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"They let me out. Why, I ain't sure, but I ain't gonna argue," he answered Zach, his tone bearing more amusement than showed on his face. "Dat's just damn fine wit' me."

He was going to say more but he saw Valentine's hand go out to slap Zach and he automatically snarled at her and gave her a very pointed glare, not thinking anything of it. He was tired of inter-islander violence, mostly because he'd been dealing out most of it at highly inappropriate times. Lily coincidently didn't count as an islander at the moment.

"If ya'll wanna fight someone, perhaps ya oughta focus on da staff," he said heatedly as he stalked over to Valentine, the snarl showing his sharpened fangs. He did not look like he was joking at all. "You gonna be jus' like the rest of us, lady, so you best not piss off people 'o' you gonna have a lonely life. Trust me, I ********' know 'bout dat." He said that in a low, seething manner as he got almost up in her face. "There ain't NUTHIN' int'restin' 'bout watchin' yer nails pop off 'n' then havin' bone push through yo skin so ya bleed like you think you ain't neva gonna stop." He took a breath, his voice not breaking it's coolness. "I don't know where you came from, but s**t is diff'rent herr, I promise you dat. You ain't no betta then anyone else." Jamal snorted and pulled away from Valentine, whirling now to face Lily.

A leer replacing the snarl as he gave the ex-technician a sickly sweet smile and lifted a hand to indicate those who were assembled in the clearing. "You lab peeps like ta lie to us, dontcha? They -all- like ta lie."

He glanced at Chana, giving her what might have almost qualified as a sympathic look had he not seemed to be vibrating with repressed anger. "This b***h ain't no diff'rent then Aubrey or Moreau. They all lie o' gonna lie at some point...this one jus' slipped by until her cover got blown."

As soon as Valentine's hand made contact, it started stinging, and she hissed and rubbed her palm. She hadn't expected his face to be that hard. It truly surprised her when Jamal got up in her face - in fact, it scared her not a little. The slap was a reflex, of a sort. She had been angry, and just...swung. She expected it as much as Zach did.

She backed up as Jamal approached, searching desperately from side to side in order to find a way out of his path. Even without the fact that he was partly changed, large man + black = bad situation for her. "I am focused on the staff," she retorted. "I'm focused on the fact that it's Moreau's fault Zach could make that rude, uncalled for comment about my finger." Her defiance died down a notch as he went into detail about his transformation. She didn't know what to say to that, so she said nothing at all. "And I don't know where you come from," she muttered, "but s**t ain't so different that humans don't have a soul. Leave her alone. She can rot by herself." Her meaning Lily. The woman clenched her hands, and with visible difficulty, got her anger under control.

Chana watched Jamal nervously. There was just too much about him that made her wary now. And Lily looked like she was going to try and run away. Sighing, the beaver girl walked over to her...surreptiously avoiding Jamal.

"But we didn't know that, Lily. There's so much that could've been different if you'd just told us..." Chana bit her lip. She didn't want to repeat herself too many times.

Up close, it was even more shocking and horrifying to see how Lily had changed. It was...disturbing, really, seeing all the little things that weren't quite right.

She smiled, and changed the subject quietly. "How was it really?" she asked, gesturing towards Lily's features.

Zach's eyes darted toward Valentine. He trired speaking. It still hurt, but he could get some words out, a little distorted. "Wasn' so uncall for, considerin' you ugree wiv him an' his isane sperimentin'..."

He didn't want to get attacked another time - this wasn't his first islander injury, anyhow, between Rex's new claws and Billy's fiery temper. He glanced back the way he came. The village was that way, and no one was blocking his path. He eagerly backed away and left as silently as he could. He needed an icepack, or something. His jaw would probably be killing him a whole extra day now.

The four remaining islanders' bickering continued to echo through the forest as he walked away. He didn't look back - he didn't want to witness the scene if Jamal got riled up enough by the ex-scientist to do with Lily what he'd failed to do with Aubrey.

