Hard To Forget Part 2

Posted on Tue Feb 14th, 2023 @ 13:38 by Phoebe Hunter & Matteo Beneventi

Chapter: Prologue: Dawn of Avalon
Location: New Cresthill
Timeline: Monday lunchtime, September 28th, 1992
4116 words - 8.2 OF Standard Post Measure

A rainy day in Scotland was quite atmospheric and picturesque in a small town like New Cresthill to Phoebe despite why she had gone into the pub in the first place. The sky was grey and overcast, with a relentless drizzle that seemed to permeate everything but she knew eventually she would just go home and dry off.

Despite the damp weather, there was a cozy, comforting feeling in the air, as the pair stepped out of the pub and started to walk up the back street that would lead them to one of two Greggs in the town. The air was moist and heavy, and the pitter-patter of footsteps on wet pavement filled the air. People huddled under umbrellas and darted from building to building to escape the rain that Phoebe knew was moments from ending.

Loping along with his hands wedged firmly into his pockets, Matt seemed to have a habit of watching the world from behind loose strands of hair that had escaped the man-bun he hadn't bothered to remove now that he was free from food and beverage handling restrictions. The weather wasn't great but he'd experienced worse and his long strides made short work of the distance anyway, at least up until the point that the woman beside him could keep up. As it turned out, chatting on the move wasn't very appealing, and so it wasn't until they approached their destination and he jogged ahead to make sure he held open the door that Matt emerged from his silence to offer a wry smile. "Welcome to New Cresthill's second-fanciest eat-out." The first was obviously the other Greggs; it was larger.

"Thank you. We should upgrade next time." It was a funny thing about places like New Cresthill that it reminded her so much of the sleepy little village her aunt had brought her to before everything went wrong and it reminded her that they were not London. It was a strange sensation of homesickness that she was not quite prepared for or willing to accept. The change was good and she needed the change from politics and espionage.

Slipping inside behind her, Matt shuffled along for a moment, unwilling to overtake but equally at a loss as to how the rest of this conversation was supposed to playe out. Phoebe knew things, had a more thorough picture of whatever the hell had gone on at the train station, and was part of the team directly responsible for keeping Leo safe. As an explanation for why he was maintaining contact for this long, it stood up to decent scrutiny. But there was more to that, a curiosity, a fascination for how she had been able to watch him this time without any distraction or disorientation. He very rarely met people whose eyes didn't glaze over eventually and, now that he knew what she was, the explanation became less of an astonished 'how' and more of an investigative one.

Hands still in his pockets, Matt stood behind the other mutant and waited for her to order, having already determined his order because it was the same thing he'd had for lunch for the past two weeks. In a town like New Cresthill, they should have had the table set for him in advance and his food served before he could pull his chair in, but nobody here looked at him twice.

Phoebe kept glancing up and offering a smile to him as the silence overtook them again. Pheobe was getting the impression he was not used to people being so upfront with him. "What are you having?" Phoebe asked not allowing him to sink away into his own thoughts for long as she ordered a sausage roll and waited for his food.

"Steak bake." For some reason, it came out more as an admission, as if having a favourite pastry from Greggs suddenly constituted a wicked avarice. The ludicrousness of it forced a grin and, from that, a quiet laugh. "Though the pasty is good too."

"Greggs is good any time of the day." Pheobe grinned back and offered over the coins and took both items from the woman who did not even bother to look at them. "Want to sit in here or go outside under that bandstand?" She offered him holding out the steak bake to him. They had a time limit on this conversation as she would need to return to school and he would need to go back to work.

The was a moment of hesitation when it was clearly Matt's intention to protest about payment, but the crowd behind them was already forming and having an argument in the middle of Greggs seemed like a ridiculous side-venture to look back on. He glanced around at their options and then peered through the window. "Maybe outside."

"Bandstand it is then." She replied cheerfully as she pushed through the lunchtime crowds and out into the cool air. The bandstand was only across the road near the war memorial so within moments they were undercover again. "Soo...." She offered the question up to him as she took a small bite of her food.

A pair of questioning eyes watched her over the top of the first glorious bite of golden pastry. Matt wouldn't have wanted to admit that Greggs had been there for him when nobody else had even remembered he existed, let alone cared if he had enough to eat, or somewhere warm to stay, but there was something to be said for a glimmer of familiarity that followed you across the countryside like an overly persistent mosquito. He chewed slowly and then, swallowing most of it, paused in his attempt to figure out the rest of her question. "So?"

