Home- if anyone could call a dry, dusty cave with a raging whirlwind in it's center a Home. Luckily for Assistant, it both less dry and windy within the trenches that they currently roamed. They weren't doing anything in particular, right now, really just going for a walk. Researcher was asleep, right now. They worried about leaving Researcher alone, sometimes, but it felt safe when she was asleep. The river was long dried, but sometimes Assistant tried to imagine what it might've looked like, water filling the canyon they current stood in. They knew it was ridiculous, but they felt as though something horrible would happen if they turned their back for too long.

Strange hissing caught their attention. Ears pricked, their head swiveled in the direction of the noise. One of those big, nasty black rats- not too uncommon in Monoceros. Heck, not too uncommon anywhere, really. What was strange was the way it was acting. It was stumbling around in wobbly circles, swaying like a leaf of one of Monocero's short, scrubby shrubs. It's eyes were closer to pink or white than a Pitch rat's iconic red.

They watched the rat from a safe distance, in case it would be aggressive in this state. It was.. morbid, essentially watching a rat die. But they couldn't just leave it, nor could they save it. Maybe they could learn something from this that could be very helpful very soon. They knew Cortex did dissections- maybe they'd be interested in this specimen?

Then it spoke.

No, something spoke, because the rat was catatonic on the ground. Fur fluffed with unease, they listened to the incoherent whispers, waiting for whatever was trying to speak to finish. "Um, hello?" They called in the direction of the... whatever it was, "What are you.. and where are you?

For good measure, they threw a pebble at the rat. It twitched in response.

The rat twitched weakly, but otherwise nothing else happened. No more of the strange almost-words, or any other reaction from the whatever-it-was. They frowned, squinting at the rat. Maybe it was just their imagination? Had they caught whatever Researcher had?
"...Hello?" They called once more, feeling increasingly on edge, "Are you... there?" Maybe they should get someone else to help investigate? But what if the rat died before they returned- if it even WAS the rat?

They knew a spell. A unfamiliar spell.. a WEIRD spell, but in this case a potentially useful spell.

It had been so long since they had done magic. Assistant would focus on the space between them and the rat, trying to summon... a "banana."

And it appeared- a long curved yellow fruit that vaguely sparkled. Assistant would reach forward to push it just within the rat's reach before scooting back a safe distance to observe.