74th Hunt [Written]
But first, a little [Action]
[Derek does his best to do this when he knows people are likely to be sleeping. Buffy, when she wakes up, will find Derek's weapons piled neatly on the porch, along with a small box with a note that says 'Give this to the Doc ( Read more... )
[Derek does his best to do this when he knows people are likely to be sleeping. Buffy, when she wakes up, will find Derek's weapons piled neatly on the porch, along with a small box with a note that says 'Give this to the Doc ( Read more... )
... [Robert hesitates a moment before writing the rest.] I... would like to speak to Professor Garcia again... I never thought I would be away from the Institute for three months, and she and I were on good terms. [One of the few people that he ever really was on good terms with, at home.]
I converse with the Lucetians, in particular several... close friends. [And a possible boyfriend. It's enough to make Robert smile a little inside.]
Someday, I hope to be able to take them to Terra with me, if only briefly.
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Closer than the people from your home?
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... Yes. I... had many troubles making friends at home. [And frankly, he had never let himself make them. Here he had to, for survival. And in the process, he'd discovered how... how nice it was, to have somebody to care for like that again
Not that there weren't bad parts. He'd seen them. He'd caused some.
But he's starting to really think that, just maybe, it's all worth it.]
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[Robert pauses before he writes more.] I hope that one day some sort of solution to being able to return to our home multiversions can be found.
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[And he writes the next part almost furtively.] ... I want to be able to take the friends I have here to Terra with me. Or even to show the Lucetians Terra in general... it is so different from many of the worlds here, and I think it would serve as a positive model. [Hello, superiority.]
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[There's a pause between that answer and the next, as if the writer perhaps is thinking carefully on the response.]
Possibly. But not everyone may agree that it is the best way to live. Because the worlds are so different, what you may view as a positive may be anathema to someone else.
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Robert pauses as well. His internal cultural xenophobia wants to say that's ridiculous... But three months at Luceti have made him tentatively reconsider.
Still...]
I would think most people would prefer non-violent, ethical, rational worlds, though... [Or perhaps not. Though thinking that way is... pretty strange.]
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[Ah kid, if only. Even on his own world, Derek has known the people he'd just rescued to turn around and chase him off, jail him, or even try to kill him in 'thanks' for what he'd done for them...and they'd been the people who had called on him in the first place.
He taps the pen on the page for a few minutes while he thinks.]
They might prefer it, if given the chance, but a good portion of the people here come from places that consider that sort of thinking a luxury at best, and a death sentence at worse. Doesn't do any good to try and live that kind of life when the people around you are living on the opposite site of the spectrum.
Not unless you're into passive suicide.
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But you are correct. The lack of technology would probably be more problematic than deriving the theory necessary to work it. If the Malnosso would only co-operate with us...
[And the rest... Robert just stares at it, for a bit.]
... I have never had to... think about that sort of situation. All Terrans are pacifistic, non-aggressive... I would never be attacked there. Not like I was here. [That still makes him shudder. It opens up a can of worms of possibilities that he doesn't entirely want to think about.
Why is it easier to tell an anonymous stranger these things?]
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Unfortunately, most people here come from worlds where utopia is non-existent. Or if it is, someone else comes along to destroy it.
I'm sorry you're so far from your home.
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But... generally I am alright, here.
I have only ever been threatened a few times... but the drafts... [He lets his pen sit there, quietly, for a moment.
That was terrifying, to think of Ami going off to war. To think that perhaps one day he'd be next.
And it wasn't even their war.]
... Is your world an aggressive one too?
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And yeah, lot of bad stuff happens on my world. There's good, too. But we're a long way from anything resembling universal peace.
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I am beginning to learn that most worlds here are like that...
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