03 ☢

[geiger]

Who: Nora and OPEN
Where: The Republican National Convention
When: August 5
Rating: idk, G for now
Summary: Nora runs for President!
The Story: Starters in the comments

Comments

a) Shake hands with him! Charm her!

[geiger]

Nora knows that her campaign team would be livid when they realised that she'd gone AWOL, but while she's very aware of the security risks she also knows that she'd be far more effective doing this in her own way instead of following the precise schedule they'd crafted for her.

She spends her afternoon swarmed by the press and the general public, and is very much in her element meeting ordinary voters and listening to the concerns they had, the issues that would decide the election. She stops for photo opportunities with babies and seniors, and winces when she spots a rather unflattering photo of herself stuffing too much of a hotdog in her mouth in the convention centre lobby instantly goes viral.

b) A key endorsement might redeem you

[geiger]

What was supposed to be an intimate dinner to woo key allies has turned into a much larger affair than Nora would have liked. She waits in a side room for the man introducing her to finish his speech, and at the sound of "Introducing the next President of the United States, Nora Endicott!" she emerges into the dining room to applause, offering a winning smile and a wave that she hopes is both friendly and courteous.

Dressed in an evening gown, she takes her place at the table and makes conversation with those around her, getting up from her chair to mingle between courses and making sure that she gets a chance to speak to everyone.

Between the dessert and the coffee, she makes her speech. She talks about her rural midwestern upbringing; her adult life in Massachusetts, the cradle of American liberty; her work as a lawyer and how that inspired her to go into politics; the issues facing the nation today. She ends with a call for unity, one that's well rehearsed but that she hopes comes across as spontaneous - in either case it's heartfelt.

c) We know it's lose-lose

[geiger]

It's the morning after the dinner, and Nora had a bad feeling when security had done two extra sweeps of her hotel room. She's about to send them away so she can have breakfast in peace before the day begins in earnest, but then one of them calls out that there's a problem. When he emerges with a needle full of live Kellis-Amberlee, that had been found in her bathroom, the other officers drag her out of her suite before she can even have the first bite of her eggs.

The rest of the day seems to drag on forever. She loses count of the amount of times that she has to tell people that there's nothing wrong with her, that she's not a danger. Even having taken multiple blood tests throughout the day, contradicting news stories appear online and no one really seems to know what's going on.

She's sure it's sabotage. The only question is who is trying to undermine her campaign.