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xp_logsSaturday evening Dani goes to visit Don Matthews and the parents of the other boys from the diner in an attempt to persuade them to drop the charges. It gives her some real life experience with what she studies in school.
The scene in the living room was tense, to say the least. The request to meet with his staff from Charles Xavier had been grudgingly accepted, and three sets of parents sat drinking coffee, looking at the young woman that the school had sent down to talk to them. Brent, Darryl, and Greg sprawled on one of the sofas, in the lazy indolence of teenaged boys everywhere.
"So, you said you had a proposal?" Don Matthews was a lawyer in New York, and had relocated his family to Salem Centre for the quiet nature of the town. The school was no mystery to him, and unlike some of the locals, he had no issues with mutants nearby. But his son Brent's account of the incident at the diner had been worrying to say the least, and he had become the defacto leader of the parents in pressing charges.
"She did," Dani agreed, nodding, "After they provoked her. And she was wrong to react in the manner she did, but at the same time, your boys did not need to insitgate things. If they hadn't insulted her, she would not have felt a need to defend herself. That is a human response, mutant abilities or not," she paused and then continued, "Part of what Xavier's tries to teach its students is appropriate responses to different situations, however, frequently control is determined by a persons emotional state. In a situation like that....emotions run high on both sides," she was not suggesting that Ness go unpunished, merely that they not press charges against her, but she did want to ensure that this did not happen again to either party.
"Miss Moonstar, with all respect, they're teenagers. They're going to insult each other, make rude comments and forget that they had been taught manners once. If your students are going to lash out with their powers every time someone calls them a name, then maybe the people who want them barred from businesses in town have a point." Matthews had no doubt what actually happened. His son and his friends were being idiots, and instead of the normal table full of girls who would have poured a drink in their lap or called them a bunch of assholes, they'd gotten a trio of mutants. The disturbing thing that Don considered was that Xavier's was apparently suggesting that they should be treated the same as other teens, even when their abilities endangered others. He had a problem with that.
"Exactly, teenagers," she agreed, "At the cusp of adulthood. If they learn this sort of behaviour is appropriate then it continues. The cycle of violence. Just as Miss Temple needs to learn to control herself, so do your sons. I'm not suggesting she not be punished; however, I don't think pressing charges on what was a childish reaction to other children being childish," she didn't dwell on the fact that she was only a few years older than the kids in question. In many ways, she had never been their age, "will solve this problem. Instead, as I said earlier, we'd like to try to foster understanding between the local high school and Xavier's. Perhaps some sort of joint community service venture?"
"No, I'd like to deal with the subject at hand." The faces in the room had gone angry at Dani's words. "The first job of any parent is protection of our children. Your school has a responsibility to ensure that the mutants they bring in do not present a threat to the community, and you're now suggesting that both parties are equally at fault? I saw Jefferson's, Miss Moonstar. It looked like a bomb went off in there, and unless your school has some kind of suggestion beyond 'just trust us' in making sure your students understand the deadliness of their powers and the need for control, those charges stay."
Don Matthews was deep into what his wife called his 'lawyer voice', and the lack of seriousness that this, well, girl actually, was treating it with was making him angry. "She could have killed someone accidentally. If you can't teach them to understand that, then it's safer she's where she can't hurt people."
Taking a deep breath, Dani paused a minute to consider her words. She never spoke quickly to begin with, but her first urge was to lash out with how she was attacked when she was pregnant, to challenge the community for their respones as well, but that would not solve anything, "Children learn from their parents, Mr. Matthews," she responded tersely. "We do have an obligation and responsibility and we don't take it lightly. Nor do we think that simply dropping the charges will make everything better. However; I'd like to avoid turning what was a mistake into something much worse. You're a lawyer, how many people in jail are repeat offenders? How many have juvenile records? How many are profiled based on their race? I am not suggesting she not be punished. I am saying I'd rather her not hate humans just like you hate her," Dani wasn't looking at Don Matthews as she spoke the last words, but at one of the other fathers in the room. She knew she was exactly what he feared.
