Fine Threads

Posted on Thu May 29th, 2025 @ 18:28 by Phoebe Hunter & Sarah Bright & Jacqueline Myers

Chapter: Besieged
Location: Avalon Institute
Timeline: 1 February 1993
3485 words - 7 OF Standard Post Measure

The damp patch on the seat of the tracksuit bore testament to her earlier time outside with Magali, while the loose thread dangling from the cuff of the sweatshirt snagged on everything in reach. Jackie was drowning in Andrew’s borrowed attire. The fabric sagged awkwardly around her thin frame, and she’d had to tug at the waistband more times than she could count to avoid tripping over her own feet. Valjean’s description of a vagabond had hit a little too close to home, sealing the feeling that she looked as awful as she felt.

Curled in on herself, Jackie made her way cautiously through the corridors, her tentative steps muffled by the carpeted floors. She was seeking a door marked History. It had been suggested that perhaps this particular member of the faculty might help her find clothes that weren’t baggy enough to double as a tent. Her hand lifted absently to her hair, but her fingers caught on tangled ends and matted clumps. A deep shame tightened her throat, a shame she couldn’t shake except with the swift snip of sharp scissors.

Sudden noises still made her flinch, her shoulders twitching in response to the phantom prickle of spikes beneath her skin. They didn’t emerge, but their subtle presence pressed against the fleecy fabric, keeping her nerves on edge. She slowed as her gaze landed on the door with its gold-plated lettering: History, Miss Hunter. Jackie hesitated, her hand hovering just shy of the wood before she summoned the courage to knock.

"It is open," Phoebe called out loudly as she saw the future of the woman running away and not coming in and she did not want that to happen. She glanced up seeing the door open and the woman stepped inside. "Hello." Phoebe greeted standing up from where she had been marking the last of the school work that her students had done before the choas had insured.

There was something innately forbidden about Jackie being in a school. For so much of her youth, schools had been places to avoid, sanctuaries of judgment and exposure. Her mother’s desperate attempts to conceal her nature each summer had only reinforced that. Layer after layer of concealer, foundation, and powder had been used to hide the deepening green of her skin. Now, standing here, the weight of those memories made her careful as she pushed the door open just wide enough to slip through. “Hello,” she said softly.

Jackie’s eyes met Phoebe’s for a fleeting moment before darting away. “Sorry, you don’t know me,” she began, her voice quiet and hesitant. “It was suggested that I find one of the female staff members—maybe borrow some clothes and… perhaps a sharp pair of scissors?” Her words were measured, an apology wrapped in each syllable, but she cleared her throat and steadied herself, gaining a shred of confidence by the end. By the time she finished speaking, she had fully stepped into the classroom, letting the door click shut behind her. It felt like a barrier between her and the world, muffling the outside noise and giving her a brief, fragile sense of safety.

“Just because we do not know each other does not mean that I was not aware of you needing some items. I do not have the scissors but I do have the clothes and toiletries.” Phoebe said smiling a little as she pointed to a pile on a table. She was trying to not be awkward about it for herself and the woman. It was hard seeing the future and knowing when to help and when to just let it pass on by but this was one of those occasions when women helped women no matter what. “But I did ask a colleague to bring a pair of scissors so I suspect she’ll be arriving soon. Confused but soon.”

Sarah--said colleague--was confused. Not entirely, but enough so that she actually had several pairs of scissors as she arrived at the door to Phoebe's classroom. The request had been polite, though vague, and of course Sarah had not thought to ask exactly what kind of scissors to bring. Did Phoebe want paper scissors, hair scissors, or heavy-duty fabric shears? Be Prepared as the Girl Scout motto went. Sarah had never actually been a Girl Scout, but that technicality hadn't stopped her from putting the motto into practice by bringing all three. And a few other things.

"Helllooooo." Sarah chimed in a pleasant, if awkwardly sing-song voice as she poked her head in through the quietly opened door. Phoebe had asked her to come so she hadn't bothered to knock, but the slightly awkward melody of her greeting had a tentative quality to it, betraying the mood of one treading into unfamiliar waters. Seeing Avalon's history teacher in conversation with another woman she didn't know, Sarah waited for a cue to either enter, or give them a moment of privacy.

