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 Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 10:08 pm
"Yes, Dr. Lockheart," he corrected idly, watching Thom carefully. What the cobra said to him was not news, and he had thought on it quite often many months back. Maybe it was just the way Thom said it, but it was a harsher question now. He bared his teeth immediately. "I don't have to explain myself to you. Mind your own damn business."
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 10:16 pm
The reaction probably should have been expected, but it wasn't the answer the Thom was hoping for. On top of that, it bothered him even more that the dragon man had the gall to threaten him, much less stand up to him at all. "This is my business," the cobra hissed, hood flaring. "An' what's the 'arm, Zachary?" he pressed, rising a bit from his coil to 'stand' an inch or two above the dragon. "I'm sure you've thought about it a dozen times over since it 'appened. Why'd you side with th' labs?"
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2007 11:07 pm
Maybe if he just gave the snake an answer he would leave Zach alone. He was getting sick of this. He had no reason to hide why he'd chosen to side with Sabin. He'd made the right choice. The fact that he kept asking was annoying as hell to Zach. He knew he couldn't run, though. The cobra could catch up to him easily if he tried to walk away. "Because..."
"Because of you." He grinned deviously, despite being fairly sure that Thom would only turn what he said against him. "You know, when we first met? I hadn't! I was out there moping about my third change like the human I was then. The only reason I had a hat at all was because I was still self-conscious about my hair, and I'm sure it's not beyond the limits of your imagination to guess who I had asked for one from. But what you did was the last straw, I guess. I was only mauled a few weeks before that by a psychopath. What was the point of being just another person here who hated themselves, hated what they were, hated where they were, hated everything and couldn't do anything about it, when everyone else who felt the same way were just going to end up killing me?"
"Sabin at least wasn't going to just beat me up because he felt like it. He's saved my life before, anyway. Hell, he did me a huge favor when I asked him to teach you and Rex a lesson. I don't see why you'd even want to get on Sabin's bad side, anyhow, but you just keep asking for it. So what did I lose from giving up on some idiotic notion of escape? Nothing. We're never leaving this island. Just accept it already." By the end of it his tail was lashing and his teeth were bared completely in a defensive grimace.
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Posted: Mon May 21, 2007 10:23 am
For a long moment, Thom didn't repond, honestly baffled by the explanation. He had been the cause? He wasn't sure he believed that. One little incident wouldn't have changed Zach's entire outlook, and he must have been on pretty good terms with Sabin beforehand to ask him for the hat, rather than whoever happened to answer the call. It was a gradual thing, by the sound of it, and Thom had been a contributing factor. Not that any of it really mattered, now that he thought about it, but at least Zach had answered his question.
"You realize your decision has only led you straight to what you were tryin' to avoid?" He raised a brow, giving the dragon a questioning look, then explained. "I know a good dozen people who absolutely hate you for one reason or another, an' that's only th' ones I've discussed it with." A bit of a stretch, but he didn't doubt that it was true. "I know th' majority of those people wouldn't and 'aven't hesitated t' pull fights over it. By sidin' with th' labs, you've made yourself an open target to all th' people on this island who've had their lives destroyed by those doctors. You don't know who you can trust or who's th' next threat. An' you're goin' to tell me you're 'appy, livin' 'ere with that?"
Thom laughed. "Even for all your talk, I can't believe that you're comfortable with this...thing that they've turned you in to. Look at you! You show absolutely no sign of ever 'avin' been human, you can 'ardly walk upright, f' God's sake. An' you're fine with that?" He paused for only a moment, then laughed once more and continued on. "I'll tell you somethin', Zachary, I don't hate who I am. I hate that I don't 'ave any legs, I hate what th' labs 'ave done to me, I hate that I don't still 'ave my old life, but I don't hate me. But for those hates that I do 'ave, I'm willin' to fight th' labs until either they die or I die. We're not fightin' to leave. We're fightin' to keep other people from comin'."
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 12:38 am
"The other decision," he replied dryly, though he dropped his voice, "would have been worse."
