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 Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 4:41 pm
"Oh, you bloody bet it's on..." Seth replied with a determined scowl, muttering in a low voice, minimizing what could be heard by various cameras and microphones in the room. If there were any that was. His ears were high and alert, and he listened for whatever camera movements might have occurred as a direct result of what he had said. "They're watching... can't say too much now, but..."
Seth headed for the door and subtly motioned for Oz to follow. "I know somewhere else. Feel like going for a stroll?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 4:45 pm
Oz almost envied Seth for a moment, wondering if maybe he'd develop acute senses, or maybe even remotely wishing he could have chosen his animal. He certainly wouldn't have picked gorilla, thats for sure!
He heaved himself up to standing, changing the topic to make it look like something more normal.
"Lemme help you with those," he offered, motioning towards the bottles of whisky.
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 4:58 pm
Seth stopped in the doorway, carefully plucking the two bottles of whiskey out from under his arms. He briefly wondered if the Gorilla-man would run off with his stash, but quickly pushed that thought from his mind. It wasn't fair of him to think that, Oz seemed like a genuine guy. And besides, if he did take the whiskey, there was plenty more where that lot had come from.
"Thanks, mate." Seth replied, sounding genuinely grateful. "It's a bit awkward to lug them things around though." He handed the extra whiskey bottles over to Oz, holding onto the singular remaining bottle himself. "I would've just buried 'em in a few minutes, so I didn't really think about how hard they'd all be to carry around. I mean, I've been doing it for a good number of months now, I'm used to it. I bet there's at least a couple grand worth of them a few feet underground now."
"I reckon there's at least a seven-month supply worth of the stuff hidden now," He grinned back at Oz before heading out of the Beach Bar area, and headed for the tree line at the back edge of the beach and the beginning of the jungle. "So if they ever take away the booze, you'll know who to come asking for it, huh?" He gave Oz a grin and a wink before he headed up into the jungle, immediately picking up the scent of one of his territorial trails.
"Ah, if whiskey's your poison, that is. It's good strong stuff and you don't need a whole lot of it feel tanked. But if it's not something you like, then..." He shrugged.
He sighed a sigh of relief once he was in the jungle again, feeling safer to be out of the open. "It gets more dense as you head for the south side." He stated, beginning to canter away once he was on one of his paths. "There's less cameras there too. It's ideal for... chat. D'ya know what I mean?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 5:14 pm
Oz didn't mind. He was a labourer at the theatre construction site, a couple of whisky bottles wouldn't be a problem. As Seth carried on talking about his digging abilities, and his secret stash, he wondered if he was always a fast talker. He couldn't recall what he was like before the changes started, but oh well.
He squinted as they left the bar, blinking his eyes awake and following Seth almost like an obedient oaf.
"Hehe, I dread to think what you'd want in payment," he chuckled at the fellow Islander. "I suppose I could beat people up for ya in exchange for booze."
Oz stumbled occasionally as they travelled fruther into the dense jungle, struggling to keep up with the fleet-footed man.
"I didn't actually know that...about the cameras in the jungles..."
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Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:53 am
"Mate, I would friggin' pay you for security against that wild-cat man-woman... whatever the hell it is now!" Seth threw his arms up in the air in his frustration. "Truth of the matter is, my little paths that I make around here? They're safe now, and an escape from the rest of this crazy place. But I'm not going to be safe on them one day, especially if Richard moves out of his... her little patch back in the village. And guess where she's gonna head?"
He snorted, stopping in his tracks to look back at Oz, growling. "Straigh into my bits, that's where she's gonna head. An' then she's gonna bloody tear me to bits. I ain't gonna let that happen." He took a moment to calm down before shaking his head. "Feh... but yeah, she's no good news, keep a good eye out for her. You can't miss her, she's about two feet taller than me, big tentacle things comin' out of the back of her spine. s**t, I dunno what the labs did to her, but she's a freak I'll pay you to beat her up. Just name your price - I have plenty of whiskey stashed away at the moment."
Seth's ears pinned back at Oz's final statement.
"Oh, bloody oath there are... cameras everywhere. All over this whole friggin' prisoner island." He pointed to the trees nearby. "I can hear one, whirring away right now. They don't take much to break though, one chomp and they're down. But as fast as you wreck em', they come back. They're like mosquitos, kinda."
"Once we're in the denser bits where they can't hear us, I'll explain it a bit better. Sorry to lead you on a wild goose chase like this." He continued on his way, heading further south.
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Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:30 am
As Seth talked at length about his frustrations with Richard, a few things occured to Oz. For a start, it chilled him to the bone to hear Seth not only talk of Richard being so confrontational about 'territory' but of his own 'paths' as well. Like he'd made scent-trails or something. To Oz, that spelt a sort of silent doom for himself.
