Welcome to Gaia! ::

Rachel slowly made her way over to duplex 57, doing her best to keep out of sight as much as possible. Her conversation with Richard hadn't helped her to feel any better, even though the older man had tried to convince her that no one was going to judge her, based on her looks or physical ability. After having spent a couple years convinced of just the opposite, it was a difficult habit for Rachel to break.

She had stopped breifly by the town square, to look at the map/ directory, that said where the individual islanders lived. She hadn't realized how many there were, before having stopped there. It was rather unsettling. Rachel had forced herself to shake off the thought, however, and search for the duplex she had come to look for. Lucas'.

It had been over a month since she had received that package on her doorstep from him. It had contained a pillow and a blanket that she had found rather comforting on those long lonely nights, when she couldn't bring herself to leave her room and face the world. Today, she finally forced herself to go out and find him, to thank him. And, although she wasn't fond of people seeing her this way, she figured she'd best let Lucas know how she was holding up, since he was the one who had told her the truth and was kind enough to bring her a Christmas gift.

After locating his name on the map, Rachel had made her way over to Lucas' duplex, and now she stood in front of the door. Tenatively, she knocked, feeling somewhat unsure about whether she really wanted to do this. Would he even recognize her? She had barely recognized herself. As she waited outside, she pulled on the edges of the shapeless blue dress she was wearing, trying to keep it down in back as much as possible, although her tail made that difficult.

Rachel could see by Lucas' expression when he opened the door, that he didn't immediately recognize her. She didn't blame him. She looked nothing like she used to.

After examining Lucas' expression, however, she noticed changes in him too, namely his face was shaped differently and his hands (paws?) and feet were considerably more animal-like than before.

When he finally recognized her, Rachel gave him a wry smile and was about to respond when a dog slipped out from the room and began to examine her with his nose.

"Yeah, it's me," she said after a few seconds, sighing. "I've...changed...as you can see. It seems you're not quite the same as the last time I saw you either. I suppose, apart from that and not wanting to go outside much because of it, that I'm ok. What about you? Seems like you got a new dog at least?" At the last words, she reached down and rubbed the top of Dasher's head.

Rachel nodded at the invitation and moved towards the door, only to find Dasher leaning against her. With a couple nudges, she tried to get him to stand upright, so that she could walk into the room after Lucas. He didn't look too comfortable standing, and she really didn't like being out in the open.

"Well he's certainly a friendly thing," she said, before moving past Lucas, to sit on the edge of the bed. She would have sat down in a chair, but she doubted she would fit. Rachel wiggled her pudgy fingers down towards the ground and called Dasher's name, so he would come over to her, and began petting him once more.

"I came over to say thank you, for the Christmas present you left outside my door. I know it's a bit late, but with my change, well...I....haven't been getting out as much. But anyways, thank you. I've really appriciated having them when I've been avoiding going outside." She looked up at him and offered a small smile.

Rachel wasn't sure how to respond to Lucas' comment and so petted Dasher a little more attentively, while she tried to decide on a response. He was saying the same thing that Richard had, not long ago, in the cafeteria. She had had no reservations about speaking her mind to the older man, who hadn't known her situation, but Lucas had been kind to her and she didn't want to upset him, with her selfish thoughts. She knew everyone on the island, that were not living within the labs, was going through something similar in at least some fashion. However, she couldn't get it out of her head, that it had been worse for her, because it changed how she looked, so dramatically.

"I know...I just hate people seeing me like this...It was even hard for me to come see you today. Someone at the labs thought it would be funny to turn me into a whale..." Rachel frowned as she said the last few words. "And it's not just any whale...it's the whale of my clan. The Orca, or Killer Whale."

There, she'd said it. Now he knew what she was turning into, and what kinds of things might lay ahead for her. She glanced at him, wondering what he would think of the serum that had been chosen for her.

"Isn't it bad enough that they dragged us here in the first place? Why choose animals for people that they know would just be....cruel?" She paused, thinking. "As for being alone, I'm somewhat used to it. I never really had many friends, and I spent a lot of time with my gymnastics." She shrugged, "I want friends, and I guess I can try...but I can't promise I'll do a good job."

Rachel looked down at Dasher as he nudged her, and scratched him behind his ears, giving him a small smile. At least she knew the dog didn't care what she looked like. She didn't think Lucas' really cared what she looked like so much either, but he was still shocked about how her change had affected her.

"I guess that makes sense," Rachel relented, to his comment about the twisted sense of humor. She just knew that would never see the humor in what they were doing.

She smiled at the comment about her having a werewolf friend. It was nice to know that they thought of each other that way, even though she was a bit sad to know that he didn't have many friends either, or at least didn't make them easily.

"Thank you Lucas," she said. "And you have I guess a were-....whale...as a friend." She made a face slightly at the akward word combination. Rachel never thought she would have ever heard those two words used together, and yet here she was, becoming one.

Rachel considered the drink offer for a moment. Her body was craving empty calories, like soda, to help maintain this new form it had taken, but the thought of drinking something like that just disgusted her, so she went with the safe option.

"Do you have any water?" As she asked her eyes fell on the bottle Lucas had picked up, which looked like it was medication of some kind. Her brow creased slightly in concern.

"You ok?"

Rachel nodded a thanks and watched him carefully before opening the water herself, and taking a swig from the bottle. She sighed in relief as the water helped to ease the dryness of her throat, that she hadn't really noticed until she started drinking. After taking another drink, she lowered the bottle and addressed Lucas.

"No liquid with those?" she asked. "Granted, my mother used to take pills all the time without water, but I've always wondered how she did it. They're hard enough to swallow with water as it is. There's no way I could ever do that."

Rachel wasn't entirely sure if she had caught his meaning correctly, but Lucas seemed uncomfortable with the subject and so she decided to drop it. She quickly guzzled down the rest of the water, before reaching down and stroking Dasher again.

She thought about Lucas' question a moment before responding. "Well...since the Thanksgiving...fiasco...I've met an older man named Richard, an antagonistical octopus (who I think Richard said was named Billy), a fish-man, a man who seemed the alcoholic type...come to think of it, I haven't met any girls on the island since Thanksgiving...."