A classroom of your very own

Posted on Wed Apr 12th, 2023 @ 11:00 by Rebecca McMillen & Claire Cavendish

Chapter: Prologue: Dawn of Avalon
Location: Art class, Avalon Institute
Timeline: Thursday, October 1st 1992
2264 words - 4.5 OF Standard Post Measure

A gentle knock of purple knuckles on the closed door attempted to get the attention of the room's occupant without startling her. It was early on the day, but the Head Mistress felt that the sooner they were able to sort this out, the better. "Good morning, Becks." Claire announced her presence further, looking at the door of the small guest quarters that the stray wiry woman had been living in for the past couple of days. "We need to talk." She stood in the doorway, papers held in her hand behind her back, awaiting a response from within.

Rebecca had been up for a while before the knock. Truth be told, these past few days were something of a haze. A big shift in her life, and coming from someone like her that actually meant a lot. A chance. A chance to do something more than just be an oddity, just be a ... a pet.

The knocking at the door brought her back to the here and now, and she sat up from the bed she was half sitting, half laying on. "C'min." she beckoned, rising up to greet her guest, her boss, her new friend.. to stand on her own two...

Feet.

She shrugged internally. Not the worst she'd seen, Rebecca reasoned. Besides, conventional shoes cramped.

"Would you please come with me?" Claire pushed the door open and looked around the small quarters before conjuring up a bit of a smile for its occupant. She stepped away from the door and waited in the hallway, giving the woman some privacy to get ready if she needed it. "Have you had some chance to rest up?"

It wasn't too long before Rebecca was in tow behind Claire. "Lead the way, and yeah. Certainly a lot more comfortable that a lot of the places I've been but, well, all that does is teach you how to sleep anywhere. Thank you, again, for this." she offered in gratitude.

Claire nodded at that, "Well. Don't get too used to the room." It had been a couple of long days and it was difficult to keep up with everything. She'd had wanted to move Rebecca away from the guest quarters into an actual teacher's dorm almost immediately but it had gotten stuck somewhere on them checking her credentials. "Just this way." She looked over her shoulder and gave a smile that belied her weariness. "Do you have any family or friends that might be missing you?" She asked in a way of small talk. The institute had been in the news and if they knew this is where the weak and weary mutants went it would be logical to assume that this is one of the places they'd now look for her.

"My mum and dad, and my two sisters. But I don't think Missing is the right word. Mum and dad are probably missing their showpiece of a daughter, and my sisters are probably missing their favorite toy and doll." Rebecca grumbled as she followed. At Claire's comment, she was momentarily concerned that she was going to be asked to leave, but banished the thought quickly. What bigger threat could she pose that this academy wasn't already beyond? Terrorist cells, giant robots, girl that talks to mice. Yeah, she was high on the terror alert.

"I wouldn't worry about them."

After a moment's silence, "Didn't have much in the way of friends. Just folks I met on the chat rooms, but they're used to me being quiet for weeks at a time. I can make up any excuse and they'll be good. They... they don't know what I can do. And, well I was more embarrassed than friendly when it came to meeting people in the here and now."

"If they contact us, we'll let you know. We have a policy of not confirming who is enrolled here or who works here." Claire knew that not everyone there had good ties with their families. She was certainly one of those people. It was at times very difficult to keep things going properly with the kind of organisation they were but she had always pushed for this protection through anonymity and with her connections had been able to get the proper accreditation without having to reveal too much to the public record.

The two turned a corner which brought them to a large open classroom with bulky desks on high legs. "Here we go." The head mistress stepped inside and turned to look back at Rebecca. "So. What do you think?"

Rebecca continued walking in, running her hands along the desktops as she went deeper into the room. A smile crossed over her face as she just imagined, imagined the room full of students, messy with paint, a disaster where everyone was laughing. Not at anyone, but just the kind of laughter that you have when you're having fun. She wanted that. She wanted her class to look forward to the arts. To the humanities. The REAL humanities.

Not the rabble waiting for them out there.

She wanted them to hear about fellow outcasts. van Gogh, Rembrandt, Warhol. Not mutants, but people who were misunderstood or even outcasts in their time who became appreciated, heralded as worthy of remembering for all time.

"It's too clean, but that'll change fast enough. It's perfect." Rebecca actually spun on a heel rather than simply 'turning' to face Claire. "I promise I'm not going to make a 'Blank Canvas' joke here, but there's a lot of potential and I'm looking forward to seeing it work."

Claire's face lit up at the enthusiasm of the young woman. So far she had only seen her more akin to a scared mouse, and she wasn't too sure she'd be comfortable in front of a class. Even when the paperwork all checked out, and she was indeed an certified teacher, the Head Teacher still had her doubts. But now that she had gotten a room of her own with the prospect of teaching the students there seemed to be a change. A good one. "I'm glad to hear it." A smile. "So. Ready for one last stop?"

"There's more? Gonna spoil me at this rate." she joked, her mood lifted to the heavens from this. A chance. An opportunity. But waiting behind the next door could be ... the catch.

"One last stop, eh? Sure, lead the way." she offered, turning to fall in next to the headmistress.

