...are not always Truths

[Ashley McGowen] Ashley's place is north of the river, north of the Mile, clinging to the very edge of the wealthier areas of Chicago and stuck in the area between it and Cabrini Green that can be politely called "artsy." The building Molly is directed to is a brick walk up, old, recently renovated, and in spite of close to a foot of snow on the ground there are still hipsters huddled outside with cigarettes held between trembling fingers. They smile and hold the door open for Molly when she arrives, regardless of who she is or who she's here to see, and one day they will probably let in a serial killer.

Ashley's apartment is located on the second floor.

It's early afternoon, and it's about the time that most people would've had lunch. Ashley only got up a little while ago; she and Molly were Working late, and she had a walk home, and once she got home there was a dog that had to be walked. And once all that was done, Ashley still couldn't sleep. Molly's one of the city's magi who could probably sympathize.

The door opens after Molly knocks (and before it opens, she can hear Zane skittering across the floor - those poor wood floors - and slamming into the wall near the door.) Ashley is recently showered but still rumpled somehow, and she's pulled an orange and blue striped hooded sweatshirt, zipped up, on over the shirts she's wearing beneath. "Hey, Molly," she says, beckoning the Cultist inside.

And the interior is probably not quite what one would expect from Ashley. She's a graduate student, so it's a little chilly, but beyond that the place has a comfortable feel; the floors are hardwood, covered by a rug near the couches and chairs, which are a brown leather and are comfortably worn in, and the colors are warm: browns and reds and creams. And the walls - well, they aren't really all that visible, because they're lined with bookshelves which are crammed full of books. The scent of paper hangs about like a library, mixed in with the more herbal scent of teas.

[Molly Quincannon] [[Nightmares?]]
Dice Rolled:[ 5 d10 ] 2, 4, 4, 8, 10 (Success x 2 at target 6)
to Molly Quincannon

[Molly Quincannon] Molly didn't even get out of bed before ringing Ashley; she woke up (surprisingly enough, no nightmares that night, despite everything. Maybe she really is better), reached for her phone and called. Then, with a meet set, she grabbed a shower, changed clothes, swigged down as much coffee as she could in thirty seconds and, with Tupperware and a Thermos of coffee and soggy hair under her Kermit hat, headed to Ashley's.

"Hi," she replies to Ashley's greeting, stepping inside and proferring her Tupperware. "Chocolate cheesecake muffins. I love your place; it's cosy! Should I remove shoes?"

[Ashley McGowen] Molly brought Ashley food, and that fact alone makes the Hermetic's expression brighten a little as she glances toward the Tupperware container. "Please," she says, when Molly asks if she should remove her shoes. Ashley nods toward a mat that's set next to the closet behind the door, then tugs the closet door open so that Molly can hang up her coat.

While Molly hangs things up Ashley steps over to the kitchen to set a kettle on for tea. This is something she does out of habit, now; she doesn't even need to ask whether Molly'd like any.

"So," she says, reaching up and rubbing an eye with the heel of her hand, "thoughts? I figured I'd bring this to Israel later today, without leaving anything out. She's pretty invested in the Asylum."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly's shoes (well, boots, really) are a bit of a production to remove, all buckles and laces and zips and things, but she manages, and hangs up her bits and pieces, scrubbing a hand through still-damp (and now very cold) hair once she's done. Zane gets ear-scritches as Molly replies to Ashley's question.

"Well, the first thing I've been telling myself for as long as I've been up is the Code again. 'Truths foreseen are not always Truths. I think some of the details are probably okay to trust - names, that 'Contingency 233' stuff, Secca, and probably the faces, but not the ... events. Not entirely." Then she shrugs and pops open the Tupperware. The 'chocolate cheesecake muffins' are more like cupcakes, iced yellow and full of a sweet cream cheese filling. Snaffling one, she adds, "So to that end, I'm mostly focusing on the core of it all. That node is ... something else. Or has the potential to be. So either someone ... sterilises it ... or we end up fighting the Mirrorshades for it and keep losing, or ... that third. I dunno if that's what happens if we get it or if we can manage to get both sides to leave it alone, though. On the whole..." She sighs. "I think there are some decisions to be made. I don't think that something with so much potential ought to just be handed over to the Techs for a ... breach or ... whatever the hell experiments with the winged things that they were doing in there, but ... well, you saw the skirmishes. However we tell people, it's going to have to be fairly careful, and with some view on ... I guess risk-benefit analysis."

