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 Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 8:21 pm
Breakfast with Hargun and Father Stewart http://www.gaiaonline.com/guilds/viewtopic.php?page=140&t=1140526#42754332 Following Breakfast, Ambrose spends some time fencing by himself on the beach - It has been too long for him since he last practiced - despite everything. So, spending several hours he goes over footwork, point control, moves, etc before returning back to his duplex with food for Angelina.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 8:21 pm
That night, at 3am on the dot, there is a LOUD sound of an explosion, originating from the sky above the Island. Looking out, or anyoune outside would look up to see a brief fireball in the sky. Following that, any power that is on begins to flicker, going through a few brownouts before finally shutting down altogether. If you happen to be awake at that point - you would notice all the lights around you, any electronic equipment that wasn't battery operated flicker and die. However, within a few seconds of the final powersurge and failure, you find yourself being pulled into a forced unconsciousness.
When you wake up, it is midafternoon the following day, though it would vary within a few hours depending on the individual. You are NOT in your duplex. You wake up to find yourself near the edge of the cliffs. Very near the edge in fact.
All of the buildings on the island are in 'shutdown' mode. This means that everything is locked tight. If you attempt to force your way into any of the buildings, your own duplex and the Town Hall included, then you will find that from the outside at the very least, they are impenetrable. If any window was broken - it is now fixed. All of the lights are off - in every building. Even the electric fence surrounding the main laboratory is turned off - though still closed. Attempts to break into the main complex will be met with equal lack of luck as breaking into a duplex or the town hall.
The only items you have on you are the items that you would have been wearing when you were asleep/fell unconscious: including clothing and perhaps a few battery-powered electronics IF You would have been wearing them. That's it. Everything else is where you left it - if it was in your duplex, it still is and you can't get to it.
There is no sign of what happened to the staff. The labs are quiet from the outside.
Welcome to the Wild.
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Island of Moreau Vice Captain
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:13 pm
Before the period of ... unconsciousness, Ambrose had been lying asleep with Angelina in his arms after a long day of relaxing and enjoying eachothers' company following Christmas. Ambrose was starting to actually feel some shreds of happiness - with the thoughtful gifts he received, Angelina returned to his arms, making friends - and had even started fencing again.
Then the explosion. Ambrose woke up suddenly, his sensitive hearing picking up the sound of the explosion far too well. His fur was on edge, and he was panting. Something was wrong. Very wrong. He didn't know how he knew... he just did. He was about to get up or wake Angelina when the lights began to dim....
And then black... both for the Island... and Ambrose.
Slowly... consciousness began to return to Ambrose - wearing only a set of long, navy blue flannel sleep pants with a hole cut for his tail.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:31 pm
From the Cliffs
Ambrose woke slowly to birdcalls and the sound of the ocean. Yawning and stretching his eyes cracked open lazily... and then widened suddenly as all he saw in front of him was the expanse of ocean and a VERY sudden drop off.
In seconds he was sitting bolt upright, his fur on end as he scrambled backwards from the cliff whimpering.
What in the HELL had happened?!?! He sniffed around, but nothing seemed to indicate what might have led to his arrival here. Looking around he tried to calm himself. There had to be a reason... there had to be.
His ears flattened against his head, he slowly, shakily, got to his feet and looked around.
He'd go back to the village. Simple as that. Maybe... maybe he had sleepwalked. He had sleepwalked once when he first arrived. It... was possible.
But dear lord, he was glad he hadn't sleepwalked himself off the side of the cliff.
With his tail tucked, he scampered back in the direction of the village.
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Posted: Mon Jan 02, 2006 9:58 pm
About thirty or so minutes later, Ambrose was finally getting back to the village.
However, as soon as he crested out of the trees, his pace slowed and his ears pressed back. There was no tinny humm of electricity that he had grown accustomed to.... only the silence... and sounds of animals in the woods. The place seemed so ... dead.
He padded quietly through the empty village to his duplex.... and tried the handle.
Cl-click-cl-click-cl-click! He turned it back and forth, only to find it locked.
A growl.
He never locked his door. His keys were inside. Maybe Angelina was scared... locked the door when she found him gone.
He pounded on the door.
"Angelina! Let me in!"
...
Silence.
He pressed his ear to the door.
Silence.
He padded around to a window and peered through....
Only to have a chill pass over him. He could see inside... to an empty room. Angelina wasn't there. The bed was unmade, and all of his things were there. Except Angelina.... and him.
Even his keys were sitting where he had left them on the nightstand.
He turned, looking around.
"HELLO?!" He finally ventured.
Only the sound of insects and birds.
Great.... Just great.
And it was with a sudden creepy feeling that Ambrose remembered the loud BOOM... the flickering lights... and darkness.
Something had happened. Where was everyone? What was going on?!
Ambrose turned away from the village, lifting his nose...
There were so many mingling scents - all of the villagers passed by here daily just about... it was confusing... but then.... in the distance... a smell of old smoke.
HIs ears drooped, but his anxiety and curiousity drove his legs. He had to know what happened.
As he jogged down the trail that too-conveniently led towards the smell of smoke, the anxiety deepened - and when the helipad - the first place he had stepped forth on the Island and the sounds of hysterical screams reached his ears he knew that there was no hope for some simple explanation. He pushed himself harder, hurrying, hoping that the screaming wasn't her... wasn't Angelina. That she was safe.
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Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 12:44 am
The Sickly-Sweet Scent of Death -- NEW RP --"Uhhhnnn..." Amaya's eyes flickered open as she awoke on the helipad. She could feel the... sun? Squinting she gradually pushed herself up and tried to make out her surroundings through the sleep in her eyes.
What was that smell?
After rubbing her eyes she looked around once more. "Where the hel-" Her voice was cut off as green eyes met the wreakage. "OH GOD!" Amaya choked in a labored gasp before pulling herself up quickly. The fact she was in nothing by her undergarments meant nothing now, or the fact she had woken up outside. What if people were dying in there and needed help!?
Also the fact to whether they were staff or not seemed to slip her mind. Either way, she couldn't sit by and let them die no matter what they did to her.
"Is anyone here?!" Long claws clicked on the pavement as she ran over and jumped between debris. "Hello!? Does anyone need help?!" her body was shaking as was her voice as she searched the wreakage.
Getting to the main chunk of it, she looked inside the charred remains of the helicopter. "Does any... one..." Her face dropped as she almost stepped on two burnt corpses inside.
Who knew how long she stared at them, eyes wide and filled with unmeasurable fear but when she came back to her senses she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
Amaya's large hands went over her mouth, tears streaming down her face while she took a few steps back before collapsing to her knees.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A high-pitched, gut-wretching scream broke the morning silence of the island.Ambrose was jogging down the trail that too-conveniently led towards the smell of smoke, the anxiety deepened - and when the helipad - the first place he had stepped forth on the Island and the sounds of hysterical screams reached his ears he knew that there was no hope for some simple explanation. He pushed himself harder, hurrying, hoping that the screaming wasn't her... wasn't Angelina. That she was safe.
"I'm Coming!" Ambrose shouted ahead of him as he crested the top of the trail to the large, flat area.... and stopped dead, his mouth hanging open as he saw the wreckage that still trickled smoke towards the skies... and a familiar iguana-girl freaking out nearby.
"Amaya!" Ambrose shouted and spurred himself out of his shock to rush to her side. "What happened?!?!" The wolfman, wearing navy sleeppants asked, his furry hands going to her shoulders to establish a physical contact to try to direct her attention away from the wreckage. Amaya didn't notice Ambrose until he touched her shoulders. She looked up at him, still sobbing uncontrolably. A large hand pointed towards the two corpses, shaking along with her entire body. After a few more labored sobs she dove into Ambrose's fury chest to 'hide' from what was in front of her.Ambrose's ears crumpled to the sides and he pulled Amaya into his furry chest, hugging her tightly with a soft whimper.
"I'm here, Amaya.... you're not alone.... shhhh.... it's alright." He stroked her hair, but was unable to wrench his eyes from the wreckage. Bodies.... someone had died.... helicopter. HIs brain didn't seem to want to process what was going on despite how hard he was trying.
"Did.... did you see anything, Amaya...?" He finally whispered.Amaya shook her head, spekaing muffled into his fur as she soaked it with her tears. "N-No... I-I just wwoke up h-here a fffew minutes a-ago." She tried her best to speak between sobs, huddling pressed against her big brother. How Ambrose had found her so quickly and why she had woken up there in the first place still weren't registering in her mind. All she could think of and see where the two burnt bodies inside the charred helicopter.AMbrose whet his lips, still staring at the charred corpses that lay in the twisted metal wreckage. Who were they? What had happened? Two people... was it the pilot and a new subject? Were they military that had found the island? Moreau himself?
AMbrose did what he could to keep the fear out of his voice around his quivering 'little sister'.
"I woke up about an hour ago on the cliffside." He whispered, still holding her tightly with her face against his chest.
He took a few steps away from the bodies.
"I... I heard an explosion last night.... before I blacked out.... this... this must have been it...." He started to piece things together. "I smelled smoke.... the village is empty - everything's locked!"The lizard girl followed his steps, refusing to look at the corpses again. Her sobbing was still rather loud, but had calmed down from her delerious, fear-riddled crying only a few minutes before.
Then what Ambrose said clicked, her brain calming down enough to understand what he was saying. "W-What?" The same, shocked and frightened expression came up from his chest to meet his face.
Everything was locked. They had both been brought outside. The helicopter had crashed and two people were dead. What about everyone else? What was going on? A new fear started to well up inside her, tail stiff as a board and hanging just over her panties.((And I'll brb in 15 or so minutes, gotta shower.)) Ambrose led her off the tarmac and into the jungle to hopefully let the trees obscure the grizzlly scene.
He sat down on a fallen tree, and ran a finger down her cheek as she looked up at him. He tried to be supportive, but the fear did creep into his yellow-tinted-blue eyes. "I don't know what's going on. Something's definately wrong - Someone died... the village is locked... I followed the smell of smoke. But.... dear lord... you're the first person I've encountered. Angelina was with me when I went to sleep - but when I peeked in my duplex it was empty."
((And no problem smile ))Amaya sat down beside him with a thud, her legs still shaking slightly. "S-So... You think everyone was p-put to sleep and then dragged out of their duplexes to random l-locations?" She was still crying a little, but her voice was steady for the most part. "W-Why would they put me n-near THAT?" The lizard-girl was both angry and horribly frightened at the same time, green eyes seeking Ambrose's face for comfort... ANY comfort.Rubbing some of the smudges from Amaya's face that likely came from lying on the ground, Ambrose shook his head, wishing that he had concrete answers for the girl.
"I don't know. I don't know why they pulled us out of the duplexes. I heard the explosion.... so you're right... this had to happen before they brought us out.... and why here.... Maybe they wanted us to know? I woke up precariously close to the edge of the cliff. It... doesn't make sense..." He was thinking out loud.
"But... are you okay? That's the important thing." He asked, snapping back to the reality of the situation.She gave a tiny nod, looking down at herself for the first time. Amaya sniffled and wiped some of her tears away. Still a little too scared to really care, she noticed that she was in nothing in her undergarments. Sitting next to Ambrose. And the duplexes were locked tight. "I-I just realized I'm naked..." It sounded so funny she gave a tiny laugh, but it didn't last long.
Even around Ambrose she felt exposed, though not as horribly so if he weren't as far changed as she was. She couldn't even remember a time when the scales almost covering her legs and arms had been so out in sight... or the spikes on her back in plain view. She had even made tiny holes in the back of her bra for the spikes to go through.A small smile came to Ambrose's face for the first time this morning.
"You're hardly naked, Amaya. No more so than I really..." He looked down at his sleep pants - while much longer, still was a far cry from what Ambrose considered 'presentable'.
He took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a moment, trying to clear his thoughts. Unfotunately... doing so only brought the acrid smell of burned human flesh to his nose. His eyes jerked open as he coughed with a loud grimace. "Urgh. We should probably move away from here...." He shook his head. "Or.... do you think I should try to take..... a closer look..." His ears lowered as he glanced quickly back towards the wreckage.Amaya sniffed again and turned her head to look at the wreakage. She was far enough that she couldn't see the corpses... but it still brought back flashes of what she had seen. Slowly she shooked her head. "No... No, you don't have to. We should find others first..." Her voice trailed off, eyes going back to Ambrose. "You need to find Angelina. I should look for Hargun."
Despite the situation she tried to figure out what would be the best thing to do, falling into the adult role without even realizing it. "We can't really do anything for them... aside from come back later and check it out. Bury them." Her last two words were almost a whisper. Staff or not, she wouldn't be able to sleep at night knowing two people weren't laid to rest.Ambrose nodded. "You're right..... I... I'm no doctor... I would have no way of knowing who it is. And we need to find the rest first. I'm worried about Angelina."
He gave her a squeeze again then pulled back to smile at her. "I'm glad you're alright, Amaya. And... once we figure out what the hell is going on we need to look out for eachother. Do you think we should search together... or split up to look...? We can cover more ground split up, but I don't want to leave you alone if you need me.""I... I dunno." Amaya didn't know if she would do so well on her own right now. Plus, she had no idea where Hargun might have been put. Though she got an idea...
"I have no clue where Hargun is... Maybe you could smell Angelina and her out?" She winced at her own words, not wanting to offend him. "I really don't wanna be alone. Once I find Hargun or someone else I know I'll be alright." The iguana's solitary nature had been pushed roughly to the side with how upset she was.Ambrose looked around a bit hesitantly at her suggestion. "I don't know..." he answered quietly. "Right now... my nose is full of something I really don't want to be smelling." He winced, hating to put words to the nasty thoughts he was thinking.
"I don't want to be alone either, Amaya. We can stick together if you like - and we can go look for more people and see if we can't figure out what in the hell is going on." He gave her another squeeze before finally getting to his feet and offering her his paw-like hand.Nodding, she took his hand with three of her long fingers and stood up. "Okay." Using her free hand, Amaya wipped at the last remaining tears. Her fingers curled around Ambrose's hand, not wanting to let go. Sixteen or not, she wasn't afraid to admit she was very, very frightened. It was like getting lost at an amusement park, but a sick and twisted one.Ambrose held onto her hand tight, and pulled her away from the wreckage, away from the image that was still burned in his mind - the two bodies, twisted... burned...
He shook his head again. Into the woods and the cool humidity - the scents of plants and animals to hopefully clear his senses of the char that clung to the inside of his wet nose.
"Let's take a walk through the woods, my dear." Ambrose said in an overdramatic voice - hoping to lure one of Amaya's smiles.
He was glad to have a friend... his sister... he didn't want to be alone any more than she did. Burried deep in his subconscious, the wolf in him clung to the people he cared about - wanted them around him... together they could make it - together they could figure it out. Together they were strong - a family. A pack.A tiny laugh emitted from Amaya's mouth, though it wasn't much it was something. It even brought a small smile to her scaly features.
"What do you think is going to happen?" The frown returned. As much as she hated to think about such things... it had to be talked about. "Were all the duplexes locked? What about the cafeteria and stuff?"His ears lowered. He knew the answer to the question... and didn't like what it signalled. "It was locked too" He said quietly as he picked his way over some brambles that tried to catch his long sleep pants.
He paused to untangle them before helping Amaya across them. He didn't even really know where he was going other than away from the scene.
"I ... I mean this has to be temporary. They can't just leave us here.... there's plenty of staff members here. And .... well.... as much as I despise them for what they've done to us... they've invested too much money to just .... lock us out permanently.... I... I just don't understand why we were locked out... If something happened...." He sighed/growled in frustration.Amaya was glad for once she wasn't wearing a lot of clothing so the brambles just gave her one or two tiny cuts that she didn't even notice. "Yeah, your right... They wouldn't just blow this whole thing off, would they? Moreau is too much of a..." Even though she continued to walk, fingers grasping her older brother's hand something clicked. "... Wouldn't he have had that cleaned up by now? I mean, Joliette said that they dismantled her boat in a few minutes. You'd think he'd clean it up so quick we wouldn't even knew it happened, right?"Ambrose tried not to look like that thought scared him - but his tucking tail and lowering ears gave it away - he'd have to learn how to control those damn things.
".... Probably.... it was really late last night when I heard the explosion.... it's got to be at least midday now... assumign it's even the next day." He scratched his head, pausing for a moment to look around before deciding that just walking straight would eventually get them somewhere. They were on an Island after all.
He was also still waiting for his nose to clear.... he could still smell the charred.... UGH! A visable quiver passed over him. He regretted heading towards the smoke now... if it weren't for the fact he had run into Amaya.The lizard-girl bit her bottom lip. She was just upsetting him and herself more. Giving a glance back towards the wreakage, green eyes then focused ahead of them. They would talk about it all once they found Angelina and Hargun and anyone else they ran into. Oh god, she hoped they didn't run into Lauren. Today was bad enough already.
Though come to think of it, she was still kissing Moreau's a**. Her frown deepened at the thought of her watching them suffer from the comfort of the labs."Well, Two heads are better than one... and three are better than two. We will be able to figure this out together. We'll find Hargun... and Angelina... and we'll figure out this puzzle." Ambrose nodded, half trying to convince himself.
Ambrose continued further away from the helipad, still nose-blind and clinging more to hope than any real direction sense.((To be continued tomorrow when we get up - and we'll transition to the Jungle then :3 ))
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Posted: Tue Jan 03, 2006 8:37 pm
Forming A Group(Amaya & Ambrose find Angelina & Emelyn, go to survey the wreakage, and start towards the labs)Ambrose Maurlias Meanwhile, Ambrose was picking his way closer and closer to the two females with Amaya in tow.
The woods were cooler in the early January air, but certainly couldn't be called cold in the humid heart of the jungle. Still scent-blind and with a miserable, acrid odor firmly stuck in his nose, Ambrose didn't notice he close he was to the object of his search until the quiet talking of the two females reached his ears.
Angelina! Her voice was unmistakable to him. With a quick grin to Amaya, he urged her forward. "I hear someone! I think it's Angelina!" He hurried, minding the brambles less and more interested in accurately locating the voice... until he heard a second... familiar voice.
At which point Ambrose nearly tripped over his own feet, crashing through the dense underbrush to nearly run headlong into an innately awkward situation. Amaya Vaughan The cool air didn't help Amaya very much, but it didn't really hurt her either. She was a little colder and slower then usual but not so much that it was noticable. Seeing the look in Ambrose's eyes she grinned, not really able to hear the two from so far off.
"Great!" She sped after him, having let go of his hand for the time being since it would be easier for them to make their way through the dense jungle brush. Though as the wolfman nearly tripped and fell on his face she picked up her pace. A large hand pressing against his arm as she looked up at him worriedly. "Hey, slow down or your gonna hurt yourself." Angelina Swanson eek
Angelina stumbled back, at first in fright then in shock as Ambrose came tumbling into their clearing. "Ambrose?!"
