Just Another Night at the Lab [Closed]

[danishweasel]

((OOC: Nat, you bring me joy. Thank you ^^))

"I was thinking more along the lines of...well, there is no scientific evidence of a soul, but if such a thing exists, I would think that it would be easier to attach it to the soul's original body than to an inanimate object. These are all just assumptions, of course. Who knows what kinds of magics would be involved in the process? I can't think of any scientific way to manage it. I wouldn't want to either."

What a creepy conversation...How did they even get on the topic? It went from zombies to vampires to...ah, the experiment. It was interesting...while there was no proof that the legends existed, there was no proof to condemn them as false. Those creatures were all mysteries and while that unknown was frightening, it was slightly alluring at the same time.

"Well, mechanics is another thing entirely, isn't it? Are we talking just movement or is it like the living doll where they can express feelings, sentient creatures? I'm guessing you mean the latter. Though really, I'd consider mechanics to be less complicated in a way. Less unpredictable factors when dealing with non-living things, though how would you give a machine its own sentience? Weird stuff..."

Her tail wagged at the thought of it. Could that mean that there would have to be some implanted soul or a soul-equivalent, if there was such a thing? Was there another explanation for something to have its own thoughts and feelings outside of someone's programming?

[Kari Muffin]

(( OOC: X3 oh Nat, you are the awesome. ))

"I imagine if a soul is like a muse it wouldn't cooperate no matter what." The raccoon said. He would have sipped his coffee if he still had some, instead he took a small piece of ice and sucked on it. His tongue still hurt to some degree. Apparently he had burnt it worse than he originally thought.

"Life is a pretty unpredictable thing regardless of if it's natural or not. I have no idea how it would be possible to give something life besides giving birth to it. Even then it's pretty risky business. Complications and all of that." They were having a weird set of conversations weren't they? From research to vampires to mechanical things, and that was probably only half of it. Rocky hadn't held a conversation this interesting a long time. He had never held a conversation this long period. It was actually quite amazing. "Either way I imagine the person making the thing would have to be pretty skilled."

[danishweasel]

"If a soul is like a muse, does it mean that some people don't have one?"

She had always thought of a muse as being the inspiration and resolve to accomplish dreams and goals. Most people she had met with before had similar dreams and goals, but not all. If a soul worked that way too...soulless shells, could it be possible? Ataxia hoped not.

"Unnatural life...it almost sounds like it should contradict each other, doesn't it? But you're right. Life is always unpredictable. Chaos theory and all that. It's just like the smoke off a candle or the movements of clouds. Life, I mean. Doesn't surprise me much that some scientists would try to dig into that subject. I'd hate to see a failed experiment in that area, though. I don't think I'd even want to skim the research needed. Not because of the difficulty, either. I think, sometimes, there are things that we shouldn't know about."

[Kari Muffin]

"But everyone has a muse of some sort. Even if you have wanderlust something drives you. Even if you want to die, something is driving you." Rocky was sure that everyone had something that made them them. He just knew that he could never explain it with science and chemical symbols. Mental illness and such could be caused by chemical imbalances, but that didn't explain just how the person reacted, did it?

The raccoon paused at looked at Ataxia. He was going to be very honest with her in a moment, and he didn't know how she would take it. "I used to be interested in that sort of stuff. Life. What makes people people. However, after meeting that doll... that thing that was alive but not quite, I don't think I ever want to think about dabbling into that sort of stuff. "Fix me" isn't something I want to hear in a whisper again."

[danishweasel]

"Even still, with that explanation, muses seem to be the product of outside influences. Would I have the urge to change this society if it wasn't for Acey's suffering? Would you want to fly if it wasn't for your father? Those are decisions and goals that we make for ourselves to change things for the better. Souls, we're born with, at least we can assume as much."

There was no subject more difficult than dealing with the intangible. Until there was physical evidence proving such theories, all of it was pseudoscience. Still, there was the hope that there was something beneath the flesh and bone, invisible, that could live past the death of the mortal shell. With that, there was the hope of immortality, for those who would think of that as a hope. And with the existence of a living doll, such things might be possible.

Ataxia tilted her head a bit at Rocky's 'confession'. The study of what made people people. Of life. Certainly more of a philosophical study than a scientific one from the sounds of it. Though the phrase "Fix me" affected her the most.

"From the research you did, what were your findings?"

