Penned for Treadwell.

Penned for Treadwell.

Postby Duquesne » Tue Jul 23, 2013 11:16 am

A letter is delivered to Councilor Treadwell's residence, and it's appearance is not unlike the miscellaneous others which are perhaps delivered at the same time. The paper, size of the letter, and the handwriting upon it are all of average composition, making it another simple article of mail. And because it is so average, so disinteresting in appearance, the possibility of its going unnoticed is likely-- if the Councilor were inattentive to his mail, like some folk were.

The contents are as follows:

Councilor Treadwell,

I regret our acquaintance must begin by informal method and for this I apologize in advance with the promise of facilitating future introductions -- or re-introductions, as it were -- in person, as there is much cause for conversation. For the present, it is necessary to correspond by pen and page. As you are surely well aware of the grim nature of current affairs, I will not elucidate. Instead, and with your agreement, I wish to establish an exchange of information between us. According to my inquiries, you remain trustworthy while many others have fallen into gentle delusion. Sir, it would appear you are the last official present in the province who stands on the side of Reason. Your aid is coveted.

Considering you may bear distrust, as you are a man exceptionally acquainted with the various and sometimes undesirable personalities of Myrken Wood, having held important offices herein for noble years, and as times such as these tend to foster misgivings, not unjustly, I offer you evidence that you might be assured of my character:

I am disinterested in the cosmetic beautification of Myrken Wood and its residents; I am stubbornly fond of all colors of somber quality; I have no glittering praise for seemingly benevolent usurpers who happen to be Ladies; I have not planted a single flower; neither have I any white-washed hopes for the future of the province, nor indeed of the world at large.

Such examples are simple and may appear ludicrous but, considering the times, they are necessary. If you require more proof of my relative sanity, sir, you need only ask and I will provide. I have included an address to which clandestine notes may be delivered, as Darkenhold is at present unsafe. I hope to receive from you a favorable reply in the coming days.

Thank you kindly for the time this note has taken. I wish you well, Councilor.

With regards,
Sylvius Duquesne
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Re: Penned for Treadwell.

Postby Treadwell » Tue Jul 23, 2013 1:16 pm

Evening of the twenty-third of the seventh month, 213.

Sylvius Duquesne.

Gloria had mentioned this man's name a few days ago in a meeting at his office.

Now, the great-girthed fellow, full-bellied thanks to his butler's and cook's workings, is locked in his bathroom, being sprawled out in his warm bathtub and reading his mail by a nearby lamp. He frowns, his fleshy face folding in saggy thought.

The mail is set aside on the table with the lamp, and Treadwell slowly hufffffffs and, wriggling, sinks a little lower into the toasty, sudsy water.

He is lulled into a short nap by bloated tummy and a bath kept warm by the nearby fireplace.

Waking up, though, finds him still in his tub, wrinkling up a bit. Grumpily getting to his feet and hitting a lever to see the tub's water draining outside, Aloisius shimmies about with a towel, drying himself and floofing that pillowy beard quite feverishly. Wiggling into purple, one-piece pajamas--equally toasty from hanging by the fire!--follows, and then, into his bedroom he shuffles, leaving the exterior bathroom entrance locked.

Writing comes next, even at this hour, once he fumbles back into the bathroom to retrieve his lamp. His handwriting is its usual slop--a pig or slug could write better script!--and the message is brief.

Mister Duquesne,

I wish to meet. The Church of Tubbius is holy and inviolable. I have the complete trust and control of my worshippers, my faithful. I will have one of them--town crier Jack Alldale, a servant loyal and true--deliver this note to the address you mentioned in the morning. I have much business at my church in the next few days, starting tomorrow. Do come visit.

By my hand, this twenty-third day of the seventh month,
Aloisius H. Treadwell


And, certainly, as noted, the portly town crier would make his appearance in the early morning hours, well before dawn's full glow, to hand deliver the mail as ordered.

Granted, at that time, Aloisius would be fast asleep again, having only awoken to go to the Church of Tubbius and enlist Jack's slightly grumpy aid.
"Looks like a table to me. Do you think it could hold up someone as bulbous as Treadwell?" -- Dr. Brennan, Myrken Wood Rememdium Edificium
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Re: Penned for Treadwell.

Postby Duquesne » Sat Jul 27, 2013 7:49 am

It would take a few days for him to appear at the church where Treadwell had recommended he visit, but the man does in fact venture here. The places of worship belonging to any so-called god privately offended and he did his best to avoid them, and assuredly not for the reasons some believers tended to ascribe, such as the classic rationale he had heard many a time over again: He must feel conviction for the sin of his heart -- for this reason, he avoids the light. Nonsense. He avoided these places because he disagreed with their basic tenets and disliked the drone behavior of their members.

But this is far from being important. Two men would meet together to discuss a far more urgent state of affairs and that they meet in the Councilor's church to do so is irrelevant. Thus the architect, having left his horse elsewhere and come here discreetly on foot, enters the building, throwing his senses out into its infrastructure that he might know the details of its chambers. And while he does, he searches for Treadwell's unmistakable presence.
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Re: Penned for Treadwell.

Postby Treadwell » Sat Jul 27, 2013 3:16 pm

Treadwell's presence is one very similar to all of the other men at the church: rotund in varying degrees of immensity. Treadwell himself is found soon in a first floor back office down the hall from the kitchen and dining hall; he wears a bright yellow waistcoat vest and matching trousers over what must be his usual yellow pajama jumper; a similarly sunny robe and outer cloak hang on a rack behind the door, and a matching miter rests on a bust of his own face.

Tready looks up from the slim volume he reads at the moment, sitting on a plumply cushioned couch behind a desk as equally voluminous as its owner. A warm grin stretches the jowly face--a face lit by the sun glowing through an open-shuttered window nearby.

"Good day, mmph mmph! What, hmm hmm, can I do for you, sir?"
"Looks like a table to me. Do you think it could hold up someone as bulbous as Treadwell?" -- Dr. Brennan, Myrken Wood Rememdium Edificium
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Re: Penned for Treadwell.

Postby Duquesne » Sat Jul 27, 2013 4:46 pm

"If you lend me your thoughts and hear mine also, sir, you will do me a great service." This as the architect pauses inside the room. And he is the opposite of Treadwell in color schemes this day, being clothed in shades of darker grey and characteristic black, and leather and glass. He lowers a gloved hand to the back of a chair. "Thank you for seeing me, Councilor. I apologize for the delay in my visit -- unexpected events prevented me from leaving Darkenhold."

Nothing said of a fresh wound beneath the man's weathered garb. In milder times, he might have contacted the Inquisitory to look into the matter, as this is what is done in civil societies -- the law is generally kept -- but the times are peculiar and so is Myrken, and things are not as they had been. He will not involve officials in a crime which can be dealt with efficiently and in private. A pause ensues as he measures his thoughts. "May I ask you what you know of Golben, past and present? If a man enters there, what might he face?"
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Re: Penned for Treadwell.

Postby Treadwell » Sat Jul 27, 2013 5:56 pm

"I'm afraid, hmm hmm, that I don't know terribly much, sir. I tend to stay well clear of towns with 'Pit' at the end of their names on maps. Why do you ask?"

With that question in return, Treadwell gets to his feet and shuffles around the desk to a side cabinet; the cabinet doors are opened, and one mug of (by now lukewarm) tea is poured and subsequently offered.

"Thirsty, sir? At this hour, at least I can say it's something wet, hmph hmph."
"Looks like a table to me. Do you think it could hold up someone as bulbous as Treadwell?" -- Dr. Brennan, Myrken Wood Rememdium Edificium
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Re: Penned for Treadwell.

Postby Duquesne » Sun Jul 28, 2013 4:12 am

"Then we are both tragically ignorant," he murmurs in response, turning eyes down upon the floor for a heartbeat. The Councilor has gone for beverages and the architect accepts the cool tea offered. "Thank you, sir. Golben, Golben -- I hear the name over and again, and from different people. I simply wished to know more of the place.

"What is your thought on the matter of Burnie's absence and Olwak's - dominion." The man lightly smiles when he chooses the word, but it is not a smile equipped with mirth -- in fact, it could be said that behind the surface efforts of his features which lend necessary texture to his face, there is nothing. And perhaps there is nothing there for he felt hollow, like an automaton.
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Re: Penned for Treadwell.

Postby Treadwell » Sun Jul 28, 2013 7:05 am

A second cup of tea is poured, a frown creasing the flabby face.

"Completely ridiculous," comes in a hush. "One part ludicrous and one part mortifying. I can't hope to reckon her end, her goal, in all of this lunacy. Personal importance, a status as queen, mmph mmph, would hardly be recognized by anyone in Razasan."

With that said, the yellow-garbed fellow sinks back onto his couch behind his desk.

"Now, what suggestions have you about it all, hmm hmm?"

Shlurrrrrrp.
"Looks like a table to me. Do you think it could hold up someone as bulbous as Treadwell?" -- Dr. Brennan, Myrken Wood Rememdium Edificium
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Re: Penned for Treadwell.

Postby Duquesne » Mon Jul 29, 2013 5:47 am

"Ludicrous," the architect echoes. For seconds after the Councilor's question, he stands silent with tea in hand and then moves to sit down in the chair on which his hand had previously come to rest. He could not stand for long.

"The two of them share a mental ligament, the Governor and the Lady; his mind is privy to her thoughts, her mind is privy to his. Burnie has detailed plans for the province and such work lends a great measure of emotional investment -- anticipation, determination, hope -- and a clear vision of what genuine progress can occur in this place. Yet as we are aware, and you especially, sir, considering your acquaintance with the snail's pace at which political and social changes generally occur, Burnie's successful Myrken Wood would take time to manifest. Olwak would be intimate with these matters.

"According to what I have been told, she moves to accelerate that process. Alter minds, especially civil officials and others of strategic importance. Persuade and manipulate the public." The edges of his mouth lend themselves to subtle displeasure -- he had recently had a displeasing conversation on the matter, after all, which was also the source of his current understanding. "And intimidate or eliminate the opposition. At the end of it one has a society with a prettily painted veneer and an utterly tyrannized core." The displeasure fades and a grave smile takes its place. "Olwak may behave as though her tolerance knows no bounds, being a generous and genteel lady above reproach, but I suspect she will not hesitate to punish offenses with appropriate severity. Anyone outside her law will suffer for it, and she has equipped herself with a proficient Enforcer to see it done."

The architect makes a qualifying gesture with his free hand. "This is what I suspect -- I await certain verifications still. Usurpation, however, follows universal rules. The writing is on the wall and its language is very clear."
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Re: Penned for Treadwell.

Postby Treadwell » Mon Jul 29, 2013 6:38 am

"It certainly is, mmph mmph, and do believe that I know a bit about usurping authority, mmph mmph. It's how I became Chief Magistrate of Westenford in my first day on the Council there." A chuckle shakes the overfed belly, and Treadwell wriggles comfily in his couch. "But I was a much younger man, then, hmm hmm, and much more knowledgable of folks who could help with, ahem, sticky matters."

With that said, Aloisius gets back to his feet long enough to draw the shutters on the window, dimming the room considerably as he settles back on his couch.

"Now, sir, I'm an actor by my apprenticeship as a young man, and I was a fine one at that for a time. You've offered me your words and assurances, hmm hmm, in writing and speaking, that you've no love for this situation. How can I know for certain, hmm, that you're not one to plot on her behalf, looking to test, to poke, to see her skewer a pole through the belly and leave this fat mound of flesh dangling on a pike for her glory, mmph mmph?"
"Looks like a table to me. Do you think it could hold up someone as bulbous as Treadwell?" -- Dr. Brennan, Myrken Wood Rememdium Edificium
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Re: Penned for Treadwell.

Postby Duquesne » Mon Jul 29, 2013 7:20 am

The Councilor's statement lures the man forward and he leans on his thighs, offering a clear view of his own features and a steadfast gaze for the corpulent gentleman behind his desk. And with the room dim as it has become, the lowered light lends his pupils some subtle and nocturnal quality. "What assurances do I have that you yourself are not an agent so disguised? You are the actor among us, sir, trained and true. I am but a simple architect."
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Re: Penned for Treadwell.

Postby Treadwell » Mon Jul 29, 2013 11:06 am

The actor in question smiles, a greasy and oily smirk that causes his face to twist its fleshy ripples into something oddly sinister. "Bright boy, mmph mmph! My assurance to you is that my allegiances, hmm hmm, are two-fold in this matter: at one side to Myrken Wood and her safety and future that don't involve fantasy and silliness, mmph mmph, and at the other to myself, to the growth and spread of my faithful across Myrken, Amasynia, and wherever else it flourishes! Faith in Tubbius cannot and will not happen if the locals are worshipping a brazen wench, mmph mmph, who misleads them with illusions and fancies."

Treadwell waves a fleshy hand at the shuttered window.

"Out there, dear sir, are signs of growth, excessive and tumultuous and explosive! Livestock and women and plants and fields all caught up in the labors of birth in their own ways, mmph mmph, and to great and abnormal limits! These are the sorts of blessings that Tubbius can and does bestow if there are many faithful, mmph, but He has not. This is not His doing--not my doing--but it comes from another, from someone else here, and some are attributing it all as a miracle caused by her filthy presence!"

That fleshy hand comes crashing down in a fat fist on his desk, rattling books and empty mug.

"That woman is no god, hmm hmm, however she tries to make folks think that she is!"

A huff of breath from chest laboring in growing humidity since the window was drawn.

"Does that. . . . ahem. . . does that give you assurances of aught?"
"Looks like a table to me. Do you think it could hold up someone as bulbous as Treadwell?" -- Dr. Brennan, Myrken Wood Rememdium Edificium
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Re: Penned for Treadwell.

Postby Duquesne » Mon Jul 29, 2013 12:52 pm

This is a peculiar turn. The Councilor describes something the man is unacquainted with -- this seeming fertility -- and a subtle shadow trims his brow as he carefully leans back from off his thighs. A shadow trims the brow, and not only for a phenomenon unexplored and unexplained. Treadwell had described a separate, though perhaps no less worrisome, objective for dominion over the peoples of the land. And though it is not at all a matter he cares to address at the current moment, the architect stores the information in a category meant for issues of future concern.

His features are perfectly schooled as he regards the round fellow across from him, still having not addressed the matter of trust Treadwell had expressed only short minutes before. After a moment of ruminative silence, he responds. "I accept your assurance." There was nothing in the world like a man gripped by religious intention, after all -- Treadwell would not give ground to rivals and Olwak surely is one. The architect inhales silently through his nose in preparation for voice. "In exchange for that assurance, I offer my honor. I believe steadfastly in intelligent law, sir, and what happens in Myrken Wood defies that law. I mean to resist."
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Re: Penned for Treadwell.

Postby Treadwell » Mon Jul 29, 2013 1:13 pm

"Splendid, sir," huffs the response from a trembling Treadwell, who pulls meaty fist from the top of his desk, staring at it in a daze for a moment before returning his hands to his belly.

"With that said, how, hmm hmm, do you propose we begin? What suggestions have you for setting right the wrongs beginning to grow, hmm, as weeds do, sprouting up 'mong the good and useful flowers and plants so well rooted?"

Another wriggle of colossal rump among couch cushions sees the plant that is Treadwell taking firmer root where he sits.

"A simple assault will not do."
"Looks like a table to me. Do you think it could hold up someone as bulbous as Treadwell?" -- Dr. Brennan, Myrken Wood Rememdium Edificium
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Re: Penned for Treadwell.

Postby Duquesne » Mon Jul 29, 2013 3:30 pm

"An assault is too costly, too complicated. Too slow."

The architect continuously regards the older man and his shifting, with the end result being more comfort -- if that were possible. He drinks from his cup and then sets it down afterward, lowering his attention to allow his thoughts a chance to move unhindered by the distractions of visual details. He stares downward at the toe of his squared boot pushed out ahead of the other and the leather shows the abuse of travel through sands and snows and everything in between. "It is important to reach out, to find others who oppose and to establish sort of accord among us. Forming a united body is the first line of defense -- if we are scattered, we have already failed. Then we muddy the waters of Olwak's advancement. We inhibit her and her agents, and buy ourselves time.

"Time enough to find Glenn Burnie, Councilor. He should be here."
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