“You have questions?” She promoted hoping she was reading him correctly. There was a lot to say for MI13 training but a lot of it was common sense and reading body language. “But let me answer two of them. I teach history up at that school so yes so am that like you and yes I might have been there with the robot when the kids were being collected.” Was that enough to get something more from him.

I am like you.

Poised in perfect tableaux, there was another ripple, this time a far more palpable one as Matt's eyes darkened again and the man's entire presence seemed to just fade into the periphery. It wasn't fully intentional, there seemed a point where he caught it and halted the retreat but he was clearly taken aback and somewhat furtive. It wasn't the first time another mutant had recognised the connection but, on the balance of things, the whole ethos of his powers permitted a degree of obliviousness that Matteo had come to rely upon heavily. He had only mentioned being in town to be close to his brother. The hereditary nature of the X-Gene was inconclusive, there was just no need for her to have assumed based on anything he'd said.

So it must have been what he'd done. She could tell.

He could have ended it there. All it would take was to release control, allow the full retreat, watch her sit there confused for a while trying to remember why she was sitting opposite Greggs by herself. Matt swallowed and, though it was a choice he'd made hundreds of times before, found himself wondering if it would even work this time. Something about her...

"They said that your group took the thing down alone. That's impressive."

“I will pass along the compliment.” Phoebe said leaning against the the side of the bandstand just watching him patiently. There it was again that twist in the river of time that she felt she was constantly being assaulted by. It had been easy to describe her abilities like a river washing over her, sometimes you could ignore it’s steady drip and other times it crashed but this twist was unexpected.

"Do you know why it attacked yet?"

He had glued himself to the news coverage, watched the vibrant head mistress field a bunch of veiled bigots trying to trip her up. The very first instinct had been to keep Leo back, forced in any case to delay the boy's arrival by a day anyway. But the kid had his own idea of how things should go and the more Matteo looked into things, the more he sat and thought and tried to figure out what 'next' would look like if this wasn't it, the more he realised that hiding was starting to wear thin. Eventually, it would stop working altogether and when that happened, it seemed better that Leo at least had others to rely on.

“Nothing new than what is on the news. I wish we did but no one knows.” Phoebe had been looking for sources but it had not been easy up there away from sources and information. “Have not given up though. Not in my vocabulary.” She took another bite and wished she’d brought an irn bru or something but it was too late for that now.

The lack of information drew further silence from the other mutant, whose status was unverified verbally but that didn't seem like it was going to be required either way. Matt's eating had slowed, the occasional mouthful chewed on slowly as he picked his way through an available route with the care and precision of one determined not to step on a fallen branch. "So you don't know if they'll send another," was his eventual statement, more a confirmation to himself than a question.

"From my very good experience of tactics and things, it would be highly unlikely. I do not believe they would have liked the media circus that it became." She answered as honestly as she could. She was pretty sure whoever had sent it had not expected there to be such resistance to picking up a child. "Lots of questions have been raised on both sides of arguments."

The lack of concrete assurances wasn't exactly comforting but it was likewise not particularly surprising. Matteo had held out some hope that the school's faculty had in-roads into the attack that they'd managed to keep out of all the press releases but he wasn't shocked to find out that their much-published ignorance was highly indicative of their actual level of knowledge. Finding himself more or less right back where he'd started from, the pensive man directed a partially-glazed stare at a point just over Phoebe's shoulder as he came to grips with the persistence of uncertainty and then he blinked, returning himself to the moment to flick his gaze across to catch hers.

"So where does a teacher get 'very good experience' with tactics...and things?" The last word evoked a very faint smile and, gradually, the man's attention pulled back from it scattered wanderings to fixate on its single target. The contradiction between moments was stark, a movement from absolute distraction to the sensation of being utterly absorbed by nothing more than the expression in her eyes. It seemed a naturally fluid thing, as if the man was used to swinging back and forth between total detachment and intense scrutiny.

That was a question she expected a lot of people to have. She did not look like the type to have anything to her other than teaching but looks were so deceiving in her case that even people's wildest theories did not even come close. "Experience." The woman said simply as she stared at him a small smirk on her face. It was not something that she was willing to share properly in anything other than a flirt with him.

A very slight deadpan, followed by a huff of laughter, conveyed something of Matt's opinion to the evasiveness. "So you got experience by having experience?" he clarified as a tease, both eyebrows raised.

"Mmmhmm." She offered grinning at him as he answered her and even laughed. It was nice to see it. "That is better. Did not think I was going to get a laugh or anything back then." She admitted taking a final bit out of the sausage roll and putting the wrapper in the bin.

