we need to talk

[Animus]

Animus was troubled. If the incident with Anarchy had been any indication, the Cabal members had vastly different views on what was acceptable. Enough so to raise concern that they could lose too much of the Consilium's trust if they didn't head it off.

So he'd called a meeting.

The Thyrsus sits in the living room area, Shelly at his lap. Between the four of them, he didn't want to deal with formality, and the puppy helped to settle his nerves. Besides, it was the least he could do after locking her in when he'd charged toward the supposed intruder.

[DaveJ]

Kite walked into the room, iconic cane in one hand, equally iconic cup of coffee in the other. He sat down at the table as he sipped his drink, looking distinctly uncomfortable.


“I have not been looking forward to this conversation…” he grimaced.

  Previous spells cast:

Date		Action		Roll		Result
2013-04-18 00:28:02		Kite rolls 9 to Casting 'Third Eye' (Wits + Empathy + Mind + 2(HS) -2 (duration)) (10 Again)		3, 10, 2, 8, 9, 6, 7, 10, 5, 8, 2		5 successes
2013-04-18 00:27:35		Kite rolls 9 to Casting 'Mental Shield' -w- Ambient Mana (Gnosis + Mind + 2 (HS)) (10 Again)		2, 4, 7, 4, 2, 8, 4, 10, 8, 9		4 successes
2013-04-18 00:26:55		Kite rolls 6 to Casting 'Organic Resiliance' (Gnosis + Life + 2(HS) - 2(duration)) (10 Again)		6, 10, 9, 7, 10, 6, 5, 2		3 successes
2013-04-18 00:26:24		Kite rolls 1 to Casting 'Organic Resiliance' (Gnosis + Life + 2(HS) - 2(duration)) (10 Again)		3		failure

[Gallows]

Gallows entered the Sanctum, coming back from a walk. Work had been intense the past week, and adding more stress onto that had left him needing some fresh air. He had not been present for any of the incidents that had led Animus to call this meeting, and was looking forward to seeing exactly what was going on--and hearing about it from those who had been there.

"Morning, everyone," he said. He walked over to Animus and petted Shelly briefly. "She's growing fast, isn't she?" Taking a seat, he looked at the others around the room. "So...what did I miss?"

[Animus]

Animus sighs at the question. Better to get it over with, he supposed.

"A mess, although not as bad as it could have been. I heard shouting, my first thought was 'intruder.'" Intense eyes flick, seeming to bore into Kite. "You'd be wise to hope you never witness the sort of hair-trigger that puts me on."

A moment later, he releases the other Thyrsus' gaze, continuing. "Turns out it's Kite. Apparently he decided to meet with Anarchy here on Free Council business, and things got ... heated. It didn't help matters when Impulse started hitting on her, even after she made it clear she wasn't interested. I think I managed to smooth things over, but" he sighs, rubbing at his temple "if we're going to have much chance at fostering cooperation among the other Cabals, we need to be sure we're the sort of people they'd want to trust."

There were other things to say, but he'd given his view of events. It wouldn't be fair to plow on without giving the others a chance to do the same.

[DaveJ]

“Animus…”


Flustered and frustrated, Kite visibly pursed his lips as he rapidly organized his thoughts. After a substantial period of time, where the gaunt willworker started to speak several times only to stop and reconsider his words, he finally took a deep breath, sighed, and started to make his case.


“Scenario:”


“The Free Council Syndic calls in a recent arrival – a new Libertine, barely in the city three months – about proper procedure for one of her activities. He does this in the only Awakened-Safe area he has access to. The new arrival responds to the Syndic with extreme rudeness and disrespect which, after a while, eventually causes the Syndic to raise his voice at the new Libertine.”


“In addition to drawing the attention of a second libertine nearby, it also draws the attention of a former Consilium officer who is not a member of the Free Council. He is more powerful that most others and can get his way through the sheer application of his strength and power. Yet, despite not being a member of the Free Council, and despite not being privy to the background behind this incident, he publicly rebukes the Syndic – a member of his cabal - in front of the other two libertines, and then tacitly supports the new libertine’s accusations against the Syndic, and all without consulting or involving the Syndic, his cabal-mate, even once.”


Though still – to all appearances - completely calm, his voice low and perfectly modulated, the slim willworker narrowed his eyes at the former Hierarch.


“In this scenario, who exactly is out of line?”

[Animus]

Animus' eyes narrow at his fellow Thyrsus' words, stifling a jolt of anger at the dig to strength and power. Shelly hops to the floor, favoring her owner with a hurt glare. She knew when battle lines were drawn, and wanted no part of it.

"You are right to tell your own view of what happened. But framing it in an abstract scenario, to exclude all context except your own, is neither productive nor appropriate. Context such as this: you used Cabal space for external business without asking permission; without even thinking to let us know what was going on. Or that, having invited Anarchy into our home, she came under the auspices of the right of hospitality.

"I find it particularly interesting that you choose to identify yourself simply as the Syndic, as if the title itself should shield you from reproach. Titles are earned and kept only to the extent their bearer acts in a manner deserving of that respect. And I think that Libertines especially would bristle if they thought that you might value the title above responsibility for your own actions. Think on this: I would not hesitate to rebuke the Hierarch herself if I felt that she had wronged another. To the extent possible, with exactly the degree of publicity of the original slight."

First the Arrow, now his Cabal. The pillars he counted on so deeply seemed far more fragile than he could have imagined. What if the next storm swept both away?

