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Post by Kasty Doherty on Apr 15, 2016 23:54:51 GMT -7
“Building what it Takes: Teamwork and Trust” was the title on the bright and friendly posters scattered about the campus’s poster boards that Kasty had all but ignored until just two days prior. Like all the other ads that bombarded his everyday life, he’d completely tuned them out. He'd been ignorant of the seminar until his history professor had made an announcement in class. Apparently, it was she who was putting it on, and as she was concerned as to the number of people who were actually going to show up (not that she said that), was biasly offering extra credit to any of her students who joined. Kasty was determined to get an A in the class. His grade was far from in danger and he was on good enough terms with his professor they he could probably work something out if worse came to worse and he missed an important test, but improving relations - and his grade - was worth an hour or two of his time. Also, she was not the kind of professor who would settle for a simple slideshow, oh no. Everything the woman did had every ounce of effort put into it. Though the seminar was lacking in the usual draw of free food, it would not be in quality. It wasn’t lacking in people either, much to the pleasure of the professor, who had stood at the door welcoming students and handing out little numbered slips of paper. The room itself was a small one, meant for perhaps a class of thirty, and with chairs set out for as many. Most were full. So, when the professor made the inevitable announcement that they’d be pairing up based on the number on their slip, there was a good bit of commotion. Kasty elected to remain where he was - second to last row, second chair from the right - and simply call out his number. “ Three!” He shouted, holding an equal number of fingers up in the air. He recognized a couple of faces in the room from his history class, but everyone else were strangers to him. He knew a total of one person’s name. But, that was kind of the point, wasn’t it? Working together with someone you didn’t know? He wondered who his partner would be. Eve Voclain |
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Post by Eve Voclain on Apr 16, 2016 18:00:03 GMT -7
That woman was going to pay. That entire department might end up paying depending on her mood. For the most part, Eve liked school. The amount of trash classes that the school was making her take was starting to get to her though. At this point, she was pretty sure that was the only reason the art department even existed anymore. There was no way they were getting any money because of students wanting to be there. The amount of people in her art classes that actually enjoyed class could be counted on less than one hand. It had become somewhat of a personal mission to knock it down a peg. Unfortunately, when she (allegedly) destroyed a few hundred dollars worth of art supplies, and only that little because she (allegedly) got caught too soon, her plans got slowed down a bit.
Her art teacher was growing accustomed to her shenanigans, something Eve would have to work on, being predictable was a terrible thing. It was like the teacher couldn't even be angry anymore. Rather than yelling, she just threatened to make Eve fail her class. She offered a deal to avoid that however. All Eve had to do was attend a seminar behind held by one of her friends, someone that happened to be Eve's history teacher. While Eve refused to admit any wrong doing in the (alleged) incident, she agreed to go while ranting about how this was extortion.
Thus, Eve made her way to the seminar. They were apparently going to learn all about team work today! Eve could only roll her eyes. She couldn't believe she was going to sit through several hours of touchy-feely bullshit like this. The seminar was just starting when she arrived. She was probably around five minutes late; enough to make her point, but not enough to break the deal with her art teacher. She sighed as she made her way into the room, a scowl quickly forming on her face. The room was much too small for the number of people here, something that seriously surprised her. She figured she'd be one of maybe five people here, and that was only because she knew some people were actually really stupid and enjoyed shit like this.
She was handed a slip when she came in, and it looked like they were pairing off based on the number on it. Eve wasn't sure why they thought this was a good idea, unless they were only expecting like six people like she was. The room erupted with noise as everyone started pushing and shoving to get around. Everyone that bumped into Eve herself received a swift kick in the shins, and then was pushed over as she looked for her own partner. Eventually, she found the other person with a three. Short kid, not that much taller than her and given how short she was that was saying something, especially for a boy. No sense of fashion, but it looked like at least showered recently, which was more than she could say for some of the people here. He would do.
Once she made her way over to her 'partner' her scowl only deepend when she realized there were no chairs there. Without much care, she lifted a nearby chair that had someone seated in it, shook the student that occupied it out and put it down next to her partner. The student got up and started to say something, but Eve just flipped him off and returned her attention to the other person with a three. The other student glared and walked off to look for another chair, not wanting to start something right now. Eve took her seat, slouching in the chair clearly not wanting to be here.
