Welcome to Gaia! ::

--New RP--

It had been an uneventful day for Jamal. Again, he had spent the morning and afternoon alone in the jungle, and seemed quite unphased by it. He had started to really enjoy his solitary time...to the point where he really had started to favor it over interaction with anyone. This also gave him time to think things over and to try and straighten issues out in his brain.

Later in the evening, he had returned to his duplex for a shower, then headed for the cafeteria. As much as he liked to hunt, he hadn't yet brought himself to eating the raw flesh. Blood was another issue, but even that was something he wasn't quite ready to own up to either. Mostly raw steak would have to suffice for now.

He didn't expect to be bothered during his meal or for anyone to even address him if there was anyone there, so he ignored the seating area and went right for the buffet.

Jamal grumbled to himself as he picked through the steaks, finding only one that really suited his tastes (someone else might have come through and cleaned out the rarer ones), and threw that on a plate along with a couple of hamburger patties.

"Jesus christ..gonna make me have ta go out 'n' get me a real ********' rare steak one day," he muttered under his breath, giving his whiskers a twitch as he prodded the steak with a finicky look on his face.

Finding nothing else to suit his tastes, he turned, and was greeted with he sight of Antony sitting at a table, more or less eyeing him up like he was liable to pounce her from where he currently stood. The motions of her going for her crutches made his gaze shift briefly, then he got a -really- funny look on his face. It looked to be a cross between sickness and disbelief.

Oh please god tell him that wasn't HIS fault.

Jamal had relieved the whole escapade after he had gone off into the jungle when he woke up from the last zapping, but he had told himself it was just a very vivid dream. That he had just been a victim of sleepwalking and that's why he was outside in the first place.

His eyes snapped away from her form at the table and he drifted towards the opposite end of the room subconciously, ears pressed back to his head as he went to set his tray down.

Jamal hadn't even managed to sit down before he heard the table go sliding noisily across the floor. His first instinct was to bristle and whirl defensively, as though the noise was heralding an attack, but then he saw Antony practically snarling at him, his next thought was to be confused.

"I...eh......Antony?!" he managed to get out after a few false starts, hands raised in a gesture of bewilderment and surprise. He hadn't intentionally ignored her...he assumed he would be better served to sit off to the side to spare her the anxiety of dealing with him. It had nothing to do with him acting like he had done nothing wrong. The sick expression he had earlier WAS going to lead up to the remorseful expression the squirrel woman had wanted, but he was rightfully confused and fuzzy on the actual details of what had happened so he was slow to react how she apparently wanted. He wasn't entirely in his right mind when the attack had even happened.

He was going to say something to get her to stop, to calm down and fix the situation he'd gotten into, but her little catty comment made his face freeze. Ice-blue eyes bored sharply into Antony's retreating back as her words registered.

Awen WHAT?

The uplifted hands fell with a slap to his sides and immediately balled into fists, his face etching deep with tension as he grit his own teeth so hard that the lengthy top canines pricked the skin of his bottom lip. His fairer skin had started to tinge a faint red at the neck and chest.

Of all the people. A STAFF MEMBER?! It could have been any islander in the world and Jamal wouldn't have cared all that much...but a doctor?! Suddenly it all made sense. He had seen Awen heading for the labs one day, dressed up all nicely in fancy dress...no one had a doctor's appointment that required dressing up for.

Unfortunately for Antony and probably Jamal himself, he was shocked into a complete state of silence, his blood starting to boil as he visualized the doctor in Awen's duplex...unharmed....INVITED IN, EVEN. Jamal could not, and would not deal with that. Awen knew how he felt about the staff...knew that he had no use for people who got along well with the staff and even became -friends- with the staff. No...the tiger man could not tolerate that.

Jamal's clenched fists lifted into the air to hover in front of his face, eyes squeezed shut now fully as he tried to keep himself from literally letting himself go apeshit. Not after the LAST meeting he had with Antony, anyway. Had it been anyone else under any other previous circumstances, he wouldn't have cared.

Blood roared in his ears as all sorts of malicious thoughts flooded his brain. Dismemberment, stabbing, choking...anything and everything Jamal had ever witnessed or done himself seemed to be a possibility.

No. NO. Not until you get HER side.

Whatever logic Jamal had was fighting to get a word in edgewise. There had to be a -reason- why Awen would have the staff member there. Perhaps she was trying to pry information from Sabin...he could forgive her for that....there had to be a reason.

Jamal inhaled sharply, giving a crackling snarl as he slowly let the breath out and cracked his eyes open, only to see the positively deadly glare he was getting from the squirrel woman. He hadn't even realized she was still there. Greeeeat.

"Don't...don't glare at me like dat," he said testily as he dropped one hand back down to the side and rubbed the side of his face. The demand was coupled with a slowly dissolving facade of simmering rage to something more confused and meek than anything. "I know ya mad at me. Ya don't gotta rub it in mo'..."

Jamal winced and rubbed his face again before taking a breath and started to say something, then snapped his jaw shut and just shook his head instead for a few seconds as he crossed his arms defensively.

"Ya think I MEANT ta try 'n eat ya then? ********, Antony, I don't even rememba' dat good what even happened! I rememba' startin' ta change...'n' bein' outside...wakin' up unda' da tree....."

Plus bein' ********' starvin' along wit' my body feeling like it was on fire... he thought privately, but wisely decided to keep that part to himself for once. Like Antony needed ANY indication that he might have been sane (or as sane as Jamal was turning out to be) at the time.

He glanced at her casted leg and his face twitched before he looked at her face again, the creases at the corners of his eyes giving him a tired, melancholy countenance.

"I could say I'm sorry, but will dat even change anythin'?" A hand motioned vaguely at the injured limb as he said this. The broken leg wasn't just going to magically poof away no matter WHAT he said.

"It ain't da same ev'rytime ya transform, ya know," he said with a defiant tone before checking his temper and throwing his hands up in the air. "You honestly think I planned on it happenin'? If I had any idea I was gonna change at all, I'da been out in da jungle ta deal wit' it on my own."

He was having a hard time trying to sound sincere because he was so frustrated over the whole thing. He had gone so long after the fact not having to address the issue, he figured maybe he'd never have to. Jamal ought to have known better.

The man stared blankly at her back as she started to hobble away and frowned, tugging on one ear before assuming his typical nervous neckrub. "Look. I guess I'm jus' too unpredictable ta be 'round anymo'. Ask anyone. I'm sorry I went afta' ya, really. I didn't mean ta. Yer da last person I'd go afta' wit' da intent ta hurt. You know I ain't got many friends 'round herr..."

Or Awen...but dat's prolly not true anymore...

Jamal sighed and pulled his lips into a tight grimace as his rubbed his face again. This was way harder than he thought it was going to be.

"Ev'ryone is food ta me, apparently," he muttered into his palm, saying it more to himself than to her but it was loud enough to be heard even if it was slightly muddled. "Maybe it's best if I jus' go off like I was plannin' on doin' anyway. I don't mind hurtin' otha' people, but I don't really want ta go afta' you again. I mean, ya obviously didn't come out well from da first time. I kin only guess how it'll be lata if I get anotha' shot."

His tone of voice clearly showed he didn't -want- to simply disappear, but he was at a loss of what to do. He felt their friendship was pretty damaged already with his little slip of control; could it really get any worse? The fact that she seemed like she couldn't trust him anymore bothered him. A lot.

"Stayin' herr in da village ain't worth it ta me no mo'."