Varick paced the corners of the small interrogation room as he sifted through page after page of reports on his digi-pad. Many more digital documents and photos were displayed on the holo-monitors attached to the walls around him.
Varin sat at the opposite end of the large desk that took up nearly half of the room's floor space.
The weary tan-furred prisoner watched her brother's movements as he went back and forth, like he'd been doing for nearly ten minutes now. Whenever he turned away, she'd tug experimentally on the invisible chains that held the mag-cuff on her wrist to within a certain distance of the table.
Eventually, tired of waiting, Varin broke the silence, "I ain't gonna talk, copper," she spat in a forced, thuggish tone.
Varick sighed, "Oh, how I wish that were true," he replied sadly with a shake of his head.
After pacing a few more times and reading a few more digital pages, the President of the Science Field finally conceded.
Stopping on a dime, the tall, white-furred Lombax turned a full ninety degrees and marched to the desk before tossing his digi-pad onto it, "Alright Varin, I give up! We've been through all your lab notes, your test samples, your chemical storage, your garbage logs, your garbage, even that fake diary you keep to distract me. While we found plenty of… questionable items, there was nothing in any of it that I would 'need' to do something about."
Varin looked up at her brother suspiciously, "So then, what am I still doing with this on?" she asked, holding up her arm and emphasizing the metal bracelet locked around it.
Varick reached up to his face and exhaustedly massaged the bridge of his nose. He then pulled out the chair from the table across from his sister and took a seat, "You know very well why, Varin. You've rewritten your genetic code to match that of your assistant's, then you managed to hack into the school's security system and swap your verification ID with hers as well. I'm guessing Kaden helped with the latter?"
Varin's eyes only narrowed at the question and she did not answer.
Varick continued, "As much as you like to flaunt your skills, I know that even the most seamlessly managed DNA resequencing is still extremely painful, difficult to pull off, and full of risks. If you had just changed your fur color like you usually do, maybe I'd overlook it, but altering your bone structure? To go this far to evade my observers, there's no question in my mind that you must be up to something."
"Listen here flatfoot," Varin replied in her mock thuggish tone again, "either charge me with a crime or get my lawyer, cus' I ain't singin."
Varick groaned with irritation, "There are no laws here, Varin. You know that. If I wanted to, I could have one of the big, scary Nova Guards outside drag you to the edge of Mt. Supernova, tie a rope around your ankles, and hang you over it. I could then leave you there until you decided to tell me what you're up to and nobody would say a word about it."
The Science Field president had spoken his words as intimidatingly as he could and, had they been used against over ninety-eight percent of the galactic population, they would have worked.
Instead of cowing, however, Varin leaned forward, her eyes locked with her brother's and a slight smirk on her lips, "You don't have the tail," she hissed, before leaning back in her chair. She was part of the other two percent.
Varick's eyes narrowed coldly at his sister. Varin was right, of course, he would never stoop to such barbaric means to get what he wanted, although she 'was' making an excellent case for him to cross that line.
"At the very least, I could charge you for illegally militarizing your lab," he pointed out.
Varin shook her head in annoyance, "Yeah, that would have worked great if that stupid rich girl hadn't shown up."
"Stop that, Varin," growled Varick. "The Adjunaris family is one of the top one hundred wealthiest families on Fastoon. You're worth nearly as much as she is."
The younger Adjunaris glared at her brother angrily, "No, 'I'm' not, remember?"
Seeing that this line of questioning would go nowhere, the elder Adjunaris just sighed again and similarly leaned back in his chair. His eyes never left Varin's as he tried desperately to read her.
Of course, there was nothing in her expression, as she was used to this kind of treatment. So, the elder Lombax raised his hand to his chin and rubbed it reflexively as he pondered the situation.
'Things just don't add up,' he told himself for the thousandth time in the past hour. 'Why would Varin go through all this trouble? Besides the DNA thing, she must have asked someone, probably Kaden, for help with the ID swap and she 'hated' asking others for help.'
But, no matter how many times he read through the reports of his sister's seized materials and properties, he could not find anything worth hiding to such an extent. If anything, when he looked over the reports of the past year, he noticed a 'decrease' in violent and/or just plain vile experiments overall.
