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| - The smell of sea air and a light dew permeates every crack of the island, heralding a new day. A tan-skinned woman in her forties with her raven hair pulled back in a managable bun looks down at her PDA, a shirt proclaiming a running race somewhere on her top half, a pair of khaki cargo pants covering the bottom. She peers about the platform, as if looking for someone. Ruin follows Leodhais out of the Bistro, hanging on to Leodhais with one hand and a paper restaurant cup of tea in the other. From one wrist dangles a plastic bag carrying the logo of a local pharmacy. Leodhais glances over towards the woman, and then gets out his pda, looking at it. "There she is," he says to Ruin, and heads over to her. "Leodhais Chaloux?" The woman turns her head, her confusion breaking out into a smile as she pockets the PDA and extends her hand. "Migina Geraldine," the woman replies, looking the two over. Ruin looks at Leodhais with some surprise. "You found one already?" he asks, and then - presented with strange female person - blushes a bit. "Ah. Ruin Pia, miss." He slants a look at Leodhais, uncertain. Leodhais smiles at her. "I thought you might be. Pleased to meet you Miz Geraldine," Leodhais says, letting go of Ruin's hand and shakes her hand. "I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me. Ruin, Lady Geraldine here is quite the expert when it comes to Yoescu." Migina blushes a bit herself, laughing. "Well, five years experience in the field, anyways. Your mail sounded urgent. What seems to be the problem?" "The problem..." Ruin stops. "We're not ...entirely certain there is one, miss, but it's very worrying all the same. Have you seen - well, do you know of any ferretmonkeys that...have pouches? Or talk with words?" "The problem is that we're at a loss," Leodhais says, holding a hand up to Ruin with a little smile. "Ferretmonkeys - first off, I know they're very intelligent, but just how intelligent are they? Did you want to sit, maybe have a cup of tea while we discuss?" he offers. Migina's eyes widen, and she gestures towards the Bistro from whence they came. "Sure, is the Blue Angel alright?" Ruin nods, holding up his glass of tea with a little smile. He quickly retreats inside. Leodhais nods to her, holding the door open for her. "Not a problem," he say. "After you." Migina smiles wanly, heading inside. "Thank you," she says. Breezy and casual, this good-sized eatery is spread out on two platforms that merge together in the middle, forming a sort of '8' shape. A wide strip of deep blue, industrial-grade carpet covers the floor where the two platforms meet, and a large, pictorial menu hangs high over a tan counter for ordering. Behind the counter is a powered lift that is constantly occupied with waitstaff coming and going. Around the outsides of the 8, a wide corridor runs around the tree trunks, with tables on either side of the aisleway. It sports a strip of huge plasteel windows around its entire face, giving the diner a magnificent view of the outside foliage and wildlife from more than 30 feet in the air. A bridge from the center section leads out of the building and towards the Commercial Platform. The smell of sea air and a light dew permeates every crack of the island, heralding a new day. Ruin leads the trio to a quiet corner table, taking a seat and practically hiding behind his tea. Nevertheless, he quietly says, "Miss...you didn't laugh." Leodhais waits for everyone to be seated, and then takes a seat himself, waving a waitress over. He looks at Ruin somewhat curiously and then to Migina. "Whatever you like," he says. "My treat..." he threads his fingers together, and then looks at her. The woman raises her eyebrows. "I'm sorry?" she asks Ruin, at a loss as she moves to sit. "Green tea with honey," she says to the waitress, settling in. "As for your questions, though...a ferretmonkey with a pouch? No, I've never heard of such a thing. And there have been two ferretmonkeys I've known of to talk with words. The last queen of Freedom City, and the current queen, Launiiri. Mr. Plaindid has spent years teaching them. As for intelligence, let's just compare them to chimpanzees. Tool users, able to solve puzzles with a modicum of creativity, complex social structure, and they form deep and loving relationships." She looks between the men. "...And if we told you we found one, alone, on G'ahnlo, alive and fishing?" asks Ruin quietly. He and Leodhais are talking with a woman at a corner