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Zach meandered into the cafeteria, smiling wryly to himself. Despite the arguing the day before, he was very glad to have heard that Sabin was still dealing out punishments to islanders who crossed the dragon. Mechanically he crossed through the cafeteria, picking up his usual breakfast, consisting mainly of... a piece of raw meat. There wasn't really room for variation in his diet without getting himself sick for at least a week getting used to something that was cooked even a little bit.

After grabbing some utensils and napkins, he turned toward the tables, but stopped. There was someone else... someone unfamiliar and yet pretty far along if not finished changing. He was curious, in sort of an uneasy way. Maybe he knew this person before, and forgot. So many names had already fled his mind due to disuse, including the unfortunate woman who used to live downstairs from him. Either way, he was getting bored of the quiet he usually found himself in. Maybe this person would make better conversation than Gaius had.

He wound his way between the tables so that he could sit down across from the brown, furry islander, tail swishing at its usual pace, but his frill fanned just a little bit. Gently he set down his tray, but he didn't turn his chair around to sit down. Yet.

Zach couldn't avoid noticing the way the beaver across from him tensed up on sight. Oh, this was just wonderful. They'd met before. He just didn't have any idea when. He tried to scrutinize the person a bit more as he turned around a chair to sit down comfortably on and took a seat.

He picked up on the hint though. Not only was this someone he'd met before, but he must have met them very early on. If he was still capable of blushing, he would have. Instead, he just felt hot under his face scales, all down his snout. He picked up his fork, poking into the meat lightly. He still had a bandage wrapped around his neck that his scarf couldn't cover. Contending with the bite was still an issue that no pain pills were going to cure. He waited for the embarrassment to dissipate a bit before replying with equal sarcasm, waving the fork around a little in time with what he said. "Good question. No, just breakfast. See, I'm on a diet..."

"Yes, a raw meat diet. You'd be surprised, it's not as bad as it looks." His wings were flapped a little to fold behind him again. Her next comment took him by surprise, however. He hadn't been expecting anyone to remember those days.

"You've got a good memory," he remarked quietly, looking away. Her name still didn't come to mind. He didn't think anyone remembered that far back. He was ashamed of that past. Those actions. It was different back then. How would he be able to get her to let that go? He set the fork down and leaned forward a little, wincing when the bitten part of his neck arched. "Look... that was a really long time ago. I've never really been myself right after my changes. The instincts get a bit overpowering. But I'm better now. Finished changing and everything. You're not going to hold a grudge against me forever, are you?"

"Dangerous? I beg to differ," he snorted. Lightly, he scratched at the bandages encircling his neck. The bite from Tommy was taking a while to heal. He hated being attacked, hated feeling like his life was in danger at every moment. He was surprised to find that the woman across from him sounded like she had the same idea. Everyone was usually so selfless and unafraid of consequence in this place, it was rare to come across a person who actually had intelligent priorities. "I've been attacked by three people in the past two weeks. Maybe my claws are a little misleading. You've got the wrong guy."

"Thanks, you won't regret it." He didn't like the fact that she remembered him, but there wasn't much else he could do but this. He looked down at his meager meal, cutting into the steak a couple of times with a knife. He glanced up at her again. She really didn't look like she could change any more than she already had. It was pretty surprising to see islander who were so far along. Well, he'd seen himself in the mirror, sure, but he was one of very few. There was something of a relief to knowing that there were no further changes. Maybe she was like Gaius, standing against the island simply because they could. He didn't expect it to take long to find out. "So, mind reminding me what your name is?"

Zach gave no indication of whether she was right with his name. Instead he switched to his fork and skewered a square of raw meat on it. After a second of hesitation he stuck it into his mouth to chew, saving himself any reason to answer the beaver for at least a half a minute. His eyes wandered as he did, gazing at the rest of the room. At the same time, he mulled over his dislike of hearing the name. Obviously she'd encountered him before once, but as far as he was concerned he was by now a completely different creature. The name just didn't fit. It spoke of his past, not his future. The syllables of it were marred with mistakes and worries, unwanted memories and an appearance he'd completely shed.

After he finally got to swallowing the first bite of his food, his mind raced to settle on something to discuss. "Chana, hm? Interesting name."

He could sense how stagnant the conversation was becoming. It wasn't very important to him to clear his name with her, seeing as she'd written him off from the start. Instead he questioned her, curious of her opinions so that he would know whether it was worth his limited time to try to sway misguided opinions. If she was like Gaius... "So, any more changes left for you?"

Silently he counted out his previous changes on his fingers. Four. His second one sometimes slipped his mind, because he didn't actually remember the change, just some fragment of a memory of it. But that was it, Sabin had been quite clear that there'd be no more injections and changes from here on out. They really were rather like simple inoculations. A few shots here and there that were unpleasant at the time he'd gotten them, but in the end, it had all been worth the pain.

"Hey, you're done too!" he exclaimed in sudden realization, scaly tail swishing a little faster in his surprise. There weren't a lot of other islanders who'd finished changing, at least as far as he'd seen. What he imagined there were even fewer of were islanders who had both finished changing and didn't resent their fate. He quickly clamped down on his enthusiasm, considering how unlikely it was she'd share it. "I haven't seen too many other people who've finished changing. It's really not as bad as I first thought it'd be. You know? It's just... over. And if anything it's only helped us."

"Maybe not until now. We've both changed four times, so we're both done. And I know I'm done changing. S- I was told as much after my last change." It was hard not to say who'd told him, as it gave a certain amount of credibility to his statement, but he held off for the moment. Launching right into discussing the truth of things when he hardly knew this girl was not the smartest course of action. It was a wonder she was even okay with the island at all. He didn't want to spoil things, seeing as he'd had that experience enough times already. He paused to eat another piece of meat before continuing. "After a while you learn to start asking the right questions, and not the pointless ones."

"Finally, someone agrees with me. It's great here; I got back my arm and my life. I would have just gone on being that same despicable shell of a person for the rest of my life if not for this place. And there's probably something here that you never could have found, out in the world, Chana. Unfortunately, some people around here get violent as soon as you say what you think of the island and not what they think." He scratched delicately at the bandages. It bothered him that people like Gaius and Tommy were incapable of seeing the truth. Why didn't they want to enjoy their new lives? "Hm. They seem bad, but the changes only hurt at the moments they happened. Once they were over it wasn't very different from any other day. And it's not like they happened often."