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New Zealand First has a lot of policy that aligns with Labour - closing corporate tax loopholes, introducing guaranteed benefits for students, removing GST from things like food... that sort of thing. You can find their policy page here, if you're at all interested (which you probably aren't).

The other thing is that Winston implicitly campaigned on a promise of change, with slogans such as 'Had Enough?'. On top of that, he appears to be starting legal proceedings against some National Party members - something to do with the way he and his party were treated when he was in coalition with them.

Believe me, there's plenty of small-minded partisanship in New Zealand, too. Some of the rage from National supporters was almost as bad as Republicans' response to Obama's election. Our system of government encourages it less, though. People can vote for the bigger small parties and have a reasonable expectation of that vote actually mattering to the makeup of the government, unlike in the US, where FPP turns every single election into an us vs. them between the far right and the moderate right, with no room for anyone else.

"Charlotte? She's... around here somewhe—"

There was a sudden breeze, and Charlotte appeared beside them, her elegant gown held above her knees and her hair coming unpinned. "Is everything alright?" she asked, and then her nostrils flared. "You're bleeding!"

"Just little cuts, I'm fine, Lottie," Ix said, face turning red when Charlotte pulled her hands out of her pockets to inspect them.

"Jenni didn't bug you about healing them?"

"She did—Charlotte, I can take care of it myself, stop worrying so much," Ix said, pulling her hands away and shoving them back in her pockets.

Charlotte sighed and looked at Jenni. "Everything alright over here?"

((Charlotte has to spend a lot of time in FicPsych to get her badfic personality hammered out. I figure either she knows Jenni in passing or has seen her a couple of times, it's up to you.))

Tom sighed. He pulled a spare metal plate off his costume. "Thoth, demonstrate, would you?"

Thoth took the plate and spit on it. The liquid sizzled, bubbling ominously and leaving a hole in the plate. "My spit is acid. It is occasionally useful, although sometimes inconvenient."

"And," said Tom, "it's a good charge for any Sue who endeavors to kiss a Space Marine - rare, but fun when it happens. Or rather, popping the into a reality room afterwards is fun." He looked at Derik. "Oh. Sorry..."

"Great! Then it's settled. Welcome to Team Blast Hardcheese!" Gall stuck out a hand, then thought better of it and made it a fist for bumping.

Derik looked from Tom to Thoth in puzzlement. "You keep mentioning spit. Someone explain the spit."

Nearby...

Jenni nodded thoughtfully. "Yeah, you had some bad luck there. Where's your partner, anyway? What if they joined us?"

(( Seeing as that thread seems to have run dry...? Oh, and I know about the acid spit, but my agents don't, and it was a good opportunity to make Derik sound silly. {= ) ))

"Can you also endeavor not to spit on anybody?" asked Tom.

"I thought that was implied."

"It wouldn't necessarily kill them..."

"Not really," she said sheepishly. "I... my partner wanted us to come here, try and... make me talk to people." She sighed. "It's not really working out too well right now."

((Heh, is fine. Ix is probably a few posts away from losing her nerve and bolting unless something happens to change her mind anyway.))

"Wait, wait." Derik waved his hand. "Say rather, 'endeavor not to'. World of difference."

And...

Jenni sighed. You could lead a horse to water, etc. Oh well. This one wasn't hers, and there was only so much meddling a new acquaintance would tolerate. "All right. Sorry," she said, "I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. Are you sure you want to jump back into that circus, though?"

(( Not trying to dissuade you, Boarder!Ix; just Jenni being Jenni. {= ) ))

"But I still don't think it'd be safe for him to compete. For one thing, he might spit on somebody."

"I have never spit on anybody accidentally," said Thoth.

"Well, that's not the only issue. For another, you're two meters and built like a ogre. Frankly, having you on any team would be a balance issue."

"I have no doubt that Headquarters contains equally powerful agents who would be willing to participate."

Tom sighed. "Okay, yes, but then you have to worry about killing us normals."

"I would not endeavor to kill..."

(and yeah, some sort of standard dementia etc. check isn't the silliest idea)

Ix swallowed. "Can we just go back to the group, please? If... if that's alright with you. I'll be fine, promise."

"Yes, it is!" Gall said.

"It's a game," Derik went on, ignoring her, "and there are rules. You play in a pitch-dark corridor and hit a light-up ball back and forth until one team can't continue. No magic or powers, no weapons but padded bats."

"And no protection unless you're a wuss."

"Unless it's for other players' protection. We don't actually want to seriously injure anyone."

Gall grinned. "Just to the point where they cry for mercy. If they're still conscious."

"But it isn't supposed to be a brawl, which you always 'forget'." He looked up at Thoth. "I'm not saying you wouldn't be an asset, but someone has to worry about safety! And that's for our own team, too. It all gets very mixed up in the dark. If I had your word it would be all right, perhaps...?"

Meanwhile...

Jenni blinked, not particularly thrilled at being balked twice in one evening, but shook it off with a subtle shift of posture. "Oh, that's good," she said. "Go on, then." She indicated that Ix should proceed with her healing. As long as it got done, she supposed.

I would certainly be in favour of some kind of mental health check - dementia screening, for example. But I wouldn't say that older people can't be effective members of the government.

