[Journal] Cassidy Smith's Journal | Page 4 | The Duplexes | Guild Forums

The Dude XD

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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 9:30 am

A note has been slipped under Cassidy's door. It's written on a standard stationary, (saying Feral Labs on the top) in choppy handwriting of a hurried hand. It's addressed to Cassidy.

Quote:

Hey Cassidy. How you doing, girl? I swung by here around 3 pm but couldn't find you. There has been some unfortunate developments in our conspiracy theories, which you should know about. But I think it would be easier to describe them in person. So if you run into Greer or Matthew or me, we can bring you up to speed on this new s**t. And keep your nose high, even if it looks grimm, no reason to panic yet. Whatever happens, DON'T LET THEM INJECT YOU AGAIN.
The Dude.

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 1:20 pm

Cassidy had read the note through several times, and it didn't seem to make sense.

She was just an employee. Right? There was no reason for them to inject her with anything. She'd had her vaccine. She retained enough of that year of nursing school to know more-or-less how that stuff worked. Conspiracy theories aside... there wasn't any reason for her to be injected.

Why on Earth did the Dude think they would? What the hell was going on?

Unnerved, Cassidy pulled The Martian Chronicles down from the shelf and curled up on the bed with it. She felt miserable, though, and managed to read a whole two pages before her troubled mind got the better of her.

She set the book aside, grabbed for her sandals, and headed down to the Dude's duplex.

Cassidy Smith

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Cassidy Smith

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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 6:08 pm

RP Session

Cassidy was nervous and shaking by the time she made it to duplex #12. It didn't take much to get her imagination going; her mind was, of its own accord, concocting worrisome scenarios, and trying to weigh between them the pros and cons of each--were aliens better or worse than a government conspiracy?

It was probably nothing, she reassured herself. It had to be nothing. She probably was misunderstanding the letter. She'd clear it up, then go read for the afternoon and calm herself down.

Yeah.

She knocked on the door, and wrung her hands.

"Ah." - the Dude grunted depressed. "Animal DNA."

They sat in silence for a while again, while the Dude was digesting the news. That was SOME news to digest, too. A lifelong imprisonment. With the lovely prospect of becoming a man-dog. Or man-gerbil. Or man-slug.

"We need to get off this island, man. Somehow. We need to figure out how to force Moreau to take us all back to land." - he finally grunted.

He was not gonna give in so easily to the man-gerbil fate. Though, a small part of the Dude's brain whispered to him that it might be kinda neat to find out how that would feel. Like, if one got to be turned into a bird and could fly. Or a fish. Fish would be kickass. But he quickly squished that train of thought, like a nasty little roach that it was.

Ambrose nodded, his sigh mirroring the Dude's.

"Do you think he would actually consent to that? Believe me... I spoke at great lengths to Aubrey last night... She didn't listen to reason or compassion... I think I might have gotten her to think a little bit to her heart, but whatever Moreau has done to get so deeply into her head won't allow room for anything else. I don't think she'd go against him. And if SHE'S that stoic, how in the hell could we ever convince the Doctor himself?"

"Besides..." Ambrose looked nervous "I tried to ask about stopping it now - before it gets worse - just letting us leave knowing that they succeeded at whatever the hell they were trying to do... and she said something about "unsable DNA"... that it could be cancerous, or worse, if they stopped whatever process they're doing early. I don't know if that was just another pack of lies... but..." he shuddered, not wanting to think about it.

Just then, he heard a knock at the door. Boy were they popular. He looked over to the Dude with a brief flicker of questioning before speaking up. "Who's there?"

His hands had located a piece of blanket and were twining it.

Cassidy fidgeted. She thought she heard voices. She hoped so. She didn''t much like the idea of searching the entire island for the Dude. Especially if it really did turn out to be nothing, which she was sure it would be. Yes.

She knocked again.

The Dude stood up and walked over to the door, pocking his head out.

"Hi Cassidy. You got my note?" - he asked, looking at the frazzled blond girl. He tried to smile, but the nausea that came with the news made the smile looks sour.

Ambrose swallowed and peered around the Dude's shoulder. It was Cassidy, the "cleaning lady".... but he had the sinking feeling that since she lived in the village along with the rest of them, that perhaps she had been tricked along with him and the others... After all, she had gotten the "vaccination" as well.

What would she think? She had been one of the most vocal of the conspiracy theorists, further cementing in his mind that she must be one of the innocents here...

"Cassidy..?" He called out hesitantly, trying to keep his arms from covering himself up. He would NOT be a coward any longer.

Cassidy wrinkled her nose. "Yeah. I did. What's this all about? Nothing serious, I hope... Ambrose?"

She leaned to peer around the Dude, and blinked several times at Ambrose. What. The. Hell. She sputtered for a moment, then said, "You look like an extra in a werewolf movie!"

Oh, crap. Her and her big mouth. She turned red and covered her mouth. "I'm sorry. That didn't come out right."

Cassidy had slid by him too fast for the Dude to stop her. Closing the door behind her, he looked appologetically at Ambrose and sighed.

"Yeah, erm, Cassidy, go sit down, girl. It's just a little hair. Our Ambrose is fluffy and cuddly now. You should pet him sometime." - he pointed Cass to a chair.

"Okey. I am not sure whether Ambrose wants to repeat this again, so let me summarize for him. And yeah, it looks kinda grimm for us, but we need to remain rational here or we'll loose the only advantage we have against Moreau."

With that he repated the story that he just heard from Ambrose, as well as what he learned from Thorn about the cameras and from Greer about mosquitos. He tried to be gentle about it, so as not to give Cassidy a nervous break down.

Ambrose's straight mock-confident posture was shattered and he slumped down a bit at her reaction. So much for bravery. He winced, which probably only succeeded in displaying his pointy canines. "No... no... I understand... you're just being honest" A frown tugged at his mouth at the dude's comments. "besides, it's a bit more than 'just a little hair'". He sighed, resting his chin on his hands. There were wose things that she could have said, he supposed.

He nodded his thanks to the dude for speaking up and not making him repeat himself. A small part of his mind wondered what exact "animal DNA" he had been injected with. It was obviously canine... but beyond that... At least, he supposed, there were much worse things out there than dogs and wolves and the like. At least he rather liked canines. the thoughts, however, were of small comfort at the general concept of slowly becoming less of a man. Had everyone been injected with the same thing...?

"Holy.... holy crap." Cassidy sat back, face with this sudden revelation. "Oh man. Oh man oh man oh man."

This hadn't been in any of her scenarios. She buried her face in her hands. "s**t. I don't want... I don't want to turn into anything. I sort of liked being me."

She sniffed loudly. "I... they only gave me the one injection. So... oh god, I wouldn't put these people past doing something while we're asleep. I really wouldn't."

The Dude stood up and gave Cassidy a giant bear hug, petting her a few times on the head. Being more fatherly then anything else, he tried his best to sound calming and reassuring:

"There there. We'll figure something out. We will. We just have to think. They might have been planning this for the longest time, but we are fighting for ourselves here."

"I didn't want to either" Ambrose moaned. "Believe me.... None of us did. I have a life, a girlfriend back home..." He trailed off, sighing. He had made his point.

Ambrose watched the Dude give Cassidy a big hug and secretly, he would have loved to join in. But he seriously doubted that Cassidy would want a furry freak like him rubbing against her.

"I would love to try to do something as well...." he said, watching them from his sitting position on the chair. "But what? I've been trying to think things through, but they have the Island under tight control of who comes and goes, armed guards, cameras, security systems... and if what Aubrey said is true about stopping the process being life-threatening..." he swallowed. "What CAN we do??"

"So, it's what... turn furry and stay here forever, or die?" Cassidy whimpered. "I'm not sure which is worse." At least it was a nice place, but she hadn't bet on spending the rest of her natural (or, as was becoming apparent, unnatural) life here. "What a choice. What a stupid bloody choice."

She was tempted to deny it, but Ambrose's new hair sure as hell looked real. Better than any movie effects. "I was startled. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Ambrose... my mouth sometimes goes ahead without my brain. It's likely enough that I'm going to be in a similar state soon enough. I was just startled."

Letting go of Cassidy, the Dude ruffled her hair some more and stood up to get everyone a beer. As he was opening the bottles and handing over the Coronas to everyone he shrugged: "Yeah well. Folks in Auschwitz had it far rougher then us. And some of them escaped or survived. So we can figure something out, too."

He didn't have a slightest idea for now exactly what. The news was a bit fresh in his own mind and he was not exactly a man of action and leadership. So, instead of elaborating on a plan he took a long swig of his Corona.

Ambrose nodded sullenly. "That seems to be the case.... at least what I was told." His claws dug into the piece of the blanket that he had been fidgeting with. "I... I dont' see how they can do this... I mean I DO see how it's plausible but not moral!"

He shook his head at her apologies with a small smile. "No... it's okay... I.. I guarentee you your reaction was better than mine was to all of this.. I don't want to be like this... and to hear it's going to get worse?! I don't want to look like some sort of animal - whatever kind of dog or canine I'm begining to resemble" He shook his head again. He tried to keep his distance, assuming that Cassidy wouldn't want to get near him. "It seems so unreal.. impossible.."

Ambrose took one of the Coronas from the dude thankfully, twisting off the cap and taking a deep swing. Damn, he didn't usually turn to alcohol, but this situation might try him above all else to make him resort to it. As he drunk, however, his stomach growled audibly, awakening with the substance that entered it. He hadn't eaten this morning yet, and the chicken from yesterday never exactly filled him. He just hadn't had much heart to eat, let alone leave his duplex before this morning.

"This is illegal. Or it would be, if we were under any legal jurisdiction." Cassidy peered down the neck of the beer bottle, and took a swig. "I wrote a letter to my family yesterday. Now I'm wondering if it's going to leave the island without going through a paper shredder." She grimaced.

Maybe she'd end up being something halfway decent. A mouse. She could deal with being a mouse. Or a rabbit. Or... maybe not.

"The dumbest thing is I got a paycheck the other day. I don't want to clean up anymore," she mumbled like a child. "Not now. You can all die of cholera or whatever for all I care."

The Dude was starting to get a bit comfortable in his new position as "mother". He looked at Cassidy and grinned, explaining patiently: "Yeah, we know it's illegal and immoral, Cass. And sure, you do shouldn't clean anymore. I doubt they'll care either way and I do not think they'll let their precious "experiments" die of cholera. I mean, the Moreau guy gave me half a pound of best quality weed. I think they are fully prepared to "take care of us till death do us part". Or their funding runs out, i suppose."

"'Sides, you have not started sprouting bunny ears yet, so maybe we can get you and Greer and Em and Matt off the island before they give you that second injection. We just need to figure out HOW we can force him to let you guys go."

"I seriously doubt they've been mailing our letters... they wouldn't want to get out the specific location of the Island. After all, even I didn't know where precisely I was going until I got on the helicopter. The only way on and off this damned Island. No wonder the guy looks like a professional killer, Moreau didn't want the only escape to be able to be dealt with." He chimed in with Cassidy's sigh. "I've sent probably half a dozen letters to Angelina.... now I bet she never got a single one... The took them from, me though." He growled, a very feral, canine growl. "They probably read them" he glowered.

He glared at Cassidy's indifference and cholera comment. And the dude had called HIM selfish?! "Thanks, Cassidy" he said bitterly. "Glad to know you care."

Ambrose loked over to the Dude. "So THAT's what they were talking about having gotten you from Amsterdam.." He had been wondering. He had assumed but hadn't known for certain. He looked around. "Judging from the money in this place, something tells me they have quite a BIT of said funding. Especially considering their expensive "gifts" to us, probably meant to placate us."

He kicked at the carpet. "I had felt... somewhat strange at least... ever since my first injection. Even if you COULD get off at this point before your 2nd injections, do you think there might still be risks...." He seemed to think about that. "Of course, I would that that at least for you, that might be a risk worth taking considering the alternative."

As he became more aware of his hunger, smells from the cafeteria began to reach Ambrose's nose... he lifted his head, sniffing audibly. It smelled like steak, his stomach elated. Silently, he wondered if the meal choice timing had anything to do with his current situation.

"I know I've felt strange. I just put it up to an adverse reaction to the vaccine. Although I suppose I understand that massive box of books, now. I was enjoying it so much, too."

At Ambrose's comment, Cassidy grimaced guiltily. "I don't really mean it, about the cholera," she said. "I just meant... that..." Unable to voice what she thought, she fell silent for a moment. "I feel really royally dumb for falling for this, is all. And I'd feel awful just waltzing off and leaving you here to deal with this."

The Dude drunk from his bottle and gave Cassidy a curious look:"Ah. So you are gonna stay here out of solidarity? Okey. Fair enough."

Then he looked at Ambrose and grinned: "No worry, buddy, I am not going anywhere. I got nowhere to go. That $5000 deal - I needed that. And I REALLY want to kick Dr. Moreau in the nuts eventually. So you two vote for not raising a fuss with Moreau, huh? I mean, how do you know for sure that this injection stuff causes cancer? Maybe Aubrey made that up. She lied before."

"Everyone here fell for it" He responded to Cassidy. "There was no way we could have known what was really going on. I mean.." he laughed nervously "this sort of thing doesn't REALLY happen... I didn't think that even with advanced genetic manipulation that someone could REALLY turn someone into something else.." he swallowed.

"I never said that I was just going to roll over and let him do whatever the hell he wanted. I'm ALL for an escape plan if you can find one that doesn't get us even worse off and dead. Hell - even some sort of communication with the outside would would be wonderful - let people know what's going on... that we haven't abandoned people... Bring someone to us as opposed to the other way around."

He sighed, remembering back to the conversation from the previous night. "I .... I don't think she has any need to lie anymore...." Ambrose began speaking, trying to go into as much depth as he could remember from the conversation last night. He had been very tired, but the emotions were so high, the words so biting, the things that they conveyed so frightening. He knew that the key was communication between the residents and keeping all the pieces of the puzzle together, and he would do his part to inform people - especially the Dude who seemed to be the most gregarious one of them and best at spreading the word.

"If it's true, that it's fatal to stay half... half-whatever-we're-going-turn-into," Cassidy grimaced, "then I'm not sure fighting is going to be terribly productive." She sighed. "But, I have every intention of finding out as much as I possibly can. I'm not sure how I'm going to do that," she admitted. "I doubt Moreau's gonna be really accomodating to our questions."

What-the-hell-have-you-injected-me-with was high on her list.

"s**t. I wouldn't have believed it if I wasn't living it." She shook her head miserably, still shocked.

"Okey okey" - the Dude waved his hands around. "Let's summarize here - Aubrey said if we try to leave after being injected, we die of cancer. You, Ambrose, think it's much more important to try and find a way to give word to the outside then try to escape an island prison, correct? And you, Cassidy, also think trying to escape would be dangerous to self and unfair to others who already sprouted fur, correct?"

He took a sip from his beer bottle.

"Also - if the cycle of injections cannot be interrupte or one dies of cancer, then why bother telling the loved ones that one is alive BUT turning into a beast. Just let them think you died in a plane crash. I'm sure Feral Labs already figured out convenient excuses as to why we have not come back ..."

Ambrose nodded, confirming the information that he had heard. "WEll, why not answer our questions now? What can we do if we don't like what we hear? Pout? Stop eating?" He crossed his arms. "Aubrey seemed to have answers for me last night, I just didn't like the answers she had to give me."

He nodded in agreement with Cassidy's summation of the situation.

""Well, I was thinking that by contacting someone on the outside that they might have more help in rescuing us than us escaping by ourselves. None of us can even fly a helicopter from my knowledge, and even if we COULD get some sort of boat they're too damn slow. They could stop us from air." He shook his head. "Don't get me wrong. I'm not against getting off at all - I just can't think how."

He scratched at his arms. "I don't want them to think I died.... I mean... It would probably be just as hard to tell them the truth.... but.... I mean..." he shook his head. "IT's just not right" He huffed.

His stomach began threatening to start digesting itself. "Perhaps we could... continue this over food...?"

"I think you're right... I dunno that we're equipped to make any sort of escape attempt. Even if we avoided Them," she scowled, "and made it out onto the ocean, the fact reamins that, well, we'd be on a little boat on the ocean with no real way of knowing which way's land. We'd probably drown."

She rubbed her temples. "I don't know if I'd want my family to know about this. It might just be easier for them to believe that the helicopter disappeared in the Bermuda Triangle. I'm all for food, though."

What she really wanted, really, was to curl up and read and ignore everything and everyone for a while. Maybe a few days. Maybe a week. Then she'd deal with this. That didn't seem to be an option.

The Dude finished his beer and stood up: "Well, let's go eat then."

And headed out the door.

Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 7:26 pm

Journal Entry

s**t.

s**t s**t s**t.

What they're doing here is DNA s**t. I mean, seriously illegal stuff. I'm probably one of the test subjects. Hell, there's no "probably" about it. They gave me the damn shot.

I'm still all worked up.

I'm going to end up turning into something weird. Ambrose is growing fur. Fur! It's freaky. Not ugly, but weird, because I saw him a few days ago and it wasn't there.

Animal DNA. I could... could... turn into something weird like... uh... like a... s**t, I don't know. Apparently there's a second shot, but I'm gonna watch my arms for fur anyway.

Everything was weird and wrong, and I came anyway, and I went with it anyway. I'm such a moron.

I think I'm just going to go crawl into the bathtub and read for a while.

Cassidy Smith

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Cassidy Smith

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Posted: Sat Sep 03, 2005 10:11 pm

RP Session

Cassidy had managed to get her nose out of her books long enough to come down to the cafeteria to grab something to eat. With a bowl of clam chowder, a ham sandwich, and a cup of tea balanced precariously on a tray while she clutched her current book in the other, she made her way to a table, and sat down heavily.

It was all still too much to think about. Better to ignore it until she could deal with it properly.

She stirred her soup pensively and tried to find her place in her book.

Ambrose Maurlias

Ambrose, the next early afternoon (he had crashed pretty hard after the taxing time the day before) got up and made his way out to the cafeteria, the back of his mind thankful that the population of the Island was rather minimul and that he had most likely already met the majority of the other willing or unwililng subjects. This fact helped him have the courage to wander out to the cafeteria by himself, trying to act as if nothing was wrong with the way that he looked.

He wandered to the serving area, hardly earning a second glance from the lunch lady (who was obviously abreast on the workings on the Island he thought bitterly), and piled up his plate with porkchops, ignoring the sides, grabbed some water, and went back out to the main seating area, noticing Cassidy seated at one of the tables.

