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 Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 8:10 am
"I was going to school- over in Europe, mostly. But also down in Australia, and some in Asia... not so much about Asia. Too much of a culture clash to try and blend in. ...I can't stay in one place for too long," she said, finally looking directly at him. "I've been that way since I was twelve. ...And I'm twenty." She said, referring to his question of her age. "I'll celebrate my 21st in December, wherever I am at the time."
She kicked at some sand, and asked the question that had been on her mind since she met him. "What is your real name? ...I'm sorry to ask, but I've been wondering."
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Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2005 1:29 pm
"Wow, you are a young little thing, Em. With your whole life in front of you ..." - the Dude looked up at the blue sky above them, kicking up sand as well. "And a world gypsy, to boot. FAR OUT! I always wanted to go to Australia, to dive the Great Barrier Reef, see the koalas and the Outback." - there was a sense of Wanderlust in his voice when he spoke. They walked in silence for a bit.
When she asked him about his name, he smiled at her and scratched his goatee:
"Well, let's do proper introducion, I 'spose."
Straightening an imaginery tie, he cleared his throat and continued in an official, deep voice: "Hello, my name is Carroll, Sean Carroll. I am a 29 year old bum with no particullar direction in life. Your mother probably warned you about me. I make my living by fishing and giving diving tours to college kids. I donate to Greenpeace, WWF and the Nature Conservancy. I take my tea dry and rolled in paper. In my free time, which I have a lot of, I like to watch the sunset. Please, call me Dude."
With that he stretched out his free hand towards Em: "At your service, fair Emelyn."
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 12:21 pm
Em reached out and took the proffered hand, a genuine beam of a smile spreading across her face. He makes me laugh, she thought, still smiling. It hadn't been lost on her, either, that tinge in his voice... that made her think she'd found another traveler at heart, trapped here on this island. Well, until they found alternative transportation off of it.
"Dude it is, then. ...And my mother didn't warn me about anything. My parents died when I was two years old. I was raised by my grandfather. Well, until I was twelve. ...Wait, here it is." She stopped, pointing to the stretch of beach they were on. She'd only recognized it by the road, which curled up to where she'd been taken that night of her concussion by Sabin, and taken care of by the woman doctor. "This is where I washed up."
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 12:52 pm
"Ah, sorry to hear 'bout that, Em. Well, hey, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, or so the T-shirts say. And you seemed to have turned out allright, even without a mom." - he gave her a thumbs up.
Ah, nothing like a genuine smile from a pretty girl to make you all warm and fuzzy inside. The Dude's spirits were soaring high, like the magnificent frigate bird. He smiled back at Em and started thinking of a nice compliment to tell her later. Something not too corny.
When Em pointed to the place on the beach that she remebered, the Dude waded into the water knee deep and turned around towards Em: "I only have one mask, so let me go swim out to the reef and dive a little there, see if I can see anything at reachable depths? I'll be back in, like, fifteen minutes, okey?"
With that the Dude put his mask on his forehead and adjusted the snorkel. The fins were still hanging from his sholder - he'd put them on later. It'd be a 20 feet walk to an area where it was finally deep enough to dive. He began wading thru the clear, warm water of the lagoon, a smile still on his face. As he was walking, snippets of the conversation were floating thru the Dude's mind. Something that Em had said, in passing, was not adding up, or, rather, was adding up to something she likely didn't mean to mention. 'This boat was left to me' ... 'it was my grandfather's boat' ... 'my parents died when I was two, I was raised by my grandfather'.
The Dude turned around to look at the girl sitting on the beach. So the only parent she ever knew, the one that raised her since she was a little girl, was dead. And she wasn't even 21. Did she even HAVE anybody to miss her, now that she was 'lost at sea'? Em caught him looking at her and the Dude waved, to somehow cover up that he was starring. Then he put on his mask and dove.
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 1:31 pm
Em sat on the shore, settling down in the sand and dipping her toes in the surf. The sun continued to beat down on her, and even though she arched her fingertips over her eyes to block out its glare, it still beamed off the water, so she could barely see through the shine. It was why the Dude was almost back on shore before she noticed him. He'd not been gone for too long, which was another reason she'd been surprised. - He hadn't been able to locate anything that he could tell was a boat, but said that farther out was a reef that he figured would be easier to check out the next day, when the tides had gone down.
Em took his word for it- glad for the attempt, and for the company on the walk back. She may not have gotten a chance to swim, but the new suit felt good, all the same.
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 1:42 pm
A note has been slipped under Em's door. It's written on a standard stationary, (saying Feral Labs on the top) in choppy handwriting of a hurried hand. It's addressed to Em. Quote: Hey Emelyn. I swung by here around 3 pm but couldn't find you. There has been some unfortunate developments in our conspiracy theories, which you should know about. But I think it would be easier to describe them in person. So if you run into Greer or Matthew or me, we can bring you up to speed. And no reason to panic yet. Whatever happens, DON'T LET THEM INJECT YOU AGAIN. The Dude.
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 5:15 pm
 Em Finds Dude's NoteEmelyn had come back from a swim when she found the note underneath the door. She'd almost expected it to be from this Dr. Moreau, who she'd still not met, but who was so kind as to leave her the care package... so she was surprised to see that it was the Dude's signature scrawled at the bottom of the very strange note. She couldn't make heads or tails of it. ..'Don't let them inject you again'... on one hand, it concerned Emelyn- a prickle in the back of her brain that whispered that she might be in danger on this bizarre tropical island... but mostly, she just wondered if this was some sort of joke, or misunderstanding. In her wildest imagination, she thought perhaps the vaccinations we received weren't completely dead, and now people are catching some sort of disease. But she had always been incredibly healthy- so much so, that she almost had a type of god-complex about whether or not she could get sick. She'd never even contracted the flu until she slept outside one cold, wet night in the Czech Republic... and even then, she was 16. So even if that doctor had made a mistake, and made a poor vaccination- Em couldn't even begin to wrap her head around the possibility that something serious may happen to her. Not her. So she folded the note up and put it in the box with the rest of her care package things- most of which were still laying in or around it, mostly untouched. She didn't stop to realize that she'd thought the same thing a year before- that it couldn't be her life that had been touched, irrevocably altered by cancer... and it couldn't possibly be her sister that succumbed to a terrible disease. She just wouldn't let herself draw the parallels. Sometimes the truth just hurts too much- it can be like a candle, brightening the way and showing the true path... but that truth-bringing flame... can bite, and burn.
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Posted: Fri Sep 02, 2005 7:06 pm
An envelope is slipped under your door. It has a fancy M with an actual wax seal as you open it it says. Letter To My Dear Guest, Please meet my escort at the gate tonight at 7pm for a private dinner in the mansion of Dr. Moreau. We have much to discuss and offers to make. This is a special invite, and is only going out to a few members of our "community". Please keep this to yourself to avoid sparking jelousy. Sincerly, Dr. Nicholas Moreau
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Posted: Sun Oct 02, 2005 2:33 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 actually 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 9:12 am
 Date with the DevilEmelyn came up to the gate, wondering when it had gotten so dark. She tugged at her shirt once, as if that singular attention to the fabric would allow it to suddenly drop all of its distresses- enough wrinkles and folds to cause her to look like...well, like she'd washed ashore a tropical isle and had no clothes to replace it. She doubted that Moreau would mind- if he was indeed the one who had sent the letter, then he'd know at least somewhat about her situation, and would allow her this disheveled apperance. It was what she assumed the meeting was about anyway- some sort of way off the island. She was probably interfering with whatever research that was going on here, and she didn't mind the 'boot'... it was nice enough for them to have provided for her needs this long already. Lauren approached the gate with two letters in her hand. One was from the burnt out surfer called 'The Dude' who somehow managed to get her into a paranoid frenzy a couple days back. She had been cleaning up her room ever since she trashed it looking for cameras that didn't even exist. She was really pissed at the Dude for the momment.
The other letter was from the Doc freak and didn't even put her name in the salutation. She really knew she shouldn't go into such a situation alone but she knew the only way to get to know what was truely going on was to go straight to the source.
A pretty woman stood there waiting at the gate as well. Good Lauren thought at least I will have someone to help me out with this mess. A familar face walked up to the gate as they opened. A very large black man with a suit and gloves stood there. "Hello Thorn, Emelyn, Moreau is waiting to see you... this way."
He walked them into the lab building they had seen before, the doors opening as he got close. "Do you two wanna change? Moreau will be treating you to a formal dinner he suggested a a couple of dresses." James pointed to two rooms one with a black dress and one with a nice red one in front of the door.
