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That night, at 3am on the dot, there is a LOUD sound of an explosion, originating from the sky above the Island. Looking out, or anyoune outside would look up to see a brief fireball in the sky. Following that, any power that is on begins to flicker, going through a few brownouts before finally shutting down altogether. If you happen to be awake at that point - you would notice all the lights around you, any electronic equipment that wasn't battery operated flicker and die. However, within a few seconds of the final powersurge and failure, you find yourself being pulled into a forced unconsciousness.

When you wake up, it is midafternoon the following day, though it would vary within a few hours depending on the individual. You are NOT in your duplex. You wake up to find yourself laying on a thick branch of a tree deep in the forest, very high up.

All of the buildings on the island are in 'shutdown' mode. This means that everything is locked tight. If you attempt to force your way into any of the buildings, your own duplex and the Town Hall included, then you will find that from the outside at the very least, they are impenetrable. If any window was broken - it is now fixed. All of the lights are off - in every building. Even the electric fence surrounding the main laboratory is turned off - though still closed. Attempts to break into the main complex will be met with equal lack of luck as breaking into a duplex or the town hall.

The only items you have on you are the items that you would have been wearing when you were asleep/fell unconscious: including clothing and perhaps a few battery-powered electronics IF You would have been wearing them. That's it. Everything else is where you left it - if it was in your duplex, it still is and you can't get to it.

There is no sign of what happened to the staff. The labs are quiet from the outside.

Welcome to the Wild.

RP Log

Cassidy had, after some time, managed to get herself down a few branches. It was slow work, since she really only had her fingers to grip with, though her tail had proved to be more useful than she would have expected.

The ground was still an awful long way down, though.

She inhaled, and tried not to look. "I can do this," she told herself, only half-believing. "Oh, god. I'm going to be stuck up here forever."

Vasile slowly floated to consciousness that afternoon. Before his eyes fluttered open, he lifted his hand to cover his eyes, where a ray of bright sunlight was filtering through the trees onto his face.

Wow, he must have slept in late.

Something slick and sticky dripped onto his face from his arm. What the hell did we do last night. Then the scent filled his nose and his eyes shot open.

That was NOT the smell of Cass or the reminants of any activity they had been involved in. No...Vasile woke up to find himself covered in mud.

"What the hell..." he mumbled. He tried to think back. Somewhere in his muddled memory he remembered a noise waking him up. He had turned over and pulled Cass towards him... thats all he could recall.

He looked around, then down at himself. Not only was he covered in mud...he was out in the middle of nowhere and completely naked.

"Cassidy?" he called out, slowly standing up, his cheeks stinging with confusion and embarassment. He hated how he looked naked. Thick, silver fur covered him a lot of places he usually could keep covered by clothes.

Cass raised her head. "Vasile?" she hollered. "Is that you?" Oh, oh thank god. She wasn't alone, she could get out of here, it would all somehow be okay... She tested the air with her tongue, but if he was around, he was too far off for her to smell.

She craned her head around, though, looking for some patch of body heat that might be him. Still nothing.

"Vasile?"

Vasile's ears pricked slightly when he heard someone return his call. "Cass?"

Following her voice, he stumbled around the thick jungle. He passed under tree, but didn't figure looking up. "Cass, baby, can you here me?" He tried to stay mostly ducked behind bushes or tree trunks, praying that if it was anyone it would be Cass and not someone else... like Amaya or the Dude.

"Vasile!" Cassidy was pretty certain she'd seen him, there. "I'm up here. In the trees."

She scrambled down the tree trunk to the next branch within her reach--honestly, if she'd realised that her tail was this useful, she'd have exploited it a lot more before now. At least maybe now Vasile would be able to see her.

"Vasile?"

Vasile got a confuzzled look on his face then turned his gaze upward. The view the vantage gave him was sadly lost for he was still far to confused and embarass to notice (which was quite a feat for Vasile).

"Cass? Why the hell are you up there? How did you get up there?" He wondered how a full grown woman with non-fuctioning legs could hoist herself up a tree.

"What's happening?"

"I don't know why I'm up here. I woke up, and I was here." Cassidy was vaguely reassurred to note that he was naked too, because if she was going to have to tramp through the jungle with no clothes on, she might as well do it with someone else. "I was higher up, actually."

She took a deep breath and made her way down another branch, clinging with her tail and legs, and made a mental note to not do any more tree climbing, if she could help it, without some clothes on. Ow.

