Welcome to Gaia! ::

"No ring I'm afraid, though I'd think here it would be a leash and collar. I must not be making enough friends, might be taking things too slow. But," He resisted the urge to take smaller bites of his taco as he watched her meticulous chewing patterns, "I'm eating out, meeting new people. That must be worth something."

A shard of shell caught in his throat at her offhanded comment, prompting him to utter small a cough. "I suppose they can be..." He took his time chewing after that, somehow managing to keep his mind from running off with that tangent no matter how it urged.

"If you didn't think I was a shut in before, you'll definitely think I'm a hermit now." He raised his right hand and started curling up fingers as he counted off his introductions. "There was Vasile first. He was the one who conducted my initiation. He also recently introduced me to his friend Ambrose. There was also rather... brief acquaintance with a man named Billy and a young woman named Nita." He stuck out is thumb and waggled it "And now you make 5. I can finally start counting on my other hand as well."

Marlow arched his eyebrow at the statement, not sure what to make of it. So Vasile had a reputation, it seemed. "He's... made his interest known." Marlow said plainly, sipping on his water and confessing no more. It was also strange to him that this was the second time someone had commented on his appearance in such a blunt manner. It's not that he didn't recognize his own physical appeal... he just wasn't used to having it pop up in casual conversation. His final conclusion was that either Antony and Vasile had similar motivations, or he was going to be the recipient of a lot of awkward compliments. He could see it now. Hello, my name is Bob. I'm turning into a possum and you are rather attractive.

Marlow watched her fingers as they left furrows in her pale fur. Did everyone on the island work this fast, or was he merely 'fortunate?' to be receiving so much attention. "My interests?" He asked nonchalantly, wiping his hands on his napkin. "Honestly, the whole situation I find myself in here added to my current condition has not been very kind on my desire to pursue interests." He took sip from his water, casually removing his gaze from her hand's distracting movements. "And even at my best, my interests are very hard to pique."

Marlow clenched his teeth at her subtle jab but otherwise kept a friendly and open demeanor. It was as much as he expected from her and there was no point getting defensive about it now. He was positive, were he to have the will, that he would have nothing to be self-conscious about. He didn't, however, feel the need to prance about proving it.

The chair thing was also an expected annoyance, but again he couldn't begrudge anybody being curious. New faces and their stories were no doubt a cherished commodity on the island. "I have a short version and a long version I've managed to polish up in the last couple weeks. Do you have a preference."

"Missed turn on the last 500 miles of a 5,000 mile road trip. Somehow I got ahead of the motorcycle, but then it caught up. Shattered both my legs from the kneecaps down. 'Unsalvagable,' they called them. But they couldn't cut them off without my permission, and I never gave it." He leaned back in his chair with his glass, nursing the water as he would a harder drink. "Shame they didn't declare me insane. Could have saved me this 'trip.'"

Marlow would have offered her a light, if he had one. Another thing waiting for him at home, along with every single thing he owned down to his wallet. He shouldn't have waved his mother off when she offered to pack him a duffel. "I was told that I would be taking part in a highly experimental procedure that could result in my death. And to the outside world, I'm sure that's exactly what happened." His eyes flicked briefly to the newspaper stack. He would have to take those back to his room.