[Plot] Lamentations

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam calmly but insistently walks into Lippincott's office. She doesn't storm or huff, she still has some dignity left.

"Your latest stooge said you enjoy hearing complaints, so I have some complaints for you." she huffs.

[Ballinger Lippincott]

"Ah, Miss Bell. I suppose I have to invite you in so you can cross the threshhold, yes?" he joked, lightly.

[Miriam Bell]

"Even if that was a thing, I'm already inside the building." she says, floundering a bit because she didn't expect this jovial a tone.

"Anyway, that's not the point. The point is that all these new rules are getting rather obnoxious. I have to sneak around every time I need a break from my room-mate's obnoxious dreams or don't want to be cooped up for most of my waking hours not spent in class."

[Ballinger Lippincott]

"Pull up a chair; sit down, and maybe we can work something out for you," he said, gesturing to one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"I suppose the curfew is particularly onerous for a creature of the night."

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam blinks and keeps just standing there for a moment.

"Uh... Yes, it's rather frustrating."

[Ballinger Lippincott]

"I hope you understand, at least, why the rules are what they are -- they need to protect the largest number of students, and that we all have to make a few sacrifices for the good of the community.

Now, that doesn't mean we can't find some accommodations for you, specifically, just that there has to be some understanding on all sides in order for everyone to remain safe and secure, yes?" he said, with a smile. "And less sneaking around behind my Prefects' backs."

[Miriam Bell]

"Safe and secure from what exactly?"

[Ballinger Lippincott]

"The world is a dangerous place -- especially for mutants, at the moment. We've had students roughed up off campus, even right here in Maldon -- much less the sort of...violence that takes place around the rest of the country," he said, with a frown, looking past Miriam into the hazy distance for a moment.

[Miriam Bell]

And Miriam, in turn, fixes her eyes on Lippincott and tries to read his thoughts.

[Narrator]

Lippencott's mind was rather focused and ordered, so a passive attempt to get below surface thoughts was unlikely to be successful, but Miriam did get a flash of images.

A young girl, maybe middle school aged, smiling.
A crime scene, taped off, with a police officer shaking his head, and blood on the floor.
A coffin, sitting alone, awaiting burial.

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam is good at sliding into the subconscious mind, but handling grief?

She actually staggers and it's a small miracle she manages to simply let herself fall into the chair.

"You lost somebody..." she says quietly.

[Ballinger Lippincott]

Lippencott looked up in surprise, but to his credit, that only lasted a moment -- telepaths, of course.

"My daughter," he said, brusquely. "She had an active X-Gene -- a sort of chameleonic nature.

She was...just in the wrong place at the wrong time," he sighed.

[Miriam Bell]

"I... I know what that's like. Losing somebody."

[Ballinger Lippincott]

"It was...senseless," he said, dropping for a moment the air of administrative bureaucracy he normally wore. "You aren't different than we are; not really. You have a couple extra abilities; a gene that fires differently. And yet something so small can cause people to have such..." he trailed off.

"Forgive me, I don't mean to go down personal trauma road. If I remember correctly, you had a sister you were close to, as well?"

[Miriam Bell]

"Car accident." she says, trying to keep her voice level. This is not how she envisioned this conversation going and she'll be damned if she has a breakdown in front of Lippincott. "Just some distracted asshole... She deserved so much better."

[Ballinger Lippincott]

Lippencott nodded his head, slowly. "You were young, too. And with your powers... I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for you, to hold it all together.

They all deserve better. And that's why I put such a priority on the safety and well-being of my students. I don't want to lose any of you before your time. If the world was different, then the situation would be different.

But that's what we're here to do, right? To change the world? You, Miriam Bell, and your friends and this entire campus. You will be the ones to make this world understand. And I will make sure that I do everything in my power to make sure that happens -- this I do swear to you."

[Miriam Bell]

"I don't know if I'm one to change the world but I'll admit it's all too easy to put yourself in a lot of danger..."

[Ballinger Lippincott]

"And that's why we're working so hard to help you -- all of you -- overcome your weaknesses. Better know yourself, so you can better protect yourselves.

You say you were having trouble with your roommates' dreams? What sort of trouble?"

[Miriam Bell]

"It's nothing. Her thoughts can just be kind of loud when she's dreaming."

