rakuen | (no subject)

Entry tags:

(no subject)

Characters: Dolorosa and you
Format: will match
This log is: open
Location: Fortitude classrooms
Summary: Troll history class may have cryptic messages in it. ~~or maybe Ru is pulling your leg~~
Warnings: Dolorosa feels

The usually smiling and peaceful Dolorosa looks upset as her student walk into class. On the board behind her in her familiar is scroll is written the end of the rebellion? and every so often she looks longingly at the words.

"Throughout these weeks I have taught you about how blood color defines the class systems, how each color has a place in society and a role to play, and how not everyone was happy with these positions. Last week I told you about Signless and the rebellion, which I was personally a part of, but I did not tell you the outcome. Those involved were all close friends of mine, family even. I raised Signless, something unheard of in troll society, and on that day he was killed, his beloved Disciple went into hiding, his faithful friend Psiioniic was taken by the empress because of his abilities, and I was sold into slavery. I cannot give you a complete retelling of the events or what happened afterwards, as I was otherwise occupied, but I can tell you that rebellions never really die, they just get passed on."

"If your cause is just and you have those willing to fight for it, why should it not continue?"

With that Dolorosa ends class early, but she is there for anyone who wishes to question her about, well, anything.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

If there's one class Dirk actually pays full attention to, it's Alternian History. The information he gathers here may wind up proving itself crucial one day.

"That was rather anticlimactic," he comments once class is concluded.

"Oh? Why do you think that?" she smiles a bit, "I'm sorry I do not know what happens after that, much does, I'm sure."

"That's exactly why," he explains. "I'm not blaming you, but you just cut off in the middle of what was a pretty interesting story."

He shrugs. "It's a foregone conclusion anyway, I guess. Shit happens, the empress remains in power, the hemospectrum keeps bein' a thing, the masses are subjugated, the end."

She nods, "I can tell you that the empress remains in power but she is not the figure she once was, she's absent. But according to the young trolls I have met, the hemospectrum is still in place, correct. I'm sorry I cannot tell you more."

"That's cool. Not your fault, like I said."

Although... it really can't hurt to find out. "So I guess those young trolls didn't mention why the empress is 'absent'." Dirk knows better than to assume anything, what with alternate universes being as prevalent as they are, but he also knows better than to think that there's any such thing as a coincidence.

"I never thought to ask," she says while shaking her head, "I was just glad they lived without her, hopefully the planet was a better place."

"Hopefully." Well, he'll have to see if he can't find a way to get that information out of them without being super obvious about it.

He picks up his books and starts toward the door, but pauses. Dirk thinks himself almost never wrong, but he does have his moments, and he is self-aware enough to realize this. "I made some snap judgments based on faulty assumptions, Dolorosa, and I want to apologize for that."

It can't hurt to just ask them! Or, maybe it could, who knows.

Dolorosa smiles brightly at him, "I understand that meeting aliens can be off putting, or that some arrive here with negative views of us, but just as humans are not all the same, trolls are not as well. I'm glad I could help you realize that. You are a good student, Dirk."

It really makes him feel foolish. Hell, he'd be irritated if someone judged all humans based on the actions of, say, Hitler.

Though he doesn't show it, he appreciates the compliment. "I'm just studious as fuck, that's all." He pauses. "You still have to teach though, right? Like, that's a Rakuen rule. What's next on the syllabus?"

"Yes, I do have to teach again, but I haven't decided yet where this class will go. Do you have any suggestions?"

She's asking him? That catches him by surprise. "Well, all I know about Alternian history is what I've learned in this class. Beyond that, all I can make are educated guesses and generalizations, so I don't know as I'd have any suggestions." He shrugs. "Maybe the library would have some books on other time periods you could teach about."

Of course she's asking him, student involvement is very important in class. Or so she believes. Besides, it wouldn't do to have a bored class, have to keep them entertained somehow.

"Yes, I think I am overdue for a trip to the library. I would much rather not just repeat the last ten weeks."

"That'd be boring as shit." Even if he hadn't been present for most of it, honestly. He'd read old handouts and notes his classmates had taken to get the gist of it. Going through all of it again just seemed like a chore.

"Something more recent, probably. Like after the Signless's death." Something she'd said to Lelouch earlier in class strikes him, and as much as he can sympathize with her viewpoint, he can't let it stand when it's false. "You were wrong about one thing. Peaceful or not, sometimes the evil system just stays in place."

So he doesn't know what happened on Alternia. But he knows what happened on Earth.

And Dolorosa is totally aware of that, as much as she can talk about the history of Alternia, retelling it over and over again isn't something that she wants to do. Maybe she should have chosen a different subject.

"I would need to do research on that, I know very little about it due to my captivity," she frowns, remembering what Lelouch said, "I am aware that peace does not always triumph over evil, but I believe peace outlasts evil."

"Depending on how you define those terms, peace and evil are fully capable of coexisting."

Aw, hell with it. He'll just outright tell her: "Look. The Earth I'm from has been ruled by your Condesce -- or maybe another universal version of her, who knows, it's not important -- for the past four centuries. Peaceful methods of trying to alert the populace to the threat she posed failed. But hey, so did outright violence. The human population eventually shrunk from around seven billion, to two." A pause. "Not two billion; two. Your optimism is a breath of fresh air, and I would honestly love to hear that Alternia is an utopia of sunshine and equality nowadays, but you can see why I'm a bit skeptical."

Dolorosa doesn't really know what to say to that. She covers her mouth, "I'm so sorry."

"Not your fault. It's just how things are." He doesn't waste much time wishing it were different or pondering how things might have gone if some factor had changed. There's no point. "I'm just saying not to get your hopes up."

