Tonuk's perspective:
Now at the shelter, he got Tegnuk to agree to meet up with Toru, even after warning him of the very small risks.
They went back to Toru's room, which had been cleaned up and finally had the weights removed.
They all sat down and slowly, got Tegnuk to come closer to Toru to see how it reacted, though it didn't seem to mind him for the most part, only moving away until he was very close.
Ri wanted to hold Toru closer to see if that helped it feel more comfortable with Tegnuk, but it didn't work, instead seemingly making Toru uncomfortable once again.
They decided to wait for a bit for Toru to get more accustomed at seeing Tegnuk, chatting in the meantime while waiting.
They had quite a bit of time to spare, since the Turos are ussually fairly independent, and either way, the new volunteer, Tegnuk's friend, was there to help out.
Eventually, they decided to try seeing how it would react to meeting a Turo properly, since they had only barely seen eachother once, maybe twice.
They went into the sleeping/private area for Turos as Tegnuk went for a Turo, then settling it down and distracting it with some pets.
They sat Toru down as well and watched as it stared at the Toru and Tegnuk for a bit before crossing its arms, leaning back on Tonuk and talking in an even more gravely voice.
This was exciting, since they explained to Tegnuk that they thiught it could be as a way to show feeling safe or happy.
Plus, it was leaning back and sitting cross legged, which made it hard to escape if needed, so, it showed that it felt safe once again.
They decided to continue making idle chat while waiting for the two creatures to get used to eachother, although they noticed that Toru stopped talking, which was weird, but at least it stayed in the same position.
Tonuk was doing most of the talking, sharing all that they had found out about Toru, except of course the possible evidence of a third sentient species.
Tegnuk was fairly curious and mentioned something interesting, that since he was studying animal behavior, maybe he could help out with researching Toru.
They accepted the help and as Tonuk was about to start sending the recordings they had of Toru, it suddenly pushed off Tonuk's hand.
He was a bit confused, but Toru still seemed relaxed so he wasn't worried.
Tegnuk followed suit, letting go of the Turo, which approached Toru, who wanted to get away.
They were about to grab hild of the Turo, until Tegnuk noticed that Toru was actually making some facial expressions that usually showed happiness.
They were still fairly alert just in case, but eventually realized that the two were just playing around, though eventually Toru got the upper hand and managed to get on top of the bed shelf to keep the Turo away.
Feeling defeated, it finally left Toru win, making some whimpers in protest, so, with the game finally being over, they decided to get the two to meet properly finally.
Tonuk lightly carried down Toru while jokingly scolding it for not playing nicely.
The Turo started smelling Toru before it could get down, to meet it, but Toru started squirming around quite a lot and made a funny looking face in response.
As Toru reached the floor finally, it quickly got back on top of a drawer, clearly not happy about the experience, which confused everyone.
It especially confused Ri, who explained that ussually, creatures that have different smells for each emotions use scent to greet eachother, so it was odd how Toru reacted.
Clearly, Toru wasn't really glad at being with the Turo, so for now they decided to let it be for a bit and chill out, though it seemed to get mad as well when Ri checked how it smelled when it was angry.
Tegnuk noticed something interesting though, which was that it seemed to use mostly its face to show emotion, as it changed a lot, be it when playing or being mad.
They entertained the idea, settling on sending the recordings to Tegnuk so he and Tonuk could make a, sort of guide, to help see how Toru was feeling.
For now, they were going to let Toru be for a while to calm down a bit.
Meanwhile, they continued working by helping out with the Turo, mostly just cleaning and then some paperwork for people adopting.
Finally, they went back to Toru, who by now was still laying down on the drawer, letting its arm dangle in front and looking bored, which they took note of how it looked.
Tonuk decided to start noting down all the other emotions down along with their respective expressions , since he remembered how they looked like and had recordings.
Meanwhile, Tegnuk and Ri were trying to get Toru to play around again and be happy.
They weren't very successful, as it decided to go limp on them, though it clearly was able to move, though still, it worried them a bit.
After getting some food for it though, it finally started moving again, going over to eat, though it didn't actually do it.
After walking over, Toru looked back and clearly had its angry expression again, which confused everyone, though it could be because Tegnuk was there, so it didn't feel safe enough?
While talking about the possible cause, Toru picked up its plate and left the room, going to the corridor to eat alone, it stopped eating when it was watched.
This mostly confirmed that it was because of Tegnuk, though still, Toru stopped eating when Tonuk or Ri looked at it, even if Tegnuk wasn't near.
Along with this, it was looking at them with the same, angry expression, which had them trying to figure out what was wrong.
They waited until it finished eating, which it did even slower than before, still confused.
They decided that maybe some treats could cheer it up, so Ri went and got some fruits that it seemed to like, since all it had was the nutrient and calorie rich food, which was a bit bland.
They got Toru's attention and showed it the fruit, it even smelled it from a distance, but still, it didn't move from its spot in the hallway.
Finally, it got up and walked closer to Ri, but instead of grabbing the food, it walked by its side and sat down leaning on a wall, now with a more relaxed/tired look.
They werent sure of what feeling this was for, but for now they decided to just place the food beside it and try sitting down next to it.
Tonuk sat down and Toru walked away from him.
For now they were going to just, let it be for a while, since they didn't know why it was mad.
They all let it be in the room for a while, occasionally checking in for a moment to see how it was doing.
.
The end of the workday was near and Tegnuk was busy wrapping up, so Tonuk and Ri went over to check up on Toru one last time before letting it sleep in its room once again.
It was a lot more calm and a bit more active, walking around the room, though its still had the same look in its face.
Tonuk remembered how it seemed excited at learning new words a couple days ago, which they stopped since they didn't want to waste the limited memory it had (probably enough for ~30 words).
They decided to try teaching it some things they had agreed on, mainly command, like to sit or lay down.
They grabbed some more fruit, since it had thankfully eaten the bits they gave it before, so hopefully it wanted some more now.
They first had Tonuk command Ri to sit while Toru saw and then gave the command to Toru, who seemed confused and surprised for some reason.
They showed the command once again and tried to get Toru to do it, repeating the word, but it stared at them them with wide eyes and stretched lips, which they had no idea what it could be used for.
It walked over to a lot of things around the room, tapping at them and making random noises, which was a bit cute, though still confusing.
They watched it do this for a while, before eventually stopping and staring at them as water started coming out of its eyes along with more laboured breathing, as well as what seemed to be whimpers.
Extremely confused and now worried, they were thinking that maybe it had eaten something that was an irritant to it, like with that one plant.
They tried approaching to help out but Toru ran away, going inside its room and closing the door.
They did not know what to do now.