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"Well claw marks in a tree...I'm pretty sure those weren't from me, but who knows anymo'," he said flatly as he dropped his hand down and crossed his arms because he felt awkward and didn't seem to know what to do with his hands anymore.

"It's betta fo' a lot of people, not jus' you, if I take up livin' in da jungle. Hell, I think ma duplex neighbor did it too," he said, keeping emotion from his words as best he could. "I pretty much live there anyway...ma duplex jus' holds ma stuff lately. I don't even sleep there much anymo'." He shrugged and casted a look at his rapidly cooling steak, which had lost the tiger's attention; the animal wanted hot, fresh meat, not a cafeteria woman's old leftovers.

"There ain't very much fo' me here, anyway," he remarked as he turned back to face her, his expression wearing a forced smile. "You'd know where ta find me, if ya even wanted to. I think yer da only person who'd give a s**t. Da rest would be thrilled except they might not take random trips inta da jungle no mo'. Besides, I sorta like being alone now...used to it 'n' all dat. Da tiger likes it dat way. Then at least I ain't gonna accidently try ta hurt ya again if I got lots of jungle keepin' me from you. I don't want ya hurt 'n' fo' it to be ma fault."

"It's what I want...but I don't want it at da same time...I dunno. I can't explain it right now, ya know?" He rubbed a thumb across his chin, the force smile eventually fading into a distracted, vacant frown. "It's betta fo' you, anyway. I can't trust ma'self herr anymo'.

His body language was starting to turn to something more aloof, as though he was ready to run off right that moment. This whole conversation bothered him a lot as he had never truely confronted with himself the level of destruction he was capable of on people he actually got along with. So far, most of his attacks had been on mere aquaintances or Aubrey. There was little guilt to associate there. This was different....Jamal was not comfortable with the intense guilt he felt.

His tail lazily coursed through the air behind him in the silence that followed, for the man was at a loss of what he should do. He wasn't looking for pity; he was serious in thinking he should probably spend much less time in the village to spare anyone else from dealing with him at an inopportune time.

Kikue had stayed indoors, mostly. She knew she had to get out and find food; there wasn't much in the mini-fridge provided by the staff that wasn't a beverage. Yet her desire to continue to be alone for a while kept her in. Finally, she found she couldn't hold off the hunger any longer. Leaving her duplex, she made for the building she had seen Jamal heading for the first day.

Pushing the doors open, Kikue looked inside. The aroma of food hit her -- some she had never even smelled before -- but she breathed it in deeply, her stomach rumbling. Food.

Moving to take a tray, she caught sight of someone out of the corner of her eye. It must be another person who lived her, and by the looks of it, she wasn't as new as Kikue was. Yet the girl had still changed. Kikue made sure not to look directly at her as she sampled the foods available. I should sit with her and get to know her...

Kikue's eyes fell on a plate of sashimi, a thin label on the bottom in spelling out the Japanese name in romaji : "Shikasashi." Her eyes widened. Her absolute favorite meal. Quickly she took a pair of chopsticks from a nearby, open container, and loaded her plate, as well as taking samplings of sushi from the next plate, rice mixed with egg, onion, and crab; and sauce.

Walking with her full tray to the red-headed girl already sitting, Kikue gave her a smile and a tilt of the head as if asking if she might sit with her.

"Thank you," Kikue said, sitting down with her tray across from the girl. She set things up accordingly on her tray, glancing up at the girl with another faint smile. "I'm sure you can tell I'm new here," she said sincerely. Picking up her chopsticks and swirling around the sauce she had, she dipped a piece of sushi in it. "I've already met someone else though. So you don't have to explain anything to me." She tapped her chopsticks on the edge of the sauce cup and put the sushi in her mouth. Mm, it was decent -- still not as good as home, though.

"My name is Kikue," Kikue said, looking over the girl good-naturedly. She wondered what her partner's animal was.

"It was hard at first," Kikue admitted, moving to the sashimi on her plate and quickly eating a piece. Mm, so very good. "I just found all of it out yesterday." She ate thoughtfully. "I found out about my animal last night too. I've only met one other person, Jamal. If you don't mind me asking, do you know what animal you have?" Kikue was curious, looking at the girl's face and ears. She couldn't think offhand what the girl might be tied to.

"Yes," Kikue said, her vocie softening. "I think I would have stayed inside longer, but I hadn't eaten anything, so I decided to come here." She forced a tiny smile and had some more sushi off her plate.

"I haven't seen anyone else yet...but if there are more people, it may be because of the reach of this company. I'm not sure how big it is...but I am from Japan." She glanced down at her meal tray and new that it probably looked quite obvious she was Asian, as well as induldging in her native food.

"Red panda?" Kikue echoed, suddenly recalling what they looked like. She had read something about them somewhere, for some project once. Feeling like she desperately wanted to tell someone what she had heard last night from Dr. Lockheart, she pointed to her nose and said, "Mine is a snow leopard. I used the intercom last night, and a woman, Dr. Lockheart, told me." There was still so much Kikue felt sure she didn't know about. She stirred her sauce in a distracted way, thinking. Trying not to picture the changes that would inevitably happen.

She tried to focus on her sushi.

Kikue nodded at Nita's suggestions to bring things back to her duplex. She definitely planned on doing so. But hearing that there was another Japanese girl already on the Island got Kikue completely by surprise. "Really? There's another Japanese here?" Biting her lip, she too thought what Nita was thinking : just how big was Feral Labs?

A soft smile spread across Kikue's face. "I brought a book back from the 'Town Centre' about big cats. The snow leopard pictures were beautiful." It was just the point about becoming one that was so awkward. "...I think I'd think even more highly of them if I wasn't set to turning into one."

Kikue peered at Nita's fur. She grimaced noticeably. "I haven't got any other injections, but I think I'm already being sensative to this heat here. I can't tell if it's from the serum or not." But they do live in such cold places...

She had another piece of sashimi, chewing politely. "Jamal, the first person I met...he's turning into a tiger. A white tiger. I think he's fairly advanced..." Considering Jamal her first friend, Kikue couldn't help but feel badly remembering the pictures he had shown her. She hoped he would see her note; she didn't expect a reply, but she did want to see him again. It seemed like he didn't go back to his duplex very much anymore, though...like he said...

"I think I may have seen a red panda before," Kikue commented, almost done with her plate of sushi. She looked thoughtful, in a pained way. Nodding, Kikue picked at the remains of her rice. She'd been worrying about the temperature since she'd found out. "The air is on quite high in my duplex. I didn't even think it had anything to do with this until I found out." She sighed. "Are there are a lot of things you notice in the first weeks? I've been trying to be critical of everything I do." It was always harder when the situation seemed to call for reactions that would be natural -- like wanting to be alone after finding all this out. But could it be serum-related? She just wasn't qualified enough to know...

Scratching the back of her neck slowly, Kikue nodded at what had been Nita's bamboo shoots. "Obviously I know pandas, and I'm guessing red pandas too, like those. Do they introduce more foods as people change?" She'd read that snow leopards were apt to go after wild sheep and goats especially.

At least shikasashi, raw deer meat, was close enough...right?