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 Posted: Sat Sep 24, 2005 4:14 pm
The next time you visit the front of your duplex, there is a note taped to the front of the door, written in clear, concise handwriting. Quote: Hi Cassidy, Just an invitation to another get-together at the Beach Bar tomorrow at 4pm central time. I am distributing some invitations to you, Greer, Vasile, Dude, and Timothy. Hope you're able to make it! Feel free to bring anyone else that you would like bring. ~Ambrose
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Posted: Sun Sep 25, 2005 7:16 pm
RP LogCassidy Smith Cassidy was being brave, yes, really. She was out in public and everything. Well, it was that or not eat, so, fine. Screw Moreau. Screw everyone. No steak today. She was sick of steak. No, today, she had a plate of meatballs; something about the shape appealed to her. She also had a few sticks of pepperoni, ham on a bun, and a glass of iced tea, minus the ice. When you tend to hide out in your room, you got hungry. Cassidy peered into the dining area cautiously, her tongue flickering. Well. People she didn't really know. She'd met at least one of them, anyway. She steeled herself and made herself walk towards the girls. Amaya Vaughan "Euh, that's... pretty creepy." Amaya openly admitted before poking at her salad with a fork. "Though my craving doesn't seem to be that bad, I've just never wanted to eat a salad before. Maybe what I'm turning into is a herbivore or something?" She frowned, though it didn't seem that bad... their were a lot of neat animals that were herbivores, right?
Spotting someone walk into the cafeteria out of the corner of her eye she turned to look a smiled. It was... Cassidy, yeah! That was her name. Giving a friendly wave she motioned for her to join them. "Hi Cassidy." Hargun Aikason "Yea.." she noded scarfing down a shrimp. As she listened to Amaya she didnt noticed the sound of Cassidy making her way to the cafeteria. And when Amaya shouted out to her, Hargun neary lept from her seat and tried to cover her face, or anything she possibly could... bu wasnt doing a very good job of it. "Eheh.. heya Cassidy she said, her head turned down to her food as she tried to stuff herself. Cassidy Smith "Hi, guys." Cassidy grinned, and sat down. She looked at Hargun for a moment or two, her tongue flickered, and she sighed. "I guess, well, they got you." She waved a hand dismissively. "Some sort of... hm." She cut herself off, aware of her own insensitivity. She should REALLY know better. Yick. Well, it wasn't so bad. Still, these two girls were... they were so young! It seemed like an awfully horrible thing. Neither of them could be even out of their teens, and... Cass reminded herself she wasn't so badly off, after all. Amaya Vaughan The young girl immediantly felt bad calling out to Cassidy, having forgotten all about that Hargun probably didn't want anyone to see her. She frowned and looked down at her salad bowl, pushing the lettuce around with her fork. Then again, the red-head would have to confront people sooner or later and Cassidy would have joined them anyway...
In an attempt to try and keep the subject lite, she spoke up. "So how've you been Cassidy?" She haden't talked much to the woman the first time she met everyone else, but she still felt bad for her since she was turning into something she hated and all... Hargun Aikason Hargun decided it was okay to uncover herself now, not that much of her new features seemed very hidden at all. "Yea. Finally nipped me in the butt, that transformation did..." she took a long gulp of her soda and continued to eat the shrimp. "So Cassidy.. I hate to ask but.. how long have you been transformed now? Im trying to figure out if these injections have a schedule or something.. I havent gotten much info but.." she said, coughing to change her voice and could help but smile a bit. "'oh NOES we are turning into animaaals. whatever shall we do?' and 'hes such a b*****d that moreau... taking us away from our lives and yada yada...' and also 'you guys are here on my island and youre screwd- I mean doomed to stay here for ever as my pet HAHAHA.'" she gave a dull look. "Well.. forget that last one.." she giggled. Cassidy Smith "I'm doing.... mostly okay," Cassidy told Amaya. She felt obliged to be at least somewhat upbeat, or least put on a front for these two. "Let's see. Um. I've had..." Erk. Her new resolve to be brave wasn't quite up to saying that. "I've been like this for, um, a little over a week, I think. I don't know if there's any sort of schedule, though. As far as I know, no one's got their third injection yet." She stabbed at a meatball with her fork. "I think someone said there's a waiting period. I have no idea how long it might be, though." Don't think about that. Oh, no no no. Amaya Vaughan Amaya kind of drifted out of the conversation for a minute, letting Hargun ask her questions and such. Jeeze... she seemed like one of the only normal ones here now! How creepy. Taking another bite from her salad she almost choked, laughing at Hargun's comments. Hargun Aikason Hargun looked to Cass and nodded. "I see then. Ugh.. I know its not a good thing to ask for, but Id like some sort of staff member to help me out.. or you guys maybe. I mean right now weve assumed Im turning into a bat, but what kind and such.. and what will I need to do once my arms become wings and such.." she continued to ramble on, then took a deep breath. "I just love this place.." she moaned sarcastically, looking up to the ceiling. She heard Amaya coughing and smiled, patting her on the back. "Oh yes, and sooner or later youll be a freakus animalus like ourselves." she tried to make this next thing sound interesting, but attempted to keep off the border of depressing. "Lets try and guess what youll be, miss herbivore.. a chipmunk? A cow? A zebra?" Cassidy Smith "I'd certainly like to ask a few questions, myself. Will I be venomous? What will happen to my arms and legs?" Cassidy grimaced. "Well, I suppose that bats have some sort of thumb claw... so... maybe that would help some..." She was feeling just slightly old, hanging around with these girls. They had to be almost ten years younger than her, too. Geez. "I've been trying to work up the courage to track someone down and ask," she admitted. Amaya Vaughan "Oh god, a COW?!" Amaya snorted and took another bite out of her salad. "I hope not, that'd be awful. I used to go cow-tipping when I was little and it'd be like their beefy revenge or something."
