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"Oh...yeah...heh...I try not to bring it up too much since it tends to make some people squeamish...but yeah, I'm on a 'liquid only' diet...so to speak. The labs make sure I get a good enough supply...but I'm sure they'd like nothing better than for me to go out into the jungle and hunt me a deer," he said with a shudder. He watched as she deftly captured and tossed the small spider crab, a burst of echolocation giving a strobe-light affect across his vision.

He shook his head once more, "But...well...I do what I can with what I got, I suppose. I just try not to start sucking on a packet of blood whenever I'm around people, that's all."

Tommy grinned at that, "Thankya kindly." He fished in his pocket with a thumb and hooked a claw around one of the few packets of blood he kept in there. He looked at it for a moment, and, with a sigh, punched a hole in it with a straw like some sort of morbid Capri-sun. "Hah," he said after drinking a bit of it, "Can't be any weirder than a plate of boiled mud-bugs...or a raw-oyster."

"Hmm?" he asked while looking up at the sky. "Heh, wow...you're full-a information...actually that's not a bad skill to have here."

Tommy'll be damned if he would ever lap blood out of a saucer or some other feral equivalent. It was one of the few human things he had left...using a tool of some sort. He idly watched Dee and the water as she went back out once more. At the lobster comment he outright laughed (thankfully, not having blood come out of his nose). "Hell, if all bugs tasted that good, sign me up."

Tommy smiled as she talked about her hobby/job, "Same here...though I'm probably not near as well versed as you are on that account."

A thought suddenly occured to him, "Hey um...mind if I ask what other islanders you've met?"

An obsession...well, at least she won't be bored on a place like this. He thought idly to himself as he sipped on the blood-pouch. He noted her scratching her shoulder once more. Could she have been stuck earlier today and not realized it? No...she'd be feverish and disoriented...She seems pretty clear-headed right now. Three weeks though...wonder if something happens if you don't get your first change after three weeks. I hope she gets something bearable...I dunno if I could stand it if one more good person gets something terrible...Victor...Richard...*sigh* and people like Zach get a goddamn dragon.

"Oh wow, you've met a bunch of 'em..." he trailed off though as she mentioned Richard. "Richard...? Oh...yeah...he uh...s**t...well she's a good friend of mine," he said with a shake of his head, "The way that man had changed...I saw him when he first got here...it's just...just goddamn monstrous what they're doing to him..."

Tommy took another sip from his blood pouch, draining it dry. His long, thin tongue snaked out to lick the last drop from the tip of the straw before he stuffed it back into his pants' pocket. "Christ..." he muttered out, "Yeah...she...she's all kinds of messed up right now. The animal's getting to 'em, I think." He nodded a few times before continuing. "Yeah, Victor's a really good guy...though he told me the other day that...something went wrong with his injections...that's the reason he turned out the way he did."

"Heheh, yeah...don't worry. It's not as bad as this one guy who met me..." Tommy rolled his eyes, "Thought he wound up on a leper colony or something. At least you finally figured out what's going on...this guy's probably still in denial."

He thought back to his meeting with that strange man...he never did catch his name, but that was what...a month or two ago? No...no...before my latest change...which meant that that guy must have changed at least once as well...goddamn...well, it's nice to have at least one fully human here at the moment.

And Tommy knew all about false hope. It had filled him since the moment his ragged body washed up on shore. It had festered in him as well...until he couldn't take it anymore and had to act. He almost got himself and a friend killed...even worse...he almost became just as bad as Moreau. At that time he was willing to murder...Tommy shuddered at the thought. He looked back up to Dee with a sad smile, "You can always hope, Dee...But...*sigh* I wouldn't hold your breath. I...well...myself and a friend of mine...after my first change...we tried to put a stop to it. Goddamn, I don't think I can ever forgive myself for what I was going to do...but anyway, Moreau he...he has this place locked down tighter'n a drum...Like I said, I tried once...but as you can probably guess, it didn't work out so hot."

Tommy hated this part most of all. He had to break it to Seth...and now...to this nice woman. But them's the breaks. If you're not a lab tech or a guard..you become just another islander. His brow creased in frustration. It wasn't fair that this s**t happened to good peoplee...she's probably going to hate me for what I'm about to tell her...But, better to know the truth than to live in denial, right? Tommy wished he believed that...but some part of his mind kept on telling him that ignorance is bliss. This is, until the first change takes you.

"Dee...I...just...look at your arm...and you know what I'm talking about. You take a look at your arm and...and I want you to tell me what you really think is going on here. This place can bring out the worst in people...but...someone can deal with it a lot better by knowing...and expecting what's to come."