On returning to Outpost Caltrop, Neesa explained about the painting to Bumper (who did not seem to appreciate art much). Still, the Titanian was intrigued about the mention of magic, so gave the Karnor a square coin with an interference pattern micro-etched on both sides to produce a holographic crest - apparently for some Khattan trading group. The coin itself was thin but dense. She also informs Neesa and Tasha that their trading on Caltrop is nearly finished, so advised against making plans for tomorrow.

Kem Studios
Across from the Surf-n-Turf and a bit further up the curve of the shaft is an unassuming structure that has a glass (or at least transparent) front, so that many pieces of art can be displayed. There's also a notice of a immersion pod for acoustic art. Like the front, the floor is also transparent and covers a four-foot-deep water tank.

As before, the artist is applying the preservative anti-copying compound to a painting when Tasha and Neesa arrive at the studio. It's Neesa's painting, also. "I wasn't sure if you were going to return," the Vartan notes when they enter. "I'd heard your ship had left suddenly."

"Uh, yah. Dumb snakes stick fork-tongue in thing that not theirs and Tandu tag along. Tandu vaporized, snakes running. Is good," the fake Titanian says; Tasha in disguise. She walks up to the man and cranes her head to look around him, viewing the painting. "Fudgy have money. Right, Fudgy?"

"Oh yes, this..uh.. osmium was it?" the Karnor asks, then hands over the coin. Kem looks over both sides with his sharp eyes.. then bites the coin with his beak. "This covers the painting cost," he says, and drops the coin into one of the many pockets on his vest. He then turns his attention on 'Rustpuppy' and asks, "Where did you learn to speak Vartan? Do the Titanians take prisoners after all?"

"I tell you, I like birdies. Study birdies, know birdie language, know birdie fight, know culture, know lots of things. Uhhhhhhh," it's here Tasha eyes the other man with a particularly careful eye, the shrewd gaze at odds with her inane time-waster, "-uuuhh, hum. Maybe I tell you? Maybe when Fudgy go, uh, dinner mebbe?"

Kem raises an eyebrow. "Our culture, you say?" he asks. "And yet, when we first met, you seemed astounded that I wasn't a mercenary. But now I am curious - so dinner it is. Here, with me and Lielani."

"Can I have something to wrap this in?" Neesa asks timidly. "I don't want to carry it back uncovered.."

"Sound good," Tasha agrees, tail wagging. She then turns to Neesa and says, "I wait here, maybe go back to Bumper? You be okay? I can come with, then return. Anyone give problem, I bonk. Yah? Otherwise, I stay here and watch paint."

Lielani provides Neesa with a nylon sleeve for the canvas, and the Dream Mage turns to Tasha and says, "I think Bumper will be at the Surf-n-Turf, so I'll go there. I need to eat too, after all."

Tasha nods to this. "Ah yah, that good. Uh, here ... " Neesa gets handed Tasha's belt flask -- which is really some sort of recycled, kludged together and sealed tube plus associated parts. The first flask is followed by another, and then an actual flask made of metal. "Fill please." To be helpful, the mock-Titanian tucks the various liquor contains in to Neesa's robe pockets, given her hands are full.

"You know whatever they have will be watered down, right?" Neesa points out, but smirks. "Have fun and try to stay out of trouble."

"Better than nothing!" Is the predictable response of the fake Titanian, who grins and then reaches over to pat Neesa's head. "I be fine, always am, ya? If not ... " She balls a fist. "I punch." She winks. "See you later, Fudgy."

Tasha turns back to the Vartan and grins widely at him, then makes her way over to an unoccupied chair and plops herself down. "Oh, and I'm not?" She asks, halitool laying across her lap. "I like to think I have an excellent Titanian accent."

"But I do agree," the false space wolf adds, her grin turning lopsided, "She is very well spoken. Educated, you know?"

"I can't place her accent, but I have not traveled the Terran colonies," Kem notes, crossing his arms and leaning against a table to look at Rustpuppy. "You're both Karnors. Spies? Willingly working with the Titanians for.. whatever reason. Or are you agents of Dr. Moreau's, more likely. Fudgy is definitely a throwback."

"Actually ... " Reaching up to her head, Tasha begins unlatching the various straps and binders that seal the face plate she wears to her head. When she's done, she pulls the plate away revealing a feathered half of her face with avian eyes -- A Vartan face. "I prefer to think of ourselves as 'researchers.' But don't get the wrong idea, I do consider myself Titanian on a level. This is, after all, my hammer. I built it, following Titanian tradition as taught to me. It's mine, and no one else's. Armor too. Rustpuppy is my name -- it's just not the only one. Fudgy is much the same way. I hope you won't consider spreading this information?"

"My business is painting, not information," Kem notes. "So you aren't an agent of Moreau's come to make sure I don't paint him again?"

There's a hum from Lielani's harness. It sounds distinctly like a weapon charging up.

"You know, I should be given how many people ask me that -- it would save time and streamline this whole process!" The woman barks a laugh, winks, then folds her hands behind her head and leans back, letting her jet nacels fall to either side of the wall outcropping. "But no!" She uncoils a hand long enough to waggle a winger towards the source of the whine before returning to rest on it. "I'm not here to hurt you, and hurting me would just cause problems for all of us. More than you can know."

