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 Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 2:10 pm
RP LogAll right. Time for answers. She had, after all, put this off long enough. Cassidy, in her shiny new wheelchair, was headed up to the labs, after arranging an appointment with Aubrey over the intercom. Just a bit of a talk, a few questions. Everything would be fine. Well, as fine as things could possibly be, circumstances what they were. She hoped so, anyway. Vasile DiRossi Vasile was going stir crazy. He couldn't stay locked up in his room forever, and he knew it. It had been days since he had come out, except to go back and forth from Ambrose's duplex. Ambrose was the only one who he had seen since his transformation, and disprite Ambroe's repeated attempts to assure him he didn't look that much different, Vasile was still skeptical to come eye-to-eye with anyone else.
To be honest, it wasn't his appearance so much as losing face. He felt like the world's biggest fool. He felt like such an a**.
But this was getting ridiculous. Vasile had been doing nothing over the past couple days but learns new ways to style is longer locks, and find out what outfit combinations best compliment his silver fur.
Feelling cabin feverish and hungry, Vasile finally convinced himself to go to the cafetaria himself instead of getting Ambrose to bring him food again. So...he did. After spending at least an hour opening the door, changing his mind, checking his hair, brushing his teeth again, and going back to the door to do it all over again, he finally stepped out into the sun.
He reached for his shades as he heading down the stairs when he noticed there was someone else out and about. He swallowed his first reaction, which was to run back inside, and decided to just ignore them. It was someone in a wheelchair - so therefore no one he had met yet.
But as he reached the bottom of the stairs, he look a second glance, then double taked back at her. Was that... Cass??
He felt his stomach tie up in a knot and he quickly lost his appetite. The desire to run back into his room was even stronger now, but his concern for Cass, surprisingly, gave him the corouge he needed to walk over to her.
He slipped on his shades and took a few steps her direction. "Cass..? he called to her, hesitantly. Oh hell. Vasile. She really wasn't sure she could deal with him right now. Nevertheless, Cassidy stopped, and turned her chair to face him. He was certainly looking slightly... hairier. Something mammalian, anyway. Lucky. Her tongue flickered, and she managed a half-shrug. "Er. Hi, Vasile. You're looking... all right." Well, that was stupid and rude. Geez, Cass. Really, she was all for flight--it was hard to behave like nothing was wrong right now. Still... Vasile would probably understand, now. At least a little. Maybe. With any luck. She tugged nervously on her braid. Was the meeting really so important? Maybe she should go back and... reorganize her books. Yeah. If her next change hit her this hard again, it would probably be a good idea to get Asimov off the top shelf. No. No, she had to do this. Vasile DiRossi Vasile slowed down his approach at her less-than-enthusiastic greeting. He chewed on his bottom lip, his longer canines tugging at the flesh as his eyes, obscured behind his shades, looked her over more carefully. He nervously pulled off his glasses, to get a better look. She definately had more scales. A lot more scales.
Real scales...
No no, not the point right now. There were... feathers? Wait, snakes didn't have feathers.....
He open and closed his mouth a few times, trying to find what to say. "What...what happened, Cass?" he asked, motioning to the chair. He did look genuinely worried, at least. "I... I had another injection." Cassidy couldn't really meet his eyes. "It was, well, worse than the last one. A lot worse. Our island friends have ever-so-kindly provided me with a wheelchair for the time being." Yeah. Real nice people, weren't they. Her feathers ruffled a little. "I'm sorry, Vasile. I'm a little nervous right now." She grimaced. "I was going to go speak to Aubrey. I want to know what I'm turning into. I thought I knew, but... well..." She shook her head. "You really don't look too bad, though. Have they told you, well... what serum they've given you?" It was a delicate question, and Cass did her best to be gentle. Vasile DiRossi Vasile was at a complete loss for words. It took him a minute to connect that she probably needed a wheelchair because of her legs because she was becomming a snake. "You're losing your legs??"
The flabergasted question left his lips before his brain could react. He immediately regretted asking it, or at least asking it sounding so shocked, and quickly gave her the most apologizing look he could muster. "I'm so sorry, Cass," he tried to cover, taking a step closer. "I... I'm sorry..."
As she asked about his serum, he felt his tail twitch. "They, uh... haven't told me," he started, looking down at his now-clawed hands. "Ambrose thinks another wolf, or fox." "Yeah, well, that's what it looks like. I have no real feet, anyway." Cassidy chewed on her bottom lip, fighting the urge not to cry. That was the hardest part: knowing she'd never run, or walk, or even stand normally. Ever. Not even stand. "Don't... don't worry about it," she managed. "I'm... I'm managing. I am. I am." Which wasn't exactly true. But it was a good enough thing to say right now. "Well, I suppose you look a little canine. That's not too bad. Really, you look okay." She smiled. Oh, how she envied him. Vasile DiRossi Vasile stepped closer until he was right in front of her chair. He slowly kneeled down to make himself feel more eye-level to her. "Only okay?" He forced a smirk and tried to make a joke on his behalf - he wouldn't deny he was known for being a bit on the vain side- but mostly shook his head, realise it was a stupid attempt.
"Can I go with you? To talk to someone on staff?" Maybe she would feel better with another 'freak' by her side. "Yeah. Only okay." Cassidy grimaced. "I'm effectively a few feet shorter, all of a sudden. It's a bit much to get used to." She shook her head. "I'll... I'll deal. I sort of have to. I don't really have much of a choice, do I?" But... him coming with her. She thought about this a moment, and nodded. "I suppose that'd be okay. I don't think they'd mind too much, and... I could use to the emotional support. I just... I gotta ask about the feathers. And things." Vasile DiRossi Vasile frowned, not knowing exactly what to feel. A mix between really feeling sorry for her, and having to deal with the fact that all this wasn't just make up. Real. All real.
He stood back up and dusted off his pant knees. Then he looked over to her chair again.
Oh god. How awkward. Would offering to wheel her be considered chilvarous or insulting....
Well, he really doubted she could dislike him much more, so he had little to lose. "Want a hand?" he asked softly, placing his hands on the handle on the back of the chair. Cass hesitated. "Sure. Why not?" She didn't care one way or the other, really, but it seemed weird to say no. If it made him feel a bit better, then why shouldn't she? Save the battery, perhaps. Yeah.. "Aubrey's probably waiting on me, anyway. Should hurry." Vasile DiRossi Vasile nodded and started to wheel her towards the labs. "I don't think I've met Aubrey. To be honest I haven't interacted with anyone, really. Only, uh, dammit, I can't even remember his name. Some guy with white hair."
He grimaced as he said that. White hair. His hair was turning white...
He sighed, and tried to hurry, but was also nervous about jostling Cass around. Needless to say, he had never done this before. "I met Aubrey when I arrived. She met me at the helicopter. I don't think I've met anyone with white hair, though." Cassidy pursed her lips. "Although I suppose there's any amount of various doctors and lab techs here. There'd have to be. I really hope there is." The ride was okay, but it gave her a certain sense of helplessness, being pushed around. Just sit and ride. Well, definitely not the sort of thing she'd want to do often. But they were almost there, anyway. No matter. Aubrey Lockheart Aubrey was waiting in the lobby when Cass and Vasile came up. She quickly gave the command to come in, suddenly feeling really nervous being face-to-face with Vasile. She had been watching him over the monitors, but never got the courage to say anything to him in person. After all, she definately wasn't his type, she guessed, and something told her he wouldn't take too kindly to her given the circumstances.
"Hey there, Cassidy," she said with a smile, and then to Vasile, "And.. Mr. DiRossi!"
She had a clipboard and file resting in the crook of her arm. "Take a seat," she said, motioning to Vasile. Vasile wheeled Cass next to one of the couches and sat down close to her.
Aubrey took a seat across from Cass. "You had some..concerns?" "I, er, I hope it's okay he's come along." She glanced at Vasile and back at Aubrey. "It wasn't exactly planned. But yes. I did." Concerns, yeah. What an understatement. Cassidy tooth a deep breath, and tried to compose herself. "I have some questions about the serum I've been given. Namely... what. What sort of animal have you got me turning into that involves scales, and feathers, and losing my damn legs." She inhaled again, trying to calm herself down. She could feel herself very close to losing her temper, and Aubrey was probably a bad person to offend, given her connections. Aubrey Lockheart Aubrey frowned.
"Yeah, I was reviewing your file before you came down..." She flipped open the thick folder, which if you looked very carefully had "Smith, C. Morviri20145A" typed on the label. "You're second injection was administered by Sabin Duvert, a senior lab assistant here...and, well, he seems to have injected you with a serum that, to my knowlegde, was still in development.." Vasile DiRossi Vasiles eyes widened. "You mean... like, experimental?? Ambrose said these were tested like a bazilion times to be safe. You know. All things considered..." "What?" Cassidy squeaked. "You can't have..." For a moment, she twisted the end of her braid in her hands, unable to properly react to this. "Was he actually allowed to do that? What if it all goes wrong?" They couldn't really have been so irresponsible as to inject her with something still in development, could they? Oh, hell. Hell. They were supposed to be doctors. Aubrey Lockheart Aubrey shook her head. "To be honest, I don't know for certain either way. Dr. Moreau has been working triple overtime these past few weeks and I know each of the senior lab assistants all have their.. pet projects.
Mr. Duvert has been working, specifically, on how to combine different serums together. From what I can tell - and forgive me his handwriting is horrendus - Ara macao - the Scarlet Macaw.
But to be honest I had no idea he had the permission to go ahead and test it on a subject..." "A macaw..." Well, that wasn't so bad. It explained the feathers. But, really. Cassidy shook her head. "Combined with some sort of... snake?" Crazy. It was absolutely insane. Who ever heard of a feathered snake? "What, I'm just the lucky guinea pig?" Her voice hit a higher octave. She drew another breath, and tried again. "What about... side effects? Does anyone even have any real idea of how a combination of serums is going to take effect? This is... completely irresponsible..." Aubrey Lockheart Aubrey rubbed her temples. "I'm positive" if he knew what was good for him "that Mr. Duvert wouldn't do anything without Moreau's approval. Really, and the doctor WILL NOT let something be administered to a human subject without being 99.9% sure its completely safe! We run hundreds of tests..."
Aurbey knew that all sounded... not very comforting.