Despite the announcement, Jackie still jumped when the woman poked her head around the door with her cordial greeting. The sharp thorns that had come and gone throughout the morning returned with a vengeance, puncturing small holes in Andrew's borrowed sweatshirt. Jackie quickly moved closer to let the other woman inside. "Hello," she said, waving with an awkward wiggle of her fingers. "And thank you both."

With only her thorn-free palms, she carefully examined the pile of clothes, trying to breathe deeply and remind herself she was safe. "Sorry," she said, hesitating. "I'm Jackie, Jackie Myers. Alistair brought me here yesterday from Cresthill, and Andrew has helped me this morning with food and my current... outfit." The social niceties felt clumsy as she tried to explain her presence.

"You brought scissors..." Relief washed over her. Brushing and finger-combing had done nothing to help her situation. One solution remained, but blue safety scissors wouldn't suffice.

“What happened?” Phoebe wondered finally looking up properly. It was hard to not be antisocial sometimes when there was so much going on that the shifting futures were giving her an headache. It was hard to keep track and she had been trying to despite the exhaustion it brought keep track but things were shifting with every choice that was made.

“What happened?” Jackie repeated back quietly. That was a very loaded question, “I … I was taken and I escaped or was let out … I can’t remember which. I didn’t have anything.” She gripped the clothing gently and looked between the two women, “It’s been a long time, I wasn’t able to look after myself.” It seemed like such a simple task, to be able to look after yourself.

Sarah had seen quite a lot since coming to Avalon, but sometimes seeing a new mutation for the first time still caught her off guard. Her eyes widened slightly at seeing spikes... no... thorns? Whatever they were, they were certainly something new. Her shock upon seeing them was only momentary, however. Sarah had thorns of her own, after all, though not the literal shark, pokey kind. Hers were not the kind that could be seen, or felt on the skin.

"Sarah Bright."The librarian managed to blurt out before the conversation moved on without her. "And you're welcome." She managed to add before Phoebe asked what had happened. As she listened, Sarah set the scissors down on the nearest desk, and unfastened the clasps on her messenger bag, as if to retrieve a few more items. It was now readily apparent what scissors Phoebe had meant for her to bring, and thankfully they'd been the ones in her hands when she'd arrived. It had seemed the most likely option, given her history of... similar events.

In the absence of parents, every student at Avalon had a favorite adult, though most would likely never admit so aloud. An adult that they could go to not as a teacher or parent, or even a friend, but as a grown up to help them with... random stuff. For a small handful of kids, Sarah was apparently that designated adult. It had started with a boy asking her to trim the hair on the back of his neck, which for him apparently grew much faster than the rest of the hair on his head. He'd been sick with the flu when the village barber visited the school, and he'd never been keen on visiting town. He wasn't willing to trust his friends with the task, as they were merciless pranksters.

That was when Sarah had discovered that should this whole librarian gig go awry, she probably wouldn't find success as a hair stylist either. But she could still pretend! Apparently word had gotten out that Sarah was willing and able to at least attempt to tidy up someone's hair, though unfortunately for Jackie, word that most of those attempts had been nothing more than that had not.

The librarian dry-washed her hands as she listened to what had happened to Jackie, her clear way of trying to quell he rising anxiety. Apparently there wasn't a varsity-team only memo that Sarah was not to be included in these 'first contact' events, which genuinely surprised her. After the first few, she had all but assumed that she was not to be included in any others.

"I am sorry to hear that." The history teacher said sadly. She had a moment of thinking about her own experience of being held captive as a teenager and MI13 freeing her. It was something that was brushed under the carpet for a lot of the mutant population, and mutants did not have just humans to fear but mutants themselves sometimes. "Well hopefully being here will allow you to look after yourself." The woman smiled a little looking a lot more approachable than she had been a few moments before.