table, tea of course present. "Like chimpanzees," Leodhais muses. "But only two who've spoken. I thought they had to live in groups...as Ruin said, alone? What would happen to one if he or she was alone for a long period of time?" Migina shakes her head. "Then I'd say we had a poacher on our hands, with the rest nearby somewhere," she says to Ruin, turning to Leodhais. "They cannot live alone. Our best guess now is that they need that sort of psionic 'push' on their brains to keep them working correctly, and only other ferremonkeys can give that to them. If they were alone for more than a day or two, they'd just simply die." Volouscheur pads into the restaurant, aura glowing pale green-gold. She looks around, heading in the general direction of Ruin and Leodh - and the lady sitting with them, of course. ~Talking about Gau?~ she asks, adding, ~...whether or not they're 'supposed' to live alone...this one is. And has been for...what is it, Ruin, at least two, three weeks now?~ Ruin shakes his head. "But...I'm not sure it's still a ferretmonkey, either. Do ferretmonkeys just need other ferretmonkeys? Or do they need their specific clan?" Leodhais smiles to Scheur. "I was lucky enough to be able to gain audience with Migina Geraldine," Leodhais says, gesturing to her. "I'm trying to find out what I can to help Gau." He turns to her again. "A poacher..." Migina rubs her chin. "Their clan is always best. We've done studies on putting four ferretmonkeys from different queens together and see if that effect is still duplicated. It is, but it a much lower level. They'll survive, but they'll be listless, tired, docile for the duration." She nods to Leodhais. "We have a big problem with poachers. People see them as cute and furry and tend to take them in bunches, to allow them to survive the trip. Sometimes, they can simply be lured by the offer of special food or something particularly shiny, but they usually use nets and psi blockers. The poachers' usual ports are Odari and G'ahnlo." "...I suspect not this one," says Ruin, as much to Scheur as Migina. "He said he bargained with it for escape from the labs. A shuttle would've worked too...unless they've got labs on G'ahnlo, which frankly wouldn't surprise me." He sighs. "So, we should try to find his queen if we can..." Volouscheur nods to Ruin, ~He just said 'cabinet,' which is his term for ships. Don't think he ever specified which ship he'd snuck aboard - if he'd even recognize it, for that matter.~ She shrugs, asking, ~Is there any way we could recognize which clan he's from?~ "Also...is there any history of the yoescu bonding with other creatures? Any symbiotic or parasitic relationships that may not be public knowledge?" Leodh asks. The Qua woman shakes her head. "Wait, who were you talking to?" she asks Ruin, her forehead crinkling. She turns towards Volouscheur, looking even more confused now. She turns towards Leodhais, wiping her face with the napkin on the table. "They're still debating that over on the other side of the pond, I believe," she says. "They don't let us know much from the Thole research." "I told you Gaunauni talks in words," says Ruin quietly. "We asked him. And yes, he's got a Thole, and we're not sure whether it's killing him....or what it's changing him into. We do not trust those labs to answer us honestly, or to not hurt Gau. But we don't know a hoopin' real thing about ferretmonkeys either, and we're running out of time. Are you interested?" ~I was going to ask you whether we tell her about that,~ Scheur says to Ruin. ~But..~ A shrug, and a ripple of matte green, ~You just did, so question answered.~ Scheur, Ruin, Leodh, and Migina are all sitting at a corner table, talking amongst themselves. Newt comes in and, after a quick word with the waitress before heading for a table near the window. Leodh nods, looking to Migina, almost pleading. "I wanted an expert opinion," he says quietly, his attention just on her. "Whether or not releasing him, or taking him to a vet or back to the labs would be best." Migina frowns, looking between Ruin and Gaunauni. "So he has the stolen Thole," she says gravely. "You do realize I'm supposed to report that, right?" she asks thoughtfully, pausing for a moment with a furrowed brow. "So... it's attached? Is the ferretmonkey looking like the pictures, then?" she says softly. Ruin shakes his head. "A ferretmonkey named Gaunauni had a Thole placed on him and - in conjunction with that Thole - escaped captivity," he says quietly. "We found him on G'ahnlo, fishing, and took him in because frankly we've had run-ins with the lab folk about someone else, and find them as ethical as politicians when voting on their own salaries. Or a bit less. As to pictures...what pictures?" He eyes Leodhais. "No lab. The little guy's miserable enough as it is." Volouscheur nods, ~It's attached, yes. And whether it's the stolen Thole or a different one, we don't know. And, frankly, I at least don't much care, either way.