Renoir/Stories
Taking shelter from the rain in a seemingly abandoned storehouse, Alk and co. encounter a curious scientist, who takes great interest in Light's speech capabilities.
Alk: Hellooo? Is anybody here?
Light: An unoccupied storehouse... We can use it to stay dry. I only hope the owner doesn't mind.
Alk: That storm came out of nowhere, huh? Great... My socks are already soaking wet.
Alk: Huh... Now that I get a better look, there sure is a lot of junk on the ground.
Stella: Perhaps we can find a light.
Alk: Oh, that'd be nice. I just wish I could find somewhere dry to stand—
Light: UWAAAUGH!
Alk: Hey, what's wrong?!
Beastfolk Woman: Ahaha! Now I've gotcha, ya li'l rarity!
Light: U-unleash... me at once! No, get your hands... off!
Beastfolk Woman: Ooh, and you can talk! Fascinating... Mind if I dissect you? Come on... just for a bit!
Alk: Who the heck are you supposed to be?!
Stella: Please do not dissect Light. Release him at once.
Renoir: So Light's your name, is it? Mine's Renoir. Nice to meetcha.
Renoir: And I'm not REALLY gonna dissect you. But can I at least poke you around for a bit?
Light: Absolutely not!
Alk: In any case, sorry for barging in here and getting your things all wet and dirty.
Renoir: No worries! As you can see, this place wasn't exactly in tip-top shape to begin with.
Alk: Yeah, um... What exactly is all this stuff here, anyway?
Renoir: Heh-heh... Impressed, are you? This is my research lab.
Stella: What is it that you research here?
Renoir: You know... a little bit of this, a little bit of that. Machinery and whatnot. Right now I'm into energy... and biology, of course.
Renoir: Oh! And Liquid Genome too—that medicine that merpeople seem to hold in such high esteem.
Renoir: But nothing gets me going quite like a real, living organism!
Light: Yikes.
Light: Oh, would you look at that? The rain's passed. It was lovely meeting you, but we really should be going! Thank you for the hospitality. Farewell.
Renoir: Aww, leaving already? How about if I come along with you?
Light: No...
Renoir: You're all travelers, right? I mean, you don't look like you're from around here.
Renoir: And Light... I'd wager that you were human at one point, weren'tcha? It's all too fascinating for me to ignore!
Light: N-no... There's nothing remotely fascinating about me! I'm just an commonplace-speaking rabbit like any other, see?
Alk: Hey, all right. Calm down, buddy.
Stella: We'd love to have you, Renoir.
Light: You MUST be joking.
Renoir: Hehe... Thanks! Oh, I just can't WAIT to do more research on you!
Alk helps Renoir with a potentially less-than-legal transaction, before escaping to another world. After they manage to flip their way to safety, she opens up to Alk about her past working for the Gaean Navy.
Alk: So... exhausted... and... hot...
Renoir: Sorry, Alk! I do appreciate you doing the heavy lifting for me.
Renoir: You know, I used to have an assistant to help me with this sort of thing.
Renoir: I can never seem to keep one for very long though. Was it the experiments I put them through? Nah, that can't be it...
Alk: Think it's better if we just leave that topic alone...
Alk: And what's in this thing anyway? It must've been like a hundred pounds!
Renoir: Oh, just mythril samples, mostly. But the rest... hehe... is for classified, top-secret research!
Alk: I don't like the sound of that laugh.
Alk: Speaking of suspicious, who were those merchants, anyway?
Renoir: Suspicious? You mean their sunglasses? I'll have you know, Alk, that UV rays can be awfully harsh on the ocean!
Alk: I mean, the sunglasses didn't help, but they were acting shifty the entire time!
Renoir: Well, obviously. They've got people following them after all!
Alk: Yeah... I knew something about them felt a little—wait, why?!
Renoir: Well, you see... TECHNICALLY everything beneath the sea is property of the Gaean government.
Renoir: And that TECHNICALLY makes any salvagers by trade wanted criminals.
Alk: Urk... I shouldn't have asked.
Renoir: Buuuut... if you ask me, I'd rather deal with them than those pirates any day of the week.
Renoir: Oh, relaaax, Alk! Besides, I've got people after me too, so it's no biggie!
Alk: You're not helping me feel any better about this, you know!
Gaean General: There she is! Get her!
Renoir: Speak of the devil. Looks like that's our cue to run!
Renoir: Oh, and don't leave the bag here. I need this stuff, okay?
Alk: Ngh... Cut a guy some slack, would you?
