"People who survive that long are the best of the best. And he was. Splinter was -" His voice trembled slightly. "He was the best. And he was good in more ways than that." He admitted, "I didn't have parents like everyone else did."
His voice rang with truth because it was true. Maybe it wasn't how he'd just said it was, with a parent dead and another neglecftul. But he hadn't had parents like that, he hadn't been born the usual way.
"But I had him. And that was - that was more than enough."
Raph lowered his voice and looked at the floor.
"Anyway, this place is backwards. The way Four talks about it, it wasn't always this way, either. Maybe sending the old geezers away was but sending away recruits? Without even giving them the time to really learn? That's messed up. It's a waste. And so's sending away people that can't fight but can still teach."
"There's not really anything we can do about it, though, is there?" Tris pointed out.
"Are you kiddin' me?" Raph said. "We're exactly the people that can do something about it. We're coming in here new, not all indoctrinated in thinking all of it is okay. So as time goes on, we can change it. If we all make it into Dauntless, we can work our way up into influencing stuff and we can make it better. When something is wrong, you fight to fix it, and you don't stop until you've made things right."
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His voice rang with truth because it was true. Maybe it wasn't how he'd just said it was, with a parent dead and another neglecftul. But he hadn't had parents like that, he hadn't been born the usual way.
"But I had him. And that was - that was more than enough."
Raph lowered his voice and looked at the floor.
"Anyway, this place is backwards. The way Four talks about it, it wasn't always this way, either. Maybe sending the old geezers away was but sending away recruits? Without even giving them the time to really learn? That's messed up. It's a waste. And so's sending away people that can't fight but can still teach."
"There's not really anything we can do about it, though, is there?" Tris pointed out.
"Are you kiddin' me?" Raph said. "We're exactly the people that can do something about it. We're coming in here new, not all indoctrinated in thinking all of it is okay. So as time goes on, we can change it. If we all make it into Dauntless, we can work our way up into influencing stuff and we can make it better. When something is wrong, you fight to fix it, and you don't stop until you've made things right."