|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 6:13 pm
Vasile and AmbroseAmbrose As much as Ambrose undeniably hated the Doctor for what he was doing, and for the unscupulous, unethical experiments he was running to begin with, somewhere, deep down in his confused psyche, Ambrose harbored a margain of guilt himself. Why didn't he just do what Angelina had asked of him and "Lowered" himself to work at a fast food chain this summer? Admittedly, it probably would have only paid $5000 for the entire summer of working, but doing a medical experiment was not only "the easy way out", but also risky. He had breezed past the health warnings on the forms - never thinking that he would be the "one" in the proverbial thousand that came down with some weird disease. He was healthy, and had never been horribly sick. That was for other people. Little did he know that what it truly was would be much worse. And yet he ignored his intuition and the uncomfortable feeling when he climbed into the large, black, unmarked helicopter and let them carry him far away from the United States and any sort of legal protection or law enforcement. No one would ever know the truth to his disapperance behind whatever story they concocted. And all because he was so eager on his forms that he apparently made himself so much more desirable to Moreau than every other person who had signed up for the same damn study. And then there was Cassidy and Greer, only starting to go through their own changes, and realizing for themselves the horror of the predicament. Even if the Doctor had tried to be as objective as he could in bringing in Ambrose, and perhaps that boisterous "Thorn" woman and some of the rest, that couldn't stand up to Hargun coming in, a child, and Greer - who had a future in entomology.... And then there was the animal he had chosen for Cassidy... a snake for God's sake... he had to know how much she hated them. Was he that cold-hearted to choose snake BECAUSE of her fear of them? He had nothing on her as far as that went. .... at least the changes had been relatively minor so far, but he could only imagine the future, and how she would deal with it. He thought these angry thoughts as he skewered a leaf on his blade. He stopped, not expecting to have done so - merely to have 'tagged' it. He sighed and dropped his stance and removed the leaf from the end of his epee. At least fencing was still stress relieving, he thought, and there was no setting better than on the edge of the beach. Vasile Vasile had gone home that morning, changed into some shorts, and went running on the beach. He preferred his workouts in the morning. While Vasile usually hated any kind of displeasure or inconvienance to himself, he was willing to break his own rules when he came to lovemaking or his appearance. His whole career was based upon his looks, so keeping himself in good physical condition was important to him. Today was already looking brighter than the last couple. Nothing like waking up next to a beautiful woman to make one optimistic. As he ran down the beach, he cought glimpse of another islander he had yet to meet. Unfortunately he was male, but unlike the flat slob who he met yesterday - this young man was handsom and fencing. Swordplay, not thats a contact sport Vasile could see himself enjoying. He loved working out, but hated big brutish activities like football or soccer. He enjoyed tennis and racketball on occasion. He slowed down and tried to catch his breath a moment before walking up and waving a greeting. He took the towel from around his neck and wiped off his face and neck. "Morning there," he said. As he got closer, he realized the man was in make up. Vasile started to flip though the cast list in his mind, trying to remember who this person might be. He recalled a man who fenced. Some pretty odd, but likable name... what was it.... Ambrose Ambrose turned to him, lowring the blade and smiling charismatically. "Good morning!" He looked over the individual, his brow creasing a bit, not recognizing him. "I... don't believe we've met." He rested the sword against his left shoulder and held out his right hand after wiping off on his khaki pants. It was still cool enough out in the morning to wear them. He watched his face carefully, trying to gague his reaction to the features to discern whether or not he had been "informed." "My name is Ambrose" He said with a smile. Vasile Vasile gave a dashing sparkling-white smile. Amrbrose, yes that was it.. "Nice to meet you Ambrose, Vasile said, wiping his hand on the towel before holding it out to him. "Vasile DiRossi," h e replied with a smug smile. "Nice to meet you!" He didn't even blink at Ambrose's changes. Ambrose Ambrose's smile widened. He was focusing first on his reaction, and was relieved that he apparently didn't have to explain to someone else about the despicable nature of the facility. Perhaps the Dude had spoken with him already, or perhaps one of the many people Ambrose had told was passing on the word. Then the name clicked and Ambrose did a double-take. "Vas... Vasile??" Memories flooded - of course! He looked... well, he looked just like him, he chided himself on the stupid thought. He had seen his face (and his torso) all over the walls of Abercrombie and Fitch. And then, over the movie posters for a few of the theatres. He remembered Angelina's pointing out and teasing Ambrose that maybe he could get a modeling job for his favorite clothing company, of which he was wearing a matching shirt and top that very moment. He shook his head. What in God's name was he doing here?? He realize he was staring and swallowed, trying to smooth over his reaction. THe last thing he needed was to look stupid in front of someone like him. "It's a pleasure to meet you!" He grinned. "Although I'm a bit caught off-guard to find you, well, quite frankly, somewhere like here." Vasile Vasile's smile broadened at the ephipany Ambrose had, and he nodded, like he was expecting it. He shook the man's hand and then stepped back, looking over the beautiful island. "I know, I know. But they make everyone do these acting camps nowadays. Even the stars." Ambrose Ambrose opened and closed his mouth. acting camp...? That.. that didn't seem to make any sense to him at all. "Er... Pardon me... but... what are you talking about?" Vasile Vasile's expression darkened. "You know, the acting camp for the movie." He motioned to Ambroses changes. "You're wearing the prostetics." Vasile Vasile looked confused, then sighed and rolled his eyes. "Oh my goodness, you're in character. Man, its not even nine o'clock A.M. Relax, man," Vasile laughed and patted Ambrose on the back, but there was a nervouses to the man's voice Ambrose Ambrose sighed. Anything he said would be intrepreted as an act. Very clever on the Doctor's part. Frustratingly so. Any warnings would be intrepreted as part of the grander act. A bit of callous curiousity wondered how Vasile would take realizing that it was real. "I suppose you're right.." Ambrose consented. He was emotionally weary after speaking with both Cassidy AND Greer the day before. "But..." He gestured, having to know. "What... what have they told you so far...?" Vasile Vasile crossed his arms. "What do you mean what have they told me? I have the cast list and the basic synopsis, if thats what you mean. The final script won't be available until they're ready to shoot." Ambrose "I see..." there was a distinct note of uncomfortableness in Ambrose's voice. List of characters?? Synopsis?? Ambrose was boggled at the effort, and certainly curious as to the contents. "Might I be able to take a look at your copy sometime?" Ambrose asked, worried, guilt seizing him for the deception. Vasile Vasile tilted his head. "You should have your own?" Ambrose Ambrose paused on the edge of making the outright lie worse. Why did he have to be in this position? He hated this. And on top of EVERYTHING else. He wanted to know more. But if he switched back to honesty he would probably just confuse the poor man even more now that he had unfortunately confirmed the lie Moreau had told him. But if he said more, then it would be very hard to dig himself out of later, and probably make it even more difficult to convince Vasile. Rrrrrg. "I wasn't sure if mine was up to date. I got here several weeks ago." Ambrose flinched. Why in the hell did he just say that? He thought back to poor Cassidy still struggling to deal with her changes.... and Vasile's comment about prostetics.... and eyed the handsom actor with a new, critical eye. Vasile "Several weeks? Man, they must really want you for this role. You must have had a long ways to go." He looked Ambrose over a few times. "Hell, you could almost pass as my stunt double. Well, I'm in 14 if you want to come by?" Ambrose Ambrose shrugged uncomfortably as he bought it too easily. "Stunt double?" he asked with a quirk of a smile, taking it as a compliment after remembering Angelina's comments. "Is that where you're headed now?" He asked, curious. Vasile Vasile shrugged. "If you don't mind me catching a shower while you're there looking it over. I need to freshen up after the run." Ambrose Ambrose shoved his free hand in his pocket. "I... ah.... suppose so..." He self-consciously sniffed a bit, realizing that he wasn't exactly the picture of freshness anymore after his own early morning workout, but deigned to comment, hoping it was just his own sense of smell. Vasile Vasile put the towel around his neck and headed back into town. He was upstairs in number 14. The room looked surprisingly....bare. At least from what you would expect for a movie star. Vasile stepped in and dug up an packet of bound papers and tosses it at Ambrose. "There ya go. If you'll excuse me?" And with that he dissapeared into the bathroom. The first few pages of the pack was the typical non-disclosure agreement, very similar to one Ambrose had to sign to apply to the medical exhamination. Then there was a about a half-page to a page bio of every single current resident of the island - and most of the notable staff, including Dr. Moreau and Dr. Lockheart. Ambrose Ambrose sat down on the chair at the desk and paged through it, shaking his head at the depth of information in the packet. It was distinctly... creepy. Most of the information was things that he had already known from speaking with the individuals, admittedly... but there were bio sheets of people he hadn't even met yet, apparently living just under his nose. And writing about them as if they were fictional... just.... eerie. And then he got to his own bio. It was... a charicature... exaggerating his personality and interests. He probably re-read it about three times, unable to shake the creepiness of it all. Who had put this all together? Moreau? Aubrey? Someone else? He didn't get up the entire time that Vasile was in the shower. Although by the time he emerged, Ambrose was sitting at the table, rubbing his temples. Vasile He shrugged. "I guess they're really going to push the characterization." Vasile's eyes suddenly lit up, giving his face a very boyish look. "Hey, do you think they're gonna pull for an Oscar nomination??" Ambrose Ambrose snorted bitterly, feeling miserable both for himself and this young actor. "Who knows." He looked over to him, a strange, defeated look in his eyes, still fighting with his conscience wanting to tell the truth. Whoever had brought him here must have wanted him here. To go to this amount of effort on this phony 'script'. This was no haphazard marooning or random test subject no one would miss. This was a full-blown smoke and mirrors job. Was it too late to try and convince him now? "So... what exactly is your part in coming here? Like you said... sending a practiced actor here with a bunch of unknowns...? And... no offense, but you don't seem to be exactly in-character." Vasile Vasile sat down the bed. "Manager made me do it. He says it will help. I've never done a film-on-location. All studio work. Guess he wanted me used to all this sand and heat. But you know i've done photoshoots from here to Timbuktu. I know how to work under harsh conditions." Vasile dug through his bag, looking for some clothes. "And I'm not big on being incharacter unless I'm filming. I think its like making a plumber go arond and fix pipes that aren't broken when he ain't at work." He shrugged. "But I can't seem to get anyone to tell me a scedule of events. I mean, I was under the impression there would be those big "lets sit around the campfire and go through the s**t you learned in drama school" BS." He frowed and finally pulled out a shirt. "And they lost my damn luggage, can you believe that?" Ambrose Ambrose fiddled with a pen on the desk. He was listening, but with an increasing sensation of a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Your manager set this up, eh?" Ambrose had the sudden thought of what IF this was actually some sort of twisted co-project with Moreau to make a bundle off movie rights, when all of it was actually real. Keeping the actor in the dark as to the true nature by saying everyone was just in character. But the thought was dismissed when he thought about how unwilling most of the subjects would be to cooperate. Especially when most of them probably had to be "disappeared" or else they'd be recognized by friends or family. Ambrose could see Vasile's logic in not liking the camps. It was obvious his hand had been forced coming here even WITH the excuse of a movie. He wondered why someone would go to that effort to send him away here when he woldn't be able to ever leave.... unless that was the point? "So what are you planning on doing here if no one gives you any instructions?" Ambrose gave a bitter smirk. "Most of the rest of us are just... well... 'being ourselves." He finished darkly, tapping on the entry on himself in the packet. Vasile Vasile gave a smug grin. "Oh, I know. I've already met a few of ya'll. I guess I'll just keep doing what I've been doing. Hanging out, meeting people, and getting close to the ladies here. This place it too beautiful not to enjoy it." Ambrose Ambrose nodded. "It is beautiful here" Ambrose breathed. "I... just wish Angelina could be here to enjoy it with me...." He gazed out the window at the view that crested some of the trees, the ocean spreading out in the background. Vasile "Don't turn around," Vasile said, and began to get dressed. "Angelina.. " he wondered why that name sounded familiar then it clicked. "Oh right...the love interest. I didn't know you were in character. You know. LIke right now." Ambrose Ambrose kept his back rigid and faced away from him without looking back. "In character.... right." He lamented quietly. Even that was ficticious to him. He tried to change the subject. His mid flashed back to Cassidy.... "You know.." he began. "While I'm not exactly on the market.... Cassidy's a really sweet girl, and... really down recently... " As long as Vasile still thought it was a set, and the features prostetics, he wouldn't care about the snake-ness. And Cassidy could really use the confidence boost that a movie star found her pretty. "You should talk ot her." Vasile Vasile finished buttoning his shirt and looked over. "Oh yeah?" He thought for a second. "Why's she's down? What does she look like? You're not using the "she's sweet and as a great personality" thing to hide the fact she's ugly are you? I mean, I don't do charity cases." Ambrose "Oh no!" Ambrose spoke up. "She's just... well... she... doesn't like the prostetics" Ambrose winced. IT sounded so lame. "She's rather cute, I would think. Long blonde hair, blue eyes, freckles. Somewhat athletic." He gestured vaguely. Ambrose was still dutifully looking at the wall. Vasile "I'm done," Vasile imformed him. "Maybe I'll go see her later. Is it her first gig? It can be pretty scarey." Ambrose Ambrose turned back. "Yes... she's certainly new to all of this." He answered truthfully, starting to stand again. Vasile Vasile took the packet from Ambrose and flipped it open, looking for Cassidy's profile. "Aight," he said. "You shoud talk to that Sabin guy about getting an updated script." Ambrose Ambrose nodded. "I'm sure you're right." Ambrose replied, not knowing what 'Sabin-guy' that Vasile was referring to. "And be nice" Ambrose added. "She's... well... a bit sensitive at the moment." he cautioned. Vasile "I'm always nice to young ladies," he said with a wink. Ambrose Ambrose wasn't quite sure what that meant, especially in conjunction with the wink. He suddenly really, really hoped that he hadn't done something very wrong, as images of his brother and other image-conscious people who kept a very different interior than exterior flashed through his mind. "Ah.... right.." He fumbled. "Anyway... good luck around here. Things can get pretty hairy." He gave an ironic smirk. Vasile "I just want to get it over with. This place is nice, but I think I'm already getting homesick." Vasile looked grimly at his bag and pulled out his celphone, opening it with a hopeful look. But the frown on his face told Ambrose it was only wishful thinking. "I miss modern technology." Ambrose Ambrose nodded sympathetically. "I... I really do too. I honestly do. But... something tells me that we've all got a long haul ahead of us." He sighed heavily, thinking morosely about his own cell phone, useless in his bag in his room. "I also woudln't expect to get any reception. I have yet to. But if you do... do let me know." Vasile "Sure thing, man." Vasile looked up and gave him a wave. "I'm sure I'll be seeing you around." Ambrose Ambrose winced and waved back, heading for the door. "take care, and I'm certain that we will" He headed out and down the stairs, back towards his own bungalow and a much-wanted shower after his own work out. He still felt guilty.... and really hoped someone would open his eyes to the truth... but hopefully, first, he could help Cassidy feel better about herself with some compliments and perhaps some wining and dining.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 6:15 pm
[ Message temporarily off-line ]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 6:26 pm
Ambrose and Vasile Take 2Vasile Vasile finished reading over the script synopsis for the second time that evening. Frustrated, he left his apartment in a huff and headed over to Ambrose's duplex, Brutus following at his heels. He rapped on his door impatiently. Ambrose Ambrose sat up from his bed where he had finally been reading through some of the books he had brought since he had discovered the true nature of the Island. Setting HP6 aside on the bed, he got up and wandered over to the door. "Hello?" He asked curiously, opening it up and looked between Vasile's irritated face to the small dog at his feet. "Is... there something the matter?" Vasile Vasile stepped in, regardless if Ambrose invited him or not. "I"m fine," he said. Brutus followed and began to sniff around the room. Vasile sat on the bed. "I talked to Cass," he said curtly. Ambrose Ambrose eyed the dog warily, remembering the Dude's warning about the rug. He looked back to Vasile, somewhat surprised by the tone. "What's wrong...? I assumed that you two would hit it off.." Vasile He shrugged. "She was great. She was sweet, and sexy...even with the makeup. I was really getting into her, too," he admitted. "At least I thought I was." Vasile threw down the script on his bed. "She was in character, the whole damn time," he sighed. "I swear, sometimes I just really wish a girl could just be herself around me, man." Ambrose Amrbose swallowed. that wasn't what he wanted to hear at all. While he thought that Vasile thinking that Cass's makeup would be a great icebreaker to get them to talk, and Vasile not to be afraid of her - helping Cassidy's esteem.... he had hoped that Vaisle would ultimately learn from Cassidy what he and the Dude had been unable, or unwilling, to pass to him. He eyed the script again. It wasn't fair that Vasile was still being led around here when he had been here for days, and seen at least half of those who had already begun to change. "has... anything else struck you as particularly odd here, Vasile?" Ambrose tested the waters. Vasile "of course, this whole damn placed it messed up," he scowled. "Whoever is running this joint needs to get his ducks in a row. They can run a decent camp for s**t. I've posted THREE requests for event scedules, I can't contact my manager, and the duplex they told me the makeup studio was in is empty, and no one will answer a damn of of my questions!" Vasile was certainly aggitated, obviously not used to the kind of attention (or lack thereof) he was getting at this place. Ambrose Ambrose wandered back into the room, closing the door. He looked over the desk and ran his tongue over his sharp teeth, thinking. "Maybe... they don't want you to. Maybe they're just trying to give you the run around with excuses to keep you from taking up arms and rallying against them for as long as possible." He looked over to him. "Other than the in-character thing, how did things go with her..?" Vasile "What would be the point of that" Vasile asked. "Pissing me off is only going to hurt them in the end. Wait until I get back, man, the stories I'm going to tell. They will never find work in Hollywood again!" He took a deep breath and ran his hands over his hair. "It was going well," he said. "She's cute and kind of shy. I like that." Ambrose Ambrose nodded. "well... if I wanted to continue what I was saying before, I'd say that the casting choices of "unknowns" like us was because of our similarities...." He sighed. Why did he always seem to have to be the one to break the news. At least Vasile seemed more mentally stable than Julian. Not more stable granted - he was sure that vasile would fly off the handle as soon as he realized they couldn't leave... but maybe Ambrose needed to see that - see someone else violently upset at the staff for that. "And if I wasn't being facetious and feeding into their lies then I'd say that it was because she WAS being herself." Ambrose held up a hand. "And before you say something about being in-character, listen to me. This." He tapped on the script. "Is an elaborate ruse to keep you controlled for as long as possible until you find out the hard way just like I did." "Think about it this way, Vasile. You've raised all the same questions - where are the cameras? Where are the training camps? And how come you've never heard of any of us before. And ..." Ambrose tried to think - those could be explained away by this rather clever ruse. "All of hte problems you've had with luggage, service, and so forth?" Vasile Vasile just sat and started at him dumbfounded. "Huh?" He blinked. "I have no idea what you just said." Ambrose Ambrose opened and closed his mouth, and tried to recenter himself. "Ah... sorry... my... I think my mouth is running ahead of my thoughts." He sighed. So much for subtlety. "You like Cassidy for how you think she acted. Well, She really is like how she's acting. She's a nice girl and all that." He gestured. "I... I lied to you earlier, Vasile... And I feel really bad about that. But it's hard to break the news to people sometimes, and I had honestly been having a rough time myself. I confirmed the lie that you were told by... whomever sent you the script." He breathed. "Cassidy wasn't 'acting'. She really is exactly like she... well... is." Vasile "Oh. My. GAWD." Vasile wailed and stood up quickly. "Not you, too!" Vasile ripped open the script and flipped to one of the middle pages and read: "The trick is, of course, the protagonist thinks he is on the island to film a movie. The other characters will most likely do everything in their power to convince him otherwise, with the irony being it's really true!" He slammed the script into Ambrose's chest. "I'm sick of this s**t. You guys are messed up. You think this is going to impress someone? Here's news, all it does it make you look desperate for work!" Ambrose Ambrose looked honestly offended. "Dear lord." He looked at the script - he had only breezed past the premise earlier to look at the 'cast of characters' - to see if there were others on the Island he had yet to meet, and how accurate the accessment was. "And drop the "not you too!" s**t! It's... Arrrrrgh..." How to convince someone who was unwilling to be convinced?? "He pondered and turned back to him, holding the back of his hand out to him. "Look. Look close. Pull on it if you have to." Vasile Vasile blinked and looked at Ambrose holding up his hand to him. He licked his lips and looked down at it hesitantly. For a moment, you could see the fear in his eyes. But then he just shook his head and stood up straight, turning his nose to the air. "No," he said, plainly. Brutus came up to Ambrose and sniffed at his shoe. Then jumped up and wrapped his forearms about his knees. He was humping him. Ambrose Ambrose sighed in frustration. "Why not...?" he pressed... "Are you scared to learn the truth..?" He was about to press further when he noticed the... dog at his leg. He looked down, not sure whether to feel annoyed or embarrassed. "Of course." He said flatly. At least it hadn't pissed in HIS room. He jiggled his leg a little bit hoping to dislodge the pup without hurting him, something else struck him. Canine. Beautiful. Could the dog smell the wolf in him? Perhaps he could use it to his advantage to try to proce it to Vasile. Ambrose curled his lip back and loosed a canine warning growl. Vasile Vasile raised a pointed finger at the man. "Of course I'm not afra-" he was cut off by the growl in Ambroses's throat and he just stopped, as if his voice failed him. There was no denying it - Vasile looks terrified. He just stood still and watched Ambrose, his mouth half-open and his eyes trembling. Ambrose Ambrose turned away from the dog and back to the man, almost immediately regretful of the plan of action he took. He swallowed, the growl gone from his throat and held his hands up placatingly. "Vasile... I'm sorry...I... s**t... don't be scared..." He finished lamely. Vasile Ambrose's voice seemed to snap him out of his trance. "I'm not afraid!" he whined, though he suddenly looked like he was about to cry. He quickly scopped up Brutus and headed for the door. "You are all crazy!" Ambrose "Vasile, wait!" Ambrose caught him by the arm. "Please. I... understand if you need time to think about it." He took a breath, thinking back to his conversation with the group. "Look... we know that you're feeling a bit out of sorts and out of your element here. We were going to surprise you, but we're trying to set up a showing in the entertainment room tomorrow afternoon with Final Destination 3." He gave a genial smile. "Can we count on you showing up?" Vasile Vasile immediately wrenched his arm out of Ambrose's grasp. "Don't you touch me!" he snapped, though it honestly seemed to be an almost knee-jerk response. He took a breath and calmed himself down, listening to what Ambrose had to say. He looked sketpical, and a bit uneasy. But the Publicity Hound deep in his sould answered for him. "A showing of one of my movies? I.. I suppose I could do that." Ambrose Ambrose jerked his hand back and held his hands up again. "Sorry.." He watched him for a minute critically. He droped his hands back to his side with a shrug and a nod. "8pm." He smiled faintly. Vasile "Will Cassie be there," he slipped out, before really having the chance to stop himself. Ambrose Ambrose smiled. "I'm sure she will." He replied with a smile. Vasile Vasile let a smile tug on his lips as he reached for the door handle. "See you there, I guess." Ambrose Ambrose gave a small wave as he was leaving, picking up his book again. "I wouldn't miss it!" Vasile Vasile stopped and noticed the book Ambrose was reading. "Hey, uh.. you have anything, I dunno. Star Trek-ish or somethig I could borrow?" Ambrose Ambrose scratched the back of his head. "I.. really didn't bring very much here... just a few books and, well, the basics like clothes and toiletries." He glanced over to the bed which had HP6 lying open about halfway through. Vasile He looked dissapointed. "Oh, well... no problem. THanks anyway." With that, he headed out the door.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 7:05 pm
It's 8pm, and in the
entertainment room. The BIIIG screen TV
is on, humming quietly with a blue screen,
and Ambrose if futzing with the DVD
player, a plate of chilidogs sitting nearby.
