Welcome to Gaia! ::

The sky was clear... but she wasn't really taking attention to that.

Kim couldn't help but be melancolic - she didn't want to be in an helicopter, after all. She wanted to be home... Of course, her mom had to find this ad. Who conducted a diabetes research on an island ? But then, she couldn't have said no. It was only one month, after all... Just one month.

She kept trying to convince herself of that, as she concentred on beating all four fiends in a row. Not that it was hard - the NES version of Final Fantasy was much, much harder than the version she was currently playing on her DS. But she had sightly upped the ante by having a party of white mages... kept things interesting.

The flight had seemed to taken an eternity in her mind, but when a look away from the screen showed her the helicopter was about to land, she knew that she was there.

This couldn't be so bad... right ?

She snapped the Nintendo DS's lid closed, sending the device in sleep mode and hoping the batteries would hold long enough to allow her to finish the fight and save later. The girl then curled a bit of her long ponytail around her arm as she got up to avoid tangeling her hairs into the side of the seat, sliding the portable console into the backpocket of her purple jeans, and was off the second she was told by the pilot that she could leave, letting go of her hairs and staring a bit at the panorama in wonder.

Wow...

Kim blushed a bit, and noded. "Allright..."

...It allready seemed better than what she had tought it would be. She had not expected the island to... well... look so nice.

She gathered her bags, managing to lift the backpack and pull the straps in place - it seemed a bit heavy, for some reason - as well as a sport bag that seemed to be containing clothes, and began to head torward the jeep.

"If you do not mind, doctor, I have a few questions I would like to ask you... You know, like after how long it should take to show effect and if I should still test in the meanwhile. Things like that."

"Just Kim will do, please." Kim wasn't one used to too much formality... and that made her a bit unconfortable. She set the backpack on her knees, and the sport bag carefully at her feet.

"Well, pretty much what I said... like how long it should take to manifest something, if I should still test and use insulin in the meanwhile... Ill'd hate to mess it up." She admitted.

Hopefully it was okay to leave her luggage in the jeep...

She nodded in answer, and followed calmly. The injection wasn't stressing her in the least - she was well used to it, and what would one more in a day could change ?

She still couldn't help but watch the surroundings some more before they went inside. It was... much better than she had imagined.

Well, at least he seemed really happy... But then, the young girl tought it made sence. She wasn't too sure about how she felt with this whole thing... but it was too late to go back.

She scooped up some of her hairs and sat, relasing it when she was sure she wasn't sitting on it, and pulled her right arm out of the jacket she was wearing in order to expose the skin underneath. What she was wearing under it was a pink sleeveless top, so that wouldn't be a problem.

And she waited in sillence, almost ready to reach for her handheld - that hopefully was still in sleep mode.

She glanced a bit at the bandaid, but simpely put a smile on.

"I will, thank you..."

She headed to the elevator, very glad that it was allready over... Most medical places creeped her out, out of habit. Just, too much order, too much clean...

As the doctor had said, there where people waiting for her as she came back on the first floor, and she was showed the way.

And managed to beat the boss and save in time. Awsome.

She had to admit... her duplex felt... so bare and alien that she could not stand being in there for too long, not just yet.

That... and she was hungry. She tested and injected herself her insulin before coming out to what she had been told was the cafeteria, knowing most people would probably be unconfortable with her doing it on place.

But when she came there... somehow, the fish smelled pretty good. And fish wasn't really her cup of tea.

She tossed the matter aside, however, settling for having lasagna, sitting somewhere calm, eating with one hand and playing on her DS with the other.

Jamal was already there, mowing down the remains of a rather...rare steak of some kind. He didn't really feel like asking if it was really cow or if it was something else; ignorance is bliss, especially on this god-forsaken island.

He was dressed lightly today in a white tank and long shorts without his usual hairwrap or his jewelry. A basketball rested lightly underneath his foot which he rolled back and forth idly as he chewed.

He peered at the strange girl as she wandered in, eyes squinting as he stared at the long train of hair that trailed her around the cafeteria until she finally sat down. Hm... He tried not to stare, but...it happens.

Kim didn't seem to notice for a few minutes, too busy trying to whipe some final boss a**. It was only when she failed at that task that her brown eyes looked up to meet Jamal's stare. She didn't seem too annoyed, or well, annoyed at all, simpely smiling at him.

"Hey there ! How it's doing ?"

Jamal shoved another piece of steak into his mouth, juices dribbling down his chin until he wiped it off with his forearm. Such wonderful manners. He rolled the ball from foot to foot while giving the girl a look over, trying to place her with anything familiar. When he was unable to, he finally figured he might as well ask.

"Yo," he said simply, giving her a nod. "Ain't seen yous b'fo...new?"

