determination (open)

[Taylor]

He was going to do it, he was going to walk up to her and tell her. He was going to look Nicolette De la Fontaine, the president of student council, the women beloved by all, that he Adrian Giguere Varius wanted to take part. Well, not a big part, but a part all the same, he didn’t really have all of the skills required for a good student councel member, he was erratic and excitable, and thoutoughly unorganised, he wasn’t strong in academics. But he had what he believed counts most, enthusiasm. And enthusiasm he had in abundance, along with energy, when he decided he wanted to put his all into something, he did, and when he did, he stuck with it until it was a success or… until it crashed and burned. Especially if it burned.

He looked at the door, rehearsing what he has going to say in his head. It was a nice door as doors went, lacking graffiti or over sized dents. He was determined to win her over. The door knob wasn,t particularly shiny and showed signs of use… it was a good door knob. He had asked the sylphs not to play around in the student council room, and the gnomes never were the types to mess with things, and undines weren’t about to leave the water just to bother the people here. So Adrian was fairly certain that the door in front of him was going to stay a nice well used door and not be broken by a belligerent elemental. Adrian knocked on the door ever so politely, 3 times, and waited.

[Nicolette]

It was the Monday before Spring Break. There was a lot of work to get done, especially for the Student Council. The Headmaster hardly ever got involved in matters, so it was up to Student Council to get a hold of the airlines to let them know that throughout the Spring Break, the T'zen Island planes would need to be up and running.

The Student Council President was sitting at her computer that lunch period, her eyes locked on the computer screen. Her fingers rested on the keys of her keyboard, but she wasn't typing. Her stomach let out another growl and she fell back against her chair, letting out a sigh. She'd skipped breakfast that morning since she needed to get to the school for a meeting with the Headmaster, and she had yet to eat lunch.

Her eyes blinked at the screen a couple of times before she heard the sound of the door. It wasn't often that people knocked, so she assumed that it was a student rather than Sven, Miles, or the others. She ran her fingers through her hair, fixing her beige headband (that nearly blended in with her ash-blonde hair), as she stood from her chair and walked toward the door.

She wrapped a thin hand around the knob and pulled the door open, looking down at the shorter student in front of her. She blinked her multi-colored eyes curiously down at him.

"Hello, how may I help you?" She asked, touches of her French accent hitting her every word.

[Taylor]

Nicolette opened the door, he recognised her by her description and while he wasn’t someone who stuttered at a girl’s pretty face, her reputation did it for him. Adrian felt awkward for a moment, his attempts at eloquence disappearing. In stead he felt kind of abashed and glanced down. “I know it is a little late in the term, but I was wondering if that… as long as it isn’t in anyway trouble or problematic for you and your peers, that I myself could just maybe possibly take part in the procedures involved with the school that are associated with the fine organisation that you are the head of…” He had originally thought that he would win her over with charm, but well… that idea was gone. He also noticed that while he had used a lot of words, none of them were exactly in the right order. So he summarised it for her, “I want to join student council.”

He grinned lopsidedly, attempting to list off some of his better qualities, “I noticed that the Student Council is understaffed. And while I may not be the perfect student for the job,” after all honesty was the best policy… especially if the people you were speaking were going to hopefully see that you were telling the truth. “I have the energy and time to devote to the classes, I have in the past worked very well as a gopher and know the value of speed and hard work, I feel that it is important to point out that I you are understaffed and that any assistance would be helpful, I don’t even want to do something all that important, just to be able to help out once in a while.” he looked a little embarrassed, but determined all the same. It wasn’t so much a set of his jaw… or the way he held himself… as the look in his eyes. He didn’t particularly want to take no for an answer… he would, but he was very determined not to.

[Spicyrocketsauce]

Miles sighed heavily. Now was NOT a good time to be the Student Council's treasurer. A small fleet of planes were to be inbound towards T'zenshin by the end of the week, and making sure the right money went to the right people was a momentous task. The stacks of forms that had to be read, double-checked and signed in triplicate would put the Himalayas to shame, and if it wasn't finished as soon as humanly possible, he would no doubt find himself paddleless up a rather infamous creek. So, for the past week, he'd been spending his lunchtimes and after-school hours doing one of his least favourite things in the world; economics. All the while, he was becoming rather unpopular among some of the very people that he was giving up his free time to ferry home, all for the crime of being one of the guys that puts you in detention. This is a thankless job.

And so, here he was. He should've been spending this time eating with friends or studying for the quarter finals. Instead, he was making his way to the student council offices to sink another hour into that goddamn paperwork. He may have been slightly short for his age, but he was still a year eleven, which meant that he towered over the majority of students, allowing him to cut a path through the thick congregations of younger students. Doing this gave a rather satisfying power rush. It felt a bit like he was Moses parting the red sea.