"I remember waking up, but it might've been a dream. You don't know what's happening, either?"

"Not a clue."

Vasile came over to the trunk and tried to assess the situation. He attempted to try to grab onto a low branch. He hopped up, grabbing the branch, and ried to scramble up. He hissed in pain as he long toenails tried, but failed, to dig into the trunk and the rough bark chaffed roughly against his skin.

"Careful, Vasile. I'll be down in a second."

Or at least she hoped she would. She wasn't sure what she was going to do when she hit the last branch. Her scales were fairly tough, but not tough enough to be doing hiking on her knees. "I don't know what they think they're playing at. I'm amazed I didn't fall out, while I was asleep."

She struggled down to one of the lower branches, and was almost looking Vasile in the eye. Cass cleared her throat a little awkardly, her tail wrapping tightly around the branch.

"So, um. You're naked too?" Which was a silly thing to say, and she knew it.

As soon as he could reach her, Vasile reached out to take hold of her torso and help her to the ground. He smoothed down her hair, happy to find her presence comforting. "Yeah.." he said, clearing his throat, embarassed. "At first I was afraid I had sleep walked...but thats obviously out of the question..."

He looked her over and frowned. "I'm just glad yoyu didn't get hurt."

"I'm fine. I'm glad you're okay, too." Cassidy clung to him for a moment, mud or no mud. "I never even though of sleepwalking, but... I guess I've never heard of anyone climbing a tree in their sleep. At least not without dying."

She shook herself. "I suppose the most obvious thing to do would be to head back... wherever back might happen to be... have a shower, get some clothes... Goddammit, this is twisted, Vasile."

"Oh god I hope no one is awake..." he mumbled, looping his arms around her shoulders. He kissed her forehead tenderly and gave her a supporting smile. "They probably just saw our little performance last night on their little cameras and Moreau probably just felt horribly insuffcient and had to lash out like the sad, sadistic little psycho he is."

Cassidy gave a little bit of a snort. "Well, I hope he felt really damn insufficient, then. It's going to suck if we have to go through this every time, though."

She craned her head around. "Any idea which way to go? I didn't see anything but trees when I was up there."

Vasile smiled smugly. Everytime, eh?

"No... I have no idea where we are. I guess we just pick a direction and head that way."

A nod. "This place is, well... small enough that in theory we can go any old way and either come across some landmark or the beach eventually." Cass scratched her head. "Oh, dammit, this is going to be the biggest pain. I just had to have taken off my legs."

Not asking for her approval, Vasile took a hold of her and hoisted her into his arms, carrying her like groom would a bride. He was suddenly very thankful he continued to work out while being on this island. Though it was mostly aerobic and not weight-training, being her legs were small they did cut some of the weight off her form, and he was able to keep her steady, at least for a little while.

Cassidy gave a surprised squeal and reflexively tried to grab at Vasile's shoulder. "What?! You're going to carry me all that way?" She was absolutely astonished.

The tip of her tail, of its own accord, wrapped lightly around Vasile's arm.

"Well, I'm going to do my best," he said, a proud smile on his face. The burn his arms, though, really made him hope he found the village fast. He looked around, then with a determined humph he started making his way through the jungle, looking for any kind of trail or landmark.

"Oh, um. Well, say so if you need a break," Cassidy said, a little worried. "Really, that would be okay." This was all just a little... chivalrous for her, and quite bizarre.

But then, a lot of unusual things had been happening to her.

"Oh, I will..." Vasile huffed, but tried to keep the smile on his face. He had no idea where he was going, but he tried to retain his cool, for Cass's sake as much as his own.

Eventually, Vasile found a clearing and a dirt road. He sat down on a rock and gently placed Cass down, wiping the face on his face. "Thank god, a road... lets trake a break then we should be able to find the village by following it, you think?"

"We'll find something, anyway." Cassidy tried to grin hopefully, but she was feeling more than a little ridiculous being carried around, and more than a little annoyed at the whole situation. "Village or not."

Vasile leaned back, letting his muscles relax for a few. "I'm really sorry about this. This really isn't how I pictures this morning going."

"Me, neither. But it's not your fault." Cass shook her head. "I mean, when your life is in the hands of a madman, you need to be able to take a few knocks. Although this is weird and random, even for him."

"No kidding," he sighed. "Well, I guess we should get going. I would really, really like a shower."

With a bit of a smirk, Cassidy nodded. "Sounds like a good idea to me."

