Welcome to Gaia! ::

Zach made a face of confusion at her short statement. He knew that he looked rather like a lot of things now, given that he was now halfway to becoming someone's take on a mythical monster. Being told he looked older than his age was preferrable to anything related to his changes.

He shrugged dismissively. "It's not that bad. You'll always have more birthdays... I think. But try not to think like that. I shouldn't have said it. Um... happy birthday?" His voice ended on a question note. Being comforting was not something he was good at. After some silent moments he lowered himself down to sit somewhat awkwardly on the sand.

He leaned his head sideways slightly as he looked at her. "Is it bothering you that much?"

He looked out at the water. They were empty words to him. The only person he truly considered a best friend was quite dead... but somehow he'd gained back what he'd lost from that incident. "So there's people looking for you? Well... maybe they'll find you here. Your parents and your best friend. Though, this place seems to do an awfully good job of making people disappear without a trace in more than one way..."

"Is it tough on you, too? Being surrounded by constantly changing strangers and all." His tail flicked on the warm sand. "Whatever gets you through the day, or week, or month... at least you tried, right? I... haven't had a lot of high hopes for escape. I met people who'd been around for seven months. They never escaped. There was no point in trying to pretend I'd succeed where thirty-seven other people had apparently failed." He scratched delicately at where an ear had formerly been, now shrunk to almost nothing. "Going by how many new prison complexes they've put up lately, though, I could probably pad my estimate with another twenty people I've yet to even see."

"Depressing to some. I prefer to think of it as..." He flourished his hand a little as though trying to pick a word out of the air around it. "Realistic. It's getting hard to find things about this place that can be described like that."

His tail swished across a patch of sand. Adapting to its unlikely presence had gone far more quickly than he wished to admit. He gave a concerned flicker of the eyes in her direction at the word 'murderer', pursing his lips.

"Well, I don't plan on stopping you." He gave a short wave up at her, then planted his hands on the ground to move to a standing position. There was still the whole of the night ahead, and he didn't want to spend it all in a grey mockery of a hotel room.

That was the usual daytime routine.

Nita emerged from the jungle, having spent much of the morning dozing between two branches of one of the many enormous old trees. The sun warmed her fur as she stepped out onto the beach. She really should take a quick dip in the ocean before going back to her duplex or else she would end up a bit too warm. Nita's sensitive nose twitched and her eyes watered as they sensed the smoke on the breeze. Smoke and something that smelled awfully good.

A moment later, the lone figure of an islander sitting next to a campfire of sorts came into view. A predator, she decided, and not just because of the boar roasting beside him. The red panda was nervous, but Nita quelled her own fears by asserting that whoever-it-was had obviously just hunted, and probably wasn't interested in skinny girl, fluffy tail or no. Nita approached him, making just enough noise so as not to sneak up on him-- she had learned that lesson well enough.

"Er, hi," she said, trying not to stare. This man -for surely he was a man under all the fur and decidedly canine features- was more changed than anyone she'd seen, even more than Cassidy. Was this how Amaya looked? So awkward and.. animal.

"I'm Nita," she said, offering a hand to shake (and hopefully not getting the pig-covered hand in return). "Nice to meet you, I suppose." She grinned, the unspoken sentiment, 'under the circumstances,' hanging in the air.

Nita realized, in spite of her best efforts, that she was staring. Feeling a bit guilty (although her inspection of Pyroth was purely curiosity and not particularly horrified), she perched herself on another fallen branch. Her tail stretched itself out behind her for balance.

"So," Nita asked, "Did you catch that yourself?" She jerked her head at the roasting pig. She wasn't really nervous anymore, cheered by Pyroth's forthright manner.

Nita looked suitably impressed. By the toothmarks on the carcass, it was pretty obvious how Pyroth had brought down the attitudinal porcine. She whistled at the scar on his shoulder. "I bet that hurt like hell," she commented drily.

"I keep to myself somewhat, but there were a couple weeks where it seemed like I ran into new people every time I turned around. Got to give that 'Welcome to the Island' speech a couple of times." Nita rolled her eyes, remembering the varied reactions she'd recieved. She inhaled deeply. The pig did smell good, even to someone whose primary source of nutrition was bamboo.

Nita chuckled slightly. That would be an odd excuse to give.. although considering their location, the medical staff had surely heard worse. Pyroth's age surprised her-- as far as she could tell, the oldest islanders she had met were maybe in their late 20s, except for Josh. Not that it was particularly easy to ascertain someone's age once they'd gone through some changes. "I don't think anyone particularly enjoys being talked-down to. I know I don't.

"One guy thought I was off my rocker or something. Of course, I'd only changed once back then, so I was just a little fuzzy, and the tail hadn't showed up yet. At least people would probably believe you right away," she pointed out.

She shook her head at his question. Cigarette smoke did bother her, but they were outside by a smoky fire anyway. "Go right ahead."

"The guy who thought I was crazy, he's probably changed by now. I did run into him later, and he apologized, sort of. So there was a little bit of vindication, at least." Nita laughed. "We really should make pamphlets or something to stick in the newer duplexes. 'Yes, You're Turning Into An Animal.'"

She looked Pyroth up and down again, taking in the true extent of his changes. "So.. I guess you were one of the first, then?" Nita asked quietly. She almost offered to help him with the lighter, but figured he might want to keep what dignity he had left.

"Hm? Oh, sure, I'll have a bite, thanks." Nita smiled. She knew from her reading that while red pandas mostly ate bamboo, their digestive systems were actually suited for meat. Just one more way that the natural world was easily as weird as the Island. Maybe.