Pala opened the door for them, and Kellen gave one last glance behind him to look at the Captain and Hill. Hill gave him a thumbs up, and the Captain did as well. Their actions didn’t hide the fact that they were worried about the Guide. It was only his second press conference, and he’d stubbornly insisted on doing it alone. Anyone would worry.
Nodding, he turned around and he shared a look with Pala before she opened one door for them. The blinding lights of the cara washed over the two of them, and Kellen took a deep breath in. Looking past Pala, he could see the stage. It had the sa background with the Guild’s logo all over it, but there was only one small table, and a chair.
A chair sat at the base of the steps, where Kellen assud Pala would be since Kellen had said he wanted to be alone. Pala motioned for him to move forward, and swallowing, he did. Kellen felt his body shake as he took the first step, and when he glanced over at the group of blinding lights and caras, a hush fell over the room.
Making his way up the three steps, Kellen grabbed the chair before sitting down. He couldn’t smile, he was too tense, and he was trying not to panic. You’ve got this. Just be honest, but like an Esper.
"Guide Woods will be willing to take any of your questions, but he also has the right to reject anything he doesn’t want to answer. I am only here to facilitate this conversation, since he was the one who wanted to have this press conference." Murmuring started up again in the room at Pala’s words, and Kellen was actually quite impressed with how her voice carried.
He clenched his hands against his thighs, and Kellen was already regretting that he’d told the Captain he was going to be fine on his own. He wanted to hold his hand. The regret didn’t last long though, since he didn’t want the Captain to face the hostility he could feel in this room. "Now, we’ll move down the line. First question."
"Why did you do what you did in the video?" Right to the point, huh? Kellen sighed.
"I did it because I was the best person in the room to do it." He answered, and that only stirred them more.
"What do you an by that?" It was the sa person, but when Pala went to open her mouth to chastise them, Kellen shook his head.
"Well, I’m not sure if the video gave you a good look, but I wasn’t the only one in the room who was angry."
"Are you aware of the rumours that the victims will be suing you?" Kellen scoffed. He couldn’t help it. Victims?
"Victims? Is that what those fucking idiots are calling themselves now? They are not the victims, in fact, they should be worried that they will be sued. And not by , to clarify. They did sothing much worse than having a few bruises."
"You speak as if you did nothing wrong here. Are you not remorseful for hurting others? Or are you only doing a press conference because you got caught?" Kellen clenched his hand under the table, trying to keep his cool. He knew they were going to be stubborn. He needed to keep his emotions in check.
"I am sad to see that you have already been poisoned by their honeyed words." Kellen glanced at the caras around them, licking his lips. "Let make sothing very clear. Before this situation ca to pass, I had actually heard a rumour from an Esper that so Guides were threatening to not guide Espers if they weren’t at the sa Class level as the Guide. It was potentially implied that they could also not be guided if they said or did sothing that the Guide’s didn’t like.
At the ti, I didn’t think things would co to a head so quickly, so I didn’t rush getting the word out. I did speak to Lieutenant Casper about it, but with the new gate, and the Guilds working with the D.E.C. to manage it, it unfortunately took us all by surprise. We didn’t think it would escalate so quickly, and we were wrong with how deep this truly went. When we heard the news, my fellow Field Guide and I rushed off to help prevent the Espers from surging."
Kellen leaned forward, unable to see a distinct face given the lights in his face, but still, he scanned the area. It felt a little bit like he was giving a lecture, and that helped calm him down.
"Do you have any idea how much damage even a D Class Esper could do to this area if they surged? It is incalculable, the damage they could have done. Collapsing the building isn’t off the table, even if the building was built with materials from the gates.
And we didn’t have just one, we had six Espers on the verge of surging, ranging from D Class to B Class. Several who were supposed to be receiving regular guidance from the Guild’s Guides. Guides who had the privilege to work in this Guild. Guides who took advantage of the Guild and the power that it holds to abuse the power they received from that privilege to put others in danger. In my personal opinion, those Guides are no worse than the terrorists who tried to blow up several blocks of this city only last week."
Several of the reporters gasped, as if Kellen had said sothing scandalous. He had not. It was an act of terrorism.
Kellen’s expression hardened as he looked over them. He leaned back in his chair, pissed. "It is clear to that none of you have any idea of what actually happened, so let explain. Are you familiar with the rules that were enacted about 40 years ago?" He asked, and soone from the right side of him answered.
"Are you referring to the Guiding Act, Mr. Woods?" Kellen nodded, crossing his arms across his chest.
"Do you know why we needed those rules and regulations put in place?" He asked, and there was silence for a mont before a different, hesitant voice from the left side answered.
"Wasn’t it because the governnt wasn’t protecting Guides?" They offered and Kellen sighed.
"Close, but not quite." He shifted in his seat, this feeling more and more like a lecture and not a press conference. "Guides did have it rough before the Guiding Act was passed. And old Esper could say that they owned you and forcefully imprinted with you. There weren’t tests that solidified compatibility, and Espers ran free and wild. Surges were common, gates exploding were common, and in general, it was chaos before the Guiding Act was passed on an international level. Before the Guiding Act was passed 40 years ago, Guides weren’t even treated like humans, and were instead treated like property. Traded by the wealthy Espers like cattle."
Everyone knew this, but it was clear that the idiots didn’t fully understand it. Kellen stared at the captive audience he had. He sighed. "Does anyone rember the protests before and after the act was passed? You don’t have to answer, I’ll do that for you. The group that was against the Guiding Act at first? It was the Guides themselves. They were the biggest protesters. This was because none of them wanted to be known, because as soon as you were known, you had a chance to be taken, imprinted, and abused. It wasn’t until the governnt started enforcing the rules that things began to change.
The governnt started treating the Guides as humans, and that all stemd from a giant PR stunt that they had done. After that, Guides began to be perceived differently in the public eye, which ant that Espers couldn’t get away with their treatnt of Guides anymore. Knowing that there was a huge PR stunt, what is the modern image of Guide now?" He asked. When no one answered for a mont, he raised an eyebrow.
"Uh, soone who smiles and offers a gentle hand? Soone who’s delicate and kind?" Kellen nodded, smiling.
"Right. But in the back of your mind, you know that’s not all Guides, right?" Murmurs of agreent around the room. "You know that Guides are people, and they aren’t just objects that provide guiding. Everyone knows that Guides are very important for society. We wouldn’t be able to get by without them.
So view Guides as the group that are keeping Espers in line. There are many out there who view high Class Espers as monsters, and the Guides who guide them as holding their leash, keeping them in line. It isn’t even the governnt who first put this Guiding Act in place who are in control anymore, but the Guides themselves. The ones who 40 short years ago were powerless."
Kellen could tell that there was an uncomfortable air in the room now. Kellen laughed. "Don’t worry, I’m not trying to suggest anything by my statent, I’m just saying that’s how so people view the current relationship between Espers and Guides. Now, given that we’ve seen this shift, why do you think that there is a group of Espers who hate Guides?"
"Because they don’t want to be owned by anyone." It wasn’t the sa people who were answering his questions, which made Kellen a little happy. He smirked. He hoped that this went well, even if it felt like he was lecturing them on Guide culture. Hell, maybe soone hadn’t done that
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