It was time for Peter's very first Hegemonial photo shoot. And, you know, there might have been a time where he'd have felt flattered about it. It wasn't that he didn't understand the importance of it - it was vital that he push his image as a thoughtful Hegemon capable of handling important problems despite technically not even being of age yet ( ( Read more... )

It was odd: before now, the complexities of political life and the simplicities of home had been largely kept apart, even in the time Peter had spent in Haiti. Since his election as Hegemon they had started to run into each other instead. He wasn't sure whether his political life had suddenly turned to obsessing over inane details, or his home life ( Read more... )

Peter's first official act had been to reconfirm the appointment of Polemarch Chamrajnagar - an action which China officially protested as illegal because the office of Hegemon no longer existed, and while they would do nothing to interfere with Chamrajnagar's continued leadership of the Fleet, they would no longer contribute financially either to ( Read more... )

In all of yesterday's excitement, Peter had almost forgotten that he still had a fair share of his own stuff lying in his room at Fandom. He wouldn't have time to collect it anytime soon -- so he stole away in the few hours he had between press appointments to rush to the school and start cramming stuff into various packs and suitcases ( Read more... )

( Tl;dr of RISK )

Thankfully, the visit to Tahiti was less fraught with potentially difficult negotiations with heads of state. Peter was greeted and accepted quite heartily, taken to a private diplomat's dinner upon arrival last night and then driven to his hotel ( Read more... )

Most of Fandom's students were coming back replenished and relaxed after a week's worth of vacation. Peter was coming back exhausted and drained off of a week's worth of campaigning, taking him from South Africa through Namibia up along the coast, before flying back to Haiti. Where he had spent at least two days being scrutinized and lectured by ( Read more... )

The Portalocity terminal at Wonderboom Airport was a pretty fancy affair - in fact, it might have been the nicest Peter had ever arrived at. That was on purpose, of course. There would be press waiting outside, and he had to make a particular impression ( Read more... )

"...and thank you for your time," Peter finished. The speech had sounded easy: as far as public speaking went, he was apparently a natural. That was good to know, because right now he wasn't so sure that he'd said everything that had needed to be said, and he was entirely sure he'd said a lot of things he really hadn't needed to say ( Read more... )

"'The stability of our world--' no. 'The balance of power--' no, too on the nose. This can't be too obvious. It has to be all vague promises. Ah-- 'We have lived in peace for a hundred years, yes, but also in fear. Now that that fear has passed, we must regain our footing.' Better? Yes, better ( Read more... )