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Secrets Unfold

Summary: Louis the Red Deer and Sam Walker the Wolf discuss the evidence of their initial investigation while trying to plan how to move forward. Louis' wife joins them and, together, they come up with a likely source of one of the ingredients in the Blood Gas used at the terrorist attack assassination attempt. Then there's the matter of Sam's boss...


Who: Louis, Sam_Walker
When: July 14th, 2025
Where: The Louis Estate in the City of Denko


The information contained within this log is to be considered information gained Out of Character (OOC).
This information may not be used as In Character (IC) knowledge or in roleplay unless it has been learned in-game or permission has been granted by the parties involved.

Questions should be directed to staff.


Knuckles rap upon a thick wooden door. "Master Louis, your guest is here," calls out the short older sheep. Yuta, the head butler, opens the door with practiced expectation to allow Sam Walker to enter. A Sam without shoes, like it or not. Yuta insisted. The expensive flooring and delicate rugs that pave the path throughout the spacious home won't tolerate scuffing or crushing and neither will the butler. There was at least one lion in a suit mixed in among the Herbivore staff that took note of Sam's passing through, but they weren't in any hurry to do anything other than the relaxing they were busy with. Was it one Sam has seen before?

It's a Study. While not entirely large, the moderate room holds many bookshelves, filing cabinets, a personal desk made of thick reddish-brown wood, a computer terminal and printer, and much stationery. Aside from the main chair at the desk, a padded couch sits off to one side; perhaps it's for more comfortable long-term reading. The buck behind the desk wears no jacket or waistcoat. His button up shirt is undone at the top two buttons and his tie is untied and draped around his neck. The first sound to greet the wolf is the ticking of a clock, much like in Louis' office uptown, which is followed by the closing of a university course textbook. Thump.

"Right. I nearly forgot," admits the deer in a slight tone that hints that he hasn't been talking for a bit. Perhaps he's been doing...homework? "Come on in. You can close the door behind you. It's just us. For now. My wife may make an appearance. Your fault for being an action hero on broadcast television, really."

'Fancy'.

That was the first impression that came to Sam, followed quickly after by a quick thought of how much money must have gone into the place. He had no problem with having to take his shoes off, outsider as he was, he still knew better than to go trampling in whatever may have been stuck on the bottom of his sneakers. Besides, the staff of this place must have enough work as it is. Citadel's presidential penthouse probably would have fitted into this mansion twice over.

Just like at the office before, perhaps even more so, Sam couldn't shake the impression that he was underdressed for this. Dark blue jeans paired with a grey metal mouse tee. It wasn't exactly formalwear. Then again, the deer wasn't exactly suited up either. Somewhat to his relief.

He looked briefly to the textbook, before his eyes settled on the state of Louis, a friendly smile on his face. "Busy day?"

Oop. Door.

"Righto." Reach. Shut. Heavy wooden clunk.

"The cameras loved me, what can I say? Ain't my fault they got good taste." He barely suppressed a laugh, its remnants coming out as a sharp exhale before he took a deep breath and his tone turned a little more serious. "Okay, so I've gotten someone further up the chain ready on comms. He should be able to answer any questions you had about just where I came from. At least within reason, of course."

Busy day?

"Sam Walker..." Louis begins with a tired sigh despite an attempt to maintain a measure of professionalism. "Do you have any idea how valuable my time is? From the time I awaken until the time I sleep and every minute in-between I have everything precisely scheduled because every moment of my life is too important to pass off to some other animal." He places a hand to his forehead with a flick of his ear. "Every day is a busy day."

The deer lowers his gaze to the textbook before him. Ethics and Philosphy. His mouth frowns a bit. "And now we're jumping into some sort of phone call with more people from this outland operation of yours." His gaze lifts. "Can you think of anything worth discussing beforehand that isn't overheard? I'm..." Louis stands from his chair and pulls the loose tie from his shoulders. "I'm not even dressed for this."

"I dunno-" Sam's eyes wandered around the room, his hands behind his back, casually shifting his weight from his heels to his toes as he appeared to pause in mock deep thought, hand under his chin. "'bout three fifty? No no wait lemme guess-" A grin had started to form on the wolf's face, accidentally revealing one of his big sharp canines, the tooth glinting against the light. He couldn't help it.

"Four? Wait, I don't have ta' bid fer it, right? Don't want to price myself out of the market."

He finally realised, and managed to catch himself, putting a hand in front of his mouth until he could wipe that expression off his face. "Right. Fangs. Sorry. That weren't intentional. It's kind of hard to smile and not look scary with these. Also looks real silly if I try to eat an apple."

He took a quick mental note of the textbook. He'd figured Louis was older, though, the homework might have suggested the deer man was in a more similar age bracket to him. Provided of course he wasn't just reading that for fun.

Nerd.

"Nothing springing to mind unless you got questions for or about me in specific. Hrm? Oh, no need to worry about that, I'm sure he's not going to start judging you on your dress sense or nothing."

The silk tie in hand is folded with a measure of practice before it is placed on the side of the desk. The buck's mouth parts slightly at the mention of bidding before closing into a thin crooked smile. "That wouldn't even get you a lick of my antlers, wolf. Besides, I don't sell piecemeal, and there's no way you can afford to buy the merchandise I have remaining." He is missing part of a leg, after all. He makes eye contact at some point during this and locks in, hard. Is it because of the teeth?

Louis begins carefully rolling up his sleeves before buttoning the cuffs in place. He adjusts his shirt collar and makes sure only two buttons along his front are undone. "Business casual, then, but I don't plan to make a habit of these kinds of talks after classes, for the record. Amusing that you have the stones to joke about pricing, yet you're apologetic about your teeth. Not helping the 'all wolves must be weird' experience life is giving me, you know."

His arms cross. Skinny deer. Damned skinny. And short. The absence of extra layers of clothing really makes it apparent. He has something to discuss, or so his eyes show, but he's amused enough to want to hear Sam's reply first.

Sam looked confused by the deer's response. Clearly it wasn't what he was expecting. He tried to think back, was this an accidentally stepped on cultural taboo? Was time referring to something different here? He hadn't looked deeply enough, he could admit that, even with the moderate wealth of information gleaned from listening in on Denko's broadcasts and internet available to him he had still rushed in virtually blind.

"Your... antlers?" There was a slight headtilt. A slight furrow of the brow following shortly after too. "I was making a crack at you going off about time being expensive. Why would I want to lick your antlers?" The thought had crossed Sam's mind that the deer's horns probably *would* have been fairly satisfying to chew on a couple times, but, that seemed like the sort of thing you'd keep to yourself at the pain of sounding really weird.

"Hol' up, merchandise. Piecemeal." He paused, looking down at Louis, that same genuinely puzzled expression still plastered on his face. "Reckon there's something going over my head here. I knew 'bout the teeth, figured that was a cultural thing, but this is sounding like it's going off in a completely different direction."

Those were some sharp toofers. Shiny, clearly very well maintained, the pearly whites contrasting even further against Sam's black coat. Virtually identical to any native wolf that would be found locally too, similar to the rest of his surface appearance.

"Seriously? Here I figured your exposure to a hungering after me had you curious what the big deal was. How have you not figured it out by-" There's a pause and Louis turns away to put a hand to his face. "Ugh. Don't look so damned lost like that. Just forget about it. You just need to go hang out with other Carnivores and you'll figure it out." A beat. "Maybe." Another beat. "Honestly, I'm not sure."

The buck slaps the corner of the desk softly as he turns in place once more to again face Sam and when he speaks, he speaks quickly. "I have enough time to talk about one thing before we have this call of yours, so we can either discuss the very obvious cluelessness you're enduring right now or we can talk about the death of our only lead on the source of this attack by a firearm that the authorities cannot seem to accurately trace." Louis narrows his eyes tactically wondering which of the two subjects Sam might find the most important. "You choose."

Blink blink.

Carnivores, herbivores, he'd seen the distinctions already and they didn't seem to be as surface level as he'd assumed. He looked away for a second, turning it over in his mind. The attack on the hall, the way the others had reacted. Was that more than just some sort of frenzy? Implanted rage burning away at the brain until there was nothing left of the person beneath, almost similar to the breakdown of luciferium.

Were they salivating as their body attempted to reject something foreign. Or was it hunger.

Shit.

Sam's eyes widened slightly, hand in front of his mouth. The teeth. There was a reason it was taboo. "Oh." He said. "Oooooooh." His eyes turned to look Louis' way, even if his head didn't. "I am so sorry. I, I literally only just-" He trailed off, a few seconds passing before he found the words to continue with. "Okay. That? That is real disturbing." He held up a hand in a gesture he hoped would at least be somewhat reassuring. "Look, in case it needs being said I ain't looking to eat you, god damn. I ain't some cannibal. Or whatever that'd be. Close enough to that to call it anyhow."

As if that realisation wasn't enough, then, it became apparent that there was another issue on the docket. The would be assassin Sam shot. With a revolver chambered in 11mm Citadel. He searched for a way to wriggle out, a way to make an excuse. Could it have been an 'improvised firearm'? No. The impact would have suggested pressures that'd splinter even properly forged steel like balsa wood. He sighed.

He was going to try the truth, and simply hope for the best. He was almost regretting not bringing the thing, sure, it'd be more damning but at least it might give him a chance of escape should things go sideways. "Yeah. No point hiding at this point. That was me. I shot him." Another deep breath taken, both in an attempt to steady himself, and to buy a little time. "I have seen something like that before. That ampule. What was in it. What it smelled like when it broke." When he looked back over to Louis, it almost seemed as if the wolf was could have been looking right through him. "I was ready for everyone's lungs to boil and flesh to melt. I'd... gah..." he rubbed his temples. "It's a weapon used by something we called an 'Apocriton'. If you get hit by it. If its needler thrower bursts near or worse *on* you, and you don't have a full rebreather, you're already dead. Thought everyone in that room was. Thought I'd send him to hell right along with me."

The red deer frowns a bit as if swallowing, but not actually doing so, as his eyes drift to the side. He doesn't really get a moment to absorb Sam's connecting cultural dots or a chance to even try to explain beyond that as the wolf moves to then explain himself out of the corner. Louis inhales deeply before letting it all out and, reciprocally, holds up his own hand. "Just... Okay, one thing at a time. While the people of this land are highly spiritual and just as superstitious, they're all just...animals, Sam Walker. There are no-" The word is alien to his mouth, but he tries to repeat it with the same cadence, but without the accent, "Apocritons. Not here."

A hand sweeps gently to one side gesturing more broadly than that of anything in the room. "These are just animals out there. As fragile in health as most of the other animals I've seen in other parts of the world, including the many apes." He's stern, but he's not being cold. He just wants to establish a foundation. "Bullets will kill. And have. They can solve problems," yet Louis seems to have some personal experience in the way he presents this, "but can also create new ones."

His jaw opens a little and his head shakes side to side. "Let's just focus on one thing at a time, huh? What precisely do you think happened, from an outside perspective, in the ballroom at the charity event after the first assailant was taken down?"

"Yeah. We ain't seen any since we got here. No mechanoids at all in fact, but, my nose? It doesn't usually lie." His posture still seemed stiff, his finger tapping on the desk every once in a while, his eyes still seeming slightly distant. "First time I saw one. First time i saw what they did, I was, what, must'a been twelve. Jack Vargas. He was, he-" Sam swallowed hard, his voice trembling, his inhale shaky. "We were just talking earlier. Just thirty minutes ago about a project my class were doing. He was a teacher, a scientist, a-and, and he was a good man who didn't deserve... F-fuck..." He was trying to hide it, but there were tears welling up at the corner of the wolf's amber coloured eyes. "I saw it. Heard it. Smelled it. You don't forget that smell, Louis. You don't forget nothing."

