trans_channel | Shipwide Announcement [Slightly bendytimed]

I really haven't bothered to do any campaigning, for a number of reasons. And even this isn't some kind of campaign speech, but on the eve of elections, I felt the need to talk to everyone for a few moments.

Forgive me if this rambles a bit, I'm not entirely sure what I want to say right now.

My father once told me that God puts you where you need to be. You can either stand there and complain about it, or you can do the best you can, and trust that God has a plan, even if you can't see it yet. I've never been a terribly religious guy, so I don't know if God has a plan, or if this is all random, or somewhere in between. But, looking back on my life, I can't help but wonder if my Dad might have been on to something.

I've been serving as Acting Captain of this ship for the past few weeks. What the title of 'Acting Captain' means is that... that this job belongs to someone else. Someone who, unfortunately, wasn't there to do it, so I took it upon myself because I was there and the job needed doing. I'm only on the ballot by default, basically. I have the job now, so if you want me to keep it, I'll keep doing it. If you don't, I'll gladly step aside for whoever you choose. I was quite content being Chief of Security, I had more free time to spend with my daughter, then.

That's really all I see this as, another job that needs to get done. That's mainly why I haven't bothered campaigning. If given the choice between either A) pandering for votes to keep a job that's been sucking up all my time, been grinding me to death, and wasn't even my job to begin with, or B) doing the job as best I can for as long as I have it... I'll choose option B every time.

And this is a tough job, made all the more harder because everyone I talked to expects me to pander for votes when I just want to cross a few more items off of what's become a massive To Do list. If this isn't my job anymore come tomorrow, then whoever wins, I do not envy in the slightest.

But maybe they'll handle the job better than I have. This job comes with a steep learning curve, and it's not like I'm a natural at this. I'm not a politician, or a monarch, and I've never been commander of an Imperial fleet, or led a revolution. I'm just a guy doing a job because someone had to do it. This whole thing has been a learning experience, to say the least. Which might be why I can't figure out what you all want in a leader.

I realize that, yes, everyone will want something different, but... I've been listening. I've also been barking orders for the past few weeks, but I've also been listening. Listening to the campaign speeches, to the responses, all of it, just trying to figure out what you guys want in a leader.

Strangely, while everyone has been going around saying 'this is what you should look for in a leader', no one has really bothered to ask what you want in a leader. This is probably why I felt compelled to address you all like this, so I can be the one to ask.

What do you all want in a leader? What are you looking for in them? What kind of person do you want them to be? When you go vote tomorrow, are you voting for the kind of leader that you do want? Or are you just voting for someone you can live with?

I guess I'm wondering because, on my world, politics tended to boil down to people voting for the least worst option on the table. I'm curious to see if that's what will happen here. I sincerely hope not.

Best of luck to all the candidates tomorrow.

Special Agent Leon S. Kennedy, US Strategic Command
Acting Captain, Transmigration 9

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Hey!

Just because you don't agree with how someone is approaching something, doesn't give you the right to be a bitch.

Also, where exactly do you see him whining? Because I see him trying to do the best he can do in a situation with a bunch of judgemental assholes, like yourself, breathing down his neck.

Jesus Christ, if your kid has an attitude like yours I hope to hell he doesn't get elected because the last thing we need is someone who can only approach things with aggressive bitching in charge.

Listen up, fucker. I don't agree with this shit because he's a fucking pussy. He doesn't want the job, but he has to do it and it's killing his family time--that right there is whining. Fine, you go ahead and call me a bitch, but at least I'm a fucking honest bitch. I call this like I see it. Kennedy doesn't have the experience to lead, much less the balls if all he's gonna do is complain.

If he can't take people 'breathing down his neck', then he shouldn't be in fucking charge of jack. Hate to break it to you, fucker, but I'm part of this shittastic crew of assholes. I'm pretty sure not everyone fucking agrees with me and guess the fuck what?--more power to them. I'm getting pretty fucking tired of people getting up in my face for stating my own goddamn opinion just because they don't agree me...or my son. John can take care of himself and he's been in worse places than you can fucking dream about.

