VVVVVigil: Valorous Veterans Vanquishing Venal Vermin

[Morty]

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

Wenomir shrugs.

"They want to learn to fight from me. Few people have shown interest in the Riddle. There was an ant-woman, long ago. After I resolved my crisis of faith, a scholar named Ambrosia expressed an interest, but she's not one to follow it herself. And Koshal, one of my students, seems truly receptive." Wenomir's voice sounds actually warm for a moment as he lights up with pride. "I learned about the Riddle of Steel from my mentor, but I've changed how I look at it since then. It's... it starts with wanting to better yourself. But then you need to find your own path, one that's less-travelled. You have to sacrifice something rather than seek the easiest way to victory."

[Rebonack]

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

Zee had originally planned on peering briefly at the Answer.

Instead she ends up staring.

Perseverance. Adaptation. Determination. To be tried in the fire and to endure, stronger. To be carved down only to regrow, fuller. To embrace adversity, rather to to run from it.

Why does it Divide?

It Divides because Division is the purest expression of self and other. Cleave between what is you and what is not. To cut one's self, to divide one's self, is to define one's self.

To her it is as if she's looking in a mirror, dimly. Gazing at something so like herself through the lens of another cosmology.

There's a flicker, briefly, of something else superimposed over her. Of life's burning determination to endure, overcome, and be forged better. The Answer is not her, and a moment is needed to carve that division between self and other deeper.

She gives her head a shake, aiming to clear her mind. That was... weird. It takes a few seconds for Wenomir's words to process, leading to a slightly awkward pause.

"They want to learn how to fight from you," Zee says slowly. "They want to learn forms and drills and to train their skills. But that's all superficial, isn't it? You forge steel, you temper it, to make it stronger. It has to face the fire to come out stronger. People are afraid of the fire, though, aren't they? Sacrifice hurts. Loss, even loss of imperfections, hurts. People worry about what the flames will consume."

She tilts her head to the side a bit, beginning to see Wenomir from a new perspective.

"Maybe that's why you became more after the demon blood was burned away. You never needed it to begin with."

[Shadowcaller]

Arrived

Cessie who has been watching for animals ever since Fleece let's out that whistle does notice the bird.
If that actually was one of course, did birds usually sound like that? It might be unusual like a lot of things in the nexus were.
"So the animal will protect you, but if say it was attacking someone else, could you stop it?" Cessie inquires as she glances back at Fleece.

Outside the Base

Calm Reed won't have to wait long as the very next moment all three heads emerge from the vog with a deafening roar and strike like spears against her by ramming their heads against her. Apparently its controller puts a lot of faith into the monks resilience as this would probably break the ribs of a normal woman if the heads struck true.

It takes a few moments for the last elemental to get up after being knocked off its feet, but as soon as its up it mindlessly charges Saint Laz just as the saint can hear the hydras three heads roar nearby.
If she isn't too distracted by the noise, she might also hear the elemental launch itself at her, going straight for her stomach as if trying to knock the air out of here.

...it is aware that she's been out of breath for a long time now, right?

[Morty]

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

Wenomir turns around slowly, his voice surprised and impressed at the same time.

"You understand," he says. "That is all part of the Riddle, yes. I went through fire and water to find the Answer, in more ways than one. And I think the reason I became stronger after I lost the demon blood is because it wasn't me. It was something forced on me unwillingly, because someone wanted a shortcut to creating more powerful warriors. And if there's one thing the Riddle won't abide, it's a shortcut."

[Outside the Base]

Calm Reed does indeed stand firm as the beast barrels into her... mostly. She staggers back, gritting her teeth, but her Exalted resilience and magic armor pull through. The hydra will also feel an odd sensation when it strikes the buff jacket. It's like its head was striking water and sinking into its depths, being pulled under. It's a brief sensation, but enough to be disorienting. And the hydra won't have much time to contemplate it, as Calm Reed makes a single strike into the centre of its middle head. With it, she tries to reverse the flow of energy inside the creature, causing its existing wounds to worsen and causing it significant pain.

[Chaotic Bob]

Spoiler: Lab Spoils

Show

[Geneva's Lab]

More information.

More useful information.

For now, Geneva just stores all these facts away, taking note of what would be useful and what wouldn't be.

For now?

