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thejusticelounge2013-02-05 07:10 pm
bossymarmalade) wrote in thejusticelounge2013-02-05 07:10 pm
Entry tags:
keep your ion the lantern
[ Ring Txt ] Is Casa Verde considered neutral territory? If not, the Watchtower is fine. Probably somewhere away from food, because then I’ll get distracted. Hal wasn’t just ticked off at you, it was more a…blanket of irritation. ;)
[Ring Txt] Neutral territory? Awwww, Kyle we’re not at war. =( This is still your home too, and no matter where I live you’re always welcome. Dick’s just left for work so it’s just me and Ribbit here. I’ll put some coffee on.
Kyle was about to text back but then realized how dumb that would be. Hal had already gone to work as well, and so Kyle decided to postpone his artwork just a bit longer (just a bit! He’d pull an all-nighter if he had to) and he flew back to Venice Beach, landing on the rooftop and making enough noise so Guy knew he’d arrived.
“Hey mano…” Kyle said, trotting down the stairs. The living room and kitchen was now empty, just him and Guy. But Kyle could still see the others, where they were sitting, or pacing, or whatever - like shadows on a stage.
This time, the only ones here were Guy, himself…and Ribbit. Kyle scooped the rabbit up from the couch, kissing its soft fur head. ”So…” Kyle looked a little hopefully at Guy. “I’ll…let you start? Should I? I don’t think the Guardians have written up any SoPs for this sort of situation. And they’re supposed to know everything, pshaw.”
“Hey Kyle,” Guy greeted warmly. After the fiasco last night, he was glad to see Kyle again. With him and Hal sequestered away at Casa Costa, things could turn south with Ion and no one would be the wiser, possibly for days. But more than that, he needed to make peace with him. He filled two mugs and a carafe with coffee and brought them all over to the worn, brown, infamous ‘talking couch’.
“Yeah, well, not the first time we’ve judged the blue meanies and found them wantin’,” he agreed. “Look…Kyle, I’m sorry about how things went down last night. This is all gonna take some gettin’ used to. Hal was right: it’s pointless to discuss with you any strategies for dealing with this if things get out of hand. I’ve gotta assume Ion knows everythin’ you know, and could defeat those contingencies. Hell, Hal could know everything I’m sayin’ to you right now, for all I know.”
Guy looks at his hands, wrapped around the steaming mug. “I do have some questions, though, other than ‘does Hal know you’re here?’. Like, for starters, last night you started sayin’ Ion split itself between the two of you to protect itself against somethin’. Then Ion spoke and cut you off. I wanna know what it is that an omnipotent entity like Ion needs protection from.”
Kyle stretched out on a corner of the couch, putting a foot up on the coffee table, half-yawning, half-sighing as he thought about Guy’s question. It was still pretty early in the morning, and Kyle was grateful for a second cup of coffee.
“You know how the mission that the Guardians sent Yat on, right? Top secret, not even Arisia knew until he left.” Kyle said, looking over at Guy. “I’m pretty sure it had something to do with the Anti-Matter Universe…” He paused, and then snorted at himself. “Well /duh/ I mean, of course it did, which is why we found Yat in that pocket dimension in the first place. I just mean, like…whatever it was, the Guardians wanted to…to take the offense.” He looked worried, his brow furrowing as he took a sip of the coffee.
“What they didn’t realize was that their idea of offense meant Yat could’ve been killed. And then Ion…well. Or maybe the Guardians did know, and didn’t care? I don’t know. But you know how Yat is. He’s more cocky than you and Hal combined. I don’t know how it all went down, but the Guardians were willing to put Ion at risk for their own agenda…no surprise there, right?”
Kyle played with a cushion tassle, idly entertaining Ribbit as the bunny hopped about. ”Long story short - it seems like Ion is protecting itself from…whatever the Guardians had intended. It’s not safe with Yat, he knew that. And it wouldn’t be safe in the Battery, I mean…Oa. Sabes.”
