A daft start
{{ | date=10/04/2018 | cast=
| place_name=Alma's office at the Hall of Science | log= Alma texts Fred, "I would like advice with a problem if you have time. meet at my office at your convenience?"
The reply - two minutes later - is a simple 'OMW ETA 35min', and 35 minutes later, give or take twenty seconds, there's a knock on the door. Fred's wearing a suit today, and looking professional, albeit in the sense of professional that says that the person next to him won't be giving autographs. "Afternoon."
"Afternoon," Alma replies in kind. She offers a seat if he has not already taken one. "I have a thorny problem, and I'm hoping you might be able to answer some questions." She searches his face as she talks. "I recently left the Chakravanti. You're new around here, so you may not have heard? People I've worked closely with in hte past are still okay with me. Some people are a little uncomfortable by that. Are you comfortable talking to me?"
Fred closes the door behind himself and lurches over to the seat; his expression gives very little away as Alma speaks, and when she's finished he greets the question with a shrug. "I used to kill people for a living," he points out. "I've got no room to start throwing stones at people."
Alma nods. "I was supposed to be able to kill people as a calling." She admits, "There was a matter of degree in that." She pushes forward a printout of two newspaper articles. "I've been looking in to these killings. I am fairly certain I've figured out who is committing these crimes. And I know he is possessed by something. I was wondering what you might know about exorcism. I don't know how to pull something out. I only know about sending a lost ghost on its way."
Fred takes and reads the papers; while he's doing so, he replies to the question. "Nah. I'm not a priest and the boss hasn't given me dispensation, so me waving around bell, book and candle goes from daft to pointless. Slotting him, that I can probably do from half a mile away, but extracting a demon isn't something I can do."
"Ah, shoot." Alma says. "I think someone I know might know more about this, but I was hoping to be able to talk to more people with that kind of experience." She sighs. "He's able to turn in to some type of large cat," She emphasizes this next part, "People can do that kind of thing /without/ being possessed. This man is different because he worked with some... awful thing."
Fred's sudden smile is wry. "Yeah, shooting is what I had in mind," he agrees, then nods. "Turns into a large cat? Seems perfectly reasonable. It's people who're normal that seem like the weird ones these days. Okay. Do we know what sort of abilities being able to turn into a large cat gives him? Am I going to need silver bullets, blessed ones or ones made out of mistletoe?"
Alma raises her brow, "I've never heard of a mistletoe bullet before. But in answer to your question, I don't have much of a clue. I've heard that he's affected memory before--I haven't followed up on that, so don't jump to any conclusions yet. I don't know if you should select any bullets based on that." Her face goes somber. "I'm hoping someone can exorcise that thing. I don't want to execute someone because of things they did while posessed."
Fred shakes his head. "Question is, did he /want/ the possession, or did he fight it? 'Cause if he wanted it, he's responsible, end him, end problem. If not, the one who got him possessed needs terminating with extreme prejudice."
"I'm disagreeing with you on that, sir. People make mistakes. If someone is staying with an abusive partner, I don't blame them. I try to help them get out of the situation. If they are married--they agreed to that. I don't care, I think they have the right to leave and disolve that agreement. That's just a... a daily life example--I know it is; I'm not an idiot. Things more powerful? I have power too, and maybe I can use it to give them the ability to choose a different way."
Fred smiles ever so faintly. "This man is killing people gruesomely, messily, and /very/ painfully, for power," he says, sounding more-or-less unbothered about it. "Either he's made a bargain with hell to do so or he's a victim too. Whatever you do has got to stop the murders - and if he made that bargain himself, he'll only go and do it again the moment you turn your back."
Alma sighs. "Do you know of any rituals that involve carving circles of skin from the head of people? These weren't exactly scalpings."
Fred blinks, then shakes his head. "Nope," he says. "But a circle is a meaningful shape to be carving."
Alma nods. "It is." She is still obviously unhappy, "Look, I know this person is no innocent. But in the dream I saw, he was just a kid. His mom was in the end stages of cancer, and it was most likely caused by corporate negligance. Can't you empathize? This kid tried talking to, I don't know, a spirit of an oil pipeline? or oil? It probably tricked him. His mother's dead now. For a while. He doesn't have that reason anymore. If we give him a choice, he might make a different one this time. I doubt he's had a happy life since then. It can't be enjoyable, being half mad from that thing."
Fred exhales deeply, his eyes closing and then reopening. He looks down at his hands for a moment, then up at Alma again. "Okay. First up, you didn't mention /any/ of that earlier. Second up, you know sweet sod all about who I am beyond being able to make odd stuff happen through the power of religion. Third up, spirits and demons are different, I know /that/ much theory at least. I don't know if an exorcism'd work even if you got the Pope, the Queen and the Dalai Lama on it."
"Look, I apologize," Alma says. "I never know how much to say about this stuff. I also am not clear on the theory. I know about ghosts. I know that everything is alive in some way, but I don't know how all that works. I apologize for being presumptious. I didn't mean to be." She runs her fingers through her ponytail. "I've not talked to many people about this kind of stuff. I've never talked to anyone with your kind of experience." Note flies in through window and lands on her shoulder. The little bird starts grooming her hair.
