Puck's Pad

[Puck]

Puck was lounging the day away in his studio, local news playing on the television. He had tidied the place up, removing the thin layer of dust most of the surfaces had acquired in the expansive time he spent away from his own home. Truth be told? He didn't spend much time at home. Journalists frequently worked beyond the typical forty hour work week, and Puck wasn't much of a homebody to begin with. So maybe a personal day and some company wasn't a terrible idea?

Enter Kaze. The Obrimos seemed keen to talk about something, and Puck had been whining to Winter about needing to socialize more with the awakened. He hadn't hosted a thing in a while, but he knew he liked food and booze, so both were provided! Pizza ordered fresh, a meatlover's for Puck and a second chosen on a whim. Or what a sleeper would call a whim. Empowered by Puck's favorite monthly ritual, the Enchanter was drawn to Kaze's particular culinary proclivity. Well, the closest Kaze could hope to find at a Pizza Hut at least. Still on a budget here, hospitality only goes so far when the Seers have you stuck with a new mortgage.

The door was unlocked, food, dishes, and drankz on the counter. Puck was in blue jeans and a black shirt and hoodie, fixing his plate and grabbing his beer. All that was left was someone to share them with.

[Kaze]

Kaze arrives a minute or so after the agreed upon time, and knocks. "Hello? It's Chris." He says. He doesn't try the door to check whether it's locked or not.

When he's let in or just acknowledged and invited to just come in, he smiles and enters, glancing around.
"Nice. Bright." Kaze remarks in a complimenting tone.

"Oh wow, pizza, my favorite comfort food!" He exclaims, apparently smelling the food or spotting it.

"Is that Hawaiian? My fave! It's a guilty pleasure, pineapple on pizza!" He says with a laugh!

Thanks so much for hosting the scene!

[Puck]

Chris? Right, Chris.

"Come in." He yells to the door rather then open it himself. Foods not outside, it's on his plate. A plate he's very enthused about.

"Nothing beats good pizza." Pineapple though? Puck shouldn't complain, he would have had bbq chicken on his pizza if he weren't in a particularly carnivorous mood. "Booze next to the pizza, sodas in the fridge. Help yourself to whatever you're in the mood for and have a seat."

Puck makes his way to the couch, turning the volume down on the tv to better facilitate the actual reason Kaze came over. He cracks open his beer and takes a sip as he waits for his guest to get situated.

"So you wanted to learn about the Assembly right? Did you want to start with specific questions or do you want me to ramble until something strikes your interest?"

He starts scarfing down his slice of pizza.

[Kaze]

"Oh hey, thanks!" Kaze says, like he hadn't assumed the food or drinks were for sharing or for him. "Wow, so this is how grown ups do it, huh?" He laughs. "I mean, I've had some friends over, and all I ever offered them was bottled water from my fridge, nothing I got special!" Except for that one time, Christmas Eve, but he felt like that really wasn't something he should say anything about, to anyone, except Jenna. It was a private thing, a secret even. He had a feeling his secrets were totally safe with Jenna though.

Kaze looks at what Puck is drinking rather than the selection, when he decides, moving smoothly and athletically over to the pizza and beer on the counter, and helps himself to both without further comment. He takes a bit slice of pizza, two that kind of stuck together that he took as one instead of separating. He's planning on listening more than talking, and needs to do whatever little things he can to encourage that to happen. Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to anger, comes to his mind, though he doesn't expect to have any real trial with being angry; Puck seems like a perfectly charming host.

He settles into a comfortable, sitting position and sips the beer before taking a modest bite of pizza, like he's planning on nursing both a bit rather than getting up a lot.

"Whatever you think; I mean, my feeling is to ask you to just tell me, but if there's too much, and it would be better to get an idea parts would be interesting, that's cool too. I'm not into politics, and like helping people out, if that helps."

[Puck]

Grown ups? Eyebrows arched up in amusement as a chuckle escapes.

"It is when I'm the closest you got to a grown up!"

