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Post by ASHTON CAMDEN RALEIGH on Jun 10, 2011 1:09:38 GMT -5
Ashton fidgeted nervously with the hem of his shirt as he paced the Earth dormitory--he would have worn a hole in the floor if the rooms actually had carpeting. He'd accepted the position as temporary leader because he'd been too taken aback by the offer to refuse, but he hadn't taken into account that he'd actually have to deal with leadership stuff. He had thought it was all going to be for show and 'politics', because from Ashton's experience all the leaders had really done was get people into trouble for skipping classes or bothering the Alliances in some sense. He hadn't really considered the idea that they had duties outside the common room because the activities of a leader were not common knowledge.
Until now.
His female counterpart had informed him kindly that Jake of the Water element was requesting a meeting with the current male Earth leader, Rich. Unfortunately, Rich was... unable to attend. Ashton hadn't been informed of why Richard Jackson was away from school when they'd given him the position, but as it turned out the female leader was good friends with Jackson, and he was in the hospital right now. "He's recovering from injuries," she'd told him with a sigh. "I think it's best we go down and tell Jake what... what's going on." Of course, Ashton hadn't a clue what was going on and so she'd told him. "He got hit by a car--a... a bus, actually." And then she'd started going into detail about how he was in a coma and how bad it was and before Ashton could say anything to console her she'd dissolved into tears. "I just don't think I can do it!" And then Ash, in his panic and desire to help her, had said the stupidest of things: "I'll do it."
He'd wanted to take it back the moment the words were out his mouth, of course. But that wasn't possible, especially when she'd thrown her arms around him in gratitude. Best get it over with, Ashton thought with a sigh as he finally walked out of the Earth dormitories. He was headed for the Meeting Room in the mess hall--he'd never actually noticed the subtle door leading out of the large room before, it was so plain and didn't stand out in any way. He might not have even found it this time if he hadn't walked along the wall until he came across it. He would have doubted its purpose if not for the small plaque that read, 'Supply Closet' on the front. Apparently, according to the girl, that was to divert any interest from it and stop students from trying to listen in. Seeing as Ashton hadn't been aware that the leaders held meetings until now, it was clear that it had worked.
He took the key that she'd given him and unlocked the door, slipping inside and leaving it unlocked so that this guy--Jake, she'd said--didn't have to go through the trouble himself. The room was very plain. It housed a long table and several chairs. Ten, he counted. One for each leader. There was a small counter along the back wall as well as a fridge. Inside was a case of bottled water, nothing more. A coffee maker stood on the counter beside the sink, but the cupboards were as depressingly empty as the fridge was. Ash supposed they'd stock it whenever there was an official meeting in case the leaders skipped lunch or something.
Taking a bottle of water, he sat down in one of the chairs to wait.
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Post by JAKE CHRISTIAN CAMERON on Jun 10, 2011 1:50:25 GMT -5
Jake opened his eyes and stretched a little before sitting up. He had had the weirdest dream. Something involving zombies, trolls, and marshmallows. Zombies had been chasing him, but a bunch of trolls with marshmallow weapons came to save him. They had given him his own marshmallow weapon, which he gladly accepted. He had just finished whacking the last zombie to death when he woke up with a not so unexpected craving for marshmallows. He yawned one more time before he stood up. Searching the room, his eyes came to rest on the clock hanging on one of the walls. He looked at it for a few seconds before it registered in his sleep-muddled head. Five more minutes until the time of the meeting. He snapped awake, ran to the closet, yanked out the first shirt he saw, threw it on with some jeans, and left the dormitory. Running a hand through his hair, he made his way to the mess hall.
Meetings with the earth leader were not so uncommon. They met together every now and then to talk about their respective elements, seeing as they were 'allies', politically speaking. This meeting was one such meeting. He looked at one of the clocks he passed by. He might be late by a minute or so, but he guessed it was all right. Finally, he reached the door labeled, supply closet. He tested the door. It was unlocked. The earth leader was already there. He looked around to see if anyone was watching. no one was. He opened the door, entered quickly, and closed it gently behind him.
"Hey, sorry I'm late, but I was..." his voice trailed off when he looked up and saw a stranger in the room. He looked vaguely familiar, but he couldn't be sure. "Uh.. Who are you?"
