You call these scores?!?!

[Mr. Purple]

OOC - This is the first thread of the Purple portion of the quest. Fighting is allowed, but HIGHLY ill-advised.

IC-

"The scores can't possibly be this low!" I yelled as I sent papers flying all over the file and records room in the main office building.

Moral Crest's standardized testing scores were beyond atrocious! It was far worse than I had expected. Upon reading the school reports of individual testing, I found that more than half of the student populace had more recorded fights than passing grades. I began to delve further into the paperwork, tossing papers all over the office as I looked threw them, what did I care? I wasn't going to pick them up, that was beneath me. After about twenty minutes of researching threw old files I was confident I had gathered enough information to begin fixing this lil' predicament Moral Crest had found itself educationally.

I looked around the office until I found the PA system mic.

"Students of Moral Crest, Public High School #42, this is the Head of Academics, Mr. Purple." I allowed a pause so they could take in fully just who I was. "I have been looking over the school test scores and am most displeased, I believe it would do you all well to learn a thing or two in your classes. So... The following is now in effect immediately. You will receive a minimum of an hour of home work from every class, and at least one test and three quizzes each week to prepare for standardized testing. Standardized testing will begin at the end of next month so I assure you all that you will be busy until then." I took yet another pause, so that I could take a deep breath. "If this school does not bring up it's scores we will be cutting all forms of extra curricular activities, shorting the lunch period, and suspending lunch passes. Have a nice day students and study hard. Thank you for your time teachers and please return to your lessons, that is all."

I stood happily as I put down the PA mic, and then made my way to the vacant headmaster's office and took the seat behind the desk. Things would change around here... or there would be hell to pay.

[Matrim Gallagher]

(OOC: Not sure if you were kosher with people actually talking to Purple or if you wanted just reaction posts. Let me know and I'll edit if you want.)

"If this school does not bring up it's scores we will be cutting all forms of extra curricular activities, shorting the lunch period, and suspending lunch passes. Have a nice day students and study hard. Thank you for your time teachers and please return to your lessons, that is all." Was the bit that interested Matrim. He was suddenly very cross, and hell hath no fury like a Matty pissed off.

Matrim made his way to where the PA system was, running there from the spot outside he had been enjoying. When he did so, he saw a man with purple hair leaving the scene and going into an office Matrim took a breather and made his way to the door of the office knocking on the door before entering.

Here we go....

"Excuse me, Mr. Purple was it?" Matrim said stepping inside, using his professional tone, the one that won him a job at Hikari Industries. The job he never really... well technically he assisted Alex Hikari several times, just not for Hikari Industries, "My name is Matrim Gallagher, I'm the Varsity Captain, head of sports. I just heard the announcement and I was wondering if I could get a copy of the list of kids who's test scores aren't up to standard. I can create an academic probation and create a team study session once a week, where all players on probation or not will study together for upcoming tests. I myself am fairly intelligent, and as a senior I'm sure I could help anybody no matter their grade."

I am so pissed at my team right now....

[Aureus]

Aureus had been in his Music class when the PA went off. He didn't pay it much attention, however, and continued to practice the chord progression for a Neutral Milk Hotel song. Goddamnit I hate barre chords! He thought, getting more frustrated with his inadequate fingers. The Senior was a decent sized guy, but his hands were a little on the small side. All he wanted was for his fingers to be half an inch longer. Grumbling, he stopped strumming the guitar and in the silence his ears picked up the message being relayed to the school. It seemed to be some school board tool complaining about their test scores and then threatening them.

Christ, what an asshole. Not only is he a waste of life with a pointless job, but he's too fucking retarded to realize the entire system is broken. Sure, the kids here aren't the best, but it's what happens when you use an education system that was created during the industrial revolution to shit out people for factory jobs. He doesn't even care that the students aren't learning. He's just concerned about the test scores so that he can look good. Fat chance. The ex-Pillar thought, now in an even worse mood and with the inclination to express it. Setting down his guitar on the stand, Aureus walked out of the classroom and made his way towards the office.

