02 . text

[systemize]

[The comm tag reads Stormer and is untraceable.]

Someone asked me recently how I'd define moral and immoral, but I think my perspective's a little skewed. How do you define it?


> private to Magicman
I need to ask you for a favor. Do they have you listed as an adult here? I wasn't sure what your official age would be.

> private to Isaac
I think I have your software finished. I can send you the file to download and you can check if it needs troubleshooting.

Comments

[daimeinashi]

That's true. And your perspective now?

[A pause.]

I don't have a definition myself, admittedly. Such matters were irrelevant for most of my life.

[And then Naruto Uzumaki happened.]

[systemize]

Moral questions were irrelevant? [Much like his childhood.] But they're not irrelevant any longer.

My perspective is that it's a balancing act. What's right, what's lawful, what's necessary. And I don't know if you can ever be on top of it, but you can make choices.

[daimeinashi]

I suppose you could say it's become something of a curiosity. "Rightness" and "goodness" are things people speak of often, here, but for me...well, a blade's only purpose is to cut, after all.

[People don't usually understand, when he tries to explain this. But Sai doesn't really know how to be anything other than blunt.]

I understand laws, and I understand necessity. It's the third that I've yet to grasp.

[But people like Naruto and Sakura did. So perhaps he has some motivation to try to figure it out--especially in the absence of orders from Danzou.]

[systemize]

Except you aren't a blade. That's just convenient shorthand to make you malleable for someone else's purposes. You can do whatever you want.

[Cadel might take this subject a little personally. He was supposed to have tools of his own, after all. He understands the idea fine, he just hates it.]

It's not easy. I have a friend whose judgement I trust on it implicitly, and I try to picture what she would think of me after I did something. That usually works okay.

[daimeinashi]

Indeed. But it was what I was trained to believe for a very long time, so I'm afraid I have little frame of reference for much beyond being a blade.

I suppose deferring to someone else's judgment is as useful a solution a possible, however. I've been attempting to do something similar here, in the absence of any orders to follow.

[But only...similar, really. He doesn't exactly consider what Naruto would think of him if he did something, because he's a bit too damaged for shame or guilt, but he does try to think of what Naruto might do in any particular situation.]

[systemize]

I get it. Though it must be hard to think of yourself that way in this context, here. There's not much use for blades-- even registered imPorts aren't given assignments that often.

It's not optimal long term, but as an interim solution it's alright. Definitely better than nothing.

[daimeinashi]

You are correct. I've never had quite so much freedom before.

[And he...honestly isn't sure he actually likes it. Making his own decisions was one thing; having no form of structure or authority is incredibly difficult for someone like him.]

But I don't intend to stay here long-term, so that should be alright.

[systemize]

We're not really free here, either. But I know what it's like to have someone looking over your shoulder all the time. At least we can go around and live our lives.

Me either.

[daimeinashi]

[Well there's that, but...]

I meant...I have no orders. No superiors. Nobody even recognizes the structure of my society in this world.

[He isn't an ANBU-class shinobi here. He's just a regular sixteen-year-old boy like anyone else. It's difficult, for someone who's never really known childhood.]

I had never really had a life to live before I came here.

[In Root, you have no name, you have no feelings, you have no past, you have no future. There is only the mission.]

[systemize]

[Cadel contemplates his response before typing it.]

Are you afraid it'll be difficult to go back to it? We won't remember any of this.

But I know that it's hard. It might be easier to think of it as faking. Mimicking others. That's how I learned.

[Cadel's upbringing was hardly comparable to Root, but he's familiar with total social ostracization.]

[daimeinashi]

No. Following orders is easy. Making decisions for yourself is what is difficult.

["Sai" used to be just a codename. Now, it's more than that, and he's slowly trying to figure out who that is. Being a tool was much, much easier.]

How were you able to translate observation and imitation into comprehension of what you were imitating?