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 Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 4:32 pm
Avery looked up when he heard someone call out. He grinned and waved to him - looks like someone else he hasn't met yet... and someone else who hasn't transformed, either. "Hey there! Come on over and have a drink with me." Avery grabbed another glass and mixed a second drink to offer to the other man (Avery really didn't know what he was doing, having never mixed drinks before - he just poured in some flavors he knew that he liked and hoped for the best).
He waited for the other man to reach the bar before holding out the glass to him. "I have no idea what this is, but I'm sure it's good. I made myself the same thing, we can drink together," Avery grinned. He was in a great mood now that he found this bar.
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 4:55 pm
Zach stopped a second at the voice. That was... was that a GUY? Odd voice for a girl, at least. And the face...
Well, he'd seen stranger things than crossdressing. Maybe he should take the drink. After reaching the bar, he took the glass the other woman... man... whatever offered. "Surprised to find something like this here. Alcohol..." He didn't make a move to drink it. Not yet.
"You have a name?" He asked. He brightened up suddenly realizing he was actually talking to another human. "I don't suppose you've heard about what this island is for..."
He wasn't going to give the talk on the island again when he knew so little and had even less evidence.
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 5:02 pm
"Yeah, my name is Avery, and yeah, I know what this island is for..." he sighed. "A good reason to drink, eh?" Avery downed his drink all at once, tilting his head back to train the glass. He shivered and made a face at the taste. Okay, don't mix lemon juice and watermelon again... they definitely didn't go well together. "So what's your name?" he asked, peering at the different bottles in the bar and starting to mix up another drink.
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 5:15 pm
After some scrutiny, Zach figured that Avery was definitely a guy. He looked fairly young, so he must not have learned to mix alcohol. As soon as Avery's back was turned, Zach dumped the contents of the glass onto the sand. He wasn't fond of alcohol, especially a bad mix.
"I'm Zachary," he said. "You have a good point." He put the cup down on the bar for a moment to better stuff his notebook into his pocket. Having one hand was a bit of a disadvantage when it came to holding things. He left Avery to his beginner mixing and quietly took the rum bottle to pour a shot's worth into his glass. It seemed a wasted effort to try to mix a drink at the moment. He downed it, feeling the unusual burning to his throat, and winced at the remnant flavors of lemon and watermelon.
He looked out at the ocean and its huge rolling waves. "I'm starting to think I'll never get off of this rock," he muttered, half to Avery, half to his glass.
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 5:27 pm
Avery laughed at his comment; he didn't notice Zach pour out the drink. "Yeah, you're telling me... I've been stuck on this damn island for a while now... I've given up hope," he murmured, before downing his second drink. Yeah, that's more like it, he thought, already feeling a little buzz from the alcohol. It didn't take much to get Avery drunk - he was a lightweight. He picked up a bottle of coconut rum and, deciding to forgo mixing the drinks anymore, pulled off the top and just drank straight from the bottle. "Now all I can do is wait to change." He peered Zach, only just now noticing his missing arm, but he didn't comment on it. "So, how long you been here?"
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 5:46 pm
Zach glanced at Avery getting tipsy so quickly. He didn't make any move to stop the kid from drinking so much alcohol. He'd find out the hard way. He didn't feel all that sober himself, and he'd only had a shot.
"This island... is a nightmare. With everything I keep seeing and hearing, it's getting harder to just sleep at night." He placed his glass down on the bartop. He tensed a little when Avery mentioned how he'd given up hope. Lately, Zach had given an unusually large amount of thought to the possibility that he really wouldn't escape. It was an awful feeling, waiting for the inevitable. "I've been here for a week so far, but it seems like an eternity... how about you?"
He wasn't sure why he was so comfortable around Avery. Probably the lack of obviously animal features. It's never quite as easy to talk to someone covered head to toe in fur.
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 5:59 pm
"Just a week? That's nothing... at least you didn't get washed up on shore, and get stuck out in the ******** forest, and be forced to sleep in lean-to's while trying to wait out a damn tropical storm with a bunch of animal people... at least you got a roof over your head as soon as you got here, right?" Avery shook his head. The first few weeks he was on the island was some of the worst days of his life. He'd never had to go through something like that before. Hell, the worst day of his life was the first day he got here...
Avery knocked back a few more gulps of the coconut rum before setting the bottle down on the bar (a little too hard). He reached out and put his hand on Zach's shoulder, half to steady himself on his seat, and half to make sure he had Zach's attention. "Listen, man, just... I don't know. Have as much fun as you can now before it all goes to hell, 'cause you never know what you're gonna change into... I hear the doctors have a sick sense of humor about these things..."
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 6:23 pm
Oh, great. This guy was an angry drunk. After making sure there'd be a good amount of room between the two of them, Zach nodded his head and listened. It was true, they provided well for the... people... on the island. But that wasn't as valuable as one's physical humanity, in Zach's opinion... well, eventually he would have to give up that philosophy. He gathered the drunken rant to be a description of the lock-out he'd heard mentioned several times. Jamal had said...
Honestly, he couldn't say much that wouldn't get Avery into a rage. He quickly changed subjects. "You washed up here? That's awful!"
