Senator Leia Organa tells herself at least she still has the decency to feel guilty about her ulterior motives.
And that's how being a politician works. The good politicians feel guilty, but get work done anyways; the bad ones have their consciousness pushed and pulled by other forces - usually money, sometimes notoriety.
Leia, of course, was rich and well known on her own: a girl who summered with the Kennedys and the Vanderbilts. She has distinct memories of ice skating in Manhattan with Anderson Cooper when she was fourteen and he was still a sweet faced kid, and of her dreadfully dull debutante ball a few years later.
So like any good child of a political dynasty, she still feels slightly guilty about using people the way she does. It can't be helped of course, but Leia does try to mitigate it as best as she can. She's careful about who she hires to help around the summer home - even more careful when she finally interviews the charming nineteen year old who is frankly, overqualified to scoop leaves out of her pool.
It's no mystery why Poe Dameron - who has just finished his first year at Harvard on the Dean's List - is trying to be a pool boy and a lifeguard at a private shared beach for the summer. It's not that he couldn't snag a cushy internship - or even that Leia herself wouldn't have found him qualified to intern at the senate - it's that Poe needs the cash. And that he isn't documented - so the kinds of governmental internships that require citizenship are present a quagmire of problems, all in the form of paperwork. When Leia had asked why Poe hadn't pursued something a little more challenging for the summer, Poe had smiled and said DACA was fine for menial labor, he was pretty sure. It was the kind of arresting - charming - summary of how and why students like Poe were failed by current laws that Leia would've laughed if she hadn't grimaced.
It only made Senator Organa feel even more guilty knowing full well she'd use Poe's story to her own campaigning advantage down the line.
But that was the long game, Leia knew. For right now, he was just the kind of shock her household needed - affable, poor, hard working, and both unimpressed and unintimidated by privilege or power. In short, exactly the taste of reality her wayward Ben needed.
***
The day she had handed Poe the keys to the pool shed and to the pool house, Leia smiled. "For the rest of the summer," she said, "-you have the run of things. If Ben gives you any problems, you can come to me. Otherwise, feel free to tell him to get out of the way or get you a lemonade," she had advised. "Maybe if he gets tired of helping you out, he won't be so insistent on wanting to take a gap year next fall."
And that had been the plan. Make Ben help the help - and then he'd realize his life was cushy, and that his mother knew what was best for him. Perhaps even force him to actually pack his things at the end of summer and trot off to Harvard with a new friend already there and waiting for him.
But the other consequences of Senator Organa's plan -- those had been rather unintended.
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timeasmymeasure
Light's on, but Your Mom's Not Home [1/?]
Date: 2016-10-17 01:38 am (UTC)And that's how being a politician works. The good politicians feel guilty, but get work done anyways; the bad ones have their consciousness pushed and pulled by other forces - usually money, sometimes notoriety.
Leia, of course, was rich and well known on her own: a girl who summered with the Kennedys and the Vanderbilts. She has distinct memories of ice skating in Manhattan with Anderson Cooper when she was fourteen and he was still a sweet faced kid, and of her dreadfully dull debutante ball a few years later.
So like any good child of a political dynasty, she still feels slightly guilty about using people the way she does. It can't be helped of course, but Leia does try to mitigate it as best as she can. She's careful about who she hires to help around the summer home - even more careful when she finally interviews the charming nineteen year old who is frankly, overqualified to scoop leaves out of her pool.
It's no mystery why Poe Dameron - who has just finished his first year at Harvard on the Dean's List - is trying to be a pool boy and a lifeguard at a private shared beach for the summer. It's not that he couldn't snag a cushy internship - or even that Leia herself wouldn't have found him qualified to intern at the senate - it's that Poe needs the cash. And that he isn't documented - so the kinds of governmental internships that require citizenship are present a quagmire of problems, all in the form of paperwork. When Leia had asked why Poe hadn't pursued something a little more challenging for the summer, Poe had smiled and said DACA was fine for menial labor, he was pretty sure. It was the kind of arresting - charming - summary of how and why students like Poe were failed by current laws that Leia would've laughed if she hadn't grimaced.
It only made Senator Organa feel even more guilty knowing full well she'd use Poe's story to her own campaigning advantage down the line.
But that was the long game, Leia knew. For right now, he was just the kind of shock her household needed - affable, poor, hard working, and both unimpressed and unintimidated by privilege or power. In short, exactly the taste of reality her wayward Ben needed.
***
The day she had handed Poe the keys to the pool shed and to the pool house, Leia smiled. "For the rest of the summer," she said, "-you have the run of things. If Ben gives you any problems, you can come to me. Otherwise, feel free to tell him to get out of the way or get you a lemonade," she had advised. "Maybe if he gets tired of helping you out, he won't be so insistent on wanting to take a gap year next fall."
And that had been the plan. Make Ben help the help - and then he'd realize his life was cushy, and that his mother knew what was best for him. Perhaps even force him to actually pack his things at the end of summer and trot off to Harvard with a new friend already there and waiting for him.
But the other consequences of Senator Organa's plan -- those had been rather unintended.