Welcome to Gaia! ::

You've been doing quite alright for yourself recently - you haven't been having a problem with blood sugar, surprisingly.

However, that night, your dreams are very turbulent, and your center of balance in your dreams seems very askew.

What wakes you is the worst headache of your life, and your entire body aching painfully.

The wakefulness only seems to make it worse, a combination between a migraine and as if you had been cracked on the back of your head with a sledgehammer. If you reach back, surprisingly, it FEELS as if you took a large bump to the head as well - as there is a welt forming at the back of your head. But.... the pressure doesn't stop. Under your very fingertips, the welt expands. The lump is hard, and pushes out of your hairline, hairless. It's like a bad flashback of FLCL.

It's then that the offbalance seems come to more sense as your external ears have shrunk to almost nothing.

But it doesn't end there. It feels as if your little fingers are breaking, then the fingers extend to hideous lengths, very painfully.

You feel nauseous, beyond just the pain of your head and fingers, your body achy and squirmy. And you begin to become painfully aware that it's rather cold at night on the Island. You feel tired, sluggish. ((Pterodactyls were flying reptiles and cold-blooded, unlike dinosaurs))

Like Timothy and Awen, there are no new needlemarks on your skin anywhere.

The last few days... week... whichever... had almost literally been a blur on Kim. The pain eventually subsided... but was never to be forgotten, and whenever night felt, the same thing happened - she became almost totally useless... for a reason she didn't understand.

It had to be linked with her transformation, but... what the hell was she becoming ?

That thought would never leave her head. She frowned a bit to herself from her sitting at the base of a tree, calmly chewing on a mango and watching the leaves fly in the wind, and trying to forget about her long "small" fingers.

It was a little distressing that she had seen no one since Jamal... Something inside her found this worse that it had been a few days before. She was sick of being alone...

Amaya had been finding herself wandering away from the safety of her camp farther and farther each day, though it still hadn't occured to her that maybe, maybe the solitary iguana instincts were kicking in. She had been around all the others for so long, it was begining to feel rather cramped... though of course, she used the excuse of 'going out to find others' to justify her human half for what she was doing.

Sighing, she tromped rather loudly through the jungle. Her knife was tucked in the waist of her black panties, the only protection she had now that she had given Jamal her spear.

And then, there had been a sound.

She perked for a moment, sightly on her guard. Maybe it had been an animal... ? Hopefully not like the one she had seen before...

The thought sent a shiver down her spine.

She shook her head as if it could make her forget, finished her mango, and perked up.

"...Hello ?..." Maybe, just maybe...

Amaya had been walking in a daze before the voice snapped her out of it. She stopped, her loud rustling due to her large feet haulting as well. Did she just hear something or... was someone actually out here?

Green eyes looked around, but were unable to spot where it came from. Well, it wouldn't hurt to try... "Hello?"

....So there WAS someone. Thank god. That was eons better than something out to eat her prowling around.

She started heading out torward Amaya then, unknowingly, trying to spot her, even if part of her juat wanted to dissapair and hide, never to be seen like... this.

But it was stupid. Hargun hadn't hid. Awen hadn't hid. Geer hadn't hid. Why the hell would she ? They where all in the same proverbial boat.

Yet, her mind still debated this, but she forced it away for a moment. Hopefully, this would be more... pleasant... than her last encounter with an human being had been.

Turning her head to look in the direction where the shuffling was coming from, Amaya waited in the spot where she was. Whoever was out there was coming to her, no need to move. Though if she could remember... the voice did not seem familiar at all.

Eventually Kim came out of the brush to face her rather... scale covered back. Tail twitching, she turned her head around to look at her. "Oh... hey." She said timidly, waving a large hand in greeting.

Kim had no special reaction to this, asside an eyebrow raising sightly. She was starting to be pretty used to see things she didn't think she'll ever see around here, after all.

A little more animal-like than she was... some kind of lizard for sure - Kim was starting to notice there seemed to actually be a step in between what she had been and most of the people she had met that where along the transformation, save Joliette.

She pushed it all away to ponder later, giving a shy smile and waving back... trying to find a way to bend her finger so that it didn't look so long next to the rest of her hand on pure instinct, and falling pretty badly at it. Her hairs where loose due to the... errr... bump on top of her hair, and some lenght seemed to have been chopped ratter inequally from the bottom, so they ended at the end of back.

To anyone who had seen how long her hairs had been before, this would be a shock.

"Hey..." Crap, she didn't know what to say. Stupid akward moments... "...How it's going ?"

The iguana-girl couldn't help but laugh at how awkward everything was at the moment. After her small chuckle, she turned back around and held out one of her huge hands... the girl seemed to be changing too, so hopefully she wouldn't be too disgusted.

"My names Amaya and... I guess I'm doing alright. What about you? Are you all alone out here?" Until now she hadn't realized how much her large feet had made her grow... the girl was almost five inches shorter then her, but looked older.

Kim didn't really seem to mind, or notice, being used to being shorter than almost anything that walked as is. Neither did she seem really disgusted after the initial "shock" wore off.

"I guess im as good as I can be while lost in a jungle, with a bump the size of a building and fingers the size of palmtrees." All said in a too-cheerful tone that almost made her giggle imediatly afterward with how silly it sounded. "And yeah, im alone, pretty much... Havn't seen anyone since I woke up... I was starting to get a bit worried."

Amaya smirked slightly and the finger comment. "I know the feeling." She flexed her own, then raised a brow at the thought of whoever this was, was out here alone.

"You've been alone out here?" She guessed by blackout, she meant when they had first been dragged outside. "Jeeze... well, are you hungry or have you been doing alright?" Despite not knowing this woman, she definatly seemed concerned.

"Well... yeah, I've been doing allright..." She admitted, sliding into her habit to curl a lock of hair around a now much longer finger. "...Which is odd actually. So many things could have gone wrong by now, with how I am... I have the worst sence of direction in the planet... I got back to the duplexes once, but then I came back in here and been going in circles." She seemed sightly embarassed by this.

..OH ! "Man, how silly of me... My name is Kim, I don't think I met you before ?"

She smiled with a nod. "It's nice to meet you and no, I don't think we've met..." Amaya trailed off for a moment, looking around before looking North, the way she had come. "I stay at a camp north of the river." Once again, she pointed a long, clawed finger in that direction. "I could take you back if you want. We have meat and little lean-tos to sleep in. Safety in numbers, y'know?"

Oh. god. Meat. *_*

Even if right now she wanted fish more than anything else in the world...

"Ill'd like that, actually. I... don't really want to be alone anymore... expecially at night. So many things just became ******** up..." She sighed a bit, then shook her head, stoping herself before she could go on. "...Yeah... ill'd really appreciate it."

The lizard-girl nodded and turned, motioning for Kim to follow as she once again brought someone back to camp. Though this time the person really needed it instead of moving from one camp to another.

"It's no problem. Ambrose and I have sort of made it our job to go out and look for people recently, make sure everyone is alright." Though whether she knew him or not, she didn't know. So just in case, she listed the people she remembered incountering. "So far in our camp there's me, Ambrose, Greer, Angelina, Emelyn, Vasile, Cassidy... and... I think that's it as far as I know..." She trailed off in thought, before adding. "And so far I've come across Awen and Jamal. Awen says that her, Lauren, Chubbs and Joliette are staying together and Jamal is staying with a woman named Antony."

Now she finally stopped talking, glancing back at Kim while leading her through the brush and wondering if she knew of any of the people she had listed.

Kim followed ratter hapilly, relief at the way the situation was turning apparent on her face. This would be so much, so much better... She had grown out of her "im-a-b***h-leave-me-alone" moments a long time ago and she had been far too scared latly.

She listened as Amaya started talking about others, most of the names being lost on her while a few did hit closer to home, and she gave a small, relieved sigh when the younger girl had finished talking.

"...Maybe no one got too severly hurt, then." She didn't know how many people where on this island... but the girl had just listed alot. "That's good... So many bad things could have happened in our situation, really. Im really glad to know that, even if I havn't met them all... Someone being hurt is never a good thing."

She paused a bit then, then made a small smile.

"Yeah, me too... there is a lot that could happen out here." Amaya nodded, luckily nothing that could have physically hurt her had happened... yet. Our of superstition, she knocked on a tree while walking by one. A knock-on-wood gesture picked up from her father.

Though now with nothing else to really say, she tried to access what the woman had been going through all this time alone. "So where did you wake up when they moved all of us?"

Kim laughed a bit, and knocked on the same tree as she passed next to it, knowing well what it meant. She was so glad, so happy to have someone to talk to, that she didn't realise she was about to almost throw her life story at Amaya.

"I woke up at the bottom of a mountain... with a ratter... pissed Jamal on top, actually. He was ticked off, he got me ticked off, it wasn't pretty... so I just went my way eventually because I was sick of hearing him. Better that than starting a fight." That, and she never felt confortable near a man with drugs. "I managed to get back, as I said, to find everything locked... Not even trying to break a window worked... so I went back in here and searched for others. I didn't really... manage it, as you can see." She gave a nervous laugh, then turned serious again. "...At first it wasn't too bad... I was really ticked, and... oh, hell, you're a girl, you understand what I mean." Lovely time of the month. "...But things began... getting bad. Im diabetic... and I ran out of insulin." She instinctively pointed to the black strap-on bag that hung on her hips. "I tend to get low blood sugar in the night so I always have some on me... But yet, I dunno, im not... I mean, I passed out once or twice, but it's like it's stablising itself somehow. Then I saw..." Did they all know... ?

"I saw some kind of deer in the woods. A deer... with feathers and a beak. I got really freaked out..."

She felt into sillence again, but it lasted longer. Talking about this... even to basically a perfect stranger... might help. Therapy by talking, they say... It was better out than in.

"...I just transformed all of sudden, out of nowhere. No needle marks asside my own... It was so scary, and it hurted so much... And when it was all over... it was like everything became so cold, that I just fainted on the spot. The same kind of thing happens every night now... I mean, I don't faint anymore, I guess shock helped... but I just... I dunno. It's like I can't think... I just slow down."

Amaya didn't interupt Kim's story, allowing her to talk would help her. "Well, it's good to know you didn't hurt yourself in the mountain. I woke up on the helicopter pad where... I found the helicopter had crashed if you didn't know already. There were two charred bodies inside. I screamed... and... that's when Ambrose found me. Ever since then we've been finding others and making a camp. We've even checked the labs. Locked up tight with no sign of any staff." She let out a small sigh, but kept walking.

The iguana-girl winced at the thought of being diabetic and having to stay out here so long. She could have died for heaven's sake. What the hell was Moreau thinking, throwing them to the wind? He was such a cruel b*****d. She scorwled just thinking about him, biting back the hiss that threatened to come forth.

"A deer with feathers?" She blinked, pausing for a moment to look back at Kim. "That sounds sickingly familiar... only a few days ago I was out with Greer and we found what looked to be a rat... bird... thing. It was so pathetic and in so much pain... we ended up killing it and burrying it." Her head droped at the remembrance of the poor creature.

"And, as much as I hate to say it... I think your cold-blooded now." Amaya frowned, looking back to the woman. It was such a horrible thing to befall someone. "I am too. When it gets too cold, my mind gets all hazzy and my body just... shuts down."

She listened as well, and almost stopped clean when she mentionned the bodies. "What ? Oh... oh my god. That's horrible..." She swallowed the lump that was forming in her troat. "...Any idea... who ?"

"It didn't... look pained actually. It just kinda looked at me... then left. It was so wierd... I can't really explain what happened there. It was just... so wierd and surreal. But I know I havn't dreamed it... All the... dreams I've gotten since I came here focused on flying..." She had no idea if anyone else actually had dreams like her. "...You did the right thing, if it was in pain... but even then, I don't think I could have brought myself to kill it. I've been living off fruit since this whole thing started. I could never bring myself to kill another living being... even if it would be the right thing."

An eyebrow rose sightly, trying to stay focused on Amaya - it was relatively easy now that she was so close, but she had to make sure she didn't get out of the radius where her sight started blurring too much. "Cold-blooded... ?" ...Well, damnit. She hadn't thought about that one second... And she had to admit... "...It makes sence, actually." The woman felt a bit dumb for not thinking about it. "That's exactly what's been happening to me... Kinda like how frogs fall asleep in winter or something ?" ...This was odd. So odd.

"...That's seriously making me wonder what kind of reptile has creepy fingers like this, however." It wasn't hard to see that they where what was bothering her the much out of the whole thing.

"No... I really don't know." The lizard-girl said, frowning. "Not even clothes were left on them... but we've come up with a few theories. Some thing it might have been an escape attempt... or maybe that big guy crashed on his way to bring in a new subject." She shrugged a little. "It leaves so many questions unsolved though..."

She continued to listen to Kim, adding her own thoughts as they walked. "Yeah, I didn't kill it myself... Greer actually did." Putting her foot down on a vine, she grabbed it with her toes and pulled it out of the way before going on.

"I thought the same thing after me... first change." Amaya said with a tiny wince. "My fingers and toes grew a lot the first time, and even more the second." She frowned, holding them out in front of her and flexing them before dropping them to her sides once more. "I didn't know I was... turning into a green iguana until after the second time." A pause, green eyes glancing back at Kim. "I really dunno what you could be turning into... I'm sorry."

"That's so odd..." She sighed a bit. "It's allright. Im not... too sure I want to know. But at the same time I do. It's... really ******** up. It's just wierd, really... it was only this one that grew, the rest didn't. At least not as much."

She was really thinking for a moment, extending her arm and pulling the fingers as far away as she could, a shape almost similar to a bat wing shape. "...Hm."

And it was when she walked right into a tree that the longer finger came in collision with, and she let out a yielp of pain as she withdrew. "Ha, how smart... Ow..."

