The Morning After

Posted on Fri Jul 4th, 2025 @ 10:26 by Liana Zhao & Alastair Temple

Chapter: Besieged
Location: Liana's quarters
Timeline: The morning after their date
3527 words - 7.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Purpose carried Al towards Liana's room. Well, technically his feet did, but they were guided by purpose. Well, they were guided by a desire to be close with and spend time with someone who had become a very important part of his life, but that was still a purpose, right? As such he made his way over, carrying a bag with breakfast in one hand - some croissants, some cheese and some ham - and his acoustic guitar in his other. Not that he had specific plan for it that required bringing it with him, but he felt a -... buzz, for lack of a better word, a buzz of creativity, half formed melodies and harmonies swimming around in his head, that he felt he needed to give a voice. And what better way to do so than by having a guitar on hand?

As such he arrived at her door and hesitated, trying to figure out how to knock with both his hands full, eventually just deciding on knocking the head of his guitar against the door.

It had been nice, if that was the right word for it, to have something different to think about whilst waiting to fall asleep. More specifically, it had been a pleasant change to contemplate something positive for once, despite the fact that the ever-present weight of responsibility eventually managed to fashion itself back into a noose. Liana had slept well enough as a result but had risen early, putting in an hour's worth of administration to start the process of shifting enough supplies to the gymnasium to prepare for what felt like an inevitable relocation. The dorms involved too many separate rooms, too many different vulnerable points; placing the students in one vast area seemed the best way to keep them all secure.

It was a huge change in routine, however, not to mention a decent downgrade in comfort and the world was already scary enough for a lot of them. The decision would need to be made soon and Liana had retreated to her room, not only to gather her wits for the special assembly she was very close to calling, but change into clothing better suited for manual work. The knock at the door caught her in the process of pinning up her hair, a task that required a brief balancing act as one hand held the style in place as the other quickly opened the door. Recognition brought an immediate smile, though that was also made somewhat awkward by the fact she had two bobby pins trapped between her teeth.

"Come in," she managed, stepping aside. Leaving Alastair to manage his own entrance, Liana hurried quickly to the vanity to slide the final pins into place, grabbing a few from a dish for added security. "I was just going to come find you."

Come in he did, giving her a quick peck on the cheek in passing, though moving for a more proper kiss when she'd vacated her mouth of pins. The bag with croissants and assorted accoutrements set on the table, guitar set aside. "Well, saved you the trouble," he offered with a smile, starting to unpack their breakfast. "How you doing? How you holding up amidst all that's going on?"

The question caught Liana more by surprise than the open display of affection, which really warranted more gratitude than shock. She would have liked to think them past the awkwardness of youthful courtship but both had confessed to being rusty and it meant something that Alastair was immediately present; not just a physical reality, but the emotional support he'd offered to at least try to navigate. Liana smiled, too, at the spread of food, before the grumble of her stomach at the smell of pastry reminded her that her last meal had also been shared with the man, far too many hours ago.

"I think the time has come to move the students out of the dormitories," she offered as a response, moving to set the kettle to boil. "Having them spread out like this is creating too many variables and we are likely to exhaust ourselves trying to keep classes running and post an adequate night watch." Pulling out their mugs, Liana paused in the preparation of tea and frowned. "I hate to unsettle them further but I can't see another way."

"That's. Not an answer to the question I asked, though I suppose that, in the way that it's on the forefront of your mind, it also is," Al mused, his words measured, as he sat at the table, starting to slice the croissants in half across the length, to place some ham and cheese in between the halves. One for her, one for him, and one spare that they could share should she want. Times were tough, otherwise he'd have brought more.

"Moving the kids to a central space is going to upset them. Take them out of their comfort. Many of them aren't really the very social kind, all of them have baggage - placing them all in the same space is going to be hard on them," Beat. "Though I suppose you know all this already. I can - ... see why you're considering this. It'll make keeping track of them easier. Protecting them. Gods knows the castle doesn't feel safe anymore what with whatsherface infiltrating multiple times now."