If others could not escape instincts, or were even embracing them, what hope did he have of changing his fate?
Out of condition, Oz had to rest occasionally against a tree, indeed hearing the odd little electronic whirs and twitches of a camera that he couldn't see. Or maybe his mind was just twisting perception again.
Shaking away the sweat and the fatigue, he soldiered on, following Seth almost religiously.
"Oh I don't mind the walkin'...It'll be good for me in the long run, and who nows? I might have to live out here soon if I get any bigger," he said with a sad kind of humour.
Richard's description aside, Oz's mind came to rest on one final thought - Seth's willingness to actually pay him for protection from the beast. Could...would he be able to do that? Beat up or scare the other Islanders in exchange for items or some such? Seth said it himself - he had a mighty lot of whisky...and he obviously detested Richard enough to get someone else in on the act.
Concentrating on the matter at hand, this interesting little business venture was filed away for later rumination.
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Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:00 am
Seth finally stopped once he seemed satisfied with the area around him. He sneaked into the bushes, his snout to the air. He remained still and silent for the best part of a minute before making a sudden jerk of his head, powerful jaws crunching through a small camera that had been affixed to a tree branch in the area. He turned his head and looked around, ears high as they would go - he heard no more cameras nearby.
"About bloody time," He grunted, stepping back out into the open, spitting bits of leaf and fragments of camera silicon board out of his mouth. "This place has been peppered with the damn things, but I've slowly been weeding them out. I think that must've been one of the last of 'em..."
"Anyway," He looked back at Oz, his expression one of dead-seriousness. "About that escape plan I was talking about. I've got a really good idea now. Soon enough... I'm gonna try an attempt to get us out of here. Or at least cause some damage onto the bastards that put us here in the first place."
He pinned his ears back and began to explain, speaking in a low voice so as to minimalize what could be heard. "Ever seen the Great Escape, with Steve McQueen in it? Well, Something like that... do you know Gaius? I told him about this already. Basically, I wanna dig a hole under the ground and get into the Feral Labs perimeter fence. From there we can nick their jeeps and drive to the helicopter pad - steal their helicopter and bugger off the island."
He frowned, tapping the side of his jaw. "If it doesn't work, we can at least tear s**t up once we're on the other side of the fence." He watched Oz curiously. "What do you think?"
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Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:11 am
Oz was impressed at Seth's jaw-power. It certainly made quicker work of the cameras compared to just his brute strength alone. And he was almost envious in a way - Seth had been able to detect that camera through smell and sound. Oz almost felt inadequate. But he chose to revel in his sheer size advantage instead, just something to make his ego feel marginally better.
With tender loving care, he put the whisky bottles down on the soft jungle floor and then settled himself in the nook of some tree roots. With an expression one sometimes sees on higher primates, Oz listened intently and looked quite dignified or regal in his position.
"Oh I think I remember you saying this before. I asked you if you knew how to fly a helicopter," he commented idly, his brain having finally found those missing files like an ancient Pentium 1 computer chip.
"Yeah, I know Gaius. I doubt I'll be able to fit down the hole..." he began solemnly. "But I'd be up for helping and at the very least tearing something to bits."
Oz's nostril's flared and he sighed heavily. He hadn't changed too much from his human form, nothing a good trim and some makeup could solve. He'd look like a freak but at least he'd be free...but what kind of life would wait for them, IF they managed to escape.
"What about the cameras? And the things in our necks? Can they track us or anything?"
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Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2007 8:48 pm
Seth's gaze was sent skyward as he pondered Oz's question.
"If I take out the cameras on a daily basis, if they're gone before we dig every day, it won't become an issue." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "And the tracking things... I don't know if they do that or not. I wouldn't put it past them. I don't know how accurate the technology is though." A sudden wide grin crossed his maw as an idea came to mind. "I'd imagine they'd get pretty ******** over by magnets though. Strong magnetic fields ruin transmission signals. If we were to somehow get hold of some... and wear them on the back of our necks, over the chip-thingamajig, I'd imagine it would cause some problems for them."
"And hey, you could fit down the hole," Seth added quickly, wanting to assure the gorilla-man. "We haven't even started digging yet, so it could be accomadated and adjusted for somebody really tall like you." He paused, pondering yet again. "Can you crawl along? Or, wait... your animal hunches over when it walks, right? I doubt you'd be taller than me if you got into that stance."
"And if you can fit in the hole, if you can dig, you're certainly welcome to join the raid once we pop up out the other side and tear some s**t up." A wide grin was on his face now. "So, you wanna help?"
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Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 9:15 am
"Magnets? Hmmm...I suppose someone like Gaius could ask for 'em, say they're for the theatre or something," Oz mused aloud, at least trying to feel and sound helpful.
