"Come on Truce, we're going for a drive." It's 9pm. The cabal hasn't been a cabal for very long and already there's problems. Three of the city's Apostates had been invited to a meeting with the Guardians of the Veil and it ended with a heated exchange.
Gyges didn't care about that, what he cared about right now was what was the words exchanged between Truce and Himself. Thus, the somewhat abrupt invitation.
Gyges' car wasn't anything special, just an old grey Volkswagen Beetle. At some point he had pissed the wrong person off and they had responded by keying the shit out of the driver's side door. The windshield was suspiciously new and there were signs of several blunt impacts on the hood that kind of look like golf club strikes. The interior is this dingy brown-grey that's probably around 70% cigarette smoke and 30% original interior, a couple of febreze vent clips struggle valiantly against the innate ashtray smell, with a surprising level of success. Otherwise it's pretty clean, the seats aren't burnt, there's no fast food wrappers, empty drink containers or other clutter scattered around.
The drive is largely silent and not really all that long. Any requests for information are met with a patient "You'll see." Gyges cracks a window and smokes one while the street lights pass over the car on it's drive south on Freeport. He passes the airport, a golf course and a short while later he pulls into the parking lot of an IHOP. Once inside and seated on opposite sides of a booth, Gyges orders coffee and a stack of pancakes. They, and whatever Truce orders, don't take long to come out of the kitchen.
Gyges starts spreading butter on his pancakes. "Thanks for being patient, Truce. My family has a tradition of dealing with problems over breakfast. They're actually super snobbish about it. Eggs benedict, croissants, fresh fruit, the whole nine yards. I have, however, terrible taste and I am a horrible cook so I have to rely on the house of pancakes." He pours syrup over his 9-o-clock breakfast and then looks up at Truce. "Would you like to start, or should I?"
Fair-skinned and thin, Truce does not appear to get out much, choosing instead to pursue more studious endeavors. He appears as a typical college student, wearing button up shirts, slacks, and a sports coat at times. His hair is dark brown and wavy, his eyes hazel.
Truce is hesitant about the invitation, especially after the awkward end to their last encounter. But there are some things he needs to talk to his Cabalmate about, and he won't refuse a chance for discussion when the man seems open to it.
The car says a lot about Gyges that words may not. There's character, some rough spots, and most of all signs of effort put into maintaining it. The Necromancer is surprised to see that they've pulled into the house of pancakes if only for the presence of Sleepers. Perhaps Gyges had gained the impression that Truce needs a public setting so as not to make a scene.
Truce orders coffee, putting in a bit of creme and sugar from the table condiments, and an omelet.
"I don't mind," replies Truce, still trying to imagine this family of Gyges and what his life might've been like before Awakening. He sips his coffee thoughtfully, weighing his next response.
"If it's okay with you, I'd like to say something first. I think I owe you an apology for my outburst the other day." He sets his coffee down, folding his hands together as he chooses his words carefully. "It really wasn't appropriate of me to scold you for speaking your mind. I'd like to explain myself if I may. I have some high expectations for the behavior of my peers and I try to follow that standard as best as I can. I try to remain civil and understanding of the position of others to avoid and resolve conflict if at all possible. So for me, it was infuriating to sit and listen to what you had to say. But that was no reason for me to fly off the handle, and for that I apologize."
Gyges cuts a bite sized wedge of pancake out of his stack with knife and fork while Truce apologizes. Once Truce finises speaking, he chews it contemplatively, swallowing after a moment. "What do you think was going on in that meeting Truce?"
He doesn't accept the apology, not right away. To Gyges, apologies were just words. Things people could say and then pretend that everything was fine while the real issue went unresolved. That's what he was going for here. Resolution.
Fair-skinned and thin, Truce does not appear to get out much, choosing instead to pursue more studious endeavors. He appears as a typical college student, wearing button up shirts, slacks, and a sports coat at times. His hair is dark brown and wavy, his eyes hazel.
Truce sits back, his eyes angling upwards as he recalls the memory. He had already had time to ponder what had transpired. His eyes settle back onto Gyges, wondering why this is the man's question.
"We were being welcomed to the city, given an opportunity to be introduced to representatives of whatever department we were interested in pursuing. But I suppose you could say we were being observed, as one might be during an interview. Why are you asking me this?"
"Because I'm not here seeking or offering apology. I'm here seeking that this issue is resolved." Gyges sips his coffee, having added nothing to change the bitterness of the drink. He liked his drinks the way he liked living. "Part of that involves explaining why I acted the way I did."
"They were Guardians, Truce. Its another word for nosy busybodies. They look at people like you, me, Damascus and they see us as children." Gyges has experience that colors his opinion on Guardians, it seems. "They were there to meet us and decide for us what groups we should join. Part of seeing us as children means that they are only interested in what we want insofar as it lets them better decide for us where we belong."
