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Jamal had spent the day alone...no one had even so much as passed by his cage to check how he was doing, let alone offer him anything to eat. It didn't matter too much though, because he probably wouldn't have eaten anyway. By now the confinement had gotten to him much quicker than he'd thought. The tiger was rabidly upset about this cruel enclosure with the jungle so close and it had driven Jamal nearly to the brink of insanity with it's frustration and fear. That coupled with the man's own fear of entrapment did little to help the situtation.

He had spent a great part of the day doing nothing but pacing, his eyes bloodshot and glazed from a lack of sleep due to how uncomfortable the floor of the cage was, his skin ashen with the start of dehydration and the warm tropic air. Small wounds littered his hands, arms, and legs while bruised lined much of his exposed skin, results of his thrashing against the cage bars when he was compelled to test the restraints in a vain attempt at freedom. He'd even taken his claws to his own skin, mostly without any true malicious thought on his own part; there was just so much pent up frustration and nervous energy flowing through his body that he couldn't take it much longer and had grown clumsy with his weapon-tipped hands.

The sound of a Jeep crunching over gravel could be heard in the near distance. Aubrey stepped out from the vehicle and made her way over to Jamal's inclosure. Her labcoat billowed in the wind behind her, and she adjusted her silk scarf around her neck as she came close. Her wounds were healing, but she wasn't going to give Jamal the pleasure of seeing the damage he made. She walked calmly but with purpose, trying to look confident and unfraid, but not mocking. Indeed, she wasn't here to further his punishment, but to see if he perhaps was ready to be released. She was silent until she could properly gauge his initial reaction.

"Shut up, shut up, I ********' know!" he growled to himself suddenly, hands pressed to his temples with the claws pressing dangerously against the thin flesh there as he whirled on a heel to start another revolution about the cage. When he turned, he faced Aubrey's direction, but Jamal didn't even look AT her. Rather, he seemed to be looking through her if anything, straining to see the greenery behind her. Either he was ignoring her or he couldn't focus on her.

No flicker of recognition lit on his features as he passed her, whirling to face 90 degrees in a new direction, pacing against that wall until he met a corner and whirled. A pained, mourning yowl emitted from him as he stopped in the corner opposite of Aubrey and he threw himself at the bars, grasping firmly onto the smooth shafts and violently shaking and tugging at them. When nothing happened, he even went as far to try and bite them with his elongated teeth, the enamal scraping painfully with a sound not unlike claws on a chalkboard.

Aubrey frowned as he seemed to look past her, and she flinched at the sound of his claws on the metal. "Mr. Reedy...?" she ventured, coming as close as she felt safe he couldn't reach. "Care to talk?" She tried to catch his eyes. "About what happened? About were we go from here?"

Jamal hissed and spat as his teeth caught on his tongue when they slipped off their intended target, dribbling a streak of blood on his chin until he swiped angrily at it with the back of a hand. He was about to resume pacing but this pause had allowed him to hear her inquiry and it broke through the tiger's nonstop panic and frustration, pulling his 'rational' human side to the front. The man whirled, brows narrowed above his icy blue eyes, which were currently more a lavendary pink from being so bloodshot. Though the initial expression and glare could have been deemed hostile, it never settled on Aubrey exactly. Rather, his stare wandered around her and his face flinched as did his whiskers. He said nothing at first and he looked like he was going to calm down, but he latched onto the bars instead and pressed his face into the open space between them.

"It won't stop!" he mumbled randomly in complete obliviousness to her questions as he eyes finally focused n her, a look of panic gracing his expression now. "I can't shut 'im up. I can't tell 'im ta knock it da ******** off. All it wants is out THERE." He waved a hand in a grand, yet semi-frantic manner towards the largest patch of jungle he could see.

Aubrey's frowned deepened. oh great... he's gone insane. She didn't know what to do at first, but she knew medication would probably be in order, unless she was just lucky and letting him free snapped from sense into him. This was interesting though, and she made mental notes off all his behavoir so she could enter it into his file later.

But for now, Aubrey wondered if she could get him to focus now that he was looking at her. "I can help you, Mr. Reedy. But I need talk to you first. Do you remember what happened?"

Jamal quieted, blinking frantically a moment as he tried to understand her question. Happened...what happened...

Out. Get out NOW, begged the tiger in a keening wail. His grasp on the bars strengthened, his already pale knuckles turning whiter. He didn't know how much longer he could take this.

"Aubrey," hissed Jamal suddenly as though he had an epiphany, his look of panic sharpening severely as his pupils contrated into pinpoints and he traded the distant stare for a highly predatory, calculating stare. "You ain't dead." He didn't look particularly surprised, nor disturbed at this discovery. It was more of a deadpan statement than anything.

"No, I'm not," she returned, rather deadpan herself. "Though I think I would be if you had any say in it. But that's what I'm here to talk about." She crossed her arms. "You're in this cage for the attempt on my life. You realize this, right?"

"Naw, I figgered ya did this fo' peeps ya -really- liked," he retorted bitterly, nostrils flaring as he exhaled sharply, face still pressed through the space between the bars. "Liked 'em so much dat ya kill 'em from da inside out."

As much as he wanted to have a 'friendly' chat, it was physically impossible for him to stop moving for long, so soon enough he pried his face away and started pacing again, the nub of his tail lashing pathetically over the waistband of his jeans.