"So just who are you?" Kem asks. "A Vartan made to look like a Karnor? Where are you from?"

"Oh, from somewhere I'm sure," Tasha answers, ehad tilting to the side. "You'll forgive me if I don't answer that, won't you? I could come up with a lie, but, given I've taken the risk in revealing myself to you and given how uncomfortable it is lying to a fellow Vartan who has shown us hospitality, I'd prefer to just go with that. You can keep calling me Rustpuppy, or Rusty, or ... Well, you're an artist like I am, and much better than me, I' sure you can come up with a name? And, did you say you have a painting of Dr. Moraeu?"

Tasha's head tilts the other way, which allows her to peer off at Lielani. "And you asked what I am, well, that's a bit of a mystery too."

"I painted his portrait, but I do not have the painting," Kem notes. "Except up here," he adds, tapping his head with a talon. "And you call yourself Vartan.. but I only see an eye. How did you come to be this way? Why were you surprised that I hadn't been a mercenary?"

"I've always been this way," Tasha notes as she reaches up to return her mask to her face, resealing it. "But if you want to know more, it would be better if we waited until your shop closed. It'd be, well, awkward if someone walked in right now. Until then ... " Mask on, Tasha looks up and grins, tail wagging, "I watch paint, yah birdie?"

"Hmmm," Kem says, and nods to Lielani. The dolphin powers down her weapon, whatever it might have been. The Vartan then pushes off from the table and heads for another part of the studio. "Follow me then," he tells Tasha.

"I coming," goes Tasha, who stands up and shoulders her weapon. As she follows after, she pauses just long enough to reach up and pat the top of Lielani and her walker. "Thanks for no shoot!" She says with a big smile and a wag of her tail, then she heads after the other Vartan.

There is a wooden stool set here, before a large canvas.. it must be four feet tall and six wide at least. The painting on it is unfinished, showing an aerial view looking down on some sort of alien jungle or forest, with a cluster of huge spires rising from it. The spires look like buildings, with glass and steel - but there are also outcroppings of natural looking stone, each one serving as a platform for waterfalls that spiral around each of the spires in a series of steps. Kem sits down and prepares a fresh palette from a supply of paint dispensers on a rolling cart.

"Hum, pretty," goes Tasha, who finds a seat in a darkened corner and reaches up to work at her mask again. "This secure enough, so we talk ... That is, we can talk more now. By the way, these aren't actually vernier jet nacels." The mask comes off and Tasha scratches at her feathers, frowning as she finds them a bit damage fromed all the pressure. "And please, if I'm interupting, just say so. I can wait in silence. I do have one question though: Where is that place, the one in the painting?"

"Celes Aerie, where the University of Varta is," Kem notes, and begins to work more on the central lake between the spires, where the waterfalls eventually spill into. "One of the largest Vartan cities."

"I'd only heard of Varta, I've never actually seen it. Somehow, though, I had a feeling that was it. The pillars, of course -- made for fliers -- but I like to think I can hear its spirit therough the painting. Thank you for showing it to me; Some day, I'd like to see it for myself And a university, too -- wouldn't that be nice?" Shifting in her seat, Kem can see her pull out various items from her belt, although they're a bit indistinct in the dark corner and her cloak and nacels don't help much.

"Please don't take any pictures," Kem has to say. "So, the nacelles hide your Vartan wings?"

"Oh I wouldn't!" Tasha insists, pausing to raise up her hand to show she's only holding a spanner. "We have good memories for visuals, and I'd never forget this anyway." She twists, then begins undoing various bolts and latches on the nacels, releasing the crude, but strong, seal that she cobbled together from various parts. "And that's right. I'm a Vartan-Karnor hybrid; An older model Karnor, as you noticed. Either you know a lot more than you let on, or you've been studying Karnor history or faces. I can't imagine you paint a lot of older Karnor, however."

"I see enough," Kem says. "Everyone comes through places like this eventually. Everyone that has a reason to not be where they were before, at least. And I'm very interested in the whole Uplift process, given my relationship with Lielani. I've never heard of a Vartan hybrid though."

"I wouldn't put it past the Confederates to make one though," Kem says, possibly fishing for information.

"Ah, well, see that's the problem: I'm the only one." Tasha tilts her head, pausing in her unlatching, then with a jerk pops the last nut and one of her nacelles thumps to the ground. "Ow," she complains, reaching over to gently move it to the wall as she leans in to her exposed wing. "I really should have considered padding," she mutters, head shaking before she returns to topic. "But no, not Confederate. No Terran -- well, not like that. Not one of Dr. Moraeu's. I was born like this. And, considering how many people suspect I'm one of Moraeu's, I can't help but think we'll run in to each other eventually; It's really not my business on a higher level, but personally, I find the process just as fascinating. More than that, I have a certain interest in the proliferation of sentient species, and, species origins in general."

