[Fin] The Murder-Free Hotel

[Florien]

Engaged with, Kellensea quickly formulates an argument, hoping for some bending, some caving-in of someone's ability to hold their view.

Yeah, but who are you to say the cow-goat combination would be all that bad? Chances are it would be arcanely spliced and modified into stability, considering the speciesal rift between cows and goats, considering that neither is a ring species of the other. And considering that normal cows and goats have all kinds of health problems and carry all kinds of diseases specifically because they've been modified ALREADY to be better livestock, I don't really think their welfare is an issue you should be concerned with... As for if it dies off quickly, at least it's been tried. Then you know "huh guess hot-weather-pseudoyaks don't work out so great, we'll do something else then" rather than just saying "no, hot-weather-pseudoyaks will never work and we shouldn't try." If people followed that kind of mentality, scientists would be so worried whether or not they SHOULD that they'd never bother to find out if they COULD! And really, worst case, a virulent bioweapon gets out and kills like a third of some specific species and a couple ring species thereof, and is that so bad? To my knowledge, two thirds of all life die every day. Hell, Lab-grown animalcules? They're domesticated. They can't survive in the wild, so they can't even infect anyone! You'd need to deliberately be making a animalcule bioweapon to get one, you'd need to be doing it REALLY badly to make one that you don't have an immediate killswitch for, you'd need to be doing it INTENSELY badly to have it in a deeply unsecured facility, and if you're doing it all THAT badly, you're probably not capable of making a bioweapon anyway! The risk is virtually NIL!

Then, she finally processes the last comment after a long pause.

...you didn't say science could be USED for evil, you said science HAS evil. That you specifically mentioned science when you say everything can be used for evil? That raises many questions about the truth to yourself of that statement, considering you brought up science, and not, say, apples, or wooden blocks. Also, you moved the goalposts.

[PointMaid]

Ruby raises an eyebrow. She's... inclined to be much more laconic than Kellensea.

Of course it can be used for bad or good. It's a tool. A way to obtain knowledge. It's up to us as scientists to use it correctly.

And as for you, she looks at Kellensea, I wouldn't want to be your gene-spliced guinea pig, or goat-sheep, and if I were on the biological ethics committee at whatever institution you're a part of, I would not approve your experiment or funding after hearing you speak so... callously of the life of that hypothetical sheep-goat. For what it's worth.

[Mr. Lee Hammer]

Am I moving the goalposts as you put it, or are you just trying to twist my words around so you make yourself look better? You're such a huge know-it-all, right? So what do you have to prove by doing that? And has it ever occurred to you people can weigh the pros and cons of everything and maybe the cons are just too much to want to try it out? So you think there being more risk than reward is worth the gamble? And I like how you try to justify your views by saying two-thirds of life die everyday? Why can't you value life? It's precious and it's a privilege for everyone to have? Why would you want to do things that can further take away privileges of living for? I know what your answer will be, but I want everything here to live at its fullest.

[Kennifer]

If some of you saw some of the fauna 8ack on Alternia you'd pro8a8ly lose your minds! Or at least that Gary guy would, 8ut he's pro8a8ly lost his mind already anyway.

[PointMaid]

Sounds interesting... but I am a xenobiologist as one of my specialties. And not all Earth DNA myself.

[Mr. Lee Hammer]

Heh heh, yea. I did lose my mind. Back in 1988.

[Kennifer]

Yeah? You ever see a choler8ear? Or a 8icyclops? Or a dragon, or a virgin mother gru8, or a giant spiiiiiiiider?

[Florien]

Kellensea engages with Ruby's comment.

Institution? Not at any. Independent, and I work with independents and guild-exiles. The rigorous ones, of course, not the ones ejected for just being in it to fuck around, or those who falsified data or misrepresented findings. Hell, usually I'm the one providing funding. Though... I never understood what ethics committees are for anyway. They just seem to get in the way of potentially useful findings. Like, you kill your animalcules, you kill your test mice, is that so bad? Obviously not! So why not NOT place arbitrary restrictions on things you can test on? Knowledge and all, right?... Yeah, that sounds... FUCKING GARY YOU...

Another tirade spills out.

YES! You are 100% MOVING THE GOALPOSTS! SAYING YOU ARE ISN'T TWISTING YOUR WORDS! I'm NOT PROVING SHIT by talking about fields where I have knowledge and you PLAINLY DON'T, I'm merely INJECTING A FEW FACTS INTO YOUR FUCKING SEA OF LIES! I VALUE LIFE! I just don't see how YOU are necessarily more valuable than the TWO THIRDS OF ALL LIFE THAT DIES EVERY DAY! THAN THE ALMOST ALL LIFE THAT IS DEAD! VELS, YOU PEOPLE ARE THE WORST!

