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Following his week of near-constant imprisonment, the last place Thom wanted to be was anywhere that he could be imprisoned again. After awakening in his duplex and allowing himself a good long laugh at the fact that hell had spat him back up, he had retrieved his crutch and fled to the jungle, where he had spent the past few days in and around the river attempting to quell the burning fever he had obtained from days beneath the heat lights.

However, dinner pickings were growing slim in his choice area of the river, most of the fauna having grown wise to his presense and escaped to safer areas. And so, for the day, he had tried a new location, and it was proving to be quite comfortable.

The cobra man lounged in the shallows of the lake, his crutch discarded further up the bank. He was chewing thoughtfully on a rather large bite of lizard, the lower half of which was still held, twitching, in one hand. A second squirming lizard was held in a coil of his tail just above the surface of the water, tightly enough that it couldn't escape but not enough so to suffocate it. Live dinner was so much better than something that had already cooled.

The cobra lifted his eyes at the sound of someone approaching, but went right on chewing throughout Nita's greeting, a thin trail of blood dribbling down his hand from the lizard's lower half. Finally swallowing, he licked his lips and offered a grin, raising the half of the lizard in a welcoming salute. "Evenin'," he replied brightly, then popped the lizard into his mouth, sucking the long tail in as if it were a spaghetti noodle and chewing thoughtfully.

This girl looked familiar. Vaguely. Different from the last time they had met, but he was sure he had met her before. Finishing with the lizard quickly, he cleared his throat and nudged the air beside him with his elbow, leaning over slightly as if whispering to someone. "Oi, what's 'er name again? Ah, Nita!" he crowed, straightening up with a grin. "Nita th' lesbian. Changed a bit, 'aven't you? Not bad, not bad."

"Well done," he praised, applauding lazily at her correct identification. "Quite a change, isn't it? Look, I 'ave only one leg!" Laughing bitterly, he lifted the malformed leg clear of the water, then let it fall back with a splash. Losing interest in the subject, he glanced over towards the squirming lizard held in his grip, his tail obligingly moving it to hover a short distance before his face. Thom eyed the lizard thoughtfully while he spoke, not bothering to look up to Nita. "What brings you t'my little corner of paradise?"

Suddenly jumping as if he had been elbowed himself, he shot a glare at the air beside him, but leaned over as if listening to someone, after a pause glancing towards the red panda girl. "Your boobs're bigger."

"That it is," he agreed, eyeing the squirming lizard while his tail tightened its grip. Squirming was hard to chew Suffocate, then bite, now that he had finished the first one. "'Aven't seen you since, what... B'fore I started changin'? Surprised y' recognized me. R'membered th' patterns on your face," he added, as explanation to how he had known her.

Catching her movement to hide her chest out of the corner of his eye, Thom turned his attention away from the lizard once more, rolling his eyes and lifting his hands in defense of his innocence. "Wasn't me, was 'im. No worries, eh? Nita th' lesbian s'off limits."

"Ahh, that's true," he admitted, nodding. The way he spoke. That was one thing that hadn't changed, for which he was grateful. It was strange enough not looking like himself. Looking and sounding different? Why, he'd might as well be an entirely different person.

At her question, he grinned brightly, turning to his side as if to introduce Nita to the air. But instead he paused, grin fading to a sober frown, leaving him looking perhaps the most sane he had in days. "He...changes," he admitted quietly, staring vaguely at the empty space beside him. Clearly this realization puzzled him, even bothered him, but just as quickly he shrugged it off, distracting himself by snatching the now-still lizard from his tail. "But what does it matter?" And he bit the lizard in half.

He shook his head, waiting until his mouth was clear of lizard to reply. "Not that kind of change." Delightful view or not, Thom was far too concerned with this new predicament to pay Nita--or her breasts--much mind. "He's not really anyone," he mused aloud, staring curiously at nothing in particular. "Just a shadow with a face. Different faces."

Dead faces. His head reeled, and Thom dropped the second half of the lizard into the water, hands rising to hold his skull. Shaking his head, he made as if to climb to his feet, remembering only when he began to fall that his legs were uneven. Asymmetrical. He caught himself with his tail, steadying himself on it as if it were his second leg and, while one hand continued to hold his head, reached out a hand towards the shore, towards his crutch. He wasn't going back. He wasn't going back. He would run. They wouldn't catch him again.

He shook her hand off, risking a step around her and losing his balance. He fell, landing on his hands and knees in the water, but quickly shifted so that his hands were cradeling his head once more. "'M not goin' back to 'ell," he muttered, a terrified note rising in his voice as he shook his head. "Not goin' back again!" And then he was on his feet once more and stumbling through the shallows towards the shore and his crutch, tail proving difficult to manuver in place of his leg in the water.