Varick reached over and picked up his digi-pad again, hoping that one more look through the endless files and reports would show him something the other hundred had not.
He then switched over to a summary report from the time before Varin had altered her DNA. His watchdogs had noticed the change then, but it wasn't all that uncommon of a thing for her to do and they felt confident in their NID tracking.
Just as he'd seen the last few times he'd checked, there was a clear dip in the number of red flags that the observers had marked for concern before this time, so it was still 'Varin' being tracked. The dip appeared to have happened about half-way through the current semester, right around the time when most students began selecting their classes for the next one.
After learning nothing new from this, Varick slid his fingers over his digi-pad and brought up the graphs showing the overlapping timelines where she and Kaden had spent time together.
If it was hard for him to believe that his sister wasn't planning something despite her strenuous efforts to hide her actions from him, it was even harder to believe that she'd spent so much time with someone as dangerous as Kaden and had not done something of serious concern. The very thought of what those two could accomplish made him shudder inwardly.
Minus the large sections in the graph where Kaden had fought in the CtD match and subsequently been sent to Sargasso, the two of them had spent an inordinate amount of time together in various lab facilities across Nova.
There was an odd overlap where Kaden had been hospitalized for nearly three days after the match and Varin had spent a lot of time with him. Which seemed odd, seeing as how Kaden had been unconscious the entire time, but the reports he had received at that time did not reveal anything outwardly suspicious. Though, he did keep it in the back of his mind.
Everything after this was post DNA swap and had Varick not been tracking Kaden's movements as well as Varin's, he'd have had no idea about anything she'd been up to after that. This told him that, somewhere among the dots, lines, and timestamps, his sister was hiding something big.
"You didn't know that Kaden was my protégé, did you?" he asked suddenly.
Varick needed something to go on, anything, but he doubted he'd find it in his notes, so he returned his focus to Varin.
"I don't ask people about their traumas and life hardships," the angry tan-furred Lombax answered bitterly.
"So, I guess that means you weren't aware I was tracking 'his' movements as well?" he added.
Varin shrugged, "I just assumed that you curl your tail on stalking everyone," she stated simply. "Of course, that includes Kaden."
Even though Varick had his eyes on his digi-pad, the handheld device was actually showing him a live feed of the interrogation room that he and his sister were in. Because of this, he noticed the slight tightening of her jaw at his comment.
With that small, unintentional gesture, he knew he was onto something. It was abundantly clear that, whatever Varin was trying to hide, Kaden was involved.
However, despite having suspected this in the first place, all the reports he'd gathered so far made it look on paper like the two of them were simply co-collaborators on many recent research projects. Complete with pages upon pages of 'properly' filled acquisition requests, disposal reports, and Science Field patent applications. The question was 'what was in there that Varin was trying to hide?'
'Unless…' Varick thought as his eyes narrowed at the various pages of data he was flicking through.
"I hear that the Tough Nuts' little scuffle with Kor is resolved… for the most part at least," he asked in a casual, almost friendly voice.
Varin didn't react to the change in tone and grinned snidely at her elder brother/interrogator, "Don't worry bro, you're still my most hated living ball of shower-drain fur," she assured him.
But Varick was only half listening to her insults. His fingers were now flashing across the various holo-images on his screen, clicking and collecting data files he wished to review and compare, at a blinding pace.
As he inspected the data closer, he found an odd section that dated to around the time of this recent late-semester, where many classes, such as the practical labs that Varin taught, came to a close.
This span of time held report after report which showed that there wasn't just a lack of red flags being marked, but a lack of productive activity from Varin on the whole. In fact, there were entire twenty-four hour periods where she hadn't logged a single entry into her experiment records.
Even more noteworthy, however, was one report which showed that his crazed scientist sister had accidentally used sulfuric acid instead of phosphoric acid in a lab test. This had been a mistake. Varin did not make mistakes.
"Also, we've just passed the late-semester mark didn't we?" Varick continued as if he and his captive were just having a cordial conversation over lunch.
Varin continued to eye him coldly, cautious of the change in tone now, "Asks the guy with the all-knowing digi-pad to the poor girl mag-locked to a desk," she replied, choosing her words more carefully now.
