He always found it hysterical when he pondered about it, that people hold themselves firm in a hypocritical duality; one holds themselves to a high moral code yet still sins, one who holds contempt over murder yet glances over the amount of beings they need to consume to survive, the list goes on. He was no different, however unlike many he didn't find the need to claim a show of ignorance for it. Admit when you have a fault, and remedy a solution for it. Absolute no need to rebuke the statement but do nothing to rectify the situation.
It had been several hours since he had walked in a random direction and it had been surprisingly uneventful. He had been more careful in his efforts to hide himself, lest he find himself face to face with less kind locals. Well besides running into a mutated bear family and several packs of what he assumed were a larger variation of giant hornets than he was used to, he got out fine. Maybe it was due to the fact that most threats, prey, and predators had a way of being overly showy that made him stick out less, or it could be a scrawny and somewhat emaciated individual, simply was not worth the effort to strip the meat off his bones.
Along the way, he had discovered a multitude of different dangers that he had promptly avoided: a dark and murky swamp with gases flowing out and yellow haze over the water, an entrance to another forest with purple pigmented tree and huge avian species, and a path that led to a harsh mountainous terrain and active volcano he noted by the smoke fuming out of the distance. Although he was intrigued by the landscape, he had never thought before that day the he be bothered by the diversity of life. It led to many opportunities, but in his case served to multiply the dangers. This was only his second day of travel, and he felt the need to get at least five days of travel away from the facility, even then he might not be able to escape random searches in his general area.
As he knew his food supplies would find themselves scarce in three weeks if he rationed and almost two weeks at his current demand, finding an alternative meal plan was on the agenda. A civilization at this point could solve his problems or by how close it was to the lab, bring less enticing situations due to his dubious looks, leading him back to the beginning. He really did not want to take that risk unless he had too, nor did he think playing the game of right under their noses would work out well for him anyways.
Scouting his surrounding every off and on, he found many plants that met the criteria, and others that proved to be moderate poisons. He mostly just used to his tongue to feel the different sensations before spitting them out. Although some of the plants were sweet, he didn't know yet if they were clear of being poisonous or indigestible, both were unwanted. He noted some of the plants were very bitter, some burned the back of his tongue , some were sweet and grainy. He even found some tuberous plants that were parasitizing on some of the trees root systems, that were starchy and probably had a very slight fermentation. He was by no means a master at foraging, but he could probably pass as adept. Occasionally he saw brown rabbit like creatures with an interesting twist of morphology; two mouths, one where it would normally be with white teeth jutting out of its closed bottom maw giving it a ghastly underbite and another mouth low to the ground that fed on a few shrubs here and there.
All options were open, as he could not be too picky when it came to to the task at hand. He walked for another two hours collecting various herbs, plants, berries, shrubs and some of the poisonous varieties for a deterring measure. He came across a small clearing with an inconspicuous clear pool of liquid. As he had seen before, inconspicuous thing can be deadly, so with slight hesitation he tossed a flesh like berry into the pool. Nothing occurred as a result. Sequently he threw a rocked into the pool, it sunk and produced a few bubbles. He aligned his face with some light of the sun to see if he could see fumes coming off;none. For the last test, he stuck his pinky in the water to see if there was any change what so ever. Over the course of 25 minutes of meticulous testing, he assumed it was water. One of his priorities had been fulfilled, he just needed to boil for safety before consuming.
It better to be safe then sorry, although maybe he was a little too gunho about it. It was unnerving how quiet it was around the pool, so he needed to confirm or deny his suspicions. Staring at the water he noticed his reflection. It had been a long time since he had stared at his face. He had very defined features, eyelashes were long, defined jawline, moderate sized brows, pale white unblemished skin in contrast to long dark black shaggy hair that flowed to his shoulders, pear shaped ears. He frowned, this was not the face he remembered. it was designed as if to always be the starlight of the room. Tsk... An issue posing against his incognito. Another feature that he did not recognize but startled him at first, was his ever changing multichromatic/ prismatic eyes. His pupils were dark black which was typical, but his irises were a changing and diffuse opalescent if he could describe it as that. Hues of green, brown, blue, gold, red, white, black, and purple would shimmer diffusely throughout each iris before changing into another color pigments.
From his perspective on genetics, he wondered how it was possible to have a trans gene of changing complexion that codes for the variation of the color changes alone. For the implications it could have on the genetics industry would be phenomenal. Of course the situation did not allow him to do so, it didn't mean he could not find out later. Pulling himself out of his stupor like contemplation, he noticed another reflection from the pool. As he quickly looked up, he saw a humanoid figure with long white hair, bountiful breast, and pearl white skin, a beautiful face, and the last but most important completely nude in front of him. She was looking at him with a look subtle interest and slight fervor.
Her well tone muscles told him, he would not have the chance of walking away. Her look of interest meant he would probably be interrogated but the fervor look....lost him. She started speaking but he didn't understand her. He retorted in saying that he could not understand in only two different languages. To his surprise she started to speak in common to him. "What is a divine specimen like you doing in these woods." He didn't know how to retort. She was naked, but she didn't seem to care with the current situation. She also hadn't mentioned anything that would give himself any information about her. The thing that also brought him worry was here use of 'specimen'.
Noticing his quietness, she stated "If you are so engrossed in this body, I don't mind you having a closer look" she chuckled. However in this situation he was not listening to the lesser of his two heads. "I apologize out of respect, I don't dare think I could satisfy you nor face the impending consequences of such an act".