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 Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 2:56 pm
A crystaline wave crashed over Gaius as he came to a tumbling skidding stop on the beach sand. Whiping salt water off his face, he blinked his eyes to get the sting out and grinned. Riding the surf was exhilerating, though it would have been even better if he could get one of the boards he could lie on. In the meantime, he'd just have to make-do riding the waves with his body. At least the sand was amazingly soft, like all those tropical island paradises he'd heard about... Well, duh! He laughed at himself. This WAS a tropical paradise, after all!
Getting up off his belly before the next wave caught him, Gaius stood as the water swirled around his feet. The sun was hot overhead, particularly hot with the summer months on them, though there wasn't much difference when they were so close to the equator. Only real change was how much rain they got...
Grinning with enthusiasm, Gaius shielded his eyes from the sun and turned to survey the beach and whoever might be around.
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Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 3:06 pm
The sun was shining brightly, and Marshall...could not have been more miserable. Feathers had started sprouting along his back since his 25%, making wearing a shirt some thing of a pain. And he had definatly become more sensitive to the heat, learning to never leave his apartment with out a bottle of some sort of drink.
But not even his personal discomfort could stop him from enjoying the beach. Looking up, Marshall noticed his good freind swimming in some weird fashion. "Body Surfing", if he wasn't mistaken.
"YO, GAIUS!" Marshall called out, waving a now webbed hand.
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Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 3:19 pm
Oz had become unmistakably bulky during his time on the Island. After his second change, he realised it wasn't his diet and must be related to whatever animal he was changing into. At first, he didn't mind so much - he'd never looked so muscular. But then the hair started to grow in...
Oz just about squeezed into the beach bar, consuming glass after glass of cold lemonade. He was still proud to have stayed away from alcohol after everything he had been through. He was still trying to overcome his unusual habits now.
"Ah bollocks!" he exclaimed in fury as his barrel-chest and bulky arms wedged him firmly in the beach bar entrance. The sounds of Gaius and Marshall had prompted panic from the Briton. I can't be seen like this!
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Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 3:40 pm
Spotting Marshall, he waved enthusiastically and stumbled up the beach. He hopped as the hot sand burned his wet feet, and yelped, "Ah ah ah!" Reaching Marshall's spot in the shade, he flopped onto the sand and winced as he massaged an abused foot. "Ah, that was hot..."
He'd seen Marshall a couple times before, but it was still hard to look at his friend without staring, particularly at the yellowed nose, or the black feathers sprouting from his skin. But, he wasn't one to let that kind of thing get him down. Not on a day like this!
"Marshall, you HAVE to try the water! It's wonderful! It's so warm, but cooler than the air. It's like a giant salty pool! It's ten, nah, a hundred times better than the lakes my dad and I went to when I was little!"
A warm breeze kicked up some sand and Gaius turned away to shield his face, catching sight of something large and... blackish?... over in the beach bar. It looked like whoever it was was struggling... From where he was, he couldn't recognize Oz. Sitting up straighter, Gaius cupped a hand and called, "Hey? Do you need help over there?"
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Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 3:57 pm
Ah crap!
Oz stopped dead, the feeling of dread just washing over him. Now he doubled his efforts to push himself out of the beach bar, flailing his stumpy little legs and putting excessive strain on his old knee injury.
"No..-cough-..err, I'm fine!" he replied, trying to put on a different voice to his own. This utterance was promptly followed by a very distinctly animal-sounding grunt.
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Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 4:07 pm
Gaius was on his feet by that point, trotting over to the bar. Whoever it was was clearly stuck, poor fellow. "Don't worry, pal! I'll help you out of there in a giffy, and hopefully without tearing down this door..."
Up close, Oz's features were far easier to distinguish. The black hair, the massive shoulders and chest, but... there was something in the face and eyes... Gaius stopped short, confusion flooding his face. "...Oz?"
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Posted: Sun Jul 30, 2006 4:41 pm
Marshall was amused with Gaius' enthusiasm about the Ocean. Growing up near the coast, the beach was no big deal to him, but to Gaius it was a whole new experience. Before he could do any thing, he noticed some familiar black thing blocking the bar door.
Following right behind Gaius, he instantly recognised the large gorilla man. Now, Marshall should have been sympathetic to another Islander, suffering from his changes.
...But he wasn't.
"HAHAHAAHA!!! Oz, how the hell didja get stuck in there man?!" he said, doubled over laughing.
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Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 1:53 am
Oz tried his hardest to conceal his face, which still had fairly human features, but it seemed pointless as both Gaius and Marshall had made it obvious they'd recognised him. He sighed heavily, the frame of the door creaking with his every movement, no matter how subtle.
