Building a Meeting Place

Who: Adam and Nic
Where: Around the chapel
When: Mid-morning

Orders had been given out and Nic found himself once more strapped with building shelters. At what point, he wondered, would Lina realize they had little left to build with? He supposed they could always take apart the house itself, though that wasn't high on his list of 'to-dos'. Nic spent a large portion of his time wondering what would happen regarding the smoldering house. Would a new one appear? If so, would it only be one story high? He could see them earning a new floor every other day, if they were good, and losing amenities if they were bad. Though he'd only taken one psychology class in college, he was easily reminded of Pavlov. He, for one, would not wake up in the stocks any time soon.

It was an episode he was glad to have missed. Just hearing about it brought goosebumps on his skin, his heart beating far too fast for his liking. Anyone being stripped nude and put on display bothered him, no matter what the reason, no matter what the lesson. He didn't care if they were safe or not; that kind of public humiliation was intolerable in his book. If he'd been awake, he'd have had them out in less than a minute, provided he could find the saw. Even if he couldn't, he was well aware of where the hatchet was. Yes, he was glad to have missed it.

Nic looked at the empty space provided, at the supplies they'd rounded up, and sighed. He wasn't sure what they were to build, nor how they were going to do it, but he'd give it a go. Or at least get it started. He certainly couldn't build much of anything by himself and people still seemed content to mill around as long as possible.

Adam hadn't been given a group the day before and was glad of it. He understood the need for order in their current situation, but he wasn't convinced of Lina's ability to give it. Nor did he agree that she had the right simply because she had been given some kind of title by the scientists. He was sure that there were other people better qualified to act in this emergency than she and they should be the ones being looked to. The fact that she'd decided that another - substantial - group of people needed to be put to building shelters when everyone had have sufficient cover the night before only served to reinforce this for him. But, he wasn't going to make a fuss if nobody else did - and he had once again not been assigned anywhere, so he could hardly complain. No, instead he would make himself useful, as he always did. He'd risen early, skirting the campsite and the horrific display of nudity there, not wanting to get involved as he took himself off and washed in the lake. Then he'd walked up to the chicken sheds, fed the chickens using some of the grain that had kindly been left for him and collected the eggs. A detour back via the vegetable patch had taken up time as he'd pulled weeds and collected some early greens which would supplement their diet. Only then, eggs and vegetables in the basket he'd also found that morning, did he head back towards the chapel to see what else needed to be done.

Nic felt like the real trick to all of this was to understand what was an immediate need. Shelter, they also had, regardless of his assignment to build more of it. The bathroom facilities were lacking, but Nic couldn't improve upon them all that much. Besides, they had themselves a group building a latrine, a group Nic was happy not to be a part of. What he was much more worried about was food, and light in the evening. Light was something they could always get through fire, which meant firewood... but he wasn't on the firewood task force. So he was back to food, even when others were supposed to see to it. Sighing in frustration, Nic took a seat on the ground and looked at the empty space again. What was the point in building another shelter?

Adam recognised the sigh from the guy who sat as he past him and he turned back, sitting down and setting his basket to one side as he looked over sympathetically. "So much to do, but it's not clear where to start," he surmised. Because he'd felt like that at one point. The entire camp felt directionless to him, something not aided by the woman who was supposedly 'in charge' had taken herself off for the day, as she had done yesterday. She obviously had no grasp of the concept that those who were leaders had to lead. And not only that, they had to be overseers - they had to be there so they could ensure that people were pulling their weight, that nobody was left without a job to do, that everything was running smoothly. Adam had never heard the term, but 'project management' would have fitted it perfectly, had he been aware that that was what he was thinking of. He knew that Lina had gone looking for food, but there were others who could do that, if she wanted to maintain her position in charge. Or, if she wanted to go off, she should have appointed someone to have overall control of the site, which, to his knowledge, she had failed to do. No, Adam was not happy with the way things were being handled.

"I'm supposed to help build shelters," Nic told him, "but I don't really know what with, and worse, I'm not sure I understand why. The chapel and the tents together provide ample coverage. We've got tarps up for people to sit under, and tarps covering the firewood. I'm more worried about food. And clean water. Because, above all, we need water, and our supplies to sterilize the lake water will only last so long. And boiling the lake water just... a water supply would be nice." At least they had a working toilet, Nic thought. "I'm Nic, by the way," he said, offering his hand. His eyes dropped down to the basket curiously. "Whatcha got?"

