S1, E6 | Chaos Candidate

With one leg crossed over the other, Jaime stares through the window that overlooks the nation neighbouring her own temporary residence, a mug with steam rising beyond its lid held within both hands as she sits back in a seat. Dressed in her sleepwear with the addition of a pair of baggy sweatpants, the woman’s relaxed expression lets a smile take shape upon it as a pair of taps against her hotel room’s door beckon for an answer that they don’t receive, the souls they belong to entering at their own discretion anyway.

“Seriously, would waiting for someone to answer before you just open the door really kill you?” the chancellor inquires, looking over her shoulder to find two people entering her room, both figures expected well in advance. “It wouldn’t kill us, but we’d prefer not to waste our time waiting for one” Velma responds, following the one man with a superior title to her own into the new arrival’s room, closing the door quietly on their way inside.

“The next time I come to retrieve you, I’ll wait for you to allow me inside. Alright?” Leon politely responds, watching the woman glide the chair around whilst wearing her right eyebrow high. “The next time you come to retrieve me? What am I, a ballpoint pen?” Jaime retorts, letting out a breathy laugh as she climbs out of the chair, still carrying the mug that she lifts to her lips.

“Look at that, she does drink something other than bourbon” Velma quips aloud, coming to a stop at the point in which the hallway that leads to the front door meets the kitchen, amusing those in her presence. “Not only do I drink something other than bourbon, but it’s still not your shitty, pretend coffee!” Jaime rebuttals, finishing the job that the dependable general began in bringing the amusement to the point of laughter.

“Like it or hate it, it’s still the best you’ll likely ever get from now on” Leon shrugs sarcastically, watching the nation’s visitor lift her mug with an equally caustic grin. “No thanks, I’ll stick to my tea in the morning, and my big girl drink for the rest of the day” Jaime responds, lifting the mug to her lips once more before loudly sipping her beverage, retreating further into the room where her blow up mattress remains.

“Are you making yourself at home?” Velma inquires, jutting her chin toward the casually thrown-aside blanket that normally covers the chancellor’s body throughout the cold nights. “That depends on whether or not the two of you are planning on telling me that I have to start living with roommates now” Jaime responds, placing a hand on her hip as she turns her jovial grin back toward the woman who’d asked the question.

“It won’t” Velma answers with simplicity, watching the smug smirk that the chancellor returns precede her reply. “Then I’m feeling cosy and welcomed” Jaime concludes, again lifting the mug to her lips for a loud and shameless sip, prompting the president’s confidant to roll her eyes, shake her head, and walk toward the liquor rack with a smile.

“Speaking of living with roommates or not, that might be something we should start discussing” Leon remarks, turning the conversation toward the point he’d entered the room with the intent of starting, doing so of his own accord whilst the woman who’d travelled here alongside him fixes herself a tea. “What would cause us to start discussing that and how can I avoid it?” Jaime questions back without hiding her disinterest in the proposition, crossing one arm into the one that wields her hot beverage.

“Well, you’re not technically a resident in Athens yet. All of the stuff we need to approve of you is filled, but we haven’t heard your side yet” Leon responds, leaving the information at that whilst the woman opposite him feeds on it. “Well, I don’t have much of a home anymore, do I?” Jaime questions back, looking toward the ground as she slowly steps forward, gradually cutting the distance between herself and the man down whilst Velma pours the kettle’s hot water into a mug of her own.

“Not from what I can gather about your republic, no” Leon answers, tilting his head to the side with a brief puckering of his lips, “but that doesn’t necessarily mean that Athens is your only choice.” Lifting her chin with a slight squint in her eyes, Jaime continues stepping forward without replying, allowing the distance to continue closing past whilst the air goes quiet.

“You can still take residency in Free Boston if you want. You could probably travel across the border and see if there’s anywhere in Canada that’s still functioning... same deal with Mexico, I suppose” Velma remarks, leaning against the same spot of the counter that she had the night prior, “you can wander out there and maybe find a house in some abandoned suburb. You can set up a farm and live like you’re the last woman on earth.”

“What Velly’s getting at is that you have options. Athens is one of them, but it’s not the only one” Leon clarifies, watching the woman gradually divert course away from him, continuing to step in his direction whilst her body takes aim off to his side. “Gosh, you make it sound like you don’t even want me here” Jaime jokes, again sipping from her drink whilst amusing Velma.

