Author: Kat
Title: The Albany Insider
Story: In the Heart
Colors: Blackstar 2 (Blue Jean-she got a camouflaged face and no money → Blue Jean (Tonight)), warm light 7 (I've no intention of confessing today)
Supplies and Materials: Seed beads (Reagan), watercolors (U.S. Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger, resigns after charges of favoritism in granting claims to Alaskan coal lands.), stain (The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear. - Herbert Agar), novelty beads (Let he without sin slap the shit out of the asshole over yon.), tapestry (warm light/seed beads)
Word Count: 682
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Reagan Clarence blows off steam.
Warnings: politics.
Notes: Reagan is Madison's older sister. They have another sister named Kennedy. The family has issues.


The last vote was over by three, and Reagan was home by four, naked by four-oh-five, and scrubbed red in the shower by four-fifteen. Foundation and lipstick and blush, oh so subtle touches of eyeshadow swirling down the drain, her staid Senator suit and uncomfortable pantyhose abandoned on the floor. She'd leave them there, she decided, for as long as she could get away with, until the very last minute she had before her parents came over for dinner.

Which they would, sooner or later, probably without calling first. But not tonight.

Tonight was just for her.

Out of the shower, she put on her oldest, rattiest pajamas, and gathered her hair back into a ponytail without bothering to blow-dry it. It would pop out in curls, and she'd have to flat-iron it in the morning, but to hell with that. To hell with all of it. She sat down at her computer, opened an incognito browser, and went where she always knew she was going.

The Albany Insider.

Her parents hated the blog, and they'd forbidden her to read it. Which in some respects was hilarious-- Reagan was thirty-two, lived on her own, and paid all her own bills, and was even a state Senator, for heaven's sake-- but at the same time, they would check her internet history, and she would let them. She always had.

They said it was for her own good, said it would only upset her. They always said that. Maybe they even meant it.

But they couldn't stop her. They'd just driven her underground.

It was a Senate special today. The first few paragraphs: about Senator Montgomery's embezzlement scandal and how she was probably innocent. Reagan just couldn't see it, not from Wanda Montgomery. Call boys, sure, call girls, maybe, but embezzlement? No. She didn't need the money, and she genuinely believed she was serving her state and her country.

Now a rant about Senator Novio. Not that he'd done anything illegal, he was just deeply annoying. It seemed, from recent poll data, that his constituents agreed with Reagan. Another Republican seat gone. She should care, but she couldn't really bring herself to it. Not now.

Senator Gerraughty, introducing a bill suspiciously helpful to the lobbyist she'd been seen with. Senator Spurr, probably actually guilty of embezzlement, but too handsomely golly-gee-whiz-ma'am to ever get caught, or even suspected. Senator Iriye, new to his seat, starry-eyed and naive, soon to be crushed by Albany.

Oh, and there, what she'd been waiting for. Her own name.

...and of course the ever-popular Senator Clarence, our very own blonde Republican sex kitten. Sadly, she hasn't done anything illegal yet, but rest assured we're watching her very closely. Maybe we'll get lucky and she'll lose her seat next round.

Reagan snorted. In her dreams.

Of all the Albany flavors of stupidity, I think Senator Clarence is the worst. I mean, look at her. She's so perfect on the outside, but if you ever heard her talking to her office manager, you'd know what she's really like. The woman still takes orders from her parents. Her parents, people. She can't think for herself, she just does what they tell her. And you know what's the real bitch of the whole situation? She used to be better than this. She used to actually think, and make her own choices. She even knew right from wrong back then. She wanted to be a civil rights lawyer, if you can believe that, and look how far she's fallen, a shill for the corporate interests. I can't believe it, can you?

No. She couldn't.

But that last bit... that was too revealing. Nobody knew that about Reagan anymore. Maybe her college roommates would remember, but she barely talked to them anymore, just an awkward smile and nod at reunions. And her parents, they'd remember. How disappointed they were, when she told them what she wanted to do. How they'd worked on her.

"We just want what's best for you," they said. "It's for your own good."

Reagan deleted the last four sentences, and hit post.