Secondary

inkdragon

Understandably Confused
@BrookeDi

Dominic paced the small meeting room restlessly as people started to filter in. He didn't know how they could stroll to their seats so casually, how they could talk about the new movie coming out that weekend, how they could ignore the energy that crackled through the air. This was it. Rebellion was here, now. It had been brewing for years, always seemingly right on the horizon, but with the word from Washington that all Secondaries were to be relocated to governmentally decided "living communities," Dominic knew they had hit a tipping point. The people - his people - would not stand for this blatant infringement on their rights. They might have grit their teeth and played along with the marriage laws, with the curfew, with the slurs and sideways glances, but none of them could ignore something this big and immediate. It was finally time to do something real for the Secondary Rights Movement, something the government couldn't ignore. It was time to fight back, and Dominic Kingston had never been more ready. So why the hell was everyone moving so damn slowly?

The young half-dwarf scanned the room. A couple other mixed-race, he saw, at least one woman with elf blood, a couple in the corner who looked to be part dwarf, like himself. For the most part, the room looked to be filled with humans. Maybe there were a couple sympathizers there, but it looked like he had a room of casters to work with. Alright. It wasn't ideal. Dominic was of the mind that no matter how bad it got, a human spellcaster would never truly understand what it was like to be mixed. After all, they had grown up "normal." They had been able to fit in, until their powers had developed. And with practice, they could still almost blend in, if it weren't for the registry. Yes, they were all Secondary, they shared one fight, but casters came from such a different place it had always been harder for Dominic to connect with them. Still, he would make do. By the time he left this meeting, Dominic was sure the revolution would be underway.

As the crowd finally settled down and into their seats, Dominic rapped his desk with his knuckles to get their attention. He stood, drawing himself to his full height. Even if his height itself wasn't intimidating, Dominic had long ago learned that power came from attitude, not centimeters. "Thank you for coming, everyone." He smiled grimly out at the assembly. "I know this is short notice, and I appreciate your cooperation. As you all know, our situation is slightly more pressed for time than it has been in the past."

He walked around the front of the desk as he spoke. "You've all heard the news. Relocation. We, you and I, are a danger to our current communities and must be contained. For the safety of the public." Here he snorted. "It will also make us easier to track, easier to monitor, easier to control. But we all know that's only an added perk, don't we?" Sarcasm dripped from his tone and he slammed his fist down on the desk once more. "We won't stand for this! We can no longer afford to stand for it! This is a test. If we don't hold our ground now, we never will. And they will know they can take whatever they want from us, because we will let them." Dominic looked out across the room, eyes bright and hard with determination. "Ladies and gentlemen, we are here today to take the next big step for Secondary Rights. We are here to demand that which is rightfully ours."
 
The invite had come in the form of a receipt. She'd been serving a couple; they were casters, both of them, but it had taken her a second to sense their magic. They were either new or good at hiding. They both had coffee, toast, and two scrambled eggs. Simple and quick. They paid in cash but had left the receipt and tip on her table. Scrawled on the back of the receipt had been the time, date, and location, and "Revolution". She'd known what it was, immediately, and her heart had skipped. The secrecy meant something bigger, people were beginning to take this seriously.

In the backroom of the community center, Olivia scanned the crowd. It was a smaller gathering than she had expected and she tried not to show her disappoint. With how many people she knew worked on protests, angry rebellions, and lobbying she thought more would have shown up. Perhaps... yes, it was the fear. She knew that the new laws... everyone knew things were changing and it was becoming more and more dangerous for them. They were too scared to fight. To her right her roommate Sandra was talking her ear off. Olivia was hardly listening. She was impatient to begin and walked away mid conversation when it looked like they were finally getting ready to start. After a beat, Sandra followed and they found seats somewhere in the middle.

The dark haired elf studied the speaker. Dominic. She'd heard his name, here and there. She knew he was just as passionate as she was about the cause (and if she hadn't, she knew now), but the rumor was that he was a bit of a hot head. He had a more aggressive approach toward their push for more rights, she'd just never heard the specifics.

Dominic finished his speech and there was a short pause. "How exactly do we demand it?" Sandra spoke up and Olivia pulled a face, ashamed. This is why she usually left her roommate to her own devices and focused on her own agenda when they went to rallies and protests and the like. "Let him talk," she hissed, in annoyance but Sandra didn't seem to notice, instead looking up at their speaker in question. Silly human.
 
