Interview Corner

Posted on Tue Apr 30th, 2024 @ 12:25 by Claire Cavendish & Sarah Bright

Chapter: Winter's Crest Festival
Location: Library
Timeline: Wednesday, 16th of September, 1992
3549 words - 7.1 OF Standard Post Measure

"I'm sorry again for the intrusion, Miss Bright." Claire hadn't had long to prepare for the interview with the Scottish arm of the BBC, and she had spent most of that time trying to decide on the best place to sit down with the interviewer. She hadn't been able to sort out her own office in a way that would accommodate the crew, but they had a rather large private library, and with the additions of the new Librarian the bookcases were starting to fill up, like a proper place of learning.

Sarah blinked, not quite looking at Claire, but a spot a short distance behind her, were a camera crew was setting up their equipment. Her expression was a strange mixture of bedazzlement, swirled in with a measure of concern. The intrusion didn't really bother her, and it wasn't everyday that a crew from the BBC just popped by for an interview. She was both impressed and grateful that Claire had managed to pull the right strings to get a bigger platform, so that their voice might be heard. She wasn't exactly optimistic about what this interview would achieve, but it was a good place to start. It was definitely better than doing nothing, leaving the bigots to be only ones telling the stories.

But that's where the concern pressed in. Bigots were loud, angry, and unreasonable. Most people were none of those things, and trying to appeal to their better angels did sometimes help, but Sarah also knew that they louder they got, the louder the bigots would get. And angrier, and more unreasonable. Even though Sarah wasn't going to be in this interview (at least, she didn't think she was going to be), that didn't mean she wasn't afraid of happening right in her safe space. Her grandparents knew she was working at Avalon, and her parents might know by now too---Sarah wasn't exactly keeping it a secret. She was fortunate to have family that... tolerated her for who she was. They would probably never fully accept her, but tolerance was a good enough for her, and it was more than a lot of other people at Avalon, students and faculty, could relate to. But Sarah always had the nagging feeling that that tolerance came with the price of discretion. She'd been taught to keep her life compartmentalized, so that one instance of poor judgement or bad luck wouldn't compromise her entire life.

That had felt doable when Avalon had been tucked away into obscurity like its namesake from Arthurian mythology. But now that most Britons had heard of it, and the cameras had been let inside? Those cameras weren't even on yet and she could already feel her walls rattling.

"Oh there's no need to apologize, Miss Cavendish. And you look very nice today." Sarah said, trying to offer some encouragement for Avalon's head teacher, who was surely a bundle of nerves, even though she seemed so much more poised. She wanted to call her Claire, but she always had this nagging feeling that they weren't quite there yet... for informality. And besides, there were a small number of students present: the school's AV club, as well as some of Rebecca's aspiring cinematographers, who were watching the professionals at work with keen interest. Sarah would bet everything she owned on them being no problem whatsoever.

"Could you perhaps fill the bookcase behind the interviewer a bit more?" The producer had been walking around a bit to look at the different angles and had found that the travel section of the library, that was right behind where the journalist would sit down, was rather sparse. "Perhaps some nice leatherbound books?" He looked over at the librarian with a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

Sarah deflated a little, though hopefully not enough so for anyone to notice. She should've known that it would be like this... that this whole thing would be a real pain in the ass. It wasn't like they'd been forced to set up there. They'd chosen that spot! The librarian didn't consider that maybe they had been forced, when considering angles, lighting, acoustics and the like. What did she know about any of this? Very little, admittedly. She glanced toward the students, as if expecting some sympathy, but got none. Most seemed to be nodding with approval over the producer's request.

With an audibly exaggerated sigh that hopefully conveyed a you fucking owe me for this to Claire, Sarah made her way over towards the section that she knew held the most leatherbound books. She picked up her book cart along the way, which was already half full with books that students had pulled earlier and were now ready to be reshelved. Not only was she going to have to put all these books in the wrong place, she was going to have to take them back off and reorganize them again. If there was one thing that would make a librarian want to go postal, this would be it.

