also known as aradia x kanaya

it’s complete aside from the epilogue i still need to write.  i worked on this story for three years and i’m still really in love with it

“what’s the plot though lol”

psii’s seen some of how the revolution will burn thanks to future vision bullshit.  he’s pretty perturbed about it since he’s also pretty in love with his moirail signless.  the handmaid is helping him doom timelines to try to create event sequences with better outcomes, but following her instructions also involves interacting with the condesce in ways that are Not Super Healthy for psii, who has issues

the story takes you from the small community-building roots of the revolution through the spiraling and empire-wide ramifications of the uprising, with a bunch of shit happening along the way (i’m not spoiling the plot in this post!! rest assured it’s very dramatic)

and an excerpt for people who don’t give a shit about plot summaries and instead desire The Spicy Prose

It’s not a performance. The sincerity is what keeps them rooted, gives even the blueblood pause, as Sign keeps talking.

“Have you all lived with your complacency for so long that this is something you can laugh at? How can any of you watch this? These are your people, your fucking flesh and blood - they could be your quadrantmates, they could be your colleagues, your friends, they’re people being sold off as property, how can you just stand there? Some of you share castes with them! This girl is a child!” His voice rises to a scream, almost cracking before he gets it back under control. “You’ll use slaves as the backbone of your economy but you won’t talk about the ways they’re mistreated, abused, tortured! You’ll treat your own siblings like livestock just to get ahead! How can any of you accept this? It needs to stop! You need to stand up!”

“Are you finished yet?” the blueblood asks, but he doesn't get the reaction he wants. Nothing more than a few nervous titters. It's Sign's show now.

“You need to stand up,” Sign snarls. “You’re so afraid for your own lives that you won’t look out for your neighbors. You’ll let your highblood colleagues’ abuses go unchecked because you’re frightened of speaking up. Silence doesn’t change anything! Mockery doesn’t change anything! Wake up, this is a child!”

Fed up with the display, the auctioneer moves his hand to his side, and you hear the ssssnck of a blade being drawn. You can’t get up there in time, and you can’t kill him, not without everything dissolving into chaos. Sign’s got the audience he wants, and even through the blazing rush of adrenaline you recognize that enemy bloodshed will destroy the message he’s sending. You fumble the shield you raise between them, the force too weak to hold the blueblood back, but it slows his arm enough that Sign ducks. What would have been a killing blow through the back only grazes his shoulder.

I ship it black