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"I didn't have much credit," Em said, thinking aloud. "I lived mostly on traveler's checks." She paused, thinking that it wouldn't surprise her if no one had known she'd gone missing. Some of her friends from the various corps she'd been affiliated with, or the youth diplomacy groups may wonder why she never emailed them anymore... but she had no one left to wonder. She turned to Joliette.

"Are there... many people who you're leaving behind?" Em asked delicately, hoping that there wasn't a loved one or, god forbid, a child back on the mainland, waiting for her.

"World Weekly News? Oh, I used to read that." She eyed the tripod again. "Are you a photo journalist?"

The conversation was soothing to Em, in a way. It kept her from thinking about... well, anything else. She didn't know how well Joli could see over the dark visage of the island, but it was truly a beautiful sight. ...And if Em shut down all the dark, lonely parts of her mind, she could almost appreciate it all.

The small smile dropped off Emelyn's face. "I'll miss the sight of my name in print, too," she said, quietly. "...I'm a writer. Not that I've gotten anything more than short stories published, but now I guess it's all I'll ever have. ...Unless one day Moreau takes pity on us artists and lets us send out our work to be recognized under a false name." She said it bitterly... and sarcastically. She doubted that Moreau had a way to monitor their speech this far up the desolate mountain, and so, for the first time ever, Emelyn let her contempt for what Moreau had done to her, and the lies he'd told, to ring out.

"I was thinking of something along the lines of keeping things for the islanders, to make it easier for them- like, pictures of how they look now, so they never forget, and of us together... but I'd not actually thought of a sort of publication. ...I think that would actually be a really grand idea." She leaned back, propping up her torso with the flat of her palms, pressed up against the cold surface. "I just wish there were a way to keep ...their taint out of it."

"I don't know if we could keep it a secret from them. We could certainly try. ...Moreau has cameras everywhere- in every duplex, and in every public area. I'm sure he has some in the wild areas that are well populated as well, like the beach and open areas of the village. ...I think places like this, way up on the mountain, and some places deep in the jungle, are the only places that there's not a way for him to see us. ...If he saw us printing things out, or distributing, or even people reading something he didn't recognize, he may get his hands on it. ...And I don't know if that'd be a bad thing, but I know that they've been using things against us. Personal things." She didn't want to mention Ambrose, and how his girlfriend was now here on the island... in fact, she didn't even think she could speak the name aloud and remain calm at all. So she left Joliette free of an example.

She sighed. "I don't know how much you know about Moreau, but he has... powers over us. I think he's installed something in us- or at least some of us. I don't know if you've met a man called The Dude yet- but at the Halloween party we all went to, he just uttered a command- sleep- and The Dude fell to the floor instantly. ...I don't know what else he's done to us... but I wouldn't put anything past him."

"He's a nice guy," Em said, sighing and leaning all the way back down onto the rock. The view was indeed beautiful- but the black sky was more befitting her mood, and she felt as if she empathized with its pervasive nothingness in this moment.

"I don't know- these days..." she paused, wondering if she should tell this woman who she barely knew...but then decided she may not have another chance to be so far out of Moreau's earshot. "I've been thinking of ways to escape. To find a way to get everyone off the island. Or at least to get rid of Moreau."

Emelyn sighed, starting to feel the temperature of the slab beneath her through her shirt.

"I don't know. But I think if we were to... dispose of Moreau, if only for an afternoon- and the others- Duvert, Audrey- drug them, or something... we may find some way out. There has to be a boat somewhere, or some way off the island. ...Or at least, if there's really no way to go back to being human, and we have to finish the serums to stay alive, we could still get rid of Moreau and do it on our own terms- have a real life eked out here, and not just this... horror house." She sat up again. "And no one else would have to come here.... and suffer. ...Or we could get to the mainland, and try to get help. Have scientists cure us, fix us. I don't know- but anything is better than just accepting our fate."

"...Knocked one out of commission? What do you mean by that?" Em asked. She realized she really had been isolating herself- none of the people Joliette spoke of had ever been heard of by the hedgehog girl. ...How many people are there now, Emelyn thought, dreading the answer.