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"Gyah!" Gaius jerked back reflexively, more bandages pulling off as he did so, though he couldn't go far with Marshall's grip on them. He dropped the pen in the midst of his flailing, his right hand slipping out of his pocket as well as he raised his arms defensively. And on top of all that, his black wings flapped with his panic, tossing the towel off over his neck.

It was almost a funny sight, in some ways. Gaius stood bent-over, held there by the bandages still largely wrapped around his face, aside from the now exposed parts of his nose, some of the bandages having slipped down over an eye. One ear poked up on top.

"Er..."

The pegasus-man yanked the bandages out of Marshall's hand and quickly turned away, trying to cover his face once more with his hands. "I-it's nothing..." he said feebly. Damn, why was he doing this? It was like Shenzi. Why was he trying to cover everything up? It just felt so awkward.

"I-I'm alright, really..."

Gaius jerked his shoulder out of Marshall's grip, turning his patchy back on the penguin. The words... brought no comfort. He'd heard them, spoken them to himself when he was at his lowest, but now they sounded empty.

"What does it matter? I don't... How can you tell I was even human once? And these strange behaviors, I can't seem to control them. Hell, I can't tell what's me and what's not me..." He sighed, pulling the rest of the bandages off his head. "So what if I'm 'still Gaius'? I'm still trapped here, and trapped in this body... this face that isn't mine..."

The pegasus-man winced visibly, cringing under Marshall's sarcastic tone. He gave his friend an apologetic look over his shoulder. "Sorry, guess I'm not one to talk about these kinds of changes..."

Sighing, he turned away again, looking down as he flexed his uncovered hoof-hand. "I know the flipper is hard for you. I... just hoped it would never happen to me. I feared it, certainly, but it only became a fear after you changed, and didn't seem real... not until now, when I have to deal with it myself. And this is my third change...."

"Square head?!" Gaius shot Marshall a cross glare. "Since when do I have a square head? It's an oval, thank you very much! ...Well, used to be, anyways."

He couldn't help another sigh that escaped him. Poor Marshall, he'd come over to be friendly, and here he was, being such a downer. "Sorry... you know how I get after a change... and I've been under a lot of stress lately. The labs, and Lucas changed too... it's just a lot to all deal with. And I'm terrified of what Nita'll think when she sees me..." He shook his head dejectedly.

"Nn-er... well, I, ah, had a fight with Zach recently, over at the construction site..." He reached a hand back to scratch his neck and winced as the cold, hard hoof touched skin, quickly drawing it back. "I said some choice things about the labs, sooo... they locked away all the supplies and tools and stuff. I... had to talk to them to get it back. Apologize. Kind of." Feeling rather awkward, and being without his nervous habit, Gaius began rubbing his hooves together, the scraping relieving a little tension.

Gaius made a face, but nodded reluctantly. Perhaps it would be best, like Lucas said, to just face it. The bandages couldn't last forever...

Picking up the pen from where it'd fallen on the ground, Gaius worked on positioning it between the fingers of his right hand and turned towards Marshall. "Sure... just, uh, where should I sign?"