Who: Luther (A narrative) What: Dealing with a crisis of faith. (In the law.) Where: Lobby When: Early morning watch…last Saturday? Before heading to the basement. Warnings: Bit of swearing
Luther had assigned himself a solo watch purposefully. It wasn’t meant to be noble or there weren’t enough people who had signed up. There was a sizable amount of people who’d volunteered, which was reassuring, boosting Luther’s confidence in the building’s sanity which was…low at best
But he’d assigned himself the watch to have the time for himself. Between being at work again and trying to solve the building’s problems, he found himself with little time to be quiet and truly think. It was a luxury he hadn’t realized he’d missed and the watch (which had so far been quiet) was a chance to take advantage of it.
And it did bring him to an issue he had. Setting up the watch was fine – any place could have done it and it didn’t violate any laws. It was security, nothing more. Even if the police had been cooperating, it was doubtful whether they could do more than the residents in the building did.
It was the plans to form a miniature government for the building itself. The manipulation behind the scenes, accompanied by the annoyance that none of it worked right simply added to Luther’s agitation over the matter. It crossed into his actions and he paced the lobby at a brisk pace, wearing the rug under his feet. He couldn’t blame Javert for the thought – because it was his own as well – that there was something wrong with this. The law was to be trusted as it was good; it made things right. If they had abandoned the building or found it unnecessary to intervene, there would be a reason. Not even the building’s magic could change that.
Forming the government and rules for the building, even to keep it safe felt off. It was criminal in a basic sense – the government did its job and in return its citizens provided loyalty, in order to be kept safe. It went back to John Locke, someone whose work Luther had managed to get through during his college years. The law had come and investigated, he’d seen the reports as sparse as they had been…was this treason?
Despite himself, his hands began to shake. His hand gripped more tightly around the cane Joanie had made him. He didn’t consider it egoistic to believe himself, better than that – he simply knew, he was no criminal.
It took several minutes of pacing, with his eyes darting to the door and the bullet holes in the walls before he could set his chin and calm down. For now, it wasn’t against the law – he wouldn’t violate any existing laws. But one day, he would fix it and bring it to the source of the law. The criminals in the building would be tried by a proper court – he wouldn’t let any of the warring fables kill each other, but they wouldn’t get away either.
And keeping everyone safe was a part of national security. He moved to turn the light on in the lobby, illuminating the area so that the shadows receded. It was a step in the process: that was all.