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 Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 10:24 am
Melvin rubbed his temple at how ridiculous this all was and made a dramatic sigh he hoped was comparable to one of Lawr's own.
"Rodney, that is a very nice and noble idea and if YOU want to do that then that is fine but you have no right telling other people what they should be working on because you simply don't agree with it. You can go and research minipets in whatever humane fashion you see fit, but let me point out a few things. Researching the anatomy of a minipet means you can't kill it humanely to disect it or wait for one to hopefully end its life near you. They disaapaite upon death. That means they must be tested while alive. They also don't have families because they are created by humans and don't need to reproduce in the same way normal animals in our world would. This is also a war and I'd rather place the value of a person and whatever we can do to keep them alive a fraction of a second more over that of whatever number of minipet lives are necessary. We're not here to protect Halloween and all the scaley slimeballs in it. We are here to destroy it and protect our lives and that of the planet. Humans here..." He rose his hand up. "... All of Halloween down here." He lowered his hand down.
Melvin had strong feelings that Rodney was pushing up against.
"If you tell Lawr to stop then you need to go to most of the Life department and tell them to stop doing they jobs too."
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 10:46 am
"How can you say that? How can you say that about your partner? They don't..." Rodney reddened, "reproduce the same way, but they do. Reproduce. They...use a vessel. As a surrogate. The...m-minipets use s-seeds, or something, I think. But even so that's...that's not all of makes a family. We are here to protect everyone. It's...it's against the law there. Murder. Just like it is here. And when we go on a mission we are fighting criminals, not...not citizens. Not...Seven. That's why Seven came here. Like me. To...to have a new start. To protect people."
It was taking everything Rodney had not to be invoking Godwin's Law, here. But it was the same mindset. Experimentation justified by war and via dehumanization. The organization, Rodney knew, committed many horrors, but so few of them were dictated by any particular order or leader. So many were by individuals given power to do whatever they pleased, as long as they didn't get in the way of anything important.
"I know everyone doesn't feel the same way. But have you fixed anyone, or helped anyone? How much of it is absolutely necessary and how much of it is a license to do what you want to something that you see as a...as a disease and that can't defend itself?"
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 10:56 am
Jordan got a subtle little wink and Lawrence mouthed the words "I know" silently at him. It seemed to imply that he understood there were people present and the official stance obviously had to be that of no intercourse. But that didn't mean it was off the table.
"Look Rodney. We aren't here to protect everyone, this organisation exists to protect humanity from the dangerous elements of halloween which is incidentally almost all of it. As for murder, it is not against the law there, they barely understand the concept of death, when they die they return to a point and are essentially reborn. The minis don't fear death the same way either. While they are made of fear they do not seem to actually fear a great deal. It makes them all the more dangerous, they will kill us and it won't even be personal, just a casual action like a toddler swatting a fly." he shrugged. "Butch would kill every single person here, including me, without much of a qualm, I know that, I feel that every single day."
He wasn't buying the argument that Halloween were anything other than fear constructs shaped like people. He didn't bother to add that it wouldn't matter to him even if they were people and that the only thing which kept him from trying to use humans as subjects were simple restrictions and rules which prevented him from it. He didn't care about personhood, it had no bearing on anything, but it seemed to matter to Rodney.
"Early stages of research is not measured in how many people it has helped, it is a long road with helping others at the end of it. I am not troubled by my lack of immediate success, answers will come in due time."
He shrugged. "I was just doing what I could to progress research when I am already restricted on so many levels every day. If you have a valid alternative which isn't simply watching minis in a way which has no bearing on anything then I'm all ears. After all, there's no one volunteering themselves to research."
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 11:03 am
It was an argument that Jordan had heard before and would hear again, about the relative morality of killing Halloween creatures and whether or not they counted as people. He was, frankly, getting tired of it. It was something that each new hunter had to decide for themselves as to which side they came down on, and that moral line tended to slide over time, be it out of necessity or convenience. If Rodney held firm on his morality, he'd be a rare exception.
