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Jamal was now about shoulder deep in his pit and had started to shape the bottom up a bit nicer so it was as wide as it ought to be. He wasn't sure how deep it really should go, but if they made it TOO deep then they'd never be able to get whatever they caught out. He figured that if it was large enough to jump out AND survive the spikes...well...it deserved to live. :B

Slight blisters rose on his hands as he finished up the work, much to his annoyance. He was a cityboy...they sure as hell didn't dig holes like this every day.

"I don't?" Anjali said, selfconciously. She reached up as though to straighten her hair before remembering and pausing halfway there, letting the hand drop to her side. "Well.. for now, anyway," she said, ruefully. "Perhaps I will end up like the hamadryads of legend. Tree-women, very wild or very loving depending on what you read. An odd thought."

Fortunately, her feet seemed utterly unchanged and they still fit easily into her flip-flop sandals. "How much more do you think we need? I can just scour deeper for a variety of useful things this time, if you like. Thick leaves for sleeping on, perhaps, in addition to the fruit?"

"Trap?" Anjali glanced down at the stake and put two and two together. "You're making a pitfall? That'll be tough to dig with just my little trowel, I daresay." She tested her fingers experimentally. "I'm not sure how much I can help with that..." and that burned, that did, the idea of her fingers being too pliant - the tips felt boneless, not weak, but certainly not capable of exerting great force - to be able to dig properly. Well, they'd have to see. Perhaps splinted gloves?

She realized her thoughts had been wandering and turned back to Antony. "I can make a survey and bring back as much as I can carry. Has there been any change, any news since yesterday?"

"Ah... I see." Anjali raised one eyebrow. She had been roused by shouting...

Well, it was obvious that Antony wasn't interested in sharing, and she wasn't going to press. Cooperation and getting along was vital right now. "So Jamal is still with us, then. I was wondering... was he, ah, too badly shaken up by my... change?" She looked ashamed for a moment. "Jamal and I had bonded somewhat over tea once, commisserating in how neither of us had changed despite having been here for quite some time. Those who had arrived after us had changed, so we had some... false hope, I suppose." She looked worried.

"Ah... I see," Anjali said again, after a pause to assimilate all of that information. "I haven't met this Awen, but I can see how that would, ah, be more than a little awkward for all involved," she said, tactfully. "Hopefully it won't cause serious trouble..."

She looked up at the sky again, then shook her head. "I should be off, then. Don't want to be in the forest after dark. Do you suppose I could have one of those sharpened sticks, if you've an extra? It could be quite useful. Especially if, perish the thought, I have to defend myself."

Anjali offered Antony a grateful smile. "You too," she added, a bit awkwardly. "About... both things. The judging, and the luck." She hefted the stick experimentally in one hand, testing the way things worked now, and shrugged. "Seems to work fairly well. Let's hope I don't need to to impale anything besides fruit... well, I will see you later." She nodded, then turned towards the jungle and took a deep breath before venturing under the shadows of the leaves.

Jamal had about finished the pit and was rather filthy from the work, but felt pretty damn accomplished. All told, the pit was just over shoulder-height deep on him, which would allow him to still get out but perhaps keep their prey in.

He stooped to shovel a bit more earth as an afterthought, but noticed something odd out of the corner of his eye. Was it a root? Or maybe buried treasure! This was like one of those old pirate movies! Curiousity got the better of him, in either case.

Nimble fingers clawed at the dirt around the object that seemed to reflect an ivory color when exposed to the sun and soon he was granted with what looked to be a bone of some sort. It was marked with various cracks here and there that had looked like it healed or were in the process of healing...and as he moved more dirt, more bones surfaced. Probably animal bones of some kind. Really not that fascinating...

"What da ********," he yelped suddenly as his hand brushed the dirt away from another gleam of white and found himself staring into the eyeholes of a skull. Okay, that was creepy...from what was uncovered, it looked like some sort of animal skull, to judge from the teeth. Ever curious, he continued to dig until he was granted full view of what it really was. His eyes widened in absolute horror and he jumped back, slamming into one side of the pit as he did so. That skull looked NOTHING like any animal he'd ever seen.

A panic rose as he stared at the skull, slowly forming his own conclusions; it looked VERY human if you ignored the muzzle and tusks...but all the breakage....something was not right. Not at all....was it a failed experiement? Or...was it someone who didn't follow the Doctor's commands? He pressed his dirty fingers to his cheeks and felt his jaw, staring at the skull. Those break marks could be from transforming...how else did people like Ambrose get muzzles? They had to be made of bone. The other bones that he uncovered also seemed to have marks like this. He knew enough to know that they were healed fractures; he'd gone into the ER for a broken arm when he was younger, then returned once it was healed for another X-ray and saw the odd markings an old break left.

"Aw HELL no," shouted the black man suddenly in fright, dropping the bones in his hands, and scrabbled out of the pit, hauling himself to his feet as swiftly as possible. "******** jesus christ. So DAT'S how it works! Breakin' our bones to turn us inta animals!" Of course, there was no confirmation on his thoughts being correct, but all he had -was- his own thoughts and that was enough to terrify the crap out of him. One had to have their bones broken in some manner to allow the growth to happen...

He pelted down the path he'd made in the jungle, ignoring the stinging in his barefeet as he stepped on branches or what have you. He needed to get -away- from that pit. Jamal didn't realize that he left the shovel behind and frankly didn't care.

"ANTONY!" he bellowed as he exploded from the trees, nearly tripping over a fallen log on the way.

"********' BONES," he wailed. "Of...of someone like US...or...what we 'sposed ta look like eventually." Dirty hands spread over his chest to emphasis this point as he came to a halt in front of her, his face contorted in disbelief and fright. "I was 'bout done diggin' 'n' I saw somethin' whitish, so I pulled it out 'n' I saw it was a bone. Kept diggin'..."

Jamal had to pause a second to catch his breath, sweat rolling down his brow, which he absently wiped with the back of a grimy hand. His chest burned as he struggled to breath, but soon he found his second wind.

"Found a ********' skull. It...it ain't an animal...but it ain't full human either." He hoped she caught the significance in that statement because he wasn't sure he could say it or entirely believe it.