Someone needed an ajustment in distance calculation.

"Huh... well... once we get back into the duplexes, maybe you can find a book that might point you in the rig-" She spun around at the sound of the collision, stiffling a laugh. "Oh jeeze, you okay?"

"Yeah..." Didn't look like it was broken, with how relatively painless it was to bend it. "Without my glasses, I have the distance perception of a coconut."

This would, of course, had sounded better if coconuts could actually... see.

"Smacked hard, but I don't think I hurt anything. I better get used to it." She siffed a laugh.

Amaya laughed, though turned to start walking again once the woman seemed to be doing fine. "Yeah, we all have a lot to get used to... I've had to adjust to being out and about in only my underwear." Another nervous laugh as they came upon the river. She stopped and creeped down to the edge.

"Can you swim? It gets a little deep in the center." Green eyes looked back at Kim, one large foot already in the water.

"Oh, you can't tell me im much better." Her shirt, beaten up and full of holes allready, was not getting any better, and she was unfortunaly lacking a bra - thanksfuly that area was still covered just fine. Her leave skirt was missing a few leaves, and, upon sight of the river, ditched it outright, revealing pink panties. Hey, they where both woman, anyway. And whatever male population back there was probably used to seeing panty shots by now.

"Yeah, I can swim just fine." She followed in, the coolness sending a tiny chill up her spine, but it overall wasn't too bad.

"Yeah, and I know someone who came into our camp nude. I've never been so thankful for clothes. Though no names will be given out." The iguana-girl smirked before wading as far she could into the river, then once she couldn't stand anymore she plunged under and quickly swam to the other side. One thing her hands and feet were good for, they were kind of like big paddles.

Kim couldn't help it.

She laughed. And she laughed hard.

"Oh my GOD." Snrk. "Oh, that's awful... I figure that person managed to solve that problem ?"

Oh, that was just awful, yet she couldn't stop laughing. She only managed to when she almost accidentally shallowed a mouthful of water, swimming much slower that Amaya did. Her hands made it a bit more akward... But she still swam just fine.

Amaya haden't had enough time to respond to her, but she did once she popped up on the other side and waited for Kim. "Yeah, thankfully another 'camp member' was able to lend her a shirt."

"Oh, thank god... I think I would have died if it had happened to me." She was embarassed just by thinking about it.

She came out about a minute or so after, instinctively staring to squeeze water out of her long hairs. The "bath" had been much welcome, and had gotten rid of most of the leaves that had wound up tangeled.

"I second that." She nodded and waited for Kim to finish squeezing out her immensly long hair before walking up the bank. "Camp is just a short walk away now."

After making sure Kim was following, she began to trek through the jungle again. Though it did seem like this side of the river had been more 'used'. It wasn't long at all, maybe 10 or 15 minutes before she brought Kim to their little camp.

"Welcome home, I guess." She smiled and gestured around to the wooden lean-tos, small fire, weapons, smoked meat and fruit, almost everything someone needed to survive seemed in plentiful supply. "You can stay here for as long as you want."

"Thank you... Thanks alot." She didn't know if she could ever be able to put into words how much this meant to her. She wasn't alone anymore... Things would be okay.

Her first instinct was to curl up near the fire and fall asleep... she visibely had a bit to catch up in that area.

Rain. Stupid, stupid rain.

Cass was cold and miserable and more than a little out of it, due to the temperature. She had the irresistable urge to crawl away somewhere and sleep until it was warm again. Somewhere... high.

She was settling for hugging herself in the doorway of the shelter, trying to bury herself in sparse, damp feathers, watching the rain.

Unknowingly, someone nearby was agreeing with that train of mind.

Kim looked very much like a wet cat as she made her way a bit sluggishly out of the jungle, carrying an armload of fruits. Ever since soon after her transformation, the weather had just been shitty. This was a tropical island, where the hell was the WARMTH ?!?

It was useless to try to wring the water out of her mane of hair now, so she didn't bother. The white Megaman shirt she was wearing clung like hell with the effects all known to wet white shirts, but she didn't care. All she wanted right now was somewhere nice and dry and WARM before she lost focus and did something completely retarded. Thanksfully, the shelter was in sight, and she didn't hesitate, as much as she hated gatherings.

She waved to Cass as well as someone with an armload of fruits could - she had seen her a few times, but they hadn't really talked or anything. Some kind of snake, it seemed... Odd how there seemed to be alot of reptiles.

Someone had a very shitty sence of humor.

Cass looked up, her tongue flickering.

"Oh! Hi! Come on, get out of the rain, quick."

She shifted over to let Kim inside. She'd seen her around a bit, too, though she wasn't entirely sure of her name. She smelled, to Cass's sensitive tongue, very odd indeed.

"What are you doing out here? It's crazy."

Cassidy didn't need to say so twice, as the asian girl was inside the second she had enough space to do so.

"Yeah, I know." Kim answered, letting the fruits in a corner where they would stay dry, before gladly letting herself tumble down on her knees and starting to wring water out of her long hairs. "But I thought we could use some more fruits... The rain was worse that I expected it to be. Took me forever to come back..." She sighed. "That was really stupid indeed."

"It's awful. I hope it stops soon." She punctuated this with a soft, disgusted hiss, and then looked annoyed at herself. "I'm Cassidy. I don't think I know your name."

Those fingers were... something else. But, really, so was she. She couldn't judge... it still puzzled her, however. She couldn't think what sort of creature would have hands like that.

"Seconded on that well placed hiss." Kim made a face as her fingers kept getting tangeled in her hairs and growled a bit in frustration either. Augh, this sucked. So. Much. And she hadn't played any videogames for so long, it annoyed her. Far on the bottom of the worry list, but STILL. Days seemed to go on forever when you had nothing to distract yourself, even if she had lost track of the date... Her brithday had probably passed by now. "Figure the weather gets sucky when I become unable to stand it too well. Pleased to meet you however.. Im Kim."

She managed to untangle the knot a bang had made around one of those ridiculously long fingers and shifted to sit against one of the "walls", facing Cassidy. She had never seen a snake with feathers before... But then she couldn't recall an animal with alien freaking fingers.

"I suppose that would be how it works, yes. Murphy's Law, and all that. Nice to meet you."

It took a moment for the full impact of Kim's statement to hit her. "Hold on. You're not cold-blooded too, are you?" Cass frowned slightly. That really baffled her. She'd been at least able to identify herself as a snake right off, but Kim's transformation was really odd. "And you went out in the rain anyway? I can barely get myself to move in the mornings."

She would have whistled in appreciation, but her fangs would not allow that.

"Yeah. At least, that's the conclusion I came to with Amaya..." The other girl seemed to know alot of people, so the name probably wouldn't be lost on the other girl. "I completely warp out when it gets too cold. It's freaky as hell. But I guess you know all about that too, uh ? Took alot of kicking myself in the a** to get up this morning."

