Realistic or Modern Victorian London

[Syrrus]

Reading out loud was always the better way in learning, yet it was something Victor had not mentioned, mainly because if had not mattered, for he knew she needed to find her own way - or there would have been no way.


Lord Edwards then slept, heavily, without hearing what the young woman had been reading - though only the noise of her voice was enough to cause him to have a few pleasant and explanatory dreams - and also to wake him up with a startle. he shouted out in surprise, at the third station away from their goal, and banged his head on the table behind him.

 

[GreyZone]

Margaret jumped when he startled awake, the book dropping into her lap. "Are you alright?" She asked, her voice a little parched from so much reading.


"I have almost finished it," he told him in a quiet voice. "It really is a lovely story. I can imagine it is simply beautiful live on the stage, as it was intended to be."

 

[Syrrus]

"Almost finished... Ouch...!" He grabbed his head in discomfort and then turned towards her, he was fine, as always. Eyes wide and confusion written upon his face. "That's great. I actually brought Hamlet with me too, same author more power." He scratched his arm, with a new mark on it.

 

[GreyZone]

"I will read it afterward," she replied in a quiet voice, almost turning back to the story when she caught sight of his arm.


She reached across the distance between them and took it, turning to see the new mark. "Mr. Edwards, when did you do that? What pleasure do you get from doing this to your body?"

 

[Syrrus]

He peered down upon his arm, and removed it from her grasp so that he could pull down his shirt over his wrists. "How else does one insert a needle to a vain? You are in need of a hole in the skin, or else some trouble will surface." He seemed to care little about it, as he messed with his hair, to try and make it fall neatly around his head.

 

[GreyZone]

She frowned when he removed his arm and sat back in her seat. "I just find it interesting. I've never been under the influence of drugs, so I don't understand it." Would he get mad at her for that? She could never tell with him.


She folded her ugly old quilt up and stuffed it into her bag, realizing that she probably shouldn't be using it in this first class car. "You need to teach me how to be rich, Mr. Edwards," she replied as she leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

 

[Syrrus]

"That is not surprising, just as much as it is confusing." He raised an hand, clearly not carrying much about what anyone thought of his habits. Indeed, the were frowned upon, heavily, but he was hardly one to worry about such pittance.


"Teach you on how to be rich?" Edwards blinked in confusion. why in the world would she want such a thing. "You are perfectly fine the way you are, Margaret."

 

[GreyZone]

"I just do not understand how you can be so dependent on something such as that. I have never felt the pain of an addiction" she replied with a casual shrug. "I have seen it in men, but I have never felt it myself."


She motioned toward the old quit she had just put away. "I should not have that ratty old thing out in a first class train."

 

[Syrrus]

"I am dependent on a clear mind. It helps me sleep, and think - depending on the substance. Without it my head is bussing with thoughts, inspirations and ideas. It is mind-numbingly frustrating."


Victor peered at the quilt, thought he said nothing bad about it. "I see. Perhaps not, though I highly doubt anyone - except old hags - would comment on such a small little thing. I will buy you a more impressive blanket I Hastings, if that makes you feel any better."

 

[GreyZone]

She nodded slowly and bookmarked her spot in the book. "That is sad that you are tormented so." She looked around the train car as she thought it over. "Is it an expensive habit?"


"Well, I hope that dumb little pillow was satisfactory to you,," she responded. "That was Jane's parting gift to me. Do not let me forget to write to her."

 

[Syrrus]

"It is not to expensive, no, if you know a good doctor who can get hold of what you need. My habits are strictly medical, after all." He chuckled, as if he did not believe his own words one bit.


Victor peered at the pillow, which still lay beside him. "It is a nice gift." He handed her the pillow. "you should be careful with it, it might be your cure to homesickness."

 

[GreyZone]

She laughed a little at that. "Purely medicinal, eh? Then I must be the queen of France if that is true." Margaret honestly wished that she was a little more disturbed by his drug use than she was, but she couldn't make herself get really worked up about it. If it kept him functioning and he wasn't dead, who was she to command that he stopped using it just for the hell of it?


She laughed even harder at his next sentence. "I was so desperate to get out of that place that I was about ready to beg your friend Jack over there to marry me in the morning. Yes, I'll miss Jane and the little boy, but not enough to ever go back for more than an hour or two. They can visit me wherever I will go after this journey is complete."

 

[Syrrus]

"We will travel around the world for many years, you will - sooner than you think - miss your home, once you break through it you'll never want to go back." He laughed, as if he spoke golden truth. He had travelled the world multiple times in his life, yet he had always missed his apartment, the first year or so - and the simply forgotten about it. Victor figured it would be the same for Margaret.


"Jack would make a good husband, I am certain. Though he is a little bit to sweet on the women he meet, I feel." He wrinkled his nose in distaste.

 

[GreyZone]

She arched one eyebrow at that. "Is that a promise?" She would miss the drunken men, the rats running everywhere, the horrible food, the molding mattresses, and the screaming babies when hell froze over. "Perhaps you should have taken Jane to do my job. She is fourteen now, and much more compliant than her older sister. She is also better at sewing and whatnot. Much less aggravating. She would always allow you to be right, good Sir."


Margaret turned around to look at Jack, who was indeed still flirting. "Perhaps I find how social he is charming," she teased him with a knowing smile. "But then again, there is something intriguing in a sulky and brooding young man."