“Still not sure I follow,” Guy propped an elbow over the back of the couch, eyeing Ribbit. “Ion split itself to foil the Guardians’s plans, keep out of their direct control…which now that I think about it, I kind of admire. Way to stick it to ‘em, Ion!” he chuckled, enjoying the all-too brief if not inappropriate levity, “But does it know what was in the Anti-Matter universe that had the Guardians so riled up in the first place? Yat knew, so can’t Ion at least tell you?”
“Ya said before, correction: Ion said before, yours and Hal’s powers are limited because of the split. Can you elaborate?” Guy gestured to Kyle, palm up, “Obviously you don’t need your rings, now…but somewhere between that and changing reality with a thought is where your limits are. So where is it?”
“No, I don’t know. Whatever experiences Yat had are with him now, he must’ve made sure of that…I mean, I can take one big fat guess that it has to do with Sinestro and his crew…what else, right? But /unlike/ Yat when he was Ion, I don’t have any real intention of cruising anywhere close to Qward to be all ‘Hey-ho, just kinda-Ion here, checking things out’. Whatever that mission was, it wasn’t /right/. Ion realized that. And so did Yat. Originally he wanted it to just go into me, I showed you that, si? I’m glad he didn’t…I dunno. I’m just glad.”
Kyle smiled at his hand, wiggling his fingers. He was still wearing his ring. Hal too; for whatever reason, it just felt more comfortable to keep it on, than leaving it off and somewhere ‘safe’. “Hmmmmm I’m more comfortable with the ability than Hal is - I mean…” Kyle looked a little apologetic, not to either of them. “I hate drawing this comparison, but Hal was really good at keeping entities - abilities like this - dormant. As…as you know.” Kyle let those words fall, as weighted as they were.
“Me on the other hand, I’ve been gently experimenting. It’s definitely not like it was before. For one, I can sleep. And I /like/ to sleep, heh. And obviously we don’t have to recharge. For two, I don’t know what’s going on on the other side of the universe. And boy is that a relief. For three…uh…I seriously doubt I can change the fabric of time? It’s not…it doesn’t feel like I have the universe at the tip of my fingers, y’know? Geez, that sounds bad, of course you don’t /know/…but…”
“It’s okay Kyle,” Guy raised his hand, stopping him before he apologized more. “Dude, I know it’s difficult right now, worried about something being interpreted wrong, maybe you feel like you gotta second-guess everything you say.” He thought back to Kyle’s unfortunate remark to Damian about hoping he would be in the front lines if it ever came down to everyone needing to make a stand against Ion-Kyle, and Dick’s horrified expression that followed. “I’ll make you a deal. You relax, and don’t worry about how things sound, and I’ll give ya the benefit of the doubt or double-check with ya if somethin’ sounds really off. Agreed?”
“Frankly, I’m more worried about Hal than you. Worried for him, I mean. Maybe it’s best he’s not comfortable with the new powers?” He drained his mug and reached for a refill from the carafe, offering Kyle a top-up. “I know he’s pissed with us all right now, but you need to convince him to at least trust me and John. Distancing yourselves from us is a real bad idea. If things do start to go wrong, we might not notice soon enough. You might think you two can monitor each other, but you’re both too close to it, y’know? You’re life partners on top of the fact you’re both sharing Ion. There’s gotta be more objectivity than that.”
He listened intently as Kyle listed off his limitations. Granted, they weren’t all that limiting. ”We’re going to need to know what you can do above and beyond what John and I can do. Like…” he glanced around the room, “Can you change the nature of existing matter? Pass through solid objects, energy shielding? Do you have awareness of others’ thoughts?” “Dick’s moving in and he’s allergic to rabbit hair, so we have to get rid of Ribbit,” he thought to himself, as a test.
“Sure, I guess,” Kyle conceded to Guy’s suggestion, although he was curious to see this in practice. He and Guy were a spectacular series of misunderstandings for months; and second-guessing himself had become pretty much second nature. Still, Kyle never stopped hoping about things like this, particularly when they concerned his friends.
