On one hand, Tim was glad to see someone else stepping in to lend a hand with this berry situation. Katerina hadn't exactly left much in the way of specific instructions for him, and a having a husky along did make things feel a bit safer out here in the open, but all this open hostility from her was more than a little upsetting... and not just for him. Taking a quick head count, he barely spotted Terry, who looked to be out and out hiding from Katie at the very back of the group, visible only as a twitching pair of ears just visible out over the head of the buck she was using as a shield. He couldn't help but think back to the state she'd been in when she first arrived, and make the connection that she must still have a lingering fear of all things canine. That was enough to push him past his own apprehension and confront the husky.
"Clearly, you're really upset about more than just berries here," he said. "If you need someone to talk to I'm all ears, pun not intended, but rabbits pick up on hostility pretty strongly, and some of us don't handle it very well..." instinctively, he moved to put a sympathetic arm around his shoulder, only to be forcefully shoved away as Katie shouted "Don't you dare touch me!"
It took everything Tim had to stand his ground, trying to look stoic and resolute despite the voice in his head telling him to run. Katie glared back with a look of righteous fury for a moment, before seeing how the rest of the rabbits had taken a few steps back from her at the least, from the sound of things one had actually run off, but Tim's resolve to see this through kept him from looking to see who it was. Katie sighed. "I'm sorry for taking things out on you," she said. "That was unprofessional... but you still aren't off the hook here. You know how important it is for you rabbits to have enough berries to go around. You need to stock up like this at least once a week. You run through them fast enough, and past that they've been known to lose their potency besides."
"I'm well aware," Tim said, feeling his heart pounding away in his chest like he'd just dodged a bullet. "We had only just run out when you arrived. And that offer to talk things out still stands, when you're up for it." Seeing her anger building again, he quickly plucked a few more berries, and headed off to return them and make sure Terry wasn't too badly upset by the exchange.
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Charlotte wished she could be of more help with this whole situation. 'Irene' was going to make sure the FBI had access to her reports, but no one really bothered to try finding out what she hadn't filed yet. She wished she'd known enough sign language to point them at the minotaur. Hopefully they'd piece it together on their own somehow. For now, all she could really do was enjoy her mandatory vacation. It had its upsides of course. The sex was absolutely mind-blowing, and now that they'd ventured out into the ocean, she was having quite a bit of fun swimming around at top speed without having to worry about hitting the sides of the tank. It was still nice having it as a safe place to rest at night though. This wasn't a safe controlled environment like the park. If they got themselves into trouble, nobody would come to the rescue. Still, free food, a coral reef to explore with no diving gear, and plenty of privacy for when Naomi started feeling frisky. She was still surprised at just how often he seemed to be in the mood all things considered. If they were truly all fish from the waist down, they wouldn't be having nearly so much fun, but Naomi was a male dolphin right now where it counted and they certainly weren't shy about these things.
Putting that out of her mind for the moment, she wondered just what the point was behind all these experiments. The park didn't exactly have a place to put guests in mermaid form, and she hadn't found anything about a new park on the coast anywhere. So why even create the template? Military applications? Personal fetish? Just pushing the envelope as far as they could? It'd be worth looking into once she had a computer again.
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The harpy formerly known as the minotaur had eventually been sedated and brought to the park with everyone else. Repairing the broken wing was easy enough after the initial scan, but that was the least of their worries. Irene was able to confirm she hadn't been one of the subjects she'd released from captivity, but she'd seen a similar creature flying away from a chamber at the time. Given that the Minotaur was nowhere to be found, it was reasonable to assume this is what he had been transformed into, particularly given the state of the equipment at the scene. Restoring her to bovine form for interrogation seemed like a reasonable thing to do, especially given the profound panic she was in at the moment. She'd almost caused herself greater injuries than she'd arrived with, flapping about the room she was being kept in in a blind panic, and was now being kept under heavy sedation, but still totally unresponsive when questioned. On the other hand, her current form made for a rather significant piece of evidence for this entire investigation. Not only did it provide ample proof of the degree to which these experiments were unsafe and inhumane, somewhere out there was at least one more person in a form like this one, most likely out there freezing to death and panicking. Studying the bird in the hand, as it were, might provide insight into how to find the one in the bush.
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Brian awoke feeling an odd mix of pride and shame. The two does snuggled against him had worn down his resistance and made for a very exciting evening, but they still seemed to just be thinking of themselves like a pair of sex slaves. HIS sex slaves, which made it that much worse. He was doing his best to instill them with the basic principles of feminism, but it really didn't seem to be registering. When he tried to explain they could do whatever they wanted, what they wanted proved to be him, and when he insisted they leave him alone, they took it like some sort of formal order, slinking away and looking at him with eyes like a puppy that didn't comprehend why their master was angry about them peeing on the carpet. Making matters worse, shortly after sun-up this pair of lizard people had climbed onto the rock he held his meetings at and were just... lying there, staring at him with vacant expressions. What was their story, he had to wonder... because they certainly didn't say anything when he asked.
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Katie felt quite guilty about how she'd treated this new "lord" of the rabbits but this whole situation just made her feel so helpless! The only reason she'd come back to the park was because Harry had needed her help, and when it really mattered, she hadn't been there for him. The worst part was that other than Zack and a few other does, nobody seemed to think there was a problem here that needed solving. "Irene" was completely lucid, and plainly happy like this, not like some of the others who'd come back from offsite. She knew there was a meeting being held on what to about the victims whose brains had been so scrambled they either couldn't talk or were too scared to, which obviously took priority. Naomi was apparently stuck as some kind of fishman for a week which must be hell for her. At least Katie hoped it was. If she were somehow happy being male, that would be even worse than what they'd done to Harry. It'd be like hearing the pope was an atheist or something. Still, something had to be done, and soon. Last she heard, "Irene" was trying to have her pension transfered out to start some sort of charity. "Giving those without the means a chance to find their true selves" or some such. The only think keeping her here (and her new "soulmate" she'd just met what, yesterday?) was that the park's assets were all frozen while this investigation was going on.
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"As I am sure you will be able to confirm from the machines your men seized, yes," Gunther explained, "I have made a number of proposals for forms that would provide guests a more... primal experience here at the park. Before this group arrived, they had been viewed as too controversial to put into practice. However, I was assured that those who would receive them had all very specifically requested exactly what was provided for them. Alterations to the mind and body to leave them more thoroughly ruled by instinct, particularly in matters regarding the courtship and mating practices of the species. A strange request, many would argue, but who are we to judge, hmm?"