Yes the text tells the readers that a seven vs two altercation was stopped. It doesn't tell us what was told to the teacher. Do you really think Aiden and his group would take the blame for attacking two boys when clearly Dylan comes and pushes Aiden as in the text. Dylan in his defense will only say that thye were bullying someone. This is enough to know the this fight was started by Dylan and Zac and not Aiden and his group.
I don't know about your school, I can only speak about mine. In my school the principal was brought Into the equation only when a student had to be suspended or if the fights let to blood spillage. We had a vice principal and even before them the supervisor of the student council and two or three other teachers holding almost similar authority as the council supervisor. So in my school it was mostly teachers dealing with the matter. I would say Aiden's background could be a good reason why the matter was subsided, since it was never of use. The teacher would have believed Dylan's word that Aiden was bullying someone but nothing happens to Aiden. When Sophia complained the principal said that not much can be done meaning this isn't the first time and ofcourse the teachers too would be aware that nothing would happen of it. If this was a real world scenario I would imagine the teacher who stopped the fight advising Dylan and Zac never to even go near Aiden and his group and dismiss the matter by getting Dylan and Zac to apologise even when they are not at a real fault because he is concerned about their safety.
It's not about taking the blame, as people who don't want to be punished tend to say it's not their fault. IMO, The issue here is that there are too many connections to get back to Sophia during the Principal's Office visit.
Let's go ahead and take everything you said as it's laid out in your reply, and put yourself in Sophia's shoes. If you were a teacher at a school and saw your child in an altercation, you broke it up and went to the principal's office to discuss the matter, only to find out that this incident had happened before. Your child said a teacher broke up the fight or altercation at the same school, and you didn't learn about it from that teacher. Are you telling me you wouldn't be angry and would like to know why the teacher that stopped it the other time didn't tell you what happened before? And to add fuel to the fire, it sounds like everyone knew Aiden's background at that school but Sophia. If I were in her position, I would have been raising holy hell over that because that teacher stopped them, and they knew who they were dealing with at that time. From a realistic sense, I'm sure a Faculty member would have said something to the parent who works in the school building as a colleague.
That is why I added if this had happened outside of school grounds, it would have been easier for this part to be told in the story, as you would remove that connection between the teachers and principal since they work together and kept the blackmail assignment intact. Also, Dylan and Zac could have said a couple of bystanders broke up the fight instead of a teacher, which could be easier to remove them since they could be strangers performing a good samaritan deed. It would be harder to find out who the bystanders were that helped break up the fight. Then continue with the blackmail task, after the police station report, with Aiden in the alleyway. But if he wanted to keep the school line intact, It would have been better if Sophia was teaching or Dylan was learning at another school. That could have eliminated the conflict here as well from a realistic sense.
But we also have to keep in mind that this scene has initially been designed for "The Twist," which was a fake fight scene and fake back story that we learned in the boarding school scene, But as you have stated, "The Twist" is no longer intact and we have to reinterpret the words that related to "The Twist." Then should have gone back and looked to see if he has potential conflicts.
Now I'm not telling him to rewrite his story or this scene, but this is where someone who is a skilled writer, that could proofread for him could point things out like this and offer other methods or suggestions.
The suggestion you make of asking them to discuss is better indeed and would work even better in this scene but can I expect L&P to make the best choice everytime, absolutely not. He isn't even a pro writer, I will consider mistakes being there always along with the possibilities of the scene could have been better written. Writing is the toughest part of this game to me. Art can still be mastered with daily practice, writing..... Not so much, professional writers too botch up their story.
I have been saying that myself, this game is no longer for just one person to develop in small amount of time with the given quality. And also that his communication skills aren't that good either. He just doesn't know how to say something in an appropriate way, a skill that is important when communicating on the internet with a large number of people.
I don't want him to rewrite the scene. It's pretty much over with at this point. Instead, he should work on the next update and quickly get it out. 13 months, and counting, on one P.D. is crazy. I would like for him to move on to the next P.D. expeditiously.
But again, This is where he should find someone who can proofread and offer suggestions to him. He doesn't have to be a pro writer, but a skilled writer, with outside eyes, could give him some advice on how the scene could be improved. And if he's afraid that his script could be leaked, I said in another post that he could send the writer just the P.D. he is working with currently; that way, if it is revealed, his entire story isn't ruined. It would be only that P.D.
Yes, His communication sucks indeed, and it would be good if he could find someone for that. But there is one thing he could do to help him is tell the truth. People will be more sympathetic to his approach if he just told people what they need to hear. But instead, he doubles down on his quote in which people can usually call him out and back it up with other posts or quotes from him.
Well I will say that you can take it as fact. If you have doubts Pm me and I'll send the screenshot, though all he said is that much only. We know how he doesn't like to use his words, the only time he was ever verbose was while he wrote Xavier. The conversation at the coffee shop is interpreted by me as two concerned mothers talking about the scenario their children are in. The whole logic behind it being that discussing things with someone makes you feel more at ease about the situation. But since the dev himself says it free for interpretation, we can assume what we want.
Let's say I'm erring on the side of caution with your quote from L&P about taking this as fact. As for the coffee shop talk, which is another hint about "The Twist," If he said it's free for interpretation, go for it. I guess we'll see how this plays out on the other end.