"Ah, good. You can join me, then," he said with a smile as he stood up and hoisted her back in his arms and started down the road.

RP Log - Camp

Cassidy yawned and poked at the fire with a stick, for lack of anything else to do.

She just felt so useless, really. She was more-or-less stuck here, with whatever tasks she could do, and she couldn't shake the feeling she wasn't doing her fair share. But, really... what else was there to do other than tend the fire?

Not a lot.

The air was cool, but the fire was comfortably warm and Cass, at the moment, was almost content. Nothing to do but sit, and think, and...

There was a touch on her shoulder.

Cassidy turned, unalarmed; she expected one of the others. Vasile, with any luck.

There was a snake on her shoulder. Not a huge one, smooth, and mottled brown in colour. It had slipped over her scaled shoulder, where Emelyn's shirt had been pulled aside, and was currently investigating its new perch, tongue a-flicker.

Cass was paralysed from fear, too scared to move lest it bite her or... or... something. She choked on her own scream and it came out in a frightened hiss. The snake itself was quite unconcerned, slipping back and around her neck, to the other shoulder.

ohgodohgodi'mgoingtodiemakeitgoaway

And the snake ignored her, as though she were merely a rather interesting rock.

If she screamed, would it bite her before someone came? Was it venomous? She hoped not. She really had no idea how to tell.

It occurred to her, suddenly, that this was ridiculous. She was at least as scary as that... that... that thing.

It had scales, she had scales. It had a flickery tongue, she had a flickery tongue. It was weird and legless... and she was weird and footless.

pleaseohpleasedon'tbepoisonous

Pheromones occurred to her. It was a stupid thought, but irresistable. If it were male, and she were female...?

No, that was dumb.

She hoped it was dumb.

The snake crept down Cassidy's front; for one horrible moment she thought it was going to go inside her shirt, but it went over the fabric, not under. She could barely breathe, she was so frightened.

The snake coiled on the ground beside her, and Cassidy suddenly understood. It, like her, had been interested in the warmth from the fire. Tonight seemed a little chillier than most, and this particular snake, either very brave or very foolish, had slipped in amongst the makeshift shelters and sleeping people.

It suddenly didn't seem quite so scary. It was, well, it was like her. Though it still would have raised the hair on the back of her neck had she hair there anymore, it was slightly less alien.

A little easier to take.

Didn't they treat phobias with desensitization? Well, Moreau had one hell of a phobia clinic here. Some side effects may occur.

Still, Cassidy inched away, now that the snake seemed settled, and was very glad when it slithered off into the forest again.

RP Log

Rain. Stupid, stupid rain.

Cass was cold and miserable and more than a little out of it, due to the temperature. She had the irresistable urge to crawl away somewhere and sleep until it was warm again. Somewhere... high.

She was settling for hugging herself in the doorway of the shelter, trying to bury herself in sparse, damp feathers, watching the rain.



Cass looked up, her tongue flickering.

"Oh! Hi! Come on, get out of the rain, quick."

She shifted over to let Kim inside. She'd seen her around a bit, too, though she wasn't entirely sure of her name. She smelled, to Cass's sensitive tongue, very odd indeed.

"What are you doing out here? It's crazy."



"It's awful. I hope it stops soon." She punctuated this with a soft, disgusted hiss, and then looked annoyed at herself. "I'm Cassidy. I don't think I know your name."

Those fingers were... something else. But, really, so was she. She couldn't judge... it still puzzled her, however. She couldn't think what sort of creature would have hands like that.



"I suppose that would be how it works, yes. Murphy's Law, and all that. Nice to meet you."

It took a moment for the full impact of Kim's statement to hit her. "Hold on. You're not cold-blooded too, are you?" Cass frowned slightly. That really baffled her. She'd been at least able to identify herself as a snake right off, but Kim's transformation was really odd. "And you went out in the rain anyway? I can barely get myself to move in the mornings."

She would have whistled in appreciation, but her fangs would not allow that.



"A... flying lizard. Strange." Cass tilted her head. "I almost wonder if.... well, I went and asked them right out what they were turning me into. And they mentioned that there were other hybrids than me on the island." She shook her head. "Maybe not. But it's the only think I can think of."

She shifted, pulling her stubby legs under her. "Can't say I've been dreaming about volcanoes, though. Trees, mostly."



"Just an idea. Maybe there is some sort of flying lizard I'm not aware of." She shrugged dismissively. "I'm not sure who else, though. They wouldn't tell me that. If things were... hell, if Moreau was still around, I'd suggest just asking. But..."

