"I don't have much room to complain on the matter of murder," Gonou points out, dryly. "But I don't think it's unreasonable to try to protect your people, either.
"It does lead to the question of 'what was the threat,' I suppose. And of just how much violence was necessary to protect them."
“The threat was the levers of the state turned on innocent men, women and children for the way they were born. How much violence do you reckon is necessary to deal with that?” Erik asks.
"I suppose that depends on what the state was doing." There's a faint, curious pinch between Gonou's eyebrows, considering; he adds after a moment, "I should tell you, I suppose, that I come from a world without much that might be considered a state. At least, not in my part of it. There are towns, and town councils or headsmen, but when it comes to levers of the state--"
A tiny shrug: he doesn't even unclasp his hands from his knee to execute it.
Erik considers that. "Imagine if all the bosses of all the towns and all the gangs got together and decided that they had the right to take your sister and anyone else's sister they wanted and before you had a chance to do anything about it - before you even knew about it - they came for you in your bed while you slept and locked you and all the other older brothers in the land in a prison and forced you to work digging up resources or building things for them while they did what they wanted with your sisters in their castles."
"I was looking for specifics about the threat you faced," Gonou murmurs. "Not necessarily for an analogy."
Certainly not for an analogy that manages to be both painful and patronizing at the same time, although, he supposes, he had left himself open for that.
"So what you're suggesting is you faced the threat of force used to imprison you and your people unjustly? Your - countrymen?"
"For future reference, when I ask for clarification, I'm asking for details. Analogies hide more than they reveal."
A pause, and, because he's still smarting from that particular choice of analogy, he adds pleasantly, "Even if you were to think of good ones."
But, that said, he takes a breath, focusing more thoughtfully on the situation Erik is describing.
"I don't think it's wrong to defend others," he says at last, slowly. "Even if it means you are the first to use violence. But the less direct the threat is, the more cautious you should be.
"It's too easy, otherwise, to say things like - oh - 'anyone who isn't also fighting is my enemy.'"
He should know. He's made that mistake himself, in a very hands-on way.
"I know who my enemies are," Erik tells him. "And I'm not sure 'future reference' is going to be all that... relevant. Aren't you only here for a month and then there's someone else?"
"I'm only assigned to you for a month. I doubt that means we'll never speak again." There's a dry note to that: they might not ever speak again, of course, but it is a small ship.
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"It does lead to the question of 'what was the threat,' I suppose. And of just how much violence was necessary to protect them."
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A tiny shrug: he doesn't even unclasp his hands from his knee to execute it.
"I don't have much context."
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Certainly not for an analogy that manages to be both painful and patronizing at the same time, although, he supposes, he had left himself open for that.
"So what you're suggesting is you faced the threat of force used to imprison you and your people unjustly? Your - countrymen?"
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At Gonou's summary, he nods. "I've seen it before. I know what it looks like when it's just getting started."
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A pause, and, because he's still smarting from that particular choice of analogy, he adds pleasantly, "Even if you were to think of good ones."
But, that said, he takes a breath, focusing more thoughtfully on the situation Erik is describing.
"I don't think it's wrong to defend others," he says at last, slowly. "Even if it means you are the first to use violence. But the less direct the threat is, the more cautious you should be.
"It's too easy, otherwise, to say things like - oh - 'anyone who isn't also fighting is my enemy.'"
He should know. He's made that mistake himself, in a very hands-on way.
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"Who are your enemies?"