Junior Achievers 2nd Meeting

[notstakedyet.livejournal.com]

Outside of Dr. Carter's classroom is a neatly handwritten sign which says:

Junior Achievers Meeting

All are welcome

Tonight's topics include:

1. Welcoming new members


2. JA's role in the upcoming Student Council Elections


3. Discussion: Has the yearbook staff overshadowed our hopes for the bake sale?


4. Any new business


5. Any words of wisdom from Dr. Carter

Free food provided.

The door to the classroom is wide open. The teacher's desk is vacant, awaiting Dr. Carter. On the desk is an open box of brownies from Deb's Diner.

Angelus sits on top of one of the student desks with his feet resting on the chair of the desk in front of him. He leafs through a notebook, occasionally jotting things down as they occur to him. He is dressed in the same black on black ensemble that he had on earlier in the day, but the pin he wore in Study Hall is missing.

Angelus occasionally hums a cheery tune to himself, and occasionally shakes his head as though disbelieving his own inner thoughts.

[OOC ETA: For the newbies, these meetings work pretty much like Study Hall. Hop in whenever, join whatever conversation. And the refresh key is definitely your friend.]

Comments

[valentine-tart.livejournal.com]

After awhile, and a bit of calming chocolate, Beka approaches Anakin. "Hey."

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Oh, hey! What brings you here?"

[valentine-tart.livejournal.com]

"A certain persuasive vampire, a hell-bitch of an ex-campaign manager, and a strong dose of pragmatism."

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin handed Beka another brownie. "Sounds like a long day."

[valentine-tart.livejournal.com]

Beka accepted the chocolate gratefully. "Yeah. And that's not even half of it." She smiled ruefully. "I don't suppose you want to tell me a Jedi story?"

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin smiled at her. "I'm guessing a funny one, huh?" He tried to come up with one that wasn't too embarassing to him personally. Or involving him at all, ideally.

"Okay, about a thousand years ago," he scrunched up his face, "at least in my galaxy, there was this Jedi named Kat Man'Du. Most Jedi run around in pairs, but Master Man'Du liked to work alone. He also had this reputation for having absolutely no sense of humor.

"Anyway, he was on this unexplored planet in the Outer Rim, back when there still were unexplored planets in the Outer Rim, and he hears this noise. So he flips on his lightsaber, and all the sudden he's just innundated with these flying stinging butterfly type things. But they're all, like 4 meters long and bright pink.

"He doesn't report in on time to the Council and he was completely anal-retentive when it came to, well, everything, so they got worried and sent out a team to find out what happened."

Anakin grinned. "They get there and discover Master Man'Du dressed in bright pinky fluffy robes and going by the name Fifi. It took the med-droids three months to figure out how to reverse the venom."

He looked over at Beka. "Not a great story, and certainly not one to increase the honor and glory of the Jedi, but always made me laugh as a kid."

[valentine-tart.livejournal.com]

[OOC: *loves you so much* Brilliant. :)]

Beka looked at him incredulously, then shook her head grinning. "Fluffy pink robes? Fifi?" She couldn't help herself and burst out laughing. "That's a terrible story, Anakin. But I love it anyway."

After a minute, she smiled warmly. "Thanks, Anakin."

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

[OOC: Given the canon I'm working from, by God there should be a Jedi going by the name Fifi somewhere. It's just a matter of time.]

Anakin smiled back. "Any time. Give me more warning and I won't have to disturb you with Jedi Master Fifi." He looked at her closely. "You sure you're okay?"

[valentine-tart.livejournal.com]

Beka blew her bangs off her forehead. "Okay is a relative term. I'm better than I was before you told the story, and better than I was before I got here."

She bit the inside of her lip, because here was definitely not a place to be seen crying. "I believe in what I'm doing here, but it's put me at odds with a lot of people I care about. I may have destroyed friendships today.

"Do I hurt? Yeah. Will I survive? Yeah. Am I okay? I don't know. I'm not going to go blow anyone's head off. So that's a good start." She smiled. "Actually, you know, I did pretty well with the temper thing."

