First Student Council Meeting! [Bridget Halford, Kaguya Houraisan, Krista Lenz, Ken Amada]

[knighterrantofthedragon]

[Alric opens his video to the other student officers with his characteristic friendly but somewhat reserved smile.]

Fellow members of the student council. I hope you all are well, and that you've each had ample opportunity to catch your breath.

I believe it's time we get together formally. I had hoped to do so earlier, but as we all know, more pressing matters imposed themselves. If there are no objections, I suggest we meet on Monday, the fifteenth, at five o'clock. We'll use an empty class room. Scheduling and arrangements for future meetings will be one matter on the agenda.

More pressingly, however, we need to discuss what we can do to support our fellow students following the recent, distressing events on campus. I'd like to hear everyone's thoughts on the matter, as well as any concerns you might have, yourselves, or have heard among your classmates and friends, that we ought to address. I'd also like to look toward what we can do to help ensure that the Institute is the positive symbol I believe it is meant to be, although that is a matter to be addressed farther down the line.

Please let me know if there's a need to reschedule--and, of course, if there is anything else with which I can help.

Comments

The Meeting, forward-dated to Monday (just in case anyone wants to play things out!)

[knighterrantofthedragon]

Alric was waiting in one of the empty classrooms from well before five, with an impromptu "Student Council Meeting" sign taped to the door. Best to be a good role model and so on, including making a point of punctuality. He took the business of government rather seriously, after all. He had some notes--which he busied himself reviewing while he waited patiently--and a legal pad, but all in all, being a first proper meeting, he expected it would probably be relatively brief and informal.

Sorry this took me so long to get to!

[martyrerkomplex]

By Monday, Krista had had a little time to recover.

It wasn't as if it was her first experience with violence -- there had been plenty of that even before she came to New York, and she'd been there during the riots. The training in the Danger Room had given her a bit of a jolt, too.

But it was the first time she'd felt truly unsafe on campus. And Eli...

Krista shook her head to clear it, then knocked on the door, a few minutes early herself.

"Alric? Good afternoon!"

we're all late here, apparently...

[stophamatime]

Five minutes early is a better way to do things, Ken thinks. It's responsible, and the last thing he wants to look like is some irresponsible kid who can't take it seriously enough to be on time.

So he's approaching the door not too far behind Krista.

"This is the right classroom, right?"

Re: we're all late here, apparently...

[eternalprincess]

Kaguya herself is right on time, she had needed to placate a few NPC students after that... mess.

"Hello? I hope I'm not too late?"

[kickstart_my_heart]

"I think it's safe to say we're all late...," Bridget was still wearing his work clothes dragging along and looking a touch exhausted. Repairs were tough work...

[eternalprincess]

"We're here now... At least there's that."

Kaguya wasn't doing much rebuilding herself, but she had been busy in other ways, besides visiting Kagerou.

[knighterrantofthedragon]

Alric looked up and smiled at Krista and Ken in greeting, poised and friendly as usual.

"Ah, Miss Krista, Mr. Amada. Yes, it is the right one. Please, make yourselves comfortable."

He nodded to the others, as well, as they arrived.

"Mr. Halford, Miss Houraisan, it's quite all right. Please, make yourselves comfortable. I hope the weekend gave each of you an opportunity to catch your breath and relax a little. I do apologize for springing this on you, of course, but it's always a little hectic establishing such practices."

[martyrerkomplex]

Krista made her way into the room, taking a seat far from the door to leave the more convenient ones for everyone else. Reaching into her bag, she brought out a tin of brownies and set it in the middle of the table. No reason for everyone to go hungry, right?

"It's quite alright. I think it's important for us to talk about what's been going on as soon as possible, so we'll be better equipped to help the other students handle it."

[stophamatime]

Ken's face might have lit up just a touch at the sight of brownies, but he also managed to squash that very quickly, because he's Totally Mature and getting excited over the snacks when they're here to do a job is such a not Totally Mature approach to anything.

"It'll work better once we know what day to expect it, I guess, but we have to start somewhere."

