Session Start: Wed Nov 10 19:47:39 2010

<@Ked> [The Hunt]
<@Ked> [Thursday, July 1, 2490 - 2510 local time]
<@Ked> [Combs hall, just a day after the giant glowing blaine, Sei's apartment 
for a little late-evening study and snowflake chat]
<@Ked> [mini start]
* Sei is frowning, looking at some epaper he's working on. It might be homework.
* Jaimie rubs away the line between her brows and sets aside the math homework 
she's been working on with a sigh.
* Farah is also frowning, for reasons that are half-blaine and half-work. "... 
I'd almost forgotten how much I don't like homework."
<Jaimie> Blegh.  I didn't.
<Sei> ...Hm? Is homework harder in Junior year? 
* Jaimie chuckles.  "No, I've always been bad at it."
<Farah> Yes. You know the whole affair with math? Imagine it with more numbers, 
more letters, and rules as complex as your genome.
<Sei> From what the seniors told me last week, freshmen like me have really 
simple genomes. *sticks out his tongue*
* Farah rolls her eyes. "Don't pay them much mind. You're as complex and deep as 
anyone else. Maybe a little more pie-in-the-sky, but that's a cute trait on 
you."
<Sei> Thanks. *grins* I probably should get that grammar homework done. But 
right now... *pushes his tongue through his lips as he regards the paper and 
edits something on it*
* Jaimie looks over in curiosity.  "What're you working on?"
* Farah goes back to scribbling a few things. "... suddenly hungry for spicy 
shrooms."
<Sei> Well, there's time for at least one more speech before the last round of 
voting...
<Sei> So it should be a good one.
<Jaimie> Heh.  Good luck.
<Farah> Promise footrubs, free ice cream and the chance to throw a pie at an 
RA's face.
* Farah smirks a little.
* Jaimie laughs.
<Jaimie> You can practice it on me if you want.
<Sei> *mutters as he writes...* ...pie in RA's face....
<Sei> Not seriously, of course, but a joke in there should help.
* Jaimie nods and stretches.
<Farah> See? I'm a good influence after all.
<Jaimie> Man, having to sit still for so long is almost as bad as the 
homework...what?  Why would you be a bad influence?
<Hantsuki> *sardonically* Regular salt of the snowflake.
<Farah> I could teach you how to knee people in the crotch and not feel bad 
afterwards. Or the best way to almost crash a drilling machine through a 
storeroom wall. Or other things you shouldn't think about until you're older.
<Jaimie> I don't think I'm going to want to crash a drilling machine through a 
wall even when I'm older.
* Sei was about to joke back, but then the darkening of his snowflake-native 
cheeks indicates he thought of some of those things he probably shouldn't until 
he's older. He coughs, and changes the subject, "I just think that we should be 
working for everyone to be leaders, like Duchess Football said. But I don't want 
to sound stuffy or something."
<Farah> You should try it something. Well, it was mostly the feel of pushing 
some multi-ton monster around that was the fun part. Not being able to control 
it was the not-fun part.
* Jaimie 's voice is a little muffled at this point, since she's folded down 
almost to the floor.
* Jaimie sits up from her stretch and says, "Well, I've driven the tractor.  
Never crashed it into anything, though."
<Farah> Eh, it doesn't have to be all starch-coated and stiff to want that from 
people here. Not everyone's a leader, 'sjust how it is. Gotta make sure the 
leaders aren't in it for the wrong reasons, though.
* Jaimie looks over at Sei and smiles.  "I don't think you could sound stuffy if 
you tried."
<Sei> That other girl makes me feel like it. *grumbles*
<@Ked> There's a very faint tap-tap-tapping at Sei's door, then someone says, 
"That's not a knock," and the door goes THUMP THUMP THUMP.
<Farah> We don't want any!
* Farah smiles.
<Sei> Eep! *hides the epaper, then yells* It's open!
* Jaimie blinks in the direction of the door.