Vasile had gone back
to his room, takeng a very long
shower, followed by a very long soak
in the scented bubble bath provided in
his room.
After that., he spent his
usual hour or two fixing his hair,
shaving, plucking, concealing, and
dressing before the movie. At about
7:50, he sprayed on a bit of colonge
and headed over towards the 'theatre'
The Dude is sitting in one
of the back chairs, his legs resting on
top of a chair in front of him. With a
blissful smirk on his face, he is eating
popcorn. there are a few more paper
bags worth of popcorn standing by the
entrance.
Timothy cleaned up and put
on his best shirt. He had on a mix of black
and white clothing that was odd but stylish.
White pants and a nice black shirt. He
decided to leave the guitar at home once as
he walked to the theater.
Ambrose smiled to Timothy as
he entered. "Ah, someone else showed."
He stood up and checked his watch...
"Hrmm... it's 8 already... wonder where
everyone else is.." He looked around and
shrugged.
"Well... I guess we better start.
I'm sure more people will show up. I know
a lot of people have been going through
some rough times."
He walked over to the
lightswitch and flipped it off, then sat down
in one of the side single-couches with his
plate of chili-dogs and hit "play" on the
remote.
Vasile looked around,
not bothering to hide the
dissapointment on his face. "You said
Cass would be here, Ambrose."
"OH, Cass is coming by
later. Something about blow drying her
hair, girly stuff like that" - the Dude
grinned from his back seat. "Help
yourself to soem popcorn, superstar." -
he nodded towards the bags
Timothy walked into the
theater and looked around. "Sorry for being
a little late guys." He sat close to, but not
too close to Vasile. "Ohhh popcorn, can I
have some?"
"Help yourself" Ambrose said
holding one of the bags out to him from his
seat as the opening credits of the movie
began to roll, and he started on the first
chilidog.
Vasile frowned,
completely ignoring Timmy. "Can we
wait for her, then?"
"Huh? You want me to go
get her for you or something?" - the
Dude face still had this amused look
about it. "She'll be pretty mad if we
knock on the door now. I mean, she
takes her grooming pretty seriously" -
he nodded.
This was followed by a
"Sorry Cassidy" mental apology. Why
was Vasile so preoccupied with
Cassidy of all people. Oh yeah ... he
was supposed to made her feel better
.... maybe Cass stole his heart in the
process, too?
heh ... oh that's funny. GO
GIRL.
Timothy nodded "You know
this is the first time I've seen this. Heard
your great in it Vasile." Timothy munched a
few peices of popcorn. This wasn't playing
out at all like Timothy wanted.
He knew Vasile wasn't
homosexual. He still wasn't sure if he was
completely homosexual himself, but he was
hoping he could be nice and atleast get
closer to him. But who was this Cassidy
woman, had he already found someone?
Ambrose sat back in the couch
after making sure the door had closed
discretly behind Timothy, and the lights were
dimmed, proceeded to munch quietly on his
plate of greasy meat.
Vasile gave a sneer to
Dude. "I don't think Cass is as
shallow as you think she is."
Reluctantly, he plopped into a couch.
"I'm surprised you
haven't seen it, TImmy, considering
your, ah... tastes." Vasile shifted
comfortably.
Oh wow. SNAP. There
was indeed a great deal of vested
interest here. Well, take that, you
perfumed monkey: "I wasn't saying
Cass is shallow. But I know her pretty
well."
"She's my buddy and all
that." he stretched out comfortably on
the two chairs and gazed lazily at
Vasile.
"Well I, didn't watch a lot of
movies before comming here. TV either, in
fact I haven't watched anything like that in
three years." Timothy shrugged, it was true,
and he might as well be honest.
Ambrose kept his mouth shut,
and glad that the dark covered the bemused
smile on his face. He watched the setup of
the movie that seemed quite reminiscient of
the setup from the first two movies...
However, about twenty
minutes into the film...
Ambrose set aside the plate
that the mound of at least four chilidogs had
been sitting on and put a hand on his
stomach. "Oh man..."
"I... I'll be back in a little bit...."
He said, getting quickly to his feet and
bolting for the door.[/color[
"Anyway, Let me go get
her. You guys watch, be back soon." -
the Dude stood up and walked out the
door, makeing sure to close it after
him. Man, go Cassidy. He was kinda
proud of her.
Vasile muttered a
'thanks' at the Dude as he left. But it
sure seemed to take him a while. But
then Ambrose left and Vasile started
to get alittle uncomfortable. He
glanced over to TImmy and sighed.
What a day. And now his ego wasn't even being
stroked... only three people bothered
to show up... and now two of them
had left...
Vasile sunk lower in his
chair and pouted, feeling very sorry for
himself.
Timothy started to feel,
REALLY guilty about all of this, this wasn't
the way he wanted it. He understood that
Vasile wasn't homosexual and probably
wasn't interested in him.
Maybe they could just be
friends. "Ummm your really good in this
movie." Timothy shrugged feeling akward.
"Hey listen, Vasile. I didn't mean to scare
you so much the other day or make you
uncomfortable."
"Your cool... really cool.
I have a crush on you and I guess that's
okay. Your the first person male or female
I've ever been attracted to and I'm sorry if
that makes you uncomfortable. But outside
of that."
"I can deal with being friends
and neighbors if you'll let me."
Vasile just looked over
to him and his eyes looked a bit wide.
He didn't frightened, just a bit
surprised. Great, just something else
he had to DEAL with today.
Vasile wasn't used to
dealing with things. Other people delt
with things FOR him.
He had assistants,
managers, publicists, phychiatrists...
all these peple he paid good,
hard-earned money to so this kind of
stuff wouldn't all get dumped at him at
once
And withing 24 hours
he's having to deal with nagging
thought of conspiracy theories,
actually maybeing liking a girl that
was maybe a bit shy and dorky, but of
course she didn't even bother to show
up for his movie... and now this... this gay
guy liked him.
I mean, Vasile was
around models and Hollywood his
whole life. He new gay people. Gay
people didn't bother him. But he
wasn't gay. He was sure of it... well, honestly he never
really THOUGHT about it. But he
liked WOMEN, dammit
But... so far this Timmy
fellow was one of the only people who
seemed to be honest and sincere
and, well... LIKED him.
Vasile didn't know what
to say. He looked back to the screen
and scratched the back of his neck.
"Look, man.. I uh..
that's really flattering and all, but, I'm
not.. you know.."
"I know, figured it out the
first time. Course I didn't think I was either
till I met you." Timothy stammored for a
moment. "I don't mean to say I think you'll
suddenly change your mind."
"I just wanted a moment to
talk to you, that first night I was a little,
weird...er. I don't know, not used to these
feelings either." Timothy shrugged.
"Incidentally, I don't think
they invited your friend, so don't blame her."
Timothy looked a little sad. "It sounds like
you really like her, I know how that is."
"Sorry about all this, again."
Timothy looked really sad at this point.
Vasile clenched his jaw
and started straight at the screen
again. What the hell... this guy had
never liked anyone unti him? Well,
thats an ego boost, at least. But...
why couldn't he be some hot young
chick?
His eyes darted over to
him. "I, uh... I guess we can talk and
stuff..." That didn't sound very
eloquent. But he really didn't have a
clue of what to say.
Then Cass was
mentioned. "they didn't even invite ...
you mean..?"
His eyes flashed. "You
mean they dd so you and me...?" He
pointed between the two of them.
Oh god... "Do THEY think I'm..
you know?"
"And... dammit," he
threw his arms crossed. "I don't know
what I think about Cass. We just kind
of... ended badly last time we talked
and I wanted to say something to her
is all."
"I don't think they think that
of you. I sort of, bribbed the Dude into
helping me. I didn't have anything to do
with how it was planned, I mostly just
wanted a moment to talk to you again."
Timothy shrugged.
"Maybe put in a good word
for me, sounds like you know how that goes
at the moment too." Timothy hit the pause
on the DVD player. "Wanna talk about it?"
"Ugh.....sure," Vasile
said, trying to look relaxed, but in fact
looking very uncofortable. "What,
uh... do you want to talk
about...exactly..?"
"Well I mean this Cass
person. Do you have feelings for her or
something?" Timothy shrugged.
Vasile swallowed. "I
don't know yet, I just met her. I
mean, I thought things were going
well, but then we got into an
argument. I just wanted a chance to
apologize."
"Then you should, I could try
to help... don't know her yet but I could
try." Timothy thought for a moment. "Ohhh
or you could write her a letter. I know
where they keep the stationary."
Timothy had spent a lot of
time writing since he got here and had long
ago used up his own paper. "I can show
you. If you do really like her I could help
you write a song."
Vasile looked
surprised, but then shook his head.
"That's uh.. really nice, man. But I
wouldn't make you do that for me.
That's just not right."
Vasile shrugged, trying
not to look too sensitive. "Anyway, I
don't some 'Cyrano de Bergerac'
situation happening and having her
ending up falling for you" He forced a
chuckle.
Timothy half chuckled and
looked akward. "Well, atleast let me show
you were the stationary is... I recommend a
letter atleast." Then he smiled again. "After
the movie of course."
Vasile nodded.
"Okay... I suppose thats cool."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 7:06 pm
((What follows is a chat with Vasile following The Dude and Ambrose's attempt to get Timothy and Vasile to talk privately. They set them up in the entertaintment center watching one of Vasile's movies. Then both Ambrose and the Dude surreptiously snuck out within the first 20 minutes.))
The day after the 'blind date" at the movies, there was a soft knocking at Ambrose's door. On the other side was Vasile, elegantly dressed and groomed as always. He checked his teeth in the reflectoion of the brass number one on his door and ran a comb through his blonde hair.
Ambrose had been up for a couple of hours, and also dressed rather nicely, although since going through his transformation he admittedly hadn't been spending quite so much time grooming himself to the perfection he usually held himself to. But still, compared to most of the islanders, Ambrose was quite nicely dressed and groomed.
He opened the door with a curious expression. "Vasile..? What's up?"
"Hey Ambrose," he said cheerily. He came in without being asked and turned to face him, a wry smirk on this face. "That was pretty smooth of you last night," he said with a wink. "Timmy told me what you guys were up to."
Ambrose swallowed, looking a bit nervous as he closed the door after Vasile. "He... uh... what?" Ambrose winced, having a small sinking feeling. If Vasile DID know what was going on, why was he acting all cheery? He knew Vasile didn't swing that way... and in fact, Ambrose DID feel a bit guilty about 'setting him up' like that.... but he honestly dind't see the harm in putting them together in a room watching a movie...
Vasile sat down in a desk chair backwards.. "I was... well, pretty surprised.." he admitted, scratching the back of his head. "But you know, I think it ended up for the best, you know? We talked a lot of stuff out. He didn't really give me the best first impression."
Ambrose furrowed his brow, and then sighed, nodding. "I... I'm sorry.. It ... well... it was pretty underhanded." He swallowed and looked at the floor. "From what the Dude told me, he wanted to talk to you but didn't think that he'd be able to do so alone..." He scratched the back of his head. "Apparently made some sort of thing with the dude about cleaning his carpet..." he glanced back at Vasile.
"No no, its all good," said Vasile. "Actually... it was pretty amazing. We talked for hours..." Vasile seemed to get a dreamy look in his eye. "I mean, I haven't just talked to someone like that in a long time.:"
Ambrose's glance turned hesitant, with a bit of confusion. "really...? You... did? Well... good for you then. I'm glad he was able to get whatever he needed to talk to you about off his chest then..? or....?"
"That was pretty rough, actually." Vasile stood back up and stuffed his hands in his pocket. "You know he likes me? Like.. likes me like me..."
"I.... I heard he had a crush on you.." Ambrose admitted "Though to be honest I had never met him personally before." He looked back over to Vasile. "Is... he okay now? I mean, unrequited love can be tough..."
Vasile coughed into his hand. "I was pretty surprised at first, ya know? I've never really had to deal with stuff like that." He stepped a bit closer to Ambrose, looking up. "But he made me really think. You know? Like really think." Another step closer. "At first I was really wigged out. I mean.. a guy with a crush on me? Thats just... odd. But he made really stop and think.." Vasile took another step closer. "And, well, this is kind of hard to say. But I think he made me realize something about myself..>"
Ambrose's politeness and hesitance started to turn to a distinct nervousness. "He... uh... what?" he erked starting to feel his personal space being tresspassed on. He stood his ground though, a wary eye on Vasile.
"Yeah.. you know. Its really a shame I can't feel the same for him. He's a sweet guy. But he -did- make me realize that... perhaps my mindless chasing after females was just my way of dealing with something about myself I didn't want to explore." Vasile stepped even closer, kissing-close, and looked up into his eyes, then reached out and took his hand. "That maybe, there is someone ... else I might be... attracted to.."
Ambrose gulped. "haha... Very funny,Vasile..." Ambrose's face, however, conveyed none of the mirth of his words. He took a step back, trying to deftly pull his hands out of Vasile's. "I mean... we barely know eachother for the very first thing... and... well... while you may be be having feelings like this... confirming some of what I thought were the Dude's misplaced assumptions... I... well... I am perfectly happy with my own... sexual preferences..."
Vasile's demeanor suddenly took on a whole new feel. His smiled dropped and his bright eyes narrowed into angry slits and his lips turned into a scowl. "Oh don't flatter yourself. I wouldn't fall for a scum like you even I was queer," he snapped then spun around. "Thanks for lying to me about Cass."
Ambrose's jaw dropped and suddenly felt as if he was slapped across the face. "I... but..." He closed his eyes and swore under his breath. This was NOT what he wanted to happen. In helping one friend out he might have lost the chance to keep a different potential friend. And on such a small Island, Ambrose was becoming distinctly aware of how small rivalries could blossom into much worse. "Vasile.... Dammit... I'm sorry. From what you told me yesterday it sounded like you were rather upset with eachother.... and I honestly didn't see the harm in setting up a situation where you two could talk."
"What? So trying to hook me up with some f** is susposed to make me forget all abuot this one nice girl I just wanted a chance to talk to? All you had to do was say she wasn't coming! I would have still COME!"
Ambrose's face fell. "I.. I didn't know that" He huffed. "besides! I wasn't exactly 'hooking you up'. I mean, it's not like I locked you in anywhere, or put it in the position of a blind date or anything. Just got you somewhere you could talk!" He frowned. "The general situation wasn't my idea anyway. And who suggested you talk to Cassidy in the first place, anyway!"
"Great. So now I have a chick who's angry at me and the awkward knowledge that my flatmate has a crush on me. I guess I owe you a ton of gratitude!"
Ambrose frowned. "I didn't make her mad at you. You said you liked her. And I assumed you already knew of Timothy's feelings."
Vasile gave a dramatic sigh. "Look, man. Please don't lie to me again, okay?"
Ambrose, looking honestly guilty, nodded. "I promise. I.. I'm really sorry about that." He shook his head at himself.
"You know he's the only person that's been really honest and playing it straight with me - " Vasile snorted at his unintentional pun. "Its ironic. Figures, huh?"
He shoved his hands into his pockets. "I'm sorry... we... we're all really stressed here.... it's a horrid excuse, but I suppose I seized an opportunity to try to make a bit of light... and it backfired. I truly do apologize, Vasile. You have my word that I will not lie to you again. But... if you do want that honesty from me, I do warn you to be careful about what you ask of me if you don't want the truth."
Vasile shrugged. "I have something I need to give to Cass," he muttered. "Later." With that, he headed out the door
He followed after them for a bit. "is there anything I can do... to apologize...?"