Dominic had hoped for a more, well, enthusiastic response from his audience. This was supposed to be a meeting of the loudest voices in the Sec rights movement. They were the front lines, pushing into the unknown for their rights and the rights of those to come. Where were the shouts of agreement, the dozens all clamoring over each other to pitch in?

He gave a confused chuckle at the question from the human woman on the side of the room. Did she not understand the purpose of this meeting? "We will demand our freedom the way countless peoples have before us, of course. Rebellion." The word was met by a murmur of conversation. Throughout the room, Dominic saw heads nodding, but he also saw the frowns, the concerned glances, the skeptical looks. "Listen to me. We are not the first people in the world to do this, and we will not be the last. The only reason we live the way we do is because we have allowed it to happen, through our own passiveness! We have the numbers for a revolution now, but every year we stand fewer. Our people are being driven to extinction as we wait and watch and hope things will get better. We are by definition sub-citizens. Things are not getting better." He looked the woman right in the eye. "We will demand our rights, and if they are not given to us, we will take them by force."

As he spoke, the talking in the room got louder and louder, more and more people arguing in hushed voices among themselves. By the time he finished, the room was abuzz with activity, and he smacked the desk with his hand again trying to settle it some.
 
Olivia nodded her head, semi in agreement. A rebellion was necessary, but it didn't necessarily have to be by force. Ideas were already churning in her head. She could picture large protests at the capitol, a sit-in surrounding the White House, thousands of protestors marching the streets of Boston. She felt herself smile, just a little, and then her thoughts were interrupted by the pounding on the table, again.

The room was still filled with whispers but it had settled, half looking toward Dominic expectantly. She raised her hand, waiting to be acknowledged. She addressed those gathered; "We need to get our voices heard. For too long we have been ignored, pushed aside, beaten down. Now they want to force us into "communities", herding us like cattle!" There were a few murmurs of agreement. Perhaps this crowd wouldn't be so bad of a start, after all. "Mr. Kingston is right, we can not stand idly by," not that she had been idle in years, "and we cannot let our brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, and uncles be bystanders anymore. Our numbers are dwindling, but we have enough to fight to prove we deserve the same rights even as secondaries." She spat the last word; second, less then, beneath. There were a few more murmurs and then the crowd looked expectantly back at Dominic and Olivia took her seat. She didn't quite agree with taking it by force, but for the moment the group was engaged, hyped. She was positive with the right tactic, Dominic's plan of force would not be necessary.
 
Grinning at Olivia's small speech, Dominic nodded, eyes shining at the idea. "Can you imagine it? What it will be like, after? We'll have the freedom to live our lives the way we want to, the way we watch the rest of the world live theirs. We won't be forced to stand on the sidelines of this country anymore. Our existence is not something shameful or wrong, and we will no longer accept being told it is from people who don't understand." His face took on a sharper note. "The only reason we are dangerous is they have made us to be."

A human man who had looked mildly uncomfortable as Dominic and Olivia had been speaking cleared his throat. Dominic looked over, nodding at him to speak, and he rose from his seat. "Mr. Kingston, I'm not sure all of us are comfortable with this idea of a revolution." He looked around, seeing a couple nodding heads, and continued, emboldened. "We need to stand up for ourselves and our families, yes, but by resorting to violence, we make ourselves the monsters they claim we are. I work at a gas station. I'm a writer. I'm a father and a husband. I'm not a soldier, and I don't want to become one. I don't want my wife to, either. My son shouldn't have to see us become killers. That's what revolution would mean, and behind all your grand speeches of liberty and freedom, you know it, too."

Dominic's jaw tensed. He had known he would get this argument. The problem was, the man had a point. Resorting to force was sure to hurt everyone involved, but at this point, he saw it as the only option. "If we don't stand now, when will we?" he challenged. "We've been saying 'someday, someday' for years now, and the only change we've seen is tighter restrictions, more rules, and harsher penalties for breaking them. The window for peaceful protest has closed. We will never free ourselves by playing within their rules. It is well past time we begin to play our own game, rather than remain dragged along in theirs. None of us here wanted violence, but they have driven us here themselves."
 
Olivia stood, again. She hadn't planned on speaking again, but she couldn't resist. "Revolution doesn't have to mean violence," she countered. "It just means we aren't going to sit and take the abuse any longer." She glanced around at the gathered group, many of whom looked uneasy. "We need to be active; push reform, discourse breeds change." She turned to Dominic, "If we try to force them, then we will become exactly what they have made us out to be and we lose hope of making any change. If we force them to accept us, they might. Grudgingly, the laws might change but will they be enforced? You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the old obsolete. We need acceptance just as much as we need change." She addressed the room at large once more, "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter. We have to speak up!"