For a moment she completely forgot about tact or the present company and went flying into his arms. Emelyn It was Ambrose. Emelyns heart leapt to her throat, then dropped to the pit of her stomach, coated in distaste and a little misplaced anger as she watched Angelina vault into his arms. ...She didn't know much about Angelina, and had only spent a few minutes- at least, a few conscious minutes- with her... but she'd already terribly misjudged her. Instead of seeing a frightened woman, relieved at the sight of some stability and comfort... one who'd been dropped only recently on this hellhole to deal with the fact that Ambrose had essentially been cheating on her.... she saw someone who was rubbing in the fact that they were still whole, still with Ambrose... and that they'd won. Emelyn was blind, and didn't even know it. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose had barely started to pick himself up when he was overwhelmed with a wonderful short brunette who had flung herself into his arms.
"Angelina!" He exclaimed, smiling, relief flooding over him. "You're alright! I was so worried!" His tail began wagging as her presence in his arms confirmed that this was real - she was safe.
Then, the world seemed to open up around him and he felt the icy stare of .... Emelyn. His fur ruffled. The curiousity as to whether or not she had received his gift passed his mind only briefly as he could feel the tension thickening around him.
He swallowed, looking over to the blue eyes underneath the leather goggles. "Emelyn.." He breathed (or perhaps wheased would be more accurate). He turned to Amaya who had emerged behind him and sprung on the opportunity to hopefully defuse something.
"Amaya...! we... uhm... found others." He stated the obvious as he shifted from one foot to another, rubbing a hand down Angelina's back.
"And.... Angelina.... Emelyn..... looks like you've .... met." He winced. Amaya Vaughan Having not noticed the other two before Angelina spoke up, she nearly jumped out of her scales when she rushed into Ambrose. Green eyes then trailed over to Emelyn, the woman she barely knew but just enough to know she was a friend.
"Yeah!" Amaya tried to sound positive, though not really knowing what to do and feeling horribly exposed. Slowly she inched behind the wolfman in an attempt to hide herself. Knowing neither of them very well, all she wanted to do now was find Hargun. She almost completly forgot about Ambrose's situation due to the fact that Emelyn hadn't seen her after her second change and Angelina had been rather... hesitant in seeing anyone else as changed as her. Angelina Swanson "You were looking for me?"
Angelina looked him over, noticing he was also in his sleep clothes, and then to the lizard woman she had met briefly in the cafeteria. She was hardly clothed at all, showing virtually all her changes and Angelina tried to stifle her uncomfortableness.
She followed Ambrose's gaze towards Emelyn and then back. Part of her told her it would be polite not to hang all over Ambrose, but another part of her felt feircely protective. So she compromised, dropping her hands from around his neck she stood by his side, but kept his paw in her tight grasp.
Then she looked at the four of them. "Ambrose, what is going on?" Emelyn It took all the willpower in the broken woman's possession not to narrow her eyes at the clingy couple. "Yes Ambrose," she said, cutting through the obviously nervous statement of the man, feeling like it was a little insulting and pandering, "we have met. Somehow we woke up together." Then she turned to the girl who was cowering behind him. It took her a moment to recognize Amaya, and her frozen heart melted. "Amaya? Are you okay? Were you hurt? You look so scared," she said, her voice sweet and low. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose noticed the audible change of tone as Emelyn noticed Amaya, and he almost felt guilty for thanking his stars that she was by his side.
Ambrose gave Angelina's hand a squeeze, and looked back to his green-eyed 'little sister' with an encouraging look.
He took a breath. He had to focus things, take the charge. "I... don't know precisely what's been going on... I woke up on the cliffside... precariously close to the edge. I headed back to the village only to find everything locked down tight. I looked through our window and noticed that you weren't there, Angelina.." He paused at that, the obvious indication that Ambrose had expected Angelina to be in the room they shared with an apologetic look to Emelyn.
"Then.... I followed my nose. I smelled smoke and found Amaya on the helicopter pad. There... there was burned wreckage... two... two ... figures inside." He swallowed, absently wiping at his nose - wishing that he could get the smell out of his nose and the images that it brought to his mind.
"I don't think anyone is in their duplex anymore.... It looks like we've been scattered... but I don't know why. Even... the cafeteria's locked down." Amaya Vaughan Even though Amaya tried not to care about how Angelina had looked at her, it was hard. She looked down at her incredibly large feet which... didn't help very much. Her tail gave a twitch towards her as the iguana tried to convince her to be angry. After all, it wasn't HER fault she looked like this. But no, she would have none of it. The fear was still inside her, quickly over throwing the aggitation.
Slowly she looked up and passed Angelina to Emelyn. The lizard-girl had the sudden urge to run over to her and cling to her and babble out everything she had seen in the past hour or so but she didn't dare leave her 'hidding' spot. "I-I'm okay... Just scared. Yeah." Green eyes went to the ground at Emelyn's feet as Ambrose explained. Her frown deepened, probably indicating that she was the one who had initially found the bodies. Angelina Swanson Angelina blinked. "Scattered? You're kidding." Angelina inched closed to Ambrose, thankful for his stability. This was Angelina's first real big spoonful of the twisted mind of Moreau. She had yet to change, like the other three people here, and generally she had been able to keep herself happy by fooling herself into believe they were on some tropical resort.
But to just throw everyone out over the island.. on a cliffside? What was the point?
"Bodies? Any idea who? Was the staff... evacuating or something?"
Wait.. if the staff was leaving in such a hurry that they couldn't bother to try and save crashed coworkers... that must mean something bad had happened.
"Maybe there was an accident in the labs.. maybe something dangerous.... or maybe they were caught... there has to be a reason!"
Angelina felt the panic rising in her chest. Emelyn "If it weren't for the... bodies," Em said, cautiously, due to the already sick, frightened look on poor Amaya's face, "I would think that this has something to do with Moreau. That he'd set us up, or something. ..Unless those two bodies are people who tried to escape, and now Moreau has the island locked down." A twinge of bile rose into her throat at the thought of Moreau killing anyone. She didn't want to be here- more than anything, she wanted to run off into the woods- she was going to see Angelina back to the village, but now she'd been reunited with Ambrose. So why was she sticking around? But somehow, something told her she shouldn't be alone right now. Not in the chance that Moreau had turned murderer. What if he'd found out about her premature escape plots with Joli? Her face suddenly paled. "Have you seen Joliette anywhere? Any of you?" She said, fear rising. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose's ears lay back against his head as the questions arose. He was scared himself, but was trying his damndest to provide a brave front for the girls. And more than anthing, something in him was screaming that they could get through this as a group much better than paired off... or alone.
Ambrose shook his head. "I... I couldn't tell from my look who they were.... other than there were two of them." He winced. "They were... pretty badly burned. And the helicopter was in smoldering pieces."
Ambrose fidgeted with Angelina's hand, rubbing his thumb against its back. "If they were running from something.. or there is a reasoning for all of this... I don't see how or why we were scattered and the buildings locked. It doesn't seem to make sense to me. I was thinking maybe we should try to make our way to the labs. Maybe they're there? I... I don't know."
Ambrose shook his head to Emelyn. "I haven't seen Joliette since around Christmastime.... why?" Amaya Vaughan The panic in Angelina's voice wasn't exactly helping Amaya at all, but she couldn't blame her. She was scared too.
"I haven't, no..." Came her tiny voice from behind Ambrose. "Ambrose found me and then we found you two..." She trailed off with a pause before adding. "I need to find Hargun to make she's alright." Assuming Emelyn wanted to find Joliette because they were close friend's or something.
The thought about going to the labs sounded promising, but she didn't want to somehow find a way to escape or go anywhere and not have her best friend around just in case they needed to do it right then and there. And what about Greer? And Chubbs? And Colche? Where were they all? Angelina Swanson "YEah... yeah... we should definately stick together and try to find more people," Angelina said, trying to calm herself down. "Somethings up, yes... yes I guess we should head to the labs..."
She shuddered to think that two people had died on this island. Was it...murder? An accident? Did some of the islanders commandeer one of the helicopters... did they get shot down?
"Wouldn't anyone here be able to look at the wreckage and tell what happened? Why it crashed?" Emelyn Everyone was talking at once. Em put the flat of her palms against her temples, pressing in the headache that was growing there. She answered everyone, only looking off into the distance as she did, not willing to meet the eyes of anyone in present company- Ambrose and Angelina for obvious reasons, and Amaya for the fear that surely resided there. "I ask because I think... Moreau may have done something to her. Especially if the reason those two in the helicopter are dead are because they tried to escape. ...Moreau may think that... we have been... well..." she was unwilling to finish the thought, in the case that the cameras were still trained everywhere on the island. "And yes, as much as it makes me sick to say," she said, once again not ignoring the obvious tension there, "I think we have to stick together. At least to get to the lab." Finally, she looked up, meeting Angelina's eyes with an unreadable expression on her face. "And who is to say that it crashed? It may have been blown up. But I may be able to tell. I was a youth diplomat," she said, her tone flat- she didn't want to seem as if she was bragging, "and I've been through war zones. Mostly Macedonia, Kosovo. The only real accidents the UN aid and US troops had were from people shooting at helicopters. I've seen several crashes." Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose's tail swished in indecision. "Well.... " He glanced between the two brunettes. "I can easily get back to the helipad from here - it was only ten or so minutes back in the way we came. I know that there is a road that leads directly from the helipad to the labs - they dove me down it when I first arrived."
Turning to Amaya, he spoke. "Hargun could be anywhere if our scattering is any indication. I didn't see her at the village... nor the cliffside. There are at least thirty of us here based on the duplex Angelina was assigned. Perhaps many more - including a good number of people I've likely never even met. From the look of the state of the village - with the power off and the place abandoned-looking, we're all scattered somewhere. I would say heading one direction might be as good as any unless you know somewhere she might have gone?"
He sighed. "Normally I wouldn't want to ... see that ever again. But if you think you might be able to tell something from seeing it, Emelyn - it might be necessary. And..." He took a breath, unable to just pretend nothing was wrong. "I wish I could say I'm sorry in a way that you believed me." His ears drooped and he looked to Angelina. "No one could have predicted what happened and is still happening on this Island. YOu have every right to hate me. But know that the feeling is not mutual if so."
"From there, we'll go to the labs - maybe they'll speak to us - tell us what is going on. I... didn't know Joliette was on Moreau's bad side... she kept talking about one of the doctors - a 'Sabin' who was picking on her- but never said anything about Moreau himself."
Ambrose turned, never letting go of Angelina's hand, and started to head back in the direction that he had come. Amaya Vaughan As much as she wanted to go to the labs and hopefully find out what was going on or even find a means of escape, not to mention stay together, she couldn't bring herself to unless Hargun was with her at the very least.
But Ambrose was right. They could very well bump into her on their way to the labs... Biting her bottom lip she watched as he started with Angelina. She didn't want to see... THAT again. Taking a few hesitant steps behind them she paused.
Come on, your not going to get anywhere just standing there. Follow them and maybe you can help or something.
Letting out a shaky sigh she started onward again, a little distance between the couple and her pace slow. Angelina Swanson Angelina crossed her arms and looked defensively at Em. "Excuse my vocabulary but that's what I meant. Did it crash because of a malfunction or because it was shot out of the sky? Or did it even get to the sky?"
Feeling her anger rise, aggitated obviously by the situation she just threw up her hands and turned harshly on her heels, re-taking Ambrose's hand and following him into the jungle.
She mumbled something to herself, but Ambrose could probably make it out "youth diplomat" mumbled out in a sing-song bitter manner. Emelyn Emelyn followed along behind the couple and Amaya, feeling a thick bile rise in her throat. She truly believed that Ambrose was sorry- though it didn't come as much of a comfort to her, she didn't have the desire to yell at him like she did before, screaming at him that he'd used her. ...But as much as she silently forgave Ambrose in that moment, she built up as much resentment towards the woman he'd left her for. ...He left me... for this? She thought, holding back tears and furious curse words at the same time as they made their way back to the scene of the horror- would it seem as horrible to her as this did? ...Why would Ambrose want such a spiteful creature? She'd not done anything to hurt Angelina, and yet, here she was, taunting her, whispering, leaping into Ambrose's arms and being defensive. Emelyn didn't let herself realize that Angelina might have cause to be uncomfortable with her. She may think "I've done nothing to her", but really... hadn't she been the 'other woman'? ...There was so much to reconcile Em to this situation... but so little of it that was happening. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose winced at the mocking tone in Angelina's words. This was doing anything but helping things.
"Please.... we're in this together... all of us...." He looked pleadingly towards Angelina. Things were hard enough already - the bitterness of both of the ladies towards eachother... he wished that he could do something to see them both smile.. both of them happy. He cared more than he could say for Angelina... but he had also come to really value his connection with Emelyn that had been roughly severed on that fateful night... after that bitter argument. He had entertained the ideal that maybe things could be okay again - that maybe if they met they could all be friends.... but that little fantasy world seemed to be crashing down around his ears at the snide comments and bitter looks. He could only imagine what they were actually thinking - not that he wanted to.
But what could he say to make things better? To reassure Angelina that Emelyn wasn't a 'threat'... and not rub it in Emelyn's face even more that he was with Angelina again? He let out a growling sigh of frustration. 'Why can't we all just get along' flashed through his mind, and the ineffectiveness that stating that thought aloud would likely bring.
"We're not enemies here.... or at the very least, I want very much for us not to be." He finally stated.
Fortunately the edge of the jungle wasn't much further as the black tarmac slowly became visable through the trees.
Ambrose hung back. "I... don't particularly care to see it again - and I'm willing to bet that Amaya feels the same. I still can't get the smell out of my nose from the first time. " Amaya Vaughan Amaya stopped once Ambrose had, still hanging a few paces behind him. She didn't want to see it again either... Keeping her green eyes focused on the ground, she remained silent. Angelina Swanson Angelina didn't acknowledge Ambroses condiscending belittling to her feelings. She was -not- in a good mood, and while most of it was displaced frustration with her whole life at the moment, her being bitter at Emelyn seemed like the least of their problems.
She just gave a cold stare back to Ambrose and just waited for someone to start walking. She didn't know where the hell she was. Emelyn Em simply nodded at Ambrose, and gave a sympathetic look to Amaya. "Going it alone then," she said, more to herself than anyone else. "Alright. Be back in a minute." ...Hopefully, she thought, and she stepped out of the jungle onto the square of tarmac. Immediately, her senses were accosted by a horrible sight. From the dense surrounding jungle, the air had smelled and tasted of ocean salt, the sounds were twittering birds and the feeling of being pressed in at all sides by foliage. Here, in the square, her hedgehog olfactory system could practically taste the charred flesh on the air. ...It wasn't Emelyn's first time around the dead- but certainly the first time she'd been able to experience it in this sort of gut-wrenching, powerful animal senses. Even breathing through her mouth didn't do her much good, and she just swallowed it down and made her way to what could vaguely be called... a helicopter. It was charred- almost beyond recognition, though there wasn't any indication that it wasn't the same, familiar helicopter that had always been there. She had no reason to think it was a different one. But those thoughts were all to stall time, and she forced her boot-clad feet to walk directly up to the open side. The inside was completely ruined. There was nothing usable left, and certainly nothing recognizable. Even those charred bodies... they could be anyone, so destroyed were they from the flames. Emelyn had regretted the possibility that she'd have to crawl over them to see the innards of the machine- looking for the source of its destruction- but now she saw, almost gladly, that there was no way a further instruction could help her bare eye. The inside had been completely demolished. The outside... wasn't much help either. It didn't look so completely wrecked as the inner 'coffin'- but there were parts all over the helipad. No one side looked as if it had smashed to the ground, but she couldn't be sure- pieces of the metal had come flying off at all angles. She took a deep breath, then regretted that she had once she walked back to the jungle edge. She didn't know who she should focus her words to, so she just turned away from Amaya, fearing she'd upset her further. "The inside is completely blown to bits- there was obviously a fire. The outside doesn't look... quite as demolished, but I looked for a crash point and I really can't tell. What it looks like now is that it was blown up from the inside... maybe when it was still on the ground, or just taking off, or landing. To be honest though?" She looked at Angelina, "it could have crashed. I wish I were more help. But there's no impact mark. Just a lot of destruction." Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose waited within the treeline, but the smell was already accosting his nose again. he hadn't even noticed as his sense of smell had slowly been returning until the smelled of charred flesh and rubber and twisted metal hit him again as he approached the wreckage, letting Emelyn do her thing.
He felt hated - both by Angelina and Emelyn - for something that wasn't really his fault. It was such a unique situation, and it pained him to see things falling apart when they were finally getting better.... at least from his limited scope of being with Angelina. However, it was obvious that at least from Emelyn's side, things were NOT getting better.
But could they? If they banded together in this hour of need could they be a functioning group, or would the bickering and resentment pull them apart?
And most importantly .... could they both forgive him? Ambrose gave a small smile to Amaya, running his padded hand over her mop of hair. At least she wasn't involved in this twisted relationship. She was there - a little sister... someone he could help without the awkwardnesses.
But Ambrose said nothing to Angelina in response. Let her be mad... maybe it would help, he thought self-depreciatingly.
Ambrose didn't look up again until Emelyn's words called out to him with the status. It wasn't very informative, but it was a confirmation that the damage was as bad as he had surmised. Certainly nothing usable from the wreckage. Perhaps there had been a bomb on board from the description? But who...? And regardless, he had heard the explosion from the air... it had to have exploded, and then crashed, not just crashed.
"I wonder who did it... and why.." He mused quietly.
He shook his head. "Let's try to get to the labs. See if we can find anyone who knows what the hell is going on - if this is some sort of twisted punishment... a test... or a real emergency."
He stood up again, and circumventing the helipad, made his way towards the narrow dirt road that would lead to the labs. Amaya Vaughan She gave a tiny smile up at Ambrose as her ruffled her hair, though it fell right off once Emelyn came back and let them know.
The lizard-girl gulped at this new information, mouth looking as though it was sealed shut. Blown up from the inside? Oh god... what if it was someone from the island that had tried to escape?
Keeping quiet, she followed the group towards the labs.
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Posted: Wed Jan 04, 2006 8:55 pm
Relationship Issues & Camping OutAmbrose Maurlias Ambrose was in no mood to stay by the crash site any longer than necessary, and as soon as he was sure that the trio of ladies was following, skirted the helipad to the dirt path, emerging from the jungle blinking into the late afternoon light.
Things were much easier going on the packed dirt than fanangling his way through briars and thick foliage of the jungle.... though for him at least, not as hard as it had once been. But with three people, the going had been slow considering how little actual distance they had covered.