* Sei goes to push the button that opens the door, in case it isn't really open.
* Alicia chivvies Shizuko into the room first, then swings the door firmly shut 
behind them.  She's loaded down with a large but mostly-empty tarpsilk backpack.
<Farah> So. Uh.
* Shizuko looks vaguely embarrassed at first, but relaxes when she sees two 
other girls in the  room.
* Sei blinks, letting himself be pushed out of the way so he isn't in Shizuko's 
way.
<Sei> Hi! Um, to what do I owe the pleasure? *hides briefly behind his open 
black fan*
<Shizuko> We, uh, we just thought it would be good to talk a little before the 
election.
* Jaimie is listening.  Not very happily, but her parents taught her it was rude 
to ignore people, so she's listening.
<Sei> Oh. *glances over at the speech he has stuffed into one of his books* 
Sure!
<Alicia> Oh, and...
* Farah turns to look towards the other two, curious as to what's up.
* Alicia digs deeeep down into the backpack.  "And of course there's the 
inevitable swag."  She pulls out three folded sets of bedsheets, perfectly 
fitted for the beds included in the apartments.
<Shizuko> *whispered*  Mine was better.
* Sei blinks.
<@Ked> The sheets, too, are tarpsilk, very high quality, easily 400-thread-
count.
<Farah> You know, I've gotten more stuff from coming here than I came with. 
Sure, a lot of my stuff hasn't arrived yet, but...
* Jaimie doesn't look as excited as one might expect to be receiving swag.
* Farah looks at the sheets. "... I bet that's worth more than me."
<Jaimie> I doubt it.
* Sei snickers. "I brought a suitcase, a backpack, and a duffle."
<Sei> Hey, no way. People are priceless!
<Alicia> If you're at this school, you're at least a good investment.
<Jaimie> Yeah, what Sei said.
* Jaimie looks up at the girls belatedly.  "...thanks."
<Sei> So, um... *looks around, finds some of the beanbags that were swag from 
ANOTHER candidate, and a chair or two that came with the room, and pulls them 
out* Have a seat? 
<Sei> What did you want to discuss? *trying to be a little professional; it's 
kind of adorable*
* Farah sets her bedsheets aside, still looking a bit confused.
* Alicia shrugs.  "It's part of the routine, I guess.  I wasn't going to, but 
after the first half-dozen candidate packages landed on my doorstep I knew I'd 
better spring for something.  And what else are parents for?"  She lounges 
longly back into a beanbag.
* Shizuko finds a stool and sits upright on it.
* Sei looks sheepish. He hasn't handed out swag.
<Sei> I don't think Dad would spring for something nearly as awesome as the 
stuff you guys have all handed out.
<Shizuko> The, uh, great thing about this school is it's so small.  It's pretty 
obvious who's going to win.
<Farah> The people with the whitest smiles and the deepest... concerns?
* Sei glances at Shizuko, surprised. "Well, I'm going to keep trying, anyway," 
he says, nodding firmly.
* Shizuko smiles shyly at Sei.  "You're the runaway frosh leader.  The only 
question is if you make the overall top two or not."
<Alicia> I'll be the senior rep, or prez or veep.  Shizuko-chan here is solid in 
the soph category, And has a shot at veep.
* Sei 's eyes widen. "Really? ...that's... " he just grins. Then, at Hantsuki's 
pointed but dainty clearing of her digital throat, he coughs and controls his 
expression. "Well, we won't know until it's done. I plan to work really hard." 
He can't help another smile at Shizuko's, though his face goes deliberately 
stoic as he listens to Alicia.
<Farah> Lemme guess. You two're here for coffee talk and deal-making?
<Alicia> And it's a little late for coffee.
* Jaimie blinks over at Farah.  "Deal-making?"
<Sei> We're a bit young for it, too. ...I do have tea, if you want.
<Farah> It's kind of obvious. If they're the likely council reps, it's smart to 
try and to feel out who's what and where.