Upon his arrival, Aureus noticed the Varsity Captain heading into an office, maybe that's where "Mr. Purple" was. Following Matrim, the schizo would wait for the boy to finish his little spiel about academic probation for airhead jocks. Once that was done, he would speak up.

"Pardon my interruption, but I was wondering if you could justify the threat you just made, or even the entire system you slave for? Judging from your position I'm guessing you aren't very intelligent. Enlighten me as to how pissing off the majority of the students will raise test scores. Seems like you're just begging for a riot. Oh, but then you'll beat us all to a pulp and of COURSE that will make the test scores go up so you can look good and keep making 60,000 a year, eh?" He said with an edge to his voice. He couldn't pass up a chance to put this jerk in his place.

[Aternity]

Aurora liked having some work to do, but that is truly where the similarities ended. Aurora had excellent grades compared to everyone else, but the problem was, it already took her plenty of time to do her work, even with someone helping her out by reading questions and such. An extra hour of homework from each class was pretty ambiguous, and quickly multiplied into 2-3 hours per class for the blind girl. Unless they started writing in braille, which at this point was quite unlikely. Needless to say, weak, frail or not, Aurora...Thirteen now had a bone to pick with this guy.

And it appeared that she wasn't the only one; for as she turned the corner, two pairs of footsteps also made their way...one was Matrim. The other was someone else with an equally angry air about him. Those theories were instantly confirmed as the two started to started to talk...first the calm talk and compromise of Matrim, and then the other boy...who took a slightly different approach. The angry approach. And not one to be left out, Aurora squiggled between the two hulking masses of boy and talked herself.

"I'm not one to throw fuel to the fire...but the boy here is right. I can hardly get my work done as it is. Those that do get their work done stress enough. Crushing them and forcing an immovable force with more force is sure to start a large riot. I think the issue is at the fundamental basis of the school."

She stopped to pause.

"This is a school for misfits, criminals, and otherwise the disabled such as I. Forcing the issue is akin to shoving a square block in a triangular hole..."

[Mr. Purple]

"Excuse me, Mr. Purple was it?"

A young man addressed me as I sat back in my chair, my eyes looked up to greet him.

"Yes?"

"My name is Matrim Gallagher, I'm the Varsity Captain, head of sports. I just heard the announcement and I was wondering if I could get a copy of the list of kids who's test scores aren't up to standard. I can create an academic probation and create a team study session once a week, where all players on probation or not will study together for upcoming tests. I myself am fairly intelligent, and as a senior I'm sure I could help anybody no matter their grade."

It seemed this boy was intelligent at least, and I was not at all surprised when he had addressed himself as a pillar. From what I was told the Pillars of this school seemed to be running it with the lack of a H.M. I was glad he had come.

"Ah a Pill-" My sentence was cut short by another student.

"Pardon my interruption, but I was wondering if you could justify the threat you just made, or even the entire system you slave for? Judging from your position I'm guessing you aren't very intelligent. Enlighten me as to how pissing off the majority of the students will raise test scores. Seems like you're just begging for a riot. Oh, but then you'll beat us all to a pulp and of COURSE that will make the test scores go up so you can look good and keep making 60,000 a year, eh?"

And then it was children like this one that reminded me why I was here.

"You must be one of the uneducated masses." I addressed the boy who had interrupted me. "A pleasure to meet a voice of the people. Please stand outside and wait till I have finished speaking with the Varsity Captain. You will have your turn to speak with me after he is finished."

It was not hard for me to maintain my composure when speaking to the boy who had been so rude to me, I was used to it. Children usually didn't like me and that was okay, it wasn't the first time one would insult me and I am sure it would not be the last either.

Just then a girl popped her head into my new office.

"I'm not one to throw fuel to the fire...but the boy here is right. I can hardly get my work done as it is. Those that do get their work done stress enough. Crushing them and forcing an immovable force with more force is sure to start a large riot. I think the issue is at the fundamental basis of the school.This is a school for misfits, criminals, and otherwise the disabled such as I. Forcing the issue is akin to shoving a square block in a triangular hole..."