Then she frowns, curious. "What about you? What are your thoughts?"

[Ashley McGowen] Talking to Molly, particularly about issues of importance or personal import, always involves a dump of information: a lot of thoughts offered at one time, a lot to think about. Ashley takes two mugs down and sets a jar of honey next to them while the water boils, then reaches her hands up and runs them back through hair that is only slightly damp and leaving it a bit tousled (then again, it's generally styled to be so anyway.) She leaves them locked behind her head for a few moments and lets out a sigh.

"I refuse to hand it to them," she says, flat. "Because of what they're going to do with it and because it would be giving them a foothold here that we'd regret later. The way I see it, it's either fight them or, if we can't do that, somehow make it so that neither side can access it, as long as it's out of their hands. But doing any of that is going to move us into open hostilities. We need to make sure the chantry is behind it before we make a move."

[Molly Quincannon] "Agreed," Molly says, but she still has that curious, thoughtful frown. "But what happens if the chantry isn't behind us. I get the impression your old cabalmate Bran Summers would be, and Israel likely is, and I know I am, because I'm not really big on handing the Mirrorshades anything, particularly something that feels like it wants to ... breathe and grow and create, y'know? Which is where the 'gyeh' of it being ... sterilised comes in. I ... think that should be a last resort, but I ... guess I get the necessity if it's the only way to keep them from getting it, y'know? Anyway, question stands - what happens if the chantry as a whole is against the course of action that leads to open hostilities? I don't think they would be? But I know that there are some sectors that prefer a live-and-let-live policy, Kage seems to want to talk to them, which I don't really get, and I know what Chuck would say about open hostilities, even without all of that going on with him." She shrugs. "So what happens if or when dissent hits the ranks?"

Then she frowns a little deeper and asks, "Do ... you think we could talk to this node-to-be? I mean, soon, before the Techs get too much of a foothold? It's got a spirit; it might have an opinion. And it sure as hell has ways to defend itself."

[Ashley McGowen] There's another breath the Hermetic (Verbena-to-be) lets out when Molly mentions the feel of the node; Ashley felt it too, and just as strongly. "I don't want to sterilize it either, if we don't have to," she agrees. "But Gregor or Solomon should be able to speak with the node spirit, and I'm sure either of them would do it. I'd prefer Gregor, obviously, but..."

A shrug. She'll be willing to do whatever gets the job done, even if she is partial to her cabalmate over the Crusader.

"I don't think we can plan on people disagreeing just yet. I think the majority of the chantry will at least see the need in action, regardless of what that action is. The ones that would rather sit behind their walls or do nothing are people I honestly couldn't give a fuck about anyway." Diplomacy: it isn't Ashley's strong suit.

[Molly Quincannon] Molly tilts her head, yet more curious, when Gregor is mentioned. "Gregor?" She's never met him, or even heard of him. Her partiality to Solomon is clear (and probably understandable), but she's not making a judgement one way or the other about a preference for speaking to the node until she hears more about Gregor.

The 'diplomacy' gets a chuckle. "One thing I've learned from crewing with Henri is that contingencies for dissent in the ranks are good things to think about. Chains are only as strong as their weakest link. But I see your point. I think if we explain it to people - thoroughly, with an idea of what they're likely to face - they'll make up their own mind. I don't know about 'most', but I get the feeling we'd have a good crew onside if - when, I guess, if that's how it's gonna be - it comes to a fight."

[Ashley McGowen] "My cabalmate," Ashley says. "He's a Dreamspeaker. He got pulled over past the Gauntlet last spring and Wharil and I thought he was dead, for a while. We managed to recover him and bring him back with Solomon's help." Those are the footnotes, obviously; Ashley has a manner of just offering the pertinent information and cutting away the extraneous, sometimes. "I trust him. And he's less of a zealot."

In his fashion. Ashley doesn't sneer, saying this: she respects Solomon. But it is what it is, and she isn't the sort to bandy words about.

There's a look toward Molly, then a glance toward the kettle, which is rattling on the burner. Not steaming yet. "One thing I've learned is that some people want to remain on the fringes and benefit off what we do indirectly while offering nothing. We won't be able to bring them in line, so fuck them. I think there are plenty of people who will be willing to offer something and step forward, and we can use them. I don't have any time or interest in the rest. But hopefully there won't be a fight." A beat. "As for Bran, I don't particularly want him involved either. He'll make it into his show if he hears about it, and he will get people killed if he gets involved."

