Signless (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
withoutasign) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
caughtinanetwork2012-03-02 07:59 pm
withoutasign) wrote in caughtinanetwork2012-03-02 07:59 pm
Sermon Two
[Signless has chosen his location carefully; when he turns on the video function, there's a wall of water behind him, and a school of brightly colored tropical fish swimming past. He's very clearly in the bubble again.]
My friends, today I want to talk to you about fear.
[His voice is low and soothing, his story-telling voice.]
I have known great fear in my time. In my world, the color of my blood was a source of fear, something that drove me into hiding for a long time. Then, when I dreamed of the world that could be, rather than the world that was, I was afraid again... afraid that I would never see what I knew we were capable of come to pass. I was afraid to speak out, afraid to make a ripple in the still, stagnant waters of our society, and tried instead to live my meager little life underneath the notice of the highbloods.
But then I saw what my silence was doing, what those in similar positions were suffering, and I knew I could not stay silent. I could not sit idly by while our world rotted away from its very core, while its corruption bled away the talents and very lives of so many trolls who had done nothing beyond being hatched the wrong color. I could not wait for another to come along and demand change, or I would wait the rest of my life. I needed to cast aside my fear, to find a reserve of strength within me, and rise to what my world needed me to be.
[His voice falls, becoming hushed and soft, almost painfully honest, and he looks down, his cloak hiding his eyes.]
I was terrified. Casting off fear is one of the most difficult things I have ever done. Fear is something I knew, its cold comfort as familiar to me as my guardian's face. It would have been... easy to live my entire life in fear, I thought.
[He looks up then, and his eyes are burning, his voice strong once more.]
I thought that fear was a cloak to hide me, but it was a chain I wore around my neck. When the fear was gone, when I made the decision to cast it aside, I have never felt so free in my entire life. It was how I imagine it must feel to wake up one morning with wings, and look out the window into an endless sky. When the fear was gone, I could breathe a deep breath for the first time in my life, and look to the future not as an ominous, foreboding thing, but as a path bathed in light and redemption.
I am not afraid any longer, Vatheon. This is my home now, and it is worth fighting for. I will not be driven out of my home again. I will not let fear control me.
My friends, today I want to talk to you about fear.
[His voice is low and soothing, his story-telling voice.]
I have known great fear in my time. In my world, the color of my blood was a source of fear, something that drove me into hiding for a long time. Then, when I dreamed of the world that could be, rather than the world that was, I was afraid again... afraid that I would never see what I knew we were capable of come to pass. I was afraid to speak out, afraid to make a ripple in the still, stagnant waters of our society, and tried instead to live my meager little life underneath the notice of the highbloods.
But then I saw what my silence was doing, what those in similar positions were suffering, and I knew I could not stay silent. I could not sit idly by while our world rotted away from its very core, while its corruption bled away the talents and very lives of so many trolls who had done nothing beyond being hatched the wrong color. I could not wait for another to come along and demand change, or I would wait the rest of my life. I needed to cast aside my fear, to find a reserve of strength within me, and rise to what my world needed me to be.
[His voice falls, becoming hushed and soft, almost painfully honest, and he looks down, his cloak hiding his eyes.]
I was terrified. Casting off fear is one of the most difficult things I have ever done. Fear is something I knew, its cold comfort as familiar to me as my guardian's face. It would have been... easy to live my entire life in fear, I thought.
[He looks up then, and his eyes are burning, his voice strong once more.]
I thought that fear was a cloak to hide me, but it was a chain I wore around my neck. When the fear was gone, when I made the decision to cast it aside, I have never felt so free in my entire life. It was how I imagine it must feel to wake up one morning with wings, and look out the window into an endless sky. When the fear was gone, I could breathe a deep breath for the first time in my life, and look to the future not as an ominous, foreboding thing, but as a path bathed in light and redemption.
I am not afraid any longer, Vatheon. This is my home now, and it is worth fighting for. I will not be driven out of my home again. I will not let fear control me.
[TEXT, filtered]
THANK FUCK.
THAT IS ONE LESS CONCERN FOR ME AND FOR PRETTY MUCH EVERYONE EVER.
IF I EVER HEAR SOMETHING THAT RELIEVING AGAIN THEY WILL HAVE TO PRY ME OFF MY CHAIR WITH A CROWBAR FOR HOW DEEPLY I WILL HAVE SUNK INTO IT.
BUT WITH HER OUT OF THE PICTURE THAT CLEARS UP A LOT
MEANING THAT DEALING WITH THE GRAND HIGHBLOOD WILL BE OUR PRIMARY CONCERN, OBVIOUSLY, AND THAT WE'LL JUST HAVE TO...
