Imaginary Worlds

Koschei just glared as the door was opened by a rather tired looking Verica. "Hey. Sorry about everything. Epsilon is down in his room again. He refuses to come out or talk to me. Won't eat anything, either." she said softly, regarding the black eye.

"I can guess why, though. Should probably put ice on that." Verica murmured, looking to the Master with a small smile. "If you can get Epsilon out, then we can go from there, but..." she trailed off, giving a small shrug. Couldn't really help that one.

"Could you watch Koschei, maybe put some ice on his eye while I go deal with Epsilon?" the Master asked, he and Verica were slowly becoming a good team, not a fantastic one but they helped one another out with their kids.

Where would they be without one another? The Master headed downstairs and made his way into Epsilons room. As jarring as every, he couldn't place if it was meant to be girly or if he was just whimsical... what an odd boy. "Epsilon? We need to talk."

Epsilon sat in front of his vanity, carefully trimming the ends of his hair. He use to do it before being taken in by Verica. Looking to the Master's reflection, the kid gave a small shrug in response to that one, humming softly. He didn't look forward to this in the least.

"We don't need to talk, sir. I screwed up, Theta covered for me, and Koschei is caught in between." Epsilon said softly, finishing up with his hair before turning to regard the other. The way he saw it, there wasn't much else to talk about.

"Wrong. Epsilon, I thought better of you, you should know when that little psycho is trying to get to you. Tell me, what did he say?" Epsilon was a smart boy and while he had a temper, the Master doubted he was a bad kid.

He'd had a rough life and the Master felt for him. He just know Epsilon was so close to being fantastic but he was struggling with himself-- it was not a good thing. "Look, I know he said something to provoke you so just tell me."

"He isn't a psycho. He's unique." Epsilon said firmly, bristling a bit. He was still protective of the kid. But that was beside the point. "Nothing new. He's said worse." he admitted, absently leaning back against his vanity with a small frown.

And that was really that. However..."He made fun of my hair." Epsilon murmured protectively. Hence the fixing it up. It also wasn't all that bad of a thing to warrant his snapping a bit. But he was always sensitive about his image.

"The point is, he set you up Epsilon, he manipulated you to attack him so he could have it all end up blamed on the man he doesn't like and thus he'd be gone and he'd no longer have to deal with him," sighing, he rubbed at the side of his eyes... why did no one ever believe him? That kid was a dangerous psycho and it just got brushed off.

"Look, I don't care any more. Your best friend used you, that's a fact. Feel free to deny it but that's not the point. Mr Smith will lose a LOT from this. He'll lose his son, his job and probably face some serious repercussions legal-wise for something you kids did," the Master insisted, hoping Epsilon was smart enough to take this on board.

"And Koschei will pay me back in kind. One way or another, I will have this made up to me." Epsilon assured in a borderline cold manner. He knew and understood what Koschei had done. He also knew that he was going to be able to get something back in exchange for this.

"Theta gave the teacher's name. We didn't have a chance to say anything else before it blew up." Epsilon said simply with a small shrug. "I don't want to be taken away. I don't want him to suffer. But I don't want to suffer either, and neither should Koschei." he said slowly.

"I'm sure you had plenty of chance, they would of asked each of you separately and interviewed you if you filed such a complaint and if they didn't, they will tomorrow," the Master commented with a small shake of his head, he couldn't believe none of the kids wanted to take the blame for this. It was insane.

"Koschei and you deserve punishment. So does Theta. All three of you owe Mr Smith an apology. If you do the right thing, I can argue your case and save all your skin. If you don't even want to try apologising? I'm going to tell them what happened and you're just going to have to deal," the Master offered because he could easily help the kid out but he doubted any of them would go for it.

"I know we do. They aren't questioning us until tomorrow. Stupid of them, really. Giving a full day allows stories and lies to be straightened out." Epsilon mused softly, giving a small shrug. Which may explain his refusal to talk or listen to anybody. They wanted to try and lie their way out of it? Fine. But he wasn't going to be the final piece that matched up and ruined a person's life.

"No offense, sir, but you aren't exactly being fair. Yes, we did something wrong. Yes, we owe Mr. Smith an apology. I'm not trying to say that I refuse. I'm saying that I don't want to be taken away because your son, to be blunt, is a manipulative ass that deserves to be my next test subject." Epsilon said slowly.

"Oh you think I'm going to get you into trouble? Don't be stupid Epilson, I am a fair man. I intend to explain that this was not your fault but my sons, who is indeed a manipulative ass... but please don't make him into an experiment," the Master added on the end because Koschei was a pain in the arse but he loved him.

"You'll get a minor slap on the wrist for lashing out but that's that. Can't escape it. I'm sorry if you get into trouble but you have to remember not to lash out," the Master pointed out, he couldn't change or fix that. He could, however, offer some back up;

Epsilon sighed softly and rolled his eyes. "I suggest keeping Koschei home from school. He's only going to cause trouble. I'll admit to it and everything. But he's going to make things worse." he said slowly, shaking his head softly. And they didn't need that.

"Don't...It's taken care of. Keep Koschei home, I'll talk to Theta, and we'll admit to it." Epsilon assured. They didn't need Koschei to agree or disagree. In the end, two against one would always win out and that's all they needed.

"Promise me something, Epsilon. If it looks like they ever want to kick you out or take you from Verica, I want you to call me. I can't sort everything but I can damn well try," the Master hadn't been one for giving up and he probably never would be.

Nodding in acknowledgement, the Master dashed upstairs and turned to Koschei before offering the boy his hand. "Come on you, we need to get home. Verica, can I have the day off work tomorrow? I have to stay home with Kosch."

