Gooseberry High - Staff & Teachers (
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gooseberryhigh2017-10-21 07:50 pm
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PUNISHMENTS
After dinner, Sylvester Stoker and Reid Wainwright are called into Ms. Vector's office for a mandatory meeting with her and Mr. Thorn. The mood in the room is tense, but the two strict teachers get right down to business. They don't mince words.
Elsewhere, Calvin Evercreech is being spoken to by Mr. Hightower about implications that he had, in fact, tried to frame Stoker. Ribbonfin junior and senior prefects (and the Head Boy) as well as Calvin's roommates will be asked if they can vouch for his character or his whereabouts.
- For attacking a fellow student, Sylvester Stoker is being benched until the new year, January 1. This means he will not be participating in the game against Azurcrest.
- He may keep his badge and act as Captain during practices, and he'll have to decide whether he'd like Ira Ashworth or Dinah Dixon to replace him for the next two months or so.
- Mr. Thorn makes it clear that if it were up to him, Stoker would have his badge removed permanently.
- Further inquiries will be made into whether or not Stoker is a fit captain. This means that interviews will be set up with his team, Coppertale senior and junior prefects, the Coppertale Cheer captain, and the other Quidditch captains.
- Stoker has a week to tell his team, after which it will be made clear to senior prefects and the victim of his attack how and why he was punished.
Elsewhere, Calvin Evercreech is being spoken to by Mr. Hightower about implications that he had, in fact, tried to frame Stoker. Ribbonfin junior and senior prefects (and the Head Boy) as well as Calvin's roommates will be asked if they can vouch for his character or his whereabouts.
IC REACTIONS
Sy & Reid
Now... now, Sy doesn't know what he thinks of that. Somehow, without either of them being entirely aware of it, Reid had become a permanent part of his life. Sy misses him. He hates it, but it's true.
Sy exits the meeting with a very muted "yes ma'am, yes sir" and heads out the door. He stalks down the hallway, boots thudding loudly against the wooden floor, before he suddenly pivoting as he passes a metal locker, his fist raised in the air. He stops, staring hard at the locker. His hands drops back to his side.
"I'll tell them," he says very quietly, without looking at Reid. "I don't need a week."
Sy & Reid
"Yeah. Okay." He exhales and goes silent again. "It's just one game." It's more than one game, though, and even Reid knows that. It's about pride, and the threat that the teachers are going to be asking around about Sy.
Sy & Reid
Has any Coppertale captain ever lost their badge? Sy doesn't know. He can't be the only colossal asshole who's ever gotten the position, not in a house like this, but... did all them manage to pull themselves together for their team? Was it only him who ever failed? It's a classic Stoker move to break records. Maybe he should be proud.
Sy turns to Reid. "Listen... I don't wanna go back to camp right now. I'm not saying... blow off curfew, get drunk or whatever. None of that. I just... wanna go for a walk." He exhales. "Come with me?"
COPPERTALE OPINIONS
Re: COPPERTALE OPINIONS
She will say that Sy incorporates the best of Coppertale's competitiveness and is a fit captain, because if he wasn't - his team would be the first to let that be known, but they've rallied behind him for a reason and that reason is because he's earned it. She will stop herself from adding that sometimes positive behavior comes not through acts of punishment but through acts of mercy - he has to know that he's fucked up, which sometimes is enough to encourage change.
Cash
If you want a character witness, well. Okay. Sylvester Stoker is, by his estimation, aggressive, belligerent, reactionary, and insecure. He's a bully and a loser, who's squandering the opportunities he was given, all because he lacks the Kindergarten level of self-control required to keep his hands to himself.
That said, if they keep him out of sports, he'll probably end up dead or in jail. Benching him sends a no-tolerance message that Cash can respect, but it doesn't really help anyone. Stoker least of all; it's clearly the only thing he cares about, and without Quidditch, Cash expects he'll have killed someone, possibly himself, by graduation. Removing him as captain will just cause more instability in Coppertale. Let him stay on the team, but give him a working detention. Make him
grade paperscut grass in his free time. And if he does this again, he should be expelled.Charlotte
Sy cannot lose his fucking badge.
She spins a tale about her captain's dedication to his team, about how he works them hard so that they can become their best selves but he always seems to know just what their personal limits are. And poor Ira... she hit him so hard with a bludger at a practice, she knocked him clean off his broom and Sy was the first one to rush to his aid. He used his shirt to stop the bleeding and it was his commanding presence as a leader that snapped everyone out of their state of shock so that they could get him to a healer before his condition worsened!