It took him a while longer to regain his composure. Seconds probably, though at least a couple dozen of them even if they dragged like minutes from where Sam was standing. "Look, don't get me wrong. I ain't saying I thought they were here, or it was the exact same thing. Just, that it smelled close enough that in the moments I had, I reckoned it'd do about the same work. Figured we were all dead and he didn't deserve to get away. Bullets kill? Yeah, you don't say. It's why I pulled the trigger."

Another deep breath taken. Another handful of seconds pass with Sam silent. "What I saw? Well. Tried to help the guy who got stabbed, used a charge of my medkit on him. Then we got to talking, you said something about wolves all being the same, one of your security team asked me about where I learned how to fight. Then a guy in a gas mask smashed, well, whatever that was. I thought we were dead anyway as I said, so, I shot him. After that it gets hazy." He closed his eyes, trying to visualise the events of the day once again. "I couldn't really think. I just had to keep going. Reckoned you were both the target, and you could tell me what the hell just happened. Tricked a couple 'a cat people with some silvervine stuff? Took half a can up my nose when I tried to crack it open with a tooth, remember that much. Was smelling that for days. Uh, managed to find you, said something I thought was real slick?" He shook his head, clenching his eyes tighter shut, trying to grasp hold of at least something that just woudln't quite come. "Managed to get you out of there. Something about a car? It's like trying to remember a real weird dream."

At first Louis feels frustration and annoyance at not being able to redirect the conversation before anything went off the rails. His hands rest upon the desk, arms rigid, eyes staring at the organic swirling patterns in the grain of his desktop finish. However, his eyes close after a few seconds and he just listens, focusing on his breathing so as not to fall into the same hole of dark memories. He knows loss very well, too.

His fingers curl in place and his face rises as Sam finishes his recollection. "Mm. Memory is fickle even without a survival situation at hand. But, now, you have full access to, presumably, your logical senses. What did you witness the Carnivores do in reaction to the chemical attack and why do you think they did it?" Dolph was present fresh from the hospital at the office meeting. His accounting of the event was that, in a way most other native Carnivores would understand, he had no control after a certain point. "You need to externalize your thoughts before I can begin to fill in any holes."

Sam paused to think again. to try and drag his thoughts back to that day. He wasn't really quite sure what he saw from the carnivores. A frenzy perhaps? Some sort of mind control? He'd seen psycasters warp minds in similar fashion to turn men to a maddened frenzy though that of course couldn't be seen as a one to one. Of course there were always chemical solutions too, though, none he'd heard of were quite that potent. More seconds. The clock ticked away. "I don't quite know. With all the yelling I thought it was, well, y'know. What I mentioned before. After that I don't have much frame 'a reference."

The words didn't come easy. The wolf wanted to make comparisons to films he had seen. The old trope of the 'rage virus' and 'runner zombies' though he figured that might have been an unknown reference at best and insulting at worst. "I don't reckon they had control. Saw it in their eyes. They tried to fight it, but, couldn't. It was like it stripped away the person and left behind rage. Hunger. Instinct maybe. Then locked who the person was behind it all. I don't know if I got lucky or I'm just built different. I felt hungry though, real hungry and everything smelled like food. You smelled like you'd taken a bath in barbecue sauce." That almost drew a laugh from the wolf, though it clearly at the absurdity of the thought rather than any actual amusement. "Made you real easy to follow. Guess that was the point. There's got to be some disconnect. Something with me that's different. I figure most of it still worked, just the part that'd make someone try and eat you or completely lose control of themselves didn't."

The small deer takes to some mild pacing as he listens, exiting from behind his study desk and following the long side of the rug that encompasses most of the room's otherwise wooden flooring. His hands clasp together loosely behind his back as he does and his ears swivel in place enough to allow him to keep focus on all that is said. "Seems like you have a pretty astute assessment. More or less," comments he on those thoughts upon a window to interject them. "How best do I even explain this to an outlander? We don't even really explain this to our own people. It's been the root of a lot of troubles these past one hundred years and a chunk of it has fallen into my lap. Messily."

Louis pauses near Sam and turns to look up at him. "What, then, would you say if I told you that if it was the blood of a red deer outlander that was used instead, what you witnessed wouldn't have happened? It would likely have only the same type of effect on Carnivores as that did on you." There is, potentially, a lot to unpack with that supposition if it's true.

There were gears turning in the wolf's head. Threads to grab onto, small pieces, once disparate now starting to link together. The picture still wasn't completely clear, though, if it were then none of this would have been a problem to begin with in the first place. "Bipedalism, sapience, tool use, language." He counted each on his fingers as he listed them off. "Everything that lives here's got all those in common, right? 'Cept the bugs." The question was mostly a rhetorical one, posed as such what with it covering such obvious ground, but, he still left a little time for an answer. "See, where I'm from those traits are real rare. Only ones who got them naturally were humans. Even the ones who came near it were closely related. Apes and such."

He had that same 'phone' in his hand again now. Tossing it up and down slightly in his hand, flipping it over before placing it down upon the desk, screen facing the ceiling. "Let's go over what we've got to work with so far. Some of this might sound real obvious, sure, but I'm going somewhere with it."

Tap.

Taptaptap-tap.

The screen lit up, an image of a red translucent padlock floating in the air above it. "Voiceprint recognise. Sam Walker. Nomad." The lock turned to a spinning circle, again, floating in the air looking like coloured animated glass. It rotated a few times, getting an impatient frown from the wolf upon its third before it sounded another chime and the circle turned to a blue sphere. "Gimme databank access and open a new workspace. Title, uuuuh-" His mind went blank. Coming up with something snappy and cool sounding was hard off the top of one's head.

<<"New workspace">> A disembodied digital female voice started. <<"File name, uuuuh. Opening.">>

"No no wait!" Ping. In front of the two was what looked almost like a sheet of blank lined paper, again, hung by nothing. "Gah. I'll fix that later. Right. Tell me if I'm barking up the wrong tree here." He swept his hand forward, a ripple as if he had just swung through dense glowing fog appearing in front of his fingers for a moment before what looked like two touchpads formed from the digital mist. One for each hand.

"There's herbivores like you and carnivores that whatever the heck we're dealing with targets. It was activated with your blood. Rest of it's full of uppers. Bet that's to stop you thinking straight enough to fight it." As he spoke the page seemed to respond on its own. Two icons appearing, one a simple stylised single colour portrait of a herbivore, the other of a carnivore, and a text box next to each. Seemed like nonsense for now, but, as Sam continued it seemed to sharpen and become more logical, until within a few seconds it had spat out a fairly decent summary of just what each was. Albeit, a little limited by Citadel and Sam's knowledge.

The next image generated seemed to be of the town hall. It showed a shadowy figure in a gas mask holding a vial of something, though the picture itself was distorted. Imperfect. A recreation of the scene pieced together from news broadcasts and internet posts. Nonetheless, it closed in further on the vial. This time listing its composition. Certain things it could get a solid fix on. Various stimulants, Louis' blood, outlining each in solid green though other things it was less sure on. These coming up in yellows or reds. "Instant insanity in a can for half the population. A weird smell for the other. Physically I'm real similar to your carnivores, but if this is meant to set off a hunting instinct from earlier in the evolutionary tree, then it does so in a way that's unique to Denko. Only works if you evolved alongside each other or you just end up with a high then a headache. If we can figure out the exact pathway, what they got that I don't, maybe we can make a countermeasure. An antidote. Something we can deploy if that stuff gets thrown around to stop it right there and then"

It looked like whatever system this was had already started to crunch the numbers. One by one protein strands and simulated genetic sequences popped up next to the image of the vial. Each one turning red and being deleted as the system rejected it.

"I said that I was built different when you asked me why I hadn't gone all gruesome when we first met. In a way that wasn't me trying to sound all cool and mysterious. That had a bit more truth than I let on." The smile creeping back onto Sam's face, along with the soft wag of his tail was probably saying slightly more than his words were at this point. He absolutely did say that to sound cool and mysterious, and he was doing the exact same dang thing now. Even if he did have a point to make with all of this.

And again the explanation just about to roll from Louis' mouth is interrupted or otherwise left unprompted. He doesn't resume his pacing, though. Instead, the buck crosses his arms while witnessing Sam using fancy tech again. It would be a lie to say he wasn't curious about such things, but pragmatically his focus was attached to the problem at hand. "Denko is the name of this city, but I understand your supposition," he asides, correcting but not exactly trying to interject aggressively.

There is a very important piece of the puzzle missing from Sam's analysis that his advanced analytics calculator may not be able to pick up on. Louis droops his shoulders a bit and simply lets him continue. This seems to be important, at least to the wolf, and the deer's patience isn't depleted just yet. "Go on."

"Right. City name. Well, that's close enough for what I'm getting at." That smile hadn't faded any. "By the by, if you want to add more you can just sweep your hand through like I did and it'll start listening and transcribing what you're saying. Was hoping you'd be able to fill in any gaps, 'cos the more this system has to work with, the more it can give us." He paused, looking away with his voice going quieter for a moment. Saying the next part to himself more than anyone else. "Or maybe you were fixing to do just that and I jumped the gun. That happens with me sometimes. Sorry." The floating image seemed to change slightly, the lines wobbling slightly, junk garbled data glowing red before being discarded and replaced by things the system seemed to be a little more certain about. He gave it another look, then returned his hands to the floating controls. "Anyhow."

With a slight flick of his wrist and a twitch of a finger another floating box appeared. "That-" he said as a picture of a planet taken from its orbit slowly faded into view, the image slowly getting clearer and clearer. "-is Novscandia. It's a type of planet we call a 'glitterworld'. Highly developed. Highly advanced. Post scarcity utopias, or, near 'nuf to it." There was another small movement from the wolf's hand. Almost imperceptible, yet two more images started to fade into view. The first was a logo of some sort. An arrow pointing upwards formed out of a stylised DNA helix with the word "TYRCO" marked beneath in block capitals. The second was a tightly packed grid of black and white pixel squares, seemingly almost random in their formation save for the larger squares anchored at three of the corners. It probably wasn't the first time seeing that for the deer though, the exact same pattern was marked out in white against Sam's otherwise black coat on the back of his ear.

"That there is Tyrco." He pointed to the first image. "They were a biotech company based on the northern continent. That's where I was born. Or made, or poured out of a test tube. Whatever which way you want to put it." There was yet another small sweep of his hand, this time followed shortly after with a pinch of his fingers to bring the strange square of pixels ahead into sharper focus. "You probably seen that on my ear by now right? It's a serial code, copyright information, all that. I tried to shave it out but that didn't help none. It's in my fur, my skin, even. It grows back every time. A maker's mark stamped into my own DNA." That smile had lost its warmth by now. It was still there sure, but, its placement looked more forced than natural by now. His tail had stopped its little side-to-side flicking too, now hanging down flat.

Sam looked distant for a few seconds longer. The clock ticking away in the silent room.

"Now, for the point I'm getting at. Tyrco was trying to see what would happen if instead of Homo Sapiens, Canis Sapiens evolved instead. What would it look like if wolves filled that niche? If they got the smarts and the thumbs humanity did, what sort of society would they build? What sort of people'd they be?" Behind the new images plastered in front, the planet, the logo, the pixelated square, it looked like that datasheet was filling out further. Getting more complicated and more detailed with everything he said. "They took archival genetic records from old Earth of grey wolves, had their best machine intelligences try to extrapolate it out, and printed a good few hundred people like me. Just to see what'd happen."