"You don't seem like a biologist to me," Kem notes, as he works on a tiny sailboat. "And nobody would think a hybrid would make a good spy. So I suppose you must not be a spy. That doesn't explain what you're doing with the Titanians." Then the Vartan pauses and turns to look at Tasha again, now that her wings are exposed. "The Khattans have also been known to alter their agents to resemble those being investigated though."

"Why does everyone doubt I could be in one of the learned professions?" Tasha asks, giving a mock-hurt expression and a big overdone frown. "It's really insulting. Of course, you -- and they -- are right, but still! Insulting." She laughs, the sad expression melting away as a smile returns. The hybrid is grey and white, but then she admits, "Not my real colors, incidentally." She then cocks her her to the side again, brows raising. "I wouldn't blame you for suspecting I'm a Khattan investigator, though. To be honest, I can't really offer you and proof that I'm not, that I know of. And, I have Khattan implants, which doesn't help much, does it?"

"Khattans mostly spy on one another," Kem notes. "So you should be out in the market, trying to find out where Crazy Omar gets his discount caviar. Khattans aren't interested in Vartans.. unless of course they are frightened by certain rumors regarding Dr. Moreau, which would make me suspect for having met him when he came through here. But that was before he 'went rogue'."

"He was out here? That seems like a long way for a member of the Terran Uplift Council to wander ... Do you suspect he was paving the way for his escape? I can't imagine you could fly away with Terra's prized subjects without a great deal of help. But what do I know?" Tasha shrugs to her own question, then admits, "But you want to know what I'm doing, and I've strung you along enough already as it is. I'm sure your mate is still thinking of shooting me; I know I would be. So: I'm a researcher. More specifically, I'm an adventurer who decided to take some time and see the universe. Very specifically: I research old ruins, relics, cultural origins, histories and the beliefs surrounding the precursor species."

"Oh, and I'm a warrior too when I need to be," Tasha adds as she jerks the last nacelle bolt free, revealing her other wing. "So in your own words, I'm, um, what was it? Bloodthirsty and insane?"

"So, you travel with the Titanians because they are interested in old relics?" Kem asks. "And yes, the doctor was certainly getting the lay of the land and setting the foundation for his escape. Uplift occurs over hundreds of generations - those who plot its course think long-term. As for you.. you are part Karnor, and likely ancient Karnor, if that's the DNA your creators were able to obtain. Karnor seem sane, but then so do humans until you get them worked up. Terrans are all capable of extreme violence, even the Phins. And from your interests.. for a Vartan, you might be a bit mad. Like me."

"Oh, definitely!" Tasha confirms as she leans forward in her seat, her head perched on her arms which, in turn, rest on her elbows atop her legs. "That's another thing I get called all the time. All the time. But yes: I'm interested in old relics. I am especially interested in Progenitor relics, if you happen to know of any. And yes, I know -- or at least suspect -- you have very little to do with any of that. That isn't why I revealed myself. The reason is, well ... You've met her, haven't you? The Goddess in the Dream Sea? An Old One, no less! But her words, her, um, song has been pecking at me, and pecking, and pecking. I really see what you mean about her! It's, um, a bit maddening really. She made me realize I was homesick in ways I never thought of, and so, well ... Here was this Vartan who wasn't the sad mess I'd heard we were and became, full of beauty, and art ... And I guess I felt lonely."

"That is what I was when I arrived on Terra," Kem admits, putting his brush down to turn and face Tasha. "I had the worst disease any Vartan could have: to feel isolated among his own people. Vartan culture is embracing.. but also stifling to some. How do you be original, when there are ten thousand years of others before you? In truth, when I left Varta.. I left everything I was. Sold my home and possessions. I went to Terra to die. And so I did, I suppose. Lielani found me, and showed me how to let go of the old me and be reborn. You speak of Nukapai. I don't know how you met her, but for me.. it was very physical."

"I met her through her song, actually. I know I looked like I was falling asleep, but, no. I certainly didn't expect to have an Old One appear and offer to lift my spirits. Most of the gods I've met are, well, comforting isn't a word I'd use to describe them. She gave me hope in the universe and in what I might find; More than that, she helped me not be afraid of things so much greater than I am." After taking a deep breath, Tasha reaches a hand out towards the other Vartan, offering to take his. "I know what it's like to feel alone. I'm sorry you had to endure that; I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. If it helps any, I felt the same way among other Vartans, too. Closer to them than the others -- Karnors included -- but still alone. The only one, and, no matter how hard I tried, I'd always be different. I hated the world for that, and I took it out on whomever I could."

Tasha bites her lip a moment, then asks, "So, how did you meet her? Does her physical body exist on Terra, then?"

"I cannot say that I have met many gods," Kem says. "I did not think I was going to meet one when I flew out over the ocean, planning to keep going until I dropped of exhaustion and drowned. But Vartans are no common sight on Terra, and a pod of Phins noticed me and followed. When I fell, Lielani kept me on the surface, despite my protests. But she knew better than I what I needed. She brought me to the whales. They were giants, but still not even the largest breed. But they sang. Lielani let me sink then, and they all came and looked at me. It is.. difficult to explain. To be so small, but not feel small. I blacked out, and Nukapai came.. then when I woke up I was back in Hawaii. Lielani carried me there. We've been together ever since."

