What Curfew?

Posted on Wed Jun 14th, 2023 @ 16:59 by Mia Misati & Hamish McClean & Ophelia Sideris & Shauna Murphy & Catriona Reid & Alistair Quill

Chapter: All Hallow's Eve
Location: Avalon Institute: Lakeside
Timeline: Weds October 27th - Evening
1548 words - 3.1 OF Standard Post Measure

Considering the measures Claire likely had in place to prevent unwanted attention from the outside of the Avalon Institute from getting in, the older students had been there long enough to come up with a couple of ways to sneak out. Particularly useful on a cool October evening when teenage rebellion was on the cards. Added to that, Shauna's ability to sneak virtually anywhere meant they had access to a few additional 'bonuses'.

"Next time, look under the mantle," Hamish explained as they approached the small clearing by the edge of the lake. "I swear there's a wee bottle of hundred-year-old malt tucked away in there." As it was, they were making do with a weird bottle with what looked like Russian text all over the side.

"Yuck. Not everyone likes that sort of thing," Mia complained, looping arms with Shauna as a way of maintaining solidarity. "I'd like to see you break into the headmistress' office without anyone noticing..."

"She must keep the good stuff locked down airtight, even I couldn't sniff it out. But lucky for us, I didn't even need to read Russian to find this! Though I still say it's just switched with the stuff from the janitor's closet. For cleaning your insides instead of your outsides. Until someone pukes it up and the janitor has to clean--" Ophelia finds herself gasping, flat refusing the bottle even for an initial sip with her heightened senses. Besides, she was too busy being a prophet, voice quieted as she spoke from the other side of Shauna from Mia, though lagging a step behind. "It's the circle of life..."

As usual, Catriona was not part of the inner girly group so she walked behind staying quiet. She could have easily sniffed out something better but she was reluctant to get anything good as that would have gotten them busted in seconds. They had to do it sneakily.

In many ways, if Shauna could have her way, she wouldn't have involved half as many of the group as always seemed to wind up tagging along. It wasn't necessarily judgement on the individuals themselves, more a lack of desire to hang around in large groups, coupled with the minor irritation of feeling compelled to babysit certain individuals who seemed ridiculously enamoured with the concept of inebriation as the pinnacle of rebellion. Just a month shy of being legally allowed to drink in all situations, the redhead was nearly two-years-older than the rest of them and would have been inclined to wonder how she'd got lumbered with a bunch of lower-grades except for the fact that she didn't have a great deal of time for the small handful of students in her own year either. She seemed to genuinely seek Mia out, and to a lesser extent Ophelia, and beyond that...

Actually, Catriona was fine.

But beyond that...

"Remind me again why we're out here freezing to death?"

Lagging slightly behind the group was Alistair, he had opted for a thick leather jacket and his dark hair was in disarray by choice, since for him it was always by choice. He had shifted his eye colour into a deep red for the occasion and had black lips to go with the white Nirvana shirt he had on underneath the leather jacket. The thick black boots that completed his look made sure to keep the cold out from him. "There's a Halloween gig."

"Sometimes it's more fun to be out without a chaperone," Mia added. "Do our own thing. C'mon, isn't it better just to be able to be out doing normal things like normal people?"

"Normal ain't exactly our thing," Hamish quipped. The group finally reached the little clearing by the lakeside. In the distance, they could hear the noises over in New Cresthill. "But you all forget: this is Scotland. Rebelling against authority is in our blood, you know."

"Normal is overrated anyway," Alistair added to Hamish' quip.

"But they ain't Scottish." Catriona declared teasing as she joined in on the quip elated for a moment to have a little group.

Shauna, for whom it was admittedly far easier to exist without chaperones for a variety of reasons, glanced around the expectant faces and shook her head, relenting somewhat. She, at least, was Scottish enough down her father's line to view stubbornness as a cultural imperative. "There's a Halloween gig is a little ambiguous, don't you think?," she challenged Alistair. "Where exactly?"

Alistair looked at Shauna incredulously. "In New Cresthill." The town was pretty big, especially since they had to walk there first, but he was sure that once they got there the crowds would lead them to the place of festivities. "I'm sure we'll be able to find it."

"I can sniff it out," Catriona assured sniffing the air to prove the point.

"Want to see something cool?" Hamish said quietly, as the others milled around. Picking up a flat stone and testing the weight, he stooped low and whipped it across the surface of the lake. Those that were watching could see it skip rapidly off the fairly still water almost eleven times before disappearing into the darkness. "I reckon that'll hit the other shore before it stops."

Ophelia watched the rock skip with utter fascination, holding a hand over her eyes as if blocking out the sunlight. Don't ask. She bit her lower lip, then leaned up to Mia with grim seriousness in her voice, whispering quietly. "Should I tell him if it did?"

"Give him his moment, he seems to be enjoying it," she replied. As much as she, along with most of the other girls, had taken a little shine to the dashing Scot, he did come off as a bit of a dork with his showing-off.

Predictably unimpressed, Shauna rolled her eyes and focused her intention instead of Alistair. "So, is the plan for us to trudge through the forest on foot to get to town? Because that sounds cold and dark and," her eyes cast upwards, "possibly wet." Craning her head back around to stare at the castle lights behind them, the redhead narrowed her eyes thoughtfully and, in a tone that most recognised as the onset of potential scheming, she mused, "There's got to be a better way."

"Half a dozen of us with crazy mutant powers and nobody has a way to get us over the loch and into a party?" Hamish shrugged, looking for solutions from the others.

Shauna shot him a deadpan and once again turned to Alistair. "If we're sure the faculty have disappeared into their bunker for team bonding, or whatever the hell it is they do down there, then I think I have an idea that will get us there much faster and without the risk of getting drenched." As was so often the case, despite looking down her nose at the initial plan, Shauna was well on the way to monopolising it entirely. "Come with me," she told Alistair, "The rest of you wait here and try not to fall into the loch." Turning without waiting to see if Alistair had decided to play along, she added, "Pushing insufferable idiots in is totally allowed though," before moving back in the direction of the garages.

TAG in general!

It took a more than a few minutes but, eventually, the dull rumble of an engine was soon followed by the crunch of tyres on a gravel-strewn driveway and the silhouette of the smaller of Avalon's school buses lurched into view. It followed the meandering road that ran alongside the loch and pulled up as close to the assembled group as it could manage. Driver's Ed wasn't Shauna's strong point, which was why it was Alistair sat behind the wheel, whilst the instigator of the daring descent into grand theft auto leaned out of the opened door and beckoned. "Hurry up, before some bright spark up at the castle realises all this noise isn't part of movie night!"

"I didn't realise any of you knew how to drive..." Mia murmured, surprised at the solution they'd come up with, but not arguing with it.

"It's Alistair. Who knows if he even can, eh?" Hamish hopped in the seat behind the driver and bumped Alistair's shoulder with his fist. "What are you, Martin Riggs now?"

“Car and tractor can’t be that different.” Catriona commented with a shrug. She would give it a go but this seemed a very good way of getting caught and expelled if she was honest.

It was, Shauna knew, a ridiculously risky move almost certain to catch the attention of the faculty eventually. Whether that was intentional, a way of thwarting the rebelliousness by dragging all eyes towards it, or simply her own battle cry wasn't something the mutant was likely to admit to. She held her tongue, arms crossed in front of her as the others boarded.

"I don't know who that is." Alistair mumbled a bit as he closed the door behind the last person entering. "Next stop, New Cresthill. Buckle up kids." He put the thing into gear and started rolling it down the windy road towards the town. This was going to be an awesome night.