Getting the truth out of Varin was a very tricky art, given her extensive experience with this little dance of minds. Varick himself had interrogated her like this on numerous occasions, but even before that, growing up in the Adjunaris household had a way of hardening you against leaking information.
Varick nodded and grinned as if his 'lunch-buddy' had just complimented the weather, "Most of the practical labs for your level two students should be all wrapped up by now, right?"
Varin nodded, as if she agreed with what her brother said, "Speaking of wraps," she replied back in an equally casual manner, "you know what I could really go for? A burrito."
Varick's lips twitched slightly, touching just barely into the realm of a 'genuine' smile at the off topic comment. The truth was that Varin had little skill for word-games and often wore her thoughts on her sleeve, but, when she wanted to hide something, her go-to move was to simply refuse participation in the battle of wits all together.
"I also see that they've received their final grades already. And that you've managed to fail most of them… again," he noted next.
"You know what this room could use?" Varin replied, out of sync with the topic as she looked around thoughtfully, "to spruce it up and make it look nicer I mean? Anything that isn't your face."
Varick, his eyes still pointed downward, reached up and rubbed his chin again, 'Ignoring an opportunity to ridicule her students?' he wondered curiously. Very unVarin-like.
Due to Varin's method of interrogation defense, he had no accurate way of gauging how close he was to the truth. He just had to hope to hit close enough to the truth to cause a reaction.
"I guess that means your working relationship with most of them is over now. Must be a huge relief for you, huh?" he continued.
"I had a relationship with your 'mom'!" Varin smirked back crudely.
'If that had been true, maybe things could have been different,' Varick thought sadly.
No sooner had the thought been whispered, than the ironclad grip of the Science Field president's mind had crushed it into a mere feeling before tossing it aside and out of focus. Such thoughts of the past had no place in the present and especially no place in this room. He briefly chided himself for his slip and returned to the task at hand.
He was also sure that Varin's particular response had no bearing on reality either. She had gotten over her past a long time ago and had likely only said such a thing reflexively.
This revealed just how detached her thoughts were from the conversation. His only hope now was to offer a comment that damn near hit the nail on the head. If he didn't, then he had nothing.
It was time for the final push.
The imposing, white-furred Lombax rolled his stiff shoulders and licked his mildly dry lips, before putting his digi-pad down, but still not looking up at his sister, "I find it strange then…" he began inconspicuously, while Varin pretended to be interested in her nails. "No. I find it… 'interesting' that, even though you failed most of your students, one seemed to have passed with fairly decent marks."
Again, Varick was watching the live feed from the interrogation room security cameras. Through them, and with Varin's guard slightly lowered from believing that he wasn't looking at her, he saw her ear twitch slightly.
A tug on the line.
It wasn't much of a sign, but it was more than enough for Varick, "In fact," he continued as he swiped his fingers several times until he found what he was looking for, "This particular student passed your lessons with flying colors, a whole 'B-'. That's the highest grade you've ever given anyone."
The younger Adjunaris sat up straighter in her chair now and eyed her brother irritatedly, "He's pretty good with biomechanics," she admitted. "Not nearly as good as me, of course, but better than most. After all, you made him your protégé, didn't you?"
Varin was not liking where this conversation was going. From her brother's cheerfulness to his odd line of questioning, she was beginning to get a familiar sense of foreboding.
Varick, on the other hand, was feeling emboldened. He hid this feeling from his face, but to him, hearing Varin actually compliment someone 'other' than herself was proof that he was getting close.
He then opened up another file that had been nagging at him for a while, "Dr. Osectis reported that you were tampering with patients again," he noted offhandedly.
Varin glared coldly at her brother, taking his words as an insult, "I wasn't 'tampering' with anything," she growled. "And I did my time for that," she added.
To her surprise, Varick nodded his agreement, "Yes, I know. Dresden wrote as much in his report. 'The subject's muscles had been grown back exquisitely. There wasn't a single under or overstimulated fiber in any of the newly grown bundles.' The good doctor even noted that he'd have been hard pressed to see such clean work, even had he assigned a team of his specialists to the task."
A slight grin curled the corners of Varin's lips at hearing such praise from her old mentor, but she fought the urge and quickly reset her jaw, "How's the tail, by the way?" she asked smugly. "Still keeping you up at night?"
