Realistic or Modern Victorian London

[Syrrus]

"The taste isn't everythin' clearly." Jack said, tongue outside his mouth, as he downed his drink in one. He hated it, clearly, while Victor loved the taste. He loved everything about it. Jack watched him silently from where he said, his fingers curling around the menu, clearly a bit uncomfortable.


"A lady does not need to know anything about alcohol, not even the taste - would she not wish to."

 

[GreyZone]

"I think it tastes just fine," she replied to Jack, taking another drink of the wine. "I am liking it more and more as I continue to taste it."


She glanced across the table at Victor, a small smirk on her lips. "And what if that lady is a barmaid? I would be a fool if I could not tell you all about the wonders of alcohol."

 

[Syrrus]

"That is not exactly true, no one who goes to a bar, or pub, like your on, does so without knowing what they like to drink." Jack raised his hand, though Victor ignored him. "That would be foolish."


Jack shook his head, clearly not minding that he was just called a fool, nor that his friend did not seem to know about it.

 

[GreyZone]

"But I have to know in case someone comes in wanting a drink but has no idea what to order," she responded to Jack, finishing her first glass of wine.


She looked over at Victor again. "Thank you for purchasing dinner for me, Mr. Edwards."

 

[Syrrus]

Victor shrugged. "Jack did this very thing, didn't he? I am not surprised." The nobleman sighed, will Jack shrugged with a grin. "I do not drink often, if at all. A beer here, water there - little else."


Victor could not understand his friend, for he drank alcohol all the time, wine or whiskey - it mattered little.

 

[GreyZone]

"Oh, I did help you, didn't I?" Margaret smiled at Jack as she returned her napkin to her lap. "I remember that you could hardly stomach what you first ordered, so I gave you peach schnapps in a liquor glass so you would not look like a wuss. What did you think of it? You seemed to actually be able to put a few away after I switched you."


She winked subtly at Victor. "See, I do know my alcohol and I do know that no man chooses to drink peach schnapps on his own accord, so I just politely make that decision for them."

 

[Syrrus]

Jack grinner her way. "It was better than I would give it credit, still not somethin' I prefer. Alcohol tastes too much like stomach medicine for my likin'." Jack had never been much of a drinker, yet he had been drunk, countless times. Victor on the other hand was very experienced in both fields.


"Lets change out topic from drinking - or I'll have to order some whiskey - and decide what to have for tea. I believe the lobster to be fantastic."


"Yes, Fis' before we go out to sea, great idea Vic."

 

[GreyZone]

Margaret shrugged. "If it was all that bad, I would not have to be behind a bar seventeen hours a day. Regardless, that is in the past and I am never doing it again. I can wash a mean glass, though."


Again, she did not know if she could stomach anything by how tightly her corset was laced. "I would just like some soup, if that is alright," she told him.

 

[Syrrus]

"Be my guest, though I would recommend eating something heavier. We never know what they'll serve on this ship. If the corset is a problem, I'll untie it for you." Victor said, as if the words he used was not improper at all. Jack almost burst out laughing, yet he disguised it by finishing his wine in one, which caused him to end up coughing.


Victor ordered his lobster, while Jack took a roast dinner and asked for a beer, instead of whatever he had been drinking. Their eyes then fell upon Margaret.

 

[GreyZone]

Margaret looked as if she was about to faint when he said that. "You're lying," she hissed, not sure if he was joking or not. Based on Jack's reaction, he wasn't. What sort of man just offered to untie a lady's corset?!


But nevertheless, she ordered a sandwich with her soup when the waiter turned to her. "Thank you," she told him, stuffing her shaking hands between her thighs under the table.

 

[Syrrus]

"Why would I be lying?" Victor said, as he began to scribble words down into his notebook again. "We are traveling to a world where a stranger lives to take your life, if I was afraid of a pair of strings tying together a pair of undergarments I would sadly not be sitting here, on my third trip." Edwards seemed confidence enough, and Jack could not help but smirk. At least life was not uninteresting around Victor.

 

[GreyZone]

Margaret's face grew as red as her hair. "So, what, you just plan on unlacing me in the middle of the restaurant for everyone to see? We will be kicked out!"


Even though she didn't want to admit it, she was tempted to take him up on the offer. The corset was killing her and there was no way in hell she could eat a sandwich with how much it was cinching her.

 

[Syrrus]

"Yes, good sir, take 'er be'ind the kitchen and--" Jack started, as Victor stood up. "No, I do not need to go anywhere." The man grinned from ear and ear, as if he knew something no one else knew. He walked around the table and placed a hand on Margaret's shoulder and bent forward, as he opened the drinks menu in front of her. "I always had a problem with the white and red wines, the difference I mean, they are all fairly dry do you not think so?" As he spoke, a finger had taken itself inside her dress - without touching the skin and with one swift pull with only that finger he had untied her corset. "Ah I see, thank you for making it so clear." He continued and walked back to his seat, where he sat down and placed the napkin in his lap, while Jack blinked in confusion. "you-- You gotta show me that!"

