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Zach wandered back from the grassy field where he'd done his basking for the day, delighted that the hat we was wearing had survived a week without being ruined. Compared to the three miserable weeks he'd spent battling mother nature for his very survival, life was very wonderful. Humid heat only made the day better. It was a moment in which he would have tried whistling, if not for the difficulties he would have faced with his new mouth. To make up for it, he smiled, an expression made sinister by the way skin was stretched around the edges of his mouth.

His casual walk was interrupted by the sight of a person with stretched ears and a bristly tail. It almost wasn't worth him saying anything, but seeing whose face those ears belonged to was very inspiring. Nothing bad could happen to him here, in the village. There were cameras here. He made a quick glance over Gaius, but there didn't appear to be a hammer. This day was just getting better and better.

"Gaiusss! Wow, do you look different. Let me guesss - new haircut?"

"Don't concssern yourssself with what I'm doing here," he smirked, the sharp tips of his catlike canines poking out from under his lips. Some sufficient food and a locked door had soon cured him of the fears that had been plaguing him out in the wild. His instincts had died down considerably, lessening his nervousness and paranoia. "Not any more. Let'sss just sssay I had a little... help."

He crossed his scaly arms and tilted his head to the side, trying to look critical as he focused on the funny-looking ears. Mammalian, by the looks of it. His hat barely moved, thanks to being hooked on the pair of horns. Gaius's shifty movements made the predator in him feel more assertive, standing in front of cornered prey. "Ssso you finally changed! I'd asssk what you got, but I figure if you knew you'd look twicsse as upssset as you do now."

Knowing Sabin was protecting him in some form or another was the driving force behind his bitter verbal vendettas. It was power, in its own way. Not that he could do much, but he had just a little more influence than other islanders. The notion was enjoyable, and made him feel secure enough to let loose some of his frustration on others. The stare he got from Gaius didn't faze him in the least.

"It'sss nothing to me, but it should be a little more important to you. I think you'll want to find out what your luck got you sssooner or later. Can't live in denial forever, you know?" He shrugged, still grinning wickedly. He spread his wings out for subtle effect, the webbing stretching to its limits between the long fingers. "Sssame thing with the essscape plansss. It'sss a hopelesss caussse. Get usssed to thisss place, or you'll jussst end up sssuffering for your optimisssm."

"After you've essscaped, be sure to sssend me a possstcard." He chuckled at the snort, though in all honesty he wasn't faring much better with keeping his animals out of his vocalizing. Double-standards were so useful.

Zach didn't take kindly to being shoved out of the way, letting a short hiss escape him as he was collided with. He stumbled back a couple steps, hands out to steady himself and tail whipping around to help. He looked over in Gaius's direction of retreat, ready to hurl another insult at the long-eared guy, but something else caught his attention. Two bare fleshy appendages seemed to be poking straight out of Gaius's back. He was momentarily lost for words, instead spreading his own pair of wings as his brain worked to make doubly sure that he wasn't mistaking them for anything else. But no. Those were most definitely wings. His manic grin returned instantly. "Hey! Hold up!"

He scrambled after Gaius, only catching him by grabbing one of the two twitchy handle-like protrusions. Whether intentional or not, he dug in slightly with his claws. "And what are thessse?"

"Did they sssplicsse your DNA with fassst food? You don't jussst look like a cow, you've got ssstupid little chicken wingsss right here, too!" His eyes wandered down to the tail, which, while a bit long, looked an awful lot like a bovine's. It seemed to match up with the ears, though not the wings. The swiping made it difficult to keep hanging on to the twitchy little thing of skin and bone.

Zach's face darkened at Gaius's insult, brows furrowing under the brim of the signature hat. Though the hat was pretty damning evidence in favor of Gaius's thought, Zach refused it, maintaining a belief that he wasn't quite as devoted as he really was. He ignored the swiping long enough to dig in just a little deeper and let go suddenly, the sharp tips of his claws releasing the stubby wings by practically popping out.

"What the hell are you implying?" he growled, knowing full well the answer awaiting him. He took a careful step backward before moving around to Gaius's side, glaring daggers at him.

Zach bared his teeth angrily, letting a dangerous hiss escape him. His frill was spread wide, the cartilage 'bones' fanning in response to the tug of jaw muscles. It was certainly not the first time he'd been called Sabin's pet. The pet accusation was a terrible one, in his opinion. Terrible, but somehow he couldn't argue against it without giving up a little ground and admitting that there was some basis of truth to Gaius's sneer.

"I am not Sssabin'sss pet!" he snarled at Gaius. "He'sss my friend. If it wasssn't for him, I wouldn't have thisss - my arm back!" He held his scaly left arm in front of himself, flexing fingers for show. It still felt a little glovelike, but the bizarreness of a limb that had never been without scales made dealing with everything almost glovelike. "And I asssked for a hat from him; I wear it becaussse I want to, not becaussse he asssked me to." He kept his wings spread. His tail lashed. A safe distance had to be kept, if he wanted to run.

"Dragon," he corrected sharply. "It'sss a lot better than sssome of the animalsss that people here ended up with. And it beatsss becoming a flying pig, like you are."

Still, he was less than flattered by Gaius's snide insults about his temporary appearance. "Hairless" was especially grating, one of the parts of changing that he was still not happy about. His wings waved jaggedly a couple of times, still lacking the grace of natural limbs. Words were difficult to find that could adequately translate his anger at Gaius into speech. "He caresss! And my ssserum isss Sssabin'sss project, not jussst anyone'sss. If he didn't care, he wouldn't have gone out of hisss way to deal with Rexss and the cobra for me." That among other things that Zach wasn't as keen to share with Gaius, especially in a heated argument. Sabin had stuck up for him when Moreau would have had him euthanized on the spot. His tail began to curl just thinking about it.

"I'm not anyone'sss pet!" he roared back, itching to slash his claws right in Gaius's smarmy face. His own was contorted by an ugly grimace, revealing the sharp teeth even better.

"I wear the hat becaussse I lossst my hair - that'sss why I asssked for one in the firssst placsse!" As was his habit of late, he grabbed the top hat by the brim to adjust it slightly, shading his slitted eyes better. "Ssso it'sss one of Sssabin'sss hatsss - what are you going to do about it? Cry?"