sixthiterationlogs | We can push on through till morning; [OTA

WHO: Mark & Anyone
WHERE: The Town Hall
WHEN: Feb 16, afternoon through evening
OPEN TO: EVERYONE! This is a mingle post!
WARNINGS: N/A - Please warn in thread subject lines if needed
STATUS: Open

When we all get together and have our town meetings, the truth is that a lot of times we don't come up with the sort of solutions we're looking for. I'm not trying to say we're complacent -- Or at least not all of us, not the people speaking up in the meetings -- but just that the nature of living here, such as it is, means that answers aren't exactly forthcoming.

But the latest meeting, the one about organizing, creating some kind of formal entity to oversee the group of us, it threw something into sharp relief for me: I've been talking for a long time about how we all need to be sharing our knowledge as a safeguard, but I haven't been doing much to make this happen beyond sharing my own personal knowledge. And that's really just not acceptable -- Not here, not when we've apparently got an entire section of the population asking for active leadership and another section who might just be too shy or apathetic to admit it.

So, I've been trying to figure out a way to kickstart this project. A way for people to even put out there the sort of knowledge they have to share. You have to start somewhere.

I've never had a problem getting people together to help with the field, but somehow we've been neglecting the town hall building right next to it this entire time. It's one of the biggest buildings in town, but it's still coated in dust and cobwebs, piles of leaves drifted into corners. The inn is starting to get a little crowded during meetings; it might be nice to have a little more room, a place where people come to share.

Regardless of how you feel about community leadership, I think most of us can get behind that.

A couple days before, I put out the call: A cleaning party. We get together, clean out the town hall, and afterward we have a little potluck. People can bring premade dishes, or we can cook out back over a bonfire. We can just be around each other, in a relatively safe space, just having a moment to relax and say hello. Meet someone new, find out where to begin.

After everything that's happened recently, I really think we could use it. I'm just hoping I'm not the only one who shows up.

[CLEANING PARTY & MIXER! Threads can take place during the CLEANING portion, after during the MIXER or BOTH. They can be indoors, upstairs, in the attic, out back by the bonfire, chowing down, whatever -- It's 100% cool to improvise! Mark will have expressly told folks this is about getting to know each other and what they can each do, too. There are some additional OOC notes here.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Clint does keep busy. It's just in his nature to do so - sitting around doing nothing is practically anathema to him - but there really has been a lot to do around the village since the weather started warming up, not to mention Wanda's arrival had them cleaning out one of the houses so they could move into it. But keeping busy is much more preferable to brooding, and at least something productive gets done that way.

He gives a mild snort at the question, raising his cup to take a drink. "I don't think anyone's happy about being stuck here with next to no info about what's going on. But at least if we are here, people're getting shit done and not trying to kill each other." It's a real possibility in a small area, after all. Personalities can come into conflict, things can be said in the heat of the moment that can fester. The place is big enough that everyone can find some privacy for themselves when they need it, but they can't get away. It's something to watch out for. "Maybe as it gets warmer there'll be more projects that are good for something, if we're still here." Not that he wanted to be, but plan for all outcomes and all.

Taking the offered hand, Clint gives it a firm shake, not a testing one. No point in posturing, and he's not big on that anyway. "Clint Barton. I showed up about a month ago."

"Yet," Sonny adds, and it's not exactly in his nature to be pessimistic in any form, but he's said it once, and he'll say it again: it's only a matter of time before conflict arises. He hates to anticipate the worst, preferring to look on the bright side and give people the benefit of the doubt. With more people coming it, there's bound to be some unsavory types among them, people that might try to hoard supplies for themselves, or steal from people or hurt them to get what they want.

He still thinks they need a police force, just to have something in place in case any of that happens. But the general consensus, he's found, is that it's unnecessary, a waste of time and materials, and is only likely to put people on edge.

Personally, it's putting him a little on edge waiting for the other shoe to drop.

"I've been here about two months," he offers, taking a sip of his water. "Yeah, if we're gonna be stuck here, it's nice to have productive stuff to keep us busy, right? Won't be long until it's time to start planting and harvesting stuff, I think."

He's pretty sure. It's not like he's a farmer but that stuff's supposed to happen in the spring.

"Yet." Clint can't help but agree, because he's seen too much of the worst of humanity to not think it'll happen some day. Maybe the mix of villagers they have now doesn't mean harm to anyone in the group, but personal issues can flare tempers to a breaking point, words said can fester, and even other people showing up all mean that at some point, something will happen. But Clint's also used to being on guard about stuff like that, watching for the subtly developing signs that things are starting to go to shit city. He wasn't able to stop Steve and Tony fighting at home, but by the time he'd gotten involved in that situation it'd been far too late and too much was at stake - here, at least, the situation couldn't be nearly as volatile or world-ending. Not to mention the power dampers and lack of tech which at least means there's not going to be a potential nuclear explosion. "If something happens, we'll figure it out."

He's not opposed to the idea of some sort of "force," he's mostly just opposed to the idea of that being a primary focus. Getting everyone fed and taken care of medically, not to mention making sure everyone had a good roof over their heads and enough fuel for their fires, is the first set of priorities. Having a collective of people willing to do police work if the need arises sounds fine to him, but it shouldn't be a primary thing for anyone when there's a lot of other stuff needing to be done first.

"Planting, yeah, harvesting comes in the fall. Most stuff doesn't grow that fast - some of the small things do, tomatoes and some herbs, but wheat and corn and the big crops take a few months." He's not a farmer, but he did grow up in farm country and lives there now, so he's picked up a few things. "It's gonna be hard to break ground without big animals or machines, but if we want food, we're gonna have to do it."

There's not a doubt in his mind that they'll be able to sort out their problems as they arise. From what Sonny's seen so far, everyone here seems to be on the up-and-up, and everyone seems interested in keeping the community safe and fed and taken care of. So if something comes up, Clint's right — they'll figure it out. But hopefully it won't come to that. Hopefully they won't have anyone come through intent on destroying what they've built.

"Right, right." Seeing as Sonny was born and raised in Staten Island, and has probably only seen a cow in books and pictures, it's likely that he's the furthest thing from a farmer that the village has. That doesn't mean he can't help with the planting and the harvesting, when it comes to it, just that he might need a hell of a lot of direction. "Hey, we've made it work so far, right? I'm sure we'll figure our way around this, too."

"Hopefully we'll figure a way out of this." He'll say it, because it's what almost everyone's thinking - that they don't want to stay here, that they have jobs, lives, friends, families to go home to, that they all want a way out. Until they find that way, they'll work on making this a better place to be, but almost everyone seems to want to escape before anything else. Clint shrugs, not looking angry or annoyed or whatever, just certain. "Until we do that, we'll keep working on this place. If we've gotta be trapped here, we can make life easier for everyone."

And if that meant growing food, so be it. That'd at least be a change from all the stews and root vegetables they'd been having in decreasing quantities as the winter stores started running out, and Clint likes both of those things. Just not for every meal.

"We will," Sonny says, and he sounds so incredibly certain of this, like there isn't a single doubt in his mind that this is the only truth. It doesn't matter who brought them here, or why they were brought here, or what happens here. As long as they stick together, they have what it takes to make it out of here alive. It might not be right away, but Sonny's positive that they're not going to be stuck here forever.

He's going to get home, and his going to see his family and his friends again. It's one of the only thoughts that keeps him going.

"But yeah, you're right. There's no point in living more uncomfortably than we have to while we're here."

We can push on through till morning; [OTA | MINGLE POST]

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