What Do We Do Now?

Posted on Mon Mar 3rd, 2025 @ 11:45 by Phoebe Hunter & Jonathan Monroe

Chapter: Besieged
Location: Avalon Institute - Claire's Study
Timeline: After "Do You Hear The People Sing?"
1286 words - 2.6 OF Standard Post Measure

The ticking of the clock in Claire's study was the only sound being made for several minutes. It was a strange and eerie silence. Thoughtful, but also a little melancholy.

Leaning against the fireplace, Jonathan gazed down at the dying embers glowing in the logs. Still giving a gentle heat, but far diminished from when they had previously been roaring. Perhaps a fair indicator of the mood around the Institute in the last few hours.

"Did you know she was going to...?" Jonathan glanced over at Phoebe for a moment and then shook his head. "Silly question." Pensively, gave a frustrated sigh. "What does all this mean now? They arrested her. She'll go to jail or something. I have no idea if we'll even be able to stay here at the Avalon Institute if they start deciding to seize assets..."

Phoebe started out the window as more and more people left to try and get some sleep which eventually left Jonathan and Phoebe alone. The read head gave him a look as if to say you know better than to ask if she knew that they were going to arrest Claire. "We fight." She whispered and shrugged. It had been what she had seen next but it did not mean it was going to happen. She slowly uncurled the piece of paper, a couple of weeks ago she had drawn her vision on and passed it to him.

"You're serious-?" Jonathan began, surprised to hear her propose such direct action. When he noticed the paper extended, he frowned slightly. "What's this?" he asked, taking the paper but not opening it until she provided some sort of explanation.

“My vision that gave us the warning to prepare.” Phoebe asked. The piece of paper was from a ripped history text book and showed The castle was surrounded by police, fire and what looked like the army. The image was a crude picture that she would never be able to replicate in her right mind even now that it was in front of her.

He frowned down at the paper. For as long as he had known her, he'd never quite understood how Phoebe's power worked. "You share this with Claire?" he queried. If she had known, maybe it would have changed her decision about leaving the Institute.

Phoebe sat down heavily in the chair and smiled sadly. “Claire was there for the aftermath of the time tsunami that I experienced.” She explained quietly looking around the room and sighed. None of this was logical yet it was still happening.

He pensively thought about that for a little longer. "I...didn't know that you'd had an episode," he remarked softly. "Anything else we should know about?"

“Can’t let everyone know I am not human.” She pointed out with a slight make as she got comfortable in the chair. “But also I would have had to have this conversation and I was not ready for this conversation as Claire did not want it know. We just put things in place to make sure the knights could carry on” She took the piece of paper back and put it in her pocket. “No. Everything I know you know.”

"Well, that's something I guess." He stared into the embers of the fire again. "The fire, in your vision. What colour was it?" he asked softly. It wouldn't take a rocket scientist to understand the reason he was asking that question.

"Not connected to you otherwise I would have shown you this well before now and I would not trust you on the Knights. I trust you so start trusting yourself, Monroe." Phoebe said softly. "Come and sit." She instructed pointing to the other chair.

Frustrated, Jonathan reluctantly sat as suggested. "Sorry. I know I'm probably being melodramatic, but I feel frustrated. I want to do something. But without Claire...I just don't know what. And with your vision, who's to say that us doing something won't lead to that future you saw?"

"Well Claire's side isn't my side but I am fully aware of what we do on the Knights side. We carry on as usual despite the setback and if needed we defend this property and show them as the invaders." Phoebe said quietly as she crossed her legs over the long skirt she was. "Try not to think about the future and what I see. This is why I normally do not share my abilities until I have known people for a long time as it scares them. We are people with free will who do not know what steps we take will do what... even I do not know that for something as big as this." Phoebe tried to explain to try and make him understand how delving into her world was impossible and would just make him unwell.

"You're right, I suppose." Jonathan flexed his hands, fidgeting a little out of his own restlessness. "Well, we should grab the other Knights for some extra training sessions," he mused. "Maybe try to drill a few of the others, the more capable ones. Just in case."

"The non knight staff who have volunteered are already being trained in some format but I also do not want to drag us all away at the same time to draw attention to which ones of us our Knights and which ones are not." It was a balance that she had managed to maintain for now but she had no idea for how much longer it would last.

"All right. Well at the very least we should be on alert. Cameron and Alastair can cover some of the sentry aspects. And that new counsellor, Jessica? Her power might help with some low-key recon if we need it." He pressed his fingers together, considering this now as a full siege instead of just a stand-off. "You've got to think they'll be trying to stir up something; some reason to come breaking down our doors with a mob of soldiers or something."

Phoebe looked at the man and smirked a little. "Jonathan... Why do you think I was made Leader of the Knights?" She wondered quietly looking over her drink as she wondered if he knew that she was a lot more than she looked.

"Because...you can tell us what mistakes we're about to make?" He asked, not really having a clue what her actual answer was.

Phoebe shook her head. "I cannot tell you everything but I can tell you. I have not always been a teacher. I was once military.” She said using the same words she had once used with Matt to explain her situation.

"So, a soldier?" he asked, now curious. "Or something else?"

"Something like that but I cannot tell you anything else without getting myself and you jailed, and we and our students do not need that right now." She said quietly with a wink in his direction. He would connect the dots enough to realise but would be assute enough to not dig more.

"I suppose we don't," he agreed, pensively considering. "All right, since you're the leader, you tell me: what do we do now?"

It was a relief that he dropped the subject for the most part other than staring at her as if he was seeing her in a new way. She smiled a little. “Well me and you are going to head to the training room and try out some new moves and approaches.” And then she had watch keeping Ji-an safe but that was between her, Cam and Claire.

He nodded, flexing his fists a little. "Works for me. Definitely need to work off some of this tension."