“Hal needs time alone. He spoke to Queen. It didn’t go very well,” Kyle said shortly; not directed at Guy, but recalling Hal that night, on the moon, lost and alone and…
He picked up the warm ball of Ribbit, and sighed. “You’re a hundred percent right about you and John, though. I think he just needs to know there are people out there who won’t think he’s going bonkers, and if /anyone/ should accept that, it should be Lanterns.” Kyle looked up at Guy from over the fluff of rabbit.
“You know Ion, Guy. You know what it’s capable of - Sodam Yat hosts it with no personal repercussions and as much as I wish Ion /had/ just transferred fully into me, I can see why it split. Precaution on all counts. To protect itself and…to protect us.” He sighed. “But I’m not sure why I’m saying any of this if you find it hard to believe the words I’m saying. I’m not sure what you want to hear from me.”
He smiled at Guy’s question. “No time-shifting, no reality bending, no matter…” Kyle paused and looked a bit distant for a bit, like he was recalling a memory. “Okay, some matter-changing ability. I could always phase through walls, all Kitty Pryde style, even before I was Ion. You couldn’t? Energy shielding’s of course stronger, it’s Ion, the total summary of the Green Lantern ability. And as for reading thoughts…” Kyle drew in a breath and leveled a look at Guy. “I know not to. Ion’s not a ghost, it doesn’t possess me and take over when it wants to or anything. I won’t be crawling upside down or spitting green pea soup anytime soon, I promise.”
“You have my word, Kyle, I don’t think Hal’s going bonkers. An’ you’re right…he needs to know that.” The poor man. Guy could relate. Besides, the world had turned on Hal after he had been Parallax, and now he thought it was happening again, only this time pre-emptively. “He doesn’t deserve that. You don’t deserve it either.”
He shook his head, “Please don’t get me wrong. It’s not about believing you. It’s not a trust issue. It’s that I have to be careful to examine what you’re saying through a critical lens, stay as objective as possible.” He thought of how to explain this without sounding condescending; Kyle certainly didn’t need anything ‘dumbed down’, but he did need to understand Guy’s perspective. It occurred to him harder for him to do perhaps, now that he was effectively a demigod.
“Say, a miraculous thing happens which on the surface seems like a good thing, but would be considered ethically questionable if it was done by Ion rather than just occurring naturally, okay?” he spread his hands out, palms up. ”So on one hand, if I’m suspicious and I ask you if Ion was behind it, and you say it isn’t, I can trust you but still be on guard - no change. If you say it is Ion, then we can deal with it, which is ideal. Now on the other hand, if I DON’T ask, and it wasn’t Ion anyway, again, no change, right? But if I fail to investigate something weird and Ion IS behind it, then I’m being irresponsible to you and and to Hal, and things could potentially get out of control. So, it’s safer to be vigilant, but it doesn’t mean I don’t trust any of you, Hal, Ion, and especially not you, sabes?”
He couldn’t help but choke on a laugh when Kyle compared himself to the girl from The Exorcist. The coffee almost came out his nose, and he had to wipe his face with a tissue. “Well…” he gave Kyle a rueful look, still sharing a chuckle with him, “At least it wasn’t green pea soup.”
Half alarmed and half-laughing, Kyle pulled a wad of tissues and dabbed them compulsively at Guy until the older man took them. “Lo siento, lo siento!” Sufficiently cleaned up, Kyle leaned back and stretched widely, relaxing as he mulled over Guy’s words.
“You know I get what you’re saying, I’m not arguing.” He really wasn’t. In a way, breaking the tension like that made Kyle less anxious and therefore more open and agreeable. Good old pop culture. It never failed to make things seem more…bearable. ”It’s all good, man. I get it now. And it’s cool, you’re cool by me.
