Chapter 184 - Censorship

Just two hours later I've been watching and re-watching the video where JJ reminisced about life in medieval Europe, bringing up details from lives of humans he observed during that time, while Prom Queen asked him questions.

Both had pixelised faces and voices that were processed until they became unrecognisable, and at my insistence, JJ's hair was hidden, too, though, just like Prom Queen wanted, the video showed JJ's fangs whenever he smiled, and that was plenty. Nevertheless, there still was, in my opinion, no mistaking the liquid grace of JJ's casual gestures and movements with anyone's.

But, I guessed, if you weren't closely familiar with him, it was a pass.

And she was right that it would gather more attention from people on Internet. It's been less than an hour since the moment of posting, but there's already been thousands of views. It was also less than an hour since the moment of posting, when Elena sent out an announcement.

Any mention or confirmation of existence of supernaturals online was now banned under the threat of punishment up to excommunication from the coven.

Immediately after that, Prom Queen called me and JJ for another meeting. This time, thankfully, it was in one of the many lounges of the building, a room that had nothing in common with the Training Hall Three—open, light, and made to be as cosy and comfortable with its plush chairs and tea tables as possible.

"This is a statement!" Prom Queen declared from the table she chose as her tribune. "This sort of ban can't do anything to us. Like, what can she do? She can't prove it's us who made and sent the posts, can she? Even more, we aren't the only one doing this! I'm even now in contact with people from other covens, and there's been a few confirmation posts even from users from Europe and America… We are snowballing into the future, and all attempts of conservatives to stop us are futile! I already told everyone to not fear. On the Internet, we are unstoppable. But statements like these… people who made it should be fought against before they enforced further bans. What if next thing Elena did was to force us to give up our Internet access entirely, together with our phones?"

The question was rhetorical, but I couldn't stop myself from answering. "You'd rebel that instant."

"Totally!" Prom Queen was just not breathing fire out of her nose and jumping on the table, this how agitated she was. Even her cohorts looked intimidated of her—enough that temporarily forget to be intimidated by JJ, who sat still, quiet and didn't attract attention to himself. "We will rebel and place a better Elder in her place. Someone who agrees that we can't live under a dome anymore. Someone who can see the future instead of the past."

I saw how the gears in the minds of the people shifted into a new gear. Power was definitely a temptation for many, though I imagined that most here didn't dream about it seriously. I wasn't so sure about Prom Queen—I wasn't even sure what she dreamed about. Right now, with her eyes blazing, she just looked angry and riled.

"That someone would need to be reputable and legitimate enough that even more conservative people would support them." I tried to nip whatever dreams of becoming an Elder she had in the bud. "Elena's or some other Elder's close relative," major covens operated, in many ways, like clans, that I knew by now, "older than forty, and powerful. Do you know anyone like this?"

This made people think harder. "Well," one of the Prom Queen female cousins spoke out with a lot of doubt on her face, "actually, I think I remember hearing that gossip that Ghost was actually a son of the Elder Irina… And he's old, and powerful…"

I couldn't stop the grin that appeared on my face. "And he would be the one to look into the future, that's for sure." Because he forgot half of his past. God, but who knew that he was actually someone's heir! "Who's Elder Irina, by the way?"

"She's been Elder before Elder Yaroslava, who's been Elder before Elder Elena. I don't sure that much if it's true about Ghost, actually… But we can check the records—"

"No, no, no, no!" Prom Queen spoke out. "No jumping to conclusions. Ghost, as everyone knows, just isn't in the state of mind to be in a position of power. And anyway, Elena didn't yet do anything that would bring out a necessity to change our leadership. No, for now we can still work with her, under her. We have to convince her to back off. We have to convince her that there's no way for her to stop the flood of our movement! I want to hear your opinions on how we do it."

"I have to ask, Alyona, what's your relation to Elena?" JJ suddenly asked.

"I'm her niece," Prom Queen replied automatically before frowning. "How's that related to the matter of today?"

JJ smiled. "The family resemblance shows," though I personally didn't find any even after he pointed it out, "and it made me wonder if you were close enough to her personally that it would weight in if you were to ask her to change her mind."

Prom Queen pinched her lips. "She won't listen to my words. The next time I will speak to her, will be with the power of thousands behind my back!"

"Hey, speaking of flood, why won't we just really flood the place?" Roma offered. "Put more posts."

The idea fell into Prom Queen's mind, and the fire of the resulting explosion was visible in her eyes. "Yes! This is a brilliant idea! We will shoot more vids and will post them without rest! We will… we will seek sympathetic people amongst other supernatural kinds and ask them to be shown on the camera! I need a shapeshifter. I need to shoot a shapeshifter. Who said that there were shapeshifters running amok in the city?"