[Molly Quincannon] "...Zealot?" It's not defensive; it's confused. Molly hasn't seen quite enough of Solomon to see him in quite that light. "I mean, I know he's heavy into the Judeo-Christian mythology thing, but I never translated that to 'zealot'. Huh. Well," she goes on with a shrug, "either way. Gregor might be a good choice just from the point of view of the perspective he'd have, thinking about it. I mean, there was that bit about the worlds people could look into and ... well." She doesn't finish the thought, but she doesn't really have to. If Gregor has been past the Gauntlet, he might be the best choice for speaking to something like this from its own perspective.

Everything else gets a nod, though Molly's still thoughtful. She doesn't want a fight either, it's clear, but... "Do you really think there's going to be a way to avoid a fight if they want the place so badly? I mean, I can see why they'd want it, even if I don't agree with what they'd do with it. And if we'd be willing to fight to keep it out of their hands, wouldn't they be about the same? I'm not saying 'hit first', but ... well, I guess it's talk to the node first, see what it has to say and then work it from there. But I don't think diplomacy is going to cut it, and I doubt they're going to just go away and let us get a foothold there, any more than we'd let them."

Then she frowns again, still curious, and asks, "What's Bran like? I mean, I saw what you mean about him making it his show, but ... y'know, I guess I just wonder how not to get him involved without not telling him, and that ... I dunno what to do with that. I mean, word spreads, especially about something like this." She doesn't bring up the little bubble of emotion she'd felt from Ashley when she recognised Bran; just asks the question.

[Ashley McGowen] "Speak with Solomon privately a few times," is Ashley's only suggestion when Molly questions his zealotry. "Or, hell. Speak with him when the stakes are high and see what happens." Then again, maybe it isn't all that surprising that Ashley thinks any of this; they're both Willful, she and Solomon, and they are driven by very different ideals for all their passion and pragmatism.

"I don't know if there's a way to avoid a fight. We'll worry about it when it happens," Ashley says. "We try to make it work, and if it doesn't, we make sure that they're the ones who regret it."

A look toward Molly again when Bran's name comes up, and by now the kettle is starting to steam, so she pulls it off before the little whistles become a full-blown scream. She pours it into the teapot, leaving it to steep for a few minutes. "Bran is a leader," she says, "and he hates the Technocracy. He doesn't think the Ascension War is over." Neither, point in fact, does Ashley; not quite. But she doesn't have Bran's idealism. "He gets people to do what he wants."

[Molly Quincannon] That first gets a chuckle. "I've had him and Emily both telling me a bit about their world view. But I've been meaning to ask him more anyway, so I guess I'll do that." Understand - this interest is a strange thing in that she doesn't really subscribe to it. She knows already that her views and Solomon's don't mesh as far as the Divine goes. For her, it's an intellectual exercise. She just doesn't use words like 'zealot'. They could, about some things, apply to her as well.

The short overview of Bran Summers gets raised eyebrows, as one who should say, That bodes. "Ah. Doesn't really say how we keep him out of it once he hears - if he hears - though. And ... I guess in a way he's right that the war's not over. I wasn't Awake when it supposedly ended, but my old crew always told me that ... well, apathy won. I mean, both sides took losses, but we're both still here, still on opposite sides with opposing views ... and I look at the people you're talking about, who'd rather hide behind walls and barely acknowledge what they are ... and I get what my old crew meant. I don't necessarily want to get into a ruckus without cause - I don't virus-bomb them at random or anything - but ... I'm not a 'behind walls' kind of person. Though I doubt," she says, that overconfidence shining through, "that Bran could get me to do what he wants if it wasn't what I wanted too. But then," she adds, thoughtful again, "I guess that's how people get people to do what they want. Find out where their goals coincide and get persuasive. Still."

Another shrug, and she smiles a little at the teapot. "What's the tea?"

[Ashley McGowen] "I'll talk to him and try to keep him out," Ashley says. "He's been taking care of things in Rockford and Madison and he's been in the area lately...usually he operates out of Boston." The two of them are still in frequent contact, all told, particularly given the mixed feelings that go back and forth. "And no. He's not wrong. But there's a difference between a war and a crusade."

