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 Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 7:44 pm
Tommy sits at a table in the chow hall just digging life. He's got a bottle of V8 in his right hand, while his left is still set up in a makeshift sling (though he has recently removed the dirty bandages). While the bat-man still looks thin and malnourished, he's got some color back into his cheeks as he regains his health. He leans back in his chair and places a well-worn boot on the table.
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 7:52 pm
Seth was bored. He could not deny this at all. He had been bored for a number of days now and had been like this even before he made the phone call to Sabin about his departure from the island. The fact that he was stuck here longer did not help in the slightest. He wanted his internet back. He wanted to be anywhere but here.
He could change one thing about his current fate though, and that was his hunger. He wandered the well worn path from his duplex to the cafeteria area once again, his trusty laptop under one arm. Even if he could not connect to the internet with it, he could still write comments on a Notepad file, and small things like that.
He wandered towards the food serving area, promptly choosing out a steak and some fries. When he turned around to find a seat, he noticed somebody he had not seen before. A very strange looking male, who looked very skinny and had... really weird fingers. Another member of this "project" that Sabin was talking about, perhaps?
The man wandered over to the table, looking down at him, managing a friendly grin despite the fact he couldn't help finding himself staring longer than usual at those fingers.
"G'day there," He began, grinning. "I've never seen you around here before. You're new?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 7:59 pm
Tommy looks up from his V8 enduced euphoria to see Seth studying him, and his distended fingers. Though still more than a little self-conscious about them, he was in too good a mood to let a little staring bother him. Tommy looks over Seth a moment and says with an amiable grin, "Hey there, guy...new? Heh...I dunno...what do you mean by new? Most people 'round here can tell how long a person's been imprisoned here just by how they look...But me? a'coupl'a months, I'd say."
Tommy looks over Seth once more, checking to see if the man had any changes he had missed...nope. "You though...you look like you're fresh off the boat...or helicopter as I guess the case would be."
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 8:05 pm
"A couple of months?" Seth frowned, taking a seat across from him at the table, dropping his plate down on it with a loud clatter. "Bloody hell mate, if I was stuck here that long, I'd go absolutely bonkers for sure."
He nodded his head as Tommy spoke of the helicopter. "Yeah, I rode over here on it quite recently. But I'm not here long. I just delivered a package off to the labs here, and I'll be on my way again soon. I was going to be gone before the weekend, but there's been some storms brewing up around the sea as of recent, and it's delayed my flight out. They'll call me when they're ready to ship me out again."
"I'm Seth by the way," He grinned, offering a hand out to shake his. "What's your name?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 8:11 pm
"Yeah well...I think you're right about that," Tommy says to Seth in regards to the 'bonkers' bit. He didn't want to tell him outright that he'd tried to kill Moreau...because strangely enough, he now felt that not all the islanders would be as...apreciative as he once thought they would be.
"Name's Tommy, Tommy Christian," he says while shaking Seth's hand. Even though his fingers were spindly, his palm was pretty much unchanged. It would just feel...a bit frail.
Tommy ponders over what the man had said for a moment, and finally after an extended brain fart it clicked just what was wrong with it. "Not here for long...? So...waitwaitwait...You mean that they're letting you go back home?" He asks, a bit warily and excited at the same time.
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 8:15 pm
Seth shook his hand, surprised by how normal it felt. He moved his hand away after the friendly exchange was done, and picked up a fork to start impaling some fries with it.
"Yeah, sure sounds that way. They're letting me go back home as soon as the weather clears up properly out at sea. I didn't think there were many storms around here, but there has been some cloud activity over the weekend." He stopped for a moment, picking up on Tommy's tone of voice. "I'm just a delivery guy afterall. I'm not part of the project that's going on here. And boy I can tell you, I've seen some pretty weird stuff."
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 8:21 pm
Tommy looks extremely confused for a moment. Just what the hell kind of place did he think this was? "Uh...wait...you...you do know what they're doing here...right? They turn people...into animals...against our will. I'm not sucking down V8 because I want to, you know (which was actually quite a lie). And I don't look like this 'cause I was born that way..." he says while holding up his deformed hands.
His visage begins to turn cold as he thinks he realizes just what kind of person Seth is...the kind who's been working for Moreau for a while and has done absolutely nothing about it.
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 8:29 pm
Seth raised an eyebrow at Tommy's sudden attitude change. Was he jealous? Or angry? The man sighed, not knowing what to say about that, not knowing any words of sympathy he could give.
"I saw a man that was half frog, the poor guy looked scared to death. What this place is doing is completely immoral." Seth said firmly. "But the problem is, if I go back to the mainland and try to blow the lid on this whole operation, the company is going to ensure I won't be able to do anything again. They'd probably break my kneecaps or something, or freeze my assets, or worse, have me and my family killed."