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Post by ASHTON CAMDEN RALEIGH on Jun 10, 2011 3:11:15 GMT -5
Ashton was so on edge with anticipation that he actually jumped a little as the door opened, though he did his best to recover and look composed so that the other boy wouldn't notice. He was standing in for the leader but it didn't mean that he could just act like this was a casual chat with friends--he had to look professional, right? Oh, he didn't know how these blasted meetings were supposed to go!
Jake noticed almost right away that Ashton was not the guy that he was supposed to be meeting up with. Ash turned red, feeling awkward and flustered almost immediately. Well this sucked. He had no idea what to say or do or-- "You're--you're Jake, right?" His voice was surprisingly steady even though he did sound as nervous as he felt. Trying to dispel the tense feeling of the situation, Ashton offered the other boy a bit of a smile. "Um, my name's Ashton. I'm... playing the part of Earth leader until Rich gets back, I guess. Stand in, I think they called it?" He really hoped that was the correct term because if not he was likely making himself out to be even more of a total moron. And morons were not good.
Deciding that formalities might help, he stood up and offered his hand to the Water student. Once he stepped forward and got close enough so that they could exchange a handshake, however, Ashton realised something else--Jake did seem rather familiar. Well, okay. That made things a little less strange. Though it was still like being a freshman again and facing up to the seniors; Jake's status as a solidified elemental leader meant that he had power in the school. Ash's power was only temporary and that meant in position he was subordinate. "I recognise you from class," he acknowledged, trying not to sound too relieved by this fact.
"Um, maybe you should sit down," he suggested. "I've got news, and it's... well, it's not too terrible, but... it's not good, either." Had Rich and Jake been close? Ash hoped not. That would just make things so much worse.
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Post by JAKE CHRISTIAN CAMERON on Jun 10, 2011 9:42:46 GMT -5
Jake was still feeling somewhat sleepy, and he couldn't think of any reasons as to why this stranger was in the room. Maybe he had entered the wrong room? That was crazy, unless there was another door in the mess hall labeled supply closet. Maybe he was still dreaming? That would make the dream with the trolls, zombies, and marshmallows a dream within a dream. Maybe the stranger was one of the zombies. Then a troll would suddenly appear with a marshmallow sword to save him. All these useless, irrational, and rambling thoughts passed through his head in about a second or two before the rational part of his mind reasserted itself. All he could say was, he was glad that the rational part of his brain was dominant.
"Yep, that's me. Nice to meet'ya." he said with a visible nod. "Gets back from where?" he almost asked, but it was obvious that's what Ashton was here to explain. The year had just started and Rich was gone already. Definitely not a voluntary leave. He looked at Ashton's extended hand for about half a second before extending his own and shaking it. Thank God the formalities were over. In his opinion, they only made things more awkward. It was so much easier to be all casual and laid back. But they were leaders. Formalities were sort of a requirement. His next words made Jake realize that he, too, knew Ashton from class. No wonder he looked so familiar. He acknowledged this with another nod.
A dozen possibilities flashed through Jake's mind when Ashton mentioned that he had news. Obviously, he was about to explain Rich's absence. Trouble with the fire students? Attacked by a psychopath? Attacked by a zombie? Okay, maybe he wasn't completely awake yet. "Hold that thought." he quickly made his way to the fridge and grabbed his own bottle of water. He then made his way to one of the many chairs by the table. Usually, there were seating arrangements for each elements, but there was no one else there, so to hell with seating arrangements. He cracked open his bottle and took a quick but deep sip. "Okay, let's hear it."
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Post by ASHTON CAMDEN RALEIGH on Jun 10, 2011 16:40:06 GMT -5
Ashton didn't know how else to break the news to Jake except to be completely honest, so he cringed a little and then replied from, "The, um, the hospital. He's--" The Earth student broke off and sighed. Why did these formalities have to be so stupidly difficult and annoying? Well, he was going to have to get this over eventually, so Ash took a deep breath and started again. "He's in the hospital, Jake," he said seriously, "because of some sort of accident. I don't... they didn't really fill me in on the details." He could probably have pushed the female leader into telling him everything that had happened down to the colour of the shirt he'd been wearing, but she'd just been so distraught and broken up about the whole thing that he'd figured it was a bad idea.
