>>28300637
What Is Happening Now:

The sharp featured woman – or Tager, if she is in fact who or what you think she is – is leaving the Ta'Ge fragment room, and leaving you to study them. Naturally, you have questions, but asking them in as public a place as this, quiet as it is, might not be the wisest idea. On the other hand, you could be mistaken as to her identity. While she may walk and seem like a Widow, it is entirely possible you're just imagining things. After all, Tagers are not like dhoanoids; they are human and don't have the 'tells' that dhoanoids do. Indecision is a terrible thing.

[] Follow after her in hopes of getting some questions answered.
[] Study the fragments; you'll have time later.
[] Write in.

CnV 6
PhD 3
ToL 5

>>28300641
> [x] Follow after her in hopes of getting some questions answered.

>>28300641
[X] Follow her.
[X] Write in.
"Are you one of the Reapers?"

Lets make sure she's a tager at all before we embarrass ourselves.

>>28300663
>>28300738
[X] Follow after her in hopes of getting some questions answered.

Knowing the fragments aren't going any where why she most definitely may be going somewhere, you hurry after the woman. She may be short, but she's fairly quick. In your defense you were also somewhat shocked at a complete stranger knowing you by name.

“Excuse me!” You call out to the stranger, and she pauses, turning to face you. She looks mildly bemused, and her dark eyes glance over you in a very unnerving fashion. A familiar fashion, the look of someone checking to see what weapons you may have hidden on you. You carry a survival knife out on the open, but otherwise you usually don't bother with weapons unless you are training with them. The compound is very secure, especially this part of it.

Slowing down, you approach a little more slowly. Despite her diminutive build, she stands with the sort of confidence that only a veteran has, and while she may be in her late thirties by looks alone if she is a Tager she might be twice that. “I don't mean to be rude, but are you one of the Reapers of the Whirlwind?”

That bemused expression becomes actual amusement, as she answers you. “Yes. You can call me Widower. Everyone does.”

[Con't.]

>>28300881
You've heard of Widower. She's a Tager all right – a Widow, yes, but that's not why she has that call sign. Widower is famous for having outlived not one but two entire Tager packs. The Reapers are her third. You haven't any idea what her original call sign is, you just heard talk at meal-times and overheard the tale of how she and her pack were lead into an ambush after a five year investigation of a baby-farming cult that had been giving newborns up to Chrysalis for....whatever they wanted to do with newborns. The speculation was usually far nicer than the truths, and the speculation was bad enough. They'd devastated the cult, and though Widower was the sole survivor, she eventually joined another Tager pack.

The rumors had it as being because she couldn't stand being alone.

Faced with a fairly famous individual among famous individuals, a less centered person than yourself might have had issues. But she seems receptive enough, and the fact that she IS a Widow only increases the certainty that she may have been the one who'd been there for your mother's kidnapping. “Do you have some time? I'd like to ask you something.”

Her mouth twitches, the half smile becoming twisted, but her demeanor doesn't change otherwise. “I can spare a few minutes for someone who is on the path to joining us.” That confirms that she's been watching you for a while. Her next statement is less reassuring. “But I may not be able to tell you what you really want to know.”

[] Ask about the Rite.
[] Ask about the kidnapping of your mother.
[] Ask about the Ta'ge fragments.
[] Other – Write in.
CnV 6
PhD 3
ToL 5

>>28300892
> [x] Ask about the Rite.
> [x] Ask about the Ta'ge fragments.
She probably knows nothing about the kidnapping of our mom.

ask about the rite and our mother.

>>28300945
>>28301000
Realizing there is only slim chance that she's the same Widow as the one in your admittedly confused memories of the attack, you decide to delve into the more esoteric realms of questioning. “May I ask what your Rite of Joining was like?”

Her smile broadens, and she leans against the case next to her, her arms crossed. “That's not really what you wish to know. You wish to know what it will be like for you to go through the Rite.” Actually, knowing anything more than the cut and dried descriptions of the Rite is fine by you. “It is not the hardest thing you will ever do, but it will be the most taxing thing you ever do. I recommend skipping dinner and drinking very little before you begin.” Widower's expression becomes thoughtful, distant, as she remembers.

