Welcome to Gaia! ::

It had been 2 weeks since Cody was brought in to the labs. The reason he was there in the first place was because of some nasty cuts all over his body, specially along his back and tail

The whole situation was rather suspicious. According to the records he had gone out to the sea as usual, spend a couple of hours swimming along the coast, but after a period of standing in the same area, he made a straight line back to his duplex. He was already carrying the cuts and bleeding quite a bit from some of them when the first cameras spotted his return

Right now he was mostly healed, though some of the cuts left their scars. But ever since his arrival he had refused to say more than a couple of words, quite unusual considering his curious nature

Robin watched through the observational window for a good long while before she entered, carefully reading and rereading hte reports. She was young, tan, and looked as though she had never brushed her hair a day in her life. Her brown dreadlocks rustled as she moved, the front few pulled back with a rubber band to keep them out of her face. Her glasses were oval shaped, and glinted in the halogen light of the lab room. Cody had spent the good first long while on a normal bed with a wet blanket and a labtech underling to spritz him moist until his wounds had closed up enough to trust him in a tank bed. That's where he had been laying now for several days before she finally moved in on her own.

The clip clop of her shoes on the linoleum stopped at the foot of Cody's bed. "Are you ready to talk about what happened yet, Cody?" Her voice was light and breezy, like an older sister who had been stuck babysitting and would much rather be out in the garage dissecting the family cat.

Cody wasn't particularly happy for both places he had been put in, but he never spoke out his displeasure for feeling so restrained. He knew from experience that he was required to stay still if he wanted the wounds to heal. The water bed was a happy change when it came to comfort at least. Didn't make him feel so heavy

He tried to turn around to see who was approaching. The doctors never talked with him much except to instruct him to stay still or to take his medication. Still he liked to know who was sent to look at him this time. This woman was a new face as far as he could recall. He'd certainly would remember that messy hair

But the question made him break the visual contact and turn his head away in a ashamed manner. He didn't want to talk about it, he didn't want to THINK about it! He just wanted to make that whole thing disappear and pretend it never happened

He didn't replied to her, only shook his head and curled around himself on the corner of the bed. Maybe she would just check on his scars and leave, like the other doctors did

"Alright. How about I put it this way," She replied, frowning down at her clipboard again as she straightened her glasses. "If you talk, you get a fish. If you don't talk, no fish. Can you understand that much?"

Cody was a bit startled and angry at that reply. Despite everything he did not like being treated like... a pet poodle or something!

He looked back at her with a frown and unconsciously banged his tail against the bottom of the bed once, a display of how annoyed that make him feel. Like she could buy him with just fish!

"You think I'm stupid or something?"

"Ah, so it talks!" She reached into the pocket of her labcoat, pulling out a can of sardines. It took only a moment to twist it open before she tossed him a salty fish.

Cody's cheeks were red with anger and his face was annoyed to match. He completely ignored the fish and stared at her with a stubborn determination of not letting himself get embarrassed like that again. She was definitely getting on his hated people list

"Where did you get those cuts, Cody?" She asked again cooly, eyes lifting to watch him critically.

"Why do you care?"

Cody was still upset for the treatment she just gave him. And so far he had no reason to trust the doctors here. All they cared was for his physically well being, not wanting to know if he was feeling good or not

"We are the grownups here, Cody. We give you the band aids, and we punish the bullies who pick on you," She assured him with a nod. She walked to the side of his bed, setting the clipboard down again. "Tell us who attacked you."

Cody was a bit surprised at that. Punish the bullies? he had never expect anyone to do that for him that weren't his parents or his closest friends. It sure felt weird

It took him a while to reply though. He rubbed his arms and tried to came up with words, but all he could say was one word

"dolphins....."

That made the young scientist raise her eyebrows, tapping a finger to her lips, "I beg your pardon?"

"Dolphins"

Cody couldn't bring himself to tell the rest. That he had found the local pod and he had gone over to get a closer look. But for some unknown reason some of them chased him off after a while, head butting, biting and trying to keep him from reach the surface

Actually what had happened was a misunderstanding on both parts. Cody was simply curious and didn't know anything on dolphin behavior. The dolphin DNA wasn't enough to tell him how to interpret the signs, it was something that was learned and not inherited

The pod was curious at first, seeing a creature that was part dolphin, but not a dolphin at all. But to them he was a stranger and the males did not want to have any competition from his part. Sadly for Cody he ignored the warnings to keep his distance, so they had to teach him his place the hard way

Dolphins can be a murder to each other, specially when they are bottle noses, the most aggressive of the species. The boy was lucky he managed to escape with his limbs intact

Dolphins. That explained where these tooth marks had come from. "I see." She tossed a second fish into the tub, lifting her clipboard to scribble down a note, "And what did you feel about seeing other dolphins?"

