IV: Bride of Chucker | [Voice | Action]
[Mike is... better than he was. The events of the AU were like the best dream he'd ever had, and waking up to harsh reality was all the more painful this time because everyone else remembered the dream too. It was like being stripped bare in no way he'd ever experienced, nudist that he is, and he doesn't like it one bit.
she knows
After thinking ( Read more... )
she knows
After thinking ( Read more... )
Ah, certainly, Mike.
... It's... an interesting process, actually. Would... would you prefer a demonstration, or...? [He doesn't know how eager Mike is to have him around at the moment or ever and frankly, things seem less awkward at a respectable distance anyway.]
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[Hoboy, deep discussion time. How had Splinter explained it to them when they were little?]
If you see your brother about to be attacked- or, you know, someone you care about- and you don't do anything to stop it, then you're worse than whoever's attacking, because it's like you're saying it's okay for them to attack your family.
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On the one hand, the argument seems... ... Logical. Upsettingly so, because it contradicts so much that Robert thinks.
On the other hand, everything he knows says that that kind of thinking leads to the kind of rampant violence that pre-Terran worlds had.]
...
But... how is it any more justified of me to attack them when they have their own families...?
I would still be harming a person...
[He's definitely looking for holes in this logic, because he's afraid of what accepting it would mean.]
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You can't think about that. You have to put your own family first, because they're more important to you. Besides, they attacked first, so you're not really attacking them. You're defending.
[He still thinks about the families of the people he's killed sometimes. In that peculiar quiet that comes the night after a battle.
But most of the time he tries not to think about it at all. And he tries not to kill in the first place, which is his main consolation.]
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...
["Only ever self-defense." It's still not a concept Robert understands.]
Shouldn't all lives be important...? [His voice is small and hesitant and a little frayed.
Before Luceti he had nobody to put any importance on, so it was easy to say that he didn't need to prioritize people. But he realizes now that he does prioritize the lives of some people, and as shameful as that is to contemplate...]
...
This is very difficult.
[It's difficult because he wants to understand, but at the same time is terrified of it. He can see what Mike's trying to say but he wants to deny every word.]
...
C-Can there really be ethics in fighting...?
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And of course there's ethics in fighting. Otherwise it'd just be brawling. [Said with no small amount of disgust. "Brawling" is not what he does.]
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Still...]
But... all people deserve rights... because they have worth.
...
A-And how do... how do you tell where the ethics are? [Forgive Robert, Mike. He doesn't know the difference between fighting and brawling. To him, it's all the same.]
How can those two concepts even be integrated?
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If you fight for the right reasons, then that's ethical.
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But... [He honestly doesn't know. An overwhelming part of him would want to do something now, even if the rest of him hates himself for it.]
...
I don't see what could ever be a "right" reason...
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You should really be asking Donnie about all this.
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He's afraid that he will.]
I... get the impression that Don wishes to speak to me about it again at some point, anyway.
But... b-but I wished to gather outside data.
Thank you for... answering my questions, Mike.
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[Dangit, there was something he wanted to talk to you about. What was it...]
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Was there anything else you needed, Mike?
[He can't really tell that Mike wants to ask a question. It's just awkward and Robert doesn't like the awkwardness.]
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... Doctor Mizuno was... one of the first people who met me, here in Luceti.
...
I arrived on the twenty-first of January.
So I have known her approximately four months.
... Why do you ask?
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