She then let out a rather loud yawn, holding a gloved hand over her mouth. "Yeah, I'm still too afraid to call them up and ask..." After finishing the last bit of her salad she stood up. "And I'd hate to leave you guys, but I think I'm due for a cat nap." After bussing her tray she waved to both of them. "See ya Hargun 'n Cassidy! Drop by to visit anytime you want someone to talk to."((That's all for me. z.z *heads for bed*)) Hargun Aikason Hargun grinned. "Thats awesome... cow-tipping.." She watched Amaya yawn then tried to keep from doing so herself, those contageous devils. She then looked to Cassidy and said "I think Im gonna go too.. maybe sit around the duplex for a bit in the shade.. theres really nothing else I can do today and maybe hope that someone official at least notifys me that they know Ive changed.. sure hate to bump into Moreau and him be all 'WHAT THE HELL IS THAT.'" she laughed. After gulping down the rest of her drink and throwing away the crumbs of shrimp off her tray she waved to Cassidy, then handed Amaya the sunglasses she had been wearing before either one of them left. "Thanks so much for letting me borrow em. Ill just put the beanie over my forehead enough to shade my eyes till I get home." she grinned and pulled it way down over her eyes, but could see through the bottom of it to see where she was stepping, then headed out towards her duplex to hopefully get the hang of things with her somewhat-changed limbs. ((LAWL WRAPZORZ)) Cassidy Smith Cassidy stared after them, perplexed, and stabbed at another meatball. She found herself stifling a yawn. Dangit.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 11:49 am
Journal Entry
Damn that Vasile.
Actually, damn everyone. Damn me for going to that drunken truth-or-dare thing, damn everyone else for having it, damn Vasile for choosing dare.
He's good looking. Sure, of course he is. He wouldn't be famous if he wasn't.
Just, well, excuse me for being just a little bit skeptical over a movie star being interested in me, of all people. I never thought I was that pretty at the best of times... let alone now.
I'm all jumbled up.
He was dared to snuggle up with me. He did. I wasn't much interested in things after that... I mean... I really should have left then. It was cold, after all.
s**t. I can't face him after that. He's... he's... he's a freaking movie star. Movie stars date other movies stars, or models. I am neither. I am a geek.
Probably making do, I guess. Greer's interested mostly in the Dude, it seems... and the other girls all seem to either work here, or are in their teens. I'm the best option Vasile has.
My god, but this is a depressing train of thought.
I need chocolate, and Asimov. Stat.
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 2:47 pm
Attached to the front of your duplex door is a handwritten note with the Feral Labs logo in the top left corner.
In a flowery script, the following message is written:
The Invitation You are cordially invited to a meet and greet Halloween costume party to take place Halloween night. The staff will be setting up a tent just for this occasion and will be catering, of course. We know that you most likely did not pack costumes, so if you will just leave a message with the staff (through the intercom) to let us know what you would like to dress as, we will be able to procure a costume for you. ~Aubrey heart
((OOC: The Halloween party will take place in a separate thread in the guild that will be made for the event. The event will last in real time from Friday Oct 28 till the end of actual Halloween, Monday the 31st. Feel free to come and go at your leisure. If you would like to get artwork of your character in costume, we can post it in the first post or two of the event thread - PM the art to Sabin Duvert and he will collect it to post when he builds the thread.))
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Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 5:15 pm
RP LogAfter taking Colche back to her duplex and changing, Amaya headed down to the cafeteria for some food. This time she didn't look around to see if anyone was inside, feeling pretty okay about her apperance now that more people knew. She walked down the line, grabbing a spinach salad and a water bottle before finally turning around to see if anyone else was inside that she knew.With a plate of sausages balanced in one hand, Cass made her way through the cafeteria. Feeling pretty good today. Yep. She could totally deal with scales. Really, she could. At least, she felt that way today. Wasn't that... that Amaya girl? And were those... oh no. She'd been seriously hoping no one else would be going reptilian until she'd finished dealing with her own reflection. Poor kid, though. "Amaya? How're you doing?" "Oh, hey Cassidy." Amaya smiled and walked over, still free of any socks or shoes since she had yet to think of anything to cover them up. She took a seat next to her, kind of glad that she had grown scales just so Cass didn't feel so alone anymore... or at least she hoped it made her feel a little better now that her misery had a little company so to speak. "I'm fine. Been copeing 'n stuff." She poked around her salad and took a bite. "What about you? Have you been doin' okay?" Well, at least it was a pretty safe guess that Amaya wasn't going to be another snake. Those feet were... something else. "I'm doing okay, for the most part. Reading a lot. You finding something to keep yourself busy?" That was the biggest problem, it seemed. She nodded and looked down at her salad as she talked. "Been seeking a lot of people out, craving for attention, that kinda thing. Being alone right now is probably the worst thing I could be doing." Green gaze came back up and she gave a lonesome looking smile. "So what kinda books do you read?""Mostly science fiction. Although..." Cassidy grinned a little. "Some of it I'm not so keen on anymore. It's hard to take some of these aliens seriously when I look worse then them?" She laughed, and it came out sounding only slightly forced. She took a bite of sausage, swallowed, and pursed her lips. "I have a question