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 Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 5:39 pm
It was late in the afternoon and an empty cafeteria. The lunch rush had already passed, and dinner not yet started. Gaius was thankful for the calm, after the crazyness of the past days. He poked at the caesar salad in front of himself, resting his chin on his other hand. Since when had he started eating so many greens? It just seemed to have slipped in, despite efforts to stick to what he was used to at home, but it was difficult when he wasn't doing the cooking.
He sighed, lifting up a leaf to munch on. It seemed, just when he was beginning to feel happy, fate had decided to throw the reality of the island in his face again. First there was Sophie, a new comer on the island, yet already changed, even if slightly... And then Shenzi, changing right in front of him and sprouting those twisted limbs from her back. Gaius set down his fork and sighed again, eyes going to the steak that set on a plate beside his. Half was for himself, in his continued effort to remain omnivorous... the other half was for Vixen, who watched expectantly from the bench beside him, chewing on a stick.
"What I wouldn't give for a vacation from all of this," he confessed to the ever-listening canine.
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 5:55 pm
Vacations were very overrated, atleast in Barbra's opinion. Or... Thats what had come of it. This whole island was very lame, not many pet themed things at all. Naturally when she got back home she'd find somewhere to give them the worst review of their life time. They'd even cut off her roomservice for being "rude." Pshaw, her? Rude? Never.
Ofcourse... Would home even be there? She wasn't sure. She'd been rather poor before she'd left, so what would be waiting for her when she got back?
The thought was shoved out of her head as the cafeteria doors were fussed open. She pausedone hand tighetning her grip on her cane, the other resting on the edge of her purse, pepperspray readied incase someone decided to jump her again. There was only one person there... Her old eyes locked on him and.. ew, a dog. Never was too fond of the things, while they displayed affection and that was nice... They were often too needy for her tastes. That was the good thing about cats, they knew who they were, not dependant on a master to tell them where to go, to bat around a ball on their own rather than beg someone to throw it.
She frowned at the weirdly poportioned man, another crack baby? What was with this place...? She was begining to suspect there was something out of the ordinary here. So many little things that just didn't fit right, but her mind couldn't come up with the correct answere, instead just kept making obscure explinations. "You're not going to attack me are you?" she snorted at him, stepping inside to look between him and the food she was intent on getting. Stupid room service... Didn't they know she was old? And they made her walk all the way down here anyways?
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 6:02 pm
He'd heard the doors open, but hadn't looked up until he was addressed by a very elderly voice which, as he looked up, turned out to belong to an equally elderly woman. Gaius was surprised, he didn't think there was anyone here older than Richard... but with that many wrinkles it was difficult to tell the age of the woman anyways.
"Ah, no! No, I haven't attacked anyone," he assured her, waving away the idea. Had someone attacked her? What lowlife could do something like that to an old woman... The elderly were not ones to provoke anyone!
Addressing her again, he inquired, "Do you need any help...?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 6:16 pm
"Good good..." Though really, if he was he probably would have denied anyways. It was a 'That's what they all say' moment... She hobbled in, cane rapping against the hard floor as she beelined for the food. She'd get in, get her and the cat's food, some more fish for her cats, and then hightail it out of there lest he get violent like the last had.
She cast him a glance again as he spoke up, help? "Nono, I may be old but I don't need any assistance, I'm an independent woman, you know." She informed him with a egotistical tone, only to change her tune and accept his offer in the next sentance "Why don't you come help me pick out some nice fish, your young eyes should do better than mine." Ofcourse, the pepperspray was on hand just incase...
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 6:47 pm
Gaius hesitated before getting up, confused for a moment by her duplicitous comment, but finally stood up to his full impressive height. Vixen beside him, having noticed the woman when she entered, hopped to her feet as well, leaving the stick in place as she went ahead of her master to investigate the strange-smelling person.
Going over to the bar area she indicated, Gaius arched his neck down to peer over the selection. "Uh, what kind of fish do you want...?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 7:38 pm
Wow. Tall... It was one of the first things to notice upon his standing, and ofcourse there was the neck and... well. She had no idea what to call the horse-features, maybe it was that rare disease that she got vaccinated for? Or perhaps he was cursed by the devil magic that one boy was spouting. She'd never really beleived in that stuff... But if this was hte case, it was certaintly convincing.
