Second Floor Common Room, Tuesday Evening

[glacial_queen]

Karla was perched in front of the teevee, a bowl of (mostly burned) popcorn in front of her. She was rifling through to find the few decent kernals while flipping through the channels when she happened upon a male delivering a speech. Since it seemed to be aimed at students, Karla decided to watch.

"...Maybe you could be a good writer – maybe even good enough to write a book or articles in a newspaper – but you might not know it until you write a paper for your English class. Maybe you could be an innovator or an inventor – maybe even good enough to come up with the next iPhone or a new medicine or vaccine – but you might not know it until you do a project for your science class. Maybe you could be a mayor or a Senator or a Supreme Court Justice, but you might not know that until you join student government or the debate team.

Karla wasn't sure what half of the things he listed were, but the sentiments were good. And the speech was well-written and well-delivered. Karla approved. That was something she'd need to learn to do well once she became Glacia's Territory Queen.

...That’s why today, I’m calling on each of you to set your own goals for your education – and to do everything you can to meet them. Your goal can be something as simple as doing all your homework, paying attention in class, or spending time each day reading a book. Maybe you’ll decide to get involved in an extracurricular activity, or volunteer in your community. Maybe you’ll decide to stand up for kids who are being teased or bullied because of who they are or how they look, because you believe, like I do, that all kids deserve a safe environment to study and learn. Maybe you’ll decide to take better care of yourself so you can be more ready to learn.

Huh. She was even a little excited to go to class tomorrow. She wondered what he would think about the Magic Reserves. Now all she had to do was figure out who this male was.

[Open like an address to the public!]

Comments

[asgardcreated.livejournal.com]

Jon followed the smell of burning popcorn, which had managed to make it all the way up to the fourth floor, and found Karla watching some speech on television.

"If you want, I can make a fresh bowl."

[glacial_queen]

Jon was completely surprised when he found Karla at the end of the trail of burnt popcorn smell, right? Right?

Okay, probably not.

"Would you?" she asked, holding out the bowl. "That would be awesome. I think I found all of the good popcorn in here." She sighed. "There were even fewer kernals in here than the last bag."

Should Jon be interested in looking in the trash, he'd find the remains of no less than four burned bags of popcorn.

[asgardcreated.livejournal.com]

He wasn't at all surprised. At least she hadn't tried to really cook.

Jon did happen to look in the trash as he passed it and grinned. "Did anyone explain about the popcorn button on the microwave?" he asked as he tossed a fresh bag in and pushed said button. "And what are you watching?"

[glacial_queen]

"No," she said, sulking a bit. "I put two bags in" she was hungry! "and pushed the button twice but they all got burned up. And the bowl started sparking a lot, too." She pointed to the metal mixing bowl currently in the sink. It looked like it had seen better days. "So I tried it again with a different bowl, but it still got burned up."

It made sense! In a kind of Karla-logic way.

"And I don't know. Some male talking to students. He seems nice and I'm a student, so I decided to listen."

[asgardcreated.livejournal.com]

Jon shook his head. "First, one bag at a time. Second, you don't put it in the bowl until after it's done." He picked up the metal bowl and shook his head. "Third, never put metal in the microwave. It could explode." Maybe not, but it was a great deterrent.

He looked over at the television and frowned for a moment. "Oh, yeah. He's the President of the states in some of the universes. Ollama, Obama, something like that. I don't think he's going to be the President in my world, but who knows. He's cool though."

[glacial_queen]

Karla grimaced at the microwave. "At no point previus to now were those instructions made clear," she said. "I claim no responsibility. Though I would have shielded it if it looked like it was about to explode. That would explain the sparks though."

At Jon's explanation, she glanced over at the teevee and nodded approvingly at it. "He is a good speaker," Karla said. "What's a president?"

[asgardcreated.livejournal.com]

"A leader of a country. Usually the so-called democratic ones," he tried to explain as he dumped the popcorn in a fresh bowl. "Everyone votes and the most popular choice usually wins."

[weldedtomyspine]

"Political junkie?" Jaime asked as he wandered into the common room and spotted the television. He sounded amused, and also a bit distracted.

