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 Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 8:46 pm
Restless Night in Paradise
It was around 2 AM when Liamh finally dragged himself back to his duplex, the darkness seeming unfriendlier than ever as the knowledge of real live monsters, mutated human souls with bodies and minds twisted with beastiality, gnawed ominously at his mind from beyond the sparse village lighting.
Here and there he spotted lights on in the villagers' residences - tiny warm specks of familiarity in an unfamiliar place. He jumped at the rustle of wind in the trees and undergrowth just past the village boundary. He counted the numbers of the duplexes as he shuffled uncomfortably past, hands in his jeans pockets, until he drew near to his own. Number 66.
Might as well be 666, he thought acidly.
He sighed and jogged up the wooden steps to his front door, fumbling with the keys in the lock, and retreating quickly inside. He flipped on the light - subconsciously relieved to find no monsters lurking - and locked the door behind him. Washing his face and brushing his teeth, he shucked off his shirt and pants and flopped on the bed, feeling exhausted despite his long nap that afternoon. Crawling under the covers, setting his glasses on the nightstand and closing his dry, scratchy eyes, he was glad that at least unconsciousness would rescue him from this nightmare for a few hours. If he were lucky, maybe he'd even wake up in his own bed, far, far away from the Island and it's insanity.
Unfortunately as tired as his body felt, his mind just didn't seem to agree. Running in circles, replaying every moment of the events of the day and the details leading up to his arrival here, running through future scenarios and conjuring up new fears to plague his harried thoughts... finding sleep was like stopping a car on a road down a mountain with no breaks.
Sighing deeply every few minutes, clutching his stale-smelling motel pillow to his face, he tossed and turned. He felt hot, clammy, and the air seemed stuffy in the room. He sat up in bed, finally, staring in the dark. The moonlight sent tiny cracks of light through the drawn shades. Rolling out of bed, he got a drink of water and cracked the window slightly with an immediate shiver. He crawled back under the sheets.
He didn't know when, but he did finally manage to drift off - only to be plagued with vague dreams and images of dark shapes pursuing him through the jungle, first riding in a jeep at breakneck speed, then on foot, crashing headlong through the brush. The undergrowth seemed to pull at him, slow him down, tangling his movements. He groaned in his sleep as the shadowy shapes stayed just out of sight behind him, growing ever closer but never coming in for the kill.
He tripped on something - a root - and fell face-first to the ground, getting the wind knocked out of him sharply... and then he was awake, gasping for air as he sat up straight, throwing the twisted covers off of him and trying to catch his lost breath. He fumbled numbly for his glasses and set them on his nose, staggering out of bed to pull the shades.
Blinding light greeted him, noon light of the tropics. The island was real. He was still here. His heart sank in his chest, skipping uncomfortably as the remains of the rush of adrenaline were flushed from his system. Damn damn damn...
He walked back and sat on the bed again in his underwear, staring at the window blankly. The loop of anxious thoughts started up again, running like an angry buzzing static in the back of his head. His hand was shaking slightly. Shaking his head vigorously, he got up again and washed his face roughly, throwing on his jeans and a shirt. He turned on the computer, feeding off of the comforting hum of the fans and electronics booting up. The screen popped to life, switching to the desktop as the system started. He sighed, checking the wifi connection. Nothing. Same as when he'd arrived.
He scowled, suddenly angry again. It made sense now, at least. He leaned back and tried to play a couple hands of solitaire, even minesweeper, to calm his nerves. His patience was paper thin and his mind wouldn't focus. Blast. He closed the laptop suddenly, standing up. He'd go for a walk. Get some air. He didn't care where. Maybe to the entertainment center again, maybe somewhere else in the village. He didn't really want to run into anyone, but the thought of anything outside the vilage sent a shudder down his spine.
He sighed and gathered up his keys and slipped his shoes on, stepping outside and closing the door behind him.
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Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 8:47 pm
Rack 'Em UpLiamh goes down to the rec center after a sleepless night for some meditational billiards therapy, and runs into Gallen. Not a whole lot of pool gets shot, but the man seems to have some kind of plan.
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Posted: Sun Oct 08, 2006 8:47 pm
A letter in a white envelope is posted on the door of Duplex #71. On the envelope is WELCOME is big friendly letters. Inside it is a neatly hand written letter:
Welcome to the Island!
This document is intended to serve as a "welcome tour" to life on the island. Please read
it entirely before venturing beyond your front door it contains information that is
critical to the island´s day to day operations and to your own survival.
First is your duplex. This is your home, you will find the access code on your dresser,
please note your duplex number. Take care of it, there is no regular cleaning service
here. Note the intercom, dialing zero will get you an operator at the labs, you may
request personal items for your comfort. Nearly any reasonable request will be honored
except communication gear. Dial # + (a duplex number) to call another duplex.