"The change of clothing is optional... and of course yours to keep." they were very very expensive looking dresses. When the gate opened, Em's first thought was that an immense shadow had taken over the job of gatekeeper- such was the mass of the dark figure that loomed there. It had taken her a double-take in the poor evening light, and the booming voice of the man all in black to realize that it was an actual human being. Her first thought (beyond the fact that the man knew her name) was that she wished she'd never gotten herself stranded on an island with such handsome men... why couldn't one or two of them just be utterly distasteful? At least that way, the little patterns of words like "yummy" or "oh my everloving god.." would stop running circles around her mind, and let her have some peace. First the strange man Sabin, who'd rescued her from the beach, and then the pleasant-looking blond... Am...something was his name, and then The Dude, who she didn't even want to get herself thinking about now. She followed him in, noticing the other woman... what did he call her, Thorn... but not getting a chance to meet her. She also hoped that this strange, thin woman wouldn't mind if she took the red dress. It was her favorite color, besides white. She went into one of the two rooms and came out changed- looking... much better than she'd expected, but still sporting the aviator's goggles. Thorn has never worn a dress in her life. But now, the oversized James was wanting her to parade around in one in front of Moreau!? This seemed a little suspicious.
Thorn crossed her arms. "What's going on" She asked James. "Why in the hell would I ever wear that... that.. thing?!"
But the image of her all girly in that dress did cross her mind and she was rather tempted to try. She didn't want to ruin her tough girl image. She squirmed and tapped her foot a bit the temptation of trying it out becoming near unbearable.
She looked over at James and the girl in the goggles. "Don't tell this to ANYONE!"
She disappeared and put on the black dress. She did love red but the style was just was too... girly. The black one was more glam goth in style and seemed to be her size. She of course, leave on her gaudy leather choker and her fishnet arm bands and tights that she wore under her ripped jeans.
She looked into the mirror before she exited the changing room. DAMN she looked HOT!
James stood outside the doors politely while the girls changed. Moreau had been completely right about their choices in dresses. He did not find himself suprised, Moreau was right about a lot of things. He was very good at reading people, he found the prospect of what Moreau had planned very interesting.
He smiled at Lauren's reluctance, though he had a feeling she'd give in as well. "I won't tell a soul Thorn." strangely despite the tough girl image Lauren reminded him a lot of one of his own daughters. The Emelyn one though, seemed to be looking at him in a way that made him uncomfortable. She was far too young and he was rather married.
"Come this way then." James lead them both to the elevator, ushered them in then said something unexpectedly, "Mansion" the elevator closed with James on the other side as the door closed taking just the two of them up.
"Good luck girls," he chuckled "enjoy yourselves." speaking to no one since their elevator was already rising high into the mountain itself. It was all a whirlwhind. Emelyn could hardly believe that she was decked out in a dress that looked like it should be hugging the curves of a hollywood starlet... let alone that she was encased in an elevator that was headed up a mountainside to a dinner in what appeared to be a millionaire's mansion. She'd not even gotten to meet this woman, and the fact that they were now the solitary passengers of a minute space, she realized she'd not even said a word to her. "Thorn, was your name? I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to introduce myself- I'm still a little flustered about being in a mansion." She laughed easily, but didn't extend her hand for a shake- something told her that the woman wouldn't appreciate the gesture. Thorn looked over at the lady she was with wondering what was up with the pilot goggles.
She was also finding out that the dress was incredibly uncomfortable and just a bit too large for her frame. She had to continously pull at the straps to keep from embarrassing herself.
"Yeap" She said simply. "Em right?" She didn't appear too interested in her new dining buddy. A servant was waiting as the elevator opened "Hello Miss White, Miss Granger, come this way the Doctor is awaiting you."
He gestured for them to enter the oppulant mansion, the elevator was where a front door would be. Directly in front of them was a entry room with a large gorgeous staircase. The entry room had a huge fireplace, a crystal chandlier, and beautiful paintings. In the distant rooms the smell of gourmet cooked food wafted in from the most well lit hallway, and in the other direction a library could be seen.
It was in a word... breathtaking. Everything Em thought was expressed in a subvocalized whisper- throaty words that clung to the underbelly of her breath and escaped, unbidden: "Good lord"... She'd seen many things from all over the world, rich and poor, decadent and decaying- but something about the unexpectedness of this gorgeous tableau, tucked into this island paradise, struck a note of awe for the young traveler. Her senses were overloaded with the works of art, glittering chandelier, and the sweet smells that spoke of exquisitely cooked food. "Thank you," Emelyn told the servant, giving him a grateful nod. She felt... at ease here, even amidst the awe that had initially struck her, for she had an eye for the beautiful and tasteful. She gave Thorn a small smile, and went forward, as the man had indicated. It wasn't until getting to this room Thorn realised that she was the proverbial fish out of water. There was just so much that wasn't needed, that she didn't quite understand. The most annoying thing to her was that a few years ago she came across a table exactly like one within the room, only more beat up. At the time that $100 for the piece of trash left her happy for weeks, but now she knew she was totally jipped by the a*****e. If it were here, it had to be at least worth a few grand... at LEAST.
"Damnit" She said as she eyed that table.
The servant greeted them. A servant seemed like a totally odd thing to Lauren but she knew if she had the money, she would love one. Hell, she loved the cleaning service she had already.
"Sure!" She said smiling cheesily. She nearly tripped on her dress and had to catch herself as she walked foreword. The thing was annoying and itchy but it was definatly shiny.
Damnit, can they just get to the food already? popped into her brain as he stomach rumbled. It had a habit of doing that. Lauren and Emelyn were lead down a long hallway to large double door that the servent opened. Inside the room soft music was playing and a huge table was set out full of what appeared to be expensive Seafood. Salmon, Scallops, Lobster, Shrimp, and other recongizable fish adorned the dishes. Wine glasses and silverware were set out properly along with napkins that even looked expensive.
Moreau was at the furthest end of the table with Aubrey next to him, in a dress that made the others look... well not cheap, but less expensive. She had her hair done beautifully and Moreau looked like he was wearing his best tuxedo. He came across as more handsome than usual in this light with this suit.
"Miss White and Miss Granger, or Thorn I believe you perfer?" Moreau said with no hint of sarcasm (suprising for him but he was on his best behavoir). "Welcome to my Mansion, I'm glad you could join me for dinner! Sit, sit, we have a lot to discuss." Emelyn almost didn't recognize the doctor- Aubrey, that is. She'd never met Moreau, so this was quite a surreal instance for her. Ever since that night she'd washed up on shore, she'd heard the name Moreau in whispers, angry tones, and mouthed in awe. She'd begun to believe that he may not exist at all- he'd taken on the presence of some all-knowing being, hovering above the island in his mansion. So seeing him sit, even as large-as-life as he still seemed, dashing and suave at the end of a table outfitted for the most particular of kings, she was surprised to see that all he was... was a man. But she gave a smile to Aubrey, and included her in her greeting to the Moreau. "Good evening, and thank you for inviting me," she said, no longer believing that this night was about getting off the island, "and it's nice to finally meet you, Dr. I've heard so much about you. And Dr... Aubrey, I believe it was?" She'd put so much effort in remembering that it was Aubrey, rather than Audrey... that she'd forgotten the woman's last name. Moreau seemed much more attentive to her than the last time she met him. She also had never met the woman that was with him. It looked to be his chick so it gave her reassurance that this wasn't some sick perverted game. Nope, no sexual favors were going to be asked of her scrawny self.
She sighed with relief smelling the food. She knew it wasn't punch in that glass.
"Yeah, call me Thorn." She hated being called by her last name most of all. Lauren wasn't all that bad but Ms. Granger reminded her of life before the streets.
But then Em cleared the mystery of the woman up for her, Aubrey. She had a vague recollection of The Dude mentioning her name. Now she had a face to put with it.
She sat down and put her elbow on the table. She knew very well that even if she tried she would end up doing something rude so she didn't dare to bother with politeness.
"What's going on? I want to hear it... all of it." Impatience seemed to run her most of the time. Aubrey stood as the others entered the room. She smiled politely and reached out to shake their hands. "Hello, ladies. Its nice to meet you ah... Thorn? And nice to see you again, Miss Emelyn." Moreau smiled to both of the women and also to Aubrey. "Well as I said, much to talk about. But first, does the food appear to your liking, I can ask the cooks to make something else, anything else."
Moreau nodded knowingly, comming across as fairly nice instead of his normal self. His natural charisma exuded and felt like it filled the room around him. "Quite." Emelyn said, slipping into an eased state with the elegant surroundings. "Everything looks... well, sublime." And she meant it- there was nothing she'd rather down than piles of shrimp.. and it had been so long since she'd had a good lobster. Thorn looked up. "Since ya mentioned it Doc can I get something non alcoholic." She glared at the wine glass. "I bet I can down everything else, I'm pretty much a garbage disposal." Thorn smiled seeming really proud of that statement. Moreau smiled politely to Lauren's rather... vulgar statement. "Well, as you know this is my island. Of course you also know that this is a medical testing facility of some kind. I am here to tell you exactly what I am doing here," Moreau paused, "and to hopefully ask for you to understand" as he looked more at Emelyn "and to make it clear how much that understanding is worth to me."
Moreau nodded his head politely to both of them. "I am telling you both this because I have decided that of this island's inhabitants you two are the ones I see with the most... potential." Moreau actually thought most manipulatable but of course he'd never say that.