<Farah> ... you're never too young for coffee.
* Farah makes a face.
<Alicia> Well, I like to fall asleep before 2700 usually.
* Jaimie still looks confused.
<Alicia> We're not a majority, but we can probably between the three of us 
stalemate anything that comes up.
<Shizuko> I, uh, we wanted to...
<Farah> Example, Jaim. You get a bunch of new foremen in a mine. As much as 
they're buddies and would die for each other, they're still going to wrangle 
over mining decisions and other important things. So you end up with circles 
within circles... like she said.
* Sei looks to Shizuko - "Wanted to...?"
* Shizuko finally manages to spit it out.  "It's about Masako."
<Farah> Oh boy, here we go.
<Sei> Okay.
* Jaimie just sits and listens, figuring she'll get it all sorted out soon 
enough.
<Alicia> I think you've seemed somewhat sympathetic to her, but Shiz thinks that 
you're more likely to be against her in the long run.
* Shizuko looks embarrassed again.  "I looked your family."
<Sei> Dad?
<Shizuko> Yes.
<Sei> He's, um, VERY traditional. *rubs the back of his head*
<Shizuko> Well, as old as he is in slowtime years, he should be.  I couldn't 
find his birthdate but his Fleet record goes back to almost the very beginning.
* Jaimie raises her eyebrows, surprised.
* Sei looks a bit surprised, too.
<Shizuko> He wasn't on the first two flights, but it's clear he was on the 
exploratory missions starting in the middle 22nd century.
<Farah> A lot of dilation funfun, then. Neat.
<Jaimie> Wow.
<Sei> Well, he's rather old. I guess with exploration dilation...it'd make 
sense.
<Shizuko> But... he has almost as much protection around his records as the 
Ladies do.  He's got to be really, really senior, and he has to be linked in 
with the Hierarchy.
<Sei> Oh. Well, he's friends with Lady Hammer...maybe that's it?
<Shizuko> So...
<Farah> You nice folks have done a lot of digging. Angling at making nice with 
Sei thanks to all that you found?
<Alicia> If he's all chummy with the Ladies, we figure that's rubbed off on you 
a little.
<Alicia> So when - if - Masako gets elected and wants to turn the council into 
her own little machine for churning out political propaganda...
* Sei blushes a bit. "I don't really..."
<Shizuko> ...we can count on you to help?
<Sei> Hey, no, it's not propaganda, no. Not what the council's for. Let me be 
clear: I agree that we should all have a say in the planet's government, but I 
don't see why we can't just *do* it. Making a messy noise...
<Sei> So yeah. No churning out propaganda. I'm not even sure how we'd *do* that.
<Farah> She has the right to rep her group, up or down.
* Farah shrugs. "Sidsers might be angry, but there's a good reason for it. 
Sometimes the working class feels left out of the loop, and nothing like angry 
masses to bring change. And fires."
* Sei nods.
* Jaimie is squirming a bit, but she doesn't pipe up with anything.
<Sei> And we don't want fires.
<Sei> We just want a smooth transition.
<Sei> I mean, Duchess Football said it, herself. We *all* have to be ready to 
step up.
<Sei> And a lot of us, all over the planet, are, right? I mean, we take care of 
ourselves, run our own stuff...
<Alicia> Well... there's all sorts of things that could be done.  Especially 
like endorsements, and resolutions, and the like.  You know the regard this 
school has.  It would be... important if everyone thought the student leaders 
*here* were all for the SDS.
<Sei> I know you say Dad's tight with the Hierarchy, but...we pretty much take 
care of ourselves out there. He's big on that. Made sure I could hunt and 
farm... *trails off as Alicia talks*
<Shizuko> She can have her own club, or organization.  That's fair.
<Sei> I suppose we can't be blatantly for or against it. Not the way that 
group's doing it, anyway.
<Shizuko> Just... let's let our council be about us.
<Sei> Right.
