Issue 1 Downtime

Stephanie knocked on Sam's office door, a slight frown of concern on her face.

"Come in, Miss Kaltiera."

"Hello Professor...do you have a few minutes to talk?" she asked, standing in front of Sam's desk somewhat uncomfortably.

"Certainly do. Was meaning to talk to you anyway. Make yourself comfortable."

Stephanie sat down one of the chairs in front of Sam's desk.

"There was a bit of a situation in power control today, and I....well. I really don't think I handled it very well."

She sighed, "How familiar are you with Calvin Strong?"

"I rather thought half your class ending up in detention was a bit troubling."

"Mister Strong is rather an unusual case, and here that's saying something."

"it's high school. Who doesn't get detention at least once? I know there were certainly quite a few from today but...well you can't just ignore bad behavior, now, can you? I think the kids have gotten the point at least. And I'm certain our detentions are far more pleasant than they'd get at Frost's Academy."

She sighed, "I don't feel bad about the detentions though. I feel bad about how I handled my post-class discussion with Mr. Strong."

"Tell me what happened."

"Well. For starters, I'm still a bit out of sorts from the whole Kraven experience. Mentally and physically," she explained.

Her eyes indeed remained a fixed feral yellow, her teeth were more like fangs and her hands remained tipped with claws.

"So that doesn't exactly keep me...even-tempered. Ryan gave Cal a detention for announcing to the class that he had no intention of staying for the duration, and started to leave. Even after that, he was distant, distracted, and disrespectful. He either had a power accident, or, and I hope he didn't actually do this, faked one, and sent a bolt of lightning through the room. It was loud, people got scared, names were called, verbal sparring ensued. That's where most of the detentions came from. We're in need of bar soap to wash their mouths out."

"So after the class filed out, Cal stayed, and I explained why he was getting a detention and what he'd be doing as punishment. I also asked him why he was acting the way he was. Long story short, I didn't much care for his answer or his attitude, and I got into a shouting match with a freshman in high school."

"You can't get down to that level with them, you know that."

"I know Mister Strong doesn't make it easy, though."

"*I* do know that...which is why it's so frustrating that I did it," she sighed. "I just...don't really know how to approach him. I want him to realize that we're not out to get him. That we're just trying to help him and everyone get a handle on their powers and know what to do if someone else loses it."

"Trust doesn't come easy to him. I could tell that when I checked in on him in detention."

"But what can we do to actually gain his trust? I mean...I guess it's pretty hard to make things better for a kid who's got not much of his central nervous system left..."

"He's very used to having his trust abused by authority, I think. He feels he's been threatened into compliance, so he's giving us the very letter of the law."

Steph sighed, "So not much. Baby steps I guess."

"Speaking of the letter of the law," she passed Cal's handwritten snark across the desk to Stephanie.

Stephanie read it and sighed. "Well. That was unsurprising..." she said folding the paper and setting it back on Sam's desk.

"Do you a suggestion for a punishment that will send a message but not be a pointless exercise in him goofing off?"

"I think right now he's hellbent on making you go through with your threat to keep him in detention until he gets it right."

"Have you discussed this with Mister Gabriel?"

"No. I'll need to, clearly. And maybe giving Mr. Strong what he's expecting is exactly what he needs."

"It's not to brush you off, simply that you'll both have to work together for this class to pan out."

"Professor, you'd never brush anyone off who needed help, I know. I just...well I wanted to get some advice from someone with experience. And also someone who hasn't been sniffing mind-altering fog for days."