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Chubbs after waking up finally since his change and knowing Colche was alright, hoped not to run into this Billy as he'd gone to get food. After a giant helping of sausages and steak, he decided to take a detour towards the beach to enjoy a smoke and calm down. He'd gotten a little fustrated with the knife and fork, finding that his claw weren't useful for gripping delicate and small things.

The sand was easy on his toes, he'd hardly trip up here. He contemplated actually cutting his claws with a hacksaw to trim them back. He'd been feeling alot better since the change and his birthday he'd sworn he had missed by now. Chubbs didn't have the courage to get too intimate with Joliette lately, at least he still got to hold her.

Looking out into the water, he puffed on the cigarette in his lips and sat down easilly. His poor backbone still needed some extra time to feel better.

Emelyn burst from the clear water, tossing her hair behind her, and brushing the water from her face with a single, backsweeping carress. The moonlight was so soft and gentle on her face, and she smiled to see it- almost as glad as she was to get a good breath of air. She'd been underwater just as long as her lungs could bear it- searching the sea floor for those small oysters that dotted the shelfline.

It was only when she stretched upwards and turned to the shore, brushing droplets of water off her neck, did she see the half man, half creature sitting on the beach. She stopped, still thigh-deep in water, and blinked.

"Hello..." she said softly, not knowing if the man could see her. Not all the island denizens had such clear night vision as her.

Chubbs blinked, and for a minute, checked his cigarette to see if it was not tobacco. He was almost amused, the girl coming out of the water reminded him of so many beer ads with the hot woman coming out of the water, except in the style of the island she looked a little fuzzy.

Chubbs waved a little and flicked the ash behind him, he'd never seen this one before. He wondered how many damn people were on this chunk of rock, he was still meeting new people. Chubbs looked awkwardly around and finally decided to speak.

"Ah.. G'day, I erm... sorry I disrupted ya umm...I can move further down if ya want?"

"No, you're perfectly alright," Emelyn said, moving closer to shore towards the bear-like man. ...She thought 'bear-like' for, assuredly, he seemed more like that animal than any other; she couldn't place what he was becoming for all the fur, claws, and various additions that the poor man had suffered through.

"I was just looking for oysters." She put her hands out, palms up. They were empty. "So, as you can see, you're not interrupting anything." She walked out onto the shore, not insecure about her body-extensive 'fur suit'- not in the face of such a kindred transformation.

"I'm Emelyn," she said, coming up nearer to the man. "I don't believe we've met. ...Which is odd." She said as an afterthought.

Chubbs stood up as she approached, oysters huh?, he never understood why people wanted to eat something that looked like someone hacked up from their lung. He dusted down his paws and his backside, his tail gave a wiggle to dust itself off. Chubbs took a moment to be careful while taking her hand in his not to scrape it or cut her.

" It's not that hard, I don't get out much and I hang out at few places really... Name's Chubbs... well, it's really David but I use Chubbs cuz it's unique"

He gave a bit of a smile with his big teeth and tried to cover it up, thinking it might have looked a bit off puting. He gave her hand a shakeanyway, and thought to himself that this island was so full of hotties, Moreau's car must have a bumper sticker that says " No fat chicks".

Emelyn took a seat next to him in the sand, stretching her legs out before her and rolling her ankles to crack them.

"David..." she chewed the name in her mind, and it idled slowly on her lips a moment before it connected to something meaningful. "Oh... I do know you. Well, by proxy, anyway. Joli is one of my best friends here on the island. ...We've often said it's strange that you and I haven't met yet, for all the time I spend with Joli. ...It's nice to finally meet you." She smiled at the man, peering at his eyes behind the fur. It was strange for her- she was so used to looking beyond the animalistic features to see the person behind them- but she had never seen David before this moment, and so her entire frame of reference were those eyes... set deep within the mask of fur and teeth.

"Joli thinks the world of you."

Chubbs slowly sat back down in his spot and out of being polite, stubbed his cigarette out in the sand. It was also a force of habit, Chubbs had always fought to make the best first impression he could through life as his looks were always a downer. He listened to Emelyn for a moment, surprised to hear he was known of. He smiled hearing about Joli and blushed as he realised he was spoken about.

" Yeah, nice to meet you too"

Chubbs blinked a little as Emelyn looked into his eyes, his face went really warm and red. He couldn't really help it, for all the changes he still felt shy with a new girl. He blinked again and blushed like crazy when Emelyn told him what Joli thought of him and he had to hide he face.

" Awww man, heh yeah... she's great"

He waited till the blush settled a bit and thought about the words Emelyn said, and he sighed a little.

" I wonder if I might have changed that though a little"

"Changed a little?" Emelyn furrowed her eyebrows slightly, her face warping into that of a questioning gaze. "What do you mean? Are you two not..." she paused, using the moment to wonder if she should finish her sentence, "...okay, anymore?"

She hadn't seen Joli for weeks, and it troubled her that she and the man she'd described as being her only joy on the island could be having problems.

Chubbs rubbed one of his ears and looked over at Emelyn awkwardly. It was better to vent things at strangers at times, even if the place was small and she knew of him at least.