“We just want to make sure you know that all of your bases are covered” Leon replies, turning to face the woman as she slowly steps past him, continuing on the journey that appears more like auto-pilot than anything else, “besides, after the life that you lived in Los Angeles, no one-”

“Oh, don’t stand there and start a follow-up like that” Jaime interrupts, finally breaking her gradual stride by spinning around to face the president once more, continuing to smile as her head leans to one side, “let me guess, no one knows whether or not I’d want a taste of leadership here the way I did back in the republic?”

“It’s a mad world with greedy people and we just met you a few days ago... You do not reserve the right to blame us for having our reservations or curiosities” Leon calmly responds, offering his defence as neutrally and reassuringly as possible. “Of course not... Especially not after last night” Jaime responds, stepping back before resting against the opposite side of the wrap-around countertop to Velma’s left hip, “please tell me these public meetings never go that poorly.”

“They’re not supposed to be common and you got us out of a tough pickle” Velma interjects, prompting the chancellor to look over her shoulder with a lifted brow, “we appreciate it, but it also gives us a reason to clear up some things in hopes of avoiding misunderstandings.”

“I don’t want to be in charge of your little communism classroom, Dr. Red Sock” Jaime assures with a grin, turning her focus back toward the president as she replies, “I like this place and am more than willing to pretend to be leader when you need me to, but this place is far too small for my liking.”

“Are you sure you don’t want to go join up with Free Boston, then?” Velma jokes, amusing herself and the new arrival whilst Leon clenches his teeth, bowing his chin out of more concern than humour. “And do what? Run against Mr. Douchebag Mophead with the scowl that looks like he just got told off for pissing in a mop bucket?” Jaime retorts, scoffing at the idea whilst lifting the mug to her lips, “please, I’d have the election won by lunch and a deal for Athens to absorb the place done by dinner.”

“It sounds like we can make their dreams of a chaos candidate come true right now, Leon!” Velma proclaims with a chirk, playfully swatting the chancellor on the shoulder whilst leaning against the countertop that Jaime’s back presses into. “With a tagline like his, I’m surprised he’s not already the chaos candidate around there” the blonde hotel room inhibitor quips back, prompting the confidant behind her to shake her head with hilarity.

“No, there’s this ‘chaos candidate theory’ they have in Free Boston where candidates that are behind in the polls make the claim that the front runners are just people we sent over there to try and trick people into voting for them” Leon responds, shaking his head with a grin. “The people who are really bad at campaigning but don’t realise it until they’re already made a fool out of themselves look for any excuse they can get” Velma reiterates, “it’s like watching murderers squirm when they’re caught with blood on their hands.”

“I’m assuming the idea is that you’d send them over to win and then just sign Free Boston back into Athens?” Jaime queries, watching Leon shrug whilst the woman behind her nods approvingly. “I’m sure there are other things they assume of us, but it’s all just pointless blaming” Velma responds, watching Athens’ president take the seat that the hotel occupant had just recently left.

“Why haven’t you done it then?” Jaime questions aloud, looking over her shoulder toward the woman that partakes in most of the conversation, only for her shrug and the sway of her chin toward the president to suggest she’s not the right person to ask about it. “Because we went through the process of signing the treaty with them to make sure we could both live separately and do as we please” Leon responds, letting out a sigh as he touches down upon the chair, “it’s our post-societal equivalent of a peace agreement.”

“You do realise how those processes ended, right?” Jaime inquires, watching the scrunching of the president’s face take shape as he nods uncomfortably. “I don’t need a history lesson” Leon responds, letting his muscles relax as his mind takes toward more promising thoughts, “but I signed the treaty and now we have to abide by it for the sake of co-existing.”

“If you signed the treaty and can’t put people over in Free Boston for the purpose of beating their candidates, why just blindly claim that you did if you’re one of the losers over there?” Jaime questions back, watching another look of reservation take shape upon the president’s visage. “Well, that’s sort of the thing...” Velma responds, again prompting the chancellor to look over her shoulder, “...we can, we just choose not to.”

Confused, Jaime’s face takes its turn to scrunch whilst the president’s voice fills the air once more, gradually re-earning the former chancellor’s attention. “I signed a treaty in the name of allowing both nations to exist separately. Running a chaos candidate across the neutral zone would both be disparaging that vow and it’d be seen as an act of opposition to the agreement by whichever candidate ended up winning” Leon defends, “there’s no point in starting a war.”

