i_speak_softly | Fifty-Seventh Theory [Written/Voice/Action]

[It's sunny and warm and spring, and Don can't wait to get outside. Or he wouldn't be able to wait, if he didn't have such impressive self-control.]

[He diligently starts the morning with his usual exercises, then sits down to leave a few messages in his journal before leaving the house.]

[Tutoring Beast in reading has made Don reconsider his own literacy skills, and after much thinking he's decided to do something to improve them. To that end, he easily constructs a filter, then labors through writing a brief message:]

Filtered from Housemates | Unhackable

[In translation-shielded kanji:] I WANT PLEASE: SOMEONE IS ABLE TO TEACH TO READ JAPANESE A SLOW STUDENT.

[There. Anyone who can't read that is automatically disqualifed as a teacher; anyone who can should immediately see the need for some teaching.]

[Reminding himself that lack of knowledge is not a cause for shame, but an opportunity to learn, Don closes that filter and opens another.]

Filtered to Leonardo | Unhackable

Hey, Padawan. If you ever take a break from mastering the Force, call your otouto and let him know you're okay.

[And finally:]

Filtered to SHELL members | Unhackable

The world visit experiment should be happening soon, if we can believe anything that blue man says. After that I'd like to have another meeting.

I'm taking nominations for other topics of discussion or club activities.

[Don will check for replies later - for now, he closes the journal, takes his gear, and quietly leaves the house. He'll be spending the next few hours meandering among the cherry trees, looking for early blooms.]

[Anyone who meets him may notice he now wears a silver chain around his wrist, half-visible where it laces through the leather wrappings.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

All scientists are welcome in SHELL. [Even ones of questionable morals, apparently.]

Who's your partner for the experiment?

Good, I think you'll like Scully. She's my voice of reason and skepticism.

For the experiment, I'm going to another world. Why waste the opportunity to see somewhere completely new? I'm headed to a world filled with demons and magic, with a young woman called Reimu.

Sounds like me.

[Don has heard the name "Scully" before, but fortunately the context goes right over his head at this moment.]

Nice. I'd like to hear about it when you get back.

Good, I had a feeling you would get along. [Once Scully gets used to the fact that yes, she is holding a conversation with a mutant ninja turtle.]

I'll give you a rundown afterward. I plan to get an extensive report... well, ok, the most extensive I can get in a day. Might be a very abridged version.

Do you know where you'll be going for this?

I trust your research skills.

[A long pause, before he answers:] Home.

I can't blame you for taking the opportunity to go home... you've been here for so long.

[Don doesn't feel the need to restate how long.]

I hope it doesn't turn out to be a bad decision...

I hope you're right. But we really won't know unless we go. I know I'd rather take the risk than always wonder what could have happened.

[Not exactly what Don meant, but he's not sure he wants to share what he was really thinking.]

A scientist after my own heart.

Of course, whether this will have any lasting long-term effects... we'll have to see about that.

[You can bet he'll be carefully recording this for an extra-detailed file.]

The blue man implied no, but... you already know what I think of him.

Yeah, you've always afforded Sir Blue Ass exactly the level of trust and respect he deserves.

[He shares those feelings for sure.]

[A little blunter than Don would have phrased it, but yes.]

I think a lot of people will be disappointed if this experiment doesn't happen.

[How's that for a switch.]

[Mulder always has a colorful word or several for people in positions of power who misuse it... Though when Don mentions that, Mulder finds himself agreeing.]

I wouldn't blame them... For some people, that chance to go home means everything.

[He would almost consider it himself were the prospect of seeing another world not so tantalizing. There isn't much he feels he can accomplish in his present-time, in only a day. Perhaps it'd be different were there more time.]

But other people would rather go somewhere else. I think it fell out pretty evenly.

I think so too, they're well split up... and for those that can't go home, it's a potential new chance at life.

[A pause, then:] Do you think there's any chance something useful will come of this? In terms of being able to send people to a different world permanently?

I really do think so, with this one. I question their motives most of the time, I question their experiments and the effects they have on us... but this one is the first one I've heard of that has any potential.

[He appreciates your optimism.]

We'll talk more at the meeting?

[He's trying. He wants to believe.]

We will. I'll be looking forward to it.

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