"Aubrey here has known me for a number of years and can probably tell you more about working with me here. Don't get me wrong, I am not asking for much." Moreau smiled and waited to see how they reacted to these statements. Emelyn didn't quite understand what he meant by potential- but it raised a bit of a red flag in the back of her mind. ...As much as she loved flattery, and as comfortable as she was in these surroundings- this man had never met her before, and she'd only had very minimal contact with those who were purportedly his underlings. Otherwise, she may have believed that they'd passed on information on her to this Dr. Moreau. She raised an eyebrow, and rested one of her delicate fingers across her lips, a vertical reminder that she should listen before opening her mouth- and also a sort of silent barrier that let others know that her guard was up. She didn't respond verbally, but nodded and kept her expression even and her eyes fixed on him.
Lauren crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, "Hmm, I came here for answers and I don't want to leave with lies. Can't promise I will understand but I can try." She hoped that there wouldn't be much medical jargon involved.
"PSHHAW! Of course I have the most potential!" In her opinion, the people that she had met so far had seemed fairly... pathetic. She didn't know about this Emelyn person however. I mean look at those goggles. She couldn't help putting things through her mind as to what the goggles meant, why she wore them.
She pictured Emelyn flying a plane and crashing on the island. Or maybe she was like a female James, Moreau's future pilot? Another addition to his help.
Well if she was a pilot how in the hell was Thorn going to help him out? All she could do was lift things. Steal from the inhabitants? She wondered if the pilot lady carried any cash.
"Working with Dr. Moreau is truely an amazing experience," she said, looking adoringly over to him, a dream-like look in her eyes. "Seriously, I consider myself the luckiest woman in the world to be working so up close and personal with him." OKay, that was a pun, obviously, but Aubrey just smiled to herself.
"Well, you may or may not understand that this facility is a medical testing facility." Moreau nodded solemly at this fact.
"I understand that in a way, both of you were in dire straits and I feel priveledged to help you. I was happy that we were able to save your life that night Emelyn and Thorn, well, I hated to see a kid with such potential stuck on the streets." Moreau smiled sincerly to both of them, or atleast what appeared sincere.
"That being said, both of you are part of the experiement. I'm here to ask your understanding, we are trying to change the world. To help people, like my cousin who thanks to my help has just started to recover her hearing. It's my only true desire." Moreau sighed.
"But because of the top secret nature, I cannot allow people off the island. What I offer in exchange should be tempting enough." Moreau smiled slyly. "Anything you want, within my power of course. Of course you'll be able to work and communicate with me more than your fellow islanders." Emelyn's hand dropped to the table, and the other, which had lay prone in her lap, leapt into the air as if bidden by the collapse of the other. "Wait a moment... when you said 'you're part of the experiment'... what did you mean by that? What sort of experiment is it?" As honeyed as his words were- and oh yes, Moreau knew how to charm- that enough was evident... 'helping mankind' didn't pull a blind over her eyes as to the possibility that she may just be a guinea pig. Hmm... now she was a lab monkey... nice. Well she did get herself into this mess but never being allowed off the island? She thought of her life in the past, on the streets she was lucky enough to make it a year. These past couple of days, as confusing as they were, had been the easiest and happiest she has had for a long time.
And she had no real friends.
But still a lab monkey? What kind of direction was that? But then again what kind of direction was she going on the streets?
Her mind was tossing and turning so much she appeared very uncomfortable and totally confused. "I'm offering to make this island a home for you both. To do my best for you, give you positions if you so wish it and to allow you a bit more, luxerious than other people may be given." Moreau looked at each of them for reactions, so far they had been rather quiet.
"I understand if this is a tough offer to make, and tougher still to deal with. But I want to make your life here an improvement and to make your... difficulties be minimized." Moreau looked sincere and a little sad himself. Emelyn rubbed a point on her forehead, attempting to stamp out a pinpoint of pressure that was developing there. "That's all well and good, Dr- and I hope I'm not coming across as rude, but what exactly are you doing here? And how are we a part of these experiments?" She didn't want to say it aloud- but the subtext was... am I going to be hurt? And why the hell can't I leave the island. It hadn't been lost on her that Moreau had essentially told her... she was trapped. And for a creature of the world, such as herself, the idea of being locked up in one location made her... lightheaded, and anxious. Doc seemed a little concerned for her, but she had learned that no one was needed. She had plenty chances to go to group homes to stay until she was comfortable, but she never fit into the real world.
"Yeah, what are ya getting us into?" She asked hopeing that he would just spit it out. He seemed to be dancing around something that didn't seem quite right.
But maybe... it did.
Geese, so confusing. She hated making decisions like this. "Well, the experiment, one that I have done everything to test and make completely safe, is to combine human and animal DNA." Moreau's eyes shinned.
"Think of it, you'll be able to do things no human can, experience things that they can never know." Moreau smiled. "And of course, as said, if you work with me and act cooperatively be treated to creature comforts."
"Perhaps attempt to create an enviroment of friends... or more so, even a family." Moreau's expressive face turned sincere again. "I just want to help you. Give you things to keep you busy. Many of your fellow islanders hate me already." Her first reaction was that this man was insane- no one can splice animal and human DNA, it's preposterous. But she was ashamed to admit to herself that a part of her believed him, and was terrified at the thought of being... changed. "So what animal DNA have we received?" Emelyn said, still skeptical, but not wanting to bring up that doubt with the Dr.... lest he have other things hidden under his sleeve. "I assume that's what the... vaccinations were about?" Thorn started cracking up. Maybe she really was a lab monkey or a Guinea pig and didn't even know it.
But the idea seemed... FUN!
She hoped that she was injected with lion DNA, or maybe panther DNA! Oooh she could be really tall and be injected with giraffe DNA.
And then she sat laughing at the images in her head. The Dude was going to turn into something and she wondered what. Perhaps a sloth?
"So what am I doc... tell me!!" She seemed a bit excited but it was mostly in the, I think your lying but I will humor you kind of way. "Well, you Emelyn, have been injected with Hedgehog DNA. Thorn, well... Yellow Mongoose." Moreau smiled.
"Both amazingly interesting animals, that should gift you with abilities and instincts that you should find interesting." Moreau paused. "Of course as I said, I don't want to make this miserable for you. You both are such interesting people and would do so well working here." ...The pause was a pregnant one, and filled with that unique feeling of mingled fear and skepticism. "So I'm going to be a hedgehog? ...Interesting." As soon as the words were out of her mouth, she realized that she was angry, under the surface- and humoring this man just wasn't going to cut it. He could put her in a fancy dress and parade her into a room filled with beautiful antiques and works of art... but it was going to be a cold day in hell if he thought he could buy her over with any of it. "I'm sorry, Doctor... but this just isn't the sort of thing that I want to be involved in. I suggest you give me the... antidote, or whatever it is, so I can go about my merry way." She dropped both hands down onto the tablecloth, resolutely. "I'm not going to be sticking around for your little 'family zoo'." Of course Emelyn had to choose the out. Thorn was going to choose the out but she had already taken it. She couldn't go and follow someone she didn't really know. She also couldn't go and take the offer.
"Well Doc my price is high." She said. Mongoose, he was killing her but if he actually believed it and was giving her things because he was a nut then she could deal with his eccentricities. Hell she could deal with a lot with how much he could afford.
She pictured having her own air hockey table in her room, maybe a cat too. Or an actual Moose! She wondered if a Moose could live in the tropics but immediately decided that no, she didn't want to clean up after a moose.
A yellow mongoose. What in the hell was that? She had read Riki Tiki Tavi in Elementary school and knew they were vicious against snakes.
Sounded small though.... someone normally doesn't tear at you like a mongoose. It's usually a lion, or a bear.
She continued laughing. "Sure Doc, if you pay me I will turn into any animal you want me to." She obviously didn't believe him. Aubrey shot a look to Emelyn.
"This isn't a zoo!" she fired back. "This isn't about the good Doctor here and his little farm. We're doing something here. We're trying to acomplish things!"
She looked to Moreau for a second, then back to Emelyn. "Can you even start to image what we're learning about the human gene by doing this? This manipulation with animal DNA opens so many doors. We could potentially manipulate human DNA to do anything. Stop birth defects... cure cancer. ANYTHING!" Moreau looked geninuely sad about Emelyn's decision to leave. He may not have been as sad as he gave the impression he was, but he did appear sad. He looked to Thorn, "this is no joke... you don't sound honestly convinced." Knowing Emelyn was in the room he attempted to not be too excited about the prospect of showing them. Emelyn... paled, not visibly, for she was already as white as a person may go without being considered albino... but any color she'd been employing was exhausted at Aubrey's words. "Cure cancer?" She said, and realized that her voice wasn't coming out very loudly. "...Can what you're doing actually cure cancer?"
Hmm... well he could see she didn't believe him. She stood up and put her hands on her boney hips, "Well if you want to convince me you are going to have to show me." She really wanted to see this, if it was true. She pictured his servants even going as far as to put high tech makeup or even torture a person into intense plastic surgery to carry on his beliefs just so he would pay them."Theoretically yes, we could cure cancer one day... we are learning how to do gene theorpy here, alter human D.N.A. I mean we've been able to cure my cousin's deafness. She can already hear again and soon will be able to hear better than any human. D.N.A. could be altered to be more resistant to cancer... there are many possible medical benifits." Moreau smiled to Emelyn. "I am trying to help people here you know."
