crescentview | Town Hall Meeting The Second

WHO: Everyone willing
WHAT: van Zieks trying to catherd, again, in order to Establish Law & Order.
WHEN: Sometime in the Summer between the various events.
WHERE: the forest, outside van Zieks' farm.
WARNINGS: chaos mostly, more will be added if needed.

[A week or so after the chaos of Hot or Not, each farm will recieve another missive from Barry Z himself, chief buzzkill, who clearly learned nothing from how things went last time. It reads as such;]

To All Parties Brought to the Island by the Harvest Goddess,

Tomorrow at 11AM sharp, please arrive at the location indicated on the map shown of the reverse of this document. The topic of discussion on the table is the potential establishment of some form of social contract and body of law. As before, I cannot force attendance, however, I would again hope everyone sees the benefit in being involved in this discussion.

Sincerely,
Lord Barok van Zieks, Esquire

[And again as before, there's a map on the back. This time leading one to van Zieks' residence, an orderly forest farm with a nice stable currently housing the horse van Zieks rode in on to make himself the boss of things, apparently.

At the time of the meeting, there are two tables that were clearly brought out from inside. There are... snacks? Van Zieks is not a chef, you will have these strawberries and fried mushrooms and you'll like it, I guess. There was an attempt. Van Zieks himself is still dressing in his less fancy- but still absurd for this weather- three piece suit.]

Than you all for coming. I understand that the topic I have put on the table may seem... needlessly dire to some, however, in the case that something does happen, it would be far better for us to already have a system in place. I do not think we currently require any sort of active police force, but rather that we should have some sort of agreed set of behavior in place, and then elected individuals to adjudicate any potential disagreements.

As far as a social contract, on Mr. Trahearne's advisement, it would follow thusly; [He pulls out another paper to read from.]
- Do not cause unsolicited physical harm to one other.
- Do not harm or otherwise disrupt another person's farm.
- Do not damage, destroy, or unlawfully take possession of another person's property.
- Do not vandalize or otherwise disrupt communal spaces for us or the townspeople.
- Do not behave in such a manner that would elicit broad reprisal against the group as a whole from the townspeople or the goddess.

If anyone has any other thoughts, feel free to share them. I feel that this is basic enough that even those of you more prone to... rebellion can agree to it.

The second matter is to discuss how to handle if someone does break these rules. While I have made clear before my prior experience with the law, I understand that a system like this can only function if there is trust in those enforcing it. Thus I think that the authority should be given to whoever the group as a whole feels most comfortable entrusting it to. So I open the floor to nominations for that responsibility.

Finally, I'd like to make clear why this is necessary. I have spoken to the goddess, and as long as it does not directly interfere with her and her means, she has no intent of intervening if something were to happen to one of us. We are not her "people," the residents of the town are. Therefore, it is imperative that we work together to protect ourselves.

[And now he will step back and hope that some productive discussion happens.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ Ah.

Well.

This is fine, he supposes. ]

[ immediately scrambling for a napkin or something ]

Oh, spirits, I'm so sorry!

[ Ellis just wipes his face with his arm and laughs a little. It's fine, it's fine. He's not even mad. ]

[ nooo, please take this napkin! ]

You're... Ellis, yes? Gaku's, um... significant other? I'm Ori!

[ Don't mind if he do. He takes the napkin and wipes his face and arm. Whew.

But then he looks at Ori, thinks back to the pamphlet... ah, yes. She's the only one whose skin is purple. Stands out. Those horns too. Very unique in their little cast of misfits. But he seems surprised that she seems to know him as a "significant other" instead of things like "asshole".

So, honestly... he can only nod at first before getting his notepad out to write: ]

It's nice to meet you, Ori. Did Gaku tell you about me?

[ Well she's certainly not going to call him "Gaku's asshole..." Plus, he'd asked her not to think too much on his offering on the Never Have I Ever Game.

She watches him write patiently, and. Well. They talked about how the he and Gaku have yet to BOne!?