“The lesser rites you have helped in and the little magic you have experienced before is not at all like the Rite of Joining. Our brethren from Beyond are not t all like the Mi-Go or dhoanoids, or even the night-gaunts.” Your stomach clenches, but you ignore the momentary spasm. You'll eat something later. “They're more akin to the shamblers.” You shake your head, and start to ask, but she pulls out of her reverie enough to notice your lack of understanding. “They are a race of....explorers, I suppose. Creatures that exist in places far removed from the physical universe of time and space. They haven't any interest in our world except in passing through. They wander through, then leave. But they're from far, far Beyond.”

She lifts her head, indicating the case behind you with her chin. “The Ta'Ge fragments are, or were, I think, a warning. Not for us. For the worshipers of the Many Faced. I think the Rite was included as an explanation, not as a gift or a way to fight them. Humans are meant to be dhoanoids, I think, and we are simply their natural predator. In some reality far from ours, we hunt dhoanoid essences."

[Con't.]

>>28301204
“I think that humans are....just a nascent form of what the Old Ones meant us to be, and dhoanoids are simply the final evolutionary states of different kinds of humans. Except the symbionts hunt the potential existences of dhoanoids, and when we join together, during the Rite, we excite the potential to be a dhoanoid in favor of becoming a sort of doorway.”

It's almost heresy. It might be blasphemy.

Her smile is thin, and lacking in her previous humor. “When you begin the Rite of Joining, you are opening yourself up to the other realities near ours. But when you are deep in the Rite, you are the actual interface between those realities. A sort of membrane. And you being that membrane makes you less of a conduit, and more a container. You're a layer of here, and yet the rite makes you a layer of there too. Two layers. Those layers lets a symbiont insinuate itself into the reality of here and Beyond by pushing itself inside you.” Widower makes that sound almost sexual. “That is why we can transform. A Tager is a bottle of 'between' There and Here, with the symbiont existing There, and our body existing here. When we transform, the symbiont fills the membrane that is me with itself, and can interact with this world. And eat dhoanoids.”

[Con't.]

>>28301238
“Actually eat them?”

A soft chuckle escapes her, and she relaxes, looking a little less frightening. “No, the act of killing them is enough. But there are a lot of....needs that don't translate. Some do. You'll understand soon.” Her eyes glitter with knowing amusement. It isn't really reassuring. It also occurs to you she didn't really answer as much of your question as you wanted. Then again, she also told you something about dhoanoids, something you didn't ask about at all. You wonder if she knows that your mother might have had ties to the Chrysalis Corporation after all.

[] Ask for more about the Fragments.
[] Ask for more about the Rite.
[] Ask about your mother's kidnapping.
[] Other - Write in.

CnV 6
PhD 3
ToL 5
PrN 2

>>28301262
> [x] Ask about your mother's kidnapping.
If she doesn't know anything, ask her about the dhoanoids. What does she mean, they're the evolution of humanity?

>>28301262
[X] Ask about your mother's kidnapping.
and >>28301289
this too.

>>28301289
This.

>>28301289
>>28301414
>>28301428
“I think you know something about my mother. You obviously know about me....were you there when the dhoanoids took my mother?” Your voice is steady and calm, and it's not as though you'd be upset if she didn't.

“You were surprisingly brave. You were crying, and upset, but who wouldn't be? But then, you have seen worse than dhoanoids and us.” It was her. You're sure of it now. Maybe not the Reapers, but she was there at your mother's kidnapping.

Pushing away from the case, she walks down the aisle in no hurry, obviously expecting you to follow. You do so, giving her the space she seems to need. Widower pauses before a large, thin parchment-like sheet of ragged Fragment. “I think your mother had been working for the corporation for some time. She was just one more step closer to my Pack's goal of finding out what the Chrysalis Corporation was doing with geneticists and gene-therapists. At the time, the Society wasn't as in the know about how dhoanoids were made as we are now.” She gestures to the Fragment, pointing out the arcane markings that are labeled 'sequencing.' “Lieutenant Vanish – my....our Spectre, had gotten wind that your mother was on the verse of isolating genetic proofs that humans are a sort of 'blank slate' template for spiritual entities.”

[Con't.]

>>28301465
Your silence causes her to glance at you. “Basically, she believed that humans – and nazzadi – are little more than blank pieces of meat designed to be hosts for symbionts, dhoanoids, deep ones, the things that possess people when their spells go wrong. Whatever needs a physical body to inhabit this dimension.” Your stomach roils again, and it has nothing to do with the T.Y.D.R. “Naturally, we were planning to talk with her, maybe have her help the society.” She looks back at the Fragment, as though trying to use it to decipher the past. “That's not how it worked out though.”

