Arrival

[Mr. Handy]

Clive remains with Mike and the new boys. He's been through the rules speech before, but he does want to find out more about the new arrivals.

[royya]

Right away Miss O'Connell.
Mike replies and turns to Martian and Clive
Well you are off to your business champs ... if you have any.
He then turns to the new trio with a smile - Jimmy, Davey and Peregrine.
Take your belongings, we are heading to the Assembly Hall.

[Philulhu]

Jimmy grabs what few belongings he has and follows Clive towards the Assembly Hall. "Keep up, Yank!" he says over his shoulder, "How can we break the rules if we don't know what they are?"

[aine]

Peregrine looks at his small trunk. He doesn't even know what's in it as his aunt had packed it for him. He keeps a firm grip on his blanket and walks up to Mike. He tugs at Mikes shirt, "Please Sir, my box it's too big to carry and I don't know where it goes or where the ass-assembelly hall is." He finishes in a rush.

[Mr. Handy]

Clive heads off after Martian, reasoning that he's probably heading to the library.

[royya]

Peregrine looks at his small trunk. He doesn't even know what's in it as his aunt had packed it for him. He keeps a firm grip on his blanket and walks up to Mike. He tugs at Mikes shirt, "Please Sir, my box it's too big to carry and I don't know where it goes or where the ass-assembelly hall is." He finishes in a rush.

Mike nods to Peregrine with a smile.
We'll have to make a man out of you
He then helps the little fellow with his belongings

[Laraqua]

They are led through a rather dinky entrance hall that is largely dominated by a set of red brick steps heading up and a wide mirror to the left of them. They are led into what was possibly a parlour or maybe a reception office which has an internal window cut out of the other wall to allow them to see into an empty office on the other side. This room is filled with decent and comfortable furniture, a few chairs, some exotic oddments on the cupboards, a large clock on the wall, and another door (not the one that leads into the office).

Miss O'Connell nods to Mrs. Hartley. "If you'll wait here with me."

"Certainly," said Mrs. Hartley.

Mike leads the others through the other door into another hallway with two doors on the left and a line of doors on the right. Both those two leftmost doors enter a large single storey room with a series of wooden pews much like a church but with a pair of chalkboards at both ends. The room smells a bit like sawdust and chutney. A queer mix of scents.

[CrackheadC.]

"Can't you just show my room? I'm tireda all this 'Go there, stand like this, wait here' junk. Someone can just tell me the rules later.... plus it sort of stinks in here." Davey adds wrinkling up his nose.

[Garrett]

Clive was incorrect in his assumption, on his way to the library he sees Martian sitting in his cross legged position on his bed, reading his book.

[Mr. Handy]

"Hi, Martian," says Clive, looking at the book with curiosity. "Whatcha reading?"

[Philulhu]

Jimmy poked around the room despondently. It looked like they had plans to try to teach them as well as give them somewhere to live. He'd rather be outside, doing something with his hands than be stuck in a classroom.

[Garrett]

"Roman history." He said, not looking up and burying his head a little further in his book.

[Mr. Handy]

"Neat," says Clive, though that wouldn't be his first choice of reading material. He's far more interested in the future than the past. "I like reading Biggles books. I can't wait for the next one! And everything by H.G. Wells is really good."

[Laraqua]

A sparrow rises up in flight from between a couple pews and flies across the room to land on the chalk holding part of the chalk boards. It sits there, bounces forward a few steps and then back a few steps, cocking its head to examine the boys in the room.

[Garrett]

"I know" Martian says simply, not having anything to add to the conversation. He wasn't sure if Clive realized this but we weren't getting the next book in his series until at least a few years after it was out.
-If nothing else is said or done by Clive Martian continues reading in complete silence for two more hours before he finishes his book. He then closes it, stands up, and walks to the library to get another; keeping his eyes glued to the floor.
OOC- Feel free to stop and rewind me if I skip ahead of a plot moment Laraqua.

[Mr. Handy]

Clive settles down to read his own book that he had recently borrowed from the library. When Martian is ready to return to the library, Clive goes with him.

[Philulhu]

Jimmy watched the sparrow as it hopped around on its perch. He dug in his pocket to find a few crumbs from the sandwich he'd eaten earlier and held out his hand in the hope the bird would come closer.