"One moment, please."
Aubrey stood up and pulled out her radio. She dialed his direct line and turned her back. Vasile DiRossi Vasile was just sitting there, turning more and more pale.
All this talk of gunea pigs and serums. Oh god, he felt like he was in one of his movies... Cassidy wrinkled her nose--or attempted to. Her nose being flatter than it had been interfered with this somewhat. 99.9%? Great. There was still that 0.1%, which was still a chance. Not betting odds, sure, but it didn't rule anything out, either. She gave Vasile a half-smile and waited for Aubrey to finish the call. With any lucky, it would lead to some answers. Sabin Duvert Sabin, meanwhile, was in his room and pondering over outfit choises for the Halloween party coming up that evening, in quite high spirits. He heard the quiet beeping coming from his bedside table and walked over, flipping on the communication line. "Hi Aubrey!" Sabin said with a grin in his voice. "What can I help you for?" Aubrey Lockheart Aubrey tried to keep her voice hushed and not sound too flustered. "Can you please come down to the lobby right now and explain to Miss Smith what you DID to her?"
She glanced over her shoulder and took a few more steps away.
"Did you have authorization to try your serum, Mr. Duvert," she whispered into the phone. "Get down here. Now." Sabin Duvert Sabin chewed on his lip and looked into the intercom that was sounding quite upset. Well. There was no need to get testy about it all. "Sure thing, Aubrey! I'll be there in just a moment!" He said, still in a rather positive voice. He'd let her ask them the questions in person. Sabin set the old black cloak and hat down on his bed, promising to return to it soon, and headed out to the labs. A few minutes later, a rather tall, white-haired (yet young in the face) man emerged from the doors. His hair looked disheveled, and hastily tied back into a messy pony tail. He was wearing scrub pants, but a rather loud, orange hawaiin shirt that stood out blatantly from the sterile white environment. "Hi Cassidy! Vasile!" He said, with a familiarity that belied the fact that he had never exactly met her face to face. He slid his hands into his pockets calmly. "Now... you had some questions for me?" Cassidy frowned. "Uh, hello." This guy was a doctor? And he was responsible for this mess? "Yeah. I had some questions." She ticked them off on her fingers. "Why me, for your experimental serum combination? Is this even safe? And, while I'm at it, I should probably remember to ask what sort of snake is being used for half of this, and if I'm going to end up poisonous." Her tongue flicked, irritably. Sabin Duvert Sabin blinked, and he honestly looked surprised that this woman was upset about what was happening to her. "Why you? well, I mean- I thought you WANTED wings? I heard you when I was monitering one day - you said you liked birds. So..." this odd grin started to form. "I got to thinking, the combination serum I have been hard at work on needed a human subject ... well... I use human relatively, but you know what I mean!" He laughed, not mockingly, but as if this really was a hilarious joke that she should join in on. "It's proved successful in all of the preliminary tests!" "And besides!" He said with a wild smile. "It all seemed to fit perfectly into place - liking birds... the emerald tree python - non-poisenous, by the way... and feathered wings! Just like quetzalcoatl!" He exclaimed, seeming as if the thought never even crossed his mind that the other occupants of the room may not know what the hell he was talking about. Aubrey Lockheart Aubrey just stood there, slowly shaking her head. This guy was nuts. Sometimes, she really wondered what Moreau was thinking.
An anthropology professor given an honorary medical degree and access to this kind of power.
Guess it could be worse. At least in some way he was trying to help her. She did say she liked birds. Cassidy shook her head. A python and a macaw. Well, at least venom wasn't something she'd have to worry about. And it was... well, at least a little better than just a plain old snake. Oh god. "Well, yes, I like birds, but this isn't exactly what I ever imagined... what the hell is a... a quet... quetzalcoatl, anyway?" Sabin Duvert "You don't know-" He stopped and shook his head. He had to remember, not everyone was as big on folklore as he - and he had been nose-deep in his 'work' recently to surface and realize not everyone was on the same page. "Of course, I'm sorry. Quetzalcoatl. The "Feathered Serpent". An Aztec (and several other of the Central american socieities for that matter) deity. He was a sky god, and appeared as a massive serpent with brightly colored feathers and wings. And, well, while it was a bit too late in your development to carry the feathered pattern across more of your body, I could at least integrate the wing structure as you hadn't lost your arms yet, and snakes don't exactly have an 'input' for arms, if you catch my drift." The grin wasn't leaving his face. "Maybe in the future my lab techs and I might be able to integrate more of a separate animal's DNA into someone already begun on the process of anotehr animal, but not quite yet." Cassidy blinked. "Wow," she said. Folklore was not her thing, but that was a pretty neat thing to worship, when it came right down to it. It was also hard to be really properly angry at this Sabin fellow, when he just stood there and grinned. She wanted to be angry. "It is better than a snake," she admitted dully. "And at least I know that I'll keep at least some limbs. I guess it looks, now, like I'm losing my legs. Entirely? Am I still going to have hands at the end of this? I just... I just want to know..." Vasile DiRossi Vasile shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "A sky god... thats.. thats not too bad, right?"
He dug his claws into the arm of the sofa and finally shifted to Sabin. "Hey - hey you're the one who did this to me - tell me..what am I? Did you mix me with anything?" Sabin Duvert Sabin nodded to Cassidy. " I think so at least. And honestly, I can't say about the legs or hands. Moreau initiated the transformation. It seems that each individual reacts differently to the serums. Sometimes people end up with more or less animal characteristics when all is said and done. So you might wind up with permanent vestigial legs as far as I know. But the wings should at least ensure that you keep your arms. From our projections, you'll probably have some ability to manipulate with them, but I can't say for certain." Sabin turned to Vasile, and blinked then smiled, realizing that he had begun to change. There was a bit of a smugness to his smile perhaps, but then again perhaps you're just seeing things. "Honestly, Moreau mixed your serum himself. I haven't touched it. But I do know that the combinations have been in my department, so I'd know if he wanted to integrate a new animal into it." He looked to Cassidy. "Your serum is by far the most drastic of the combinations so far. Aside from you, Moreau has only integrated a little bit of combination into a few of the other subjects to 'test' it." Sabin actually rolled his eyes, indignant of the lack of confidence. Aubrey Lockheart Aubrey say Sabin roll his eyes. "Moreau did give you permission to try something so drastic... right?" Permanent vestigial legs did not sound pleasant. At all. Cassidy's mouth twisted. "I'd rather have full legs or none at all," she said. "Lucky me." At Aubrey's comment, her brow raised. "Um. Yeah, I'd really rather not end up with cancer because of this... this is going to be safe, right?" Sabin Duvert "Oh it should be perfectly safe!" Sabin grinned. "We haven't had any accidents in the past few months on any of the tests." Sabin was glad for Aubrey's question following Aubrey's. He hadn't technically specifically asked Moreau's permission to try the wing serum on Cassidy. He had been given the go-ahead to work on developing the combination serums. And Moreau wanted him to prove its effictiveness before going forth with it on an unaltered subject. "Well, he wanted me to prove it would work before letting me work my 'magic' on a new subject." Sabin responded. That was like an approval. Moreau obviously needed proof. "Besides, he's been so busy with his own pet project. He's been rather testy if he's interrupted." Aubrey Lockheart Aubrey folded her arms. "He'll be even MORE testy if anything happens to Miss Smith here before you didn't bother to interupt him. If you haven't noticed, he's a bit of a control-freak." Cass's jaw dropped. This was not a reassuring development. "There was no real go-ahead for this?" s**t. She silently willed her DNA to keep on doing the weird transformations it had been doing, if the alternative was, as they had been told, cancer. Alive and snakey was marginally better than being dead and human, she supposed. She hoped. Sabin Duvert Sabin frowned, looking indignant. "Don't worry, It's perfectly safe. And a hell of a lot more interesting that a mere snake." He looked to Aubrey. "And besides, I'm sure Moreau will find it as fascinating as I do." Aubrey Lockheart "Well I hope for your sake he does."
Aubrey turned back to Cass. "Don't worry, dear. I'm positive Sabin wouldn't put you in any danger. He's just..trying to help a bit?" "Er, yeah." Helping, sure. Well, it was a bit of a help, she supposed. "Well, thank you for your time, anyway, and the answers." Maybe not everything she'd wanted to know, but close enough. Aubrey Lockheart "Was there anything else you needed, Miss Smith?" "No." Cassidy shook her head. "I... think I'll just head back and... I think I need to be alone for a while. It's a lot to take in." She wrung her hands, and then fiddled with the controls for her chair to wheel herself out. Vasile DiRossi Vasile quickly jumped up and headed after Cassidy. He caught her chair and helps her out, walking her back to the village.
"Well, a sky goddess is better than just a snake, huh? And.. and you're not poisenous..."
Vasile took a deep breath before stopping the chair and walking in front of her. "Look, Cass, I just really want to say I'm sorry for how I acted before. You have to understand... I was completely fooled. They deceived me.. honestly. Anything was easier to believe.. than..than this!
Please forgive me?" "Hm?" Cassidy looked up at him, startled from her own thoughts. "It's fine, Vasile... I can understand not being able to believe it. I really didn't think anything like this was possible, even after Ambrose changed... not until I did. It's understandable. You're completely forgiven. If I've been cross... it's my own problems." Vasile DiRossi Vasile nodded, taking what he can get. He went back and resumed pushing her back to town. "So uhm... about this Halloween Dance-thinger. Do you have a date yet?" "The dance?! I've barely thought about it," Cassidy laughed. "I was debating a costume, and then the last little while my mind's been elsewhere. So, no. I don't have a date." Vasile DiRossi "Well, what a coinscidence, I don't have one either. Would you like... to go with me? Get out, have some fun. Let your mind dwell on that. Just for alittle while?" Cassidy could barely believe her ears. In the back of her mind she was composing a letter to her sister: Dear Cheryl: I think the world broke. I have a date with a movie star."I think I'd like that," she said after a moment. Vasile DiRossi Vasile couldn't help but break a wide smile. He was convinced there was a woman somewhere under that icy shell.
And he sympathized with her dilemma. Vasile had a hard enough time dealing his changes - as minor as they were.
Well, Ambrose called them minor. His hair going grey was far from minor in his book. But definately not as drastic as losing his legs.