for you, though. You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but... well. Since you seem to be going reptilian too, I was wondering if you've been getting cold easily." Cassidy tapped the table awkwardly. Amaya forced a small laugh too and gave a 'yeah' in agreement. As she thought of the question, she took another bite from her salad. "Actually yeah, but I just guessed that I'm turning cold-blooded..." She trailed off, not really wanting to think about how odd that thought really was. "My room is around 90 degress constantly and that's when I'm the most comfortable. I stayed in here the entire day a few days ago and the air-conditioning really got to me. When it got dark I could barely drag myself back to my duplex." The young girl looked up at Cassidy wondering if she was going through the same thing."So, it's not my imagination." Cassidy nodded. "I've been getting absolutely useless when I get chilled. I wish I'd brought more sweaters... I mean, when I arrived, this place was too hot for me. I guess we're both going to have to be careful about the air conditioning." She grimaced. "You could always ask for some sweaters." Amaya suggested, kicking her legs back and forth slightly. "But yeah... I figure that's probably what's it. What else could it be? Everything with scales that I know of is cold-blooded." She was glad she had always been overly modest and wore layers AND long-sleeve shirts and pants regardless of how hot it may be."I don't suppose they've told you exactly what it is you're turning into?" Cassidy asked cautiously. "Some sort of lizard, it looks like..." Lizards. Why couldn't she have that sort of insurance on keeping her arms and legs, huh? No, wait, that was an incredibly selfish and petty thing to think. She was trying not to do that. "Nope, been too chicken to ask... but it does seem like some sort of lizard. Like a komodo dragon or an iguana or something." She wondered if Cassidy knew what kind of snake she was turning into, but decided it was best not to pry. It was definatly a snake, so their was the chance that the poor woman could loose all her limbs... god, that would be horrible."I've been too scared to ask, too," Cass admitted. "But, well... the forked tongue is a bit of a giveaway... Oh, oh man." She gave herself a shake--it was too easy to start slipping into negative thoughts, lately. Just... just pretend everything was okay. It got easier every day. "At least you seem to be going vegetarian." She poked with a fork at Amaya's salad. Meep! Get on a positve subject... something off of the whole snake thing and... on yourself, maybe? Cassidy seemed to get down rather easily about the whole thing, so the best thing to do was switch the topic either on herself or something irrelivent. "Yep, fruit and veggies seem to be all I can stomach down recently.""Well, that's not too bad. You're not craving bugs or raw meat. Oh, man. What happens..." Cassidy raised an eyebrow. "What happens if someone gets injected with vampire bat DNA, or mosquito, or... or... leeches." Ew ew ew ew EW. Cass abruptly remembered that she was talking with someone rather younger than her. She couldn't just go saying stuff like that to people she didn't know that well, anyway--they might take it seriously and dwell on it, and she wouldn't know. "Well, um. I bet they wouldn't do something like that, anyway," she amended, though she was not at all sure of this fact. "Well, Hargun is turning into a bat of some kind and she's been craving bugs. It's kinda of disgusting but not that bad..." Amaya twitched at the thought of a mosquito person. "Mosquito DNA would be... really horrible, though." Wow, she needed to think of something positive to talk about and fast."I saw her, yeah." Cassidy grimaced. This was an awful conversation. Geez, Cass, couldn't you manage to open your mouth without something stupid coming out? For once in your life? She cleared her throat. "On the plus side, I... um." There had to be a plus side. "I can smell with my tongue...?" Amaya paused in mid-bite, staring at the blonde as she relayed that rather... random information. She stiffled some laughter and swallowed, laughing slightly. "I can taste emotions with my tongue... if that makes any sense." She hadn't told anyone else about it yet since it was... rather odd. The sensation was strange and creepy to her, so most of the time she forced herself to keep her tongue inside her mouth and not stick it out to taste what people were feeling."Emotions?" Cassidy blinked. "Really?" And immediately, her mind went into full sci-fi geek mode. "Smell-based empathy... not completely unheard of... I didn't know there were any lizards could do anything like that, but... well, there are pheromones you could be picking up on, and..." She cut herself off, and blushed. "Sorry." Amaya's eyebrows rose, rather surprised at what she was being told. "No, keep going." This was more information they she would probably ever get out of the staff, especially with her being deathly afraid of them. "What're... pheromones?""Well." Cassidy tapped her fingers together. "I'm not an expert or anything. Farthest thing from it, and I'm probably getting this just a little wrong, but people and animals are always creating these chemicals, in sweat and stuff, called pheromones. The human sense of smell is, well, not great, but a lot of people think we can pick up on the various smells on a subconscious level. The general belief is that they're mostly associated with, well, sex appeal and stuff. But, well, if you can train a dog to alert epileptics to oncoming seizures, they're obviously smelling something we can't." She chewed her lip for a moment. "I'm all over the place, sorry. But it is entirely possible that you can smell the chemicals people are releasing all the time, and the way they change according to mood. That's... that's... well, that's incredible." Amaya Vaughan Amaya listened intently as Cassidy explained, rather amazed. Maybe being able to taste people's emotions wasn't that bad after all. It still felt kind of like she was invading people's privacy of their own emotions, though.
