Sunday, August 10, 2008

A Stroll Through the Museum Forest

(From Ms. Rhonwyn's personal diary)

Where to start. Obviously the fact that Traumador managed to dispose of the kete o te wananga safely is a great relief, and the biggest success of this year. Actually that is an understatment. The greatest success of my career.

Though I'm finding his actual presence here in Melbourne the greatest relief of all. I still feel extremely guilty that duty pulled me away from New Zealand when the crisis unfolded. More to the point I'm not sure why the Australasian Heritage League would not allow me to rendevous with poor Traumador and help him with the task. All the more reason I've felt so much better since he made it here safe and sound (at least I hope safe and sound at moment not having heard back from Paradigm yet).


I must say Traumador has surprised me greatly with his performance. I was expecting him to be something of a barely capable fool, and granted the fact he opened the baskets against specific instructions initially confirmed my fears. In the end even with a level 3 mystical entity trailing him, he somehow prevailed.

Indeed most surprising. The timing couldn't be better though. The field position has been vacant for too long. Coupled with the companies considerable escalation in New Zealand I need someone I can trust to help counter their efforts. Hopefully Traumador will be willing to take up these new responsibilities.

Reminder to self: I must remember to begin filing the paperwork with Otago [Museum] for Traumador's immediate reassignment.

[End of this entry]

[New entry from later in the day]

I've forgotten how much I enjoy the Melbourne Museum. It has been a long time since I have been able to just simply enjoy being home in Australia. This museum is definitely one of the reasons I miss home.

For example the Australian temperate forest gallery in the heart of the museum has been a treat this afternoon. Being able to wander this seemingly natural space while waiting for Traumador and Paradigm to conclude has helped put my mind a bit more at ease. Sadly not completely though. I must admit I'm very anxious about the results. Traumador exposed himself to such high level of mystic gradient radiation that I fear the side effects could be dire.

My worries about what could be happening to my poor Saurian employ occupied much of my time in the forest gallery. That is until mid afternoon a unexpected visitor allowed me some distraction.


Lillian the Albertosaur had sought me out during her afternoon break (I must say I highly disapprove of her current job!). She had come to inquire some more about Traumador. Naturally I was more than willing to tell Lillian what she wanted to know in hopes of getting some gossip!

Come to think of it, Traumador probably has no idea that I'm now capable of slightly understanding rudimentary theropod language. Not the complex dialect of Tyrannosaurids mind you, but the simple universal speak that all theropods have in common.

I wonder what Traumador would have to say if he knew I'd been in correspondence with Professor Paradigm since my encounter with his cousin Larry last year. I had so much wanted to meet more Dinosaurs since Traumador started working for me. It is just I hadn't considered how much more intimidating and frankly frightening a fully grown Theropod would be in comparison to the very harmless and pleasant Traumador. With the help of literature and instruction from Dr. Paradigm I have been able to gain a fairly good grasp of basic Theropod (further aided by my skill with languages).

I was excited to get some more practise with listening to the language. Despite the fact I couldn't speak Theropod (due in part to lack of proper vocal cords) Lillian has a firm grasp on English. Which funny enough she too can't speak. Making our conversation no doubt quite odd or amusing to the casual observer!

Lillian wanted to know more about Traumador's exploits in New Zealand (I had of course given her a few brief stories when I first learned that she and Traumador knew each other a few days ago). She seemed very fixated at first with the visit from Larry. A situation to which I was not privy to many of the details to. Traumador had kept much of this "ordeal" to himself. As I understood it, Traumador blamed himself for the departure of his guardian Craig due to his conduct during the visit. Sadly due to my work obligations I was out of the country and thus unable to be there for Traumador, and learn more about this situation.

Lillian seemed worried by my reporting the departure of Craig. She informed me that she too knew this man from her time back in Canada (I personally had never met Traumador's guardian). Oddly she asked if Paradigm had any information on Craig's whereabouts, to which I did not know.

We than entered a topic I was most curious to learn about. Traumador's intentions toward Lillian. The only time I'd ever heard of Lillian from Traumador was while eating lunch with him once last year. I'd asked him about his hometown, and in the course of his answer Lillian came up many times. In very complementary terms too. Though he hadn't specifically stated it through the number of times she came up, the affectionate nature of his remembrances, and he's caginess about key details I gathered he had a very big crush her.

After relaying this theory to Lillian I suddenly felt a little guilt. Poor Traumador hadn't meant to give those details away. It's just that due to his upbringing by humans being contrary to his Tyrannosaurian nature (I now know through both my time dealing with Lillian and Larry) he often gives away things in the most cute of manners. Very much like a child, which I guess isn't to be unexpected considering his age. Oh that reminds me.

Reminder to self: With Traum's birthday this week make sure to pick him up a present tonight.

