10th Partridge [(anonymous?) Voice/Action]
[One thing that's always a bad idea to do: give a tree man something that is typically fine for humans.Case in point, just about anything they stuck him with during his stay with the Malnosso. Yeah, it's one thing to have to deal with cells-hello, unpleasant memories-but dealing with drug poisoning, too? This day couldn't get any more hideous for
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I... I think that one would have to... consider the overall picture. Look at the prevailing trends and ratios.
... Not everything, I would think, leads to something good... b-but, but perhaps there is a t-trend overall for positivity. At least... at least in some senses.
... One bad person or event does not invalidate the entirety of them.
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Unfortunately... It's a little more than one event or bad person.
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Being accepted can be difficult. Sometimes, it feels like absolutely nobody accepts you. And that is a vile feeling...
[Softly:] I cannot claim to have ever experienced m-much in the way of discrimination. But I am lucky... I know people who have, and it is abominable. It should never be tolerated... but in some places it is...
... The only thing to do is to not allow others to judge your worth. You have worth, you are a person; other people can perhaps tell you otherwise, and perhaps take away your rights, but your personhood is something that... th-that cannot be taken away. It is something... integral to you, as a sapient being.
... And... p-perhaps, by thinking that - and by finding o-others who think that, because others do exist - then... then you can start to change things.
... Th-that... that seems to be more or less how it has worked.
I am s-sorry I cannot be... a better assistance in this regard.
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That certainly reminds him of someone important to him.]
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Yeah. I'll just... keep finding more people.
Things'll get better. Here and there.
[He'll try to keep holding onto that hope. Human beings are wonderful creatures, yanno... Even if some of them are complete dicks.]
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Here, it seems, you will have support.
You, at the very least, most certainly have mine. You are a person, period, in my eyes, and certainly I would say in the eyes of many of those here.
... Your species is inconsequential. Or, at least, it should be. A person's worth exists regardless of details like that.
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I appreciate that... I hope that someday, everyone'll have that opinion. It might be a little too hopeful, but I'd like to see everyone get a chance, even if they're different.
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... Anybody who cannot see your worth, despite all the obvious positive traits you have - from what I know about you, from our correspondence - is deluded. Dangerously deluded. [Ian has never come across as a bad person to Robert in any way from their conversations. A little childish, perhaps; a little naïve, but certainly not a cruel or hurtful or in any way less deserving of rights and respect sort of person.
He thinks that Ian's goals are not just noble, but necessary.]
A state like the one you are describing ought to be the default. If it is not, then it should be changed.
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That's good to hear.
[Really, it is. It's nice to hear words that are at least encouraging, even when optimism may not have much of a stand today.]
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... Hope can be hard to hold on to, sometimes.
[And here, he goes quiet, almost ashamed:] I would know... I was alone too, for a... very long time.
It... it was not until Luceti where I was able t-to... get past it, to an extent. And... if we could bring the kn-knowledge of Luceti home with us...
[Well, he'd be able to bring Don home with him too. Or bring himself home with Don. Or something.
And Ian could bring the knowledge that he could be accepted...]
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I have too much here to want to forget it. Too many people... [Softly:] Including some I love.
I... I-I could not leave that, not willingly... [And it scares him to know how tenuous it might be.]
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Then let's do our best t'remember... even if not much.
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... Ideally, I would want some method to move freely between worlds, but if I am sent home and yet still remember... I could come back here with transporter technology.
[He knows it's a flimsy, unlikely chance... but, it's one that he really wants to be possible.]
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Transpor-wha'?
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Simply put, it can allow things to travel from one world to another, in a sense. And though the energy costs would be enormous, the ability to come back to Luceti... [It would be worth it.] Even for the sheer value of the data here alone.
... The Head Institute would be delighted. [Though that's the least of the benefits Robert would have gotten.]
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