Welcome to Gaia! ::

It was a bit early for Nita to be out on the beach, as she generally prefered the cooler (and sun-blocked) climes of the jungle while the sun was still out in full force. However, the girl was restless and a bit bored with her normal routine. As such, Nita had left her duplex carrying a large towel, a paperback, and wearing her old faded bathing suit.

She walked in the surf to keep herself relatively cool, intent on finding an appropriate spot to stretch out and read. A flash of pale blue and brown distracted her, not to mention the modest curves of.. Maryke. Nita stood still in the wet sand, stomach roiling strangely. Her semi-muzzled mouth quirked a slight frown at her nervousness. You're being ridiculous, Neets, she told herself sternly. It's just Maryke. Just another islander. Like you. Nita squared her shoulders and veered off across the beach towards her.

"Hey," Nita called out once she was just a couple of yards away. "How've you been?" She bit the inside of her cheek, standing awkwardly and feeling remarkably young. Young, gawky, self-conscious, and hairy; not at all like the generally self-possessed young woman she knew she was.

Nita smiled back, relieved at the welcome. She attempted to keep her eyes politely averted, although Maryke seemed the type not to mind being looked at. Even so, Nita preferred not to be quite so obvious.

"Yeah, sure. Although I don't really tan anymore. Actually, I never did before, either." She spread out her towel and set down her book. The girl sat cross-legged and shoved stray wisps of hair out of her eyes.

"So," she began, looking sideways at Maryke (to keep the sun out of her eyes, of course). "How've you been since.. you know." Nita waved a furred hand slightly, indicating their previous meeting.

"It's actually kind of nice, since I used to just freckle and burn. At least now I don't need to bother with sunscreen." Nita shrugged and looked dispassionately at her furred arms and legs, therefore missing Maryke's disrobing.

"Alive is good," Nita replied cheekily. She turned back towards the woman at her chuckle, surprised to be presented with her bare back and the lotion. "Uhm. Sure." She blinked a few times, now very glad that the fur on her face hid her flushed cheeks.

The red panda girl squirted a generous amount of lotion onto Maryke's back and spread it around, keeping the layer as even as possible. The stuff felt weird on her palms and unpleasantly sticky on the fine fuzz between her fingers.

Nita tried to ignore the moaning, although she did venture a quick tickle of Maryke's ribs when the woman started giggling. "There you go," she said, wiping her hands together in a rather futile effort to rid them of the excess goop. It would take some serious washing to get it all out of her fur.

She lay stomach-down on her towel, propping her chin on her folded hands, ankles crossed in the air. "It is beautiful," she agreed readily, taking a few deep breaths of the warm salty air.

"My story? Not that interesting, really. This was supposed to be a sort of study abroad program." Nita shrugged slightly, a remarkable feat when lying down. "I've made a place for myself though, odd as it seems. And I do have friends and stuff, moreso than I ever did back home." She skimmed over the boyfriend topic, including whatever could be construed by 'stuff.'

Nita shifted slightly to face Maryke, nearly-exposed breasts regardless. She smiled, a thoughtful look on her face. "There are good people here, definitely. At least we're all going through the same s**t. We're all just trying to survive here. Even if we're being turned into different things, we're all being changed. Physically and mentally. But in spite of those changes, we're still human."

She paused a moment, thinking about the pair Maryke must have run into. Nita had still not met Jamal, but the squirrel-woman must be Antony. "Most of us, at least. I won't tell you that everyone has such a great handle on themselves, because that would be a flat-out lie. But most of us work to retain our humanity."

"As for you money, it doesn't mean anything here. There's no point in trying to flaunt it or get it. If you really need material goods, you can request stuff from the labs. They do try to keep us happy, as much as possible." Nita snickered. "And your tits? Well, we are still human!"