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Brian woke up itchy. No, not just itchy. Itchy. With an annoyed grunt and a sleepy raking of the flesh with his fingernails, he rolled out of bed and glared accusingly at the linens. Mites! He thought with an anguished, internal groan. He quickly derobed his pillow, his matress, and himself. The fabric guilty of harboring Brian's hypothetical pestilence was kicked into a corner, awaiting trial by washing-machine after Brian had a nice, hot shower. Uuggghhh, so itchy! Scratching at the base of his neck with one hand and the elbow of the other, he stumbled into the bathroom and switched on the water.

As the room began to get warm and steamy, the man paused in his angry clawing to peer at his reflection. He'd really let his physical appearance get out of hand! Brian toyed with the surprisingly thick orange hair sprouting from his chin. He hadn't brought any shaving materials with him, and he hadn't though to order any through the intercom. It honestly hadn't seemed that bad. Huh.

Oh well! He shrugged and hopped into the shower, wincing and twisting the temperature down. Ooooothatwashot! He clenched his teeth and began to vigorously apply soap to his itching back, arms, legs and neck.

The shower took a good forty minutes before he resigned himself to the fact that hot water and soap wouldn't make the discomfort that crawled along his skin and danced from hair to hair go away. He rubbed himself dry, pulled on a quick pair of boxers, then pants, then socks, then shoes, and went out shirtless into the morning, carrying his pile of "infested" bedclothes to the laundry room.

Shenzi had finally managed to bring herself out of her duplex, though it took a good deal of time to navigate the staircase with a pair of crutches and her vehemently thrice cursed feet. Mentally smacking herself for the ump-teenth time for letting her parents send her here, she had rigged up her backpack that her travelons from the plane had been carried in, and stuffed all her dirty laundry into. Sliding it over her arms, mindful of the claws, because they had already accidentally ripped up one of her shirts while trying to put it on.

Heaving out another loud sigh, she started off to where the intercom had said the laundry was, a string of Czech curses going under her breath. She had on a white tube top, easily donned with her claws, and a beaded black skirt, multicolored embroidery covering it. She hadn't even bothered with shoes; no way in hell would they fit now, even if it didn't hurt to try.

It was then that she saw two other people, men, heading for the laundry, one calling out to the other. The one looked odd... He had changed, maybe moreso then she had. But she couldn't put together what he was. Half-fledged chicken wings, a horse tail, long feet like hers. Sort've. She thought darkly, as she clumsily hobbled up. "Either of you care to help a lady?" She asked, arching an eyebrow.

Gaius paused mid-wave, ears flicking back self-consciously as he caught the slight change in the man's expression, just noticing how very human, if scruffy, the guy looked in comparison. While it dampened his cheery nature, Gaius wasn't one to be unfriendly and continued over.

At the female voice, Gaius' head arched up and back, ears following. His eyebrows instantly raised at the bright blue coloring of her hair, as well as her choice of clothing. And from there, to the ears, the claws, and especially the feet. Whatever judgement he may have had about the wild-seeming girl was erased by a sympathy for her mutual trouble.

"Here, I can carry your things if you like?" he offered, right on Brian's heels. How could a gentleman turn down a lady's plea? Flashing her a genuine smile, he glanced between the two. "If it's the laundry room you're wanting, it's just over this way, near the caf..."

So she was going to the laundry room too. Maybe Brian wasn't the only one with some sort of bedbug infestation...? No, it was just clothes. Everyone needed to wash their clothing, especially since they'd be living here on the island for the rest of- Brian stopped himself from thinking further. No. Don't end that thought.

An upstanding gentleman? That was a new one. For Brian, at least. "Brian Grant," he said with a tight, businesslike smile. She was free to act and speak however she wanted, but it'd take a lot of effort (and perhaps a few strawberry margaritas) to get this overly-serious biologist to join in the game.

He held onto her hand firmly but not roughly and began to lead the way, unaware of the artifically thickening calluses on his palms that might (or might not!) draw Shenzi's attention. What Brian did notice, however, was a dull pain that started up in his lower back as he began to walk, and an aching in his feet. It was unpleasant, but easy enough to ignore. He could take a nap and sleep it off when he finished with the laundry.

She couldn't help but giggle at Gaius' reaction, though Brian's made her raise an eyebrow. All formality and no fun, from the looks of it. Maybe she could get him to loosen up... Shenzi let that though go through her head with a wicked grin, even as she looked up to answer Gaius. "Kamila Thompson, though I generally go by Shenzi."

As she turned her head to say something forthcoming, she paused as she noticed the pinched look to his face, small lines of pain, though that might be due to the mites he mentioned. Hopping on her crutches to keep pace with him, she frowned with a show of pretty confusion. "You alright?"

Gaius stopped in his tracks and turned to look with curiosity, but that quickly changed to concern as he continued to watch. The pained look in Brian's face was now clearly evident. However, while his attention followed Brian's to his feet, his eyes caught a slight movement elsewhere. Leaning closer, Gaius' ears perked forward as he tried to figure out what he was seeing.

All along the back of Brian's neck it looked like hair was standing up...? No, it was getting thicker, not just standing up. Gaius' watched wide-eyed, reaching back to the hair trailing from his own neck, the memories of his previous experiences all too vivid.

"Y-your hair...!" he managed to choke out, flailing a hand at Brian's back.

He was changing. That... that didn't make sense. Sure, his feet were sore (ugh, it looked like they were growing a bit longer, too- or was that just his imagination?) but this damned itching was hardly what he'd expected. The introductory letter said it would hurt a lot. Brian hadn't had too much experience with intense, mind-numbing pain, but he certainly anticipated more than this.

"Are you sure?" He asked through gritted teeth, reaching back to grate his nails against the creeping sensation in the skin of his neck. Was it human hair, or was it animal fur? He couldn't really tell, but it was there, and he couldn't deny that. Without any sort of shirt on, Brian noticed quite quickly when the intense itching culminated in his elbows and fur began to grow there too. The pattern that emerged made Brian laugh out loud, his expression twitching and leaping from amusement to horror, from an insane grin to a miserable frown. "Wild Dog... they've injected me with African Wild Dog."

Shenzi looked up at Gaius at the mention of pain killers. "That'll help, not right now though. It'll take an hour to take effect, depending on what you use. Ibuproffen worked after maybe a half hour, an hour, for me. And it hurt like hell for me." She said darkly, glaring at the ground before shaking her head to look at Brian again.

"At least you know what it is. I had to have someone else explain it to me, though it should've been painfully obvious." She said, giving off a short, bitter laugh.