Beautiful Dreamer, wake unto Me.

[Emma Frost]

The room.. a mess, well half a mess. Emma was appreciative of Sean seeing his half of the room was in order. However, sprawled across his bed shirtless in a pair of boxers, Dante obviously could care less. There were shirts and socks and pants draped and tossed and balled up like a minefield of funk. Soda cans that reeked of cigarette with the telltale ash scattered about across the tops of them. On his windowsill an overflowing ashtray. A poster hung askew on his wall, a gorgeous woman draped across a beautiful sports car, and the magazine he took it out of was crunched under his leg near the foot of his bed. The boy was out cold so Emma took a seat and set the scene.

Her pose, legs crossed-hands gently rubbing against one another as her head cocked and her eyebrow raised, was just what he saw as the light of the day.. and a gentle psychic nudge.. roused him from his slumber. "And look who's an early riser. All of an hour's sleep last night?" she teased the tattooed Paragon in an almost playful tone. Never too much information to a man when he first awoke, be he young or old they were all grumpy curmudgeons when first they roused. The only exception the one rousing delight she couldn't offer this boy, but she was sure he was no stranger to it.

[Glitch]

The only response that Emma Frost got from him was a full on grunt as he was rather unpleasantly woken from his deep sleep. Dante slept only a couple of hours, and unless he was pulling a job he would never be awake at this ungodly hour. It took him a while to realize who was waking him up, and as much as any guy would love to wake up with Emma Frost in their room, he was less than pleased given the hour of the morning and the fact that he had nothing to show for it. "God damnit," he said with a sigh and sat up groggily.

"Look if this about that thing with that punk kid by the pool, can't it wait till later? If Preppy is crying a river cause he don't know respect, that's his problem." Dante rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked even more annoyed when he saw the time on the digital clock. He was itching to grab a cigarette, but he knew better than to light one up in his room with the damn Headmistress sitting right there. Without shame for the state of his room, Dante looked at Emma Frost with annoyed expectancy and waited to be chewed out.

[Emma Frost]

"No in fact, though now that you bring that up I wonder what I would say to you were that the reason for my visit this morning.. perhaps we can decide together that that could have been handled differently. However, since I believe in fostering friendly rivalries, as they can be wonderful motivators, and as well not a single complaint was lodged, I believe we can let that sleeping dog lie." She was not about to undermine him for something he had little control over, and delving into it might make him dig deeper into his own motivations for the source. Emma was not one to meddle in affairs that she observed unless there was something to be gained from it, and since it happened and she took the time to investigate she understood what was beginning and where the source was. It was far too soon to put a stop to it, and true though it was not especially proper for Veronika to be weaving her web with friends, Veronika in all her warmth really had no friends. Curiosity and amusement to blame, if blame need be placed somewhere, Emma wanted to see how her young apprentice's tapestry would unfold.

"So, no Dante. I am not her for your outburst.. NOR am I here for this unsightly mess of a room, the stench of which is filling the halls of my school as we speak. Come this Thursday's inspection I will be making a point to have your room particularly gone over." Thursday room inspections had been disregarded for several weeks and Emma knew that was a bad idea. Even though her staff had assured her it was something the children would do, maintain the cleanliness of their room, she knew these kids and she hadn't believed a word of it. "Yes, Dante.. thanks to you the rooms will be inspected weekly once again. A fail on Thursday means re-inspection Friday and a repeated fail Friday confines one to their room for the duration of the weekend only coming out for meals in the cafeteria. As well sir, you were made aware of the smoking restrictions in the buildings, so do make a habit of performing your bad habit out of doors."

She watched him for a moment. Scrutinizing him and his reactions to her words before she began again. Waiting until he had settled into the realization that any rebellion he might attempt she would thwart and upon seeing the moment arrive she spoke. "Enough of that boring business. I didn't come for any of that. As you well know, you are here for what one might say is your last opportunity to find redemption in a world that would sooner lock you away and forget about you than give you a fair shake. Can we agree upon that point?" She didn't wait for him to answer, it was a rhetorical question after all. They both knew what she was saying was true. "The offer I had made to you, the reason you are here young man... is to make, through struggle and effort grand if need be, something more of yourself than you could possibly hope to make on your own. I offered you a chance, in truth I understood we had made a pact, a deal.. and you had struck a bargain at that if I may be so bold as to assume you a failure on your own. Your track record speaks for itself."