As soon as the hand came down on his shoulder (the right, luckily), Zach tensed up. He ran his hand absently through his bangs to part them better. "Avery, I just can't do that. I can't just do nothing. I... I saw someone change. A guy named Rex." His fear would never let him sit by idly and wait as he shared a similar fate. Avery was lucky not to be as stubborn, or perhaps he simply didn't have anything left behind to worry about. Zach did...
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 6:38 pm
Avery tensed up and looked at Zach with wide eyes. "You saw Rex change..?" He removed his hand from Zach's shoulder, burying his face in his hands with his elbows resting on the bar. He should have been there for him... it would have been the least he could have done. "Was he in a lot of pain?" Avery murmured. "I saw someone change too, but she was already further along in the changes..." He hoped that maybe the early changes weren't as painful as the ones that happened later on.
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 6:57 pm
Zach nodded. He had... and the shock of seeing it had caused him to faint. Avery looked distraught. He must have known Rex, then, judging by the remarks. As the younger guy turned away to hide his face, Zach slowly creeped over to Avery's other side and carefully lifted the bottle of rum off the bar and set it down on the ground where, presumably, he wouldn't see it as easily in his drunken state.
Zach took a seat next to Avery again. He frowned. "He... was. I couldn't watch the whole way through, I sort of..." He shook his head. Avery must've been pretty strong to be able to watch someone change - it was difficult to see someone become part animal right before your eyes, knowing you could do nothing to help them.
Figuring this news would only further depress Avery, Zach returned Avery's original gesture by placing his hand on Avery's shoulder. The kid looked like he'd need all the support he could get, especially inebriated.
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 7:08 pm
Rex had told Avery not to blame himself, but he just couldn't help it. He couldn't help thinking that if he were straight then the men on the boat would not have tried to gang up on him, Rex wouldn't have had to help him, and then none of this would have happened. When Zach put his hand on Avery's shoulder, he immediately turned towards him and hugged him, pressing his face against Zach's shoulder to hide the tears falling from his eyes.
"Zach," he sniffed. "It isn't... fair. Why do bad things have to happen to nice people? I never did anything bad... well... not bad enough to deserve this... and Rex is a great guy... he doesn't deserve this either..." Avery was practically leaning his weight on Zach now - if he wasn't there to support Avery, he would have fallen right out of his seat. "And you're... you're a nice guy too."
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 7:36 pm
Zach was unprepared for the sudden hug. His right hand was hanging in the air a little, fingers curling slowly. There wasn't anything more awkward he could think of at the moment. He had nothing against Avery, he just... didn't really like hugs?
He didn't attempt to pry Avery off, though he did shift to make sure he wouldn't fall off his own stool. He could see Avery shaking a little, which made him feel awful. He should have lied. He should have just said it was painless, and let Avery find out the hard way.
Zach knew deep down that he did deserve whatever twisted fate he recieved. He had done something regrettable. He instead tried to find the right words this time, hoping Avery would stop clinging if he played his cards right. "Sometimes, we're just unlucky. Maybe you'll get a fun animal or something..." Bullshit, all bullshit. Being trapped on this island forever simply wasn't worth it. "You and Rex... maybe they'll go easy on you guys... Rex is a lion, after all, that's pretty-"
He stopped suddenly, realizing the meaning behind Avery's statements. He got a little red in the face, and not from alcohol. His discomfort doubled.
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 8:00 pm
"... cool, I guess," Avery said, finishing Zach's sentence about Rex for him. "Fun... what's a fun animal..? Maybe... like... a cat... I could climb up trees and have retractable claws and stuff," Avery chuckled. "And if I fell, I'd always land on my feet!" He wasn't crying anymore now, the alcohol affecting his mood swings.
"Thanks for trying to cheer me up, Zach... you're a nice guy..." he mumbled, and then Avery slid out of his own stool and tried to climb into Zach's lap, wanting to get closer to hug him again. Unfortunately the stool couldn't balance with Avery trying to climb up, and he caused it to tip backwards, sending both of them falling onto the sand - Avery landing right on top of Zach.
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 8:31 pm
Zach didn't really have anything he could say. His mind had flat out stopped. He didn't have it in his heart to push Avery off his shoulder or anything... it really was just very weird to have someone hanging on you and crying. He had stopped crying though. "A... a cat... yeah..."
Suddenly, Avery tried to put more of his weight onto Zach, and both fell to the sand. Zach was glad he'd had the alcohol those minutes ago, or he'd probably have yelled at the guy by now. He didn't know. He had little balance as it was, so he landed on the bottom... with a drunken Avery on top.
"Avery..." That was it... he really couldn't handle this. His tolerance level was reaching a breaking point. No sleep, no friends, and no hope of returning to a world where the laws of science were sensible... "Avery, get up..."
His face now an unbelievable shade of red, he tried to push Avery off to his left. He only had one hand to shove with, and the guy didn't seem to let go. What was he going to do?
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Posted: Wed Mar 15, 2006 8:47 pm
"But I don't wanna get up," Avery whined. Why get up when he was perfectly comfortable laying on top of Zach? What else was there to do on the island? Besides, Avery wanted to cuddle with someone... he missed cuddling. He didn't know anyone else he could cuddle with on the island, except maybe Rex, but he didn't want to risk making him uncomfortable and losing a friend.
When Zach tried pushing Avery off, he sighed heavily. No, he didn't want to get up... but he relented, and rolled off of Zach - he wasn't getting away that easily, though, and Avery clung to Zach's arm. "Please don't leave me alone..?"
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