If you go down to the woods today

Posted on Wed Jun 4th, 2025 @ 12:01 by Penny Gardner & Alastair Temple
Edited on on Wed Jun 4th, 2025 @ 12:04

Chapter: Besieged
Location: Music room
Timeline: Tuesday afternoon, February 9th, 1993
2293 words - 4.6 OF Standard Post Measure

Penny ducked into the music classroom, looking around for Al. She seemed a little more frazzled than normal. Which was saying something for the woman that some of the kinder students had taken to referring to as ‘scatty’.

Glancing around she checked to see if there were any students present. “Uh Al? You in here?”

The head of luxurious hair emerged from the supply closet he'd promoted to small recording booth, with headphones half on. "Yo! I'm over here. Just let me get this done and I'll be right out," before ducking back in.

Penny gave Al a thumbs up and then went to take a seat. She took a moment to just take in the quiet. One good thing about waiting in the music room, it was generally better insulated against sound than most places. It gave her a chance to gather her thoughts.

The walls of the castle had begun to seem oppressive lately rather than like the sanctuary she thought it was when she first arrived. Closing her eyes the ever present smile slowly slipped off her face as she relaxed and drew in a deep breath. With it left the tight control she often had on her powers and a bioluminescence began to leak out across her skin. Starting as a slow, blue rippling pulse. It was dim, fluctuating. And with how still she was as she waited the only thing that stopped her looking like some wax figure.

After some ten minutes or so Alastair emerged from the makeshift recording booth again. "Sorry 'bout that, just - whoa," as he noticed the rippling color patterns. Beautiful. Slightly creepy to see it on a human being, but very pretty. "Just uh - had to finish getting something done," Creating a mixtape. For his date, tonight. With romantic classical music. Piano and violin pieces, mostly.

Penny opened her eyes, and glanced down at her hands. As she realised her control had slipped the lights flushed pink, before they began to dim. She tugged down her sleeves, covering as much skin as she could. “Sorry, was just enjoying the quiet.” She cleared her throat and then looked at Al.

“Oh what you working on? Sorry to have interrupted, I can always come back later if you have a time crunch?” She couldn’t possibly imagine what would require a deadline while they were under siege but politeness dictated that she make the offer nonetheless.

"Uh - just - ... Setting up a mixtape. You know, for background music," For what event or with what company, he did not specify. Nor why it needed to be done today. "So, what can I do for you?"

Penny arched an eyebrow, and then gave Al a smirk. “A mixtape huh? Background music for what?” She waggled her eyebrows comically, in her experience people made mixtapes almost exclusively to impress people… well that or shows but she likely would have heard of it was the latter.

“Oh yes! Right. Well I think people are starting to go a bit stir crazy so I was thinking maybe we can help by doing some entertainment or something. Give people a mental break from… well everything.” She waved her hand and gestured to the walls.

“What do you think? Fancy helping? Only if you aren’t too busy of course, like I said, it’s not urgent.”

"I've actually mentioned something of the sort to Li - miss Zhao," Al corrected himself. Keep things professional, at least on the surface level. "But we haven't really gotten any further than an expanded version of 'jam time with Mr Temple'," By now it was no secret that every few days there would be an opportunity for students to play with Al in an informal, social setting. It was practise for Al, but also for the students.

“How about an indoor camp kind of vibe? We could gather round, those who want to sing songs can do that. Those who can’t sing can maybe tell stories or we could organise some craft activities if any of the teachers are good at that? Could even see if chef Valjean could maybe do something special. I know we are rationing but maybe there is a fun way to present the food or something so it’s does feel like we are rationing?”

"You know, I really like that idea. Miss McMillen could put some stuff together for the atmosphere, like some tree and bush standees, I'm sure we can find some logs we can clean and use as seating. Just need to fake a fire, do some work on the lighting - which is where I suppose we come in - and bob's your uncle," Nevermind that Al's uncle was called Jeffrey, but that was neither here nor there. "I could bring an acoustic guitar, I'unno, we could have a poetry reading as well. I like the sound of that."

Penny nodded and smiled. “I was thinking we could bend the rules a little around tidiness too and maybe build some sort of blanket fort? Grab some of the spare sheets and pillows and make it feel like we are in a tent? I mean I don’t know about you but I feel like everything feels a little bit better form inside the perspective of a blanket fort?” Penny grinned, bolstered a little by Al’s easy acceptance.

There was a sad truth in the world that as a drama teacher she had often had to fight for resources. Especially when times were tough. But the arts persisted and Penny held a strong belief it was because of times like this. When people needed a sanctuary or refuge for the spirit, storytelling, music, creative expression in all forms offered much needed succour.

“Okay! I am excited now for sure! Do you think we can persuade the demon king of the kitchen himself to lend us his support too? I suppose if you speak with Miss McMillen I can speak to chef.” Although she suspected Al had probably drawn the better straw in that regard, she had been meaning to follow up with Valjean after their last battle of wills.

"I can speak with Valjean as well if you prefer. I'm sure I can persuade him to do something nice with the promise of special herbs and spices, that I can go get easily enough, given just a few hours of time," Al mused, rubbing his beard. "Unless you have specific idea?"