He didn't follow a word of what Seth was saying. All that seemed to sink in was 'magnet + electric signal = bad'. Then the next hurdle of wearing them on their necks...they'd need to find someone who could make necklaces or chokers or something. Physically, you could see the heavy thought processes going on his brain - Oz's thick brow was furrowed, his attention elsewhere, and eyes glazed over.
Seth's other confident assurance did not as well with Oz. He cocked an eyebrow at the bipedal thylacine, shooting him an expression that said 'have you even looked at how big I am now?' He took a heavy sigh, not particularly enthused about the idea of actually walking like his animal for the purposes of escape.
But...if it meant escape...
"I can certainly help with the cameras. It took a couple of days to replace them last time, and they only seem to buzz you out. I can take a few htis for the team if it means those bastards see that we mean business," he replied with a certain resolve.
He left his involvement with the tunnel unanswered for now.
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Posted: Tue Apr 17, 2007 8:15 am
Seth couldn't help but chuckle at the Gorilla-man's expression. Clearly he was deep in thought, which was to be expected under the circumstances, and a good thing - but his expression just amused the bipedal-thylacine. He grinned back at Oz in a sheepish yet confident manner as the Gorilla gave him a look, wanting to reassure him.
His ears were raised as Oz mentioned the cameras. "They... buzz you for that? For knocking out the cameras?" He looked genuinely surprised. "I've taken out dozens, probably thirty or forty little ones by now, all of them less than the size of my palm." He raised it for emphasis. "But really, they buzz you?" He frowned, genuinely unhappy with the thought. "Fah... maybe if you're really subtle about it..."
"The ones out here are smaller," He quickly continued. "Did you knock out bigger, more prominent ones? That may explain the reason for the buzzing..." He suddenly waved a paw, trying to dismiss it. "We'll work out something, mate. It'll work, one way or another," He stated confidently. "I'd rather be free than here, or dead. We're as good as dead here anyway..."
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Posted: Wed Apr 18, 2007 2:34 pm
"Well, I'm not exactly subtle, am I?" Oz guffawed. "Besides...whats a buzz here or there to a guy like me?"
That was a straight up lie. He would be reluctant to admit it to anyone but himself, but the idea that someone could control him was terrifying. They could send electrical impulses through his spine, and they could knock him out cold. If he could only accomplish one thing on the Island, it would be that. To be free of the chip. By whatever means necessary.
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 2:46 am
"I ain't gonna lie to ya'," Seth began his reply. "The buzzing thing may be pretty small, but it bloody hurts, I hear. I never been buzzed, but..." He shrugged. "I can only imagine how debilitating it'd be. I'd love to be able to disable it somehow... I can think of a few ways of doing that."
"They may not let us have magnets, but there's stuff with pretty powerful magnets IN them, lemme assure you of that. Ever yanked apart a pair of headphones? There's a magnet in them, and it's disc shaped, about yay big." He indicated the size with his paw-hands, making a donut-shape by touching his indexes and thumbs. "Wear that over your back like a reverse necklace and it's bound to bugger the chip up pretty bad, I'd wager."
He stood tall on his hinds, sniffing around the area. "I'll get back to ya' on where to begin the digging, though..."
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 2:53 am
"Oh, I've been buzzed before. It won't be a bother, trust me. Its not like there's any brain left to damage anyways," he laughed, talking about this subject with candor.
Oz listened with rapt attention to Seth as he went on to describe how to procure magnets from the simplest of everyday items, like a pair of headphones. Even if he didn't know what might contain magnets, he could certainly have fun smashing things to find them. Then he wateched with mild concenr as Seth stood on his hinds and sniffed the air. Had he smelled something?
"Yeah, keep me updated if you can. I probably spend most of my time in the bar or at the theatre."
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 3:05 am
"Haha," Seth grinned broadly with amusement. "I could say the same about myself with the brain thing. Since I've been here, I haven't had any chance to use my Networking skills or nothing. My laptop's fine enough I guess, but what the hell can you do with it, really?" He shrugged. "I could always bury it near..."
Seth stopped, silent. One ear rotated backwards as far as it would go, the other slowly moving, listening for other nearby sounds. He skittered back slightly as a grey coloured rabbit bounded across his path, dissapearing into the underbrush again.
"Geez..." He breathed a sigh of relief. "Bloody animals. I'm too high-strung for my own good." He snorted. "Sorry about that. Feh..." He shook his head.
"You hang around the Bar? You'll probably come across me nearly every damn day then." He made a soft chuckling noise and grinned. "Well, now you know what's going on, spread the word to those who you think would be for it, huh? We need all the diggers and equipment we can get our grubby little paws on."
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