Pushing the now-laden cart over toward where the interview was taking place, Sarah began to reach for one, but was surprised when it levitated away from her grasp and floated over toward the shelf. Within seconds five more books joined it, all of them gently cartwheeling in the air as they oriented themselves and slid onto the shelf. Sarah looked over toward the students, noticing two with looks of obvious concentration on their faces, like they were trying to hold in an epic fart. By now Sarah was of course hardly surprised at such a sight, but that didn't mean she knew when or how when someone else's powers would come into play. That was almost always surprising. She stepped back, silently grateful, and let the students' show off what they could do.

The cameras as they were setting up immediately seemed to kick up a gear and started filming the floating books seemingly finding their way to the shelves themselves.

"That's a neat trick, helpful for a librarian." the producer had stepped a bit closer to the woman that had been introduced to him as the librarian Miss Bright. "Could we perhaps get a shot of you going through one of the isles and selecting a couple of books from the shelves? Putting them on the cart?"

Sarah's brow furrowed slightly in consternation. She wanted to tell the truth and admit that it wasn't her moving the books, as lying to the film crew seemed counterproductive to what they were trying to achieve with this, but she didn't really want to put the students under the spotlight either. It was her job to protect them, as much as it was to educate them, and though this interview hardly seemed exploitative, she wouldn't hold her breath on it being purely about their best interests either. She considered simply staying silent and hoping that Claire would get things back on track, but that had been her tactic in at least one other tricky instance before, and she was self-conscious about it becoming a habit. No, Sarah was not a core member of the faculty, but that didn't mean she shouldn't act like she was.

"Wasn't me, honest." Sarah said with a shrug once the last of the books on the cart had slid onto the shelf, opting for the truth, or at least some of it. The kids who'd actually been doing the work had of course been making a game of it looking like it was her handiwork. She could play games too.

"A big, old, school library like this one is bound to have gremlins lurking about. They're usually making a mess of the shelves more often than not. I'm hesitant to trust gremlins to work at their own expense, and I'd hate to risk seeing that fancy film equipment pay the price just for a few more books flying around." Sarah made a point of not looking at the students as she said that. Yes, she probably sounded kooky as heel saying that, but whatever. She didn't care what the film crew thought about her. No one ever told stories or made shows about librarians, and they were definitely going to edit her out of all this. No, she wasn't looking at the kids, but her words had been mostly for them. Best knock it off, before something expensive gets broken.

One of the books that was the last to land on the shelf shimmied back out and landed right next to the Librarian. The concentrated faces of the two students were gone and now there was only mischief.

"Let's keep things professional." Claire tried to avoid an escalation of matters, employing a soothing tone. She also shot a look at the two students playing around with their powers.

The interviewer nodded, repeating that motion to his crew. "Alright. I think we're about ready." He then turned to the camera. "We are here today with Head Mistress Claire Cavendish, a name you might all be familiar with after the private school she runs, Avalon Institute, has made national headlines earlier this year. As we are rounding off 1992 she steps into the spotlight once more with an end of year festival where she opens the Pro-Mutant institute to the public. One other place we recognise the Cavendish name, the House of Lords representative pushing for Mutant Registration Legislation, something seen as a precursor to more extreme measures. It's no wonder then that Avalon pushes a more inclusive narrative with their Winter's Crest Festival. Miss Cavendish, how do you think your festival will help the mutant agenda?"

There was a bit of a frown from Claire, there were a great many things she didn't quite appreciate from that intro. She didn't like the Mistress title, she didn't see herself as 'pro-mutant' because the implication was that it was anti-human, and it was odd to hear her be set in the opposite corner from her father. How different the world would've been for her had she not turned purple in her teens. "Hi, hello. Well to be honest, Mister Read, I'm not even sure there's a coordinated agenda within the mutant community. The idea behind the Winter's Crest Festival is to broaden our horizons. To see what we are all capable of, as people. We do that in cooperation with the wonderful people from New Cresthill and it seems like bad form that we'd make use of their services and are a part of their community but don't extend the same hospitality."