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Jedi Master Fifi strikes again," he said. He looked at her, at a complete loss for how to deal with someone who was upset. Most of his life had been spent with Obi-Wan, who never got upset.

"That has to hurt," he said finally. "But if you feel like what you did was right, friends should understand. Or at least listen to your explanations." He smiled. "Holding onto your temper is a good thing, though. I'm proud of you." He ran his hand through his hair. "Not that I have a right to, of course. Or that you should care what I think."

[valentine-tart.livejournal.com]

"I'm proud of me too. When Parker blindsided me, I didn't scream. I said what I had to say. She baited me, and I didn't bite. She made a big enormous announcement about me and... uh... me and Angelus, you knew about that right? and then denounced me and said she was leaving.

"I told her to stay. I said that Angelus wasn't the enemy, the people who were trying to sow dissent were, and then I left. It wasn't the most graceful thing ever. But I didn't do anything incredibly stupid, and I even made it a little better, I think." She nodded. "All in all, an improvement."

She smiled at him. "Anakin, you do have a right. You're my pinky-swear buddy." That provoked a grin. "That means you get to yell at me if I'm being a jerk, and it means you get the right to pat me on the back if I do good. Besides, you're gonna be a famous Jedi someday, and I'll get to tell people that once upon a time Anakin approved of me."

By the time she's through, her usual confidence is very nearly restored.

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

"Why is she after Angelus? Is this another politics thing, or more personal?" Anakin rolled his eyes. "Not that I particularly care either way."

He smiled back at her, noticing that she seemed a little more herself again. "Ah, the power of the pinky swear. I'm going to have to take it back to the Council. Might stop some of the endless arguments."

[valentine-tart.livejournal.com]

"Pinky-swearing makes the world go-round. Really. I bet your Obi-wan would like it." She grinned, knowing Obi-wan would probably think it entirely ridiculous from everything Anakin had said about him.

"As for Parker being after Angelus... I don't know. He's a vampire, which means he feeds on blood. He has a bad reputation, but so far, I've seen nothing or heard nothing that wasn't mice squeaking fear noises at a predator.

"At the moment, I think Angelus was a convenient way to come after me. Like you, she thinks I'm rather dangerous." Beka shrugged. "I think she's dangerous too. For different reasons."

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin had a mental image of trying to explain the pinky-swear concept to Obi-Wan. Yeah, not enough Corellian whiskey in the galaxy to get him to understand it.

"Nothing is going to harm anyone at this school," Anakin said. "Nothing coming from the student population, anyway. I can't vouch for the gremlins or squids."

He scowled. "Maybe student government is a good idea, after all. Give everyone something they can think they manipulate, leaving the rest of us out of it."

[valentine-tart.livejournal.com]

Beka considered Anakin's statements. He seemed quite blind to the dangers of people like Angelus, but perhaps, she could be a little more trusting. Still, on one thing they could certainly agree.

"No. Nothing is going to harm anyone." Because I'm not going to let it and neither are you. "Don't forget zombies, though. And mimes."

The last struck her as interesting. "You don't approve? I'm serious, Anakin, I'm asking for your opinion. I'm running for Academic Affairs, and I've promised Angelus my help in the debates, but I'm not sure I want the position anymore or if it's just me being stubborn because of Parker."

[emo-padawan.livejournal.com]

Anakin gave her a wry smile. "You shouldn't listen to me on politics. Even Padmé's given up on getting me to be reasonable about it." He looked at her. "Really. Serving the students is a noble calling. I'm just not a fan of the back-stabbing and deviousness that seems to go along with public office."

[valentine-tart.livejournal.com]

Her lips twitch with suppressed mirth. "Nobility isn't one of my prime virtues. I'm a pragmatist. Politics is like self-defense to me. I want something, I don't trust anyone else to get it, so I have to do it myself. I don't do back-stabbing. I'll help whomever wins."

She considers whether deviousness applies to her. "No, I don't think I'm devious either. I'm not above manipulating situations to achieve my ends, but... isn't that what negotiations are about?"