He wandered closer over to her, pausing before automatically taking the seat by her. "Ah... good afternoon, Cassidy.." He began, scratching the back of his neck. "Did... did you want company - or I can sit somewhere else if you were reading" He would be polite - offering a built-in excuse if she didn't feel comfortable enough with him.

Cassidy jumped a little; she'd been quite engrossed. She set the book aside. "No, no, it's okay. I wouldn't mind some company."

She'd been horribly rude to him yesterday. She had a big mouth, that was what it was, and she wasn't sure how to go about apologising properly. Sorry I was momentarily freaked out at the fact that you're turning into... something?

No, idiot, that was worse. That was a lot worse. If you said that, Ambrose would probably never speak to you again, and you wouldn't even be able to blame him.

"How're you feeling?" she asked cautiously.

Ambrose Maurlias

Ambrose lingered standing for a moment to make sure that she wasn't just being polite before smiling and settling down into a seat across from her.

He picked up his silverware and, feeling not quite as hungry as he had yesterday, deliberately slowed himself down, pre-cutting the meat into bite-sized pieces that he could pluck up with the fork.

"I.... well, to be perfectly honest I could be doing a lot better.... but..." He shrugged and tried to smile, although it ended up looking more bitter than positive. "What can you do, you know?" He finished cutting the meat and stabbed at one of the pieces with his fork, bringing it to his mouth.

As soon as the juicy meat his his mouth, however, his stomach remembered just how hungry he was.

"I owe you an apology." Cassidy used her fingertip to poke at a clam on the end of her spoon. "I was really awful yesterday."

She'd been freaked out, of course--who wouldn't be? Although, right at the moment, she was a little bit more aghast at his choice of meal. How many pork chops could someone eat at once? Apparently a lot. Maybe that was due to the transformation, which unnerved her; she hadn't really considered that side of things.

But, no, she wasn't going to say that. It really wanted to be said, but she was going to fight it. She was trying to apologize, goddammit.

Ambrose Maurlias

Ambrose shook his head. "You owe me no such thing." He commented after he had swallowed his bite of food, another piece already on his fork. "I..." he winced. "I honestly probably would have said something worse had I not been the first one to expierence such.... complications, especially upon hearing that it wouldn't just be them."

"I'm sorry if I frightened you. I know you weren't expecting it.... jesting conspiracy theories aside." He was careful to not speak with his mouth open, but with the pace he was going through the meal, that generally resulted in his comments rather broken up between bites. "I... I just don't think that everything's even fully sunk in yet."

Cassidy grimaced around her spoon, and swallowed. "It's not... well... it's really the last thing I would ever have expected."

She was finding herself to be a lot less hungry than she'd thought she was. There was sill her untouched ham sandwich; she poked it with the handle of her spoon. "I mean, why couldn't it have been aliens?" She shook her head in disbelief and poked at her soup listlessly. "I like aliens. But I think you look better than you did yesterday. A little. Except for the fur thing, anyway."

s**t.

"That didn't come out right." Cassidy rubbed her forehead. "At all."

Ambrose Maurlias

"Aliens?" Ambrose raised an eyebrow inquisitively. He surpressed a bit of a chuckle. "I don't know... Angelina sat me down for enough X-files episodes and they never looked that pleasant to me..." He was trying to get his mind off of it, keep it lighthearted, but at the mention of her name again he sighed heavily, the reminder that he might never see her again hitting him all over again...

He slowed in his eating and rubbed his temples, chewing on his lip until he winced in pain, tasting blood and realized suddenly that that had not been the brightest thing in the world to do.

He held up his hand. "Please, don't apologize. I know how... freakish I look. You don't have to pretend to be polite. Feel free to get it off your chest. Maybe it will help."

"If you're sure..." Cassidy hesitated. "You look... very weird. And your supper is freaking me out because that's a lot of pork chops. You look like some sort of b*****d child between a reject werewolf and an elf right now and I keep telling myself you could look a lot worse and that's definitely true but I'm probably just not used to it and if you gave me a month or so I could probably be so used to it I'd hardly notice but right now it's just the weirdest thing EVER and I keep looking at you and thinking I'm going to end up like that too and for me, anyway, that's a lot worse than how you look."

She slumped in her chair a little. "I'm sorry. I don't want to avoid you or anything. I'll feel awful if I do. I almost don't want to get used to you looking like this, though, because then I have to get used to myself sprouting fur."

Ambrose Maurlias

Ambrose sat and surprisingly placidly took the stream of ... well... not insults per se, more her hopefully getting off her chest what he was sure was going through her and everyone else's mind. He wanted to hear it in a way. He had long ago tired of the facades that the people from where he was from erected over frequently nasty interiors - much like his brother. People that would compliment you to your face and spread rumors behind your back. He had wondered, from time to time, if people were honest to begin with that perhaps such nasty thoughts wouldn't have festered inside them and made them the bitter people they had become. And, honestly, the thoughts that Cassidy had expressed were almost mild compared to his own self-criticisms that he had been expierencing.

Then, he actually smiled as he listened to her rant flow in nearly a stream of consciousness single, distorted sentence. "Feel better?" He smiled, scratching some of the fur on his arm. "I... I had to face myself last night - that was harder to do than you might think." He commented... "But I think that I needed to. Make myself look and think those things before I was able to do anything else. Especially if I want to think about trying to do something about all of this."

He mentally reviewed the points she had brought up. "Honestly, in a month, knowing them I'm probably going to be even worse than I am now.... so I won't expect you to get used to me. Hell, I'm pretty damn sure that I won't. Or this diet" He grimaced, looking down at his plate and realizing that well over half of the stack was gone. "I used to eat a lot, given... but a variety -you know, a balanced meal. I always had a high metabolism because of the fencing... but not nearly this high. The vegetables... they don't.... they just don't look right to me anymore." He realized how bad that probably sounded and tried to turn it into a joke. "But hey, at least I'm not craving raw meat, right?" The smile died on his face almost as soon as he said it - that was probably NOT what she wanted to think about. "I'm sorry.."

Cassidy waved a hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it. You're not craving it, right? And in another month's time, I probably won't look so great myself, either. But I do feel a bit better." She grinned weakly in thanks.

She set down the soup spoon, picked up half the ham sandwich, and stared at it blankly. "I wonder if they even bothered to come up with a cure to this thing. I'm not sure why they would. And the more I think about it, the more likely it seems that they'd know about anything secretive we tried. I hate this. I can't think of anything."

Ambrose Maurlias

"No, thank God - I haven't had an inclination such as that" Ambrose smiled, glad that she didn't react badly to it. Yet - that small voice in the back of his mind jabbed at him.

"And I'm glad that you got it off your chest... I was hoping that that might help."
He moved his food around a bit with his fork before his stomach protested that he shouldn't mess with it as he was still hungry. "I wish I could think of something too... and you're right, they're probably listening to every bloody thing we say" He sighed. "It's downright depressing... I feel so damned helpless"
"At least they were straightforward with answers last time" Ambrose murmured... "Though admittedly after getting some painfully honest answers I didn't even have the heart to ask the rest... like what specifically I'm becoming... or the rest of us. They'd probably tell us if we asked, but I don't know if I want to hear the answers, as cowardly as that might sound"

"I know exactly what you mean. I keep looking over at the lab and debating whether it would be worth it to just march over there and demand either answers, a cure, or contact with the mainland. Not that I'd be terribly optimistic about getting anything," Cass huffed. "And I'd probably come back growing things, anyway. What's wrong with these people?"

She peered cautiously at the back of her hand. Nope, still a normal level of hair, and an above-average number of freckles. As was usual. She took a bite of sandwich.

Ambrose Maurlias

"Well..." Ambrose started, after finishing up the majority of what was left on his plate while listening to her. "I did try that with Aubrey. Any of the requests to leave, contact or a cure were all shot down. I doubt that anyone else would be more helpful, though you have my blessings and well-wishing if you wanted to try. And of course threats of cancer if I left midway through the process..."

He stabbed at the last piece of meat. "They're disturbed." He said darkly. "Seriously so. To even conceive of doing this to another human being, even an enemy, is beyond me." He chewed viciously on it and swallowed. "I'm sure they'd be happy to answer any questions about the process itself, if you have the nerve to ask. At least I know I'm becoming some sort of canine. Which, at least as far as I've thought of, isn't horrible unless it's one of those disturbing smashed-face housedogs... but given my teeth and appetite I'm thinking along the lines of something of the wild persuasion like a wolf.... You don't have any clues yet, for all we know it could be something like a rat.." He realized his feaux paus. "But I'm sure that's not the case!" He tried to cover.

"Anyway... I'm probably going to go back to my duplex and try to think things over.... maybe see if I can't find out if anyone else has figured anything else out or if there is anyone else around who hasn't been properly warned."

Cassidy shuddered. "Oh god, I hope not." Rats were far from being the most disturbing things she could think of, but they were far from being her favourite animals, either.

"But I'll see you around, Ambrose. Take care of yourself. I think we're going to need to, all of us." She grimaced and reached for her mug of tea. "If I were the praying sort, I'd be busy doing that, too, but I'm not."

Ambrose Maurlias

"Well, Take care, Cassidy. And if you think of anything or ever want to talk... or if anything... well... happens... feel free to come find me to talk." He smiled, standing up and bussing his tray out of habit more than courtesy to the staff.

"And thank you, the conversation did help, I think" He waved, and wandered off to the village main area.

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 8:49 pm

Cassidy had fallen asleep reading. This was a fairly uncommon occurence for her, since she took such good care of her books, but she had woken face-down in a tattered paperback. Grimacing guiltily, she set the book over on the side table. It was very, very unlike her to fall asleep reading. Normally, reading kept her awake until she was so tired she could barely focus on the words, and if she was feeling particularly stupid that night, she'd keep reading anyway.
Why on earth had she fallen asleep? She remembered another night of weird dreams... mostly involving trees, which was weird, because she hated heights. And it certainly hadn't been nightmares that she'd been having. Just strange dreams, sort of... sort of like her first night on the island.

And that gave her all sorts of worried thoughts.

Cassidy tried to calm herself down. She'd avoided them long enough, she could keep avoiding them, and if she died of cancer like they said she would, so be it. She was not going to turn into anything. She would be Cassidy Smith until she died.

She stretched, feeling stiff; it occurred to her that the room was warm. Very warm, much warmer than it had been. She'd been trying to keep the room cool. Cassidy was Canadian, for crying out loud, and she didn't deal with tropical heat terribly well. But this... this was nice. That in itself was pretty weird, too.

Quote:

Your body begins to cool down, atleast that's what you think at first. It's more like your getting used to the heat. The skin on your face, shoulder, thigh, hand and foot all begin to itch. You notice that whatever body hair you might have had, you don't anymore, it seems to be laying on the floor. Very much like it pushed itself out. Your eyes begin to water and your mouth aches.

The scratching of the skin gets worse as little bumps begin to harden. You watch as they harden and turn green in spots on your skin. Even as you try to watch this you feel a burning in your eyes and when you open them they are different. If you had a mirror you could see they have become slitted. Your teeth ache as they start to sharpen and the stragest feeling occurs as your tongue begins to slit. Thicker than a snake's tongue, but thinner than it was before. You feel an odd sensation in the upper part of your mouth as you realize you seem to be able to taste the air around you, it's subtle, but it's different.

You feel, different, off, having gone not into just another mammal, but slowly your body is changing into that of a reptile.

Cassidy scratched at an itch on her cheek. The room seemed more comfortable already. Maybe she had imagined it. Anything was possible. WIth everything that had been going on, surely she could be forgiven a few paranoid delusions. But there was definitely an itch on her cheek. Some sort of bug bite, perhaps. Come to think of it, she itched elsewhere, too. In lots of places. Cassidy scratched irritably, but the skin felt strange under her fingers; a bit of investigation showed that her skin was bald.

That was not right at all. Not at all. Her concern about this faded quickly, however, as her eyes began to tear up and a piercing pain began in her mouth. And she was still so itchy! Under her fingers, her skin changed in texture, hard and smooth little bumps, like lots of bug bites, but not any that Cassidy was familiar with. What if some horrible, weird tropical bug had bitten her? Or laid EGGS, under her skin? Oh no oh no oh no. She would die. She would die horribly because of these horrible little bugs because there was no way she'd go ask Moreau for help. No way at all. Were they turning green? Maybe it was just that horrible burning in her eyes. Oh please let it just be the burning. Green was not a colour skin should be.

Cassidy gasped as she accidentally bit her tongue with her new sharp teeth, and it began to dawn on her what had happened. They'd given her that second shot, hadn't they? Oh god, no! What was she turning into? Something nasty. It was something horribly nasty. It wasn't FAIR. She couldn't have turned into a... a... a mouse, or something. Those green bumps... they were scales. They were scales. Why did they have to be scales?

Unbidden, her tongue slipped from her mouth, none-the-worse for having been bitten. It didn't feel right in her mouth, and she put a finger to it, discovered that the reason it felt strange was because it had forked.

It was, undeniably, a snake's tongue.

Oh no. Oh no. They couldn't have. Of all the things they had to pick, it had to be a snake. Not a snake, anything but a snake. She pulled her tongue back into her mouth hastily, and tasted the air of the room; it was an alien thing, and Cassidy pressed her hands against her eyes. She would not look. She wouldn't. It was too much to ask of anyone.

Cassidy Smith

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Cassidy Smith

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Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 8:50 pm

Cassidy had been moping about most of the morning. After inspecting herself in the mirror, and discovering exactly why it was that her eyes had been burning so much before, she'd mostly been avoiding the mirror and any other reflective surfaces. Her own reflection was enough to give her nightmares. The room, though, seemed nice and comfortable to her in its greenhouse warmth, so she'd spent the past while attempting to keep herself busy and trying not to pick at her new scales.

Ambrose had just finished a rather satisfying meal of ribs in the cafeteria when it began to nag on him that it had been some time since he had seen Cassidy. She seemed to be one of the ones who was taking the whole situation understandably badly that he had known, and one of the first other people who he had met here. Greer seemed okay when he saw her just the other day, and she hadn't developed any new features... but it had been at least several days since he last saw Cassidy in the cafeteria. He hoped she was alright.

Before heading out of the cafeteria, he grabbed an extra ice cream sandwich. Instead of turning into his duplex, he took a few steps farther and knocked on his neighbor's door.

"Cassidy..? Are you there...? It's been a couple of days since I saw you. Being a small island and all, I was concerned..."

Cassidy winced. It had, of course, only been a matter of time before someone had come looking for her; she just wished it hadn't been so soon. "One minute, Ambrose."

Slowly, she made her way across the room, breathed in slowly, and unlocked the door. She opened a crack and peered out with one slitted eye. "Hi, Ambrose." Geez, was it really cooler outside than it was inside? And she couldn't possibly be feeling more comfortable in the heat, could she? That was just crazy... but then again, so was everything else that seemed to be going on.

Ambrose put on a genial smile as the door opened. However, the wave of heat coming from the room... coupled with her hesitance to open the door and - was that a slitted pupil peering through the door? - set his fur on edge. It had happened. Another one of them had changed. His mind filled with questions, but first, he made sure that that smile didn't waver.

He thought back to the morning when he had woken after his first change. He probably would have hid out in his room until he was either starving to death or until - like had actually happened - someone had come looking for him. Suddenly Cassidy's scarceness made sense as he found her cowring in the dark and hot? room.

"Cassidy..?" he breathed with concern. "It... happened, didn't it...?" He stepped a bit closer, but not trying to push past the guard of the door. "Would.... you like me to come in...? To talk..?"

Cassidy sighed. "Yes," she said softly. "It happened. You can come in." She opened the door the rest of the way, and picked at her new scales idly. She'd been shocked by Ambrose's fur, but she'd have traded him in a heartbeat. She would never have been able to look at him again without suffering nightmares, though. "It was... it was only last night. This morning. Whatever." She couldn't seem to look at him; Cassidy was well aware her eyes were a bit unnerving--at least, she thought so.

ast night. This morning. Whatever." She couldn't seem to look at him; Cassidy was well aware her eyes were a bit unnerving--at least, she thought so.
[15:44] Sabin Duvert: Ambrose sincerely tried not to stare as the door opened wider to reval her with patches of undeniable scales sprinkling her arms, and ... something seemed very different about her mouth. But he wasn't about to try to convince her to let him see. Suddenly he felt very at-home in his fur. He swallowed and stepped inside.

"Cassidy... I'm sorry..." At least it hadn't been long. She woudln't have had time to retreat too much from the shock... right? "Did.... did you go to them? Did they call you or something? When... when did they inject you?"

"I... I don't know!" She wrung her hands miserably. "While I was sleeping, I think. They just.. they..."

She buried her face in her hands; her tongue slipped out reflexively, tasted the air and Ambrose's canine scent with a hesitant flicker, and retreated. Cassidy stifled a sob. "Of all the things... I don't..." She inhaled slowly, carefully, trying to calm herself. Ambrose had gone through this, right? She could do it too. She would have to.

He swallowed and walked to her side, putting a hand on her shoulder. "Cassidy... shhh... it's alright... well, not alright per se... but... YOU will be alright. I'm here... we're all here to help you though this. I promise."

A snake... dear lord, the poor girl. with a tongue like that and scales... he couldn't think of anything else that it could be. The longer he was here and saw what others were goign through, he found less room to complain at least about his own distinctly uncomfortable albeit comparitively tolerable physical changes. At least he liked wolves. "I... brought you an ice cream sandwich.." He held it over to her, with a small smile. Girls always liked chocolate, right? Maybe that would help....

Cassidy shuddered, but was glad that anyone would be willing to touch her. She was pretty sure that if anyone else had started to turn into a snake, she wouldn't have been willing to be in the same room with them. She took the ice cream with a small smile, though. "Thank you..."

It was uncomfortably cold in her hands, though, and she only managed two small bites before she handed it back, shaking her head. "I'm sorry. It's... I..." She couldn't even vocalise this properly; she wasn't sure what to do with her tongue, and she had these weird pointed teeth, and the cold was just so awful all by itself she didn't want to touch the stupid ice cream. And she loved ice cream. "I can't eat this. It's too cold."

Ambrose winced, feeling like an absolute heel by rubbing in even more what was happening to her. He took it back and wrapped it in the wrapper, setting it in the wastebasket. "I'm sorry, Cass... I... errrrg... I can go get you something else. I think they have some candy bars."

What could he say? What would have helped him deal with the changes going through his own body better? At least as mean as it was, knowing he wasn't the only one had helped. And the fact that they didn't even call her in to give her the shot.... just... snuck in and did it? That sent shivers down his spine at the helplessness of the situation. He felt so helpless. She looked so scared, and with good reason... but what could he say?

"I... I know what you're going though." He whispered. "Things... feel different... sometimes it's even things you don't know how to pinpoint." He thought back to the corn snake Angelina had bought after she had moved away with him to college and couldn't bring her big dog. "Snakes aren't that bad" He tried to look encouraging. "Have... you ever actually seen one before up close? Or read about them...?"

"I... I never could look at pictures very long," Cassidy admitted. "And I couldn't read much about them because there were usually pictures. They just always gave me the creeping horrors all over..."

She was hungry, though. Starving, really. She wondered if she'd be able to manage a chocolate bar... maybe some cocoa. Cocoa sounded really, really nice, but that wasn't properly food. She wasn't sure how she was going to eat anything, come to think of it.

Ambrose nodded. "My... girlfriend had... well...has a snake. Just a little corn snake. I honestly thought it was a pretty unsuitable pet for the longest time when she was talking about getting one. But honestly, after she brought it home... they're not dirty or slimy... just... smooth and cool."

He shrugged, squeezing her shoulder. "From what she said, they're one of those animals who have always been given a bad reputation. A frown tugged at his mouth. Kind of like wolves."

He thought for a moment. "Maybe we could ask Moreau for some books about snakes... to ... I don't know... ease you into the idea.... not that this is an idea that should be 'accepted' per se... but we don't exactly have a choice.." He winced. That probably woudln't be that encouraging.

Cassidy shivered. "I suppose that would be a good idea," she admitted. "If I'm going to turn into... into..." She coughed. "Well, I supposed I'd just better know what it is I'm turning into." Her tongue flickered out and in again, and she winced. She wasn't sure how to keep it from doing that, but it gave her the creeps. Everything gave her the creeps today. Why couldn't she have sprouted fur? She could have dealt with that.

Ambrose swallowed as he watched her tongue flick out again, and wondered in the back of his mind just how bad it might get for Cassidy... how MUCH she would change.

He nodded. "They.... if you do want to know... they can tell you. They told me. I can't give them much credit at all, but at least they're straightforward if you ask things at this point. At least so it seems."

"I'm not sure if you've seen The dude since his trasnformation... but he started to change as well. He's the only other one, save you and me, that I know of who has started. But, for better or worse, we're trying to spread the word. So at the very least I think that you'll be met with more sympathy than fear around here. I... I just wish that at least they were honest with the new arrivals, and not leave it to us to tell them. That, and of course, to bring willing subjects" He finished, with a growl in his voice.

He swallowed and gave her an apologetic look. "I"m sorry.... I.." he sighed. "I'm just frustrated. Why... why don't I go get you something from the cafeteria? They seem to be having a rather wide variety of food recently. Is there anything you would like? I was starving after my... transformation."

Going to the cafeteria meant food, but it also meant having people see her like this. Of course, she'd have to go out eventually, and there'd be other people in her situation, surely, but... ick. Did she really have to go out now? Her stomach insisted.

"I... I don't know what I really want to eat." She had a sneaking suspicion, but she wasn't going to admit it aloud, not yet. Something small and warm, and.... ick. "I expect I'll figure it out when I get there."

"I can go get something for you and bring it back if you don't want to leave..." He said, knowing how she was feeling all too well.

"No," she said, startling herself. As much as she wanted to hide here in her room, where it was comfortably warm and nice and dark... no. "I'll come down. I wouldn't know what to ask for, anyway."

Maybe, if she just let her hair out of the braid, she could mostly cover up the scales on her face. Long sleeved shirt and gloves to cover up the rest. And if she found herself some sunglasses, no one would notice the eyes. There'd just be that tongue. No, that was ridiculous. She'd probably die if she had to go around in this heat with long sleeves--but she wasn't so sure about that, really. Yesterday she would have died of heat in her room, with the way it was.

No. She'd have to go as she was. The changes would probably become a lot more pronounced (oh god no), and then she wouldn't be able to do anything but sit in her room and read and sulk.

Ambrose nodded, proud of her decision, and gave her a supportive smile. "Good...I... I am glad to hear that." He clapped her on the back and stood up. "When I was over there earlier, there wasn't anyone else there anyway" He smiled. He had been really worried about her - dealing with this. Hell, to be honest, she was dealing with this a lot better than he had. But.. in his defense, he had been the first in their group to change.

He walked over to the door and held it open for her.

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 8:51 pm

The Dude walked down the stairs from duplex #4, waving good bye to Ambrose and Greer. Approaching the door #3, he knocked: "Cassidy? It's the Dude ..."

Visitors. Great. Cassidy had been deep in an Asimov novel--it was familiar, at least, when nothing else was--but she stirred at the Dude's voice and set it aside. She was definitely hiding too much... and probably Ambrose had told of her transformation. It wouldn't have surprised her. But then, Ambrose had said the Dude had started to change too. He hadn't said what. Cassidy took a deep breath to calm her nerves and went to the door. She unlocked it, and rested a hand on the knob. "Um. I should probably warn you. I look sort of... um."

"Yeah, Ambrose told me that you changed a little. I did, too. So did Greer. So don't worry about it." - he said from behind the door then opened it up.

"Oh WOW! Cassidy, your eyes look kickass!" - he grinned.

Cassidy grimaced. "*I* don't think so," she protested, but managed to look up and inspect the Dude properly.

Whiskers? Flippers? What had they shot him full of? Her tongue flickered out curiously on a reflex; she pretended not to notice this. "You look... pretty different," she admitted.

The Dude hadn't expected the tongue. His eyebrows went up: "Wow."

That was quite bizarre. But for the sake of Cassidy he needed to put a positive spin on that: "Many, I bet you'd be really good at tyeing knots into cherry stems" - he grinned, putting his flipper to his face in a joking "pondering" gesture.

"Oh yeah. I'm from Hawaii now." - he grinned even wider.

Cassidy blushed awkwardly. Cherry stems hadn't even crossed her mind. And she certainly didn't want to think up good things about her new condition. Nothing could be good when your own reflection gave you nightmares.

When in doubt, change the subject. "Er. Hawaii?"

"Yeah!" - the Dude grinned happily, poining at his mocha skin. "I'm brown now XD"

"So you wanna go drink with me and Greer adn Ambrose to the beach bar?"

"You look, well, pretty good, actually," she said, and meant it. She wanted flippers, too, dangit, not stupid scales and a face that had made her decide to cover up the mirror.

Cassidy hesitated. Going out would be good for her. And it was so nice out, though not as warm as it had been, but still worth seeing and... "All right," she agreed. "I'll come."

The Dude positively lit up from the compliment: "Heh, thanks Cassidy! Especially coming from a cute girl like yourself!" He grabbed her hand and dragged Casidy into sunlight, waving to Ambrose and Greer who were coming down the stairs: "Look who's joining us!"

"Let's go celebrate pretty eyes and tail feathers." - he announced and the group headed for the beach.

Cassidy Smith

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Cassidy Smith

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Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 8:52 pm

Reserved - bar RP.

I need to format this. It's ugly right now.

Posted: Fri Sep 16, 2005 8:54 pm

[ Message temporarily off-line ]

Cassidy Smith

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Cassidy Smith

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Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 10:06 pm

Cassidy peered longingly at the salad in the cafeteria line.

She liked salad, she really did. But, all of a sudden, it was just too much of a chore to choke down vegetables. It was a chore to eat anything.

If it was too cold, she couldn't eat it. If it was too hot, she couldn't eat it. She could barely chew with her pointed teeth and she tended to bite her tongue when she did that.

What she had taken to doing was a steak, cooked rare, cut into bite-sized pieces which she would give a perfunctory chew or two before swallowing. She had a vague notion, though it gave her the chills to have to think about it, that snakes ate their meals whole.

Which was so creepy and disgusting and just one more reason she didn't like them.

She'd already eaten, anyway. With a styrofoam cup of lukewarm tea, Cass wandered out of the cafeteria and in the general direction of the beach. She'd been reading A Princess of Mars but had left the book in her room for the time being.

Darn it.

She sat down on a piece of driftwood with her tea, intent upon musing.

Cassidy had been feeling very disconnected from the world, especially since her fight with Vasile. The world seemed to have lost all sense of sanity, anyway--she was turning into a snake monster, and she'd had a movie star (of dubious talent) flirt and yell at her within a short time span.

It was surreal. A few weeks ago she'd been pleased as hell after turning in her two weeks notice. Her parents had thought she was crazy, but were glad for her, and...

...and now she had a forked tongue.

She was aware, vaguely, that she had to stop hiding in her room with her books, but that seemed like such a difficult thing to do, lately.

The afternoon was warm, and Cassidy felt... energized. Come to think of it, that other night at the bar, she'd felt so funny when it started to cool off...

She still owed the Dude an apology.

Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2005 3:47 pm

Quote:

A note clipped to your door on fine stationary (similar to that given to you in your care package) written carefully in script:

Dear Cass,

I'm sorry we parted on such a bad note on our last meeting. Believe me when I say that that was not my intention. The truth is, I was really enjoying myself with you, and I got upset at the idea that you were playing a character. It was wrong of my to expect such a thing, and I acted like a fool.

Please accept my apologies. If you would let me, I would like to take you for a drink.

