Implications

[itbelongsinamuseum]

1
[After the defense of the Macross as it tried to return, Alex hung around the hangar back on base for a while rather than going to get changed immediately. Mostly she seemed to have just stopped in place, lost in thoughts.]

So...Did Enki lie to me, did Enlil half-assedly cheat or does Humbaba mean something else entirely?

2

...Just drop it. We haven't talked in ages and that's what we end up talking about?...Right, we should. Goodbye.

[Alex was just on the phone with somebody and it didn't go well. She looks quite angrily at the poor, innocent piece of consumer electronics even after hanging up. Her expression quickly slumps slightly, though, the anger fading away.]


I should have guessed that.

Comments

[itbelongsinamuseum]

The usual. His work.

[jianai]

Oh yes, we talked about that, didn't we? Just a little bit.

That's not the best topic when you talk to your daughter after a long time, I agree. Especially if she's not too eager to listen to it.

[itbelongsinamuseum]

This time it was as much my fault as his. I couldn't really avoid mentioning some of all the stuff going on with me. You know how it goes when you're excited and let yourself get dragged into an argument.

[jianai]

Do I? Yes, I know what you mean.

So he's not really happy with what you're doing right now, I take it.

[itbelongsinamuseum]

He's worried for me, like most parents would be. I haven't just become a soldier, I've gone to the front lines of the greatest war humanity has ever seen.

[jianai]

I'm glad you see his point. After all, you're family - of course he cares about you.

Still...

[Ren looks around briefly.]

This isn't exactly the place you'd think of if someone told you "the frontline base of the greatest war of humanity", is it now.

[itbelongsinamuseum]

Not really, no, but that doesn't mean we aren't fighting a war for the species...Or several at once, I don't know what the correct way to count them is.

[jianai]

No, of course not. You know what they say about false impressions.

Still, if it's for the survival of human race, no one should really be angry that you're fighting. Otherwise you'd put your fate in hands of others - and if they fail, you might as well be doomed!

[itbelongsinamuseum]

That wasn't what he was angry about. It's just that with Enki and the fight in the ruins and so on, we ended up talking about things related to his work.

[jianai]

We didn't break that much of the ruins, did we?

[itbelongsinamuseum]

No, we didn't. Some statues broke and there were probably several tablets that got crushed...But with how rough the terrorists were, more would have broken if we hadn't been there. At least I think so, I didn't see what it looked like before.

[jianai]

Why the disagreement with your father, then?

[itbelongsinamuseum]

Because he started talking about his work selling antiquities and some of them were things that should be returned to the countries they came from. He'd just sold some of the stuff stolen from the Chinese summer palace when the British burned it. The Chinese government has wanted it back for centuries.

[jianai]

Hmm.

Now that's... morally questionable, isn't it?

[itbelongsinamuseum]

Yes, it is. And it should be illegal, except that would mean a lot of countries would have to give up the collections of their museums that they take great pride in.

[jianai]

Theft does not become less of theft with the added value of time, something like that?

You mentioned it yourself - China still hopes to retrieve its national treasures, and I am sure other countries have their own legacy like that too.

I must say, this isn't something I thought about a lot before. But I see your point, Alex.

[itbelongsinamuseum]

Yeah. Most countries have things like that...And there is a whole class of people who live by using things like this for their own needs.

[jianai]

It's a bit like having a family member be a mafia don. Well... nowhere near as bad as that, but it's still a complicated situation.

[itbelongsinamuseum]

Yes. And most people don't even get it, it's a respectable business after all.

[jianai]

I suppose they have enough troubles in their own, everyday existence. Considering the fate of cultural antiques is simply something they do not do - not out of ignorance, but out of necessity.

[itbelongsinamuseum]

Or just plain being busy. It's not like I pay a lot of attention to conservation of endangered animals either...There's just way too much to pay attention to everything.

[jianai]

That's true, and nobody should be forced to worry about all the issues in the world.

It's alright if only someone knows and cares. So that it does not get forgotten.

[itbelongsinamuseum]

Right. But it does make things trickier when public policy doesn't address them.

[jianai]

As long as someone cares, I'm sure the problem will be fixed eventually. Maybe not any time soon... but eventually.

[itbelongsinamuseum]

Right. And even if not, there is a long history of the proper owners actually buying things back.