"Looks like we're partners. I'm Eve. Do everything I say and we won't have any problems. Got it?"
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Post by Kasty Doherty on Apr 18, 2016 15:13:36 GMT -7
After a while of people shuffling about and bumping into each other, a person also brandishing a three emerged from the mass. She was nicely dressed - unlike him and his jacket plus t-shirt. Her hair was nearly perfect, enough so that, if he hadn’t known better, he may have thought she was wearing an expensive wig - unlike his, which was washed but had steadily grown more fuzzy as the day went on, as though it had been run through with an electric shock in slow motion. She looked like the kind of person who knew exactly what she was majoring in and how she was going to get there, plotted out quarter by quarter on some sheet somewhere - unlike him, who was struggling to choose among several good options for just the next.
She also seemed like a very kind person, if cat-stroking villains were your comparison. Kasty would chose to see her means of obtaining a seat as the result of a bad day thus far and a poor sample size of interactions on which to base a first impression. Maybe someone spilt oatmeal in her lap this morning? Overall, she had the air of someone the general populous didn’t want to mess with, which to him meant about as much as a “don’t throw rocks at this sign” sign.
“You got it, boss.” He avowed. He felt like he knew her from somewhere. History class, maybe? That seemed likely, but perhaps it was as simple as he’d passed her in the hall and, his brain just playing favorites, he remembered her face. It didn’t really matter, and he let the matter pass.
Kasty’s professor was also a strong believer in risk. “Without risk there is no gain, and without gain no wars are won”, she could be cited saying several times throughout the quarter. She was known for letting more things go in her classroom than most professors if it's "for the sake of learning" (including once when two students broke out in a mock sword duel with meter sticks and she did nothing more than pop a bag of popcorn), and he’d been warned to never take theater with her. As such, she was beginning in a way she considered strong, and what others would probably call dangerous.
“We’ll be starting out simple, everyone.” The professor began. “With the catching exercise! I’m sure you all know how it works.” She went on about picking someone who would fall backwards and someone who would catch them, and about the perils of letting one’s partner fall and related metaphors.
Kasty had seen this a couple of times in the movies and had always wanted to give it a try. It was somewhat stereotypical, yes; it’d been the first thing he’d thought of when he heard the seminar’s title, but he couldn’t say he hadn’t been hoping it’d be brought up. It was just one of those things that needed to be done to say you’d done it, regardless of the actual practicality of the activity. Did he gain anything from doing a trust fall? If anything he had more to lose, but Kasty neither worried or cared.
He waited for the end of the professor’s speech, and in that space where everyone’s starting to pick up conversation between themselves, he turned to his partner. He was beaming, but not with the formality joy one puts on when meeting a new person, but with the pending opportunity. “Name’s Kasty.” He said, finishing his introduction. He was already pulling his chair back towards the wall so as to have room to stand on it. “And you seem like a very trustworthy person.” He said, stepping up with one foot and then the other. He looked over his shoulder and smiled. “Don’t drop me, ‘kay?” And then, without waiting for a response -after all, who would let their partner fall?- he let gravity do its work.
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Post by Eve Voclain on Apr 20, 2016 8:39:54 GMT -7
Was he mocking her? It sounded like he was mocking her. Eve leaned back in her chair, far enough back that the front legs of the chair were well off the ground, and peered at him from the side of her eyes. There was something familiar about his voice, and it was familiar in a way that she just immediately wanted to punch him. Such reactions weren't all that uncommon with her, so she didn't think anything of it, beyond how irritating it was going to be to have to exercise some amount of self control. Sadly, ruining the seminar would break the deal.
When the first 'activity' was announced, Eve rolled her eyes and audibly groaned. She still couldn't believe she was doing this. It was bad enough that trust falls were such a cliche, but she didn't understand how it got to be that way to begin with. What did it prove? That people were stupid enough to risk bodily harm to make their co-workers feel better about themselves? In that kind of situation it's not like they could just let the poor bastard fall. Something like that could easily cost them their jobs. Maybe in this kind of situation it was more of a genuine sign of trust, given letting someone fall was more likely to cause everyone to laugh than to get them kicked out of school. That wasn't the case for Eve though. If she did too much to be disruptive or not play along, it could easily get her into legal trouble depending on what Mrs. Goody-Two-Shoes decided to do. Thus, the whole thing was back to being completely pointless because of that. To make matters worse, she was still pretty sure Kasty was mocking her. Sure, she was 100% trustworthy, to the point that she was happy to tell anyone exactly what was wrong with them to their face, so his statement was just accurate. There was just something about the way he said it that bothered her. Or maybe it was just the fact that he had a punchable voice coming through again.
