[GrayGriffin]

Thankfully, there were no more flirtation incidents around the duo-for either of them. Still, most of the festival-goers they interviewed had just as little idea of anything strange happening as the one who'd been flirting with Bina.

"Do you think we should mention Chaos specifically?" asked Bina after another interview that had led nowhere interesting. "Maybe that'll jog people's memories!"

"...I think it just might cause a panic," noted Langlin dryly. His daughter sighed.

"Yeahhhh, guess you're right, Dad. We still have a bit more time before the parade though, right? We can go talk to a few more people before heading back."

[GrayGriffin]

"We can," agreed Langlin with a nod.

The next person they talked to hemmed and hawwed for a while, glancing at Langlin.

"You're not a psychiatrist, are you?" he asked. "You're not going to get me committed and dragged off who-knows-where?"

"Definitely not!" exclaimed Langlin, waving his hands frantically. "Where'd you even get that idea?"

"He's not even that kind of daughter!" added Bina with a grin. "He doesn't even really do medicine!"

"Okay...I guess I can tell you," said the man, glancing around fearfully. "But...if anyone else asks, you didn't get it from me, alright?"

"Sure!" said Bina. "What'd you see?"

[GrayGriffin]

"So I was just walking around, minding my own business," he began, "when suddenly I saw a glimpse of this weird golden light from around the corner. So I peeked at it, very carefully because of course I didn't want to get caught, and do you know what I saw?"

He spread his arms dramatically, as if waiting for an answer.

"...um, no, we don't," said Bina. "So can you tell us?"

The man looked somewhat displeased that they hadn't read his mind. "You really have no idea? It was a lizard! With weird black-and-gold scales! Do you know any species with that kind of coloration?"

[GrayGriffin]

"...are you sure it wasn't a Paragon?" asked Langlin slowly. "There's certainly enough reptilian subspecies to-"

"No!" said the man. "I know what Paragon look like, of course! This definitely wasn't a Paragon! But I couldn't get a closer look, because then it turned its head to look right at me! So naturally, I turned and ran as fast as I could!"

"That sounds smart!" said Bina with a reassuring smile. "And what you've told us is definitely very important! We'll keep an eye out for something like that too!"

The man frowned a little. "...be careful, alright?" he asked. "I don't want some innocents to get hurt because they followed up on what I told them! You're probably not prepared for it at all!"

[GrayGriffin]

"You're right, we aren't," agreed Langlin quickly. "So we're not going to actually go looking for it ourselves, right Bina?"

She crossed her arms and looked away for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah, we won't. We'll just know that we should avoid it."

The man seemed reassured by this, and nodded as they hurried off.

"Well, we've got something now," noted Langlin. "I suppose we should head back to let those two other scientists know what we found."

"Uh-huh!" agreed Bina. On the way back, they managed to find a few more people who'd been in that area and seen some kind of gold-and-black lizard. So now they also had an idea of the places it had been...

[Choice: Head into the crowd.]

[GrayGriffin]

The two scientists seemed quite excited overall by the information the pair brought them, Wiks also mentioning that several of the stagehands had seen a man with strangely lizardlike eyes. She seemed about to tell them about something else, but just then the contest performances began.

And what happened then seemed to knock any thought of what she was going to say out of their minds. After all, it wasn't every day you saw someone with such an elaborate costume, in such perfect control of it. Even...even the saliva...

"That's not a costume, is it?" whispered Bina, leaning forward to stare at the giant lizard.

[GrayGriffin]

"No, it isn't," whispered Langlin as he stared. The way the muscles shifted under the skin, the gleam in the eyes, the way the tail was carried...all those added up to it definitely being a real, living creature in its true form. They'd been doing all these interviews and questioning, and then the Chaos just showed up right in front of them like that?

"We should go," he said, tugging at Bina's arm. She shook her head.

"Remember what those other scientists asked us to do?" she said, holding up a vial. "We've got to get a sample of something from that lizard!"

[GrayGriffin]

"A sample? We don't need to prove it exists-anyone can see!" He gestured at the various curious civilians, some of who were now turning to flee, and the authorities trying to keep the evacuation under control.

"Yeah, but who knows? Maybe the government will cover it up or something!" In the background, the Chaos let out a loud roar, spraying saliva everywhere.

"Even if they did, I'm not having you risk yourself just to get a sample!"

"I won't have to!" she exclaimed. "He's totally not even focused on us-we can probably just catch a saliva sample without him even noticing!"

[GrayGriffin]

"It's still too risky!" argued Langlin. But Bina was already moving forward, against the direction of the panicking crowd. Frowning, he pushed his way after her, trying to catch her arm again.

"Don't stop me, Dad!" she exclaimed. "This is all for science, after all! Even if everyone knows Chaos exist now, that doesn't mean they'll know anything else about them!"

Loath as he was to admit it, she had a good point. And...it'd be safer if she had someone spotting for her, right?

"I'm still not letting you do this," he said. "At least, not without my help."

Her expression lit up. "Oh, thank you, Dad!" she exclaimed, turning around to hug him. "I promise, you won't regret this!"

[GrayGriffin]

It took a while for them to figure it out, but soon Bina was perched quite steadily on her father's shoulders, him half-crouching in order to keep the weight distributed. They were standing close to one group of security who had just angered the Chaos and got him heading towards them. She held the vial up high, waiting for the right moment...and then he let out a roar, and they were splattered with saliva.

Quickly, she ducked down and glanced at the vial. "We got some!" she cheered, slapping the lid on and slipping off her dad's shoulders. Langlin groaned, standing up and rubbing his spine.

"Alright," he said. "Now let's get that turned in and head home, alright?"

"Sure!" said Bina. "But we're still coming to next year's festival, right?"

"...alright. But next time we're not getting so involved in this kind of thing."

"Fair enough!"

[Choice: Get a sample for Zae]