✨ 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

[coordination]

Already leaving?

[ Nobody can escape Coordinator vision. ]

[hatejakku]

[ Finn freezes practically jerks from freezing so fast. But uh- He turns to look at Yzak. ]

I, uh- It just- [ Shrug... ] Yeah...

[ A beat. ]

You really think this will help? [ The meeting, he means. Is any of this talk really going to matter when it comes time for action? ]

[coordination]

Depends on what you mean by help.

Will our next mission flow in a way where everybody will have the same opinions on matters and unify for every decision? Absolutely not.

If help means less obnoxious throwing around of de-facto morals and orders over the network, it could curb having too much of that again, moving forward.

This isn't a bad idea, don't get me wrong. It's praiseworthy. But I do think it will only accomplish so much, given how the structure of things here is.

[hatejakku]

... I think this whole thing is a good idea. It's just- In practice-

[ Well, you see some of them already arguing. ]

But you're hopefully right. Even if it just helps with perspective, that could be enough.

[coordination]

In practice, it's going to be like any other situation. Unpredictable. Even the most perfected planning is never guaranteed to succeed in the face of the unknown.

I'll walk you back to your room.

[ He offers. He'll come back to participate in more chit chat and grab Blue once he's done that. And once they're out of the mess hall, he continues: ]

Perspective does help, too. So on that subject: what did you mean, before? When you spoke about screwing up. [ Cause yeah that whole exchange was. Heard. ]

[hatejakku]

[ Oh, okay. Finn doesn't argue about being walked back, even if it catches him a little off guard. But then he quickly has to wonder if Yzak just wanted to talk to him in private.

Either way, Finn grimaces. ]

I screw up a lot. It's not really a secret. Didn't keep that building from falling, did I? [ He still feels weirdly horrible about that, as if it were his or anyone else's fault. ] Went to jail, went blind, nearly starved- And you should hear about what I've done back home sometime.

But the whole notion about who should take responsibility, reaching out to those who mess up- I don't know. I just didn't want them to keep arguing. Besides, you just said it. The situations are going to be unpredictable, anyway. Can't plan much in advance, even on a personal level.

[coordination]

And yet, you still place a good deal of the blame on yourself when you were simply acting against that unpredictability as anybody else on the team would have in the situation.

[ He shrugs. He likes Finn, but sometimes his kindness seems to get the get the better of him when it comes to so easily self-flagellating over those calls he made - Yzak wouldn't go so far to call them mistakes or fuck ups. ]

I doubt many of us could stop a building from falling. And I may not be privy to all of the circumstances of what happened in Taeum, but it sounds like you and those with you at the time found a lead and decided to follow it. No, it didn't end well, but it's hardly the only thing that hasn't on these missions.

I'll give you starving, though. That was pretty stupid, but I think everyone who jumped to the opportunity to do that so quickly was. [ So he's not even being biased there. ]

[hatejakku]

[ Hmmmmm. Finn shrugs. ] My power would have sustained me. It did sustain me. I didn't actually need to eat. But I... still worried people. [ Which is The Problem with him.

Anyway, he sighs and scratches at the back of his neck. ]

It's just different with me. I had the power to stop the building and I couldn't do it. And yeah, we had a lead in Taeum, but we should have told others first. I know hindsight is better but-... It's a lot of mistakes, don't you think? In a row? All the time?

[ And he doesn't want to flat-out say it, but having this kind of power and responsibility, he feels like he has a quota on mistakes before everyone he knows dies. His mistakes in the past have killed many good people but there's always room to grow... ]

[coordination]

If you had the power to stop that tower from falling, it wouldn't have fallen. [ There's nothing shaming in the tone there, nothing implying that he wasn't good enough or strong enough. Simply stating something that feels like a fact to him. ] You did, however, buy time for many of the people inside, ensured that Peter and Blue could make it to a safer place when they may not have otherwise, and despite your own injuries, are standing here now, yourself, thanks to them. All choices and actions made within a few seconds' notice.

In Taeum, would the opinions of others really have dissuaded you from following your lead? Or would it have just turned into the same things that happened during the last mission? Incessant arguing that ultimately didn't change anything - those who wished to recover Viveca's body still did as much because we were on a timer and had to act. That didn't exactly end without some bullshit, either, but ultimately that didn't turn out as badly as it could have.

It's not different with you. None of us would be here in the first place if we'd never made mistakes. And far be it from me to say it, [ Because, look, he's 100% self-aware of his own hypocrisy about being loud and butting heads with others here. ] but anybody arguing so strongly could do well to look in the mirror, as if they've never fucked something up before!

