Cyclone
Robotech Nerd
- Location
- Earth, Sol System
No, she doesn't. They were ignoring the bullying for over a year before Sophia even joined the Wards in canon. If there was any prejudice, it was from her track team membership.
Firebird, a Worm AU/Xover?
- Thread starter chibipoe
- Start date
No, she doesn't. They were ignoring the bullying for over a year before Sophia even joined the Wards in canon. If there was any prejudice, it was from her track team membership.
chibipoe
May I tell you of the glory that is Catradora?
- Location
- Astoria, Oregon
Pretty much this.
Furthermore, it's entirely likely that Blackwell has bought into whatever rumors are sure to have been circulating. The locker aside, the fact that there was, in canon, no action taken is indicative that she thinks Taylor's just making shit up. Even ignoring Alan Barnes' shenanigans in the meeting at the school, I didn't get the feeling that any amount of proof would have convinced Blackwell.
Jeez, Track and Field must be serious business at that school.
- Location
- In the depts of despair.
Even factoring the rumors there should be more to it. The locker incident is something impossible to ignore, from that point on even the most indiferent teacher would have passed an order to keep an eye on Taylor, even if only to protect her own backside and save additional hush money, so they should know that the rumors aren't true or at the very least are exagerated. The only way that neither she nor anyone else detected further bullying was if they actively closed their eyes, and considering the economic cost of the last 'joke' then there must be a particular incentive that is of greater value than a week in the hospital plus a little extra. And that incentive can come from only three basic sources: Madison, Emma and Sophia.
Ridtom
Good. Bad. I'm the man with the Wand.
There was also a point where Jean Grey got her ass kicked by Magneto while in Phoenix Form.
And then killed in Phoenix Form despite being "immortal".
It's kind of depressing that Scott Summers was a better Phoenix Host than Jean Grey.
Also, was Rachel the one that got trained by Spiderman? Yeah, she's pretty cool.
I agree. The fact that Taylor was locked in her own locker with biohazard waste means, at the absolutely worst possible interpretation, that other students got sick of her antics and tried to teach her a lesson. She should be watched more closely for both her safety and, from their perspective, that of other students.
Edit: I doubt that Madison has any particular value to the administration. Sophia being on the track team might explain it, though my already low opinion of the school would drop even further if that was the only reason, and Emma's dad being a lawyer is way too overused. He's a divorce lawyer, this is no more his area than criminal law is.
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Can we please not do this? It's been discussed, debated, argued about, chewed up and spit out so many times. Hell, this kind of discussion comes up in almost every single Worm thread. Multiple times, even.
Please, just, let it go.
If you want me to drop is so badly, fine (as long as others are as well, I'm not going to ignore them). Keep in mind that it keeps getting brought up because it keeps coming up. In this case, it started because of a comment by chibipoe that Sophia might not be in Armsmaster's area of jurisdiction, thus I wanted to know why the school would cover it up, there was a response, and that got the small debate going.
I would really prefer that. I've seen this discussion a dozen times now, and I'm just tired. But if you've got a new insight, by all means go ahead and share.
On topic: I'm really glad to see this got it's own thread. Writing an OP character well is hard, and pretty rare. Doing it in a serious story is even more so. Acceleration pulls it off really well, so I'm glad it gets a spiritual successor.
Also, awesome Armsmaster. He gets really mishandled in a lot of stories, which is a shame because is character has a lot of potential.
Armsmaster is an interesting character. I liked chibipoe's interpretation better than canon honestly; in canon he was a self-interested jerk. Chibipoe's acts more like Defiant did.
Locker credibility concerns? Go low, not high.
Conscious conspiracies, explicit tradeoffs, deliberate action... these can be fun, these can be fascinating, but they are not the default setting for many.
Most people make startlingly few deliberate decisions, letting habit, convenience, and imitation handle most of the 'choices' made; most everyone sees what they wish to see.
So work from there: initial incidents have no evidence (and besides, investigations are inconvenient), and that shifts T from 'victim' to 'annoying girl who keeps making unprovable accusations', this becomes habit, imitated more widely (Teacher A: 'Hey, T said something about bullying'; Teacher B: 'Yeah, she keeps crying wolf about that). Meanwhile you have productive girls, who get their homework in on time, who run track, who smile nicely, who are so very much more believable, who tell a different story. And, after the loss of her mother, is it any wonder that T is acting out? Seeking attention, even negative attention? Doing worse in classes and on tests?
The locker, of course, is harder to dismiss... but at that point, admitting to the ongoing issue involves admitting to the ongoing dereliction. Much easier to say (correctly) that there's no hard evidence, and let the petty passive aggression available to any minor member of a large organization do the rest by sheer virtue of inertia. There's no need to bury an investigation when just going through the motions will achieve the same effect.
