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But...what had he just seen? He leaned against his wall, rubbing his temples with the thumb and middle finger of his right hand. His brow furrowed in cofusion and agitation. His brain was under siege from all manner of questions and images, eventually giving up under the strain of trying to think of coherent answers.

"Please..." he started, a little shakily. "Please please tell me this is all just another Halloween thing, because...what just happened...shouldn't happen in real life...this is like-like...something out of a fairytale. You can't be a mermaid!"

Had she tried to tell him this at any other point this morning, Oz would have laughed. He would have laughed until his sides hurt and then congratulated Sayuri on continuing a very good Halloween prank.

But he didn't laugh. He barely moved in fact. Just stared hard at the floor whilst his already over-heating brain was bombarded with more questions, and worse still, actual moments of truth from last night.

Nita's tail. Richard's tentacles. The 'double-costumes.' The raw meat available. Tommy's freakish appearance. It all piled up and then toppled onto his rational thought, squashing it like an elephant.

So what was it that triggered an angry reponse in Oz? Denial? Fury at his inclusion in such a twisted insult to humanity? It didn't matter, but poor Sayuri would have to watch this big man turn into an emotional puddle.

"...this can't be happening...it just CAN'T! I know I'm a dumbass, but I know enough to know that genetic testing on humans is illegal! And its sick! Wha-what could possibly make them do this!? I mean look at you!" he began ranting.

"You didn't want this and its doing you no favours. This is bollocks!" he was becoming increasingly aggitated, now pacing the length of his room in short strides.

Oz had stopped pacing his room and had slumped on the floor against a wall instead. He kept shuffling from holding his head in his hands, to resting his head on the wall and running his hands through his hair then settling on his neck. His breathing was slightly aggitated, but were more punctuated with occasional frustrated sighs.

Sayuri's question jarred him from his thoughts. He almost dreaded the thought of having to look at her properly. Until now, her change had been at the very back of his mind. Now, she was asking him to look.

"No, you don't look bad. You still look very pretty," he replied after some hesitation, a slight cheerful tone still in his voice but overpowered by a sense of exhaustion.

Oz continued to watch her as she struggled to stand, and even made a lurch towards trying to catch her the first time she fell. Eventhough she pulled herself back up, he stayed poised, ready to catch her should she stumble again.

Which she did.

He immediately reached to curl his arms about her, like he had done before when she seemed so fragile like a doll. This might have seemed improper, considering they hadn't known each other long, but he just needed to feel close to someone right now.

"Its not your fault Sayuri, you don't need to say sorry," he said, his mood continuing to plummet. But he still afforded Sayuri a soft and genuine smile.

The frog comment was enough to bring a smile to his face - the kiss was just another nice surprise. He seemed to sigh happily into the kiss, quite content to just sit there and do this for the rest of the day. But for all her efforts, Sayuri just wouldn't be able to lift the strange mist that had settled about Oz now.

Nothing seemed to fit together in his mind. It was a jumbled mess and he began recalling events and images that might not have happened at all!

He gently pulled away from the kiss, feeling maybe a little too comfortable with what he was doing. Sayuri was afterall just practising for someone else.

"Heh, true. But you'd still be pretty as a frog," he chuckled lightly. "And you are getting better at kissing."

Oz smiled, letting out a deep sigh that made his whole torso, and ultimately Sayuri's head, rise and fall.

"I like you too," he uttered gently.

He didn't read too much into her affections, especially seeing as she may be rather fragile after what had happened. Hell, Oz was fragile after what had happened. If indeed Sayuri's words were true, and the more he thought about them, the more they ringed true, then he'd have to prepare himself...somehow.

An escape plan? Trying to reason with the doctors to let him go? What about the others, could he leave them? Would there be any help for Sayuri, or Richard, or Nita, or any of the others?

There had to be a way to get off this Island. It wouldn't be until later that the guards and intense secuirty become clear in Oz's fuzzy mind as the means for keeping people here. Anger would follow. But for now, his body and mind had fallen into a state of numbness, where Sayuri's change just hadn't happened. Like things had returned to normal.

"How are you feeling? Is there anything I can get for you or do for you?" he asked, rubbing his sore neck.

Oz had taken to staring out of the window, feeling so much lighter and less burdened as he just tried to silence the screaming questions in his head. Sayuri's request, however, cut through both the silence AND the questions in his head. He thought as much - she was feeling a little fragile, and staying here might be better than trying to walk back to her duplex. Although Oz would have happily carried her if she asked.

"You can stay here, you'll be safe," he said reassuringly, although he honestly couldn't promise how well he'd protect her against any marauding fish-eating Islanders.

A growl from his stomach echoed in the space between them.