THERE IS A CRACK IN EVERYTHING

[maskormods]

WHO: ImPorts! But especially the NONAH AMBASSADOR CANDIDATES!
WHERE: The Dolley Madison Library in Nonah, North Carolina.
WHEN: Evening, Sunday November 13th.
WHAT: The Nonah Town Hall for an evening of rigorous debate about the issues that matter!
WARNINGS: N/A.

The Dolley Madison Library is a two story structure brimming with books and neoclassical architecture. Clearly a well-funded facility, this library is a bright, warm, and welcoming environment for polite (if political) conversation this evening. The main floor, near the back of the building and behind rows and rows of looming bookshelves is the slightly risen stage destined for tonight's event. It is but a darkly painted plateau nearly a foot off the ground, a little stage intended for reading events and author interviews. Nine simple wooden chairs are set upon the stage, and a microphone greets them all.

The audience portion is complete with organized, open seating and a table of non-alcoholic refreshments. There are muffins and cookies, too, for those of you who have come hungry for both IDEAS and SNACKS.

EACH CANDIDATE gets a time slot to speak about tonight's theme: THE ROLE OF IMPORTS IN RELATION TO METAHUMANS IN A HISTORICALLY NON-POWERED COMMUNITY.

Candidate imPorts may address their solutions and visions, or even drudge up more complications, in response to the thematic prompt. You can be a candidate of hope, or of fear -- it all depends on your perspective. Concerned imPort citizens are allowed to speak with the candidates about their answers, and debate them if necessary. ImPorts are also allowed to debate among each other after the candidates have all spoken.

The event begins at 7PM EST, but may last well into the night.

Comments

CANDIDATE TOP LEVEL

[maskormods]

Candidate responses go here.

THE AFTER-PARTY DISCUSSIONS

[maskormods]

Voting imPorts may talk among themselves, too! You can reply to this thread, or feel free to start your own for organization's sake.

Miles Vorkosigan

[dendarii]

[ As always, Miles cuts an unusual figure. He is at least looking very polished today, looking very fine in his dark brown suit with silver trim (and silver tie). It's obvious that someone (not him) made sure to hire a very good stylist to make sure he's at his best. His gray eyes are bright focused, as they always are.

Of course, there's nothing to be done about his diminutive frame, but still addresses the group (once it's his turn) with the confidence of a much taller man. ]

Quite frankly, I'd say we're all in this together. It's not as though most of us had powers before coming here ourselves. I had to reach out to other imPorts in order to gain proper control over mine. We ought to do much the same for our new brethren.

[ A pause. ]

And we should take this as an opportunity to reiterate that we are not really any different from the citizenry here. We ought to have the same rights and opportunities - including the ability to be independent as needed. I've re-registered, of course, but there ought to be a reasonable level of support for those who choose not to register, or only register out of dire need.

I would work towards greater cooperation between the two groups without imposing further rules on us. No one really has a choice in receiving these powers, after all.

[ He's fiercely happy to debate any of those points, or just chat with anyone afterwards in general. Miles is quite excited about running for Ambassador here, and he shows it by animatedly going around the room once his time up at the front is done. ]

[dendarii]

[ See his header for the serious discussions. Miles follows up whatever debates happen up top by roving around the room, happily going up to anyone who will give him the time of day. ]

Well? What do you think? [ A beat. ] About this whole topic in general, not necessarily me.

[ He'll take that too but he's not a dick about it, jeez. ]

[excessivehubris]

Charles had come mainly to listen to the debates and the opinions of his fellow imPorts. It was always interesting to hear the point of view held by others, even if Charles himself had no real interest in running for any sort of office.

After the well spoken arguments had been made, the Professor rolled off to find himself a cup of tea. He didn't appear to be actively seeking anyone out, for any sort of follow up discussion, but he did have a slightly distracted expression on his face.

Anyone who knew him well could probably guess what that meant; he was just listening and ... well ... listening.

[incogneto]

[ Erik elbows Miles playfully. ]

You did well.

[ He can see right through you, little dude. ]

[dendarii]

[ Look. Miles still thrives off all the attention he can get. ]

Am I that obvious?

[incogneto]

For some reason, Erik always manages to find his way to Charles, even through a large crowd. He offers him one of the appetizers off of his plate, and then finishes off whatever's left and hands it to one of the waiters collecting refuse.

