On the Edge of Tomorrow

Posted on Sat Mar 25th, 2023 @ 5:56 by Claire Cavendish & Reagan D'Angelo

Chapter: Prologue: Dawn of Avalon
Location: Claire's Office
Timeline: Monday, September 28th; Evening
4108 words - 8.2 OF Standard Post Measure

The past few days had been one hell of a ride for everyone at the Institute. Reagan was almost dreading seeing Claire just for the sheer bad luck she'd seemed to conjure by telling Claire everything would be okay at their last, real private discussion walking on the shore of the Loch. Had that only been a few days ago? It felt like an eternity now, no 24 hour period passing without incident.

The attack itself had been the worst of it, seemingly, rattling the entire student body as well as the faculty. But the team had pulled through, no one had been killed or (seriously) injured, and Oliver was... safe, at least. Many of them had volunteered to stay with the boy, Reagan's idea to stay with him the entire weekend shutdown by some of the others. But she had work to do, other students to comfort, and they were all a team that shared these sorts of things. That hadn't stopped her from being overprotective of the boy, but she had capitulated, done her shift, and tried to keep moving forward like everyone else. There was no time to recover either, as much as it might have helped. The doc had given her a regimen of cold packs and medicine to keep swelling down on her ankle, sure, but recovering from anything else became a pipe dream when the bombing happened and some group of hyped up extremists had not only claimed responsibility, but also seemingly connected themselves to Avalon and the Knights? Reagan had nearly had a heart attack, gotten dizzy processing how fast all of it was going down hill.

And then there was Guardian, her company, and Kristen. She'd called to make sure everyone was okay that she knew, and then tried to double down and worm her way back into her ex's good graces with concerns and feelings. A lot of good it did though, when Reagan dodged all questions related to the Sentinel incident and New Cresthill and set off her ex's bullshit detector that was quite used to the blonde's particular brand by that point. Silver lining, at least she was okay after the bombing. And then not a full day later, Claire was up on stage and being attacked by the media from every angle, as civil an image as everyone tried to put on. Reagan's resolve had already been tested before, but watching that from a TV inside the Institute, terrified of her face appearing on a camera where someone she knew on the outside might recognize her, her heart just broke.

And now it was that evening, and the sun was almost gone below the horizon. The only horror yet to come with the new dawn? Classes started tomorrow. But that was a challenge she welcomed with open arms. Teach, get the children thinking about dissecting frogs or giggling over human anatomy, or planning lovely little field trips out near the loch; That would help everyone involved. It didn't make the anticipation any less palpable. And so, rather than turn in to wrestle with her thoughts, she'd procured a tray with a pair of tea cups, a steaming kettle, and some milk and sugar on the side. She fussed with the door after knocking, and let herself in as carefully as she could, closing it with her backside on entry. "Hey, hope you don't mind some company? Don't think I can sleep. Brought tea." Her voice was quieted at first, eyes moving to find Claire who, while she might not have even been here, had a good probability of being in her office even on a relaxed night. These were not relaxed nights.

Claire looked up from her desk where she was mostly in the dark. People kept telling her it was creepy, or that it was bad for her eyes, but it seemed as if her eyes preferred the dark. Sunlight was definitely not her friend and even artificial bright lights she didn't care much for. A single floor light stood in the far corner and gave a bit of an orange hue. "Hi." She pushed herself back from the desk and motioned in the direction of the chesterfield couch and chairs there. As she moved she hit a light-switch to bring some more illumination to the room, which would make it easier for Rae to navigate and a bit more pleasant to converse. "How are you holding up?" She sat down in the nearest chair with a bit of a sigh. She wanted to be the one to ask the question first, because she didn't know what she'd answer if she were asked.

When the verbal reply came out of the dimly lit area around Claire's desk, Reagan found herself smiling, despite everything. Even that one word response sounded tired, anxious maybe? Normal, overworked Claire but with the weight of the weekend on her shoulders. She blinked in the renewed light a few times, adjusting, before following the gesture to approach. The whole time, her eyes locked on Claire, assessing and fussing over little details. How did she look? Was she uninjured? Physically sure, but otherwise? The blonde barely noticed her own movements as she settled in to a seat and set the tray carefully down on the low coffee table in the middle. She chose the couch, but she was decidedly close to the arm, close to Claire. A choice made without any real thought.

