Post by Alina Rybalka on Apr 24, 2021 12:01:59 GMT -5
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[break][attr="class","nikki101"]WE CAN ALL AGREE THAT VIOLENCE BREEDS VIOLENCE
[break][attr="class","nikki102"]BUT IN THE END, IT HAS TO BE THIS WAY
[attr="class","nikki109"]Normally immaculate clothes were worn and dirtied by weeks of travel with only the occasional haphazard hand wash available. In contrast to the normal armor she wore on these types of missions, she instead wore the same exact equipment that her Iron Wolves wore as standard issue. A white cloak with a hood that when pulled up obscured her face, and white shirts and pants that layered over a basic flak jacket. Her sabre lay in a scabbard on her left hip. As she walked up a small hill to address her faction, her gray eyes beheld a sea of white cloaks and hoods. [break][break]
”We are about to undertake on a mission to do something that hasn’t been done since before the Great War by unanimous vote of the General Assembly a few weeks back. We are about to attempt an operation that nobody else in this godforsaken kingdom would even attempt, because they have bought into the big lie.” The former soldier drew her sabre, then, but kept it at her side for now as she continued, voice projecting with the ease of practice to the assembled crowd. [break][break]
”They tell the people that the world is one filled with darkness, and that the darkness is filled with monsters that would tear you apart without the protection of the light. Their light. Their system. Their reasons. Their huntsmen. Without giving up all of your autonomy, that darkness will consume you and everyone you love. They have told this lie over and over for a generation now, and today we can prove it isn’t true.” The wolf faunus did a half turn and pointed the tip of her sabre in the direction of Kerch, then, not yet in sight but over the horizon. [break][break]
”The Huntsmen say that nobody but them can stand against the monsters within that darkness, but we will prove it isn’t true. The gap between a huntsman and a citizen is artificially widened as far as it can go, because a system like that relies on the people to be as defenseless against aggression as possible. Over the past year, you have each learned that you are not helpless. You do not need the guiding hand of those who would elevate themselves to be gods to allow you a destiny, you will seize it yourself – with your own hands!” [break][break]
Gray eyes surveyed the crowd, then, and allowed the cheering that rose up to die down before continuing. ”You have stayed with me from the very beginning, and for that you have my thanks. We have traveled long, done much, and returned here where this journey started in the first place… and where our struggle will begin anew. Each and every one of us has chosen this path, chosen to tread it together. We fight here, to reclaim Kerch, to retake our home, because we are the ones who understand. Look into the eyes of the soldier on your left, then on your right. You are walking into absolute hell together, and it is your responsibility to make every effort to ensure that both of them make it through that hell.” Alina lifted the tip of her blade up in the air, then, and sheathed it entirely before turning back fully towards the assembled crowd of her army. [break][break]
”We understand that the end of life is the same for everyone, but the path taken to that end is what separates us from then. When we taste that end, we will hold our heads up high, eyes to the sun at peace with the choices we have made. We chose a path with no gods to watch over us and no masters to lead the way. Our actions on this day will prove that when we stand together and reach out for each other, we never had any need for either in the first place.” [break][break]
There was a pause, then, as the faunus pulled out her signature white gloves from a belt pouch and slipped them on her hands. The woman also pulled up that distinctive Kozak hood as she started her last command to the group. ”We move in fifteen minutes and will finally achieve the goal we set for ourselves so long ago. Kozaks, let only death stop your march forward.” [break][break]
Alina would not live forever. She knew this and planned around it at every conceivable opportunity. The entire operation needed to be able to function in her absence in the case of death or injury, and they needed to be able to fight when she wasn’t there. That was the key difference between her and her enemy, in the former soldier’s mind. The Council sought to create and maintain a system where the populace relied on their force of arms, their huntsmen as a crutch that would never be removed as a mechanism of control. Alina, in contrast, sought to create a system where the crutch of her presence and power would never be needed again in order to secure the livelihoods of each and every community that she swayed to her cause. [break][break]
The average person was stronger than the Council gave them credit for, if only given the opportunity to achieve their potential. They might not have a devastating semblance or individual talent… but one earnestly motivated nobody turned into one hundred which turned into one thousand in the blink of an eye once the floodgates were open and they were actually given the chance to control their own destiny. When given back their agency, it was amazing how keen they were to improve their own abilities and how eager they were to prove the world wrong about what they were capable of. [break][break]
Some of them would die this day, bleeding to death in the dirt. This was unavoidable, and a consequence of the choices they have made. Those that survived, though, would mourn the dead as brothers and move on with the knowledge that the sacrifices made today once and for all proved that the model that the Kozaks professed for so long was finally put to the ultimate test against a Grimm infestation so large and powerful the Council wouldn’t even consider attacking it and came out victorious with a force composed almost entirely of regular people fighting to retake their home and protect their families rather than a small group of super powered teenagers deified by the masses with no accountability or reason to give a shit about who lived and died. [break][break]
She had to believe that this would work, because the alternative was impossible to accept. The alternative was to accept the genetic and inherent superiority of the privileged few in the face of even a concerted effort of the masses, and that had to be a lie. No, it was a lie, and it would be proven one here today. To the Kozaks who survived, if nobody else, and that was all that mattered.
