It's November but I still want candy canes

@"Emy"

Iris Valeria Sharon Nicolai

It was election season. Which meant only one thing.

A lot of fliers.

Iris had been picking them up absent-mindedly, as she'd developed a habit of picking up papers, subconsciously associating them with salary cuts. A mail carrier was meant to carry mail, not drop it - and she kept dropping mail. As such, she had to backtrack every now and then to pick things up, and it became a habit.

As she walked, there was another trail of flyers drifting lazily behind her. By the time she found their source, she'd released half of what she found into the wild. What she saw confused her.

It was a... little girl?

Iris bent a little to hand her the flyers she picked up earlier. Thinking she was simply handing them out, Iris gave the flyers back and said, "Did you drop these?"

@"Emy"

Iris Valeria Sharon Nicolai

She gave out a good laugh. This child was charming and funny, trying to push back the flyers and say that they were for her campaign. But she seemed so serious about it, which made her laughter die down and turn into a bemused stare. "Wait. You're serious, aren't you? R - wha - you're totally serious, aren't you?"

Iris's face scrunched up in confusion as she tried to remember if there were bylaws given regarding who could and couldn't join the council. She'd have run herself for a high position, but she was too busy with other things at the time. "Man, if I'd gone through with running..." she mused, wondering about this little girl. It was probably for the best. If she stayed in close proximity to someone adorable for too long, she'd have gotten glued. "So, what are you running for?"

@"Emy"

Iris Valeria Sharon Nicolai

Iris just stared at the girl, bemused and amused at the same time. She had to admire her drive, and her clever abuse of electoral technicality. Her very existence was making Iris regret not joining the elections herself. At the same time, it made her want to question a lot of things.

"So how are you planning to make the school 'safer and stuff'? This isn't exactly a very easy school to fix." The mailwoman straightened up, dusted her bag and looked at the flyers. As far as she could tell, there wasn't really much of a platform on it - none of the specifics that she sought.

"Here's a bit of a challenge," she said, scanning through the flyers she had in her hand a little closer. "Explain to me how you're planning on doing what you want to do, and I'll help you with them. I deliver mail - there's a lot of places I get to and a lot of people I get in touch with. You probably know why that might be helpful."

@"Emy"

Iris Valeria Sharon Nicolai

"Not really, no," Iris said, staring at the girl. She was earnest, but earnest probably wasn't going to be quite enough. There was more necessary if she really wanted to succeed. At least she had the first step though. "There's a lot more you'll have to think about if you really want to make a change. Not to be the cynic or anything, but there's going to be a lot more. There's logistics to keep in mind, policy, all sorts of funky stuff. Now I don't know if you've planned for those, but just from what you said - there's a lot more needed."

She put her hand on the girl's head and gave it a gentle shake. The scene felt like a rare reprieve from the stress of everything going on, which she felt thankful for. "You've got the heart for it at least... that's one point in your favor from me."

@"Emy"

Iris Valeria Sharon Nicolai

Iris raised her palm. "Hold it, hold it. That last bit - that's good! That's good. You can pull a lot of support and make something happen with that last bit. This school's designed to accommodate metahumans like me - and possibly you, I wouldn't know - but with the variety of powers we have here, there's no clean, unified system to work with. That is going to be your bullet in this game, so to speak."

She looked around and observed the lack of people around. Sure, there were a few lazily walking - and in the case of that one creature there, skirring - about, but it wouldn't be too practical to stay around. There were too few people to accept flyers or listen to the campaigning of a little girl.

When she turned her head back to the girl, she said, "Hey, how about we find somewhere to sit down first, and we can talk policy? My name's Iris, by the by. Iris Valeria Sharon Nicolai. Was originally going to run as well, but other things came up."