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 Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 10:25 pm
"I've never picked up a leach in these waters," Emelyn would have shrugged, were her arms not otherwise occupied in treading water. "And I've swum here at least once a week for the past... five months."
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 10:33 pm
Alec looked pleased by the answer and braced his hands to his sides to begin slipping into the water until he stopped. "Uh... oh, d'ye mind?" The idea that this was her lake was possible and he didn't want to impede on her territory when he could easily trudge back to the river for a swim and not bother a soul.
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 10:35 pm
Emelyn blinked for a moment, and said nothing, but then burst into a small, almost contained laugh. "No worries. Hedgehogs aren't territorial. ...Emelyn, by the way. I'm only saying so because I don't think I ever caught your name."
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 10:45 pm
Alec chuckled a little as well, glad that he hadn't stumbled upon another pissed off islander that would want to scare him away. As she mentioned her name he snapped his fingers and pointed dramatically. "Emelyn, righ'." He nodded, the name now familiar from the truth or dare game they had participated in.
Convinced it was ok, the irish teen plopped himself into the water and treaded so that his neck was just above the surface. "Alec." He then swam a long stroke backwards, the rush of water over his back successfully easing any discomfort until it felt like it had never bothered him at all.
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 10:48 pm
"Irish?" Em said simply, having heard enough of his accent to wonder. She'd not spent much time in Ireland during her travels- mostly England and Scotland- but she was curious, all the same.
She backpedaled, swimming back to the area she'd been before she'd seen the teen.
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 10:57 pm
"Yeeep!" He smiled, contently portraying a dead man's float as he relaxed in the water. "Born n' bred. Wha' kinda name is Emelyn enehways?" Alec, figuring his hair was already ruined anyways, craned his neck back to dunk the rest of his head into the water.
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 11:01 pm
Emelyn smiled. No one had ever thought to ask her about it.
"Oh, well... you'll love this. I know I do." She said with a sarcastic, yet still amused tone, "My grandpa looked it up for me once. I never had a chance to ask my parents. ...Raised by my grandpa," she expained briefly, "And apparently, Emelyn is derivative of a French name that means labor. Lovely, neh? ...My parents, apparently, were pretty weird. My little sister's name was Mizzie."
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 11:06 pm
As he listened, Alec had rolled over in the water so that he was submersed to his nose, grey eyes watching her above the water's surface. "Mizzie." He nearly spat lake water as he suddenly laughed, having never met anyone so unfortunate to have been named that. "Is i' shor' fo' anythin?" For once he was genuinely interested in such a conversation, some people would've considered the topic to be too 'boring'.
"Emelyn's no' tha' bad, joos don' tell anehone wha' i' means." He smiled jokingly.
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 11:09 pm
"Amen- else they'd have me haulin' crap all over the island for them. ...And no. It wasn't short for anything. Just Mizzie." She said the name softly- even though she had made fun of it in the same breath as her own just moments before- there was something about this young man nearly choking on Miz's name that troubled her, somehow. She changed the stubject, not willing to dwell any longer on her sister's face in her memory.
"How long have you been here, Alec?"
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 11:18 pm
"Uhhhh..." He looked upwards as he tried to recall, alternating which eyes he squinted as he tried to peice the time together. He never bothered to keep track, that would depress him more than what he had to deal with on a daily basis. "More th'n a month f'sure. Mehbeh a half more." He waded through the water on his front, doing mini-laps of the area he kept to in order to give Em her space. "Wha' 'bout ye?" He was always interested in how long others had been here, hoping some day to be able to piece together a timeline for when this psychotic doctor had begun kidnapping innocent people for reasearch.
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 11:23 pm
"Since August. ...I was among the first 'wave' of people to arrive. No one knew what was going on back then- no one had changed, and most people thought they were here for scholarships, or to clean the duplexes or..." Her voice trailed off as she paused her arms and legs, letting her body slide vertically down into the water. When she resurfaced, she wiped the water from her face and continued- but on a slightly different vein.
"Who ended up giving you 'the talk'? Telling you what was the deal around here?"
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 11:32 pm
Alec was left speechless as he heard her loud and clear, his mind working out just how long that had been. How did the Doctor successfully keep this twisted charade going without someone in the world realizing it? From what he gathered, the guy had taken close to 45 people in total, from what he could gather from the numbered duplexes. It was like he was being hit with the realization of the island's true purpose all over again.
His expression fell blank as he stared back at her unbelieving, finding it interesting she'd bring up the subject of who'd initially broke the news to him. "Antony." He finally managed to respond, rubbing at his flattened nose in irritation.
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 11:36 pm
"Mm." Emelyn said, knowing the name only by reputation- and that one brief meeting during truth or dare, "Well, the person who told me was Moreau. He also told me what I was becoming, and asked me to submit willingly to the experiments. ...Is your nose alright?"
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 11:46 pm
Alec frowned when he heard how the Doctor had treated Emelyn, somehow in some spineless way grateful that he had acted somewhat mild mannered the first and only time he had met Moreau. "Asked ye? Wha' if ye said neh?" He was about to let the retorical question slide until he muttered an additional, "Oh righ', 'e woulda thrown ye in a cage o' somethin."
Her question suddenly brought to attention his own actions, and like a chastized child he quickly dropped his hand back into the water. "Ye, am fine." In an attempt to deflect the attention and concerned he might offend her by his words, he changed the subject slightly. "Sorreh. Do ye agree wi' th' Doc o' somethin? Cuz a' met a' girl 'ou was glad abou' it all an' thas ekay if ye are..." He stammered on nervously, failing to notice how careful he always was about not offending anyone on the island.
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Posted: Tue May 23, 2006 11:52 pm
"No," Emelyn said, as steady-voiced as Alec was shaky about the subject. "I don't agree with him. ...Back then, when he asked me- he told me that his research was going to cure cancer. And I thought that by saying yes, I'd be doing some good with my life. But- since then, I've found that there's nothing worth this. Moreau has never proven to do anything good with his research- but... even if he does- he's a man with one foot in heaven and another in hell. I can't live that way. I can't even live in the village. It's too close to the hypocrisy."
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