Meeting with Faragonda, Palladium, and Flora

[griselda]

(OOC: Someone else start this.)

[Palladium]

Palladium stood with his hands clasped behind his back. It felt hot - incredibly hot. But Palladium attributed this discomfort to the fact that he was standing in Ms. Faragonda's office alone, waiting for her, Griselda, and more likely than not, Flora, to arrive. And when they did, his fate would be sealed.

Shifting his weight nervously, Palladium cast his glance to the door wishing that they would just arrive. Right now, he just wanted this to be done with, whatever the outcome - because at this moment he could honestly say that the wait was worse than anything that could possibly happen.

And then there was a click and the doorknob turned. Palladium's stomach dropped . . . on second thought, maybe the wait wasn't so bad.


(OOC: I changed this entry a bit because Faragonda and I posted at about the same time, which caused my post to seem a bit out of place

[faragondaalfea]

Faragonda held the door open for all of the involved parties once the students had dispersed back into their dorm rooms. She felt an impending sense of dread arriving in the room with them, but she knew this had to be done.

Faragonda found her job to be at most times extremely rewarding, but every once in a while, the Headmistress knew she had to pay her dues and do a task that was severely unpleasant.

[Demeter]

Flora enterd the room quietly, trying to draw as little attention to herself as possible. She stood close to the door, and barely hid the tremble from fear. This was a nightmare. And once again, she wondered why she didn't just get on the train.

[griselda]

Silence reigns for about ten whole minutes. Griselda finally speaks, "Palladium, Flora, you have one chance to explain yourselves. Both of you. I'm not the headmistress here- -Faragonda will decide what to do next."

[Palladium]

Palladium carefully kept his face turned away from Flora. Speaking to Griselda he replied emotionlessly, "I told you everything I had to say in your office earlier: my conduct was entirely inappropriate and it cannot be justified or explained. I am not worthy to be a part of the faculty here anymore. Word will spread to the students' parents and they will not wish their daughters to be in an establishment where such behavior is permitted . . . I believe to preserve Alfea's good reputation, I should leave at once."

[Demeter]

Flora spoke in a very quiet voice. "We were at the dance and I bumped into him. We stood and talked for a bit and another student bumped me further so it looked like we were about to kiss. I apologized to him for both... And... I confessed that I have more then a school girl's crush for him."

Flora paused a moment and looked away. "If you want me to leave, Professor Faragonda, I will. I was about to before Doyne told me to come back to try and fix this mess..."

[griselda]

"Professor, no one shall hear about it. I have my ways. You see.....I don't want you to go." Before anyone gave her questioning looks, she changed the subject.
"Faragonda, what about Flora? Should she be punished? Expelled? What?"

[Palladium]

Palladium looked at Griselda in shock. "Are you mad? Did you not hear what I said? This is not Flora's doing. This was my mistake. Solely my mistake. She can not be punished for what I did!" Palladium said, his voice rising in anger. "Flora will not leave Alfea; she has not done anything to deserve to be cast out of this school. Yes, she admitted that she had feelings for me but it was only because I made advances on her. I started this. I lured her in. Do you understand, me?" Palladium demanded, his eyes narrowed.

Through clenched teeth, Palladium hissed, "I am in the wrong here - not Flora."

[Demeter]

Flora couldn't help but think it was odd of Miss Griselda to not want to punish Professor Palladium and her comment that she didn't want him to go also struck her as odd. Her heart couldn't help but threaten to break even further as she heard the Professor all but demand that he be "forced out" due to his actions. She found it very hard not to reach over and offer her support but that was probably the last thing he wanted or she should do. Her green eyes almost started to cloud up with tears.

She was quietly afraid of what Miss Faragonda was going to say. She had this feeling she'd be expelled or worse.

[griselda]

palladium said:

Palladium looked at Griselda in shock. "Are you mad? Did you not hear what I said? This is not Flora's doing. This was my mistake. Solely my mistake. She can not be punished for what I did!" Palladium said, his voice rising in anger. "Flora will not leave Alfea; she has not done anything to deserve to be cast out of this school. Yes, she admitted that she had feelings for me but it was only because I made advances on her. I started this. I lured her in. Do you understand, me?" Palladium demanded, his eyes narrowed.

Through clenched teeth, Palladium hissed, "I am in the wrong here - not Flora."

Griselda's throat clamped up, a rare occurence. There's nothing that can be done. You are mad. He's determined to love Flora- -and he's done all but threaten to quit, she thought.
There was another reign of silence, this one not as long.

"Faragonda, could you deal with the rest of this matter? I need to sort through some things."
She dismissed to her room.

(Edit: What happened to her next continued in "Alone after meeting." The rest of you keep talking.)

[faragondaalfea]

Faragonda let out a quiet, drawn-out sigh after Griselda left. She looked to Palladium, peering over her spectacles in a manner most disarming. It was an act of hers more powerful than any truth-serum spell, and made her one of the most successful headmistresses in Alfea history. "What do you think, Palladium? Griselda has an excellent point. As great an incovenience it is that you have created this rather tedious issue, it would be an even greater incovenience if you were to resign from your position as professor and leave me short-staffed."

She stood from her desk, and traced her thin, soft, but aged fingers along the edge before clasping them together formally against her waist. "But you are far from the first professor that has pulled a stunt like this. It was one of the many reasons that I faught so violently to loosen the restrictions of having male teachers back in the all-girls' school." Faragonda kept her eyes lowered to the floor. "It's a pity that this rule has to be in-tact, but you know as well as I do that no one remains a student forever, and it is only a matter of time before Flora would be able to graduate."

There was a playful glimmer in Faragonda's eye, and her pale, thin lips curled to a smile. "And she does have a few rather brilliant friends that--should she take advantage of their generousity in the proper way--I don't see any reason why I would not be able to grant her an early graduation."

[Demeter]

Flora couldn't help but blink her green eyes and wonder what Miss Faragonda meant by brilliant friends and taking advantage of their generousity in the proper way. She was getting confused. And an early graduation? That was new. Of course, if that was the case, then she'd keep her mouth shut so she didn't say anything about it - she didn't want Tecna to be jealous.

[faragondaalfea]

Faragonda looked over to Flora. "Flora, you can't do this alone, you know." As though reading the young fairy's mind. "You need to trust your friends to be there for you, especially when you need them most. Shutting them out is only going to hurt them."

[Demeter]

Flora's cheeks took on a crimson hue. "I.. I was just afraid one or two of them would be jealous that I was going to be allowed to graduate early if I asked them to help me. That or they'd be upset that I was being allowed to graduate early so I could have a relationship with the professor... that is... if such a thing is possible," the last bit had her look at the floor.

"I just feel like I disappointed you, Miss Faragonda."