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Yani stepped into the experimentation room after his PDA beeped rapidly, a warning from TAIS. Devon had almost poisoned Panther, and Yani stepped in just in time to see her Chimeran counterpart pull the needle out of Panther's arm. The Chimera slowly relaxed back onto the table and her head tilted toward her right shoulder. She was unconscious, the monitors informed, not dead. Good thing.

"What happened here?" Yani asked quietly. The bandage on his arm from where Apsalar had scratched him was a perfect white, and hidden beneath his arm sleeve. His admiration of Chimerae had fallen to his perception of simple animals, ruled almost solely by instinct.

Smoke followed behind him quietly. It was easy to forget he was even there, since he moved in Yani's shadow and Yani's presence dominated the room more than his own, silent one. He was there though. Wherever Yani needed him to be was where he could be found, and since he had recently been assaulted by the Chimera, Smoke had made it his business to escort his employer until he was asked to leave.

John pressed his fingers against his eyelids and squeezed his temples. He hadn't even allowed himself to think that Panther might not be coming back, although his emotions seemed to anticipate it. His fingers began shaking, and he shivered as if he was cold. "I'm worried, Apsalar," he told her, quietly. "I want her to be okay."

He inhaled deeply, which made him even colder. The cages weren't known for their cozy qualities. Immediately though, he felt bad for it. Panther was most likely undergoing something much worse than himself.

Usually, he would ask Apsalar if she was okay as well. He couldn't this time, though.

The helplessness of their situation was hitting home once again. Tobart curled behind his bars, gently weeping. Why did they bother? Why do they even cling on to life anymore? They could all easily die. Might as well... stop.

Tobart brushed against Apsalar's hand, but curled up tightly, his pangolin genes pulling him unnaturally close. No one should see him now; men don't cry, and he knew he was one of the worst offenders.

"Yes, sir. I admit. I made an error and tried to revive the chimera using smelling salts, not thinking about her biological make-up and her reaction to it. It was my mistake and you may punish me as you wish" Devon said to Yani.

Yani raised a skeptical but amused eyebrow at Hiccadu, but turned his serious attentions back to Devon. "Actually, I don't believe this particular Chimera has been experimented on before. It would have been interesting to see whether she was impervious to the smelling salts or not."

The unexpected answer was followed by the expected response. "However, you should have realized that animals' DNA structures have allowed their biological makeups to be significantly different from humans."

He stepped towards the experimentation light to observe Panther, who was just beginning to come to. At least, her eyelids flickered from the movement of her eyeballs. She was either having a very active dream, or it was a nightmare. More likely the latter.

"Our avian-feline mix is a success, and that's the only reason this Chimera was ever necessary. Experiment away," he told Devon, subconsciously touching his sleeve, just over his bandaged gash.

And with that, Yani left the Experimentation Room.

Smoke was about to follow silently, but Yani waved him off, telling him he was free to go about his normal duties.

Since that amounted to "wander around", Smoke decided to watch Devon in his experimentation with Panther. He had nothing better to do, really.

He leaned against the wall and moved his sunglasses down, staring at the ceiling, deep in thought.

Apsalar left her hand there so that her fingertips just brushed his skin. She wanted him to know that she was there, but she could tell that whatever was wrong, it would have to work out on its own. There wasn't anything she could do about it.

So instead, she looked back at John, trying to gauge how he was faring from what she could see through the little holes. Probably not well - after all, Panther was still gone, and who knew how she was doing? What they were doing to her?

Don't let her die, she thought. It wasn't a prayer, not really; she knew nothing about religion or God, and even if she did, she wouldn't have bothered. Who knew better than Chimerae that outside of your packmates, no one cared about you? It was just a plea, to what or whom she didn't know. Don't let her die.

Not just for her sake - for all of them. If Panther died, John might collapse. And if they lost him they lost their centre.

And thinking about this was pointless. They would deal with what was, and that was that.