✨ XIMILIA TOWN HALL MEETING ✨ ( video/audio/action )

[farr]

[ some morning in the middle of the week, during their return to the station, an invitation will be taped on the door of every orber. though the calligraphy would suggest this must have been typed on a computer and printer, each invitation is actually very carefully hand-written and reads as follows: ]

[ the idea is for everyone to meet in the mess hall at the intended time, but if some choose not to attend, the meeting can still be accessed by the earpieces, allowing all orbers to watch or listen in and contribute however they wish, no matter where they are.

however, for those who do decide to attend, the mess hall features a full display of bagels and donuts, along with plenty of fresh coffee, all to help everyone wake up and feel refreshed for the meeting that's about to take place.

a makeshift little stage, arranged by stacking together a few metal boxes is at the center of the room, atop of it being the one and only rita farr herself, with a bright optimistic smile. when she sees enough people present and settled, she speaks up, loud and clear: ]

Hello, everyone! Welcome to our first Annual — or monthly, or however we decide to do it — Town Hall meeting! Thank you all for coming and please enjoy the food to your heart's content. For those who don't know me, I'm Rita Farr. Now— though my name does appear on the invitation, this is hardly about me. This is about all of us.

After our ... last mission, it became quite clear that our group could use a bit of improvement with how we approach our next missions moving forward. And I thought the best way to plan for that is to allow all of us an opportunity to discuss how we all feel about what we've done well and what we could do better. After all, everyone deserves a say in this, right?

[ she points behind her where a giant board is on display on an easel, once again, hand-written with careful and precise calligraphy in giant letters: ]


Here, I've written some sample questions we can all try to offer answers to, but the floor will also be open for any other questions and suggestions that anyone might have. Remember, there are no wrong answers! We're all here for an open forum discussion. But before that!

[ she reaches over to the board, pulling it off to reveal another one behind it. this one reads as follows: ]


Please consider the "Keys to Success", not only on our missions, but as we talk together in this room right now. We'll go ahead and take turns either stepping up here on the stage or speaking out from wherever you are. There are no microphones but the earpieces should get your voices out to everyone. Now, who would like to start?


( this post is open to all! the idea is that everyone is taking turns in each thread to speak out to the entire group (whether from within the room or from elsewhere), but thread-jacking and hopping around for discussion is the key here! feel free to run wild with ic suggestions or questions regarding mission layouts or planning or whatever floats your boat (ic complaining/protest is always an option too). though rita is organizing it, it's open to whatever people are inclined to discuss. )

Comments

action.

[groupiedrifter]

... Honestly, I don't give a crap what everyone decides on in the end, as long as I can do decent work where I'm at... but I think people need to understand one thing: we're not removing these orbs from worlds 'cus they're only sometimes bad for the planets they're on. The whole reason we're extracting them in the first place is because they cause harm and feed on chaos. People keep talking about respecting the societies they're in by giving them the choice to use the orb, but that completely contradicts why we're even there in the first place. If you think they have a say in that much, then we shouldn't even be allowed to step foot on their planets to disrupt anything. We gotta accept that we're idiots immediately disrespecting these worlds by being there for the sake of removing something in their possession.

I get it, okay? 'Why do we get to use the orbs to fix things and they don't?' Well, for one, they did use the orb once before we arrived. And generally, it ended in people getting hurt, or screwed over. There's no safe way to implement the use of the orb on a planet, and we're there to ensure people don't use the orb on their planet. They don't have safeguards to use it like we do. We pay for our debts by collecting the orbs and completing goals. You've all seen how fucked up our payment methods can be, too; the orbs are just as cruel to us as they are to those people.

So I gotta say, from this point? I think we shouldn't ever allow the orbs to make choices. Because that's what it's gonna be, if we hand over the orb: it'll be the rogue orb, making a brand new shitshow for that planet to endure.

[He hesitates, because he doesn't want to talk about it. The incident wasn't very long ago, but he'd be a fucking moron not to admit where a large portion of his decision stems from. Sure, the other orb bargains, they were pretty bad too, but. But...]

