I apologise to the peoples of Denmark, the Federated States of Micronesia, anyone in the fishing industry and anyone who's been to a Model UN meeting more than twice (i.e. those who know more about it than me) for the inevitable factual inaccuracies contained henceforth. Also I hope this makes sense. Model UN is very structured and kind of complicated and I was trying to replicate that while making it understandable. Dunno if it worked.
world, hold on
So incensed is she by his argument, Amy's placard is in the air before Attractive New Guy has even finished talking.
"The chair recognises the Federated States of Micronesia," Holt announces from his table at the front. "You have the floor."
Amy stands and formally bows her head to Holt. "I thank you, Honourable Chair."
Sure, the Federated States of Micronesia weren't one of the biggest players in the model UN general assembly -Amy craves the responsibility of being assigned one of the Security Council honestly, maybe even she'll get to the Chair one day- but she's a great believer in making the most of what she's given. And it's the start of the year so there are a lot of intimidated newbies occupying the bigger countries who will probably drop out within a few weeks. After five years of religiously attending Model UN at her high school and now her college, Amy knows how to spot the weaker among the newbies. Attractive New Guy is definitely a weak one, confident maybe but with a complete misunderstanding of the issues at play and once Amy makes her point, she's sure he'll see it her way. And if he's too intimidated to come again, well, that's his problem not hers.
"With all due respect, the delegation from the Federated States of Micronesia feels the delegation from Denmark has taken a laughably narrow and ignorant stance on the issue," Amy says.
Attractive New Guy's eyes swivel across the vague approximation of a semi circle of chairs to stare at her expectantly. This does not make her nervous. It certainly does not make her fluff her words for the first time since her very first Model UN debate in the tenth grade.
"The thing is we all just need- look, well..."Amy takes a deep breath, looks at Holt for inspiration (she might have mistaken his small encouraging nod for him just well, breathing but she jumps on it anyway) then finds her stride. "I believe the countries gathered here today, including and especially the honourable delegation from Denmark, need to stop acting out of self-interest and really consider how international bans on overfishing might negatively affect the economies of smaller nations. Thirty per cent of my country's domestic budgetary revenue is dependant on fees collected from foreign fishing companies to fish in our waters. There's no telling what fishing bans imposed by the UN could to do to Micronesia's economy."
(Beat that Attractive New Guy. It may only be week two, but Amy's done her homework.)
Attractive New Guy has his placard in the air, smirking. Amy smiles tightly, folding her arms. "Point of information?" he asks.
Holt gives him a look of admonishment. "The Federated States of Micronesia has not yet yielded to points of information, nor is she obliged to."
"Oh," Attractive New Guy says. 'Sorry' he mouths to her.
Amy sighs. She was planning on yielding the rest of her speaking time back to the Chair, Holt so she could have the last word but now he's asked she'll look silly if she doesn't yield to his question. "I yield to points of information from other delegates."
Attractive New Guy stands. After a throat clearing cough that Amy is one hundred per cent sure is for dramatic effect, he says."When the delegate from the Federated States of Micronesia said 'with all due respect', did she actually mean she gives all due respect or was that just a platitude to lull the delegation from Denmark into a false sense of security? I feel like wars could be started over this."
Amy gives him a withering glare that threatens to turn into a reluctant smile. The guy just grins a megawatt grin at her (This guy is an idiot, Amy thinks). Holt's pursed lips confirm she doesn't need to answer this. "Is that all, Denmark?" Holt asks.
"No, no, the delegation from Denmark's just messing with the General Assembly, that wasn't my real question." A ripple of laughter goes around the room. Attractive New Guy turns to her. "Is the delegate from the Federated States of Micronesia aware that Denmark is ranked fifth in the world in fishing exports and fish products and so we also have an interest in not setting international fishing bans at an unworkablely low threshold? Any bans could be negotiated with countries that are dependant on the industry to make them fair."
(Turns out he did his homework too. Which is... surprising.)
When Amy can't find an answer, he sits back in his chair. "Boom," he says, pleased with himself.
Attractive New Guy approaches her after Holt calls an end to the session. Amy pretends not to notice him while she packs away her notes in her bag and pushes her arms through the sleeves of her coat. "So," he says eventually and she looks up. "That was cool. I'm Jake, by the way. Jake Peralta."
"Amy Santiago," she tells him. He shakes her hand and grins again—at this point, it seems like it's his natural facial expression. He exudes the kind of easy magnetic charm that probably makes him a lot of friends very quickly.
"Oh, but 'the delegation from the Federated States of Micronesia' suits you so much better!" he says and Amy doesn't bother trying not to laugh. "You seem like you've been doing this a long time."
"Including high school, I've been doing it five years," Amy says. "I want to be chair before I graduate."
He's genuinely impressed. "Wow. This is only my second session." Amy feels an irrational spike of jealousy that he managed to be so good at debating after only two sessions, whilst being able to entertain the room even on a comparatively dry topic like they had tonight like Amy's never been able to. "Honestly, I wasn't even sure I'd even come again after tonight but-" Jake looks at his shoes, then her, then his shoes again. "I really enjoyed it tonight."
Amy burrows her hands into her pockets, a warm feeling settling in her stomach and a small smile forming on her cheeks. "I should probably go," she says (Rosa -surly Vanuatu delegate who usually advocates for military action no matter what the issue- usually walks back with her to their dorm building and Amy can see she's getting impatient) and Jake nods. "I'll see you around, Denmark."
Jake salutes her formally. "The same to you, Federated States of Micronesia."