Due to the nature of her abilities, Jackie rarely saw a hairdresser as she travelled and avoided being in places that were usually hubs of gossip and whispers. She had taken to growing her hair out and tying it up or letting in hide any unwanted green in the summer. “Me too. I hope so. I don’t think I’ve been so happy to see soap and a toothbrush before. So thank you again.” Her lips pinched into an awkward smile as she rummaged through the pile some more, many things could be layered to cover as much skin as possible.

“How’s it best to do this?” Jackie reached up and futilely attempted to pull apart a large clump of hair. “I think its going to be severe … shorter than Princess Di.” There was concern but it would grow back, it was only hair. Then again other things grew back too after they were cut off. Her body turned to Sarah with a shrug. “It’ll grow back, it's only temporary.”

Sarah blinked, realizing Jackie had turned, and that her question and concerns were now directed toward her. She had been listening, but she'd also been lost in preemptively trying to find a solution for Jackie's hair dilemma. Her current look was... not good. It was obvious that someone had hacked away at it with no thought or concern for style. Not even an afterthought. There was even a small line on her ear where it looked like scissors had nicked her. The big problem that Sarah could see was that the hair was shortest in back, as if someone had regarded it as nothing more than a nuisance and gathered it at the nape of her neck like a ponytail, where the majority of it was cut off in one fell swoop. That, combined with Sarah's limited ability to style, really limited her options. Options she felt confident about, anyway.

Confidence was the key factor. Sarah wanted Jackie to feel confident that they could take care of this. That meant she had to look the part.

With that in mind, Sarah put Jackie's mention of Princess Di of her thoughts entirely. There was no way she'd be able to manage anything that fancy. Jackie would sooner look like Prince if she tried.

"Well, its still longest in front, if uneven. The simplest, classiest fix would be to even out the sides, then wear it slicked back with gel." She made a gesture in smoothing back her own hair, as if to tie it back. "That way you wont have to fuss with it, or stress out every time you look in the mirror. It'll just look like you've just tied it back. Then you can let it grow and decide what you want to do with it." Sarah did look confident in presenting that as her best option, but she didn't stop there.

"Or we could save this longest lock on this side here,..." Sarah said, gesturing to where Jackie's hair still nearly reached her chin on one side " and trim the rest in an asymmetric bob. It would still be really short in the back though... so, kind of an edgier look." Sarah shrugged. She had other suggestions, like going shorter into a pixie cut or comb over with undercuts, but she didn't want to overwhelm Jackie with options all at once. Especially even shorter and less conventional options.

Jackie listened, fingers working through the uneven strands as Sarah spoke. Style hadn’t really crossed her mind—just that something had to be done. The idea of slicking it back didn’t make her flinch, but the thought of looking in the mirror and seeing that staring back at her made her stomach twist. No, not that. Anything else.

Her fingers brushed over the longest section as she considered the second option. “Asymmetrical sounds better,” she murmured. “I don’t mind the back being short. Last time, it was hacked off with a knife, so I figure anything’s an improvement.” The joke fell flat even to her own ears, but she tacked on a small smile anyway.

She exhaled, shifting her weight. “Let’s just do it.” A pause. “Thanks—for this.”

"It will look fine. I would not have asked her to bring the scissors otherwise." Phoebe said with the clarity of someone who knew the future and was almost tired with trying to reassure people of it at the moment. She caught the looks often and plastered the smile on her face much like she did now.

"You're welcome." Sarah said, in what she hoped was a calm and soothing tone. Jackie's comment about her hair being hacked off with a knife had shaken her. She couldn't imagine someone doing that to her, and she certainly didn't want to think about the kind of person that would. She then looked over to Phoebe, and almost joked about the history teacher jinxing her. Sarah had heard the rumors about Phoebe's powers of precognition, but those had come only from the students, and she knew better than to take their gossip for truth. Her general policy of not asking the others about their mutations did have the intended benefit of helping her to avoid conversations about her own, but it also had the unfortunate side effect of making her ignorance that much more visible in situations... well, like this.

