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Nightmares were not exactly an uncommon occurrance anymore. Hardly a night passed that Thom wasn't woken from some foul dream to the induced chlosterfobia of the small duplex. The door could be locked, the lights might never come back on, and roaches might flood from the bathroom at any moment. On most such nights, it would take sneaking out of bed and opening the front door to reassure him before he could curl up beside Natsumi and drift off once more.

Last night had been one such night. He hadn't thought anything of it after wakening, only escaped from the duplex as quickly as possible for the usual morning routine. Natsumi had said she had plans and gone off to meet with someone, and he, feeling decidedly off, had retreated to the lake for a short swim in the hopes of feeling a bit better. It hadn't helped. If anything, it had made matters worse. Over the course of the morning, he began to feel dizzy, nauseous, and mildly feverish--which terrified him. Despite having spent the morning swimming, his skin was dry and flaky. It itched horribly, particularly a large patch free of scales on his shoulder. And, while scratching it, he discovered a large, red welt.

Troubled, he returned to his duplex, his duplex being the one he shared with Natsumi, and returned meaning the edge of the jungle a safe distance away. He took a seat at the base of a tree to await her return, idly scratching the itch on his shoulder. And as he waited, it grew worse. The itching spread across his shoulders and down over his sides and chest, skin drying out and flaking off in increasingly large pieces and, befre long, revealing scales appearing beneath. His right leg throbbed viciously, accompanied by a lesser pain in his left leg and tail, and every so often would suddenly tense and cramp up, elicting a grunt of pain from the cobra man. The soreness quickly spread up his spine to the back of his neck, and he could feel a migraine coming on, but as of yet there were no physical changes beyond the scales, for which he was thankful.

Maybe, despite the soreness, he would get lucky this time..? The throbbing pain said otherwise, but as far as he could tell nothing was happening... More scales..he could deal with more scales, that was nothing... Altogether, by the time Natsumi arrived on the scene, he had quite forgotten that he was waiting for her and managed only a nod before another cramp attacked his leg and he turned his attention to easing the stiff muscle.

Sid's sleeping patterns were screwed up beyond belief. He would have done just fine with only being active at night, if not for the benders that kept him up for far too long. It figured his most recent crash put him sleeping a full twelve hours. So, wide awake and still with no inspiration- more like motivation- in sight, Sid had opted to try visiting the lake. He'd brought along his duffle bag with a notebook, just in case something struck him, but he'd only succeeded in getting it wet once he rifled through the contents as soon as he'd finished swimming. In addition to the notebook, he'd thrown in an assortment of bottles, a crumpled packet of cigarettes, and a small baggy of weed. He never knew when a craving would hit, so he'd prepared for all of them. Always be prepared, he'd learned that much in Boy Scouts before they kicked him out. You start one little brush fire and they act like you did it on purpose... It was one of the few childhood memories Sid remembered most clearly.

He was in the process of lighting a cigarette when he spotted the girl kneeling over the snake man. Sid frowned and altered his path to move closer. He coulda sworn he'd hallucinated that guy... Both times, including the one when he'd seen him in a dress.

"Something the matter?" he called.

Natsumi relaxed just barely at his smile, offering one in return, before she nearly lept out of her skin when someone called up over the brush. A look of suprise was instantly on her face, eyes darting up to find the source of the noise, while she gave a tiny jump that made it look like she might have darted up into the duplex. Deep breaths... Just another islander. They're not going to eat you. She seemed to relax again, even moreso when Thom noticed and waved to the stranger. See. All good. Yes, being outside made her just as nervious as ever, but atleast she was working on it.

Thom was rising, she watched, then falling, which caused her in turn to flinch and shift a tad closer. It was happenign again, wasn't it? Another change. Last time, if she recalled right, he'd had pain in his leg before it.. well. Became not so much of a leg. She gave a wary glance to the appendage, then back to Thom. Today officially sucked.

Between all this there were breif glances back to some guy she barely recognized, he might have been a thte truth or dare thing, but there had been alot of people there. But Thom was more important than making sure she didn't get eaten, and she was putting most of her attention on watching him, waiting to see if he wanted to ask for anything or... Something she could do. Really, any direction would have been nice. The laugh was a bit off, but that was Thom for you... Or any guy. No worries her tail... She frowned alittle, "Do you need the advil?" She finally spoke up with the only solution she could think of; The islander's dear old friend advil.

Advil? Thom was of quite the same mind as Sid. Advil might help out following the change, but it would hardly cause a dint in the present pain. He had a feeling he might vomit up the smirnoff if he tried to drink himself into a stupor at present, but vicodin...and weed... A headache pounded at his temples, and he ducked his head, closing his eyes briefly as he tried to organize his thoughts around the pain and consider the offer.

His ankle twitched, and he winced, immediately afterwards forcing a smile for Natsumi's benefit and looking up. "Advil would be nice, if y' wouldn't mind?" he replied, nodding her towards the duplex. However, as soon as he judged her out of hearing range he turned his attention to Sid. "Do you really 'ave vicodin?"

Sid glanced to the duplex door to make sure the creepy-eyed girl wasn't in sight before he looked to Thom. "I've got a few left..." His tone implied he'd be willing to part with them for the right trade, but then his conscience just had to rise up and bite him on the a**. He sighed and reached into his bag.

"Ah, just take one," he said, carefully pinching the pill between two fingers.

It seemed to take the innocent woman just long enough to get the items for the two to get away with whatever they wanted. She probably wouldn't have cared if she had caught it, maybe a bit worried but... Thom was a grown man, he could figure that stuff out himself. That and if she were in his position she would have took anything she could have. Heck, she would have taken anything on her last change, and it wasn't as bad as Thom's.

But that wasn't the case, and so she was soon heading back down the stairs towards her friend and that creepy looking fish-man. The gecko in her wasn't too sure what to make of it, just that judging by the teeth it might want to eat her. Her human nature was more open minded though, and currently well in control, thus she gave him a tiny smile as she knelt down beside Thom, the glass of water going on one side of her, leaving her hands free to fuss with the pill bottle, dumping a few into a cupped hand and holding it out to the cobraman to take however many he felt he wanted. She'd dump the uneeded pills back into the bottle, and pass the glass up to him with a small "here" mumbled under her breath. There wasn't much more to say though, despite the thousand thoughts rushing through her mind.

It wasn't so much that he wanted to hide the fact that he was accepting the vicodin--and considering the marijuana. He just didn't want her to worry any more than she was already. He wanted her to think that a couple of Advil would be enough to take the sting off the change, that it would end within the next hour or two, and that everything would be perfectly fine and dandy like before. Which it wouldn't, he was sure, but he could pretend for Natsumi's sake.

"Thom," he replied through gritted teeth, more concerned with the sensation that his foot was dissolving from the inside out. He managed to scrape up another smile when Natsumi returned, gratefully accepting the glass and taking only two advil. Less than he would under normal circumstances, perhaps, but he wasn't sure how much of an effect the vicodin would have on the pain or on his system.

After downing the pills and half of the water behind them, he set the glass aside and resumed his act, though he did attempt to find a more comfortable position to sit in. The pain in his tail was far from helping matters. Catching Sid's glance, he chuckled weakly, nodding towards the duplexes. "Don't feel like you 'ave t' stay, if you've got plans. Th' last change took nearly a day," he explained bitterly.