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 Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 2:27 am
Alys gave a meek snicker, "Either that or I'd be stinging myself constantly. Or you."
She leaned on him a little, limping and finding the arm of the couch. She rested a hand on the arm and glanced down at the bothersom appendages. She kind of wished they were detachable. That would make things easier.
"Think I'll be asking the labs for some crutches or something, until my legs stop being retarded,"
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 5:01 am
He nodded some, slowly helping her make her way to the other duplex. "Well, now might be a good time then to ask them specifically what you're turning into while you're at it."
Alex sighed softly, "Well, I just wanted to let you know that last night was pretty fun, except for everything that happened once you started to change. Although next time... please remind me not to drink rum straight. Oh my freakin' head. Staggering around at night hunting for a cooler and all the fish I could load up into it wasn't fun, let me tell you."
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 5:10 am
"Remind me not to drink Rum at all. That stuff got me drunk way too fast," She chuckled. Unlocking the door to her Duplex.
Inside, it was rather tidy, anatomy posters among one wall, a book case with medical books and folders among the other, various books with notes were open on a small desk, the lamp still on and a now cold cup of coffee resting on the papers, like a make-shift paper weight.
Ontop of those, was a book on sea creatures, a note pad next to it with little notes and doodles of a talking octopus.
She leaned against the wall as she hit the button for the labs, requesting crutches, and after a few moments of silence, asked what she was becoming.
"A vampire squid, good day Miss Wilson." The voice was female, and she didn't recognise it.
She made her way to her desk, and sat, defeated.
"Vampire Squid..."
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 5:17 am
Alex raised an eyebrow at the conversation over the phone's speaker, but he was too busy by then offloading the fish into the fridge. Indeed, he was curious what a vampire squid was, since he'd never heard of such a thing. Once it was put away though, he walked back, and looked over. "Uh, whats a vampire squid?", he asked.
He figured she was already looking it up, which is partly the reason he asked, as he walked over to the desk. "And did they say they'll send you some crutches? I think I missed that part."
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 5:35 am
Alys had started busying herself, flipping through pages, and scribbling out the notes on the pad, sketching out an arm and the bone structure. A habbit she had when researching or working; sketching.
"Hmm? Yeah, they said they'd send a pair shortly. Could be an hour, could be tomorrow. Who knows, with them."
Flip. Flip. Flip. There.
"Vampyroteuthis infernalis. The Vampire squid, is a small, deep-sea cirrate cephalopod found throughout the temperate and tropical oceans of the world. Uhm, apparently it was mistakingly identified as an Octopus, back in 1903 by a German teuthologist, Carl Chun," she trailed off, sketching madly at the pad. Tentacles curling around the legs of the chair.
"Like other deep-sea cephalopods, Vampire Squid lack ink sacs. If threatened, instead of ink, a sticky cloud of bioluminescent mucus containing innumerable orbs of blue light is ejected from the arm tips." She paused, thinking a moment.
"So that's what that gooey crap is..."
She continued reading out loud, "In a threat response called, pumpkin posture. The Vampire Squid inverts its caped arms back over the body, presenting an ostensibly larger form covered in fearsome-looking though harmless spines, called cirri. The underside of the cape is heavily pigmented, masking most of the body's photophores. The glowing arm tips are clustered together far above the animal's head, diverting attack away from critical areas. If a predator were to bite off an arm tip, the Vampire Squid can regenerate it." She took a breath.
"So in other words, I'm ********." She moved the book, so Alex could see the pictures in the book. 
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 9:10 am
"Uh, well, I wouldn't say that. I mean... it could have been worst..." He looks at the pictures in the book, and tilts his head. "I mean, you could have been a big scary bug or something. Like I said, hissing cockroaches are scary things."
"Oh, in other news, the fish is all stored in your fridge. You shouldn't have any worries about food for a while." He scritched at the feathers growing in his hair, since they did itch a bit. "So anything else you might need taken care of?", he asks, not sure what else he could do for Alys at this point.
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 9:20 am
She stared at the picture. Then her arm, then the picture. By the looks of it, she was of the red persuasion. Her eyes however, didn't seem to know which to stick with.
"Thanks for the fish... I, I don't know if there's anything else that needs taking care of..." Okay, she was trying to figure out how to make him stay, but it occured to her that he might have wanted to be away from her.
