(1507) ECIV Ermac and July

Ermac palmed his face, shaking his head, a muffled reply was heard. "He's more of a fool than I ever anticipated." Slowly his hand lowered, a disappointed voice followed. "They've both gone off the deep end. If they pair up, which I'm certain will happen, there will likely be further disruption."

At July's revelation of why he became a Guardian, he nodded in response, "Our goals are not so different, you and I. A safe and prosperous civilization has order within its boundaries. It's citizens should not live in fear of what may happen tomorrow because of grotesque incompetence and powermongering."

The Theurge clasped a hand over his heart, "Aquinas took the reigns from San Francisco's Manchurian Hierarch. He's waiting for us to enact that order while he battles whatever else we're not aware of yet." A smile slowly arose, "Perhaps we can get that accomplished, you know?"

"I wonder if he'll stay with VT or leave before spiraling into the abyss. We must both keep a close watch on the two of them. My concern is how to watch the abandoner. From what I understand she has not broken any laws...yet. But from my experience this type of rebellion is merely a beginning to the end," he whispered to Ermac calmly.

At Ermac's next statement July raised an eyebrow and a small smirk appeared on his face. "I must admit, it's good to find out that we seem to think alike. The question seems to be though, how do we enact that change. Currently VT has three Councilors, Avis, Star, and the fool. Now I talked to Striker previously about the role of Sentinels and I believe my job is to help bring about that order by helping encourage Councilors to bring about the change needed to create a safe and prosperous civilization, but he disagreed to some extent. Despite those against us, we must work towards bringing order and protection to the Consilium anyway we can. If that means stricter laws then so be it. And like you said, the Heirarch is waiting for us to bring about that order, so we must act."

July's smile disappeared and added, "We can work together to bring about that order, but I believe we can only accomplish that if we work together."

Ermac shrugged, "I sincerely doubt VT will tolerate him for long. He's far too abrasive. I directly told him, "You are the cause of your own problems." Another sigh followed, "Lead a horse to water and all that...As for the recluse, I agree, observation."

A frown pulled down his lips at the mention of the Thyrsus, "He's a very unique case. He means well," a sincerity of belief could be heard in his voice, "he's just impulsive as all hell. I wish you had an opportunity to meet Asp. She was an amazing Arrow. She'd have been a great teacher for you with your role as Sentinel."

The Theurge chuckled, "Finally another person who sees the big picture." He shook his head rolling his eyess with a sarcastic remark, "who'd have thought a unified force would set things right. What a concept!" Then nodding with affirmation of their aligned ambitions, "Hell yea, let's get things rolling."

"Well with both of them we'll have to be vigilant. Since he's on your team just let me know if you need any help trying to keep him under control. In a way, I hope he can be led to water and shown the light. We push him away and he might join up with her that much faster. It may be better to keep him with us and have him be watched then left to his own devices. It's if he shows signs that he wants to disrupt progress than we'll have to step in to stop him. I may have to take some time and look into the other. I've been to her sanctum before, but I don't want to give her any indication that she's on a watch list. The paranoid and reckless don't respond well to direct action."

He had heard Asp's name before with Avis so it was good to hear she was respected. "I wish I could have met her, she sounds like she really knew what she was doing."

"For too long everyone's been operating like we're special and individuals while completely ignoring the community as a whole. Not everyone of course," he whispered, gesturing toward Ermac, "but enough that we've allowed the Consilium to fall into chaos. We shall be that unified force. We'll set things right."

July's slight smirk came back. "I'm glad you confided in me. Let me know if I can help in anyway." He gave a slight chuckle. "You know, if apostate life get's boring we could always talk about the the Visus Draconis. It might just be up your alley."

"I'm more concerned about his behavior disrupting the Cabal. I mean..." Ermac sent a cautious glance down the hall, "His first impression was less than stellar." The Theurge's jaw chewed on something for a few moments. Gears were obviously turning.

A grim look manifested, "Now that I really think about it. Fuck it. I don't want him with us. I've put up with enough shit. More shit than a lot of other people ever did with this goddamn charade."

Ermac's face flushed red with anger, "He's going to be sniping at people he doesn't like until they snap. Then throw his hands up saying "It's not my fault," invoke whatever Rite necessary to save his ass, then try to sue you for it." He knew it having been witness to Emrys's plan for Pepper. "That'll take another six months to resolve."

