Spaceship Parking, and then [Location Redacted], The Mainland, Wednesday Afternoon

[firstofitskind]

Liam had been deliberately vague in the note he'd left Verity on Christmas about where exactly they were going and why, but when they decided to make the trip he'd promised her today, he did make sure to mention that she'd want to dress for weather that was warm and humid.

He showed up shortly before the time they'd handwavily agreed to meet at the spaceship parking in the junkyard, just to quickly run his shuttle through pre-flight diagnostics.

[ooc: for the one who is mentioned!

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[arboreal_priestess]

"That could've make a handy camouflage for you," Verity noted. "Asking them to stay still so anytime you used your abilities, no one had any reason to think it was anything but the skrill."

He could probably even rig up a fake one for the island if he didn't want anyone to realize what he could do. Not like anyone there would know what a skrill was supposed to look like anyway.

"Thank you very much for your modeling," she told the young skrill. "I appreciate it very much." She held a hand out, offering the skrill a chance to explore her in turn. It seemed only fair.

"Are all of these skrill genetically engineered?" she asked Liam. "Or are some of them of the original genetic stock before the Taelon took over. Bioengineered on an individual level or across the species?"

[firstofitskind]

"Unfortunately, it would have raised even more questions," Liam explained. "Most Protectors were required to have something called a Cyber-Viral Implant that, among other things, enhanced recall and made the connections with the skrills possible. Da'an- the North American Companion, and the one who'd chosen me to act as his Protector, insisted I be permitted to go without one. Their leader allowed it because he thought it would weaken the both of us."

The skrill crept a bit closer, forelegs tentatively reaching out to touch Verity's fingers.

"The Queen here is... they called her gamma series, I think? Alien, but born here," he added. "Like me, I suppose."

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity stayed still while the skrill explored. Once its movements gained a little more confidence, she touched the little creature back, her movements gentle and deliberate. It wasn't unlike the first visit with infant Aeslin mice.

"But Da'an knew it would provide evidence of what you really are?"

[firstofitskind]

The skrill's head lit with glowing energy as Verity's fingers made contact.

"Careful," Liam said gently, to the skrill more than Verity. "She's a friend, remember."

"Da'an was, in many ways... the closest I had to anything like parental guidance. In fact, he was the one who led me to the truth about the skrills."

[arboreal_priestess]

"I'm sorry," Verity said, letting her fingers fall still again, "if I concerned you by moving. I can hold still if you prefer."

"The truth about them?" she asked. "That they were more than just weapons?" She offered him a sympathetic smile, noting the past tense. "I'm glad you had someone like him, someone who cared about Liam and not just the last Kimera or a useful freedom fighter."

[firstofitskind]

The Queen chittered at them, and Liam translated dutifully.

"It's young still, and doesn't have much conscious control over the energy blasts, is all," Liam explained. "You're fine."

"Da'an was... complicated," he allowed. "But up until the end, he always thought there might be a way we could all work together. When a group of extremists managed to steal the Queen from the Skrill Development Center... well. He understood why I was 'unsuccessful' in bringing her back."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Terrible loss," Verity said with a small shake of her head. "I'm sure you did all you could though. However she ended up down here is a mystery that will likely never be truly solved."

How sad.

[firstofitskind]

"Until humanity is ready to accept aliens living on Earth again, at least," Liam said. It would help that these ones were mostly interested in just keeping to themselves.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Let me know if it happens," Verity said, "and how you manage it. We've got a cryptid crisis coming up in a matter of years and we're still not sure how to handle it."

[firstofitskind]

"Cryptid crisis?" Liam wondered. "Like a population boom, or some of them are just getting tired of hiding?" If he had to guess, he'd figure some combination of both.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Frogs," Verity said with a solemn nod. "My brother's doing a study, out in the Midwest while he's helping some basilisks mate."

Her brother had incredibly weird and nerdy hobbies.

"A lot of frogs are dying out because of some kind of fungal infection, and the frickens--frogs with feathers--are moving in to take their ecological niche. It's too soon to say if the frickens are going to also fall prey to the fungus, but Alex thinks it's doubtful, something about their feathers insulating them or something. But once the frickens have a large enough population boom to replace the frogs, regular science is going to notice. And while frickens themselves aren't all that important, frogs with feathers are going to make them take a long look at some other heretofore considered 'impossible' animals and reconsider."

[firstofitskind]

"Yeah, I can see how that might make some people sit up and go 'hey, wait a minute'," Liam said with a nod.

[arboreal_priestess]

"So, we're talking five years, maybe a few more before at least some cryptids get outed. I think that's one of the reasons my parents are so quietly freaked out by the possibility I'll stop being a cryptozoologist at the end of the year."

[firstofitskind]

"Makes sense," Liam said. "But at the same time... it's not like if you decided to step away from being actively involved with cryptozoology that you'd stop caring, right?"

[arboreal_priestess]

"No, not at all," Verity said. "Still, there are few enough of us already. Just my family and a few friends and allies."

Even now, she was keeping the number vague. She liked Liam, but liking wasn't enough to go against a lifetime of caution.

[firstofitskind]

Liam had put himself into the position of an undercover operative within literal hours of being born, so 'lifetime of caution' was definitely something he could understand.

"And it's not the sort of profession you can just advertise at a job fair," he said.

[arboreal_priestess]

"Between the need for secrecy and trust and the years of training...yeah, not one of those Monster.com ads," Verity said. "But being a professional dancer isn't compatible with cryptozoology,"

[firstofitskind]

"Yeah, either option seems like it'd require your full attention," Liam agreed. "All I can say is, when the time comes... and I realize this may sound somewhat hypocritical, considering there are still very few people on my Earth who know I'm a hybrid, but- those of you who have known all along about cryptids need to be as honest as you can. And humanity may surprise you, with how adaptable they can be." His world had adjusted pretty well to aliens living amongst them, after all.

[arboreal_priestess]

Verity looked skeptical. "I'd agree if the reasons we had so few crypids and cryptid species left weren't due to human-instigated genocide. We wiped out unicorns and dragons and so many others. And the surviving species have long memories."

Rock and a hard place, right here.

[firstofitskind]

"Genocide can be a hard thing to forgive," Liam agreed, staring down at his palms and letting the shaqarava light briefly, then extinguishing it. "But even that is possible."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Maybe," Verity temporized, though she didn't look like she thought it was particularly likely. "A good start would probably be if we stopped with the genocide first."

[firstofitskind]

"I'm sorry. I know our worlds are pretty different. But I've already seen two races embrace the Void because they hid behind lies and half-truths until it was too late for them." And also what he felt was something of a failure of his on a personal level, but details. "I'm not terribly fond of the idea of it happening to any other beings."

[arboreal_priestess]

"Do we have a right to make choices for other sapient creatures, though?" Verity asked, willing, at least, to debate the point with him. "Even if all the cryptzoologists in the world agreed and made the decision for the vegetable lambs and the lesser griffens and the screaming yams and everything, do we really have the right to intentionally out the dragon princesses, the tanuki, and the waheela against their will?"

[firstofitskind]

"Of course not," Liam shook his head. "And trust me, I know a unanimous consensus is a near-impossible feat. But if it's as inevitable as you seem to think, I'm sure they all have some idea of what's coming."

[arboreal_priestess]

"We're trying to get the information out," Verity explained, shaking her head. "Few of them are at the forefront of the sciences. My brother is still collecting the data. There are so many different types of cryptid and most of them are isolated and hidden."