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 Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:08 am
Jamal had smelt Pyroth approach but hadn't thought anything of it. He hadn't quite been able to determine what was a 'human' smelly quite yet so had figured that it had just been a random animal out wandering about.
However, when a voice called out, he was startled (much to his annoyance) and snapped back with a heated "Who's askin?" as he hauled himself to his feet. Had he much fur, he would have bristled fully, but had to settle for the fine hair on his tail nub to bottlebrush instead.
He stepped away from his tree, eyes narrowed as he tried to find the speaker, and scented the strong signature predator mark that Pyroth was getting in kind from Jamal, only it wasn't 100% the same. Great...he really didn't feel like being anyone's meal...though he'd probably deserve it after trying to take down Emelyn.
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:17 am
Pyroth, despite having made an assumption that an islander was out here, was still somewhat surprised to find his guess was right. He tried to shake himself out of predator mode sharpish and into a more civil state of mind, pushing whatever his nose told him to the back of his mind and straightening up from his slightly hunched over hunting posture.
"Uhm..Pyroth, if that makes any difference." He was a little unnerved by the sharpness of the other's reply but nevertheless didn't show it in his tone, somewhere in his mind weakness in the face of danger was synonymous with death.
He shrugged and headed a little nearer, trying to get a look at who was speaking. "Y'know, if I'm intruding on something I can just push off. I was in the middle of a hunt anyway."he wasn't bothered to admit that he indulged his nature on occaision, he didn't harm any islanders so didn't see the harm. As he spoke his ears were slightly lower along his head than usual, the main outward sign of his anxiety.
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:27 am
Jamal's scowl deepened a little. He didn't know a Pyroth...
"I ain't doin' nuthin' but sittin' herr...or ratha' I was jus' sittin' until ya came up 'n scared me," he replied in a curt manner, lacking the initial sharpness in his voice that had been their previously. Now it was mostly annoyance that colored his voice. The word hunt had gotten his attention though and the tiger shifted lazily, intrigued.
As Pyroth moved to get a better view of Jamal, the black man saw him, his tiger eyes cutting the darkness well enough that he could barely make out a furred body and what looked to be rather long hair. Was this guy a hippie?
And what was this about a hunt?
"What da ******** ya huntin' fo out herr anyway?" Rats? Birds? ....changed islanders?
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:38 am
Pyroth was slightly apologetic in that he might just have interrupted someones time set aside for thought. He supposed he'd have been a bit blunt in his reply in that case too. "Sorry about that, I didn't expect to find anyone out here." he added, with a faint grin.
At the same time Jamal got a better veiw of Pyroth, the coyote-man got a better veiw of him. Ah, he noted, the guy seemed to be in the early stages of change, into what could possibly have been some kind of feline. Definately predatory anyway, based on his claws.
"Hunting?" he shrugged "Anything that's neck I can break which doesn't walk on two legs, show human intelligence or talk. In other words, anything not an islander." he swished his tail casually "It's like therapy for this ******** up coyote that sits in my head telling me it's hungry all the damn time."
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:50 am
"I didn't expect no one'd come out this way, eitha," he remarked drolly, leaning back against his tree with arms folded across his chest. He gave off a very guarded aura from how tense he appeared, the muscles of his jaw tightened into a forced smile that didn't go with his countenance or the sheen of his eyes.
Pyroth's explaination made his defensive posture loosen slightly and his ears pricked as much as they could for being as little changed as they were. He even looked a little relieved even though the tiger had grown increasingly aware now, stirred by Jamal's imagery of a hunting scenario.
"Ya got them ********' voices too? I ain't da only one?" He tried not to sound eager in his question, but it was clear that it was of great importance to him that Pyroth had said what he said. Jamal had tried to explain the feelings the tiger projected to him all the time to Antony but she hadn't seemed to get what he was talking about at the time. If Pyroth understood what Jamal had been dealing with, this was already a welcomed meeting. "Do it always tell ya it wants ta kill somethin' or sit in da jungle or some s**t like dat? It neva shuts up 'n' sometimes ya can't make it stop so it takes over?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 11:06 am
Pyroth nodded slightly to the man. He had been terrified when he started thinking thoughts not his own, wanting to kill, not for the money as it had always been but to feel the crunch of bone under fang, to let the blood ebb away slowly, excercising total dominion over the prey. Coyotes weren't overtly predatory animals, Pyroth knew, prone to scavenging if the mood took them, but it seemed to him that the human side had a lot to answer for in terms of fuelling the predatory flame with it's own latent fighting instincts.
