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Kikue sat down slowly on the bench, next to Ambrose. She listened. Her words failed her. If they stopped injecting her, she would face cancer. The worst she could think of, before, had been that she might negatively effect people who hadn't been injected. But not only might that still be the case, cancer was in her future if the treatment ever stopped. At least Ambrose seemed to be trying to convey that the labs meant for the Islanders to be able to walk, and talk, by the end...but what about 'Pyroth'... She tried not to think about it. Maybe he was a special case...

She forced herself to remain composed. In control. "Why," she began, her voice shaky, "are they doing this?" She looked pleadingly at Ambrose, like he could give her the answer. But she knew he might not even know. She shook her head quickly. "I'm sorry. I know you might not even know...after being here nine months..." The sudden outpouring of emotion caught even her off guard. She quickly wiped her face, clearing her throat and sitting up a little straighter. "...I found out my serum is a snow leopard. Dr. Lockheart told me." And it seemed that Dr. Lockheart might even be nice, like she had sounded over the intercom. Kikue was at least somewhat pleased at that, hoping she might be able to put the doctor down as an ally.

Kikue forced a pained smile. "Thanks for telling me all of this..." She paused, looking Ambrose over again. "But I do want to know...does it hurt?" A question that had haunted the back of her mind since seeing Jamal, and the paw pads growing from his once-human hands.

Kikue shook her head, too. Even if the excuses for doing this were as Ambrose said, she couldn't explain how the it meant something overly helpful to humanity. She looked sadly at his hands as he held them out, merged with a wolf's paws. She didn't know how it solved any of it, either. So often it was the human who was sacred in research; the animals were what was tested on, not that Kikue necessarily found it ethical or not. She couldn't understand why the scienctists would instead choose to change the human. The only way this research, at least as far as she could see, would be helpful, would be to apply such minor changes to a person that they weren't noticeable, yet cured something or fixed some injury. She glanced at her crushed, bandaged hand at the thought.

An octopus? A plant? She was taken aback. "You're kidding," she whispered under her breath, knowing that he wasn't at all. And fish. That would be so hard -- especially for the fact she happened to quite like fish when it came to meals. How were people coping with this?

"So it does hurt." Of course. The logical part of her argued immediately that she must have known it would be like that. The paw pads were not placed on you; they were clearly growing out of Jamal's -- and Ambrose's -- hands. Or, paws now. She knew she should have known that, but it complicated everything, suddenly. Growing a three-foot tail was looking even less appealing.

Quickly, she gave Ambrose a reassuring smile. "Oh! I understand. Thank you for speaking with me. I hope your girlfriend is alright." She stood up, following his lead. She bowed politely. "I'm sure I'll see you again. Duplex number one," she repeated, for good measure, and nodded again, holding her book to herself. She waved. "I hope she feels better. Thank you again, Ambrose."

Kikue went her separate way, back towards her duplex. She had to write this down.

Nita was on her way back to her duplex from the cafeteria, carrying a box of fruits and vegetables, as well as more of that vegetable stir-fry Delia had been making lately (although it wasn't nearly as good reheated). For once it was sunny but not too hot and humid, so Nita walked slowly along the path, her long braids swinging behind her.

Not particularly paying attention to where she was walking, Nita almost crashed into another of the island's inhabitants. She stopped abruptly, swaying back and forth to regain her balance and not drop her burden. "Whoops!" she exclaimed. "Sorry about that! I wasn't really looking where I was going." Nita grinned, slightly abashed.

Nita's ears twitched at the high-pitched noise, which was actually more alarming than almost running into someone. Someone who had definitely been around for quite a while, to judge by her changes. Some sort of bat, Nita thought, eyeing the elongated hands and wing-like arms.

After a rather impressive juggling act, Nita managed to control the boxes of food she carried and was able to think about introductions. "Er, no, I don't think we've met," she said. "I've been here a while, but I know there are a lot of people I've never seen. I'm Nita."

"Hargun?" Nita repeated, both because it was an unusual name and so she would remember it better. "Nice to meet you." She shrugged. "Yeah, I've been here a couple of months now; There've been a lot of new people lately, like within the past couple of weeks." Nita made a face. She didn't really mind being stuck on the island, but there were already so many others there... Plus, she thought rather selfishly, it was hard to explain stuff to the newcomers.

She shifted the boxes of food, making sure everything was balanced again, before carefully shaking a.. finger. Claw. Handthing. "Nah, I'm fine, they were just a bit out of control for a minute there." Nita snickered, but, spotting a conveniently located bench, went to sit down. It wasn't like she was in any particular hurry.

Nita put the boxes next to her on the bench, nullifying any need for assistance. Her body turned slightly to face Hargun, Nita's legs dangled a few inches above the ground.

"Oh, I don't mind," Nita reassured the girl, absently pushing one of her long braids back over her shoulder. "Red panda. They look kind of like raccoons, but with coloring like a fox." She nodded and held out her furred arms, noticing how near-sighted Hargun seemed to be.

Nita's first thought was to apologize, but there wasn't much point. Even if she was "lucky."

"I keep hearing that," she said, a hint of complaint in her voice. "Not that anything could really be considered 'lucky' here." Of course, Nita didn't really mind her changes... but that was hardly a popular opinion around the village. "You're right though; red pandas are pretty freaking cute."

Nita leaned foreward, rather amazed by the webbing between Hargun's long, delicate fingers. "So you're a bat then?" she asked. The diet was a pretty good indicator. "Hey, at least you're still a mammal, right? And bats are cute, in a kind of a weird way."

"T'chyeah. I mean, maybe some people could still get by. I guess I still look pretty normal, but.. Geez. Do you know Cass? She's like, almost all snake, except she also has wings. One of the doctors wanted to make her look like this South American god, Quetzalcoatl." Nita shook her head. Dr. Duvert was definitely a bit.. special.

Nita giggled. "Some sort of bug-bat then." She'd seen the horns but hadn't attached any significance to them. There was so much general weirdness about the island that a horned bad didn't even throw her. "I guess they like to give some people extra features... Like Cass and her wings. Lauren's got horns too, really big ones." Nita shrugged, perfectly content to be a normal red panda. Well. Relatively normal. And relatively content. But whatever.