"Just... I don't know. I'll think of something."
Ambrose nodded, still feeling rather vile. Why had he agreed to do that? Probably because he still felt rather guilty about the argument and acting downright bestial to the Dude the night before he agreed to help him do this. He sighed. "well.... regardless.... good luck, Vasile."
"Thanks man," he said over his shoulder, and kept walking
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 7:07 pm
Huge Group in the CafeteriaPart 1Amaya Vaughan Amaya sat at one of the many tables in the cafeteria alone, her eyes downcast and staring at the coffee cup between her gloved hands. Her eyes were still somewhat watery and every now and then she would wipe a tear from her cheek that managed to slip out. After having that horrible dream she had scrambled through a shower and slipped on some clothes before darting to grab a cup of coffee. There was no way in hell she was going to sleep again after that.
She twisted the mug back and forth in her palms as she stared at it, not wanting to look up at the horrible bare cafe. She was in duplex 20, right? Meaning their were 20 people here... and not one of them were in the cafeteria? That was kinda weird. Regardless, she really hopped that someone would come in soon... anyone really. Even though she was still slightly crying and their was a snowballs chance in hell she would tell them about her dream, she still would have liked someone to talk to. Amaya wondered where Thorn was or if she was in the health center thing getting her lessons... Hargun Hargun had been having a dreadfully hard time getting to sleep at night lately, her head absolutely not wanting to shut down. She was very exhausted and had a rather fatigued look, her eyes had formed tiny purple rings and she was constantly yawning. Other than that though, she was somehow able to maintain a generally perky mood throughout the days. Today she decided to get out and chat with her fellow islanders, and hopefully get a bite to eat.. her tummy roaring at her. She left her duplex miracously without her sketchbook and headed very slowly towards the cafeteria. As soon as she entered she didnt even bother to look for a place to sit, until after gathering up a large a** plate of food, and carrying it witha lazy slump. She looked around and spotted a rather unfamiliar face sitting alone at a table. Yawning, she attempted to wave with one hand, almost dropping her tray. "Heya! Mind... *yawn* if I sit with you?" she asked and tried to lean against the table next to her. Greer Cassenwari Greer was on a meat mission, a new, icky tasting thing she'd had to get used to since the second injection had made her a carnivore. Striding into the cafeteria full of purpose, she went straight to the food and grabbed two steaks before even thinking to look around for people. Spying the artist Hargun sitting next to someone she didn't know, Greer grinned and sat down at the table. "Hello Hargun! How are you?" Amaya Vaughan The young girl blinked and looked up at Hargun, snapped from her daze. She smiled immediantly and nodded, wiping her eyes clean. "Sure! I was kinda hopeing I'd bump into someone else." She went to take a sip of her coffee when the other woman approached with... FEATHERS?! Oh god. What the ********. Amaya stopped in mid-sip just... stareing. No, it was rude to stare. Blink danm you, BLINK! Hargun Before Hargun sat next to Amaya she found the voice of someone she DID recognize, and apon turning to greet Greer.. "Hey Greer- HOLY s**t!" she said, and dropped her plate... luckily on the table. Rushing to sit down, Hargun scooted up next to the table and got up in Greer's face, staring.. and poking at the sprouted feathers. "Wha... wha.. what the heck happened to you?" she gasped and sat back, looking to Amya and smiled awkwardly then back to Greer. Her appearance kinda woke Hargun up a bit. Picking up one of her rolls she crammed the thing in her mouth without chewing, so suprised by her friend's changes. Greer Cassenwari Startled, Greer sat perfectly still for Hargun's inspection, smiling shakily when it was over. Spending all her time with Ambrose and the Dude meant she'd somewhat forgotten about how physical her changes were. Oops. "I'm sorry I startled you Hargun." Gesturing to her feathers, yellowing legs, and meat-filled plate she shrugged. "I got my second injection." Amaya Vaughan Okay, enough stareing... stop it... stop it. Amaya finally forced herself to blink and shook her head before looking back to Hargun and the bird... woman... thing. "Mmmyeeeah... I think I'm deathly confused and in shock right about now." She set her mug on the table and looked between the red-head and Greer with one eyebrow raised. Hargun Hargun started joking on her roll.. it was obviously going to happen. Finally coughing it back up she stared at Greer with somewhat frightened eyes. "SECOND injection?" She exclaimed. She figured the shot would be a one time thing and wouldnt require a lot of revisiting with Moreau or any of the strange lab assistants here, but if a second injection was comming, it meant she was gonna get one too. Shaking, she tried to eat a spoonfull of mashed taters. "Wow.. you.. youve really changed just from that second shot huh?" attempting to swallow some she started up again. "Oh my god Greer.. what ARE you changing into.. and.. and what else is going to happen..?" she eyed the two giant steaks. Hargun sighed and yawned at the same time, and put her fork down then turned her head to Amaya. After getting over Greer a second thought shot in her head. I bet she doesnt know.. she MUST be new. MUST be.. she thought and began to furiously attack her food, trying to avoid having to speak further on the subject while they were on it.. about transforming and all. The Dude XD His fierce red tomcat in tow, the Dude walked into the cafeteria, cigarette in his mouth, hands in his pockets - ya know, the works. He saw Greer, the redheaded girl who drew and whose name he was currently forgetting and a new teenager. This one had dark haired and had the cutest nose on the island. So he grinned and walked up to the girls "Hello, ladies" - he nodded and waved his flipper hand in a greeting. Meanwhile, Captain Morgan sniffed out the steak that Greer had aquired and decided that htis woman was now his new best friend. ((Sorry for crashing the party ^_^ Couldn't resist!)) Greer Cassenwari Greer sighed, gulping down half a steak to get her strength up for the lecture ahead. "This entire island is set aside for experiments being conducted on us by our host, Doctor Moreau. The first injection you recieve seems to get your body ready to react to the ones that follow. We're all turning into different animals - my two friends are becoming a wolf and a sea lion, the woman who lives downstairs from me is becoming reptilian, a fellow I met recently is going towards skunk, and I'm becoming a bird of prey, although I'm not entirely sure what species yet. Each injection will change us a little more until... until the Doctor decides we're done, I suppose. Most of the second injections happen while you're sleeping, if that makes you feel any better. No being held down and tortured per se." Stopping to eat, the other half of her first steak disappeared. THe faster she ate, the less she had to taste. Turning to the Dude, she blushed a little, smiling and giving Captain Morgan a halting pat. "Hi Dude!" Amaya Vaughan "OHGOD!" Amaya jumped five feet in the air as the Dude entered, shivers going down her spine. She then listened to everything Greer was saying even though her eyes were now locked on the new arrival. Once she was finished her head slowly turned to look back at Greer. Her shoulders slumped and she sighed, not really being able to really take all of that in. "Well... guess it's my fault for getting tricked into that bullcrap he told me and I'm screwed now." She shivered again, then caught sight of the fluffy feline. "KITTY!" She reached down and tried to usher him over towards her. Ah, distractions. Gotta love 'em. Hargun Hargun rubbed her tired eyes, now a lot more calmed down.. mustve been the overall shock of seeing her friend look a whole lot different. "Well I knew we were all changing but.. yea like I said, didnt figure it would be such a long strenuous process.. but oh well." noticing the Dude Hargun tried to smile. "Hey Dude!" she didnt pay much attention to Capt. Morgan though.. she didnt like cats. Not much at all. Hmm.. in my sleep huh.. yea right.. LIKE ILL EVER GET TO SLEEP. she thought to herself, and started chewing at a greasy looking burger she picked up. Burgers, taters, and a roll. What an interesting appetite. After she took a bite she glanced at Amaya again. "Well, cant say its your fault.. he got me too... crushed my hopes and dreams.. took everything away from me.. BUT HEY, Im here alive and /somewhat/ happy right..?" she asked uneasily. Cassidy Smith With a plate bearing a single, if large, rare steak, and a glass of lukewarm iced tea, Cassidy made her way into the dining hall of the cafeteria. Meals had just been so boring, lately. Fortunately, she'd picked up a little cup of chocolate pudding. She could deal with that. There seemed to be a lot of people, today, and some of them she didn't even know. Yikes. Cassidy hesitated, her tongue flickering, then approached the table. "Um. Can I join you?" The Dude XD The Dude pulled up a chair and sat down by Greer, stretching out his legs. He was not wearing shoes and the oversized feet flopped strangely in the air when he moved. "Hey Greer" - he winked at her, then grinned charmingly at the blush. Did Greer actually have a thing for him? Nah ... it had to have been the alcohol ... then again ... hmmmmmmmmm .... Still distracted, he turned to Amaya who had just gotten the low down. The new teenager seemed to be taking it ... alright. Which was great! Maybe that is why Moreau seemed to be concentrating on teenagers nowdays - they seemed to have less to loose and tolerated the news much better. He just listened to her and Hargun talk, not wanting to add fuel to the barely smoldering fire. When Cassidy showed up, the Dude waved at her as well: "Yo! Come, come!" With his right hand he pulled up another chair from a neighboring table. She looked okey, not too shy anymore. It'd be intersting to find out whether Vasile had much luck with her. And then there was the Karma situation ... Captain Morgan tolerated a pat or two from Greer and Amaya and jumped onto the table to investigate the steak business. Unfortunately, by the time he got that far, Greer had eaten it all. Greedy! Disgruntled, he stretched out on the table in front of everybody and gave the humans an evil eye, hoping that would frighten them into feeding him something good. Greer Cassenwari Using her hunger as an ecuse to hide her reaction to the wink, Greer leapt up, got another steak, and sat back down again. Chopping a fourth of it up into small pieces, she piled them on the table in front of the minature tiger, hoping appeasement would keep him from thinking about eating her cricket again. "Hello Cassidy! How are you?" She smiled at the newly arrive, partially changed woman, glad to have yet another partial ally. Hargun and Amaya's reactions had been rather... unsettling. Amaya Vaughan "Well, I didn't really have many dreams or anything back home to begin with... so I guess this doesn't bother me as much as it should." She moved her coffee cup back and forth, not really feeling up to drinking any more of it. "Though what makes me mad is that I was lied to. I mean, that doctor guy creeped me out but I just thought it was that... natural scared of doctors thing." Amaya made a weird hand gesture to emphasis her point. "Thorn lied to me too which makes me kinda mad... but what pisses-"
She visually flinched, catching herself too late. "-... ANGERS me is all this lying stuff. I mean... he couldn't have gotten ALL of you with the lie he told me. Your too old... No offense." She held up a hand to the group who had gathered around the table, but refrained herself from diving into the reason she had been dragged here. There was no reason for the entire party to start pittying her for something that was over and done with. Amaya glanced up at Cassidy then looked away again to keep herself from stareing. They were all probably feeling pretty self-conscience without her gawking. "And... sorry about all the stareing. Couldn't help it." Green eyes went back down to the mug as she twirled it about on the table, looking up at the large fluffy cat every now and then but refusing the urge to grab it and squeeze it like some living security blanket. Hargun Hargun snorted. Too old? she shouted in her head, but just maintained a straight face. "Ugh.. yea. We've complained about that factor of his actions a lot.. or I have at least. Dont really doubt anyone else here hasnt." she said and shook her head then looked to Cassidy. Because she hadnt met her before the scales and tounge didnt exactly cause her to jump... she was starting to feel guilty for inspecting Greer.. just natural of her to be interested in whats happening to her friends. She waved slightly to the blonde-haired girl and took another bite of her sandwhich, unable to swallow from a chain of yawns following. "Oh my WORD. Why am I so freaking tired!" she accidentally thought outloud, then glanced around and went back to her food, wiping her face with her napkin and fiddling around the leftovers on the plate with her fork while watching Greer and Capt. Morgan. Cassidy Smith Cassidy was already carefully cutting her steak up into bite-sized peieces; she couldn't look up. There was too much shock in the eyes of these two new people--at least, that's what it seemed like to her. "I miss my family, and my books, and snow. And ice cream." She sighed. "But, really. I don't know what they told you, but I came here for a job. At a hotel. And I was dumb, and believed them, and even when it turned out that there was no hotel, it was all just a... a... a misunderstanding," her mouth twisted, "I let them inject me and settled in just fine." She took a piece of meat on her fork, popped it in her mouth, chewed two or three times and swallowed it mostly whole. Stupid new teeth. The Dude XD When Greer arrived with the steaks the Captain was pleased. Finally, a human who knew how to treat him with respect. Greer was added to the very short list of tolerable humans along with the Dude (sometimes) and the lunch lady (oh my love!). He chowed down, growling threateningly to himself as he gorged on meat. Meanwhile, the Dude was distracted listening to Amaya. Hey, go girl. Now that was a very fatalistic take on the situation. That Moreau guy sure knew whom to pick for his projects. Well, at least he was getting better at it, the Dude corrected himself, remembering Ambrose. Poor guy, he seemed to be the one most screwed over by the situation ... him and Vasile ... but somehow, the Dude wasn't feeling all too sorry for the silver screen siren. "Well, Amaya, he fed all of us various lies, some better and some worse. It's not hard to lie well to people if you know which buttons to push. And the folks from Feral Labs did their homework on all of us. Well, except me and Emelyn. We are kinda freebies on this island - shipwrecked after a storm. And ya know, one should never give up hope. Life has a way of turning out alright in the end. And ya know ... one adjusts." He looked at his flippers and smiled back at Amaya: "Like, I get to swim so much better now, ya know? I"m the Dude by the by. That's what people call me. And I am turning into a sea lion" - he introduced himself. Greer Cassenwari Greer gave Cassidy a sympathetic look and them smiled at the table. "I thought I was coming to be a field entomologist. This was not true, but I've managed to become my own one-woman bug studying team on the island anyway, so it's worked out." Swallowing the last of her steak, she frowned at the feathers on her hands, speaking to no one in particular. "You don't think my hands will become wings, do you? Cause that would be bad." Amaya Vaughan Amaya blinked and looked over at Hargun. She was about to say 'then get some sleep' but stopped herself. That was mean and too obvious. She listened to all the stories on how each person had winded up on the island. Jeeze, Moreau was... to put it simply, a dickhead. As she listened to Dude she nodded in complete agreement. "Exactly. This is just one more thing that I'll force myself through. I mean... NOTHING is perfect so their has to be SOME way off the island, right? It'll just take some time and a lot of thinking." She gave a shrug. Be positive. Positive was good.
Amaya smiled at the Dude and nodded to everyone. "Names Amaya, by the way. He raked me in by telling me this was some kinda resort thingy for older orphaned teenagers. When I saw Thorn it didn't exactly make me suspicious if y'know what I mean." She frowned and sat back, her gloved hands idly fiddling with her locket. "So uh..." The young girl wondered for a moment if it was a touchy subject to ask, but Dude seemed open enough about it. "Do you all know what your turning into 'n stuff?" Hargun Hargun looked nervous to what Greer said. What if she too was turning into a bird or something that wouldnt have the use of hands? Then how could she draw? No way.. Moreau's mean but as Lauren said hes somewhat a nice guy.. he wouldnt have given me something winged. Wait.. unless Aubrey.. did... she thought nervously and shook her head. She sat back and slid her tray foward. She didnt finish everything on there like she thought she would. Looking to Amaya she shrugged. "Id LIKE to know.. desprately. " sighing she smiled slightly to everyone. They were turning out to be pretty interesting creatures, but who knew if shed be the first freaky or odd-like animal. "I just hope I dont turn into something that will cause conflict among us all." drifting off a bit she laughed to herself. "Maybe Im turning into a sloth.. hence my exhaustion.." Cassidy Smith "I haven't asked." Cassidy made a face. "Some sort of snake. I dunno what else has a forked tongue, anyway." She stared down into her supper. "I really, really, really hate snakes. I wonder if I'm going to be poisonous. And... wings! I don't even know what's going to happen to my arms and legs." She grimaced. How would she hold up her books? The Dude XD ((sorry ran out didn't expect to take so long ^_^)) The Dude turned to Greer: "Hm ... that's a good question. My arms are turning into flippers, just like a sea lion's but it look like I get to keep my thumb and index finger. Maybe if your amrs turn into wings you'll get to keep some of the digets as well?" Greer Cassenwari She nodded at her friend. "I hope you're right." Turning to the artist, she spoke. "You know Hargun, you could just be sliding towards nocturnal. Plenty of animals don't come out during the day." Giving the girl a smile and a pat on the hand, Greer stood and bussed her tray. Returning to the table to give them all a smile, the Captain a pat, and the Dude a shy wink. "Bye all!" She called, striding back to her room to gear up for another exciting day chasing bugs. Despite the feathers, this was the life. Amaya Vaughan She shuddered at the thought of turning into something she hated. Like a monkey... or something. Though she had to admit their were few animals she didn't like. "I think I'm too much of a chicken to really ask..." Amaya looked back down at her coffee cup and took a sip, cringing as cold liquid touched her lips. With a frown she set her cup back down on the table, feeling incredibly bad for Cassidy. Turning into something you feared? That'd give her nightmares... She looked up once Greer stood and forced a smile before giving a slight wave. "Bye-bye Greer, it was nice meeting you." Her legs started to swing back and forth, barely touching the ground in her chair out of nervous habbit. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose was just heading towards the cafeteria as he spotted Greer making an exit. He was dressed nicely, wearing some clean long khaki pants and a polo shirt, long since given up trying to hide his features, although his hair was very neatly brushed and slicked back, and even the fur on the backs of his neck, down his jawline, and over his arms seemed shiny and healthy. He gave her a friendly wave and headed in, and nearly coughed at seeing the cafeteria at the fullest he'd ever seen it. Including a completely new face - a young dark-haired girl who looked to be barely a teenager. he shook his head in incredulity. However, before he went to go sit with them, his stomach forcefully reminded him of his primary reason for coming, and took him directly to the food line where he was met with the glorious sight of... steaks... rare steaks. His hands were on the tongs before he could even finish calculating, adding two... three... four.. and finally five of them onto the plate on his tray before he headed over and set his tray down near the Dude, Cassidy, Hargun, and the other girl. He smiled to his friends and assumed that given the girl's company that she knew the ropes. "Good afternoon." He smiled pleasantly to the company. After sating himself with at least a preliminary slice of the food, and swallowing, he extended his hand to Amaya. "I don't believe we've met yet. My name is Ambrose." He said with a practiced aire. "Seems that new people are showing up every day..." he added, a little hesitant. Vasile DiRossi Vasile was going mad from boredom. The beach was great and all, but he was getting lonely. He hadn't seen Karma or Cass around, and he hadn't heard anything from Cass in regard to the note he sent her. Finally, he decided he had gotten hungry enough to justify going to the cafeteria. Tucking Brutus under his arm, he headed into the cafeteria, looking to surprised to see it rather full. Timothy Matthews Timothy heard the door above him shut and someone walk down the stairs. He decided to peek out the door and saw Vasile walking toward the cafeteria. Timothy felt weird, he didn't want to be a stalker or anything but he was rather bored himself, and food did sound good. Quickly getting dressed in something a bit nicer he headed out towards the cafeteria hoping to maybe talk to Vasile and hang out. While getting something to eat of course. Hargun Hargun smiled at Greer. "Thanks. That helps. I kinda figured because Im usually in bed really early in the afternoon." Waving as Greer left she looked to Amaya. "I dont really get the time to ask.. the last time I saw Moreau we were all there and he was NOT in a good mood. But oh well... Ill find out later anyways." She smiled as she saw Ambrose come in. "Hey Ambrose. Hows it going?" Good lord.. theyre just appearing from no where! she thought as she saw a new man enter with an adorable dog in his arms, then spotted Timothy and shouted out. "Hey Timothy! Woah-" she noticed he changed as well. And at that moment a very odd feeling fell over her.. he arrived with her yet he's also recieved his second injection. The slight feeling of being left behind or struggling to catch up seemed to fit better.. out of most of her friends now she was the only one who hadnt changed yet. Is that a good thing? she asked herself. The Dude XD Okey. Greer WAS trying to flirt with him. Awkwardly, but persistently. WOW. As the befeathered entomologist made her exit, the Dude followed her with his eyes, processing this sudden realization. Well, she WAS cute ... in awkward geek kinda way. Adorably Vilma-esque ... but why would Greer have a crush on him?! ... he wasn't even smart. Really not the type he'd think Greer would go for. This was all very new and unexpected. But the Dude grinned nonetheless. It felt nice to be liked. And winked at. Then Ambrose entered and he waved to his buddy as a greeting, trying to act casual about all this. A bit belatedly, the Dude responded to the others. "Sorry, zoned out. Good to meet you, Amaya. So ... you are an orphan, huh? Man, Moreau knows how to pick people that will not be missed all that much ... b*****d." - he nodded at her and petted Captain Morgan on the back. The cat stretched blissfully and closed his eyes to snooze, enjoying the love. He wouldn't even mind if people other then the Dude would give him a pet or two. As long as they were respectful about it. "Well, there are ways of this island, I am sure, but we have been told that if we leave before completing the full series of injections, we will die of cancer shortly there after. So that effectively prevents escape attempts for now." - the Dude added to Amaya. Then Vasile and Timmy showed up. Captain Morgan, who was comfortably stretched out on the table, opened one of his evil eyes and looked lazily at the newcomers. Oh ... looky there ... entertainment has arrived! He gave Brutus a look with enough vile attitude to make a New York rat have a heart attack.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 7:08 pm
Huge Group in the CafeteriaPart 2Amaya Vaughan Amaya smiled and shook the hand Ambrose offered. He didn't look as... different as the others, though she could tell her was one of the ones who had started to change or whatever. Her handshake was surprisingly strong despite how little she was, a trait she had picked up from her father. "Heya Ambrose, nice ta meet ya. My names Amaya and... yeah, I just arrived yesterday about." She then looked over at Hargun and thought for a moment. "Well... what about those call buttons in the rooms? Thorn told me that if you press 0 you get help or something." She made the same weird hand gesture as before to emphasis her point.