A sheepish expression stopped short of adding a flush to its effect, though the glittering approval in her eyes kept Matt's grin plastered in place. He was, and he would be the first to admit it, at little rusty when it came to interpersonal connection. Dipping in and out of reality at any given time, having more or less the choice over when to disengage, had always kept things neat and tidy in that regard. He never lingered long enough for complications and tended to avoid overtures that would have sought them to begin with. This was already more convoluted and his sheer lack of practise at navigating the initial conversation of an ongoing association was confronting. It was bad enough she seemed to have seen through his secrecy in an instant; was it really necessary to leave her with the impression he couldn't string two meaningful words together?

"It's been a stressful week," was his explanation, an understatement at best that applied just as much to her as it did to him. "And besides," he continued to protest playfully, "I don't often get a chance to match wits with tactically experienced mutant teachers. I'm out of practise."

“Hasn’t it just.” She agreed with him. She still ached from the fight with the robot and was sure she might for a few days longer. “Ah well maybe we should change that?” Phoebe wondered reaching inside her bag pulling out a piece of paper and wrote the school's number on. “You want to match wits again give me a call.” She held it out to him. She knew he might have it for his brother but it was her offering it to him with an expectation that he could call if he wanted.

It was an interesting way to frame the swapping of numbers but at least it wasn't ambiguous and gave Matt a moment's pause to consider the pathways that branched outwards from this exchange. Body language spoke volumes, gestures like this even more, and he was hardly in a position to avoid her even if he was inclined to determine that it would be for the best to shut this down right now. It had been a while since someone had given him their number, a while since he'd had any urge to take it, and eons since he'd actually followed through with making use of it. An initial hesitation paid respect to all the reasons to refuse but he eventually reached out and took it.

"I have a room upstairs at work," he returned, not having memorised the number yet. "Didn't seem much point in taking anything more for the time being. I'm working most days, though that's not strictly necessary." His gaze held hers. "I just prefer to stay busy and there wasn't anything else to do in my spare time."

She smiled as she saw him taking she piece of paper at the very least from her. He was at heart a little interested. “Well maybe there will be now.” Phoebe said flirting nearly again as she put her pen and paper back in her bag. She was not going to bother unless he called but nobody had intrigued her in three years like Matt was and she was forgetting herself it seemed.

"We could always arrange something now."

It was the first hint of a boldness that didn't seem to match the man's natural state. It did owe its origins to it however, a sense of prior recklessness that had a lower expectation of consequence than most because of his ability to affect the flow of ramifications. Age and responsibility had tightened up his moral compass over the past couple of years and it wasn't an automatic anticipation that he could mitigate this deviation from standard to control the outcome but the safety net was always there. He was less certain of its effectiveness in this regard, however, and that in part surprised him with its sudden appeal. To be seen and have no way of adjusting that was not an experience he'd ever really had.

“We could. You have more experience in town so where would be a nice place to go on a weekend afternoon?” She wondered watching him carefully. Whatever his abilities were they had given him on edge over most people but she was feeling that maybe she was busting through all his defensive without meaning too. She was not there to break him but he very much intrigued hher and set off her abilities in a way that she had not expected.

"There's always the other Greggs." Gentle laughter shook Matt's shoulders as he glanced up the street again and considered what he knew of the town and its surrounds. It wasn't a whole lot, certainly not enough to keep up with local knowledge. He'd done some exploring since arriving but he didn't really think that 'down by the loch' was going to be quite what she had in mind. "You like indoors or outdoors?"

“Shall we say outdoors. Go for a walk? Might be nice to enjoy what is left of the good weather before autumn finally hits.” Phoebe offered thinking it might be handy to explore for them both. It would allow them to connect better and see if there was that spark another time.

Perhaps he'd judged her too quickly. There was something bright and shiny about the woman, radiant for more reasons than the colour of her hair. She existed with a clarity and presence that Matt didn't often encounter and the idea of her finding any enjoyment in wandering around the dirt with him seemed ludicrous. But river stones could sparkle too and, if there was one thing to be said about being a mutant, it was that you learned quite early on to seek refuge in places that didn't immediately seek to eject you. Disappearing into nature was sometimes the only reprieve you got.

"When are you free?" It was taking a moment for realisation to catch up, for Matt to properly process what it was he was doing, but there were worse things he could impulsively half-arse than setting up a date with mysterious women who wandered into his pub and then refused to stop noticing him. Probably. At least he could hope it wasn't top of the list of Very Bad Ideas.

