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[completelycrazy]

[Newt has definitely not been up all night building salamander-proof enclosures out of spare Null parts so the fact that he sounds both tired and revved up on way too much coffee is just your imagination.]

Two questions, Hadriel. One: Tell me about the cave monsters. What all has crashlanded here before I got here? Specifically, I'm looking for stuff that a person could feasibly, like, catch. Or at least put down and drag into town for some post-mortem studying. This includes stuff that might be a good food source, maybe? I don't know. Depends on what's out there.

[The food source thing is secondary in his mind, but the masses don't need to know that. He's already expecting to catch some flak for this.]

And two: Anyone got some time to help me wrangle some salamanders, at least? I'm thinkin' two should be good. I'd like to grab some other stuff too, but again, depends on what's out there. Gonna start with the salamanders for now.

Comments

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[completelycrazy]

How do you know?

[puzzlingly]

I have mystical powers and can talk to them.

「Atem...」

No, dude, I got one.

[completelycrazy]

What!? [His excitement is so intense that his volume blows out the mic for a sec.]

How'd you catch it? What are you keeping it in?

[Tell him everything...]

[puzzlingly]

I didn't, she seemed hungry, I gave her some fish. She's been following me ever since, no big science there. But I'm trying to keep her away from everything with some... hmm, help, I guess.

「It's the perks of having power over the dragon of the Sun God, right?」

If you could help me figure out a way to keep her for real without her burning my house to the ground, that'd be great.

「SHE'S SO CUTE OK?!」

[completelycrazy]

What, can she not hunt on her own or something? And how do you know it's a girl?

[He has so many questions??]

Like I said, I've got some cages built... Been cobbling 'em together with scrap leftover from the Null attack. They seem sturdy enough for these little guys.

[...Wait. An opportunity.]

I'll build you one if you let me study the salamander.

[puzzlingly]

I don't know? Maybe she's lazy... hah. No really, you have to consider they are a lot smaller than some of the things that came with us from the caves. She and her friends must be having it rough, just as us.

And... I have no idea if it's a girl. But I don't see her getting offended if I got it wrong. Would you be able to tell those things if I take her to you? I'd rather not keep her in a cage but, sounds better than letting her run wild around.

「No worries, Newt, he was going to say no!」

[completelycrazy]

I guess. [Atem raises a fair point, but Newt is butthurt about this "you have to consider" stuff. As if he hasn't considered!!] That's what natural selection is all about, though, and all the more reason for me to take some of them in.

[As for the next part... Determining the sex of a salamander is tricky, especially when it's an undiscovered species (by his standards, anyway) that he can't even touch, but...]

I can try, yeah. And, look, you said it yourself. She'd be having a rougher go in the wild at this point, so captivity won't be all bad. You're welcome to let her out sometimes to stretch her legs if you feel like taking that chance.

[puzzlingly]

Sounds fair. 「That's cool, at this point he hasn't even considered that he won't have help from Sun Gods in a near future to handle her, so the cage is a fabulous idea anyway.」 You're at the lab, right? I'll see you there.

[completelycrazy]

Yep. I basically live here these days. [He says as if that wasn't always true.]

Thanks, man. See ya.