[OTA - MINGLE] Town Hall meeting

[markwatney]

WHO: Mark Watney
WHERE: Town Hall
WHEN: 10 Dec 2017, sundown
OPEN TO: All, mingle
WARNINGS: N/A

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Since that tense standoff in front of the peach trees, Kira and I have been waiting to see whether the promises in the letter he'd received would come to fruition. I'd actually left the stolen papers out there longer than I'd intended, not wanting to disrupt the process further if I hadn't already ruined it by catching him in the act. Now that he's confirmed to me the arrival of what, for most people here, would probably be a collection of true treasures, I can't put off the inevitable. We need to let everyone know what's happened, and find out if we're alone in being targets.

Because this morning, I received a "mission" of my own, in the form of a box filled with 3 vacuum-packed, single servings of ground coffee. Speaking of treasure.

Before the breakfast rush, I made a note on the blackboard in the Inn's front room, the writing big and bold enough that nobody should miss it:

VILLAGE MEETING TONIGHT, TOWN HALL, SUNDOWN

Fortunately, there's little enough to entertain a person in this place that plenty of people show. Kira's in the front row with his "gifts," presumably ready to back me up despite not seeming to like me much yet. I guess I can't blame him, although I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss the rapport I had with Old Him.

"Hey, everyone," I call out, waving to get the small crowd's attention. "I asked everybody here tonight because we've had a development that I think we all need to know about. Kira here—" I pause, pointing. "Not too long ago, he got a letter. It asked him to steal something of value from someone and take it to the peach trees over on the East Side. It said if he did that, he would be rewarded. When he tried to get rid of the letter, another copy would always turn up. So, he did it. And putting aside that dubiousness for a moment, the reward was delivered. He found some items from his home that couldn't have gotten here without intervention from our hosts. Today, I actually got a box of coffee with a note asking me to take a portion and pass it on. Like a game or a chain letter. The note I got was threatening — If I don't do as asked, it says there will be a punishment. So."

I pull in a deep breath and spread my hands. "I know there's only so much we can realistically do about all of this, but has anybody else gotten anything like this?"



[If you want to thread with Mark directly, please say so in your subject line and let me know. Otherwise, this is a MINGLE and folks can jump around at will. Have at!]

Comments

[fishermansweater]

It's one of those things between the two of them that is not really an agreement, more a mutual sort of understanding: usually, it's Finnick who speaks up in the meetings. It goes back to Panem, to times when he as mentor had to step in and speak for her while she went further and further into the maelstrom of her thoughts. He's the charismatic one, the one used to drawing people's attention every time he walks into a room. He's the one who learned to charm Panem all those years ago in the parade, in the interview, in the events he'd done after his victory.

He glances across when she elbows him and he gives a nod so brief as to be barely perceptible. He doesn't want to admit what they'd asked her to do either, but pretending that he's asking for his own sake is an easy enough lie to a man used to living lies.

"You think that still fits their orders?" he asks, his tone offhand, casual, as though it were a matter of curiosity rather than a potential answer to his and Annie's problem.

[iron_beneath_beauty]

She glanced down at the letter, uncertain and wary. In bringing it up, she hadn't been looking for a way to fulfill the conditions. A part of her wondered if it was wise to even alert others to this new game. She should have guessed people would want to be brave and volunteer to play the victim to her brute. It didn't sit well with her.

She frowned as she looked up at Finnick, someone she had seen a few times but never really had the chance to get to know. He was right to be skeptical, just as she was. It seemed the woman next to him felt the same way too.

"I don't know. Do we even know what happens if we went against them?" That might require knowledge about what they wanted.

[fishermansweater]

"Do we want to find out?" he asked.

That was the important question to him, and his answer so far had been no. He was thinking about Annie as this conversation happened, thinking about the letter she'd received and the way she'd been distant and uneasy ever since. They were in a situation that meant it wasn't just a matter of choosing to do what they were told or not, but of Annie's belief that she couldn't, not since her Games.

Finnick didn't want to know what the consequences were, but he didn't have much of a choice if he couldn't persuade Annie to hurt him.

"There could be punishment." He said it coolly, as though he were just offering up the options rather than voicing his own fears, but Lyanna looked unsettled by the situation too. He didn't have a good enough read on her yet to know whether the letter's request made her uneasy or its consequences did, but it looked like she didn't like something about it.

[iron_beneath_beauty]

She wasn't sure about that. It seemed like a poor idea, but one that might answer several questions. "Would they even notice if we didn't do what they wanted?" Some hadn't followed the letters before and nothing happened. Maybe if it happened enough times they would respond?

There was so much uncertainty attached to the Observers. It was hard to even predict what they might do or think. This was the first time they were reaching out to them, beyond the usual presents and strange pods. There was never any notes attached to them, this was the very first written communication they ever received.

"There could be. There could be punishment for anything we do. I think it depends on what we are willing to do and what we are willing to fight back against." There would be a limit to how much a reward could compensate for hurting someone they cared for.

"It's dangerous," or they could be overestimating the Observers.