He kept quiet during the walk. He had considered some small talk, but wiht how tense things were, it would only fall flat. He did keep a furry hand in Angelina's, and would often glance back to make sure that Amaya and Emelyn were indeed still back there.
After about ten or fifteen minutes of uncomfortable silence, the tall metal gates with the ironically suiting Feral Labs logo with a wolf head loomed over them. twenty-foot chain link fence stretched from either side, forming a double barrier between the jungle and the clearcut land of the complex.
Just like outside the village, the complex was dead quiet. No electric hums, no sign of lights or movement. A jeep was the only vehicle that sat in the dirt parking lot beyond the gate.
Ambrose looked up at the monolithic, closed gate and the fence, with a large warning sign indicating a nasty electric charge that would be delivered if it's touched.
"Welcome to Jurassic Park" Ambrose murmured under his breath as he took in the obstacle.
An intercom box was on a post outside of the gate, and Ambrose punched the call button... The only noise it made was the tak of his claws on the plastic as the button was pushed in. No buzz, no pickup, no nothing. Angelina Swanson Angie never realized how much like Jurassic Park this place now feeled, and a creepy feeling crept into her stomach as she thought about it. She looked up into the sky, praying there would be any thunderstorms until they figured out what was going on.
She looked over the scenery, being quiet and silently brooding to herself. Emelyn "Lockdown," Em said, mostly to herself, though she was standing closest to Amaya. There was not a self-hating bone in her body that would have ever possessed her to stand even a fraction of an inch closer to the hand-holding couple. She ignored it... realizing all the while that it still made her a little sick to her stomach. "If there's no electricity in the intercom, maybe we could scale the fence," Em said tenatively, narrowing her eyes in the sun and staring cautiously at the monstrosity of a gate. "Well, we could try, anyway..." she said softer. Amaya Vaughan She had hoped to never seen that horrible building again. With a shudder she walked up to the gate and looked at it, then over to the fence. The electricity was off even up to the labs? Large, clawed feet clicked on the pavement as she stood in front of the fence and held her ear up to it. No buzz, no nothing.
They had never been this hi-tech, but she had seen electric fences before to keep cattle and horses inside and coyotes out. "I can't believe even the fence is off..." She said, mostly to herself. Though the second Emelyn had mentioned 'scale the fence' Amaya was on it.
Every long finger and toe would puncture through a hole in the fence as she climbed it rather easily and quickly. Her tail would sway back and forth with her movements and in no time she was sitting at the top and jumping down on the other side. "Well... that was easy." She blinked and looked back to the others on the other side of the fence. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose hesitated at the pronouncement that the fence was likely off. He approached it warily, sniffing. Well, he didn't smell any of the ozone that tended to come from charged objects.
Before he could test it or say something, however, Amaya was on it.
"Amaya!" He called out instinctively, fur on end, half expecting to see fried lizard girl come bouncing off the fence. However, he was relieved to see her continue to climb up. "You should have tested it first!" He reprimanded. "You could have electrocuted yourself!" He exasperated, but shook his head. "... But nice work!" He added with a half-smie.
At least she was alright. And Ambrose placed a hand on the fence himself. It was cool to the touch, no jolt of electricity. Letting go of Angelina's hand for the first time since reuniting with her, he slowly started to climb - much less adapted for the work than Amaya, but agile enough to not be met with too much problem. Especially not wearing shoes.
Pausing about 3/4 up the fence, he looked down at the other two. "Either of you need assistance?" Angelina Swanson Angelina pulled Ambrose's shirt down and chewed on her bottom lip. Praising the heavens she was wearing underwear, Angelina started up after Ambrose.
Being small and limber, helped, but the fact that she was only in socks made the wires cut into the bottoms of her feet uncomfortably. Regardless, she gave a smile and nod to Ambrose as he looked back. "No, I'm fine." Emelyn Emelyn was the last one standing at the bottom of the gate, looking up at the absolutely absurd sight. On the other side of the wire was a half lizard girl, and climbing up to join her was a guy with a tail and the half-naked usurper, who was being stubborn again, Em noted- not accepting help- although now she had some idea that maybe Angelina just had an independent personality, and hadn't been being rude earlier. But that was almost a positive thought about her. And Em didn't want to entertain any of those. Not now. "No thank you," she said simply, and not very loudly at all- why strain her voice? Ambrose could hear her just fine. And if she screamed, she might startle Angelina and she'd fall. .......... No, she thought. I really shouldn't. As the others scaled, Em reached down and yanked at the laces of her behemoths, untying them at no fast pace. Then she slipped them off, revealing her sockless hedgehog-esque feet, complete with paw pads, a light downing of fur, and claw-like toenails. Socks didn't fit her anymore, so she never bothered to wear them. But she wasn't quite willing to give up her beloved behemoths, and she tied the laces together, then strung them around her neck and scaled the fence with the others. Amaya Vaughan "Sorry!" Amaya half-laughed. Didn't this happen when she was with Greer once? Getting yelled at for climbing when it might not be safe? "The fence wasn't buzzing or anything, so I just assumed... sorry." She coughed nervously from the other side and watched them. Looked like her hands and feet were good for SOMETHING. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose made it to the top and swung his legs over - glad that there wasn't razorwire or anything at the top. Then, turned around and climbed down about 2/3 of the way before letting himself drop the rest of the way, catching himself on all fours before standing up and dusting himself off, and looking around the complex.
He patted Amaya on the shoulder. "Well, good climbing if nothing else, Sport. I just don't want to see you hurt here in my charge." He winked. "or hurt at all for that matter."
Ambrose waited patiently for Angelina and Emelyn to make it over, offering (and likely being rejected) from assistance in dismounting the fence.
Finally, he ventured closer to the building, stopping by the jeep first. Being open to the elements from the sides, it was easy to check it out and look for keys... to no avail. However, he paused, a smell hitting him as he checked the bottom of the car to confirm it. There was a large gash in one of the pipes, and a smell of some sort of motor fluid. Ambrose had little experience with vehicles and their mechanisms, but figured that a cut and dripping couldn't be a good thing.
((OOC - Break fluid))
"Looks like this vehicle won't be going anywhere." He murmured. Not that a jeep would get them far from the Island as it was.
Turning towards the lab itself, he walked towards the familiar doors that before had swung open at his arrival. This time, however, the mirrored doors stood obstantly shut. There was no handle, no knob. Just cold, mirrored doors that only served to reflect back his worried exasperation and nonhuman visage.
His ears lay back as he backed away from it - still not exactly fond of meeting his animalistic reflection.
"This is the only way I've ever entered before." Ambrose said, turning to the group, and eliminating him having to face himself any longer. Angelina Swanson "Look for a kaypad, or a fingerprint reader. Hell, they might even have a retina scanner," she said she she came up behind Ambrose, running her hands over the smooth glass of the doors, looking for anything that could be a data-entry device. Emelyn "Or we could just smash through something," Em said simply, sitting on the ground for a moment to put her shoes back on. "I mean, if the doors are glass, these suckers are steel-toe. I highly doubt an alarm's gonna go off." Amaya Vaughan Amaya gave the wolfman a small smile before following him to the doors... though she kept away from the reflective surface of it. Once again she fell into silence, only looking at the doors from the side so her reflection didn't show.
"Too bad we can't drive that jeep through it..." She commented quietly. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose nodded, they were all good suggestions.
He walked up to the door and investigated around the edges. The glass seemed smooth at least from the outside. And even cupping his hands and looking through the glass he couldn't see through the mirrored door.
He shook his head, standing back. "I don't understand how it works. There has to be a motion senser or something, but I guess it's shut down. You would think there would be more safety alotments in case of a power out like now." A frown.
"Good thought. But apparently they spent a lot of money keeping their security tight." He harumphed.
"That leaves for crashing the gate." He put his hands in his pockets and took several steps back. "Want to try the shoes? The jeep would be great, though... too bad it looks sabotauged...."
Ambrose trailed off. "Helicopter exploded... sabotauged jeep... think there's a connection?" Angelina Swanson "Something tells me it wouldn't be that easy..." Angelina said, looking to Em. "Buildings made from glass are made from glass designed not to break. Its meant to take beating from tree branches and birds flying into them at full flight. And something tells me if Moreau was smart it might even be bulletproof."
She looked around. "The shoes won' work... maybe a brick if we could find one." Emelyn "A brick... something from the jeep'd probably do. The doors probably are too thick to kick through..." Em said, wanting to bite back agreement with Angelina, but not wanting to be stupid just for the sake of disagreeing with her. "A stone..." She looked around for a good-sized rock, puttering about and wishing the sun wasn't shining so brightly. Amaya Vaughan Green eyes trailed back to the jeep, wondering if somehow they could push it into the door or something and break it. Then, slowly, she looked back over to Ambrose. "You think maybe... someone found the island and did something to the staff? And did all of this to keep us from escaping or something?" Clawed hands went up, hugging her shoulders as she thought of all the possiblities.
Amaya shook all the thoughts away and looked back over to the jeep. "We probably can't push the thing into the door, can we?" Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose shook his head. "Probably not with enough force to do anything unless there was a hill we were pushing it down."
Ambrose's ears lowered at the thought of someone other than the staff maliciously taking them out... scattering them. "I don't know who did all of this." He whispered. "And I'm really disconcerted with how quiet it is. When I came here before... even the first time there were signs of life from the outside."
Ambrose took a few steps back, letting his eyes trail up the building. "There might be other entrances or exits... but I don't see them being any easier to get into even if we found one."
He took a few more steps back, observing. "THe labs look like they go into that mountain side... I'm sure there are loose rocks.... but..." He shrugged. "I guess it's worth a try. But I bet Angelina's right about this being some pretty resiliant material" He said with a hard knock on the glass for emphasis. Angelina Swanson Angelina started to wander around the perimeter of the building looking for vents or any other way to enter. Emelyn Emelyn stared up at the immense scale of Feral Labs, and noticed that there were windows higher up. Then the glint from the sun off the glass made her cringe, and she turned to Amaya. "Someone could climb and break through a window higher up. ...Probably not any one of us." She looked at Angelina's back as she walked away from them, then turned back to Amaya. "Too bad she's not further along. Maybe she's something that climbs," she said drolly. Amaya Vaughan 'She'? Amaya frowned slightly and backed up, looking away from Emelyn and up the side of the building. "Green iguana." She said flatly, kind of annoyed. "And I doubt iguanas can climb the side of a building without something to hold onto." Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose frowned. The tension was spilling over to people that didn't deserve it in the least.
"Amaya isn't a gecko." Ambrose countered irritably.
He was making such a superb leader. Couldn't even keep the tension down. This was never going to work....
A small voice in his mind jabbed that Emelyn was the only one here with a problem with any one else.... well, that and visa versa. He huffed. He didn't want to part company with her. He wanted to be friends - and he didn't see that as belittling what they had had like she accused.
But.... how could that be so? Maybe if they worked together... establishing a connection when it was necessary... when there might be a danger to them all.
That was being selfish.
And... without something better to say, Ambrose shut up, knowing that it wasn't alleviating the tension in the least. Instead, he stalked off towards the edge of the moutnain, scouting for a large rock. All else fails, try smashing something. How mature.
Eventually, he was able to dislodge a large chunk from where it had apparently fallen from higher up and started to bring it back to where they had gathered.
"we can try to hurl this.... of course... built into a mountainside... It wouldn't - nyrgh.... surprise me if the building has to be smash resistant for insurance against falling rocks - not to mention any standard security." Emelyn Em was practically writhing with the confusion. "Oi, no sweetie," she said, speaking apologetically to Amaya, "I didn't mean you. I was talking about Angelina. I'm sorry I wasn't clearer! I wouldn't hurt your feelings like that." She reached out and put a comforting hand on the joint of her arm. Then she waited for Ambrose to finish speaking, and spoke... a little less... apologetically to him. "And as for you, I wish you'd quit it with the sorry looks and the quick assumptions. I've been nothing but nice to your girlfriend, and she keeps whispering behind my back. So if you're gonna snark at someone, by all means do it at her." Amaya Vaughan "Oh... sorry." Amaya looked up at Emelyn appologetically, thinking she should have known better then to think she would have insulted her like that.
She wanted to stop the argument and opened her mouth to do so but... couldn't think of anything. Shutting her trap, she just watched Ambrose and considered trying to help him... though she'd probably just get in the way. What Emelyn said was right... Angelina had been the only one to really throw a tantrum of sorts. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose growled, more at himself and frustration than anything else.
"Look... I'm sorry. I can't be the only one sensing the tension here. I did think you were speaking about Amaya. But I don't wish changes on Angelina either. And She said one thing - following which she stopped a long time ago. And I haven't been blind to some of the looks you've been giving either. I can't expect us all to just be happy-happy.... but ... something's going wrong here... And I consider you all friends" He looked to Emelyn. ".... family... " he looked to Amaya... "And ... other things that I don't wish to try to laud over you, Emelyn."
He picked up the rock again, hefting it. Ambrose was certainly not the strongest person in teh world, but in his frustration he found a strength, hurling the miniature boulder towards the mirrored glass....
Against which is bounced off, causing a loud CLUNK noise... but resulting in no shattering... no spiderwebbing... just a followup THUNK against the ground.
He growled louder.
"Lovely."
He ran his hand through his hair again, turning away from the offending building. "Look. I'm sorry. I think that the tension has us all on edge. Perhaps we're picking up on subtexts that are building off of eachothers'. I don't know if getting things out in the open would help or not. I just know that I would like for nothign more than to band together during this - look after eachother... It will be getting dark soon and we can't get back in our duplexes and we can't get into the cafeteria either. " Emelyn Em seethed a little, but she was grateful that Ambrose had at least acknowledged that he was on edge. She still felt like she was entitled to the looks she'd been shooting Angelina, after all... it wasn't as if the woman had even made an effort to like me, she figured. But she shrugged it off, and rubbed at her eyes in frustration. "There has got to be a way in," Em said, not willing to acknowledge any of the more personal aspects of Ambrose's speech, "Maybe there's a window low enough? Or.. we could look for another door- maybe... ... Angelina found something," she said haltingly, saying the name rather than spitting it- for Ambroses benefit. Not that she was entirely sure he deserved it right now. ...Although, to be fair, she thought, he hasn't proved to have done anything really wrong. ...Except have bad taste. "If not, we should just head back into the jungle, find somewhere where we can hide. This all happened for a reason- someone had to have done this all, and I don't want to be around if whoever it is comes back." Angelina Swanson "Nice to know you all are so eager to have me turn into a monkey so I can skitter on up there and help you blokes out." came a flat voice from behind Emelyn.
"I was just around the corner looking for a vent," she continued, sounding a bit dejected. "I haven't been whipering behind your back, but trust me, I have a lot of things I could say, oh believe you me, do you want to hear?" She narrowed her gaze at the other woman. Amaya Vaughan Amaya sighed heavily as she watched the boulder simply thud off the door. Listening to Ambrose talk, she realized that she was probably the only thing keeping the group from total and complete awkwardness... or at each others' throats... or from making Emelyn feel totally alone if she had been paired up with the couple and she wasn't here. Well, looks like she had her work cut out for her.
Nodding to the hedgehog's last statement, she added. "And it's not like we can't come back and check again tomorrow if everything is still off." She haden't realized they had been outside ALL day and her stomach growled in protest at not being fed.
Though that was the least of her concerns. What happens to lizards in the nightime when all the warmth of the sun was gone...? And it was going to be nightime in the winter no less. Green eyes looked back to Angelina, almost pleading her not to start fighting. Ambrose Maurlias After the rock bounced off ineffectively from the door, Ambrose had little hope that anything else would succeed in breaking into the complex. And Amaya was right - with the approaching dusk, they needed to find shelter, food, and water before anything else.
"YOu're right.... we'll head to the jungle.... find a place by the stream for water... and make some shelter...."
Ears drooped as Angelina came back from around the corner. He could feel the approaching storm. "Angelina...." Errrgh..
Maybe it would be good for them to be able to get things off their chests.... maybe they could move forward from there. Or maybe it would just drive an unmovable wedge between them.
"Angelina..." Ambrose started quietly again. "Emelyn..." He floundered.
Sighing, he finally spoke again. "If you two must be angry... be angry with me. Angelina... I am so sorry once again... I had convinced myself that there was no way I would ever see you again. I was scared, and I needed companionship - I couldn't handle what I was going through alone. I missed you like nothing else - and that was driving me crazy. I needed a finality. After I changed the second time i knew I couldn't go home again. And I wouldn't wish being stuck on this Island on anyone - let alone you."
He turned to Emelyn. "And Emelyn... I had no right playing with your heart when I still loved another. You helped open my eyes to the reality of the situation around me... and there was no way either of us could have known what would have happen. No one is denying that we... had a connection. I don't want to lose your friendship. I don't want to rub my relationship with Angelina in your face. I don't know if there is any way that I can coincide those things together." He finished. It was off his chest. Now if it did any good was anyone's guess. Emelyn Emelyn felt so many things in that one instant- and she could feel the waves of emotion coming off the others in various degrees of sorrow, anger, confusion, and annoyance. They were mirrored by her own emotions, a veritable spectrum of combinations, all slurring together in a rainbow of feeling. She just shook her head. She wanted to come closer to Ambrose, but felt Angelina between them like a wall. "I'm not mad at you, Ambrose. It's just a ... bit of an unbearable situation. We were just starting to have something special, and then everything fell apart. It's not easy to be tossed aside for someone else, so summarily. But I understand. And I don't feel that way about you anymore." She turned to Angelina, still harboring some desire to clock her- but knowing it was unfounded, "I know you don't want to hear all this. I wouldn't, either. But you won, okay? If you really want to take shots at me, go ahead. I was the 'other woman'. But he came to me in grief, and the second he knew you were here, I was exactly what I am now. ....A poor man's Angelina." There were no tears in her eyes, for she'd squirreled them up, frowning to keep them all down. The wrinkle between her eyes deepened, and she shook it off, huffing into the air in the immense pause that followed. "I'm starving," she said, turning away from the looks of Ambrose and Angelina, wishing they weren't there- and towards Amaya, shooting her an apologetic look- she knew the girl didn't want to be a part of any of this. Angelina Swanson Angelina rolled her eyes are Emelyn's comment. "I won. I won. Nice to know that you think my four year relationship with Ambrose came down to a silly little competition between the two of us. Its hard enough to do I was apparantly so easy to replace." She tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice but she knew she still must be seething. She hurled hefty, but handheld, rock at the glass angrily, knowig it would just bounce off. Amaya Vaughan The lizard-girl listened to everyone talk in silence, eyes going from one person to the other before straight ahead of her. She sincerly hoped this didn't keep up for the rest of the night for everyone's sake.
