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All good things had to come to an end. Over a couple of days, Zach had devoured all the food that had been left in his duplex, and it was time to venture out to get more. He took a shower and pulled on a pair of slacks, but his head felt so bare still. Using his claws, he punctured a neat hole on both sides of the new top hat that had been delivered to his duplex, and with some minor difficulty got it on over his horns.

The village seemed almost dangerously quiet to him as he passed by duplex after duplex on his way to the cafeteria. He was still glad to be there, though - he'd never leave again if he could help it. It was safer here, too. All the incidents that had come close to taking his life had always been where there were no cameras.

By the cafeteria door, he almost missed spotting the sultry octopus. He stopped and did a double-take, expression not so much horrified as curious. Tentacles... a goatee... that blotchy pattern to the skin. It was a familiar enough sight that one of his hands crept up to his own throat as if to ward off some invisible hand - or tentacle - from it. The collar was unnoticed for the time being. "Billy?"

Zach stayed where he was, watching the octopus carefully and finally seeing the collar around his neck. This thing lying in the wheelchair was a far cry from the raving tentacled man he associated the name with. From the sound of Billy's voice, Zach guessed the man was drunk, but the little red light that had turned on was suspicious.

His tail brushed along the ground lightly as he realized how much this former bully had changed. Billy had seemed so dangerous before, but now the octopus looked pathetic in his sluggish heap. He smiled innocently, staring down his snout at the former man. "You."

Zach studied the octopus again before creeping over, fingering the brim of his hat. It shaded his eyes pretty well, letting him see the washed-out Billy better. The metallic collar around his neck looked innocent without the little light flashing on it. The laugh from the wheelchair's passenger was very off, fueling his curiosity over the device fitted around Billy's neck. Maybe Billy had gone a step too far with his violence, and this was what he got. One thing was for sure, he didn't look dangerous now.

"What'sss thisss for?" he asked, casually hissing the S's and giving the collar a light tap with one claw. He bent down to get a better peek at it before looking back at Billy's strange eyes.

"Looked at yourssself in the mirror lately?" Zach hissed back, well aware of the state of his face but still indignant. Billy didn't need much strength to get Zach away - just the feeling of the slimy tentacles pushing against him made him disgusted enough to move away. Everything about Billy was still as repulsive as ever. He straightened up and brushed off the places that had been prodded almost self-consciously. He showed his teeth a little as he responded to the secrecy. "Ssso you finally got yourssself a flea collar?"

He watched Billy slosh himself with the water bottle. Zach could feel no pity, only sick curiosity. "No, no, I guesss you... need to do..." He made a vague gesture at the bottle and hole in Billy's head. "That..."

"And not too many brain cellsss left to think with, either," he smirked widely, enjoying the sight of Billy in his hopeless state. Insulting him was almost too easy.

"Ssso how many monthsss have you been here now? Sssix? Ssseven?" He didn't bother speaking any more slowly or simply to help Billy understand him. It wasn't much different from talking to a wall, except for the giggling. "Looksss like the time hasssn't been good to you. Have you even got any bonesss left?"

"Well, congratulationsss, Billy!" He clasped his mismatched hands together and shook them at the octopus. The enthusiasm in Zach's voice was extremely fake.

He still wasn't entirely sure what was wrong with Billy. Really, it seemed to be just general drunkenness from the sight of it. Those water bottles could be filled with vodka for all he knew - he knew kids in high school did it all the time back when he was in school, just sitting in the back of the classroom and giggling. The only problem was, Billy didn't smell like alcohol, just fish.

He waved a hand in front of Billy's face and turned his head to the side a little trying to study the octopus-man. "You're sssounding jussst like that Colche girl now. Mind if I asssk what'sss wrong with you?"

"What!? You... you touched Colche?" He was just messing around, he didn't need to hear anything like that. He'd thought Billy was a bad person from the first time they'd met, but it seemd things had only gone downhill for the guy.

His mouth hung open a little as he watched Billy. The octopus's strange behavior had gone from entertaining to disturbing. He glanced at the collar, with its flickering light. That was the second time it had done that during their little conversation. And the noise it made didn't sound promising. He looked Billy over as he stopped moving in response. A thought formed, and a small smile crossed his face, but was replaced by a serious expression.

"Hey, calm down. I beileve you." He'd have placed a reassuring hand on Billy's shoulder, but it seemed too daunting to deal with. Octopus skin was just disgusting to the touch.