Perdido Beach Council Meeting!

It was midday, FAYZ time. Kids wondered around outside; confused, frightened, the regular mix of emotions. Not many of them were aware that within their town's humble church, five kids were gathering.

The church wasn't a very large building. Actually it was quite a small town church as even before the FAYZ, few people went there. Maybe they weren't religious, or maybe they were just so consumed by work that they had no time for the Sunday service; no time for God. Richard wouldn't call himself a christian. His parents were and tried their personal best to get him into a life of faith in the ever-present entity that doctrined christianity. Richard didn't like the feeling that he was made like this by someone else, that he was predestinated and his whole life was planned so naturally he had learned to hate religion and everything to do with it. The shabbily assembeled building made of bricks and mortar stayed near enough central in Perdido Beach. It was an easily accessable and well known building, which is why Richard chose it for todays meeting.

The old prayer benches, candles and numerous copies of the 'Holy Book' were moved and stored away prior to the meeting by Richard himself. He cleared everything that had anything to do with christianity until the room was empty, save a round wooden table and five chairs jutting out from the side. The irremovable stain glass windows were the only thing that reminded people of what the building once was. No one should mind. He reasoned. Like he had said, no one ever came to the church anymore. He remembered the first few days of the FAYZ, many children ran into the church, crying. Praying; as if this was some punishment from above, some divine judgement from the Almighty. But after days of prayer, weeks and then months, they realised that no one would hear their pleas. In the FAYZ, there was no God.

The five adolescent sat in seats around the table. Richard sorted through a few notes he had formulated the night before. There were many things that needed to be discussed and he was sure that the other council members must have things to say or ask for. He looked around the table to remind himself of who was here. There was Aliya Dante; His advisor and deputy. He had enroled her quite last minute to the council. He realised that with about a hundred kids in the FAYZ, all with their own individual petty problems, he would need some help. He would need someone to be his human filing cabinet and Aliya was the first person that sprung to mind. Not that they had been particularly lose before the FAYZ, but he was aware that she was very organised. Also there was Nola Hollow, the new FAYZ Doctor. She had got the job after administrating medical advice to a young girl. She had been quite eager to take the job and Rchard was sure she would request for a few things. Medical supplies, extra hands, a place to actually work, stuff like that. On the same occasion as Nola, he had given Tyler Bennett the job of FAYZ's top law enforcer, the sheriff. She had shown how capable she was when she had stopped a fight in public. And last but not least was Alda. She had asked to look after the babies. many of the prees had died since the beginning of the FAYZ and it was about time that someone rose up to take responsibilty of them. If she hadn't came along, Richard would have been forced to take the position himself, and that would not be pretty.

Okay we're all here. He thought. Better start. Richard stood up and made eye contact with everyone around the table. "Well guys, just so you know this is the Perdido Beach council. We're here so we can decide all sorts of stuff to try and make sense of this madness." He paused to take a breath. "I know that i'm the FAYZ leader and everything, but I can''t just make decisions without consulting others first. You guys will be the first to hear of any laws or any decisions made." Richard paused again to pick up his notes. He shuffled through the ragged pieces of paper quickly. "It's so hard to find clean paper now," He muttered more to himself than to everyone else. "Okay, first things first. We need to make specific laws for our sheriff to enforce." He gestured to Tyler quickly. "Punishments need to be made as well. Any suggestions?"

[Okay there is going to be a posting order here. So you all need to post once to reply to this.]

(If it's alright, since Richard looked at Tyler, I'll post first.)

Tyler sat around a table with five other kids, Nola and Richard she knew, but she didn’t know anyone else. She looked around the church. She had never been religious, nor did she have any intentions to start, but she did have faith, and that was all she needed. Well, faith and hope. She looked up at Richard as he started the council meeting. Laws, Tyler thought, and punishments. Tyler pondered the question for suggestions for a moment or two. She honestly had no idea if she was supposed to put her hand up or stand up of what, so she just stayed sitting down. No one else had spoken up yet, so she figured she may as well give out her ideas and opinions on the subject. He was right, laws needed to be placed so things don’t go back to hell in a handbasket.

Tyler looked up at Richard again, “Clearly, every man or kid for themselves isn’t going to work. However,” she said standing up, “I think that if we had a list of maybe ten to twelve rules that kids followed, then maybe we could make The FAYZ livable without murders happening, as well as mini wars. We all need to be able to live together, freak and Normals alike, and if we don’t do that, then we may very well all die alone. No friends, no sort of family. No nothing. It’s important that we all try to live peacefully as possible. Get the Normals to understand that not all Freaks are bad and vice versa.” She said, on a roll now, “Live together. Die alone.”