Maybe.
"Excellent. Shall I pick you up tonight then?" "All right." Cass grinned. "It's a date." She hadn't been on a date in ages. Now she really did have to figure out a costume. It would be good to pretend like things were normal.
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Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 2:30 pm
Journal Entry:
Green tree python, with the wings of a scarlet macaw.
Apparently this is what I'm turning into. s**t. Could be lots worse, though. I'm not going to be poisonous, anyway.
Vasile came with me to meet with Aubrey and this Sabin guy who's responsible for the mixed serums. He mentioned a few others who have rather less dramatic mixes, but didn't say who. Vasile's some sort of fox or wolf, or... something. He actually looks okay.
He asked me out to the Halloween party tomorrow. Holy... holy s**t. When he was convinced the scales were fake, I couldn't let him hit on me, geez. So, uh, now that he knows they're real, and I'm looking scalier... he asked me out.
I guess I shouldn't have judged him so quickly.
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Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2005 7:41 pm
RP Log (AIM)
Vasile examined himself in the mirror closely. He didn't exactly look like he originally planned. His hair was longer now, so instead of having is slicked back he had to resort to tying it back in a neat ponytail. And he had to cut a hole in the tight pants for his new tail.
He smoothed the uniform top down overhimself, making sure there wasn't a wrinke anywhere on it. The cotten/lycra/spandex blend material fit over his form well. He looked pretty damn good in uniform if he did say so himself.
The red top black pants were professional quality, and Vasile found himself being rather impressed by the expensnse the island staff seemed to go to. He adjusted the starfleet pin and Admiral belt, and twilred himself once again in the mirror before finally heading over to Cass's place.
Making sure he had a little boquet of flowers befor he got there, Vasile knocked, decked out in his shiney new Admiral James T. Kirk Starfleet unform.
"One minute!" Cass crawled into her chair hurriedly and headed for the door, all shaky. Man, was she nervous. She hadn't been this worked up over a date since, well, the last first date she'd had. Which was a long time ago. "I'm coming I'm coming I'm coming--hi." She reached the door and flung it open.
Cassidy's costume was a simple, rather hurriedly thrown-together ensemble. She was dressed in dark grey, with a black cape, and her face mostly covered by an alien mask. Her scaled hands were still visible, as were her scaled stub-feet, and her throat. Cass pushed the mask back; she was grinning broadly. "Made it. Nice costume!" She laughed.
Vasile smled at her and presented the flowers to her. "Thanks. I spent all day ordering it from the catalog." He winked and looked her over. "Wow, we match. Did you know I was coming at Kirk?" He looked greatly amused she was going as alien giving their conversation they had about Kirk a while back.
He was glad she didn't take offense to it.
"Not a clue," Cassidy assured him. "It was a happy accident, I suppose. Mmm, thank you." She sniffed the flowers, unable to avoid extending her tongue a little while doing so. "Hold on a sec. I have to put these in some water."
She wheeled back into her room, grabbed at a glass of water she'd borrowed from the cafeteria, and carefully arranged the bouquet in it. Well, it looked sort of silly, but it'd do until she could find something better to hold flowers in.
This done, she rolled back to the door, grinning; she'd have been flushed were it not for the scales.
Vasile smiled again. Things actually seemed to be going well so far. He stepped behind her and began wheeling her down towards the tent that had been erected.
"Well, good choice then. Looks like once again Kirk has managed to nab himself an extremely sexy alien woman to woo."
Cassidy laughed. "And it never turns out well for him. Or, really, for anyone on the show." Maybe this would be better. She settled back to enjoy the ride down, grinning broadly.
She felt the feathers on her shoulders bristle a little at the term "sexy." It was very hard for her to reconcile her old appearance with that word, let alone now, but... well, it felt surprisingly good to hear.
Vasile laughed. "Well, maybe he'll get lucky this time." Oops, bad pun. Oh well, he let it stand.
"This is fun. Its been years since I dressed up for Halloween."
"Me, too." Cassidy pulled her mask down over her face, grinning to herself. "Last time was, well, back in high school, I think."
She hesitated. "But... really, it's almost a bit easier to face everyone when I'm in costume anyway. A little less jarring..."
Vasile let one of his hands trail very lightly over the back of her neck. "Well, even though its a nice costume... you look better without the mask. I mean that. One animal person to another..."
Cassidy shivered. "Um. Thank you." In the back of her mind, she was squealing in a sort of panicked excitement. Oh god oh god oh god oh god... It was all a bit too much, all of a sudden. She laughed lightly, to try to calm herself down.
Vasile smiled to himself, remembering what Ambrose said. So he went back to just wheeling towards the tent.
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Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 4:57 pm
RP Log - BeachCassidy had parked the wheelchair in the shade, but she herself was sprawled out on a blanket on the warm sand in full sun, something which not too long ago would have given her a brutal sunburn. She had a book, which she was deeply involved in, and a plate of meat, morsels of steak and such, which she would, at odd intervals, swallow whole, and wash down with a sip of iced tea. This was, if not perfect, as close as she could reasonably expect right now. Pyroth Ignatius Pyroth, who had steadily regained a bit of his self confidence as he adjusted to his early changes, was now back to being somewhat nervous. However, something had changed in him, rather than shy away and hide in the shadows or his duplex, he felt like his new fur gave him a defense of sorts, something to hide behind, add that to the fact that a new restless ran through his every nerve and he had to get out, regardless of who he would meet out there.
Getting up out of his bed, he headed directly out of the door to his duplex, making sure not to catch his reflection in the mirror. Walking on his newly shaped feet was odd but not uncomfortable, the muscles showing an elastic resiliency that didn't really take much effort to use. It was unsettling but he tried not to think as he made his way down to the nearest refuge, the beach, feeling deeply strange, his canine ears flicked back in apprehension, his tail, like all coyotes, held pretty low behind him.
He actually was tempted to run, something he hadn't done in years, and even then only when no other option presented itself. It was surreal but not entirely unwelcome. To be honest, he felt younger in body than he had done in a very long time.
Paws met sand as he stepped onto the beach, squinting his strikingly animalistic eyes in the sunlight. Where was there to sit?
He spotted Cassidy not far off, and feeling that he might as well deal with this apprehensiveness early, made his way over to her. Besides who would understand this bizarre stage of the treatment better than someone who had already been through it before him, albeit in a different form.
He didn't say anything at all until he had sat himself down on the scalding sands -he barely felt the warm through layers of clothing and fur- a short way off.
"Hello again. /Fabulous/ day as always on the island, isn't it?" His tone was relatively pleasant but sarcastic in a sort of comrade like manner, a sort of "and it's not our fault either" tone. Still, he grinned to himself, showing a row of truly carnivorous fangs.
He didn't mention his new appearance just yet. Cass peered up in mild surprise--she had been vaguely aware of some source of heat coming down the beach, but as she had neither been facing Pyroth nor letting herself consciously be aware of this weird new sense, she paid it little mind. Mild surprise, however, gave way to something closer to shock. Who was--?! Her tongue flickered out and in; she knew the scent, or at least flavours of the scent. Someone else, it seemed, had hit their third injection. Oh, dear. Oh, dear." Fabulous, yes." The tip of her tail quivered a little. "Are you okay?" Pyroth Ignatius Pyroth thought for a moment before replying. "Surprisingly, yes. I've not truly freaked out yet, still feel as if I'm sort of in denial of the fact that I look any different than I used to. You know that feeling you get when something major happens, that it hasn't really? That you just keep moving? That's how I feel."
He grimaced a little "Though I'm dreading the moment, probably not too long from now, when it /does/ sink in. Till then I'm avoiding mirrors."
It was unusual of Pyroth to take such a positive track towards something, but he lived on a whim and today the whim said casual.
"Still, forgive me if I growl or make stupid noises or anything at any point in the near future, I'm still trying to get the apparent instinct party in my head to leave."
He shook his head vaguely and added.
"Bleh, thanks for the concern though. How have you been doing? I haven't had a chance to talk to you since you first went 50 percent. Please say you get used to it eventually or I'll go crazy."
He smiled somewhat wrily and wondered why he had the horrible urge to pant in the heat. No way. He was having none of that. "Depends on what you mean by 'used to it.'" Cassidy reached for her bookmark, and having tucked it between the pages, set the book aside. She sat up, her legs crossed. "Am I 'used' to the wheelchair? Sure. It's not so bad. Am I 'used' to not chewing my food or not liking air conditioning? I suppose. Am I 'used' enough to my own reflection that I'm not having nightmares? For the most part." She sighed, and the feathers on her shoulders fluffed themselves a little. "But, that said, I think the only thing that's keeping me even semi-sane when it comes to, well, the current state of my legs is the hope that it's not permanent. I would really like to run. Just once more. They... the doctors, y'know. They gave me some prosthetics. I haven't worked them out, yet. I suppose running like Terry Fox is better than not at all. So I'm not used to that, and I don't want to be." Pyroth Ignatius Pyroth's expression became somewhat more sombre as Cassidy spoke. She was right, it was probably a lot like getting used to being flayed alive, an adjustment but not nessisarily something that should be essential. Part of him still felt guilty that what he was going through seemed so petty in the face of what the rather strong woman before him was going through. Made him feel childish for ever complaining actually. At least he could walk, run, regulate his own body temperature and all those other things he took for granted.
"Sorry, I was rather inconsiderate there, just trying to give myself reassurance blind to the fact that you are tolerating much worse than I have to. I hadn't realised the changes were so deep set already, the air conditioning bothers you? That's terrible."
For a moment, he narrowed his eyes at the horizon and his hackles, now pretty evident, bristled.
"And to think not one whit of this is nessisary to anyone. I hate being a guinea pig....a creature no doubt someone will end up being mutilated into."
He shook off the anger quickly however in response to Cassidy's last statement. He refused to pity her, pity was for the weak and she wasn't weak at all from what he could see, but he was sympathetic.