The tea has finished steeping and she takes to pouring it into the two mugs, handing one of them over to Molly. Ashley doesn't have a kitchen table; she uses her coffee table when there are guests, which, unfortunately, means that they have to either lean over to get food and drinks or sit on the floor (she and Kage always do the latter.) It's a black peach tea; Molly can smell it even before Ashley tells her so.

"Bran would make you want what he wants," Ashley says, after a beat. "He's like that." She starts over toward the couches and chairs, feeling out the rug with her toes as she steps across it.

[Molly Quincannon] Molly's happy enough with the floor, and with the black peach tea (Molly is still not a massive tea person, but that's one of her favourites), and she nudges the Tupperware container Ashley's way as she settles, inhaling the steam from her tea and giving that her full attention before she even considers the rest.

That done, she looks Ashley's way and says, "Yeah ... if people were any good at making me want what they wanted, my life would be a very different thing, but I'll take your word for it; never met the guy so can't judge. And you're right that there's a difference between a war and a crusade, but I also get that not everyone sees it that way. So I guess my next question is ... if this guy is more the crusader type as far as the war goes, and he hears about this, and he's good at making people want what he wants ... is any force in the 'verse going to keep him out when he hears about it? I mean, I'm not saying don't tell him, and I figure if you know him as well as all that, if anyone can do it it's you? I just ... get the impression that if he's as gung-ho as you say..." She shrugs again, not entirely sure how to finish that particular sentence. After a short pause, she eventually decides on, "...If what he wants is to get in on this, and he's good at getting people to want what he wants ... does that include you?"

[Ashley McGowen] "There's a reason I'm not in a cabal with him anymore," is the rather short reply. "I don't intend to give him what he wants unless it suits me and the interests of the city." Which, as Ashley sees it, are her own interests to begin with.

There's a glance toward Molly then, something sidelong and lingering and a little intent. "Let me worry about Bran. He shouldn't even be here in the first place. I'll do what I think is appropriate."

[Molly Quincannon] That gets a bit of a blink, and Molly raises a hand, palm flat out towards Ashley - universal gesture of Hey, whoa; okay, peace. "Okay, gotcha. Sorry. I mean, obviously you're going to do what you think is appropriate, and that's fine, y'know? I'm just wondering what that is, is all. It's the curiosity, is all, not any judgement on what you're gonna do. I know it's not my business and just because I want to know doesn't mean I'd stick my nose in. Or even say much to anyone else. Sorry." She gives a slightly sheepish smile. "I like to know things. If nothing else, it means I can do the right thing if shit related to the knowing goes down ... y'know, based on more than just thinking I'm right all the time."

But okay, we are moving the subject away from Bran. "So ... what do you think the interests of the city are, in this whole situation?"

[Ashley McGowen] Ashley doesn't seem quite irritated or angry: there's just an air of preparation about her, as though she's getting ready to argue. When no argument surfaces, she eases a little. "It sounded like you were calling my judgment into question," she says, and her tone isn't placating or apologetic so much as flat.

But she lets the topic be moved away from Bran. "Keeping the chantry and the node safe are my primary concerns, and so is guarding from internal and external corruption, in line with the Society's manifesto. I'd like to secure our place with the Sleepers. All of those things seem to be in everyone else's interests as much as mine."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly actually smiles a little when Ashley tells her what it sounded like. There's a small note of apology but mostly it's just friendly. "I get we don't know each other very well - you having been in my head notwithstanding. So ... just so you know? I don't call people's judgement into question lightly or often. I was just curious how you'd handle it. I mean, how else does anyone learn things but hear how someone who might be better at a thing handles that thing? I ask questions for information, so if I was going to question your judgement - which, really, no? I'd probably ask a more rhetorical kind of question. Like if maybe you'd thought it through, or something. I respect you too much to ask, even in hyperbole, if you'd lost your mind."

It's not idle flattery. It's not placating. It is, in Molly's parlance, what it is, yo.

Moving on, she nods to what Ashley feels are the interests of the city. One thing catches her ear, though, and she asks, "I get most of it, and yeah, from what I know about the Society's manifesto, I'd agree, but ... what do you mean, 'secure our place with the Sleepers'? I don't think I've ever been clear on what 'our place' with the Sleepers is, exactly, beyond being one of the proverbial one-eyed people in the kingdom of the blind."

