Alfie Solomons (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
devoutish) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
wickedchouette2016-11-03 08:13 pm
devoutish) wrote in wickedchouette2016-11-03 08:13 pm
(no subject)
[For two long years, Alfie has been adamant that he's never leaving his world again. He accepts visitors to his own occasionally, but he insists on staying put there himself, refusing to make an exception even for the briefest of trips. He doesn't need to go anywhere else. He doesn't want to go anywhere else. He has his entire life right here in Camden Town (London, England, UK, Europe, Earth), and he's perfectly content to have it stay that way.
This lasts until he gets influenza. It's a particularly bad case even by 1920s standards, and he's heading for hospitalization and isolation. Watson convinces him to come do it in the 21st century.
He's admitted for a week to a hospital in London in the year 2015, where he's pumped full of modern medicine that quickly puts him back on the path to wellness. By the time he's discharged, he's still a little unsteady on his feet, but that has more to do with all the time spend lying around in bed than anything else. Finally, he can go home (to nearly the same point that he had left from - he'd made Watson swear up and down that that was how it worked before he agreed to go). But first, Watson had convinced him to spend a day seeing the sights of the city. Alfie hadn't been too hard to convince. He might as well. He was already here.]
I can't get over the sight of the cars.
[They're walking through the hospital lobby now, towards the front doors. Alfie is leaning on his cane.]
I could see them from the window of my room - it's unbelievable, how fast they go.
This lasts until he gets influenza. It's a particularly bad case even by 1920s standards, and he's heading for hospitalization and isolation. Watson convinces him to come do it in the 21st century.
He's admitted for a week to a hospital in London in the year 2015, where he's pumped full of modern medicine that quickly puts him back on the path to wellness. By the time he's discharged, he's still a little unsteady on his feet, but that has more to do with all the time spend lying around in bed than anything else. Finally, he can go home (to nearly the same point that he had left from - he'd made Watson swear up and down that that was how it worked before he agreed to go). But first, Watson had convinced him to spend a day seeing the sights of the city. Alfie hadn't been too hard to convince. He might as well. He was already here.]
I can't get over the sight of the cars.
[They're walking through the hospital lobby now, towards the front doors. Alfie is leaning on his cane.]
I could see them from the window of my room - it's unbelievable, how fast they go.
no subject
St. Bart's takes him, of course, and John has the opportunity to at least say hello to Molly down in the morgue, ask after her... everything. She seems uncomfortable around him, though, and he can't entirely peg why outside of them never being terribly close. She'd been Sherlock's friend, not his.
But now Alfie's healthy, and it's a chance to show him the city! Even if the other man might be eager to get back, John's set on keeping him long enough to get a sense of where his city comes to almost a century on.]
We can take a cab over to Camden Town, if you'd like, see the markets. Also, you've got a hell of a perspective if traffic around London makes the cars look fast, mate.
no subject
I saw them zipping around on the television, too. But even here, on these streets, they're faster than what I'm used to.
[He gives a jaunty wave to one of the nurses as they pass by. She won't miss him - once he'd gotten well enough to walk around, he'd been a pain in the ass as a patient. More than once he'd up and vanished from his room without telling anybody where he was going, and had been found wandering the halls or poking around at interesting things (vending machines, refrigerators, the computer at the nurses' station).
The automatic doors whoosh open for them, which startle him into taking a step back, but then he's moving forward again. Sound is the first thing that hits him - the city is loud. Really, it's probably not any louder than his London, but a lot of the sounds are foreign enough that he notices them more; they don't fade into the background the way more familiar things would. He resists the urge to cover his ears.]
no subject
Here, then, there's a taxi station just down this way. [Because unlike Sherlock, John rarely has luck catching cabs in the street.] Or... [And here's a thought.] You haven't got the underground in your day. You like the cars, the trains are ten times faster, a whole highway beneath our feet.
no subject
[Granted, it's very different from Watson's modern-day Underground.]
The taxis are the yellow ones, yeah? I saw that mentioned on some television program or another.
[He stops briefly to examine a parking meter, before giving it a final, perplexed look and continuing on after Watson.]
no subject
[John pauses to let Alfie look. It's like walking with a kid... or a tourist. At least he's interested.]
Nah. If you were watching any American shows on the telly, that's what they've got. Ours are black. Here we are.
[They make it to the stand where there's a queue of taxis idling. John opens the door for Alfie and motions him in.]
If you've got a place you want to go particular, just let him know, mate. Otherwise I can get us to one of the markets and we can wander.
no subject
[Truthfully, he doesn't have any strong preferences - it all sounds equally new and interesting to him.
