The Script

[Marcus DuBois]

Office of the Consul on Public Engagement, Propaganda, and Interdominance Relations

Alexandrova smiled inwardly. For a number of reasons. First and foremost- if it was true- and she would make sure of that- was the girl's admission of being Ascendant herself. Which meant, she had a personal interest in making what she and Nikolai did seem safe and normal. That people not fear or attack her.

Also as important was the fact that the girl had revealed her ability with no pressure whatsoever. Not weak. Alexandrova did not know that yet. But certainly malleable. Fearful. Trusting.

Which led to her main interest. She put on a sympathetic smile, a motherly one. "You would not know this, but The Ascendancy has been interested in others like him, like you, for a long time. While we cannot know what has caused this...change in humanity, after so many millenia, it is not coincidence. You are marked as special, Katya. The Ascendancy's name for you is Ascendant."
She smiled encouragingly, the uniqueness of the offer clear.

She let that sink in. Inwardly, though, she relaxed. Alexandrova knew Nikolai. Ascendant power did not automatically mean one was inducted into his inner circle, did not mean that he dismissed those who had stood by him and helped him all these decades. She felt no fear of being swept aside. Of all great men in history, Nikolai reminded her of one man most of all. Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, Dictator of Rome. A complicated man, judged a villain often, later nemesis of the great champion of the populares, the famed Gaius Marius. The man was brutal at times, enacting proscription on the rich equites who had profited at Rome's Social Wars and other entanglements. But the man stood for order, for the mos maiorum, the 'way of the elders', and gave everything for that order, for a Rome that was at peace and strong.

And Sulla had a saying, to be inscribed on his epitaph: "Nullus melior amicus, nullus peior inimicus” "No better friend, no worse enemy"

That was Nikolai, to the core. Her friend. Leonid's friend. The man they were devoted to. The man they expended themselves in service to, because they believed in what he did, in what he stood for, in who he was. A flawed man. An imperfect man. But the only man who could bring peace and order to the entire world.

And this girl had the opportunity to serve. She had the opportunity to contribute to that order. "I have read some of your short stories. They are heart rending. The are piercing. They speak truth. Tell me. How would you feel about writing for The Ascendancy? How would you like to share the experience and feelings of Ascendants like yourself with the rest of the world- behind a wall, of course. With no threat of exposure to yourself, if that concerns you."



Edited by Marcus DuBois, Aug 7 2016, 02:48 AM.