The wink irritated Jordan yet further. He still had half a row of tanks he was responsible for before he got off duty; he turned and left, annoyance clear in his silence and the set of his shoulders.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 11:49 am
His whole body tensed as he settled his eyes on Rodney. It didn't take long for him to move across the room and throw his weight and Rodney against the pod behind him, grabbing him by the scruff of his shirt as he glared down at him.
"What the hell you say?! What the ******** you want to say to me, Rodney? Huh?! You're really high up there to keep your hands clean when you are wearing a uniform for a ******** army! You signed up to be here. You use a weapon! Who the ******** cares about Halloween. ******** Halloween! I'd rather set the whole ******** place on fire if it meant they wouldn't come back. They would do the same for you. They'd cut you right in half without blinking. Feed you to their bugs. Let you fall to your death." His hands shook as he gripped the fabric tigger as he glared at him, eyes wide as he looked at him.
"You want to be humane but they won't even let you die humanely. They just tear people to pieces. They will torture you and eat your insides. What do I ******** care? Why should I give them anything but hate?! What the ******** am I supposed to do against that?"
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 12:06 pm
"I'm...not a scientist," Rodney said, "but if you wait, I could-" He started as he was held up and slammed back into the pod. It didn't hurt as much as it should have. He knew that, distantly.
Put me in! Seven shouted, hoping to get past the all-drowning roar of panic.
He couldn't, not here, not in the podroom, but the anger and fists in his shirt and pressure had his eyes immediately shut, barely registering anything Melvin had to say at all, waiting for the blows to come as he covered his face.
"Don't," Rodney plead, "don't, please, Melvin, I'll- I'll stop, I'll shut up, please, don't!"
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 12:11 pm
Lawrence knew what was coming the moment Melvin's temper snapped, used to Rodney faltering and curling up at even the slightest hint of violence. For a moment he was tempted to summon and to break it up by force, but he realised that would only scare Rodney even more.
Instead, in a display of very rare self control, he made his way over to place his hand on Melvin's shoulder gently.
"Leave it Melvin." he said. "He wants a world where people act with compassion, where what happened would never have happened, where they wouldn't do all those things you listed at all. It's unrealistic, it's a dream, but he believes it. You don't need to change how you feel, but you won't change how he feels."
And if he got away with it he slunk his other arm around the blonde man. "Don't get us in trouble for fighting and summoning in the pod room."
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 12:30 pm
He stayed there, searching for something. A answer that Rodney seemed wanting to give him or maybe an excuse for Melvin to go further it than what he had already.
It was the hand against him that brought him back and he turned to Lawr hoping he could see it too. "I've tried." He had tried to help all the time.
But who had he helped?
Releasing, he felt himself tired and stung, and moved away.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 12:33 pm
Rodney slid down the pod to the floor, wiping his eyes with the back of his arm and trying to breathe.
"Sorry, sorry," he repeated, still flinching away from Melvin.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 12:37 pm
Lawr firmly took hold of Melvin as he moved away from Rodney and instead ushered him close to him. He might have held him to his chest, if he was taller, but as it was he just held on to him as best as he could manage.
"You try all the time." he said. "Harder than almost anyone I know. I don't think he meant you when he asked who'd been helped. You've helped me, you helped Rin, you've helped many many people on this island, half of their homes and gadgets are powered thanks to you." he stroked the other man's hair like a fond pet. "It was me he meant. And there aren't many people that I have and even less that my minipets research has helped."
But aware of Rodney's state also he moved from Melvin once he was sure the other man was stable and moved toward Rodney, treating him like a terrified dog in a kennel and moving over towards him without direct eye contact, gently extending his hand in his direction but not too close, leaving it up to him if he wanted to get back up.