Again he pretended that the fish was not there, not to let her think he was doing this for just a piece of (disgustingly conserved) sardine

Cody wasn't sure what the labs could do against the dolphins or why they were so curious about it. He didn't really want to see them hurt, but the memories and the pain was still rather fresh. And to him the saying "an eye for an eye" made perfect sense. He still hadn't learned that people don't need to retributed for everything that is done to them

"I dunno... I never thought... they would be this mean"

"What did you think when you saw them?"

"I just wanted to meet them. I though dolphins were supposed to be cool..."

"So you just wanted to swim with the dolphins? You didn't think they might think of you as one of them?" To her, the boy was just an animal. He wasn't human, he wasn't dolphin, he was something new and different, and he wanted to find out how different. She turned to a fresh page and gave him a kind, calm, patient but expectant look.

That question surprised him. Cody never considered himself like them, no matter how much they looked alike. There was a part of him deep down that longed for company and the seeing the dolphin pod had awaken it, but even then he knew who he was. Cody, plain old Cody

"Yeah. I'm not a real dolphin!"

"Interesting," Robin nodded. Very interesting indeed! "What do you generally prefer to eat?" She tapped the eraser of her pencil against her nose excitedly.

This was starting to get confusing. What was with all these questions all of the sudden? They've never bothered to ask him anything before!

"Err, fish... octopuses, squid... prawns... crabs... just any seafood really. And chocolate cake!"

She nodded, writing it all down, "What about before you... lost your legs? What were you hungry for then?" She flipped through the file, checking the security photos of each of his stages.

The mentioning of the legs returned him to his bad mood. His reply was short and snappy, probably just to state that he wasn't liking the direction this conversation was taking

"I don't remember"

"You don't' want to talk anymore?"

"Why do you keep asking all these questions!?"

"Because we are your doctors, and we need to know these things."

"Then why didn't you asked them before?"

"Because you didn't want to talk."

"Well I've been here before and you didn't ask any questions then"

"We didn't have questions for you then," She smiled back easily enough. "But we have questions for you now." She hadn't been the one to ask the questions then, that's how. Robin had been enjoying her new position, although it had been busy enough simply directing the teams. Something had gone awry in Victor's serum, and they couldn't stretch out the time for Rachel's change any further. They needed a product, and she needed to find out what went wrong.

Until now, she hadn't had the chance to come face to face with an islander, and the opportunity with Cody was something she had been looking forward to. She was here now, and she had to catch up where her predecessor had been slacking.

Well that made sense, even if he was blissfully ignorant of all the twists and turns that went inside the labs. He calmed down a bit, enough to stop the aggression signs to dissuade Robin to approach him. But he was still tense to some degree, not completely trusting her intentions

"How do your cuts feel? Do you think you can swim again yet?" She changed the subject. She had to take things slower, contain her excitement, but it was difficult business.

"A lot better, they barely hurt anymore. I think I can"

It was kind of relieving getting a chance to talk again, after sending so much time in that place with nothing to do. And having someone's attention again filled another gap that his loneliness had been building

"Good, then I'll have you moved to the tank tomorrow," She nodded, thoroughly pleased. He wasn't complete yet, but he was very far along. What was his potential? What was he capable of? The possibilities were fascinating! She wanted to take notes for the C version of the Orca's third injection.

"Tank!?"

Those words didn't sound well. Actual place to move, but being trapped like a fish in aquarium.... that idea was starting to make him feel claustrophobic

She nodded with a smile, "We'll talk after you've eaten and had a bit of exercise!" That said, she tossed him a third sardine and gave him a pat on the head before practically skipping towards the door. Oh, the arrangements she had to make! Yes, tank room G12 should be open, and would be large enough to test his speed as well. Could he do that funny over-the-water dance dolphins did? She wondered, and made a note to find out. "I'm sure we'll become good friends!" She assured him as she walked.

Cody was completely baffled. What were they trying to do with him?
He didn't move until the strange woman had walked out of the door. He looked back at the 3 fish lying on the bottom of the bed. Usually he liked eating all types of fish, but as he gradually changed he started to frown upon the cooked one. And the canned ones were even worse

He picked and tossed them out towards the door. Like hell he would let himself be bought over food

Misfired Serum

Time went by, and it seemed the labs had practically forgotten about the misshapen orca girl. That is, she seemed forgotten until one morning she awakes in not her own creaking duplex, but a one-way-mirror-walled observational room. She's stripped down in the nude, laid down on her belly as though they had dragged her off of a wheeled cart to transport her inside. In one corner of the room is a large water bottle, like what is used in pet stores to keep puppies watered, or kept in hamster cages. Beside that, is a bowl of whole fish, scales, bones, heads and all. For the time being, it seems she is alone.

