Another Protest! (Casual)|Tag: Marius INACTIVE

[ROGER DAVIS]

The protests in Tompkins Square never turned out well. The last time he had seen a major protest was Maureen's protest, and that hadn't gone well. He had known dozens of people who had gotten arrested at that protest.

So, when he heard there was a protest in the Square protesting the city's treatment of the homeless and the way the clinic was run. There had been talk that the clinic wasn't getting money for months, something made clear by the fact that the AZT supply was getting low. The soup kitchen and other 'free' things that helped the low-income residents of Alphabet City had also been affected. Sure, Roger didn't have much, but at least he had a roof over his head and a meal in his stomach. At least sometimes. However, he had, at some times, had to use the soup kitchen. They all had.

The sounds of the yells and screams made Roger frown as he came upon the entrance to Tompkins Square. There were people with home-made signs, and more than enough police to arrest all of them. The protest wasn't as large as Maureen's protest by any means, but it was still large, given that most of the people protesting were homeless. They had nothing better to do.

On the other side of the protest were both the police and the people aganst the homeless population and against the HIV ridden population. Signs with all sorts of things written on them, from the standard, KEEP NEW YORK SAFE, NO TENT CITIES to the more vile GOD HATES FAGS and AIDS IS A PUNISHMENT littered the protest. Seeing a dark-haired girl in a yellow bra, Roger moved up behind her, resting his hands on her hips as he peered over her shoulder.

"What the hell's goin' on here?"

"Fuckin' pigs are trying to get the Clinic shut down! They've already managed to convince people around the area not to donate money to the clinic and to the soup kitchen. Not to mention these fuckers are sitting here with these signs. God Hates Fags? God hates ignorant people. Is it wrong that I want to hurt them violently?" Sunny asked, turning her head to look at Roger with a frustrated frown.

"I'm sure they'll say that the feeling's mutual." Roger stated with a frown, glancing at the large crowd around them.

"Honey, you seen Frank? He said he was gonna meet me here." Sunny asked, and at Roger's shake of his head, she frowned. "Fuck, I hope he's here. Look, stay here, okay? I'm gonna go find him. Tell him I'm looking for him if you see him?" Sunny asked and started to make her way through the crowd in search of Frank.

Roger watched her go, and then shook his head at the screaming protesters with the signs as they yelled and spat about how everyone on the planet hated them. He brought a cigarette up and lit it, wondering if people were ever going to just...learn how to open their minds. If not, then just simply learn how to shut the fuck up.

[innocentrockstar]

Another day another protest was something that played over and over again in the Marius' mind. Funds were cut, again. The AZT supply was suffering, again. He'd spent all week working on a grant proposal that would supply the funding they'd lost. It was the very most he could do aside from yet another protest. The cops were getting increasingly annoyed by the protests and it showed in their actions. They were yelling more, pushing the limits for how physical they could get with the crowds, and writing tickets for bullshit offenses. They had a right to a peaceful protest and Marius planned on it being just that.

It could be argued that the people they were protesting for deserved their fate. That angered Marius. His mother was infected through a blood transfusion, not from shooting up and certainly not from sex. Even so, in his mind, no one on the planet deserved to suffer the way his parents did. The biggest junkie on the planet didn't deserve the pain and wasting and night sweats. Death from AIDS was slow and painful, taking a toll not only on the victim but on those around them. People with AIDS have families, too, and those people suffered right along beside them. Maybe their suffering wasn't physical, but emotional and something they carried with them for the rest of their lives.

His hand moved to adjust the red ribbon on his right chest as he walked through the crowd with more signs in hand. Marius wore that ribbon like a metal of honor, like a Purple Heart given to soldiers wounded in battle. He was wounded, maybe not in the body, but in the heart and soul. Marius fought. He fought with his mind, body and spirit for change he was sure was soon to eventually come. The people were getting angry, and that was a good sign. Angry people fought for their rights. They weren't willing to lay down and take whatever the powers that be gave them.

Passing out signs as he went, he smiled. There was nothing like the energy of a protest. Every person in that park had a story, a reason for being there. Some were sick themselves, or had family members that were. Others, like Marius, were there fighting for those they'd lost, and those they weren't willing to lose. There was an electricity in the air that lacked description.

Marius approached a woman in a yellow bra and a guy that looked way cooler than him and held out a ribbon and sign. "Do you want a sign or ribbon?" he asked kindly.

[ROGER DAVIS]

If anything, Roger could describe the events around him as passionate. He could almost taste the hatred in the air. The sorrow and the pain and the heartache and also, the complete and utter love that one side had. All these people around him, on the side that he was standing on, well the love was overflowing. AIDS was not simply a death sentence; it was a reason to come together. To laugh together, to cry together. To belong.

However, on the other side, there was violence and anger and gnashing teeth that almost made Roger sick to his stomach. THe hatred was horrible. Roger wondered if Mark was somewhere in the thick of things, filming with his camera. He craned his neck over people around him to try to see if the blonde filmmaker was in the crowd.

A voice made Roger snap his head over to look at the man asking if he wanted a sign or a ribbon. "Um, ribbons' cool." Roger said, and then paused. "Um, actually, can I have a couple? I'll give my girlfriend one. And my best friend. Actually, how many do you have? Y'got um," Roger moved, counting on his fingers to the people he knew. Let's see; Mimi, Maureen, Mark, Collins, Angel, himself, couple other people at Life Support... "Y'got like, eight of 'em?"

He then figured that he could use one of the signs to decorate the Loft with. "What the hell, gimme a sign, too."