"Cancer? ... Jeeze..." Amaya lowered her head, feeling bad for everyone almost now. Now what? She sighed and frowned before her attention went over to the door. "Doggie!" The frown immediantly vanished at the sight of the tiny dog in the man's arms. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose looked over as the Cafeteria remarkably began to fill up even more as two other familiar faces entered. He nodded pleasantly to Timothy and Vasile, still looking a bit sheepishly towards Vasile. "Amaya. It's nice to meet you" his handshake was firm - but not deathgrip - in return. "Well, nice as I suppose it can be considering the situation" he gave a halfsmile as he overheard the Dude's summary of her situation. "Orphan...? So you were adopted here..?" That certainly fixed her here. No one to come looking for her either. They were getting resourceful, and careful it seemed not to retrace any steps. But unlike Colche, she seemed rather perky and well-adjusted. He nodded at her question. "Yes, you can press 0 to get a hold of one of the staff at the lab... unless you irritate them and they disable that" he added as a grumbling after affect. At Amaya's call of "dog!" Ambrose nearly coughed on his steak, thinking that she was referring to him at first until he looked back following her eyes and spotted Brutus. "Oh! That!" Ambrose spluttered in relief. Vasile DiRossi Brutus licked in Amaya's general direction eagerly, his little tail stub wagging. Vasile gave a dashing, but innocently charming smile. Brutus wiggled to get out of his grasp, but then his ears shot upwards as a scent wafted across his nose and he almost wet himself. He wiggled out of his master's arms and went bee-lining towards the door.
"Brutus what's gotten into you?" Vasile asked before he spotted the red cat. "Oh." He flattened his gaze over at the Dude and his cat.
But then is struck him. Who were a few of these new people. They weren't in the script. Make up crew?? No, that would be too good to be true, and this little girl was definately not ex-CIA. "Vasile DiRossi," he said, holding out his hand to her.
He gave a nod to Ambrose, and then his eyes widened as he saw Tim. "Oh.. Timmy. I've never seen you with your make up on.. thats, uh...interesting." Timothy Matthews "Ahhhh... Vasile ummm..." Timothy was about to point out that it wasn't make up, but he really didn't want to argue with Vasile about this. "Thanks" he said flately and stood by the tables. "Hi, don't think I know you all here, I'm Timothy Matthews, I'm a musician. Sort of." Timothy rubbed the back of his neck and watched the cat and brutus. All these people, it really made him nervous which caused some kind of... a feeling inside him. It was like something was tensing up, since he realized he was a skunk he didn't even want to think about it. He walked up and noticed that they had some seafood. He looked over the food they had and noticed the shrimp, the small little pieces of meat looked extremely appitizing just laying there, all lined out. He served himself while everyone else chatted. Hargun Replying to what was talked about with the phone dialing and all she gave a nervous grin. "Well I didnt remember about those.. Ill remind myself to talk.. er try to contact Moreau later." Hargun raised an eyebrow towards Vasile as he mentioned Timothy wearing makeup. Whats with him? Thats obviously not makeup..She watched Brutus and looked down at her pushed aside tray, picked it up and walked over to the trash bin to throw everything away. When she came back she leaned her head over on the table and closed her eyes. "Mm.. Im just gonna rest my head a little bit guys, if you dont mind. Ill still listen though.. Im just so tired." The Dude XD As his prey fled even before he could really start hunting, the Captain debated giving chase. Briefly. But he was being petted over here, and he really did just devour two steaks all by his lonesome. Chasing a dog, no matter how entertaining, was just not wise at this moment. The red cat yawned widely, showing off his yellowing fangs and went back to dozing. Meanwhile, the Dude watched Vasile compliment Timmy on his "make up". O-key ... did no one fill him in yet? GAWD. It's been, like, a week by now? And yet Vasile seemed to be still under impression that this was all a movie in which he was the hero. Hey ... whatever works ... So Timmy was a skunk, huh? Man, better either stay on his good side or very far away. A skunk was nothing to joke about, especially a human sized skunk. Talk about a big stink ... He grinned to himself, imagining a vivid picture of Moreau's death by Timmy's powerful glands. Oh, that'd be morbidly kickass. Maybe he should talk about that possibility with Timmy sometime ... it had merit. "Hey Timothy! Looking good in black and white, man!" - still smiling to himself, the Dude nodded to both Vasile and Timothy and went back to scratched his cat behind the ears. Ian Campbell Ian moved to the side as he entered the cafeteria and saw a dog rocketing towards him. "What the...." he muttered "What's a dog doing here..." Looking up from the animal he spotted a rather large-ish group of people. Among them were only two people he had met, the Dude and Hargun. Wandering over nervously he smiled slightly. "Hi. Um..." He had spotted Ambrose, wondering what the man had thought about his abrupt departure the last time they had seen each other. "Mind if I join you?" he asked, "I'm Ian." He looked around and saw how many people had started to change....how long until he too would. As his gaze wandered over the faces of the people, he couldn't help but think about how long before they all changed. Amaya Vaughan "Yeah, guess you could say that. This was supossed to be a little get-away for orphaned teenagers." Amaya jumped at Ambrose's sudden coughing fit, eyes wide. "Oh god, sorry." She laughed nervously and started to swing her feet again. Blinking, she watched the tiny dog scramble and frowned, slumping into her chair. "Awwww..." She wanted to cuddle it... Amaya turned and reached up to shake Vasile's hand, but stopped and looked directly into his eyes. "Vasile... DiRossi...?" She blinked a few more times before having an epiphany. "Hey! Your an actor, right?" Queen of obvious, thy name is Amaya. "But... why're you here?" The young girl stared up at him, rather shocked to find someone so well-known.
"Wait, make-up? What?" She raised a brow and looked to Ambrose and the Dude, utterly confused. "And uh, heya Timothy." She gave a slight wave, wiggling in her seat. GOD THE CONFUSION. Amaya looked back over to Hargun. "... You should really go sleep if your that tired." Subconciously a gloved hand reached over to the large fluffy lump on the table and scratched it between his ears, having forgotten all the nasty glares it had been giving everyone and everything. Hearing someone new, she turned around and gave a wave up to Ian. "Heya Ian, names Amaya. Got here about yesterday." She held her free hand out to him. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose blinked as the cafeteria began to get even MORE crowded. Had someone turned on a magnet or something? He looked to Timothy again and did a double take. He ... had started to change as well. Black and white fur was sprouting from various locations of his body, and his ears had grown and rounded. Something in the back of his mind prodded the word "skunk" at him, and Ambrose shifted nervously, once again feeling slightly better at the doctor's choice of his own animal. "Timothy... I'm sorry.." he began, patting the man on the shoulder. He looked incredulously to Vasile, but merely shook his head. Ambrose looked over to Ian as he approached, recognizing one of teh people who had fled at his arrival in to the cafeteria the other day. He had found out later from Colche that he hadn't really scared her off... but what about him? And with the present company also sprouting fur or flippers and Ian's... arrival and not departure... perhaps he had left for another reason as well..? Ambrose reached out to shake Ian's hand. Even though Ambrose was well practiced in teh proper way to introduce himself, with Ian his handshake was a bit hesitant, not quite as confident and strong. "Ian... yes - I remember you from the other day... I had thought that I frightened you off. You left before you could give me your name." Ambrose glanced over to Amaya again as she gushed over the movie star. It certainly was an ecclectic group of people.... he glaned around the table... perhaps the closest thing to a family he'd have here... the people he'd be sharing the rest of his life with...? Vasile DiRossi Vasile scrated the back of his head. All these people were doing the whole "but its not makeup" bit. Oh boy... not this. This made in very uncomfortable. A dread in the pit of his stomach. But he refused to believe it. This was definately some weird candid camera Big Brother Suvivor Surreal life thing, or something, and he wasn't going to be played the fool.
"I'm just here on vacation," he finally said to the young woman. Whatever. He didn't want to argue with another woman abuot the whole acting campt thing. Looking very uneasy and uncomfortable in a large group of people that all were alittle off their rockers, Vasile headed towards the food display. Timothy Matthews Timothy got an entire plate of shrimp and sat down, he then sat there and begin to munch them one by one. It felt right for some reason. After he realized what he was doing he looked back up, hearing everyone and feeling Ambrose's pat. "Thanks Dude, Ambrose. It's a little weird but I'll adjust." Timothy shrugged, he really wasn't that well off on it but he didn't want to sound that... cowardly in front of Vasile. Timothy nodded to Ian, the new commer. He hadn't met him before either. He sort of saw a similarity between himself and this guy, well he would have if he wasn't sprouting fur. "I'm just here to eat and chit chat, don't mind me." Hargun Hargun grumbled at Amaya with her head still flat on the table. "Whats it look like Im trying to do right now?" she made a snorting noise, obviously a lazy laugh and murmered. "Im eating the table, cant you tell.." she said sarcastically. Apon hearing Vasile's name quite a few times she finally realized a celebrity was here on the island. Though she wasnt really a fan of his and didnt know about him THAT much.. just his name, she looked up, her hair stringling in her eyes and glanced at him and put her head back down. "Heya Ian." she said, and tried to lift her hand up to make a small wave. She turned a bit and looked at Timothy's plate for a sec, just curious if he had developed some odd appetite like some of the others did. The Dude XD The Dude stood up and followed after Vasile, leaving the Captain in Amaya's capable hands. The kitty was actually purring. Granted it still sounded rather like a growl, but whatever that girl was doing, the Captain aproved. "So hey, Vasile, how's your script studying going?" - he grinned at the actor, and picked up a plate. With a nonchalant expression he began piling shrimp onto his plate ... one dozen ... two dozen ... three ... Lowering his voice to a very private whisper, he added: "Heard you've been practicing love scenes on a good friend of mine here ... just a friendly advice - you brag to anyone about that and I tell Cass. And I'd say some flowers and a sweet sentimental apology letter is also in order. What do you think?" He quirked his eyebrow at Vasile and put a shrimp into his mouth, swallowing it without chewing. Ian Campbell Ian nodded at Amaya's introduction and after shaking Ambrose's hand, shook hers. "Arrived yesterday huh?" Ian said to Amaya. "Heh, always trying to get more people....acting like there's not enough of us as is." Ian turned to Ambrose. "Ambrose wasn't it? Sorry for bailing on you, but after the other girl fled, and I having scared away all the other people I've met on the island...I was having problems with coping." He rubbed a hand on the back of his neck in a nervous gesture. "Yeah, sorry 'bout that." Ian sighed as he glanced around looking at those who said hi when his gaze came across Timothy. With the exception of the white in his hair and the fur, he could have passed as a twin brother to his own little brother back in the states. "Hmm, Timothy.....did you know - wait of course you wouldn't know...I'm such an idiot. But you resemble my little brother. He'd be about your age I think....." Ian halted he was rambling, excessively. Turning slightly red Ian moved towards the food table mumbling a quick "hello" to Hargun Amaya Vaughan Amaya stared at Vasile like HE was the one with flippers and watched him walk over to get some food. "... Has... anyone told 'im? And why is he here? Is this some movie or some-GOD I'M CONFUSED!" Gloved hands shot up to grab her head before a loud thud echoed once her cranium made contact with the table and stayed there. "... Ow. That wasn't something smart to do."
Gradually, she turned her head to look at Hargun through her mess of raven locks. "I mean in a BED not on a table. Though the table does taste pretty good, doesn't it?" She gave a snort and went back to stareing at it. "Scrumtious." It was then that she realized her hand wasn't touching red fur anymore. A gloved hand rose from her lap and scurried over much like Thing from the Adam's Family so she could continue to scratch the Cap'n between his ears. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose had paused in his conversation to wolf through a good portion of the steaks he had brought with him to the table. Although, while he was eating them quite quickly, he did have good manners in his defense. He chewed quickly with his mouth closed, and sliced them with his knife pre-eating. Finally, taking a break, he spoke up again. "That's ironic, Ian." He began . "And here I thought my apperance was the cause for yours and Colche's departure. Perhaps there have been a series of miscommunications." Ambrose watched the Dude go speak with Vasile and turned his attention back to the people he was less familiar with. He shook his head sadly at Amaya. "Everyone here was given a different... er... cover story." He kept his voice down, careful not to speak loud enough to catch Vasile's attention who was already distracted by the Dude. "His was just more.. well... watertight than most peoples'. Probably because the Doctor doesn't want to deal with him when he DOES find out any sooner than he needs to. His thoughts lingered on her, and, to be honest, he was glad that at least he didn't have to break the news to her. "I'm sorry.... I don't know what things were like for you before you came here... but I DO hope that it won't be that bad for you here. I really want to believe that they're starting to think more about who they bring - people who don't have as much to lose back on the mainland.... unlike Hargun and Timothy and Vasile and me." She looked so young, too... had her whole life ahead of her. Even if she was an orphan. So many dependent people here... Colche... perhaps her... then again - youth didn't necessarily mean she couldn't take care of herself. "Thorn" seemed the perfect example of bullheaded independence in someone so young. "Well.... if you need anything... don't hesitate to ask -" He gave her a smile. "your resident wolfman." He said jokingly with an odd mix of bitterness and sarcasm thrown in. "And good luck, Timothy.... it... to be honest.... isn't something exactly simple to adjust to." He sighed, taking a consoling bite of meat. Vasile DiRossi Vasile looked in digust at all the shrimp he piled on his plate, and he suddenly wished he hadn't grabbed the few he did. But then he composed himself and put on a very smug smile and looked straiht up at the Dude. "Brag?" he asked, mocking insult. "Come now. For one, if you've heard abuot that then it isn't me you should worry about kissing and telling." He moved down the line, but stayed close enough to Dude so he could hear without raising his voice. "Anyway, I don't need to brag. I'm confident in my abilities in a lover, and unlike some men," he stopped to give an accusatory glare to Dude, "I don't need to brag to reassure myself of my sexual mastery." That was partially true at least. It's bad publicity to go around and brag about the women that you've slept with. And being he was a famous movie star, it was the women who did most of the bragging. Vasile continued, "as for an apology, I don't think thats necessary. I didn't do anything to her that she wasn't positively begging for by the end of it. I had fun. She had fun. And we went our seperate ways. She gave no indication she wanted me to stick around and complicate things." Vasile glaced back over the dude and popped a grape in his mouth from the fruit bar. "You think you have me all figured out don't you? Just because I enjoy sex, and have proven myself a capable lover doesn't mean I view women as mindless little toys." He paused, watching his expression. "That's what you thought, isn't it? To be honest the woman in question proved herself to be very intelligent and engaging. In addition to being absolutely dynamite in bed, in case you're wondering." He grinned. "But just because I don't want to wisk off and elope every woman I enjoy having a little fun with doesn't mean I don't value them as human being." Vasile sneered and spun around on his heel. "Anyway," he said over his shoulder. "At the very least maybe now you won't think me to a f**, eh?" He ran a hair through his hair flippantly and strode out of the cafeteria, waving to the Dude with a smile and twirl as if they had just had a brotherly jest. Timothy Matthews Timothy noticed Vasile go as he was finishing his plate of shrimp which he'd... quite frankly devoured. Strangely enough, some new basic instinct of his felt like he thought they were going to move any second. He watched Vasile go, feeling foolish and sort of upset. But he was full now. "Hey, you didn't have to be so rude." "Anyway everyone, it was nice meeting you but I'm gonna go as well. Work on my music for bit. I hope you understand..." Timothy trailed off and when Vasile was safetly at a distance he jetted out too. Hargun Hargun laughed at Amaya's comment about the table. "Its truly is much better than the other food here." she lifted her head up once more and yawned a very heavy yawn and scratched her tummy. "Well, I hate to join the bandwagon guys, but Im gonna go home and take a well needed nap." she said, stretching and getting up out of her chair. It suprised her how she casually mentioned her duplex as /home/. One could hardly call a hotel/apartment sized room a home. Either that or she was just too used to living in a normal house. She patted Amaya on the back before leaving, and tried to sound as reassuring as she could. "I was confused at first too.. then depressed... then just.. here. Youll get used to it and we're all here with yah so.. GOODNIGHT EVERYONE.." she said, slumping out into the sunlight and wincing at its brightness as she walked out towards the duplexes. (wrapped for me) The Dude XD The Dude listened to Vasile's tirade calmly. All the snide remarks and cheap stabs amused him. He just kept eating the shrimp in front of Vasile, being pretty gross about it on purpose. His sense of taste has considerably weakened since the injection, he noticed. Normally this amount of raw shrimp would have caused a gag reflex even in him. But when the primadona strutted out of the cafeteria without even giving him the chance to respond, he tensed up. Setting the plate down, he followed Vasile out, catching up with him right outside the cafeteria. "Hold up here, Vasile. First of all - I didn't needed those details. I kinda consider her my little sister, and while it's nice to know she's dynamite in bed, she was not all too dynamite when she came to talk to me about all this, superstar. But hey, as long as you are not gonna brag, good by me." - he was keeping his voice down still, to keep the conversation private. "And I suppose you a right. Flowers might be a bit overkill. She doesn't really want to see your face any longer, to be honest. I just thought that a few orchids might, ya know ... sway her opinion of you? Make you appear less like a pompous d**k? Your pick, really. You'll be seeing all of us for a while, boy. Better start thinking about not making enemies ..." At that moment Hargun and Timothy had walked out of the cafeteria after them as well, so the Dude stopped talking. Ian Campbell Ian watched as many of the people left the cafeteria. Grabbing some food he sat down at the seat Hargun had vacated and began to eat, pausing every so often to speak with Ambrose. "It seems this entire island is a cancerous mass of miscommunication." Now how did he know such refined words? He had never used the word cancerous in civilized conversation before in his life. "Everyone being told something different, and then there are the people who cannot seem to understand what is happening." Ian looked at his plate thinking. "Even if everyone did understand though, they would still possibly refuse to accept it. Such is the way of people." Amaya Vaughan "Ohhhh, I see." Amaya finally peeled her head off the table and folded an arm under her chin to rest on it as she pet Captain Morgan with her other hand. "I'm not missing much. I stayed at the orphanage for almost three years after my gran'ma passed on. People don't exactly want a 15 year old kid who's just gonna grow up and leave soon anyway, y'know?" She turned her head so she could lay it sideways and look up at him, smiling. "Thanks... I'm just glad I'm not the only one here or something." The young girl paused, frowning for but a moment. "I just really don't like being alone. Not having any family or friends or anything. Kinda makes me like it here, despite the 'Doctor Dolittle gone crazy' thing." She then quickly added: "Though it's not like I'm just gonna roll over for him or anything. You still have family back home, so I'll try my best to get you back there. Pops would want me to try and fight back, no matter how subtle it may be." An almost forced laugh escaped her lips as she looked back over to the Captain.