With another groan, she lowered her chair to the floor and started to get up. She ran a hand through her hair, a new unamused scowl forming on her face as she got into place. Before she could, Kasty was already falling. Once Eve looked up to get ready to catch him, he was already starting to collide with her face; she didn't even have enough time to put her arms up in self defense. She tumbled to the floor from the shock and the weight of a person falling right on top of her. The sudden shock was enough to knock the wind out of her momentarily, but that didn't last long. She didn't have a good view to see how much of the room was staring at them, but she was sure it had to be a lot of people. Her face burned with anger and embarrassment, and she immediately stopped caring about why she was there to begin with.
"Get OFF!" she growled, pushing him off of her with every ounce of strength she had. "Are you STUPID? What the hell were you even trying to do?!"
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Post by Kasty Doherty on Apr 23, 2016 0:31:11 GMT -7
There’s a moment of panic when one’s falling and the time in which the other person is supposed to catch them comes and goes, and as Kasty watched the ceiling come farther into his view, he braced himself for the inevitable.
Thankfully, Eve was there to catch him with her face. Hitting the ground was reduced to a light knock to the head and quite a lot of surprise. This made not once but twice his expectations had been broken, and it took him a good number of beats to catch up with what was happening. Enough that, by the time he had recovered, Eve was yelling at him and trying to push him off.
Kasty was not particularly heavy, and, as it turned out, Eve was fairly strong. He would’ve been off her fairly quickly, even if, after he recovered from his shock, he hadn’t made his own effort to roll away. Most of the room was watching them expectantly as he pulled himself to his feet and offered a quick “Sorry, sorry,” and his hand to help if up, if she needed it. They’d created enough to a scene that another person, not paying attention to their partner, let them drop. If the point of this exercise was to make someone fall, they’d have just scored 200%.
The number of people staring at them had been effectively halved, but he was still getting a splattering of expressions ranging from amusement at their expense to disappointment shot his way. His professor, who was looking quite amused, only smiled at him.
Laughing awkwardly, he gave Eve her owed explanation. “Would you accept ‘testing Newton’s law of universal gravitation’?” He asked pleasantly, rubbing his forehead. The class had grown loud with chatter about successes or the failures as they waited for the last few pairs to take their turns. The other guy to have fallen was still splayed out on the ground, face glazed with an expression as though a storm cloud had formed over him. “And you did technically catch me, so that puts us only at second worst. Pretty good, if I do say so myself.” He nodded.
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Post by Eve Voclain on Apr 23, 2016 11:57:08 GMT -7
Once that unnecessary weight was off her chest, Eve slowly sat up, rubbing her forehead. That hurt. She expected this thing to be physically painful, though not quite like this. When Kasty offered his hand, she just swatted it away. If it had been any closer to her she would have bitten it instead. As if she needed help for something as simple as getting up. Just the idea that anyone thought she might was insulting. Once on her feet, she brushed herself off and straightened her back. There were still a fair number of people staring at her. She made sure to give each and every one a dirty look until they stopped, with an even worse one if they had the audacity to look in her direction once she was looking at someone else.
Eve ignored her partner's apology. He didn't even sound very sorry anyway. If anything, he sounded amused. The dirty look she was giving everyone staring at her was now directed at him. She was furious enough as it was, the last thing she needed was her partner thinking this whole thing was hilarious, or laughing at her. Her eye twitched and she gritted her teeth once he joked further. He thought this whole situation was funny? He thought that not only hurting her, but publicly humiliating her was funny? She was sure that some of these people were in her history class. What would they be thinking in class this week? What would they be saying? At this point, Eve was seeing red. Screw her art teacher, this was unacceptable and had to be dealt with.
"Only if you'll accept that I'm just testing his third law here."
With that, she pulled her arm back to punch Kasty in the jaw. She didn't put as much force into the punch as she could, but she was pretty sure that it'd get the point across.