Instinctively, Varick felt a twinge in his tail at the mention of the injury he'd sustained when he was younger. He had no proof, but he was sure Varin had activated the door sealing sequence on purpose.
However, the ghosts of pains past were quickly overshadowed by the impending sense of encircling his target. Varin was resorting to her bag of insults that she knew were guaranteed to draw a reaction from him, even if he didn't show it. This was even more proof that he was on the right track.
It was at that moment that the steadfast president finally found the file he was looking for. It had been archived rather than added to his digi-pad for review as it hadn't been tagged by his investigation team. This was because there seemed to be nothing in it that they had found suspicious. They, however, hadn't known what to look for.
As Varick quickly searched through the file, a wide grin spread across his face. It was the first time he'd let his thoughts openly slip out.
Varin hated that grin.
"That was quite the practical field test you did yesterday, wasn't it?" Varick asked eagerly, like a predator closing in on its prey. "The one with the Kraken?"
"Two days ago," Varin corrected, as flatly as she could.
Varick looked at the time on his digi-pad and found that they were now well into the morning. He wasn't annoyed by this though, he could sense Varin's desperation in her voice.
"Must have taken a lot of preparation and planning," he continued. "You even got all of the permits and usage requests filed and approved... both legally 'and' on time."
Varin eyed him suspiciously, "What are you getting at?" she demanded, tired of this game already.
Varick's grin split even wider and he looked up at his sister for the first time since sitting down, "Of course, dear sister, I'm just saying that it must have made a great gift."
Miraculously, even though he was staring straight at her, Varin's expression immediately revealed her thoughts to him. It turned from angry indifference to one of horrified realization.
Like a beast smelling blood, Varick pounced, slamming his digi-pad on the table and standing up. At the same time, the wall of holo-monitors behind him went blank, before being replaced by a digital calendar with a familiar schedule on it, along with several other open files.
These files represented a trail of data that ended on the day of the Kraken demonstration, but had been backtracked all the way to a distant, recycling-bin-recovered rough draft of a Bio-weapon Combat Test application. There, typed into the footnotes of the request, was written the words 'For Kaden's birthday.'
"Admit it, Varin!" roared Varick, wild eyed and sure of himself. The fact that Varin even knew when Kaden's birthday was all the proof he needed.
"You're wrong!" Varin shouted back, relinquishing any semblance of subtle control as she pulled hard on her mag-cuff. Phantom-like flashes of a tether line flickered in and out of existence, but it did not break.
"I 'know' your productivity went down and that your experiments suffered just before your role as Kaden's instructor ended. My young protégé was never really a lover of organic science, so no surprise he didn't choose any for the following semester. What's the matter, having trouble with motivation for your work after this revelation? It's almost like your mind was stuck on something."
The elder Lombax pressed harder, leaning ever closer to his cornered sister, "But, I also know that your productivity skyrocketed shortly after that, right around the time you changed your DNA and started hiding from my trackers!"
"That's just a coincidence!" Varin insisted, slamming her still cuffed fist into the desk as she tried to break the manicle.
"Coincidence?" laughed Varick. "There are no such things as coincidences, not in this world. Just like it was no coincidence that, after Kaden began training with the Tough Nuts and you got a reason to keep in contact after your class with him finished, you suddenly found your motivation again. Or, that after he began working with you directly, the amount of scientific research you submitted nearly doubled!"
Varin shook her head in denial, but refused to look up at Varick anymore, "It's not what you think," she refuted desperately, "he's just handy with data! He's nothing more than a calculator!"
But Varick's knowing grin never wavered, "Oh, he's more than that." This time it was his turn to slam his hands on the desk, "Confess! You and Kaden are actually… friends!"
"Noooooooo!" Varin howled as she grabbed both her ears and pulled them down tight toward her chin in an attempt to block out the sound.
But Varick showed no mercy, "Face it, Varin, you and Kaden 'work well together'."
"Gah!" the tan-furred Lombax gasped painfully, pressing her hands against her heart and feeling the accusation as if she'd been physically stabbed.
"You 'value his opinion'!"
At this, Varin grasped her stomach and looked as if she were about to be sick.