"That's quite a story," Tasha admits, her hand returning to her laps, where she pulls off her glove to reveal that the hand had been Vartan all along. "It's strange what you can find, when you no longer care where you go. When you lose your home and set to wandering. Either way, I'm glad you didn't die back then, and that you found her. I know she cares about you -- itw as obvious from the moment we met, when she never stopped eyeing us like we'd come to kill you." The hybrid turns to smile at Keilani, then holds up her hands. "I swear to the gods I'm not here to harm Kem. Please believe me when I say you shouldn't tell anyone about me -- not even out of suspicion. Another Phin asked those questions, too, and the answer ... Well, she destroyed the answer and told me to lie. And so I have."

"I still don't trust you," Lielani says in that dolphin sing-song, vaguely insulting tone. "Kem will want to see you naked. He always wants that. He is a pervert."

"I don't mind if you don't trust me; I'm a strange woman with strange habits dressed like a Titanian. I am dangerous. But more than anything I wnat you to trust that you should never talk about me, except that you knew a Titanian named Rustpuppy," Tasha urges the Phin, meeting her eyes when she can and locking her stare until she's sure the other woman acknowledges what she said. Then, she turns to Kem and asks, "Naked, huh? It always comes to that, too. So are perverted men! I can't let you paint me, though. Well, maybe if you destroy it."

Kem's neck feathers puff out a bit at the 'destroy it' remark. "In that case.. perhaps you can just tell me what parts are Karnor and which are Vartan, and I can imagine the rest," he suggests.

"I'm sorry," The revealed Karnor-Vartan admits, "I know it would hurt to destroy your creation, but better that than allowing it to destroy something more precious." And here she gives Keilani a glance before looking back. "I'm not sure telling you would help. I shouldn't exist; It's better that I remain indistinct. But ... " The young woman tilts her head, thinking for a moment, then she offers, "I can tell you a little story; A story about us, the Vartan. I don't know if t's known on Varta, though, so it may be of little worth."

"We've been Clients for ten thousand years," Kem notes. "I'm sure there are many stories we don't know."

"About that," Tasha begins, a frown creasing her muzzle at the mention of Clients. "It wasn't always that way. I don't know what the Khattans -- or Mafdet, their creator -- did to gain the Vartans submission, but I want to know. Um, but anyway: Long ago, there were the Old Ones. Their time passed, and most faded beyond our knowing. Then came the First Ones, who spread throught the universe, but their time ended in the face of a great calamity that wiped them from the stars. The universe was silent then, until the Progenitors came, exiles from their home universe. Among them were the creators of many species, but the one I want to share is Horus: Horus, creator of Vartans, Progenitor, Warrior, King, Loving Father. He and the others looked upon a lifeless universe, and felt alone. So they created us, that we migth fill the universe for them. Some of us had purpose; Others did not.. Some were not to their liking, while a few they favored. We were the favored, and we had purpose along with thre other

s. But, Horus loved us too much to use us, so he let us go. And now you see part of why I despaired: Horus fred us, but somehow it seemed we have found a new master, and someone else to tell us what to do. I saw no Vartan cities, nor artists, and I feared there wasn't any to find. Then I found you. So when you think you're different, that maybe you're not doing things the 'Vartan way,' remember Keilani, remember the Goddess, and remember Horus who loves you and wanted you to have the freedom to be different."

"Old, old names you speak of," Kem says. "There are a lot of histories. I assumed all were shaped to serve certain ends. Whatever happened.. it happened. We became Clients. That time is soon to end. And right out of the gate.. we will be Patrons, I suspect. There will always be those who keep working for the Khattans, of course. But they won't be used to conquer their own people again."

"I hope not," Tasha says, nodding slowly. "I can't say that I like the idea of Clients very much, but, well, at least with the Terrans and -- I think with us -- it'll be about family and protecting the weaker species, offering aid and helping in developement." The young woman turns to eye her wings for a moment, then leaans back and stretches them out against the wall. "Sore." She notes, then says, "I'd only recently met the Phin, did you know that? And the Pan. Terra seems to be following the steps of the Progenitors, maybe even improving on it. And Dr. Moraeu, well, he's like a living Progenitor. Not literally, of course! But like them, and after meeting the Phin, and seeing how the universe is going, I think I'd like to help him out if I can. I might learn something, and it might be betetr if I bother someone who might need me than to haunt parties who are probably better off never knowing I exist." And at that, tasha smiles, albiet a bit wryly.

"Really?" Tasha asks, pausing as she reaches back to pick at her mattered feathers. "I suspect the Titanians may too, but I haven't asked yet -- I wasn't sure if I should interfere. I'm, um, well ... I'm already pushing things by being here." The young woman frowns as she turns back to eye her wings, then makes shark plucking pulls with her thumb and pointer as she straightens out the problem areas. "I guess I'm sort of a problem for my own people, too? Well, too late now. I'd like to know, please, of you would. I might even be able to help protect him, if he needs that, and what he's doing is worth protecting. But tell me: Is he a good man? Kind? Do you think he's doing this for himself, profit, or because he cares?"

