For the Greater Good

[Truce]

Truce walks up to Star's alternate Sanctum with a six-pack of Ruhstaller 1881 red ales he'd picked up on the way. It seems to be their own tradition to converse over beers. But Truce has something particular on his mind he wants to bounce off the Guardian before the formal Consilium meeting gets underway. He hopes Star is in the mood for serious business.

He comes dressed in his usual business casual attire, sports coat and button shirt over slacks. The Summer weather still hasn't cooled off completely, so he holds his sports coat over his forearm as he knocks on the door.

  Shield

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2016-09-15 11:27:32		Truce rolls 10 to cast improvised Entropic Guard (day) [Gno+Death+HS] (10 Again)		5, 7, 3, 7, 9, 1, 2, 7, 3, 3		1 success

-1 Mana Shield Day Duration

[Star]

The peep-hole darkens, then the door cracks up.

A brown eye stares from behind thick, black-rimmed glasses through the crack before it widens.

"'Thup. Oh. Uh, come in."

The words are whisper-soft with a slight lisp. Someone's also either been raiding Avis' closet or been watching too much Mr. Robot. The hand on the door has W, A, I, and T tattooed on each finger. A dark hoodie covers a t-shirt with a graphic of ANSI art and a rumpled name tag declares HELLO MY NAME IS 'ALEXANDER' in blocky letters.

"Thorry, uh, just got back from, like, a thing." A tattooed hand rakes through the high and tight fade, this one's fingers tattooed with O, R, E, and Z. The words slowly even out into his normal speaking voice. "What's up. Is that about, that thing? From the Circle?"

Smell that? T, H, and C.

[Truce]

"Hi Star," says Truce in warm greeting as he follows the invitation to come inside. The hoodie doesn't seem to throw him off as much as the tattoos. "Oh, did you just get those done?" he asks, wondering what might have sparked the interest in body art.

Truce places the beers on the flat spool that served as furniture. "And yes, sort of. The suggestion you made, I think it's a good idea. It also got me thinking. I've been doing a lot of that lately, thinking that is, since I was made head of my Order."

He pauses, pulling out one of the bottles he brought and using a keychain opener to pop the cap off. "I wonder though, is a stone enough? Why not go further and connect our individual Sympathy to the Circle? You see, this ceremony I've announced. I'm going to offer a token to each member. Rings, you see. A simple band attuned in the material of each Path. They're sure to accrue the sympathy of their those who wear them. What if we were to establish a connection between the rings and those foundation stones? Perhaps infusing a piece of those stones in each band?" he suggests, laying out the idea straightaway for Star to mull over.

[Star]

"Uhhhhh yeah."

Hands splay outward and brown eyes inspect them.

"No bigs. You just, like, turn the ink into water and then squeeze it out. You know, when you're done."

Somewhere, maybe there are rap sheets full of 'Identifying Marks or Tattoos' that no longer exist. Tattoos? They could be turned into Illusions. A commitment, a permanence that some might acknowledge and respect without realizing they could be gone an hour later.

"Well."

Long fingers took up another bottle -- thanks yo -- and knocked the cap off against the edge of the spool.

"First. It's shady. Unless, you know, you're going to tell people."

Which probably says more about the Angel than Truce that's the first thought. That people wouldn't be told. He took a long swallow.

"Second. So. What happens when people bounce? Like, leave. The city. Or Consilium. Oh, and, like, thanks. The beer. An that you liked my idea."

[Truce]

Clever that. Leave it to one proficient in Matter to turn tattoos into temporary ones.

"That's why I wanted to speak in private about this. I wanted to hear your thoughts on it first. You're skilled with manipulating materials. The portion of stones could be added without anyone being the wiser. Of course if we did something like that, the connections would be there for anyone to observe, should they care to without any discernible reason. But I imagine most Magi would be more concerned with a working being placed on them."

Truce sighs and takes a drink from his beer. "I'm asking you because of your initial idea, your abilities, and your role as a Guardian of the Veil. That, and because I trust you to tell me if mine is a bad idea or not. We're not truly violating anyone's rights by giving them tokens with Sympathy attached. But with the danger around, I'm more concerned about being able to locate those of us who go missing should a Seer decide to abduct and question them. Maybe there are better ways to go about that and I'm just overthinking this."​

"As for when they leave the city, perhaps I could ask Avis to scry and confiscate the ring using that same line of Sympathy?" he suggests.

[Star]

Okay, maybe Truce was actually secretly a Guardian.

"Look, man, I love you like a friend I sometimes see from another crew, but..."

A wry moue and shrug preceded another long draught.

"But. I mean, come on. Isn't anytime anyone says 'It's Not Really' or 'It's Not Technically' it Totally Is? If someone goes missing, we can just ask their caballeros for their comb or toothbrush, right? Weren't you talking about wanting to be Hierarch? Look. I get it. You want to protect people. Keep them safe. But you never do that by putting secret leashes on them. Is the Idea bad? No. The, uh, execution? Let me ask you this. What's wrong with just asking people to opt in? Because they might say 'No'? So what. It's Choice, man."

There's more.

"You're, uh. You're also kind of a jerk for putting that on Avis. Unless you asked her? Not just the expectation, but, like, the perception. If people found out? That she secretly had leashes on them. I know you probably didn't look at it that way, and I totally do because Avis, but, still."

Brown eyes stayed on Truce as the mop slowly swiveled in a 'No'.

"I don't like it, man. Doing that to people without their 'Okay'. Just tryna keep it real, you know?"