WAIT A SEC.
I WILL NOT YET CALL THIS A LUCKY BREAK BECAUSE I KNOW THIS PLACE TOO WELL TO TRUST IT TO DO ANYTHING GOOD FOR LONG
BUT I MIGHT HAVE A SOLUTION FOR THE WHOLE "ERIDAN CAN'T AIM WORTH SHIT ANYMORE" PROBLEM.
[TEXT, filtered]
AND GO ON, TELL ME ABOUT THIS SOLUTION.
[TEXT, filtered]
SHE USES RIFLEKIND LIKE ERIDAN AND SHE SHOULD BE A GOOD SHOT WITH IT TOO
SO IF WE LEND HER ERIDAN'S DARTGUN SHE COULD TAKE HIS SPOT IN THE PLAN.
AND YES I'M AWARE DUALSCAR IS AROUND TOO, BUT LIKE HELL I TRUST HIM WHEN HIS IDEA OF DEALING WITH THE GRAND SHITHEAD IS TO PULL SOME VIOLENT STUNT FOR THE SAKE OF HIS OWN WOUNDED PRIDE.
[TEXT, filtered]
I'LL TALK TO YOUR FRIEND JADE, THOUGH, SEE IF I CAN'T WORK SOMETHING OUT WITH HER.
UNLESS YOU'D PREFER TO DO THE HONORS?
[TEXT, filtered]
BUT JADE KNOWS ME BETTER AND WE'VE PLANNED TOGETHER BEFORE.
I'LL DO IT.
[And sent shortly after--]
WHO DID THE HIGHBLOOD KILL?
[TEXT, filtered]
I KNOW YOU'RE NOT A FAN OF HIS, BUT IT WAS STILL A BRUTAL AND SENSELESS KILLING. I'M TRYING TO HELP HIM WORK THROUGH IT, BUT YOU KNOW HOW PROUD SEADWELLERS CAN BE.
ALSO.
I'VE SPOKEN TO SUMMONER, AND NEITHER OF US THINKS THAT DRUGGING THE GRAND HIGHBLOOD IS A PERMANENT SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM HE PRESENTS. BEYOND THE LOGISTICS OF GETTING THE SLIME READY FOR HIM, IT'S ALSO A MATTER OF CONSENT. WE WOULD BE TORTURING HIM BY MAKING HIM STAY DRUGGED, AND THAT WOULD MAKE US NO BETTER THAN THE CONDESCE.
SO I SUGGEST THIS: WE DRUG HIM, ONCE, AND AS HE'S COMING OUT OF IT, WE TALK TO HIM AND TRY TO MAKE A DEAL. AS LONG AS HE'S NOT HURTING OR KILLING ANYONE, HE STAYS SOBER. IF HE SLIPS UP, WE DRUG HIM AGAIN AS PUNISHMENT. IT'S NOT IDEAL, BUT IT'S BETTER THAN MAKING HIM A SLAVE.
[TEXT, filtered] he'll agree to it in due time but accepting immediately would be out of character
AND THAT ALL THAT DUMB PRIDE OF HIS WAS A BAD FUCKING IDEA.
BUT DOES HE LISTEN? OF COURSE NOT.
CAN'T GIVE THE MUTANT KID THE TIME OF DAY TO HEAR REASON, THAT WOULD JUST BE POINTLESS.
BUT ARE YOU SERIOUS ABOUT THAT IDEA?
HOW CAN YOU BE SURE HE'S NOT JUST GOING TO LIE AND MURDER THE BOTH OF YOU AS SOON AS HE'S SOBER ENOUGH TO SWING A CLUB AGAIN?
[TEXT, filtered]
REGARDLESS.
WE DON'T KNOW THAT, WE CAN ONLY TAKE HIM AT HIS WORD. HOWEVER, I CAN'T JUST TAKE THE CHOICE AWAY FROM HIM. THAT'S... THAT'S WHAT THEY DID TO PSII. AND I WON'T DO THAT TO ANOTHER TROLL.
I WON'T.
[TEXT, filtered]
...
BOTH OF YOU HAD BETTER TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS PLAN.
IF IT DOESN'T WORK, WE HAVE TO DRUG HIM AGAIN FOR THE COLLECTIVE SAFETY OF EVERYONE ELSE
BUT I'LL STILL GIVE THE IDEA A CHANCE, EVEN I DON'T LIKE HOW UNCERTAIN IT IS.