♫ 19 | voice

[refinedmaestro]

[Good afternoon Luceti, today you'll hear music coming from your journals. What music exactly? Frederic playing his Impromptu No. 1 in A flat, Op. 29 to be precise. Once he's finished playing, he goes towards his journal and speaks up. Since he has a few things to say to everyone.]Good day everyone. I know the school year has ended, but I am still

Comments

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

[Oh, it's Mr. Chopin - Robert hasn't spoken to him in a long time, but after being entirely avoidant of the journals for a week or so, he's missing conversing with other people. And this is an interesting question.]

"Emotion" and "life"...

Well, Mr. Chopin, those are very... abstract concepts, are they not? [For someone who studies non-Terran life-forms, "life" is an important definition to have. ... "Emotion"? Not quite so easy for Robert, whose social-cue reading skills are impaired at best, to discern.]

Are you looking for my definition, or... an a-analysis?

[Voice]

[refinedmaestro]

[Well this is voice he hasn't heard in a while. He isn't certain how to answer this at first because of the last time they spoke together, but does his best to answer.]

They may be abstract concepts, but they are apart of nature are they not? Humans have both life and emotion within all of them. That is why I want to know what they mean to people as they view the two words not as a definition or analysis, but what comes from their heart.

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

[Tough question for Robert. After a few seconds of silence, he tries to come to some sort of answer.]

... Life... I suppose, for me, l-life is... is the ability to grow, and develop, and to spread influence. ... Such a question is fascinating in and of itself - there are so many k-kinds of life, and... and they are all so very beautiful. [Real wonderment ghosts through Robert's tone at this.]

A-As for emotion... I suppose emotion, for me, i-is... is a means of filtering e-experiences. Of... of perceiving things. And they are... i-important. Painful at times, but... but important.

... However, they... c-can occasionally get in the way of a p-proper objective decision. [More than once, Robert has felt himself influenced when he should not have been, but he's becoming unprofessional here.]

[Voice]

[refinedmaestro]

[He ponders on his answers then takes the time to reply.]

...I see. Although if I may, I wish to bring up something since it has been some time since we've last spoken.

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

Of course, Mr. Chopin. [Robert tilts his head curiously. Maybe Chopin just has a really sharp memory like he does...?]

[Voice]

[refinedmaestro]

About what we last spoke of, I wish to ask if you remember.

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

If I recall, I was telling you about gender variation and trans rights... [Robert mulls it over in his head. In the interceding five months or so since they'd last talked, he'd learned more about pre-Terran culture. Not a significant amount, to be frank, but enough that it casts the conversation in a different light.]

... Perhaps I might have done a better job explaining it. [But at the time, the idea of somebody not innately realizing these things had been... disquieting, and Robert had been defensive.]

[Voice]

[refinedmaestro]

Yes, that's right. [He sounds a bit quiet, yet also trying not to sound harsh in tone.] I would appreciate it if you could at the very least apologize for your behavior towards me.

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

[This takes Robert by surprise, even though he'd already realized he could have phrased himself much better.]

... Ah... forgive me, Mr. Chopin. I... I was unaware of any insult caused. But... I apologize for my transgression.

[Uncomfortably:] I sometimes have... difficulty perceiving when I have offended others.

[Chopin isn't the first. Robert remembers, poignantly, how he'd hurt Ami - and how he had, for that short time, been able to understand why.]

[Voice]

[refinedmaestro]

I understand that there are people in the world such as yourself, though at least you apologize for your mistakes while also putting meaning into the apology. [He pauses for a moment, then speaks up.] But I forgive you, since everyone makes mistakes, no matter who they are and no one can ever be perfect.

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

... It has taken me some time to realize that Terra is... quite different from the other worlds, here.

[And now Robert wonders just how much Chopin knows of what happened between himself and Giles - and that death machine - on the 18th. He's... almost ashamed all over again, thinking of that.]

I have done you a disservice by... by n-not asking you more about your world.

[Voice]

[refinedmaestro]

It's good to see you've come to realize this, even if it has taken you some time. Though allow me to say you do not need to beat yourself over a mistake that has now been corrected, since I have forgiven your actions. And if you're ever interested in talking about my world, I see no harm in doing that.

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

[Robert can't help but remember the words of Archie - that he should learn other peoples' worlds too, make an effort to understand them, rather than just talking about his own.]

I would be... most obliged if you would, Mr. Chopin. Your world sounds... fascinating, I must say, even if it is c-certainly different from Terra... But it is part of my history, is it not? [As much as Robert has a general apathy for history beyond the Great Cleansing.] Though, your specific... s-situation is somewhat different, if I... recall correctly.

[He doesn't know much about it, though.]

[Voice]

[refinedmaestro]

[Frederic ponders for a short time though he tries not to take too long, then comes up with something to discuss.]

Yes, I'm from quite a few centuries behind yours. Which is why I wish to know how much history of Europe is still known in your era. Since technically we are both from Earth, even if yours has a different name.

[Voice]

[semper_cogitans]

If I am honest... history beyond the Great Cleansing is not something many Terrans know much about. It exists, yes... b-but... [Robert isn't sure how to put this delicately.] ... It was generally thought that we had... overcome the p-problems of pre-Terran humans.

Though I have to wonder, now. [His voice is soft as he admits this.]

... At any rate, though I have been... r-researching history, I still do not recognize most countries... Geopolitical boundaries were e-erased in Terra after the establishment of the planetary Council.

[Voice]

[refinedmaestro]

But if history in your world beyond this Great Cleansing is not something many of your people knew, how is it that you knew of me? Unless historical figures are more preserved than the countries themselves.