I sighed... God these kids had no manors. First one entered, then interrupted, and now another. I was beginning to fully understand just why the school moral and GPA was so low.

"Dear girl take a number. You are after him." I said pointing at Aureus.

[Matrim Gallagher]

Matrim turned to see the kid he recognized, but didn't have a name for. And then after him Thirteen had shown up. Both of them making arguments, Matrim took a very stern look on his face, looking at both of them and waited, for them and the guy who claimed to be the head of academics. It was a fancy title, but the fact was that he was right, even if Matrim himself didn't care about grades, this school probably had some poor ones. If this guy had the power to take away sports, it was best not to try and fight him.

"With all due respect some problems can't be solved with fighting, it's best if we just do as he wishes. If you want to express your concern, please do so in a moment. It sounds as if he'll listen," Matrim said and nodded towards Thirteen. He didn't take her as the type who would revolt so easily. Matrim was a man of fists and fury, but right now he was opting for reason. He turned around and would continue on.

"Our sports teams provide a bit of school spirit, our teams are the best, our players enjoy their time. If I asked them to stand up and fight for their right to be lazy, to revolt or something silly like that they would. All the same, if I asked them to work hard and study, to put less time into practicing out on the field and more time reading a book, that would be the same, they would listen. I just need to know which ones need to be benched for the time being, and I'll be out of your hair."

[Arkady Awren]

Outside of the headmaster's office another fight had broken out, this time the unfortunate Arkady was in the middle of it. He made his best attempts to dodge and dismantle, but the other student was a bit much for him to handle. He found himself grappled and launched the the large window of the office. The only good thing about this was that his books were with him and they were large enough to keep him from getting cut up from the glass.

After the crash he found himself upside down within a scuffle between several students and a sharply dressed purple dude. Arkady adjust himself and wiped the debris from his robes, pulled his books to his side. He then adjusted his glasses and took long stares at each of the people in the room, one by one. Making an assumption he pulled out his law book and flipped open to the last few pages between the glossary and the constitution.

"We aren't having a debate are we?! With all due respect I can wait, but I'll throw out an objection or two while you all duke it out... If you aren't minding... And if you do mind... Well too bad."

Arkady's russian accent was showing and it may have sparked something in the sharp dressed purple dude. Some people just didn't like Russians... But he was a man of unbiased opportunity and he rarely cared about what others thought.

[Sam Ballerino]

Sam sat in her English class, wondering why she’d even bothered to come to school that day. Her copy of Hamlet sat open on her desk, but the sparse scattering of notes she’d taken during the period was more out of politeness than anything else. Besides the fact that it was one of her favorite plays, she’d covered it already at the school she’d attended before transferring to Moral Crest, so she figured it was pretty safe to say that she knew the material pretty well. So instead of dissecting the four different possible meanings that lurked behind Hamlet’s every line, she had her history book open and was finishing the homework she’d fallen asleep trying to do the night before. Once she finished that she moved on to the new work they’d been assigned today. It wasn’t due for another few days, but she wasn’t about to miss an opportunity to get it done. A few of her teachers, in lieu of resorting to the corporal punishment policy, thought extra homework would be the way to bring kids in line.

Boy, were they ever wrong about that.

Her train of thought was derailed by an unfamiliar voice floating from the PA system. Sam grinned to herself at his name – Mr. Purple? Really? It almost sounded like some sort of codename… Maybe everyone on the board had nicknames like that. But the smile quickly faded as she realized who he was, and the consequences of his message to the student body. The entire room broke out in chaos around her, and her teacher ran out of the room, saying something about “finding someone in authority to corroborate with.” Knowing her teacher, though, it was more likely that she’d run to get away from the outbreak of anger that was now flooding the classroom. Sam just put her head in her hands.

An extra hour… that meant another five or six hours of homework every night. If the teachers bothered to comply. Most probably would, or they’d try. What it meant for Sam, though, is that now she’d have even less time do get her work done around her dance schedule and the absolutely useless Aikido sessions that her father forced her through. And just because of those, Sam rarely ever got home before dark to begin with. She’d managed to keep her grades up, however, and hardly saw how this was in any way fair. It wasn’t her choice to transfer to a shit school with shit grades, and she found it horribly unfair that she should have to suffer because half the kids in her class didn’t have parents who gave two shits about their education.

