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

[markwatney]

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

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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.]

Comments

[pretendtoneedme]

The tools are only thanks to Natasha, but while he'd left most of her stuff alone when she'd disappeared, packing it into a corner of his room at the inn and not touching it, there'd been a few items with immediate practically he'd kept for his own use. She wouldn't mind it; she knew him too well to expect him to do otherwise. And they're getting a good work out today in the service of the community.

Clint looks up at the voice obviously directed at him and sees the man he hadn't cared all that much for at the meeting. He doesn't have any bad feelings about Gaius, not like any of the assholes he'd met over the course of his career, but someone trying to set himself up as a "director" of sorts when he hasn't proved he's earned the title always gets Clint's hackles a little riled. With him, authority is no guarantee of respect, and his respect has to be earned. But Gaius had backed down and not pushed it when he'd seen his idea wasn't very favored, which earned him a few points.

"I worked construction for a couple of years in my twenties, and I kept up with the skills after that. Mostly we did housing developments, so I guess it's kind of like this." Just on a much older building. But the principles of construction don't really change over time.

[ad_dicendum]

Gaius is a man from a society which treats authority as something that comes not only with deeds or accomplishments, but with the weight of family and status. It's hard to get used to being nobody here. Not just because he's without the dignity carried by his name and the memory of his father and grandfather and the respect in which his mother is held.

He'd carefully attended what Kate Kelly had said, though: if he wants respect and authority, he must earn it here, and if nobody else can see that he has skills that will be useful, he can prove it by his actions.

A man who knows something of construction is a useful person to know.

"It is good that we have a man with your skills here with us. I do not know how many of the people here know how to undertake these sorts of repairs."

[pretendtoneedme]

"Most of 'em could do the basics." The people that were here all seemed to be a competent lot. Maybe they didn't all have the skills to build a house, but some of them were medical professionals, some of them could take care of animals, while others could hunt. Together, the village seemed to have a decent amount of the necessary skills to be self-sufficient, even if they lacked a lot of the basic materials and tools. The biggest thing he'd noticed missing, really, was a way of producing more fabric to make clothes, sheets, towels, and other things like that. "Hang a picture or put up a bracket or something like that. People know how a hammer works pretty much anywhere."

[ad_dicendum]

Gaius' head tilts a little in consideration as Clint speaks. He's not used to thinking in this way: the son of a senator has no need for this sort of manual labor, and nor does anyone with whom he socializes. It is for tradesmen, slaves, even. But Gaius knows how to learn from the people around him, both for the political advantage of being seen to identify with people, and also because what they have to offer is something worth learning.

"I suppose that is true. Even so far removed from the way things are done here as I am, even I have seen hammers used before."

He's worked with masons, with carpenters. It was hardly possible not to, with the projects he'd worked on for Rome: roads, grain supply, the foundation of Junonia.

"I would have thought there was more specialized knowledge required." It's said with a light query in the tone, inviting Clint to speak more if he wishes, but also indicating that Gracchus will believe what he's told.

Clint, as the craftsman in this situation, should know, and the information will be important if he wishes to restore the storehouse and granary.