What I do support is more engagement of younger people with politics. More possibility for younger people to run for election with a hope of winning, and more young people getting out and voting. The latter is widely regarded as what caused Theresa May to throw away her majority - Jeremy Corbyn managed to get young voters to actually come out and vote.

If the people who are going to have to live with the consequences for longest decide that age and experience is more valuable than what a younger candidate is offering, great - that's how democracy works. But America was offered a choice between Trump and Clinton, both around 70 (and Bernie at 75!); Britain was presented with May at 60 and Corbyn at 68. In ten years, all of them except Mrs May will be beyond the point where today's policies really affect them (except in terms of healthcare, but HAHA they're all rich anyway so who cares about the poor amirite?); why were they the only options for making those policies?

hS

"Thoth, standing still in a fight... heh, that's a good one. I'm siding with Derik in this one: I'm pretty sure the other teams would object to a two-meter tall player with centuries of military training who can shoot fire, read the opposing team's minds, and see the future, among other things."

"You overstate my abilities somewhat," said Thoth. "I am rather poor with fire. Nor am I excellent at reading the future. In any case, I would be happy to join you in combat."

I'm confused. The small anti-immigration socially-conservative party is in a coalition with ... democratic socialists? How is that even supposed to work? Am I just projecting American levels of partisan gridlock on everyone else's governments?

- Somash

The company that makes Pokémon GO announced they're making a similar game based on Harry Potter. Everything's a bit vague at the moment, but it sounds like they have the legalities in order at least.

Here's hoping this doesn't vanish into thin air during development because it sounds like a neat concept.

- Tomash

Where did you get a drop spindle? How long did it take you to learn? Was it hard? And, perhaps most interestingly: was there enough information in the books to learn from, or did you have to look things up/get advice?

~Z

Which...is a phrase I'm fairly sure I've never in my life heard anyone use, but shh, I'm going to make it a thing for the moment. Anyway: I've read the Beka Cooper books, but I don't remember much more about them than the general storyline, and even that is really incomplete. I didn't connect to them as much as I did to her other books, so I never really reread them? Or maybe I've reread one? I actually own one or two of them, but they've mostly just stayed on the shelf after I read them the first time...which was when they came out, hence why I don't really remember much.

Meanwhile, I've done the opposite with most of the rest of her books.

Oh well. Still cool to meet another person who's read some Tamora Pierce :)

~Z

I sadly don't have a list.

She wasn't about to show off the malunion and scars that gnarled her hands. "It's just little cuts," she said. "No big deal, really, I can heal it myself." She swallowed, worrying that what she said had come off as rude. "I'm sure you could do a good job, though," she said, "but I don't want to trouble you."

"Cuz I was thinking about inviting you to join our Australian Indoor-Rules Quiddich team, but—"

Derik, who had settled into the amiable state of drunkenness he'd shot through earlier, barked a laugh. "That is a horrible idea! No offense, brother—rather the opposite—but it hardly seems fair."

"So? No rule says the teams have to be fair. Blast Hardcheese got killed last season, and I don't want a repeat. Even the Physical Therapy nerds kicked our asses thanks to their precog and your totally divided loyalties."

Derik shook his head. "No, I keep telling you, Bjørnsen's useless in Headquarters. And my loyalties are perfectly intact!"

"Whatever. All I'm saying is that if Nevermind can have a kender, we ought to be able to have a giant. I hate playing those guys; half the time we can't even find the stupid ball cuz it's 'fallen into his pocket' again."

"Now, you know Earwig can't help that. Anyway, we've got Suicide. He's, what, eleven percent cyborg? And arguably crazier than I am."

"Yeah, but he's sweet on Green-eyes over there, so he doesn't want to bust up her friends. You both suck when we're against PT, so we need some muscle who's willing to do the damn job. Look at this guy." She gestured at Thoth. "We could just have him stand in front of us and let the other guys knock themselves out trying to get through!"

(( Sorry for running long, but this argument has been playing in my head all day. >_>; ))

Meanwhile...

"No, I'm not upset with you," Jenni said. "No one is. Gall's happy to have her mace back, and I agreed with you jumping in. I only did myself because I thought it was safest if things did escalate any further. Fortunately, they didn't." She smiled. "Now... are you going to be stubborn like 'GL' over there, or are you going to let me have a look at you?"

I did read a bit of Wild Magic and Circle of Magic, but I don't remember any of it.

Do you support an age maximum on being elected to office?

If so, what?

(I can see decent points each side could raise on this, so I was wondering what you think)

It's been a pretty good election for the Democratic Party, really. Hopefully it signifies a move away from Trump-style populism.

Meanwhile, we had an election recently down here in New Zealand. That ended in pretty much the weirdest way possible - right-wing incumbents National got ~46% of the vote, but the loosest of our loose cannons, Winston Peters, decided to screw them and go into coalition with our Labour Party instead.
I'm still not sure how I feel about this. I mean, I'm glad that National's out - screw them and their wrecking of our national parks - but I'm not keen on Winnie having so much influence. I'm just hoping the new government can get some good things done in the next three years.

Ix kept them closed by her sides. "It's nothing, it was just an accident." She glanced back at the other agents, then back at Jenni. "You're... not upset with me?"