#bergen_county

The Wayburton home gets a knock on the door

Piper is not on door duty this time- sprawled on a couch with her legs over the side, headphones in and humming.

So it is, that Zane comes up, gets into her view, and waves, mouth saying 'someone at the door for you'

She pops up in interest, but then a wary look. “Who is it?”

Tugging the headphones out, they dangle around her neck and tinny Europop leaks out.

"It's Sir Vali" He says "he says he was hoping to apologize and asked me to say 'please tell her I'll try not to be a bull in a china shop this time'"

Piper's phone buzzes.

A sigh, and she turns off the music with a sour look. Glancing at her phone as she swings her legs to the floor...

Zane blinks at the phone "You're kidding, his timing"

A small shrug. “WiFi isn’t loading. It could be anyone.” A frown at the door, but she takes a breath and clears her expression. Heading over, she opens it. (Time of day?)

10:32 AM, obviously no school. Partly cloudy with intermittent showers but not currently, Mercury is no longer in retrograde

“Afternoon Mr. Gardner...” No smile, but a pleasant enough greeting.

A glance past him as if to see if a certain car drove him here?

Not this time.

"Piper, Hello. I came here to, well," he admits, "I came here to apologize."

She looks a little surprised. “Um. Come in?”

He enters in, "Thank you." He's been in the house before so knows where to duck

“Why the change of mind?” A little wary. “Decided I’m a lost cause?”

A brow, "Those are my choices? Bull in a china shop me or give up on students me?"

A shrug. “I guess not? I was figuring if you had it might be easier.” A small sigh and she sits in the couch. “I’d already dropped out once...”

"Mm yeah, and that is the last thing I want you to do," he says "Look, I'm still new to teaching, that doesn't excuse how I came in out of the blue.. no pun intended and just ambushed you with my 'you've can do better' speech, but I hope it partly explains it. I DO see a lot of potential in you, and I believe education matters, but I worry in trying to motivate, I instead made you feel on trial. And...that was not fair of me whether I intended it or not. I am not giving up on you, and you shouldn't either, but I will try to learn nuance in how to motivate you properly."

She purses her lips, and admits, “it’s hard. I’m not a natural brain like some, and it’s hard to ... to care about something that doesn’t come easy, inspire me... or see the point. I mean, I’m not gunning to be an... engineer, mathematician, certainly not a professor. Maybe a GED will help grease wheels, but if I work at a coffee shop during the day and played my guitar for tips at night, that wouldn’t be bad...” She doesn’t necessarily have low esteem, more than low goals?

"I don't know if I agree, more places are demanding high school diplomas even for jobs that shouldn't require them, and unless you want to live in a box away from the sunlight , you may want better than that for a living wage. Some think the sidhe are to blame for the growing 'haves' 'have not' divide. Me? I don't blame them...but I do think they don't always have a clue about Changeling commoner challenges. Education seems a key to getting yourself freedom for a less banal life."

“The education system FEELS banal to me.” She counters. “I heard that a teacher even inspired some sort of monster from a dreamer the other day. Maybe it’s a troll thing to buckle down and bear it? But to me, dreams are... freedom, the wind in my hair, sun on my face, the open sea. Placing music, dancing with friends... some desk job won’t give me that. And even if it makes money, I’d rather be a pauper with time?” She adds, “Siv’s doing well and I don’t think she ever finished...”

"You do remind me a little of Siv, but while she is more fun loving than most of my brethren, openly that is, I assure you, she has lots of duties she takes on. Heck, she's currently in Fiona boot camp which is not as fun as it might sound. Without an education, you have more chance of getting stuck in a banal job, not less . When rent is on the line, when food needs on the table, and it does for everyone, busking isn't always an option in a world that increasingly demands permits or cracks down on loiterors. Which..sucks. I actually like street music. And yes, lots of chimera... but not all of them are nightmares .. in fact most I see at the school aren't. Maybe school inspires some positive dreams too? "

A sigh. “I just... don’t think I WANT the types of jobs that folk consider “good” these days. If I have to study to learn coding to be a programmer, that’s time I could have spent... stocking grocery store shelves or running a cash register with my brain unfocused, while composing in my head? It doesn’t make sense to me. Even if it paid well, being stuck behind a desk all day sounds like a death sentence.” A frown. “I wish I was a selkie and could just swim away from it all sometimes.”