"So," he says. "Who are you voting for?"

[incogneto]

Yes. Even if you weren't running for public office.

But you were good. Inspiring. Concise. People like that.

[dendarii]

I do have a bit of experience. More with being a mercenary admiral than being a count's heir, but ...

[incogneto]

I think you'd get more votes having been an admiral, regardless.

What do you think about your opponents?

[dendarii]

[ He flashes a grin at that. He'll milk the hell out of his admiral status of he can ... ]

Well, I admit I only know a few of them. But I like Ms. Duncan well enough, as well as Victor over there. And I don't think anyone here would do a bad job of it.

Anastasya Griffin

[thegriffinofdeath]

[Anastasya still wasn't great at 'dressing up' when it didn't involve the fancy and admittedly somewhat morbid robes of her station back home, so for this all she was wearing was a simple green blouse and black skirt. But hey, she didn't get shot this time, so she actually looks pretty normal! Admittedly, also, a bit young, even if she doesn't carry herself that way. But that wasn't stopping her.]

[And the question was one she'd actually already thought about, which was handy. Mostly because she was very interested in convincing one of the newly powered natives to come let Tesladyne poke and prod at them, but she hadn't figured out how to approach them yet. Still, it counted.]

That's not exactly a simple question, is it? [She said, her lips pursed faintly.] I mean, yes, I want to say that the import community is more than willing, eager even, to reach out to these newly powered natives. In many ways they are just like us, people suddenly thrust into lives and powers they didn't understand and maybe didn't even want. It's a situation I've found myself in more than once.

But at the same time... [She hesitated, sorting her words out carefully.] This is their home. This world is where they are from, where they want to be, and for many imports, if not most, it is not ours. We are waiting. Holding our breaths and our lives and doing what we can to survive until we find a way back where we belong.

We always have to remember that. We might see these people as brothers and sisters, and we can help as much as they can help us, but we should always be careful to remember our differences too.

We have seen already that some of these people can be dangerous. The natives seem to look to us to police other imports who...misbehave. If we embrace these superpowered natives, will that responsibility fall to us as well? Should it? And if they cause enough damage, and laws are passed to keep them in check, and we have said we are the same, will those laws fall on us as well?

This simple fact is, I don't know. None of us do. And until we do, we must be careful. In what we say and what we do and what we offer them.

But I will say this. I do think we should reach out to them, to help them learn to control themselves, at the very least. Because we are the only people who can, and there is a responsibility in that.

But we should be careful, and cautious, in any action we take.

[Ana will be hanging around to argue or discuss or just chit-chat with whomever wants to. Occasionally a large black raven with blue runes carved into her feathers will flutter down from where she is perched ontop of various bookshelves to land on Anastasya's arm, and she'll exchange a few whispers with it before it flutters back up.]

[incogneto]

Well, I wish you the best of luck.

At least your part for the night is over.

[dendarii]

Is it? I think I have a little bit more to do. Surely you have questions.

[incogneto]

[ Alright Miles... ]

Assuming you take office, what is your concrete plan?

[dendarii]

[ Miles sobers a bit at that. ]

To help build an infrastructure that helps imports outside of registration. And anyone else with powers, for that matter. The Dendarii already work towards that now, and my brother will help with the financial side.

[incogneto]

But how? What kind of infrastructure? What programs will you create?

[dendarii]

Well. Medical first. But I am biased on that front.

[ He gestures down at himself. ]

We've Import healers that may be happy to work for the general good. And then funding a native hospital to work with powered individuals.

[incogneto]

What will you do if the natives don't want powered individuals near them in a hospital? What if they find us dangerous?

[dendarii]

Then we'll build our own. Recruit those that will work with us, fill in what we have to ourselves.

[incogneto]

I thought the point of building it into a native hospital was to utilize the tools and expertise they already have?

Perhaps we could build it out of the clinic.

[dendarii]

Of course, and that's plan A. But you've asked for plan B.

[ He brightens at that next comment though. ]

Using the clinic would be better though.

[incogneto]

For plan B, you're possibly correct.

How do you plan on paying for this?

[dendarii]

My family has a reasonable amount to start with, and the Dendarii help quite a bit on top of that. [ Thanks in advance Mark. ] We'll use that to get started. From there it depends on how integrated we are with the general populace.