Realistic or Modern Victorian London

[GreyZone]

"Oh, he just has this woe is me atmosphere about him," Margaret continued, not realizing that she kept going on and on about Victor long past what was socially acceptable of a barmaid and a customer. "The conversation was horrible and he acted as if the troubles of a nobleman are the same of someone like my family. It's a bit ridiculous, if you asked me. I doubt he has lifted a finger in his entire life, where I am working roughly seventeen hours a day and have nothing to show for it other than my reddened hands and no gloves to cover them."


She refilled his drink again without him asking, even though he had hardly taken any of it. Then, Jane came racing down the stairs, holding the baby out toward Margaret with a horrified expression on her face. "He pooped," she whispered.


"That's what children do, Jane," Margaret snapped back, not taking the child. "They eat, cry, poop, and kill their mothers. Just go put him back upstairs."

 

[Syrrus]

Ignoring the little girl commenting on how the baby was doing, Jack pondered to himself. "Ya sure he meant it dat' way? Maybe he meant nobles has troubles too and not at all the same as you. Although different. Heck, if I had that much money I'd probably be miserable! Imagine not havin' anything do to at all, anyday of the week? I'd go mad, mad I say! Nah, I like my life just like this. Hard works day, commin' to a nice pub, have a drink and a nice char before goin' back home to sleep. Sundays are the best though, bein' able to sleep late and rest, though I wouldn't like em' as much if I didn't work, every day bein' a sunday sounds awful!"


Jack shivered by the share thought of having a life that wasn't his own. He enjoyed it immensely, sure perhaps there was things he wanted more, maybe a nice wife and a sweet house in the country somewhere, though what purpose was there in dreaming of better things, when those things could not be had?

 

[GreyZone]

Margaret turned Jane around by the shoulders and nudged her toward the stairs with her hands flat on her back. "Just take care of it and only come to get me if he is dead," she hissed in Jane's ear. That would be a great day indeed.


"I do not know, and I do not care," she lied to Jack. "He was a miserable creature and did absolutely nothing about it. How am I to pity a man who sees the world in only bleak shadows, and yet changes nothing? I find it lazy and intolerable. He was a fiend, that man. And I hope I never see him again." She lied, yet again. She had hardly been able to stop thinking of Victor the entirety of the months they had been apart. She pegged it on being bored, on having too much time to herself and her own mind. She blamed him for being so miserable when she found her own life insufferable.

 

[Syrrus]

Jack nodded slowly. "Well, that's dat' then, isn't it? Ya can't do more than not care, or more like; less." He chuckled and finished his drink. "Better ta just do what ya feel like doin', who wants to be miserable forever, eh? I certainly wouldn't. Though I don't think I've had a single bad day since-- Well, ever! Hah." He stroke his dirty hand over his chin and leaned back in his seat.


"So, ya' fella." He smirked her way. "If he is dat miserable and horrible, how come ya' stand there talkin' to a stranger about him, hmh?"

 

[GreyZone]

"My mother always said that you never have bad days, just bad moments, but then she died giving birth to that monstrosity you saw earlier, and I cannot think of the last good anything I have had--" Margaret stopped herself. "I am sorry. You did not come here to hear about the woes of the barmaid during your drink. I am starting to sound more and more like him--"


And then his second statement. "Oh," she exclaimed, leaning her elbows on the counter and burying her face in her hands. "I truly am sorry, Sir."

 

[Syrrus]

"Do not feel as if ya' are annoying me, nothin' can annoy me. Ya' ma' sounds like she was a smart woman." Jack nodded. "Ya should not hate her new child for losin' her, that means she died for nothin', ya gotta take care of ya' family. You only got one."


The young man tilted his head. "About that fella' if ya' miss 'im so much, why not just go and talk to 'em instead of standin' here, missin' him. Ya can't live like that, doll."

 

[GreyZone]

"I hate her new child because he's horrid-looking and acts as if a demon possessed him the moment he was born," Margaret replied with a sigh. "Of course, no one will be a wet nurse for a lower class baby. So he is fed on broth with the rest of us, and I believe it brings out the evil in him."


Margaret closed her eyes for a moment. The only time she could go see Victor was in the precious seven hours her father allotted her for sleep. He spent when she worked wallowing, trying to make important excuses where in reality, he was simply grieving for his wife of twenty years. "Thank you for your kind advice, Sir. Actually..."


She darted upstairs and snagged one of her older brothers, the kindest of the three. "Could you please tend the bar for me? Just a few more hours? I must attend to some feminine issues."


That last statement was all that he needed to ask no questions.