As he rounded the corner leading to the corridor with the Council office, he noticed someone he didn't recognise standing outside the door, talking to Nicolette. His first thought was that it was just another arsehole complaining about curfew, but as he approached within earshot, he realised that he was... no, he couldn't be. He must've just misheard what the... no, he actually was. The student council actually had a new member, the first new member since Miles had joined yonks ago. About fucking time.

He waited for the kid to finish before making himself announced, he didn't want to interrupt him, despite or perhaps because of how ineloquent he was. "Hey, Nicole." he said, with a brief nod, saying "'Scuse me" before edging his way through the doorway into the student council office. He made his way to the huge stack of papers in front of his chair. "Sorry about leaving these here, but if I'd cleaned up, it'd take me ten minutes to get them all back out again."

[Nicolette]

Nicolette stood very patiently and listened to the younger student's every word, taking time to process each word and take into consideration of what he was saying.

It was very true that the Student Council was looking understaffed this year. While they did have the six officially elected council members, the representatives for each year had yet to come forth and request entry to the council. She was coming very close to using her power as Student Council President to drill Kyerin for information on the Student Freedom Force's numbers, but she knew that she shouldn't... She knew the bitter rivalry between the two organizations, and new better than to abuse her power to find out the wanted information.

Before she could say anything, however, another member of Student Council made themselves known, walking through the door. She stepped to the side to allow him access and gave him a polite smile in return to his greeting. "Bonjour, Miles." She greeted before waving her hand at his apology. "It is no trouble at all. My desk is no neater." She let out a light laugh before turning her eyes to the other male.

"My apologies." She said briefly before motioning for him to come inside. Once the boy had entered, she shut the door behind him and walked over to her desk, opening one of the drawers. She shuffled through some papers before opening the drawer beneath it. She smiled as she pulled out a sheet of paper. "Là le c'est...." She said quietly to herself before she stood straight and walked back over to the younger male.

"This sheet is a request form to join the Student Council. Simply fill out the required information and return it to me. You can either complete it now," she motioned to the unoccupied table near the other end of the room, "or take it with you and return it later."

She offered him a warm smile, looking at him as if she awaited his response.

[Taylor]

Another member of the student counsel walked up, Nicolette named him Miles. From piecing the little bits of information he had heard together, he recognised the name as that of the treasurer. He was cute, though Adrian would have to seem him outside the school to gauge his dress. And in his opinion the narrow beard detracted from an otherwise attractive appearance... with the scar knocking the score up by a few fractions… Adrian gave Miles an 8.54. He smiled friendlily at the older boy, revealing nothing of his inner thoughts before returning his attention to Nicolette.

Adrian was caught off balance, he had expected there would be more… problems. Then again, he had only just been given a paper. The paper wasn’t a guarantee, it was a chance. He smiled brightly at Nicolette and did as she motioned, “Thanks, I would be glad to fill it out right here and now! I really do have a great deal of zeal for being involved with the student counsel, I have to admit that I don’t always provide that many ideas, but I would be glad to help out with anything that could be asked of me.” As he spoke he reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a pen, quickly scanning the paper. Sitting where she had gestured, he began to fill it out.

[Spicyrocketsauce]

Looking down at the veritable mountain of paperwork he had left to do, Miles found himself incapable of anything but heaving another collossal sigh and collapsing into his chair with a definite air of resigned displeasure. Had he not previously expelled the air from his lungs, he would have sighed again once he saw what was on the top of the stack; the beurocrats at Vincent Aviation were fickle bastards, and demanded that every student headed to New Zealand had their own individual set of bills, medical forms and liability waivers. And that didn't include the return trip. He leaned over the stack of papers, making no sound other than the soft scratching of his pen.

He was finding it near-impossible to concentrate, especially considering the fact that what was going on in the office around him was infinitely more interesting than what was going on on the paper in front of him. The kid Nicolette was talking to was almost impossibly excitable. He reminded Miles of a puppy. Although it was interesting for now, Miles could imagine that eagerness becoming very annoying after a while. "Hey, kid," he called out, forced to refer to him as "kid" as he hadn't picked up the boy's name yet. "Word to the wise? Get used to filling out forms." He turned his attention back to his work. There were only a few papers left from Vincent Aviation, and if he really put his mind to it, he might be able to finish Oceania by the end of lunchtime.

It took him less than a minute to fill out the remaining forms from New Zealand, but what he found under that put thoughts of finishing Oceania by the end of lunchtime out of his mind. The next paper was not some kind of bill or contract, but a letter from Northeast Bolivian Airways. "Um, Nicole? Problem." This was the last thing he needed right now. "I'll spare you the whole letter, but the gist of it is that Northeast Bolivian Airways don't like the idea of sending out a whole plane just to pick up a less than a dozen students."

[Nicolette]

Nicolette watched the younger boy smile enthusiastically and walk back over to the table in order to get to work on his form. His enthusiasm was a relief and sort of an upper for the Student Council President. While they only had this final week before the break, she was sure that she could enlist in his help after the break, if he decided to go home. If he stayed on campus, she was sure she'd be able to find something for him to do to pass the time.