~ She shrugs, ~I..don't know what the pictures look like, so I can't tell you whether he looks like them or not. But yes, it's attached. And growing. It's...covered a lot of his body, at this point.~ "Again, why I wanted to contact you first," Leodh explains. "He's just an innocent yoescu, I was hoping the experts could help..." He tilts his head a bit at the mention of pictures. "It's grown all over him, and he can't eat or drink anymore..." The Qua woman flips on her PDA, punching a few buttons before pulling up a news article and placing the PDA on the table facing Leodhais and Ruin (+news/read mar06-15). "Like this. And I can understand not wanting to go through the lab. They have some really weird people there. Nobody I've ever heard of, and I've heard of a lot." She looks at Leodhais. "Have you tried force-feeding?" Article: MAR06-15 Headline: New Luna Scientists Make Discovery Reported To: INN Reported On: New Luna Time Reported: Mon Mar 27 21:24:41 3006 (Sivad Mean Time) NORTH POLE, NEW LUNA - Digging in the less than two hundred foot wide polar ice cap near New Luna's northernmost point, scientist Witley Valen wasn't expecting to find any signs of life, let alone one of the greatest archaeological discoveries so far on New Luna. "I was merely doing core samples of the ice to test the qualities and age of the ice cap, you know, standard stuff. About thirty feet down, our machines hit what we thought was a rock," Valen said this morning. "It ended up being a fully-preserved primate of some sort." Standing at about four feet tall with a small tail and a torso and arms covered entirely in an extremely hard, plant-based substance, the form of the creature's legs suggest it walked erect. Speculations seem to be that it is a more ape-like ancestor to the Yoescu, the dominant form of life on New Luna. Says xenoarchaeologist Sandra Reinholt, "While we're unsure the purpose of the plant coat, this seems to be a larger-brained, less agile predecessor to the ferretmonkey." Found under a lump in the torso coating was the remains of what looks to be a cache of grain, suggesting an agrarian lifestyle. But if this is the predecessor to the barely-cognizant Yoescu, what caused them to seemingly devolve into their current state? That causes Ms. Reinholt to smile. "We will try to answer that and many other questions in the coming months," she says. "This is the find of a lifetime." The waitress returns placing a bowl and some bread infront of Newt. A few words are exchanged and Newt grabs a slice and begins to butter it. Ruin reads the article with a look of ....well, shock. "Oh, good Lord," he says. "It did say it was changing him...improving him - well, by its standards, anyway. And it's about covered in the fungus..." He sits back. "...It said there were a lot more of them, once. Oh...my." ~We haven't, no. And it's not so much "can't" eat as "won't". He says the Thole is cheating; I think he's trying to deprive it of nutrients,~ Volouscheur says. She leans over to look at the PDA and then looks back at the Qua woman, ~And yes, he's starting to look like the pictures.~ Leodhais just stares at the pictures, his face turning white. "...like that," he says in a flat tone. "...so what would you suggest?" Newt stops buttering his bread and sits up. The Qua shrugs her shoulders helplessly. "If he won't eat, the best thing to do would be sedate him and force-feed him. But that will only keep him alive, and he'll probably be pretty damned pissed off at you afterwards. As for the Thole...I can't say I know anything about it. If it's how you say, then obviously that corpse got all the way up to the North pole with that thing on his back. Maybe it will do the same? I...I really don't know. I can tell you everything you need to know about a ferretmonkey, but I know nothing about the Thole except hearsay. And their interaction together? I doubt you'd find anyone who knew that, unless you wanted to go back in time twenty thousand years." ~I'm not sure that's even possible, actually,~ Scheur says. ~But...they don't seem to be interacting well. Gau complains of the Thole 'cheating'; that it promised equality...and now it's bullying him. It doesn't talk much - more refusal to do so than inability.