[kickstart_my_heart]

Bridget, on the other hand, goes right for them, happily chewing and letting out a pleased hum. To the point where what he just said was entirely lost. Hopefully it wasn't anything important.

[eternalprincess]

Kaguya is... a little more concerned with the meeting itself at the moment, but that doesn't mean she won't be tempted to take a few snacks. And she'll be quietly amused by Bridget's reaction.

[martyrerkomplex]

"Well, when would work well for the rest of you to come to regular meetings?"

Krista's schedule was kept pretty full -- her team, her volunteer activities, training with Oulan, maintaining her social life -- but she wasn't about to bring up her own needs first, or at all if she didn't have to.

[stophamatime]

"I think a lot of the extracurriculars we already have are in afternoons. Would meeting in evenings work better?"

Ken could plead out of soccer practice here and there if necessary, but it's the kind of thing he'd prefer to avoid, if he could.

[knighterrantofthedragon]

Alric raises his eyebrows a little and smiles at the brownies--and everyone's assorted reactions to them--before taking one, himself, with a grateful nod to Krista.

"I believe a brief evening meeting each week--to keep abreast of student concerns and current events--would suffice, with additional time set aside as needed, if something demands more of our attention. To put forward a suggestion, perhaps Monday or Tuesday, so that we have the weekend to consider the week's events and hear from our fellow students?"

[martyrerkomplex]

Krista, for her part, looks happy that her contribution has been well-received. She folds her hands primly on the table, nodding thoughtfully.

"I think either of those evenings would work fine for me."

[kickstart_my_heart]

"My availability might change when school starts back up, but I'm cool with that!" Bridget chimed in as well.

[eternalprincess]

"Hmm, that sounds good to me," Kaguya added.

[stophamatime]

"I think either of those is fine."

[martyrerkomplex]

"That sounds pretty settled, then, I think. Alric, was there anything else you had on our agenda for today?"

[knighterrantofthedragon]

Alric scribbled down a few notes on a sheet of paper as they each answered.

"Mm. Two other points I'd like to discuss. Firstly, I'd like to hear your thoughts on what we can do to help our fellow students cope with the experiences to which we have been exposed; the most recent events are an obvious example, but it seems to me that we must anticipate such things happening again. I'm certain it has a deleterious effect on many of us, if not all of us, and I like to think we can do more than merely wait for the shock to wear off.

And, secondly, any other concerns you've heard voiced, any thoughts you yourselves have on what we can do to improve the school for our fellow students in a more general sense."

[kickstart_my_heart]

"I've mostly focused my personal efforts on rebuilding, personally. Talked to a lot of my fellow volunteers, and we feel the work itself keeps us in high spirits... but some people are already transferring out, by choice or by force. My team captain was one of them."

[stophamatime]

"One of my team captain's friends had to leave...he's been pretty down. Losing friends makes it a lot harder on everyone who stays."

[knighterrantofthedragon]

"...nn. One of my team had to leave, as well, I'm afraid."

Alric nodded to Bridget, then Ken.

"I'm afraid there's not much we can do to prevent students leaving, though, barring some sort of special circumstances... I suppose we could facilitate students lending a hand. It's true that doing something helpful can be very good for the soul."

He smiled a little, glancing to Bridget.

[martyrerkomplex]

"Of course, we can't stop anyone from leaving, but... Maybe we could do something to make it easier for current students to keep in touch with previous ones? Even just something small, like a Facebook community or occasional meetups might help people cope with those separations. And we could help the faculty think of ways to help those who are struggling here, right?"

The counselors certainly had very full plates to deal with on their own.

sorry I've been slow! D:

[knighterrantofthedragon]

"...hm."

Alric leaned back in his seat.

"An interesting proposal. An ex-student mailing list would certainly be easy to arrange, and perhaps some other form of social networking, as you suggest. Either of the overwhelmingly popular variety, or something of our own--a forum, for example. Any thoughts on that? I confess I, myself, am more aware of social media from a public relations perspective than its nominal purpose."

He glanced around to the other council members, eyebrows raised.