phoenix

Gabrielle Coleman. 50 years old. Democrat. Political commentator & consultant. Senate candidate for North Carolina.

[gvcoleman]

To say she was shaken might very well be an understatement. There had only been one shot, but that was enough, wasn’t it? Three shots had been enough as far as Teresa was concerned. It was hard to deny the panic that crawled its way up her throat as she sent out a litany of texts - to Rory, to Anne, anyone she could think of to check on that she knew was there, worried about Julian and Oliver and anyone else.

She was entirely absorbed in it, practically curling in on herself in the corner of the room where she had been locked in with a number of others. Most of them were, by her guess, French tourists, and she was entirely too wrapped up in her own head to pay anyone much mind, until she looked up across the way. She assumed he had to be an intern, so young he didn’t look like he belonged here, and she could only swallow, studying him for a moment before she reached out. Worrying about someone else at least gave her a fair distraction. “....Hey.” She prompted, trying not to spook him any further, even as her own ears strained for any more sounds of chaos outside the door. “Are you... okay? Want to talk?”

[gvcoleman]

text: anne kane

@annekane

Gabrielle: I’m sure you’re busy, but have you heard anything yet? Is anyone hurt?

Gabrielle: I hate guns. Hate.

[gvcoleman]

Gabrielle Coleman | State Dinner 

Gabrielle is dressed in a stylish floor length black gown which hangs over one shoulder - but to add a sparkle, is accessorized with a gold clutch and colorful bangles and bracelets. She wears large black earrings (which will probably come off once she gets tired of them and disappear in the clutch) and short, strappy black heels that just peek out under the hem of the dress.

[gvcoleman]

rmoskowitz​:

@gvcoleman​

  “Keeting’s Bill - what do you think?” Her power of purchase was relegated to the advice she bestowed upon politicians; invited, and otherwise (the latter, when the opposite party was involved). Life was an avalanche lately - though Rory had never drowned so happily in her personal life alongside work, it felt good to be here with Gabrielle, taking things four steps slower. In Rory’s D.C. home, they were stretched across the sofa - evening wine lesbians, serenaded by Tracy Chapman, warbling at a muted volume. “I care about bikes, pollution, yadayada - I love it, I do. But, I don’t know - when you’re laying between my legs, nothing else matters.” 

“Mm…. Then why’d you ask?” Gabrielle quipped, warm - comfortable. It’s hard to deny she’d always longed for this, a simple domesticity that Rory seemed so much happier to offer than Theresa had. She’d loved Theresa, more than words could say, but the woman had been distant, at times - hard to crack into her skull, where Rory seemed open, always, to letting Gabrielle in. She liked that.

Gabrielle sat up a little straighter, pushing her hair back with one hand. “Mm. I think it’s a good plan. Solid backing. But it’s just a matter of convincing some of the diehards. The way it always is. It’s not the sort of thing that’s gonna cause controversy. In some ways that’s good, but it doesn’t sell as well to get people’s attention. If it doesn’t bleed, it doesn’t lead - and yes, climate change is a danger, but it doesn’t feel like a pressing problem to people.”

[gvcoleman]

charliekeeting​:

It wasn’t like Charlie didn’t know anybody in DC, but finding people so willing to sit and have coffee with them on a friendly basis was rare - and he was hoping that he would get the chance to work with Gabrielle in Congress as well as in the nature they were talking now, as well.

Charlie nodded as she answered their question. “You’re not wrong about that. My team and I have been fielding a hundred and one questions a day it seems like, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything,” Charlie shrugged. “It’s important work that needs to be done, and I’ll be first in line to make sure it’s done and done right…. I really hope it’s getting traction, but it’s still a little early to tell,” Charlie said. They were still trying to accumulate Republican support, that was for sure.

