"I think it'll predictably tip her off that someone knows what's going on and is thinking of interfering with her current plans, unless you're careful to avoid that. And I think she has no reason to trust us more than she trusts the doctors, especially if we don't have a better plan for what to do for her daughter anyway.

Maybe it'll work. I just wouldn't expect it to."

Oswald coughs.

"Something that might be a stomach that might contain Portia might be opening on the new moon tomorrow night. How important is it that we have the girls' situation figured out before we make a plan about that?"

“...Do we know if it will impact them? If it will not, then—we probably ought to prioritize that. If anybody even has ideas for how to plan for—a stomach opening.”

"Yeah, I have no idea how to do that. Not like we know where the stomach is."

“Connected to the mouth, I would guess.”

At the same time, "Are we any closer to figuring out where the giant Mouth is, might be connected to that."

"I am pretty sure the giant mouth that ate Portia Sapienza is under the warehouse."

"So we're back to weighing the risks of applying for the warehouse. Uh, they aren't being kept there, right, they're free to just go home, it's not a permanent trap or anything--"

“The warehouse is different than the factory, yes? Did we see how the warehouse workers were, or only the factory workers?”

"I really cannot stress enough how little we know about the warehouse, other than that it probably has a mouth under it and that it managed to bite the monkey. I guess we could send someone to scope it out."

“Seems a good first step.”

"Of course, if we want to be inside by tomorrow, I'm not sure applying right away is fast enough anyway."

"And we don't actually know if that's where the stomach is, we just know it has the most immediately relevant mouth. --in the meantime I'd like to learn more about whatever Solazzio's doing, does anyone want to go with me to the hospital?"

Araari, who is mostly concerned about the kids, would like to go to the hospital.

And so, the next morning, they arrive at the hospital! It is as grim and dark as usual.

The receptionist smiles at them as they enter. "More records?"

Mordred smiles back. He looks about as tired as he feels, which is very. "More records," he agrees.

Araari is just going to.... stare at the floor and pretend not to hear her.

"All right," she says. "I'll walk with you to the records room? I heard you got lost yesterday."

"Got lost coming back, not getting there! But that'd be nice, thank you."

She walks with them to the records room.

They enter the records room.

There's a woman inside it near the door. Big, tough, muscular.

Mordred can just barely see the blackjack before it slams into his head, knocking him out.

Araari watches Mordred crumple on the floor. His head is bleeding.

He-- may or may not be alive. He doesn't look okay.

WELL THAT’S NOT GREAT.

...She wants to run but if she leaves then he might die and he looks heavy, too heavy to carry if she wants to outrun anyone, so instead of running or grabbing him or doing anything she just kind of freezes.

(if he were awake he'd tell her to leave him and run.)

(he's not. he's bleeding from the skull. what he would or wouldn't do if he were awake is somewhat less than relevant.)

And then the door opens. Araari finds herself grabbed with one hand and thrown over the back of someone's shoulders. He is very tall and very, very strong.

His other hand, she dimly notes, is holding a gun.

The man runs-- he's fast, very fast for such a large man-- and then they go into ??? a hole in the ground ????

Down through a sewer grate or something.