"You didn't know I was a lab technician either," Lily responds to Chana, "You found out I didn't know these things at the same time you found that out, now." It's her only defence for that comment, but she can't do anything except agree with Chana on the second thing. Things would be different if she'd told people, but was it the optimistic different Chana was suggesting or the pessimistic different Lily had imagined? Lying never leads to good... if she had told the truth, even if everyone was this angry with her, she'd have that on her side.

She turns back to Jamal, "No- well-" she almost responds to his accusation. Her first impulse is to deny it, but she obviously didn't want to be found out. Maybe in the end it would be a relief to have her secret out, but for now it's just a terrible thing that all she feel about it sorry it happened. Her eyes widen when he gives a vague explanation of what happened with Aubrey, taking a great step backward- if Aubrey could even get cuts and scratches then she can't hope that he couldn't do anything.

She quivers at Chana and Jamal's questions. She takes a moment to think about how to respond, surprised and unprepared for a question like that. When she finally overcomes this she says the first word that had come to her mind to describe her transformation, finding it kind of ironic that it's suitable to how they probably feel about her now. She watches Valentine storm off before she replies to the two remaining.

"Slimy," she snaps, looking at Chana, and then back at Jamal, "Oh yes-" her tone is an 'I-give-up', sad sarcastic one, with little anger- "Of course, because I worked on all of the serums, and am actually the one responsible for everything happening on this Island." She takes another step back as she speaks, and glances back to Chana briefly before turning around and heading back in the direction of the duplexes.

Jamal was so focused on Lily that he didn't pay any attention to Zach or Valentine's leaving, giving the ex-staff woman a threatening growl as she snapped back at him sarcastically. Not only was she an ex-staff person, but she wasn't very smart.

His predatory instinct urged him to chase after her like he had done to Em, but he had been paying close mind to the tiger's thought patterns and managed to refrain. He'd settle for giving her the creeps for now.

"I'd be careful, Lily," he drawled, his tone as much seething as it was cruel and calculating. "One of these times ya might turn yer back at da wrong time. I know who you be now."

Chana's snapped reaction to his treatment of the woman made him snarl at her and whip his head around. "I kin' judge her fo' ruinin' people's lives, Chana. Unless you LIKE bein' how you is right now." He gave the woman a leveled, chilled stare. "She's jus' anotha' puzzle in dis ******** up place. Seems like what -you- said hurt her mo' anyway."

But whatever. The tiger's dislike of social situations and Jamal's hatred of the staff had combined to an intolerable high. He needed to get out of here and relax. Maybe snap a few animal necks like Pyroth suggested.

Without a word, he slipped away into the underbrush again, melting into the darkness with surprising ease and soon the soft crinkle of leaves could no longer be heard as his footsteps took him away from the river.

New RP

Zach sat hunched over the river with his feet submerged in the cold water. Wearing shoes had been out of the question, as he had discovered when he tried to put them on. Not only were his toes still sore and painful, but far too long to fit into his boots. Going barefoot was killing his feet. There was also the minor setback of his tail, which had complicated his attempts to get pants on. However, in the end he had found a way to comfortably wear them with his tail. The new limb in question now lay behind him on the ground and occasionally moved, though the red scales covering it prevented it from hurting quite as much as it should have every time it brushed against something sticking up in the ground. He wore a long-sleeved shirt to cover the scales on his arm. His horns were part of why his head was bent. He wasn't used to the sudden added weight of extra bone jutting out of the top of his skull.

While he was otherwise silent and frozen surveying the river, his yellow eyes followed the fish that went by. He should have gone to the cafeteria, but he hadn't, for fear of meeting another islander. The odds were much lower out here, away from the village.

Zach looked up suddenly at the sound of Avery's voice. His first thought was to run, but his feet hurt way too much for him to consider it. Perhaps he could ignore the guy? No, he owed Avery an apology. That would be rude. He realized the silence had been stretching longer and longer, and there was nothing to do but speak. If he didn't want to be seen, he shouldn't have left his duplex. He'd made the mistake.

After letting out a sigh, he pulled his clawed feet out of the water and turned around. His neck still bothered him, even though the transformation was over. He scratched it, unwittingly revealing the reddish scales identical in color and texture to the ones on his now twitching tail. "Oh, I wasn't swimming. Go ahead, though."