"Apparently he was hit by a... bus." He knew how strange that sounded and all, but there wasn't much else that could be said. "He's alive, but he's been unconscious since it happened." He could have rambled on about how the situation was critical and how they didn't know whether the Earth leader would ever be getting back, but Ashton usually tried to bring some optimism into a situation. He hated to be completely and utterly grim. So instead of naysaying, he just smiled a bit. "I'm sure he'll be okay, though--for now I guess I'll handle everything." He didn't particularly like the idea of juggling the Alliance along with his personal life, it sounded really hard, but he'd do it. Ashton's loyalties were with his element even if he wasn't the greatest at these things.
But this wasn't even the whole reason that the meeting had been called, Ashton suddenly remembered. Jake had wanted to meet with Richard for... for what, exactly? Was Ashton allowed to get this far into politics when he was just standing in? Everyone certainly seemed to expect him to carry out all of the regular duties and all that. "So what did you want with Rich, if you don't mind me asking?" he decided to inquire, keeping the question neutral so that Jake could comply or hold back anything he wanted to.
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Post by JAKE CHRISTIAN CAMERON on Jun 13, 2011 10:23:17 GMT -5
"Oh.. oh wow. That's terrible." He didn't know whether to laugh out loud or be sad. He definitely wouldn't laugh out loud. That could start a war between the two allies, and that would definitely not turn out well. It seemed like such a horrible thing to happen to a person. And yet, at the same time, it seemed like the most unlikely thing too. He couldn't imagine still being alive if an entire bus were to hit him. Hell, he couldn't even imagine a bus hitting him. The situation was so unreal that it left him completely and utterly speechless. "Well, at least he's alive." he said. That was something positive to look at. That was Jake, always looking at the bright side. Even though it was hard to find a bright side when someone gets hit by a bus.
He remembered the water bottle in his hand. He opened it and took another drink. It helped make his throat less dry, but it didn't give him words to fill the silence.
He and Rich weren't that close, really. All they ever did was talk about the going-ons of their respective elements, and if fire and thunder made any aggressive moves towards any in their element. Which he explained to Ashton. "Since you're taking over, any news with your element?" he asked, back to business. He made a mental note to check on Rich at the hospital when he had time.
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Post by ASHTON CAMDEN RALEIGH on Jun 13, 2011 17:40:37 GMT -5
Ashton nodded and even managed to smile when Jake was optimistic about the situation. At least he wasn't a doomsayer, that would have been really difficult to deal with. He'd heard from other people that some of the darker elements had a lot of pessimistic people amongst their ranks. Ashton didn't know what he'd do if everyone around him was always in the habit of being grim. Go insane, most likely. He hated it when people couldn't look on the bright side--unless of course there was no bright side, in which case he'd get very upset and depressed. Death was one thing that hardly ever had a silver lining except the silver lining of the coffin that they lowered into the ground. He just hoped that Richard was okay and that he could come back to the school even if he wasn't the leader any more by the time he returned.
Not that Ash planned on taking the position. He didn't think he could handle it full time. He was loyal to the Earth element and all, but it was just too much responsibility to him, really. Especially if things came down to a war. Ash hated wars when he was just following the orders of his own leader, so he didn't even want to imagine what it was like to be the one running the show.
As if on cue, Jake asked him what was going on in the Earth element. Ash shrugged a little. "Not much," he said with a sort of a relieved honesty. He was glad that he had some good news to report. "I'm sure everyone's worried about Richard and all, but other than that we're all okay. Not much trouble on part of the enemy Alliance or anything. I mean it's pretty early in the year for a war of any kind, but at least there isn't as much tension as usual." The Fire students were always a colossal pain in the backside, but there was a huge difference between their snide teasing and actual things that could start a war. "The female leader told me to give her regards, she had some studying to do, so she couldn't show up in person." He was lying to protect her dignity, and in that case Ashton supposed that it was alright. He didn't want to admit that she was probably crying somewhere right now.
"What about your element, Jake?" he asked, feeling a little more comfortable now that the awkward giving of bad news was over with. Jake seemed like a nice guy and so Ashton wasn't quite so intimidated by him any more.
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