Having never been in a relationship before, she wasn't sure how to handle it or make anyone feel better, but arguing like this was NOT getting them anywhere. "Look. We can fight or talk or whatever you guys wanna do once we have a fire, shelter, and some food. Please?" Letting out a heavy sigh, her shoulders slumped and she turned around to start climbing the fence whether anyone was following or not. Emelyn Em turned on her heels. "Why are you so insistant that you're going to hate me? Why do you have to pick at what I say- of ALL the things I said, that was what you focused on? If you're going to be mad at anyone, be mad at him. I honestly have gotten clobbered enough from this. I don't see how it's any of my concern anymore." The bitterness was rising in her voice as well, but not towards anyone in particular. "He cast me off, so that pretty much gives me immunity from anything that has to do with this. It's a perk. You can't have it both ways." Angelina Swanson "Me insisting on hating you?! Oh please." Angelina paced around, frustrating tears forming in her eyes.
She didn't know what she was feeling or how to express it. What she was really afraid was looking like the 'other woman' in everyone eles's eyes. She looked at Amaya and Emelyn. She came to the island expecting to find her lover, sick and scared, welcoming her with open arms. Instead, she found something so beyond the realm of what she was expecting it through her for a loop. And worst of all, Ambrose, changed, already moving on. A few family, new friends.
Now standing here, she felt even more like an outsider than ever. She self-consciously hugged her arms to herself as she felt the eyes on her. She had taken Ambrose from Em, at least that what she thought Ambrose's island's friends would think. And SHE was yet to change. She considered herself a very dynamic person - usually able to blend into new situations. She had changed her lifestyle before, one for Ambrose already. But now.. .she felt completely normal - completely herself - the same person she was when she woke up that day...but this time it was everything else changing around her. Ambrose had changed, her view of reality had changed... even the definition of 'normal' had changed.
Moreau and the lab assistants - the fully human people. They were the bad guys. The victems, they were the good guys. And Angelina felt juxtposed... not knowing how the others felt about her retained humantity...and the uncertain looming cloud of uncertainty. Would she change? Now? Was she ever going to? Did something happen? Would they come back and then change her then?
Angelina shook her head angrily, wiping at her tears, not wanting to admit her anger was misplaced but not wanting to admit it. So she just stood there, staring at the ground, wishing she could just close her eyes and dissapear. Ambrose Maurlias The glimmering chance at mending broken relationships and knitting over injured feelings seemed to be receeding at each passing moment, taking away Ambrose's optimism in general with it.
Coincidentaly, the air was growing cooler as dusk was approaching. Despite Ambrose's increased night vision, he didn't want to try to navigate the dense jungle in the dark. Amaya was right - they needed shelter, fire and food if they wanted to establish themselves.
But one fire had been kindled - and it wasn't the sort that would keep them warm - only the sort that would burn. Perhaps burn up the chances of teamwork and frienship. "Please..." Ambrose whined. "Fine. Yes. If you must be mad - both of you - be mad at me. Neither of you have done anything to eachother directly. I was the catalyst in all of this. I was the one who reached out to someone else when there was no closure on our relationship, Angelina. And Emelyn - I did not see you as a substitute. If anything your appearance was a hesitance point for me in that I didn't want to try to replace Angelina. I am sorry for crushing you - for giving you hope only to "drop" you when Angelina returned. But yes, I never stopped loving her - I just imagined that if she had not arrived, that I could somehow reconcile that feeling along wiht something different."
"And Angelina... You were never 'easy to replace'. You know i thought I would never see you again. I thought they had told you I was dead. It had been months and I was so alone. Terrified as everything I knew, everuthing I valued and had loved was wrenched from me. Perhaps I was weak. But fine, be mad at me. It's not Emelyn's fault.... and it's not your fault either."
His ears dropped as he saw her withdraw within herself. Angelina's anger seemed to be boiling off to a more subtle depression. There was something more than her anger at Emelyn going on behind her eyes. Maybe they could make this work.... "Please. If you dont' hate Emelyn... and Emelyn doesn't hate you... then there is a tension over nothing. We can help eachother... But we need to get moving."
He moved to the fence, and started to climb. "Amaya's right. We need shelter and food and fire. It will be dark soon." He said quietly, dejectedly. "I hope that we can work together in that..."
He scaled it, more quickly this time, dropping down to the ground at the other side.
"If I recall the island correctly, there should be a stream intersection in the jungle directly south of here." He said quitly, feeling emotionally drained. But perhaps... maybe just perhaps things would work. Amaya Vaughan Amaya was already waiting for them on the other side of the fence, then looked over to Ambrose while waiting for the two women. "I don't mean to make you worry anymore then you are now, but... I dunno if I'll be able to move around much once it gets darker." She paused for a moment, fumbling with her fingers. "Ever since I turned cold-blooded I went inside when it got colder..." Emelyn "I'm sorry, Amaya," Em said, once she'd scaled the fence. "I hadn't even been thinking about you. That was selfish of me." She wanted to grab her up in a hug, but didn't know how comfortable the girl felt these days with human contact. She walked along with them, heading towards what would be a makeshift campsite, and didn't say a word. She was tired of trying to make Angelina understand, tired of Ambrose trying to make everything okay, and please everyone. If she'd thought about it, she would have understood that Angelina was in a lot of pain- and Ambrose could only help but feel like the source of all the blame. ..But she didn't want to think. She only wanted to walk... and eventually eat, and then drift into a dreamless sleep. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose nodded to Amaya as he waited for the others to scale the fence. "I'm sorry - we'll make sure we get you somewhere safe and warm - even if it means carrying you." He gave her a small smile.
Once everyone had gathered, he led the way Southwards through the jungle. He knew he would encounter the stream as long as he headed in a straight line. Ambrose thanked his blessings that he had been a boyscout, no matter how ill prepared he actually was out here in the real untouched jungle. He might at least be able to get a fire started provided he could find some dry wood and fashion a sort of lean-to. Tomorrow, with light again, they could reinforce their settlement - maybe scavenge some better building material.
He stayed focused on the task at hand - letting the work and what needed to be done drive him past the sullenness in his chest.
Finally, the babbling noises of running water reached his ears - and he followed the sound just as the last remnants of daylight was being sucked away. Sure enough, a narrow stream cut through the jungle ahead of them. This was as good a place as any.
He turned to the others. "Alright... this is it. For tonight at least. We can follow the stream both ways tomorrow if we want and see if we can't find a better place to form a more permanent shelter.... Hopefully we won't need to. Amaya, I know you're tired... so why don't you hang around here and try to clear a space on the ground so we can make a fire or have something flat to sleep on. Angelina... why don't you see if you can find some dry wood. At least it hasn't rained recently. Bring back what you can find. Emelyn... why don't you see if you can find any fruit. I'll try to put together a few lean-to's and get a fire going.
With tasks delegated, Ambrose focused on assembling some crude shelters - also thanking his blessings that he had been doing a lot of construction recently. Even workting without tools, he had a better idea of what would hold and what wouldn't. He found some long branches and propped them in crooks of trees, then used that as a centerpole to drape broad leaves, more sticks, and anything else to form a covering.
After getting firewood, he sat down to work at a fire. It was... very slow going. But eventually... a thin curl of smoke rose out of the flat piece of wood, and encouraging it with some small dry kindling, he was able to get a fire started.
His stomach rumbled pitifully... and the fruit looked less than appetising to him, but it was something. Tomorrow... he would have to find something... with meat... Amaya Vaughan "S'ok." She replied timidly, waiting until Angelina was over the fence to start walking behind Emelyn.
As the night drew closer and closer she began to feel weaker and weaker, lagging behind a little bit as they walked but glad they had found the stream nonetheless.
Glad she was given one of the less demanding tasks, she did her best to clear the area of any briars or sticks so they had a nice resting place. Once that was done, she sat down to rest as the others did their tasks. It was dark, she had walked all day, had nothing to drink and nothing to eat, so she was extreamly drained.
Only eating a little bit of the fruit found, she quickly fell asleep by the fire. Amaya had camped out before with her father, so the ground and bugs and nightime sounds didn't bother her very much at all.
She didn't even have time to think about tomorrow or what was going on around her... the lizard-girl simply went out of it for the night. Angelina Swanson Angelina stayed silent the rest of the night. She gathered the wood and sulked by the fire, and waiting to be told where she should be sleeping that night when the shelters were erected. Ambrose Maurlias After the fire was built, the shelters constructed, food procured, and Amaya had drifted off to sleep, Ambrose was left with no more chores to do to keep his mind and hands occupied and only the uncomfortable silence..
((I'm going to assume that Emelyn took a shelter? Em - feel free to make a post to confirm or contradict that)).
He got a drink from the cool running water, washing off his hands that had been through a lot today, and climbed back up the bank to face Angelina with a heavy sigh. He didn't know if she wanted to be next to him tonight... not only did they have an 'audience' per se... but he didn't want to rub things in.... but likewise, he wanted to be next to her... he loved her and none of this had stopped things. Tonight of all nights he felt anxious... they were at the brink of the unknown, in the middle of the 'wild' despite their viscinity to a multi-million dollar high tech research facility.
He took a seat. "Maybe... we should keep watch.... make sure the fire doesn't burn itself down.... or any unwelcome animals come..."
More like AMbrose wanted to think to himself for a while. Amaya was already out... maybe if Angelina got a bit of sleep, he could curl up next to her side later and things would have cooled down.
"If you... want to take the bigger shelter, Angelina... I'll join you later...?"
Despite the activity... Ambrose wasn't tired. He was drained... but he didn't think he could sleep. Especially with his stomach's protests. not yet at least. He was hungry - and the fruit had tasted off to him. Angelina Swanson She gave a weak nod and headed that way, stopping to briefly ran one of her hands softly over the fur of his ears as she passed him towards the tent. Ambrose Maurlias The gesture was small.... but meaningful and above all, reassuring. He gave her a small smile as he settled down by the fire, a stack of the wood she had found nearby, and leaned against the base of one of the trees.
The fire danced in his eyes, and was strangely settling to him. Mesmerizing.
A lonliness built up in his chest mixed with the anxiety now that he was sitting and letting his thoughts build up. Where was everyone else? What about Colche? Chubbs and Joli? Greer and the Dude? Were they allright? Who was in the helicopter? How long would hte power be out?
Ambrose turned his head up to the stars that could be seen through the gap in the canopy that was granted by the stream that cut through the jungle. The stars were so clear out here, especially with all of the lights out. It was hard to imagine things being this dark before - growing up in the city... there were always lights somewhere. This really was the wild. And he was an animal. He sighed, looking down at the fur on his arms... the claws on his hands and feet.
Maybe all this was just some sort of test... but if so... why the crash? Why the abandonment of the lab?
His stomach screwed up on itself again. He was hungry. And he wanted meat. How long would this go on? Would he have to go hunting? without weapons aside from his teeth and claws? He shuddered at that.
His thoughts turned to the others again... were they out there?
He felt something welling up within him again... reaching out. Acting completely on instinct - his ration seemed to be lagging behind now, exhausted, he lifted his short muzzle to the skies and let loose a howl - Long and low.... penetrating the miles of the Island. A cry of worry... of hunger.
Lowering his muzzle he stopped... blinking. What had he just done...??? Why?
He knew why. He sighed. Maybe someone would hear... maybe they'd come. Safety in numbers.
Ambrose stayed out for a while, adding a few more logs to the fire, and making sure it wasn't going to spread before crawling into the lean-to next to Angelina. she was warm. He wrapped his arms around her but was careful not to wake her. He'd keep an ear open... if anyone came.. he thoguht to himself as he yawned and drifted off to sleep.
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Posted: Tue Jan 10, 2006 12:56 am
Encountering the Clothes-lessAmbrose Maurlias It was the next morning, and Ambrose had had a surprisingly restful night for sleeping on the cold ground on a not exactly twig and rock-free sleeping surface. Next to Angelina, curled up and warm under his lean-to (at least it hadn't rained), some part of Ambrose didn't find much trouble drifting off to a comforted sleep.
However, old habits do die hard, and the sound sleeping only carried him so far. At early light, with the morning birds loudly (to Ambrose) announcing the coming of the dawn, Ambrose arose and crawled out of the shelter. The others were still asleep - but his movement stirred his lady love. They had stayed up talking quietly for a little the previous night and... at the very least... Ambrose felt Angelina was a little comforted in the situation and her place amongst the group.
Things weren't perfect - that would probably be too much to hope for... but they were better.
Ambrose crawled back to her, speaking quietly so as to not disturb the others, and let her know that he was going to foray into the jungle to try to find some more supplies or things that could be used to make the camp more hospitable. Food, or better materials for shelter... or possibly even see if there was a more ideal spot to set up camp. Maybe he'd even find some of the others, see if they had any more news or .... maybe, just maybe, the incident had been temporary and things would be back to normal. He left her instructions with the fire, and set out.
He followed the river primarily. If they camped elsewhere, they would need to be close to the river for a steady water source. However, often the going was slow - briars and brambles catching at his sleep pants or fur as in many place the underbrush was thicker closed to the stream.
Perhaps the spot they had encountered the night before wasn't as bad as he thought it might have been. Well, that was all for the better - it would be easier to make that place better than to try to start from scratch elsewhere.
He stopped a few times, picking a mango or other innoculous looking fruit. As he progressed, he realized, with relief, that his sense of smell seemed to be back to normal this morning after the decent night's sleep. No more ... -shudder-... charred scent. He could smell the sweet smell of fruit... brief, flitting smells of animals.. And he wondered at what chance he might have at actually catching some.
He was following his nose, (thinking with a note of amazement at how useful that was...) stopping now and then to pick up a particularly nice flat piece of wood.... or some wide leaves... when he caught a different... familiar scent.
His ears pricked and his tail wagged a bit. Vasile! And..... Cassidy? He almost surprised himself with the recognition. They were close.
He walked slowly (carrying an array of jungle goods) and before long could hear voices talking quietly.
With his tail wagging, he emerged onto the dirt road with a smile. "Cassidy! Vasile! You're -" he was going to say 'Okay' ...... "Naked!" Cassidy Smith Cassidy stirred suddenly, still a bit sluggish from the cool night. She blinked at him, her tongue flickering, before she managed to wake up enough to properly respond. "Oh, christ." Cass slapped her arms over her chest. "Uh. Good morning?" Vasile DiRossi Cass's movement caused Vasile's head to jerk up. Crap, he must have dozed off...
eek
"AMBROSE?" He sat up straight, grabbing Cass and pulling her up, using her to cover himself, and the same time wrapping his arms protectively around her front, trying to aide her as well.
"What the hell are you doing out here?" Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose blinked at the question, and quickly averted his eyes for politeness's sake.
"Uhm... welll.... I don't exactly have much in the way of ... options at the moment. Locked out of the Duplexes and everything."
Ambrose assumed that was why there were out here as well - it had been overnight since he had woken up out here and thus figured they would have been to the village already.
"But... why aren't you guys... wearing anything?" Not that Ambrose was really one to talk. Wearing just pj bottoms, but it was better than nothing. Cassidy Smith "Well. Um." Cassidy coughed. "Cause we weren't wearing... any... thing..." Crap. Hastily, she changed the subject. "What you mean, we're locked out of the duplexes?" She narrowed her eyes. "I'm not going to be able to get my damn feet?! What about... food? And... oh hell." Vasile DiRossi Vasile swallowed and waited for Cass to respond.
"Yeah, I mean, we just woke up.. out here...what do you mean locked out of the duplexes??" Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose tentatively glanced back with her peripheral vision. "You mean... you haven't tried to go back to the village yet...? I've been locked out since yesterday.... well... admitteldy I haven't looked again today... yet... I ran into Angelina and Emelyn and Amaya and we tried going by the Labs... but they were shut tight as well - electricity's off - even to the electric fence!"
Ambrose's tail twitched nervously. "Your legs...?" Ambrose sounded confused, not having seen her prostetics." Cassidy Smith "We hadn't got back there yet. We've been going... slow." Cass sighed, rather guiltily, and rubbed her temples. "This is bad. So bad. Very bad." She grimaced. "I've been walking on prosthetic legs for the last little while. I was getting good at it, dammit. I take them off to sleep, though, cause they get sore. Oh geez." No food, no clothes, no legs... did she have some bad past-life karma to pay off, or what? Vasile DiRossi "Wait, you mean.... everyone's locked out? No electricity? What the HELL Man? Where's Moreau, the b*****d. Where you guys sleeping? Just. ..what the hell is going on?? This makes no sense!"
Vasile looked a bit paniced, and emabrassed... wanting to page but of course was too afraid to let go of Cass. Ambrose Maurlias "The four of us made camp a few hundred yards back that way... along the riverbank. I think it might be one of the best places to wait it out that I've found at least. Fresh water nearby and all that. Emelyn gathered some mangoes for us.... but... I don't know what the hell is going on. No one's heard an explanation....."
He shifted his weight, juggling the supplies. "... beyond the explosion last night before the power outage. And.... the helicopter..." Ambrose licked his lips nervously. Cassidy Smith "Helicopter?" Cassidy blinked. "I heard something, I thought, but I thought I might've dreamt it." Mangoes. She couldn't eat mangoes. She was going to freaking starve to death. Oh hell. She ran her fingers through her hair--though her other arm was still firmly across her chest. "This just gets dumber and dumber." Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose loosened a frustrated growl. "I know how you feel. I woke up to the explosion... yesterday afternoon I followed my nose to the helipad and regretted it... except for finding Amaya. there.... was a crash... two bodies..." He decided to leave the details to the imagination. Before yesterday, Ambrose had been blissfully sheltered from any sort of real death before... at least seeing anything in person. Sure, he had seen his share of violent movies, but there was something drastically different about seeing and smelling a dead person right there in front of you.
"There... are several hypotheses.... Angelina thinks that maybe someone found the Island.... that Moreau shot them down and then went into some sort of emergency lockdown mode.... I... I don't know. Others think maybe someone hijacked the helicopter and this is some sort of perverse 'punishment'.... but then even the labs look like they're off.... argh. I don't know." Cassidy Smith For a moment, Cassidy didn't say anything, just shook her head. "This is insane. This is insane." She inhaled slowly. "Okay. So... either way. You don't think this is going to last? I mean... what about food? I am... I'm not at all up to hunting down mice. I'm really not." Cass covered her face behind her hand. "What about... that cancer thing they told us about? If this goes on... oh hell. Oh... hell. We thought this was just... I don't know. I woke up in a tree, for god's sake." Vasile DiRossi Vasile nodded in agreement when Cass. "I've never even been camping before. What have you done for food? We haven't had anything, or water.. I'm really starting to feel a bit lightheaded here..." Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose shifted from foot to foot, still trying to avoid looking at either of them directly for modesty's sake. He wished he had more clothes he could share with them, but he was rather attached to his pants.