"I wasn't sure if it was me going mad either." he stated simply. It had been the cause of a lot of soul searching in him when he first went after prey that he couldn't control, back when he first transformed. It had been a pig then, with the odd Emerwyn encounter not long afterwards. He frowned "Yes, all it wants to do is kill everything that moves, that lives, as if it had offended it personally. It hates sleeping in a human room and would rather do so outside, it won't let me ret at night since it wants to sleep during the day and is slowly driving me off my head." he sighed "And yeah, the more I suppress it the more it vents itself on things...islanders, anything."
He glanced up at Jamal. Someone else had the devil on thier shoulder with no angel of calming in sight. He wasn't going mad, at least.
"I hunt now because the last time I supressed it for a while it went nuts in the jungle and I tried to kill Emerwyn, thinking she was a yummy looking deer." he raised a lip in disgust, revealing his canine fangs. "Never again."
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 11:25 am
Jamal listened quietly, which was odd for one who generally was brash and vocal about what he was thinking, giving Pyroth a calculating stare as he spoke. Every word that fell out of that man's mouth echoed Jamal's feelings almost perfectly. Oh thank god, he wasn't going insane. At least, not alone.
"I ain't sure what I'm turnin inta...Anjali said I looked like a tiger, but I dunno...I guess it makes sense. All it wants ta do is lurk around 'n' kill s**t. If I ain't careful, it starts takin' over 'n' I do s**t dat I don't mean ta do. Well, unless it's staff. I meant ta attack her..." He gave a fangy grin at that, pleased with himself at that even if it meant he was stuck in a cage. He wasn't there that long anyway. "But Emelyn...dat was an accident."
Jamal's brow sharply furrowed and he growled, turning away from Pyroth. Dammit, that was NOT supposed ta be public knowledge. Then again, he was sure that the news would, if not already had, get out.
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 11:45 am
Pyroth gave Jamal a long, critical stare, there definately was something tiger-ish about him, from the claws on his fingers to the faint stripes present on his arms. Still, tigers didn't normally have blue eyes, did they? He wasn't sure. "You do look as if you are becoming something at least feline, though I'm no expert on animals."
He raised a brow at the dark man's next comment, he'd attacked one of the staff? The little lightbulb in Pyroth's head seemed to click on, perhaps he now knew what had happened to Aubrey that she was so shaken and determined to hide. He almost grinned, despite his neutrality towards the woman, any blow struck was one struck for the team.
As for the news that he had attacked Emelyn, that was received by Pyroth in two minds, one side was releived that he was not the only one who had lost control of himself and been in a position to hurt someone, the other was worried, how far would these changes go, would all the island predators start killing off the prey? It was too worrying to even consider.
He waved a paw slightly.
"Exactly, we all seem to be more accident prone the further this damn experiment gets. The only cure I've found so far is to pander to the "beast" in my head as much as I can, keep it happy so it leaves the people that count, alone. As for anyone who is the brunt of those slip ups that do happen, I think we just have to hope that they can understand what it's like to have two people in your head, one of which is much much older and has claws, fangs and a taste for weakness."
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 11:55 am
Jamal composed himself, squashing the tiger's commentary back as well as the anger that seemed to have a tendancy to spike up out of no where.
"Them damn docs betta find a way ta stop this 'cause I ain't so happy ta be takin' down innocent peeps when da' real criminals hide behind fences 'n' brick walls," he snapped acidly, giving Pyroth a look that dared him to disagree, then took a deep breath and licked the tip of a pointed fang.
"I neva thought 'bout huntin' animals ta make this ********' thing shut up though... I always smelt 'em 'n' s**t when I'd sleep out herr 'n' da tiger wanted ta hunt, but I always said no cause I didn't wanna do it." He looked conflicted at this thought.
