Twisted Wonderland, Evelyn's Story

Eviction Notice!

(Ramshackle Dorm)

"I think it's safe to say that everybody with an anemone stuck on their head gambled on Azul's contract and lost", Jack explained, "the terms of said contract were apparently to place in the top 50; but with the sheer number of students signin' on, most of them never stood a chance of getting in at all; that was Azul's game from the start",

"Though I was in the top 50 without a contract, I did find it weird that Grim scored over 80", Evelyn stated

"I mean, c'mon, if you're gettin' good grades off someone else's work, what does that even prove", Jack asked, "you're throwin' away a perfectly good opportunity to show others what you're capable of; frankly, you're cheating yourself",

"If the rest of the student body here were as principled and tedious... I mean, as serious as you, it would spare me such grief", Crowley stated, alerting Jack and Evelyn

"WHOA, Headmage, you startled me", Jack said in shock as Crowley sighed

"So transpires another year of me being unable to clamp down on Ashengrotto's little side business", Crowley said

"Side business", Evelyn asked

"Azul Ashengrotto, sophomore, housewarden of Octavinelle Dorm", Crowley explained, "much like Rosehearts, he is a highly capable student running the dorm as a sophomore; but... he is a bit, no, I daresay QUITE a bit troublesome",

"Are you talking about him swindling people", Jack asked, "seems to me like one word from the headmage could put a stop to this whole thing",

"Ah, but it is precisely BECAUSE I am in a teaching position that I cannot prohibit his actions", Crowley stated

"Why not", Jack asked

"Here's the thing about those study guides that Ashengrotto handed out to the students", Crowley explained, "there was no illegitimate activity involved in their production; nobody snuck looks at test questions or answers beforehand; it was crafter exhaustively by hand, after researching the past century's worth of Night Raven College exam questions and their patterns; in other words, it's an entirely legitimate study guide",

"That's actually pretty amazing", Evelyn muttered

"Huh, well I'll be, if he did all that by hand, the guys got chops", Jack said, "wait... so the problem is that there IS no problem with it",

"You strike right to the heart of the matter, Howl", Crowley said, "as a teacher, I can hardly prohibit a student from crafting an exam study guide via honest work, nor can I prohibit a student from kindly sharing their notes with friends

"If you did, you'd basically be tellin' students no studying, and no helping your buds", Jack said, "talk about a seriously briny pickle; and earlier you said another year, yeah, did the same thing happen last term",

"Indeed it did, of course; last year, his study guides didn't have quite the reputation they carry this year", Crowley explained, "so the commotion was much more contained, relatively speaking; this year, on the other hand, rumors abounded throughout campus that if one wished to score well on a test, they should visit the Mostro Lounge",

"And I'm guessin' the nasty little caveat in the contract in the event of a breach stayed hush-hush because of that binding NDA", Jack asked

"So it would seem; thus did Ashengrotto have a steady stream of students lining up to accept his bargain this year", Crowley stated, "and the test average across all subjects and years has jumped above 90, much to my chagrin; of course, I would be even more chagrinned if all of our subject averages were failing grades, but still",