Rachel groaned as she woke up, raising a hand to her eyes to rub them, noticing seconds later that she was lying on a cold floor, and was stark naked. Her immediate reaction was to gasp and cover her private areas with her stubby hands and arms as best she could, even if there wasn't much to see anymore.

She looked around for anything she could use that would more effectively cover her, but all she saw was her own nude image reflected in plates of glass all over the room, a industrial looking metal door, a pet-style water container and a bowl of whole fish.

Rachel looked at the fish in disgust. Even if real orcas ate whole fish, Rachel certainly wasn't a "real" orca. Fish sounded a little more appetizing to her lately, perhaps, but she wasn't craving it by any means, and certainly wasn't interested in eating it whole. She turned away from the bowl trying to see what else the room contained, if anything.

Her heart was pounding and her breathing was heavy. How did she get here...where ever here was? The last thing she remembered, she had gone to bed in her own room and now she was bare-assed naked, in a strange place with no one else around. Was she in the labs? Had that Robin lady finally decided to do the testing she had agreed to weeks ago?

She got up cautiously, still trying to cover herself, and walked over to the door. When she found it locked, she wasn't really disappointed. It hadn't seemed likely that whoever put her in this "cage" would have been careless enough to leave the door unlocked. She tried pounding on it, to get someone's attention.

"Hello! Can anyone hear me!" she called loudly, not knowing how thick the walls of her prison were.

Time ticked on, and it seemed no one was paying attention to her cries. Behind the mirrored glass, though, the watch team from that morning perked up, sending a direct call into Robin's office. Time ticked on, and Robin had to collect her notes and rush to the holding cell where the subject had been brought, an eager, determined expression on her face. "Good morning, Seventy Seven! How are you feeling?" A good twenty minutes had leaked by before the familiar voice crackled over unseen speakers.

Rachel stopped her pounding and her cries as soon as she heard Robin's voice. She breathed a small sigh of relief at having some kind of contact with someone, even if it was later than was desired. She looked around for the speakers, and seeing none, found herself feeling strange as she spoke to the empty air.

"Decidedly uncomfortable, thank you," Rachel said irritably. "Where am I? And where are my clothes!?"

Robin ignored her questions as though they had never been asked, "How have you been functioning since last we spoke?" Her voice was unnervingly cheerful.

Time ticked on, and it seemed no one was paying attention to her cries. Behind the mirrored glass, though, the watch team from that morning perked up, sending a direct call into Robin's office. Time ticked on, and Robin had to collect her notes and rush to the holding cell where the subject had been brought, an eager, determined expression on her face. "Good morning, Seventy Seven! How are you feeling?" A good twenty minutes had leaked by before the familiar voice crackled over unseen speakers.

Rachel stopped her pounding and her cries as soon as she heard Robin's voice. She breathed a small sigh of relief at having some kind of contact with someone, even if it was later than was desired. She looked around for the speakers, and seeing none, found herself feeling strange as she spoke to the empty air.

"Decidedly uncomfortable, thank you," Rachel said irritably. "Where am I? And where are my clothes!?"

Robin ignored her questions as though they had never been asked, "How have you been functioning since last we spoke?" Her voice was unnervingly cheerful.

Rachel frowned, continuing to look around the room for the source of the voice. Was this woman that obsessed with whatever it was she wanted that she would just ignore her "subject?"

"Maybe you can answer my questions first." Rachel stated bluntly. "I'm really not fond of being undressed."

(continued below)

"Well I was at least covered by fabric of some kind before I was brought here, even if it wasn't 'real' clothes," she replied testily, akwardly crossing her stubby arms.

"But whatever, sure, let's get on with it." Rachel continued to glance around the room, still hoping she could figure out where Robin was, or at least where here voice was coming from.

The orca girl whirled around at the sudden mechanical sound behind her, only to see Robin standing there as the door lifted. She just looked at her for a moment, with a raised eyebrow, before nodding silently and following her into the other room. Rachel just hoped this other room wasn't quite as prision-like.

"So what's first on the list?" Rachel asked, doing her best to match the lab-tech's cheery tone, but not succeeding so well. If one was listening carefully, they would probably detect a hint of dread behind the words. Rachel had no idea what she was in for.