Welcome to Gaia! ::

The cafeteria kitchens had been a mess of activity since early morning, much to Delia’s annoyance. In the middle of the chaos was Gaius, up to his arms in food stuff and happy as can be. The kitchen! It was so huge compared to what he had always had at home! Even his dad’s house with the large floor space was dwarfed by the caf facilities. Of course, that made sense since they were feeding an entire island!

Gaius hadn’t been given free-reign of the kitchen of course, to his disappointment, but the space he’d been given by Delia was more than adequate, and he’d managed to snag a couple extra stoves after the cafeteria staff were finished with the standard lunch food.

By early afternoon, the aroma of exotic foods wafted from the kitchen and even from the cafeteria itself as Gaius set out dish after dish of his hard work. He’d taken full advantage of the new cookbooks the labs had provided. Several of the tables were taken up with ‘themes’; Mexican on one table, Chinese on another, as well as some basic barbecue and grilled stuff and good ‘wholesome’ food that would normally show up at family gatherings around the holidays. And in the midst of it all he set a decent-sized sheet cake, iced white with red lettering reading “Gaius – Happy 25th.” Gaius stood back and regarded his work with pride. Sure, it wasn’t the same as getting special treatment from his family and friends back home, but the chance to play in the kitchen made up for that.

All this was open to the public. If any islander happened to stop by, they were more than welcome to partake in the food as they pleased, even if they didn’t hang around for the ‘party.’ Gaius figured, with all that was happening on this small island, everyone could use a treat.

The tall guy made a beeline back into the kitchen, hoping to wash the stains off before anyone arrived.

Gaius reappeared through the swinging kitchen doors, in the act of tugging his apron off. He missed Marshall at first, his mind on making sure the food wasn’t attracting flies, and the warmer stuff wasn’t burning in its’ trays.

Humming to himself, Gaius picked up a bit of chow mein that’d spilled onto the table and dropped it back into the bowl – hey, his hands were clean… enough – and took a step back to survey the preparations. It was then he caught sight of Marshall. A bright grin split his face from ear to ear and the big guy hurried across the room, nearly tackling his shorter friend in a big bear hug.

“Marshall! I’m glad you could make it!” He said, releasing the guy from his spine-cracking hug and ruffling his hair with a hand. “What do you think? I’ve been working all morning!”

Gaius laughed, rubbing the back of his arm over his forehead. Working in the kitchen all day with the stoves had left him feeling over-heated, but he paid it little mind.

"Hey! Why make you work when I can make better food myself? If I left this to you, we'd be having microwaved pizza!" he teased, taking the present in his hands. He picked at the taped-together paper before looking back up at Marshall with a hopeful smile. "'s okay if I open this now, even though the party hasn't really started?"

The birthday boy tore apart the newspaper with fervor, eager to see the gift. At this point, he probably would've been thrilled to just get a rock! The fact that he'd managed to make friends in the three weeks he'd been on the island who were willing to give him anything was enough. It even dulled the homesickness that'd been nibbling at the back of his mind.

The paper fell away to reveal a soft plush toy penguin, little blue feet sticking out below the pudgy white tummy, and a strapping bowtie at his throat. Gaius blinked at first, then broke into a grin and threw an arm around Marshall's shoulders. "Thank you! It's great!" His grin was geniune, though Gaius was just a little confused. He hadn't made the connection between the penguin and Marshall's animation work, not having had a chance to see it yet.

Gaius held up the penguin in both hands and turned towards one of the tables, proclaiming as he went. "As my first (and probably only) birthday present, he shall have the place of honor!" He pushed aside a bowl of salsa to set the penguin atop a stack of plates beside the cake. "It's only fitting for such a well-dressed-"

Gaius stopped mid-sentence, wincing visibly as a bolt of pain raced up his back, as if he'd overworked himself.

Gaius straightened back up, managing a sheepish smile. "Sorry, I must've done something in the kitchen that's catching up with me..."