As she waits, something occurs to Tasha as she stairs at the artwork, then she asks, "Varta? The university?"

"He's doing it because the gorillas deserve sapience," Kem claims. "I am fairly certain, from his previous visit here, that he is on the Vartan frontier world of Zaphiel, home to ruins of the Qwackoo civilization. The ones who likely made our pre-Uplift ancestors."

Tasha's brows raise at that. "That wouldn't happen to be where the Origin Marker of Vartans was found, would it?" She asks.

"It might be, I wouldn't know," Kem says. "I never was one for religion. But the Progenitors you're looking for didn't create us.. not all of us, certainly. It was Uplift, for the most part. Maybe some tinkering here and there, but we weren't formed out of clay and breathed life into."

"I'd heard that may be the case," Tasha explainss, head nodding as she turns back to face Kem fully. "The records were a bit vague, though, and often full of metaphores and unexplained mysteries. But anyway, that just means I need to find him that much more. If Uplift is part of the mystery, and if I can help him, then I'm going."

"Vartan worlds don't exactly welcome outsiders," Kem notes. "And especially not Titanians."

"I'll find a way," Tasha notes, arms folding across her chest as she leans back. "I don't back down from a challenge, well, not usually anyway. Maybe I can get the Titanians to insert me in to orbit. I should probably acquire my Titan if I'm going to be searching the planet, and maybe some other things. But, as for trust, well, people like me! I'm sure I can work things out." The younger woman smiles, giving a wink.

"They do?" Kem asks, then seems to pause in thought. "I suppose the mystery is endearing, to a degree. But then did you charm your way aboard a Titanian cruiser?"

"Of course!" Tasha says, arms unfolding and and hands spreading wide. "I've known the crew of the Daint Mauler for a while. One of their crew -- Blammo -- and I are friends from back when I first started to explore in earnest, we had a lot of fun together and I helped him get his Titan! Some time later I'd become depressed at my lack of ability to match my peers, but one sugested that I restart my research and mentioned no one has ever gotten close to Titanians, and that maybe I should start there. So, I walked up and asked if I could come with, and off we went! That giant fish we were selling? I helped club it down to the deck!" The young woman's hands fall, then she reaches over to pat her haliberd. "They're really interresting, when you get to know them. Bumper's my mentor out here, and Captain Rushfighter is what you would call an innovator. Though," and here she tilts her head, "I suppose it helps that if I betray them, they can hunt me down. I don't know how, but, somehow they can. I suspect

its contact with artifacts, or possibly the Harrowers. I prefer to think they like me because I'm fun, though!"

"Ah, and here I thought it was because of your cute friend," Kem claims, with a Vartan smirk. "Are Vartans and Titanians sexually compatible then?"

"I need to stop hanging around women who are cuter than I am," Tasha complains, ears sinking against her head as she drops back against the wall, arms folding. "And, um, I don't know. Don't ask them either, I already get enough people trying to ruin my relationship by seducing me."

"You must spend a lot of time around Terrans then," Kem claims. "Lielani seduced me. They are all very touchy-touchy."

"I do lately," Tasha admits, glancing at Lielani and grinning at her reaction. "My mate is Terran, actually. An ex-Terran Military ship captain, Karnor. He's probably wondering where I wandered off too, again. Sometimes I think he'd be betteroff with Katie than with me -- Katie's my, um, well ... Maybe more like I'm her's. It's complicated. She seduced me! I didn't stand a chance, it was like trying to fight a, um, a dreadnought with some rockets glued to a knife."

"Ah, a woman with presence?" Kem asks. "Or did she save you from drowning and introduce you to a new spiritual connection to the universe?"

"The presence thing," Tasha says with certainty. "She's, um, a star. A celebrity. Do you know what a 'model' is? And an actress; She's wealthy and famous and everyone loves her -- so no I don't know what happened and even if I did she'd just smile and I'd forget again. At least with my Gabriel I can think straight, Katie is like a force of nature."

Then, in a sudden moment of self-conciousness, Tasha asks, "Am I really that bad looking? I tell you, I don't normally look like this. I cut my hair, I glued these teeth on and my fur is colored this way to blend in. It works, I think, but now you're making me feel bad."

"Why didn't you bring her along?" Kem says. "Oh, I'm just teasing you because I can't paint you. But that armor of yours does make you look a bit.. well, I can't say anyone has ever found a Titanian all that attractive, and your disguise is good."

"Wow, I've succeeded in becoming less attractive." Tasha repeats with a sigh, though she keeps grinning despite it all. "Fine, I'll show you -- but if it ruins your lives or your species somehow don't blame me!" Reaching up, Tasha shoves the heavy latches on her shoulder -- really shoves them -- then begins undoing many, many others including some twist-knobs and what might be pins. "It's a bit of a kludge," she admits as she works, "As for why, well, not everyone is as crazy as us, you know. She has her career and officially, we're just friends. It's also a problem, because I'd been trying very hard to be loyal to my Gabriel. Does Vartan tradition allow you get marry more than one person?" With one last shove -- and some hitting with her spanner -- Tasha's chestplate falls off, revealing a shorter, curvier body of a young woman. When she pulls her leg up, the two can see she really does have hooves. "I can't tell you how nice it is to be out of that," she then admits.

