Okay. Back to the hotel room. “Was there anyone at the hospital—the hospital is where we were just now—who you knew or had seen before?”

HEADSHAKE.

“Did anyone get hurt?”

HEADSHAKE.

Well, that’s some of the worst possibilities out of the way, then. “The thing that she took from the hospital—was it some sort of liquid?” Possibly nectar also comes in powder or pill form but Araari is not sure how to explain drugs to a monkey. Worst case scenario, she’ll pull out her first aid kit and ask Magnificence to point at anything that looks like what the lady took from the hospital.

NOD. PROBABLY. He's pretty sure she's asking whether it was drugs and he's PRETTY SURE it was drugs.

“You’re very good, Magnificence. Did they give it to her or did she take it without them seeing?”

.............how does he answer that via nodding or shaking his head.

“—Wait, I’m sorry, that’s not yes or no. Nod if they gave it to her, shake your head if she took it without them seeing.”

NOD.

“Am I still missing an obvious question? You are being very patient with me, thank you.”

HEADSHAKE. Araari can have hugs now for being good.

Not long after, Anita returns.

She Guesses they can check the hospital for Faldetta peaches and see if they do anything suspicious. 

She means, if either of them had better findings that would take priority, but given that neither of them has any better guesses,

Yeah.... that's fair....

Maybe when everyone else comes back they’ll have something to report! “Stay here now, alright, Magnificence? And if we’re not back when the other humans come back, you can take them to the hospital.”

o7

A storm is blowing in, its thunderhead rolling in dark and low, lightning splaying across the sky and touching the sea.

The Hospital Superbissima is a younger institution in an older building. The hospital was constructed as a sprawling mansion and was renovated into a hospital. It is six storeys tall, made of sturdy stone, and quite cramped and dark for a hospital. Though tall windows let a great deal of light into the outer rooms, the interior spaces, such as offices and records rooms, are shadowy and confining.

Nurses walk through the hospital carrying what are recognizably vials of Nectar, like they saw with the Faletta Peaches.

Araari makes a mental note to ask Zoë what Magnificence can have as a treat.

A nurse spots Anita. "Hello, ma'am. You don't have your visitor's pass?"

" - oh, I'm sorry, I wonder where it got to?"

"We can sort that out. Who are you going to see?"

Haha fuck uh. "Oh, I'm sorry, I don't even - my sister called me and said her boyfriend was in trouble, and I can barely keep track of who she's seeing these days, but she sounded so upset, you know, and, well - Jack Grech, I think it was?"

Anita gets a sense from the nurse that she's corrupt and crooked-- she's used to taking bribes.

"All right," she says. "We can check to see if Mr. Gretch is in the patient records so I can send you to the right room?"

Araari is just going to try to shrink into the wall and pretend this isn’t happening.