“Saturday morning?” She said thinking that with school just starting she would not be around or able to get into town until then. It was the next day she was going to have any semblance of time to enjoy some time. “10am here?”

Glancing around, Matt considered the prospective meeting place as if just noticing it for the first time. "Uh, sure. You want to walk from here?" He turned back to look at her. "I mean, we can take out the bike if you're not squeamish, try to get a bit closer to some walking tracks." Everyone, apparently, in New Cresthill, owned a motorbike. In actual fact, the prevalence amongst the faculty for all-access vehicles made sense, for exactly the reason Matt was suggesting his. There were places in the area and surrounds that just weren't designed for your average sedan.

“Bike? Sounds perfect.” She laughed. “Okay how about you meet me at the castle? I’ll find a helmet. I am sure Cameron or someone has something.” She decided it would be just the type of thing he had hanging around. “Not exactly considered how useless my car is up here.” She admitted with a grin thinking on her Ford.

It took a moment to reach an agreement. When he'd first dropped Leo up at the school, only an hour or two before the entire killer robot debacle, Matt had made a promise not to keep showing up to check on the kid. By the time news of the attack had trickled back to him, the counter-response was already underway, and whilst he'd turned his bike around in an attempt to yank his brother back out from under harm's way if possible, local law enforcement had shut down the road access pretty quickly. He, like so many other protective guardians, had contacted the school with demands for information but he hadn't actually seen the kid because apparently, according to whoever it was he'd spoken to, Leo had determined his older brother would 'only make a giant fuss over nothing.' He'd never met a more resilient soul and so, despite his best judgment, Matt had stayed away. If Leo found out Matteo had not only crossed the forbidden threshold, but done so in order to whisk his History teacher away on a date, there might be no recovering from the mortification.

Matt grinned and nodded. "I've got a spare if you need it."

“Might be easier if I just agree. So Saturday morning. 10am with the spare helmet.” She nodded summing up the date. It had been months and months since she had been on a date and even longer since she was grinning about it and looking forward to it. “You better get back to work.” She prompted thinking that his hour had to be up soon and she needed to get to tv shop.

Bemused, Matt raised his eyebrows at that. "Yes, Ma'am." She was forthright, he'd give her that. For someone mostly used to existing on the cusp of other people's interest, it was an odd and yet not-immediately-objectionable sensation to have squatted like a bug under someone's microscope for almost an hour. At least, she'd given him no cause to worry yet. Dusting flakes of pastry off his lap, Matt rose, lobbed the empty package at a nearby bin and called back as he jogged over to collect it from where it had rebounded off the rim. "Can I walk you somewhere first?" Saturday seemed a decent distance away all of a sudden.

“I was just planning to go to the television repair shop to get a television for my room at school.” It had been one of the things she had not brought with her from London.

Matt glanced down the road in the direction of the shop, tucked away out of sight just around a junction. "Not much of a hike then."

“I would hate for you to be late but sure.” Phoebe smiled and looped her arm through his as they started down the street towards the shop that had televisions in the window playing the news.

If he was honest, Matt could have done with his own television, since the one in the room that he'd negotiated as part of his pay tended to only play one channel badly. Fiddling with the antenna hadn't done much and he'd taken to just watching the bigger screen downstairs over the bar because it was generally more reliable. The news coverage didn't draw a lot of attention at first, the absence of sound not really lending much clue as to the nature of the current story. Matt, instead, was distracted by the minor argument two old men were having in front of the grocer's. The focus of their disagreement seemed to be a particularly recalcitrant lettuce.

One second Phoebe was happy and enjoying the moment and the next to glanced at the television in the window and her world took a 360 and dumped her out. She could suddenly see all her worlds crashing together as she saw Robert on television and could see the subtitles underneath. “I… I have to go.” She leant up and kissed his cheek. “Saturday. 10am.” She repeated as she unlooped her arm from his.

As much as he tended to render those around him clueless, Matt didn't normally fall into the category himself. Though the escalating narrative of the lettuce was compelling enough, the unexpected peck of affection, immediately followed by an outright desertion, made very little sense after the past hour they'd spent together. Taken aback but in no position to push, his brown eyes studied her for a moment and then he slipped his hands back into his pockets to concede. "On the dot." As he watched her go, baffled at the sudden impetus behind her flight and still paying no heed to the news broadcast as it continued on, Matt stared for a moment and, with irony enough to churn the spectral rivers around her, called out, "Don't forget!"