"There are group marriages," Kem says, and seems more appreciative of Tasha outside her armor. "That is.. a very different look. You don't have a feathered torso, but you have a Vartan lower half.." The man then blinks, and looks to Lielani, then back to Tasha. "Well, I always did want to meet a mermaid, and I suppose you are the closest to one I will encounter."

"When we first met, Gabriel said that I 'couldn't make up my mind if I wanted to be an angel or a devil,' which sums up my life rather well really." Tasha lays her armor to the side, the stands up and stretches, curling her arms around each other. She's wearing a hexagonal undersuit, as she usually does. "So, group marriages? Maybe I should start a small clan. Her father might try to murder me though, but my Gabriel won't mind. I just worry he'll like her better, but then, I've thought maybe they'd be better off together without me. I hate making him worry, or suffer." The stretch abates, then Tasha looks down at herself and brushes her body off, unnecessarily. "My actual color is red and gold -- a blue based red and cool blonde for the hair and wing tips."

"Not Titanian colors to be sure," Kem admits, then cocks his head to one side. "Nor Karnor ones that I know of. Plenty of red Vartans though."

"Now you know where I got it from," Tasha says with a smile as she lowers herself back in to her seat. "Well, want to paint me? Just to be clear: It could be the doom of you and your family, and, maybe the Phin species and this station -- but if you've held Dr. Moraeu's secret so well then it's probably safe. If not, well, then ... " The young woman looks to the holder, waggling her hand at Kem as she does, "We can say Kem's perversion doomed us all. Come to think of it, that does sound like how I'd expect the Phin to vanish."

"I don't see how you can be that dangerous," Kem suggests, but nods. "I will just make it seem like a fantasy painting, and you can take it with you."

"Another potentially embarassing painting? And I also shared more than I should. I'm not clever at all when I start being friendly, or bonding," the hybrid waggles her fingers in a spooky way at the mention onf 'bonding', "with people. I'll have to remember that. I was doing so well with the 'she's a dangerous spy' act, too!" Tasha's ears go flat, then she shakes her head. "Now I'm self-concious. You better start painting before I cry or something else we all regret."

"We'll have to go into the portrait studio. I don't recognize the make of your skinsuit, so it should be safe to paint as is," Kem notes. "What sort of background would you like?"

"Better you don't paint that, actually," Tasha insits, then she asks leilani to dim the windows and lock the doors as then begin heading out. "I'll just take it off. As for a background, well, how about Varta?"

"The fountains of Horus perhaps?" Kem asks, as she leads her into another room. It is blank-walled, until Kem brings up virtual lights and a holographic backdrop.

"That sounds perfect. I have a soft spot for him, between you and me," Tasha replies as they enter a room she's never seen, as she expected they'd be using the front room. "Do you think I'd look better with warm reds instead of cool? I've been wondering that. Oh, I have neural tattoos, too, but I'm not sure we should be showing those, either."

"I can alter the lighting to bring out different colors," Kem says. "A few combinations can bypass the dyes," he notes.

"It's not dye, exactly. I used a Titanian device called a 'spinner,' which I think alters the molecular formation of surface materials to reflect different wavelengths. That, or, well .. I don't know, really! It was the only paintbrush we had," Tasha admits as she walks over to the posing area, then lays down. "Can you also project the fountains so I can see them? Maybe behind you? I'm curious."

A few gestures, and the room goes away. The pair is on a manicured lawn, near the base of a large double waterfall. The spill down either side of a rock extrusion that has been carved into the figure of a robed hawk-headed god, a thousand feet tall.

"We can try to overproject based on your other colors," Kem suggests. "Did you alter the patterns or just the hues?"

"So that's what you see him as. My version' shorter, but there's similiarities," the model remarks as she studies the statue's face. "His beak is shorter, he matches the frame more than the avatar." She then looks away and answers, "Just the hues. I don't have enough practice with the device to do much more, and coloring my whole body was more of an emergency trick than something I planned to rely on."

The control device for all of the effects is also shaped like a paint palette, and Kem continues to manipulate it. "Do you wish to be painted as you are, or as fully Vartan?" he asks.

"You can do that?" Tasha asks, ears perking. "I admit, I've always wondered what I'd look like as a full Vartan, but I'm a little afraid to know since I'd just recently become comfortable with being what I am. Still, it could be interesting -- why don't chose, since I've been a bit of a problem?"

"I can show you," Kem says. "You have enough Vartan facial features to extrapolate from." There are several moments of working with the control device, and then... Tasha has a beak, and fluffy feathers covering her (slightly more ample) chest and arms.

"Ah!" Goes Tasha in a suitably squawky reaction, the young woman sitting up and holding her hands out as she looks down at herself. "Well, um, now I look like my mother." Sure enough, Tasha looks like a shorter, younger Desdemona, although her lower height makes her more hourglass shaped and her Karnor heritage tends to make her beak pointier, ears sharper and facial features somewhat different. "I like it, though. I always wondered ... And now I know."