"Yeah." She answered, flipping the lid of the handheld closed and taking a bite of lasagna. "I came, uh..." Great, she was allready losing track of time. "...One or two days ago, something like that. I kinda conked out..."

Playing with her fork a bit, waving it in between her fingers idely, she glanced at him. "Im Kim, pleased to meet you."

"Oh, dat 'splain it why I ain't 'memberin' you then," he said with a slow nod as he pushed his plate away and kicked back the remainder of his mountain dew, then flicked the can neatly into the nearest garbage can (which wasn't all that far away, but he felt like he needed to show off). "Da name be Jamal...I ain't been herr all dat long eitha' but...longa then yous apparently."

He shrugged some, then peered at the thing in her hand. "Whatchoo got?"

She blinked a bit, but then seemed to get what he was talking about.

"A Nintendo DS. Game console." She took another bit of lasagna, not sure weither or not he would be interested. He seemed like the sporty type... and usually those weren't too much for games.

"Im a game designer... So I like to keep up to date on that stuff, since I might develop for it one day." Not like she wouldn't have gotten one anyway...

"Oh s**t, I know what them be," he said with a light snort. "Ain't seen one inna long a** time, 'cept when Awen got 'em 'round wit' 'er. So...er...you make games fo' them things? What game yous got in it righ' now?"

He peered over the table curiously at it, then glanced at her. Hmmph...only way she'd be developing games would be if the Doc set up a place for her to do so. And, if she was knew, she probably had no idea what was going on. Jamal wasn't one to want to talk about it anyway, so he carefully avoided the topic.

"Final Fantasy." She shrugged a bit, cutting another part of pasta, cheese, and sauce and bringing it carefully to her mouth so that she wouldn't stain her shirt. "The rest's either at the duplex... or home." God, this was nice and all... but she really, really, really wished she was home instead of here.

"I wish those duplexes didn't look... well... so generic." She asumed they all looked the same inside. "But it won't be too long..."

Or so she thought. She didn't ask him why he was there for... assuming it was for a similar reason that her, and knowing some people didn't like to talk about it.

She glanced sideways, waving her fork torward the basketball.

"You play basketball ?"

Way to state the obivious, but she visibely felt like she had talked enough about her.

Jamal bent over to pick up his basketball after it nearly got away from him, which he set on the table, and rolled back and forth from hand to hand. At the mention of the duplexes, he smirked.

"Them duplexes suck. I moved ma s**t 'round ta how I wanted it, but...ain't nuthin' like back home. I miss all da lights 'n noise n' s**t from back home....them doctor people try real hard to get what we be wantin' but dat kinda stuff ya can't just stick in a box, ya know? You got plans fo' yo place?" He bit back the question of "Or do yous think yo' leavin'" to spare any drama. Jamal didn't need it right now.

As the topic changed to baskeetball, he grinned and flipped the ball up onto a finger and spun it around so it balanced on it's tip. "Yeah, I play a lil'...I ain't playin' much herr cause there ain't many who play. I guessin' you ain't so much of a sporty chick then?"

"Well, as you said... I can't do much with what's there currently... but ill do my best to make it feel better, I guess. To at least feel confortable in it."

Which probably would happen when she had everything hooked up.

"Well... Yeah, im not. I could play with you sometime, if you want it. I won't be much of a challenge, tho." She twirled a lock of ebony hairs around her finger. "Havn't played basketball since... damn, high school at least. I like biking best. And a bit of soccer, but I suck at that."

And well... when you are 5', getting a ball in an high net wasn't that easy.

"Mmm well, them Docs'll get ya whateva' yous needin', o' so I been told. Just drop a note o' sumthin' and they work it out," he informed as he passed the ball from finger to finger as it spun, not really watching as it did so. He really did need to put in a request for some basketball shorts, some oils for his hair, and other essential Jamal items.

"At least yous played a sport at some point...I met people that ain't neva done nuthin' like it b'fo. Lazy a** muthas, I tell ya." He shook his head with disapproval. "Ain't neva played no soccer b'fo, but bikes ain't bad...s**t, I oughta put in a request fo' onna them."

"Hmmm..." She twirled the fork a bit again, before taking the last bite, and pushing the tray torward the middle of the table to get it out of the way.

"Well, as much as I like sitting on a chair all day... it gives you the jitters, you know ? Like when you just gotta get out and move or SOMETHING before you glue to the chair." She laughed a bit. "Maybe I should, too... The island is beautiful... I wonder if there's trails going into the forest ?"

"Yeah...I jus' played some ball othawise I be out doin' sumthin otha' than stuffin' ma face...gotta rest ma feet for a bit. Ain't played ball in so long that ma muscles ain't so happy wit' me." He gave a long suffering sigh, but it was mostly exaggerated for effect. "But yeah, I bet there be some trails out herr. O' maybe jus' axe n' they make some."

