fandomtownies | Thursday morning in the Park

Phoebe shows up wearing jeans, a sweater and a trench coat. Her hair is pulled back and there are dark circles under her eyes. She is not wearing her Ethics slave badge.

"Professor McLay, thank you for coming this morning."

"You're welcome, Phoebe." Tara pats the bench next to her. "Take a seat, you look like you need it."

Phoebe sits down and stares out over the lake.

"Am I talking to you as my teacher, or as my friend who yesterday helped perform magic so we could free someone we cherished?" There is worry and confusion in her eyes when she looks at Tara.

Tara smiles softly. "You asked to meet off campus - so I assume you need a friend, not a teacher. Talk to me, Phoebe. Tell me what's wrong."

"Jerusalem," she says softly. "I heard he summoned you to talk about me yesterday."

Tara nods. "Mr. Jerusalem did ask to talk to me, yes, to clarify some issues with the Master/slave assignment. Teachers talk to one another, Phoebe. Why should that upset you?"

Phoebe sighs and turns to look at Tara. It's obviously she's very upset. "I know he talked to you about more than the assignment, Tara. If it was just the assignment, I wouldn't be so upset. He pretty much handed me my ass yesterday, Tara. Apparently I am supposed to run my assignments past him and risk ostracizing my other teachers by picking and choosing which assignments I'll do."

"Mr. Jerusalem was concerned about the number of hours I expected students to give to this assignment, and reminded me that many students - yourself included - have very full workloads. My understanding was that he wanted to be kept in the loop about the demands on your time, so that he knew what he could ask of you." Tara's gaze is kind, her voice soft, but firm. "I didn't get the impression that he expected you to be excused from any of your assignments, and I'm sure if that was the case he would have asked me himself, rather than expecting you to do it."

"He said it was irresponsible for me to accept the assignment from you. He told me I should have known better. He said I should have let you know he was my employer." Phoebe sighs, dropping her head to her hands. "No matter what I do lately, nothing is ever good enough."

"Nothing?" Tara shakes her head at Phoebe, smiling a little. "Well I know that's not true - you're doing beautifully on my assignment, and you were amazing with the mindwalk spell."

She cocks her head at Phoebe. "Is this about more than Mr. Jerusalem? What else is going on?"

Phoebe sighs. "It's too much. I was being stalked and I went to him for help. Instead I was told how irresponsible I was being and that I needed to prioritize and keep my word." She looks at Tara. "Last week I honestly thought about leaving school."

Phoebe looks back across the lake. "I tried to get together with the interns to talk to them and apologize for hiding and ask for advice. Instead..." Here, Phoebe's voice catches. "Instead I was cut dead. They were two of my first friends I had here..."

"Okay, let's take this one at a time, Phoebe, alright?" Tara smiles gently, her voice calming.

"You were being stalked. Belthazor mentioned as much to me - has that been resolved? Have you gone to the police?"

Phoebe shakes her head.

"I didn't go to the police, but Cole..." here her voice lightens considerably. It's obvious how she feels about him. "He told me last night that the stalker has been found and dealt with. He said to trust him that it was best I didn't know who did it."

Tara frowns, a little concerned by the implications of that, but lets it pass for now. "Alright, so that's not an issue any more. You said Mr. Jerusalem told you that you needed to prioritize, and that the other interns were cross with you. Have you been falling behind on your TA work?"

Phoebe sighs. "Apparently I haven't been taking attendance and submitting it to him enough. I do take attendance and leave it on his desk. But he says he can't call on me to do anything because he never knows where I am. Tara...he gave me a cell phone that I drank so now it's part of my body. He can call that anytime he wishes. I'm in the Journalism lab when I'm not in another class, and I have voicemail and e-mail that he has neglected to use." She looks down. "His whole attitude about me has shifted and I don't know why. He used to say how much he liked me because I think like him. Now he seems to despise me and I don't understand why! How many seventeen year olds would offer to take a bullet to protect their boss?"

Tara blinks. "You drank a cell phone? That's a little weird, even for this place." She bites her lip, working through what Phoebe has said.

"Obviously he can get in touch with you, if he needs to... have you initiated contact with him? To let him know what's going on? You mentioned that he called you irresponsible when you told him about the stalker. Maybe that was an emotional reaction, because he felt that he should have known about it as soon as it happened."

"Yeah, he gave me this foul-tasting drink and I drank it, only later did I find out that it's a phone and it's now worked into my system."

Phoebe shakes her head. "I let him know where I am, it's not like he doesn't see me when he wants to." She sighs again. "The flowers had only come twice when I went to him. I thought he would help or ... something."

"He didn't tell you that it was a communication device before you drank it? Phoebe, that's a problem that you need to discuss with him. It could be viewed as a violation of your body."

Tara takes a deep breath, trying to remain objective. "You let him know where you are, yes... but have you been reporting back on your work? A weekly meeting or document to say what you've been doing? Have you been specifically asking him if there's anything you need to do?" She looks at Phoebe, trying to make herself very clear. "I'm not suggesting you're not doing a good job, Phoebe - I'm just trying to understand why Mr. Jerusalem is upset with your work."

((OOC: Spider asked for Phoebe, Krycek and Gavin to actually please take the actual attendance, and grade the actual homework and take the actual extra credit. Phoebe never turned anything in. Gavin did the attendance stats. Therefore, Phoebe did not take attendance and turn it in. No big deal in the grand scheme of things... but if she keeps saying she did it when she didn't, he's going to take it as a lie.))

((OOC: Thanks for the clarification. Tara doesn't know that, of course - she's just trying to get Phoebe to figure out *why* Spider's upset, rather than focussing on the fact that he is.))

Thursday morning in the Park

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject