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Anjali found that the conversation with Aubrey over her notes kept her quite distracted... until the woman had to leave, that is. Understandable, she'd monopolized the doctor's time enough, but it left Anjali rattling around like a marble in a big jar.

After pacing for a bit, the botanist forced herself to calm down and look at the magazines, which were of much more recent issue than anything she'd had. She gobbled up the news and changes of the outside world eagerly, and with a bit of sadness, then poked idly at the television until she found a Bollywood film she hadn't seen.

That held her attention until the freesia plant on the chair became... distracting. Anjali raised one eyebrow and slowly swung herself off the bed to investigate. No, the plant didn't seem hurt or even changed any, and they hadn't done a single thing to it. Then why...?

Anjali shivered a bit, and retreated to the bed, turning up the sound a bit to drown out the louder babblings of a lonely and idle plant.

Absorbed in the movie, the next time she looked down, her arms were green....

She jumped up, then stumbled as her legs failed to hold her up completely. Anjali became aware of a tingle as the waxy green sheen crept up and around her body with a slowness that was almost unbearable. It almost seemed wrong that it should be so hard to notice... so subtle.

Anjali managed to poke the buzzer before stripping off her latex gloves violently, as her fingers felt unbearably hot within the rubber. Anjali stared transfixed at her hands, unaware of Aubrey's return, as the fingers slowly swelled up and grew even stickier than they had been before. She could feel more odd tingling as the sensation of feeling her hair changed and shifted, becoming much more complete - the new feelings there were also swollen and sensitive, same as her fingers, and she could feel them flailing a bit around her face, unbidden.

After her hands had failed to do anything else of interest for a good ten minutes, Anjali became aware of the same swollen feeling in her ears, of all places....! She quickly cupped both hands over her ears and was surprised to feel more sticky tentacles there, beginning to protrude from the cartilage. They felt sore, but didn't exactly hurt unless she pressed on them, like poking a bruise.

Finally, a jolt of actual pain hit her as her feet darkened and her toes lost definition and pulled forward, bones crackling as they dissolved into strong, woody plant matter. She could feel the root-hairs, and knew what they were - how could she not? - as they grew and poked with instinctive disappointment at the sterile floor. No food here!

Anjali waited for a good twenty minutes before sitting up fully, timidly. Was it over? She glanced over at Aubrey, still shaking a bit from the reaction, to see what the other woman thought.

"Er... a little help back to my duplex woudl be nice, my feet feel rather sensitive right now... new root hairs and all..." Anjali said after a few moments taking inventory. This was going to take some time to get used to.

"Thank you for your assistance - and for keeping your promise, Doctor," Anjali said, smiling as best she could when she was dropped off. She managed to stand at the door until Aubrey was gone.

Then, quickly, before (maybe) anyone could see... she collapsed on the bed, and allowed herself a quick, but deep, cry. Perhaps she could get it done with before Aubrey made it back to the monitors.

Anjali hummed to herself under her breath as she moved around her duplex. Everything she touched normally now was either washable, or bore a thin sheen of plastic wrap over it to prevent the mucilage from staining or damaging them. She could only bear wearing gloves for a short period of time now, and preferred to save her tolerance for when she was actually around others - or reading books.

It made her gardening a bit difficult, but she could still manage it - and, indeed, her work seemed better than it ever had, she had to admit. Perhaps it was plant instinct in her, now, to know where exactly to best place the plants, the roots, the amount of water... though she had to admit that after a long day she, too, would linger in the dirt and let her own roots sink a bit into the soil. It was... fortifying.

But now, it was almost the weekend, and while most on the island didn't count the days much, Anjali did. She did her landscaping and other duties during the week (although not for more than part-time hours, she had to admit) and rested on the weekend. The prospect of a day wholly her own, without guilt that she SHOULD be doing something else, was quite pleasant indeed.

Now... who to talk to? Maybe Greer, she hadn't seen the hawk woman in some time, and there was that butterfly house project, wasn't there? Or Ambrose, or even Jamal if she could locate him. She wondered if he was still getting into trouble.

Yes. Socializing, that was the ticket. Some pleasant dalliances to pass the time, maybe even meet some of the new islanders she'd seen at a distance while working during the week.

Anjali smiled and picked up the teapot. A perfect plan.

"Ugh..."

Anjali slowly drifted back to conciousness, wincing as her tentacles twitched and flopped around her face as sensation returned. What had happened? Her thoughts were muzzy...

Oh.... right. The storm had knocked the power out, and... then it had come on, but only half... and it had killed all her plans, she knew that much.

Well, that and the strange men she'd seen on Friday morning, carting away some of those she'd wanted to meet. She hadn't been able to check if they'd returned or not. Perhaps everyone was being taken to the lab for injections now, or something like that. The storm had been too strong, lashing the forest into a gleeful frenzy as nature exulted in its own power.... it knocked the power out again, she remembered that... goign to sleep...

And then nothing but being blearily woken from a dream by light, followed by intense pain far stronger than anything any of her transformations had caused.

"Ugh," the sundew woman repeated, sitting up and waiting for the world to stop spinning. "Tea... need tea," she mumbled, getting up, teetering, heading for the teapot. It was like her touchstone; just holding the kettle made her calm down. Taking measured breaths, she went through the careful ritual, relaxing more as she went.

By the time the teacup was empty save for the dregs, she felt pretty much fine - but what HAD happened? Had everyone else felt that pain? What had it been, anyway?

"Bath first. Then bugs, then breakfast, then answers," Anjali decided, padding off to the bathroom.

Here There Be Dragons

((reserve))

With Anjali's most recent change, much more than just her physique changes.... A plant serum, particularly the first plant serum, is a very unique sort of transformation. More than almost any of the other islanders, Anjali was becoming something truly alien.

She had already heard the "Whispers" of the plants of the jungle; felt their pain when clearcut, their joy at the nourishing waters and nutrients... and she had already lost herself in their song once before during the lockout - a way to cope and survive off the land itself, and that was long before the changes had taken such deep root in her mind.

With this change, however, the effects are much more drastic - the song of the jungle calls to Anjali - the barrenness of the duplex and the village a painful silence.... And as she steps outside of the clearing into the edge of the jungle, her rootlike feet take hungry root in the rich soil, her arms spreading to the skies as she basks in the tropical sunlight, swaying ever so gently along with the rhythm of the forest...