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Post by mcr on Feb 25, 2021 20:21:40 GMT -5
Sometime later...
Dr. Millbury has stabilized the three coma patients and Elizabeth manages to find the doctor alone for a rare moment of privacy. Perhaps this is her opportunity for more answers.
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Post by OurLadyWar on Feb 25, 2021 20:29:59 GMT -5
He heard her from just over his shoulder and would turn around to find that violet gaze peering intently up to him. "Doctor, I know you have been busy, but if you have just a moment..." A shadow of sorrow slinked behind an otherwise perfectly poised and practiced 'mask'. "Everyone here seems to have known my father, but he was always quite elusive with the rest of us. Perhaps you could tell me a little more about him. He was taken from the manor far too early, mother as well."
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Post by mcr on Feb 25, 2021 20:41:42 GMT -5
"Ah, Elizabeth."
He replies:
"I hope you enjoyed the meal. I'm sure you miss good old home cooking on your many travels; I know I do. Such are the perils of a doctor who makes house calls."
He pulls up a seat and turns it around so that he is seated with the back of the chair to lean on facing her. But even seated, the man's large frame is still quite imposing, and though no longer towering over her, still manages to meet her at eye level.
"What can I tell you about him: he was a very concerned parent, as I'm sure you no doubt are aware? Believed quite strongly in protecting this home of his. Such was his cross. But even when you were a babe, I believe he knew you to be special. It does not surprise me that you managed to walk away unscathed from the likes of Morgan le Fay."
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Post by OurLadyWar on Feb 25, 2021 20:51:02 GMT -5
Elizabeth was doing everything she could not to feel like the child on the threshold, well past her bedtime, asking for a story. She was a young woman these days, but still a woman. Her shoulders squared and she held his eye as keen as she would hold a blade.
"I hope you enjoyed the meal. I'm sure you miss good old home cooking on your many travels; I know I do. Such are the perils of a doctor who makes house calls."
"I can only imagine," she chuckled as she lay her hand on her stomach. "And yes. Almost as good as mum's meat pies. She always insisted on making them, much to the kitchen's chagrin. There's an 'order' to things, even now, but that never seemed interesting to her. Not when she could do things herself."
The doctor had a gravitas to him and it was hard not to be pulled in as he settled in casually. Even so comfortably seated, he had command of the room.
"What can I tell you about him: he was a very concerned parent, as I'm sure you no doubt are aware? Believed quite strongly in protecting this home of his. Such was his cross. But even when you were a babe, I believe he knew you to be special. It does not surprise me that you managed to walk away unscathed from the likes of Morgan le Fay."
Her hand dropped away from her stomach and she hazarded a step closer. "But not unscathed from the fire. It was me and the boys after that, but now they're gone. Jamie is mad, Brian has disappeared. Did father or mother ever talk about a placed called... the Otherworld? There was little left from the fire, but some scorched pieces here and there from his study made mention of it."
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Post by mcr on Feb 25, 2021 20:58:14 GMT -5
"I must admit that I have been...curious about your brother's state, and have been lobbying to visit him, as a doctor, and a friend. But my practice largely finds me in obstetrics these days. If there was an ailment known to medical science afflicting him, I doubt that would be it?"
He gestured, rounding over his belly to pantomime a late term pregnancy.
Stroking his chin, he pondered Elizabeth's question:
"That is not a name I am familiar with, but your father did often speak of this as being his second home. And I never quite knew what to make of that, until, well...it would be foolish to dismiss the idea of worlds other than our own after what you've seen first hand, yes?"
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Post by OurLadyWar on Feb 25, 2021 21:13:39 GMT -5
"I must admit that I have been...curious about your brother's state, and have been lobbying to visit him, as a doctor, and a friend. But my practice largely finds me in obstetrics these days. If there was an ailment known to medical science afflicting him, I doubt that would be it?"
"Obstetrics," she echoed, shaking her head, allowing a smile at his attempt to apply balm to an otherwise painful circumstance. "You doubt correctly, though I am sure he would appreciate the visit as a friend. I visited him as a sister and nearly took a clock to the chin, so I would keep your hands up, doctor."
"That is not a name I am familiar with, but your father did often speak of this as being his second home. And I never quite knew what to make of that, until, well...it would be foolish to dismiss the idea of worlds other than our own after what you've seen first hand, yes?"