All smiles, and drinking. Drinking is good. Part of him was worried Kaze was to much of a boy scout for alcohol, but now Puck had his first Sacramento drinking buddy!

"So I guess we'll start with a history lesson, because it's hard to explain the Council of Free Assemblies without explaining our past with the Seers. In the late eighteen hundreds a force began to gather all the nameless orders anonymously. They made promises of bla bla bla to get all the smaller mage factions that didn't already belong to the Diamond and the Seers together. On December thirty first of the year eighteen ninety nine, the Seers of the Throne revealed themselves to the mages they had gathered. It was their intention to enlist the gathering in an effort to tip the scales and destroy the Diamond forever, granting the Exarchs unchallenged control over the Fallen World forever."

The Enchanter shakes his head.

"Not how it went down. The first few minutes of the year nineteen hundred were when the assembled nameless orders violently and unanimously rejected the Seers of the Throne, vowing to oppose their enslavement of humanity. That was the birth of the common identity and core opposition that defined the Free Council. They didn't have a lot in common beyond their opposition to the Seers, but over the next century they hammered out the three tenets of the assemblies and joined the Diamond orders in their fight for an Awakened Nation free from the enslavement of the Seers."

Pause for booze, because lecturing makes you thirsty. Plus they were eventually going to talk philosophy, and that's always better drunk right?

"You don't really need to be political to join the Free Council. Like the Diamonds, the Assembly is about your beliefs. The three tenets I mentioned earlier. Wanting to help people is a good start though! It's normal for a Libertine to imbed themselves in their communities or professions. That exposure grounds you so you don't get lost in the lofty power fetishes some mages get off on. Just remember you're an equal to the sleepers, not a shepherd."

Hierarchy fosters the Lie, but they'd get into that in a minute.

[Kaze]

Kaze laughs at Puck's joke, when he says him being the closest Kaze knows to an adult is noteworthy. At least, Kaze takes the cue to laugh; it sound like a joke, and it sounds like a somewhat humble, self deprecating one at that. Who knew Puck had that in him?

He listens with evident interest as Puck lays out the history lesson, enjoying the pizza and taking it in for what it is, a story; the set up. He doesn't assign weight to the history as either fact or fiction, but accepts it as part of the presentation, suspending any disbelief for the sake of the story's effect. The Free Council is all about being a collection of independents, always was, and is committed to resisting the vision of the Seers. Good start. And there it is, the set up. The 'Three Tenets'. Nice. Puck apparently knows how to tell a story, introducing the main character with a foreshadowing, not revealing it right away, showing how important it is.

The statement about politics not being important seems somehow disingenuous, seeing as how everyone he's known from the Free Council including Puck seemed very jealous of power and political power in particular at Council meetings, but hey, maybe he's just read that wrong. Maybe something else about Council meetings just rubs them the wrong way. It does seem weird though, Puck assuming a Councillor position as a matter of course, with the opposite of any show of reluctance.

The part about not being shepherds but equals to Sleepers is interesting too. It sounds a little more like saying we don't owe Sleepers anything than any kind of impulse to actually be helpful. But he agrees about not looking down on them.

Kaze nods, smiling. "Okay, I think I follow so far..." He says in an encouraging tone, like he's eager to hear the rest of the story.

Kaze takes a substantial bite of pizza and chews, obviously intending to listen and not talk, at least not for a while.

[Puck]

Puck went to take a bite as Kaze began to speak, and then Kaze took his bite. It occurred to Puck at that moment that Kaze was probably here to talk about the tenets, and that he wasn't going to have time to eat until those were covered.

"So yeah, that's the Great Refusal. On to the tenets?"

On to the tenets. Puck's never going to eat the meat on his pizza until he gets to the meat of the conversation.