"Incarceration is hardly the hallmark of a successful thief. Therefore I have come this morning to remind you that this is a school... and you sir, are a student. I expect you to uphold your part of the deal and attend classes, do homework, take tests and participate. Nowhere in the deal we struck was laying about and becoming less the man you were mentioned. I think the effort it will take will be rewarded ten-fold, but if you simply are not up to the challenge there is always an alternative." She took a slow inhale and crossed her legs the other way. Her young fellow was not one to beat about the bush, so she felt he would appreciate her treating him in kind. The direct approach did have it's advantages and the looks one received after being direct were especially entertaining.

[Glitch]

I shoulda known, was the first thing to come into Dante's head when Emma Frost pretty much laid it out on the table for him that it was either do that school bullshit or go back to jail. "Alright fine, you were direct with me and that's cool, and I'll be direct with you on a couple of things," he said being bold enough to look right into her eyes without flinching or showing any type of fear to the underlying threat in her words about him getting his act together. "I don't do school, that's why any public record you'll find on me says I officially dropped out... among other things." A smirk came on his face at that, as one would say he is proud of his long record of various offences. "I didn't actually take the time to fill out that damn paperwork only to go through another set to go back to classes where I don't pay attention anyways."

Dante sat back for a minute, mulling the situation over for a moment and really wishing he could light up a cigarette right then. "I get that I gotta pull my weight around here, and I'll work on getting my GED at the least. Folks have been on my ass to do that anyways, so I might as well," he said thoughtfully. His mom didn't like that he dropped out and made him promise to at least at one point get his GED. "I get that I gotta pull my weight of the deal, that's how it works in anything and I ain't a stranger to it. You want me to go to work around the school, while getting my GED that's cool, I can dig that. I don't do school though, I didn't do it in the lockup before I dropped out and I ain't gonna do it now."

An annoyed look came on his face now while he thought about having to deal with the damn squares in the classroom everyday. He barely went to class all throughout high school to the point where truancy didn't even bother picking him up. The one time he came to class was when he knew he'd need an alibi or if some pretty little thing that he wanted to have some fun with was there. Somehow he doubted that sort of thing would fly around here. "Just cause I don't do school, don't make me a quitter, just means I got better things to do with my time," he added with slight narrowed eyes at that implication. School may not be for him, but he could handle hard work just fine. Between his gang work, he worked at his parents restaurant and helped out in his Uncle's garage on the weekends. To him, it was time much better spent than sitting in a stuffy classroom and learning useless things that he'll never need.

[Emma Frost]

"Hhhmm, I never would have pegged you for a lawyer, Dante. We might see how that curriculum appeals to you at a later date, but for now let me give you a lesson on negotiations. When dealing with a negotiation from a position of power, one can effectively write their own ticket.." She smiled slightly as an indication that she was speaking about herself in this instance. "However when one finds himself, as you have, in the undesirable position of weakness he must have a little thing called 'Leverage' in order to reposition himself and thus make his demands considered. Since, you have nothing to leverage this situation you are therefore at my mercy and once upon a time that was a place you never wanted to find yourself."

She stood up surveying the room once again with casual disgust. "I will compromise with you young Mr. Sloan, for who knows when I might need to call in a favor, and this is the way it shall be. You will attend My class, or I might find myself heartbroken" she said with enough of a sarcastic hint to know she meant for him to show up but her heart would not be broken, something of his would "as well as Mr. Summer's History class and Phys Ed. Beyond that you will be free to keep the grounds and maintain the integrity of the mansion as required. I would suggest you make an attempt to show your face in your team leader's acting class as a good lawyer needs an air of showmanship and it never hurts to have a fall back career." She raised an eyebrow as she teased him. "Otherwise you will be entrusted with the same measure of responsibility as your room mate has been with the stables, as well as your GED."