Another abrupt mood swing back into monotone. Maybe it's a magic item, maybe it's something else, but the abruptness and frequency of these is slightly alarming.

Vriska, is it? Yes. Gary here is intensely stupid and probably can't see fauna because he'd be too busy being terrible. And I would be interested in seeing new wildlife. As long as I'm cleared to kill it if I want, because there's all kinds of exciting natural resources that could probably be extracted.

[PointMaid]

...I'm afraid not. But it sounds like it would be an interesting experience.

[wahoothis]

Ranma, still standing there behind Gary, grumbled. He can't believe there were some parts he was agreeing with Kellensea about. Kellensea. "I mean, I'm not the biggest science guy around, hell I flunk it most of the times, but I'm not a conspiracy nut." He was contemplating dumping the water bottle on Gary.

Klonoa, who was slightly the cause of this conversation, just stood there awkwardly rubbing the back of his head. "Um. . . I don't really know what any of you are talking about. . . But science doesn't have to be evil. Sure, I've met an inventor who one time hosted a volleyball tournament to turn the losers into gears, but there were also times he used that science for good. And I don't know what crossbreeding is, but if it can make animals that want to live just like any other animals, then is that really a bad thing?"

[Kennifer]

Yeah!!!!!!!! I mean, some of them are really weak, 8ut my lusus? That's........ like a guardian or custodian where I come from, every troll has one. Anyway, mine was a HUGE spider. Like REALLY huge, she filled up almost a whole canyon!

[Mr. Lee Hammer]

I saw a dragon once. I rode it up to unicorn-land and got me some ice cream. And trust me there, unicorns make good ice cream.

He turns his attention to a salty Kellensea.

Now here you are twisting my words again. I didn't say I was more valuable than the two thirds of life. All I said was I value all life and I want it all to thrive and I want to bring down the numbers that die every day. Now why are you so mad for? I just tell the truth and you can't handle it? Must be pretty hot under all that armor you got on. You're just like a little tea kettle aren't ya. I wanna hear you sing "I'm a little teapot short and stout, here is my handle, here is my spout". And you know, that sounds pretty good right now.

Gary goes and makes himself some tea.

[Kennifer]

Unicorns might 8e fake. Like fairies, I know fairies are fakey fakey fake!

Vriska laughs, and turns to Kellensea with a fang-baring grin.

Oh, you might really like Alternia. I mean, yeah a lot of things there want to kill you, 8ut if you can kill them first you can sometimes get some really gr8 loot and stuff!

[wahoothis]

"I've met a dragon, a fairy and a bunch of weird looking guys before. And most of them are really nice. Sure, some tried to kill me a couple times, but we usually became friends. Klonoa said with a smile, adjusting his blue cap. "And um. . . Mr. Creepy Guy, I don't the tea kettles sing. At least, none of the ones I drank out of did." So guess who never heard of nursery rhymes. This boy.

Ranma meanwhile had heard it, but managed to refrain from chuckling. "Don't use up all the tea. Save some for the rest of us." He gives a light sigh and sits on the counter. "Really glad I don't have to do that Martial Arts Tea Ceremony technique anymore. . ." The martial artist said offhand, moving the water bottle around in his hand to make the water inside splish and splash all around the insides.

[wingedcatgirl]

"... What was that about fairies and fakeness?" Vivi asked, sounding for all the world like she was simply curious for details. (Despite her distaste for Gary's crap, she's drifted back in here just because that seems to be where everyone is.)

[Kennifer]

They're pro8a8ly fake, at least everything I've read a8out on Alternia says they are. May8e other worlds have them or something. I mean, some of you have pro8a8ly never heard of choler8ears or whatever. 8ut where I come from they're mostly just 8elieved in 8y wrigglers and stuff.

[Mr. Lee Hammer]

Gary makes several cups of tea at the stove and serves them to everyone on a platter

Don't worry, Ranma, I gotcha covered. Have some tea on me.

He grabs a cup himself as does Bossman. Bossman takes a sip.

You sir, are a lunatic, but your tea's not that bad though.

Gary nods at Bossman then turns his attention to Klonoa.