There are other differences besides the head, too: Tasha's golden highlights -- something she inherited from both her father and Nora -- give her a spread of golden touches across her body, including on her neck, where her talon scales meet her fur, and here and there in a symmetrical pattern. "It's a bit eerie, to have one of your old dreams appear in the flesh."

The final difference is that of the base of Tasha's red versus her mother's: Her mother is a warm red, while Tasha is cool: Another aspect inherited from her other parents. "Oh, I should tell you that we might be leaving tomorrow. I may have to get the painting without the coating. Don't worry, though: I can take care of it if you don't mind providing me with some of the coating."

"The coating is the most expensive part," Kem notes, and selects a canvas that conveniently has the background painted on it already. "Now.. how would you to pose? Coy, playful, shy, or something else?"

"Can you include Katherine? Because normally she would appear and tell me how to stand," the model admits as she resumes laying down. "But that won't work this time, so ... Well, I'm here with Horus, aren't I? Could you paint me, um, lets see ... symbolisim ... Oh! How about with my hand at the base of his statue, looking up at his face, while also symbolically at both the past and the future? The future being the sky, of course, but you know that. As for an expression, how about determined?"

"Well, you'll have to provide the pose and expression.. I can just zoom the landscape around. You realize that that close to the statue.. you won't be able to make out any detail of it, just the hem of the robe?"

"I was hoping you could paint from an upward angle. but if that won't work, then I'll just lay here and smile, with Horus in the background. Mel will probably appreciate," Tasha replies as she shifts in to the aforementioned position.

Kem makes a few more adjustments, to make sure the projected 'face' matches up properly with Tasha's actual expression, and then begins to paint. Holographic feathers unfortunately don't provide warmth, not that the room is cold.. but it's cool.

Glad she chose a pose where her head rests on her hands, Tasha settles in and waits. She almost asks to have a fire lit, then she almost asks to the recirculated air warmed, but then she decides it'll probably interfere with the paint consistency and so tries to grin -- or in this case smile -- and bear it. With little else to do, her mind wanders to all the concerns, big a little, she still needs to address and how she's about to embark on another reckless plan that may leave Gabriel out. I'm sure he'll understand, she decides, thinking he must sympathize with the Uplift project, We were both born from it, so my contributing is important on that level, too. But, can I really just go again? Can I make the Titanians wait for me? Maybe I should deal with Lord Yama, and then use my own ship -- but that could tak months or years to be made ready. Lord Yama may not even be our enemy. And so it continues.

Eventually, Kem lays his brush down, and declares that he is finished. It probably wasn't that long, since he didn't have to do the background. "You would certainly turn heads as a Vartan, Rustpuppy," the artist claims. "If I hadn't been spoilt by Lielani.."

"If you're going to make your mate jealous, could I at least have my armor back on? because I'd be considering hitting me about now," Tasha notes as she sits up, hand rubbing her hip where she'd been laying on it for a half an hour or so. "But, you don't think my real self is that nice?"

"I am a bit biased," Kem admits. "And there's no danger of making Lielani jealous, since I would never stray. Looking is one thing, but once you go Phin... well, nothing else can ever compare."

"Well, I have Gabriel and Katie, even if the 'would never stray' comment makes me feel bad, now." Tasha stands, yawning a moment before she walks over to her undersuit and slips in to it. "Leilani, what do you think of all this? Do you think I should push for my Gabriel to be with Katie? What would you do?"

"Start a harem," the dolphin suggests. "Is Gabriel cute? I'll take him if you don't want him.."

"But really, it matters more what he wants than what you want for him," the Phin claims.

Tasha eyes the other woman as she walks over to her armor, beginning the lengthy process of reattaching it and returning to Titaniandom. "I thought you were loyal to ... No, I forgot I was talking to a Phin, nevermind!" She grins, waggling her spanner at the neo-doplhin before admitting, "But your advice has merit, I think. If we were to enter a group marriage, they'd have each other when I'm gone, and I'd still have them to come home to. I don't really think gabriel wants to lose me, either, and I don't want to lose him. I just get, well, see, this is my first real relationship and I'm not sure I'm ready. I've made mistakes, and they feel unfair. But he keeps telling me not to worry about it, and Katie makes my brain stop working so I don't even know what to tell her." The legs go up and the arms slide on, then Tasha encases herself in the chest piece and begins locking things down. "And he is very cute. They both are! Gabriel's one of the most noble men I've ever met, and he was a hero bef

ore we even met each other. He, well, he lost his family -- everything, really. I found him just like you found Kem, in a way."

"Thing about relationships: you both decide things," Lielani claims. "So, no point in worrying about it when you're apart, since you won't really decide until you're together again."

"That's true," Tasha admits, nodding her head as the last latch is swung closed with the sound of clanking metal. "I am sorry if I got a little, um, over-emotional. This all probably more than you wanted to hear from an untrustworthy spy-pirate, and I feel like I've endangered you because I couldn't hold back my bonding instinct and my insecurity. It's a bit pathetic, isn't it?"

"Nah, very Vartan," Kem says. "Happens all the time, when other Vartans come through."

