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 Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:41 pm
Richard crossed her arms and glowered at the defiant girl. "I can't help you with your relationship issues. What do you want me to do? Set you up with a blind date? I can only give what I have Awen. I come to you because I thought you would enjoy the opportunity to make a real difference with consequences that matter. Because I trusted you to see the big picture. You want to throw that away because you feel slighted by some imaginary insult." She growled as her tail lashed behind her.
Goddamit she swore to herself. Why was Awen being so god damn difficult. What did she want her to do?
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Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 8:57 pm
Awen couldn't help but a low chuckle. It sounded much deeper or darker than the normal Awen. "Ah!" She smiled. "Now appealing to a higher calling, trying to have a stab at my moral self. Yeah, guilt trip, I know you well."
The frown returned as she sighed. "Listen Richard, I do not enjoy being manipulated anymore... I'm being torn apart on this island and I just can't deal with it." Her voice softened for a moment. "I want to help... you know I do. But I don't want to be controlled anymore. I don't want to have my strings, moral, heart and otherwise just thrown around and tangled anymore."
Tears slowly formed in the girl's eyes and she looked away. "I'm just sick of being used and tossed away by everyone and I don't want to be alone anymore. I know it's stupid, I know it's childish but damnit at twenty years old I was not thinking I'd be some freak cooped up on an island where at any moment something even more terrible could spring up. I know that I have no right to complain, that I'm just like everyone else here, but a lot of people have been able to find things that make them happy. They've been able to adapt and grow together. But because I have sympathy for the labs because of..." She paused a moment to pick her words carefully. "Because of the friendship I have with Sabin, because I've made so many mistakes and shut myself out when I was afraid I've got no one, and nothing. I'm not driven like you, I can't just go out and investigate something fishy, because I don't smell it. Or rather I guess that's all I smell. I can't have drama about who did what and who broke up with who for whatever reason, I don't even have anyone to have and hold and cling to when I just feel like crying!"
"I've never liked being alone..." She said softly. "Not since my parents died and being on this island hasn't changed that."
She wiped a few stray tears from her rubbered cheek and took a slow deep breath.
"But you're right Richard, as usual." She let out another breath. "You need my help, it's important. She moved back and crouched back down in the water lower to the rushing water sounds. "What do you want me to do...?"
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Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:20 pm
Richard took a deep breath, trying to get a grip on her own anger. She smoldered for a few moments before joining Awen. She plunged her head underwater for a moment to cool off. She surfaced and pulled hair out of her face. She consider trying to offer Awen a hug but figured that would be assumed to be a manipulative gestured.
Instead she sighed then spoke, "I don't need you to go and do anything. Although I bet you'd have alot better luck talking to Jordan than I did. What I want to know is what happened during your last encounter with him that you refused to tell me about last time. I'm just looking for anything that might point to some sort of proof." Her voice dropped to a whisper. "Sabin is very concerned about this."
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Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 9:38 pm
Awen looked up from the water at the mention of Sabin's concern. She seemed worried, but not really surprised. "I'll try to find Jordan and have a chat." She said softly with a nod before returning to a distant memory.
"Let's see... last time I saw him..." She bit her lip trying to remember any detail that may have been important. "He dragged me out of my duplex, he'd been acting like he was on some kind of mission, ya know? He didn't tell me where we were going to why, just that it was an emergency. We heard a blare of loud music and he ran off to figure out what was going on." She huffed a bit. "I mean leaving me all alone in the woods far from any water source... I'm not exactly the most defensible on land, eh?" She hsook her head and continued. "When I found him he was in a clearing with a snake guy, Thom I think his name was, and a human lady named Dee. Jordan and Thom exchanged harsh remarks, there was mention of a laptop which Thom may-or-may-not have been hiding from Jordan. Uh, Jordan attacked Thom for it, but the fight was very short. I got Thom to leave before any real blood was shed and Jordan was taking Dee back to the village, while I needed the nearest river."
She sighed a bit and ran her hand through the waters. "He worried me, he wasn't the same guy he was before. He wasn't nice, he was rude, harsh and honestly a complete jerk. I'd said something negative about Moreau, hell if I remember what, and he just shot me the deadliest glare you've ever seen. The man was possessed, I tell you Richard. I meant to hae a good chat with him so that he'd explain what the hell happened but I haven't been able to find him since." Shaking her head she finished. "And that's all I know."