"You are an extremely arrogant young woman. You come in here after one of your students trashes a diner downtown and threatens bodily harm on our children, and then accuse us of being racist?" Don got up. "The charges aren't staying because she's a mutant. The charges are staying because she ripped a metal table out of its bolts and nearly killed someone with it. But of course, you don't care. She can't control herself and the best your school has to offer is 'oops'? This is a waste of time."
"I began to propose an open forum discussion on mutation to remove any misunderstandings or myths the community here might have on us and some way for us to pay for the damages earlier," Dani stood as well, her height easily putting her at eye level with him, "There is an organization called HeliX we are affliiated with that works to promote understanding between humans and mutants, which is what we all want."
"Are you not listening? We're not idiots, Miss Moonstar. We don't think mutants are monsters hiding under the stairs. We want to know what you are doing to ensure that one of your students doesn't kill someone by accident the next time she loses her temper." Don said sharply. "If you can't answer that simple question, you're wasting your time here."
"This is exactly the situations we want to prevent," Dani's tone softened, they had a valid concern, "And I apologize that it did. We offer anger management classes. Powers control. Restricting her time off campus until she can consistantly demonstrate that she isn't a threat and making sure she is accompanied by one of our staff. We want to turn this into a learning situation for all and make amends."
""And what about the rest of your students, Miss Moonstar? How do we know that this girl isn't just the first one?" Matthews said, mollified somewhat.
"Not all of our students have quite the hair trigger temper, Mr. Matthews or such potentially destructive powers. We've been here as a school for mutants for more than 10 years, it is only in the past 5 or so that we've grown to our current size and stopped hiding as much. Because we trust the people here. And we trust our students to behave appropriately or face the consequences," Dani sat down as things calmed and relaxed slightly, "We could do something with HeliX at the high school, maybe explain about different types of abilites and learning to control them, a questions and answer session...whatever else you want, I can think of several people who would be more than happy to do something like that."
Around the room, the parents one by one began to nod. Don Matthews sighed and nodded as well. "Alright, Miss Moonstar. You've got a deal. We've give this a try."
The scene in the living room was tense, to say the least. The request to meet with his staff from Charles Xavier had been grudgingly accepted, and three sets of parents sat drinking coffee, looking at the young woman that the school had sent down to talk to them. Brent, Darryl, and Greg sprawled on one of the sofas, in the lazy indolence of teenaged boys everywhere.
"So, you said you had a proposal?" Don Matthews was a lawyer in New York, and had relocated his family to Salem Centre for the quiet nature of the town. The school was no mystery to him, and unlike some of the locals, he had no issues with mutants nearby. But his son Brent's account of the incident at the diner had been worrying to say the least, and he had become the defacto leader of the parents in pressing charges.
"She did," Dani agreed, nodding, "After they provoked her. And she was wrong to react in the manner she did, but at the same time, your boys did not need to insitgate things. If they hadn't insulted her, she would not have felt a need to defend herself. That is a human response, mutant abilities or not," she paused and then continued, "Part of what Xavier's tries to teach its students is appropriate responses to different situations, however, frequently control is determined by a persons emotional state. In a situation like that....emotions run high on both sides," she was not suggesting that Ness go unpunished, merely that they not press charges against her, but she did want to ensure that this did not happen again to either party.
"Miss Moonstar, with all respect, they're teenagers. They're going to insult each other, make rude comments and forget that they had been taught manners once. If your students are going to lash out with their powers every time someone calls them a name, then maybe the people who want them barred from businesses in town have a point." Matthews had no doubt what actually happened. His son and his friends were being idiots, and instead of the normal table full of girls who would have poured a drink in their lap or called them a bunch of assholes, they'd gotten a trio of mutants. The disturbing thing that Don considered was that Xavier's was apparently suggesting that they should be treated the same as other teens, even when their abilities endangered others. He had a problem with that.