"Do you want a coffee or something? I think there's a few biscuits in a container, too."
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 9:25 am
"Coffee? Eh, I never could drink that stuff. Used to have some friends who'd make this stuff that was so strong that I swear they probably could have used the stuff to fix the roads in Los Angeles. And then when I was overseas, more often it was tea, and not coffee that were available." He looked down at the picture and then smiled.
"Eh, no worries about the fish. Just don't make me do a drunken fish rush again and we'll call it even." He sighed softly and put her hand on her shoulder. "It'll be ok... I mean, this happens to everyone in one fashion or other...", he said softly. He wanted to believe that, then again, he was losing fingers on his hands and growing feathers.
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 9:43 am
"I know it'll be okay. It's just too much for me to handle right now. And I'm not even done changing, which is what scares me the most..." She shook her head, "Forget it... There's no point stacking my problems on you..." There was the Alys that arrived on the island. The one that shut people out.
"It's my problem, I'll deal with it." A sigh, she closed the book and moved it away. Her notes on previous cases stood out, and the slightest hiss escaped her.
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 9:54 am
He sighed softly and nodded, "Thats probably true... but... you're not the only one who has the same problem." He reached over and tapped her nose with his altered hand. "I don't think many folks want this to happen to them either, but we're all in this together."
"I guess I didn't make things a lot better though. Listen, you know my extension if you need to reach me. Ok?" He wasn't sure what else he could do for Alys at this point. Maybe a bit of space would help her. Its not like he'd be that far. Plus, he hadn't had time to really go over in his mind what had happened. He was operating on what... 4 hours of sleep, 5, and with a hangover? No, he needed to catch up with some rest, try and get his head thinking straight, and at this point he wasn't sure what else he needed to do.
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:11 am
Alys nodded, tentacles curling and unwrapping themselves from the chair's legs. She stood up, leaning on the chair.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap, just doing the whole moody woman thing and..." She tried to give him a reassuring smile. Oh, to hell with it. Do it and be done with it!
She leaned forward, gently pressing her lips to his, then pulled away, and stared at the ground.
"Sorry..." The skin on her cheeks, if it was possible, darkened even more. Appendages curling around eachother and fidgetting like worms.
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:24 am
Alex blinked a bit, then blinked some more. Then blinked and ran his hand through his hair. "Uh, err, what? Uh, no. Uh..." Damnit, he wasn't expecting that. Maybe last night when she was totally plastered she might have done that but not totally sober and changed and stuff.
He blushed. "Its sokay." It wasn't really much of a statement. Just a comment, and a quiet one at that. He wasn't sure what he should do after that though.
He reached up and then stopped, looking damn near confused as to what to say or do.
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:46 am
Okay, this was awkward. Alys turned and started limping her way to couch, her face burning.
"That wasn't supposed to happen..." She plonked herself on the couch, and her tentacles wriggled into a resting position.
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:57 am
Yeah, being in a burning airplane at 20,000 feet would probably have been easier to handle than the situation. Poor Alex just blinked some, and then sighed, running his hand through his hair and feathers. "Alys..." Thats about as far as he got when his mind went blank as to what to say.
"Listen... its... okay. Uh, you've been through a lot and its..." Damnit, scratch that, 30,000 feet, plane on fire, and no parachute. He sighed. "I'm gunna head out now before I make things worst... Ok?" He sighed softly, almost feeling trapped as he stood there, before he turned for the door. He needed to clear his head. Things were way too busy for his underrested mind, and he needed space and sleep and air. Maybe it was just a buried instinct yelling at him that he was being trapped and that he should make quick with his flight to safety. Or maybe it was just what he had always done when he didn't want to handle what life was giving him...
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 11:04 am
Alys sighed, nodding. Okay that probably wasn't a good idea. Okay, it's okay. You've just done something incredibley stupid. Let him go and then you can go hide in the bathtub for the rest of your natural life.
"That's probably a good idea... Though I don't think you've done anything... My fault... Uh... ********." She sighed in defeat.
"I'll see you later... Thanks for helping me last night, and the fish... I appreciate it." She glanced up at him, a half embarrassed smile playing on her features.
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