Zoe's Office - June 2

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe sat in her office, looking through the paperwork concerning the luau to make sure that everything had been taken care of correctly.

The door was open for anyone who wanted to stop by.

Comments

Re: Late Afternoon

[sensethevisions]

The fact that Zoe was willing to hear her out made some of the tension ease out of her shoulders. She sat down on the edge of a chair.

"Early this morning, a scream and a loud thump woke us up in the Koala cabin. Cole left our alcove to go see if anyone on the B side was hurt and if he could help. Lana, Maia and I were worried when we heard scuffling in the dark. We've been at Fandom for a year and noises don't make us run the other way.

"We were able to get close enough to the B side to see that John was attacking Cole and saying a lot of weird stuff to him about cyborgs and robots. John is our friend and we wanted to try to talk him down from whatever had him so... scared. Principal Washburn, I'm an empath and what I felt coming off of John in waves was pure fear with some anger." She shook her head. "I don't know what he thought he was seeing, but it wasn't us. Then, at some point, he saw Lana and tried to shove her into the common room. I think in some part of his mind, he thought he was protecting her. Her head hit the door and she went down."

Phoebe squeezed her fists. "Things were happening so fast and we were screaming and yelling and then Maia got knocked down and hurt." She looked at Zoe. "The way John was acting... he was still in his nightmare and I was afraid he was going to force something bad to happen. I tackled him away from Cole whom he had been fighting with and attacking and then he decided that he had to protect me from the killer cyborg Quicksilver that he was seeing. He said that this Quicksilver had killed his foster mom, but that he wasn't going to touch me." She bit her lip. "He thought Cole was this Quicksilver...and nothing Cole or I said could snap him out of it. He kept attacking Cole and Cle kept trying to defend himself and us from John. Finally... I used a move I had been taught and knocked John unconscious."

She shook her head. "I don't doubt that Anakin was following the rules when he gave us detention, but I was so fragged that I couldn't explain what had happened. I don't think John would have ever hurt any of us on purpose --- especially not Maia or Lana or me." She swallowed again. "I'm willing to serve my detention tomorrow if you say I deserve it because I was the one to knock John out. However, I don't think Cole should be punished for doing the right thing and trying to protect us --- especially after Lana was hurt. As for John...

"Principal Washburn... something was wrong with him. Something was really wrong and he was scared."

Re: Late Afternoon

[bigdamnprincipal]

Zoe listened carefully to everything Phoebe was saying, and sighed deeply as she sank back into her chair. "If John had some sort of nightmare, some sort of bad memory that made him act out like he did, then I can understand why you might have felt that he was scared. But that doesn't mean I can condone his actions. Violence against other students is not allowed, no matter how upset they are. I'll make sure Dr. Pevensie knows about what happened, and she can decide whether or not she needs to speak to John."

"As for the rest of you, you're not necessarily being punished for the extent to which you protected yourselves, although I hope you understand that knocking John unconscious might have been taking things too far," she added seriously. "But the fact is, again, violence against other students is not allowed. I have tried countless times - as have the members of the administration before me - to make every student understand that just because many of you possess powers with which to defend yourselves, it doesn't mean you should use them in any given situation. I know you said things were happening fast, but someone in your cabin should have gone to get Anakin, or another graduate, or anyone else of authority before things reached the point where you had to resort to knocking John unconscious. That's why you were given detention, and I'm afraid I'm going to have to agree with Anakin's decision here, for both you and Cole. You've got to learn that you simply can't do everything by yourselves. It's too dangerous."

Re: Late Afternoon

[sensethevisions]

Phoebe nodded as she stood up.

"I do understand, Ma'am," she said softly. "I had to try to help Cole. I'm glad he was there, though. Lana was knocked out fast and it could have gotten worse." She shook her head. "But it is important that I came here... and I have no aggressive powers to use on John. I just used a standard accupressure move."

She smiled slightly. "Thank you for listening."