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Post by Kasty Doherty on Apr 23, 2016 18:06:00 GMT -7
As far as he was concerned, Kasty was being his normal self - being cheerful, making light of an awkward situation - and while he’d been a little teasing, he hadn’t been biting or anything. This was business as usual for him. What wasn’t usual was today he was punched for it.
Kasty hadn’t been expecting the swing in the slightest, and had to catch himself after a stumble and a step. He blinked and felt his tender jaw. “That… was uncalled for.” He said slowly. For injuries, a punch to the face wasn’t really all that bad, comparatively. It’d be gone by morning at the latest. What really hurt was the fact that a person he’d just met and had been generally friendly to had decided that words didn’t quite communicate how she felt about him.
Kasty felt angry and betrayed by Eve. Despite her introduction to him, he’d put his best foot forward to make positive relations between them. He’d ignored her rudeness to the people around them, apologized for his mistake, and paid no mind to her name calling. None of it seemed to matter an ounce to her. Now that it was clear a friendship, or even mutual neutrality, was not in the books, Kasty felt the pressure to be perfectly civil lift. If she wanted to be hostile, he was permitted to respond in kind.
Someone else might have punched her back. For more reasons besides starting a fist fight in a classroom was a bad call, Kasty turned to other means of reciprocation. Wiping his lip, he looked her in the eyes. “If you didn’t like my face, you could've just said so. No need to rearrange it yourself.” He retorted, failing to keep the sly smile from his face. If that punch was her throwing down the gauntlet, this was him accepting the challenge.
All the eyes in the room had returned to them, and the professor, at last, made some sort of intervention. She clapped her hands together, trying to gather everyone’s attention. There was enough chattering rising up in the thirty some students, however, that it was questionable how well, or even if she’d be able to do so.
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Post by Eve Voclain on Apr 23, 2016 21:57:28 GMT -7
"Somehow, I didn't think you'd find the situation as funny when you were the one on the receiving end."
Eve stretched and flopped back into her chair, resting her arm on the back of it. She suddenly felt a lot better. The past couple of days had been pretty terrible, between her art teacher (and the class) being a piece of shit, a surprising number of people looking funny, and other things she couldn't remember right now. It felt good to finally release all that pent up irritation against an irritating person. She was feeling a bit calmer, but if the fact she was tapping her fingers on her chair was any indication, the simple fact that she still had to be here meant she was still agitated.
Her partner wasn't done talking though. Eve slowly rolled her eyes over in his direction, and rotated her body slightly so her head could face him even if most of her torso was pointed towards the front of the classroom. At this point she was so used to people being unhappy with her for one reason or another that it didn't even register as negative, just normal. Judging by the weak response and the more sullen nature of it, she'd be able to put him in his place pretty easily.
"Okay, I don't like your face. I especially don't like your face when it's colliding with my nose, but if I'm being completely honest, I hate your voice more. Maybe I should have punched you in the throat instead."
The teacher clapped, presumably to get everyone's attention. Eve lazily turned back to the front of the room, still with one arm on the back of her chair. She wondered what kind of inane bullshit they'd have to do next, and how Kasty would mess it up this time. If she was lucky, maybe the teacher would get to the point of all this soon, or at least cancel the rest of the seminar.
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Post by Kasty Doherty on Apr 24, 2016 18:41:08 GMT -7
After a good twenty seconds of the professor clapping and attempting to talk over everyone, she finally reigned in the room. “Good job, everyone!” She was saying, but Kasty was only half paying attention. He’d dropped down in the empty chair behind Eve, arms crossed, fighting a twitching eyebrow. He was pretty sure he was on the receiving end, thank you very much, and she didn’t seem the least bit sorry about it.
“Perhaps we should try a little easier of an exercise?” The professor continued after she’d wrapped up the symbolic meanings of the previous activity and how trust translated into the workplace and classroom. “This one will be a little harder for some of you, but I implore you to try your best!” She said with a pound of sugar. “Communication is key within both classroom and work settings. The problem is, while many of us are very good at talking, we’re not so good at listening. For some, the opposite is true! Both skills are necessary for success.” She spouted off various statistics including that one about public speaking being a more common fear than death before, at last, she got to the next exercise. “I want each group to set a timer for one minute.” She said, holding up her smartphone running the timer app. “While that timer’s counting down, one person says whatever they want - what’s happening in their life, what they think of the other person, what the thought of the last exercise - go ahead and rant about whatever’s on your mind; just make sure to keep talking for the entire time. The other will listen without response - it’s your turn to listen! When the timer goes off, reset the timer and swap roles. How about we start off with the person who fell in the last activity as the listener and the person who caught as the speaker?”
