Karkat tapped his mic, the one that Sollux weirdly had available. (Probably for stupid video streams or something, he doesn’t know or even care.) Sollux makes a face at him as the thump resounds. Whoops, way to look professional, moron. He fights the urge to ask if this thing is on. It obviously is.
The broadcast says they’re live, and he clears his throat. He should *know* what to do, it should flow naturally to him. Only one other person has his blood, surely that’s something he would have inherited, right? This is so stupid and awkward, why did *he* get made to do it?
Equius is behind him, finally free of the collar with his sign that the navy had previously proudly worn. It’d look bad, with the message they’re trying to say. Eridan is on the other side, Gamzee too. Gamzee’s paint is smeared, with how much he’s been freaking the fuck out. All of his other friends litter the space behind them. They interrupted news broadcasts of rioting for this, for the sight of him staring nervously at the camera.
Finally, Nepeta jabs him in the ribs with her elbow, and he grunts. But it makes him speak up and say something. “Whatever the hell you’re doing, stop. And listen to me.” This is broadcasting on many of the news billboards around town, usually flooded with celebrity gossip or emergency messages (one which should be warning for earthquake right about now, but that’s impossible to miss at this point). “I *know* what the Psionic, the Enforcer, the Murderer did was bad. He killed a lot of people who didn’t deserve it, a lot of coolbloods and a lot of warmbloods. But.” … He falters a moment.
“… *But this needs to stop.*” It doesn’t have the tone of a yell, but it has the power of it, the power that he sought to learn through all that political training, filling the room with his voice without sounding forced. “The hurt, the killing of innocents. There’s so many innocent people in the castle, in the city, whether they’re spoiled rich or not. The world is just going to tear itself apart again and again, history is going to repeat itself, unless for fucking *ONCE* the sign that we use to mark our empire is actually considered seriously. The SUFFERER didn’t Suffer for this. He didn’t die for This. If we’re going to use his one symbol, the symbol he had to Die to gain, then we have to think about what it Means.”
“A man gave his life speaking for peace! So many innocents lose their lives, their gills, their horns. So many others are trying to find a voice against a population that doesn’t seem to care what they think, because they think things are working out just fine, and delude themselves into thinking that ‘at least we aren’t as bad as the old way. And at least the coolbloods had it coming’. *But it is as bad.* And the only way we’re going to fix it is if we actually TRY to be nice to eachother for *fucking once*. No one is better than anyone. Because it turns out, we’re all enormous douchebags, who have a lot of shit to work on.”
“*Storm the castle for all I give a shit.* It’s a stupid status symbol, one of conquest instead of what the signless *died for.* BUT DON’T YOU DARE HURT INNOCENTS AND ACT LIKE IT’S THE RIGHT THING TO DO. LIKE THEY HAD IT COMING. Don’t kill them because you think they don’t *Deserve* what they have, because you think you deserve it more. If someone throws down their weapons, let them escape with their life and limb intact. And if you don’t want to fight, don’t fight! Don’t let yourself get hurt over something that’s not even worth fighting for.”
“Everyone behind me is all together in this. They know that this needs to stop. Not just repeat. We’re the next generation, and you better *not* fuck this up for us. We only have one world, don’t tear it apart out of some idea of revenge or superiority. That is *not* why good men go to war. Good men go to war because the world is fucked, and it needs to get fixed. Not just go back and forth like the world’s stupidest goddamn yo-yo. Tonight isn’t a night for Revenge. It’s a night for justice. It’s a night to create the next peace. To stop the royal fucking that so many of us have contributed to, and so many others feel like they *deserve* to pay back, because of what’s happened to them. As we can see, that never goes well.”
“So if you’re going to fight, fight to make this stop! If you’re going to kill, kill to make this Stop! If you’re going to fuck shit up for the rest of us, just go hive. *You’re* the type of person who made this all happen in the first place. As for the rest of us, we’d rather fix the mess we’ve made. We’d rather change it for the better.”
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