"Well two second ago you didn't even seem to recognize me so I'm just making sure we're all on the same page so to speak," she sarcasticly droned. "Anyway," she sighed, promising herself to stay calm. "This was a punishment. This was a lesson," she said, pacing a bit to keep up with him as he paced in the cage. "Allright - we are not ignorant to the fact that you are prisoners here. But you guys have to realize that this kind of behavoir will not be tolerated!" She pointed to her neck. "You don't have to like it here. You don't have to like us. BUT, you are under OUR control, you got that? Now how easy you make your lives here is up to you. You want to try to kill the staff? Escape? Nothing we can do to get you stop trying. But this," she motioned to the cage, "this is your future if you chose that path. Now if you want to cooperate, behave like the human beings I know you are," Aubrey pointed tapped on her head, illustrating her meaning, "you can live your lives here in as much comforts as we can manage." She reached in her labcoat pocket and pulled out a baggie of weed and a lighter, tossing them into the cage.

Jamal recoiled from the objects thrown in his cage as though he didn't recognize them, pulling his lips back in a hiss, and hunched in the corner as he stared at her in a decidedly conflicted manner. "You people are all 'bout lessons, ain't ya? Lessons 'n' experiments 'n' bullshit like dat, but ya tell us we got control ova' how easy our live gonna be?" he responded darkly, his tone sounded vaguely distracted, licking a dribble of blood from his lip as it continued to bleed from the fang knick it received. "If I wanted ta make things real easy, I'd jus' ********' kill myself b'fo you people kin do it fo' me. There ain't nuthin' here fo' me no mo'. Eitha' I be captured on an island o' be locked in a box wit' some ********' animal livin in my brain eitha' way. It won't STOP."

"If we think you're suicidal you'll find yourself in a little white padded room like you would if you were anywhere else in the world." She sighed, this wasn't going as well as she h oped. But she supposed it could have beeb worse. "But if you tried you could find things to live for. There's the jungle, there's the beach. There's friends? You and Antony are close, yes? I know she's not happy abuot you being stuck in this cage."

"We're all good actors when we wanna be," he growled cryptically from his corner, turning his back on her to peer longingly towards the jungle again out the opposite side. "I think you outta' know what I mean."

The mention of the jungle made him give a whine and he went from being hostile and sarcastic to quiet and unfocused again, pressing his forehead to the chilled metal of his enclosure. For all purposes, he looked rather defeated and apathetic.

Aubrey sighed. Time for the moment of truth. She walked over to the cage and found the control panel. Keeping one weary eye on Jamal, she pressed her palm to the pad and them punched in a long numeric code. Electronic beeping following by a loud mechanical series of clicks could be heard. Swallowing her fear, and the sleep command at the tip of her tounge, Aubrey got a firm grip on one of teh bars and pulled the heavy cage open.

Jamal didn't look up as Aubrey grew silent, figuring that she had left like everyone else tended to do after a few minutes of dealing with him, but when he heard clicks and beeps, the tip of one elongated ear swivelled as much as was anatomically possible then and he turned in time to see the cage open, the bars no longer presenting a prison wall on one side.

If he had been thinking with his human mind, he probably would have picked up the pot and lighter, gave Aubrey the finger or snapped at her somehow, and went home. Unfortunately, his tiger mind seemed to be much stronger than his human impulses (and this was growing more and more common as of late) and so as soon as it opened, he slinked forward warily, eyes on the woman in a very untrusting manner. He felt like this was a cruel trick of some kind.

Aubrey backed off from the cage and held her hands up, nodding to him. "You don't have to like me, Mr. Reedy. You just have to respect the position we're in."

A snarl touched the curve of his lip as she moved away and he stepped over the stuff she had tossed in the cage, disinterested in pot and a lighter for what had to be the first time in a VERY LONG time, whiskers bristling as tension reached it's peak. The tiger was almost screaming at him to run while he had the chance.

"I don't respect nuthin' you people do," he drawled harshly, tenatively reaching out to the open wall as though it were a mere illusion. He didn't want to fall into another trap. "Ya give me an honorable reason ta respect someone, then I might. This ain't respect. This is torture ta make us afraid. You jus' want us ta be afraid of yer position."

"Whatever makes you sleep better at night, Mr. Reedy," she said, eyes narrowed. "Be afraid. Just realize thats it YOU who had control over how easy your lives can be here. This cage was punishment for attempted murder. Keep your paws to yourself, and hopefully you won't end up in here again."

Jamal had to severely resist the urge to turn on her right then and there, taking the narrowed eyes and snapped retort as a challenge. She had wonderfully solidified her status in Jamal's mental cache as someone to hate and someone he'd destroy if ever possible. Certainly not now...but someday, perhaps.

"Nothin' herr is our decision no mo'," said Jamal flatly. "No matta' what you say. Ev'rything is nuthin' but lies 'n' it's all 'bout who can do it da best."

He had no more words for the woman, fearing that he might do something he might regret later for being so hasty, and turned his gaze on the jungle. The predator would bide his time in familiar surroundings and analyze his prey. That was his only option for now. Without another word, he left the cool metal box in favor of the warm earth beneath his bare feet and slunk towards the jungle, holding his posture like a truely wild animal being released from captivity.

Aubrey ran a hand through her thick hair and sighed. Everything was going fine for so long, not everything was falling apart. She watched him go silently, making sure she was well out of harms way before getting in her Jeep and driving off.