The rain fell heavily as its droplets pounded against the city concrete. Posters cluttered walls of establishments, apartments, telephone poles, and other such metropolitan structures. The posters ranged in all different colors, written in many languages to inform both human and alternian populations of the public's wishes. The posters called for an end to trolls; casting them out as demonic beings come to destroy Earth and all its inhabitants, ignorant to the fact that the same race they were attempting to eradicate was their creators. The entire scenario was utterly preposterous. The ignorance of such propaganda was enough to make any educated person sick to their stomachs. Unfortunately, the uninformed humans quickly embraced this common enemy, while the more educated and understanding humans either ran the bloodthirsty campaign or were persecuted for speaking out against such atrocities.
Rose Lalonde was on her way to another mandatory rally. They made her sick, but she rationalized that there was not much that she could do about the matter, considering the very realistic fact that one girl against the entire world would be difficult, and as of the present, the Campaign had not taken steps to ensure that their bloody genocide was taken into effect against innocent trolls. As of now, they were only empty promises and threats; nothing to get too upset or worried about.
Rose pulled her the hood of her purple cloak over her head, her long-sleeved black shirt sitting idly beneath. She wore black combat boots with a modest knee-length purple skirt accessorized only by her purple headband with conspicuous black rhinestones. She held her umbrella, adorned with cats, over her head as she followed the rest of the procession out to an amphitheatre, which in her mind was impractical, considering the unkind weather that was common in that geographic location. Nonetheless, she resolved to comply with the idiotic demand.
Although these assemblies were held on the prefix that all members of the city, human and troll alike, were to attend, as rallies continued on, the human population began to overwhelm the dissipating amount of trolls in the audience. For good reason, too. It had come to speculation that trolls were merely invited to such rallies for the sole purpose of antagonizing them. As soon as the rally would end, or sometimes in the middle of a rally, violence broke out between some poor troll who had "overstepped their boundaries". The ruling would always be in the favor of the human.
The last rally thrown by the Campaign had been interrupted by a young male troll. He yelled at the leader of the Campaign, who had yet to reveal himself to the public, that they did not respect the hemospectrum. He ranted about how someone such as himself could possibly be persecuted. To put it simply, the humans could care less about any aspect of troll culture. The interruption was regarded as rude and completely uncalled for. Violence broke out. In the end, the trolls blood had been revealed to be purple. The humans had managed to kill a prince with not so much as a miniscule punishment in place.
At this memory, Rose drew her own purple hood downward a bit more. Was she scared of the Campaign? In all honesty; she didn't know. They posed no threat to her or her safety, however if they did they could do powerful things that could very well result in her imminent death. Rose Lalonde kept to herself on most matters. In her opinion, equality would have been the best answer to all this nonsense, but such words were best kept unsaid. She often times would watch trolls and the harassment bestowed upon them with pity…and then she would walk away and try to erase the image from her mind.
Once, she heard tale of an uprising. Some secret group referred to as the Order. The Order possessed members of both the troll and human race; their goal was equality for all. Rose's brother, Dave, had once talked about joining. They held the same beliefs that equality and unity amongst the races would make for a better society, but even those conversations kept in confidence occurred sparsely and, if at all, through notes that were shredded and burned within seconds of ending, and in that case, hardly the beginning of the conversation. Dave almost went off to join the Order, but it did not take long before the location of the Order was discovered, and all members were tried.
Members of the troll race faced either torture or immediate death. The leader, a troll named Karkat Vantas, was publicly executed in the middle of a raging speech that seemed to penetrate the armor of even some of the most zealous followers. However, once the guillotine was brought down upon his head, and the candy red blood flowed, those words only hung in the air and died with his voice. Public execution of resistance groups had become a common occurrence, however, the human members of these groups would simply disappear. Gossip suggested an equally fitting death was bestowed upon them just like their alien counterparts, however, more gruesome talk rumored slavery, torture, and even assimilation for those who were adept in strategy or skill.
As the mass of people began to thicken into a crowd, Rose Lalonde made her way to the vanguard of the human mass. She did not enjoy these speeches, but she had been under suspicion for some time. Children, and even people at her institution, had begun to spread rumors about her resistance against the Campaign. Even her professors had begun to read into her assignments as sarcastically symbolic remarks to leaders of the Campaign, or the very cause itself. Though completely true; it was best not to put oneself out like such. The equivalence would be like drawing a red target on oneself and begging for a merciless beating.
Rose settled into position, and prepared for a long, digressing lecture on the subject of trolls and their inferiority. She would not take any of it to heart, and mentally subjugate the proceedings to critical abuse. Rose began to smile slightly, the sides of her black lips almost creating a smirk. An assistant dressed in all white took the stage. On a black stool, in front of a microphone, he placed a small black and brown radio-type box. From this box was transmitted the words of their fearless, unnamed, invisible leader. Rose smirked again. Fearless? I suppose the word could be used to describe one who cowers behind the safety of a box in some unknown location, completely void of threat, she thought sarcastically.
"My fellow citizens of…," the voice began to speak. The speech continued to progress, the normal routine script of words that began each and every meeting. Rose looked around her. Nothing out of the ordinary. She had never stood in the front before. Rose normally preferred to stand in the middle for strategic purposes. If you stood in the front, it could be assumed you were a firm believer of the Campaign and their creed, however, if you stood in the back you were considering heretical. The entire gathering was like a double-edged sword.
Beside Rose stood a girl, also cloaked head to toe. Her cloak was heavy, wrapping her in dark green. Her hands drew the cloak shut with white gloved hands. She was looking down so that her face was hidden. The raindrops ran off her cloak and had the leader not been in the middle of his speech, Rose would have offered her sanction under her umbrella.
The mystery of the girl intrigued Rose. She seemed a puzzle, one Rose was determined to solve. Her thought was interrupted with the screams and cheers of faithful followers. Rose had not even paid attention to what the man had said. She thought it may be time she began to listen in once more. Unwillingly, she turned her gaze from the girl in green back to the box.
The voice continued with,"-nd. It is time for us, as the rightful rulers of this Earth…OUR Earth, to usurp our power back into our hands. My fellow humans, it is time for us to exterminate the alien scum! My friends, nay, my brothers and sisters, it is time to rise up!"
A loud uproar went through the crowd.
The assistant in white turned off the box.
Then chaos ensued.