#earthrunes

Her other foot starts idly massaging his thigh, almost reflexively. And a fond grin as a bit of fur catches her eye before she refocuses on her text...mostly.

August doesn't appear to have noticed fur (although he'd be shocked Delores allows it 😉 ), so deep is he into his studies.

"It seems Vince has discovered this spot, too." She holds up a little bit of the fur.

"Mm?" He looks up and it takes him a moment to focus. "Oh. Well, it's a nice spot."

He reaches up and pinches the bridge of his nose, with a sigh.

"It is." She gazes out the window, lazy and content, her books temporarily forgotten.

Then she looks to him. "August? Something wrong?"

"It's.... this subject."

"...Law?"

"Constitutional Basics. It's.... it was written by well-meaning man of their times, I believe. Predicated on the idea that there are Right of Men based on Natural Law.... but the idea of Natural Law has changed over time, and over times. And where does that belief come from, anyway?"

She frowns. "Natural Law? That sounds...do they mean like science?"

"No, they mean a Law that is..... inherently apparent, inherently evident. Like.... Justice."

"Break down the universe into its component atoms and show me a molecule of Justice. Or Love!"

A dubious look. "Justice is obvious?"

"But they exist. It's Naturally Obvious."

Again that dubious look. "Love exists...but it doesn't follow laws, not unless you're talking about oaths. I don't think I understand."

"Ok... this is the Preamble, the .... foreword, to the US Constitution: We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

"So where is Perfection? Justice? Tranquility? Commonality? Welfare? Blessings? We can't nail them down but we all believe, we -know- they exist and have value and can be reasonable goals. Why? Those are almost universal beliefs around the globe. -Why?-"

She frowns, thinking. "But those...those aren't things. They're actions. Behaviors. I mean...perfection doesn't exist outside of somebody doing something that can be deemed perfect. Same with justice...it is only seen in when you look at a behavior that demonstrates it. But...they're contextual. They'll be different each time you look at them."

"They're abstracts."

"And...who says they're universal? Or did somebody just assume that?"

"No, there have been studies done." Resigned "I checked."

"They're abstracts, but mortals have built a system of government and 'justice' on them! On DREAMS of them!!" Half excited, half frustrated and it's hard to tell where one stops and the other ends. "Isn't that amazing?!?!"

She looks surprised by his sudden enthusiasm. "Hmm. I suppose so."

"Mortals -speak- about these things as if they are tangible, real." He grabs his text and looks something up. "The virtue of justice consists in moderation, as regulated by wisdom." He looks at her. "Moderation, regulated.... how? If they aren't REAL? But belief MAKES them real???"

"Well, moderation is overrated to begin with," she says dismissively. Then, "Is it belief? Or is it just....agreement? Like accepting the rules of a game?"

"If it isn't belief, then those... virtues aren't real. But Love -is- real."

"Love is real, but sometimes people mistake something else for love," she points out.

"That mistake doesn't make love LESS real." He counters.

"No...but if the mistake is accepted, it corrupts the understanding of real love, doesn't it?"

"It doesn't change the basic premise." Firmly.

"WHERE do mortals find these... 'Natural' 'Organic' 'Intrinsic' Concepts??"

"HOW do they know these things!??!"

She blinks at the urgency in his voice...then slowly grins. "From us."

"But we come from them!!!"

"Yes...probably from about the same time that these thoughts first coming about."

"A messy, confused, passionate joining of idea and belief...and it all coalesced into Natural Law and...us."

"It sort of makes sense, doesn't it?"

"So...they didn't know that they knew these things until they could see us as the...the beings of these ideas."

He pinches his nose again, rubbing.

"Yes." Agreeing.

"August?" She rests a hand on his arm. "I don't understand why that would pain you."

" I just... trying to understand it. The purity of the ideas to ... what they live today."

"Sundering. Shattering. The evidence of their ideas went away, so the ideas became confused."

He rakes fingers through his hair, pulling it out of its tie. "Then... how do you adjudicate that?"

"I guess...that's where the agreement comes in? Like mortal money...it has no actual value, it's just paper and ink, but mortals have an agreement about its value. Trying to figure how they come to agree on that value makes my head hurt, but...this is the same thing, isn't it? In lieu of certainty, they have agreement."

"Because otherwise it wouldn't be 'fair'?"

A bemused look. "Sort of circular, yes. So...I suppose I understand why your head hurts." She touches his cheek and gives a sympathetic pout.

"I just... I marvel at it and I want to understand."

"It might take time. If you try to push yourself to understand too fast, it might go badly."

"Perhaps."