Chapter Text
“It’s ok if you fall down and lose your spark. Just make sure that when you get back up, you rise as the whole damn fire.” – Colette Werden
29 - Changing the Narrative
CH 1
From the transcripted records of Vista Vision Media, a division of Mountain Media, Inc. Originally recorded in the office of E. White, a reporter with the Daily Vision. Interview of Sylvia Dallas, copy Editor for Nightwatch.
White: Thank you for your time, and I will try not to keep you very long.
Sylvia Dallas: Don’t worry about it. I’m not due for work for another hour or so.
White: Alright. Let’s jump right in, shall we? My name is Eileen White, and I work for the Daily Vision…
Dallas: So you said, but I still have no idea who the Daily Vision is.
White: We are a publication in New York City, and we specialize in highlighting the more unique local stories that may not get a lot of attention.
Dallas: So, you’re a tabloid.
White: {sigh} If you prefer to think of it that way, then yes.
Dallas: Hey, no judgment here. I work for Nightwatch, and we focus a lot on stories that most mainstream news stations won’t. We’re practically in the same business.
White: Yes, well, your name popped up in connection with a story and a photograph that was handed to me recently.
Dallas: Recently? That photo and story must be a few years old now.
White: Does that make it any less relevant? Those involved in it are still here, correct?
Dallas: As far as I know.
White: Then let’s begin with the day that you took the photo.
Dallas: Oh, I didn’t take the photo.
White: So, you didn’t take the original photograph?
Dallas: No. I was given the picture by a former college roommate from NYU. She contacted me the afternoon that she had taken the now infamous photo. Her name, if you would like it, is Claudia Mullen.
White: Did she tell you how she’d managed to get the picture?
Dallas: {shrugged} Sure. She’d been in the right place at the right time…Or at least, that’s how she’d spun it. She overheard that the reporter for some big-shot business magazine was supposed to interview Mr. David Xanatos… Xanatos Enterprises.
White: {chuckle} I’m new to New York, and even I know who Mr. Xanatos is.
Dallas: Yeah. He’s kinda hard to miss. Anyway, the original reporter couldn’t make it. Claudia stepped up and claimed she was the replacement reporter.
White: So, you’re saying she lied to get in?
Dallas: Wouldn’t you? For a chance to interview Mr. Multi-Millionaire himself?
White: …Maybe.
Dallas: {laughs} Honey, we would all like to get a crack at that one. Outside of high profile business publications, no one gets near him. Especially now, after Claudia’s stunt.
White: So, it was Miss Mullen who took the photo. Did she go through with the interview with Xanatos?
Dallas: Oh, she got it all right. Then she was caught snooping where she shouldn’t have been, taking that picture and I guess all hell broke loose. Mr. Xanatos released the Kraken on Claudia. He’d confiscated her notes, recorder and the camera that her small-time company paid for. Reported her to the company, threatened all kinds of legal action against them.
White: If Mr. Xanatos had taken her camera, how did she still have the picture to show you later?
Dallas: {Pause} Between you and me, on the record, I’ll officially say that I don’t know. I didn’t ask.
White: And off the record?
Dallas: {sigh} Off the record, I’ll say that Claudia… Well, she’s got this talent. She worked her way through college as a magician. She’d work kids parties when she could, otherwise, she was out hustling people on the streets daily. She was really good at the close-up stuff. You know… the close up stuff where you palm cards and coins. When I tell you she was good, I mean you could be looking right at her and never see her do it. I had to stop going to stores with her, because she’d use those skills and shoplift. Once, that I know of, she'd stuck something in my bag to hide it, and I wasn’t going to risk jail time for something I didn't do if I was stopped and searched.
White: And the pictures?
Dallas: I think she managed to remove and keep the memory card from the camera. She had it uploaded on a computer when I saw it the first time.
White: Do you think she still has it?
Dallas: Hey, she lost her job over that little stunt. I’m sure that she would not only not go near her office again just to return a memory card, but she’d probably keep it just out of spite.
White:. So, not being there when the picture was taken, what was it about it that caught your attention?
Dallas: There were three pictures, taken in quick succession. The first, unless you were looking for something specific, showed a small group of teenagers walking down a hallway. One girl and three boys. Two boys we were able to identify as the Xanatos boys. The third boy, we were able to identify later, and a girl. The second picture was a little blurry, and the picture that you're so interested in was the third, I believe. It wasn't so much who the kids were at first, though. It was the fact that once Claudia was spotted taking the picture, the boys hustled the girl out of sight, as if they were trying to hide her for some reason. That was odd, because the Xanatos family is so secretive. If they'd all run, it wouldn't have surprised me. But for the unknown boy and the eldest Xanatos boy to run towards the photographer while the youngest Xanatos hurried to get the girl out of sight… It made me curious enough to look at the girl closer. Claudia had the same reaction, as she was the one to point the girl out.
White: And the girl?
Dallas: She turned out to be a gargoyle, awake during the day when they weren't supposed to be. Her name is Nayeli, and she's become something of a local celebrity in Manhattan as well.
White: Yes, I have heard of her. She appeared before the UN recently, didn't she?
Dallas: That's her.
White: I'm curious...Outside of this picture and a short grainy video from the night she was injured outside of the precinct during a protest, there are no images of her to reference. Why do you think that is?
Dallas: The NYPD has laid down the law on that one. As they are now officially, and I quote, citizens of New York, the gargoyle children are off limits. They're treating them as if they were human minors, so pictures are not to be posted of them until they're deemed to be of age.
White: Is that an official court enforced ruling? If not, it doesn't sound entirely legally binding. About the gargoyles, I mean.
Dallas: Maybe not, but it's a kind of informal agreement with the news stations and publications here. One that has been heavily backed by the members of the NYPD's Gargoyle Task Force, and Manhattan's darling detective Maza.
White: You don't sound like you're a fan.
Dallas: Of Maza? No. I am not. It turned out that the third boy in the picture was her son, the one she'd saved from freezing to death as an infant and adopted. She made headlines over that one, got awards and accolades, then became the darling of the NYPD. After the story broke, with us not blurring his face… Well, I didn't lose my job like Claudia did, but I was busted back down to being a copy editor instead of a reporter. I tried going to other networks, but she was so loud about it, no one would hire me, so I'm stuck. I was hoping that when enough time passed, I could try applying to other places again, but you found the connection, so I guess it's not happening any time soon. So, no. I am not a fan.
White: Noted. Thank you for your time, and I'll contact you should I have more questions.
Dallas: Hey, you guys need another reporter?
White: Uhm, I'm not sure. I'll have to get back to you.
**End of recording**