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[15_words]

Jaye could just tell something was off when she woke up that morning. She couldn't tell WHAT, but it was SOMETHING. The animals weren't speaking, which was both a good and a bad sign, so no matter how many sour glares she threw their way, they remained impassive and quiet. Even the wax lion refused to budge. Her right eye felt twitchy from the

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[izzyevans]

Isabel was exhausted.

The entire night she'd tossed and turned, getting little sleep. It wasn't that she just couldn't get comfortable; that wasn't the problem. The problem was that she kept having these dreams in which Vorenus lopped Tim's head off with a freaking broadsword. Yeah, as if her subconscious knew how to be subtle.

Finally she gave up on trying to get actual rest, deciding to get dressed and haul her ass up to the compound for some coffee and fruit. It was better than staring at the ceiling and simultaneously blocking out the image of Vorenus' face contorted in fury he didn't even have the right to feel and Tim laughing just before, well, he lost his head.

"Great," Isabel muttered, scrubbing the heels of her palms over her eyes as she staggered somewhat gracelessly up the path. Her mood was foul and it only got fouler when she realized the woman she was about to pass on the path was JayeIsabel didn't want to talk to her, not today because she knew she'd rise easily to Jaye's brand of crazy jibes, but something

[15_words]

"No I'm not," Jaye scoffed immediately. Which was weird because, no, she wasn't, but Jaye Tyler understood the meaning of the word 'irony' just as well as she understood 'sarcasm'. She didn't stop walking, but her face contorted into an expression of 'what the hell' for two seconds before returning to the regular scowl

[izzyevans]

"Animals?" Almost instantaneously, one of Isabel's eyebrows shot up. And as if that wasn't weird enough, Jaye did the damned thing: She kind of looked like she was ready to kick her own ass. And then she just stared blankly at Isabel.

"Did somebody spike your OJ this morning? Or did Mr. Ed show up on the island or something?" she asked, greatly anticipating the answer to that one.

[15_words]

"Animals," Jaye confirmed without wanting to. And the look of growing dread on her face kind of proved that she DIDN'T want to continue, but she did anyways. "Sometimes inanimate objects with animal faces talk to me. But they're not doing it now. And no, I haven't had any OJ this morning and no, Mr. Ed didn't show up as far as I know, although there are a lot of horses and it wouldn't really surprise me given how this place it. Oh, God, just kill me now."

[izzyevans]

It took a moment for Isabel to process all of that. A long moment. She blinked, the desire to ask Jaye if she'd smoked some bad weed very strong. But there was that comment Jaye had made at the end, the one about killing her now that made Isabel, well, grin.

The panic in Jaye's eyes was familiar. Really familiar.

But to be sure, Isabel had to test it first before she went back to the animal thing. "Do you really think I'd do that, Jaye? I mean, just what sort of person do you really think I am?"

[15_words]

Jaye made a very undignified whimpering noise and stomped her feet.

"No," she said pathetically. "I don't think you'd really kill me, but I do think you're the kind of person who's going to torment me mercilessly for this and I really can't blame you, so just do it and do it quick?"

[izzyevans]

"Impressive," she said dryly, looking down to where dust flew up about Jaye's foot from the force of the stomp. "Trying to cause an earthquake in Abu Dabi?"

The fact that Jaye was actually whining kind of made Isabel's day. It wasn't often (ie, ever) Jaye was like this and Isabel sure as hell was going to take advantage of it. "Oh, you want me to do it quick, like you did for me that day in the church? I don't think so, Animal Whisperer."

[15_words]

"No," Jaye responded, dipping her chin and jutting out her bottom lip like it could possibly stop her from talking. "I'm just demonstrating my displeasure with the situation in a childish manner." Dammit.

"Yes, I do want you to do it quick. And I'm not really an animal whisperer because they aren't real animals. Oh, for Christ's sake, why can't I shut up?"

[izzyevans]

"Well, that's definitely the truth," Isabel said dryly. "So if they aren't real animals, then...what? Like, stuffed animals talk to you or something? What do they tell you to do? And, by the way, you can't shut up because apparently this is payback. Glorious, island-sent payback for your past freaking transgressions." If Jaye thought Isabel sounded a little smug, it was because she was.

[15_words]

"Yes," Jaye admitted morosely. "Kind of? Sometimes. Sometimes they're stuffed animals and sometimes they're wax figures and sometimes they're just pictures and sometimes they're patterns on clothing and sometimes they're cow creamers. Just... anything with an animal face. That's not real."

She sighed and took a breath to answer Isabel's other question, looking like a kid going through a very painful recitation at school, her face squished with displeasure. "They tell me to do things like help people, only they're never CLEAR about that to begin with. They just say things like 'Take a picture!' Or 'Save him from her!' Or 'See a penny, pick it up', of all the fucked up things. And then shit ends up happening and they tell me what to do more and I end up helping people and it's really annoying and it hasn't happened here since Halloween but I keep expecting them to pipe up with something."

[izzyevans]

"O...kay," Isabel said slowly. She really wanted to believe that Jaye was just insane because, well, that seemed like the obvious answer. But it occurred to Isabel that might not exactly be the case. After all, Isabel had had alien powers back home. Maybe Jaye herself was...an alien. Or something.

"So basically you hear not-real animals give you advice on how to be a good Samaritan because maybe you need to not be so freaking selfish? Am I getting this right?"

[15_words]

Jaye shifted uncomfortably. She could just FEEL the judgment coming and it didn't fit.

"Not hear exactly... I mean, hear, but they open up their little mouths and speak. It's not like it's ALL in my head." She paused to look mildly offended. "And me being selfish has nothing to do with it. They TORMENT me. BECAUSE. ...I don't know why though because the monkey wouldn't say."

She sighed and nodded. "But, yeah, that's all right."

[izzyevans]

Isabel nodded sagely, taking in this new information. It was clear Jaye would have melted right into the floor if she was capable of such a thing. But she couldn't do it and Isabel really did owe Jaye a hell of a lot of payback.

Maybe that would come later. As for now, well...Isabel realized something.

"So you have a pretty huge secret just like me, then. A secret you wouldn't exactly appreciate getting around to the island population at large."

[15_words]

Jaye frowned deeply as she thought about that. She didn't want to agree with Isabel, just out of principle, and also because she liked her distance. They got along in that way that rivals got along. Jaye was pretty sure she respected Isabel, and that she respected her, but they'd never have to say it. Instead, they'd throw barbs at each other. It was their way of saying, 'You're not half bad.'

"Kind of, I guess," Jaye muttered. "But there's a difference between being CRAZY and being an alien. One can be proven with DNA evidence, and one you can recover from!"

[izzyevans]

"Not everyone can recover from being crazy!" Isabel protested automatically. "Some people need to be sent away to get help because they're a danger to society. So what do you think about that, huh?"

Isabel crossed her arms about her chest. "Are you a danger to society? If somebody walked by wearing a t-shirt with the Trix rabbit on it and it told you to kill someone, would you?"

[15_words]

"I think you're just looking for an argument to prove you're not worse off than me," Jaye spat back in annoyance. "I'm not a DANGER to anybody. The worst they've ever told me to do is to spit out my gum. I've never hurt anyone because of them, not really, other than myself. I wouldn't kill anybody. I'm not psychotic. Just crazy."