Another Teaser from Chapter Four

[Bob Schroeck]

"Before we get started tonight," Doug-sensei said once she'd
peeled off her track suit and stepped to the center of the room,
"I have a little something for you."

"You do?" Usagi asked.  "What is it?"  She wished Luna was here,
if only to share a curious look, but she was working a shift at
the arcade.

Doug-sensei slipped a hand into his pocket and drew out a small,
flat case similar to the one her papa kept his business cards in.
"I made this for you last night because after the last couple
operations, I think you deserve it."  He held it out to her in
both hands, bowing slightly, just like Papa did when offering his
business card.  She bowed back and took it from him.  Her breath
caught as she realized she had seen something like this once
before.

She looked up at him.  "Is this...?"

Doug-sensei smiled.  "Open it."

She gripped the edges of one side of the case with her fingertips,
and copying what sensei had done the night she'd met him, flipped
it open with a little twist of her wrist.  There was a tiny hum,
and suddenly a glowing block of kanji and romaji appeared in the
air before her face and parallel to the floor while a transparent
three-dimensional image of herself as Sailor Moon hung
horizontally in front of her hand, slowly turning as if on a spit.

"Whoops," she giggled, and changed her grip on the case to right
it.

"So, in the unlikely event you couldn't guess," Sensei said, "I'm
deputizing you into the Warriors, specifically Alpha team.  But
before you actually *become* a member of the Warriors, even just
a deputy member, there's an oath that you have to swear," he
added solemnly.  "It's a promise that will define your life, and
guide everything you do with your metatalents."

She bit her lip.  This was something more than just getting a new
toy.  Sensei was being *very* serious, and he was almost never
completely serious, even about serious subjects.  She stood up
straighter and clasped her hands behind her back, folding up her
new ID and holding it between them.  "What's the promise,
sensei?"

"You swear on your life and honor to uphold just laws and to
oppose unjust ones," he said.  "To defend those who have no
defenders.  To protect those who are exploited and oppressed, or
who suffer the worst losses of unjust war.  You promise to
champion basic human rights, and to thwart those who would deny
them to others.  You vow to enact justice upon those who would
wage unjust war.  And most importantly, you promise to make and
*keep* the peace."  He studied her for a long moment, then added,
"It's not always an easy promise to keep, teishi, and if you
don't want to make it, I'll understand."

She looked at him blankly.  "Not make it?  Isn't it all what I'm
already *doing*?"

Sensei chewed his lip.  "Not really, not all of it.  And what you
*are* doing, you're doing against magical creatures which for all
practical purposes are demons.  But someday you might have to
take that kind of action against other humans, other *people*.
That's not an easy or happy thing, teishi.  Power of the kind you
and I wield has a responsibility that goes with it.  Once you
defeat your Enemy, your power isn't going to just go away, so you
need to think about how you're going to use it after."

Usagi fixed him with a gimlet eye.  "It almost sounds like you
don't *want* me to promise, sensei."

"No," he shook his head.  "I just want you to think about what it
really means before you do."

She opened her mouth to reply, then stopped.  Now she *really*
wished Luna was here to talk to about this.  Could she really do
it if she had to?  All of it?  Against other people?  If there
was no other way?

Yes. If it were an innocent person on one side, and a criminal,
or an enemy soldier, or... or... some other kind of bad person on
the other, yes. She could do it. But she would do her best to
find another way, a *better* way, first. She nodded to herself,
then looked up at Doug-sensei. "I'm sure, sensei. I'll make
that promise, and do what it takes *not* to have to hurt other
people, but I'll do it if it's the only way to save someone."
She straightened up again, having found that she'd started to
slouch while thinking. "This do I swear on my life and honor!"
she declared confidently.

Sensei reached out and cupped her chin with his hand, then smiled
at her.  It was a proud smile, she thought, but a little sad at
the same time, and that confused her.  "My student is growing
up," he said.  "In that case, teishi, welcome to the Warriors.
You now have a provisional brevet rank of Captain."  He drew back
his hand and snapped a salute at her.  "Congratulations, Tsukino-
ichii."

It was only her recently-improved reflexes which saved her from
fumbling her new ID card as she returned the salute.  "Thank you,
Sangnoir-taisa!"  

[DHBirr]

Intriguing ramifications for potential mutual-assistance duties ... between two or more universes.

[robkelk]

"Before we get started tonight," Doug-sensei said once she'd
peeled off her track suit and stepped to the center of the room,
"I have a little something for you."

"You do?" Usagi asked.  "What is it?"   

It's an item that your sensei wants you to have, but that's not important right now.

[Bob Schroeck]

<rimshot>

For a moment while writing I considered doing that, but then I remembered this was a moment that Doug was taking very seriously.

Besides, the classic comedy movie moments will come later in the chapter:

More directly, I helped Usagi relax by taking her out that night
to see "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (in English but with
Japanese subtitles) which was playing at the Ebisu Garden, an
art house cinema I'd come across a few weeks earlier.  (Luna
couldn't join us; she was working that evening at the arcade.)
I'm not sure Usagi understood all the jokes, she hid her eyes
after the first blood started spurting during the Black Knight
scene, and I *know* the Castle Anthrax sequence embarrassed her,
but she laughed herself silly at most everything else.

