A Proper Chantry
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Date: 07/12/2018 Time: 09:30 EST |
Alma's office in the Hall of Science
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Cast: | |
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Alma is more rested than she has been. She's finally started to have better sleep. Right now her laptop is open and set off to the side to give her space for some hand written notes. The laptop shows a map of the watershed of greater Detroit. She has made a line drawing of the salient parts and is currently looking at the rivers and circling things. Her door is open, she's not doing any top secret work, to be honest. At least as far as she knows. Her office window is open, and the sounds of traffic, wind, and the background noise of students can be heard. Her bike is leaning against the far wall of her office and isn't too muddy. She looks tidier, probably, than Arthur has seen her ever before. Arthur has business to take care of. Important business. And this brings him back to the university. With his lab coat on he blends right in, and nobody would ever think to question him as he brings a folder to Alma's office. He'll knock on her door, and step just in side. "Good morning Ms. Hunter," he nods to her. "I have.. a request. May I come in?" She wasn't expecting Arthur, and it shows in her face as a look of bewildered curiosity. "Yes? ok" She indicates the seat in front of her desk. Arthur smiles, and steps in fully, to close the door behind himself. "So, after my meeting place proposal largely flopped, I think we need to create a proper..." He pauses, and grimaces as he says the word 'Chantry." "Would you agree with that?" He'll then sit, and open the folder, which contains many copies of the same letter. "Oh," She says. This was an unexpected topic. "Hey but maybe we could talk about the water testing too?" She sets her pencil down and looks at Arthur's folder. She might just be able to make out some of the text. While she's squinting at that she opines, "I think your place was a good idea but maybe ended up being too limited in scope. Like, you had one main area and it was all the same? I bet if you had multiple rooms branching out, more floors and stuff, that people would have congregrated more. I like this building. You get some interesting conversations just from the juxtaposition of people in the open sections, but you also have offices in this older part of the building that aren't god awful fishbowl rooms. Maybe if you expand your place? Change the geometry a little?" She stops trying to squint and looks up at Arthur and doesn't cring over the word 'chantry' but is uncomfortable with that jargon all the same. Because jargon obfuscates things, maybe. "I've heard of chantries, but I don' know a lot about the. I've been wanting to set up a type of school or something, with a friend maybe, and I have ideas for it being a place where people can relax and talk about stuff along with more structured learning... but my friend has pointed out some of hte issues with security that we'd need to be safe. It sounds very complicated." Arthur has to take a minute to process this as Alma zooms from topic, to topic, to topic. Running a finger along the folder, he smiles. "You're right, we need more diversity to unite us better. But first the water. My team is about ready to start running tests onthe Detroit River to see what's going on, and whether there is any sort of gradient in the pollution, suggesting some special efefect going on." Then he pulls out a small stack of the letters. "I've written this letter to our community. I think we all need to meet, pick a leadership team and structure, and get a proper place built for us all. We must join, or die, as Benjamin Franklin said. Please hand these out to our allies, which I believe would be most every one of us in Detroit apart from Zach Penn." Alma nods in agreement about meeting, but is confused about something and shares that with Arthur. "I'm not sure what is going on with how people react to Zach. I've spent a lot of time talking to him. I consider him a friend and an ally. He's one of the most intentional and principled person I know. Very careful when it comes to exploring ideas. For real, the way I see him is that he wants to avoid pressing perspectives on people, his own included, so that they have space to think about things. It's something way beyond bodily autonomy. It's like, mental autonomy. It's seriously irritating, almost, to see people's reactions when he comes up in conversation. At first I'd just get pissed off, but now I'm a little less judgemental... I mean, people build layers and layers of who they think someone is based on first impressions and then experience. Maybe weird shit happened. It sounds like there was weird shit." Arthur looks behind himself to make sure the door is closed, and leans in a little. "Alma, the problem with Zach Penn is what he is suspected to be, not his opinions or personality. He is believed by many to be a Nephandus." He then just lets that hang, as though that's enough said. Alma admits, "I'm not sure exactly what all that entails, but my
experience of him--seriously, he's one of hte most ethical people I
know--don't point to someone who is pure evil or whatever that means. I
respect that people wouldn't feel comfortable with someone who is pure
evil participating in a collective, though. Maybe it just needs time to
get sorted out." Alma pushes out her drawing towards Arthur and turns her laptop
towards him as well. So, about the river. I've corroborated resports on
the wetlands habitat and how it's affecting the waterfowl population. It's
worse than I realized because, to be honest, I'm focused on the 'dry'
habitats. The reason it popped out at me was because I spent a long time
doing a ritual here", she points to a spot on her drawing, and then clicks
over to a tab in her browser to show Arthur a google maps photo of the the
Transcending sculpture in the Philip A Hart plaza along the Detroit river. "I'm not sure how familiar you are with all the layers of reality? Emma
knows about them. I was looking across the guantlet with my ritual and
