Fourth floor hallway

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin had no idea how he had been talked into this.

But here he was, stack of posters in his hand and a roll of tape in his mouth, running for freaking public office.

Callisto's a hard person to say no to, though.

He sighed and looked at the poster
he had just put up.

Then moved a few meters down the hall and put up another one.

Comments

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory, who was up on the fourth floor for no apparent reason, smiled as she saw Anakin. She was completely surprised to see him, of course. She hadn't been going up there to look for him. Really.

"Hi!" she called, grinning.

And then she saw the posters.

And the grin was replaced with a look of utter confusion.

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Hey," Anakin said, his mouth still full of tape. "Um. Yeah."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Thought you hated politics?" Rory asked, tilting her head in confusion. She looked rather pleased, though.

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Oh, I do." He spat out a piece of tape. "But Callisto is scary persuasive. And none of the other seniors seemed to be willing to do it."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Do you want help?" Rory asked, unable to suppress a giggle. "And I think you'd be good at it, personally. I just hope StuCo ends up a lot more, um, effective than last term." She smiled at a poster.

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Help would be gratefully accepted." Anakin said, dropping his pile of posters to run a hand through his hair. "I don't really get how this works. The Senate runs on the planetary rules of each individual world--most are put there through appointment. The same with the Jedi Council. I mean, we have a democracy, but I've never had to really do anything with it."

He blew out a breath. "I can't believe I'm doing this."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory picked up a poster, frowning as she selected a spot on the wall that was just above her own eye level. "It's easy. You just go and talk at the weekly meetings about stuff like class trips and dances and stuff. My big role was to make sure students were informed about what we were doing. Which is why no one really heard from me after the first few weeks, because our leadership fell apart."

She made a face. "So when we did have stuff to do, it was mostly me and Parker and Liz who did stuff. And I kind of hated the whole thing. Hence why I'm not running again, though I think this system will be better."

She glanced over at him and smiled. "Tape?"

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin took the tape out of his mouth and tossed it towards her.

"Doesn't sound too painful," he said. "If I get elected, of course."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"I bet you will. Who else is running? I know Cal is - did she talk Angel into it?" Rory asked, holding the poster up with one hand and trying to tape it up with the other.

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"I think Chloe's running, too," Anakin said, walking over and taking the tape back. "Sorry, this should work better," he said, slapping a piece onto the poster, then sticking the poster to the wall. "I don't know what Angel is up to. He didn't talk to me at the meeting. Kept giving me looks, though."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Oh, that's right. I saw Chloe's poster," Rory nodded. "I don't think Angel wants to run, but he might be good at it." She smoothed the poster. "I think you, Cal and Chloe probably stand the best chance of getting elected. Granted, you guys have...what, a dozen people in your class?"

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"About that, yeah," Anakin said, nodding. "I think I've only met half of them. Maybe some of them are gremlins or something."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Ten bucks says your valedictorian is a gremlin," Rory grinned.

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"What's a valedictorian?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory sighed. "Forgot you wouldn't know that. It's the student with the highest GPA, who speaks at graduation and leads everyone in the ceremonial stuff."

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Ceremonial stuff?" Anakin looked a little panicked.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Nothing to panic over. There's a thing with these hats you wear, and they have little tassles, and you move them from one side to the next. Valedictorian leads that," Rory said.

She wondered why it had never occurred to her that this particular tradition was more than a little ridiculous when explained.

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin nodded, his eyes making it perfectly clear he had no idea what she was talking about.

"Uh-huh."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory sighed and waved a hand. "You'll understand in May."

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Okay," Anakin said, taping another poster to the wall.

"Oh," he said, keeping his voice casual. "Talked to Lee the other day."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory froze. "Oh?" she asked, trying to keep her tone light.

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin, very conscious that they were in the middle of a hallway, kept his tone just as light. "It was a misunderstanding on his part," he said. "He's sorry and won't be bringing it up again."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory frowned. "You're sure?"

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin nodded. "Yes. I explained that the teasing wasn't appropriate, since there's nothing to tease about, and he agreed. He's a reasonable guy, after all. He just needed a bit of time to see, um, our point of view."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory sighed. "Well, I'm glad you got through to him. 'Cause I tried, and he just did not want to listen. Maybe you're just more persuasive."

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin shrugged. "Guy-to-guy, he seemed finally to get it."

He was reminded of his conversation with Smith and sighed. "Oh, are you going to be around later tonight? There's a thing I need to tell you about, but, um, not here."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory arched a brow. "I should be. I'm going to go see what Parker's up to, and I kind of want to talk to Angel, but I'm sure I can pencil you in. Everything all right?"

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin's eyes were serious. "I'll tell you later," he promised.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

Rory, a bit worried, replied, "Okay. Um. Sufficiently concerned now."

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Nothing life-threatening," Anakin assured her with a small smile. "What are you going to talk to Angel about?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Callisto," Rory grinned. "And I haven't seen him recently. So I figured I'd stop by, see how he and Sean are, so forth."

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"That sounds like fun," Anakin said with a smile. "But I think I have another two hundred miles of corridors to stick posters on. Catch up later?"

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"Definitely," Rory nodded. "Unless you'd rather I stay and help, 'cause I could."

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"I'll probably be doing this a few more times before the election," he said, rolling his eyes a little. "You can help me on the next one." He waved. "Have fun with Parker and Angel."

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"'Kay," Rory agreed. "And that's a sentence I never thought I'd hear." She started walking backwards towards the staircase, waving.

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin shrugged. "Not saying I'm going to have fun with them," he said.

[auroryborealis.livejournal.com]

"'Fun,' and 'Angel' really don't belong in the same sentence, much less when combined with 'Parker,' too," Rory smiled. She wiggled her fingers in a final wave before disappearing into the stairwell.