"You didn't do anything wrong, it was a misunderstanding." he said.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 12:42 pm
He said nothing as he stood there, distantly registering Lawr's comfort and feeling undeserving of it all.
His attention flickered to Rodney curled on the floor and he felt riddled with guilt for what he had done and worse for what he had wanted.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 12:59 pm
The words you didn't do anything wrong were the last ones he expected to hear through the loud, ashamed, and afraid buzzing in his ears.
He did his best to clear his vision, and seeing the extended hand, flinched from that too at first. But it was Lawrence's, and it wasn't going anywhere.
"Lawrence," he said, biting back another apology and too scattered to focus on whatever his talking points had been. He didn't know why Melvin attacked him, although he knew it must have been his fault, and he'd failed everyone, and probably the minipets too, who were all going to die horrible deaths...
He accepted Lawrence's hand, and stood shakily, looking at the floor and focusing on his breathing again. And not crying. And his heart not exploding.
"I'll...I'll be okay in a minute," he said.
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 1:12 pm
Lawrence didn't know if Rodney would take his hand at all and was pleased when he did. "Take as long as you need." And he gave Rodney's arm, the one with the angel, a gentle squeeze. "I'm the one who should be apologising, not you or you." and he headed back to Melvin, noting the faraway look to the other man.
He reached out to place his hand on Melvin's chest, moving in close to look up at him, stooping slightly to exaggerate the gesture. "It's fine, everyone's fine, it was a clash of moral standpoints, that is all. No one's making you do anything, no one is making Rodney do anything, everyone is still friends. You just startled him and I don't think he realised how passionate you are about helping people and making a difference."
He smiled brightly, feeling like he was lapsing back into an act again. "You have a lot of reasons to hate them for what they've done to you and taken from you. You are just from very different standpoints."
Exhaling he said. "I won't harm these minipets, but neither will I stop my research, I will find another route and explore all avenues before going back to the vivisection. Not because I disagree with one of you or the other, but because I think you are right that we need to research Melvin, and I think Rodney is right there might also be other ways, if I haven't found anything in this long I might be looking in all the wrong places."
He tilted his head slightly at Melvin. "Now what happened to the indulgent Master of ten minutes ago?"
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 1:24 pm
He looked at Laer, knew what he was trying to do, but knowing it didn't fix anything that had happened. It didn't change how he felt. It was good Rodney was okay, but he couldn't help his own feelings in wanting to continue, to make him somehow see even if it meant hurting him. That he still felt the tingling in his arms as if he wouldn't have minded swinging. That people like Rodney made him hate what the world was and how he was and the other was somehow to blame for it being how it was when it wasn't. Rodney was a reminder of being more hopeful and optimistic and it hurt to think he would get himself killed for it and just line he said, Melcin wouldn't be able to help it.
Rodney would be another good person who died as he watched.
He turned his head away from the playful nickname, completely shut off.
"Don't."
He glanced at Rodney again as he stood. "I'm sorry for that."
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Posted: Mon May 30, 2016 10:08 pm
"Oh," they were going to live. Eleven, it was only eleven, but it was more than that, because today, and the next day, it would have been those too.
Look, Rod, it's completely arbitrary out there. There's not really pet lines. Or food lines. Or predator/prey lines. Or non-fighting lines. Every mini get used for everything. Except those Blood ones. Pretty sure they're used as sacrifices. I remember there's something like a huge Altar out in the back of the woods and it really likes the Blood ones. They give out awards for creeple who do, like, 100 in one day.
"That's...really horrible, Seven," Rodney said weakly. "Seven says there's a big...altar in the woods, and they...they h-hunt down the red ones to...give to it. So. Now, that won't happen to them. But...it...it means a lot, Lawrence, I'll...I'll try to help you think of something," something that wasn't stupid, like behavioral studies.
At Melvin's apology, Rodney whispered, "I'm okay. I'm sorry too." He hadn't been hurt. He wouldn't say anything.
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