Welcome to Gaia! ::

Zach wasn't feeling too well. He'd overslept, and thanks to those extra few hours of sleep, everything was bleary. It didn't make him any less irritable. Even the fact that the bat bite was finally healing up pretty well didn't improve his mood. It still bothered him that it had happened in the first place. He was doing his best to keep a hold over his violent emotions. It almost seemed like the more people wanted to be human the less they seemed to be. Concern wouldn't do much good, though, because no amount of thinking on the issue was going to make it magically disappear. What he needed was a distraction.

Chairs were no longer suitable for him, being too cramping for all his extra anatomy. However, he figured a good movie could probably take his mind off the cramps he'd no doubt get. The walk over to the middle of the village wasn't eventful, but he didn't make it all the way to the entertainment room like he'd planned. A hairy guy - a familiar-looking hairy guy - seemed to have planted himself on the ground some distance from the building.

Not having anything better to do, Zach slowed down and stopped to stare.

Zach spotted the cover of the magazine when the hairy man moved and and quickly averted his eyes from it. Not that he really had any reason to be concerned; the female figure didn't do it for him anymore as it ought to have. He didn't really know what he was after, not exactly having any clear definition between the human reasoning and the sometimes conflicting ideas of various animals. What was much easier to do was to forget about the whole thing.

A dragon, that's what he was. Not a human. And this guy was obviously trying to stay human, which only annoyed him more. His tail moved sluggishly, hinting at his shortened patience. He was tired, he was feeling ill, and he had no idea what this guy was doing. "Air conditioning too cold for you?"

"My name isn't important," he said with a shake of his head. It wasn't Zachary. That name was too... human, somehow. He'd been reborn, and yet there was still the issue of what he ought to go by now that he was an entirely different, and amazing, creature. "I'm guessing you have one though?"

"Just coming down with something. It'll clear up in a few days. I haven't been that healthy since some gigantic bat tried to take a chunk out of my neck." His tone was bitter. His tail hardly moved except a casual flicking of the tailtip. He rubbed a scaly hand across the side of his neck where the two puncture wounds were finally hardening and becoming once more encased in crimson scales. It had hurt like hell, and had nearly cost him his life. This man wouldn't understand what Zach went through to just to say what he felt. He grit his teeth a bit in his closed jaw before resorting to asking the nosy question on his mind. "What brings you this far from the TV room?"

Zach arched his neck a little more until it was at a comfortable overhanging slouch. It had taken him a while to get oriented when he moved his head around, since his neck was so much longer and more flexible than before. But practice had improved his skills, and in response to the forward leaning of his head he shuffled his feet to better support his odd distribution of weight. "Interesting."

"I said it wasn't important," he repeated firmly, neither confirming nor denying. Already not particularly enjoying the conversation, he grew suspicious. Who had been talking to this guy, and what had they said about him? He spread his wings slightly, as if in preparation to somehow take off.

Zach wrinkled his nose a little bit, though it didn't wrinkle much given the thick scales. What was that awful smell?

He saw the flinch and realized his appearance must have frightened Oz. Now conscious of his action, he spread his wings another two feet. Most of their span was still folded away. Wonderful. Maybe he wouldn't have to worry that this guy would somehow decide to attack him. Sometimes it was hard to tell. He didn't want to actually hurt anyone, seeing as that only made him as lowly as the ones who did. Nor did he want Sabin upset with him. This worked out just fine. If only it hadn't grown so dangerous to say what he thought...

"Other thing?" he repeated slowly while sizing Oz up, trying not to sound like he was that interested. On the contrary, was very interested. It seemed unlikely that what this guy heard could be anything positive, which was bad for Zach. He didn't want people poisoning his reputation with their jealous lies. His tail stopped swishing about, locking up stiffly instead out of nervousness. "Well, I'm surprised anyone had anything to say about me."

He let a couple teeth show in a smirk, half at the first statement and half at the obvious terror reflected in Oz's face. He'd been feeling bitter all day, so this was a nice change. He preferred it when other islanders feared him, instead of the opposite. It was less of a hassle for him.

It was about then he started to figure out that this man seemed familiar. Something about his nose and face reminded Zach that he'd seen this man once, albeit not so changed. He'd offered some advice before on not crossing certain people such as himself, but it was apparent that Oz hadn't kept it in mind. Well, this was just great. Someone had started slandering him with the pet comments again and this hulk didn't have the sense to hold his tongue. That or he was being deliberate, in which case Zach was not going to stand for those kind of comments. There was only one way to find out.

"You heard that... and you believed it?" He posed the question in an impatient, annoyed manner, as though disappointed. At the same time, he forced his neck to straighten up a little bit, adding a couple of inches to his height.

Zach narrowed his eyes. It seemed like it had just been a poor attempt at an insult after all. He didn't like how degrading this particular one was. They kept calling him a pet like he was some subservient animal. He was more than an animal, more than a human. It had been his choice to take sides with Sabin and the labs on everything. No one forced him to, or so his reasoning declared. It was just the right thing to do. And Sabin wasn't as bad as any of them pretended he was, which only further added to his contemptuous stance.

"How considerate of you to ask me, then," he said with obvious sarcasm. He had to take offense to this sort of insult, especially when he could simply stare down the man who'd said it and see him practically cower in response. "I'll make it clear for you - I am not anyone's pet. And I don't like being talked about like that."

He waited until his stare had lasted several long seconds before barking out a question. His patience was getting worn thinner and thinner lately. "Who said it?"