6th Short - [Voice] + [Action]
[Oswald is lounging outside Community Building six and lost in thought. A bit bored, as well. That's why he flips open his journal for a general query.]
So... That experiment we had a couple weeks ago got me thinkin'. How many of you folks actually have kids? Either in here or back home. And would you want 'm to be here ( Read more... )
So... That experiment we had a couple weeks ago got me thinkin'. How many of you folks actually have kids? Either in here or back home. And would you want 'm to be here ( Read more... )
So Robert's voice is kind of... almost-wistful when he replies to this.]
I have an... unofficial foster daughter, here in Luceti. Vivi Aislinn, a beautiful, intelligent young girl.
... Four hundred twenty children... That sounds like quite the financial and emotional burden. [Robert's tone betrays how completely floored he is by that number. Terran families usually don't get any larger than one or two children...]
... Are you perhaps a very well-to-do individual?
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Vivi, huh? That's a cute name. It's real nice of ya to take her in in this place.
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I myself am considered well-off by Terran standards. Most scientists are, of course. [He's the equivalent of a celebrity. Though he's not anywhere near the public spotlight.]
... as for Miss Aislinn, I consider myself extremely fortunate to have the pleasure of knowing her; she has done much to keep me sane in this place. And I must admit, I had always been curious about what it was like to be a father...
... Though I'm afraid my partner is less enthusiastic, though for good reason. His family apparently... has some trepidation around the idea.
[Robert's tone is as easy as ever, and it's clear that he has no concept of why the fact his partner is a man could be odd to anybody... Although this concept will probably fly over Oswald's head.]
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Trepidation? [Big word, there. He figures it means they don't like it.] Why? What's wrong with adoptin' a little girl? Especially in a place like this, where everyone's supposed to look out for each other.
A king is... Uh... Well, you know! They're like the rulers of the land. They wear crowns and live in big castles, and then when there's a festival or a feast they get to oversee it. If you're a good king, all your people will adore ya and your country will prosper. Scientists? They work for the king.
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Well, if I am honest, I am not entirely certain. I believe the fact she is human is a major factor, though, as my partner's father is not particularly comfortable with humans. He had difficulty enough accepting me with his child...
... [And Robert blinks a bit at the next part.] ... Countries...? ... Oh, oh yes. Those... strange, arbitrary divisions of land surface. Terra lacks geopolitical boundaries entirely, so there would be no use for such a thing...
... And on Terra, scientists work for the Head Institute and collective Institutes, as well as branch organizations either related to them or sponsered by them.
[He doesn't really know what to think about them working for a political figurehead. Though the Head Institute and the Council do maintain pretty open lines...]
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So your partner's not human either? Well, not all humans are bad. I mean, just like there are both good and bad animals, there are good and bad humans. And uh... fairies and elves and Petes and such. So if the dad just realizes you're a nice guy, and your daughter's a nice girl, it should be fine.
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Well, there are essentially two major levels of government - the planetwide global Council, which elects a single representative for each major continent and Oceania - that is, there are eight Council members on the global Council - and the municipal Councils, which work within the context of each city. Generally, the two levels of government have correspondance with each other, though municipal governments are more likely to contact each other than the global Council.
It is a democractic system; the ability to make one's own decisions is a strongly-emphasized part of Terran ethical and humanitarian codes. [His voice holds an almost-pedantic hint of pride, here.] Autonomy of choice, so to speak.
[Oswald's words do make Robert pause for a moment.] Ah, no, he is not. Not that it matters at all to me; his mind is the most important ( ... )
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[A guy who is in love with another guy who is not human. ... Huh. It's a new concept for Oswald, but not one he's opposed to. He's just very used to the "boy meets girl, they fall in love and live happily ever after" pattern that Disney followed.]
That doesn't sound like the kinda world I'd wanna live in. Guess that means it's a good thing you two were sent to Luceti, right? And the family, too! Now you can all live here without bein' pestered by those weird humans from their world. I'll be rooting for ya, too! [Another thing that Disney movies taught him is that love can transcend all boundaries and overcome all obstacles. He's a rabbit who's in love with a cat, after all!]
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[Robert is so used to the idea being comfortably acceptable that he's been honestly surprised to find homophobic or other forms of discrimination here. But he isn't entirely unused to the idea, now... Still, it's good that Oswald is accepting. It probably helps that, as a cartoon character, he's not aware of many of the societal taboos or other such things generally associated with it...]
It would not be the kind of world I would wish to live in, either. All sapients have rights under the Terran penal codes, and to do less than that is to systemically deny the inherent personhood of them...
... Though, I see that you yourself are a non-human sapient... a sort of Leporid, perhaps? I hope that your world treats those of your species well.
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Leporid? I dunno what that is. I'm a rabbit! A lucky one, at that. And yeah, we get treated pretty nicely! The benefit of bein' a cartoon character is that all the species are capable of living in harmony if they want.
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Leporids are species belonging to the Leporidae family, which includes rabbits and hares...
[The next part throws Robert off somewhat.] ... Wait a moment. You are a... cartoon rabbit?
... As in, you are a living cartoon? If I may ask, are you some sort of non-organic sapient? [Because the idea of an actual cartoon being a biological organism is just... well. It's almost as crazy as the idea of an anthropomorphic country.]
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Living cartoon? That's a weird thing to ask. All cartoons are alive, just not the same as humans or... non-cartoon animals. And we're definitely not organic. We're made up out of paint and ink.
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... [Sorry, Oswald. Robert's going to bluescreen a little bit at that part.]
... Cartoons in your world are alive... [Incredulously, and mostly to himself:] W-Well, alright, I suppose that would be fairly self-evident, since I am speaking to you...
But. I can assure you fairly safely that cartoons in my own multiverse are not alive, by any standard definition...
... Are all things that are typed, drawn or written in your world alive, then, or is it restricted to those made of paint and ink? And... how do you sustain your form, if you are made of those components? [He has a million questions about Oswald's biology forming in the back of his completely-skeptical mind: What's his body temperature? How does he feed, if he does at all? What about respiration? Are his organs made of paint and ink, too? And he'll probably want to ask them all if given the opportunity, but this is really knocking him for a ( ... )
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In Wasteland, it's really anything that was drawn that's alive. Sometimes even things like flowers and telephones. It's just that we can't draw things and make 'm lively. The only living cartoon characters in Wasteland are the ones who were drawn by humans in the Disney studio and then forgotten. Living cartoon characters outside Wasteland are the ones that're still popular.
Geddit?
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So Wasteland is a sort of... repository for those who were drawn by this particular studio [- which the mun figures Robert doesn't recognize -] and then somehow entered obsolescence...? Is there some property that this studio has that no other studio does, when it creates drawings?
I am afraid that this concept is... difficult. I must confess, I never thought it even remotely possible that what was a drawing in one world could be an organism in its own right in another... And those two worlds are directly related, in your case, correct? Did humans often interact with you there?
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Humans never interacted with us. I don't think they even know Wasteland exists. Them knowin' about us would kinda defeat the point, because you can't be forgotten if people know where you've gone. I knew about them, of course. But not the other way 'round.
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