Welcome to Gaia! ::

The fire in question was nestled in a small hole dug out into the sand. Within it, pieces of paper curled, smoked, and burned. On the side, standing over the flames, was Zachary, ripping pages out of his notebook and tossing them to their destruction. Occassionally he bent down to pick up a bottle of vodka to soak the crackling fire and keep it burning.

Between the blinding brightness of the fire and the comfortable monotony of his actions, he didn't notice the approaching person. He reached into the notebook again, pulling out a pair of pages and crumpling and ripping them in the process. A careless toss and they were swallowed up in the unforgiving element.

It was only when she got close that he heard her footsteps in the sand. After wavering a moment with a piece of paper in hs hand, he stopped, snapping the significantly more empty notebook shut and letting the page slip out of his fingers into the awaiting flames.

"Out late?" he remarked. He'd spent so long staring into the fire that the sea, beach, and jungle were all a splotchy dark blur. He blinked a couple of times, but whoever had approached him was nothing more than a human-shaped shadow a ways off. Some night vision he had, thwarted by twenty minutes of of bright light.

"I have to admit, it's nice to hear someone who sounds scared. I thought I was the only one. You know, if FDR had seen this place, he'd have changed his tune pretty quickly. 'Only thing we have to fear is fear itself'... hah." The other person's voice sounded female, but he couldn't see much. Was she new to the island? Still holding the notebook tightly with his left, he rubbed his eyes. "I guess I should mention you overshot the cafeteria by about a mile."

Things were finally coming into focus a bit. Her staring didn't go unnoticed; he rolled his eyes and his tail curled. From the odd look of her feet and the noticable tail, he gathered she'd been on the island long enough that he wasn't the first islander she'd met sporting the physical features of an animal or seven. Ivy alone had been the only islander to take a positive interest in his appearance, and things were not about to change. He looked her over again, curling his lip and letting one of the feline fangs that was threatening to protrude from his mouth show. "It's rude to stare."

He swapped the notebook from one hand to the other so that he could hold his scale-covered left up in a silencing gesture. "Never mind," he grumbled.

"Of course you didn't. No one means to. You just couldn't avoid it because I look like a monster. Right?" The frills that had replaced his ears flared a little as he spoke. His fingers played along the spine of the notebook, claws occasionally hooking into the leatherlike material. Sunken, slitted eyes looked at and through the girl he spoke to. "But it's not just appearance. I am one. I've... I've hurt people before. Or tried." His next words came in a quiet breath. "I couldn't help it."

He gained his composture quickly, trying to brush some hair to the side of his face. "Is that why you're looking at me like that? Is it? Who else told you?"

"Guess what I am!? Good luck... whatever I am doesn't exist in nature for a good reason. For all intents and purposes, I'm a dragon." He spread his arms aggressively and took a step toward the girl. "Happy? Suppose that's the only entertainment now that doesn't involve serious injury. Guessing what everyone's going to become. Because you can't just ask."

After the short bit of frustration he'd released, he stood breathing somewhat heavily and clasping the notebook. Being angry was not fun, and going out of his way to scare people was not helpful to his situation. He'd done enough scaring when he wasn't in his right mind. He took a few steps so that the fire was now between them, and began to rip pages out of the notebook again to fill the silence. Rather than apologize for his actions, he chose to ignore that they'd happened.

For a moment, she thought her heart stopped... A mixture of general fear of him and a guilty feeling from getting him so mad at her. She found herself stumbling backwards, only to trip on her own feet in a slight panic and fall backwards onto her rear.
Asking would have been much ruder than guessing... Wouldn't it? And why on earth would injury be fun? Her mind was racing as he walked away, unable to say anything... And wishing she could. By now, she figured her reaction was aboutto get him mad at her...

And then she heard a familiar voice. At the moment, Nita seemed like her guardian angel. "N-Nita!" She squeaked, looking back towards her, she quickly pushed herself to her feet, moving over towards the familiar woman with a rather terrified smile. She wasn't going to run off at the moment, she felt that would be by far the rudest thing she had done, but she atleast wanted to be near Nita... For comfort reasons. "Z..Zach?" she questioned Nita, having caught a hint of the name. Her voice still trembling and weak, it sounded like she might have been ready to cry.

Nita jumped as Natsumi fell backward into the sand. When the girl came to stand with her, Nita put a protective and reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's okay," she said softly. "I'm here." Not that Nita was a terribly effective guardian (as she'd thought only a few hours earlier, speakign with Pyroth), but at least she was company-- and a witness. The cameras and microchips never even entered her thoughts.

"It's been awhile," she said to Zach, sharp eyes taking in the extent of his changes. The tip of her tail twitched slightly, but otherwise Nita was still and on the alert.