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

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

[ 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. )

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[Attending in person, but keeping to the quiet side, the Darkling follows the conversations as they flow, from the room and in to the network.]

And what would a handy list have done, on a world as the one we just left behind. Another way to register those who could be persecuted. What lovely information to hand over, already indexed and categorized.

My suggestion would be setting up teams, each team capable of operating independently and handle most of the situations we might find ourselves in.

Well, if it's on the network, rather than on paper, no one but us could read it. So far, nothing's been able to use the earpieces without getting into our heads.

But teams aren't a bad idea- we'd have to make sure each has a magic user, a healer or doctor, someone familiar with technology and someone who knows how to pass by unnoticed.

Information is power, and we've all seen, time and time again, that the orbs and their yielders love that. One even fed off of the powers on some of us. And you think that having all of this information readily available to us all, wouldn't be a vulnerability.

Information can be forced from each and every one of us, whether or not we want to disclose it. Pain, Sabriel, or starvation. Having to watch it done to someone else. Torture works, because everybody breaks. Or, maybe on the next mission or the one after that, the world will have mindreaders, brain-parasites or something so advanced it might as well be magic, and they could pluck the information right out of our heads.

[Does he have personal experience with any of this?]

Smaller teams means that we are not all exposed should something happen.

I can see where there are advantages in forming teams, but logistically it could get tricky. On our last mission, we were dropped in different districts without our control, which would mean potentially dividing up teams.

Beyond that, I'm not sure how we could form balanced independent teams without at least some of us having access to information about relevant skills and information about some of the rest of us.

The station knows. Viveca and the commander, they know everything there is to know about us, and could make teams that takes our strengths and weaknesses in to account.

[Sipping the now-cooling coffee]

Rotating teams, based on how the mission unfolds. Or, we can continue doing it how we've been doing it for the past year - ask questions on the network and have the relevant people respond with aid.

[He lost track of Natasha after being released from prison, but she had been there, in the thick of it in the penthouse apartment and she had fought to liberate the body Viveca was currently inhabiting as much as he had.]

I wouldn't want someone like Jacques Reman or Cheri to find out too many of our weaknesses. And we can't know who or what we might run in to out there.

Believe me, I'm not insensitive to the risks of enemies finding our our capabilities because one or more people was compromised.

[Both because she was there, but also more generally. She's been captured more than once under other circumstances—usually intentionally. But there's a very real possibility of that kind of strategy failing.]

Or concerns about privacy. I don't think anyone is expecting total disclosure.

[Natasha is also the last person to start saying they shouldn't have secrets.]

So from the perspective where Viveca wouldn't be on the mission to be compromised, that makes sense, but she's also not there on the ground to respond to changing conditions, and she'd have to be interested in assigning teams which is a whole other question. Beyond that... I'm not sure how many people here would be interested in working that way.

And a rotating line up still leads to most of us getting a fairly good idea what most of the rest of us are capable of, just more slowly.

[Which if it comes to that, it comes to that. Anyone who knows Natasha will know it's naive to think she won't be taking notes on her teammates, or to believe she hasn't been already.]

I'm sure the network questions won't go away, and to some degree they're appropriate, but they're not always going to be the most productive way to plan or exchange information in time sensitive situations.

If we're all going to be collaborating as a team, I don't think it's unreasonable to suggest we'll have an easier time if we have a better idea what we're capable of as a team.

Be that as it may, that disclosing our strengths to the group as a whole would greatly benefit our ability to navigate the various worlds we get dropped on to - it would still be overshadowed by the very real risk to us all.

[Because asking for strengths leads to speculation about weaknesses, it leads to a seperation of those with powers and those who have nothing. It is another way to set them apart.]

Or, we could all trust that each and every one of us, are doing that we feel is best in the situation we might find ourselves in. And we are all capable of asking for help, should we need it.

The whole premise is voluntary. If anyone has abilities that they think would put them at risk, then I imagine they wouldn't disclose those particular details.

[Though perhaps Natasha is in a strange position when it comes to powers, considering she doesn't have any herself and at the same time never drew that particular distinction with her teammates.]

I agree we should trust that we're all going to do what we feel best in any particular situation. If anything, that's been my position the whole time. I think as a rule we're each going to be in the best position to judge our own situation. And if someone judges on their own that it's for the best to reach out generally, I trust them to make that call.

But if someone would rather reach out to one person with the relevant skills and not invite every cook into the kitchen, that's a choice it might be nice to have.

I trust us each to be able to keep their own secrets.

I agree.

[Because he does. Not because of some grander ideal about morals and personal choices, but because it suits his goals at the moment.

But he nods along with Natasha, hands folded in his lap.]

As I did on the mission, even if I did ask for help. [And quieter, for Natasha alone and not the wider network or the room] I hope that didn't make things too difficult for you. I was keeping a promise made long before we found the hidden room and the treasure kept locked up inside of it.

[Natasha shrugs. She doesn't exactly feel like she won any arguments there.]

Oh, I am apparently very capable of making things difficult for myself.

[She won't blame him for that. She decided to engage.

She could have always not listened to advice without arguing about it.]

I understand having obligations to follow through with. I'm not mad about it.

Perhaps not everyone are this used to someone else being in charge. For what it's worth? I think you did very well.

[Natasha and Yelena, working together as if they've done this a million times before. The glances that spoke volumes and how well they fought.]

But having them, as many are asking for here, can backfire on us on the next mission. Or the one after that. Asking everyone to make promises that might prove impossible, once we're in the thick of it.

[Natasha smiles slightly at the compliment. She doesn't agree, but it's not an argument she's going to have.

She's had more than enough arguments recently.]

Maybe. I do meant what I said back then. [Pitched low, because she doesn't need to reopen any other conversations.] At the end of the day, I think we have to trust the people on the scene to do what they think is best. Maybe they'll make a mistake, but they're still the ones with the best perspective in the moment.

And I agree with you.

[Too used to being the one who made the tough calls, the one who made the impossible choices, to let it go easily. But Natasha worked well, quick-thinking and rabbit-quick on her feet.]

Have you tried the donuts? I've never had anything like it before, but I can assure you - they are delicious.

I'm familiar with the kind of power that can override one's free will, and how it can not just compel service, but extract information.

[Which is generally more effective than torture, to Sabriel's academic understanding, based on the annotations in the Book of the Dead.]

And while I was there on Kilnan, and it is clear that mental infiltration is a hole in the Ximilia's security... Ignorance can be just as dangerous.

At the very least, knowing who the healers are in case someone is badly injured is important.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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

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