So - what now? [EFA Meeting]

Fallon scooted his chair a bit away from the table, giving space to Idés and Gwyn to sit and eat in peace. He didn’t say a word as he did so, mostly cause he didn’t want to interrupt or disturb the meeting anymore than it already had been. It didn’t come as a surprise for Fallon that no EFA member stood behind the murder. this is only the beginning... Those word gave Fallon an nauseating feeling in his gut, but at the same time it made very much sense that the murderer would strike again and that thought worsened the nauseating feeling he felt.

When Dominic talked about them doing something to distance themselves from the murder in the public eye, Fallon was about to come with another comment, but he bit back his tongue, he might have had to literally bite his tongue to stop himself from speaking. What was they supposed to do? Walk up to a godia warrior or reporter and be all ‘hey I’m in the EFA and truth is we have nothing to do with the murder!’. Fallon pondered it for a while, it might not seem like it but Fallon really did want the best for the EFA, they were the closest he had to a family. Perhaps an anonymous social media account could help spread the word? But that could quickly be taken out of context or be called a hoax, and in the worse case scenario be used against them to paint them as the guilty party for the murder. Fallon started to get frustrated as he couldn’t think of any solution. It wasn’t like Fallon was the brain in the group, but he just wanted to help and it seemed like right now he couldn’t do that simple little thing.

Idés looked at Gwyn and couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt at how unsure she looked. He thought that warning her about things being tense would’ve been enough, but truly, nothing could have prepared her for the actual thing. He placed a hand on her back and gestured for her to go take a seat, then he grabbed some pizza for them both before sitting down as well, between Fallon and Gwyn. He wasn’t really all that hungry after what had just gone down, but he had to eat at some point.

He frowned at the thought that the killer might strike again. It seemed likely. This couldn’t be the work of a first timer as well, the brutality of the crime seemed to indicate a person deeply desensitized to such gory matters. The murderer clearly wanted to create unease and as such, probably had something he wanted to say with the murder. As if it was some twisted art piece. Either way, publicly denying their involvement with the murder was probably the most important thing. Although, it was likely that people would not believe them. And getting in touch with some of the major news outlets would be close to impossible without compromising the safety of the contact – they didn’t have the luxury of just contacting the platforms.

“I think,” he spoke carefully. “The safest means of communication would be through pamphlets, flyers and posters.” They had done so before as many years prior, with information about Nachon civil rights issues. It was technically a form of vandalism, but that was the least of their worries. “Although the quality of exposure varies, at least it would get the word out. And it wouldn’t hurt to formulate an official response.”

Even though both the leader and the man who had somewhat welcomed her both had said to her to take a seat and some pizza, she remained standing where she was until Idés gestured her to the table with a hand on her back. Carefully sitting down, stupidly afraid that someone would still berate her for sitting down even though they had already assured her that it was okay, she let Idés get her a slice of pizza. At first she just stared at her slice, not really seeing what kind of pizza it was and ignoring all the talk that went on around her. It wasn’t like they’d appreciate anything that could come out of her mouth right now. So she just stared and started pondering when she last ate a pizza. Must not be too long ago, since there was a pizzeria on her take out roster. Or maybe it had been a while, since she could not remember the kind of pizza. Didn’t Joan get an upset stomach after the last time we ate pizza from Pappa Sicilia, Gwyn pondered as she tore off a tiny piece of the crust and put it in her mouth. She chewed slowly but didn’t register any flavour while doing so, what she did was gathering more and more thoughts in her mind.

None of them have reached out to you in a while, a little voice said to her, well because they all have functioning adult lifes and no time for a faulty warlock, another voice sneered. Because that was what she was, right? Faulty. Faulty for not being able to get access to a power that people claimed she possessed, faulty for not being able to regain her childhood memories even though she had tried countless self therapy videos. What could have been so traumatic that her brain would just get one massive error and delete a chunk of her childhood. Also, what cruel kind of God would mess with her to such extents that she suddenly had the powers of a Warlock, but not let her access them? Because wasn’t that how Gods thought of humans in stories, as playthings, lesser beings and pawns? Gwyn tore off another piece of crust, rubbing it in between her fingers before bringing it to her mouth. Her instructors had said to see her power as some sort of well, all she had to do was imagine herself scooping some water out of that well and then using it. She had imagined millions of wells, tried scooping out water from those said wells a billion times but the water always seemed to slip through her fingers before she even made it out of the well. She never felt that so-called feeling of something dormant laying in the centre of her body. All that she felt in her centre was hunger, or the cramps that came from her period.

However, now she just felt a heavy lump in her centre. One that also made the pizza in front of her seem unappetising. One that made her rethink all that she had said so far, making her realise that she had been out of line.

Idés and Gwyn had sat down and the meeting went on. Still with tension in the air - it was impossible to avoid that with such horrible things to discuss - but at least now they had actual points to discuss. Things to plan or at least brainstorm about. Something to actively do instead of just sitting idly by and watching the world turn against them.
When Cadmus asked 'how', Dominic simply shrugged. He had already said that he had no fucking clue how to do it and he wasn't sure that they would find a way at this meeting. But he shared every thought with the group, knowing that some of the heads in here were smarter than himself. Maybe he couldn't think of a solution, but others probably could. Just like he sometimes was the only one to know what they should do. It was really all about balance in that way.
Lo and behold, Idés did have a suggestion. Dominic looked at him while listening, nodding along to his points - and deliberately avoiding looking at the new girl while doing so.
"Flyers and such, we can do," he said afterwards, "It's not ideal but it's better than doing nothing. We just have to be careful with our design. Nothing that can have people mistake us for someone else but also without exposing too much about our group. Let's look further into that, okay?"
He looked out at the others as the agreed. Then he nodded as an accept of their agreement.
"Okay," he said in an exhale as the end to that meeting subject, "Next matter to be discussed - suppliers."
And so the meeting went on. Some of the weight lifted off Dominic's chest as the first step towards a strategy had been made. Barely an ounce, but it was still something. By the end of the meeting he might even be okay with going to bed at night.
Hopefully all of them could do that, all of EFA. Some at the HQ, some at Campus, some at Haling Dove.
But every single one of them haunted by nightmares and memories.

// The topic has been closed. Thank you all for a great scene