"Indeed, I felt our excursion was rather connected to his own sabbaticals and secrets. I believe maybe my own brother found his way to father's world, or tried to. And I believe this Otherworld was either important enough to die for," she remembered the fire, her voice was suddenly serious, and that gaze leaden, "or killed for."
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Post by mcr on Feb 25, 2021 21:30:35 GMT -5
"That is certainly quite possible. One of the gentlemen you rescued, Professor Henry Pym? The older gentleman? He helped activate that gateway that you used earlier. Something to do with folded space-time, the Einstein-Rosen bridge. I'm sure he could explain it better. Never could get the damn thing to work until we consulted him. Funny thing is it wasn't even originally designed to cross dimensional boundaries. I believe it was designed to travel through time."
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Post by OurLadyWar on Feb 25, 2021 21:36:56 GMT -5
Through Time.
The words and notion hung in the air between them. For a moment, she just stared, and then her mouth cracked with an incredulous chuckle. Even she was not sure why she found it risible, considering they just traveled through dimensions. "Through time," she folded her lips in, that last, tiny note of a chuckle fading, and her seriousness returning. "I will have to pay attention to him. You think someone -- or something -- could be on his heels? That is, if my theory about my father is correct. You said it yourself, he was earnest in protecting his home and a concerned parent. Something like a freak fire does not match with your observations of my father."
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Post by mcr on Feb 25, 2021 21:44:32 GMT -5
Millbury nodded in understanding:
"Your father no doubt perished in that flame. It is an unpleasant thought, but one we have no reason to doubt. In fact it may have been an end he saw coming. Hence his willingness to volunteer some genetic material - should something happen to him."
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Post by OurLadyWar on Feb 25, 2021 21:55:11 GMT -5
Elizabeth looked as if she were about to say something, but withheld. She wondered what other contingencies her father had scattered in the world. Was that a theory she wanted to share with his friend, the good doctor? She wanted to trust Millbury: her father had entrusted him with this surprise project. But she was not sure: what if once he had what he wanted, her father became expendable? Until she knew him (and his motives) better, she would keep that idea to herself. Her father always trusted Brian's brawn, Jamie's prowess, and Elizabeth's cleverness. Were there clues scattered in this new world she found herself navigating?
Maybe the doctor himself was one, but she would need to give him more time before she fully trusted them. She wanted to trust him, but she needed to pace such whims. "Of course," she said after a moment and peered at her feet, thoughtfully.
"Doctor?" That violet gaze surfaced again, sparkling, and she stepped a little closer. "Did my father have a favorite joke?"
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Post by mcr on Feb 25, 2021 22:32:24 GMT -5
Millbury lets free a cheeky grin:
"Well, this may lack in a bit of context, but we quite enjoyed this one."
Clearing his throat to affect different accents he begins:
"Two chaps are having a gad in the Old Court when one begins eating something from his pack. The other lad asks:
'Ey, wotchagot there?'
'It's a physalis.' The other replies.
'In't it just a gooseberry?'
'Oh, I don't know, I only know the Latin word for it.'"
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Post by OurLadyWar on Feb 25, 2021 22:41:52 GMT -5
Elizabeth threw her hands up and they both collapsed on the top of the chair ladder he was leaning on. "No," she gasped as she laughed, clapping one of those hands across her brow. "Oh no, that is so terrible," she shook her head, still chuckling. She looked up again, cheeks flushed with giggling, and eyes still sparkling. "He loved gooseberry. Insisted on a gooseberry pie whenever he came home from abroad." Her nose scrunched. "Mother hated them, but she loved making those pies." The room was quiet for a moment and Elizabeth cleared her throat as she leaned back, easing her hands off the chair and smoothing her dress. "Well," she guided a tear from the corner of her eye with her thumb knuckle. Could have been from laughter or remembering a sweet moment in sorrow, but who could say. Not her. "I appreciate your time, Doctor, but I know you probably have more pressing things than memory lane."
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Post by mcr on Feb 25, 2021 23:03:28 GMT -5
Millbury shared in a much more muted chuckle:
"A reminder that the most important things in life are often the ones that are right in front of us, and not to overlook them."
Standing again, he looks at his watch and eyeing it carefully.
"Speaking of which, I believe you are quite right. I should check on the others. Good day, Elizabeth."
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