The images collapsed away, the background workspace returning back to focus. It was definitely more populated now, flickering and chugging ever so slightly as the phone sized unit choked on the flood of new datapoints. He glanced down at it for a moment, then, looked back up. Satisfied he wasn't about to lose all his data. "Funny thing is, seems like a glance out that window'd tell 'em all they wanted to know at this point. All their work, after all that, they made an artificial carnivore. Our first thoughts were that your people might have been more like me. That Tyrco or someone like 'em kept on going. It's why I was sent, we figured I'd blend in. So. If we find out what I'm missing, we find out how the chemical works. Any luck that workspace is now chewin' on all the possibilities real good after that as well."

Eyes watch the process while ears listen. Created genetically. Louis' eyes widen just a little at the implication, but probably not for the reasons Sam might suspect. He remains silent on the matter until the wolf has finished speaking, though, and pauses for a moment before speaking.

"Sam Walker, that's... Well, it's interesting to know, certainly. I'm not sure how practiced or how brave you have to be to admit as much to somebody else. It's a terrifying notion to think somebody thinks of you as property and it certainly paints perspective moving forward if I'm to have a conversation with your...operational outfit or whatever you want to call it." His arms remain crossed. Out of everything, that detail alone breathes life into the fire behind his eyes. His jowls show movement as he slightly clenches his jaw a few times.

"It's a solid guess, but there's a fatal flaw in your supposition that your machine may not be able to calculate. Before we get into that, though..." Louis wanders over and raps upon the door a couple times. Within moments one of his staff opens the door to find her employer waiting to hand off an order to the kitchen. "We still have some time before dinner prep, so I'd like to have a pot of matcha brought in and a pitcher of water. Two tea cups, two glasses, please. Don't scorch the powder. Knock before you enter." The deer doesn't even ask Sam if he'd like any of it. He's trying to minimize the pause.

When the door closes, Louis looks over at Sam with a grim expression. "Your people aren't the only ones creating breeds artificially, though the ones that I know of here aren't branded and tagged like window display fashion. I really don't like what I'm hearing so I need you to convince me why I need to talk to your owners about any of this at all." His crossed arms unfold and his hands find his hips.

"No one owns me!" He took a step forward, his brow furrowed, his snout wrinkled, those ears that were seemingly still slightly too big for the young wolf's head momentarily swept back. "That. Ain't. Our. Way." It didn't take long for Sam to catch himself, his tone softening as that brief flash seemed to fade as quick as it arrived. "No one. Not anymore and not ever again." There was a chime from the hologram emitting phone, its array of images hovering around the room replaced by a flickering distorted orange exclamation mark set within a triangle next to a thermometer before vanishing altogether. Sam turned to look back towards it. "Huh." He picked it up, flipping it over in his hand, flinching as the projector disguised as a camera lens momentarily pressed against his fur, the heat managing to reach past even the fairly dense layer between the projector and his skin. "Gah. Yeah figures. Small emitter in too small a box pushing too high a res. Thanks guys. Real great design."

He idly pried a strategically trimmed claw into a seam, the phone's backplate popping free with a hiss and a pop revealing the complex machinery beneath. It didn't look too dissimilar to the sorts of computerised components that Louis may have been familiar with, albeit far more elaborate and intricate in its construction. "I'm not coming here from Tyrco. Or Novscandia even. Tyrco sent a batch of people like me out into the stars headed for somewhere. Thing is the ship never got where it was going. Solar flare, computer glitch, ain't sure, but it dropped its cryopods on what we call a Rimworld. I was found by a settlement there. They took me in. Let me become one of them just the same as if I were human. Treated me as such, even if not being one made it difficult." He started to adjust something. Small mechanisms tied to a series of tiny lenses clicking into place as he tweaked them using that same claw.

"Same rights," click-click-click.

"Same freedoms," An electronic whirr.

"Same democracy." Backplate returned into place. Pop. Hiss.

"I'm not a slave, Louis. I'm a citizen of Citadel, and I'm damn proud of it."

Matcha. It was a word Sam hadn't heard before arriving in Denko. It being something plant based and to do with tea was about all he'd been able to gather before. That and it being a popular flavouring. He tried to get a whiff of it through the open door, raising his head and taking a quick double sniff-sniff at the air in as subtle a way as he could manage. "Well, what are we missing then? Some other piece of the puzzle at play? System's still good to go, we can run it by it but it's gonna be a bit before I can project that worksheet with all the data on it again. Got to let it cool off. See if I were allowed to fit the spec five emitters I asked for this wouldn't have been a problem. Cheapasses."

He placed the phone back on the desk, though this time with its conventional display facing up rather than the 'camera'. "Hang on. You have that? The rest of your technology looks like it's, uh, roughly what? Twenty first century? Least by our histories. That'd be an outlier for sure. Wait- Oh..." His eyes widened slightly as a realisation started to hit home. The dog people. They were pretty close matches to the sorts humans had bred back on ancient Earth, albeit from the mundane ordinary wolves he knew, rather than ones that walked and talked like he did. "You're not talking about direct gene editing here like how I was made, are you?"

Louis exhales.

So, not property, but still branded. His sentiment about tagged window display fashion remains even if there are aspects of the situation that are clearly beyond his present understanding. He places a hand over his eyes and snout and turns away to walk back to the desk. "One thing at a time. I have tea on the way. Green tea. If you care for any. Will be a bit." He circles around to the seating area of his desk and drops the hand from his face to rest it upon the smooth wooden surface. "Look."

He raises his gaze directly. "I don't have that kind of information readily available. There are...choices...being made by some of the animals in charge of our land that I, and many others, don't agree with, but we're not exactly in a position to stop it right now." The deer puffs air from his nose and flicks an ear. "Besides, there are other more immediate issues that need that attention instead. What's the missing element?" He lifts that one hand again and points downward.

"It's all around us. You and your people might see beasts like you and we might look and smell and act similarly, but... We're not the same. And...you'll have to pardon my reticence, Sam Walker, but while you seem very genuine, I've no way of knowing if the people you work for or the people that made you are as well. If your people knew that spark of difference, would you try to recreate it if you could? Seamlessly integrate? Spy? Take over?" He doesn't sound angry and he doesn't sound accusatory. He's putting some cards out on the table, so to speak, to allow the wolf to do the same in turn.

Back on Citadel Sam had never been much of a tea drinker. Coffee neither for that matter. His biology made it so that even human decaf would have him stuck to the ceiling, while anything heavier'd pose an actual risk to his health. Such things didn't seem to be as much of a threat here though. Or if they were, then everyone knew and had fair warning to begin with. "Sure," He said, nodding. "I could go for that." He matched the deer's gaze. "Yup. Lookin'."

"What would we do? We'd have more information to try and help think up a countermeasure to whatever sent those carnivores nuts in case it's adapted and used against us, that's what. We don't have neither the infrastructure nor the inclination to do what Tyrco did. We've tweaked plants some, better yields, faster growing, happier in hydroponics bins. All we've done on people is medical. Cancer treatments. That sort."

He tested the heat of the phone with the back of his hand. Still too hot. No visual aids yet. "Look, I'm really not meant to tell you this but we ain't meant to be talking either. It's how things shook out. Plan was I'd be here for a couple days, see what your situation is on the ground, then head out. Report back home. From there we'd decide whether your people, your civilisation, is to be avoided or for us to assemble a proper first contact team. Open diplomatic channels. Trade. Offer our hand in friendship once we're sure you ain't gonna try and bite it off."

He straightened out, rolling his shoulders. "Citadel was moved. We don't know how, we don't know why. Whole city plucked from our world and dropped here. I can't tell you where, but, I can tell you we're close enough to where problems here might bleed out into problems there in a worst case projection." He paused, looking away again for a moment. What he was about to say, he knew it was a risk. In fact he'd been told fairly specifically to never reveal it though he'd been told a lot of things. Don't get involved. Don't reveal your technology. Don't speak to the locals too much.

He defaulted to the same line of reasoning that got him here thus far. He might be fired anyway and they can only kick him from the force once.

He reached into a pocket, placing what seemed to be an ID card of some sort onto the desk. It looked like clear plastic or glass, but the image within instead of an ordinary photo seemed almost as if it had three dimensional depth to it. "I'm what we call a 'Nomad'. We're explorers, scouts, surveyors. A branch formed by the Citadel Defence Force to see the what and the who of where we ended up, while people back home figure the how and why."

On more than one occasion while Sam speaks does Louis look as if he wants to interrupt, interject, or just plain object, yet he doesn't. He listens. He even eventually collapses into his desk chair with protest from the spring at his absurdly skinny form doing so. His arms sit limply over the armrests, his head hanging a bit, and the deer eventually sighs at the mention of some sort of displacement. Not the first time he's heard of this happening and it won't be the last.

"Sam Walker, you can't travel the world under the assumption that every place or person or thing you encounter can be contrasted or compared to what you know," he eventually manages, speaking softly, chin barely lifting enough to look at the wolf over his study material. "It's not that you need to forget what you know. It's that you have to approach different facets of other lands or cultures as something wholly new or else your judgments and assumptions will wind up hurting you or others. Your people may be sending out spies in order to gain intelligence, and that's likely natural given your situation, but you might be going about it the wrong way." The chair squeaks a little as he sits up just a bit.

"Nobody is going to be using and adapting the horrors you've seen here to attack your people or any other. This is a domestic feud involving the animals that live here." He rolls his head to one side and props it against a hand with another sigh. Why is it always the Carnivores and Carnivore-adjacents? For that matter, wolves? "In all of your scouting while here, you've never once seen a news article about Devourings?" That hand folds down to rest underneath Louis' chin while his left leg crosses over his right knee. Clearly, the subject material is going to go into a very dark place again, yet the premise of such a terrible act doesn't cause a waver in the deer's voice or gaze despite the tone of voice implying such awfulness.

"Sure, you're right." Sam's tone of voice was rather frank and straight forward when he said that. "I don't know what I don't know. Never been here before, never seen a people like yours, never encountered your culture." He took a few paces back and forth as he spoke, his eyes moving from Louis to look around the various items in the room, one ear always swiveled the deer's way just to show he was in fact still listening. "Thing is, though, we've seen quite a lot of different peoples before we got here. Even seen some situations that rhyme." His attention turned back Louis' way. "We're worried that this might expand as I said. We've seen 'domestic feuds' do that before. One of the reasons the world Citadel was built on doesn't have much in the way of a unified government or major population centres outside our walls. See, before we got there, hundreds of years before the people that started Citadel got stranded there, there was one hell of a 'domestic feud'. It ended in atomic fire."

He let that sit for a moment. "You're about to tell me it wouldn't get that far. That this is only a small thing. You'd probably be right of course, my example's an extreme one. I saw the ruins on the way in here though. Two massive distinct groups of people who distrust each other. Someone stoking a fire. Sounds all too familiar." He gave another look to the bookshelves, eyes scanning over the titles for a moment before he took a step towards the desk, standing off to the side. "Maybe I am wrong, but, before you were listing me as a suspect. You thought I was 'owned' by someone earlier, hell, just then you were talking about spies. Sounds like you might be making some judgments and assumptions about us that're a little off too."

Gotcha.

Or at least, Sam figured that was one of those.

He was about to say something else, but the topic of devourings stopped him before he could speak. "Yeah, I wasn't sure if it was literal. Thought it might have been something translating over not quite right before. It's weird that our languages are so similar. I'm speaking spacer common right now yet we're having us a conversation just fine. After that thing at the hall though. Yeah. It's literal, isn't it? People are eating eachother. Reckon it's more like what I saw there than the cannibal cultist guys back where I'm from too."

If the rebuttals hit their marks, Louis does little in the way to actually hint that they have. It may have something to do with the way the young buck watches Sam tiredly yet closely in his replies and responses. Was he merely setting bait to see if Sam would take it? Louis doesn't smile. Louis doesn't frown. A neutral stare is all the wolf gets. He doesn't feed into the poking suppositions or ethical arguments and simply lets the wolf talk, at least until the deer is ready to add more to what he brought up.

