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 Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 4:08 pm
"Heh heh...Y'know, I should've figured that. You kinda talk like an English teacher." Marshall said, still leading the tall (abnormally so) man back to his duplex. He felt a ping of regret for not cleaning up the mess he left, AND how he was acting like nothing was wrong.
He just didn't know HOW to react to this kind of thing. He could easily freak out and run, but that would make him a coward and a slime. So, in his own weird logic, he figured that NOT running off AND acting like nothing really happened, made him just weird.
I rather be bizarre than a coward...
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 10:14 pm
"Do I?" Joshua asked curiously. He never thought that English teachers spoke a particular way - or at least, he didn't think that he spoke in any particular way. He was grateful that Marshall hadn't freaked out too badly in front of him. Joshua thought that would have just made things worse, as he was already having a hard time with it.
When they arrived at Joshua's duplex, he unlocked the door and pushed it open, carefully lowering his head to step inside the room. His neck had grown only very slightly more, but it still made the room feel even smaller than it was. He definitely needed another place to live. What if he changed again, and his neck grew even more..?
No, don't think about the next change. Not yet. Just deal with one thing at a time.
Joshua had curled up his tongue to fit inside his mouth, but it only made him feel like he had something too large and thick inside his mouth. It was uncomfortable, but he figured he would have to deal with it for the sake of not disturbing others who saw him. "Thank you for helping me, Marshall... I am sorry you had to see that," he said, his speech a little slower than normal to get used to speaking all over again.
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 10:29 pm
"N-no! Don't apologize! Really! Um...I'm down at 59. So, um, if you need any help with any thing, just call or some thing, y'know?" Marshall said, rubbing the back of his neck. "You, um, probably want to like...get some sleep or some thing. So...I'll see you later, Professor Rivers." Marshall said, waving slightly as he left, making sure he got the door behind him.
Marshall stood outside, staring at the ground. He felt sick. Like he wanted to scream. To curse the world. He knew Josh was still Josh, and he took comfort in that...But, seeing that.
"Wh-when will it happen to me?" Marshall muttered alloud, as he took that long, long walk back to his duplex, staring at the ground the entire time.
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Posted: Fri Sep 29, 2006 10:48 pm
"Okay... thank you again, Marshall, for your help," Joshua said, and he watched as the younger man walked away before closing the door. With a sigh, he locked it. He wasn't ready to see anyone quite yet. He glanced at the intercom. He wanted to talk to one of the doctors on the island, but now that he was back in his duplex - his home - he suddenly felt how very tired and worn out he really was from the change.
He walked over to his bed, neck and back arched forward to keep from hitting the ceiling and to keep from stumbling too much. Joshua carefully lowered himself onto the mattress, moving to lay on his side, still the most comfortable position and the best way for him to fit most of himself on the bed. For a moment he worried that he would be to restless to sleep, despite how tired his body felt.
But it was in that moment - before he even realized it - that he succumbed to slumber, eyes too heavy to keep open anymore.
(( END RP ))
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Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 6:11 pm
(New RP)
The sound of intense sawing could be heard throughout the duplex circle, a steady SKRRK-ZZZ SKRRRK-ZZZ bouncing off the buildings. Some exploration could find the source in the area near Duplex 62, where some crates and wood had been set up in a make-shift wood-working station of sorts. Gaius stood bent over a long plank, clad in sweat-stained shirt and work clothes adorned with what particles of wood flew off the wood as he worked the handsaw.
A couple pieces of cut wood sat nearby, but it was impossible to tell what project the horse-man was working on yet.
Gaius blinked away a trickle of sweat that stung at his eye. What he wouldn't give for a power saw right now.
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Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 6:22 pm
Nita returned to the village after a day or so spent out in the jungle. Her encounter with Thom had left her wary of her fellow islanders, but she was grubby and ready for something more than the nuts and fruits she knew were safe to eat.
The red panda woman would appear much more self-possessed than on their previous meeting, as well as having obviously changed again. Her movements were slower and more deliberate, in accordance with her thickened (and furrier) body).
Even non-animalistic ears could hear the sawing; as Nita drew nearer, she recognized the man at work. She paused a few feet away, hooking her thumbs in her belt-loops. "Hey... Gaius, yeah?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 6:32 pm
Gaius stopped mid-sawing at the address, looking up to see who it was. It would be easy for Nita to notice that Gaius wasn't entirely human anymore either, from the tail and stretched face. He spotted Nita, but it took him a moment before he recognized her and broke into a wide smile.
"Oh! Hey! Um..." His smile faultered awkwardly as he realized he'd forgotten her name. "...Natalie, right?"
There was something off, something that didn't match his memory, and Gaius scrunched up an eye as he looked at her. "You look different..."
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Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 6:41 pm
"Nita, actually," she corrected, taking in Gaius' changed appearance. Her mouth opened slightly in a smile, her muzzle no longer particularly suited to smiling properly. "Yeah, I changed again."