For now she needs a question answered.

And depending on the reply, she might have an elegant solution for their conundrum.

"This bonding process," she begins slowly. "Can any living organism be bound to a fragment? Or does it specifically have to be something that's sapient?"

Wonder what she's thinking.

[Geneva's Lab]

"All known cases have bonded to a human soul, with the caveat that no nonhuman sapient species are known in that world for anything else to happen, and the metaphysics involved are poorly understood. The information on soul-bonds comes from A-3-1 aiding research into the matter here, and extrapolation that these powers come from a metaphysical source based on A-1 and A-3's postmortem states. No further data available, save the likelihood that the fragments may also bond to each other. However, the fragments had to have been somewhere before we obtained them, so I cannot say for sure. Some archeologists reported Anomalous relics, but said relics have a pattern of either disappearing or being destroyed outright very quickly, and their claims could never be proven, nor could I study these relics in much detail if I were to encounter them." Two would shrug here if she were emoting in any way, shape, or form.

That would about summarize everything she just said.

"Why?"

At least she's being relatively polite about not abusing casual omniscience.

[Geneva's Lab]

"That's an awfully unfortunate coincidence for all of them to have been destroyed or vanished," Wenomir notices. He's focusing on something he actually has input on. "Getting our hands on one might make this a lot easier."

[Geneva's Lab]

Only confirmed cases are humans, possibly special relics that are all consistently wiped out.

A couple rocks with swirly patterns are drawn onto the bottom of the chalkboard, with question marks around them.
Purple gives a little nod to herself and places the chalk down.
Okay. I think we have a couple useful avenues we could pursue here. Finding one of these artifacts is most likely of use, if they're so insistently destroyed by persons unknown.

[Rebonack]

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

There's a slow nod in reply. "I understand adversity and the strength it can forge. And I understand what it is to teach others to grow from their trials. I hope more of the people who come to learn from you are willing to take deeper truths to heart. I understand what it's like to have an ideal to strive toward; to run with endurance for a prize that's just beyond reach."

She's silent for a moment, considering, then adds with a somewhat sheepish smile.

"But mostly, I understand myself," Zee confesses. "And when I looked at the Answer, it was like looking in a mirror. I had to remind myself that I'm not an axe."

Which sounds a bit humorous.

It is, however, quite serious.

And since that's a confession that raises far more riddles than answers, she elaborates.

"I had to reforge myself, Wenomir. I was scattered when K'rax-Naggath was slain. I put myself back together through trails and tribulations. I smelted myself down to my purest elements, I seared away impurities, and I alloyed myself with the ideals that most defined who and what I am. And when I stepped from heaven's furnace I was what I've always been. The burning determination of life to face hardship and emerge changed for the better," she recounts, a small smile tugging at the edge of her mouth. "So... I'm less than I was when I was last in the Nexus. Parts of me I've burned away. But I'm also more."

She glances at the Answer again, briefly.

"It wasn't demon blood for me. It was K'rax' puppet strings. I was a tool for someone else. But now I'm my own."

[Geneva's Lab]

"I'm just brainstorming right now," Geneva admits. "There are some very long lived, potentially biologically immortal organisms that aren't sapient. If we could bind the fragment to, say, a clonal grove of trees or maybe the right kind of jellyfish then there wouldn't be any danger of the fragment returning to its proper place. That would solve all the issues. No re-uptake and A-1 gets to move on to their rightful rest. Of course, that would mean you have a bunch of trees with fantastically destructive abilities, but somehow I doubt they would have the wherewithal to employ them."

That's certainly one solution, isn't it?

"These artifacts sound like they would be tremendously useful," Geneva adds. "Given that they're always stolen or destroyed, I take it getting one for study is out of the question?"

Almost certainly.

But it never hurts to ask.

[Darkcomet]

[Geneva's Lab]

"This is difficult. Those dig sites are, first, back in our world, and second, usually protected by Anomalous Solutions operatives. It would be relatively simple for me to infiltrate, but I could not guarantee my success when Anomaly units are often present, and if discovered, it could cause significant internal conflict." Of course, Two has countermeasures against those, but she's not telling them that while she's keeping up her robotic act, or rather, essentially pretending to be one, just working for somebody else. "High risk for no guaranteed gain. As for the other suggestion, I heavily doubt that most animal or plant life would be compatible, or it would likely have happened by now. I cannot rule it out universally, however, given the potentially infinite biodiversity available. An equivalent could involve an immortal coma patient or using some method to put the new A-1 into stasis, but this is likely to be ethically and practically unacceptable to you. Furthermore, conflict with any living A-1 is inadvisable."