A few laws came to mind, “A couple laws that could maybe work,” she started, “You are only allowed to harm another kid in self defence. Um…you can do what you want and say what you want as long as it isn’t hurting or offending someone else, like no racist comment or being a sexist. And we're all equal, Freaks and Normals, council members and townies. Coates kids and Perdido Beach kids.” She said, “As for punishments. The punishment should fit the crime, so no exiling people from Perdido Beach over a stolen bottle of water. Like a few days ago, if a fight like that broke out over water, then find a night in our jail cell, no more no less, just time for those kids to think about it.” She said, then looked up at Richard, “What do you think?”

Alda flipped through some notes she took when she visited the day care that afternoon. After her first encounter with her power, she went start home, cried for hours, then mentally slapped herself, showered and changed into fresh clothed then tried to approach her situation from a different again. Her power didn't hurt anyone, as the rude boy from earlier today mentioned. It only hurts me, she had whined to herself privately, but then she stopped and scolded herself once more. Not if you practice and learn to control it.

With that she headed to the daycare. It was in a horrible state. The two children, because they were just children, who were working there currently had no idea what they were doing. The littles were a mess and they were barely eating a nutritious diet they should be eating for their age. And so many other things needed addressing, but first things first, Nola's question about laws and punishment.

"What about if a child, one of the prees, commits a crime?" she asked, "What if a boy, say five years old, walks around in the middle of the night. Hears a noise, grabs a weapon, and kills another kid taking a midnight walk as while. What then?"

Nola listened carefully to Tyler and Alda's comments. She nodded at Alda.

"I think I have a plan for that. See, I've noticed that the younger kids who don't have older siblings--the ones too old for the day care, but younger than the middle schoolers--have been neglected. I think we need to have a sort of...group home for the kids ten and under to live in, one separate from the prees, but with certain rules, like no weapons or fighting in the houses. We find one of the biggest abandoned houses, clean it out, and let them live there. We'll keep the older kids out, make sure all they get food rations, do weekly sweeps for weapons. If they break rules, they sleep in the jail for a night, but a safe place to sleep and some food should be enough incentive to keep them under control. Also, if we post some guards--any of the willing older kids will do--in the house at night, it'll make them feel better, safer, and keep the whole "scared five year old killers" to a minimum," Nola finished. Then she turned to Richard.

"Richard, you already know most of what I need. A clean place to work with space for patients, running water, a bathroom--one with a shower if possible--and of course supplies. I've drawn up a list of stuff the kids should look for, but really anything they think can be useful should be brought in. Even old shirts can be ripped up and boiled for bandages," Nola explained, tossing her list--written on the back of a napkin--onto the table.

[POST ORDER: Me, Tyler, Alda, Nola, Aliya. Aliya to post ^^]

Aliya squirmed slightly in her chair. She was nervous, she admitted to herself. She'd never liked public speaking, and although there wasn't a large audience, they were all important people in the FAYZ. She'd had so many ideas, but now she found herself rather choked up and unable to think But she forced herself to nod; they were all good ideas. Then, she looked around the table, and in the awkward silence she supposed it was her turn. She cleared her throat.

"Well, I think there are a lot of things that have to be addressed..." she flipped through her mental notes, "but the most important thing is water. In the beginning we had a good supply, and we've been using it wisely, but despite all of that we only have a limited amount in the reserves. We can cut back but still, it's a serious problem, because unlike food we have no way of growing or making more. We could set up some kind of purification system for ocean water; I don't know exactly how to do it, but I'm sure it's somewhere, in a book. To take the salt out of the water, then boil it, and it would be alright for drinking. That would solve the problem for a long while, but then there's also the issue of fish; if we take all the water, all of the fish die. And that leaves a serious gap in our food system." She frowned. "It's a choice we're going to have to make. But even all the water in the ocean is going to run out - granted, it'll last a long time - but we need a plan for after that." Aliya paused for a moment and bit her lip. "I had...sort of an idea. But I'm not sure it'll work, and there are a few different factors at work. I was thinking...there are people who have elemental powers, say, wind. We're observed that they can, as well as control wind, make wind. Now, if the same thing applies to other elemental powers, depending on the bar strength, of course, than if we could find someone with the power to control and create water...it could solve everything. It sounds far fetched, and so far we have no one with that power. But a lot of kids are hiding their power..." she stopped and flexed her hand under the table. She herself was no exception "A lot of kids are. They're scared. You saw what happened earlier, with that one boy. So if we could find someone and offer them protection..." she broke away and nodded slightly, signaling that she was done.

((Do they know Nola has ice powers? Cause seriously, she pulls water right out of the air. It's totally okay to drink as it melts. AND it will keep food (meats and veggies) cool and fresh.))

(I don't think they know yet, but now would be a good time to bring it up:D)

((I can't, due to posting order. I have to wait for everyone else...))

[Just so you guys know, no one knows anyone's powers at the moment but I will address that now.]