[Kari Muffin]

"Oh, but if you look at the soul as something that never changes then wouldn't everyone be lumped into good and bad before they were even born? Wouldn't you not have a chance to change? I imagine outside influences have an effect on someone's soul. Love, hate, pain, suffering. All of it can make or break someone can't it? So a soul has to be effected by change right? Of course we don't know what is right and what is wrong." Rocky gave a shrug. Life was one big giant theory really. None of it could be proven or disproved. Even math was based on some general assumptions.

His research on life? The results? Well, he had burnt most of them after the incident and didn't care to remember most of his findings. "Life is irreplaceable. Energy can be transfered, but beyond that... there's not much I really found out. Judging from Cassiel's notes that's what she seemed to find to. Something in a person can be transfered to an object... but that object will always be an object without feeling. She got close to finding some answer but..." Rocky visibly shuddered, his tail puffing up with his discomfort. "She died. Experiment failed. I didn't want to end up like her or that poor doll."

[danishweasel]

"Oh, well of course the soul can change. You'll find few things in nature that don't change over time. But we can't be born with muses. Those come to us after events that shape us body, mind, and if they do exist, souls. But souls, I think, must exist when life begins. As to when that begins, that's highly debatable. But living flesh and souls should be joined at that moment."

It felt strange, discussing thoughts and theories about life, souls, all these things that seemed to be absolutely baseless. There were no properties, no elements found on the Periodic Table that could describe what a soul was made of or diagrams that pointed out the parts and pieces. There was no way to operate on a soul as far a she knew, and it was probably better that way.

To know that some people had based their research on it was thrilling...if not a bit frightening. Sure, her research was dangerous, but she could see what she was dealing with as long as she had the proper equipment. She had vaccines at her disposal. She knew how the diseases worked and how to protect herself during her research. With Rocky's or Cassiel's? It felt to her like disarming an invisible bomb.

"How did you find this out? How did you conduct such research? The very thought of life being...transferable. It just blows my mind. It doesn't seem real."

[Kari Muffin]

"Everything is a mystery then," Rocky said to the soul bit of their conversation. That pretty much summed all of it up. Nothing defined a soul besides guess work and speculation.

How did he find out? Er... well. Should he be absolutely honest with her? "The principal of the universe is that energy cannot be destroyed, only dispersed. If you go with that theory, a person's life force can't be destroyed, only dispersed. If you can harness that energy you can transfer it to another thing. All my work was in writing, I never applied it. Cassiel, however, did. In her early experiments she took a bird, and a doll to look like it, and used a complicated magic to take the energy from the living bird and put it in the doll. The doll acted like the bird on its own accord. I actually /found/ the thing in the forest behind her house. It was still trying to build a nest and attract a mate."

Unfortunately for the bird, all the other birds had long gone. Died like a few of the trees in the area around the house. Nothing wanted to live in that cursed place anymore. "And she tried it on her brother. Apparently she wanted to use it on herself eventually. She had a genetic disease that was killing her." The raccoon shook his head in dismay.

[danishweasel]

Ataxia nodded. It seemed without proper research, trying to prove anything about the existence and changing of souls would have little meaning aside from preparing a possible hypothesis. Though, seeing as neither of them wanted to delve further into the subject due to the danger it might hold...it at least was an interesting conversation.

She knew a bit about the properties of energy and how it could not be destroyed, but she never thought of applying that to life force. Though how that energy could be transfered to something else, even an inanimate object, she never thought that was possible.

"Incredible...sorta makes my work with diseases look like child's play. A shame that she wasn't able to continue the research for knowledge's sake, but the possibility for application...well, that would be abused fast, I know. Still, if the energy transfered can still retain the instincts and memories of its previous body, then that life force must be something more than just energy."

[Kari Muffin]

"It is a shame, and that's very true. But once she figured out how to transfer everything she went to use it. I met one of the ultimate results of her research. Her brother wasn't happy about his situation. Apparently besides being able to move, talk and see he didn't have much of his other senses. I have to say his sanity was compromised." Rocky shuddered. His little wings twitched with complete discomfort as he remembered the encounter. It was just so very awful.

"She was trying to fix that before she died. That way she could continue her research without a time limit. You know what they say about the best laid plans though. The stuff I have of hers is on the subject of transferable energy." Rocky actually looked dejected at the thought. "She was genius. Some of the stuff I can read I can't even grasp."