The Ladder Approaches the Hierarch

[Lux]

The meeting had been set for the early evening in one of the W in W meeting rooms, and although it had been a while in coming, Lux barely registered the weight of the event. It wasn't that she found it trival or expected it to have an assured outcome, but rather she saw this as events simply unfolding as they were meant to, approaching just like a breath followed words.

She waited inside the meeting room, drumming her fingers next to a steaming cup of tea. Two more tea settings rested on the round table and a cast iron teapot rested on a delicate wooden platter in the center. The Thearch was dressed in an elegant orange gown, and Reflexio sparked sharply on her right hand, flashing with each rhythmic cascade of fingers.

The others would be there soon...

[Ixidor]

Killing the last of his smoke before entering the Water, Ixidor looks in better spirits than he ever does. Awake, in the mundane sense as well as the supernal. Alert. Almost healthy. For the last day or so, he had eaten. Regularly. He had slept, this time a necessary evil rather than a waste of hours. He had drank only enough to keep the shakes away.

He could throw himself off the wagon later. Now, he has to be on top his game. Lux and Animus deserve that from him.

Swinging open the meeting room door, again with an audible woosh, the Théarch is not quite parading as he had been before. Wearing his usual style of pinstripes, silver jewelry, eyeliner, and at least one handkerchief, he offers Lux a wink and a smile. The Hierarch hasn't beaten him here. Good. The last thing that he needed was a message that the Ladder wasn't committed to this endeavor, no matter how subtle or trivial that message was.

"Looking good, Deacon," he says in greeting, maintaining the lazy smile as he reaches for the teapot. He resists the urge to spike it with the flask in his jacket pocket.

[Animus]

It isn't long before Animus enters the meeting room, gaze flicking between the Théarchs present. Subtle cues in his bearing speak of ... not quite defeat, but certainly a great weight. Almost a sense of being wounded. A nod of greeting. "Lux. I don't believe I've met your friend?"

Eyes trace out Ixidor's tattoos with interest, before settling on the man's face. Anything for a bit of distraction; at this moment, he wished for all the world he didn't have to think about leadership of the Consilium. They'd want to discuss it soon enough, he was sure.

A tail swishing against his leg reminds him that he has support, but the Thyrsus resists the urge to scratch his familiar behind the ears. Right now, his focus needed to be on the Ladders, and anyway, it would raise one too many awkward questions.

[Lux]

"Thank you, Ixidor, you're looking...surprisingly more like yourself, if that makes any sense," Lux replied with a grin, in the brief moment before the Hierarch arrived. She gestured for her colleague to help himself to tea and then rose as Animus walked in. There was something about his stance, the way his eyes flicked back and forth between them that spoke of something gnawing on him. Which was all the more reason for why this was the right time to meet.

"Welcome, Animus," the Deacon smiled, offering a handshake, "and allow me to introduce my friend and fellow Thearch, Ixidor of the Mighty. Please have a seat and some tea, if you'd like; it's green with a hint of ginseng. Thank you for taking the time to meet with us."

[Ixidor]

Ixidor is still pouring a cup of tea when the Hierarch arrives, and flashing Lux a grin of appreciation. He doesn't have time to form a clever comment on the few fortunate side effects of food and sleep. He felt like he'd given up days worth of practice, both the arcane and the mundane. Time is what he pays to sharpen his mind to a fine point; currency that he doesn't spend frivolously.

"It's good to meet you on more personal terms," Ix says with a nod, offering a handshake of his own if Lux' is accepted. "Rather than an... audience member." The twitch at the corner of his mouth hints at the concert pun he just made.

The Théarch avoids using a title. This Consilium doesn't seem to trip over them like some do, but Ixidor usually makes a note to call someone by the honorific they'd earned at least once... However, the subtle air of burden, or weariness around Animus suggests that reminding him of his troubles would only accent them. Setting the wrong tone for the meeting.

Though a few scant inches shorter than Ixidor, the Hierarch looks impressive. Even in his diminished state, and Ix's unusually healthy one, he can't help but feel like a twig talking to an Oak.

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown...

[Animus]

The Thyrsus shakes both Thearchs' hands, gratefully accepting a cup of tea. "I always make time for the important things."

At Ixidor's comment, a wan, bitter smile. "Well met. And quite the show, wasn't it? I just wish I could be certain of what it accomplished." Or anything I've done as Hierarch, for that matter.

If either Thearch is particularly attentive to detail, they might notice that the ring usually strung around his neck is now absent.

[Lux]

"I'm not sure that it necessarily advanced any specific goals, but if nothing else what it did do was create a clear, established foundation that improvements can be built on. I think it revealed a lot of the mystery behind what the Consilium of Sacramento is, and in that way it showed what one day the Consilium can be. Which brings us to why we wished to meet with you."

Lux paused, taking a moment to refill her tea cup, and perhaps for effect, before continuing.

"Many things were revealed during the last meeting, but one of the most important things that I noted was that I was correct in my favorable impressions of you, Animus. What I saw was one of our community, one who had already taken on the burden of leadership when none other would or could rise to claim it, attempting to shoulder the weight of responsibility that should belong to more than just one man. Many of the opinions given held wisdom, sure, but they were also too quick to contradict and undermine. They were given with the intention to do good, true, but they were given carelessly, causing the 'Show' as you so called it. I saw the leader of this Consilium struggling to do what should be done, struggling to prevent panic, derision, and disunity to spread, but struggling to do so alone. Perhaps you were wrong in your suggestion, but that merited discussion, not outright rejection. What I saw was a lack of unity, which no one man is to be blamed for...But perhaps I shouldn't speak so alone. What do you say Ixidor? What was your impression of the last meeting?"

[Ixidor]

Ixidor nods when Lux passes the verbal ball to him. "Yeah, you hit the heart of it. Not a lot I can really add to it, but here's what I think about it." His eyes shift to Animus when he continues, but frequently glance to his fellow Théarch. This is as much for her as it is for the man they're meeting with, and sharing it with both of them equally will strengthen the sense that they are in it together. "Now, I may not be the foremost expert on working in a cohesive unit, so feel free to tell me to shut my damn mouth and correct me. But as far as I see it, we should all be backing each others' plays. For better or for worse.

"I might not agree with all of the calls my superiors make, but I will throw my support behind them. Not blindly, mind you. Not without rational and applied thought, of course, but still."

There is a shrug, that barely jostles the teacup he's idly cradling. "I don't care if 'Sentinel such-and-such' has a plan to snoop out the Banishers, and it isn't one hundred percent foolproof. Who's plans ever are? What's important is that I add my will to theirs. To strengthen the Awakened Nation. Or at the very least, our little chunk of it, here in Sacramento.

"What I'm getting at, is that here we have a perfect way to strengthen bonds within the other orders, the different cabals, and the Consilium at large. Because frankly, it feels a little... cliquey. At present.

"But the Silver Ladder can back your plays.

"Doesn't matter how perfect they are. Enough Awakened minds working toward the same goal can sweep everyone up in the wave."

And then maybe the whole mess will be a little less confusing every time Ix walks into this bookstore and sees fifteen new mages staring back at him.

[Animus]

Part of Animus knew what they were trying to do, that they needed to bolster his confidence, keep him from breaking so he could do his job.

The rest just saw the cage slowly closing around him.

Eyes dart back and forth, the look of prey desperately searching for an escape route. He shakes his head violently, squeezing his eyes shut as he struggles to force back the flight instinct. His voice hitches the moment he starts speaking, but he pushes past it. They had to understand. "I -- I'm sorry. I know you want me to be strong, to be the leader this Consilium needs, but ... " a heavy sigh "the results of that aren't what you want, or what anyone wants. I've picked up my share of wounds; I've soldiered on. But the Hierarch's position, everything that comes with it ... it's just constatly grinding sand into those wounds, keeping them from healing. And that's not sustainable."

The Thyrsus' gaze drops to the table in front of him. A hand reaches out, grasping the cup of tea and bringing it to his mouth. After a quick gulp, he again meets the Théarchs' eyes, his own steeled with determination. "You trust me, you want to help me, and the Consilium. So here's the play to follow. Set me free. We can work together to find someone who is ready to handle the Hierarch's position. Make it a smooth transfer, and go from there. I care deeply about this Consilium, and I want to help it be healthy. But for everyone's sake, I need to do that from a vantage point where I'm not slowly tearing myself apart."

A short pause, not quite enough to begin to fill with words. "And before you ask: no, it wasn't the Consilium meeting that pushed me to this point, although I certainly had worries then."

[Lux]

The words that Animus spoke carried panic, and pain, but also an inescapable sense of gravity. Lux felt a flutter of doubt as she sat listening, and her eyes tracked over to Ixidor, but that was the only indication she gave that what she had heard might have been unsettling. Her vision of the future, her vision of what should be built, of what could be built, and of her role in it, now seemed as solid and substantial as smoke. Empty, and shallow, but within that emptiness lay possibility and the knowledge that this wasn't unforeseen. Animus struggled to bear his burden, struggled to keep the weight from snapping his bones and crushing his heart, and this truth was plain for any that looked. The fact that he rebelled against his mantle meant that he wasn't fit or right to bear it, just as she wasn't fit to lead a charge against the consilium's enemies. Different roles took different people.

Lux picked up her cup and stared into its depths for the space of a few breaths before meeting Animus' gaze again. "Well, as was said, we came here to offer support, to back you, and that's what we'll do. If you decide that your play is to find a successor, then we'll stand beside you in that decision and help find a replacement. Your right, you shouldn't be in a position that will destroy you so we'll do all we can to make things right. So, I suppose it should be asked...are there any that you know of that should be considered?" she finished, taking a sip of tea.