It's amazing...

[creator_man]

Characters: Flynn and anyone who wants/needs to have a talk with him
Location: Park outside the Jedi temple
Planet: Coruscant
When: Post-event, which would make it... Week 21
What: Meditating in the park. Conversations. Catching up. What have you.
Rating: Should be G. Ish.

Comments

Noooo, don't stop

[creator_man]

The kind of smile, the uncertain laughter, did register with Flynn as something not quite right, but not enough to distract him from the questions, the curiosity, the intensity with which his friend was taking in the new information and its corollaries.

"Various function," he addressed the first question. "Of course, there is simply the fact of existing, as all living things. And then there's the part where the plants are the only life form able to use the energy that the sun... or suns, some places, radiates and turn into a form in which it can be consumed. But... non-plants. During the daytime, plants just soak energy and turn into ... growth." He paused. "And the non-plant life forms tend to eat plants. Either directly or eating other non-plants who eat plants. Or that's how things started, anyway. I know that's a bit... strange. But it's how evolution worked out. First plants. And then creatures who ate plants. And then creatures who ate creatures who ate plants."

He paused for a moment, fingers caressing a blossom on one of the bushes. "And humans, who eat whatever's available."

Re: Noooo, don't stop

[tronja307020]

He stared at Flynn as he explained, so fascinated and amazed, trying his hardest to picture the way the explanation was going so he could memorize just what it meant and how it worked.

"So...the sun works like an energy pool? And then plants drink the energy it makes and...do...this?" He glanced around. There didn't seem to be a whole lot to "this," but if it worked for them, then that was good enough for him. "And the non-plant life forms eat the plant life forms to...take the energy they have? Why does it not trouble the plants, to be ingested that way? They do not survive the process, do they?" And boy, didn't that thought make the whole end-result of the digestion thing Users did even more uncomfortable to think about?

He blinked at the last note, looking from the flower he was touching and back up to him, as if it took a moment to register. "You mean Users eat non-plant life forms...? How?" He certainly didn't remember eating any...life forms. Just steaks. And breads. And eggs. And...oh...the peculiar shape of fruits and vegetables was beginning to make a lot more sense, now that he thought about it.

[OOC: QUICK! EVERYONE HIDE THE INGREDIENTS LIST FOR SAUSAGES!]

[creator_man]

"Pretty much, yeah." Flynn shrugged. "Most non-plant life doesn't have a choice. Humans didn't, either, to begin with. There are no direct sources of energy that animal life can process other than through digestion. Herbivorous animals eat plants. Predators eat them, as well as other, smaller predators. Or bigger, if they can catch and kill them. That's how evolution worked. In the end, one animal developed superior intelligence. It learned to not only gather and eat plants, but to grow and cultivate them, so its kind had enough food to last through the seasons when food was scarce. It developed weapons to hunt other animals with, other than sheer muscle; and traps. And it domesticated some animals, collecting wool for clothing, milk and eggs for food, and then slaughtering the animals for food. Riding some. It... took a very, very long time. Thousands of years."

He spread his arms. "In the end, we could build cities. Space ships. Computers. But in the base of it all, the only way to convert energy in a way to sustain our bodies is through food. And go far enough... that goes back to plants. Who, as far as we know, aren't sentient, by the ways, but your question is valid. It's only a choice - between the plants' lives and our own."

He paused, then added quietly, "nobody and nothing that has been born survives life. As far as I know, it might be different for programs - with proper maintenance, you might live forever. Living things... don't."