Liana, still considering Alastair's gentle reproach, eventually smiled as she conceded his point. The bulk of her attention was on the needs of others, particularly their young charges; reflecting on her personal state of mind was a task for another time. Leaving the kettle to boil, she turned to lean back against the wall to wait and nodded. "The escalation of anxiety and removal of normalcy is the strongest argument against the move but I think the time has come to accept we can't maintain a position of reacting to threats and hoping damage control is enough. We're fast losing our advantage here, if we ever actually had it to begin with." It was a pessimism that didn't suit her and perhaps also added insight into how Liana was coping, without the need for her to be explicit.

"I'm not disagreeing, don't get me wrong," he held up his hands in a semi defensive gesture. "Keeping them safe is the biggest priority, gathering them in a single space makes that a lot easier. I trust your judgment in this," the rock musician mused, offering Liana a ham-and-cheese croissant. Unfortunately not one where the ham and cheese were baked into the pastry of French origin, rather just a slice of each between two halves. "Though, I suppose gathering them together works well with what Miss Gardner and me have been discussing."

A gentle exhalation took the place of tired laughter as Liana accepted the plate but set it on her side of the table to wait for the kettle. Moving both mugs to nestle amongst the impromptu breakfast, she then returned for the tea selection and, finally, the kettle itself, which had already boiled once just prior to Alastair's arrival. Pouring water into each mug, she glanced up and raised her eyebrows in question. "Scheming behind my back, Mr. Temple?" It was a quiet tease, softened further by a smile as she returned the kettle and then finally took her seat. "I'll take any advice I can get at this point."

"Not sure a washed up musician is the best person to go to for advice," Alastair answered, leaning back and considering. "Morale is a thing to keep in mind too, though. Not just security. Gardner had an idea for that. Gather all the students in a central location, set up a campfire, roast some marshmellows and have an evening of singalongs and storytelling. I'm thinking we can combine the two and make this the first evening of them staying in the - wherever they end up staying. Do you have a space in mind?" Though he did send Penny to talk with McMillen about a possible location, but he figured that this would overrule whatever came out of that chat. That said, it did put the seed in his mind about working with the art teacher to help secure the grounds better. After all, the rats would know all the little ways in and out, and where to go to not be noticed.

"We'll be using the gymnasium and adjacent rooms. It's one of the few open spaces large enough to hold us all, and the facilities will make life a little easier." There was still an entire headache around scheduling use of the showers and trying to designate bathrooms, not to mention establishing a makeshift kitchen and dining space but they would make do." Leaving her tea to steep, Liana picked up the croissant Alastair had supplied and delicately pulled a piece free. "I would say the only obstacle is the campfire. I don't think congregating outside is wise, all things considered." They hadn't been able to protect one small child tucked away in a hidden facility; it sent a cold shiver down Liana's spine imagining the entire student body outside in the dark.

"I mean, we could fake the fire. Some lighting effects on decoration pieces, maybe a heater to replicate the warmth. No problem. Mostly I'm thinking it would be nice to have like an evening-in-the-forest type atmosphere, you know? Have a sing-along, I can play some tunes, have some storytelling - ghost stories would be fun but anything would be fine. Just some bonding and morale building type stuff, you know?" Alastair mused. He'd wait until Li started her breakfast before starting his own, similarly cut and filled croissant. "Waddya think?"

"I think anything to do with improving their morale is a priority," Liana smiled fondly, grateful for the implied offer to help facilitate at least one thing she could entrust to others. The staff had been wonderful, a testament to Claire's faith in them, which was certainly making the task of settling on tough choices a little easier. "And I'm sure as long as we don't set the gym on fire, we'll be fine. I've already had numerous discussions about the impact on the floor by setting up so many cots, I'm sure Claire will appreciate it if we keep any additional costs restricted to upkeep rather than rebuilding." It was a gentle jest, an attempt for both their sakes to try and muster her usual optimism.

