Entry tags:
Untitled Star Trek political AU snippet: "Put the intern on the bus!"
So apparently the political AU is actually becoming... a thing. IDK. I have so much stuff to work on but all I want to write is the adventures of Pavel the Intern getting swept up in the wide-eyed idealistic craziness of the Kirk/Spock presidential campaign.
This is a draft of the beginning. I'm probably going to clean it up a bit, but I want to start posting so people can help me brainstorm a bit. I basically have no idea what I'm doing.
I'm not doing a header for this post because IDEK what it is, but in terms of ratings/warnings I would say it's basically harmless. Very mild swearing and snarking. Also there are hints of Chekov/Sulu in here, in a one-sided crush kind of way. I think it's going to stay that way the whole time to avoid making the only openly gay character look creepy.
Pls to be offering feedback and concrit if you are so inclined. I am sort of excited about writing this but right now there are a lot of blank spaces where I don't know what to do...
Pavel didn't know how he'd even ended up on the campaign bus in the first place. When he'd applied for an internship, he'd expected to spend the summer working in a call center or maybe organizing door-to-door canvassing. Receiving the important-sounding title of "Netroots Correspondent" had been enough for him, but then he'd shown his boss some of his blog posts on the campaign website, complete with statistical analysis and color-code maps, and one thing had led to another until he'd had to explain to the Massachusetts director of operations that no, they couldn't promote him to a paid position, because he was only in the country on a student visa. The internship was the most he could do. And then there had been a lot of arguments over his head, and a conference call with Hikaru Sulu, the manager of the whole nationwide campaign, and after half an hour Sulu sighed and said "Okay, then, let's put the intern on the bus." So the intern got on the bus, and someone led him around and performed introductions, and Pavel had known the rotational speed of the Earth for as long as he could remember, but he suddenly had a feeling that this summer the world was going to be turning much faster than it ever had in the past.
The bus itself was pretty much everything that his parents had ever told him America wasn't. The staff was made up of people of different races and ethnicities, men and women, young and old... and then there was Mr. Sulu, one of the most powerful openly gay men in Washington, and not at all an object of hero worship for Pavel. Really. He just admired the man as a strategist, and was grateful to him -- in a confused sort of way -- for giving him this unprecedented chance. Everyone on the bus was always talking fast, arguing and laughing and exchanging ideas. It seemed to him that everyone there was some kind of genius, which was a little alarming, since he was used to being the only genius in the room. Senator Spock and his wife, the head speechwriter Nyota Uhura, spoke to each other quietly in a variety of foreign languages, while Sulu played cards with regional coordinator Janice Rand, arguing about which guest speakers to recruit the whole time.
When the actual candidate hopped on board, hardly anyone gave him much acknowledgement. Senator Kirk didn't seem to mind, immersed as he was in a very animated conversation with his Blackberry, complete with sweeping gestures.
"Yeah, we're doing this whole State Fair appearance thing back home in Iowa, it's going to be awesome... shut up, it is not cheesy, it's classic Americana. ... Well, maybe not, but it isn't your campaign, is it? ...Yes, I have sunscreen, for God's sake, Mom..."
Pavel looked up from his laptop and turned to Sulu, speaking in a low voice. "He talks to his mother like that?"
Sulu laughed. "Probably. But right now he's talking to the governor of Georgia."
The Senator ended his conversation and Pavel looked up to try to get his attention. "Senator, the new Gallup poll just came in! It's saying you're --"
"Don't tell me don't tell me don't tell me --" Kirk was striding across the bus to pick up the latest draft of his State Fair speech from Uhura. A quick flash of his eyes was the only indication he gave that he was even addressing the intern.
"But this could be big news! Your support in the Midwest --"
Sulu put a hand on Pavel's shoulder. "Senator Kirk never lets anyone tell him the poll numbers. It's... sort of a personal eccentricity."
"But that doesn't make sense..." Pavel sighed. Of course, his first day on the job and he'd already broken some bizarre unspoken rule.
A cool, even voice from the back of the bus snapped him out of it. "You'll find that 'making sense' has never been part of the candidate's platform."
"Spock, if you keep calling me 'the candidate,' I'm going to start thinking you don't like me."
At that, the bus's engine lurched back to life, and Pavel fastened his seatbelt. Next stop, Iowa.
