i_speak_softly | Forty-Ninth Theory [Action/Voice]

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Forty-Ninth Theory [Action/Voice]

[Don has never been to an ocean before, and last time he was at an amusement park he had to electrify the roller coaster to defeat an enraged colony of nanobots.]

[He is determined that this excursion will be one of pleasant discovery.]

[To that end, he takes the teleporter to the beach on Thursday morning, and spends the next two days exploring the park, the waterfront, and as far out into the ocean as his own limbs can take him. (Or farther, if anyone is kind enough to offer him the use of a boat.)]

[At some point during the two days, he opens his journal and leaves the following message:]

Researchers, experimenters, tinkerers, inventors, curious people of all kinds... join the "Scientists, Hypothesizers, and Engineers of Luceti League". I'm starting it right now and everyone is welcome.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only | Expand All

[Robert listens quietly, his expression sad and a little pained. It would be abhorrent, to any Terran, to see someone sapient in an enclosure for anything other than effect. Even the sentence "an animal that can think and talk like a human" reads like a travesty - humans are animals, after all - and the whole thing is just... grotesque.

Finally:]

But in the end, he... is still just an object... perhaps a fascinating discovery, but... he has a different standing from any other person. Legally, ethically...

[He shakes his head.] I - I just wanted you to know.

Thank you for telling me. I am just... sorry you were ever made to experience something like that...

[Not that Robert thinks Don should've had to grow up in fear either. Neither situation is good, or healthy, or right for a wonderful, brilliant individual and his family, none of which would have caused any problems on their own.

Robert leans his head gently against Don's plastron.]

It's all right...

[He rubs Robert's shoulder distractedly, his mind elsewhere.]

[The distractedness isn't totally lost on Robert. Seven months of knowing Don has let him begin to pick up on some of the surface details of him, after all.

But he doesn't question it right now, beyond looking up a little worriedly at him.]

[Don blinks back to the present, as usual unsure of how much time passed while he was spacing out.]

Did we decide where we were going?

... I assume we got derailed by that topic, so no.

[Awkward.]

Perhaps something more... pleasant might be in order? Something lighthearted, perhaps? [That is, nothing that'll traumatize either of them.]

Do you want to go back to those game stands? Some of them looked like fun.

Certainly. [This is lighthearted and not traumatizing, right? Right.] I would love to...

[Plus he can see Don's aim demonstrated, probably! It will be a lot better than his own at any rate.]

[Don heads back towards the midway, not speaking again until they've been strolling between the booths for some minutes.]

Which one should we try?

Hmm... [There is, admittedly, a spectacular array of games here, but Sonic Toss catches Robert's attention - because... is that Robotnik on it?]

... Doctor Robotnik...?

[Cue headtilt as Robert studies the Sonic Toss game.]

[Don looks around, thinking Robert has just spotted someone he knows, but no, Robert is looking at one of the game stalls.]

What?

He is... referenced in this game. [Huh. That is very odd. ~~Then again Robert's already seen Turtles in Time...~~]

... That is not too strange of an occurrence in this park, it seems.

[Robert steps up to the booth, peering at the large golden rings and a very stylized blue organism...]

[Now that guy looks familiar. It's Don's turn to headtilt as he tries to figure out what kind of game "Sonic Toss" is.]

Edited 2011-09-05 21:07 (UTC)

[It is, apparently, a ring toss game, if the rules signboard is any indication.

Fascinated, Robert studies the perimeter of the game.]

... So... one throws the rings at the central stake...

... Seems simple in theory.

[Don looks at the size of the rings, and the distance to the stake, and wonders how anyone could miss.]

Want to try?

[He will be surprised. And by surprised, one means probably embarrassed-by-proxy, at Robert's abysmal failure.]

... I could... attempt. [But even Robert's pretty certain he'll get it wrong.]

[Don gestures for Robert to go ahead. He will watch and be... appalled.]

[Trying it out now... Robert picks up one of the oversized rings, standing there awkwardly for way too long trying to judge it, and then gives it a rather pathetic toss.

... To nobody's surprise, it misses, though it at least hits the stake in question.]

...

There is a reason I do not usually engage in this sort of thing.

[Facepalm time!]

That wasn't bad. [As far as Don is concerned, the ring hit the target - just not at the intended angle.] Throw another one.

[And Robert repeats the throw, trying to adjust for the first - this time, the ring misses on the opposite side of the stake.]

... Agh.

[This is frustrating.]

[Ooh, overshot. There's still one more ring, though.]

[Can he do it? Can he manage to actually get one ring onto that stake?

Moment of truth! Robert attempts to throw the ring again, centring it as best he can on that stake, and...

... Whelp. The oversized ring hits the edge of the stake, hangs for one terrifying moment, and then... falls off.

Robert just sighs.]

... Well.

[Don applauds anyway.]

Play again?

It might be better if you attempted it instead of me...

[Read: "I don't want to fail miserably twice if I can help it."]

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