~ She offers a smile, ~And even hearsay is something for us to work with.~ "You're a great help, believe you me," Leodhais says seriously. "You already confirmed that they need to be with others, and this one isn't, that they don't generally talk, and this one does..." Ruin purses his lips. "...Let's step back a bit...say we took this ferretmonkey to his clan. How would we find his queen?" Migina sighs. "What is his natural coloration under the Thole? And all I really know of the Thole is that it's asexual, psionic, and supposedly quite intelligent." "Sea-ferretmonkey coloration," says Ruin quietly. "Not that you can really tell anymore. And while I would agree with your data on Tholes, please add 'dominating, superior, and amoral' to your list. It's not pleasant to talk to." ~And 'arrogant'. Add 'arrogant',~ Scheur says. She considers, ~Unless 'superior' counts as the same thing, in which case never mind.~ Voliast peeks around the doorframe of the restauraunt before making his way in. Spying out Volouscheur, possibly by her glow, the doctor's own aura tinges with streamers of faint rose amid the green. Winding his way to the table, medical bag, as ever, swinging from his shoulder, the tall Vollistan inquires: "Any progress?" A brief look at Migina and a broad if sheepish smile precedes: "Light. I am Voliast. Nice to make your acquaintance." A chair would be snaked out from nearby, and he'd sit on it as close to Volouscheur as easily manageable. "What of its telepathic presence I've bothered to feel, and I did not go into its mind so much as detect its outward look, says it absolutely believes that the Thole is simply misinformed about the wonderful changes it will incur, and will brook no argument, incidentally." Setting back, fingers tented, he nods in confirmation of the female Vollistan's statement: "Arrogant, and I know what I'm talking about.." Leodhais smiles at Scheur. "I'm arrogant, but not superior," he says by way of explanation. He nods to Voliast. "Lady Migina Geraldine - top expert when it comes to things Yoescu." "Sea. Then that narrows it down to three. Launiiri here just outside of Freedom City, then there's a queen on a little island to the northwest of here, and another on an island a ways to the east," the Qua woman explains. She smiles as Voliast approaches. "Sounds awful," she notes to him. Ruin nods, noting this down. "In your opinion...do you think Gau's clan would do him harm, with the changes?" he asks. "I'm trying to think of ways to - well, boost the ferretmonkey's side in this mental war the thole's got going on with it." He pauses "Uh. Um. And I'm getting ahead of myself, again, because...he's kind of unconscious right now." ~Most likely is Launiiri, I think,~ Scheur says. ~I don't think he would've travelled far to get to the 'cabinet' he went off-world in. 'Least, I don't recall getting the impression that he travelled far.~ Newt's, well, just sitting there and looking out at the view. Bread's still in hand, though the butter knife is down now. "The unconscious would be my fault. I attempted to use an extremely low-tuned psi blocker. One I use to restrain my own abilities in times of stress or turmoil. Thus, it is as weak as they can be made. The beings reacted most violently, do ferretmonkeys normally respond with huge problems of that nature? I would think that the damage a blocker could do is inversely proportional to the power of the telepath... and it shouldn't impact the two physiologically." He rubs his eyes, aura indigo around the edges, and smiles at Migina. "Should worse come to worse, an operation to remove the Thole may be considered. Or drugs to suppress it, or in some way a device fashioned to keep Gaunauni's physiological changes but leave his mind intact. I could also attempt telepathic remedy... Do you have much experience in vetinary surgery, Lady?" An arm is wrapped around Volouscheur's shoulders loosely, followed by a deep sigh from the doctor. Leodhais glances over at Newt, frowning a bit, and then nods to Migina. "Wrapped up warm in towels and in a little bed I made for him, to keep him comfortable and warm. Best I could do - I'm no vet." "If he's speaking in words and doesn't need ferretmonkey contact to stay alive, then I'm frankly not sure if they'd accept him back," the Qua woman says frankly. "It's like a variety of mammals, when