fandomhighdorms | Meeting of all interested students

"I feel you," Angelus said, with geniune sympathy. "There's so many times you can watch the dog chase its tail before you realize you know how this is going to end."

"I've seen it in the Senate, I've seen it on a dozen different planets, and I'm seeing it here. You have to start trusting beings at some point to not kill each other or themselves, out of either goodness or a sense of intelligent self-preservation, or you might as well just blow the whole planet up and start over." Anakin looked over at Angelus. "Personally, I prefer the first option."

"Some days I really do not rule out the second," Angelus said, halfway to himself. He sat up more as he continued in a normal tone, "But yeah, the whole I have to get them before they get me thing is not going to go over well with the admin."

Anakin's eyebrows went up at Angelus's undetone. "Sometimes I'm not sure I'd rule out the second one either," he said. He looked around the room. "They need someone to argue their case in a reasonable way, without bringing in fear and hatred and ignorance, which is just guaranteed to end with all of us in plastic bubbles, whether we care about the ban or not." He smiled. "Is there such a being on this campus?"

Beka makes her way to the two men. "I have a temper. That's well known. I'm also a gunbunny. This is well known. What's not well-known, except perhaps to Angelus, who is, as ever, astute, is that I'm very much brighter than I look. I can make a rational argument. With your help. If you can accept that my reasons are different that yours. And me making it..." She smiles wryly. "With all of the attention I seem to attract from the radio station, the Administration, and John-frelling-Sheppard, I suspect it wouldn't go unheard."

"I'm in favor of someone taking control of this situation. What I don't want is a being that will approach the administration from the viewpoint that either weapons need to be brought back because it's unfair to not have them--because they don't care about fairness--or because the beings with supernatural powers already have their weapons and so you need the right to blow things up, too--because that's short-sighted. There are plenty of people who go to this school who manage to go through the day without superpowers or high-powered weapondry to make sure they don't get eaten by whatever's in Locker 327." Anakin looked over at her. "This is an incredibly complicated negotiation, and one where emotions will have absolutely no effect on anyone in power. It's a situation where one act of childish temper will put us all in an unpleasant situation that will not be looked at or re-examined until we've all graduated and headed back to whatever galaxies we originally hail from."

Anakin stared at her. "I don't give a good God damn what the radio says about you. I want to know why you think someone with a reputation of flying off the handle should be the person to be trusted to rationally argue this on behalf of everyone who'd like their weapons back."

Beka stares back. "It's a fair question, Anakin, is it? The answer is complicated." She shrugs. "First, it is unfair. But that's irrelevant. Second, arguments about rights were, as I understood it, how this world operated. I've learned that's mistaken, so I won't be making that argument again. Third, I don't want my weapons because I need to use them. I want my weapons because they are me."

She looks at Angelus. "There are incidents of me losing my temper. Yes. Let's recount. One, John Sheppard read a private note to Padme and made a major incident out of it. He attacked my relationship with Cameron in a way that led to the end of it. I pulled a weapon on him. He wasn't concerned, and both of us knew there was no way in hell I'd ever use it. It's the same damned thing as a rattlesnake shaking it's tail, in my book. Others don't see it that way. Noted. I haven't done it since."

"Two. With Kara Thrace and Aeryn Sun, I blew a hole in the door of our boyfriends -- er Kara's friend's and Aeryn and my boyfriends' -- room. No one was injured and the door was replaced. The incident was one of high spirits rather than temper, and I paid for the door to be fixed. Again, I've not damaged anything else since then and no one in Admin got involved."

"Three. I am notoriously vocal on the subject of the weapons ban. Nevertheless, I haven't lost my temper about it. I've made arguments that were turned aside and I've abandoned them in favor of better ones. That I have a temper is clear. But I've been working to bring students together to talk about this issue since the beginning. And I'm the one who got Connor to reconsider in the first place."

Her look takes in both men. "I am a handful. There's no question. However, alone amongst the speakers on this issue, I've engaged the non-weapons bearers in a discussion about what our weapons mean to us. Also alone, I've engaged the magic types," gestures at Angelus, "and Angelus here. I'm not afraid of anyone, and that's a good place to start."

