tushanshu | 001 ♋ VIDEO

[The post begins with a shot of Karkat's grey, frowning face. This is not actually unusual, but lest it be dismissed as no more than his usual expression, there is the tone of his words to follow.]

Guess what! Apparently it's not enough for a guy to to learn one of the friends he hasn't seen in literal years is brainwashed and crazy. Apparently it's not enough to be informed that his Empress--not this "Emperor" here, the actual one from my world--expects him to just bow and scrape and go yes, your Condescension, I'd be happy to serve as your brand spanking new slave. It is not even enough, believe it or not, to be brutally murdered by giant fork by an even crazier broad than your brainwashed friend! Wow, who knew, right?

[He makes an exaggerated roll of his eyes.]

Instead of getting off that easy, nevermind the brief stint of amnesia and all the other chaos going on, I get brought here. Some giant fucking turtle in the middle of whatever planet this is, I don't care, don't even try to tell me because I am fresh out of shits to give. And for some kind of war against this M--

[He throws up his hands.]

Whoops! Can't say the M-name because magic is real and he might come get us. Wow, I am quaking so hard I might just barf up my organs in fear.

But let's stop being retarded for a while, shall we?

[His expression turns more serious, and his arms fold against the desk as he leans in closer.]

Who's here that knows me? Anyone? On my team or not, I want to know, and I want to know promptly. Beyond that, who here has any clue about getting out of this place? I didn't ask those keddy whatevers because obviously I wouldn't have been brought here if the point was just to let me waltz back to where I was. And yeah, yeah, I heard time is stopped there, but do you think I'd be asking this if I cared about that? I have big, important, leaderly business to do, and I cannot summon the electrical impulse to fire the neurons that would make me care about this mandatory break in plans. If you have info, I want to hear it, the end.

[And with that, he ends the video.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

One of my fellow Councilmen was rather passive and ineffectual and it made things very difficult, so I tend to lean towards getting things done as well, even if it makes one somewhat disliked.

I've yet to see the Emperor actually get much done, though, other than give vague hints about what's coming.

[His eyebrows lift in mild interest at the word 'councilmen', but he doesn't outright ask. The look slips into something sterner as he speaks.]

Being disliked is just proof of what a lazy bunch of hacks those people are. They would rather sit around with their thumbs up their asses, fussing mildly about ooh, what is this, what if that, without actually putting anything into action. It's the people with drive, ambition, and a sense of goddamn leadership that keep everything from falling apart, and they don't even have the sense to feel grateful.

The problem with being a leader is that sometimes you have to make decisions where someone will be hurt by every possible outcome, so some people would rather be passive and refuse to choose even if their inaction ends up hurting more people.

Unfortunately, those people often have the best reputations so you're probably going to have to deal with them at some point.

[His expression turns complicated. He knows what it's like for people to be hurt by decisions, but--]

... Your whole gig sounds decidedly more political than what I did, which I have no intent to trade for. Good luck with it, I guess.

In either case we're pretty much making the same point: leadership can suck heaving globesack sometimes.

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