the children smell funny, the mothers will simply cease to care for them." She turns to Voliast. "No...I mean, they don't like it, sure. And they have a fair amount of psionic...I don't know what you call it. Ability to tell emotions. Empathizing with you. Most around human-populated areas have learned that psi blockers are bad news, and tend to give them a far berth, especially given the amount of poaching using them. I have no idea how a psi blocker would affect a Thole, sorry. And I have even less idea of what it'd do to them together. As for surgery, heavens no. I'm an anthropologist, I interact with them in the wild." Ruin slants a look at Leodhais at that. And then, steepling his fingers before his face as he thinks, elbows on the table, "This ferretmonkey," he says quietly, "has gotten progressively more lethargic, grumpy, verbose, and listless as the fungus covers his body. His vocabulary has improved by leaps and bounds. He shows no interest in what might be the normal ferretmonkey pursuit of shiny objects, tossing away a silver necklace. While he was frantic for fish when we first found him, now he says it 'tastes wrong'. He would only sample honey last time he ate anything. Considered purely as a ferretmonkey, what would you make of that?" ~Empathy,~ Scheur supplies. And then, at Ruin's words, she leans against Iast, looking at the Qua woman quietly. Voliast chuckles. "There I go, presuming again. Thank you anyway. Ha... it doesn't seem good, but if he would not be accepted back, it would be unwise of us to risk his dependency on other ferretmonkeys harming Gau if we were to remove the Thole..." His aura is filled with the same gold as before, shading toward indigo, while the doctor scoops Volouscheur closer, frowning. Leodhais looks thoughtfully at Ruin, and then puts his fingers to his mouth, thinking. "...hmm. No..." The woman looks into Ruin's eyes, her warn brown ones intense. "I'd say you weren't talking about a ferretmonkey," she says flatly. Ruin sighs. "So...maybe already too late. What does it sound like, to you?" Volouscheur is sitting at a corner table, with Iast, Ruin, Leodh, and a Qua woman. Newt is over at a window-side table, a piece of bread in his hand; it seems he was buttering it earlier, but the knife has been set down and he's staring out the window now. Volouscheur continues to watch the woman, asking softly, ~So how do we help him?~ Voliast, sitting next to Scheur, keeps one arm around her and sighs, adding: "Have to wonder what the wretched thing is doing to -human- hosts too..." "Nothing good," Leodhais says, suddenly sounding very tired and sad. Migina shrugs her shoulders. "Sounds like a teenager...?," she says awkwardly. "And I don't know," she says to Scheur. "This is already far beyond my ken. Make him as comfortable as possible, if this turns out badly?" Norton is smoking a cigarette as he steps in. He's also grinning. He moves about halfway across the room before there is a faint twitch of his facial muscles and he reaches into a pocket of his jeans. A psi blocker is turned on, and the smoker turns back the way he came. Leaving, he hums rather tunelessly. Ruin sighs. "...I guess that's still something," he says. "Not a ferretmonkey...a teen. Something. Teen something-new-ish." He frowns. "Hoboy." He looks over as Norton enters, but doesn't react until the psi blocker's produced. His attention immediately goes toward the two Vollistans with a wince. Volouscheur's shoulders twitch, but she eyes Voliast, rather than Norton at first, frowning. There's a ripple of yellow, and then she looks around, scowling as she notices Norton; her aura tints wine and chestnut, strands of orange winding around her. Voliast grasps his head as the blocker is turned on when Norton enters. Closing his eyes for a moment, he reaches down with one hand to grasp Volouscheur's hand, and squeeze. "I'm... going out for some air. Thank you, Lady Migina... Ruin, if anything you think can be used is discovered, let me know. Also, maybe a veterinary surgeon could examine Gaunauni if you feel like going that far, though things don't sound positive..." He rises with a brief inclination of his head to all assembled, edges of his aura slightly white. He leans down long enough to kiss Volouscheur before making his way out. Leodhais gives Norton an icy stare as he leaves, and then looks to Scheur with a worried frown. "Do you know where a vet is around here?" he asks Migina. "We were hoping to findone..." "A vet for ferretmonkeys? Best chances