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He rolled his eyes, still angry. What was an argument worth? Nothing but emotional investment. He'd let the snake guy think he'd won something. Zach felt he'd gained an interesting bit of insight from the guy.

After the cobra was out of sight, he lowered himself back down to the grass. He just wanted to lie there for a while. It wasn't like he had anything better to do... except see about getting a replacement hat. They weren't going to last too long here.

Rustle, rustle.

Six months gone and six months different. It was hard to really put a claw - or finger, as they used to be - down on when he'd really felt his thoughts and personality change, as they seemed slower than the physical ones. His nervousness had melted away some, leaving him with anger. But right now, he was certain that his pining for the trees (among other things) was no product of his humanity.

He didn't want to be out too much longer, or he was afraid he'd never leave the humid shade of the jungle. His skin was tougher in most places thanks to the scales, so rather than take the usual paths he made his own. It was much more solitary, and the less people he met the better. He felt the tips of his toes, wings, and tail start to tingle as numbness set into them. At the very least he didn't twitch as much now.

Grumbling a noise that sounded half like a cat and half like a lizard, he pushed aside some plantlife, and walked right into a guy he'd never seen before in his life.

"Hey!" Zach bounced backward as well, his frill open as wide as it could go. His tail snapped around his feet a couple of times. He itched to snap forward and bite, but by then the other person had backed off. Slitted eyes darted here and there, sizing up the man in front of him. At the same time, he brushed himself off as though unconsciously trying to rid himself of the feeling of another human being.

If he were a man of stronger morals, Zach would almost have felt guilty for the similar sounding lie he told Hirohito. Almost. It wasn't hard to guess who'd told the guy this tale. "That'sss- um... well, you sssee..." He just couldn't say it to the guy. He'd been in a newcomer's place before, and quite honestly they never believed it. It wasn't worth telling the guy. He smiled a very fake smile back, exposing the huge canines and sharp teeth. His changes had made him so nervous about how he looked. God, he needed that new hat soon. "Costumesss? Oh, yeah."

He let his scaly left hand be shaken, wiggling his claws around to keep from stabbing the brown-haired guy's own hands. His expression was still a little dumbstruck. He glanced down at the man's hands, looking for cuts. "I'm fine. Uh, are you okay though? And yeah... thessse are wingsss. Like them, huh?" He flapped them a little, though his wingspan wasn't impressively long.

As the days passed since his last change, Rex fought his new instincts while trying to remain human and keep to his old routine. But recently the only thing he felt like doing was eating and sleeping. Rex figured that while they may have been turning him into some cat, they couldn't take all of the humanity in his mind.

So after his typical run along the beach Rex fumbled clumsily on his new feet through the jungle; the smell of lunch in the cafeteria acted as his guiding light through the dense foliage. He couldn't wait to sink his fangs into a juicy, rare flank of meat! Though a sound to the side seemed to distract him, two voices. One sounded vaguely familiar, though the other was completely new.

No longer thinking with his stomache, Rex adjusted his course just slightly enough to come crashing through the underbrush around the same place Zach had emerged minutes before.

The first thing Rex saw was the bulk of red with the despicable sneering face of a certain dragon he hated to remember. Though soon enough he noticed the other man; an exhuberant (if not awkward) smile leaked from his countenence.

"Zach." Rex said flatly. He couldn't focus on the other man at the moment.

Gaius was was about to ask another question about the fins when another figure appeared from the jungle, this one dressed up as a very convincing lion. And it seemed the two knew each other, as the lion addressed the dragon as 'Zach.'

However, the following exchange left the man at a loss. The lion, 'Rex' as he was named by Zach, didn't look happy to see his co-worker. And Gaius could almost swear he heard a note of jeering in Zach's voice as he spoke. Still, he was being introduced, and Gaius was ever one to want to make a good first impression. He offered a small wave to the lion, though he didn't offer a hand. "Um, hey! Good to meet you... You two know each other...?"

Zach only kept smiling like a crocodile. He'd expected some sort of rebuttal from Rex. He clapped his mismatched hands together, but couldn't contain all of his malice. His tail flicked back and forth, though with every unintentional twitch it seemed to get number. He shuffled a little closer to Gaius. "Sssee? Rexss is a natural at acting. Sssometimesss he getsss a little too into it, though."

"Not cossstumesss? I know they look pretty real, but they're not that convincssing." Silently he yearned for the earlier days when he'd have believed the lies he was putting out. He eyed Rex again. Last time he'd seen him, the guy had been pretty hairy, but only now did he look like a large cat, rather than a man with ravaging case of hypertrichosis. "Lisssten, maybe you should drop the act for a little while, he'sss new here."

His facade crumbled slightly when he frowned at the last comment. "Oh?"

"Pft, c'mon, I ain't no actor." Rex started, his fuse shorter with Zach than it was for other people, "We all know that these aren't just costumes. Heck, you think I'd go for a run in this costume by my own will?" Rex laughed as if only to reasure with himself that this wasn't a dream. Sure being a lion was cool and all, but he couldn't help but miss the mainland deep down. Rex looked to Gaius' face hoping to see a grin of agreement.

But he couldn't help but feel some confusion or discomfort eluding from the man.

It was only then Rex realised what Zach said. "He'sss new here."

"Wait... dude... you do know about this island, right?" Rex began to panic, he'd never broken the news of the island to someone before. He remembered how traumatic it'd been for him and Avery on their arrival. Please tell me you're just playing along...

Gaius had to admit, all that fur had to be pretty dang hot in the tropical heat. But then, there were people in suits in the parks around Florida... "What do you mean, 'by your own will'?" he asked with unmasked confusion. When Rex asked him about the island, Gaius just shrugged, explaining, "I'm hired to work here as an architect on the island theme park. It's supposed to be a thriller-action-adventure theme based around the jungle and primal monsters... er, what I supposed you guys are supposed to be."

Zach's encouragement only helped cement Gaius's faith in the story he'd been told. Sure, he'd been gullible in the past, but he wasn't about to be taken in again, even with such a... confusing ruse. The mention of a story did intrigue him, though. "A...story? About the island?" His eyes darted between the two men, unsure of where his trust really lay.