She shook her head a bit, throwing the wet bangs in the back. "...Whatever im turning into is reallllyyyy screwed up, I figure. Some kind of flying lizard I guess... I keep having dreams of flying. My hand kinds of look like a bat's without the skin in between the fingers if you stare at it long enough I guess... But I keep having dreams of volcanoes and things, no towns, no buildings, no nothing... It's creepy."

"A... flying lizard. Strange." Cass tilted her head. "I almost wonder if.... well, I went and asked them right out what they were turning me into. And they mentioned that there were other hybrids than me on the island." She shook her head. "Maybe not. But it's the only think I can think of."

She shifted, pulling her stubby legs under her. "Can't say I've been dreaming about volcanoes, though. Trees, mostly."

"Hybrids... ?" Kim had not seen any of those... Well, asside Cass. The feathers where starting to make some sence now. "You mean they've been mixing animals for some people ?"

Auuugh. As if the initial idea wasn't bad enough.

"Maybe, I don't know... But at any rate it's so... odd. I don't think ill ever get used to this." She mumbled, staring at her fingers.

"Just an idea. Maybe there is some sort of flying lizard I'm not aware of." She shrugged dismissively. "I'm not sure who else, though. They wouldn't tell me that. If things were... hell, if Moreau was still around, I'd suggest just asking. But..."

Cass glanced at Kim's hands, then shifted herself again so she wasn't sitting on what were until recently her feet. "You... get sort of used to that sort of thing," she said, trying to be reassuring. "You adjust. Eventually."

"I guess so... It's not like we got any choice in the matter. We can either accept it, or spend the rest of our lives miserable... I think ill ratter accept it." She smilled a bit. "It still feel so wierd to me, but I know it's not as bad as it used to be allready."

Maybe a better subject on conversation would be a good idea.

"So, hmm... What do you like ?"

"Mm?" Cassidy looked up, her tongue flickering again. "What do I like? Er. Well. I don't know. I like to read. Science fiction, mostly. Swimming, movies. I used to like snow," she added, with a laugh. "Which was good for Vanderhoof, since we got lots there. But I don't think I'd like snow so much anymore."

Kim couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Ill'd guess so too. I never really liked snow myself... But we didn't really get much of it. I like books too... But I don't read as much as I should. Science-fiction is good, but im more into mangas." Kim tiled her head a bit, looking pensive. "My big thing would be video games. Im a total junkie... Even used to make 'em. Well, studied to do so. Music too... Any kind of music, any country, I like almost anything."

"I was never hugely into video games, though I did used to play the odd computer game." She coughed. "Well, more than the 'odd' one. But not so much anymore. I couldn't afford a decent computer for it, you see." She shrugged.

"But... mangas.... what're those?" Cassidy frowned a little.

Kim didn't seem too surprised. "Mangas are japanese comics, pretty much. They're read right to left instead of left to right, and the drawing style is very different that what you usually see in american comics... I prefer those. Ill lend you a few if we can ever get back in our duplexes again." At least they wheren't out in the RAIN like she was.

"And I can understand that... Keeping up to date with computers is pretty much impossible. That's why im more of a console person... More time to get money at least. But since my work was going to require keeping my computer as up to date as possible, I was going to be able to get tax returns on parts and everything related to my computer that I brought. I was right about to start working for a major game company when I came here..." She sighed. "But I guess that can't be helped."

"Oh." Cassidy really couldn't help imagining anything other than Pokemon or Sailor Moon in comic book form--that was really the extent of her experience with anime. Not a lot of interest for her. Still, she said, "Sure, maybe," if only out of politeness.

"I had a friend with a Playstation, when I was in high school, but I never did get the hang of that." She shrugged. "But, no worries. I'm sorry about your job, though. That's... that's really awful."

"Yeah... But I got over it. Im hoping a friend of mine got it... I think he was second in line for it." She shrugged. "They must have made up some bullshit reason why I havn't come back yet... I mean, I was only supposed to be here for one month, and it's sure been a lot more time that that."

"I was supposed to be working here," Cass said. "It was a nice little hotel resort, I was going to be a housekeeper, I know it doesn't sound like much but it would have been the best job I'd ever had, and.... I don't know what my family thinks. Maybe, as far as they know, I just went off to some island and never wrote to them, never came back around Christmas like we hoped." She sighed.

"Mom..." She sighed. "I don't know how she took it... It was really hard on her when dad died... I was the only thing that she had left. She might have killed herself and ill never know... But it might be better that way." She didn't need more reasons to be down, after all.

"I'm sorry. I hope she's okay."

At least, she had to suppose, her parents still had her sister. And maybe someone had at least thought to tell them that the plane went down.

She hoped.

"I don't suppose it's very likely we'll ever get back to our old lives. Even if we get off this damn island, most of us will be so... changed. I certainly can't go back to my old job. Can you imagine this face in the checkout line at the grocery store?" She gestured to herself with a half-hearted grin.

"That'll sure be entertaining. And can you see me typing code at some kind of decent speed ?" She smilled, wriggling her fingers. "As sad as it sounds, we're better here... It's near impossible for most of the people who changed to be able to re-integrate society... More so because most people are assholes that can't handle differences." Kim began trying to pull the water out of her hair again. "First think we'll know we would have maniacs no better to Moreau trying to study us like if we dropped from another planet. I've been wondering about trying to find a way out, but that was before I changed... And I changed without an injection, so even if I had managed it... Maybe I would have changed anyway. And then ill'd be in serious s**t, you know ? It's probably better for her to think im dead than to know the truth."

Hopefully that had made some kind of sence.

"Without an injection," Cassidy murmured. "I do wonder how they managed that." She suppressed a shudder by clutching her shoulders tightly. She'd sort of hoped she'd be safe from any more changes for a while. She didn't relish the idea of changing with... people... everywhere.

"I couldn't go home, anyway... it gets cold where I grew up." She rubbed her eyes. "At least, most of the time, it's been decently warm here... not now... I just want to sleep all the time..."

"Yeah, me too. The last few days have just been bad. At least I was deep in the jungle when it happened." For that, boy she was GLAD. "But it was also at night... So I completely lost north and blacked off."

Kim did look a bit sleepy herself, with her chin rested on her knees and the river of black framing her face. Her slanted eyes where squinted, but that seemed mostly so she could at least manage to see Cass with some kind of decentness. It was amazing that she didn't had any headache yet... She usually did when she went without her glasses for too long.

"You all right?" Cass asked. "I have to imagine that after getting as wet as you did, you'd be pretty cold. I'm cold, and I've just been sitting here."

She paused, then mumbled, "I just always want to sleep, now."

"Been worse." Discovering her diabetes came to mind. "But definitively been better. Ill'd take a nap right about now..." She yawned a bit.

"Just until it stops raining," Cass said, also yawning. She tried to shake herself awake, but she was moving slowly, and the movement was ineffectual.

She laid her head down on the ground. "Don't mind me. Really..."