He takes another bite of his food. He's explaining all of this patiently, like he's teaching a class. "I reminded them that I was an adult and that I wouldn't be spoken down to as if I a child. I gave a couple of examples of what that meant and what I would do about it if it continued. Zodiac took it upon herself to test those examples, so I responded just as I said I would."
"I'm curious to know what you would have done Truce? If you had made the statement that you would not be pushed and then someone immediately tried to push you?" Gyges thinks he knows what Truce would do, but he'd like to hear what the man thinks he would do from his own mouth.
Fair-skinned and thin, Truce does not appear to get out much, choosing instead to pursue more studious endeavors. He appears as a typical college student, wearing button up shirts, slacks, and a sports coat at times. His hair is dark brown and wavy, his eyes hazel.
Since Gyges seems to be taking a moment to explain himself, Truce does his best to listen while enjoying a couple bites of his omelet. He narrows his eyes at the mention of the Guardians of the Veil Order but waits until Gyges is finished before responding.
"I think you're making too many assumptions, Gyges. If you were really listening to them you might have realized that they are simply defending the safety of their society here in the city. You took insult where none was intended, not that I haven't made the same mistake, but that whole ordeal could have been avoided by common courtesy and respectfulness. They want to be able to trust us. Right now they and the rest of the city are under attack on multiple fronts. They need allies. Why give them a reason to see us as threats? Why provoke them? I'm not saying you shouldn't be able to speak your mind, but you questioned their entire organization. Of course there's going to be backlash from that."
Fair-skinned and thin, Truce does not appear to get out much, choosing instead to pursue more studious endeavors. He appears as a typical college student, wearing button up shirts, slacks, and a sports coat at times. His hair is dark brown and wavy, his eyes hazel.
Truce looks at Gyges expectantly until he realizes that Gyges has no intention of responding. He had thought the man's question to be a rhetorical one. Sighing, he sets down his fork and folding his hands in front of him.
"It's a loaded question isn't it. Naturally people are inclined to test their limits. When presented with a challenge impulsive persons would re-actively step up to test themselves. You could say it's the same as provoking someone to even offer the challenge in the first place. But I suppose if I were to state my own code of conduct to someone and then be openly criticized for it, I would naturally want to convince the offender of my point of view."
Truce has no idea if that's the answer Gyges is expecting. Having ignored most of what Truce has to say, it feels like Gyges is holding a one-sided conversation.
Gyges gives a sad smile. Yeah he had Truce pegged.
"Then I have to ask, what are they defending our," he stresses the word, because even as Apostates they had met with a Herald and agreed to be bound by the Lex and that made them every bit as much a member of the Consilium as the Hierarch, "society from exactly? Because I'm pretty sure the only thing they were defending it from that night was people who don't buy their collective personal party line. They were defending it from people who, so far, don't want to line up or who don't want to resist lining up in the sanctioned manner."
"We gave them no reason to distrust us other than not having been signed up with a group before moving into the city." He takes another drink of coffee. "My statement was not meant as a threat, but an explanation of why I was not part of any group. It was responded to as a threat, so I defended myself. People need to learn that if they think that they are under threat on multiple fronts, then they shouldn't go around offending people that were already on their side." The were was slightly stressed, he honestly felt very little loyalty to the guardians in the first place and that meeting gave him very little reason to willingly work with them in the future.
"You want to be liked Truce. You want people to respect you and probably look to you for advice. It's why I pegged you for an Air person and tapped you for Farseeker and not Hearthmaster." He works his knife through his pancakes some, slivering off little bite sized stacks of food. "I don't want you to think that I look down on that kind of thing. People have different personalities, I'm sure that if there were five of me living together we would never get anything done. While right now I'm confident that I will be remaining independent, I want you to know that if you wish to join a group that I will do my best to support you in any way I can." That was what a cabal was for, after all.
Fair-skinned and thin, Truce does not appear to get out much, choosing instead to pursue more studious endeavors. He appears as a typical college student, wearing button up shirts, slacks, and a sports coat at times. His hair is dark brown and wavy, his eyes hazel.
Truce blinks several times as he considering Gyges's assessment of him. "Well that's fair, I suppose. It's true, I would rather that people like and respect me. And I hope someday to be worthy of providing useful advice." Truce had wanted to say some more regarding how Gyges handled Zodiac, but Gyges isn't saying anything untrue so there would be no point to take issue with it.
"And I don't want you to think that I'm going to fly off the handle every time there's an argument. I just hope you don't plan to get drawn into petty conflicts like that again. We should be searching for common ground with our fellow residents, not drawing lines. And now that we're planning on starting our join venture our actions are going to be reflecting on us as a whole. Even so, I'll try to be more understanding of your vision and values. I do appreciate your support and I'll do my best to have your back when you need it." It sounds cheesy, but Truce isn't trying to win any awards here. Gyges is openly communicating his intentions and Truce won't reject that just because of a spat they had in the heat of the moment.
Draft this Post
