#but given that the lament has probably led to significant extinction events

[yupuffin]

Oh my goodness, so with this, I just imagined that Quay's room probably has a shelf with taxidermied birds and animal skulls, and "weird" things like that. Depending on the specimen he might bring it back to see if anyone at the lab or anyone else in the response program wants it (who knows what the other researchers at the Academy collect/study), but his personal space is definitely dedicated to seabirds and the occasional marine mammal. MAYBE a shell or two -- highly dependent on the type and source, because he would definitely be a proponent of the "leave the shells on the beach where you found them" guideline. But like. Unwanted materials previously used for educational purposes? Up for grabs.

Anyway, going back to the dynamic with Valerian, this gives us a range of possible scenarios, but I find it particularly funny to envision a series of instances in which Valerian delivers Quay a specimen that he then brings back to the lab to examine and they end up being counterfeit or otherwise unremarkable somehow -- this could happen perhaps four or five times, until...

Valerian: (cheats/bets an Exile out of a sketchy specimen) Valerian: (delivers packaged specimen to Quay) Quay: (opening the package, not getting his hopes up) Quay: (suddenly very attentive) Quay: (wide-eyed, practically sticks his whole face in the package) Quay: Where did you get this Valerian: ...? idk, from some Exile like usual Quay: I need you to go back to them and get me their info now Valerian: (perhaps thinking he's finally hit the jackpot, as Quay is particularly enthused) Valerian: You want more of those? Quay: NO. I'M CONFISCATING THIS Valerian: ...? Quay: THIS IS AN ENDANGERED SPECIES AND KEEPING SPECIMENS OF IT IS SUPER ILLEGAL

(And that was how a band of Exiles was fined and arrested not for petty crimes, but for a violation of the Huanglong Migratory Bird Treaty Act. They probably didn't even bother to identify the species beforehand, smh.)

giggling i love thinking of quests that require you to do something more shady than usual to complete a task

but i doubly love the idea of valerian making bets (for the greater good) and cheating (for science) to get his task done (he definitely does it for fun and more than once) (especially for quay too cause i love imagining he'd do anything for his science friend and if his friend wants that specimen he will get that specimen)

ocs are so silly and fun i want more thoughts about all the wuwa ocs