Charlotte made sure to wear her cheap mascara to this meeting so when the tears begin to fall, it leaves a nice streak down her cheeks. The image of Sy losing his badge and it going to Susana to roll over to next year is too much to bear... And what if he's kicked off the team?? They're definitely going to lose if they're down one experienced chaser and only have one player left in reserve.
"Sy has been constantly bullied on the anonymous posts since last year so it's no wonder he was sent over the edge when he was accused of being the Lake Gooseberry Killer again. What he did to Calvin wasn't justified, but taking away his captainship would destroy him. He's the heart and soul of our team. Taking him away from us would destroy us too."
Ulysses
He'll refrain from actually saying so, but to his mind, this is less about a person suffering violence, and more about a person getting punished for slipping up. It's... pretty clear where Ulysses' loyalties lie:
See, if he had his druthers, Stoker'd be benched forever, Ms. Vector, and that's the truth. But if Ulysses has said it once, he's said it a thousand times; Stoker's got an image problem. Folks're primed to judge him on account of his tendency to holler about 'fuck' this and beating that. But set all that aside, and what's he done, really? Defended himself against some sort of slander? 'Course, violence is never acceptable. He made a mistake, Ulysses knows that, and boy, does he feel terrible for ...
?KevinCalvin, but it just wouldn't be right, to ruin him over a playground fight.Stoker's a good player and a better captain, even if he's also a meathead with appalling taste in girls. Let him stay with his team.
Ira
"He shouldn't have hit that guy. But he's a really good captain, and he doesn't hit us, if that's what you're worried about."
He doesn't think he needs to say more than this.
Nisha
She's "prepared a statement" which she has on her cell phone. (It appears to be written entirely in emojis, and is actually just a gchat conversation she's had with someone whose name appears to be the pizza emoji.) And she rattles it off in a single-breath rush, fidgeting the entire time. The highlights: Captain Stoker made her feel like she belonged in Coppertale and on the team immediately. The Coppertale team's ability to function as a cohesive unit is due in no small part to his oversight. In her brief time here, Nisha has never doubted Sy's dedication not just to the team as a concept but to each of his players, as people. He just really needs to find a more constructive outlet for all that anger. Painting or, like, something. Oh and also his practices are SUPER fun.
She closes out her speech by saying, mysteriously, that violence is never the answer and he probably shouldn't have punched Klein Creepybottom, but Captain Stoker's punches also have the magical ability to bring people together. When she's done, she can't get out of that office fast enough.
Heathcliff
When he finally ends up in Ms. Vector's office, the large boy is uncharacteristically quiet and she has to do a little work to pull comprehensive answers out of him. YEAH, Sy shouldn't have started a fight with Calvin. That was shitty even if he was upset or just trying to clear his name or whatever. BUT Sy's also a really good captain that works hard to make them feel like a team and to turn them into good players and he deserves another chance to win the cup. He's a good guy, he's just got a bad temper. Can't he just serve his detention and apologize to Calvin and Ribbonfin and move one? That's fair, right?
He also adds that, for what it's worth, he doesn't believe Calvin had anything to do with the Lake Gooseberry Killer stuff. Heathcliff doesn't know Calvin that well but he doesn't seem like the type and he's close with Cash and Todd and that goes a long way in his book. Whoever pointed the finger at Calvin made a mistake or needs glasses or something.
...can he go now?
Dinah
She also tells Ms. Vector how much he CARES, like when she got stabbed in the ear (willingly, by her best friend, but WHATEVER, those are just details) and he didn't HAVE to come with them to the infirmary. Other people totally had it under control, but he really wanted to come and emotionally support her, and it really made her feel like she was a part of a family.
"TRUST me when I say no one in this school cares more about their Quidditch team than he does," she says, having done none of the legwork to verify this fact.
Clem
But when pushed on the actual topic at hand - Sy literally attacked someone, and that's unacceptable - she pretty instantly breaks down.
"He's trying so hard," she insists through blubbering and frankly embarrassing tears. She goes on for a little while longer about how much better he's been doing over the last year, and how much the captaincy means to him. She's excused from the meeting before she gets her weepy-ness under control, and ultimately leaves feeling like she wasn't much of a help.