By then, Kim had her eyes closed and had seen none of it, really. The only sign that she wasn't asleep was when she answered.

"Dum mind me 'either..."

[ Message temporarily off-line ]

Kim was... sleeping. Yes, sleeping. All night gaming = sleep most of the day. Of course. Yesss.

That plan was well over it's course, until an helicopter decided it was time to start flying over the village. The girl stirred, muttered some choice words, and slammed a pillow over her head as if it could mute the sound. Of course, that didn't help much, yet a few cells of her half-asleep brain connected to form the thought that maybe, just maybe, this helicopter was flying closer than usual. Kim didn't really care much, helicopters could start farting pink elephants if they wanted, as long as they let her SLEEP.

"PRISONERS OF THE ISLAND - WE HAVE GOTTEN WORD OF YOUR SITUATION. NICHOLAS MOREAU IS BEING APPREHENDED FOR HIS CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY, AND BACKUP IN EN ROUTE TO FREE YOU AND RETURN YOU TO YOUR HOMES AND FAMILIES. EXPECT TRANSPORTATION OFF THE ISLAND AT 1900 HOURS."

URGH, WHAT ? Well, visibely sleeping was a sin in there. After that initial reaction, she listened... and couldn't believe the words she was hearing. What ? No, really... What ? A part of her brain debated this - this seemed too good to be true. Way too good. But what if it WAS true ? There was no way she could know...

She sat in her bed and put her glasses on, then peeked out her window just in time to see the helicopter fly away, and being able to see the Marines writting on it. Hm... It could be someone turning the proverbial needle into the wound... She wouldn't put it past the staff. After those months in the jungle, it seemed that they had a very sick sence of humor. Or it could be true. They could be free. They could go home. The normal people, maybe... but what about the people who changed ?

While believing it only halfaway, Kim started to fold things in her bag. If it was true, she would ready... if it was just a sick joke, bags could be easely undone and she could play twice as much FPS than usual in order to wind up not breaking a window.

It was in an attempt to drag herself out of whatever hermit rut that took her over that Kim was currently walking around the village, enjoying the feeling of the sun on her skin. It was only when she got closer that she finally noticed the signs. Colche's brithday ? Well, it would just be polite to go... even if she didn't have a present.

She could always think of something.

She made her way in a slow, relaxed pace, hands in the pockets of her dark red pants, and then smiled when she saw the little cheetah girl.

"Colche !" She waved, making her way inside at least. "Ohhh, you look so pretty in that dress !" Like a little princess, she couldn't help but think, even if she had heard none of it.

"Food sounds... and smells! wonderful, Colche!" Ambrose helped himself to a paper plate and a couple of burgers and hot dogs, finally garnishing the plate with one of the turret cupcakes from one of the walls, and sat down on one of the couches with a wide smile.

"So what does the birthday girl want to do on her big day?" He queried the cheetah princess as he looked up to see the newcomer.

She looked vaguely familiar, but he could't put his finger on it. Embarrassed the name didn't leap to mind, and that he had a mouth full of hotdog he gave her a headbob as he lifted his hand in greeting.

Colche turned her blue eyed gaze to the door once more. It wasn't amaya but it was Kim. She was happy that people were coming. No doubt under all that fluffy fur she blushed, she at least looked a touch embarressed, though her smile never faded. She loved the dress, it made her feel like a princess and it being affirmed was lovely for her.

She gave a beautiful grin to Kim before turning to Ambrose with his question in mind. what did she want to do on her birthday? Her little pink tongue stuck out just a touch and she looked very thoughtful her baby blue eyes looking to the ceiling for inspiration "I wanna dance" she smiled "Like cinderella" a puurr echoed at this statement She loved her stories and the thoguth of dancing like a princess, in a gown fit for cinderella, she wanted to dance.

Nita waved a little Ambrose, recognizing him from both the beach bar and Fee's party, although she couldn't remember his name. She snagged a slice of pizza and retreated to a corner to observe the party. She didn't really know why, but her usual shyness (which had somewhat ceased for the past couple of weeks) had returned.

She returned Ambrose's gesture with a wave, herself seeming to be rummaging trough her memory to find a name, idely reaching out for a slice of seafood pizza. A wolf, uh. Wolf, wolf, wolf...

She remember a wolf-person at the camp she wound up at during the lockout, yet no name would come to mind still. But she was sure she had seen him before. Aargh ! She seemed a bit embarassed as well, but then focused on what Colche said.

"Dance, uh ? Oh, that would be lovely, yes !" She smilled, but then turned a bit pensive, tapping her chin in thought almost comically with her long finger. "Ah, but you need a prince to dance with, don't you ? Like Cinderella and her prince." She mused... but then her brown, almond-shaped eyes felt on Ambrose, and she couldn't help but grin a bit at the idea that entered her mind.

Ambrose smiled widely to Nita as well after he finished his bite of food. He remembered her much more vividly from the two drinking escapedes. "Good to see you again as well." He said, swallowing hastily.

He smiled at Colche's request and noted as the other woman with the long dark hair looked at him pointedly. He quickly realized that yes, he was the only male in the room.

But he wouldn't shirk from his duty. He stood up dashingly, and extended a hand to Colche. "Would you honor me with a dance, milady?" He said with flaire that came from having watched far too many period swashbuckling moives.
As a small aftermention, he winked. "Even if it's from your 'big brother' today, and not your prince?"

Madison strolled in the village center and noticed that some commotion was going on inside the rec room. Curiously, she opened the door to peek in. It was astounding at what lay before her eyes. Why, a Disney themed party perfect for a princess. She caught sight of a banner that read the name 'Colche'. Madison had heard of Colche but never met her before.

The smell of free food encircled her nostrils and she began to salivate. Nothing was more tastier than food that was free.. She wondered if perhaps she might be welcome to it. Her eyes nearly bulged out of her head when she saw a red haired woman eating pizza in a corner of the lavish room.


Colche giggled in a very girly manner. She had watched enough disney movies and other cartoons and read enough fairy tales to take an offered hand of a prince. She nodded a little shyly. She'd only danced by herself after all, but she had seen cinderella do it. resting her furry fingers on the blond, wolf mans shoulders she rester her arm on his and smiled brightly. "bestest big brother" she whispered, with one of those oh so sweetly innocent smiles spread on ehr face. She paused to glance at the door. "Hai" she called though her attention was soon back to Ambrose. A new person she didn't know, but she wanted to dance, just like cinderella.

Madison stopped in her tracks. Where was her manners? Ever since she began to transform all she could think about was eating. This was the party of someone named Colche. She wondered if perhaps the lovely cheetah girl dancing in the princess dress was her. It was an intelligent guess since this girl also had a party hat. Madison usually did not make assumptions but so many clues were pointing to the obvious.

Suddenly Madison saw that the dancing girl locked eyes with her and called out a greeting. She looked so enchanting the way she danced with the tall wolf fellow. Madison suddenly remembered that she knew him as well.

"Hello! Happy birthday Colche!" Madison said with a smile. The pizza was still making her hungry but she wanted to greet the party host first, which was more important than stuffing her face.

Nita grinned, watching Colche getting ready to dance. It really was too sweet. She got up to grab a napkin and a drink and resettled herself, sitting cross-legged on her chair.

A flash of red hair caught her eye, belonging to a rather attractive young woman with distinctively vulpine features. A woman who was basiclly goggling at her. Nita flushed, wondering if she had a smear of sauce on her face or something, and raised a hand to check. The gesture could almost be interpreted as a wave.

Alec could hear the noise from a fair ways outside the rec room, wondering what the ruccus was about and how he could possibly make it worse. Grinning at that thought, the teen swung open the door only to visually bombarded with streamers, balloons and all the bright colours of a girl's birthday party. "Birthdeh." He hummed and looked around but realized quickly that he didn't know most of the crowd. He nearly smacked right into Madison without knowing it.

"Tha th' birthdeh girl?" He muttered loud enough for anyone near him to hear as he swaggered deeper into the room, spotting the food and Ambrose dancing with a young feline girl in a dress.

Kim smilled at the sight, a bit glad that Ambrose seemed to have understood without words, finishing her pizza and turning to find something to drink, waving at the two redhead, one after the other. She wasn't shy perse, but she much prefered that the other side started the conversation first.

Finally, she found some diet pepsi, and that suited her just fine, as she leaned against the table and took a sip, watching the princess and her "prince".

At least she didn't have to pull an Utena... even if would have been funny.

Her gaze shifted away from the birthday girl and over to the pizza holding woman who casually waved to her. Madison felt this may be an invitation to join her and eat pizza.

Nodding to Colche and the dancing fellow, Madison strolled over to the woman while making sure her tail did not knock over anything.

Ambrose spun the cheetah girl around the dancefloor gracefully, glad that there was some music in the background - even if not necessarily the most appropriate accompanyment. Some disney tunes could be danced to, others were.... not so easy.

But he moved with a practiced grace that came from a lot of physical training on the fencing piste. With Colche's long legs and cheetah blood, she made for a good partner, even if quite inexperienced.

"You dance very well, Colche!" HE smiled at her. He kept his attention on her, as it should be for the dance, though he noted out of the corner of his eyes that more people were arriving, which was good. Most of them were people he had only seen in passing, like at the recent drinking parties, or weren't familiar to him much at all. The fox-woman seemed familiar, but if so it must have been a very long time ago... and like all the islanders who had been here a while, had changed. He didn't remember any foxes other than Vasile.

Well, so much for being unsocial. Nita chewed quickly and took a sip of her drink to clear her mouth. "Hi," she said, once she wasn't in any danger of spitting pizza at someone. "I'm Nita."

She nodded back at the Asian girl, who appeared mostly normal except for a painful-looking bump on her head and ridiculously long pinkies. Nita curled her own fingers towards her palms, getting a weird sort of sympathetic feeling in the digits.

"Im Kim." She answered, idely pushing her glasses bac in front of her eyes. She hated how they tended to slip down at the littelest movement on her eyes. If she had even noticed the redhead's finger movement, she let nothing show of it, instead leaning back on the wall next to Nita, sipping her soft drink slowly and watching the two dances.

She wished she had a prince sometimes, as well... but ah, not the time to think about any of that.

Colche smiled brightly. certainly the cheetahs grace came through in leaps and bounds as she danced with Ambrose. Happy ehr big brother was there to make at least one of her birthday wishes come true. Her gaze shifted every so often spotting the new people arriving. Some of them she didn't know, some wheer even unchanged. they must be new, but they mostly looked happy. She was glad of that. This was her home and she loved it and she liked it if people were happy when they were here.

Puuring softly her big deep blue eyes rested upon Ambrose happily "Thank you" she whispered with a smile. She was determined to be a good dancer. Maybe she could ask Aubrey about it. She did so enjoy singing and dancing even if she hadn't been taught the cheetahs natural grace saw her through pretty well. The song changed to one she knew and she hummed softly occasionally breaking through with a few sweet voiced bars "I know you I walked with you once upon a dream" Sleeping beauty, another princess she knew. Her smile refused to fade and she was happy to dance as long as Ambrose wasn't getting fed up or tired. Maybe after this dance she would open her presents. Curiosity was starting to get the better of her.

Madison grabbed some pizza on the way over to the pretty readhead who greeted her. Nita was such an interesting name and Madison wondered if perhaps it was short for something.

"It's nice to meet you, Nita. My name is Madison" she said between bites of pizza. She then blinked at the dancing duo again.

Colche looked so cute and Madison felt bad that she did not have a gift for her. 'Maybe I can give her something later if I can find anything' she whispered.



Alec shrugged, assuming himself correct. The punk teen went off in a saunter towards the dancing pair only to tap Colche on thee shoulder. "'appeh Birthdeh." He gave a small smile and quickly skittered to the side as to not disturb the two. As he helped himself to some pizza (after shoving a cupcake into his mouth), the teen stopped in his tracks. Grey eyes shifted to the pile of presents that sat adjacent to him. "A' fook. A' got nun gift." He muttered after swallowing the sugary treat, stomach churning as if he'd just eaten poison. Mind began frantically searching for a possible gift back in his duplex... clothes, CDs, the teen had nothing a sweet little girl would like.

Snatching his plate, he retreated to a corner. "Crap." he wished Amaya or Rex was there. Maybe he'd be able to swipe something off of them. It was then he noticed his red-haired neighbor chatting nearby and made an effort to remain unnoticed.


"You are mighty welcome, Colche." Ambrose's smile widened at the compliment and the change of songs. He remembered watching Sleeping Beauty with the girl, and it seemed very appropriate. It had been Aurora's birthday in the movie that day as well when she danced with her prince.

Ambrose didn't remember the words precisely, but he hummed it a bit as they twirled about the rec room. All in all, it might have looked somewhat silly... or strange. A cat dancing with a dog - both dressed nicely, with little paper party hats, in a room of flashing arcade machines. But they didn't care. It was a day to not think of things, but to enjoy being there, feeling healthy, and celebrate Colche's happiness - the one girl on the Island Ambrose was truly happy for her being there. To her, and perhaps only her, this was an island paradise, or a disney movie come to life.

Ambrose had had time to get used to his new feet, and surprsingly, he thought idly to himself as he stepped around with her, if anything he was more graceful with them. After all, people run or dance on their toes - and now his legs were built to always be on his toes. Perhaps he wouldn't have to give up fencing - even for practice - after all.

"So what did you wish for for your birthday?" He smiled at her as the song's words faded.

"Wish?" Colche tilted ehr head lightly. Was she to get a wish for her birthday too? Like aladdin fromt he genie? Blinking a few times, she waited for the blond haired wolf man to alliviate her confusion, he usually did.

She paused to look at Alec and smiled, giving a little nod and a giggle. She didn't know the guy but he had a funny voice which amused her rather more than perhaps it should have. She was just so happy to be there.

