Moving in Sync

Posted on Wed Oct 11th, 2023 @ 19:46 by Claire Cavendish & Shauna Murphy

Chapter: All Hallow's Eve
Location: Auditorium, Avalon Institute
Timeline: Saturday, 6th of November 1992
2964 words - 5.9 OF Standard Post Measure

The music that was coming from the auditorium was contemporary, with a heavy beat. Claire slowly pushed the door open to look inside, trying to see if the person currently occupying the stage was the person she had been looking for. After the attack on the institute it had come to the head mistress' attention that Shauna had taken the lead in protecting her peers from Robert when he infiltrated the castle. It was something that had been foolish and dangerous. Not in the least because Claire had adamantly refused to teach the kids self defence because of her pacifistic world view.

Unfortunately the world was now looking back at her, and its view was a lot more aggressive. She couldn't avoid it any longer. The new P.E. teacher was a military man, there was good reason for that. Added to which the different school houses gave an opportunity to create smaller operating teams. This particular older student was in a prime position to take point in one of those teams. All she had to do was convince her of that.

Before launching into that she simply stood in the back of the room, allowing Shauna to finish the dance routine she'd been practising.

As was sometimes the case when people demonstrated an enviable amount of natural talent, Shauna had never really viewed dancing as a viable career option. It had started out, when she was a very young girl, as her mother's attempt to get her to interact with other children. Being an unintentional addition to the family had lead to measures that would ensure no siblings came along to further rock the boat and, as the offspring of two very forthcoming mutants, she had never been sent into the public school system the way a lot of her contemporaries had been forced to tolerate. When her powers had emerged, it had been almost a relief, since they certainly cemented her identity within a world almost exclusively dominated by other mutants.

Dance classes had been the exception.

Whilst it was questionable that it had lead to the development of any enduring friendships, it had allowed her to develop a natural grace and agility that complimented her emergent powers, as well as providing her with an outlet for channeling her frustrations that allowed the willful girl a far greater control over her own poise than might otherwise have been the case. She danced when she needed to think, and there was a lot to consider from the current situation.

It wasn't until the music stopped that Shauna noticed her audience. Almost immediately, her posture elongated and the open emotiveness disappeared from her expression behind a practised wall of guarded reservation.

Claire gave a genuine applause at the performance. A bright smile on the head mistress' face as she approached the podium. "I was looking for you, didn't expect to find you like this." She kept her voice upbeat to make sure she wasn't alienating Shauna. "I mean, I probably should have. I used to escape in dance when I was young." She winced a bit at that, knowing it was definitely not something a teenager wanted to hear from her head mistress. One of those moments it became painfully clear how far removed she had gotten from that time in the seventies.

It did not help the initial levels of frostiness at all that Shauna, despite an upbringing that had saturated her in mutant-positive perspective, still resembled the confident ringleader who, under different circumstances, might have made life a living hell for an aspiring dancer slowly turning a colour not often sought amongst prima donas. She regarded the older mutant with distrust that bordered on disdain and replied, "I don't usually try to escape." The words were intentionally relevant and, for once, perhaps the pair were not on dissimilar pages. "It does help me focus though."

"Everyone gets something else out of it. There were people in my class that simply liked the exercise." Claire didn't want to harp on the 'not usually' part in her response. It implied that today might be different but pressing to hard would only shut her back down. "Are you looking to improve or did you just want to reorder your thoughts today?" There had been a couple of things the head mistress had seen that had seemed slightly sloppy. It could be an indicator of a pre-occupied mind. Offering feedback to someone's creative expressions was always difficult though, and she would never do so without permission.

It was an odd thing to consider but the pair of them had been at the Institute almost the same amount of time. Of all the students, Shauna had perhaps the earliest ties to the school given her parents' ongoing and rather outgoing support of mutant-centred initiatives. They'd sent their daughter as part of the first intake and were amongst a limited few whose recent contact centred more around offering support for shoring up the Institute's defenses than any threat of pulling their only child away from potential harm. It wasn't a choice they would have made anyway, Shauna had been calling the shots in her own life for a very long time, which accounted for her difficulties with the restraining nature of authority figures. The concept of deferring to others was not something that had ever been encouraged.

The young mutant was not, however, as conceited as some of her classmates like to assume. As much as she frustrated the teachers of those subjects she took limited interest in, being infinitely more likely to make use of her powers in those instances to better structure her time, there had never been any question that Shauna was thirsty for mastery of those aspects of education she did value. The concept of being taught was not objectionable, and the idea that there might exist people who were currently better than her at certain things was not in dispute. Apportioning automatic deference to adults just because they happened to be born first wasn't a logical choice as far as she was concerned, but seeking out guidance from those who had used that temporal advantage to amass skills and knowledge she coveted was.

Cavendish technically qualified.

"All interaction is an opportunity to learn," she quoted back, a twitch of her lips suggesting this was an intentional attempt to prove she listened sometimes to the woman's lessons. "Though if you're asking about my intent, this was more a means of avoiding annoyances." She could name several specifically but chose not to.

Claire made her way over to the stage and with a graceful hop made it on top. "I'm not really dressed properly for dance." She kicked off her pumps as she approached the cassette deck in the back. Rewinding the music enough to get back to the point where she had seen a bit of a wavering core support in her transition. "Your ecarte into epaule." She went into the first stance and when the melody reached the point where the girl had made the movement she mimicked what she has done. "Keep your abs tight." As she finished the movement she went into a more classic ballet routine than Shauna had been performing. Just two or so steps before standing back into first position. A reflex from years of practice.

Rather than move to mimic, Shauna seemed content to observe. One of the compromises of boarding at Avalon had been the abandonment of dancing lessons, which had come with some reluctance but ultimately wasn't enough of a problem to turn down the opportunity to learn amongst other mutants. It was encouraging just to be able to speak with someone who knew what they were talking about. Leaning back against the table that held the portable cassette deck, she watched the older woman with reserved curiosity.

"Why did you stop dancing?"

It was a question that had an answer easy enough to guess at but Shauna had proven to be a girl who interrogated life rather than succumbing to assumption. Certainly there was something about her tone that suggested she knew the reason but didn't fully accept it as justification.

"I never stopped dancing." Claire was a bit more defensive about that than she'd have wished, especially in front of one of the students. "I was in a very prestigious institute when my abilities manifested. They wished not to be associated with me." She tried to put her banishment from her layer of society in the best terms possible. "My father sent me to boarding school in the USA, they didn't offer dance classes." There was of course the fact that she never really wanted to perform in front of people anymore, draw the attention on herself any more than she needed to. She had been centre stage until her hair and skin turned purple. Then she couldn't wait to fade into the background.

The headmistress bit her lower lip a bit, "I got caught up in other things in life and never pursued a career or further training in dance." She'd been good at it too, which made it a bloody shame that she felt forced to drop that particular hobby of hers. She'd been working on her singing as well, with aspirations to make it on the west end some day.

"You run a school," Shauna pointed out pragmatically. "Could you not provide lessons?" Despite occasional expectations, the girl's tone wasn't disrespectful, nor nearly as derisive as she was sometimes accused of amongst her peers. Without their presence, it wasn't difficult to tell that Shauna was far more accustomed to interacting with adults and appeared to regard her head mistress with genuine interest.

Claire nodded slowly, "Not sure I'd be able to find a dance teacher nearby." The truth was that she wasn't sure she'd find one willing to come to the institute and teach mutants. When it came to people with such specific skill sets they were very few and far in between already, if you'd have to roughly half that because of their political views then there were few left, especially in a place like the Scottish highlands.

The response seemed to surprise Shauna, who hadn't yet asked why the older mutant had been watching her in the first place. "Why wouldn't you take the classes yourself? You're clearly capable." This, in its own way, was high praise from someone who didn't hand it out readily.

"I.." Claire had not even considered that. A dance instructor. Could she? Should she? "That's actually a pretty good idea. I'll consider it." Admin was not going to like having to shuffle her schedule around again to account for the extra class. "If you'll consider something for me." Her expression was a bit more serious now, "I heard what you did the other night."

Whatever progress had been made in piquing Shauna's interest enough to lower her guard was somewhat lost by the perception of admonishment. Elongated to full height, the senior student glowered stubbornly as she folded her arms across her chest. "The entire north-west dormitory had been cut off. Someone had to go get them out." Without saying the words, the hint of accusation was there, an acknowledgement perhaps that it hadn't been her place but the complete absence of those who should have handled the evacuation had altered the chain of command.

"Thank you." Claire immediately picked up on the fact that Shauna was closing herself off and putting up a front once more. "That was a brave thing you did, the world needs more people like you." She narrowed her eyes a bit, "Like I said I want you to consider something. As a senior, and as one of the first students to the institute, you certainly know about the Houses and their role in our little community." She had wanted to approach this a bit more eloquently but was trying to tie these seemingly disparate ends together as she went along. "You could grow your impact on the new generation of mutants by taking on the role of House Elder for Rhongomiant."

The senior student didn't even attempt to hide her surprise. The announcement of the House hierarchy tended to pass her by every year, a conscious disinterest born from perceived futility, perhaps. It was true that she had marginally less conflict with the staff now than when she'd started, having been a little overly keen to demonstrate her early progress with her powers. It had seemed easier to curry favour amongst her peers by become the font of all knowledge than to actually earn it and Shauna had spent her first year having more conversations than she cared to recall with the headmistress about the responsible use of invisibility. These days, it was less about trying to find out things she wasn't meant to know and tended mostly to be a discussion about the importance of being present in all classes, which Shauna argued really shouldn't be an issue if she was physically in the room. The ongoing, though much-improved, clashes with authority had forged an intentional disinterest in student leadership for the age-old reason that she just didn't think Cavendish would ever pick her.

Now, for once, the girl actually looked taken aback.

"I..."

And speechless.

"Why me?"

It was instantly vulnerable, which Shauna appeared to realise as her expression folded into a mild scowl. It served as a timely reminder, however, that even the strongest-willed harboured their doubts. Adjusting to a world in which her own priorities had to mesh alongside others had not been easy for Shauna and there was a glimmer now of wariness born, not of disdain, but perpetual uncertainty.

"Because you've shown that you have a natural willingness and ability to be in charge." If Claire had her own reservations about this whole ordeal, she didn't show it. "Your peers trust you and look to you for guidance." There was a hope that with her in a formal leadership role they could shape and guide her leadership style and direction a bit more. "And none too soon, either. There's the Winter Crest Festival to prepare." The serious facial expression turned brighter with a smile. It was clear that the head mistress loved the festival they organised for students' and faculty's families as well as the local residents.

The claims were mostly difficult to refute though Shauna had never thought of it as trust. Her general assumption was that at least some of her peers weren't idiots and when she offered perfectly valid points, they were capable of following her logic. In an odd way, it meant she attributed less of any willingness to follow her to her own guile and more to basic common sense. For all her faults, the girl was far too matter-of-fact to fall prey to boasting, at least when it actually mattered.

"What would it involve?"

That in itself was quite an admission and not one that escaped without a faint tinge of pink to the mutant's cheeks. She'd stopped paying attention to the intricate details of student leadership once she'd decided she wasn't ever going to be considered for it.

"First and foremost you'd be a role model for the other students. When new students join the institute and your House they'd come to you for advice and guidance first and foremost. You'd also be expected to organise and lead the efforts surrounding the House Cups. Captain the teams, or delegate, however you prefer to set that up." Claire left the organisation of a lot of the day to day efforts within he different houses to the House Leaders. She figured it would do them good to have their own authority over how they wanted to form and run their houses. In her experience most of them gathered a council around themselves to help with that sort of thing. "Coordinate with the faculty advisers for your House."

Being a role model had been something jammed down Shauna's throat pretty much since she'd arrived. Initially, she'd balked at the idea, having limited concept of the notion of camaraderie nor the importance of community. She'd been an obnoxious little thing, not a description Shauna herself ever really sought to correct, and had spent the first half of her first year utterly convinced that she didn't need anyone else.

She had, of course, been wrong.

Being thankfully intelligent enough to change her mind when it was warranted, it had become obvious that strength in numbers included the ability to augment her own powers by pairing them with what her fellow students could do. A pessimist might call it manipulation but Shauna had simply developed a keen fascination with possibility. The whole being greater than the sum total of its parts had sounded stupid until she'd experienced it for herself. Now, though she was stand-offish enough that it only occasionally presented opportunities within her small group of friends, the keen-minded mutant spent more time than she wanted to admit designing contingencies in her head and it took only a moment of self-reflection for her to realise that what Cavendish was actually asking was for her to act on them.

"And if I agree, you'll look into scheduling dance tuition?" A point of negotiation well above her station but, undaunted, Shauna held her ground.

A small half smirk formed on the head mistress' lips; "Deal." She held out a hand.

After another moment of intense scrutiny, Shauna's expression likewise betrayed elements of good humour, though she angled her chin in a way that was all-too familiar and took the older woman's hand with confidence. "Deal."