"I woke up on the edge of the damn cliffs. I was luck I didn't move about in my sleep. Emelyn found some mangoes.... and I know that there are fish and wildlife about..... hunting them on the other hand is anther issue. But we found water. Our camp is on the riverside. You're welcome to come back with me... help me carry some supplies back to hopefully make it a bit more.... well... livable." He sighed.
"I don't know how long this is goign to last.... but our camp is probably only half an hour to a fourty-five minute walk to the labs. We could make daily checks to see if the power goes back on." Cassidy Smith Cassidy grimaced. "I hope this doesn't last too long, at least not without breaking into somewhere and getting some clothes. Which, I'm going to guess, is going to be impossible, knowing the way this place seems to be." She was, she had suddenly realised, going to become terribly dependant on other people for the next little while. She didn't like that idea very much. "I'd be glad to come. Do what I can to help." Vasile DiRossi "Yes, I think coming back with you guys would be good. I'll help where ever I cans."
Vasile sighed, realizing how hungry and thirsty he was getting, and feelig the burn in his arms from carrying Cass around the day before.
He shifted to start to get up, then cursed at himself. "Hey... does, uhn, anyone at your camp have any extra clothes?" Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose paused. "I had little luck getting back into my duplex. The windows seem reinforced. We also tried to break into the labs with equal luck."
He took a quick mental inventory of the people at the camp. "Angelna... just has my shirt.. and undergarments. Amaya's just in her undergarments. Emelyn's fully dressed, but I don't know how well a single set of clothes could be split between two people." He gestured to some of the large fronds. "Maybe.... you could get inventive?" He gave a wincing smile.
He stooped down and picked up one of the mangoes he had collected, tossing it towards Vasile, and another to Cassidy. "It's not much.... but it's what we've found." He gathered up the armload of wood and other potential supplies he had scavenged.
"Follow me back.... maybe working together we can do something. I... uhm... I was thinking about scouting back to the helicopter crash... there's enough twisted metal that maybe we could make some weapons or traps to get some actual meat. That and maybe find where some of the rest have gone." Cassidy Smith "I guess we can find something, and make do." Cassidy sighed. With a flick of her tongue, she smelled the mango... and resolved not to try that unless she got really hungry. Admittedly, that probably wasn't too far off. "And if not, uh. I'll have to become a nudist." Vasile DiRossi Vasile shifted uncomfortably, especially knowing Amaya and Emelyn would be there. He was starting to become painfully self-conscious.
He took the mango, and offered half to Cass. He quickly devoured his half, and would eat her haf if she refused hers.
Afterwards, he relunctantly stood and picked up Cass once again, ready to follow Ambrose. Ambrose Maurlias "well, off we go..." He gave a nod and a heft, and started following his path back towards the campsite.
"It's not too far... about fifteen or twenty minutes..." He called back.
Before long at all, the sound of running water reached their ears and they emerged to the riverbank and continued to follow it in an Eastward direction.
"And.... let me know if you happen to spot any long pieces of wood... or anything flat that I could use to help with the shelters.. like a bit piece of flat... bark.... ggrrrr.... what I wouldn't give for some plywood and hammer and nails.." He chattered as he walked.
Smells and sounds were all around them - rustling and birdcalls and scents of the paths of animals. Maybe, Ambrose thoguht, if he could retreive some of that scrapmetal without killing his nose again, he could determine some animal paths to set something up along or camp besides to try to catch something..... Cassidy Smith Cassidy had only managed to take a few bites of mango, and then mostly out of politeness; it just didn't want to go down without a fight. But, once again in Vasile's arms, she resigned herself to being carried. Hopefully, once they reached this camp, she could get around on her knees, at least a little. "It's dumb, you know," she said suddenly. "There's all these animals around--I can smell them--but I'd be surprised if very many of us knew anything about hunting, especially without a gun." Vasile DiRossi "Well," Vasile tried to think back, "I've seen a lot of movies. We could try to build some traps. There's that one where you dig a whole and then cover it with leaves and stuff..waiting for something to fall in. And maybe we could make a fishing pole out of something."
Vasile tried to sound postive, but he was very worried about how useful he could be with his, admittedly, pretty spoiled background. Ambrose Maurlias "I was in the boyscouts for.... a little bit." Ambrose winced. "I apparently retained enough to be able to get a fire going... but to be honest I'm not sure how effective I'm going to be with actual hunting...." He sighed. "Ironic given my.... changes. I could probably ... track something - as strange as that sounds to me. But as far as catching up wiht something if it goes off running through these thick woods.... let alone taking it down..." He shook his head.
Ambrose paused to reshuffle his things while trying to pick up another long, thick fallen branch. "Not much further..."
And sure enough, in sight now was a cluster of low lean-to shelters by the river bank, and a lowly smouldering fire. Cassidy Smith "It looks... surprisingly civilised, really." Cass grinned, though it was slightly forced. "I don't think I could have done quite so good." Oh, she was going to be an awful drain on resources. Maybe she could learn how to start a fire with two sticks. Or cook, or something. Anything so she'd be useful. She had to suppress a brief moment of panic at the sheer uselessness of her situation.
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Posted: Fri Jan 13, 2006 10:46 pm
Getting in OrderAmbrose Maurlias IT's about two hours after Ambrose left that morning to go find supplies.
Finally, there is a crackling of underbrush - and the sound of more than one individual coming back towards the camp. Then, emerging into view is a familiar wolfman with an armload of .... stuff. There are a few mangoes, but it's primarily long branches and a few choice flat pieces of wood.
There is a smile on his face, but the hunger in his belly, that has been growing worse since he awoke (especially after a pitiance of a meal the day before of only a few mangos.)
"... And here it is" Ambrose finished saying to Cassidy and Vasile as they followed behind him - Vasile carrying the snakewoman... and neither of them with clothing. "IT might not be much, but... it will have to do. And I intend on trying to fix it up."
He turned back to the camp with a smile, looking to see who might be up and about. Vasile DiRossi Vasile shifted Cass's weight lower so she was more significantly covering, well, himself. He definately looked out of sorts for Vasile - sweaty, dirty, and covered head to toe, nearly, in mud. It was caked and brittle in his hair, and made his lines of swaet even more obvious. His hair was a tangled, dirty mess, and his thick fir down his spine and over his groin was started to painfully mat between the mud and the sweat and lack of a brush. He looked surprisingly ashamed or embarassed about his appearance, but he stepped towards the camp, repeating constantly to himself that people wouldn't care so much given the circumstance. Cassidy Smith Cassidy, feeling quite thoroughly silly, shifted to cover her chest. Almost as muddy as Vasile, her hair only half in its braid, and her unscaled skin scratched from treebark, she was looking just as disshevelled. "Home, sweet home." Cass's tongue flickered. "It's not bad at all." Just like camping, right. Just think positive. "Y'can put me down now, Vasile. If you need to. I can manage on my knees around here, really." Amaya Vaughan Amaya's head turned as Ambrose returned, though she quickly 'meeped' and hid her eyes into her knees at the sight of a very naked Cassidy and Vasile. It didn't help that she couldn't remember if either of them had seen her change yet either. Angelina Swanson Angelina came out, happy to see Ambrose had returned, but couldn't help but double take at Vasile. She blinked a few times at his appearance, but -homg- it really was him. And he was naked. "Vasile?" she squeaked out before she could stop herself. No need to act like a fangirl. She was better than that, dammit. But she couldn't help but continue to stare. She was even tempted, if only for half a second, to ask for him autograph. Then she smirked to herself on the irony of it all. And the surrealness. Emelyn Em was sitting in the nook of a braidwork of immense tree roots- somewhere she'd been for a while, waiting for the camp to come alive again. She'd awoken to a dead quiet- but not a calm. In this company, how could it be? She was there when Ambrose tromped back into camp, followed by... Cass, who she had met- and another man, who she assumed was Vasile. She'd seen him once before- briefly- at the Halloween party, but not since. And certainly not... So naked. She wasn't far away from them, and she cast her eyes down, more out of courtesy- for she'd already seen both of them- it was difficult to hide your nakedness in the plain of day, but she called to them with a voice croaky from not having spoken in hours. "If one of you'd like, you can have my shirt." ...Or Cass can have my bra, she thought, but didn't add to the sentiment. She figured it would be evident that she was offering either-or. ...The camp was filled with women, after all, except for Ambrose and Vasile. And well... there was no keeping secrets from Ambrose, and Vasile had no gains to ogling at the moment... Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose set down the heavy pile of materials and shook off his sore arms. He was no... weakling. At least he would protest if called one - but perhaps it may not have been the most inaccurate of insults. And carryign wood for the past twenty minutes left his arms burning. At least he had procured some more supplies for the extra lean to that they would have to build.
But there was still a lot more materials that they would be needing.
And food.
"Vasile... Cassidy.." He gestured to the two of them... "You've met Amaya I believe... and this is Angelina.... And Emelyn" He introduced, still not looking directly at the two new companions.
"And that's quite kind of you, Emelyn" He added with a smile.
With a hesitance, and an embarrassment for probably ought to have offered earlier... "Vasile... uhrm... if you want them... I could go back behind some bushes with you and loan you my... uhm... undergarments?" He added quietly to the silver-furred actor.
"We found eachother out in the woods towards the village... they'd been locked out too, and I told them what we found out. But they hadn't seen anyone else either." Vasile DiRossi Vasile swallowed and hesitantly set Cass down. Its not that he didn't think Cass could fend for herself. It was more becuase, well, she was proverbial fig leaf at the moment. BUT - he couldn't (literally - couldn't - his arms were killing him) use Cass to cover himself all day, so, might as well.
He blushed as Angelina recogized him, but tried to do his best to smile and nod friendly.
He nodded a thanks to Em and looked to Cass with a smile. But then he turned and just kind of... gaped at Ambrose. He'd never had to share anything with anyone before... much less -underwear- How embarassing. But was that...worse off than being stark naked? "uh, sure, thanks," he mumbled quickly, then briskly went behind a large tree with some underbrush Cassidy Smith Cass settled herself down on the ground, her arms still firmly across her chest. "If you really don't need your shirt, I'd appreciate it," she told Emelyn awkardly. "A lot." She'd just have to, uh, pretend it was a dress or something. But it was definitely better than nothing. She did wave to Amaya and Angelina. Amaya was looking... rather scalier since she'd last seen her. And Angelina...? ...wasn't she...? No way. No possible way. Amaya Vaughan Nodding, she looked back up but made sure to keep her eyes away from them. "Hey Cassidy... Vasile." Her eyes then went to the green iguana still inside her lean-to next to her to keep herself from looking over at them on accident. Angelina Swanson Angelina tugged at Ambrose's shirt she was wearing, but didn't offer to take it off, for, unlike the lucky and fully dressed Em, she wasn't wearing a bra underneith.
She waved at the introductions. Vasile seemed too concerned with getting into Ambrose's underwear to register, but the look on Cass's face told her that Ambrose must have mentioned her before. She looked over the scaled woman, trying to to stare but feeling a dread knot in her stomach form as she saw her legs.
Angelina almost felt like crying again. This not knowing BS was really starting to get to her. Each new person she met that was changing just ground the sick reality into her. Emelyn "Here," Em said, unbuttoning the white shirt down the front. It was that same shirt she'd come to the island in- somehow, of all the clothes Moreau had provided her, it was still the staple she went to in times of emotional crisis. It was strangely poignant to her that she was standing in the exact outfit that she'd first come to the island in... but before letting herself get nostalgic about the 'days before'- or to well up about anything- she cast off the thought. As well as her shirt. She felt a moment of embarrassment as she scooted the beige bra strap farther up onto her shoulder... but she pushed it aside. Who here would criticize? ...Well, who would have the right to, anyway, she thought on the second hand, and passed down the shirt to Cass. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose decidedly avoided looking as Emelyn offed her shirt in front of the group, using the same excuse Amaya had in looking at the small green fellow that lay obstantly beside her in her tent. He quirked an eyebrow. "Find something, Amaya?" He quieried. ANd almost as soon as he said it, his stomach gave an audible rumble. He swallowed. He had almost suggested cooking up the lizard to divvy - even though it probably wouldn't make for a very big meal for any of them - before catching himself as he looked again at Amaya's scaly legs that looked remarkably like the lizard's and clamped his mouth shut.
"Uhrm... I'll be right back... Amaya - why don't you help Cassidy set up a lean-two for her and Vasile....?" He looked at Cassidy. "Assuming that you don't mind sharing one..? It would probably be warmer.." He babbled, realizing that he might have taken too much for granted with their mutual nakedness.
"I'll be right back" He covered, taking the time to follow vasile behind the trees.
"Alright, Vasile." He sighed. "Believe me... I wish there were another way as well...." but I want to keep my pants... they're more covering.... He slid down his sleep pants and with a sigh, hooked his thumbs in his tightie whities that he wore beneath his sleep pants, and pulled those down as well, trying not to look and make it quick. Vasile DiRossi Vasile learned back on the tree, trying to find his center. But then he saw the dreaded tighty-whiteys and shook his head. "Oh, uhm, thanks but no thanks. I think running around named would be better than, welll..."
Well, first there would be the sure ridiculousness of his furry butt being stark naked and frizzying up all around the fruit of the looms.
Second, regular pants made him itch and chafe enough already. Those certainly wouldn't help.
Third..
Vasile took another double-take. "Hey," he said, pointed down, "You've got your own built-in modesty system going on!" he said, trying to decide if he should laugh or get disturbed. "I should take the pants. I wouldn't fit in those anyway, if you catch my drift." Cassidy Smith Cassidy buttoned up the shirty, and gave a small sigh of relief. At last, she could put her arms somewhere than over her chest. "Thank you so much." She snuck a glance at Amaya's iguana, and had to suppress a shudder. Honestly. She had no right to be creeped out... though it didn't change the fact that she was. And eh? What was this about a shared lean-to? If she could still blush, she would have. "Ahhhhm. Well. It's okay if Vasile doesn't mind..." Amaya Vaughan "Uh... you could say that. Or it found me." Amaya's tail twitched behind her as she scooped the iguana up with one of her large hands, being able to hold it well despite it's size. "I doubt he has much meat on him... that and I don't wanna become a cannibal." She smirked and snorted, though it wasn't in humor.
"And sure, no problem." The reptile squirmed in her grasp as she stood, walking over to the edge of the camp and setting it down before pushing it onward with her fingers. It scampered away into the brush, wanting to get away from whatever had been holding it. Angelina Swanson Angelina didn't know what to do, so she began to poke around and gather supplied to try and made another make-shift shelter for Vasile and Cass, her eyebrows raiding as she caught bits and peices of Ambrose and Vasile's discussion from behind the tree. Emelyn "You're really welcome," Em said, glad for the look of relief on Cass' face. "I think it's better that we're all partially naked than a few of us be fully clothed." She went the opposite direction of Angelina, looking for some long sticks to help make the new shelter, until she realized that she didn't actually want to stay there. A part of her felt it was time to move on. So she waited for Ambrose to come free of his conversation and ... er... exchange with Vasile. Somehow, he'd set himself up as a sort of leader amongst them... and it was probably for the best, since he had the most ties with everyone else. He'd be most likely to convince them to something. Anything- but staying here. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose blushed, his ears flattening against his head as he replied with a whisper between clenched teeth. His... changes down there were a bit of an awkward subject to say the least with him.
"It's not... Rrrgh.. It's not a 'modesty system'" He said quietly - but he was still unfortunately close enough to be audible by most of the group. "It's embarrassing... and .... things are only... more obvious... if things...." He gesticulated awkwardly. "Nevermind!" He finished quickly, removing the undies and pulling his pants back up quickly.
"And don't give me that crap about not fitting." He rolled his eyes at the veiled knock. "Besides! Something is better than nothing, right? You can... decorate them with leaves or something if they're that bad." He said sarcastically.
He returned to the camp, letting Vasile clothe himself, seeing the beginings of the shelter begun to be assembled. Running a hand through his hair, he pondered. What would they do now?
"Alright..." He started, rubbing his paw-pads of his hands together as he formulized a plan... of sorts. "The labs are only about half an hour north of here.... I say we make daily trips there to make sure the power doesn't come back on. We can also reinforce the lean-to's I built last night in a hurry. Make them bigger... more protected against the rain with some big leaves and bark... more branches ... and use some mud to fill in the holes. We also need to keep an eye on the fire, because that was a b***h to get started. " He ticked them off on his fingers. "And most importantly... food. We need to have more to eat than just mangos..." He winced. "at least I do..." He looked around the group in varying states of undress, dirty, and the lingering smell of anxiety still on the air, subconsciously trying to judge their strengths and weaknesses..
His face softened. "We can do this... things will be alright. I'm sure of it.... And I'm sure there are others still out there as well. Once we get situated... we can probably make forays to see if we can find more information... and make sure everyone else is alright too. "
He took a few paces back and forth, wandering closer to Angelina, who he gave a small squeeze on her shoulder with a smile. He knew she felt left out... she had arrived much later than all of the others here and knew very little of them. The talk they had had the night before had made that evident.
"We'll break down the tasks. Does anyone here have any experience with anything that might be useful? Hunting? Tracking? Construction or fishing or anything like that?" He looked around the group. "I... uhm... was in the boyscouts... I know some very basic things like how to build a fire... if you give me dry wood and a few hours... and these lean-to's...." He blushed a bit "I... could probably even follow an animal trail with my... nose... But I don't know how good I'd be at catching anything.." Vasile DiRossi Vasile grumbled and, swallowing his pride, quickly pulled Ambrose's undies up over himself. He tried to rid the image of how insanely silly he probably looked as he headed back into camp, taking a seat next to Cass and putting his arm around her shoulders.
And now, besides looking comical, he felt completely useless. He shifted uncomfortably as he realized just how few survival skils he had. Only stuff he learned about in movies and stuff. Not that any of that was probably really applicable. Cassidy Smith Cassidy grimaced, and squeezed Vasile's hand. "I'll, uh, volunteer to watch the fire. I'm not sure what else I can do, to be honest. I'd do more, I would, but..." Goddamn that Moreau. It had to have been something without any legs, didn't it? "And I'll help around the camp... I can get around okay on my knees," she said eagerly. "Mostly." Amaya Vaughan After setting free the lizard Amaya joined Angelina in rooting around for supplies. From what Ambrose had brought back she picked out the best one's she could find to make the lean-to and listened to him speak as she gathered things together.
