Kirana slowly made her way out from the lab area that the scientists were working in after her talk with scientist that Horizon Labs had leading their research on Mieni Atoll. The night air was fairly cool and normally she wouldn't be so active at night, but it was when the scientist was working and since she agreed to provide blood samples for Teela had lead to some of the surprises she felt some degree of responsibility and since the scientist had explained so much to her, Kirana liked his company very much. In fact, privately, she felt she'd come to love him, but could never bring herself to say it to him. He was, after all, human and she an Animalian. From the edicts that the male Great White Animalian had explained, that meant that they couldn't breed as they were, and the scientist had been so focused on his work that he'd never said anything about there being anyone that he might have in his life. As she slowly moved across the airfield toward the huts that were built for the Animalians living at Mieni to live in, Kirana looked back over her shoulder toward the laboratory/science building that had once been Nimitz Air Force base's command center and sighed.
Kirana had just made it to her hut when a voice spoke up and from the side.
"So... how is Harold?" the voice asked, giving the lead scientists's first name.
Kirana looked up to see Teela approaching with Gaz. The Moray Eel Animalian seemed to be doing well and fairly curious about things out of the water, but she remained more interested in things related to the ocean. She even volunteered to help with the running the enclosures in the atoll's central lagoon, where the two marlins, one Common Bottlenose Dolphin, one Great Hammerhead Shark, and one pilot fish. The enclosures were near an internal dock that had been built by the military to ultimately allow for moving the animals into the tanks to take them into to lab for uplifting, and she did fairly well with it. Though, she also had Ran and Gaz's help with many of the tasks as well. In this Teela seemed to be adjusting well and she also seemed to be okay with making friends with Kirana. Kirana wasn't sure if that was a result of her DNA doing more than expected with regard to Teela's uplifting or just being an Animalian in general.
"He's... he's fine," Kirana said slowly, "He thinks he might have an idea to prove some the theory on why you gained my markings and hands more like mine when you were uplifted and that has him excited."
"Well," Teela spoke, "I suppose that helps secure safety for the new ones being uplifted... but in the end, I really don't think there is anything to complain over at the moment... Other than maybe a mate, but I'd guess they want to avoid repeating the surprises in my uplifting."
Teela slowly shook her tail to draw attention to her tail, which, like Kirana's was banded with black stripes on her tail.
"That is his intention," Kirana nodded with a small smile, "I think I've learned a lot from him. He's been patient and friendly... not to mention kind..."
"That sounds more like you've come to like him," Gaz commented, "and in a way that could lead to marriage."
"MARRIAGE?!" Kirana gasped in surprise.
"Yes... you do spend a lot of time asking him questions and a lot of times when we call come to talk in the evenings, you talk about what you've learned from him," Gaz pointed out, "It would lead me to think that you like him."
"Well I do... but..." Kirana began as she looked between the two of them, "but..."
She looked to see that bot Gaz and Teela had their eyes focused on her. They booth seemed to read her moods quite easily. Though outside of her time asking the lead scientist on Mieni, Kirana spent most of her time with Teela and Gaz and had made fairly good friends with both of them. That gave them all the ability to get to know each other and learn each other's moods and form friendships. Kirana watched as both Gaz and Teela smiled to her.
"It's okay," Gaz said to her, "Ran has told me that there are many Animalians in Animalia/Lyre that used to be human, which would demonstrate that they have skill to transform Harold into an Animalian, including into a male Sea Krait."
"They could do that?" Kirana asked curiously.
"Yes," Gaz nodded, "That's what Ran told me. If he likes you and you like him... he could become an Animalian to join you."
Kirana could not help but smile and raise her head at that. It confirmed to Teela and Gaz that Kirana was interested in the scientist for more than just learning about humanity and what it could offer. They both gave very knowing smiles back.
"Alright... alright," Kirana admitted, "I like him... I REALLY like him..."
"And if he likes you, he might be willing to become an Animalian to give you companionship and love," Teela smiled.
"But he's already collected another Sea Krait to try and test to see if a Sea Krait not exposed to the Animalia Virus would work better for uplifting an eel than me," Kirana said quickly, deciding to leave out the voiced decision to use a different snake species.
"Ah..." Gaz put a hand on Kirana's shoulder, "but if you already love Harold, the snake they've collected isn't going to be him. You'll need to tell him that you like him."
"But what if he doesn't like me?" Kirana asked, "what if he's already married?"
"Then at least you were honest with yourself and with Harold," Gaz answered, "which is the important thing. Telling him would at least give the two of you a chance. If you do nothing... you know that he'll never know how you truly feel."
"Okay... first thing tomorrow," Kirana said before yawning.