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 Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 4:58 pm
[RP: ?
As requested, someone had come by and taken the boxes with Lauren's belongings. To all outward appearances, Duplex 42 looked perfectly normal. It was clean, it had all the right kinds of furniture, (plus a few personal touches), and it was occupied. But to Nita, it was foreign. In spite of multiple runs of the vacuum, she could still find little yellow hairs, and all of the cleaning solution in the world couldn't get rid of that peculiar scent of mongoose and human. Lauren was a ghost, haunting her every waking moment, and her dreams besides. Nita couldn't bear to leave.
After four whole days of being cooped up inside, only letting Comet in and out, Nita finally dragged a chair out onto the balcony/porch. She sat with a blanket over her, knees tucked up to her chin, as Comet frolicked around the duplex.
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 5:07 pm
To Richard it was as normal as it got on the island. He was suffering from writers block and Colche had come back to her lessons after several days of unexplained disappearance. Not quite ready to go back to his duplex after the noonday meal, he found himself wandering the village aimlessly. He had no particular agenda just enjoying the weather.
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 5:16 pm
It had been quiet for awhile, except for the sounds of Comet running around, chasing bugs, sniffing the plants in case they'd changed since morning (they hadn't, but one always needs to check!), and digging in the dirt for reasons Nita couldn't comprehend.
The dog perked up when someone came along the path. Maybe the Tall One had come back! Comet's tail lowered as the passer-by was identified as a stranger. Even so, new people were interesting; she padded over to Richard with a wide doggie grin on her face.
Nita kept an eye on the situation, ready to call her off if she started to jump up on the guy, or if he seemed nervous.
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 5:29 pm
Richard had been looking up at a point in the sky when the patter of paw called his attention back to the ground revealing a rather large dog bounding towards him. With a startled mew like sound Richard threw his hands up to protect himself. Of course the dog stopped far before it actually pounced, making Richard look like an over reacting fool. Chuckling sheepishly he extended his hand toward the curious dog while looking around for the owner.
The only person watching the situation was a red raccoon like woman. She seemed familar but Richard for once wasn't dreging up a name. So he just called, "Hey! This fella yours?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 5:37 pm
Comet wagged her tail happily and licked Richard's hand, covering it with what was probably an unnecessary amount of slobber.
From her vantage point on the balcony, Nita hid a grin. The dog really was good at cheering her up, even though it was obvious that Comet missed Lauren. "Comet, come here!" she called, tapping on the arm of the chair. "Sorry about that, but yes, she's mine," Nita replied, putting a subtle emphasis on the pronoun. She didn't recognize Richard at all, since, when they'd previously met, he was still fully human. And fully male.
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 5:53 pm
Richard made face as the dog slimed his hand. He had never really liked dogs or pets in general. "Alright girl, thats enough." He wiped his hand off on his pants. In his previous line of work you didn't want to get attached to any animal, especially in the earlier years of his career when dogs and cats were just as common as mice in the lab.
Grinning somewhat uneasily at both Nita and Comet, Richard approached the balcony. He was wearing one his light brown suits, it was looking rather haggard now, the tentacle and tail holes fraying dangerously. The shirt was newer and free of stains. The bandages around his chest kept his... endowments subtle, but didn't hide them completely. "A christmas gift like Gaius'.. " Richard's face squinted up as he remember the name. "Vixen?" Yeah that was it.
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 6:06 pm
Sufficiently convinced that Richard wasn't going to hurt her or Nita, Comet bounded away from him and ran up the stairs to the balcony in a clattering of claws against metal. She flumped down beside Nita and laid her head on her paws, tail thumping against the door. Nita leaned over to fondle the dog's soft ears for a moment.
Nita nodded. "Yeah, she was a gift for me and my--" She paused for a moment and continued, "A gift for me at Christmas. Apparently there are several others around, but I've only met Vixen, and Comet, of course."
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 6:14 pm
Richard nodded, that agreed with what he had heard. "Comet eh?" Richard had seen a few more but never had learned there names. "Did anyone find out if that lab have done any thing to them?" His tone was simply curious, talking to a neighbor about the weather.
"Oh names Richard by the way." He'd shake Nita's hand but she was story above him and he hadn't been invited up. His tentacles lazly squirmed under the heat of the sun on their black skin.
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 6:27 pm
Nita shook her head and brushed her bangs out of her face. "Not that I know of. I asked Gaius to let me know if he ran into anyone else with a dog, but I haven't seen him for a couple weeks." She bit her lip, thinking of the feather in the drawer of her nightstand. Should she go visit him? Or would that be a bad idea..?
"Anyway, so far she seems perfectly normal." Nita blinked at the name. It was definitely familiar, and didn't carry particularly good connotations. "I'm Nita," she said, wondering if he would put the name with her (now changed) face.
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 6:38 pm
That was Nita? Her entire build had changed completely! Richard tried not to act surprised, but his tail fell dead straight from a moment before it slowly resumed its more curled posture. He hadn't quite handled there last meeting well in his desperation to forge some order of this chaos. Ultimately he didn't even write an article on Fiona's murder, it had been so distant by the time he had actually written anything. "Ah." He paused for a moment unsure what to say.
"Not hanging out in trees so much anymore then?" He figured it was a neutral question at least.
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 6:51 pm
Nita's whiskers twitched slightly. She had a good idea of what was running through Richard's head just then. The older man hadn't exactly been full of tact when they'd met before. Ah well, he seemed to be alright now, and he'd obviously changed at least once. Nita had no idea what he had been injected with; frankly, his new physical features were weird.
"Hm," Nita said shortly. Of course, even the subject of trees was a bit touchy, although it wasn't something Richard really had reason to think about. "Not really," she said, forcing a casual tone. There are still friend-murdering wolves running amok in the jungle. Relenting a little, Nita offered, "I have been thinking about exploring the cliffs and stuff, though. It should be cooler up there, at least."
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 7:00 pm
"Well if you see Shenzi up there tell her Richard said Hi. I think thats where she's spending her time these days. I try not to leave the village too much these days with Jamal on the warpath and threatening islanders." Richard released a little growl of frustration, he felt cooped up in the village and its surrounds. A part of him really wanted to wander jungle. The longer he stayed in the village the harder it was to ignore.
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 8:17 pm
"I will," Nita said. She hadn't seen Shenzi since her arrival, with Miller.
"Whoa, wait, someone's threatening islanders?" The red panda girl sat up in her chair and leaned forward. "Why? What's he done?"
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 8:29 pm
She didn't know? Damn news just didn't get around much did it? Richard had a pained expression crept into his face. "Damn, you don't know do you?" Richard deflated a little, "Well I suppose people don't gossip much because they're trying to protect the madman." Richard pointed toward Ambose's duplex, it wasn't easily viewable from Nita's home though. "He's killed two guards and drove jeep into Ambrose's duplex. Then he threatened to Ambrose himself and any other villager that's a 'labby' in his words." Richard found the generalization despicable, even if a islander was weak willed enough to let the lab convince them that this place was just, it wasn't their fault.
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Posted: Tue Feb 20, 2007 8:40 pm
"Holy s**t," Nita muttered. Next to her, Comet shifted and angled her ears forward. "So I guess that's another reason to stay close to home..."
If he's going after pro-labs islanders... He can't be a fan of Lauren. A sort of sick, hollow feeling gripped her stomach. That wasn't her concern anymore.
She frowned, a fragment of memory coming to the front of her mind. "Is.. Is Jamal the big tiger guy? If he's killing guards, why hasn't he been caught?"
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