"So are we um, doing this here? Now? Or would you like to change first?" Sarah asked both of them as she gestured toward the bundle of clothing Jackie had been given. It was just as well that she hadn't been asked to chip in some samples from her wardrobe, as she knew full well that she was perhaps the last person anyone at Avalon would recommend for that. At least today her navy blue sweater and tan plaid skirt hadn't yet gotten her mistaken for a student. She looked around at their surroundings and arched an inquisitive eyebrow at the history teacher. She had come prepared with a salon cape, but she didn't want to assume that Phoebe had volunteered her classroom for this hair rescue mission.

"Might as well unless you have somewhere else to go?" Phoebe wondered gently. She had not done what she had putting things in place without thought, she had a dust pan and dust in the cupboard at the back and she also could easily go find the henry so it was no issue from her point of view.

Sarah shrugged. She didn't have free periods the same way the teachers did, as there were almost always students in the library who needed to be supervised. Otherwise they would absolutely walk off with books without checking them out, and tear into bags of crisps and leave crumbs and greasy fingerprints everywhere.Teachers and other faculty on their free periods sometimes covered for her so that she could attend to the many, varied odd jobs outside of the library, like delivering or retrieving books and other lesson materials to the classrooms, as well as AV equipment that had been signed out. For the most part through, Sarah did have somewhere to be, and it was predictably the library. At the moment Jessica was there to supervise until she returned. The librarian almost always felt guilty using more of someone's time than was absolutely necessary, but this was one of those instances where she was was better off taking her time, and apologizing for it later.

The librarian pulled up a chair to the more open, front area of the classroom where clean-up would be easiest, and motioned for Jackie to take a seat. She saw a small moveable podium next to the chalkboard, and pulled it up near the chair, so that she could her her scissors, comb and brush handy there.

"Please take a seat Miss Jackie, and we'll make you a new lady in no time!" Sarah patted the chair back, summoning all the confidence she could find. "Hey Pheebs, do you have a spray bottle just for water handy, like for watering your plants?" Sarah said as she realized what she'd forgotten to bring. Jackie's hair didn't look curly or too wavy, but hair in general was almost always easier to cut and style when it was just a little moist. The librarian didn't quite realize that she'd again used the nickname she sometimes gave Phoebe, even though she had absolutely no idea whether or not it was welcomed.

Jackie smiled with a slight raise of her shoulders as she moved toward the seat she’d been summoned to. A soft exhale pushed through her lips as she lowered herself into the chair, her body felt stiff and she forced her shoulders to drop. These two women genuinely seemed like they wanted help and she watched the pair interact remaining quiet. Her eyes settled on the comb and the brush with an expectant wince. She had tried to comb what she could but the mats seemed like a task in itself, hence the decision just to cut them out and start anew. “Thanks. Choppy is fine. Let’s make it a look.”

Sarah returned the smile, not letting her nervousness show.. Jackie was her first adult… client? Was that even the right word for the recipient of a free haircut performed by an amateur? Victim was probably the more accurate descriptor, as Sarah was still clueless to the reality that most of the students who came to her for haircuts did so on dares or lost bets.

Whatever the case, Sarah certainly did not look like an amateur as she produced her salon cape with a flourish and deftly settled it around Jackie’s shoulders. As she waited to hear if Phoebe had a spray bottle she began with some simple grooming by gently running the wide-toothed end of her comb through Jackie’s hair in search of tangles and knots. She didn’t have to look hard to uncover the first major snarl. Sarah pinched the lock of hair between her fingers to ease pressure off Jackie’s scalp as she tried to tug the comb through more insistently, but the knot wouldn’t budge. It was large enough that Sarah could actually see it.

“Plan B.” Sarah said soothingly as she avoided reaching for the scissors and instead pulled out a couple of toothpicks, putting one between her lips and the other right through the middle of the visible knot. She wiggled and rolled the toothpick as she worked the point through the tangle and loosened it up, enough so for her to stick the point of the other toothpick in to tease out the knot. It was a far cry from surgery, but it was a long and dedicated process as she moved from one intractable knot to the next, trying to salvage as much as she could of Jackie’s remaining hair.

TRUNCATED