i_speak_softly | Fifty-Eighth Theory [Voice/Action]

Entry tags:

Fifty-Eighth Theory [Voice/Action]

Open Voice

The person who made the little wind-up dragon... can I have another?

Action for Nezumi

[The reason Don needs another dragon is because he took the first one apart to make a camerabot for someone he doesn't even know. He hopes this was a good idea.]

[He heads to building three, floor one, room five, as he was told, and knocks five times.]

Action for Isamu

[After making that delivery, Don circles southward to the home of one Isamu Nitta. Allegedly some other people live here too, but Don has never met them. Hopefully, if they exist, they won't mind too much that a giant turtle is climbing in their window. Isamu did say to surprise him.]

Action for Buffy

[Around sundown, Don makes his way to House 7. He knocks here too, though he doesn't count how many times. He has a question to ask...]

((Housemates of the people Don is looking for are welcome to tag in, and of course the Voice part is open to anyone pinged by clockwork draconids.))

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Listen, Robert... [He hesitates, gathering his thoughts.] You're coming at this from a very different direction than I did, and I can't imagine what it must be like. But if there's anything you need, or anything you want to talk about... I'm here. I want to help.

... Th-thank you, Don.

[For awhile, Robert just gazes quietly at the floor, before he speaks up again:]

... How... how did you first learn about this, from... from Master S-Splinter?

[Don thinks, then says carefully:] He started teaching us ninjutsu before we knew what it was for. It was a game at first, something to keep us occupied. The early katas don't look like fighting...

We only learned later what he was training us to do.

...

[He can't help this next question, or the slightly-pained tone that goes with it.]

... What did you feel, when... wh-when you found out...? Was it... [He was going to say "betrayal", but he stops himself, and just trails off. The sentiment, however, hangs heavily in the air where the words ought to have been.]

[Don is silent for a long time. When he speaks, it's slowly, but at great length.]

I quit. I tried to quit. You can't win an argument like that, when you're seven.

I didn't understand why we needed to fight. Master Splinter explained it to me, and... I think that hurt more.

We didn't know about humans. They were just monsters in Sensei's stories. Not real. At six we were too old and worldly to believe in that.

By eight I had seen humans. By nine I had watched one kill another. At eleven I accepted the jo and at fourteen I took a life. In the end, Master Splinter was right.

[He stops there, fading back into his own thoughts.]

[Robert listens silently, staring at his hands the whole time. There's only the barest of flinches when Don says "monster" - it is strange, to think that at some point that's what he would be, to Don - and a slow, soft intake of breath.

Fourteen. At fourteen, Don killed someone... much like himself around that age, didn't he? A drug addict.

His fingers tremble a little, and he knits them to steady them.]

A... c-consequence of... of what your life was. What it... had to be.

[If you'd grown up with me you never would have had to -

... But would Don really be Don anymore if he had -]

It is... all a c-continuum, I suppose. Easy to... progress from one point to the next. Perhaps... perhaps too easy. [He looks at himself again.] It... only t-took me a year.

But, then again, I... suppose this is d-different, in some ways. Some... important ways.

[You get a choice.]

Everyone is different. It's as much about you as about your circumstances. Take your time and... always re-evaluate. It catches up to you if you don't.

[Robert nods slowly.] ... Re-evaluate.

... I do not regret it so far, for... for what it is w-worth. Even if I sometimes feel now that... I can never go back home...

I... I am not certain what they would... d-do to me, if I did.

[A soft "huh" as Don turns this over in his mind.]

[Does that mean he should elaborate?

After a too-long tick of silence, Robert decides it's better to do so and be chastised than not.]

... It is... the v-violence. The fact I... have the knowledge... even if I would never use it...

... To be a part of my s-society again, I would... [- this idea still bothers him -] ... need to lie to them. I would need to lie... all the time. I would need to... o-omit details of my life that have... become important. And I would be met with... the opinions of other Terrans, Terrans who felt the same way I used to, who would... deem all of you b-barbarians.

Even you. Even you, with all your... brilliance. [There is still awe in his voice when he says that.]

And... even m-me. Even me who was... once o-one of them...

[After a moment:] Do you think they're wrong? Or is violence only barbaric when there really is another way?

[That's a good question.]

... I... [He remembers the face Giles had when Mu stabbed into him, and the expression on Helios' when he was insane that one Shift and held that fireball, wanting to kill him with it -] I am... n-not certain.

I think... part of me still w-wants to say it is... inherently barbaric. The... the tactic of one who kn-knows nothing better. And is that... not t-true, in some way? That... that it is a basal reaction?

...

Yet... do such b-basal reactions... ever truly go away...?

[He doesn't even know if they are gone from Terra. What Phoenix Ikki's told him has made him think on more than one occasion, not to mention what he has learned from others.]

[He turns this over in his mind.]

I don't think they do, but I also don't think everyone starts with the same ones.

[Maybe not. Robert doesn't honestly know himself.]

... What do you th-think for yourself?

I think my instinct has always been to reason. I had to learn to fight.

[For once, he means what he says in the most literal sense.]

... Then... p-perhaps in that regard, we are... much the same.

[It's a comforting thought, and the soft smile that steals across Robert's features makes that clear.]

[Oh, Robert. You catch on so slowly sometimes.]

Are you coming to bed?

[Now that he thinks about it, it is late. So that would probably be a good idea.]

Ah... yes. Of course.

...

[And, softer:]

... Don?

[He pauses in disentangling himself.]

Yes?

... Thank you. For... for listening. And speaking with me. And just... helping.

[He's made this easier to deal with than if Robert had to confront it on his own, at the very least.]

[An internal sigh of relief. It's good to know he said the right things.]

Any time. Really.

[Robert smiles again, at this. Don is always so good at listening.]

... Now, we ought to consider actually going to sleep. [Because it's the middle of the night now and all.]

[Don stretches and yawns hugely.]

I'm beat. What are we doing tomorrow...?

I am not certain, but... perhaps we can think of something.

[With infinite tenderness:] ... Sleep well, Don.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Fifty-Eighth Theory [Voice/Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]

[Action]