Forced Attrition (Principal MacMillan)

[charlotte]

Dark trepidation coursed through her with each passing step, carrying her closer and closer to the office. Though her bruise had mostly vanished and the dull ache had finally receeded, she held her books stiffly at her side, her gaze and her step riveted upon her intended course.

Charlotte had spent a lengthy time debating what her mother had told her several days before, and had subsequently not completed her math assignment, leaving her with a particularly stinging zero.
She knew for a fact that her mother had not been lying when she said she had once been one of the officials who had pushed for the school reforms and corporal punishment. She also knew that her mother, despite being a struggling acoholic and now-elementary school teacher, still had a few connections and favors in district office. Charlotte was highly skeptical that those contacts and favors extended into influence over the principal of Hircine, but she did know that those favors most definately could get her expelled. Expulsion was far worse for her than any physical punishment, which her mother knew. And that was how her mother knew she could get her way: with the threat of expulsion, Charlotte woudl almost certainly choose any alternative, whether it be physical punishment or otherwise, whilst her mother got her way, furthering the system she had been an adamant supporter of, even at the expense of her own daughter.

Charlotte had come to resent her mother even more for that, even becoming jealous that her mother could hold onto such a vision, such a dream, even over her own family. Charlotte had never found any drive or motivation, had no dream or vision, no goal to persue. She had always approached life almost carelessly, despite her good marks, quiet nature, and general rule following, but had never really found a point to it all, or a goal to acheive.

Thusly, she found herself at the door to the office, and, inhaling sharply and inwardly composing herself, pushed it open and strode in.

Immediately she felt a drastic chage from the rest of the school. The office felt larger than most others, and very finely furnished. However, there was an extreme aura of command and intimidation about then air ... an aura that very nearly melted her facade of innocence and her perpetual cold shield of sarcastic indifference. Stepping towards the secretary's desk, she slid a sheet of white paper marked with her current courses towards the woman.

"Hello, I was sent here by guidance on the account of my course changes; they referred me to the principal specifically for this course ... they said that they couldn't get it changed directly, and they need to have it talked through with administration before they can have my entire next semester readjusted and evaluated." Charlotte pointed to the course on her sheet, her entire posture and expression shifted to an innocently convincing one. She could only hope it would be convincing enough to secure a meeting with the Principal.

She really didn't want her mother to call in a few favors to have her expelled.





(OOC: For neccessary reference: xinrpb1.proboards99.com/index.cgi?board=housing&action=display&thread=1174011149)

[Director Troutman]

ooc: I'll be RPing as the secretary to begin with, alright?

ic:

Glancing up at the girl who approached her desk, her eyes drifted down at the single slip of paper before picking it up, skimming it lightly before handing it back with a somewhat pleasant smile...Whilst her employer was indeed a powerful and intimidating man, she, to some extent, understood the plight of some of these kids...

"You're only here to discuss your classes?"

The nod she received was enough, and with a open palmed gesture she motioned to a small line of chairs against a wall nearby.

"Take a seat for now, he shouldn't be longer than a few minutes, Miss Anders."

-Principals Perspective-

Puffing the cigar between his teeth slowly, he flipped to the next page of the book he was skimming through, calmly reading with his feet propped up on his desk as the all-too-familiar sound of his intercom buzzed him from his attention...Sighing, he stubbed down the cigar, knocking the embers loose and turning over a corner to mark his page before returning the alert...

"What is it...?"

"There's a student here to speak with you."

"What is it regarding?"

"She was sent here by the guidance department, course changes..."

"Fine, send her in. Name?"

"Charlotte Anders..."

He pondered the name a moment before sitting straighter, his eyes closing as he skimmed his memory for recollection of the riot a few days ago. There was one girl that had been somewhat out of sight of the footage, but somehow had managed to utilise a fire extinguisher as a makeshift bomb...

"Another one like Miss Donahue...." he mused aloud, pressing down the intercom again, "Hold on, give me a few minutes..."

Flicking through the records he had kept regarding the outburst the other day, he trailed his finger across the paper and smirked when he found her name...She was low on the list of students to be dealt with regarding that, but considering her little stunt she'd just pushed herself quickly up that list. Glancing up as the door opened, he gave a warm smile to the girl and offered her a seat....