"Uh... I know how to hunt a little." She spoke up quietly, still crouched by the stack of supplies. "And I know how to gut and skin animals for the meat if it's any help." She had never been more thankful that her father was a hunter and tried to force his daughter into being a son. Even though she had been young when he taught her, watching your father gut and skin a deer was something that wasn't easily forgotten. Green eyes trailed up to Ambrose. "Though I only know how to use a bow 'n arrows a little so... I dunno..." She trailed off, looking down at the pile of things again. Angelina Swanson "I don't have any bright ideas," Angie said, "but I'll help where I can. Build traps perhaps? Maybe a pit trap or something? Plus I don't mind walking to the labs if I need to." Emelyn Emelyn winced, but said what she had been planning to say before Angelina chimed in. "I wouldn't mind going to the lab, either. ...I'm good at starting fires in the wild, though. ...I wouldn't be much use on the fish-catching- I've never done it before. ...But to be honest, I was getting pretty cold last night, and now that we're all sharing clothes, I think we should probably either double up in the shelters or pack them with moss, or something insulating." She felt a little strange drawing attention to her half-naked torso, but it did need to be said. She was already feeling the hairs on her arm raise to the occasional gust of wind. Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose listened to each one in turn and nodded. A flare of protectiveness burned quickly in Ambrose when Angelina suggested going to the labs alone. IT was probably ridiculous - he doubted that there was anything particularly dangerous in the woods between here and there... but still... it was jungle, and she could get lost.. or hurt...
He shook his head. She was independent... she was an adult, and she could make her decisions. But still... part of him wanted to latch to her side and protect her. .... what was with him?!
"Alright..." Ambrose finally said, directing his attention once again to the people around him. "Cassidy... why don't you and Emelyn work at reinforcing the lean-to's. It sounds like you know a thing or two about that, Emelyn - fill the gaps in the tops with mud... pack them with moss... maybe make a few of them bigger so we can double up. I'd suggest me and Angelina, Vasile and Cassidy and you and Amaya." He said, nodding to each pair in turn. It sounded like at the very least there wouldn't be any sleeping arrangement problems. "And the two of you can be in charge of keeping the fire going - and firewood. Without burning down the woods." He ended with a wink.
"I'd say our first order of business is to get the camp set up and situation to where it can support the six of us relatively comfortably. Angelina, you .... you sure you don't mind going to the labs? I can go with you if you need?" His ear flicked back. He was being over-protective and he knew it. "And you can try to set up some traps as well - just make sure you let us know where you build them so you don't catch one of us."
"Amaya... why don't you and I... urhm... " He took a breath. He didn't want to go back there. "I was thinking about heading back to the helipad... there was a lot of sharp metal there...." He trailed off. "From there maybe we could try to go hunting." He smiled at her. "I had no idea you had that kind of experience. THat's going to be useful, I bet. We can probably fashion a few knives from the metal by lashing it to sticks. I don't know about a bow and arrow, though...."
Finally he turned to Vasile, realizing that he hadn't given him anything to do. But then he hadn't volunteered any useful skills. Other than acting. And unfortunately, Ambrose didn't forsee him entertaining a deer or anythign to letting itself be eaten. "Vasile... you could try to help us hunt... if you think you could and not frighten anything away. YOu seem pretty quick on your feet - but I don't know if you could exactly chase down a rabbit or anything.... or you could help Angelina with the traps...?"
Even though Ambrose didn't realize it, taking charge of the mismatched group, giving them direction, rooting down in one territory to support and protect... despite his rational take of everything, he was very much leaning towards what his gut lupine instincts suggested to him would be safe and a good thing to do. Vasile DiRossi Vasile just shrugged and nodded. "aye-aye, director," he sighed, feeling very... un-useful. Cassidy Smith Cassidy nodded. "Sounds like a plan." Vaguely, she had a desire to go be by herself, preferably in a tree. And sleep all day. No, she was going to be useful. "I... don't know much about making shelter, but I'll do my best." Amaya Vaughan Even though she dreaded going back there... he was right once again. The metal would be very useful in making weapons and even though they probably couldn't make a bow and arrows, she could at least make a spear of some kind... and a knife if she ever caught anything so she'd be able to slice whatever they killed properly. She just hoped it was a rabbit... or maybe a deer if they got lucky. Her father had never shown her how to pluck a bird or much of anything else beyond that.
Amaya cracked a smile, standing up with a nod. "My dad was a hunter and since he didn't have a son, he kind of taught me little things here and there." Angelina Swanson Angelina squeezed Ambrose's hand. "I'll be fine, its not too far." She kissed him on his cheek and grabbed a mango to nibble at as she headed towards the labs to see if there was any change in circumstance. Emelyn "It's alright, Cass," Em said, picking up a longish-type stick that had come out of the tree she'd been leaning against. "They're pretty straightforward. Just two longish sticks to prop to make an inverted V, then one longer stick along the back..." she was envisioning the Sydney Opera house as she explained, even though that would be more of a cluster of shelters... the shape was about right. But as she spoke, she realized something else, and shook her head. "Never mind... I'll do the frame. ...I don't mean to be insulting- really- but if you can't get much higher than that, would you mind collecting some moss and leaves?" Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose gave Angelina a farewell hug. "Take care, I'll be back later... hopefully with some more to eat." He smiled at her. "Keep your eye out for anyone else... or other things to eat or things that might be useful." He patted her on the back and walked by Vaisile towards Amaya.
"Vasile - you're also welcome to go scouting for other people if you like - or you can help out wherever you like" He smiled.
"Well, it certainly sounds like we'll all need those hunting and skinning skills, Amaya." He said honestly. "Maybe you can show me a thing or two and we'll actually catch something." He smiled.
Ambrose gave a thumbs-up to Emelyn and Cassidy, and headed off with Amaya towards the helipad.
This time, however, he selected a few big leaves to cover or block his nose with when he got close. He doubted that the scent was still as strong as it was before, but he was goign to need that sense of smell if he wanted any meat to eat. Amaya Vaughan Amaya smiled slightly, following Ambrose towards the hellipad. "I never thought knowing how to skin animals would come in handy."
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2006 11:07 pm
Hunting Party!Ambrose headed north-eastward with Amaya in tow, retracing his steps back towards the crash-site with no small amount of trepidation.
He really didn't want to see that sight again. Nor have it clog his nose any more with the stench that only brought back flashes to his mind of what must have happened to the people inside. But... no matter how they cut it... they needed that metal.
Ambrose paused to pick a particularly large and thick leaf from one of the plants. If nothing else... he could wrap this around his nose to help...
"So..." Ambrose started up as they walked. "You used to go hunting, eh? What for?"Amaya silently followed the wolfman, looking straight ahead and only occasionally looking towards the sides of the narrow path at the surroundings. Her head jerked foreward as he spoke up, the daze snapped from her mind. "Oh... well, I thought it was pretty boring when my dad took me. I was still pretty young, so sitting in a tree doing nothing in the morning was pretty dull. The only times I went with him were when he went deer hunting. Only one or two times I saw him actually get one..." She paused, realizing she was rambling.Ambrose smiled back to her as they walked. "Well... it sounds like at least it was some good... bonding time with your Dad." Ambrose scratched the back of his head. "I would have killed - no pun intended - for some time like that with my father. He... we never really did anything together." His ears lowered and his eyes trailed towards the ground before he shook his head. The mood was already low enough without depressing talking like that.
"Well... I wish we could set up a deer blind or something like that.... but we don't exactly have any rifles... or anything really that we could use to hunt from a distance... I could see us making a knife... maybe a spear from the shrapnel... but unless you know about how to make anything else..? I don't know if we can do anything else." "Yeah..." The iguana-girl trailed off, her large hands locking behind her back as she let the subject drop. It would do no good for both of them to get depressed.
For a moment she fell in silence and pondered the question. "Hard to say... I never really needed to make a weapon from what was around me, dad always bought them y'know?" Her scaled shoulders gave a tiny shrug. "A spear or knife seems simple enough though." She paused for a moment before continuing. " If we make a spear and then set out some of the fruit we found far enough from the campsite we might be able to attract something close enough to spear."Ambrose scratched his chin. "That's not a bad idea.... I've never really tried my hand at throwing much, really. Certainly not a spear. I did a lot of work with a rapier, but unless whatever it is decides to stand and fight, then that will likely not come in very handy.
I can... probably find a game trail... it's crazy how acute my sense of smell has gotten. I guess though the main problem with just tracking something would be the whole.. pursuit part."Amaya nodded. "I'm not very good with throwing things either... and my hands won't exactly help any." She frowned and refrained from scowling at them. "Though if you can track something then maybe you could get close enough to attempt with the spear?" She asked, green eyes looking up at him.Ambrose mulled over the thought and finally shrugged. "You know... it's worth a try at the very least. Worst case scenario I miss... try to chase it... and after that we can try the whole hiding by a game-trail and waiting."
He smiled to her. And almost immediately afterwards raised the leaf to his face. Even days later, it was still very obvious that they were getting close to the wreckage."That's true." She nodded and looked straight ahead once more. By the look on his face she could tell they were probably getting close to the wreakage. Even though she couldn't smell it, Amaya knew she could probably taste it... so her mouth almost clamped itself closed.Ambrose walked a little further before pausing at the tree line. He snagged a vine from its cling of a tree, and wrapped it around the leaf at his mouth/nose to keep it in place while freeing his hands.
"There" He said in a muffle behind the leaf.
"You... don't have to follow. I'll try to be back in a bit.. but it might take me a little bit to get some of the metal without cutting up my hands..."Amaya watched him and then looked ahead. Her hands made themselves visable in front of her again as she fidgetted with her hands. "No... I can help. I can probably carry a lot." With how big her hands were it was no doubt... though she might get a few cuts it was no big deal to her as long as she helped out.Ambrose raised an eyebrow. "You sure?" He didn't want to pressure her more than she already was.
Picking up a long stick - hopefully to use as leverage and to get at some of the metal without having to use his hands - he turned back before leaving the jungle."Yeah... I'm sure." She nodded, looking up at him once more. Though it was obvious she was nervous, the last thing she wanted was to chicken out and leave all the work to Ambrose. It was just unfair.He gave her a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry... nothing's going to jump out at us.." He gave a wincing smile before parting the foliage and stepping out onto the hot black tarmac....
To reveal a clutch of vultures hunched over the wreckage. A few of them looked up in irritation as they were joined, one with something hanging from its mouth gave a large SQUAK at them.
The site was disgusting. Ambrose raised a hand quickly to the leaf over his mouth as he saw them ... picking... at the bodies. HE was thankful for the blocking of his sense of smell, but wished that he had something keeping him from seeing it as well.
HE stood there, stunned, for a moment, before starting to wave the big stick at them. "Get! GEt out of here you damned vultures!!" "Oh my god..." Amaya stood at the edge of the foliage, staring until Ambrose finally ran foreward at the vultures. Shaking a little, for forced herself to run forward towards them as well. "GYAH! GET OUT OF HERE!" She swiped her clawed fingers at the ones who would simply hop out of her way instead of taking off. Her voice shook, a clear sign of how disturbed she was over all this despite if she was really allowing it to show through.Ambrose also was trying not to show how revolting and disturbing this imagry was. The thought of dying... having carrion-feeders pick at his bones.... Eyuuugh!
"Scram! Get out of here!" He shouted at them. Finally, some of them, after some unfearful nips at the stick he swung at them and Amaya's proximity and volume, hopped further away, some of them taking flight only to perch on some of the trees at the edge of the helipad to wait their turn. Many squacked irritably at them for disrupting their meal.
Ambrose shuddered, and eyed them again before forcing his attention back to the metal.
Luckily... it appeared that no one else had scavenged at the metal yet... though this might also not be a good thing if it meant that there weren't many others around. Ambrose worried about the rest... Colche... Greer... Joliette and Chubbs... had they found eachother? Were they alright?
He shook his head again, frustrated at the depressing subjects his mind seemed to be turning to. They were in luck and he should view it like that. Several of the twisted pieces of metal had apparently broken off from the main unit in the crash and was strewn on the helipad. They may not even need to pry the sharp, dangerous pieces away from the main cockpit at all.
Once most of the horrible birds were gone or at least were away from the two corpses she took an unsteady breath. Think of it like roadkill on the side of the road... she used to see that all the time. After taking a few more labored breaths away from the cockpit, she turned and looked around at all the scrap metal.There were pieces of varying sizes - from pieces as large as a good chunk of a propellar or tail, to medium pieces of twisted metal unidentifyable as anything in particular,, or nuts and bolts and tiny scraps.
Ambrose looked around and picked up a few of the middle-sized pieces, carefully feeling around the edges to see how sharp they were. Most he put back down, a couple he carefully cradled in the nook of his arm or held by a less-sharp looking side.Amaya gradually wandered over to a pile of chunks that had broken off the helicopter, leaning down and tapping the edges with her claws to help her determine how sharp they were. Some of them she would put aside into a pile, not picking them up until she was finished. Her tail gave a twitch towards the vultures in apprivation though she made no real move to look over and see if any had gone back to the corpses.The vultures, thankfully, remained on their perch, though several of them shifted from foot to foot or squacked in impatience as the two of them collected pieces of the wreckage.
After Ambrose had found a few suitable pieces he gestured back to the forest. "This should be plenty, Amaya" He mumbled behind the leaf. "Let's get out of here and see what we can make of these."Amaya nodded and started to gather up the pieces of metal she had found, being able to hold more with her large hands. As she headed over to Ambrose, green eyes trailed back to the corpses. She felt so bad about leaving them there... to the vultures no less... but what was she to do? Drop everything for her own survival and take days to bury them? She sighed, a bad taste in her mouth from the wreakage.After they got back into the treeline, and traveled far enough away from the wreckage that the smell had diminished, Ambrose took a seat and set down the pieces, pulling off his impromptu 'mask'.
He rubbed his hands off on his pants and gave Amaya a sympathetic look. "I'm sorry... you had to see that... But.... thank you for your help. I'm sure we can make a few knives and spears from these... and hopefully get the group some meat to eat..." He hesitated, remembering her food choice. "I... really do appreaciate you helping me with this. I know that you don't usually even eat meat anymore..." His stomach gave an audible growl at the mention of the food that he had been lacking."It's alright, I'll live." She forced a smile, setting down the metal pieces before sitting on the ground, her tail giving a quick swish of the grass behind her. She had gotten a few cuts and scrapes from the metal, but it was still nothing serious or anything to be worried about. "And I don't mind helping you guys even though I can't eat meat anymore... we have to do what we can for each other if were gonna get through this."Ambrose nodded at her. "We have to look out for eachother... you're right. Maybe we'll get lucky and be able to find something we can eat for a while... or at least figure out how to do it.."
Ambrose located a few long, sturdy branches and some vines and brought them to the pile before them.
"I say use the longer pieces of metal for knives... the shorter ones for spears. We'll lash the vines around them to hold them to the handles... Some of the knives will need handles if the metal is sharp all around - but some we can just use as-is."
He handed her some materials and got to work himself, remembering some of the old knot-tying. He paused as he worked. "Erm.... if... you have any problems with the tying... I can handle it.." He winced, thinking belatedly that her hands might or might not be suited for the task.
Something to talk about..... Something not depressing.... "Though... I have to admit, Amaya... having you for a little sister has certainly been a silver lining to all of these dark clouds. "Nodding, she followed his example and set to doing what she could. "It's alright, I can adapt." Her hands were making it a little more difficult and she was certainly a lot slower then Ambrose, but she kept at it. Letting her transformation get the better of her was just what Moreau wanted to see. To watch them squirm. She would never give him the pleasure... well, aside from when it initially happened. Despite her will, it was always too painful to do anything but cry and scream.
She smirked and gave a tiny laugh. "Same goes for you, big brother."He gave her a quirky smile as he secured another knot, then picked up another set of stick, vine, and metal. "Glad to hear it, kiddo."
The work went pretty quickly, and before too long, they had a small group of crude weapons: about 4 spears and 3 knives. Ambrose looked at the set with a smile.Even though Ambrose had made the majority of the weapons, Amaya was still glad she could be of some help at least. She smiled down at the weapons before up at the wolfman. "Now all we gotta do is get back to camp and figure out how were gonna get some meat."Ambrose clapped his hands. "Indeed! Well, we could also head off to the woods and hopefully come back to camp with bounties of meat!" He picked up one of the spears, and one of the knives, lashing one of the spears to his back."
He gave her a feral grin. "Now, let's hunt us some meat!"Amaya laughed slightly and grabbed a spear and a knife as well. "Alright, well... follow your nose?" She gave a nervous laugh.Ambrose took a breath, suddenly feeling a bit awkward. Was it okay to do this? Depend on the lupine ... skills... that Moreau had left him with. He remembered a particular jab of the redheaded scientist about eventually coming to use the abilities he had been given.
But he was hungry. And like it or not, because of the animal blood that was coursing in with his own, he couldn't subside on the mangos that the others had been eating.
And with the hunger that seemed to be intensifying by the moment peaked again, the scents of the jungle seemed that much clearer... the plants, the salt from the sea... and most especially the wildlife. Before he even thought about what he was doing, he started off following something his stomach told him was food, his footpads keepign his steps silent.Amaya followed in silence, trying to be as quiet as possible. Unlike Ambrose, who was light on his feet from both fencing and the wolf in him, she wasn't. Her appendanges were larger and harder to manuver, though she still managed to follow.His ears pivoted on their base as he scented in a variety of directions, moving off diagonally for a few moments before squatting and getting a closer 'look' at a trail.
Very, very quietly he whispered. "I... I don't know what this smell is.... but... I think it's food-er, I mean a...uhm... something we can hunt...?" He winced. "Alright." She nodded, seemingly unphased by the 'food' comment. After all, that's what it was. When her father had brought home a deer or rabbit or whatever he had managed to kill in season, she didn't really think of it as a poor defensless animal that had been killed... it was a meal for them, a meal they had worked for.Ambrose had found a trail... and it was fresh. He turned back to Amaya, raising a finger to his short muzzle.
He padded quickly along he trail - which if Amaya looked there was a visable sign as well - the brush seemed disturbed and packed down - making traveling for them easier as well.Amaya nodded, keeping as silent as possible and doing her best to keep in tow.Time passed, And Ambrose seemed a man focused. Going several days now without meat had done something to him, and he needed real food.
Suddenly, Ambrose crouched down, readjusting his hold on his makeshift spear. THere was a noise now to go with the now much more powerful scent. A cracklingrustling, and Ambrose's ears swiveled forward, his tongue subconsciously licking his chops.Green eyes watched Ambrose, causing her to crouch as well. By the look on his face she could tell he was 'in the zone'... if they got whatever animal this may be, it would probably be at his hand... or spear. She just hoped he didn't lunge with his fangs and teeth and the head on his shoulders was still the big brother she knew.Ambrose's eyes narrowed and he kept low to the ground, the spear tight in his fist. An animal shuffled its way along - it looked like they were near another river bank - nibbling on some of the new shoots. 
And... quickly, Ambrose lunged! ((*goes to roll some dice* ))Amaya couldn't see the animal past Ambrose, so she remained still and quiet.With quick movements Ambrose uncurls, driving the spear into the animal's side in a lunge reminiscient of the fencing move. The animal squeals and lurches forward, the long spear sticking out of its side, hobbling the creature that looks like an oversized muskrat.
