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His brow went up with the display from Zach, allowing his sunglasses to slide down his nose. The important thing, real or no, was not to freak out. As long as nobody saw you sweat you were golden, you could actually fool yourself into thinking you were alright... was he sweating? It was all he could do not to touch his forehead to be sure.

Outwardly Sid succeeded with the calm facade, at least where his expression was concerned. His grip on the wood carving, meanwhile, was too damn tight.

"Yeah, you're the first," he said, nodding to Zach. He took a moment to try and force the shaky quality out of his voice before continuing. "Haven't been out much. Not at all 'til now, actually, seein' as I just got here. Name's Sid."

He didn't offer his hand. They were pretty much full anyway, with one resting casually on the knife and the other clutching the carving. He was cool, totally cool. Seriously.

He looked the guy on the bench over quietly. Kaveri was probably right, the guy was new, and he'd never been told 'the story'.

"New? Oh, sssorry. Well, you're ssstuck here for good. Everyone here isss becoming an animal, or ssseveral animalsss. It'sss all thanksss to the lab a couple milesss away. And before you asssk if you can essscape, the anssswer is no. No one has." So there was the truth, plain and simple. His mind raced. He'd been feeling so depressed lately; this could be the pick-me-up he needed. There were still ways to make these newcomers sufficiently confused, even if he wasn't around to witness what happened. He tried to put some enthusiasm into his voice. "But you'll have to be really careful. There'sss a few people you should watch out for here."

He held his right hand up, holding fingers up one at a time as he rattled off names slowly but confidently. Each sentence was formulated quickly. "Nita. She'sss furry and red and might act nice, but watch out. She'll tell you anything to get you in bed with her. There'sss also Gaiusss, he'sss a beefy guy. He'sss never sssaid a true word in hisss life, believe me. Both of them are friendly with the lab. Then there'sss Rexss. He looksss like a lion, and he'sss very dangerousss. He and thisss yellow sssnake-looking guy, they're the onesss who mastermind a lot of what goesss on here in the village. Not as high up as, sssay, Dr. Moreau, but pretty high. They got recruited by the doctor. They'll deny it if you asssk them, but that'sss jussst ssso they can ssstudy all of usss without having to worry about being found out. Try to ssspread the word to anyone you can find, we need to take them down."

Now that was a lie.

Well. That was better than expected, nice and succinct for what it could have been. However, the listing off of names and rather unappealing descriptions had Kaveri lifting a hairless brow, raising her head, and fanning her tailfeathers in confusion. Most of these people, Kaveri barely knew if at all. She had some vague recollections of course, but Rex was the only one that she had known of in that list as the big lion-looking guy from the soccer game. The rest she did not know.

"How do you know all dis?"

"Gotcha," he said with the repeating of the names. The sudden shift, followed by the sudden departure, was kind of odd... but then suddenly so was everything. Rather than watch Zach go he took another cigarette from the pack cleverly tucked under his rolled up shirtsleeve.

He stared at it for a few seconds, long enough to confirm it wasn't going to help.

"I really need a drink," he said, putting the cigarette back.

That always helped.

That last comment got a shaky laugh out of him. "Not like I've done anything of use lately," he said, glancing at the incomplete duck. He shoved it in his pocket along with the knife. Once those were away he pushed himself up with the cane. He would have been proud of the fact he didn't even wince if not for what his mind was roiling with.

"Lead the way, then," he said.

It wasn't long before he was thinking out loud as they walked. "But anyway... There's ways around it. I mean, they make these things for invalids- these headset things- that have a little pointer attached. Okay, more like a stick... and after that it'd just be a matter of learning to type with your head. Ah, ********."

(( NEW RP ))

If it weren't for the fact that he just couldn't fall back asleep, Joshua would still be in bed right now. Having been rudely woken by another horrible nightmare, he eventually just gave up and got out of bed for the day. Oddly enough, he had been feeling achy all day in addition to his exhaustion, but he couldn't figure out why.

The tall man walked across the center of the village, the pains in his body bothering him enough to request some more pain killers. He didn't understand what he could have done to cause these pains, he was sure it wasn't just because of his age.

After getting a small bottle of aspirin, he placed it in his pocket and began to head back to his duplex, entertaining the thought of making a quick detour to the cafeteria for some food.

Joshua almost didn't see the other man leaving the cafeteria, nearly walking into him - thankfully, he's learned to walk while looking down slightly so he wouldn't run into anyone. Of course, most people weren't so short that he had to crane his neck too far, but looking straight ahead he was bound to overlook someone turning a corner or entering rooms.

"Oh," he said, surprised to see someone so... human looking. He wondered how much about the island this man knew about... at least he wasn't running away in terror. "Hello. I assume you are new here?" he asked.