"Devourings are when Carnivores eat part or all of an Herbivore," he says with a coldness of fact. "No symbolism. No metaphor." Those large eyes study the wolf further. "Very literal. As you might imagine, it's a terrible crime in the eyes of the law here. Always. It doesn't matter if the Devouring was fatal or not. And, yes, there are many Carnivores out there that will readily attack Herbivores, or even other Carnivores in desperation, for their next fix. Pretty easy to follow so far, isn't it?"

The wolf struggled to think of what to say next. He wasn't too shocked, after all he had some of the pieces ready to click together already yet hearing it so frankly. That was a surprise. "Shit." Uttering that was about the best he could manage at first as he struggled to get his thoughts in a row. "So the uh, the-" His first train of thought derailed. He started thinking about the hall again. That rabbit. That scream. That look of fear. It wasn't just someone who was jumpy, it was someone who figured they were about to be eaten.

"Right. Okay." He finally said. He was trying to get that calm, tone from before back. That attempt at sounding suave and 'cool' but it was clear that just wasn't coming back any time soon even as he tried to take back some measure of control. "Carnivores, herbivores, none of what we would consider 'ordinary' animals. All people. Is this some sort of hunting instinct? One that can't be controlled so easy? The ones that could shut off like that, have their heads not working to do that survived before civilisation was a thing and that can be exploite- wait. Wait wait." He blinked a couple times. The next bit of what the deer said registering. "Their next fix?"

"Yeah." It's a very succinct answer to a short question, yet it explains little. Still, there's some affirmation before a beat or two of silence in order to allow the wolf to do some critical thinking of his own. "Consuming part of an Herbivore here by a Carnivore is, as it's been explained to me, addicting. Imagine biting into a steak only to have that first swallow be like a dose of heroin laced with ketamine. Or cocaine. A wild rush, a connection to the inner self, a...feeding of the inner beast, some say. But it makes you healthier and stronger. So much stronger." The implications are horrific on many levels. "Get a hit, even just one, and then go without and expect your body to get the shakes, nausea, loss of balance, dissociation, and sometimes induced acute psychopathy, all from withdrawal."

Louis blinks naturally while keeping his gaze affixed. He's not trying to weird Sam out. He's spelling it all out as a doctor might list side effects or synopsis. It's still cold, but it's far from detached. After the events at the charity party, how could he possibly be disconnected from something so awfully personal. "One can still find sellers of Bloodbone on the streets, if you know who to ask, if you don't catch the attention of the local gangs in the process."

Sam tried to break it down further in his head. Such a reaction'd track with that evolutionary theory he had before, at least in part. There weren't any normal animals for food, so primitive versions of these carnivores must have had no other option. Being able to do that would lead to a higher chance of survival. The rest of it was just a motive.

The deer would probably notice the change in Sam's posture. Gone was the confident, perhaps overconfident, half smile, the subtle soft side-to-side flick of his tail, it instead hanging loosely with his expression far more troubled and concerned. "So, that thing in the vial. That's how it, uh, that's how it did it? Set that off, but, more? The devourings on the news, is that how it goes down? Do people get like what we saw there? Just this shortcuts it? The guy with the knife, looked like the same thing happened before the thing got set off."

He looked away, clearly still thinking. His head replaying the events not just of the attack, but the events leading up, even the train ride over. "Explains why people were nervous about me. Makes a lot of sense now. Figured I just startled that rabbit guy when I stopped him from cracking his head open. He probably thought I was about to eat him."

"It's more complicated than that, of course. If you've spent any time in the city at all you'll have noticed that Carnivores and Herbivores get on pretty well with each other and such fears as you might suspect are dampened by the responsibilities and mundanities of living. Still, it's an aspect that has shaped our culture into what it is and is a facet of who we are that may never go away. Still, you don't know the full picture yet and you won't be fully out of my hair today until you know, so..."

Louis maintains his ankle-over-knee posture while leaning on one arm. He shifts a little; he's not a statue by any means, but it seems to be a comfortable position with Sam simply standing there as he processes things. "So, step up a tier, then. Most Carnivores don't want to hurt Herbivores. However, certain triggers, usually very emotional ones, can cause Carnivores to slip into that darker side without actually wanting it. Could you imagine something flipping a switch in your head that made you do something you didn't want to do? Or, in light of recent events, how do you think some of those animals would feel had they actually hurt or killed me only to come to their senses later?"

"Reckon that's what happened to the hare then. The emotional thing you were saying about I mean. When he ran up the second time he was looking a lot like the others." His eyes turned back to Louis, Sam giving an understanding nod as he did so. "Not great I'd wager. You go to a talk and something, some hardwired quirk of nature or whatever this is being messed with, forces you to attack the guy giving it. I can't even imagine how that'd feel. Not really."

Sam took a breath, his stance shifting slightly, his eyes hardening a little. "Right." He said, his voice regaining a little bit of that conviction he had before, though nowhere near all the way back to its previous strength and certainty. "Ok. Lot to take in, means that a conventional way of countering this, at least, countering the weapon itself ain't going to do it. Not unless we can neutralise it before it does, well, *that*. Flips a switch, doesn't make one. Maybe we can knock it out the air or, force it to bind with something? Look, I'm still willing to help. Got this far, might as well see it through. Citadel, I'm sure, will be as well. Question becomes how."

There's a moment to just breathe that come from Louis next, even as Sam speaks, leaving him feeling extra tired. "Believe me when I say I really am invested in ways to counter such effects. It doesn't just make unwilling Carnivores feel bad. It stains them. Forever." The deer slowly untangles himself and begins to rise from his chair. "It doesn't matter if the Carnivore is willing or unwilling, Sam Walker, the result is the same. It doesn't matter if the Herbivore was consenting or not; the result is the same. The law stamps the Carnivore's permanent record, you see, and they immediately lose many of the rights others take for granted and the Herbivores, if they survive, get to live on with any of the scars they picked up along the way." Louis lifts his right leg and plants his foot in his chair before lifting his pant leg.

"But unless you know a priest or shaman or medicine animal able to commune with the mystic history of our people-"

There's a polite knock at the door before it slowly starts to open.

Sam had never been one for the supernatural. Neither had Citadel for that matter. Theirs wasn't a culture that held much value in the spiritual world, viewing it as an interesting excersize in storytelling and mythology at best, and at worst as so much primitive superstition. Of course such beliefs didn't change what was standing in front of him now, nor the fact that their entire city had been brought here by forces they couldn't even begin to try and explain. 'A wizard did it' would be about as viable a theorem as anything their scientists had mustered up thus far.

"Why would anyone consent to be eaten?" He frowned slightly. "Even if it's in a ways you walk away from, that sounds like a lose-lose for everyone involved. Carnivore goes down for cannibalism, herbivore gets a chunk ripped out of them."

He was about to bring up something else, his mouth opening, likely to form some smart remark about sufficiently advanced science being indistinguishable from magic but the door interrupted him. His ear flicked at the sound, each knock another twitch. That must be this 'matcha', whatever that was. He took another sniffsniff at the air, nose held a little upwards as he tried to identify the new smell.

While Sam's immediate question is a very good one with an answer deeply seeded in the heart of what makes the animals on the island special, the details are cut short for the moment as the tea arrives. However, it is not brought in by a quiet servant aiming to interrupt as little as possible. In fact, it's quite the opposite. The doe that enters with the push cart is wearing a silky light blue housegown and her wrists and neck display some casual, yet likely not inexpensive, jewelry. And here Louis is showing off his fake leg to make a point on the statement Sam just asked about.

"I heard you had a guest over involved in that incident the other night," she says, closing the door before pushing the cart over to the side without crushing the rug. She separates the cups onto saucers so that she can fill each in turn to a respectful yet reasonable volume of delicate yet smooth bitter savoriness that one might find from green vegetables.

"Sam Walker the Wolf, this is Azuki the Red Deer." A beat, then, "My wife. Azuki, meet Sam Walker, the wolf that helped me escape the attack on the Hybrid Appreciation Event." Louis doesn't sound particularly surprised that she would show. If anything, it was expected, although he had hoped it might be after this supposed conference call his post-university courses-minded self was threatened with. There's no way he would show Azuki a mote of disrespect. They are powerful business partners.

Sam had seen the false leg before, albeit not so much a full view. Though he wouldn't have even had to in order to have noticed, the clicking with each step though likely too low for a human's ear to reliably pick out from an even moderate background level was easy enough for his. Looked like kind of a crap excuse for a leg too, at least by his reckoning. No servomotor assist or adaptive adjustment mechanisms that he could see now he had been given a slightly better look. Just an aluminium tube.

He made a mental note. An improvement would be easy, and no doubt a way to get further into some good graces.

Speaking of.

Sam already looked a little out of place in a setting like this. Informal jeans and t-shirts didn't really seem like something befitting such a fancy residence to begin with, at least by the wolf's reckoning, and that was made double by the one-two punch of both being rather unfamiliar with such an upper-class setting, let alone one in such an unfamiliar culture.

Nonetheless, a friendly polite smile and a nod was given, care taken not to show the teeth. He considered reaching out for a handshake, but, claws. Those sharp nails of his were apparently seen in similar regard. "Pleased to meet you." Yeah. That couldn't go wrong, right?

Was he overthinking this?

Yeah. Yeah probably.

He was totally overthinking this.

Instead of an offer of a handshake, Sam is offered a cup of tea. "For me, as well. I trust that this is safe for you to drink?" Azuki asks as she holds it out, offering eye contact with her deep eyes that...almost make it more obvious how doe-eyed Louis is himself. "Green tea. Might not be to your taste, but we could surely send for a substitute that might be more appealing to a Carnivore such as yourself. We keep a number of things in stock for my husband's choice in bodyguards." Her eyes shift to the side to point straight at Louis.

Louis deflects the glance by pushing his pantleg down and straightening his posture, false leg moving to make contact with the floor once again. His ordering tea was mostly as a staff diversion. That and he wanted some green tea. "He's welcome to have those refreshments with the lions later if he wants, but we have other priorities to consider first."

"No reason why it shouldn't be. Thank you." He pondered for a second whether revealing that this sort of thing wasn't something that existed in his proverbial neck of the woods, let alone something he'd ever tried before. Though with the seeming popularity of things at least flavoured by this it not being a danger seemed to be a safe enough bet. "Ah no, that's all good. Wouldn't be right of me to act all picky after you brought all this up." Another polite smile as he accepted the cuppa and took a careful sip.

As far as his taste buds reported this was basically warm liquid grass. Deer people. Figures. Though it wasn't anywhere near bad enough to where he couldn't keep up appearances. Besides, he had absolutely tasted far worse things and he was fairly certain that if he were human he would have been getting a lot more than what his relatively limited senses in this department were giving him.

He turned slightly to look between the two of them, first to Louis when he mentioned 'other priorities' then back to Azuki for what he was going to say next, teacup still in hand. Part of him wanted to do the pinkie-out thing that the Imperial nobles always did when drinking their equivilant. It felt like a fancy enough thing to justify it, though, for all he knew that might have not been the proper way here. Best keep it simple, just in case.

"Never really been a tea drinker."

Truth.

"Might just have to start after this." Yeah no.

"Thank you, appreciate it." The thanks and appreciation was sincere and genuine at least.

"Just so we're clear, my wife picked up on your oddities pretty quickly from the broadcast." May as well come out and admit that there are few secrets between he and his wife concerning the company. The same company that helped fund the event. "She's been taking care of most of the media fallout and inquiries. As far as anyone knows, a transient wolf from one of the Districts helped save a Hybrid that was attacked by a blade-wielder with...something. The cameras don't pick it up as clearly as the authorities might like. Some insist it's some kind of electronically administered poultice or clotting agent; others say it was obviously a priest's blessing inviting a spirit to coax the dying back from the brink with a miracle." Louis shrugs.