"Miss Anders, what can I do for you today....?"

'More to the point, what can you do for me...? I wonder if there's any valid use we can find for you...'

[charlotte]

Charlotte did as she was directed, taking her course sheet and sliding onto a chair against the wall. She waited there, sitting straight-backed at the edge of the seat, until she heard the secretary call upon her once more and she stood, making her way carefully around the desk and into the office.

Upon pushing open the door and stepping across the threshold, the scent of cigar smoke met her nostrils, making her sniff momentarily as she closed the door carefully behind her, picking her way towards the interior of the spacious office. And spacious it was indeed: far nicer than any office she had ever cared to enter before; finely furnished, esthetically pleasing yet functional, roomy, and wide. She took a few more steps in, circumventing a chair placed a ways from the desk where the Principal, the most influential and powerful figure in Hircine High, and sat down, sliding her books onto her lap, not even bothering to slip out her sheet and show it to him.

"Miss Anders, what can I do for you today....?"

Her course changes had been a ruse. She had never talked to guidance and had never even requested a change. Thusly, she shifted slightly in the seat, noting the recently crushed out cigar laying propped inside the ash tray, and cleared her throat softly.

"You probably know all about what I did at the riot a few days ago," she began, acutely remembering her bruise suddenly, "and ... I have soemthing I'm supposed to ask you."

Charlotte bit her lip, pausing momentarily, unsure how to continue in the face of such an awkward subject and an intimidating persona as Principal MacMillan.

"... My mother - I don't know if you've heard of her: her name is Mary Anders, she was on the board of officials that first pushed for the school reforms. Anyway, she teaches elementary school now, but she has ... contacts ... in this school, and she heard about the brawl.

"She also has contacts in District Office, and ... after finding out what I did that day, she ... she decided she would call in a few favors and have me expelled if I didn't voluntarily ask you, personally, what I can do to help this school, or to ask for admonishment for ... starting flooding the halls with the sprinkler system, blowing up a fire extinguisher, and injuring almost thirty students."

She exhaled finally, wincing internally and leaning back in her chair, her calves and thighs flexing involuntarily, unsure of what might happen next.

"... So ..." she managed a shrug and tried to relax her tense muscles and rapidly beating heart. "Here I am ..."

[Director Troutman]

The faint smirk that emerged on his lips was not prevented in any way, the almost twisted irony of this situation enough to make him force himself only to not laugh aloud at the young girl. He stayed himself for the moment as she continued speaking, leaning back in his chair slowly as she explained truthfully why she had come here, about her part in the riot, her mothers apparent forcing of the girl to participate in offering help to compensate her actions, the fact that, all in all, her mother sounded like the sort of woman he would need removed from the background in later months.

'Not that she'd pose any real problem, but if she's as much of a controlling woman as she's being made out to be, she'll prove irritating.'

When the girl had finished speaking, her internal distress speaking volumes as she stammered the last sentence out of her lips, he paused a moment to 'contemplate' what to do next...In truth he merely enjoyed maintaining their intimidation by prolonging the time they had to wait for judgement, but everyone had their indulgences. When he finally spoke, he leaned forward against the desk once again, his fingers loosely linked on his desktop.

"Well, Miss Anders, I must say that I'm pleased you chose to step forward and accept that you had to redeem yourself for your actions, it gives me the inclination to be far more lenient with you as a whole. However, what you have done is still very serious, I'm sure you're quite aware of that....After all, manufacturing a fire extinguisher into an explosive? If the full details of that got out to the public, the police for that matter....Well, I'm sure you can imagine the consequences there..."

He delayed his continuance to allow his words to sink in for her...It was true most of the students were able to avoid expulsion, and it was almost ironic that Charlotte thought her idiot mother would be able to 'pull' any strings and have her kicked out. Frankly, there wasn't a chance of it happening. He had most of the officials he needed under control, bribery or blackmail being effective methods of attaining silence. However, the police were not exempt from dealing with students who outright broke criminal laws on the ground...