 

[GreyZone]

Margaret had a look of terror in her eyes every moment that Victor was standing behind her, and she did not settle even when he had returned to her seat. Then again, she could hardly blame him since now, she could breathe.


"You are such a strange creature, Mr. Edwards," she breathed, trying to hide her blush behind the drink menu. "And you will have to tie me back up as soon as we are done because I am not walking around with loose undergarments."

 

[Syrrus]

"Very well, I can do that almost just as swiftly, though I cannot say it is much of an artform." The man continued to read his notes, while Jack still attempted to try and understand how the man had managed to untie a corset with just one finger, and attempted to do the same with his shoes, without succeeding. Victor on the other hand seemed far too interested in his wine and the redness of his companion's cheeks.

 

[GreyZone]

"I will have to find some woman on the ship to assist me because I would prefer you did not see my undergarments," she whispered, fully hiding her face from him with the drink menu.


She looked over at Jack, laughing a little at his bafflement. "I'm just as confused as you are, good sir."

 

[Syrrus]

"I see no problem in either, it is not the first time I have seen a pair of undergarments." Victor muttered as he sipped his wine. He clearly did not see a problem, nor a reason as to why both of them made such a fuss. Jack of course continued to smirk. "The amount of fun I could have with your powers, royal, ya' got no idea."

 

[GreyZone]

Margaret raised her eyebrows and took another slow sip of her wine. "Well, if I drink enough of this," she replied coyly, "you might see much more than my undergarments."


She sat back a bit on the seat, finally able to breathe even though she was unsettled by him removing her corset in the middle of the restaurant. Poor Jack didn't even know what he was getting into.

 

[Syrrus]

Victor tried his hardest to not seem either sheepish or emberessed by Margaret's words, and succeeded pretty well. With a sly grin he finished his glass of wine and poured him yet another, in the wait for his meal. It hit him that he had not ordered starters, it was a odd occurrence and he had to beat himself mentally for it. He so enjoyed a cheese platter. Yet Jack seemed awfully smug about what had just occurred at the table, arms folded across his chest. "You two are goin' to get married, are ye not?" He snapped his fingers. "You better let me taste the cake."

 

[GreyZone]

"I knew you would not have a response to that." She smirked a little and took another sip of the wine. "Jack, Mr. Edwards is thoroughly proficient in neatly avoiding any statements or questions that make him nervous. It really is a rather fascinating little talent and one that has amused me greatly over the hours we have spent together. He constantly reminds me that he has seen much of a lady and is not embarrassed by talk of undergarments, and yet, he sits there in silence."


She smiled to herself as she finished, setting the glass down and looking at her lap. She did enjoy teasing Victor, mainly because he normally had the upper hand and it felt good to reverse it occasionally.

 

[Syrrus]

Jack stroke his hand over his chin, it all made sense to him. Edwards had always been a strange man, his instincts worked in one way while his mind did something completely different. It was a interesting thing to observe, but Jack could only do so for so long, getting bored almost instantly. He shrugged but could not stop himself from grinning. "Makes sense, sometimes I get trouble knowin' if I'm talkin' to a person or a wall."


"A wall would probably give you the same response, your conversations are always far too intellectual for a human being." Edwards responded sneakily, still ignoring Margaret, though giving her a gentle smile from time to time, so she would know that he still acknowledged her presence.

 

[GreyZone]

Margaret smiled faintly at the exchange between Victor and Jack, finishing off her first glass of wine as she did. She had seen plenty a lightweight, and she hoped she was not one of them. Vomiting was detestable, and so was drunkenness.


"Enough banter," she replied good-naturedly, already a little bit looser from the wine. "Does anyone have anything of importance to add to the conversation?"

 

[Syrrus]

"Hardly." Edwards said, as the food was placed upon the table, he gave the waitor a smile and turned his eyes upon Jack, who rubbed his hands together, after pouring gravy on everything - as if trying to sink a boat. Victor gave his lobster the attention it deserved, breaking legs and shells with nibble fingers. "Such a pleasant scent, I cannot say how much I love seafood."


"I could never stand seafood myself, all the bones is enough to drive a man mad!" Jack waved a hand dismissively and begun to cut up his lamb.

 

[GreyZone]

Margaret stared down her sandwich for a bit before finally just turning to the soup. "Is there any more wine?" She asked Victor, glancing at her empty glass with distain as she swallowed a bite of soup.


Over the course of the dinner, her posture had weakened, her eyes growing more and more distant. She couldn't seem to get her damn mother off her mind, the colicky baby, her little sister left to deal with it. "I need to get very, very drunk."

 

[Syrrus]

"That does not sounds like a thought out idea." Victor said, though pouring wine into the young girls glass, as she had asked. He then gave his food as his attention. It was not up to him to stop Margaret from doing something silly, in fact he was probably going to get drunk to, like many other nights - there was little different in his behaviour once he had downed a few bottles - and would hardly tell an adult on how to behave.


Meanwhile Jack seemed less interested in the drink and more in awe of the delicious food, which he complimented with the tables water bottle, with great ease.