Welcome to Gaia! ::

Zach shifted his weight a little as he straightened up more. His frill flared slightly, another unconscious gesture that wasn't even defensive so much as a display of dominance. It wasn't something he thought about. Giving every impression of seeming bigger than Alec was just important.

"I see," he remarked flatly, staring at Alec just a second too long. He switched his attention to the nearby jungle with a quick turn of his head. As far as he was concerned, Alec had knocked her up and had tried to unload the blame on him. While he felt above the petty actions of the other islanders, he was not above petty dislike. It just made it even less guilt-inducing to use the teen to gather information. He was actually starting to enjoy this minute amount of power over others. While he wasn't going to do anything himself, that didn't seem to be a huge obstruction to getting his way when he deserved it.

His went from quietly flicking to curling in worry. Anything involving Jamal couldn't be good. It was enough to draw his single eye from gazing at the trees. His voice was unsure, as if asking the question didn't necessarily mean he wanted an answer. "Jamal and a jeep?"

Zach had a pretty good idea of Jamal's agenda. The tiger had landed himself in a cage once, for trying to kill Aubrey. How long ago had that been, a year? It seemed like so long ago, and yet couldn't have been that far off. He was momentarily perplexed. Thinking about the past caused him to hit snags, whole blank spots of memory, even from the time he'd been on the island. It made things distorted, and worried him for a minute. It didn't occur to him that it was because of all the electric shocks he'd received from the chip in his neck. But, just as soon as he'd really gotten a grasp on the fact that something was very obviously off, he chose to push it away. That was what he did with everything that threatened him. Nothing was wrong with him. Nothing at all. He wasn't going crazy like the other islanders.

Zach glanced down his snout at Alec. For once, not having an expressive face was a good thing. He bared his teeth a little, but the full horrified grimace was easier to keep off his reptilian face. Jamal was after staff, he reasoned. But if he was after a doctor, why would he try to hit a duplex? Unless... well, Ambrose was presumably another supporter of the labs. He flexed his claws nervously, toes clinging to the stair.

"He... but... how could he have done that without getting buzzed?" Not two seconds after the words left his mouth did he figure it out for himself. He couldn't pale, but the dullness of his scales and sunken-seeming eye probably contributed to an appearance of weakness and fatigue. Just what he needed now, another murderer after anyone who disagreed with his radical views. And unlike the rest, he must've found a way to get his chip out like the wolf.

Zach made a noise as though he was about to say something, but snapped his mouth shut not a moment later. He grit his teeth together and once again looked away from Alec with his one eye. He didn't want to take things out on the shark, even though he itched to do so. It would have felt so much better to accuse him of being part of the problem, even if it was totally unfounded. But he had to hold his tongue on this one. He needed Alec's help this time, and he'd been scathing enough earlier. There just wasn't anything to do about this but wait till Jamal got caught.

He tapped several toes on the stair in a way that would have looked far less disturbing if done by fingers. He'd spent long enough pondering the many what-ifs that constituted his future. What he needed now were results. Perhaps Jamal's antics could sway a few of the less radical islanders? Or were they all as hopelessly insane as the tiger? He cleared his long throat.

"Well. Uh. Thanks for coming by. And for the apology," he forced out, most of the sincerity smothered by his split attention. His own fate was infinitely more important than anything he could think of. He started back up the stairs slowly, turning to glance down at the wheelchair-bound figure when he'd climbed to the top. "Don't be too hard on yourself. Just cooperate... maybe talk to S- Dr. Duvert if you need anything."

Without bothering to go into any details, he slipped back inside his dark duplex.

Reserved

There was a half a minute of silence as Zach crawled out of bed and grabbed the two most important objects he needed on him, the eyepatch and the panic button. The knocking had woken Zach up from a nap. His sleep schedule was never attuned to day and night more than about a week each month, and this was one of the off weeks.

It wasn't far to the door, but he had to be careful to duck his head enough the entire time or risk cutting into the ceiling with his horns. He rubbed the sleep out of his right eye, his other hand hovering over the lock on the door. He wasn't about to open it. What if it was Jamal? Or Thom? But on the other hand, it could be Kaveri... He cleared his throat and then called out the standard question. "Who is it?"

"I'm flattered you'd think so, but I didn't take your girlfriend's virginity," he grinned at the door, trying to mask his growing concern over Kaveri's absence. It was reminiscent of the friend he'd lost ten years ago, and it was nerve-wracking enough even to think about. Not to mention the issue of getting zapped a couple days ago for no apparent reason. But no matter his worry, he knew that there had to be answers, and just because he didn't know them didn't mean there wasn't a good reason for everything that happened. "I've already got a girlfriend."

There was an audible click as he turned the lock. Gaius wouldn't be stupid enough to come at him again, he reasoned. He'd give him the benefit of the doubt, if only to be sure he suffered if he did make the wrong choice. His tail brushed across the floor several times. The door creaked open about an inch, allowing him to stare down the pegasus and his canine sidekick. "Talk? There's nothing to talk about."

"Touchy," he commented airily, glad to see the horse was upset.

He didn't have long to gloat, though. The door already had opened another couple inches by the time he had the sense to throw his own weight against it to try and close it. Not to mention, he had to listen to Gaius's own slew of insults. Gaius seemed to have the advantage here - the door wasn't doing anything but opening more and more every time he gave a little slack.

"We already established," he growled from between clenched teeth, digging his clawed feet into the carpet, "that was all your fault. Congratulations, you're an idiot. What more can I say?"

To the second comment, he could only offer a rather guttural feline growl at first. The door lurched forward on him and he stumbled back from it, desperately trying to regain his balance. He clenched his jaw tightly in agitation, sending the frill flaring. The duplex was pretty sparse in decoration. It had the usual bed and chair of any duplex. A geode sat in the corner, a couple unusual-looking rocks and cracked-open geodes were scattered on the dresser. Nearby those was a folded piece of paper with large, indecipherable letters printed on it, signed "Kav", weighted down by a small leather pouch filled with five gold coins. And finally, farthest from the door, was a nondescript little jar in which an altogether human-looking eye was floating in formaldehyde.

Most of the island didn't mean anything to him as it did to some islanders. He was usually above the concept of "territory". But if nothing else, this room was his. It was his only escape from the insanity outside. It was the only place where he had any fraction of control. Like hell was he going to let Gaius invade the only sanctuary he had left. "Get out!"

Snarling and blinded with his own self-preservation, Zach leapt back to the door as quickly as he could, trying to keep his tail and wings from knocking into anything as he did. Even though Gaius had reiterated several times he was here for something, Zach wasn't totally sure what it was. He was already slamming the door as Gaius leapt to the side. It was completely unexpected, but far too late to stop from slamming the door into the pegasus.