She was jerked out of her mental inspection by a canine moving towards her, face scruncing in distaste. She shifted away, switching her cane to the oposite hand to work as a temporary block from the canine. Which, obviously would be a very short-lived sheild.
"Er... Something nice. not too fatty. Small portions, don't want them over eating afterall... since they got spayed and neutered they've been having issues with weight gain, poor things." She nodded alittle, keeping a frown on the dog as she spoke. "And hurry up, I don't want to be out here long, lest that demon-child come out again, satanist crack baby... It was horrible." she shuddered at the memory, what a horrible person and experience that had been.
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 7:50 pm
Vixen was undeterred by the cane, wanting to get as close as she could to the woman to give her a 'proper' greeting, tongue lolling out of her grinning face. Nevermind that Barbra definitely gave off an unfriendly air.
Gaius frowned over the fish, glancing back up at Barbra as she added each specification, then back down at the fish. Was there anything like that? Shrugging his small wings, Gaius picked up several fish and plopped them down on a plate, hoping they'd do. He didn't know much about cats, but he imagined any fish would be fine...
As she continued to ramble, Gaius looked up from his work, eyebrows raised in surprise. "'Satanistic crack baby'?" he repeated, a hint of amusement in his voice. Was she serious?
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 8:20 pm
Barbra scooted away again, free hand moving to grab hold of the counter and keep her balance while she tried to poke the dog away with her cane. Gently, atleast, even if she didn't like dogs(it was just doing a dogly thing afterall) that was no reason to be mean to it. Still, she was getting progressivly annoid. And inwardly, that was quickly turning towards the man not keeping his dog off of her.
With a glance back to him, ready to open her mouth and give him a peice of her mind about how he should keep this thing on a leash, she was cut off mid way by the sight of two... wings? God only knew what they were... It stopped her all together, completley freezing up for a moment to stare. What were they? Nothing was coming to mind...
She stayed like that until both a voice, and a cold dog's nose inspecting her pants broke the thoughts. "Why don't you keep this thing on a leash?" she broke out, trying to push it away again, and giving up on figuring out what was with his back. "Are you done yet?" She looked to the plate, leaning back onto her cane to free her hand and reach for the plate. "Mighty slow for someone your age arn't you?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 8:42 pm
Gaius looked up suddenly, banging his head on the shelf over the bar and winced, rubbing his head. Seeing Vixen, the source of Barbra's annoyance, Gaius frowned. "Vixen! Stop bothering the nice lady! Come over here!" he scolded, jabbing a hand beside him to make sure his message got across.
Vixen's doggish smile faded and she hung her head at the chastising, obediently padding over to sit beside him, but cheered up again as the man gave her a pat on the head.
"Sorry about that, normally she's pretty well behaved... I think she just wanted to make friends," he offered Barbra an apologetic grin and shrug, holding out the plate of fish for her. "And... well, I've never claimed to be a genius or anything," he added with a rueful grin. "I'm just a simple guy who likes to work with his hands."
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 9:12 pm
Her fueling anger ebbed away as the dog obeyed, retreatning it's "attack" on her pants, probably incredibly intrigued by the mixed smell of six different cats. Not that she cared why it was on her, but atleast this man had the creature trained that much.
"Hm." She grunted to the friends comment, stupid dogs and their need for affection. Completely dependant on everyone else, it was rediculous. She took the plate in free hand, hobbling forward down the line to pick out some softer foods, like today's special soup, for herself. "I meant slow as in speed, not brains." She replied gruffly "Ofcourse it may apply to both..." she then noted absent mindedly, not going to give up the idea that this was yet another idiot, settling the soup on the tray with the plate of fish.
After a few more wandering thoughts about his strange features, she finally thought of something "Are you one of those partially developed siamese twins? You know the kinds with the three eyeballs or something. A face coming out of their side, you know... I don't know what they're called." She shrugged, eyeing the wings again.
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 9:30 pm
Gaius frowned slightly, taking offense at her 'slow' jab. Not only because she implied agreeing with his self-belittling, but that he'd misinterpreted her comment in the first place. Well, he shrugged inwardly, he'd dug that hole himself. Barbra did have a bit of a sharp tongue, it seemed...
Her question brought a confused look from Gaius. He blinked, staring dumbly before finding his tongue. "No? I was an only child... I don't have three eyeballs as far as I can tell."
