RVA: The Visitors, OOC is Serious Business

[jeriendhal]

Random story fragment is Random

***

Rolas sat heavily on the couch in Reggie's office. He looked at his old friend sitting in the chair opposite him, thinking that the Noble male looked as exhausted as Rolas felt. Reggie managed to lever himself up long enough to pour drinks for the both, then sat back down a grunt.

“You see what we're up against, I hope,” Reggie said, after taking a long sip of his drink.

Rolas let the glass in his paw stay where it was. The temptation to get utterly plastered, enough perhaps to blot out what he had seen today, was certainly strong. But no, he needed all of his senses to remain unfogged if he was going to find a path out of this. Carefully he said, “I see a complex that brings back some rather unpleasant memories for me. Completely enclosed underground, concrete and locked steel doors, with cells beyond them. Out of sight from public view and hidden from official oversight. Tell me, did you bring Major Softfur out of retirement to aid in the interrogations?”

Reggie growled softly in irritation. “You are deliberately making a false comparison. What was done to use during the war was completely illegal by international treaty and the Laws of Conflict.”

“And what's happening here, to the Visitors, isn't?”

“They are not Foxen. No laws made on this world apply to them.”

Rolas' ears flattened onto his head and his tail lashed. “That is an utterly specious argument. Just because none of our laws were written with visitors from other worlds in mind doesn't mean they don't apply. If anyone here had a modicum of basic decency they would see that...”

“Don't lecture me on decency!” Reggie suddenly roared. “I am trying to save our entire world from an alien threat!” He had sat halfway up from his chair as he shouted. When Rolas recoiled from the unexpected burst of fury, Reggie fell back back in his seat, his expression shameful. “I... I'm sorry, Rolas.” He rubbed a paw across his eyes. “This assignment is driving me half mad. I can't sleep a wink unless I get a couple of stiff drinks before bedtime.”

“I can see that... that you're tired,” Rolas allowed. He tried to will his heart to stop pounding in his chest. Reggie's sudden outburst had been so utterly out of character it was enough to make him weep for what his friend had become.

Comments

[shadur.livejournal.com]

"I can that... That you're tired"

Probably missed a 'see' there.

Also, I suspect that Rolas isn't the only Foxen in that room that's highly uncomfortable with the argument that sentient aliens have no rights and the laws don't apply to them, and that it's just that Reggie was given explicit orders and took to drinking to get his conscience to shut up...

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Argh, fixed

And yeah, I think Reggie is wondering whether when he goes to see the Mother Goddess, whether he' end up being under a lump of snow in the COld and Dark.

[shadur.livejournal.com]

Thinking a bit more on it (lousy habit of mine) I can't shake the feeling that one of the reasons for his outbursts to Rolas here is because he used the exact same arguments when he objected to his current orders before authority sternly told him this was necessary for The Good Of The Race -- and that if he insisted on refusing, they'd simply call in someone who wouldn't.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

"And would you rather have Col. Grimclaw in charge, Lord Reginald?"

Yeah, the argument, "If not me, it might be someone worse" would work on poor Reggie. Until he realizes he is the Someone Worse.

[shadur.livejournal.com]

The paths into the Cold and Dark are lined with the shells of good intent.