Margaret returned after a few moments, pressing a quick kiss against Jack's sooty forehead. "Thank you for doing what job is normally mine. Tell my brother that you already paid me for your drinks and be on your merry way whenever you please."

 

[Syrrus]

"Huh, is it dat easy to get a kiss from a pretty lady? I should give sound advice more often!" The man chuckled, though said nothing else and simply stayed in his seat. He had no were to be, not yet anyway. Given the few hours he had to just do what he felt like doing, he'd take it in a heartbeat. "Goodluck lady! Don't go fallin' and hurtin' ya head."


Victor had done what he usually did, which was sitting in his chair, by his piano, walking back and forth, consuming what could only be unhealthy substances into his veins and drinking a lot of whiskey. Whiskey had now become his new and favorite substance of intake, it tasted far better than beer, and was far lighter on the system than the reddest of wine. Never mind that it worked very well with the occasional cigar or pipe smoke which he also had grown costumed to.


At this very moment, he was sitting by the piano, writing new songs and poems on the fly. Dressed in neat black trousers, a white and half open shirt and a pair of black socks. His hair was, like always, slicked back and he looked little different from what he always had done.

 

[GreyZone]

Margaret laughed lightly at that and pressed another kiss to his cheek. "Thank you again, Jack. I do hope you come again soon."


She did not waste time with changing out of the dress she worked in, despite the generously low neckline or the skirt that showed a bit of her stockings over her shoes. He already knew how distasteful her work was, how immodestly she dressed. Especially based upon his poor ex-lover's garments, he would not be too shocked.


Margaret walked gingerly across the lobby to inquire of the landlady. "Would Mr. Edwards be in his room at this hour, or has he left?" She asked politely.

 

[Syrrus]

The landlady was surprised to see her, at first she didn't even recognize the young woman. Though being a lady of gossip and rumors she instantly remembered and gave her a big wide smile. "Of course! He's in his apartment, playing away on that piano of his. Can't you hear him? I'll be up shortly with a cup of tea for you both. Do feel at home love."


Victor was indeed busy with his piano, in fact, this was one of the few moments when he had a purpose to his playing. Everything was going smoothly, every note was playing perfectly. His pipe sitting on top of the mantelpiece, filling the room with blue tobacco smoke.

 

[GreyZone]

Margaret smiled kindly at the landlady. "And I apologize for my attire, madam. I just left work and it is not an elegant business, being a barmaid."


After that, she made her way to Victor's apartment, barely knocking on his door. Her stomach instantly lit up with nerves and she contemplated fleeing, but the landlady would know she was truly a coward, then. No, she had to do it. Jack was right. Margaret could not spend the rest of her days wasting away, wondering what could have been. She would not have it.

 

[Syrrus]

He played a sour note upon hearing the knock upon the door. Shouting out in surprise at his mistyping he slammed his forehead against the keys in frustration. He flew out of his seat shortly after and hurried to the door which he swung upon quickly and glared at who ever disturbed him. Though what he saw hit him with such chock that he tripped backwards on a stack of books and hit his favorite chair. "Margaret! Gods." He placed his hand over his heart. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

 

[GreyZone]

Margaret jumped, first at the wrong note, then the banking of the keys, and almost had a heart attack herself at his reaction to her.


She stepped forward to offer him a hand, brushing a strand of her hair back. "I did not mean to startle you, Mr. Edwards," she rushed out. "But I have been thinking of absolutely nothing else over these months and I am working even more now and have a baby to take care of and I have been absolutely miserable and hypocritical so Jack told me to come see you and just get it over with--so here I am."

 

[Syrrus]

"Jack? A baby?!" Victor frowned up at her, not accepting any help, as he managed quite alright on his own. "How long has it been since I've seen you? Nine months?! That's impossible. I swear it was only end of summer we parted." He hurried around the room, trying to find a calendar and clock, to try and figure out exactly what date it was, and how long it had been. "Yes, exactly. There is no possible way." He nodded, self assured and turned towards her.

 

[GreyZone]

"No, I have confused you in my hectic thinking, I apologize," she rushed out, just as quickly as the last time. "The baby is my mother's, not my own. She died in childbirth. Jack is the customer who encouraged me to come see you again because I could not shut up about you."


She offered him a sad laugh, an equally sad smile. She simply did not know what she would do if he rejected her after these hellish few months. Almost a year. "I really have missed you, Mr. Edwards."