[Ballinger Lippincott]

"Part of the reason of putting two telepaths together was so you could help each other out in these sorts of instances -- building up walls and being able to filter is a very important skill. Are Miss McManus' defenses not up to snuff?"

[Miriam Bell]

"They're fine. I assume. But when she's asleep she has little active control and my power loves the unconscious mind. Look it doesn't matter, it's a reality of my power and strangely enough, I'm not here to complain about Samantha. She's been... surprisingly good to room with."

[Ballinger Lippincott]

Lippencott smiled, nodding. "I wish a few more of your fellow students had similar opinions, but we persevere, anyway."

[Miriam Bell]

"Right. So, am I free to disregard the curfew then?"

[Ballinger Lippincott]

"No," he frowned. "But we can come up with an accommodation for you.

Is it specifically nighttime you need, or just nocturnal conditions?"

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam groans.

"I need to be able to leave my bloody room. Sleeping at night just isn't working for me."

[Ballinger Lippincott]

Lippencott drummed his fingers on his desk, before hitting a small red button.

"Mr. Stanton, please report back to my office, thank you.


You DO realize that you will need to sleep at some point," he said, turning his attention back to Miriam. "I notice you put most of your classes in the afternoon, which I assume helps with that. But, I do believe that even vampires do occasionally need their beauty sleep."

[Miriam Bell]

"My body wants to go to sleep when the sun comes up. I fail to see how putting more things on Will's plate is going to help with that."

[Ballinger Lippincott]

"Oh, Mr. Stanton's plate runs deeper than you might think. It's a shame Miss McManus and Mr. Narumi felt the need to hide his recent power development from me; it was the breakthrough we had been working towards, and our doctors here could have helped him significantly. Ah well, onwards and upwards. It's your health and well-being I'm concerned about."

[Miriam Bell]

"Then let me go out at night and sleep through at least part of the day." she says, throwing her hands up as if this was the clear and obvious solution.

[Ballinger Lippincott]

"Yes, precisely."

Will waked into the room.

"Meet your evening chaperone, Miss Bell.

Will, Miriam's status as a child of the night requires an adaptation to the rules to help her unique nocturnal physiology. I will be issuing her with a buzzer; the cue for you to come and walk her around campus in order to let her stretch her legs and relax. If she wishes to leave her room after curfew, you must be with her."

[Miriam Bell]

"Are you serious? I'm what's dangerous in the night. I don't need a chaperone!"

[Ballinger Lippincott]

"Miss Bell, try not to get agitated.

You have a bit of a sticky record, wouldn't you say? Even since I've been in charge, there was that...incident in the bathroom, with all that blood. I am trying to help you, but you have to see things somewhat from my perspective."

[Will Stanton]

"Yes, headmaster," Will said, looking slightly over Lippencott's shoulder.

[Miriam Bell]

"Fine." she relents, but not without some snarl to her voice. "But it's still stupid. The blood was not my fault and I would have handled it if I hadn't had to dodge around Zandra."

[Will Stanton]

"Which is why Will will be your chaperone. I wouldn't want you and Zandra to antagonize each other much more," Lippencott said, with a smile, and flashing a look at Will.

"Yes, headmaster," Will agreed, turning to leave and accidentally bumping fairly hard into Miriam as he turned around. "Oh, geez, Miriam, I'm sorry. I'm such a klutz...guess I'm not used to my new training suit..."

As he leaned over to make sure Miriam was alright, Miriam would feel something slipped into the palm of her hand.

[Miriam Bell]

"Ooph... Watch it, clay-head..." Miriam curses at him from the floor as she glances down at what he handed her before slipping it into one of her pockets.

[Ballinger Lippincott]

It was a simple silver spike, maybe three or four inches in length. Now why the hell...



"Easy, you two. I know the two of you have history as well, and am choosing to ignore it. But if this is going to be a problem, there are other steps we can take..."

[Miriam Bell]

"It's fine. It happens." Miriam mumbles, more confused than anything by what just happened.

[Ballinger Lippincott]

"Good, good," Lippencott nodded. "And this will be good for Mr. Stanton, too. It is really so wonderful when my students can help each other, wouldn't you say?"

[Miriam Bell]

"Yeah, ringing him out in the middle of the night is going to do wonders for his sleep schedule." Miriam says as she turns to leave the office.