Her ears flickered a few times and her gaze fell on all the people filtering in to her party. She needed to speak to them all and know them before the day was over but for now the dance was most important and this wish. What could she possibly wish for? She had everything she ever wanted and more, she had things she had never dreamed nor imagined having.

"Kim, Madison," Nita repeated, filing away the names and faces. That usually worked for her, although she still couldn't remember the dancing wolf-man's name.

"She's cute, isn't she," Nita said, following Madison's gaze. "And I wouldn't worry too much about a gift... I just made her something real quick." She pointed towards the table of gifts, where the lumpy and obviously hand-made kitty-thing was lying. "Old t-shirt," she grinned, briefly explaining.

Nita was too busy watching Colche and the other goings-on to pay any attention to Alec, so his desire to avoid her was, for now, fulfilled.

"Oh-ho! You haven't heard of a birthday wish?" Ambrose smiled. "You see, when you light the candles on the birthday cake.." He nodded at the huge castle in the center of the room. "You close your eyes and make a wish, then blow out the candles. And they say if you do the wish will come true!"

He surveyed the room. There were a decent amount of people there. "We can do that when you like, Colche. We light the candles and sing you happy birthday, and then you make your wish!"

Looking over to the kid with the spiked hair and accent who he remembered had eaten his cigarette at the truth or dare.... and another person he didn't remember catching his name.

" I don't suppose you have a lighter on you?" He directed to Alec.

"Yeah, positively adorable." She said, turning a band of hairs around one of her long fingers. She almost gave them no thought, now...

"I still can't think of anything to give her..." The asian sighed. "I don't have many things that she'll like... or that could fit her." For Kim was tiny. Pretty tiny, at that.

The small click of her necklace in her neck caused by the movement of the hand suddently got to her attention, and then she looked down at it for a moment. She had a tonload of necklaces. Sure, this was the only one that could contain photos, but...

...!!!

That was it !

She took the chain out of her neck, and gentely tugged the photos out of it - a man and a woman, both of an asian nature as well. Probably her parents. That was just it !!! Colche would love it !

Luckily Alec had just finished downing another piece of pizza when Ambrose gestured towards him. Nodding, he reached into a pocket of his oversized hoodie and tossed a purple lighter to him.

Giving in to his immature urges, he then smirked and reached over to pluck a party hat from the nearby table. It didn't sit right with his awkward hairdo, but the thought was there.

"Ohh" Colche smiled "Okay" her tail flickered as she looked at the giant of a cake. It was pretty and looked just like a castle. Avery gilie princessy type castle. She giggled as she released Ambrose and padded over tot he cake, blow all the candles out and make a wish, niono, make a wish then blow all the candles out. It was hard trying to think up a wish, whatdid she want more than anything? She smiled, she knew what she would wish for.

Looking to alex and Ambrose and then around at Kim, maddy and Nita, she waited for the candles to be lit. She knew just what to wish for.

Kim finished her bottle, then almost choked in the sight of the spiky haired punk in the little paper party hat. It sent her into a fit od giggles, but thanksfully no liquid met the air. She was trying to calm it down, not wanting to be rude, but it looked soooo wierd !

Ambrose deftly caught the lighter that Alec tossed him. "Thanks, man!" He smiled as he padded over to the cake. It was almost a shame to light the candles - it was so pretty looking. But they wouldn't have to cut into it yet necessarily.

One by one, he passed the lighter over the seventeen candles, counting them out as he did for the birthday girl.

"...Fifteen.... sixteen... seventeen!" He announced with a smile as he closed the lighter and tossed it back to the mohawk kid.

He cleared his throat and started to sing. "Haaaapy Biiirthday Toooooo Youuuuuu~"

Nita nodded again, glancing over at Kim, who was about her own size. "I feel so underdressed," she grinned, indicating Colche's dress-- a gown, really-- and looking down at her own plain tanktop and ripped-up jeans.

"Ohhh, that's really nice," she said, watching Kim unclasp her necklace. "I'm sure she'll love it."

Nita giggled as she finally noticed Alec and his party hat, but was distracted by Ambrose (that was his name!) lighting candles on the extravagant cake.

"Happy birthday to you~," she joined in.

"Tell me about it." She replied, after managing to control her laughter. Her pink tanktop had definitively seen better days, and the bottom of her long pants legs where definitively worn and full of holes from being walked on so much. She hid the pendant in one of her pockets for the meanwhile, and when Ambrose started signing, she chained in.

"Happy brithhhddayyy toooo youuuuu...~"

Colche smiled, here furry ears flickering as the voices sang the tune. Taking a deep breath she, blew heavilyon the candles making them all go out, after a breath or too. She of course, couldn't say her wish while she was blowing them out so she just kept thinking over and over 'I wanna speak like evryone else, I wanna speak like everyone else, I wish I could speak like evryone else.' The seventeenth candle went the way of the others, the flame vanishing as she looked around and grinned. the smile spread happily on her furry features. Her first ever birthday party was certainly prooving to be a hit any way, she had made a wish, how long would it take to coem true? And gotten to blow out candles and eat cake and there were lots of new people to meet. Perhaps now though was time for her presents. There were such alto and Aubrey had said they were from everyone. How long would that wish take to come true?

Ambrose finished up the song, the last "Happy birthday ... tooooo YOooouuuuuuuuu~!" In a long playful howl.

Seeing her knock out all of the small flames on the candles, he applauded. "Great job, Colche! I'm sure that your wish will come true." He smiled and patted her on the shoulder.

Amaya was walking her way towards the cafeteria when singing caught her non-existant ears. She paused and looked around. Someone was singing... Happy Birthday? Why-OH! Was it May 1st already?! That meant it was Colche's birthday!

The iguana haden't seen her in what felt like months, so slowly she followed the singing to the rec room. Slowly she opened the door and peeked inside, looking around to see if there was anyone she didn't really want to run into.

But no, it seemed that all the people there were one's she didn't mind. Besides, it was her little sister's birthday and she could at least suck it up and enjoy the party for her sake.

Amaya almost joined in the singing, but didn't as something in the back of her mind told her to just be quiet and step up when they were finished. So she stood inside the door, watching silently.

Nita grinned as Ambrose howled the last notes of the song. She stood up and clapped, wondering what Colche had wished for.

"Happy birthday!" she called out cheerfully.

Alec skipped out on the singing but couldn't help but laugh, enjoying the cheerful song. He loved birthday parties and gave a loud round of applause after the song was finished with the howl offered by the wolfman. He spotted Amaya by the door and waved.

Ambrose's own finishing touch to the song sent her into another small fit of giggles. That had been so cute ! She would have to actualy ask him his name. And remember it this time. This was still very embarassing.

"Happy brithday, Colche !"

