The Board of City Planning Who: Adnan and open to Alex, Kenneth, and Helena When: midday Where: near camp, by the water Rating: tbd, likely G
Adnan had gathered the council together. It was a little nerve-wracking, being in front of all three of them at once. He'd never really done public speaking or presentations or anything, living the life he had, so it had taken a moment for him to gather his wits when it was time. But once he'd gotten started, it had gotten far easier. He felt like he knew what he was talking about, after all. Mostly, anyway.
"Okay, so, we know everyone needs personal shelter, that won't blow away," he started with. He'd found a nice broad patch of sand and a long enough stick to draw in it with, to illustrate a few things. "There's also been a few people to tell me they'd like a larger, communal building. A few thoughts I had for the individual shelters were ..." He used the stick to sketch out something that looked a lot like a teepee. "Stability's a problem on this soil, but if we can drive the posts deep enough -- which should be somewhat easy, considering the soil -- leaning them together provides support. It can be layered with mudded palms, or dried animal skins. The new arrival, Coop, even suggested using big flat stones to make a floor? There are many of them near the spring."
"As far as the large communal building is concerned, I was thinking of something bigger," he said, moving a bit to the side to make another sketch. This one of a squarish building with a peaked roof. Ambitious, yes, but with the right amount of muscle behind it, he thought he could make it work. "With this, I'd want to build a wood floor, and elevate it some, like this," he said, drawing a line with a few circles under it. "Give it a tree-trunk base. It would evenly distribute the weight, and keep it from getting flooded inside from normal rains. And if it shifted, the entire thing shouldn't come down. Thatched roof, wooden walls and structure, perhaps a smoke-hole at the top, a firepit in the middle ... I think it could work."
He bent down to pick up some of the stones he'd fashioned into rough blades, and handed them to Kenneth to look at and pass around. "I've found a few materials that are chip-able, but strong enough I think to function as axes. If we get bigger pieces and fashion handles ... no reason we cannot take trees down, and bring them here. Hauled with the carts, perhaps floated across the lake. With enough manpower, I think we can do it." He took a breath and slipped his hands into his back pockets and looked around at their faces, hopeful and a little worried at the same time.