"The evidence here all proves it!" Varick declared, leaning in closer for the finishing blow. He then whispered into his sister's ear, "I bet you even... 'enjoy his company'."
As if being struck by lightning, these 'shocking' words caused Varin to shudder with agony, before curling her limbs toward her body and gasping for air, unable to accept the facts that had been laid out before her.
Then, like a great tree being felled by the final chop, the younger Adjunaris toppled forward onto the table.
As the echoes of Varin's cries faded, a great sense of calm slowly fell over the interrogation chamber.
Varick, breathing a sigh of relief, retook his seat across from his sister. His sense of relief primarily being that Varin had not been planning something diabolically fitting of some amateurish action/adventure novel, but there was another reason too.
Ever since they were kids, Varin had always been angry towards those around her. While Varick didn't particularly blame her for this, as she got older, she had miraculously become even worse.
It had gotten so bad that the very idea of being friendly towards others was anathema to her, so much so that she'd go to absurd lengths just to deny that she was even capable of something like 'friendship', even to herself.
"It's not true," Varin continued to moan softly in defeat. "Guys and girls can't be friends, it's not genetically possible," she added, searching desperately for any excuse that would allow her to counter reality.
Varick couldn't help but smile at the surprisingly childlike reaction.
As president of the Science Field, he was satisfied to know that the relative safety of his students and the galaxy at large was secured. As a brother, however, he was slightly warmed by the thought that his little sister had finally found someone she could connect with... in her own 'very' weird way.
'Who would have thought?' he wondered to himself.
Close to a year ago, when Varick had first read the file on Kaden, he'd seen someone with a large amount of potential, but mostly he saw a serious hazard and source of future headaches.
That assessment wasn't wrong, but he would never have predicted that the young borderline cyber-terrorist would get along so well with his borderline bio-terrorist of a sister.
...
Actually, now that he thought about it, the whole thing started to make sense. In fact, the more consideration he gave it, the more Varick realized how similar the two actually were.
Apart from their opposing fields of expertise, Kaden and Varin seemed like the perfect fit.
And it was then that another thought crossed his mind. A possibility on which, perhaps, Sorana's intuition had already hit the mark.
His younger sister's philosophy, though misguided, had some truth to it: relationships with the opposite gender tended to be much less… predictable than others. He had been so amazed by the thought of Varin actually making a friend for the first time in her life that he hadn't even considered if she was 'capable' of going even further.
Leaning forward in his chair again, Varick eyed his sister yet again and studied her closely. She was still lying face down across the table, grappling with the horrible reality that she had become 'sociable', even if under the greatest stretch of the word's definition.
"Varin," he began in a simple, flat tone. Varin's only reaction was slight shake of her head, but it was enough to say that she could hear him, "are you... in love with Kaden?" he asked point blank.
Suddenly, Varin's languishing stopped and her body stiffened.
Slowly, the tan-furred Lombax raised her head off the table to reveal the expression of someone who had just heard the most ridiculous thing ever uttered in lombax history, "Are you insane?" she questioned with genuine concern. "Of course I'm not, this isn't some stupid rom-com from a Saturday cartoon… it's an action/adventure sci-fi at best!"
But Varick was unconvinced. Ignoring her dissociative way of defining reality, he pressed for more, "So, you 'don't' think of Kaden in any sort of romantic way?" he questioned in as unaccusing a tone as he could. "No thoughts of one day professing your feelings, going out on a date, or even becoming physically intimate?"
Varin's eyes narrowed, "Is this some new form of interrogation? Because if so, it's working, because I'm really creeped out," she admitted before placing her hand over her chest. "I swear to you, on whoever's heart this is, that I have 'never' thought of Kaden as anything more than a friend… No, wait! I mean, lab assistant... I mean test subject! We're not friends!"
The elder Adjunaris lowered his gaze back down to his digi-pad and pretended to study it as he processed what he'd been told. He quickly shifted through the more distracting parts of his sister's answer in his head, focusing only on what was important.
Varin had been so caught off guard by the questioning that she even admitted to secretly considering Kaden a friend. Varick was at least sure now that her motivation behind escaping his observation until now was to hide this fact, one that she was clearly embarrassed and ashamed of.
