The way some of the discussion had gone had pulled a lot of the hope out of the room. Jeff's plan to expose Cupple's magic and thus expose him as a sorcerer and enabling the accusation of Cupple's actions leading to the Chapmans becoming Slug People against their will was a good one, so far as plans by those who'd only just learned that magic was real went. But there were obvious holes that Reverand Jack and even Simon had brought up, and Lucy could feel the level of hope in her family drop a bit. Jeff remained determined and willing to try the plan, but Lucy could tell that her twin was not as confident as he was before as the potential holes in the plan were exposed. Lucy understood that, too, as she shared some of the same feelings, but she also knew she couldn't give up. The eggs that she and Melody had just laid couldn't hatch and they find their parents enslaved to some wizard looking to use them as batteries.
Though, there was something that Simon said that stuck out to Lucy for a moment. No one questioned it at the time, as everyone was still trying to look through and see where there were holes in the plan, but as that part of the discussion reached an "end," Lucy was able to think about it for a moment. What drew Lucy's thoughts was the mention that Cupple was "weak." In the midst of the mentions on the holes in the overall plan, the mention of Cupple being weak was one of the few things that offered a ray of hope, hope for success, hope for freeing Megan and Jenny from Cupple's control, and hope for Lucy that her own children would grow up free. With that, she looked at Reverand Jack with one eye and at Simon with the other.
"You mentioned something on Cupple being weak?" Lucy asked Simon.
"I mentioned that it's possible that he's on the weaker side of the power scaling for a sorcerer," Simon answered, "as he wasn't able to just overpower the hivemind with you all together as a group. But... you'd need to be careful with where you could be going with that assumption."
All eyes turned to Simon, largely as he likely had the most experience and had already shared the story on the origins of the Slug People as a race.
"For while Cupple may not have the legendary power of Merlin or some other powerful sorcerer, that doesn't mean he can't do damage to you or to others," Simon said in warning.
"His lightning attack on me was shocking when we got out of the house," Jeff admitted, "and that DID hurt."
Lucy looked down for a moment, "but it didn't incapacitate you..."
Jeff nodded to his twin, "true... but that's also where we really can't be sure as to how much power he was putting into that attack. For I think Cupple did want us to side with him... so that he could use us, Megan and Jenny, as tools to create his army familiars. So... outright killing me may not have been something on the agenda."
"And even if a mild shock was the worst that Cupple could do, that wouldn't remove all the potential dangers," Reverand Jack added his own warning, "For if this were to be on a metal catwalk... your slime could act as an added conductor and thus making what shock Cupple could use even more potent. Or if you're trapped in an area surrounded by something that could quickly and rapidly burn... it wouldn't take much to set a blaze that would kill you with little effort on Cupple's part."
"Which would mean that we'd just need to be careful on where the confrontation is to be," Lucy commented, "not at a gas station or around anything that would maximize what power Cupple has... as limited as it may be."
Whitney blinked, picking up on some of the points that Lucy was raising. "But... if he's weak, or at least on the weaker side of things for a wizard, does this mean... he didn't actually kill John?"
Lucy blinked slowly at that, remembering that a lot of the prime anger at Cupple was the man’s admission to his direct involvement in the death of John Chapman. The family looked on their father with love and reverence, and Lucy could feel that among all her siblings. The memories of sadness at his death were still there and as Whitney asked that question, those things reverberated through the hivemind. Lucy could soon feel Melody sliding up beside her so that their tails could sit together. Lucy even felt a little better when Melody took Lucy's right hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. It didn't remove the feelings of pain at John Chapman's death, but it did provide a sense of comfort.
And Lucy was glad for that comfort. It felt good in having it given the revelation that John Chapman had been more the victim of human action rather than an accident had generated some anger. None had really known why their father had gone to the realty offices that Edward Cupple worked at, as they owned their home and there was no desire to sell, and neither was there any planned construction that would force the demolishing of the house for something else. About all they really knew was that he had gone in, and a fire had consumed the building with Cupple being able to get out and John Chapman being unable to get out. However, that was all before they knew about "magic" being real or that the church they went to was trying to be involved in these sorts of things in a more direct way. That Cupple was a wizard with some less than legal plans and that John Chapman as a "knight" of the church was tasked to confront him.
Cupple's admission to killing John Chapman had been enraging and was more than enough for Lucy to hate the man, and it added to the suspicion that Megan and Jenny were also victims of his scheme. Though, as Lucy questioned Cupple's strength, that raised other questions. For since Cupple hadn't been able to overpower them as a group with the enslavement spell that he was using, that then raised questions in Lucy's mind as to how powerful other aspects of his powers were. It might give them an easier chance of taking him down and avoiding more fatalities once his magic was exposed for all to believe, and that did provide some means to restore hope in defeating Cupple. It did, however, also raise the possibility that Cupple's weakness would also then effect on how John Chapman died.
"It's possible, but not something that would remove Cupple's likely guilt," Reverand Jack answered, "for even if he didn't cast the spell that killed John, it wasn't as though John had a lot of inherent protection against something like fire or could affect other objects. The Knights of the church do get some means of protection against direct attacks and so on... but much like a Slug Person's magical defenses, they're also more passive than active. Thus, John couldn't have prevented Cupple from locking doors or be fully shielded from a fire started by something else."
"So... Cupple may not have cast a spell that lit dad on fire, but cast a spell that would have started the fire that did kill him," Jeff said slowly, "underhanded..."
"And would also conceal any evidence of magic that the crime scene would have presented," Reverand Jack nodded, "meaning that unless someone was an actual believer in magic... or had enough ability in it to sense the spell, they'd be more inclined to believe the report on faulty wiring that was what was stated as the cause of the fire."
"But that would give us some reason to have hope that once we can expose his magic, he can be taken down, right?" Lucy asked.
"It's something we rationalize on," Reverand Jack said slowly and pulled his lips tight in a way that showed that he was also nervous, "but I'd still add in warning that we're dealing with a lot of unknowns and very little facts to justify the gamble. For again, unless your idea to get Cupple to expose his magic isn't launched, the accusation of the forced use of magic won't be believed."
"And while you may be right that Cupple is weak for a wizard, Ms. Chapman," Simon added, "I don't think you know enough to be certain on how weak that is. Meaning, Cupple might still be more than capable of doing a lot of damage once his magic is exposed. Which is something that in my experience leading the colony here... would be something that police units won't necessarily want. They may be grateful for your help... but if lots of people get hurt or killed... they may be more deliberate to make sure you'd also pay for any and all resulting damages."
"It'd still be a start, right?" Lucy asked, "we can't just let him get away with all this... all the people who could lose their individual identity, those that have already lost it..."
Lucy only stopped when Reverand Jack raised a hand.
"It's a start, but nothing that can be done will be done easily or quickly," Reverand Jack spoke, "particularly when looking at our own limitations. Cupple may be weak... but exactly HOW weak we can't be certain of. We'd need another sorcerer... one of actual virtue to actually begin getting a sense of that sort of thing."
A silence then fell over the room again...