you're going to find with that is at the lab, unfortunately. Not too many people with legal ferretmonkey pets. They just don't like it." Migina says gravely. Ruin shakes his head. "I promised him I wouldn't take him back to that," he says. "And given matters as they stand, I think they're more likely to make matters worse than help anything...can you think of anything else we might try, or test in a non-invasive way for, to help the yoescu come out on top?" Volouscheur offers a feeling of comfort to Leodh, but glowers at Norton as he leaves. Her attention returns to the subject at hand, although one arm moves to loosely rest over her abdomen. Leodhais nods thoughtfully to himself. "...no vet. Warm, comfortable..." he pauses, looking to Migina hopefully. The Qua woman sighs. "Find something that one likes and the other doesn't? I don't know. Do something to simulate the Yoescu's neural net? Shoot it?" Ruin looks at Volouscheur. "...Think if you and Iast met a Yoescu clan you could mimic how one works?" he asks. Volouscheur considers, ~We could try, at least.~ She wrinkles her nose at Migina, ~We're keeping 'shoot it' and 'remove the Thole' as last resorts; we'd prefer for Gau to survive.~ A nod to Ruin, ~But..yes. We could try and mimic one, adapt as needed if it doesn't work exactly right.~ Leodhais closes his eyes, resting his forehead against his his folded hands. "...No shooting," he says finally. "If he needs to be...put down, then a painless way." "I was talking about the Thole. Why can't you just...I don't know. Apply fungicide?" Migina replies. "I would never suggest shooting a ferretmonkey," she scolds. "It claims that if we touch it, the yoescu dies," says Ruin quietly. "And the only other host we know of said the same. This thing is changing Gau's biology. It's taking him over. Just trying to psionically separate them knocked the little guy flat - he's still out cold." Volouscheur nods, ~It claims it's a symbiotic relationship - but from what we've seen...it's more parasitic than symbiotic. I'm not sure if that's the true nature of the relationship, or just a result of the Thole's personality.~ "Sorry," Leodhais says somewhat embarrassed. "I should've known that." He nods in agreement with Scheur. "...I know you don't know about Tholes," he says quietly. The Qua pinches the bridge of her nose. "Jesus. I'm sorry. I...don't know how to separate something that can't be separated. Maybe make the Thole want to pick up shop? Or is it too late for that, too?" Ruin shrugs. "I'm open to advice as to how," he says. "We came because we're entirely in the dark here." Volouscheur shrugs, ~It's got thick shields, but Voliast and I could probably crack them, given time. Only question is...like with everything else we're thinking of...what would it do to Gau, if we did?~ "How fragile is the mind of a yoescu?" Leodhais asks. "They're pretty resilient. They do stuff to each other that they'd never do to outsiders. I mean, I don't know what's going on there, but they mentally cold-cock each other when one's out of line, and they seem fine afterwards," Magina says. Ruin purses his lips. "...Are there any works, on yoescu clan life?" he asks. "How they're raised, how they're taught, disciplined? We may make more sense to Gau if we follow that model somewhat." Volouscheur listens quietly, adding, ~Is there a clan that Voliast and I could observe, interact with, to learn these things?~ Leodhais just smiles a bit as if pleased. He looks to Migina hopefully. "I've written several papers on the subject myself." Migina scribbles three or four titles on her napkin, pushing it over to Ruin. "Look those up, and you'll have a better idea." She turns towards Volouscheur. "It took me over a year and a half to get the local tribe here to accept me. I...have doubts at how you'll fare in the timeframe you need it. As friendly as they seem when they want something, they're really quite insular." Ruin accepts the napkin with a nod. "Thank you," he says. "Another thing...have you showed any tribes the pictures from that news article?" Magina shakes her head. "I have not. No need to frighten them until we have solid facts. Though your case might be solid facts enough." A beep comes from her pocket, and she pulls out her PDA. "I'm sorry folks, my boyfriend locked his keys in the car. It's been a pleasure." She rises to stand. Leodhais smiles and nods at her. "Have a good evening. Thank you so much for your insights and knowledge."
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