Another bolt from the base of his spine sent Gaius stumbling forward, his legs giving out beneath him. He managed to catch himself on the edge of a table. His breath came in short gasps as the pain in his back escalated until he was sure his spine was tearing itself out of his skin. It wasn’t too far off from what was actually happening. The tailbone worked itself free, like a revolting worm pulling itself from his back, each vertebrae cracking audibly as they flexed, and new ones grew rapidly. Gaius let out a whimper as he bit his lips, fighting to not cry out. Uncontrollable tears trickled down his cheeks. The mass poked itself over the back of his pants, unable to go anywhere else, and twitched painfully.

“Ahhh gawd!” Gaius bellowed as the movement sent his mind reeling with pain from the new and too-sensitive nerve endings. His hand gripping the table was bone-white at the knuckles, everything tensed with agony.

Even as the growing tail writhed, a pulling, burning sensation grabbed at Gaius’s ears. They grew larger, cartilage growing rapidly and stretching the skin over it as they pushed up and up.

“Make it stop…” he pleaded. “Please, make it stop…”

It felt like someone had just punched him in the face. Bones compacted and flattened, spreading in ways they shouldn’t as his face reshaped itself.

An unholy scream erupted from his throat as a new and wholly disturbing pain flared between his shoulder blades. The violence of it caused him to lose his grip on the table and he fell against the hard surface, tipping it over and falling to the floor with a din of dishes and food. Quickly-knitting bones and tendons sent agonizing heat throughout his back, his entire body protesting the new and unnatural growths thrusting themselves from his skin, twitching and flapping awkwardly as they responded to unfinished nerve signals. Outside his shirt, the miniature wings were only visible as a bizarre mass of wiggling bumps beneath the fabric of his shirt.

Gaius’s body shook as he curled up into a tight fetal position in the midst of spilled Mexican, eyes clamped shut and teeth gritted. He didn’t even notice when, during the process, thick black hair bushed out from his new tail and down along the back of his neck.

His ears attempted to flatten back, only managing to twitch slightly, and a whimper escaped the grown man, no longer human.

His friend quivered under Marshall's touch, still closed off from the world in his own little pocket of his mind that wasn't feeling the dull pain that still pervaded his body. Part of him that was still fully human and didn't believe anything that had just taken place was real. It was just a bad dream, that was all.

All dreams must come to an end, though. Something in the spilled foods got into Gaius's flattened nose, making him sneeze. The violent action sent another throb of pain down his body, but nothing compaired to what he'd just gone through. He pulled himself up, finally opening his eyes, and rubbed at his face, noticing the strange placement of his mouth, and the odd sensation of his tail brushing against the floor behind him, but he still didn't want to believe it. Not yet.

"Ungh... geeze, what truck hit me..." he groaned. He looked around him, finally noticing the mess he'd made, and slowly leaned over to pick up the gooed plushie. He held it in front of him, then looked up at Marshall sadly. "I'm sorry... I... ruined your present..."

Gaius frowned, brows furrowing, as Marshall continued to sniffle and cry. He reached a hand over to squeeze Marshall's shoulder. "Hey! Hey, it's- it's okay..."

No, things were not okay. A spazztic flap of the fleshy limbs on his back made that clear. The blissful shock disappated, leaving Gaius painfully aware of his different body.

He sucked in a shacky breath, still holding Marshall shoulder, and lowered his eyes to the floor. "How bad is the damage?"

Gaius managed a weak smile and glanced up at Marshall. "Heh, is that all? From the way it felt, I would've thought I'd have bits of bone sticking out of me or something..." He ran a hand back through his hair. Marshall was right, it even felt longer, and flopped through his fingers. His hand brushed the tip of his ear and he paused, running a finger and thumb over the smooth mass, his eyes distant.

"It's... I don't know what I feel... Except... different. I feel different. But... you're right. I'm still Gaius."

He let his hand drop into his lap, and stared down at it as he flexed the fingers. A small chuckle escaped him. "Heheh... I'm not making any sense, am I?"