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 Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 4:50 pm
If he’d really wanted to pull something shady, he would have come forward with it, Jordan mused. This guy wasn’t bright enough to be subtle. So maybe he did want to do something nice for the doctor.
Despite the heat getting to him, his tail was fanning behind as he was believing this could be a great way to get in good with Doctor Moreau again. His expression remained skeptical, but he believed Seth.
“Okay.” He nodded, approaching Seth with an outstretched paw “I’ll help you.” Inwardly, Jordan finished the sentence with ‘and take all the credit’.
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Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 5:09 pm
"Great." Seth was grinning now. He stopped once more as Jordan turned around and took one small edgy step back as the dog-footed man began to approach him. "Happy to have you on the team." He took the paw and shook it, grinning as wide as he could. With his snout and wide jaw, the expression more than likely would have looked downright silly.
"Okay, all ya' gotta do is this," Seth began, his grin fading as he took on a more serious expression. He moved closer to Jordan, speaking in a low voice in an attempt to minimalize the noise that any nearby microphones could have picked up.
"All you need to do is get a pair of pliers. Something that can cut wire. Wire that's about, say..." He paused for a moment to think. "Three or four milimetres thick. Yeah, that's about right." He paused, nodding to himself. "Ya' see, part of this surprise involves this... giant thing with a wire frame." He made vague motions with his paw hands, as if motioning something big and round. The miming gesture could have very easily been mistaken for a ball, or a balloon. "We need to cut lengths of wire to make the right shape for the surprise. From there, the other islanders and myself can complete the rest. But we can't do it without the wire cutters."
"So yeah, cutters. Not sure where you're gonna find 'em. Streuth, I've looked all over the bloody island and turned up nothing. I hope you have better luck." He gave the other man a singular curt nod. "So yeah, that's all ya' gotta do. And if you wanna help further then I'll leave you the right information. You're up there in the good books with Dr Moreau, right? Use your powers of persuasion on one of the other people here on this island, sniff 'em out. Perhaps call up the man himself or something. But whatever you do, don't tell him what it's for. If he has to ask, its a surprise and nothing more. Ya' with me so far? Any questions?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 5:26 pm
Jordan was nodding, trying to listen to what was being side, but he was on his own track of thought, thinking how he’d steal this project out from under Seth, take complete and total credit for this ‘surprise’ and make Doctor Moreau very happy with a gift. And if Seth had anything to say about that… well.. then.. uh.. well, he’d think of something, but this seemed like the one big chance to show the labs that he wasn’t a screw-up and deserved to atone for his sins. There wasn’t much more to it than that. A simple train of thought for a simple person without a prayer.
“Uhm… pliers? Would they just give out something like that without being suspicious…” sure it sounded feasible.. pliers were needed to cut wire… but.. would they see it the same way without giving him the third degree? It was good to see Seth wasn’t going on about an escape attempt. Maybe there was hope for him yet.
“Why can’t you get what you need?” he was just a little more than curious. “You… uh.. you’re not in any sort of trouble are you?”
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Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 5:45 pm
"No," Seth shook his head. "Doesn't seem like a tool they just give out to anyone. Which is a pity because if you have a whole lot of wire that needs shaping, say into a sculpture or the likes of something similar, you can't cut the desired length off to what you need."
Seth grinned in a feral manner. This was working perfectly so far, Jordan was buying into his story. If the man came through for him, then his plan's end was pretty much guaranteed.
"There were no pliers around the construction site when I visited Gaius and his team that is busily working away on building the theater." He looked genuinely dissapointed. "They weren't doing anything that involved bending wire around. Everywhere I looked turned up nothing so far." That part wasn't a lie. While he didn't look in many places yet, he still was without pliers.
His ears perked up as Jordan asked if he was in any trouble.
"Oh no, no no." He quickly shook his head. "All the times I talked to Dr Duvert, we were on fairly okay terms. He even got me a new laptop after I broke my old one by accident, so I certainly don't think I'm in their bad books." He shrugged. "But then again, I asked for an ATV and I didn't get that... I guess some items they just don't want to give out. Maybe you'll have better luck, ey?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 6:22 pm
“Are you planning on making a wire sculpture for Doctor Moreau?” he couldn’t help but crack a smile at that thought. “I bet he’d really appreciate a gift in his homage.” That tail wagged fervently again. Jordan so did like Doctor Moreau, didn’t he? And it hadn’t occurred to him to question why in the past few weeks that he had developed such a turn-about.
Construction site? Theatre? Jordan looked both confused and curiously amazed there was something new on the island he hadn’t learned about. He’d have to check that out on one of his outings. Jordan was puzzled as to whom Seth mentioned. “If you don’t mind me asking.. Who is Gaius..? A friend helping with the gift..?”
Again, that name came up: Dr. Duvert. Jordan had yet to meet this mysteriously elusive man and yet he was so known and talked about. Was Jordan so isolated from everyone else that he’d bonded so much more with Doctor Moreau? It made sense..
Jordan fidgeted in the sand, keeping the fleshy pawpads from staying on one hot spot for too long. ”I’ll see what I can do..” he gave only the slightest of nods. “I want to see Doctor Moreau’s happy face light up when I… uhm… we present his gift..” stupid! He’d let that faux pas slip.. Hopefully it would be overlooked.
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Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 6:59 pm
"Yeah," Seth paused for a moment. "Something like that. I'll draw up a rough plan of what we're going to do, if you like. But don't let anybody else see it, okay?" He made a mental note to draw up something fake, but believable.