"Take a wild guess," he replied, resuming his struggle with the door frame.
Whilst his shoulders had grown immensely, his head wouldn't look proportioned until his final change. His face, chest, stomach, hands and feet were still flesh coloured but so alien in their appearance. His broken nose wasn't so broken now...just incredibly flat and pug-nosed instead. His jawline didn't seem to line up with the shape of his head either. And his feet...they were practically hands that were stuck to his legs. He felt like some grotesque orc from the Lord of the Ring series.
"Graaaaagh!" Oz bellowed, unable to control the distinct animosity in his voice.
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Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 2:23 pm
Gaius winced, listening to the beach house groan under Oz's straining. It sounded like the whole thing would come down if the large man pushed too hard.
"Hey, hey! Hang on Oz, careful!" He hurried up next to his friend. It was impossible to avoid noticing the oddness of his features as Gaius looked the situation over, putting his architect mind to work. Those shoulders... they were the main problem.
"Alright... Oz, you're going to have to back up. That door's going to break if you push any harder. But you're wedged in, so we'll need to push your shoulder free first, and the rest should come with it..." Glancing back at his feathered friend, Gaius scowled at his cackling. Marshall was ever the mast of sensitivity, oh yes.
"Marshall, will you stop being an a** and lend a hand here? I'll push on the left shoulder, and you push on the door frame a bit to try and give us some leeway... Oz," he looked back at the gorilla-man, "you try and pull back your left shoulder, okay? Hopefully we can do this without tearing down the building!"
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Posted: Mon Jul 31, 2006 6:55 pm
Marshall stopped laughing, wiping a tear from his eye. "Al'right...I'm sorry Oz." Marshall said with a smile, lightening the mood.
Walking over to the door frame. He wrapped his webbed hand around it, pulling on it with all his might.
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Posted: Tue Aug 01, 2006 12:56 pm
"Right about now, I wouldn't mind tearing down a building," he chortled. He tried to keep his sense of humour amidst all this, maybe it was the only thing that still made him seem human.
Oz waited for Marshall to get into place, taking great notice of his new features too. A cruel smirk creeped across his deformed face.
"So, how's the Island weather treatin' you, Pingu?" he taunted, giggling.
But his teasing was short-lived as Marshall was actually helping out. Oz breathed in, as if that might make any kind of difference, and waited until the pressure on his shoulders eased enough for him to back into the beach bar. He was free of the door frame but still encased in a building that taunted him with alcohol.
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Posted: Thu Aug 03, 2006 12:45 am
Alright, first problem solved... but now how did they get Oz out? Short of taking down the building... Gaius leaned against the abused doorframe, watching Oz as he thought. He didn't mean to stare, but there was no denying the Brit took up a good deal of space. The way he hunched over, hands almost touching the floor... It made Oz look positively brutish.
Gaius shook his head, though he couldn't get rid of the pity in his eyes. "Okay... Oz, try getting through the doorway sideways. Go one shoulder at a time, and suck in your gut if you can."
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 5:41 pm
"Eh, the weather's been fine, Oz Kong." Marshall said with a snirk, still trying to keep his grip on the door-frame. With his hands now webbed, and not as textured as they once were, it was an increasingly challenging task.
"But, I gotta ask...How exactly did you get IN the bar in the first place with out getting stuck? Seems like if you can go through one way you should get out the other way."
Marshall, being on the Island for a long period of time now, decided that being "sensitve" about the subject of changing should only be reserved for new-comers and Iona.
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Posted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 1:16 am
Oz pouted, glancing sideways for a moment trying to avoid their gaze. He looked down at his grotesquely over-sized hands, his mishapen feet and stumpy legs. He huffed through his nose and without a word or warning, he got onto all fours and tried once more to leave the beach bar.
Taking Gaius' advice, he sort of scuttled through the entrance side on, avoiding getting his immense girth getting lodged in the door frame again. Even so, he still had to suck in his gut a little but he wouldn't admit it. He just hoped they hadn't noticed.
Once outside, Oz didn't look any smaller. He wobbled unsteadily on his legs, grasping lightly onto the side of the beach bar to support his top-heavy torso.
"I...er...panicked," he began, trying to think of a good reason for getting stuck. He scratched the back of his thick neck idly.
But he didn't. As soon as he'd heard voices, he just wanted to get away as fast as possible. He was terribly ashamed of what he had become, and not only because of his appearance. He'd been acting very strangely and he just couldn't trust himself any more.
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