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Mashed Potatoes. Medium rare steak. Pork ribs. A plate full of good-smelling food that would have anyone salivating, but Gaius sat poking at it. His appetite just wasn't into it. A week ago, he would've gladly dug into the hearty meal. Now? His eyes kept drifting to the broccolli added on the side as an after-thought.

He cut off a chunk of steak and jammed it in his mouth, chewing stubbornly. He still savored the flavor, but it was as if his body wasn't satisfied by it. He and his body were disagreeing on what to crave.

At least he still liked the salt.

The sound of arriving company caught Gaius's sensitive ears. He looked up in the midst of chewing to see who was at the buffet, absently wondering if it was someone he knew. Since his encounter with Zach, Gaius had taken to religiously binding his back with a roll of bandages swiped from the town center, making it much easier to hide them under a baggy shirt.

One look at the hunched grey back had Gaius doing a double take. At least the dorsal fin made it easy to recognize the animal. It wasn't every day he saw a shark-man.

Quickly realizing he was staring, Gaius ducked back over his food and concentrated on downing the contents of his plate. It wasn't until the other fellow joined him at the table that Gaius felt brave enough to glance up. He wasn't familiar with any shark islanders...

Well, at least he wasn't Zach.

Gaius shoved the bit of meat he'd been chewing into his cheek and nodded to Alec casually. "Hey. Um..." He struggled to think of how one would greet someone turning into a shark. "Uh, haven't seen you around before... Do you hang around the village much?"

Gaius fidgeted as the thing seemed to consider replying. Maybe he shouldn't have been so impertinent to intrude on the guy's meal. Alec's closed smile was a relief, though Gaius got the definite vibe that it was mainly out of politeness. His speech, however, made Gaius tilt his head, wondering if he was hearing correctly.

However, when the hand was extended, Gaius gladly shook it with his own. "I'm Gaius," he offered with an open smile. "Nice to meet someone not out to rip off my face."

As he spoke, his eyes wandered down to the hand he was shaking, traveling along the grey skin until it turned brown and rough... and green? His eyes widened in confusion.

"Is that a... feather?" he asked, pointing at the odd growth near Alec's elbow. It had never occured to Gaius to think anyone could grow leaves.

"Leaves?! How can you grow leaves?"

Gaius flinched at the spray, but his real attention was drawn by the glimpse of the open mouth he'd caught while Alec spoke. There was a disinctive lack of white. That, and the drooling, was probably even more disturbing than the fact Alec was sprouting leaves.

The big guy watched Alec with a mixture of concern and disbelief, probably not the best for the poor teen's self-esteem. "D-Did your changes d-do that to... your teeth...?" he stammered.

Well sure the spit had disturbed Gaius, but the sight of a tooth-less sharkman was more than ample to sidetrack any response, especially when it was accompanied with the fear that he himself might suffer the same fate. The look with which Gaius reguarded Alec wasn't one of disgust, but dread.

"F-first time?" he gaped, trying to understand the mixed signals he wasgetting from the shark. "I-I didn't know your teeth fall out before the animal teeth come in..." His hand rubbed the side of his jaw, which ached just at the thought.

Sadly, charades had never been one of Gaius's strong games. His expression grew more and more confused with a rising eyebrow and blank look as Alec made motions with his mouth and hands. "'Th'Doc'," Gaius repeated Alec's pronunciation of the title, "Uh, he... did something to your mouth? Something with stitches?"

Alec's affirmative nod encouraged Gaius, who, while still confused, couldn't help but feel pleased with himself. It was like a game!

"Wait..." he frowned, brows knitting. "He pulled out your teeth?!" He shifted in his seat to face Alec more directly, his meal forgotten in front of him. The clear-faced man was clearly agitated as he drummed his fingers on the table. "First he makes you grow leaves, then he pulls out your teeth?"

"Well... dang." Gaius leaned back in his chair and scratched at the back of his neck. "I didn't think Sabin was so nasty..." Sadly, Gaius still had yet to put a face to the actual head of the island he'd heard on occassion over the speakers; In his mind, Sabin was the only doctor he knew of.

His eyes drifted down to his plate. He sighed and pushed it away, his already suffering apetite had gone belly-up. It was hard not to glance at the globs of drool wetting Alec's napkin, or dangling from his mouth. He dropped his eyes to the food Alec had been working with and winced, continuing to scratch at his neck in a nervous habit. "Sorry for, uh, interrupting your work... Um..." He chewed on his cheek a moment, debating whether it would be rude, then blurted, "Are you, uh, going to get replacement teeth? Ever?"

"They do?" Gaius blinked, staring at the shark guy. He'd never heard of teeth growing back. He thought that once they came out they were, well, gone! And all that could be done after that was dentures. But if this guy said they did, then maybe he'd heard wrong somewhere. Gaius shrugged, a smile crossing his face. "Well that's good!"

Gaius cut off a good chunk of his own slightly-red steak, dripping with A1 sauce, and shoved it in his mouth, chewing determinedly on the tender meat. Whether it appealed to his hunger or not, Gaius was going to get that steak down if it was the last thing he did.

For the time, Alec and his awkward situation were forgotten as Gaius focussed on the task at hand.