Azuki carries another cup over to Louis and offers it to him before taking a sip of her own. "Louis tells me that you're something of an ambassador for a group that is offering to help put a stop to any more such attacks." A gentle stare settles upon Sam from the doe in a way most opposite to that of the one's the buck is practiced on giving. "For the good of the company, we cannot refuse, though with so much mystery we also cannot risk it seeming as though we are responsible."

The mention of miracles and the idea he may have performed one caught him off guard. He swallowed quick to avoid spitting his tea everywhere, making a "mmmmth!" sound as he barely held in the laugh. "No no. God no. I'd make an awful priest. I'd be thrown out the door 'fore I finished my first sermon." Another pause taken, this one to compose himself more fully before he continued on. "That was a nanomed applicator. Not a miracle." Another sip taken. Yeah. It still tasted pretty much like grass. "Nanobots, cell replication, something something. I got no idea how it actually does the things it does but I guess that first one ain't exactly wrong in the broad strokes."

The wolf gave a shrug. "It uses electricity in there somewhere. Probably."

Sam didn't have a practiced gaze to match Azuki's with as he turned to face her, though the sharpness in those amber coloured eyes, the subtle raising of his brow and the slight smile on his face probably could have been the basis of one if he were to give it some actual thought. "Ambassador makes it sound fancier than it is, but sure, I'll take that promotion. As I was saying to Louis before, we just arrived here. We're close enough to where the stability of our neighbours is probably going to matter a whole lot. 'sides. I'm already involved and got this far. May as well see it through. It'd be a bigger mess now if we didn't most likely, at least judging from what I've been hearing."

The young male deer takes a deep silent sip of his matcha before carefully placing the cup and saucer down atop his desk, sitting, giving him the free hands to pull his studies laptop over. It unlocks and opens with a soft click and a soft glow reflects in his eyes. Azuki walks over and sits on one end of the plush reading seat with her teathings in hand.

"It must be insisted," she states quietly yet firmly, "that any such technology not be released into the public's hands here without great risk of economic clash. Please. Don't lose it."

The sound of fingers typing on shallow keys joins the methodical ticking of the clock as Louis uses keyboard and touchpad to click through, open up, and review a few documents digitally. "Sound advice. Hmm, you know, one thing really stood out to me from something you mentioned earlier, concerning the attack at the event. I'm checking confidential lab results to see if the limited samples obtained of the aerosolized compound happened to contain trace amounts of- Gah, what was it? It came up in class the other day. Goo-why-a-call." Guaiacol. "Are you able to use your phone to check your own results of analysis or should we stick it in the freezer first?"

The presence of guaiacol doesn't mean much on its own, necessarily, making it an odd question? Still, stuck with using a finger to scroll a bit at a time, it might take the buck a while to check for such a result.

Sam nodded again. "Honestly, I uh, hah. I weren't even meant to let anyone here see it. Exposing a culture that hasn't seen anything like this before might cause uh, what was it they said?" He tilted his head towards Louis for a moment. "You said some folk were saying I was performing magical miracles right?" Then back to Azuki. "We're aware that our tech might be disruptive. Societally, culturally, even economically as you said. Thing is though." Another tea sip, before he placed his cup down on one of the saucers. "I wasn't about to watch a man die when I had a piece of equipment to save his life right there and then. Rules be damned."

The wolf was no chemist, but, the name sounded familiar. He pulled his phone from his pocket and placed it on the desk. "Should be cooled down enough by now. If it's still throwing error codes then it's probably got a bigger problem."

Screen swipe.

The holoimager generated a soft glow again, a display floating in the air above it. "Guaiacol? Uh let's have a look." He typed something into a floating holographic keyboard. Beep. A match. The display flickered, before the three dimensional image of an organic compound hovered in front of the three of them, with a box of text listing all its attributes right alongside. "Yeah, it picked that up. Organic compound, can be used in making biofuels, uuuuh, has some anti inflammatory and antiseptic properties to it. Comes out when you burn wood? Honestly I was thinking it was just seeing something from the background at first but looks like it's pretty certain on it bein' part of the mix."

"It tends to have a spicy earthy smell to it. Part of what makes clean wood fuel burning smell nice at a bonfire," Louis adds. Or, you know, provide an important olfactory aspect to smoked meat or barbecue sauce. Something Sam mentioned before? Azuki simply observes. She's not as deep into the secrets shared, but she's still on Louis' side; at least, so long as it benefits their company. "It's plant-based, though. At least plant-involved. Why would something require smoke? Or..."

Changing to a search prompt, the buck makes his query known aloud as keys tap a bit faster -- perhaps too fast. He needs to correct a typo. "Can you narrow down the resulting compounds present to those that are plant-based?" He stops typing, takes a deep breath, then shakes his head. It's too obvious. It has to be a setup. His gaze moves first to his wife and then to Sam. The wolf is going to be much quicker than his image-based document reader application.

Those eyes narrow. "We had a study workshop at university observing common organic compounds. It was refreshing to be able to understand the simple reactions that make up things we take for granted on a daily basis." His fingers curl onto the desktop along each side of his laptop. "I had a personal interest, you could say, in the subject matter. That's probably why that stood out. Anything stand out?"

"If it weren't just a vial I'd say maybe it was being used as an accelerant of some kind, but, if we were dealing with some sort of explosive dispersal." More prompts were entered, the floating keys glowing red under Sam's fingertips. The holoscreen flickered again, this time a large list of compounds and elements flickered by. Some inorganic, these were seemingly scrubbed from the list, highlighted in red before being dimmed out but the organic ones stayed, highlighted instead in a green glow.

"Right. That should be the list. This isn't a proper chemscanner though, not sure how much resolution we can get out of it. It might still have missed stuff." Various acids, enzymes, and organic compounds that could have been derived from plants were all displayed front and centre. "I'm not a chemist, so, I don't got much here. I recognise a few names here but that's about it. You'd have a way better shot at linking this all than me."

"I'm hardly a chemist, either, but it's one of my many courses I'm studying, so I may as put the money I spend on it into practical use when I'm able," muses Louis as he gets up and walks around the desk to examine Sam's list over his own. "If I have to, I can make some calls, cash in some favors, but if I can avoid it I'd rather..."

The buck's voice trails off as he reads, mental processing taking over his speech in priority, eventually only slightly moving his lips as something begins to piece together. Quinic acids, likely broken down from its base, would indicate the potential presence of... "Chlorogenics?" In addition to guaiacol? That would imply roasting a particular plant matter. His eyes narrow, his teeth clench, and he turns to slam his fists against his desktop loudly. "...mother FUCKer."

Azuki doesn't seem phased. "You shouldn't be surprised. It's not the first time he's tried, from what I've heard from your bodyguards." The doe looks from her husband to the wolf and tries to explain with one word: "Coffee." Louis simply shakes with anger and frustration turned away as he is.

Sam's eyes too were scanning over the list. He was leaning in at this point, one hand under his chin the other still circling over a floating holographic control pad. "I'm starting to see a theme here" He said, pausing the scrollthrough and highlighting a few things that looked important "but it isn't making much sense." He scrolled through further. That was definitely a caffeine molecule amongst all the floating three dimensional diagrams, almost lost in the pile of compounds the system deemed more interesting and more impactful. "This is startin' to look a whole lot like- shit!" The wolf flinched at the sudden noise, the shouting and banging both amplified by the sensitive ears currently pinned back against his head.

"Mind giving a warning next time?" He let himself loosen from his tensed stance, ears flipping back closer to their more standard relaxed angle. "Coffee? I don't do so well with caffeine but I ain't ever heard of it doing this to people. Humans seem to just get a little buzz but even their decaff'd put me on the ceiling. No wonder it got me so fried. Is that what they're using to cut through the self control bit? Seems like an odd way of doing it. Wait." His eyes turned to look towards the other deer. "'He'. You said 'he'. You know who did this then?"

The request to have a warning for his yelling in anger gets an exhalation in response. As Sam continues to speak, though, the buck circles back around and sits at his desk and begins to pull up an email application so that he can start typing. "It's not that it's coffee so much as the type of coffee it is and the one behind it. I mentioned him indirectly at the event in my speech. Rather, his personal research organization. Do you remember?"

Louis half turns to gesture to those sitting behind him with an outstretched arm. "We have some very special guests with us here today that we'll be hearing from. After they have had a chance, each, to tell their story, they have graciously agreed to field any questions you might have for them." He turns back and leans forward, eyes narrowing just a bit. "Horns Conglomerate understands that this may feel to some as a political proposition or movement. While we stand for equality and co-existence, not everyone is ready or willing to allow every beast the same rights and treatment as all others. There are organizations out there whose principals and goals fly in the very face of this basic freedom of living." Louis adjusts his stare to bore into one of the cameras as if looking directly at a very particular civet that already tried to have him killed at least once before.

"I, Louis the Red Deer, welcome any of you so opposed to our just cause to attend a public discussion on the matter in the same vein as our event today. It's only fair that equality be extended to all parties involved, even bigots." Hartford winces a bit at this coarse statement. "Our dedication is to understanding, after all, and, through it, forgiveness and a foundation for a united tomorrow!"

Louis peers at Sam amidst the eye-lighting glow from his laptop screen. "You really don't understand the type of battle you're volunteering for here, do you?" Tappity-tap go the keys.

Azuki helps out. "The 'he' in question is an extremely intelligent animal by the name of Deshico the Civet. He established the Kopi Luwak Research Organization as a means to study the biological physiologies of Carnivore and Herbivore breeds. Much of his data has helped enhance the dietary and medicinal needs of various breeds of animal. Due to this, he has deep funding and political clout."

"My memory's a little fuzzy. You mentioned that there was an organisation? The word 'bigots' came up." Sam idly tapped his fingers against the desk, his claws occasionally clicking against the wood. "So, we got a group of guys that has such a hate-on for hybrids they want someone who's trying to make things less shit for them dead. Great." The glare from the holoscreen caught Sam's eye for a moment, giving just a brief glint of yellow-green eyeshine as he looked back towards Louis. "See, a good third of Citadel's population are probably what you could call hybrids. Humanity where I'm from has diverged, in some cases naturally through evolution, others not so much. Tailor made for specific reasons. You've probably seen what we'd call baseliners before I'm guessing, but there's who knows how many xenotypes that differ so much you would call 'em different species if they weren't still, ahem, compatible. Those sorts of views, they're extreme, but not exactly uncommon outside of Citadel. Another reason why we're concerned."

He gave a shrug. "Sounds like counter-terrorism to me, just with some wealthy influential backers. I haven't seen this play out one to one before, but, it rhymes with things I've heard of. Kinda." The holoimagers were getting warm again, though this time it just brought up the error symbol in a small side tab rather than shut down completely. Sam switched it off, no need to cook the emitters again. "Bigger people like that are, the harder they fall when you're able to post some credible evidence. Typically."

"Perhaps," posits Louis. "But, as it stands, there is no proof of his involvement, even if some essence of his personal drink is involved. Explains why the effect was so violently rapid." That might still be a detail lost upon Sam, although the finer details aren't exactly that important at the moment. Reaching with a finger over his touchpad, the deer taps a send button before leaning back heavily. He rolls his head to one side to glance at his wife sidelong, then frowns.

"Sorry, Azuki. Hartford warned me about being too aggressive, but I just can't back down. We give people like Deshico a centimeter's opening and he'll take a kilometer." It has been a long day at university and this surely hasn't helped assuage any weight from Louis' shoulders. "If it is Kopi Luwak, this isn't a fight we can quickly win, Sam Walker." He reaches up to unfasten another button of his shirt. He feels warm now. "But it does mean it likely wasn't a one-off fanatic, which makes this all a lot more complicated."