Penny rubbed her cheek as she thought and then shrugged. “Might be best. I am pretty sure that Valjean dislikes me. I wasn’t thinking anything specifics. Just… the kind of food you would have camping. Maybe some sort of fun treat for the kids after. Food in the shape of animals or something. I know that’s for little kids really but in times like this, a little extra comfort and something sweet might go a long way?”

She seemed to think for a moment, lost in a memory that made the tip of her fingers glow softly, before she realised and shook it off. “Did you ever go camping? What did you like to eat?”

"Uh ~" That question took Al aback a bit. The question touched on a period in his life he was very proud of, nor was it one he easily volunteered into conversation as it tended to bring back memories and sometimes uneasy questions. But he was also not hiding that part of himself away and keeping it a secret. For one, that period in his life was instrumental in making him who he was today, and thus should not be ignored. "I spent years of my youth homeless. Most of the time just - being a bird, finding places to sleep in old barns, hunting small animals for food. Ravens are omnivores, we eat just about anything. That period in my life kinda cured me of the whole 'outdoors living' thing. So - ... I don't go camping."

“That must have been tough.” Penny’s tone was understanding but there was no pity. She had learnt as a teacher that people didn’t need her pity, just understanding. “We’ll make sure the food is good, but if you want to do something else, just say. No need to drag up bad memories if you don’t want?”

Understanding was good. Al could work with understanding. Pity, he didn't need. "Nah, I'm fine. It's not something I talk about often nor volunteer really, but it's no secret," He paused a moment, contemplating a thought before continuing. "It's that past that helped inform my decision to come here and fight for these kids, to work at trying to give them a better chance than I had. And even then, I turned out ok, I think. It was not the most fun period in my life, but it is what it is, and it helped form me into the man I am today."

“No egrets huh?” Penny gave him a quick apologetic look, having been completely unable to resist the birds pub, even with how serious the subject of conversation was. She then cleared her throat. “Sorry I couldn’t resist. But I’m glad. Not that you experienced that, but that your experience lead you here. Makes it meaningful to turn something sad into something positive.” With that she turned back to business.

“Okay so you are going to speak to Valjean about the food. I can see what spare blankets and pillows can be turned into some sort of pillow fort thing. Where do you think is best to do this? We’ll need somewhere the kids can’t see us setting up. I want it to be a surprise for them.”

"There might be some less used rooms and spaces further down some of the wings that might be suitable for that. I can't really help you here, but maybe Miss McMillen can, she can speak to rodents and there are rats all around the place, they might know a good spot to get this up, and where we can build a small fire for atmosphere," Al offered.

“Great idea, I can speak to Miss McMillen about a possible location and get everything sorted. You want me to set up an amp or shall we go acoustic? Unplugged would feel more fitting for the camping experience I think, but then again we will already be inside so easy to take advantage of the electricity if you would prefer it.” It made little difference to Penny how real it was, in her experience a pillow fort and good snacks would be enough to make it special. Everything else would just add to that.

"I think we'd best just keep it acoustic. Makes it smaller, more intimate, you know?" Al replied after a moment's thought. "Fits better with the whole cozy campfire sing-along storytelling idea notion," Beat. "Speaking of, I'm sure you could spin a yarn, maybe a ghost story? One with a happy, uplifting end maybe? I can make the shadows oppressive for it, and you could play with light, maybe to add drama to the major story beats," The main difference between drama and music was the medium in which stories were told and the tools used to achieve those effects, but in the end, but revolved around telling a story.

“Cozy campfire feels like exactly the energy we need right now.” She then gave Al a broad response in return. “Oh wow yes, I think I can think of a ghost story or two. Hmmm uplifting huh? Most the ghost stories I know have a gory end to them, but I think we’ve had enough grim reality lately.” She tapped her lip and then brightened a little. “Oh maybe we could ask some of the kids to tell their own ghost stories too? I’m happy to start us off, but might be nice to give them a creative task to focus their minds. Nicely distracting.”

"Splendid," Al smiled, folding his arms over each other. "Looks like we've got our work set out for us. You'll go talk to McMillen, see if she knows of a good space to get this all set up in. I'll go talk to Valjean, see if he can make some campfire type snacks, maybe offer to go get some spices or other small, easily carried ingredients I can bribe him with."

Penny smiled broadly and nodded. “Sounds like a plan. And maybe don’t mention to chef I’m involved? I don’t think he’s been my biggest fan lately.”

"I'll just refer to you as the unnamed secret co-conspirator who prefers to remain anonymous. That's not going to raise any suspicion at all," he added with a glint of amusement in his eyes, trying to keep a straight face and succeeding. For the most part.

Penny looked at Al for a moment and then snorted in amusement. “Aye that’s the ticket.” She grins, Al was pretty affable, if anyone could sweet talk Valjean it would likely be him. “Okay so we have blankets, campfire/fireplace, snacks and entertainment… is there anything else we need?”

"Nah I think that's it. I'll drop by Valjean, talk to him, see what I can arrange. I'll talk with Li - Mrs Zhao - as well. Since she's running the whole thing now, she'll need to be in on this," Alastair mused.

Penny gave Al a cheesy grin and thumbs up. “Superb. I’ll go start gathering what we need. Sorry to have interrupted your recording time. I’ll let you get back to it.” Then in a whirlwind of colourful knitwear she was out the room.