To test it out her long, pink tongue came out of her mouth for merely a second for she quickly drew it back in. Ugh, her new tongue was disgusting looking. She did however pick up a few emotions from Cassidy in that short period of time, some she couldn't really place yet since the whole new sense still confused her. That was just, well, a little gross. But, Cassidy had to admit, it couldn't be any worse than her own tongue. "I guess I sort of have to wonder how strong my own sense of smell's going to get, then," she said. "And how much stronger yours will get, too." The whole idea was... well, pretty damn cool, if it came down to it. "Yeah... guess it might be kinda cool, actually." Amaya gave a tiny smile, still weirded out by her own tongue. Aside from brushing her teeth she never forced herself to look at it and she was just now getting a hang of her new feet, the tongue could wait. "So you have a snakes tongue then?" She winced after the last word slipped from her mouth. Cassidy was sensitive about that kinda stuff."Yeah." Cassidy grimaced a little, then let her forked tongue flicker out from between her lips for a second. Amaya did smell a bit different from the last time she'd seen her, anyway, but that was hardly a surprise. "I'm always fighting it, you know. I guess it's instincts or something, to be sticking my tongue out every few moments, but... well. It's sort of creepy." She shrugged, trying to pretend this didn't bother her as much as it did. "Yeah, I know what you mean. The urge to stick mine out is there but it's not really strong... I still can't look at it without getting grossed out, though. I'm just now getting used to my feet." She looked underneath the table at them and curled her toes in. "At first I couldn't even get myself to walk... then I learned that I have to walk on tiptoes so I don't end up tripping." The air-conditioning was starting to get to her and she would have shivered if she could, but settled for rubbing her arm through her shirt."The feet are actually, well, sort of neat looking," Cassidy admitted, with an earnest grin. "Really, they are. Although I bet they'd be weird to walk on, yeah. You seem to be doing okay." She found herself stifling a yawn. Getting sleepy... yes... just, a nap right here would be good... no, wait. She needed to get out in the sun, didn't she? She peered curiously at Amaya. "Are you cold, too? Maybe we should, well, get outside." "Guess they are kinda neat..." Amaya smiled slightly and finished off her salad, swallowing before speaking. "Actually, yeah." She nodded and stood up. "I think the air-conditioning is starting to sink in." A gloved hand went up and rubbed her arm again to keep herself a little warmer.Cassidy swallowed the last of her sausages. "I think you're right. I'm starting to get a bit foggy-headed myself." She stretched as she got up, rubbing at her hairless arms. "I think I'll just go sit in the sun for a while, or something. Read a bit. Yeah." She pursed her lips thoughtfully. "It's been pretty good, though, having someone else to discuss this sort of thing with." Cass smiled. "I dunno if I ever told you--I'm in number three. I guess, well, us reptiles gotta stick together or something." She shrugged. Amaya nodded in agreement and bussed her tray. "I'm in number 20. I think I'm gonna go back there and... bask for a little bit." She winced at the word, hateing to even mention it. "I see you around Cassidy." With a smile and a wave she headed out of the cafeteria.
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Posted: Tue Oct 11, 2005 4:42 pm
Cassidy was feeling pretty proud of herself.
She'd filled up a small bag with a few edibles, a bottle of water, and a book, and had hiked off into the jungle without any real destination.
She was a little worried about getting lost. Actually, Cassidy was really worried about getting lost, but she reassured herself that even if she did, the island was small enough that she could be assurred of eventually coming across something familiar.
All the same, she was going to keep to the trails.
It was a battle. There were bugs (ick), and some of them were rather large (aie). There were lizards, of course, and she swore that once there had been a snake.
She'd almost run screaming, then.
"I'm scarier than anything out here," she told herself, and kept going.
And it was true. Unless any of her fellow experiments were wandering around in the trees as well, anyway.
When, after several hours, she made her way out onto the beach, Cassidy gave a triumphant whoop. She had braved spiders, and weird bugs, and probably a snake assuming there were snakes on this island and she certainly didn't see why there wouldn't be, and she had lived.
She was shaking badly, but she was alive.
In the last afternoon sun, Cassidy settled down to have a picnic on the beach. She had earned it.
It was the bravest thing she had ever done.
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Sabin Duvert Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 10:48 am
Sabin was busying around the lab, or, well, perhaps "busy"-ing wasn't exactly the most appropriate term. All of the lab technicians that he oversaw certainly looked busy, mixing chemicals, looking through high-powered microscopes and doing electrophoresis...
Sabin, on the other hand, was "supervising". He had been giving them assignments, and from their progress reports, they had been making some truly phenomenal progress. Enough that had Sabin really excited to get in a new subject that Moreau had promised to allow him some personal... "input" on.... eventually.
However... in the meantime, to be quite frank, Sabin was a bit restless. He wanted do to more than just watch a bunch of other people work. Sure, they were working off of his ideas, but... it wasn't quite the same. Even Moreau was pretty unreachable as of late - supposedly holed up in his laboratory, working on something that he found "really exciting".
Sabin paused, a thought occurring to him as he headed out of the lab and down the hall to where notes were kept on the current subjects. A broad grin stretched his face as he confirmed, yes, there was a subject that was pysically ready for their next injection - Moreau was probably too busy to notice.
He flipped through the pages of the notes. Cassidy - the one becoming the snake. Something caught at the back of Sabin's mind... he had been monitering her the other week when she was talking with someone... something about really disliking snakes... liking birds better or some such. Well, too bad for her - once the procedure began there wa really no going back - the procedure was far too unstable for that.
But.... things could be added, or altered along the way - not overall morphology - no, that would be too far gone, but altercations... just what Sabin's research had been driving towards. And he had been positively dying to try it out - what better way to prove its success than to implement it on someone who had already begun the change - then there would be no argument against allowing him to start from square one on someone else.
