A New School Arrival

Posted on Thu Feb 2nd, 2023 @ 12:17 by Claire Cavendish & Phoebe Hunter & Kaylee Ashton BSc

Chapter: Prologue: Dawn of Avalon
Location: Avalon Institute, Main Courtyard
Timeline: Sunday, September 20th, 1992
2437 words - 4.9 OF Standard Post Measure

It was a rather dreary day as Kaylee drove up the road towards the institute. Even though it was getting towards midday, the sun was nowhere to be seen as the clouds covered the entire sky. Kaylee’s journey to her new job had taken a little longer than she’d intended it too as she’d gotten herself lost on these back country roads more than once. Fortunately both her father and a few of the agents at MI-13 had given her some instruction in how to read a map, so eventually she had arrived at her desired destination.

Rolling up the long driveway towards the institute, Kaylee slowed down to a crawl as she took in the sight of this rather majestic looking building. It probably didn’t hurt that it was the only building for kilometres around and the surrounding scenery was exquisite.

Pulling up outside what looked like a front door, Kaylee put her car in park, ensured the hand brake was on before turning off the engine and stepping out of the vehicle. As she did, she gave her dress a brush down to try and appear as presentable as possible after a long drive like the one she’d just done.

One of the advantages of a long driveway over the Loch was that it gave Claire ample warning that someone was approaching the institute. She had been waiting for the new arrival and as the landrover turned the corner onto the bridge across the Loch she had laughed inwardly a bit. Of course she would be driving a landrover.

She stepped out of the courtyard door and plunged her hands into her deep pockets. A long dark coat helping to keep the cold whistling winds from bothering her too much. "Good afternoon, Miss Ashton." She walked forward and put out a hand to shake that of the newcomer. "Claire Cavendish, head of the Institute." She disliked the term head mistress, which is obviously why Cam would always insist on calling her exactly that. It seemed overly formal and stern and she really didn't want to be, especially towards the children.

A little surprise to have the head of the institute meeting her right away, Kaylee quickly took the offered hand, trying to put her best foot forward, “Thank you Ms Cavendish, I’m sorry I’m late. You’d think finding a castle like this would be easy” she said, giving the building a quick look over before returning to Claire, “So, May I assume you were sent everything you wanted to know?”

"Well." Claire turned back towards the door and motioned for Phoebe to join her out in the courtyard. Since this was someone that had connected through MI13 she felt it was a good idea to have the other ex-operative join her for the first meeting. "I had some insider knowledge, I suppose." She stepped aside to allow the two women to reintroduce themselves to each other.

Looking over at the woman that Claire had motioned towards, Kaylee was surprised to see the woman who had recruited her into MI-13 in the first place. Quickly searching her memory, she came up with a single name, “Agent Hunter? Well this is a surprise. I wasn’t told you’d be here”

Phoebe was not at all sure this was wise in her head but she could not exactly pretend she did not know the woman or anything. It took all sorts to work in MI13 and a lot of them were the best of the best and Avalon needed that. “You can call me Phoebe here.” The red head quickly countered and held out her hand to the woman.

Stepping toward to take Phoebe’s hand, Kaylee smiled, “ok then, Phoebe. Hmm, that’s going to take some getting used to” she said, keeping herself from bursting out into a flurry of questions, but about the Institute and about how Phoebe’s powers worked. There had been rumours floating around the lab about what abilities some of the MI13 agents had, even though non of them had anything solid to go on, but seeing Phoebe here at this school for mutants definitely confirmed that she had some kind of abilities. “It is good to see you again”

Turning back to Claire, Kaylee gave her a slightly nervous smile, “um, in the interest of being up front and honest from the start, part of my reason for applying here was to ask for your help with controlling my abilities, or rather to ask you to help me control my abilities”

"Well, that is one of our main areas of expertise," Claire gave a friendly smile before motioning for Kaylee to follow them inside, "Though result won't be instant, and we'll need to find your own personal approach to this. We've successfully helped budding mutants do the same, and you have the advantage of not being in the throes of puberty." Some days it was like herding cats. She led the two women inside the main building of the institute and headed for her office to have a conversation in private now that the halls were filling back up with early arrivals and faculty.

Kaylee nodded, “I understand it won’t be like clicking my fingers, but up to now I’ve just struggled my way through and I think I’m reaching the limit of my ability to figure things out by myself” she said as she followed the two women through the halls of the castle. Every so often, she would quickly look away at something on the walls or just the stonework itself, but it wouldn’t be for more then a moment as she didn’t want to get lost on her first day. “My age isn’t going to be a problem is it? I understand younger minds are easier to mould”

"Jury is still out on that one." Claire kept moving into the Institute, making her way over to the cafeteria first. "As I said, sometimes the hormones and everything that comes with that gets in the way, you don't have that issue. However, it's like other physical skills, that it seems a bit harder to get to a higher level of control." She then shrugged a bit, it wasn't like they were going to be competing in any kind of Olympics anyway, so they didn't need athlete level control. "I'm sure we can work to find a way to improve your abilities." She opened the door to reveal the large lunchroom. "Three meals a day, breakfast, lunch, tea."

Phoebe remained silent as they walked, her boots tapping on the stones beneath her feet. "Food is pretty good. Certainly helps me focus without having to cook for myself." She finally spoke up to offer something so she was not just a third wheel.

“Well I guess this will save me cooking Mac & Cheese in my room” Kaylee said as she peered inside the large hall, “how many student are we currently accommodating?”

