Don't kill the messenger

Posted on Wed May 29th, 2024 @ 12:38 by Shauna Murphy & Claire Cavendish & Alistair Quill

Chapter: Winter's Crest Festival
Location: Main Courtyard, Avalon Institute
Timeline: 00:45, Saturday, 19th of December, 1992
2608 words - 5.2 OF Standard Post Measure

It was getting late, and slowly the crowds that had been gathered to enjoy the various different shows and goods on display and for sale were starting to make their ways back to the cars that were very orderly parked away on the rather large field as well as the courtyard. The two school busses had also been deployed to get people from the New Cresthill station to here and they were now filling back up to get people back. The last train would leave somewhere past one so there was a certain nervous energy among the people filing into them.

The cars with locals, family and friends were filing out of the large gate over the bridge. The connection between the island sanctuary and the rest of the world. At least that's what it had always seemed like to Alistair, who was sat at the very end of the bridge. Where right next to it was a large boulder. As far as boulders went it was a very convenient one. It was just the right height to sit on, and the widening of the road there made it possible for a car to stop in front of it. As such it was the ideal location for quick pick ups and drop offs. Which is exactly why he was sitting next to Shauna, waiting on a town car to roll up and open its doors. He wasn't in a hurry to get back home himself, he grew up locally and could get home in about thirty minutes but his parents had been quite clear in that for as long as he was insisting on being so outspoken about his mutation he could do that among like minded people at the institute, and not at the Christmas dinner table with the entire family. He wasn't looking forward to listening to his uncle rant about how Mutants were taking the jobs of honest men like him, even though he hadn't worked an honest day's labour in his life. "I'm sure it'll be here any minute. It's a long way, and this whole festival is making it difficult to get here."

Stretched out on her back atop said boulder, which wasn't the most comfortable of positions and yet was still far better than appearing overly anxious, Shauna stared upwards at the starry expanse overhead and barely reacted to her friend's attempt at reassurance. If experience had taught her anything it was that she could very well be still waiting at 2am and that wouldn't really be anything particularly unusual, depending on who it was her parents had decided to send and how many pitstops for food the inevitably fat bastard had required. Ever since her education had been handed over to the Institute, back when she'd very definitely outgrown the home-based tuition that was nearly impossible to secure once her long-time governess had passed away, (Shauna refused to call her a nanny, despite the accuracy of the term), every holiday break had been exactly like this. Waiting for her parents' delegate to show up at the absolute last minute and then having to endure the long drive to the family's current residence in Aberdeen as an overnight ordeal. Any delay was just an avoidance of the inevitable but she was likewise not in the biggest rush to be trapped inside a silent car for the next few hours.

"You need to let me know what goes on," became her eventual response, a reiteration of her investment in the current local uprising. "Which means you need to pay attention to what goes on. I don't believe they're just going to stop because a couple of them got caught."

"Claire should've dropped that one guy into the Loch, like she did to the teachers back on Halloween." Alistair looked at his feet wondering just how long they'd be out there waiting for Shauna's ride. "I'll keep an eye and an ear out. I'm sure my family won't be able to shut up about it." He looked out across the road as two headlights approached from up north. "Could that be them?"

It was all the effort that Shauna could muster to pull her shoulders and neck up to a point where she could just about see the road. The brief moment of anticipation didn't last and the slight sloshing as the car tyres moved through the muddy remains of water-logged potholes to zip past them became the perfect backdrop for a huff of frustrated agitation as she let herself flop back down again. "Once again, I could have walked faster. Or, better yet, driven myself." The faint hiccup with this plan was that she'd only just turned old enough to start lessons and those were not scheduled through the school until the next term. That didn't mean she didn't know how to, Shauna was quick to point out, only that there was no way in hell Cavendish would have allowed it.

The bridge from the castle to the main road was paved in large slabs of stone. Some of the white pebbles from the courtyard would make their way over when cars came and went. On a night like tonight the bridge was absolutely littered with them. Claire felt them poke through the thin soles of her pumps and it made the walk over slightly more of a nuisance. In addition it slightly annoyed her knowing that William would probably spend an entire afternoon clearing the bridge again. He was quite a stickler for stuff like that.