Nita brushed a strand of reddish hair out of her face. "I see you did, too," she observed. "You don't look bad." Peering around him, she asked, "What're you making?" A bit of sawdust crept into her nose; she sneezed.
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Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 7:19 pm
Gaius blushed ashamedly, kicking himself for getting Nita's name wrong, but his blunder was quickly forgotten after Nita's comment on his looks. It didn't bring much outward change to his behavior, except that he ducked his head to scratch at the back of his neck as he often did when nervous. "Th-thanks... I guess it's not as bad as some of the others I've seen..." He decided against mentioning the things bound beneath his shirt just yet.
"Ah!" He clapped grinned eagerly, brushing off his hands on his pants as he started explaining. "I'm building--" He was interrupted by Nita's sneeze. The little sound, coming from a girl, made him chuckle. "Bless you!"
"Anyways, I'm making furniture! ...Actually, I'm still figuring out how... but I want to make stuff for the islanders! Like chairs that will fit their - our - tails without having to sit backwards."
Gaius stood back, reguarding Nita again. "You know... when I first saw you, I couldn't figure out what was different. You look fuzzier, and kinda wider... ER! I mean-! You look bigger!" He panicked, realizing his slip too late. "No! Uh, just more defined, in a good way! I don't mean you're fat! Definitely NOT fat! I mean...!" He clapped a hand over his face and groaned.
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Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 7:33 pm
Nita scrubbed at her nose, waiting for the fur on her cheeks to un-poof. "'Scuse me!"
"That's a really good idea. I've started having to turn chairs around now." She twisted around to indicate her tail, which was nearly as thick as her waist. "Clothing is another issue." Nita rolled her eyes-- and burst out laughing at Gaius' tactlessness.
"Maybe a little fat," she wheezed between bouts of laughter. "Your honesty is almost refreshing, Gaius." Nita grinned her open-mouthed smile and wiped her eyes.
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Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 7:42 pm
Gaius winced, smiling sheepishly behind his hand. "I'm glad it's not violence-inducing..." He chuckled and shook his head. "I need to get an eraser for my tongue. Or a rewind button. That would be handy."
He ran the hand back through his hair and sighed. "Seems like everyone's been changing... I've been like this for a couple weeks, but just the other day I saw this guy in the laundromat... he... well... his jaw went all messed up." Gaius shuddered. "It was nasty. Now I know how Marshall must have felt..." The horse-man paused, frowning slightly. "You know, I haven't seen that kid in a while... I wonder if he's okay..."
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Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 7:50 pm
Nita continued snickering, although her mirth was slightly less hysterical. "You're just lucky I was never particularly vain. And well..." She shrugged. "Red pandas are pretty squishy."
Her mood changed slightly as the subject shifted towards the inevitable. "I've seen some drastic changes, myself. I hate to tell you, but it doesn't really get easier... Watching friends lose limbs in front of you..." Nita shook her head slowly. "Marshall? Little guy, brown hair? You know him?"
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Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:09 pm
"Red panda?" Gaius tilted his head. "I thought you were some kind of raccoon! What with the ringed tail and face and stuff..."
The image of someone's limbs disappearing made Gaius shudder. Ambrose had said he smelled like an herbivore, were there any herbivores with fewer limbs? He sincerely hoped not! However, he quickly nodded an affirmative to Marshall's description. "Yeah, the first normal guy I ran into... while I was still human..." His face fell. "It was nice to just forget about everything around us and pretend things were normal, just for a couple hours."
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Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:20 pm
"Nope, red panda. They do kind of look like raccoons, though. But we're, er, they're not related. And they're not really related to giant pandas, those are the black and white ones, either." Nita grinned. "Sorry, I tend to babble."
She scratched at a bit of fur on her arm. "Heh, I was the first changed person he'd run into. Poor guy. Although there are definitely worse people who could have told him what's up," Nita added after a moment. As confused and disillusioned as Nita was about the island (and her promises to Moreau), she did still maintain that it was best for the newcomers to have things explained to them-- and she had to admit she had a knack for it. Or at least, she had a knack for running into the newbies.
"It's funny what ends up passing for normal around here."
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Posted: Mon Oct 02, 2006 8:39 pm
"Well if they're not related to pandas, then why are they called red pandas?" Gaius laughed, though he quickly stopped as a snorting sound escaped his nose.
"You got to break it to him?" Gaius asked with raised brows, then broke into a relieved smile. "...I'm glad. You're a nice person, so I'm sure his let-down was much easier than mine. Of course, it's hard to disbelieve anything when you're watching a dragon and a lion duke it out..."
"Still, feel kinda bad he had to be there when I changed and saw those things come out of my shoulders-" Gaius stopped suddenly and winced. Dangit, rewind!
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