Knives Millions (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
knifesedge) wrote2013-05-23 08:46 pm
knifesedge) wrote2013-05-23 08:46 pm
02
[Some several days after arriving in Luceti, Knives finally appears in town in midafternoon. This is with remarkably little fanfare; what's one more new feather this week? Those who are familiar with Vash might well recognize him, as they are identical twins; his hair's shorter and black, he's a bit paler, but the rest is still there. The same features, nearly the same bearing..
But Vash probably doesn't pick his way through Luceti with thinly veiled distaste, as if he's spending most of the time wading knee-deep in something nasty. And he is shopping. Oh yes. So much shopping.
Probably because of the black and white border collie cheerfully tagging along wherever he goes. Which means Knives can be found at various times of the day at the grocery store, library, and in the forest near Luceti when he can't tolerate the town any longer.]
But Vash probably doesn't pick his way through Luceti with thinly veiled distaste, as if he's spending most of the time wading knee-deep in something nasty. And he is shopping. Oh yes. So much shopping.
Probably because of the black and white border collie cheerfully tagging along wherever he goes. Which means Knives can be found at various times of the day at the grocery store, library, and in the forest near Luceti when he can't tolerate the town any longer.]
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Then again, this isn't the brother he knew. At the very least, Knives seems to spend some time thinking about his responses before he makes them, though whether this is a good thing or not depends on perspective.]
My reputation precedes me. Has Vash been telling stories, or am I not the first to be here?
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Then it wasn't me, was it? I've only had the pleasure of being in this cage for a little over a week.
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Well, welcome to Hell. It might not be quite what you were expecting or what you're used to depending. [For all he knows Knives could be dead already where he's from.] And you're not the only alien here, some of us aren't originally from Earth either. [Yeah, he already found out about them being Plants a la Vash.]
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If something looks like something else, but comes from a different place, a different time, and an entirely different reality, they are not the same thing. They are in fact separate and distinct things. To give an example someone even as dense as you might understand..
[He picks up a pair of canned peaches; why they're near the dog food he doesn't know.] These look the same. If you open them up they contain the same things. But they're still not the same. They're two different cans. If I take one away and leave only one behind, they're still different cans. Claiming otherwise only proves the depths of your ignorance, it doesn't change obvious fact.
[He doubts it'll sink into Vegeta's skull, he seemed more the sort to think with his muscles and not his head. As if by sheer refusal to accept reality they could make reality bend to his whim! It just doesn't work that way. And Knives.. isn't going to be stuck with someone else's doings.
Calling this place 'hell' draws a snort. It might be a cage, but it was better than any hell he knew of. It had oceans, lakes, rivers, green things from border to border. If he could just figure out how to duplicate this prison, the human problem on his world would be solved for good, without setting off his brother's delicate sensibilities..!]
Ah, I see. Then ignorance really is a universal trait. That's terribly unfortunate. Thankfully ignorance can be taught away.
[He wasn't an alien, anyway! But if Vegeta didn't know exactly where plants come from, that's just fine, he's not going to explain it.] If you're not human, then please enlighten me; what are you supposed to be?
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Well sorry for mistaking you for what I thought was simply an incorrectly labeled can. Sometimes the label doesn't indicate the true contents of the container. [He's not sorry and it's quite obvious with his own impatient tone.]
But to answer your question, I'm a Saiyan. A warrior race far superior to that of those weak humans that roam about. They honestly couldn't tie their own shoelaces without assistance. [Seriously, because he and Goku save their hides every other week it seems like. He doesn't think they're that bad anymore but he'll still be arrogant about it.] And I am the Prince of all Saiyans. Vegeta.
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If you have to scrutinize the label to begin with, perhaps you'd be better off looking at different cans. [Tone ever so mild, Knives offers a can of dog food.] You might find this more to your liking.
[Knives has encountered genuine aliens before, the collective intelligence of the sandworms had been daunting when he was small. But they were sapient creatures, for all that they didn't build cities or spaceships or infect the universe. As Vegeta declares himself ruler of a warrior race, there's a sound from Knives that sounds almost like that figures but it's not precisely clear.]
Humanity isn't quite so incompetent where I'm from. They have a thing for working in large numbers. Wipe out millions and millions more just pop back up. [Guess who has a low opinion of the entire species?] It's true what they say, about one sting being an irritant but thousands being lethal. They've found a way to turn stupidity and malice into weaponry, and are very good at wielding it.
[The claim to royalty doesn't seem to phase him much at all though. Hierarchies like that were very old hat in that desert.] I'll take your word for it. You seem to know who I am already so I'll forgo declaring my name and species.
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Hmf. I wish the humans of my world would get the idea of being a warrior race through their heads. Not that weaponry would save them anyhow, it hasn't so far and will continue to be an inferior defense mechanism. But they would rather be a peaceful race, something I don't understand but have come to accept. [Honestly, a non-war machine producing company beat out the one that specializes in weapons. That's how peaceful his Earth is.]
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There's benefits to being peaceful. I prefer a place somewhere in between, the peace that comes from knowing you can and will slaughter everything around you if you have to, and your enemies knowing it as well, and leaving you well alone. There's little to be gained from pointless bloodshed and warfare save culling the population. Most warrior cultures I know of do not suffer from overpopulation issues, however. Humanity on the other hand..
[Well maybe a little pointless warfare isn't bad for them, in that case.]