Cass glanced at Kim's hands, then shifted herself again so she wasn't sitting on what were until recently her feet. "You... get sort of used to that sort of thing," she said, trying to be reassuring. "You adjust. Eventually."



"Mm?" Cassidy looked up, her tongue flickering again. "What do I like? Er. Well. I don't know. I like to read. Science fiction, mostly. Swimming, movies. I used to like snow," she added, with a laugh. "Which was good for Vanderhoof, since we got lots there. But I don't think I'd like snow so much anymore."



"I was never hugely into video games, though I did used to play the odd computer game." She coughed. "Well, more than the 'odd' one. But not so much anymore. I couldn't afford a decent computer for it, you see." She shrugged.

"But... mangas.... what're those?" Cassidy frowned a little.



"Oh." Cassidy really couldn't help imagining anything other than Pokemon or Sailor Moon in comic book form--that was really the extent of her experience with anime. Not a lot of interest for her. Still, she said, "Sure, maybe," if only out of politeness.

"I had a friend with a Playstation, when I was in high school, but I never did get the hang of that." She shrugged. "But, no worries. I'm sorry about your job, though. That's... that's really awful."



"I was supposed to be working here," Cass said. "It was a nice little hotel resort, I was going to be a housekeeper, I know it doesn't sound like much but it would have been the best job I'd ever had, and.... I don't know what my family thinks. Maybe, as far as they know, I just went off to some island and never wrote to them, never came back around Christmas like we hoped." She sighed.



"I'm sorry. I hope she's okay."

At least, she had to suppose, her parents still had her sister. And maybe someone had at least thought to tell them that the plane went down.

She hoped.

"I don't suppose it's very likely we'll ever get back to our old lives. Even if we get off this damn island, most of us will be so... changed. I certainly can't go back to my old job. Can you imagine this face in the checkout line at the grocery store?" She gestured to herself with a half-hearted grin.



"Without an injection," Cassidy murmured. "I do wonder how they managed that." She suppressed a shudder by clutching her shoulders tightly. She'd sort of hoped she'd be safe from any more changes for a while. She didn't relish the idea of changing with... people... everywhere.

"I couldn't go home, anyway... it gets cold where I grew up." She rubbed her eyes. "At least, most of the time, it's been decently warm here... not now... I just want to sleep all the time..."



"You all right?" Cass asked. "I have to imagine that after getting as wet as you did, you'd be pretty cold. I'm cold, and I've just been sitting here."

She paused, then mumbled, "I just always want to sleep, now."



"Just until it stops raining," Cass said, also yawning. She tried to shake herself awake, but she was moving slowly, and the movement was ineffectual.

She laid her head down on the ground. "Don't mind me. Really..."

RP Log

Hunger had, at last, got the best of Cassidy. She came into the cafeteria with the staggered, uneven gait the prosthetic legs gave her, but a smile was on her face.

Really, it had barely left since she'd managed to have that bath.

She went through the line-up, got her now-customary plate of rare meat, and went to find a place to sit.



Cassidy was vaguely aware of a hot spot in the line behind her that was vaguely person-shaped, and the odour of a person whom she did not know was on her tongue, but she still wasn't really conscious of him until he spoke.

She turned around to face him, and smiled. Had he been talking to her, or himself? She wasn't at all sure. Cass ventured closer. "Um, hi there." Oh, lord, but she must be a fright to see. "Did you say something?"

He only had one arm? That surprised her, a little, but she was the last person in the world to be remarking upon physical deficiencies, and she knew it.



"Oh no. Oh no." Cassidy hurriedly backed up. "I'm sorry. You must be new. I'm sorry."

She looked down at the plate of steak. It seemed to her that carrying around a plate of bleeding meat was not helping. After a quick glance around, she took it to the nearest table, left it there, and came back to the man, slowly. She tried to keep her distance, though; seeing that much horror directed at her was not pleasant.

"It's all right, really." She spread her hands in what she hoped was a friendly gesture. If she could just keep that tongue under control for a few minutes, maybe this would be okay. "I'm just here for a snack, same as you."



"I know. It's always a little shocking." Cassidy looked awkwardly away. "Hell, sometimes in the mirror..." She trailed off. "It'll get better."

This, dear girl, she told herself, is karma for that crack about Ambrose looking like a horror movie reject, back in the day. Aloud, she said, "Do you need to sit down? I could get you some water, if you thought that might help... I really didn't mean to..."