 

[Syrrus]

"Missed me?" He blinked in confusion at her, not quite certain what to say nor do, about that statement. "Well-- Well I--" He frowned slightly. "I've missed you too, Margaret." Though not certain why, the man gave her a slightly smile before sitting back down at the piano. There was no point on trying to continue what he had been doing. He had been interrupted and his attention span could only handle so much. "I am sorry to hear about you mother, dear." He said, caringly. Though there was little else that he could say about the matter. Death was a difficult thing, he knew so.


"Why do you insist in calling me 'Mister Edwards' when we are no longer in public? Surely you know me better than that."

 

[GreyZone]

"In case you have forgotten, we spent an evening and an afternoon together, Mr. Edwards," she reminded him, purposely using a formal name when speaking to him. She could not get too familiar again too quickly. "It has just been difficult. The child is a demon straight from hell. I think even my sweet sister Jane is about ready to take an ax to its head. I do not believe it has shut up for one moment since it came out of the womb howling."


She lowered herself next to him at the piano. "I am so desperate to get out of there I almost married a chimney sweep today," she whispered. "I had to be somewhere other than behind the counter or changing diapers of children that are not mine. If this continues, I will never have any of my own. I cannot say, if they turn out like my newest sibling, that might not be a problem after all."

 

[Syrrus]

"Almost married a chimney sweep. You say that as if there was something wrong in it." He gave her a teasing smile, though it died all too quickly. "I am sorry to hear that that's how you feel. I apologize if there is anything I have done to cause more trouble to fall upon your shoulders." Not that it could have been his fault. As she had just said, they had only knew each other for less than twenty four hours. Thought the impact of their meeting had been a hard one.


"Well, as you can see; my life has not changed." He didn't sound unhappy, in fact he sounded quite pleased. As he got up to empty his pipe from burning tobacco. "I took up smoking, that is about it, I'm afraid."

 

[GreyZone]

Margaret shrugged. "I only say that as if it is because I had such high expectations for myself, not to marry the first man I saw just so I could escape from my family." Here she was again, ranting about her own problems when it was not polite nor acceptable. "It does not matter. I did not marry him, and I am not planning on it regardless. You had nothing to do with any of it, and we are both well aware, Mr. Edwards."


She laughed half-heartedly at that. "You do get around with your substances. It truly does not smell that horribly."

 

[Syrrus]

"I like the smell, it makes it easier to think." He knocked the clay pipe against the side of the fireplace, emptying it into the dancing flames. His apparent hadn't changed a single bit either. The towers of books had merely become taller, as well as the stacks of paper. "Perhaps, if you so wish, I could give you a different job, which would pay more than being a barmaid?" He asked, gently as he watched her, not too certain what he was trying to do.

 

[GreyZone]

She raised her eyebrows at that. "And what are you thinking of, Mr. Edwards?" She was speaking to him so formally just to get a rise out of him, at that point.


In her heart, Margaret knew that the only way she could escape from providing for her family was if she got married herself and had no other option but to leave, or if she waited until Jane was old enough to step up and play mother. She would never wish that on her younger sister, but then again, she was being stifled and suffocating quickly. She couldn't last much longer at all.

 

[Syrrus]

"I am not certain it is a good idea." He looked around the room. "I am in the need of a assistant." He said, calmly. "For I am to travel the world, for musical reasons. I am leaving before summer." He folded his arms around his chest, thinking hard on something. "I would pay you a good amount, daily, enough to send back home to your family, perhaps even enough to keep them fed without needing the pub to be open. I have already hired one other to join me, a man named Johnson."

 

[GreyZone]

Margaret's eyes lit up at that offer. "You truly are going to take your music elsewhere?" A mischievous smirk spread over her lips. "What, I thought you did not play for rich men's money."


She took a few measured paces toward him, looking up to meet his eye. "I truly would love that, Mr. Edwards. You will never know how much that means to me, that you are willing to put up with me after everything that happened."

 

[Syrrus]

"I never said I was going to play for rich men." He narrowed his eyes down at her. She seemed to assume the worst at all times. Why would he change his mind so easily? No, he had other things planned. Places to go, people to meet, inspiration to gather.


"Is that a yes then?" He asked, smiling down at her with one raised eyebrow. "For I would enjoy having a young lady with me, more for the purpose of nursing, would someone get ill - than anything your little mind might conjure. Johnson is a good man, not much older than yourself. I am sure you won't mind his company, either. Though his speech is not from the good side of London." Victor frowned slightly.

 

[GreyZone]

"Oh?" Margaret smiled faintly at that. "Then do enlighten me, master."


Hmm. That was interesting. "What do you mean by that, Mr. Edwards? And please tell me that this Johnson will not assume that I am a prostitute and expect similar services out of me, for as you know, the only appropriate dresses I own were my mothers and they are terribly out of date."