“You say that like the candidate that even the current president thinks is going to win isn’t running on a platform of ‘light the heavens on fire and invade Athens’, dude” Jaime replies with a humoured grin, finding little sense in the man’s conclusion, “if ever there was a time for a chaos candidate, one would think now is that time.”

Hanging his head, Leon frowns whilst remaining kept to himself, the inspection into his silence not allowed to exist without question by the chancellor, however. “Oh, let me guess... I just don’t understand?” Jaime invites, watching the man’s eyes lift back to face her as she speaks, “I do understand. I’ve seen threats to everything that I created, and regardless of the agreement I’d made, I always did what I had to for the good of my people and my republic.”

“Number one, no one would vote for the chaos candidate. In this election, that would leave us dealing with a president who either wants to break our treaty or break our sovereignty” Leon answers, watching the chancellor grin as she rolls her eyes, “he’d be a lot less willing to work with us to prevent escalation if we threatened Free Boston’s sovereignty.”

“It doesn’t seem like he’s too keen on letting us live in peace to begin with, Leon. That’s number one” Jaime responds, stepping away from the counter whilst approaching the president, “number two is that you seem to underestimate how many people would be willing to vote in your favour.”

“You say that like Free Boston doesn’t exist exclusively to be free from the restrictions of Athens” Leon retorts, watching the woman scoff with a muffled chuckle, shaking her head with the same, shit-eating grin. “It certainly was founded that way, but by how many people are begging to be let into our side of the fence, it seems like it hasn’t stayed that way” Jaime replies, stopping her advancement only a few feet away from the seated leader.

“The only reason those fools are voting for that mop-headed weirdo is because they think that change has to take the form of lighting the sky on fire” she continues, each comment that she utters affording Velma a moment to take it to heart and digest it like intellectual soup, “I think they’d open their minds to the idea of something a lot less drastic if they were shown it.”

Letting his eyes hang, Leon’s view takes itself toward the ground as he pulls his lips as far away from each other as he can whilst resting the tops of his teeth together. “It does make sense, Leon” Velma remarks from a few paces behind the pair, prompting the man’s surprised look to drift in the woman’s direction, “she’s got leadership experience and she clearly knows how to control a crowd.”

“One of the asses in power will have her assassinated before her status amongst voters can even be polled” Leon immediately replies, watching the confidant shrug with a frown. “If she’s alright with running that risk, she might be the best shot that we’ll ever get” Velma retorts, hearing the sigh that the president immediately reacts with, “I highly doubt Dean would ever be open to negotiating with us with how poor our ability to defend ourselves in comparison is.”

Without giving the follow-up much consideration, Leon shakes his head and presses his hands against the chair’s sides, pushing himself to a stand as he steps away. “No” the president answers, refusing the woman’s advances before making toward the room’s exit, “I’ll go talk to Spence about it, but I’m not going to entertain sending over a chaos candidate.”

“What makes you think that you have a say?” Jaime quickly rebuttals, prompting the man to stop in his tracks and turn back, looking at the chancellor that suddenly takes on a more confrontational demeanour. With his mouth agape, Leon stares back at the woman for a few seconds without uttering a word, only choosing to break the streak of quietude by returning to the woman’s person.

“I don’t want to have to be the guy that keeps relentlessly throwing this up in your face, but I’ll remind you of this whenever necessary...” he recalls, lowering the tone of his voice as he gets closer to the chancellor’s face, “...this is my community and I’m in charge around here.” With a demeaning expression, Jaime matches the man’s imposing demeanour by stepping into his face, the steam that rises from her mug now able to waft over both of their faces.

“Last time I checked, you may be Athens' leader but that doesn’t necessarily make you my leader” she retaliates, challenging the man’s authority in a regard that Velma can’t help but click her tongue and bow her head at, wanting to refrain from getting involved where her nose isn’t needed.

“As true as that may be, crossing the line into Free Boston without anything but the clothes on your back will just see you storming back up to our gates before spring” Leon responds, his comments hiding the undertone that dares the woman to take her chances across the neutral zone. “It’s like Velly said a few days ago... Free Boston makes people see just how truly over their heads they are once you cross that fence” the president adds on, shaking his head with disapproval, “be glad the people that found you were with us.”