She took a breath and surveyed the responses of those gathered. Some were taking in her message, she could tell. She address the man who had spoken up, directly. "You don't want to become a solider, you don't want you children to see you become a killer. You don't have to answer violence with violence; you don't have to be a soldier, but neither should you sit idly by so that others can remain comfortable. Don't you want your child to have a better life?"
 
Before the man could reply, Dominic broke in. "But we have been pushing reform!" he snapped, temper getting the best of him for the moment. "We've been rallying and protesting peacefully and raising awareness to our cause for years, and where has it gotten us? We're farther from equality than we were a decade ago. We try to write our viewpoints and we get censored, or our reputations slandered so badly no one reading will take us seriously no matter what we say. We can theoretically run for local office, but nothing higher than that, and it isn't like a Sec candidate would ever be taken seriously anyway. Half of us have never even finished high school. I don't want to be a soldier, either, but the battle has come to us."
In the silence after his rant, Dominic forced his temper back under control. Here was where he needed to use diplomacy, ironically enough. "All I'm saying is, what more can we do that we haven't already been doing, short of full on revolution? If we wait too long, we may no longer have the numbers, the rights, or the will to resist later."
 
Olivia let out a frustrated breath. "We haven't been doing enough," she countered unwilling, at this point, to give someone else a chance to speak. "We have an annual march--and the numbers for that are laughable--and we are constantly lobbying for reform. We need to be bigger. We need to get as many Secs as possible to sit outside the White House gates where the President can hear our voice. We need an unregistered Caster to get voted into office. We need to encourage Secs to run in local elections. They probably won't be taken seriously, at first, but no one has bothered trying in the last century." She inhaled deeply through her nose and eyed Dominic, "A revolution is one-hundred percent necessary, but a revolution does not have to equate to violence!"
 
"Maybe it should!" he shot back, anger finally getting the best of him. "They're killing us already, Ms. Moore, they aren't waiting for us to start. And I'm not just talking about the police brutality. How many of us work jobs in conditions that would never pass health and safety inspection for human workers? Who in this room has decent health insurance, or any at all, for that matter?" The betrayal burned hot in his chest. These people were supposed to be on his side, damn it! He shouldn't have to be fighting a battle to get to the battle itself. "I'm not saying we go assassinate the President or anything ridiculous. We don't need to be soldiers, this doesn't need to be a war. But I am saying that when they come to evict us, we refuse to leave. And when they try and force us, we do what we need to to stay put."
 
She felt her face growing heated but she breathed, reminding herself to listen. The only way to have a useful discussion is if both parties actively listened... "Why didn't you start with that to begin with?" Out of the corner of her eye she saw Sandra nodding beside her. "Refusing to give up our homes, that's reasonable." She'd calmed considerably since he'd started his speech. "When you called this meting to order, though, you made it seem like we'd be fighting in the streets." Olivia looked Dominic square in the eye, "We have a common enemy right now. The more we argue among ourselves, the less we get done. When they come to 'escort' us from my apartment, I won't be going anywhere." It was a small thing, in the grand scheme, but it was a starting point for the rebellion.

She took her seat, then. Her and Dominic were working for the same goal, she had to remind herself, they just had different views on how to get there. That's okay. That doesn't make him an enemy, right? Right. Deep breath.

Another woman piped up, "What about those of us with children?" You're mistake, Olivia thought, bitterly, but then chided her internal monologue. "You can't expect us to resist being moved when there are children in the home?"
 
Of course, Dominic didn't want to suggest they start with an assassination attempt. He needed to get his foot in the door first with the idea of resistance using physical force. Laroque would come, someday, and Dominic would be there to celebrate when the resistance finally took that step. For now, though, he knew they had to start small. Once he had people willing to actually fight, they could work up to bigger things. Patience would be key here. He had always hated being patient.

When the woman asked about families with children, Dominic had to hold his tongue against saying something that would alienate at least half his audience. He didn't consider himself to be a pessimist in most things, but a realist. And realistically speaking, he couldn't fathom why anyone would willingly bring a Sec child into their current world. He knew his mother had loved him, yes, but he had seen the pain in her eyes when he hadn't been allowed on the high school varsity football team, when his articles were rejected from the school paper, when he had come home with a pile of college brochures and she had sat him down to gently explain why it wasn't a possibility for them. Dominic had never even considered children in his future. It would bring nothing but hurt.