[Ashley McGowen] "How I handle things usually depends on the situation," Ashley says with a shrug. "I don't like to do a lot of planning and question what ifs, because once it comes down to it, they don't matter and they usually don't make me any better prepared. We have an idea of something that might come to pass, but we don't know how or why. I need to know those things before I can think about what I'm going to do."

Mention of the proverb makes a corner of Ashley's mouth twitch - and no surprise, given her one eye - but she chooses not to comment on it, in particular. "Ideas and concepts - memes - struggle against each other for dominance and adapt and select the same way life forms can be expected to. As beings of thought, we tend to back certain ones with Will. Right now the Technocracy is on the top, because they had stronger ideas and they fought better, and Sleepers do their Will. Reality does their Will. That's what our place is."

[Molly Quincannon] Molly thinks that over, then nods. "I getcha. Seriously, I get it. I guess just sometimes I find that contingency planning helps a lot, especially when backed by established patterns - of behaviour, logic, whatever else. But that's when I get started too much on the stuff I learned about Entropy and its relation to Time, so I'm going to shut up now before I get entirely oh-tee."

Which brings her to their place with the Sleepers. Molly glances at her leather and metal conglomeration of a Prime focus and says, "Yeah. I dunno if it's stronger ideas, though. It's just ... less diffuse ones, maybe? I mean, at its absolute root, what we do is work our Will on the universe. Difference is that whereas they don't entirely see it that way, they do it in a way that's relatively uniform. They haven't got to try to explain to a bunch of people who seem to prefer looking at and for the simplest solutions that there are many paths but the Work is more or less the same, because they walk the same ... approximate path, anyway. That's the only advantage they've got; using the lowest-common-denominator effect. But I guess," she sighs, taking up her tea again, "it's more than enough, some days. So we keep struggling to keep the less lowest-common-denominator meme alive?"

[Ashley McGowen] Ashley, who is a person who operates primarily from instinct, just raises her eyebrows at Molly when she talks about contingency planning, established patterns of behavior. It isn't that Ashley doesn't think before she acts; she just isn't a planner, really. She's far more intuitive than most expect Hermetics to be.

"If the ideas dominate, they're stronger," Ashley says, "by nature of broader appeal or...really any adaptation that they use to get ahead. It's like a cockroach. It's a fucking cockroach, nobody likes them, but they're fucking tenacious. That doesn't mean that a cockroach is the only well-adapted life form, or that they're adapted to do anything beyond survive. And it doesn't mean we have to hit the lowest common denominator. It means that that's what worked for the Technocracy, and there's something else that could work for us."

[Molly Quincannon] The raised eyebrows get a bit of a smile - wry, not quite rueful - and a shrug. It's not that Molly doesn't trust intuition, or go by it; quite the reverse, in fact. It's just a matter of training. For her, 'intuition' = 'subconscious detail collection and pattern recognition'. The hazards of being a Time/Entropy mage with a very analytical mind.

The rest gets a raised fist - the hand not holding the tea, obviously. "Preaching to the choir. Hence the 'less lowest-common-denominator' thing. I guess I just sometimes ask myself," she adds, showing a certain flare of cynicism that few (if any) ever see in the generally cheerful and optimistic Cultist, "how the hell we're ever going to find a thing that works for us as the overall group 'Awakened' when we can barely agree amongst ourselves as Awakened as to what's important all the way across the board. I mean, I've met people who hide their lights under bushel-barrels and would be happy enough to pretend to be Sleepers full-time, and others who won't lift a hand to do anything if they don't see immediate personal profit in it... We're all still human, at the end of the day. And I know that even Sleepers can rise above the petty shit. Just ... sometimes I think we're at a disadvantage there. We can work our Will on the universe, to varying degrees. That gives us a lot more reason for the kind of hubris that sort of cripples the whole 'united we stand' angle."

[Ashley McGowen] "We all act because we see personal profit in something," Ashley says with a shrug. "Anyone who tells you differently is lying - if not to you, then to themselves. Which doesn't always mean we'll see profit in the same things. Israel feels good when she helps other people, I guess, and maybe she really does."

Ashley doesn't say it as though she doubts. She's saying it as someone who, by all appearances, might not be the sort to easily wrap her mind around that idea. "But the point is, people throw in if they see a benefit. There's no benefit for a lot of other magi to put themselves at risk when they can do what they want to do without lifting a finger, and let us struggle and die."

Ashley doesn't have that great an insight to other people's emotions most of the time. What she does have is an understanding of how they work, in general - from a certain perspective.

