andrend: (04 I hear something more)
Kylo Ren ([personal profile] andrend) wrote in [community profile] sixthiterationlogs2017-02-01 11:26 pm

Let the blind lead the blind

WHO: Kylo Ren
WHERE: Just outside the Inn
WHEN: February 1st
OPEN TO: All; Threadjack style
WARNINGS: None other than that this is really long.
STATUS: Open


The fact that daily meals not only existed, but seemed to do so in spite of snow, earthquakes, and auroras in the sky, was one of a few consistently positive glimmers of hope for the village and its inhabitants. It also had the benefit of drawing a large number of those same inhabitants to one predictable location more often than not. For Ren, that was normally a reason to avoid the inn in the hours after dawn and before dusk. However, with his mind on the conversations he had had with Sansa and Veronica, and the missing beast presumably still roaming somewhere out in the canyon, Ren knew he couldn't keep approaching the problem the way he had been, previously.

Veronica's advice still lingered in his mind fresh enough after a month of thought to have him trying something new. He waited for a good number of people to enter the inn before doing so himself, and asked, with a softened tone and a calm voice, if people could spare a moment when they finished to have a discussion.

He had missed the most recent meeting, entrenched as he had been in his training. It had been another lost opportunity, and he wanted no more of those. This was as good of a chance as any, and he was taking action before action could be taken from him.

With his request submitted, he left the inn and borrowed a sturdy crate from outside one of the unused buildings. He took a seat on it, just outside the front of the inn, during the meal. Most people came and went through the doors, and it gave him a good position without worrying about the crowding of the growing village's size packed inside one space.

When enough people decided to come out and take part, he stood back up, his long hair loosely pulled back, and the scar the cut across his face and down his arm far more visible for it. He looked around at the faces gathered, some familiar, others new, and straightened his back, standing taller and more assured. He needed people to trust him, or at least trust that what he had to say might be important. But he could not be harsh, he could not demand. He had to coax reason out, and the only way to do so was to offer his ideas as ideas, and nothing more.

"A lot has happened in this canyon. Some of you have been here for far more of it than I have. There have been hazards, storms, unusual discoveries, and violent creatures. People come and go, almost always without the slightest inclination as to how or why. I myself have gone and returned, and I remember nothing of it." He paused there, one hand holding onto the metal staff he had been using so long now it had become an extension of him. He rested it on the ground like a cane now, using it to keep himself grounded.

"This canyon is unpredictable. The dangers and threats that may face us in the future can not be anticipated wholly, and there is no way of knowing who among us will still be around to see them. But one thing is clear. I do not believe our captors have ever intended anything positive of this place. They observe, and they prevent our escape. They take our strength, our possessions, our memories," He hesitates a moment, his grip tightening on the staff, his voice sharper for a moment before settling back to an even tone. "And they toy with us. We have no idea who they are, what their true intentions may be, or how they came to bring us here, only that for now we are trapped here, together."

He looks over the group that has gathered, a frown crossing his face, his brows furrowed a moment before smoothing over. He has to choose his words carefully, and for the sometimes reckless young man, it isn't easy not to dive straight in.

"I think it's time we discuss whether or not this place needs more than the loose assortment of tasks and common, repeated actions it has as it currently stands. I believe we need a leadership in place. A council. With how unpredictable this place has proven to be, no one person can or should be trusted with that task but more dangers will come, we will face more disasters, more attacks that we can not see coming. We can not assume that we will always have the luxury of waiting until after the fact to react."

He breathes, slow and deep, and tries to find the words again, searching for the right phrasing, the right voice.

"I think a council is something we should consider. A group of people to share the burden of making tough calls or assigning tasks when things go wrong, or when something needs to get done. It will not work, however, if disagreement runs rampant underneath it. That's why I came here. At the very least, it should be discussed. If the majority is against it, I will drop the matter, but if we do not at least have this conversation, I do not think this village will last many disasters before the fragile organization the structure of it is currently built on collapses and falls apart."

Having said his piece, Ren stepped aside, and offered the area he had been speaking from to anyone who might choose to use it.

[This is a meeting post open to threadjacking, interruptions, opinions, and the like. If your character has anything to say, let them do so. I'll drop a secondary comment below for Ren specifically, otherwise go wild and respond to anyone you like or start your own thing. It's intended to be an IC discoure over whether or not the village needs some form of leadership, but any actual organizing of a leadership is not intended or planned to be formed from this meeting.]

[personal profile] ex_assertiveness90 2017-02-12 09:08 pm (UTC)(link)
"I agree." It's Stella, from slightly off to one side of Sonny where she's been listening to the various debates going on round them. This topic, at least, is something she knows a good deal about.

"I think we'd have to be careful. There are practical considerations — there are, what, no more than sixty of us? We've no court system, and no means to hold anyone who does commit a serious crime — murder, assault, sex crimes." She won't suggest imprisoning someone for hoarding food — there are degrees of appropriateness here.