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I don't know how 'overpopulated' humanity is where you reside, but either way if they wanted to wage war against themselves I couldn't care less. They can go ahead and kill each other all they want. [As long as it didn't threaten his family, that is.] Let the weak perish.
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There's roughly a million or so left at this point. Give or take five hundred thousand. Earth has ... tens of billions at last I heard. Instead of culling their own numbers they've decided to infest all liveable space. [His tone is one of distinct distaste, but he doesn't let it go any further.] Let the useless perish, I'd suggest. The weak in combat occasionally have exceptional alternative uses outside of it. But if all they are is taking up space and devouring resources, there's other things that can be using that space.
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[He wonders what's got Knives so disgusted with humans. He seems to like them less than Vegeta does, and he's never had a very high view of them himself.]
The weak are just as useless. I've only found one particular instance where they were useful.
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I've found that the most innovative by way of technology and medical knowledge, tend to also be the easiest to beat into a fine red paste. I find that useful. You believe otherwise?
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[His hard expression doesn't waver, and he hopes he's understanding the question correctly.] I'm not one to delve into the medical field so I don't quite understand the usefulness of grinding any living creature into a paste. We made them useful by taking their energy to destroy a creature that would have otherwise wiped out the entire universe.
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Those who dedicate their lives to such things, be it medical advances, technology, or other similar non-combative lives, tend to be the ones most easily killed because they spend so much time doing things that aren't learning how to slaughter everything left and right. By your previous definition, this would make them 'weak' and thus worthy of death, but they are still tremendously useful and vital to their population. Which means they should not be killed.
Which leads back around to the idea of letting the useless perish, not the 'weak'.
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Perhaps I wasn't clear. If you choose to live a life where you can be slaughtered like sacrificial lambs, then you need to stay clear of the battlefield- and leave the fighting to the real warriors. And you better hope that they can defend your planet or die with the rest of them. Because if they cannot save it, then that race don't deserve to exist. Sorry if you thought I was thinking only on a smaller scale of simply decimating part of humanity when I implied to let the weak perish. They can kill each other but the victor will still have their technology and medical advances, when it's inside the same species.
[He can recognize the usefulness of doctors and scientists. But what good is it if they can't defend themselves? No different than the Tuffles to him. Besides, the strong will simply take the technology and use it- that's what the Saiyans did.]
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Ah yes, that's the trick isn't it. Staying clear of the battlefield, when grand scale conflicts ignore things like boundaries and staying far from populations that don't revolve around beating things up. An interstellar conflict is going to likely strike cities first, and by the time the 'real warriors' arrive, countless lives are already lost without the opportunity to stay clear. Poof, there goes all the innovation your race is hoping to steal.
Having the technology to flee from these brutish invaders requires those with enough time to become educated enough to build space flight and more, which is impossible if you spend all day every day being a Neanderthal. Nature will catch up with the parasitic invader species. When they run into something stronger than them, or no more races to steal from, they will be sacrificed on the altar of progress instead.
[There's a pause. Knives doesn't like rambling this much, especially at complete strangers.]
By the by, how is your warrior race faring? Spreading across the stars in an unstoppable wave of thievery and thuggishness, I assume.
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You think I don't know that already? There are some things that just can't be avoided. Beings will die, that's that. It's simply how warfare works. Besides, committing genocide doesn't mean you have to blow up every piece of technology in your wake. Don't assume that's how it always works. [He's getting pretty fed up and impatient with Knives on this subject, especially after that explanation and question. Since, well, he almost perfectly described his own race. And he is not telling Knives about that history.]
For your information, no, they're not. If anything they're a bunch of goody-two shoes who insist on living a peaceful life. That proves impossible though since every abomination in the universe wants to attack the planet. But we always destroy them. [He's just gunna leave out the whole part where he lives a peaceful life too. And enjoys it, mostly.]
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Hm, it looks like the warrior culture idea of mowing down the 'weak' and stealing everything the 'weak' made wasn't such a good idea after all, if your own people aren't embracing it. It seems as if your kind are living to what I'd previously said was a better way to live. Good, the universe doesn't need two ignorant parasitic species roaming the stars.
Was there anything else you wanted, or can I go back to my 'shopping' now, Your Highness?
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[Either way, the thing he hates most about this is that Knives is right. If he were to argue with him more on the matter, he'd end up sharing more about himself- and he doesn't want to do that. He doesn't want to prove him right, his pride won't let him.] Go about your business. I have nothing else to say to you unless you've got something left to say.
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[Brutal experience taught him how life worked. If he knew what actually happened to the Saiyans, he would be disappointed but not at all surprised. It would fit with what he'd learned, and where his own kind would have wound up if Knives had continued on his reckless path.
... But it's not his problem. It really isn't. Vegeta was a random passing irritant, nothing more. Not human, which gave him bonus points and took him off possible kill lists unless Vegeta proved to be a slaver as well as a galactic genocidal killer.]
... I do not.
[There's no goodbye, why would there be? He just goes back to trying to determine what he wished to take and what he didn't. Only the best would be acceptable for his dog.]
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But the information he'd gotten from this conversation hadn't escaped him- this definitely wasn't the one he'd met before and doesn't seem like the threat he'd been made out to be. So honestly, if Knives wasn't intent on blowing up the enclosure? He couldn't care less about the guy then. Let him suffer here like the rest of them. He's sure he'd run into the man again, but at least he didn't have to worry about having to blow the Plant's head off. At least, that's the impression he's getting now.]