Welcome to Gaia! ::

Jordan laughed at Lauren's doubt of his high school triumph, nearly choking on a chunk of steak in the process! “That’s okay, Lauren. I hardly believe it myself anymore, except I lived it. I graduated seven years ago and immediately went into veterinary school, my life’s dream. I couldn’t have done it without my mom saving a fund since I was a kid.” He nodded sagely, hoping the mention of his own mother wouldn’t hit her like a sucker punch. “Like I said, football was anger therapy. After three years of that, I had it worked out of my system and adjusted.”

He clasped his paws as best he could, loving this girl’s enthusiasm. “You do what you have to and we’ll be swimming in no time. I can understand they wouldn’t want us to have scuba gear, but that’s okay.” He took another chomp of meat, feeling the food helping a little, but he was still weakened and in a sense of security now that his wound was tended to and wrapped. “And if they knew you wanted to help me, I’m sure they’d feel more comfortable. They like you a lot, it seems, and if nothing else, they can have you spy on me.” He winked back playfully, unaware that had already been the case the first visit to his duplex.

Jordan laughed again. Comet was such an amusement and Lauren was excellent company. He’d get to see them again and he knew where they lived. Duplex 42. He could surprise them sometime with a visit. She’d likely have good news for him after talking to the labs. He was ecstatic to have a friend like Lauren, who was cheerful, upbeat, and could further his concept of a village clinic that would benefit the subject community.

He stood up carefully and gave Lauren a big hug. “You take care of yourself, Lauren.” He smiled from ear-to-ear. Then he leaned down, and scruffed Comet’s neck fur playfully. “You be good too, girl, and I’ll come over to play sometime.” Everything was coming up rosier the more he tried to be obedient to the labs. Sure, that meant nearly being killed by a man-sized cobra and the occasional psychotic frog assault, but if he could persevere past that he’d well be on his way to making things happen around here.

"Duplex 42." he smiled as she led Comet to do her business, turning back with a smile to the rabbit. He'd be takign that dirt road home today. No sense in risking further injury from Thom or Newt. He'd suffered several bruises because of that crazy amphibian, but it was nothing compared to what Thom had done. He'd take care of the rabbit first and get it situated in his duplex, then he'd worry about getting himself checked out by the labs.

Rachel headed out of her duplex, a few days after the incident with Jamal. She was still slightly shaken by it, wondering how quickly the crazed tiger man would begin to make good on his threat of killing all those not with him. Once in a while, she would find herself looking over her shoulder at quiet sounds, thinking that perhaps he was stalking her, not sure if she would qualify for his hit list or not. She wasn't anything remotely close to pro-labs, but she didn't know if that was enough to save her.

She wandered in the direction of the cafeteria, trying to keep a careful eye out for anything unusual. As she neared the entrace to the building, she saw a large wolf or dog sitting outside. It looked half starved and for a fleeting moment, Rachel wondered if this was the renegade wolf, named Annie, that she had been told about. Then she remembered someone telling her that Annie was unusually large, and while this was a large canine, it wasn't the kind of large she had pictured. Besides, there was something not quite wolf-like about this one.

After a moment's hesitation, Rachel walked towards him, not quite sure whether she was encountering a wild animal or a fellow islander. All she was sure about was that this creature looked near starving. If she been able to understand the state of her health before her first change, she might have found irony in her concern for the canine.

"You ok?" Rachel asked tenetively as she approached, knowing she would feel rather foolish, if this was just an animal that couldn't respond to her.

Rachel was almost surprised when the canine shook his head and spoke in response to her question. She tried not to show it, but if Pyroth were watching closely, he might have seen her eyes open a tiny bit wider.

After hearing Pyroth's response, Rachel regarded him with a hint of confusion. If he was one of the subjects (and how could he not be?) and had been here long enough to have gone all the way through his changes certainly he knew he was right next to the cafeteria. Why not just go in and get something from the buffet line? Not like Rachel visited there as often as most others, or tried not to at any rate, but she still knew it was there. Then there was the matter of hunting.

Rachel had been exposed to hunting from her family and other people in her clan, however, she had never participated in it herself. Also, despite the fact that she was turning into a killer whale, she had not noticed any kind of instinct to hunt, even though she knew that Orcas hunted fish and sea mammals. It still seemed distasteful to her, but she figured it must be essential to some of the islanders.

"Er...if hunting has been bad, why not just go in and grab something to eat? I know I've seen steaks in there and such...." Rachel was making an effort not to be rude, but she couldn't see the logic in him sitting outside the cafeteria when he was hungry.

"Ah, I see," was all Rachel said, trying to completely digest the meaning of his words. She was surprised to hear him mention a fear and/or discomfort associated with being indoors. Thom had mentioned something similar. Would she too become like that, as her serum continued its progress? No doubt she would eventually become more comfortable in the water, but still...

"I'm Rachel," she said in response to his introduction. "Do...all islanders eventually fear being inside?" she asked, slightly nervously.

Every day had been a new experience for Sophie since she'd changed: each little thing was relived because of the way she could smell it, hear it, or see it. True, it'd been hard, adjusting to her new feet and eye placement (she still had bruises from those mess-ups), but now that she had a handle on her body the way it was, she figured that maybe it was about time for her to start seeing people again. One could only be so reclusive, after all.

So, she went where both her stomach and her thoughts agreed that she'd find people. Lo and behold, as she shyly entered from the back door, she looked up to see a figure, someone she'd never seen before. In fact, he looked...human. Sophie blinked, and peered closer at his appearance from her distanced space, but to her, she definitely looked normal.

Bashfulness and her twenty-four-seven adrenaline rush screamed for her to duck back into the shadows, to save her reappearance for another day. He had to know about the Island, she reassured herself, but she wasn't so sure she was ready to show herself to someone who was still normal. It would feel like she was tainting him with her furry-ness, or something philosophical along those lines.

However, much to the reluctance of her instincts, she went into line, forcing herself not to give into the temptation to try raw meat, and instead got a much smaller steak and some ham rolls from the salad bar, as well as a single piece of celery to try and balance some vegetable intake. Her tail swished to match her anxious thoughts: if the man hadn't noticed her before, then chances were he'd noticed her by now, so there was no point in trying to hide.

Attempting to be social, she came to the table he'd been sitting at, and motioned to the place across from him. "...This seat taken?" she asked, though because she'd said it at a near whisper and almost tripped over her words she repeated the question. Sophie did her best to smile, though with her small muzzle it looked more like a fox-like grin, and her rather large blue eyes blinked at him as she waited for an answer.

Sophie winced as he looked her up and down: he mentioned something about a fever, but she'd never heard of it before, nor did she really want to know. What worried her is that he seemed so surprised: hadn't he seen others before?

"Thanks," she murmured, taking the seat opposite from where he was. At this point, Sophie wished she'd taken the seat on the opposite side of the room, but since it was too late, she figured she'd at least try to eat. Looking down at her plate, her stomach did a nervous backflip. It would seem she wasn't hungry anymore.

Sophie looked from her food to the man back to the food, but seeing as how he was still staring her down and it was making things rather awkward, she decided to speak up. "It's, uhm, I don't know exactly what serum it's supposed to be, but I'm still mammal," she stuttered, tripping on her words. "I've seen people who're off a lot worse...like...uhm...well, who else do you know?" She hated comparing herself to other people, but at the moment, she was backed into a corner, and not quite sure what else she could do.