Sam wasn't wrong, and he was good about stressing that he meant no insult or disrespect. And we had to grudgingly admit that he was right. Connecting news articles that supported our view wasn't any better than what actual conspiracy theorists do, which pretty much hit things on the nose.
Hal did insist though that he was trying to get something tangible from his experiences with the illuminati, to which Sam said "Good." That was what we needed. He said he didn't mean to "rain on our parade," just that if we were serious about this, we needed to get serious about it. We needed to have something tangible, something undeniable. And he was willing to help with that.
That restored our confidence, and I think is what we needed to hear. Sitting around talking about news articles was a fun time, but hardly produced any results. We need to be more proactive.
Being proactive is all fine and good, but we weren't exactly sure where to start. We hadn't heard about any mysterious break in's like what were reported along Nephmesu's route. So we didn't have anything to work on in that direction. The bookstore was way out of our price range, Hal said "even with my new income." We had no clue who the brawler was, and I was the only one to see him at the bookstore. People still weren't being allowed near the tree, either by the police or the crows. DIA wasn't going to allow a bunch of random people to go looking around in their remodel.
What it came down to was that we had no authority, and no means of doing the things we needed to be able to do. Which was, humbling, to put it mildly.
So, Sam said rather than looking at the short game, maybe we should look at the long game and focus on that. He pointed out that Hal was already apart of "this illuminati," and that put him in the position of potentially doing any number of things. Either to expose them, or gain authority through them. Max and her training in film might put her in the position of actually catching something worthwhile, something presentable. Which left me, directionless me. Sam said that gave me the most potential of all, that I was already working toward going to college. That when I went, I could make the choice to learn forensic sciences, which were not far different from the methods and tools used for anthropology and archaeology. If something was going on, we might not be the first on the scene, but we'd be the first to be able to make a career out of it.
It was a something I don't think any of us had considered. I think it was a viewpoint we all needed to hear.
But until then, Max reminded us, we always have our conspiracy dinners. She then brought up what she'd learned about this new hero. Max was impressed to find that the reporter had actually done some research, and she was able to point to some web postings she'd found that corroborated what he'd said. But of course some research wasn't enough for her, and she'd found a lot more. The reporter had said the hero had shown up in the last week, he wasn't wrong, but Max was pretty sure he didn't exist before the 4th. In that time he'd made quite the impression as he walked around Denver. Mostly it was his appearance, he'd been photographed walking around in Highland, LODO, and Lincoln Park. But she'd also found a number of calls to the police departments in those areas from people who were frightened by his appearance.
In Lincoln Park there had been an assault involving someone with his description. Max said she wasn't sure who had attacked who based on the report, but found it strange that it hadn't been mentioned in the news report. She suspects that the news report is less about concern for his well being and more about generating an identity that the police might be able to use.
As far as the vehicle accident itself, it was a relatively minor fender bender. But witnesses do say he had approached the car vocally offering aid. His appearance though didn't help matters, and the driver reacted as though she were being attacked. The driver of the second vehicle had said he thought the "hero" had caused the accident and was assaulting the other driver. He hadn't meant to hit the person as hard as he had, and it seems everyone was surprised that they had been able to walk away.
All in all it was a nice evening, though it lasted longer than normal. Hal's dinner was pretty good to. Sam had brought the sausage and he'd offered, and onions. Hal and I had stopped by the store after he picked me up from work. He grabbed some rotini pasta, and Parmesan cheese. I grabbed mushrooms and broccoli. Max showed up later with corn and carrots. Hal cooked it all up together, tossed some herbs over it and olive oil and called it a pasta toss. It was pretty tasty.
Sam had asked to speak to me alone before he left, he wanted to know my intentions in bringing Candace to meet Jane Doe. I told him what I'd told her, that they both had amnesia, and that being able to share that might give them some common ground that they wouldn't have with anyone else. He considered it for a moment without speaking. Finally I asked why he'd come to our conspiracy night.
He said he understood that he was pushing his bounds by trying to prevent Max and I from doing some of these things. He'd decided that if he couldn't stop us, that me might as well support us. I reminded him that it was not his place to protect either of us. He nodded, and said he knew, but that he didn't want to see us get hurt.
I wanted to ask him what would hurt us. I wanted to tell him that if we did get hurt, it was on us, that he had to let us take responsibility for our actions. That it was not his place to be concerned about it. I just couldn't form the words fast enough.
Max interrupted before I could find them, which was just as well.
They left, not together since they'd drove separately, but about the same time. I spent some time in Hal's company before he brought me home, which is why I'm writing this so late now. I confessed to Hal that I think Sam's got an ulterior motive. I told him about Sam jumping to the thought of fairies when I had talked about these dinners with Candace before, that at the time it wasn't something we were considering. I dismissed it at the time, but I thought he knew something, and now I'm sure of it. I just don't know what he's playing at. Hal wasn't sure what I'd meant, so I told him how Sam had tried to forbid Max and I from visiting the tree. That he had flat out forbidden Candace from visiting it, and that was before the crows had shown up. I told him how even now he didn't like the thought of us getting involved, but that he knew better than to say as much.
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