[Molly Quincannon] Molly turns that thought over in her mind, then nods - not in the way of agreeing, exactly, but just in terms of one accepting the thought and idea as valid. "I guess it depends on your definition of 'personal profit', maybe? For some, it's money or material stuff. For others, it's prestige, power, sheer ... I dunno, show-offery; 'lookit what I can do'. For still others, it's helping others - the warm fuzzies' effect, or just knowing they made a difference. I think I fall somewhere in those last two," she admits with a shrug. "Profit's a really weird word, and an even weirder concept. I guess it depends on what you value. I dunno about you, but I have to value a world that has ... I dunno, art. Sunsets. Star-shot skies. And seven billion or so miracles wandering around it. So there's my personal profit ... though it's not what other people see as profit, I guess. I know I'm not alone there, but..." She shrugs. "Sometimes it sure as hell feels that way."

[Ashley McGowen] "I think most people want things they aren't honest about wanting," Ashley says. And maybe she's thinking of Emily, or Jarod, or Bran or Solomon or Jacques or Daiyu; any of those people, and all for different reasons. But she doesn't mention them, and she doesn't offer her ideas on what they might want.

She hasn't thought on it long, really, nor does she know much beyond the feeling that she has about it. She has no great insight into individuals, after all, beyond her Hunger and recognizing the hunger in them.

"My point is, though, that someone who understood what people were after and could design something mutually beneficial would be the sort of person the Traditions would need. That's really it." But she's not that person, and she knows it.

[Molly Quincannon] More thoughtfulness. "Well, if I ever figure out the human condition well enough to answer that question, I'll let you know," she says. "As it is, part of me wants to say 'people want honesty, love and acceptance', but that's a whole boatload of crap. What people really seem to want is an excuse to feel superior to everybody else, so they can quell that little voice of self-loathing everyone seems to have inside them. Which ... y'know, I'm not minded to give people that. There's enough self-destructive hubris and posturing and hate crime in the world."

[Ashley McGowen] While Molly tells her what people really seem to want, Ashley breaks off a bit of muffin and pops it into her mouth, listening in silence. She isn't watching Molly; she's turning her ear toward it, glancing up every now and again but without the intent kind of stare Molly's been on the receiving end of multiple times now.

And when Molly says that she's not of a mind to give people that, Ashley raises her eyebrows. "You sure you aren't going to give it to them? It sounds like you've bought into the idea, at least. Seen the truth. Whatever you want to call it."

[Molly Quincannon] That gets a shrug. "Maybe it's what they want right now. I know I don't want that. I know I'm awesome. I don't need to shit all over someone else to prove it. But I wasn't always like that, though I had the good grace - most of the time - to feel superior in the privacy of my own head. But I used to get teased and harrassed and occasionally beaten up by people who felt that I somehow threatened their world view, wherein they're the superior being and all must bow down and worship them or whatever, just by existing." She sips her tea. "Some people want that feeling, and they want it so much they mistake 'want' for 'need'. They think they need it badly enough that they'll hurt other people - or even kill - to get it. But it's like how people think they need nicotine or alcohol or ... well, anything they indulge in that's bad for them. Giving people what they want isn't enough. It's finding out what they need - not just in the short term, but in the long term as a species. It's like how Ascension isn't about being superior to ... well, Sleepers or other Awakened or anything. I guess what people need is to separate the betterment of self from the feeling of superiority over others. To know the joy that is being better, divorced from the subjective concept of 'better than'. Because anyone who has to say, 'I am better than you' is still shackled by the belief that they're not, or they wouldn't have to say it; the belief would be enough. I think people would, long-term, be happier if they could just be better. Could see the improvement of self that we do as we work towards Ascension, and not have it so reliant on subjective concepts like their position relative to someone else."

She sips tea, then gives a wry, twisty little smile. "But that wasn't what we were talking about. We were talking about what people want, right now. Just because the answer sucks right now doesn't mean we can't work to make it better. Isn't that what we're about?"

[Ashley McGowen] "I'm not interested in telling people what they should want," Ashley says. "As far as I see it, you're free to try to get people to believe whatever you Will, and if you can find a reason to get them to do your Will - whatever that may be - then it's right and it works. But I don't see a reason to back that idea, personally."

A shrug. "I mean, do whatever you think will work. But it seems to me that an arrangement is the best way to go, if we were to theorize about how to get people to work together. That was the way the Society got a hold of the chantry in Chicago. No one knew each other or worked together before we did."

