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Atop the cliffs was one of Joliette's favorite places to take photographs, not only due tot he view, but due tot he fact there was little shade there and the sun felt very good on her skin, she desired that warmth, if not craved it *clicklickclickclick* went her camera taking multiple photos in sequence of birds and sealife in teh distance using her telephoto lens. Her short figure was wearing a skirt that stopped around her knees with her tail poking out hte back and a light t shirt and she was barefoot, she didn't care about her hair it was pulled back in a loose ponytail

Joliette paused lifting her head a little from teh lens and looked towards the sound of hte voice, one she didn't know. Her tongue flickered bringing her the woman's scent "Hello" she said in her distinctly british accent. She stood more upright, well the woman wasn't freaking out, so she must know she thought to herself

"Joliette, Not new, been here since last fall, and much as it's a pleasure to meet you, I wish I didn't have to... cause then you wouldn't be here" her name was spoken with a very french sound to it, even despite her British accent. She gave a wry smile and motioned a rock beside her "You are welcome to sit down if you want, the view here is wonderful" she looks at the oriental woman, her 4'5" stature wasn't really tall, and like everyone else she'd met there she had to look up

Joliette saw her lips move but didn't hear her words until after she'd sat down. "Was a photographic journalist actually, for World Weekly News when I came here, I've done freelance though not just contract" She reaches forward and caps the lens and pulls it off hte tripod and puts the camera down capped lens first on it's large lens then sits ont eh ground. "What did you do before coming here?"

Kikue looked over her shoulder, hearing a few loose rocks scatter. She wasn't afraid, but she was curious. She could hear someone, but they were still not in full view. "Did you hear that?" she whispered to Joli, nodding at the bend of the cliffs that she herself had come from. Standing up slowly, Kikue stood up on her tiptoes, aiming to see around the side of the cliff.

"Oh," she whispered back, "I'm a violinist." Then she nodded again at the sound of heavy breathing. For some reason she wasn't scared, but it could really be something threatening, for all she knew. She trusted Joli's instincts on the matter, waiting for her input.

The shuffling continued as Alec drew nearer, feet slipping slightly on a patch of particularly loose pebbles when he stopped yet again and coughed. The connection between his low lung capacity and his 'habit' never occurred to him, of course.

When he heard the voice call out he nearly lost his balance and fell backwards in shock, having not expected anyone to be up so high in such a secluded place. He was almost afraid to respond at first, so he held his breath and listened for a moment before replying with a tentative ".... Aye?" from down below.

It started with the heat. Kikue tugged at the collar of her yukata uncomfortably, feeling suddenly lightheaded. She could hear what must be another Islander responding to Joli's call, but it sounded faraway and muddled. Something isn't right. "Something's wrong," she got out, her voice coming out weak and not nearly loud enough. "Joliette --"

She fell onto her knees, feeling the sweat beading up on her face, no, all over her body, trickling down into her eyes so that they burned and stuck to the fabric of her clothes. What --

She grabbed her arms to herself suddenly, her back arching, still hearing things like pebbles scattering and voices muttering. Her hair was pooled on the rock and dirt of the ground, and that's when she saw it -- the white. It was spreading on the tips of her hair, not all the way up, but she saw it fade in like a stain. The transformation -- oh no --

Not knowing what to do, she tried desperately to keep her eyes from tearing as the burning ache crept into her toes and fingers. Holding them up in front of her eyes, she could see them growing, like claws, digging backwards into her skin, inside of her, a part of her.

The sound of the pebbles was suddenly much more acute and defined as that same ache jumped to upwards, to her ears. Kikue held her shaking hands over them, not daring to touch them; she couldn't see them, but she could suddenly hear everything, they must be changing too --

She shouted something in Japanese, Help me, just as the grinding ache resounded in her mouth. Grasping her mouth and chin, she sat on her knees in the rocky dirt, rocking back and forth, trying to tell herself to breathe. The tears ran silently down her face.