20:05 Monday, November 20th, 2023. Town Hall Conference Room.
The rest of the meeting was spent in a daze, focusing on her role as the one taking the minutes for the meeting. Eventually they adjourned and Alexis, her boss Lia, and Selector Goodman were the only three left as Alexis packed up her things.
“Good meeting overall. I have to say this next year is shaping up to be even better than the last.” Selector Goodman said.
“I think you’re right Tyler. How did you think it went, Alexis?”
“Huh? Oh good. I was mostly focused on the notes.” Alexis replied.
“By the way, tomorrow morning if you can send me an email and I can send you the materials. You probably only need to add a little bit more to the presentation we gave to the school employees to make it relevant.” Lia said.
“Oh, good, okay thanks. Will do.” After that Alexis excused herself while Lia and Selector Goodman continued their conversation.
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“Nobody has more power than the police.” That was what Alexis's mom had once told her.
Alexis’s mom was a journalist, and she was good. At least Alexis thought so. She never did anything particularly amazing. She never won a Pulitzer or went undercover to do any big expose, but she was consistent.
Her background was in public policy, it is what she went to school for. And during her time in college she went on to make a lot of friends, a lot of those friends then later went into politics. And it is because of this that she had a lot of connections at the state capital, connections who she could use as sources. She understood policy and policy makers, which made it easier for her to write about it.
But that changed when the paper got bought out. The new owners wanted to make all sorts of changes: staff cuts, pay cuts, even cuts to their benefits.
Her mom was part of the team that tried to unionize. It didn't work, the changes still went through. To retaliate against her, the owners had her moved to the crime desk.
A journalist is only as good as their sources, and none of her sources were in law enforcement. When she thought a politician was lying, she could rely on her network to help verify the claim.
She didn't have that network for cops. Worse, if she ever tried to fact check their statements and press releases they would completely stonewall her when it came time for the next story.
It was when Alexis was 13, that was when her mom quit journalism entirely.
She never talked about why, Alexis always had to put the pieces together herself. When Alexis was 15, she tried to get more information out of her mom.
That was when she snapped at Alexis, Alexis struggled to remember any time where her mom yelled at her like that. That was when she told her. "Nobody has more power than the police. Be their friend, be their enemy, it doesn’t matter. Because they have all the power they could want."
Alexis never understood exactly what she meant. She got that cops had guns, and later when she went to college she learned about stuff like the monopoly of violence. But still she got the jist of it. Avoid cops whenever possible.
Alexis never summoned up the courage to ask her mom about it, even though it always felt like there was more to the story than Alexis felt her mom had kept from her.
Eventually, her mom bounced back. A friend got her a job in a communications office where she just writes press releases. To anyone else, it would have seemed like a pretty normal career move, but anyone who knew her knew that her idealistic side had all but faded.
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Alexis had been watching anime when her phone started to ring causing her to come back into her senses. She realized she hadn’t been paying attention to anything that was said for the past two episodes and that she would have to go back. She picked up the phone.
“Jen? What’s up?”
Jen was the only person Alexis could really call her friend. They met on Alexis’s favorite dating app, FindHer, but ‘didn’t click romantically’ so ‘mutually’ settled on being friends. Alexis was fine with the arrangement.
“Hey girlie, you busy?” Jen asked. The ‘girlie’ thing was new, she started saying it after listening to a podcast.
“I always have time for you, what’s going on?” Alexis responded.
“You never told me the deets after your date on saturday!” Jen said.
“Oh yeah, with Dana in Midport. Well considering neither of us has messaged the other since Saturday I am gonna deduce it was bad? Yeah, definitely bad.” Alexis said.
Alexis idly opened up the app and saw that there were, indeed, no new messages from Dana. Though in better news she saw Dana hadn’t blocked her so she still put that in the top ten percent of dates she has gone on.
“OMG Lexy, again? Was it really that bad or are you just exaggerating to gain some pity?” Jen said.
“A little bit of column A etc. etc. I think she was upset with my lack of enthusiasm for the psychic cause.” Alexis said.
“Wow, was she a psychic too then?” Jen said.
“No no.” Alexis said.
“Wait… so did she, like, not give you time to explain you were a psychic or…?” Jen asked.
“Kinda… Not… really.” Alexis was starting to feel a little embarrassed.
“Alexis Driscoll, did you let this poor Dina girl think you were some kind of anti-psychic!” Jen shouted.
“It’s complicated And it’s Dana not Dina, for the record.” Alexis said.
“Dana, Dina, Dino, whatever. Why didn’t you just explain yourself? She probably would have given you some leeway.” Jen said.
“I don’t see why I would need leeway or any kind of leniency! I am right! Being a psychic comes with like a bunch of upsides and no downsides. I don’t get why people treat it the same as oppressed groups that have been oppressed for millenia. Psychic Talents have been around for barely 10 years.” Alexis said.
“Oh no, I triggered rant mode. How do I make it stop?” Jen said.
