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 Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:04 pm
It felt as if Dee had swallowed a bowling-ball-sized chunk of ice. She was torn between the desire to pull her hand away and to flee, and to drill the poor lizard-fellow about the details of his transformation. As frightening as it was, her curiosity managed to win her over.
"Others? Others like you?"
Oh please let the 'others' not be what Duvert had referred to as 'unique species.'
As if on cue, her arm, which hadn't been troubling her much since this morning, began to ache--it was time for another dose of painkillers. With a grim expression, she gently removed her hand and pressed it over the injection site.
"What's going to happen to me?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:18 pm
"Yesss...otherss, everyone isss changing into different animalss" Victor sighed and looked at Dee and her arm. "We're....all ssstuck here, nobody can leave, eventually everyone changesss, doessn't happen all at oncsse, I've heard people change four timesss...each time getsss worsse, I've only changed twicsse but my ssserum iss differnent, and makess thingss worssse for me"
Victor shifted himself, and sat up a bit more to better face Dee. "There isss almosst eighty people..."
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:37 pm
Well now, Miss Creedwater. What on earth have you gotten yourself into?
"Eighty? Eegad," Dee breathed, mind whirling as it cycled through mental images and notes. She thought back to all the things she was told at the trade show by Feral Labs representatives... that she'd fit in ~perfectly.~
"So I guess I'm not really an employee here, huh?" she smirked. "Those bastards...I fell for the whole thing hook, line, and sinker."
"How the hell can they do it? I mean...the ethics aside, this is like something out of a science fiction novel! If it wasn't so grotesque, it'd be utterly fascinating..." Dee looked back at Victor. "Ah...no offense."
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 9:50 pm
"Don't feel bad, I wasss tricked asss well, almossst everyone wass"
Victor crawled from the underbrush and onto the gametrail, where it would be easier to speak and talk to Dee.
"No Offenssse taken...I don't know how they do it, there issss alot of money involved with Feral Labsss sso I guesss that would have sssomething to do with it." Victor's tail shifted side to side while he spoke.
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 10:02 pm
"I wouldn't doubt it," Dee muttered, watching the odd human/reptile hybrid. "The work of a company that can produce these sorts of results must be worth a fortune." Not to mention, it's got to be run by geniuses... but it doesn't take a genius to figure out why it's such a clandestine operation. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't curious about what they REALLY have in store for me," she adds quietly.
In the canopy overhead, a small flock of gnatcatchers squabbles and forages. For once in her adult life, Dee is too preoccupied to notice.
"I guess there's no use in asking if it's reversible, eh?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 10:21 pm
Victor muttered under his breath at the mention of 'results' "They only plan on doing to you that they've done to everyone elssse, thatss their plan, we're not much more than lab ratssss to them..."
The lizardman scrowled, a difficult thing to see with his large snout in the way.
"I'm sssorry you're a part of thisss, it isssn't fair for anyone to be here"
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 11:04 pm
Dee shrugged and let her hand drop from the injection site. If everything he's saying is true, then "No...no it's not." She reaches into her bag and pulls out a small bottle of tylenol. With an unsteady hand she shakes out four and swallows them all in one go. One or two others go bouncing off her palm into the brush.
"I suppose it's best that I learned this for myself, rather than let the lab-coats lead me on." The woman chuckles and runs a quivering hand through her salt-and-pepper hair. She had always wanted to be taken seriously in some scientific capacity... but she'd never imagined it would be like this.
Dee puts her hands on her hips and tilts her head, studying Victor as she chews her bottom lip. "So... aside from the extra limbs and such, what are they making of you? I-I'm just curious. I thought you were a monitor of some sort---and speaking of which, I am sorry for jumping you earlier."
She offers him a slight chuckle. "Force of habit."
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Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 9:01 am
"Itsss...alright" Victor said after watching Dee down some tylenol. "I ssupposse getting jumped and getting grabbed by the tail iss better than you ssscreaming and running away" The lizardman's chest-arms moved uneasily, he could feel Dee's eyes looking over him, studying him, trying to -identify- what he was, was he really that bad? that he couldn't be recognised as a former human or as whatever type of reptile he was becoming?
