Welcome to Gaia! ::

Bobby almost laughed at the tone Cass used. Not so much that her children were elsewhere and her here, but she felt it sounded like the woman didn't believe she was old enough. Well, some people made that mistake.

"Yeah," Bobby gave a kind of half-smile, both one that was proud and sad at the same time. "He's the youngest, I have two daughters too..." The woman smiled as she eyed the snake, her eyes twinkling, "I am thirty-seven years old...."

Bobby smiled and leaned back. She loved talking about her children. "Well let me see... Patty is 15, Mel is 13, and little Dicky is 8. Married my high school sweetheart after I had Patty..." The woman chuckled, "She was the flowergirl."

After a paused, Bobby sighed, "I am glad the children still have their father. I wish I could have told them how much I truly loved and everyone one of them... now I'll never get the chance...."

Her eyes started to tear up, but Bobby didn't want Cass to see them. Wiping one away, the woman smiled slightly, "Excuse me...." She wanted to add that she needed to be alone, but didn't want to be rude.

Bobby walked back towards the village. She turned and waved to Cass, about to say goodbye but could only offer the other woman a smile as she was afraid her voice would crack.

New RP
The sun shone down warmly on Chert's face and arms, but the power of its gaze was mostly lost within the all-encompassing thickness of the hot, humid jungle air. Every breath had to be forcibly wrested from the atmosphere, quite different from the desert air that eagerly stole down one's throat to suck the moisture from all the membranes it could find. Nothing evaporated. A layer of sweat sat on his face and dampened his shirt and wouldn't go away. The first two weeks on the island, he'd felt as if he were slowly being cooked alive in his own juices, and the wretched humidity was only just beginning to fade into a mere background annoyance. But he still sorely missed what he thought of as his natural habitat- the austere red mountains, the high-ceilinged sky condensed into a brilliant blue, the hardy organisms that dotted the land like unexpected gifts. Here, things seethed with life. It was an explosion of green, a raucous celebration of all things breathing. Chert often felt lost within the dizzying dance of organisms.

That wasn't to say he thought the jungle entirely unpleasant; matching the voices in the canopy with their owners' elusive faces provided an interesting way to pass the time, and the more familiar he became with the creatures the more at home he felt. Some places seemed more welcoming than others, though. He was especially fond of the river, which cut a long line through the claustrophobic cluster of trees and allowed his gaze to reach the sky. About a mile from the main lake, one of the towering trees had lost its battle against gravity and toppled into the cool, brown waters. It formed an incomplete bridge that Chert visited often, tucking himself between its tangled, mossy branches and letting his defenses drop just enough to allow his thoughts to flow freely. Today, they darted around agitatedly like the silver fish that swam just below the surface of the river.

What the hell were you thinking? he growled at himself. The meeting with Antony was still fresh in his mind, and now that he was alone everything he'd said and done rose up vengefully to stab with knives of mortification. Of course she didn't want a... a dead bug. Of course she was confused by your goddamn mixed signals. "I don't hate you either, now get the ******** off of me?" Yeah, real smooth. You should have bowed out gracefully while you were still ahead.

The truth was, however, that despite Chert's need for a rather hefty amount of personal space, he was ill-suited for complete solitude. He despised people as a group- they were dim, unruly, and tragically short-sighted- but a person... Against his better judgment he was usually pretty fond of a person. Even though the number of friends and colleagues he'd had back home was few, they'd become deeply interwoven into the part of his life that he chose to share with others. Maybe that part was a bit more restricted than your average joe's, but they had been there long enough that most of his habits had just sort of crept around to encompass them, and now that they were gone it... Well, there were holes. Not big holes, he reassured himself hurriedly. Not permanent holes, either. He'd escape the island as soon as he could discover a c***k in Moreau's armor. In the meantime, though, he was left at loose ends, and Antony reminded him very much of the people he'd know and enjoyed. When she wasn't trying to seduce him, anyway.

