(I figured it was time to start a new in-character thread here.

Let's start by putting any reaction posts to starting out...

Heck, I'll start.)

Kalsk watched the barren landscape roll by beneath them. Could his new allies really find a way to cure him? He was used to the parasite, and it'd saved his life sometimes, but he wanted to be under his own control. He knew it affected his mind and his personality, in ways he was both aware of and not fully aware of. But the parasite couldn't keep him alive forever, protect from old age... and he wanted to live as much of his life as he could as himself--

--Wait, could the parasite keep him young? Who said it couldn't?

...Or was that thought put in his head by the parasite?

That was the problem. Kalsk never knew for certain.

Maybe he could sell the parasite (minus the price of safely removing it) to someone who'd want to be the host of it, in Gnost...?

---

Vult watched the barren landscape roll by beneath them. He was excited about showing off his humans to everyone in Gnost. Wouldn't the old-timers be shocked and horrified to learn that the ancient lifeforms whose culture young shifters admired so still existed today! And that he, Vult, had found them! Well, discovered? Yeah, that's it, he'd discovered them! And they'd help Kalsk, too, maybe, if it was possible!

---

Dulcinea sensed the barren landscape roll by beneath them. Nice not to have to flow on her own anymore. Been a while since she'd been a passenger on a mechanical conveyance. She kept a watchful awareness over Sweetie at all times, of course, but he seemed sufficiently fed and happy...