“Makes sense to me. It’s clear this is a passion project for you.” She smiles - indicating that it’s a compliment, coming from her. “I think we get the best work out of people when they’re passionate about what they’re doing. That’s what’s got me where I am, you know? I wouldn’t change that, even if it’s been an uphill battle.”

She pauses, clearing her throat. “But we’re not here to talk about me. Can you tell me - what inspired this bill? Was there a particular incident or challenge you saw, or was it just…” she waved a hand. “Something you wanted to get done.”

[gvcoleman]

charliekeeting​:

It wasn’t like Charlie didn’t enjoy interviewing - quite the contrary actually. Charlie loved to talk about what he was doing and how it was going to affect things. However, it didn’t happen very often. They were too partisan, too left leaning, for a large majority of the moderate, and much too radical for the right to even consider publishing anything positive on them at all. Charlie spotted Gabrielle, approached her table with a warm smile as they reached out and shook her hand. “Anytime,” Charlie smiled. “Really. I’m more than happy to make time to talk. How are you today, Gabrielle? Campaigning treating you well?”

Gabrielle smiled as they took a seat across from her, straightening up in her chair. This was one of the things she had always liked most about working in DC - the relationships she could form, the people she could come to know, or even call friends. She and Charlie weren’t quite there yet, she assumed, but she hoped they could get there.

“I’m doing fine. Campaign is treating me - as well as can be expected. Between that and they day job, it keeps me on my toes.” She smiles wide. “Yourself? With the bill it must feel like you’re under the microscope. I’ll say off the bat - and off the record - I think it’s a great idea. You think it’s getting traction?”

[gvcoleman]

ginnypark​:

OPEN – somewhere, anywhere in DC. A weekday morning.

“Oh, fuck me,” the esteemed Press Secretary hisses at a volume not quite passable as quiet while her cup falls to the ground. Still, she’s quick to raise a palm at her present company. Ginny doesn’t truly look their way, though, simply waving away the prospective joke before it has a chance to be made. “That is not consent, by the way. Do not actually fuck me – but fuck.” Iced coffee spreads across the floor with haste, but it’s not worth trying to save. Not with how the bottom of her cup had split. “I might cry.” It’s been one of those days. Weeks. Months. Campaigns. “Am I still a respectable government official if I cry over spilled coffee? Before you answer, it’s cold brew. I feel like that’s worth noting.” Finally, she stoops over to pick up the ruined drink and tosses its remains into the nearest trash can with a heavy sigh before pressing some napkins down on the puddle of coffee left in its wake. Looking back to her present company, she arches a brow while squatted down to tend to the mess. “Hope your day’s going better than mine. No, really, I do hope. Mostly because it might buy me some good karma and lighten this whole thing up, but that’s beside the point.”

“Oh, honey - I’ve cried over much less than spilled coffee.” Gabrielle is already crouching to try and help to sop up the spill at Ginny’s side - nothing if not that kind of person, napkins pulled out of her own purse. “I think once - not that long after the inauguration? - I broke a nail even though I’d just gotten them done a few days before and I swear I had an absolute breakdown.” She shakes her head, looking back at Ginny. “All of which is to say, we all do it. But - lemme get you another cold brew.” She makes the offer with a little smile. “And you can cry on my shoulder, if you want. I’ve been there. Really.”

[gvcoleman]

@charliekeeting

Her focus on the campaign trail had more or less trampled over what had become a secondary job - though it had started far more part-time. She didn’t often appear on NBC, but years of standing in as a talking ahead had helped her to adapt, and she was a wanted voice, sometime, to speak on behalf of Washington “insiders”. (She suspected too it looked good for the “diversity” quota, but she never said so out loud.

She had just returned from another trip south, and was admittedly a little tired, but was nursing a very large coffee as she waited for Charlie Keeting to come for their meeting, set up with her phone and notepad to make sure she represented them well. When he came in, she stood up, extending a hand in their direction - not quite familiar enough yet for anything beyond a handshake, tho she did like them. “Charlie,” she started warmly. “Thank you for agreeing to meet me so quickly. I know you’ve got a lot on your plate already lately.”