[break]”We are about to undertake on a mission to do something that hasn’t been done since before the Great War by unanimous vote of the General Assembly a few weeks back. We are about to attempt an operation that nobody else in this godforsaken kingdom would even attempt, because they have bought into the big lie.” The former soldier drew her sabre, then, but kept it at her side for now as she continued, voice projecting with the ease of practice to the assembled crowd. [break][break]
”They tell the people that the world is one filled with darkness, and that the darkness is filled with monsters that would tear you apart without the protection of the light. Their light. Their system. Their reasons. Their huntsmen. Without giving up all of your autonomy, that darkness will consume you and everyone you love. They have told this lie over and over for a generation now, and today we can prove it isn’t true.” The wolf faunus did a half turn and pointed the tip of her sabre in the direction of Kerch, then, not yet in sight but over the horizon. [break][break]
”The Huntsmen say that nobody but them can stand against the monsters within that darkness, but we will prove it isn’t true. The gap between a huntsman and a citizen is artificially widened as far as it can go, because a system like that relies on the people to be as defenseless against aggression as possible. Over the past year, you have each learned that you are not helpless. You do not need the guiding hand of those who would elevate themselves to be gods to allow you a destiny, you will seize it yourself – with your own hands!” [break][break]
Gray eyes surveyed the crowd, then, and allowed the cheering that rose up to die down before continuing. ”You have stayed with me from the very beginning, and for that you have my thanks. We have traveled long, done much, and returned here where this journey started in the first place… and where our struggle will begin anew. Each and every one of us has chosen this path, chosen to tread it together. We fight here, to reclaim Kerch, to retake our home, because we are the ones who understand. Look into the eyes of the soldier on your left, then on your right. You are walking into absolute hell together, and it is your responsibility to make every effort to ensure that both of them make it through that hell.” Alina lifted the tip of her blade up in the air, then, and sheathed it entirely before turning back fully towards the assembled crowd of her army. [break][break]
”We understand that the end of life is the same for everyone, but the path taken to that end is what separates us from then. When we taste that end, we will hold our heads up high, eyes to the sun at peace with the choices we have made. We chose a path with no gods to watch over us and no masters to lead the way. Our actions on this day will prove that when we stand together and reach out for each other, we never had any need for either in the first place.” [break][break]
There was a pause, then, as the faunus pulled out her signature white gloves from a belt pouch and slipped them on her hands. The woman also pulled up that distinctive Kozak hood as she started her last command to the group. ”We move in fifteen minutes and will finally achieve the goal we set for ourselves so long ago. Kozaks, let only death stop your march forward.” [break][break]
Alina would not live forever. She knew this and planned around it at every conceivable opportunity. The entire operation needed to be able to function in her absence in the case of death or injury, and they needed to be able to fight when she wasn’t there. That was the key difference between her and her enemy, in the former soldier’s mind. The Council sought to create and maintain a system where the populace relied on their force of arms, their huntsmen as a crutch that would never be removed as a mechanism of control. Alina, in contrast, sought to create a system where the crutch of her presence and power would never be needed again in order to secure the livelihoods of each and every community that she swayed to her cause. [break][break]
The average person was stronger than the Council gave them credit for, if only given the opportunity to achieve their potential. They might not have a devastating semblance or individual talent… but one earnestly motivated nobody turned into one hundred which turned into one thousand in the blink of an eye once the floodgates were open and they were actually given the chance to control their own destiny. When given back their agency, it was amazing how keen they were to improve their own abilities and how eager they were to prove the world wrong about what they were capable of. [break][break]
Some of them would die this day, bleeding to death in the dirt. This was unavoidable, and a consequence of the choices they have made. Those that survived, though, would mourn the dead as brothers and move on with the knowledge that the sacrifices made today once and for all proved that the model that the Kozaks professed for so long was finally put to the ultimate test against a Grimm infestation so large and powerful the Council wouldn’t even consider attacking it and came out victorious with a force composed almost entirely of regular people fighting to retake their home and protect their families rather than a small group of super powered teenagers deified by the masses with no accountability or reason to give a shit about who lived and died. [break][break]
She had to believe that this would work, because the alternative was impossible to accept. The alternative was to accept the genetic and inherent superiority of the privileged few in the face of even a concerted effort of the masses, and that had to be a lie. No, it was a lie, and it would be proven one here today. To the Kozaks who survived, if nobody else, and that was all that mattered.
[attr="class","nikki103"]1159 words | [attr="class","nikki103"]KERCH KOZAKS | [attr="class","nikki103"]1159 TOTAL WORDS |
NOTES
A Semblance, D Weapons, B Dust Enhancement, C Durability, B Agility, C Martial Arts, D Stamina, D ExhaustionPHARAOH LEAP CREATES
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