Event Private Finished You're gonna go far, kid

Ven nodded while Nia spoke. Though he worked as she talked, he looked up periodically to let her know he was listening and that she had his attention. He had sketched her name with a pencil, and he reached for the black marker he'd grabbed from the closet and outlined her name in thick, bold lines.

He repeated the process on a second poster when Nia turned the book around to him, and Ven looked down at what she had written. He frowned for a moment.

It wasn't because he thought that Nia was wrong. She obviously knew way more about this than he did. No, Ven was worried because he did not really have the kind of people in his life he needed to be helpful. His family was back in the states, he had no friends, and....well that was about it. Ven wasn't discouraged, though. When he answered Nia, his voice was optimistic.

"I'm afraid I don't really have any friends yet," Ven said. "But I think that can change. I hope it will change. There are so many people on this island, I'm bound to find someone I get along with sooner or later."

He realized that there was a big reason he hadn't found any friends yet, so Ven took a deep breath, exhaled, and prepared to explain the very thing he was tired of explaining.

"I have this condition, where I pass out a lot, and sometimes it takes me a long time to wake up," Ven said. "Which means I passed out shortly after I got here and missed a lot of opportunities to make new friends. That kind of sucked."

He looked down at the posters, then back up at Nia, and said, "Your name needs some color. What color do you want me to fill your name with?"

Then, he had one more question, "How do you think favors would work since we can't take or give bribes?"

Ven was glad she took this so well. Her cool, calm way of approaching this whole situation reassured him. Ven tended to jump into situations and think about the consequences later. His whole election plan was part of that. Nia, on the other hand, really seemed to think about every angle. It made him feel like maybe, just maybe, they had a chance.

"I'd really like that," he said, and while he meant being introduced to her friends, it was also plausible that he could be presented however he liked.

It struck him that, here, on this island, he didn't have to be Moon Moon. He didn't have to be the goofy guy looking out for his kid brother.

He looked over at the posters.

But...maybe he wasn't ready to give up being Moon Moon just yet.

He picked up the light blue and started to fill it in.

"That's a good choice," he said, and he looked up at her and grinned.

"How do you come in with the promises?" he asked her. "I'll follow your lead on this. I'm good at posters and ground work like that, but the long term stuff..."

Ven shrugged.

He'd figure it out when he figured it out.

"I'm planning on meeting with a professor tomorrow to ask him some questions about how to get changes made around the school," Ven said.

Ven looked up with undisguised interest when she said she was a psychic.

"Wow," he said, and if he had been a puppy, his tail would have been wagging. he tilted his head to the side, considering everything she said, and then Ven grabbed another pencil and started to write something out above their names on the poster.

he flipped it over when he was finished. He hadn't outlined it in marker yet, waiting for Nia's input before he finished, but the poster now read:

Your future is bright with Ven & Nia on Student Council.

"What do you think?" Ven asked, and then he frowned. "Is it too cheesy? Or maybe I shouldn't have made a pun on your powers. I hope that was okay. But I think it'd be amazing to get to use your powers to help people, to really make a difference."

Ven twiddled the pencil between his fingers.

He gave a short laugh and said, "Or should I put down, may the odds be ever in your favor? Although maybe making a hunger game's reference isn't the smartest move."

"I'm glad you like it, Nia," Ven said, and he gave a wide grin in her direction. He started to outline the slogan in black, and then accented it in their two colors: blue and silver. The effect seemed calming to Ven, like he was looking at the sky on a nice clear night.

He started to outline the same on the next few posters.

Ven explained while he worked. "Yeah, Hunger Games was this book series that came out a few years ago about kids fighting each other and there could be only one winner. I'm explaining that really badly, but one of the catch phrases was 'may the odds be ever in your favor'."

Ven caught Nia's eyes widening. He wondered if she'd just thought of something magnificent for the election, or if maybe she'd left her stove on or something. Ven's mom used to make a similiar face sometimes.

He was about to open his mouth to ask her what happened when a beeping sound went off.

Ven groaned.

He gathered up the posters that were finished and divided them into two piles.

"Sorry Nia, I've got to run," he explained, heading over to his phone to turn off the alarm. "I forgot I had a meeting today. I'll finish up the rest of them and hang them up around campus. There's a stack there for you, to!"

Ven said, he started to scramble out of the room, then turned around and raced back in.

He picked up the marker, a scrap piece of paper, and hastily scrawled his cell phone number over the top. He beamed at her.

"Give me a call sometime," he said. "I'm excited to work with you!"

Ven ran back out the door, shouting "BYE NIA! GOODLUCKKK" as he raced down the hall.