Kasty was unsure of what he was in for, but he had nothing besides personal biases to keep him from pulling out his phone and setting a timer. They'd made enough of a scene with the last thing. Some part of him was curious as to what someone who devolved to sticks and stones so quickly had to say, if anything at all. Another part of him wanted to just get it over with so he could leave and go get some ice cream.
The timer wasn’t going to start itself. He pulled the chair beside him forward and set the phone between them. “I’m all ears, Eve.” He said simply, and pressed start.
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Post by Eve Voclain on Apr 29, 2016 14:37:42 GMT -7
Eve rolled her eyes and audibly groaned again. All this touchy-feely bullshit was seriously starting to make her sick. Sure, she could believe that listening was important and what-not, but it's so glaringly obvious that it should just be understood. Did they really need a whole seminar to tell people listening is probably a good thing to do? The second point resonated more with Eve, but the way they went about it was still stupid and pointless. If more people said what was on their mind, the world would be a better place, certainly. Were the people who weren't already inclined to say what was on their mind suddenly going to do so because some asshole told them to? Probably not. They'd probably talk for a minute about something positive, or sugar coat their words as always. Idiots were going to stay idiots no matter what you did.
Eve clicked her tongue. She was going to have to continue to humor this nonsense, so she might as well pick something good to talk about. She thought for a moment while Kasty fished for his phone, but it didn't take long for her to come up with the perfect topic. She shifted her chair, and slammed one of her elbows down on the table with a loud thud. Looking him straight in the eye, she began talking before he even started the timer. It was surprisingly easy to do despite how much his face pissed her off.
"So, when I was in high school, I always really looked forward to college. It sounded like an absolute paradise, all the good parts of school with none of the stupid shit you have to put up with because you're technically not an adult yet. I'd finally be able to decide what I wanted to learn about instead of what some losers wanted me to learn. Like, I hate physics. Never want to touch the stuff again. I shouldn't have to right? Well, apparently not. The system's just as stupid and it's pissing me off.
"I hate art. I wouldn't say I'm bad at it, but there are so many things I'd rather be doing. For whatever reason, a fucking degree in psychology requires an introductory art course and I've been having to put up with that for far too long, and it's making me more irritable than usual. Teacher's lucky I've only defaced the classroom once so far," Eve leaned back and folded her arms in a huff.
"So I thought about why they would want us to do that. I can get having to take a writing class. They don't want total illiterate morons to graduate from their school, it'd make them look bad. But art? Does knowing how to paint really provide you with such a great life skill that you can't do without it? I looked into it, and the reason was far more stupid than I could imagine. The art department's been running at a loss. They're forcing people to pay for their godawful classes so that the department can continue to exist. For awhile I could deal with that stupid class, but once I found that out I just wanted to turn the whole system upside down because it's completely broken. The fact that the school can cheat people out of their money like that is COMPLETELY ABSURD. I can't imagine it's any better than you, especially given you seem like the kind of person that just takes things, but you have to agree that it just isn't right. I just need to figure out what to do about it without disrupting the classes I do want to take too badly..." she paused. "I'm done."
Eve was pretty sure she was talking for longer than a minute, but she didn't particularly care. She was going to talk until she was done, even if Kasty tried to interrupt her. Her voice was probably louder than his was if it came down to it. Once she was done, Eve leaned back in her chair and yawned. It was his turn now. She didn't particularly care about what he had to say, but if she could pretend to care about this seminar, she could probably pretend to listen to some loser for a minute.
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Post by Kasty Doherty on May 2, 2016 15:34:21 GMT -7
Eve’s minute started out on a surprisingly normal subject. As time went on, however, it grew increasingly less so until it came to an ideological crescendo that Kasty had been half expecting but was still startled to arrive at. Defaced the classroom? What was she doing to this poor professor?
He found it interesting that Eve was going for a major in psychology. With no other idea what one would do with a psychology degree, Kasty assumed Eve was therefore planning to become a psychologist. He tried to imagine her sitting people down in comfy chairs and asking them about their their feelings. He could only come up with images of her thereafter insulting her clients and then punching them in the face. Maybe he was missing something.
