"Just look at this." Dad said, holding the pop quiz in his hand with the red letter 'A+' in the corner of it. He had a big, broad smile on his face.

"Would you just look at this!" He said, waving the paper in the air to no one in particular.

"This is great. Just great Shawn. I really think this is wonderful." He said, placing his glass of whiskey on the end table and looking at Shawn with what appeared to be genuine, deep and profound respect.

It had been two days since Shawn had taken the quiz and since the confrontation with Eric.

"This is what I'm happy about son. I know your Mom has big plans for you. But in my mind, school comes first." He said, adding conflicting advice to Shawn's already full plate.

"Just, would you look at this!" He said once again, beaming with pride.

Shawn and his Dad started to talk about how well Shawn did and the subject turned to how Dad was going to reward Shawn

"You know what? I'm going to reward you Shawn. How about that? Because you did so well, I'm going to..."

OOC: Shawn gains 10 experience (unrelated to current thread)

Shawn Rolls Manipulation + Socialize with the following results

1-2 Successes: Shawn may ask Dad for a material object

3 Successes: Shawn may ask Dad for a material object and a special favor or privilege

4+ Successes: Shawn may ask Dad for two material objects  and twp special favors or privledges

The special favors or privledges can be anything within the reason of how Shaw imagines his relationship with his father based o his own personal wealth and limitations.

Shawn listened, it not even occurring to him to volunteer any suggestions.

OOC: 23:03, Today: Shawn Cramer failed (no successes) using 7d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s with rolls of 1,3,7,3,5,4,6.  Manipulation + Socialize + Striking Looks.

"Uh Oh!" Shawn's Dad said as the phone started to ring. "I have to get that. Why don't you go play with Bobby and we'll talk later."

"Sure thing Dad!" Shawn wandered off to look for Bobby.

Shawn meandered into the room, having received nothing for his grades, but also not having earned anything. One thing was for certain, getting an A+ would surely provide him some space from Dad's oversight.

Shawn headed upstairs, feet padding softly on the steps. As he approached the door to his room, he heard a muffled sound like someone was speaking through a blanket. He opened the door and found Bobby and Ralph.

Bobby had the soft, felt belt of one of Dad's bath robes. He had it wrapped around Ralph's head, a sock stuffed into Ralph's mouth. Bobby was in the middle of tying a knot behind Ralph's head to secure the sock in its place in Ralphs' mouth.

As Shawn entered the room, Bobby gave him a shrug of the shoulders which seemed to say: what was I supposed to do?

"He won't stop talking. He's talking about the Book." Bobby exclaimed, justifying the action. "If he keeps blabbing about the Book, someone is going to find out. I had to do something."

Shawn paused in the doorway, completely nonplussed. "Oh. I see." He wasn't sure how to react to this - it was important to keep Ralph quiet, but seeing him literally bound and gagged was a little much. Still, there was an obvious question he had to ask.

"He can still breathe, right?"

"Mmmmphmmpmmhm!" Ralph said, teary-eyed, nostrils flaring. Bobby had kept the room dark, and shadows from the room cast themselves over the left side of Ralph's face.

Bobby shrugged.

"Yeah." He said, not seeming all that concerned, especially now that Shawn hadn't sounded any alarm over the subject. "I left his nose uncovered, so he can breathe through there." He reasoned, inspecting Ralph's face to make sure it was so.

"I think Mom and Dad will have questions if we keep him like this. Why don't we ungag him for a bit?" Shawn was choosing his words carefully for at least a couple reasons.

"Alright" Bobby resigned.

"But I'm telling you, he's a blabber mouth. A loud dummy. He'd never make a good sniper or an undercover agent. Ralph is louder than the worst loud mouth. And he won't shut up about the Book. That's the worst part."

He untied the bath robe belt, letting it fall so there was just a sock in Ralph's mouth.

Shawn knelt down so he could look Ralph right in the eye. "Ralph, I'm going to take the sock out. Do you think you can be quiet and just talk with us for a bit? Please?"