Sarah had barely had time to scurry out off set before the interview started, which felt weird. It wasn't difficult to figure out why she felt that way though. The library wasn't really hers, but in some ways it was, and while there she'd never before felt the need to make herself scarce. It was a hard feeling to accept, and the more she thought about it, the more she began to realize that what she felt was likely only a sliver of what Claire must be feeling. She'd created this safe space for mutants, and was now taking a leap of faith in not only letting outsiders in, but at times stepping aside to let Avalon speak for itself.

This was not one of those times though, thankfully. Avalon's head teacher seemed to be handling the questions with ease, as if she'd been expecting them. Sarah had certainly been expecting them, but that didn't mean she would've handled the interview nearly so well, let alone any better. Claire hadn't been on camera for five seconds before they started labeling her and boxing her in. Sarah was about to lose her shit just imagining herself in the same position. As a kid she was labeled dumb. Then a dumb queer. She'd thought eight years at Harvard would replace those labels with something more complimentary, but nah.Then she just became a dumb, queer, nepotist with bought and paid for degrees. What was going to happen when the word mutant got tacked on top of all of that? She could barely keep her cool and there she was, off-camera and ignored. As the interview went on se prayed that remained the case.

"As I understand it family members of all the attending student and staff have received invitations. Have you extended that courtesy to your own parents as well?" It was obvious they really wanted to push the dichotomy between Claire and her anti-mutant father.

Claire didn't flinch, even though they had agreed to focus on the positive outreach they were doing this was something she had expected being brought up. Perhaps not in such a blatant and obvious fashion. "When I was fourteen my mutant features started to express themselves. As I was attending private school at the time, with a very strict code of conduct, mutation was seen as unbecoming of a lady of my stature." She stared the journalist in the eyes as she weaved her tale, the library had been a perfect location for such storytelling. "My parents did what they could, I was home schooled to pass my SATs, and then sent off to boarding school in the United States. A special school for people like me." She shook her head, the implication that there was a school somewhere out there for the upper class mutants, being kept under wraps, was enough of a scoop already. "When I returned they gave me a job in the family company, tending to our investments in Wales." She was sitting straight and proper, reflecting her heritage to a tee. "My parents did what they felt was best, and I do not hold a grudge." It took quite a bit of effort for her to say that with a straight face, and keeping the bile down, "Like last year, they've received an official invitation to attend the festival. Unfortunately, like last year, I did not receive an RSVP and as such I don't expect them to attend."

Some parts of Claire's story resonated with Sarah, enough to make her feel as if she could relate, but in truth their similarities were insignificant when compared to the differences. For one, Sarah had been able to blend in. And though yes, she too had found herself unwelcome in a private school setting, she'd managed to finish high school in a public school without much incident, which was probably a claim not many at Avalon could make. And though her parents had never been against her, Sarah had never really seen them as allies, either. They had of course invited her back home to spend the holidays with them in Massachusetts, and had even agreed to pay for air fare, but she couldn't even begin to imagine them accepting an invitation to visit Avalon, which is why she hadn't considered asking.

Politics was a big difference. Sarah had never been a political person, partly because most politicians avoided the social issues that were important to her, and also because no one in her family was political. As academic and medical professionals her parents were required to be impartial, and their livelihoods depended on it. In her family politics had never been seen as an acceptable topic for casual conversation at the dinner table. Political rhetoric was almost like an oxymoron to her, so hearing the film crew circle back to the same point again and again seemed pointless and rude.

One glance at the students, however, showed Sarah that they were seeing the interview in a different light. Politics aside, most of the students at Avalon likely knew very little about their teachers, except that most of them were bigger, stronger mutants. They probably only saw the adults around them as the people they were now, and didn't think about what they had been like before. But Sarah could see the kids now drawing their own similarities. Their head teacher was more like them than they'd realized. Most watched Claire's response with stoicism... if they couldn't personally relate, they all knew someone who could. One of the girls, however, let out a soft, muted "aahw." Clearly, she'd been hoping for a happier ending to Claire's story.

