Switching Gears

Posted on Wed Dec 3rd, 2025 @ 13:02 by Claire Cavendish & Alastair Temple

Chapter: Besieged
Location: Avalon Motorpool
Timeline: 19:30 hours, Couple of days after the G.O.U. retreat
2308 words - 4.6 OF Standard Post Measure

It took longer and longer nowadays for the dusk to fully wrap itself around the institute, which made this time of the evening a perfect opportunity for a stroll in the golden rays of the departing sun. Claire hadn't appreciated the freedoms of being able to walk outside and go into town, or simply vanishing and not being disturbed. Looking from her office window she had seen a dark clad figure stroll towards the parking places. She knew where the man was headed and her intimate knowledge of the grounds made it easy to meet him there. Especially since she could blink there in an instant, "You never did specify if it was a good or bad Omen."

To his credit Al mostly took Claire appearing as casually as she did in stride. Mostly. He did jump a little, rolling his eyes at her. "Look, boss lady, I know it's objectively funny just manifesting like that, but I'm a wounded man, gotta give me some slack." He was mostly joking though, as his expression and calm demeanor made evident. His arm no longer in a sling, though he still cradled it and it obviously still bothered him.

At her question though he cast a glance at his car. White, with a pearlescant shimmer to it. Sleek, low, remarkably small for how muscular it looked - it was like someone looked at an American muscle car and built one at eighty percent scale. Which wasn't far from the truth. There was something sinister about it, with its long hood, fender mounted mirrors, aggressive stance and upswept lines towards the rear. It looked fast, like it was raring to go, even as it sat still. Here was a machine that wanted to roar, that needed to be free. "I'unno," he answered her question with a non-committal shrug. "Depends on whether you keep on her good side or get on her bad, I suppose."

Claire nodded at the arm that he had been nursing, happy to see he had been able to go without the sling. "Careful not to rush back into things." Her attention turned to the car. "I never got the need to give a name or nickname to a car." She paced around Omen at a respectful distance. She wasn't much of a petrol head, her buying the Camaro had been a spur of the moment thing, brought on by Cameron insisting she should do something for herself for once.

"That's a difference between you and me, Claire," he said with affection in his voice rather than judgement, as he circled Omen once as well. Closer though than the purple skinned lady had, tracing fingertips over the cold, painted steel of the machine. "You see a car. An investment. Something that has a value, that appreciates with time. To me though, Omen's alive. She's a lady. She has a personality - she's fierce. Passionate. Eager. And she deserves a name that suits her. Not that there's anything wrong with your way of viewing things, of experiencing things. But that's why you're the one running the school, the institute, and why I'm a musician." Beat. "Though I suspect there's a layer of sentimental ability to appreciate the passion in nice things of a material nature in you; that's the only way I can figure you would own a '73 Camaro in British racing green."

Claire quirked an eyebrow, she really shouldn't be too surprised that her worst kept secret was known to an aficionado like Alastair. "I was always told cars and boats are a waste of money. Especially old ones. Tiny black holes for your check book." She definitely hadn't seen the Camaro as an investment, though with the cheap labour and the discount car parts from Graeme's she was sure she could make a profit on it. "Has Cameron allowed you to peek under the sheet?"

"Don't need to, I can tell by the shape what it is," Al lied. Not that he couldn't tell by the shape under the sheet what car it was, but how would he have known the color. "I'm assuming Cameron is the one working on her. I would be more than willing to help, if you want her back on the road. Same vintage as Omen, matter of fact they were very much each other's equal in performance as well - well, until I had Omen upgraded a while back."

A soft smile, "I've asked Cameron to use it as a teaching opportunity for the kids. I'm in no hurry." It was an answer to both the question if he should help and what she perceived as a challenge to the car's performance. She couldn't ever recall speeding, despite her brother telling her that fines were for the poors. "Though, if you want a closer look I'm sure I can oblige." Her hands were still behind her back as she finished her circle of Omen.

"Fair enough, I shall content myself with driving and maintaining Omen. And something that's making its way here overseas now. Has been for a few weeks. Should probably look in to where it's at by now," Al smiled. Innocently. Which was a real challenge for him. Though said smile quickly turned into a more serious look. "How're you holding up with everything that's been going on? I can't imagine being locked up was fun, and coming back to find your pride and joy under attack? Still not sure how come they went away and broke up camp."

"I can be very convincing if need be." Claire shook her head a bit at that, "When I was in Inverness they gave me some sort of collar, it suppressed my abilities. I took it with me on my... parole." She slowly strolled towards the machine shop where her Camaro was still stored under the tarp. "They had a mutant asset that I neutralised with it." She had then helped Jillian free herself from the control of the G.O.U., though she wasn't exactly sure on the details of it. She needed a stuffed patchwork mouse from Rebecca's room, and once Claire had disengaged the collar Jillian had been able to use a knife to dig out something from her skull. It had been a bloody affair. "From what I understood from the aftermath, they couldn't find what they were looking for and both you and Liana gave them a right scare as well. It all fell apart for them in rather rapid fashion." She got to the covered up Camaro, "My lawyers are telling me after the bodged attempt to raid a school full of teens the public perception is shifting fast. I guess, we have you to thank for that as well. I watched some of the footage from the bridge, really brought back some memories."