The idea was really rolling with him now - and like a speeding train, nothing short of a mountain would get in his way once Sabin had an idea. In fact, now that he thought about it, he knew exactly what he could do. She liked birds? Beautiful! Sabin had been itching to truly create an homage to the mythical creatures that he had loved ever since he was a small child. What better opportunity than this! So what if no one probably would have heard of what he had in mind.
Sabin raced back to his laboratory, Cassidy's serums in hand, and barked commands at his research team.
****
Some time later, the moified serums in hand, Sabin went to the monitering panels, and slowly turned down the heat in Cassidy's room, waititng for it to begin to take its effects on her body, making her lethargic, tired.
And, not long after that, he pushed a button that sent a signal to her chip to render her unconscious for a few hours while he stole quietly into the village to take her to the next step...
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 11:09 am
Cassidy yawned, and gave a sudden shudder. She had (unsurprisingly) been reading, but she'd read this page several times and wasn't sure at all what was on it. Why so tired all of a sudden? She couldn't even bear to do so much as move to get her bookmark.
...it was cold! Who'd turned on the air conditioning?
Oh, hell.
She moved sluggishly, and stopped before moving very far. Too cold. She couldn't even think properly. Wasn't it a bad thing for cold-blooded animals to get cold? They just sort of got slower and slower and sleepier and sleepier until they... they... something.
Cass tried to shake herself awake--maybe she could make it outside--but only succeeded in rolling over on top of the battered paperback before blacking out.
... Cheryl?
Cassidy called out to her sister, and waved. Cheryl was a long way away. She didn't hear. Cass started running, but in the nature of dreams, didn't manage to make any headway.
Cheryl looked just as she had when Cassidy had last seen her--petite, short hair a darker blonde than Cassidy's, about sixteen.
"CHERYL!"
Why wasn't she moving? Cassidy looked down to discover she had no feet. Not the snake's tail she'd been dreading, just... nothing.
She had no body.
It was almost relieving; no body meant no more scales. But she had no voice, and couldn't call.
She knew, in the manner of dreams, that she could only move if she caught a ride upon something else that passed by, but she stood in a featureless grey plain, and there was no sign of any living creature.
And Cheryl was moving steadily away.
Abruptly, Cheryl turned and came back. Cassidy waited. There wasn't anything else for her to do. Cheryl came, peered up at her older sister who wasn't there, and snorted.
Without a single word exchanged, Cheryl turned to leave again.
Cassidy could have cried, but she had no eyes, and for some reason that made her even sadder. She clung to Cheryl's shoulder, but could get no purchase. Her sister slipped away, and was gone.
It wasn't fair.
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Sabin Duvert Vice Captain
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 11:27 am
While Cassidy is asleep, her third injection is administered, although between the chip and the temperature, she sleeps through the p***k and a good deal past that.
Eventually, the room begins to warm again and the signal from the chip shuts off, ceasing its separation of Cassidy from consciousness.
However, unconsciousness might almost have been preferable, as it is most likely the pain that would rouse Cassidy.
The changes would start small: the itching rash spreading across her skin originating where the few clusters of scales already dotted her hairless skin. Patches of skin hardens, thin layers of skin above it peeling off to reveal forming scales beneath that spreads ovr her arms, face, back and legs. For quite some time the scales spread, although that is not the end of the process by a long shot.
Bones crunch as her face shape begins to change subtly, her nose flattening against her face, all the while her nostrils slitting as strange organs begin to form inside, alerting her to the warming room around her.
Then... a sharp pain jabs at the base of her spine as it begins to push out from her body, pulling and stretching, longer... and longer... scales rising up along it as it grows.
But it seems, while this new, distinctly serpentine tail is forming... something else equally painful begins to happen to her legs. Bones fuse underneath the scaly skin, and what before had been reconisable feet become misshapen extentions of her shins, with only nubbed, symbolic toes. The ankle joint completely fuses with her fusing tibia and fibia - rendering the way she walked before impossible.
Finally... just as the rest of the changes are subsiding, the pain dulling to a numb, rubbery feeling... there is a sharp, prickling pain along her arms as something totally unexpected happens. Bright, colorful quills seem to be poking through the skin... only to unfurl a moment later revealing... feathers? Like colorful pinions of hope, they stand out sharply against the green scales that nearly cover her body.
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 12:12 pm
Cassidy awoke, itching, her skin burning.
A quick glance determined the cause of this--more scales. Ugh, they hadn't... they'd just... oh, god.
It was unpleasant, but familiar, at least. She shut her eyes, intent upon waiting it out. She could do this. She could. She had to.
She gave a sudden gasp and pressed her hands to her face as her face began to ache. Under her hands, her nose flattened--the hours she'd spent agonizing over her beaky nose! This was not ever what she had wished for when she was fourteen and feeling ugly. Not nearly.
Oh, god. Oh, god, this was awful. It was the sinus headache to end all sinus headaches.
Cassidy actually let out a yelp as her spine began to grow. She had some painkillers in the bathroom, she knew. For headaches and things. It would... it would help. A little. Maybe.
She rolled off the bed, tears springing to her eyes. She didn't make it anywhere near the bathroom; her legs gave way under her after only a step. With a yelp, she sprawled on the floor.
... Where were her feet?
Too terrified to even scream or cry, Cassidy stared in horror at the lumps her feet were becoming. They'd... they'd made a mistake! The tail she could live with. Really. If she had to. But... legs and no feet? What would she do? This was beyond monstrous.
As the pain subsided a little, she tried to wiggle her toes. Nothing. She didn't even appear to have ankles... just toes on the end of her stub legs.