" Well.. it's been the second time i've changed... and well, before it happened, I wasn't too well. I was frustrated, and depressed, and feeling well... not good... not good at all"

Chubbs rested his arms on his knees and scratched his chin a little, a nervous twitch so to speak. He wondered if he was talking too much, but he thought he'd continue, just to explain to her.

" Well umm.. the serum I got, the injection.. it's grizzly bear, Tasmanian devil and wolverine. And well I've noticed before the second change, I've been getting a temper, a massive one that I've never had before. Well with everything that's happened, being pushed around by staff and well..."

Chubbs sighed and took a deep breath and acted out of nervousness by scratching his chin again before he continued.

" ..The change well it set me off, well, I can't say me... there's something else inside me that crraves to get out and I have to fight it everyday. The change let it loose and ... I... I went after Joli .. She did nothing, there was no argument, no fight, I just saw someone to tear apart and went after it. I stopped myself before too much happened. I pinned her against a wall before I snapped out of it and felt so sick I threw up."

"Oh god, I'm so sorry. ...To change into all those violent things... and then try to maintain even a shred of decency and humanity. I'm sure she understands." Without wondering how it would make the man feel, Emelyn put a comforting hand on his arm. She didn't put thought to it- it was an automatic gesture of comfort and understanding that came naturally, almost compulsively to the girl.

"But still, it must be frightening to have that temper building up inside of you."

Chubbs looked at the ground, or rather the sand and sighed again. Emelyn was really nice, she even patted his shoulder, it did help. He reached over and patted her hand in return and gave her a light smile.

" Yeah, I'm just scared because of the look I saw on her face, I wish I hadn't caused that fear in her. I should be fine with the temper, I hope, I've been keeping myself fed, making sure I sleep well and I only hope the staff doesn't piss me off like they have. Specially that damn Sabin"

Chubbs gave a smiole at least, it was good to get things off his chest like that. Emelyn at least looked like she cared about what he had to say, it was funny, he would have thought it was his job to be a comforter.

" So what about you? I know nothing about you really, time to change that"

A small smile crept onto the lips of the nocturnal girl. She was surprised by the question. She had been the constant comfort of so many on the island- a forgiver, accepter, and counsel to those who mourned either the death of their past lives, or the realities of their current ones. She was content to subsist in this manner, but it was always a refreshing thing- and a true point to the depth of someone's character- when they focused on her, as well.

"I'm surprised you want to know," she said, her voice holding no self-pity- for indeed, she had none, "I don't think more than two or three people on the island know more than a handful of things about me. I suppose I have one of those faces that say 'I listen', not 'I talk'." She grinned, plucking her goggles from her forehead to drop them in her lap, freeing those quills which had been twisted beneath them.

"Well... I came to the island... in the first 'wave' of people- back before anyone had changed. I washed ashore after my boat crashed in a storm that also brought someone else to the island in the same manner." She looked up the sky, rolling only her eyes upwards, as if to probe her mind for facts. "And before that, I was a youth diplomat for a branch of the United Nations, and travelled around the world doing various things as part of the Peace Projects. ...And... let's see... I think that's a decent handful of facts. You've now acquainted yourself more than pretty much anyone on the island with Emelyn Honor White." She gave him the smallest of salutes. "Nice to meet you."

Chubbs grinned and listened to her explain her situation for being here and her existance before the retched island. His tail swished lightly back and forth in the sand. His mouth opened in awe of what her life was like, he couldn't believe it. That was like, wow she really was somebody. He then grinned and chuckled at the salute and then returned the gesture himself, giving a click of his claws as he did.

" Nice to meet ya too, but umm.. I recon ya face more says " I'm cute" "

He chuckled lightly then grinned, but tried to hold it back, his teeth must have been terrifying.

" But that really does blow big time, ending up here. I got tricked here myself, never really had a cool life like yaself. Sounds like pretty cool work, I mean going round the world and stuff, helping people, sounds great"

Emelyn returned Chubb's grin at the sight of his return of the gesture, and at the click of his dark claws.

"Well, the animals that have infiltrated your DNA may be vicious ones... but they make you look very cuddly," she said, whispering- as if confiding in him. "...Not unlike a teddy bear."

At his mention of her past life, and how great it must have been, Emelyn took a deep breath and leaned back on her arms, her fingers stuck into the sand behind her and her palms crunching the grains almost compulsively.

"It was a nice life. ...But I don't think I miss it. I travelled because I was looking for something- or running away from something. Either way, I don't need either, anymore. ...What about you?" She asked, weaving the conversation back to him. "What did you do before being tricked into this "tropical paradise"?"

Chubbs blushed again, smiled and hid his face again at the mention of teddy bear. It was a nice compliment, but he still had to hide his face all the same. He tried not to stare when she stretched out, he still was a guy and Emelyn even through her change was pretty attractive, so he went to talk about his life before.

" Umm.. I was a boxer.. kinda a good one. I moved to America from Australia to get better promotional fights. Well one night I got asked, um well told really to rig the fight by some people and well I got so nervous I got sick and had to run out of there. Soon as I did I took off and lived on the streets for a bit so I had no records or home."