He looked over himself, wondering what she was getting at, before the nasty truth struck him like a hammer to the thumb. "Oh geeze... do you, uh, not know about the truth of the island?"
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 9:52 pm
She'd meant as much offense as she usually did, which... could have been alot or none at all, even she didn't know anymore. She just spoke her mind, or how she viewed it, ofcourse there were alot of things that came out that were definatly more than speaking your mind. Like the jab she'd tossed in there was really unessicary, but she was old, it gave her a certain tactile edge. Anyone with half a heart wouldn't return said attacks on an "dear" old lady.
That aside, she was much more focused on the deformities rather than his level of intellegence. Booksmarts didn't even matter much to her in the first place. The next comment confused her however, leading her to a frown and a raise of a wrinkled brow. "The truth?" she echoed, "Well i suppose theres something fishy about this place," She gave him that much, taking her tray and hobbling towards the table she'd seen him sitting at. She figured she could make a sidetrip to find out what on earth was wrong with this place. Gossip was a reasonable thing to socialize for... "It's certaintly not a pet-themed resort. If it was it's a really horrible one, really you'd have to be retarded not to notice! i don't know what they're trying to pull though, are we even in the USA? I don't see why they'd want to kidnap and old lady like me to a labor camp, though I could see the use for you..." She rambled, setting her tray down and shakily taking a seat infront of it. "Well, hurry up and spill the beans boy. I'm not getting younger!" She urged him, ignoring the fact she hadn't given him a chance to respond until now.
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Posted: Sun Jan 07, 2007 10:11 pm
Gaius groaned, running a hand over his face and back over his hair, pushing back his long ears in the process. He didn't bother sitting, preferring to lean against the buffet counter. "Oh geeze... where do I start?"
Taking a deep breath, he did his best to meet Barbra's eyes, though he'd have rather stared at his feet than see her expression...
"I don't know what they told you... this resort or whatever it was. It's all a lie. Sabin's good at those..." A slight growl fringed the doctor's name. "Even if we're still somehow in America, which I doubt, this Moreau guy who runs the island doesn't follow any kind of laws except his own. It's not a labor camp, but about as bad... Everyone's been kidnapped here to be subjects in Moreau's experiment." He sighed, taking a moment to regather himself, hoping this was all getting through. Just give it to her straight and honest, that was best.
"It's a genetic experiment. They're turning us into some human-animal mixes... that's why I look like I do. I'm a..." he paused, changing his mind about reveiling his serum. 'Pegasus' sounded ridiculous enough in his head. "...horse with some kind of bird mixed in. These," he gestured to his back, "are wings."
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Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 5:26 pm
Instead of making another jab at him to hurry up while he fumbled with words, she chose to eat her soup while he spoke. There was no reason to wait for it to go cold, afterall.
In turn, she didn't meet his eyes, more focused on the soup, and she could hear him just fine without looking at him so there really was no need for that either.
"Sabin?" She did pause to echo that name, "Shoulda known. Never trust a hippy!" The old woman gave a shake of her spoon to reinforce this statement, before dipping it back for another spoonful of soup to take to her mouth, falling into silence again to eat and listen.
Ofcourse this calm demeanor did vanish when the full story reached her ears. She haulted mid-bite, freezing for a moment, before swallowing and setting the spoon back into her bowl. "Excuse me sonny, my old ears must be going," For once she sounded like a sweet dear old woman, however the truth behind it was that she was likely mocking her fellow elderly community more than worrying about her ears. She followed with a gruff "That's impossible." while her mind played over the facts. Honestly, it might have made more sense than a series of coincedences... But her mind still refused that, who ever heard of such a thing?!
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Posted: Mon Jan 08, 2007 6:49 pm
Gaius shook his head emphatically and then pushed away from the bar to turn around, yanking his tail for extra effect. "Not impossible, as you can see. Hell, I would have said the same thing in your place... It sounds like a sci-fi story, really, and doesn't get real until you actually start changing yourself."
He let go of the tail and got his plates, moving to sit across from Barbra, Vixen hopping up on the bench beside him. "I'm sorry, I know this is a lot to take all at once..." He shook his head and sighed, his broad shoulders sagging. "But it's best to know what's in store, rather than be lied to, I figure. I'm just sorry someone your age has to deal with the stress..."
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