Bright green eyes trailed Vasile as he left, then went to Timothy as he got up. "See ya Timothy, nice meeting you." She gave a slight wave before letting her arm flop back onto the table so she could resume scratching the large fluffy cat. "Oh yes." Amaya smiled at Hargun, liking the girl who seemed to fall around her age. That was nice, least she might NOT be the youngest one here. Absently, she wondered how old she really was but didn't get time to ask as the red-head stood up and patted her on the back. "See ya Hargun and thanks." Her hand rose once more and haved before flopping back down. Ah, petting a cat. One of lifes most simple pleasures.
It was then that she realized she had been the only one who didn't get anything to eat. Feeling awkward she stood and bussed the cup off coffee that had long since gone cold. After silently grabbing merely an apple and a can of Pepsi she returned to her seat and set the apple down as she opened up her soda. For some reason she had never been one for sitting down and eating a large meal, only taking snacks throughout the day when she started to get a little hungry. Amaya then noticed Vasile and Dude kinda of... skidaddle at the same time and as she looked at the door she asked Ambrose and Ian almost in a whisper; "Hey... is something going on with Mister Dude and Vasile?" Green gaze looked back to them, a little worried. Oh god, what if they were having a fight? Vasile DiRossi ((sorry if its out of order, I've got to leave soon and its just between Dude and Vasile anyway))/ Vasile turned around and glared. "Well if she was having morning-after remorse, Mr. Dude, then she certainly didn't feel the need to say so to me at the time. And she certainly wasn't uncomfortable with what we were doign the night before. If she has a problem with me, she could be coming to me, not whining to you. She's a big girl, who can make her own decisions."
Vasile started to walk away, then turned around. "Perhaps I'll leave her a note if its bothering her so bad. But don't forget, sir, in your rush to hate me that it takes two to do the nasty."The Dude XD There were people around now and he was not comfortable to discuss the issue any further. He already said too much anyway. Gah, this man was annoying ... be cool, Dude. Be cool. Giving him a black eye will not solve anything here. Why did he even bother to talk to this twerp? "You know what, buddy? Forget I said anything. Just ... forget it." - the Dude sighed. "We'll talk once you get your second injection, Don Juan." He was not stopping Vasile any longer, instead, he turned around and trotted off down the path towards the beach. Man, a swim sounded very nice right about now. (And I am out as well. Good night everyone! Thanks Vasile for sticking around.) Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose waved to Hargun. "Take care, and go get some rest. You look like you could use it." He turned his attention back to Ian after he finished his steak. "Unfortunately it does appear so..." he sighed. "And I'm having a hard enough time accepting it myself. I don't want to, dammit... I can't accept that this is IT. Even the... furriness aside, stuck here..." he shook his head and looked to the young girl. "Being alone is hard..." He moved his fork around on the empty plate. "And that's really brave of you. I... I do have a family back home - and a wonderful girlfriend... But you shouldn't have to worry about me. Althought I'm glad to hear that at least maybe you can make the best of this... but still, none of us should have to be here. None of us should be forced to stay here and participate in this science experiment gone horrribly awry for the rest of our lives." Ambrose stifled a yawn. "I should probably head back to my room as well. Eating tends to make me sleepy.... He nodded to them and stood up. "I wish you the best - all three of you. And I'm easy to find if you have any questions or learn anything significant." With a small wave Ambrose bussed his tray and headed out the door, back to his duplex for a nice post-meal nap. ((Ambrose... signing off. Early classes in the morrow)) Ian Campbell Ian waved farewell as Ambrose left and finished his meal. As he took care of his plate he turned to Amaya. "Take care of yourself, don't let yourself be fooled by anything here. Demons lurk" Now what had inspired him to say that bit? To avoid further embarassment Ian quickly dismissed himself "Really sorry....urgent necessity. Must go.." CLutching his stomach for added effect to the falsehood Ian ran fromthe cafeteria. Amaya Vaughan Amaya had taken a bite out of her apple as she listened to Ambrose. He was right, none of them really deserved this. She swallowed what was in her mouth and waved as he headed out. "See ya Ambrose!" He was pretty nice... all the people here seemed to be pretty nice, actually. The thought of FOREVER on the Island still haden't sunk in yet, probably wouldn't for at least a few months. "Gotcha." She gave a thumbs up and a quick 'see-ya' to Ian as he left.
There she was in the cafeteria alone again. Oy.
... Eh, oh well. Time to explore a bit. After finishing her apple she snatched her soda and headed back to her duplex to grab a few things.((Marker! *clicks little movie thingy* :B ))
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 7:19 pm
AIM RP
Cassidy picked her way over the driftwood on the beach, juggling her book and her mug of lukewarm tea. With any luck, the weather would hold, it'd be nice and warm, and she could spend the afternoon sunning on the sand and reading as though nothing whatever were wrong. She knew she was being avoidant, but... this was just so much easier. And more pleasant.
She perched herself on a likely bit of bleached wood, and settled herself down.
Vasile spotted Cassidy heading towards the beach as he was finishing taking a swim. He held back at first, watching her to see if she was going to stick around. Noticing her settling down to read, Vasile quickly towel-dried his hair and pulled he towel around his neck. He headed over to her, giving a friendly wave. "Hey Cass," he offered as he got closer, so she would look up from her reading.
Cassidy looked up. Oh, great. Well, at least he didn't seem about to chew her out for being "in character." Maybe someone had even been able to get through to him. No reading right now, though. She put her bookmark in and set the novel aside. "Hi, Vasile. Is the water nice?"
You know, other than the possibility of jellyfish, or crabs, or lobsters, or other gross things.
She took a sip of tea and carefully balanced it on the wood beside her, before drawing her knees up to rest her chin on.
"Yeah, the water's great," he said, trying to make his way over the driftwood as gracefully as possible. "You should try it out?"
Vasile sat on the ground near her. "Hey, look, I'm sorry things went sour last time we talked. I was just having a really good time with you, and then everything just kind of fell apart."
"Maybe later. The water's a bit cold for me." She grimaced; a swim actually sounded pretty good, despite the icky things. "Maybe if it gets warmer." It was very strange to hear herself say that; she'd barely been able to stand the heat when she arrived. "But... uh. Don't worry about last time. I suppose you still think I'm lying about the whole thing. But whatever. I suppose that's your right."
That didn't come out nearly as diplomatic as she wanted it to.
Vasile sighed. "I didn't say you were... lying. I just didn't expect people to react to this place like they did. Are. Whatever." Vasile looked off into the distance. He seemed distinctly uncomfortable. "I've never been anywhere like this, and I guess I just don't know to handle myself."
Cassidy peered at him, trying to figure out if he'd accepted the truth or not; she couldn't tell. Her tongue flickered. "Join the club. I know I'm not handling it well at all." She took another sip of tea, sighed miserably. "And I'm sorry about not getting back to you about your, uh, note. I really did mean to. But... well, I haven't done much of anything, over the past few days."
"Its okay." He peers back over at her, looking her over from head to toe. His brain tried to wrap around exactly what this would mean if her and the other were telling the truth. He had to repress a shudder.
But that was imposssible, he kept telling himself. And he would never admit to being fooled. Because even if he admitted to himself it was real, this would all turn out to be some elaborite Surreal Life or something,and he would forever be braded the most gulible man in Hollywood. And, well, if he admitted it and it turn out to be truth...
...no, that was silly. Impossible. Just impossible.
Vasile closed his eyes and tried to gather himself. He was thinking too much. This is why he paid people to do his worrying for him. "I'm sorry," he finally said, addressing Cass. "Anything I could do to make you feel better...?"
"Not unless you have the world's biggest pumice stone and a way off this rock." Cassidy stared at the scales on her hand. "But I suppose these things would just grow back. I guess I can't really blame you for not believing. I don't think I ever really believed until it happened to me. Not even when Ambrose sprouted fur." The fact that every single person seemed to have a clashing story hadn't helped. When everyone's been lied to... where do you find the truth?
With a great deal of difficulty, it seemed, until it grew through your skin.
Vasile swallowed. Ambrose had offered to let Vasile tug at the fur on his hand, but he refused. He wasn't sure if it was because he didn't want to look like a fool, or because he was too afraid to. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone.
Instead, Vasile reminded himself to focus on Cass. "They really don't look that bad, Cass. I wasn't lying when I said it makes you look distinct. And sexy in th dangerous way..."
"Sexy?!" Cassidy practically laughed. "Vasile, I have never, ever been called 'sexy' in my entire life. They may be wonderfully distinct, but I'm having nightmares from my own reflection. I hate snakes. I'm terrified of them. The thought of what I might turn into is... well... it's really almost more than I can stand." She shuddered involuntarily. "I covered up the mirror in my bathroom. I don't uncover it unless I absolutely have to... I'd trade with practically anyone on the island, I swear. Fur, or feathers, or anything. Just, not scales."
Vasile frowned. Well that backfired. "You don't have to be Cindy Crawford to be sexy, Cass," he said, trying to dig himself out of this hole. He didn't know what else to say, really. He wasn't particuarly fond of reptiles himself. So he fiured to just stick on the here and now. "I don't understand why you have nightmare. You really don't look scarey at all. You know some people would kill to have eyes like that. Seriously...I think you're being too hard on yourself." He reached over and attempted to place a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"I think I look scary. I'm an ophidiophobe's worst nightmare." Cass winced a little at his hand on her shoulder. She could never have brought herself to touch him, if the situation were reversed. "I could never even look at photos of snakes, let alone a real one. But, they do say that the best way to overcome a phobia is to deal with it directly. I guess that's what I'm doing, even if it's not out of choice. I'm not having a near heart attack looking at my arms anymore, anyway."
She took another sip of tea. "I'm sorry. I'm all over the place."
Vasile didn't know what an ophidiophobe was, but he was fairly certain from context clues it was someone who was afraid of snakes. "Don't apologize..." he started, not really knowing what to say. "I mean, I guess I would be handling it just as bad- if not worse - if the situation was reserved." He dug into the sand with his toe. "You should be allowed to express youself, I guess. I'm just saying, perhaps you could take a bit of comfort that even if you think you look hideous.. thats not what other people see."
Cassidy looked at him, cautious. "Thank you," she said, a little surprised. "That actually helps." Not a lot, true, but some. And any help at all was greatly appreciated.
Maybe Vasile wasn't so bad, after all.
"But I do hope that you get a good animal, anyway."
Vasile grinned widely, proud of himself. He didn't want to bring up to her that his script clearly stated he would be saving the Islanders before succumbing to the effects of the drug himself, but he figured that might seem like rubbing it in. So instead he just shrugged. "I guess what's considered a 'good' animal is highly based on opinion." He pondered this for a moment, but nothing really came to mind. He liked dogs the best, but only little ones, like Brutus. And he wouldn't want to become alittle min pin. "What would have you preferred, if you could have picked somehow?"
"I hadn't really thought of that too much." Cass pursed her lips, thoughtfully. "Some sort of bird, probably. I like birds." Lucky, lucky Greer. "Or something like a fox or dog or cat or something. Or a squirrel." Something cute and non-threatening. Something that could eat ice cream and didn't choke on vegetables and had a normal tongue. "It still would've sucked, but it wouldn't be so bad, you know."
"I've never really cared so much for birds," he said. Pigeons and his great's aunts very loud and foal-mouth macaw being the only kinds of birds he's had any real contact with. "But it would be really neat to fly, I suppose." Vasile pondered for a moment. "I guess like a wolf like Ambrose wouldn't so bad. Or a big cat. Something strong and sexy. Maybe a stallion." Though the thought came to his mind only afte he said it, he decided against making a 'hung like a...' comment. Instead he just sort of grinned to himself.
"Those are all good animals. Honestly, I'd trade with most of the people who've started to change." Cass smirked. "Though that'd hardly be fair for them. Unless they actually liked snakes." She knew there were some very strange people who were like that. Her sister, for one. "But I don't think that's an option."
She hesitated, then asked, "You think I'll be some sort of poisonous snake? I... I really don't know much about snakes. At all. Just that I hate them. And... well, I don't think I like the idea of being poisonous. Maybe I really ought to ask..."
Vasile shrugged. "Maybe you could ask. Maybe they could, like, at least start to change you to something else. I dunno, that might be stupid, but no harm in asking, I guess? The doc's susposed to have like.. hundreds of vials up in his lab.
Vasile looked over Cass carefully. "I, uh, really don't know. I don't know much about snakes. Cept 'red-and-yellow, kill a fellow. Red and black, friendly Jack,' but I don't see any red or yellow on you, so I have no idea."
"I suppose I'll find out." She grimaced. "I hope I won't be poisonous. What if I bite my tongue? I'd die."
Or maybe it didn't work that way. She really had no idea.
"I wonder what I could ask them to do, though. How permanent is this? Could I start right over or would I end up as some sort of squirrel with scales and a forked tongue?" Ew ew ew ew ew. That was a pretty disturbing mental image.
Vasile shrugged. "They didn't say anything about that, so I don't know. Maybe you could talk to one of the assistants?"
And he considered the tongue. "Well, real poisenous snakes seem to get along just find. Would be careful when you're french kissing or anything, though. Gotta make sure you don't get too rough," he winked and gave her a smile, trying to make light of it.
Cassidy laughed. "I suppose that would sort of kill the mood, eh?"
She drank the last of her tea, and grinned bitterly. "But I guess there are worse places to be stranded. They could have stuck us in the middle of the desert, or Antarctica, or on an island not nearly so nice, without the nice rooms." She used to want to go to Antarctica, out of a strange love for snow and penguins, but the mere thought of the cold bothered her now. So much for that idea. "It could have been... well... a lot worse. Right?"
"Or as nice of company," he purred, looking at her.
Cassidy blinked at Vasile warily. "Well, um." Was that some sort of flirting or some sort of narcissim? Or both? Or neither? "I suppose that I have made some friends here, so yes. The company counts for quite a bit."
Vasile nodded and smiled. "Well, the service is s**t, but the scenary is quite amazing. I bet if you could have some real fun here, if you let yourself. Even it was just a few minutes, to escape reality, you know?"
"I'm good at escapism," Cassidy mumbled. Probably too good, Miss-hides-in-her-room-all-week. "I keep meaning to get on my boots and go for a good hike through the jungle." Spiders be damned. Except there were probably poisonous ones here. Aieeeeeyuck. "Or, you know, something to that effect. Maybe a swim, when it's warmer."
"Well, I'd be happy to accompany you, if you ever get the urge to go exploring. And maybe you can reccomend a good book for me to read?"
"Sure. Why not?" Cassidy smirked. "They gave me a whole boxful of books to keep me happy. You might even be able to borrow some."
Oh no. Did she just offer to loan books? She hated loaning books to anyone. At least he'd be easy to track down if he forgot to return it.
Vasile leaned back alittle, finally beginning to relax. "That would be nice. I don't get a lot of time to read, usually. Figured I might as well use the time its fullest, eh?"
"Yeah. I could, um. Learn to speak another language. Maybe something that involves rolling R's. I might be able to actually manage that with this tongue." Maybe not. Cassidy's mouth twisted a bit. "I need one of those teach-yourself-Spanish instructional tapes or something," she said, and laughed.
"Maybe not."
Vasile laughed. "Una mas cerveza, por favor!" I think thats about all I know." He thought for a second. "Usted es muy hermosa."
"Well, you know more than me, then." Cassidy smirked. "I barely remember any French, and I took that for five years of high school."
This was... pretty nice. Despite her misgivings about Vasile... this wasn't turning out so badly. Movie star or not, he was at least pleasant enough to talk to.
"French, now thats a pretty language. You know I've always wanted to have an accent? Not necessarily French. But just... an accent. I mean, I can fake a couple, being an actor and all, but its just now the same."
He leaned in alittle towards her. "Why do girls dig accents so much anyway?"
"God, I dunno." Cassidy shrugged, and attempted to lean away without making it look like she was leaning away; she barely even knew him! Maybe it was an actor thing. Sheesh. Or maybe she was just weird and stupid about this sort of thing; that was a definite possibility. "I guess it's just different. Exotic, y'know. Some accents are pretty neat to listen to."
"I suppose so. Exotic is always appealing I suppose." He looked over to her. "Case in point." He thought abuot what he just said. "Er, not to say you wouldn't be pretty without the scales or anything."
She wrinkled her nose. "I think it's relative," she said, after a moment. It seemed like a fairly safe thing to say. But he was flirting with her, wasn't he? s**t. Was he even aware of it? Maybe it was just compulsive. It had to be. She'd never been particularly good looking even when she wasn't snakey. Oh man oh man oh man. What was she supposed to do?
Vasile watched her carefully. Cass was one of those women, he could tell. Self-concious, and not used to having men flirt with her. But too smart and sensible to just turn into a giggling mess when a man did flirt. The challenging type. Cass certainly wasn't like a lot of the girls we saw around Hollywood, but that kind of made her exotic in her own right. At least she was cute and had a figure. Hollywood and models you get a lot of girls in the toothpick variety. But out in the clubs and away from the glitz, you get a lot a girl that look like they would break a bench if they sat on it too hard.
So what to do? Vasile decided just to shrug it off. "I suppose so," he finally compromised
Cassidy fidgeted a little, twisting her hands. "Yeah. I mean, really."
What a mess. She didn't feel up to dealing with this right now. Maybe she ought to excuse herself. All she need was... well, an excuse.
Vasile sensed her uncomfortableness. "Really, what?"
"Well, you get those women in fashion magazines. And some of them probably don't eat more than, well, a grapefruit or something all day. And that's no way to live. They're too thin and probably just plain miserable since they can't eat." Cassidy couldn't believe what was coming out of her mouth. "But someone's got to think they're beautiful, or else they wouldn't be there, right?"
"Half what makes those fashion magazine girls beautiful is what they wear. Trust me, when they don't have their entourage of make up artists and hairstyles and fasion cordinators... thats all they are. Skinny girls. They really don't look all that different from anyone you meet anywhere else. Except bonier. And taller." He shrugged. "They look completely different when they wake up in the morning."
Cassidy smiled a little. "Really." She supposed out of anyone, someone like Vasile would know that. And probably airbrushed all to hell, on top of it all. "That's, well. It's nice to know that."
Vasile smirked and rubbed his stomach, which was pretty impressive. "Really. I do my best to rely on working out, but they even doctor me up for all the magazines and award shows and such. I bet I look completely different in person than I do on screen? At least I think I do." Vasile smield to her. "I try to go easy on the make-up when I'm not filming. Apparantly people on this island are questioning my sexuality enough."
Yes, it was pretty impressive. Cassidy was pointedly not looking.