"When did you want to move the students?" Alastair asked, reaching a hand out to rest on Li's, giving a soft squeeze. "That would give me a timeline on getting this organized," It was a simple question, but his mind was already racing with things he needed to organize. First of all, they'd need to delegate who did what. Part of him expected that Liana wanted to oversee the actual organizing of the student migration, which suggested that everything to do with the morale building exercise would be left up to him.

Giving his hand a squeeze, Liana chewed thoughtfully on her next mouthful before responding. "I think I'll call a special assembly just before lunch today. That will give them an opportunity to congregate afterwards and debrief amongst themselves. I've called in the student leaders just prior, both to hear their thoughts and to enlist them in keeping the communication channels open." Not for the first time, Liana's brow furrowed in concern. "We need to make sure they feel they have a voice and that it's being heard, but ideally I think we need to look at spending tonight all together. It only takes one dorm room to be breached..."

Alastair didn't know what to say. This was all way outside his normal wheelhouse, and he was glad he wasn't in charge of anything important at times like this. He let his hand remain on hers in what he hoped was a comforting gesture, to let her know that she wasn't alone in this. Even if he didn't know what to do or what to say, he knew that he stood by her, and whatever decisions she was having to make. Claire trusted her, he trusted her. "What can I do to help?"

"Everything that you're already doing."

It was a sincere response, which made it far easier to relax into the warmth of a much more compact consideration, even though Liana would argue sharing a moment's intimacy with Alastair was far from simple. It wasn't arduous, was probably a better way of looking at it, and with the day ahead primed to throw one challenge at them after the other, it didn't feel quite so selfish to just enjoy the opportunity before things got crazy.

The graze of her thumb across the backs of his knuckles sought, at the very least, to add reassurance to Liana's response. "Phoebe will handle direct security issues, our job is to keep these kids as happy and safe as we can manage, at least until we know why we're getting repeat visits from someone who asks questions with sharp knives. Planning something to keep their spirits up is perfect."

"I can do that," he smiled. He found himself doing that a lot in Liana's presence. Whether it was the small but meaningful gesture of her thumb on the back his hand, or just a glance while she was distracted doing something, her presence soothed him, but also emboldened him. Gave him purpose. Made him want to be a better man. While the kids made him want to fight for them, to protect them, to make sure they wouldn't have to go through what he had, it was Liana that focused that desire to improve himself and be worthy to a much clearer focal point.

"I can probably even arrange the whole camping singalong storytime thing for tonight, if I put my mind to it. Talk to McMillen, to see if she has any idea what to do for a fake campfire. Get some lighting done - that's easy enough with colored paper taped to the windows and coloring the lightbulbs. Some trees - can approximate those with some branches recovered from outside taped to some pillars made from PVC piping we've got laying around. Maybe some logs to sit on. It'll be some doing and it'll be janky but I suppose jank is part of the charm at times like these," he added, sounding evermore sure of himself as he mentally reiterated what he'd need to do.

"You could always involve some of the students." It was a gentle suggestion without expectation. Over another mouthful of the breakfast he'd made her, Liana lifted the individual tea strainer from her cup and tentatively tested the strength, and heat, of the contents before setting the damp leaves to the side. "I seem to recall our art teacher is quite a dab hand at flowers, perhaps she could extend that to trees and recruit some young workers." It brought up another consideration, which was what to do with the students whilst the preparations were monpolising the teaching staff's time. A brief pause in classes was easy enough to juggle but it couldn't be a long-term solution, not when the officials in charge of accreditation were liable to run with any excuse to shut the entire place down.

"I'll let McMillen handle the recruitment for that, while I go scout for some logs we could use to sit on and recruit some beefy sports-type students to bring them in - I'unno, we'll work something out, don't you worry about any of that," he smiled before taking another bite of his breakfast. Something about the situation seemed to amuse him, as evident by his quiet chuckle.

