Early Campaigning(Yue)

[Joshua Bernstein]

Although it was early in the year, Josh was already planning for his campaign for town council. He'd begun so late last year, having only decided that he would run as the elections themselves commenced. This year he was determined to begin earlier; after all, if he wanted any chance at winning this year he needed to be more preparead.

To that end he had already made up fliers. Nothing fancy, black ink on white printer copy paper, but they would suffice for the beginnings of his campaign. As the year progressed he would see to having something nicer made.

For the moment, however, he was plastering local businesses with papers proclaiming his intentions to run, and his positions on a variety of issues. He didn't have a campaign website up yet, but he did have his email address listed for anyone wishing to send further inquiries in his direction, or even if they wished to volunteer.

He nodded and smiled at the girl working at the tearoom today; Yue was adorable, and he was always happy to see her face when he came in.

"I'll be ordering in just a minute! But first....you don't mind if I post up a flier, do you?"

[Yue Hirai]

Yue had been extremely busy for the last hour or so, taking orders, getting the orders taken care of, and getting them to their right customers, all the while keeping up a friendly smile and answering any questions that were thrown her way. There was only one other person working at the time, and so they had both been zipping around getting things done as a random flood of people came in. It happened like that, usually - it would be quiet for a while, and then a bunch of people would come in at once, and then it would get quiet again until the next group arrived.

Fortunately, it had quieted within the last few minutes, and so Yue was wiping down the counter as Josh entered the little shop. She gave him a bright smile; he was a customer that came in often enough that she knew him by his name (since she had written it on enough tea cups to remember it), and offered a friendly wave, tossing aside the damp, used washcloth.

"No hurry," she chirped, coming out from behind the counter. "We just had a big rush of people, so the down time is nice." She peeked at the papers in his hand, then looked up again as he asked if it would be alright to post one up. "Nah, that's fine," she replied, rolling up on the balls of her feet. "Jeanie has the corkboard up for that sort of stuff, actually!" she added, pointing to the area on the wall where her manager had set up the board; there were a few other fliers on it.

She was curious, though, and tilted her head to get a better look at what the papers said. "What are they for, if you don't mind me asking?"

[Joshua Bernstein]

Josh gave the teenager a smile of gratitude when she pointed him to the corkboard. "Ah, thank you!"

She was so pleasant and polite and helpful, traits he greatly admired, in part at least because they reminded him of Sean. Of course, Yue also was slightly perkier than his introverted partner was. He certainly couldn't imagine Sean working as a server, simply because the upbeat cheerfulness requisite wasn't entirely suited to the telepath's more sedate personality.

He made his way to the back wall, shuffling his stack of fliers idly, only halting at her inquiry.

"Oh! These? I'm running for town council this fall, so I need people to be aware that I'm running. It's difficult to acquire votes if people don't know enough where you stand on issues, which they won't if they only see your name for the first time when they hit the ballots."

[Yue Hirai]

Yue began to meander back to the counter as Josh went to put up his fliers, giving a smile and a nod as he thanked her. She didn't know him extremely well, but from what she'd seen from his visits, and the occasional times she'd heard about him from around school due to his relationship with Dr. Neville, he seemed a very pleasant, kind, level-headed man. And he liked boba, so that was an added bonus!

She peeked over again as he answered her curiosity, leaning against the counter (which was a little tall for the tiny girl; she'd had to grow used to working a little above what she was usually comfortable). "Oh!" she exclaimed, face brightening with intrigue. "I didn't know, that's really neat!" She could definitely see him running for some sort of position. She chuckled lightly; while she was still too young to vote, she understood where he was coming from. "Yeah, I'm afraid I might be one of those people that end up writing in a fictional character or something if I don't know enough about the people running," she admitted. "But I'd definitely vote for you!" she added quickly, giving two bright thumbs-up.

Actually... Yue bit her lip, an idea coming to mind. She'd needed to start thinking about a junior or senior project, and this seemed... Like maybe it might be a chance for something big. She didn't know a lot about how this stuff worked, but she could learn. "You don't... Need any, um, student help or anything, do you?" She asked. "I mean... I guess I should probably learn more about what your 'stand on issues' are before I offer anything, but..." Yue gave another smile. "You seem like a good guy."

[Joshua Bernstein]

The offer to help caught Josh by surprise, but this quickly changed to delight. Even if he'd had all the help he could possibly need, he loved people, and thus the more people he had reason to spend time with, the happier he was.

"I can always use some help," He assured her, pulling a box of thumb tacks from his pocket. He had to balance the fliers carefully in one hand while he opened the box, trying not to spill them across the floor; a wasted effort, that. One handed box opening was not his strong suit, and he tipped it over, tacks spilling out across the floor.

"Oh, no." He exclaimed in dismay, kneeling down to pick them up before anyone stepped on them, and dropping his fliers in the process. "Ah...what issues would you like to know about?"

[Yue Hirai]

Yue brightened at the possibility that she could help. "Awesome!" she chirped. "I was just thinking, it might be a good idea for my senior project, or something...?" The small girl shrugged, running a hand through her hair as she pondered it. "What is it that you could use help w-"

She had noticed how Josh was balancing his flyers and tacks precariously, and had only just thought to offer to help him put the papers up before everything went flying. "Ah!" she exclaimed, zooming over to help the older man pick up the assortment of fallen bits. "I'm sorry, I should have offered to help sooner," she told him with a good-natured smile. Her quick, dextrous hands quickly snatched up the many tacks that littered the floor; she was sure she would probably miss a few, though, so she would grab the broom in a bit.

She pondered the question as she picked up a few more tacks, wondering what might be important to her that she could mention. "Um... Gosh, I don't know. How do you feel about the importance of budgeting for school sports?" she finally asked; it was the first thing that came to mind. Not a particularly controversial subject, but one that was close to her heart.

[Joshua Bernstein]

"Thank you," Josh offered the girl a smile of gratitude as she began helping him to pick up tacks. This was why she would be a good addition to his team; she was so considerate. However, he couldn't allow her to take the blame for his own lack of dexterity. "Don't apologize. I should be more careful."

That was a common refrain in his life. He frequently got lost in what he was doing, and this sometimes resulted in clumsy behavior.

He began to snatch fliers off the floor, trying desperately to smooth them out again. "Budgeting for school sports is very important. Every child should have the opportunity to participate in athletic programs, and not everyone has the financial security to pay for them. Access to sports should be a universal right."

He pushed himself to his feet, squinting at the board to see what space was available for his fliers. "And I feel the same way about arts and music. It shouldn't just be the wealthy who have access to these activities."

[Yue Hirai]

"It's alright," Yue reassured the older man, unable to help another bubble of laughter from coming out. It was just sort of funny, seeing an adult fumbling around, especially since he was running for town council. It didn't make him seem any lesser in her eyes, though - if anything, it made him more relatable. "I'll grab the broom." Once Yue had snagged most of the tacks within reach, she darted over to grab the cleaning equipment and quickly swept the area, making sure not to miss any spots. "There, nothing ever happened!"

Of course, his answer to her question pretty much had Yue set on the kind of person Josh was - a good one. "Well... You basically have my whole-hearted support just from that," she announced, smiling as she put the broom away. "I think sports are super important too, and I'm glad to see someone taking it seriously." Yue wasn't the most eloquent with words, but her passion was obvious. She was't so much into arts and music, but she agreed with him on that standpoint too.

"So... What can I do to help, besides brooming?" she chuckled. Yue pointed to an open spot on the board, right underneath a flier for the local LGBT center, for Josh to put his own.