"Now, I'm sure that you were simply...Taken by the mob-mentality when things went overboard the other day, so as it stands I've held back pressing any charge on you for the moment. Of course it means that your decisions here will decide what happens, Charlotte...A girl of your capability could prove useful to the school, in both a common front and a rare one in the background when....Well, certain things need to be done. Of course, you would tell nobody of your involvement, because it would simply add to the list of charges presently standing. Simply put, Miss Anders, I would like you to make contact with a young woman. She currently works under the Pillars, giving them help when they require it, and I'm sure it's an alienating job for her. I'm sure you two would have lots to talk about...."

Reaching into one of the drawers on his desk, he slid out a small file and tossed it down for Charlotte to read. It contained little more than a name, a photograph and a few other class details, plus a print-out of a list of the young womans own actions that had rendered her in the schools service...Should Charlotte pay attention to the front of the folder, the name V. Donahue' would meet her eyes...

[charlotte]

Charlotte noted his smirk as he began his speech to 'bring her into the fold'. It was an intimidating and authoritve speech, no doubt, but seemed like he had said it all before, no doubt, to this other girl who was now working for the pillars.

The Principal slid a file onto his desk and Charlotte pushed it towards her, taking it up and scanning the front briefly, reading the name V. Donahue. Apparantly this was the other girl whom she was to be working with; a senior, a year older, and who had quite the record for vandalism and 'terrorism' herself.

"I'm sure you two would have lots to talk about...." MacMillan had said.

(I'm sure we do ...)

Charlotte examined the folder breifly, so many thoughts running through her head; so many questions. She slid the folder into her lap, amidst the pile of books she carried, and she straightened her posture, composing herself.

"I've never really put much care or heart into anything before. It just did it for the sake of doing it. But this school ... for once in my life, I feel something that I can actually start to believe in.

"This system, these policies, I think, are most effective as a deterrent of delinquent behavior. The problem comes from people who see this coporal punishment as, not a deterrent, but a code of enforcement.

"You should be afraid to be beaten by a student monitor, but that fear should only keep you from doing what you shouldn't be doing in the first place. And if you do what precisely like you should, you need not fear that beating.

"So yes, long-winded speech aside, I'll do it."

Charlotte paused, drawing in a silent, shallow breath as she felt her tense leg muscles ease into a relaxed state. Apparantly speeches helped with anxiety ... strange, really, considering how much she hated an audience ...

"So how am I to go about meeting this," she read from the folder, "V. Donahue? I don't see an address or phone number, and we have none of the same courses. Besides the impressive tricks she's pulled, there is nothing here that would help me know where to even begin to find her."

Her intial wave of intimidation over, she nearly cringed, trying to subdue any latent, subconscious, and purely unintentional pretentiousness and snidely cold sarcasm in her tone.

[Director Troutman]

"You are absolutely correct, Miss Anders...Students should not fear their actions, at no point in the invocation of Hircines pillar system did I consider such a principle. What students should fear, I believe, is the consequence of their actions. The real world after your education will show you no less of a standard, after all. This country gives us such freedom, freedom to say what we wish, freedom to be as we wish, freedom, to most limits, to do what we wish. However, like all freedom, it comes with rules that control it. Those rules, after all, are what separate freedom from anarchy."

Flipping a pen from his pocket, he scrawled a few random numbers and class codes on a sheet of paper as he left her to talk away, remarking somewhat coldly that finding Valencia would not prove a remarkably easy thing to do...The girl had no patience, that alone was enough to raise the older mans hackles when it was anyone aside from Tiao, simply given his amusement at the young mans own particular brand of impatience....

"If you attack a man in the street and the police catch you, you get arrested and punished accordingly. Why should the school not adopt such a policy, I decided, and thusforth, our pillar system came to pass. Those who see this as nothing more than enforcement are, inevitably, the students like yourselves who find that one way or another, they end up finding out just how the rules are enforced. You might see it as a perpetual cycle where the rebellious are consistently punished, but without sounding cliche...."

Smirking lightly as he slipped the sheet of paper across the desk at her, on it a series of class codes and numbers, he spoke his next remark with a tone far more sinister than he had in the past...

"It's only ever a matter of time. Everyone does as they're told in the end....."

Allowing her a moment to register what he had said, and what he had written for that matter, he would speak up calmly and retaining his composed demeanour once again...

"You'll find class times and other things you'll need on there. You came here for class changes, Miss Anders, you just got them. You'll now be sharing a few classes with Miss Donahue, so take the time to get to know the girl. In time you will both be called back here...."

