morality

[duke_of_illusions]

As Barma promised, he returns the next morning, ready to help poor Jack acclimatize to the mansion. He knocks on the door gently, reluctant to wake him if he's sleeping.

"Jack?"

Comments

[surfacage.livejournal.com]

Jack stares at him for a full minute, and his face falls. He doesn't understand any of it, and he's taking it as being reprimanded for one of the rules that older people always liked to impose on him.

"...'kay, sir."

Not that he's going to follow Barma anyway.

[info-barma.livejournal.com]

"Do you understand, Jack? Mindless obedience means nothing, I want you to know what I mean."

[surfacage.livejournal.com]

He shakes his head. "Um, I don't. But I'll be good!"

[info-barma.livejournal.com]

"All right. Let's try again."

They'll get this.

"Would you say you liked me, when you first met me?"

[surfacage.livejournal.com]

"Uh-huh."

He sits up properly for this, hair all over the place.

[info-barma.livejournal.com]

"Would you have liked me if I had done that to your hands, rather than helping heal them?"

Barma smiles, and moves forward.

"Sit up, I'll braid."

[surfacage.livejournal.com]

The thought makes him flinch, and he scrambles back on the bed, away from Rufus. He did wake up with his hands already that way, and the man was there, and --

He shakes his head, terrified.

[info-barma.livejournal.com]

"I would never, ever, do a thing like that to you."

Barma swears to him.

"On my life."

[surfacage.livejournal.com]

He's not past the point of never trusting anyone ever yet, and the promise instantly reassures him.

"...I'm sorry, I was just..." He looks down at his hands. "...sorry."

[info-barma.livejournal.com]

"No. It was a silly thing to bring up."

He lowers his head.

"I owe you an apology."

[surfacage.livejournal.com]

He's the first person ever to say that, to him, and Jack smiles a little as he crawls back over to the other side of the bed.

"If it's Sir Rufus, it's okay! Because you're really smart. So you must've asked it because it was...important."

[info-barma.livejournal.com]

"Think about the question, though. You're more likely to want to be friends with people who don't hurt you."

[surfacage.livejournal.com]

"That would be nice."

He sits back on his haunches.

"Are other people not supposed to hurt each other too?"

[info-barma.livejournal.com]

"That's it exactly. The more people you don't hurt, the more friends you'll have."

Which simplifies things a little, but.

"And if when you'd first met me, if I'd been beating someone up, do you think you would have wanted to be my friend then?"

[surfacage.livejournal.com]

Understanding dawns on him, and he relaxes a little. It made sense, didn't it? He really did want a lot of friends --

"No, I would be scared of you," he answers.

[info-barma.livejournal.com]

"Just like anyone else would be of you, if they caught you doing something terrible, or if word of it got out."

He explains, helpfully.

"And this- this is where it gets really tricky. If you make friends with someone, you put your trust in them."

[surfacage.livejournal.com]

"Oh."

It makes a lot of sense that way. However, the trust thing does not. He knows what trust is, even at his age, but.

"...isn't that..." He searches for the right word, and he can't find it. "Why?"

[info-barma.livejournal.com]

"A lot of reasons. One is that you're together to make each other feel good- there's an implicit trust that that won't change. And the things people do as friends- trusts naturally form. You talk about your family, about the little things in life that have hurt you."

He explains, quietly.

"And trust- trust hurts when it's broken, Jack. I know you know how that feels."

[surfacage.livejournal.com]

Jack tilts his head after a moment of processing that.

"Does Sir Rufus know how it feels, too?"

[info-barma.livejournal.com]

"I do. And I think making someone feel like that- you, me, anyone. I think you know in your heart that that is wrong."

[surfacage.livejournal.com]

He's not that far gone to lose that sense of wrongness, and Jack nods.

"I think I understand now." He smiles at the older man. "I should trust you, because you're my friend, right?"

[info-barma.livejournal.com]

"You should let me earn your trust."

He corrects him freely.

"And I'm going to trust you not to take violent action against anyone here, Jack, unless you're defending yourself. All right?"

[surfacage.livejournal.com]

"...how do you do that?"

He doesn't know that it was something to be earned.

"Okay, I promise I won't hurt anyone unless they hurt me first."

[info-barma.livejournal.com]

"Let me prove my promises to you. I swore I would never hurt you- now we'll just keep going, and you'll see that it's true."

He explains.

"Just like I'll see that this is true."

[surfacage.livejournal.com]

"Oh."

He'll have to do a lot of remembering not to hurt other people - and probably find a hobby or two. But still, if it helped him make more friends...!

"I'll do my best!"