“So dhoanoids are just another thing that we could end up being? The Old Ones made us to be....host bodies?” You don't need to ask why the Chrysalis Corporation kidnapped her now. It's obvious they wanted her to make more dhoanoids. Or worse.

“If your mother was correct, yes. What little we recovered from the room indicated she believed the 'junk' D.N.A is meant to be activated by outside influences, and that if it wasn't, it would eventually activate on it's own, forcing humans to become things like dhoanoids. If only a few bits activated....well, she indicated that's what cancer actually is, the human body transforming into a dhoanoid in tiny pieces.”

“Of course, the dhoanoids got there first and kidnapped her. I suspect that they were expecting us. I haven't any way to prove it, obviously.” Widower grimaces, and then turns to face you. “One last question. Then I have to be on my way.”

[] Is my mother alive still?
[] Is there any way to increase my chances of survival in the Rite?
[] Do you really believe we're meant to be dhoanoids?
[] Other – Write in.

CnV 6
PhD 3
ToL 5
PrN 2

>>28301471
> [x] Is my mother alive still?
> [x] Do you really believe we're meant to be dhoanoids?
These two are kinda connected.

>>28301492
This definitely.

>>28301492
>>28301682
She's clearly intemperate, her eyes guarded and dark, her arms crossed. But you have to ask, because Widower may have just confirmed something you were afraid of, though she may not have realized it. “Is my mother still alive?” Before she can answer, you hold up a hand, which seems to surprise her. “I have to know, because if you really do think humans are meant to be dhoanoids....” You let the sentence trail off, but not because that's necessarily what you think; sure, it's a strange theory and it might have some merit given a lot of what happens during the Aeon War. You really don't want Widower realizing what she confirmed for you: your mother wasn't being kidnapped by the Chysalis Corporation; she really was being rescued from the Eldritch Society.

Widower frowns at you, clearly unhappy about being made to think on the same question that she put in your head. “It is hard to have looked through your mother's work and not come to a similar conclusion. The Founders were dhoanoids themselves. We know how easy it is to create dhoanoids from humans.” From what you've been lead to understand about the rite of Transfiguration, 'easy' is not a description of it. Then again, you're going to be turned into pieces of two different universes, according to her. “Human D.N.A. Is a huge amount of nonsense information. But so is the Mi-Go language. I think....yes, the Old Ones may have prepared us for this. But that doesn't mean I’m going to let them take humans and turn them into monsters.”

[Con't.]

>>28301725
>>28301725
She looks into your face, her eyes dark, her expression unhappy. “I still think that you'll do all right, Anne. I am sorry we couldn't rescue your mother, but I don't think she'd give them what they want either. She kept you from them and didn't experiment on you.” That was true. She had helped you get over the night terrors, taught you how to keep from being sick every time someone asked you about that thing you don't remember. You've seen first hand what horrors the Chrysalis scientists of T-99 were capable of. “So....I don't know if she's alive. But I doubt it.”

Widower turns without another word and walks away, leaving the Fragment Room and you to your unpleasant thoughts.

[] Find someone to discuss this with.
[] Follow her, find out more.
[] Study the Ta'ge....there may be answers there.
[] Other – Write in.

>>28301733
> [x] Find someone to discuss this with.
Would our teachers be able to help us with this? I guess we need to have a clear head for the Rite, or something bad will happen.

>>28301733
We are either female or Anekin Skywalker.

>>28301733
> [x] Study the Ta'ge....there may be answers there.

>>28301843
Female.

>>28301733
[X] Find someone to discuss this with.
They have sorcerers here, and probably scientists too.

>>28301803
>>28301958
>>28301956
While the Ta'Ge Fragments here are a full and faithful representation of the actual Fragments, the fact of the matter is that not all of it is translated, and not many of those cover the subject of Human genesis. You know Nazzadi genesis, but fundamentally, despite the changes instilled by the Mi-Go, Nazzadi are fundamentally human.

Dhoanoids, on the other hand, are definitely NOT human.

The few Fragments which have been translated and do cover something in relation to the nature of Humankind largely indicate that non-humans and the non-human breeds such as created by the Rite of Transfiguration or Deep One matings are simply food for the symbionts. Which while reassuring in your own status as Nazzadi and Human being one species split apart by the machinations of alien life, doesn't really answer the pressing question of whether or not you're just a template to have something alien overlaid onto you.

It is disconcerting how easily the ability to Not Remember Things can be applied to control your own doubts.

[Con't.]

>>28302080
Of course, the only answer is to find an expert. While science is not the strong point of the Eldritch Society, they do have their answer to T-99 in the form of allies from the N.E.G science divisions, disaffected Chrysalis employees who proved their value and loyalty to the Society, often the hard way, and a few philosophers as well. There are several sorcerers whom you might talk to as well, most prominent the one who will be leading the Rite of Joining tomorrow, Mordecai Gerrard. He's even gone so far as to teach magic to a few Tagers, most of whom lose most of their capacity for it in the transformation, but to whom the theory often proves useful despite that. Doctor Kalinka might be helpful as well; a surgeon who is often patching up the recruits when he isn't trying to uncover the mysteries of bio-horror as spawned by Chrysalis. The Elders are always willing to speak with a soon-to-be-Tager, though.

You're certain that doubt is a very, very bad thing to take with you into the Ritual.

[] Doctor Kalinka might have opinions.
[] Mordecai should have a good clue.
[] An Elder of the Society with a few minutes to spare may help.

CnV 6
PhD 4
ToL 5
PrN 3

>>28302092
> [x] Doctor Kalinka might have opinions.
Don't want the Elders to think we're digging too deep into things.

>>28302092
[X] Doctor Kalinka
He might have been given some info about what our mother was working on too.

>>28302092
I think I rather would talk to one of the Elders, but I have no objection to visiting Kalinka.

>>28302132
>>28302169
>>28302235
The halls are somewhat more busy now, and not entirely because the Reapers of the Whirlwind have arrived. There is always something to do somewhere, from shoring up the defenses of the buildings to planning an assault to dealing with intelligence gathered by agents and allies of the Society. Normally you would be studying under another teacher, preparing yourself for further combat training, or learning about the best ways to cope with various horrors and potential problems that are involved when cultists have access to both magic and science.

You have much larger problems on your mind than trying to save the Human and Nazzadi races from potential extinction and replacement today.

That wasn't something you expected to have happen.

Doctor Kalinka is a older man, who disdains a lab coat in favor of bulky turtleneck sweaters and pseudo-cotton jeans. The science wing – less a 'wing' than a collection of partitioned and isolation cell style cubicles in the middle of it's own building – is always busy, and most of the time you're not entirely sure with what. There are usually a few strange things about, but by and large most of the work centers on dhoanoids and Chrysalis-created monstrosities. It takes a short while to find him, and when you do, he's sitting on a stool peering into a scanning scope at an unidentifiable slab of blubbery blue-green flesh. There isn't anyone else in this cube, and it's one of the ones that seals, so for once you don't have to be worried about people overhearing you.

[Con't.]

>>28302380
It takes him a minute to notice you, and he turns, smiling. Balding, slightly overweight, and red cheeked, the surgeon peels off his gloves – very carefully avoiding touching them to his skin – and carefully places them in a tub bound for incineration. “Anne, how are you? Aren't you supposed to be preparing for your ritual?” He glances at his chronometer, and chuckles. “Well, I guess it's early yet. So easy to lose track of time in here. So many fascinating things.”

[] Shoot the breeze a bit.
[] Ask about the human-dhoanoid problem.
[] Inquire about notes from your mother's work.
[] Other – write in.

CnV 7
PhD 4
ToL 5
PrN 4

File: 1384525885864.jpg-(253 KB, 606x800, vademecumcover.jpg)

253 KB JPG

There will be a short (2 hour) interruption as I head home.

>>28302391
First
> [x] Shoot the breeze a bit.
then
> [x] Ask about the human-dhoanoid problem.
Can't hurt to be friendly. We can ask about our mother's research later.

>>28302425
I will concur with this anon.

>>28302410
We gonna learn what all those numbers and stats mean at some point?

>>28302578
Looking over the threads, it seems that CnV rises whenever we're ambitious, PhD when we're using our brains, ToL when we're being social and PrN when we encounter or learn something scary.