Epsilon sighed softly and shrugged. "What happens will happen. I'll try." he assured softly. And that's all that he could offer. Given his history and whatnot, he wasn't too sure that the Master would be able to help him. But he would try.

As for Verica? She smiled softly and shrugged, ruffling Koschei's hair lightly. "That's fine. Take however long as you need." Verica offered softly, bidding the two farewell so that the Master could get home and deal with Koschei.

"Epsilon is not happy with you, you know? Neither am I. You need to start understanding that you can't do this stuff," the Master berated as they headed back home, he wasn't impressed with Koschei-- well, he kind of was but he refused to admit that.

He wanted to have a boy who was more moral than he'd been in the past. He winced at the annoying noise that banged around in his head, it only ever appeared when he tried to think back on the past... like a mental block. "You need to learn to deal with things. You don't like Mr Smith? Too bad, that's life, you can't like everyone."

Koschei turned away and glared out the window, shrugging. "He'll get over it." he said simply. Epsilon would pay him back in some manner and that would be that. He didn't care. And he would continue to be telling himself that for as long as absolutely necessary.

Sighing softly, he closed his eyes and shrugged. "It's fine. I can go to the other school." he mumbled. That was the punishment that the Master had pushed toward him, was it not? Koschei could live with that one.

"Actually, I'm starting to think you'd do worse at your current school where the teachers won't trust, no one will believe the boy who cried wolf and you'll have to mend fences," the Master remarked, it was much better that they would understand the boy instead of taking him somewhere he wouldn't. He had to face consequences.

The Master sighed and pulled up outside the house, heading out the car and leading both of them inside. "You can have a lie in tomorrow then we'll do some school work together. We should stay home while everything is investigated. I don't want us to make things worse for them. We'll go when we're needed."

"I said nothing. Theta did...An' you said that I would go to the other school if I wasn't good." Koschei pointed out with a frown as he followed along inside. He shouldn't have to go to the same school. Shaking his head, he regarded the Master with a small frown.

"I...Can I sleep?" he asked softly. His face still hurt and he was tired. He didn't want to continue with this discussion. What kid would? The Master wasn't exactly happy with him and Koschei didn't want to deal with it.

(I'm on the phone so my tags might be a bit delayed!)

"Sure, I'm just gonna lie down myself so no reason why you can't," the Master offered as they headed inside the house finally, he was shattered so he just turned on the TV and lay down.

He couldn't think how to deal with him really, it was just a bit awkward. He wanted to comfort his son cause he was hurt but he couldn't, he had to stand by his principles and punish him.

{Tis fine. I'm playing Tetris.}

The Master really shouldn't have expected much in terms of sleeping and having a lie in. Because early morning had Koschei rousing to the phone. Which then turned to Koschei quietly approaching his father in a rather nervous fashion. Because things might not be too good.

"Dad...Dad...Dad...Epsilon is on the phone...Dad...Dad..." Koschei murmured softly, prodding the Master with each word. This might be really bad, actually. Because Epsilon sounded upset and this wasn't a decent hour in the least when not going to school.

"Urgh, Koschei, what?" Pulling himself upright, he gave the boy a baffled expression. First thing in the morning and he wanted him to deal with some kid calling-- oh, wait, he did promise that he would.

"Right, sorry," the Master took the phone and pulled himself to his feet, rubbing at his eyes as he did so. Rassilon, he dreaded to think what was going to happen here. "Epsilon? Hey, everything going all right?"

(Back! Sorry bout that)

"Um...Can you come down here? Please? I might need a ride." Spanking said softly over the phone. He'd call his mother, but he couldn't put her through all of that. Not right now. He would break the news to her...Well, eventually.

But as it stood right now? "Sorry, sir. You don't have to. But I need to go now. theta needs the phone to call her father." Epsilon murmured before hanging up the line. This was never going to end well.

(No worries. I'm cleaning up anyway. )

(Awesome )

"Sure, hang on, I'm on my way," the Master added as he shoved his phone into his pocket and dashed up the stairs. He changed his clothes, brushed his teeth and grabbed Koschei's coat off the side and he ran back down.

"Come on kid, you're going to have to come with me but stay in the car, okay?" the Master had promised to be with Epsilon and help him out. Hurrying to the car, he slipped in and waited for Koschei to catch up. He had to go pick the kid up and work all of this out.

Koschei put on his coat as he followed along, getting himself settled into the car. Oh...This might not be all that good. He bit his lip and shook his head slowly, looking out the window. He didn't mean to get Epsilon into trouble.

It wasn't fair for him. He liked his friend. "'Kay...I can stay in the care." he murmured softly. And that was the least Koschei could do. He could recognize that he had screwed up. A lot.

"Thanks, Kosch. Look... I know things look back but I'll try and fix them," the Master attempted, he couldn't do much else than that but he had to do this for Verica. She gave him a job when no one else could and besides... Epsilon was like an old friend, he just sort of knew him, though it was an odd feeling.

The Master parked at the back of the car park so no one would approach his son and headed down to try and find Epsilon. He had no idea what had happened but it obviously wasn't good. Fortunately, Epsilon was easy to spot. "Epsilon?"

Epsilon looked up, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest in the hall just outside the office. "He's resigning." he murmured, motioning to the Doctor through the office window. "and they're expelling me. There's enough on me to justify it." he murmured softly, shrugging as he ducked his head again.

"Theta is being suspended. It isn't fair...It's okay, though. Verica can't afford to keep sending me here anyway." Epsilon dismissed with a small shrug. He just needed a ride home so he could put off telling her about thisl