“I don’t mean to question your authority or imply that you don’t know what you’re doing, but I’ve been in the place that you’re in and I made the wrong call” Jaime responds, gently stepping to the side to place her mug upon the counter just beside the confidant on stand by. “I had people in my ear telling me that I was trusting the wrong people and all I needed to do was one thing that I wasn’t willing to” the chancellor recalls, “I continued doing what I did, and it was the end of the republic.”

“As much as I appreciate you trying to keep me from making a similar mistake, this call is mine to make. I’m not willing to risk losing any small bit of hope that Dean would be willing to work out peaceful solutions that let the both of us co-exist” Leon concludes, making his peace clear with a composed and incredibly peaceful attitude, not holding the woman’s stance against her as he turns away, retreating for the door with his hand held out.

“Oh, one more thing...” he calls back, pulling the door open before pausing as he steps between its doorway, turning back halfway with eyes upon the chancellor as he sets out for his departure, “I know you may not have chosen Athens yet and I may not technically be your president, but I do hope you choose to change that.”

Though their conversation didn’t go the way either had been hoping, the president and his west coast-native acquaintance end it on similarly hopeful terms, remaining at peace in a way that affords Jaime the chance to turn back, seeing a half-shrug emanate from Velma as she sips at her drink, playing off the discourse’s conclusion as nothing but more of the same.

= Athens of America is created by Zachary Serra, all rights to the series belong to Zachary Serra and his entity of Pacer1 from the start of Season 1 onwards =

“A referendum?” Ken questions back, returning to his fellow country leader with a coffee in hand, handing it over to the friendly palm that accepts it. “You can run a campaign of being more friendly with Athens. You’ll say that you are willing to work with us to make travelling between our nations a possibility beyond the neutral zone” Leon proposes, occupying the Free Boston president’s desk by taking a seat at the front of it, looking toward the man that stands opposite him.

“I can address Athens and tell them that I’m finally open to expanding. We’ll stretch out our territory and all of a sudden have more room to take in people who want relief from your anarcho-libertarian utopia over here” the Athens leader continues, “the down-trodden will suddenly stop looking to Dean like a ‘Jesus-figure’ and start switching to the guy willing to be more diplomatic.”

“You say that as if the people that truly matter... y’know, the ones with private mercenaries able to take out a candidate with the easiest pull of the trigger... would let that slide” Ken retorts, watching his contemporary nod in agreement with the claim. “That’s exactly why we’ll let word spread that, even though Athens will remain mostly communal, we would be willing to do business with Free Boston companies to import goods we can’t make ourselves” Leon explains.

“So business owners see a way to enter a new market like history always presents them with. This wouldn’t be the first time they’ve gotten this opportunity” Ken responds, shrugging at the proposal, “but why accept doing business with Athens when they can just expand out toward Mission Park or somewhere and make a new market all to themselves?”

“It doesn’t matter so long as the people are in favour of supporting our two sides finding a common ground that will allow them to choose one or the other without feeling like they’re sacrificing too much to do so” Leon reassures, seeing the visible reluctance that takes shape upon the Free Boston president’s face, “the will of the people will carry you across the finish line, but Athens doing business with your ‘elite’... whatever that term means around here... might be enough to convince them to stomach it.”

“I don’t think you’re correct in that assumption” Ken concludes, frowning as he shakes his head and returns to the business side of his desk, amusing the Athens leader in a way he wouldn’t have expected. “I don’t see how you have any other choice at this rate” Leon replies, pushing himself off the desk whilst following the leader’s figure as he walks around the table, “you wouldn’t be actively running for re-election if you didn’t still want this job. As far as I’m concerned, you don’t have any better campaign platform than this.”

“If I refuse to run for re-election outright, the rest of the year will be spent with the people capable of ending my life thinking I’m in a ‘fuck it, I’m almost out of here anyway’ attitude that they ought to just get rid of when they can” Ken counters, descending back into his seat, “I’ll be able to get out of here alive if I run an inoffensive campaign that never sees me as a credible threat, and then I hand over the keys to whoever the public gives the nod to after it’s all done.”

“Sometimes I struggle to believe that you’ve become this much of a pussy since signing that treaty” Leon quickly fires back, offended by the lack of a fight that the leader appears to put up, “you wanted all of this. If you’re demoralised by the world that you created, then what was the fucking point of riling up all of those people when our two sides were one?”