But instead she offers: ]

He did! He said he had a crush on someone here and that it was you!

[ It's still surreal to see those words be interpreted to him. ]

Did you know that he rejected me once?

[ WHAAA? ]

I didn't know that! So you were the one who made the first move...!?

[ Ellis shakes his head no. Now that he thinks about it, this is actually pretty complicated, huh? ]

I was mean to him, but he chased me. Then I loved him and he rejected me. Life sure is hard, huh?

[ She can't help but chuckle, at that. Young love... ]

Hah, I suppose it is! But it worked out in the end, didn't it? What happened after that...?

We somehow ended up together. It took a lot of talking and I think we both learned a lot of things about ourselves.

But still, I don't think I like the feeling of being in love.

[ He cried an entire day, but for other reasons... ]

[ Oh, sweetie... ]

Hmm... From my experience, talking is one of the best things you can do with someone you like. It's how you get your feelings out and talk through problems...!

But, ah... You don't like the feeling? What makes you say that?

[ You know what. Ori seems nice enough, so he'll open up a little. He's learning!! ]

It felt so obsessive. I'm not usually the kind of person to get attached easily, so to devote myself to someone at the drop of a hat felt really scary. And being told that the feelings weren't real and being rejected because of that.

[ She levels a deeply understanding look his way. She gets it. She really does. Probably more than she'd really like to admit. ]

Letting yourself get attached and become vulnerable for someone else... It really can be such a scary thing, so I understand how you're feeling... But you know, as long as you two can talk about it and be open and understanding with one another, things will be all right. I now that sounds cheesy, but it's true! Honesty is important... And then hopefully, you'll realize that letting someone into your heart can be such a precious and wonderful thing!

[ A precious and wonderful thing.

Ellis wouldn't have thought much about it before, but he's seriously considering these things now. He takes all of what Ori said and nods. ]

Was it like that for you?

[ She smiles, warm and bright, and nods. ]

It was. And then over time... I realized the best thing about being in love is being able to really be myself around that someone. I hope it turns out like that for you, too!

[ To be himself. Gaku mentioned that a lot too, though Ellis has different thoughts on the subject, but he's been told that enough to understand what people generally mean by it. ]

You can't do that without being in love?

Well, no! In fact, it's incredibly healthy to be that way even without being in love! But I just meant that when you're in love it's, like... Sharing all of yourself with someone. Even all the bad parts of you. Someone who loves you truly will accept all of that too! I suppose I'm not even talking about love in the strictly romantic way at this point, because friends can do this, too, but... I hope that makes sense!

[ That's a very blurry line between friends and lovers. But then again, he heard friends become lovers at some point for some, so it's not too surprising. Hm. Hm!! ]

Can I ask you for more advice about this another time? I feel like I'm going to need it later.

[ Yeah Ellis! Even enemies can become lovers!!! ]

Of course you can! I'm not some kind of love expert, but... I'm very in touch with my feelings, and I hope that helps.

[ He's not sure if he'd ever want to be lovers with his enemies, but hey. More power to people who can. Ellis nods. ]

It's okay. Being in touch with your feelings makes you leagues better than most people here.

[ Oh. He's a feisty lil guy. She can see why Gaku chose this one. ]

Hah, well... Maybe the Goddess brought people like me here to balance things out! Who knows?

[ Well. That's true. She said that she personally picked everyone to come here, so that is a very compelling reason to bring Ori to the farm. Someone with common sense. Maybe. ]

Now that you say that, I want to know who you think you're balancing out.

[ and now I know Ellis is not actually a lil guy too, wtf...

as fo common sense, that remains to be seen... ]

H-Hold on, you're not trying to get me into trouble, are you?

[ in any case, she just looks over her shoulder and gestures at the... at everyone. ]

[ eyebrow waggle

Ellis hands over his notepad to Ori. She can write down her answer instead! Convenient, right? ]

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