Finally the ball lost momentum, having been briefly forgotten about so it slowed in it's turning, and randomly fell off to the side and bounced away much to Jamal's chagrin.

Awen walked into the Cafe and was surprised when a basketball bumped into her feet. Before she even had a chance to look around she had picked up the ball and blinked. Looking back up she noticed Jamal, not looking too happy and a girl she didn't know sitting across from him. Jamal, by his expression must have been the one to loose it. Awen grinned and contemplated making a crack at Jamal dropping the ball.... but decided against it.

She walked forward and set the ball down on the table. "Loose something?" She smirked a little bit. What? That didn't count as a crack! Well... a little maybe because of the smirk....

Kim... visibely wasn't up for going to go axe the trails herself, at the slight face she made when he mentionned it.

It faded quickly, however, with the arival of the other girl. Visibely they knew each other... She smilled, but otherwise remained sillent.

Jamal didn't even have to turn around to know who was ripping on him, but he did anyway. A mock-wounded look spread over his features.
"Geez Shorty, you jus' walkin' in n' yous already startin' on me," he drawled in exasperation, which also was just to add to the effect of his expression. A hand reached out to grab the ball, palming it with little difficulty since his hands were pretty large, and returned the ball safely into his lap.

"I take it you two ain't met b'fo," he said, passing a look to Kim and then to Awen, noting each had a sort of curious look on their faces.

She grinned even more at his wounded stance over everything. She pat his shoulder and slung out the chair next to him sitting down. "You know I'm only teasing you big lug..."

She turned her attention then to the girl and held her hand out across the table. "The name's Awen Zyn, pleasure to meet you." Though she smiled she started wondering. She gave Jamal a glance from the corner of her eye wondering if he had told her anything about hte island yet, not thinking the gaze could be misinterpreted at all.

"Kim, nice to meet you..." She blinked a bit. "Your name's familiar, tho... Ah, there it is ! I think I live upstairs of your duplex..." The whole thing was still confusing her a little bit.

And well... Awen's glance made her a little nervous, but she didn't say anything about it.

"When ain't you teasin' me," he said, holding his wounded expression just long enough to cover that statement, then he gave a characteristic Jamal smirk and settled back in his chair, watching the two girls. He caught Awen's out-of-the-corner look and his lip twitched before he mouthed a very discrete "no" and shook his head ever so slightly in hopes it wouldn't be noticed.

"Kim says she be inta that gamin' stuff like you be, Awen," he said, trying to help them find some common ground and maybe have a little bit of conversation. "Bet you two could both beat the s**t outta me in a game instead of jus' you, Awen."

She took Jamal's 'no' into account but since he topic changed this wasn't the time, besides a broad grin broke out onto her face at the mention of another gamer. "Oh really?"

She laughed a little bit and gestured to Jamal. "This guy said that Resident Evil 4 was 'his game'" She glanced back and giggled. "I owned him so easily when it got to my turn. He really is hopeless. I'm glad to meet some actual challenge on the island though!" Even..if admittingly she hadn't really challenged many people on the island.

"Well im not exactly... super good or anything..." Apparently, the change of topic was enough to get her to forget all about the sillent communication... expecially because of the subject involved.

"Im more into rpgs and things like that..." She glanced at the time on her clap-on watch, and sighed a bit.

"Not like im bored, but I have alot of things to set up still..." The little twinkle in her eye told them it was probabely things Awen would ratter enjoy. "So ill catch you both later, okay ?"

After waiting for their answers, she headed back torward her duplex.

It was twillight.

There was something unusual in the air... for whatever reason. Kim found herself alone, surrounded by only skies.

As if she was... flying... but not quite.

There was also a voice, a faint murmur, something familiar, but yet she couldn't place or reconize it.

Come.

Come.

Come.

She couldn't help it. She could not see the ground, but the sky around her zoomed with movement, as she rushed in a direction she could not tell, trying to find the voice, trying to get closer, closer, closer, closer...

She stopped in disbelief once she got close enough, where the voice was stronger, where she could finally reconize it.

....Dad ?!?

---------------------------------------------------------------

Before she could get an answer to this question, the laptop started blaring a song from it's playlist - it was her wake up alarm of short.

With her hairs undone, it looked like a river, that curled at the end of her feet as she sat in her bed, confused.

What... God, she had not dreamed about her father in years, and never something like this. Something was odd...

Sighing to herself, she turned the volume down before she could bother Awen downstairs, and, after putting on clothes, decided that some air would do her alot of good, and she left outside to destination unknown.