Welcome to Gaia! ::

Sitting a couple yards away from his duplex, flipping through his book, Lucas sat shielded under a tree from the afternoon sun. The air around him was warm, but the occasional breeze that rolled by helped keep him cool. After spending so many days locked up in his room he needed to get out. He wanted to get out. He'd never been an outdoorsy type of person. Of course he took the occasional walks, but he did that mostly to burn energy and think. Before, his choice would have been to curl up in a chair and read. Now he was sitting outside, occasionally resting in the sun, before taking shelter under the tree again and doing more outside. He felt more comfortable outside.

He knew it was because of the change. There had been other urges, but he ignored them. Since his first change he still fought against the animal urges that occasionally surfaced. He refused to limit himself to just meat like the animal inside would have liked. Instead he continued to eat something from every food group.

The urge to be outdoor was about all he allowed himself. There was no harm in it and he did feel he needed to get out more.

Lucas' ears twisted toward the sound of approaching footsteps. He allowed a quick glance away from his book to see who it was. It was a man, an unfamiliar one, and seemingly unchanged yet by the Island's experiments. It was hard to tell sometimes, especially from a distance without his glasses. Lucas' first change had been minor compared to his second. He'd gone from a being in need of a little shave here or there to a ball of fur in a few hours.

Turning back to his book he attempted to ignore the man and start reading again. However, after a moment he began to get the feeling of being watched. Lifting his head, he found that the man had stopped nearby and was looking in his direction. Feeling more than a little uncomfortable with someone silently watching him, Lucas shifted and tried to focus on his book once again.

When the man finally spoke, Lucas gave up and looked up at the man. "Hello to you," he smiled, trying to appear friendly.

Confused, Lucas watched the man start to walk off. From the introduction and what little he said, it caused the half-man, half-canine to wonder if this person was in need of some help. Perhaps he needed to know how to get somewhere? He was left with the impression that there had been something he wanted to ask, but could not get up the nerve. The other assumption Lucas made was that the man changed his mind because of his appearance. That this person was intimidated or frightened of him. It could have also been that he was shy or bad at talking with people, but because of Lucas' current sensitivity about his new look there was only one conclusion he could think of.

Unsure of whether to stop him or let him go, Lucas hesitated before he stood and called after him. "Can I help you with something?" He slipped in his bookmark and brushed some of the dirt from his pants.

"It's okay. No need to apologize," he smiled pleasantly and accepted the outstretched hand. "Oh, my name is Lucas Wickham. Nice to meet you, Brian. Too bad it had to be under these circumstances." He let out a single dry chuckle and with one hand he gestured around them.

While he spoke, his ears drooped slightly. It only reminded him of how he ended up on the Island. Sticking his nose into an odd disappearance, only to end up disappeared himself. "Same here. Over, what? 60 people here on the Island now? Going for over a year and still nothing?" He rubbed his neck, then absently played with the small ponytail on his neck that was holding back his much longer brown hair.

"How long have you been here?"

Over two weeks? It took only three weeks before Lucas underwent his first change.

"I've been here for around two months." Brian's question dredged up the conversation from Sabin. "Yeah... a dhole," his reply was flat. Since he'd learned the name of the animal he was fated to be he had only gathered a little information. He wasn't sure why, but he could only bring himself to read bits and pieces. Mostly appetite and behavior, and of course physical appearance. "For a short time I thought I was turning into some kind of dog, or a red fox. I'd never heard of a dhole before."

"My tail?" Lucas turned his head to look back at the new appendage. Though he was starting to get used to having the thing, it still disturbed him on occasion. It also had a mind of his own. If the human part was still in control of every other part of his body and the mind, the dhole had clearly taken control of the tail. Whenever it wagged or went between his legs, the action always occured without Lucas even realizing it.

However, it wasn't that bad having a tail. He couldn't deny it was an interesting experience. To accomadate for it he even went so far as altering his pants slightly so there was a hole and button strap in the back. It allowed him to pull up his pants, position his tail in the hole, and then pull the strap comfortably over the base of the tail and button it. It was easier than forcing his tail through a hole in his pants everyday or letting his pants hang low.

"Yeah, I think I read something like that. So you know a lot about animals? I never really studied animals much. ...I guess I probably should." It was nice standing out in the sun, but under all that fur he was starting to get a little warm. Too warm. He had felt the urge before at times but he could still not allow himself to pant. "Um, you wouldn't mind going under that tree over there?" He pointed at the one he had been under before.

"Thanks," Lucas' tail gave a little wag as they made for the tree.

Lucas lowered himself down to the ground into a crosslegged position opposite from Brain. Placing his book in his lap, the dhole scratched his arm. "I'm sorry. I know..." He trailed off. He hated seeing people get like this. And there was nothing more he could think of that sounded right to say.

So he decided to change the subject.

"When you approached me it seemed like you wanted to ask me something. Was I wrong?"