two; video

[bloodspeaker]

[Adrasteius stares into the feed silently for a few moments, eyebrows drawn, jaw set.  He's somewhere outside in the city, on a sidewalk, surrounded by an ever-shifting throng of people.  The masses don't seem to bother him, though.  He has the look of someone who was struck by a sudden thought, and then by a subsequently urgent need to voice it.  There's a shakiness to the feed as he talks, which suggests that the hand holding the tablet is quaking--though whether that's from emotion or some physical problem is not clear.]

I've noticed that a number of you claim to be leaders in your worlds.  Princes.  Kings.  Queens.  Nobility of some stripe.  

[Adra pronounces all of those nouns with the same tone another person might use to discuss vermin, and the venom only worsens as he goes on.]

Perhaps you were a general or a lieutenant.  Perhaps a politician.  Or you controlled a gang.  [The tone indicates that he pretty much lumps all of those positions together.]

Whatever you were, it seems clear that a few of you think this entitles you to the same position here.  This is, of course, fucking ridiculous.  But let us entertain, for the sake of argument, that you should retain your privileged status in this place.  I ask: why?  

[His eyes narrow, and he leans low over the tablet, his eyes bright and angry.]

Don't misunderstand me.  I'm not asking for a record of your 'heroic' and 'worthy' exploits.  I don't need to hear about how many battles you've won or organized;  about how many goddamn corpses you've piled up in your past.  I care not one fucking iota about your pathetic, disgusting warmongering.  

Don't fucking tell me about how you can punch through twenty walls with your immense strength, or how your magical prowess is so great that you can conjure thousands of swords from thin air, or stop hearts, or bend minds, or any of that other fucking.  nonsense.  Do you understand me?  I don't care if you can kill any man, woman, child, or other semi-sentient thing you set eyes on, and if you try to brag about it, you will be instantly dismissed as a witless fucking troglodyte.

No.  I'm asking you what you stand for.  What is your philosophy of leadership?  Do you favor fear and violence?  Do you favor control?  Do you claim to speak about cooperation, when what you actually want is doe-eyed agreement from a bunch of teat-suckling yes-men?  Well, goddammit?  What makes you fit to lead?  Fit to serve?  I don't want to know about your muscles, physical or otherwise.  I want to know about your fucking convictions.

Comments

[chargethesebatteries]

[Wow, and she thought her troops had some issues with authority--this guy takes the cake. He takes the whole danged bakery.]

Leadership is subjective, and as much as I'd like to say people know a good leader when they see one I think we both know that's about as true as an old wives' tale told around a girl scout's campfire. Fact of the matter is the most important thing a leader can do is keep their people safe, and if they can't do that then they need to step down and let someone who knows how to handle whatever's thrown at 'em do just that.

So yeah, I agree: titles don't mean jack, and it's your actions that make you a leader, not how blue your blood is, how many stripes are on your sleeves, or how many diamonds in your tiara.

[Sometimes it's how many heads you knock or how many marines twice your size you can leave suplexed in your wake, but really, that's being a little more specific than is necessary.]

[bloodspeaker]

[HE TAKES THE FRANCHISE, TBH.]

Safe. What does safety mean to you? What would you sacrifice to keep it? What order would you impose to preserve it?

[chargethesebatteries]

[She's beginning to think he may have a monopoly on the whole industry, akshully.]

Whaddya mean what does it mean, are you daft? Safe, as in not mangled, maimed, mutilated, bleeding, broken, twisted, tangled, traumatized, on any sort of fritz or with any significant deficit of whack.

I put my safety on the line every day to keep my troops and my home planet protected from an infestation that could annihilate existence as we know it, civilian, so don't you ask me what lengths I'm willing to go to in order to preserve life.

[bloodspeaker]

That's fantastic, but we're not in your world anymore. This is the crux of the problem: people coming in here and thinking that the rules they know still apply, when they fucking don't. We're not under threat from ... whatever it is you were just talking about. Our war isn't constant. Leadership needs to reflect an understanding of that. Do you know what I'm saying, here?

[chargethesebatteries]

Some rules still apply no matter where you are--who are you to say that safety isn't to be made a priority? Just because there's no cybugs here doesn't mean everything's hunky-dory. [She gestures offscreen.] Have you looked outside today, pal? We're not exactly stuck in the middle of The Magic Kingdom, in case you hadn't noticed.

Even if war isn't constant, vigilance should be. With complacency comes sloppiness, and with sloppiness comes danger, and that ain't somethin' I'm interested in.

[bloodspeaker]

[CALHOUN HAS SPIRIT. He digs it. But still.]

No, a magic kingdom this is not. But we are also not in a continuous crisis, as you apparently were. The governance, then, must decide what to sacrifice in order to maintain that. Would a possible leader advocate a police state, for instance?

[chargethesebatteries]

[IN NO SMALL AMOUNT, EITHER. She gets what he's saying, but she still thinks he's being a little obtuse about it.]

Maybe this island isn't under the constant threat of attack from swarms of deadly cybernetic insects, I'll give you that, but I dunno that I'd agree there's not a crisis. It's a wasteland out there, and something tells me that those with weak constitutions or without the stomach for proper survival tactics just plain don't last. A lack of an advancing army doesn't equal a time of peace or safety by a long shot.

I don't think going 1984 is necessarily the right choice, though. Freedom isn't a sacrifice to be made lightly, even in the face of danger--more people put themselves in danger for the sake of freedom than most other reasons, after all.

You've been doing all the asking and banging all the gavels, though, civilian--let's hear your suggestions, then, since you've apparently got all the answers.

[bloodspeaker]

[Undoubtedly so. He doesn't understand the 1984 reference, even though he, in fact, lives in a magic kingdom that is run like the world of 1984, but he's quick enough to draw a conclusion based on context.]

I'm not asking to lead. That would be the entire point of this thing. Leadership is a heavy burden, and it asks everything of those who would wear its mantle.

[he's stopped on the street now, leaning against some dirty brick wall, looking haggard and thin. His breath is somewhat shallow.]

The first step in judgment is seeing how well a prospective candidate holds up under some light inquiry. My estimations have not been promising so far.

[chargethesebatteries]

Offering a proposal isn't the same as running for office, bub; all I'm saying is you seem to have a pretty clear idea of how you view leadership, so instead'a finding fault with everyone else's thoughts, why not share yours instead? You ask about our convictions and belittle them without in turn offering your own, and I say that's some pretty nasty guerrilla warfare there.

Besides, it's not like you get to pick who's in charge around here anyway. This place is an anarchy, right? There's no voting or nomination system in place, so why is this so important to you?