Seth looked quite glum and set his fork down, less interested in eating now.
"I want to do something, hell, when I leave, I'll have a crapload of money to make all kinds of differences. But if I blow the whistle on this operation, I'm pretty much done for."
He looked back at Tommy, a rather hopeless expression on his face.
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 8:37 pm
Tommy just doesn't know what to say to that. On one hand he's furious at the complete selfishness of the man. But on the other? Well...they'd more than likely do just what Seth said, kill him. A corporation like this does not survive without the proper pull in both legitimate...and other more...darker shades of society. Tommy just sighs and shakes his head, "I...Jesus...I dunno what to say..." He expect this man to lay down his life so others may live. He was willing to do that, but from firsthand experience he knows that not all are able to.
"Just uh...well make sure you don't go flaunting this information about to everyone...of us...that you meet. Not everyone's being changed into as peaceful of a creature as a frog...or a vampire bat," he adds hesitantly.
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 8:52 pm
"I can completely understand that..." Seth frowned. "Hell, if it were me, I'd be looking to attack the bastards that are running this joint." He shook his head in disgust. "There could be a few ways to dob them in. Perhaps an anonymous letter to some news station somewhere..."
"How many people are there on the island that are changing into animals, exactly?" Seth wondered. "I asked this kid called Marshall, and he didn't know. Both he, and this older guy called Sid were both accepting of the fact." He snorted. "I'm surprised nobody's done anything to try and take the lab techs down. If it were me, I'd be all over the place looking for ways to kill them."
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 8:56 pm
"Well...from what I understand, the number of duplexes occupied is the number of subjects. I'm in 54, so there're at least that many," Tommy says after draining his bottle of V8.
"You're looking at the only goddamn person out here who's had balls enough to try," he says with a smirk, "And you know what it got me? Almost a month out in the wilderness to slowly starve to death."
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 9:00 pm
"Damn, you already tried it?" Seth gave him a look of admiration. "Good on ya, though the being stuck out in the wilderness for a month isn't so good..."
"I'm in Duplex 65, but I'm not a subject," Seth said quickly. "I'm just here for another few days or so, Dr. Duvert said so. Anyway, I can't be part of the project. That kid showed me his needlestick injury from the labs, and I don't have one anywhere on me. I don't remember them injecting me either. And nothing's been said about it..." He paused again, looking rather unhappy, as if he was trying to assure himself.
"Besides, when I talked to Dr. Duvert about it, he said I'd be able to leave soon. He has no reason to lie about that, I helped him get what he wanted."
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 9:09 pm
Tommy looks over Seth a moment after hearing this. Sabin was involved...s**t, that could mean anything. He's in a duplex...they're delaying his flight back...goddamn, he probably is one of us and just hasn't realized it yet. Poor b*****d.
"Yaknow...um...I never remembered getting stuck when I first got here..." he says slowly. He hates to try and break this to Seth, but what would be the use of delaying the lie? It'll just make the truth all that much harder to cope with. Better now than when he's writhing in pain from a transformation. "I got here by way of plane crash. I was on a hop to Aviano Air Force Base during the summer when something happened...I parachuted out 'n was lost at sea." Tommy shakes his head as he digs up these aweful memories. "I passed out for what I thought was for good after the third day or so. I woke up in my duplex, and you know who was the first person I saw? The good Dr. Duvert."
Tommy looks over to Seth and then back to his V8 bottle, "He lied straight to my face about where I was. I had to find out what was going to happen to me the hard way."
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 9:30 pm
"What?" Seth blinked, stopping dead for a moment.
He looked quite confused and unhappy. He said nothing for several moments as he began to argue with himself in his mind.
"No..." Seth shook his head feverently. "Dr Duvert was really nice about it. Our transaction went smoothly and everything. He gave me a nice hotel room, and then when I called him up, he said the flight was delayed."
He shook his head again. "He wouldn't lie about something like that, would he? I... I'm not part of the project. I don't have a needlestick mark on me or anything. They would have said something, right?"
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Posted: Sun Sep 24, 2006 9:37 pm
Tommy wasn't sure if he wanted to hit the man or not, but the quesiton altogether was washed away by Seth's reaction. The batman just sighed and shook his head, a look of pity on his face. Pity because he knew exactly what Seth was going through, "No. They wouldn't. They'd tell you exactly what you wanted to hear to keep you from causing any trouble. Sabin was the nicest of people when I first met him. But that man's a viper underneath the smile..." Tommy sighs again, trying to figure out how to word this, "Listen, I really hate to be the one to tell you this...but better now then the night of your first...well...yeah..." He looks at Seth in the eyes, trying to get him to meet his gaze, "You've got to start at least thinking that Sabin wasn't altogether truthful with you."
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