From this, he found that he honestly believed what she had said about having never thought of Kaden in a romantic sense. However, true feelings were hard to discern at the best of times, one only needed to look as far as Sorana to see that.
With someone as twisted and jaded as Varin on the other hand, things were even more convoluted.
"So then," Varick continued, turning his attention back to his sister, who was still trying to backpedal on having admitted her friendship with Kaden, "Why not? As you've said repeatedly, 'guys and girls can't be 'just' friends', so if you and Kaden are so close, why not be 'more' than friends?"
"We're not friends," Varin insisted once more, but her brother did not react to her words. Instead, he simply watched her and waited for her to answer his question.
Eventually Varin sighed concedingly, "Where to begin?" she asked out loud. "First off, all romantic feelings are just an imbalance of hormones, there's no such thing as 'love'. I once made a lab assistant of mine fall in love with their own foot, so I know what I'm talking about. Even if I 'did' have romantic feelings for Kaden, which I don't, I would just take an anti-hormone injection and be done with it."
Varick nodded, "I see. Any other reasons?"
Varin wrinkled her muzzle in annoyance, "Plenty! Being in a relationship is like being in a prison! Not only do you have to figure out what 'you' want to do, but you also have to figure out what 'they' want to do. What they like to eat, what they like to watch. That's twice the effort for everything you do and you probably won't even be able to enjoy half the things you want anymore. Who would do that to themselves?"
"Some fairly good points," Varick agreed, still nodding as he spoke. Inwardly, however, he noted that all of Varin's arguments were deriding relationships in general, but she said nothing about the negatives of have one with Kaden specifically.
"Let's try something else," the president continued, still speaking in a non-threatening voice. "And, if you'll just indulge me in this request, you'll be free to go. I won't even charge you for weaponizing your laboratory. What do you say?"
Varin's expression scrunched as she studied her brother. She was intrigued by the offer, but extremely suspicious, "What's the deal?" she asked, sure she wasn't going to like it.
Varick sat up straighter in his chair, "First, I want you to imagine that you and Kaden are out on a date."
The younger Adjunaris raised one eyebrow curiously, before looking around the room in confusion, "I-is this a joke?" she questioned, still searching for some kind of reality T.V. setup.
Varick simply shook his head, "Not at all. Just humor me, please. I promise I have a point."
Varin crossed her arms and eyed her brother for a moment, "What… what 'is' a date… exactly?" she asked, genuinely unsure of the concept's details.
The elder Adjunaris had to stifle a laugh, which he did with practiced ease. The response was just so 'Varin' that it was hard not to at least smile.
With a balanced tone meant to avoid offending her in anyway, Varick explained, "It can be anything really. Something that the two of you would do together, something that you both enjoy."
Varin shrugged, "I guess... working together on experiments in the lab isn't so bad," she offered reluctantly.
"Excellent. Imagine that then," Varick pressed.
Varin's eyes narrowed, "We were doing that the day before yesterday, before you and your Nova tin cans busted in my door."
"Good. Good," the president nodded, ignoring the anger being directed toward him. "And, what was 'that' like?"
"Productive," she answered flatly with a shrug.
Varick nodded, "And, did you enjoy your time working with Kaden? Did you feel happy when the two of you spent time together like this?"
Seeing where this was going, Varin spread her arms out, "Sure, I was 'happy', but only because we got things done! I would have been just as 'happy' with anyone else even half as talente- er, I mean 'useful'," she rephrased carefully.
"Uh, huh," intoned Varick as he held his chin thoughtfully. "Alright, next one. I want you to imagine that you're far into the future... and that you and Kaden are getting married. What do you feel?"
To his surprise, Varin didn't react to the question in a negative way at all. Instead, she simply raised her gaze upwards and seriously pondered the situation.
Varick was so stunned by this response that he had to wipe the mild look of confusion off his face by the time she returned her attention to him.
"Sounds good," Varin admitted with a nod of her head. "As long as I don't have to do anything fancy for the wedding, that is."
"Wait, so you'd actually marry Kaden, willingly?" Varick questioned, fighting hard to keep any intense emotion from his face.
Varin nodded again, "Sure. Technoscience is consistently much more successful commercially than bioscience, plus I'm sure Kaden's never even heard of a prenup."
