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Zach sat in a pensive silence on the far side of the cafeteria, which was otherwise empty due to the odd afternoon hour. His meal was quite simple and quite standard - raw meat, water, and vitamin supplements. He'd barely touched any of the three. After staring off into space for a while he picked up his fork and knife in his clumsy hands and carved out another messy piece from the slab of meat. It was a little painful to eat, if only because it disturbed his neck. It had been bandaged up, unsurprisingly, but the bite still hurt like hell and bothered him every waking moment. Seeing as it hadn't been more than a day or two since the incident, the fear and suspicion were still fresh in his mind. It was just a little too high up for his scarf to cover, so the bandages were quite obvious on his red scaly skin.

It was as it had always been. He exchanged the specifics of his life for the assured safety to live it. He didn't doubt Sabin would do what he could, but... would it ever really be assured? His tail swished on the ground behind him sluggishly. Doubtful. There were only so many people who he could convince, even knowing what he knew and having the experiences that forced him to see the truth of things. It was hopeless, and yet there was nothing else to be done.

He skewered the meat on his fork and brought it up to his mouth, chewing it wistfully between his sharp teeth. Maybe it just wasn't his week.

Zach continued to stare at the empty chair across from him, chewing for as long as he could before he had to swallow. When he did, he had to suppress a grumble of pain. Damn bite. Damn it all. He scratched at the surface of the bandages with a claw, leaning his head a little to the side as he did. Out of the corner of his eye he thought he saw someone standing around in the room, but they'd moved out of sight by the time he spared a glance in the direction of the door. He turned back to his plate and bowl. Maybe the pain medication was making him see things. It was preferable to there being an actual islander in here, though.

He picked up one of the vitamin pills between the tips of his thumb and pointer claws. It was just like every single other day, wasn't it? He needed to calm down. He popped the pill in his mouth and swallowed, chased it down with a little water, then returned once again to pondering how to prevent another attack on himself.

Not too long after he'd taken a second vitamin pill, he saw Gaius intersect his line of vision. It startled him out of his thoughts and snapped him harshly back to the reality at hand. His eyes scanned the obviously annoyed expression. Hostility? God, he hoped not. He had to admit, Sabin was going way too easy on the guy. Hadn't Gaius learned his lesson by getting buzzed? He supposed not. The last thing he needed was another islander itching to beat him up, and yet here he'd been stumbled upon by one of the usuals.

"So?" After meeting Gaius's gaze he rolled his eyes. He had no idea what the pegasus wanted from him. He looked down and started flicking his remaining set of vitamin pills into a neat pile on the side of his blood-splattered plate, trying to make it seem a lot more important than paying attention to Gaius. He smirked slightly at the sight of the other man's plate piled high, though it was a bit forced due to his aggravation at the bite. "Huh. You're going to make yourself sick if you eat that much. Down the whole plate, I insist."

In response to the spread wings, Zach spread his own as far as they could fit the cramped space he was in. His frill fanned immediately. The accusation annoyed him on some level. He wasn't helpless! He just wasn't an idiot like the rest of them who didn't accept an offer of help when it presented itself.

"Gaiusss," he hissed, glaring, "tell me. Does it look like I enjoy getting punched, and bitten, and whatever the hell else you psychopaths try to do to me? Because I don't. I really don't. If Sabin didn't watch out for me I'd be dead by now thanks to all of you." He paused to scratch at the edge of the bandage.

"You just don't know when to drop that, do you? You don't know what I've been through. You just whine and whine about how horrible your life is here. Just because you can't appreciate what Sabin's done for you doesn't mean I can't appreciate what he's done for me." So this is what Gaius came over here for. To ridicule him again. It was strikingly similar to his conversation with Tommy, but here he seemed to have an upper hand of sorts. He was sick of this game though, sick of going back and forth pointlessly. He didn't want to argue, he wanted to convince. Gaius was a little beyond that, though. "I don't have to ask Sabin to deal with anyone. If he wants to carry out some kind of revenge, he'll do it. You definitely earned it. But I'm glad to hear he's still keeping misguided people like you in line. I'll have to thank him. What supplies are you talking about?"

