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It seemed like any other day to Zach. He'd rarely attempted to leave his duplex in the past week save at odd hours of night, not feeling up to dealing with both his terrible ability to balance and the fact that said balance meant he'd have a hard time avoiding people by daylight. He'd had plenty of time to think, and yet he distracted himself other ways - reading various books he'd sneaked out of the entertainment room, and sorting through his old belongings when Kaveri was out.

He was on the crutches still. Though he had tried to walk many times without them, his balance was still off. While he could stand, walking was an entirely different thing. It was into the entertainment room he hobbled on his awkward feet, seeking to find another book in which he could immerse himself for a day or two. He had other thoughts and plans, things to do, but the large majority of them required him to be off the crutches, and that simply couldn't happen quickly. But he could wait. He had time, plenty of time.

Zach turned his head around, sharply, long neck twisting in a way that human necks just weren't built for. His frill was momentarily fanned, and his wings were opened the slightest bit. He was expecting someone he wasn't keen on encountering, but it was just Sid, looking a good bit scalier than he had been the last time they'd met.

"Oh. Hey." He wobbled a little on the crutches, staying where he was. At least he could talk again. When he'd first tried the intercom it had been a bit slurred by his longer snout. And as long as he didn't get too riled up, his jaw wouldn't pop out. It had taken him a few hours to find a way to get it back in place when that had first happened, and he wasn't even sure what he'd done to pop it back into place. He offered a polite question. "How're you doing?"

"Getting sssick?" Damn it, there he went again. He'd have to be more careful with his tongue. Sid was getting on in years, or so he appeared to, and it was probably just that age catching up with him. Zach curled his tail around his feet. It had ended up practically the length of him, and tended to drag that distance behind him as he crutched his way from his duplex to various parts of the village and back. He leaned heavily against his left crutch so that he could reach his other arm up to give a nervous tug to the scarf-like draping of white fabric over his front. He knew people would notice he'd changed, but hearing the recognition in that disturbed tone of voice bothered him. He'd tried to not merely accept that he'd changed, but find dignity in it as well - latching onto things said Sabin had both in the past and recently to mend and fuel his battered ego. It wasn't like hating what was happening to him would do any good. He liked being a dragon, even if a lot of it was sheer force of will.

"Thank you," he replied, though his tone was a bit sharp out of sheer aggravation that everyone had to take changes, especially his own changes, so horribly. He got back onto both crutches and made slowly for the nearest bookcase. He was nearly there when he heard the exclamation from Sid. He unfurled his wings slightly, as if preparing to take flight. His neck was craned in the direction of the couch again, though his expression wasn't as surprised as it had been when he was first addressed. "Hm?"

"You're wha- agh...!" Zach had been quite ready to fire off a slew of unhelpful statements when he heard - and felt - a bone-on-bone popping from both sides of his jaw. While it wasn't painful, it wasn't anything good. Immediately he pitched forward a little in surprise, finding a way to reach up and steady the offending loose jaw with one hand. His mouth was hanging open, showing off his teeth. If one were adept at reading the expression on a crocodile, they would find that Zach looked dumbstruck, but to anyone else it seemed to be a rather blank and potentially predatory look. Just his luck, it had popped out of its socket again, right when talking would be really useful. He didn't even know it could do that until recently, and was afraid to imagine why it would.

He made a couple more noises of muffled panic while holding his jaw up, but had to let it go to crutch over to where Sid was. His frill had fanned out, and there was no way to close it again until he'd found a way to get his jaw back in place again. There was nothing he could say in this state to help the poor guy. There were no intercoms anywhere close, either. He'd heard about heart attacks several times, but he knew very little about how to deal with them other than making sure everyone stayed calm. Sid wasn't going to die, was he? He used to have faith in such things never happening here, but that graveyard... he pushed it out of his mind just as quickly. Flukes.

By the time he'd reached the side of the couch, his jaw had opened even wider, and he had to reach up to keep it at a normal height. He stared at Sid, unable to say anything at all. He was certain that being regarded by a dragon was not helpful for calming down, but he couldn't just leave.

Zach's eyes opened wider still as he got wrangled by Sid. Thought he was a little indignant about being pulled around by the horns, he could understand this being a situation that could call for it. What was disconcerting was this new way to experience how much more of a neck he had. The rest of him didn't have to budge at all. He clung tightly to his crutches while continuing to give Sid a look of horror. He'd already seen one person downed by changes not too long ago, here he was having to deal with yet another crisis. If it wasn't for the fact that Sid hadn't taken an immediate dislike to him, he'd probably have run off already and pretended he hadn't seen anything.

"Uh ah cagh alk!" He wanted to ask where he was supposed to find help, but unfortunately his jaw would not cooperate. He couldn't talk! The smell of alcohol and fish assaulted him when Sid spoke, and he couldn't wrinkle his nose in response. The labs would have to know something was wrong... if not, it was perfectly possible this was just another change, and Sid was going to have to go through with it. His eyes briefly wandered toward the door, and the low potential of reaching an intercom within a useful amount of time, then returned to Sid's terrified face.

He pulled his head back and away from the grip on his horns. Nothing would happen to Sid. Nothing could happen to Sid here. He'd be fine. Meanwhile, he'd panic out of sheer necessity.

Zach let out a horrified yelp as Sid fell unconscious, pulling his head back even more when the grip on his horns seemed to vanish. The combination of movements seemed to slide his jaw back into place. Not that he noticed; Sid was dying! This was no change. He let the crutches fall to the floor so that he could use his arms. Standing on his feet was difficult, but he'd mastered that through a week of practice, if nothing else. "Sid! Oh, ******** his breath he mumbled a string of offensive words. His voice had some odd quality to it still, like a permanent sore throat, always sounding a little raspier than it used to. Carefully as he could manage with his large reptilian hands, he pulled Sid off of him and tried to prop him up in a sitting position again. It was not exactly a fully upright one, but the dragon couldn't leave where he was to correct it or he'd just topple to the floor out of sheer lack of balance. He spread his wings somewhat, the span of them still disorienting. He felt helpless, disgusted with himself. Sid was dying and there was nothing he could do. He reached out toward the older man's arm, about to take his pulse, but his hovering hand was quickly snatched back. No. He didn't want to know. He didn't want to feel responsible for this.

He waited, cupping his hands over the middle of his snout in a mockery of the similar human gesture. His tail was swishing back and forth madly, threatening to knock into potted plants and bookshelves. This... was bad.

Zach gathered his crutches as the guards arrived, prepared to hobble away. For the longest time it had looked like Sid might actually be dead. The lack of panicking on the part of the guards was somewhat of a relief. An awkward spectator, he moved away from the scene. The guards on the island had always bothered him, and he could never quite get over how several of them taunted Kaveri some months back. He waited until the guards had left before leaving as well. He could wait to find a book to read. While he was still worried by the situation, he was sure Sid would be fine. The doctors here were professionals.