Placing the palms of his hands against the surface of his desk, Ken stares at the hardwood tabletop without speaking, letting the moment sit with his thoughts whilst the president of his original nation watches on, waiting for a reply. Mustering the will to press his lips together and scowl, the Free Boston figurehead lets his eyes lift back toward his once-adversary, a slight squint carrying itself back toward the man like the bindle to a child who’d run away from home upon realising he was better off under his parent’s roof.

“I became demoralised in the world that I created the day that I saw a little girl get run into by a speeding sports car that proceeded to drive off and leave her for dead in front of everyone in broad daylight” Ken confesses, visibly horrified at replaying the images in his head, “what really drove the nail into my heart was watching so many people call this out to a man in a paramedic’s uniform for help, and he did nothing but walk past and ask them all what she had to offer him in return.”

As disgusted by the thought as anyone else would be, Leon lets his head hang before forcing himself to look back toward his fellow leader the moment his words begin leaving the Free Boston president’s lips once more. “It was on that day that I regretted everything that led up to this place being created and that has not changed since” Ken remarks, sliding his palms away from the table once more as he leans back in his seat, “so, I’m sorry that I gave you so much trouble for nothing.”

Sliding back in his chair, Ken reaches into one of the cabinets on his desk’s side before retrieving a rolodex and a landline phone, spinning through the cycle before spotting out one number of interest. “Do you still believe in what you wanted to create then?” Leon proceeds to inquire, immediately prompting Free Boston’s founder to let out a groan and hang his head, pulling away from his task to address the question.

“Why are you so eager to get me to start stepping on toes that I’ve gone long enough to afford crunching down on, Leon?” the irritated president queries, looking toward the man that’s requested more unscheduled visits over the last three days than at any time since they both took up opposite reigns.

“Because you may not have hope for what you started, but I do. Choosing to keep yourself from being a viable alternative to Dean just lets him run away with the election” Leon responds, seeing a lack of resonance take shape in the leader’s face. “We all know what he thinks of Athens and how easy he thinks we’d be to invade” the visiting leadership proclaims, “letting your campaign be a farce doesn’t just mean the death of whatever you tried to build, but it means the death of what I did build.”

“Leon, what you built is no more sustainable than what I built. The only difference is that yours will last longer” Ken responds, shaking his head with refusal as he lowers his eyes back toward the sheet of contacts he searches through. “Which is why I’m willing to open Athens up further than I initially had to ensure that both of our communities can have a chance to exist how we envisioned them” Leon responds, watching the other man shake his head with an outright lack of belief.

“No, Leon. You don’t care about what happens here unless it benefits or hurts you and your camp” Ken replies, pointing toward the exit of his office as a display for his claim. “I’m entitled to give no shit about you or your people all the same. If that makes me a bad guy in your eyes, so be it. It never mattered to me before, and it sure as hell won’t matter to me now” the now-angry president proclaims, “you’re only here because you’ve run out of options. The second you walk through that door, it’ll be business as usual.”

“Do you want me to claim otherwise, Ken?” Leon questions back, shrugging as he plants both hands onto his hips, wanting to hear what the irritated national founder expects of him. “What I want is for you to let me quietly ride off into the sunset and retire to pasture, alright?” Ken answers honestly, not reserving his frustration or subdued hostilities, “I’ve got a year left in this job and then I’m home free. If you don’t like my successor, I’d suggest you start using the time you’ve got now to barter less and better prepare yourself for invasion.”

With his hands clenched into fists, Leon stares at the ground whilst he simmers, hearing the president dial into his landline the phone number he’d set out to find before turning back for the office’s exit. “Oh, and just so we’re on the same page... I know what you said about me yesterday- right as you were leaving- was meant as a slight...” Ken proclaims, holding the phone’s receiver against his chest, “...but you’re right. I’m not the right person to lead these people, and I will happily admit it anytime, anyplace, and anywhere.”

Sweeping an irritated breath of air into his lungs, Leon grits his teeth and leaves the building, making for home just as he had a day prior with the meeting going just as well as it had less than twenty four hours ago. Cleared of his visitor, Ken watches the man’s figure vanish beyond where the glass window will allow him to see whilst continuing to press the phone against his ear, hearing the muffled response from the caller as it bleeds into his dress shirt.

“Yeah, I’m here. I’m sorry for taking so long to call you back. I was...” Ken apologises, pausing for a moment as he considers his words, letting them sit with his mind for a moment whilst continuing to stare at the trail his leadership contemporary had travelled amidst his departure, “...taking some things into consideration.”

== Athens of America ==