Ambrose stands straight now, drawing the knife and hurrying after the injured creature with only a moment's hesitation realizing what he had just done... but the smell of the blood kept him from hesitating very long.Amaya barely had time to react, standing just in time to watch Ambrose take off after the large rodent. She could taste the blood in the air, much to her discontent and recoiled a little before following after him without a word.It was larger than it looked at first glance, standing a couple of feet at the shoulder, and probably weighing around 75 lbs - certainly a good several meals. It hobbled towards the river, and Ambrose tried to interpose himself, flashing a look to Amaya's spear with a nod as he drew his knife and made a stab at it, giving it another small slice across the shoulder.. The first spear was still sticking out of it, and the creature looked terrified.It was just like a bow and arrow... Amaya told herself as she ran foreward, getting a good grip on the spear and close enough to the capybara before plunging the spear the best she could into where she assumed the heart to be.Amaya's shot was good, and between their combined efforts, the capybara gave one more strangled cry before falling over, struggling, but doing so only seemed to make its blood pump faster and out of the spearwounds.
It lay there, weakened and panting, as it was slowly bleeding to death.
Ambrose swallowed, and, kneeling down, held the knife to its throat - intending on giving it a faster death. Squeezing his eyes shut, he drew the knife across is throat. She watched in silence, frowning but not looking as effected from it as Ambrose did. Walking over to him, she patted his shoulder in hopes of bringing him a little reasurance.Ambrose looked up to Amaya with clear blue eyes as the creature's twitching finally slowed... and stopped.
He took a large breath and stood up, looking down at his bloody hands.... but they had done it... they'd made their kill.... and it would be very good eating.
"Thank.... thank you." He nodded to her. "We... we did it. I.... I can't say that I know what it is... but I don't think there would be a problem eating it...?""It looks pretty good. It can probably last you a couple of days at least." Amaya gave him a reassuring smile before leaning down and putting her fingers in front of it's nose. Feeling no breathing, she started to pull the spears out. "... What is it though? You have any idea?" Make light of the conversation, hopefully it would help Ambrose deal with it. Though not as brutal, she had seen animals get killed right in front of her before so it wasn't anything new. Especially when one needed the meat on it to survive.Ambrose was born and raised very much a city boy, despite some scouting escapades, the closest he had ever gotten to anything like this was fishing from the yaht - and there was a difference between catching and releasing fish and a bloody mess in front of him that was a few moments ago a living, breathing animal. But... he knew where the packaged meat came from, and he never had a problem with it. He just... never had to do it himself... never had to see it.
But.... the carnivore in him... helped. It was right and natural.... and most of all, it was food.
"I don't know what it is.... it looks like a giant... muskrat or something... but I'm sure... it will taste good cooked over a fire". He smiled to her, shaking off some of the adrenaline.
He walked down to the streambank, and rinsed off the spears and the knife, and then himself before gathering some more vines and sticks, begining to form a simple shift to be able to drag it back without getting it all dirty.
"Do we... uhm... clean it here...? Or back there..?" "Hm..." Amaya thought for a moment, looking from him to the animal. "We can probably use the insides as bait for other traps, but having them around the camp might attract something we really don't want. I should do it here, we'll drag everything else back to camp with us, okay?" Taking one of the knives in her hands, she manuvered the rodent so it's stomach was facing her. Okay... it's like a big rabbit... Putting the knife from one end of the stomach to the other, she sliced it open and let the organs spill out. For anyone not used to it, it was probably a pretty horrendous sight. The begining and smell of it has always made her flinch a little, even now.Ambrose nodded, listenign to her expertise. "Sounds like a plan... and I'm sure you're right... last thing we want is predators near the camp... or more vultures." He shuddered.
He made himself ready to watch, that is until she eviscerated the animal. His paw-hand immediately went to his mouth and he turned. Apparently he wasn't that lupine just quite yet.
But he didn't say anything, knowing full well it needed to be done, and impressed that she could handle it.
"Uhm... you said you might be able to construct some traps..?""Possibly, but I'm afraid that I don't know much about traps. Theres the whole dig-a-hole-with-spears-in-it thing..." She tried to make small talk while pulling out all the uneeded organs, wondering if Ambrose was okay with all of this. Then again... he didn't really have a choice. Amaya used the end of the knives to help pull them out, using her hands as little as possible. "We could probably make a shovel out of some metal or something, y'think?"If Ambrose had a problem, he didn't voice it. "Ah, well, we can bring back some of the unedible meat wrapped up in leaves.... I remember... was it Emelyn? who said she could build traps.... of course.... if we use meat for bait... wouldnt' we catch predators...?
I say... for now.... we get this back to the camp... eat, and on a full stomach we can start setting up traps tomorrow perhaps." He glanced back around. It looked like at least the .... slimiest part was past. He patted her on the shoulder." Yeah, but predator or not it's still meat... and I doubt there are many large predators on the island. We might have a better chance at catching something that way too, since blood probably carries on the wind moreso then fruit does." Nodding, she looked back at him before grabbing the large rodents legs and pulling it away from the pile of organs. "I'm not sure how we can preserve the meat longest though... does it rot faster when cooked or uncooked?" Amaya raised a brow and stood up. "Uncooked is faster, right?" For some reason she couldn't remember.Ambrose scratched his chin. "I... uhm... think it does cooked... or smoked... but I can't be certain. If we had an icebox... then probably raw. But we don't."
He squatted by her, now that the viscera was out. "Can I help?""Sure... I guess we need to find a way to get this back to camp... maybe we should wrap up some of the organs for traps or something." Amaya went to scratch her head but stopped when she noticed how bloody her hands and some of her toes were, having gotten caught in the line of fire when she had been gutting it. "I'm gonna go wash myself and the knife off." Grabbing her utensil she went down to the river's edge to wash up.Ambrose nodded. "I'll do that..." He swallowed, getting up and finding some large fronds. He squatted down and winced as he picked up the intenstines, quickly wrapping them up and tying it with the vines... which proceeded to drop through the cracks and be altogether nasty. Ambrose made a face... but still didn't say anything.
REpeating a few times, and double-wrapping many of them, he got up to join her at the riverbank to wash his hands again. However, as he squatted to do so, not thinking, he licked at his bloody fingers... and froze, hackles rising.Amaya had wandered a few feet into the water, dunking herself under and cleaning the rest of her body of dirt along with any blood that still remained. Though as she turned around and started to make her way back to the bank she spotted Ambrose and froze as well.Ambrose, silently, but eyes wide just... quietly dipped his hands in the river, then furiously scrubbed. He hadn't just done that!
.... but it had tasted so go- NO!.
He shuddered, and continued to scrub.Swallowing, Amaya wandered back to the bank and kneeled down beside him. Gently she put her scaley arms around his neck in an embrace. "It's okay, Ambrose..." She knew it wasn't his fault, though she was a little frightened by it.Ambrose was tense, looking at the blood that was washing into the river.
He shook his head quickly. "N..no! It's not alright! I just... I just..." He shook his head. That wasn't him...... maybe... maybe he was just really hungry.... no - that wasn't any excuse!Amaya frowned, letting her hands drop. She really didn't know what to say. Though she didn't leave his side and stayed crouched there in the dirt.Ambrose finally finished clensing his hands to his .. satisfaction and he sighed, slumping down to a sit, and wiped his hands through his hair.
"I.... I Don't like to admit... how much this ... whole thing... is affecting me. I mean... it really doesn't bother me when Hargun eats bugs.... or... eating meat is one thing... but... I don't know...." He sighed. Was he being hypocritical...? But still... the fact remains he never would have done what he just did before coming to the island, no matter how hungry he was.She nodded and took a seat next to him. "I don't think any of us want to admit it... even I've been trying to keep myself from realizing how much I've changed. I don't remember if I told you or not... but I got in a fight a long while ago with Lauren. I think I hissed at her and I'm not as talkative or social as I used to be..." She paused, looking at the water's surface. "I hate to think all of this is effecting us outside of just our apperance..."Ambrose paused and looked at her directly. "I... know what you mean. I... havent' wanted to talk about this to Angelina... I know it would scare her." His ears lowered. "You hissed at her...?" He breathed. "I... I've been growling... from time to time.... though I've noticed you've been quieter. I've been worried about you - I wanted to know if you were alright... I didn't think that you might just be becoming less social..."Amaya nodded, looking over to him with scale-rimmed eyes and knowing that these kinds of things would probably worry Angelina moreso then she needed to be worried. "Yeah... though I haven't really mentioned it to anyone. My temper is a lot shorter then it was too... I seem to get angry so often. A lot more then I used to." She pushed a strand of revn hair from her view, water dripping into her eyes. "I read a lot about... green iguanas once I realized that's what they had in store for me. They're solitary and bitchy... the total opposite of who I am."Ambrose frowned at the cruel fate that he wasn't even aware was in store for her. "Oh Lord... Amaya.... I'm sorry.... " He squeezed her wet shoulder. "That... that really isn't fair at all... Do you even think that they even realize the things that they're doign to us... how much they are changing us with minor notes on the animals that they chose for some of us...? Amaya... you're the nicest sweetist girl I've ever known.... I don't think even Iguana blood can change that if you don't wan it to.""It's alright... I can get through it." I hope... She added in her mind, and tried to give him a reassuring smile. "Though I have a feeling they know what they're doing to us... Moreau is an evil, heartless b*****d. He undoubtedly picked each animal himself just to see what would happen. I mean, Cassidy is afraid of snakes and Hargun was an art student." Amaya sighed, her head dropping a little. "But thank you..." She cocked a tiny smile.Ambrose frowned. "I'm sorry... but... it's true... I do have a lot of respect for you, and if any of us can get through this with a positive outlook, it's you . And... if you ever need to talk, or need to vent... you can come to me if you like." He paused for a moment, and leaned forward to give the girl a hug.
Is there a reason for each of the choices? I wonder why he chose a wolf for me? Is it because of the company logo? My old family crest? I doubt he did that much background into me.... or something else?Nodding, she returned the hug with a smile. "I will, definatly." She then pulled away and looked at him. "Though I think we should start heading back to camp... if we wait much longer, something might come along attracted by the blood."He gave her a few patts on the back. Her comfort was definately helpful to his frayed nerves. But yes, they definately needed to head back. He didnt' know how long it woudl take to cook the food, and he was starving!
"You're right... let's head back - I'm sure the others will be happy to see our catch."
Ambrose stood, and got to work putting the meat on their shift to drag back to camp. "Mmm.... I Feel like oversized swamp rat-thing tonight!" He parodied the chicken-song with a grin.Amaya laughed and gathered up the knives and spears, walking alongside him and stopping once or twice to grab some nice-looking fruit along the way for herself and anyone else that could still stomach it.It was about a thirty or fourty-five minute walk back to the campsite, but Ambrose was able to keep the way - the scents of the areas of the jungle were as much of a landmakr to him as any tree or bush. And after the talk, his spirits were higher as he joked with her and hummed their way back to the camp.Following Ambrose, she didn't really think twice about the possibility of getting lost even though the thought that he could literally sniff his way back to camp didn't exactly cross her mind. She joked right along with him and even would sing a lyric or two from a random song. Wow, she didn't realize how much she missed her poor abandoned CD player.Finally, the familiar smell of smoke crossed his nose - and he smiled - not only were they close, but the fire was still going.
"The mighty hunters have returned!" He announce with a wide smile. "Bearing MEEEEAAT!" He glanced back to Amaya. "And Fruit!""Whoohoo!" Amaya cheered, coming into camp right behind Ambrose with weapons and fruit in hand.((ANd a final note to those others in this campsite - feel free to slow-tag :3 - no heavilymandate postting order - and we can perhaps RP some as a group or small grousp later.))
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Posted: Thu Jan 26, 2006 7:50 pm
Settling In, Cooking, resisting TemptationEmelyn Em heard someone whooping as she and Cass came back through the underbrush into the camp area. She was glad to see that the party had mostly reassembled. Angelina didn't seem to be anywhere in sight. ...And that didn't much bother her, either. "We come bearing honey," she said, "not that it's even halfway decent sustenance, but it should taste pretty dang good." She put the honey-crusted comb down on one of the stones ringing the outside edge of the fire seating, and licked a sticky spot on one of her fingers before heading for the water. The stings were starting to burn, and she decided to take Cassidy's advice and head for the water. Ambrose Maurlias "Wow, Honey!" Ambrose said, obviously impressed. "That must have taken some doing.." He commented, eying some of the swelling on her hands. "But congradulations! Sweets are far underestimated hwen living off the landlike this!"
He set down the shift and went about gathering some more sticks to set up a spit over the fire for the meat.
"And we have meat for dinner! Some sort of furry... oversized swamprat of some sort. The thing looked like it must have weighed at least seventy pounds~!" He puffed out his chest proudly.
"Perhaps we can even have honey with the meat." He grinned.
Glancing around the campsite for the rest, he queried. "Angelina ever get back..?" Emelyn Emelyn turned back over her shoulder as she thrust her hands into the nearest crook of the stream. "...No. I suppose she's not gotten back from the labs. ...Maybe she found a way in." ...Or maybe she fell in a hole, Em thought. As if punishment for it, though, the back of her neck began to throb. Ambrose Maurlias "I hope so" Ambrose said, albeit nervously. He was begining to feel quite overprotective of this little group since they were turned out into the 'wild'. Especially Angelina. He should never have let her go alone... maybe if she had taken Vasile...? Not that he seemed any more capable than she at the moment. IT should have been him.
Looking up from his mental chiding, he skewered some of the slabs of meat over the fire, adding some more wood.
Soon the smell of meat filled his nose, and set him salivating. Even before the flames had barely licked the edges of the meat, it was all Ambrose could do to keep himself from snatching a piece for himself and sinking his pronounced canines into it. It had been days since he had had any meat, and it.... was having an effect on him. Usually he could eat a huge meal a day in the cafeteria, primarily of meat. Recently he had only been scraping by on pieces of intermittant fruit.
His eyes stared at the sizzling meat over the popping fire and wiped at his mouth.
not all of the meat is over the fire currently.... there is still on the shift... you could get some now, tide you over! There is plenty for all of us and it probably won't keep - a voice of his hunger seemed to speak into his mind. Without thinking, Ambrose's hand snaked to the nearby shift and was grabbing at one of the wrapped packages and fiddling with the vine-ties before consciousness snapped him out of it and he dropped it quickly back to the pile. It was raw!
He put his hands back into his lap quickly and tried to pretend nothign had happened. Amaya Vaughan "Ooooo, honey? Did you get stung?" Amaya asked, looking over to Emelyn as she sat near the fire. Even though the honey comb smelled good, her stomach told her that it wasn't exactly the first choice in food that was available. Looks like she was sticking to fruit.
Though luckily for Ambrose, she was still looking at the woman near the stream while he almost ate raw meat. She turned just in time to miss it, looking up at the sky. Amaya couldn't tell what time it was due to the thick canopy overhead. "Maybe one of us should go look for her...?" Her voice trailed off as she looked over at Ambrose. "I can go look for her." Ambrose Maurlias ((Unless anyone has any complaints, I'd like to do a smidge of skimming to be able to let us get to a point where the camp is functioning and assumptions can be made that, unless said otherwise, we've got food and notice that the facilities are still down. This way smaller RPs can come and go as you like, you can pull your character away from the camp for a time to do something, or if anyone would like to schedule a larger RP with us then they are welcome to initiate someting smile )) Angelina gets back to the campsite not long after discussions of worry of her absence are brought up. She had gotten a bit turned around on the way back to the campsite, and discloses information about the power still being down. Ambrose finishes cooking the meat (resisting the urge to 'snack' - just barely - distracted by Angelina's return and making himself stand up and pace around the cooking fire instead of sitting near the supply) and distributes it to anyone who wants some. That evening, he does the best he can at smoking the remainder of the meat and collecting it. It will last until it goes bad. Between the work done on the lean-to's, the supply of mangos and meat (and a few of the 'weapons' are distributed' if people decide to try to procure more) - there seems to be ample food and shelter.... for now. ^_~
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Posted: Fri Jan 27, 2006 2:44 pm
Ambrose had been doing... alright... for the past few days. They had food, a supply of water... their shelters were holding up. However, the food wasn't going to last forever, and the meat - while more than enough for several days, wasn't going to be good for very much longer. Getting up early one morning, and whispering to Angelina where he was off to, he grabbed one of the make-shift spears and knives to set out to try to find them some fresher meat.
He also was worring about the others... they had been out there for a while... the power was still out, and there was no sign of anyone else. They had to be others out there on the island, right?
He picked a tiny path which he smelled to be a relatively-recently used game trail, and began to follow it.
Greer was surviving fairly well on her own, having come to terms with the fact that she was going to starve if she didn't do what the hawk told her to. Raw meat wasn't her idea of a good time, but it kept her fed and moving. Had they learned how to make fire in the girl scouts? All she remembered of being a Brownie was selling cookies and sewing situpons. Talons were very useful when you didn't have a knife, and washed out killing jars made lovely little water cups. And hey, notebook or no there was plenty of nature around to study.
She was lonely, but she'd learned to deal with that before and could survive it now. The hawk was getting antsy though - where were the males it could boss around?
Sitting in a tree with her legs hanging over the side, Greer watched a rabbit hop slowly towards her. Hawks might be able to swoop down from the air onto their prey, but all she could manage was flopping out of trees.
Ambrose paused ever dozen feet or so, swallowing his pride and glad for the time being that he was traveling alone, and sniffed at the ground. Rabbit his mind linked the smell with the image of the animal in his mind.
He was getting closer, and he quieted his footfalls. His stomach was growling at him. He hadn't eaten since yesterday, and the meat was getting old. The scent of the rabbit made him hungrier than he was comfortable to admit.
He left the 'spear' tied to his back. It was too big of a tool for the job at hand. He gripped the scrapmetal knife and edged closer.
Just a little closer... Greer watched the fluffy creature intently. After much trial and error, she'd learned you were either patient and timed things right, or you were hungry with sore knees. One more hop, and the bunny would never knew what hit him.
The small creature was in sight now, Ambrose peered out of the underbrush and crouched, ready to spring. It was facing the other direction. It hadn't even noticed him yet. Ambrose's vision focused in on the little animal...
He gripped the knife.
Holding his breath, he sprung. His mind was on the thought of a fresh meal... it was right there...
Perfect! Greer slid off the branch and into the air, taloned feet spread to grab the rabbit as the impact broke its back...
He was in mid leap as a figure dropped out of the tree and hit the rabbit before it knew what hit it..... however that was not the only surprise. Less than a second later the wolfman bowled into her, only having a split second to move the tip of the knife away.