Alfie climbs into the backseat of the cab, leaving the door open behind him for Watson. He completely ignores the seatbelt.]
Yeah - we'd like to go to the markets. John, is he gonna know what markets we're talking about?
no subject
He can answer for himself, guv. And no. Missed out on the mind-readin' in school. Don't sound like much of a tourist, but do you ever talk like one.
[John rolls his eyes. As he gets into the cab, shuts the door and doesn't bother to buckle up, either. He's a very poor example of what you should be doing in a modern cab.]
Camden Lock, please.
[The cabbie nods and pulls out into traffic.]
Few more markets than there used to be.
no subject
[He's addressing John, the cabbie, whoever. His eyes are on the window, though, looking at the world rolling by.]
no subject
No, the lock, please. We'll walk over there.
[John lowers his voice and leans in a little closer to Alfie.]
It's just a market now. There aren't horse stables anymore. Haven't been for decades.
no subject
[He's cheerful about it; joking.]
It's been so long since I've been here, it might as well have been nearly a hundred years.
[Har har har.]
no subject
That right? Guess I'll listen to the boss, mate.
[It's a relatively uneventful ride the rest of the way, though as they pass over a bridge and the cab pulls into a line, Alfie will be able to see a painted sign on the side of the tramway bridge over the street and people standing and taking pictures of the lock as it's operated.
John lets Alfie hop out, then pays the cabbie.]
So, then, we've got the actual market to step into here, if you'd like, or would you rather have a look at the lock first? See if it's like the old days.
no subject
[He glances at Watson, curious about his reaction to that. He's kind of ambivalent about the idea himself. He'd like to see, but he's not sure he'll like what he sees.]
A million years later...
The city's changed quite a bit since you were walking around it last, mate. You're sure you want to?
[Because John's a little worried he'll be upset if it's become some Italian bakery or maybe a gastropub with a lot of trendy teens hanging around. Worse, yet, it might just be shuttered and abandoned. But he'll acquiesce if Alfie wants it. This is his day in London and John doesn't mind indulging him.]
What was the nearest intersection near it?
no worries!
[Alfie honestly has a few of the same reservations, but he pushes them back. This is a hundred years into the future, after all. Cities change.
He names a street, and the cabbie zooms off - maybe not very fast by most car-driving standards, but definitely faster than Alfie was expecting. He grips the headrest of the seat in front of him, hard enough to turn his knuckles white.]
Fucking hell, these things zip along, don't they?
no subject
Need him to slow down, dear?
[John asks, tone incredibly dry, as he keeps a straight face.]
no subject
[He's not letting up on that seat, though.]
No - he can speed up, if he likes.
no subject
Not in this traffic, mate.
[John huffs quietly in amusement.] We should hire a car and get you out on the highway proper, somewhere out from the city. You can really get clipping along, so long as you can avoid the police. What's the top speed on your car again?
no subject
no subject
[John lets that hang for beat before giving Alfie a look.]
What d'you think? They pull them over and give them a ticket if they're going over the speed limit.
no subject
[Huh. That's a thing now?]
And how fast is that?
[The cabbie is definitely side-eying him, because what planet is this guy from?]
no subject
He's an anthropologist. [This is a terrible lie for the cabbie, but the drive isn't that much longer.] Lived with some tribe or other in the South American jungle for an age. Think he's forgotten what civilizations like. Funny guy, right?
[The cabbie just raises a brow.]
Sure, mate.
no subject
[Alfie jumps in immediately, happy to embellish the story.]
Been gone for a fucking age; I've got a twenty-year-old kid with a native. They had to teach me English again when I got back.
[He starts to absently fiddle with the door controls, startling a little when he presses the one that makes his window go down.]
no subject
[The cabbie sounds wholly unconvinced.
John just smiles blithely at him.]
Alfie, leave the buttons alone.
[It's only a little while longer before he stops at the requested intersection. There are large warehouses all around them. John hands over some cash before getting out.]
You want me to wait here, mate?
[The cabbie asks, looking around. The area appears to be relatively deserted; though, not in an abandoned way. Just in the 'it's a Saturday and no one is at work' way.]
Nah, thanks. We'll be fine. Cheers!
[That taken care of, the doctor turns his attention to Alfie.]
Any of the buildings look familiar?
gently tags this thing I didn't even realized I dropped; no pressure to reply though
When they arrive, he hops out and gives the driver a wave, letting John take care of payment and things. He's too preoccupied with looking around - trying to answer that question before John even asks it.]
No...
[He says slowly, unsurely.]
No, I don't think so. Let's walk on a bit. Down to the canal, maybe; down to the water.