"Families should do nothing to endanger the lives of their children," he answered, albeit a bit reluctantly. "Resist as long as possible, make it clear we stand as a united front, but of course their safety comes before anything else."
 
The woman was quieted by this solution. She wanted to be a part of the resistance, she did; her grandparents had talked about the freedoms they had when they were younger and had watched them taken away. A better life could be had, but she wasn't going to risk the lives of her children for a bet that things will improve if they resist.

Olivia checked her watch. The debating had already taken up nearly an hour and it was coming upon curfew. She glanced around the gathered room; this many people out after curfew, it didn't take a genius to understand what would happen next: Unlawful Assembly laws. Good. She wanted someone to take notice that they were not going to sit quietly by. Half the room looked to Dominic. Their first step had been decided: Resist the relocation, but then what?

"How long can we expect to resist?" A timid voice spoke up from the back. "Sure, when they come to move us we can refuse to leave. We can remain in our homes... but I'm a stock boy at a Walmart and my wife works at Starbucks; we can barely pay the bills as it is." A thin, wiry Caster in the back of the room had stood and was glancing around nervously. "I mean, I'm determined to stay where we are, but how realistic is it? The second we go to work, we'll be locked out, likely without any of our things." He was afraid of the loud man in the front of the room, and flinched before sitting after asking his question. There was a murmur of agreement. "I can't miss that much work," whispered someone in front of Olivia.

"Resist as long as possible." Olivia repeated Dominic's words, she didn't bother standing this time. "We're making a point."
 
Domenic noticed the way the crowd was getting more and more restless the closer they got to curfew, and he let out a sigh. "If you need to leave, go. The formal meeting is adjourned." He knew many people were still too scared to be caught out after hours. He himself was far past that fear. Sure, it had taken a couple wrong turns, a couple nights in lockup, but by trial and error, he had figured out the best ways to get around the city at night without being caught.

Still, while he had expected some people to leave, he hadn't counted on it being more than three quarters of the room. As the crowd quickly dispersed, dissolving into the night as though they were terrified to even be seen near each other, he caught Olivia's eye. The woman was proving to be a massive pain, what with her overly pacifistic attitude, but at least she had the guts to do something rather than sit around and watch as the world went to hell around her. Dominic could respect that, at the very least, even if he knew sooner or later she would be forced to accept the futility of further peaceful resistance.

"You're sure you don't want to run?" he asked, raising a brow as he crossed the room to perch on the desk next to Olivia's. Despite his general gruff demeanor, a playful light shone in his eyes. "Could get in a lot of trouble, breaking curfew laws." He stuck out a hand. "Dominic Kingston. We've never formally met. I'm familiar with your work."
 
As half the room scurried about Olivia sighed. The redhead next to her squeezed her hand and just a second later she was caught up in the small crowd exiting. Great, there went her ride.

Dominic came to sit nearby and she surveyed the man. The dwarf had a hot temper and an impatient attitude, but she was sure he would see that violence would only make the problem worse, not better. He was a potential, ally, though, so she would let his grand ideas be... for now. Olivia laughed at the light teasing, "I'm sure, I'm not worried about being in trouble." She eyed the dispersing crowd and mused out loud, "If we all stayed past curfew it's not like they would have enough room for an overnight lock up of all the secs." Then she shook her head; they would never go for it. The elf extended her hand to accept Dominic's, "Olivia Moore. I've heard of you as well; you're quite the troublemaker." It was said as a compliment.

All that remained of there already meager forces were about ten people clustered in smaller sets of two or three, murmuring amongst themselves. "It looks like we might need some growth." That's okay, getting people interested and invested--she was good at that.
 
Dominic chuckled. 'Quite the troublemaker.' That was one way to put it. "I try," he answered, waggling his eyebrows.

His smile didn't last, though, as he looked around the nearly empty room. "I know. And further along the line, that's something I want to see, Secs filling the streets protesting after curfew. But for now..." he sighed. "These people aren't all like us, with years of experience and involvement in the resistance movement. They lead after-church discussion groups, not nation-wide rebellions."