"For the coming semester we're nearing 300 students." Claire was quite proud that it had grown the way it did, but it started to make things more complicated. The first year the nearby town barely noticed or acknowledged their presence. Now that the group was growing it was getting harder to ignore and they didn't have a way to obscure their presence from the public eye, other than the normal laying low approach. "We expect most of them back this Friday." They moved to a longer table in the back of the room. It was where the faculty normally sat to eat their meals. She motioned for Kaylee to sit down and took up a seat herself. "So, tell me, exactly how much control do you have over your abilities at the moment?" It had been a question at the top of her mind ever since she had requested help with learning control. She needed to know what they were building up from.

Taking a breath in, Kaylee thought through how to answer Claire's question, "well, I can freeze around 20 liters of water with minimal effort. Once frozen, I can manipulate the ice's shape with a little concentration. I can create ice out of the moisture in the air, the more moisture, the more ice I can create then manipulate." she said, trying to discribe her abilities in as simple terms as she could. "If you have somewhere to do so, I'd be more than happy to demonstrate."

"I'm sure there'll be plenty of opportunity to do so." Claire waved over towards Valjean and motioned to get a pot of tea for their table. "So what's your experience teaching middle school kids?" She looked over at Phoebe, as a kind of indication that she was also free to ask any questions she wanted. "I mean, I don't expect they train all their agents as teachers in MI-13."

"I have a little experience with teaching as it was part of the University course for us to go to one of the local schools to act as teachers assistants" Kaylee explained, thinking back to her week at one of London's public schools, "it was only a week, but it's better then nothing I guess"

"It's a start, indeed." Claire smiled at that, most of the people that started teaching at the institute had less experience than that. It was the risk of operating in the niche that they were operating in. "There's some people with more experience that can help you." She looked over at Phoebe, who had been one of the few who actually had a formal education. Claire herself also had a teaching license, because it was needed for a lot of the paperwork to be approved as a recognised teaching institute.

Following Claire’s gaze to Pheobe, Kaylee gave her a smile, “I’ll try not to pick your brain too often”

"I am sure I am not able to help with your subject," Pheobe said with a smile. She was proud that she had a degree behind her as it meant that she was not completely at anyone's mercy as there would always be teachers needed.

“Oh no, I’m sure I can handle teaching Physics. The thing I may need help with is learning how to control a class of children. While children without powers was hard enough, having a room full of superhuman individuals could present quite the challenge” Kaylee explained, looking between both Phoebe and Claire, “wouldn’t you agree?”

"In the end they're all teens, powers or not." Claire looked over at Phoebe who'd be experiencing her first year of teaching an all mutant class herself. "They know better than to use their abilities to disrupt class." In her experience it was much more challenging to properly teach a subject than it would at first appear, even if one was very familiar and confident in the subject. "I struggled most with translating the important information to nice, bite sized, interesting chunks that the students are eager to make their own."

“Hmm, interesting idea” Kaylee said, taking onboard these tips, “perhaps a more interactive learning environment might work. I’ll put some thought into that and try to come up with something”

Claire was always reminded of her Ethics professor in America when having these types of conversations with people about 'handling teens'. He was an engaging, enthusiastic, and passionate man and could make his students salivate over even the dryest material. "You can always pass it by me, or Phoebe, if you've got something."

“I’ll be sure to do that” Kaylee said as something suddenly occurred to her, “do we have someone dedicated to helping the students with their powers or are all of the faculty expected to fill that roll?”

"Like many traditional private institutions Avalon has three internal Houses. Each of these houses have a couple of mentors and about a hundred students each." Claire sipped her tea and leaned back in her chair a bit. "The mentors have extra-curricular activities that help the kids develop their abilities, as well as regular extras that help them socialise and explore their passions. We try to instil in them the understanding that their abilities do not define them." Another sip. "Besides, it's a good excuse to have quarterly House Cups."

Kaylee nodded, “encouraging friendly competition, not a bad idea” she said as she stared into the glass of water in front of her. Giving the glass a tap with the tip of one of her fingers, the water within gradually began to freeze, creating a fractal crystalline pattern as it went until the glass was completely frozen over, “sounds like you’ve planned for practically every eventuality. I think some of the handlers at MI-13 could learn a thing or two from you”

Phoebe smiled thinking already of the students in her house. They were already buzzing for the first event which was something connected to the loch according to the rumours. She just had to hope that teenagers with abilities could keep it friendly enough. "Why do you think I came here." Phoebe offered as her rationale for leaving MI-13.

"I'm sure that's not true, beside I couldn't do any of it without the dedicated faculty we have in these hallowed halls." Claire immediately downplayed her own part in the whole ordeal. "That's the kind of people we also hope to attract to the institute. Everyone needs to step in and help make it a success. If you want something, a lot is possible, but you're expected to pull your weight on any project you propose."

“You don’t need to be so humble, none of this would have happened without you Ms Cavendish. You’re the catalyst that produced this wonderful place” Kaylee said as she motioned around the hall, “you should give yourself more credit”

Phoebe nodded in agreement. It was something to be proud of achieving especially as it was growing year on year organically which to the woman who occasionally worked in facts and figures was mind-blowing. "She will one day." Phoebe promised.

"No promises." Claire was not good in these types of situations and she quickly tried to think of ways to divert the attention away from her. "So, how about we give you a tour of the dorms, your room would be there as well." She carefully took a drink from her tea, glad to have found someone that would be able to teach physics at their institute.

Kaylee nodded, “that sounds like a good idea. Please lead the way”