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Unlike Freddie, Gaius was riding on high spirits thanks to the previous day's accomplishment. Not only had Nita approved of the chair, meaning he could try to make more of them for others that wanted, but she'd agreed to go with him to the upcoming party as a date! Even if it was just as friends, the fact that he had a date, one that he'd asked out, had him practically skipping as he trotted across the commons to the caf.

Whistling merrily, he entered and sauntered toward the food, giving the sitting man a friendly wave as he passed, completely missing the uniform in his dreamy state. "Hey there! Nice day, isn't it?" he said, making his way to the salad bar. A chicken salad sounded like just the thing to satisfy his appetite. Gaius continued to whistle, a little off-key, as he scooped lettuce onto his plate.

Gaius blinked up from pouring dressing over his salad, wearing a confused expression. His cheerfulness had been dropped a level by the apparant aggressiveness radiating from Freddie, but he continued in a friendly manner. "Huh? You're here... why shouldn't I talk to you? Better to be friendly when we're probably gonna be seeing each other around, I figure!"

Picking up a soda from the cooler, Gaius made his way over towards Freddie's table, giving the man a closer inspection. Human... He finally noticed the Feral logo on the dirty-but-familiar uniform, his eyebrows jumping up in response. "Hey, why're you wearing that outfit?" he gestured at Freddie's front, pulling a seat out across from the guy. "Isn't that supposed to be worn by the guards?"

Gaius stared, clearly not getting the connection. "Theeeeeeeeeeen why are you wearing it?"

"Hm," he grunted and shrugged, turning his attention to the salad in front of him. With the mix of veggies and salad dressing, the meat was far more palatable. Helped that it was chicken, of course.

"So... if you're wearing a guard uniform, then of course you'd be a guard, right?" Gaius said, working out the steps in his head as he popped a cherry tomato on his fork. "But you're eating here, so you can't be one... Unless the food is better here?" he chuckled.

"What? No!" Gaius protested, surprised. What was up with this guy? "I was just asking! I mean, if you're hanging around here, then you've gotta be an islander, right? Like me! I was just trying to be friendly!"

An idea dawned on him and his expression grew knowing. "Aaaah, I see... they probably tricked you to work here as a guard and then stuck you with a needle? Man, talk about tough luck..." He shook his head. No wonder the guy was so mad.

Gaius was caught off guard by the sudden animosity and leaned back in his chair as Freddie bore down on him.

"Hey! Easy there! I-I didn't mean anything by it, I just assumed since, you know, the only people outside the labs seem to be subjects...?" His pride prickled at the 'freak' jab, twisting his face in a sour expression. "And watch your language, pal."

Happy feelings definitely gone, Gaius's frown darkened. "Watch it," he said with a definite undertone of rising temper. He remained seated, not about to jump at verbal insults... at least not yet.

"I'm not telling you to do anything, I'm asking you to calm down and stop shouting. And it's just easy to assume you're a subject since you're here, unlike all the other guards... Why are you here anyways, if you're not one of us?"