He didn't need to say why. More and more influential Sec rights activists were in lockup, the government getting antsy about the revolution they had to know was coming. They couldn't arrest anyone for peaceful protest- Secs still had that right, at least- but a drug bust? Easily framed, easily charged. That was another reason they were on a time crunch. Dominic knew that with his antics, he would all too soon find himself on their list. They needed to get the people moving. At the moment, it would be all too easy to cut the head off the resistance movement and kill it before it was even born. But if they could get the whole country angry, they could build something with enough momentum to really make a change. Even if Dominic himself wasn't around to see it. The people had more power than they realized, if they banded together.
 
She agreed with him. These were people who whispered about how they wished things could be better, these were not people who actively sought change. Showing up was promising, but they needed... More. "They're scared and they don't realize how important this is, how much worse it's going to get if we don't do something." It was going to be the biggest thing either of them ever did, she could feel it... hell, she could picture it.

"Small steps." It was a reminder for both of them, but mostly aimed at herself. In response to Dominic,"We just have to make them see the bigger picture." She checked her watch, ten more minutes and she'd be past curfew. "Thanks for calling this meeting. Its... a start." A rough one, albeit, but they were getting people motivated.

She had an idea, but she wasn't sure how much it would do. There was a blogger who often spoke out about social issues regarding the Secs. No one knew who wrote the blog--and it often changed servers as the government tried to shut it down--but everyone in Olivia's circles read it. If it reached enough people... they could cast a wider net and get larger numbers. "The Anarchist." She whispered, without even realizing she'd spoken. It was the name of the blog.
 
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"The Anarchist?" Dominic knew of it, of course. Everyone involved in the resistance did. "You have contacts who write there?" He leaned in, suddenly excited. No major news source would print a Secondary sympathetic article, so spreading their message of rebellion would be difficult... unless they had a platform they fully controlled.

There were rumors about the writers, of course. That they had holed up in a secret bunker on the Canadian border - probably false. That they were constantly on the run from the authorities - probably true. But no one really knew anything solid about their identities. It was safer that way, Dominic supposed. The fewer people who were in on a secret the fewer people could give it away.
 
"Not directly," She admitted, making a face. "But I know someone who does and she'd be able to get into contact with them." She looked toward Dominic, gauging his reaction. It was the easiest way to reach people who would be more like us, more willing to fight in the revolution.

"It would take... maybe a week or two before I'd hear back, but I can definitely make the request." Her eyes were beginning to shine with excitement; this was really happening.
 
Dominic nodded. He really didn't know Olivia Moore, and he certainly didn't know her contact, so he had to stay realistic. While ties to The Anarchist were exactly what their movement needed in its infancy, he had long ago sworn off getting excited about something still up in the air. Still, the thought was promising, and if anyone had ties to the mysterious blogger, it would be someone like Olivia. She and he were the same in some ways, he mused. While he didn't really know who she was or where she came from, he knew what really mattered. She was willing to devote her life to the liberation of their kind. As far as that went, they had everything in common, and in Dominic's mind, the will to resist against nigh-impossible odds went farther than anything else.

His watch beeped at him. Five minutes to curfew. "How far is your apartment?" he asked. "Was that your ride that left, with the rest of them?" Dominic couldn't tell how much experience Olivia truly had on the wrong side of the law - not that there really was a right side for a Secondary, he amended the thought with bitter humor. He didn't want to imply the young woman was incapable of seeing herself home, but he also didn't want to leave her on her own only to find she needed to be bailed from lockup in the morning. At this point, it was likely too late for her to make it back in time, although if she lived close enough she might be able to make the trip. Dominic would be sneaking back to his own apartment, but he didn't mind. Being a little reckless was good for him, it got his blood pumping and his spirits high. There was nothing more satisfying than living life his own way right under the noses of the authorities.
 
She was busy thinking about how to reach out to an old friend--she was hoping that the call would be positive--that she almost missed Dominic's question. "Oh, about forty-five minutes by bus, fifteen by car." She would have to risk taking the bus; it wouldn't be a fun walk. Drivers were usually Secs anyway that she could probably get away with it. She had her work permit, of course, but without her uniform it wouldn't be of much use.

"Yes, my roommate." She made a face, "She's terrified of making curfew." She checked her own watch. She wasn't worried about making curfew, but they also had only so much time in this borrowed space. "I should be on my way. Thanks, again, for setting this up. It's about time people took this more seriously." She shook her head of curls and gathered up her bag before standing. "Oh! Before I forget, let me get your e-mail so I can let you know when I hear back from my friend, about The Anarchist." She dug through her bag and found a pen and an un-used napkin, handing it over to Dominic.
 
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