I know *I* was amused by her giggly attempts to say "Bring out
yer dead!" and "African or European?" in a bizarre British-
Japanese accent all the way home.

[robkelk]

And now I have an image of Zoicite impersonating Sailor Moon (canon), and Doug ignoring the obvious costume differences and telling them apart by asking what the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow is...

(There are a couple of excerpts of the Japanese dub of Monty Python and the Holy Grail in the box set in my collection. The Knights Who Say Nii want a bonsai, for example.)

[Dartz]

Now I just have an image of a Japanese schoolgirlk pushing a cart loaded with bejewelled bodies through the streets.

[DHBirr]

I get the feeling "Luna couldn't join us; she was working at the arcade" is going to become a very common thing.  I'm somehow reminded of the exchange seen four times in Charade:  "Is there a Mrs. [his current alias]?"  "Yes, but we're divorced."  (Well, except for the last time.)

Edit:  By the way, how does Usagi deal with Tim the Enchanter's description of an usagi as "...the most foul, cruel, and bad-tempered rodent you ever set eyes on!" with "a vicious streak a mile wide"?  I somehow don't think she'll regard it as something to live up to....

[nemonowan]

Never been much of a fan of this kind of oaths. They make too many assumptions and give too few details, which is where the devil is always in. I mean, as it is written I could use this oath to justify bombing abortion clinics...

I remember once thinking that it was clever from whomever was writing for DC comics at that time to make the Green Lantern Corps oath a symbolic platitude of fighting evil, and then giving each GL full autonomy to decide just what the hell that actually means.

[classicdrogn]

You pretty much just have to hope that by the time you get to the point of asking a recruit to swear to one, you've taught them the intended moral frame of reference and gotten a good enough read on their character to know they mean the same thing by it as you do -- if the actual words aren't basically a formality for the sake of tradition and ceremony by the time they're spoken, you've got a bigger problem than the legal document it would take to list all the clauses and conditions to close such loopholes. There was a HP fic that put it into words well; that the main obstacle to using magically-enforced oaths for everything they should logically be usable for is that they depend on the intent of the person swearing them and on their own perception of what constitutes fulfilling or breaking them. For those without the same fiat backed force, all the more so.

"Aren't I doing that already?" is Usagi once more cutting past all the speechifying and elegant wordsmithing to get to the heart of the matter: A heroine of love and justice isn't a thing she does when she transforms in a cloud of sparklies and tosses over-powered energy blasts around in the shape of pink hearts, it's what she is all the time because she follows her own.

[hazard]

The transformation and absurdly over powered blasts of magic are just helpful in letting her follow her heart.

[classicdrogn]

True indeed, but while having the ability and will to act are as important as knowing what the right thing to do is in the end there are a lot more ways to gain physical strength, so once you've got the motivation the rest is just using it to focus your effort. Makoto had powerful martial arts ability long before she got any magic powers, and Rei learned magic from her grandfather before anyone had heard of Sailor V. Usagi had made good friends and gave them emotional support all on her own, for that matter, which is its own kind of strength and even heroism in the right (or rather, wrong) circumstances.

[Labster]

Oh Captain, my captain!  One day, there are going to be a bunch of confused lieutenants from the Warriors World.

For some reason, I'm not very worried about Usagi bombing abortion clinics.  (Also, how does that jibe with keeping the peace?)

Oaths are interesting.  In the best case, they're supposed to be reminders of our duty and morals.  In the worst case, they end up like the Oath of Fëanor (tl;dr quite a few elf murders).  In America, we pledge allegiance to a country "with liberty and justice for all", where the oath itself is a lie, or in the best case an unfulfillable promise.  But in this case, if Usagi ends up as a queen, she'll have to make all of these decisions on use of force eventually -- or find herself a suitable parliament.

[nemonowan]

For some reason, I'm not very worried about Usagi bombing abortion clinics.  (Also, how does that jibe with keeping the peace?)

Let's see, from the point of view of those people who claim to believe that life starts upon conception:
-"uphold just laws and to oppose unjust ones" : any law that allows for abortion is clearly an unjust one.
-"to defend those who have no defenders" : nobody is defending the murdered unborn kids
-"to protect those who are exploited and oppressed" : the unborn kids are being exploited for profit by the clinics
-"champion basic human rights" : the unborn kids clearly have the right to live
-"thwart those who would deny them to others" : the pro-abortion crowd and the clinics deny the unborn kids the right to live

The "unjust war" clauses don't apply so well but there are "pro-lifers" that consider that they are fighting a war, so that woud fit perfectly with "protect those who suffer the worst losses of unjust war" and "enact justice upon those who would wage unjust war".