Even though the story was over, the interview wasn't just yet. The interviewer went into more cookie cutter questions, steering more towards the talking points they had agreed one. There had been something in the glare that Claire had given him that he didn't dare venture back towards other topics than those they had prepared. He was after all in the middle of a school with plenty of people that could harm him and his crew if they suddenly decided that they were no longer welcome there. It took nearly an hour before the interview reached its conclusion and Claire knew that by the end of it not nearly ten minutes would be seen back in the broadcast.

After a polite exchange of goodbyes Claire got up and stepped towards the gathered crowd. She gave a smile, happy to see all the students with their different interests in media and film soaking in everything the crew was doing. Now that the interview was over several of them ventured closer to the boom operator or the person behind the camera, bombarding them with questions. Sarah hadn't really moved yet. "How did I do?"

Sarah eased herself off of the edge of one of the tables as Claire approached. Normally that was something she was always on the students about, but in this instance few seemed willing to point out the hypocrisy, as most of the convenient chairs had been pulled aside for the students to use, and reaching for any of the others might've put her in the interview. It was bad enough they'd filmed her fumbling for floating books, the world didn't need to see her as the lurky librarian too.

"You sounded great." Sarah said with a firm nod, deciding to stick to more technical feedback. The film crew was still working nearby, and she didn't really want to voice her thoughts on the content of the interview where they could be overheard. "You had the answers to their questions, so it sounded like you'd practiced, but not in a rehearsed way. They were more authentic, like the answers were thoughtful, but were mostly drawn from your experience and beliefs." Sarah didn't know how Claire could look so comfortable sharing those parts of her with the world.

"As for the visuals, they know their stuff. I looked a few times during filming, and they'd picked good angles for you. Professional, but also pretty." She lowered her voice to a whisper for a moment. "I do think they could've done the lighting better though. For a moment I thought they were purposefully trying to make you look more mysterious than need be, but honestly? I think they just don't have a lot of experience with people with your skin tone." Sarah shrugged. But then again, who did? Claire was likely unique in that regard.

In the end, it would all boil down to the editing, of course. A lot was going to get cut--hopefully the part in the beginning with her--but Sarah didn't think they'd be able to spin anything out of context. They'd just have to wait and see.

"Alright then, while we're set up here, perhaps we could entice the Librarian to a short back and forth?" The journalist got up from his seat and moved over to where Sarah had been keeping herself. He smiled a bit put out a hand, "Kris Read, I hope you don't mind me asking you a few questions."

Looking at Claire, the librarian didn't realize the journalist was speaking to her until she turned and saw him right there next to them. Her hands still in mid-gesture from her conversation with Claire, one found itself close enough to shake before Sarah had fully registered what had been asked of her. Trying to hide the pained expression forming on her face proved to be tragically counterproductive, as the wince instead morphed into a simpering smirk that only touched one side of her lips. It reeked of an arrogance that belied the fear churning within her, and made her look like the sort of comic sub-villain that was easily bested in the first half of any tale, before the real menace presented itself.

There was no way Sarah could refuse the interview.She certainly could, and could stand up for herself, but doing so would likely undo any public relations gains Claire's had achieved, and the journalist would no doubt comment on it, and speculate on what exactly she had to hide. But unlike Claire, Sarah had not prepared for her five minutes of fame.

Some said the true measure of a person was revealed when they faced their fears. They were full of shit. Some faced their fears with smoke and mirrors, and good luck finding any measure of truth in that.

"Hehhh... Sarah Bright." The librarian replied with a nervous stutter, though her ill-begotten expression likely framed it into more of a chuckle of disdain. It was as if the kid gloves were about to come off if they chose to pursue this interview...