CASEY
Wait, it was "whether or not," not "is he," that's not how you answer the question. But, like, to Casey it sounds like
StokesSy was framed, and he's not the kind of bro to do sh– stuff, to do stuff like pranks and then not own up to it. He turned himself in last year, didn't he? And since then it's not even like he's been acting like a jerk or whatever, he's been, like, p....retty much a fu– freakin' A N G E L. How many detentions has he gotten since the LGK prank? None. (Casey doesn't know this for sure but he's not about to sound like he doesn't know shit, okay.) And why? Because he's been, like, a good dude, or whatever. Casey says he knows that his cabin has a bad reputation but like, frankly? They've been really sick? They've behaved pretty well and they have two captains and Sy's really good at Quidditch and when Danger Girl pierced Xav's little sister's ear and there was blood everywhere he was, like, the first person to go and carry them to Muffs? And he seemed like he cared a lot?So.
Like.
Yeah. He's like, fit. .... Huh? Oh. Oh, yeah. AND he's fit to be a CAPTAIN because he's a pretty sick dude and he totally didn't do any of that shit.
Roxie
To which there's no hesitation when she answers in the affirmative. He's the only reason why she's on the team - and she rolls her shoulders back, chin tipping upward in contrast to the way her voice dips briefly as she adds: the only reason she's actually made friends at Gooseberry. That she's never done it at a school before. Hadn't ever bothered.
He's harsh, sure. And he's undoubtedly tough with them. But he's also fair and he's only so hard on them because they allow him to be. Because they want him to be. He knows them. Knows what they want and what they're willing to do. It's his team. They're his team.
She makes no mention of their track record, their wins or their chances for the Cup. Doesn't seem particularly bothered by them at all. Just shrugs and adds, matter-of-fact, that Sy makes mistakes. But he tries. And he listens. This isn't gratefulness - she wouldn't do that and Roxie's firm on this, eyes up and fingers folded neatly on her lap - it's just a fact. The question was if Sy's a good captain. And her answer is yes.
RIBBONFIN OPINIONS
Cole
The boy is earnest and certain of his stance and gets a little worked up the longer the discussion goes on because the idea of Calvin getting in trouble because of Sy seems fundamentally unfair to him. Please don't let that happen, Mr. Hightower.
Ramon
Plus, how reliable is their source? You can't crucify Calvin simply on hearsay. Sylvester's the one that came to their camp and tried to beat him up - he's the bad guy here.
Rosy
"I... don't know him that well," she says, trying very hard to actually make eye contact with Mr. Hightower. "But he doesn't have a history of making trouble." She can't verify his whereabouts on the night of the prank in Ribbonfin, and she's not going to speculate. If Rosy can get out of here without saying anything definitive about anyone's character, she'll consider it a diplomatic success.
Ferdie
As it is, as it stands, he knows Calvin had that issue with a ouija board (??) last year, but otherwise, he's a generally law-abiding citizen. One of their highest achieving, honestly, with Quidditch and Duelling Club. He hadn't stooped to revenge before now so this seems suspect. And he'd ask Mr. Hightower to consider only solid evidence. It's not impossible, and Ferdie doesn't know him well, but it seems out of character for Calvin to do something like this. He'll try to reach out more from now on.
It is probably a fairly long monologue.
Kurt
He licks his lips, bites his bottom lip, takes a deep breath, and finally says what he doesn't want to say: he and Calvin had a bad relationship when the younger boy first transferred to Gooseberry. Calvin was unpleasant and combative, and, frankly, a bully. But! Butbutbutbutbut! It didn't even last the year. He believes Calvin's changed, and he's noticed the boy's attitude towards others changing as his and Calvin's stopped being antagonistic? He was even nice to Kurt when he didn't need to be last year, and in Kurt's books, that means a lot.
TL;DR: Thanks to Kurt's policy of all-honesty-all-the-time
and habit of nervous ramblinghe says that Calvin used to be less of a nice person, but Kurt honestly thinks he's changed, and if Calvin was responsible for this prank he would be really, really, really, really, really, surprised. And really, really, really, disappointed. :(OOC - Questions, comments, concerns!
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wait i lied first i want a fun bad fortune and second i want a scene with reid
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me, to my own character: SYLVESTER STOKER, CLASS A GOOD BOY, HAS NEVER DONE ANYTHING WRONG IN HIS ENTIRE LIFE
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i swear im not that drunk
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