Sincerely,

Vasile

Vasile DiRossi

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Cassidy Smith

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Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 11:04 am

AIM RP

Cassidy picked her way over the driftwood on the beach, juggling her book and her mug of lukewarm tea. With any luck, the weather would hold, it'd be nice and warm, and she could spend the afternoon sunning on the sand and reading as though nothing whatever were wrong. She knew she was being avoidant, but... this was just so much easier. And more pleasant.

She perched herself on a likely bit of bleached wood, and settled herself down.

Vasile spotted Cassidy heading towards the beach as he was finishing taking a swim. He held back at first, watching her to see if she was going to stick around. Noticing her settling down to read, Vasile quickly towel-dried his hair and pulled he towel around his neck. He headed over to her, giving a friendly wave. "Hey Cass," he offered as he got closer, so she would look up from her reading.

Cassidy looked up. Oh, great. Well, at least he didn't seem about to chew her out for being "in character." Maybe someone had even been able to get through to him. No reading right now, though. She put her bookmark in and set the novel aside. "Hi, Vasile. Is the water nice?"

You know, other than the possibility of jellyfish, or crabs, or lobsters, or other gross things.

She took a sip of tea and carefully balanced it on the wood beside her, before drawing her knees up to rest her chin on.

"Yeah, the water's great," he said, trying to make his way over the driftwood as gracefully as possible. "You should try it out?"

Vasile sat on the ground near her. "Hey, look, I'm sorry things went sour last time we talked. I was just having a really good time with you, and then everything just kind of fell apart."

"Maybe later. The water's a bit cold for me." She grimaced; a swim actually sounded pretty good, despite the icky things. "Maybe if it gets warmer." It was very strange to hear herself say that; she'd barely been able to stand the heat when she arrived. "But... uh. Don't worry about last time. I suppose you still think I'm lying about the whole thing. But whatever. I suppose that's your right."

That didn't come out nearly as diplomatic as she wanted it to.

Vasile sighed. "I didn't say you were... lying. I just didn't expect people to react to this place like they did. Are. Whatever." Vasile looked off into the distance. He seemed distinctly uncomfortable. "I've never been anywhere like this, and I guess I just don't know to handle myself."

Cassidy peered at him, trying to figure out if he'd accepted the truth or not; she couldn't tell. Her tongue flickered. "Join the club. I know I'm not handling it well at all." She took another sip of tea, sighed miserably. "And I'm sorry about not getting back to you about your, uh, note. I really did mean to. But... well, I haven't done much of anything, over the past few days."

"Its okay." He peers back over at her, looking her over from head to toe. His brain tried to wrap around exactly what this would mean if her and the other were telling the truth. He had to repress a shudder.

But that was imposssible, he kept telling himself. And he would never admit to being fooled. Because even if he admitted to himself it was real, this would all turn out to be some elaborite Surreal Life or something,and he would forever be braded the most gulible man in Hollywood. And, well, if he admitted it and it turn out to be truth...

...no, that was silly. Impossible. Just impossible.

Vasile closed his eyes and tried to gather himself. He was thinking too much. This is why he paid people to do his worrying for him. "I'm sorry," he finally said, addressing Cass. "Anything I could do to make you feel better...?"

"Not unless you have the world's biggest pumice stone and a way off this rock." Cassidy stared at the scales on her hand. "But I suppose these things would just grow back. I guess I can't really blame you for not believing. I don't think I ever really believed until it happened to me. Not even when Ambrose sprouted fur." The fact that every single person seemed to have a clashing story hadn't helped. When everyone's been lied to... where do you find the truth?

With a great deal of difficulty, it seemed, until it grew through your skin.

Vasile swallowed. Ambrose had offered to let Vasile tug at the fur on his hand, but he refused. He wasn't sure if it was because he didn't want to look like a fool, or because he was too afraid to. Not that he would ever admit that to anyone.

Instead, Vasile reminded himself to focus on Cass. "They really don't look that bad, Cass. I wasn't lying when I said it makes you look distinct. And sexy in th dangerous way..."

"Sexy?!" Cassidy practically laughed. "Vasile, I have never, ever been called 'sexy' in my entire life. They may be wonderfully distinct, but I'm having nightmares from my own reflection. I hate snakes. I'm terrified of them. The thought of what I might turn into is... well... it's really almost more than I can stand." She shuddered involuntarily. "I covered up the mirror in my bathroom. I don't uncover it unless I absolutely have to... I'd trade with practically anyone on the island, I swear. Fur, or feathers, or anything. Just, not scales."

Vasile frowned. Well that backfired. "You don't have to be Cindy Crawford to be sexy, Cass," he said, trying to dig himself out of this hole. He didn't know what else to say, really. He wasn't particuarly fond of reptiles himself. So he fiured to just stick on the here and now. "I don't understand why you have nightmare. You really don't look scarey at all. You know some people would kill to have eyes like that. Seriously...I think you're being too hard on yourself." He reached over and attempted to place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"I think I look scary. I'm an ophidiophobe's worst nightmare." Cass winced a little at his hand on her shoulder. She could never have brought herself to touch him, if the situation were reversed. "I could never even look at photos of snakes, let alone a real one. But, they do say that the best way to overcome a phobia is to deal with it directly. I guess that's what I'm doing, even if it's not out of choice. I'm not having a near heart attack looking at my arms anymore, anyway."

She took another sip of tea. "I'm sorry. I'm all over the place."

Vasile didn't know what an ophidiophobe was, but he was fairly certain from context clues it was someone who was afraid of snakes. "Don't apologize..." he started, not really knowing what to say. "I mean, I guess I would be handling it just as bad- if not worse - if the situation was reserved." He dug into the sand with his toe. "You should be allowed to express youself, I guess. I'm just saying, perhaps you could take a bit of comfort that even if you think you look hideous.. thats not what other people see."

Cassidy looked at him, cautious. "Thank you," she said, a little surprised. "That actually helps." Not a lot, true, but some. And any help at all was greatly appreciated.

Maybe Vasile wasn't so bad, after all.

"But I do hope that you get a good animal, anyway."

Vasile grinned widely, proud of himself. He didn't want to bring up to her that his script clearly stated he would be saving the Islanders before succumbing to the effects of the drug himself, but he figured that might seem like rubbing it in. So instead he just shrugged. "I guess what's considered a 'good' animal is highly based on opinion." He pondered this for a moment, but nothing really came to mind. He liked dogs the best, but only little ones, like Brutus. And he wouldn't want to become alittle min pin. "What would have you preferred, if you could have picked somehow?"

"I hadn't really thought of that too much." Cass pursed her lips, thoughtfully. "Some sort of bird, probably. I like birds." Lucky, lucky Greer. "Or something like a fox or dog or cat or something. Or a squirrel." Something cute and non-threatening. Something that could eat ice cream and didn't choke on vegetables and had a normal tongue. "It still would've sucked, but it wouldn't be so bad, you know."

"I've never really cared so much for birds," he said. Pigeons and his great's aunts very loud and foal-mouth macaw being the only kinds of birds he's had any real contact with. "But it would be really neat to fly, I suppose." Vasile pondered for a moment. "I guess like a wolf like Ambrose wouldn't so bad. Or a big cat. Something strong and sexy. Maybe a stallion." Though the thought came to his mind only afte he said it, he decided against making a 'hung like a...' comment. Instead he just sort of grinned to himself.

"Those are all good animals. Honestly, I'd trade with most of the people who've started to change." Cass smirked. "Though that'd hardly be fair for them. Unless they actually liked snakes." She knew there were some very strange people who were like that. Her sister, for one. "But I don't think that's an option."

She hesitated, then asked, "You think I'll be some sort of poisonous snake? I... I really don't know much about snakes. At all. Just that I hate them. And... well, I don't think I like the idea of being poisonous. Maybe I really ought to ask..."

Vasile shrugged. "Maybe you could ask. Maybe they could, like, at least start to change you to something else. I dunno, that might be stupid, but no harm in asking, I guess? The doc's susposed to have like.. hundreds of vials up in his lab.

Vasile looked over Cass carefully. "I, uh, really don't know. I don't know much about snakes. Cept 'red-and-yellow, kill a fellow. Red and black, friendly Jack,' but I don't see any red or yellow on you, so I have no idea."

"I suppose I'll find out." She grimaced. "I hope I won't be poisonous. What if I bite my tongue? I'd die."

Or maybe it didn't work that way. She really had no idea.

"I wonder what I could ask them to do, though. How permanent is this? Could I start right over or would I end up as some sort of squirrel with scales and a forked tongue?" Ew ew ew ew ew. That was a pretty disturbing mental image.

Vasile shrugged. "They didn't say anything about that, so I don't know. Maybe you could talk to one of the assistants?"

And he considered the tongue. "Well, real poisenous snakes seem to get along just find. Would be careful when you're french kissing or anything, though. Gotta make sure you don't get too rough," he winked and gave her a smile, trying to make light of it.

Cassidy laughed. "I suppose that would sort of kill the mood, eh?"

She drank the last of her tea, and grinned bitterly. "But I guess there are worse places to be stranded. They could have stuck us in the middle of the desert, or Antarctica, or on an island not nearly so nice, without the nice rooms." She used to want to go to Antarctica, out of a strange love for snow and penguins, but the mere thought of the cold bothered her now. So much for that idea. "It could have been... well... a lot worse. Right?"

"Or as nice of company," he purred, looking at her.

