sun generally kept him from spending too long on the beach during the day - between the heat, humidity, and his thick fur, he couldn't practice for very long. Now, though, in the early evening with the sun setting and the air cooling off - he felt much better.

He had just been through a series of footwork and point control drills - working on reteaching his muscle memory of the footwork with his changed legs - and was finally sitting down to a break, watching the last of the designs that the setting sun painted in the clouds on the convenient Western beach, taking the occasional drink from his waterbottle.