ataraxion | 2 [Voice

How can people be so idle when there is so much at stake at your inaction?

[It's quiet. The past jump has not been kind to Marius. In fact, he sounds positively unsettled, almost as if he needs to just go to sleep and not talk to the public at large, but he needs to do something and this is the only way he can make his heart less heavy.]

We are slaves here to the whim of individuals we cannot even see, to those we cannot even meet, and -- I cannot keep quiet about it any longer.

[He draws in a breath.]

I know there will be much discussion about why we are here and whether or not we can escape -- and I am interested in hearing all of that, but what I am more interested in is opinion. I want to hear what people feel about being here, be it anger or apathy, rather than the facts of our situation, for nothing has ever been changed with cruel numbers and statistics so much as heart.

[And he stills for a long moment before Marius shuts off the feed -- and, maybe twenty minutes later, he sends out a text.]

[Filtered Away from Enjolras]

What can be done about nightmares?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

And innocents died after. You will not deny that Bonaparte was a warmonger.

You also cannot deny that he unified a splintered France underneath one banner -- and ended the unnecessary bloodshed within our country to bring about a new age.

His dismissal from France sparked our current predicament.

No history book has called his France a utopia.

Do you believe what you read so blindly?

Does that mean you claim it was? Do you claim that under his rule, no one starved? All men were equal, with none above any other? No one was killed through violence?

A perfect utopia does not exist. It cannot, not as long as human nature is prevalent and strong in this world.

But the Revolution flourished underneath his command. People were fed -- wealth was distributed. We were not bloodily slaughtering one another in the streets because we could not afford bread.

Was it perfect, non, of course not. But Rome was not built in a day. It was a stepping stone toward a greater good that was ended as soon as the monarchy rose again.

Sir, poverty and hunger is systemic. One man didn't cause it; bloodshed can't solve it.

Speaking out against the King ends in death. A man can be sent to prison for twenty years for stealing food to survive -- and there is no way to reverse the decision. People are enslaved every single day for petty crimes when murderers walk the streets.

One man has the power to stop it and make proper change, and he is not doing anything. He has the power to make a real shift in the social system. And he will not.

Shocking, considering the eloquence of the people calling for his death.

Disturbing, that his people have been pressed to such outburst because of his own selfish greed.

So you remove responsibility from those who perpetrated violence and move it to their target, do you?

If you wish to rule a country, then rule it fairly and justly. Do not starve your people in order to pay for the rings upon your fingers.

A lesson to be given in blood? Truly?

Petitioning was a miserable failure.

So tell me, Mr. Pontmercy, will you rise in armed rebellion here?

[Hrm.]

Do you think it necessary?

Of course not!

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