Still she preferred walking over as to not blindside the person she was heading for, besides the entire week and especially the festival day had taken enough out of her that she didn't want to fatigue herself by using her powers if she could simply walk the short distance herself.

As she approached what some people referred to as the pick up boulder she slowed her step. "Miss Murphy, can you spare a moment?"

Alistair looked around to see the Head Teacher approach and then looked at his friend next to him. He wanted to make a comment about her being g in trouble and asking what she did now, but the serious look on Cavendish' face was enough to stifle any jest he could muster.

Under the veil of reasonable darkness, Shauna rolled her eyes. Either this was a last-minute discussion about some rule infraction or the bloated idiot sent to pick her up had taken a wrong turn via a convenient coffee shop. Rolling to sit up, she slipped off the boulder and approached the head mistress, her expression one of sullen expectation despite the fact she broke tradition and actually held her tongue.

Claire had no trouble seeing the eye roll regardless of the level of darkness. She decided not to remark on it at this time, knowing the information she was about to drop on the kid. She averted her eyes from a passing car's headlights before settling back on eye contact with the senior student. "I've received word from your parents. Following the recent unrest surrounding mutants they've decided to seclude themselves. They've asked for me to provide you with accommodation over the winter break as to not inconvenience you." The actual conversation had felt a lot more distant than what she was conveying, but she hoped that her interpretation at least provided some comfort in the fact that Shauna's parents may have considered the young woman's feelings and comfort.

In reality the call she had received had made it sound like almost an afterthought. Something only brought to the attention of the two prominent members of the pro-mutant community because their personal driver had indicated that their trip to Heathrow overlapped with the planned trip to and from Avalon. Had Shauna not arranged for the chauffeur service back to her parents' townhouse she might've arrived to empty hallways. The man on the other end of the line and sought to alleviate some of the guilt by promising a substantial donation before the end of the fiscal year.

As unlikely as it seemed, there was a fraction of a single moment where the world seemed to hold its breath and the constant clamouring of nocturnal noises, mingled with the constant sound of traffic, paused for just a minute as if to pay particular attention to the young mutant's response. On many levels, the owls and the insects might have felt vaguely dissatisfied with the eventual result because, almost in complete contradiction to expectation, Shauna barely reacted at all. A slight hitch of her eyebrows at the phrase 'as to not inconvenience you' was more a means of conveying disbelief and became the most prominent break in the girl's otherwise impassive, yet exceptionally guarded, expression. The walls had been slowly assembling themselves over the course of the evening, even though there had been no palpable reason to suppose that Shauna had cared that her parents weren't present for any of her solo performances. Her stoicism now was not unfamiliar and had slipped into place so naturally that it was only now, once deemed an official afterthought, that it really became obvious just how much disinterest and neglect she'd become accustomed to dealing with.

"Did they say where they were going?" Shauna's tone was difficult to read though it certainly contained a lack of confidence for a positive response.

Claire took a moment to switch gears, having been prepared to deal with disappointment and sadness, or even anger. Not indifference and stoic pragmatism. "They did not." She hadn't thought to ask, though looking back at the conversation it had seemed unlikely that they would've shared that information with her anyway. "I'm sorry, Shauna. It's unfair for them to drop this on you last minute."

The emotional vacancy wasn't without effort, though it benefitted from years of undisclosed rehearsal. It had always seemed best not to elaborate too much on what her winter break actually resembled, lest Cavendish and the other teachers in their endless quest to 'do good' interfere. Turning quickly now, Shauna shouldered the backpack, which didn't seem like nearly enough for a week or two away, and hefted it onto her back before setting out with determination back towards the castle. Once again, the only sign of any resentment was the careful avoidance of eye contact, coupled with a lack of acknowledgement of the lingering Alastair, who seemed somewhat at a loss to know what his role in all this was.