Fred eyes Alma for a moment, then nods. "No worries. It probably also doesn't help that the way you introduced it all told me that someone needed killing but you had doubts about your ability to squeeze the trigger, which is always a good way to put me into job mode. I spent nearly twenty years as a soldier, love - through sniper school and everything - and old habits die hard." He exhales, then offers a smile. "Hi, I'm Fred, and I'm here to help."
"Oh" Alma is startled. "I didn't realize I implied that. I'm kind of...
slow sometimes. Nice to meet you, Fred. I'm Alma, a well-meaning yet
occasionally clueless sort." She waves her hand at the paper. "I'm trying to be
very careful about what and whatnot to disclose. I have friends that really
value their secrets. I have friends who aren't supposed to be talking to other
friends." She grunts in frustration.
"I've been told more about this guy, but most of the information I'm
giving you right now is from what I've obtained from talking to the ghost of
his mother and from witnesses part of his life in a dream she gave to me. And I
don't know if you've noticed, there are practically /no/ ghosts in Detroit.
There should be. I don't know how his mother's ghost has survived her for ten
years or more. I can only speculate. It puts me at ill ease. But I was talking
to her through my sight. my perception. I think she gave me true information."
Fred may have experience with evangelists. Here is Alma, evangelising: "I don't know how people even get things done--my group at uni wouldn't get very far without talking to other research groups. /This/ work is a multidisciplinary field too.It would go so much easier if people could work directly with each other. Are you comfortable with me sharing your information with people I'm dealing with on this?"
<<OOC>> Alma would like to give Fred a copy of the Book of Orphan
Fred nods as he listens, then grimaces ever so slightly. "So your information comes from someone who's automatically going to see him in the best possible light," he says, then shakes his head. "No thanks. I don't like publicity, and right now I'm new here and don't know who I can trust directly, never mind at a remove or two. Those twenty years left me with an allergy to cameras and distinct paranoia. By all means tell 'em I'm a consultant, but I don't need who or what I am getting out to anyone who doesn't need to know."
Alma nods. "Fair. I beleive you've been introduced to other people in the city--you got my information from Arthur right? Have you met Wednesday? He's one of the three people a lot of us feel comfortable with in a leadership role."
Fred nods and nods. "Yup. I already know Wednesday and I see eye-to-eye on a couple of things."
Alma winks. "He's one of the people I'm working with on this." She considers something for a moment, "I'm not particularly nice. I want you to know that. I may /seem/ soft-hearted because I empathize with people and try to consider all perspective, but I'm not. Yes. His mother may be biased to see him in the best light. Rest assured I scrutinized everything she said or showed me without sentiment getting in the way. It's very important to take perspective. I'd become inhuman without it. I don't know if that means other people should or not. I know we don't all see eye-to-eye.
Fred's smile returns, but there's a tinge of regret to it now. "I'm used to having to make snap judgement calls," he says. "It's part and parcel of who I was, who I am. So's living with the consequences. But one term you'll never hear me use is 'collateral damage', that's just unprofessional."
"That's nice to know," Alma says. "I admit I am not experienced at making snap judgements. I've spent a great deal of my life sitting for hours and taking months or a year to reach probable conclusions about the cognitive abilities of birds. It's a habit." She then admits, "And people report that I'm nice. I know that introspection is not the most accurate form of insight in to one's self, so be warned that I might actually be nice. I know that sounds like I'm joking, and I sort of am. But, on the other hand, that's a data point for you in case we ever do field work together." She ends with. "Feel free to tell Wednesday that you've talked to me about this. I don't know if you'll have cause to do any investigation on this yourself, but he's someone you'll be able to talk to to get a big picture of what people are finding."
Fred's smile gentles. "It's okay," he says. "I did snap judgements so other people didn't have to, and that hasn't changed. I'm looking forward to working with you - although I'll be honest, I need to fix this leg before I can get too active. It's starting to get on my wick."
Alma looks rather confused. "Get on your wick? Annoy you? How'd you break your leg? If it's safe to ask."
Fred blinks, then smiles. "I didn't break it. I caught a bullet with it. That's why I'm not in the army any more - and what led me, indirectly, here."
Alma asks, "Is someone here going to fix your leg? Do you think you'll stay after that?"
Fred shakes his head. "It's for me to fix it," he says. "And probably. When the Lord wants me somewhere else, He'll let me know. 'Til then, I'll stick around."
"That's good," Alma says. "This place really needs people." She offers him another paper. "When you have a chance, take a look at this. I know you're new here, so you might not be familiar with some of the violence that happens before halloween. It used to be declining, but last year was the worst it's been in a long time. You might want to check in to what groups are doing Angel's Night work in your area. And talk to Arthur, I think he's looking in to some related things. If anyone is doing work on this, I want to contribute. I'm not so good for face-to-face action, but I do what I can behind the scenes to help people prepare."
Fred glances at the paper and nods. "Yeah, I've heard about this," he says. "I'm planning something to see if I can get a feel for where we can be most useful - I'm really not up to much physical without a while to get set up, so I can't volunteer for the front lines, but planning and setup? That I can do. I'll let you know what I find out." }}
