i_speak_softly | Forty-Eighth Theory [Accidental Video/Action for Housemates]

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Forty-Eighth Theory [Accidental Video/Action for Housemates]

[It should be immediately obvious that Don didn't mean to turn his journal on, and isn't even aware that it is on. He isn't looking at it. He isn't saying anything. In fact, he might not be awake. He's just sitting slumped in a chair, his head on the desk-like counter before him.]

[If you look past Donatello to the background of the scene, you might be able to identify the setting as a subway car. A very strange subway car, though - it's stuffed with technology that might look futuristic even to someone from the same world and time as Don.]

[Do you quietly look away, Lucetians? Or do you intrude on the private moment?]

((Backdated to a little earlier this morning, thanks LJ.))

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Hiding, when I was not attempting to record data on this phenomenon... [Robert admits this somewhat uncomfortably, like he's going to be admonished for it.] These simulations have been... manifesting everywhere.

[Possibly abruptly, depending on what Robert is thinking about:] Have you been talking to Giles?

... I saw him recently, actually. [Awkwardly. Not necessarily a topic Robert wants to bring up because of the dirigible jelly, but he'll talk about it if Don asks.] Why do you ask?

[Don feels bad for being so blunt, even though, as he continually has to remind himself, being blunt is the best way to talk to Robert.]

I thought he was going to teach you to fight.

[Robert appreciates the bluntness, really.]

... Ah.

... Well... er, yes, that... that had been on the eventual itinerary. [Robert makes a noise somewhere between awkwardness and pain before admitting:] ... I, er, rather had a... hands-on experience with the subject, recently...

[It should be obvious he's not completely proud of this fact.]

Oh? [Don is expecting the 'experience' to be another embarrassing training session, like what Robert had with Mikey.]

[While he waits to hear the story, he crouches down and begins inspecting the underside of the instrument panel.]

[Far from it.]

... In... in a simulation of the Randi Institute, Giles and I encountered a simulation of a particular... s-species of non-human sapient. Dirigible jellies, specifically.

...

Zie went to attack Giles' eyes with neurotoxins, and... [Robert shivers slightly. It's a simulation, and yet he still feels ashamed of himself.] ... I... I struck zir, once. I t-tried to avoid zir eyes, I... I just wanted to distract zir attention away from Giles, momentarily...

... [Robert shudders anyway, allowing himself a moment of pain and fear and distinct self-loathing at doing something so reprehensibly un-Terran. He may have not seen a better option at the time, but it still bothers him.]

[Don pauses in the act of pulling a screwdriver out of his belt.]

You defended him?

[It's natural for Don to think of things like this in terms of what one was protecting, rather than what one was attacking. It only occurs to him a half-second later that Robert is more than likely seeing it from the opposite perspective.]

... It was intended to... p-protect Giles, yes.

... I know it was a s-simulation, but... but... [Robert trails off, biting his lip uncomfortably.]

... Giles... e-ended the simulation immediately after. [He was trying his best not to watch. Or listen.]

[Don is a little baffled as to how Giles "ended" one of these runaway simulations, but he sets that aside for now, gesturing for Robert to come sit with him.]

[At this, Robert sits quietly next to Don, dropping his hands to his lap and trying to push away the mental images of Indigo-Red and how much the simulation resembled zir. It's already over. There's nothing he can do about it, and it was a simulation, anyway.]

[Don puts an arm around Robert's shoulders, and gently leans their heads together.]

I'm proud of you.

[At least one of them is.]

... H-how do you... d-do this sort of thing without... without being ashamed of yourself all the time...? [The "you" is obviously a third-person you. Because clearly Robert is referring to himself. ~~Though it might hit close to home anyway.~~]

[Don takes a deep breath, and speaks as though reciting something he's heard many times.]

The way of Bushido is the way of Honor. Gi, yuu, jin, rei, makoto, meiyo, chuugi: these are the characteristics of the righteous warrior. If you follow the Codes, you will never be shamed.

[Foreign words and foreign concepts. And associating something like fighting with "honour" is something that Robert instinctively recoils from. Instead...]

... Are those... the e-ethical fighting codes you... abide by?

[He nods.] Yes, but... [He makes a vague gesture, trying to capture a concept that's been instilled in him since childhood.] It's more than that. You can't memorize a code someone else wrote centuries ago and think you know why you fight. You have to find your own reason. Once you understand why, you'll know how and when. And if your reason is - is jun ketsu, a good reason, then you'll know you're doing the right thing when you fight. You don't have to... feel bad about it...

[He trails off, wondering whether any part of this scattered explanation made sense.]

[Robert, meanwhile, is paring over the whole thing for any kind of detail that makes sense to him. Trying to allow "right thing" and "fighting" to coexist in his head is very difficult, but...]

... If... if the reason for fighting is... justifiable, then? If it is ethical? If... if it helps more than it harms...?

[There's a eureka moment hidden somewhere in this, he just has to find it.]

[Don nods again.] When you're protecting someone you care about from someone who's trying to hurt them, and not just fighting because you like it, or to prove you're stronger, or to get what you want... that's a very good reason, Robert.

...

[... And here Robert has something like a eureka moment.]

Inflicting... smaller amounts of harm to... protect someone from larger amounts? Is... is that what this is, then...?

[... Okay, it's still kind of oversimplified, but it's at least an important mental step.]

[Don breaks into a wide, delighted grin. Some people take years to grasp and properly apply the Principle of Least Harm.]

Yes.

[It probably helps that Robert is working upward from no harm rather than downward from lots of harm.]

... If that is the case, then... ... I... I suppose it is consistent with ethical principles.

[... This is sort of shocking. Give him a moment to wrap his head around this.]

[Don recognizes when someone needs to process. He backs off just an inch, and continues beaming while Robert works through this new idea.]

[It's a thought that fundamentally cuts through a lot of what Robert had established as "ethical". The idea that fighting can actually be beneficial to ethics is not one that Robert thought he'd ever be considering. But he has to admit, at least in his own mind, that it does seem to be consistent.

... It's not something he'll do often. Like Don says, it's only if you have a good reason. And that shouldn't come up frequently. But...]

...

I... I think I understand... I spoke with Mr. Japan on this too, on... on finding a fighting style that... fits me. And, and I do not want to lose my pacifism...

[Don responds quickly, as though he's already been thinking about this.] I want Master Splinter to teach you tai chi. It's all about nonresistance. And physics.

Tai chi...? [Robert blinks curiously. Physics? Maybe he can get behind this, actually.]

What is it like, exactly?

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