"If they're vacating to the extent of leaving the estate closed, then they'll be gone for a while." As she approached the headmistress, with a clear intent to just continue right past her, Shauna permitted a brief shared glance and then hunched a shoulder. "It's not like they were going to be there anyway." It seemed a safe enough admission now, given the nature of her parents' job it seemed unlikely she'd be able to head home before her next birthday anyway, at which point she would finally have reached an age where people could legally stop sticking their noses into her decision-making process.

Alistair got off the boulder himself now and rushed past Claire. He looked a bit flustered and perhaps even apologetic towards the head mistress. "Shauna, wait up!" He caught back up with his friend, on the outside it was quite an unlikely friendship, but it was an important one to him and he hoped that went the other way as well. "I'll stay too, we can enjoy Valjean's French cussing over souffle in real time."

In typical fashion, it was the gesture of comfort, not the reiterated announcement of ongoing parental neglect, that brought a frown to Shauna's face. The scowl was not uncommon when she had retreated behind carefully constructed aloofness, though enough had changed over her years at the Institute for the churn of conflicting emotions behind her eyes to be far more obvious than they once had. "Don't be daft." Sunk deep inside her pockets, her hands loosened slightly from the fists that had formed out of sight. "Go home, eat turkey." Her mind raced for other references, dredged from over-saturated media rather than personal experience. "I'll be fine."

"Maybe you can come with, eat turkey with us? Get annoyed at my uncle's horrible takes on current affairs. I'm sure you're more than welcome." Alistair tried a different approach once it was clear it wouldn't be appreciated if he 'sacrificed' his family holidays.

Claire slowly followed, at a modest distance. This was perhaps an instance where just porting back to her office was the easier path to take. But she didn't stay Avalon because it was going to be easy. "Shauna, I'm sure that if it could've been different they would've arranged it." She wasn't sure of any such thing, but it seemed like the appropriate thing to say to a teen that was just left behind by her parents at Christmas time. There had to be a good reason. A very good reason.

Already in the midst of fixing Alastair with a look of pointed protest, which had quickly switched into a pink-cheeked surveillance to make sure he hadn't been overheard, Shauna was somewhat blind-sided by the head mistress' attempt at an empty platitude. It turned out to be the perfect distraction from what was, apparently, cause for furtive embarrassment. Slowing to a stop, the teenager turned slowly to direct her incredulity right at its intended target.

"My family don't celebrate Christmas."

Normally, private information of this calibre wasn't easy to get out of Shauna. Now, she seemed simply miffed at being forced to spell it out. "My family doesn't celebrate much of anything, if it comes to that. They never remember when the school holidays are, half the time they're not even home for them. The only difference this time is that even the staff have been sent elsewhere." Whirling, she marched past Alastair and muttered, "It's not like this place has less of a target on it."

Claire had been surprised at the sudden deluge of personal frustrations thrown out there. Shauna had been one of the first students at Avalon, and from time to time she definitely acted like she owned the place. Her fellow students held her in certain regard. It was one of those mutants that just seemed to have it all together. Just as she wanted to step up towards Shauna and offer support Alistair went past her.

Without words Alistair motioned at the head teacher to let them be, or perhaps to let him handle it. It was perhaps arrogant to think he was going to be capable of handling anything Shauna related, but he knew he stood a better chance right now than Miss Cavendish. "Shauna, wait up!"

To the uninitiated, everything about the young mutant's retreat screamed leave me alone. Intercepting Shauna when she was in a mood was always a volatile choice but it spoke to Alistair's observation skills that he had learned enough to know when there was a sliver of a window for attempted consolation. In fact, there were reasonable grounds to determine that the absence of one pivotal event was every bit an indication that, no matter what she was feeling right now, Shauna didn't really want solitude. If there was one thing that had been made abundantly clear time and time again, it was that engagement with the world around her was always entirely on Shauna's terms.

And so, in her own way, even as she stormed back towards the castle, Shauna waited. At the very least, she stayed in plain sight.