The timer began to buzz, but Eve showed no signs of stopping. Kasty simply quieted the device. He doubted there was any point in attempting to stop her - she was fairly loud - and so he elected to just sit back and wait for her to finish. Kasty was silent when her monologue came to its end, and it wasn’t until he’d pressed go on the timer once again that be began.
“I’m not sure how a school attempting to keep the art department open for art students constitutes a ‘broken system’, let alone taking out your frustration on a professor who probably has little, if anything, to do with your circumstances. But if you really hate it that much, just bide your time see how much you can get away with. It’s an art class; turn in something absolutely ridiculous and call it art. Or, here’s a crazy idea, you could just suck it up and deal with it. You’re getting a degree, aren't you? Employers put a lot of weight on that kind of thing; who are you to decide what that degree should constitute? Maybe these ‘losers’ who actually run the college know more about what someone needs to be successful in America than some random psychology student.” Kasty paused, realizing his tone had become biting. He took a deep breath and settled back into his seat.
Crossing his arms and tilting his head to one side, he continued. “In all honesty, I could care less if the college wants me to take certain classes. I’ve got no clue what I’m going to major in, or even if I’m going to graduate. I do just take things, because I’ve only taken what, two or three classes? Maybe it’ll come back and bite me in the butt later that I’ve only done ‘fun classes’, but I don’t think that future me would mind too much. Things’ll be pretty good if I make it that far.” He was playing with his sleeve and making more eye contact with the tree outside than he was with Eve.
The throbbing in his jaw was beginning to die down, and now that he’d gotten some of his anger out, Kasty was ready for a better mood. “Oh! But I have been taking this really great history course from the professor giving this seminar. Don’t know if history is required for your fancy psychology degree or constitutes ‘not a waste of your money’ for you, but I totally recommend her if you need a credit in world history or American something or other. Promise she doesn’t usually make us fall onto each other during class.”
The timer rang, and not long after the classroom began to fill with the noise of done timers. Kasty was unsure if the professor had anything beyond activity follow up planned for the seminar. It’d been running for a while at this point, as both his inner clock (gauged by his want to get back outside) and his phone clock confirmed. Still, a small smile had come back to him. Just talking for a minute felt surprisingly nice.
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Post by Eve Voclain on May 2, 2016 18:23:05 GMT -7
Under normal circumstances, Eve would have interrupted him three times over, but for once she was actually glad she decided to humor this stupid seminar. She started leaning back in her chair, lifting the front legs off the ground slightly, with her arms folded in front of her. As he continued talking, she found herself actually interested in how naive he was, coupled with how aggressive he was trying to be. Keyword being trying considering he couldn't even maintain eye contact with her. Eve thrived on conflict. If he wanted a fight, she would be happy to oblige, even if it was just a verbal spar. As he continued talking, she steepeled her fingers and continued staring directly into his eyes, even when he looked away. Her expression was fairly hard, but there was a slight hint of a smirk. She clearly already knew what she was going to say when he was done. When the timer rang and he stopped talking, she took a deep breath. If the seminar continued on with something else, she wasn't paying enough attention, or caring, enough to know what it was.
"Somehow, I'm not surprised that you're the type that trusts authority and rarely questions it," Eve closed her eyes. "If you think I stopped at researching the art department's finances you're wrong. When I make wild accusations, I like to do my research so I can know what to do about it. Just ranting is not helpful after all. Now," she opened her eyes again, and continued staring directly into his. "Let me see if I can explain this in a way even you can understand. If I thought they had my best interests at heart, it'd be easy to suck it up and deal with a stupid class. However, if you understood anything at all about the system, you'd know that's not the case. At one point, this school probably was built to teach students. At some point though, it's primary goal became to keep itself going. That's when things get bad."
Eve paused for a moment, then continued. "I bet you're wondering how I get away with half the stuff I do. Defacing a classroom, and it's not like you're even the first student here I've punched in the face, let alone assaulted at all. Why haven't I been expelled? Why am I allowed to continue attending," Eve paused again, her lips curling into a smug smile. "Well, I suppose didn't introduce myself fully. I am Eve Voclain. You might have heard that last name from that new wing they're adding to the library. They named it after my father after he donated a very large sum of money to the school so they could build it. He's also very good friends with the man that runs this school," Eve paused again to let that sink in.