(Really. the "unjust" clauses is what bothers me the most in this oath. Calling a law or war just or unjust ultimately boils down to so much o a matter of opinion as to be almost meaningless)

And finally, about "make and *keep* the peace", I'll remind you that the group is called Warriors , not Pacifists . By Doug's own words, even those in this teaser, the way they make and keep the peace is by using superior (usually lethal) violence against anyone else who would use violence. That's why Doug is warning Usagi that upholding this oath may one day mean disintegrating humans instead of demons.

[Bob Schroeck]

Which is why he goes over the ramifications of the oath and what it means, long-term, with her. (And, from a story architecture point of view, lays the groundwork for a different Crystal Tokyo from that in canon.)

EDIT:

Never been much of a fan of this kind of oaths. They make too many assumptions and give too few details, which is where the devil is always in. I mean, as it is written I could use this oath to justify bombing abortion clinics...

Which is one reason why the Warriors' mandate limits their sanctioned activity to conflicts between nations or nations and extranational/non-governmental organizations. Outside of low-level local crimefighting (which we indulge in for both relaxation and P.R. purposes), the Warriors are forbidden to interfere in the internal affairs of individual nations. We're supposed to be apolitical, as much as humanly possible.

[nemonowan]

Which is one reason why the Warriors' mandate limits their sanctioned activity to conflicts between nations or nations and extranational/non-governmental organizations.  Outside of low-level local crimefighting (which we indulge in for both relaxation and P.R. purposes), the Warriors are forbidden to interfere in the internal affairs of individual nations.  We're supposed to be apolitical, as much as humanly possible.

It DOES make a lot more sense within those limits.

[hazard]

For some reason, I'm not very worried about Usagi bombing abortion clinics.  (Also, how does that jibe with keeping the peace?)

Let's see, from the point of view of those people who claim to believe that life starts upon conception:
-"uphold just laws and to oppose unjust ones" : any law that allows for abortion is clearly an unjust one.
-"to defend those who have no defenders" : nobody is defending the murdered unborn kids
-"to protect those who are exploited and oppressed" : the unborn kids are being exploited for profit by the clinics
-"champion basic human rights" : the unborn kids clearly have the right to live
-"thwart those who would deny them to others" : the pro-abortion crowd and the clinics deny the unborn kids the right to live

The "unjust war" clauses don't apply so well but there are "pro-lifers" that consider that they are fighting a war, so that woud fit perfectly with "protect those who suffer the worst losses of unjust war" and "enact justice upon those who would wage unjust war".

(Really. the "unjust" clauses is what bothers me the most in this oath. Calling a law or war just or unjust ultimately boils down to so much o a matter of opinion as to be almost meaningless)

And finally, about "make and *keep* the peace", I'll remind you that the group is called Warriors , not Pacifists . By Doug's own words, even those in this teaser, the way they make and keep the peace is by using superior (usually lethal) violence against anyone else who would use violence. That's why Doug is warning Usagi that upholding this oath may one day mean disintegrating humans instead of demons.

Also important, oaths without wiggle room are just as dangerous. An oath to 'uphold the law' without discretion has interesting implications when the law is 'beat adulterers to death' and 'any sexual activity by a married individual with somebody who is not their spouse is adultery'.


Oh, and let us see, from the point of view of those people who claim to believe that a woman has a right not to be forced to die in childbirth:
-"uphold just laws and to oppose unjust ones" : any law that forces a woman to die for a chance of her child to survive is clearly unjust.
-"to defend those who have no defenders" : nobody is defending the women being compelled to have children.
-"to protect those who are exploited and oppressed" : the dangerously gravid are being exploited by the medical establishment. I mean, childbirth's expensive already when everything goes right, never you mind when things are likely to go wrong.
-"champion basic human rights" : women clearly have the right to live.
-"thwart those who would deny them to others" : the pro lifers that demand any conception must be brought to term regardless of risk are killing plenty when however regrettable, they deny someone an abortion of the pregnancy that's going to kill them.

But this specific tangent should be continued in the politics forum, feel free to PM me the thread if you do.

[classicdrogn]

You know, at first I just saw the title, but what it has for lyrics do fit for recruiting a new member in their own right:


[url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3W5ngVTtRE&list=PLzV9OqMcXrIFvY3s6HMOocHkQqdmaFTlC&index=95]non-embedded9/url]

it's more of a "fight background music" thing than anything else, though, and probably a little short on pizazz for a power song.

[itsune9tl]

For some reason, I'm not very worried about Usagi bombing abortion clinics.  (Also, how does that jibe with keeping the peace?)

Let's see, from the point of view of those people who claim to believe that life starts upon conception:
-"uphold just laws and to oppose unjust ones" : any law that allows for abortion is clearly an unjust one.
-"to defend those who have no defenders" : nobody is defending the murdered unborn kids
-"to protect those who are exploited and oppressed" : the unborn kids are being exploited for profit by the clinics
-"champion basic human rights" : the unborn kids clearly have the right to live
-"thwart those who would deny them to others" : the pro-abortion crowd and the clinics deny the unborn kids the right to live

Political discussion on this Subject needs to be Elsewhere. Before is starts a flame war.

[Bob Schroeck]

As Hazard already noted three messages and three days ago, which I felt was sufficient.