Welcome to Gaia! ::

Chert stopped short, his mouth twisted into a snarl of frustration. "What the hell else do you want me to do?" He'd given her what reassurances he had. He'd told her she was a friend, in his own round-about manner. He'd apologized. There wasn't anything else he owed her!

At least, that's how Chert rationalized it on the surface. In reality, though, he was frightened- frightened at the physical reality of Antony's transformation. By how much her pain hurt him, and by how helpless he was to fix any part of the situation. So even though a part of him recognized the action as selfish, retreat still appeared to be the best course of action. Solitude might not erase problems, but it did certainly dull the aches they caused. He didn't have anything else to offer Antony, anyway.

Chert flinched and hunched his shoulders as if the quiet words of parting had been a physical blow. Self-reproach sat at the pit of his stomach like a pile of broken glass, shredding his insides into useless tatters. He wanted to turn around and tell her that she didn't scare him, at least not in the way she thought she did, but the sting of her passive acceptance killed the words on his tongue. You're worthless, the unforgiving part of his mind told him. You can't do anything for her. There's a reason you don't get involved with people, remember? Just do what you always do, and run away.

He walked out, slamming the door shut a little more forcefully than he intended. For once, the promising green of the jungle that sat waiting beyond the town failed to be soothing at all.

[Billy/Jamal/Antony]

She blinked back her surprise when he actually did step inside after her, but quickly shut the door afterwards, locking it as she had come accustomed to doing since Billy's original attack.

A smile cracked along her lips after his own smile had appeared, despite how forced it had looked. The gesture still meant something. Her shirt and shorts were tugged off when she got to her bedroom, dirty laundry tossed into the basket she had gotten from the intercom person. While the squirrel woman searched through her drawers for something clean to wear, she pulled out her freezer bag of pot as well as a pack of normal smokes. The lighter was on the dresser top already.

"He wass a cokehead, Billy that is," she mentioned as she rummaged through her lingerie drawer. "Joli apparently took his stash and he thought I had done it... That's why he attacked me, but he's clean now... Mostly depressed and rather emo." Why she was making excuses for Billy she did not know, but Antony figured she needed to explain why the two of them had 'happened.' Regardless of what that meant.

"Ugh, I can't decide... Pick something for me." Again, she threw her hands up in frustration, glaring at the opened drawer as if it were mocking her.

Antony paused thoughtfully at his comment. Almost had him? For once she was thankful for the supposed chips in the back of their necks. "I saw him transform," the tattooed woman began, shuddering somewhat, "It was horrible... And before you found me in the cove... He had just cut off a tentacle with broken glass. If you add what Aubrey did to him... I'd say he's been plenty tortured." She frowned for a moment before letting her lips curl upwards as he picked out something for her.

"Thanks," she murmured taking the two articles from him before letting her current ones find their way into the dirty laundry hamper as well. The cami and boyshorts were shrugged on moments later, and once her hands were free she lit herself a cigarette, tucking the pot away once more.

After picking up both the pack and the lighter, Antony crawled into her unmade 'nest' to sit, shifting her legs under the covers almost immediately as if to hide her feet.

Antony had expected he'd join her on the bed, in the least sit on the foot of it, but her face contorted in a confused expression. She nodded to herself, gaze falling to her feet under the blanket, understanding why he'd want to stay over there and away from her.

A long drag from the smoke didn't seem to stop her self-esteem, which had been boosted with Billy earlier, from dropping rapidly. Again, her knees bent up towards her torso, arms wrapping around them to pull them closer. "What'd they do to you?" She asked, attempting to avert attention away from her slight emoing to him. Maybe this would keep him from noticing how she was acting?

She glanced up to him when he spoke, but soon found herself examining her bedsheets soon after. Her mind worked over what it could possibly be to make him so apathetic towards most things. After watching the video with Billy she was pretty sure that they weren't past drugging people, and since they were doctors they probably had the means.

"Possibly something like muscle relaxants or sedatives or something..." Antony stated, taking another long drag from her cig before blowing a few smoke rings to distract herself, unknowingly hugging her knees a bit tighter. Ever since the change she had gotten rather good at hugging herself it seemed.

She simply watched him sit closer to her with a mildly surprised gaze, not really sure why he had done that, but before she could decipher it more, a strong wall of lake caught her nose and she made a face. "Your pants smell," Antony's nose was twitching somewhat as she eyed the offending article of clothing. Had it been any other place but her bed she wouldn't have cared, but her bed could not smell like fish and algae, among other things.