“It is too late! Seriously at work they were talking about this kid who fliered the school and all they had asked was for the psychic kids to maybe consider becoming homeschooled. Which, by the way, is literally how it is done in some states.
“But just for doing they were painted in the same brush as, like, a homophobe. You know how fucked up that is? But everyone has just settled into this narrative that having a psychic talent is some natural human trait when it literally isn’t.” Alexis said.
“You are just repeating yourself at this point. I have heard you give this same rant like three times now. You aren’t any better than my uncle at thanksgiving.” Jen said.
“You are needling on purpose at this point.” Alexis said.
“Might have been.” Jen said innocently.
“Anyway, the point is how we choose to frame being a psychic matters. Thinking of it as an identity rather than, like, a dangerous tool that needs to be learned to be wielded for society's benefit is gonna lead to some disastrous consequences down the line.” Alexis said.
“I swear if I could I am sure I could prove some of your points are just contradictory. I just can’t hold it all in my head at once.” Jen said.
“Yeah yeah.” Alexis dismissed.
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“Anyway that still doesn’t explain why you wouldn’t just tell your date you are a psychic before you went on the rant. Even if you don’t think you should need to, it’s gotta beat being single!” Jen said.
“Jen, I'm barely a psychic. I have literally the lowest danger level you can get and I think the last time I used it was maybe three months ago.” Alexis said.
Alexis was considered by the state agency in charge of rating how dangerous a psychic talent is to be as small a threat as possible: Danger Level 1. Danger levels were calculated by how deadly they would be if they were rampage and how easy a talent would be to trigger (if they were automatic). Hers being that low meant that it was unlikely that she could ever hurt anyone.
“You know there is no such thing as being ‘barely a psychic’, either you can move stuff with your mind or you can’t. You can. I can't.”
“Well I can’t move things with my mind either.” Sadly her talent wasn’t nearly that useful.
“Whatever you know what I meant.”
“Okay okay. Can we talk about something else? Like what have you been up to?”
“Fine, we don't have to keep talking in circles then. I’ve been good. I finally started watching Angel Fighter Neon since you keep harping on how good it is.”
“Really! That makes me so proud, I have been rewatching it again since it is my goto comfort show.”
Alexis and Jen continued to chat until late into the night.
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15:03 Tuesday, November 21th, 2023. Alexis’s Condo.
As Alexis uploaded the minutes from yesterday’s meeting to the town website, her work phone started to ring. This, as it always did, caused her heart rate to immediately start to beat faster as. Yup, still no better than Pavlov's dog, just been absolutely conditioned to associate that sound with stress. She looked at the caller ID and saw it was from an unknown number.
“Alexis Driscoll with Telekinetic Affairs. How can I help you today?” Alexis may have hated the moments right before a work call but loved how good she had gotten at ‘customer service voice’.
“Hey, is this the right place? I don’t usually have to deal with this kind of shit.” Alexis couldn’t make out if whoever was on the other end was a man with a higher pitch voice or a woman with a deeper voice. Should I ask for pronouns?
“That depends, do you live or work here in Harmon?”
“Yeah.” the stranger said.
“Great! So how can I help you today si--friend.” Alexis said, catching herself. Great customer service, almost misgendered them right off the bat.
“I wanted to schedule an appointment. I had a few questions about the laws and stuff about psychics. Is that okay?” The stranger said.
“Yeah, what is your availability?” Alexis asked.
“I took a sick day today. Is there anything today? If not it would have to be later in the week.” the stranger said.
“Um…” Alexis hesitated.
“Oh to be clear I am not actually fucking sick. Just needed a mental health day.” the stranger clarified.
Alexis thought about it. In a rare win for her had already sent in the minutes and they were uploaded on the town’s site. She was gonna celebrate her not procrastinating by taking an easy day. I guess I don’t really have a good reason to say no.
“Yeah I have some availability an hour from now. Do you need directions to my office?” Alexis asked.
“No, I should be able to find it. See you at four.” the stranger said.
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16:03 Tuesday, November 21th, 2023. Town Hall.
As she walked into her office she quickly greeted Frank who was still in the office. Aabria always left by around 4 pm on the dot since she starts her day at around 8 am. Frank quipped that he was getting the rare double dose of Driscoll this week with Alexis forcing herself to chuckle at the dad humor.
“Sorry, can’t talk. I am supposed to be meeting with a resident any minute.” Alexis said.
“No worries, good luck.” Fred responded, then went back to his work at the computer.
She needn’t have rushed herself however, since even after she waited ten minutes till after they had agreed to meet, and just about before she was gonna give them a call to cancel, the resident showed up.
She was wearing a simple black t-shirt and dark skinny jeans. She had a septum and eyebrow piercing but Alexis couldn’t tell if her ears were also pierced due to her long dark brown hair. Alexis briefly wondered what the rules were when it came to complimenting people you just met when you were at work and decided to simply avoid the issue by sticking to a professional persona.
“Oh, uh, you must be the person I spoke with over the phone. I never got your name when we spoke. ” She was really trying to put up that professional wall. Gotta act competent since their taxes pay my salary.