You spend your whole fucking life being hunted by machines that are linked to each other all the fucking time, machines that don't stop to refuel, to eat, to take a shit. You motherfucking go through the terror of watching you planet become a decimated wasteland where it had once been green and full of life, you watch your friends and your family being torn apart, hunted like rats, flushed out, killed, and left bleach-boned in the sun while the world around your crumbles. You do that and you still, after seeing all the fire and destruction and shit, find enough hope and fight left in you to not only fucking survive, but organize a fucking resistance against the metal motherfuckers who have killed and maimed and destroyed everything you ever loved.

Kennedy doesn't have the fucking experience. He doesn't fucking know this shit. Trying to do his fucking best doesn't cut it. You don't show weakness. You don't give the enemy something to hook into. You don't complain and whine and moan about your responsibilities. You fucking do it every single day regardless of your family time being jacked.

Hello,

Can you please stop calling my mother and father names? It's sort of unnecessary if you wanted to get your point across. Thank you.

I'm not singling them out. How I talk and what words I use are my fucking business.

Are you honestly using your terrible past as a reason to be such a fucking bitch?

You know, maybe you should take the time to get to know where other people are coming from first, before assuming we're all so useless because you're a survivor.

Machines? Sure. Okay. I've seen things you can't even imagine and if all of what you're describing alone is what's made you bitter you obviously couldn't hack it in my world.

And Leon's had it a hell of a lot worse than me.

I didn't say you were fucking useless, asshole. Stop putting words in my fucking mouth. My point in all of this shit is one motherfucking thing, IF YOU WOULD LISTEN. WHICH YOU OBVIOUSLY FUCKING AREN'T.

LEON KENNEDY DOES NOT HAVE THE EXPERIENCE TO BE LEADING A GROUP OF SURVIVORS IN A MOTHERFUCKING WAR. Pretty sure I can't be any more clear about that shit.

Okay, tell that to all the people that survived the zombie outbreak on the ship because of his leadership.

Go ahead.

I'll wait.

One zombie outbreak doesn't equal fifteen years of hard, messy, fucked up, post-apocalyptic, combat leadership.

No, but that would be an experience that the people on the ship would be familiar with. How he handled himself in that crisis, and how he might handle himself in future crises.

And he may not have fifteen years worth of leadership under his belt, but he's proven himself capable.

Capable doesn't mean jack. Fifteen years of proven combat experience against an enemy of a similar mindset is still more experienced and more qualified. Besides, as Leon himself has said, he doesn't want the job.

Yeah, and I don't really want him to get it.

But you could've said all of that without being insulting, which pretty much just damaged your son's chances of getting elected. Because people here like Leon, and they trust him. You guys are still pretty new here, right? We all come from really shitty places. But we're fighting together now, so all that before? Doesn't really matter. We look out for each other on this ship, and we don't needlessly attack someone who is just letting everyone know where they're standing.

Also I don't stand by when people are insulting someone who has saved my life more times than I can count. Not really how I work.

And I have no tact and never will. Shit comes out, regardless. And I'm not apologizing for any of it because this is how I think and where I come from. I've had to claw and scratch and fight since I was nineteen, pregnant with a son who would, one day, be the savior of the whole fucking human race. More than that, I had to get my own shit together and learn everything he would need to know and raise him, train him, and keep him alive. By myself. I was saddled with a fucking mission I didn't sign up for and had no choice in after watching the man I loved die in front of me.

Pretty sure any tact I might have had died that day and I'm not about to find some lost rainbow and butterfly shit for you people.

I suppose I have another point to make. You said, "You know, maybe you should take the time to get to know where other people are coming from first..."

My son has been attacked because he doesn't like fucking robots. He has a good damn reason for not liking them since they've been trying to kill him all of his life. Maybe the rest of the fucking crew might want to take a similar approach to things.

Shipwide Announcement [Slightly bendytimed]

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