"I'm sure there are rumours like that about everyone in Hollywood, though. And it's can't all be true. Statistics are rather against it." She giggled.
Vasile grinned. "Well, can I give you my personal insurance that I am not gay, no matter what the Dude tells you. I think he's jeoulos because I have better fashion sense/"
"Duly noted," Cass grinned.
This was safer ground, yes. No flirting, just... just friendly talking. Right. Much better.
She went to take another sip of her lukewarm tea and realised she'd finished it. Darn. She squinted into her mug with a bit of a pout.
Vasile looked down at her mug. "Would you care to join me for a drink?" He asked, nodding his head in the direction of the beachside bar.
"Maybe just one," Cassidy agreed. "I'm obviously not going to get any reading done today."
The grin on Vasile's face turned devlish for a minute, but he quickly stood up and offered his hand out to her.
Cassidy hesitated. Maybe it had been a bad move to agree? Well, too late. It wasn't like it was going to be horribly unsafe to walk around at night here. Well, it might be after a few more people got further injections. She got up from the driftwood log, brushed herself off, and took his hand, laughing.
Vasile wouldn't let go of her hand unless she made an indication she didn't want it there. He led her down the beach, walking at a comfortable stroll near the waterline. "So what are you reading?"
"Princess of Mars. By Burroughs. You know, the guy who wrote the Tarzan books." Everyone knew Tarzan, after all. Cass grinned nervously at Vasile. "Really old science fiction. Very fun."
"Princess of Mars..." Vasile let an image of a red-skinned, tall, busty woman wearing a scanty silk dress and diamond crown perched behind some attenae roll over his mind. "I'll admit I've never actually read Tarzan. Just seen the movies." He grinned and pounded his fists on his bare chest, then giggled to himself.
Cassidy giggled. "I've never read the Tarzan books, either. Never interested me much, honestly."
Vasile shrugged. He liked the movies well enough. But old books tended be written in a very boring way, even of the story was good. As the approached the bar, he pulled out a stool for her. "What's your poisen?"
"This time of day, just a beer. Mmm. Some sort of lager, I suppose." Cassidy set her book and her empty mug on the bar, and crawled up onto the stool. Nothing like a barstool to make you feel short.
Vasile nodded and got her a beer. He grabbed himself a Corona Light (if you had to drink beer, this was all he found acceptable)and took a seat by the barstool next to her. He just sat and watched her.
Cassidy cracked open the beer, took a drink, and then blinked at Vasile. Bit unnerving to be watched like that. "... yes?"
It had been a bad idea to do this, hadn't it? She was leading him on, she didn't want to, and... and... and... aie. Help.
Vasile blinked and sat up. "Nothing, I'm sorry." He scratched the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, I'm not meaning to make you uncomfortable."
"It's okay," she said, looking away. "Don't worry too much about it."
Vasile took a few sips. "Anything you want to talk about...?"
Now, that was a loaded question. Besides the fact that she was a freak (whatever anyone else may say about it, she was still a freak) and he was staring at her, and sort of flirting with her, and she would really like to see her family, and on and on... but she was, after all, trying not to angst so much.
With middling success.
"No," she said. "Maybe I should just leave you alone."
Vasile learned back on the bar. "You're not bother me he said. But you can leave if you want to. I'm not meaning to make you uncomfortable."
"Well. I have a few things back at my room I want to do, anyway." Cassidy tapped her fingers together. "I'm sorry. Maybe... maybe another time." She grinned wanly, and rose, clutching the beer bottle neck so tightly her knuckles were white. "I'll see you around, I guess."
The last thing she need to deal with, on top of everything else, was someone hitting on her, especially when it probably didn't mean anything to him at all. (Of course it didn't. She was never involved in that sort thing, really). She trudged off in the direction of her own townhouse, trying not to grind her teeth.
Vasile just shook his head as he watched her go. And things seemed to have been going so well, too. He figured it best not to push, so he just watched her go, slowly nursing his beer and feeling a tad sorry for himself.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 8:20 pm
Quote: Hi Vasile, Just an invitation to another get-together at the Beach Bar tomorrow at 4pm central time. I am distributing some invitations to you, Greer, Timothy, Dude, and Cassidy. Hope you're able to make it! Feel free to bring anyone else that you would like bring. ~Ambrose
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2005 12:51 pm
After showering, cleaning up and getting his daily plate of meat (which, at least, had yet to have an effect on Ambrose's waistline) Ambrose was wandering out of the cafeteria, his thoughts straying to his conversation with Greer the evening before. He didn't know what to do. Was what he was feeling even right? or was he just searching for companionship in this frightening and frustrating situation... Ambrose had been in a very long relationship with Angelina - since his sophmore year in High School, and he hadn't exactly been single since then. She had always been there to console him, someone he could be honest with, and someone whose arms he could fall into. If he closed his eyes, he could picture every inch of her face, smell her hair, and feel her soft skin... If that wasn't love, he didn't know what was...
... and now, suddenly, she was gone. And he was scared. As much as he didn't want to let on - this was the most challenging and disturbing situation he had ever been in.... and was the point where he wanted her the most. But... of course, that was one of the things that made it so bad. He couldn't be with her.... and may never again.
Most people would scoff - tell him she was just a high school sweetheart - that almost no one ended up with them. But... it felt so right. And it wasn't like they had broken up... he still loved her, and he knew that she loved him. He didn't have any closure, and the thought of moving on pained him. It had only been about a month, maybe a month and a half. But... when would be 'okay?' And... what if he did finally accept he'd never see her again, and no one in this Island colony was single that he got along with? How long would she wait for him? Did she think he was dead by now? Had she mourned him? Or... did she suspect he was still out there... somewhere.... and was waiting...
And... Ambrose was lonely. As much as he could turn to fencing to relieve stress, it didn't substitute for a relationship. Maybe it was the wolf DNA, or maybe it was just that he was used to the emotional comfort of a relationship, but he felt like there was a hole in him that was getting bigger with every passing week here. Directionless, and alone in all the ways that really mattered. Not to mention growing fur and turning into an animal.
And then... he finally realized that he was starting to maybe feel something for Greer. And besides the complications of not being ready to let go of Angelina yet... Greer had already started falling for his best friend. Perfect. He could n** it in the bud... maybe. After all, there were other ladies on the Island, even if, IF he did decide to try to explore that avenue.... but it's not like you could exactly pick the girl you fall for. Angelina had proved that.
He sighed. The drinking party was coming up... maybe that would help loosen his tongue... for better or worse - help him realize more even how he felt. And the Dude had promised to keep him at bay and not let that temper slip out.... of course, if he professed liking Greer in front of him then maybe that wouldnt' be such a great guarentee if the Dude got upset at him....
But who could he talk to about this? Not the Dude... for obvious reasons... and the same for Greer... he had tried.. and she just didn't get it.... Pyroth was too... strange. and to be frank, he kind of scared him. Colche barely could say his name let alone give relationship advice. Cassidy was having her own problems to deal with last he saw....
And Ambrose looked up right as he was passing Duplex 13 and 14. Timothy and Vasile, his mind prodded. Timothy seemed painfully shy enough to have not had any serious relationship expiereince... His gaze lingered on the upstairs story and he chewed his lip. The invitation was gone, so Vasile had gotten the message about the party..... he certainly had expierence with women.... maybe not love, but maybe.... maybe he might have some sort of suggestion.
Sighing, he headed up the stairs and knocked on the door, self-consciously smoothing back his hair as Vasile was one of the few people who reminded him of his 'old' life - image conscious.
Vasile was doing little more than staring at the ceiling when he heard the knock. He was getting so bored on this island he felt like he might go crazy. Well, more like he was running out of thing to do that would keep him from thinking too much about his current...situation. He could only work our for so long. Today he went running, them swimming. Then sit up, push ups, and squats. Then he showered. Then spent an hour on his hair because he could. Then he ate. Then he even went as far to clean his room from floor to ceiling. The he re-did his hair. And now he was laying on the bed actually comptemplating sitting in that little movie "theatre" and watching something when he heard the knock. Thankful for the distraction, he found himself hoping it was Cass.
"Oh," he said, trying to hide his dissapointment. "Hey Ambrose, what's up?"
Ambrose gave him an awkward shrug with a smile. "Hi Vasile... I... ah... hope I'm not interrupting anything?" He raised his eyebrows, his hands in his pockets. "I... uh... see you got the invitation?"
Vasile stepped away from the door to let Ambrose in. "No, its fine. More than find, I'm actually bored to tears." His eyes went to the note laying now on his dressor. "Hey, man, sounds like fun."
Ambrose nodded. "I know precisely how you feel.... I'm going stir crazy. I've been here over a month now, and while I know that's only a drop in the bucket, I am used to a very diffrent pace."
He nodded at the note. "I figured it would be a change of pace. And there will be women there this time, I promise" He smirked.
"really? You promise?" Vasile fell back down on this bed. "Man, being out here really minds me how much in a ******** dream-world my life was."
Ambrose went to the chair, turned it around, and sat down with his arms crossed across the back. "Yes... well... I mean I spoke personally to Greer, and she seemed pretty excited about it. And I saw Cassidy had at least taken the message off her door. So I'm not completely certain about her, but it's not like any of us have any pressing plans out here."
He looked over to him. "Dream world...? You mean the thousands of screaming fans, limosines, and parties every night?" He smirked. "I can imagine how different this must be for you."
"yeah something like that," Vasile responded to Ambrose. He sat up. "I don't know if Cass will come if she knows I'm going to be there." Vasile frowned. "Man, I don't ger here. I mean, I'm playing nice and everything, and she still seems so.. frigid."
Ambrose looked over, resting his chin on his arms. "I thought you and here were doing okay...?" His brow furrowed. "What's been going on?" Ambrose pushed aside his own relationship problems for the time being. Maybe listening to someone elses he could help with, actually feel like he was helping.
Vasile shrugged. "We're doing better. I ran into her at the beach and we talked a bit. But I bought her one drink and she basically ran back to her room just because I was watching her." Vasile gave a sidelong look to Amborse. "And I was looking at her you know, not her chest or anything."
"Why did she run off?" Ambrose asked, not really following what might hav ehappened between the lines. "I mean... you didin't say anything that... well... would have scared her did you?"
"I don't know. I don't think so." He stood up and paced a bit. "I mean I was trying to be nice to her and all... still trying to make her realize she ain't bad-lookin. Cuase she ain't, you know?" He motioned helplessly with his hands. "But maybe I did say something. I'm not used to this, you know. I usually have women - gorgeous, my god Ambrose, gorgeous women begging me to go home with them. And now here I'm thinking I might have to get down on my knees and beg here."
Ambrose nodded, encouragingly. "She doesn't look bad, it's true... but.... er... well, you're not in Hollywood.... most people move a bit slower than that - even IF they like someone. I mean, are you pushing too hard? Get to know her better first.... then go from there..?" Ambrose shrugged, hoping he was being helpful.
Vasile shrugged. "I don't think I'm pushing at all. I mean, its not like I'm trying to just weild her into bed. Its just when she's talking to me, she seems so tense. Like I smell bad or something."
Ambrose pondered this. "Have you asked her why?" He asked him plainly, realizing that he might be a bit of a hypocrite abotu suggesting something so straightforward when he couldn't manage that himself. "Ask her what she thinks of you? ... er... without sounding tooo egotistical. Or ask her more about what's bothering her. Maybe it's not you per se - maybe she's just in a rather ... well... awkward situation as it is right now and doesn't know how to react to someone showing an interest in her." He mused.
"I... well... I've been having my own share of female complications as well." He sighed, picking at some of the fabrick on the chair.
Vasile say back down and rested his elbows on his knees. "Oh yeah?"
"But... well... I don't know if you would understand... I mean... " Ambrose paused. "Well... maybe if you could put aside the in character/out of character thing, maybe... but it's... complicated."
Vasile chewed on his bottom lip. He hadn't even thought about the damn script all day. He found it was easier on him just to ...ignore that for now. People treated him better when he didn't argue. He wasn't ready to deal with the fact that they might be telling the truth, but at the same time arguing just pissed people off. So for now, he was just ignoring it. He would just play along. 'In character' if they wanted to call it that. At least that what he would tell people when they asked him later. "No, its okay man. Just.. what's on your mind."
Ambrose glanced at him hesitantly for a moment before sighing and continuing. Maybe, at least, this could help him organize his chaotic thoughts "I... I really really miss Angelina. I mean... I don't know if you've ever really been in love before, Vasile, but I honestly think I love her. We've been together since our sophmore year in High school. I... well... I dated before that, but nothing really serious. So, I've been with her for almost four years now... and then... This. No long goodbyes... no break up... no closure. From the sounds of things, more than likely, I'll never...." he took a breath, forcing himself to say it. "I'll probably never see her again...."
He paused again, wetting his lips. "But, I mean, I love her. And I don't want to just... give up. But there's physically nothing I can DO to try to see her again. And... so I'm stuck here... and... I don't want to just.... pretend like we broke up, because we didn't.... but on the same note... I... well... I miss having her... and more than that, I miss having someone. I mean, I've been in a relationship for four years. I'm not used to being single, and I don't like it..." He looked over to Vasile again, realizing he should probably take a breath and let him at least talk.
Whoa. Ambrose just dropped a bomb on him. For one thing, Vasile really didn't know if he would wrap his mind about him pining over a character in a script. So well, too. The emotion in his eyes are undeniable.
And on top of that... love. No, Vasile had neber, ever been in love. But he played it alot in movies. "I uh.."
Smooth, Vasile swallowed and tried again. "That tough, man. I mean, if you really did love her. You really don't think you'll see her again, huh? Are you ready to admit that? Imean, really? No rescue?"
He chewed on his lips. "That's the kicker... I do... I honestly do love her. But... I have no way of knowing what's going on back home... does she think that I'm dead? Is she trying to get over me? And... how long do I hold out, sitting on my hands, and hoping that a ray from God reunites us and it's happy ever after?
And even if we were rescued... Supposedly the experiment can be lethal if they don't complete it...
Am I being unrealistic? And I feel so sleazy even considering looking somewhere else... but... It's really damn hard... being in this position... and being alone."
He sighed, thinking about Greer. "And if things weren't complicated enough... I think... I mean, maybe - I have some things in common with Greer. I think I might even like her.... but.. of course... apparently she and the Dude have been hitting it off. She even kissed him. Twice. And he's pretty much my best friend here..." He trailed off.
Vasile's jaw dropped. "The DUDE?" He shook his head. "I haven't met this Greer person, but if she's the kind of girl who will go with someone like that..." he made a face. "You're probably better off, man."
"I mean...talk abuout no standards."
Ambrose ruffled a bit. "Hey... I mean, I know that you two haven't exactly gotten off on the best foot, but he's a good guy. Sincere. Anyway, I don't want to get between them if they're honestly happy... but... Arrgh... I don't know what to do.."
"Good guy? Good guy?" Vasile looked honestly offended. "This guy takes one look at me and suddenly he thinks he knows everything about me. His ******** cat almost killed my dog. How would you like that, huh? And I don't get any kind of an apology? Then he threatens to come between me and Cass to just to vengeful? Oh yeah, great guy."
Ambrose glared into his arm, feeling very awkward sitting in the middle. "Look, I know you don't like him. That's fine, but don't insult my friend in front of me. Besides, that's not the point. We're all stuck here on this Island, maybe you should try to talk to him about these issues.. we're all going through a lot here."
Vasile crossed his arms. "I have a hard time believing you've said as much to him.:
Ambrose opened and closed his mouth... "Well... yes... but... see, I don't even know for certain how I feel... I dont' want to go bitching to him about Greer when I don't even know if I'm ready for another relationship. Besides, it's nothing against him personally. Hell, the fact I respect him to some degree is part of the problem."
Vasile huffed. "Look, I don't know what to say. I don't see why you respect him at all. Maybe you should tell Greer what how you feel. Any woman worth putting effort into would go for a good guy like you anyday." He still looked pouty, Ambrose having missed the point. "And I'll insult 'your friend' as long as he keeps on my a**. Especially if he says a word abuot to me to Cass."
"Well... I did Try... I mean... I thought it was pretty obvious, but she... well... maybe she was trying not to get it if you catch my drift... I complimented her... told her what I liked about her... and said that The Dude was a lucky guy to have her affections... and she just said 'Thanks.'" He sighed, brooding about that for a bit.
"And Last I spoke with the Dude he thought that you and Cass was a good thing.... at least that's what it seemed. He mentioned that you seemed quite taken by her."
Vasile sat back down. "She sounds pretty dense then." He paused for a moment. "Maybe you shouldn't let go of Angelina so quickly. I dunno. This whole situation is ******** up. Id on't know there are any easy answers."
And he looked skeptical at Ambrose's last comment. "Prolly why he's so bent on driving her away from me." he mumbled
Ambrose shrugged, looking at his hands. "Maybe you're right... but... I just wish I could know for certain whether or not I'd ever see her again.." He heaved a sigh.
He glanced back to him. "Other than the Timothy thing, what has he tried to do? And Did he even know about you and Cass then? I thought she was upset at you when all that went down."
Vasile shrugged. "Karma invited me to stay the night with her a few weeks ago. That apparantly doesn't sit well with lover-boy, and he wants to take it out on me."
Ambrose shook his head. "Karma...? I... I don't think I know who that is." Was there someone else on the Island he had yet to meet..?
"Regardless, I haven't heard anything about that..."
"Sweet girl, but I haven't seen her sense, unfortunately." Vasile shrugged and examined his nails.
Ambrsoe shook his head. "I don't think I've had the pleasure. I think I would have remembered a name like that."
"Anyway." he said, shifting positions. "Thanks for listening, I guess." Ambrose muttered, not really feeling any more sure about what he was supposed to do or feel than when he came.
"Hey man, I'm sorry if I'm not being very helpful. I've never been in, you know, that kind of relationship."
Ambrose nodded, "I wasnt' sure who to talk to to be honest. I wasn't sure if you ever had or not. I didn't want to make any assumptions beforehand."
"I do think, though... if you really think you might be feeling things for her. You should talk to the Dude about it before it gets more serious. If you consider him a friend."
Ambrose nodded, listening and thinking. "You're probably right..." He took a breath. But what ground would he have to stand on if he came to the Dude about that? Hey, I think I might like the girl you like, even though I have a girlfriend I LOVE back home? It... it wasn't that serious yet. really. He'd be okay. Just... lonely.
He stood up. "Good luck to you and Cassidy, Vasile. Just don't rush things. Be yourself - not what you think she'll like, but just... you." He clapped him on the shoulder and headed for the door.
Vasile shrugged, for the first time the thought crossing his mind that maybe he didn't even know who he was.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 2:35 pm
Attached to the front of your duplex door is a handwritten note with the Feral Labs logo in the top left corner.
In a flowery script, the following message is written:
The Invitation You are cordially invited to a meet and greet Halloween costume party to take place Halloween night. The staff will be setting up a tent just for this occasion and will be catering, of course. We know that you most likely did not pack costumes, so if you will just leave a message with the staff (through the intercom) to let us know what you would like to dress as, we will be able to procure a costume for you. ~Aubrey heart
((OOC: The Halloween party will take place in a separate thread in the guild that will be made for the event. The event will last in real time from Friday Oct 28 till the end of actual Halloween, Monday the 31st. Feel free to come and go at your leisure. If you would like to get artwork of your character in costume, we can post it in the first post or two of the event thread - PM the art to Sabin Duvert and he will collect it to post when he builds the thread.))
