Voicemail / Disclaimer

[apocalipped]

You've reached the phone of Jonothon Starsmore. If it was important enough for you to call, I suppose it's probably important enough for you to leave a message, too. I'll get to it sooner or later, probably.

BEEP.

In creating this journal, the author has assumed the identity of a fictional person for use in the role-playing game fandomhigh, for the sole

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Late Sunday / Super Early Monday

[give_areason]

Amelia probably should be asleep, since it was really, really late, but she’d been reading and then there had been supper to make and dishes to do and a shower to take and now, after all of that, she wasn’t sleepy.

Normally, if she couldn’t sleep, Amelia would do something around the house. At home, there was always something to do, since Elena was a baby and Dad was busy. But the house she had been spending this weekend in was already clean and the bookstore was tidy and she didn’t really want to read now anyway, though that was an option.

She couldn’t even practice shooting, since all the guns lying about the place were toys. Ugh. Though it was bad manners anyway to practice with someone else's weapons

Re: Late Sunday / Super Early Monday

[apocalipped]

"A new field trip almost every week," Jono admitted. "And invasions happen... at least once every few months. We generally manage to hold our own, though."

The world hadn't completely ended yet, anyhow.

Re: Late Sunday / Super Early Monday

[give_areason]

“That’s a lot of trips,” she said, which was absolutely stating the obvious. Her brow furrowed. “And a lot of invasions. Don’t you have SOLDIER to keep them away if they’re that bad?”

Re: Late Sunday / Super Early Monday

[apocalipped]

"Mostly, it's civilian fighters fending them off," Jono admitted, misinterpreting the definition of 'SOLDIER,' though the answer remained the same. "It's a small island, luv. There are plenty of people who can fight, but no local, organized sort of militia that exists in order to keep the people safe."

A beat.

"... There used to be reserves for people who could fight who were interested in doing so. No bloody clue what happened to those."

Re: Late Sunday / Super Early Monday

[give_areason]

Amelia frowned.

“Then why are the weapons in here all toys? That’s not going to help Miss Rosalind out at all.”

Re: Late Sunday / Super Early Monday

[apocalipped]

Er... There was a good question. And if Rosalind as a little girl knew how to fire a gun, 'for your safety' was probably not the correct reply.

"I'm certain Rosalind's got her real weapons with her," he reasoned. "It wouldn't make sense to leave home and leave them behind, would it?"

Re: Late Sunday / Super Early Monday

[give_areason]

Given that she was studying guns in school, it was definitely not the right reply.

“Nooo,” Amelia said, dragging the word out. “But the toys are silly.”

She disapproved of silly.

Re: Late Sunday / Super Early Monday

[apocalipped]

"They are a little ridiculous, aren't they? I'm certain they're there for a reason, though I can't guess as to what that reason might be..."

Sure he could. But tiny little Rosalind probably wouldn't care for it, so...

Re: Late Sunday / Super Early Monday

[give_areason]

“Even if she has a child, it’s very irresponsible to have toys,” Amelia scolded. “That makes the child think that guns are for playing with.”

Re: Late Sunday / Super Early Monday

[apocalipped]

... Hooboy.

"Are you saying that toys in general are irresponsible? I know I had toy guns when I was a young lad, luv, and I know quite well that the real thing isn't just for fun." Honestly, now. "It's more a question of how a child is raised, not the toys they play with."

And if videogames bred psychotic murderers, Jono would be a deranged madman.

Re: Late Sunday / Super Early Monday

[give_areason]

“It’s wrong,” she insisted. “And dangerous. What if a monster attacks and they’re alone,” because of terrible parenting, which was… distressingly common in the slums, “and they think they’re okay because they’ve got a toy? If they have a weapon at all it should be real.”

Re: Late Sunday / Super Early Monday

[apocalipped]

"I think then the fault would sit with whoever didn't explain the difference between a toy and the real thing in the first place," Jono pointed out, well aware that he was having this conversation with a small child. "If the time is taken to explain, to make certain that a child understands, then that wouldn't be a problem."

Re: Late Sunday / Super Early Monday

[give_areason]

And Amelia thought he was wrong, wrong, wrong.

“Do you teach about guns?”

Re: Late Sunday / Super Early Monday

[apocalipped]

"Not specifically guns," Jono replied, "but in my time in the military and time spent teaching on the island, I did teach that weapons aren't to be used by people who haven't been properly trained to use them. It's dangerous and irresponsible, and far more likely to get a person killed than turning and running or hiding might."

Take that, tiny child. Take that.

"And I should hope that anyone who knows how to properly use a gun can tell the difference between the real thing and a toy."

Re: Late Sunday / Super Early Monday

[give_areason]

“Well, I think you’re wrong,” she told him loftily. “And Dad would agree.”

That that, clearly, was that. Dad’s word was Law.

... What were you getting out of this argument with a child, Jono?

Re: Late Sunday / Super Early Monday

[apocalipped]

Clearly he was gaining the ability to rest well knowing that he'd attempted to reason with someone tiny and stubborn and if he lost this one, it wasn't for lack of trying. Or for having the better judgment to back off, because it wasn't like Rosalind was going to be prepubescent for much longer anyway.

And he'd been arguing with tiny children over vegetables and picking up their toys for almost four full days now anyway. It was hard to stop after all that.

"And what part of 'don't use a weapon you don't know your way around' is wrong, exactly?"

Because he was beginning to think that Rosalind's father was a bit of an idiot.