New Locale: She is working a Wrhythm concert. We get to see behind the scenes how they recruit. People who look to be in relatively good health, no drugs- this is a big one that cuts most potentials out- and a loss of connection with themselves. The cult steps in to rebuild that bridge, but it is not to the Self, it is to their version of it- the Pool's version. This is a really cool moment of showing the Troubadour's power. Clarissa and some other cultists can see the manipulation being sent underneath the music and how others are engaging with it. Some are resistant or only partially in tune (faking it), some are on drugs and accept everything without thinking, a very few like her on the night she was recruited are accepting the entirety of the experience of their own volition. The cultists are drawn to these people via the manipulation and subtly push them towards the stage where they can feel the power of the guru.
While she is here, one of Hilam's trusted people (show him or her in the Prove Yourself scene). Also in the this scene, plant people from the cult tagging her and guiding her to the front of the stage. That will be so fun to stage and set up. Also, think about Scientology and how they blackmail people who tell them personal things. "Connection" sessions are like confession in Catholisicsm. This could be part of the cult. Overtly a way to explore your own psyche and deepen trust and connection with your fellow cultists, but in reality another system of control.
Old Notes:
Perhaps Simon or the First Servant sense her new doubt and internal indecision. They are so full of Water that lying to them is extremely difficult and they can feel evasiveness.
How to frame this scene? Clarissa's mental bubbles and Simon's explaining to the First Servant his discovery? How do the Servant's contact Hilam? Through who and where does it show up in the coming books? Logan? Any of them could make sense- it depends on how they find out about the tralaticon.
Clarissa confesses to NameTKMalcolmPerhaps and he turns her in. She is waiting for them. She is paralyzed between two worlds. Having failed both of them, she conflates this with failing herself. This depth of misery eventually allows her to trust herself and break free completely.
I want the excitement of the discovery to be in contrast to Clarissa's internal state. She is being eaten by guilt and confused about what to do. The Pool's hold on her is strong- how do I show this? This is key. Without this hold there is no tension. Element sickness? I will show that later in Interrogation and Ergon as she deteriorates. Maybe she manages to get one last message out to the Census Office, but it is weird and almost like a "Hey how are ya?" email. Does this push her over the edge into confessing? Because now she is caught- a man on Pali's Sweep Team has element sickness from attempted Infusion. The ideals she was fighting for might be gone, but she doesn't know. She doesn't know what to do. So she blurts out something while working with Simon. She is interrotgated in this scene and thrown in a cell. She did not know there were cells. At the end, an Ergon is thrown in as well, captured by another patrol and sentenced to death for finding their lair.
Clarissa's confession is the main driver internally of the this scene, but externally Simon confirms what he suspected: pure tralaticon is needed for reliable Infusion into humans or animals. What does he find in the body? Craftmanship. Have him be impressed by the precision of the formula after analyzing the dead man's blood and other tissue. He determines that the combination was nearly perfect and still failed. This leads him to conclude that only pure tralaticon will work. Think of it like the more and more complicated system of...what was it? Ellipses?...Check on that. Whatever they used to try and explain planetary motion before understanding gravity. Simon realizes additional precision will not help- there is no perfect combination that will work without pure tralaticon. Everything falls into place (pun intended) once the gravitational constant is found.
References:
For guilt eating away at you, there is Crime and Punishment and Poe's "The Raven."
Films: Shutter Island and The Machinist.
Plays: Macbeth and Oedipus Rex