Suddenly, losing her legs didn't seem like such a bad thing, if the alternative was this. This couldn't have been on purpose. They'd made a mistake. Maybe..... maybe the doctors would see, and come, and fix everything.
Her arms... It was like little needles. Worse than the scales had been.
Cassidy stared in horror, sure that the same thing would be happening to her arms. To her surprise, this wasn't the case. This was... something coming in? But she had scales there, already. What....
Her mouth dropped open.
Feathers.
Cassidy was certain she had to be hallucinating. But no, these were feathers, brightly colourful and... well, rather pretty. Like some sort of parrot.
She checked herself. Yes, she was still scaly, still a footless freak, still had the forked tongue, flat nose, the whole shebang. Feathers?!
Cassidy wanted a mirror.
Shaking, she crawled across the floor on her knees, into the bathroom, and with a great deal of difficulty, pulled herself up onto the counter to look at herself in the mirror.
Her face was... very alien, now. It didn't even look like hers. She touched her nose curiously. Strange... when she turned her head, she seemed to know where the warmest places in the room were. It wasn't like anything she even had a word for, a completely alien sense, much moreso than smelling with her tongue.
And the feathers on her arms were bright and beautiful.
But there weren't any feathered snakes. There had been feathered dinosaurs, but... that would have been incredible, if they could get intact DNA from one. And they had proper feet, too, so...
Cassidy let herself back down on the ground. She was shaking.
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 2:30 pm
She was absolutely starving.
Cassidy supposed that after her... transformation... her body was tired and needed nourishment. This was likely enough. But she certainly had no food in the condo, and...
...she wasn't sure how to get to the cafeteria.
The doctor couldn't really expect her to crawl about on her knees, could he? She felt ridiculous going around the condo like this.
She didn't have any better ideas.
She'd have to go out sooner or later, Cassidy reasoned. She'd have to meet up with other people eventually. There was no point in delaying it.
She really didn't want people to see her like this.
Cassidy adjusted her jeans to allow for her new tail, and with a resigned sigh, crawled out the door.
The doorknob was at eye level. It was depressing.
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 5:30 pm
RP Log
Well, getting lunch had been downright insulting. Cassidy was used to being, well, slightly taller than average. Having to suddenly strain to be seen by the cafeteria workers was, well. Stupid.
Still. With a plate of meatballs and two rare steaks which she'd already cut up into bite-size pieces, Cass left the uncomfortably air-conditioned cafeteria and headed out to the warm beach, albeit awkardly, on her knees.
Concentrating on not stubbing her knee on a sharp rock or spilling her lunch, she came out onto the beach, her head down. The sound of voices caught her attention, and she raised her head to see.
Oh, hell. People. Cassidy half-considered fleeing, but speed was not quite an easy thing right now.
"Not a problem." Pyroth gave a vague shrug, traditional puns were harmless. "I'm not a canine yet." he added with the faintest of fanged grins.
Ambrose sounded a bit like Khan, always telling him to eat, of couse Ambrose had never reminded him before but the reminder was there. He probably would make a bit of an effort to eat something, perhaps it would calm the instincts that raged all too often in his head these days.
As for his tattoos, he cast a glance at them "Oh these? These were done by a more steady hand than mine, my old shop partner Khan did these for me based on traditional rank markings for my tribe. Personally I'm better at more detailed work, he was always better at solid balanced hues."
"I might give it a try sometime." Pyroth pondered, surely it wouldn't hurt to learn to control that natural instinct in him when faced with a blade? Fencing did seem to have a rythym to it, perhaps he could set a rythym to his own movements? Hmmm, it did seem a bit out of place with his fighting style though, his whole style was based around the pretence you were harmless, silent and then a surprise blow to a vulnerable spot. Either way, it wouldn't hurt to observe a bit.
As he watched the fight, Pyroth once again was drawn to movement not far away, Cassidy had come onto the beach. Of course right now to Pyroth she was unrecognisable, he raised a brow ever so slightly before giving her a welcoming nod, her appearance had changed quite drastically but you learned to deal with things in this place it seemed.
Ambrose began the basic drill again with Amaya, starting slow, pausing between movements, and keeping the forward/backwards movements pretty evenly spaced at first, while carrying on the conversation with Pyroth.
Neither of them were holding a blade- they still rested on a rock nearby.
"Well, I suppose it's difficult to discern just where the barrier between human and canine is...." Ambrose admitted, wondering just when he would be considered actually canine... IF he would.
"Well, regardless, I'm sure if you had as much practice as you say, that your work must have been quite talented. Have you given though to drawing? Like Hargun?"
But while Ambrose was keeping a conversation with Pyroth, he made sure to Keep his eyes on Amaya, encouraging. He DID notice some improvement. "Aha! You have been practicing! I can tell!" He grinned.
His back was to the path that led to the beach, and his attention on Amaya, so he had not noticed Cassidy's approach.
Most of Amaya's attention had been on her own feet and Ambrose as she concentrated. She really needed more practice still...
Upon looking up at Ambrose she caught sight of someone approaching. Was that... Cassid-OH s**t!
The back of her feet caught on a piece of driftwood and she tumbled backwards after much flailing, landing on her back in the sand with her arms flopped outwards. "Ha! Ha ha... ha... ow..."
Cassidy tilted her head, and hobbled her way across the sand.
This was ridiculous. She couldn't keep doing this. It was hard on her knees, for one. She'd have to figure something else out.
"Fencing practice, I assume?" Just act casual. Nothing out of the ordinary at all. Nope. No way. Cassidy attempted to smile, though it was half-hearted.