The Obrimos clenched his fists slowly releasing the pent up anger. "Your story from the Path meeting just confirms it. You and me. We go up to Star and Avis and say, "kick this clown to the curb." It's not going to do us any good if he's with us, then sending intel elsewhere. If we act now, we'll be better off. He and whoever else can go masturbate in a corner for all I care. We've got work to do."

Seemingly running out of steam, the acrimony fell away from his voice. July's remark caught him off guard. "You think I'm good for...what you guys do?" He asked curiously. "I...never expected...I'm just...surprised that I'd be noticed by your crew. You know the whole bullshit stereotypes and all that."

July watched Ermac vent with a serious look. It wasn't anger in his gaze, it was focus. He could tell Ermac had strong feelings regarding Emrys and in his little time dealing with the Acanthus July had strong feelings as well. "You know, I think you're right. In every conversation I've had with him he's either thrown someone under the bus or was condescending. Maybe his presence will only poison what we seek to do. We may want to use different words than that when talking to Star and Avis, but we should make it known that he will only hurt us in the long run. I'll follow your lead on it."

Normally July was fine taking the lead on dealing with problems, but it was clear Ermac had a greater interest in keeping this particular rotten fruit out of our home.

At the shift to the Guardians July smiled slightly. "There are many misconceptions about what we do. And just as there are many parts of the body with different functions, so too are there many ways you can protect our world." His look focused again. "In simplest terms, the Guardians seek order and wisdom. We believe in judging people based on their merit. That not all are worthy of the powers we control. We must guard the mysterious of this world because there are those, like the two we've been talking about, who would corrupt and abuse those mysterious, and that corruption only strengthens the abyss. We believe that sacrifice leads to wisdom. Maybe not for us individually, but wisdom for the community of Awakened as a whole. We seek to make all mages wiser, not on a whim, but through our work. Based on what you've said it sounds like you understand this."

Ermac nodded, "At least we're on the same page on that. We'll have to meet them soon." A relieved smile appeared followed by intrigued curiosity. "Really now? That's something I've not heard before. From my small cluster, it's always been the line of "we tolerate the Guardians like the Diamond tolerates the Free Council." Just that barely maintained facade of niceties." He shook his head.

"I think I see where you're coming from. I try to give folks a fair shake at life. You know judge by character and actions. I'm trying to broaden my horizons, I feel like I've been stuck in an echo chamber with maniacs. I'm definitely interested in hearing more about what you do."

July returned the nod, "agreed."

July became pleased that the conversation had shifted fully to the Veil. "Well many believe they know best. They think control and order are meant to keep people down, when really it's to prevent the harm that comes from chaos. No offense, since you were once in the Free Council, but they wish to 'have their cake and eat it too'. They don't understand what's necessary to keep people safe, and so they judge us because we do what needs to be done. People should be judged by their character and actions. Emrys became councilor because he was already provost. I spoke out against his complacency with the Concilium and bureaucracy. It seemed that the other Acanthus were content just hoping that change would be dropped in their laps. Luckily, Faye has joined us, clearly seeing the light, knowing that only action will create change. But that echo chamber of maniacs exists, and it exists because we haven't stepped up to stop it." A smile came back to July's face. "But we will, together."

July quickly glanced around and saw that people were still mulling around and talking. "If you'd like, we both live at the theater, so we can discuss more about the order at home, for now we should head back. I imagine someone may have noticed we've been off whispering in the corner."

Ermac nodded with a smile. A new hope had arisen. "Damn man, glad to see there's another level-headed soul here in Crazy Town. Star assembled the right people for the right Cabal to get things done."

The Theurge's eyes tracked back to the gathering, "Point taken with that. Let's catch up after this all over. Hopefully, no one's thrown a fireball at anyone yet." He then shrugged, "Could happen with this crowd."

He turned on heel, heading back to the main congregation. "Let's see who else showed up."

"I very much agree. You're a good man. I'm glad to be working with you," July whispered with confidence.

July look around to see if disaster had struck while they conspired and was relieved to see nothing, at least not yet. "Will do. And after what I've seen so far I wouldn't be surprised to hear someone else was challenged to a duel."

July turned with Ermac and headed back to the rest of the group.

​

July heads back to the main thread