lucetilogs | New Species Event - Mass Interaction Log

New Species Event - Mass Interaction Log

Who: Anyone!
What: All in here
When: Today, Tomorrow, Until April 2nd
Where: Anywhere in Luceti!
Summary: People in Luceti wake up as something they weren't before. An elf, a gremlin, a vulcan, or perhaps a mermaid? Try living in someone else's shoes... if they can even wear those.
Rating: Not recommended for those with weak constitutions, raging hormones, shipping goggles, or people just too cool and attractive for this kind of thing.

No need for LJ Cut! Mass action style stuff all around town. You can use this if you don't want to make a post. Or you can make a post anyway. Have at!

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[This kind of surprises Robert. Both the fact that Donatello told that, and the fact that his expression was that... obvious. Robert can't read emotions, so he doesn't know how other people can do it either.]

... I see... Well, at any rate, if he told you about it to begin with, there likely isn't any issue.

... At least not from you, at least. The same cannot be said of the rest of the family.

Yeah. He didn't tell me anything he didn't feel like sharing.

You might just have to give the rest of them some time. They're...used to not being able to trust people.

That is what Donatello told me. Apparently humans like myself are extremely rare in his world. The majority of them seem to be either hateful or aggressive... or barbarically cruel, like the Malnosso.

[Robert sighs, looking down.] Michelangelo asked me, once, why I was "okay" with Donatello being a turtle. As if there was some reason I shouldn't be "okay" with Donatello being himself.

When you're used to being treated like a freak, you'll be surprised when people don't treat you like a freak.

[That makes sense, even to Robert's mind.

But his expression twists into a scowl as he stares at the water of the fountain.]

... It is unfathomable that they would be treated that way. No Terran agency would allow that sort of imbecilic behaviour. They are sapients and deserve sapient rights...

[He trails off, shaking his head.] The humans of their world are, frankly, a disgrace to humans.

[Derek's feathers flare out with irritation for a moment.]

'Unfathomable', huh? Your people must be really protected if you can't imagine or understand having a fearful reaction to something you've never seen before. They're the only sentient, bipedal turtles on their world, and it's not like the general populace knows they're there.

...And they've had a limited experience, too. I know of at least two humans on their own world who treated them right. No doubt there are more who would treat them right, too, if they met.

On Terra, non-human sapients are understood as something common to the multiverse. [Robert sort of hesitates a moment.] Though I suppose it is... strange for a world where they are the only ones of their subspecies... [That's the sound of Robert pushing aside a little more of his xenophobically-entrenched thinking.] But reacting with hostility is something that seems to make no rational sense to me. Some initial fear, yes... curiosity... but hostility? Simply for being different?

[The rest makes some sense to Robert. He looks thoughtful as he considers it.]

That may very well be true... At least there were some humans who would treat them as the people they are.

'Reacting with hostility' is a normal fear reaction built into most creatures as a flight or fight response. You either run, or if you can't run for whatever reason, you'll stand your ground, and do what it takes to protect yourself.

Doesn't have anything to do with rationality. It has to do with survival. And most people, and animals, will have that reaction if they don't know what they're dealing with and they feel cornered. Your society might be 'advanced' enough to have suppressed that somehow...maybe because there's nothing left in your world to make anyone feel that frightened...but it's not a natural reaction. It's learned.

[Derek is right-on with this observation. Robert's world is sheltered - "advanced", as he said - to be able to suppress it. There is nothing left in their world to make anybody feel that fear, save things that can easily be ignored or denied, like the past. And with the cultural clampdown on violence, there isn't much to have genuine fear for.

The first time Robert felt real fear, real worry that his life would be ended, was when Yuber stared him down.

And this is just starting to register. All of this is just barely, BARELY beginning to register on the perimeter of Robert's thought.]

... I suppose you have a point. It's just... [Robert struggles for a word to describe it. "Wrong" doesn't seem to work. "Unethical?" ...

He settles for looking mildly helpless. Robert doesn't want to believe he's capable of wanting to hurt someone. Even if a tiny, tiny part of him might have aggression somewhere...]

'Savage'? 'Backwards'? 'Uncivilized'?

[Derek has no qualms supplying words based on what's already come out of Robert's mouth. He doesn't say them maliciously or sarcastically though. More like he might understand the sentiment a little.]

Yeah, I know. But you have to keep in mind, most of the folks here just don't live in a world where they can put down the club yet, even if they wanted to. They're living in places where that would get them killed. Or worse.

Even if you don't understand...it's still worth respecting.

[All of those terms sound... He doesn't know. But there's something that makes him not want to say them.]

... [Kind of pathetically:] Unethical?

... It is not that I don't want to understand... [Because he does. He wants to understand everything. Even if it kills him.] But...

[When your whole life, your whole culture, your whole world demonizes violence to the extent where even gestures like slaps on the back are avoided...

Well, wrapping your head around this concept is very hard. He's only barely even begun to appreciate it in the case of his friends.]

[Derek is quiet. He notices the dancing around the words, and even though he appreciates the much milder term Robert does utter, he also realizes that even though the underlying indications were there, Robert's apparently so...adverse to saying anything stronger that he apparently doesn't even notice the discrepancy.]

You don't. Not yet. Because you've never seen it when it's personal.

Watch. Ask people where they're coming from. And just try and remember, they didn't get to have your life. If your own world had a similar past, try and think about why it was that way at first...beyond 'they just didn't get it'.

Remember, you're around because they, whoever they were, paved the way for you. And it probably wasn't pretty.

[It's that, even with his social abilities being so crippled, Robert is beginning to realize - from his existing knowledge on "cruel" terminology - that some people don't like that wording, and even if it feels right from his perspective, it might not explain theirs.

Of course, he doesn't say that...]

... No, I have not...

[Robert remembers what Lieutenant Kennedy said, and another pang of shame goes through him. He remembers just how little he remembers of even his own world's history, of how much history seemed to be... ignored, in general. And he feels now, just how much of a disconnect he has from that period.]

... Thank you for the advice. I'll... definitely keep it in mind.

[Now he has more than just turtle anatomy to research at the library.]

...S'all right. Most people aren't as bad as they seem, even when they seem pretty bad.

That seems to be true in Raphael's case... as much as he dislikes me.

[He isn't a bad person... or at least, Robert doesn't think he is. All that aggression is terrifying, but...]

Raphael's a little hard on most people...but yeah, he's good folks. Just has a lot to work out.

[Robert hopes he'll manages to work it out enough one day that Raphael will treat him more like a sapient instead of a dirt clod of questionable origin.]

At any rate... I appreciate you giving me some insight... I need all the insight that I can obtain, really.

You're welcome.

Hopefully, it helps.

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New Species Event - Mass Interaction Log

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