twelve ♓ video;

[cullscuttlefish]

[Feferi clears her throat, when the feed comes on. And she's grinning. The other noticeable thing about her? Her hair. She wears flowers in it pretty often, but now, the green leaves of the multicolored blossoms are more prominent than the actual flowers.]

I'm Feferi Peixes, and it's sing-along time, Tower. This one's straight from the files of protest songs that my ancestor - some of you remember the Condesce - well, she had a bunch of songs banned. Her heiresses were expected to know them, so they could have anyone singing them killed.

I think it's time to break that rule entirely.

[She clears her throat. Anyone who is at all familiar with musicals? You'll recognize the tune of 'Do You Hear the People Sing'. It crossed worlds.]

Do you hear the sufferers sing?
Singing the songs of angry men
It is a music of a race that won't be
Beaten down again

When the blood rushing through your veins
Echoes the honking of the horns

You'll know there's an end to all the pain
Come tomorrow morn

[No. Feferi pauses. The words...they need changing.]

I'm sorry. Let me just...this is gonna be off the cuff from now on, forgive me. But I can't just sing the version the Condesce banned. It's not right.

Will you join in our crusade?
Who will be strong and stand with me?
When all this glamour fades, is there a world you've longed to see?
Then join in the fight that will give us the right to be free!

Do you hear this Tower sing?
Singing a song that's writ in green
It is a music of a people
Stronger than you've ever seen

When the beating of your heart
Starts to be more than you can take
Show them you're strong, and play your part
I know you won't break!

Will you give all you can give,
So that the admins can't advance?
If we fall, or cry? We'll live -
it's up to you to take your chance!

Our blood, sweat, and tears will bring forth our resolve - that's our stance!

Do you hear this Tower sing?
Singing a song that's writ in green
It is a music of a people
Stronger than you've ever seen

When the beating of your heart
Starts to be more than you can take
Show them you're strong, and play your part
I know you won't break!

...for Sayaka. For everyone who's left this place. And for us.

Comments

[video]

[fuhgeddaboudit]

[have a cheerful girl applauding with metallic hands.]

That was real nice, Feferi. You got a great voice, too.

[video]

[cullscuttlefish]

Thanks, Labrys. And ahaha, really? I feel like I haven't had a reason to sing in a long time, so I was worried about it being off.

I'm glad I broke the song out of where it got banned, though. My ancestor's rules said 'you're not supposed to sing it because it'll get people riled up too much', but I think right now, that's exactly what we should be doing. Everyone's been sad, but there's still a lot to fight for. And if a song reminds them? Then it's not a bad thing.

[video]

[fuhgeddaboudit]

[Nodnodnod.]

You're right. I mean, a lotta people are gonna want t' just quit now, but that ain't gonna help nothin'. We gotta fight now more than ever, don't ya think?

[Video.]

[hystericull]

[Now that the glamour was back up, it was easier for Gamzee to sort his thoughts, and it was easier to lose himself in the numbness that was sopor and the dull glow of the network terminals. His back ached, his ass was numb, his neck had a crick in it, and he had been in this god-forsaken sitting position far too long. He had found a few more moments to spare before moving, however, to fix his eyes on the girl singing here, letting the old song fall on purple-tinged ears that flicked with every high note and had the occasional bout of tuning out - which had nothing to do with the pleasantness of her performance, and all to do with the modus operandi of this particular boy.]

[When she began to change the words, however, a cruel grin cracked between his dry, painted lips, and his own feed flicked on in response a few moments after she had finished.]

Much all was to be motherfuckin' partial to the begginingmost parts for what's you was up and sirening at.

Sing all again to a brother the bits about the honk horns, fucking won't you?

[Video.]

[cullscuttlefish]

...only because you're asking nicely.

Do you hear the sufferers sing?
Singing the songs of angry men
It is a music of a race that won't be
Beaten down again

When the blood rushing through your veins
Echoes the honking of the horns

You'll know there's an end to all the pain
Come tomorrow morn

Will you help us in our breach?
Who will be STRONG and stand with me?
Beyond the Condesce' reach, is there a world you want to see?
Then join in the fight that will make us all equal and free!

Do you hear the sufferers sing?
Singing the songs of angry men
It is a music of a race that won't be
Beaten down again

When the blood rushing through your veins
Echoes the honking of the horns

You'll know there's an end to all the pain
Come tomorrow morn

Will you give all you can give
So that this cause, it can advance
Break your teeth, your horns, your claws
Just don't think twice, this is your chance

The blood 'cross the spectrum will water the plants in Troll France!

Do you hear the sufferers sing?
Singing the songs of angry men
It is a music of a race that won't be
Beaten down again

When the blood rushing through your veins
Echoes the honking of the horns

You'll know there's an end to all the pain
Come tomorrow morn

[hystericull]

[Her starting again had Gamzee sitting up a little bit more, cracking out the tension in his neck and resting his chin in both hands, this time. As she sang, he'd take a few dribbles of slime to his tongue, but nothing overindulgent. It just made the melody swim a little longer around the skin of his ears. Made it make colors behind his eyes.]