Moreau looked over at Lauren. "As far as proof, well, I can't say the stages are pleasent but I will gladley show you Mr. Maurlias' transformation... not sure if Emelyn needs to be seen out though. Since she isn't interested in trying to understand or help." Moreau sighed softely. Emelyn narrowed her eyes, not appreciative of what she saw as a sort of reverse psychology. "Please don't be patronizing, Dr..." she said, a measure of restraint only beginning to creep back into her tone, "I'll stay to see Mr. Maurlias and this... miracle treatments. You have to see, however," she steeled her expression, hoping that she wasn't readable to this man, "that it's hard to trust the word of a man who's already lied to you once." ...She was so confused, underneath the steely gaze and resolute words. This man was part of the reason she was still alive today... and what if these experiments, whatever they truly were... really did cure cancer? Memories drifted into her sight, asking to be remembered... asking her to remember how it had felt to lose the most important person in her life- but she pushed the ghosts away. She couldn't seem firm to this man, and couldn't make her choice... if she was being ruled by emotions. Thorn was amazed at how the doc was able to unlock Emelyn's emotions. It seemed like she hit some nerve somehow because he almost did a complete 180.
hmmm... not pleasant. Well, it's not like she wasn't aware of pain already. She was fully aware to such an extent that she almost didn't know what it was like to live WITHOUT pain. Being uncomfortable was not a problem and as far as being unsightly, she had done enough of that to deal with anyone's reactions.
She nodded, "Show me what cha got.""Would you have said yes that night Emelyn? You were barely concience, we were trying to save your life as well." Moreau nodded and hit a button as a screen lowered in his dining area. "I'm, sorry for my outburst Miss White, just seems like the world wants me dead lately." Moreau sounded honestly sad.
"Subject 0002, Ambrose Maurlias, Night of first stage Transformation." he said as the screen flickered for a moment. Then it came on, showing the progression of Ambrose on his first night of transformation. He let them watch it, hoping this would settle their doubts. This was not like any well done CG that you can still tell it's not real, nor was it as grusome as the movies where skin tears. But Mr. Maurlias did not seem to be enoying himself at all. Her hand was, it seemed, permanently attached to her lips. They'd gone up at the first sight of Ambrose's change (for she recognized 'Mr. Maurlias, as Moreau called him, as the blonde man she'd met in the cafeteria days ago), and remained there throughout the entirety. The only time her fingers distinguished themselves as being separate from her trembling lips was when they tensed at a sharp intake of breath after it had ceased. There was nothing about that transformation that looked fake... and although a part of her still wanted to disbelieve it, she couldn't deny what she'd seen. "How can you be so cruel?" She whispered through the wisp-gaps created by her shivering fingers. "You say you want to help people... and yet... where's your morality?" She pushed away tears- god, did she despise the idea of crying in front of this man. But after the hard memories of Mizzie's death danced in her mind, a black ballet that left her emotions raw and exposed... she couldn't completely steel herself against the onslought of this amazing new turn of events. "What did I ever do to you... that you'd treat me this way? I'm not an..." she paused. She didn't finish- 'I'm not an animal'.... She couldn't. Lauren's jaw dropped and stayed there awhile as 'Subject 0002' went through his transformation. Wow, that really did look like it hurt. She looked closer, he wasn't interesting at all to Lauren before, just looked like a stuck up rich boy but now he was... hot.
She looked over at Emelyn who seemed appauled. She obviously wasn't as familiar with pain and suffering being a part of every day life. Pain and suffering was alwasy there for Lauren, who became Thorn because of its abuse. She had already been through one transformation so why not another?
She just hated not being able to choose her animal but she knew the process had already begun.
Even though he was presenting the facts all straight up, he was not REALLY giving them a choice. The only choice they had was to accept the reality of the situation they were in or struggle against their new reality.
Looking at it now, she realised her life of running was over.
Her eyes welled up a bit with water. She wasn't going to cry but it was obvious she was holding back extreme emotions.
He was making someone know her world. This rich boy now knew what it was like to transform into a total outcast that was a monster to everyone around him. He was making people understand.
It all seemed crazy but Lauren knew it was time for another transformation.
That was the realisation that sent a tear down her cheek, as her mouth parted and her eyes looked at the doctor.
"Thanks." She said... simply and honestly as she started messing with her hair. It seemed a bit of the Lauren underneath the anger and rage came out from her rought exterior. "Well, we are making attempts to minimize the pain. Some research is being done. But, Miss White, we are trying to change the world here." Moreau looked serious.
"Many would try to stop us, because it is unethical... still are the uses of it so unethical. Curing deafeness, blindness, cancer? Do you know how much of modern medicine was spawned unethically." Moreau sighed. "I'd like to think that the lives helped outweigh the sacrifices needed."
"I knew that Ambrose would take it selfishly, and he has, whining about how it's him, him, him, not a concern in the world for anyone else till Mr. Carroll pointed it out" Moreau turned to Emelyn. "I just want people to understand that I'm trying to help the world."
The entire time he wasn't sure how he should react to Lauren... but deep down, hidden under this facade he was smiling. The emotions were still bleeding out of her, and she sat, knowing how wouded she must appear. It wouldn''t be easy... to try and describe what was going through Emelyn''s head, fighting with her heart. She couldn''t logically make this decision- for she knew that was what she was being asked to make. Whether to side with Moreau, and be a willing subject, and this ''family'' of which he spoke of with such desire... or to run into the jungle, or throw herself into the ocean. Logic wouldn''t help her here- and neither would her moral compass- for it had been lain out for all to see, only to show that it was... cracked. Emelyn had always believed in right and wrong, and that there was only a paper-thin line of leeway between them. She was a traveler- a diplomat and a healer of broken lives- a tree thats branches arched up in hundreds of different directions, never going the same way but always facing the sun. The roots of that tree were deep-seated, ethical bonds to the earth, and to humility and the humble. Now, it felt like she had been uprooted, and her tree stood, vulnerable against the elements- one solid gust of wind, and she could collapse. For she realized that her morals were crumbling out from underneath her in light of everything. She didn''t know what to think of these people. What they were doing was... reprehensible, terrible... unspeakable. But then...she felt like a hypocrite, and a fool... hadn''t she spent the last year saying that she would do anything to get Mizzie back? She would have done anything to save her sister- but there had been nothing she could do. Emelyn was helpless, and alone, and in the last twelve months of agony and despair... she''d often whispered into the darkness of the night, after hours of wracking sobs... that she would have gone to hell and back to make Mizzie live again. Well... this was hell. And even if it couldn''t bring her sister back, it could possibly kill her murderer. It was unethical- it was... terrible treatment, but here, it could be done... and it needed to be done. The moralities of the mainland, the ethics of a people bound by rules and laws... couldn''t save her sister. Emelyn was a creature plagued with guilt- she''d lived by her own laws of right and wrong... and now she saw that variance as being one of the things that had killed Mizzie. If only there had been someone brave enough to do evil, to create good- maybe she would still be alive. Em would rather have Mizzie at her side, tainted by a dark decision... than dead with the angels, her soul clean from wrongdoing. ...In her state, Emelyn didn''t have to chance to think of this as selfishness. She''d needed her sister, and had felt empty, alone since her death. Moreau was doing something evil, but something evil that would help her kill Mizzie''s murderer. Since logic could not entirely make this choice for her... her heart did. It said... ''I am willing to sacrifice my soul, to avenge this death. ...What else do I have? I''m all alone.'' Emelyn wiped her eyes, even though the tears had never gathered there, and looked up at the madman... or was he a genius?... and inhaled a deep, ragged breath before she regained some measure of her composure. "If it''s a martyr you want... a martyr you have." Lauren wiped her eyes and shrugged off the emotions. She wondered why she seemed so touched by someone's pain. But the fact was something stirred within her that just seemed... right.
She nodded at Moreau. "It's a deal Doc, but you better treat me well. I've ran from hell before, I can run again." She had no idea how trust came so easily towards this man she barely knew, maybe it was his charisma, but what she knew is that she trusted him all of a sudden. Trust didn't happen often but when it did, she was loyal to the person that she thought was deserving of that trust.
And not having to run from anything anymore, to have all struggle wiped away felt wonderful.
She smiled a little at the doc. "Do what cha have to. I'm working for you." Then her smile twisted a bit looking at the blank monitor, "But show me more of these when ya can."
Moreau patted both of them on the shoulders at the same time. "You've made the right decision, for now, go back to the village. I'll send you instructions or invite you for dinner if we need to talk again."
Moreau sighed "Remember the rest of the villagers are potential enemies now, of course they might just be misguided. Maybe you can help them, maybe not... just let me know of anything you hear. Understand I'll have people watching out for your safety at all times."