She felt sick.
Pyroth nodded, that was what worried him, was humanity all in the mind or was it tied to something more aesthetic? "I'm sure we will both find out in time where that barrier lies." there wasn't much more he could say, he had made a resolution to cross those bridges when he came to them.
"I got pretty decent over time, with practice and tuition, haven't had a chance to draw since I got here though, I don't really have much stationary and I was trying to conserve it. Getting washed up here deprived me of quite a lot of luggage, I should apply for some I think, see if the Doctor feels generous."
Pyroth was distinctly impressed by the movements of the two sparring partners, Ambrose in particular had an ease and fluidity in his movement that was commendable, Amaya, too was pretty faultless. Well...at least until she fell over.
Pyroth winced as she hit the sand, act unassuming he had been thinking, ah well. He nodded to Cassidy "The two of them were just showing me a fencing example and getting some practice in I think." He really wanted to ask if the girl had received yet another injection but was too worried to, after all, when one person moved onto the next stage, the others quickly followed it seemed.
Ambrose was just about to mention to Amaya to keep her eyes on his when she fell backwards over the log.
"Amaya!?" he stepped forward, instinctually offering her a hand up. "Are you alright??"
It was then that he heard Cassidy's voice calling from behind his head. He chuckled a bit self-consciously before even turning around. "Yes, actually - I've been teaching Amay-" He turned around to address the person he was speaking to, and somewhere in the turn managed to lose the rest of his sentence.
Cassidy had changed.
But moreso than that, it was becoming painfully obvious the extent that the morphological changes that could happen to them. Her face looked so different - more inhuman than even greer's with the hardened yellow nose. She was carrying a plate of food, and the scales had spread over the majority of her body... including over a long tail. She was kneeling down for some reason, but the strangest thing was that there were feathers on her arms? Were... they actually her feathers? Or just some accessory?
He wouldn't stare. She was probably having more than her own share of problems. And at least, thank God, Greer had already taken the fall for shaking him out of his dream-world that they couldn't possibly change more than they already had. He felt guilty about probably not helping Greer's self-opinion, but at least Cassidy- who was more likely more fragile than Greer in regards to the change - especially its serpentine nature - he would be stronger to.
"Cassidy, I'm sorry.... you... got your third injection, didn't you...?" He said quietly, sympathetically, dropping his stance completely.
He glanced quickly back to Pyroth, although Cassidy was more in the forefront of his mind at the moment. "I'm sure the Doctor would be willing to oblige if you ask - he doesnt' seem hesitant to buy things for us... though if he heard your comment about the swine serum he might have second thoughts on getting you good quality paper." He added teasingly.
Amaya took Ambrose hand and hauled herself up. "Third in-..." She looked down at Cassidy and just stared for what seemed like forever before finally shaking her head and forcfully shutting her eyes to keep from looking. Poor Cassidy. At the time she couldn't think of anything to say and settled to just kind of... stare at her feet. "Hi Cassidy..."
"I suppose I did get my third injection." Cassidy didn't look at them. Coming down here had maybe been a bad idea... oh, man. She probably looked like an idiot.
She sat herself down cross-legged, her deformed feet plainly obvious. "I don't suppose you folks know of any snakes that have feathers? But don't stop on my account." She popped a bit of meat into her mouth, and swallowed it whole.
Pyroth mentally cringed as Ambrose asked what he had been reluctant to, so this next injection would be a doozy it seemed. He just hoped he wouldn't gain too much more fur, it was already quite high maintainence at the moment. However, the attention shift did give him a chance to get a better look at Cassidy, those weren't feathers were they?
He grabbed at the thread of humour however, definately, steer the conversation away from the dire, don't slip into that cycle again. With a grin he added "He probably heard me. Knowing this island, he's got it bugged from top to toe and sits cackling at our misery. It would be more dramatic that way. Either way, I'm asking for some more clothes to wear, and some art materials, they can be poison tainted, I could care less, I just need desperately to get changed."
There wasn't much he could really say to fill the following silence other than. "Ah well, at least soon we will all be in the same boat."
"Snakes with feathers? I've never heard of any in nature, legends perhaps? " he paused "So those /are/ feathers then? I hope they aren't mixing the serums now."
Ambrose patted Amaya on the shoulders and moved to put himself between Amaya and Cassidy in hopes that Amaya would be able to recover from her feaux paus while out of direct line of sight. He knew how delicate emotionally one could be after a change. Not to mention probably rather tender physically as well.
But he couldn't help but eye her legs as she brought them around when she sat down. A bit of fear ran down his spine, setting his fur on end. Her simplified legs all but promised more to come - and just how great the physical changes would get. Aubrey had said that they would probably keep their hands... but would they still be able to stand up?? He had been thinking about offering for Cassidy to join them in fencing before he saw her legs and now realized that that would just be grinding salt into a wound. But... what about the rest of them? Would he be reduced to all fours like a real animal? That... that would be unbrearable, above all else.
"No, it's fine, Cassidy. If you need to talk about anything... anything at all- we're here for you." He smiled, knowing Amaya would understand. "But... if you want some more time... I understand that as well - but dont' feel bad about interrupting. We've got nothing but time here, unfortunately..."
"Sounds like you have a plan at least, Pyroth." Ambrose said to him. "we definately need at least hobbies here... lest we DO go crazy. Something to keep our minds creative and to minimize any temptation that might arise from other new instincts... I mean it might not be an issue, but I think it's a good thing to focus on the things that make us who we are." Ambrose had given this a lot of thought.