“It’s Pam.” said the stranger.
“Okay, Pam. Mind if I ask your pronouns?” Alexis asked. Damn, guess I just went for it.
“She/her, yeah I thought I heard you almost call me sir on the phone.” Pam said.
“Oh, uh, yeah. Apologies.” Alexis said. Apologies instead of sorry. That will show her you’re a professional Lexie.
“No worries, it tends to happen over the phone. I just have a bit of a rasp to my voice.” Pam said.
There was an awkward pause.
“So, about what you called me about? The regulations?” Alexis asked.
“Yeah, I had a few. It’s kinda funny, I have been a psychic for a few years now. In fact there was even a time I wouldn’t have agreed to talk in person at all because it was so bad, but I was wondering if you would be able to help me get registered?” Pam asked.
Alexis nodded as Pam talked. But stopped when she mentioned registration. “Oh we don’t handle registration for individuals, we only deal with business registrations. If you want a license you need to talk to the state department for that. They’ll handle things like assessing your danger levels and granting you a license.” Alexis said.
“Wait, so what do you guys do?” Pam asked.
“After you get registered, if a business wanted to employ your psychic talent they would come in to apply to become what is known “telekinetic establishment”. As part of registration you will be required to take a course about best practices for using a talent in the workplace and if your employer ever violated those best practices you would come here to lodge a complaint.” Alexis explained.
“Would… um… okay. And can they lodge a complaint against a psychic?” Pam asked hesitantly.
“Well, no. See they would have to prove that the psychic was recklessly using their power, which can be pretty tough. They would need evidence such as destruction of property to make that sort of claim.” Pam seemed a little bit relieved at hearing that. “But even then, they wouldn’t lodge the complaint here, they would lodge it with the state department. They have their own set of processes for determining if a license needs to be taken away or not.” Alexis said.
“That’s it though? They don’t arrest you? Or make you pay a fine.” Pam asked.
Wait, why exactly is she asking this?
“Pam. Is there something you want to tell me? I should remind you that my only duty to report is if I think that you are going to imminently harm yourself or others, I’m not like a cop or anything.” Alexis said.
Pam visibly seemed to relax at Alexis' attempt at reassurance. I hadn’t even realized her shoulders were so tense.
“So… Is there something you want to explain?” Alexis asked.
“I really can’t get in trouble?” Pam responded.
“Again, unless you plan to hurt anyone.” Alexis clarified. Pam shook her head in response.
Pam then began to lay it all out on the table. “Okay. So I work for Hoplite, you know the fulfillment center over on Millbrook ave?” Alexis nodded her head. “Well recently the work has been taxing, like physically taxing. And when I brought this up to my supervisor he just told me I shouldn’t complain and if I needed a break to just ‘use that brain of yours’.” Alexis’s eyes went wide.
The rules were strict, even if Hoplite was a telekinetic establishment, which it wasn’t, even the insinuation that an unlicensed psychic should use their to perform workplace duties was a fine-worthy on its own.
“So I did. Like, a few times… Am I really not gonna get in trouble? I don’t have a license so they can’t really take it away right?” Pam asked.
Alexis thought about this. There was a lot of stuff she was supposed to ask. Just this tipoff was enough to conduct an investigation.
“Okay, before I start. If what you say is true, you have already given me enough to have us launch an investigation. But I want to ask, what are you looking to get out of this situation? I should remind you that the fees that Hoplite may pay wouldn’t be going to you.” Alexis said.
She did seem a bit disappointed about that. But then again who wouldn’t want a free pay day?
“So my powers are pretty unstable, I only recently got control over them. At this point, I am just worried about hurting someone or god forbid I get hurt myself. I can’t really afford to pay for my or someone else’s hospital bills.” Pam said.
“Well the good news is that, legally, them creating an unsafe work environment isn’t on you. So there is that.” Alexis said.
“That is some good fucking news!” Pam said.
“The bad news is that you are probably gonna want to file a complaint. If something happens and you are gonna want to have proof that they were creating a situation which led to you putting yourself and others at risk.” Alexis said.
“Oh I see, having it in writing helps me cover my own ass.” Pam said.
“Yeah, but I should probably warn you. There is a chance of retaliation.” Alexis said.
“What do you mean? Like I could get fired?” Pam asked.
“Yeah, there are protections for whistleblowers but it is still a very real risk.” Alexis answered.
Pam seemed a little wide-eyed at that. Alexis thought it could also have been that she hadn’t really thought of what she was doing as whistleblowing before this.
“Do you think I could come back then? This seems like way bigger a decision then I thought it would be.” Pam said.
“Of course, take all the time you need. You have my number. Whenever you are ready I’ll walk you through the process and help you file the complaint.” Alexis said.
“Thanks… I have a lot to think about. We’ll be in touch.” Pam said.
“Of course, hope to hear from you soon. Alexis said.
Much to Alexis’s disappointment, however, Pam never ended up making that call.