trying to see ghosts." She looks off to the middle distance while she
ponders how much detail to go in to, then finally decides to just cover
the gate. "That arc shows up just across the gauntlet too, and it looks
...well, 'active' is how I'd put it. with dust devils swirling around it,
maybe things flowing in. I had some excitement with my ritual... some
black force of anger came out of that gate at me." She taps her terrain
map. "Maybe check if there is a concentration of toxicity around there. I
literally so no waterfowl while I was there." She points to where the
place is on her drawing and then starts trailing along some of the rivers
and streams that go out in to the suburbs. "I don't know how much you've spoken with the wetlands groups and environmental agencies around here but what's in the works is a plan to work on the wetlands in the northern suburban areas, and when there are issues with flooding in the city, to use those wetlands for flooding mitigation. That means the water here and in the city would get redirected to the northern suburbs. Which makes me wonder how much of this is just the normal type of policy work that goes on cities--this type of stuff happens in Chicago--versus some intentional malicious thing. Having something come at you from a gate near the river? kind of tilts me towards assuming malice." Arthur tilts his hand. "Nephandus doesn't mean he's evil. It means he's
under the sway of a transdimensional being, something we don't quite
understand, that drives him to act against humanity as a whole. Could be
the first wave of an alien invasion force, for all we know. People who are
paid to know things like that, believe this about him. I'm not sure it's
true, but enough people believe it's true that it's something we have to
keep in mind. He is absolutely not to be present at this meeting, or the
entire thing will fall apart." Then considering the other matters. "I do plan to check all along the river, well north of downtown up toward Belle Isle, and south past Zug Island. So that region, where that sculpture is, will definitely be covered. I haven't talked with wetlands groups no. I've been focused on water purity." "I mean, if someone is working against humanity as a whole, it
would show up in the details of their life too. I think." She nods as she
ponders this. but shifts back to the wetlands topic meanwhile. "Here, I can give you some groups you might want to talk to?
Or you could get more detailed info from me if it helps. I can augment
with information I've gathered from less traditional means. But basically,
the policy and conservation groups are also focused on water purity
because it affects the... I should add the municipal groups too, anyway,
they all track water purity because of how it impacts everything. You can
get information from them on what their mitigation plans are... or what
they are going to be voting on... and you can find out about hotspots of
toxicity from them. stuff like that. So... if the toxic thing is caused by
this person or persons who's been shifting hte history of Detroit around
and who is using some eater-of-souls thing to clear out space on the other
side... Well, maybe this person is looking to expand their influence outside of hte city too. I've hard about this white zone thing," She points to a border she's drawn on the map around other things. "The arc falls within it. maybe the gradient of toxins will be highest within it." She looks startled, like an idea just hit her. "Oh! you should test for contaminates in the drinking water here maybe? I dont't think it's from the river here... but I don't know how contamination works when it might be tied to spiritual things and not just physical. This is tricky stuff, isn't it." She stars off in to the distance, lost in thought. Arthur shakes his head. "With all due respect, you don't know that. If
he's under the control of an alien being, it could have effects on him
beyond our usual comprehension. Being a Nephandus isn't like being evil,
or being mentally ill. It's a controlling influence. He could be himself
23 hours of the day, but work toward some alien aim at night when nobody
else is looking. If he comes to the meeting, I guarantee you the entire
Order of Hermes group leaves immediately, and the whole thing will be off
to a rotten start." Taking a breath. "I could test the drinking water. but I'm going to start with the river water. There are reports of things being put in the river. I'd like to trace the source. The drinking water is surely contaminated, but the drinking water is processed and mixed in a way that would mask the source completely. You see, my research is in large scale utility systems, and effects upon them." She nods about the direction of his research and then gets back to
the chantry topic. "I'll pass these out to friends. Is there some way to
submit comments before we meet? Leave notes at your place?" She reaches
out for the handouts. "Yeah, I take what you are saying about Zach. and I'm not going to
suggest that he show up to plan anything. But I want to say, I am
perceptive, and I have worked out a ritual to detect any external
influence on him. I can see and comprehend beyond what most people usually
experience. It's a start. I'd really like to get all that crap sorted out
with the community. It's toxic. But we could go round and round on this. I
don't want to belabor the point. We are both busy." Boom, she interrupts herself. "Oh that's very interesting. interesting." "I wonder if ... there are any companies doing utility and construnction who would somehow end up piping more toxicity around the city. I'll ask around about that. Maybe someone should look in to city contract bids. Thanks for that idea." Arthur nods. "Through my place, or you, or whatever works. We just need a community discussion, I Believe." He'll then slowly fold the folder bcak closed. "I think that the matter of Zach Penn would best be addressed AFTER we have a Chantry founded. We can't afford divisions within the Council. Let's put our mask on before we help others. Dr. van der Rohe has city access by the way." He then stands. "Thank you, and good luck." | |