She paused a moment as just listened to the night sounds of the jungle and the running water of the river. "I'm terrified Richard. If it really was a serum, or a special chip or something, anything.... this goes far beyond us on the island. This could, and probably will, affect the world. Knowing Moreau. Maybe that's why I've shelled myself to my own problems. I don't want to think about what this could mean. My loneliness and my abandonment issues are so much better than the pain of the thought of that mad man developing a control device that powerful... yet that simple. The thought of that falling into even worse hands than Moreau... and what that could mean for the world. It's terrifying Richard, and I don't think I can handle those kinds of thoughts. I can't do anything to stop something that big, I'm just tiny, a minor player in this game. I don't want to be helpless, but I don't know what I can do. Talking with Jordan probably won't help things, what more can we learn there that Sabin can't access? And... well... damnit. It just doesn't feel like enough." She shook her head with a stark laugh. "Or maybe I just have cabin fever and it's driven me to delusions."
God did she need a hug, or some sort of reassurance right now.
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Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:04 pm
"A laptop?" Richard nodded thoughtfully. "It might have journals on it. He tell you why he needed it back? Thom is the snake right?" Richard had only met him in passing.
She listened to the rest with a sympathic ear. "Well when I talked to Jordan he insisted he was done with Moreau, he was a normal islander he said. Yet he still wouldn't explain to me what had happened."
"Even the tiniest player can make a difference Awen. A nudge in the right direction, or one of a chorus of voices." She seemed to be channeling a little of her old rightiousness that had been absent recently. "Sabin can't access everything, some of Jordan's files are missing. Moreau is off the island for the moment. So there is more freedom to dig at the moment. Do what you can. I'll see about this laptop."
Then she looked sternly at Awen. "Now are you going to ask me for a hug or are you going to sit there looking miserable." Richard smirked just a little but her tail was lashing with a smile underwater.
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Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:19 pm
Awen nodded slowly distantly listening to what Richard had to say. Offering a confirmation when he asked in Thom was the snake, but otherwise was going to go into more detail about the laptop when her toughts were interupted by that of a hug.
She looked up at the cat and just stared with a curious look on her face. But then quickly she moved forward and wrapped her arms around the older woman. The manta took a shuddering breath and held back some more tears that were thinking about forming.
"I'm sorry for what I said earlier Richard... about hte manipulation thing..." Her vocie was soft and very Awen-like apologetic. "I didn't mean what I said. I've been frazzled lately...spending too much time underwater I think..."
She gave the cat another tight squeeze before relaxing a moment, still holding on though. Like one would hold on to a life preserver. For a long moment she just held there before slowly peeling herself away, but still resting a hand on one arm of the cat.
"I'll see what I can do with Jordan. He said he needed the laptop back or Moreau might kill him. Not the exadurated stuff that you say when you're stressed, Jordan really was fearing for his life about this thing."
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Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:39 pm
Richard returned the hug with several times the force that Awen exerted on her. Pulling her into Richard's bosom. "Its okay." Richard assured Awen as she groomed the blue hair with a few licks of her rough tongue. There in her arms the word "cub" sprung into Richard's mind. She started to purr lightly.
Eventually she let the manta go. She smile down on her. "Then that laptop might be just thing we need. Let me know what Jordan has to say." She lifted Awen's hand to her face and rubbed the back of it against her muzzle before releasing it. "Keep safe and don't be afriad to come find me."
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Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 10:55 pm
Awen nodded with a small smile. The manta couldn't really help but feel a little bit awkward at the grooming, but that was to be expected really. Her instincts had never been prominent in such ways, and seeing that from Richard just was weird. But not exactly in a bad way. To be honest it was sort of comforting, especially with the dull rumble of a purr.
"If I can't find you I'll leave you a note, um, no details. It'll be just as cryptic and worry-some as the one you left me." She grinned a little bit. "You get any more info you let me know too. I'll maybe talk to Sabin about it and see if I can't find out anymore than you could."
She stood up and meant to leave again before pausing, turning, and rushin to give the beast another hug. "You are amazing Richard, a really good friend and a great person." She whispered with a squeeze.
But just as quickly as she had hugged him she was gone again. The blue girl disappeared into the river, blending in well with the current's flow. It had been a long night. Now she just had to keep eyes and ears open for Jordan and Sabin.
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