Welcome to Gaia! ::

On the other side of the door, the pegasus-man had just been working on wrapping up his face, figuring that perhaps he could risk a venture out around the edge of the jungle and the river. They hadn't heard of the wolf girl in a while, and that would be far enough from civilization to avoid most of the folks he knew. He winced, scratching at the black stubble that was starting to grow back on his shoulders. It was almost like a change - he was itchy all over where he'd shaved, and the patches he'd waxed - never again! - were still sore.

"How can women deal with this..." he muttered.

The knock at the door startled him, making him drop the roll of bandages in his hand. Wings flared, he looked at the door. Crud, who was there?

"W-Who is it?" he called from the bathroom door, trying to grab up the spilled wraps and quickly cover his left hand.

"Just a second!" Gaius hollered, cursing under his breath as the bandaging slipped and quickly tightened it up. Damn, he didn't have time to get his right hand! And what about his wings? Uh, ah! Towel! Gaius tossed the towel over his shoulders quickly and hurried for the door, twisting the knob and opening it just enough to poke his head out.

"Uh, hey, Marshall!" he said in a strained friendly manner, the forced smile hidden behind his wrap-mask. "What's this about rain?"

"Er, um, injuries..." Gaius fumbled with the lie and gave a shrug. "It's just, er, don't worry about it. And the room isn't that bad..."

Stepping back, Gaius was careful to keep his wings folded tight against his back, at least the tops covered by the towel. Thank goodness he'd worn long jeans today, they covered his stubbly legs, and the bandages covered the rest of his feet. The hard part would be keeping his right hand out of sight. For now, he kept it tucked in his pocket, using his wrapped left one to close the door behind Marshall.

Thankfully, Vixen provided a little distraction, bounding up to jump on Marshall's front and give the penguin-guy a wet-tongued greeting.

Vixen didn't seem to mind the odd rubbing at all, actually finding it a welcome change from the hoof-hard scratching she'd had to grow accustomed to the past couple days.

Gaius watched the two as he moved around to his desk area, careful to keep his back away from Marshall. Though of course, there were the other tell-tale giveaways, such as the longer mane and tail, but hopefully Marshall wouldn't notice them. And the wider set of his eyes, still visible between the layers of bandage, and the odd protrusion of his face under the wrappings... but those were all fairly minor, right?

"I've been... better. Ran into Lucas the other day, apparently he has a dog too... had an encounter with Liamh as well. How's the arm doing?"

Gaius stiffened, looking like a boy caught red-handed in the midst of purloining cookies from the cupboard. "W-What? No! Er, he was there, but he didn't do it. I mean! It wasn't his fault, er, exactly. It was more the labs- I mean, don't worry! It's, er..." He trailed off weakly, rubbing at the end of his nose. Couldn't exactly say 'it's not permanent' or 'it'll get better.'

"So, uh, how about that weather? Definitely looks foreboding out there!" he said quickly, waving his wrapped hand at the window. "Hope it doesn't rain all over the site, though I imagine the wood'll withstand the rain just fine."

The pegasus-man hunkered down in shame. It was especially hard trying to lie to his close friends, they seemed to know when he was lying...

"W-What, 'foreboding' is a cool word..." he said defensively. "Anyways, it's personal..."

Vixen tilted her head up at the penguin-man, giving him a doggy-smile and wagging her tail, but otherwise quite uncommunicative.

Gaius rolled his eyes and grumbled something under his breath, sidling over beside the desk and pretending to shift through some papers - quickly shoving the books on horses out of sight after uncovering them.

"Anyways, you said something about your cast? You didn't tell me how your arm's been doing!"

Gaius winced at the talk of flippers, the subject being a bit close for comfort, but his frown cleared up at the offer of signing the cast. Taking the pen in his left mitt, he grinned. "Hey, sure! Looks like you've been getting quite a collection there as it is."

Trying to maneuver the pen proved a bit difficult with one hand, especially with no fingers. Dang, how did Marshall do it? And no teeth to help either at the moment. Finally, he managed to get the cap off with his thumb, holding it awkwardly in his left hand. If Marshall were at least more perceptive than a rock, he would likely recall that Gaius was very much right-handed. "So, where should I sign?"