Ahh, that makes sense then.
Ha! For what it's worth, I did wall off a bunch of stuff for that brief moment you have the hyena in your "party," but it's hard to think of everything. Easy enough to fix though.
And thanks! Connection with Mezz was definitely a priority while making the game: that's why there aren't any dumb jokes at awkward moments (plenty of dumb jokes at appropriate moments though :D) or other stuff that takes the player out of it. He's definitely intended as something players can self-insert into, potentially without even realizing it at first, rather than just a character to control.