"Exactly, teenagers," she agreed, "At the cusp of adulthood. If they learn this sort of behaviour is appropriate then it continues. The cycle of violence. Just as Miss Temple needs to learn to control herself, so do your sons. I'm not suggesting she not be punished; however, I don't think pressing charges on what was a childish reaction to other children being childish," she didn't dwell on the fact that she was only a few years older than the kids in question. In many ways, she had never been their age, "will solve this problem. Instead, as I said earlier, we'd like to try to foster understanding between the local high school and Xavier's. Perhaps some sort of joint community service venture?"
"No, I'd like to deal with the subject at hand." The faces in the room had gone angry at Dani's words. "The first job of any parent is protection of our children. Your school has a responsibility to ensure that the mutants they bring in do not present a threat to the community, and you're now suggesting that both parties are equally at fault? I saw Jefferson's, Miss Moonstar. It looked like a bomb went off in there, and unless your school has some kind of suggestion beyond 'just trust us' in making sure your students understand the deadliness of their powers and the need for control, those charges stay."
Don Matthews was deep into what his wife called his 'lawyer voice', and the lack of seriousness that this, well, girl actually, was treating it with was making him angry. "She could have killed someone accidentally. If you can't teach them to understand that, then it's safer she's where she can't hurt people."
Taking a deep breath, Dani paused a minute to consider her words. She never spoke quickly to begin with, but her first urge was to lash out with how she was attacked when she was pregnant, to challenge the community for their respones as well, but that would not solve anything, "Children learn from their parents, Mr. Matthews," she responded tersely. "We do have an obligation and responsibility and we don't take it lightly. Nor do we think that simply dropping the charges will make everything better. However; I'd like to avoid turning what was a mistake into something much worse. You're a lawyer, how many people in jail are repeat offenders? How many have juvenile records? How many are profiled based on their race? I am not suggesting she not be punished. I am saying I'd rather her not hate humans just like you hate her," Dani wasn't looking at Don Matthews as she spoke the last words, but at one of the other fathers in the room. She knew she was exactly what he feared.
"You are an extremely arrogant young woman. You come in here after one of your students trashes a diner downtown and threatens bodily harm on our children, and then accuse us of being racist?" Don got up. "The charges aren't staying because she's a mutant. The charges are staying because she ripped a metal table out of its bolts and nearly killed someone with it. But of course, you don't care. She can't control herself and the best your school has to offer is 'oops'? This is a waste of time."
"I began to propose an open forum discussion on mutation to remove any misunderstandings or myths the community here might have on us and some way for us to pay for the damages earlier," Dani stood as well, her height easily putting her at eye level with him, "There is an organization called HeliX we are affliiated with that works to promote understanding between humans and mutants, which is what we all want."
"Are you not listening? We're not idiots, Miss Moonstar. We don't think mutants are monsters hiding under the stairs. We want to know what you are doing to ensure that one of your students doesn't kill someone by accident the next time she loses her temper." Don said sharply. "If you can't answer that simple question, you're wasting your time here."
"This is exactly the situations we want to prevent," Dani's tone softened, they had a valid concern, "And I apologize that it did. We offer anger management classes. Powers control. Restricting her time off campus until she can consistantly demonstrate that she isn't a threat and making sure she is accompanied by one of our staff. We want to turn this into a learning situation for all and make amends."
""And what about the rest of your students, Miss Moonstar? How do we know that this girl isn't just the first one?" Matthews said, mollified somewhat.
"Not all of our students have quite the hair trigger temper, Mr. Matthews or such potentially destructive powers. We've been here as a school for mutants for more than 10 years, it is only in the past 5 or so that we've grown to our current size and stopped hiding as much. Because we trust the people here. And we trust our students to behave appropriately or face the consequences," Dani sat down as things calmed and relaxed slightly, "We could do something with HeliX at the high school, maybe explain about different types of abilites and learning to control them, a questions and answer session...whatever else you want, I can think of several people who would be more than happy to do something like that."
Around the room, the parents one by one began to nod. Don Matthews sighed and nodded as well. "Alright, Miss Moonstar. You've got a deal. We've give this a try."
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