<Sei> Y'know, I think that'd be perfect. Well said.
<Sei> It's about us, taking care of things for ourselves.
<Sei> Let everyone else draw what they will from it.
* Farah coughs softly. "Conflict'll probably be inevitable. Masako's a lot more 
eager than she seems."
<Farah> Not saying I'm against that. Just noting the obvious.
<Shizuko> It's hard to imagine her being... more eager than she seems.
<Jaimie> That...might still be better than one person taking over the student 
council.
<Farah> You'd be surprised.
<Sei> I don't think any of us will be able to 'take over.' There're a lot of 
strong personalities.
* Shizuko frowns.  "It's not too unusual in student government.  Forceful 
personalities and willingness to engage in formal procedure can go a long way.  
But again... at this school..."
* Alicia shrugs.  "It all depends who else gets in."
<Alicia> We're the three shoe-ins, so that's why we came here.
<Shizuko> Is there any... agenda you had for the council?
<Sei> Well, since none of us are Snowflakes - unless one of you two are the 
swarmy one? - we won't have to worry about that sort of weird division taking 
over.
* Shizuko giggles.
<Farah> Bleh, politics.
<Alicia> Oh, there'll be snowflakes on the council.  The way magical irony works 
around here...
* Jaimie appears to agree with Farah.
<Sei> Agenda? Mostly, I want to see as much student participation in running the 
school - not the classes and stuff, but events, and knowing what the staff does, 
and just being able to step in to help the adults whenever needed... - anyway. 
<Sei> I just want to see us all learning how to run things, and take care of 
things we'll need to when we're grown-ups. And since we've got this school here, 
with all this empty space...
<Sei> ...or was that not what you were talking about? *hides behind his fan 
again*
<Alicia> I think we can agree on that - our emphases are certainly different in 
our campaigns, but my strength is in pitching this stuff to the administration, 
while you seem to be more on the generative, creative end.
<Alicia> It's just a matter of choosing projects.
<Shizuko> I have no objection.
<Sei> Okay. Have either of you any in mind, or should I come up with a list, 
maybe try to EI-mail Lady Spoon?
* Farah looks at Jaimie for a moment. "Hoi. Question."
* Alicia waves Sei's question off.  "That can wait for after the election."
<Shizuko> My own... concerns are more along the lines of keeping the peace.  
It's increasingly obvious that the campus is going to be a battleground this 
year.
* Jaimie looks over at Farah, startled.  "I thought he was talking to them."
<Farah> No, asking you a question.
* Farah chuckles. "You like croissants?"
<Sei> Battleground? o_o
<Jaimie> Oh - uh, I've never had one.
<Shizuko> I simply want to maximize tranquility.  If the snowflakes have to 
fight for our lives, let them do it without turmoil within the student body.
<Jaimie> Why?
* Jaimie was paying attention to Farah and missed Shizuko's statement, 
fortunately.
<Sei> Oh, that kind of battleground. *looks down, somewhat sad*
<Sei> Yeah. Let's ... I dunno. Let's try to keep everyone safe and united. Even 
if we disagree, we can do it politely, right?
<Shizuko> That means I want to be aggressive - or at least not passive - when it 
comes to questions of student discipline.
* Jaimie hears that one and looks back over at Shizuko.  "What do you mean?"
<Sei> ...she means we're going to need to do something about the RAs.
<Farah> Wanna make some for you and some others sometime.
<Shizuko> *quietly*  That too.
<Jaimie> Oh.
* Jaimie smiles.  "That's nice of you.  Thanks."
<Alicia> She wants to have it both ways.  She wants the RA's to be not-insane.  
And she wants to make an example or two of students when they get out of 
control.
* Shizuko nods, grateful for the explanation.
<Alicia> I'm willing to let her have one, at least.
<Sei> Honestly... 