[gvcoleman]

notalexanderward​:

“Oh, I don’t know,” he said with a coy smile, “you might be surprised how much people can end up changing.” Perhaps by outward appearances no one would think that Alex had really changed much over the last year that he’d been together with Anne, but the fact was that he had. “I’m glad it’s not all bringing you down.” He knew that the daily grind was too much for some. And even being in politics was not the same as well, being in politics. “Wishing you the best,” he added on cheerily. He knew she would be a good politician. The kind that this country needed more of. The notion of the campaign is, well, an awkward topic. His friend base, which he kept on the down low, happened to consist of the entire Republican ticket. He just gave a shrug, in the way that said he’d seen it all and been through it all before and that he wasn’t much bothered. “There’s a lot to do, but like you, I like being kept busy. Though a little less than I used to, since it cuts into date nights.” If it wasn’t clear how in love he was with Anne, it might be with how everything he said seemed to circle back to her.   

“I’ll give you that. Guess love can do that to a person.” She was warm at the notion, especially coming from Alex - who seemed to make Anne so happy, she couldn’t disagree. “Of course- thanks. It’s a lot, but I’m learning to take it in stride. Getting there is the main thing. Then a whole new set of challenges, but I’ve got people who’ll be there for me.”

She nodded, unable to stop herself from taking a bite from one of the macarons that was already on her plate, smiling as she nodded. “Sure. I get that,” she agreed, soft. “I think maybe that’s the problem in this town. Too much work and not enough date nights, right?” Setting the macaron back down, she tilted her head. “I should let you get back to her, hm? Short on time as it is.”

[gvcoleman]

annekane​:

- - - - -

Seeing her friend relieved a world full of stress that she’d been carrying the past week juggling intelligence events here and there, recruiting for the summer.  It felt good to unwind, bring that all too sweet cup of coffee to her lips and catch up with Gabrielle.  Her campaign sounded just as crazy the more Anne listened, nodding and trying to remember back to those days a few decades ago.

“It wasn’t easy, and I can’t imagine it’s any easier these days.”  Anne didn’t have to experience the same social media craze, but reporters and news hosts were always around regardless.  “Pack light when you’re traveling that much and prepare lots of alternate speeches.  I hear dogs are pretty popular on the trail now, maybe Spot would like it,” she laughed, imagining what it might have been like if Captain was wagging his tail next to her at the podium.  “But the most important thing was having someone beside me who supported me.  It didn’t matter how I did in the polls when I could come home to her telling me I could get through it.”

She made certain to note everything Anne offered up with an eager sort of nod. If there was one advantage to how deeply she had focused her life on her work, it was that she had friends who understood what she had gone through - the choices she made and why, and had made some of the same choices. “It’s a good point. I’ve been bringing him along a little, but having him looked after, too. Poor thing is clingy. I think he still misses her, now and again.” There was no need, she assumed, to clarify on the her in that sentence. “That’s true. I’m lucky, in that regard. And she knows what it’s like. She did it with Julian, for years.” She pauses a moment, quiet. “You know - you never told me much about her. I don’t wanna pry, but - it’s just that I guess you don’t mention her a lot.”

[gvcoleman]

annekane​:

“Crazy for sure,” Anne agreed, correcting herself.  With such an array of personalities in a room full of people who were confident in themselves, she could imagine the details got picky.  “And Jared trying to order some crazy cocktail when everything is premade.”  The poor servers and cooks and bartenders.  Everything in the room was packed and tight enough as it was too without them having to navigate through the crowd.  Anne couldn’t help but grin at the Bell comment, even if she felt bad that Alex didn’t have many friends at the event.  “Yeah, tell me about it.  November will be stressful enough.”  