[Laraqua]

Around ten minutes pass and then the sparrow flutters down the gap between the pews toward the doorway. Bored gazes are drawn to the movement in most cases and those boys who are interested watch it flight straight down the line as an older woman steps out into the doorway, hand snatching out to grab the bird. In a sudden cruel movement, the hand crunches bone and twists wings and the bird dies with a strange sound escaping its beak as its ribs grind together beneath her grasp.



"So these are the new boys," says Mrs. Matlock with an approving smile as she tosses the lifeless bird over her shoulder and into a bin that stands by the door. She strides down the center aisle, her low heels sounding heavily against the floorboards. "You all appear to be wonderfully obedient and sweet-natured boys. I am sure there would be no problems, no difficulties, no issues, hiding within your gentle minds." Her voice is so very sincere and so very genuine though her words imply sarcasm and taunts. She pauses before them. "I am Mrs. Matlock and you are my charges." Then she continues to stand before the chalkboards.

"I aim to do my bit for King and Country through this institution in raising some of Britain's finest lads for the new era that will come after the fall of Nazi Germany. I am a true believer in Britain's greatness as I am sure you all are as well. Even an American must be able to see that Britain has shouldered this crisis well and that the tireless workers of our nation will toil to ensure our nation's continued success. As our mothers and fathers, now dearly departed, toiled in our factories and our offices and our front lines for our future, so must we toil in our own small ways to contribute to our future also. It is a small cost, an insignificant price to pay, for you to obey some small measure of rules to ensure that this institution moves along smoothly and provides minimal disruption to the greater war effort."

"Where your parents sweated to save the nation, all you must do to honour their name is to sweat for your daily bread. Where your parents fought to stem the tide of fascism, you need only fight to remember the rules and prevent yourselves from becoming a nuisance. Should you fail, you will add strain to a system that is already strained. You will make a mockery of the work of your parents and their parents before them. You will stain your family name and so stain them. After all that Britain has given, all that it has sacrificed, is it really so much to ask that you duly obey the rules so that more children may be saved from the bombs in this place of refuge? Is it really so much to ask that you treat each other with the respect that your parents have treated their colleagues with such respect? Is it so much to ask that you respect the authority of those who have charitably undertaken to provide for you and protect you with little to no recompense?"

"Or must you strike out at the hand that feeds you? Gnash your teeth like Huns and take up arms against those British citizens that toil with such insufficient staff in an effort to keep more children out of the way of bombs? Must you gunk up the works so that fewer children can be comfortably housed here and so must struggle and die in the streets of London and our other fair cities so that you may march like Nazi soldiers and play havoc where you rest? Must the blood of our nation and our nation's children mean so little to you that you behave in such an unChristian fashion, in a deliberate fashion, to damage and disrespect this institution so that you might gain some twisted, wicked glee that you are somehow above it all? Above the Christian works and the charitable needs of the more fortunate to assist the less fortunate?"

She gravely gazes upon the children to allow her words to sink in. "These are the choices that stand before you. To do your bit for your country by helping to provide for yourselves with our small garden and our small animals so that you lessen your burden upon this nation state. To accept as your lot a bitter few years in exchange for the brightness of an everlasting tomorrow. You have a grave duty. As grave as that of an Air Raid Warden or a Land Girl or the Home Guard or even the soldiers themselves to do what needs to be done and to do the right thing and to respect the laws that govern our fair nation."

"Are you willing?"

[aine]

Peregrine has been watching Jimmy trying to coax the sweet little bird when the terrible woman strides in. Having been brought up to respect and love all living things he is aghast when the bird is crushed and discarded. He listens to Mrs. Matlock's speech in shock. She reminds him of a man who used to come to his Father's house for dinner. He too spoke in a similar way. And his parents used to row late in the night after the man had left. Peregrine used to hate him turning up and Peregrine decides Mrs. Matlock is a horrible woman.
"These are the choices that stand before you. To do your bit for your country by helping to provide for yourselves with our small garden and our small animals so that you lessen your burden upon this nation state." He wonders if she means for them to eat the sparrows. He is busy thinking these thoughts when she asks if he is willing.

"But we can't eat the sparrows!" He blurts out.

[Laraqua]

She pauses and looks at him in a heavy silence for a long moment before responding, "You haven't been listening at all, have you?" She sighs deeply. "Very well. You are quite young. I'm asking you to do your bit for your country by obeying the rules and not being a nuisance."