Another shrug. "I can control my temper. And I'm exceptionally good at taking stage direction. Your call."

"It's going to be a sad day at this school if I have to do my impression of Ghandi," Angelus said. "Which doesn't mean I won't, just that it's going to be really pathetic on their parts."

[OOC: Oh dear god. That is not something I want to see. Really. ;)]

"Gandhi?" Anakin thought back to his religion classes, had a sudden mental image of Angelus in an loincloth, and broke into a fit of coughing.

"That would be something to see, yes," Anakin finally choked out. "So, wise leader, how would you go about arguing this? Hypothetically, of course."

"Hypothetically I wouldn't do jack since I don't care about the ban one way or another," Angelus said. "But if somebody was asking my advice the first thing I'd ask in return is what they think the weapons ban is really about."

"Mind if I join this lesson-in-progress, ~~oh soulless sociopath~~ Angelus?" She nods at Anakin. "Do you?"

"Please do,"Anakin said.

[OOC: Should we start this as another thread in this page, then? I'm starting to get lost in comment threads.]

Beka gives him an appraising look, then nods.

[OOC: maybe it'd be easier as a separate post, and locked, since we look to be plotting here. And posturing. Actually, Anakin and Beka make good allies. If you're playing him struggling with his dark side, that's pretty much where she is too.]

[OOC: Sounds good. Anakin's in a deeply whiny stage right now. Accidentally turned Dark Side on Saturday, trying to deal what that means. So not in the mood for negotiations.]

[OOC: you want to start the new post? We can talk while Angelus-mun is at work, and Angelus can come back after. If Bek and Anakin get to be friends, then she'll smack him for whining. And he can smack her for being such a frelling drama queen. She's really emo about the guns because it terrifies her to depend on anyone else.]

(no subject)

emo-padawan.livejournal.com - 2005-09-29 21:01 (UTC) - Expand

Beka catches Angelus's eye, signalling that she's overheard. She says nothing, but waits for Anakin to respond. For all that Parker doesn't trust Angelus, for all that she doesn't trust Angelus, truth is, she agrees with him a lot more often than she'd want anyone to know. Including herself.

Angelus gives her a nod of recognition. Indicating the students around him he mouths "Want help?"

She nods and makes her way over. In this context, it won't seem odd to anyone that she and Angelus are talking. As long as no one listens to closely, it should be fine.

Angelus drops his feet of the chair in front of him so that Beka can have a place to sit - assuming she doesn't want the empty chair next to him (on the side where Anakin isn't).

"So are we actually trying to stop the weapons ban here or are we just moving the stupid into another room?" he asks Beka. It's clear his distain is for the other students. "'cause right now I'm having a hard time telling."

Beka takes the chair in front of him, straddling it and leaning on the back. No sense wasting such a good distraction as her braid in her cleavage.

"Frell me. I'm not sure there's much but stupid here." This is a side of Beka that few ever see. It's a side that Angelus can understand and relate to. The side that kept her alive 'out there' and the side she's trying not to lose at this frelling-soft school. "I'm trying to get them to talk to each other. Individual bonds between mutants, mages, and weapons-bunnies will break down the stupid fucking paranoia."

She sighs, clearly exasperated. "Suggestions? Observations? I'm listening."

"Might need to scrap this attempt and try again another day," Angelus said. "Cooler heads, and maybe something resembling ration stand a better chance of prevailing."

[ooc: sorry for the delayed reply on all fronts, actually got busy at work, darn it]

She nods. "Agreed. But this is a good time for us to talk. People are so busy being emo--apparently me included--that no one will think much of me sitting and talking with you and Anakin."

Angelus grinned. "Not worried about your bad reputation?"

[ooc: I know! It sucks b/c I'll be leaving in about an hour for dance class, so I'll be offline until later tonight, if that. Hey, how'd you like Serenity?]

"I can't imagine how you could hurt my bad reputation." She winks, then shrugs. "Besides. Jerusalem likes you. He liked me until yesterday and I need to fix that." For reasons you'd never understand.