"I don't blame you on that count, I wouldn't even have thought. I guess sometimes you get so used to a thing that you don't notice how much you miss it till it's gone. I don't want to get used to a lot of things that come with this bizzare shape either. I can't see colour well anymore, just shades and faint hues, my nose seems to do the seeing...or something like that. I just try to breathe through my mouth so that I don't have to get used to it, it gives me headaches. "
Shrugging faintly he added "Bah, you never know, one day we might all just wake up." "The air conditioning's been bugging me for a while, actually. It's nothing, really." Cass shrugged. "But I don't think what I'm really going through is worse than you. Just... just different." She wasn't sure about that, really. A snake was probably worse for her, but... maybe not for someone else. Maybe Pyroth would have preferred a snake. She shifted a little. "I could probably almost enjoy all this if I knew I was going to wake up, or even if they would reverse it all at the end. That'd be a vacation. Tropical island, learn how to smell with your tongue and sense heat sources, back on two legs in a few weeks. Maybe not for me, though." Pyroth Ignatius Pyroth shook his head. "I'd say it is a bit worse in a few ways, at least mammals are similar to humans, we aren't that far off from a canine evolution-wise. Cold-blooded reptiles are pretty differently made. It's certainly different, I can agree on that." Pyroth himself would have freaked out totally under that situation, he didn't doubt it.
He nodded "Indeed, were it reversible, they coudl probably make a market out of it, cruel and unusual holidays for the sadists among us." he chuckled "Nah, I jest. But you probably would get people who would like the experience, to fly, to smell what colour shoes someone is wearing or, as you say, to sense heat sources."
"I just worry that the reasearch that's being done here doesn't carry any further. The last thing we need is armies of modified soldiers or worse." He shook his head "I used to know some people who would /love/ to have me back now, armed with fangs, claws and the ability to smell where people have been." "Oh s**t." Cassidy put a hand to her cheek. "I hadn't even thought about the warfare possibilities... I must be slipping." She shook her head in disbelief. "If this stuff leads to genetic modification on soldiers, for warfare purposes, for... oh, god. I don't even want to think about some of this." She exhaled slowly. "I've been so... so wrapped up in my own problems, I hadn't even considered the extent of where this could lead..." She looked up at him, and her tongue flickered again. "It all comes down to money, doesn't it? I could see this technology being used for the really extreme body modification types. I mean, what's a tattoo when you could have... oh, cat eyes. Or scales. Or leopard spots. Pointed ears or fangs or horns without prosthetics or surgery. People do that anyway. But that's a subculture, and a limited market... and the military is much more likely to pay a great deal of money for the technology. Oh, s**t s**t s**t." She didn't much like the idea of her own transformation enabling new warfare techniques. Pyroth Ignatius "I worry about it all the time, but that's probably because I sort of came from that scene. I didn't live traditionally all my life, in actuality I wear these." he gestured to his feathers "To remind me where I came from. I'm not trying to be a stereotypical native despite obvious appearances. I knew people out there who would pay millions for a project like this to give them leverage over their competitors. For a while I was part of that leverage."
He shook his head. "Sorry, I'm being unneccisarily cryptic. Still, you know what would happen if the injections made it to the body modification market, something would go wrong, those cancerous side effects or something and people would be screwed."
He narrowed his eyes "The doctor could have quite the little empire, and what would happen to us? Probably terminated at the project end." "Is that why you have the feathers? I'd wondered. But that's pretty cool." Too bad she couldn't do something similar to remind herself of her roots. Short of driving a pick-up truck and always wearing a winter coat, anyway. "But I suppose you're right. Maybe we should just hope they always have a reason to keep us alive. I wouldn't put anything past them." Cassidy grimaced. "Oh hell. You know, I've been trying to make myself believe that being alive and reptilian is better than being dead with cancer, as they tell us. But if at the end of this..." She shook her head. "Better not to think about that, maybe." Pyroth Ignatius Pyroth nodded "Either way, I intend not to let them win, if I get the slightest inkling they are ending the project, I am going up there to give them a taste of the things that they created, I can go out like that. But, as you say, heres hoping that we will be seen as money makers rather than a liability at the project's completion."
It was almost midday, Pyroth noted, and his fur was not providing the best shade out here in the searing heat, in fact, he was too warm and would have to move very soon.
"Anyway, it's getting really warm out here and I'm still not used to this whole fur thing yet, I'd better head out of it before I get heat stroke or worse. It's been good talking to you, let me not worry about this for a bit anyway." He gave her a broad grin before picking himself up off the sand.
"Speak to you later."
And with that, he made his way back across the sands, into the blissful shade of the duplexes where air conditioning would most likely await him. As soon as he was out of sight of anyone, he let himself pant, just a bit.
Horrifyingly, it worked rather well. "See you. Hope you, well, get used to it." Cassidy waved after him as he left. Oh, lord. What a lot to think about. It was easier, for the moment, to get her book and return to her little personal world of escapism. She curled back up on the blanket with her book, and was soon deep into the story.
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Posted: Tue Nov 15, 2005 5:37 pm
AIM Log
Vasile finished his shower and got dressed, blow drying his hair and spending a good twnty minutes on getting it to look perfect. The longer style was definately growing on him, but he was discovering how hard it could be to tame. You can't just gel up shoulder-length hair and mold it into place. And so you have to add just enough treatment so it does look stiff or wet - but not so much that it goes all frizzy.
Finally getting it to where he was happy with it, he headed off to Cass's place, stopping by to grab a pretty flower off one of the plants potted around the village. He hadn't seen her the Halloween dance, and surprising his encounter with Joliette had raised some questions in his mind. He knocked on her door and waiting patiently for her response.
"One sec!" Cassidy called. SInce she had a tendency to forgo the chair in her own room, visitors meant a sudden rush for it on her knees, and this was precisely what she did. She crawled up into the chair without too much difficulty, leaving the books she'd been sorting scattered over the ground. It was... well, it was an awful mess.
She grinned, slightly bashful, at the sight of Vasile. "Um. Hi."
Vasile smiled, a bit surprised to have to look down at her when she opened the door. He handed the flower to her. "Hey there, Cass. May I come in?"
"Of course." Cass rolled out of the way, still grinning. She had a feeling that once, she would have been blushing furiously in a situation like this, but she wasn't even sure if she could blush anymore. "I.... didn't expect you. How are you doing?"
The Halloween party had been... something else.
"I'm doing good, I supposed," he said, stepping in. He gave a glace at the book and quirked an eyebrow. "Am I interupting something?"
"Oh, no." Cass looked a little embarrassed. "I'm just reorganizing things so I don't have to put stuff high up anymore... It was all alphabetical, so Asimov was up top." She grimaced. "Maybe I'll just ignore the shelves entirely. Feel free to interrupt me, really." She gave Vasile a careful look, and her tongue flickered. "Is something on your mind?" she asked, her tone a little calmer.
Vasile kneels down by the pile. "Maybe we can get Moreau to order you some lower bookcases or something. You know, there's laws about having to accomadate people with limited height capabilities," he's glad he caught himself before saying 'hanicapped'
He tried to hide a wince when she asked if something was on his mind. Being that, before he came to the island, the answer would generally 'not a chance,' it must pretty obvious when something was worrying him.
"A bit," he said honestly. "I was just wondering... how would you define.. us."
Her tongue flickered again; it was already becoming a very natural reaction of surprise for her, despite the fact that it disturbed her every time she did it. "I would... I..."
Oh, hell. She'd never, ever been good with relationship stuff. If this had been going anywhere, she was very likely to screw it all up now. Cassidy took a deep breath. "I'm not sure, Vasile. I mean... this really hasn't been going on that long. But I suppose that at this very moment, we haven't really... done... anything that would count as anything other than plain old friends stuff." She couldn't quite look at him. "But I suppose that I would *like* it to go somewhere."
Vasile smiled warmly at her and went over to sit next to her, but couldn't help but look alittle surprised. "Really? Sometimes I get the distinct impression that I make you uncomfortable."
Cassidy squirmed. "I make myself uncomfortable. I couldn't very well let you flirt with me when you thought the scales were fake, eh?" With a bit of a grimace, she looked helplessly at him. "You're... you're Vasile DiRossi, for crying out loud. It's a little hard not to be even a little intimidated. I like you. I like you a lot. I'm just not entirely, totally, one hundred percent sure if I like you as a friend or as something more."
Vasile experimentally reached out and took one of her hands. "Well, I know they're not fake now. I've known since before the dance, too."
He shifted a bit, "and I can promise you I'm not the Vasile DiRossi you've seen on the covers of magazines. This has been hard for me. Not only dealing with the physical changes we're all going through here, but I've had to change the way I feel abuot myself in almost every way. Its a bit scarey, and I feel a bit lost. Nothing here is even close to how my life used to be."
Cassidy nodded, barely perceptible. Vasile's hand felt... well, satisfying and good; she squeezed it gently. "I feel pretty lost, myself," she offered. "But at least we're all lost together. It... evens things out." She smiled a little.
"It certainly helps," he told her, smiling.
He looked over her face carefully. Her appearance didn't render him uncomfortable, though Vasile that was certainly because things were put into a new perspective for him here on the island. Hollywood standards of beauty only seem important when you have nothing better to do with your life than worry about what's new and cool. No one looked normal here - not even the people who ran it when you put things in contexy. While people like Dr. Moreau and Dr. Duvert might have nornally been able to walk beside him on the street and he wouldn't have even given them a glace - so much pain and anger caused Vasile to view them completely differently - as monsterous, crazy men. And all the islanders, no matter how freakish their transformations thus far - the sole fact that they were all victems here, together, gave each and every one of them an almost innocent beauty. It had been a very long since Vasile felt such commaradarie with people he, honestly, didn't always know that well. He even jumped in and defended the new black man - and he didn't even know his name. Certainly not something he would have done normally.
"Soo," he started, lowering his voice and learning in slightly, "what can I do to help you decide on that 'totally not 100%' part..?"
Cassidy let out a nervous giggle. "Well, this helps a little."
Did she just really say that? She must be losing her mind. She would never have even imagined saying something like that six months ago... she'd always been too afraid.
"It does?" he asked, reaching up to brush the hair away from her neck. A twinkle came to Vasile's eye. So a part of him reveled in this predatory seduction... that would probably never change. "What about this?" he learned in and placed his lips against hers, bracing himself for whatever that reaction might be (including a slap in the face - but he had to try)
Cassidy, for a moment, went stiff. She pulled back for a moment, her eyes wide and scared. What had happened to that spark of bravery just a minute ago? Was it really so fleeting? She could face her own reflection, after all, and that was the scariest thing she'd ever seen, so what was this compared to a kiss?