"I'm not much of a sculpture artist myself, and I don't know how to protect it from the rain, but that's where other people come in." He smirked as he watched Jordan's tail wagging. He was definitely turning into some kind of dog. Seth was suddenly glad that his animal wasn't so expressive, and also glad of the fact that it didn't make any apparent outward movement when it was happy. Otherwise it might be much harder to pull off any cunning ideas. A wagging tail when he was trying to weave a lie might look suspicious.
"Ah, Gaius is a bloke working on the theater. I think he's in charge of building it... not sure there really." He thought for a brief moment. "Yeah I guess maybe I could call him a friend one day, if I got to know him better. Not a bad bloke, really. He has a long neck and these funny looking wing things growing out of his back. You can't miss him."
He frowned in thought once again, seeming to be in another time and another place for a moment. Once they started the digging, they would need a place for all that dirt... so why not make a mock-statue out of the leftover dirt and put it somewhere noticable? He had already been talking about a sculpture, that may as well be it. It seemed like a perfect idea.
"If you want a part in it, you could help with some of the sculpture if you want." Seth grinned at the dog-footed man once again. "Any good with the arts?"
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Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:21 pm
He could picture it now! The statue would be a stern representation of the real life doctor, an arm folded across his chest and a file held in the other. A true inspiration for everyone on the island. “That’s what everyone needs, a statue in the village. It would unite us together in our love for our beloved Doctor Moreau..” he was near swooning at quiet the words passing through his mouth. “I’d love to see a concept preliminary of the statue, please.”
Jordan was easily distracted when the good doctor was mentioned and any suspicions of Seth’s motives were displaced and forgotten. This man was reforming his wicked ways and he didn’t have to do anything. Jordan wasn’t up for another speech on why the island was good and the labs were the savior. This was a small bit of joy in an otherwise shitty day. He couldn’t help but express himself physically, not that he could control the tail’s movements. Emotions were not easy to hide as a dog.
Jordan logged the vague description of the horse-man and e had to sit down. Jordan moved slowly, worn out by the heat and the humidity, towards the stoop of his duplex and held onto the wall as slid himself down, careful of sitting on his waggly tail. Once situated, he nodded at Seth. “Yes, I would appreciate if I could be a part of this project. I hope you can understand it means a lot to me..” his ears flicked as he’d looked up in time to miss the frown. “I’m not very artistic, though…” he sighed, feeling useless in the respect he wouldn’t be able to lend a creative paw in the design. “When do you plan to get the project started..?”
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Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 7:42 pm
"Heh, love is a bit of a strong word, don't you think?" The thylacine-man arched an eyebrow at the other. "Admire, perhaps. I have to admit, there's certainly a few things about him I admire."
"Such as his power, and ability to con suckers into coming here..." He thought, flicking an ear in annoyance.
He quickly snapped out of his thoughts and gave Jordan another wide grin. The thylacine seemed calm now, and had the man lower his stiff banded-tail, relaxing it completely. "But yeah, you want a preliminary concept? Okay, easy done. I'll have to sketch it up, you can go over it and make it better, or change what you want. You can be in charge of what it looks like, how's that sound?" He chuckled, amused now. This had initially started as a small sniff of a lie, and now it was brewing into something truly marvellous. Several people building a big sculpture could prove quite the distraction from what was really going to be happening.
"The way I picture this thing though... it's gonna need a thick heavy wire frame, perhaps some mesh too. Perhaps ask for a soldering iron too? For melting and holding the wire frame in place, I mean. Ask for concrete, clay, anything you need. Don't matter if you're not artistic, we could find somebody who's good at that stuff, I bet. And you can learn along the way as you go."
"When to start it, oh... I dunno." He pondered that question for a few moments. "I can start digging up the dirt right away I guess. But planning's first, I'll show you some of the sketches I have in mind and we can go from there. How's that sound? In the mean time, get out of this heat. You look bushed."
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Posted: Fri Jan 26, 2007 9:07 pm
He was willing to concede to Seth’s admiration of Doctor Moreau, even though he believed everyone should show more love and appreciation for the man in charge. He lacked the stamina to get into an argument with Seth. “Whatever…” was the best retort he could muster, feeling his spirits sink low once more at the reminder of so many malcontents.
He leaned against his door and stared at the sky. His claws drummed on his knees, trying to resist getting uppity about his recent beliefs. There was no point to cause trouble. Wasn’t he punished enough? He tried remembering if he’d been so strongly conflicted in such a short period about anything. “Sure…” Jordan responded quietly, distantly to the offer of a concept sketch.
Seth’s words were all becoming a blur. The heat was causing a woozy feeling. And he kept just staring into the sky. He wasn’t feeling well to begin with and being outside seemed to exasperate that feeling. All he heard was Seth’s tone, the words being more of a distorted warbling.
Jordan stood uneasily, shielding his face from the sun, gripping the doorknob as he did. He wasn’t looking so hot. “Just… keep me informed… stop by when you have something to show me…” he twisted the knob and pushed his way into his duplex.
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Posted: Sat Jan 27, 2007 3:43 pm
The thylacine man merely raised an eyebrow at Jordan as he watched him. He seemed to be acting quite strangely indeed. The heat, perhaps? That could have been it, but it just seemed weird to Seth. It wasn't even that hot... or maybe he was just used to it. He did used to live a country where the residents sometimes referred to it as "the land of perpetual summer" afterall.
"Will do," Seth nodded as Jordan told him to keep him informed. That part would be easy to do, he noted to himself. "I'll either knock, or leave a note under your door. We can discuss this another time, any time really. But soon, okay?" He raised a paw up as if to say goodbye. "Farewell, have fun there."
Seth wandered off down the beach, leaving Jordan to his own devices for now, heading away from the duplex to think. This hadn't turned out the way he he had been expecting, but things rarely did. It wasn't a bad situation though, and one he could work with. One he could work with quite well.
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