Welcome to Gaia! ::

The meals in the cafeteria suddenly had very little appeal, but after a meal she'd more-or-less had to force down, imagining it was a lot more freshly killed and horrifying herself for the thought, Cassidy had retreated out to the jungle, and coiled herself up on a sturdy low branch of a favourite tree of hers. Suddenly, it seemed a lot easier to climb, despite her lack of hands, and a lot easier to get comfortable, without legs and torso to get in the way. She had settled herself with her wings folded, birdlike, against her sides, and part of her in the bright, hot sun and part in the cool shade. She was more than a little dozy, as she tended to get after a meal, and gazing blankly and unblinking off into space, thoughts roiling around in her brain.

Occassionally her tongue would flick, and that was almost the only movement she made.

Cass's tongue flicked again, and this time she tasted a new scent on the air. She stirred, raising her head to look around, her coils shifting. A weird urge to flap her wings drifted through her mind, but she managed to suppress that and kept them folded.

It was a familiar scent, though before she could place it, Amaya came noisily crashing through the underbrush. She let out a soft, warning hiss without thinking about it, checked herself when she remembered that the chances were good it was just another islander, and peered curiously in the direction of the noise.

"Who's there?" she called, unsure she was seeing the figure properly.

The voice, at least, was familiar, and with that, the scent fell into place. "Amaya?" She could hardly believe what she was seeing; it would seem she was not the only one to be so far along.

She slipped down effortlessly to the branch below hers, flapping her bright wings a few times to attract attention. "Over here," she said, forgetting for the moment just how strange and alien she looked.

"Just a couple days ago." She shook her head mournfully. Folding her wings, she slithered down the trunk again, head-first, to coil herself around the trunk at the base of the tree. "I hadn't seen anyone else as far along as me... but I guess I've been out of the loop."

There was no expression on her face, but Cass's voice carried more than a hint of sympathy, despite her own troubles. "How are you, all considered? You doing okay?

"No, no labs for me. They just pricked me in the night, and in the afternoon I changed, and shed my skin, and that was... er. Interesting." Cass's wings fluffed indignantly.

"I'm getting used to things. Slowly. If someone decides to close my duplex door while I'm out here I'm stuck until I find a kind soul." She flicked her tongue thoughtfully. "I suppose I'll live."

Cassidy gave Amaya a long look, and said at last, "I don't think so. But to be quite honest, I was more or less blind right before I shed, and I could have been purple for all I know. I know that earlier in the day I looked sort of... sort of shabby. Dull."

"Bit scary," Cass admitted. "I could have used a heads-up, but, well. You know what they're like about these things. I think they like having us in the dark all the time." She hesitated, her tongue flicking again. "But, hey. You and me, we don't have to worry about any more injections. Probably."

"Well, it's good to hear that," Cass said, a bit sardonically. Feeling fidgety, she shuffled her wings and adjusted her coils around the tree. "At least we've put them out a good amount, whatever else we've gone through."

She did, however, stare piercingly at Amaya's yellow patches for a moment. "I don't know, though... if those don't go away, or shed, or something... I'd ask. I'd hate to think you'd caught... iguana pox or something."