<Sei> When I did something wrong, and was very young, Dad would scold me, or 
make me do extra chores. As I got older, he started...giving me enough rope to 
hang myself. Not his expression. Au--Lady Hammer's, actually. She thought it was 
funny. And then he'd make me clean up the mess I made.
<Jaimie> That might not work so well here, though.
<Shizuko> That's good.  But I want an expulsion.  This semester.
<Jaimie> Make a mess and a lot more people fa - what?
<Farah> Wait. Wait. Whoa. What.
* Farah seems to have woken up as well. "Whaaaaat."
<Sei> I wonder if we can't do something like that, here? Instead of being harsh 
overlords, we work with the whole student body--expulsion?! WHY!?
<Alicia> For as wealthy as your dad is, Sei, you don't act much like a rich 
brat.  So maybe you don't really understand how things are here.
<Sei> I'll, um, take that as a compliment?
* Jaimie 's face clearly says she doesn't either.
<Shizuko> All... this.  *waves around her*  All these TOYS.  Yes, I'm as guilty 
of that as the next candidate.  But you put these kids here, with power and 
prestige and... something will happen.
<Farah> So basically shame the absolute fuck out of someone in order to look 
like you mean business. You'll have to forgive me if that sounds like a frankly 
horrid idea.
<Sei> Then it's our job to prevent it. Shizuko, Alicia...
<Sei> If something so bad happens that it requires an expulsion? That's on us. 
WE will have failed.
<Shizuko> I don't want to shame them.  I just want to kick them out.
<Sei> For what?
<Farah> Which will shame someone. Getting kicked out of THE prestigious school 
on Snowflake.
* Farah rolls her eyes. "If you're someone looking to climb the social ladder, 
you've basically just gotten your face mashed into a pile of peepshit."
<Shizuko> I want to show the brats that this school will have dignity, that it 
will stand up to political and social pressure.  That we're not just tools of 
the elites of our - oh Magics I'm sounding like Masako, aren't I?
<Farah> Yep.
* Farah grins broadly.
<Sei> I mean, yeah, if somebody really screws up, does something that bad? Yes, 
they should be expelled.  --and no, not really. You're sounding rather uppity, 
though. ^^;
<Alicia> I think it's an improvement for her.
<Sei> How about we show them how they should act? Show them that dignity? And 
then we reward the ones who do it right, and snub the ones who don't?
<Sei> ...it's nice to hear her speaking out, yeah. *smiles encouragingly at 
Shizuko*
<Sei> Don't let me disagreeing with you make you stop talking.
* Jaimie shakes her head, a little sadly.  "Snubbing doesn't work on everyone."
<Alicia> Something
<Sei> Well, yeah. But it'll get MOST of 'em. And then the rest... if they really 
DO need to be expelled, we can look at it. But we shouldn't HOPE for it.
<Alicia> Something's going to happen.  You don't know our kind.
* Jaimie blinks.  "Our kind?  You mean rich kids?"
<Sei> Like...what?
<Sei> Dad always says that the higher-placed you are, the more important good 
behavior is. ...funny I never made the connection to how he expected me to 
behave, if he's as rich as I keep hearing.
<Farah> Silver-spoon kids used to having their way?
<Shizuko> Like, what happens when one of us sneaks in some companionship from 
the city?  And some booze?  And something unfortunate happens?
* Sei is about to ask, "What's wrong with compa--" and then it obviously clicks, 
and his nose bleeds just a little.
<Alicia> Or someone pretends to be a snowflake and starts taking advantage of 
that status in town?
<Jaimie> They couldn't get away with that for long.  Could they?
<Shizuko> Or someone tries to bribe the teachers to fix their grades?
<Farah> That first one sounds like me usually, but I'd know better. As far as 
pretending, some EI lookups can quash that fast. Now, bribing..
<Sei> Hey, you're thinking about it too hard. Anybody pretends to be a 
Snowflake? We ask Lord Wind.
<Sei> *He* would know.
* Farah whistles. "Punch them in the mouth, tell them to stop. One warning. 