"But if it means I ain't gonna kill da wrong people, then I guess it's a betta idea then jus' lettin' it build up."
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 12:05 pm
Pyroth didn't disagree in the least, he nodded sombrely "I know what you mean, they just sit there and watch this crap happen, watch people make friends, learn to deal with the s**t they throw at us, and then laugh as the animal - which was never meant to have anything to do with us in the first place - destroys whatever we hold dear. We will get them someday, the question is simply when and how." He let out a momentary snarl, not entirely capable of supressing it. The sound only served to make him peevishly narrow his eyes. There had been a time, he was sure, where he could get angry without growling or raising his hackles.
"As for hunting, I said no for a bit, only to end up waking up in the morning with wild pig guts all around me. I prefer staying semi sane if possible. Besides, while you hunt, it's like you take a backseat, you can take back the reins if you have to or if things get risky."
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 12:16 pm
Jamal pondered the last statement solemnly, considering it as much as he really didn't want to. If it meant that he could walk around in the village again without wanting to dismember anyone who looked at him wrong, it would be worth it. After all, they were just animals, right? Jamal caught the irony of that statement and snorted, shaking his head.
If anything, he was highly pleased that Pyroth was a kindred spirit in the fact that he detested the staff as well. Excellent. The more people he could turn against them, the better. It was easy to keep one person down and out of trouble, but to have the entire island population? Less easy, or so he'd think. He still hadn't figured out how they had knocked him out when he went after Aubrey and wasn't aware that everyone was 'gifted' with the same ability to be put to sleep on a whim.
"I'm Jamal," he finally said after a time, moving forward to offer the man a handshake. He felt like he could trust this guy enough to give him a name. "Nice ta meet someone else who thinks them goddamn staff peeps need ta be taken down."
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 12:39 pm
Pyroth offered his own paw in return greeting, Jamal already knew his name from earlier so he settled simply for "S'nice to meet you." It really was good to meet Jamal, made Pyroth feel justified in heading out into the jungle every now and again. The loss of a few animals here and there was a small price to pay for a level head. As he released the other man's hand, he added with a nod "Definately. No one has the right to do this sort of stuff to others, if they needed subjects, they had themselves. Cowards. I'd like to trap them and give them a taste of their own medicine."
Jamal's fervant hatred for the labs was somewhat contagious and Pyroth found a lot of his old irks with them coming to the surface.
Deciding to change the subject a bit, he asked "So how long have they had you trapped here? A while?"
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 12:53 pm
"Well if ya figger out a way ta get 'em cornered, let me know. I'd like ta finish what I started wit' Aubrey if I can," he answered in a crafty, impish tone, crossing his arms again once his hand was free.
Pyroth's question was greeted with a squinted expression from Jamal. How long -had- it been?
"I was herr...three months or so b'fo them bastards decided ta run their experiment wit' us by throwin' us out in da wild...so I guess 'bout five months or so? I didn't change until maybe a month ago eitha. I was hopin' maybe they messed up wit' me, but no such luck. I was just late, I guess."
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 1:16 pm
Pyroth nodded "Ditto, if you ever need an extra pair of fangs in a plan, I'll be only too willing to help out."
He nodded, raising a brow when he heard just how long it had taken for Jamal's changes to kick in. Perhaps Angelina had been in the same boat, had there been a flaw in the serums? It was something definately to be noted and filed away for later.
"That must have sucked, havng them wait till you got your hopes up a bit then smashing them." he frowned "I can't even remember exactly how long I've been here." he looked thoughful for a moment, trying to calculate the time "Well my boat left in August...so..7.yeah 7 months I've been out here." he looked surprised "Damn. That's over half a year."
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Posted: Sun Mar 26, 2006 1:24 pm
"Not fun, I'll tell ya dat. Happened while Antony 'n' I was out sleepin on the beach. Got her shoulder pretty bad. Didn't mean ta, but..." He lifted a hand to wiggle his claws, his expression one of those hopeless sort of "didn't have a choice" manner. "Got real sick b'fo it happened, but I don't know if dat had anything ta do wit' it."
It would make sense that Pyroth had been out here longer than he had, to judge by the extensive pelt and the very pronounced canine features. Jamal sympathized.
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