"So-" Sam said, straightening up from his leaned in position against the desk. "This Deshico. Doesn't like hybrids, really doesn't like you. There a particular reason? Or is it just outright hate for hate's sake with no real logic behind it? When I was talking about how I came around earlier, what Tyrco did, you brought up eugenics. Is there a link there? This guy got some weird fanatical ideas along those lines?"

He lifted the teacup, the saucer clinking slightly as he did, and took another sip as though it would magically somehow taste different from grass this time.

It didn't.

There was a nod of approval regarding Louis' attitude towards the Luwak though, the notion of not giving anything. It was definitely something that Sam could resonate with. "More complicated, but, might just give us an in. They're a known group. Pretty singular focus, very fanatical by the sounds of it. If we can predict where they'd go for next, what they'd try, we can trip them up real good. Bet they've seen the news, sure, but they're not going to know quite what they're dealing with. Never seen someone like me before."

Yes, Louis looks ever more tired by the second and it's beginning to show in his voice.

"Of course he has extreme ideals... He's a breed purist of the worst variety. His views click well with traditionalists and conservative-leaning folk, even if those traditions are only just over a hundred years old." A hand raises to deer snout, fingertips pressing in along the base near between his eyes. "It's those very traditions that ruled our own marriage's original betrothal, other than it was an excellent business play. I mean, I couldn't have asked to be partnered with a more keen business mind." Azuki simply nods.

"My friend Legosi all but confirmed that Kopi Luwak has been behind hybrid murders and assassinations for years -- probably far longer than we could possibly hope to track -- without a scrap of hard evidence to present to any police. Means he also managed to escape the wrath of our last Beastar, too. Very cunning bastard. I imagine he did what he did to make some grand spectacle of my death on live television. If it weren't for that hare attacking our guest prompting an evacuation of Herbivores present, it might have gone a lot worse."

"Fanatical, and theatrical. Cunning bastard sure, but both those things tend to be real exploitable." Sam'd gotten about halfway down his cuppa by now. The taste was starting to grow on him a bit. He could sense things beyond just the plant-y taste at the edges of it, but he could definitely tell he lacked the senses to appreciate it properly. "He hates hybrids. That move was to get people to fear them. Had to be. Have a bunch of them lose control and attack you in front of all the cameras. If they just wanted you dead and that's it, well, there are less complicated ways of trying for that."

Sam paused to think. One could almost see the gears turning as he looked away for a moment, his brow furrowing. "Right." He said after a few seconds more. "You know 'em better than I do sure, think you could predict what sort of target they'd try next? I'm guessing maybe where hybrids are moving into where they didn't before? I know they've been discriminated against, but, some of these are lifting. What we can do is try and think up some sort of countermeasure. Got to be something we can deploy that neutralises their weapon before it can drive people nuts. Looked like there was a delay before it fully set in. We play our cards right, it'd leave a would-be terrorist standing out in the open in front of a bunch of people they just tried to attack. Good luck slipping away from that."

For as much as the young male deer wanted the tea to begin with, it has mostly gone forgotten by now, left alone in the distraction of the shift in information. It's not that this is all any real surprise. Far from it. It sometimes simply hits harder when you see things that backup such known threats. "The idea of some kind of countermeasure is certainly romantic, but I'm not sure it can be effectively done." The hand on his face moves to be held up, palm outward. "Not saying it's not possible, but for as much chemical analysis as I might have at my disposal through the company and the company's partners, I don't think this is purely a chemical response. Again, there's a reason this didn't affect you like it did the others and for something so deep-rooted and integral to those that are Carnivore to be what needs targeting, this could be beyond what I know." That hand once again moves to his face, but this time it rubs around the base of his antlers. "As for a target, the newly renovated black market area is a heavy hybrid support project for the city, but hybrids are everywhere; groceries, utilities, finance, schools. Far less 'new' than Sea Animal integration, but a bigger stigma."

Azuki rises from her seat and wanders over to the food cart bearing the tea items. "If you'd like a refill, Sam Walker, there's enough for us all to have two servings. Also, dinner will be in two hours, Louis. If you invite your friend, I hope we can find other topics to discuss as we dine. Perhaps it might do our guest some good to get to know Carnivores better while we plan in vigilance."

"I don't know. I reckon it's at least worth a shot. Might not be purely that, but the chemical's gotta still be the trigger, right? Can't just be blood alone otherwise you'd be getting chewed on every time you got a papercut. Hell, smelled like you got nicked by something on the way out the hall anyway. Everyone outside that thing's radius didn't go crazy, and I'm guessing their noses are just as good as mine. Maybe we can knock it out the air or limit its spread?" Sam stopped himself before mentioning the sprinklers. Sure, pulling them probably did stop it from entering the ventilation system, but, something was telling him that admitting to flooding a public building full of things that looked rather expensive might not be the best call.

"Why is there even a stigma? None of the hybrids I met seemed much different to anyone else. Is there any actual reasonin' behind it all?" Sam's ear gave a little flick-flick upon hearing the possibility of a refill. He shook his head. "It's growing on me but I don't think I have the taste buds to appreciate this as much as I otherwise should. Compared to humans I'm pretty limited there."

"You can't possibly be asking me why discrimination and blind hate exist, so I'll assume that's a rhetorical question," Louis tiredly retorts regarding hybrid breed stigma. He outwardly sighs but makes no sound. "But perhaps Azuki is right, as she so often is: to better understand why this isn't a pure chemistry problem, maybe you should talk to more Carnivores about their experiences with meat consumption, emotional-based physiological growth, and their hunger. For as many Carnivores as I know, I don't deal with these things myself so it's hard to present objective facts about them and how they factor in. After all, for as attracted to the smell as you were, I don't remember any physical changes in you that night."

Louis stands and walks around, lifting his cup and saucer, to head over to the food cart. However, as he passes by Sam, he pauses and turns to look up at him. He says nothing. He simply looks.

"Semi rhetorical." Sam admitted, putting a little more vocal stress on the 'semi' part. "That's a thing where I'm from too, a good chunk of our population came to us to get away from such, but I don't know your history beyond just what I've been able to learn from your broadcasts, surface level networks and over the last few days of being here. Guess it don't really matter none even if there was a reason beyond that either way."

Looking at Sam, Louis would see someone who looked near enough identical to the wolves native to Beast Island, teeth, claws, sharp eyes and all. The black furred wolf might have been a bit taller and muscular than most of his counterparts here maybe, but still within those same sorts of margins, the difference easily explained by growing up with superior access to healthcare and nutrition than most carnivores, not to mention the rather rigorous fitness and training requirements of the Nomads.

He'd probably be a rather imposing sight, if that image weren't disarmed some by the teacup in his large hands. "Right, but I'm talking about stopping that from the weapon specifically. That exists already, sure, not going to change that, just stopping these Luwak guys from setting it off is the thing." He noticed the look. "What?"

"Hm. Nothing important. For a moment you reminded me of somebody else." The buck turns away to continue his weary walk over to the food cart.

"I can assure you, Sam Walker the Wolf," addresses Azuki as she cradles her refreshed cup of tea in her hands and walks around the perimeter of the study to admire some of the paintings, "that the authorities will already be investigating this and that we, of all animals here, very much want to prevent as much loss of life or pain or life-scarring trauma to any that might be used for such terrible deeds. There's no need to convince us of this. We'll do what we can moving forward, but we have to be careful which steps we take that might be seen by the public or our investors. Kopi Luwak is a well established organization with a very difficult to understand leader with a lot of influence. The battle we fight will be in board rooms and conference calls."

"While maintaining public awareness and hope in the face of such bigotry," adds Louis, warming up his tea with some more. He glances over his shoulder. "Clearly, you want direction, though. You want to take a more direct approach where it's hard for us to do so. You want to act. Now. Not later. Is that right?"

"Damn right I do." That reply was instant. Firing off from instinct rather than any deeper reasoning, a flash of anger in his eyes. "That there was an opening salvo by a terrorist cell willing to target, willing to do *this* to civilians! To take over their mind and use their bodies as weapons, and we only got *lucky* that it missed. That it didn't lead to god knows how many dead and- and" He trailed off, catching himself and taking a deep breath. In through the nose, hold, out through the mouth.

"Look. I get it. I ain't stupid." His tone softened slightly. "You're right, of course. Backers are too big, too many moving parts. We act too fast and the bastards win. Might even be what they're hoping we do." He let out a sigh of his own. "I'm not one for sitting around, probably why I joined the CDF in the first place but-" He took one last sip, putting the now empty cup of matcha back down upon its saucer "-if that's what you see stopping these attacks, well, you know a lot more about this enemy than I do. I just want to make sure what I'm doing, what we're doing, stops that from happening again so easy."

A wolf ruled by emotions and justice, quick to want to jump into action and get hands dirty before truly thinking more long term; Louis smiles faintly behind his teacup as he has a drink of tea to make up for what he's fallen behind on. "Then, my suggestion, before we cut in fully in a talk with your superiors over a plan we don't have, you should put nose to ground. Do some part time work to earn money and meet people, travel the city to see the walks of life, and maybe consider going to an educational program or school to see where our modern culture is born. You'd even meet more animals your age."

He puts his own cup down upon his saucer with a thoughtful frown, the lines of sleep-need drawing over his young face. "Azuki and I aren't saying we plan on sitting on our thumbs. If we hear anything, we'll let you know as long as we have a reliable way to contact you, and expect you'd do the same for us. If you're as experienced with this kind of thing as you claim to be, Sam Walker, you might be able to suss things that we don't see yet."

"Thoughts?" Azuki asks of the wolf.

Sam paused. He'd already been given one extension to his stay here from command, another one might be tricky to sway even with the relatively loose leash the Nomads enjoyed while in the field. Tightening the loose ends on his identity would be tricky too. The ass end of the districts excuse had worked so far, but, getting involved with anything else'd need something more ironclad than that. Not that Citadel couldn't get something cooked up that'd pass muster. A tech gulf this massive makes such things easy enough. "That might be tricky. Cameras loved me, sure, but I don't know how long people'd buy the 'transient wolf from the districts' thing. Whole mysterious stranger deal probably doesn't open many doors."

"Contacting me shouldn't be too tricky." He said, picking up his phone again for emphasis. "This should be able to work on your networks just fine. Look, I'll do what I can. I'm not a counterinsurgent or a spy or anything like that. The branch of the CDF I'm in are surveyors, scouts, recon, that sort of thing. We go out, we explore and we make sure Citadel isn't about to stumble into something that could hurt us after we've found ourselves alone out who knows how far from where we knew. I'll do what I can."

"Might be tricky, he says," remarks Louis before tipping back the rest of his tea and putting his things upon the cart. "Is that why you wanted your superiors to talk with me? So that I might talk them into giving you a longer stay? How else would you plan to linger and see any of this through?" He rubs one palm against the other, facing away still, then rubs a thumb of one hand against the palm of the other. A bit sore. He did a lot of writing today earlier.

"Sounds to me like such a skillset would put you in an opportune position to best look around," agrees Azuki, to an extent, "but not knowing the city or local customs will only get you so far. What is it you need of us? As business partners in this, we can certainly see about sufficient transactions both ways, wouldn't you agree?"

"One of them." He admitted rather straightforwardly. "Less you talking them into it really, man's a Hussar, good luck." Sam couldn't help but let out an amused sharp exhale, the mental image of this business deer trying to talk to Salvius playing over in his head. "Getting him involved in any planning though? That'd be helpful. He's been in the CDF longer than I've been alive. Almost twice as long. Man's seen it all. Done most of it. He usually has the answers. Plus a direct line'd mean we'd be able to coordinate whatever we end up doing better." He shifted a little awkwardly before he spoke next, less direct words weren't coming. "Aaaaaaand uh, what I've done already has gone way beyond the scope of what a Nomad's meant to do. So. Yeah. Seeing and talking to you'd probably hammer the point about this being important in pretty good. It'd at least get me yelled at less. Probably." His ears instinctually flattened slightly at that last bit.