That made up her mind. Though she was shaking, Cass leaned back in.
Vasile held her face softly, and held the kiss for a good while, though he, reluncantly, kept it rather chaste. He didn't want to frighten her off. This was new, and rather exciting for him. For years if was used to be being with women who were willng to trample over each other to get to him... he'd never had to place this cat-and-mouse chase before. That kind of scared him a bit to be honest, becasue for the first time he didn't know what to do. As much as he -really- wanted to, he doubt Cass would be open to him sweeping her up and taking over to the bed.
Oh no, those were definately thoughts he shouldn't be having right now. He was already getting -way- ahead of himself.
Finally, he pulled back slightly and gave her an almost questioning look.
Cass inhaled slowly. "I... that was... okay, that helped a lot. That was pretty good." Oh, god, she hoped it was. It had been ages since she'd kissed anyone. It somehow had never come up in the past few years.
He was looking at her. And she had no idea what he expected. Oh god oh god oh god oh--no, wait. She shouldn't panic. Panicking was a bad thing, although she was certainly glad right now that she wasn't turning venomous. Just don't panic, Cass. She'd managed to not make a mess of this so far.
She moved to fling her arms around his neck in a sudden hug.
Very releaved she didn't hurry up to think of an excuse that Vasile should leave, or slap him, or something to that extent, he closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around her, holding her to him as he returned the hug.
Yes yes, this was nice. He liked her when she didn't look so scared all the time.
He lets his hands wander over her back, finally lowering to rest on her hips. He didn't really know to say, or what she expected him to do (or not do).
"It's been... well, a while, since I had any sort of relationship," Cassidy admitted, mumbling into Vasile's neck. "This is... sort of weird for me. But nice," she added hastily.
"Well, if it helps, I've barefly had anything that would resemble a real relationship to most people. So we can be...weird together, I suppose."
"Heh. All right." She didn't really move, being too comfortable.
Vasile held onto her for a good while, until he looked over her shoulder to the books. "Hey, can I help you finish organizing those?"
Cassidy giggled. "Is it really that bad of a mess? Yeah, you can help me, if you really want."
"No, but it gives me a legitmate excuse to spend time with you and try to understand this little obsession of yours. I might want to borrow some."
"Weeeeell, I suppose I could let you borrow some," she teased, and let him go.
"Oh, well thank you, I didn't know it was such an honor, " he teased back, and went over to help organize her books in a way that she could more easily get to all of them.
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Posted: Mon Nov 21, 2005 11:07 am
AIM Log
It was early afternoon when Vasile knocked on Cass's duplex door. He had spent an extra-long amount of fine grooming himself that morning, though he had been up a while running and back forth preparing. Before he made his way over to Cass's he has stopped by his own place to pull his hair back in a loose ponytail and change into one his last remaining, clearn, outfits. He really needed to learn how to do laundry -and fast. And figure out what to do about the problem with most of his clothes being "dry clean only"
Regardless, he stood and waited for her answer, grinning like the cat that ate the canary.
Cass opened the door with only half a braid; she'd been caught redoing it. After opening the door and manuevering her chair out of the way--something which definitely got easier with practice--she grinned up at Vasile and settled back down to braiding up the last little bit. "Well, *you're* in a good mood. What's up?" She quickly tied up her hair with an elastic that had been around her wrist, and tossed her hair back over her shoulder.
Vasile leaned down and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "I am," he grinned, taking her hands. "Care to join me for lunch?"
"Sure. I haven't eaten yet." Cassidy squeezed his hands.
Vasile smiled and went behind her, taking control of the chair. "Good," he said, wheeling her, not towards the cafeteria, but actually back around towards the jungle. "I have a surprise for you."
"Oh, really?" Cassidy laughed. She leaned back in the chair to enjoy the ride. "The good kind of surprise, I hope." This was certainly unexpected. Very much so; what on earth did Vasile have up his sleeve? "Am I supposed to close my eyes, too?"
"Sure that sounds like an excellent idea. Close your eyes." Unfortunately, though he tried his best not to make it so, the ride became rather bumpy as Vasile traveled down the rocky pathways. "Er, sorry, I'm doing my best to make this... not bounce," he said apologetically.
Cassidy, with her eyes closed, had no warning for the various bumps, so she was getting rather jarred. Nevertheless, she put on a grin, gripped the armrests tightly, and rode it through. "S'okay. Really, it is."
Even with your eyes closed you could feel the bright sun began to fade away as they went deeper into the jungle, though the temperature stayed very warm as the air got humid. Finally Vasile stopped the chair.
"Okay, you can open your eyes now..."
Just off the path, in a smally clearing, Vasile had spread out one of his extra blankets. There were paper plates of food spread out. As Vasile didn't know exactly what she liked, a whole sampling of what the cafeteria had to offer that day was laid out as eloquently as one can do with plastic and paper dinnerware. His water glass was in the middle, stock full of exotic flowers as a centerpeice. In his ice-bucket was a bottle of wine (lifted from before the alcohol ban, Vasile was a stickler for the romantic-must, and always liked to have a bottle or two hidden away somewhere).
Cass opened her eyes, and blinked in delighted astonishment. "Oh! Oh, Vasile." She laughed and turned to look at him. "This is something else."
So, a romantic picnic in the jungle? Certainly not something she had ever foreseen doing at any point in her life. Vasile was definitely full of surprises. Cassidy would have to watch him, she supposed. Or something to that effect.
"You've outdone yourself, really."
Vasile chuckled. "Well, I have seen my share of romantic movies. Occupational hazard." He scratched the back of his head. "So forgive if its, uh, a bit over the top. I know some women think this kind of stuff is cheesy or whatever, but... I dunno.. I think its kind of nice myself."
He helped her get out of her chair and over to the blanket. "I figured we could.. get to know each better?"
"Of course it's cheesy. That doesn't mean it can't be nice, too." Cassidy grinned as she settled herself down on the blanket. "But yes. We really should get to know each other more. I mean, I suppose we haven't really known each other all that long, so..." She shrugged. "It's definitely a good place to start things." She let out a small laugh. "...that's not wine, is it? My god. I thought it was all gone..."
Vasile settled down close to her, taking the bottle off the ice and working on opening it. "Indeed it is!" His grinned widens as the cork came flying out and into the jungle with a loup POP. "I snagged a few bottles as soon as I saw the open bar. I always like to have a bottle lying around for..." he gave a quick kiss on her neck, right behide her ear, "special occasions"
Cass grinned bashfully. "I'm amazed you managed to hide it, special occassion or not." She found herself watching Vasile with a sort of plain contentment, and looked away, slightly embarrassed. How she had managed to go from agonized frustration with him to... well, this... it was a mystery to her. "You, sir, are a wizard."
Vasile poured her a paper cup and handed it to her. "I am?" he asked with a grin, watching her with interest. Trying wildly to dicipher every tone, body language, expression...
Vasile shook his head. "From what I heard Moreau was out to punish Dude mostly. At least at the time. I haven't been a very good boy around him."
"I bet he was." Cass grimaced, and took a sip. "Thanks. Honestly, the whole thing is just vindictive, and it makes me nervous... I mean, on the one hand, I really don't much like the idea of just... letting myself be bullied into behaving myself, but on the other hand, I would rather not risk having my books taken away. I'd want to invest in a locked box or something, but... I doubt it would do much good."
"I'm surprised, honestly, there's not more of a unifying protest." Vasile slid his arm around his waist and pulled her closer to him as he sipped his own cup. "I mean, I know he can simply say our subject number and a command and we drop like bricks.." Vasile winced, remembering when it happened to him, "But I mean... what if all of us approached him together?"
"I don't know. If we could manage to get together and catch him alone before he could get wind of it and prepare himself... maybe we could do something. I don't know what." Cassidy inched over and snuggled against Vasile, a smile creeping in around the corners of her lips despite the conversation. "What would we do if we did get ouf of here, anyway? I couldn't go home, just for reasons of climate."
"Move to California," Vasile said quickly, snuggling back. "I could hook you up."
Cass laughed, lightly. "I suppose I could do that." For a moment, she held the cup just under her nose, hesitating on the edge of a thought; she sipped and looked at Vasile with a smirk. "Save up to invest in a very good plastic surgeon."
Vasile reached over and trailed his fingers down her face, looking at her. "If we ever do get out of here, its going to a media explosian. Everyone is going to know who we are. You wouldn't have to hide. If anything, its a mark of your survival. You'd be above conforming to societies constraints of beauty." He gave a warm smile. "I think it would almost be a badge of honor. And I dunno if its just because I'm getting to used to seeing everyone change.. but I think you're beautiful. I've never even seen you before your first change..."
"You didn't miss much. Big nose and too many freckles. I'm just a geek." Cass shook her head. She couldn't think of herself as beautiful, not now or ever. "But thank you... that's... that really means a lot." Especially coming from the local lord of good looks, after all. "You, of course, look as gorgeous as ever. Just maybe a littler hairier, but that's not really a bad thing. Do you know, my little sister was always such a big fan of yours, that if we ever do get out of here, she will positively kill me." She had to smile at the thought of Cheryl. God, but it sucked knowing she'd never see her again.
Vasile chuckled, "Thank you," he said, shrugging. "At least for now. I can't help but think how I'm going to look... next time. I guess I better enjoy it while I can, I suppose. The looks' kind of grown on me."
He looked down at her when she mentioned her sister. "Oh would she? Well, I have a little brother. Make I could hook the two of them up and we'd be even."
She giggled. "That'd probably make her happy."
Cassidy closed her eyes for a moment. "I'm terrified of next time. I don't know whether or not to hope I'm going to lose my legs entirely. This... stupid stub feet creep me out, but somehow it's just as scary to think about slithering. Well." She opened her eyes and smiled weakly at Vasile. "I guess I don' t have much choice."
He nodded slowly, silently thanking some higher being that he wasn't in her predicamenrt. "I can imagine.. how hard that might be." He fingers her braid and brushing any stray tendrils away from her neck. "Is there anything you ... have wanted to do again, or try, before... you know.. they're gone completely?" Vasile tried not to make it too obvious he was thinking of sex, but he couldn't lie that he wondered how that would exactly... work.. without legs. Or if she was wanted to do it.. "normally" before they were gone. But he couldn't exactly ... ask. No matter how happy he would have been to oblige.
