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[peopletalktome]

There are...games. Where you...you know, have to pick a favorite movie, well actually it's usually five or ten of them---anyway you pick which ones you would take with you if you were stranded on a, um desert...island. That's I guess assuming there's some way to watch them....I mean, why else would you would you... be bringing them, right?

[ sigh

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[horrible_penny]

[Penny, still a bit shaken by the loss of two of her pets--thank Whoever Babbage and Doris were saved from the wreckage--has gone off again to do a headcount. It worries her, not knowing where her friends are. At the moment, that worries her even more than the murmurings about monsters in the trees that she's been hearing. For now.

She's relieved to find Emma, who has officially found a place on her 'people to worry about' list. Emma seems to be talking to herself, which is... odd, but not necessarily unexpected, all things considering. The last couple of days have been stressful. Penny approaches her, Doris the duck waddling after her.]

Emma... hey. Are you okay?

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[peopletalktome]

[... ah. Ducks. Well. They are cute.

In a completely unsanitary, and thus unappealing kind of way. But...that isn't their fault...

Um.

Emma reminds herself not to stare at Doris and looks instead at Penny who is the one actually addressing her as it is. She brushes some hair behind her ear and then folds her hands in front of her as neatly as if she might be standing in a school office or the like instead of on a reliable patch of sand. In those same heels. They are strapped of course, so conveniently they did not leave her feet like sneakers might have. ]

Penny! [ A little too brightly maybe, and in the dark it's amplified by not being able to tell facial expressions so well, but she tries. ] Hi. Yes. Yes, I'm fine. [ A lie but what good would it do to say she's not? ] Just... [ She can't think of what she could say to explain what she is doing so she gives up. ] Are you?

Who's your...friend?

[ A soft nod at Doris. Credit due, Emma manages not to look petrified. As long as Doris doesn't get much closer---say, in front of Penny

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[horrible_penny]

[This duck happens to be litter-trained and--the duck would argue, if she could--very clean. Plus, she has a collar. Points for cute?

Penny herself is barefoot, having lost her bargain footwear to the sea. She doesn't seem the least bit bothered by it, however, and the cold doesn't appear to be getting to her.]

Good... good. I didn't see you right away, so I was afraid something-- ...but it didn't, and I... [Oh, dear. Penny realizes she's babbling nervously. Has she been doing that for the last few days? If so, why hasn't anyone politely asked her to shut up?] I'm okay. Just looking for people.

[Penny is only too pleased to introduce Doris, who stays behind her like any good duckling (never mind that Doris is full-grown).] That's Doris. She and Babbage--that's the guinea pig I had on the ark--made it okay, but Cabbage and the sick pigeon... they haven't--I mean, I'm sure they'll be fine, and when the sun comes up we'll all find our ways back to the City and everything'll be normal. Normalish.

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[peopletalktome]

[ The collar is cute. Emma, were she in such a conversation, would attempt to be as unoffensive to Doris as she tries to be---unless your name is Sue Sylvester---with people. A little after the fact, but there would be apology for that too if still a distance kept. Hypothetically.

In conversation with Penny however, her brow knits, some concern for the other redhead eclipsing her self-consciousness and inhibited way of...well...doing most things lately. Perhaps the best way to be reassuring is to focus on what Penny is clearly happy about, the well-being of the duck no less, if not so glad about the still unknown whereabouts of her other...pets (?) ]

Hello.

[ To Doris. Emma does an admirable job--maybe--of not looking worried before returning her attention to Penny. ]

Oh yes. I think...well... I couldn't be sure because...well it seemed at the time as though the...er...the whale [ she is not sure it was a whale at all ]....animal...actually. I know this is going to sound crazy but...

[ Oh she can't say it after all, that she

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[horrible_penny]

[Doris doesn't reply to Emma's greeting. Ducks are a bit rude like that; they have little understanding of or respect for conversational norms. The duck does stay put, however, so Emma doesn't need to start running.

Penny's eyes widen.]

You saw the whale, too? I only saw it's tail--flipper, whatever--really well, but it was huge, and I thought I saw its face when the ark got smashed up.

[She may have also ridden on the whale but, much like Emma, Penny doesn't recall the exact circumstances that led to her introduction to the island. She went right from panic and cold sea water to the beach.

Penny smiles half-heartedly.]

They have, yeah.

[Aaaand a topic change.]

Are you cold? There're fires. It'd be awful to go through all of this and then get pneumonia or something.

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[peopletalktome]

Cold? No, no.

[ Well, she is, but really she just doesn't want to leave what she has decided is a relatively safe and definitively densely packed patch of sand. ]

I mean, you would be right---are right. It's...I wouldn't want anyone to get sick.

[ Truly she looks downright terrified of it, and then forces a smile which looks a little broken but well meaning if that is even possible. ]

You should go....I mean, to one of the...where it's warmer. I just...it's quieter over here.

[ There that sounds like a sane reason. To be away. Right?

She folds her arms in front of her, hands curling under her elbows lightly and hopes so. ]

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[horrible_penny]

[Now Penny's just concerned. There's something Not Right here.]

I get wanting some alone time, but I really think you should camp out by a fire. Do you want me to go with you? Or we could get a fire started over here. It can't be too hard, right? Pile up some wood, grab a starter-flame from another fire, and there you go?

[Of course, 'we' is incompatible with alone time.]

And then I could go. I mean, the cold doesn't bother me. Zombie perk.