Chert let an arm flop downward so that his fingers just barely brushed the surface of the water. It was a little bit ridiculous, he reflected, that his inability to communicate with one woman weighed so heavily on his mind when he was surrounded by crises of a more severe persuasion. His DNA had been tinkered with as if it were a plaything, he'd nearly been eaten alive by one of his "fellow" islanders, and after three weeks he still had no idea how he was going to get off this goddamn rock. Perhaps his mind had simply chosen to focus on a more familiar pain amidst this sea of surrealism. One thing was for sure- the doctors were kept well-entertained through those little hidden cameras of theirs. Did they have the entire island hooked up? It would have taken an immense amount of resources to bug the entire jungle, let alone the island, but he wouldn't put it past Moreau. Maybe they even used satellites.

Chert lazily flipped the bird at the heavens on the off-chance anyone was watching. <******** you he mouthed with a bitter grin. He might be destined to turn into a rodent, but he decided he'd continue to spit in their eyes right up until the moment his prehensile lips disappeared.

An unexpected squishing noise intruded upon Chert's consciousness and drew his eyes down from the sky. It wasn't difficult to spot the approaching crimson figure, who probably couldn't have been any more noticeable against the cool green of the jungle if he'd been decorated with strings of Christmas tree lights. The familiar, unfriendly frown crept back across Chert's face, sinking itself into all the well-worn creases and lines, putting the wall back between his thoughts and the world. He felt a flash of sharp aggravation at the surprise intrusion- having another human being encroach upon his solitude without warning felt almost like a personal offense. Chert sat up straighter to warn the unwelcome visitor off when he caught sight of the pair of gracefully curvings horns that sat atop the stranger's head. An icy hand squeezed his heart and ********," he hissed under his breath. A hasty motion nearly tipped him out of his comfortable perch, but he managed to steady himself by latching onto a couple of the spreading branches. It was him, that lunatic from the cafeteria! What was his name? Zeek? Zach?

There are more important things to worry about right now! his brain shouted indignantly. Like if he could get off of the tree before Zach was able to reach him. Chert had climbed fairly far out, and the smooth bark made it impossible to simply sprint across. Maybe he'd be better off entrusting his well-being to the river.

Chert, who could not divine Zach's inner thoughts, took the unhappy grimace as a feral threat. He gritted his teeth and began to try and yank one of the thicker branches off of the tree while keeping a wary eye on the approaching man. The wood splintered with a satisfying crack, but Chert was more careful this time and managed to keep his balance. He turned to face the approaching man cautiously, the weight of the thick branch a reassuring weight in his hand-... and discovered that the lizard person was, against all expectations, in the middle of backing up. It was unclear whether this was a fortuitious turn of events or merely a deceptively calm moment before Zach executed some new and devastating trick, so Chert didn't seem all that reassured by the maneuver.

His eyebrows raised incredulously at the question the other man shouted from across the way. "What the hell kind of question is that?" Chert snarled. Part of him recognized that Zach seemed more clear-headed than the last time they'd met, but then again he'd started out seeming perfectly reasonable before deciding to try to snack on a few of the people in the cafeteria. Appearances could be deceptive. Chert didn't intend to be caught by surprise a second time. "Stay where you are, goddamnit," he added, despite the fact that Zach didn't seem to be considering doing otherwise.

"Don't tell me to calm down," Chert said, still perched on the tree. He still couldn't decide whether he wanted to risk inching the rest of the way to land or try escaping via the river. The water that flowed beneath his feet was fairly calm, but he didn't know how fast Zach could swim or where he'd run to if he reached the opposite bank. "Last time we met, you tried to eat my face- I think that's justifies a little panic, don't you?"

Chert's eyes narrowed as he listened carefully to Zach's voice, drawing more meaning from the tone of the words than anything else. The other man sounded about as uneasy as Chert felt, which struck him as odd considering that the last time the red lizard had barely batted an eyelash even after nearly being broken into little bits by that hulking furry beast. The horrifying blank, predatory expression was gone from his yellow gaze, replaced by... hesitance, maybe. Worry.

He's faking it, a part of Chert's mind insisted. Easier to catch prey if they're not expecting it, right?

Doesn't sound like he's faking, the calmer portion of his brain pointed out. Moreau's experiments have a definite effect on the body- why not the mind? Maybe it was an accident.

Ah, yes. I suppose getting eaten would be alright as long as it was an accident.

Aloud, he said, "Yeah, the good news just keeps piling up. I'd rather hang onto it for awhile, if it's all the same to you." A short, suspicious pause. "How d'you know my name?" Looking back, he couldn't recall ever being properly introduced to Zach.