"But above all I should think we'd need a community approach, not an authoritarian one. A volunteer patrol would be a good start."
notsocommon: (Default)

[personal profile] notsocommon 2017-02-12 10:35 pm (UTC)(link)
"I disagree. Who is it that decides law? We all come from such varied backgrounds that imposing one system of laws upon an entire group only ensures we'll end up fighting about the minutiae of everything. I would rather we focus our efforts upon getting out of this place than making some sort of code of law so that we live peaceably with one another. Things have worked fine thus far without anything so formal."

Helen paused for a moment. "Besides, what if we all disappear, those of us who make these laws? Why should those who come after us keep to them? If some remain and the majority leave, do we then have an oligarchy that ensures a code of law ratified by some other group of people is imposed upon the new? It can't work. Not in a place like this where nothing is certain. It's a good idea in theory but in practice it would be utter madness."
Edited 2017-02-12 22:36 (UTC)

[personal profile] ex_assertiveness90 2017-02-13 04:01 am (UTC)(link)
"I'm not suggesting we shouldn't continue trying to escape," Stella says. She doesn't raise her voice; she's not angry, although the implication that trying to make some order in this place means settling for their circumstances does rankle slightly. "We're all angry about being trapped here, I don't think that's in question.

But what we essentially have here is controlled anarchy. Things have worked well up till now — but what about in the future? What if there are more than just a few dozen of us? I believe we do have to consider the possibility that we may be here for some time, and that the systems we have in place now, such as they are, might not be viable a few months or even a year from now."

It's clear she doesn't like that idea even as she says it, the idea that they might be stuck here for so long, but Stella thinks it's something they have to take into account. There's an urge to pace, like she typically does when she's thinking, but she suppresses it. "I'd just like to consider a more organized means of keeping people safe."

As she'd said, the patrols are a good start — she's just not certain it's enough.
notsocommon: (quiet moment; thinking)

[personal profile] notsocommon 2017-02-14 12:41 am (UTC)(link)
"I think we should concentrate more on the external threats than internal ones. We have creatures tearing out the throats of our citizens and we have all manner of natural disasters. Preparing for those things, to me, is of more importance than forming some sort of government and writing legislation."

Government, in Helen's experience, never seemed to operate the way that it was intended. She would rather do without and continue on as they had been. It would be better in the long run to focus on the tangible and the immediate and not codifying law.
ottimismo: (we are god's eyes)

[personal profile] ottimismo 2017-02-14 10:28 pm (UTC)(link)
"We'll never stop trying to escape," Sonny agrees. "As long as we're here, we're going to be trying to find a way out. But we can do that while still trying to get some sort of structure here."

Maybe he is suggesting it out of need of the familiar. Maybe he's wanting something he's used to dealing with, something he's good at. He put the church together, and now he's finding the need to move onto another project, another way to contribute to the community that's being built here.

"More of us are coming in. I think at least having some idea of what we're going to do if people start acting up is a good idea. Patrols are important, too, to deal with the outside threats. We can have both."
notsocommon: (Default)

[personal profile] notsocommon 2017-02-18 10:38 pm (UTC)(link)
"And how do you suppose we enforce said laws? Create a police force? Start writing citations? No offense, but that's not particularly going to work in a place like this and might well alienate those who have reason not to trust the government or law enforcement. Such people aren't always inherently bad."

Helen suspected this was something that none of them could come to a proper agreement in, considering how volatile it was on both sides, but she would be remiss if she didn't try to express her thoughts and feelings on the subject.

"There is good intention, I trust that, but I don't think everyone is so enamored of having some sort of governing body that can mete out punishment."
3ofswords: (chinhands)

[personal profile] 3ofswords 2017-02-14 04:12 am (UTC)(link)
"Law enforcement as I know it commits plenty of those," he says, dropping a bit back into his laconic posture, his hands in his pockets, his dissent nearly passionless: the woman doesn't immediately come off like a cop to him--more like Graves, if anything, some kind of agent, someone higher up, with that touch of counselor to them and the scent of the powder they put on latex gloves. But it's close enough, and the idea of a pair of them, here, in the crowd, has those automatic defenses rising to the surface.

The more ideas of order and power that people toss about, the more he looks back to people like Mark, the more he understands what they meant in opposition of it. The point, in his mind, should be forward motion, organization, contingencies of teaching and sharing before the resources people bring with them are gone.

And he can't fault the woman, that this resource is one that crawls all over his skin--almost specifically, his skin, and his eyes and his New York state issued license and the passport he didn't even have, but that he'd heard demands for as early as middle school. And he can't fault anyone for the fault line inside of him, that is Credence, and how those worries for himself are projected now onto someone even more vulnerable.

He can handle himself around cops, he can handle himself around Graves, but not everyone grows up learning how to do that. "The easiest way to avoid things like sex crimes is not to give anyone authority over anyone else in the first place. People are equals, all jobs have equal importance, all levels of ability welcome."

Somewhere in the stream of words, he realizes they aren't, quite, in disagreement, and he ducks his chin once at the end. "Sorry ma'am, you can go on about the patrol."