"Sure, agreed enough there. Probably just covering the gaps really. Fits your images right? Giving some wolf from the middle of nowhere districts a shot at things in Denko. Not sure where to start but as long as I'm not noticed as too out of the ordinary I'd probably be able to figure most of it out."

Louis the Red Deer puts his tea down upon the cart and walks over to Azuki to sit next to her for a bit of a one on one conversation. It's not so much whispering, Sam could likely listen to soft voices if he wanted to anyway, but the two deer have a quick discussion on the pros and cons of talking now or waiting and talking on behalf of whom or which. While their island nation was far too divided for any major sense of third party collusion in discussing such topics with a foreign power or party, it was still something that had to be calculated.

Oguma was very good at that.

Louis? Not as much, perhaps, yet Azuki was there to cover those gaps with her own talents. Louis sighs at least once, then eventually shrugs. "Okay, fine."

The buck looks up from the side couch where he sits beside his wife, appearing mildly tense, and says to Sam: "If it means that much to you for us to have this talk, we can talk, but I cannot have this conversation on behalf of the Horns Conglomerate. I will, instead, act as your party's co-liaison along with my wife, to represent a pointedly private point of view of our land and people, offering little to no power or political weight as barter. I can hear things out, try to explain what I personally know, but will maintain that further information is better gained by personal effort on your group's behalf. While the offer of aid and help is great, I still don't know if you or your group have unspoken ulterior motives and, for the safety of our company, we cannot risk playing a party in them."

Louis straightens his collar. "A fancy way of saying 'we need to date more before we get in bed together'." Azuki immediately objects at the crude idiom and her husband can only laugh, probably picked that up from his lion friends.

Those bigass ears weren't just for show. With hearing as sharp as any other canine on the island Sam couldn't help not overhearing what the two had to say between them at this range even if he didn't want to. "Look if you think it isn't right to cross that bridge at all yet, sure. I get it. Gene modded guy who looks like one of your locals appears out of nowhere with tech you ain't ever seen representing a player you ain't ever heard of and they want to help. I'd be real skeptical too."

There was a small amused huff out of the wolf at Louis' comment about dating, his shoulders giving an involuntary shrug. "Well you know how it goes, the parents'll want to meet you and all that. Look I'm not asking you to put anything on the line that you already aren't. These Luwaks are still going to do what they do, and you'll still fight back as you said. Only motive I got right now that was 'ulterior' is using this to get authorisation to stick around Denko longer so I can continue to try and investigate this and maybe stop it from escalating further somehow. I don't wanna to see what happened at the hall happen again. Not if I can help it."

"Look, we're not going to waffle about this. We either do it or we don't, do it now or do it later. I don't know what to expect or what you expect from me, but I don't have the time to dance around it. I said we could wait and you could explore, but you said you can't do that since you're on a timer traveling different lands, so we offer to do it only for you to say you get why we may not want to step over that line. So, which is it, Sam Walker?" Louis reaches to the side to offer his hand to Azuki who takes it, but it's more of a gesture of solidarity than anything romantic. He does this without breaking any potential eye contact with the wolf.

"What do you need from us? Let's make it happen so we can all move on toward constructive things and not get stuck in the mud."

Sam nodded. He wasn't the type to wait around, even if that was an option. "Right well, I'll make the call then. Should be ready and waiting for me to report in anyways, so, all good there." He picked up the phone again, feeling the warmth in his hand. Still a little hot, though, a lower resolution setting might avoid the problems it was having before. "Not a matter of what *I* need really. I just want to help. Citadel on the other hand, well, guess we'll see from here but everything I've heard right now is that they're concerned about this war we keep seeing the ruins from kicking off again with these terrorist attacks, and if it does, something going off that'll hurt any new neighbours. Large scale chemical weapons, bioweapons, nuclear, looks like you have the technology for it. Fire those off, won't just be herbivores or carnivores you'd kill."

He started sliding his thumb over the screen, hovering it over a marked comms icon. "Of course, Citadel ain't isolationists neither, no matter how cautious we've been so far. We'd rather have contact with any new neighbours, be friends with them, rather than just hole up in our bunkers scared of the world outside like some'd have us do. Anyhow. I can make the call if you're ready."

The commentary about the signs of war from a century ago and the threat of any new ones spilling into other lands catches the two deer by a modicum of surprise. Louis opens his mouth to speak, but a look from Azuki is enough to keep him from saying anything else about that yet. Instead, "How is this going to work?" asks he, standing up to maybe cross over to his study desk. It might look more official, but they also want it to be with a personal edge. Impromptu press conferences are a thing that the company CEO has done plenty of times, but they are no less anxiety inducing each time, in their own ways.

Azuki puts her tea aside and reaches out to adjust one of her husbands rolled and cuffed sleeves while the buck's eyes scan over the wolf and his odd tech. He's not sure if it's a video call or not; there's no camera to immediately look at? "You have reported in since everything happened the other day, right?"

"It'd just be an encrypted comms channel using the holoimager here." Sam paused, the thought occurring that the terminology might not be so ubiquitous outside of Citadel. "Phone here'll be broadcasting an image back and you'll see a 3D one projected of back home. Nothing too fancy really. Should be able to get through to command from here. It'll probably be Colonel Salvius picking up. Hope it is anyway."

He nodded. "I have. Told them about the attack, told them I ran into someone who was there and might have more information 'bout it, which uh, yeah that'd be you, and I sent back what the scans I took picked up to have the labs look over proper. Haven't asked them yet about helping further though, so, this is probably going to get interesting. You might be about to see me getting chewed out real good if this goes bad. So be it I guess, worst case, I get fired and sent back home. Best case, we're able to help out."

"Right... Okay. Maybe I should have had the staff dust the study first." There's a thoughtful frown that follows. A hand lifts in gesture to the wolf. "You do what you need to do and I'll be here probably looking entirely too stern while my wife will be as lovely as ever." Louis takes a deep breath. Inwardly, his mind races, thoughts pile atop one another in sequence before falling away, trains of logic and moves of chess zipping about in probability of engagement conversationally. Outwardly, he looks stoic, prepared, professional.

His ear flicks a few times.

Sam actually laughed at that one. Not about the study being dusty but the comment about looking 'stern'. "Man's a Hussar, don't worry about lookin' too serious compared to him. Gene edited. Bit like me really, just human and of the 'super soldier' sort rather than tall dark and fluffy. Wasn't by us before you wonder. Not by Tyrco neither." He pressed a few icons on the screen, then placed the phone back down on the desk again, angling it slightly so the holoimager could pick up all three people in the room. "Right. Here goes."

A few hundred miles away Colonel Salvius leaned over a glowing table, its surface overlayed with maps and geographical information, each one labeled with its own little box of text. Citadel had been quiet. Attacks against the city while frequent on the rimworld had ceased altogether ever since they had arrived. His instincts were telling him that it was *too* quiet in fact. He raised a hand, a bulky plasteel cybernetic worn with time and combat, and clicked his armoured fingers twice.

Clunk. Clunk.

It gained the attention of another man in the centre of the room leaning over the large tactical display dominating the centre of the room. He was a smaller fellow of much lighter build, the pale skinned bald headed man looking positively diminutive when compared side by side to the Colonel. "Another refill sir?"

He nodded.

"Sir if I may, you've been up for-"

"You may not. I am fine. Thank you for the coffee."

Bideep bideep. Incoming holocall from one of Citadel's Nomads. Walker. His brow furrowed, odd that it was at this time of day. Usually it'd be a few hours before they'd start checking in with reports. Still, it took priority. With oversized mug now in hand he walked to his office and sat down in front of his terminal, stretching a little before he opened the commline.

The semi translucent image of a roughly middle aged man sat in an office chair floated front and centre on a 3D virtual screen in front of Sam, Louis and Azuki. He was a boulder of a man. Seven foot three of dense rippling musculature which barely seemed to squeeze into his otherwise perfectly presented Citadel Defence Force officer's uniform. The man leaned forward, regarding the wolf with a hard to place red eyed stare. The rack of squared maglocked medals on his barrel chest and decorative plasteel service chain gave a light metallic clink as he leaned in, the seat under him groaning in protest. "Nomad Walker, I hope you have a good explanation as to why you thought bringing company for a call home was a smart idea."

There is some small fascination as to this display of technology. It's not that holographic or 3-D graphical rendering was entirely alien to the deer watching. It was different seeing such things presented in crude fashion in laboratories than here in an almost casual way. This does not cause the deer to ogle or flinch in any way, though. They aren't present to watch a technological demonstration. They were present for the nature and subject of the call.

Still sitting with her tea, Azuki regards the call and the group gathered for it with a strategic passivity. She may appear to be a background figure to most eyes, but her attention is sharp and her observation is keen. She simply has no reason to put herself forward yet as that would be incredibly improper.

Likewise, the scrawny standing buck offers a relaxed posture with one hand tucked into the pocket of his slacks, shirt unfastened three buttons down and tieless, looking the great ape in the holo image over with an unyielding familiarity; not of the man in particular, but of the types of apes his appearance represents. Humans are still strange to many of the people on the island where he lives, but he has visited other lands and knows them quite well...through a professional engagement.

Louis says nothing without an introduction lest he be forced to make one as the time comes. At the moment, this seems to be purely in Sam's part of the court, as the idiom goes.

"Sir. This is Louis. He's the man I mentioned in my reports before. From the hall. Reckoned it would be a good-"

The large human on the holoscreen cut him off without saying so much as a word, a simple red eyed glare sufficing in their place. "Nomad Walker, you were meant to avoid unnecessary contact with the locals. You were meant to avoid revealing Citadel's technology. You were not meant to intervene in any of their affairs. You have managed all three in record time." He took a deep breath. In through the nose, held, out through the mouth and when that was seemingly not enough to steady he reached for his large still steaming mug and took a long sip. His attention turned to the deer next, the hussar pausing for a moment as if to analyse the creature he saw through his holoscreen.

Strange, he thought. Footage from drones and two dimensional images pulled from Denko's broadcasts were one thing, but seeing one of them in three dimensions. It really did look as though someone took the same process to make Sam, just instead with a deer. "I apologise for any disruption Sam has caused, uh, Louis wasn't it? I am Colonel Salvius, of Citadel's Nomad Operations Command. I'm sure our Nomad here has left you with plenty of questions."

"Very few answers from any question satisfy without leading to more, Colonel. Sam Walker the Wolf is only guilty of revealing questions that have always been there. You are, after all, not the first animal of import that I've spoken with internationally."

The young stag offers a polite bow since handshakes aren't exactly possible at the moment. As he rises, his right hand presses against his tailored shirt along the chest. "I am Louis the Red Deer, husband to Azuki the Red Deer." It would be hard to not know the name or likeness by any monitoring national media. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance," states he while that hand pulls away and offers an open upturned palm in gesture before it and the other hand come together along his lower front. Hands in view, nothing to hide, even if the meeting isn't physically in person. All the same, Louis plays this with cards close to his chest. He's not openly saying anything that Sam may have already shared.

"I presume you're the one in charge of this unexpected foreign aid regarding the recent tragedy to affect the local beasts. Unexpected, yet welcomed. Perhaps this might be the start of a mutually beneficial business arrangement, if you are inclined, though I fully understand any professional reticence from either of us."