“Althoughhhhhh, on a /slight/ theoretical tangent,” Kyle said with a smirky grin. “Allow me to be the typical art college dropout and roll my eyes at the idea of ‘objectivity’. There’s no such thing! Humans are inherently subjective and we should embrace that aspect about ourselves, instead of trying to be something we’re not. Objectivity is unnatural. Everything is subjective,” Kyle spread his hands wide, purposely putting on a broader, more spacey voice. He turned, eyes bright as he smiled sheepishly at Guy, leaning over and punching him lightly on the arm. “Ah ha ha…I’m totally offending your sensibilities right now, aren’t I.”
“Are you kiddin’ me? I love a good philosophical discussion. Consider my sensibilities unoffended, amigo.” He stretched and eyed the carafe, deciding he’d now had quite enough coffee, thankyouverymuch. If anything, he could go for something to eat. Hell, it was almost late enough for beer.
“I’ll agree with ya, there’s no such thing as true objectivity. It’s like altruism: it’s an ideal we like to think is achievable, but isn’t, but we ignore that little factoid and just strive for it anyway. We can come close, but never get there. Giving up tryin’ to be somethin’ we’re not, though? Nah, I can’t agree. With that philosophy, we’d never bother trying to improve ourselves.”
Kyle nodded at Guy’s words, closing his eyes as he listened. Guy’s voice was honestly nice to hear, in that comforting, low-toned sort of way. The gravelly rumbles that came from inside his chest, no nasal inclinations at all. Sometimes Kyle wondered if his own voice sounded nasal. But that was a question for another day.
“See - I agree with you about altruism, and about self-improvement, but just in different ways. I don’t mind that there’s no such thing as pure altruism. As long as we do good, even if it ends up being slightly selfish as well - at least it’s still /good/ being done? And is selfishness really that bad, if you’re just rewarding yourself for doing good deeds? Why not?
“And I’ve never been a big fan of striving for objectivity. I like subjectiveness. I don’t think being objective is better than being subjective. That whole idea of cold logic winning out over warm feelings - nah. Not my thing.” He opened his eyes and grinned over at Guy. ”If I want to improve myself, I want to do it in a way where I don’t feel guilty for enjoying it, and not coldly where I….” He faltered a bit, a flash if green-white light passing though his eyes. “…where I lose touch with humanity in all its wonderful emotions.” Sadly and pensively, Kyle sighed. “I think that’s pretty important for me right now. Not to…lose touch of that.”
[Ring Txt] Neutral territory? Awwww, Kyle we’re not at war. =( This is still your home too, and no matter where I live you’re always welcome. Dick’s just left for work so it’s just me and Ribbit here. I’ll put some coffee on.
Kyle was about to text back but then realized how dumb that would be. Hal had already gone to work as well, and so Kyle decided to postpone his artwork just a bit longer (just a bit! He’d pull an all-nighter if he had to) and he flew back to Venice Beach, landing on the rooftop and making enough noise so Guy knew he’d arrived.
“Hey mano…” Kyle said, trotting down the stairs. The living room and kitchen was now empty, just him and Guy. But Kyle could still see the others, where they were sitting, or pacing, or whatever - like shadows on a stage.
This time, the only ones here were Guy, himself…and Ribbit. Kyle scooped the rabbit up from the couch, kissing its soft fur head. ”So…” Kyle looked a little hopefully at Guy. “I’ll…let you start? Should I? I don’t think the Guardians have written up any SoPs for this sort of situation. And they’re supposed to know everything, pshaw.”
“Hey Kyle,” Guy greeted warmly. After the fiasco last night, he was glad to see Kyle again. With him and Hal sequestered away at Casa Costa, things could turn south with Ion and no one would be the wiser, possibly for days. But more than that, he needed to make peace with him. He filled two mugs and a carafe with coffee and brought them all over to the worn, brown, infamous ‘talking couch’.
“Yeah, well, not the first time we’ve judged the blue meanies and found them wantin’,” he agreed. “Look…Kyle, I’m sorry about how things went down last night. This is all gonna take some gettin’ used to. Hal was right: it’s pointless to discuss with you any strategies for dealing with this if things get out of hand. I’ve gotta assume Ion knows everythin’ you know, and could defeat those contingencies. Hell, Hal could know everything I’m sayin’ to you right now, for all I know.”
