destinystrings | Reaching Out

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Reaching Out

Who: Nicholas Reeve and all interested in his Native/Visitor Diplomacy group
Where: The Nadeisico
Summary: Nick proposes a group which can help mediate some of the tensions between the Visitors and the natives. But he may have a few side goals in mind too...
Warnings: Presumably none.

Nick's been through a lot of different things in his life, but he has to admit it's the first time he's ever been in a space battleship, let alone hosted a MEETING in one. Hell, it's the first time he's hosted a meeting, period. But something has to be done, and he knows it.

He'd seen the anger. Real or manufactured, something was threatening to explode unless they as arrivals -- voluntary or otherwise -- confronted it face on. To ignore such a thing during a period in time like this would be to invite disaster, and quite possibly this great and terrible danger the people who had disappeared had been sent to confront. Whether or not this world was truly his own, that just wouldn't cut it. After all, he's all too familiar with the notion of destroyed worlds...

He looks around at the setup. It's sort of weird, hanging out in a place with giant robots to conduct business. He hopes people don't get too distracted by that. At the same time, this is really the only place to do this. Some of Nick's ideas might be a bit, well, controversial. Still, even if people DON'T go along with his secondary objective, hopefully they'll still be amenable to the primary.

Still, his plans would work better with help.

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People were still on board. Good. "Okay, so I don't have a white board on me right now, but there are definitely some issues we need to address immediately based on my own interactions with some of the more discontent citizens," he says, flipping through some notes of his.

"First: There's a perception of uneven resource distribution. Specifically, people think the government is giving us a lot of things they're not giving anybody else. Whether this is strictly true or not is beyond the point. What MATTERS is that's what people think, and we'll need to figure out some way to allay their fears." He pushes his glasses up. "And it can't just be 'appeal to their rationality,' because there's nothing rational about it. We used to have similar panics about 'refugees' back home. Even if you show them you're getting the same amount as others, people don't buy it.

"Next: There's the perception that our appearance has in some way stirred up the Anoli. Now obviously, we need to do some research on this. We don't know HOW active the Anoli were prior to our arrival, but people seem to think it's gotten worse. We need to confirm this." He frowns. "The problem is, I don't know how much we can trust official media channels. HOWEVER, there are sometimes alternative avenues we can pursue. Underground networks. Alternative media. We need to hit every resource we can. If it's somehow true, then we need to find a way to assure people that our presence can help fend them off just as much as attract them. If it's not..." He trails off, leaving folks to consider that for themselves.

Nick looks at everybody. "If anybody else has gotten anything else out of anybody that might be of relevance, I welcome you to bring it up. Otherwise, I say we start brainstorming. Figure out what we can do to help the people, and by help them consequently relieve the pressure on us. Any ideas?"

I just got here recently, so I'm not sure what happened before, but has anybody set up things that gave back to the community at large? That might be a good start if we can show them that not all of us aren't any help at all...

It doesn't look like it. I'm not even sure how aware most people are about the situation. Certainly anybody who just arrived is just trying to wrap their heard around just being here in the first place, and the government hasn't really come forth with any proposals themselves. Hopefully this group can fix that.

What about what has been explained to the natives? Has the government explained why we're here in the first place or what we're doing? Or do they just think we're a bunch of refugees?

I don't honestly know WHAT the government thinks. They seem perfectly content to parade us around on the news and have us play security guards, but don't seem to care much about letting us know anything else. They haven't even told us what the hell happened around here, which is really frustrating because it gives the Anoli an edge we don't have.

So the government hasn't really explain things to the natives at large then, either, huh?

That's kinda bad then, they're not really providing obvious justification for any policies towards us if they don't explain things. It's not hard to see why natives think we're getting preferential treatment no one tells them why we need some allowances...

Exactly. Are they even getting a bullshit response? If they could get something like that which sounded reasonable enough, it'd be one thing, but it sounds like they feel like the ends justify the means. With the ends being us versus the Anoli, and I get the feeling that's not REALLY why we're here despite what we were told at the beginning.

Can we make the government provide them with some information? Not even full disclosure of what they know, but just the some of the reasoning of the allowances we have?

I mean, there's people who complain about government programs like welfare and they don't riot about it because the government fully explains how they work, how its regulated, or that's it being overseen by someone who knows what they're doing.

I'd suggest we'd also try to explain, but since Natives are angry at us, they might not readily accept information we provide them.

I doubt we have the authority for that. Even if we did, or could somehow strongarm them, I'm not sure they'd give an answer anybody would want to hear, or even the official one. If they can't give a good enough reason why we're getting these perceived handouts, it's about as good as no explanation at all.

...also, I think you'd be amazed how many people get pissed off about welfare even if they AREN'T rioting to show their discontent.

"Excuse me."

Ruri clears her throat as a holographic white board winks into existence.

"Omoikane, when his left fist is clenched put what he says on the board."

"Oh. Well. That's useful." Nick looks exceedingly sheepish. "Man, the wonders of technology."

"Let me know if you need anything else. Holographs are relatively easy to make when you are surrounded by projectors."

"R... right." He really doesn't know how to respond to any of this.

"I believe that are some simple solutions to alleviating our poor image with the citizens," Cloche remarks, holding up a hand to tick off the items on her fingers. "The easiest would be to simply make use of the resources that the government has given to us by giving some of it back tot he community through donation drives; it would be easy enough to organize those for the apartment buildings in Pisces and Libra. I'm certain that the city has volunteer organizations or public works programs that would welcome our assistance.

No matter what we choose to do, I think we should remember that an important aspect of our efforts is that we must be visible. This could potentially put us in the 'line of fire,' so to speak, of the citizens' ire... and we ought to be prepared for that."

He sighs. "Trust me, I've already experienced some of the citizens' ire. I'm well prepared for that." He nods. "But yes, setting up our operations within the chief living quarters of the Visitors is a good idea. In fact, I know some people have left the apartments without actually giving up their place, so perhaps we could offer some of those locations to citizens at a lower cost than some of the regular places."

He ponders. "A donation drive would help too. It sounds like not everybody is even taking all the offers of support the government is offering, so just rounding those resources up to start would put some considerable substance on the table."

"That would be an excellent idea," Cloche says, a smile spreading across her face. "It would also give citizens the opportunity to live among the Visitors--to see that we are not so different after all."

She nods. "Indeed. If everyone could give a little, we could give help to those who need it.

He nods. "An extra benefit! I hadn't even thought of that. That just makes the idea even more worth pursuing."

He looks up at the white board. "As for the resources, we should definitely be sure to be careful about the distribution. Some of us might need more of what we're getting than others. That said, I'm sure most people would be willing to put in at least a few small regular donations if we point out the necessity of it."

"I'm a soldier, not an administrator or a bureaucrat. If we can get a lead, I'll help make sure the Anoli are dealt with permanently. That kind of destabilizing influence can't be abided in society under any circumstances."

Which is to say Garviel views them as traitors. And traitors only get one thing from a Space Marine like him.

"...I'll bear that in mind, thanks." Holy CRAP, Garviel.

"Uh, in the meantime, could we at least use some of your physical labor? We might need help in construction projects or the like."

"We're made to serve, so very well."

He'll take time off his busy schedule of being everyone's favorite surrogate dad/jungle gym at the day care center.

"Good to have you on board with that, at least. You can leave the diplomacy to the rest of us, don't worry."

"Hmh."

Loken just grunts at that.

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Reaching Out

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Re: PLANNING

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