"mm oddly I understand that it's...sometimes it feels like everyone wants a piece and you worry there will be nothing of you left. And here I am asking for a piece of your life just like everyone else. I DO mean it for your own good and even more freedom for you later, but I can see how it's hard to see the benefits when the cost is swarming you. But, on the plus side, you're giving me an honest clue or three on how to make learning better for you. I need to make things more music related, 'useful' to the musical career and appealing to your passion of music? is that right?"

“I never really thought of music as a... career. To me, it’s just... life? Like, is breathing a career? I worry if I tried to make a job out of it.. it might turn banal.” A frown. “Instead if making math better, what if you made music worse?”

"A fair point, but a counter point for you, if you want to keep music separate and not a career like say, Tove has, then doesn't that make education so you can pick a better day job so you have more flex hours etc for your music?"

A frown. “You don’t need a degree to become popular on YouTube. Not to disparage Tove at all... she’s amazing... but isn’t that just next generation busking?”

"Comment sections, self promotion, fighting with youtube over every copyright or patent troll, finances, merchandise... buskers might deal with that to some degree, but at a certain scale? It's a lot of work."

“A lot of work, but not something a piece of paper framed in the wall is needed for. More gut and gumption.” She contends, more interested as she starts getting into the debate.

"But a paypal account and bank account is, as is certain training in math to maximize... and computer programming might not hurt"

“And her husband... he worked at the convenience store and then bought it. He’s doing well, but did a degree pave his way to that? Or just his own effort?”

"He had help," A blush "An investor he normally wouldn't get."

“Mountain Franklyn drove a truck... and I don’t see anyone judging him less than Uncle C with his degrees...”

"Getting back to Tove and internet busking, you are busking for the world," then says "Apprendre d'autres langues pourrait être utile, non?"

“Google translate is free. The future is now...”

A grin, "So you trust google transllate to adjust your lyrics? THat will lead to some INTERESTING Verses"

She blinks and opens her mouth, then shuts it again. A small pout!

"You're only pouting because you begrudgingly realize I might have a point there. Songs with words, well, the words are not just algorithms or pat definitions, they are poetry, and poetry requires a study of languages so you can make the words soar. Music? Is not far from math...and I bet you're better than you know"

She frowns but thoughtfully. “Okay... So I agree that there are things worth learning... but differ on whether the “boxed in for hours with folk that also may not want to be there, teachers included, for a piece of paper that says you did 4 years hard time with good behavior” is the best way to get it.”

She leans forward earnestly. “I’m not AGAINST knowledge. I just hate being cooped up in there.”

"I can grasp that, but wouldn't that make having a tutor or two more sensible? SO you get some learning outside of the school environment?"

“Couldn’t I just learn on my own... or with tutors... and skip the school entirely?”

Though a small frown there. “I’d miss my friends, but I see them other places...”

“It’s not like we can even GO now with the 2020 boomer plague...”

"Honestly Piper? I don't know you well enough to say? But I think you'd miss the dynamic. You would miss fellow mortal musicians at school, hanging out with and flirting with the girls and guys there. Am I wrong here? Or are most satyrs not people oriented to a degree? Sure, you could go other places, but there's an experience involved... social dynamics the boggans might call it, it's a great teaming dance and darn it, your kith as a rule is good at it."

A snerk "They're blaming that on the Boomers too? Okay, that's funny. Got to remember that"

“Maybe...” she allows, but doesn’t seem quite convinced. She watches him for a moment. “Does it really matter so much to you? What one ex-... one random kid amidst the crowds does? I’m not a Rivervale troll, tied to the lands and the lodge that you need to be responsible for... who knows where I’ll be in a year?”

"I'm not very religious, but .. there's a quote, I don't remember it all, about the lost sheep being the one the shepherd cares about the most. Yeah, it matters, YOU matter. And I believe what I'm saying. And I do see..sometimes. I see beyond a year... Sometimes" Thoughtful, "There's a girl who dropped out last month. I know her future. She's going to be pregnant in a year when she thought she was going to be an influencer. In five years... she's going to be running for her life from her abusive husband who she married 'for the baby'... in five years, one month, I have a chance to better her life if I push her the right way, but the odds are good I'll fail. And she's going to end up leaving her kid at a bus station because she's not strong enough or so she says..and she'll end up whoring herself out so she can buy drugs to take the pain of what she just did away. She's 16. I shook her hand, and I saw all this..and I had to smile in her face and wish her luck."