logsinthenight | That One With the Meeting [OPEN]

characters: Cao Pi and OPEN!!!
location: the town hall
date/time: appx moonrise Sept. 2, for a couple of hours
content: Cao Pi proposed a meeting for everyone to talk about what ideas they have for organizing, protecting the town, and safely exploring their confines. This is that meeting. Newcomers are welcome as well! Assume characters have heard about it through the grapevine, but especially on Sept. 1 as Cao Pi makes the rounds and tells people this is happening. He will have a moment to orate but after that the floor is open, threadjacking is encouraged, and whatever comes of this is a complete free-for-all!
warnings: probably some discussion of character death. lmk if I need to edit this.

Despite the fact that Will Ingram's messages providing further information were yet to come, Cao Pi had made a public promise and he would hold himself to it, carrying out his meeting as described. At moonrise on the 2nd, he is already present in the town hall, hoping to see not just those who told him they would be there, but also some of the unfortunate newcomers freshly thrown into this situation. He had done his best to prowl around the Invincible and the bonfire, mentioning that the meeting would happen, but he still had to rely on word of mouth to do its work.

When he decides there are enough people present to begin, the Lord of Wei steps up before the assembly, clearing his throat importantly. "For better or worse," he begins, "we are a community. A town, if we are not a country. The hints and cryptic comments from the Lighthouse Keeper have suggested that we have a job to do, but we're still waiting on information as to what it is and why - why us, why the dead stolen from their worlds or their respective afterlives. But the recent mission to connect the Keeper to the network our tablets can access has shown a number of weaknesses that may hamper our ability to do any job, let alone the one which will keep us all from being permanently obliterated." Is that harsh? Too bad. He doesn't care. "We know a few things for certain. One, that we must carry out the purpose which the Keeper understands and encourages. Two, if we fail in any way, she will kill us all by ordering the spirits to destroy us. Three, the spirits deep in the forest are not just her weapon against us, but they have their own will and may attack or destroy anyone who simply wanders out too far. Our explorations have uncovered a number of things but not everything, by far. If you are new or simply haven't kept up on the recent developments, the record is here." He holds out a hand to the logbooks kept there in the town hall.

"I've asked you here to discuss the issues facing us in Beacon, and to offer up any ideas for how to solve those issues. There are quite a few of them, some that even I, perhaps, haven't considered yet. Please be orderly and take your turns, but I should like to hear from everyone. Whether you have questions, or have an idea you wish to share, please. Speak up. We will all be better for the sharing of ideas and discussion of pros and cons, rather than just waiting and hoping that someone will take charge and give us orders."

With that, he steps aside, inviting anyone and everyone to come up and speak. Or simply rise from their seat and speak. The floor is open, Beacon, use it to say things that you might not want anyone connected to the network to overhear. Sass the Keeper, gush about the Postmaster, whatever you want. Hopefully by the end of it all, someone might have some plans that can be brought about. For his part, Cao Pi is not putting himself up as any sort of authority or the one actually in charge, he literally is only there as organizer and moderator and nothing else. At least, so his cool half-smirk and perfect manners would suggest...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ ah, he does quite enjoy when a big tough guy™️ needs to prove they're a big tough guy™️ by aggressively walking toward you like someone holding a brick between their butt cheeks because they think it exudes big tough guy™️ when it really just looks more like constipation. always a weird flex, but okay. ]

You do realize that preparation can only ever be based on previously acquired foresight, right? Maybe not things that have happened here, but evidential and empirical history that would otherwise indicate a need for the possibility of being ready for various circumstances, foreseen or not.

But so much for being Captain Obvious. You're starting to sound more like Captain Oblivious again. That answer should be pretty obvious to anyone with enough experience. Forming groups of reasonable strength and tenacity to run expeditions, to go out and find the information for ourselves rather than wait for it to fall into our hands.

[kids kids you're both right. Time for Cao Pi to step in, he thinks, even if he sort of relishes letting other people get snippy at each other. He's going to have to borrow that 'Captain Obvious' line.]

