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Zach walked into the cafeteria as was routine, grabbing a tray and soon making off with a bowl of water and a raw steak. The surprise visit by Annie to the truth or dare game that had been played on the beach was unnerving, but it had taught him once again to never leave the village. His tail swished slowly along the waxed floor, much calmer than he'd been in a few days.

With his standard meal and a couple of utensils good to go, he turned around. The cafeteria seemed empty save for one old guy with a couple tentacles and a back problem. Impatient, he flapped his wings and found another route around the tables to sit off in the far corner. Like hell was he going to acknowledge the other man's presence.

Tentacles or not, Zach hadn't felt the other man would be threatening in the least, and had continued to pay him no mind as he walked over to a table in the corner. He had just set his tray down when there was an exclamation and a huge noise that made him jump and hiss. He turned immediately to the source, frill flared and claws scrabbling on the tabletop for a grip while his heart leapt to his throat. His now slightly worn hat was knocked sideways a little from his sudden movements despite being hooked over both long horns, and Zach had to right it with a hand.

For a second it looked like the old man had had a heart attack or something similar, but if that were the case he was gripping at the wrong place. His tail curled around his feet, still tense from the shock. He didn't take kindly to being scared. When the man continued to stay upright and made no further noises, Zach figured there couldn't be that much a problem and flipped a chair around to sit down in with an apathetic snort. Not his problem.

Zach had just picked up his knife when the man spoke again, this time using addressing him by name. It took him a moment to realize what the man was implying, and when it hit him, his bad mood only worsened. Great, someone had told a new guy about the incident with Aubrey. It was beyond him who, but he supposed it was probably common knowledge at this point.

He set the knife down and leaned one arm against the table to prop his head up with. Though his expression seemed bored, his voice was quick and defensive. "Who, Dr. Lockheart? She's alive, I'm sure. But that incident was months ago. If something happened to her lately, it wasn't me."

Zach bristled at the barely disguised 'pet' insult that the old man threw at him. He was not anyone's pet. So he had befriended the doctor who'd created his serum rather than continue a pointless struggle - how was that hard for people to understand? This was getting unbelievable.

"I have no idea who you're talking about. Maybe you're going senile." He stared silently for a minute, with absolute disgust on his face. Slowly, he rose to his feet, though he stayed next to his chair. "Were you implying something?"

The name Ginverva had struck him as vaguely recognizable - some woman in a cat getup he'd met during Halloween. Not that he remembered much else about her. Whatever this guy was trying to say must've been twisted by some conversation with Rex or Thom or even Gaius. As long as the man didn't know anything about Aubrey's mauling, he felt slightly better.

"Yes, I did," he stated simply, watching warily as the man turned around. Was he concealing some sort of weapon? His eyes darted around the room worriedly, hoping that someone competent was watching the cameras this time. His jaw was still sore from Gaius's punch.

When his attention returned to the tentacled annoyance some feet away, he had to immediately look away, shielding his view with both hands. He hadn't come to the cafeteria look at some deformed old man's chest. "Hey!"

He saw the slashes, all right, which correlated immediately with something he'd noticed the morning after Halloween. There had been blood on his claws when he'd woken up in that graveyard. Sabin hadn't said a word about it when he'd last spoken with him, which set his mind at ease, but that temporary comfort was ruined swiftly with this. Had he really attacked another person? He'd been quite drunk, he couldn't remember hardly a thing from the Halloween party or whatever happened after, but judging by the hostile attitude the old man was giving him, there was no other alternative. Then again, the kind of comments he was making were the stuff that made Zach want to rip Gaius's throat out, and those were thoughts he had while sober. Inexcusable nonetheless. He wasn't supposed to let his rage get the better of him, not when he really could hurt people.

He'd have to make sure, though. Still blocking the old man from his line of sight with his hands, he tried acting casually ignorant. "Hm, should I?"

“Is that supposed to be a threat?” he asked icily, still standing beside the table. The raw steak he’d heaped onto his plate reeked of blood, a maddening smell that emboldened him. There was no such thing as an empty threat on this island. He’d learned that after several brushes with death that made losing an entire limb seem like almost trivial in comparison. At the very least he wanted to know what this old man thought he could do.

It was exasperating to see the man turn to leave so suddenly after that curt statement. Who did he think he was? Zach wasn’t intimidated by him, not in the least. And it was a blow to anyone’s dignity to let an old man think he’d come out on top from a verbal skirmish. Zach scooted around his backward chair and stalked toward the other man, though staying what he felt was a safe distance away. The fallen tray had made a mess he wasn’t about to step on with bare feet, though. “Hey! You! Where the hell do you think you’re going?”

Zach glanced at the wiggling tentacles, but they looked so skinny he could snap them in two if he caught one. If the old man waving them around behind him was supposed to be threatening, the gesture was ruined by their overall sickly appearance. He returned his attention to the bulky old man when the cane was waved around, taking one step backward. His tail swept along the ground as he did, attempting to balance. He was still stuck seething over the ‘leash’ comment. He didn’t want to hurt the man, not after he had apparently already done so, but he could at least scare the guy a little bit by moving closer. Not too close, though – he didn’t need another punch to the face.

“Hate to break it to you, but I don’t remember what happened at the Halloween thing. But since you were just trying to insinuate that because I happen to like it here I’m just a pet,” he spat the word out as though it were poisonous even to say it, taking a careful step over the fallen tray and a few more forward for good measure, “then it’s no stretch of the imagination to think you must’ve been asking for what I did to you.”