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Zach was restless. The news of Jamal being out on the loose and without a chip had frightened him. What defense did he have against a psychopath tiger? His fingers curled protectively around the small black device at his side. There was only so much hope he could place in the watchful eye of the staff. They were not nearly as fast as he could hope. If he was stuck fending off Jamal, what would happen? They couldn't just buzz him out. Help could be some minutes away. Maybe it was best to just forget about the possibility.

His missing eye was also of considerable concern. Sabin had yet to get back to him about whether anything could be done to regrow it, and he had his suspicions that it wouldn't happen. He wanted it back, was it so much to ask? Everyone tried to kill him in the name of a freedom they forgot didn't exist. They could conform to the law here, or they could conform to the law of a country. Freedom was an empty phrase, but the senseless actions of the people who wanted off the island were very lasting sometimes. In the case of the injury dealt to him by Lucas, probably permanent. It was hard to believe. An eye, gone. He still got headaches, but he never liked to look at the mirrors lately unless his eyepatch was hiding the sunken socket from view.

The dragon stalked through the village, returning from the cafeteria. His tail swished back and forth nervously while his wings were fanned out a little behind him. The weather was getting progressively warmer. The reptilian part of him would have been content to just stop and bask for a while, but it was far too open. He didn't want to be attacked again for having taken the unpopular side, agreeing with Sabin and trusting his judgment. Zach didn't want to die. So caught up in his morbid thought process was he that he barely noticed the Hispanic man who was also braving the humidity. When he did, he stopped, shifting his hand-like feet so that he could stay balanced. Human, by the looks of it. He hoped no one had filled the man's head with lies yet. "New here, I take it?"

Sí? Wasn't that Spanish for "yes"? Luckily the man had a better grasp on English than the Asian kid with the translator he'd met some time ago. It didn't take long before his appearance alone sent the man flinging himself to the ground in terror. The sudden movement had him move his hand halfway to his side, but the newcomer hadn't charged him after all. He dropped the hand in relief.

He couldn't help but laugh, a noise that was contorted into a sort of throaty cough to match his permanently scratchy voice. His large canines glinted. Zach rather liked how obviously the man feared him. It invoked a feeling of power, and in turn inflated his ego. This draconic form of his was wonderful. He hoped that the man wouldn't take off running. The dragon had found, to his dismay, that his legs and feet were simply no good for running. He was too hard to balance out if he moved too quickly. Zach sank down into a two-legged crouch, casually spreading his wings. It felt natural to continue the imposing charade. Dominance was a concept deeply rooted into all creatures, even humans, but it was the way it was displayed that had become so drastically different. He barely noticed now. The fact that some things just felt 'right' to do helped him avoid thinking on them.

"Me? Eat you?" he snorted, rolling his one eye. His tail moved fluidly like a snake's. "I'm not that uncivilized. There's plenty of dangerous things around here to look out for, but I'm not one of them. But that's beside the point." He wasn't sure what to say still. He could play along with whatever lie that was told to the man upon arrival, or he could present the situation as it was, a new way of life. No one ever took kindly to being told they were fated to become an animal. A real pity, that. He didn't think the evidence could get any more obvious than his own self.

"Diablo?" He paused. His memory had taken a considerable hit from all the zappings, though given losing one's memory is hard to notice, it wasn't something he was consciously aware of. Spanish wasn't particularly valuable to him even before then, so it took him a few moments to figure out what he was being confused with. The devil. Of course. Certainly wasn't the first time. Unflattering as the comparison was, it was doing the trick in scaring the guy out of his wits. This was a definite plus. Anything that put the babbling foreigner in a position to make deals was good. He'd been growing sick of all the 'rebellious spirits' on the island and the fact that all the rebelling equated to himself being attacked in various painful ways.

"Not just a diablo. The diablo." His blank grin returned, lit up by the sadistic enthusiasm of an intelligent predator. Leaving the man huddled on the ground, he stood back up again. It'd probably look that much more intimidating. He didn't care for the details of the man's past, looking bored by them. How the hell was he going to pretend to be the devil, anyway? It was just like acting, he supposed, barring the inconvenient fact that he'd never done any acting. At least the 'costume' was convincing. Well, here went nothing.

