i_speak_softly | Luceti Appointments

They'll appreciate it, I promise. ... Well, the first one, at least.

... Well... [Awkwardly:] I... suppose I can try, at the least...

[... The unspoken part is that it's not going to be easy.]

[Oh, Don knows it won't be easy. But he wasn't completely disheartened by the results of his experiment. It's a good sign.]

It means a lot to me, Robert. What you just did.

... It does...? [Robert does smile slightly at this. Being able to please Don is a good thing.

... Yeah, still alarming. Robert's just like that.]

I... must confess I have... difficulty understanding why...

Because... [What words can he use for this?] It's a trust thing.

... A trust thing? [Well, Robert does want to show that he trusts Don.] ... How is that, Don?

[He makes an agitated gesture - you ask difficult questions.] How am I supposed to trust you if you won't punch me?

[...

... That logic died somewhere.]

... Would it not be easier to trust me if I did not punch you...?

No! Because then I don't have anything to -- [He turns and punches the sandbag in frustration.] Robert, I need you to understand this!

[Actual anger. Caused by him. Robert shrinks away as though Don had punched him instead of the bag, cringing inward defensively.]

I'm sorry...

[He curls his fists to his chest, and controls himself. Anger won't solve this.]

Please stop doing that...

... D-Doing what?

[The cringing thing? Because that's sort of reflexive. Still, Robert is... relaxing, minutely.

But there is still a look of anxiety about him, something that suggests he's suddenly hyperaware - or as much as he can be - of Don's irritation.]

You aren't being honest with me.

But... [Robert makes some soft sound of sadness and what might almost be his own frustration.] I am honest. I am sorry that I cannot understand...

[Terran mentality pressing down on him makes this concept extremely difficult to wrap his head around.]

[Fair point. Don turns back around, crossing his arms to keep his hands occupied.]

Why don't you want to do this?

[Hearing Robert's reasons might help him organize his own thinking.]

[This is going to be hard to explain... Robert attempts to stumble through the rhetoric.]

... Inflicting harm, of any kind, for... a reason that is not e-explicitly to protect myself...

... I am your partner. I have a responsibility to treat you well, at all times, and you additionally have... a right to bodily integrity. You... you do not deserve to be hit...

... But, also, it is... needless harm. If I do not need to defend myself from you, what reason is there possibly to hit you?

[... He's having trouble divesting the "hitting people in a friendly way/positive context" from actual attacking.]

[Don listens to these explanations, and... mostly fails to see how they relate to sparring.]

But how are you going to learn to defend yourself if you won't hit me?

[Probably because Robert isn't approaching it from the mindset of sparring...]

Why would I... ever need to hit you? You would never harm me in any r-regular situation...

[... He doesn't even want to think about Don in an abnormal one. There is no way he could hurt Don, no way. None whatsoever.]

[He's getting exasperated. Robert is so intelligent; how can he not understand this?]

That's the point! You can't practice on someone who is trying to harm you!

[There is a fundamental disconnect in how these two think about fighting.]

... But... ["Hitting someone is harming zir..." But how does Robert articulate this idea properly?

He trails off, looking defeated.]

[Don sighs, and lowers himself slowly into seiza.]

Sit with me?

[Nodding, Robert walks a little closer to Don before slowly lowering himself as well. It's... somewhere between seiza and an awkward crouch.]

... this is... still difficult for me.

[It's hard to tell if he means the fighting, or the sitting. Perhaps both.]

[He waves a hand.] You don't have to do that. However you're comfortable. [He waits for Robert to reposition himself, then asks, very seriously:] Robert, how do you think a person learns to fight?

[Robert repositions himself into something easier for him to sit in - a prim posture, with his legs together - before looking up at Don.

... That is a pretty difficult question for a Terran, of all people, to answer.]

... Well... p-presumably someone would have to teach it, as with... any other physical skill...

[... There are instincts to go off of, but... in Robert's case, they've been dulled significantly.]

How would they teach it?

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