"If something terrible should happen to his reputation, like his perfect precious little daughter getting expelled from the very school he's financially supporting, guess where his money goes? At the very least, it sure as hell won't be here! And that doesn't bother you..." Eve leaned forward, resting her elbows on the table, locking her fingers together, then resting her head on those fingers, "Even a little bit?"
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Post by Kasty Doherty on May 2, 2016 19:51:50 GMT -7
Despite the professor continuing her lecture, it seemed Eve was not done with this conversation. That suited Kasty fine. The way she was continuing, he wasn’t either. She never once looked from him, and as long as she continued to talk down to him, he wouldn’t either. In his minute he’d tried once more to bring the mood to a more relaxed and casual one. It was about time he realized that wasn’t going to happen. This was not going to be a relaxing conversation.
Kasty did recognize the name Voclain - he remembered writing it on the wing she mentioned when he was drawing a map of the school. He hadn’t been aware of the wealthy family’s influence on the school, but it wasn’t unexpected; such practices were common. It also went a long way to explaining Eve’s actions.
“Oh, okay, I think I’m starting to understand now.” Kasty said, nodding. “You’re just an entitled rich kid complaining about how throwing money at your problem didn’t solve it.”
Kasty sat up and away from the back of his chair. Hands on his knees, he leaned forward. “Yeah, Eve, that bothers me!” He said, putting minimal effort into keeping his voice quiet. “What, did you want me to say ‘the opinions of the rich are worth more than that of everyone else’? Ask all the people in this room and see if it doesn’t bother most of them! I hate the idea that there’s people bringing in more money in a day than I’ll make in my lifetime. I hate that every dollar we spend is a vote in this country for what gets funded and what dies, and that the ten dollars I have in my pocket won’t make a difference besides the millions in the pockets of the wealthy. It’s not fair that some are given, birthed with, power to do whatever the hell they want with the world and the rest of everyone else is left to hope they don’t get damn unlucky.”
“But you know what bothers me even more? The fact that you’re abusing that power. You think you can run around, acting on whatever whim takes your fancy, don’t you? Class you don’t like? Screw it! Guy you don’t like? Punch him!” His voice was rising. It was probable they were the center of attention yet again, but Kasty didn’t care. “Do you even care about what’s happening to those around you? Do you ever have to face the consequences of your actions? I don’t know about you, Eve, but-” everytime I walk past the places I’ve been, the things I’ve destroyed, I feel sick to my stomach, he was going to say. His fists were balled. The only thing that made it okay was the people he’d saved and the attacks he might have stopped. People’s lives were always a fair trade for material damage, but that didn’t ease the hardship of loss. No one deserved that. People had to pay attention to what they were doing.
When he spoke again, his voice was quieter, but the edge to it remained. “I’m not going to claim your life is easy, Eve. No one’s is. But can’t you put a moment of thought into what you’re doing to others?”
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Post by Eve Voclain on May 3, 2016 6:30:40 GMT -7
Once again, even though there were multiple points where she would normally have interrupted him, she let him continue all the way though. He may have understood what she was trying to say on an intuitive level, but clearly not a more conscious one based on that completely unrelated rant about money. The funny thing was, everything he was describing was exactly the whole system needed to be turned inside out. There was just only so much one girl could do, no matter how much money she had, so she had to start small as much as that pissed her off. Now it was just a matter of seeing how far she could push him. Eve was fine being a sacrificial lamb in that regard if he wanted to direct all his anger towards her. It's not like she ever made any effort to be liked in the first place.
Eve laughed. It started as a quiet chuckle before slowly erupting into a full blown cackle. Her smile widened into a full grin, almost a manic grin. She leaned back in her chair, pushing against the ground to make the front two legs lift off the ground again, and folded her arms. As always she maintained eye contact that never wavered.
"I didn't think it'd be this easy to get you to show your true colors. I figured you'd continue to cling to that polite, happy-go-lucky facade and that I'd get one outburst out of you at best. But it all makes you angry right? Really angry? And why do you think I continue to abuse the power that I have? It's because I'm actually able to; because no one stops me. So what are you going to do about it? Say mean words at me?"