"I'm stressed, anxious, and bringing tea to your office as an excuse to talk when I should be trying to rest for a busy day tomorrow." She was honest, if joking softly in her tone as she looked toward the other woman again, having scooped up the pot to begin pouring one of the cups. "And you? Normally, I'd lecture you about staying up too late on a school night even under average circumstances. But all of this..." She trailed off in her words, narrowly avoiding overfilling the cup and silently cursing at herself. She sat the pot down, assessing her options with her eyes briefly, before she gave up for the time being in favor of finding Claire's eyes again. It was clear which of the two things she was more worried about at that moment in time.

"Normally I'd lecture you about your pouring technique, but I think we can all agree there's bigger things at play here." Claire retorted in jest. She let out a bit of a sigh before leaning forward to take the slightly overfilled cup. She kept it perfectly steady, even with her pinky stretched out, and took a small polite sip to give the liquid some room in the porcelain container. She returned the cup back to its saucer, "if only the rest of our issues were so easily solved." She realised that she hadn't answered the question about how she was with any of that, and even though she always preached openness and vulnerability with faculty and student alike she'd always find it to 'walk the walk', a result of her upbringing, she was sure. "It's just a lot. Not at all how I envisioned Avalon would make itself known." In truth she had wished for Avalon never to have made itself known at all. "It just feels like we're going to have so much more to deal with, now. And I don't know how to prepare for that."

Reagan couldn't help but smirk with the retort, shaking her head. She watched Claire pick up the cup, bring it up and sip off the top, incredulous at best in her reaction. "Coming from the tea drinking robot of a woman sitting next to me. Does this also mean you wouldn't like milk or sugar?" Claire had dodged her question, or rather a polite reply. As expected. But Reagan was used to that with her, and had come to talk anyway, so there was no use fretting over expected bumps in the road. "No shit? If you had a PR team, they'd have all quit by now, I'd wager. Or maybe you do have one and they did?" She set to work pouring herself a cup now, being mindful to make the level reasonable, as she had no confidence in her ability to recover like Claire did. If anything, she admired Claire even more for still having steady nerves after the past 72 hours. "I'm not sure one does prepare for something like this. Anti-mutant legislation and sentiment? Sure. Registration, negotiations... But sanctioned international operations with giant robots... terrorists like this Robin Hood clown?"

She sighed there, adding some milk to her own tea to stir in slowly, consider with her eyes distant. "Wouldn't take much, I could put in the word, have Guardian up from London before supper tomorrow. Augment our security, assess our defenses. My people are trustworthy."

"I know. It's just. I don't want to scare the kids." Claire pinched the bridge of her nose between her thumb and index finger, "I. I don't want strangers in my house." She trusted Rae, and she could really use her expertise on the matter. But any security would also impede on student privacy, something she had felt when she was in boarding school in the states, and it was something she wanted to avoid. She wanted to make sure her institute operated on trust and transparency. "Perhaps you and Phoebe should take a stroll around the perimeter and do an assessment."

"Well... too late for that, but I understand what you mean." Did Reagan mean just the first part or both? She didn't really clarify, instead focusing on raising her tea for a testing sip and sitting back in her spot now. She knew it was a longshot to offer, and the consequences of such might be too much to handle, especially for her. Wouldn't matter how much she denied her own genes at that point, the mutant cat would be out of the bag for her, for good. Much as that notion scared her, the safety of the children, of Oliver, of her teammates meant so much more if push came to shove, she knew that. "Look for good spots to put up an electric fence to keep out wild, flying robots?" She couldn't help but smirk across at Claire there, always one to use humor in a situation to try and relieve tension. She'd met many people who hated that trait in her, ex's definitely included, but there it was. Claire was used to it, at least. "I'll see what we can do... Maybe Phoebe will have more for us at this meeting later. I hope... Not to sound suspicious or anything, Claire, but... a mutant like Oracle arriving to lead the team, and then all of this so quickly after... Do you think she knew something was going to happen? Did she tell you? Is that why she's here?"

Claire shook her head at that, not that she hadn't considered it or that she even thought Phoebe might have known, but she didn't know enough about the Quantum Knight's team leader powers to make an honest assessment. "If she had something solid to go on she'd have shared. Besides she'd never met Oliver." Claire took another sip of her tea and looked at the floor. "That's not even going into the ethics of the whole thing." She then looked back up to Reagan, "I brought her in because of the change in the winds. We are out of our depths. We shouldn't be fighting robots the size of apartment buildings. We should be teaching these kids about maths and frogs."