They made their way to the faculty dorms, several of them were separated from the students dorms, only those in a mentoring position for one of the houses were in the associated dorm. The others, especially those that were just settling in, had different accommodations. "I hear you've met some of the other staff already." Claire tried to make conversation on their way there.

"I have. They're such a friendly bunch." she replied, "Reagan and Cameron, we had early morning omelets while I was handling the rats in the cellar." Rebecca offered, keeping the details of the actual breakfast rendezvous silent. "I felt really bad during, since the pair of them looked a bit, well, off."

"But, given what you lot went through, I understood." Rebecca was silent for a moment. "I didn't want to press. You know, new girl on campus." she actually managed a smile, "I met Kaylee, she's interesting. Asks a lot of good questions, made me think about my, my talent in new ways. I think she wants to run a few tests, and I'm actually looking forward to them." she paused, and smirked, "I warned her no mazes. Not actually a lab rat."

"So, mind if I ask you a question?" she got her conversation started, at least.

"I'm glad to hear it. Cam and Rae always look a bit off when you first meet them. Omlettes you say, huh? I guess that explains Valjean in my office." Claire knew about Cam's requirements on a normal day and after what they had gone through over the weekend and the way he had been pushing his powers she wasn't surprised that a good dozen eggs went missing.

"I'm sure we can come together and see exactly what Kaylee means by tests. We're not here to experiment on mutants, but to garner understanding of oneself and ones abilities." Claire was never one to shoot down scientific enquiry, she truly believed it was the only way to advance as a civilisation, but they had to make sure that the people on staff and of the student body weren't going to feel like they were in some sort of elaborate government lab trying to figure out exactly how all of them ticked..

"No no, I think *I* made the lab rat comment first, to be honest." she defended Kaylee, maybe a testimony to how much she wanted to keep her friends safe from perceived harm. Or just keep her friends. "So, ummm, I just wanted to ask. Not that I'm questioning but, what made you start this? What made you decide to start all this?"

"The kids need it. But kids need a lot and no one does any of those." she ventured.

There was a bit of a pang of guilt that she always felt when someone asked about Claire's motivations. It made her wonder exactly what parts of her origin story she should be talking about with new faculty. "I had the means to provide our community with a much needed sanctuary. Something that was never provided to me when I was younger." It was a time in her life that made her who she was but she didn't reflect on it fondly. "Back when I was young Mutants were considered scary and dangerous, and one of the ways they dealt with that was putting us in boarding schools and gated communities far away from civilisation. Hiding us, telling us we're dangerous freaks." She realised that Avalon seemed like it was exactly like that kind of an institute. "Avalon is an alternative way. A more empowering way."

"Gated communities... boarding schools... sounds like you and I have something in common then: Cages." Rebecca remarked. "I wish I had an Avalon growing up. I wish I had something like this." she paused, "You're not scary. You're the kind of person that finds a woman in her basement and says let me help you up, rather than let me see you out." she smiled, "I'd like to think it's because we're Londoners, and we have to stick together, but you know what I meant."

"You had the means, you had the way, and you did it. That's a thousand times more than most. I'm, I'm looking forward to being a part of it." her thin tail had picked up a swish-swish without her even knowing it.

"I'm happy to have you here as a part of it." The head teacher was never any good with accepting compliments, especially when they came so directly and personally. She rounded the final corner and came to a stop in front of a non-descript wooden door. "Here we are." She fished a key from her pocket and fiddled with the lock a bit, "It's a bit rusty, perhaps William can have a look for you." after a moment more she was able to unlock it and swung the door open. The room was even more bare than the classroom. It had a bed, desk, chair and that was pretty much it. "It's not much, but this is you." She dangled the key in front of the woman she had found in her basement a couple of nights ago.

Rebecca paused, staring at the key before gently taking it. Half of her expected the shoe to drop and for the key to be snatched from her at the final moment. A catcha to last the ages. Though when she was holding the key, it felt real. it felt proper. "A room all my own." she echoed, looking in. "No surprise roommates? No.... sorry, last time I had a room all to myself, I lost it soon. Just, taking a bit to soak this all in." she looked, almost memorizing the barren layout. Nothing, nothing, nothing, bed, nothing, desk, nothing...

"It's perfect." she spun on a heel, tail trailing in the spiral behind her, "I... thank you." she smiled wide. A deep breath, held, then released, "Thank you." she repeated.

"All yours." Claire walked up closer to the new art teacher and spread her arms to invite her into a hug, "Welcome to Avalon."

Rebecca wrapped her arms around Claire at the invite, She tried to say several emotions at once, ranging from another thank you, to the standard I don't know what to say, and a few others lost in the garble. In the end, she finally managed to muster a "Thank you." again, holding the hug for a moment before releasing the headmistress.

"I'll leave you to it." Claire stepped back out of the small faculty quarters. Sometimes she felt a bit guilty for having an office that was almost the same size as this plus a room that was easily twice the size. People kept telling her she had earned it, still didn't properly feel like that. "Let me know if you need anything else."

"Oh, certainly. Thank you again." and with that, Rebecca turned to begin planning and laying out her quarters. HER quarters, it felt so nice to be able to say that. This was her space. No one was going to take it from her.