Hindsight is always better. Sometimes I told you so is a perfectly valid way for someone to respond to someone else's blunder. But in the end the things you change moving forward from that hindsight shouldn't solely rely on others. And if it always does, maybe you could do to have more people around who have more faith in you. But in order for people to put their faith in you, you need to put a little more into yourself.

I'm curious to know. On Badrock, did your power sustain you? Completely? Because if it just slowed the process of starvation, then I can understand why others would be worried if you weren't eating at all.

[hatejakku]

[ This-... Yzak... This is so very much for him to think about. Finn's even stopped walking about halfway through that speech, watching him and trying to process it. There's a lot of arguments he thinks that he should make, something about not being strong enough, not being good enough, just generally not being enough.

But, he supposes, that's where having a little more faith in himself comes in. Which is very difficult to have these last few days. ]

I- [ He doesn't know how to respond. There's so much here to think about, so many revelations to be made. So, he just... answers the question. ]

Yes? Sort of. It... weakened me. A lot. I ended up eating some, but it was still pretty bad when we were back on the station. But-... I mean, I was okay.

[ "Okay." Well, he mostly was. ]

We needed to save food. I didn't need to eat. It just... made sense at the time.

[coordination]

[ He hears Finn stop, doing the same and peering back at him over his shoulder, one eyebrow going up just a bit. He doesn't look completely perplexed since the other's expression gives away that he's flabbergasted.

Still Yzak knows he's right (why are you booing me, etc.) here!! ]

If it was pretty bad, then you did need to eat. But there's no use lamenting on it now. Unless you'd do the same thing if it happened again - which I hope you wouldn't.

[hatejakku]

[ He's thinking that maybe... Yzak is right... which is the problem. That's a whole lot of re-thinking he has to do. ]

I- [ He would do it again. He totally would. The only reason he wouldn't has just gone home.

But he'd do it better. He did learn some things, after all... ]

No. I wouldn't. I learned enough the first time. [ Sure, he did. ]

[coordination]

Good.

And if you ever prove to be lying about that, I'll kick your ass! [ It's an empty threat ... mostly. Because he will yell. ] It's not just you here who seems to need to take better care of themself, but moving forward and learning is important. You - you're a good asset to any team. Were you in my world, odds are I'd want you on mine with the needed polishing of self preservation and having more faith in the things you can do.

[hatejakku]

[ Was that a compliment? It sounded like a compliment. And... honestly, it does make him rethink some things. Just like the rest of the conversation has done.

So, after a quiet pause, all he can really find in himself to say is- ]

Thank you... I'll, uh- I'll be better.

[coordination]

Don't just be better because someone else wants you to, either. That's a surefire way to get yourself manipulated if you run into the wrong person.

You do it for yourself. Because even if you want to do it for others, it won't mean anything in the end if you just wind up hurting them by not giving a shit about yourself.

[hatejakku]

[ Oh... Oh, wow, Yzak... Oh, wow, you just hit the nail right on the head there... Oh, boy...

It doesn't help that Jim used to say the exact same thing. Anyway, it takes him a beat to answer, and he may look like he's going to burst into tears before that happens, but he pulls himself together. Sorta. ]

Ye- Yeah... Yeah, I learned that the hard way.

[ Doing better for himself has just never been a thing that's worked out well, though. He doesn't know where to begin. Which has been his problem for the last two years. Thing is, he would love to have that kind of mindset. But... where do you even get such a thing? Caring for himself is so much easier when it's to help or spite others. ]

[coordination]

Hard is usually the way a lot of lessons have to be learned. [ Sometimes that's just how it is. Sometimes, it's because of the bullheadedness to push back against it. Yzak's own experience is, unsurprisingly, more with the latter. ] But it being learned at all is the important thing, in the end. [ More than the difficulty, more than how long it takes. ]

But, hey, [ He tips his chin up. ] what's with that face?

[hatejakku]

[ Oh, ah- Finn straightens himself, swallows, and gives a little shrug. He intends to lie or, at the very least, deflect. But- ]

James used to say the same things.

[ He doesn't allow himself the chance to be surprised or for his voice to falter or any of it. Just keeps his eyes down and rolls on. ]

I wasn't good at it back then either. Learning... such a simple thing- Where to start or how, anything, it shouldn't take so long... I used to hurt him, too.

[ Hence the hard way. Sometimes it took seeing tears before Finn would realized he'd messed up. Again. Maybe it's just better that he's back home now. ]

Sorry. I'll get better.

[ Hopefully. Probably. Wouldn't be the first time he's broken that promise, though. ]