Winter Wonderland

Posted on Sat Mar 4th, 2023 @ 21:54 by Reagan D'Angelo & William McAvoy

Chapter: Prologue: Dawn of Avalon
Location: William's Cottage
Timeline: 1990
3177 words - 6.4 OF Standard Post Measure

In winter, the area around a loch in Scotland could be cold, barren and sometimes shrouded in mist or fog but not that day despite the lateness of the evening. The loch itself was partially frozen and surrounded by snow-covered hills and forests whilst the trees were barren and leafless. The sound of water lapping against the shore and the occasional call of a bird was the only sounds in the still, frosty air as the pair walked along the path. The overall atmosphere was one of peace and quiet, but also of stark, wintry beauty.

“Are you sure you want to walk out here Reagan? I can walk you back?” William asked looking to his companion as the cottage was now in the distance no longer hidden by the trees that surrounded it.

Having stopped briefly by her room to grab a nice winter jacket, all zipped up, Reagan had been anything if not happy to be outdoors. She could only smile at him, taking his concerns for ignorance of the overly active mutant who also just happened to be a great source of heat when she was using her powers. "Are you kidding, William? It's absolutely gorgeous out here. And our destination is just ahead, right? I would never away from a little challenge, not with the goal clearly in sight." She did however seem to look him over, slipping in beside him and taking his arm. He seemed like the type to be put at ease if he could protect others, so why not let him be her proper escort. "And you really live out here all by your self?"

“All by myself.” He said freezing for a moment as she slid her arm through his and he glanced down at her. “You can see it there.” He said using his free hand. A small cottage made of stone close along side the castle, dark and unassuming. The cottage was made entirely of dark grey stones, stacked neatly on top of each other to create a sturdy and durable exterior. The roof was made of wooden shingles and was covered with a thick layer of moss, giving it a quaint and charming appearance.

Once they were truly in range of the cabin, she released her light hold on his arm and dared to step forward in the snow, sizing the cottage up from the outside with a curious tilt to her head. "Did you mention something about building this yourself? It looks very well constructed, and maybe from the same time period as the rest of the castle. Restored, perhaps?" She looks at him, smile never fading despite her breath escaping in cool clouds and the red tint in her cheeks.

"I restored it. It was a crumbling heap not having been used since the 1800s." It had been his project to keep his head from wandering off to 1401 and Tilda and their children and their whole life. It was a hard existence that six months on he was finding some peace as he met more and more people. "Would you like to come inside?" He offered.

She whistled low at the numbers, already approaching the front before he had even asked. It was clear that she liked the place, and it might have been just like she had teased before. It was just the sort of place she wouldn't mind getting old and spending her twilight years in, tucked in by a spouse by the fire. She could only nod enthusiastically when he offered. "I'd love to! You have a fireplace, I assume? We can put on a kettle, get warm. Now we just need to get you TV..."

“It has a fireplace. That is image machine maker right?” He asked as he pulled out an old fashioned huge key and opened the door stepping back to allow her into the space. It was a large open room, a mix of living area and kitchen with a small dining area. The fireplace took up most of the wall to the left of the doorway. While a doorway against the other wall led away towards what could only be the bathroom and bedroom.

The look she gave him with his question was long forgotten once he let her inside and she was able to take it all in. So what if it wasn't exactly as she had envisioned? It was pretty close, and she seemed thrilled to see such a modest sight. She was already kneeling near the fireplace to see how it all worked. "This is so cozy! Wood burning, I assume? Traditional fireplace... do you mind living out here all on your own? Especially at this time of year when it's cold and quiet outside. I'm sure Claire would let you rest in one of the staff rooms in the castle if you wanted."

"I am used to it." He said simply. It was warmer than it had ever been in 1400. William moved and knelt next to her to start bringing the fire back to life. He put a few logs into it and set about relighting it. "It gets quite warm quickly in here but I am happy out here Reagan. Some things are difficult for me to explain and who I am and where I have come from but this is not something I feel bad about or need more."

As he set about getting a fire going, she decided to take a seat nearby, carefully lowering into one of the antique looking chairs near the fireplace. "I'm a mutant teaching at a school full of mutants, William. I don't think you could surprise me. But take your time, I won't push you for answers. Just here to enjoy the company and experience a real fireplace, hm? If you want, I can make us something to drink? Know we already had coffee but... do you have a tea kettle?"