[charlotte]

Charlotte listened to MacMillan intently, offering a few nods here and there amidst the finer points of his lecture. She watched as he slid out a sheet of paper and began writing upon it, then she drew it across the desk with a tenitive hand, glancing at her new courses.

"Everyone does as they're told in the end....."

She stood, shifting her books to her left arm, as she gazed at the sheet for a few moments longer.

"So ..." she spoke slowly, looking towards the Prinicpal as she lowered the sheet. "I get to know Miss Donahue, then we both wait for your instruction." She nodded, offering another glance back at the sheet.

"... Can I ask you something sir?" Charlotte asked, tucking the sheet into her binder. "Stern Mason is back ... I don't know much about him, but I've heard quite a bit about him; he's back, and I think everyone knows he has a plan to bring down this system, not to mention this "Kvist" and his gang I've also heard about. I know this may seem a bit ..."

She paused.

"... unpatriotic," Charlotte debated, finally settling upon the closest term to describe her sentiments, "but have you ever considered bringing Leon Loire into the fold, so to speak, or at least cut some sort of deal with him?

"I've never seen anyone who can lead like he can, and with his influence, combined with Kurtz, Darren's intelligence, and you pulling the strings, you could have the entire school entirely under control. People like Stern Mason and Kvist would have no hope of challenging your authority."

She bit her lip as she stood before the desk, holding her books beside her, unsure if her sentiments would be taken seriously by MacMillan, simply dismissed, or worse: destroy any credibility she might have had with the system. After all, it was no secret that Loire and the system were not the best of friends ...

[Director Troutman]

""For all wants and intents, Charlotte, yes. As it stands, Valencia is already in the employ of the pillars, I would advise that you assist her where necessary, and at any point there is objection you should state only that I have made this decision..."

Raising an eyebrow however at the mention of a young man named 'Stern', he could admittedly offer little besides a shrug of his shoulders before he spoke, picking his words calmly and carefully..."The young man has not been brought to my attention, and thus such, he is not a person I am concerned with as of yet. However, if you so believe that he has this grand plan to break Hircine, I would love to know just how he plans on doing such a thing. As for this...'Kvist' person, from what I've heard the young man who appeared at your riot, stepping in to try and garner control for the Varron students in Mr. Loires stead, has already set himself on finding Kvist. Darren spoke with him briefly and it took but a mention of that name to have him almost blindly leave...An admirable quality perhaps, but a dangerous one at that. For now, concentrate on finding out what you might on Mason...."

Allowing Charlotte to speak as she mentioned a possibility in bringing the aforementioned Mr. Loire in, offering justification to what immediately sounded like a very unlikeable plan in his regard...However, for all her gall, the girl had made a valid point in her suggestion. Loire was one of the more influencial Varron transfers along with another handful of students, and his association with that 'Taiku' individual who had stepped in appeared to gain him some support as well....

'The question merits what influence Taiku might have on the other Varron students should he somehow be present in another riot breaks out...'

"An interesting possibility you pose, Charlotte...One that, as it stands, isn't going to be thrown into the frey. However I've been planning on speaking with Loire soon for HIS part in the events a few days ago, that conversation may well assist in making that decision...On that note, is there anything else you would like to raise...?"

[charlotte]

"No sir ... that was it," Charlotte said, her gaze drifting from MacMillan to the sheet with her new courses, tucked neatly into her binder.

Talk to Valencia ... check. She thought to herself, milling over the recent events. Working for the pillars, finding out about Stern Mason ... the list of tasks didn't seem like much, but there was a low feeling in her stomach, like something was off.

Of course you feel this way. You're being blackmailed by the Principal.

Finding out about Stern Mason, however, seemed her most daunting task. Not only was the student a terrifying enigma and MacMillan had charged her with finding out more, but her own curiousity was beginning to take hold of her. Charlotte always loved the satisfaction of solving a mystery. A part of her wanted nothing more then to crack that controlled exterior of Stern Mason, the same Stern Mason who had made even Leon Loire shake.

She turned slowly on her heel, still in silent contemplation, and pushed open the door, making her way out of the office.

But certainly not for the last time, she knew.




(OOC: Exit stage left )