[He dwelt mostly on the pictures of carnage the song painted, and less on the promise of revolution. In his mind, victory would follow soon in carnage's wake, so the extra bits about freedom and gaining what you longed for seemed frivolous and unnecessary. If the song were to be improved upon, he'd fashion it into a full war song than anything attempting to predict the favorable and peaceful outcome of an altercation.]

[It was something he'd maybe offer his two cents on at a later time, but for now, he enjoyed giving Feferi all of the verbal elbows to the ribs as he could. The chirpy demeanor she usually held was undoubtedly one she was not-wrongly and not-uncommonly associated with, but the furrow of her brow and brutal honesty he'd seen her capable of was far more interesting to him, and the sole reason for his constant, obnoxious needling.]

Ain't no doubt in my motherfuckin' thinkpan what that you ain't be havin' an ill set of gillpipes fashioned at that nugbone yours, girl.

[That was a compliment. Here, take it.]

Gotta be gettin' my mirthful inquiry on at old lady Peixes in the matters of motherfuckin' layin' the censorship down on trivial noise such as what that fuckin' is.

Ain't seem none like no motherfuckin' fruity flowery stanzas gonna up and snuff out no fucking highbloods just by soundin' pretty, you motherfuckin' know?

video

[terreifying]

[Rei is clapping loudly in response to the song.]

That's some awesome singing, Feferi!

video

[cullscuttlefish]

Thanks, Rei! I should rewrite the first verse, too, so it's all complete...wait. No, I don't need to do that. The chorus comes first, after all!

Re: video

[terreifying]

What's so bad about the song, though? Why did that Condesce person ban it so you have rewrite it now?

[Video]

[evokingfool]

[Minato have a small smile on his face, but he's watching the feed carefully. A song to remind the listeners that they can do something.]

You have nice voice, Feferi-san.

[Video]

[cullscuttlefish]

Thank you! I'm glad I remembered this one. It seemed appropriate.

Filtered Audio

[true_noir]

Found your will to keep trying again, have you? [A thin chuckle.] I hope Ruana does not send me away until the bitter end. I'm almost curious if you'll succeed and save us all, as you seem to wish.

perma-filtered; <3

[cullscuttlefish]

I only misplaced it for a while.

If Ruana would have Jason take my voice for this, then I'll have to go downstairs and take back what's rightfully mine; it isn't as if it's something I haven't done once before, and Jason is all too aware of it. But the point will have been made, regardless.

As for the rest? Time will tell.

[Video]

[hollower]

[Perona listens, without a sound, to the song this other devil (like the one at that party?) was singing. She clues into the words, one by one, and decides this is a song she likes, very much. The past couple of days have been...eventful, definitely. Much to think about, but Perona doesn't exactly want to do much of that. She doesn't believe it, any of it, and again...doesn't really want to believe it. This place is far too confusing, too complicated, and it's a task to wrap her head around one thing - not the hundreds of mysteries this Tower holds.

Thus the song is welcome, and she listens from start to finish. She's a singer herself - just for fun, though - and can tell when a young lady is talented. This girl is, at least in the ways of lyrics. The message in the song rings loud and clear, and the tone is powerful in a vast array of ways.]

...You sing well, devil girl.

[Video]

[cullscuttlefish]

Thank you! But I'm a sea troll, not a devil. Devils don't have fins, so far as I know!

[Feferi points at her face fins and makes them flutter a little, just to make the point.]

[video]

[bloodyashes]

[He can stand to be not-anonymous for this one. Here's a redhead quietly applauding on the video feed - Feferi even gets credit for being on-key enough to not drive him up a wall.]

Do you think I could have a copy of those lyrics?

[Because clearly the best first song to learn to actually sing is the song of the rebellion. Yep, Asch makes good life choices.]

[video]

[cullscuttlefish]

You can have as many copies as you want. Just give me a minute to transcribe them?

[A couple of minutes later, there's a text file coming his way with the lyrics.]

[video]

[warriorscribe]

*Someone else is transcribing, playing the video back a couple of times to get it all. When he's done, he turns the video feed on to answer her.*

Thank you, Feferi. This is a good song. ...May I ask why green?

video;

[cullscuttlefish]

Let's just say it's a color that stands for the truth, as I found out personally some time ago.

[...but a few minutes later, he'll get a private text message.]

Delete this as soon as you get it, but: Dax's favorite color was green. I was in his quarters before the entire incident where I had my soul forcibly extracted; there was a lot of green in that area. I've been wearing it ever since.

[video]

[caliginous]

[He won't comment on the second part. The people who are left from the early days are nearly gone. He has a list of people who are due to be taken. He's on there somewhere. He doesn't actually believe it'll ever happen to him. All of his friends are on that list somewhere.

She might hear the sound of tearing paper.]

Your Empress banned it?

[video]

[cullscuttlefish]

She banned it and every single song that might have the slightest hint of a reference to that rebellion. Any work of media that referenced it. They only exist now as warnings.

[Video]

[clumsyjesus]

Feferi, that's beautiful!

[Video]

[cullscuttlefish]

Thank you, Colette! I appreciate it.

[no_longer_a_king]

I'm glad to see your spirit is still strong.

[cullscuttlefish]

It's stronger than it's ever been, I think.