[Morty]

[Geneva's Lab]

"Do you have any information about who is stealing or destroying them?" Wenomir continues to focus on what he can understand. "Is it just a matter of them being coveted and someone always swooping in to grab them?"

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

Wenomir frowns.

"K'rax-Naggath... why does that sound familiar?" he asks. "But being less and yet more is something I definitely understand. Few others do."

[Chaotic Bob]

[Geneva's Lab]

Things seem to be on the right path now.
The right, not-mucking-with-souls path.

For the time being, Purple is going to resume her silent vigil from within the depths of Geneva's mind.
Carry on as you will.

[Rebonack]

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

"The big mountain-sized monster that popped out of the ground at the edge of Inside about seven years ago," Zee clarifies. "It had been using me like a finger puppet to further its agenda. When Remnant blew it up its connection to me was severed and I was cast into the heavens in pieces."

A whole bunch of pieces, actually.

"Seven years to put myself back together again. And refining myself is an ongoing journey. I'm sure that's something you can understand, too," she adds. She hadn't expected to find a kindred spirit in such an unlikely place. It's... comforting... to know that there are other people she can compare to herself. She isn't in her trials alone.

"It's all been worth it, to be back here again," she says a bit wistfully. "I love this place, Wenomir. And all the people in it. I want to see it survive and thrive. These pod-people monsters are just the latest adversity for the Nexus to overcome. And I plan on doing everything in my power to help the Nexus reduce them to another notch on the list of trials we've triumphed over."

And speaking of the pod people...

"I'm not picking up the slightest whiff of them here, by the way. I think the base is clean. That'll probably help a bit with feelings of paranoia."

[Geneva's Lab]

Geneva hums to herself, cataloging all the information they have thus far.

The fragments (as far as they know) have to be bound to a human soul. But... there isn't necessarily definitive. In some cosmologies non-human organisms lack souls. In others they don't. That might be a contributing factor and an area to research further. Or it might be a quality of the humans from Two's home universe. There are just too many unknown factors. And finding the solution to far too many of them would require employing necromancy, which is not going to happen.

Severing the current A1 from the fragment still seems like the most viable option. Even if it bound to someone else there's no guarantee that they would be as emotionally unstable as the current one. And that's a worst-case scenario. Best case is they find a way to destroy the fragment or to contain it. Or, ideally, contain it, study it, and then destroy it.

With ideas continuing to solidify, Geneva nods at Wenomir's question. "I think knowing the answer to that would help us, too. If someone is actively collecting or destroying these artifacts it might mean we're missing a very important part of the picture."

[Morty]

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

"I remember that," Wenomir says slowly. "I didn't do a whole lot back then, except for losing my sword. But I do remember. Seven years to put yourself back together..." He pauses. "I understand that, too. I had to put myself back together after the tower fell. Less literally, but still. I don't know if I did it for the Nexus, though. Some of the people in it, maybe." He shakes his head. "Good to know we're clean from the newest batch of undesirables, though. I don't suppose there's a way to easily pick it up if they try to sneak in."

[Rebonack]

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

"I imagine it would be hard to forget, monsters the size of mountains popping up out of the ground doesn't happen very often," Zee laughs.

"It was a pleasant surprise to find something of a kindred spirit in you, Wenomir. Especially considering how different we are."

One pretty dower, the other very NOT dower.

"But I suppose anyone can learn to face the fire with perseverance. It just requires some commitment."

Then at his question she frowns.

"My range is pretty limited. I left one of my putti with some at risk friends to guard their house, but that really wouldn't work well here. This place is pretty big," she replies. "That same friend is working on some detection equipment. Once that's done and mass production ready we'll have the tools to easily root the pod people out."

This problem has her pondering now.

"That still leaves you guys exposed, though. It's possible that anyone who would be able to detect chaos magic could do the job, but chaos magic is notoriously difficult to nail down for obvious reasons."