"Assside from the exstra limbss and the two mouthsss, I've been told they're changing me into a Tegu." Victor sighed and motioned to himself with his heavily clawed forelimb. "The ressst are 'ssside effectsss' becaussse they're trying sssomething to keep uss from acting too much like animalss"
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Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 11:26 am
"Uh huh! Okay..." Dee muttered, trying to remain analytical about the situation. "Yes, I can see it now. The tegu, that is. I've had a wee bit of experience with Tupinambis species." She watches him for a little while longer until she realizes that it's probably making him uncomfortable.
The woman blushes, ashamed of herself. This is a person...not just an experiment or some poor herp she dug out of a burrow. "So what's your story, Victor? How did they rope you into this?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 1:30 pm
"I wass a pssychology intern at a hossspital, then it looked like my bank account got broken into and ssomeone took out my money, Feral labsss offered for me to come here to finissh my internssship while the banksss worked out what happened to my account"
Victor explained, crawling towards a large tree that had grown into the side of the game trail and used is clawed forelegs to pull himself upright, the black curved talons easily gripping and digging securely into the bark. He could almost stand up like that, clinging to and leaning against the tree, while balancing some of his weight on his tail. Most of all, it allowed him to talk to Dee easier without having to look up so much, it was difficult to get used being considerably shorter than before because of the drastic changes his body had undertaken.
"how they convincsse you to come here?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 2:10 pm
"I was attending a symposium on rare and endangered tropical wildlife when I was approached by Feral Lab representatives. I'm a naturalist--bird guide, hiking guide--and an independent biology researcher," Dee answers. "They said I had come 'highly reccommended' and wanted to know if I'd be interested in checking out the 'rare and unique species' around the island here."
She rubs the back of her neck and smirks. "They also hinted that I might have a job, helping collect specimens. Hell, I can never pass up a good trek, so I leapt at the opportunity."
Dee walks over a few steps and leans on a tree of her own, watching Victor steady himself. "The.. changes. Do they hurt?"
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Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 2:21 pm
"They're good at telling people exactly what they want to get them to come here" Victor said with a sigh, turning his head to the side to better look at Dee. "The changess do hurt, but itsss different for everyone, keep painkillerss around for afterwardss, hurtsss a while." The lizardman's second mouth opened slightly before Victor closed it again, and hooked his extra pair of legs into the tree bark to steady himself more.
"Which Duplexss they have you in? I'm in Ssseventy five"
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Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 2:33 pm
Dee took a deep sigh as she weighed Victor's words. She reached down and dug a little pad of note-cards out of her pocket.
"29. It's a little sparse, but comfy enough." She answers after skimming through a short, scribbly list. "I was thinking of putting a bird-feeder or two out front. Maybe a bat-box or butterfly house. I still might, if I'm going to be here a while."
Oh god...my family is going to go berserk. She thought. At least I know the aquariums will be in good hands, I told the house-keepers they could have them in case anything happened to me.
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Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 2:45 pm
Victor nodded slowly "We're all going to be here a while..." The lizardman shuffled his hind feet a bit, even with his weight supported against the tree it wasn't very comfortible for him to stay in the position he was in, his tail brushing against the ground. "If you call the labsss, they can get you thingss you want...Itss important to try and find sssomething to do to keep busssy, ssso not jussst sssit and wait and get sssick worrying all the time"
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Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 2:52 pm
Dee laughs out loud, a bit derisively. "Oh! Well, that's very nice of them. 'Here you go, watch some television while we make swiss cheese out of your genome!'"
Noting Victor's discomfort, she takes a seat, leaning her back against the tree.
"No, I understand what you're saying. But it's still like summer camp from hell," she said, recalling unpleasant childhood memories. "I can't imagine *everyone* is playing nice... how do they keep predators from, er, predating?"
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