The young woman blinked and turned to look over at Miles, who addressed a problem. She swallowed and walked over to peek over the young man's shoulder, skimming the letter in his hand. A frown graced her pink lips and she bit down gently on the bottom lip, deep in thought for a moment.

She then turned and walked back to her desk, closing out of the things she had been previously looking up. She opened up the school database and went into the airline information, clicking into the various information. She typed in 'Bolivia' and waited for the results.

She looked in Miles's direction as she spoke. "What about Aerocon? They are a small airline, so possibly they would have smaller planes in order to pick up our population of Bolivian students." She suggested, her multi-colored eyes curious.

[Taylor]

Adrian shrugged as the 8.54 told him about the complete overload of paperwork. He didn’t mind the paperwork, but being called kid was another matter… and as his own inner and never to be realised revenge, he referred to miles in his own slightly derogatory nickname. on second thought... it should have been 7.54... personality counts too. Though he was a little annoyed, it wasn’t enough to show on the outside, it was important to control your emotions when you had friends that, at your slightest inconvenience, would take swift vengeance. ”That’s fine, I have enough spare time that paper work at least gives me something to do with my hands.” He didn’t mention he had so much spare time simply because he tended to rush through work… although he checked it… usually.

His pen flashed over the form, with only the occasional pause as he tried to recall a distant piece of information. Still… it was a long form, or at least, it couldn’t be answered in a couple of seconds. He glanced up at Nicolette, for a second considering asking her a question, but as she spoke with Miles… 7.54, she seemed busy. So he skipped the point on the form and went on to the next, glancing up repeatedly to see if she was done with her conversation.

[Spicyrocketsauce]

Miles winced slightly when he heard Nicolette's solution to the problem. "It'll be a bitch trying to get a plane out here at such short notice. I s'pose we don't have much of a choice, though. I guess I'd better get ready for some premium quality phone-grovelling." After taking a second to ruffle through a phone book, he punched in a number with surprising agility.

"Saludo. Does anyone there speak English? English. E-N-G-L-I-S-H. Muchas gracias." Perhaps the one bright side to having to organise hundreds of planes was that it was good for learning new languages. There was an extended pause as mind-blowingly dull music blared through the receiver, indicating that Miles had been put on hold. "Saludo? Yes, good day to you too, sir. Yes, I do need to organise a plane. Well, that's the problem. The airport in question isn't usually on your rosters. Have you ever heard of T'zen Island? No? Close, it's in the Pacific. Nine students. About five days... Yes, I am serious. I realise that, sir. No, this isn't a crank call. Yes, T'zen island does actually exist. I'm not sure that sort of language is appropriate over the phone, sir... really? If you could, that would be excellent. Muchas gracias. Que te cuides." Miles hung up with a look of distinct annoyance.

"He said he was going to get someone higher up to call us back sometime tomorrow. Personally, I don't like our chances. It sounded like he was just humouring me." Miles moved the colossal stack of papers back in front of his chair. "Ah, the fun and excitement of repeatedly slamming your head against a wall of red tape. I didn't even know there were Bolivians here." The new applicant caught Miles' attention when he raised his head. For a second he had forgotten he was even there. "Oh dear, I hope I'm not putting you off. I solemnly swear that we will never make you do this much work."

[Nicolette]

Nicolette listened to the conversation and bit her lip at how downhill it seemed to be going. She eventually just let out a defeated sigh as the boy hung up the phone and she ran her fingers through her hair. If this wasn't going to work, there was a chance they'd probably have to ask an already existing airline to make an extra stop... Which would require more money.

"Maybe another South American airline would be willing to make a stop in Bolivia?" She suggested weakly, already losing some hope. However, when she remembered the applicant sitting a few tables away, she rose her eyes and forced a warm smile.

"As a representative of Student Council, you will not have to do such work. You will still be filling out some paperwork under the instruction of a higher member, but you will be running more errands than paperwork."

[Taylor]

OOC: Sorry, at the moment I can’t figure out what I did to my computer... but what I do know is that I can’t use brackets, I’ll fix it when I get the chance.

Looking up for a moment Adrian just shrugged with a smiled a little sheepishly, “uhh...I don’t really have a problem with that,just as long as it’s under somone elses direction.”Averting his eyes, he returned to theform, quickly jotting down his personal information, answering the questions. He never liked to take initiative, and it was more than a slight adversion. He wasn’t going anywhere fast, in life, he would probably end up somewhere as an office worker with no power, authority... or cash.
He stood up rather nercously with the paper in his hands, making sure Nicollete wasn’t in the middle of a sentence. “ Uhhh, i’m sorry, I beleive I have finished answering all the questions to the best of my ability.” He bowed his head a little and bit his lip feeling a little embarrased, he had probably misinterprited half the questions and put down all the wrong things... but there was nothing he could do about that now. Now he could just feel like an idiot.