>>28302578
Yes.

>>28302842
Close, no, fair, very close.

Food, medicine, then writing.

>>28302425
>>28302578
[X] Shoot the breeze a bit.
[X] Ask about the human-dhoanoid problem.

“What is THAT?” you ask curiously, looking at the greenish fatty tissue and meat under his scanner. He immediately brightens and turns his stool to face the dubious flesh. “I mean, I've seen some weird things, Doctor, but I haven't seen anything like that before at all.” It is true – you've had ample opportunity to study the flesh of dhoanoids and deep ones, and once the corpse of a Mi-Go. This is none of those.

Fiddling with the scanning scope, Doctor Kalinka gestures wildly. “It's apparently a slab of engel biomass! I was told that the engels were organic on the inside, but there was a skirmish where one of our warriors found a downed engel. It was dead – yes, they are alive! - but only recently so. He managed to get a cryocase full of pieces.” Finally locating the controls he was looking for, he pulls up a larger screen image for you to look at. “See this? It's actually fatty tissue, and this is musculature!” It was fairly obvious even to you, but you hide your grin and let him expound on the nature of the weird stuff for a few minutes more.

Like most men of science, the doctor is happy to talk to anyone who will listen, and his wild gestures and elaborate explanations are interesting. He's also got a great bedside manner, as you know from experience. He's patched you up a number of times after combat training has gone awry. Something he says catches your attention however....

[Con't.]

>>28303397
“I'm sorry, did you say it's human?” Your heart beats fast and you the chilling words echo in your head.

“Well, not human like me, no, but it has human based telomeric signatures and the genes are close enough that it might have been close to human at one point. It's been heavily modified, and I plan on asking Hubert to see what he can divine of it's nature with that mumbo-jumbo of his....” The good doctor sees your expression and his jolly nature is gone instantly, concern filling his eyes. “Anne, are you all right? What's wrong?” He stands up and offers you his seat, though there's a perfectly serviceable chair behind you, and he gently takes your arm and guides you to the seat. “If I didn't know any better, I'd say you've gone white as a sheet!”

The modified melanin in your body prevents that peculiarity of emotion, but you feel no different than anyone else who has had a shock. You recover quickly of course, and his solicitous nature is easy to give in to. “I have some questions, Doctor. And I think you might be able to give me some answers that I can't get from anyone else. Someone said to me that eventually humans will evolve into things like dhoanoids.”

[Con't.]

>>28303407
He shakes his head emphatically. “That's not possible. And I'm not just touting the party line, mind you, I'm quite positive that Human – or Nazzadi – evolution would go in a much different direction if left unchecked. There is too much of the Beyond in dhoanoid tissue for them to be an evolutionary end-game.” At your look of relief he looks thoughtful. “What brought that peculiar question from you, of all people?” You suspect he's referring to a candidate for the Rite of Joining, not you personally.

[] Tell him about Widower's theory of Humanity-as-blank-slate.
[] Tell him that it was a weird idea that was suggested by the Ta'Ge fragments.
[] Ask him something else.
[] Other – Write in.

CnV 7
PhD 4
ToL 5
PrN 3

>>28303415
> [x] Tell him about Widower's theory of Humanity-as-blank-slate.
Also, tell him about our mom, and how she apparently came to a similar conclusion.

>>28303438
Go with this.

>>28303415
>>28303438
this

>>28303438
>>28303549
>>28303642
A short explanation of Widower's theory has him nodding sagely, and he places a beaker of water over a bunsen burner as you tell him about it. When you explain how your mother seems to have come to the same conclusion, he stops you. “Your adopted mother?”

“Yes. She thought that the 'junk' D.N.A. Was actually designed to be receptive to outside influences, such as magical possession or transformation. That's what Widower told me, at least.” He purses his lips and taps on his lower lip thoughtfully. “She said my mother thought that eventually the junk D.N.A. Would activate and all humans would eventually mutate into other things.”

Standing up, he walks over to a small save, which he stands in front of as he enters the code. It has a bio-lock on it as well, but one could never be to careful. He shuffles through what sounds like a lot of paperwork, and then walks over to you. “Is this her?”