"Is that so?" Tasha smiles at the observation, standing a little taller. "Well, that's not so bad, is it?" She reaches in to one of her tool pouches and pulls out what appears to be an actual mechanical watch and eyes it. "I'd better get going. We'll have to eat another time, but if I'm heading to Vartan space I'll need to ask Bumper about the trip early in case the Captain wants to change his plans."

"Good luck," Kem says, and runs a wand over the painting to complete the drying process. "Painting is free," he notes, handing it over.

"Really? Are you sure?" Tasha asks, accepting the painting and taking a look at it. "Lielani is right, you know. Well, we've trusted each other with everything else -- I guess I can help you out by being soft, too. Do you really want to know where I'm from? Because if you do, maybe you can come see it."

"I came here of my own accord. One of the very few," Tasha answers, lowering the painting so she can look Kem in the eye.

The Vartan considers. "I'm not sure Doctor Moreau where I said he would be," he notes. "But if he is, then maybe he will still need someplace more hidden. So just in case.. better that I don't know."

"I thought that too, but since I'm being fair and Vartan rather than clever and Titanian, I thought I'd offer just the same. I hope we'll meet again, some day. If I'm lucky, maybe you'll even see Captain Rustpuppy docking one day soon," Tasha says, smiling a bit brighter. "It was a pleasure to met you too, Leilani, suspicious or not."

"Oh, I already got that lesson. I've been to Encante," the mock-Titanian notes as she walks over to pick up her halitool, then shoulders it. "Luckily, Phins know: Make Titanian angry, Titanian punch." She makes a fist, then bonks herself on the head with it and winks.

"Safe travels," the Vartan and dolphin bid Tasha, before showing her out of the studio. The Surf-n-Turf is a few degrees around the shaft, but the most likely place to find Neesa and Bumper.

"Bye birdies! Bye fishie!" Tasha calls as the door closes, painting tucked under her arm and hidden by her body and oversized nacelles. With that done she turns and takes a moment to look around, watching for anything suspicious out of habit as much as intentional caution, then she begins back towards the ship to drop off her painting.

After that's done, the disguised hybrid returns to the main concourse and makes her way through the grounds back to the biggest tavern on the station. Next time I'm here, I should visit the shops, she decides, thinking she should get some souvineers when she has actual money to spend.

Things are a bit rowdy inside the the Surf-n-Turf, mainly because a good chunk of the Dainty Mauler's crew is there, mostly clustered around a table where Blammo is arm-wrestling with a Pan. Further into the restaurant, Tasha catches a glimpse of gold, and that's the table where Bumper and Neesa are, along with an Eeee and an Aquilan, which seem to be getting up and leaving.

Not quite sure if she arrived during a problem -- or one about to happen -- carefully makes her way towards her friends' table; careful in this case being the Titanian version, which means she shoulders her way through the crowd barking all remarks Titanian and then greets the table with, "Hi! I back," while waving in an obvious fashion.

The Confederates look nervous at Tasha's arrival, but the Eeee woman smiles and bobs her head. "Thank you for your.. consideration.. Bumper," the woman notes, and then she and the eagle-man are melting into the crowd.

"Bye!" Tasha calls to the two mysterious trangers as they wander off, the woman turning back to her table and grinning afterwards. "Oh, yah. Lots to talk about. I miss back booth deal with sinister stranger or representative? And gold? Save some gold for me yah?" She holds her free hand out and makes a grabby motion with her upturned hand.

Bumper stashes a small cube into her clothing, and says, "No gold for you, but can order a sandwich. Steak is good here. We gots maybe an hour before get kicked out. Then gotta go after... a big fish."

"I couldn't follow all of it," Neesa tells Tasha. "Those 'Confederates' found something, but couldn't grab it, then some Khattans showed up and they had to flee. Sold the information to Bumper instead."

Tasha has a seat and leans forward, elbows on the table. "Ooh, take sandwich and steak, And beer." The grabby hand gets turned on Neesa next, although the hybrid keeps her attention on Bumper. "That so? Interesting if kitties show up. Not bother with small things, I think. I have big fish too, important. Safe to talk?"

"Moraeu. Think know where; want to ask Captain about visit. Tough though. Not easy, but can go in alone if mebbe orbital dispatch or use drop pod mebbe. need to think about prepare," 'Rustpuppy' confides to Bumper. "But it for later, not interfere with fishing."

"Hokay, order your dinner," Bumper says. "We gots maybe First-Ones ship wash up out of D-Level. Can't let Khattans get it before we check it."

"I help," Tasha promises. When a Pan swings by, she calls up, "Pan! Want sandwich, meat sandwich and steak and beer -- same like Bumper!" She points at Bumper helpfully.

"Right," the neo-chimpanzee notes, in a tone that suggests Titanians are lousy tippers. Then he's swinging off towards the bar.

The hand falls and then Tasha leans back, scratching at her nose. "Is good. Talk with birdie, good. Feel better now." She then glances over at Mage Neesa for a moment, and, still feeling a bit sentimental with leftover Vartan bonding instinct she suddenly declares, "HI FUDGY!" and leans over to glomp-hug her.