Reagan opened her mouth a moment, considered a comment, but then stopped to let Claire continue while she instead took in more tea. A proper response after all of that was out there and ready to chew on. She'd come to confide in a friend, and maybe this was that, but to an outsider it might have seemed like an informal business brunch or something. Calm and collected, these two. "Does she have to meet subjects to... do her thing? I'm still fuzzy on how all of it works. But I believe you. Still... Her necessity predates our awareness of the existence of such threats. I mean, giant robots, Claire? I expected legislation, registration, police or other government sanctions to contend with in a court room. You could have made a lot of money off me in a bet if you'd ever put your chips on us being attacked by what amounts to a covert military operation." She said it like a joke, but her expression was anything but, brow creased as she considered Claire.

"If it was meant to be covert I doubt they would've sent a giant purple robot." Claire sighed a bit at that. "The thing is, in beating it down they kind of are proving their fears. For us I feel it was a no-win situation." She was familiar with those. She'd made some bad decisions in her past based on those type of no-win scenarios. It felt like right now she was making the right one though, they had to stand firm. Heads held high, back straight, chest forward. This was not a time to show weakness, regardless of where the threat was coming from. And it felt like right now it was coming from all directions. "All we can do now is return to business as usual as soon as possible, show them that they didn't get to us. That we're just trying to live our lives here." The head mistress shook her head, she knew it wasn't going to be enough. They had to try though.

"At least it wasn't phallus-shaped, huh? Strikes me as the type of thing these sort of pricks might consider just to brag about with each other over cigars..." She watched the response from then though, avoiding more quips until Claire was done and gave her thoughts. Besides, Reagan needed an excuse to make real progress on her tea, which she took ample advantage of. After a few moments, she set the cup down entirely, sitting back to rub her hands on her legs. "Here's hoping. I'd like nothing more than to go back to the things way were. The school, the staff, the children..." She found herself trailing there as she watched Claire, consideration in her features before she found an excuse to bring her attention back to the topic proper, eyeing the milk to consider adding even more to her already mostly depleted cup of tea. "Well, if not foretold, at least fortuitous that you brought Phoebe in then. If it is that way now, and they feel justified in their fears and try harder from now on, then we'll just have to be ready to keep obliging them with broken toys and bad press. Maybe exposing them entirely if we can... somehow. But that's a plan for another meeting. At least not on a school night, hm?" She offered another little smile, not being able to help going right back to the quips.

Claire sighed at that. The start of a new school year was normally something she could rejoice about. This year especially with so many new students joining them. They were achieving all they had set out to achieve when she had started to build the institute. The renovations. The months and months of living in a dilapidated building, slaloming around scaffolding in the hallways. Scouring her network, and that of her friends, to try and find people willing and able to come work in the institute, in a way that didn't attract the wrong attention. It had all started a little over three years ago now and it had taken every day of those three years to get to a point where she was finally able to let out a bit of a sigh of relief when the month of September came around. She should've known better. There was to be no rest of the wicked. The comment about cigar puffing bragging pricks immediately conjured to mind an image of her father. "Exposing them would be truly something." The humans first people were usually represented in the news media by the blue collar workers, but she knew there was no love lost in the higher echelons of society either. "Problem is that they control quite a bit of what gets exposed and what doesn't." She looked at the tea again, reconsidering the thought of capping the night with something a lot stronger. It wasn't proper, especially on a school night, but it felt like it would help her. "I just hope between whoever was behind the so called Sentinel operating on British soil and the misguided Sherwood Rangers, there's a United Kingdom left to call home when the dust settles."

"Somehow, I think we'll be just fine in that department. Sending the Sentinels for children is a declaration, sure, even if just a prodding test, but it's not open warfare. It can't be, right? Media control or no, just casually attacking children in public places with giant robots is bound to lose public opinion. Right?" It wasn't so much a worry on her part, but the question had that tinge of anxiety behind it, as if she were asking Claire to confirm normal people made rational decisions when they saw stuff like this. Not that she could compare the two issues, not after an attack like this, but there were certainly those subversive elements working against gay rights too, and she'd experienced some of those first hand. They were vile, they were ugly, but they knew better than to be public because they just didn't have that kind of support when they started spewing violent, hateful words. Surely this was similar? "Either way, they'll have to do a lot more than this to scare the likes of Cameron or I off. Hell or high water, I'm with you, sugar plum." She offered Claire a smile then, raising her tea cup in a silly little toast before she took a nice, long drink off the top, treating it more like alcohol than proper tea.