Precisely. And it seems to me we need someone to head up an organization dedicated to exploration, to make sure groups go out armed and supplied and have a means to report back or call for help. Would either of you like to do it?

[for real, Jason, he's also privately annoyed that it's taken so long to get just one crucial detail, plus Robin being all coy about what she'll tell anyone. It ain't fun but it also doesn't get them anywhere. He makes sure to look back and forth between both of them to assure that dude, he gets it, he really does.]

Oh, hey, glad you worked yourself to the conclusion I was pointing to... newbie. [ well actually he had another title in mind but starting a fight in the middle of a meeting-- even he could see how that would be gauche. ] Hopefully, you've got the skills to back up that talk, 'cause it'd be a shame if you ended up in the ever growing number of people killed.

[ he glances at Cao Pi, at least calm enough after their first conversation. Jason thinks most of the people stuck there are some level of useless, but... he at least seemed to catch on pretty quickly. And to have a healthy amount of skepticism. But, he asked a reasonable question. ]

You don't need a leader for that. You just need a system. We just watched our asses get pretty thoroughly kicked-- it'd be bad to have that happen again, and lose whoever decided to take that on.

It'd be better to have a system.

And we have half of one with the notes in the library.

[WELL...no that's actually a good point]

What good is a system when people will still willfully run off and do whatever they please whenever it suits them? A system is merely a framework, it takes leadership to encourage people to use it.

But, you have a point. What have you learned at the library?

[ god. this guy seems like he tells his friends regularly he doesn't want to be friends with them just so that he can have the last word. it's almost funny if it wasn't so sad. there's no real point explaining that people that actually know what they're talking lead with that instead of stating the obvious and trying to move the conversation there, but that also says plenty to eliot of what kind of person he really is. that's how manipulators work, after all. best to keep an eye on him.

he nods to cao pi's first point. ] Agreed. A system still needs to be maintained. If there is no one to lead or guide it, then there is no one to enforce the system at all. It becomes meaningless if it's not followed.

[ he doesn't know shit about the library though. that's more q's realm, so best to see what the self-proclaimed genius has to say about it. ]

Sure, it needs to be maintained. But it's better than a single point of failure. Get a group of people, whatever. Just keep it simple.

And off the network, unless we get something more secure.

[ that part was worth adding. ]

People are already keeping records of when they're done exploring-- logical next step would be getting lists of people who want to head out and putting together scouting groups.

All very good ideas. [no, really! personality conflicts and sniping aside, everyone here seems to be smart. Well, except for Crowley over there but that's a different issue] Off the network is precisely why I asked everyone to meet here. It doesn't stop someone with...well. Either nefarious or well-meaning intentions from using the tablet to report what was said here, but it at least slows that process down.

Very well. I agree entirely that we need a more organized system for scouting and reporting on the results. In my experience that was always done by a single general, so if you are so concerned about single points of failure, there is room for a better idea, there.

[ secure is definitely a good idea. if only he paid more attention in that one computer class he took instead of watching that cute boy two rows down and five seats over the whole semester.

to the guy with a stick up his ass: ] I don't suppose you would know anyone who might. Lock down? A more private means of communication? While there's not general harm in using it, it's certainly a means by which we are observed.

The advantage of technology should be the means to share, but if we can't do that without physically gathering every time, it would greatly hamper all of our productivity.

[ as much as he hates to admit it, Eliot's got a point. Will's got control of the network and him-- ]

Depends on who else knows anything about technology. I can hack things. You know. Take down firewalls and networks, but that's a different skill from creating something secure.

[ destruction vs. creation, etc, etc. he looks like he's taking this seriously as he thinks about it. but at Cao Pi, he has the more functional and immediate question. ]

Anyway, we don't have any generals right now. We don't even know who all we have here, or what they can do. There's a hell of a lot of information we're missing.

That One With the Meeting [OPEN]

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