"Feathers...?" Amaya blinked and finally forced herself to look up, but only at the bright feathers on her arms. "I didn't think snakes had feathers... ever..." She raised a brow, confused. It was obvious that Cassidy was turning into a snake but... why feathers?
For the most part she remained silent, fear creeping up her spine. She wasn't turning into a snake or anything but... a lizard was still pretty far from human. Her hands cupped in her lap as she remained behind Ambrose, gaze cast downward.
"Mixing... serums?" Cassidy repeated, dully. "Oh no. Oh, god no. They wouldn't try something like that, would they?"
She rubbed her temples, letting out a slight whimper. "I'm not even turning into something real. Great. Just... just great." Her voice cracked; she cleared her throat. "Maybe I shouldn't have come down here..."
"Keep occupied, never stop to think or you'll think forever, that's the motto I'm trying to keep right now. It's hard but it helps. And yep, I hadn't thought of that, might as well concentrate on our humanity in case it slips away, I know I've been doing that lately, suppress the beast embrace yourself."
His gaze returned once more to Cassidy and he felt that familiar pang of terror. Perhaps making that swine comment wasn't a good idea really, what if he ended up as a dog-pig or something?
"I hope they aren't, but here and now, I'd say they are capable of anything at all. I'm really sorry if I've upset you, I have all the social graces of a shopping trolley." he grinned apologetically.
Ambrose shook his head fearfully. "I have no idea what they're planning... I can't think of any snakes - or reptiles for that matter that actually have feathers... except extinct ones, right? Like.... the... uh... archae-optrixs? right?" He shook his head, confused. As if animals wasn't bad enough, were they trying to make actual monsters out of us?
"And Unfortunately I haven't been able to keep myself out of my thoughts. I've been probably doing far too much thinking for my own good." He sighed. "I guess another problem is figuring out what part of things that you feel are foreign... I mean they're emotions, it's not like something living in you, it's... urges, desires.. far more insidious in trying to distinguish what's you and what isn't." He glanced around at the company. "I'm sorry... I seem to be rather depressing to be around recently. Greer hit her second stage as well - I don't know if you knew... but I had this whole... system down before I saw that the changes really could go this far... you know... it didn't seem that they could really do this to us - genetically or whatever... until you see it." He sighed. No - he wouldn't go into it again. It was a dream - a pleasant string of hope that he had held onto. Unless for some unknown reason the mammal serums didn't go further - which made no sense when the more foreign ones did.
"We're in this together. For better, for worse. And Emelyn spoke with me last night - and she was right... we have to face facts. We're all going through this, and we're certainly not going to hold your appearance against you, Cassidy. You can't help it, and we'd be hypocrites if we did."
She flinched as Cassidy's voice cracked. Her mouth opened to offer to walk her back to her duplex but then again... she couldn't walk. Well, on her knees but still and Amaya couldn't carry her or anything. Her mouth clamped shut as she continued to remain silent and looking at her own feet. Why couldn't she have been the snake? Cass was deathly afraid of them but she wasn't and here she was able to keep her feet and everything.
"Greer did too?" Amaya's head shot up, her eyes wide as she finally broke her own silence. Oh my god... ohmygodohmygod.
"...I hadn't seen Greer."
Cassidy sighed, simply overwhelmed with it all. "But thank you, Ambrose. That means a lot." She grinned at all three of them. "I... was feeling better, the last few days. I really was. I..." She shook her head. "I'm going to head back to my room. My knees sort of hurt. This isn't going to work..."
She really didn't like the idea of being bound to her room for the rest of her life. Or until she could--ugh--slither.
"I'm sorry. I just... I thought I could deal with this right now. I don't think I can. I'll see you guys later."
She popped another whole meatball in her mouth, and turned to make her way back to the village, on her knees.
Stupid way to travel.
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Posted: Wed Oct 19, 2005 5:33 pm
((Delivered, with some degree of difficulty, to the labs.))
Since your goddamn serum's done a lovely job on my legs, and since I'd really rather not go around on my knees, if you would see fit to furnish me with a wheelchair of some sort so I can get around, I'd appreciate it.
Thanks.
-Cassidy
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Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 1:05 am
The very next morning, almost as if they were anticipating requests like this a wheelchair like device shows up. It seems to be motorized and work on a swivle to allow you to move over the more difficult terrian of the island.
It is very obviously state of the art based on the four heavier duty wheels at the bottom. It also appears a slot has been cut out for your tail. It is very professionally done but you can tell it wasn't built this way.
Sitting in the seat is a pair of prostetic legs that someone enjoyed painting green. They seem to be sized to your new... leg things and attach with harnesses. They are very obviously a strong plastic with layers of green paint. Though they don't look real they were very obviously designed for you.
The creepest thing of course is the fact that these were deilvered into your room as your slept.
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Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2005 1:39 pm
Cassidy was feeling more and more violated as time went by. Couldn't these people knock?
Still, the wheelchair looked... well, like a much better option that crawling around on her knees.
She clambered up into it without too much difficulty, and settled herself in. It took a few attempts to get her tail to go successfully through the hole in the back--weird. It was like having an extra arm to have to worry about.
And then, there were these legs.
Cassidy glared at them for a little while. It was... well, almost insulting, but a glance down at her stumpy legs changed her mind. She strapped them on.
They weren't terribly comfortable. Cass made a face, her tongue flickering. Maybe.... well, they wouldn't be forever.
Oh, god.
Cassidy burst into tears. All she'd wanted was a job. Now she was a mutant in a wheelchair. It was a terrible thing.
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