Varick felt his muscles relax subconsciously, realizing only now that they'd tensed in the first place, "I don't know if I should ask," he continued with a solemn tone, "But what about having kids together?"
"Kids?" repeated Varin in confusion. "You mean clones? Yeah, I guess we could have a few of them, but I'd have to tweak their DNA a bit to convince him they were his." She then looked at her currently tan-furred hands, "Or, I guess I could just keep this sequence when I make the templates for the fur tone."
Feeling a wave of exhaustion, the President of the Science Field put his tired face in his hands and massaged his temples gently, "One more Varin," he breathed as he removed his hands and eyed his twisted sister again. "Answer this last one and you can go."
The tan-furred prisoner studied her white-furred captor carefully for a moment, before folding her arms again, "Alright, let's do this."
"I want you to imagine..." Varick began hesitantly, "Imagine that you are kissing Kaden. Your faces are close, your lips are touching, and his scent is all you can smell. Describe what it feels like."
Varin's keen interest in getting this, the weirdest interrogation of her life, over with quickly evaporated from her face, "Is this… some kind of sexual harassment?" she asked suspiciously. "Because, if it is, I'm sure the fact that you're my brother makes it at least twice as illegal… and at least three times as creepy."
Feeling his limit approaching, Varick's expression thinned with annoyance, "Just do it, Varin. Do it and we can both get out of here."
Still eyeing her deranged elder brother, Varin reluctantly complied with the request.
First, she tried to imagine Kaden's face. She rarely looked directly at people, so she didn't really have a good image in her head, but she'd recently spent a lot of time with him, so it was better than most.
Next, she tried to imagine the two of them with their faces close. She could smell the same burnt wire and ozone scent that he always exuded, all the while getting closer, slowly, until their lips almost touched.
Across from his sister, Varick's irritated expression shifted into one of curiosity as he watched her eyes lose their focus on him.
Next, her lips began to wiggle almost imperceptibly.
The president's eyes widened in surprise, he had not really expected Varin to go through with this.
Even more surprising, the chaotic younger Adjunaris' eyelids began to flutter as her mental image deepened. Each time they did so, they came back a little closer together, until they closed completely.
Without realizing it, Varick had leaned across the interrogation table by the time he finally asked, "Well?"
"It's," Varin began, unsure of how to answer at first. Then her eyes opened wide and annoyance was written all over her face, "It's wet."
Varick slowly leaned back into his chair, "Just… wet?"
"Really wet," Varin elaborated, wrinkling her muzzle in disgust. "And it tastes like those stupid cheese doodle things he's always eating. Do you know they aren't even made with real cheese? It's ground up Orange Wood Beatles, I ran a protein profile on them. So gross."
But Varick only heard the first part of her answer and was studying his younger sister intensely, "And, you felt nothing else?"
Varin rolled her eyes and groaned, "I don't know what it is exactly that you've gotten in that crazy skull of yours, or even why you care, but I don't 'like' Kaden like that. He's not... bad, and I'll admit that I 'do' enjoy working with him, but I'm not in love with him just because he's the first guy I 'kind of' get along with. Okay?"
Varick continued to study his sister while carefully considering her words, "So, let me just get this straight," he began as he sat up in his seat again and brought his hands together for emphasis. "Not only did you actually, willingly imagine locking lips with another living, conscious lombax being, but afterward your first reaction was 'wet'... not a sudden wave of nausea and revulsion to the point of physically being sick, nor were you overcome with the powerful urge to develop a pathogen meant to wipe out all Lombaxes of the male gender… again?"
This time, it was Varin who studied her brother carefully while considering his words.
She didn't say anything at first and her expression was flat, but Varick could see the gears slowly turning in her head, so he just waited patiently.
Then, after several long seconds of silence, Varin's eyes suddenly opened wide and she inhaled violently until her lungs were ready to burst. Terrifying realization was written across her face and she spoke without letting a single breath of air escape her throat, "I like Kaden..."
Across the table, Varick slumped back in his chair and let out an exhausted sigh. Even after all of this, with Varin, nothing was clear cut. He wasn't even sure he believed that she was capable of romantic feelings, but one thing was for sure: things just got more complicated.