"I know damn well they can't control themselves. That doesn't justify attacking me. I hate quite a few people myself, you included, but I'm not out to get any of you. I do know who I can trust, though; Sabin. He's more than earned it." He took another step backward, still fearful of the snake. Twelve people? That was a lot. He never even thought about it in terms of numbers, usually, just some general entity. He was getting sick of hiding, though, just to protect himself from further injury. However, Zach had seen what happened to people who crossed the labs, people like Thom. He never wanted to be in that kind of danger again. "Why does any of this matter to you?"
"I-I'm better than I was before!" he hissed, though it seemed more like some sort of broken record statement than actual conviction. He started to spread his wings behind him. Thom wasn't far from the truth. Zach's former humanity was gone except for his bipedal stance. After all, his hair had fallen out, his eyes were those of a reptile, and his voice had changed to become something drier and raspier than before. He knew he was a 'pet project', that he was chosen specifically and could never have evaded the island even if he had turned down the job offer that originally lured him. Being belittled by the snake was grating on his nerves. Trapped! He curled his clawed fingers while he bent into a defensive stance. "I could care less how many people they bring here. It's a pointless fight and you'll never win. There's nothing you can do even if you want to. You're choosing death."
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 5:31 pm
"Sabin can't protect you forever." Sabin was up in the safety of the labs, and all the work he did was through underlings. Sabin had machines and guards and serums at his disposal, Sabin had the authority to pluck someone from the village for the least little thing and make his or her life a living hell. But Sabin could only reach so far. What good was Sabin when the jungle blocked out his guards, or his target hid away from the cameras of the village? What good was Sabin when the chips were gone?
"You're deludin' yourself," Thom offered with a sneer. "You've spent so much time scarin' yourself into sidin' with Sabin that you don't realize you've walked into a trap. I'm choosing death? Th' labs chose death for us when they brought us to this island. They've always known th' risks of these serums--how many people 'ave they killed with their experiments? 'Ow d' you know you won't be th' next? As far as th' rest of th' world is concerned, we're already dead. Th' labs could kill us whenever they please, for whatever little reason they come up with."
"I don't know about you," he continued, "but I don't like livin' with that fear every day. I prefer fightin' a bit 'arder if it means 'avin' a say in what 'appens in my life. My last transformation took a full week. I'm sure th' next would've killed me. An' do th' labs care. Not at all. Just another failed experiment." Thom shook his head, scowling. "You're choosin' death by livin' under them. I'm choosin' life."
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 7:01 pm
It was an unfortunately true statement and all Zach could do was spread his wings a little wider and continue to move backward a step or two. It sounded like a threat. The panic button, was it -- yes! It was at his side. He placed a hand over it reassuringly in case the snake lunged at him. The other hand scratched lightly at the side of his long neck in nervousness.
"Scaring myself? I don't have to do any of my own scaring. You and these other violent types have that covered. It's not a trap, it's a lifesaver." He clung desperately to that fact. Thom knew about the incident a year ago, apparently, thanks to Lucas running his mouth off. At the time he'd been threatened... while he had done something fairly bad, he hadn't done it consciously. His proximity to certain death then had been, well, disturbing. Sabin had saved him from that, though! Still... Moreau at least was a bit trigger-happy. Not Sabin though. What Sabin did to people, they deserved, and Zach happily avoided being one of the deserving. He gave a nervous laugh that sounded more like a cough. "That doesn't scare me. I had a seven-animal serum and I've survived just fine through all my changes. They'll only do something to you if you've done something to deserve it. Certainly not killing us."
"Well, sizing up the odds, it's a lot more likely that one of you will kill me than the labs." In his mind it was more of a fifty-fifty if he messed up again while Sabin was watching, but lying about it to Thom was completely justified. "You're not a failed experiment, just incomplete. Wait... 'would have'?"
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 8:06 pm
Thom noted the fumbled for the panic button, working out what it must be from his last confrontation with Zach, and allowed himself a smirk. That wasn't anything worth worrying about. ...Except, perhaps, that Zach using it with no one else around could alert the guards. Damn. But, with luck, maybe the dragon wouldn't come to the same conclusion. Or, more likely, the guards were too stupid to act on it.
His smug expression gave way to a scowl, however, as the dragon went on. "You survived! An' what about the others?" He hissed through his teeth, hood flaring. "What about th' rest, who 'aven't reached the end yet? Or the people who 'aven't even arrived on the island yet? What's to say th' serums won't kill them? Selfish b*****d, you'd be fine with them murderin' everyone else on this island if it meant you could live!"