Even though the day still presented a myriad of challenges, Liana smiled to herself as she realised the tension across her shoulders had decreased considerably. She generally faired better when not left to the relentlessness of her own thoughts and the impact was signficantly more profound when the person responsible was someone she would have chosen to spend time with regardless. The pause in conversation, long enough to experimental sips of tea and another mouthful of croissant, became the perfect excuse to change the subject. "You have quite a knack for impromptu meal planning." A hint of coyness to her smile was enough to allude to the link between breakfast and their date the night before. "At this rate, I'll owe you a week's worth of dinners cooked."

"*'Planning'* is a very optimistic term to use. Most of this is just off-the-cuff what I can come up with on the spot," Al chuckled, amusement in his eyes. He sat back, munching on his own croissant before continuing. "And you don't owe me anything. I have no claim on your time or anything else. Anything you give me, time you spend with me, words you say to me, it's all a gift and I treasure it all as such."

"Perhaps 'owe' is the wrong word," Liana replied with a soft laugh. "I'd like to cook for you," she added with sincerity, "though we may have to find somewhere other than the teacher's lounge if I'm going to attempt something beyond instant noodles." Finishing the last bite of pastry, Liana then wrapped both hands around her cup of tea and sat back in her chair. It seemed almost whimsical, the notion of something as simple as preparing her own food again. Even if the world hadn't decided to suddenly tip sideways, it seemed unwise to encroach upon Valjean's space, much less offer the French chef any suggestions on menu options. "Perhaps Spain," she joked, "Or Sicely's lovely this time of year, much better class of pasta too."

"Maybe when things aren't the way they are, we can get something arranged. Go for a trip. See the sun, I'unno," Alastair offered, looking contemplative. Honestly speaking he'd never really had the urge to go to where the sun was, summers here were warm enough for him as they were. Ravens were known for being little furnaces in and of themselves who didn't need to follow the sun, and he didn't fancy the idea of not being able to wear his dramatic, dark clothing when he wanted to because of high temperatures. "Not sure when that'll be though. What with everything going on, my fanciful ideas about recording and publishing two albums - oh, did I mention this before? I want to self publish so we're not beholden to record labels, and I want to record and publish an album under my own name, rock and metal covers of anti-fascist and pro-freedom protest songs."

Though she raised her eyebrows, Liana was more interested than surprised, and perhaps mostly too ignorant to really understand enough about the process to form an initial opinion. "You're creating yourself quite a list. Those are lengthy projects though, right?" With everything that had been going on, and having inherited a lion's share of the responsibility for managing it, Liana felt a little guilty that her only contribution to their musical venture had been to turn up to rehearsals roughly on time. In terms of aspiration, Alastair was likely to have her at a disadvantage but it certainly wasn't through lack of intent. Like most things of a personal nature, it kept getting shoved further down a very overloaded list of priorities. "If we're still trying to resolve all this by the time the finished product is ready, there may be none of my sanity left to market."

"Mostly it's just a lot of work for me. But when you have inspiration, you gotta funnel that into something productive, right?" Al shrugged a bit, taking another sip of his tea, looking contemplative. "And the recent goings-on have given me a lot of inspiration. I'm - ... just writing to help deal with everything that's going on. Cameron's - ... well, death, though we don't know for sure really. The blockade. Now gathering the kids in a central place so we can keep them more safe - it's all a lot and it's all a fruitful source of creativity."

"Well, if anyone can capitalise on the moment and find the beauty in it, it's you."

Allowing herself a moment to regard her companion fondly, Liana then glanced up at the clock and accepted the inevitable with renewed graciousness. Taking a final sip of tea, she started a small pile of plates and cutlery. "I should get moving, there's a lot to achieve before we speak to the students."

"Yeah, of course," Al had intended to spend a little bit of downtime just working on his songcrafting, hence the guitar, but truth be told - expecting there to be downtime during a situation like this, when he had so much to do as well, was - ... *optimistic* to begin with. As such he quickly brought the used cups and plates to the sink before gathering his guitar again and leaning over to give Li a peck on her cheek. "You take care, if you need any help just come find me." he added.