Alk: *pant* *pant* We... We made it...
Renoir: Nicely done! I'd never thought to escape to another world entirely!
Renoir: Say, this would be a PERFECT place to set up a laboratory, don't you think?
Alk: *sigh* Why do you have people after you anyway?
Alk: You're not involved in... human experimentation or anything, right?
Renoir: Why I NEVER! Of course not... ...For now, at least.
Renoir: Anyway, to answer your question— I used to work at a Gaean laboratory.
Alk: Wait, you did?
Renoir: Yeah, but it was such a drag. TOTAL dead-end, know what I mean? I need to be on the bleeding edge of science!
Renoir: So I did what any scientist worth their iodine would: I took their gear and data and hightailed it outta there!
Alk: Should we be concerned here, legally speaking?
Renoir: Don't you worry about that... I did it all in the name of SCIENCE! My breakthroughs will make up for any misdemeanors along the way.
Renoir: And that's why I'm going to need your help with my research, okay?
Alk: Uh-oh.
Renoir: You might be the best lab partner I've ever had... Oh, I could just gobble you up!
Renoir: Here's a little something for your troubles—I hope you love them as much as I do!
Alk: Seasquirt candy? Ugh... Don't tell me THIS is what I've been lugging around all day.
Alk: Salty, yet... sweet? Hmm... What a weird flavor.
Nimbus pays Renoir a visit in her room. She reveals to him the potential impact that Alk and the others could have on reality as they know it.
Nimbus: Knock, knock. Renoir?
Nimbus: Is anybody home?!
Renoir: Ungh... Whaaat tiiime is iiit...
Nimbus: Where are you even—you know what? Doesn't matter. Alk saved some leftovers for you. So eat up.
Renoir: Sorry to keep you waiting, dear! What do I owe this pleasure to, Nimbus?
Nimbus: I'm just here to check on you since no one's seen your face in a while.
Nimbus: But damn... You live like this?
Nimbus: What a mess.
Nimbus: Do you actually manage to get anything done in all this clutter?
Renoir: It's a little embarrassing, I know.
Nimbus: More like alarming, if you ask me.
Renoir: It might look messy on the surface, but there's a logic to this chaos! Like my sleeping bag here.
Renoir: Whether I'm awake or asleep, I'm always within arm's reach of my experiments—an ideal environment for research!
Nimbus: That doesn't sound healthy...
Nimbus: What've you been up to in here anyway?
Renoir: Repetition and replication! I'm making sure my findings from today's experiment line up with yesterday's.
Nimbus: What's the point of doing that?
Renoir: Hmm... Let's put it this way. What if, for example, one day the sun decided to rise in the west instead of the east. Wouldn't that be wild?
Nimbus: Sure, but it'd never happen.
Renoir: Of course. The sun rises in the east, apples fall from trees, and one plus one makes two.
Renoir: But here's the thing: Those facts we take for granted? They're always, constantly changing.
Nimbus: And how, exactly, are they changing?
Renoir: It may look all the same to you, but on a microscopic level, the elements are extremely volatile little beans.
Renoir: And that volatility could completely flip all of my research on its head—science never stops, and neither will I!
Nimbus: I don't get it myself, but I'm glad you seem passionate about it.
Renoir: The ways of scientific research aren't for everybody. But it's endlessly fascinating to me!
Renoir: It's fun to observe those changes, hypothesize them, experiment, and then do it all over again!
Renoir: There's nothing more thrilling to me than exploring uncharted territory in the name of science!
Nimbus: Yeah... Whatever floats your boat, I guess.
Nimbus: You've got me wondering, though. Are the other beastfolk in the Endless Blue like you?
Renoir: Hmm... I don't know about that. I'm pretty gifted at what I do, if I say so myself!
Nimbus: Heh, thought so. Anyway, I'm headin' out. And don't forget to eat. Alk's been worried about you, you know.
Renoir: Hehe, okie-dokie! Gotta keep that blood sugar up, right?
Renoir: Oh, and Nimbus?
Nimbus: What's up?
Renoir: The contents of this flask continue to change—ever so slightly, little by little.
Renoir: Now, what do you think is causing that?
Nimbus: How am I supposed to know?
Renoir: That's fine! Just tell me what your gut says.
Nimbus: I'll tell you what I do know.
Nimbus: The world I once knew got turned upside-down when Alk and the others showed up. Anything can happen, right?
Renoir: Hehe... Veeery interesting. It's just as I hypothesized.
Renoir: *sigh* Isn't it all just so EXCITING? Just how will it all unfold from here?