"Me and my brothers have, weirdly, despite being sewer mutants, been in a position to meet a bunch of both kinds. Heck, Master Splinter and the Shredder are like examples of self-deluding stupidity and being a normal, sane person. Total opposite ends of the spectrum."
He crossed his arms. "Like, for instance, Master Splinter? Most of the time? He was always pretty calm and reasonable and talked to us like people and only did stuff like ground us or send us to the hashi if we wrecked the lair or did something stupid and dangerous. But after we faced the Shredder the first time, he destroyed us and it made sensei go crazy. It was the fighting equivalent of razing a village to the ground and salting the earth and we barely got away alive. So Master Splinter got so terrified of us getting killed he wouldn't let us go to the surface until we got better and kept drilling us until we were exhausted."
He went on, "But eventually, he realized he was acting crazy and stopped and apologized. See, he lost his first family to the Shredder so he was terrified we were going to die, too. But he knew that way of thinking, giving into that fear, was even more dangerous because it was making us too afraid. And he knew it wasn't right to ground us forever and take our freedom away just because he was scared. He could admit when he was wrong, so he did, and he did what was best for us instead of what made him feel better."
He nodded his head to the side, "Then on the other hand, you've got Shredder, who, before we were born, attacked Sensei and his wife - who Shredder had a thing for despite the fact she was happily married to Sensei - and blames sensei for the fact she died during it when he was the one that killed her. He goes on and on about it, about his stupid vendetta, and makes it out to be it's all Master Splinter's fault for making him angry. He doesn't even pretend he didn't do it, he just blames Master Splinter for 'stealing' her in the first place. The guy's delusional - he sees what he wants to see no matter how crazy it is."
He gave her a little shrug. "That's how people are. We've met a whole bunch of different ones that fell on both sides of the fence with all the trouble we've gotten into."
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He crossed his arms. "Like, for instance, Master Splinter? Most of the time? He was always pretty calm and reasonable and talked to us like people and only did stuff like ground us or send us to the hashi if we wrecked the lair or did something stupid and dangerous. But after we faced the Shredder the first time, he destroyed us and it made sensei go crazy. It was the fighting equivalent of razing a village to the ground and salting the earth and we barely got away alive. So Master Splinter got so terrified of us getting killed he wouldn't let us go to the surface until we got better and kept drilling us until we were exhausted."
He went on, "But eventually, he realized he was acting crazy and stopped and apologized. See, he lost his first family to the Shredder so he was terrified we were going to die, too. But he knew that way of thinking, giving into that fear, was even more dangerous because it was making us too afraid. And he knew it wasn't right to ground us forever and take our freedom away just because he was scared. He could admit when he was wrong, so he did, and he did what was best for us instead of what made him feel better."
He nodded his head to the side, "Then on the other hand, you've got Shredder, who, before we were born, attacked Sensei and his wife - who Shredder had a thing for despite the fact she was happily married to Sensei - and blames sensei for the fact she died during it when he was the one that killed her. He goes on and on about it, about his stupid vendetta, and makes it out to be it's all Master Splinter's fault for making him angry. He doesn't even pretend he didn't do it, he just blames Master Splinter for 'stealing' her in the first place. The guy's delusional - he sees what he wants to see no matter how crazy it is."
He gave her a little shrug. "That's how people are. We've met a whole bunch of different ones that fell on both sides of the fence with all the trouble we've gotten into."