Fortunately Lillian already knew of Traumador's affection for her. She informed me of his apparently uncalled for and awkward advances on her in Canada 2 years ago. Granted I suspect he was not as rude or brash as she presented it. Paradigm had warned me theropods (especially big ones) often conveyed events they didn't find favourable in a very self serving manner.

She'd directed our conversation this way to find out what I think she'd wanted to know all along. Whether Traumador still had these sort of intentions towards her or not. I wasn't sure how to answer. Clearly in my opinion he did. Especially considering the big (cute) hug he gave me after his reunion with her an hour ago.

I just didn't want to betray his sensitivities. Given that from what Paradigm has told me Theropods will exploit such shows of "weakness", and thus be very brutal to one another. At the same time I didn't want to give Lillian a false impression. Otherwise I'd be setting up a trap for both of them if and when Traumador made his move.

So I opted to give her a conditional response. Stating I believed he was still interested, but that I was not certain. To this she surprised me. I had assumed she had no interest in him what so ever. Instead she asked me for my opinion on him as a "potential mate".

Needless to say I was astounded, and didn't know what to say. It would be a hard enough question if one of my human friends asked me her opinion of a boy. That alone a predator species known to use potentially lethal force on one another in disagreements.

I opted to tell her his accomplishments, including the new promotion I was hoping to add to his current one, rather than his personal characteristics. Again Traumador is rather human in a number of his qualities and values, and I'd rather Lillian judge those herself through her own Tyrannosaurian filters.

She seemed satisfied with my reply, and said she looked forward to seeing Traumador tomorrow. With that she thanked me, and excused herself in order to get back to work.

I'm uncertain as to whether I helped him or not. With my human friends I like to think I'm quite good at "girl talks", but I have to say "female talks" are a whole new frontier for me. I can only hope Traumador luck for tomorrow.


[End of this entry]


[New entry from later in the day]

After nearly two hours one of the two boys came and found me in the forest. It was Paradigm with Traumador's results. I braced for the worst.


As the good scientist that he is disclaimed his current results as simply initial impressions. He would have to take further time to assure his hypothesises. Naturally I agreed with him. Not that I doubt his current judgements. He is the top specialist by far when it comes to vivus-fossils.

Much to my surprise he had almost nothing but good news. The primary of which being that Traumador was in no immediate danger. At least not from the traditional threats of overdosing in MGR.

The professor was rather excited about his new findings in fact, and was eager to ask my opinion on a number of aspects of MGR. As this is one of my own specialities from my earlier career (the fact that he knew this however was a concern to be looked into later), I was happy to venture the answers that I could.

What I heard intrigued me. From what Paradigm could ascertain Dinosaurs did not react to magic anywhere near the way mammals do. This was a fascinating development. Little work has been done on none human species reactions to MGR, and this case could open up a whole new field of research!

In humans magic coats the outer surface, and thus exposes the "victim" to a multitude of dimensional hazards as outlined by modern string theory. However in less technological civilizations and cultures there do exist individuals with both the skills and training to physical manipulate these energies and channel them in a more controlled (though not necessarily dangerous) manner. Typically in modern Anthropology we refer to these MGR manipulators as Shaman, Witch Doctors, or Priests. Of course use of such unreliable and often perilous power diminished in face of growing abilities in man made and controllable technology.

Paradigm's findings are indicating that Traumador has instead somehow absorbed the Gradient, and thus is now something of an organic MGR detector. This would make sense based on Traumador giving accounts of mystic mechanics only previously described by authentic cultural magic users. In essence due to the radiation being distributed throughout Traumador's system he can now feel shifts in the mystic gradient around him the way an average person feels a change in the air around them caused by wind.

Though this removed many of the risks a human might face with such a high exposure it presented different problems for Traumador. Paradigm believes due to the incredibly slow rate of radioactive dissipation his instruments recorded, that Trauamdor's body won't discharge the MGR to a safe level for another 150+ years. Meaning that he will have this condition for the rest of his life.

Even without the dimensional risks a human would face, Traumador is now going to be more likely to experience mystic phenomenon. Also due to his full MGR saturation these phenomenon will be more able to interact with him. Meaning in essence the random tiny Mystic Gradient flares that occur everyday that the average person would be unaware will effect Traumador. I will have to be careful to keep on eye on him to see how bad this potential problem turns out to be.

Than came the true surprise of the conversation. Paradigm was naturally eager to publish these findings in a paper, but much to my surprise he asked if I'd be willing to coauthor it with him! Not only was it an extreme honour for a researcher of his prowess to ask me, but he acknowledged me as something of an expert. I naturally was very excited to participate, and gladly accepted the offer.

With that much like Lillian, Professor Paradigm said he had elsewhere to be, and just departed.

My walk in the forest had been a very eventful one to be sure! Maybe I was a little hasty previously in saying that this was what I missed most about Australia. Frankly I'd never had such an interesting string of conversations in the middle of a museum before.

It was here I realized, why had Paradigm found me first? Where the heck was Traumador?

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