Site Construction [THE LABORATORY]

Monoceros was quiet-- as quiet as the Howling Cave could be, that is. Wildgrasses waved in the wind. Cavelights, too, the swaying orbs casting long shadows across the cave. Sand petered against windblown stalactites and gathered in the crevices of boxwork. Here and there a Walleye Rabbit shot up, twitched its whiskers, and hopped away against the backdrop of an eternal tornado.

Just one thing was missing: Gembounds. Perhaps its residents moved on to other caves, or maybe they were just hiding in hidden crevices, but the cavern was markedly less traveled than its compatriots. That is, until a little gibbon made her way through...

"... So, I was thinking we could all live together. A group, or team, or something." Researcher was a small ape dressed in gold and indigo, mouth hidden by an invasive gem, who admired a purplish crystal clutched between her fingers. She hopped through the tunnel mouth gracefully, stumbled not-so-gracefully from some brain damage she was yet to discover, and carried on like it never happened, looking back at the flock of gembounds behind her. "There's a lot of interesting items in the caves. Lizards that make you sore. Brightly glowing portals. Babies. That kinda thing." Her child voice ticked over each word like an accomplished scholar, though the frequent mispronunciations betrayed her real age. "I'm a Researcher, and you all are too. If we work together we can figure them out."

She knuckle-walked further into the cave, an arm sweeping out across the panorama. "The Spire Cave was too crowded. Tree Cave was too wet. The Cold Tunnel was too small. I found another cave, too, a Geode one, but it had too little shelter. But here?" She slapped a foot down appraisingly. "Bingo! Perfect location. Secluded, and already with a massive thing to study." Her head nodded towards the raging tornado in the background.

"We can pitch tents here, like Thalia showed us. Will have to get leather first, though." Researcher looked back at the gang. "What do you think?"

Karyo trotted after Researcher, listening raptly to her ideas. As long as they followed the gibbon, it seemed that there would always be something new and fun, and today was certainly no exception. "--Portals?" they interjected at one point. Those sounded fun! "I wanna make one!" Ah, but babies was still their favorite. Naturally. Seeing as all of them were babies, and these Gembound were their favorite things--people, rather--in all the world.

Briefly, they wondered how they could possibly make a baby. It seemed kind of difficult--lots of moving parts--but Thalia's dad and the unnamed stag had done it, so they could probably figure it out eventually! Already, they were trying to brainstorm how to make it friendly, like their friends, instead of disappointingly shy like most non-talking animals.

But their attention was quickly diverted once more. "Bingo?" they echoed, studying the cave Researcher had selected. Wait--did they need something else to call Researcher now that Researcher had decided they were all Researchers? Eh, they decided. Doesn't matter too much. They couldn't think of a single situation where it would matter, actually, and clearly that was NOT just their lack of foresight because Researcher herself didn't seem worried either.

"There's not a lot of wetness here," Karyo observed, although they thought that being not wet was better than being too wet, like the Tree Cave. At least there was no mud and no mess. And in a stunning change of subject: "I like having people to make friends with, but maybe we can make some more babies and that'll replace the lack of them!"

Right on cue, there was Ru. "Oh!" Karyo gasped, turning to face the lizard-thing. "I didn't see you!" Not as secluded as they had thought, then--but that was a good thing! "Old? How old? So you're not a baby? How many babyhoods is your oldness worth?" Now that they thought about it, Karyo realized they didn't quite know how long a babyhood was, either. They glanced down at themselves uncertainly. Were they still a baby--?

LAB REPORT:

Cortex followed along aimlessly, on all fours for ease, though maybe later he'd switch to two feet in order to keep his hands sanitary.

"This place... it's fine," he said, and though he sounded disapproving, those who knew him would pick up the nuances and find that he actually liked the place.

"I think," he said slowly, mulling over his words, "That we need to pitch those tents sooner rather than later. Then once that is done, we build something permanent. A home for us all, a... research facility."

An ear flicked as Ru appeared, but he didn't seem surprised. Nothing seemed to surprise him, and it was if all of his emotions and reactions were muted, in a way. Calm and collected to the point of apathy.

> Base of operations will be set up here. However, it is unknown what we will call this place.

"It needs a name," he said, turning to his friend, Researcher, "We could name it after you? Since you were the one to bring us together."

Researcher's lair didn't sound too bad.

Researcher listened to the ensemble, starting with Karyo. The funny dog. "Correct. Less wet, and therefore less slippery. And... hm... yes, we'd need more babies to help us. Maybe we can find more to help? Offer them food so they stay around, like the slime lizard?" She tapped her stone thoughtfully. Then there was Cortex: the crass-faced raccoon padded along on all fours behind her. "Yes, yes," the gibbon affirmed. "The thing over there seems a bit windy... perhaps we can dig into the cave walls... hmmm..."