Guy looks at his hands, wrapped around the steaming mug. “I do have some questions, though, other than ‘does Hal know you’re here?’. Like, for starters, last night you started sayin’ Ion split itself between the two of you to protect itself against somethin’. Then Ion spoke and cut you off. I wanna know what it is that an omnipotent entity like Ion needs protection from.”
Kyle stretched out on a corner of the couch, putting a foot up on the coffee table, half-yawning, half-sighing as he thought about Guy’s question. It was still pretty early in the morning, and Kyle was grateful for a second cup of coffee.
“You know how the mission that the Guardians sent Yat on, right? Top secret, not even Arisia knew until he left.” Kyle said, looking over at Guy. “I’m pretty sure it had something to do with the Anti-Matter Universe…” He paused, and then snorted at himself. “Well /duh/ I mean, of course it did, which is why we found Yat in that pocket dimension in the first place. I just mean, like…whatever it was, the Guardians wanted to…to take the offense.” He looked worried, his brow furrowing as he took a sip of the coffee.
“What they didn’t realize was that their idea of offense meant Yat could’ve been killed. And then Ion…well. Or maybe the Guardians did know, and didn’t care? I don’t know. But you know how Yat is. He’s more cocky than you and Hal combined. I don’t know how it all went down, but the Guardians were willing to put Ion at risk for their own agenda…no surprise there, right?”
Kyle played with a cushion tassle, idly entertaining Ribbit as the bunny hopped about. ”Long story short - it seems like Ion is protecting itself from…whatever the Guardians had intended. It’s not safe with Yat, he knew that. And it wouldn’t be safe in the Battery, I mean…Oa. Sabes.”
“Still not sure I follow,” Guy propped an elbow over the back of the couch, eyeing Ribbit. “Ion split itself to foil the Guardians’s plans, keep out of their direct control…which now that I think about it, I kind of admire. Way to stick it to ‘em, Ion!” he chuckled, enjoying the all-too brief if not inappropriate levity, “But does it know what was in the Anti-Matter universe that had the Guardians so riled up in the first place? Yat knew, so can’t Ion at least tell you?”
“Ya said before, correction: Ion said before, yours and Hal’s powers are limited because of the split. Can you elaborate?” Guy gestured to Kyle, palm up, “Obviously you don’t need your rings, now…but somewhere between that and changing reality with a thought is where your limits are. So where is it?”
“No, I don’t know. Whatever experiences Yat had are with him now, he must’ve made sure of that…I mean, I can take one big fat guess that it has to do with Sinestro and his crew…what else, right? But /unlike/ Yat when he was Ion, I don’t have any real intention of cruising anywhere close to Qward to be all ‘Hey-ho, just kinda-Ion here, checking things out’. Whatever that mission was, it wasn’t /right/. Ion realized that. And so did Yat. Originally he wanted it to just go into me, I showed you that, si? I’m glad he didn’t…I dunno. I’m just glad.”
Kyle smiled at his hand, wiggling his fingers. He was still wearing his ring. Hal too; for whatever reason, it just felt more comfortable to keep it on, than leaving it off and somewhere ‘safe’. “Hmmmmm I’m more comfortable with the ability than Hal is - I mean…” Kyle looked a little apologetic, not to either of them. “I hate drawing this comparison, but Hal was really good at keeping entities - abilities like this - dormant. As…as you know.” Kyle let those words fall, as weighted as they were.