"There's nothing wrong with me," he asserted quickly, folding his wings. He really wasn't able to see any flaws in himself at all. He was in the right. Even Sabin defended his position. How could he be the wrong one? "It's all of you who can't accept the fact that this island is your home now. There's no way off, even if you're deluded enough to want to leave. The sooner you just accept it... swallow your pride and face the facts. Whether you like it or not you're here forever, and if you don't want to be miserable that whole time you'll learn to like this place. It's not a difficult concept."

"You're becoming a pegasus. It was generous compared to most of your options, you know. Don't tell me you've never come across an islander you were glad you didn't share the same fate as. You got lucky. We both did." He said it quite sourly, though he figured Gaius wasn't going to listen. This was getting nowhere. "And try only having one arm for ten years, then we'll talk about being crippled. You're obviously walking again, it wasn't serious. All I hear are the negatives. How's it like sleeping in a duplex? Having fun building that little theater of yours with the lab's tools? Don't be so ungrateful."

"But why complain to me about whatever Sabin did? Are you expecting me to change things for you? All I did before you punched me was state the obvious, too - everything here is paid for the by the labs. Is it too much for your poor, innocent little mind to handle?" The last line was spoken with a mocking babying tone. His head was propped up in one hand, elbow on the table. He gave Gaius a halfhearted grin before returning his attention once again to the pile of pills. This time he worked to arrange them in an oval. He stared down his snout at Gaius with an unfriendly look. "So what'd you really come over here for? You don't actually need me around to insult everything I say and do."

"It's not my problem. I shouldn't have to be concerned for everyone. I've got enough problems as it is with everyone attacking me over disagreements." As he spoke the last line, he gestured at his bandaged neck. The existence of islanders with less than choice animals as their fates were one of several weak points in his logic, but he was quick to ignore it. If he didn't pay attention to it, it didn't exist. This was the truth of things. Questioning what the labs did only led to trouble. Even if he didn't have an answer as to why, they labs would, and thus it wasn't something worth thinking on. After a moment's thought, he tried to salvage his argument. He shouldn't have voiced his contempt for the regular assortment of islanders so strongly. "And... I didn't say they had it bad; we just have it better. Why does it matter to you what happens to others you barely know? You're getting nothing out of it."

Zach couldn't ignore the shaking plate in Gaius's hands while he stuttered out his explanation. It brought back in a rush the fear the dragon had when the bat leaped at him and went for his neck. It seemed only a matter of time before Gaius struck now. It made the pain in his neck seem to stand out more. He stretched his neck up a bit and spread his frill, putting a hand to the bandaged injury when it started stinging from the movement. He couldn't handle a fight right now. Rather, he could never handle fights. This was just an unusually bad time for one. He made a mental note to redouble his efforts to do his best to undo this problem, this madness, that had other islanders itching to attack over the simplest disagreements. Gaius he considered a lost cause in that regard. The pegasus was too crazed by his own lies to see what he had here, and while it was a shame, there was nothing more that could conceivably be done.

Thus the apology came as a complete surprise to Zach. The expression of annoyance he'd had on his face seemed to die down a bit, replaced by confusion. Of all the reasons Gaius had approached him... and after this little argument they'd just been in... this didn't seem to make any sense at all. Of course he wanted to accept the apology, if it meant a truce of sorts. It just seemed too good to be true that Gaius would actually reconsider his unjustified actions. It didn't sound like he was accepting of the situation, but all that could come in time. He scrutinized Gaius's face for any sign of sarcasm, but saw none. It seemed worthy of suspicion anyhow. This was Gaius, after all. He picked his head up from his hand so he could lean on the tabletop with both arms. His eyes roved the stoic figure across from him once more, so sure it was a joke, but hoping it wasn't. He tried to keep his voice sounding confident. "I must not have heard you correctly. Say that again?"