Her frown deepens again. It's not fair that another world had to deal with her rule. Of course she knew that Condesce was invading other worlds but she never really stopped to think about what that meant for the people there. Would stopping her on Alternia free up those others worlds? How would word get out that she's not in charge anymore- if they could even beat her. And if they lost would the others be harmed as well.

"But what is the point of having no hope? I would rather be disappointed than have no hope at all."

Normally, he's of the opinion that hope is meaningless if you're not trying to make shit happen on your own -- but in Dolorosa's case, there is literally nothing she can do, is there?

So Dirk just shrugs. "That's your choice."

Dolorosa seems to consider this for a moment before she nods once, "And it is your choice to believe the opposite. I will not stand in the way of what you believe or what you know to be true. We may have lived under the same ruler but that does not mean we lived similar lives."

"True enough," he says easily. He intends to be successful in taking the batterwitch out.

"...anyway, thanks again."

"There is no need to thank me, child, I am only fulfilling my role."

Becca stays late, working on a large drawing, the size of a poster. She's drawing a picture of the major events of the rebellion. (During class, she had asked lots of seemingly irrelevant questions, mostly about the facial features and horn shapes of those involved.) She's nearly finished, currently working on Signless' face and the clear expression of pain on it as he is killed. Various other scenes are around the page as well, melding into one complete design.

Of course Dolorosa knows that Becca has been working on this, most likely giving her more details later, perhaps on textures, colors, or just plain appearances. Today, though, she has her eyes trained on Signless, and she looks exactly like a grieving mother would.

"Your art is very good, Becca."

"Thanks," she murmurs, not looking up. She knows way too much about expressions of grief and torment for a human girl. Nor does she seem repulsed by the brutality of troll culture the way a healthy human probably should have been. She finishes his face and moves on to his arms and the burning cuffs, detailing the sizzling flesh again with tormenting accuracy.

"It's almost as if you were there," Dolorosa mutters quietly to herself as she watched Becca work.

She finished up and put her pencils away, finally picking up the picture and offering it out to her teacher. "I just...know a lot about suffering and pain and the different ways to die," she admitted, then hung her head in shame. "I wish I knew why."

Dolorosa frowns, "Those aren't the most pleasant of memories, while you're here you should try and learn about different forms of happiness and ways to live, don't you think?"

"I guess?" she murmured, shrugging her shoulders idly. "I wish I remembered why I know all that...maybe it'd make sense then."

"And you will remember, one day, I'm sure of that."

"I just hope it isn't something traumatic again," she huffed, running her fingers over the marks hidden by her sleeves.

"It may be, but I believe you are strong enough to get through anything."

Lelouch was intrigued by how this rebellion had ended, but instead of being dissatisfied with how it had ended, he was more interested in how she'd explained it.

While the chest pain he'd had upon awakening had been steadily fading, he now felt able to move forward in some of his plans. Now, he cared less about maintaining appearances. Cared less about anything that stood in his way, really. The demon emperor lived on.

"If your opponent is willing to stop at nothing to stop you, to torture, kill, and exile anyone that possibly would stand in opposition, if the rebellion is not willing to take those same measures, it will fail. The strength of the conviction of the leader and his followers is completely irrelevant if they are not willing to do anything and everything it takes to complete their work." He did seem to show some experience in his tone, but his face never changed from his usual bored expression.

Dolorosa frowns deeply at his accusations, she doesn't agree with anything that he had said. While, surely, she understands where he is coming from, she does not believe that violence is the answer.

"Violence only begets more violence. Torturing others to achieve peace is no way to go, it will only start a cycle of revenge. I truly believe that peaceful rebellion can overthrow an inherently evil system."

He didn't really react to her rebuttal. "All focusing on the correct methods will create is martyrs. The only way to truly achieve one's goal is to do whatever it takes to achieve it. Anything else is volunteering for the gallows." He didn't bother to assert his experience. Should she challenge it, he'd respond, but as far as he was concerned, it wasn't worth it.

"What makes you believe such a thing? Show me a world where violence doesn't cause more violence. If we were to do, using your words, whatever it takes, then how are we any better than they are?"

"Madam Headmistress, the evidence that my method is correct is the fact that I'm sitting here." There was a patronizing tone in his voice, but he pushed it aside. He didn't seem to care much about the fact he had an audience. His posture straightened, and suddenly the lazy, casual air he usually carried was gone. "You are looking at an individual that reshaped his own world into a more peaceful one. I come from a world not dissimilar to yours, with one imperialistic race taking over others. The exercise of Britannian strength was its own justification. Only the strong survive, the previous emperor called it.

"I met every Britannian act of aggression in kind. When Britannian, or any other army stood to use their force against innocent people, I placed myself and my own forces between them. Naturally, the war intensified. Such is its nature. I am not so delusional as to think my efforts did not take innocent lives. Some sacrifices were necessary. But, in the end, while those that will have the job of explaining the fall of the Britannian Empire will call me the most totalitarian, tyrannical, hegemonic Emperor the world has ever known, it is only because they will be able to say so from the greatest time of peace and cooperation the world has ever known."

"Just because your method proved useful in the world you are from does not mean that method will prove useful in every world. The social structures are different and so are the acts of violence and the technology, all of which influence the outcome and the minds of the people. You say you became the most hated but just because you are gone does not mean that all hate is gone."

"When that symbol of hatred is removed by an ally of the people and those people are later guided by those that have that kinder, gentler method that the world as a whole will rally behind, that world will never again be as it was. That will not be denied. The complete erasure of hatred is simply impossible.

"I am very familiar with details of your world beyond what you have presented to us. I would say our worlds are more similar than you expect, save for scale."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only