Campaign Conspiracy!

[Coco]

"The faith you place in Ms. Jasons speaks very well of the woman herself. Perhaps I have been reticent in the due I've paid her," Coco mused around another sip of wine. The Wasp took a moment to savor the drink, inhaling through her nose to infuse the liquid with the buoying essence of air, and then, finally, she swallowed.

"To answer your question, Ava, bear with me along a thought experiment. One that concerns fear. Perhaps, the reason why Terri was comfortable with me speaking about her and her desires in the first place is actually due to a consideration of fear. Not hers, of course, but that of the rest of the committee. Imagine how less intimidating it might be for you to throw a drink in my face and tell me that you'd never support Terri. After all, even if she did become manager, you could always blame me and my delivery for your lack of support. I don't think it's much of a secret that I'm not well liked."

A bitter smile appeared, just until the wine glass rose and hid it while Coco took another sip. A much, much quicker one.

"And, of course, there's Ms. Jasons' fear to consider as well," the Claviger elaborated, setting her glass down. "If Terri were to speak with all of you separately then it might well appear that she was gathering support for a coup. Better for people like me to speak with you, someone who has no weight or authority, someone who bears no threat to Ms. Jasons position to make you aware of Terri's intention and to poll you. Simply, I am less threatening than if Terri went around coercing people into supporting her."

The Wasp paused, a hand raising to forestall further comment. "And don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that Terri plans to coerce anyone into defying Ms. Jasons or anything of the sort. I simply mean to say that if she was the one speaking with everyone in the committee than it would appear to be a much more aggressive power play. However, being dedicated to the cause of the committee, she obviously doesn't wish to disrupt everything by doing something so brutish. Rather, she's taking the time to get to know how the committee feels now about things before she attempts to do anything. She's using me as a barometer, so to speak, so she can better understand what needs to be done. Or if anything needs to be done.

"In a nutshell," Coco added with small laugh, "she's studying the situation and learning from it. She's also being cognizant of the effects of fear and weighing them into her actions. Above all, however, she is being considerate of the current committee. Rather than disrupt it, she's instead listening to it. Rather than challenge Jasons she's allowing you all to display your respect, but also to offer your honest opinions so that she can best understand how things might be improved. You and your other friends in the committee, Ava, are something that she dearly values and is taking an interest in."

[Coco]

For a moment Coco looked rather wan, as it seemed that none of her repartees, advances, or other maneuvers gained her any ground or sliced apart her opponents debate, but then she sensed an opening which she might be able to exploit.

"Well, as I'm sure you know, all of the committees interact. And yes, I know that's obvious, but it's easy to forget sometimes. The head of your committee, very soon, will be running the whole show, and then a year later that will happen again. Terri is someone that, from what I've seen, understands all the committees better than what I've seen from Jasons. I've been in the city for a year, not as long as you, of course, but that's enough time to gained an informed opinion I believe."

The wasp paused, taking a moment to dish some of the salad onto her own plate.

"Now, obviously Jasons hasn't done a poor job, but I've personally witnessed Terri interact with my committee in a way that embraced our purpose, but while also aligning it with that of your group's. I think that's something important to consider due to the fact that all of the committees, while they might have different purposes, must still cooperate, learn from each other, and be led by the others as...situations change. So, a good manager shouldn't just know how to handle your committee, they also have to know how to handle others, and I personally think that Terri does that better."

A small smile alighted upon the Wasp's lips as she pondered her words. Not a killing thrust, per se, but a solid graze if nothing else. Content with that, at least, just as she was content that she wasn't disliked by present company, she took a healthy bite of the salad, savoring the surprisingly deft interplay of citrus, bitter greens, and sweet dressing.

[Coco]

Double post, plez ignore.

[Coco]

Strange internet thing occured, this is the real post.

"I believe you're misinterpreting the advantages granted by a keen sense of empathy," Coco countered, all while completely, ironically oblivious to the turn in the Nix's temper. "Empathy grants understanding, knowledge of another, and that knowledge allows one to best understand how to utilize and direct those beneath them. Emotions, after all, are like words written upon the pages of our psyches and our beings. Any worthy leader should be able to do that deftly, as deftly as Terri can, but particularly your department, I think. I don't think you need me saying that reading is very important for you all. Similarly, consider the worth in someone that choose which words and which pages they display for others to read. Isn't that, at times, more potent than displaying your distaste for all to see?"

The question was followed by a healthy sip from her wineglass, as though a silent toast had just been drunk to in Coco's own favor and a smile blossomed in the wake.

"As for your question, I can't say that I know the answer, but I do have my suspicions. I alluded to them, before, I believe, when I said that Terri is using me as a probe of sorts. Doubtless, since she's already been manager once before she knows all the fine print that would help her ascend to the position again, but perhaps she doesn't wish to leave anything up to chance? Perhaps, by learning where others perceive her as less worthy than Jasons, by learning where she must improve or, more accurately, increase awareness, she is helping to fulfill the fine print. Or, perhaps, she simply wishes to get a baseline," Coco mused with a languorous shrug.

"Either way, I suppose I've exhausted my knowledge of the situation...So! Ava! Tell me, what has been happening in your life, lately?"

[Coco]

"I do, actually," Coco commiserated, wine glass now set aside and forgotten. She was silent for a moment, a minor miracle when it came to the Claviger, and her expression sobered.

"I'm sure you've gathered by now that Catherine left. I know that was months ago," she continued with a small sigh, "and I know that she was only here for a scant few months in the first place but I'm still adjusting to it. When a hope is born it is at first a fragile thing, yet still piercing when it dies. When a hope has grown, however, been nurtured and groomed until it is hearty and hail and seemingly strong enough to carry you, that is when its demise is the most eviscerating, for it pulls a dream of the future after it into the grave. Catherine was around just long enough for my own hope to have grown so. I cannot imagine what it must be like for you. I know that you shared a different relationship with Miss Grey, but in many ways I suspect that it was stronger than most any relationship..."

At a loss for words that wouldn't trespass even deeper into the dreaded, dreaded realm of the cliche, the wasp's eyes fell back upon her wine glass, the pool of pale coral liquid growing infinitely deep and drawing the longer her gaze rested there. Alas, for one night at least she had other company, so she looked back to her dinner companion.

"How have you been coping? I've found the radio helps add a sense of life to vacant space."

[Coco]

"Well, you're in luck then, Ava. Time is something that you have. How much I don't know, but certainly the rest of this evening," the Claviger mused. "Likely the morning after it, too, and likely the next after that. I think plugging back into your schedule is not a bad way to spend that time. In fact, the value of time is something that I've often thought about since my amour left. I've found that the time I value most is time in which I perform the act of doing, rather than that of not doing. Part of this is because, and perhaps it's not the same for everyone, but I've found that the space I call home is sometimes more like a cage than a haven. The lock on the door doesn't just the keep the outside out, after all, but also everything that dwells within. And, within, it is also alone. At times that's what I need, but more often than not...it's not."

Coco glanced down at her food again, and with an ironic smile picked up her fork and speared another bite.

"I like you're idea of fish, though. Those, at least, would be things that would depend upon you. To them you would be everything, even if they didn't know it. In that way, you would always matter, at least to them."