Eve paused for a moment after issuing her challenge, but not long enough for him to actually respond. "You know, it's kind of funny that you brought up politics. See, my father is a lawyer and a politician. More successful at the lawyering part than the politician part, but successful enough that I've seen how ugly and two-faced it is. You seem to understand why it needs to be stamped out, but when the idea of actually doing something about it comes up? 'Oh, I'm sure they just know better than me.' 'I'm just some stupid goody-two-shoes who doesn't know what I want to do with my life, I'll just listen to all those people in power.' 'I'm sure all those people that lord over my life in some way have my best interest at heart and not theirs!'
"It's funny that you're the one accusing me of not understanding my actions because I could ask the same thing to you. Though I would use the word 'inaction' instead. People doing nothing, people assuming the best when there's clearly something wrong, those things are exactly why I can continue to do what I do. It's exactly why people with more power than me can continue to do what they do. Which person is really not thinking things through, the person that gets angry, or the person that continues on with life as though nothing's actually happening? You're angry? What are you going to do about it? What are you going to do with that emotion?" Eve paused again, letting the front two legs of her chair hit the ground with a thump. "Maybe once you actually start doing something you'll understand a tenth of my frustration."
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Post by Kasty Doherty on May 4, 2016 23:42:17 GMT -7
Kasty hated that phrase “one’s true colors”. It always referred to people’s anger and wrath, as though that was what everyone was at their core. Right now he was, in fact, feeling quite angry. But was that who he really was? Some small part of him, yes, but this was a Kasty pushed far past his comfort zone with a punch and seemingly no end to the insults. Not once did he feel like Eve had spoken to him like an equal - she seemed to trade only in insults and superiority.
And he still had a little more steam to blow off. “So what am I supposed to do? What can someone without power do? I could shout at you, I could gather up a bunch of my friends. But getting that many people is not easy. In both cases you’re not at all obligated to listen to me. And who the hell are you to say I’m not doing anything? You don’t know me. You don’t know that I’m not fighting for change. And frankly, Eve, I’ve got bigger problems to worry about than the troubles of some random rich kid.”
Kasty’s face was hot. He was far from over on this topic, but if he continued on like this, his arguments would dissolve into obscenities and things he’d look back on and realize he didn’t actually believe. He’d probably already done so. Taking a deep breath, he tried to relax his tense shoulders. It was really unusual for him to speak this sharply for so long, and he was beginning to grow tired with the effort. His brow furrowed, his eyes closed, and he exhaled loudly. When he opened his eyes again, his expression was softer. Not happy, but not angry either.
Kasty sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Look, say I’m taking this allegedly godawful art class of yours, and I decide independently of you that I hate it and I want to change which classes are required, ignoring any bad side effects to the art department. Think I could do it? I’m just some random student - I’ve never met the people in charge of that, and I’d be actually a little scared if any of them knew me. In order to hope to make any change, I’d have to get the support of many, many other students, appeal my case, work my way through the hell hole that is bureaucracy, and then maybe something might happen. Probably something small, like the art requirement being removed from one or two degrees, if I’m lucky. More likely my efforts would end with someone laughing in my face and a lot of wasted time. You, on the other hand, have a short cut. You have predisposed power - money, name recognition - that puts weight on who you are and what you’re saying. The school could care less what some angry kid in a jacket had to say, but the daughter of their major funding source? You’ve basically said it yourself; they can’t ignore you.”
He paused for breath, but not long enough to single he was done. “People aren’t doing nothing because they’re sheeple, willing to listen blindly to the first person who sounds like they have the slightest idea what they’re doing - not all of them anyway - but because it’s damn difficult. And you know what? People still have to pay the bills. Most people hate at least something about the way things are and would love to do something about it. But the average person can’t spend hours and hours of their lives fighting to make just a small change; not when they have to work to keep a roof over their heads. It’s nothing but a thankless, grueling, uphill battle, and most people simply can’t put themselves through that. If you’ve got power; money, status; hell, superpowers, you’ve got a leg up. With that, can skip lots of these steps and all the work that comes with it. You can do things alone. Some people abuse their power; make things the way they see fit, regardless of how it affects those around them. Perhaps I don’t feel a tenth of your frustration - who knows - but do you feel a tenth of theirs? If it’s damn hard for the common man to oppose them, who will? Other people with power. It’s up to the people with power to help those who don’t.”
It came out quickly and easily, as though he’d said it many times before. In some ways he had. “So let me ask you this instead, Eve. Why are you asking me what I’m doing to change things when it’s you who has the power to do so?”
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