"Hah! You think you can get the better of me?" A wickedly clawed finger was jabbed down at the man. He let his voice drop a notch, attempting to make it boom when it wasn't capable of that. What came out was more of a low growl shadowing the words. Whatever grin was on his face before had somehow become an unamused grimace. "Tell me your name! NOW!"

"Di-a-blo. Quit stuttering." It appears this man was as god-fearing as they came. Not even a hint of incredulity that Zach may not actually be the devil after all. It boosted his confidence in the act. But he wasn't doing this purely for fun, even though it was pretty amusing. The man had offered him a little deal in the beginning, so it wouldn't be hard to force the same back at him. Most rejected the labs outright once they found out what was going on, but he figured if the man made a promise of any kind to support the cause of the labs then there would be no going back on it here. Sabin could probably help him with that.

"So tell me, Manuel..." he started casually. He couldn't clasp his hands behind his back, so he steadied them on his legs instead. His claws caught a little on the fabric of his pants, but he could unhook them quite easily. It allowed him to lean over his faux victim. His tail was lashing. It wasn't hard to maintain his calm right now. Plus, he had the panic button should the man be stupid enough to think he could take on "the devil" hand to hand. There was nothing to worry about, nothing to lose, everything to gain. The only difficulty was that he had to play this all by ear. "Where do you think you are?"

"Yes... and no. You're on an island, but you're not going anywhere just yet. You tried to offer others in your place, and that's just one of your sins." Oh, was he bluffing. He didn't know a damn thing about the man beyond what he'd said out of fright. Hopefully the man felt guilty about something besides that. The fact the man was sweating like a pig indicated he had something to fear from the devil. Feigning omnipotence was tough.

Unfortunately, it was hard to find another thing to string into the story he was weaving. He didn't want to present the island as a hell. But it wouldn't pass as a heaven to most, either. So what was left? "Consider this... purgatory."

Zach hissed loudly. Damnit. The man was starting to see through the act. He had to act fast if he wanted to keep him scared. While he'd had an original intent in mind, he was leaning strongly toward just treating the whole thing as a game of power. He enjoyed Manuel's fear of him, even if it was entirely false.

Realizing that his prey might take off running, he chose this moment to up the convincingness of his acting a notch. Babbling seemed to work. He was glad he'd paid attention in church all those many years ago. It was that much more material to twist. Whatever it would take to ensnare the Hispanic with doubt and fear, he would say it, no matter how religious and silly it sounded. "Purgatory! You don't know what I'm talking about? It's your last chance to have what you did forgiven. Consider yourself lucky your opportunity has come to you in life. Most people don't get their chance till after they're dead. And don't lie to me- I know damn well all men and women sin. Even you, Mister Rodriguez."

Zach stepped forward, eight feet of ugly red reptile staring down at Manuel with wings stretched idly. Time to bring out the big, philosophical guns. "What makes you so confident that higher powers haven't brought you here for this? You only see people and places, not divine intervention. I don't know what makes you so worth saving, anyhow," he growled as an afterthought. He didn't have a clue what the man was doing on the island, but if he was so sure he was sin-free then he must have an ego the size of Brazil. And that, like anything else, could be exploited for fun.

As soon as Manuel took the bait it wasn't quite as fun any more. But it was impossible to keep up such a joke forever. It wasn't that he felt guilty. No, far from that. He'd simply lost interest now that he'd apparently proven so convincing. Besides, while he'd considered pushing a rigid proposition at the Hispanic, he was fairly sure it would have been seen through immediately. After all, a laboratory turning people into animals? Definitely not a source of anything good or salvation-worthy at first glance.

"I really had you going there, didn't I? Me, the devil? Oh, no. Not at all." He grinned, taking one step back and winking his single uncovered eye, the world vanishing from him for an instant as he did so. His wings and frill were spreading in an unconscious gesture of nervousness, slowly but surely. Time hadn't made a complete idiot out of him though, or at least not today. Casually he put one hand to his side, fingers sliding around the black plastic of the panic button. Nearly everyone seemed to think they could solve their problems with violence, and the sheer size of the Hispanic was somewhat intimidating. "Don't feel bad, though. Everyone's been there once, not knowing what's going on here. Even me. But it's what you do after you find out that's important."