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 12:12 am
Ambrose Maurlias It was late afternoon when Vasile came to knock on Ambrose's door. Vasile had little else to do on the island besides work out, so he looked amazing. If it weren't for the crazy gleam of stir-crazy shining in his eyes. He paced a bit in front of Ambrose's door.Ambrose, meanwhile, had recently gotten back from Amaya's recent fencing lesson on the beach and showered off to rid himself of the sweat and the sand that regardless of how little contact he actually had with the beach, managed to somehow get into his fur, his hair, and everywhere else.
He had just settled down after dressing and was staring down the books that sat on his desk stuck determinedly under the lamp when he heard the knock at the door.
Thankful for an excuse to delay himself from going down that path, he opened the door with a curious expression. "Hi Vasile!" He smiled. "I haven't seen you about in a while. How have you been doing?" "BORED" he said and let himself in. "Take me out, buddy, I'm begging you." Vasile plopped down on Ambrose's bed. "I'm going crazy, I swear. I need something to do. Have you seen Cass recently? Has she said anything about me?" Ambrose couldn't help but smile in amusement as he strolled into his room. Surprisingly, Vasile was a virtual breath of fresh air in response to everything else that had been happening recently. Especially considerin that, after looking him over to confirm it, Vasile was still furless (or featherless or scaleless).
That was until he asked the loaded question. Given that Vasile hadn't barged in with bad news, Ambrose presumed that Vasile was still in his state of denial. "Ermm..." Ambrose hesitated, thinking back to his encounter with Cassidy that afternoon. "I hadn't seen her sice the party on the beach... until earlier this afternoon. And... uhm... honestly I think she had a few other things on her mind..." Ambrose put it delicatedly, scratching the back of his head as he closed the door behind Vasile. Vasile looked stunned. "She didn't say anything?" He looked comptemplative. "Well damn. I was trying to give her her space. Guess that didn't work. Maybe I should go see her?" Ambrose put a hand on Vasile's shoulder to hold him back. "That.... may not be the best idea right now..." He winced. "Honestly, I don't know what she's feeling as far as you're concerned... but she's had other... biiig.... issues come up." Ambrose fidgeted, knowing that this might very well lead to probing questions.Vasile sighed. "Like what?" Ambrose winced. He knew that that question was going to follow. For Vasile's sanity, he didn't want to tell him, but for the sake of their frienship which had already hit a few rocks, he didn't want to lie either.
"I... well.. I think the Island's starting to get to her. She's really not enjoying herself here... nothing to do with you. More... mroe like the staff." Ambrose answered truthfully. "Well... maybe I could help, ya know? Take her out.. do something special for her? C'mon man, she's still a red-blooded woman. No one can be that icey." He ran a hand through his hair. Ambrose bit back on the question floating through his head as to whether or not she would still technically qualify as a 'red blooded woman' and the pun about iciness and cold-bloodness on the sake of both discretion and politeness.
"Maybe..." Ambrose started. "She might need a little bit of space for a few days, though, at least." How to help him - he really did think that Vasile and Cassidy could be good together... and still felt guilty about the whole Timothy thing... "But I bet you anything she won't miss out on the Halloween dance." Ambrose smiled. "Yeah, you've said that before," he mumbled. "How m uch space does she need. I haven't talked ot her in what seems like forever. And wouldn't that make me look uncaring?" Ambrose paused on this thought. "I'm not sure..." He admitted. "I do think that you shouldn't lose track of her." He smiled. "I really can tell that you care about her." He gave Vasile a wry smile, as if this were some sort of secret.
"Maybe try to get her over the intercom? Talk with her first?" Vasile looked like someone had hit him upside the head with a bag of bricks at Ambrose's statement. He tried to think of something to say, but it just came out, "Huh?" Ambrose looked over to him in surprise. "What? I mean... you DO like her, right? I mean, you say that you've never been in love or anything like that before, but she certainly appears to be monopolizing your thoughts." He smiled. Vasile scratched the back of her head. "Yeah, I like her," Vasile said, looking a bit uncomfortable. "But I don't... ya know, I mean. I don't really know her that well..."Ambrose shrugged, taking a seat on the edge of the bed and gesturing to the chair for Vasile. "Well, you've spoken with her at least as much as I have, I believe." Ambrose commented. "You said you seemed to hit it off pretty well?" "Yeah, I suppose," Vasile said, taking a seat. "You know its weird. There's like.. no pressure, right? I mean, I don't have to worry about talking to her and then our picture showing up on the cover of PEOPLE magazine with some headline like "DiRossi Going Hometown" or some s**t like that. But on the other hand.. I feel like there's more pressuire on me...because she honestly doesn't care that I've been on the cover of PEOPLE Magazine at all, ya know?"Ambrose nodded slowly. "Not that I have ever personally had the problem of being in the eye of the nation... but I can see what you mean. Here you're alone..." He let that linger on the air for just a moment before continuing. "It's just us out here - no press, no phones, no nothing. No one telling you what you should do." "I guess so. You know. On one hand its liberating. But on the other... I'm scared to death. I mean, I've never really -had- a problem getting a girl before."Ambrose gave a small smile. "welcome to the real word, Mr. DiRossi." He chuckled. "But seroiusly - I think it should be good. Who do you want a girl to go out with, YOU, or your name?" "Of course I'd rather them go out for me," he said, looking almost like he was pouting. "But Cass doesn't seem interested in me. Or my name. I don't get it."Ambrose shrugged. "Wellllll...." He pondered on this. "Have you really discussed this wtih her? I mean, other than at the beach party? Maybe it's not that she isn't interested in you - maybe she's just having a hard time believing that a real movie star is truly interested in HER." "I guess I thought I was being kind of.. obvious," he said. "I mean, anytime I get close to her, she freezes up." Ambrose thought on this. "Maybe you're moving too fast? You say you don't know her too well. Try getting to know her first? Be her friend. Maybe she hasn't had that much experience with men before." Vasile seemed to actually turn a bit red as a certain thought entered his mind, but he quickly shook it off. "I mean, I haven't tried to kiss her or anything. Just... show her she doesn't repulse me. Isn't that what I was suppose to do?" "Well, you said that she shies away from you... which means you're being touchy. Which isn't bad! But sometimes if a girl isn't, well, that comfrotable with the whole dating thing in general, you have to move slower. If you're grabby they might think that you want to get them into bed. So just talk to her - listen to her, and be friendly. Don't make it look like you're not interested, but sometimes they don't want your arm around them just yet." Vasile shrugged, not really understanding. "Yeah I guess so," he said, slumping his shoulders a bit. "I'm surpised I even...care so much. To be honest...s'not like me." Ambrose quirked an eyebrow. "It's not like you? Maybe, it's not like the you that is in the limelight and is used to girls throwing themselves at him.""I guess..." Vasile picked at the the arm of the chair. "I mean.. I'm not really as bad as the tabloids would want you to believe. I mean.." He hesitated, but shrugged. "I don't take advantage of women. Its just I treat them the way they want to be treated. When you have girls throwing themselves at you, I don't really see what I'm hurting? Ya know?" Ambrose held up his hands. "I never said you were. Hell, I don't exactly read tabloids, despite what the tabloids would like to have you believe that every red-blooded American does. I'm just saying that here, away from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood you're maybe exploring aspects of yourself that you didn't have the opportunity to do so before. Hell, as odd as this Island is, it is more normal than Hollywood.""But Hollywood is normal for me." Vasile leaned back in the chair, brooding. "I don't like not knowing what to do." " can't help you there." He sighed, a small smile on the corner of his mouth. "Well, I mean I could tell you what to do, but I don't think you'd take too kindly to that." Vasile just raised an eyebrow at him. "Well, you know what I mean." He shrugged. "So...what have you been up to?" Ambrose chuckled. "Doing a lot of thinking honestly... which can be dangerous here... or depressing... And... well... I got to know a woman named Emelyn a bit better.." A small blush rose on his cheeks. Vasile leaned forward, digging for more. "Oh yeah?" "Well!" Ambrose leand back, a bit defensively out of embarrassment. "I mean, I dont' even know what to think, really. I mean, I just finished telling myself I'm not over Angelina, that I'm not going to give up hope on never seeing her again... And out of left field... I get to talking with Emelyn about everything.. and she gives me this big reality check... except with her it seems gentle... despite the bluntness.... and... we talk... and next thing I know I'm asking her if she wants me to walk her to the Halloween party... and then it's a date and she gives me a kiss..." Ambrose speaks quickly, his face reddening as he continues.Vasile glanced over at the happy couple staring back at him from a frame on the dresser. "Reality check, eh?" He stood and walked over, picking the picture up. "So thats it for her, huh?" He felt sad for some reason, looking at how happy they looked. If Ambrose could toss love aside so easily - out of anyone - that didn't really give him much desire to pursue it for himself. Ambrose's face paled as his eye was drawn to the picture on the bedside table. "No..." He whispered, scared. "I ... I don't know what's going on with me and Emelyn..." Ambrose said, suddenly feeling horribly guilty. "I DO love Angelina... very much so..." He felt miserable all over again, suddenly wrested down from his positive mood. "I just hurts so badly, Vasile.... and... I know you don't like to think about it... hell, I don't either, and htat's part of the problem - but I don't think I'm ever leaving this damned island... even if I don't change any more." He felt a cold chill go down his spine, setting his fur on edge. He shook it off and continued. "And that had been my hopeline... but the more I see and the longer I'm hear the more I realize that that is more denial than anything solid."Vasile set the picture down, suddenly sorry he said anything. "I guess... I don't know. Its hard for me to wrap my mind around... that situation." Ambrose's eyes hadn't left the picture. "I know." He said quietly. "And I hate to be a downer, but it will hit you sometime." And probably soon considering how long you've been here.... I'm surprised you haven't changed yet. Vasile just shrugged and sat back back down. "Wanna go grab a drink?" Ambrose didn't even have to think about that very hard at all. "That sounds wonderful." He said, getting to his feet. "I fear this Island is going to turn me into an alcoholic." He said half-jokingly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 12:15 am
Vasile jerked up in his bed. His sheets were wrapped tightly around him, sticking to his skin. He was soaking wet, the beads of his own sweat running down his face. He was on top of the covers, but he had been thrashing around so hard they now constrained him like a straightjacket. A hoarse cry made it past his chapped lips as he projected himself to an upright his position. His heart was still racing, and the dread tightening his chest as he fought against the constraining sheets, his senses not yet returned to him. He screamed and flailed, trying to gain his freedom and landed hard on the unforgiving floor at the side of his bed.
He lay for several minutes, taking a few shallow, panicked breaths as he let the world come back to him. He was laying face down, tangled in a heap of blankets, on the floor of his duplex.
It was just a nightmare.... Vasile slowly untangled himself from the covers, slowly getting to his feet. That wasn't just a nightmare. He had never been more terrified in his life. His hands were shaking, and he was positively dripping wet from sweat. Surprisingly, the details of the dream had already faded from his memory, but the terror was still very real.
He glanced at the clock on the bedside table. 5:17am. Figuring it would be pointless to go back to sleep (and not wanting to admit to himself that he was too scared to), Vasile headed into the bathroom to take a cold shower.
He stood under the cool stream of water for at least five minutes just trying to get this heart to stop racing. Vasile could not remember ever being so terrified in his entire life. He certainly had never woken up form a dream screaming before. He couldn't believe a dream he couldn't even remember had him so shaken up. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried hard to focus. All he could remember were sharp pains, the skittering of a fast, liquid creature, and small, glowing yellow eyes.
Finally feeling himself coming down from the adrenaline rush, Vasile grabbed his lufa and began to soap himself up and wash away the sticky, salty sweat from his skin. As he was lathering up, he hissed through his teeth as a jet of sharp pain shot up his arm as he was washing his left arm.
"What the...." Vasile pressed his fingers gently against the skin. It was definitely tender. He grabbed a wash cloth and wiped the soap and water off the shoulder and wiped his eyes. As he looked, his blood ran cold as he saw a small, needle-like puncture wound sounded by red, puffy skin.
Vasile was so panicked he felt frozen in place. He stood there, just staring, his mind trying to wrap around was that might mean. Finally, the cool water turned painfully icy, and he forced himself to get out of the shower. He tied a towel around his waist and paced back and forth in the bathroom. Part of him wanted to just go back to bed, convinced the horrible dream wasn't over yet and he had yet to wake up. Part of him wanted to run around and scream at the top of his lungs in terror.
He somehow managed to pull on a pair of pants, and pulled a silk shirt over his body, but his hands were shaking too hard to properly close the buttons. He gave up and sat heavily on the bed, feeling suddenly a bit sick. Somewhere, deep in his soul, he knew why he wasn't more confused. He knew what was happening, but his couldn't admit it to himself.
He glanced at the clock again. 5:53am. Vasile blinked back the stinging in his eyes and headed quickly out the door, heading for Ambrose's Duplex.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 2:07 am
Vasile's Transformation
There was a insistant, impatient knocking at Ambrose's door that morning. It was barely past six in the morning, and the sky was just starting to brighten for the day. There was a first round of knocking, then a break that lasted only a few seconds before the knocking came again.
Ambrose was normally a morning person, but even he had his limits. Most especially after a night of some casual drinking and lementing his woes to Vasile. He had been burried in covers, his head on the admittedly soft pillow, a small train of drool traililng from his mouth to the bedsheets, and dreaming rather pleasantly about fencing with the ladies on the Island - and going to the Olympics and getting to match with Moreau and was just about to strike the match point when suddenly there was a great pounding on the building.... it was an earthquake-!
No.... it was just the door. His conscious mind jabbed at him, pulling him out of his dream and to a state of semi-wakefulness. Ambrose had always laughed at the people who couldn't do anything before drinking coffee, but between a mild headache and really not wanting to have woken up, he could almost sympathize.
"Whhaaaat?!" He called from his bed in a gravelly growl.
"Ambrose, its Vasile." His normally calm, liquid voice sounded tight and forceful. Whatever it was, he wasn't playing around. "I need to speak to you - please." Yes, that was desperation. He knocked again.
"Mmrmf" Ambrose said eloquently into the pillow. He took a deep breath, and closed his eyes, summoning his reserve of wakefulness that he knew was there. After a few moments, he sat up and ran a hand through his hair, resenting the fact that he was nowhere near presentable in a sleep shirt and pair of boxers, and opened the unlocked door, coming face to face with Vasile - who surprisingly was little more prepared for the day than he - while showered, his hair was not combed, and his clothing was not in perfect, pressed order.
Something had to be wrong.
"Vasile...?" He glanced back to the clock on the nightstand, confirming it's accuracy as he looked past Vasile, squinting into the lavender skies on the horizon as the sun was just starting to shine it's light on this part of the world. "What... what is it? You do know what time it is, right?"
He hadn't changed yet, at least... Ambrose was worried that that might have been what had happened considering the panic-stricken note in his voice.
Vasile pushed his way in and closed the door quickly behind him. His eyes were bloodshot, and he hand a hand - that was obviously shaking - through his slightly puffy, unstyled blonde hair. He nearly collapsed into the chair near the bed, grabing so hard on the arms that his knuckles were white.
"Something happened, I think..." he said, his voice now unsteady. He didn't want to believe this. He refused to. "I foudn this on me this morning.. " He tried to roll up the sleeve of his shirt, but his hands were shaking too much, so, being that his shirt was unbuttoned as is, he just peeled it off him in frustration. "PLEASE, for the love of god, tell me that's a spider bite."
Ambrose felt a chill run over him as he walked carefully over to Vasile to inspect his arm as requested. He swallowed, seeing the single puncture mark surrounded by hot, puffy skin.
He chewed on his lip before whetting it carefully. Ambrose knew very well what that meant. Many of the other islanders hadn't noticed their own shots... or it had been already too late by the time they did. "I wish I could, Vasile.... but it... looks like an injection mark." Ambrose said quietly.
Vasile stood up suddenly, shoving Ambrose hard, causing him to fall back on the bed. "NO!" he roared, quickly jerking the shirt back on his shoulders as he began to pace violently. "This is bullshit!"
Ambrose fell back, catching himself barely with the backs of his elbows so he didn't fall flat against the bed. Slowly sitting back up he rubbed the backs of his own furry arms and looked resentfully at him. "I know you you feel, Vasile. REALLY. I've tried to tell you multiple times. And I know that you haven't wanted to hear it, and I respected that...." But this had to happen sooner or later... I just had hoped that it would always be 'later.
"You guys are INSANE," he screamed, his eyes wide and looking a bit manic. "What you're saying isn't POSSIBLE." He was trying to keep his voice steady, and spoke slowly, as if speaking to a child. "Its make up. This is some royally <******** up new reality TV series..."
It was obvious Vasile was trying to convince himself more than Ambrose.
"Believe me Vasile - there is NOTHING more that I would like than to be able to say that you're right. That all of this is just an elaborate set, or show, or something other than exactly what is going on." The fur was rising along Ambrose's shoulders. He sympathized all too much, and once again was in the position of the bearer of bad news - and not just that, but having to experience it all over again himself. "You think I want to be stuck here? You think I want THIS To happen to me??" Ambrose snarled, rising to his feets and gesturing at himself - much of his fur exposed from underneath the sleeveless sleep-shirt and boxer shorts.
Vasile rubbed his temples. The irriated thumping that has been happning since he woke up was steadily becomming a pounding. "But.. how.. why.. I mean.. its ...just....not... possible..." Vasile knew he wasn't making much sense. He shook his head a little, hsi vision blurring a bit. "I'm Vasile DiRossi for god's sake..." he started to say, but it was obvious he was distracted. He stumbled back over to the chair, steadying himself on it.
Ambrose swallowed... "Here... everyone is just... us.... just us and the things we have with us- Vasile?? Are you okay?" Ambrose headed quickly to his side to give him a steadying hand.
Vasile shook his head again. "I'm... I'm fine..." A few beads of sweat started to appear on his face. Vasile took several deep breaths and stood up. Why was he suddenly so itchy. Vasile looked over to Ambrose, as if he forgot was he was just talked about. He unconsciously reached up and began to scratch at his shoulders. "Is it...really hot in here to you?"
Ambrose swallowed, and had a very sinking feeling. "I... I don't think you're fine.... why... here - come on - let's get you onto the bed. I.... I think I know what might be happening..." Ambrose said, feeling a pang of sympathetic nausea.
Vasile's itching on his shoulders got more pronounced. "I'm not.. tired..." he said through gritted teeth, but let Ambrose lead him to the bed. He say heavily on it, his scratching becomming intense clawing. "It .... it itches..." he choked out. Vasile shook his hair out his eyes. Then he blinked. His hair didn't usually get in his eyes. Vasile shifted uncomfortably on the bed, a dull pain centering at the base of his spine. Suddently, his head cleared and he looked back over at Ambrose. The denial was gone, replaced by naked fear. "Something's happening..." he said weakly.
Ambrose was paling... he remembered VERY clearly the itching that he had been going through prior to his own transformation.... the symptoms... there was no denying it... and it felt so strange being on the outside watching... knowing how he felt - the confusion, the terror.... and then there was the pain.
"Vasile..." Ambrose tried to keep his voice steady, knowing that he needed it, but couldn't quite get all of the quiver out of it. "I.... I know it itches.." He winced, swallowing as he saw the hair follicles around his shoulders thickening. "And... it's probably going to hurt." He sat down, taking Vasile's hand to try to keep him from scratching. "I can run to the cafeteria. I think they have morphine there. I .... it might very well hurt." He said with brutal honesty.
Vasile gripped tightly onto Ambrose's arm. "Don't leave me," he growled- almost litterly, through clenched teeth. His lips curled back over two obviously elongated canines.
Ambrose swallowed. "O... Okay." He sat back down, swallowing as Ambrose stared at his mouth, watching some very, VERY familiar changes happening to the man. At least, Ambrose thought, later - after he had calmed down somewhat - there would be a bright side - at least he was becoming mammalian... and some sort of carnivore at that.