[Molly Quincannon] The look Ashley gets at that last just gets a look of Okaaaaaay... Molly's a curious person by her very nature, but when someone says that they can't back the expousal of a worldview that might get people away from each other's throats and focusing on self-improvement, then there's no sense in beating one's head against a brick wall trying to debate the point. So she just gives that curious, slightly surprised, raised-eyebrow look for a second, and then turns her attention back to her tea.

"Well," she says, "speaking in immediate specifics, I guess the question is how to broach things to people to increase the chances of getting them to work together. Chantry meeting? I mean, you said you wanted to pass things along to Israel, or I could; she's expecting me to call back to let her know how it went anyway. I'm going to try to get hold of my cabal and tell them about this, but maybe if we get the spokesbods together with some indication of what their cabals all want to do about this, with all the intel at their fingertips, we might find it easier to reach a -no pun intended - consensus on what to do."

[Ashley McGowen] Molly gives her that look, and apparently Ashley sees it as a request for elaboration. Because she provides. "Conflict is what improves people," she says. "Ideals - and the Wills that back them - compete against each other and that's what pushes people to be better. They'll put that aside if there's something that profits them, whatever that may be, but not otherwise. And if you try to remove that conflict people either stagnate or rebel."

And then she's comfortable with letting the topic move on to getting people to work together, here, for this specific situation. "I'm going to inform Israel," Ashley says, "and then after that the best thing to do would be to call a meeting." The last two words nearly come out as a sigh: meetings are a necessary evil. "Emissaries, Dean and Sentinel first, maybe, and then we can extend things farther after that."

[Molly Quincannon] There's a desperate urge to go further on the line of conflict etcetera - Why can't they just be in competition with themselves, rather than others? There's enough conflict in one human head and heart to be getting on with without just randomly dumping on people, surely... But now is not the time or the place. Maybe another day. It's a thing to think on.

The rest gets raised eyebrows, particularly the point at which Ashley seems to put an embargo on who gets told what and who does the telling. There's no sense in arguing the point, and if Israel calls first, or asks when Molly calls to let Israel know she's alright ... well, she can just tell Israel that Ashley insisted on being the one to tell her. As to the rest... "Meeting it is. Just ... so we're clear, you seem to be saying that we should leave all the intel at those people - Emissaries, Dean, Sentinel - instead of spreading that intel to their respective crews. Did I read that wrong? 'Cos I dunno if I want to keep my crew in the dark about this. If I'm going to represent their views on it, they ought to know what it is I'm representing them about."

[Ashley McGowen] Ashley shakes her head. "Tell them. I'm suggesting that the only people who should be at the meeting would be the emissaries, dean and sentinel, just so we can kind of keep things sane. And then once we've decided among chantry members, we can go elsewhere. Talk to your group ahead of time before the meeting, by all means."

[Molly Quincannon] That gets a wry sort of look - good-natured self-mockery. "Ah, see, that's why I ask these things. Cool. Will do."

Her tea gets swigged and she stands, heading towards the sink to rinse her mug. "Was there anything else we needed to go over? I figure you've got calls to make and I have ... things, day job, calls, yadda. So I best jet, but I don't want to leave important stuff unsaid. So ... I don't think I've missed anything, but if you think of anything ... well, you know the number, at least, so there's that. And you can hang on to the Tupperware, if you want; just wash it and hand it back when it's empty."

[Ashley McGowen] Molly offers to leave the Tupperware with her - and presumably, the muffins contained therein, and that doesn't miss Ashley's notice. People seem to feed her a lot, and the Hermetic is grateful. Even if it's sometimes hard to tell.

"All right," she says. "I'll be in touch soon, but thanks for coming over to talk."

[Molly Quincannon] "No problem," Molly says. "It's what I do. But thank you for the tea..." She's struggling into her boots at this point, "...and the philosophy and thought-provoking stuff. Talking to you is always awesome that way; my head always feels full of information afterwards, and I like sorting it all out in my head. So..." Boots are on, coat is on, and hat gets plonked onto her head with a little grin, recalling conversations about pleasedon'tburnmyhat. "Have a great rest of your day, okay? Later, Zane!"

With that and a scritch of the dog's ears in passing, Molly's out, leaving behind the ten remaining muffins and associated Tupperware, and a washed mug.