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Nicky instinctively backed away from Richard...giving a groan as he tried to stand. He had trouble at first, something was wrong with his feet...they didn't fit right in his dress shoes. He gave one more grunt as he tried to kick off his shoes...only it came out once more as a growl. Once his shoes were off though, his socks did quite a good job in displaying just how deformed they were now. His left eye twitched as he stared down...only to be broken by Richard's rant. Her words struck home and he gave out a wince...accidentally showing off his canine teeth. A dog...is that what the thing blocking the lower-half of his vision was? He shudered. "A dog...? A...a ******** dog...?" he whispered out...staring down at his hands again. "Wha...what bumps?" he asked quietly, doing his best not to hear what else she said.

Nicky looked up from staring at his hands and back to Richard. For a moment he crossed his eyes as they were forced to stare at the thing which used to be his mouth and nose. He shook his head to stop this, his large ears waved from side to side...a foreshadowing of things to come. Finally though, he was able to meet Richard's gaze again. Locked in her emerald eyes, he tentatively reached a swollen hand up to his right should and felt around...eyes widening. Was that normal? Do...dogs have that feature? He shook his head as he closed his eyes tight. "No...Christ...a dog..." he muttered out as he forced his mind to slow down. He had to calm down. Only way to get control is to calm down. Nothing can be done by being rash. Nothing. Just calm down, Nicky...calm down and we can get through this. There's got to be a way to reverse this eventually...just go with the flow until then...Sabin can fix this.

His hands slowly stopped shaking as he centered himself...tentatively, he began to push himself up off the floor but paused with a twitch of his eye. A completely alien feeling shot up his spine as the bare, thick tail touched the cold tiles of the cafe floor. This new apendage...new nerves connected to his brain...With all the control he could muster, he reached back and touched the alien flesh. It had the sickeningly fascinating feeling one has when you tongue the tender gums after a tooth is pulled. Quickly, his arm snapped back to his side as he ripped those thoughts out of his mind. Once more, he tried his best to balance on his deformed feet. This time, he succeeded. He opened his eyes and looked back to Richard once more. His mouth opened a closed a few times as the sore muscles in his jaw tried to get accustomed to the feeling of speech once more. He tried to vocalize once, only a growl came out...he paused, closed his eyes...opened them and tried again with all the patience in the world. "I..." he began before letting out a wet sigh...a bit of snotty blood dribbling from his black, wet nose. Immediately, his canine tongue whipped out and licked his nose...he didn't even seem to notice. He was trying to think of how to handle this situation...and handling people was easier for him to work with than handling himself. "...thanks for not being a complete and utter a*****e," he said, doing his best to smirk. All that happened was a curling of his lips and a baring of his teeth. Sure his voice had more of a tinge of sarcasm in it...that and it was a tad deeper...but it was also clear that he really did appreciate Richard being there for this.

"Yeh..." he said slowly, trying his best to pronounce the words correctly...but without practice, it still sounded garbled, "...tad odd..." He shook his head in frustration. He hated the sound of his own voice now...it had a subtle undertone of a growl to it no matter what he tried. "But..." he paused, once more trying to get control of his odd tongue. "w's always...rrr....real...now though...s'right in front of m'face," he said with that dog-like smirk...once more licking his nose. This time though, he noticed the action and frowned while looked down the protruding muzzle to the wet, black area where his human nose once was.

"Comfortable...huh..."

"Ex...exshperiment..." he said while sounding out the word, "...jus...what for...?"

Nicky eyed Richard as she straddled the chair and thought his aching feet could also use some rest. With a sigh, he used one swollen hand to straighten his slicked-back hair and used the other to pull out a chair for himself to sit on. Unfortunately for Nicky, his calculating mind did not take into account his new appendage...and he soon sat up with a yelp as he smashed his tail between himself and the back of his chair. Eyes wide and furious at the unknown attacker, he immediately swung around kicked the offending chair with his recently changed foot. Another widening of his eyes and a yelp soon followed as his foot connected to the chair. A low growl came from his muzzle as he slowly tried to calm himself...once more trying to find that calm center. With a soft sigh, he spun another chair around and sat down like Richard was.

"Now..." he said slowly, "Moreau..." So...it's the islanders too blame Moreau instead of Sabin...at least some do anyway...there may be more allies than he originally thought amongst the more animalistically inclined. "Psychopathic genius...traditional mad scientist...but you don't see that kind of thing in life. There must be a real reason..." He sighed once more while his hands went up to fix his tie...only to find it completely unmanageable at the moment. "But...what use for freaks, indeed?"

He looked over Richard, wondering just what position this now fellow freak of nature would fulfill...at his side? Against him? Only time will tell. Let's see what she says next.

Nicky did his best to ignore the laughter and the snide comment made by Richard. Though her words did hurt. Was that all he was reduced to? A tail-chasing, flea bitten cur? He gave a sigh to calm himself once more...that deadly quiet coming over his now distinctly canine-like features. His human eyes critically analyzed Richard for any falsities in her statement...but with the feline features, it was hard to tell. She had spoken to Moreau? And that was all this was? A playground? Hell...things like this didn't even happen where he was from. The sadistic ones almost never made it past the thug stage...they were weeded out...they only seemed to bring trouble. It was all business where he came from...and this was definitely pleasure. Then...a word struck Nicky. Immediately, his eyes darted around the ceiling as he tried to spot the cameras...

"...Almost...?"

Nicky quirked a brow at Richard as the cat seemed to be lost in thought for a moment before completely dismissing his question. Why? Didn't want to give out too much information? No trust? Or was she worried about the cameras...true, they were all completely justifiable reasons...but it still annoyed him. His frown deepened as he saw the eager grin. This could be trouble. With a sigh, he made to rest his head on his hand but ended up just hurting his sensitive muzzle. He gave out a slight curse before looking back to Richard. "...No...and interesting in what way? Interesting in a way that will just end up pissing me off for your own amusement?"

Nicky's own smirk came back as she gave this away. In his peripheral vision he took note of the tail...seems body language is going to take precedent over facial expressions soon for him. He didn't seem to like Richard too much...nor did he ever think he could consider the Displacer beast a friend...but something about her intrigued him. Maybe one day he would be able to like her...of course, how far he strayed from humanity would probably directly coincide with this. His train of thought was once more broken by what she was saying. "...A mutt...?" he frowned, not liking the direction this was taking. Just the thought of seeing a dog caused a bit of anger to stir. But then, that too snapped. "...hmm? Oh really..." a large grin spread across his muzzle, "You're right. That could be...interesting..."

Nicky eyed the tentacles but quickly looked back to Richard's eyes...although he kept a mental note on those deadly weapons. He idly wondered just how much damage they'd do...bet they were fast as all hell though. Watch out for 'em Nicky...he may over-rely on them, but not without good reason. He nodded slightly as Richard explained things to him. Richard was too outspoken with people he doesn't like. Strange...if she thinks you can one day be useful, she doesn't trust you to say anything...but if she doesn't think anything at all of you...or doesn't respect you, she'll tell you anything. He gave a slight grin. "I'll be waiting to hear about the 'almost' in the near future then. But...in the meantime...where can I find this 'Jordan?'"