Cassidy gave Vasile a rather nervous look. "Um."
Well, er. She couldn't say she wasn't terribly surprised; it wasn't as if sex hadn't been on her mind at all. She was only human after all, or had been. But... oh, god... it was still terrifying.
But then again, these days there were lots of things that frightened her more than sex.
"Maybe one or two," she admitted, allowing herself a small smile.
Vasile tried to muster an innocent look. "Oh yeah? Like..?"
Cassidy peered at him out of the corner of her eye. "Are you really going to make me say it?"
Vasile actually felt a bit of heat rise to his cheeks, realizing that she had picked up on what he was implying. He shook his head and gave a expasterated laugh, shaking his head. "No, I suppose not," he cautiously made eye contact with her.
"It's... it's pretty sudden, Vasile. That's all." Cass smiled. "At least it feels like that to me. Although at the same time I'm worried about leaving things like that too long and then not being--" She blinked. "I cannot believe I just said that," she laughed. "Huh. Well... maybe..."
"I'm not.. uhm, trying to rish things or anything. I'm not used to, well, this whole dating thing. So, forgive me if I say things that are totally off base." He watched her face closely. "But uhm, yeah. I mean, I know Greer was all freaking out at some point about kissing because she knew she was losing her face and well, I wondering if you... and uh, I know you probably wouldn't say anything even if you were thinking it..."
He stopped and shook his head. "Oh my god, I'm sorry, now I'm the one saying way too much.."
"You're right. I wouldn't say it." Cassidy stared aimlessly into her cup for a moment before setting it aside--cautiously, so it wouldn't spill. After all, it wouldn't do to waste what precious little alcohol was available. "I've been... of course I've thought about it. On the one hand, I want to. Believe me. On the other hand, I am so freaking terrified that... well. I would never have brought it up, myself." She shrugged slightly and leaned her head against Vasile's shoulder. "I'm... kind of dumb that way."
Vasile smiled softly at her, pulling her closer. "Well, that's normal, I suppose. After all, first things first as they say..." he leaned down and began to kiss her, getting a little more bold.
Cassidy, for a brief moment, panicked; but then, she'd spent enough time lately, being scared. Gotta relax, she told herself, and did her best to do exactly this. She wrapped her arms around Vasile, though it was an effort not to shake, and kissed back.
Vasile tried to cool his thoughts down and focus on the here and now. Ambrose had warned him about moving to fast, but to be perfectly honest "going slow" was not a concept he was used to. He was terrified of overstepping his lines with Cass, because she was the only girl he's kissed since he was 14 that wasn't banging down the door of his hotel room.
He remembered her tongue. He prepared himsef for it... not knowing what it would feel like in comparison to, well, a normal tongue. He closed his eyes and deepened the kiss. Won't know until you try.
This was... weird. In all the kissing she'd ever done, which wasn't much, Cass had never had to worry about a forked tongue, and come to think of it, she wasn't entirely sure she wouldn't have balked at kissing someone with such a tongue herself.
Ah! Stop thinking so much!
Just... go with what felt right. Yeah. What else could she do? Stupid tongue, stupid Moreau... no! Never mind that, this was much better, she had to stop panicking like this. It was... it was all right. Really, it was. Cass squeezed her eyes shut and let herself get lost in the kiss.
It was strange, and it took a few moments to get used to, but Vasile didn't miss a beat. He held her close and ran his hands over her back and waist, kneading the muscles under her shirt. If Vasile was ever caught excerting effort, mosty likely he was working on his own appearance, or pleasing a woman, the only two things worth his time in his sweat (at least thats what he used to tell himself).
After a good while, he pulled away gently, looking down into her eyes.
Cassidy gave a nervous smile. That hadn't been bad at all. It had been pretty damn good, actually. See, she worried too much. She leaned up and kissed Vasile gently on the corner of his mouth. "I.... ohhh. Oh, Vasile."
There really didn't seem to be anything to say.
Vasile couldn't help but give a satisfied smile, feeling a bit proud of himself. He nuzzeled her neck and slowly laid her down on the blanket and slided up beside her, leaning in for a another kiss. "Don't be afraid to talk to me," he murmered to her. "About anything..."
"I'll... I'll keep that in mind." Cass inhaled rather shakily. Oh god oh god oh god oh god oh... no. No panicking. She'd lost hair and feet and the ability to regulate her own body temperature--why not lose a little fear, too? That was pretty reasonable.
Vasile continues to kiss her, letting his hands cautiously explore a bit. He wasn't about to push her farther than she wanted him to go, so he watched her expressions carefully, but certainly was rather interested in knowing his limits.
It certainly felt good, but... Cassidy gave a sudden shiver. "Vasile... this is..." Oh please don't let him hate her. "Too fast. I..." So much for her newfound bravery; it had never been terribly convincing, anyway. She put her hand on his chest to gently push him off. "It's... all too fast."
Vasile masked the dissapointment on his face, but he knew he shouldn't have expected too much. He pulled back and rolled into a sitting position, reaching out his hands to help her up at well. "I'm sorry," he said quickly, frowing. "Its okay, really..."
"I'm sorry, too." For what, exactly, she wasn't really sure, but she was sorry. Cassidy took Vasile's hands, got herself up into a sitting position, and moved to lay her head on his shoulder. "It's been a while since I had any sort of serious relationship, and I'm just not too good with this stuff, really. I'm... I'm trying. I really am."
Vasile wrapped his arm around her shoulder and held her close to him, kissing the top of her head. "Really. If we're going to be on here for the long run I really don't want to do anything you're going to resent me for."
A thought came to Vasile as she spoke. "So..." he asked, taking his forgotten cup or wine and sipping it. "How many 'serious' relationships have you had?" Vasile looked her over, now a little nervous after his run-in with Joliette the other day. The fact that she was a virgin hit him totally off gaurd and made him feel really uncomfortable. He had never, to his knowledge, slept with a virgin and the idea scared him a bit. Made him predatory. He was unsure if he could ever...take that someone. It was a something of something much deeper then any kind of relationship he had ever experienced, thats for sure.
Cass was a grown woman, so he had always just assumed she wasn't. But he wouldn't have plugged the spunky papparatzi chick to be one, either. Plus, Vasile was just now learning how out of touch with "reality" he really was. Joliette had never so much as had a boyfriend, Ambrose had only been in a 'serious relationship' with one woman. How out of the norm was his love-life anyway? He had more more 'serious' relationships than just a string of one-night stands... but every model or actress he dated always seemed more like a string of one-nighters than anything close to the relationships he played on screen. Ask a woman out. Go to dinner, go to a club, then back to his place. Rinse and repeat, until one of them decided it would be best to 'see other people.'
Vasile was getting lost in thoughts, until Cass's voice would snap him out of it.
"Er. One. It didn't work out. He was sorta sleeping around, the whore." Cassidy grimaced. "We broke it off. There was a lot of yelling. I've had dates since then, but... nothing that really worked out." She shrugged.
Vasile nodded, noting that answer didn't neccasarily ease his curiosity... but he wasn't going to ask, not now. It wasn't really an issue at the moment, anyway. "I'm sorry about that," he said, "You're probably better off then, huh?"
"Yeah, definitely." She smirked. "I have no idea why I didn't dump him sooner." She picked up her cup and a took a sip; she really needed to calm down some.
"A couple of months." Cassidy shrugged. "Just after I graduated from high school. I had no idea he was... Yeah." She shook her head. "I don't need people like that hanging around me. Really, I don't."
Vasile really hoped she meant 'guys that cheated' and not 'guys thats slept around' but decided it was in his best interest not to ask. The island was really putting things into perspective for him, and the irony of a place so ******** up as here was cause for his 'reality' check was mind-boggling in its irony.
"That must be hard..." he started, thinking outloud now, "to put that kind of emotional investment into someone... just to have them do something like that."
"It sucked, yeah. But... well, we make mistakes, we learn, we move on, eh?" She smiled.
"Yeah," Vasile chuckled. "I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of 'learning' with you, then."
"Me, too." Cassidy sighed softly; now that her nerves were calmed, she felt really... quite contented. "I know I have been."
"I hope you don't feel like I'm ... hmm, expecting anything from you. Hopes, maybe, but not expectations..." Vasile gave a nervous chuckle. He heard that on a TV show once, he thought. "Its just, well, I'm very good at pinpointing what I want. Like, you know how people say things like 'I don't know what I like'? That's not me. Maybe I'm perceptive. But mostly I think when you've spoon-fed everything you've ever want since you were six... its a skill you develop." Vasile frowned at himself, suddenly wishing he could see his parents again.
"I wouldn't know what that's like." Really, Cassidy wasn't sure she'd ever really want to have everything she'd ever wanted. She'd have a very full apartment, then. When you were six, getting everything you wanted was great, but at twenty-four? "But that does sound like a reasonable theory."
"You know, I never bought into the whole 'poor little rich boy' theory..." Vasile started, "but the more I think about it, the more I think those guys might have been onto something. I was never one of those actors who lamented about the evils of fame. But I think I might have had a I been a better person. You know, looking back.. I don't think I was a very good person. Or if... bieng here changed that at all, really... I mean, I'd like to think that.. but...I don't know." Vasile stopped and shook his head. "Wow, I'm rambling."
"It's okay," Cass smiled. "Sometimes rambling is good for you."
"Perhaps..." he mused. "So, I can officially brag to Ambrose and Dude now that I've snagged myself a girlfriend? Maybe Dude will be convinced for once that I'm not queer, huh?"
Cassidy blinked, then laughed. "All right. You can say that if you want to."
"Good," he said, kissing her on the cheek. "Maybe we can go to the beach later or something. This place is kind of lacking in cool and hip date places."
"No movie theatres, no nice restaurants," Cass giggled. "This is true. The good doctor is interfering with budding romance, here. The beach sounds nice."
"Well, there is a movie room. I wouldn't exactly call it a theatre, but if you want we can put in a chick flick at some point and make out in the back row if that'll make you feel more normal," he teased. "But yeah... perhaps the beach will do for now."
She laughed. "Yeah, it'd do fine."