Previous parts in this AU:
"Maybe In Another Lifetime,"
"Running Mate"
Fanart for this AU by![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
knightemplar: "Yeah, I'm starting to see the problem."
This is a draft of the beginning. I'm probably going to clean it up a bit, but I want to start posting so people can help me brainstorm a bit. I basically have no idea what I'm doing.
I'm not doing a header for this post because IDEK what it is, but in terms of ratings/warnings I would say it's basically harmless. Very mild swearing and snarking. Also there are hints of Chekov/Sulu in here, in a one-sided crush kind of way. I think it's going to stay that way the whole time to avoid making the only openly gay character look creepy.
Pls to be offering feedback and concrit if you are so inclined. I am sort of excited about writing this but right now there are a lot of blank spaces where I don't know what to do...
Pavel didn't know how he'd even ended up on the campaign bus in the first place. When he'd applied for an internship, he'd expected to spend the summer working in a call center or maybe organizing door-to-door canvassing. Receiving the important-sounding title of "Netroots Correspondent" had been enough for him, but then he'd shown his boss some of his blog posts on the campaign website, complete with statistical analysis and color-code maps, and one thing had led to another until he'd had to explain to the Massachusetts director of operations that no, they couldn't promote him to a paid position, because he was only in the country on a student visa. The internship was the most he could do. And then there had been a lot of arguments over his head, and a conference call with Hikaru Sulu, the manager of the whole nationwide campaign, and after half an hour Sulu sighed and said "Okay, then, let's put the intern on the bus." So the intern got on the bus, and someone led him around and performed introductions, and Pavel had known the rotational speed of the Earth for as long as he could remember, but he suddenly had a feeling that this summer the world was going to be turning much faster than it ever had in the past.
The bus itself was pretty much everything that his parents had ever told him America wasn't. The staff was made up of people of different races and ethnicities, men and women, young and old... and then there was Mr. Sulu, one of the most powerful openly gay men in Washington, and not at all an object of hero worship for Pavel. Really. He just admired the man as a strategist, and was grateful to him -- in a confused sort of way -- for giving him this unprecedented chance. Everyone on the bus was always talking fast, arguing and laughing and exchanging ideas. It seemed to him that everyone there was some kind of genius, which was a little alarming, since he was used to being the only genius in the room. Senator Spock and his wife, the head speechwriter Nyota Uhura, spoke to each other quietly in a variety of foreign languages, while Sulu played cards with regional coordinator Janice Rand, arguing about which guest speakers to recruit the whole time.
When the actual candidate hopped on board, hardly anyone gave him much acknowledgement. Senator Kirk didn't seem to mind, immersed as he was in a very animated conversation with his Blackberry, complete with sweeping gestures.
"Yeah, we're doing this whole State Fair appearance thing back home in Iowa, it's going to be awesome... shut up, it is not cheesy, it's classic Americana. ... Well, maybe not, but it isn't your campaign, is it? ...Yes, I have sunscreen, for God's sake, Mom..."
Pavel looked up from his laptop and turned to Sulu, speaking in a low voice. "He talks to his mother like that?"
Sulu laughed. "Probably. But right now he's talking to the governor of Georgia."
The Senator ended his conversation and Pavel looked up to try to get his attention. "Senator, the new Gallup poll just came in! It's saying you're --"
"Don't tell me don't tell me don't tell me --" Kirk was striding across the bus to pick up the latest draft of his State Fair speech from Uhura. A quick flash of his eyes was the only indication he gave that he was even addressing the intern.
"But this could be big news! Your support in the Midwest --"
Sulu put a hand on Pavel's shoulder. "Senator Kirk never lets anyone tell him the poll numbers. It's... sort of a personal eccentricity."
"But that doesn't make sense..." Pavel sighed. Of course, his first day on the job and he'd already broken some bizarre unspoken rule.
A cool, even voice from the back of the bus snapped him out of it. "You'll find that 'making sense' has never been part of the candidate's platform."
"Spock, if you keep calling me 'the candidate,' I'm going to start thinking you don't like me."
At that, the bus's engine lurched back to life, and Pavel fastened his seatbelt. Next stop, Iowa.
Previous parts in this AU:
"Maybe In Another Lifetime,"
"Running Mate"
Fanart for this AU by
knightemplar: "Yeah, I'm starting to see the problem."