Since the teacher was gone and the class was close to rioting, Sam thought it might be a good time to go find this Mr. Purple and have a talk with him about this. She packed her things and headed for the PA room, thinking he still might be there, but on the way she passed by the headmaster's office, discovering an unusual amount of rather angry activity in front of the normally unused room. She came to the conclusion that Mr. Purple may have possibly made himself at home in the empty office, and gave the two fighters a wide berth as she headed around them for the open door of his office. No need, though; the brawl ended suddenly when one of the students was thrown through the window, straight into the headmaster’s office.

Aw, crap… Sam hurried forward, through the more standard entrance into the office, and since the student seemed to be ok (Sam let out a sigh of relief for him), she turned to the desk, and saw Matrim, who she’d only met briefly, and two other students she didn’t know. But the man sitting at the desk, with his purple hair and amethyst eyes, could only be Mr. Head of Academics himself. It surprised her a little bit; she hadn't been expecting him to actually live up to his name.

“You must be Mr. Purple,” she said. He was obviously in the middle of something with the other people in the room, so she put on her best “contrite in the presence of authority” face - the one that worked with even her no-bullshit father - and quickly added, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt… I can wait until you have a spare moment.”

[Mr. Purple]

It seemed what I had said really was agitating the students, perfect. It was funny to me just how up in arms they all were over a few extra hours of homework for the duration of one month. If this was how they reacted to change it was no surprise that they were mostly failing. I looked at Matrim the pillar.

"Our sports teams provide a bit of school spirit, our teams are the best, our players enjoy their time. If I asked them to stand up and fight for their right to be lazy, to revolt or something silly like that they would. All the same, if I asked them to work hard and study, to put less time into practicing out on the field and more time reading a book, that would be the same, they would listen. I just need to know which ones need to be benched for the time being, and I'll be out of your hair."

"To answer your question, the following students are-" I was cut off yet again as a student came crashing threw the glass window and into my office. My face would show my rising frustration... I was not some simple Head Master and this lack of respect was getting me to my boiling point.

"What the hell are you doing?" I asked the student that had been propelled threw my window, but before he could answer.. another student came in. Yeah I definitely need a bigger office. Yeah I had had enough of this... bullshi-

“You must be Mr. Purple, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt… I can wait until you have a spare moment.”

Well Christ! At least this one was polite when she barged in.... but still it was too little too late.

"Students you may all leave, I have no time for this bickering over a few hours of extra homework. You don't want to do it? Fine. Don't do it. It's your life not mine, I already graduated and why should I care if you lose all forms of student activities? The ball is in your court now. Play or leave and fail. Personally, this school is far below the levels of the national curriculum. It would be better shut down anyway." I said as I stood up. Although it was not completely obvious, my eyes had begun to shine... Nobody at this school knew what that meant, save Mr. Orange at least. Hopefully these children would not get to know what this change meant either.

[Matrim Gallagher]

"Students you may all leave, I have no time for this bickering over a few hours of extra homework. You don't want to do it? Fine. Don't do it. It's your life not mine, I already graduated and why should I care if you lose all forms of student activities? The ball is in your court now. Play or leave and fail. Personally, this school is far below the levels of the national curriculum. It would be better shut down anyway."

Matrim shook his head at how many people just charged in. He took out his wallet and took out a business card with his contact information, fax, email, the works. Pretty much anything to get in contact with Matrim was there, "Listen, I hate to be a pain, so I'll leave since you're currently being assaulted by all these kids. Here is my contact information, I'm interested in that list. I know you may have given up on this school already, but I haven't. And I'll do my best to make sure Moral Crest is up to standard," Matrim said and looked around, "And that the students have manners enough to use a door and wait in line. Be thankful none of you are on sports teams or else you'd be facing some harsh punishment right about now. Now if you all don't mind I'm sure Mr. Purple here could use some relaxation. I recommend you leave him alone."