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 10:50 am
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 11:04 am
Cassidy, with slow determination, was strapping on the prosthetic legs. She hadn't touched them much, but she was really missing walking. A lot.
For a moment, she sat on the edge of the bed, the green plastic feet dangling over the floor. She took a deep breath.
It was like regular walking, right? Except... not.
Okay.
Cass slowly planted her feet on the floor, and drew herself to stand. She wobbled, but... she was definitely standing.
It was... nice. She was tall again! She could see the top shelf again!
"Come on, girl. We can do this."
One step forward, and Cassidy completely lost her balance and toppled to the floor.
Okay, ow. That hadn't gone so well.
Rubbing her knees, she got back to her feet, and clung to the wheelchair with one hand. If she could just get her balance... maybe this would work.
...until the next injection.
...ohgoddon'tthinkofthat.
Cass took another deep breath. She took a step, still clinging to the wheelchair but trying not to lean on it.
She didn't fall! Wobbled, yes, but...
She took another step, wobbled dangerously, and recovered.
This was going to take a lot of practice.
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Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2005 4:37 pm
RP Log - the VillageCassidy was having some degree of difficulty. When faced with the freedom of her new legs, wobbly and uncertain as they were, the first thing that had occurred to her was to maybe, well, walk somewhere. The beach? Nah. She was having enough troubles on level ground without dealing with sand. Really, it all deserved some sort of celebration. So, walking with a pronounced hobble, her hands always out to catch herself for her frequent missteps, and her tail being for once useful and balancing out behind her, Cass came into the recreation room with every intent of seeing what sort of movies there were. She touched the thermostat briefly as she entered, but couldn't make heads or tails of it. Well, she had her sweater, at least, a baggy thing that did not hide the feathers sprouting from her shoulders. Stewart Young Stewart had only recently discovered that there was a rec. room on the island, and he had nothing better to do at the moment so he decided to go check it out, he was impressed by the size of it and decided that later he would have to check out their movie collection. He hated the trash Hollywood put out now a days, the only movies Stewart watched were the occasional classics like Citizen Kane and religious movies. Hopefully they would have the Ten Commandments, man how he loved that movie. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed someone, she was across the room so she couldn't get a real good look at her face. "Hello there!" He called out "It's nice to finally see another person, at times if feels as if this island is almost deserted!" He finished with a small chuckle, as he sat himself down on the nearest chair and started reading his Bible. Someone was here? Great. "Er... I suppose it does feel like that, sometimes." A quick tongue-flicker confirmed that no, she didn't know him. Great. Did he know what was going on? Would she be put in place to explain everything? She hoped not. She was really bad at that. Well, she was here now, and he wasn't completely freaking out, so it seemed likely he knew something. Just act natural. That was a good idea. She hobbled over, once losing her balance slightly but recovering quickly, and went straight for the shelf of DVDs. "Mmm. Anything good to watch, here?" Her tail twitched behind her. Stewart Young He looked up and for the first time noticed that the girl was... green? He never noticed her tounge flick or small tail, so he came to one conclusion: she had to be a leprocy victim. He never knew that he doctor treated lepers here on the island, what a nice man that doctor was.. But he would not freak out by her rather odd appearance and he would not bring up leprocy. Keep the conversation normal, yes he could do that. He looked over at the DVD rack and said "I must admit, it's the first time I've been in here so I was wondering if they have any good movies too. I doubt they would have any of the movies I like though..." Cass scanned the shelves, though she wasn't really sure what she was looking for. "Well, there's not a lot of really good sci-fi movies, y'know... maybe they at least have some Red Dwarf..." With a shrug, she turned her back to the shelf and attempted a grin. "My name's Cassidy. You been here long?" She then got a better look at the stranger, and noted his, er... clothes. Particularly his collar. Oh... oh, hell. This wasn't going to be a repeat of the conversation she'd had with Chana, was it? Stewart Young That poor poor girl the thought to himself, her nose had fallen off! Another thing he would make sure he wouldn't draw attention to. "I'm Father Young, and I've only been on this island for a couple of weeks so I haven't had a chance to meet many of the other people here on this island. It's always nice to meet new people." He said nodding, but then he had to ask "Red Dward, is that a movie? I'm afraid I've never seen a Sci-fi movie" "It's a British science fiction sitcom from the late eighties and early nineties. It's... really weird." Cass laughed. "Haven't seen it in ages... used to watch it with my Dad." Ah, memories. Although the thought of Red Dwarf did make her wonder if anyone on the island was being injected with domestic cat DNA. Felis Sapiens, indeed. She hobbled over to a chair, and sat heavily. It was a lot of work to get around like this, but... it was walking! Joy of joys! "If you don't mind my asking... you're a priest of some sort? Catholic, Anglican, or... what?" Her tongue flickered again, a reflexive response to her curiosity. Stewart Young "I may have to check that one out sometime, but those British. They sure do make some odd shows. I used to be a huge fan of Faulty Towers back in the day" He said remembering the days back before he was a priest. "But yes, I am a priest, Roman Catholic to be exact. Somedays I really miss the church I worked at, my life seems so simple now that I'm on the island. I don't have to worry about confessions or worring about forgetting part of the Scripture..." "Faulty Towers is pretty fun," Cass agreed. He must know. He had to know, if he wasn't freaking out. Well, that was a bit of a relief. "Well, it is pretty peaceful here. I'd guess there aren't a whole lot of Catholics, though, so yeah, not a lot of confessions to hear." She grinned. "May as well enjoy it... I know that's what I've been trying to do." Stewart Young "I do love the peace and quiet around here, but as awful as it sounds. I really do miss hearing the weekly confessions, some of those was quite entertaining." He said blushing a little. How wonderful, he thought to herself, even though she was suffering form leprosy, and had lost both of her legs and nose to the disease. She was still trying to enjoy life... God bless her. "Well, I suppose you would get used to it," Cass agreed. "The, er, habit of it, and everything." She was having a hard time believing that she was sitting here having a calm discussion with a Catholic priest. She'd always tended to avoid this sort of thing, not being terribly religious. "If you don't mind me asking, how did you end up here?" Stewart Young "Ah, I was offered a mission trip by the church. It was getting kind of boring in Boston, so I gladly accepted. But now I know that there's sadly no mission trip. Someone told me that the Doctor was turning us into animals, but I don't really believe that." He said shrugging. "What about you, and how long have you been on the island?" Cassidy blinked; for a moment, she just stared at her hands. "Well, I've been here since, um, August, I think it was. I came for a job at a hotel that, sadly, doesn't exist." She shrugged, and the feathers visible through the top of her sweater ruffled a little. "As for the animal thing, well... I know that's true. I mean, well. Look at me." She extended an arm, rolling up her sleeve past her elbow to show the scales and the feathers. She was hoping she could stay way from the Genesis connections this time around. Stewart Young "Oh no, don't make assumptions like that! Having leprosy does not make you an animal. It's just a disease, anyone who tells you terrible things like that is sick. You'll get better, isn't the doctor giving you medicine for your symptoms? If not than you really should have a talk with him" He said, but only moments afterwards he felt bad for bringing it up. He had told himself not to talk about and there he was blabbering on about it... Stewart was great for creating stories to explain events he didn't understand. And he wasn't planning on believing the truth about this island for a while. Deamons and leprosy were much better for him.... " Leprosy?!" Cassidy boggled. "I don't have leprosy. It's their... their 'medicine' that did this to me. I went and asked them outright. They said." At least it was a better story than we're-making-a-movie-and-everyone's-in-full-costume. She rolled her sleeve back down. "Anyway, I never heard of a leper growing feathers." Stewart Young "Well, green skin, missing limbs. I just assumed that what it was. But you know, it could also be an allergic reaction, I've heard of people getting some nasty reactions from shots." He said shrugging. "Nothing's right on this island anymore, next thing I know up's gonna be down and it'll be raining blood" Ick. When he put it that way, it was almost a logical thing to think. Cass wasn't sure she liked being mistaken for a leper. "Not this sort of allergy... I asked them straight out. They told me. Green tree python and macaw... oh, forget it." She rubbed her forehead, and sighed. "Just... forget it." Stewart Young Stewart paused to collect his thoughts for a moment, he would not freak out again. Remember Cass was a person once too, he would not go all nutsy priest on her again. Finally he said softly "I guess I'm just making up excuses because... I'm terrified that it's going to happen to me too. What am I to become?" After a pause, she said softly, "You can ask, or you can wait." Cassidy shook her head. "Not a lot of choice. I'm sorry." She wasn't sure what she was sorry for... just... generally sorry. Her good mood rather wounded, Cass got to her feet, and wobbled a little before she got her balance. "I'll just go... I don't want to disturb your reading..." She hobbled to the door.
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Posted: Fri Dec 23, 2005 8:57 pm
The prosthetic legs, as good as they may have been, were still not something Cass was used to, and her feet--or what could, for lack of any better term, be called her feet--were rather sore and slightly chafed.
So, she was soaking them in warm water in the tub.
It was December 23rd, though she wouldn't have guessed it by looking outside. Okay.
Originally, her plan had been to try and go home for Christmas. That was, of course, impossible now.
Christmas without her family...
No! No, for chrissakes, she wasn't going to cry over this AGAIN. It was ridiculous. It was...
... she missed them so much.
She dried off her feet slowly, and found herself peering at her reflection in the mirror. She wasn't scared of her own face anymore, though she didn't like it. But, well, look at her. She was green. And her feathers were red. She was practically Christmassy all by herself.
That was the problem. It didn't feel like Christmas.
Cassidy nodded decisively. She strapped on the legs, hobbled out into the main room, dug through her belongings for an old red-and-white Santa hat, and so decorated, headed out into the tropical climate.
Some hours later, she returned with a branch of some plant she could not identify, strung with brightly coloured flowers and interesting vines she had found, and stuck this in the corner of the room.
It was... not exactly Christmas.
But it would do.
Oh, god. It would have to.
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Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 4:25 pm
Sometime in the middle of the night, a grey-furred figure quietly makes a stop on your doorstop to deposit a cloth-wrapped package. The cloth is cut from a scrap piece of blue tarp from the looks of things, and tied shut with a length of rope.
Pinned to it is a note on Feral Labs stationary (much like the pad found in all of your duplexes in the desk drawer), penned in an elegant, confident hand.
