Welcome to Gaia! ::

Marshall continued to sip on his soda, watching the others. People (or, now, Animal People) Watching was some times much more entertaining than actually being social.

...This only applied in small doses for Marshall.

"Okay! Lets see...Gaius is getting the food, we got Karaoke, a large ammount of carbonated beverages, a topless horse woman and two walking can-openers!" he said, motioning to Oz and Himself for that last bit, "I think we got a party going on now!"

Oz cocked an eyebrow and looked at Marshall, chuckling. He continued to massage his leg, his foot twitching occasionally.

"Yeah, all we need now is the lousy DJ and some glow-sticks," he chortled, emitting a strange chuckling sound that didn't sound human at all.

He had to be careful using sarcasm and irony, since these were concepts sometimes not understood by other cultures. Last thing Oz wanted were bad impressions and enemies.

Content that his leg had stopped twitching, at least for now, he left it outstretched and practiced flexing his his toes and 'foot-thumb'. He chewed his tongue in thought and picked up a stray twig. He held it in front of his foot and tried to grasp it. The level of concentration on Oz's face was somewhat earth-shattering in intensity, but side-splitting in hilarity.

But the clattering cocophony that was Gaius' approach broke his mantra, and he made a quick dash to the equine's aid. With large hands, he caught a box from Gaius' grip.

"Thanks, pal!" Gaius grinned around the pile of foods, the fish still clinging atop his muzzle. With some effort and a good deal of grunting, the food was finally piled on the grass by the grill. Gaius started unloading plates, naming off foods as he went.

"Let's see... I got some steaks just because you have to have a steak at a barbecue, got some pork, and some chicken - quiet Marshall, you don't have to eat it - some hotdogs I hope I might be able to stomach, some fish," Gaius picked the meat off his nose and waved it for show, "which I dunno how well will cook on a grill, but we can always hope! Also got some buns, apples - though most of them fell on the ground - and some other random fruits and veggies. People like carrot sticks and celery, right?"

Standing back up, Gaius grinned proudly. He'd managed to pick out a pretty good selection for the variety of diets present, or at least he thought so!

A thought struck Gaius, who looked over at the gorilla-man. "Oh! Oz, I thought you might like these!" Digging something out of one of the styrofoam boxes of fruits, Gaius tossed his prize over to Oz - ...a bunch of bananas. Gaius' grin widened, totally unaware of any faux pas he just committed.

Oz carried the box, trying his best to keep his balance and walk upright like the human he used to be. Thank god he didn't have to walk far. He placed the box down and watched as Gaius unpacked things randomly. Oz had become blissfully unaware of his 'nakedness' - well, did you really think an 800lb gorilla bum was gonna stay inside men's jeans? - but he needn't worry too much. All of his abdomen and backside was quite furry, it was just the concpet of being naked and in front of female company that bothered him.

His slowly lightening mood hit rock bottom as he was handed the bananas though. He wasn't violent by nature, and usually very gentle when he's sober. But he felt bitter about Gaius' gift. Was it a joke? Or was Gaius just dense?

Oz pig-grunted, a way of showing annoyance for wild gorillas, but accepted the bananas gracefully.

"Errr....thanks. I'm not that...hungry...right now...but maybe later," he tried to smile honestly. He took the small bunch of banana's back with him to his seated spot.

Pondering a more immediate use for them instead being eaten, he tested himself. Grasping a banana firmly in one foot, he tried to coordinate the other to peel it.

Not happening.

"No drinks for me, thanks," Sophie replied, her muzzle wrinkling at the thought before trying her best to sit down and not doing a very good job of it. So, with a sigh, she relented to leaning back on her tail, which was much more comfortable than any of the previous attempts at human sitting.

"So, um..." Sophie tried to start a conversation, but found that her social skills were even more awkward than before. So much had likely happened since she'd last spoken with any of them: she wondered in her slight social paranoia if they'd even noticed her gradual disappearance.

"What's up? Other than the sky, of course."

Sophie waved the idea of food away with a casual pass of paw: "No thanks, I ate a few hours ago." She paused to look at the food selection: how this much meat could be among a group of herbivores, a bird, and a monkey was beyond her, but she supposed it was one of those 'to each their own' situations.

With a lazy hop, she positioned herself beside Gaius, shyly smiling. Perhaps it was their current similarity in face (Sophie thought of herself more as a bunny-horse than a kangaroo), or perhaps it was just mere familiarity, but Sophie felt at ease with him, more than the others.

"The wings look good, Gaius," she said, once again feebly attempting to start a conversation. Transforming had been a humbling experience, and where she saw Gaius as a rather majestic creature, she felt deformed, defiled, and disabled. Of course, her paws worked fine as hands, but her mind didn't really grasp that aspect of it all.

If Gaius had still had human skin, they would've been able to see the blush that flamed his cheeks. As it was, the way his ears twitched back and his neck arched were more than enough to display his sheepish nature. Despite all his time on the island and in the presence of who knows how many women of varying degrees of modesty, he was still the shy man he'd always been.

He managed a smile, looking at her out of the side of one of his eyes, and flexed a wing self-consciously. "Y-you really think so? I thought they were kinda bulky, myself..." He turned to look her over more closely, noting how the changes had touched her. It seemed she had her own difficulties, just like the rest of them. "You look good!" he said honestly. "I think the fur suits you... and, well... your ears are really cute..." He raised a hoof and absently stroked one of them before realizing what he was doing and jerked the hand back, looking ashamed. "I-I'm sorry! I d-didn't mean to..."