The Scarab was still insisting on telling him everything about everyone he ran into, and apparently it had a lot to say about Karla's totally Sue-ish suite of abilities.

[asgardcreated.livejournal.com]

Jon nodded to the guy. "Hey, don't think we've met yet."

[weldedtomyspine]

"That's probably my fault," Jaime grinned. "I'm new, and I've sort of been hiding in my room." He walked over and stuck out his hand. "I'm Jaime."

[asgardcreated.livejournal.com]

"I'm not new, and I've been doing the same," Jon joked as he shook Jaime's hand. "Jon O'Neill."

[weldedtomyspine]

"Good to know I'm not alone in my antisocial-ness."

[asgardcreated.livejournal.com]

"Well, occasionally, these crazy blonds try and drag me out of my room." He might have moved a few inches away from Karla when he said it, just in case.

[weldedtomyspine]

"Are there any other kind?" Jaime asked, shooting an almost-worried glance in Karla's direction himself.

[glacial_queen]

Scarab can just shut up!

"Who what?" Karla asked, having only half-heard the question. And not understanding what 'junkie' meant anyway. Then she smiled at the new male, offered a bowl of badly-burnt popcorn and said, "No, I'm Karla. Kiss kiss."

[weldedtomyspine]

Jaime was willing to let the confusion slip by. It'd been a poor excuse for an opening line, anyway.

"Kiss kiss?" he repeated with an amused smirk. "That seems a bit forward to me..."

[glacial_queen]

"Only if you take it as an invitation," Karla commented with a grin. "And it isn't. But you can have some popcorn!" She held out the bowl of popcorn towards him, shaking her hand ever so slightly to make it look more inviting.

Please ignore the smoke.

"Do you know who this male is?" she asked, jerking her thumb back to the teevee.

[weldedtomyspine]

"I... think I'll pass." On both. Traci would kill him if he he kissed Karla, and the popcorn would kill him if he tried that.

"And... you seriously don't know?"

[glacial_queen]

Well, as she'd said, it wasn't an invitation. So the only real danger would have been from the popcorn. Though he was correct in his assessment of that.

"No, why, should I?" she asked, using Craft to send the bowl into the kitchen. Jon would need it when he was done making a proper bag of popcorn.

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

"Ooooh," Gabrielle said, finding her roommate in the common room. Be afraid -- she had another bag of chocolate-covered espresso beans. "He's a good speaker."

[glacial_queen]

"Who is he?" Karla asked, grinning at her roommate--or, more accurately, her bag of chocolate-covered espresso beans. "I like him. Is he on the island, too? Or in Vancouver, with Tony?"

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Oh, was that how it was? Gabrielle was only loved for the candy? WOE! Oh, wait.

Look, she was still holding the open bag out to Karla anyway.

"I don't know who he is. I'm new to this century, remember?" she asked, already enraptured by the speech. "But I think I could listen to that voice for hours."

[glacial_queen]

No, Karla loved Gabrielle! It was just after really burned popcorn, she wanted something that tasted good!

...Not-dirty, really.

"From your comment, I thought you knew him," Karla clarified, dipping into the bag. "But I understand now. Popcorn?" she nudged the bowl slightly closer to Gabrielle. And further from herself.

[ancientbschamp.livejournal.com]

Gabrielle had eaten much worse around a campfire. And don't even ask what she can shove in her mouth sooooooooo not dirty when seasick and accupressured within an inch of her taste buds' lives.

But after a handful of that popcorn, even she was making a bit of a face.

"No. But he's very impressive," she said. Much more so than the popcorn. Good thing there were chocolate-covered espresso beans to wash that taste away.

"I didn't see you at the theater today," she added. "Are you trying out for the play?"

[glacial_queen]

"It's not that bad!" Karla protested. She didn't make a move towards easting more of the popcorn herself, though. Her principles didn't require that much of a sacrifice.

"I am," she said, tossing a few espresso beans from one hand to the other. "I just couldn't make it today. But I'll be there!" She gave Gabrielle a cheeky grin. "Someone's got to be there to perform emergency repairs on your costume."