Beyond your duplex is the village proper, the village center contains the cafeteria, it
serves hot food three times a day but is always open for snacks. There is also an
entertainment room with a vast library.
However the most important aspect of the island are the residents of the village. Pleased do not be alarmed by their strange appearances, these people are human beings and do not appreciate being gawked at. They are all the (mostly unwilling) subjects of Dr. Moreau’s experiments that fuse normal humans with animal DNA, producing an animal human hybrid. The changes are caused by a series of five injections administered by lab personnel. The first shot causes no changes. It prepares the body, probably at the molecular and cellular level. The proceeding injections induce physical changes in the body with hours of the injection. The process is incredibly painful.
The villagers are prevented from escaping by the natural remoteness of the island and chips that are implanted under the skin at the base of the neck. They enable the labs to render anyone unconscious at the touch of a button. The chip can also paralyze the subjects.
There are camera’s every where, both in the open and hidden. The villagers are observed 24 hours a day, nothing is unrecorded.
No one to date has escaped. There have been attempts.
This is the reality of the island. Anything else the staff has told you, the reason you are here, is a lie. No one has left the island in over a year and everyone who stays within a duplex is a subject. I’m am sorry but this includes you.
Sincerely,
Richard Harrison, Resident of Duplex #70
If you have any more questions please seek me out. I will answer them to the best of my ability.
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Posted: Wed Oct 11, 2006 7:48 pm
A letter in a envelop is slipped under your door, it has a Green Lantern symbol stamped where one would put a normal stamp: it is addressed from Duplex 60
Liamh,
I goofed there is no LJ or net access on this damn island. I must have been half asleep when I was on my computer and accidentally opened an old file I had saved. This was also during my not so good three days of no sleep or food. Sorry.
BTW tell me when you have some time and I will show you my bad downloaded copy of A Chinese Ghost Story. If you have a way to hook it to eth TV in the TV room, we could watch it in style.
Talk to yha later man, and we will have to play billiards again
Your pal,
Gallen
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Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 2:10 am
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:10 am
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:14 am
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Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 12:16 am
Boldly Going... Where no Nerd Has Gone BeforeLiamh breaks his doldrums and goes down to the lake to relax a bit, but notices the lake has more than one visitor that day, the "deer little lady" Emerwyn. [/pun] Skipping stones on the Lake of Life!
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Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 3:45 am
Drunken CalamariLiamh, encouraged about making further trips from the village after running into Emerwyn, decides to pull the big one and head out... for the beach bar. Booze and old-man tentacle wacking! Liamh cracks his glasses.
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Posted: Sat Oct 21, 2006 6:25 pm
Draining the Shock AwayLingering at the beach bar, Liamh encounters a mysterious stranger... or, at least, a chipper vietnamese girl in need of a drink. In progress!
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Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 2:22 am
Reserved for ordering a costume and glasses repairs.
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Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 2:23 am
Reserved for camping madness.
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Posted: Sun Oct 22, 2006 2:38 am
Reserved for anything else.
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Posted: Tue Oct 24, 2006 6:13 pm
Like many of your fellow islanders, the night preceeding your change does not bring pleasant dreams. Quite the opposite: alien, vivid nightmares consume your sleeping consciousness, before finally releasing you to a sweaty wakefulness. You feel off for a good several hours the next day. Your skin feels like it's crawling, your head feels itchy, and the indoor, air-conditioned rooms feel very cold to you. Not necessarily in temperature alone, either. Unwelcoming and dead. With one bout of itching your head, your hand pulls back with large quantities of hair stuck under your nails. It doesn't take long for almost any pressure at all to the hair on your head... or anywhere on your body to pull loose from your skin. It's almost like the roots of your hair have just given up their grasp. Before long, even the strands that you were careful about not even touching give way to gravity and fall from you like so much water. But that's not the end of things, oh no. that crawling feeling gets worse... and worse, amplified every time you step outside. It feels like the very veins beneath your skin are thickening, writhing. And then, you can start to see them all more vividly beneath your skin. At first, perhaps the lack of hair can explain it... but the bluish tints start to shift to green, the veins becoming larger..... and where you couldn't see others, their new, wider and much greener pigment makes them that much more obvious to the eye. Indeed, chloroplasts are arising in your bloodcells, and react with the sunlight to spread this greenish color through your veins, which you can feel under your skin for the next few days as ropy - cordlike-things. On a ... brighter note? (Ba dum bum ching) your appetite is greatly reduced. You feel good whenever you're outside on a sunny day. 
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Island of Moreau Vice Captain
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