Moreau grinned "I'm always watching, especailly my favorite two subjects." Moreau lead the two women out who had each made their own personal pact with the Devil that night.
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Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 9:14 am
Forgiveness... a Special Moment... and the Uncertainty that Wrenches People Apart It had been maybe a week since the Dude had last seen Emelyn. A lot of things had happened since then and the Dude kinda forgot about the girl and the note he left under her door. But today, as he was walking down the stairs of his duplex, he realized that he hadn't seen the pretty brunette in a while. Wondering what was up and worrying whether she had already found out the truth and how she was taking it, he walked up to her duplex and knocked on the door.
"Emelyn? Hey, are you there? "S me. Errr ... the Dude."
Before she had a chance to reply and open the door, the Dude hid his flippers behind his back, so that, in case she didn't know anything, he wouldn't scare her senseless right away. he couldn't really hid his whiskers, but hoped that they would judt look like stubble. Longish whitish stubble.Emelyn was at her desk, folded over a pad of paper, writing for what had probably been hours- she'd lost control of time sometime after the four-page long diatribe on why she was completely alone, and how it was entirely her own fault. She would have to ask Moreau for a proper diary, she thought- thinking also as soon as she did that she truly had... let herself belong to him. She was even starting to casually make lists of how Moreau could make her life easier. "Is it important, Dude?" She called out, not wanting to open the door to anyone who already knew about her conversation with the doctor... Hmmm ... that caught the Dude by surprise. He really didn't have much to say to Emelyn, except the usual spiel that he had given to the others about how Moreau was a d**k but they should love life anyway, because things turn out somehow. The tiredness and the edge in Emelyn's voice made him think she probably either knew already or was suspecting something.
"Well, not really. Just wanted to show off my new flippers and figure out whether you ate yet" - he finally answered, stepping from one foot to the other, debating what to say next.Emelyn leapt to her feet, and was at the door at a span of seconds- her stomach was twisting, but she had to see what he looked like. She'd had a ...deathly, morbid curiousity about the transformations that were going on outside her self-inflicted prison... partly because she knew that she'd be undergoing one herself, but mostly because she felt somewhat responsible for what was happening to everyone. By being a willing participant, she felt like she was signing over the lives of everyone else who still wanted to fight this. She swung open the door. The Dude hadn't expected such a response, he was standing there, looking surprised, his blue eyes a bit wide. Seeing the feverish glint in her eyes, he smiled wide and tried to sound as relaxed and chill about the situation as possible: "Hey Em!"
Taking his right flipper arm from behind his back he waved at her and teased: "What's the hurry all of a sudden? I thought you were busy?"he swallowed back a ream of shock and ran her hand back from her forehead through the mess of hair she'd not combed in two days. "Not busy. Just feeling like a martyr." She smiled, but it was small and mostly false. She hadn't expected him to look so...well, like an animal. It was obviously still him, but those flippers were certainly real. "I'm so sorry, Dude." She said. Em looked like a mess. She had dark circles under her eyes and her hair was standing even more then usual. Putting his hand on her head, he wushled her hair, still looking confused: "What'cha sorry about? That Moreau's a monster in sheep's clothing?" He stopped, now not certain what she knew and what she didn't know about the revelations of the past week
"What do you know about all this, anyway? Did you talk to Ambrose or to Greer or something already?""I haven't spoken to anyone," she said, tipping her weight to be supported by the grey doorframe, "...since Moreau." She hadn't known until moments before by Dude's words and his still-kind manner towards her that he hadn't known about her meeting with the 'monster in sheep's clothing'. So she didn't relish his knowing about it now; but it wasn't to be helped.
"What do you mean since Moreau?" - the Dude's eyebrows furrowed. He looked at Emelyn, wondering. "Did that d**k do something to you, Em?" - he finally asked. "I mean, beyond injecting and being turned into a fluffy kitten business that he's doing to everyone here." If the doctor had no qualms about turning innocent people into beasts, god knows what else he was capable of."Oh, I don't even know where to begin, Dude." She said, her voice... not full of emotion, but rather, completely devoid of it. All the conflicting terrors of emotions that had been flowing through her mind for the past few days was all sitting on the pages on her desk, a written account of her soul. "Do you want to come in? ...Or do you prefer to be outside, now that you're... well... changed?" "I can come in ..." - the Dude looked clearly worried now. What did Moreau do to this girl? The monster. Did he implant creepy spider eggs into her, ala Alien? Or informed her he was turning her into a naked molerat or something? The Dude wouldn't put it past Moreau. The hate that he felt after his conversation with Karma flared up again ...
Trying to get a hold of his emotions, he followed Emelyn into the duplex.Em went into the room first, glad for the fact that she wasn't staring at the very...different features of the Dude, and sat back down at the desk chair she'd spent all afternoon in, leaving him the sheet-tossed bed to sit on. The notebooks were still splayed across the desk, and she swiped them into a top drawer with a jerking motion, before turning back to the flippered, furry man. She didn't entirely know how to start, but he looked... concerned, to say the least. "I don't want you to worry about me," she said, hoping she was interpreting his expression right. "Above all, I don't want you to feel sorry for me, because pretty soon, you're going to hate me- and I don't want to remember this look on your face." ..."A few days ago, Moreau invited me to his mansion, and we had a long...talk." She found that after this sentence, she couldn't entirely keep eye contact with those baby blues- still so unchanged, and so instead focused on a point on the bed where she'd distressed the sheets into a molehill of fabric as she continued to speak. "It wasn't just me, actually. It was... Thorn, a blonde woman. I hadn't met her before. He invited us for dinner, and to talk with us. ...I thought it was so he could give me a way home, or to talk about billing for having a boat come pick me up or something. But it wasn't that at all." The Dude was looking at Emelyn's pretty but tired face intently. The filtered light from the partially closed blinds casted stripey shadows on her face and clothes. Her hair was frizzy and shining like a halo around her head, held away from her face by the ever present goggles. There was a haunted look on Em's face, and the Dude couldn't figure out the reason why this girl was feeling so guilty about something. She was not the reason for his transformation nor Ambrose's. At least he hoped not. Her grave words didn't make much sense to him at first, but he was simply letting her speak, listening to all she had to say about this.
Because clearly, she had spent the past few days thinking about what she wanted to say. "...He told me everything that's going on here. What the experiments are about, how he's doing them- for some reason, he just came completely clean with us. He told me what I'm going to become, and that he wanted me to be on his side about this." She resisted touching her lips with her fingers, or to let the emotion start to creep back into her voice. "I think he's just tired of everyone hating him." She smiled slightly- the first genuine smile she'd had in days, but it was gone again in a moment as her next words crept into her head- she knew what she was going to say. "He wanted me to be on his side, to understand why he's doing this to everyone." "We fought... I didn't want to understand, I wanted him to let me go. God, so much was said," she murmured. "How terrible is it?" She said, a strange question to ask. "How terrible is it to do this to people, to turn us into creatures, and to... torture us, even for the greater good? But I did it." She was rambling, now. Looking up at Emelyn, listening to her story, the Dude's facial expression stayed mostly concerned. Moreau didn't want to be hated? Oh, what a joke THAT was. he smirked to himself at that. What a pathetic creep this doctor was. A vermin by any other name. Now, after he had them all of them caged on the island, he wanted to be loved and appreciated ... The Dude rolled his eyes and continued listening to the story.
When Emelyn was finally done, her voice trembling from emotion, he looked up at her and smiled almost gently: "You silly girl. Why again am I supposed to be hating you? Because you decided that what the doctor is doing somehow was important to you and you were willing to volunteer for it? I will not hate you for that. Geez. Why would I, seriously?"At that, she couldn't help but connect back to his eyes, staring through the blue emotion that swam in hers. She didn't know what to think of this man... who had such depth of character, hidden behind such a strange exterior (even stranger now, she noted...), and who could forgive what she considered a trespass against him. "Because..." she said, finally succumbing to the urge, and putting the ends of her delicate fingers to her lips, speaking through them, "by agreeing to do this, it almost feels like I'm betraying everyone else." Like you, she refrained from saying- even though he was the main person she was afraid of disappointing; he was the person she knew the most on the island. "It wasn't as if I'd asked to be injected initially, either, or to be brought to this island- but the 'sign on' to this devilish, macabre project also seems like a write-off to anyone else who doesn't have something to gain by selling their soul to Moreau..." The Dude stood up and walked over the few feet to the chair on which Emelyn had been sitting. Crouching down in front of her, he took the her free hand, that wasn't trembling next to her face. Patting it reassuringly, he looked up at the girl thru the blond cables of his dreadlocks and spoke:
"Listen ... listen here ... Em. I am just a simple guy and I do not know whether Moreau's madness is good for the world or not. I have my doubts. But what I do know is that he should be doing these experiments on willing subjects. If he is actually making and effort to find and persuade people for his cause - that's good. He SHOULD be doing that. It would make me extremely happy if he would populate the rest of these duplexes with volunteers, like you have chosen to be. That way he doesn't have to kidnap people any longer. He will not have to break more lives. That's all I'd ever hoped to prevent here, truly."