The man laughed deep in his chest as he glanced over at her. She might work with the faeblessed and be one just like him but his story was something out of a fairytale. “I do. Just by the sink.” It was a cast iron kettle that looked like it hung over the fireplace. “So tell me what is the weirdest thing you have see involving mutants since coming to the United Kingdom?”

Reagan peeled off her coat with the promise of warmth coming soon, not that she didn't already tend to run a little hot by default anyhow. With full range of motion restored, she stood again and moved to retrieve the kettle, turning on the faucet and starting to fill it. "What do you keep for tea around here then? A favorite flavor or two? If I've learned anything living in the UK, it's that everyone on the island is very particular about their tea." His question drew her eyes with a little smile, form moving to check the cupboards around the sink. "Haven't seen much of anything until more recently when Claire invited me up here to teach. We tend to keep to ourselves in the rest of the world. But... I do have a student who can breathe fire. Once made himself sick trying to eat the hottest peppers his friends could find for him and dare him to eat. Was fun explaining to Claire and the plumber why one of our porcelain toilets in the boys' washroom was just melted slag..."

The man slowly rose from the floor discarding his own jacket by handing it up and pulled down a tin with tea bags inside from a high shelf beside the fire. It was just a normal brand of tea but he enjoyed the taste, he did not quite follow the trend when it came to tea etiquette. "I remember that... Smith... Sammy... " William could not quite remember the kid's name but he could remember the incident as the caretaker had been less than impressed.

"Samuel Smothers, yes. Sammy to anyone not calling his name to get him in trouble." She mused and brought the kettle over toward him once she had the water at a good level for them to share at least a cup each, maybe two. Rather than look for a bag herself, she hooked the kettle up over the fire and waved a hand toward it, inviting him to put the tea bag in himself. "And you? What was your strangest incident? You must be used to things being much quieter around here, I can imagine."

He chucked a few bags into the kettle and watched them sink to the bottom and disappear over the fire. “I am used to it being quiet but I quite like the fact people are now around and the castle is now in a state of repair to be of use again.” It had been nice when it had been just him and Claire but everyone being around gave the ground its energy back. “I once knew a mutant who could induce sleep. It was their party piece at celebrations to make people fall asleep. They misjudged once and everyone in the room fell asleep mid meal. Woke up to chaos and mess.”

With the tea set, she smiled broadly and settled back to look around the cottage again, taking in more details she may have missed. "Well good! I can assure you I love being here as well. I grew up in New York City and London, always so busy and full of people, many of them not-so-friendly. Avalon has been... wonderful. The students, the faculty, Claire herself is... something else." She trailed briefly, before moving for what looked like a storage chest at the foot of the bed. "Do you have a few spare blankets we could curl up with in the chairs? Nice and cozy with tea is a spot I could live in forever, I think." Her eyes caught him briefly before opening the chest, a grin on her lips at his story. "No one fell asleep in their soup, I hope?"

The man smiled and indicated she could open the chest. Inside there were wool blankets that would be perfect to keep warm though he could not feel the chill but maybe he was used to it by now. “Lot of people were in their soup.” He smiled fondly at the memory. It would have been the room that they used as an assembly hall now he believed but it was hard to compare the spaces of the castle from then to now. “The blue one is the better one. Please use it. I really do not feel the cold in here.”

Dragging a blanket out of the chest, specifically the blue one as mentioned, Reagan laid it over the arm of the chair she'd chosen and took a detour for the last item they needed, two cups for the tea. "I take it you drink yours without adding anything? Sugar, honey, that sort of thing?" She returned to him, handing him one of the cups she plucked from the cabinet and finally took her seat, getting the blanket all laid out in her lap to get cozy as the fire really got going.

“Sugar and milk.” That was the way that Claire had taught him and he had tried over ways but nothing was quite the same as that or hit right. He pulled out a small glass bottle of milk and brought it over putting it down on the table. “I’ll get the kettle.” He advised as the pit started whistling on the fire.

"Sounds like you learned from a certain purple someone." She smiled knowingly, having learned pretty early the way Claire liked her tea. Professional interest, she told herself, but even past that, it didn't hurt in the friend-making department to know how to make their favorite casual drink. When she'd been at Guardian, her assistant had learned how Reagan liked her coffee basically day one on the job, and it had been smooth sailing from there. Must be a trick to it in there somewhere, right? "Speaking of, how long have you and Claire known one another? I know she's got fancy family ties and the like, but I don't know that she's ever told me how she came into possession of the estate to begin with."

"Most British have their like that from my experience but in this case yes it was Claire." He agreed with a smile not knowing what to make of the woman's smile but nodded either way. "I have known her two years. Since she brought this place. I came with it." He said with a bit of a smile to himself pouring hot water into it.