And I see where you come from about giving something a chance to live. And believe me, I cherish anything that lives. All I'm saying is why try to breed something which doesn't have a chance to make it that long? Like having a baby born without lungs. It wouldn't even last long. Why put something at a disadvantage from the start? Sure you can help give these animals a fighting chance, but is it worth the heartbreak if they keep on dying? I guess I misjudged you. For some unholy adbomination, you're all right. You are kind of a cute little feller. You can see all right and breath with no problems, right?

[Kennifer]

Well if a wriggler was hatched without lungs it'd just get culled right away. You've got to 8e tough to even make it out of the 8rooding caves!

[Florien]

You didn't outright say it Gary, but you heavily implied it. Otherwise, you'd be actively dumping millions of gallons of anti-virals in the ocean and pumping even more fertilizer into it at the same time to encourage enormous algal blooms while preventing any of it dying. There would be more life, the number of deaths would go down significantly, But you're not encouraging that, are you? No. You're implying either that your kind is more special than algae, or that reducing the numbers of deaths is not always good. And when you're breeding a goat-cow? You're breeding it as livestock. You've bred it to die. So it doesn't matter if it dies. Its life has value while it lives, and its meat has value when it isn't living.

Kellensea turns to Vriska next. Her monotone gone again, this time replaced with a happy sounding tone.

Sounds like home, but different! You sound adventure-y. If you were from back home, I'd think you'd be the kind to renegotiate the social contract like I did. Good on you, for seeing through other people like that!

[wingedcatgirl]

"Yeah I can confirm that fairies exist in my world," Vivi says. "They're fairly rare, but definitely real."

[Kennifer]

Well technically my class is either Petticoat Seagrift or Thief of Light, depending if you're talking a8out FLARP or SGRU8. 8ut hell yeah, adventuring is pretty gr8!

[wahoothis]

"Yeah, I can see and breath alright! Thanks for-" Something Klonoa quickly notices in Gary's sentence. "Unholy abomination. . . ? " Klonoa asked confused and slightly hurt when he fully processes it.

Ranma just looked at the tea hesitantly. ". . . This doesn't have roofies or Mickey Finns in it, does it? Because every time I get offered something to eat by someone else, it's either drugged or something that leads to my harm?"

[PointMaid]

You do realize the only reason we're talking to each other is our ancestors prioritized the survival of themselves and those like them. Their children and relatives. As far as I know -- I could be wrong -- none of us make our food directly from sunlight. We have to eat, whether that's vegetables or insects or pork. And we need a lot of energy, since we're smart enough to speak with each other, and that takes brainpower. More than you get from photosynthesizing. So we eat a lot. We're consumers, in the scheme of life. But because we are, we're also the ones that can understand the process of photosynthesis and tell others about it. Look at the stars and see what's out there. A tree, a rose, grass, the bacteria that allow termites to break down lignin, all important. But they also don't seem to be able to be... the part of the universe that comprehends itself, as someone once said.

[Mr. Lee Hammer]

Don't think too much about him, Klonoa, that guy is really, really off. He probably did all kinds of drugs back in his day and it really warped his mind.

Gary says to Ranma, No, why would I wanna do that for? Just makin' everyone some nice cup of tea is all. And I take it your experiences happened in the Murder U?

Gary sips his cup.

I'm not arguin' the guy's crazy, but his tea is actually all right. Bossman keeps sipping on the tea.

Yea, exactly.

He fires back at Kellensea.

I don't have access to all that. Because I wouldn't mind trying to save all that algae. Anti-viral stuff, you said? Where can I get some of that? But right now, I'm trying to look after my own people. Help them be the best they can be. And I noticed now you're putting words in my mouth. I'm not that special or anyone is that special. We're all but one on God's green earth. And I didn't say anything about raising anything as lifestock. For all you know, I could have the Goat Cow as my own pet. And would you eat a pet? You might, but not me though. And if it were livestock, what if it got all dieseased and its organs got so weak and it becomes inedible, what's the point of that? It's not like Fugu fish, where you can only eat a certain part of it that isn't poison. It's all useless. It can't adapt. So what's the point of even trying?

[wahoothis]

"Okay, if you say so. . ." Klonoa mumbled, looking down still a little hurt by Gary's comment on him being a "unholy abomination." "I think I'm going to go get some sleep. Bye Bossman." Klonoa said, walking off to do just that.

Upon being ask this, Ranma scoffed and looked to the side. "Not in the game. Just something that happens in general. Usually happens when I'm in my fe-" And now he's trailing on that word, trying to think of a save. After about five seconds of stalling, he finally came up with something. "-eeeeelicitous home. Felicitous home. Yeah. That." They'll believe that answer after his long pause, right?