He patted her hand again and smiled again: "So don't kill yourself ... you did nothing wrong."Em didn't know what to say, except to bring her trembling fingers down to touch the downy fur that covered his skin, and to feel like she'd been absolved of a supreme sin. "Thank you..." she said, feeling things she'd not expected to have to deal with... or even to understand, ". ..You know... you don't look so different, after all..." she said, softly, and brought her hand up to his browned face, tentatively. He hadn't pulled away from her yet, so she allowed her fingers to touch the surface of his skin, and to see that he was still human, underneath it all. All the time, she kept her eyes locked with his- wanting to look away, because she was so confused... but somehow not being able to break the lock. Oh oh.
Okey, this was not fair.
Painfully aware that his face was burning hot, and hoping that this new dark skin wasn't making it obvious that he was red as a beet, the Dude swallowed hard. The only thing he cold see right now were a pair of blue eyes, phosphorescing in the twilight of the room and Emelyn's face faintly appearing in the background. Trying to somehow regain composure after such a sweet yet underhanded move, he stammered:
"You are very pretty, too."
Errrr ... that didn't come out right. Emelyn pulled her hand away from his face, and her eyes jerked to the floor, breaking the lock of their stare sharply. "Ha, well, I haven't been turned into a hedgehog yet," she murmured, pretending that nothing had just happened, and moving her body around so she was facing the desk again. The Dude's stomach dropped. Very lame of him. EXTREMELY UNCOOL. What was he, a thirteen year old with raging hormones, now? ******** A. But how damn pretty this Em girl was at that moment! Those eyes ... wow.
Clearing his throat, the Dude stood up and planted a carefree smile on his face: "Heh. Sorry about that, Em. Got a bit star struck. Won't happen again" - he assured her, chuckling and put his flipper in the pockets of the trunks.
"Hey, wanna go get a bite to eat? I think you've angst enough for a few days here. If you are gonna be here your entire life, might as well enjoy the stay, you know?"
"And hedgehog, eh? I betcha this spike hair of yours is gonna be all pins and needles" - he finally reacted to her words."Don't even worry about it," Em said, referring to the 'starstruck moment', "Just pretend it didn't happen." She said, and turned back to face him, a smile on her face to try and convince him that she already had forgotten about the incident. "And yes... a hedgehog. I just hope the spines don't hurt coming out," she said, wincing at the idea. She was afraid to ask him if his transformation had hurt at all... she could remember what Ambrose had looked like, and the agony he seemed to be going through, as she and Thorn watched his entire transformation through the monitor at the mansion. She stood. "Food... would be sublime. I've been in here for..." she paused, debating whether or not to tell him... but finally finished, "days." The Dude looked at his flipper, pulling his right hand out of the pocket: "Well, I took painkillers after the injection and they still hurt a lot. I mean, 's probably not childbirth kinda pain, but it's not pleasant. Maybe Moreau can give you a morphin, ya know? Since you are a volunteer and stuff. That way you'll get to sleep thru it all." He flexed his deformed hand and put i back in the pocket.
"Days? No wonder you look like a Kate Moss." - he grinned like a Cheshire and headed for the door.She gasped, mouth wide open in a kind of smile. "Oooh, take that back," Em said, grabbing for a pillow on the bed and launching it through the air at the Dude. "I am no twig," she said, and laughed as it decked him clean in the back of the head. His mood lifted instantly after he was decked by the pillow. Still grinning like a maniac, the Dude picked up the cushy white thing and launched it at Emelyn.
"Oh really? Whatcha want me to say, that your a** is out of this world?"
With that he bolted out the door and hollered from the stairs: "Let's got, Miss Universe. Lunch's almost over." Em didn't have time to duck- she was too busy laughing at the innate cleverness of the 'a** is out of this world' joke tying in to the 'Miss Universe' one... just the fact that he'd jokingly called her that was essentially him saying something was 'out of this world'.... so she got smacked in the face with the downy pillow. She laughed and ran after him, taking the steps two at a time and hoping she wouldn't barrel down them headfirst in her enthusiasm. There was Thai food for lunch in the cafeteria. Grabbing his tray, the Dude happily put a double dose of spicy seafood salad on his plate, followed by a side of crab cakes. Sitting down on a table, he waited for Emelyn to join him.
"So how did he persuade you, anyway, Em? I mean ... if you do not mind telling me, that is" - he asked curiously.Em took a seat across from him, her tray filled with anything that she could get her hands on that wasn't spicy... but in those few cases where it just looked too good to resist, she'd also loaded up on breaded rolls, to soak up the intensity of the flavor. She'd suffer through the spice for the taste of that glorious seafood. "Well," she said, pushing the silverware around her tray with her thumb, an idle gesture, "it wasn't him, so much as that other doctor- Aubrey. She explained all the good that these treatments can do, and it just made me think... what a hypocrite I was being. I want all those things to be cured, as well- but I can't see how they can, if people are so determined to follow the mainland's ethics. What's right... what's wrong." She paused to ask herself why she wasn't telling him the truth. There was no reason to exclude the whole truth from him... except maybe the hope that if she didn't bring it up, she wouldn't have to dwell on it. But she didn't want to lie to him. "And she said that they were trying to cure cancer." She said. "My sister died of cancer last year." It was a simple statement, but each emotion that richocheted around each word was more complex than anything else she'd ever attempted to say. As Emelyn was talking the Dude was listening and picking out the shellfish away from the salad.
"Yeah, I can at least see Aubrey being extremely persuasive. Moreau is an inhuman beast. But Aubrey ... she believes him, believes his research and his final goal. And she is very human, and a very kind girl. Without her, this place would be much more of a prison then it is." - The Dude said and quirked his eyebrow.
He himself was only half believing the noble goals that Aubrey was claiming. The scientists had lied to all of them before and there was no reason why they wouldn't do it again. Only this time they were trying to win their victims over. But the Dude didn't want to say that to Emelyn. It was much better that a life was being sacrificed for a noble goal, not for a whim of a madman. Particullarly if it was to atone for a death of a sibling.
"I didn't know you had a sister" - he said quietly. "I am sorry to her that, Emelyn. So you really have no one left in this world anymore, huh?" - he looked up at her, the eyebrows furrowed in a grim expression. No wonder she was willing to give up her life so easily. Looking back down, he pocked at an squid tentacle with his fork.
"You might be right. Maybe we are all being selfish. I mean, I know my life is really not worth that much, and I haven't really done much with it either. If sometimes in the future, somebody will live because I grew a pair of flippers, then I suppose it's good.""Everyone's life is worth something," she said, "and we're still all more than just test subjects. Or martyrs." She laughed- a single, huffing chuckle that remarked at, of all things- the lack of humor in it all. "And no... not a soul left in the world that has ties to me. There weren't that many to begin with," she said. "And I tended to always be far away from them... but I don't think I'll be travelling much anymore- even if I weren't trapped here on the island. It used to be that I was travelling away from something, stretching my limit on some sort of... 'rubber band' of my life that had one end firmly anchored to where Mizzie was. ...That's my sister," she explained, hoping she wasn't sounding...insane. "And I could pull and pull at it, and get so very far away... but was always eventually snapped back to where I started out. Ever since Mizzie's death, though, it's been like that rubber band has... snapped. So there's no real reason to pull at it." The Dude was polishing his food at an extraordinary speed as he was listening. The chewy texture of the squid and the scallops seemed to be just right for him now. He used to like fish before, but he liked it cooked. This stuff looked quite fresh to him, maybe only boiled for a few minutes. And yet it tasted so good. Must be the sea lion in him ...
"I know exactly how it feels when that rubber band just ... snaps." - he said finally. "It's hard. It must be even harder if there is noone to run to, when you loose someone so dear. I am sorry, Em."
He pocked at the salad again then added, to try adn light up the situation.
"Well, at least you are kind get to make it up now, I suppose. Right?""Yeah, I suppose so," she said, her eyes on the Dude as he wolfed down his food... or... rather 'sea lioned' down his food. She'd been hearing people talk about his transformation- and that of the others on the island that were starting to transform, but hadn't had an opportunity to see anyone other than Ambrose- and not a one, firsthand. It was still a little surreal to see a man that was part sea lion. She hoped he didn't notice her staring. "...Sorry to subject jump, but I've been holed away for a while... and haven't gotten to see anyone out and about. Is everyone changed, now? Or is it just you... and Ambrose?" Realising that he was so preoccupied with stuffing his gullet, that he was not being very sensitive, the Dude put the fork aside, but Emelyn had already switched the subject. yeah well, maybe for the better. he didn't want to think about his past right now. The present provided enough headache already ...
"Well, I don't know for sure, but thus far I only saw Ambrose. But I'll ask around. Or you can. I have seen Greer and Cassidy recently, and they seemed to be all human still. I only changed myself a few days ago. I suppose I just wanted to get it over with, and look that p***k in the eyes, so I went and got my injections myself. Kinda jumped the gun, you know?" - he scratched his scruffy cheek then pushed a plate towards Em.