The photograph is old, an identification card copied onto research papers, but her long blonde curls and bright, vivacious smile are unmistakable. Vanessa Hargrave, your adopted mother. You reach for the papers but he pulls them back. “I'm sorry, I can't let you have those.” He hesitates. “But I can have a copy of her picture made for you.” You nod and try not to look too interested in the paperwork. “Vanessa's – well, Doctor Hargrave's – work was definitely esoteric stuff when it was being published. She was one of the first to show which genes the Mi-Go had modified and how they'd redesigned them to change humans into Nazzadi, and then how the combined Human-Nazzadi D.N.A. could be recombined in xenomixes.” You know a couple of Human-Nazzadi xenomixes personally. They were not so different than anyone else you've met, just looked a little strange.

Then again, you were adopted by a Human scientist rather than a Nazzadi couple.

>>28303764
“The thing is, she stopped publishing very abruptly. The first I'd seen of her work in years was after someone brought the papers from her....ah, your home. And we know she wasn't experimenting on you, it would have been in the Office of Internal Security's reports when you were turned over to them.” Something you got over a long time ago. You know why they did it, and can even appreciate the necessity of it. “What I can tell you about her research is that she was looking at avenues of modifying Human and Nazzadi genes, but not with retroviruses, nanomachines or magic. She seemed to be working on a method of arcanotech engine radiations to scientifically alter the D.N.A. It seems patently impossible, brilliant as the work sounds in theory.” Shaking his head, the Doctor takes the beaker of water from the burner and pours it into two beakers. “Whatever her theory was, it doesn't seem like technology could mange to change humans beyond gross physical changes. As far as magic goes....I can't answer that, I just don't have the background!”

[] Does he think the Chrysalis Corporation would have kept her alive?
[] Can he think of any scientific reason that humans would be so susceptible to extra-dimensional bonds like the symbionts or possessing entities?
[] Other- Write in.

CnV 7
PhD 4
ToL 5
PrN 3

>>28303782
> [x] Can he think of any scientific reason that humans would be so susceptible to extra-dimensional bonds like the symbionts or possessing entities?
And then, if we can
> [x] Does he think the Chrysalis Corporation would have kept her alive?

So, we're going to need to see a sorcerer to get our answers.

>>28303782
>>28303898
This

And yeah, it looks that way

>>28303924
Well, this can only end well.
They're probably forcing her to work for them. Or, even scarier, she's working for them willingly.

>>28303924
>>28303898
Doctor Kalinka sprinkles black powder into one of the beakers, and then looks at you. “Would you like some tea or coffee Anne? Only instant coffee and bagged tea, sadly, but you know what sticklers they are for security here.” Yes you do, you've been security duty before, just like every other candidate for the Holy Warriors. He adds some thin syrup to his coffee, and sips it. “Not bad, though – I can at least make it palatable.”

“Doctor, do you think there's a real scientific basis for the blank-slate theory? Everyone knows it happens, after all, but no one has really had a chance to observe it in any of the other creatures that the N.E.G is fighting.”

As if he'd been anticipating your question, he sighs and sits back down. “Well, you pointed out the problem yourself. We just don't know what happens to the aliens. Does a fishman become possessed when he speaks forbidden names? Do the Mi-Go suffer from horrible mutations when an arcanotech engine is opened up in their ship? We know all about the cutists and the possibility of becoming infected by beings from Beyond, yes, and we know that Humans can be transformed by the Rite of Transfiguration....but we don't know if it works on Nazzadi or not. It should, because you are essentially Human, but then again I've heard about what happens when a Tager interacts with an engel.”

At your curious expression, he smiles faintly. “Engels apparently will go mad and try and consume Tagers or dhoanoids that interact with them too closely, such as getting inside the cockpit. A predator of predators, perhaps. But then again, they have more than simply human D.N.A. in them.” His faint smile fades. “I wish I had better answers for you, my dear girl, but i'll be honest – you've brought up things I'd never even considered for a long time.”

[Con't.]

>>28304115
You start to ask if he things the Corporation kept your mother alive, but remember he asked you if you wanted tea or coffee.

[] Accept tea.
[] Accept coffee.
[] Pass.
+Ask if he thinks mother is still alive.
CnV 8
PhD 4
ToL 5
PrN 3

>>28304130
[X] Tea. We should be polite, we're bothering him at work after all.

>>28304352
You accept the tea, and he places a bag in the second beaker to steep. You thought it might be more painful but perhaps all your training has done more to keep your impulses and emotions in check than you'd previously thought, because while the question is painful, you think you can handle any answer he may give.