All of which is to say that Sophia doesn't need to be a Ward, that Blackwell and Gladly, et al., don't need to have secret motivations for turning a blind eye, for the bullying situation to occur. Indeed, given a T with no faith in authority, one who actively rejects milder disciplinary options (Suspension? That'll just make things worse!), it's not hard for those worthies to shrug and think 'I tried', or 'not my business, really,' following any half-hearted attempt to help T (or, more cynically, assuage the dull prickings of conscience that an effort was made).
Bottom line: setting up a world in which a non-Ward Sophia gets away with things is not an objective question, it is a question of chibipoe's skill.
Conscious conspiracies, explicit tradeoffs, deliberate action... these can be fun, these can be fascinating, but they are not the default setting for many.
Most people make startlingly few deliberate decisions, letting habit, convenience, and imitation handle most of the 'choices' made; most everyone sees what they wish to see.
So work from there: initial incidents have no evidence (and besides, investigations are inconvenient), and that shifts T from 'victim' to 'annoying girl who keeps making unprovable accusations', this becomes habit, imitated more widely (Teacher A: 'Hey, T said something about bullying'; Teacher B: 'Yeah, she keeps crying wolf about that). Meanwhile you have productive girls, who get their homework in on time, who run track, who smile nicely, who are so very much more believable, who tell a different story. And, after the loss of her mother, is it any wonder that T is acting out? Seeking attention, even negative attention? Doing worse in classes and on tests?
The locker, of course, is harder to dismiss... but at that point, admitting to the ongoing issue involves admitting to the ongoing dereliction. Much easier to say (correctly) that there's no hard evidence, and let the petty passive aggression available to any minor member of a large organization do the rest by sheer virtue of inertia. There's no need to bury an investigation when just going through the motions will achieve the same effect.
All of which is to say that Sophia doesn't need to be a Ward, that Blackwell and Gladly, et al., don't need to have secret motivations for turning a blind eye, for the bullying situation to occur. Indeed, given a T with no faith in authority, one who actively rejects milder disciplinary options (Suspension? That'll just make things worse!), it's not hard for those worthies to shrug and think 'I tried', or 'not my business, really,' following any half-hearted attempt to help T (or, more cynically, assuage the dull prickings of conscience that an effort was made).
Bottom line: setting up a world in which a non-Ward Sophia gets away with things is not an objective question, it is a question of chibipoe's skill.
If this has been brought up before, I apologize, but I really wan to say this.
The moment where Armsmaster described his roguish cover story, this is the point where I started laughing and couldn't stop. I really hope someone calls him on it (Mostly because I hope he believes it's, well, believable).
The moment where Armsmaster described his roguish cover story, this is the point where I started laughing and couldn't stop. I really hope someone calls him on it (Mostly because I hope he believes it's, well, believable).
Silly Mystical 8-Ball. Shipping doesn't belong anywhere. It's still gonna happen.
Selonianth
Writer of Words
*takes a glance at his signature on SB* Yep...
The locker incident alone would be Conduct Unbecoming of a Ward at the very least, definitely assault, unlawful imprisonment, and might even rise all the way to Attempted Murder. Considering Sophia's already on probation on account of an "accidental" kill as a vigilante(IIRC, she was trying the Batman Interrogation Method but didn't have the upper body strength required to keep the thug she was interrogating from falling to his death) She's a loose cannon and a friendly fire incident waiting to happen, not to mention the awful press if it gets out that a government sponsored superheroine is tormenting an innocent girl 5 days a week for shits & giggles.
I'm surprised no one's picked up one other possibility for why the faculty has done nothing and the student body just watches and laughs when Taylor is locked in her own locker for hours in the middle of the day: There could be a Master operating in Winslow High, either part of the bullying or watching from the crowd and using mind control to get their jollies watching the "Let's torment Taylor" show.
Selonianth
Writer of Words
Sophia didn't kill anyone that the BB Protectorate is aware of. Almost doing so by accident? Sure. Actually killing anyone? Nope.
IIRC, someone wrote a snip where Taylor called in Sophia for Suspicion of Using Mind Control.
Selonianth
Writer of Words
And Emma freaked out over it, legit, and her dad decided to use Emma's freak out and Taylor's accusation to get Emma off the hook for the bullying.
Sage_Of_Eyes
Waiting
Armsy! You magnificent bastard!
Sports was a big deal at my high school, and although I think it sucked, the school wasn't that bad.
So yes, I can see that happening at the hellhole that is Winslow.
Sophia's kill count, according to the PRT? 0.
Sophia's kill count, according to Wildbow? Somewhere in the range of 2-4.
Selonianth
Writer of Words
I did say as far as they're aware didn't I?