 

[Syrrus]

"Perhaps we should take her with us too." He stroke his chin in thought, it was still time to gather some more resources, people or otherwise, while thy were still in England. He of course was not certain that Margaret actually would want her sister to come along. "A aid for Jack maybe, someone who can keep him away from gleeful trouble. The annoying child." Victor frowned even more, as if everything annoyed him something awful.


"did you just call me sulking? Brooding, yes, sulking? How dare you!" Victor chuckled, yet his eyes wandered to the window yet again. He did not pay attention to Jack's way - he was already earning some pittance.

 

[GreyZone]

Margaret shook her head. "My family would not be able to survive without both of us. We're the only girls anyway, and I am gone, so she has to say." It struck Margaret suddenly what she did to her sister--she thrust her right into the position that had made her so miserable. "Oh, I am a horrid creature, aren't I," she whispered in horror.


She waved him off, still stuck on what she had done to her sister. "Yes, you are rather sulky, Mr. Edwards. May I directly forward any money that you give me to my family? So she does not have to keep the bar open at all hours?"

 

[Syrrus]

Victor nodded, slowly, she could do whatever she wished with the money. He leaned back against the seat, pondering over what to say next. Victor was always lucky, who lived by himself - far away from his own family. He never had to worry about their behaviour or what would happen if he left them alone for too long. "Do not worry about it, Margaret, I shall sent the checks to them - in your sisters name, to make sure it ends up in the right hands."

 

[GreyZone]

She closed her eyes and let out a slow breath, relieved. "Thank you so much. It never even crossed my mind that I practically hurled her into hell. What a wonderful person I am." She quickly reached into her bag and drew out utensils to write a letter to Jane, apologizing to her and making a promise that the checks would start to arrive soon.


"I apologize for earlier, Mr. Edwards," she told him in a meek voice, struggling to write. She was even worse at that than reading. "Dammit! She will have to have one of my brothers read this and they do not know where I am--" She shoved the papers back into her bag. "Do not send money. It will only go to my brothers' addictions to liquor and the services of prostitutes."

 

[Syrrus]

"Then how in the world am I suppose to do it?" Victor raised an eyebrow at her. There was nothing he possibly could do, except sending money. He had some people he could ask, yet there was no way he could do anything about the issue. Snapping his fingers. "Let me talk to Jack. He can send his brother over - with cash - to deal with it. He's the youngest, true, but the pushiest of people I have ever meet. I am certain he could make sure the money goes to the right place."


Victor then moved and placed himself next to her, with his notepad he began to write a letter. "Let me help you with the message to your family."

 

[GreyZone]

"Thank you," she whispered, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment. "I did not even think about how she would actually get the money. It will have to be handed directly to her, for if my brothers see it, it will not help anything and you are wasting your money."


She quickly hid the scrappy letter she had been attempting to write, for she wasn't even sure if the symbols she had been using were actual letters. "Thank you again, Mr. Edwards."

 

[Syrrus]

"Victor." He said, quickly and sternly, though only because he was attempting to write a coherent letter, without it looking like a drunkard had ben trying to write it. "No, it's Jack, though I am very flattered, royal." Jack said, grinning from ear to ear from where he was standing, with some lipstick on his collar and neck. "I heard ya' talkin' about my brother. Anythin' I can do?"


"Yes, in fact. Take this, send it with the first possible mailman to your brother." Victor quickly said, as he wrote a few numbers on a check and handed it towards Jack.


"I might need the letter to, good sir." Jack continued, grinning even more as Victor handed him the letter without even looking.

 

[GreyZone]

"I am sorry, Mr. Edwards," she apologized automatically, not even realizing that she was doing the exact same thing he had corrected her for again. "It won't happen again, Sir." She was too focused on Jane to even process what she was promising or what he had even requested of her.


Margaret forced herself to look back up at Jack, an amused smile spreading over her lips when she saw the lipstick over his neck and collar. "Have you managed to find a few lady friends?"

 

[Syrrus]

"Oh, this? Nah! I took a pencil and just decided to get a bit frisky. Nothin' too sinful, ma'am." Jack bowed and caught his baker-boy hat before it fell to the floor. "I just came by to say that we'll be in 'astings soon."


"Hastings."


"That's what I said, 'astings."


"No, you're leaving out the H, why are you always speaking so... so..."


"Common? Well, I'll be sir, it is almost as if ya' forgot who ya' be speakin' with."

 

[GreyZone]

Margaret laughed loudly at that and winked at Jack. "We need to stick together. It sounds like we're running into the same problems with the leader of our little expedition here. I do find it fascinating how he is just so attracted to company caught in the midst of poverty. Rather interesting, isn't it?"


She looked over at Victor, a faint smile on her lips. "Is there a reason for that? After meeting your grandmother, I am shocked that you do not wish to spend every afternoon with her. You know, being beaten with sticks. It's how I enjoy spending my time, I will tell you that."

 

[Syrrus]

"I do not attempt to converse or spend my social time with anyone in particular, people tend to fly towards each other like moths to flames, I never think of someone as poor or rich." Victor explained.


"Aye, we're all a bunch of tossers either way!" Jack said, in a triumphant way to throw Victor of his high poetry horse. Victor frowned angrily at his old friend who continued to beam, still holding the check and letter tightly in hand. "What, did I say somethin' improper? Ma' always told me I can be a bit too forward, though heck, I am not a noble flirting with the common wealth so what do I know?"


"That is quite enough Jack."


"Oh, I wasn't talkin' about the lovely dame' 'ere, I was talkin' about myself." Jack smirked, wryly.