insertmeathere | Ickle Meatships!

< But you only have two legs. > Ax pointed. See, look, two legs! < How do you not fall over if you only have two legs and no tail? >

He tilted his head to the other side. His stalk-eyes stayed in the same place in the air, though. < I've never heard of a Coluan either. I am an Andalite. I'm going to be a warrior like my big brother when I grow up. >

"A lot of species only have two legs," he answers, raising one arm while the other folds behind his back. Something that will be eventually known as 'Brainy's Lecture Mode'. "At least where I'm from. I theorise you must be from an alternate dimension or another galaxy if this fact is unusual to you.

"As for how I move around without falling over, I personally have many highly advanced programs that assist in replicating natural behaviours of organic species. Something that maintains a sense of balance is not only extremely simplistic, but also inherent in my original design specs."

Lecture-mode off, and now he's back to being interested in Ax. "Why do you want to be a warrior?"

< We haven't learned about dimensional travel in school yet, > Ax said slowly. < Why would there be more species with two legs in an alternate dimension? >

He listened to Brainy's lecture with interest. < It still looks like you might fall over. Wouldn't a tail make more sense if you were going to design yourself with two legs? >

Ax stood up taller. < I'm going to be a warrior because it's the duty of every Andalite to fight the Yeerk threat before they take over the universe. Haven't you heard about the Yeerks? >

"Different evolutionary paths, obviously," he says. "I thought you'd know that already."

Almost like he's trying to weird Ax out, Brainy walks around the Andalite, taking note of various details as he does so. "A tail would likely make sense from your perspective, having little experience with bipedal species, but from mine not having one makes perfect sense."

He pauses for a moment, thinking. "No, Yeerks sound to be exclusive to your reality or galaxy."

Ax said hotly. < But I don't see why the number of two-legged species would be different just because it's a different reality. >

Ax followed Brainy's path with his stalk eyes, his tail twitching a little. But he wasn't intimidated at all. Not even a little. Elfangor would be proud. It was still weird, though.

< You're lucky. They're evil and they crawl into people's heads and take over their bodies and enslave them. > Ax shuddered. < Everyone hates them. >

Brainy's expression says he really, really doubts you know anything about evolution right now, Ax. "As I said different paths of evolution. It's not a difficult concept. In one reality creatures with four legs and a tail came to be prominent, in another it was two legs and no tail. This is pretty basic knowledge."

He straightens up slightly, all smug roboty-ness, and says; "They wouldn't be able to do anything like that with me then. I'm not organic, so unless they have an extremely versatile system, it simply won't work."

Ax retorted. He saw that expression, Brainy, and he didn't care for it. < And I didn't say anything about four legs and a tail, just two legs and no tail being an odd choice. Taxxons have lots of legs and no tail, Hork-Bajir have two legs and a tail, Skrit Na have six legs or two legs depending on what point of their cycle that they're in, and humans have two legs. >

He gave Brainy an imperious stare. < Just because they can't do it to you doesn't make them not monstrous slavers. And anyway, the species they can't enslave, they annihilate. >

"'Choice' isn't a term I would use when talking about evolutionary pathways," Brainy pointed out, not letting up on the smug for a moment. "In my reality, there are a number of different species in all kinds of forms, but there are also many with a similar appearance to humanity. Since you say you know that species."

He scowls and folds his arms at that. "I didn't say it made their actions any less barbaric or wrong," he says defensively. "But I don't think they'd find Colu such an easy target either."

Okay, so "choice" wasn't quite the right word, but Ax didn't have all of the vocabulary yet. < Humans are strange. They wear artificial skin and hooves and they eat dead animals with their mouths. > And that is gross.

< Well you were acting like it, > Ax said. < And the Andalites are the only ones who can defeat them, so I'm going to be a warrior like my brother and we're going to chase them back to their home planet and make sure they never hurt any other species ever again! >

"Do you term everything that isn't like your species that way? That's extremely close-minded of you. Wearing clothing and having different diets isn't inherently wrong, you know." He thought he'd left that mindset behind on Colu.

"And you're acting like your species is inherently better than any other by virtue of being different. That makes even less sense than assuming a single race are the only ones capable of defeating a threat. Unless you happen to have some evolutionary adaptation that takes advantage of a weakness in these Yeerks that no other species can, then you can't make assumptions like that."

Ax crossed his arms. < And we're the only ones who can fight the Yeerks because we're the only ones with Z-space capable ships who can actually fight! The Skrit Na won't help and the Yeerks murder any Hawjabrans they come across! >

"Well you were acting like it," Brainy said, back to being smug and self assured.

"And did your species at all consider the possibility of assisting other races in fighting by sharing that technology? If these Yeerks are that big a threat, it's obviously more important to have as much help as possible."

< It's against the law to share technology with other species! > Ax snapped. Because when they did, bad things happened. Everyone knew that.

"Of course, not breaking the law is so much more important than saving another species. Clearly." For someone who's still getting a handle on emotions in general, sarcasm is apparently no problem.

Such a shame to waste that sarcasm on someone who couldn't understand it...

< Exactly. So we need to defeat the Yeerks so that the other species can be free and figure it out on their own. >

"I wasn't being serious," Brainy says, sighing and back to his 'how stupid are you?' tone. "If the Yeerks are such a threat, then working together to defeat them should logically be more important than preserving your own idea of the law. If you think letting others be at risk simply because you're protective of your technology is somehow right, then you're just as big a problem as they are."

< It's not my idea of the law, it is the law, > Ax said. < And there's no one to work with, otherwise we would. We are not the problem and you'd know that if you knew anything at all! >

"So those other species you mentioned before aren't considered possible allies then? It sounds to me like you're just making excuses to cover the fact you don't want to work with anyone else.

"And for your information? Deciding not to share information that could potentially save others while presumably leaving them at risk of attack makes you just as much a part of the problem as those you're trying to fight."

< Most of them are already enslaved by the Yeerks, > Ax said. < And the ones that aren't can't or won't fight anyway. > He glared back at Brainy. < We are not part of the problem! You don't know what you're talking about! >

"Can't? Maybe because you won't share your technology with them?" Brainy challenges. "That makes you a part of the problem. If you have the means to enable others to fight, you should do it. How hard is this to understand?"

Ax's tail lashed back and forth. < How hard is it for you to understand that?! >

Brainy ignores the lashing tail, figuring it's just a sign of annoyance, not to mention that even if the Andalite did decide to get tail-happy, he was difficult to injure and capable of regeneration. "You also said that part of the reason your species were the only ones capable of defeating them was because you had technology others did not. Do you consider that perhaps offering to share it and thus assist others in fighting off this threat may make the chance of your success much higher?"

[[ooc: I almost had it as 'slash-happy', until I realised that made it sound like Ax was going to write fanfic about him in revenge. XD]]

< It has been considered, > Ax said stiffly. < And there is a reason that it is against the law to do so. >

[[ooc: Ax doesn't need to. Brainy's already got his "training holos". ;)]]

"really," Brainy says, and the words 'I doubt that' are heavily implied. "And what reason is that?"

[[ooc: ...this is so true. XD HE NEEDS TO TRAIN FOR THAT A LOT. It's a big important... mission. Yes.]]

< Why should I tell you when you clearly disbelieve me? >

Also, it's against the law to tell you why, Brainy. You're an outsider. Ooooh.

[[ooc: Uh huh. Suuuuuuuuuuuuure. We all believe you.]]

Ickle Meatships!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject