Aftermath (Sean)

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean couldn’t think of a better summary for the entire situation than Chuck’s heavy sigh. He often felt that way when discussing the matter, and he had sighed similarly more than once during the staff meetings in the immediate aftermath, as well as during his other meetings with Yvette and the Board of Trustees to prep his statements for this interview.

“The situation is thorny,” he offered, which was more eloquent than sighing but expressed less truth and simplicity. The situation was thornier than anything in recent memory, if one discounted M.S.A.D. five years ago (and which the telepath discounted entirely because he had to take that secret to his grave, and an accidental power loss so differed from terrorism as night from day).

Sean took no time to consider the answer to the younger man’s question. “If you haven’t already reached out to Rhea Hartman, I’d start with her. She was instrumental in helping that night, and she’s also a police officer and firefighter, so she’d be considered a model citizen.” Her status as a woman of color and a meta-human notwithstanding. She possessed the type of power that made baseline humans comfortable, because it only affected other meta-humans, and, more than that, it suppressed powers.

[Chuck Miller]

"Great! Thank you very much, Dr. Neville!" Chuck thought this meeting had gone well enough. "I'll definitely get in touch with Officer Hartman. Her perspective will be very important, I'm sure."

The more people he talked to the better, particularly people who were both well respected in the community and also likely to frame this in a more positive light than, say, PUSE would.

He would probably have to speak to Mr. Honnick about this, which didn't thrill him; he didn't much want to write the perspective of PUSE's leader. But Joe had been present, and, further, some of the other people he'd talked to had said Joe had attacked Dr. Neville.

If he didn't include Joe's side then he'd have half the town complaining about bias.

Of course, he'd have half the town crying about bias no matter how he wrote this article.

He suppressed another sigh as he pulled out his credit card, flagging down the waitress so that he could pay for their bill.

[Dr. Sean Neville]

Sean held his hand out to the other man for a handshake. “You’re welcome,” he replied. The psychiatrist felt somewhat less confident than Chuck did although none of that had to do with the journalist himself and instead came from concern about how the younger man’s editors would want to spin the information he uncovered. Worse, Sean feared angry letters to the editors from PUSE demanding a spotlight feature, but that was out of his hands.

After the handshake, the telepath returned to his food, eating the rest of his prosciutto, melon, and bread. When the waitress arrived, he offered to pay, but Chuck explained that this was on the paper as an expense and, not wanting to make things difficult, he chose not to argue. Instead, he doubled the tip that the journalist had left her, wanting to put his money to good use.

Once finished, he bade the other man a good day and walked towards his car so he could drive home. He wanted to tell Josh about the interview first, since he knew that his partner would ask. After that, he needed to send Yvette an email with the breakdown, since he had promised to do so as a condition of meeting with Chuck in the first place.