Cassidy blinked at Vasile warily. "Well, um." Was that some sort of flirting or some sort of narcissim? Or both? Or neither? "I suppose that I have made some friends here, so yes. The company counts for quite a bit."

Vasile nodded and smiled. "Well, the service is s**t, but the scenary is quite amazing. I bet if you could have some real fun here, if you let yourself. Even it was just a few minutes, to escape reality, you know?"

"I'm good at escapism," Cassidy mumbled. Probably too good, Miss-hides-in-her-room-all-week. "I keep meaning to get on my boots and go for a good hike through the jungle." Spiders be damned. Except there were probably poisonous ones here. Aieeeeeyuck. "Or, you know, something to that effect. Maybe a swim, when it's warmer."

"Well, I'd be happy to accompany you, if you ever get the urge to go exploring. And maybe you can reccomend a good book for me to read?"

"Sure. Why not?" Cassidy smirked. "They gave me a whole boxful of books to keep me happy. You might even be able to borrow some."

Oh no. Did she just offer to loan books? She hated loaning books to anyone. At least he'd be easy to track down if he forgot to return it.

Vasile leaned back alittle, finally beginning to relax. "That would be nice. I don't get a lot of time to read, usually. Figured I might as well use the time its fullest, eh?"

"Yeah. I could, um. Learn to speak another language. Maybe something that involves rolling R's. I might be able to actually manage that with this tongue." Maybe not. Cassidy's mouth twisted a bit. "I need one of those teach-yourself-Spanish instructional tapes or something," she said, and laughed.

"Maybe not."

Vasile laughed. "Una mas cerveza, por favor!" I think thats about all I know." He thought for a second. "Usted es muy hermosa."

"Well, you know more than me, then." Cassidy smirked. "I barely remember any French, and I took that for five years of high school."

This was... pretty nice. Despite her misgivings about Vasile... this wasn't turning out so badly. Movie star or not, he was at least pleasant enough to talk to.

"French, now thats a pretty language. You know I've always wanted to have an accent? Not necessarily French. But just... an accent. I mean, I can fake a couple, being an actor and all, but its just now the same."

He leaned in alittle towards her. "Why do girls dig accents so much anyway?"

"God, I dunno." Cassidy shrugged, and attempted to lean away without making it look like she was leaning away; she barely even knew him! Maybe it was an actor thing. Sheesh. Or maybe she was just weird and stupid about this sort of thing; that was a definite possibility. "I guess it's just different. Exotic, y'know. Some accents are pretty neat to listen to."

"I suppose so. Exotic is always appealing I suppose." He looked over to her. "Case in point." He thought abuot what he just said. "Er, not to say you wouldn't be pretty without the scales or anything."

She wrinkled her nose. "I think it's relative," she said, after a moment. It seemed like a fairly safe thing to say. But he was flirting with her, wasn't he? s**t. Was he even aware of it? Maybe it was just compulsive. It had to be. She'd never been particularly good looking even when she wasn't snakey. Oh man oh man oh man. What was she supposed to do?

Vasile watched her carefully. Cass was one of those women, he could tell. Self-concious, and not used to having men flirt with her. But too smart and sensible to just turn into a giggling mess when a man did flirt. The challenging type. Cass certainly wasn't like a lot of the girls we saw around Hollywood, but that kind of made her exotic in her own right. At least she was cute and had a figure. Hollywood and models you get a lot of girls in the toothpick variety. But out in the clubs and away from the glitz, you get a lot a girl that look like they would break a bench if they sat on it too hard.

So what to do? Vasile decided just to shrug it off. "I suppose so," he finally compromised

Cassidy fidgeted a little, twisting her hands. "Yeah. I mean, really."

What a mess. She didn't feel up to dealing with this right now. Maybe she ought to excuse herself. All she need was... well, an excuse.

Vasile sensed her uncomfortableness. "Really, what?"

"Well, you get those women in fashion magazines. And some of them probably don't eat more than, well, a grapefruit or something all day. And that's no way to live. They're too thin and probably just plain miserable since they can't eat." Cassidy couldn't believe what was coming out of her mouth. "But someone's got to think they're beautiful, or else they wouldn't be there, right?"

"Half what makes those fashion magazine girls beautiful is what they wear. Trust me, when they don't have their entourage of make up artists and hairstyles and fasion cordinators... thats all they are. Skinny girls. They really don't look all that different from anyone you meet anywhere else. Except bonier. And taller." He shrugged. "They look completely different when they wake up in the morning."

Cassidy smiled a little. "Really." She supposed out of anyone, someone like Vasile would know that. And probably airbrushed all to hell, on top of it all. "That's, well. It's nice to know that."

Vasile smirked and rubbed his stomach, which was pretty impressive. "Really. I do my best to rely on working out, but they even doctor me up for all the magazines and award shows and such. I bet I look completely different in person than I do on screen? At least I think I do." Vasile smield to her. "I try to go easy on the make-up when I'm not filming. Apparantly people on this island are questioning my sexuality enough."

Yes, it was pretty impressive. Cassidy was pointedly not looking.

"I'm sure there are rumours like that about everyone in Hollywood, though. And it's can't all be true. Statistics are rather against it." She giggled.

Vasile grinned. "Well, can I give you my personal insurance that I am not gay, no matter what the Dude tells you. I think he's jeoulos because I have better fashion sense/"

"Duly noted," Cass grinned.

This was safer ground, yes. No flirting, just... just friendly talking. Right. Much better.

She went to take another sip of her lukewarm tea and realised she'd finished it. Darn. She squinted into her mug with a bit of a pout.

Vasile looked down at her mug. "Would you care to join me for a drink?" He asked, nodding his head in the direction of the beachside bar.

"Maybe just one," Cassidy agreed. "I'm obviously not going to get any reading done today."

The grin on Vasile's face turned devlish for a minute, but he quickly stood up and offered his hand out to her.

Cassidy hesitated. Maybe it had been a bad move to agree? Well, too late. It wasn't like it was going to be horribly unsafe to walk around at night here. Well, it might be after a few more people got further injections. She got up from the driftwood log, brushed herself off, and took his hand, laughing.

Vasile wouldn't let go of her hand unless she made an indication she didn't want it there. He led her down the beach, walking at a comfortable stroll near the waterline. "So what are you reading?"

"Princess of Mars. By Burroughs. You know, the guy who wrote the Tarzan books." Everyone knew Tarzan, after all. Cass grinned nervously at Vasile. "Really old science fiction. Very fun."

"Princess of Mars..." Vasile let an image of a red-skinned, tall, busty woman wearing a scanty silk dress and diamond crown perched behind some attenae roll over his mind. "I'll admit I've never actually read Tarzan. Just seen the movies." He grinned and pounded his fists on his bare chest, then giggled to himself.

Cassidy giggled. "I've never read the Tarzan books, either. Never interested me much, honestly."

Vasile shrugged. He liked the movies well enough. But old books tended be written in a very boring way, even of the story was good. As the approached the bar, he pulled out a stool for her. "What's your poisen?"

"This time of day, just a beer. Mmm. Some sort of lager, I suppose." Cassidy set her book and her empty mug on the bar, and crawled up onto the stool. Nothing like a barstool to make you feel short.

Vasile nodded and got her a beer. He grabbed himself a Corona Light (if you had to drink beer, this was all he found acceptable)and took a seat by the barstool next to her. He just sat and watched her.

Cassidy cracked open the beer, took a drink, and then blinked at Vasile. Bit unnerving to be watched like that. "... yes?"

It had been a bad idea to do this, hadn't it? She was leading him on, she didn't want to, and... and... and... aie. Help.

Vasile blinked and sat up. "Nothing, I'm sorry." He scratched the back of his neck. "I'm sorry, I'm not meaning to make you uncomfortable."

"It's okay," she said, looking away. "Don't worry too much about it."

Vasile took a few sips. "Anything you want to talk about...?"

Now, that was a loaded question. Besides the fact that she was a freak (whatever anyone else may say about it, she was still a freak) and he was staring at her, and sort of flirting with her, and she would really like to see her family, and on and on... but she was, after all, trying not to angst so much.

With middling success.

"No," she said. "Maybe I should just leave you alone."

Vasile learned back on the bar. "You're not bother me he said. But you can leave if you want to. I'm not meaning to make you uncomfortable."

"Well. I have a few things back at my room I want to do, anyway." Cassidy tapped her fingers together. "I'm sorry. Maybe... maybe another time." She grinned wanly, and rose, clutching the beer bottle neck so tightly her knuckles were white. "I'll see you around, I guess."

The last thing she need to deal with, on top of everything else, was someone hitting on her, especially when it probably didn't mean anything to him at all. (Of course it didn't. She was never involved in that sort thing, really). She trudged off in the direction of her own townhouse, trying not to grind her teeth.

Vasile just shook his head as he watched her go. And things seemed to have been going so well, too. He figured it best not to push, so he just watched her go, slowly nursing his beer and feeling a tad sorry for himself.

Posted: Thu Sep 22, 2005 2:17 pm

AIM RP

The Dude walked into the cafeteria in the early morning and picked up a plate of scrambled eggs and a slice of toast. Normal, non weird breakfast. Remembering the shrimp binge from yesterday still made him a tad nauseous. Stupid Vasile. And him, too. Moron. Why did he even talk to the playboy about Karma?! What if it got back to her somehow now? s**t. that was NOT what he meant to accomplish yesterday - blow the issue up.

Looking sour, he began buttering the toast.