The use of the word 'animal' gave Salvius a little pause. Cultural differences, sure, perhaps even slight linguistical anomalies even with the languages spoken seeming to be similar to the point of being near identical, but it still came off as plenty strange to him. Still, figuring things like that out was a job for people far more qualified. "Likewise. A shame it isn't under better circumstances but the cards fell as they may." It was at that point he stood up and pressed a button on his terminal, chair creaking as the weight left it. An icon flashed momentarily upon the simulated screen.

It flickered.

"Sir, the holoemitters are already cook-" Sam was cut off by the image of Salvius sat in a futuristic office of some sort being replaced, a ghostly image of the man fading into view. After a few seconds it was as though he were standing there in the room, albeit the effect weakened by the blue-white glow and semi translucent projection.

Salvius easily towered over the both of them, stood to his full height the man more resembled the build of the bears Louis would have been more familiar with, rather than that found in a typical human. He took a moment to glance around the room as his large cybernetic hand reached to adjust the collar of his uniform, a row of hexagonal seemingly maglocked in place medals giving a slight clink as he did. "I'm afraid I can't take credit for that. Nomad Walker's actions were his own, rather than from any order I gave. Still, I am glad that it sounds like he didn't make too much of a mess."

Reactions are split between the two deer. Azuki, on one hand, looks a bit surprised by the sudden change in the imagery. While she does not drop her cup or spill her tea or even utter a gasp, the truth of her feelings are clear both in her eyes and from her ears. Louis, on the other, has to look upward as much as the next short-statured individual might, but his gaze shows a familiarity with the practice that pairs with a confidence that does not allow a comparison of physical status to demean his own presence.

When you spend so long having to herd maned poof-tailed cats into order...

"I, for one, understand how actions are multifaceted in effect and can have hard-to-correct far-reaching consequences, so while I am in no position to berate your agent for his choices, I can at least attest that his quick thinking and general involvement did prevent loss of life and potentially grievous wounds and trauma deeper than for what the people victimized in the attack are already being treated." Louis' avoidance in acknowledging such a size different in vocal and body language also allows each to speak on equal terms, as desired. "However, I would expect you to already know about that."

Salvius gave a thoughtful nod, the holographic image of him slowly pacing a couple strides, one hand working through the stubble on his chin while the other was behind his back. They were fairly long ones too, what with his height and all. "I was aware of that." He said, the man's attention turned back towards Louis, the Hussar's red eyes falling back upon him. "To a certain extent at least. Nomad Walker has put me in a difficult position. One I'm assuming was at least a little calculated. Rules as written I should order him to return to Citadel and discharge him from the Nomad program, even if that is in front of someone his actions potentially saved the life of, not to mention as you said, many more of your people. All while he is actively attempting to assist in handling a local crisis. To some good effect to boot."

He took another sip, or at least, that's what it would appear to be. The holoimage didn't seem to extend that far and the mug appearing as a series of blocky pixels in his large hand. "Sir, if I may." Sam stepped forward. "Look, I know. I wasn't careful, but in there? The hell else was I meant to do? Leave people to die? The only folk who know who we are are in this room right now. There's no panic, no one thinking we're the little green men stepping out of a UFO, ain't none of that. I got this far, you really want to hang them out to dry now, sir?"

Salvius sighed, his eyes closed, his hand reaching up to rub his temples. He muttered something about regretting sending someone so young into the field before he straightened up and looked towards Sam. "I have no intention of hanging anyone out to dry, Nomad. My main concern is that our actions may have negative consequences, even as we try to help." His gaze shifted again, now focused back on the deer. "Well Louis, I'll leave it to you. What exactly would you have us do? How would you want us to assist?"

Louis commits to a tactful quietude once asked such a thing. His eyes roam from the Hussar's face to the Wolf's and then to the other Deer's before returning full circle to the Colonel. His fingertips touch together, but they rest downward; they do not steeple. He inhales visibly, though silently, and blinks precisely once before speaking.

"As mentioned, Colonel Salvius, there must be a way for us to provide something for one another. It can be a great way to get to understand one another. As you may already know, I am the CEO to the Horns Conglomerate, a financial institution with roots primarily in banking whose influence has grown over the past few decades due to financial investment in subsidiary or independent companies. We provide the backbone for the growth of our nation's limited economy. As such, with your organization being such an unknown to me, I cannot faithfully speak on behalf of my company in whatever partnership we agree upon, if anything." There's a beat. "Yet."

"As such, I believe the safest thing available to each of us is simple: Either you call your agent back, potentially sending out a different one, and risk souring any relations we might grow with the soundness that whatever directives you prize most in your mission are upheld to your exact specifications -- a trait I personally admire -- or..."

There's another brief pause. When he speaks again, his hands separate and arms spread apart. "You can modify the parameters in which your agent operates, as I imagine international scouting and espionage requires an amount of contingency and flexibility depending on the environment and society involved, in order to continue gathering information, likely temporarily, based in an external area of operations. Your agent is already posing as a domestic citizen. Were he to be...something like a foreign exchange student...he'd place himself in a better position not only to assist through whatever means you allow, but his integrated knowledge would allow him an outside position in which to follow up on your behalf in ways we might return the services."

Suddenly, his voice drops to a stern level. "As it stands, I cannot financially back an agent of an outside military power without facing litigation and ruin. There are channels in which he can earn domestic money tender, however, which can be offered for your review, if you are interested." His eyes lighten. "Personally, I prefer to form professional partnerships and sieze opportunities when they arise and I would be a poor spokesanimal for co-existence if that didn't include any neighbors across the sea from us, as well. He seems keen on investigating the root of the recent attack, but he lacks the time in which to commit to it or learning more about the culture here that is, well, integral to the nature of it. We don't require any of your fancy tech, either. I am equally adamant that what little is present remain in your agent's hands and out of our reach. I won't stand for an economic upset from anything leaked, you see."

A Hussar's face was a hard thing to try and get a read on. Infamously so, in fact. There were precious little to be found in regards to visible emotion on the man's face, with even less still to be found in those red eyes. Salvius' chiseled features would have been a complete blank slate if not for the raising of one eyebrow as the holographic image looked down at the deer, the shimmering outline of his coffee mug still held in his cybernetic hand from which he would take the occasional sip as he simply listened.

"The fact that you're not trying to acquire our technology in order to gain an advantage over business rivals reflects well on you. Most in your position would from my experience." He gave a thoughtful nod before reaching down to place the mug upon a desk out of the holoimager's frame. "If we were to share our advancements freely before your society was ready to harness it, any 'upset' caused could be far more than just economic. Power generation systems leading to destructive weaponisation or mishap, medical nanotechnology leading to a grey goo event, even Novscandia's gene editing research was initially developed to improve agricultural yield as far as we understand it. Instead we have a wolf making both of our lives more difficult because his trigger finger works substantially better than his head does."

"Hey!"

"You weren't even meant to see Sam. Not beyond him being just another face in a crowd at least, let alone see any of Sam's equipment, and yet here you are talking to me over his citi-net uplink." Salvius paused, the Hussar carefully measuring what needed to be said next as his attention turned back Sam's way. "Nomad Walker, I trust you to use your best judgment just the same as I would any other Nomad in this program, however that judgment needs to be far more careful from now on. Especially if I am to green light you sticking around Denko for longer. Before I make that decision though, let's go over what we have to work with. In regards to financial concerns, our economy is more than strong enough to back up our operations. Our currency is also backed by precious metals, gold, silver and such. That should make things simpler, presuming you place the similar value on those that most do and want to take a more direct approach. Otherwise I am more than willing to hear any other suggestions, although I'm not in a position to rubber stamp anything of this sort by myself. Funding and the route taken to acquire it would be a matter for our civilian government to decide on, not the CDF. I can only make recommendations."

"There are some independent traders I could recommend that have no financial ties to my company, viable path that it would be on a personal level for a singular animal," agrees Louis as one arm crosses just above his waist and his other hand taps a finger lightly against his cheek in thought. "Perhaps in the future we might discuss trade on a more official level, but for now it's best to play our cards close to our chests." Eyes slide over to gaze at Sam. "I suppose the notion of earning a day job might be a bit silly, but I admit I don't know what level of cover you might aim for long term, and I'm not sure how far Ignorant District Pup will go without some better understanding of basic local culture and history. After all, unlike most of the city beasts, I have been to a few Districts and some have comparable education and care."

The buck's arm slips away from his middle and that hand opts to slip into a pants pocket while the one touching his face lowers into a gentle wave of emphasis. "What you do in our land is your business as long as you don't start trouble. One whiff of a foreign power playing Spy Hard is going to attract the attention of our retired former Beastar and nothing I can say then will help. Every nation or area you send people to visit is going to be dangerous and our Island is no exception. Be careful that your Hunt doesn't make you Prey to a different threat."

"As for us, Colonel Salvius, will we be in further contact or shall we consider Sam Walker the Wolf to be your ambassador and liaison?"

"Yeah, district cover story weren't meant to last more than a couple days. Sure I'll figure it out. I'm real good at that." Sam leaned forward slightly, his hand reaching forward to check the temperature of the holoemitters again. They were warm, but by his reckoning not yet concerningly so. He straightened out, eyes meeting the deer's "'Sides, district I 'came' from looks like it was one of the harder hit. Small communities, isolated, lots of ruins. Most of the Rimworld's like that anyhow. Plus, I'm a 'nomad'." There was a slight smile working its way onto the wolf's face. "Well with always moving, always just about surviving, guess I didn't have no chance at getting all the proper history lessons so there's a few gaps here and there. Oh poor me."

The holographic Salvius sighed, the sound distorted slightly by the phone's tiny speakers. "I'd strongly advise you stop laying it on a little thick, but presuming we're not missing something that sounds like it would probably hold for now. On that topic, this 'beastar'." The holographic image turned towards Louis, red eyes locking back onto him. "I am assuming they are a political figure of some kind? A lot of our information on this role has been contradictory. Sometimes beastars are depicted as law enforcement, sometimes government officials, sometimes celebrities and performers in general."

Sam stepped forward, still with a smile on his face that if anything had grown slightly wider. "I know this one. The beastars are unifying figures. Meant to be someone everyone no matter what, carnivore, herbivore, can rally around. There's a bunch of them and one 'sublime' beastar above the rest calling a lot of the shots." He'd started very confident when he first spoke up, though, that wavered a bit until it got to the end. The explanation finishing with him looking towards Louis and saying "I... think. That's right, right?"

Salvius raised a brow again. He'd seen that look from Sam before plenty of times though seeing the 'smugface' waver a little bit was rarer. Usually it either stuck around for a while longer or was wiped away much faster. "I see. In any case, while I don't have the authority to grant Sam ambassadorial status officially, that would be an appropriate 'close enough' for what this has turned into. In time I'm sure you'll hear more from Citadel, though unless it concerns the Nomads and their operations in specific you probably won't be hearing from me directly."

The young buck glances to Azuki before side-eyeing Sam's explanation of what a Beastar is. "There's only one Beastar holding position at a time. The rest are...canditatorial." He'll let the rest stand. It's best to allow a bit of grey when dealing with an unknown, after all, and what he said was very specific. With any hope, none of it would come into play or even matter, but depending on how the Agent behind the Blood Gas attack moves on the war board the former Beastar might come into play eventually. That's never usually a good thing, especially with him going vigilante.

"Still, I understand your position for what little I know. Let me know how you want your Nomad to progress in this investigation and I'll see what I can neutrally leverage to help. Within reason." All things said, Louis is taking a lot of risks here, but he's playing it cool and open. "If this partnership ever becomes official, perhaps I can shake your hand properly someday. Give CEO Louis and Azuki the Red Deers of the Horns Conglomerate more to trust you and your people rather than just the wealthy couple that have allowed your 'Ignorant Vagabond' into their home, if you get my meaning, and we'll push toward animals like you and me sharing our vision of peaceful co-existence together. If you and your people desire it." He smiles, too, but it's faint and confident rather than broad and smug.


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