Those reasons being CHAOS!

"I could leave a putti up here? They would be scrambling all over the place searching for interlopers for the most part. Helping out where they can."

A beat.

"You don't know what a putti is, I probably should have started with that," Zee realizes. "An angel as big as me can make little helpers in my own image. If you want, I can leave one here to patrol for pod people until the detectors are done."

[Darkcomet]

[Geneva's Lab]

"The phenomenon has been 'under investigation' by AS for some time now, though ID executives, both currently and historically, have doubted their sincerity. AS strategists theorize the existence of an A-5 with absolute stealth abilities as an explanation, but this is likely either cover or an excuse. AS mentalities and tendencies toward conspiracy mean that some of the artifacts may be hidden in their possession and/or that they are the ones destroying them, though we possess no evidence. The A-5 theory is most likely a means to pressure others into supporting harsher anti-Anomaly action. Infiltration of AS-controlled areas of the station near Skyside may illuminate matters, but they are aware of my existence and activity in this Nexus, and most Anomaly units under their control are centered in sensitive areas where I may turn up. A large-scale diversion is necessary for me to infiltrate those areas, and this organization lacks the ability to provide it, based on events in Riverside." Two is...not exactly tactful about the organization's chances against that floating Chimera base.

"Unless A-1 was attacking at the same time."

This is what we call 'not a good option when you have no evidence it would even get any results.'

[Morty]

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

Wenomir raises an eyebrow in curiosity.

"It would be quite useful. But just what is this 'helper in your own image'? How self-aware would... they be?"

[Geneva's Lab]

"They're aware of your existence, but someone unrelated might have better odds of infiltrating them," Wenomir says. "It's not a possibility we can discount. There's too many unknowns around this matter for my taste." He glances down at his communicator. "Hm. Looks like Kalya's going to be back soon. That's another person you should talk to about this."

[Rebonack]

[Geneva's Lab]

The hippogriff gives a nod the Wenomir's suggestion. "That sounds like a good plan. More fresh perspectives on a tough problem always help."

Then she turns her attention back to the portal poppers. "I'll finish up my work on this batch of disruptors and start brainstorming ideas for neutralizing this 'hard light' threat. I'll send a report with my progress to your office first thing tomorrow."

Oh boy.

More Geneva reports!

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

"They're like me, but not exactly like me," Zee replies helpfully. "Just way smaller than I am."

A beat.

"So... my children, basically? They're fully aware and sapient. Intelligent, inquisitive, and quite capable since I provide them with a bit of my own knowledge and experience," she explains. "I usually give them an open ended task to carry out and they pursue it as they see fit."

She just makes people, apparently.

"Do you have any celestials working here? This wouldn't be terribly different."

[Lord Magtok]

Outside the Base

Calm Reed won't have to wait long as the very next moment all three heads emerge from the vog with a deafening roar and strike like spears against her by ramming their heads against her. Apparently its controller puts a lot of faith into the monks resilience as this would probably break the ribs of a normal woman if the heads struck true.

It takes a few moments for the last elemental to get up after being knocked off its feet, but as soon as its up it mindlessly charges Saint Laz just as the saint can hear the hydras three heads roar nearby.
If she isn't too distracted by the noise, she might also hear the elemental launch itself at her, going straight for her stomach as if trying to knock the air out of her.

...it is aware that she's been out of breath for a long time now, right?

That's adorable. This one actually thinks it can wind her. After allowing it to barrel right into her Laz wraps her arms around the elemental, and brings her knee up and into its chest twice, in an attempt to shatter the elemental's ribcage (that it doesn't actually have because it's an elemental). Hopefully this buys her just enough time to sink her dagger into the creature's back, and wonder why she bothered with the knee at all when she still has a perfectly functional melee weapon at hand.

[Darkcomet]

[Geneva's Lab->Somewhere Else?]

"Unless you have something akin to the nonexistent A-5 I mentioned, I strongly suggest that you not attempt that operation. Discovery would lead to a retributive attack against your organization, and based on available data on performance against military operations, the organization would be annihilated. I can discuss further details with the Commander later." Since Geneva's done, Two heads out and waits for Wenomir to come along. Presumably for him to elaborate on this Kalya and so she can share whatever these additional details are.

