scra deacon and neekia approaching corvid warehouse. crowds are trickling past them.
N: this is stupid. This is stupid. (To deacon) why did you bring him? Why did i let you bring him??
S: no one brought me, im here because if i can do something then im going to.
N: yes, but you wont be able to do anything if you’re taken out from behind. You can’t trust any of these Corvids, not when they’re all this riled up.
S: who can blame them though? Reiks done his best to whip them into this frenzy, and the Governments oppression of them solidified the rest. This was always gonna happen. Now we’ve just gotta do our best to help them see they’re playing right into the Government’s plans.
D: It’s gonna be an uphill battle, at any rate. Stick close. Get ready for the glares. We’re still BlackAsh, and if they don’t rip us limb from limb for that, then they will when they hear what we have to say. Stay on guard, but no one’s getting through me to get to you.
S: what? you would’ve left me to the Sallies on all those Magpie hunts if I hadn’t run fast enough. Why the change of heart?
D: because you are our King. Those training missions were just training. This here is real danger, and worse - it’s coming from inside the house. The Crow King won’t be killed by his own kind, not on my watch.
S: Deacon, you know all that King shit is irrelevant, right? I’m not here for that, I’m here to try stop a war from breaking out.
D: And how better to do it than show them what a real leader can look like?
S: Leader - I’m not a -
[Twik appears through the crowd, gaping]
T: Scra! Buddy! W-what are you doing here?? And you two - BlackAsh are on Reik’s shitlist right now, why are you riskin’ it for a rally?
S: Because this is the last chance to convince people not to follow him, or they’ll probably die.
T: well when you put it like that… It’s not pretty in there right now, but -
N: Take us to Reik, we’ll try install some sense into him before he goes on stage.
T: it’s too late for that, and I’ve heard he’s in an awful mood - I don’t think there’ll be any convincing him now.
D: then there’s no choice. We’re going in.
[person on stage hyping crowd as they start chanting “Reik! Reik!”
hypeman: Give it up for the King of Corvids - Reik!
[reik comes forward and takes the mic, the crowd goes crazy. Some are filming on their phones]
Reik: We’re here! We’re doin’ it! There’re some assholes out there that said it couldn’t be done - but we’re gonna prove ‘em wrong! This here is the largest Corvid gatherin’ in Island history! Some of y’all flew in from hidin’ all over for this and we’re thankful to have ya. Some others got stuck on the other side of the dome, so they’re lyin’ in wait, ready to join us! We’re tired ain’t we? tired of being shit on - tired of being treated like scum. Well I'm here to tell ya, that’s all about to change! Because we’re gonna fight for ourselves! Fight back against everyone who shoved us down here to rot! They thought we’d just lie back and take it real nice and quiet-like, but they were dead wrong! We’re here. We’re ready. The Government ain’t gonna know what hit ‘em!
[the crowd screams, reik grins. his grin drops when scra steps forwards].
Scra: To what end, though?
Reik: (squints) what was that, pipsqueak?
Scra: What’s the endgame here? You beat the Government, take back the Island - then what?
Reik: [laughs] what’d’you mean? Then we’ll be the ones at the top!
Scra: so, what - you’ll just flip the hierarchy? Eagles at the bottom?
Reik: Obviously - see how those assholes like it -
Scra: and then you’ll just wait until they rebel, rise up, and flip it back again? Forever?
Reik: Nah, we’ll never give ‘em the chance -
Scra: You’ll never get that far.
Reik: [sneers] you hear this? we’ve got an Eagle-licker right here folks!
Scra: I’ve seen their weapons, Reik. I was at one of their schools for months, undercover. One military school holds more students than there are Corvids in this room. And that’s just a school. They have a whole military force, numbers you’ll never see, not by yourselves.
Reik: “by yourselves” - I know where this is goin’. I’ll admit, I thought you’d be here tryin’ to stop us, not convince us to join your half-assed Resistance. You underground bug-eaters stand even less of a chance, even with you traitor BlackAsh helpin’. You ain’t got nothin’ to say that’ll change our minds. This is the only chance to set things right, we ain’t wastin’ it by teamin’ up and havin’ to share the spoils.