"Adam," he replied, offering his hand, his cuff riding up, but not enough to show his scars. He'd learnt his lesson about rolling up his sleeves at all with Rebekah and since then had kept his skin very much covered. His eyes slid towards the basket, then back to Nic. "Some eggs from the hens and a few early vegetables from the garden - it's not much, but it should supplement what we have. Plus I got a sack of potatoes from the scientists, so we have dinner for tonight," he said with a smile. He'd been happy about that, it was a thoughtful gift and he was thankful for that, never one to bemoan what he lacked. "I agree about the shelters - it's plain that everyone had sufficient space last night and I don't see why that would change suddenly now, unless you're being told to strengthen what we have, though why that needs the sheer number of people she assigned to this, I have no idea. Maintenance would require maybe two people at the most and there are better things the others could be put to."

Nic smiled, glad that someone had been put in charge of food, at least from another perspective. The fact that Adam was gathering eggs and vegetables said a lot for the guy's view on things, and he spoke as if he was going to share the potatoes, which... Nic was pleased with. And grateful. And it made him feel like maybe Adam should be in charge of something, if the scientists realized he was the one to gift with such a gift. Or maybe it was better this way. "I think everyone will be pleased with potatoes," Nic said with a grin. "Any suggestions on what we could work on?" Nic asked. "I'm willing to work. I just need to be put on a job, and this? I really don't know what more to do. I don't even know why I'd be building if I did. But I wanna help out."

Adam considered this, trying to think his way through what would be best to do. As much as he disapproved with Lina's ways of going about things, it would help nothing and nobody to publicly decry her attempts. As far as he could see, right now it would be better to work within her system to reach a good end, one which would help the group. Setting people against each other would cause only animosity, pain and hardship. "Perhaps we could build a group shelter," he suggested. "Not one which would be suitable for sleeping in, but somewhere people could gather should they wish, eat, or talk. There's the chapel, but part of that at least has been given over at least in part to the doctor. And with the fact that food will be being cooked outside - and the way that things are going, I doubt we can rely on the electricity supply for the chapel in any event - perhaps something outside would make people feel... I don't know, more like it was a meeting place. Somehow the chapel doesn't seem a welcoming place for gatherings. Perhaps the way the benches are set out. And neither of the sheds do either - for obvious reasons."

Nic nodded, agreeing with this completely. There was a number of reasons the chapel wasn't a good meeting place, at least one of them being the fact that it was chapel and meetings with this group tended to get a bit... rowdy. Or maybe Nic was the only one who had issues telling someone to shut the fuck up while inside a church. Not that he'd ever say that aloud. "Okay," Nic said, "I can do that. I think you're right. A place for us all to meet that's not closed in, where people can eat, get out of the sun." Nic looked over at the supplies they had and bit his lip. "We're a bit short on normal building supplies, but I'd say we can improvise. Have you ever built things before?" Because this wasn't exactly Nic's speciality, but he could be guided well enough. He just needed someone to learn from.

Adam smiled. "Yeah, once or twice - I'm a carpenter by trade," he informed the other guy. "And I think that we can make do - might have to go cut down some striplings for the uprights - and it'll probably take us most of the day, have to draft in a few people here and there to help out from time to time, but I think we can do it," he said with confidence.

"Let's get started then," Nic said, standing back up and brushing the dirt off his hands. "If you can point me in the right direction, I can be a good little worker bee. How should we start?" They had quite a bit of work on their hands, but it wasn't like there was a lot else to do, and perhaps they could get the others motivated in the process.

Adam stood as well, picking up his basket. "I need to go and drop these in the chapel - it's cool enough in there. But how about I meet you in say five minutes by the storage shed? We can see what we have and then plan what we'll need. I see the scientists kindly left us all notebooks and pens, so I'll pick up mine and I can sketch out some rough plans, then we'll take it from there," he said, already thinking that he knew what he was going to do. The structure would have to be rough-hewn out of necessity, but they could make it sturdy enough to stand whatever weather was thrown at it, and if they left it open at one side, then people would be able to cook under it as well - assuming that cooking over an open fire would be a necessity for some time to come.