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Rachel's eyes narrowed and she started to shake a little both in anger and hurt, blinking back the tears that were now threatening to spill down her cheeks. She stood there silently glaring at him for a long moment, before responding, partially because she didn't know what to say, and partially because she wasn't sure she could control her voice.

In an implusive action, Rachel turned and grabbed one of the books off of the shelves and threw it at him, but not aiming very well. She yelled at him, figuring to say something that would do the most damage, as angry as she was. "And 'nobody wants to rub up' on someone who you can't tell if they're a man or a woman!"

"I'm NOT! I'M NOT....I'm not...." Rachel said repeatedly, stomping her foot, as her protests gradually turned into unintelligible sobs. The floodgates holding back her tears had opened and they now flowed freely down her cheeks.

"I'm just a fat cow..." she muttered more to herself than Freddie, not realizing the effect that particular choice of words might have on him. The effort from being so upset exhausted her, since she hadn't eaten anything but that small plate of rice in the past two days and she lowered herself to a sitting position on the floor, burying her face in her hands.

Rachel shook her head in response to Freddie's words, not bothering to look up as she continued crying. It was he who couldn't see what she really was. And her was torturing her with the thin comments, because she felt that although she kept trying, she would never achieve the body she desired. Her mind would allow her to think no differently.

"Why are you tormenting me?" she said accusingly, finally glaring up at him, her face wet with tears and her eyes red. She hadn't asked for this when she came in there. All she had wanted was to find a book and some mental peace. Instead she had found him.

Rachel let out another sob at his comment. Was he getting some sick pleasure from seeing her like this? She fought to control herself enough again, and lightly chewed on her upper lip. After a moment, she turned herself around, so she was facing away from him, seating herself so that she was holding her legs and she could rest her head on her knees.

"Just...stop...leave me alone. Please" Rachel begged, whispering.

Rachel heard him moving towards the door and turned her head slightly, so she could just see him in her peripheral vision. Well at least he had stopped for the moment like she had asked. She hadn't quite expected him to listen to her.

"Thank you..." she said evenly, from her seat on the floor

She sat there a couple of moments longer, trying to compose herself. As she got to her feet, she wondered whether anyone had heard them, and hoped that they hadn't. Shaking her head and wiping her eyes one last time, Rachel headed back to her duplex for solitude, her search for a book to read forgotten.

Unlike Gaius, Zach didn't have anything in the way of hair to clean the foodstuffs and blood from. Two showers had done the trick, the second only necessary because he'd been pretty drunk the first one. The only tricky part had been making sure that his wings, tail, and horns were as clean as the rest of him, easier said than done. The only difference today was his pained slump, courtesy of the hangover, and his lack of a hat.

He didn't stop to even look at who else was in the entertainment room when he went in, making a beeline for the bookcase. Only when he'd made it there did the sound of voices from the television start to grate against his headache in a way he could not ignore. He kept his eyes trained on the spines of the books in front of him, reaching out to lightly pull one of the novels out so he could read the back of it. Books, one of the greatest distractions there were. "Turn the volume down."

Zach rolled his eyes, but winced when the headache didn't let him do that for long. The book he'd been gently tugging out of the bookshelf landed back on its side with a thump as he let go of it. One minute was spent quietly pretending he was still poring over book titles. The shouting that blared from the television was simply too loud to ignore.

"I don't care when you got here." He didn't want the conversation. Really. He knew what he did the other day and while he wasn't sorry, he had to admit it was one of the stupider decisions he'd made. It hadn't even been the alcohol - that was just the catalyst. Still refusing to look in the direction Gaius's whiny voice had come from, he lashed his tail with frustration. He repeated himself, putting as much emphasis on the last word as he could. He was almost afraid he wasn't speaking loud enough for his voice to be heard over the other noises. "Turn it down."