Breakfast. What to do about breakfast? Sausages, bacon, just a little bit of toast that Cassidy wasn't even sure she could choke down, but she really wanted toast. It was worth a try, anyway. With this balanced precariously on her tray, she came into the dining area, her mouth pursed thoughtfully. She looked up, though, and saw the Dude. Grateful for some distraction from her own thoughts, she called, "Hey!" and came over.

"Can I join you?" Oh man, she never HAD apologized about her big mouth that night when they'd been drinking, had she?

The Dude looked up and smiled at Cassidy: "Hey girl! Sure, come give me some company over here" - he nodded at the chair across from him. "Glad to see you are not shy anymore. How've been? "

"I'm... well. Mostly okay." She made a face. "I'm feeling a bit better, though. Little steps, I guess." Cassidy poked at her sausages. "Look, I really am sorry about, well, the other night, when we were doing that drinking game... I think I put my foot in my mouth big time." As was quite usual for her, actually.

"Huh? Oh ... that." - the Dude poked at the scrambled egg then looked up at Cassidy: "S'not a big deal, hon. Really not that big a deal at all. I was getting drunk and that's why i left. Big cry baby - that's me" - he smiled and scratched his cheek, then took a sip of OJ.

"Oh. Well, if you're sure." Cassidy swallowed a mouthful of sausage. She was glad he was taking it okay, and not going to hold a grudge over that. That stupid mouth of hers always got her into trouble. "Other than, um, that, though. How're you doing?"

The Dude shrugged: "Ya know ... dive some, swim some, read up on sea lions some." - he put another fork full of egg into his mouth, swallowing it almost without chewing. "How about you? Met anyone nice recently?" - he grinned

"Depends on how you define 'nice,'" Cass said wryly. "This Vasile guy... well, he seems okay, but I can't figure out where I stand on him." She shook her head. "Not a bad guy, I suppose. But really, I haven't met a whole lot of new people at all."

That's what happens when you hide in your room. Bad Cassidy.

"Oh, Vasile?" - there was a wry grin on the Dude's face "I heard from Aubrey he's all the rage with the ladies. What's your hesitation, Cass?"

Taking another sip of OJ he added: "And when I say all the rage, i didn't mean he's a womanizer at all. I just meant that the ladies back on the main land think he's hot, that's all."

"He's not all the rage with me." Cassidy stabbed at her sausages. "I mean, I don't really dislike him, and sure, he's cute... but... I dunno. It's just sort of weird for me to be talking with, well, a movie star. And he's not particularly a movie star I was ever really interested in."

The Dude was pleased to hear that: "Man, you drive a tough bargain, there, Cass. Even movie stars are not good for the Canadian beauty" - he chuckled. "To be honest, he's not my type either. Me and Vasile do not really see eye to eye at all. But then again, my cat defaced his dog, so there is a bit of a baggage already."

Cassidy chuckled. "Well, I could understand him not really getting along with you, then. I'd probably be a bit annoyed, too. If I had a dog, anyway. But your cat's pretty scary."

She hesitated. "But it's hardly a matter of him not being good enough. I don't know. I hardly know him."

The Dude scratched his dreadlocks and spoke up: "My cat acted in self defense. That pooch probably tried to hump it or something, you know? I understand all too well how Captain Morgan feels, personally. I wanted to give Vasile a black eye a few times by now. Unlike captain Morgan I do understand the reprocussions for starting a fight. Looks bad. Makes a mess."

"But I'm kinda thrilled that you have not turned into a bibbering pool of star worship in front of him. Even I have to admit that the man's mighty fine looking. So all power to you, girl!" - he raised his Oj in a mock toast.

"I never got the point of worshipping actors or musicians. Especially for their looks." Cassidy shrugged. "It's either good genetics or a good plastic surgeon. Anyway, he's going to be in a bad way when he gets his second injection. He doesn't really believe in all this. So good luck to him, eh?"

"Yeah" - the Dude nodded and concentrated on his plate for a while. "It'll suck for him big time. I think his looks are everything to him, ya know? It'll be hard." He looked up at Cass with an impish grin: "He'll need a shoulder to cry on."

"If I didn't know any better, I'd swear you're trying to hook me up." Cass snorted. She popped a piece of bacon in her mouth, swallowed, and continued lightly, "Anyway. He'd probably prefer someone who wasn't green and scaly." She grimaced, despite herself; though she'd tried to make it a joke, it sort of stung.

"Me? Nah ... I want to beat him up sometimes, hon. Why would I be trying to hook you up" - the Dude feigned utter innocence. "But all this stuff about being green and scaly, hon - I don't buy it. We are all turning into strange things and I bet our tastes will change, too. I mean - Greer eats meet now, you saw her. Who knows - maybe green scales and yellow eyes will be all the rage soon." - he nodded then was quiet for a while.

"Moreau's experiment is really ... fascinating, from the psychological perspective. All these questions that pop up as we change ... Like, what makes a man - a man? Can love truly breech a species gap? What will prevail - the animal or the human part? Will we even have a soul when all this is over?" - he chuckled and shook his head "I sound like a philosopher ..."

"I suppose it is, in a way, very interesting," Cassidy agreed, if a bit grudgingly. "I like to think I'll still be me, even if in the end I'm wriggling in the the dirt." Yuck, bad image. Bad image. "But hell, in six months, am I going to be anything like I am now? Would I even know my family? I doubt they'd know me. I mean, what if this doesn't work the way they think it will? I don't much like the idea of slithering around hunting eating rats whole without any idea of who I was a few months earlier. It's all... really pretty scary. I just really wish they'd asked me or something."

"Oh yeah, I know. I'd wish they had asked, too. But you know ... if you have no clue in the end who you are, then it will not be scary. Because you wouldn't remember what you have lost. You'd be free, like animals are free." - the Dude finished his food and set the plate aside. Holding the half full OJ glass in his flipper hand he put his head on his other flipper and pondered further: "I mean, Aubrey claimed that we will still retain our intellect but I have watched myself snap a few time now, and Ambrose once completely lost it and growled at me like a wolf. So I do not think Aubrey truly knows herself what will happen ... but hey, at least our lives will not be boring you know?"

"I suppose not." Cassidy tapped at her plate with her fork, then picked up her toast. She took a bite, and to her delight, managed to swallow it without gagging. "I just... well, I just worry. How far this is going to go, you know."

"I understand" - he patted her on the shoulder. "It's one thing to be turning into a wolf, that has four limbs and is sorta still a mammal. Turning into a snake is much more drastic. I'm sorry Cass. I really am. Moreau is a monster to have done this to you." - he pocked at her scales.

"If you loose your limbs, we'll come up with a way you can read your paperbacks anyway. Don't worry. Sea lions don't have legs either, you know? So ... who knows, maybe we both will be in wheel chairs soon enough. Or maybe not." - he shrugged "No use to worry about it now, hon. So don't."

Cassidy couldn't understand how the Dude could be so... easygoing about it all. "Well, we'll both manage that, then, 'cause we'll at least have a support group ready. And we'll see what happens." She grinned, and pushed her empty plate away from her. "And maybe it... it won't be so bad after all."

Cass clapped her hands together. "Yeah. Yeah, right. It will. I think," she said, rising, "that'll I go for that exploratory hike through the jungle I was thinking about." Spiders be damned. Hell, she was scarier than anything out there. Well, most things, anyway. "I'll see you around, then?"

"Sure, Cass!" - he waved at her as she left: "And be nice to Vasile, eh? He's about to loose all he cares about ..."

Cassidy Smith

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Cassidy Smith

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Posted: Fri Sep 23, 2005 8:16 pm

The Color of Distance was one of Cassidy's favourite newer books. Her tastes in literature tended towards the 1970's and older, especially the 1950's, but this particular book was, er, from the 90's, she thought.

It was interesting. Alien planet, alien race, unlucky xenobiologist stuck on the planet after being presumed dead by her shipmates and waiting out the eight-month trip for the ship to come back...

But it had recently taken on a flavour that seemed to hit close to home.

The main character, to avoid dying from allergic reactions to alien pollen and things, was transformed by the local race into something not unlike them, against her will.

They were a race of amphibious, frog-like creatures.

So she became an amphibious, frog-like creature, and was understandably a bit upset over it, even if it did save her life.

The whole thing had once entertained Cassidy; even if she didn't particularly like frogs, she could envision these aliens as a sort of brightly-coloured tree-frog people, which was almost cute, and that was okay. However, the whole story had taken on a rather sinister overtone for her.

It was hard to read. She'd read the book countless times before, but she couldn't read it anymore. She wanted to read science fiction, not live it, and this was all just....

Cassidy had been seated on her bed for some hours, working her way through the novel with some difficulty.

Cassidy had made a decision. She was going to not be afraid anymore. She was going to try, anyway. She had taken the cloth down from the bathroom mirror, and even if she winced every time she went in, she wasn't going to purposely avoid it.

Her nightmares had been fading, lately. Not as bad. Not as many snakes. Not as many...

...better not think about it.

And she would read this book, while she worked her way through a couple sticks of pepperoni and a bag of pork rinds (weird. She'd never liked pork rinds before) and she'd read as many pages as she could before she needed to take a break.

Some chapters were worse than others.

It was a minor victory. It was a lot easier than going outside on a regular basis, but it was at least some sort of a start.

Welcome to Gaia! ::

Gaia Guilds

The Island of Dr. Moreau

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