S: What if this isn’t the only way of changing your lives?
R: what do ya -
S: There’s a world outside of this Island. I’ve been there. Your parents, or grandparents, most likely came from there. Off this Island, there is no hierarchy. You would have the same opportunities as everyone else to make something of yourself. You wouldn’t need to fight for them.
[crowd mutters “off-island?” “no hierarchy?” Reik sweats]
R: H-he said it himself! He was there chummin’ around with ‘em! He works for those Eagles, just like his old Boss, and you see where that got ‘im! Locked away, to be used as the grand finale in their little party plans as I hear it! They’re nothin’ but liars, the lot of ‘em, sent down here to shut us up! Get them outta here already!
[the crowd starts shoving at them, pushing them towards the door. Deacon and Neekia try to shield Scra from them. ]
S: you’re making a mistake! Your only choices for change are to fight with the Resistance or leave the Island! Please believe us!
crowd: who does he think he is/ just a fledgling/ nobody / BlackAsh /
neekia: we’re leaving now, come on -
[a bang sounds from the rafters. paper starts drifting down. people pick them up and look at scra. Deacon grabs one out of the air, shows it to scra. it’s copies of the newspaper clipping from avarie, showing him as the Crow King.]
S: who did -
[reik has grabbed one and is laughing at it]: a King! That twerp?! Now you know he was just spittin’ lies, who’d follow that loser? Ha!
D: I do. I follow him.
[crowd mutters: Cyras’s right hand / deadliest Murder]
D: In fact, I came here with my parents, to this Island, to look for his mother, the Crow Princess of Avarie. Some of you did the same. We did so because we were loyal to her, to her family, who had been ruthlessly murdered by the Director’s own mother. As the years went by we lost hope - but here is our hope once again. War just leads to more war. It will not end. I will follow this King to a new life, and not my own death as the rest of you will if you listen to that idiot on stage. Think for yourselves, and consider the integrity of someone who would kill their own Boss to gain power. good luck to you.
[the crowd parts as they leave. Reik holds his tattooed arm, ouotraged. Twik watches them with a sad smile. The three of them walk in silence for a bit, scra looking up at the light dome above, unable to see the stars]
S: you dont even like me, Deacon. Why endorse me that thoroughly. I told you I have no actual plans to be King.
D: we needed something inspiring so I improvised. i didnt lie, though. cyras put his faith in you, and that’s good enough for me, whether you want to go all the way with it or not. Crows look out for their own, so we had to do what we could to get them to listen, but it’s up to them in the end.
S:...I’ve heard that saying before. You said you came here from Avarie, you don’t know a Lord Eldwode do you?
D: You met my uncle, then.
S: Uncle!
D: I was an Eldwode then, when we came over. My parents founded the Eldwode Murder, a Murder whose only interest was finding the missing Princess, not power. Pak and Neekia’s parents were members too. I left before her mother found you, though. My parents had been killed in a senseless Murder scuffle they wanted no part in, and I had joined Cyras and become a Fraxigra. Of course I was young and angry and had believed my parents dream-chasing fools, but Cyras told me he was looking for her too, and somehow his way of going about it made more sense to me. We heard your egg had been found, so he did all in his power to protect you, while never giving up the search for your mother.
S:...Your uncle misses you all, you know. He doesn’t know about you, or your parents.
D: perhaps I will find him, when this is all over. If he wanted me to.
S: He would.
[the’ve reached the border. neekia uses the device lars gave her to dismantle a hole in the lasers while dodging a guard patrol]
N: As fun as this little field trip has been, I really don’t look forward to Cepni’s face when we tell her we’ve failed.
D: we knew it would end like this, but we also knew we had to try anyway. We’ll have to continue preparation for battle without them, and hope all of our worst-case scenarios don’t come to pass.
This is it! The last ep I need to finish before the comic can start uploading again! How daunting, but it's prob been long enough at this point ey lmao