But it was so disorienting. He could smell Vasile's fear... and that was a frightening predicament. Flashes of his own tortured night kept springing to mind as he held Vasile's clenched hand. "I.. I won't go anywhere." He whispered. "It's okay." He forced a wincing smile. "You can make it through this!"
Vasile let go of his death grip on Ambrose's arm because the itching pain was getting too intense. He began to claw again at the clothes, finally ripping off the shirt in a strangled cry. Silver-grey fur was already sprouting over his shoulders, and making its way down Vasile's spine. He scratched and scratched, suddenly crying out in pain at his nails started in leave long, red welts down his skin as they lengthened and hardned. Vasile pulled his hands away and gawked at them. "Ambrose..." he whimpered, the burning itching getting farther and farther away from his mind as the throbbing in his base of his spine grew more intense. His ears pricked at as well, like someone was pinching the tips.
Vasile's eyes squeezed shut and he tried not to cry out. The panic and pain making his eyes sting and water.
"Vasile! Don't!" Ambrose's eyes widened as he watched the hair gorwing before his eyes. He tried to force Vasile's hands still so he didn't gouge his skin any more than he already had.
Ambrose felt helpless, watching the changes happen before his eyes. He wished he coudl do something to stop them - anything! "Vasile, I'm here. Don't scratch - it will make it worse!" Some part of his mind found the irony in the statment, sounding like his mother admonishing him when he had the chicken pox when he was a child.... how he longed to be back home again... even in such a misery as that.
Vasile heard Ambrose's warnings somewhere through the thick fog of confusion and panic, so he dug his hands into the blankets of Ambrose's bed. "It hurts..." he mumbled out, the pain becoming more intense by the moment. His ears stretched and pointed, causing him to screw up in his face in pain. But this he opened his mouth and cried out as his tail began to form. He writhed on the bed, the base of his spine very tender at the moment. Not knowing what else to do, Vasile rolled onto his stomach and buried his face deep in a pillow, screaming into it.
Ambrose stared, it was like a trainwreck - watching the tail push from the base of Vasile's spine, his own small nub pressed tightly against his backside, trying to tuck.
He kept hold of his hands, squeezing it, knowing the pain and watching as the tail grew longer, much longer even than his own. He glanced quickly towards his mini-fridge, and reached out to it, grabbing the ice-cube tray, coming quickly back to Vasile's side. It wasn't much, but maybe it would help...
The forming tail pushed at the back of his pants, but quickly spilled over the top his fairly low-riding blank pants. The thin, rat like tail spiraled down to around a foot in length, the whole time Vasile muffled screams coming from the pillow. The fur on Vasile's back was thick and silver, and it stretched clear from his shoulders down this spine. The hair seemed to wave over the tail, growing fast and bushy, giving him after several agonizing moments, a short, thick, fluffy silver tail. Vasile's screams lessoned as the intense pain began to ebb away, leaving only a very sore, deep throbbing over his entire back, shoulders, and ears.
His golden hair, surprisingly, now cascaded over a good portion of the pillow. It was considertably longer than before, the new growth fading into stark silver-white at the roots.
Ambrose was speechless as he watched, the ice mostly ineffective in dulling the deep muscle-and-bone pain that Vasile agonized through. He watched as the tail pushed out, and the wave of hair covered it...
Finally, after Vasile's screams quieted to moaning sobs, a single word finally escaped Ambrose's own, rather traumitized lips. "Jeezus...."
After a moment, Vasile finally lifted his head. His face was red and puffy, and his new, longer coif fell over his eyes. He blinked a few times, trying to prob himself up without putting pressure on his backside. He just stared at Ambrose, as if he could magically make sense somehow of what was happening.
Ambrose swallowed, wondering what was going through his head. He slowly sat down on the bed beside him, really not sure if Vasile was going to yell... cry... collapse.... or what. "I'm so sorry, Vasile..." he whispered. "I... I know you didn't want to believe all of this"
Vasile opened his mouth, trying to figure out what to say. "I...." he forlornly looked down at his hands. "It's all.... true." It wasn't a question, just a simple question. His lips trembled and he did his best to blink back a few tears. To no avail, however. After a moment of avoiding Ambrose's eye contact, he gathered the pillow in his arms and buried his face into again, sobbing,
Sitting down next to him, Ambrose patted him on the back gently, hoping that he wasn't making things worse if his back still hurt... "I'm sorry, Vasile.." He repeated. "I tried to tell you.... yes... it is true. All of it." He tried to give him a silver lining. "But... hey... it could be a lot worse." he winced before giving him one of the lifelines he had been clinging to. "You're.... mammalian at least.... no scales... no feathers... something fuzzy...."
Vasile didn't answer, Ambrose couldn't tell if he even heard or cared about what he said. Vasile didn't bother to move much, just cry and sniffle into the pillow, before falling into an exhaustion-induced sleep.
Sighing, and patting him a few more times on the back, Ambrose stood up to go get the extra blanket from the closet, and carefully put it over his friend. He needed the sleep.
Quietly he slipped out to the cafeteria to get a few plates of food - primarily meat, but with some eggs and bread as well - both for himself and, juding from Vasile's teeth - him as well.
Arriving back in the room, Ambrose shut off the light and leaned back in the plush chair, putting his feet up on the bed and tried to catch a few more winks himself, until Vasile woke up.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 5:49 pm
Vasile: Post transformation
Several hours later, Vasile slowly began to stir. His new tail still was throbbing, and his ears felt stretched and tender. The way the bed sheet rubbed on the fur trailing down from his belly-button made his stomach itch. He slowly rolled over, grimacing at the feel of his tail pressed under him, and slowly blinked and wiped the hair out of his eyes.
Ambrose had managed to fall back asleep sitting in the chair by the bed, his feet propped up on the edge of the mattress. His hands were in his lap, and his head was lolling to the side.
There was a large tray of food sitting nearby on the bedside table, laden primarily with various types of meats, with a few rolls and eggs as well - no telling how long it had been there, but it still smelled good.
Vasile felt his stomach growl as the smell of the food entered his nostrils. Frowning upon see his hands - now complete with thick points at the end of the nails, he reached over and took a roll and a few chicken nuggets. His gums felt sore as he chewed, feeling his new, longer canine teeth rubbing on the inside of his lips. He looked over at Ambrose, not wanting to wake him up, but not wanting to be alone. He nudged him gently, seeing if he stirred.
Ambrose's brow furrowed as he moved a bit and made a noise, slowly consciousness returning to him as he groaned, remembering what had happened, his eyes opening hesitantly to confirm his memory.
"How are you doing...?" Ambrose asked gently.
Vasile shrugged, not really knowing how to respond. "Hungry," he settled for, and scooted closer to the tray of food. He looked sullen, his mind racing in a thousands directions, trying to think of something to say.
Ambrose nodded, removing his feet from the bed and leaning forward, snagging a piece of bacon from the tray and chewing on it thoughtfully himself.
"And sore, I would imagine." He commented. "I was at least.... and in some regards, you've been through more than even I went through.." He said, eyeing the length of Vasile's tail.
Vasile reluctantly looked behind him, having avoided it until now. He blinked, and turned pale. Morbid curiosity forced him to get up and pad over to Ambrose's mirror. He licked his lips nervously, looking over himself head-to-toe from the first time. He was already shirtless, and he kicked off his shoes. His feet were topped in silver fur, and had the same blunt claws tipped at the end of the toenails. He eyes his feet for several moments, then raised his eyes to the mirror. Face-to-face with his own reflection, the first thing he noticed was his hair. It was now considerably longer, and wavier than it had yet to be. But his eyes widened and he strepped nose-close to the mirror, examining the roots of his hair. "WHAT THE ********?!" he exclaimed, pulling out several strands and holding them up to his vision. "GREY HAIRS?"
Ambrose swallowed and shook his head in bewilderment as to why Vasile's hair might be changing colors. "Maybe... because of the fur.." He commented.
He slowly followed after him, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It's okay... .most of the rest of the islanders have changed now as well.... no one is going to think you're strange... at least everyone I have met at least knows what's going on now." he said quietly.
Vasile glanced over to Ambrose as he came over and put his hand on him. He tried to force a thankful smile, then went back to observing himself in the mirror. There was a thick pelt forming from the mantle of his shoulders that ran down the base of his spine until it connected at the tail. "What...what do you think I'm...?"
Ambrose looked him over again. Mammalian... bushy tail... gray... carnivorous - or at least omnivorous. "I... I don't know that well.... well, hrmm" Ambrose paused, thinking about some of the information that he had been looking at in the wild canines book before he had banished it to beneath the lamp. "Just a moment"
Ambrose headed over to the desk and pulled out the large book that was full of big, glossy images, flipping through it until he got to the fox section - and a particular specimin of a gray fox. "A... fox, maybe? You're a mammal, probably a carnivore with those teeth... and a big fluffy silver tail." Ambrose tried to think logically about it, maybe it would help Vasile to cling to the facts.
Vasile's tongue darted out and wet his chapping lips. "A .. a fox..." he tried to keep his mind focused on this fact first, before wading into how this was possible, why he was brought here, or if he's ever seen anyone he knew ever again. "I guess... maybe..." he took the took and paced back and forth a few times, studying the glossy photos. "That's... that's not to bad... right?"
Ambrose shook his head. "I don't think that's bad at all. Especially compared to the fate of some of the other islanders. I mean, I don't see you being too happy about being a sealion... or a skunk.." Ambrose smiled. "I consider myself pretty lucky as well, all things considered."
Vasile just nodded and closed the book, handing it back to Amrbrose with unsteady hands. "Why am I here...?"
Confusion answered Vasile's question. "Why?" He shook his head. "What do you mean? Er... I mean the doctor pulled us all here via various excuses... people he thought he could 'disappear' essentially.. or would make good subjects." He looked at Vasile and thought about this. Why DID he choose a movie star? .... And why had no one come looking for him yet. "But for you... I mean... I don't know. I don't think the doctor would have brought you here unless he knew he could get away with it. As much as I wish that helicopters would show up here searching for you and rescue us all..."
"But the script... this was a set-up... someone like me doesn't just... dissapear. I mean... people will come looking for me, right? THey have to! I have... jobs booked up for the next two years!"
Ambrose sat down to think on this. He nodded, remembering the script. "Not just that... btu the way the script was worded -I mean DAMN, someone really did their research to keep you in the dark for as long as they could. Even to the point of "people are trying to convince you that it's all real" being a part of the movie plot." He shook his head. "And I have olympic training that I was doing. This was supposed to be just a two week 'vacation' of a study. Now I've been here over two months. Vasile. I really, really hate to break it to you, but unless something unforseen happens, we're stuck here. For good." He swallowed, looking rather distraught himself.
Vasile sank down on the bed, looking away as a tear rolled down his cheek. He wiped it away quickly, but never before had the suave movie start looked so much like a scared little boy. "Why would they do that? To people with families.. and futures...?"
Ambrose felt really bad for the guy, hating Moreau all the more as he put an arm around him. "I don't know" he said quietly. "I wish that they would have the decency to do more research on who they're brining here before they ruined more lives." Ambrose winced. "There are some people here who don't mind it that much - Lauren... Colche... and a few others... I don't see why they not only are keeping us here, doing THIS to us.... but taking people that have lives, goals... dreams... People they love... all back home."
Vasile ran shaking hands through his hair and leaned into Amrbose's touch a bit. Though he wouldn't admit it, having a friend there to comfort him made all a bit easier to take in. "you... they really did take you away.. from her...Angelina, was it?"
Ambrose felt a lump forming in his throat, his eyes stinging a bit. Tring to swallow the lump down before it emerged, he nodded. "...yes... Yes... the bastards did..."
Vasile blinked back more tears of his own and just sat there in silence. "What...what do I do now?"
Ambrose shook his head. "That's what we're all trying to figure out. Find something to hang on to. Survive. Try to see a silver lining?" He sighed. "If you figure it out, let me know. Greer's building a butterfly house." He gave a bitter smile.
"Build a buttefly house? You're serious?" Vasile felt his cheek sting from anger, but he knew it wasn't Ambrose's fault. It was Moreau he should be mad at. He took a calming breath and rubbed his temples.
Ambrose shook his head. "We've been here months with the realization of what's happening to us. We've tried railing against the staff. We've talked of escape plans, but nothing has bourne fruit. Moreau's got the funds of a small government and I am willing to bet invested a great deal in security. There are cameras everywhere. And, to make things worse, even if we DID somehow manage to esacpe, it's likely that our cells will mutate and become cancerous because of the what he's done to us unless he finishes his damnedable experiment and our transformations are complete. Because they're not yet." Ambrose stared at the floor bitterly, a curl on his lips.
Vasile sneered. "I can afford the best ******** doctors on the planet. I'm s ure they could fix whatever the hell happened to us."
"Fix us?!" Ambrose asked incredulously. "We're not injured. We're not sick - he's rewriting our ******** DNA. No one has ever done anything LIKE this before - not even with animals - or we would have heard of it! It would take years to figure out what he's even done well enough to try to help us, by which point it might very well be too late."
Vasile stood up defensively, crossing his arms. "I don't care if he ******** Einstein - he didn't do all this on his damn own. Medical science is ALL abuot building off of other's work. Did you ever think about that? No other crazed scientist has DONE this before because its ILLEGAL. Doesn't mean doctors couldn't look at us and find a way to at least stop it from getting worse. Its easier to find a question when you have the answer."
Vasile paced a few times, just spouting anything that was coming to mind. "And if they couldn't they would sure as hell do eveyrthing they could. I'd rather die out there with them TRYING."
Ambrose shuddered, wrapping his arms around himself. He didn't want to die. But he also didn't want to be a wolf. "I don't know. I'm not sure if I'd be willing to risk my life on doctors being able to reverse engineering this. I mean, we can treat cancer, but if our whole body starts to shut down.... breaking apart at the cellular level... I don't think people can exactly fix that. And belive me... I want to go home - I want to see Angelina again, tell her I'm not dead. Tell her I love her. But I don't want to die."
Vasile chewed on his bottom lip. "I think I'd rather take the risk. Than be stuck never knowing what could have happened had he tried."
Ambrose pondered on this. "Maybe we should talk to Matthew... I think he's some sort of scientist. Maybe he'd know what people know back home. If it would even be possible." he shuddered. "I don't know.... I agree with you - and the hope. My biggest hope for the longest time was that it physically wouldn't be possible to change us more than he already has. I mean, I'm with you in this seeming like a badly scripted sci-fi movie. People can't turn into animals. DNA can't change you THIS much when you're already grown, right? But..." he took a breath. "Then I saw some of the other islanders... change again..."
Vasile shrugged. "Are they changing us... all the way? I mean.. TO animals?"
Ambrose swallowed. "No one knows... exactly how far they're changing us. Aubrey has said that they think that we'll still be able to speak... still have hands... but they're not sure. Maybe we'll still stand up, be human-sized... I don't see us being able to gain or lose that much mass.... but then again, I didn't see us growing tails either. Well, maybe gaining mass would be possible, but not losing, right?"
Vasile was just kind of gawking at Ambrose, not really listening to what he was saying, or having the ability to understand it at the moment... mass and tails and DNA... what was the point of having hands if you marooned on some islands for te rest of your life anyway. Vasile finally just shook his head and turned his back. His brain felt like it just wanted to shut down.
Ambrose sighed. "I'm sorry." He picked up the plate of food, taking a bite of hot dog as he did, and then passed it to him. "here. Eat, you need it."
Vasile took a hot dog and ate it - he was indeed hungry. He went back over the plate and grabbed a few more things. "Have you.. lost your taste for certain stuff?"
Ambrose squirmed a bit nervously. "To be honest... yeah. I don't much care for most vegetables anymore. Fruit... fruit's okay, but meat appeals to me above all else, really. IT's more that than anything else. Bread and stuff is still good, but not AS good by comparison, you know?"
Vasile carefully chewed things over in his mouth, and focused on what foods sounded appetising. To be honest, fruits and veggies - at least cooked, didn't seem unappealing to him. At least by memory. The bread and cheese and meat all tasted fine. But it was an interesting thought.
Picking up the silverware, Ambrose cut a slice of the steak for himself. "we can go to the actual cafeteria if you like. They have a much broader seleection."
Vasile just shrugged. "Maybe later." He glanced to the door and frowned. No way he wanted people to see him like this.
Ambrose nodded. "I understand. But remember, no one here is going to hold this against you. Not that I know of at least."
"I feel like a fool," he admitted.
Ambrose frowned. "I don't blame you. Hell, if I was in your position, I'd want to believe anything possible other than what was actually going on. It would have been much easier to deal with. Besides, the story they fed you was actually plausible."
The sneer came back to Vasile's lips. "Those bastards.." he mumbled. He peered out the window, staying close to the curtains incase someone came by. "I can't face her now."
"her...?" Ambrose paused for a moment before it clicked. "You mean Cassidy? Why? She's going through the same thing. Hell, she's having an even harder time..." Ambrose swallowed, thinking about the last time he saw her.
"But that one time we fought was because.. .my god, no wonder she thinks I'm an idiot..."
A frown tugged at his mouth. "Well.... now you know at least, that you like her for the real her, right? And you can tell her that."
Vasile frowned himself as an unsettling thought came over him. He looked down at his hands and sighed. "A snake? Really..?"
Ambrose nodded. "So we figure... except... ah... recent developments have been rather... odd." Ambrose looked off to the window, feeling uncomfortable. Should he tell him? He believed it all now at least.
Vasile's mind didn't seem to get that far. He swallowed, trying to comprehend that those scales over her body were... real
Ambrose looked over to him, concerned. "Is... everything alright?"
"I don't know," he said honestly.
"What's going through your mind...?" Ambrose asked hesitantly.
"I just.... I mean.. those scales.. you're fur... they're all... ..real."
Ambrose nodded slowly, taking in a breath. It really was a lot to take in when you thought about it. He looked at the fur growing over his legs, running his hand along it, feeling it. And it would only get worse....
"Yes..." Ambrose responded finally. "It is. Fur, scales, tails...." he shook his head. "even vocal capabilities for some of us."
"Vocal capacities?" He looked scared for a moment. "We won't be able to ..talk?"
Ambrose looked over, alarmed. "Nono! That's not what I meant.... I hope!" Ambrose looked scared for a moment, thinking about his own growling and howling... and only after his first change. "I mean... I can growl...." he winced. "And howl. But I mean, I can talk too!"
"Oh...."
Ambrose scratched at his arm again. "is there anything else... you want to know? That I can do..?"
Vasile sighed. "I... I don't know."
Ambrose nodded, mind seeking a change in topic. "So... how's Brutus doing...?"
Vasile shrugged. "Afraid to go outside thanks to that Red Devil."
"Red Devil... Oh! You mean Captain Morgan? " Ambrose winced. "I'm sorry about that."
"I guess. Its not your fault."
"Well... I do think, anyway, that you should talk to Cassidy. At the very least, there are the intercoms. Come to the halloween part with us next week. It's not much... but it's something. We can't just lie here and rot for the rest of our lives."
Vasile nodded. "I suppose so. I.. I guess I do owe her an apology."
Ambrose nodded. "She'll appreaciate that. And... maybe that's one reason that she's been cold?"
"We can hope..." he said, forcing a smile.
Ambrose nodded, patting him on the back. "There you go. And we're all here for eachother. We'll make it through. Really." He forced the smile.
"Thanks" he said, his smile a bit more genuine. "Thank you for.. you know. Being here for me and all that..."
Ambrose nodded. "Of course. what are friends for?" he gave a small chuckle. "Welcome to the club." He said wiht a note of sarcasm, gesturing to their mutual fur.
Vasile gave a snort and nodded back at him. "Talk about exclusive."
Ambrose actually laughed at that. "No kidding."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