"I'm Cassidy. You can call me Cass, most people do." She smiled slightly, trying to be careful not to show her fangs. "As for my serum..."

Ugh. What a conversation that had been. Sabin had just stood there and grinned at her, like she was supposed to be happy about it.

"I'm a hybrid," she said at last. "There's a few of us around, I know that, they told me, but I'm not really sure who else. Mostly green tree python." She had it written down on a scrap of paper in her room, just so she wouldn't forget. "I... I sort of... I really hate snakes. They decided to give me some macaw wings on top of that, later." It sounded like her own death sentence. "Hence the feathers. To make it easier on me, they said."

It occurred to Cassidy that she was venting at this poor guy, and that was the last thing he needed. "I'm sorry. You don't need to hear this. Sometimes, I just get talking... What about you?"



"Nice to meet you, too, Zachary."

Cassidy looked down. "Yeah, I used to have proper legs and feet and everything, but the last injection..." She winced at the memory. That had hurt. "They told me that I'll likely lose them entirely, or have some weird vestigal things... they weren't even sure of that!"

She was getting angry, just a little. She took a slow breath. "I don't blame you for not wanting to know. I only asked because... well, after the feathers, I thought I was going insane."

Sometimes she still wondered.

"For what it's worth... I hope you got something good, as far as it goes."

Cass suddenly shook herself. "I'm sorry. I'd nearly forgotten, after so long... the air conditioning in here really gets to me, sometimes. It's the cold-bloodedness, you know." She didn't look straight at him, rather embarassed about it. "I'll leave you to your burger."

She stood, wobbling slightly as she found her balance, and picked up her plate. "I'll see you around, maybe."

RP Log

This, now, was all right. Warm morning sun, a full stomach, and a good book. If the beach was empty, Cass would probably end up kicking off her legs and just flopping down on the sand without them. As useful as they were, they got a bit uncomfortable.

She stretched, rolled her neck, and gave herself a shake that left her feathers inadvertantly fluffed. Now, she needed a good patch of sand, maybe a bit of driftwood to lean against, and Cassidy would be quite oblivious to the world around her. A little escapism never hurt anyone, right?

Better not have.

Cass looked around, her tongue flickering.



"I'm Cassidy. Hi." Cass grinned. She clutched her book and wobbled on the sand, and her tongue gave another curious flicker of its own accord.

The tattoos actually caught her attention before before anything else. Absolutely gorgeous, especially the left sleeve. Not her thing, maybe, though she'd always been a bit tempted.

She was staring. Oh, hell. What a way to make a first impression.

Wait. That was rather more than the usual number of tails, wasn't it? That had to have hurt like anything.

Hoping to distract from her brief tattoo fascination, and definitely hoping Antony wouldn't take it badly, Cass said, "You surf?" An obvious question, perhaps. "I always wanted to try that."



"Knee boarding might be a little more my speed," Cassidy admitted, with a small laugh.

For now, it might be. Ugh. Don't think about that.

"Forgive me, really, but your tattoos are so nice. I think I might be a little jealous," she added, rather embarrassed. She could see the fur growing up over Antony's shoulders; it seemed an awful shame, after all that work.

She squinted, and ventured the question that most people with tattoos get tired of hearing: "Did it hurt?"



Cass nodded. "Yeah, I suppose that makes sense."

At least it was a better answer than those people who had told her it didn't hurt, which sounded crazy to her. It was a giant needle, how could it not hurt?

"A tattoo artist? Really! I don't think I could do that, really, even if I had any sort of artistic talent." She grinned bashfully. "I can't imagine myself jabbing needles in people on purpose. I did use to sort of play with the idea of getting a tattoo someday, but I never did."

She didn't think scales would take a tattoo very well, if it came to that.



Cassidy smiled, twisting her fingers around her book. "It'd have to be sterilized, of course." She could recall her mother telling her horror stories about hepatitis when she's learned of her daughter's vague interest in tattoos. "But honestly..."

She looked uneasily down at her forearms. "I don't know how well that would work on me. I've never heard of anyone tattooing scales."



"Not... entirely." Cassidy looked away, rather embarassed. "Down my throat, my stomach. That's really it." And lower, but she was not about to start talking about that with Antony.

She hesitated, and said, "Though it might be a waste. I'd hate for you to do that--which would be really great of you, even if I could ever decide on something--and then have... well. Scales grow over it." She grimaced.