"Thank you for your hospitality" she said as she strolled toward the door, rolling her hips in the way she did as her stiletto heeled boots stabbed the carpet "and I suggest you begin 'pulling your weight' right here in this room. Thursday will be here before you know it. And Dante" she said stopping at his door and turning around "I never said you were a quitter, just that you failed to achieve your goals doing things your own way. Just for an experiment, let's do things MY way for a while... I've got a hunch your success rate will improve. Have you any objections you'd like to voice?" She asked opening the door and leaning against the door-frame with her arms folded.

[Glitch]

The cool look of the Headmistresses face complimented the apathetic look on Dante's face as he mulled the offer. Grabbing his pants, he put them on and stood up to pull them up, shrugging his shoulders in an impassive manner. "Yea, I can deal with that. See ya in class, Teach," he said with a smirk coming on his face. He thought that him being asked to attend classes when they didn't count toward anything was a bit of a joke, especially since he had no intention whatsoever of doing any of the work for it. School wasn't for him, and he was self aware enough to know that it wouldn't 'renew a hidden passion for learning' by attending classes he had no interest in to begin with.

"Like I said, I'll follow through. We done here then?" Dante asked coolly while leaning against the wall and looking at her. He didn't know what to think of the Headmistress exactly, she wasn't like the other adults he knew, but altogether he didn't know how much he trusted her. As it was, his experience with authority figures had never been on pleasant terms, sans his semi-decent relationship with his parents.

The last thing he wanted was to have much, if anything to do with any of the teachers or authority around this place voluntarily. He wasn't naive enough to think he'd avoid them forever, since he knew himself and knew he'd screw up eventually and get punished or lectured or whatever they did around here for discipline sooner or later. That didn't mean that he wouldn't avoid it while he could.

[Emma Frost]

"Hardly Mr Sloan, in fact we've only just begun." Emma said with the raise of an eyebrow. "I for one appreciate the little flourish of belligerence. It is a bit more flamboyant than I thought your style, but I understand what you meant with it." She smiled softly at him. "It shows me that I've made an quite the impression, and that against your nature and your better judgement you have chosen to go along with my program. Reluctantly trusting... how endearing. There are however, few others here who would see it as such, so do 'check yourself'- as they say -before you.. How does it go? 'Wreck yourself'?"

She knew exactly how it went and the smirk and subtle nodding let him know she could play the attitude game as well as the next, and better, as she did it with finesse. "Oh, but I warn you.. don't forget yourself with me. I might appreciate the occasional pout, but on the whole I regard displays of attitude as rather vulgar and common. I sincerely hope you intend to rise above 'common' and 'vulgar', I could have a place for you if you do." The look on her face changed then as she regarded him, to one of deeper considerations.

"As for the 'why' behind having you audit those classes?" She tapped a finger to her temple. "Telepath... remember?" She said as his face betrayed his momentary confusion. "Well, I have my reasons." It went hand in hand with what she and the rest of the teachers had agreed to. Fostering the feelings of family and creating a dedicated group of people who honestly cared what happened to one another left little room for loners, and yet this school had more than it's fair share. She hoped tossing him head first into a group might draw him out of his shell.

"Though the work you will be required to do wont count toward your GED, it will count none the less... with Me.. and I am not in the habit of entreating disappointment, so I will make this clear. You will do the work, and participate in the classes." The look in her eyes gave him little doubt she was serious. "Some things in life are done for their own reward, and some out of fear of the punishment for failing to do them. I'll leave it to you to decide which applies here." She stood back up from leaning against his door-frame, unfolding her arms and licking her lips. "I believe there is a boathouse wall that needs mending... get it done by tonight Dante.. NOW we are done here."

With the slightest sly smile and softest nod of her head Emma left him standing there. Yet something in her look was irresistible to him, as it was to most men, and she knew he would step out into the hallway to watch her leave. Her dominatrix style clothing finally making perfect sense to him as her curves, and flow of her body walking down the hall, did to him exactly what she intended. The curling smile on her face, unseen though it was, was the only outward expression of her picturing him in Hellion Crimson. She hoped he would not disappoint.