[DaveJ]

Kite raised his right index finger, as he started to make his first point. “First… Animus, the reason why I phrased my scenario in terms of titles and loose identifications was because I wanted to emphasize how inappropriate your actions were. You are a member of another order – the Adamantine Arrow – and yet you were rebuking me, a member of your cabal, the Syndic, in front of other Libertines.” Kite shook his head, aghast. “Do you have any idea how inappropriate that is? Not only did you betray my trust – supposedly a member of your cabal – but what you did could be construed as outside interference into internal Free Council affairs!”


Kite took a moment to take a deep breath and calm himself down. “Animus…” he started, “I never thought I was beyond reproach – not as Syndic or as anything else. However, the fact that I am Syndic does mean that certain criteria must be met before someone outside the Free Council can interfere with internal affairs and business.” Kite looked darkly at the former Hierarch. “… and me expressing an angry demeanor and a hard tone towards another Libertine for displaying extreme verbal hostility towards me – that does not qualify.”


Kite raised two fingers this time, as he started to make his second point. “Second… as for the ‘Right of Hospitality’…” Again, suppressing his flustered state, Kite paused and collected his thoughts before he continued. “Ok…let’s forget, for a moment, that this ‘Right’ needs to be deliberately invoked by the guest. Let’s also forget that it presumes a certain minimum level of respect on the part of the visitor, and that guests can violate the ‘Right’ as well any cabal member. Let’s also forget that ‘Hospitality’ is intended mostly for extended stays by travelers, emissaries, and people healing from injuries – as opposed to willworkers invited over for a 10 minute conversation.”


“The ‘Right of Hospitality’ does not expect a cabal to put up with disrespectful, uncivil visitors. In fact, it even allows a cabal to incarcerate unruly guests for the duration of their stay… if not kick them entirely out of their Sanctum.”


“Now, your argument is that I broke the ‘Right of Hospitality’ because - after extreme verbal provocation - I elevated my voice?” Again, the look of exasperation on Kite’s face was palpable.


The gaunt willworker cradled his forehead for a short moment as he organized his thoughts. When he looked up, he seemed ready to make a different argument. “Animus, before I continue, please humor me with this request:”


“For a moment, I would like you to disregard everything either I or Anarchy directly told you that day, then help me with this: What exactly did you see, what did you hear, precisely what did you know,” Kite emphasized that last word, “before either Anarchy or I said anything to you, that made you decide to intervene on Anarchy’s behalf? What did I say – or do – that prompted you to rebuke me, your cabal-mate, in defense of a complete stranger whom you never met before? And please... be very specific…”

[Gallows]

Gallows kneaded his temples as his cabalmates all spoke. It was beginning to sound like this might get just as heated as the talk with Anarchy that sparked all of this in the first place. He stood up and began to pace, then once Kite stopped speaking he turned to face the others.

"Everyone, let's take a second to calm down here," he said, looking at Kite and Animus. However Impulse might have behaved on the day in question, he was certainly being well behaved now. That was earning him points in Gallows's book, at least. "We're all among friends here, and there's no need to use Lictor-speak or use hypotheticals. We're a Cabal, and that's the closest thing in Pentacle society to a family. We don't want any pretenses here, so let's deal with all of our issues openly and honestly. To answer your original question, Kite, I think everyone has been a little bit out of line. The real problem is that the lines haven't been clearly defined."

He turned to Animus first. "Animus, you had every right to investigate what sounded like a fight in our Sanctum--Kite can't properly expect privacy in such a meeting if it's held here without notice given to us. Since I wasn't there, I have no idea how appropriate whatever you said to the various Libertines was or wasn't. I'm sure we can all agree, though, that it's important to present a unified front as a cabal. When we have differences, we discuss them in private--exactly like we're doing now. You definitely made the right call in having this meeting," he said, with a nod of approval. Then, he turned to Kite.

"However, just because we are a cabal doesn't mean that we are a hivemind. If one of us is behaving inappropriately, then we might need to disagree in public to show that we as a cabal do not approve of the action. We have to be able to distinguish between the actions of the cabal and the actions of its individual members."

"Kite, I have never met Anarchy before. I have no idea what she said, or how inappropriately she acted. In this case, though? I'm not sure how much it matters. You have multiple responsibilities here, both as a Syndic and as a member of this cabal. I don't know what exactly is going on with you as Syndic, or what the dispute between you an Anarchy is about--and honestly, it isn't really what's at stake here. I'd be more than happy to talk to you about her later, and see if we can figure out a good way to handle the situation."

"I think the real issue here is how to distinguish between your actions as Syndic, and as a member of the Catalyst. I personally don't have a problem with you conducting Free Council business here, but I can't speak for the whole Cabal--and even then, advance notice would be nice. I'd like to personally recommend that, in the future, we just run any official business by the rest of the cabal before we hold any other meetings here. Does that sound agreeable to everyone?"

He paused a moment to look around for approval.

"Kite, my main concern right now is that we are a cabal of diplomats. Our job is to help Orders and cabals cooperate with each other, and the most important aspect of bringing that about is being everyone's friend. We have to be the ones that others come to when they're having problems, and we can only do that if we get along with them. We can't go around starting fights," Gallows said. He directed his gaze to Impulse. "And we can't go around harrassing women either. We all have a responsibility to use our best judgment to avoid conflicts whenever we can. I'm not saying that we can never stand up for ourselves," holding up a conciliatory hand to Kite, "And it's entirely possbile that Anarchy needed rebuking as a Libertine. The point is, we need to do our best to be politic as a cabal, even when it's difficult for us personally."