The cobra was absolutely disgusted. Now he remembered why he hated Zach so much. He paused to gather his thoughts, shaking his head, then glanced up, echoing, "Would 'ave. I told you I was goin' to fight them, didn't I? I wasn't about to sit around an' let them kill me." He laughed, lunging towards the dragon, but only to sweep his tail in an arch around Zach to prevent him from running off...even if he couldn't. "I could've killed you ages ago. Dropped down from th' trees while you were walkin' by, you wouldn't've even known what hit you. I could kill you right now. 'Ow would you like that, Zachary?"
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 8:53 pm
"I'm not!" he growled back, immediately taking offense. He was just trying to survive, which was no easy task here. He had nothing to do with anyone else's serums or the effects. His tail lashed in worry. "And I can't stop them from changing people even if I wanted to!"
"I still don't understa-" Zach cut himself off with a strangled hiss as the cobra seemed to dive at him. His finger pressed down hard on the panic button before he held it up with the other in a sad attempt at appearing on the defensive. Without thinking, he practically leaped backward at the threat. His spine and some of the back of his wings ran right into a scaly tail that was not his own. This in turn made him jump and move forward. He lost his balance, crashing to the ground on his hands and knees. His heart was in his throat, and the sudden adrenaline rush left him temporarily stunned. What with how his throat was currently seized up with fear, he couldn't even form so much as a single word. A wheeze would have to suffice. All he could think about was that Thom had not been buzzed. His hands shook as they lifted away from the ground. It didn't make sense. He couldn't die, not now... no...
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 9:25 pm
Zach's attempted escape and resulting fall were funny enough to the cobra to calm Thom down a bit. Rather than kill the dragon and be done with it, Thom allowed himself a deep breath or two, then shook his head once more, laughing softly. Sinking down, he plucked the panic button from the dragon's grip, then backed off a bit so Zach wouldn't have a heart attack and keel over then and there. That would take all of the fun out of it.
"Calm down, Zachary, I'm not goin' to kill you. Today," he added as an afterthought, meanwhile inspecting the panic button. It would be a handy little item to keep around. Though, there was the possibility that it wouldn't work for Thom, or that the labs would be able to track it. He would try it out soon and, if it didn't work, hide it. As long as Zach didn't have it.
"I'll keep this," he announced aloud for Zach's benefit, and pulled his attention away from the button. "An' you'll stay alive. Th' next time I find you, which should be fairly soon, I'd advise you to 'ave somethin' else to trade. Let's say Lucas's eye, 'ow's that? An' we'll go from there." He paused for a moment, trying to decide whether there was anything else he wanted to bring up, and decided against it. "You can go now."
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 10:59 pm
Zach didn't put up a fight when the panic button was pulled from his grip. It was a little late for Thom to be telling Zach to calm down. The dragon was in a state of shock, overwhelmed by conflicting interests. Parts of him felt it was safest to run, to fly, to escape into any nearby body of water, and to stay perfectly still. One by one they were systematically proven impossible to do by what remained of his rapidly vanishing human reasoning until he was left with a simple solution: stay still there on the ground and hope like hell that Thom was both blind and couldn't smell a thing.
He heard Thom's words, vaguely, but outwardly gave no sign of it. Tree roots and dirt were all he could see at the moment. All those times he'd been attacked, it felt like this one would be no different if he moved. It wasn't worth it. He couldn't attack Thom himself, he knew. It was too difficult to think deeper than that without working himself into a worse panic.
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Posted: Tue May 22, 2007 11:12 pm
Thom couldn't decide whether he should be amused or not when the dragon didn't move. He half thought Zach really had had a heart attack for a moment there, but quickly decided this wasn't the case. He was just...terrified. Laughing softly once more, Thom gave the button another glanced, then carefully closed his hand around it and simply started away. He should be leaving anyway. He was fairly sure Zachary had actually pressed the button, which meant that, with no cameras in the immediate area, someone was probably on their way to see what was wrong. He would rather not be in the area when they arrived.
"Don't forget the eye," he called back towards Zach, and slipped off through the trees.
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