Lost in thought, Researcher didn't notice Ru approaching until he dropped his magic and spoke. "Oh!" her lower jaw clinked against the stone. "Greetings. Ru. You're right, we're looking for knowledge. We'd like to know what you know. We're still collecting our own findings, though, which is why we're here." She stood up straight and professional, facing the elder gembound. "Very old? Interesting. You can help us if you want, or join our... hm..." What could they name their group? Researcher, as flattering as it was, did not like the idea of the group being named after herself. It was a bit too self-oriented for her likes. "Research... work... labor... la-bor... Laboratory! Yes, we can name our group the la-bor-a-tory, that's where we'll work. If you can share your experiences with us, that will be very informative. We're trying to gather as much of it as we can."

As usual, the black cat seemed far more interested in investigating their surroundings than the chit-chat. They listened in a absent-minded, distracted way as they stared with wide, curious eyes at the huge whirlwind in the center of the cave. In typically stagnant caves, wind was a strange, fascinating thing. They liked the way it ruffled their fur. They fought the urge to get close to investigate- What Researcher was saying was important! In fact, they should be listening more-

"And the big rumbly thing! In the river!" They'd pipe up, adding to Researcher's list of odd things to investigate. Twin, Explore, Researcher. Seems like they were collecting titles, which they didn't mind one bit. Names were weird, anyways- how did you decide on just one word to call yourself, when there were so many things you could be?

Rue's sudden appeared made them jolt, briefly arcing in an almost cartoonish pose before calming, fur smoothing back into place as if they hadn't been completely spooked just moments prior. They'd squint, looking at the mis-matched looking creature. Scales, a mane, a strange insectoid tail? "How many creatures are you?" They'd blurt out, and then, seeming to realize that that hardly made sense, "You have scales like a lizard, but fur like me! And a weird hard tail, like that shiny green bug but with a claw at the end." They'd tilt their head, yellow eyes imploring, "You don't look like anyone i've seen before!"

Turning their attention back towards the matter at hand- their new group- Their ears twitched as Researcher (The one with no other names, since they were all researchers, now) spoke, listing off potential names. "Laboratory! I like it. It sounds.. They weren't entirely sure how it sounded. But it sure did sound right! Parkouring between topics, they'd say "If we can't find leather, then we can just find a big hole! There's plenty of holes in the walls." A tent did sound more comfortable then sleeping in a dusty little nook, though.

LAB REPORT:

Cortex observed silently, watching the others interact. He, however, had a goal in mind, a goal that required their base of operations to get started.

"You all gather information," he said, "I shall start digging."

He waddled off and started to dig four deep holes, using his gemstone to carve through tough dirt before flinging it away. He didn't want to dull it, however, and so tucked the finger in, using his other ones instead.

>Construction of the Laboratory in progress... shelter must be made and food gathered.

The raccoon looked out over Monoceros, spotting rabbits and things for carnivores, but little plant life. They may have to plant their own eatings here if they didn't want to have to go from cave to cave every day.

>Task one: set up shelter. Task two: plant food.

"I don't see any water around for us, though," Karyo noted worriedly. "What if we can't find any to drink?" They always felt thirstier when it was hot, too, and this room was pretty hot. "We can make them tents, too!" they added on the topic of babies. "And offer to teach them things, like purple-elf-Thalia taught us!"

They nodded along enthusiastically at Assistant's suggestion of the spinny-thing-in-the-river. To be honest, they'd forgotten about that! There had been so many fresh adventures with Researcher and her friends that Karyo had hardly thought about it at all. But now was the perfect opportunity to go back! "Yes! We're big now, and more prepared! And slightly less bad at swimming! It's a big mystery, and it'll be the perfect adventure to figure it out!"

Figuring it out, which involved breaking it, of course. How else was one supposed to do research?

"Laboratory! That's a good name, too! You know so many words, Researcher!" Karyo was confident they'd never have figured out such a nice, poetic name on their own. All the more reason to stick together with their fellow babies! Their IQs must add up, or something.

Researcher's attention turned to her friends. The estoeric black cat she knew as her companion-- "There are," she affirmed, and then to Cortex, "Smart idea. We could use them as a shelter from the wind." And finally Karyo. Her lips pouted in thought. "That is true. There's not too much moisture here. Like Cortex said-- I'll go climb up, gather information, and see if I can spot anything useful."

The gibbon cantered to the rough, vertical walls and began scaling its ledges with her long arms. The trembling of her fingers was annoying, but thankfully not enough to mess her up. Once she was high enough and found a stable platform, she began walking along the perimiter of the room. Wow, this was really high up. Her ghostly eyes narrowed at a faint blob on the horizon. Was that...?

"There's a stream far away!" she called down. "Uh, quite small, and partially dried up, but it's there." Researcher shimmied even higher for a better view, paying utmost attention to make sure she didn't lose her balance. Thank the caves she was an ape. "Oh, and there are plants and trees, too! And what is believed to be are dens! It's all wilted, though. Something must've lived there once, but they're long gone."

She slowly lowered herself back to ground level and back to the group. "Huh, we should've realized that before we started digging all these holes," she mused. "But no worries. There didn't seem to be anything dangerous over there. We can gather any fruits that survived and dig ditches through the sand to bring water nearby. Still, it'd be a good idea to make a stable source of food around here. What if we grew our own fruits? How about bugs?"