"Mhmm." Richard had said in interest, taking notes with a biro he had found earlier. The meeting was moving on suprisingly quickly and fluidly. No one was too shy to voice their views, which was, for these purposes, a good thing. They had quickly moved on from his primal topic of making laws and had traversed into and out of several other subjects, leaving him struggling to not down all the key points of information. They are surprisingly enthusiastic... He thought. Now it was his turn to address everything that had been said. This time he did not bother with standing up and just talked while reading his hurriedly scrawled notes. "Okay," He began. Tyler first. "First off, Tyler some very good points. I will make sure they are added to a list of official rules." That was at least the truth. Tyler's rules, if enforced, would give the peopleof the FAYZ back their old core values and ethics, which would be needed if they planned to keep order. Alda's point was valid, if a little far-fetched. Richard's critical mind struggled to think how a 5 year old would kill an animal efficiently, let alone a teenager. He couldn't scold her for doing her job though. Nola's reply was just as valid. A few houses filled with those too old to be pree's was a good idea, but would need a lot of extra hands. He wasn't so sure whether people in the FAYZ would be so willing to help so soon, but it was worth a try. He nodded at Nola's list of things she needed for her job. "And Nola, you can work in the Perdido Beach Hospital. It should still be fairly clean after a few months." As for the raid of the houses, Richard was going to organise that later.

Aliya's points had been very well thought out, At least I made the right choice about making her Deputy. He thought. Although the water supply would certainly last them for quite a long time, they should start planning ahead. Her idea was posible, but he didn't know any of the FAYZ inhabitants power. Aliya was one step ahead of him and added this to the end of her speech. He decided to elaborate on this.

"And thanks Aliya you brought me unto one thing I was itching to discuss." He looked at everyone around the circular table. "Some of you might have been there when the guy, Ray Stryder I think, challenged what we should do about freaks. Now I myself think we should do nothing about them but I was thinking of whether to make a list of all the freaks in the FAYZ, and their power. It would certainly help and then we could put certain plans like Aliya's one to action. I was just wondering what you guys thought." He paused before continuing, choosing his words carefully. "Well just so you know, I'm not a freak, but I have nothing against them. They could be invaluable to our lives within the FAYZ." He paused again to look at everyone around the table. The lie was necessary, it was better to be underestimated. He hated using the word freak but it would make his guise a lot more believable. "Are any of you freaks? If so whats your power?"

((Ohhh. Nola is going to be so mad when she finds out Richard lied. She prefers honesty on topics that big. Also, since she's fessing up to being a mutant....Mwahahah! Drama! Also, Timm....I was wondering if maybe Nola and Richard should have a "thing." Not an out right relationship, but maybe weird, tension filled potential for a relationship considering Richard's nature....Idk. It just seems Richard is really wrapped up in himself and I think him having a potential relationship would force him to connect to someone else...Idk, really. Sorry if I feel like I'm intruding on your character but he just has so much potential! He's really interesting.))

Alda shuffled her note cards and cleared her throat to get every ones attention. "I can go through things. i mean, i can make myself intangible." she looked down at her hands. They were shaking. "I can't control it. Sometimes I fall through things with out meaning to. i don't really know. And-and there's a boy, a little, he's powerful. He can make people sleep. Whole groups, or just one person. And he can control it. He's only four, but he can control it."

Nola had been nervous when Richard had asked which were mutants or not. She wished he hadn't used the word freak but...it was hard not to, with everyone using it. But now, knowing there were other on the councils who had powers, she felt better. And she knew her power could be useful.

"I'm a freak. I'm can make and manipulate ice." Nola blew out a stream of frozen breath to show them. "Cold doesn't bother me at all. And better yet, I can fix a lot of problems. The water problem, for instance. I pull water straight out of the air to make ice. When it melts, it'll be perfectly clean water. Also, I think I can help preserve food. We just construct ice boxes out of freezers. I can't go around to every house and do it, but I bet we can use the walk in freezer at the school, and they might have one down on the docks. I can fill them up and we can store all the meat and vegetable in there. Then each day I'll come by and refreeze the ice. It'll take a lot of energy to freeze them both, but hey, it's not like I have anything else to use it on, " Nola commented.

Aliya shifted anxiously. She'd kept her power a secret for so long...but of course it had to be found out eventually, especially now that she was a notable person in the FAYZ. She sighed before she spoke up.

"I have a power," she announced. "I can...well...I can sort of...control darkness." She wasn't sure exactly how to phrase it right, how to explain it. "If there's a lack of light in an area or something, I can kind of deepen the shadows. Make the darkness thicker, denser. Then, I can also create darkness. Make it come out of my palms. It doesn't shoot out exactly, kind of...curls out." To demonstrate she lifted a hand, hoping she didn't look to stupid, and allowed blackness to flow out and curl around her arm. "I don't think it has any real effect on people, just makes them kind of cold. I haven't observed much, though, as I haven't used it a lot." She nodded shortly and then fell silent.

[Darn this post order ><"]