[Truce]

Truce nods slowly, his hand coming up to his chin thoughtfully as he considers Star's reaction. When Star brings up Avis's role in the suggest, Truce puts his hands up apologetically.

"Oh, no, I don't want that, really. This is the first I've discussed this with anyone. I wasn't planning on taking any action unless I thought it had some merit. Of course I would talk to her first about it, to even see if she were interested in taking part. If you think that getting people's permission is the better way then I'm fine with that. I just thought, should anyone actually be taken captive by the Seers, that there'd be no liability about the rings' purpose."

He nods again after taking another small drink from his beer. "I know, I know. And you're right, of course. I just needed some perspective on it since the opportunity presented itself. I don't know what's going to happen at the meeting, whether a Hierarch will be decided upon or not, but if I do end up on the seat I'd like to be able to share my ideas with you as well as Avis before proposing them publicly. As I am the Voice, you are the Eyes, and Avis the Talons, each a Councillor and each given a place of power and responsibility."

"I had hoped to plan a meeting with Avis too at some point to share my ideas about security procedures with new arrivals. I realize that's more Wayland's department, but I expect Avis has more experience on the matter."

Is it wise to rely on others or would his be borrowed wisdom? And could this be foreshadowing of the type of policies one might expect from the would-be Hierarch?

[Star]

"Well, yeah, sure. Of course, you can. Any time. What'd Faye say?"

Shoulders that had hunched slightly with tension slowly settled. You never know with disagreements. And Faye? Of course Truce had bounced it off her. Caballeros. Thearchs. Probably dating, yo. Sure, Truce had said 'first time' but there were plenty of times an Angel said 'first time' when it was totally not the first-time-ever. Like that time in Phuket when...

"Okay, that's fair. The whole plausible deniability thing. Still? I think one outweighs the other, and, yeah, there's other ways to find 'em. Can I ask? What's the sudden new thing about people getting abducted? Did that happen while I was gone?" It's legit curiosity. Nobody's cracking funnies with questions. "And I kinda, I dunno. Maybe Fostering is the best way to vet new faces? But that may mean ending up with people you don't like. It's tricky."

Or just do like Jack did. Assume Everyone.

"But, honestly? I'm just thinking out loud here, it wouldn't be a super-bad idea to get everyone to drop a weave so we can get Supernal John Hancocks. Maybe even make that part of the Recog. Buuuuuuuut, tricky tricky, we'd need a few witnesses, because if we just had one and they bounced..." There's an art form to emptying a bottle while talking, and at least one person in the room had mastered it. He reached out for another. "Anyway. At least then we could rule people out of some things if there were, like, something fishy going on. I mean, I can't think of why anyone would object to that. Some might get trippy about it, but Rotes are super-hard to read and hide most stuff."

It's a compromise, or middle ground.

"I'd quote that dirt-bag Franlin's little Liberty-Security thing but, like, he was totally actually talking about taxes and militia."

Had he totally glossed over the Hierarch talk? Maybe.

[Truce]

"Faye? Nothing. I haven't mentioned it to her." He imagines that she would also be against the idea without really considering the potential. Though the implication is there. Why is Truce sharing private and secretive things with those outside his own Cabal? In truth they'd only been Cabalmates for a short while. And Faye being tight-lipped about herself made ice-breaking a slow process. "Yet," he adds, if only to discourage that line of questioning.

"And no, no abductions, at least that I'm aware of. I suppose I've just been a little paranoid since that reality shift we experienced. Maybe even before that, when all we had to worry about were Banishers. And the dreams that came with it are hard to ignore. Call it a fear of the unknown. A precaution. I just don't want this Consilium to lose anyone to an attack we're unprepared for."

As Star shares more of his ideas Truce becomes more eager. "Yes, yes, that is something I considered too. Being able to recognize each other's resonance would discourage any foul play from within. Do you mean Benjamin Franklin? That's an interesting source to quote. But he certainly had a few interesting ideas too. Perhaps you'd like to be there as well, if Avis decides to hear me out? I'm sure we could come up with an agreeable proposal for vetting purposes."

[Star]

"Yeah, Benjamin. Franklin."

Was it a weird source? Even if he was a dirt-bag, he'd been a Framer. Which, really, was kind of what they did last year.

Was he just standing there staring at his bottle? Maybe. Because the other question was tough.

"....Nooooo. I don't, uh, think so. I mean, for starters, I kind of try to avoid mixing up business with Avis? Not just, cause, you know. It could get messy, but also to, like, avoid the impression...," a hand spun in a slow circle, "That we would, like, team up. Or have some kind of agenda and just, like, out-vote slash out-shout any, ummm, disagreement to it."

They're legit concerns, yo. Also? Sometimes We get side-tracked and argue discuss about Totally Irrelevant stuff.

"And, uh."

They're friends, right? As in, traipsing through Twilight to make rings friends.

"Man, honestly? Avis has been a little... uh... off. Detached? I think the past two years we spent trying to crack the University and getting nowhere kinda... got to her. You know, she, she needs, like, results. To be in motion, not, like, just spinning not wheels and looking up and finding out it was all for nothing. So I guess the thing is, you two talking, maybe she might feel like, I dunno. She was making a difference again. And you and I, we're cool, but you and Avis are not as cool, so me being there, you know. Would kind of sort of dilute that. For her."

That second beer was totally called for.

"Is that okay? Also. Question. You guys ever going to fix all that verbage Panthera Nox snuck into the Charter? "