"First. Hierarchy fosters the Lie, democracy fosters the Truth. You ever wonder what happens to the knowledge stored in an athenaeum if all the Mystogogues who know about it die at once? It's a terrible example, but it's one Libertines like to use to explain the first tenet. In the Fallen world we've created tiers in society, and knowledge gets stored and trapped in those tiers. The Assembly fights this by bringing information to each others attention. By making information free and sharing it, we ensure that no knowledge is ever lost. Most Libertines hold a Lorehouse, a location where the Order stores it's artifacts and research for shared use. Unlike the Mystogogues however, we freely share the contents of the Lorehouse. Just don't come up and say 'I want to see the thing so I can steal it' and Libertines tend to be accommodating."

"Second. Humanity is magical, human works have arcane secrets. Unlike the Diamonds, the Libertines don't think magic ever left the sleepers. It's our collective birth rite, an ember waiting to be fanned into awakening. Because of this, sleeper works can be explored and utilized alongside Awakened magic. Supernally enhanced tech is an almost trope-ish staple of the Council, but sleeper art and Traditions are another example mages tend to mine. By helping them explore these new symbols and technologies, we discover new ways to employ our Techne, our magic or art."

Puck takes a few long gulps of his beer. Lecturing is hard work. This is why puck would never be a teacher. Imagine explaining this to a room full of ten year olds. No thanks.

"Finally, destroy the followers of the Lie. This is where that story comes in and ties to the first tenet. If hierarchy traps knowledge and weakens our collective understanding of the Truth what do we do about the greatest supporters of slavery and stagnation across the globe? The Seers of the Throne aren't just slaves and slavers, they're the greatest threat to humanity's collective ability to find and explore their own meaning and Truth. It's not necessarily a call to military action. In an ideal scenario you can convince a Seer to abandon their jailors and fight for a free Awakened Nation, but that's not always the case. One major flash point for the Assembly is also how to define a follower of the Lie, because sleepers and even the Diamonds are happy to trap knowledge in their tiered societies."

A pause as he looks down longingly at his food, swiftly returning his attention to Kaze.

"Personal opinion? I always took the tenets together to be a call to action in your local community. Purge the oppression and supernatural influence, and watch what miracles the sleepers can whip up on their own. Be a good neighbor and help them with whatever they try, and you'll be rewarded as they find their own Truths. Truths that you, as a Libertine, bring back to the Assembly or Lorehouse to share."

Now Puck took his own large bite of pizza, mirroring Kaze's desire to listen for a bit.

[Kaze]

Kaze smiles and nods when Puck labels the origin story, 'The Great Refusal' and announces that he's ready to introduce the main character, 'The Tenets'!

"Bring it on!" Kaze says, encouragingly.

He listens to the first tenet. "Information wants to be free..." He murmurs softly under his breath as Puck lays it out as sort of a failsafe; like just in case Diamond members accidentally pass away, the information should be housed with the Free Council. The specifics of whether they want to share it just with Free Council members or even just with Awakened is lacking a little bit there. After all, 'Knowledge is Power' too.

The second tenet follows, and Kaze listens dutifully. 'Humanity is Magical'. Huh. Okay...wow. There's that thing again...sounding like this isn't about actually helping or sharing anything with Sleepers...kind of sounding more like they are batteries to suck dry like in the Matrix, only batteries storing magic potential and knowledge. Maybe he's being too suspicious. Still, even the 'help' Puck mentions seems to be about extracting knowledge that can be used to do better magic. Of course if Puck were saying that the Free Council was about trying to actually teach magic to Sleepers, that would be a big problem!

So then comes the third tenet. The last one, he guesses. 'Destroy the followers of the Lie.'. Basically anyone who is 'trapping knowledge in tiers' then? Sounds like there's different factions, and some might feel like it's open season on anyone in any organization with 'tiers' at all! Like, 'burn it all down' anarchy...?

"Okay...cool." Kaze says as Puck finishes with his personal summary and dives into his pizza. "I can relate, somewhat, in that I am a Christian, and it's always been interesting that most religions sort of try to make sure you're really committed before sharing their 'deeper truths', but Christianity pretty much puts it all out there up front for anyone, the Protstants at least." He ventures.

