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In the days since his second-change towards becoming a gorilla, Oz had made endeavours to see Sayuri when he could, if only for a short while. She had been so brave in accepting his changes, and yet he had driven her away in the fear that he might hurt her. Their meetings had been somewhat tense and stretched, namely due to Oz.

But the liberation, and the great sense of humanity, he felt at 'rebelling' against his fate and the labs seemed to quell many fears of hurting Sayuri. He was in control. He. Was. In. Control. It was unfortunate though that his act of vandalism co-incided with Sayuri's change.

He was completely oblivious.

"Sayuri? Are you there?" he called out beside the lake.

Having been to her duplex and got no response, he assumed she might be practising her swimming skills. Oz skirted around the expansive lake, checking first at the point where it joined the village.

Oz heard the splash and sploosh of Sayuri's head surfacing, at first mistaking her for a fish maybe. On a second glace, he recognised those innocent eyes and a great pool of black hair swirling about her like ink.

"There you are. I thought you might be practising," he said with a beaming smile.

He shuffled closer to the lake's edge, but had developed a sense of reluctance to be near deep bodies of water since he had grown so heavy. He didn't want to wade in, and desperately hoped Sayuri would come to him. In one hand, he clutched a very pretty jungle flower.

Oz smiled as he saw her dip below the water and then reappear in the shallows. To see her tail shimmer like it did in the water brought back uncomfortable memories of what had scared him so much in their last lengthy meeting. Trying to shift that aspect of Sayuri from his mind, he couldn't help wonder if maybe she looked a bit different. Maybe it was just because she was in the water. Oz hadn't seen her swimming yet.

He kneeled down and then fidgetted until he parked his rear end on the bank and dangled his legs into the water a little bit.

"I have something for you," he said, brandishing the exotic flower with a boyish glee. It was certainly a very peculiar flower, pale blue with little black freckles on its petals.

"Oh of course," he said, placing the flower down somewhere safe and then shuffled closer to Sayuri.

Rather than take hold of her delicate wrists and risk either snapping her arm or dislocating it, Oz reached down into the water slightly and gripped Sayuri's equally delicate figure. In an impressive show of strength, he heave her up from the water and moved to perch her beside him...but there was a big problem...her very big tail.

"WOAH!" he excalimed in shock.

He even lost his hold of Sayuri for a moment, fumbling to regain his embrace of her.

Watching her tail thrash and flick like that reminded him all too much of fishing trips with his grandfather. Luckily for the fish, Oz had always been one to throw it back. But he couldn't necessarily throw Sayuri back, could he!? Unless she needed to be back in water...nevermind that now!

A little hesitant at first, still in shock at seeing her devoid of a human figure anymore, Oz finally snapped out of his stupor and scrambled to her side. The look of horror was still on his face though. But what horrified him more - her new appearance, or the conflicting feelings within him?

"No no, no I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he echoed her apologies, wrapping his arms about her to try and pull her into a comforting hug.

He couldn't face to see her tail yet.

"...thats only because you have mud on your face..." he tried to lighten up the mood, ignoring for now the glaring facts of her change and what it meant for the two of them.

He gave her breathing space and room to shuffle about until she was comfortable again, and then sat close to her, wanting to hold her and make things better...but hesitant of her all at the same time. When she was less skittish, he reached an elongate hand forward to gentle wipe the mud and tears away from her face.

Oz had always been there as a shoulder to cry on, but he was clueless about giving advice to girls. And this situation was all the worse because it was no ordinary situation.

"Wh-when did it happen?"

Oz knew when to back off, and the way she shied from his efforts to comfort her was a sign to let her breathe, to let her think things through on her own. His hand hovered near her face for a few moments and then fell back to his side on the ground.

"I'm...so...so sorry Sayuri," he muttered in between struggled breaths.

He'd been there for one of her changes once before, and even though appeared like he could have been the 'rock' she needed this time, he wasn't sure if he'd have been helpful this time.

You do not have love...

The broken English echoed around inside him, pulling on heart-strings and making his gut tighten. It was true. He might not have fallen into that stereotypical and literary view of love, that head-over-heels feeling or that anguishing need to be with her.

But...her seeming need to have someone to lean against, someone to protect her, someone to provide stability. It was that that had appealed to Oz, endeared the delicate mermaid to his wandering heart. It was love of a different kind. If it was enough for Sayuri, that was still to be seen.

For now, he could keep telling little white lies if it meant keeping her happy.

"Yep, we're stuck," he concurred. "But we'll get through this, you're stronger than you look."

Normally one who could not lie very well, Oz showed a great amount of conviction and compassion on his lumpy face. Even if he didn't think much of where they were, he somehow found a bit of belief in Sayuri.