“Me on the other hand, I’ve been gently experimenting. It’s definitely not like it was before. For one, I can sleep. And I /like/ to sleep, heh. And obviously we don’t have to recharge. For two, I don’t know what’s going on on the other side of the universe. And boy is that a relief. For three…uh…I seriously doubt I can change the fabric of time? It’s not…it doesn’t feel like I have the universe at the tip of my fingers, y’know? Geez, that sounds bad, of course you don’t /know/…but…”
“It’s okay Kyle,” Guy raised his hand, stopping him before he apologized more. “Dude, I know it’s difficult right now, worried about something being interpreted wrong, maybe you feel like you gotta second-guess everything you say.” He thought back to Kyle’s unfortunate remark to Damian about hoping he would be in the front lines if it ever came down to everyone needing to make a stand against Ion-Kyle, and Dick’s horrified expression that followed. “I’ll make you a deal. You relax, and don’t worry about how things sound, and I’ll give ya the benefit of the doubt or double-check with ya if somethin’ sounds really off. Agreed?”
“Frankly, I’m more worried about Hal than you. Worried for him, I mean. Maybe it’s best he’s not comfortable with the new powers?” He drained his mug and reached for a refill from the carafe, offering Kyle a top-up. “I know he’s pissed with us all right now, but you need to convince him to at least trust me and John. Distancing yourselves from us is a real bad idea. If things do start to go wrong, we might not notice soon enough. You might think you two can monitor each other, but you’re both too close to it, y’know? You’re life partners on top of the fact you’re both sharing Ion. There’s gotta be more objectivity than that.”
He listened intently as Kyle listed off his limitations. Granted, they weren’t all that limiting. ”We’re going to need to know what you can do above and beyond what John and I can do. Like…” he glanced around the room, “Can you change the nature of existing matter? Pass through solid objects, energy shielding? Do you have awareness of others’ thoughts?” “Dick’s moving in and he’s allergic to rabbit hair, so we have to get rid of Ribbit,” he thought to himself, as a test.
“Sure, I guess,” Kyle conceded to Guy’s suggestion, although he was curious to see this in practice. He and Guy were a spectacular series of misunderstandings for months; and second-guessing himself had become pretty much second nature. Still, Kyle never stopped hoping about things like this, particularly when they concerned his friends.
“Hal needs time alone. He spoke to Queen. It didn’t go very well,” Kyle said shortly; not directed at Guy, but recalling Hal that night, on the moon, lost and alone and…
He picked up the warm ball of Ribbit, and sighed. “You’re a hundred percent right about you and John, though. I think he just needs to know there are people out there who won’t think he’s going bonkers, and if /anyone/ should accept that, it should be Lanterns.” Kyle looked up at Guy from over the fluff of rabbit.
“You know Ion, Guy. You know what it’s capable of - Sodam Yat hosts it with no personal repercussions and as much as I wish Ion /had/ just transferred fully into me, I can see why it split. Precaution on all counts. To protect itself and…to protect us.” He sighed. “But I’m not sure why I’m saying any of this if you find it hard to believe the words I’m saying. I’m not sure what you want to hear from me.”
He smiled at Guy’s question. “No time-shifting, no reality bending, no matter…” Kyle paused and looked a bit distant for a bit, like he was recalling a memory. “Okay, some matter-changing ability. I could always phase through walls, all Kitty Pryde style, even before I was Ion. You couldn’t? Energy shielding’s of course stronger, it’s Ion, the total summary of the Green Lantern ability. And as for reading thoughts…” Kyle drew in a breath and leveled a look at Guy. “I know not to. Ion’s not a ghost, it doesn’t possess me and take over when it wants to or anything. I won’t be crawling upside down or spitting green pea soup anytime soon, I promise.”
“You have my word, Kyle, I don’t think Hal’s going bonkers. An’ you’re right…he needs to know that.” The poor man. Guy could relate. Besides, the world had turned on Hal after he had been Parallax, and now he thought it was happening again, only this time pre-emptively. “He doesn’t deserve that. You don’t deserve it either.”
He shook his head, “Please don’t get me wrong. It’s not about believing you. It’s not a trust issue. It’s that I have to be careful to examine what you’re saying through a critical lens, stay as objective as possible.” He thought of how to explain this without sounding condescending; Kyle certainly didn’t need anything ‘dumbed down’, but he did need to understand Guy’s perspective. It occurred to him harder for him to do perhaps, now that he was effectively a demigod.