When hearing the term of endearment Claire couldn't help but smile a bit. It was silly. And it definitely shouldn't be happening considering their working relationship. She cleared her throat a bit to try and push that emerging feeling away and then took her final sips of the tea that Reagan had brought her. "The media is pushing all kinds of narratives, it muddles the water. Besides the only reason they know it was after Oliver was because I told them. There's outlets already questioning my credibility." She then shrugged, it was only a matter of time before her name was connected back to that of her father in the house of lords. When that happened she'd have more crap to deal with from that side as well. "And I believe that it also truly depends on the next steps these Sherwood Rangers are going to take." It was clear that the head mistress didn't trust them in the slightest to take the right steps.

"Well that's something, I suppose. Tells us they probably want to keep it quiet, don't feel they have a good angle to go public quite yet, right? Means if we can find evidence... a good smear campaign for whoever's bankrolling it." She huffed a little laugh then, before polishing off the tea and setting the cup down fully, hands free and away. "Look at me, already scheming against them... suppose it's the only action I can take from this position, huh? I can't take the fight to them, can't investigate, can't sic my company's best investigators on them and tap into that black ops experience some of them have... Was never what we were about anyway. I just... hate doing nothing, you know? Being reactive instead of proactive. Waiting for something else to happen and carrying on otherwise." Her nose scrunched, her hands curled in her lap, together, squeezing. She could already feel her temperature rising (or was that just the tea?) at the thought. Maybe she'd go for a run before finally crashing in bed, work off some of that frustration. It beat breaking things or something equally destructive. "And then there's those people, fancy themselves some kind of folk heroes when they're out justifying big, purple robots to the ones we don't see."

In some ways it almost felt like giving up, just sitting on their hands the way that they were planning to do, but Claire also knew that nothing good could come of starting a witch hunt against these people. Any of them. She'd have to trust that her words would've had some effect on those listening. That somehow she'd been able to sway the public discourse at least a little in their favour by pointing out that the target of the machine had not been dangerous, terrorist, mutants, but that it was a young boy from a broken home. "The cynic in me would say that we live in a deterministic reality and that 'come what may'." Claire shrugged a bit, she was never one for that point of view though. She could argue it, and there were some strong logical points to be made for it, but it just didn't sit right with her. "Instead, however, we shall focus on those things we can do and influence and apply ourselves. Whatever the dawn brings."

That got an appreciative little nod and a teasing golf clap out of Reagan, smiling across at Claire. "Short, but poignant little speech. Practicing that for commencement with the students, or is that little gem of a line just for the adults?" She found herself laughing softly, but otherwise... "Suddenly think I am about ready to rest. Classes in the morning, are you excited, Claire? Teaching anything this term or just going to stick to administration?"

"Some uni-prep Philosophy, and Mutant Ethics as an elective. As always. I don't think I'll ever want to not teach something. If I stop doing those classes I'll probably start preaching even more to innocent passer-by's." Claire pushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear before stepping towards Reagan and giving her a warm embrace, "Thank you for checking in on me." She softly said into the woman's nearby ear.

Nodding in satisfaction with that answer, Reagan dares to stand in line with her previous declaration of fatigue. A good thing too, when Claire approaches and hugs her. She's caught off-guard at first, pausing, but eventually smiles and returns the little gesture. She squeezes once before craning her head back to look at Claire up close and offer a smile as warm as the embrace. "Any time, Claire. You keep putting on the tough image, but I know there's a squishy woman under all that who needs to be reassured now and again. Happy to help." There's another pause there, consideration in their proximity, before the blonde ultimately decides to pull back and avert her eyes, tucking some hair behind her ear. She hides her brief break in composure, her red cheeks, by leaning to grab the tray and turn back toward the door. "Get some rest, alright? Or I'll sleepwalk in here myself and kick your butt into bed. Big day tomorrow."

The night was Claire's friend, the darkness usually brought out all sorts of thoughts and ideas and things that 'had to be done right now', but she suspected that in this instance Rae might've been right. She needed rest. She needed to be ready for whatever would be coming their way this first week of school. The press, the locals, the students, the parents. There was a lot to be handled and the institute would need its head teacher in the best possible shape. "I'll just finish up some paperwork and head in." She hoped to reassure Reagan, and perhaps herself as well. "Thanks again. Good luck tomorrow."

"Don't need luck, got a perfectly good head on my shoulders and a kickass team to support me." Reagan shot Claire a quick grin before she exited the office and picked up her pace. The faster she got the tea set back to the kitchen, the faster she could get to bed and try and get some proper sleep for the day to come. Perhaps even more importantly, for all the baggage to come with it in the weeks and months ahead.