Matrim turned around, "Also, if you need me for anything, don't hesitate to call." Unless Mr. Purple asked him to get rid of these students by physical means, Matrim would head out. He had done his part, he would get a vast majority of the student population to complete these standards, even if he had to make practice some type of study while you train type of session. Doing homework before practice with team mates, and then doing practice itself.

Even if I force there asses to stay out until 10pm.... I will get my teams in shape.

[Arkady Awren]

Everyone was getting pretty aggravated and the room was getting pretty cramped. With the request to leave stated, Matrim had left behind his goods and Arkady had closed his book. He looked to the ground where glass had been scattered everywhere, it was his mess too...

"Um... Do you want me to clean up this mess? I can do that at least before I head out into another danger zone..."

Arkady still had his ever present smile, but the soul behind it had left along with Matrim. The other students were probably going to put up a bit of a fight, but Arkady would take no part in it. If there was a fight and he was being drawn into it, there was a perfectly good shattered window behind him to jump out of.

If this Mr. Purple fellow had taken his rage from the children out on Arkady, the window was still a liable exit. Arkady was the least intimidating student in the room at the time though, so the chances were little to none of him actually needing to be raged upon.

[seishounohana]

If there was anyone who was slightly upset about this entire thing, it was Emily. Why? For several reasons. One being that she works a job she doesn't even get paid for, still manages to get As with a B+ as the worst case scenario... and now someone's freaking about the school's performance not being enough? Not that her grades were high enough to bring the whole population's grades up, but rather -- Emily felt empathy for those who tried their hardest, and this guy comes in and demands perfection.

She was right there, listening right by the door of the office they were having the meeting in. Unlike several, she was waiting "in line."

She was listening quietly, as she had none to contribute to the discussion just yet.

This would be a difficult time for PHS 42, she knew that much.

[Mr. Purple]

"Listen, I hate to be a pain, so I'll leave since you're currently being assaulted by all these kids. Here is my contact information, I'm interested in that list. I know you may have given up on this school already, but I haven't. And I'll do my best to make sure Moral Crest is up to standard, And that the students have manners enough to use a door and wait in line. Be thankful none of you are on sports teams or else you'd be facing some harsh punishment right about now. Now if you all don't mind I'm sure Mr. Purple here could use some relaxation. I recommend you leave him alone."

Now this boy had potential! A natural leader, and a smart one at that. He could see I was annoyed and he also realized that the students were in the wrong. If he was but a reflection of the rest of the pillar-ship, I would be writing up a good report. Then however, the only student I had truly wanted to stay, left.

"Um... Do you want me to clean up this mess? I can do that at least before I head out into another danger zone..."

I sighed...

"No that will not be necessary." I answered with as much understanding I could muster.

It seemed my announcement had set the student body into a complete riot outside... Perfect.

Keep rioting you fools, with enough of you dead or out of commission, this school won't pass inspection and we can shut it down. I won't even have to lift a finger... Ah some times my own brilliance got the best of me.

I took my seat before saying anything to the students still in my room.

"So then, are you all planning on siting here in the only safe place in the school? Or are you going to go out there and get your classmates to control themselves less they really agitate the board?"

I kicked my feet back and let my ears take in all the chaos outside. It wasn't really my thing, all this chaos, but for my own sake I felt it best to let these students rip the school apart, save Mr. Orange the trouble have tearing it down later. Filthy maggots.

[Aternity]

Thirteen, by simply listening had taken in all that she needed to know. This situation was far above test scores, but in what way, which direction, and the intensity of the situation was still unknown to her. And for the meantime, it would remain that way. It was like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. If you knew one, you couldn't know the others. And until she invented some kind of social compensator, it was unlikely she's know much until later.

She started to walk, a little disdained at what was happening to this school. Even though she had no care for what happened to the school itself...the people inside it were different. Some were rude, hurtful, crazy or otherwise, but even they deserved an education, and so did Aurora for that matter. Selfish or not. She'd have to help with this situation in the way she could...if only if only.

Oh well.

It was time to get out of here, maybe do some research on the school board.

Something was going to happen...and it wasn't just a riot.