"That's not a bad idea." Zach said as seriously as he could, drawing himself away from the table a bit. For about fifteen seconds he gave Gaius a somewhat sadistic look as though he expected Gaius to actually get on his knees. In the end he burst out laughing instead, though his mouth wasn't open too wide in case his jaw came popping out like it had on occasion. He dropped his head down so that it made an arc, stifling what remained of his laughter. It still found its way into the first few things he spoke, but eventually his tone became level, tinged with amusement.

"Gaius, don't think the hate isn't mutual. Frankly, you've caused a lot of trouble for me that I could have done without. And I would have appreciated if you'd just kept your mouth shut back in that... room in the labs. I didn't need you getting involved." He shifted uncomfortably, not wanting to remember the incident in too much detail. Gaius heard a lot more than he should have. Of all the people on the island who had to be privy to that kind of personal information, Gaius was by far one of the least desirable. Certainly there were a few islander he knew from his first days on the island, but he hardly ever saw them any more. It made the transition from one life to the next so much smoother that way. No one else had to know about his accidental attack on Aubrey but the handful who knew already. At least they'd kept quiet about it this entire time. "And that's what I don't like about you. You want to be the hero so badly you stop seeing that no one here needs your help. You know Emerwyn? You knocked her flat when you came at me trying to shut me up. Did you feel good about that? You'll go after my friends, too. I don't know what your apology is supposed to mean to me when I've seen for myself that you'll hurt anyone who gets in your way."

His tail was swishing along the ground quickly as he stared down the pegasus for a short while. He knew he ought to reject the apology, and show Gaius that he wasn't one to forgive and forget. It wasn't just the one punch. Gaius had attacked him several times. But there were other things to consider. The possibility of ending up in one of those little trust exercises again was a very good reason to consider this an opportunity. He didn't want Sabin mad at him. Even if he and Gaius hated one another, this was a step in the right direction. And if Gaius crossed him after this, maybe he'd finally have hell to pay. He treated the whole thing as airily as he could, looking away as he spoke, not wanting to show his relief that he no longer had to be concerned about Gaius and his constant fistfighting. "To be honest, I was just waiting for the punchline the first time you said it, though I guess there isn't one. But if you're serious, I'll accept your apology. I would suggest not going back on it - Sabin might take away more than some supplies from you next time, and I'm sure you don't want that. It's good to see you're finally noticing who has the power here." With a slight flourish, he pointed a clawed finger up at the nearest camera, which was unsurprisingly trained on the pair of them.

"I said I didn't need you to get involved. I had a- a moment of weakness - and I needed sense talked into me." Or so he wrote it off in his mind. He hadn't been himself that day, he reasoned. Something went wrong. Madness, insanity. He was cured of it now. "The moment you spoke up you asked for what you got - the truth. You didn't think Sabin was going to just pretend you'd said nothing?"

"You just don't give this place a chance," Zach chided before popping another vitamin supplement into his mouth. His neck still hurt every time he swallowed, but it was this or risk some sort of horrible deficiency. He'd be lying if he didn't admit to enjoying making Gaius writhe. There was some satisfaction in having the upper hand over one's enemy. Emerwyn had been fine after the fall, but still, it looked like just bringing up the act of shoving her aside was like taking a knife to Gaius and twisting it. He let his eyes wander upward and realized that Gaius was still standing where he'd been since the beginning of the conversation like some kind of rage-radiating statue. It was too late to tell the pegasus to get lost. Maybe he could bring the other man down to eye level instead. "Y'know, they have chairs in here for a reason. You can sit down."

"All of this?" More surprises. It was getting difficult to overlook this stuff, especially when they'd been fighting constantly the entire conversation. He and Gaius hated each other. Since when did Gaius want to start fresh? Now Zach had to be suspicious. Who knew what the pegasus had up his sleeve? "Okay, I have to ask... why? You really don't sound like yourself. I mean, for your sake I'll take the apology, but even that was a couple punches late. This is- I don't even know where to begin with how weird this sounds coming from you."