"You should really eat, you know?" - he smiled at her.She rolled her eyes and grinned, taking a bite out of a crab cake to appease him. "Well, I'm sorry oh mighty Dude... some of us aren't very well-versed at talking and eating at the same time." She took another bite out of the delectable seafood cake, thinking that even if Moreau's policies were a little skewed... his food was delicious. "Lord, I love seafood," she murmured, putting her hand up to talk behind while there was still half-masicated crab rolling around in her mouth. "...And you asked for your injection early? ...Did you actually tell Moreau off?" "No" - the Dude sighed disappointed "I got Aubrey instead. I almost made her cry with my snide remarks there, I think ..." He apused, taking a sip of OJ.
"I want to see Moreau's face so badly. I sure would like to re-decorate it." He squeezed his fin arm into an awkward fist, then let go. There was anger in his eyes, and his lips were pressed together.
"Well, probably not with these arms of mine ..." - he admitted. "Not like I would get very far, anyway."
"It's just that ... there are so many new kids on this island now. Karma, Julianne, Timothy. All have been lied to. And I am the one stuck telling them the news. ******** Moreau. He should hire a full time psychiatrist for this study of his. To keep his subjects away from nervous break downs ...""Oh god, there are more on the island? That's terrible. ...I wish Moreau would start looking for willing test subjects. They'd not be too hard to find, I'd guess." She looked down at her food again and took a bite of some unnamed noodle dish that she almost didn't want identified. "...Are you going to stay angry?" She asked, quietly, after she'd swallowed the bite. "I mean... you're probably going to be here for a long time." "I don't know. I'm not really a violent person ... like ... at all. But a few days ago ... I kinda lost it. I had to tell this girl, Karma ... that she was going to become an animal and that she wasn't going home" - the Dude looked down, hiding his face, his fingers grabbing onto the fork with such ferocity, his black fingers were turning white.
"Thing about Karma ... she reminds me of someone. And she cried. God, she cried! I can still remember her little shoulders trembling when I was holding the poor girl. I couldn't handle it. When i got her calmed down, I went home and broke a few chairs and screamed at the walls a lot."
He stabbed the fork into a squid tentacle and sighed, looking up at Emelyn like a kicked dog. Forgetting about the cameras all around him, he finally blurted out.
"I just wish Moreau had brought anyone but her here. ANYONE but her.""Why?" She asked, shell-shocked by the wild look in his eyes- the most human thing about his face was transformed by the fire behind them. "Why anyone but her? What's different about her?" The Dude put his fin over his face, kinda hiding from view, only one of his eyes visible from behind the chocolate membranes. He looked tortured, as the memories of the past came welling back up with a vengeance. C'mon, Dude. Happy thoughts. HAPPY THOUGHTS. That was a long time ago. Other life. Nothing you could have done.
"She looks like my dead wife." - he finally grunted. A cloudy, numb cloud floated over her expression, freezing all the muscles of her face and bleeding a white, dead pallor into the color of her eyes. "I'm sorry." She said, both for his loss... and because she hadn't known he'd been married before. Her body remained perfectly still- but inside, she had recoiled, vowing never again to let her emotions overtake her- and certainly...never to touch him again. He looked down again: "It ... I ... I can't talk about it. It took a lot of years of self medication to get over all that. And maybe I am seeing ghosts. And they don't even look that similar. Only their face. But just the thought that Karma is gonna be hurt and that I, again, can do nothing to prevent it. OH ... that one's a real bummer. But you know ..." - he was trying his best to get ahold of himself. Falling apart like a ninny, in front of a girl who just a few moments ago was throwing pillows at him. Frag. How did they even end up on this subject. He should have just lied ... let the past be past."I understand. Ghosts can come back to haunt us every hour that we're awake... but that doesn't mean we want to acknowledge that they're there. It's one thing to know we won't ever forget them... but another to try and bring them out into the open air." She looked down at the remainder of food on her tray- it didn't look good to her anymore- in fact, it didn't even look like food- just random shapes and colors that amalgamated into a heap of...nothing. A lot of things felt like nothing these days. She stood, picking up the nihilistic tray and giving him a fleeting look- hoping he didn't see the cloud in her eyes. "I'm not feeling very well," she said, "so I'm going to head back to my room." "Yeah ... you are right." - he was still looking down at his chest, his hands in his pockets, legs stretched out. Time with Maria had been the happiest time of his life, but her death was forever hanging over his head like a curse. Well, more like the circumstances of her death. And what he did and didn't do to sat things straight. He numbly saw Emelyn pick up her tray and carry it away. Then she turned around and there was a very strange expression in her eyes.
I'm not feeling very well ...
The Dude jumped up from his chair and walked after her: "Hey, wait ..."She heard his words, but her feet understood their meaning before her brain did- they stopped, and refused her another step as he caught up with her, while her brain was still trying to process what had happened. When he'd gotten to her side, it finally clicked, and she shook away some of the cloud that was circling her head- but the 'storm' hadn't gone, completely. She looked up at him, waiting for him to say why he'd detained her. Oh, this was an extremely delicate situation, and the Dude realized that. How to explain a few things without sounding like a total a**? Or worse - a creep! He cleared his throat and tried his best:
"Em ... when I say that that Karma looks like Maria, I don't mean that I THINK she's Maria." - he was delicately avoiding the scary word 'wife'.
"She is not. Their voice and personality are very different. There is no one in this world that will be quite like Maria. But ... there are a lot of people in this world. And I am not exactly the 19 year old boy that married his high school sweetheart anymore, you know? I'm a sea lion now" - he grinned.
"Anyway, you go lay down, feel better. Blame it on the spicy food." - he tried to smile nonchalantly.It took her a moment to find the words... but when they came, they were soft and even, without even the characteristic pauses that were so regular of Emelyn's speech. "I don't know what you think you have to explain to me. I understand. I just think I've made some mistakes around you. I didn't know your situation, and I think I've been so confused about mine that I've been vulnerable. I'm sorry for that." She looked down, and saw the tray, still in her hands. She couldn't take that with her... so she went to go put it back on the table. The Dude looked crushed for a bit there. Then he shrugged it off and nodded: "Yeah, well. Erm ... okey. I suppose i am sorry, too, Emelyn" - he sighed. "You don't have to apologize for anything. You didn't do anything wrong. If anything, you made me feel a lot better, today. I thought I'd betrayed you." She put the tray down on the table, and turned to leave.. but not before she gave one last look back at the Dude... who looked like he'd been stomped on and left for dead. She hoped it wasn't because of her. "Are you going to be okay?" She said, her voice lapsing into that soft, almost otherworldly undertone. "Aha. Been there, done that." - he saluted her and then turned to go bus his own tray. Man, why did things like that just NEVER go his way. Easy - because he was a looser. And a wuss. And he was talking about the wrong topic to the wrong girl. Promising himself to avoid any talk of past lives to any other girl on the island in the future, the Dude looked back to watch Em leave.
Yep, there goes that ...
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Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 9:15 am
Finding Mizzie The Dude walked up to Emelyn's door and knocked on it. Trying not to get too agitated about the conversation he had with Aubrey, he simply wanted to give Em the things he was able to recover from Wilhelmina. See how she was. And be on his merry way.
"Knock knock. It's the Dude." - he said.Em had been just about to go out- she had an appointment, actually, with the doctors. So she was already near the door when she heard the Dude's voice. "Just a minute," she called, walking to the door. When it was opened, she couldn't help but smiling- she was getting more and more used to the look of the transformation. "Hello there." She was glad to see him- but hoped whatever it was that he wanted was quick. The Dude smiled back and showed the two things he was holding behind his back: "I come bearing gifts"
It was a rather drenched and salt eaten picture frame and a small box on which some barnacles already decided to take up residence.At the word 'gifts', Em perked up noticeably... but then squinted her eyes at the offering of two hard-to-distinguish items. They looked as if they'd been pulled out of the sea... and with that realization, it clicked instantly what they were. That was her jewelry box- she wondered how everything inside had fared. She'd never expected to see her grandmother's pearls again. But they were forgotten again, as soon as she took the picture frame from Dude. "This... is Mizzie." She said, softly, and tried very hard not to cry, as she looked back up at him. "Thank you so..." she couldn't finish, as a knot in her throat had begun to form. In her hands, the salt-eaten picture frame still sat... housing, behind clouded, algae-covered glass... the photograph of a young woman with short brown hair, a soft, happy smile... and the same blue eyes that stared back at Dude now, filling with happy tears. Well, he kinda expected that this was gonna make her happy, but he didn't expect to see tears. And those big shining blue eyes again. What was it with girls and their eyes ... why did they do things like that with them?! The Dude stuck his hands into his pockets and grinned to cover up nervousness: "Well, not a problem. Wasn't too hard. Your "Wilhelmina" is a pretty big boat though ... a crying shame she ran onto a reef like that." - he nodded, trying to figure out what to do now ...Having the conversation brought back to 'normalcy' - and having the time to get over the initial surprise, Em wiped at her eyes with quick resolve, smiling as she did so, and swallowing back the lump of emotion. "It was a good size- but so old and beat up... it wasn't good for much else but fishing." She paused to think of the Wilhemina, lurched up on a reef... and laughed at the imagery. "Old girl probably has more fish in her now, though, that she has her entire life. ...Thank you, for this.." she said, having to mention it. "This means a lot to me." "It's okey girl. I figured it would. That's why I went a-diving. Where are you going to now? Can I come?" - he smiled at her again.Em had turned to place the items inside, on her desk... and was glad for it, for she blushed with embarassment... or was it shame... at his request. "Actually," she said, turning (and hoping that the color had gone from her face) "I'm headed for the labs. I have... an appointment." She said. "Ah. You gonna get your second injection, hedgehog?" - he stiffened up, remembering what Aubrey had told him about Thorn.She would have been blind not to notice the transformation in his stance and his expression- and she took it as a sign that he was...disappointed in her, or judging her. "I don't know, actually. I was just asked to stop by for an appointment." "Ah. Erm. I've heard that Thorn ... I mean Lauren ... has been injecting new subjects for Moreau." - he started. "You ... you gonna do that, too?""What? She's been injecting people? That's... well, a little sketchy." She said, for lack of a better word. "...No, I could never inject someone else. I can't even look at the needle while it's going in."
