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Gaius winced, wondering how he should respond to having his own question turned on him. Lucas said he was 'fine'... but there was the pause. It was the typical 'fine' any guy gave when they were upset, but didn't want any prodding.

"I'm... fine too. Just fine."

He hooked his thumbs in his jean pockets. Most of the damage from Zach's had been to his back, though his wing was still sensitive. He'd left it bandaged. The running had jarred it, though, so now it was tucked against his back to avoid more banging around. Thankfully, the bruising on his sprained arm had faded mostly to a greenish-yellow tinge that wasn't visible in the late light, and the sprain in his neck was merely an invisible discomfort, though he'd reveled in the physical burn of pain in his run, liking it for the thoughts it kept out of his head. Now that he was just standing, he was careful to keep his neck mostly straight and immobile.

It was Vixen that came to the two quiet mens' rescue. Bounding up from the water, thoroughly soaked, she spotted her good friend Lucas and went running for him. Two sandy wet paws were placed on the front of his pants as she jumped him in greeting, wagging tail flinging water everywhere.

Gaius'd started forward a step when Vixen jumped up on Lucas, but stopped mid-way. Lucas handled the over-excited dog just fine, so he relaxed and remained standing as the dhole-boy sat to give Vixen a pat.

At the question, Vixen let out a low growl, then quickly shifted to a guilty expression and whined slightly, looking up at Gaius. He blinked, struggling to think of what to say. He hadn't been planning on brining up that event just yet, especially since it'd been unsuccessful in his goal.

Chewing his lower lip, Gaius shrugged stiffly. "We, er, had a run-in with Zach... there was some trouble." Gaius's blue eyes lifted from the sand they'd been staring at to search Lucas's face, unusually piercing. "But then... you know what kind of trouble he can make, don't you?"

Gaius snorted. "If by 'tell' you mean wave around your eyeball in a jar in front of me and Nita... yeah." Having no idea Lucas didn't know this little factoid, Gaius stated it all off-handedly, more angry with the dragon's behavior than his possession of the jar.

He rubbed the hair back on his forearms in agitation. That dragon, if it wasn't for him life would be so much better on this island for a lot of people...

Vixen sat up, watching Lucas's reaction, and after a moment nudged her nose against the hand that covered the side of his face. She could tell he was in pain, though she didn't understand what was causing it, but her master usually cradled or held things that pained him, and now Lucas was doing the same.

Lucas's sudden movement was more than enough to catch Gaius's eye. Knowing he'd said something that'd upset Lucas, the horse-man blurted out whatever he could as he hurried to amend the situation.

"It's okay! Realy, it's okay. I felt kinda ill seeing it, but the thing was all in one piece last I saw. Or I think it is... I dunno if the fall down the stairs did anything to the jar. Haven't seen it since I zapped after trying to get out of Zach's duplex." Gaius shook his head and huffed, glaring back at the village, as one would behave after losing a close race. "And I almost had it out of there too. If only they hadn't zapped me..."

Interrupted by Lucas's bare whisper, Gaius stopped his rambling and turned to look at the dhole.

"Er! Oh, you didn't know...? Sorry aboout that..." Gaius frowned. "I... well, you see... I didn't like him having your eye, and figured you wouldn't like it either, so... Itriedtogetitbackforyou. But it didn't go so well trying to get it from his duplex. We got into a tussle and he took out a chunk of my back." Gaius turned to show off the long red scabs that trailed through black horse-hair and human skin alike. Nasty dark-red lines that divoted the otherwise smooth muscles.

"We both got zapped, and I got dragged back to my duplex... No idea what happened to the eyeball-jar, though. It was in my hand when I blacked out on the stairs."

"No no! It's okay. Already mostly healed over," Gaius said. Turning back around, he squatted down to rest on his haunches in the sand, rather than actually sitting. "It wasn't your fault. I was the one who was stupid and... well..."

His face fell. How could he admit to bullying? That's essentially what it was, really. Forcing others with his muscle, just because he wasn't as good with words... Gaius let out a drawn-out sigh that ended in a small knicker.

"I should be the one to apologize. I went and messed things up for a lot of people with what I did. Got Vixen hurt... you're probably worse off thanks to me too. Injured Zach, even though he deserved it, and Nita's sharing in my punishment too..."

Gaius shook his head. Seems both of them had had rough times thanks to Zach's attitude. If HE'D not been so stupid around Zach multiple times, then maybe he could still be seeing Nita...

Vixen stared hard for several moments at the stitches, then leaned forward and nuzzled Lucas's cheek, licking him affectionately.

"I... well, you see..." Gaius looked down at his hands, which he tapped together anxiously. "Zach and I haven't ever gotten along... so Sabin's put a restraining thingy on me. If I go within twenty-five feet of Zach, I'll get knocked out, but they decided to be extra cruel and put the same limitation on me in regards to Nita." The sand crunched beneath him as Gaius shifted his seat. "You see... she and I'd been kinda dating... in a way. We were close friends at least, and I was hoping maybe something more. But now..." he trailed off with a grumble.

"Well I think he has a worse track record than me at this point. We can only hope... but considering how much he brown-noses the labs..." Gaius snorted distastefully.

Removing his gaze from his hands, Gaius glanced up at Lucas only to get a good view of the slightly sunk-in, stitched eyelids. It was like something one saw on a horror prop, like those shrunken heads, or in movies. He'd never actually seen it for real...

And the sad fact was, it evoked more of the feeling like seeing a dog with a missing eye than a fellow human.

Still, it was enough to make Gaius's stomach lurch.

"Oh geeze, I'm sorry..." Gaius blurted, turning his head away quickly. It was almost as bad as when Zach opened his empty socket for him and Nita to gaze upon. He took a long breath, calming his stomach. "I didn't realize it was that bad..."