[Shadowcaller]

Outside the Base

One can wonder.
The results are the same though as once she has driven her knee into its chest and stabbed it into the back it shatters into pieces which quickly fade out of existence like the others.

But despite the last elemental falling (for now) the fight is still raging as the sound of all three of the hydras heads roaring in pain will tell Saint Laz.

Calm Reed might get thrown away as the entire body and all its three heads are trashing around wildly in pain, completely blind to the world around it.

[Morty]

[Outside Geneva's Lab]

Once they leave Geneva's lab, Wenomir elaborates.

"I didn't mention it before because she's away, but we have someone who has more direct expertise with souls," he says. "Kalya, a necromancer. But she's coming back earlier than I expected, so you'll get to meet her. In the meantime, your discussion with Geneva seemed to be illuminating."

The real reason he didn't mention Kalya is of course because his player is a dunce and forgot.

[Outside the Base]

Calm Reed is indeed thrown off her feet and back, the martial form not quite enough to protect her against the mad flailing. She's back on her feet soon enough, but it's still a few moments where a lot can happen.

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

Wenomir... doesn't look convinced.

"They're sapient but always do as you say?" he asks. Something doesn't add up here.

[Rebonack]

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

"No," Zee replies.

Then thinks for a moment.

"Or... yes to the first and no to the second?" she clarifies. "They know what I want them to do; they're born with the memory. I hold them coherent through force of will for the first hour or so. During that time they're strongly linked to my will and follow orders. But once they've been alive for a while and become self-sustaining they're on their own. I don't think there's anything strictly preventing them from totally ignoring the task I assigned them. There's a little bit of biological feedback. Doing what I wanted them to feels nice in about the same way doing anything a person enjoys would feel nice. Granted, I've only ever made one. Sardus. And he's been pretty enthusiastic about making friends with Ravanys and her daughter Hannah. But nothing's forcing him to. He could wander off questing for the perfect cup of iced coffee beverage if he wanted to."

You know.

Just like any person could.

"If I created a putti and asked him or her to help VIGIL I would make sure to stick around for the first few hours of their life. Help them come to terms with existing. Once that time is up, whether they wanted to help you guys would largely depend on how friendly you are to them. They aren't a machine, they're a person."

[Morty]

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

Wenomir rubs the back of his neck, clearly conflicted.

"Well... I suppose it's worth a try? I've never been sure what to think about summoning, binding and all that. But we could use a reliable way of spotting those face-stealers sneaking in or smuggling something in."

[Rebonack]

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

"Not really summoning," Zee clarifies. "Any more than normal biological reproduction is summoning. The angels like me just have means that probably seem pretty exotic by way of contrast."

She pauses for a moment, considering.

"Though I guess the way I create putti is pretty tame compared to some of my counterparts. I just need enough matter to build a body with. Organic matter, preferably. But that isn't totally necessary. Just means I would need more to work with."

She glances back to Wenomir. "You guys have any trees you aren't using? That would be the easiest."

[Darkcomet]

[Outside Geneva's Lab]

"Potentially, yes, and I sincerely hope you find a countermeasure that doesn't involve infiltrating a Syndicate base for something that may not even work, because the chances of that working without a lot of help are about as high as One dropping everything and founding a monastery in the mountains, me getting my organics regenerated, Three coming out and saying it was just a prank, and Four never shapeshifting again, while all of the Syndicate executives donate their entire fortunes in the background." Two's analysis of that option gets a lot more blunt once they're out of earshot, since she can drop the act again.

"But if we can find some way to do this defying my original analysis, by all means. I have no problems seeing him die, far from it. So I can keep talking to various potential experts."

[Morty]

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

Wenomir shrugs.

"I'd rather not have to explain to the custodians why a tree went missing, but if dead organic matter is acceptable, there's plenty of wood and plants around."

[Outside Geneva's Lab]

"I didn't get here by not doing that people said were impossible." Wenomir's voice takes on an edge. His cooperation with Two has always been a bit tense and it shows up now and then. "But your warnings have been noted. I'll let you know when Kalya gets here. It certainly won't hurt to approach the problems from various angles, in the likely event that whatever we try doesn't work."

[Rebonack]

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

Why are we missing a tree?

It got eaten by an angel so she could make a smaller angel that can sniff out evil bugs powered by chaos magic.