Chubbs took a stretch, cracking his back a little and then laid back in the sand as he continued, looking up at the sky.

" I eventually found an old abandoned sorta rusty fish warehouse at the docks. I mae a few friends by then and with kids too, so I managed to get together some gear and I taught the kids how to box. I got some extra food out of it and I liked teaching. Well some guy one day reconises me and says he wants me to go to an island to compete in a fight to win some prize money. I said I'd take it, so I could get a better place for the kids to train in. And so I ended up here"

"Wow..." It was more an exhale of breath than a word, and Emelyn shook her head. 'With each new story about how Moreau's ruined someone new's life... I can't believe that there can be a creature on this earth with so little soul." The sand felt good in her fingers, and the cool, night air so delicious on her moist, furry skin- but that did not mean that this was paradise- or even where she wanted to be. ...Not that she had any idea where that was. The mainland held nothing for her, anymore- and neither did the wide world of travelling that had once been her home.

"Working with kids- that must have been great. I worked with orphans when I lived in the Czech Republic- we built them a new playground. You must like children quite a bit."

Chubbs smiled and put his hands behind his head, he found out fast that his claws wouldnt let him and he rested his head on his arms instead. He did like kids, specially the group he was with, he wondered at that moment how they were and were they okay without him.

" Yeah, kids are great, they got great laughs and love to have fun. The one's I was with were really adorable and sweet, I loved them all, they gave me a purpose in life, something to give my life meaning. I've been trying to find the same thing here, but it's not that easy"

Chubbs thought about Moreau and sighed and shook his head.

" As for Moreau, well, I hate feeling it, but I've nothing but hate for the man, and I don't like he made me feel it"

"I've never hated anyone before in my life," Emelyn said, "until Moreau. And I'll say this before anything else... for the benefit of the cameras," she said, leaning into Chubbs with a wry smile on her face, "...That I've never met a man so devoid of a human heart, and who, if you were to plumb into the depths of his soul, would be seen only to have mere scraps of humanity clinging to its caverns." It was a mouthful, and Emelyn would have rolled her eyes at herself- but the sentiment was to real to mock.

She sat up, no longer relying on the anchor of her arms to support her, and placed a hand back on Chubbs' arm.

"It's not our DNA that makes us human. I think Moreau is the best example of that of all."

Chubbs chuckled and couldn't help it, the oppurtunity for humour was always taken by him, and at this point he took it, expecially to make fun of Moreau. He whispered back and clung to Emelyn, trying to avoid using his claws.

" Eeeee, help meee, I'm Moreaus humanity... saveee meee... I'm so tiny Emelyn, and I'm surrounded by too many jerks I'm being over powered."

He broke into chuckles and winced a little as his caught a couple of quill tips from Emelyn. He didn't mind though, it actually didn't hurt that much.

Emelyn laughed, her stomach contracting in bursts with her mirth. She caught the wince, however, and wiped away where the moisture had started to form under her eyes.

"Oh, I should warn you- they're getting a little sharp. The new ones on my back are worse- but the ones that are forming out of my hair aren't so bad." She appreciated how gingerly he held her with those monstrous claws- even with her own, limited claws that were more an extension and thickening of her own, natural nails than those veritable blades that Chubbs wielded, she knew how difficult it was to manuever with a delicate touch.

Chubbs checked out her spikey bits and ran a claw over a couple them, they were certainly getting sharp. He kinda pittied her, eventually having half her body incapable of unpainful contact with others.

" Good to hear ya laugh, that's what I like most. I think I should start getting back though, before Joli starts wondering if I've gone walk about"

Chubbs stood up and dusted himself down before grinning and pulling Emelyn up of the ground and pulling her into a big hud, regardless of the tips or not, she was going to get one for being there for him.

Being pulled to her feet startled her- but the hug genuinely surprised her, though she let herself be wrapped in the great-sized man's affections. When they released each other, Emelyn let forth a hearty chuckle that originated in her chest and bubbled from her lips with a happy abandon.

"No wonder Joli loves you," she said, wrinkling her leathery nose to let the man know she wasn't trying to embarass him, "you're such a sweet man. ...Take care of yourself, okay? And say hello to Joli for me. Tell her to come and visit me out here in the wild."

Chubbs chuckled and blushed again, looking at the ground, damn Emelyn lobbed out the compliments didn't she?

" Awww hush now, damn ya and ya compliments, I'm gonna be a pink teddy bear at this rate"

He gave her a playful nudge and started heading back to his duplex.

" Will do, and I'm sure she'll visit"

Chubbs headed off, and it wasn't ill later he realised what Emelyn said, and he thought to ask joliette when he got back.

Emelyn said nothing as the bearish man blushed and rambled back into the woods on the way to Joli... back to the mock civilization that Emelyn had so summarily dismissed. After he left, she turned, face to the ocean and eyes to the sky.

The nights were hers- and at least out here- her thoughts were her own. She waded back into the water, and dove in to the cool water, freshened from her respite with David.