Welcome to Gaia! ::

"I'm sorry for prying," Em said, while taking Greer's words into consideration, "It's just that I'm still trying to make up my mind about everything here... and sometimes, the best way for me to come to those conclusions are to see what the atmosphere is. Your opinion as another... captive, is basically part of the atmosphere. It's really... fascinating, in a sad sort of way, how differently everyone feels about being here. You'd think that everyone would hate it... but some people are seeming to flourish here."

She placed a sympathetic hand on Greer's arm, noting that there were red-brown feathers at the joint of her wrist.

"I'm so sorry about your father. ...My sister recently passed away. I know how terrible it feels to miss something that seems like it should still be such a part of you."

"You're not odd at all," Emelyn said, feeling more for this woman than she'd expected to. In some way, she'd been determined not to like her- or at least to latch on to her bad qualites and illuminate them for the sake of her own petty jealousy. But really, she didn't know that jealousy was even what the emotion was. ...Had been. ...It was confusing, even in her own head, and she turned herself away from thinking about it so as to turn back to the moment.

"Sad thing to have in common. But I know what you mean. When Mizzie died... I felt like my whole world had collapsed. That was how I got here- I took the boat our grandfather left us, and took it out so I could be alone. The same storm that brought The Dude here brought me- and I just... continued out feeling like I had before I left, until I discovered that this research is to cure cancer. At least... that's what they've said. So I feel a little like I'm doing something important- like I'm attacking Mizzie's killer. ...She died of cancer."

She reveled in the warmth of the gesture, and squeezed Greer's hand back. At her exclamation though, she stopped in her tracks, ankle-deep in the surf, and turned to her.

"What do you mean?"

A sudden pain cropped up above Emelyn's left eyebrow- a radiating, pulsing burn that echoed, as if it were looking to escape. Em put two delicate fingers up to press at it, hoping it would subside back to the depths in which it came. She was barely aware that she was still standing in the shifting water.

"I... I don't really know, exactly. But he's obviously mutating cells, and isn't cancer just mutating cells? Maybe he's going to try and reverse this, when we're changed... or maybe he's just learning about how cells mutate." The point in her head pulsed.

She shook her head- almost violently... or perhaps it just felt that way because the pulse above her eyebrow seared at the motion.

"I'm fine. I just have a searing headache," she explained, rubbing her palm across her forehead. Her fingers grazed the edge of her goggles, and the flexible quills that were bundled up around them.

"No... I don't usually take medication. I can make headaches go away by will, usually. ..And I wasn't lied to. I was brought here by a boat accident, so I wasn't even tricked here. Moreau asked me to volunteer for the experiment, and I did. I'd do anything to cure cancer." ...She still couldn't accept that Moreau had said what she'd wanted the most in the world, next to Mizzie being back... to help kill that which had taken away the most important person in her life. She'd rather be a martyr... than a captive.

Em nodded, this time noting that the motion didn't send her into paroxyms of pulsing pain- so she figured whatever it was must have eased up.

"Alright," she said, trying to go back into the normality of the earlier conversation. "I think I have one you'll like. It's a story about an insect-like species... a science fantasy story I've been working on." And so they walked off towards the village, hands still around each others shoulders. Perhaps... a friendship had been wrought.