Sounds like normal Nexus stuff.

"It's a plan, then," Zee replies with a nod. "I'll take me a little while to gather everything I need. But once I'm done, I'll come find you."

With a seraph in tow, no less.

Clearly this is the best plan.

Zee will head outside the compound proper at this point and begin walking the grounds. Anyone who spies her will note a pretty unremarkable looking human woman collecting fallen branches and weeds, humming to herself all the while. To any uniformed observer, it probably looks like she's just cleaning up the grounds.

[Darkcomet]

[Outside Geneva's Lab]

Two sighs. It's a bit too deliberate, knowing that she only emotes like that very deliberately most of the time. "I respect that you hold yourselves in such high regard here. Given what your prior activities have involved, one expects you'd need that confidence, or you'd be running scared. But you can't take everything on yourselves. To move against powers that large, the Syndicate, your demons, it takes more than what you've demonstrated thus far. Now, I know you're not interested in raising an army, but what you need is someone who removes the need for one, in any given context. In infiltration, mass destruction, anything, really. Three provided one of those, as I understand it. You've recovered well, but you're not quite back to that level yet." She pauses, considering something, before she continues.

"But there is one thing. I can deal with any Anomaly guards and essentially have the run of the place temporarily, but to do so would reveal my countermeasures against the control systems present in Chimera augmentations. I do that, my independence is revealed, and the Syndicate has to deal with a new rebel cell within its ranks. Now, if One, and maybe Three-Two while we're at it, depending on how that turns out, are dealt with, that's not a problem for me anymore. With this place presenting as much freedom as it does, and the threats to me out of the way, I will be able to live my life as I wish. But unless we're absolutely sure that option is right, that's too big a sacrifice to make. Not for a 'maybe.' If you take that chance before then, it will be without my support, and I won't be able to shield you against the consequences if they discover your infiltration."

In other words, 'mess that up and you're ****ed.'

[Earl of Purple]

Belated Welcome Wagon

A hoopoe lands in a tree overlooking Zee's work, but doesn't approach. It's a yellow-orange bird, with a crest of black-tipped feathers atop its head.

Shortly afterwards, Zee will be approached by... Well. She's human, but it's hard to convince others of that. She's heavily mutated; her limbs are too long, with gangly arms and legs in comparison to their body length. They have long bright orange hair and dark brown skin, with large eyes. They're clad with a single plain grey shirt and matching trousers, and visible on their lower back is a symbol resembling the Greek letter omega upside down, or possibly an elaborate U or C. Hair and skin are both natural, and her eyes are black orbs with no differentiation between iris, pupil and sclera. Her proportions are off, too; her torso's sized right for human normal, yet she stands about two and a half metres tall. Makuro approaches Zee, and will bend down to start picking up wood and other plant detritus to help.

[Morty]

[Outside Geneva's Lab]

Wenomir sighs through his nose and decides not to argue about this particular subject further.

"Yes, point taken. We won't take any action unless we're sure we can pull it off or weather the consequences. We have enough work ahead of us as it is."

[Rebonack]

[Belated Welcome Wagon]

Should the bird make any bird noises at Zee, she'll glance around until she identifies the source and watch said bird for a bit.

She might even try making the same noise back at it.

She won't do a very good job.

And then help arrives!

Zee will offer a kind smile at first, but little more. The two women will have several minutes of silent wood gathering ahead of them. Clean up all the fallen branches and leaves in an area, dump them into the wheelbarrow, then push it on to another area to continue cleaning. The wheelbarrow probably should have been totally full already, but it isn't. Just one of those mysterious things.

Eventually, though, Zee speaks up. Maybe fifteen minutes later.

"That symbiotic relationship is fascinating," she says. "I don't think I've run into anything quite like it before. Do you know if your friend is sapient?"

[Earl of Purple]

Belated Welcome Wagon

The hoopoe doesn't make any noises, just staying in its tree and watching.

Makuro's not sure what's happening with the wheelbarrow, but she's acclimatising well to the Nexus, on account of the fact she can't really remember much else. So she's ignoring it right now. "Um, I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about. The hoopoe follows me around, and occasionally visits my dreams, but... I don't think it's a symbiote." That's not what Zee was talking about, but... Might also be a little interesting.