"Oh, good." - he smiled at her again. "I knew you would never do that. Well, I suppose I'll be going ...""...Alright," she said, glad he hadn't said anything else about her appointment. "I'm going to be down on the beach tomorrow night. I've not really had a chance to go swimming yet. So if you're around... well, maybe you should show." She said, hoping she didn't sound like she was asking him anything inappropriate.
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Posted: Tue Oct 04, 2005 9:16 am
A Swim
The Dude went for a bit of a swim after his conversation with Karma. His cat had decided to follow Karma back into "town" and now he was stuck all alone again. Waiting was hard ... and after talking to Karma a lot of thoughts were filling his brain again. So instead of thinking he swam out to the reef, and was diving around there, hoping to harpoon a fish. From time to time his whiskered head was sticking out of the water and he was looking back to the beach ... checking it for signs of life.It had been an eventful day for Emelyn... she'd taken the time to actually take a mini-tour of the island. To show for it, she had tired feet, messy hair, and a thin sheen of sweat on her skin. So there wasn't much to do but take that swim she'd been looking forward to. The water was clear, and the sand was warm... and the sun kissed the top of the water, sending a splash up as she dove down into the water, having already waded out onto a deeper shelf. As the water hit her face, and rushed up to meet her skin, Em wondered if that had been a face, sticking up from the water that she'd seen...
The Dude's head popped out of the water again and he saw the reflective glare of the goggles on top of Emelyn's head. Ah, there she was! He was abut to star happily paddling over there, but then stopped and dove back into the water. Gotta think here for a bit ... he made f lip backwards in the water, seriously enjoying his new flipper hands and feet that made swimming so much easier. Maybe let her swim around for a while ... so as not to appear too ...weird? Or was it weird to let her swim around for a while? Maybe she'd seem him and saw he was ...you know ... being a stalker? Ah ... whatever, let's just say hi. Be cool and all that jazz. Popping up onto the surface to get some air, the Dude dove again, but this time made a straight line for Emelyn's last location.The stress seemed to wash away, being beneath the blue, island waters. The further down she went, the colder and cripser everything seemed, in comparison to the sunkissed warm surface waters. She forgot all about her aching feet, and all the thoughts that had been running through her mind as she'd walked through the jungle... and let herself sink, enjoying the feel of the cool wet against her skin. After not too long... she wouldn't be able to feel anything against her 'skin'... but that was a negative thought, and she let it sink away, lost in a cascade of bubbles that escaped her lips. And then, for the first time, she opened her eyes, and blinked, getting used to the feeling of the water. She could have brought the goggles down onto her eyes, but didn't even think about it- they were such a part of her that they almost wern't there. And what she saw, once her eyes were used to cutting through the waves- was a familiar form coming towards her. She waved, and then made a beeline for the surface, to gasp at a fresh breath of air, hoping that the Dude would come up to join her. It was strangely cool to see a girl dive underwater. It was a sight every time because the depth gave the skin a blue tinge and their hair formed into strange, liquid shapes. Watching the girl float within the blue, the Dude forgot about the "need to breath". And then Emelyn waved at him. Whoops, so she knew he was here. Heh. The Dude surfaced rapidly, like a wine cork, with a splash and a gasp for air. And smiled: "Hi there!"Em tossed her head back to get the masses of wet hair out of her face, and took a big swallow of breath. She kicked her legs beneath the water, a slow, steady tread to keep her surfaced, and moved her arms in easy circles. It didn't seem like the Dude had to do much to keep afloat, however. Emelyn smiled, still blinking water out of her eyes. "Hello! How long have you been out here?" The Dude still grinned like a moron and answered without thinking: "All day!" Oh crud, he did sound like a stalker. "I mean, I am harpooning fish over there" - with that he raised his right arm above the water, showing a primitive spear harpoon made out of a bungee cord and a thin aluminum pole. Hmm ... it was a bit hard to converse in the middle of an ocean. The Dude dove down for a sec and reemerged again, having the water moved his blond dreads out of his face for him. "Wanna see?""Sure!" She said, taking a look at the makeshift spear. "Lead the way. ...Unless you think there are fish around here." she said, teasing.
"No as far as I saw, there are only mermaids over here." - the Dude grinned at
Emelyn, then pointed at the waves breaking about 50 feet away from them: "The
fish are by the reef. Can you swim that far? You want a mask or something?" -
he had left his on the sand, but it wasn't that hard to go get it.She couldn't keep the smile from spreading across her face- mermaids had always been her favorite fairy tale, growing up- and she'd never told anyone, but she'd always imagined that she was one, when she was little. She'd get into a pool and let herself sink to the bottom, and try to swim with both of her legs together, hair flowing out in every direction. "No thanks, I'm a pretty good swimmer," she said, "...Although I think you could probably swim circles around me these days." "Yeah ... I love these things" - the Dude waved his flippered hand around "Don't
tell Moreau, though." - he added with a wink and dove down again. They headed
for the reef. Slowly as they were approaching, the sand below them became
slowly replaced with little coral formations, the little brothers and sisters of the
proud wall of limestone that was encircling the lagoon. Bright blue damsel fish
darted away into their crevices when the two humans approached and a school
of minnows dispersed like a shattered star, only to reform again behind them.
From the sunlit depth of the lagoon, the reef finally emerged, bustling with life
and color. The Dude had to resurface a few times on the way here, but he didn't
speak, just kinda waited for Emelyn. Now, though, he popped out of the water
and looked at Emelyn: "Here we are. You ever dove around reefs before?""No," she breathed, set aback by the wonders beneath her. "No," she repeated, "but they're... beautiful." She'd been all around the world, but for some reason, had never taken the opportunity to visit ay reefs. "So... have you caught any fish yet?" She whispered, feeling as if regular-sized voices were inappropriate here. "Huh? Oh, not today ... the b*****d grouper I was stalking over there gave me a
flipper and buggered off into the deep. But erm ... a word of warning here -
stuff is pretty, but it's better not to touch much. Anemones can sting and every
rock is someone's house." - he smiled at her. "Erm ... I mean, I don't need to kill
pretty fishes in front of you here. We can just, you know, dive around so you can
look""That'd probably be best," she said, looking down at the beautiful denizens of the reef. She actually breathed a sigh of relief that she wouldn't be seeing any of them harpooned. "I'm just glad that I'm not going to turn into some horrible carnivore," she said. "Well, I mean.. anyway," she said, and made a little dive, to prevent her from saying something else stupid. She kicked away from the surface, turning her body away from the Dude as she swam. 'Some horrible carnivore' - the Dude smiled into his whiskers about that
statement. Hey, if he had to live of sashimi for the rest of his life, he was peachy
keen with that. The Dude dived after Emelyn, mostly watching her move around
the corals as opposed to watching the corals themselves.
Below them, in the white sand by the reef, a large tridacna shell was sitting, it's
rainbow lips outstretched into the water, filtering. When Emelyn approached it
first turned less brilliant and then hid it's lips into the shell, closing it tight. A
spooked emerald crab scurried off over the closed shell and under the shelf of a
sunset colored sponge. Then, above them, a shadow moved across the blue.Emelyn remembered what the Dude had told her- look, but no touch- so she kept her hands to herself, using them instead to help propel her past the marvelous sights. She couldn't see the Dude- but supposed that he must be behind her. She hoped he hadn't been offended by her slip of the tongue earlier. ...Maybe he stayed at the surface, she thought- and so she turned to make sure that the hybrid man was behind her. She was distracted, however, by the movement of a dark shadow above her head. She jerked to the Dude, and made a gesture- quite simply 'what was that'? Above them, appearing larger then it really was a sting ray floated thru. The two dove for a while longer, not talking as one could hardly talk under water and then Emelyn tired out an headed for the shore. And the Dude went of to chase his grouper.
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