voice testing.

[fluted]

...this is pointless.

Comments

[kingside]

Why?

[fluted]

[Scrunching up his shoulders in something like defiance. It reads as poorly cloaked anxiety, instead.]

Because I can't do anything here.

[kingside]

[Unfortunately for you, Ledo, both interpretations get the same reaction: amusement.]

Some would say that's the appeal of this place.

[fluted]

[And fortunately for you, Lelouch, Ledo seems to lack the capacity to react with what might've otherwise been appropriate indignation. He glances up, puzzled.]

The appeal?

[kingside]

Not doing anything.

[And yes, this strikes him as a bit odd, which is why he's lifting an eyebrow at the boy. He doesn't need to define the word "appeal," does he?]

[fluted]

No, I meant— [shaking his head, gesticulating] —is that another word for "like"?

[Spoke too soon. As usual. Good luck with this one.]

[kingside]

[... Is this person uneducated or...

He shakes his head.]

In a sense. An appeal is... I suppose you could say it's another way of calling something a redeeming characteristic or incentive.

[Not that this really helps if he's undereducated, but Lelouch isn't quite certain how else to explain it.]

A certain course of action may have more appeal than another, for instance. It may be more efficient, enjoyable, or otherwise desirable. That sort of thing.

[fluted]

[ Ledo listens attentively for the duration of Lelouch's explanation, and then: ]

Do you appeal not doing anything?

[kingside]

[... All right, Ledo gets a quiet, not-quite laugh for that.]

"Want" or "desire." If you're using "appeal" as a verb, it would be, "Does doing nothing appeal to you?" Otherwise, "Do you find appeal in not doing anything?"

[Blame his mun watching the show for the fact that he semi-knows how to phrase his suggestions. At any rate—]

It isn't that I don't want to do anything, it's that I... enjoy not having fixed obligations. It's something like a vacation.

[fluted]

[Ledo inclines his head, blinking in the slow, careful manner of a cat. A brief brush with nostalgia lightens his expression, though it's swept back soon after it appears. Tucked away, hidden some place secret.]

There aren't words like "appeal" and "vacation" where I'm from. Words for fighting, aggression, conflict... that's what we know.

[kingside]

[... Well.

He frowns slightly, then—]

You'll find this place difficult, if that's the case. There's not much fighting here.

[fluted]

[Thinking on this a moment. Revising.]

You don't find fighting appealing?

[kingside]

I've grown tired of fighting. I've had enough of it.

[fluted]

What if you didn't have a choice?

[kingside]

I deal with it as it comes. Viewing it as a necessity is far from enjoying it, however.

[fluted]

Fighting is necessary to live.

[Looking at him, straight on.]

Are you tired of living, too?

[kingside]

[Just kind of. Okay, excuse him if he looks at Ledo like he's touched in the head for a moment or two before speaking again.]

To fight, to struggle, to grow, to evolve from those disputes— there is no denying that some are necessary, but that does not mean that all are. Some battles occur in a purely metaphorical sense.

I won't give up my right to live, but I won't accept that there's only one way to seize it. We've evolved beyond the point where the survival of the fittest is the only rule for survival.

[fluted]

[There's that faux defensive reaction again, the unnerved shifting.]

You honestly believe that's true?

[kingside]

I wouldn't have said it if I didn't believe it.

[... of course, he's also a consummate liar, so feel free to take that with a grain of salt.]

[fluted]

Someone I knew believed the same.

[Amy...]

Is there also a person you're protecting? A job only you can do?

[kingside]

[... Unexpected insight. He blinks, then glances away.]

Several people. Why do you ask?

[fluted]

Because "understand" isn't in our language, either.

[kingside]

Explain.

[fluted]

[The blank expression Lelouch receives would indicate that's a no, captain, but rather than letting the silence linger, Ledo reaches up to the comm device settled behind his ear and gives it a tap.]

Chamber, elaborate.

[Seconds later, a robotic voice spurts out an insulting diatribe which is somehow only worsened by its absolute monotone.]

Terminology exists within the Galactic Alliance language database addressing the acknowledgment of a command or dialogue from another individual. Harmony of emotion, thought, or otherwise cooperative behavior beyond the express goal of eliminating Hideauze denotes an inefficient and unnecessary pursuit. Therefore, your colloquial definition of the concept, a phenomenon unique to inferior civilizations, is largely irrelevant to ours and undeserving of the appropriate descriptor.

[kingside]

[His expression cycles through several different emotions (subtly, that is) before settling on vaguely annoyed thoughtfulness. That automated voice— but now isn't the time for that. Instead—]

Perhaps a better question would have been, "Why are you telling me that the word 'understand' isn't in your language? Why ask me if I have someone to protect?"