Another? Yeah, go ahead and expel. I'm not keen on just expulsion for the sake 
of expelling."
<Alicia> Or someone... never mind.
<Sei> ...no, you'd probably better go on.
<Shizuko> You don't have to tell them, Ally.
* Jaimie is clearly not sure if she wants this list to keep going.
<Farah> Has something icky already happened?
<Sei> ...oh, is this personal? I'm sorry for prying.
<Sei> But...if I can help, let me know, okay? 
<Alicia> Look, there's a fair number of us who came from the finishing school in 
Michiko.  Before T3M suddenly happened, that was where all the rich girls went.
<Jaimie> Oh.  And there was trouble there?
<Alicia> And the way Masamune runs the place... well, it'll only ever be rich 
girls.
* Sei looks confused. "Expensive?"
<Alicia> That too.
<Sei> I think you're right. I don't know what's going on with 'rich people'. 
* Sei actually sounds disappointed in himself.
<Shizuko> It's... just brutal.  This was my chance to get out of there.  I don't 
want it to turn into a clone of the old bitch farm.
<Farah> Aaaaah. Prefab snotty bitches, made to order?
<Shizuko> So... yeah.  I want to do something that could never, EVER happen 
there.  Break the pattern before it starts.
<Jaimie> Oh...I hope this doesn't turn into that kind of place.
<Farah> Pfft, I'm here. It won't.
<Alicia> Well, this doesn't need to be decided now.
* Farah grins slightly. "Seriously, though, if you're that worried, you need to 
level with the kids once you're in the driver's seat."
<Sei> Okay. I promise, if somebody actually does something to deserve it, I 
won't oppose you on it, Shizuko-san.
<Shizuko> I'm happy as long as you promise to listen.
<Sei> But...let's try to stop that sort of thing before it happens?
<Farah> Just lay down the rules and do everything you can to break the cycle, if 
you think that's what'll keep T3M great.
<Alicia> Sooo... an alliance?
<Sei> Sure. I just want what's best for the school and its students. *grins*
* Sei probably even, shock of shocks, means it!
<Farah> I thought this would be typical posturing and power-grabbing. Glad I was 
wrong about you two.
* Jaimie nods.
<Alicia> Posturing is something you do in public.
<Farah> I wouldn't know, so.
<Sei> Yeah, but if you didn't think of us as friends or allies already, you'd 
consider this public. 
* Jaimie frowns.  "But people might get the wrong idea about you, if you act 
differently in public."
* Hantsuki spits holographic tea. "How'd *you* know that, Murdon-kun?"
* Sei snickers.
<Shizuko> Our goals are the same in public and private.
<Shizuko> The strategies which are useful... not so much.
* Jaimie considers this.  "I guess."
<Sei> Why would the strategies change?
<Sei> If you tell people where you stand, and don't waver, won't they have no 
choice but to realize you mean what you say?
<Alicia> We thought you would be an ally.  It was a calculated risk, but the 
rewards of success... are high.
<Sei> ...what would the dangers have been, if I ...wasn't? *curious, and 
nervous*
<Shizuko> Not so great - you'd have said no, and the worst thing you could have 
done was reveal we didn't much like Masako.
<Farah> Well, they'd obviously either crush you politically or cajole you into 
doing what they want.
<Alicia> Like that wasn't public already.
<Sei> So...what was the risk, then? *confused*
<Alicia> Rejection?  Maybe you would go looking for other allies in the future.
<Shizuko> The calculation looked good.
<Sei> Oh. *grins* Well, I'm glad you took the risk, however small.
* Shizuko looks over to Farah and Jaimie.  "It would be nice if you could keep 
this quiet, at least for a day."
* Jaimie nods.  "I won't say anything.  Wouldn't be right, anyway."
<Farah> Keep what quiet?
* Farah smiles, Just So.
<Sei> I think she means the thing about Masa--oh. *facepalms* Sorry. 
<@Ked> [end mini]