Quote: Cassidy, I regretfully haven't seen you much in the past month or so - and I truly hope that the holiday season finds you well. I remember that you had a fondness for science fiction and things such as that, and so I hope that this small gift reminds you to keep your mind open to extreme possibilities - and perhaps a happy ending for you and everyone else. Your Friend, ~ Ambrose Maurlias
And once the rope is cut or untied, inside the package is a small piece of wood that has been carved into a cute representation of a flying saucer.
Carved on the bottom is an inscription that says "Keep Dreaming. ~Ambrose"
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Posted: Sat Dec 24, 2005 11:21 pm
When you wake up on Christmas morning you find what appears to be a large box sitting in a corner of your room.
When you try to pick it up you find it to be heavy and hard. After you tear off the wrapping you can see it is a new bookshelf, full of newer hardbound sci-fi novels. Many are from after your arrival on the island.
One sitting on top is a book about Quezacotl.
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Posted: Sun Dec 25, 2005 8:18 pm
Cassidy really would have liked slippers. Big, fuzzy slippers to pad around in on Christmas morning.
That not being the case, she went on her knees to investigate the box in the corner, being too curious to get her wheelchair or her feet.
She tried to shift it; it was heavy. Slightly wary, Cass ripped it open and peered inside.
Books.
Glorious books. New books, with that wonderful new-book-smell. There was a shelf, too, but that was almost secondary.
Books!
She had to say this for them: they knew how to keep them at least fairly happy.
Cass took a quick moment to grab the cute little wooden UFO Ambrose had given her, and set it on the shelf.
What to read first?
She ran her fingers over the spines of the books, pleased beyond words... one caught her eye; it was in a fairly obvious place, and it looked rather like it didn't fit in with the others.
Some sort of mythology book.... quetzalcoatl....
...wait.
That rang a bell. That was that... that thing... that Sabin had mentioned when she'd gone to ask what she was turning into.
Oh, dear.
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 6:31 pm
Cassidy crawled out of the tub, careful not to wet her book. So. Quetzalcoatl. A creator god. Depicted as either a man, or as a feathered serpent. Sometimes the sole god, sometimes half of a dual worship, opposite Tezcatlipoca, who was considerably more dark. The morning star. The wind. The giver of corn, the inventor of the calendar, and the inventor of books (Cass had to admit to liking that part). Some versions said Quetzalcoatl had been sent into exile by Tezcatlipoca, some said he had burned himelf to death after being tricked into sleeping with a celibate priestess. Some said he had left willingly, on a raft made of snakes, which was the most disturbing thing Cassidy had ever heard of. But all in all, a good god. It was a peculiar thing. All snakes in religious mythos in her admittedly very limited scope had been, well... negative things. The tempter of Eve, as Chana had pointed out. Dragons. Poisonous, dangerous, to be avoided at all costs, and Cass had been inclined to agree. Cassidy pulled on a bathrobe, and peered at her reflection in the mirror. My family wouldn't even know me anymore...It was a little reassurring there had been at least one benevolent snake in religion. It was not so reassuring to know that a mythology-obsessed madman was trying to turn you into a bizarre version of it. Cass sighed at her reflection, and settled down to rebraid her hair. She found herself, strangely, thinking of an old song her mother had been fond of. But now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads, they say
I've changed
Well something's lost, but
something's gained
In living ev'ry day... She hummed to herself, not quite on-key and well-aware of it, and grinned suddenly. "I am not a snake," she told her reflection. "I am the kin of Quetzalcoatl. I'm a member of a race of aliens that visited South America and inspired a religion." And she laughed, because it was ridiculous.
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Posted: Fri Dec 30, 2005 9:11 pm
RP LogJoliette Rigiel Joliette thought about the encounter she had jsut had with Lily, something seemed a little odd about it but Joliette didn't know what.. She wandered back towards the village along the path from the beach staring at the ground her tongue flicking out and in as she moved bringing her plenty of scents which she was trying to ignore, she was also debating food or home to 25... Cassidy was headed the other way. In a better mood than was usual for her these days, she was stumping along on her artificial legs, clutching a book to her chest, and wishing she could whistle, because it was a whistling sort of moment. Unfortunately, not only had she only ever been barely able to whistle, she couldn't do it at all with fangs and a forked tongue. An absent-minded tongue flicker brought the scent of something... well, vaguely reptilian, and unfamiliar. Cass looked up and saw Joliette; she tilted her head. Someone else with a repilian serum. Joliette Rigiel The scent of another human... or part human was something Joliette didn't ignore. She looked up and saw the other female ahead of her, "Uhm... Hello" she said in greeting, her eyes took in the amount of scales and the tail, definetaly retile, but feathers?? She walked towards her curiousness in her mind more then anything "Hi." Cassidy, still riding her little cheery high, grinned around a mouthful of fangs. This person was, upon closer inspection, some sort of lizard, it would seem. Claws were there, after all... not another snake. She was almost disappointed. It would have been nice to have a kindred spirit. But, really, that was selfish. She shifted her book to the other arm. "I'm Cassidy. You been here long?" Joliette Rigiel "Cassidy.. oh! you are the one Ambrose and Hargun have mentioned in the past, it's nice to put a face to a name... I'm Joliette, I've been here uhm since the beginning of November" she extended a hand to Cass as she spoke, her thick British accent easily distiguishable even if her name was distinctly french "That long? I guess I have been a bit of a shut-in lately. Nice to meet you." She looked vaguely embarrassed at having been worthy of discussion from other people. She took Joliette's hand, and shook it rather gingerly. Come on, Cass. Don't be silly. She has scales too, right? Yeah. Joliette Rigiel "Oh don't be hard on yourself, theres I don't know about 30 people here I think and I have only met about two thirds of them" She shook her hand back wondering if she should be... gentle the way her hand was taken Claws. She may be in the process of losing her legs, but she wouldn't have to worry about claws. Little things. Cass was trying desperately to hold onto her good mood. "I'm not sure I've even met that many. I mean, for a while, I hardly went anywhere. Ever." She grimaced. "It was... well, really, I'd only found out about what was going on here a day or two before. Not much time to adjust, eh?" Joliette Rigiel Joliette pulled her hand away "must have been lonely, I'm not fond of closing myself up anywhere unless it's the darkroom, like I did the day before last. No I still don't think I've adjusted so I suppose I can see where you come from there... How long have you been here?" A pause. "Since August." Had it been that long? Oh, wow, was that depressing. "So about four months." She shrugged, and her feathers ruffled. Cassidy waved a hand vaguely. "A darkroom? You're into photography, then?" Joliette Rigiel Joliette nodded "I was a photographic journalist, now I am just a photographer. Thats kinda how I wound up here, I was on the hunt for the truth behind the disappearances in the area, or more rather I was searching for Vasile, I didn't believe his death to be real, and wanted to expose that... I didn't count on coming across an island" "Oh." That one syllable falls from Cassidy's mouth rather heavily, and she looks away. For a moment, she can't say anything, just shakes her head. It was definitely easier to thing of Vasile as being, well, just plain Vasile, rather than being that-movie-star-her-sister-had-liked-so-much. "And they didn't let you leave? Am I right?" She sighed. The question was practically rhetorical. What else would they do? It was frustrating, though, that the press had come so close to finding them. Joliette Rigiel "Fraid not, the git tricked me ashore, promised a exclusive, one thing led to another and I passed out" she shook her head "I suppose though my stay here hasn't been entirely bad, it brought me out of my shell a little, no pun intended there... And I finally let myself love someone..." she smiled at that thought Cass grinned. "Well, that's good. I'm happy for you." Quick, silver lining... what was good about this for her? "I suppose it hasn't been all bad here... it's nice and tropical and stuff... I'm at least slightly over my fear of snakes. And I've had my own romantic involvements." Which was... oh yes. The man they'd just been talking about. Cass coughed. When exactly did she turn from geek to groupie? Joliette Rigiel "I suppose it's hard not to start to get over that fear if thats what you are becoming. I'm glad you found romantic involvement here too, better then nobody." she nods "I suppose nice and tropical is better then foggy and bleak." her tongue flicked and she sliently wished she could control the stupid thing Watching Joliette's tongue made Cass want to do it herself, and the harder she tried not to, the more she wanted to. She allowed herself a flicker. "I miss the snow. I bet that back home they're just buried in snow. Two feet of snow, and -20 Celsius, and..." Cassidy shook her head. If she were in the snow.... heck, she could hardly stay in an air conditioned building for long. "Um... oh well." Joliette Rigiel "Yeah? Where are you from?" she asked curiously that much snow... it had to be northern somewhere... She hoped the question wasn't too sensitive with Cass. She saw Cass's tongue flicker and couldn't help but sympathize "Vanderhoof. It's this little town in Canada. Out west." Five thousand people, and that horribly stupid goose-shaped sign outside city limits. She never thought she'd miss that stupid goose sign, but she almost did. God help her if she ever started missing the giant ugly log man in Prince George. Cassidy shrugged. "I... you probably haven't heard of it. Hardly anyone in Canada's heard of it, I think." Joliette Rigiel Joliette frowned, she's only been to the east coast of the North Amaerican continent "I'm afraid I've not... I've not been very far west, I'm from Britain, well... originally from france but that was a long time ago" Cass nodded. "That's neat," she said, genuinely. "I... don't know what it's like in Europe... I hadn't done a lot of travelling at all before I came here." Joliette Rigiel "I suppose for me it's par the norm, but then I'm used to it. I did only enough travelling to get the scoops I needed, the yacht trip that brought me here was the longest duration of a trip I'd ever taken" She smiled softly "I suppose for us now though the trip is the adventure, and the adventure is what our lives will unfold for us..." Cass grinned. "Yeah. Yeah, something like that." Her stomach growled suddenly, audibly, and she looked a bit embarrassed. "I'm... going to have to head off to the cafeteria. I was going to grab some supper... It was nice meeting you, though." Joliette Rigiel "Yes it was nice to finally meet you, I'm in well technically 27 but you are more likely to locate me in 28 or 25 if you want to.. enjoy your meal Cass" she hoped that wouldn't be taken wrong, she didn't know Cass's previous eatting habits "I will. See you round." Cassidy grinned and headed off, her good mood still present, and her tail twitching slightly behind her.
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