“Say, a miraculous thing happens which on the surface seems like a good thing, but would be considered ethically questionable if it was done by Ion rather than just occurring naturally, okay?” he spread his hands out, palms up. ”So on one hand, if I’m suspicious and I ask you if Ion was behind it, and you say it isn’t, I can trust you but still be on guard - no change. If you say it is Ion, then we can deal with it, which is ideal. Now on the other hand, if I DON’T ask, and it wasn’t Ion anyway, again, no change, right? But if I fail to investigate something weird and Ion IS behind it, then I’m being irresponsible to you and and to Hal, and things could potentially get out of control. So, it’s safer to be vigilant, but it doesn’t mean I don’t trust any of you, Hal, Ion, and especially not you, sabes?”
He couldn’t help but choke on a laugh when Kyle compared himself to the girl from The Exorcist. The coffee almost came out his nose, and he had to wipe his face with a tissue. “Well…” he gave Kyle a rueful look, still sharing a chuckle with him, “At least it wasn’t green pea soup.”
Half alarmed and half-laughing, Kyle pulled a wad of tissues and dabbed them compulsively at Guy until the older man took them. “Lo siento, lo siento!” Sufficiently cleaned up, Kyle leaned back and stretched widely, relaxing as he mulled over Guy’s words.
“You know I get what you’re saying, I’m not arguing.” He really wasn’t. In a way, breaking the tension like that made Kyle less anxious and therefore more open and agreeable. Good old pop culture. It never failed to make things seem more…bearable. ”It’s all good, man. I get it now. And it’s cool, you’re cool by me.
“Althoughhhhhh, on a /slight/ theoretical tangent,” Kyle said with a smirky grin. “Allow me to be the typical art college dropout and roll my eyes at the idea of ‘objectivity’. There’s no such thing! Humans are inherently subjective and we should embrace that aspect about ourselves, instead of trying to be something we’re not. Objectivity is unnatural. Everything is subjective,” Kyle spread his hands wide, purposely putting on a broader, more spacey voice. He turned, eyes bright as he smiled sheepishly at Guy, leaning over and punching him lightly on the arm. “Ah ha ha…I’m totally offending your sensibilities right now, aren’t I.”
“Are you kiddin’ me? I love a good philosophical discussion. Consider my sensibilities unoffended, amigo.” He stretched and eyed the carafe, deciding he’d now had quite enough coffee, thankyouverymuch. If anything, he could go for something to eat. Hell, it was almost late enough for beer.
“I’ll agree with ya, there’s no such thing as true objectivity. It’s like altruism: it’s an ideal we like to think is achievable, but isn’t, but we ignore that little factoid and just strive for it anyway. We can come close, but never get there. Giving up tryin’ to be somethin’ we’re not, though? Nah, I can’t agree. With that philosophy, we’d never bother trying to improve ourselves.”
Kyle nodded at Guy’s words, closing his eyes as he listened. Guy’s voice was honestly nice to hear, in that comforting, low-toned sort of way. The gravelly rumbles that came from inside his chest, no nasal inclinations at all. Sometimes Kyle wondered if his own voice sounded nasal. But that was a question for another day.
“See - I agree with you about altruism, and about self-improvement, but just in different ways. I don’t mind that there’s no such thing as pure altruism. As long as we do good, even if it ends up being slightly selfish as well - at least it’s still /good/ being done? And is selfishness really that bad, if you’re just rewarding yourself for doing good deeds? Why not?
“And I’ve never been a big fan of striving for objectivity. I like subjectiveness. I don’t think being objective is better than being subjective. That whole idea of cold logic winning out over warm feelings - nah. Not my thing.” He opened his eyes and grinned over at Guy. ”If I want to improve myself, I want to do it in a way where I don’t feel guilty for enjoying it, and not coldly where I….” He faltered a bit, a flash if green-white light passing though his eyes. “…where I lose touch with humanity in all its wonderful emotions.” Sadly and pensively, Kyle sighed. “I think that’s pretty important for me right now. Not to…lose touch of that.”