Hearing about Gabrielle and Rory always brightened her mood, glad both of her friends had found happiness with each other.  “Nothing wrong with still having another place, change things up.  It is nice though, having someone there.  Alex and I have been living together for some time.”  She was surprised she hadn’t brought it up earlier, though it had just kind of…happened, rather than been something official.  “Aside from all these events, how’s the campaign schedule?  Do you guys have any nice vacations planned for the fall in between?  I used to try to sneak away at least for a weekend.”

“Oh, of course. You fill up the room, and there are bound to be a few people who’ll make a fuss. But it’s usually worth it, if you can learn to ignore the people who’ll make it difficult for you.” It had long been her philosophy - those people were always there, and so long as they weren’t causing active harm, you could easily shut them out if you need it. “Same principle to using the block button actively on Twitter. Do you use Twitter? And I mean you, not the DNI’s social media intern,” she added on with a teasing smile.

“Yeah- that’s a good point. But - really, that’s sweet. You deserve that. I think we all do, right. Someone to wake up to in the morning. I haven’t had that for a long time.” And she hadn’t. The fact that her longest relationship had been with someone who no one had really known about - and someone who had lived in the White House for the last few years of her life - had meant just the simple thing of sharing a bed had fallen aside. “A weekend away sounds nice. Maybe I’ll have to work that in. Or - I don’t know. It might be multi-tasking if I bring her along one weekend to meet my mother.” She smiled at the notion. “My mama will love her, I know it already. Though she doesn’t know the first thing about anything Jewish.”

[gvcoleman]

sarahbmodrik​:

     Sarah wasn’t content with the woman’s reaction – she thought she’d done a pretty good job at defending herself and her views, and all she got was ‘fair’? But, then again, maybe it was on her for expecting any level of a conversation from a Democrat – after all, they were at the epitome of political-correctness of events. She, too, should have known better. “I did, actually,” she was just as surprised herself. It was known that, historically, Republican presidents got mocked while Democratic presidents got praised at these things, but she thought it had at least not been too over-the-top. With a quick glance at Gabrielle, Sarah wondered once more why she’d been seated at this table. “So… Is this the singles table or…” she left the ending open with a raise of her brows. Surely Gabrielle would be wondering just the same.

The tension lingered, but Gabrielle wasn’t about to pursue it any further than she had to at this moment, having a sip from her glass. This was one of the few times she hated herself for having such a strong stance when it came to alcohol - one drink wouldn’t go amiss and it might smooth her night over, but it was better not to start. “I don’t think so. But maybe I’ll have to ask my girlfriend. She knows more about the seating chart.” Had she brought up Rory just to get a little rise from Sarah? Maybe. She had never been shy about her sexuality, so she probably already knew, but a little shock would have amused her.

After a beat, Gabrielle set her glass down again, straightening up for her chair. “Where is it you write for again?”

[pastaandprose]

send me a song and i’ll tell you what memory it brings up or who it reminds me of.

ask memes 1/? (via oceansrps)

[gvcoleman]

WHAT IF rory said move in

The answer would totally be an enthusiastic yes!!!

[gvcoleman]

What if Theresa had been public about their relationship, how might things have changed between them?

I think the nature of Gabrielle’s position would certainly have changed - she might have been in more of a First Lady position than a COS position. Their relationship itself wouldn’t have been very different I think, since regardless they loved each other a lot, but it would have changed perceptions of them both in the public eye and that might have altered the dynamic, perhaps adding more stress on them to ‘perform’ as the first open same-sex couple in the White House.

[gvcoleman]

what if gabrielle had the chance to work with theresa again - what would she do differently?

Honestly, probably not much. She might try harder to push Theresa toward more liberal policy choices, and also might try harder to encourage her toward coming out and being honest. Otherwise, she’d keep things fairly similar, because Gabrielle thinks she did her best while working with Theresa, even if Theresa was too stubborn to always listen.

[royisms]

“send me ‘what if’ scenarios for my muse to answer.”

— (via charliekeeting)