"Oh, believe you me, Sir William, I have come to learn the English standards very well working in London most of my adult life. Properly made tea was practically a required job benefit at my company." Carefully, she held out her cup so he could pour for her too, getting herself nice and snug under the blanket otherwise. "A package deal, hm? And what was your first impression of her? A woman of wealth suddenly comes into possession of the grounds that you run, shows up in all her mutant splendor, and charms you into working for her?" There was some teasing there, a broad smile on her features while she watched William.

William offered a shrug to the woman and her view on Claire. There was something about how she said her words around Claire that spoke to something more than friends. It might be not even known but he smiled into his mug of tea. There was something there. "Cannot say that that there was much charming. It was more beneficial for all of us." It was hard to explain without telling her the whole thing but no one was needing to know that right now.

"I can appreciate that answer. I thought I had it all in London; Business, purpose, semi-functional relationship. All uphill except... mutation. It ate at me, to try hiding something like that for so long from everyone I knew, everyone I cared about. Still haven't worked up the courage to tell them... but Claire? This place? It seemed like a dream opportunity, somewhere I could be myself and not lie or create distance between myself and everyone else, you know? And being able to help the children. That makes it worth more than any business I could ever run, no matter how successful." She blew across the top of her tea carefully before attempting a sip, sighing thoughtfully at the familiar taste. "Not sure I can ever repay her for giving me this opportunity."

The man offered a smile and took a sip of his own cup of tea. He nodded but he also knew Claire would never expect anything repaying. He had attempted many time to do something that would allay him of his own self imposed debt but she had never let him. “She will never allow you to repay the debt.” He explained.

Reagan smiled at that statement, big and warm, maybe even a little mischievous. "Doesn't mean I can't try. Somehow. All of this is certainly worth that effort, at least." She took another sip of her tea and sort of melted into her chair there, taking in the warmth of the blanket, the fire. If she wasn't careful, she'd end up asleep at this rate. Not that William seemed like the untrustworthy type, but she'd rather not impose as a guest like that. "So how long do you plan on sticking around? Until retirement? Or would you want to get out some day, go see the world?"

“I am content where I am for now.” He had no idea of what was out in the world properly and was not at all sure he wanted to know sometimes. Something was keeping him there for now and until it changed it would be where he stayed even if it was no longer his land, it was where his heart was.

"A good answer. For now... Maybe a topic for another time? How about... what do you do for fun, William? Groundskeeping is probably busy, but can't take all of your time, surely?" She was comfortable now, a warm lump in the chair with a good mug of tea and coiled in a blanket. No chance he was getting rid of her any time soon.

“There has been a lot to do over the last two years.” He said summing up what he had been doing a lot of the time. “What about you? What are your hobbies?” It was easier to point it back on someone who was un aware of his past and abilities and it actually helped him learn more about the1990’s. He had yet to meet anyone with the same hobbies.

"Ah! The classic reverse... Very well, but only because you made me tea, William." She gave him a smile and took another sip of her tea for emphasis before answering. "Gymnastics and track and field when I was younger and still in school. Running, hurdles, that sort of thing. Now it's more... hiking, swimming. And I love my biology, of course. Have a degree in it for a reason, you know. And I enjoy learning about ecology and our plants and animals around the area, that sort of thing."

William had no idea of what half the hobbies were or what a degree in biology but nodded. He was meant to know this stuff in 1990. “This place will be good for it.” He surmised. “The plants and animals are unique to loch areas of Scotland in some cases.”

"That... sounds like a man who knows from experience but hasn't quite had the pleasure of learning it from a naturalist's perspective, I reckon. If you'd like, sometime, we can hike around the loch and I can bring a proper field guide for us to catalogue and study? Plants, insects, mammals, birds, maybe even some of the fish if we can manage. What do you think?"

“Sounds like a more spring like activity.” He answered quietly looking at his tea. “I know what I know. I have lived here my whole life I just know.” It had been a more simple time but that was over with. He could never get back when time had moved on so much.

"A year round activity, Mr McAvoy! Different animals prefer different seasons, right? You have a free pass to accompany me whenever you'd like, whether alone or with the students or if I can drag Claire out of her office for an afternoon walk even." She smiled up at him and let herself get cozy again, sinking under the blanket to look like a disembodied head, sipping tea and roasting in front of a proper fire. This was clearly comfortable for her, looked like he was stuck with her. At least for the rest of the evening.