Ha ha! Greer was always damned impressed with herself when she actually caught her prey. She had about three seconds to mentally gloat- and then she was slammed back over a large tree root, narrowly missing smacking into the trunk. Ow. Everything hurt, and a weight was making it hard to breathe. She really hoped that warm wetness underneath her was just a squished rabbit.
"What the hell?"
"OUFG" Ambrose squelched as the wind was knocked out of him as well as he collided roughly with Greer. IT was certainly not what his body had been preparing for - a small, soft rabbit to bring down a knife sharly on.
"Ugghhhh." He shook his head, tryign to clear it, and blinked blearily at the mass of brown feathers.... to yellow and green clothing..... "Greer..?" He slowly pieced together as he tried to remove himself from her.
"Mostly." She blinked, frowning up at the talking thing that had smacked into her. "Ambrose?"
"Yeah.." He winced sheepishly, slowly getting to his feet and brushing himself off. He was dressed in a pair of sleeppants, a crude spear of wood and twisted scrap metal tied to his back, a shorter knife of the same substance in his hand. His fur was matted, his hair tussled.
"Where... have you been, Greer? Have... you been alright?"
"I've okay, in a relative sense." She stood slowly, easing herself to her feet. The rabbit had not found its way underneath the two hunters, and was instead by her feet, just where it had been when she'd landed on it. Positioning a foot on its neck, she stepped sharply, finalyl killing it. Not her favorite part of hunting, but you couldn't make the poor things suffer if you could avoid it.
Of course, if the feeling of blood wasn't a product of their prey, it was probably coming from her. Smiling sheepishly at her unkempt friend, she turned to show him her behind. "The back of my shirt's wet - can you see if I'm injured?"
Ambrose blinked in alarm as she mentioned that she might have been hurt.
He nodded quickly, ignoring the final dying scream of the rabbit as best he could and turned his attention to the back of her shirt.
He winced as he leaned forward. There was a telltale reddish wetness near the waistband, a small tear. He wet his lips as he carefully lifted the back of the shirt.
"I'm so sorry! I.... I should have been paying more attention! But the rabbit..."
He looked at the injury. Thankfully, it didn't appear to be much more than a few shallow scrapes. "Phew... it doesn't look bad, Greer..... scrapes... but not deep. Just make sure to try to keep them clean. It looks like for the most part they're not even bleeding that badly now.
He stepped back and owered her shirt gingerly again.
"So.... you mean you've been out here... alone all this time...?"
She chuckled at his apology. "Don't worry, I know you didn't mean it. We were both hungry, and besides, it keeps life interesting."
Inspection done, she turned back around and picked up the fluffy morsel. "I'll keep it doused with sea water, thanks. It's not the first patch of skin I've lost in the search for food, and probably won't be the last. And yes, I have been alone, my search for Sean and the others having been rather fruitless." There was a tinge of worry in her voice, but she covered it as best she could.
Forcing herself to cheer up, since she'd feel sorry for herself and end up useless if she wasn't careful, she smiled at his somewhat grungy appearance. "I never thought I'd ever see you without impeccable grooming. You're adorable."
With a rueful look, Ambrose self-consciously ran a hand through his hair. "Not by choice.." He replied. "I didn't exactly have the opportunity to bring a brush... or soap.... or shampoo with me on this 'excursion'."
"And... you mean you haven't been with the Dude? I... I had assumed that you two were with eachother.." His face lined with worry. "I have run into a few others, and we've kind of formed a camp. Amaya, Vasile, Angelina, Emelyn and I are about a mile or so back that way." He gestured behind him.
"I... I was wondering where others have been.... but I haven't left much from the East side of the Island. It's bigger than it seems when you're normally pent up in teh village with only a few explorations elsewhere."
Her face fell again. "I haven't seen him in weeks! Actually, I was kind of glad when everything shut down - I thouught that might mean he's escaped. The other option was that the doctor had him cooped up somewhere doing terrible things to him."
She shuddered, running her fingers over her feathers as she talked to set them straight. Her hair was sticking up a little funny, but it had always done that.
Ambrose's ears lowered anxiously at that news. "Really..? Dear lord, I Hope he's alright. It's been.... I can't even remember the last time I saw him. The halloween party, maybe?"
He averted his eyes and fingered the handle of his knife. "I... you haven't been by the helipad, have you..." His voice was quiet.
"I saw him a bit after that - the day I went off on Jamal... still haven't apologized for that."
The helipad? Never! She'd become a recluse ever before the island shut down, and had gotten far too used to avoiding places she thought people might be. "No... what happened?"
"Really? That was.... that was a long time ago." He stated the obvious.
"Uhm.... there... it looks like there was an accident." He glanced at her only quickly. "A crashed helicopter... There were two bodies - but... too .... damaged to identify ..... No one really knows what happened... Some people think it was an attack... some people think that maybe someone tried to... escape..."
Greer was silent, staring blankly in front of her. People dead from a possible escape attempt. Huh. Sean had always wanted to escape...
"Oh. Hmmm. Well." The possibility that the Sea Lion was dead had never really crossed her mind before, despite all the time that had passed, and even the maybe of it wasn't really processing.
"There's a group of islanders living together, you said? Do you think I might join you?"
Ambrose was immediately regretting saying it... giving voice to the possibility. But.. why else would The Dude not have seen either of them in so long? was he off living happily with the fishes off the coast after another transformation? Or...... something much worse.
He nodded. "Of course... the more the merrier... And I think the easier to help eachother out. We've got a fire... we can build you another shelter..."
A fire? Yays! Greer opened her mouth to say something, and just ended up laughing. "I have to admit, I never thought there would come a time in my life when things like, 'Oh good, I've been missin cooked meat.' would come out of my mouth."
Using the change is subject, she pushed the thought of Sean's possible death as far away as possible. Until she saw a body, he was alive.
Ambrose was more than glad to drop the subject of the bodies at the helipad. "Yes! Between Amaya, Emelyn and I we've been keeping it going. And.... yeesh... you've been having to eat things raw?" He swallowed, thinking of the few times he had nearly done so and there HAD been a fire available.
She made a face, "Yeah, and I'd like to say it wasn't that bad, but I'd be lying. I wash the blood off, but it's still all squishy and ick."
He nodded. "I.... and I would be lying if I haven't had the urge to try myself instead of wait for the fire to do it's job..." He shoved his hands quickly into his pockets. He hadnt' admitted that to anyone yet.... but.... Greer was becoming a predator as well.... he... she could sympathize where others couldn't due to still being not very far along in the changes or not being carnivorous.
Greer nodded sympathetically. "I think the texture is the worst- well, the taste is bad, but that's because it's meat. Honestly, I kind of wish it bothered me more than it does... as it is, it shows me just how much I've changed."
Ambrose made a face, sticking out his rather lengthy tongue. "I try not to think about it.... but something tells me that the taste wouldn't be an issue for me..."
"Well, you can bring the rabbit with you. We've still got some meat at the camp so we're not starving yet, but I'll have to go hunting again soon because it will start to go bad. And you can have a cooked meal!" He grinned.
"Oh goody! You know just what a girl likes to hear!" she smiled, taking a quick lookaround to make sure she wasn't leaving anything behind. "Lead the way. Oh, and I'll help you with that hunting if you'd like."
Ambrose barked a laugh. "Yup, riverwater, fried rabbit, and mossy lean-to's .... we've got ourselves four-star accomodations!"
"And between you and Amaya, sounds like we can have ourselves a merry hunting troupe!" He offered her his arm, and led the way back to his 'packsite'.
She giggled at the chivalric display, but took his arm anyway. "You, me, and Amaya all hunting together? It'll be like rustic family outing."
He snorted. "That's right! You've taken her under your wing as a daughter, right? Well, me and 'sis are good hunters, 'Mom'" He gave her a fangy grin. "Caught ourselves some kind of giant taillless swamp rat!"
"Ooo, an R.O.U.S.? I'm so proud!" A few minutes and she was back to the social thing. It really shouldn't be that easy, but Greer didn't actually mind.
Another barking laugh, reminded of one of his favorite movies. "You know! It was a lot like that!" He snickered. "A little cuter I suppose."
"That's good. I hate to try biting into one of those things otherwise. Dare I ask what it really was?"
Ambrose shook his head with a shrug. "I have no idea... It looked like a big rat... with a blunter face and no tail, and a taller stance. It tasted good though!"
Greer cocked her head, trying to place the description. "All I can think of is that you ate a capybara."
Ambrose blinked at her. "A capy-wha?"
"Capybara. World's largest rodent. Lives in the Amazon, so I sincerely doubt that was it." she chuckled. "They look like tall gineau pigs the size of border collies."
"Well, that does sound accurate, though! And.... we're not far from South America, are we?" He shrugged. "Who knows what all has been imported here though. Not that it really matters anyway."
"Well, it didn't have sharp tusks like some of the boar that I've heard crashing about... and it tasted good. So I suppose that's what's important."
The smell of smoke soon met her nose, and a thin trickle climbed its way above the treeline not far ahead.
"Eee!" She nearly bounced, terribly excited about the prospect of fire. "I think I'm going to be a cooked meat fangirl."
"I feel like cooked meat tonight~!" He sung with a grin as they emerged into the small grouping of lean-tos' around the fire.
"And here we are... home sweet home~"
She looked around the small gathering of lean-to's and people, amazed at how homey it looked. "Thanks, Ambrose. I owe you one."
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Posted: Sat Feb 04, 2006 4:48 pm
Talk With AmayaQuote: Ambrose was poking at the fire with a long stick, his head rested boredly on his hand when he heard Amaya's return to camp with her arms full of fruit. His eyebrows raised and he was to your feet. "Wow, Amaya - nice work! Do you need any help with those?" Quote: "No, I got it. Thanks though." Amaya smiled and walked over to where all the other fruit was stored for the time being and set what she had collected down gently. "By the way, I ran into Awen by the river... you know her? The girl with blue hair?" She asked, looking over her shoulder at him. Quote: Ambrose's brows furrowed for a moment before the blue hair comment was made. "Ohyes! I remember her! She's okay? So there are more of us out there still alright? What did she say?" Ambrose immediately barraged Amaya with a slew of questions, his ears pricked. Quote: "Yeah, she was alright." After putting all the fruit down, she stood up again to face Ambrose. "She's actually been staying in a camp with Chubbs, Joilette, and Lauren I think. As far as I know they're doing alright, if not a little dissorganized... I guess were one of the few camps that sort of have everything as order. Or at least the best we can make it. I invited them to join up with us, I hope you don't mind. But I figured it would be better for all of us to stick together if we could." Quote: Ambrose listened carefully. "So Chubbs and Joli and Lauren are alright as well! That's wonderful news. I was really worried about them. Well..." He cleared his throat. "Lauren wasn't first on my mind-I know that's horrible - but.... hrmm... she's out here too... I thought she was in good with the staff. Maybe that is a point of argument for the theory that this isn't a scheme of theirs..." His tail moved back and forth a bit. "Glad to hear they're doing alright, though.... but I wonder how and where the others are - if they've seen anyone else. Like... Colche... or Julian or anyone else..." Quote: Amaya nodded, relating all too well with the whole Lauren thing. "Yeah, though I wouldn't put it past Moreau to make her suffer like all the rest of us. Just because she's willing doesn't mean that he's not turning her into an animal." Her scaled shoulders gave a shrug. "I think she mentioned Jamal too... and a woman named Antony, though I don't know her." Quote: "Truuue.... although last I saw her she seemed all but giddy about her own transformation." Ambrose looked consideringly. "Jamal too, that's ... good. I wonder if he's still upset at me.." He scratched the back of his head. "He was really... touchy last I saw him - about this whole transformation - he hadn't changed yet but had been here several months. I don't know an Antony either...." He sat back down by the fire. "It's ... scary how many of us there are here now." His ears lowered as he looked up to Amaya. "Thank you... this is important news. And That's fine if they would like to join with us - I think the more we've got the better we can maintain a relatively well-working campsite. And keep tabs on eachother." Quote: The iguana-girl nodded and took a seat next to Ambrose by the fire, enjoying the warmth it let off. "And... about transformations..." She trailed off and rubbed the back of her head with one of her large hands. "Awen... transformed again... without an injection." Green eyes locked with the wolf man's, preparing for the shock that would follow. Quote: And she wasn't disappointed. His eyes widened and his back straightened. "Wh... what??" He paused, and then shook his head. "But... that's not pos-" He cut himself off. what the hell was he talking about? None of this was 'possible' - nothing more should suprise him. But still. "So... even if they're gone... even without the injections... we will still change?!" He swallowed anxiously. "Well, I mean... they said our DNA was unstable without the injections... that we could get cancer... maybe... maybe changing more by ourselves... is another possibility??" Quote: Amaya hugged her scale-covered legs to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, unable to keep her eyes locked on her older brother. "Yeah... That could be a possibility..." Her voice was low and her eyes stayed hooked on the fire. When you thought about it and realized that even if you would rather die of cancer then change again... not even that was an option anymore. Quote: Ambrose's ears lowered as he watched her again and he scooted closer, venturing to put a furry arm around her shoulders. "Amaya..?" He asked quietly. "Are... you alright?" He could smell her anxiety in response to that suggesiton. "I mean... the way I see it... even becoming more of an animal is prefereable to a painful death..." Quote: The young girl leaned up against Ambrose, her eyelids drooping halfway and a frown on her features. "I'm fine... it's just... scary. Knowing that even if we might not have gotten cancer we could sort of live like we are now. But now we don't have a choice at all, even with Moreau gone." Quote: He looked down at her hands and put his free hand on her big one. "But... even changing... we're still us." Ambrose hesitated on the last part, remembering some very distinct feral urges since they had been 'exiled.' "I think... together... we can even help eachother out. Stay... more human where it counts." his voice lowered to a whisper. "As long as we're honest." Quote: Amaya looked down at his hand on her's, dwarfing it with her own. Taking a deep breath she nodded and tried to force a smile, looking up at him. "Yeah..." Quote: "You don't sound too convincing, 'sis'." He looked at her expression. "And I want you to know, that you don't repulse me. I still see the adorable young lady I always saw in you." Quote: She smiled, this time not having to force it. "That's good to know." Leaning closer to him, she wrapped her arms around his torso and burried her scaley face into his fur. "And I think the same of you." Quote: He smiled very sincerely, hugging her tightly - her scales cool and smooth - not slimy at all like many people who havent' actually touched a reptile think. "Thanks, Amaya." He gave her a comforting squeeze, not hesitating at all with touching her. Quote: The iguana-girl hugged Ambrose for a few more moments before finally letting go. She felt a little better, but was still scared about the overall thought of it all. So she chose to change the subject. "Have you run into anyone else?" Quote: Ambrose smiled, worried for his 'sister', wanting to look out for her and protect her from her apprehensions. But he noticed her change of subject, and knew that perhaps the best way would be to cater to the change of subject. "Unfortunately not since Greer. But... there's got to be more of us out there. Maybe... I should go scouting." Quote: Amaya nodded, having spotted Greer around the camp upon arriving back from the river. "Only if you can find your way back though... I don't normally venture very far because I'm scared of getting lost." Quote: Ambrose nodded. "One thing I have to thank the transformation for is my new sense of smell. It... it sounds strange, but I can follow my nose from a decent way back to the fire... or even follow my own scent back." He gave a small half-smile. Quote: "Well that's good then I suppose." She smiled, trying to make light of the conversation. "I guess if I have to thank anything for it... I can climb better now." Though it wasn't much, she thought she might as well try and make whatever postive of all of this she could. Quote: He nodded. "it's not exactly something I ever sat back wishing I could do... and it's still a... strange reminder any time I have to use it.... It's really... odd to think on what's happening to us to say the least." Quote: Amaya nodded in agreement. "Though I'm used to being cold-blooded and stuff, I can still remember what it was like to be warm-blooded. I think that's one of the things I miss the most. Even more then being able to eat meat." Quote: He nodded. "I can only imagine what that might be like. It's still strange for me to run my hand down my arm... anywhere... and feel fur instead of smooth skin. Or... even to look in a mirror. It is frightening - in all honesty. But it helps knowing I have friends and those who love me here... helping me through this and at least don't see me like.... a freak..." Quote: The young girl nodded, able to sort of relate even though she didn't have nearly as many scales as Ambrose did fur. She wanted to ask what he thought about certain things... like what he thought would happen to them all and what they would do for the rest of their lives on a tiny island... but those topics were much too depressing. So she remained silent, not sure of what else to say. Quote: Eventually, Ambrose just closed his mouth. He let his mind wander to depressing subjects like this far too often for their mental health. "I"m sorry. I'm sure I'm not helping things at all, kiddo." Quote: Amaya laughed and looked up at him. "It's okay, I don't mind. It's not like we can help ourselves but dwell on these subjects... not much else to do." Quote: Ambrose gave her a lop-sided smile. "This is true... unfortunately no books, no TV, no fencing... my mind tends to wander to our predicament. We need some more distractions...." Quote: "Yeah..." She trailed off, then looked in the direction the labs were in. "Even though I hate his guts... Moreau is the only thing providing us with entertainment and living expenses." Quote: He nodded. "Maybe this is all one sick exposition of how much we depend on him." Quote: The iguana-girl frowned at the thought, though definatly wouldn't put it passed him. "That could well be it. That and maybe he's trying to force us to give into whatever animal instincts we might have already developed." Quote: He frowned. "I also wouldn't put that past him. But... It's not going to work." He said adamantly. Quote: Amaya nodded firmly, even though she didn't really know what 'instincts' she herself had. Aside from basking she really couldn't think of any... and she had given in to basking so she would end up a tired lump. After a moment she released a sigh and stood up, scratching the back of her head with her claws gently. "Well... I think I should go take a nap. I didn't sleep very well last night." Quote: Ambrose patted her on the shoulder and nodded. "I understand. You rest well, let me know if we need to get you any more moss to make your shelter more comfortable. Maybe sometime soon I'll go scouting to see if I can find out if anyone else is alright." Quote: "Alright, I'll see ya Ambrose." She smiled and waved before walking to the leanto she now shared with Emelyn for a nice little nap. Quote: Ambrose smiled and waved to her and stoked the fire a bit more, looking down at his furry paw-hands and thinking about what she had said.
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Posted: Tue Feb 07, 2006 6:41 pm
Ambrose Maurlias Ambrose, that morning, lets the group know that he is heading out into the jungle for a while - in search of some of the other islanders - to hopefully find out who is still alive and well, and see if anyone knows anything more than they do, and to let whomever he might meet that he and his group are likewise alive and well. He promises to return soon, that they look out for eachother (and after a heartfelt parting with Angelina), and assures them that he will be able to follow his nose back to the campsite. So with a makeshift spear strapped to his back with some vines, one of the knives at his waist, he follows the river Westward.
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