... Hell, I don't have to be the one to remind you of what an orb's capable of without even having a deal in progress. [He quiets, biting his lip.] Most of you remember the fact that an orb sought out the genocidal aliens living in my head, right? They found the most violent member of our crew on that train, and they gave them a way to try to murder you all, just for the possibility of conspiring with them to make a new deal. One that would have ended in the total destruction of that planet we were on, guaranteed.

I can safely say, I don't even trust the orbs aboard this station, let alone ones that have been thriving on destruction all this time out there in the distant corners of the galaxy. At this point, I'll be honest — I feel trapped by it some days, and it's just something I live with now that I'm this deep in it.

... So, uh. anyway. Guess it doesn't matter if I end up outvoted on this someday, but. That's just my two cents. I'll try not to shriek about anyone else's opinion. I think we're all kind of tired of yelling over each other anyway.

[bindsthedead]

I think that's reasonable. However, there's one complication- we cannot take the orbs while a bargain is active, and they're frequently in a bargain when we arrive- it's what they do, after all.

So while the last two missions have involved unclaimed orbs, most of them haven't, and we need to be clear on what we'll do not just if an orb is unclaimed, but if it's claimed.

[groupiedrifter]

... I mean, we should probably have levels. Someone who is assessed to be a normal joe who can be reasoned with? Probably could just use a talking to, maybe even some kind of middle ground. Someone who uses the orb to turn a bunch of people into sickly monsters? Probably deserves to be threatened to release their bargain.

[He shrugs.]

Sometimes people will have to get hurt or worse in a fight that already involves stuff like tyranny or people in big danger.

[firstroar]

[he reaches over from where he sits in his wheelchair to touch Newt's forearm in some show of commiseration.]

Given when you endured... You'd not be wrong to shriek. [but it's good of him to not. y'know. for the sake of everyone's ears.]

Your mistrust was earned. And...we have yet to see proof of anything better. Save for Giva. [and even then...there were costs. and that prompts a furtive glance toward wherever Yzak's gone and mulled about.]

[groupiedrifter]

[Newt glances over, a little embarrassed at having to point any of that out in the first place — everyone knows he's hardly proud of how things went months ago. But he's appreciative, hand moving over Blue's and squeezing.]

Heh, well. I'll try not to shriek anyway, for the sake of not losing my voice.

[Sighing softly, he looks down.]

The orb was the reason there was even a war in the first place, right?

It put a bandaid on a big giant cut. People still died, and the people we got to know lost their ticket to their afterlife... The orb being used at all on that planet is what ruined that for them, in the end.

[firstroar]

[he shakes his head a little.] Others know better than I. [present company included.] There may have been conflict...prior to its emergence, or inevitably looming. It doesn't matter regardless...if we can't know for certain.

We're...just as disruptive as them. Those orbs. We can only...try to ensure our footprints we leave behind...don't remain as smoldering craters.

[groupiedrifter]

... Hey, I know you're still feeling guilty over what happened. But it was an accident.

We're not as bad as the orbs. [You're most certainly not, buddy.] I know sometimes it feels like it, but we have been doing good works. I think... we just need to be careful thinking we're the saviors of the universe, or whatever. Sometimes we gotta take steps back, or we'll either burn ourselves out or get in trouble for overstepping.

[firstroar]

[he looks back up to Newt with a considering look. there's argument to say some have done more good works than others, given the number of gadgets and tech Newt's slaved over mission after mission. he's sure that'd be waved off, however, so it stays in Blue's heart as just unspoken truth.]

Balancing that...with the limited time given... Yes. I understand.

[groupiedrifter]

[That's just one of Newt's problems, huh? There's no such thing as enough work; just more and more, and anything less is failure. Maybe the almost-end of his world messed up his work ethic even more than before the Kaiju attacks in 2013. But it's helped out just fine aboard the Ximilia, right? Right!

He gives Blue the weakest little punch in the arm. Like, pathetic. Might as well have been a piece of tissue paper slapping Blue.]

Exactly!

We'll just keep doing our best, bud. That's all anyone can be asked for.

[firstroar]

And falling short of that... [he pulls a faint smile up at him.] You can shriek. A bit.

[groupiedrifter]

[Ha!

He winks at him.]

Maaaybe just enough to keep everyone's eardrums intact.