Colche's sweet tinkly laughter echoed throught he room until her nose caught the scent of Amaya. the cheetah girl turned and grinned happily "Amaya!" She smiled and held out her furry arms. She had to resist puncing people, she dind't wont to rip her pretty dress. Smiling softly her big blue eyes were fixed upon the lizard lady. She was obviiously very glad to see her 'big sister' She knew Amaya would come, she just had to wait.

She wondered quietly if she was allowed to tell anyone what ehr wish was. She wasn't sure, were wishes supposed to be secret? She seemed to remember something in that winnie the pooh story about them being secrets. She shrugged, she was pretty sure her wish would come true. It was over a birthday cake after alla nd magic things happened at birthdays.

Those sweetly innocent blue eyes fell on Alec and she giggled again. the hat looked so funny on him and his voice was strange and funny to her. he had never heard anyone with such a strong accent before.

Ambrose chuckled self-consciously at the other giggles from the partygoers, but he knew it was in good fun. Hearing Amaya's name, Ambrose turned to the door to see his other 'little sister' and smiled widely at her.

"Amaya! I'm glad you could make it! Come in, come in - there's cake and food and all sorts of things." He sad welcomingly, tail wiggling behind him and expressing his good mood.

He picked up his plate where he had let it earlier for the dance, and took another few bites of hotdog as he looked around at the faces. Things seemed to be going well - there were smiles, laughs. Not like how even with games and drinks people were frequently drawn back to their woes. Was it the atmosphere where you couldn't NOT smile and be happy for Colche, the company, or the fact that it was a birthday part. A princess-themed birthday party?

Hell, if it brough smiles to peoples faces and honest to god happy moods out of everyone, Ambrose would suck it up an have a princess party for HIS next birthday.

Now that the songs and all where done, Kim was now eying the DDR machine the very same way that a little kid eyed a cookie jar that was juuuusssstttt badly in it's reach. She couldn't BELIEVE that there was a DDR machine in here. And she sure hoped it would STAY here ! But DDR... was much more fun with someone else dancing with you. Made you look just an hair less a moron.

But she couldn't think of anyone who would want a go at it. Expecially right this second.

The girl smiled and waved back, her hands locking just above her tail as she sauntered foreward and hugged Colche, mindful of her long gown. "Happy birthday, Colche! Your a big girl now."

As she pulled back from the hug she said small hello's to the others, though of course was focused on the birthday girl.

Alec quickly noticed that he was becoming the target of a few giggle-fits around the room but this only made him grin, the attention-lover he was. His hat looked stupid and he knew it. But why not? This was a party.

The commotion was hard not hear when you had canine ears and some pretty hefty sleep disorders going on. Pyroth had been in one of his states of half-snoozing when he heard the sounds outside and just had to go investigate. Getting to his feet, he had wandered down to the villiage center, following the various scents that led there.

When he spotted the streamers and decorations, he tilted his head slightly, a party? Whose?

He sincerely hoped it wasn't one of the new islanders, he couldn't deal with being one of the ones to freak them out with his half way between this and that appearance. Not on a day they were celebrating. But whatever, he told himself, there were quite a few animal scents present anyway, if anyone was to be unnerved, they probably already had been.

Still, he hesitated by the door slightly, not wanting to just barge in on what could be a private function.

Kim finally managed to stop staring at the DDR machine for a moment, returning to scanning the room. Her gaze stopped on the coyote man as he came in, surprise barely hidden. He had changed since the last time she saw him, that was to be expected, but yet he seemed to much more... animalistic... than others.

She decided not to mention it, and waved at him instead, wondering if he would remember her.

Colche gave a happy puurr her smile forever plastered upon ehr pretty maw. The scent of someone familiar near by drifted to her nose but it was hard to destinguish over all the otehr scents in the room, both animal and still human. Colche looked between Ambrose and Amaya and giggled "big princess" she giggled.

Glancing at Kim she followed her gaze tot he machine she was looking at, what was that? Who knew, maybe she would find out one day. Her attention came quickly back to amaya and she grinned happily "I made wish" nodding an affirmative she looked secretive for a moment. "Ams I ..can I tell?" she tilted her head softly, her catty mannerisms seem,ed to become more pronounced as the days went by but she didn't seem to otice. That sweetly curious tilt was quite amusing.

Ambrose gave Amaya a quick hug as she came in and joined the party. "Glad to see you. We dont' seem to see eachother around nearly as much as we ought to. Same to you Colche." He smiled.

He had also made note of the DDR machine, but filed it away for a later use, unless perhaps maybe to show it to Colche - she might like it. Angelina had loved the game back home, and had twisted his arm to get him one one the first time... only to be a put out when he wasn't nearly as silly looking on it as she had hoped. With following visual clues to how to move his feet or body training from reading an opponent to react to in fencing, Ambrose had taken to it pretty naturally. When they say that if you can fight, then you can dance, it wasn't far from the truth.

However, Ambrose was distracted when he noticed a new presense in the room, and smelled another canine.

Pyroth!. Ambrose's eyes widened. He had heard rumors about how far changed he had gone with his last change.... which by his count was the same amount as his own. And people weren't lying. While although Pyroth wasn't as ungainly in his posture and gait as he was when others had seen him due to practice, he was definately no longer fully upright. Ambrose tried to hide his surprise... and worry. Their last change they mgiht have been mistaken from brothers, ironically despite their widely different backgrounds. Were they still following the same 'path?'

He said none of this, though, and walked over to greet him. "Pyroth... hey.." His tail gave a few shakes. They both had changed since their last meeting.

That storm was unlike ANYTHING Kim could even recall. It started looking not so scary... but then seemed to explode in fury. That, she remembered. The power went out once, then came back, but with less intensity - as she learnt as her laptop refused to work at all. With only the few, dim light that woud agree to turn on, Kim tried to busy herself by reading a manga, but was unable to to take an event of her day out of her mind. That man, the one she didn't know the name of... He didn't answer her as all when she saluted him out of politeness... And that thing... It gave her shivers to only think about it. Yet it continued to turn in her mind, for some reason she didn't know or understand. It HAD scared her a bit.

When the power finally gave in for what seemed for good, she gave up as well, curling in her bed, working herself up in a ball of blankets as if it would somehow stop the noise of the menacing storm... It didn't work, but she did eventually manage to fall asleep and tun the roaming thunder out, if only for small instants before it woke her up once again.

It was the faint humming caused by the return of the electricity that awoke her from her very faint slumber. She didn't know what time it was... and frankly, Kim didn't care. The only thing she cared about for the moment was that the storm seemed to have finally calmed down. This wasn't a night she wanted to EVER go trough again. She sat, and moved to go to her laptop... when she suddently froze. What... what was this ?! Some kind of akward feeling, in her neck... Not exactly something that hurt, but akward... very akward. She shrugged to herself, finally getting dressed, and turning to head to the window... and then it happened.

She could have sworn what it was what shoving two fingers in a wall socket was like, the sudden sensation of something she could only discribe as a painful shock that made her scream out in pain. Kim didn't get to think much more of this - as she was soon on the floor, passed out.