“Doctor....do you think they would have kept my mother alive?”

All that research, all that knowledge, and yet it was scientifically unfeasible according to a very good scientist. Widower had said the dhoanoids must have known the Society was coming for her. They'd been keeping an eye on her, and they hadn't simply killed her or you when they could have done so at any time. But if her work was that unreliable....

Despite his apologies earlier the good doctor seems reluctant to answer.

“It's all right.” You are calmer than he is. Your discipline is top notch.

[Con't.]

>>28304539
He glances at you and hands you the beaker of tea, silently. Gathering himself, he looks you in the eyes. “I am sorry to say, dear girl, that the lack of viable information in her experiments means she would be useless as a scientist to the purposes of the cult itself. I doubt they could convince her to accept the Rite of Transformation....it must be willingly done, and without the will to survive it, a prisoner is no use for it. So....I would say the cultists had no reason to keep her alive that I can think of.” Before you can respond, he lays his hand over yours. “But she was brilliant. I have very little doubt she could convince someone of a more scientific bent that she was worth keeping alive. T-99 needs scientists as well as sorcerers in its ranks. But it has been a long time – seven years. I know that I would be hard pressed to keep my free will in such a situation. Of course, your mother was a very creative woman as well. Perhaps she thought of something I wouldn't have.”

It's a harsh truth, but at the same time his suggestion has merit. Working out of her house, she had such limited resources. Would your mother have turned to them, to survive? Not knowing what you know, she might have. Sobering thoughts.

You finish the tea, and rise thanking Doctor Kalinka for his time. Now you have another great mind to learn from – the sorcerer Mordecai might have answers for you.

>To Be Continued....

This is pretty interesting. But the pacing is a bit slow so far. I might suggest to condense the updates and move things along.

>>28305465
Plannign on that; thank you for the advice though.

Gah! Didn't Widower suggest against eating or drinking anything? We probably should have abstained even from tea.

>>28303407
>“I have some questions, Doctor. And I think you might be able to give me some answers that I can't get from anyone else. Someone said to me that eventually humans will evolve into things like dhoanoids.”
>>28303415
>He shakes his head emphatically. “That's not possible. And I'm not just touting the party line, mind you, I'm quite positive that Human – or Nazzadi – evolution would go in a much different direction if left unchecked. There is too much of the Beyond in dhoanoid tissue for them to be an evolutionary end-game.”

Hmm, so... I wonder what exactly the differences are between what the doctor knows, and the Tager talked to us about.

>>28307434
It's only some tea, we'll probably get it out of our system by before the rite.
As for the evolution, it's probably that dhoanoids are artificially evolved humans (by slapping the supernatural on top of the human genome) while what the doctor's referring to is humanity's natural evolution - by enduring and adapting to the changing environment.

>>28307555

What about this part though? About DNA and what cancer might actually be?

>>28301471
>“If your mother was correct, yes. What little we recovered from the room indicated she believed the 'junk' D.N.A is meant to be activated by outside influences, and that if it wasn't, it would eventually activate on it's own, forcing humans to become things like dhoanoids. If only a few bits activated....well, she indicated that's what cancer actually is, the human body transforming into a dhoanoid in tiny pieces.”

Although, the doctor might be right about it not being a tested/testable theory.

Also, there's the fact that the OTHER parts of the theory say "Humans are templates for otherworldly beings to inhabit" which would suggest that Dhoanoids are NOT humanity's natural progression simply because humanity is just too variable.

Humanity might have been intended to be *flexible* rather than any one thing in particular.

Dhoanoids are just one thing they can turn into.

>>28307675
I meant "natural evolution" as in nobody applying templates over humanity for a while. They are already blanks, so the natural evolution would imply leaving the population on their own and letting them adapt and evolve on their own. Dhoanoids are humans with a template stacked on them, so they wouldn't count as a natural evolution, same as the other possibilities.

Though, if we do accept that cancer is part of the evolution, then it becomes obvious that artificial evolution is something that needs to happen or the entire human race is fucked. And that's not even going into the part that humanity probably doesn't have time to properly evolve on its own now that's it engaged with the Mi-Go and who knows what else. So the question becomes not whether we are evolving or if we're a blank slate, but what should we evolve into.