Business as usual

Posted on Tue Dec 20th, 2022 @ 0:07 by Claire Cavendish & Jhanvi Dhar

Chapter: Prologue: Dawn of Avalon
Location: Secretariat / Head Teacher's office
Timeline: Thursday, 17th of September, 1992
1645 words - 3.3 OF Standard Post Measure

"So, I thought this could be your desk." Claire pointed at the large oak desk that stood inside the office, with a door right next to it leading to her own office. Across from it stood three empty chairs against the wall, rarely used for when more than one kid was sent to the Head Teacher's office for disciplinary action. She looked over at the woman shrouding herself in a red cowl and smiled. Normally this would be a moment where she'd put an arm around her, but Claire was sure they had some ways to go before Jhanvi would be accepting of a more physical connection with her.

Your desk.

Even now, years later, the idea of ownership seemed foreign and not exactly applicable. Other people had possessions, amassed wealth, created foundations and connections and the ongoing structure of future plans. Adjustment had always been incremental and Jhanvi had managed to create an identity for herself within the confines of her very limited environment but this was something else entirely. The school, the grounds, the concept. The attachment to something far greater, no matter how intangible it seemed right now. To think she had any place amongst it, let along your desk was absurd.

But, it was a nice desk.

"If you are certain that nobody else requires it."

Claire couldn't suppress a bit of a laugh at that. "I'm certain. It belongs to whomever holds the secretarial position. Which is you." She knew this was going to be a long road for everyone involved, and she certainly had to get David involved in her integration. "Most of your day would be administrative work. Managing incoming and outgoing contacts, that sort of thing." She walked up to the telephone, it had ten incoming lines for all the different teachers that were here. "If someone isn't in their office when their phone rings it'll be redirected to you. Are you familiar with this system?" She gathered that focusing on mundane technical skills for now was the best way to handle this.

With a degree of effort, Jhanvi drew in a breath through her nose and focused on the orientation, rather than follow the temptation to retreat into her own thoughts. A quick analysis of the work station brought some degree of relief; this was very similar to what she'd been exposed to during training. "I think so. It seems familiar."

"Oh. Good. Awesome." Claire stood there for a moment as she was mentally ready to explain the system. "There's an overview of the extensions here." She pulled the laminated callsheet. "We probably need to update it to include the new faculty." She looked over at Jhanvi, "you'll meet them all at the mixer this Saturday."

There was a very palpable pause, a silent void into which the conversation vanished for a moment as the significance of 'meet them all' combined with the bafflement of 'mixer' to leave Jhanvi in a position of having to quickly scrabble through limited points of reference to arrive at some sort of hint of expectation. Part of the reason for her being here was to establish connections amongst her own kind, social interaction was very much part of it, but that didn't make the occasional language barriers any easier to navigate.

"I'll look forward to it," she lied with a faint smile.

"I realise it might be a lot in quite a short timespan," Claire said. "Even if it's just a few minutes. Come out, have a drink, enjoy the entertainment." She just wanted to show Jhanvi that this place was safe, with people like her, openly mingling with each other. Not afraid, part of something bigger. She hoped it would help melt away some of the ice wall that came so natural to so many of them, even those without freezing powers.

It probably wouldn't be for only a few minutes but only because Jhanvi struggled, once committed, to know how to leave social gatherings. Close examination of available facts would probably suggest that she could just walk out without too much intervention or protest from others, but that wasn't how she instinctively wanted to escape. An entire decade hadn't been enough to completely quell the impulse to just slip into another person's face and transition that way. Making decisions, risking judgement, whilst projecting her true self had been the work of countless therapy sessions. It only took a situation as foreign as this to make it seem like it hadn't been nearly enough.

A very faint smile, somewhat rueful in nature, acknowledged the older woman's intuition at least. Cavendish wasn't saying anything directly but she was certainly leading the conversation in a way that suggested she could see right through Jhanvi's charade. "I will attend," she promised.

Claire nodded, glad that at least she'd be able to have her commit to attending. "How did you find your accomodations?" She had given her the opportunity to get settled in before dragging her all across the campus, showing her to the places she would be working. When it didn't immediately prompt a response she added; "Were they to your liking?"

"They're fine. Everything is fine."

And that was all it took for Jhanvi to close her eyes and draw in a deep breath, which she held and then released as a sigh. Claire was doing her best and, in typical fashion, was being entirely agreeable and reasonable. It was a lot, however, and trying to deploy social niceties to avoid confronting any of it was no way to move forward.

"I'm not ungrateful for this opportunity. I know that it's important and that this is the best way for me to integrate now that I'm in a position to be of value. It's just..." The gentle woman's brow puckered as she searched for the right words. "I have always found anticipation to be the worst of it. I'm sure once the term has started and there is nothing to do but get on with it, I will find it easier."

Claire could understand where that was coming from. "Let's hope it's not going to be as bad as the anticipation might be making it out to be." She knew that her anxious mind would always quickly come up with a hundred different ways that things might go wrong. She had to constantly, and consciously, focus on the things that might go well in order to suppress that innate cynicism. Considering the student body at the Institute it wasn't odd at all that this was a common occurrence within these campus grounds. "Just so you know, the mixer tomorrow is an open mic thing, but if you don't feel comfortable taking an active role it's more than ok to just sit back and enjoy the show."

For once, the younger woman's hesitation seemed born of genuine confusion. "Open...mic?" Jhanvi's eyelashes fluttered rapidly as she processed the term and, in searching for a viable reference, came up empty handed. "I'm sorry, I don't know what that is."

"Oh. Right." Claire smiled a bit. "It's basically, everyone can sign up to do a bit on stage. Like singing or dancing or comedy or playing music. I guess like a talent show. But there's no winner or cameras or anything. Just sharing your passions with the rest of the staff." She wanted to make sure that everyone felt safe and comfortable to participate so she had made it a point to not allow any recordings and wouldn't introduce any competitive element to the overall proceedings.

"Oh. Oh."

As understanding dawned, Jhanvi's expression shifted from bafflement to instant trepidation. Her relationship with performance was intricate and convoluted, exceedingly adept at it by most standards and yet disconnected at the same time, a talent rendered impartial by the simple fact that she'd only ever employed it as a means of becoming someone else. It went without saying that she had the potential to bring the house down as an impersonator but there was entertainment and there was 'behaviour our therapist is still helping us process'.

"I don't...I don't think I'd have anything to offer, nothing of any interest anyway."

"That's quite alright." Claire carefully approached Jhanvi and put a hand on her shoulder, "we won't make you do anything you don't want to." She gave what was supposed to be a comforting squeeze before stepping past her towards her own office. "I have a couple of things I need to attend. Please let me know if you have any questions." She said pointing in the direction she was going.

Through layers of scarf, the contact was still enough that Jhanvi had to force her shoulders to relax. New settings were always like this, until she oriented herself and found all the exits. Following the direction of Claire's gesture, the young woman stared for a moment before realisation caught up and she nodded quickly. "Of course, I'll take the time to settle in."

Claire put up a thumbs up and immediately regretted that gesture. It was a watered down version of that feeling she used to get when she was younger and her hair and skin had started to change. The feeling of just wanting to fade into the shadows. She closed the office doors behind her and made her way over to the large chair behind her desk, paperwork shrewn about every available square centimeter of oak. She really needed to get more organised. She just sat there for a moment, staring back at the door that separated her from Jhanvi.

She reminded herself that this was exactly what the Institute existed for. What it was meant to do. Give a safe place for mutants to be themselves and to accept their abilities. Claire hoped that Jhanvi would be able to find that here.