"The other parts kind of remind me of Microsoft versus Open Source Code...which goes back to the debates Socrates had with the other Greek Philosophers who wanted to charge to teach philosophy; he was a fan of sharing knowledge for free...." Kaze muses. "At least that's what they taught in Philosphy 101 at UCLA." He laughs.

"So...getting involved in the community, Sleepers I mean? What would 'purging oppression and supernatural influence' look like? I guess 'helping with whatever they try' isn't like, showing up with a truck and helping them move into a new house or something? Like, do you mean getting into Sleeper scientific research projects?" Kaze asks.

[Puck]

So. Many. Bites.

Puck's taking his chance to sip and chomp and snack. He earned this y'all. Lecturing is hard work.

His eyebrows arch up, a little surprised to hear an Awakened still clung to something as absurd as sleeper religion. There's even a very brief pause in consumption as his brain focuses on the new bit of information and what to do with it. Bright side? He said Christian and not Roman Catholic. That's the Seer red flag he would be making calls over. Socrates is met with more comfort though. He even mirrors Kaze's laugh when he jokes about college.

"Honestly? It's on you to interpret the tenets and I was already pretty liberal in doing so. This is the awkward part where a normal assembly would debate and you'd get a bunch of different perspectives to help you form your own, but you only really have me." Well, Puck and Anima. Did Kaze notice why plebian is such an egregious word between Libertines yet? "So no ones really around to plug the holes in whatever I'm saying, or call out if my perspective is skewed a certain way. The Libertines use friendly debate for this sort of thing because it helps you consider your own bias and how to address it. I gave you what I thought they meant, so now you have to consider what the tenets mean to you."

With a labored, clearly dramatic sigh, he continues.

"I guess since you asked though? For me, helping the Sleepers boils down to my profession. As a journalist, I can get information out to the public on a large scale. I can start conversations on poverty and divisions and try to unite people. As the weights of the fallen world fall away, they have time to find what fulfills them and gives them meaning. Those are the moments where I think the Sleepers have the best chance of finding their Truths, and in so doing find the Watchtowers. Maybe it is as simple as helping them into their first home or bringing them into the sciences, but it's also recognizing that one persons Truth is different from another. Even the Assembly isn't exclusively about technology and science, it's just the topics of sleeper experience we're most frequently associated with."

Purging supernatural influence was self explanatory to the Enchanter so it went unaddressed. Now it's Kaze's turn. It's time to graduate from lecture to debate.

"So, tell me about your truths. How did you Awaken, and what have you done since then?"

[Kaze]

"Huh." Kaze says, taking it in, eating pizza. He notices his beer is gone.

"Oh. Okay..." Kaze says obligingly when Puck asks him about his experience. "I'll go first, but I want to hear that stuff about you too, okay?"

As he gets up to grab another beer, he asks Puck, "You want me to grab you one too?"

When he returns with more pizza and beer, he chews thoughtfully and the sips.

Then he smiles and says, "Okay. So...wow. I guess, not to give my whole life story, skipping to my Awakening...my Grandfather was raising me, and when I was in college, he died. Cancer. Anyway, his Trust said I had to go to Okinawa like visit the ancestral homeland or something, and when I did, I Awakened, and just happened to meet a group of Arrows. So yeah, I have my suspicions my Grandfather had that in mind the whole time, but I don't really know. He was a retired US Marine officer, by the way."

"So, I did that for a while. Trained, hard. Went on missions. Lived in basically a military compound, but with a lot of Bhuddism mixed in." He says. "My Master sent me here. Said it was time to come home, even though I wasn't from Sacramento. It took a while, but...I feel like she knew what she was talking about now. Along the way though, I left the Arrows. I think I was sort of doing it for my grandfather, but didn't realize it."

Kaze takes a long drink.

Then he looks at Puck. "So? If you're up for it, how did your Awakening happen? And how'd you figure being Free Council was a thing you wanted?" He asks, smiling.