"Don't underestimate the value of public opinion," Al casually remarked, his baritone rumbling, as he followed Claire. She seemed to be heading towards the machine shop with purpose, and their conversation was far from over anyways. His trip to town could wait. Not that he really needed anything from town; mostly it was just an excuse to get on the road again. Being cooped up in the castle hadn't been fun - even though he of all people had gone on plenty of trips outside the walls whenever needed. Still, he had missed driving, and his sentimentality made him imagine Omen had missed him too. "I'm very well aware that I have an audience and that audience can be loud. That's constantly in the back of my head whenever I'm writing music. This whole thing with the G.O.U. gave me an idea - to record some rock and metal covers of famous protest songs and release it under the name 'songs to fight fascism by'." beat. "You know, I'm not subtle. I know."

"Also, you mean that - whatsherface, that mutant that had attacked us before? That stabbed Cam? She was the one who came and collected Pockington or whatever his name was that evening. I followed them for a while until someone leveled a gun at me."

"I do love a good protest song." Claire looked at the tarp covered car and remembered exactly why she had picked out this particular vehicle when Cameron had told her why she should do something solely for herself. A smile formed on her lips as she grabbed a corner and started to pull it over the hood. "Not really into your type of music, but I'll be sure to add that album to my collection." After hearing him mention Jillian and Winifred she hesitated a moment in her grand reveal, "I do mean her, yes."

Seeing Claire pull back the sheet over the Camaro Al moved to help her, revealing the lines of the classic American muscle car. More curvacious than Omen, the car looked fast even standing still - much like Al's pearl-white machine of similar vintage. In fact, the two cars were very similar in performance as well - at least had been out of the factory - though Claire's British racing green machine was faster in a straight line, Al's aggressive ride was more agile in the corners. Part of him wanted to remark on the fact that a classic American sportscar was painted in an archtypical British colorway it would never had out of the factory, but he wasn't quite the type to keep a classic car factory spec either, so he elected not to.

"I have to admit I'm not quite up to speed with everything that happened with that mutant and the attacks, but I trust you. There must be a good reason you're keeping her here, even though she - ... has a history of bringing harm to the institute. I can't imagine Cameron being too eager to see her taken in. How'd he survive anyways?" There were just so many unanswered questions in Al's mind, so many loose ends that didn't quite end up adding up just yet.

In Claire's mind there were a few traits that made a person good and she was always striving to hone those traits. One of them was certainly empathy. Despite the stories Rebecca had told her, and regardless of what Jillian had done in her past or in the present as Effigy, she knew there had to be a reason. Steps one could trace however far back one needed to go to find the origin. "If my time in the shadows have taught me anything it's that sometimes all someone needs to step into the light is for someone let them." She ran a hand over the hood of the Camaro. The cold metal felt more real than some of the people she had the displeasure of encountering over the past weeks. "The point is moot anyway, she left this morning."

She traced the car's engineered beauty guide her hand, fingers flowing like water over the rooftop. "Some things defy explanations." She stared across the cars canopy at the music teacher. The general consensus among the Knights was that Cameron didn't actually survive. It was more a question on how the hell he made it out of death alive. "Whatever the exact machinations, he defied death. How's that for a death metal song?"

Al smirked, locking eyes with Claire. "That's - ... not really the kind of thing I write about, but it's very metal nonetheless," he affirmed, before kneeling down a bit to peer into the Camaro. It was decidedly early 70s, black vinyl dash, black leather seats, unobtrusive gauge cluster proudly displaying a rev counter. "Well, whatever you call it, he seems ok - at least, in what little I've interacted with him. I'm glad for it. And Ji-an?"

The questions about the young ward were going to be inevitable, but Claire knew that the less people knew about her, her powers, and other details, the better. She weighed between transparency about the risk of divulging too much information, and simply brushing off the question in the hope Al wouldn't think too long and hard about it. "She pulled through, despite some side effects." A bit of a frown formed, "best not to linger too much on it."

"How about Aurora?" She tapped the Camaro's roof.

Al was smart enough to understand the meaning behind Claire's deflective answer to his question about the student. His was not to know everything, and he had peace with that. "Aurora, huh," he mused, taking a step back and looking the car over once again, back to front. "If that's what she tells you, that's what she tells you," he smiled. "And if she doesn't tell you anything, then you're free to name her whatever you want. Not all cars speak, not all owners hear."

"I don't know, before this I only ever had a car to get me from a to b." Claire confessed. She nodded back in the direction of Omen. "Speaking of which, were you planning on heading out to New Cresthill?"

"Yeah," Al lied. He had planned to just go out for a drive without having a specific destination in mind, but if Claire needed a ride to town or if Al could pick something up for her he'd be happy to make a little detour. Mostly he'd just planned to make sure Omen was in peak working condition for the trip he'd planned to take Liana on, a little weekend retreat to a luxury cabin he'd rented. That was the kind of thing couples did, right? He honestly didn't know and was just flying by the seat of his pants. "Why, you need a ride? I'm sure Gabriella would be happy to see you."

Claire gathered the tarp again and began to cover up the Camaro once more. "I'd love to get some scones."