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 Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 6:54 pm
Richard was clearly confused by Chana's incomplete explaination. "She was injuried awhile swiming away? I assume she's aquatic yes? Did she meet a shark?"
Richard brightened at Chana's interest in learning the game. "Then I'll find you as soon as I find two more people interested in learning. I suppose I could browbeat Tommy into it, but the poor boy barely looks at the cards before he plays them." Richard chuckled, "Of course having a partner like that might be a fair handicap."
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 7:01 pm
"She's a manta ray, yes, but I don't recall exactly what she said. Though I'm sure she met no one. There's something..." Chana shook her head in frustration at the gap in her memory. It would come to her...but it would drive her crazy in the meantime.
"Tommy? I've met him once," the beaver commented. She was a little leery of him, not just because of his being involved in the latest scandal, but also because of what he'd hinted at that first meeting. He was a deep and dangerous one...if he chose to be, or so she'd decided.
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 7:13 pm
"So lets see, that's two escape attempts and one death so far that I know of." Richard shrugged and shook his head. No sense thinking to much about it now.
"Ah yes, Tommy, he lost his hands now, but he's learning to use his feet instead." There was a bit of pride in his voice.
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 7:18 pm
"D-death?" the beaver whispered. She hadn't really talked to anyone in a while...she hadn't heard of any deaths! "Who?" Chana asked, still whispering.
Under her fur, the beaver had gone pale, and the remaining color drained at the mention of Tommy "losing his hands." She hadn't seen him since before his change.
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 7:29 pm
Richard had been watching for Chana's reaction and immediately looked sympathitic. "Oh you didn't know." Richard looked at the ground for a long moment. "Of course you don't know, I suppose. There hasn't been a wake or even a head stone erected."
Richard looked up at Chana, his face looking sad and old. Her name was Fiona Brooks, she was killed by Angharad Anderson during her transformation."
"I'm sorry."
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 7:34 pm
The beaver was saddened, and even her tail drooped as she thought about this. She hadn't even known either of those people...and now she never would one, and should add the other to her list of people to avoid.
She sat down abruptly, tears rewetting the fur of her face. Chana seemedt o be stunned silent by the grave news.
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 7:47 pm
Richard sighed. It was unpleasent but Richard felt the beaver woman needed to know. "Fiona had a rabbit serum. Angharad was a wolf. Appearently Angharad lost control of herself during the transformation and tore out her chip. Then turned on Fiona. That's all I've heard."
Pause.
"Perhaps I should not have mentioned it. But..." Richard took out his little flask. "This is not something that should be kept from anyone."
He took a sip and watched the Beaver woman.
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 7:53 pm
Chana sighed. "This place...for all that's happening to us, this place is so wonderful, so like a second chance. And yet, there are those who will, knowingly or not, wreck things for the rest of us."
The beaver blew out another long sigh and grabbed her shirt. Suddenly, she didn't feel like playing around anymore.
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 8:02 pm
Now that was not a sentiment he had heard before. "Wreck your second chance?" It didn't seem so much as a second chance as much as a terrible limbo. While comforts we provided, there was no future here. All these people could do was wait for Moreau to knock over his own house of cards.
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 8:07 pm
"Yes. People like Mr. Reedy and Zach and Tommy and Alec and now this Angharad...they don't think about the repercussions their actions have on the rest of us. Moreau is...completely in control." Chana was silent for a moment.
"But," she continued, quietly, "if we don't make a fuss and try to look on the bright side, this can be a wonderful opportunity for all of us."
Having said this, the beaver pulled her shirt on and began testing the fish to see how dry they'd become.
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 8:15 pm
"Opportunity?" Richard, is clearly dumbfounded by the idea.
"What opportunity? There is no future here, it just a limbo." He has clearly forgotten about acting sympathitic.
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 8:21 pm
The beaver was silent as she carefully gathered up her fish. Then she stood and faced Richard. The effect was rather spoiled by the half-head in height differences, but Chana ignored that and stared straight at him.
"As long as you think that way, you have no future here."
Then she turned back to her fish, making sure she hadn't damaged them in her anger, and turned away, reviewing in her mind the quickest way to the village from this particular part of the river.
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 8:41 pm
Richard hmpfed, his blue eyes absorbing Chana's angry like a stone thrown into an ocean.
"If there's a future here then why has there been no funeral? Hrmm?" Richard's tone was low, full of gravity. "Nobody wants to talk about it. Those that saw it have closed themselves to it. They try to forget it, not tell anyone about it so her story stops with them. You can't have a future without a past."
"I'm still an outsider but I've brought you news, you didn't want you hear. So you've turned your back on me. Where are you running to?"
"There are seventy people in the village. The only social event is I've seen evidence of is being organized by the lab. Future, You need a community to build one of those. Not isolated souls who happen to live near one another."
Richard watched her with his Icey eyes. His rant had tired him, it was almost an epifany. That was what the villagers needed. They needed a community.
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 8:49 pm
Chana spun around and glared at the man. "There's probably no funeral because the labs aren't finished with the body! And who wants to remember watching someone die? You're supposed to remember the life they had! And a past...nobody on this island gives a s**t about who we were before we came here.
"I'm not turning my back on you, just on your naive assumption that you can't be happy here. I thought that way too, once. But then I met Stewart, and he loves me for who I am and I love him, even if we are no longer human!" She paused a moment for breath, and to get her anger under control. Her volume had been steadily rising, and now she brought it back down.
"A community is a nice thing, yes, but as you might notice, it's difficult to get people to do things together when half of them refuse to see any good in anything."
Having said this, Chana turned away again, carelessly crushing the fish in her fist, and started walking towards the village on one of the longer paths. She'd need to walk off her anger, the beaver knew.
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Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 9:01 pm
Richard watched her go. He was somewhat surprised by her bitterness. She wanted to be happy with this? She had a boyfriend? Right. Love doesn't always last for every. Takes more than Love to be happy. Love is a shelter but not an instant key to happiness in Richard's mind.
Once she was out of sight, Richard rose and start off towards the village. The dead needed to be honored, people needed to be informed and you don't need a body for funeral.
He had a memorial to build. He also knew somebody who could help him do it.
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