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He glared right back at Gaius, his mind racing to find a biting way to dispute the insult. That precious time was up before he'd even gotten as far as opening his mouth, because the front of his bony snout was soon met with the force and momentum of Gaius's fist.

The sound of the punch followed the pain like an ugly reminder. He pulled back with a loud, completely inhuman growl that faltered into an uncontrollable hiss, but the damage had been done. The force of the punch had knocked Zach backward. His carefully balanced crouch was interrupted and he landed right onto the base of his tail, forcing him to leap right back to his feet. He clamped both hands over the punched spot immediately. No teeth had come out this time, but a noticable amount of blood trickled from the front of his mouth and his once again battered nose, and both were undoubtedly going to get swollen. Half a minute later blood was already starting to seep through his fingers from the nose injury.

He clenched his jaw, frill flaring. There was still a hiss escaping him from his slightly open mouth. At this rate, he'd never be off painkillers. His front teeth felt too delicate at the moment for him to try talking around them. There was no way to get the last word in if he couldn't talk. He looked at the eyesore of a guard for a moment out of the corner of his eye, then at Gaius down there on the ground grinning. He took a breath. How badly he wanted to just bite Gaius right in that enormous neck and -

He clamped down on the thought before it got any more appealing to him.

There didn't seem to be a lot left to say or do. Like hell would he get that close to Gaius again; he wasn't going to be hurt twice. The man hadn't seem like the type to throw punches. He shifted his weight for a moment, then shot his leg out in a low, ground-grazing kick, sending a little shower of dirt at Gaius. He shot the long-necked cripple one last icy glare before he turned and stalked away wordlessly. He had a bruised ego to nurse.

"Nah," Freddie said, smirking. "My work here is done."

Declining a little beating while Gaius was down was, to him, even better than actually carrying through. He hadn't played along when Freddie had wanted a little tustle, so in a warped way it was like getting him back. Freddie wavedthe half of the walking stick he still had in hand at Gaius. "I'll just be takin' this. You can have the rest."

He turned and walked away. After a few yards he gave one last parting glance back at Gaius and his half a walking stick, just so he could have something to laugh about along the way.

New RP

Rachel opened the door partway and peeked her head outside, checking to make sure no one was around, before stepping out and closing the door quietly behind her. The predawn air was cool, and Rachel wrapped her arms around herself, chilled despite the oversized sweatshirt and running pants she wore. She had woken up early hoping to ensure that her workout wouldn't be disturbed by any of the medical staff who might get it in their head to stop her.

Silently, she crept down the stairs, having decided that this morning she would go jogging. She didn't know where the gym was yet (assuming they had one) and then this way she could do a little exploring at the same time. Rachel stood at the base of the stairs for a moment, while she stretched and warmed herself up.

Running ahead, Reuben sniffed another bush, then another, then located the right spot and left his mark. Walking slowly behind him was a still rather tired Lucas. The dog had been so demanding, all Lucas had time to throw on were a pair of pants and slipped into his shoes before running outside. It was suppose to be a quick walk around the village, have Reuben do his thing, then head back to bed. However, the more he walked around the more the feeling of the morning air and smells started to wake him.

Ears perking, Reuben caught sight of the female and darted toward her. Lucas, of course, without his glasses couldn't make heads or tails at first of what Reuben was running towards. However, when he caught sight of movement he realized it was another person. Great.

"Reuben, no!" he gave chase.

Ignoring Lucas, Reuben ran up to Rachel, jumping up on her, hoping for some attention.

Tommy just continues to walk toward Rachel but pauses as he sees the dog...and recognizes him. "...hey..." he mutters out and looks around quickly for the hedgehog lady. All he sees though is a rather skinny girl and another changed islander he hasn't met before.

The completely human girl didn't seem to be freaking out...so...huh...he just nods to them in as friendly way he can manage, "Mornin'" he says to the two of them.

As the two people came near, Rachel noticed that there was something....off....about the two of them. One of them seemed to have extrodinarily long fingers, and a rather strange looking face. Maybe he was here for medical treatment of some rare birth defect? She didn't know the labs dealt with other types of medical cases.

She turned to look at the second person, as he reached her and the dog, and her eyes opened wider, even as he smiled at her. Was that....fur all over his face and chest? Ok something definitelty wasn't right here. Maybe she was still asleep and this was a freaky sort of dream?

"Morning..." she managed, blinking and shaking her head, trying to make the strange things she was seeing go away. Of course, it didn't work, and she instinctively stood up and took a step back, not quite sure what she was dealing with here.

"Who...who are you?" Rachel asked, grabbing onto the stair railing, prepared to run up the stairs and lock herself in her room if needed.

Oblivious to Rachel's rising panic, Lucas introduced himself. "My name is Lucas Wickham. And this," he gestured toward the dog, "is Reuben." Almost in rhythm with Reuben's wagging, Lucas' tail was also swaying back and forth without him realizing it.

"Bolt?" It takes the more experienced and observant Tommy to point things out for him and his tail comes to a stop. Eyeing the bat-man for a moment, he looked back at Rachel. "You...really don't know?"